Not So Recent Random Thoughts and Events

Started this about a month or so ago...way back in September...been kinda busy with packing, moving, starting a new job, unpacking, etc....but I wanted to finish this out. Cause it's important.


I feel bad that I have not finished all of my Ireland blogging. I feel that by posting something else before I am done I am all out of order and kinda cheating my Irish holiday out of the respect it deserves. But, the thing is, there are other things that have gone on that demand attention too.


The last weekend in August, I was invited to join my friend Rich, his wife Carrie, and son Richard at a concert in Tuson at the Rialto Theatre. It was an Americana Band called Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. Americana is kind of rock and kind of country. So I seized the opportunity and threw on my very chic cowgirl boots. Cause this girl loves her boots and doesn't get the chance very often to wear them. It was a nice time and so fun to be with friends, but this is the part that I want to tell you about... The theater was standing room only and we had moseyed our way down the crowd to a respectable location. You would think that the worst part of the night would be when the drunk chick beside me spilled her beer on me. But no, that wasn't it. It was a few minutes later, when the drunk guy on the other side of me turned and his left elbow brushed my hand. Let me describe his elbow...it was the most bristly and coarse thing I have ever on my skin! I immediately cringed in disgust and got the heebie geebies. I was confused! Wait, was this a human elbow that touched me, or was it a pumice stone? I convulsed! There was a look of shock and horror on my face as I explained to Rich what had happened. Rich is one funny dude, which is one of the countless reasons why he is on my "forever a friend" list. He spent many of the remaining moments of the concert trying to slyly scratch my arm or hand to recreate the haunting dry skin moment. We made jokes about the texture of the drunk dude's elbow. Has this man ever heard of lotion? Does he walk on his elbows? How does a person's elbows get so dry that it feels like 20 grit sandpaper? Or the brush you use to clean your barbecue grill? I seriously can NOT believe how repulsive this elbow was to me. Ick, ick, ickarama. Please bless that someone tells this man he needs to moisturize. And add this to my list of things I want in a man: normal elbows.


I have watched Jon & Kate Plus Eight a few times, but every time I watched it I always felt bad for Jon because Kate was pretty much a jerk to him. I was embarrassed for him because of how she treated him, and I can only imagine that it was worse off-camera. Because of this, I didn't really like to watch the show. It's a sad and regretful thing to see any family dissolve, and this situation is one more testament to my dislike for reality shows. I don't know what really happened in their marriage. I don't know if there was cheating or other awful things, I only know what I saw on TV. And what I saw didn't make me think much of either party. I didn't think Kate was nice to her husband or the father of her kids, and I felt sorry for Jon for putting up with her constant mistreatment. But let's be honest, the real victims here are the kids. There are countless shows they can watch which details their mom constantly belittling and putting their father down. Their are video clips of their father rolling his eyes at his wife and clearly being unhappy. Now there are media reports, lawsuits, news shows, etc. that try to paint one or the other as the villain. Hey 8 kids, how is that for a legacy to live with?

I also had the fabulous opportunity to spend an evening with a seemingly nice young man named Krobert Rocket. His last name is quite fitting because he is a rocket scientist. He is seemingly nice because there is a little known fact that he is a bird killer. Yeah, he likes to crank birds right up into the grill of his rental car and see how they fare. They don't do to well. Poor innocent birds! My cousin's husband was down in Chandler on business, and he couldn't resist coming to the House Big to see for himself what all the nonsense and fuss is about. Read about it here: Stick that in your oven!

I must say that it was a lovely evening, and I highlighted the best of Casa Grande by taking Krobert to the recently incinerated train depot, a driving tour of historic downtown, the cemetery, the stench of the dairy farms, the south side, Colonia Del Sol, and then to help even out the ghetto side of the tour, we ended up at the Promenade - the regional mall, for some dinner and desert on ATK.

It was perfect timing because the depot was permanently demolished less than three days later. Krobert was fortunate to see a piece of 70-year history first hand. Not many folks from Utah get that opportunity. It was also perfect timing because I bailed out of the infamous House Big a mere three weeks later. There have been few members of my family (immediate and otherwise) to experience the unique culture of CG in person - Mom, Bonnie, and Krobert. Though I am gone from there for good, I will always have precious moments to remember. Krobert and I laughed, we cried, we made the most of what was unbeknownest to me some of my last moments in Casa Grande. You can't top that. Unless he would have done it with pink hair.

CG Community Watch - Great Links!

The City's Webmaster, R² doubles as a photoshop comedian! Check out his latest photos, in celebration of finally linking the CG Community Watch videos up to the City's Website. "Great" has been the buzz word around the office since I coined it's usage on the first taping of CG Community watch in June. I KNOW you all want to watch the videos! If you watch both shows, they are promised to be GREAT and I am sure it will be the best spent hour of your entire week (possibly even your month).

Visit this page and scroll down to the shows titled:
Community Watch Rosa Bruce Discusses Casa Grande Housing Part 1
Community Watch Rosa Bruce Discusses Casa Grande Housing Part 2
AND
Community Watch Golf Course

The Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher are a stunning display of nature's ability to create something so majestic and inspiring that words are not capable of illustrating its existence. Irish fishermen have a saying that goes something like "There is no use knowing how to swim if you can't scale the Cliffs of Moher." If they look familiar, you may be thinking of the "Cliffs of Insanity" from the Princess Bride. They also make an appearance in Far and Away, as well as Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - how fitting then, that Megan and I saw Harry Potter while in Dublin.

The Cliffs are located on the west side of Ireland in County Clare in what is known as the Liscannor region. The O' Brien Watchtower, where the cliffs reach their highest point of about 700 feet, is the approximate midpoint of the cliffs and was built in 1835 to help accommodate the many tourists who visit the cliffs. At Hag's Head, the cliffs are about 400 feet tall and in total the cliffs extend for about 5 miles. About 1 million people visit the area annually. I know I have said this before, but the pictures just can't convey how amazing and beautiful Ireland is. But enjoy the pics and be jealous that Megan and I saw it with our own eyes. (Yes, I typed that last sentence with a devilish little smirk on my face.)

P.S. I'm finally acting like a real blogger with slide shows AND collages! Everyone has to grow up sometime.

Kylemore Abbey

Kylemore Abbey is one of the most beautiful buildings set against some of the most beautiful scenery you could ever imagine. A double whammy! Once again, though Megan did a fabulous job taking pictures, they just do not give justice to the real thing. In 1849 Mitchell Henry and his wife Margaret visited the Connemara area in Ireland and fell in love with what they saw. In 1867, Mitchell, who was hopelessly devoted to his wife, decided to build her a house and a half. Actually, it's kinda like 19 houses plus a city park. If you had a husband who absolutely adored you, he would build you a house so ridiculously large you would never be able to fill all the rooms. Seriously even if you do have nine kids, what are you going to do with 76 rooms? That's not the point though. The point is that this gorgeous building was completed in 1871 and included some Victorian Gardens which were complete with banana trees and other exotic species of plants he had imported. Unfortunately, Margaret died only a couple of years after the house was completed. Mitchell was so devastated that he just couldn't stand to be there anymore The house traded hands a couple of times and ended up with the Benedictine Nuns in 1920. The Benedictines fixed it up and now all the chicks who want to be nuns in the most fabulous place in the whole world for nunning come here. While we were walking around these gorgeous grounds, Megan kept on saying that she already lives the life of a nun. So do I, so we decided to apply to join the nuns. However, we couldn't be nuns and still go to the U2 concert at the end of the week, so we cancelled our nun applications and continued on with Plan A.

Here is a picture of Megan standing outside the front of the abbey.

Of course there is a loch (lake)! Because what would a magnificent house like this be without a loch for it to reflect off? (Assuming there would be some sun and a break in the clouds to cause a reflection. Sunshine is a rare thing in Ireland, but it does happen.)

See, there is some of that rare sun shining on the side of the mountain there!

Below are some pictures of what is inside of the abbey. There are only a few rooms open to the public and all the furnishings are quite ornate. I am pretty sure they didn't serve mac' and cheese at this dinner table.

And though I am not a huge fan of naked busted ladies on my fireplaces, I have to admit that the furnishing, architecture and decor in these rooms was breathtaking.

These chairs were so intricate, it is hard to imagine how they would have been created 150 years ago. It is crazy to me that that all this stuff was built before the world had Dewalt power tools and electricity.

There are about 6 acres of walled Victorian Gardens, and I felt like I was transported back in time to that book, The Secret Garden. There were some gardeners working and I swear their garden tools included scissors, tweezers, and a magnifying glass it was so well manicured.

The colors and flowers were brilliant and enchanting. I never realize how much I miss seeing flowers until I go somewhere that isn't Arizona and notice that flowers are real things that can grow in areas that are not labeled "desert."

Calla Lilies are Megan's favorite kind of flower, and here they are nestled right up against a patch of Lavender.

I have no idea what kind of flowers these little lilac colored bell shaped flowers are, but they were delightful! (Did I just say delightful? I did!? And they were. But by saying that I just came one step closer to turning into my mother or my Aunt Bonnie. To counter act that I need to either say a cuss word or something sarcastic.)

There is a reason why green is my favorite color - and you can see that reason in person when you go to Ireland. You can't see green anywhere in Casa Grande, except in the fountain out in front of City Hall where the algae grows because the dipstick who designed the fountain wasn't bright enough to include a filter. (There, something sarcastic, I feel much better now.)

Can't you just feel the slight breeze, a few stray raindrops and hear the birds chirping?

'Nog sittin' by the daisies.

Melinda sittin' by the daisies. Aside from the half-scowl/half-smile on my face, this is one of the rare pictures in the same pose that turned out to be just about as good as the one of Megan.

This cabbage was an amazing shade of purple. It was kind of a periwinkle color. Our hire car, O'Peri would have bleded in quite well with it.

Nothing quite like a picture of a butterfly and a bee resting on flowers in a Victorian Garden.

Yes, if I had a secret garden, I would want it to look like this. But I would add some sunflowers too.

This is the house that the gardener lived in. "Not too shabby!" (As Megan would say.)

Mr. Henry had to have banana trees shipped in. They are inside one of the many green houses inside the garden.

Here are a couple of short vids to give some of the pictures more continuity.

Breaking News

Breaking News - this just in!

Last night the Grand County Council voted unanimously (7-0) to appoint me as the County's next Council Administrator. I tendered my resignation with Casa Grande today, and my first day of work with Grand County will be September 28. I have less than four weeks to pack my crap up, find a place to live in Moab and get the heck out of the House Big!

This is an excellent career move for me, and after a few years of experience, my time working in Grand County will open up many doors for me. I am very much looking forward to the new challenges I will face, the new skills I will gain, and the new things I will learn. I am sure there will be moments when I will wish I was a lowly peon instead of being where the buck stops. I know there will be days I will be calling colleagues asking for guidance and advice - my boss Larry is probably gonna be programmed on speed dial.

I am very happy about being closer to family and friends. I'm also excited to be in an area where I can enjoy some outdoor recreation. I know life in such a small town will be a challenge for me - the closest WalMart is 118 miles away...in Colorado. Yes, I will have to leave the state to make a run to Wally World?!? My new WalMart will be General Dollar, and my new Target will be Family Dollar. And I am pretty sure that online shopping will be a necessary pass time - I will be adding ulta.com to my favorites list for sure.

Mom is 3 hours away, the sister's are 4 hours, and the nieces and nephews are between 4 and 6 hours away. Still much further than I would like, but at least we will all be in the same time zone. I'm looking forward to being on a daylight savings plan again, being able to buy pink cookies at gas stations, living in an area where they have rivers and not "washes."

If you like me and you like Moab, perhaps you will come and visit?

Galway Girls

Welcome to Galway, Ireland. This was our third stop along our wild Irish adventures, and probably one of our favorite places. Galway is a quaint little town over on the west side of Ireland.

This as our theme song for our time in Galway.

Please pay no attention to the fact that these pictures uploaded in a random order and I don't have the patience to rearrange them. Just be proud that I managed to make my second collage.

After three days of driving, Megan and I decided to let someone else do the driving, so we booked ourselves on a tour bus with Galway Tour Company. We had the most fabulous bus driver/tour guide, named Ray. He was funny, he was charming, he was single, he was way too old for either one of us. But he was loads of fun.

One of our first stops was Glebe Stone Circle. It's Ireland's version of Stonehenge. They believe that these circles were made for some sort of religious purpose, but there really is no way to be sure, to be sure. It is basically a circular formation of stones. In the sign you can see the Gaelic version of the English words. The Irish, being clever and brilliant, incorporated this into the name of the monument.

This is what is left of the stone circle.

Oh goodness, aren't these little guys cute? Sheep don't really smell good, but the baby sheep, the ewes, are super cute.

In the center of the photo in the background you can see a silo shaped stone building. This is a mass burial grave from the potato famine (1845-1852) There were so many people that died during these years, they had to bury them en mass to keep up with all the deaths. They said that when the blight hit the potatoes, which was the main source of food for the Irish, the population of Ireland was about 4 million. So many people died and fled the country (many immigrating to the US) that the population was cut in half. About one million died, and another million left the country.

The ruins below were probably and abbey or a house where the McHughs lived. The whole structure included a cemetery and chapel area were pretty well preserved.

Ray said that this is a statue of Bono. We thought that was funny - in a blasphemous sort of way.

I wouldn't mind being buried here. It's a bit better than being buried in Casa Grande's cemetery. You see, in Ireland you can grow real flowers. In CG, you get the ghetto fake flowers you buy at the dollar store. It's far less charming and serene, trust me. If you have any doubts, Krobert can also attest.

This is Larry the Leprechaun. He rides shotgun with Ray everywhere. But Larry, being the devilish little creature that he is, developed quite a crush on two certain American girls. So, he sat with us most of the time.

Here is a picture of Megan and Larry.

Now this is a picture of me and Larry. It pretty much ticks me off that Megan's pictures always turn out cuter than mine.

This is a picture of what they call "shop street" which is the main touristy and shopping area in Galway.

Megan and I had cute umbrellas. Here is a view of the canal in Galway. Unfortunately, we had to lose the umbrellas with the security people at Croke Park for the concert, but you can tell we put them to some good use before we did so.

This is the Roison Dubh (means black rose), which is a pub in Galway. The Galway Arts Festival, an annual event of music and theatrics was going on during our stay in Galway. Strategically planned, thank you! Megan and I were lucky enough to score some tickets for the concert at the Roisin Dubh, where Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club played. It was a fun little concert - very lively music with a mellow flare and quite unique. And it was good practice for the real concert.

McDonagh's is famous for their fish and chips, so we ate there. One of us actually ordered the fish and chips. The other one of us had chicken because they don't like fish, even if it is battered and deep fried. You see even though it is masked by cholesterol producing goodness, it still tastes like fish. If fish tasted different, say maybe like steak, one of us would probably be more apt to like it.

On shop street, there were all sorts of street artists - this is a sand sculpture, something I hadn't ever seen. But Megan and I are always up for cute dogs, even if you have to drop some Euro in a hat to take a picture.

This is a video of some guys singing while we were walking past a pub on Shop Street. Yeah, we had to stop because they were singing Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses by U2, a song we both love. So I joined in the singing and Megan took a video.

Please take a drive in the dirty rain with me, Megan and O'Peri.

Yeah baby, please enjoy a serenad by Ray via rear view mirror. He is singing the Rattlin' Bog - and did a bang up job! I told you he was darling. Did I forget to mention that he was amazing driving this buy on these teeny Irish streets? The man has some serious bus handling skills, like I have never seen before. He picked us up at our B&B in the bus and dropped us off at the end of the night. He was the best tour guide/bus driver. Ever. I wish we would have recorded his jokes about the sheep. Oh, the killer sheep provided many moments of laughter for Megan and I...if ya know what I mean. Kinda had to be there though.

I'm Not The Only One!

Apparently, I'm not the only one who has overused great while doing TV. Good to know.


Words You Love to Hate - cnn.com