Aaron Ewer

My mother-in-law has decided to start traveling and I’m really glad that she is finally start to get out of the house. It’s been 2 years since her husband passed away and she’s had a hard time getting used to the idea that she is, in effect, single again. Thankfully, my father-in-law made generous financial arrangements for her, so she can enjoy her life in her golden years.

She wants to go to California and I was telling her about some of the sights to see in the Los Angeles area. She is going to spend two weeks on the West Coast and that will give her plenty of time to do fun things. For example, there’s amusement parks like Disneryland and Knotts Berry Farm. I let her know there are ways to save money on her trip if she plans ahead, such as discounts on Knotts berry farm tickets.

I let her know that she can do a lot of research on sites like the one by Trusted Tours & Attractions, and to read their online travel guides, which can give her lots of ideas and help her plan a realistic itinerary and trip budget. She can also sign up for their email newsletter for more travel tips and ideas.

The last time I was in the Los Angeles area, I had trouble getting home. At the time it was a little stressful but now I can laugh about it. I was flying on a ticket that required a stopover in Detroit before continuing the return flight back to Washington. I had spent a ton of money on the trip to California and was flat broke but figured I wouldn’t need any money because the ticket was paid for and I was heading home.

I was anxious to get home, with a wedding to attend the next day, and planned to sleep on the 5 hour flight so I had nothing with me except what was in my pockets. After we all boarded the plane, we sat on the runway for an awfully long time and eventually the flight attendant announced that we were being delayed due to a mechanical issue and that they were in the process of checking it out. Then they cut off the power to the passenger cabin and we all sat on the plane, on the runway with no lights, no air conditioning and no air circulation for 2 hours. We were all trying to be good sports, but OMG - it was horrible. Especially without any air. I was about to lead a revolt to get off the plane when they finally put the power back on and we had air again. After a 3 hour delay we suddenly lurched forward and the seat belt sign came on and off we went.

The worst of it was not having the air conditioning, but besides that by the time we got to Detroit to make the connecting flight, we were so late that the connecting flight had already left. As a matter of fact, ALL scheduled flights had already left Detroit and there were no more planes leaving Detroit that night to go ANYWHERE. So here we were, a planeload of people wanting to go home and no way to get there! Plus i was stone cold broke and had no money for dinner or even a vending machine snack. The airline made arrangements to send us to local hotels for the night and we were able to catch a red-eye flight in the morning. But that was a rough return trip and I learned a couple travel lessons from that experience:

• Never spend all your money at your destination and have no money in your pocket on the return flight. You might need to buy dinner or a toothbrush if you end up spending the night someplace unplanned.
• Never book the last flight out. You might miss that flight or it might be canceled and you’ll be stuck someplace overnight. Always have one or two alternative flights following your scheduled flight as a safety net.
• Always have a book or laptop fully charged to keep yourself occupied in case you have to sit and wait for a couple hours.

Funny how we were just talking about this the other night and then yesterday I come across a story in the daily newspaper about the very same thing: concocted words.

I hear words in everyday conversations that drive me nuts because there is not such word. For example: conversate. I’ve never heard a white person use this word in a sentence but I hear it more and more and it gets under my skin so bad I want to slap the person using it and put a “stupid sign” around their neck.

The press is guilty of a lot of this concoction. Words like “Brangelina” and “Baby Bump” are ridiculous and yet these smiling talking boobs toss them about in all the celebrity gossip shows and columns. I’m so sick of it!

Read these forum comments from the Chicago Tribune site for other concocted words. You will be surprised at the hundreds of responses to their question, “What made-up word drives you nuts?”

Last year’s vacation to New Jersey is pulling at my memories this week. It’s been a year ago this month that we were enjoying our family beach vacation at the Jersey shore right before school started. We had a glorious week at the beach and all of us came home tan and happy, with our internal batteries fully recharged.

There’s a lot to be said for quality family time away from home. My own parents felt strongly about taking the entire family on road trips up and down the East Coast as we were growing up in the 70’s and 80’s. we went everywhere from Orlando and Disneyworld, to Virginia Beach, to Gettysburg. But our favorite spot was always the beaches in New Jersey and the Wildwood attractions.

If you’ve never been to the Jersey shore, you are missing out on great family entertainment. Morey’s Piers has all the amusement rides, concessions stands, concerts and water parks that any kid or any age could want. Morey’s Piers offers different weekly specials and has three different amusement parks:

• Surfside Pier
• Mariner’s Landing
• Adventure Pier

Each different park has different rides, including kiddie rides, thrill rides, and a variety of boardwalk fun and food.

The Wildwood area has a variety of lodging options, from cheap hotel rooms to beachfront efficiencies and condos. We used the internet to set up our whole trip, found the perfect hotel for our family’s budget, and it was a great time for all of us.

This summer has been really buggy. I have seen bugs and critters in my daily life that I have either never seen before EVER or some that it’s been years since I’ve seen them in the wild.

Last night a weird little creature landed on the yard swing for a few minutes and contemplated its next landing zone. It looked like a combination of a dragon fly and a bumble bee. I have never seen anything quite like it. And have no idea what it was. It flew off across the yard before I could think to pick up the cell phone and snap a photo of it.

Saturday night I was at a vending machine busy dropping quarters into the coin slot and noticed something moving at the rear of the machine. In a moment a creature slowly emerged, climbing the wall of the building behind the vending machine. It slowly crept upward and as it emerged from it’s hiding place I realized that it was a praying mantis. Now folks, I have not seen a praying mantis in the wild - EVER and the only one I’ve seen in my whole life was in my high school Biology class.

Now we are having issues with fleas on my dogs. We have not had fleas in the house or on the dogs for years. I don’t know why all of a sudden all of the dogs are digging and scratching and fighting fleas. we gave them all a bath with flea shampoo last night and tomorrow I’m going to have to stop by the vet and pick up a better flea fighter for them.

In this part of the country, August will be the hottest, with high humidity and temperatures that can range from the upper 80’s to triple digits. Last year there was a full week of temperatures that topped 100 degrees and very little rain, which brought about water shortages in various parts and an outcry for fans and room air conditioners for the homeless and disadvantaged.

This year we have been lucky to have most days in the 80’s and only a few in the 90’s. At the moment it is 92 degrees with dark skies and the stillness in the air that precedes the summer thunder storms. The hot weather doesn’t usually other me much, but the air conditioning in my car has gone out, making the commute a little uncomfortable.

I took the car to my mechanic and had him run a check on the A/C system. That set me back 4 hours and $80 for the diagnostics and a squirt of freon. But the truth is, the condenser is on its last legs and my mechanic says I need a new one ASAP. He says he can’t even guarantee that the air conditioning compressor will last the rest of summer. But hold on to your wallet, folks - the estimate for him putting in a new one is $1,800.

This sent me right to the internet to check out the prices of an a/c compressor for my car. Found a site with a handy search tool and I went right to the page with information on the BMW AC compressor. Now that I see the cost for just the compressor runs about $500 I’m not so worried about the repair estimate. But this also gives me the information I need to go back and haggle with my mechanic to get the price down.

If you have any tips on shopping for a/c compressors and getting them fixed, give me a shout. For now, I’ve found a decent web site for parts pricing and that’s worth checking out if you are having the same problems that I’m having.