There really is no biblical tie-in here...just a very lengthy, possibly multiple-part blog about the past 7 days.
Day 1 - Tuesday, May 19, 2009
I got confirmation from my cell leader that it would be alright if I took a half day on Wednesday from 8-noon so I could get my weekend started early. It was to be a weekend filled with fun and laughter, water, family, friends, beer, and camp fire stories. It was to be a weekend to write about, and I was clueless that it would be to write about how horrible it was. So I was getting through my last 12 hour shift before the 5-day weekend and I was hangin right in. Gettin my work done efficiently, expertly handling problems that needed taking care of...took it upon myself to go to Hobbs and pick the Rush Order parts for the day. That was my first mistake, my one sign that would warn me of the dangers ahead that would very nearly steal my sanity. There was a cart stacked full of rubber rotors that had parts orders to ship from the other plant. Ok-no problem. Remove the rotors two-at a time (about 5-30 lbs. each) from the cart, to be placed in the back of the work truck for transport to our other plant. 10 minutes later I was closin up the truck and climbing in to ride back on over. Normally this isn't too bad, but today the load is really big. I was about 80% of the way done unloading the parts onto the cart when I froze and dropped the two rotors in my hands. Woops...overdid it. This crazy overwhelming sharp pain took over my lower back. I was stuck...half bent over, with a hot sun beating on me. Shoot. I somehow managed to unload the rest of the truck. I pushed the cart to where it needed to be and mulling over it, I decided that if I didn't report it, I'd continue to get this inhabilitating back pain about once every two weeks or so and nothing would be done to remedy the part transport process. I walked into the Grand Puma's office and told him what happened...filled out an accident report...worked the last two hours, and drove home in extreme pain. Then, stupid me decided I could handle the volleyball match that night. Well I did, but it wasn't pretty and it really didn't feel that wonderful. I went to bed and prayed that I would be able to get out of bed early enough to be in and out, and on the road to Madison before I knew it.
Day 2 - Wednesday, May 20, 2009
7:00 blaring at me so loudly I snapped upright terrified, way too quickly, and fell back on the bed wondering if I was going to be able to work at all, let alone for four hours. Well I did...and it was hell but I got it over with. I ran to Walmart for some snacky stuff, went home and packed. I fed the cats one last time, and tried cleaning up a bit so mom wouldn't have a mess to look at when she came over once a day while I was gone to feed my kitties. I ended up leaving it mostly a mess because I simply couldn't bend over. Such was also the state of my car, which I had wanted to clean out before leaving, also. Whatever, she only had to feed them, empty the litter box, and leave. I stopped worrying about it and called Cat to let her know I was my way to Madison. I got there and gave her some flowers I had gotten for us to leave for her mother, only it turned out the cemetary is weird about real organisms being left and not cleaned up. So she got some flowers by default. We did some running around for rope...after which we went out to dinner. It was wonderful and the waitor was DEAD SEXY with the most amazing hind-quarters I've EVER seen. Scrumptious!!! We ate this great sprouts-based pizza and an indian-style appetizer and then took a walk on the terrace. We waved at boats and took a couple pictures, and talked for a good half hour. I really needed that. The one-on-one time with Cat paying attention to me, hearing me, being with just me. It felt really good and we went home to close our evening with some Scotch and some other stuffs and the first half of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Day 3 -Thursday, May 21, 2009
7:00 wasn't so painful as the morning before. It was still difficult to get out of bed but I had used a heating pad to fall asleep. Cat had a cup of coffee waiting for me, because she so darn wonderful, and I drank it after I stuffed a cold pack into the back of my pants. So I need to explain at some point about a speech impediment we took on and would later use throughout the weekend to keep us entertained. I had called my mom on a crabby day and when I told her it was Rinner, she said "Rinner who?" I replied, "It's me! Winnoh Wooduhwise!" I'm so dorky it should be socially unacceptable but it turned out to be contagious. We took to repeating the Winnoh Wooduhwise thing on the trip up for some quick laughs. We arrived at the Boise Brule State Forest Campground some time after 3:00pm and some bastard had snagged "pole position" earlier on that day so we got stuck with some other cluster of campsites. Grandpa ate some canned chili for dinner while Cat and I went out to the Delta Diner. It turned out to have been closed since 3pm so we found some bar/grill/lounge thing to eat at. We delighted in the fact that we could facebook from the Brule while eating dinner, wondering if the locals could tell we were from down south because we were glued to our smartphones waiting for the meal to come, clearly thankful for the chance to be "connected" again. By the time we got back to the site and Pete and Dorothy along with Tucker, Andy, Kevin, Sarah, Nikoli (forgive the butcher!), Brandon, Katie, and Charlie had arrived with three vehicles, an ATV on a trailer (which also carried the R2 D2 cooler), a pop-up camper, and some kayaks and a canoe. Now, Cat didn't pack a tent or sleeping bag or anything warm. Dilemma. She ended up shackin up with me in the smaller bed in grandpa's pop-up, in which that battery stopped working sometime in the middle of the night and we lost heat. The dogs slept in the car, warm and cozy, while we huddled together for warmth trying to fall asleep in the 30-something degree night.
