This past week has really dragged for us, unfortunately. While quite a lot has happened or been settled, we don't have much to do except wait. Yes, we need to pack, but with 5 days still to go, there's only so much we can pack that we don't need. Today I'll tackle the office and decide what I dare store for the next 6 weeks or so, bearing in mind that we may or may not be able to get back to Salt Lake after that and before the next assignment. The logistics of this nomadic life are complicated!
So, we took the pickup to the shop for a tune-up and a new radiator, and it still overheats. It's back in the shop for a new water pump, and if that doesn't work we'll just have to drive at night. We will have officially spent more on repairs than the thing is worth, and it will have to last another 50,000 miles. It's got 260,000 on it already. If we had known what this would run to, we might have done better buying a bigger used pickup with only half that on it.
Meanwhile, manually pulling the trailer into the carport, Budd lifted it a bit too high and cracked the fiberglass trim on the top front. He went out yesterday before it hit 110 degrees to repair the crack so it won't leak. I haven't seen it yet, but he reports it's UGLY! Can't start loading it until we get the truck back, and we're now second-guessing whether to carry the boxes up the stairs in the back yard to load in the carport, or down the 45-degree angle of the driveway to the park strip in front and load in the sun. Decisions, decisions.
I finished a couple of handcrafting projects and started another, just to kill time. I wish it weren't so hot or that my WII were on a carpeted surface...I could use an hour or more of exercise a day because I'm getting FAT(ter)!!! Heat is in triple digits by 10 am each day, and it's long past 10 pm before it falls under that. With coyotes and javelinas roaming the town, I'm not too excited to walk in the dark, though to be honest I could do it at 5 or 6 am before it heats up too badly. The wind blew hard all last night. I think it's working up to a monsoon storm, which I would like to see before we leave, but not on the day we are trying to load the trailer, please.
We finally know that we are going first to Timpanogos Cave in Utah, and that they will be able to supply us with a small house for the time we're there. We'll almost be camping out in it, because at this point we know we won't be there for more than two weeks, possibly only one. There is still some question of whether he will have to start his detail in Lakewood on the 19th to satisfy the budget people at regional. The 19th is the beginning of a pay period. As a week, or even two, isn't enough to get internet service, we'll be a little handicapped with no internet (and no tv either!), but we will have cool mountain breezes and some great trails to walk. I'm saving my energy for that. We'll probably take the laptop to a wifi hotspot every couple of days to check email. And so the adventure continues, with extreme rural living in the heart of urban Utah.
Saved the best for (almost) last--our youngest daughter, Laurie called with exciting news last week, but I couldn't report it here until she had notified her grandmother, who reads this faithfully. Laurie and her husband Mike, affectionately known as Huggy, are expecting their first baby! We are all so thrilled, and of course I'm hoping for a girl. With four grandsons, three step-grandsons, and only one lonesome step-granddaughter, we need another girl! Unfortunately Laurie, who has inherited a bit of my grandmother's second sight, says it's a boy. We'll see.
While it's so exciting to know she is pregnant, I'm a bit unnerved by how early she found out. We have a looooooooong way to go. She doesn't see her OB until August, but she has used a couple of online calculators to determine that she is due around the end of February or beginning of March. She told me that between our family and Huggy's, there are about 20 birthdays between Christmas and the end of January...so they want it as far away from January as possible. Should have planned better. ;) (I'm kidding, Laurie.) Anyone with tips on easing morning sickness, send them my way and I'll pass them on. She is already sick most of the time, poor thing.
Well, next Saturday we'll be in Grand Junction for a surprise birthday party for Budd's mom. I think she has an idea that something's up, because she called yesterday or day before to ask when we might be coming her way. I lied and told her we may come that way on the way to Lakewood from Salt Lake. It's ok to lie to maintain a surprise, right? Last time I surprised her, though, it almost gave her a heart attack. We had moved to Virginia in March of 1983, and in July my brother flew just the kids and me back for my grandfather's 90th birthday. We went over to see Mom, and just walked in the back door as usual. The girls, then two years old, ran right past their grandma and headed for the toybox. When I got in, Mom was sitting at the breakfast table with a bewildered expression on her face, and when she saw me she burst into tears. The girls had flashed by so quickly that she thought she was seeing things! With relatives coming from near and far for this 80th birthday party, I've recommended to my sister-in-law that they soften the surprise somehow.
Today is the designated day for Ajo's 4th of July celebration, so I'm going to see if I can make my way through the parade and celebrants to get to the library for the $2-a-bag book sale. Have to stock up, as we will probably be back in Chinle before the end of the year.
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