What a weekend.
Friday, on my way to the grocery store,
my boss called and said one of my
best friend / fellow instructors
(we are often partners in crime)
had a heart issue and was in the hospital.
Could I run into Orlando for the weekend
and cover his class?
Sure!
It involved lots of logistics.
Making hotel reservations.
(always a challenge)
Making arrangements to get the keys.
Making arrangements to get through
the security system.
But it all got done.
As I was preparing to load my
suitcase in the car and head out,
Rod called and said he was
out in the pasture and needed my help.
We found Bison's body out in the
pasture over by the cows.
He was old, not in great health,
and it was a daily concern if he would
pass on or if we would have to
put him down.
As long as he seemed to be happy and
not in any pain, we decided to let
nature take it's course.
And it did.
I was grateful.
I did NOT want Kyle to have to deal with that.
(But he insisted that it was his dog and he
would be responsible for the decision, etc.)
About that time, Kyle showed up and
took his tractor out back to dig a grave.
RIP Bison.
Meanwhile, I had to get on the road.
Drove up to Orlando in my nifty
new blue car.
It was a nice drive!
And it has on-dash GPS, which was
really nice, because the hospital is in
downtown Orlando where there are
a million one-way streets and construction
and a bunch of stuff I don't like to
deal with!
And while driving through all that,
my low tire pressure light came on.
Luckily I was only blocks from the hospital
so I kept going til I got there.
(When we got the new Passat, the same
thing happened on the way down to
West Palm Beach. I pulled into a service
station and checked the air pressure and
everything was fine, Jim said it was a
thing that sometimes happens...)
When I got to the parking lot, I visually
checked the tires and they all looked ok.
So I headed upstairs.
(First I had to walk around the ENTIRE hospital
to find the one and only public entrance!)
Went upstairs and had a nice visit
with Larry and his wife.
He was feeling good, all things considered.
And he has such a hilariously dry sense
of humor, we had everybody laughing.
(We feed off each other. Sometimes our
boss has to threaten to separate us... lol.
Makes the dry old meetings more fun though!)
After about an hour, I headed back down
to my car where I found my passenger side
rear tire FLAT AS A PANCAKE!
Dang.
Luckily we pay AAA a billion dollars a year
for premier service.
Got them on the phone.
And an hour later, the guy showed up,
pulled the flat tire, found the nail,
and replaced the tire with a donut.
(I was hoping there was an actual SPARE
in the trunk, but nope, just a donut...)
In about 5 minutes, he was on his way.
(Oh, he also gave me a bottle of water.
Which I appreciated, since I hadn't eaten
since noon and now it was 9:30 pm...)
Next to find my hotel, without driving
on I-4. (It's scary at the best of times,
and right now we are in year 2 of a
4 year "I-4 Ultimate" project where they
are totally re-configuring the entire highway.
NOPE!
Not driving THERE!
By the time I got to my hotel, got all
checked in, it was 10:00.
And although there was a McDonalds
on the next block, I wasn't willing to walk there.
And with the one way streets it would take
longer than it was worth to drive.
So I colored my hair instead and then
headed off to bed.
Saturday morning dawned bright
but foggy.
Turns out my school was only a mile away.
So that was nice.
I had 102 people registered.
The room holds 20.
But we haven't had any trouble
with too many people showing up.
The company is running a contest
with the prize being a trip to...
Tahiti or someplace like that.
I can't enter, so I don't know... lol
Anyhow,
they get points for registering people
for the classes, so they are just signing
random people up.
I had a bunch of people show up.
I got all the pre-registered folks signed
in, gave them books, and let them in
the class to find seats. There were 13
of them.
Then I counted and found I had 7
"walk in" / stand-by folks.
So got them signed in and at
8:00 I started the class.
And then the rest of the people
started showing up.
I had people dribbling in all the way
until 8:45!!!!!
I had to stop and explain to each of them
that the class was full and they
would have to register for another
place / time.
Student: But I'm registered!
Me: But you're late.
S: But that doesn't matter.
M: Yup, it does. You were supposed to be
here at 7:30 for registration. At 7:45
you weren't here and I gave your seat
to a stand-by student. Sorry.
S: But I drove all the way here from
Daytona Beach!
M: And I drove all the way here from
Melbourne, and yet I managed to be here
by 7:30.
Yup, I'm mean.
LOL
Hey.
My dog died.
My friend ended up in the hospital.
My brand new car got a flat tire.
Tell your problems to someone else.
The rest of the day went really well.
There were hiccups.
There always are.
But the students were awesome.
Friendly, happy, engaged.
And it looks like Larry is going to be fine.
So he should be able to teach next weekend.
Of course, then I had to drive home
last night on the highway with a donut.
And the guy told me not to go faster
than 50 mph. But I could go 55 if I
felt I needed to.
So I crept home on the highway,
doing 55 mph.
Trying not to get run over by the
rest of the people driving home
after a weekend away.
Only 3 people tried to kill me.
Drove RIGHT up on my bumper,
rode there for awhile with their
bright headlights blinding me.
(Like that's going to make me speed up.)
Fun fact:
All three of them were white pickups!
A) People who drive white pickups are
inherently aggressive drivers.
B) People who drive white pickups can't
see little blue Jettas and need their eyes checked.
C) Florida has a LOT of white pickups.
I'm going with C.
Because I started paying attention.
And there are a LOT of white pickups
out there on the highway!!!!
(And it can't be A, because KYLE drives
a white pickup and while he sometimes
drives a little closer to the guy in front
than I am personally comfortable with,
it's never an unsafe distance. I'm just
a total pansy passenger.)
This morning I went in for blood work.
And then came home and Kyle fixed my tire.
This is the offending nail!
Pretty big offender!
Kyle and I are SUPPOSED to be driving
to Ocala today with 2 of Brock's (neighbor) cows
in our horse trailer - heading to the butchers.
But the goats are in the wrong pasture
and are in the way.
The cows won't get in the trailer,
even for sweet feed.
We can't get the trailer back out of the pasture
because the cows are in the way.
The butcher just called and he has
a family emergency and is closed today.
So we went to Sonic.
Maybe we'll try again tomorrow.
Or maybe Brock can eat chicken.
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