The 'Why?'

To find out what this journey is about, start with the beginning, the 'Intro' post.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Arkansas Today

Will be doing Arkansas this weekend.

Not a huge trip, just a two day thing.  Just going over the state line around the Fort Smith area.  Following a couple of bikers and meeting up at ole man's friend's place.  BBQ and pool fun tonight.

I'll be riding with 2 doggies.  :D

Van Halen was running fine all this time, and lo and behold, she started running hot Thursday evening.  Mr. Super Duper Handy Ole Man went to work on her, cause Ms. Pammy was not going without Van Halen.  So here is what went down with repairs....

New thermostat Thursday evening.  Old one was barely opening up.  Well, that changed, and still ran hot.  Upon further inspection, found some more problems, radiator wasn't pushing fluids, and the inside fluid was brown and gunky looking, not cool!

So bright and early Friday morning Mr. Super Duper Handy Ole Man got to work, worked all dang day in this heat, high humidity and no wind.  He put in: new radiator, new fan clutch, new water pump, and new belt.  Also got new A/C compressor and accumulator, didn't change it out yet since the A/C was still holding 90lbs of pressure, but I will be taking it with me in case it needs changing on the trip.  Case of Freon and tools are going, as well.  Van Halen is purring and the heat gage stayed where it should have been.  Happy Happy Pammy!!   (Thank you Tim!!)

Will be taking some pictures and posting them after the trip.  Cheers!!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

There's a Wedding in My Future

My daughter is engaged! :)

Now starts all the wedding fun.    I admit, I never got into the whole wedding frenzy.  This will be for my one and only daughter, though, so will try to muster some excitement of the millions of details coming this way, lol. 

Here is the video of the proposal:

 
Yep, someone caught it on film.  :)   Congrats Kiddo and Sky!!!  <3

Monday, June 15, 2015

Mini Getaway Planned

Will have a 2 day trip coming up. 

My daughter, Karen, is moving with her fiancĂ©, Sky, to a town that is over 3 hours away from my town for his job.  They are in love with the new town, he is really liking his new work place, and they are happy.  :)  They haven't done the big move yet.  His company has set them up in a camping travel trailer at an RV park for now until they can find their own place.   As they still have a home here, there is some back and forth driving going on.

They were  also borrowing my little Pontiac to drive.  Sky had been using a work truck, but since the transfer they didn't have one available to him.  I had Van Halen to drive so I had my extra little Pontiac I was letting them borrow.  This past weekend, however, his family loaned him one of their extra vehicles and he felt better driving theirs as opposed to mine, should something ever happen.  I understand that. 

So, tomorrow, Tuesday, my daughter will be driving the Pontiac back to me.  I will drive her back in Van Halen and stay over.  That will give me a chance to check out her new town and get to visit.  Will be camping in Van Halen that night near where they are parked.  No hook ups for me, I don't need them.  :)   Will be stealthin' in an RV park, haha!!  I might pack an extra extension cord and plug in fans and run it from their camper for extra cooling off from the heat.  Shhh....

Not a big trip, but it is out of town, exploring a new town, and getting to camp in Van Halen.  Haven't really slept in her since the Texas trip.  :(   Well..  except for that time when I went out there in the evening to 'read a book' and promptly fell asleep for a few hours, haha!!

 

Monday, June 8, 2015

When I Break Something


I break it good. 

 
This was in 2012, at not a very particular good time in my life.  John had been fighting cancer for two years and we thought it was clear.  Then he started getting headaches.  He went in to surgery with them telling him it was benign, but after the neurosurgeon got in there, he knew it was malignant.  He never woke up from that surgery and spent a month in ICU before he passed.  It was a really, really sad time.  We won't dwell anymore on that.
 
I was up there, in Oklahoma City, OK, for this duration.  About two weeks in, I was staying at an extended stay hotel.  I wasn't really getting much sleep due to what was going on.  But on one morning, August 31st, 2012, I had finally found some sleep early in the morning and was going to sleep a bit.  That is, until the most rude upstairs neighbors started tromping.
 
A little I can deal with, but it was going non-stop for over an hour.  Not just walking tromps, but like they were deliberately stomping as hard as they could.  I admit it, I got angry.  Decided right then and there I was gonna hit the ceiling with something.  I grabbed anything I could find, a coat hanger from the closet and was going to stand on the bed and hit the roof.  I thought, if they could hear me, then they would know I could hear them and maybe they'd cool it some. 
 
Yes, this is where my stupid comes in.  The underside of the top comforter was slick, so when I went to stand it slid and off I went.  I'm right handed, so I caught myself on my left hand, thank goodness.  Knew right away it was broke.  Here is the damage I done:  shattered distal radius, ripped the tendon and chipped off the distal ulnar.  It was a 3 1/2 hour surgery which included plates and screws, which will be in there permanently, and then sporting one of these nifty devices for 6 weeks.
 
 

Pretty, huh?   So next time...   call the front desk.  :)

"The Lady in the Van"

There will be a movie coming out later this year called "The Lady in the Van".  It's from the book of the same title written by Alan Bennett and is a true story.

I know some people that know me, in real life, will give me crap over this and start calling me that.   For what it's worth, it looks like it's going to be a wonderful movie!  But anyways, I went ahead and bought the book to read, so I would have some ammo under my belt when having to deal with the future jabs.  ;)

Here's the trailer:


Looks like a heart warming story that I can't wait to watch.