Yes, hay fever season has started in NW Ohio. I’m not sure how bad it will be yet, but I have noticed additional sneezing and the itchy, watery eyes. My typical reactions to the Mid August weather.

Now I’m not complaining about this, it is something I’ve lived with most of my life. I’m used to the end of summer sneezing. No, I want to say something about the Optometrist I just went to. Actually not the Optometrist, but one of the office assistants. I’m not sure of their actual titles, but that really doesn’t make much difference.

Here is my story. Question 1 was “Is anything bothering your eyes?” Answer, “Yes, it is hay fever season and my eyes are irritated and watery.” Question 2: “Do you want to replace your glasses with contacts”. Huh!!??? I just complained of irritated eyes, and the very next question is do I want to put some foreign object in them? I’m sure it was on a list, but don’t people think anymore? I guess not. Anyway, the questions continue, and I’m asked again if I would be interested in contacts. I guess they didn’t hear the answer the first time they asked.

I have a feeling that contacts are a big money maker for the Optometrist and staff. To be asked this question twice, and get a rather strong no the first time, it kind of makes me wonder.

The rest of the visit went without incident, so I hope they now have on my chart that I really don’t want contacts. I did wonder though, do they make “reading” contacts? So far, that is the only thing I need my glasses for. Distance vision is still pretty good. They are putting me in glasses I will wear most of the time though. May be better anyway. I always forget to take them places, and that sometimes leads to some problems.

As a Christian, I believe we, as individuals and as a country, should put our trust in the Almighty God.  That’s why I was a bit disappointed to see that, though not a majority, a large number of people in this country do not believe this trust should be shown on our money.  This is the email forward I got today.  I removed some of the message, such as email addresses and other comments except the last.  Yeah, I know- where have I been.  Well, I’ve just been taking a break I guess.  Regular posting will resume soon.

MSNBC is taking a poll on weather we should remove In God We Trust from our currency.   Thought you might want to give your opinion too.  As Greg says a little lower, I am saddened by the results of this pole.

Here’s your chance to let the media know where the people stand on our faith in God, as a nation. NBC is taking a poll on ‘In God We Trust’ to stay on our American currency. Please do it right away, before NBC takes this off the web page.

.

MSNBC poll is still open so you can vote.

.

VOTE SEE RESULTS HERE:

https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

I was one of the “Brave and foolhardy” souls that went through Ghostly Manor three times. I really enjoyed my trips through the haunted manor. Now I will admit that there were a few things that startled me, all three times we went through the manor. This is one of the best haunted houses I’ve been through. The 4 actors in the house did a wonderful job keeping us on our toes. This is a slow period for them, so they could pay attention to the groups that went through. To startle us more, they would pop up in different areas than the last time we went through.

This house is definitely a high budget, top of the line haunted house. The animated figures, and amount of work that went into this house are top of the line. I will have to admit to having a self serving motive for going through three times. Our Little theater (see links on the side) is in the process of planning our own “Haunted Tour”. Not the normal haunted house with dark mazes and tight winding hallways. We don’t have the budget or manpower to pull that off. We need ways to scare people that have more to do with theatrics, and less to do with the hardware. If this group of actors can’t scare people, I don’t know who can.

I think I found a few things that gave me pause during the tours, that could be done on a limited budget. On the second third trips, I was able to concentrate on the hows, wheres and whys of the way things startled me. The first time through I was letting go, just to have a good time. I think we even thought of ways to improve the house we went through. May have to go back to see if they listened.

Yep, I was also at the wild animal park with a couple of other bloggers on Tangent’s. Check out their stories here and here.

I had a lot of fun on my latest trip to the African Safari Park in Port Clinton. This year was a slightly different experience for me. Number 1 it was the first time I ever took my own vehicle into the park. Number 2 was that this year I had back window that could open all the way. My very first experience with this park was back in the 1970’s. They still had lions in an area you could drive through. Having lions right outside your vehicle is something else. I’m sure the insurance cost and the safety of the animals brought this practice to an end. As much as I like the big cats, I think this is a better park for not having them there.

Now on to what they did have. Lots of Elk. To have one of these large members of the deer family stick their head in your vehicle is really something. To have 4 of them at once, that is beyond belief. Of course they do want to be fed, and are looking, and smelling for handouts. One even took a whole bag of carrots, but we got them back, I don’t think she liked the bag.

Then there were some smaller deer and antelope roaming the area. They were a well behaved when compared to their larger brethren. They seemed a little bit shy this year, compared to last year’s visit. Maybe they were just well fed and had no need to come up to the cars and trucks.

On to the American Bison, and very large cattle. I had the “pleasure” of going face to face with an American Bison on the ride through the park. This does tend to make me a bit leery, since I know someone who has a bison ranch, and I’ve seen first hand what one of those animals can do to a truck when they want to. These bison seem very friendly, but they do have terrible breath. They really seemed to like walking with the vehicles as they drive through. We had one that was only interested in the carrots, and would not take the other dried pellets the park sells. The cattle were something else. I saw two types, both had very large horns, but one had very long hair. My youngest called him Ludo last year, because he reminded her of the Large creature from the movie Labyrinth. We did manage to save a carrot for him. The other two long horned cattle had horns about 4 to 5 feet long each and the base was at least 12 in circumference. Big horns. That did stop these fellows from sticking their head too far into the truck, but they had very long tongues to make up for that.

Then on the the area where the other animals were enclosed away from the vehicles. Among these were Giraffes, Zebras and a Giant Eland. Even they got close to the fences looking for handouts.

Everything about the early part of the day was great fun. Everybody got to get as much of the animal experience as they wanted, and I think we went away happy. A little damp, from drool, but happy.

And I got a photo of me with a rather large snake. Not that I really think these would make a good pet for me, but I am strangely drawn to these fascinating creatures.

I’m trying to find out the names of the large cattle, hopefully they are on the brochure. They don’t appear to be on the website

After the drive-through animal safari (see my previous post).  We were SO ready for dinner, but instead, we headed to Ghostly Manor in Sandusky, Ohio, hoping to beat the Saturday night crowds.  It’s weird because it’s a haunted house that’s open year-round, and it’s in the middle of a roller skating rink / arcade.  You pay your admission, and then you wait in line for your doom (insert evil laugh here).  Someone raps at the door to signal your turn in the haunted house, and let’s be honest – it’s so much better than we could ever do at the haunted house (or haunted tour, as we are calling it) that is planned for October’s weekends in Williams County Ohio.  But, we have a teeny-weeny budget, so how can we possibly compare?  Also, we cannot have narrow corridors (nor the “birth canal hallway”; something they had that I was not thrilled with, but would be a very scary tool if we could work with it.  But I wouldn’t want to really try because it totally seemed like a lawsuit waiting to happen…), so that makes it a different type of haunted house to begin with.  But anyway…  they say it’s the 4th scariest in the nation and I believe them.  Although I have to admit to being curious about the top 3 haunted houses on that list…  what is so scary?  Let me know which haunted houses are rated the scariest; as soon as you find out.  I do know that while traipsing through Ghostly Manor, I grabbed my husband’s shirt (he was in front of me), and I didn’t let go…  I let him lead me through the birth canal, past the skeletons and falling maggots, and I actually pushed him (hard!) past the vibrating floor boards (another something we can’t do because of low budget).  He ventured through the lair several times after that without me, and I don’t know what his experience in the Ghostly Manor was like without my pushing, shoving, and screaming, but he said it was better with me along…

Either way, it was a really fun day, and we came home with lots of ideas for our haunted tour.  Ours will be touring in October, so check it out on October 10-11, 17-18, 24-25, and 31-Nov. 1 in Bryan Ohio.  See ya then!!!!!

Thus sums up the life of John McClane the anti-hero of the four action packed Die Hard films. The latest (I can’t believe I have not seen it before now) Live Free or Die Hard could as easily gone with its working title of Die Hard 4.0. NYPD senior detective John McClane (played as always by Bruce Willis) is aided by a twenty-something computer genius to stop the evil plans of a cyber-terrorist group to totally disable the nation’s computer infrastructure. Led by another computer genius (Timothy Olyphant) with a chip on his shoulder, the villains succeed in taking control of much of the East Coasts transportation, finances, and utilities. This is a three-pronged plan called a “fire sale.”

Next to the original, this is the most interesting and action-packed episode of the bunch. There is a mixing of the old school philosophy of shoot ’em up and pick the bad guys off one by one with a snide one liner (McClane’s signature line “Yipee-ki-yay, _____ is muffled in a key sequence). However, the addition of the detective’s reluctant assistant (played by Justin Long, the “Apple Guy”) brings a touch of new school action as the duo attempt to stop the nefarious scheme.

While the first two films centered the action around Christmas, this adventure takes place on the 4th of July holiday, convenient when most of the government is off. Speaking of the government, it always seems that in these movies, the federal agents are portrayed as nitwits who always call in the local law enforcement to handle the catastrophe at hand.

The best thing to me about the series is that there is no hiding the fact that Bruce Willis ages between films. He is no longer the spry actor he was when he saved his estranged wife from the huge skyscraper in the original Die Hard. He is bruised and battered but still keeps ticking especially when something personal is at stake.  McClane is not disposable and not needing to be replaced with a fresh face every other film.

The action pieces are not bad, either. There is sooooo much going on this time that not two minutes go by when along comes another cliffhanging moment. Cars flying at you in a tunnel, seemingly defeated villains popping back up for one more slug-fest. My favorite involves a police car doing battle with a machine-gun firing helicopter. Not to mention the antagonist’s frustration at McClane’s apparent immortality.

So, action fans should not be disappointed in the latest installment of this entertaining series.

Only BLOCKBUSTER Total Access let’s you Rent Movies Online with the Flexibility to Exchange In-store!

Well, school starts on Tuesday, so for one last summery hurrah, we ventured over to the coastal cities in Ohio on Lake Erie for some fun.  First stop was the African Safari Park in Port Clinton, which is really more of a drive-thru zoo than anything having to do with Africa.  They do have zebras, giraffes, and camels, but most of their animals hail from North America.  It’s always an extremely fun experience, and we try to go every year.  Since this summer was very busy with the new baby and all, it didn’t occur to me that we hadn’t gone yet until I struck up a conversation with a really nice elderly couple at a restaurant the other day.  When I asked where they were from, they replied, “west of Cleveland”, so that got me thinking about the Safari Park in Port Clinton.  On the way home from the restaurant that night, I said to my husband, you know, we haven’t been to the safari park this year…  An idea was hatched, and there we were on Saturday with 6 of our closest friends.

Saturday morning was almost like a one-act play with all of us standing there on our front porch, trying to figure out who was going to ride with whom; we were trying to find the best way to do things to be as economically (and environmentally) friendly as possible…  We ended up taking just 2 cars for the 12 of us, and then once we got to Port Clinton, it was like musical chairs (cars) once again while we tried to figure out how to position everyone to get the most bang for our buck, so to speak, since the safari place charges by carload and by individual…

So anyway, after a stop at Cheese Haven In Port Clinton – and now I have to go off on yet another tangent because Cheese Haven is SOOO good and totally worth a stop if you’re in the area.  And what I mean by “in the area” is anywhere up to 100 or even 1000 miles, depending on how much you like cheese.  They have so many varieties, along with fresh jerkies and beef sticks and other yummy treats.  We stopped there to get our lunch of corned beef sandwiches – and they have the best corned beef sandwiches, yum.  Unfortunatlely, I was not wlling to take 4 kids into the cheese store to run around, so I was stuck in the car with the kids, but my oh-so-thoughtful hubby talked the worker into making me a sample bag (which they’re not supposed to do, you only get the free samples if you go into the store, but hey, I was stuck in the car), AND he made my sandwich for me – how sweet 🙂

Ok, tangent aside…  now we’ve arrived at the Safari Park, and it is SO crowded…  Makes me think twice about going there again next summer unless it’s near their last weekend of operation like it was when we went last year…  I mean, I just can’t stand waiting in line to go to the bathroom, of all things…  Waiting in line is not much fun at all, but when you’re waiting in line to do something as necessary and as unrewarding as going to the bathroom, it’s really annoying.  So, because it was so crowded, it took us forever to get through the drive-through zoo part; although not as long as it took the other vehicle in our caravan because they were stuck behind an obscenely slow white van the whole time…  So while we got out of the drive-through section, they had barely just begun…  But the whole park is a really cool place; even more so if you don’t care about the vanity nor cleanliness of your car since there are some rather huge creatures (including deer, elk, elands, buffalo, zebras, giraffe and longhorns) who drool, head-butt, lick, slobber, and basically invade your car as your drive through their habitat.  I think you must truly be an animal lover to appreciate the place since you come out filthy…  This was the first time we had been there in our new car, but I’m happy to report no major damage, that I know about, at least; but what’s this about driving our car through a pond, jamiahsh?!?

We’ll get to the bottom of that later…  when you come out of the drive-through part, it’s time for the walk-through zoo section, and there they have monkeys, macaws (military, not green-winged as the sign said), ocelots, warthogs, alpacas, and tortoises; not to mention rides for the kiddees: ponies and camels.  I noticed that they had 2 camels for riding; one was resting while the other gave the rides.  But interestingly, one was a Dromedary and the other a Bactrian camel, the difference between the two species being mainly in how many humps they had…  My daughters rode the Dromedary (1 hump), and they really seemed to enjoy themselves – I wonder if riding the Bactrian (2 humps) would have been any different?  I was envious because I’m no where near the 125 lb. weight limit, so I’ll probably never get to ride a camel…  After that, we got to check out an animal show, ironically titled “Laugh With the Animals”.  It was ironic because our host for the show was so dry – she had the audience doing everything but laughing…  It was a fun show, though, and something that we hadn’t yet done at the park in our previous visits.  Overall, an interesting day…  as it is anytime you have 12 people on an outing together!

If you liked reading my synopsis of the day, check out my fellow tangents.org blogger and get Jamiahsh’s take on the whole thing.  I’m going to take a lesson from him and blog this in 2 installments…  got to leave the readers craving more, so they say!  Check out my next post for a full summary of our visit to a year-round haunted house – Ghostly Manor in Sandusky, Ohio!  Until then…

Following the African safari, we drove the short distance to Sandusky, Ohio (home of THE Amazement Park Cedar Point, but we will save that for another time, hopefully soon). In order to get some spirited inspiration for our “Guided Haunted Tour” (it IS NOT a haunted house) and to have a good old-fashioned scare, we went to the Ghostly Manor Thrill Center. It is much more than a mere haunted house (more on that in a bit). For the less inhibited, there are a few video games (Deal or No Deal, that I have commented on before), roller skate and scooter rentals, and a 3D ride-through theatre that I was told was enjoyable.

HOWEVER, the MAIN attraction was indeed the manor itself. Only five (including taylhis) of us dared to enter the macabre, evil, frightening house of terror. Three of us even were brave enough to make two return trips. On the first trip through the unknown, I was brave enough to face the evil that lurked inside first. Everyone else stood behind me hoping that I would lead them all safely through the fright-fest. Along the way, I heard the others scream my name. Was this fear of the things they saw and that I was the only one who could possibly protect them from the ghastly creatures that jumped out and the other eerie things within the bowels of the manor? I will say yes. I AM FEARLESS LEADER…. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Finally, we escaped the fifteen minutes of sheer terror.

On the subsequent trips, my two brave compatriots (justj and C) and I decided to attempt to come up with some ideas for our own extravaganza. However, the actors inside decided to have some fun with their repeat guests. There were only 3-4 performers inside. Somehow, they knew my name as at least one of them appeared and stated it in a ghostly voice throughout… and commented on the absence of some hair on the top of my head. “I think you left something back there… ARRRR!!!” The remainder was GOOD animatronic devices, eerie noises, spooky things hanging and dripping from above along the way, confining corridors, and appearances by at least one horror character and one monster that resembled the Rancor from RETURN OF THE JEDI. The most terrifying part for me was the moments in which you knew something was going to happen to scare the WOOLY SHEEP out of you and the suspense was gnawing at you. I LOOOVE A GOOD SCARE!!!! No wonder Ghostly Manor is ranked amongst the top Haunted Attractions in the nation. So, if you are planning a trip to Cedar Point, be sure to keep some time open to visit Ghostly Manor…. It’ll scare the yell out of you. Be advised, I would not take the very young nor the easily frightened. But, if you do, there are things to keep them occupied as well.

It’s a pity I did not know about our trip sooner, I could have asked my cousin and his wife (who lives in the Sandusky area) if he would like to arrange a visit with us.

WOW… WHAT AN EXCITING DAY!!!  A bunch of my EXCELLENT theatre friends and I took the short (?) road trip to Port Clinton to the African Wildlife Safari Park.  It was a very fun place to visit as you drove through a trail on which not only do you see a variety of African wildlife, but you also ENCOUNTER them.  Elk (baby as well as adult), zebras, monkeys, giraffe, gazelle, longhorn steer, and don’t forget the buffalo, and LUDO who was a friend of the friends I traveled with.  I am told that Ludo had gotten along in years since their visit last year and was not nearly as active.  Alont the trail. most of the animals come to your vehicle to check out who was trespassing on their turf and to perhaps snatch a quick snack (of carrots or whatever was in the cups that were purchased at the starting gate.  Quite an interesting experience having a buffalo stick his head in your car and leave his calling card of drool and stench.

I made two journeys through the safari.  On the first, I sat in the back of the van with no operating windows.  In order to get the full impact,  a brave woman and I ventured out alone to brave the wild beast.  Armed with the remaining four bags of carrots that I had purchased at Wal-Mart earlier that day, we circled the perimeter once again.  I was really waiting for the hairy beast of buffalo to sneeze inside the car; thankfully, this did not happen.  Carol and I seemed to have taken longer going through the tour the second time (still not as long as it took our companions in the other vehicle the first time).  At times, a multitude of baby elk  seemed to be congregating  right in the middle of the road, blocking oncoming traffic.  Our solution, blare the horn  and make a speedy dash through a small  pond.  Maybe that was the strange feeling encountered later concerning the van’s “pick up.”  Near the end, the giraffe decided to be more sociable and ventured to the stream of cars.  The presence of carrot vendors along the path may have had something to do with that.

Following our hair-raising excursion through the faux African  wilderness, we rejoined our  companions at a show featuring  a few of the other animals  at the park: a cockatiel named Sydney, a chinchilla, a hedgehog, a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, and a boa constrictor.  Following the show, a few of our brave troop had a photo op with the snake.  For a great time apart from the ordinary trip to the zoo, take your family (we had a 5 week old along with us and the next oldest who is nearly 2 seemed to enjoy herself visiting the animals) for an African safari.

In my next post, I will continue on our fun-filled extravaganza.

Earlier this week I heard about someone from Georgia (State in US, not the Country) found a body of what they believed to be Bigfoot. They said there would be press conference on Friday (today) that would explain everything, and be proof positive of Bigfoot’s existence. You did not see a blog on this earlier, because I believed they were all wet. After the press conference today, my mind has not changed.

I would like for someone to find Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or a Yeti, but so far there are only a few blurry pictures and some anecdotal stories.

While I contemplated that story, I remembered a short story about a guy who brings a College football player from Tibet. I couldn’t find it anywhere on the web, so I will have to hunt through my collection of books someday. I don’t recall if they ever said the player was a Yeti, but it was hinted at very strongly. Good short story for me to remember it for this long (years).