Bad weather

Yesterday was icky snow, so I had my first experience driving in slippery conditions. I took Marcos home first, so I got some good advice (Marcos is from California, but he lived in Minnesota for awhile--I'll trust him) before I was on my own. Christine had already said I could stay with her if the roads got bad, but directions to her house from SCC don't have much in common with directions to her house from Marcos's house, especially after I made an unplanned turn onto Leighton in order to avoid rear-ending the giant black pickup in front of me at a stoplight. I had to navigate one of those insanely labyrinthine neighborhoods common to Lincoln before I could find 81st, and then I had to ask a lady shoveling her driveway in the early dark where I was in relation to Vine, Christine being a block north thereof. Fortunately I was still a little way north, and once I crossed Holdrege Christine called and directed me the rest of the way.

So then I had my first experience of an impromptu sleepover. Christine was a little hyper-hostessy, but we sat on the couch and watched movies until bedtime. I was thinking rom-com, but "A Walk to Remember" and "P.S. I Love You" are, it turns out, dramas. Hardcore dramas. Someone-special-dies dramas. Sigh. There were fun moments, I guess. And they're both based on books. Is that good?

I had a clean t-shirt and my Krav pants in the car, which made tolerable pajamas. I have a toothbrush in my backpack, I had leftover food in my backpack, Christine happened to have a charger compatible with my cellphone......and I slept like a rock until my phone and the alarm clock went off at seven.

And it's such a short drive to school that even leaving later than planned, I still made it to the parking lot before Conan got out of his truck. Nice.

Hey, cool. You can see Clarinda.

View Larger Map

Long day....

My day began an hour early. Perhaps not a full hour; when I'm planning on getting up at eight-thirty I tend to wake up a little earlier, and then go back to sleep. But Dad yelled up the stairs at seven-thirty, which is far too early. I think I actually got up nearer eight, though. My alarm clock went off some time after I'd eaten; I believe Peter was milking, and I was sitting on the couch waiting for devotions and realizing that I could've gotten up at my usual time and still have dressed, eaten, etc. by the time everyone else was ready. Sigh.

Then I went on an appliance call with Dad. Peter and Doug were busy, and Owen needed a shower, so I was elected. I have no idea how useful I would've been, but in the event this was not tested. We drove to Panama. We found the place. Dad had me call Owen to get the customers' numbers, in order to ascertain that it was the right house, as there were no visible house numbers. Repeat, until Owen gives the right number. Nobody answers. Dad calls Owen and asks him to get the VOICE News and look up the number for their offices. The owners are not at the office, but the lady who answers the telephone is able to confirm that the beige Mediterranean-style house does indeed belong to the Managing and Advertising editors. So we go and knock, somewhat half-heartedly, and Dad begins trying doors: the front door, the garage door, and the French doors all along the southern side of the house. None have been left unlocked for the scheduled repairman. We left.

At the end of the drive we switched places for a driving lesson. Turning onto the Firth road, I give Dad a heart attack, and most of the drive home is spent practicing left turns. Sigh. So I was late to Jim's.

Jim is expecting his son next week, so there was some extra cleaning to be done. He, meantime, was moving car parts off the living room floor, since the new garage is completed (with the exception of some wiring and the insulation.) This I appreciate, since it's a little hard to vacuum around chunks of engine. There was no such difficulty in vacuuming the guest room, which seems to be where the sci-fi is shelved. The Westerns are mostly in the den.

After that B and Darrel came and got me, so I could try to renew my learner's permit in Beatrice. Unfortunately, as it turned out, I needed to see the tester to accomplish this, and I needed my birth certificate, etc. all over again, so that was a wash-out. I had to sit outside the courthouse and wait for them to get back from picking up a prescription for awhile. It was lovely weather, though, and fortunately none of the employees were on break, so I had the little cement table to myself. We went back to the house to wait for Shane's parents to come get him. Then Darrel took B and me to the Salvation Army. I got lucky: a Terry Pratchett. And we went in the convertible--B splurged on a red Chrysler Sebring. I think that was my first ride in a convertible, but I have a little trouble along the lines of "And they bought this why?" Oh, well, B's spending isn't my problem, thank goodness.

And tomorrow, license unrenewed, Mom and Lark and I are driving to Colorado. (Er, Lark isn't actually going to help with the driving.)

Lab-ish, something that reminded me of the golden/gsd

I finally get enough sleep, and I still want to fall over on the walk. What is wrong with me? Wasn't a very interesting walk, though.....

Did the grocery shopping with Philip. Grandma sent us to Whole Foods this time, which was interesting. Especially the deli area--the atmosphere is.....individual. With that out of the way, he dropped me at the library, while he took the groceries home and ran a few more errands. Typically, the library had Legacy but not Beguilement, continuing the trend of reading them in reverse order. Sigh. It's Beguilement that I particularly want, too. Oh well. Read Komarr until Philip called to say he was waiting.

After lunch Phil pinned me down for some math. I did another section of a practice test, and he walked me through all the geometry problems. Remains to be seen whether I remember any of it, but I guess it was interesting, and for the most part, comprehensible. There has got to be a better way to explain functions, though. "Little box that takes things in and spits things out" is not best calculated to latch onto something else in my head and stick to it.

Immediately after math Phil took me off the the dorm parking lot for a driving lesson. We were out about forty-five minutes, and at the end of it he had me drive home. Please note that this involves navigating the curve on Stanton, which freaks me out even when I'm not driving. I got us home, though. And into the garage, although Philip hit the parking brake at the same time I hit the driving brake. Insulting. Grandma laughed when I told her about it, though. Also when I mentioned that if I ever decide to pass for college-age with the bunch at the University, I have a much bigger chance of someone catching me than before. But anyway, I never even scraped the car.

Wonders will never cease. We were on our walk after dinner, Lark and I, and saw a doe. She was a lovely red, and her expressions reminded me irresistibly of a skittish sheep, her stare and the way she moved her head back. She was above us, some way up the slope, and I had hopes that Lark wouldn't see her. In vain. She saw the doe, and started toward her, not bounding but trotting, uncertain if she could chase. I called her back, telling her no, leave it, come, and, after some indecision ("But that looks chaseable!") she came. She did. She left a deer and came to me, and sat for her leash, and eagerly accepted a treat. She did strain rather at the leash, and went off hunting as soon as I let her off, but she did not, this time, see the doe, who had followed us suspiciously over the shoulder we'd gone around. She ended up deciding on her own to get out of there, and sprang away--in a somewhat deliberate manner, like a bounding jog--without being properly spooked. Lark did not pursue.

That was the main event, as far as I was concerned, but we met a couple--I think the woman was Japanese, and her smile made me think, "Oh, so that's why they draw the eyes as lines for smiles"--it was a very nice smile--and had a distant not-quite-encounter with a woman, two or three kids, and two dogs. I was in a position to make effective evasive maneuvers, so I did. The dogs were both larger than Lark, and while she's becoming more sociable she still doesn't appreciate situations like that. We got home with three songs to go on the CD I'd put in before leaving.

Up to episode 8 in Trigun. Ehehehe.

 

German shepherd mix?, blue tick hound

Urgh. Was reading Memory last night. Didn't finish it, for all the good that did.

It was fairly cool on our walk, at least. We were pretty warm when we got home at ten-thirty, though, after the full circuit. Oh, and there was a little white pickup parked up behind the dumpster at the Heller house. Another pickup came by a little after I saw it; there was a seal or something that I didn't get a good look at on the door, and the driver stopped to ask, before driving down to Nevada, if the truck was mine. Well, no. 

Finished Memory. Miles, Miles.....

Grandma had me do some more weeding in the rock path. I got everything in the shade. While I was out there I saw a helicopter, which is common, but it wasn't really a common helicopter. I mean I've never seen this type flying around before. It was a military type, painted olive drab, and it was the type that has two equal rotors. I looked it up, and I think it's called Chinook. The photo I found--from the Miramar Air Show--was of a white one, though.

Ralph came over. Grandma paid him for the lawn, and we discussed the lessons a little further. The problem, apparently, is that parking lots are quietest on weekends. I didn't ask Ralph for weekend lessons, Phil can do that..... oh well. Work in progress.

At seven we larked. It was sunny but cool, and very nice out. We met a group of four, two men, woman, and boy, with two dogs. The off-leash dog looked like a red German Shepherd, which was probably a mix. The leashed one was (I asked) a blue-tick hound. Never met one of those before....Anyway. The clouds, present but distant at the beginning of the walk, were coming closer, and there were rare drops of rain by the time we were halfway home. We made it home before the rain started seriously.

Hmmmm, gotta mop tonight....

Fifteen pushups, twenty situps.

Medium brown dog, German Shepherd/Golden; short black poodly creature

B called. She was asking for my address again, which is pleasantly suspicious, but I think we ended up talking for half an hour, at least. Somehow it figures that if I'm going to get conflicting advice, some of it will be B's. I like Mr. Marble's advice better, anyway. So with that, it was almost ten when I got dressed to take the dog out. Trina says when there's no school, she sometimes stays in PJ's all day. Somehow, even with no livestock, I still can't do this. Interesting. Anyway, it was pretty hot by the time I gave up on finishing the first leg, and roasting when we got home to find Ralph gassing his mower at the end of the drive. Grandma asked him to mow all her long grass, because of the snakes. Sigh.

On a Cake kick.

Asked Ralph if he would give me some driving lessons. He said yes, if Grandma says yes. Grandma said yes. What did I just do?

Pat finally showed up to fix the swamp cooler. Yaaaaaay, cool air.....

Started Hellsing. I hope the art changes.*

Ten pushups in the middle of the afternoon....

*Whaddaya know, it does. That's better.

Walked the Lark after dinner, about seven-thirty or so. It was pretty nice out, but with an unhappy knee and stomachache, I didn't really enjoy it. Made the full circuit, though. We ran into a fair crowd in the willows along the road, though--four teenagers on bikes had stopped to ask directions of an early-middle-aged couple with two dogs. Fortunately the dogs were leashed, and Lark stayed out of range, because the brown one seemed a bit aggressive. I leashed her and dragged her off, but we didn't get enough of a head start, because once they started moving too the dogs could see each other again. Lark wanted to go back, and the brown dog barked. By the time we were on the road outside the gate I had had to carry her, because she sat down and I didn't want to drag her. Grrrrr. When we got to Eagle Rock they turned down the street, fortunately, and I could put the idiot dog down. Grr. I was beat when we got inside.

"Blue" came up on Pandora--for the first time, evidently; nobody'd thumbed it. This is no longer the case. :D

Ten more pushups, twenty situps.

Tension? Kinda.

First: Owen is trying to get a dog. An Irish setter. He wants a setter because he's been reading Jim Kjelgaard's Red series, which of course stars Irish setters.
Issues: He hasn't convinced Dad yet.
He has to earn the money.
Doug is worried that he's falling in love with something simply because of a book, which while perfectly acceptable in a seven-year-old is a bit much for a twelve-year-old.
While Mom and I think he has quite a good chance as long as he doesn't muff it, he is constantly falling into fits of pessimism as regards both his ability to raise enough money and his capacity for convincing Dad to let him get one.
I, while willing to support him until he either changes his mind or gets the dog, am getting sick of his paranoid dramas. If I say anything he doesn't like, he just goes, "Ha, I knew it. You actually don't want me to get a dog." I haven't lost it yet, but it is annoying. Little manipulator.


I think that about covers that.

Second: Dad is upset/tense about something.
Issues: No one knows what.
No one could do anything about it if they did.
Therefore no one is going to worry about it any more than they can help.

Third: Grandma Jane is in the hospital.
Issues: No one knows how strong she'll be after she heals.
No one knows whether she'll be strong enough to stay in her house.
No one knows what she's willing to do in the way of living with someone or similar.
Basically, no one knows what's going to happen, and we all have to live with that.


More generally, Mom once again is going to Colorado and hasn't yet decided who she's taking. I would adore to go again, whatever attendant circumstances, but only if Owen's staying home again. :\ As aforesaid, I have had enough--in only, what a week? Uh-oh. Anyway, wish me luck there. Actually, I'd like to stay there with Grandma Jane, keep her company and help where I can, but with her deteriorated condition I think what I can do isn't enough. I am finally putting some effort into learning to drive now, but if she can't drive at all I would have to be good enough to be driving, in the city, from the get-go. My present skill level? Practicing changing gears in an empty parking lot. I don't think we're there yet, sorry.

We went to Olive Creek Lake, or whatever it's called, for dinner. Doug and Owen wore camo, against, Doug said, bug bites. Well, I've got plenty of those.
Doug drove us home. I think it was his first time driving at night, and the only mishap could just have easily have happened in broad daylight, and probably would have. He came into the driveway off New Hampshire, and didn't quite manage the turn into the driveway. The Buick is now sporting a lovely scrape and a broken taillight. Dad actually swore. He didn't lose his temper or anything at Doug, though, just carefully explained that there are certain things he tries to avoid, and one of them is having to turn into the driveway. Mom said he should have seen that coming.
Which reminds me that Dad rented Shooter, and watched it several times. It went back today. I've learned a lot of the plot. :p And no, I haven't seen it myself.