this weekend.....

well, it's sunday evening, supper is cookin in the burton ovens and we are enjoying our last nite, hopefully, in beautiful walcott, iowa ....our last nite for awhile, anyway.....we're supposed to pick up a load in de witt in the morning and drag it over to gastonia, nc......i can't really complain tho...walcott has been a gracious host to us for the weekend........



we've had a rough week......we spent the 4th of july in salt lake city, which was nice and they had a decent fireworks display....but on sunday, the 5th, when we went to pick up our load outta there, which was going over to montgomery, new york.....yep, good miles.....we dropped our empty trailer to find that not just one, but both rear tires on the tractor were wet ....seems we'd blowed both seals back there.....so we hobbled over to freightliner and spent the day and that night in the shop there.......after that we got a load going down to los angeles.....on the way there we got a message to go to fontana freightliner to have some wiring replaced.......another day and night in the shop.......finally they got that taken care of and we headed down to otay mesa to pick up a load going to chicago........everything was going good......it was a light load....and we always love the drive across western i-70 thru utah and colorado........but then we got to iowa city, iowa....and the monsoons had hit.......running thru torrential rains, lightening and thunder was daunting enough, but then all of a sudden the truck shut off on me........completely down......i managed to get it off to the side of the road, ignoring some comments on the cb about girl drivers being afraid of the storms, and got brad out of bed.......we could see an exit sign just ahead of us and we managed to get the truck started and running long enough to get up to the exit and off the road in a safer spot.....seems the belt for the water pump had come off the truck.....a call to breakdown brought us road service again.......i was never sure how serious to take the guy that showed up, but he tried to convince us that driving thru the rain had caused the belt to come off.....he put it back on, put in about 3 gallon of water and off we went again, heading first for a tire shop in iowa city since while brad was outside with the roadservice guy, he noticed we'd also gotten a flat on the trailer.......a quick stop in iowa city and then we were off again, heading for the t/a shop at the iowa 80 truckstop......the mechanics there got a good chuckle out of the theory of how the belt came off in the rain, did a little tinkering around with it and then had to send for some parts.......which, of course, wouldn't be in till the next day......so we had a lovely overnite stay with them.....the good news is that it was the last day of the truck show and so we had some entertainment.......at first it was still monsoon weather, and about all you could do was to feel sorry for all the vendor tents tightly closed up and making no money, and all the guys who'd buffed chome polish for hours, only to have to hide the effort under a tarp.......but later that afternoon the clouds dispersed and the sun came out .....the tent flaps got drawn back and the tarps came off and it turned out to be a really good show......it didn't take long for the iowa sun and a light breeze to dry the lot up........this was the first time we'd had the pleasure of getting to take in this show....and while it's a little smaller venue than louisville or some of the others, they do a good job here......there were alot of trucks in the show, alot of antique trucks.....one of my favorites was a black 54 autocar......sweet........there was another one that i wouldn't have been ashamed to have been seen running around in.....a blue peterbuilt with a fantastic mural of horses runnin on the beach on the sides of it......it had a big ole house on it.....all the amenities of home, even a fireplace!............we got in a nice visit with pam in the ooida truck and enjoyed a pretty good grilled dinner of pork chops, baked potatoes and all the trimmings.........



saturday they got our parts in and got us fixed up and runnin pretty quick.....we got our showers and enjoyed our supper and had a good restful night.......today we got our load assignment, and even tho we've basically set all week, it was kinda nice to know we just had the rest of the day free to relax......we ran across the street and had breakfast at gramma's kitchen......pretty good food and alot to entice you to browse the little shop as y ou head to and from your table......think miniture cracker barrel.........basically we've just been slugs the rest of the day......reading the sunday papers, playin on the computers.....the most exertion either of us has had was when babygirl made us take her outside.........as for now, supper is about ready.....gonna kick back and watch a little tv and then call it a night.......probably say a little prayer of thanks that this past week has ended and a llittle prayer for the one startin up.......ya'll be safe out there!

blogger blues......

ok, before i go sexing around with all my settings.....and other stuff that i admit to knowing precious little about, i am having some trouble lately reading some of my blogs.....is anyone else having difficulty????....and if not, got any ideas on what i need to do to remedy the malfunction????

here's my problems......

i don't have any trouble opening "The Daily Rant"....but one of my favorite parts of Salena's blogs are the archives....it's really weird, but for a couple of weeks now i have not been able to open the archives from 2005 and 2008 thru the links under each new post.....2006 and 2007 work just fine, but it's a no-go on 5 &8......if i go down to the list of all the archives i can open them there, but then i find myself reading the whole month's worth...and that ruins the daily surprise!.....i know...i know....i'm weird........i admit it.......just help me.......

and then there is "Heads Carolina/Tails California".....i can get the page to open, the list of followers, etc comes up.....but no post.....nothing at all....no matter how long i wait......

everyone else i read, daily or occassionally, seem to be working just fine.........any ideas out there?????.........please!....i've become addicted and need my daily fixes on these blogs.......

she might only be a min pin, but she thinks she's a rottweiler.....

she's only 9.5 lbs.....but she thinks she's a rottweiler........i'll have to hand it to her tho, she is an excellent guard of this truck.....she'd take on anybody that dared to try to get in ....even to get too close.......

we admit it tho....she's spoiled.....she thinks the truck is hers and she merely lets us drive her around so that she can bark at other dogs and take care of her business in various locations from coast to coast...........she's so spoiled that she has pretty much taken over our bunk......being a burrowing kind of dog, she has laid claim to all the pillows.......and the minute your butt hits the bunk, it's hers for the snuggling........which can be really nice on a cold winter night, but come summer, you wish she wasn't so affectionate.........so i guess it wasn't any surprise when we saw this cartoon and it hit so close to home.......

they're growing giant kids in phoenix!!!!!

i don't know what they're feedin these kids out there........

one of i-5's little gems.....

there's alot to capture your interest running up and down i-5 in california.....mt. shasta and lake shasta are breathtaking in their beauty......the olive groves and grape vineyards are meticulously maintained and gorgeous as they ripen.......one of my favorites tho is the often overlooked pyramid lake......just north of santa clarita.....just south of frazier park....it's nestled down between surrounding majestic mountains that seem to end in, albeit man-made, pyramids......

some crazy weekend......

well, here we are....sitting at the company yard in south holland, illinois.....not too bad of a place, even if it is the south side of chicago.....we have been running so hard that we literally ran out of hours....with brad ending up with nothing on saturday and me only having four and a half.....can't do a whole lot on that!.....we were under a load that we brought out of kent, washington and had our first stop just north of here in des plaines, illinois on friday afternoon and then it finaled out saturday in jamaica, ny........since we didn't have enough hours to run it on over there, we repowered it here in south holland and have been enjoying the local 'flavour"....yeah, right.......
this isn't a bad yard, for a drop yard.....they've got a shop, but no showers and not much in the way of a lounge or any other driver amenities.....but, hey....being a country girl....a former 4-H er.......a camper from wayyyyy back.....i've learned a thing or two about improvisation.......guessing there were no showers here, i stocked up on jugs of water on the way into illinois......now, it's no tuscan sun spa, but here is my "trucker salon"...complete with salon shampooist.........

i donned one of my oldest t-shirts.......got out by the drive axle.....hung my head down and my "shampooist" poured the tepid water over my hair.....helped me lather up and then laughed hysterically at me while i washed my hair........but then he helped me rinse and repeat.......i was gonna tip him, but his obvious pleasure seemed reward enough........i can stand alot of things....a greasy head of hair is not one of them.......

saturday we bobtailed out to the local walmart for supplies......this was an easy shopping trip for us since we didn't need alot, and as we got up to the register, brad said he'd go on out to the truck and walk babygirl and then be there ready to help me load our goodies and stow everything away......as i was putting my things on the checkout conveyor, i told the cashier i had a case of water on the bottom and asked her if i needed to put it on the conveyor or could she scan it....she said she'd scan it....well, i busied myself with putting the rest of my purchases up, put my card and information in to pay and then began loading the bagged items back into the cart......didn't give the water another thought until i was stopped by the checker at the door who asked to see my reciept.......she stood there for.ever. scanning up and down the reciept and sighing heavily and giving me this look and then asked me where the entry for the water was....really loud.....really obnoxious.....lots of people going by and staring at me......i felt about 2 inches high......i told her that i'd informed the cashier i had it, she had said she'd scan it, obviously she hadn't done that, but it is not my job to watch her......she literally hollared at the girl at the first register next to us, (not the one who'd checked me out) that i had not paid for this water and needed it rang up......i was ambivient at her tone and suggestion that i was trying to get out without paying for the water and asked her to go down to the girl who'd checked me out so that she could verify that i had told her about the water and it was merely an oversight, but she refused to do that.....she just kept saying stuff about how i hadn't paid for it, in "that" tone......
well, needless to say, the whole thing went down hill after that, with me making a withdrawal from my trucker vocabulary account at her.......the poor girl at the first register who finally ran g up my water apologized but the bitch at the gate never gave an inch and it ended with me telling her as i walked out by her that i was surprised they didn't have a lazyboy there by the door so she wouldn't have to move off her fat ass at all.....she said something back, but i couldn't hear it since the whirl of bird that i flew was so great it drowned her out..........brad could tell something was up when i came stomping up to the truck and it was about all i could do to keep him from heading inside and having another "go around" with her.......i don't know why i let it upset me so badly.....i've never stolen a thing in my life....except for maybe a kiss or two....i mean i had my reciept in hand....she looked at the total....did she really think after that that i'd be petty enough to try to get out with a free case of water????....geesh.........the whole time we were arguing i could just see the headline on the next day's paper.....walmart shopper wrestled to the ground over a stolen case of dasani water...........

well, my loving husband soothed my ruffled feathers and then took me to applebee's for a tasty supper....... .......while we were enjoying our meal, we noticed there was a best buy across the street......so we decided we'd head over there afterwards and check on a wireless router for our air card so that on the rare occasions that we're sitting still, we could both be on our laptops at the same time.......in best buy, we met up with a very nice guy named mark in the pc department and another guy from the geek squad, alex.....i tell ya, i need one of these geek squad guys to ride around with us 24/7......we told them what we wanted....they showed us what they had and helped us pick out a router....we paid and headed back to the yard to get this baby up and runnin, after a little instruction from both of them......well.............that lasted all of about 5 minutes since when we took the router out of the box there was nowhere to plug the air card into it........we rolled it around and around.....even reverted to reading the enclosed instructions....but to no avail......our flat little aircard didn't have a slot to fit in.......we boxed the router back up and headed back over to best buy......ahhhhh hah!.....we were informed they hadn't realized that we hadn't already upgraded to the new handy dandy usb aircard and so after checking our account to make sure we were financially good for the upgrade, they took one out from under lock and key, put it and the router back in the bag and sent us on our merry way with all good wishes........well, two hours later and one by-then-late-nite phone call to jj(our son and go-to family tech support guy) i finally hung my head....shut everything down and went to bed ......defeated for the time being......

sunday morning found me up and clear headed again after a cup of hazlenut belgian cafe coffee and ready to again do battle with the router.....i started fresh.....rereading the written intructions...following the steps.....reading the online instructions....following the steps......finally breaking down and calling the tech support number from the router company......i think i reached india....i don't know, it could have be mozambique.......i couldn't understand her....she couldn't understand me.....she finally told me she believed i had a defective unit.......again, we boxed the thing back up and headed back to best buy...........our luck took a good turn tho when we walked inside......mark and alex were both on duty and assured us that they'd have it up and running in short order.....and true to their word, they did..........there was no defect......seems the firmware you have to download was written before the updated aircard was made and somehow that kept it from recognizing the router.....amazing, isn't it??????......the really good part is that they wouldn't take a cent for their trouble.....i will most definately be writing best buy a letter of praise for these two guys......anyway.....12 hours , 1 phone call to jj, 1 to tech support....three trips to best buy and countless moments of intense frustration later, we have both laptops up and online and entertaining both us and you as you read this post......isn't modern technology grand????

well, that's pretty much a trucker's life....you make do when you need too.....you pick your battles and occassionally you actually win one....

the Stella awards

i know....i know....i've been really lazy all month.....no new posts......the truth is, i just haven't been able to get all fired up over anything for awhile now....so it's not so much laziness as being in a slump, i guess......forgive me....i will try to be better......a good friend sent me this in email today.....and so in an effort to have something to post......and an effort to show that stupidity runs rampant and not just in the trucking industry......i share this with you......

Stella Awards
It's time again for the annual 'Stella Awards'! For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico , where she purchased the coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that, right? That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy. Here are the Stella's for the past year:
* SEVENTH PLACE * Kathleen Robertson of Austin , Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son. Start scratching!
* SIXTH PLACE * Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles , California won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps. Scratch some more...
* FIFTH PLACE * Terrence Dickson, of Bristol , Pennsylvania , who was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight, count 'em, EIGHT days and survive on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental Anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish. Keep scratching. There are more... Double hand scratching after this one..
* FOURTH PLACE *Jerry Williams, of Little Rock , Arkansas , garnered 4th Place in the Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his ne xt door neighbor's beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun. Pick a new spot to scratch, you're getting a bald spot..
* THIRD PLACE * Amber Carson of Lancaster , Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions? Only two more so ease up on the scratching....
*SECOND PLACE* Kara Walton, of Claymont , Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000.....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure.
Ok. Here we go!!!!!
* FIRST PLACE * This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putti ng in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down? $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home. Are we, as a society, getting more stupid.... or are more members of Congress serving on juries these days

i don't know if these are true or not, but they seem true.....i mean....hey, we see it every day, huh????