Our memory is a mysterious thing. I have, along with kazillions of other people, recently gotten involved with Facebook. And here's an interesting thing that I have discovered. I knew it before, but this brought it home.
When I remember someone, I remember them as they were the last time I saw them. Not really surprising, but this includes their age. If the last time I saw you you were 8, then I would always think of you as 8, even though I KNOW that it's been 20 years since I've seen you and you can't possibly still be 8. You'd have to be like, 32, wait, that's not right. 8 + 20 = 28. Yeah. 28. That's it. You'd have to be like 28 years old. You might have gotten married and had kids or hijacked a plane or something else that normal 8 year olds don't necessarily do.
And yet there is still a bit of a surprise when I see a picture of a 28 year old that was 8 the last time I saw them. Weird, huh. I wonder why that is. And here's another thing. My Dad has a full head of hair that is completely gray now. But if you asked me to bring my Dad to mind, his hair would be sort of salt and peppery. Even though I see him nearly every year and it's been completely gray for some time now. Again, I wonder why that is.
So I'm sitting in Gary, IN right now, gonna finish this up, maybe watch some TV on Hulu and go to bed early. I'd like to be rolling about 3 or so but I'm not setting the alarm. I haven't been feeling all that well for a few weeks now and I'll wake up when my body says it's ready to wake up. My wife said though, that it would be very helpful if I was home tomorrow by 5:15. Preston has a Dr's appointment. Now get this. She says I should be home by 5:15, but his appointment is at 5:15. And it's 35 minutes away if the deer aren't running. Does she have some new form of transportation that I don't know about? Maybe one that travels at the speed of light? Maybe that's why her headlights aren't working.
The police never showed up Saturday night. I called them and told them it wasn't an emergency though so I shouldn't wonder. We had some pretty good ice in town and folks were sliding everywhere. One of said folks slid into my yard and hit the guy wire that supports the telephone pole on the street lawn. They didn't bust it, but they did pull it out of the ground a little and frayed the wire some. I figured somebody would want to know about it. Hence the call. Maybe they came after I went to bed.
Sheila and I are disappearing this weekend, so if I don't post before that I may not post again til next week. It's been too long for us to have some time together and we figured the easiest way to do that was to go away from home where nobody can bother us. We're not going far. Probably to Columbus and just getting a hotel room. We'll see. Sharing a room with two of your kids sucks, but it looks like that's about to change. You may see me walking down the street with a new spring in my step. Ok, that's it. See ya next time.

OH MY WORD!

Can we get any busier? Life has just been ridiculously busy. I seriously do not know how single parents do it. We both have been running like crazy for the past three or four weeks and it's all I can do to keep going. I get home in the afternoon, and it's run here and then there and then back over here and then...by 7 pm I'm ready for bed. Just wishing I could crash.

Haven't been feeling good lately. One of those colds and coughs that doesn't make you sick enough to stay in bed but just wears you down.

So what's new?

The door on my pickup broke...again. I've jury rigged it a number of times, and did so again this time. But I'm fairly certain this is the last time. After this comes a new door. The sheet metal where the door latch is attached is too thin and the door is so big that it rips the sheet metal after too many times shutting the door. So what's the magical number? Don't know what it is, but I hit it. In the past I was able to fix it so the door shut good and I just had to be careful about shutting it too hard. Now, it won't shut all the way. It'll latch but you get a lot more wind noise. I need someone to run into my door with their car so I can get it fixed. Any takers?

Hana just called a while ago from town and said the headlights on the van won't come on. Not sure what that's all about. We've had a problem with the dash in that van for a few months now. The van runs just fine. It's just that every now and then, the dash gauges will quit working. No speedometer, no fuel gauge, nothing. We're lucky Hana or Sheila hasn't run out of gas yet as a result. But Hana's been good about putting gas in it when she thinks it's getting low. The gauges will be off for a few days and then voila, they're back. No rhyme or reason to it. Oh well. It's paid for.

Both mine and Hana's cell phones have been eligible for upgrades for a while now but we liked the little 8300 that we both had and just hadn't upgraded yet. I've been looking at that Blackberry Storm and dreaming a little and this past week the time came. Several planets aligned for this to occur. The tax refund came back, my phone started acting up, and Verizon had a special, buy one Blackberry, get the second one free. So being the primary line on our account, I was able to get a pretty good discount for the Storm, and then got Hana one for free, which really cheered her up some from the funk she's been in since she lost her special Princess, and canceled the broadband card that I was using in my laptop while I was on the road. I can tether the Blackberry to my laptop and use that as my broadband access. So I've been trying to get the software on the computers and get it all to sync properly and figure out the tethering deal. I guess I got it working cause I'm using it right now.

And Tuesday we had two new foster kids arrive. Hopefully they will be able to be here for some time. Two brothers, nine and six. The younger is autistic and so we'll have a little bit more learning to do about how to best help him? I may be calling on you, Anne, for some tips. They seem to be pretty good kids overall, and once we get them in the school, which should be next week, things should settle down quite a bit. But the ages fit right for them to share a room with both Preston and Isaac and so it appears, let's not get our hopes up, that Sheila and I may get a room to ourselves again. Wouldn't that be nice? I am not looking forward to moving two boys into my room, Hana into their room, and Sheila and I into Hana's room, but basically, I just do what I'm told. Mostly. Why not just a two room move instead of three? I don't know either.

I think I'm going to bed. Goodnight.

Princess

My wife is not a complainer. Never has been and probably never will be. So when I ask her how her day is going, 9 out of 10 times the answer is fine or okay. So I knew something was up yesterday when I called her back in the afternoon, a couple hours from being home, and the answer I got to that question was "Not so good".

We had spoken earlier in the morning and the answer at that point was "I've had better days".

See, Princess had spent the night in the kitchen because she had been having diarrhea. Sheila thought it was over but apparently not. She woke up to about 15 puddles of diarrhea all over the kitchen floor. When we spoke, she was trying to laugh about it and not let it gag her down. I told her to try to get Princess into the vet to see if they could find the problem. Then I signed off and we went our separate ways for the day.

So when I got the "Not so good" later in the afternoon, I knew something was up. Seems Hana and Sheila had taken Princess to the vet and the news was not good. The vet said she could run a bunch of tests but from what she was seeing it appeared that the diarrhea was a side effect of the pain medication that Princess was on. It's some pretty strong stuff and everything else we've tried hasn't worked. She would spend the nights getting up and down and whining and crying, too uncomfortable to sleep. The diarrhea would not go away as her system adjusted to the meds and anything else would not help her pain.

So, my wife and my daughter, over many tears, decided that Princess was suffering more than they could justify allowing. The time had come to allow her to rest in peace.

Princess was 14 years old. She had severe arthritis, was nearly blind with cataracts and was going deaf. She had lived a good and happy life andwas a great companion to our family and my daughter in particular. We were remembering her yesterday afternoon and we got her as a puppy when Hana was 8 and in second grade. Now she's 22 and a junior in college. Princess has been right there with her all those years, except for a couple three years or so when she lived with my parents. We had moved and were unable to keep her in our rental house. But when we moved again she came home to us. Thanks Mom & Dad.

Yesterday was not so easy. Actually, yesterday was hard. This afternoon I'm supposed to go pick up her ashes. Maybe things will get easier.

The Update You've Been Waiting For

I know. You couldn't sleep last night for all your concern over whether or not I beat the weather. Or whether the weather beat me. Or whether weather is...Naw. I can't keep it going.

The answer is no. I did not beat the weather. But not for a lack of trying. Good news is that I did get everything off the truck last night and got parked safe. The bad news is that I'll not be stopping at the Petro Truck Stop in Remington, IN at exit 201 again. That is unless I need to use the rest room. And even then, I may decide to...never mind. Let's just say, it was not a good experience.

The background: Last Friday I got to work to load trucks, fired up the three that needed loaded (mine being one of them) and coiled up all the electric cords. (We plug them in at night due to the cold.)I was gonna load mine first and so I climbed up inside and the first thing that greets me is the irritating alarm for the Low Air Warning. I glance at the gauge, the air should be up high enough by now to quiet the alarm, and I see that it is. 120psi. Right where it's supposed to be. What's the alarm for then. Wait. There it is. The computer on the dash says "1 Active Fault". The nice thing about these types of trucks is that it'll usually tell you right off what's wrong with it. So after pushing 5 buttons 37 times and scrolling through the diagnostic menu, not to be confused with the diabetic menu, I discovered that cylinder #5 had a bad injector. Sooo, my truck is going nowhere but the shop.

Luckily the weather was up a little and the replacement rig fired up even though it had not been plugged in, albeit with much belching, farting and smoking. Just like a few truck drivers I know.

Fast forward to Tuesday morning. I'm in a truck that is not usually mine, I'm loaded and headed towards Indy with great hopes of not getting caught up by the weather that was coming. I'm running south on 65 and my wife calls. I'm talking to her for a few minutes and then hear it. That distinctive bang that signals your day has just gone in the crapper. A quick look in the side mirror confirms this as tire strips are flying out behind me.

It was then that my wife heard me say some things she does not normally hear me say. And yes, I did apologize later.

I pull over, creeping down the shoulder til I can see a yardstick and then try to figure out the nearest town. Crap, my map is in my other truck. I call the office, gonna have them look it up, but they can't tell by the mile marker alone. Don't ask me. Finally, I see an exit ahead, Remington, IN. The boss is on the phone. Good news. He tells me there's a Petro at Remington and they have a garage. Cool. I'll call you back when I'm on the road again.

So I pull up to the garage. Tell the lovely lady that I have a flat on the trailer and after gathering all the pertinent information she tells me to put it in door one. This I do.

Now here's where it gets interesting. There's one mechanic on duty. Two others are on the clock but they are out on road calls. And this one mechanic just started eating lunch. Knowing the importance of a meal, I do not hurry him along. I wait patiently in the truck. He finally comes out and gets started as I check the weather again and see how I'm doing.

I hear the air wrench that these guys use to take our big lug nuts off. (The ones on the wheels! Get your mind out of the gutter.) But it sounds as though they are not coming off. You can tell when the nut breaks free. After listening to this for a bit, I get out and see if there is a problem. Not that I can fix it but if I'm gonna be a lot longer, I need to let some people know, right?

And here's where it gets interesting. The mechanic tells me he does not have a socket for these nuts. WHAT!?! Here is a garage with 5 bays where they can do hundreds of different repairs from changing light bulbs to rebuilding engines, and they don't have a socket that will fit my lug nuts? Now I know what your thinking, but no. They are the same size nuts as the vast majority of other trucks have. Nothing special. So he's trying to get them off with the next size higher. And now I'm concerned he's gonna bust something. My confidence is waning fast in this fellows abilities. And the fact that he moves at the speed of frozen custard is not helping.

This should be a thirty minute job. I mean, I'm in YOUR garage. You don't even have to come to me. I brought it to you! Seems the socket that he needed was in the road repair truck. They went to NAPA and tried to buy another one, but NAPA didn't have one, apparently. So we waited til the road repair guy gets back, and then my repair starts.

The expected thirty minutes turned into an hour and forty-five minutes. RIDICULOUS! Needless to say, I was not happy. And by now I know that I will hit the bulk of the weather by the time I get to Indy. The truth is that I hit it a while before I got to Indy and it was bad from there on.

The one thing I was grateful for was that it had not been raining on those roads first. That would have been a nightmare I would have parked long before I did.

But I made it to Dayton, an hour and a half late after having started out almost two hours early, and then made it to Columbus, two and half hours late. Oh well, what ya gonna do?

By this time it's bad, traffic is light but what's there is crawling, 25-40 at best and I hear that the road that gets me to the truck stop I was planning on parking at is closed. Crap. So it's back across Columbus to the west side where I have two options to park. One behind a Wendy's in actual truck parking or an old warehouse that's up for sale. But if it's for sale then there's no plowing contract and we're supposed to get up to 10 inches which could stick me fast. I opt for the Wendy's. It takes a little maneuvering but I finally get in there amongst the others, out of the way, not in a legitimate spot, but I'm in the corner and everybody can get around me. I'm done.

The weird thing is that I sat there, in the seat, staring out the window for probably ten more minutes, listening to the weather band on the radio. Doing Nothing. Just Sitting.

I think they call that "detox"?

Anyway, I was parked, empty and safe. The boss calls me today after I woke up. Sit tight he tells me. They got hit harder than Columbus did and the road into our plant wasn't plowed at all. No way could I get the truck in there. So here I sit. Again. Still. Behind the Wendy's, (God Bless You, Dave Thomas) with a full belly, and a good broadband signal. I'm warm and safe. Other than being home with my family, I couldn't ask for a whole lot more.

As my mother would say, I'll be home tomorrow, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

Racing the weather

I'm in the garage of a truck stop in Remington, IN. Another blown tire on the trailer. Big major winter storm is running west and should be in Indianapolis by 3. It's 12:40. I'm a hundred miles from Indy. I need to get in front of this thing. Got to get to Dayton and Columbus. If this storm stops me I may be stopped for a while. It looks like a big one. I just want to get to Columbus this evening and then get empty. Then it can do what it wants. I'll watch Hulu.com after that.

Daughter's dream

My daughter was mad at me this morning.

She had a dream last night that I died and my spirit possessed the minivan and wouldn't let her drive over 50 mph.

She was not happy.

When I die I'm gonna ask God if He can work that out.

Stream of Consciousness

As with nearly everyone else in the country, it's been way too cold here as of late. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, not because my hands are sore though. It's just been going on for so long. It was 14 below when I went in to work yesterday. Had three trucks to load and got two of them started. They didn't want to start, but after much belching and groaning and smoking, (the trucks, not me) they finally got running. One straight truck refused to run at all. So the boss is gonna come in on Sunday when it's supposed to be warmer and see what he can do. The straight truck only gets one tub on it anyway so it's an easy load.

Today is supposed to be better. It's 3 degrees right now but we're supposed to get up to 22. Yeehaa! But the wind is blowing which is putting the wind chill down around 25 below.

I went to the doctor last week, due to regular, frequent, screaming, make you cry and then throw up headaches. She diagnosed Cluster Headaches. I get a series of them once or twice a year that lasts about 5 or 6 weeks and then I'm fine. But when they come, well, I'd do anything to make them stop. The good thing is that the headache itself only lasts about 30 minutes before it's gone. And she was not happy to hear that the best way for me to get rid of them is to sit on the porch and smoke a cigarette. But she understood why that works. It's a result of the constrictive actions of smoking. It constricts your blood vessels and that seems to clear the headache out. She gave me some stuff to take for the next cycle, since it appears I am out of this last one, plus she suggested a change in my regular meds to discuss with the family doc. She also told me that smoking is the biggest aggravater for cluster headaches and told me that I have to quit, even though it seems to help them go away, it actually makes them worse when they get there. Went to the family doc on Thursday and made that med change. All is well so far.

Went down to Columbus yesterday and picked Ben up to bring him home from college for the long weekend. He is really enjoying it at OSU. On the way home he was telling me all kinds of stuff about his school, how big it is, how diverse it is, what kind of food they have, how far he's walking. Sounds like this is a great thing for him. But I sure did miss him while he was gone. His girlfriend and a bunch of his friends were over last night so it was pizza night and Sheila and I sat and watched "Bangkok Dangerous" with Nicholas Cage, (meaning he was in the movie, not sitting there with us watching it), while all the kids watched other stuff elsewhere and played on the computer. It was a good night. It was also a good movie, even though, as usual, I had to rewind the last 20 minutes because I fell asleep before it was over. Don't take that as an indication of the quality of said movie. I fall asleep in all movies. Doesn't matter where or when. At home or in the theater. That's why I don't go to the theater. Why pay $7 for a nap. I can get one at home for free. Although I did make it all the way through "7 pounds" when Sheila and I went to see it a couple weeks ago. That was a good movie.

I was supposed to start announcing this morning for Upwards basketball, but they cancelled the games due to the bitterly cold wind chill factors that we were expecting.

So that's pretty much it. There's not a whole lot else going on. I still have a job, thank you God, and I still have my wife, thank you God, and I still have all my kids, can I get some help here, God? Actually, I am very thankful for my life. It's not perfect. I would love to be in Texas right now. But apparently, I am where I am supposed to be right now.

So...until further notice, I'll keep doing what I'm doing, and going where I go, and all should be well.
But I am not cleaning out that litter box anymore!