Life, the Universe and... STUFF...
Finally home from Grand Marais... MSK's dad had last rites Friday. Then he rallied over the weekend, wouldn't ya know! When we left Sunday morning, he was sitting in his chair, still joking with us. He's a shadow of who he used to be, but he's still sharp as a tack and got his wits about him. Still, it won't be long before the physical toll the cancer is taking on him wins. I'm glad that Jessa got one last weekend of joking with her Grandpa, though. That, alone, made the trip worth the effort and uncertainty.
And there was definitely some effort and uncertainty involved. Before we left Thursday evening, I took the truck to the store... and noticed loud noises associated with steering. Peachy, huh? When I got home, I had MSK check the power steering fluid and, sure enough, it was darn near empty. Heaven only knows if it's another leak, or WHAT. The radiator still leaks, and I couldn't find any trans fluid, so I'm just glad THAT isn't leaking at the moment.
Steven and I spent a significant portion of Wednesday evening making sure that the "Danger Ranger" was going to make it to Lake Orion and back with Steven on Thursday. Finally, after working on just about everything we could without diagnostic tools, we called it 'running' and gave up for the night. It started and ran horribly in the driveway Thursday morning, but Steven didn't call from work, so I assumed that the poor thing made it there. It turns out that it did, indeed, make it to work nicely. Too bad it didn't come home the same way. In fact, it didn't come home AT ALL. It will never come "home" again. Poor little truck.
I was around West Branch on our way north when MSK called to let me know that Steven had been in an accident. I FREAKED. I'm already almost a couple hundred miles away and my BABY had a car accident??? THEN he told me that the Ranger was totaled. *shudder* A mother's worst nightmare, right there!! Obviously, since he was okay enough to call MSK, the kid was still alive, but in what shape? MSK wasn't sure, since he wasn't at the scene yet. The worst part was that, evidently, Steven ran a red light and broadsided a Fed Ex truck. In case you hadn't noticed, those things are built like PANZER TANKS!!!
I contained my 'freak out' well enough to continue driving northward, and finally got to talk to Steven around Gaylord. That poor kid... he was still shaken up, and banged up as well - both knees and his shin where they hit the bottom of the dash, plus his hip and his collar bone from the seatbelt. Other than that, though, he's very anxious about getting behind the wheel again tomorrow morning. Let's face it, accidents are NEVER fun, and to total a vehicle on your first one is usually a pretty scary thing. I don't think I've ever had more calls while I was visiting in Grand Marais than I got this weekend, that's for sure. More unfortunate for Steven is that he just had his first speeding ticket LAST MONTH. Yeah, good timing, huh? When it rains, it POURS... we should make that our family motto, I think.
We had a beautiful visit with my in-laws, though. Jessica really enjoyed her time with Grandma, the Aunts and Grandpa, and I loved being able to spend time with all of them as well. I managed to accomplish a couple things for them that they needed help with, so I came away feeling as though I wasn't a complete burden in the midst of their troubles. Jess and I stayed with Gramps while Mom K and her daughters got to attend mass together for the first time in ages. I chopped and shoveled some ice so Mom wouldn't break her neck, fixed a bunch of drawer pulls, and took care of a couple problems with Judy's computer. All in all, a nice time.
Jessa wanted to be here in time to see all the Super Bowl ads, so she badgered me into leaving around 12:30pm. I was pushing it a little on the way down, mainly because I was managing to get through traffic pretty well and secondarily because there were a couple people behind me that did the 'speed up, slow down' thing and I was sick and tired of passing their butts (only to have them pass me again a little further on). Unfortunately for me, Jessa's phone needed recharging so I had that plugged in instead of the fuzz buster. DUH. I mean, SRSLY. DUH!
I KNOW BETTER than to speed that much on I-75 in Northern Lower Michigan. I KNOW IT. At least, I know better than to do it on a Sunday afternoon without having the damn radar detector plugged in. I am now about to pay for making that mistake. Yuppers, yours truly got caught dead to rights (again around West Branch), in the left lane, cruising around 84 mph. Bad, bad mom. BAD MOM. *sigh* Oh well, I admitted that I was speeding, did not admit that I knew how fast I was going, and told him that we were on our way home from visiting the dying father-in-law. Nicely, the young Sheriff's Deputy gave me a ticket for 5 mph over and told me to slow down. I smiled, thanked him profusely, and we were back on our way. This is but a small pittance compared to all the times that I DIDN'T get pulled over, so I'm not complaining. Honest.
So, now we have TWO tickets taped to the kitchen cupboard, and TWO of us have courts to call and checks to write. Dad K has rallied a little, but I suspect it won't last long. We are down a vehicle and, until we can afford to replace it, I'm gonna be logging a LOT of miles ferrying people here and there. Yippy skippy, huh? XD
So, now you know why I've not been so vocal of late... angsting about MSK's dad. And you know why I'll be a little scarce for a time to come... won't be near the computer while I'm logging all those miles! My apologies for any inconvenience this might cause my friends at Demonlordlover and Dokuga!!!
;)
~~me~~