About Me

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I am retired and like to travel by motor home across the United States and Canada. In the winter I hope to spend more time with my WIN (Wandering Individual Network) friends in the California and Arizona desert. I know my trip reports are having too many details, but I am writing them for myself, if anybody else enjoys them, that is fine too.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

St. Patrick's Day Outing 2011

3-14-11
The Convair Camping Club has their annual Saint Patrick’s Day outing at the Guajome County Park in Oceanside.
Chappy, Dottie, Doreen and I are the wagonmasters. This evening we had heavy hors d’oeuvres for dinner.























After dinner we sat around the camp fire.
Doreen decided to go in our motorhome. After a while somebody told me that Doreen is calling me.
I walked around the motorhome and there she was, on the floor. She had fallen backwards from the step.
I called 911 right away and in a short while the ambulance arrived and the medics carefully moved her on a board like contraption.
I followed the ambulance to Tri City Hospital. There they performed a cat-scan and some other tests.
A second cat scan was needed, but because Doreen is on blood thinner, it could only performed later.
At 1:00 AM she was told that Kaiser, our HMO, decided to transfer her to the Trauma Center at Palomar Hospital in Escondido.
I went back to the motorhome and tried to get some sleep.

3-15 11
I managed to get four hours of sleep.
At 6:15 AM I got up and prepared the coffee and muffins for the group.
Then I drove to Palomar Hospital to see Doreen. She was still waiting for the results from the last cat-scan . She was told it would be either an operation or a brace.
When Sandra, Doreen’s daughter, arrived I went back to the park to prepare for the evening meal.
I had cooked already the corned beef and only had to slice it and heat it up.
Denise and Dottie had peeled ten pounds of potatoes and some carrots. At 3:00 PM I started to cook the carrots and potatoes.
We had two broilers for keeping the food warm. The meat was in one and the potatoes, onions and carrots in the second one. Later, when the cabbage was cooked, I added it.
26 happy campers enjoyed the food. There were plenty of desserts to.













3-16-11
Doreen had good news. She did not need an operation and she was able to go home today.
I picked her up and brought her home. First we had to look for her cell phone. It must have gone with the bed linens to the laundry room.
On the way out we visited our friend Jean Sinclair, who is in a room two floors below where Doreen was.
Jean is not doing well and she needs hospice pretty soon.
After I dropped off Doreen at the house I went back to the park where we had corned beef sandwiches with salads and a lot of desserts.
After dinner I went home and slept there. Doreen is doing fine. She has a lot of pain and can’t move much.

3-17-11
In the morning I picked up the motorhome. In the afternoon Dottie and Chappy came by. They brought some flowers and some chocolate.
They are on their way to Temecula for the Bluegrass Festival. We were going too, but with Doreen’s fall we have to stay home.
The doctor told Doreen that she is very lucky.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Gemological Institute of America

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I am preparing a post about Carlsbad, California, for my blog.
While going through my pictures I noticed that I had none of the Gemological Institute of America.
The Institute is only a mile from where we live.
It is their world headquarters and they have a beautiful campus, overlooking the Carlsbad Flower Fields and the Pacific Ocean.
Students from all over the world study here to learn about diamonds and other precious stones.
I called yesterday and they had two openings for today’s tour of the facility.
This is the second time Doreen and I visited the GIA. We always learn something and the displays of those beautiful stones are fascinating.

In the tower is a giant diamond made of glass. Unfortunately the sun did not shine much and the colors are not visible. It is a fantastic sight with sun.
























The figures on this chess board are made from solid gold.












This machine has four pistons and heating elements to compress and heat carbon to high temperatures.
It was used for making synthetic diamonds.











These pictures are magnifications of precious stones. One cannot see the colors and shapes with the naked eye.












This is a diamond magnified.












These are the flags of the nations the GIA has campuses or offices.











Posters, explaining the composition of valuable gem stones, are on the walls of the hall ways.
















Those items were recovered by Mel Fisher from the Spanish Galleon Alocha.











Posters taken by GIA photographers are displayed throughout the buildings.













This coffee table is using a giant geode as support. It is a beautiful piece of furniture.











Doreen and some large crystals which are on display in the GIA museum.











This post is too large to incorporate it in my Carlsbad post, so I keep it separate.