Did You Know There's A New McDonalds in Hope, AR??

Monday, September 21, 2009 - Petit Jean State Park

Well, today started with the sound of a helicopter....then another.....then another......then another.....I think we're over the flight path of the helicopterport or something.....but we seriously had helicopters going over every 5 minutes for an hour or two.  No idea why.....

Then we headed out on the bike to what was suppose to be "The Grand Canyon of the Ozarks" according to MotorcycleRoadsUS.com.  THEY LIED.  Not that Hwy 7 wasn't beautiful; it was......but I guess we're just comparing "The Grand Canyon of the Ozarks" to....well......The Grand Canyon and that it wasn't.  But we did ride to Hot Springs, had ice cream, and then headed back a different route.

While in Hot Springs, we were enjoying our double dip waffle cone ice cream when we noticed out the window that there were people checking out our trike.  Now, we get this all the time.  We hardly ever go out when people don't come up and ask us about the trike....but this time, we noticed they were taking pictures of each other in front of the trike.....then as a couple in front of the trike.....then thumbs up in front of the trike.....we just sat there and enjoyed the show.  They finally moved on and we finished our ice creams and headed out to the trike.  Along comes another couple.......now, I'm going to try and be sensitive here when I say they were a little "simple" (see attached picture).  They were super nice; asked if I had been in Hope, Arkansas lately (why Hope, Arkansas.....I don't know) for which I said we had driven through there yesterday on our way to Petit Marie State Park.  The guy just said, and I'm not making this up, "Shucks, I guess you know about the new McDonalds then."  Well, I told him I didn't know about the new McDonalds but was that where they were from?  He said, "Nah, I'm from San Diego."  Turns out, she was from Memphis and he now resides in Oklahoma and they just got married last Saturday.  They were on their honeymoon.   But I'm so glad I now know about the new McDonalds in Hope, Arkansas.  I bet my friends Troy and Carla didn't know about the new McDonalds in their hometown, though.

Once we arrived back at the campground, Murphy and I decided to head out on the trike in search of a waterfall hiking trail........which we found.....only after a two mile hike.  A LONG two mile hike......  I discovered I'm clearly out of shape when an elderly grandmother and grandfather and their three small grandchildren pass me by on the trail.  That was humbling.....  But Murphy did great...quite the good hiker....it must come from all the exercise he gets body slamming his Senator John McCain doll......

They're predicting rain tonight and tomorrow......I wonder if it will ground the helicopters????

On The Road Again......

Sunday, September 20, 2009

On The Road Again....Just can't wait to get on the road again......yep, we're on the road again and so HAPPY to be traveling again!  We've not gone far....but far enough!!

We are in Arkansas at the Petit Jean State Park just northwest of Little Rock, and plan on staying here till Thursday.......a whole week without doctor appointments......YEA~~~~~~~ This state park has it all; waterfalls, great trails to explore, an RV spot with a view of the lake, TeePee's AND an Airstream convention!  We are totally surrounded by Airstream travel trailers..........and what a rowdy bunch of 80 year olds they are!

Anyway, today was a travel day, so pretty uneventful.  We'll see what kind of trouble we can get into tomorrow!

Our Munchkin Has Bots.....????

Thursday, September 18, 2009

Ok, this is not for the faint hearted......and this is not for those of you with a weak stomach or those of you prone to nightmares......I've given you fair warning, so don't blame me if you're grossed out.

Last weekend, our little munchkin, Murphy, had a nasty, no-good, very bad cough. We couldn't tell whether he was "snorting" from his nose or "hacking" from his mouth or both; we just knew he wasn't right. We did notice, however, that his Senator McCain doll was losing some of his innards and had some fluffy white stuffing laying around. We thought maybe he ingested some of Senator McCain and it was caught in his throat.

So we headed to Doc Reed, Mt. Vernon's resident Vet who works on everything in town from baby kittens to donkeys. His assistant, Pam, is definitely one of the most interesting people I've ever met. It took me about three years to figure out she just has a very very very very very very dry sense of humor (remember this fact; you'll need it later). As we explained to Pam our concerns regarding the possibility of Senator McCain's innards being stuck in Murphy's throat, she just sat there, stone-faced; no words coming from her mouth; I don't think she even blinked; she just stared at me.........After what seemed like 2 1/2 years, she shook her head and asked us to leave Murphy there so they could run some tests and check him out.

When it was time to pick Murphy up later that afternoon, Chuck and our neighbor's teenage son, Dylan, went to Doc Reeds to get him. Once they arrived home with our little patient, I met them at the door eagerly wanting to know what they found out. This is a somewhat paraphrased transcript of that conversation: LIZ: "Well, what did Doc Reed say was wrong with Murphy?" CHUCK: "I don't know." LIZ: "What do you mean you don't know?" CHUCK: "I couldn't hear what Pam said." LIZ: "What do you mean you couldn't hear what Pam said?" CHUCK: "I could see she was talking, but I couldn't hear her. You know I have bad hearing. She just kept saying something but I couldn't hear her." LIZ: "Dylan, what did Pam say?" DYLAN: "I don't know; something about Bots." LIZ: "Bots??????? What's that??" DYLAN: "I don't know; but I think our horses had it once." LIZ: "Chuck, why didn't you have her write it down?" CHUCK: "I don't know; next time you go pick him up." Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

So, I spend two hours on Google trying to figure what the heck "Bots" was. WARNING: Here's where it starts getting gory......It appears that Bots is a "bug" that is caused from flies laying their eggs on blades of grass and cats and dogs get it on them by walking through the grass. This "bug" then gets inside the cat or dog and lays eggs or hatches or something, but it grows these ugly white worm things that we've all heard of called maggets.....yep.....our boy supposedly had maggots. And to make things worse, these maggots can come through the skin in the form of a HUGE zit-like sore....ALIVE. I know this, cause I watched the YouTube video showing these two Venezuelan guys popping these zit-like sores from their poor German Shepherd and dropping the maggots on the ground. They then proceeded to talk about it over a dinner of quesadillas. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Well, you can imagine who wasn't sleeping with us that night..............

The next day, I called Pam to find out whether this Bots thing was contagious to other animals, humans, pillows, etc. Here's my conversation with Pam: LIZ: "Pam, can you tell me more about this Bots thing that Murphy has? Is it contagious to other animals?" PAM: "What Bots?" LIZ: "Chuck said ya'll diagnosed Murphy with Bots." PAM: "Nah, I was just kidding about that. He's got Bronchitis."

So, there you have it. If it weren't for Chuck, I'd have nothing to Blog about.............

Nine Phrases Women Use

Friday, September 11, 2009

Remember my last post? Well, I'm still reeling over the "Rogaine" incident......which led me to think about how my sweet, innocent, typical male, scatter-brained husband Chuck, not unlike most men, lacks understanding on what not to say to a woman. This isn't going to be a "pick-on-poor-old-Chuck" blog, so the Chuck Etheridge Fan Club can settle down, BUT, he, like most men, haven't yet learned what a woman "means" when she says certain things. You can't always take a word at face value when listening to us women; so for this reason guys, I'm going to help you out. Check this out and LEARN................

So there you have it. I couldn't have said it better if I had produced the video myself!! Some enlightened guy finally got it!

The responses I received from the "Rogaine" blog were quite interesting. They ranged anywhere from "I've never noticed the bald spot on the back of your head, Liz" to "I have some time this week and thought you might like to update your "Doghouse"; it sounds like you may be spending quite a bit of time there." Quite interesting, indeed!

He Said I Needed "Rogaine"........

Monday, September 7, 2009


Ok, listen up MEN! Don't EVER tell a woman they need Rogaine to help reverse the progression of hair loss. Chuck knows not to do this now, so let his little mistake help you avoid one.

Picture this: We're at Dairy Queen. I am wearing ugly lime green work-in-the-yard pants and my now short hair is up in a itsy bitsy tiny ponytail. I'm looking BAD. We are sitting in the car waiting on our order to be brought out to us when Chuck, out of nowhere, says to me, "We need to get you started on Rogaine". As I felt my head take a couple of extra Linda Blair-Exorcist-Type turns around my body, I heard the words, "What Did You Say??" come out of my mouth. With as straight a face as I've ever seen on Chuck, he repeats himself, "We need to get you started on Rogaine". Had he cracked even a slight smile on that face I was about to slap, all would have been well. But he didn't. He was quite serious. He's sensing at this point that all is not well in his universe and proceeds to "explain" himself. Supposedly, according to Chuck, I have a "bald spot" down the back of my head that he, innocently, thought needed some help. As, in his own words, "I was just trying to help" and "It's really not all that bad" were flying out of his mouth, he scooted further and further away from me. That was the smartest thing he'd done since we arrived at Dairy Queen!

As I tried to explain to him, I don't have a "bald spot" on the back of my head. I have a "part" that likes to separate down the back of my head and my hair picks a side and goes there. I also have a spot on the top of my head where the neighbors' garage door hit me when I was 10 years old and the hair grew back "kinky". Strange....yes; Bald....NO! Errrrrrrr.....

So men, let this be a lesson to you. Don't ever, EVER, tell a woman she needs Rogaine........even if she does!! Just ask Chuck!

I've Been Crowned Mrs. Eagle Point!!

Friday, August 28, 2009

There she is......Mrs. Eagle Point.......yep, its true!! I would like to thank my family, friends and fans for voting for me. What?? You didn't vote for me?? That's ok. You, just like me, probably didn't know about the contest. I think I was the only contestant. I'm so honored.....I only wish I had dressed a little better for the event......

It all started last weekend when our neighbor, Wanda (remember......my fellow-forkee with the alias name??) was 1st runner up in the Ms. Mt. Vernon Pageant here in large metropolis Mt. Vernon, Texas. She was just beautiful up on the stage and we were so proud of her! Well, I was over at her house the other night ooohing and aaahing over her trophy and I "might" have even been trying on a crown or two that she had won from prior pageants. Before I knew it, flashbulbs were going off and people were asking me to pose over here; then over there; it was fabulous. I felt like a white Oprah Winfrey when she won Miss Fire Prevention in 1971! Eventually, Wanda took her crown back and my reign came to an end..........or so I thought!

The next day, I headed to Dallas for the day. Upon arriving home that evening and coming through the front gate of our neighborhood, I glanced to my left at the bulletin board and imagine my surprise when THERE I WAS......Big As Life.......on the Bulletin Board next to the obituary for Buddy our deceased neighborhood dog! I had been voted Mrs. Eagle Point!!!

I'm so glad the contest didn't require me to do a "talent" or anything.....and I really wish I hadn't been trying on Wanda's brothers' hideous boots at the time of the picture, but hey, who knew I would be crowned Mrs. Eagle Point!??! Who knew there even was a Mrs. Eagle Point Contest??? Obviously, you didn't cause you didn't vote for me. I wonder if I get to eat for free at Dairy Queen now?? WOW!

Well, enough about me........its time for a Murphy update. The poor little guy has been learning so many new tricks lately that he's getting his words confused. If I tell him to "shake", he rolls over. If I tell him to "roll over", he sits down. We have a little more work to do before making another YouTube video for ya.

UPDATE ON JOHN MCCAIN'S LEG: We still have not found the missing John McCain leg yet either. As you may recall, Obama originally confessed to removing the leg due to the cost of repairing it at John McCain's age, and now it appears he didn't act alone. An anonymous new witness came forward this week with a damaging photo that implicated Uno, the dog next door, as an accomplice to the crime. Here's the picture that was sent in by National Pet Inquirer Magazine showing Uno's involvement. He will be apprehended upon arrival in Mt. Vernon this weekend.

How Many Etheridge's Does It Take????

Friday, August 21, 2009

Take what, you ask......??

Last weekend, Chuck's younger brother, Doug, and his family were out to the lake for the weekend. You may recall, the last time we all got together in May, we had "The Flood". This time, the water stayed in the lake and we had a BEAUTIFUL weekend to spend playing in the water, horsing around on the jetski's, driving the Workhorse exploring creepy new paths in the woods and catching up on everyone's life. Super fun time!

But back to my question........How Many Etheridge's Does It Take..........

1) To fit on the tiny, tiny tube? The answer is 1. My nieces Tiffany (28) and Christy (25) both tried to get on the smallest tube EVER made to be pulled around the lake. They found out the hard way this was a bad idea. It was sure funny watching them discover this, though. Kinda reminded me of the time 4 years ago these two took the canoe out and got stuck in a swampy creek in some brush with snakes and water rats.....I won't go into detail, but I will say our neighbors are all still talking about it and its always a source of conversation when we're needing a good laugh.

2) To clean up the doggie diarrhea? Well, usually 1, but since Christy was about to "hurl" trying to clean it up alone (sorry Christy; I just had to mention this...), I'm going to have to say 2.

3) To teach Drivers Ed on the golf cart? This is easy; 1. Our two 2nd-nephews, Brandon (12) and Garrett (8), are both superb drivers! Their parents shouldn't have any problem letting them start driving the family car at 14. I'd let them drive me anywhere........well, almost anywhere........We had a blast exploring and making new paths in the woods on the Workhorse (golf cart). They drove us places that I didn't even know existed......

4) To wave down help when the boat died? Let's see; that would be 5. All five of us.......yep, the boat's battery died on the opposite side of the lake while fishing Sunday morning. We eventually floated over to a stranger's dock where we called for help and lined up, waving frantically. Eventually, help came in the form of Doug and Ray on the jetski with a new battery; that, by the way, didn't work either. Which leads me into my next question...

5) To maneuver the dead boat into the boat slip? 10. It would have been 11, but we couldn't wake Garrett up.

6) To get the splinter out of Garrett's foot from the stranger's dock while waving frantically? 4. Let's see, there was Scott, the surgeon aka his Dad; Liz, the nurse; Stacy, the comforter (also known as Mom) and Brandon, the distractor (the brother)...oh ya, I think Murphy and an Ipod Touch helped a little too!

We've Decided To Sell the RV & Buy a Hearse.......

Friday, August 14. 2009

Well folks, thought I'd update you on several things.

First, I've had many of you want to know the outcome of Senator McCain's missing leg. It wasn't easy finding the culprit, especially when one of the suspects just wanted to talk about "Health Care Reform" and "Change" all the time. But low and behold, I think we've got the right guy. Yes, it's true; Obama is the guilty party. He claimed the reason he did it was because of Senator McCain's age; it was easier and cheaper to just "remove" the leg as opposed to repairing it since he only had a limited amount of years left.

Now that we solved that issue, I've got to tell ya, its been a busy week! First, remember a few months ago when we had the "Hurricane at Lake Cypress Springs" (Check out the YouTube video at "MurphysMom1" for a reminder) and we lost the canvas top to our gazebo on the boat dock? Well, Chuck came up with a brilliant idea on how to replace it. He thought we should replace it with shingles and make a wood roof. Sounded like a good idea to me; until I realized it meant LIZ was going to be the roofer! Yep, thats right. I can now put "Roofer" down on my ever-growing resume. I've got to say; it looks pretty good.........at least until the next hurricane hits.

After roofing the gazebo, I headed into Dallas to spend some time with Mom and Dad as well as get the gray covered up on my head. As I arrived at Mom and Dad's place, I panicked just a bit when I pulled into the driveway and saw a "hearse" parked across the street. Yep, you heard me right; a HEARSE. This hearse had a 7-11 Big Gulp sitting on the dashboard and clothes hanging over the windows. The rear license plate was from Oklahoma and the front license plate was from Texas. Dad said it had pulled up there the day before and he thought they were using it for a motorhome. I don't know whether to say, "Just like an Okie" or "Wouldn't you know they're from Texas". Crazy funny, though.

How many of you have a specific quiet time each day to talk to God? Well, for years, my quiet time, without fail, is in the shower each morning. Its the one time each day that I'm usually not rushed; don't have the phone ringing (however, Chuck does have a bad habit of bringing me the phone while I'm in the shower.......I've never understood that!!???) and I'm alone with just my thoughts and God. Well, during this Wednesday's talk with God, I felt an urgency or need or necessity to pray for "conscience". I pray this for me most every day, but this day, I prayed that He would give our politicians, as well as those who make it a daily part of their life to wrong others, a "conscience"; that they would feel bad or regretful for doing things they know aren't right. I didn't think much else about it, as many times I've had a "feeling" I should pray for something and not really know why.

Well, I had a Frosty appointment a few hours later. You remember Frosty.....she's my hairdresser. When I arrived at Frosty's salon, she wasn't ready for me yet, so I sat out in the hallway playing Crash Bandicoot on my Ipod Touch (great game, by the way!). It's important to note that I had also brought in my Laptop case as it was too hot to leave in the car. After a few minutes, she called me in and started the "getting-rid-of-the-gray" process. After about an hour, something told me to check on my laptop case. I looked down where my purse was and there was no laptop case. After restarting my heart, I realized I must have left it out in the hallway. Oh man, I jumped out of that chair and ran to the hallway and saw two women standing there with one holding my case. After assuring her it was mine, she proceeded to tell me that she was the manager of the large salon of suites that Frosty works at. She said she had seen a gruffy looking man walking around with my case for quite awhile. She thought it was odd as he just kept walking around but didn't appear to have business there, so she kept a close eye on him. At one point, he walked out the front door (with my laptop case) and a little bit later, came back in with it. She quietly followed him and saw him place the laptop case back where he found it and left the building. I had to restart my heart again after hearing that story. She even made the comment, "I guess his conscience wouldn't let him take it." That's when I remembered my prayer that morning. WOW! I have lost count of how many times I've thanked the good Lord since then for nudging me to pray for "conscience" just 3 hours earlier. And who doesn't believe in the Power of Prayer???? WHOA.........

We're gassing up the jetski's and boat; blowing up the tube and getting ready for a wonderful weekend on the lake with Chuck's family. Let's hope the water stays in the lake this time........

Senator McCain Lost A Leg

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

BREAKING NEWS:  Yes, I'm sad to say, its true.....Murphy's Senator McCain doll met with a tragic accident over the weekend which has caused him to be a paraplegic.......all the details are not in yet, but we are closing in on who might be responsible for this horrible injury.  We have attached pictures of the suspects.

My First House Forking....

Sunday, August 2, 2009

This weekend, I forked a house......ok, I know what you're thinking and shame on you!  Get your mind out of the gutter........I "literally" forked a house!

Remember back in the day.....WAAAYYYY back in the day.....when you got your kicks out of toilet papering your best friend (or enemy)'s house on Saturday night??   Unfortunately, I led a very sheltered life (no comment from those who really knew me WAY back then!!) and I made it through my teenage years without ever TPing anyone's house.  I felt I missed a vital part of my childhood; always regretted not doing that.  We were too busy streaking up and down Arapaho Rd in Richardson when I was a teenager (remember that, Jana??) to have the time to toilet paper someone's house.  

Well, we have a teenager living two doors down from us........uhhh huh.......can you see where this is going??  Yep, for those of you who are my age, I need to bring you up to date with Teenagers-2009.  They don't toilet paper their friends (enemies) houses anymore.  At least in East Texas they don't.  They "fork" their friends' houses.  I can't say I really understand it, and I can't say its actually more fun than toilet papering (since I led a sheltered life), but I had a BLAST forking some poor souls house this weekend!  My teenage neighbor (we'll call her Wanda to protect her identity.......there's a lot of Wanda's in East Texas) insisted we needed to fork someone's house.  She had a young friend visiting for the weekend which just made it all the more fun.  Of course, she REALLY had to twist my arm to do this.........

Here's how it went down.  We got 144 plastic forks (we wanted more, but we ran out of money); not spoons...not knives, but forks.  We got a few other things too, but I'm not going to mention what that was......some might find it.....well....sordof.......uhhh.....possibly offensive, so we won't go there.  Anyway, we then proceeded to dress in black, put black camo on our faces; hop in my black car with the illegally tinted black windows and drive over to this "persons" house in the black of night.  "Wanda" thought we ought to do it at midnight, but I reminded her how old I was and that I planned on being in bed asleep at midnight....so we compromised on 10:00 pm.  

As we pull into the neighborhood and "scope" out the house, we work out the plan.  Since this was my " first forking" (quit laughing!!!), I was relying on my two teenage friends to walk me through this process.   We stopped in front of the house....saw a TV on in the front room....lights on in the back of the house.....Wanda tells me to turn the headlights off on the car.  Here's where Snag #1 happened.   They are on "auto" and I've never turned them off before.  They wouldn't go off.  I turned and turned the knob; the windshield wipers came on; then the interior lights came on.......errrrrrr.....the girls are squeeling & I suck at this stuff!!  I just knew my teenage friends wouldn't take me out with them ever again.  Finally got the lights off, pulled forward to the next house and turned the car off.  They reminded me not to slam the car door when I get out......which I successfully handled; when I hear two car doors slam nearby.  I quickly turn around to see Wanda and her friend slammed their doors.....were they just toying with me?????  I don't know. 

Anyway, with fork boxes in hand; other items I'm not mentioning in my pants pocket and shirt, we head to the front yard.  We didn't want to get too close to the house in case they had a motion sensor light, and we started forking the front yard (prong side down) all over the yard.  The unmentionables were hung from the mailbox and trees and lining the driveway.......WAY FUN!!!

Why forks, you ask??  Well, they say its because when the "fork-ee" goes to remove the fork from the yard the next day, it will usually break off and make it difficult to remove from the ground.  Seems a little odd to me, but hey, this is the same chick who chose to streak up and down a major street as a teenager instead of TPing someone's house.  My point being; some things are never to be understood...

As we ran back to the car, giggling the whole way and feeling invincible, we decided we need to get some pictures of our work as we pass by at 50 mph.  Wanda had camera in hand; flash on; car in gear as we drive past the newly forked house.  FLASH, FLASH, FLASH as we sped past..........TOO MUCH FUN!  

I can now mark "forking" a house off my Bucket List...........