Wednesday, April 29, 2009

If It's Not One Thing It's Your Brother

So...yesterday started out quietly enough...

I got up early and went to the gym to swim.

Arrived at work and began my day driving the big red truck.

About 8:30 my sister called and then began a day full of brother drama.

He's fine and I'll respect his privacy (and I hope ya'll do as well).

But that is not the real story of yesterday.

So...I'm right in the middle of brother drama and my cell rings.

It's the company from California that makes our uniforms. I'd begged, pleaded and convinced them to send our order overnight so the kids would have their stuff before this weekend (Denny...we'll be racing in Topeka!).

The club credit card was being declined. After a call to the bank where they told me that our club administrator need to phone them to fix the issue.

Of course I couldn't get him on the phone. So I paid for it myself.

Then...a few hours later my neighbor called. The killer dog was getting out of the fence. The neighbor finally got said killer dog in the yard and in the house.

Then a few hours later I was headed home to deal with killer dog and my assistant coach calls and my varsity girls had run our brand new quad into a PARKED pontoon boat. Pontoon boat is fine, girls are fine, quad is pretty dinged up.

Then, when I get home and our internet and home phone were not working.

Now...Monday, the dryer stopped working. So I guess I should have seen this coming.

I'm using today as a do over.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Me, My Mother And The Raccoon In The Attic

I had lunch with my mother last week and she mentioned a smell at my step-grandparent's house. A dead smell.
Seems there might be a dead animal in the attic. Mom thought it might be a raccoon.
"Has anyone been up to see what it is?" I asked, innocently.
"Oh, no." Mom replied.
"Don't you think someone should go up?" said I...setting my own trap.
"Well...we thought about sending Matty up..." she answered.
Matty is my 11 year old nephew.
So I'm sure you can see what happened next.
I went up in the attic.
The smell was in the far corner of the house from the attic access hole in the garage.
So up I went. Crawling across the attic on the joists...on my knees. Comfortable.
And there...in an inaccessible corner. Sure enough.
A. Big. Dead. Raccoon.
Good times.
I couldn't get to him...he was tucked in a corner just out of reach.
After some consultation with my step dad...who was conveniently at work.
We decided to cut him out.
I prepared myself.

But there are just some things you can't truly prepare for.

He was stuck. Really stuck.

After much pulling and trying not to vomit. I successfully removed the dead, stinky raccoon from the ceiling.

Then after I showered, my mom and I went and had a beer.

Okay, I had two.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Bridge To Madagascar


The following is a conversation I just had with Andrew.
He's 7.
Loves geography and maps.
Is afraid to fly.
Andrew: "You know Madagascar? The place...not the movie?"
Me: "Yeah"
Andrew: "It's by Africa."
Me: "Yeah...wouldn't it would be fun to go there someday?"
Andrew: Silent pause. "But I'm afraid of heights."
Me: "That's okay...someday you'll fly."
Andrew: Another silent pause. "I thought there's a bridge. With gas stations so we can stop sometimes."
So...at least when we are driving across the bridge to Africa there will be gas stations. Good thing. I'm sure I'll need a diet coke. And he'll need a bathroom.

I Heart My Rowin' Kids


I just do.

For reasons that are to numerous and time consuming to list.

If you have a few days...I'll sit down and tell you all the things about them that make me proud/laugh/smile/shrug/cheer/etc.


It might take a week.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Sock


So...this post is going to require a lot of visualization.


Ready?


Last shift we got a call after I was already in bed. Not asleep...but in my room reading...about 9pm.


We leave our bunkers next to our beds so we can be dressed and ready to go quickly if we get an alarm.


Remember that our boots stay inside our pants...like the picture above.


I don't like to sleep in socks. So I leave a pair of socks perched on top of my boots so I can quickly slip them on.


But my feet were cold when I got in bed so for some reason I got another pair of socks and put them on...leaving my other socks on top of my boots.


We get an alarm.


It's a medical call. I quickly shove my feet into my boots, pull the bunkers up and hurry to the rig.


We're on scene. An older lady not feeling well. I'm standing in her bedroom. Doing my usual clipboard duty. Writing down meds, vitals, history.


At some point I look down at my feet.


And there, on the floor, is my sock.


I think for a minute.


Casually reach down, pick it up and shove it in my pocket.


All the while listening to the patient's daughter recite her medical history.


She saw me pick it up.


It was obviously a sock.


Neither of us said a word.


Yeah.


I felt pretty cool.


And professional.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

US Naval Academy Performance Kings Firecracker

This 8 minute video is worth every second.

Amazing!

Still Here

Not gone...just sooooooo busy.
Don't lose hope...I have some great pics and a rowing video for ya'll to look forward to.
Off to Tulsa this weekend...check back next week.
Love ya!

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Birthdays, Drums and His Two Front Teeth

Uncle AsaBob turned 40 on Wednesday so today we went out to eat and then back to the Bates house for cake and drum solos.




Loud but fun.

And someone finally lost that last front tooth. Cute don't ya think.

A Walk In The Woods

Things have been very busy for me and it's been a few days since I've been able to get River to the lake for a walk. I was starting to think her head might explode if we didn't get a little exercise....so this morning, even though it was really nasty out....off we went.

I was trying to get some video of the wiggle...She was wearing her muzzle and I think it subdues the wiggle a bit.

It so very nice to have a place to walk so close to home where I can let her run. During the week we go pretty early in the day and I feel very comfortable letting her run un-muzzled. But on the weekend...even in really crummy weather...I'm always worried that someone else might be walking. She's still so unpredictable that the muzzle is necessary. Sad, but necessary.

She's a work in progress.

But then again, aren't we all.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

I Heart Google

Green Bowling Balls

April will be our last month of bowling league until Fall. We aren't very good. Strange thing though...we weren't very good when we started...and we haven't gotten any better.

But we're having fun and the beer is cold.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009