Hare today gone tomorrow.....

About 3 weeks ago after the first day of snow of a 3-day snowstorm, I looked out to see bunny tracks going across the driveway to the neighbors on the East where Hank sneeks under the garage door and eats the cat food, and then the tracks went down the sidewalk and up the driveway of the neighbors to the West where he liked to take shelter under their covered patio furniture. That was the last evidence I saw that the bunny was still around. Every day at dusk I would go outside and look around and search out the windows whenever I passed them looking for Hank. I had thrown some cabbage in our bushes where we usually saw him every evening and the cabbage went untouched. I figured being a wild rabbit, used to the cold, he was probably staying closer to his nest in order to keep warm, and that he would have no problem out in the weather as would be his cutomary habitat. At least that was what I was hoping.

Saturday I walked a gift over to the neighbors on the West, and Angie asked if I had heard what happened to "our" bunny, (we felt as though it was collectively theirs and ours) to which I replied that I was going to ask if they had seen it lately. Well it seems that the Wednesday after the last Monday when I had seen bunny tracks, when Bob went to take the garbage out, he found Hank frozen to death behind the garbage cans. She was so sad about it she started tearing up telling me, and she couldn't bring herself to tell her little grandchildren his true fate, but just told them he had just disappeared. Since he came out of nowhere it makes sense that he would leave the same way.

It is sad to know he is gone and the fate he suffered, but at least I can quit wasting time looking for him, and not be so worried about having anymore rabbit droppings to clean up this spring than there already are.

Hank R. Chiff...

Hank was hanging around out front again today, so I managed to get a few more pictures. I really don't believe he is anyone's lost pet. I'm pretty certain he is a Mountain Cottontail which is not a pet bunny breed. I have posted a few pictures for comparison. I have also checked out all the pet rabbit breeds and he doesn't match any of them.

These are Hank.

These are just a few Mountain Cottontail pictures I found on Google images. Of course, these pictures are of much better quality than mine, but if you were to see Hank for real, you would be able to see that he looks just like these. I wish I could get a close up of his eyes when he's on alert to make sure I'm not going to hurt him.

Have you ever gotten a wild hare......

Now that is a phrase that should end in something like "to fly to Las Vegas" or "go skinny dipping" or something wild and crazy and spontaneous, but at this house, it ends with "that leaves piles of poop all over your yard."

It seems that we have somehow acquired a wild rabbit, specifically, we think, a mountain cottontail, that has taken up residence on our hill. He comes out at dusk and dawn, and feeds on our bushes or twigs he finds in the yard. He did find and eat some carrots Cayla put out one day. I didn't mind having a wild rabbit until I went around to the back yard yesterday to see if I could see any of his tracks in the snow and discovered little piles of rabbit poop everywhere. I don't deal well with animal poop so I hope come spring I can talk someone into going out and cleaning up the yard before I mow.

These are the best pictures we have been able to get so far. He doesn't seem to afraid of us if we keep our distance but we get too close and he takes off hopping. It is hard to get a real perspective but this bunny is HUGE.

Addendum: Sunday

I went out to the garbage today and the rabbit nearly gave me a heart attack, but he was

really nice and stayed there until I went and got my camera.

Cayla has named him Hank. R(Roland) Chiff.

The $5300.00 Headache

Total charges billed to my insurance equaled $5285.00, which they reduced to the agreed pricing of $4200,00. My banked insurance funds took care of 1000 of it, leaving me to pay the balance of $3200. I'm not totally sure that the bill for the MRI has gone through yet, but I sure hope so, because I will be left to pay that whole bill also if it is still yet to come through. I've never had such lousy insurance in my life. I really need a new job with decent insurance.

On a more positive note, my double vision has now resolved and I'm just thankful it didn't take months like I was expecting. I still get a very mild headache in my forehead above my left eye almost daily, but I can deal with that better than the double-vision. If I didn't have to stare at a computer all darned day, I would probably be able to get rid of the last of the headaches also.

What Now?

Thankfully, I am doing much better this week. After taking a diuretic on Saturday and Sunday, most of my symptoms slowly resolved. My head pain is only moderate when it comes and it is only around my left eye, and is relieved with Excedrin. The noises in my ears have completely resolved and everything in my house is back to sounding like it is running appropriately instead of running to my heartbeat. I can sleep without pain without any percocet.

My only residual symptoms are some slight nausea at times and diplopia (double-vision). I can see a few feet in front of my face just fine (so I have no trouble working) but anything I look at across the room goes into double vision after just a few seconds of looking at it. This makes driving extremely difficult. In fact, I haven't dared drive outside of the neighborhood all week.

Mom very kindly gave me a ride to the neurologist today, where I came home with no more answers than I went with.

He doesn't think I had what I thought I had, because he doesn't see any papilledema; however, he can see how I came to that conclusion, because I did have all the symptoms. I had every symptom, but he discounted them as being anything and hardly acknowledged anything I said about them.

He doesn't have a clue what to think about my headaches, because they should have been better with standing, worse with lying, and there should be no difference between sitting and standing. Mine was better with sitting, head splitting on standing and lying down. He just passed it off as a headache that I happened to have for over a week, with no relation to the residual double-vision that I am left with. I KNOW that was no tension headache. What I had was the worst pain I have had in my life that only morphine took away. I am not one to even think of going to a doctor for most pain, haven't been to one in 12 years, so things have to be pretty darn bad for me to go to Instacare or the emergency room.

I also know that I did not have double-vision before the headaches and didn't even notice it at all until the day I drove to the emergency room, when it was only if I looked left and has progressed since then to being all the time. It just seems pretty evident to me that whatever caused the headaches had to have caused the eye problem.

He also had no explanation as to why my symptoms started resolving as soon as I took diuretics, but discounted that as having anything to do with it, but I'm convinced that is what resolved the headaches and hearing issues, and besides I lost 8 pounds in two days!! (That's a lot of water buildup that came from somewhere, might as well have been some in my brain.)

Since all my symptoms have resolved except my diplopia, he mostly concentrated on that, and he thinks I have a cranial nerve 6 palsy from untreated hypertension. Trouble is, I have never had high blood pressure. When I went to Instacare it was 155/97 , which I assume was due to the severe pain I was under. In January when my company sent a person to my house to check my labs it was 126/78, and 124/88 the year before that, and has never been higher than 130 that I have ever been told. I don't think I could have had high enough blood pressure for long enough to have caused this and he couldn't really say so either based on my history, but had no other explanation.

He said it should resolve on its own, but he didn't know how long, and suggested maybe I go to an ophthalmologist, who looks at more eyes then he does....and then said, "I would like you to come back in 4 weeks." For What?????

I liked this doctor okay as a person. He was actually having a lot of fun looking at my eyes with his new ophthalmoscope that views in 3D, and since I was so good at focusing, he kept asking if he could look at my eyes again, and then would exclaim, "this is soooo cool!" It may have been cool, but since he didn't know why I had the problem or any plan to fix it, I certainly do not see any reason to go back.

I came home and googled 6th nerve palsy and learned that it can take up to 6 months to resolve and it just says to wear a patch on one eye when driving, which is what the doctor had also said. I have perfect vision with each eye independently.

I can't find anything about it to explain why I may have gotten it since none of the causes fit my situtation.

When this is all said and done, it will probably have cost me $3000 or more, and since no one has done anything for me, except me, it is all money spent for nothing. Unfortunately the $1000.00 I had built up in my insurance plan was wiped out pretty fast, and I won't have any more money in there until January, and then only $500.00. With a 6,000 dollar deductible, I will be paying for anything else I decide to do about this situation.

I really don't know if it is worth it to go to an ophthalmologist just to have him tell me to wait it out.

How does a person deal with double vision for 6 months? I guess, I may have to find out.

Self Diagnosis-Pseudotumor cerebri (fake brain tumor)

Of course, I could be wrong, but I'm almost 100% certain I have figured out what is wrong with me. I learned a few things while I was in the ER that allowed me to focus a little differently on my symptoms and google accordingly. The MRI technician told me when my vision goes blurry or into double-vision to close each eye and see if it is one eye or the other. I discovered when I was pain free on morphine that I was still uncomfortable behind my left eye and down my neck. I had thought my pain was over my entire front of head, but when concentrating on it more, it actually centers around my left eye, but pulsates throughout my whole front head when it gets bad. I described the noise I was having in my ears to the doctor, where sounds such as wind, air conditioner, heater that are normally one solid blowing noise, were occuring in my head as pulsating noises that go with my heart beat, and he did not seem to really recognize that as anything.

The next day, I had to run an errand and discovered that my double-vision was only when using both eyes, and mostly when looking to the left. When looking out of either eye by itself, my vision was find.

I came home and googled "double-vision when looking to the side," and the first article that popped up described all my symptoms exactly.

Pseudotumor cerebri is an eye condition that can be confused with a brain tumor due to swelling of the optic nerve. Like a brain tumor, the fluid inside the skull that cushions the brain and flows around the spinal column develops elevated pressure. It is also referred to as Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension or Benign Intracranial Hypertension. It is more prevalent in women between the ages of 20 and 50. Symptoms of pseudotumor cerebri are usually an undiagnosed chronic headache, and in more severe cases there may be visual symptoms such as double vision. Also nausea and vomiting may occur. There is an unusual effect of pulsating sounds within the head that are synchronous with the heart rate referred to as Pulse-synchronous tinnitus.
A routine eye exam is where the initial diagnosis of mild cases of pseudotumor cerebri is often first made. The optic nerve that enters the back of the eye appears elevated in both eyes, a condition referred to as papilledema. Because the nerve is an extension of the brain and enclosed by the same tissues and fluid that cushion the brain, elevation in the pressure inside the brain also cause the nerve to swell. Since most cases occur in young to middle age overweight females, an elevated nerve with a history of chronic headaches and otherwise healthy is often indicative of pseudotumour cerebri. Other visual symptoms include double vision, brief periods of blurred vision or dim vision, and occasionally patient will have temporary episodes of blindness in one or both eyes. Changes in posture such as suddenly standing up or bending over may elicit symptoms, as may coughing or sneezing. (My pain goes from 1-2 over 10 when sitting to 10/10 if I stand, lie down, or cough.)
Double vision may occur when looking to the side. This is caused by a defect in abduction or the ability of an eye to turn out. due to a restriction in the capacity for one or both eyes to turn out. This presents a confusing picture when taken out of context because it is not due to damage to the abducens nerve (6th Cranial Nerve) that controls the eyes outward motion. In this case, the double vision is called a false localizing sign. Pain can occasionally be associated with eye movements.
Rarely, the pressure can become very high and cause severe problems with vision and alterations in levels of awareness. Most of the time truly is benign idiopathic intracranial hypertension and is managed by weight loss and occasionally medications. Sometimes discontinuation of certain medication may resolve the problems. The most severe cases may require a shunt to drain the increased fluid from the ventricles in the brain into the abdominal cavity.

It is so weird to run across something that describes yourself so perfectly. I looked up dozens of articles on Pseudotumor cerebri and it just kept confirming to me this is what I am dealing with. The first steps are to have a CT and MRI, which I did and were both normal, so any other brain pathology is ruled out. The next step for a diagnosis would be a lumbar puncture to check your cerebrospinal fluid pressure. First steps of treatment are to go on a diet, which I have been on for 6 weeks and have already lost 12 pounds. They sometimes use diurectics to help lower fluid levels, and then a lumbar puncture or even shunt to drain the fluid.

I was going to go get a natural diuretic to see if it would help before I got to a doctor. Richard was just taken off his diuretics so he brought me his. I took one yesterday afternoon and actually slept on either side pain free for 11 hours last night (besides getting up to pee every hour or 2). In the past, I could only lie with minimal pain on my back, but I can't sleep on my back. I did take one Percocet before bed, but even with Percocet I really couldn't sleep on my side without pain. I woke up this morning 3.5 pounds lighter (that is a LOT of water) and have felt 75% better so far today.

I have an appt. to establish with a new primary care physician on the 22nd, so I may have to see a neurologist before that, unless things dramatically improve this week. If i do get this diagnosed, I want to go back to Instacare and make sure the doctor, who snickered when I mentioned possible intracranial pressure to him, has a chance to eat his words along with his snicker.

Just got home from the ER.

I tried to get into see a doctor today, but no one wanted to see me. They said with pain that bad for so long, I needed to go straight to the ER. So I took myself to the ER. They hooked me up with an IV of Toradol and Zofran which did nothing. My pain actually increased while I was on Toradol. They took me for a CAT scan which turned out normal. They hooked me up to morphine and slowly I became pain-free and relaxed for the first time in a week. They don't normally do an MRI unless it is a for-sure emergency, but the doctor really felt it needed to be checked out further because the whole thing was rather baffling (10/10 pain, stiff neck, blurry and double-vision, and ringing ears, all for a week) so he got it approved to do an MRI. That also turned out normal (a relief for sure, but no explanation for what is going on). I got back to my room and was able to lie in complete comfort feeling like I was on cloud 9. I haven't felt so good in a long time. If the pain comes back the next step is a neurologist. I'm just glad I didn't have to do the neurologist before the MRI, because I don't know how long that whole process would take, and at least this way I know nothing needing immediate intervention is going on. Now I am going to go sleep pain-free for the first time in a long time.

So what else can go wrong?

I wish I had something fun to post, but the past two months around here have been nothing one problem after another..... And I thought it was supposed to end with 3. You really don't have to read this, I'm just hoping by complaining in writing, I can rid myself of all the stress that is making me sick.

About 2 months ago Alyssa opened her new medicine cabinet and the hinges popped a hole through the mirror and then it cracked all over. It took me a couple of weeks to finally get my contractor to come by and then he got the phone number off the cabinet and told me to call. Luckily the company was really great and without hesitation said they would send me a new mirror and new hinges for both medicine cabinets. Their plastic hinges have been failing so they have replaced them with all metal ones. Now I'm on my 2nd week of waiting for the contractor to send someone by to fix it. Someone was supposed to come by on Tuesday and when they hadn't by Friday I sent him a text. I'm sure it will probably take a couple of more phone calls before anyone shows up. He does beautiful work, but getting him to remember I have a problem is another matter.

Then the girls' computer crashes for the third time, and I refuse to take it somewhere again that is going to cost me over 200.00. My neighbor suggested I call a former neighbor who always fixes hers, for free I'm sure because she is like 2nd mother to him. I would never expect him to do mine for free but I also didn't expect to get ripped off. Alyssa and I like to call the day he came, the Saturday of Hell. I made sure he knew I have to work on Saturdays, just like I did the first day he came, but I guess he didn't notice I couldn't work too well with his wife and 3 small children here also. I had paid him $25.00 the week before just to come by and diagnose the problem since he now lives clear down in Lehi, and said we would square it up when he comes to fix it. He really didn't want to take my money since he hadn't done anything yet, but I thought his time was worth something. I had to call Dell and get the operating system disks that they had never sent me. So not only did I lose out on income while he was here, but his daughter practically destroyed Cayla's doll house and did break the head off one of her dolls that goes to the doll house (irreplaceable). I thought they might only be here 2 hours, but it ended up being 6. I ask him what I can pay him, planning on paying him quite well for 2 hours, but now I'm looking at 6 hours. I also thought he would probably ask for a reasonable amount, so when he pops off with "I usually charge 30 dollars an hour and I was here 6 hours so that would be $180.00," I was hoping my outside expression didn't match the shock I was feeling inside. I could have dropped it off somewhere and had no interruptions to my life or loss of income for pretty much the same $205.00 I ended up paying him. To top that off, a week later, I have another virus that I can't seem to get removed. I'm so afraid I'm going to see that blue screen of death again.

While we are in the middle of those problems, the fill tube on my freezer gets frozen up, so I have to empty the freezer into the garage freezer and turn the house freezer off so it will melt. I would turn it back on and get a couple of batches of ice and it would freeze up again. After 2 tries at that, I finally decided to leave it off for an entire 24 hours, and that seems to have done the trick so it probably wasn't getting completely thawed before.

Now, like Jef, I have given up on trying to find a solution to getting clean dishes again from my dishwasher so I had planned to go shopping this past Saturday for a new dishwasher, but by Saturday I was on my 3rd day of a relentless splitting migraine headache. By Sunday when I couldn't find anything else that would relieve the pain for more than 10 minutes, I decided to take some left over Lortab from my gallbladder surgery many years ago. I never remember having any problems when I took it before, and it also had allowed me to sleep really well. Maybe it has something to do with it having expired 10 years ago, but although it did take the pain away, I was once again awake all night. I got out of bed pain free, but threw up just as I was going to get in the shower, again when I went downstairs, and again in the car when I was taking Cayla to school (I was smart enough to be prepared just in case, so my car suffered no damage. This is really weird because I NEVER throw up. I retch if I have to clean up animal poop, or my children's vomit, but I literally have never vomited because I was sick. I keep trying to see if I can eat a cracker and keep it down, but I throw up every time. My head is pounding still and I'm starving, which doesn't help.

I do have to give a shout-out to Brittni for grabbing Cayla from school. I was so nervous about having to get in the car again.

I'm really thinking I need to either find a doctor or go to Urgent Care, but I'm deathly fraid of getting in a car.

May tomorrow be a brighter day!!

Alyssa's New Blog

Be sure to check out Alyssa's new blog. She has a new blog address so if you follow her, delete the old and add the new. http://alymariefindlay.blogspot.com/

Dad's Birthday

Here is the Birthday Boy blowing out the candles on his cake. I bought numbered candles so he only had to blow out two candles and not 79. When I asked him if he could blow these out, he said he could do it from across the room. We didn't challenge him to try it for real, but he sure blew these 2 candles out in one quick puff. I don't know why his face came out splotchy in this picture, but it really wasn't.




We had an extra-large cake for the amount of people that were there, but when I saw this cake, I had to have it. It's hard to tell in the picture but it has frosting on top that looks like a fire and then there are smore's on the corners and marshmellows on sticks (pretzels) that are sprinked with cinnamon so they look cooked. The minute I saw it, I couldn't help but think of all the camping we did as kids and I just had to have this cake.

When I told dad that Sarah had sent him a birthday wish via Facebook, he said that if she comes to visit within the next 6 months she can have some cake. Okay, so there was a LOT of cake, but I don't think it will still be around for THAT long.

Jef called while we were there so we also got to visit with him.

Before we left, Dad informed us that next year he turns 80 and then he will be old and crotchety, though I can't imagine anyone as funny as he is becoming crotchety.

Public Service Announcement

I have been having issues with my dishwasher not cleaning well and was thinking maybe I needed a new one, but decided to do a little research and see if I could determine what might be the problem. I tried running vinegar through it to clean out hard water deposits, I inspected the arm for any cracks, I tried not overloading it, and since I don't have a dishlicker like the one in the picture, I was running out of solutions. I finally ran across some info on the internet about gel dishwashing detergents clogging things up. I switched back to powder detergent and low and behold my dishes are clean again.

I'm so glad I don't need a new dishwasher after all, and felt it was my duty to warn everyone that gels are not recommended for dishwashers for the following reasons.

Gels contain chlorine bleach (dissolves rubber seals).

Gels tend to cloud glassware, leaving a whitish film.

Gels never really rinse off interior tub or from sump area.

Gels clog the detergent dispenser, making it release late or not at all. This causes door streaking by the chemicals.

Gels don't work well in hard water, they leave spots.

Always use powdered detergent or tablets.

I Love Free Money!!!

I finally got all my rebates from the utility companies from my window purchases, for a grand total of $563.00. Since I didn't even know about these rebates until after I bought the windows that is a pretty good little sum of money to add to my piano fund.

On another note, I came back from my vacation to find my hedge completely out of control again. I had planned to tackle it Saturday, but by the time I got done working it was just too blasted hot to even think of doing yard work. Much to my surprise when I went out this morning to put a sprinkler out where I am having sprinkler system problems, I discovered the back half of the hedge is completely trimmed on top. I noticed people working in the neighbor's yard yesterday but thought they were just doing the lawn. I have been a little rebelious the past 2 years and refuse to do his side of the hedge back where he has a lot of stuff planted and I can't get to the hedge easily. I guess he hired someone to come trim up all his plantings back there and they did his side of the hedge and the top. After they leave for work today, I will go take a peek, but I would imagine they have done his entire side which means I only have to do my side and the other half of the top, which makes me want to jump for joy. I immediately scheduled Saturday off work, so I can go out first thing and get 'er done, since it looks a bit ridiculous right now to have half of it looking good and half of it totally a mess.

3305 Miles

That is the grand total of miles of our fantastic road trip. Cayla and I had a great time. Although I was really sick of driving by the last day, I thoroughly enjoyed all the driving until then, and after only a day at home, was actually wishing I was still out on the road.

I've been trying to get Cayla to blog our trip, and although she has nothing to do but hang out in her PJ's all day, she is just not in the mood.

This will probably be more detailed than anyone cares about, but if I include everything, I can print it out for my trip journal.

For starters, let me just say how much I love my GPS. I can't imagine going anywhere unfamiliar without one, especially if you need to find a drug store, restaurant, gas station, etc., I am in LOVE with my GPS!! For reference throughout this trip diary, our's will be referred to as Mandi, as that is the voice we selected, and what we called it (her) on occasions when we needed to talk back to, or occasionally reprimand her.

Day 1

We left on Saturday, and decided to leave fairly early and then stop at Little America, Wyoming in 2 hours for a nice omelet and ice cream cone, thus getting a couple of hours behind us in a long first day drive. My plan was to try to make it to North Platte, Nebraska, but I made no reservations in case we didn't make it that far. I did write down a few of the nicer hotels so we would know where to go once we got there. Now, never in my wildest imagination would I have thought a little town in the middle of Nebraska that seemed to have LOTS of hotels/motels, would not have a room available when we got there, but with a wedding going on with out-of-town guests and a baseball tournament in town, we found ourselves pretty much out of luck. A nice desk clerk did some calling around but could only find a smoking room at a Motel 6. I would rather sleep in the car. She did have a suggestion of a place she couldn't reach by phone, so we headed over there, and as luck would have it, they did have a room. Now this place didn't look too bad from the outside and the lobby was marginal, so I thought we were really getting a good deal to find a nonsmoking room for only $75.00. Upon entering the room we were greeted with a funny smell, but the carpet and beds looked clean. Unfortunately, the bathroom was too scary to use unless you were desperate, which I usually am about every couple of hours. There was no way I was stepping into the bath/shower. The toilet seat looked clean enough but the bowl was disgusting. It seriously needed some Lyme Away or CLR. Cayla decided against using the bathroom at all. We got in bed, slept as few hours as was reasonable, and got out of there as quickly as we could.

Day 2

Today our goal was about a 6 hour drive to Omaha. I really enjoyed our drive across Nebraska. Yes, it is flat and not much to see but cornfields and trees, but I found the green (mowed) grass in the median and the green cornfields, along with the very straight and flat road very easy and relaxing to drive. I can't imagine mowing the median grass clear across the state of Nebraska, but they do it. We arrived at the Marriott and found a room fit for a King. Mariott had a sale on rooms when I was making reservations and we got this super luxurious room for $86.00 (only 11 more dollars than the dive we stayed in the night before).

Deluxe accommodations.

Cayla and Trixie enjoying the accommodations.

After checking in, we headed over to Winter Quarters where we had an awesome tour in the new visitor's center there. Our tour guide was really good and we learned a lot and found it very interesting. After the tour, we went across the street to the cemetary where the 300 people who died while in Winter Quarters are buried.

Winter Quarters Temple

Pioneer Cemetery

We left there and headed over to Council Bluffs to visit the Kanesville Tabernacle. Unfortunately our tour guide there was the most boring man on earth and we couldn't wait to get done and just get out of there. Luckily it was a short tour with the only thing really to see being the Tabernacle, which was interesting to hear the history of and how it was built, the original and the new replica.

By this time we were pretty hungry and tired, so we questioned Mandi (GPS) about restaurants and found a Cheesecake Factory close to our hotel where we had a yummy dinner. Our waiter, upon learning we were from Salt Lake, reminisced with us about his trips through Utah when he was young, stopping at the original KFC restaurant. Of course, anyone who remembers eating there, knows that the food then was way better than what you get at KFC today. He says I was the first person he has talked to from Salt Lake, who actually remembers that restaurant. On our way out, we bought some cheesecake to take and enjoy in our room for a late-night snack. Cayla thought she had died and gone to heaven when she tasted that cheese cake. Our shower and sleep that night certainly did feel like heaven.

Day 3
Today we head to Nauvoo, driving Southeast across Iowa. I thought there was a lot of corn in Nebraska, but with the rolling hills of Iowa, you can see further in the distance and it is all covered with cornfields. This is the day that I learn that not only should you know the towns you should be headed past, but also the highway numbers you should be on, for those instances when the GPS doesn't know a road exists and shows you driving in a field. I had downloaded the latest maps into the GPS before I left, but Mandi was unaware that a highway existed where we were and kept wanting us to go through some small towns, and the first time I made the mistake of following her, we ended up on a dead end on a cliff, which apparently was the way to an old highway.

We did eventually make it to Nauvoo where we got there just in time to see our first play put on by college students from around the country. We had just enough time for dinner before we attended a program put on by the same college students and the senior missionaries. It was a pretty hilarious program, and you have to give credit to all those old people for being brave enough to peform like they did, especially since many of them have probably not done anything like that before. There were some who obviously had talent, and some who obviously did not.

Nauvoo temple

Just a few of the senior missionaries who performed for us.

This is also when we had our first encounter with Mayflies, and if you have never experienced a Mayfly, believe me, you don't want to. They come in swarms in the dark where there are lights or down by the river. They literally cover surfaces like a blanket, and they are UGLY. We did find out the next day, that they only last 3 days. They hatch all at once and die off in 2-3 days. They lay their eggs and come back later for another 3 days, anywhere from a few months to a year later. Just our luck, we happened to be there for the 2 days they were alive.

We stayed in the Hotel Nauvoo, a restored 170 year old former home, turned hotel, that was quite lovely and comfortable. This is the only place we stayed 2 nights and we quite enjoyed not having to check out the next morning to hit the road again.

Hotel Nauvoo

Day 4

After a quick cinnamon roll at the old mill bakery, and a nice chat with a local resident who is a Mormon and VERY friendly, we went about touring Nauvoo. Our first stop was for the wagon ride through town. We met a very nice couple and their very cute and personable 17-year-old son (had to text Brittni and let her know she was missing out) from Delta, who we discovered came through North Platte the day before we did and had the same experience finding a room. They ended up in a $45.00 room which sounded like it was scarier than ours. I was relieved to find out I wasn't the only person who mistakenly thought North Platte was a great place to stop without a reservation.

Wagon ride and the mayflies that accompanied us.

On the wagon ride they take you down by the river where we came across billions of Mayflies and Cayla was so busy swatting them away from her that I was'nt sure if she heard a word the tour guide told us, but she claims she did.

After the wagon ride we went over to the visitors center and I finally got the chance to see the Joseph Smith movie that I could never make it downtown to see. Cayla has a friend from school that was in the movie, and I have been anxious to see it since he was filming it when they were in the 1st grade. I had to go all the way to Nauvoo to finally have the time. We then went about touring the historic Nauvoo houses and buildings. At the family living center, Cayla got to learn how to make a rope, and since we were the only ones there at the time, she got to keep the rope. She got a prairie diamond ring at the blacksmith shop and a brick at the brickyard. We attended another play by the college students and one by the senior missionaries. We then ventured over to the Community of Christ visitors center, since the only way to see the Joseph Smith properties, which they own, is to pay a small fee and go on their walking tour, but we got there 10 minutes too late. So we revised our next day plans and decided to go there before heading out of town in the morning.




Lucy Mack Smith house

Blacksmith shop and a prairie diamond ring





Brickyard and souvenier brick.

We had a nice buffet dinner at our hotel and retired to our room for the night. Although our dinner was nice it was too expensive for the amount we eat. We are not buffet eaters who pile our plates and go back for more. There weren't many choices in town for a decent meal. Nauvoo could use a couple of really good family restaurants.

Day 5
We got up early and headed over to the Joseph Smith visitors center, where we were the only ones on the first tour. Our tour guide was a tiny little gal with a very loud voice, that I imagine is good when she has a big group, but for the two of us, it really hurt the ears. There were advantages to being the only 2 people most places we went on our trip, but we might have gotten a better education had there been others on this tour to raise questions or point out things that we might not think of.

Mansion House of Joseph and Emma

We headed out of Nauvoo, not having seen absolutely everything, but needing to get onto our next destination.

Carthage Jail

From here we went to the Carthage Jail, which would have been a quick trip if Mandi hadn't taken us on a gravel road and led us into the middle of a field. Luckily I had the visitor center phone number and when I called for directions, the senior missionary who answered knew right where I was, as it seems that all GPS's send people to the same spot. He was able to steer me in the right direction and we got there without any more problems. We both thought the jail was extremely interesting, we learned a lot of things we didn't know, and had a great experience there.

We then made our way to Hannibal, Missouri, where we took the Mark Twain Riverboat on a one hour excursion on the Mississippi River, where they pointed out landmarks from the Tom Sawyer books. It was a great day for a boat ride, as it was warm but overcast so the sun wasn't beating down on us. In fact, our whole trip was pretty much the same way. We never had a day when it was hot and unbearable to be outside. After the boat ride, we went to the cave that Tom Sawyer played in. This was one of Cayla's favorite things. The cave was awesome. I couldn't help but think of all the exploring and playing we did in the foothills of Farmington, and how much fun we would have had if we had this cave to play in. It is an amazing cave. Of course, now they have it all wired with lights which would make it really fun, whereas Tom Sawyer had to use candlelight, which might have been just a little too scary for me. Flashlights and lanterns would make it a little more friendly. Having now learned a lot about the cave and places in it that are referred to in Tom Sawyer, Cayla went to the bookstore with Brittni today (July 9) and bought the book. It should make it very interesting to read now that she has actually visited many of the landmarks in it.

Mark Twain Riverboat

Mark Twain Cave entrance

Parlor in the cave, has a nice long bench where you can sit and visit.


This was a very eventful day. We crammed more into this day then any other day on our trip.

Day 6

This is the day Cayla has been really waiting for and she is up early and ready to hit the road. We have a 6 hour drive to Mansfield, Missouri, and hope to get there in time to tour Laura Ingalls Wilder's house today. Cayla sleeps most of the way, leaving me to my CD's and thoughts as I maneuver up and down through the Ozarks on a 2-way highway for most of the way. It wasn't a bad drive, but the only day that I spent entirely on a highway with 2-way traffic, which demanded a little more concentration.










Our little cabin

We drove past Laura's house which was real close to the cabin we were staying in, and got checked in there first. We stayed at Mansfield Woods, which is really the only decent place within 10-15 miles. They are darling little cabins bought by some people from Utah (an incidental discovery made when I was making reservations) a couple of years ago, and have been completely renovated. They come supplied with everything you need to eat and sleep there, except for the food. They even have awesome barbecue grills on the patio deck out the back door.










Laura and Almanzo's first house that was actually built in 3 stages.

Cayla at Laura's house






We got to tour Laura's house with only 1 other lady along on the tour. The kitchen reminded me so much of Grandma Wassom's house, especially the stove and sink. There were lots of things in the house that were just like things I remember from when I was little, such as radios and clocks, which made me feel pretty old. They don't let you take pictures inside, but have postcards with pictures of all the rooms, so we bought a bunch of them. The living room was really charming and had oak wainscoting and oak trim made from oak trees on their property, along with a great little library to the side of the living room where it is separated by half of a wall. We spent a lot of time in the museum and then went to the bookstore, which is about the only place Cayla spent any money on the trip, but spent $90.00 on postcards and books. We had just enough time to head over to Laura's other house before it closed. Her daughter, Rose, bought her and Almanzo a house, ordered from the Montgomery Ward catalog (who knew you could do this?) and had it built on the property. Rather than sided with shingles she had it done with rocks and it is really a nice little house. They lived in it for many years while Rose lived in their old house. They then sold the newer house along with some of their property and moved back to their old house when Rose moved away.

Montgomery Ward house bought for Laura and Almanzo by their daughter Rose.


There isn't much of anything else in Mansfield so we drove over to Ava for some dinner and to shop at Walmart to restock our electric cooler and went back to our cabin and played cards until bedtime.

Day 7

Today takes us to the Kansas City area, where we first checked into our hotel and then headed to the Independence Visitors center. There really isn't much there so we didn't stay long, but we had a lovely young lady missionary who guided us around and also sang to us as we sat by the statue of Christ. She had such a beautiful voice that sounded as though she was singing with accompaniement, although she was singing a cappela. Across the street is the headquarters of the Community of Christ church which is quite an interesting building, but we didn't go over there.

We then consulted Mandi for a list of restaurants and chose Applebee's since we know what we can expect there. After eating we headed to the Liberty jail where once again Mandi led us to a dead-end street. I'm thinking I should contact the church offices and tell them to put the GPS coordinates for both jails on their website, since these are the two places that gave us the most trouble. After 1 phone call, a local pulling up next to us to see if we were lost, then inquiring again at a gas station, we eventually made our way into Liberty to the visitors center and jail site. Had we just gone to downtown Liberty, there were signs that would have guided us there a lot easier.

I love how they have rebuilt the jail on the original site, but made it without the one side so you can see right in and get a real prespective of what it was like. This was a very fascinating tour, and again, our sister missionary guide sang to us. I guess to go to the Independence mission it is helpful to be able to sing. We learned that some of the missionaries refuse, which is probably a good thing.

Liberty Jail

Day 8

Today we head home. We had really hoped to visit Adam Ondi Ahman, and I had great directions as well as the GPS coordinates, but it would have added at least an hour to our driving and we already had a long day ahead of us. I was afraid we still might get lost even with all the information I had, and that would add even more time. Rather than take chances on hotels on the way home, we decided how far we were willing to drive and I was able to get a reservation for the Cheyenne Little America for only $86.00. After 10 hours of driving time and a few potty stops along the way, we made it there and splurged on a lumpcious prime rib dinner with more lumpcious dessert. It was a great way to end a very long day in the car with rain all the way through Missouri, Iowa, and most of Nebraska and a few showers in Wyoming.

Day 9

Luckily it was only 6 hours to home, but was the longest 6 hours of the whole trip. This is the first day I was really sick of driving and I HATE driving in Wyoming. It is ugly and curvy and up and down hills and I was so glad to finally reach Utah and familiar roads. We did make another stop at Little America, Wyoming for some lunch, which helped break up the day a little.

It was a relief to reach home safe and sound, as I was a little worried when we left about how I would handle all that driving, but I actually enjoyed it, I guess because it's been so many years since I have really hit the open road. Other than the first night scary hotel, we had no other adverse incidents and we both felt all the driving was worth it for all the things we got to see and do.

The spotlight's on Dan...

If your name is Dan Murray what could be more exciting then getting to golf on TV!?!

Julie had planned to blog this noteworthy event, but is heading out tomorrow on the bowling trip and realized she won't have time. Dan, while he didn't really plan on having it blogged about, was very eager to make sure we knew where we could check it out on the web, so I thought the least I could do was make sure everyone got the opportunity to see it.

Dan just happened to be at this course that day where he happened upon this opportunity.

Click on the movie clip on the right of the screen at the link below.

http://www.abc4.com/sports/story/Beat-the-Pro-highlights-week-3/YnpYv0zlQEem0PqNMY027w.cspx

Another driver in the family?....but she's only 11!!!

Check out Cayla's latest blog.
http://caylamaquellefindlay.blogspot.com/

Last Day of School!

Hurray for the last day of School! I'm tired of the interruptions in my work to run to the school twice a day, but another month and I'm sure I'll be ready for school to start again. It's easy to forget how disrupted the day really is with kids home all day, but at least my mornings will be peaceful working while they are all sleeping until noon. Actually Cayla has yet to start sleeping in until noon, but she's getting close to those teenage years, so maybe I can talk her into trying.

Cayla came home today with a perfect report card for the entire year, straight 4's and E's. She also received this certificate for scoring in the top 10% nationally in the 6 categories listed.

Brittni faired pretty well in school also, aside from failing precalculus, a class she didn't need (I should have transferred her out rather than let it affect her grade point average [sigh] ). She ended the year with 2 A, 2 A-, and 1 B......and she is now officially a Senior!!

Happy Birthday Nicole and Ryan!

Nicole, have a great time camping this weekend. I'm glad you get to go camping for your birthday since that was your wish.

Ryan, I hope they have parties in heaven and you are celebrating up there as we are thinking of you down here.

Love to you both!!

Happy Birthday Brittni

I hope your birthday is a good one, purple balloons and all!
(When she left for school today, her car had mysteriously been filled with purple balloons.)

Road Trippin'

I knew the only vacation I could maybe afford this year would be a road trip. The older girls had no interest in a road trip anywhere and Cayla wasn't too interested in any of my suggestions. Then one night lying in her bed with her she told me she didn't want to finish her last chapter of her last Little House book, because then they would be over, and she would really love to go visit Laura's House someday.......and thus was born the idea for our road trip. When I looked up Laura's House I discovered that on the way we would be passing Winter Quarters and Liberty jail, and that Nauvoo was only five hours Northeast. Since I have never been any of those places but have always wanted to go, Cayla and I decided we would go for it. I have also discovered between Laura's and Nauvoo is Hannibal, the birthplace of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and the many landmarks he writes about in Tom Sawyer, so that has become another stop in our travels. The cool thing about Laura's House is that it is the house she and Almanzo lived in and where she wrote all her books. Since she was already famous from her books when she died, the house has been preserved just as she left it, with everything she owned still in it. It is in Mansfield, MO, which has a population of about 1900, and thus not much in the way of lodging. I did, however, discover a place where you can rent little cabins, which are right in view of Laura's house, and when I called, I discovered the owners are from Utah, and their children all still live here. It is a small world.

We are going to be on the road a lot, more driving then I have done in a while, but I can't wait to just get away. We can hook up the Nintendo in the car and Cayla can play video games and watch movies along the way.

I'm thinking for Father's day there will probably be some GPS sales going on and I might grab one if I can find a good deal. If anyone has any experience with any brands of those, good or bad, I could use some advice. I was playing with some in Target yesterday and found the Tomtom brand the most user friendly and am leaning that way, after also looking up some reviews on the internet. We are leaving the Saturday after Father's day, so hopefully the sales will start early.

Math Bee Results

Cayla did really well today. She made it further than she has before. On the round she went out on, so did everyone else except for 4 kids, two from 5th grade and two from 6th grade. I've always left after she got out so I've never heard what kinds of problems they are given in the later rounds. Gee whiz, are these kids good. I could get some of them, but most of the time, I gave up halfway through. When they string 6 or 7 problems together with double digits and random adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, it is way too taxing for my old brain.

My Little Math Whiz

It is Mental Math Bee time at school and for the 3rd year in a row Cayla has qualified to participate on the school level. They only take the top 4 from each grade, 3rd through 6th grade. There is nothing that makes me more nervous than watching her in the mental math bee. I can handle watching my kids do anything else with only mild nerves, but the math bee sends me into total anxiety. The big event is Friday and I will post how she does then.

Well, wouldn't ya know....

............the kids at school liked the jerky better than the ginger cakes. They were begging Cayla for more jerky the rest of the day, and not one asked for another ginger cake.

And with that done, no more school projects for this school year. Yippee!

Jerky...maybe...maybe not.

Since there isn't much going on at our house, I just thought I would post about our latest adventure/misadventure.

Cayla is studying the Civil War at school and had to do a report with a project, so she chose Civil War food and we decided to make some beef jerky (portable and easy to store) and ginger cakes (given to the injured by nurses as a comfort food).

Now, we could have just bought jerky at the store as kids have in years past (Cayla learned from the teacher after announcing our plans), but I thought it needed to be more "authentic." I got recipes and instructions off the internet, purchased a 5 pound roast (not something I feel I can generally afford to feed to my family), and 5 or 6 bottles of various ingredients that use the entire bottle. We sliced beef, mixed marinade, and put it all in the fridge to marinate for a couple of days.

Saturday was the much anticipated day of jerky drying. We bought extra cooling racks that stack so we could dry as much jerky as possible. Now, on the internet if you look up methods for drying in an electric oven you will find umpteen hundred different combinations from 200 degrees for 2 hours to 165 degrees for 6-7 hours. The one from the recipe we used also said the jerky, when done, should not be able to bend, but should be able to be pulled apart easily, though not snap. So, I went with 200 degrees and decided to cook it until this "test of doneness" was reached. After 2 hours, I tried a piece. It tasted yummy but could still be bent. At 3 hours, still bendable...4 hours still bendable....5 hours no longer bendable but more resembling charcoal than beef jerky. In retrosepct I wished I had pulled it out after 2 hours, but then you also have to worry about it being cooked enough that no one will get food poisening from it.

Fortunately, we couldn't do all our meat at once so we had hopes of more success with the second batch and decided that 3 hours would probably be perfect. After 3 hours, it was still bendable, still slightly damp with marinade, but looking very much like charcoal so we pulled it out. It seemed rather overdone despite the fact it still had damp marinade on it and at this point we didn't know if we had anything worthy of sending to school; however, the second batch was more promising. We decided to put a piece of bread (I read this could soften it up) with it in a bag and see what happened by Sunday night. By Sunday night, although still slightly sticky, it was much more palatable, quite good even, if you got a good piece, so we decided to send it to school and let the kids decide if they want to try it or not.

Jerky is definitely something you would have to perfect over time, getting the thickness of the slices just right, the temperature, and the drying time. However, with the cost involved, I don't think it's really practical. It is definitely not something I would ever suggest doing as a one-time project.

On a brighter note, the ginger cakes turned out scrumptious.

Slowly but surely..

My piano fund climbed a tinch today. Last week I received a $20 refund from Shopko optical and today I got a $50.00 referral check from CareerStep for someone I had told about the program a long time ago. If her mom hadn't mentioned to me at church yesterday that she had finally signed up, this check would have been a complete surprise today. I just love free money!!!

All about eggs....

http://caylamaquellefindlay.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter.html

Jen's cookies.......etc.

Okay, so here is the deal, I brought home some of Jen's Snickerdoodles that she took to dad's yesterday and I can't keep my hands off them. They are so soft and scrumptious. There is nothing like a good cookie. That is really all I was going to post, but now that I'm here, it seems I have more to say...you know me, it's hard to shut me up.

Cindy and Brent also brought scrumptious cookies, so its a good thing I didn't bring any of them home too. (I think you guys left your nice green Tupperware bowl there.)

I really have a major cookie addiction, which is my biggest downfall in trying to lose weight.

I was really good the last two weeks and didn't bring any cookies home from the store, but there is no way I can pass up homemade cookies!!!

We had lots of good food and Kellie made another darling cake.

Dad was doing really good yesterday too. He was getting around fine and his mind seemed really clear (except he thinks he ate 6-10 brownies, when in fact he only really ate 3, maybe 4). It was great to see him having a good day.

While we were there, I set Joyce up with a blog, so she can update us occasionally on how things are going at their house. I have a link on my blog, but until she posts, there won't be anything to read there....and by the way.....

Note to Joyce: We forgot to go to your email and verify your email address for your google account, so you probably have an email waiting from you from google asking you to do that, which you will need to do before we can access your blog. If you have any trouble, give me a call.

It was great to see everyone who was there and we missed those of you who weren't.

Will it be a Baby Grand?

I haven't had anything to post for a while, and don't see anything in the foreseeable future in my ultra-interesting life, so I thought I would post about my latest long-term goal.

Since I bought my very very old used piano about 32 years ago, I have been longing for a new piano.


Very old and worn-out piano


I thought once I got married and settled that would be when I would get a nice new piano. Well, I suppose you first need to make sure that you have a spouse that is inclined to carry out your dreams, as you can afford them, and I kind of messed up on that detail. Now that I am in control again, this has become my new long-term goal. Now, how am I going to accomplish this when I live paycheck to paycheck?


I have decided that any extra money that comes my way, that I am not expecting, is going into the Piano fund, along with 500 dollars per year from my tax refund (all other tax refund money goes to necessary home improvements). It is amazing what money you can find when you put your mind to it. I just got a 30 dollar rebate from my treadmill, 490 dollars arrived in the mail yesterday due to overpayment of my escrow account on my house, and there are rebates from the power and gas companies for buying new windows which should be somewhere between 500 to 800 dollars. All this is going into a dedicated savings account. I figure it is time I got rewarded for how hard I work, and no one else is going to reward me for it, so I'll have to do it myself.


I don't know how long it will take, but someday I will own something similar to this.




On the right side of my blog, I will be keeping notes as to my progress, so I can watch it getting closer to reality.

Cayla's blog

Cayla has been blogging again....check it out
http://caylamaquellefindlay.blogspot.com/

In Memory of..

Ryan Mouritsen


It was with a great deal of shock and sadness that we learned yesterday of the passing of Stephanie's best friend Ryan in an ultralight plane accident in California.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_11798724

Ryan grew up in our ward and he and Stephanie became friends when the girls moved back to Utah. Ryan's family is one of the most awesome families I have ever met.

Ryan moved to California as an aspiring actor, where he eventually started working as a production assistant, including for the "Reba" show. He was currently trying his hand at writing for a TV series.

He was also a pilot and training to become a flight instructor.
http://sportpilot-flywithry.blogspot.com/


These pictures are from a road trip many years ago that Richard and Stephanie went on with Ryan and his Dad along with some other motorcycle enthusiasts.

We all loved Ryan and were always thrilled if we got to see him on his trips back home to visit family.

We love you and will miss you Ryan!!