Four Rats

I'm interrupting Pain on the Pipeline to introduce our newest bus passenger...

Meet Stuart.

Jewel decided for her seventh birthday last month that she really wanted a rat. We've had a dog, a cat, two goldfish, a hamster and numerous mouse hitchhikers, but this would be our first rat. None of the other pets worked out great. The dog got car sick and funked up the air, the cat got lost, fish froze, hamster died (and was an awful biter anyway), and the mice got trapped. Before getting any pet we have to think about the future, and if/how they'll fit into it. We're not into disposable pets, ya know. What about plans for Hawaii? Can we take him on a plane? Will my mom babysit? (don't know, don't know, NO) We got him anyway.

He's turning out to quite possibly be the best pet ever. Once I got over the rodent aspect, he's really quite cute, and very loyal to his mama, Jewel.

And just look how cute he is when he drinks.
I guess with Halloween coming up though he had to make himself look a little freaky.


originally we planned to get Jonas a rat too so he didn't get his feelings hurt when Jewel got her rat, but it didn't bother him at all. We also figured Stuart would like another rat to keep him company, but I think our three rats are doing a good enough job of making Stuart feel at home and loved.


The thing that surprised me the most about the rat was the fact that he doesn't try to run away. Jewel can go anywhere with him, sit anywhere with him and he won't even try to leave her lap. Jewel is also very good about feeding him everyday and giving him fresh water, and not a day goes by that she doesn't take him out and play with him. Yep, he's a keeper.

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Back to Pain on the Pipeline......we're still in Colorado waiting for a doctor in Texas to accept his case.

Caterpillar to the Rescue

The first thing Joey did after landing in the trench was tell the guys to call for help, "I've got a broken leg and a broken arm, but I'm stable". The guys...

took pictures.

The Fire and Rescue crew out of Battlement Mesa also took pictures, and gave me a CD today containing a few of them. They left out all the pictures of the actual rescue, including harnessing him to the basket and lifting him out with the trackhoe. No pictures of them putting the traction unit or the neck brace on, or even any close up pics of him or the actual accident scene. I have enough pictures though to show you where they had to go to get him, and how they had to do it. Plus they're pretty pictures.


The ambulance had to park at the bottom of the hill because the incline is way too steep for it to make it up. I don't know how they made it up there, but they came down with Joey, loaded into the back of a pickup with the Caterpillar backing it down the hill.

He said that ride was the worst!

But at least he had a beautiful view on the way down. :)

He rode down a hill, then up a hill, then they backed up, then down another hill. They talked him through the bumps and kept telling him they were almost there, and he did his best to stay calm and relaxed.




After talking with more people today we learned that he was thrown on to the metal pipe, then flipped one hundred eighty degrees before being catapulted almost seventy feet to hit the rock wall of a trench, then bounce to the other wall before dropping to it's eight foot bottom. What a ride.

We got new X-Rays at the hospital today, and the doctor is very happy with his progress and says we can go to Texas whenever he's up for the ride. We were planning on leaving in the morning but now we can't leave until workman's comp finds us a fracture specialist in Texas that will adhere to Colorado's laws. Slight bummer, but really after being in the car for a few hours today, I think it's best if he wait a little longer anyway.

After the Accident

I got the call Joey had been in an accident while I was at the laundromat. The message I got said he was OK, but he had a broken leg and arm, and he (Jake) would call me back once they knew which hospital they were taking him to. I didn't freak out, but the fact that Joey wasn't calling me, did have me worried. Jake called back about ten minutes later and said they were taking him to the Rifle, CO hospital so I called the boys at the bus and told them to get ready, I was picking them up. They were, surprisingly, ready and waiting for me. No one said a word in the car on the drive to the hospital, until I got another call from Jake saying the ambulance has finally gotten there and they're getting him out of the ditch now. WHAT?! Over an hour had passed since I was told they were taking him to the hospital! Another half hour passed, and I got another call from Jake: They're getting him in to the ambulance now. By this time we're already at the hospital and umm...trying not to freak out. Almost THREE hours since the accident happened, he finally arrived in the ER.


The kids were left to themselves in the ER waiting room while I stayed with Joey and helped the ER crew get the rest of his clothes off, and pull the basket he'd been rescued in, out from under him. He was amazingly very calm, and even joking with everyone. The Fire and Rescue guys put a traction unit on his leg and had his arm wrapped in a cast sort of thing. He spent about three hours in the ER taking X-Rays (which he says was the scariest part: him alone with five women and a pair of scissors), going through a CAT scan, getting morphine pumped into him along with shots into his wrist to numb it so the docs could set his bones back into place. The Doc showed me the Xrays and the best way I could describe his wrist was to compare it to broken glass. It was shattered.

We went straight to surgery after the ER, where the kids again had to wait, but this time the nurses were feeding them.....and I've long since declared them the best kids in the whole world. Joey came out of surgery around 9:30 pm and he was feeling GREAT! He was laughing, wanting to get back to his dream and wondering when they were going to do the surgery. Of course, he remembers none of that. During the surgery they put a rod in his right leg with a screw to hold it in place and the surgeon says it came out beautifully, and even showed me the Xrays. There were still bits of bone floating around in his ankle, but the Doc said those didn't matter, they got the most important bone fixed. They also had to do surgery on his wrist because the attempt to set it in the ER failed, and the bones collapsed again.


The kids and I stayed the night in the hospital with Joey, against the nurses wishes but there was no way I could leave him....and she wasn't allowed to not let us, so....Jonas and I spooned in the spare hospital bed while Jewel curled up in a chair and Jake slept in a recliner. Joey never slept.

The next day he had physical therapists teach him how to use the walker with a special platform to brace his broken arm, how to get in and out of the wheelchair, and to teach me how to put the "boot" on and off his leg. Joey's company got us a hotel room for the next ten days since there was no way we were getting him in the bus, and the hospital released him at six pm. Only Thirty One hours since the accident happened. Joey wanted to stay.

Our first hurdle was getting him into the Hummer. There was me..and three nurses... and us standing by helpless while we watched Joey pull himself up by his left hand into the car. Good thing he's strong! I don't know what we would have done otherwise. We stopped by the bus for the Wii and a few other things before heading to our hotel room.

The kids were ecstatic about the hotel. They had a heated pool and an indoor jacuzzi, so they declared this a vacation. I wasn't really looking forward to that long away from the bus, but staying in that hotel was exactly what we needed. They had an ice machine to keep his arm and legg iced up. They had a very nice continental breakfast which I took advantage of every morning. Twenty four hour hot coffee for Joey, guest laundry, yummy restaurants within walking distance, on site Pepsi machine for me, wi-fi, housekeeping, and a big bathtub for Jewel. Aside from the constant non stop caring for Joey, it was kinda like a vacation...

During the ten days in the hotel I made one trip to the bus to get a TV for the kids to play their Wii on, and to get Jewel's rat, and one trip back to the doctor so he could determine whether to cast the arm or do more surgery to put a plate in it.

He decided the five pins are holding his wrist together nicely so no need for more surgery. After a week of learning and dealing with worker's compensation (and their puny limits) that was the best news we'd heard all week! Jewel picked out a black cast for his arm, even though the doc and I tried to get her to pick hot pink.

Our ten days in the hotel was up. We could have asked the company to extend our stay but we all chose to come back to the bus. We couldn't wait to get home, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on my DVR. When we pull into the campground it's windy as heck and we immediately see screened tents blown over, so we brace for the worst. Yep, our sixteen foot awning has blown completely off and is flapping in the wind. Then I go check the black tank to make sure it got dumped earlier that day, and the handle to the valve has been broken off, and the tank is full. We are literally full of shit. The worst part, Joey can't do a thing about anything, and I have to deal with it all on my own.

I wake up the first morning back in my home, and I can't stop crying. I don't even know why I'm crying, but I can't stop (Probably because I held it all together this whole time). I called my Mom and asked them if we can come stay with them while he recooperates. Now I can take care of Joey, while my mommy takes care of me.

Emergency in the Mountains

Just to keep everyone informed - - - Joey (Vicki's husband) suffered an industrial accident yesterday. He is going to be okay...........but he will have a long road back to being himself. He was flung some 50 feet into the air - - - hitting the side of a rock pit, then dropping about 7 or so feet into the pit. He suffered crushed radius/ulna and right wrist - - also shattered his Fibia/Tibia and has a crushed right ankle. I have not heard from Vicki today, but as of last night they were going in to surgery - - placing a steel rod into his leg and doing a lot of repair work. Because this was a remote site, the ambulance could not make it up the dirt road - - - Joey had to endure the transport in the back of a pick up truck, until they could get to an area where he could be medivac'd out. He was injured at 11am - - did not get to the hospital until 2:30pm. We will keep you posted.

Carole - Vicki's Mom

Colorado Country Roads

Yesterday afternoon at exactly 2:11 PM we decided since Joey didn't have to be back to work until Monday morning that we'd take advantage of the extra days off and go somewhere. First idea I came up with was Yellowstone National Park. Everybody was all excited for it, the kids were even in the car waiting on us for a change! We quickly packed up a couple days worth of clothes, a cooler, the laptop and camera bag, and we were on the I-70 heading East by 3:10 PM. At 3:12 PM Joey asks, "Exactly how far is Yellowstone?" Crap. I totally forgot that is was FIVE HUNDRED miles away, not FIVE HOURS. Ten minutes later we were West bound headed for Strawberry Park and their natural hot springs. Ten more minutes later I felt like we needed something comparable, big and grand, to Yellowstone, so that's when we decide on Rocky Mountain National Park.

We go through Glenwood Canyon Corridor first.


Instead of taking the I-70 up and going through Winterpark we decided to use the smaller county roads, 131 and 134.

What a nice treat they turned out to be. We basically followed the Colorado River all the way up.



We were expecting a Colorado Scenic Byway to be paved, but with the awesome colors we were seeing, we didn't mind the twenty miles of gravel at only thirty miles an hour, at all.

Nope. Not a complaint one.

A storm was brewing in the distance.



Once the sun went down we tried to get a room at Sulphur Hot Springs Resort with its twenty three pools, but they didn't have room for us. We definitely want to go back there again someday, though, it looked like a pretty neat place for the whole family. Kinda reminded me of the resort in Dirty Dancing, the time of the tango and the foxtrot. It was dark though, so who knows, I could be completely off.

We ended up staying in Granby, in a guest room of the restaurant we had just eaten in. After a fabulous authentic German meal I asked the waitress about the hotel across the street and she mentioned they had two guest rooms, would I like to see them? I thought it was odd, so...OF COURSE! They were outdated, but very clean, and we could just roll our overstuffed selves from our booth, right into our beds. Oh yeah.

Granby on Dwellable

Wrapping up AZ

We left Arizona late Monday morning, taking the same route through Payson and Route 191 across the Navajo Indian reservation. Lately we'd been having bad luck traveling during holiday weekends, mostly because we didn't even know we were traveling on a busy weekend until we were stuck in the middle of it, but this trip we knew ahead of time. We knew we'd be against traffic heading out of metro Phoenix for the weekend, but it was never more obvious how against the majority we were until we hit the mountains in Payson, and the bumper to bumper stream of cars and travel trailers trying to get back to the city.

It probably took those people five hours to do the ninety miles down the mountain.

Since we got a late start most of our drive across the Navajo Reservation was simply, beautifully......illuminated.












For the rest of the picnic pictures, check out Flickr. I wasn't intending to skip over so much of the weekend, but as I type this we're in a hotel outside Rocky Mountain National Park, eager to experience it tomorrow, and I know me: If I didn't get something posted tonight, it'd all be ancient history after the excellenceness that we're sure to behold tomorrow.

Trying to catch up

Hello? Is anybody still here? It seems like ages since I've blogged. In reality, it's only been, like...FIVE OR SIX WEEKS! In some ways a lot has happened, and in others I feel like I have done absolutely nothing. We're still parked in the same campground, in the same spot, with most of the same neighbors. Joey finished the last pipeline he was on, and after a week off has already started a new one. While he was working I was spending a lot of time with Lisa, mostly just hanging out and talking shit (my favorite past time).

We also shopped, talked about walking, drank (which is not normal for me) and danced on her roof.... basically became teenagers together again. I really miss her. It's rare that I meet someone I can totally be myself with. I hope our paths cross again someday, but I know it most likely won't happen. At least I have the memories, and lots of embarrassing photos to prove it.

We also managed to squeeze in a little road trip.

We left Colorado Thursday early evening for Arizona, via The San Juan Skyway again, only to drive it in the pitch black. I thought it would be scarier in the dark, but it was actually much less stressful. There was hardly any traffic and I couldn't see the cliff drop off six inches from the road while I was driving. I still hate driving at night, but at least I wasn't driving in the dark along a landscape I hadn't seen yet. We spent a glorious night at The Holiday Inn Express in Cortez, CO and was, for the first time ever, tempted to steal me some pillows.


I never tire of the landscape in the Four Corner's area, and this day it seemed even redder than normal.

We got to Joey's mom's house in Gilbert Friday evening, which is where we spent the next three nights.
(photo removed)
Saturday we spent the whole day in Phoenix with his Dad and Dianne, his sister Gina and brother Brian....
(photo removed)
and their lovely salt water swimming pool. The pool with the waterfall that the kids are not allowed to climb on.

I thanked Dianne profusely for letting the kids explore the rocks, discover their limits, and then enjoy the heck out of 'em!

Sunday, we went to Fremont Park with everyone and had a big picnic.
This is Joey's sister, Jackie, and her granddaughter, Skylynn. Jackie is a professional makeup artist that has done makeup for some very famous people, including Sen. McCain and his wife...and most importantly, moi. She also made my wedding dress. I know, not only is she gorgeous, she's freaking talented.


Blogger is about to shut down for maintenance and unless I send this unfinished, as is....it may never get posted.

I kinda feel like her....nanernaner.....you thought I had something exciting to write about..

Life and Birthdays

Things have been slowing heating up in the bus lately, but luckily once it hit it's boiling point, we've been able to cool down and get things back to comfortable. While I hate things going bad, it does usually result in things getting better...and for that, I'm grateful.

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Last week our little vegetarian turned nine, and also completed a whole year without eating meat. He has no plans to ever eat meat again, and he's finally begun liking beans. I know they're not the only source of protein, but I know it's a good one, and one that we have often and just makes me feel more secure that he's getting enough "good" stuff. Which is crazy really, because he eats more greens than anyone else in the house, and he's the only kid of ours that doesn't look like a toothpick. I'm a mom...I get to worry. It says so some where.

My mom always sends a box of presents for the birthday kid, and small things for the other kids, so we rarely (if ever) give presents ourselves...we like to take them to do something fun with the family, so on his birthday we told him we'd do whatever he wanted on Sunday, Dad's day off. Last year he got his ears pierced and this year he says, "Get a tattoo!" We're liberal...but not THAT liberal.

I throw out: White water rafting on the Colorado River? Tubing on a tame portion of river? Train ride through the Rockies? All of those being my first choice, but no, he wants to go Bananas!

Bananas Funpark, that is.

At first I decided against taking my camera because I wanted to be free, but last minute I grabbed my old (smaller, with video) camera, and as usual, was glad I did. First thing we did was the bumper boats, and second thing we did was get SOAKED!

These were not the old bumper boats from my day, these had squirt guns on them and if there was an adult in a boat, every single kid attacked said adult.

Luckily it was hot out, so we dried in about three minutes.
Other than the bumper boats and arcades, there wasn't much else for us parents to do, though. Well, besides the mini golf, but that wasn't happening in ninety four degree weather. We had a great time watching the boys on the go karts, Jewel on the inflatable playground, winning mucho tickets in the arcade, killing each other at lazer tag, and relying on the bumper guards in mini bowling. The highlight for all the kids though, was the lazer maze.

The picture doesn't do it justice, but it was hundreds of colored lights that they had to maneuver by rolling, crawling, jumping, contorting...all without hitting the lazers. Jewel's the white dot trying to duck under one. She only hit one lazer, and I think had the best time. That's my girl.

Afterwards we checked out the new ice arena, and learned they're having their grand opening this Friday, which will have all types of activities going on, including free skating. You know where we'll be Friday. :)

We topped off the day with blizzards from DQ.
The very next morning Jewel's asking to go Bananas again. I'm half way there.

Twenty Questions to ask your kids

I asked Jewel these questions that I stole from Christy, but the boys were chipping in their own answers, too.

1. What is something that Mom always says to you?
brush my teeth
2. What makes Mom happy?
brushing my hair
3. What makes Mom sad?
when we don't brush our teeth
4. How does Mom make you laugh?
wipeout (TV show)
5. What was Mom like as a child?
bunny lover (I had a pet bunny)
6. How old is your Mom?
ummm..how old are you? 25!
7. How tall is your Mom?
25!! lol
8. What is her favorite thing to do?
shopping
9. What does your Mom do when you are not around?
shopping (in triplicate, even)
10. If your Mom becomes famous what will it be for?
shopping!! (whole bus is laughing)
11. What is your Mom really good at?
shopping! Jonas says, "not remembering"
12. What is your Mom not really good at?
work
13. What does your Mom do for her Job?
wash dishes
14. What is your Mom's favorite food?
potatoes (not really, but lately we've been eating a lot of them)
15. What makes you proud of your Mom?
video games...Jake says "FOOD!"
16. If your Mom were a cartoon character who would she be?
Jonas says, "Jessica Simpson"(I'm pretty sure he meant Lisa Simpson, but I'll happily take Jessica)..Jake says "Betty Boop"
17. What do you and your Mom do together?
shopping
18. How are you and your Mom the same?
hair
19. How are you and your Mom different?
you're a mom and I'm a kid
20. How do you know that your Mom loves you?
I always brush my teeth (she so does not, and I'm really not that obsessed with it)

Now Questions about Daddy:
1. What is something that Dad always says to you?
"Love you, kid"
2. What makes Dad happy?
don't work
3. What makes Dad sad?
me being away from him
4. How does Dad make you laugh?
wipeout
5. What was Dad like as a child?
a kid
6. How old is your Dad?
25
7. How tall is your Dad?
25
8. What is his favorite thing to do?
go to work..Jonas says, "to spend time with us"
9. What does your Dad do when you are not around?
go to work
10. If your Dad becomes famous what will it be for?
Welding!
11. What is your Dad really good at?
Welding!.. Jake says: Making money!
12. What is your Dad not really good at?
shopping
13. What does your Dad do for his Job?
welding
14. What is your Dad's favorite food?
potatoes
15. What makes you proud of your Dad?
he being with me
16. If your Dad were a cartoon character who would he be?
Homer Simpson
17. What do you and your Dad do together?
watch Wipeout!
18. How are you and your Dad the same?
nothing
19. How are you and your Dad different?
everything
20. How do you know that your Dad loves you?
I'm his only little girl

If you have a blog.....

....You may actually have people who read it.


Last week while Joey was at work (back on the pipeline) there was a knock at the bus door. When I opened it, in my JAMMIES, a couple was standing there and introduced themselves as Tom and Nancy from Florida, and said that he has actually been reading my blog for a couple years!! I was shocked, first because I didn't think anyone other than unschooling mom's read it, and secondly because he found us! They were traveling in Colorado in their RV and after reading my last post about Rifle Falls State Park, decided to check it out. Third shock, is someone actually LISTENED to me! He may not have actually listened, but he liked my photos enough to have to see it for himself. He tried swimming in the creek like our kids but determined they were Superkids with an unnatural liking to glacier water.

For some reason I wasn't freaked out AT ALL. I probably should have been, but they were such a nice couple, have a Bluebird bus of their own, although theirs is a Wanderlodge, not a wanna-be...plus they wanted to take us out to dinner. How could we NOT like them?

When Joey got home we swam in the lake with them, while Nancy kept a keen eye out for gators, being from Florida and all, but what she really had to watch out for were the biting fish....and bite they did. Right after I bragged how I've never been bit by one, I had one try to rip a mole off my chest. Ooo, it still hurts just thinking about it.

They treated us to fried pickles, huge burgers and pizza at the local bar and grill, and since the RV park was full they headed on down the road after supper. They've invited us to their lake house in Florida whre they plan on turning our kids into waterskiers....we can't wait!

Now I'm wondering who else reads this that I don't know about? Can I have a roll call, please? A simple, "I do" will be fine. Thanks!

Rifle Falls State park

Some days we tire of the lake and need to venture out, so one day we decided to go check out Rifle Falls State Park. We've been there before in the springtime, and again during the icy winter.


The kids and I even took our new friends, Joe, Lara and kids, there when they visited us this past spring.


Every time is special, and fun in it's own way, but I gotta say....I think we finally topped it this time! Summer in Rifle Falls just can't be beat!(except if we'd had friends with us)

The road leading up to the falls.


Past Rifle Gap State Park.

This photo was created by "stitching" three photos together. It's way too big to get in one shot, and I was pretty happy with how this turned out.

When we were here with the Miller's the kids spent a good part of the day sledding down this hill. On their butts.

Now seeing it, it's hard to believe that was ever possible.

That's me trying to get as close to the falls as I could.

That's me getting drenched.

Doesn't this cave entrance look like a big dinosaur foot print?


View from above the falls.

I love this view, and how lush and bright green everything is.

By the time we walked all the way around and came back to the waterfalls, everyone else was gone and we had the place all to ourselves.

They quickly learned that just because it's hot outside, doesn't mean that water isn't icy cold.

"Guys.Guys. Wait for me!"


Is the water cold, Jake?


Jonas was the first to get fully in. He'd enter at the falls and then swim with the current down to where we were along the bank.

But Jonas always has a trick up his sleeve. Hands up!


Eventually they all braved the icy waters, and were cool for days.


All these pics were taken with my new Sony DSLR Alpha A200, while I'm still trying to learn how to use it. It's definitely not as simple as my Sony point and shoot, and I wish I would have remembered how to capture waterfalls. I'm having the hardest time with shutter speed and aperture and what's best for what situation. I read it, understand it, then completely forget it. But this day I actually forgot how to even change the settings! Those were a couple weeks ago, and I think I could do better next time.....now we just need some friends to visit so I have an excuse to practice. Yes, I'm talking to you.

Basalt on Dwellable