We Got A Dog

I feel rather like I dropped off the radar, though mostly, spare time has been given to family. Some stories just need to be told.

For Hubby's birthday, we got a dog, four years (almost to the day) since Fuzzy passed. Perfection is hard to match, but Spaz has some of the same coloring and temperament as Fuzzy. Spaz, however, is half Husky, and therefore, half hyper. Spaz also has some issues with separation anxiety. So when we first got him, he would bark whenever we would leave him in his crate. It didn't bother the guy next to us, but it really annoyed the landlady above us.

A month later we went to Fish Lake, just can't get enough of it. We had a wonderful time and Spaz was a half decent camping dog. As we were driving back into the metro area, we both looked at each other and agreed that we should move to Fish Lake (someday). The next week was a riot with the landlady, but it answered the question that had been plaguing my mind for months, when are we moving from this place. It was agreed, that we would move out at the end of June and then she wouldn't have to deal with a large dog in her house. Now we just needed a place to move, that was cheap, and would allow a Husky/Malamute.

We looked all over the metro area from far north to way south. The units were either gone, wouldn't take the dog, or they just never called us back. We really wanted to house or townhouse (we needed to be farther from people). One week until we had to be out, and there was still nothing. Hubby kept toying with the idea of Fish Lake, but we had no savings for a down payment, he'd only been at his job for two months, and we can't find a house (let alone close on the loan) in less than 30 days. Finally, in desperation, we started the house hunting process.

He found a house that was affordable and looked to be big enough. We made arrangements with a realtor to go see the house and some others that were near by. I don't think we have offered on a house, and purchased it with seeing any less than a dozen homes, over several weeks. We had one Saturday. The realtor was able to show us three homes. Two homes within the chosen town, and one house six miles outside of it. There was something about that one house when I saw the listing. It looked to a little bit like heaven. Hubby thought I was a little crazy, not the first time. We met the realtor. Our chosen home was too small, the next home needed too much work, but that one home out of town (which needs a lot of work) just had it all. It could meet all of our future hopes and plans. Walking through it, I just kept thinking, I hope the work doesn't scare Hubby off. He didn't even wait until we had made it out of the house before saying he wanted to offer.

So we did. We offered on a house two hours from his job with no idea how we were going to pay the mortgage. We just knew it was where we needed and wanted to be. They accepted the offer and we moved in with my parents (they weren't very excited about the dog either). It took a month and a half to close on the home. In that time, Hubby's worked offered to let him work in the new area. If you would have presented this scenario to me six months ago, I would have laughed.

But here we are, in a small, quiet town that we thoroughly enjoy (close to our favorite fishing lake), with a house that we intend to never-ever move from, and a dog. And all of it started, because we got a dog. Sometimes, thing just work out in amazing ways.

And Jesus Wept

Its been a rough week. I've been hoping for a while that all of our trials were starting to lift and that we would be able to finally improve our situation and dig ourselves out of debt. I've really been working on the application of faith.

On Monday we loaded up the car to go fishing. This little car has been a blessing to us, but we have known from the day we first got it, that many things were wrong, and its days were numbered. Within a few miles of home our small periodic transmission problem turned into a noticeable and persistent problem. So we decided to forgo fun and relaxation, and instead went car shopping. Just to drive the point home, the car died twice in town, and once while climbing a hill on a major highway. That was one of the most nerve-wracking drives.

Our searches Monday were unsuccessful. However, because God is good, it just happened that we had a family member with an available car for borrowing this week. So we left our car on the other side of the mountain and drove home in safe reliability.

Summers are rather stressful and concerning. Business sales always drop drastically in the summer months. I have never been able to take a pay check from the business during the summer. So now, we come to the time of the year when I know we may not have the means to meet expenses, when funds become very limited, and we need to get a new car (likely without a miracle). Looking at options, to find anything decent we will have to pay twice what we want and four times what we can recover by Christmas.

So that's where I am today; stressed, depressed, and not holding it together. I know I am in good company, because this seems to be a bad week for a fair amount of friends as well. I have been in a better mental state this time. I have not asked "Why" because it just doesn't matter. I have not asked "How" because I know it all will work out. But it doesn't take away the pain.

But then it occurred to me, with all of Christ's knowledge, with all of his strength, with everything that he had that a mere mortal like me doesn't have; HE STILL WEPT. There were times that the emotion, the sorrows, the sins of the world were to much for him, and he had to let loose. So, as I struggle today, at least I know, I am with the Best.

The Untimely Demise of The Beast

What a life it had. Abused and tortured by previous owners, slowly and painstakingly put back together with salvage parts, only to meet a tragic, violent end.

I had the opportunity Saturday to take a couple of cute missionaries from my church to an appointment. It has been raining more days than not for most of the month. Saturday morning it alternated between fine mist and rain. Thanks to previous damage around the passenger door, the Tracker leaks in the rain. But, we loaded everyone in the car, so glad to have a functioning back seat, and headed across town. The streets were wet, but nothing too bad. Many of the roads here do not have center turning lanes, just two lanes each direction, nothing in the middle, and not much on the sides. We signaled and stopped in the left lane, attempting to make a left turn off of the main road. Traffic was a little heavy, being lunch time on Saturday (not to mention a holiday weekend). While peacefully waiting for traffic to clear enough to safely make the left turn we heard a loud bang.

I've made it approximately half-way through my life without having anything more than a fender bender. So what happened next was definitely a new experience. After the bang, everything went into a dream-like slow motion. We started to move, turning a little to the left, and we started to tip towards the passenger side. In the confusion, I wondered if we were going to tip over. We quickly came to a stop and the two "girls" (they seem so young these days) started to ask if everyone was all right. I stopped, took a breath, assessed my physical situation, and determined that I was not injured. That's when I smelled the gas and moved into evacuation mode. I told the girls we needed to get out, but they couldn't get the passenger door open. I got the passenger door open from the outside, and got both girls safely out (though the one in the back had to climb over the seats because I couldn't get either one to slide forward). Thankfully, several fellow travelers had stopped to help the girls and provide witness statements. Both girls were transported to the hospital with minor injuries and released within a few hours. I'm sure their bodies will heal faster than their minds.

We always talk about the missionaries being protected by angels and I wondered why they didn't have more protection that day. Then we went to look at the Tracker.

She hit us on the rear passenger side of the car. It broke the rear window, ruptured the gas tank, and slashed the tire. She wasn't paying attention to the road and probably didn't brake before impact. The force of the collision pushed us halfway through the intended turn into on-coming traffic. I don't know how, but they must of seen the accident coming, because where I had seen no break to turn, there was space for us to stop and no one came close to hitting us. Some how the on-coming traffic all went around us or stopped five to ten feet in front of us. I don't even remember hearing any squealing tires.

Its hard to see from the full shot of the back end just how far things were smashed in, but when you look at the area around the filler cap for the gas tank, you can see that she did push the back end in pretty far.

This is where I started to get nervous. A year and a half ago we replaced the back floor pan and added a reinforcing bar to help support the seat. The force was enough that what was a straight seat is now bent. This would be on the left side of the rear passenger.

I'm sad this picture didn't turn out better. This is a shot in between the front and rear seats at the hump behind the center console. The brown line in the middle of the picture is where the metal has been ripped apart and you can see the ground below the tracker. So, my poor rear passenger had the car torn apart behind her, glass falling around her, torn apart beside her, resting above spilling gasoline and unknown damage, and torn metal at her feet. She was very shaken up, but walked away with a lot of sore muscles, a few cuts, and many bruises. I've decided that the angels protecting her must have been working over time. Its a good thing they all took Sunday off and spent most of their day in the apartment. I don't know, can angels get bruises?

This is what the offending car looked like.

I always suspected that the Tracker would go out with a final story, I just assumed that is would be due to a failing part. After all, a car with nicknames like The Black Cactus, The Rocking Squirrel, The Beast, Lucifer, FrankenTracker, and a few others has to have a story. And after the epic "brake" failure and other horrifying discovers, it just couldn't go quietly. Its a good reminder that cell phones and cars don't mix, and Heavenly Father will protect his children.

A New Life

I would never have imagined where this year went. We made the move, got settled in, and Hubby started school. Everything looked like it was going well. That was month one.

Now we are into month four. School was a complete disaster. The job we moved for fell through before we had unpacked. We know we are supposed to be here, but so far the best explanation is that we were needed in the church here. But the reasons don't matter, we are here and that is where we start from.

Hubby is working on a new business venture, we're calling it inspiration, but we really must be some kind of crazy. We shall see where that one goes.

So where have I been, making sunclusters, by the thousand. I had hoped to maybe double last years sales. We knew sales started out strong this year. We are well in line to quadrupling last years sales. That's really good, I'm getting pay checks and we can pay some bills. But I've come to the realization that my little business isn't a little business. We're making things just as fast as we can, and it isn't fast enough. Which means now I am looking at training an assistant to help produce more items. Now we have so many sales, that I'm having to rethink how we process orders, because there just isn't the option of spending half a day to enter them into the computer. I'm suddenly running a completely different business.

Needless to say, I love Sundays and am looking forward to a little holiday vacation. I just seem to sleep through every day off for some reason.

Its just amazing the turns that life takes.

Lost into a Blur

I suddenly realize that I disappeared for spring. I did get a lot of production done. Hubby made it through Spring Semester, it was a good fight. He even made it to his internship. And here we are. Its summer, I'm solely self-employed (and way underpaid), Hubby is making money (kind of), and I realize that July will not be my friend. So, with no money (nothing new) and no time, we've been presented with an irresistible opportunity. Instead of increasing the student loans from the size of a small mortgage to a large mortgage, we will switch schools, have less loans, and Hubby will gain wonderful work experience. Oh and yes, he really likes his job and is doing quite well. His managers are good and he likes the company. It is wonderful to see him enjoying a place, that is stable, and where people encourage him to think for himself. Its fabulous.

So what does that mean . . . Well, it means that half way through our anticipated time here . . . oh ya . . . that's right . . . we are moving, again. Or technically, I'm moving, 'cause Hubby is already gone. He promises to come back and help with the transport though.

So having made the decision, and settled on a timeline tonight, I AM FREAKING OUT! Suddenly I need to find a way to pay the bills, finish up projects, catch up on production, and pack the entire house all in 30 days. Hubby, well, he has to find us a place to live. What was an option a week ago, is now a sudden and demanding reality. YIKES!

Anybody want to help pack?

The Exorcism of Lucifer

You could say it is how Hubby spent his spring break, three days of extensive auto repair on Lucifer aka The Beast. Though, the mechanic/friend helping him thinks it should now be called Patches. One way or the other, they definitely removed some demons from the vehicle.

We have interior panels on all of the doors, no holes where the air bags are supposed to be, a functioning horn (I know, who removes the horn), windshield washer fluid (completely new system), two side mirrors that you can see out of, and both windows go up and down.

They even took our the old bucket seat and floor pan (welded together they were), put in a new floor pan with supports, and a bench seat. Some day we may want to figure seatbelts, but a least the passengers wont fall through the floor.

Look at that lovely door and sanding job, we still need to paint. We did discover that much of the "cactus coating" or "demon paint" isn't very attached to the vehicle. One of these days I'll take a paint scraper to the coating and see what we get.

They even got the new tailgate on. Now we have a tailgate with a spare tire mount, extra brake light, and all the interior structure that a door should have.

On top of all that he's got a new windshield, more new shocks, and another new power steering pump (this one doesn't seem to leak, novel concept). They even replaced the clutch and adjusted the emergency brake. Oh yes, and the knee bashing/head banging shelf was removed off of the backend. Now we just need some paint, maybe a new engine, and a little more tuning and tweaking.

After all that it is less bouncy, has power steering, and runs quieter. It might become a real vehicle yet. Maybe I should call it Pinocchio now. Hubby says is Frankentracker (not Su(zuki)(Tra)cker, or Sucker).

Adventures in Vacationing

I went from working to playing. This doesn't work well for catching things up at home or with the business, but is has been a fun break. The new website is progressing along slowly and we are having strong March sales, which is wonderful. So we went around town, saw some museums, and checked out a lot of shops. We found Hubby a new favorite shop, flavored Olive Oils and Balsamic Vinegar. He was ever so excited, dinner that night was extra tasting due to his excitement.

Today we went for a drive in the surrounding areas. We went out to Sedona. It was pretty, but we saw more tourists than anything else. Traffic was just madness.

We managed to see some old ruins at Montezuma Well and Montezuma Castle. The well was pretty cool and we got to learn about some traditional plant uses. Got to love the plant stuff, especially when they are facts that haven't stuck in my head before. We didn't spend much time at the Castle, as they were closing the gate, but the ranger was nice to let us run in, take a picture, and then get out. 

One of the highlights was discovering Jerome. We hadn't heard much about it. We came out of the canyon onto the small city streets and quickly realized that Prescott isn't the only town built in the hills. We decided that driving a car around town is just not the way to do things. Some day we'll have to go back and check out the shops, but it was just a crazy, little, old town. And yes, some of the buildings have fallen off the mountainside. 

So now we are home and tomorrow we return to reality. It isn't much fun. But we did pick up a little Agave friend to keep our other plants company. So, we'll find a way to make it through all the work.