A week’s diversion

My supervisor, his wife, another couple from the church and a single woman from he church have all departed for a cruise.

So I, for whatever brain-lapsed reason, offered to keep the dogs, a total of five. They’re in one location, which is my supervisor’s house. Maybe five miles away from work and my house. No big deal, but it does mean driving daily, plus running out here at lunch to give them a pee break.

Four of the dogs are English springer spaniels, two brown and two black. I think I have the names straight now. They’re all related, although I don’t know exactly how. The other guy is a black furry fella about half the size of the spaniels. Poor guy gets lost in the shuffle.

To a canine, they have bad breath. I know this firsthand.

Even though I arrived yesterday, tonight will be the first evening with all five because the two belonging to the one person had a playdate.

It’s been warm – and by this I mean in the low 20s – so they’ve been outside and playing in the snow for a good bit of the day. They usually get treats when they come inside, but I’m not playing that game. Three times a day, sure, but they’ve been in and out about six today. No way.

So we’ll see how bored they get with me. Right now, the two are outside again and loving it. The three that live here aren’t so keen on going outside and seem fine to crash on the floor.

Normally, they stay in the kitchen, I guess, but I’m letting them in the living room, too. My instructions said this would be OK, as they wouldn’t pee or poop on the carpet, which is off-white.

Sadly, you can’t always control where you barf, and that happened twice on the carpet in the first half hour, plus twice as you walk out the door. Someone – and I’m not sure who – gouged herself or himself.

So that was fun, but fortunately, it’s been better since.

When there were only three here, I tried to lie on the couch and watch “The Bourne Legacy,” but Bella wouldn’t get out of my face and when I pet her, both Casey and Bailey got jealous.  Had to move back to the kitchen table, where it looks like I’ll set up shop until Saturday.

I’ve got free rein on the food here, but I opted to bring all the MREs from Gray’s house. I hadn’t eaten any since I got to Minot, but I really need to get rid of them.

So I popped one open and tried to read the directions, but decided I’d just throw it into the microwave, which worked just fine.

But I do want to give the little baggie cooking mechanism a shot. The directions on the back instruct you to put the little package of food into this bag, and then heat the bag. To circulate the air, you are supposed to prop it up on, and I quote this from Department of Defense explicit directions, “a rock or something.”

Tonight, I ate beef stew, and honestly, it wasn’t bad. It even had Louisiana hot sauce in it – a tiny little bottle. I’ve no idea how old it was, but it’s been 30 minutes and I haven’t cramped up or died or anything. I think the pound cake was worse than the stew, actually.

I haven’t touched the banana strawberry shake, but it can’t possibly be any worse than the Atkins shake I had this morning. It was left over from Hope Village volunteers, no clue who left it but I have a hard time throwing food away, so I saved it.

Drank it this morning with my waffles and Lord, it was horrible. But I have minimal milk right now and I was trying to use up some stuff and not buy anything I won’t finish by Saturday. I hauled a bunch of stuff over to this house for the week and I do not want to haul any foodstuffs back.

Tomorrow’s dinner will be a chili and macaroni MRE – other than the veggie burger, this is the one that scares me – but first I have to get one more of those Atkins things down at breakfast.

Yuk.

Somewhere over the sun dogs

Pretty much have made up for lost time eating out this week. I rarely go out, but since I was in Bismarck at the class, I had no real option.

Five Guys and Cracker Barrel. Oh, man, I was in heaven. I realize it’s basic, but let’s face it, I’m basic and I’m OK with that.

So I went to each of those places twice during my Bismarck trip. Oh, such good food. Cow. I don’t get to eat much cow.

I suppose Five Guys is just a burger, but man, it’s a good burger. And breakfast at CB, even if it’s for dinner, is just awesome.

Didn’t see one of Zippy’s monkey sock hats, though. The rest of the critter caps were 40 percent off, but they were for kids and my noggin is a bit bigger than that.

The Bismarck class was OK. I am having a hard time adjusting to “the Dark Side,” as news side calls the PR crew. There’s a big difference in relaying the news and trying to relay a message.

One of the workshop things we did at this Public Information Officer class was to write a news release based on an incident. The incident was a plane crash. So my release is essentially a news story leading with five known fatalities.

Apparently that’s wrong. The feedback was to tell people what to do. I’m like, ”What?”  That is not something I am used to doing in writing. I tell people what other people said. I do not relate it firsthand.

The seminar leaders said well, in this situation (the plane crash), what would you do in your current job? Uh … not applicable. The class was put on by FEMA, so it was geared toward emergency and I’m more disaster recovery.

I had no idea it would be in my power to say “stay away” from the scene. What I can do is say, “Emergency officials advise staying clear of the scene of the accident.” Big difference.

So it was interesting. I’d like to go to the higher class, but I don’t know if that opportunity will present itself. It’s in Maryland.

For this one, I had signed up to go under the assumption that I’d be paying the bill and just looking forward to getting out of Minot for a few days. As it turned out, the state of North Dakota will reimburse me for the hotel and a per diem for meals. Cool deal.

Fortunately, the weather wasn’t miserable as far as road conditions went. And gas was .30 cheaper a gallon. (I’ve now topped off my tank twice, breaking the stretch beginning 11/28.)

Now, though, the weather is back to miserable. It was as high as 37 in Bismarck, but today’s high in Minot is 3, loads better than it’s supposed to be tomorrow. Today’s wind chill is -35. I haven’t checked that for tomorrow yet. As I plan to walk to work, I hope it’s not too bad.

Today, I drove a couple of places (but not to see “Zero Dark Thirty” as planned) and on the way back, within sight of my house, I did one of those all-over skid/slide things that scares the hell out of me. I absolutely do not know what to do with the car. Fortunately, all three times it’s happened so far this year, I’ve been going really slowly. This time, I almost jumped the curb into my neighbor’s neighbor’s yard. And fortunately, no one was parked on the road. I just don’t know what to do. It doesn’t seem to matter whether I steer with the skid or away from it.

But because of the crappy weather, I got to experience something this morning I’ve never even heard of: a sun dog.

According to Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog), it’s “an atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun.”

Here’s what it is: pretty damn cool.

I came out of church and caught a glimpse of what I assumed was a rainbow, even though it hadn’t rained. It’s too cold to rain. But it was so cool.

As I drove home, I realized the angle was way too sharp for a rainbow, and the sun was in the middle. Except it seemed like there were a couple of suns. Essentially, it looked like almost a circle of prism with the sun in the middle and two half-suns coming out of the sides.

I’d never seen this before and as soon as I got home, I took a couple of pictures. I didn’t get the whole thing in one shot, but you can get the feel or it (or check out the wiki page; wiki contributors/thieves have better cameras).

So far, it might be the coolest thing I’ve seen while here.

I would have preferred DQ

Got to experience a near-blizzard this weekend. In the end, I don’t think it was as predicted, but I’m fine with that. And the timing was fabulous, as I didn’t have to drive anywhere.

Still, I prefer my Blizzards with M&Ms from Dairy Queen, served upside down.

In North Dakota, they don’t do that. Serve them upside down, I mean. I thought that was some kind of DQ mandate; I mean, they even do it in Cambodia and Indonesia.

But it’s completely unknown to North Dakotans that you’re supposed to get your DQ Blizzard upside down, despite the fact it says it on the cup. It does not say it on the cash register, though, where in other states/countries it states that if you don’t get it upside down it’s free.

But, I must say it appears North Dakotans know how to cope with their other blizzards, the ones with a lower-case “b.” It’s not something I hope to get used to, but this baby one was fine.

The snow didn’t start to fly until Friday, really, so I just buckled down with “Rock Star” (the first of two showings on the weekend). I wound up getting an invite that same night but didn’t want to drive or inconvenience anyone else by having to give me a ride, so I turned it down.

I heard the wind big time Friday and was again thankful I am not in the RV now. I mean, I am in a triple-wide and I could feel the wind shaking the place and blowing over, under and to the side of it.

But it was warm and I did not have to walk to take a shower or pee in the middle of the night, so that’s fine.

And in the morning, I got up at the crack of 10 a.m. and shoveled. I had a huge drift in front of my door and then some 2-foot ones in the driveway, but in other places, most notably the sidewalk, it was clear.

I resisted the urge to make a snow angel, though I am not sure why. I think it might have been the presence of a neighbor outside that dissuaded me.

The wind is insane here. Being a plains state, there’s just no trees or anything to break the wind and as a result it just whips everything all around. My house has a little alcove and the snow just somehow winds up there.

But I didn’t need to drive anywhere, so I’ve had no issues so far. I did walk into work; I’d forgotten my calendar and decided to drop off my tea and pick up the calendar because I was bored.

I pulled on the pumpkin suit and headed in. Unfortunately, I had some bad timing and wound up being there just before the start of a funeral. I’d gone at 1:30 p.m. and had thought the funeral was at 11 a.m., but I must have gotten it mixed up with Tuesday’s funeral.

So there I was, wearing pumpkin pants and carrying a gallon of tea, trying to sneak through the fellowship hall to stick the tea in the fridge and then slip out. But you can’t sneak wearing fluorescent orange pants.

The funeral hadn’t yet begun and people were still trickling in, so it wasn’t too bad, but I felt awful – it was the funeral of a 2-week old preemie who’d been born at four months to a teen mom.

Today, the only exit from my house was to Walmart. I threw on the pumpkin suit with my tall LL Bean boots and headed there through the wheat field. I'm literally four houses and a fill pond from Walmart, but you have to cut through either the back yards or the wheat field to get there that way; otherwise, I have to double back and go on the road and it's about 3-4 times as far.

I followed some snowmobile tracks and it turns out the snow was packed down in some places but not in others. Quite a workout; I would take two steps on solid snow and then sink to my ankles, take two more steps like that, go back to solid ground and then sink to my knees. I should do that 4-5 times a day!

I got some weird looks and comments in Walmart because of the pumpkin pants. I took them as compliments.

It's funny to me that the people from here make such a big deal about how tough and hardy they are, but in reality, they go from their garages to leaving their engines running all day long and they're rarely in the weather. It's the Florida girl walking through the snow to buy potatoes, onions, Cheetoes and Grasshopper cookies.

Tomorrow, I’m headed to Bismarck to some PR class that’s hosted by FEMA. I’m really not sure what it’s all about, but, and I think I’ve mentioned this once or twice, there is a Cracker Barrel there so I’m psyched about it. I just wish I’d be there Saturday because I love the chicken and rice special.

Anyway, it’s not an early morning thing; I just have to be there by 6 p.m. to check in since I didn’t leave my credit card number for the reservation. I am hoping the highway is clear; the high tomorrow is supposed to be minus 1. I think it is due to go up to just above freezing but crash back down just in time for me to drive back. Lovely.

Rolling Along

Next week, I go to Bismarck for a PIO class that is put on by FEMA. I’m kind of looking forward to it. Right now, it’s as slow as it’s been for me here and I’m ready for a little change up.

The class should be cool, but as I took the class that follows this one already, I’m not expecting to have any epiphanies in learning. I am, however, intending to have some Cracker Barrel, as there is one of those in Bismarck as well as a Five Guys. Mmm….

The part I dread is the drive. It’s about 110 miles, which really is really considered a short commute here, but the weather isn’t fun for driving.

I’m obsessing with the 10-day forecast and it looks like I’m going to have cloudy 8-degree weather with a 20 percent chance of snow. Unlike when there’s a 20 percent chance of rain, though, that means it WILL snow.

Ah well. Still hoping for the best as I roll along.I have a pumpkin suit and MREs in the car. I'm ready.

I’m sure that’s what Notre Dame was doing last night, too, but holy cow. Can we just stress one more time how far superior Southern football is to football everywhere else?

Since I don’t have ESPN, I drove to Hope Village’s rec chapel to watch the game. Figured it would be a good time to update all the laptops.

Well, it was a good game for what, as long as the National Anthem lasted? That was just a debacle. An excellent one, too.

Congratulations to Barry for willing his bowl poll.

I’m looking forward to heading to North Augusta at the end of February, when Karen is going to work me like a rented mule for a catering gig or two she’s got going.

I went last week to Delta (I detest their site re-do) and linked my reservation on there and discovered that, in a mere 60 days, I will already be BACK from my little respite. That was a little spooky to realize. Two months is nothing.

My travel is going to be brutal – it’s three legs from here. I leave at 7:30 a.m. and don’t arrive until 4:30 p.m. Is there a Chick-Fil-A in the Minneapolis airport? I have a longer layover there than Atlanta, but I definitely need to check out Chick.

Not sure how I’ll get to the airport. It’s an early flight to ask someone for a ride, but it’s a long time to pay $20 a day to park. I might check into a taxi.

We have a new guy working with one of our partners. He is staying at Hope Village now in one of the unused RVs. I figure I’ll ask to see if he would like to housesit for that little stretch of time. If so, maybe he’d be willing to drop me off at the airport. It’s really not too far from here (fewer than 10 miles, I think), but it’s just such a pain to drive in the bad weather and at that hour.

Really, it’s amazing that such a little town (45k or so) could have such bad traffic. There are two main north-south routes, with one being direct and the other a bit wind-y. The wind-y one isn’t always sanded and the hills are tougher in icy weather. Overall, the direct one is the more congested one, and the airport is just a right off that.

On Sundays, when I go to church, there is no one out. If I catch the lights, it takes me five minutes to get to First Presbyterian, which is maybe 5-7 miles away. I can usually catch the lights on Sundays.

But on Mondays: Big difference. It can take 10-15 minutes to do the same route.

This week, I’ve already driven more than I have in the two previous weeks combined. I had two meetings yesterday and another today.

Last week, going to church, it dawned on me that it had been awhile since I filled up with gas – my credit card closed on the third and I didn’t have a gas bill at all in December.

When I went to the book, I realized I hadn’t filled up since 11/28. And what’s scary is I still have just under half a tank left.

So far, I have put fewer than 1500 miles on my car since I arrived here. Of course, it took about 2000 miles to arrive, plus it’s been six months, so I am way overdue for an oil change. I need to look into that, but I’m not psyched about heading to Walmart any time soon.

We don’t have Super-Lube. I guess there are Super-Lube-type places, but I haven’t noticed any. My decision now is do I do it now or wait until after Bismarck?

Just not mentally prepared to make those tough decisions yet in 2013.

Welcome to 2013

I guess I'm kind of neutral on 2012 being over. After starting off in Indonesia and getting kicked off the island in April. I had a great last six months here in Minot.

For the most part, anyway. There were some downers, of which last week was one.

One of the furnaces went out in the church on Thursday, which really wasn't much of a big deal since there are several others. It was chilly in the offices, though, and Friday I decided to go grab the space heater out of my RV to provide a little warmth.

Since Steve had been on vacation since a little before Christmas, it stood to reason there was snow all over the place, which I trudged through to get to my RV. I thought I saw footsteps, but it wasn't like it had snowed all that much, so I didn't think much of it. It was a bit weird, though, that there were some concentrated around my back door, which doesn't open.

But whatever; I opened the door and grabbed the heater, noting there were snowy footprints on the floor. And even noticing my TV was missing, it still didn't ring any alarm bells. After all, we're getting a new employee this week and I figured Steve was loaning him my TV until May. Since I'm staying off campus for now, it wouldn't be a problem.

But when I texted Steve to ask if he had done so, he called immediately, saying that he hadn't. Meaning someone broke in.

So I went back out and re-checked everything else. Nothing else was touched. My old sitemate's place, which is empty and has nothing in it, had zero footsteps. Neither did Steve's. His RV was locked (mine doesn't have a key, so it can't be locked from outside) so nothing was gone from there.

I checked the rest of the campus and didn't notice anything else broken into and came back and reported it to my supervisor and Steve. We decided to go ahead and report it not because we expected to see the TV again but we would have something to reference if we had any further issues.

Before the police came, though, I remembered that I'd subconsciously, almost checked to the bed to make sure it hadn't been slept in. I looked at it and thought, "nope, no one's been sleeping in my bed" - but then realized I came to that conclusion because there were no blankets or quilts on the bed. I had left my electric blanket it. The person had swiped that, too.

So when the police came, we walked through it again and I saw some tracks in front. I assumed it was from the Bobcat, which Steve clears snow with. Didn't think much of it.

That report got filed and I mourned the loss of my electric blanket, but really, what can you do? Move on.

However, after lunch, my supervisor came in and asked if I had seen the Gator. I paled -- I had not. I had not even known where it was parked and came to learn it was in front of my RV. Those were the tracks.

So we (armed this time), went back out to look again and realized that not only had the Gator been stolen, it had been loaded up onto a trailer -- one of ours -- and driven off.

I wound up spending my Friday evening filing another police report for about $20,000 in missing items.

We'll get with the detectives later on it, but let's just say 2012 didn't end on a good note.

It is reprehensible that someone would steal from a Christian disaster relief organization.