STRESS - Adrenaline Fueled Report

PART I: Blackberry Failure
So the weekend before last my Blackberry ceased to make any noise at all. And it stopped vibrating. There was no way to jog it into any audible or tactile message or phone notification. It was also giving me error messages when trying to navigate the Internet. During the 78 minute technical support call as my phone was diagnosed with a hardware error, even though it spontaneously began to function again with audible and tactile signals, I was instructed to back-up the device and await its replacement. Hold that thought . . . .

PART II: Youngest Turns 18
Thursday the young son turned 18 - which is a good thing, especially for one headed to college soon. It was a lovely party and bonfire - not too much stress other than realizing that I'm old enough to be the mother of a 20 year old and an 18 year old, both graduated from high school. HIGH SCHOOL IS OVER. Wow.

PART III: 18-Year-Old Goes to College
On Saturday we delivered the 18-year-and-two-days-old Skov boy to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. It was stressful for all of us, including the big brother who accompanied us. Everything went very smoothly, but College Boy was behaving like his irritable self when laced on Vicadin. We were dismissed around 4:30 pm with a cavalier hug. Saw a family of three deer grazing on the edge of campus as we arrived and departed. Lovely. No stress there!

PART IV: Dead Boat
Sunday I was determined to enjoy a relaxing day on the River with my friends and my boat. I cared not about the clouds and cooler-than-seasonal temperatures. Peggy, Beth, Dale and I headed up through Lock #3 to join Schlafges, Flinns, and Truaxes on the Tanglewood Island for a river picnic. I was looking forward to beers, brats, and some water-skiing. Just upriver from the Nauti-Hog in Diamond Bluff, Wisconsin, as we were about to overtake a big towboat and barge, the engine cut out. DAMN!!! Could not get it started again. Called Capt. Steve for help - AGAIN. (See post from earlier, like July - too stressed to figure out how to link it right now - sorry.) He towed us up to the Island and eventually to a dock where we could safely ditch the dead boat. My friends were great sports. The river was absolutely beautiful. And I was so sad. I HATE IT when my boat breaks down.

PART V: Blackberry Revisited
Monday the replacement device arrived. I swapped the guts and replaced the battery cover. I executed what appeared to be a successful Restore operation. But I still can't access the Internet or Facebook with the phone, and it keeps switching time zones on me spontaneously. ARGH! Dale almost smacked a little spotted deer up by Berenz' driveway - glad I spotted it for him. I was successful in locating a condenser replacement for a 1989 Ford 2.3 litre marine engine. We just don't know if that is actually the problem with the boat. That's the Tuesday evening project.

PART VI: Death and Dying
As we prepared to head for the river, Dale's father called with the news that Aunt Naida had taken a spill, was in the hospital, and likely wouldn't last the hour. Hmph. Naida is more like a grandmother to Dale and is very, very close to DuWayne and LaVonne, his parents. We decided the boat would have to wait. When family calls, you just go. So I drove the hour and a half in the spiffy Mazda Miata on a perfect summer evening. Just as we approached his folks' farm I smacked and killed a swallow that dawdled on the road too long. Felt bad, but usually birds get off the road in time. First blood. . . . .

We made it to the hospital in time. Naida was still breathing but unresponsive. Her kidneys had shut down and her breathing was labored. The monitors in the room had been silenced and she is to be given comfort measures only. He eldest, Juanita, is en route from California tonight, and Kelly, the youngest, will be here from the east coast in the morning. Her middle child, Rod, is keeping vigil at Naida's bedside with LaVonne. We pray for Naida's peaceful passing. She is ready and laboring for birth into new life. This is hard on her family and we were so glad we decided to go. DuWayne and LaVonne were glad to see us - so was Rod.

On the way home, just a mile south of the Skov Century Farm, as I was trying to send a text message response to college boy, **BANG** car swerved, bad scraping noise, Dale swearing, me vaguely aware that something damn near came through the windshield approximately 14 inches from my face.

Dale: "We hit a deer. Are you okay?"

Me: "Yes, I'm fine, are you sure?"

Dale: "I'm sure. Actually, it hit us. I never saw it."

Me: "There's deer shit all over the windshield and the windshield wiper is totaled. Stop the car - that's a bad noise."

Dale: "I think it's better if we just coast slowly down to Dad's house."

Me: "Are you sure? What if the tire is blown? That doesn't sound good."

The adrenaline-laced banter went on as we slowly coasted the mile to the farm. We rousted DuWayne out of the bathroom and headed back up the road to find the deer that had crumpled our front right quarter panel, creased the hood, bent the door, took out the windshield wiper, shattered the interior of the passenger side headlight, and shit all over the car, while failing to takeout the side mirror. Very weird. Mazda Miata - second blood of the night, no longer drivable. Deer that have been stalking us for four days - one freshly dead.

She was a beautiful and very dead 100 pound doe. We took her home to the butcher. Fresh deer meat is something this family values. Apologies to those of you who disagree with this practice. The Skovs are carnivores and hunters. DuWayne is an excellent butcher and we had provided him with a distraction from Aunt Naida. If you like venison let us know and we"ll invite you to enjoy a Mazda Steak.

So on Wednesday I have to help get DuWayne's pick-up truck delivered back to him (that's how we got home tonight), get our boat fixed and either trailored or floated back down to Red Wing, participate in two conference calls, submit an overdue expense report, write descriptions for some fall workshops I'm facilitating, begin Labor Day Camping preparations, contemplate changes in plans for possible funeral preparations, figure out weather or not I have to send a suit to college boy in Decorah, and help my friend home from her colonoscopy.

Should be a breeze.

Right now I'm trying to counteract the adrenaline and Cocal-Cola consumed caffeine by blogging and drinking Surly CynicAle. Love the play on words. Love the flavor even better.

Stay tuned - I'm sure there'll be more to report soon.

Has anyone seen my blood pressure medication?