Sorry, Jerry Garcia...

"What a long, strange road it's been." 

The last two days have been... Well, they have been a royal pain in the butt.  Interesting in only the Chinese curse sense of the word. 

I had a performance at a school almost on the border between Oregon and Washington.  (I do Renaissance history performaces for schools.)  This is about a 3 hour drive, give or take.  I did manage to con, uh, vince the other performer to drive through the metro areas, I don't do that well... 

We did the performance all right, except that about halfway through, I choked on my own saliva, and had to leave the poor guy all alone for a bit, while I tried to regain my breathing skills.  Somehow, sounding like I am going to hack up a hairball, and turning purple, wasn't part of my agenda.  He did alright, and after a glass of water and a cough drop, I managed to get through the rest of the performance unscathed... 

Until I got back to my truck, and realized I'd left my cell phone somewhere.  I searched, the guy I was with searched, we tried calling my cell phone.

Nothing. 

I borrowed his phone, and promptly figured out I am stuck in the late 90's.  It was an Android.  I didn't even know how to start it.  Once it was on, I think I managed to have it turn to 'sleep' mode because I took so long to work out what to do.  I managed to make a call to Husband, to call Mom, and let them both know I was okay, just couldn't find the blasted phone. 

Or...

I thought I had.

I checked in the Starbucky's that we'd been by, they hadn't had one turned in.  (They also have extremely limited tea selections.  I guess that's why it's a coffee house, huh?)  I thanked them, and after convincing the guy I was with I needed to leave, (he'd forgotten I still had about 2 hours left to get home), I took off. 

It rained buckets.  I was behind a semi.  At Rush Hour.  I 'ate soup' for most of the trip home.  And decided to skip the rest areas so I didn't have to try getting on and off the freeway.  So I stopped at Mom's, as I really had to pee.  She hadn't received the message, and was worried.  I told her that Husband should have called, I had left him a message.  Called Husband from Mom's, and he was worried, he hadn't received the message. 

Joy of technology.  May it long receive a one finger salute...

I managed to get home, and at the door, Husband told me the message that I had left AT 4:30 had just arrived at 6 or a little after, right after my call.  That helped. Yeeeaaah...

I was so tired and furious, and just generally wound up, that I couldn't settle down.  The head of the group I perform for called by the end of the evening to let me know the school called, they had my phone.  (I still can't figure out why they didn't call with my phone, I have several things titled "Mom" "Home", etc, that they could have more directly contacted me.  Eh.)  So, with the help of the guy I performed with, and the group head, I may get my phone back Saturday or Monday. 

So I went to bed disgusted, and woke up the next morning.  And felt like my head was going to blow off.  I had a sinus headache as big as the national debt, and twice as ugly.  I didn't exercise.  Even putting on my shoes was a challenge, because when my head went as low as my shoulders, my brain pulsed.  And not in a good way.  So my usual Wednesday blog was a non-starter.  I did not do a whole bunch.  I even had to fight with the copier at the substation.  I just figured I must have had really, REALLY bad tech karma, for some reason.

On the bright side, I did end up losing .6 of a pound.  That was about the only real big plus for the day. 

When I worked at the substation on Wednesday, there was a call out for ambulance and deputies at a road near my house. One of the deputies was filling out paperwork, and was called directly from dispatch, please go help, it's a mess.  After a quick "be safe" from me, he went out. 

I came home without incident.  Husband met me at the door, "Did you hear about the big accident at Xity-x Road?"  I told him I had, and saw a deputy have to leave quick time to help. 

"I'll bet.  The chippers that we have been getting truckloads from?  One of the guys had just gotten down from the bucket truck, when a dually truck hit the chip truck from behind, doing about 55."  (Nothing like 1 degree of separation!) 

It was a mess, the dually driver had to go to the hospital.  None of the chipper guys were hurt. Badly shaken, but not hurt.  The truck was a mess, the trailer was pushed in almost 2 feet.  They still don't know if the guy had fallen asleep, drunk, what have you, but they did know he is a local, and had passed the chippers several times in the last few days, so he was (or should have been) aware of them being there. 

Wow.

Well, here is the fruits of the chipper's labor (Rudee in picture for scale.)  This isn't even all of it, we used a big bit for the chicken house.  So they have been busy.  ( I don't know if the broken truck was able to unload, but it sounded like it was pretty much a mess, might not even have been drivable, from what I heard, so I never was able to see the end result.  Which probably was a good thing, all things considered.)

And see?  All the chips have made the chicken house great to walk through, and all the chickens have nice, clean feet again!  (They don't seem really impressed.  The llamas, either.  I don't care.  They look better, I am not tracking mud so much, and it's much dryer in the hen house.

So I am desperately hoping that the next few days are without incident.  I am laying low, knitting a bunting for a friend that is preggers. (Yeah, I started a new project, this one doesn't count.  Grin.)  So I will show you pictures once I am beyond 12 rows of stockinette stitch. 

Oh, and my Mom has started reading my blog pretty regularly, and loves to read all your comments, as well as my musings.  So, (blatant beg) leave a comment!  Say hi, even!  ; ) 

I hope to catch up on everyone's blogs, now that it doesn't feel like someone stuck a blow torch in my ear...

Gagets, they are a dangerous thing...

Made the mistake of showing husband CNC/lathe videos on YouTube. I have created a monster. So, while he is out pondering whether he can do some of the neat and wondrous YouTubity stuff on his machines (he does contract work for a local company), I commandeer the computer for a quick blog. (I feel like I should be wearing an eye patch and petting a parrot.)

Anyway, I have sort of figured out how to use the side bar. I think. Maybe. It looks right to me, anyway. It gives me some idea how I am doing, and I can't wiggle out if the Weekly Weigh In isn't so great. Can also be some motivation, gee, more DOWNs than UPs.

I have been rather annoyed that I haven't been able to exercise, I was grumbling about not being able to bike. (That might change, I am going to try later, using my leg brace. It ain't pretty, but if I can stop the hurting, I might be able to accomplish my goal of biking to my parents house, about 3 miles away. Right now, I have a goal of biking to the end of the road, about... Not very far away, 1/8 of a mile or so. )

Can't safely walk the hill, yellow jackets are on the warpath. Little demons. One of my friends keeps chiding me, they are God's Creatures, you shouldn't be upset with them. Um. Poison Oak is, too, but I don't have a lot of use for that, either. Oh, well.

After much consideration, I figured I would try my Tae Bo tapes. I was mortified that Husband would come in and comment, (he isn't mean, but I get heavily self-conscious sometimes), or worse, the In-Laws. (I hate jiggling and sweating, and I am as graceful as a drunk on skates doing some things that need coordination.) And I was going to use it for this winter, when it was raining. And I hadn't watched it, so would I even be able to do it? All of these thoughts kept running through my head. All the reasons I *can't* do it. Then, thankfully, my inner two year old spoke up. I WANT TO! NOW!

Smart kid.

I did want to exercise. And so what if someone saw me? Isn't it a bit better to be caught sweating and working out, than to be caught stuffing my face? And somewhere in my few braincells, something about dancing like no one is watching. Well, ok, it isn't DANCE, exactly, but it's something. For me. Something GOOD for me.

Good for me. Yeah. Hmm. So I put in the tape. I was floored. I knew this stuff! I had taken Tae Kwan Do before my accident, (and miss it a LOT) and this was familiar! I could do, well, most of the stuff. I even started counting out loud, and "Woo" ing with the tape.

Then Husband came in. I was startled. He smiled, waved and went in the back room. I swallowed, chuckled, then went back to work. I was jiggly, sweating...

And I FELT GREAT!

I still have the coordination of a lobotomized orangutan, but I am familiar enough with what he's doing for it not to be a washout. If I don't understand, I just jog in place until I either understand, or it goes to something else. I will have a few places where my lack of balance might work against me, but for now, I can do something, I don't have to worry about being stung, I don't have to worry about hurting, (much), and I enjoy it!

Pretty good for 5o cents at a used stuff store, huh?

2 year olds are quite wise, on occasion!