Empty nest blog recap

Okay it has been a long time past that empty nest started. So I am going to recap and hit the highlights here.

First off what you have to understand is that empty nest starts before the child actually goes off to college. This is a weird time for both the child and the parent. The child is exploring it's independece, and the parents are trying to figure out where the boundaries are. Relationships need changing but rarely do those involved know how to change them. We are after all human and more inclined to emotion than ration. So even in the most ideal relationships ideals pre-emp common sense. Basically nobody knows where they fit they just know that things will change and try to prepare.

The preparation is itself worrisome. How far to go? How far to let go? Admitedly I fared on the side of long windedness. But still how do I speak with authority. Where does my gerisdiction reach?

iPod log phase 1 (aside perhaps?)

Okay so here goes nothing or something. I don't know but i am typing from my itouch thing and it is totally different than having a keyboard. But, it's better than not logging at all. Well not really the thing is I totally need s video game because some days are worse than others. So, what happens when you get an ithingee and only have like a dozen cd's to add to it? Well in my case you fill the stupid thing up with podcasts and free apps. Although if I were going to be completely honest it is not even half full yet. Still I can play cribbage and roll dice and score boardgames. And now apparantly I can post to my blog as well. The sad thing is that this doesn't work when you turn it sideways. Okay that isn't truthful completely because it "works" BUT...it doesn't slide the keyboard into the wide and less likely to hit the wrong letter thing. So, I am not writing this in order to complain about the stupid tiny keyboard, but more so that I can talk about th podcasts I listen to and what i think about them. It's funny because the look of the keyboard reminds me of when I was a kid. For Christmas one year my father got the family a computer. Specifically s timed Sinclair 1000. With the big block extra ram and a cassette storage device. Ahh the hours of fun playing "dukedom" and then the even more fun changing the program to triple my crops. Bug that silly thing had s membrane keyboard which is exactly nothing like this "touchscreen" keyboard. EXCEPT. The fact that you cannot type forcresl on either one. still it was my first introduction into the wonderful world of technology. And now where an I? I've got e cell phone without the phone and I have actually concidered a facebook account. What I really want to know is why in the ever-lovin turbid world can't I log my games through my ithingamajobby? There is a bgg app but it doesn't log plays. Or am I just to technophobic to actullu check for that? One thing I have learned is that I still forget what I'm typing mid sentence. Oh yeah I learned that wifi is not near as common as media portrays it.


Questions to ponder:

Why do people feel a need to pretend like they are going to pass me and then just pace me as the lanes end?

Do they make the screen keyboards so cramped to discourage parents with fat fingers from emulating their children?

How likely am I to post more frequently now that I can do it in a new and tinier yet more portable way?

Staycation Log day 1 phase 1(actual date 8.4.9)

Up @ 6am busy, busy, busy.  Ellen offers to let me sleep while she showers but I will feel guilty.  So I get up & make coffee & look @ computer.  Ellen is quick shower today.  She thought no time for dilly-dally. (Donald only allows 2 hour street parking 6am-8pm so we need to move.)  I tell her there is time for dilly, but not for dally.  Then I bring her coffee.   We hit the road by 7am coolness.

   First stop mechanic.  Drop the albatross Rav off  and park it neat and tidy.   Leave the key and a note in the drop box provided for that exact purpose.  Then it's off to get rid of the U-haul.  The Internet said U-haul place opens at 7am.  So figure we can kill all our birds on the fly and go home to duck soup.  It's further to the U-haul place.  I am following Ellen because she has the directions, and am trying to be trusting.  Then like some kind of beautiful sunrise there is a lot full of orange & white vehicles.  WOOHOO.  Pull into the parking lot and we see a guy getting a fan out of his car.  weird but okay.  

  Turns out that's the guy we need to see, and he is a little put out because he was under the impression that he opened at 8am and had just shown up early to take care of some paperwork.  But we are there so he deals with us.  He is a little surly.  He goes & checks the truck and comes back and says  "Didja Haul alot of dirt cause that's mostly what's in there?"   I will admit I reacted poorly.  I got defensive and grumbled about camping stuff and was starting to warm up into a really fowl tirade, but I got the opportunity to sweep out the truck.  That gave me a chance to cool my temper down decide not to slit some tires, or even write nasty things about him on the internet.  When I came back in he was being fairly reasonable I don't know what kind of charm Ellen worked, but he and I were nice to each other.  I told him about the engine and he charged us $18 extra because we wen't over our mileage.  And everybody parted happy.   Ellen & I rushed home to take a nap.

Vacation Log Day 6 Phase (actual date 8.3.9)

(Disclaimer: due to the lateness of arrival this was actually written on 8.4.9)

ROAD NOTES:
   Next day so some of the edge is taken off, but here goes.  Marty the Mechanic is a horrible person.  He recommended I remove part of the drive shaft to keep from ruining my transmission.  I am sure he knew it couldn't be done with a wrench.  But it did cause us to sink another $20 (rounded) & 2 hours. 

Then I got stuck being helped by a an incredibly generous yet reeking of alcohol transient fellow.  Which got a little bit weird and threatened to involve the whole of Crescent City.  He literally knocked on the window of a Jeep as it pulled into the parking lot to ask the operator how his drive shaft worked.  Finally I gave him $7 for his "help" and talked him into leaving.  (Mostly so that we could get on the road ourselves because we were resigned to another hotel or travelling, but couldn't go anywhere while he was "fixing" our troubles.)  So it's 8pm and we finally start the long slow march home. (at 45mph) 

The agreed upon goal over everything else:  GET OUT OF CALIFORNIA!!!!  The plus side was that it was very pretty for the 2 hours the sun was up.  Very scenic:

  Would have been more enjoyable in our own car but apparently vacationers cannot be choosers.  WE do settle into a slow but cramped:

 routine and things were as good as can be expected.  But we hit our first steep grade.  I engage the brakes in an effort to control our descent and suddenly the engine starts revving like a first time driver trying not to kill the engine after a stoplight.  (Except this has an automatic transmission)  The Tachometer is up between 4 & 5K RPM  & it only goes to 6,000.  I say words I am certain my teenage daughter has never heard her friends say.  And fight it back under control.   This fight repeats itself over every steep grade all night long. 

   It being 10pm Ellen Realizes she might be hungry & states a desire to stop "Somewhere" to eat.  For all my enjoyment of writing I am unable to come up with words why  would rather avoid pulling into a parking lot where I would have to back up a 24 foot U-haul with a rav-4 strapped to a tow dolly attached to the back.  In some ways I guess I thought it would be self evident.  We "compromise" on a rest area and using some of the camping food.  (which basically means Sandwiches again )  So crawling along using every slow moving vehicle turnout I can find (there are more in California than in Oregon) and breathing a sigh of relief every time I receive a passing lane (to let others go by)  and dreading steep grades. We slog into Oregon:

(a Milestone hooray)  Round about Grants Pass, just as we merge onto I-5 the Check engine light comes on.  How cool a vacation story would it be if the U-Haul broke down on us.   so dinner (sandwiches)  @ Rest Area north of grants pass  & we notice the Rav is slipping loose from it's restraints.  So we back it off the dolly.  Reload and tighten down firmly.  Also check engine fluids due to check engine light.  (because it couldn't' have anything to do with the transmission and it's behaviour on steep grades.)  They look good.  And we are off.  Ellen doesn't really want to sleep but half-heartedly dozes.  As the night drags on I notice that I am driving a little bit faster.  Never over 55mph but getting home and done with this is taking precedence over safety and junk.  Round about 10 to 1am Bug pops her Monster & gets wired.  She is bouncing & singing & talking a mile a minute.  You know the child is out of her mind when she starts telling me how much she likes love songs.  But it works she helps keep me awake and aware.  Finally we roll into Donald @ 3:30am.  We have to park downtown and drive the Camry to ferry our junk home.  2 trips and we are completely unloaded and in bed by 4am.

Questions Inspired by the day:

Do I ow stupidity tax for my foolishly taking it down the 6 mile dirt road with an empty tow dolly behind?

Excluding the Naval to Kneecap zone what part of my body has not been sunburned?

Why does California hate me so?

How successful do you expect a casino to be if it looks like a barn?

Vacation Log Day 6 Phase 2 (actual date 8.3.9)

Waiting again.  The good news is the Rav is waiting for us.  We are out & the rangers are not going to cite us, but will give us an escort out.  So safety is an option.  Bug is sulky but it's 4pm and no lunch.  Good times.  Vacation on!  Lots of cars I am glad for the escort.  It's funny how stress ebbs & flows.  And fortunate.  Mine is leaving as Bug's rises.  Bug was fine when mine was scattered.  I was packing when Ellen was uptight.  (I believe)  at least we are ll understanding & tolerant of each others stress.  I believe that once we are travelling, or at home it will all be good.  I just wish there were a better way.

ROAD NOTES:
  I haven't towed a trailer since the Army.  I hated bringing it down the road.  Apparently a the U-haul violated the 24 ft limit.  Fortunately no citation for stupidity & poor judgement.  All our camping gear looks like so little stuff in a 24ft moving truck.  Everyone is being sympathetic and cool.  IT is amazing how different a gravel road with blind corners looks when you are white knuckling a 24ft truck with empty tow dolly. Good times and another lesson learned.  I am tired of being sunburnt.

Obligatory Rav on U-Haul pictures:

Vacation Log Day 6 Phase 1a (actual date 8.3.9)

$1300 and Wednesday Night...... U-HAUL Here We Come!