DUST BUNNY CLUB OF NORTH AMERICA

I hope all the mothers out there had as wonderful a Mother's Day as I had.  I had to work but came home to loving hugs from all of the Oompas.  Gabe called from Iraq, and later we picked up his fiancee and the Grand-Oompas to have dinner with us.  I even remembered to call my own mother and had a lovely talk with her.

This is the last full week of school for the Oompas.  The following week consists of short days.  And of course, Gabe will be home for two weeks so I shall not be hosting the annual Summer Mourning Fest at the end of the school year for parents like myself who dread the chaotic summer months when Oompas run rampant like cockroaches destroying peace and routine without discrimination or conscience.  I can, however, tell you that there are just 98 days until school starts up again.  Woo Hoo!

dornbrau at 6:41:36 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 5 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Its 74 degrees outside right now.  74 beautiful, sunny degrees.  I actually sweated for the first time in months as I sat in the truck during my lunch break.  Tonight calls for thunder showers, which we need.  But for now its 74 and sunny!

Our countdown towards Gabe's R&R is speeding right along.  I've been good during this deployment, not gluing myself to the TV or computer in search of news.  I've avoided public conversations.  I have learned over time that while their concern for our soldiers... my son... is genuine, most people don't like to hear about the war and it is too painful to watch that disinterested look wash over their faces after their initial inquiry into his well being.  At home Gabe is a constant topic, but my fears and concerns are dealt with in private.  I look forward to this brief reprieve.

I am already dreading the moment when I must let go so that he can complete his mission.  I cling to the thought that with each passing day spent over there he is one day closer to home.

Dickidoo is putting in a lot of over time to buy me a new vehicle.   Till then I am driving my left handed truck.  Did you know that he makes more in one weekend than I do all week?  Why am I even working?

Oh yeah, because I'm a shopaholic and I hate having to beg for money to buy stuff I want but don't need.

Like truffles.  I think it's truffle time again.  Oh yeah, it is definitely truffle time again.

dornbrau at 7:55:35 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 7 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Hey, I almost forgot... okay, I actually did forget but then I remembered...

Happy May Day!

Did you know that May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii?  Right now all my family, friends and relations are getting lei'd in Hawaii.  Aya Aya!  Yeeee haaaa!

dornbrau at 3:18:35 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Or maybe its 'sprinter'.  Whatever....... Yesterday it was 73 degrees.  Today it snowed.  Notice the 'ed', following the 'snow', as in 'past tense' and 'no longer snowing'.  The sun is out and the thermometer outside the kitchen window reads 50 degrees.  I think I've figured out why they call this town 'Colorado Springs'.  Its so we can say that yes, Colorado does have a spring... located at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain, south of Denver and north of Pueblo.  But mostly we just have winter.

Rocky and I went for our hunters briefing on Fort Carson.  There was all of the usual ho-hum stuff they tell you every year, but this time they pointed out how hunting would be affected by the recent burn.  It was very sobering.  Over 10,000 acres burned.  Complete training areas were burned to the ground.  I recognized some of the locations as good hunting sites.  It will take years to regrow these areas, and if Mother Nature is kind, it will be a healthy regrowth.  Still, it saddens me to imagine all of the wild life and plant life lost to the fire.  And of course there was a human cost with the loss of the tanker pilot. 

Rocky wasn't too interested in the technicalities of the briefing.  She fidgetted.  And then she fussed because we were in an important meeting, in a fancy military board room with fancy leather seats, and her dad who was a speaker, was standing in the back of the room eating Reeses peanut butter Whoppers and drinking from a big pink jug.  She met another teenaged girl who lives in the next town over.  They exchanged cell phone numbers and would have texted each other right away if either of them could get a signal in the meeting room. 

Today I procrastinate.  I am waiting for it to warm up a little more so I can clean out Big Red.  Instead I find myself hoping it will snow a little more, making it too cold to work outside.  I know it is for the best, and I am tired of driving in left hand circles to get where I need to go, but Big Red is my chariot, my Cinderella carriage, my baby!

Okay Dickidoo you win... but no mini van!  Besides, I can't (won't!) take a mini van out hunting and I certainly can't haul and elk out in one!  Hey wait, Johnny went hunting in his Fiero.  I want a Fiero Dickidoo, yeah!  A Fiero!

Oh, oh, oh!  I've got a couple 'gotta tries' to share with you.  Hershey's limited edition Vanilla Yogurt Cream kisses are amazing!  They're not too sweet, but very rich so don't go thinking you can pig out on them.  Just a couple will leave you very happy.  And Coffee Mate has a new line of creamers that are worth investigating.  So far I have only tried the Tiramisu.  It smells good enough to drink from the bottle and makes the most luscious cup of perfectly flavored coffee.  Its liquid dessert!

dornbrau at 12:25:44 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 3 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

I drove Big Red for the first time in months today.  Every time I climb in to the cab I know that it could be my last time.  There was frost on the windshield this morning.  I turned on the defroster.  I have been spoilt by the Little Blue Go-Cart, which actually has a working defroster.  Big Red tried but only managed to blow cold air on to the window.  I patted the dash and squirted the windshield with cleaner while running the wipers.  I knew it would freeze up, really I did.

Driving Big Red is a challenge.  The power steering on the right side is shot so I have to find a route to where ever I am going that has the most left turns.  I can turn right... with a lot of muscle, and I know it hurts Big Red, so I try to stick to left turns.  If that means that I have to go around the block a few times to get where I need to be then so be it.  Anything for my baby.

The Oompas are disappointed with their dad.  They think he doesn't want Big Red.  They think he doesn't care.  They are wrong.  I just wish he was.  I wish they were right and that Big Red just needed a little TLC, but in my heart I know it goes deeper than that.  I am preparing myself for the inevitable.

This time next week I be saying my final good-byes to the old Ford and test driving some new nameless vehicle which will some day make its way into my heart the way its predecessor did.

But I guarantee it won't be a Mini-van!

 

dornbrau at 8:10:57 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 5 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Dickidoo is a pretty decent mechanic but he is not a magician.  When he says that Big Red isn't worth fixing I have to respect his decision.  Still, I can't help feeling like the lone resistance while the rest of the world circles around like oil thirsty metallic piranhas!  Back, I say!  Back!

What is Big Red?  Big Red is a huge 1991 Ford F150 pick-up with a thirst for 85 unleaded.  She has taken me from one end of the state to the other.  We've watched the sunrise together.  We've watched hot air balloons drift gracefully across the crisp morning sky, we've driven mountain highways and scaled rocky paths.  We've splashed through flash floods, plowed through the snow and danced across the ice.  We've had a few close encounters of the automotive kind and seen a few flashing red and blue lights in our time.  We've parked over a look out and wished upon a falling star.

Big Red is not just a big red pick-up truck.  Big Red is a part of me.  A part that another part of me is trying to convince me to let go of.

What most people don't understand is that in this great big world full of possessions, Big Red is probably the only thing I have ever really wanted to own.  Family doesn't count, you don't own family.  And while I prize my camera, it is more of a tool.  Big Red, on the other hand, is as close to being mine and 'me' as any object can be.  Silly as it may seem to some, it's hard for me to let go and it does hurt.

Kind of makes me glad I'm not a pick-up truck otherwise I would have been scrapped a long time ago.

Where are those falling stars, I sure could use a wish come true right about now.

Oh wait, Gabe is coming home! (thats a pretty darn awesome wish come true!)
         

29 DAYS AND A WAKE UP!

dornbrau at 9:10:02 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 2 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

 April 24 is . . . . National Pigs In A Blanket Day.

Do you remember the school cafeteria's pig in a blanket?  It was actually my favorite dish that those crazy old lunchroom ladies would whip up, from its thick, soft yet chewy buttery bread wrapper to the juicy wiener wrapped snuggly inside and served with soggy, greasy oven fries, warped rubbery carrot sticks and washed down with a luke warm half pint of milk.  Ah, those were the days!

Last night we had steak, artichoke and a salad wedge for supper.  A salad wedge is a wedge cut from a head of iceberg lettuce then drizzled with dressing and sprinkled with diced tomatoes and bacon bits.  Basically its a tossed salad minus the 'tossed'.  I don't know why but for some reason salad just tastes so much better as a wedge.

We had a lot of left over artichoke since we got a couple of free packs from the grocery store down the block.  There were three different prices posted and even the cashier was confused so he just tossed them into a bag without charging us for them.

"They look like they're going to turn bad soon,"  he explained with a wink.

So... guess what I had for breakfast?

Yep, artichoke... and cheesecake!  If that isn't a breakfast fit for champions then I am one happy loser!

Unfortunately I think those artichoke and cheesecake have replaced all the calories I burned while walking home earlier in the week, which means that I should probably walk home more often, whether or not Big Red gets fixed in time.  Which also means that I should surely be able to afford maybe one more slice of cheese cake.  I'll just have to take the long way home, that's all. 

dornbrau at 10:50:59 AM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

I'm hell on motor vehicles, I really am.  The Little Blue Go Cart is paralyzed... I'm sure it will end up being the transmission.  Big Red's steering is shot... kaput!  And after my little 'Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!' departure Friday morning (witnessed by Dickidoo himself) I apparently have 'glossed the clutch' and now The Hemi is stalling out and acting 'not right'.  Personally I think there is nothing wrong with the Dodge but made the mistake of pointing out to Dickidoo that he stalls out too (which he does) and he took that opportunity to suggest that it was my fault... as usual.

Oh well, what can a car killing woman do? 

I suppose revenge would be in order but not this time.  Dickidoo has decided that Big Red would be the better candidate for repairs and will start working on her this evening.  (Anything to keep me from further damaging his Precious!) Woo Hoo!

Due to my destructive ways, we are now left with only one working vehicle.  For the past two days Dickidoo has dropped me off at work by... you guessed it.... o'dark hundred.  And for the past two days I have hoofed it home.  Yesterday I made it home in 55 minutes.  I thought I was doing good until I found out that it was only 2.7 miles.  Today I made it home in 50 minutes.  I better be losing weight with all of this, that's all I can say.

Not true.  I can say a lot more.  For instance walking 2.7 miles for two days in a row actually felt good!  There was only one part of the walk, just one block from the house, where I found myself out of breath and feeling like the fat old lady that I am.  The rest of the way was really quite invigorating.

But I'd rather be driving Big Red.  Hook me up Dickidoo!  Yahoo!

p.s.  Mama just got the all clear from her doctor.  She is officially cancer free and the annoying little port in her side has been removed.  Big Sis Lisa has just finished her 4th treatment and will begin a new cycle soon.  She is loving her smooth as a baby's bottom head though I imagine she will have to cover up once the heat of summer sets in.  She also hasn't had to shave her legs or armpits for 3 weeks now.  I guess there really is an up side to all of this.  Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.  They do help and are always appreciated.

Dorn~

dornbrau at 2:29:52 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 10 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Dickidoo was scheduled to fly out to California yesterday evening at 7:25.  Key words being 'was scheduled'.  Apparently his plane stalled out on the runway and never got the all clear to take off.  His trip was rescheduled for this morning and he was sent home with a $200 voucher for future travel, shut up money for the inconvenience.  Cool.

That is where the coolness ended... abruptly.

Dickidoo called me to pick him up from the airport.  I fired up the Little Blue Go-cart (what I call the Tracer which replaced my pick-up Big Red).  3 miles from the house and maybe 10 miles from the airport the transmission gave out.

All together now.... GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Our neighbor Jim, who is always bailing us out of trouble, showed up in his truck, picked Rocky and I up, drove to the airport to pick Dickidoo up, dropped us off at the house then went back with Dickidoo to tow the Little Blue Go-cart back.

This morning at o'dark hundred I found myself sitting behind the steering wheel of The Hemi.  The Hemi is a huge golden Dodge Ram Crew Cab pick-up that drives like a bulldozer and sounds like a tank.  I need a pillow to scooch me forward far enough to reach the clutch.

Yes, that's right.  I said 'clutch' (with a shutter... I don't like clutch!).

I lost half a cup of coffee with all the stop and go jerking action going on as I tried to remember how to coordinate my two feet with the three pedals.  When I finally got to work there was a voice mail waiting for me on my phone.  It was Dickidoo, laughing his sleepy butt off.

Hey Jo, all you need is 2nd, 3rd and 4th, nothing else. You don't need to rev the engine up. You're good at 2000 rpm's and then nothing higher than 3000 rpm's okay.  I can hear you revving that  engine all the way from the house still.  Ha ha!  Alright, be safe. Just use 2nd, 3rd and 4th.  2nd, 3rd and 4th.  2nd to start out.  You don't need 1st, 1st is for towing and getting stuck in the mud, not for stopping and starting. Its a real low gear, okay? Just remember 2nd, 3rd and 4th.  Ha ha, I can still hear you.  Alright, be careful. Talk to you later.

I lost track of how many times I stalled out at intersections and stop signs.  Kimmie thought it was a hoot, as did the Oompas.  I whined at all of the stoplights, clicking my heels and chanting 'There's no place like home', all the while trying to maintain pressure on the clutch and brakes.  After getting money from the ATM for Rocky's drum lessons I forgot what I was driving and stopped in front of a big red pick-up truck out of habit.  Art's girlfriend interrupted my dream and prevented me from trying to stick the key in the lock.  Grudgingly I moved the next lane over and got into The Hemi.

It just took a short ride for the Oompas to believe me when I said that I just don't like driving the Behemoth that is The Hemi.  They may have to consider popping motion sickness pills before they ride with me again.  I will be so glad when Dickidoo gets home.  Hopefully he'll be able to fix the Little Blue Go-cart... or maybe Big Red!

But... before that happens, there's still driving to and from work tomorrow and Sunday.

All together now... GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

dornbrau at 8:37:22 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 7 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Today was one of the suckiest days this year, until I got an email from Gabe in Iraq.

Let the countdown begin!

36 Days And A Wake-up!

If things work out we'll have both of his sons out here for his R&R.  Oh, I can't wait!

Uh oh, watch out, Fat Lady doing the Happy Dance!

dornbrau at 7:06:46 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 8 comments: Show Recent | Add your own