Saturday, September 20, 2008

The Bloggy Blehs

Okay, so I'm here to apologize about my lack of posting. Its not for a lack of topics, its for a lack of words. *sighs*

See I've been doing fun, exciting, and engaging things I just can't come up with the words to share.

Last weekend I was on my retreat with my moms group. The "Code" got broken(I promise there is a post sitting here about the "Code") and I ended up with MORE embarassing photos of me.

This week I had my placement tests for college(that went well considering).

We also had another trip to Children's to see yet another useless helpful specialist.

I also ended up breaking my precious. That is a stressor in and of itself.

So I promise there will be more posts coming, I swear.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Car-Jacked, by a Cat

So a funny thing happened today on my way to town. I was car-jacked. Now that in itself might not be considered 'funny', however when you factor in that the perpatrator was about a foot and a half tall, and weighs in at 13lbs, with a long skinny tail? That makes it funny.

See, I had a bunch of errands to run today. Yesterday was rather hot(as is normal in September around here), so I forgot to roll up my window. Well this morning I got in the car to drive into town and go to the high school. There are two 'easy' ways to get to the school from my house. One way happened to be under construction so I opted to go the 'highway'. Well apparently today had to be the day they choose to stripe the highway. I'm sitting there in the line of cars behind the stripping truck, rocking out to my music, when all of a sudden I feel something tapping me on the shoulder.  My first reaction was "WTF?!" (I thought I was alone). I very slowly turned around full expecting to see some country bumpkin version of goodness knows what. Instead, I found my cat. He had apparently climbed into the car at some point and fallen asleep. Amazingly he was quite calm about the whole thing, and just sat there and tapped me on the shoulder to alert me to his presence. He sat very calmly in the car while I ran into the high school's office, and moved quiet as can be to the back seat when I came out again. As I ran through the drive through to pick up lunch he just sat on the back seat lounging and garnering me a few odd looks from the McD's workers.

Oh and just to prove that he was there? I snapped this pic(with my phone).

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Friday, September 5, 2008

My shiny new hardware!

So today I finally bought something I've been meaning to get ever since I bought Dell back in February.

I got me a 250 Gig External Hard Drive!

I love me some technology, but I have come to a conclusion- never let a geek walk into Geekvana alone, ever. Be it a techno store, or a place that has a tech section, it just will NOT end well.

I am surprised I didn't suffer a coronary from the geeky overload!

Meet E2 (E is short for the Laptops name):

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Thursday, September 4, 2008

The last day- I quit!

So after an incident yesterday(which I won't go into suffice to say it was rather scary and unnerving and had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with any of the machines) I 'in spirit' quit this morning.

As soon as the foreman rolled into the shop I cornered him to discuss the 'incident' and told him that while I would love to quit, I refused to leave them shorthanded on the last day of season. He understood having witnessed the entire 'incident' and promised to make it all right.

So we got out to the field and all piled out of the van, of course I got 'my' machine(my 'new' yellow- sadly 'my' real machine has been shipped to E. Wa to harvest Lima's already) and climbed in. I immediately dropped the front cleaned my windows and prepped for what would be the first of my two road moves of the day.

We got out to our new field started, and finished rather quickly and then embarked on the long, and arduous journey home. It only took 2 and a half hours and 37 or so 'oh sh*ts' from me scrapping wires to travel about 30 miles(we were driving about 18 MPH tops).

I must say that it is nice to be done, and that at this point I have no plans to return next year. We will see though how I hold out.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The last week!

Well it is finally here! The last and final week of pea season will be drawing to a close tomorrow!

It has been a crazy week, with a new schedule yesterday, that changed again today.

Yesterday we were up and at'em at 5:15 AM which let me tell you is just INSANE! No normal human being should have to report to work at that hour. At least I have enough seniority(and guts) to get the 'good' machine out there.


Well I have to get ready for another exciting day in the fields!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

One of these things is different than the other....

One of these things doesn't belong.


Can you spot the ONE thing in this picture that doesn't belong? You may want to click on the picture to make it larger so you can see the item in question.

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Monday, September 1, 2008

On this Labor Day my thanks go out to....

All the men and women out there protecting our country. Yes I realize they have their 'own' holidays BUT I think that they should be thanked every single day for the things that they do. If it weren't for them we wouldn't be free and have many of the rights and privileges that we currently do.

I was out at the fair yesterday and got a chance to stop by the ARMY's booth, and chat with them for a while, and it was quite nice. I also grabbed a couple of pictures of the awesome and hilarious new 'promotional tool' they are using.

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I'm not quite sure who they are trying to recruit with an 8 foot tall blow up, but according to the recruiter I spoke to it's at least getting the word out in a 'fun new way'.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

The winner is...

The winner in yesterday's contest is "Anonymous" Aka Patricia!

 

Congratulations!

 

It was a Duck Decoy.

See it got run through the machine(on accident) and its head, and tail are missing.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Can you identify this item?

So a few days ago my machine ran over a rather odd(but not completely out of place) item in one of our fields. Think you can identify what it is?

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Thursday, August 28, 2008

A Dog's Life

Today's subject:

A happy pooch.

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This last one is my personal favorite:

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Another day shift

Today we did a spot cut, and sunk a truck in the mud. By the end of the day I was completely surprised that we had trucks driving out to us, as the field was QUITE muddy!

For the random picture today I bring you:

A small angry cat!

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Random pictures again!

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.

 

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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.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Random picture week...

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!

 

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Sunday, August 24, 2008

On the other side of the fence.

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 ????

Friday, August 22, 2008

The bad news that came down the pipe

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!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

So I need a good story to go with this

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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.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Now for something, slippery, slimy and all together ooky

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.

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Ah, for injuries gone by....

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.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Peas in the light of day

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This is what a FULL bin looks like in the light of day.

 

Tune in tomorrow for the story of my worst accident ever.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Getting back on the proverbial horse

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!