Life with an Engineer

Yesterday was a quiet day at work.  I got home early, and between my partner and I all we had to do was to sit and wait for the phone to ring.  I figured there's no sense in both of us waiting for the phone to ring, I should go do something with the girls.  Well, on my various travels around the county I've noticed that lots of wildflowers are starting to bloom.  This gave me the idea that it would be nice to go for a drive and see something we haven't seen before.  We could pack a picnic lunch and make a day of it.

 

So I made some sandwiches, loaded the girls up in the car and off we went to see the Pawnee Buttes in the Pawnee National Grasslands.  I've seen the edge of the grasslands before, but had never driven out into them, plus I'd heard the buttes were kind of interesting.  Couple that with the fact that we've had a lot of moisture lately, the grass should be green and growing, if we're ever going to see them, this would be the perfect day.  Also I'd heard they'd put up some big windmills out on the grasslands that would be kind of neat to see.  My thinking was that it's not that far from our home, and it's a shame that we've lived here this long, and still not seen this beautiful part of the country.

 

Well, it turns out that the grasslands aren't that far from our home.  But getting to the buttes is significantly farther than getting to the edge of the grasslands.  Add to that the fact that you've got a one year old, and a three year old sitting in the car, and it's now a much further drive (at least it seems like it).  Then add to that the fact that the grasslands are more or less what the name implies.  Grass.  Well, grass if you're lucky.  Much of it has been invaded by weeds, weeds that look just like the weeds you see growing along the side of the road everywhere.  Oh and Cactus.  Cactus that makes it so you don't dare let your little girls get out and play, or they'll wind up looking like a porcupine. 

 

Were there windmills, oh yes.  What I should have deduced from that fact, is that there's lots of wind out there.  Wind which also makes it undesirable to get out of the car to play, or to even eat your picnic lunch.

 

So let's see three whiny girls packed in the car for five hours, lots of weeds, wind, and no where to park to have a picnic.  Brilliant idea Mikey!

Stacie is an organizational junkie.  Nothing gets her more excited than having things neatly organized.  Or better yet, adding shelving or drawers or something that will allow her to organize more.  I think she's an obsessive compulsive organizer.

 

Well the other day I was in the basement playing with Taylor and Jordan when Stacie called us up for dinner.  So I said "Come on girls, lets go up the stairs, it's dinner time."  Jordan just loves stairs.  She'd go up and down them all day long if you'd let her.  So it didn't surprise me when she'd crawled halfway up the stairs, and then started sliding back down them.  What did surprise me, was when we got to the bottom and she didn't start climbing back up the stairs, but ran into the playroom where she'd put down the toy she had been playing with.  I though "Oh, she wants to bring it with her."  Wrong!  She picks it up, carries it over to a shelf, and puts it away, then she leaves the room and starts climbing the stairs again.  I couldn't believe it.

 

I knew this girl was off, I just wasn't quite sure how.  But now I know.  She's a neat freak, just like her mother. I guess that's good for me.  More people around to pick up after me.

I've got a co-worker whose son was going to Prom this past week.  So I've been giving him a hard time, and calling him Grandpa all week long.  Because, well because knowing his boys we all figured that after prom he probably would be a Grandpa.  He hasn't found this very funny.

 

So yesterday, Stacie had invited some friends over for dinner.  They have a son, just a little bit older than Taylor.  Well after dinner we're all sitting around the table talking, while Taylor and this boy are off playing with her toys in the other room.  Taylor then comes back to the table and says "Mommy, can we go play in my bedroom?"

 

Stacie says, "Why would you do that honey, you don't have any toys in your bedroom?"

 

To this Taylor replies in her most seductive voice, "I have a bed!"

Yesterday I was watching a video of my niece Isabell giggling.  At least I started to watch it, that's when Jordan started to cry.  So I sat the computer down on the couch and went to pick up Jordan.  About the time I reach Jordan, the video playing on the computer really gets going. 

 

Stacie not knowing that I'd started this video thinks that the noise she is hearing is coming from the baby monitor in our bedroom (she was laying on the bed at the time).  This is when she freaks out.  "Michael!  Michael!  Jordan is choking!"  I laughed to myself because I knew Jordan was fine, as I was now holding her at this time.  So I start to walk down the stairs to show Stacie that her baby is fine.  I had just started down the stairs when I almost have a collision with Stacie madly charging up the stairs to rescue her choking baby.

 

"What is that terrible noise!?  I thought Jordan was choking!" 

 

"That terrible noise is your adorable niece laughing at you."

 

So judge for yourself at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MyeTRhT0-g&feature=player_embedded

 

 Is my niece just the cutest thing?  Or does she sound like a baby that's being horribly strangled to death?

 

Recently Taylor and Jordan's "Ammie" was here for a visit.  Taylor lovingly refers to one of her grandmothers as "Ammie", I however refer to her as the Mother-in-law.  Well I got home from work one day, and being in the line of work that I am, I'm prone to getting stinky and dirty.  So when I got home, I went directly into the bathroom, and locked the door behind me. 

 

I hadn't thought I'd been particularlly quiet about coming home, but I hadn't seen anyone either.  Plus I'd had the shower on, I figured people knew that I was home.  This was confirmed when I stepped out of the shower, and Taylor came knocking on the door.  "Daddy, I need to come in."  So I finished drying off, wrapped the towel around me, and opened the door for Taylor.

 

Here she comes, and here comes "Ammie" right behind her.  I didn't know that Ammie's face could turn that shade of red, nor did I know that Ammie could run so fast.  I thought it was funny.  She continued to apologize profusely, and said things like "I'm so glad you thought to put a towel on."  Honestly, though what kind of a person stands around naked in the bathroom and doesn't put a towel on?

 

At first I thought I'd embarrassed Ammie so much, that it would scare her off sooner, and I'd have my house back to myself.  But then, I started to notice her peeking around doorways, and I think that she must have liked what she had seen.

Taylor woke us up in the middle of the night last night throwing up.  She did it several more times this morning, and complained most of the day that her tummy was hurting.  Finally this afternoon she was starting to feel better.

 

You could tell she was feeling better, because she was starting to be her normal impish self.  At one point, she was jumping up and down on the couch.  Stacie was trying to get her to quit, as she doesn't approve of jumping up and down on couches for some reason.  So she says to Taylor "Taylor, you need to quit jumping on the couch, or you're going to make your tummy hurt again."

 

To this Taylor responds "But my tummy already hurts Mommy."  And she just kept right on jumping.

When it snows around here it doesn't just snow.  The wind almost always blows too.  Which can turn just a few inches of snow into a blizzard.  When it's done you'll have areas of bare ground, and other areas with drifts of snow several feet high. 

 

This makes snow storms  a big deal, and it can take people a long time to dig out.  Meaning people have other things on their minds besides their animals, and things get real quiet at work for me.  Which I thought would be great today.  Stacie doesn't have to work, so the girls are home too.  Taylor loves to play in the snow with Daddy, we should have a lot of fun today.

 

Wrong!  Taylor doesn't feel good today.  She woke up throwing up in the middle of the night, and the poor thing has been miserable all morning long.  What a waste of a good snow day. 

I've been feeling old lately.  It seems like there's always some part of me that hurts.  Plus, I've been playing basketball with our ward and I keep seeing all the young legs run past me, and when I jump I realize I don't make it nearly as high as I once did.  So I've been trying to exercise a little to get into a little better shape.  Mostly this has consisted of running on a treadmill.  I don't know why but I find running on a treadmill incredibly hard to do.  Plus I think the running has contributed to the fact that part of me always hurts lately.

 

So the other night Taylor wants me to lay in bed with her for a while and to rub her back.  So I'm laying there rubbing her back, when she reaches over and decides she wants to hold my hand instead.  So now we're laying there and she's holding my hand.  I'm thinking she's almost asleep when suddenly she pipes up and says "Daddy, you have OLD hands."

 

So I guess it's official, I don't just feel old, I am old.  At least my hands are.

This morning I was operating on a cow.  We were in a barn that employs a large hispanic workforce.  As such the radio was on to a Spanish Radio Station.  I actually kind of enjoy listening to this station.  The people always sound like they are having so much fun, there's lots of contagious laughter, and I like to see how much of the Spanish I can understand.  I don't even know the name of the program, but it has a catchy tune, and part of the title is sung "por la Manana."  Which I believe means "In the Morning."  Which I can relate to as one of my favorite English radio programs is "Mike and Mike in the morning."  But they don't sing their title to a catchy tune.

 

Anyways I'm operating along on this cow, when something in my mind registers that something is different.  It takes me a minute to realize that the people on the radio are speaking in English.  It's a Petsmart commercial, and it's in English.  Then the next thing I know it's back to the Por la Manana show in Spanish.  It's the only time that I've ever heard English on this station.

 

I think someone failed to do their research when they paid to have that commercial run.  I'll bet it's drumming up lots of business for them.  With management like that, my guess is that the next company asking Uncle Sam for a big government bailout will be Petsmart.

A year ago yesterday was a day like any other.  I'd left the house and was headed to work, I had cows to preg check.  When leaving our subdivision there are three round-a-bouts that you must go around.  On this day it had snowed.  It seems that everytime it snows, someone slides off one of the round-a-bouts and into a light pole knocking it over.  On this morning every light pole in the neighborhood had been knocked over.  These roads were slick! 

 

So I called Stacie and asked her to please be careful when she left the house.  She assured me that she would, and I proceeded carefully to work.

 

I picked up a coworker at the clinic, and headed to our dairy of the morning about 30 miles east of town.  The roads didn't seem as slick out here as they did back at my house.  I was still nervous though from having seen all the knocked over light poles so I was driving slower than most everyone else on the road, and was being passed by a lot of cars.  But I knew the roads were slick, and wanted to make it home safely to my girls.

 

I'd just been passed by another car when suddenly, my truck jumped into the lane of oncoming traffic, and there was a car bearing down on me rapidly.  But what scared me even more was the semi rapidly closing ground behind me.  I steered the truck to guide it back into my lane, and on the ice, all the truck did was to fish tail sideways.  It seemed that I was going to be getting sandwiched by the car and the semi.  I steered back the other direction, and started fish tailing the other way.  I was looking for somewhere to take the truck safely off the road, but there was a steep drop off on each side of the road.  I felt like I could have straightened the truck back out if there were no one coming, but I didn't have time to do it with the approaching vehicles. 

 

I remember my coworker saying "We're going to roll."  I didn't like the sound of that, but I thought it was a better option than being hit by the semi barreling down on us.  I didn't believe there was any other option.

 

That's when it happened.  The fish tale turned into a full blown donut.  As we went off the edge of the road.  I thought my life was over.  Miraculously the donut had backed us off the road perfectly in line with the direction of the tires.  We hadn't rolled, we'd gone off the road backwards, and had stayed on our wheels in a very smooth motion.  It had occured at the only level spot on either side of the road in any direction, for quite a distance.  We had stopped inches from the fence that we were up against but had not hit it. 

 

The car and the semi plowed right past us safely, and continued on their way.

 

That's when my phone rang.  It was Stacie "Hey if you hear about the accident on Highway 34 on the radio, don't worry it's not me, we're alright."  I say "The roads are slick I just slid off, so don't take this the wrong way, but I'm going to hang up now, so you can concentrate on driving.  I love you (It was Valentine's day after all)."

 

As I sat there in the ditch I heard Taylor's words that morning echoing in my head, I had helped her say her prayers and I'd said "Please help Mommy be safe", and Taylor had piped up on her own "and Daddy."  I heard those words in my head over and over "and Daddy."  I knew that Taylor's prayer had been answered.  Someone other than me had guided that truck safely off the road. 

 

So my coworker and I each said a silent prayer of thanks, and we put the truck back in drive, and pulled back onto the road, and went back to work.  When I got home that night, I hugged Stacie and Taylor both and held on longer than I had in a long time.  I was so grateful to see them again.  I've tried since then to appreciate them more, and to show it to them more often that I love them.  You never know when that last time might be.

 

I still find it difficult to drive on snowy days now, but I'm grateful for the year that I've had with them since then.

 

I also learned that day that some of the advice Mom gave me as a kid was worthless.  She always said "Make sure you put on clean underwear.  You don't want to have dirty underwear on if you get in an accident."  Well Mom if you do get in an accident, and you see it coming at you.  Chances are your underwear isn't going to be clean, even if it was when you started out that morning.