Our hotel room is CLEAN! Hurray! I'm getting so tired of dirty hotels. It's like people just don't know how to clean any more. There was no built-up dirt on the floor in the corners or by the walls. The grout in the bathroom was clean -- no dirt and/or mold. And the sheets didn't come untucked!! (pet peeve!) And no dust on shelves and window sills! I mean, it was like it SHOULD be!
We got in REALLY late. But was greeted by a Polish woman who was really friendly and interesting. Learned her life story, of course!
And, of course, my feet flew out from under me as I tried to walk into the door of the motel. Even though everything was sanded, that ice was incredibly slick and thick. Derek just slid through it -- just like he had skates on. I guess "skating" just comes naturally to him now. LOL! I actually didn't fall, and am not sure why, but my body hurt this morning from NOT falling! I'm sure I used muscles I forgot I had...
This morning it took me 20 minutes to scrape ice off: windshield, windows, headlights, wipers. We were almost late to the first game! And it was at 10:00 a.m.! Only about 17 degrees out. The game lasted (with the kids getting dressed and undressed) about 2 hours. After the game, it took me AGAIN that long to de-ice the truck! But my truck looks so cute with whiskers!
It "snowed" all day. The ice actually did turn more snowy and soft in the late afternoon. We went and ate breakfast after the first game, taking about 20 minutes total, and I STILL had to scrape off the truck before we could drive anywhere!! Gloves are wet, hands are numb. Thank goodness I brought my boots!!
The team lost both of their games today. Boo-hoo! But they played hard and I think learned a lot. One of the teams they played today actually owns the rink we're at. Of course, their fees are super high, but the rink is JUST for this team (has all levels, but only for them)! Wow. So they are really good... Our "A" team lost to their "A" team, too...
Another truck note: there's some new fandangled braking system on this truck, too, like it "senses" the brakes and which wheel needs more braking or which needs less. Experienced that today when I had to brake hard to avoid another stupid car (gee, it's slippery out here, do you think you can still just dash out into traffic?). The truck braked nice and smooth and straight! 'Course, the truck also just kept sliding, too... No fancy stuff is going to keep one from just SLIDING on ice! But thank goodness the truck is nice and big and heavy! It did quit sliding just in time, and I'm sure my old truck (much lighter) would have just kept going...
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Hockey: Greeley, Colorado, Part 1
What a weekend! Whew, I'm worn out! Not that hockey tournaments are so exhausting, mind you. But the WEATHER...
Now, Greeley is about a 6-1/2 to 7-hour drive from us.... in normal weather. It took us about 8-1/2 hours to drive up Friday night! It wasn't snowing when we left home, but the sky looked threatening, so I decided to drive over LaVeta Pass instead of going through Eagle Nest and Cimarron. The winding roads over to Cimarron did not appeal to me, especially if it was snowing. Besides, if it were snowing there, that meant that Raton Pass would have snow, too. And Raton can be miserable with snow, many times just shutting down. At least LaVeta Pass is kept up better (why, I have no idea; I-25, which goes through Raton, I would think would be kept cleared better than LaVeta).
So I headed straight up to Questa, leaving the dark skies of Taos. Just past Questa a hole in the clouds opened up reavealing a sparkling blue sky with a huge rainbow! It was gorgeous with the contrasting dark purple-gray clouds all around us, but here we were driving in this perfect little spot of brilliance. As we got closer to Ft. Garland, it was like we were driving toward this cloud wall -- and then we were suddenly back in dark and gloomy skies again -- dark enough that my headlights came on. There was slushy snow at the top of LaVeta and it was lightly snowing. But other than that, the drive up to the pass was just fine. I pushed that button on my new truck for the wheel sensors (forgot what it's called; all this new fandangled technology on vehicles!) and it worked like a charm through the slush. 'Course, I was going super slow, too, as I still don't have that comfortable feel for my new truck yet.
After crossing over LaVeta, the sky cleared up again and it was another gorgeous drive!
Until we hit Colorado Springs, that is.
And that is where I learned about what an "ice storm" is! Now, I have never been in an ice storm before, let alone drive in one, but here I was driving in one for my first experience. Traffic was slowed to a crawl and became bumper to bumper. It was like a fine drizzle of rain, except it was sparkly white in the headlights and every tiny particle of it stuck to everything they touched -- and those tiny bits were ALL ice!
Yuck.
Okay, back to my new truck. My truck has all sorts of "stuff" on it that I really have no clue yet what it all is. It has an "off-road" package plus a "cold weather" package on it that I couldn't even begin to tell anyone what all the stuff is in those packages and what they do. I was only interested in the 4x4, under-carriage coating, and super-duty starter and battery. That was about my limit of knowledge on wanting those packages.
So I'm exploring all the "stuff" on my truck as I'm trying to drive through all the ice. You know, figure out how to keep the windshield clear, the mirrors clear, and stay on the road. Plus stay WARM. The temperature outside read something like 20 degrees (on my truck, of course! :) ). I figured out that that "no-skid wheel sensor" button or whatever it is, just wasn't enough for the roads any more. So I flicked the truck into 4-wheel drive. MUCH better! The truck was just purring through the ice. I also figured out the defrost. The windshield PLUS side mirrors defrost! And I don't mean just hot air being blown onto the windshield, either (there's a different button for that!). It's got something that actually warms the entire windshield! So the mirrors were clear (the backs had over 2 inches of solid ice on the backs, though!). And the windshield did fine. BUT the wipers kept icing up. Not too bad, but still had patches where the ice just wouldn't melt, but not enough where I had to stop to scrape the ice off of them. I'm sure the warm windshield had a LOT to do with keeping the wipers somewhat free of ice. And that warm windshield is what kept all the ice particles melting that hit the windshield. And the inside of the truck was just toasty for us! And the windshield didn't fog up, either! And my butt and back were all nice and toasty, too -- heated seats, you know! :)
So my job was left to driving defensively (LOTS of cars off the road) and trying to figure out where we were going. All the road signs of course were covered in ice, making it hard to read the exits. So even though the truck was doing a great job, I was still "white knuckling" it while driving. It was dark, too, and I have a hard time seeing at night...
Which meant I was only concentrating on the road and ignoring Derek. Now, Derek is a GREAT traveller, and great at keeping me company. But with my focus on the road and weather, I couldn't even begin to tell you what he was talking about! I just mumbled the obligatory "uh-huh" now and then. But obviously it wasn't enough because every once in awhile I would get, "Mom, did you HEAR me?" Uh, noooo...
Now, Greeley is about a 6-1/2 to 7-hour drive from us.... in normal weather. It took us about 8-1/2 hours to drive up Friday night! It wasn't snowing when we left home, but the sky looked threatening, so I decided to drive over LaVeta Pass instead of going through Eagle Nest and Cimarron. The winding roads over to Cimarron did not appeal to me, especially if it was snowing. Besides, if it were snowing there, that meant that Raton Pass would have snow, too. And Raton can be miserable with snow, many times just shutting down. At least LaVeta Pass is kept up better (why, I have no idea; I-25, which goes through Raton, I would think would be kept cleared better than LaVeta).
So I headed straight up to Questa, leaving the dark skies of Taos. Just past Questa a hole in the clouds opened up reavealing a sparkling blue sky with a huge rainbow! It was gorgeous with the contrasting dark purple-gray clouds all around us, but here we were driving in this perfect little spot of brilliance. As we got closer to Ft. Garland, it was like we were driving toward this cloud wall -- and then we were suddenly back in dark and gloomy skies again -- dark enough that my headlights came on. There was slushy snow at the top of LaVeta and it was lightly snowing. But other than that, the drive up to the pass was just fine. I pushed that button on my new truck for the wheel sensors (forgot what it's called; all this new fandangled technology on vehicles!) and it worked like a charm through the slush. 'Course, I was going super slow, too, as I still don't have that comfortable feel for my new truck yet.
After crossing over LaVeta, the sky cleared up again and it was another gorgeous drive!
Until we hit Colorado Springs, that is.
And that is where I learned about what an "ice storm" is! Now, I have never been in an ice storm before, let alone drive in one, but here I was driving in one for my first experience. Traffic was slowed to a crawl and became bumper to bumper. It was like a fine drizzle of rain, except it was sparkly white in the headlights and every tiny particle of it stuck to everything they touched -- and those tiny bits were ALL ice!
Yuck.
Okay, back to my new truck. My truck has all sorts of "stuff" on it that I really have no clue yet what it all is. It has an "off-road" package plus a "cold weather" package on it that I couldn't even begin to tell anyone what all the stuff is in those packages and what they do. I was only interested in the 4x4, under-carriage coating, and super-duty starter and battery. That was about my limit of knowledge on wanting those packages.
So I'm exploring all the "stuff" on my truck as I'm trying to drive through all the ice. You know, figure out how to keep the windshield clear, the mirrors clear, and stay on the road. Plus stay WARM. The temperature outside read something like 20 degrees (on my truck, of course! :) ). I figured out that that "no-skid wheel sensor" button or whatever it is, just wasn't enough for the roads any more. So I flicked the truck into 4-wheel drive. MUCH better! The truck was just purring through the ice. I also figured out the defrost. The windshield PLUS side mirrors defrost! And I don't mean just hot air being blown onto the windshield, either (there's a different button for that!). It's got something that actually warms the entire windshield! So the mirrors were clear (the backs had over 2 inches of solid ice on the backs, though!). And the windshield did fine. BUT the wipers kept icing up. Not too bad, but still had patches where the ice just wouldn't melt, but not enough where I had to stop to scrape the ice off of them. I'm sure the warm windshield had a LOT to do with keeping the wipers somewhat free of ice. And that warm windshield is what kept all the ice particles melting that hit the windshield. And the inside of the truck was just toasty for us! And the windshield didn't fog up, either! And my butt and back were all nice and toasty, too -- heated seats, you know! :)
So my job was left to driving defensively (LOTS of cars off the road) and trying to figure out where we were going. All the road signs of course were covered in ice, making it hard to read the exits. So even though the truck was doing a great job, I was still "white knuckling" it while driving. It was dark, too, and I have a hard time seeing at night...
Which meant I was only concentrating on the road and ignoring Derek. Now, Derek is a GREAT traveller, and great at keeping me company. But with my focus on the road and weather, I couldn't even begin to tell you what he was talking about! I just mumbled the obligatory "uh-huh" now and then. But obviously it wasn't enough because every once in awhile I would get, "Mom, did you HEAR me?" Uh, noooo...
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Musings about Aunt Laura etc.
I'm feeling reeeaaalllly sentimental today! (yeah, like this is something new for me... )
As many of you who frequent my eBay store know, Mom sent to me a few weeks ago a shoebox full of old post cards. She was going to throw them out, and I told her to send them to me because there are many post card sellers on eBay and they actually make a living selling them. (Actually, Mom is finally getting into the habit of calling me every time she's going to throw something out now -- whew! If not to sell it, for me to KEEP it! LOL ...as though I have any room and know what to do with them....!) Anyway, she was trivializing the worth of this heavy little box, and I'm visualizing 1) $$ and 2) memories.
Today, the memories are just flooring me. Especially about Aunt Laura (my great aunt, who was my grandfather Alfred's half sister). To describe her as an artist is an understatement. For those who don't know, she taught art at the Art Institute of Chicago for 62 years! Yes, SIXTY-TWO (I just recently verified that with Mom, BTW). During her summers she travelled and painted EVERYwhere. And, she never married because she never wanted to give up her art. Quite incredible for her day! (To get a sense of her time period, she was born in 1883).
What I'm having a hard time with today is the questions I have for her. I've gone through this before with many of our relatives who have passed on. The older I get, the more questions I seem to have for them, and I'll ask myself, "why didn't I ask them while they were alive?" Well, the answer is simple: I didn't even have the knowledge to even ASK the question! Sad.
Going through this box of post cards just raises even more questions for me. I can tell which ones spent time with Aunt Laura because they're covered in the Chicago soot, or they were mixed in with the ones that had her handwriting on them.
Today I've been working on the post cards from Hawaii.
Hawaii? you ask. Yup, Hawaii. Aunt Laura had a good friend named Eleanor Neff who was an heir to the Castle & Cook Company of Hawaii. Now, I never remembered anything about Aunt Laura even GOING to Hawaii. But obviously she did by the collection of post cards. I thought Eleanor lived here on the mainland somewhere, but can't remember (I'll have to find Eleanor's book she wrote... that should tell more).
These cards from Hawaii are SOOOOO Aunt Laura!! There are a bunch of fish ones that I just KNOW she picked up because of the color and design of the fish (unlike me who would buy them because I wanted to identify the fish!). She did stuff like that. She would also just buy a small swath of cloth for the same reason, too. And for the feel of things. These post cards not only have the design and color that Aunt Laura would go for ("oooooo, honey!" -- can't you just hear her?), but many of these cards have a FEEL to them that I know she just caressed. They're almost like silk!
So my questions today are: when did she go? with whom? why? what did she do over there? how long did she stay? how many times did she go? where did she stay?
And stupid questions like, did she know how to swim? I don't ever remember her swimming... I'll have to ask Mom that one...
As many of you who frequent my eBay store know, Mom sent to me a few weeks ago a shoebox full of old post cards. She was going to throw them out, and I told her to send them to me because there are many post card sellers on eBay and they actually make a living selling them. (Actually, Mom is finally getting into the habit of calling me every time she's going to throw something out now -- whew! If not to sell it, for me to KEEP it! LOL ...as though I have any room and know what to do with them....!) Anyway, she was trivializing the worth of this heavy little box, and I'm visualizing 1) $$ and 2) memories.
Today, the memories are just flooring me. Especially about Aunt Laura (my great aunt, who was my grandfather Alfred's half sister). To describe her as an artist is an understatement. For those who don't know, she taught art at the Art Institute of Chicago for 62 years! Yes, SIXTY-TWO (I just recently verified that with Mom, BTW). During her summers she travelled and painted EVERYwhere. And, she never married because she never wanted to give up her art. Quite incredible for her day! (To get a sense of her time period, she was born in 1883).
What I'm having a hard time with today is the questions I have for her. I've gone through this before with many of our relatives who have passed on. The older I get, the more questions I seem to have for them, and I'll ask myself, "why didn't I ask them while they were alive?" Well, the answer is simple: I didn't even have the knowledge to even ASK the question! Sad.
Going through this box of post cards just raises even more questions for me. I can tell which ones spent time with Aunt Laura because they're covered in the Chicago soot, or they were mixed in with the ones that had her handwriting on them.
Today I've been working on the post cards from Hawaii.
Hawaii? you ask. Yup, Hawaii. Aunt Laura had a good friend named Eleanor Neff who was an heir to the Castle & Cook Company of Hawaii. Now, I never remembered anything about Aunt Laura even GOING to Hawaii. But obviously she did by the collection of post cards. I thought Eleanor lived here on the mainland somewhere, but can't remember (I'll have to find Eleanor's book she wrote... that should tell more).
These cards from Hawaii are SOOOOO Aunt Laura!! There are a bunch of fish ones that I just KNOW she picked up because of the color and design of the fish (unlike me who would buy them because I wanted to identify the fish!). She did stuff like that. She would also just buy a small swath of cloth for the same reason, too. And for the feel of things. These post cards not only have the design and color that Aunt Laura would go for ("oooooo, honey!" -- can't you just hear her?), but many of these cards have a FEEL to them that I know she just caressed. They're almost like silk!
So my questions today are: when did she go? with whom? why? what did she do over there? how long did she stay? how many times did she go? where did she stay?
And stupid questions like, did she know how to swim? I don't ever remember her swimming... I'll have to ask Mom that one...
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