Friday, August 20, 2010

Roadtrip

Wednesday, after work, Kelly, her kids and I left McKinleyville about 4:00 pm and started our trip to get them to their new home in Colorado Springs. We went to Winnemucca the first night, arriving at 1:30 in the morning. We got to our room and about 30 minutes after arriving, after Kelly had nursed Tate, she suddenly got extremely flushed in the face and felt like she was going to faint. Soon after she had major gastrointestinal issues. I won't go in to major detail except to say I couldn't go to sleep until I knew she was okay. The last time I looked at the clock it was 3:30 and I thought, "We have GOT to get some sleep!" Our wake up call, Tate, came at 5:30 when he would not go back to sleep and woke up the other kids. We figured we might as well get back on the road so at 7:00 we were back on the road. I had to drive because Kelly still felt horrible and so I had to drive. I decided to try a 5 hour energy aid and it worked! I drove till about 3:00 and felt fine. We stopped in SLC and met Alex for a quick lunch at Cafe Rio and arrived at Kasey's in Fort Collins about 9:00. Today we headed to Colorado Springs and so traveled another 6 hours total. It should have just been 2 each way but we got stuck in rush hour Denver traffic at 4:30. I love Colorado though-blue skies and sunshine as far as you can see and not too hot. Both Fort Collins and Colorado Springs are amazing. Fort Collins is such a cute college town and Kasey's place is amazing. Colorado Springs surprised me how green it was with lots of trees and mountains.

The last three weeks have been horrible for me knowing that Kelly and family were moving and that that meant I had no grandchildren I could get in a car and just drive to. This of course means I see granchildren less. The last week I have cried every time I think about it. I am thrilled for them though. It will be a great move for them and I know they will love Colorado Springs and being close to Kasey. I am grateful they moved close to Kasey's family and not to another completely different place. The grandkids are having a blast together. I think Kasey and Matt's house has taken over being like Disneyland for Ammon instead of our house! I'm sure Lee and I will make Colorado the place we retire to. Can we do that sooner than 6 more years???? Probably not. So it will be a long, long 6 years with me accruing plenty of miles on United and doing a lot of whining.

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Fright NIght

Have you ever had something happen that woke you up at night and you were absolutely terrorized with fright? Last night it happened to me . The frightening thing was a mouse. Now I HATE mice-especially at night. They are actually kind of cute looking in the day. At the zoo. But I have an absolute phobia about one running across my body.

We have had signs of them at the trailer at the lake. Earlier this year, Jody saw one run in the trailer by cute little Tate, of all things. In the daylight. I bought a trap and we caught one and I thought that was it. Then we saw a dead one in the bathroom. Oh no, there were more! Must have eaten the poison I had hidden. So I've been suspicious there were more.

Well last night at the trailer I was awakened to the sound of a mouse at 4 in the morning. I sat up straight in my little bed (table that makes into a bed). I turned on the light expecting to see nothing and that it was all in my imagination. Suddenly, a small flash of brown raced from my edge of the sink to the stove area. I gasped. My heart stopped and I was paralyzed with fear. What should I do? Flee? But it was dead dark outside and I didn't want to drive home in the dark two hours away. I threw some sunglasses and chapstick in it's direction that were in reach just to scare it and thought of my options again. Finally I opted to go to the top bunk at the other end of the trailer and wait until daylight. I carefully checked the bunk for mice friends, took my lap top and jumped in. I was way too scared to sleep so I played solitaire till dawn and then went into the tent to get a couple hours of sleep. I woke up at 8:00 and went in the trailer to clean up so I could head home. Nervously, I opened the door. My heart started pounding. I had to do my dishes from last night and put away food on the counter. (Hence, my mouse problem-leaving food out). I was nervous about a mouse running over my feet (talk about heebie geebies!!) so I put my shoes and socks on and because I was scared of touching one, I got out some large tongs that I used to move things around, making sure the villian was gone. I even turned on all the burners of the stove trying to burn him out since I thought he'd headed to the stove area. After getting things ready to go home and, thankfully, seeing no mice, I headed into Weaverville to get ammunition. I got a few mousetraps and some poison and headed back to the trailer. I set out 5 traps and 4 poison boxes. I looked at what I was wearing. I had camouflage shorts on. I laughed-the war was on and I was dressed for it!!

Things I learned:
1. I can't wait to get a new trailer next year.
2. Never, ever leave food out on the counter or leave the dishes to do the next morning.
3. It is amazing how totally frightened, scared to death, a phobia can make you, even if it is super tiny and this one was definitely a baby mouse.
4. Daylight makes things better and makes you braver.
5. I'll be sleeping in the tent the rest of this year and making lots of noise when I am in the trailer.
6. There is a sonic mice repeller that you can order that emits soundwaves that people can't hear but repels the mice. I've ordered two.

Night frights. I hate them.
Mice. I hate them too.