Bye Bye Big Red

Big Red was about as tough a truck as you could get.  One of those trucks that just names itself.  I was in love with Big Red.  She (Gordon may say "He") made this cool sound when you would start her up and she had the biggest tires.  There was no cooler truck around. 

Big Red took us on some of our grandest adventures; to the cabin in Island Park, to Larry and Janie's cabin in Donnelly regularly during snowmobile season.  On fishing trips, horse trips, to the MTC, to Grandma and Grandpa's, to the Grandchildren's house, where they raved about how cool Big Red was.  She was so comfortable to ride in and when I drove her, I saw Manly Men looking me over enviously. 

My only complaint ever about her was that if you stepped on it while turning and had Big Gulps in the cup holders, then the Big Gulps went flying. 

So who would get rid of her?  And why?

Gordon, that's who.  He wanted a diesel truck for better power going up those big hills.  I talked and talked to try and talk him out of it but to no avail.  At one point, he was going to sell her to a good friend and neighbor.  Can you imagine having to see someone else driving her all around the neighborhood?  Luckily, that didn't happen. 

But, he did strike a deal and Big Red is no more.  It's been about 3-4 weeks now and I still miss her.  I dread the day when I'm driving down the road and there she goes with someone else driving the coolest truck around.

The Windy City

I went to the Windy City this week.  Every couple of years, Gordon's company takes the spouses along on a retreat/meeting.  This year it was in Chicago.  As a matter of fact, it was the second time it was in Chicago.  The last time, when I opened up my high rise hotel window, there was Lake Michigan in all her splendor and the famous Navy Pier right outside my window.  We were taken on a magnificent midnight cruise with dinner and fireworks.  It was spectacular. 

This time, I opened my hotel window in anticipation only to find another high rise hotel about 10 feet away (or so it seemed).  Seems we got the short straw on rooms with a view this time.  Oh well.  We still had wonderfully catered dinners and plenty of opportunity for shopping on Michigan Ave.

I struggled with a little claustrophobia.  I clamored for fresh air.  I felt like such a western girl.  The water tasted like Utah lake.  I was having somewhat of an Eyore experience, which is not typical for me. 
Until....the double decker bus tour.  I love those.  From that bus, Chicago came alive to me and I learned all about the great architecture there and saw it represented in all of the different buildings.  I learned that the shore of the beautiful Lake Michigan used to come up past what is now Lakeshore Ave.  After the great fire of the 18??'s, they put all of the left over debris in the lake and it created a great big landfill and pushed the shore out some 1/2 mile or more.  I saw a McDonalds that can serve 600 people.  I rubbed shoulders with the jury pool that basically let their former Govenor Rob Blagoyovich??? walk free after a hung jury.

The guide told me that a lightening bolt hit and caused the great fire that burned Chicago to the ground.  "Wait", I almost yelled, "that was Mrs. O'Leary's cow that knocked the lantern over and started the fire!".  Then I remembered that Gordon likes to tell me stories and pull my leg and so I thought better of it.  When we got home we googled it and it seems like there is a lot of debate about the subject. 

The color of Lake Michigan to me, looked like Topaz. 
Just beautiful. 

I was reminded how much my husband loves me.  Who else would carry this Zebra print bag with a pink laptop holder sticking out of it all around the airport for me?  Without complaint. 

I love him too.

If you are thinking of getting one of these.....

Think again before you buy.  I'm talking about Front Loader washers here.  I got mine about two years ago and was so excited about the larger capacity and how easy it would be to use. 

Around the same time, I noticed something happening.  My towels were getting smelly.  No matter how many times I washed them or how much downey I used, or how much vinegar I rinsed them in, they still stunk, stinked, stank. 

They would come out of the dryer and I would think, "Oh yea, these smell sweet!"  And then I would use a dishcloth at the kitchen sink and here came the smell again.  You know how I am about smells.  It was driving me crazy. 

Then - the levis started to smell funny.  I was going out of my mind! 

Then for some reason, I Googled front loaders.  There, right before my eyes were about 1500 complaints of how people's front loaders made their clothes stink.

After a bunch more research, here is what I found:

Because of the way they are designed, something in the front band traps water inside and causes this.....are you ready?   Mold.  Yes, mold.  Stinky mold. 

You mean I have been drying my body and wiping my counters with a moldy towel?  My levis were moldy?
What kind of wife and mother am I to have my family's clothes be full of mold spores that stink?

So, here are the various remedies, all of which I have tried. 
*Run the washer on hot water with bleach in the rinse cycle.  (Every week)
*Use vinegar in the rinse cycle.
*Use the "sanitation" button if there is one.  We are programmed to save energy and conserve hot water when doing laundry, but that can't be the case with my front loader.  I now use hot on everything but darks and levis.  I use warm on them.  If I select a white load, it allows me to use the "sanitize" option, which I usually do.  Mine also had a "speed wash" selection.  I frequently used it because the regular loads were 1hour and 20 minutes long.  I have to use the longer loads to thoroughly wash things and allow the bleach/vinegar/fabric softener to work.
*I take a rag and run it around the exterior and interior of the black band and anywhere where water wants to pool up.
*I now use Downey and dryer sheets both.
The levis finally smelled fresh after a couple weeks of these efforts.  But the towels were another matter.  I threw most of them out and got new.  Now, when I smell the towels after I pull them out and then use them, they smell great.

So....ask about it if you are considering buying one of these because I probably wouldn't get one if I had it to do over again.  From my reading, it seemed like common knowledge that the front loaders have this problem but you don't hear about it from the salesmen, so pin them down!  Ask the hard questions!  See what they have to say.
Me, I'm just keeping the power company and all the products mentioned above in business with my constant and incessant use.

But it's worth it.

My Happy Place

The only thing that would make this better is if little Lady Miriam were on my lap too.  This is my happy place; the place where I am totally and completely content.  (See picture below) I am so grateful for this because it helps ease life when things are stressful, worrisome or unpleasant. 

 I have one of those coming up.  For my daughter, it is the beginning of the next chapter in her life - independence, living on her own, accounting to no one for a schedule, meeting new people.  It is a great time in life and I am so excited for her.

On the other hand, it is one of those stressful, worrisome and unpleasant times for me.  The Unknown.  The house will be totally void of children.  When Gordon travels, I will be home - Alone.  Will I become out of touch, start to dress funny?  Start to smell funny?  It seems so sudden.

Many have told me there are great things for me at this time of life too.  When I get through the process of saying goodbye on drop-off day, I will be compiling a list and will post it.  Until then, once again (ala Mission drop-offs) I find myself at the edge of a cliff, looking down, waiting for the final signal to jump.  We still have two weeks left. 

Thank goodness for my happy place.

Part II

Too bad I don't have a picture to post, because I'm sure it was a sight to behold, me with 28 wires glued to my head.  They thought it was cute enough with Rich to take a picture, but I guess there's nothing too cute about a 50 year old in a snarky mood with wires glued on. 

So, on test day I went downtown to St. Lukes and checked in.  There is some sort of privacy law that you are supposed to sign something for. 

She said, "Here, sign this form and if you want to know more about it, you can read these three brochures." 

I said, "What is the privacy law?  That you have to keep my information private?"  Can you give me the summary version?

"Well it's more complicated than that - just sign it." 

"I don't feel like I have time to read the brochures right now and would sure like a basic understanding of what I am signing." 

It was then that I realized that she wasn't giving me the summary version because she didn't know it.  I was super un-impressed.  I signed it.

Once I got back to the EEG area, a person came out that I thought must be an aide or tech.  She was quite a bit older than me (or looked it) and had hair standing on end.  It finally became clear to me that she was the one administering the test.  Scarey.  Wierd kind of scarey.  She started gluing the nodes in and asking me very private questions in front of my friend, Sandy who had volunteered to keep me company for the day.  When it was time to go back, she had invited Sandy to come along.  I'm thinking I should have read those brochures because nothing about this seemed private. 

Once everything was on, she said, "I'm going to turn off the lights, so just sit back and relax."  She went out of the room.  That was when a bright  light was put an inch from my nose and began flashing like a strobe light.  This went on for about five minutes.  Relax?  Right.  Next, she told me to relax again and start blowing, like I am blowing out birthday candles.  I know what this was for and I wasn't about to have another siezure.  About the time that my hands were getting numb, I kept telling myself, "You will NOT have a siezure", over and over again.  Finally, we were done and she pulled the nodes off of my head with a good portion of my hair attached to each one.  She then announce that she was needed somewhere else and would give my glue spots a surface wash.  By now my hair was a mixture of dry, straight, wet, gluey.  The glue parts were like super-duper gel. 

The worst part?  I had a 3 hour wait until the next test!  And this is after they tell you to take off all your clothes and put on these ginormous scrubs.  Then they say, "feel free to run and get some lunch.  It's going to be a while."  So out of extreme hunger, we finally went and grabbed something to eat, me with my head down hoping that I would see no one I knew.  (I did, but I think I evaded them successfully.)

Then back to the MRI waiting room.  Here, people waiting for the tests and their family and friends gather.  I'm sorry, but I have a problem hanging around naked in scrubs with just anyone, particularly men.  It is wrong.  Finally, my name was called and the test was fast and comfortable.  And, when I left, she gave me a gift card to a restaurant.  "Wow", I thought.  "EEG lady could learn a lot from her".

The tests turned out fine and show a healthy brain, proof that it is really there.  I guess 6 or 7 hours of one's life is just a little to pay to get reassurance.  I hope I never have to get another EEG again.  Never.

EEG, Part I

One of the results of having a random siezure is the necessity of having multiple tests run on you.  The CAT scan - no biggie; the blood tests - no biggie.  The EEG.....

I remember when Richard was 6 years old and had one to determine that he had "petite mal" siezures, or "absence" siezures as they are called today.  They glued little nodes to his head and I got to watch the report print out right in front of my eyes and the technician pointed out right where the problem was and that it was random, and not a damaged spot in his brain. They even took a sweet little picture of Richard that I have in a photo album (not really, it's in a box somewhere). 

One thing I learned is that many, many children have these kinds of siezures.  Most of them stem from some sort of oxygen deprevation at birth or a difficult birth.  Most parents think their kids are just spacing off.  We would move our hands in front of Richard's face and try to get him to pay attention and finally, he would say, "What?", like he had no idea what was going on -- because he didn't.  Speculation is that many kids deaths and injuries have been because of this undiagnosed condition; kids in swimming pools, riding bikes, etc; 

I had read about it and had my suspicions but research showed kids had a hard time in school keeping focus and their grades suffered.  I checked with his teachers and they hadn't noticed anything.  His grades were great too.  Finally, one day we were at his baseball game; Rich was at first base and the pitcher scooped up the ball and threw it to him.  It hit him right in the chest and fell to the ground.  I "happened" to be sitting next to a nurse and she confirmed my fears and told me to get to the Dr. immediately.  The next day, we were there.  He pulled out a handkerchief and had Rich start blowing on it, like blowing out candles.  It was successful in inducing a siezure.  This led to the EEG, just that afternoon and then the medication, which controlled it.  The medication that was almost worse than his condition. He had to have blood tests every three months to make sure his liver was handling it and he had a host of other side effects that he bravely fought through.  Three years later when we were moving to Sandy, the Dr. suggested we take him off the medication, since most children outgrow these.  Sure enough, he had and we were home free. 

A few times in my life I have been grateful for medical technology and the ability Dr.'s have to treat us with positive results.  This was one of them.

Now that you know our first experience with an EEG, I will have to let you know about the second; my EEG last week.  But this post is long enough and so it must wait.  Until then, watch and pay attention to your children, especially if they seem a little spacey.  It could save their life.

I'm an anomoly

First, I'm normal!  Well....as normal as someone like me can be.  I'm also as healthy as a cow (as I mentioned to Laura this morning), but now it occurs to me that it's "healthy as a horse".  Oh well,  I never get those things right.

I am also an anomaly.  You may not know that two weeks ago I suffered a siezure; a big one, like grand mal.  It was not pleasant, not in any way, shape or form.  But worse, to me, is that Scott and Jessica had to see it.  (Gordon was gone up to Scout camp). But this was the blessing, too.  Because of that, they were there to care for me and to call the paramedics.  Can you imagine the stir it created to see the firetruck and ambulance go to our house?

The last thing I remember, I was sitting in the big chair watching "River Monsters" with Scott.  We had been anxiously awaiting the time when we could watch it together.  The next thing I know, some guy is in my face saying, "Juuu-lll-iii-eeee, youuu'vvve haddd aaaa sssiiieeezzzuuurrreee."  Every feature in his face seemed overly animated and huge.  He kept asking me questions, none of which I knew the answer to.  He asked me if I knew Scott or Jess or Ben or Laura (who had gotten there by now).  I knew that I should know them but I didn't know anything.  Finally Laura came and knealt down by me on the floor and I looked up and waived to her.  It was so good to see a friendly face. 

I was then informed that I would have to go to the hospital.  It still hadn't sunk in that something serious had happened here.  Apparently, I had not been a very good patient when coming out of things, like pulling out oxygen and slapping the paramedics hands away when they tried to take vital signs. I gave a surprised look at the paramedics and shook my head, like, "no way I need to go to the hospital".  But I was with it enough to know that my sons could drive me and I did NOT need to ride in the ambulance.

So now that you have the basic idea from my perspective on how things went down, let me explain some really great things that happened.  Ben and Laura were able to get here within 10 minutes of it happening.  They were a great support to Scott and Jessica. By the time we got to the emergency room, all of the kids were there with the exception of Jo, who had to be home with the kids.  Scott had called our home teacher, Kyle, who just retured home from the Spain Barcelona mission and asked him to bring some consecrated oil to the hospital. 

Then, in a private room, all of my sons, Kyle and Gordon annointed and blessed me.  This is the only time in this whole experience that I felt warm and secure and safe and that all would be well.  The other great thing that happened is that Gordon happened to walk to his truck to check his phone and call Scott to see if he got the MTC job.  There is only patchy coverage up in the mountains and Scott had been unable to get through.  As soon as he dialed, Scott answered and told him what had happened.    After they hung up, Gordon had more questions and, without moving, called Scott back.  He couldn't get through.  No coverage.

So that is how, within the hour, Gordon was with me at the hospital.  When he got there, he said, "you should have told me you didn't want me to go to Scout camp and I would've stayed home."  Apparently, I laughed.

Some amount of time later, I finally got back to see the Dr. and had a CT scan and some blood tests.  Everything turned up great on these and they ordered me to get some further testing; an EEG and an MRI and then see a neurologist to rule out anything else.  This all seemed to go really fast for me, but for my family, I'm sure it seemed like an eternity as it was 2:30 a.m. before we got home.

The past two weeks have been a roller coaster.  I couldn't remember things that happened a couple of days before or sometimes a day before. They have described having a siezure of this magnitude as if your brain were a computer re-booting.  It takes a while to come back and each program loads on it's own time.  I finally feel, after two weeks, that I am totally re-booted. 

Today I went to the neurologist.  You can imagine everything I had convinced myself I have after two weeks.  I feel like I have been walking around with two 50 lb. potato sacks on my back.  He doesn't know what caused the siezure and that is a good thing.  My brain is actually quite healthy and we know for sure that I have one.  If he knew what caused them, then that would mean there is something really wrong with my brain.  As it is, I am an anomoly; a statistic of  the random, one time siezure.

I left the two bags of potatoes in the Dr.'s office and walked out to a sunshiny day full of all the hope of the future and appreciation for my blessings.  And they are many.

Last of Lucky Peak

I skied and wasn't even very sore later in the week!!!

One of my favorite boat drivers.  Scott has left for the summer; back down to Provo to teach Laotian at the MTC.

Scott and Jess while they were still on the tubes.  they spent a great deal of time in the water.

Rich cliff jumping.

The brothers commented how "cool" Jessica was for being brave enough to jump.

All good things must come to an end.  This is one of many loads that took all of our camping gear out.
I can't wait until next year.

Battle of Lucky Peak

Calm before the battle

Jaws music

And the battle is on!

The aftermath.
Who won?  If measured in fun, then they all did..  I was stationed
in the boat managing the tunes and enjoying the battle.

Boat Camping

We spent two days and nights boat camping at Lucky Peak Reservoir last week.  For those of you who don't know, boat camping is where you have to haul everything in & out by boat.  It is quite a feat and took us multiple trips to get everything in for the whole crew.  Everyone made it up there, which is criteria for success in my book.  There were no cell phones (no service) or electronics of any kind.  The only music was from the stereo in the boat and we were very generous with that.  It was nice to be away from the distractions of the world and just focus on having fun together.  These pictures give you an idea of the beautiful spot we got.  There was even a bathroom up the little hill behind our site.  It had it's own cove and dock and we had our own private paradise. 

Coming:  Battle of Lucky Peak, Boating and Cliff Jumping

Cameron approved of the spot.

Eli had to be sure to wear his sunglasses.  Cool Dude.

Gordon fixing us breakfast.  Rich fixed us a scrumptious dutch oven dinner the night before.

Scott bonding with Miriam.   Talk about a trooper - she gets the Happy Camper Award

Boat pictures can't be complete without pictures of  Scott.  Because he is home this summer, we have been able to go up to the lake in the early afternoon a lot.  Here he is with his friend Matt. 

They are always good for a laugh and a really good time.

He's also a pretty good teacher.  Here he is giving Tori, Jessica's friend,

some pointers on getting up on a slalom ski.

Lucky Peak

James & Suzanne were tubing maniacs at the lake.  This is one sport that eludes me as far as enjoyment goes.  I have done it once and my neck and head have never been the same, so I admire anyone who can and wants to get out there and do it.

Gordon's busy getting the ropes even.  This is one of my favorite times on the boat, getting things set to go, laughing & talking and just kicking back.  See the tents in the background?  This is one of the spots that we may be camping in this weekend. 

James finished the tube ride and got right back out there for a super ski. 

Walaah!  A pose only a dancer could strike. 
We love the lake, aka Lucky Peak.  It is the center of so many good times for our family.

H2O Report

I know I have been remiss in my blogging efforts of late.  I'm not sure where the will to blog goes when it does, but I am resolving to change it, starting with this post.

 Jessica gives the "Lady Siren" a workout at Lucky Peak.  In this picture, she is wearing "Tortuga", her fancy orange and black wet suit.  It was so warm one time that we were up there that she went in just her swim suit.

We have had some great times on the boat this season, once we could finally start going.  The weather was so unpredictable that we couldn't go until the beginning of July. We've been lucky enough to have all of the kids up at the lake on & off. 
Next, I'll post some of James and Suzanne.

Just When I Thought....

Just when I thought I had lost all faith in M-M's they go and redeem themselves. 

The result is this:

M-n-M's with pretzel inside.  And they are fantastic.

They first came out earlier in the year in the little individual packs.  Every time I saw them, I would grab a bunch.  But I know that many of the specialty M-n-M's  never make it to the big time, or big bag I should say.

So imagine my surprise when I saw them in the store.  They are divine, a sweet mix of salty, chocolate and carbohydrate. 

There are only two problems with them:

1)  The big bag is only 9.90 oz. and therefore, the ability to go through a whole bag is very real and possible.

2)  The 9.90 bag is the same price as the 11-13 oz. M-n-M's.

Oh well, a small price to pay to enjoy one of the best snacks you will eat.  Just watch yourself, or they will be gone before you know it. 

P.S.  Gordon does not like them and so it is possible that these are not for every taste bud.  Can I imagine that?  Not really.

Oh, Summertime!

I couldn't resist pilfering this picture off Jo's blog.  It captures so many things; the beauty of a hot, summer day with a blue sky, and no wind or rain.  Then it captures each of my grandchildren's personalities perfectly.  Eli, on the left, is always playing and it always includes funny faces and sound effects.  Cameron, right, is the big brother, the protector.  But don't take him too serious; there is a whoppin' sense of humor there that I just love.  And look at Lady Miriam.  I don't believe I've ever seen this particular smile on her face.  It has to be the smile of experiencing something totally new. That, and she loves her brothers.  She reserves 98% of her giggles for them.

Or, she could be smiling because she's finally the one holding the orange dinosaur!  Do they have pink dinosaurs?

Pretty Little Princess

Miriam is going to be our blue-eyed blond grandchild.  Her hair boarders on strawberry blond.  I know I am bragging to say she's adorable, so make your own judgments.

High on a Mountain Top

I love the dump - or I should say, I love going to the dump.  I was going to grab my camera and shoot some action pictures from up there but I left it home.  Ben, Gordon and I went up there today to take some old railroad ties and our old, old, ancient and huge former artificial lighted Chistmas tree. (Which had currently been smack in the middle of my downstairs storage room, inhibiting my food storage efforts). 

We drove up and mused about the differences between our dump here in Boise and the dump in Idaho Falls.  Gordon tells me Idaho Falls is free, that they have some sort of tax dollars at work there. 
We must not have tax dollars at work in Boise, because today's visit cost $16.  Probably an interesting story there...

I am always facinated when they tell you to go to this area or that and today they told us to go right to the top.  I am facinated too at how many people need to work at the dump.  Three of them were there just to tell us to back up to where they pointed, each after the other had done so.  Then they get on their walkie talkie and probably tell the front loader to head over our way.

In Island Park, where the Bird cabin is located, there is a dump.  It has crudely made signs with images on them, so that Pakinstanis and Iranians and Dutch people can tell where to take their old refrigerator too.  But the funniest one is a sign that says, "Dead Animals" with a hand pointing a finger (pointer) where to go.

We backed in and Gordon and Ben began emptying out the trailer.  As I looked around, I saw the front loader coming (I am so enamored of big machines like these).  It came up right next to us and pushed garbage, mostly trees, grass, wood & stuff, all the way back so far that I thought the front loader was going to go over frontward and down the hill.  I'm sure the driver thought that I couldn't take my eyes off him; actually I couldn't take my eyes off the frontloader.  It would be so cool to drive one of those!  Not only that, but to dig and push stuff with it.  I'm sure that being raised with brothers and having only boys for so long had a big impact on me.

Before I knew it, we were done and heading back down the road for home.  We passed the asbestos section, the battery, paint and appliance section, the household garbage section, but not once have I ever seen the "Dead Animals" section at the Boise dump.

I pondered this and the $16 fee vs. your tax dollars at work all the way down.  With the windows rolled up, of course.

Blog Interview

I have an interview on a blogger website featuring "regular" blogs like mine.  Go to the website and read it and be sure to VOTE for this one!
http://bloginterviewer.com/family/the-birdhouse-julie-bird

Baby Sister Graduates

              Jessica Bonnie Bird graduated last Saturday.  Unbelieveable!  Where does the time go?

              Soon the summer months will be over and she will be off to BYU-I for the Fall/Winter

              track.  (I hope to be as composed then.   Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha:) 

She was lucky enough to have all of this group there to support her on her big day.

Jessica and Meaghan; inseparable all through high school.  But Meghan is going away to that "school up North".  We wish her lots of luck and will miss her.  (Even though she will be a Vandal:)

Jessica and Suzy.  They became great friends this year and we love Suzy.  She is planning on attending BYU-I starting in the winter.

I love being right - but I'm not very often

I have watched "Lost" from the very beginning and have been a devoted viewer. 

I have to say that in the first season, I had a theory that they had all died in the plane crash and that they were in Hades, or something like it.  Then, this season, one of the episodes confirmed it for me.  Yes, I figured it out early on, which is something that doesn't usually happen.  People were so shocked at the ending, when it is revealed that they are all dead and have been in a state of limbo (I call it purgatory, or a "holding pattern", or spirit prision).  At the end, they gathered at a church - together and were ready to move on toward the light.  Their experiences together in this place were the most important of their existence. 

I know - many people hoped it would end with the crew partying on the island, playing limbo and drinking fruity frozen drinks and tanning at their newly constructed resort - all alive and happy.  Oh well. 

And what about the "island"?  Turns out it wasn't about that - it was about the people.

Follows a familiar pattern, I would say. 

Did you watch LOST?  What are your thoughts?