Because of work commitments, I was unable to attend the Scarecrow and Mrs. King 30th Anniversary, so I asked my good friend, Dava, to write a recap of the events. Thank you, Dava for taking the time to write this. 

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SMK 30TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION TRIP 

Written by: Guest Blogger Dava 

DATE: October 4 - 5, 2013 
PLACE: Beverly Garland Holiday Inn Hotel, Los Angeles, California 
EVENT: SMK 30th Anniversary Reunion 
ATTENDEES: 58 Fans of the Show, Bruce Boxleitner aka Scarecrow/Lee Stetson, Martha Smith aka Francine Desmond, Greg Morton aka Jamie King, Myron Natwick aka Dr. Smyth, Richard Herd aka Jake (Photo Finish), and Dennis Duckwall, Producer

FRIDAY: October 4, 2013 - WB (Warner Brothers) TOUR A group of about 50 of us met at the WB VIP Tour Lobby.

We saw a short film about how Warner Brothers Studios was started. It was very interesting, and I learned a lot. We then split into three tour groups: A, B, and C. I was in tour group B. Our tour guide said it was group B for "Boxleitner" or "Bruce" or his name "Brad".

Brad was an excellent tour guide and had watched Scarecrow and Mrs. King "The First Time" and a few other episodes so that he could discuss the show with us. We were so excited when we saw the stairs that Lee/Scarecrow comes down in the opening credits. We also saw the stairs to Nedlingers (stairs may have been at "The Ranch" below), grassy area that was Rock Creek Park, and the wooded area used for "Utopia Now".

Our biggest surprise was we got a special tour of "The Ranch". "The Ranch" is part of Warner Brothers lot, but down the road. It was an outdoor walking tour. We saw & took a tour of one of Amanda's houses. I took a picture of the bookcase and gate door. It was so cool standing in Amanda's living room. We also saw "Harry V Thorton's" balcony where he had put out the flowers for Amanda (Tail of the Dancing Weasel), "Sonia's" house on (Stemwinder), and the house where Amanda squirted the hose to take out the bad guys (Fearless Dotty).

SATURDAY: October 5, 2013 - THE 30th EVENT AUTOGRAPH SESSION AND RAFFLE: The doors opened at 9:00 AM for a three hour autograph session. Autographs were $10 each which you were given a ticket for. There were also $5 each tickets for a raffle drawing to be held later in the day. You could buy as many tickets as your money would allow. Each star was at a table and you went to that stars line. Of course, Bruce's line was the longest. I went to each line getting autographs from each star. Bruce and I being friends caught up. We had not seen each other since November 2012. I found all of the stars very warm, funny and gracious. The first three hours flew by. At 12:00 PM, we broke for an hour for lunch. The afternoon session resumed at 1:00 PM for more autograph signing as well as the raffle drawing. I actually won a raffle. I won some SMK trivia cards, some fanfiction stories and an old program from the SMK 20th Anniversary. I was thrilled to win anything. The next three hours also flew by and we stopped for a two-hour break before dinner. Dinner was to be at 6:00 PM. We all went to freshen up and get dressed up for the evening dinner. Stars had a room at the hotel to rest.

DINNER: We entered the dining room at 6:00 PM and went to each table to find our name card. I was seated at Martha Smith's, Francine Desmond, table right next to her. We were told that dinner was served buffet style where you go up to get your food yourself. It was an Italian themed dinner. We had a green salad, several pasta dishes, antipesto dish, marinara dish and chicken picata. Cake was for dessert. Martha was very gracious and wonderful. She asked us where we were from, what was our favorite SMK episode and our favorite Francine moments. She giggled and was lovely. Martha's favorite episode is "Life of the Party". Because Martha's birthday is coming soon, she was surprised with a birthday gift and chocolate birthday cake. Bruce presented her with her "gift". Yes, it was a feather duster. She laughed when she opened the gift. They brought out the chocolate birthday cake with three candles. We all sang to her, and she blew out the candles. I asked her if she loved chocolate as much as Francine did, and she said "Yes". HA

DINNER ~ VIDEO and AUDIO: We were treated to a short bloopers video (no, not for sale anywhere... sorry), a video tribute from Beverly Garland, Bruce and Martha to Mel Stewart. A video tribute to Sam Melville from Bruce and Martha. The audio was a message from Kate Jackson that her friend and assistant, Mike, had personally delivered to us just for the event. Bruce and Martha were very moved by Kate's words, as were we all.

DINNER ~ Q&A: Question and Answer session included Bruce, Martha, and Greg. Richard Herd, Dennis Duckwall and Myron Natwick had left. They joked that two microphones were needed or Bruce would do all the talking himself. Various audience members asked questions. Greg was asked a lot about being a child actor. Martha was asked about her wardrobe and how she softened towards Amanda as the show went on. Bruce was asked about his stunts, locations, etc. Lots of laughter and fond memories by the stars and us as well. This lasted until midnight.

Bruce went outside before he left and hung around. I was able to get a few minutes of private time catching up. He also chatted with others. They said their "goodnights" to us. Then my roomies and I went up to our hotel room. Goodnight all.

I thought it would be interesting to have other fans of Scarecrow and Mrs. King blog about the show and describe the influence the show had on their lives. Valerie jumped to the challenge and wrote a piece introducing herself. If others feel the desire to share on the site, I welcome them to contact me. 

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Hi everyone!  Most of you probably know me.  I'm a wife and a mom.  I have worked off and on over the years and have enjoyed getting to know people.  I'm a people person.  I love making friends.  And I keep secrets with the best of them. . . 

I have had many things happen in my life that have made me sad.  I was a silly kid.  If I could go back, I wouldn't have spent so much time crying.  After all, life has turned out okay.  I have some pretty amazing kids and my husband isn't too bad either. However, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and Kate Jackson and Bruce Boxleitner kept me feeling more than okay when I felt lonely or sad during my growing up years. 

When Anne asked if I'd like to write some things, I started typing.  That was over a week ago.  I've written a ton.  But deciding where to start was hard.  Until now.  On Facebook, everyone is giving people numbers.  Anne posted a list.  That's when I realized we have quite a lot in common.  This is my list (I won't post it to Facebook).

Had a referral to see an electrophysiologist last week to discuss whether or not I was a candidate for catheter ablation, because I have gone back into atrial fibrillation again and the cardioversion (where the doctor uses a defibrillator to shock the heart back into normal rhythm) is not keeping me in normal sinus rhythm. A few weeks ago, I had an echo-cardiogram and based on the results, we can go ahead with this procedure. My other choice is to do nothing, continue to take beta blockers and a baby Aspirin everyday; however, someday, I will have to go back to being on blood thinners. The main symptom I have been struggling with extreme exhaustion. I am tired all the time and just don't seem to have any energy to do anything. Not that I am too thrilled to have this procedure done. 

With a catheter ablation, the doctor places a series of catheters into the thigh that goes into the blood vessels and is advanced to the heart. Then they "freeze" or terminate a faulty electrical pathway from sections of the heart. 

Catheter ablation of most arrhythmia has an extremely high success rate; however, because of my history, and length of time I have been in a-fib, the doctor estimates a 60% chance he would have to do this procedure again in a year or two. I was really hoping for better numbers. 

It's a fairly invasive medical procedure. Nonetheless, I would only have to send one night in the hospital under observation and he said I should be able to resume normal activity in about a week. I am not too thrilled about having to go back on blood thinners for several weeks before the procedure and for a period of two months after. I will also need a CT scan in the next few weeks. Nor do I really like the idea of doctors poking and prodding in my heart.  However, after weighing the pros and cons all week long and I think I have decided to go for it. 

There is a posting status going viral on Facebook, where if you like a status, you are given a number and based on the number given, the person tagged must wrote a list of things that most people would not know about them. I was given number 7 and then number 9 for a total of 16. Therefore, here are sixteen random things most people do not know about me. (Except Ed, who told me he knew every single one). 
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1. I hate spaghetti - it's worms in red sauce to me. 

2. I much rather drive a manual transmission than an automatic. 

3. I love to travel, but hate to fly. I get super nervous days before a flight and won't eat the day I am flying out. 

4. I have been accused of being a spy (twice). I would make a lousy spy. I am terrible putting names with faces. 

5. I have all 88 episodes of Scarecrow and Mrs. King memorized, but could not tell you what I had for breakfast yesterday. 

6. I am super shy and I hate talking on the phone. However, I work at a job that requires me to talk on the phone and converse with strangers. 

7. When I was ten, my parents moved us from California to Oregon. I was mad at them and swore I would move back to California someday. That has yet to happen.

8. I rather read young adult literature than any other type of fiction. I love all the Harry Potter novels and have read the "Little House" and Wilson Rawls books close to 50 times each. I also love anything written by Walt Morey. I had a fantastic librarian at my middle school who invited Walt Morey to come speak at our school. I was beyond thrilled to meet him and get his autograph. 

9. I met Ed at a movie theater. We both worked there. I worked in the box office and he was the projectionist. He did not like me very much at first and threw away my application. I showed him - by marrying him. 

10. My favorite colors are blue and green, but when it comes to cars - they have to be black or silver. 

11. I could eat pizza five days a week. 

12. My iPod is a complete random mix of just about every genre of music, but mostly I love anything from the 80's, Country music, Musicals, Barry Manilow, and "Boys" bands (i.e. Backstreet Boys and Westlife). 

13. When I was a teenager, both my sisters played the violin. When family and friends asked if I played an instrument, my dad would reply, Yes, the stereo." All three of my boys play instruments and I still play the stereo very  well. 

14. I love Veggie Tales!! "If you like to talk to tomatoes. If a squash could make you smile. . . "

15. I believe everyone has some sort of attention deficit. Put me in the middle of a math class and my mind is off daydreaming. I always feel like I have to be doing something and usually multitasking at that. I am constantly reading (menus, back of cereal boxes, headline news, etc.) or if in a real creative mood, I will write fan fiction and sometimes dabble in screenwriting. Most of my stories focus on espionage. 

16. When I was younger, I was terrified of trees. The scene is Poltergeist, where the tree breaks the window and grabbed the boy, Robbie, from his bed was the most terrifying thing about the movie, as I was witnessing my childhood nightmare. Damn you, Steven Spielberg! However, must have grown out of my fear, as we now live in the woods and we are surrounded by trees. 

I found this Visited States Map link on Defocus Blog and thought it might be fun to create a map and then post. 

I've been to most of the States; however, I have yet to visit Hawaii and I am missing a handful of the southern States. My parents loved to take vacations and go camping, especially when it came to visiting the national parks. I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to travel "from sea to shining sea" twice - once by car and another time on Amtrak. Great memories. 

Bonus: I also added a few of the Canadian Providences and Territories I have visited, too.