Saturday, October 31, 2015

Halloween, Bees and RV Repairs, Etc

Halloween

I am already back from trick or treating at the park office.  They all wanted to see me in my costume and have been talking about it for two days.  They thought I was cute and others driving by also thought I was adorable.

Cooling off after my trick or treating.

 Bees

 Yesterday, Mom got stung by a bee!  She was changing her shirt and felt a pain on her neck.  She went into the bathroom to look and saw that her neck was red but didn't see anything but something but two black specks.  She then felt something on her shoulder and she saw the bee. She screamed.  I got scared but wanted to help. She told me to stay away while she killed it.  She iced it and put a pain reliever on it.  Today, her neck is swollen around the bite.  She has iced it, put baking soda on it and tried some other remedies, but it continues to get worse.  It is warm to the touch.  I think she just need to leave it alone.

RV Repairs

It has been a struggle getting the four items fixed.  We thought everything would be fixed yesterday, but a wrong part was ordered.  We will update this at a later date. 

Mom noticed that we had a water leak under the sink yesterday afternoon.  She could see the leak, so figured it wouldn't be too hard to fix.  It has been leaking for a while though because it did get our basement (compartments outside) pretty wet.  That is not good.  She put a pan under the leak and Dad fixed it when he got home. 

We do have one more thing that Dad will have to fix this weekend.  Our washing machine is having issues.  Mom thinks she may have left some money in her jeans and that may have clogged it.  It has clogged before so she knows how to fix it.  However, it is a job that Dad needs to do because it is in a cabinet and the cabinet needs to be taken apart.  He doesn't want her do it.

Moving

Tomorrow, we are moving sites.  They require people in the pull-thru sites to move every 21 days.  We will move two sites down.  Dad will pull out of this site and then back into the new one.  It will take us more time to secure everything than to actually make the move.  It could be worse, we could be having to find another place to stay.

We do like it here.  The people are all nice and we are very close to things.  There are events in the fairgrounds.  Last weekend, we had fireworks.  It looked like they were going to come into the RV.   There is a haunted house for Halloween.  We can hear the music and the freaky voice and some screams when we walk at night.  Next weekend, there is some sort of Hawaiian festival.

Birthday

Tomorrow is my birthday!!!!  I am going to be 8.  Mom says that means I will be a senior.  I have been changing a lot lately.  Mom thinks it is more because I am an only dog than being a senior.  I like to cuddle with Mom on the couch now.  Actually, I like to be with my Mom all the time.  She says I am her "Baby Boy".  I am not sure what we are doing to celebrate other than moving.

Relaxing outside

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Enjoying California Weather

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

The Folks Visited Alcatraz

The folks toured Alcatraz on Sunday.  They took a ferry to San Francisco so that they could avoid the traffic and parking fees.  The ferry fee was $12.80 round-trip per person.  It was a definite savings since it cost $9 an hour to park in the garage and the folks would have been there about four hours.  The downside is that you have to be on the ferry schedules and not on your own.  Mom wasn't thrilled about that since they had to make sure they made it to the ferry on time and then made it to the Alcatraz tour on time and then vice versa to get home.  They were early each time, so it wasn't an issue although they did have to cut their time a little short at Alcatraz so that they could get back home to me at reasonable time.  I really wanted to go with them and when they came home, I howled.  BOL!

Seeing the Bay Bridge from the ferry.

Port of San Francisco

San Francisco from the ferry.
The folks stopped for lunch before their Alcatraz tour.  They ate at the same seafood place that they ate at last week at Pier 39.  They knew the service was quick and the food was good.  Mom had a cheeseburger this time. Dad had clam chowder in a bread bowl and calamari. 

 The ferry dropped them at Pier 41 and the Alcatraz tour started at Pier 33, so they had a little bit of a walk.

The boat that takes visitors to "The Rock".

There it is!
 When you arrive on the island, a National Park Service employee gives a brief speech about Alcatraz.  Before Alcatraz was a prison, it served as a fort. Construction began in 1853.  It closed in 1907.  It had been used as a prison during that time though.  During the civil war, Alcatraz was used to house prisoners.  Later, Indians were imprisoned here.  During the Spanish-American War, military convicts were sent here.  In 1934, it was re-opened as a federal penitentiary. 1,545 prisoners did time here.  There were five suicides and eight murders.  They were not buried on the island. There were 14 documented cases of attempted break-outs.  Only one was successful.

A 17 minute film is shown to visitors discussing the history of Alcatraz.


View from Alcatraz.


Dad wondered what came first, the fence or the tree?  Mom did not know the answer.


The morgue

Water Tower - In 1969 - Native Americans declared Alcatraz theirs. In 1971 - the final Native Americans were removed from the island. Their painting on various items remain, as on this water tower.
 It is quite a hike up to the cell house.  It is said to be the equivalent to a 13-story climb.  Mom said it wasn't as bad as she was expecting.  She saw some women wearing heels.  She does not know if they made it.
The first stop for inmates - clothes, shoes and bedding are picked up.


The showers.
 This is where the audio tour begins for visitors.  Headphones are given to each person and then you listen as descriptions of each stop are given.  Mom said it was really good.  There were sounds of inmates, sounds of cells slamming.

A cell.
 
View of the cell house.
 



A cell from the "Hole".  This is where inmates who were really bad stayed.  Another door closed after the cell making it dark.

The library.

View from library.
Some inmates painted.
Some crocheted.
 
 



The painting near the back is of the Golden Gate Bridge. They could see it from a small window that was in a hallway.

This is probably the view the inmate used to paint the Golden Gate Bridge.
 
Control room.
Uniform that officers wore.

Warden's House- It was burned down in 1970 when the Native Americans were living on the island.  It is said to be haunted.
 Families of the correction officers actually lived on the island.  The children took a ferry to school each day.  They families said they felt safe and many did not even lock their doors.

The lighthouse.  It was the first on the Pacific Coast and has been in operation since 1854.  It only had one service interruption and that was in 1970, when fire destroyed the lighthouse keepers' quarters and disrupted power to the light.


Model of Alcatraz.

View of the city.

 
In 1962, three men did escape from Alcatraz.  They made dummies to lie in their beds and they escaped through the vent in their cells.  They used raincoats as floatation devices.  Many assumed that they drowned, but new evidence has been found that says the Anglin Brothers actually did escape to Brazil.  The History Channel aired a show last night that showed the evidence.  I watched it with Mom and it was very interesting.  Here is a link to it: Alcatraz: Search for the Truth.




One of the men who escaped worked as a prison barber.  He collected the air in the cuff of his pants and used it on the dummies.


The end of the cell "streets" all have different names such as Times Square and Broadway.

Pots in the kitchen.

The cafeteria.

Another view of the cafeteria.

The canister at the top right is full of tear gas.  There were several in the cafeteria but none were ever used.

Notice the outline of the knives.  This helped them keep track to make sure knives were not missing.

 

Guard House
Guard Tower
The ride off the island.
Mom said she wishes they would have had a little more time to explore the island.  There are supposed to be some really nice plants and a lot of birds on the island. 

The cost of the tour is $31 a person and you must buy tickets ahead of time.  It is supposedly rare to be able to buy tickets the same day that you are visiting.  Mom bought theirs online about a week before the tour.  The folks really enjoyed the tour.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Really Wanted To See Alcatraz


Home Again - Part 3

 Well, we just realized that we didn't finish telling you about the rest of our trip home.  I don't know if we even remember the res...