Along with the random picture I may have neglected to mention the fact that the same night I had my little incident, I also won tickets to a Vince Mira concert.
These are some shots I snapped last summer when I was house sitting for my aunt and uncle. This is a wind chime they have out front.
Since I am in the process of switching to day shifts this week(and probably part of next week) will be random picture week. I will dig into my files upon files of pictures, and find some random shots to post here!
Today I had the intriguing experience of being on the other side of the fair fence. See for 4 years I was a showman out there, and always on the 'inside'. I would get up and be in the barn at 5 am and not leave again until 10pm. I rarely ventured out(except to show and use the restroom), so I did not see much of the fairgrounds.
I must say it was rather enlightening to be one of the 'public' out there. Though I never did make it to the barns, I did get to see all the displays and such which was rather nice.
Oh- and new schedule this week 6:15am till ????
Yesterday I received some horrid news.
They(Sci Fi, and MGM) have decided that they are canceling Stargate Atlantis.
Now I realize that to most people this isn't 'horrible news' but to a fan it is. This show is in the prime of its life, and is being shut down just when its really getting its own feet under it.
They also announced this morning that they will be releasing a new Stargate series in 2009- Stargate Universe. At the moment I don't know much about it, so I can't really comment.
On a brighter note- I bought and paid for my plane ticket to Burbank in November. So I am officially going to the Creation Burbank SG Convention!
See that giant scar up there? Yeah, the REAL story of how it happened is pretty embarassing(I'll share it at the end of the entry). So I need a good story as to why I have it.
Backround info:
* It is about 4-5 inches long, and a year old
* It's on my upper right arm
Current explanations include:
* So I tried to pay for gas with it but apparently they are only taking LEFT arms these days.
* I got in a fight- but if you think THATS bad- you should see the other guy!
* Oh, that? Its nothing, kid just tried to steal my machine, and I wrestled him for it- a little too close to the header(harvesting part)
So what is the REAL story, you ask?
Last summer, when I was working nights I came home after an extra long shift(about 15 hours), and crashed out in bed. My cat was sleeping next to me in the bed, and at some point during the day had a bad dream, during which she was fleeing some horribly horrible creature(or at least I hope it was horrible). During her escape attempt she decided to take a flying leap off the bed, launching herself from my arm onto whatever. I woke up and found this lovely gash, along with 3 smaller gashes from her toes.
A while ago I promised a friend that if/when I got a chance I would snap a picture of some of our larger slugs around here.
Now I live in the northwest and we are known for our rain, but right now it is our 'dry spell' *shhh!* don't let that out! So it is rather hard to find slugs.
That is until the other day, when I came home and found this little beauty lounging by my front door. Now I apologize for the cruddiness of the pictures but they were both snapped with my cell phone after a loooong night at work, then breakfast.
I estimate that he when fully stretched out was probably 6-7 inches in length.
This story shall be in the past, so close your eyes and imagine its 2003 again.
The date is August 19th, and its 75 blistering degrees outside, but inside, a squat white barn, you'll find two people decorating for a fair.
On the ground stands a man of considerable height, armed with his tool of choice- a staple gun. On the fence and wall you find a girl, her hair pulled back into a haphazard ponytail, her body carrying the fatigue of two straight weeks on the fair circut.
The man hands her the staple gun and she tacks another piece of random decoration to the wall, and hands it back to him. He takes it and moves onto the next enclosure on the other side of the opposite fence, as she starts to shift her weight from the fence she is balanced on to that one. As she sets her right foot onto the fence post, she feels it give way slightly, and suddenly she is slipping, falling through space, until suddenly she contacts the cold metal bar, fully astride it- hard.
The girl hoists herself off the fence and continues working through the quickly intensifying pain, until she can no longer bear it. She excuses herself to examine the damage and finds a large and growing bruise. Quickly she informs the man who decides that maybe they should head home, get her seen by a Doctor. As they speed toward home, the girl's pain growing more intense by the passing moments they stop, and pick up a block of ice. The girl tries to comfortably settle the ice on the injury, as the man speaks hurriedly into the phone, informing another of what had occurred. As the miles fly past the girls pain intensifies to the point she is screaming in a mix of sheer pain and terror.
The man decides home is too far and turns for the nearest emergency room. They reach the relative 'safety' of the place, and he wheels her inside to the admittance counter and explains what happens, as the nurse dismisses them saying it will be a while, the girl suddenly feels the urge to relieve herself, she informs the man who wheels her to the bathroom door, as the girl stands up he catches sight of the pool of blood below her, and suddenly she is whisked into the back.
The next while is a blur of nurses bringing her ice packs and questioning them about what had happened when finally a doctor arrives. By this time the girls mother had arrived, and was sitting anxiously with them in the small room. The doctor examines the wound, and informs them all that while he KNEW them, he would still have to transfer the girl to the *other* hospital for Women and Children as they were just not equipped to handle this kind of thing. The kind doctor sat down next to the girl who was floating high in a drug cloud and informed her that they would be Transiting her to the other hospital. With great hope and enthusiasm the girl looked up at him, and excitedly asked, "So I get to ride on the BUS?!" This question set the room afire with giggles, and guffaws as he calmly explained that no, they were going to give her another dose of pain killer, and load her into an ambulance.
Another period of time passed, and the girl was transported to the *other* hospital, where upon arriving under the medics diligent care, she was wheeled by the nurses station in the empty ER. As she passed the girl looked over, and calmly waved at all the assembled personnel, and exclaimed, "HEY EVERYBODY, How you doing?!" As this was quite the grand entrance, and them having all heard about what had happened, they gathered in and out of the girls room until she left for surgery.
She was in surgery for 4 and a half grueling hours, during which according to the doctor she almost had to be transfused. She woke up the next morning in the pediatric unit as the only walking(somewhat) and talking patient, there were 3 days of semi-blissful rest and recuperation before the girl was discharged and sent home to fully heal.
**The proceeding story is completely and totally true.
The Girl is played by me
The Man is my father
The Other woman my mother
And the ER doctor? Was an old high school classmate of theirs.
This is what a FULL bin looks like in the light of day.
Tune in tomorrow for the story of my worst accident ever.
After last night's(Friday) little 'incident' I DID go to work tonight(Saturday) and did fine. Though I was momentarily freaked out to find that our field had a random telephone pole in the middle of it to taunt me.
We worked a 'short shift' though our crew could have kept running though we didn't finish our field in time to move. So therefore we got shut down and sent home.
I blame the machine that ate a stake as it left us with 2 machines in an approximately 45 acre field. Of course having gotten on the proverbial horse again, I did most of the work. Go me!
This morning I was involved in a rather unfortunate accident at work. I survived it, and so did my machine, but my pride, and nerves are a wee bit shot at the moment.
See on Thursday we switched back to 12 hour shifts. So last night(Friday) I was working my second 12 hour shift on about 6 hours of sleep. Now normally I am fine with not taking breaks as it really disrupts my 'rhythm' at work. I got in my machine at 7pm last night and other than a couple of 'organic' breaks while waiting for pea trucks early on in the shift I didn't stop working except our early road move. We moved into a crap field that had been underwater earlier this year thus screwing it way up and making it hard to harvest. Add in the fact that we had 3 machines in a space that wasn't big enough, and you have lots of fun. So I was told when I requested a break that I could 'go do whatever the hell you want' so I went and knocked out the front portion of the field before assisting with the almost finished back. I was then lined up as lead viner for a road move at the end of shift(about 5:15 am shift change is at 6:30).
After last week's incident in which we took out power lines we have all been hyper vigilant about our bins being dropped for road moves. When I got in my machine I had yet to drop it, so the foreman had me drop it and we went on our merry way.
All along the way for some reason our viners were scraping crap that they shouldn't have been(read lines, trees, etc) and we mentioned this to our lead and our follow car but they said that there wasn't anything they could do about it.
Part way through our move and almost to our destination we recieved a call redirecting us from our original destination to a new one. We were given a road, we'll call J Loop, to go down. Well J Loop does what the name implies and loops around and connects to the main road in two spots. What we were not informed was that we needed to go past the first entrance to J Loop and turn onto the second one. So we reached J Loop road, and turned right onto it. This was now about 6 or 6:15 in the morning and was rather foggy and still semi-dark. So we are driving down the road and our lead car gets a ways ahead of me, and I am approaching some wires that look rather low so as is customary I slowed way down to pass under them. As I was passing under I heard a TINK! on my mirror, so I slowed even more, when I suddenly heard a TUNG* somewhere behind me. Not liking the sound I slammed my machine to a stop, and grabbed my CB and alerted the follow and lead car that "I think I nicked a wire" to which the machine behind me responded "YES". The guy from the lead car and the follow car all came running and had me idle down my machine, and sit there while they figured out how to de-tangle the wire. Meanwhile I was sitting in my cab not touching anything, bawling my eyes out.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity(was probably about 10 minutes) they determined the wire wasn't live and were able to remove it from my machine and very carefully direct me down the length of the remaining road and into our field.
It wasn't until about a half hour later in the van that I heard the full extent of the damage I had done. Apparently when I hit the wire it popped out of a barn, sending sparks flying through the air, and popping an old short pole(about 7 feet) and bringing it down onto a fence. According to the boys when I make things FUBAR I'm a wee bit of an overachiever.
*TUNG- the sound an empty coffee can makes when rapped on. Not a good sound on a giant metal machine that has just contacted power lines.
First off, is my machine starting up to go back to work and driving down the land. We were cutting diagonally across the field. The monitor shows that my barrel pressure is about 1,500 psi (which is very LOW) and my speed is 1 and a half miles per hour.
Second video is dumping. I didn't film this one, instead had my friend J the Truck driver do it for me. All the peas in the front of the truck bed, are MINE!
This video was taken the other night when I was full, and waiting for a pea truck to show up. I apologize for the lack of light but it was the best I could do.
So, I just wanted to take a moment and say:
HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY!!!! To my best friend Lacey!
I'll go have a drink for you ;)
Hope its everything you want, my dear, and then some. Just remember soon as you get that bun out, first rounds on me.
So today I had the honor of purchasing my very own first wine selection. I bought a bottle of Pink Truck Wine. This wine is made by the Red Truck Winery and was just delicious. It was very smooth and well blended with just the right top notes, and undertones. It is the perfect combination of sweet and dry, with a wonderful bouquet that doesn't overpower the taste.
I had heard many wonderful things about the Red Truck brand, but had yet to try it, and so was quite pleased to find it lived up to all the hype. I know I'll be purchasing another bottle(or 2) on my next shopping trip, as the one in the fridge is nearly gone.
For next year's 30th wedding anniversary bash that is.
Today is my parents 29th wedding anniversary.
According to my mother I am STILL the worst anniversary present she ever got.
Tonight the family took me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday and embarrass me.
They ordered me a margarita, that was big enough to swim in, and then proceeded to give me crap when I didn't drink it all. They(my father) also informed the restaurant that it was my birthday, little did I know he mentioned WHICH one it was. *sighs* So I was sitting there expecting churros, or some other dessert thing to be brought out to go with the sombreros and off key singing. No, that would have been too easy. Instead the restaurant provided me with a straight shot of tequila(that they literally poured down me).
Later that night my dad and I went out grocery shopping, since we weren't working, and I was going to buy my first bottle of wine. Well him being Mr. 'Expert' *pshaw* he recommended a nice Chardonnay. Ennh, it was okay but not my cup of tea.
So yesterday at work was quite eventful. Apart from ending the night with a mini birthday celebration, it was CRAZY!
So we arrived found out we were in the midst of another Plant Flood. Though this time we were told to fill up our bins(as we needed to get the heck out of the field and couldn't sit and wait).
I filled my bin and was sitting chatting with A from day crew(as he is the helper) and we were laughing and joking then the truck showed up and dumped us. So we got back to work on our piece of field, when suddenly we got a lower infeed clog. Nothing quite says fun like digging through wet pea vines in the rain!
The foreman had me go and line up and start 'sticking off'(cleaning the sides of the machine) for the road move. We lined all the viners up and were getting ready to move. Suddenly we are being SCREAMED at to 'get on the road' so we all scrambled up into our machines, and start heading out. This is where the trouble started.
At the field entrance there was a low hanging wire that went to a house. We have our 'dump on the go' bins that we are supposed to run out as they stick up rather high(more than most wires).
I had run mine out but clipped the wire with my antenna, though did no damage. The viner behind me(I was lead) got under it okay as well, and I had pulled up onto the road and was stopped parallel to the house. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the 3rd viner had his D.o.G up, and I was reaching down for my CB when BANG! the house next to me goes black. I knew immediately that he'd caught the wire, and was all 'oh crap', the field boss(not the foreman) started screaming to stop(as it WAS a live wire) which he thankfully did. They then had to slowly back the machine out of the line, and NOT pull down the pole it was tugging on. They got the machine out and onto the road and we were able to move onto our field(thankfully the driver was NOT injured).
We got to our 'new' field(it was the back half of a field we'd done previously) and I opened(was the front most machine in a 'parade'*)
I tried to cut a land but that didn't go so well. See when you cut one you are supposed to cut straight using a point on the horizon in the direction of the angle you need. Well the foreman only gave me directions over the radio and didn't hop up and point where I needed to go(the most left, southwest corner of the field is what I was told) so it ended up rather screwy and curved. Of course this got the boys ribbing me that I must of started drinking rather early, since it wasn't my birthday yet. No, just the fact that my point I'd picked happened to be a plane really didn't help.
So we played with another crew(my dads) and we ripped the crud out of the field and got it all done by midnight. We shut down and the boys and I were sitting around ribbing J about his little 'electrifying' experience when they started ribbing me that I should go on a B-double E-double R-U-N of course I did NOT contribute to the delinquency of minors. So hopefully later I get to go out to dinner and celebrate my birthday.
One of the most annoying aspects of this job has to be when the plant 'floods'.
This happens when 1 or 2 things occur:
1) A particular crew(s) hits a 'high yield field' and swamps their trucks with peas, thus swamping the plant
2) Shift change when all the trucks are coming back for 'clean up'(the last dump).
Last night we had a record 4 hour plant flood. Apparently between the combination of both a high yield field and a shift change, they flooded the plant out.
So we arrived in our field (late) at 4:30, and sat there doing NOTHING until 8pm. We literally stood around BS'ing from about 5:45 until 8. Than we fired up our viners, got to vining and almost flooded our poor trucks at one point.
I wanted to bring to your attention another term that I have coined when it comes to work.
Viner Disco- V the act of having a full bin of peas. Causes the 4 ways and the beacon to activate, thus alerting the whole field to your activities. (Video to follow)
Well, well, well, what they say is true sh*t does roll downhill.
At work when we've been running it has been a 6:15 pm to 7:30 am shift for a total of 13 1/4 hours.
Apparently they are now switching viner drivers and pea trucks to a 'shorter' schedule of 3:15pm to 1-1:30am with arrival back at the farm shop around 2-2:30am(we get paid until the 2 whatever time).
Ought to be fun as my whole sleep/awake schedule must now change as well as my arrival schedule. My dad and I work different crews which ought to get interesting as well since we are hardly ever near each other and one of us(more likely me) will end up waiting for the other every night now.
I had a pet Iratus Bug on my front porch.
Today was another scorcher topping out in the 80's so this evening when I got home I put Kenzie to bed and decided to kick back and surf the net from the front porch. I was sitting there minding my own business watching the sunset and cursing the annoying kids next door, when suddenly my neck started KILLING me. I reached up and touched the right side of my neck just about where my neck meets my shoulder, and felt a HUGE bug bite forming.
This is what it looks like:
Please excuse my weird chin thing I've got going on here!
How else would you explain this gnarly looking thing than one of these:
The first part of this post is pretty self explanatory- I snapped some sunset pictures the other night when I was working. They didn't turn out quite as good as my sunrise pics but oh well!
The second set of pictures I was going to save until the next video gets posted, but since I don't know when that will be(I still have to shoot it when I work next), I'm going to post them now.
The other night I loaded my bin as full as I could, and then snapped pictures. This is what 5,000 lbs(or 2 and a half TONS) of peas looks like. They are then loaded into the pea truck, taken back to the plant and flash frozen and packaged.
These were all taken the other morning, after a long stormy night. The sun started coming up, through the clouds when suddenly off in the distance it broke through the clouds lighting up the land.
So, here I am driving along going from west to east, across the field. I was driving about a mile and 3/4's an hour.
That loud humming? I get to listen to that all shift long.
Oh and the radio conversation at the end? The mechanic was trying to tell one of other drivers how to slide his bin so that he could fill it 'right' as the other drivers have been only getting 3/4'er loads.
I also snapped some videos (from inside my cab) while I was driving.
Control Panel pictures:
The buttons on the left of the picture are my levelers, the yellow button starts my harvester, and the ones on the right control various aspects: throttle, parking brake, six wheel/four wheel drive, road/field gear, tine speed, tine height, and the concave(header cover height).
How we tell which speed we are throttling up to. Are you going rabbit? Or Turtle?
My joystick that controls all the harvest functions. The top two yellow buttons are side-to-side levelers, the middle red buttons are to raise the header(part that harvests the peas) up is to drop it and down it to raise it, the green buttons on either side are the ones that slide my bin.
Okay during last night's shift I took the time to snap a bunch of pictures of my cab so that y'all could see where I actually work. I'm going to post them over the weekend.
My Cab:
The View Out my windshield when we are on the road:
My catwalk from inside:
My Bin from inside:
Oye vey, some days its hard to work the same job as your family. My dad also works as a viner driver for the same company but is on a different crew than I am. This leads to the occasional bad situation where one or the other of us gets off work before the other does and has to wait.
Today he got stuck waiting 3 hours at the farm shop for me. Which wouldn't of been so bad had he been paid.
Though on the bright side I had the relief driver with me and we had a blast laughing and talking and joking around. We were running what we fondly nicknamed the "Cab of Innuendo" as we were tossing out every bad double entendre and innuendo that we could come up with.
I run tonight but I was told that it was a 'short shift' I.E. a shift that is not a regular shift and we get 'crew hauled' home.
Tuesdays are my day off. This week though was just as busy as a 'work' day. We had Speech therapy, Occupational therapy, and a Pediatrician appointment to follow up the neurology appointment.
I'll spare you the boring part of the ST and OT, and skip instead to the Ped's appointment.
We were just running a quick follow up to last weeks Neuro appointment, and our Ped was a little ticked because she wasn't able to get notes OR a dictation of any kind from the doctor(a week later). We discussed what he said, and she was a little perturbed that instead of going ahead with some tests he recommended that we 'wait and see' what happened. So she is having us do a blood draw to run the Fragile X test, and sending us to see a Geneticist just to be 'safe'.
Now as a fair warning this post does contain some 'foul' language I apologize in advance. It is just a common part of our pea field culture.
There are several forms of 'life' in the world of Pea Harvests.
Shop Rats- The guys who work the shop and do various jobs. Some also double as Van Bitches, Parts Bitches and Foremen Wannabes.
Pea Fucks- Our very colorful name for the Pea Trucks. They were so named my freshman season as they are the ones most likely to screw up and pull some dumb shit move. Like running over peas, and forging their own lands where there wasn't one before.
Plant Rats- The people who work in the plant sorting, washing, freezing and processing our harvest.
Foremen- This is one of the people you do NOT want to piss off. They are the ones who control your life for 13 hours.
Field Boss- The Foreman's boss. Generally only seen at the beginning and end of a shift for 5.3 seconds as he tells you where to go.
Mechanics- aka your Best friend when your machine breaks. This is the guy who can fix anything on your machine when it's loose, breaks or is generally acting wonky.
Fieldy, Pea Bitch, Viner Driver- This is what I am. We are the ones who run the machines, and if angered have enough of a weight behind(and below) us that we can do major damage to you and your stuff.
To give you a comparison how lucky I am this year I have some photos from last year and one from this year of the machines I USED to run.
I apologize for the quality these were all either shot A) on the move or B) with a camera phone
Old #1, She was a sweet, sweet ride if you forgot about the giant crack in the windshield and the fact only half her lights ran.....
Harvest in progress: (taken on #4- my 'baby' last year)
#2- I haven't actually RAN #2, but its a POS from what I hear. First night out this season and it apparently caught on FIRE.
My 'baby' this year #38. I love her so much, she has Air Conditioning AND heat(the old ones have AC and that's it), a radio that works, monitors, lights, and a sweet joystick that controls everything.
Bin side(the side that we dump from):
Ladder side(the side with the cab ladder):
I'll try and snap some pictures next shift of the cab, so y'all can see the space in which I actually work.
So tonight I worked a FUBAR shift. We were called in at 4:15 and told we'd be running a 'short shift'. Which normally means that you'd be running until about midnight or 1 am. Should of known that if they were calling us in early that wouldn't be the case. We RAN until just about 7(which is when we normally get TO the field), and then our foreman was awesome enough to have us grease all our machines PLUS another crews(6 machines total). *shrug* Oh well hours are hours right???
Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of the machines.
We all have songs that when they come on the radio we crank it up, roll down the windows(when we can) and jam along to them. For me there is one song that especially while working I CRANK.
It's International Harvester, by Craig Morgan.
This song is just a combine drivers' friend. Seriously who couldn't identify with lyrics like:
I'm a God fearin' hard workin' combine driver
Hoggin' up the road on my p-p-p-p-plower
Chug a lug a luggin' 5 miles an hour
or
Well you may be on a state paved road
But that blacktop runs through my payload
Excuse me for tryin' to do my job
But this year ain't been no bumper crop
If you don't like the way I'm a drivin'
Get back on the interstate
Otherwise sit tight and be nice
And quit yer honkin' at me that way
or
Well I know you got your own deadlines
But cussin' me ain't savin' no time hoss
This big-wheeled wide load ain't goin' any faster
So just smile and wave and tip your hat
To the man up on the tractor
The only thing I don't like is that it is geared toward male combine drivers but what is a girl supposed to do?
Last night I was again working though not with my 'normal' crew. Apparently they were short drivers and needed me on the 'away' crew, up north. They were for the most part pretty good and I was rather impressed with a few of them(oh wait I trained him, 2 days before might that explain it?)
No, I'm talking about common sense in my regular crew. See Monday night we had a machine that'd apparently had an alarm that was going off, for 20 minutes. Neither driver(one returner, and one newb) thought anything of it, and therefore didn't say anything to the Chief. We were getting lined up for our road move, when I go to help clean their machine and notice that the long pea conveyor is clogged. Now there is the 'small' and 'large' clogs, this was neither it was a 'jumbo' clog, that had the conveyor piled about 2 feet deep for the length of the conveyor. I got in and started digging it out, and was questioning the driver about it, to be informed that the 'alarm was no big deal, it said something about the hopper' *sighs* the Chief finally showed up with the other machines, and I informed him what'd happened his response was 'Your kidding right?' *I WISH!* I explained no I wasn't kidding he and I had a quick conversation in which I informed him I'd already started digging it out, but was going to help clean the other machines. Went did that and got back to the clog(about 15 minutes have gone by now) and finished cleaning it out with help.
I may strangle some drivers if they keep pulling crud like this through the season. I mean its one thing to have a sensor go wonky on you but its a whole other game to just flat out ignore a sensor.
Yesterday was Kenzie's Neurology visit. It went really well, and we got an 'almost all clear'.
Basically if she makes zero improvement he wants to see us in 6 months, and if she declines at all he wants to see us sooner. Though he said that he feels that the issue lies more in the people than in her and that once she starts talking spontaneously that people might be a bit 'happier' with her and not so concerned.
I work tonight short shift- so look for a fun and exciting update tomorrow.
So tonight was my first night of work. It was basically a cluster f*ck of mistakes.
First off remember the 3pm start time? yeah it totally went out the window at 1pm. Let me set the scene for you. I'm in bed dozing trying to get a last few seconds of shut eye before dragging my butt to work, all of a sudden my phone starts ringing, and the company's number pops up. So I groggily answer it, and am informed that 'Plans have changed we need you @ the farm shop at 2:15.'
So I get up rush around like a chicken with its head cut off get a lunch ready, and get dressed. My dad(who also works for them) is going through the same motions. We rush off arrive and park, and are told to go to the 'meeting room'. Uh okay, that NEVER ever happens. So we all wander into the shop and are standing around BS'ing, and checking out the 'newbs'. Well one crew left right away(they had a 40+ minute drive one way), come to find out they had the ONLY van.
The foremen stand around debating what to do(vans were on the way but not supposed to arrive till 5 PM), and finally decide to play 'clown cars'. They load 4 people in one F-150, and 4 people in the other and put about 7 people in the Shaggin' wagon(a Ford Caprice). The Wagon heads out and makes it about 10 feet out the gate and breaks down(granted the wagon was carrying about 2 tons of weight). Sooo that leaves 8 drivers between the two F-150's.
We get out to where the machines are and are tossed out on a road move right off the bat. Lets just say that road moves are bad enough the first week, but to do one RIGHT off the bat with people who have never driven the machines in the field let alone on the road? Pure unadulterated h*ll.
I'll save you the nitty gritty of the field opening(otherwise what would I cover later in the season?!) and the boringness of sitting and waiting 45 minutes for a pea truck. I will also spare you the rant about newbie drivers. For now.
So the call that I have been waiting weeks for finally came today.
We start work tomorrow at 3pm.
We are to arrive at 2:45 at the Farm shop, and leave at 3, we will be transported to the field, and work until approximately 3 AM Tuesday morning.
I have yet to start working yet. We attended a 're-orientation' yesterday that was the biggest waste of an hour EVER!
Such phrases as the following were used:
* It's only a joke until its not a joke.- This was in reference to the company's harassment policy.
* We might start Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday ~beat, from the back of the room~ OR Thursday or Friday.
* You'll know at the end of your shift if your working the next day. Unless you aren't working. Than we'll call you. (there was more to this but my brain shut down)
* There was a very nerve wracking story about an incident that occurred in E. WA with the company. Lets just say, I will NOT be bringing glass with me. (Not that I would any ways)
been glad that you didn't do something you planned on doing? Be it driving somewhere, getting in a certain elevator, whatever?
Well today I am having one of those moments. A number of months ago I stumbled upon the fact that one of my favorite actors was going to be doing a Sci-Fi Convention in Orlando, this weekend.
Originally I was going to fly down there, and do the whole con thing. Well than I started looking into airfare, hotel, etc. and realized that I'd not be able to afford it and should plan farther out in the year for a con(hence the "I'm Going to Burbank" thing).
Well I just logged into my message board for the aforementioned actor, and found out that he apparently had to cancel his appearance at this convention. So, so glad I didn't go now.
So after much debate, discussion and deep thought, I have finally decided on what to get myself for my 21st birthday.
I AM attending the 2008 Creation Burbank SG Convention.
I do not care wether anyone likes it or not. My family thinks its rather odd. They've 'geek danced' me into oblivion and continue to make fun of me but hey, I'm who I am and I like me.
So I already reserved a room, now I just have to arrange two sets of flights(one from Seattle to Burbank and the other from Denver to Burbank), and buy the tickets and various photo opportunities. I can't wait! Its going to be a blast.
This also means that I am now re-scheduling my birthday from 8/10 to somewhere between 11/21 and 11/23.
Though I will still be going on 8/12 and getting my shiny horizontal drivers license.
So as I briefly mentioned while I was gone over the weekend we had a severe case of Predation occur. The poor unfortunate victims were 3 out of my 4 ducks.
The only surviving member of the duck clan was wee little Brie. I'd post a picture to remind y'all which one she is, but at the moment she is in the ICU.
So RIP: Slowpoke, Ninja, and Todd.
Meet the cast:
Darryl:
Bean:
Edgar- Fat gray cat, who is declawed but refuses to live indoors.
Harvey- Skinny gray cat, who is kind of wussy and theoretically should have been dead eons ago.
Over the next several weeks look for GFC stories.
If you recall a few weeks ago there was a giant duck massacre here resulting in 3/4 ducks being killed. One duck survived.
That was the Gray duck. She(its a girl for sure) has been named, "Gray". Next week or the week after she will be getting a new duck friend.
I had pictures, but apparently accidentally deleted them.
Today was a really long day. It started out not so great and ended pretty blah. See I was woken from a dead sleep by the toddler at 7, and shortly after I got her resettled in her bed, the phone rang. It was my grandmother calling to inform us that she was CERTAIN that she was dying or having a stroke and that we must come NOW. *sighs* so my mother headed off to her house and I went back to bed expecting to get another 2 or so hours of sleep. Instead Kenzie slept in until nearly 1pm.
Since I'd been up since about 10:30 I'd basically gone insane from staring at the same four walls. So I decided we needed to get out and do something. At first I figured we'd go to the mall and wander around for a while perusing the shops and all the great wonders. When Kenzie awoke I hurriedly dressed her and loaded her in the car anxious to leave. We started driving north with my awesome Canadian station blaring out my favorite country tunes. Next thing I know I glance around and realize that 'hey! we're in Bellingham, What the????' (for reference Bellingham is about 40 minutes north of me, the mall is 10 minutes away).
So since I didn't want to go to the Bellingham mall and quickly thinking on my feet I decided that we should just hop into Canada and go to the zoo. We hopped onto the Guide heading for the border whizzed through the border(though thank you Mr. Border Guard to be the first to question me about wether or not I really was allowed to have my child) and headed up the road for the Greater Vancouver Zoo(convinently located 10 minutes north of the Aldergrove border crossing).
We arrived at the zoo, and are cruising through the parking lot when my phone rings. Its my sister calling to inform me that they are on their way to pick up Howie(my grandmothers dog) as she was being admitted to the hospital. Of course while she was babbling on to me I'd found a prime parking spot, and parked and had pulled out my wallet to get the money to pay and what not. I hung up with my sister flipped open the wallet, and realized the only money I had was four 1 dollar bills. No check card, nothing. So I had to give up my primo parking spot, turn around and drag my sorry butt back to the states.
Though the trip was short lived, it was nice to be back in Canada again. I LOVE it up there, the atmosphere just recharges me.
Oh and my grandmother? She's fine, just a stress attack.
If you follow my blog at all you know I don't tend to have a lot of 'free time' on my hands, so when I do I usually kick back, and relax.
A couple weeks ago, I was at the library working, and noticed that in their 'support the library' sale they had a couple of brand new hardcover books by Nicholas Sparks. Now I'd seen The Notebook, and thought it was okay, but wasn't too sold on it. My friends kept talking about various stuff they'd read by him and how good it was and since the price was right, I decided to pick them both up.
Fast forward to today, the books have been sitting staring at me for about two weeks now I hadn't even had a chance to crack them to read the dust jackets. Kenzie decided to take an extra long nap this afternoon leaving me with a chance to kick my feet(and twisted ankle) up and read.
I picked At First Sight to read (the other is True Believers).
I was totally engrossed into the book to the point that I could NOT put it down. I read the whole thing(277 pages) in a little over 3 hours.
The author did a really wonderful job of bringing you into the story, and in fact for a lot of it I felt like I was sitting right there with Jeremy and Lexi. Now I'm not one to cry, but this book left me with tears hovering in my eyes, but the warm fuzzies as well.
I had NOT read the previous book when I started this and still felt with in the first chapter like I 'intimately' knew the characters and their lives.
The plot was good, and well developed with no glaring plot holes, and left me with relatively few unanswered questions. So if you are looking for a good 'quick*' read I'd really recommend this book to you!
* I am a fast reader to start with, add in something that 'catches' me and I will inhale a book. I can finish a 700 page book in less than 6-7 hours if motivated.
SQUEEEE!
Okay, since I'm going to try to keep my blog spoiler free, I can't say a lot.
Though I will say that the new season(5) of Stargate Atlantis looks like it could have some potential to it.
Tonight's episode secured my place in my new super secret identity, and reminded me of my other one.
So, if you haven't yet check out Search and Rescue, the Stargate Atlantis Season 5 premiere!
What she was looking at out the window:
So today was Kenzie's MRI. *exhales giant sigh of relief* So glad THAT is over! I knew going into it that it was going to be hard, but I had no idea HOW hard it would be.
See we arrived early(which is fine) and of course I'd forgotten to charge the portable DVD player that I packed so we were stuck watching some random irritating crud on the waiting room TV(or she was while I talked to a wonderful lady from Alaska). Finally 10 minutes after we were supposed to arrive, they whisked us off to the back to prep her, and let me 'settle in' (ha!). We had a wonderful nurse's assistant who was just a joy, and a great nurse too(actually the same one who put her to sleep last time we were in!) so we were very very lucky.
The poor wee thing did something she has NEVER ever done at the hospital before she broke out in a full on scream fit. I felt horrible because normally the nurses RAVE about how well behaved and quiet she is. Thankfully once we were in our torture cell sedation room, she calmed down as there was a very engaging playground below our window. She had to wear the embarassing gown, that somehow actually covered her bum!
We hung out snapped some pictures on my cell phone than the Anesthesiologist came in to put her to sleep. Let me say she did a wonderful job though my nerves at the time might not of said so. We were escorted from our room to the prep area for the MRI, where she'd set up the mask and almost everything we'd need. Poor Kenzie, though was very dead set on NOT being there. She kept pointing at the nurses, waving and saying 'Bye bye', while clinging furiously to me. So one of the assistants had me sit down in an office chair while they shoved gently placed the mask onto her face. Kenzie promptly held her breath aside from muttering 'Bye bye' repeatedly. That is when the scariest thing I have ever heard come out of a nurse was said "Oh by the way mom, don't be freaked out when her eyes roll back in her head, and it drops back" a moment later I got to see what they meant as we laid her out on the table. *shudders*
It was at that point I was kicked out dismissed to go 'grab a bite to eat'. I went and grabbed a quick salad, and came back to the room where I sat writing(strangely my muse decided THEN would be a good time to show up) and waiting.
Not long after, they brought her back, still asleep and went off leaving her attached to the monitor while they went to knock out sedate another child. Of course as soon as they were part way through that her alarms had to start going off, drawing in an NA, who of course had to wake her up *le sigh* and send us on our way. Literally I think we were there maybe 10 minutes after she woke up till we left and were on the road. *shakes head* So now we just wait until the 22nd to get the results.
Oh, on another note L is having a BOY.
So as I was reading back through my entries I realized I made a slight mistake.
Today(the 8th) is NOT Mackenzie's MRI. Its actually tomorrow the 9TH. *blushes*
Instead today is a much happier occasion- the day I find out wether my best friend L is having a boy or girl. Hence why I fixated on the date(the 8th).
Soooo look here tomorrow for the update on Kenzie's MRI, and maybe even wether I get to buy tons of pink or blue clothes.
2 Errors on the same play!
So tonight I went to my first baseball game in about 4 years. I used to be a FANATIC fan(still am a fan just not a fanatic fan), and would watch EVERY game. I at least knew SOMETHING going in(BB's, RBI's, HR, K's, ERA's etc.)
I will just say that tonight's game was AMAZINGLY fun, exciting, and the best time I've had in weeks.
Except for that one crazy play. A man on second, one out, batter's at the plate, 2 balls, 2 strikes. He strikes out. Sounds simple enough right? WRONG! Catcher dropped the ball. 3rd base coach started flagging the guy on 2nd to run, and the guy at home to run as well(the catcher still didn't have the ball), so they start running. Catcher finally comes up with the ball popping up like a jack-in-the-box, throwing to 1st base. Only thing? He was about 5 feet over the 1st basemans' head, into right field. The right fielder is coming in, misses the ball, the ball rolls all the way to the wall. Batter has now rounded second is motoring towards 3rd, and the 3rd base coach is waving him home. Right fielder comes up with the ball and throws home but is beaten by the batter. 2 runs score(and 2 errors). It was truly one of the most interesting plays I have seen in a long time!
We did end up winning(this was just a local single A team). 5 to 3!
Since yesterday was the 4th I finally got to 'play' with my Jell-O creations I have been slaving over for weeks perfecting.
First Layer (Berry Blue Jell-O)
Second Layer (Cherry Jell-O)
Chillin'
Set but not done:
Top it off with some whip cream, and you got yourself Red, White, and Blue Jell-O!
After reviewing the paltry supply of explosives that the family had 'stocked up' on, I decided to forgo blowing crap up and instead poke fun at the teenagers whilst they tried to explode themselves. The show this year clocked in at a measly 47 minutes(last year by comparison was nearly an hour and a half long). Most of the fireworks(except the aerials done by my uncle) seemed rather small, and wussy, petering out half way through. Though it was rather interesting watching the slight clouds overhead lighting up bright as day as the neighbors attempted to blow up half the free world.
However I did get a chance (albeit brief) to blow the crap out of a couple of targets. Right up until my sister decided that I shouldn't get to because 'it isn't fair'(oh gee I've spent all day chasing a toddler while you blow up shit, and now I take 10 lousy minutes and its not fair? riiiiiiight).
I am once again wondering wether or not I come from the same gene pool as my family due to some rather 'risque' comments that were made(some towards me), and just some of the general joking that was going on. However since, I am trying to keep this a 'family friendly' blog, we won't go into the innuendos and whatnot(though I will say a general apology to all people from Arkansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia).
So like I mentioned in yesterday's post over this past weekend I attended the Women of Faith Conference in Seattle.
Now I had attended a 'spiritual conference' many many eons ago when I was growing up, but wasn't really all that into it. So I went into this not knowing what to expect(but having heard great stories about last years conference).
I will say that I was throughly, and utterly, surprised at how much I enjoyed myself. Now I won't go into my views on religion(I'm honestly still trying to figure it out as I was raised in between about 3 faiths) but I will say that it was an amazing conference.
The speakers were truly awe inspiring and I particularly enjoyed listening to Shelia Walsh, as I could somewhat identify with her story. I look forward to reading her book after I'm done working for the summer(otherwise I won't remember any of it) as it sounds like an intriguing piece of writing.
I think though my favorite part was the 'special surprise guest' on Friday- Anita Renfroe, now if you haven't seen any of her stuff, you should check her out on You Tube. She is HILARIOUS. In person she is about a million times better! I could NOT stop laughing. I liked her stuff so much that I actually bought her new DVD- "It's Probably just my Thyroid" it kept me in stitches!
I came away from the weekend somewhat relaxed(that is a whole OTHER post) though feeling like I might actually be able to sort out some of my questions and what not in the next few months/years.
If you ever get a chance to go to one of these you really should!
So do you have a habit that you just cannot get rid of no matter what you try? I know that I have things that I have done for as long as I can remember and don't even remember when or how they started.
* I tend to bite my nails. A LOT. I don't think I'm capable of growing nails past the end of my fingers. Mind you even if I cut them short, I still must bite off every. little. piece. that is left. A lot of times I end up biting them until they bleed.
* I stress out in large crowds. I actually know where this one originated from. It came from the time I went to Pullman in high school and was forgotten by my chaperone and classmates for almost 2 hours. Yeah they just walked off and left me(the kids thought I was with the chaperone, the chaperone thought I was with the kids).
So.... I'm sure you can imagine the terror that was residing in my heart all day last Friday and Saturday when I was at the Key Arena for the Women of Faith conference. Thankfully, one of the other women I went with understood my fear(no matter how irrational) of being 'forgotten' by them. So she let me be my clingy McClingerstien self. I did WONDEFULLY for the most part. That is aside from when we went to lunch and I almost lost them in the crowd. More on Women of Faith in tomorrow's post.
So now that it is officially July, it means that two things that have been stressing me out will now come to pass.
One- July 8th Mackenzie has her MRI on her brain. She will be sedated for it and the biggest stressor here is that as I understand it I will NOT be allowed into the room(or the viewing room) with her.
Two- July 22nd we have to go to the Neurologist appointment. In BELLEVUE. Bellevue is stressful enough for a 'country girl' like myself as it is a rather sizable city, and I do NOT like cities. Secondly there's the whole Neurologist thing. I don't get why we are going. Thankfully I can have our pediatrician explain it in 'idiot' terms on the 18th.
***Post is backdated*** Was written but never published (Sorry the stress has rather gotten to me this week).
