ISN'T THAT THE WAY??

YOU are minding your own business driving down the road when all of the sudden you see those red and blue lights behind you. That sick to the stomach feeling comes over you and you think.. "what the heck did I do?".. You slow down only to see the public safety car pass you by. (They don't call them police or cop cars around here
anymore.) What a RELIEF!! You speed back up and in no time here comes another one moving fast. Now you get curious as to the reason. My mind really goes to car-deer accidents first in pretty good weather. I was wrong on that one though. Coming over the hill into the flatter part of the freeway, I see a long line of taillights shining and know that this cannot be good. No way out. No roads to turn off of and go another way. Mom panics right away because she will MISS her time to go on for her treatment. I tell her that "this is why I take the back road..more ways to go." We move ever so slowly..
it seems like it takes hours to go only a mile down the road. The clock says only 10 minutes have passed. By the time we reach the accident, state police and sheriff cars are they helping assist. One car is headed toward us in the median strip, the other in the ditch on the other side. Someone had really made a bad mistake at trying to enter the freeway and have no place to go. We get to where we can leave the freeway and I do it gladly. We cannot miss treatment..it just cannot be done.  I dread the winter, with life sustaining treatment, that has to be given, you cannot get stuck anywhere, you get there "any way" you can. There is a saying by John Lennon. "Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans." We make plans now around what is most important and everything else can just go on the back burner. The back roads will get you there eventually..Mom laughed..slow going but safe.

UPDATE...

Will start this by posting that we still haven’t seen anything but a few light flurries here and I am surely grateful for that. I don’t look forward to shoveling this year at all. The wind is sure cold though and anytime it gets up to 40 I rejoice! Our Thanksgiving here was quiet. I baked and cooked for two days so that we would have tons of leftovers. I went shopping for new boots and found several I liked. Got mom a pair too. She hasn’t worn boots in probably 10 years now. This year if she is living here at home she will be out in the cold and snow so they are really a must. I used that word “IF” in the sentence because starting next month she will undergo another surgery if all goes well, and hopefully it won’t be as hard on her as the last one was. One person can only do so much with the help of nurses, aides and such who visit for a short time 2 or three times a week here at home. Mom hates all the running back and forth to doctor’s appointments, especially in the winter time. They have to be done though, so we grit our teeth and get through them. I hope to be able to take care of her at home, because that is where she wants to be. She thrives here, and does not do well anywhere else. Will let you know how it all goes.







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On the washing machine subject..ours went out and we are still without because it has been a real chore getting to a place out-of-town to order a replacement. The warranty we had was GREAT. They replace, remove the old one.. with no charge at all. The amount they gave us will more than cover a top of the line machine. I have done the homework on-line and decided that the type we had before is no longer an option and we are going to go MAYTAG this time. Hopefully they will hold up to their promise and that old repairman will never see our door! They came today and replaced the old washer…however some of the fixtures were leaking and it needed a longer drain hose.. so it STILL doesn’t work. When they took the old washer out, some water was still inside the lines that did not drain out…you guessed it.. water all over the basement floor… : ( Will be trying to get someone to fix this mess this week when they can arrange to come. I just have the feeling, another trip to the laundromat will be called for. Hate that thought with a perfectly good NEW machine in my basement. Not a happy customer..but it is NOT the job of the delivery person to fix my old plumbing. The saga goes on…..






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Update on the computer problem. The company is covering all charges, once again, because I bought an additional warranty on it. After being on the phone for almost an hour, the technician said he would FED EX me an adapter and I should try that first and they will Call Me to see if it worked. He swears there is nothing wrong with the computer, it is just a faulty power adapter and it was not charging the laptop.He is not living in my house, but he assures me HE IS RIGHT! Will be sure to let you all know what happens. I hate this slow dial-up but at least it is better than nothing! My access is extremely limited though. I spend more time waiting than visiting or commenting or anything else.. and to THINK we all started out that SLOW!






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I send out my sincere prayers and thoughts to Chip Allen and his family at the loss of their beloved furry family member SAM. Greater love have no man that the love of his devoted, faithful, dog. Hugs to you all, I know you will all be reunited one day.






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Will wrap this up.. Hope you all have a great week!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

IF you haven’t heard from my Facebook page, I am having computer issues so posting here will be limited for awhile. My laptop crashed and with no power source available on it, it will have to be sent back to the company where I have the warranty on it. This will take time..precious time for me to say the least. I at least hope for them to resolve the problem or replace the whole thing. I have had issues once before with this same laptop, so maybe it was just time. Given the holidays and such, I expect it will be some time before they can get it back to me. I will be doing the best I can to keep up at least at Facebook with all of you.

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT AND SAFE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!

p.s. KATE AND MAGGIE will return.. they are still on the road and having a ball!

KATE AND MAGGIE Part Two

Kate, being a person who did over the road work most of her life, knew all too well that this trip would be expensive. Gas, lodging, and Maggie's newer vehicle would be a major road block in the whole trip idea. They agreed to meet the next day though and look at used vehicles. Kate was sure that Maggie would balk at seeing how costly a newer vehicle would be. Little did Kate know that Maggie was already aware and had plenty of resources for the trip. Sure enough, before the sun went down, Maggie had a newer used van all insured and ready for a road trip. Kate helped by letting the dealer know that she was very knowledgeable about used vehicles. They agreed to pack up and leave as soon as Maggie could get things together. In two days time they were headed down the major highway bound for all the excitement a trip could be. Kate knew the roads like the back of her hand. She knew the speed traps, the great places to eat and stay over. It was an exciting time for Maggie who hadn't been out of her hometown in at least 25 years.


 They got about 700 miles down the road when the van began to make noises that Kate didn't like. Perhaps it was a hidden thing that she just didn't catch when looking the vehicle over. Kate pulled into a major truck stop and proceeded to check the van out herself. An 18 wheeler pulling into topped off his air horn and made Kate and Maggie both jump. Behind the wheel was a scruffy guy wearing a Detroit Tigers baseball hat, with a cigar stuck in his cheek. He parked his rig and jumped down and sauntered over to the gals standing over the disabled van. Kate knew this fella, his name was Tom, but all the truckers called him "Detroit" because of his love of the Tigers baseball team. He was divorced three times, had one child with each wife. Maggie was  surprised when he opened his mouth and a southern accent came out. "Howdy young ladies..what's up with this van?" Kate introduced Maggie and she and Detroit checked out the van. "Well, Detroit said..looks like a crack in the distributor cap.. easily fixed, but it will take some time to get to it". Kate knew they were going to have to stay at least overnight to find a mechanic. Maggie was excited,, to her, the whole thing was a new adventure. Kate, on the other hand, would rather be on the road driving to their first destination. Kate had never spent this much time with a person over 70 years old before. She had no idea how talkative and repetitive Maggie could be. She began to wonder if she really had taken on more than she had planned on.


If this was such an adventure for Maggie why was she sleeping so much of the time on the road?

KATE AND MAGGIE

KATE AND MAGGIE

Maggie sat at the kitchen table, drinking her morning coffee, looking out at the clear blue sky. She picked up the local easy shopper paper and looked to see what garage sales were listed. Most of her Saturday mornings had started the same way for over 40 years.She was proud of the fact that she looked and felt great  for 76 years old and didn't look a day over 65. Her kids were grown and had kids of their own and lives that were stretched across the country away from her. Maggie's husband of 45 years had passed in his sleep several years before, leaving her with a comfortable life, but a very lonely one. Turning the pages, and sipping her coffee her eye caught a very small ad at the bottom of a page.



"Kate,retired, 35 years long haul trucker,will drive you anywhere you want in any kind of vehicle, you pay expenses." Maggie chuckled to herself and thought that would be quite an adventure. She moved on to the garage sale section and decided today she would pass up the sales and do the laundry that had been waiting over a week. 

There was just something about that ad in the shopper  that kept nagging at her though. What did she have to do all day long? She would love to go cross country and visit her kids and grand kids. She didn't think her old car would make a trip that long though. She would have to get a newer one. The more she thought about it the more she want to call that woman Kate and ask questions. Laundry done, she went through the paper again and found the ad. She dialed the number and a woman answered. Kate told her that she placed the ad because she was bored not being on the road but didn't want to drive semi-trucks anymore. She would be glad to get together with her and talk over a trip and just what it would take to make one across country. They talked on the phone for a while when Maggie told her to just hang up and come on over to her place. She could not wait to see Kate and talk to her in person.

Maggie was excited to see Kate at her door.She was a small woman with big blue eyes wearing a jean jacket and a cowboy hat. Kate laughed at Maggie's expression.   Maggie immediately wondered how in the world she could handle a semi-truck. All that power and her being a slight 5 foot 3 inches tall. Kate explained that she used to sit in her father's lap as he drove a big rig and was clearly in love with trucks from an early age. She adapted well and when she got her license to drive she could not wait to try out the big rigs. She had some close calls in her years on the road, but nothing that she couldn't handle. The more the two women talked the more Maggie was convinced this was exactly what she wanted to do.The next decision was how much it would cost for such a trip and what kind of a vehicle she would get to make it all work.

This was the beginning of something that would change both of their lives forever.