KUA

KUA

11/17/11

I'm Still Here ...

Bet ya'll were thinking I'd fallen off the face of the earth? Or been catapulted into space?

Been busy ... let's see ... Single Son's van is finally back on the road! I should be happy right? Well, I am. Sort of. It's back on the road only because my car died (head gasket) and it was the cheapest of the two to fix. The car will be fixed, as soon as we can come up with the two grand needed to rebuild the engine. So, it's still only one vehicle around here for the two of us. Grrrrrr.

*****

Married Son's been home a couple of times recently, and will be home again in less than a week for the Thanksgiving holiday. He's grateful to be out on the road, seems DIL is getting on his final nerve. Suddenly he's sympathetic to what WE go through here in his absence. He's talking about divorce again, but will wait until spring after he's able to reach certain goals with his company (like hiring drivers) and can be home to operate the business full time so he can fight for custody of Grandson. I'll still work for him doing local deliveries. Added bonus for me: a company vehicle. At least I'll have something to drive back and forth to work (if repairs to my car aren't made by spring), lol.

*****
Same ol' garbage with DIL, too. Laundry, dishes, clutter ... nothing changes. We've had many more altercations since I've stopped bottling things up inside. Why should I be the one to suffer? It's my house dammit. And I'm reminding her of this a few times a day anymore.

To the point I told her if she doesn't like it, she knows where the door is. Use it.

Please!

*****
Let's see ... oh ... Star Trek stuff ... Laurie, you can skip to the next topic if you want ... but it'll be a fun read you miss, lol.

K ... is she gone? LOL.

Our "away mission" to Escanaba was ... oh, interesting to say the least. We had fun, that's for sure, but I don't think I'll soon forget the drive up to Escanaba - or back, or the fact we made the trip there AND back in under 24 hours.

K, so exactly WHERE is Escanaba anyway? Well, let's get out our trusty map ... here ya go ... see it up there in the Upper Peninsula, on the lower end of the pinky finger? I'm located between Detroit and Flint in the Lower Peninsula, about half way. Just about a four hundred mile drive (eight hours for you "clock drivers").




Don't you love our map? Every Michigander has at one point used the palm of their right hand to point to where they live!! Really.

Because of the vehicle situation (the van had only been repaired the week before) we felt it best that our companion, RD, drive. His vehicle uses a lot less gas than the van does, besides, the van hasn't been on such a long trek in years and hadn't yet been proven to be once again worthy of the long drive.

Can we say ... big mistake? Very big mistake. There were reports of snow "up north" and RD being a native Texan (who hates/fears snow) ... well, can you see the recipe for disaster?

On the above map, refer to the place just below the middle finger of the lower hand, I mean peninsula ...



Yup, that would be his HHR stuck in the middle of the median. RD was changing lanes, hit a pile of slush. The rest as they say is history. Luckily both Single Son and I had both dozed off so we didn't have time to tense up and risk possible injury. Son was awakened by RD saying a few choice cuss words as we went into the slide ... I didn't wake up until we were actually IN the ditch, going sideways ... as trees could be seen out of the front windshield. Luckily no one was seriously injured. And it's a miracle the vehicle didn't roll! The vehicle didn't even suffer so much as a scratch. The only "pain" felt was RDs wallet for the hundred dollar tow out of there (although my knee slammed hard into the back of Son's seat, and still hurts days later). And it cost an hour sitting there as drivers on I-75 "rubber necked" to see the fools in the ditch!

I had Trek jokes like you wouldn't believe while we were stuck there ... including "To boldly go where no one has gone before" and once the tow truck showed up "Beam us up Scotty".

Once we were about thirty miles further north, there was no snow, and the sun was out. Relief for the passengers at least!!

We finally arrived in Escanaba at about 2 pm (over an hour later than we should have). Our visit with our Trekkie friends was great. Totally uneventful. They were presented with their Commissioning certificate, making all their hard work finally official. Dinner was good, too, and much welcomed after our eventful drive up.

We didn't stay too long and where back on the road before 7 PM.

I make a lousy passenger, I doze off a lot. But I was already tired as we'd left home at 4:30 that morning anyway. May I say here that the HHR is one of the most uncomfortable vehicles for cat naps!! Of course, having a driver that unintentionally swerves in and out of the lane doesn't help a bit. But dammit, I was exhausted. One such cat nap on the way back home (less than two hours from home at that), I am awakened by a loud THUD. "What the hell was that" I asked RD. "Not a dead body I hope". "Wasn't dead before you hit it anyway. Damn, I'm not closing my eyes any more". And I didn't!! Never did figure out what he ran over. either.

We pulled into RDs driveway at 4 am, and were home by 5 am (after a stop for breakfast). A full 24 hours on the road, with only a few cat naps along the way (and lots of stress).

After we'd picked up the van, the first thing out of Single Son's mouth was "and you have the nerve to say I'm a bad driver?" No, he's just fast. But at least he keeps the vehicle ON the road.

Next time Single Son drives. Or I'm not going!!

*****

Oops, I lied! No more topics!!

Hope ya'll are doing well. I'm still keeping up with your blog entries through email. I really need to work on being a better blog buddy!!


10/25/11

What's that I hear??

Absolutely NOTHING!! It's quiet here. Peacefully quiet. And I'm loving it!!

Why is it so quiet around here, you ask? Because the Wrecking Crew is gone ... for only a week. A teaser really of what things could be like if they were forever gone. But a week is a week. And I'm going to enjoy it!

So, where did they go? To Exie Poo's house to house sit for a week while he and wifey number three are out of state. Bless them for actually trusting DIL and Grandson with their home (and their car, which DIL happened to talk them into using in their absence). I just hope it's in the condition they left it in when they return. We know how lazy DIL is ... but of course, I'm sure Exie Poo is paying her, too - which means she's probably doing dishes, cleaning the stove top and taking out her own garbage (and NO I am not going to pay her for shit she should be doing here because I'm providing a roof over their freaking heads).

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So I was talking to Single Son the other day. He was going nuts over the stuff DIL ignores around here, warning me that he's probably going to go ballistic on her very soon. He's past fed up. I told him to go for it ... she won't listen to me ... let's see if his fits help. I mentioned something about how I couldn't wait for them to move, and Single Son says "Married Son says the same thing, Mom". Wait? As in getting their own place ... or filing for divorce. Yup, the second one. Only ... who knows when that'll be. I've heard that talk for the last six years!!

*****

Alien has been working for Married Son's trucking company as his secretary. She wasn't able to do a lot of the work since she had no computer at home to work on. Son fixed that last week by buying a netbook for her to use. It's company property, but she can set it up to use for her personal stuff, too. She received the computer on her birthday. Not a week later, she claims she only turned her back for a minute when Butterball totally destroyed the new netbook. Screen broken, keys popped off (and some still missing). She called Married Son (who is on the road) to tell him (and send a pic of the damaged machine). Needless to say, he's NOT replacing it. He will have Single Son (his chief of operations) repair it. She will be docked the repair costs. And yes, she was too scared to contact Single Son first (the one she should have reported it to in the first place) ... he's got a way of reducing her to tears by just looking at her! One more screw up like that, and she's out of a job, too.

*****

So, I've been doing more research on tiny homes. Problem ... in most counties here in Michigan they have strict building codes, nothing less than 1.000 square feet can be built on a property. Most areas don't permit a "recreational vehicle" to be lived in permanently on property either (tiny houses like that in the last blog are considered RVs). At least in all the areas I'd consider moving to. Grrrrrrr.

It's still a long term dream, but geesh ... it may take me ages to find a place I'd want to move that would allow small or tiny homes! And I get the feeling it may be out of Michigan! I'm not prepared to leave Michigan yet (if ever, I LOVE my home state).

I'll keep planning, and designing my "dream home", my tiny dream home ... hoping that one day it'll happen. Half the fun is in the planning and design, riiiight?

*****
STAR TREK STUFF
(consider yourselves warned)

We're headed back to Escanaba for another "away mission" in November. This will be for the official Commissioning into Star Fleet. I thought that was the reason for our first trip there, only to find out it was to attend a meeting and get to know the Crew of the USS Ludington. We've all grown close in this short time, I can't wait to get back up there for the Commissioning! These guys are fun! Their enthusiasm is contagious. Their Commander, Arie, reminds me of Single Son when he was that age (20).

In other Star Trek news, LOL ... I'm running for the XO (Assistant Commander) of our ship (chapter). I'm up against one other member ... and I'm feeling pretty confident I'll get elected to the position. He's out of state, so he's unable to personally attend our meetings, plus there's a few other issues (he rubs a lot of people the wrong way) ... but I'm trying not to be overly confident ... don't wanna jinx anything, ya know? We vote next month for new officers. Single Son is so busy with the work he does with Star Fleet (he's third in command of StarFleet, International Fan Association) that after ten years he's stepping down as commander of our ship. Only one candidate for that position. But it's been a heated campaign for the position of XO.

*****

Oh, and I forgot to tell ya ... Barky Dog and family have moved out!! Yes!! They're gone. For Sale sign up in their front yard. But not one single serious looker yet. Could that be the six or so trees that are growing but inches from their foundation? I see problems with that in the future. I told them about it, but apparently they're not taking my observation seriously. But as a potential buyer, that'd be the last place I'd make an offer on ... serious root damage to that foundation if those trees aren't taken care of NOW!! And what other hidden issues could be there since they're not even addressing the obvious issues! Ah well, not my problem!! But I have to wonder how good of a real estate agent they have if she isn't seeing those trees as a problem that needs to be addressed BEFORE the house can be sold. I know who I'll never have list my home (if I ever own one, LOL).

Anyway ... it's been three fantastic weeks of not hearing that damned dog bark until 4 am and then again at 7 am!! Even the squirrels seem to be happy about it - judging the fact there's much more squirrely activity going on in the back yard lately. I swear they're even singing now!!

And no, I haven't lost my mind.

Not yet anyway.


10/9/11

Howdy Stranger!

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. More like I've holed up in my cave and just don't come out.

My cousin's funeral hit me harder than I thought it would. As adults we weren't really that close, but as kids I have to say she was one of my favorite cousins. I think a lot of it has been that can of emotional worms once again opening those feelings of when my brother took his own life.

Single Son canceled his trip to Texas and the commissioning of a new "ship" (chapter) in StarFleet to attend DMcB's funeral. I'm glad he was there, as I really needed the emotional support. My folks - as well as most of my relatives were there, but they were at the opposite side of the church - we got there literally five minutes before the service, there was no room left for us anywhere near my folks.

The funeral was interesting to say the least. There wasn't a dry eye in the church when her daughter, TMac, spoke a very touching tribute to her mother. However, we all could have done without the Preacher trying to save the souls of everyone there (half hour lecture about his church being the only right path, and the benefits of joining HIS church, too). Then again, we should have expected it, he'd done the same thing when DMcB's father died. He could have done without the references that suicides don't go to heaven, too. NOT the place to preach that, even if it IS his personal beliefs ... with such a diverse collection of religions (and non-believers) in attendance. Actually, he never said "suicide" ... he kept saying "under the circumstances" or "the situation".

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In other news ...

I finally got the check for babysitting JJ from back in June. Yes ... four months for the check to come. And the last month was spend calling the financial department at least every week to tell them the check had not yet arrived. Granted, it's only for $120, but when you're not working, that's a hell of a lot of money. LOL.

I'll spend the first fifty getting my chauffeurs license. That's the first step I need to getting a job doing local deliveries for Married Son. And worse comes to worse, it's another asset to add to my resume for a different job.

Other than lunch with my college buds, I'm not sure what the rest of the money will go to. I was thinking my prescriptions and some food, LOL, but when Mom asked what I'd spend it on, she thought other than lunch, I should spend it on frivolous stuff.

Wait!! It's been so long since I've had money to just spend, I don't think I can!! I can't even think of anything I want bad enough to squander the money on. Isn't that pathetic? Or is it? LOL ... I can't decide. Besides, the few things I do want are on my "wish list" for Christmas, that if I were to buy them what would my family give me as gifts?

*****

I've also been spending some of my time doing a lot of research on homes. I'm pretty sure when I move from this place within the next few years, I'm downsizing. Ya, part of it will be to remove that possibility of any of my off-spring residing with me (yes, even Single Son! I know, call CNN, right??). It'll probably be in a small apartment for the time being, but my ultimate dream has now become to build a small place for myself on a small lot somewhere fairly rural.

Small homes. Tiny homes to be exact. I'm loving these floor plans that I'm finding online, between 100 and 300 square feet. Yes, tiny!! But I'm at that point in life that I'm finding the majority of my possessions are overwhelming, just too much crap. No, I'm not going minimalist, not exactly. I just need to weed out a good percentage of my crap. And what better way to force yourself to get rid of it than by living in a tiny home?

Oh yeah, the model I'm looking at is built on a trailer, so it's fully mobile. Of course, I've copied the original blueprints into my architecture program and have made some modifications to best suit my needs. You'll see in the following pictures that the mattress is in a sleeping loft. Personally, I can't see myself climbing a ladder every night to go to bed, so I've redesigned the kitchen to allow for a door at the rear to a "first floor" tiny bedroom, big enough for a queen mattress on a platform (hydraulic lifts to allow access to under bed storage). However, it adds six feet to the overall length of the tiny home, making it a little more difficult should I ever wish to move it. ::sigh::

I also like the idea of 1) being able to tow your house anywhere you want (allowing for a change of scenery if you need it) and 2) with some preparation and forethought you can live totally off-grid (self sustaining, meaning NO utility bills!)

I'm finding there's a whole "underground" movement of tiny house enthusiasts here in Michigan alone.

So ... that's what's up with me. What's up with you??


Tiny House




This is known as the Fencl Tiny House, built by Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. At only 130 sq. ft, this is my dream house. Built on a trailer and totally portable. Isn't it sweet??? http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/houses/fencl/

9/14/11

Wednesday and it just keeps coming ...

As I write this, there's a special program on the morning news about suicide prevention. Ironic.

I'm finding out more details all the time. This is through my cousin, Cousin Dear, as the family still seems to be protecting us (Mom, Dad, Brother Deere and me) from our own memories of my brother's suicide.

I guess the good to come out of this is that she did not use her husband's gun to commit suicide. There will be no criminal investigations. Those precious children will not lose their father too.

I am learning DMcB had a history of depression, and possibly schizophrenia, too. She had tried as a teenager to slit her wrists, only to be stopped by her father kicking down the door. I'm not sure of details after that, if she got help or not. Probably not, from the information I've received.

Fast forward to adulthood. She's been raising a young daughter on her own. Finds a wonderful man, they marry and have two more children, two boys. One of the boys is sickly, he's severely allergic to wheat, eggs, dairy and heaven knows what else. He has breathing problems. And he takes it like a trouper. His mother, on the other hand, is overtaxed with special menus for him, breathing treatments and constant trips to the emergency room. All this while fighting her own depression.

Somewhere along the way, she starts to threaten to kill herself AND her children. She yells, screams, shakes and neglects the children. As far as the world knows, she's well balanced, happy, candidate for mother of the year.

This brings us to September 10. DMcB and TMack had been in a screaming match for days. TMack, age 18, says she's going to her grandmother's house until her mother can be more reasonable - and get some help. At this point, DMcB is once again threatening suicide and to take the boys with her. This is where things get sketchy ... we are not sure IF Tmack took her brothers with her or not.

DMcB goes to bed. Her hubby was sleeping on the couch (by choice or fell asleep watching tv, we don't know). DMcB waits until the middle of the night and hangs herself in the bathroom, off the shower curtain rod. Her hubby found her in the morning, hours later.

As he's trying to resuscitate her he somehow manages to puncture a hole in his esophagus. He drives himself to the hospital some twelve hours later, complaining of swollen throat and breathing problems. He's airlifted to U of M hospital and will have to have a feeding tube for a few weeks until his esophagus heals. Hopefully no surgery will be needed.

How much more can this family take?

We're left with so many more questions than answers.

But, odd as it sounds, I'm grateful she hung herself and didn't use his gun. And I'm definitely grateful for whatever reason she had, she did not take the boys (and possibly TMack) with her, that the children are safe.

*****

And it just keeps coming ...

*****

Alien hadn't heard from the Knight in Rusty Armor for weeks. Yesterday out of the blue he texts her ... well not exactly out of the blue ... and tells her he's calling her, to make herself available.

He tells Alien it started on September 10, that he got a call from Children's Protective Service (CPS) that his daughter, Mimi, was in the hospital. She had gotten a hold of some drugs and had overdosed on them. She is in the hospital, unconscious and on life support.

I should probably add that the mother to this little girl and her boyfriend (husband?) are under investigation by CPS for child abuse and neglect, and have been for a while now.

What's uncertain is if they were illegal drugs (quite possible with the mother) or prescription. Regardless ... she shouldn't have been able to access them.

Next day, he got a text from the mother of his five year old daughter, "well, no need to worry about coming to visit Mimi. she's dead." But, this evil woman has tried stunts like this in the past, saying Mimi's passed so that the Knight in Rusty Armor disappears from their life.

However, this time it sent him into a panic because CPS had called him. He texted Alien, hoping she could get him the answers he needed, as he was too distraught.

She was able to confirm that, indeed, little Mimi never woke up and passed sometime on Sept. 11.

We don't know if there will be criminal charges yet or not. I'm hoping and praying there are. That poor little girl did not deserve this.

*****

When does it end? Gawd, why can't life go back to the usual crap? Where the biggest complaints I have are that DIL doesn't play nice with others ... where the Gremlin complicates things with "his" antics ... where Mom wonders aloud if they've colonized the moon so I can move there ...


9/12/11

Monday ...

I know I haven't blogged in a while. Same ol' stuff with the Wrecking Crew, and to be honest it grows tiresome blogging the same ol' crap. You know ... DIL this, and DIL that ... And after the call I got earlier today, suddenly none of anything the Wrecking Crew does really matters (for today at least, I'm sure next week I'll be back to bitching). Sure it's annoying. Sure they should treat me better (respect and all that), but all in all, at the end of the day is this really something that I can't just deal with for the time being (knowing that eventually they WILL move out - or I will)  ... it's odd how things can be put into perspective.

Then I was going to finally blog about the Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk, and the comedy of errors that turned out to be. Or the fantastic time Lou and Single Son and I had during our too brief visit after the walk. And suddenly I can't ... at least not today.

Mom called me early this morning. As soon as I heard her voice I knew something was wrong. Very wrong.

My cousin, DMcB, committed suicide sometime either last night or very early this morning. I have no details. I don't need details. All I know is DMcB leaves behind three beautiful children and a very loving husband.

My heart breaks for them. TMac, her daughter, just graduated from high school. Had a whole future to look forward to. The little boys, ages 7 and 9 (I believe) are now motherless.

Of all of my family members, I thought that DMcB was the one who really had the perfect life, a loving husband, three beautiful children, a beautiful home, everything. She was very loving, very much a doting mother. Her smile lit up a room, her laughter was contagious. She radiated love, patience and gentleness.

Come to find out, she's had a long history of mental illness. Depression. She had turned down help time and time again. We'll never know why.

And I cry for those beautiful children.

Here she's holding my grandson, Butterball. This was Christmas 2009.



RIP, Cousin. You will be missed.

9/2/11

Time flies ...

and can't say "when you're having fun". It's been a long month. Really long.

Married Son came home twice, each time for a few days. I just love that he sticks me with the Wrecking Crew while he's on the road taking a breather from all the DIL drama.

He needs to be finding them a permanent home. Away from me.

But no, he's paying for wedding bands (they never had proper wedding bands in six years of marriage), and planning a trip down south (Mississippi?) to attend ... get this ... his ex-girlfriend's wedding.

Excuse me? She's an ex! Send a freaking Hallmark Card for pete's sake! Don't spend a few hundred in NEW clothes and gawd knows how much for gas for the RENTAL car you're planning on driving down there (or hotels, or food, or ... ). Yes, a rental car. His pick up truck would never make the trip ... so instead of saying "Sorry, Honey, we can't make your wedding" ... the idiot goes and reserves a rental car for the week they'll be gone. And WHY isn't his wife bitching? I know if it were me, no man of mine is making a cross country trip to see his ex girl friend get married - even if I were invited!!

Needless to say I absolutely exploded!! I'll estimate those expenses (plus the ring) to be over a thousand dollars, that COULD have been used as a down payment on a nice little rental somewhere.

And Single Son wonders HOW they can go through the money they do ... he works at Fed Ex and Married Son worked for Fed Ex, both made the same money ... Single Son budgets his, Married Son obviously has it priorities really screwed up (but we knew this already).

It's to the point that even Single Son is about to explode.

Oh, then today she takes the gasoline charge card Single Son gave to me, telling me he had okayed her using it. She tells him she has no money, no gas in the tank and won't be able to get to work all week, so ... she FILLS up the tank of the gas hog pick up truck. Only, I find out later that Single Son told her to NOT take the card until he had deposited his pay check into the bank (he's got the funds in the bank but she doesn't need to know that). He's not mad at me, but he's furious with her for lying to me!!

Then ... her facebook today ... "OMG, I just LOVE Gibraltar Trade Center. Lots of Christmas gift ideas" ... I know what I want from DIL for Christmas ... a new address for the Wrecking Crew!! How 'bout that? Nothing fancy ... a little two bedroom somewhere across town would be nice!! So, she lied to me to fill the tank to drive fifty miles to the flea market? Probably peed away her food money on some crap she doesn't need ...

What's sad ... last month I lost my food benefits. So ... now I get nothing. No food assistance, no medical, nothing. And Single Son has stepped up offering to pay for my food, my meds, the household bills, recent car repairs, and anything else I need. Yet he STILL has about a third of his paycheck left over? How's that possible? Oh ... I know ... he doesn't piss his money away!!

I hate having to rely on him (and hated that I had to have benefit assistance) ... but what can I do? I'm still looking for jobs, but we know that song. There's hundreds of applicants for each and every job opening in the area. You have to capture their attention ... and I'm sure one day (hopefully soon) I'll capture someones attention and be hired. But until then there's not much I can do about it ... and yes, I've thought about a sugar daddy ... but there's only one problem with that. I don't want those complications in my life.

*****

Having lost my food assistance, I know the cell phone I have isn't far behind. It's only available to recipients of food assistance, medicaid, or other social benefits. Knowing this, Single Son pulled a fast one on me one day two weeks ago and asked me to go with him to Best Buy. Once there he went over to the cell phone section to look at pre-paid Net 10 phones. He's been considering one, so I wasn't really "suspicious" of anything. He asked what I thought of certain phones, and once he figured out which phone I really would like, he actually picked it up - along with a card for fifty bucks (600 minutes). Still thinking it's his new phone, after he pays for it he hands me the bag and says "Here, Mom. This is for you." I was flabbergasted! Yet he wouldn't let me give him a thank you hug, especially IN the store! LOL!

We had fun programming it when we got home. Doofus sets the language to Spanish. Now, I don't speak a word of Spanish and neither does he, so there was no way I was going to figure out how to set it back to English. He messed  up a few other settings, too. But we laughed so hard, we both had tears coming down our faces.

A few days later, we're sitting across from each other, each on our 'puters doing our own thing, when my new cell beeps with an incoming message. I look at it, he's added another hundred bucks worth of minutes to my phone! Yipes ... I now have over two thousand minutes (and they don't expire until June of next year). I've got some major talk time! LOL!.

And from what I've seen so far, I am really liking Net 10. No problems like I've had with calls when I was with either Verizon, Sprint, or Virgin Mobile. Great customer service when I've had to call for tech questions, and their coverage area is impressive. Not that I travel much (ummmm, much? how about almost never), but it's nice to know that it's there if I need it, lol.

Nice thing, too, about Net 10. They do have a monthly program, where you pay one set amount (fifty bucks) a month for unlimited calls, texts and internet. I'll definitely be switching to that plan once I am working again.

*****

So, really nothing else going on. It's always the Wrecking Crew that adds that blog material to my life. Well, besides my Star Trek buddies anyway. LOL.

Speaking of my Trekkie buddies. We're going on an "away mission" on Monday, Labor Day. We're going up to the Mackinac Bridge to do the annual Bridge Walk. Or should I say ... they are ... the young kids. I'll take a few before group shots, and then some after shots once they come back all exhausted. Me, I'm too out of shape for that walk! Maybe next year if I can build up my stamina?

Single Son tries to tell me "Mom, you and your friends walked all over Chicago a few years ago, and you were in worse shape then". Ya ... BUT Chicago was pretty much FLAT ... minus a small incline or two (or steps, there were steps everywhere!!)  ... we're talking the freaking Mackinac Bridge here. Five miles long, half of it is UP HILL. The first half. I doubt I'd make it far at all.



Okay, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but there's still way too much UPHILL for me!

I'll go for the drive up to keep him company. And once they're doing the walk, I'll text encouragement to them ... but I will NOT kill myself. Not this year.

Besides, I'll have to probably drive the four hours or so home later in the evening. I doubt his legs will be in any condition to hold the accelerator down for the drive home.

But before we leave the Mackinac area, we're stopping off to see my lifelong bestie ... Loula Belle.

*****

Ya'll have a safe and Happy Labor Day!!