Update from Quincy, IL

We made it to Quincy by supper time on Saturday evening. We got a later start than I had anticipated...but we really were not on any time table, so no big deal on when we left or when we arrived in Quincy. The hotel where we are staying is really old..but clean. We are in a wierd sort of room. Our room is in the core of the building, so we don't have a window that faces outside..the window that we do have has frosted glass..but does not face the outside. So if you don't have lights on, it's pitch black in here. But it's fine for why we're here and the price was right for the one night we had to pay. Sharkey is paying for the rest of the nights.

Russ had a wake up call at 5 and headed down to get his ride out to the training center at 6ish. I rolled over and went back to sleep for a bit.

Around 10 I started working on the scrapbook stuff that I had brought with me. I finished that project around 12:30 and then headed out for an adventure and some lunch.

I went to a couple of strip malls, Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby and Ben Franklin's Crafts. Didn't buy a lot but felt good to be up and moving around. It's kind of sprinkly, rainy out.

Back to the hotel around 3. Not sure when Russ will get back. I asked him to call me on his lunch break..but he must have forgotten or got busy cuz he didn't call. So I have not idea what time to expect him.

Not sure what we'll do this evening. Will depend on how brain fried he is.

This is an interesting older river town. I hope to get out and go to some museums maybe tomorrow. Since I got my scrapbook project done, I'll need something to do.

Well, that's it for today.

Folks' fire update

Well, things have finally started looking up for my folks since their garage fire. Russ and I went down last night to get our trailer that they had been using for storage while the garage was being torn down and rebuilt. The garage is up and they finally got the garage door opener installed just this week. So just some last minute rearranging for the folks to do to get it all done. Then we have to finalize the spreadsheet of all that was lost and replaced and lost and not being replaced. Then it will be a DONE DEAL. I know my mom is ready for it to be over with. It has been real stressful on her to take all the responsibility on herself. Dad has been busy getting things put back but he has his way and only his way of doing it...so you might as well leave him be and just let him do his thing. But all in all it's just about all done.

Just wanted to post an update since so many of you knew about the fire earlier this summer. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers during this process.

Russ is home

Russ got home at 5:30 this morning. He was finally done at Poly around 3 yesterday..so he drove straight through. He really likes his new car but the car alarm thing needs to be checked out. It got set off as he was coming in the house this morning and it sounded like the cavalry was headed our way. It must be some sort of add on thing and it has been causing problems. So when Russ gets rested, he'll take it in to our trusty car guy and ask if it can be removed.

We will be taking my Vibe to Quincy with us this coming weekend. The recruiter just called Russ and gave him the scoop. They are putting us up in an older hotel..reminds me of Hotel Pattee in Perry. But the pics of the place look really neat and the rooms look good as well. I'm hoping that they have wireless internet so I can take my laptop..but even if they don't, I'm guess that a library or some place will have wireless. Would also like a refrigerator so we can take a few things to keep cool...like my morning milk! But if there is no refrigerator, then we'll take a cooler. I'm pretty flexible. We only have to pay for Saturday night and they are picking up the tab for the rest and reimbursing us for fuel for the car as well. Then Russ says when he heads out, they hand him $300 cash to get started.

I am so in hopes that this is the job for Russ and that he can see himself staying there until he retires 12 years from now!

Well, that's my update on that part of my life.

Russ' start date at new job delayed

The company that he's currently working for is not being very cooperative in getting him back to Texas so he can get home and start orientation at the new job next Monday. So he will be starting September 29 instead. He should get home next Tuesday or so. Then Saturday we will head to Quincy and have the weekend there and he will start his orientation on Monday, Sept 29. He says he will be in orientation for 3 days, so I think I'll stay over there until Wednesday morning and then I'll head back to Ames and try to get a 1/2 day of work in .

We will both be glad when we can say adios to his current employer and embark on this new journey. I'm anxious to see if he really will make it home every weekend. That will take some getting used to, but in the long run it will be so much nicer having more regular routines that we can count on. Maybe next year we can get the camper off the farm!

Well, that's todays news. We are having glorious fall like days here. It has been in the upper 70's and low 80's for the past several days and supposed to keep it up for a few more. So I am going to enjoy them one by one.

Weekend of work

Russ got home last Wednesday afternoon..but then it rained and rained and rained...so he was not able to get out and get his mowing done. We finally got out and trimmed up the forsythia bushes that had grown about 4 feet during the summer. When they start to brush up against the house/screens and wake me up...then we know it's time to trim.

I was also hearing strange noises on the roof of the sunroom. Well, that meant a ladder and chain saw. Russ did a GREAT job of trimming that area above the sunroom and we shouldn't be bothered with those limbs for a couple of years.

I dug up my potatoes also. Decided to see what I had grown. I will post a picture of the bounty soon. We ate them last night with our cheesey chicken dish. We hope to enlarge the garden a wee bit for next year. Especially if Russ will be around more to help me with it. We have not had good luck with our pole beans the past couple of years. We need to figure that out cuz I miss not having fresh green beans during the summer. The years they've come on good, we had so enjoyed them. The tomoatoes didn't do very well either. I picked a small handful of these as well and ran through the blender with some onion and garlic and tossed in the freezer to use in spaghetti sauce this winter.

Well, this is Russ' last week with Poly Trucking. Next week we will head over to Quincy, IL for his orientation. I plan on taking my laptop with me...so hopefully I can post some good news from there.

New opportunites for Russ

Well, my husband finally got fed up with his current employer and found himself a new trucking company to work for. The old company is Poly American out of Grand Prairie, TX. The new company is Sharkey Transportation out of Quincy, IL. He will go to Quincy on 9/22/08 for orientation. I'm thinking that we'll go over on Saturday and bum around and then I'll stay until Monday or Tuesday with him. I'll need to bring the car back home as he will be assigned a truck and will more than likely be on a 'run' when his orientation is completed.

I'm looking forward to a nice weekend away. There may be some fall colors to see by then. It's only a little over a week away, but the trees around here are already starting to turn a wee bit. It looks like Quincy is right on the river, so that may be neat to see as well.

We'll be without insurance for 3 months..but we've gone longer, so not too worried about that. When he does get insurance it will be paid for by him employer and will cover Russ and myself. Right now we are paying over $300/month. The new insurance company will be Blue Cross Blue Shield...so that will be a BIG improvement over what he has now.

So just keep Russ in your thoughts in the weeks to come that he settles in with this new company and his stress levels can go way down. He will be home every week so that alone will be an adjustment. He said last night that it had been 24 days since he was home last. His tushy was a wee bit sore. Hopefully, this will help his tush to not get so sore either..as he'll have a couple days of easy chair a week now.

Summer Flowers of 2008

These are some of the blooms from my summer flowers. There are rose of sharon bushes, hibiscus bushes and lots of lilies. There were really pretty this year.

Can't say the same for our garden. For some reason it didn't do all that well this year. Russ had a few tomatoes one time when he was home. But they seemed so small. I did put some through the blender with garlic and onion to use in sauces this winter...like spaghettie sauce, etc. We also planted potatoes and when Russ gets home next time, I'd like to dig up a couple of them to see what they look like. This is a first for potatoes. So we'll see how that goes. Next year's garden will be a tad bigger and designed better than the garden we had this year.



This climatis was really pretty. You can see Russ' big red truck in the back ground. We are hoping that he won't be driving for the big red truck company much longer. But I'll save that for another day.

Russ got a 'new' car

The old Buick that we had that had belonged to Russ' mom was down in the 'yard' at Texas so when Russ got in down there and was held over for a few days, he would have some wheels to run around in and not be stuck in the semi for 48 or more hours. Well, the Buick had major problems so we had talked about him getting a different vehicle. He just called and he went shopping and found himself a new car.

This is a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am and only has 52,000+ miles on it. He is pretty excited to have wheels down there that he can depend on.

He says that he has gotten a call from his supervisor regarding the fuel charges. Let's hope that meeting goes OK. I told Russ that I had a print out of our credit card that I could fax down there if they needed something right away. I just have to keep being optimistic and hope that it all turns out for the best.

Anyway, I just wanted to post a pic of the new car. I got this pic off the internet site where he bought the car. I actually downloaded all the pics from the internet sight so I can scrapbook about Russ' new baby.

My husband faced Hurricane Gustav

What an eventful weekend my husband had. He is a truck driver and had a load to deliver in the panhandle of Florida last Friday. Well, anyone watching TV knew that hurricane Gustav was headed into the Gulf Coast over the weekend. His next load after Florida was Houston, TX for a delivery on Tuesday AM! Well, if you look at the map of the US and figure it out..he would have gone right through the thick of it while going east to west. I told him to be sure to tune his XM radio in to the weather channels down there so he didn't head into the eye of the hurricane. He did major zig zags up into Mississippi and then down to the coast west of New Orleans. When he called Monday to say that he was on Interstate 10 west of New Orleans...I about wet myself. I said, "Oh honey, I think you better head for higher ground..from what I'm hearing you are right where Gustav is headed". He called later to say that he was heading north on I49 up into Louisiana. He got not quite halfway up the state and had to stop as he was going to run out of fuel and there were no truck stops open! He hadn't eaten for two days and only had enough water left to take his AM meds on Tuesday!

I was in panic mode which is nothing new for me. I tried to google on the internet to find a station open for him to get fuel. I called more than 5 stations and no one was answering. So he finally pulled over and just waited for Tuesday morning and hope that something would open close to him. Well, the truck stop where he was at, opened the pumps to credit card purchases only..which meant he had to use OUR card..but at least he could get some fuel so he could get the heck out of there.

He went a bit further north and fueled up more (again on our credit card) and then headed for Houston TX. I am glad to report that he called last night and said that he made it to Houston and has one more drop in TX then he goes to the 'yard' in Grand Prairie and get the truck serviced and hopefully they will send him home to Nevada, IA.

Now we just need to hope and pray that we don't have to fight to get reimbursed for the $700 worth of fuel that we just paid for!! The first station had run out of receipt paper..it said to see attendant...which there wasn't one. So all we have is our credit card statement. Russ assures me that they will reimburse us. So I will remain optimistic.

So the Iowa boy got a hurricane education. Next time they predict one close to you...get food and water and park the truck out of harms way and RIDE THE STORM OUT!