I was working in the lab late one night

Running on empty, running blind

but running on!

The map is for Cyrus. I was eleven miles from the border on 61...the little red star. Now I wish we kept in better touch! I wanted to go to Murfreesboro anyway and didn't. You would have given me a reason. I bet it wasn't forty miles for us to hit halfway. Foiled!

I have been having a fit trying to leave comments all week. I finally got a few on yesterday. You are not all forgotten. I am recovering from the shock of thinking I might have to rip out the cement patio, the cement floor in the back porch and the cement walkway to fix a septic pipe. That was a bad thought; Really bad. The good news is that the pipe is fine! Yay!

I came home from vacation again to find the bathroom non-functional. No worries there, called the nice man who fixed it so well last time and he agreed to repeat his performance as hero of the day. A time was set and all was right with the world; Or would be in a few days. But the snake got stuck. Not just stuck, "How do we get a car in the back yard?", stuck. I was at work when they called with that question. That was daunting.

I told them how to bypass the fence and prayed. Come to find out they had the thing stuck so well that they stretched out the poor snake trying to dislodge it with the car. They used shovels to pry on it with, nothing. Then it snapped. The head should have been left in the pipe. I was told something had to be broken in the pipe for it to hang up so badly. With a cement happy home builder in the past of that house I feared I was facing a massive mess and expense.

Next day a referred septic serviceman returned my call, scheduled me for less than four hours after I called, met me on time, used his magic pipe viewing camera to tell me I was open from end to end - there was no snake head in that pipe. Except for a narrow spot that he then whacked on with his roto rooter to widen I had no problem, pipe is FINE. Then he asked me how much I would like to pay! I named a number, he countered with a lower offer.

I looked around to see if I was on the same planet I started on that morning and gave him a dollar less than my first offer. I had discovered he did all this on a day he would be running a haunted barn put on by him and his wife to raise money for their school. I told him to add what he saw as extra to his charity.

He picked up and put away ALL the tools, he cleaned up his mess and the one left from not closing up the tank then helped me shovel it shut.

I shook his hand as we met and as he left so I know he was real. I have never had such a kind and efficient service call on anything in my life. I don't know if the plumber was a miracle or the head not being in the pipe is but it felt like that. Unreal. Amazing. I was thankful, believe me.

He never made me feel like he was being dishonest with me, never made me feel ignorant, showed me everything he was doing that I wanted to understand and told me about it so I could. I would send him to my Grama's house if she needed his services and know he would be fair and do a good job.

I am at peace about the house again. That alone was worth the fee.

With no net at the house and no trip to town yet I have not posted photos yet and I have a couple posts from Kentucky ready, I just have to get the machine with all the info on line. I will try to get to it, maybe Thursday night.

Jeanette should be calling for her final inspection next week. The house is coming beautifully and she is starting to get excited again. It's finally going to happen, she will be going home again. I am so glad for her! Her kids have their own places now and she will have her home back again to welcome them for visits and still have a place of her own.

Sis has been out riding, #1son in his new home showed me a photo of his wee grand as a poodle for tonight. Ew, way too cute! DIL has been under the weather. Best Girl is watching her hunter go out and her eldest through his first prom and homecoming. Scooter Girl's bunch loves the new house and the kids have made new friends. Eldest Daughter is working a lot from home, that really makes her sad. Mom is on a project or two and busy as a beaver. Shy Girl has some problems but we are praying for them. Too Tall lost his mother, she was 96. He and his girl have broken up, I was sorry to hear that. Tennesse Traveler is still singing. KMA is still laid off and frets about it. I am hoping she gets called back soon. She flunks sitting around, it makes her crazy. My city friends are doing well playing with their grand. My biker friends are trying to get in just one more ride.

All my friends, large and small, seem to be ok. There are a few I am concerned with but I don't know how to help. I carry them in prayer and stand ready if I am needed. Friday I am meeting a friend from high school for dinner. She and I have always been glad to see each other but never had the "catch up" yack. I am looking forward to it. These things are always fun.

So I haven't posted Kentucky yet, but as I keep learning, life moves on fast. I'm still trying to catch up! I hope I get the chance!

Later all, hugs!

All I have to do is act naturally

I'm back, alive and functioning. Stories and photos coming soon. I just have to play catch up awhile yet, still haven't checked in with all the family.

I didn't get back til about one something a.m. MI time on Monday. Still running to get landed again.

Hugs to all of you.

Way down south in the land of cotton

I keep wonderin' what I've forgotten...LOL!

It's way too early but I am up and have been for a couple hours. The cousins and I are just getting packed up for the jaunt and intend to make 11 miles short of the TN border tonight by about dinner time. I am outta here.

Later, all, hugs and bless you till I get back.

Turn the page -quick!

I have to say the vacation got off to a bit of a rocky start.

I finished loading up and tarping my stuff but was running late to work. The cop that pulled me over took pity on me and it was only ten miles over.....warning. Made it on the dot of the hour to work.

The boss wanted some photos of a new part we built. His wife had the camera. I had mine in the truck for vacation...sure, I will try to get some shots for you. I did, too.

Went for the laptop, also with me, to fix up the photos and it would not boot. Blue screen. Was fine when I packed it.

Had to do a total restore from the "just happen to have packed it" factory disc. Wipe out.

Got out of there and the guy that said he had a place for me to get a topper couldn't raise them. No topper. Went home, not in the plan, to get my discs to reinstall all my programs. Can't find the one for the printer. Oh, boy.

Called a friend to tell them I was heading out and would see them when I got back and hear, "I don't recognize the number...." Whoops on me! Guess I should call more often.

Got on the road finally and headed south and east but not on the right and familiar roads, just on the ones that come up. Maybe too much adventure. Had to call the cousins for the final directions because I was coming in from the oposite way I usually do.

I did manage to get through the Really Big City traffic at rush hour safely. It is easier when everyone waits ninty seconds, pulls ahead two car lengths and then stops.

Got here safe, reported in to all that I had made it and then watched a movie with one cousin while the other went back to work.

Instead of running off ahead today I will be working on the machine to get it back the way it was and see how much of my writing I may have lost. We will leave for Kentucky tonight. I am up early and will have a nap this afternoon.

There is coffee here and good company while I fuss with beating XP back into submission and rebuilding my files. Just wasn't the plan today.

I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting vacation...stay tuned.

I'll be back when I can and I am almost out of Dodge.

Some bright morning when this life is over

I'll fly away! Oh, Boy! And I did, too!

Cousin Rustryder called me at work yesterday about four and totally surprised me with the offer, long made, but for years unkept, of taking me flying with him!!!

Oh, yeah! I would be there to meet him at 5:30ish! My first thougt was I wanted to share this experience with a friend and he said one more would fit but the weight limit would not really do four, I could only offer to one. I did offer but had to leave a message to meet us if they could. They didn't get to come, oh well, I tried.

I offered dinner because I knew he would not have been home to eat yet and he accepted. I had a fit trying to stay at work after that, I wanted to GO! I got out and picked up a tailgater for us and the cousin who is always late was already parked there!

I exchanged greeting hugs with a bounce in them! It was, and always is, good to see the cousins but he was giving me such a gift! Wow! I was flying already just anticipating the ride. I'm just full of exclamation points today still over it!!!!

I have flown. I like flying. I love take offs, I love the landings. I feel alive with the risk they offer. I always flew in big planes before, this one was a Cessna about the size, inside, of a Beetle Volkswagon. It was like flying on a motorcycle except the leaning in the turns is built in, not needed for balance, but it leans you anyway. I loved it.

I loved the little door under the wing. I loved the guages and dials and maps and GPS and I loved the headphones that muted the roar of the engines and let us talk just like in the movies. I loved having the controls on my side, too! I was good, but I had rudders and stick and wanted a chance to try them. I got that later and found I didn't care who was driving, I just loved being up there, I didn't need to control the plane just to know I could was good enough.

I actually have come to treasure rides I get with trusted drivers in my passenger seat. Some one else has the con and I can just enjoy who I am with and what we are driving by. Sometimes I get tired of having to drive myself all the time, though I do like driving.

I trusted the Rustryder enough that I never even got nervous, not even during landing. I could see he was paying attention. I had totally no worries going up with him. The take off was great! He had already gotten down once, I knew he could again. I just asked lots of questions and exclaimed over the view and how fast we could go. With no real perspective 140 mph doesn't seem very fast but when we went from where I work to where I live it didn't take five minutes in the air, maybe three...Whoosh! and then you are there!

He let me say where I wanted to go. I got to see the places I love from the sky. We went all over! I was seeing it not from 20,000 feet, but between 1000 and 2500 most of the time, I think. Even that close it all becomes so small you can only see what men have made, you can't see the humans hardly at all. They are just too small.

I got to see my shop and the house and the lake near where I grew up. I saw bigger lakes and swamps and a field with just one huge tree in the center of it just tinged with the fall colors. I saw a double tanker truck parked out beside the field. I think it was probably fertilizer waiting to be used. I saw the Thinks it's a Big City, it ain't. I saw villages and junk yards. I saw where my friends and family live and many things between. I saw other planes go by, I saw the roads of cars going home for the day.

I loved the view from the sky. I watched the day turn into sunset and the red sun reflecting under the wings so it looked like two suns setting. But it meant the ride was ending, Cousin had to get back to work.

That was another really fun part. He repairs planes for a living. This one had to be flown for four hours to moniter the repairs. The ride was free for both of us! Oh WOW! How much fun was that? I think you probably can tell, for me, LOTS doesn't even cover it.

It was all so beautiful. It is such a change in perspective when you can see so much more at one time that your mind can't take it in. You are used to seeing from ground level. You see each thing as you come to it. From there, instead of the pond and farms and tunnels of trees I drive through each day, I could see from work to home almost all at once. I could see the whole city, clear out to the farms. What takes so long to navigate on foot or in a car is really all close together. It's the way we do it that takes so long. It is how we experience the distance between. It is in how we see it.

Places we think of as hours and miles away are only minutes and inches from the air. It's another perspective change. It made my head spin. I couldn't take it all in.

I think it was - added to the other flights I have had - the final bit that lets me expand my mind to the view of the earth from space and the concept of it that only astronauts seem to have. I think I got more than a hint of what they were trying to express. I have seen the photos of our planet dressed in clouds but I understand the difference between a picture of Mount Rushmore and standing in front of it. I add that all up in my head and I think I get a bit of how they feel about it.

I feel like I understand better how much everyone and thing here is interconnected and interdependant though we think we are all far apart. It's how you see it if you have to walk coast to coast, very far away. But from the perspective of the moon it is only ____ that far.

It's just a tiny planet. So far it's the only one we have. The pit for waste is not so far from the water tower in the next town if you look over both of them at the same time. You see the effect it can have. From down here it seems like far enough apart, not from the sky. They look right next to each other.

I feel like I am not saying this very well. Did I feel bigger because I could see further? No, I felt smaller because I could see so much more. I have felt something like this staring at the stars too long in the dark and feeling how tiny I am here. I guess you have to experience it. It doesn't share well in words.

I couldn't see the people from up there, just the things they build. I could see that there were people by the things they made. My eyes couldn't pick them out from that distance. I knew that they were there. I see you all every day down here. I am built to be down here with you. But I loved my time in the sky.

Cousin Reb and Rusty, Thank you!

Head em up move em out

Thanks to the caring and wonderful family we have, and some caring friends with strong backs, the #1son and family are in their new home now!

I hate getting up on the weekend but I set the alarm and woke easily Saturday. I swung by to borrow a dolly, I had ropes and tie downs and a tarp in case of rain. The #1Grand had said he would go. I went and picked him up, too. We were even there on time! I had bought a cute "Snoopy" balloon that said, "Welcome Home!" to tie on the mailbox for Mom and everyone to make the almost invisible drive easier to find. It was fun! I like balloons! I like helium, too.

We got rolling with Sis, the BIL, C2son, a friend of Mom's, me and the grand and the #1son and started for the storage unit. It was packed to the roof but the great team work made mincemeat out of it. We just lined up and passed it out, divvied it up to the proper transport, packed and then rolled back to unload. There was coffee and donuts for the break. Sis and BIL rolled home, C1son arrived and then we went for the last load at the storage. From there two vehicles with four men went for a load from the house to fill in the blanks in the truck and car. I had the big stuff in my little truck and went back to the house again.

We started at ten and I left around four but it was mostly done and to the pizza and pop by three. Even the Uncle showed up on the motorcycle to see the new place. What a team! We really are a fine bunch and know how to work together to get things done. If it hadn't been so much work I would have thought we were having fun!

I dropped off the grand and went on home. The heat and humidity were really nailing me so I cranked on the air and took a nap, til morning... I was whipped and I really only drove so wasn't expecting to be so worn out.

I had gone on the body flush to get the stupid pills the dentist gave me out of my system. I was feeling pretty spiffy when I left but I was beat when I got home. The flush seemed to work to get the nasty, doped up feeling gone on day one, I stuck with it for two or three.

Sunday I spent time reading the word and writing of things on my mind. I mowed the lawn, got laundry done, took out the trash, fed and watered everything then read a book and went back to sleep about ten. That is very early for me.

I am looking forward to getting out of Dodge. I spoke to the grand about commuting from my place for a week to watch the dog and stoner cat for me. I just want Jeanette to have back up, the house is getting so close she can hardly stand it. There is paint on walls and doors on rooms and carpet and tile are coming soon. If I can I would have someone here just so the house is covered and she won't have to worry about it.

Thursday I get paid, hit the bank, pay all the bills and Friday, after work, I roll out to the cousins. I am half way there in my head already. Today and four more and I'm free for a week! Maybe more, if miracles occur, or if I get a wild hair and just don't come back. We will just have to see what happens.

That is what keeps you living, you have to care about something and be curious enough to stay and see what happens next.

I have been doing a lot of soaking up the green this week. That is what I call it when the leaves start to turn and I don't want summer to end. I treasure every yard and field, I praise every tree whose leaves are still green. I try to save enough green up in my heart to get me through til spring. I have come to dread the January "black and white and mud" days.

I love skating, or did once, I love sliding, I even loved ice fishing once. I don't fish anymore. I loved big fires cooking iron pots of chili while we roasted hot dogs and drank cocoa and rode the dirt bikes on the ice. I love walking as the snow falls and the beauty of the sunlight on a fresh and deep covering.

What I get so tired of is the half way stuff. The muck and mush and grey and muddy days don't do a thing for me anymore. I can't say for sure, I might start in Kentucky and end up in Arizona, just to be where it is not all gloomy.

So I am sucking up the green as the leaves turn and blessing my favorites, the evergreens. As the season turns again I am saving summer inside of me.

Keep them doggies moving - Rawhide!

I'm going home to mow the lawn tonight. I have been putting it off as we had such a drought that I wanted to let the grass set some seed. Last night I stopped at the vet to get pills for the dog's alergy to fleas. I stopped to see a friend but she wasn't at home so I ran up the road and went to pick up gas for the mower, put some in the truck and then headed home.

I was feeling kind of loggy still because I had a tooth pulled the day before and had to take a bunch of nasty pills, antibiotics, before they would take it out and I took some pain pills after. I haven't been taking pills anymore, much; An asprin once in a while, maybe a sinus pill if my breathing is really blocked by an allergy flare up. I don't like taking them so I don't. I read for a bit then went to bed early, for me, last night.

This weekend I will be helping the #1Son and DIL move into their new home. It is so perfect for them, I loved the place when I saw it. Some other family and friends will be coming to give a had, too. I am so tickled for them. It is really a dream come true. Now all the kids are in homes of their own and I know where to find them all. Mom is doing well, too. It got me thinking and they will all tell you how danger filled that is.

Just a few of the daily things we all do to keep the home and family running smoothly, nothing earth shattering in my days recently. I have kept it going here and - with a little help from my friends and family - I will for a while yet. It is where I was loved and I feel safe but it's time to move on for me.

The place I live and things I have done for years, by habit, I have continued to try and do like we always did. This trail was cut for two and it's going to have to change. I can't keep up alone what we did together and I can't quite swing the budget. The place and the budget are just too big for me. It needs a family to keep it up and a family to use it all.

I have to find a trail for me to walk, one that is just my size. For starters I am going south to have a look around. The vacation with the cousins will let me see the possibilities down there. I have always wanted to go back to Tennesse. It looks like I will be moving that way in the very near future. There are many possibilities and I am finally ready to start exploring them and find one that is right for me.

I will be taking my own truck down. I swapped the car for it last week. The #1Grand gets an automatic and I have my trusted stick shift. That lets me wander around some there without imposing on the cousins to run me to places I want to see. I am looking forward to the new country, the mountains and the new people I may meet.

If things get thin here you will know I am getting ready to take off and go. I will only be gone a week or so unless I hit the lotto. When I get back I will be putting the house on the market as soon as Jeanette moves into hers. I have two rooms to paint and the whole thing to clean but I have made the decision, that is the way it's going to be done.

I only owe on the mortgage and a little on a credit card. If it sells in this market I will know it was meant to be. I will cover all my debts and then I am free to roam or settle down to a new job and a new place and keep learning to ride solo.

I will be getting a new bike in the spring, at least, that is the plan. I will be cutting what I own to the bone and keeping just what I have to have for my daily joys. The list is pretty small.

So that is where my head is at. It's just time to move along and see more of what comes next. Nothing changes until something moves, what is moving is me. We will have to wait and see what that changes.

Forward Ho! (again) I will keep you posted when I can.