Breaking It

For Memorial Day weekend Anthony & I decided we needed to take a little break from our stresses and have some playtime. Anthony had heard of a 4-wheeling club called MIOBI (Make It of Break It) in Southern Iowa that sounded like the mini-vacation we needed. We loaded up Swamp Thing and made our way to the grounds just North of Albia.

I was surprised at how many people filled the campground. This was obviously not the small affair I had imagined.

On our first run through an area aptly named the Playground we discovered that Swamp Thing was not quite as up to the challenge as we had originally thought. We found that her carburetor had a tendency to flood on steep inclines. This was not a convenient problem to have when traipsing through a 400 acre former strip mine full of steep hills and rocks.

After we were pulled to level ground and gave Swamp Thing a chance to recover we attempted to climb the West side of an area called the Rock. Halfway up we encountered the same problem.

The break while Anthony operated on Swamp Thing gave me the chance to play around with my camera.

Once Swamp Thing was up and running again we decided that she would be better suited for running through the mud than climbing rock walls. We set off along a muddy forest trail not paying much attention to the twists and turns that we were taking. That would prove to be our undoing but also the beginning of an interesting adventure.

At the bottom of a steep gully Swamp Thing found a challenge she could not surpass. We were buried up to the bumpers in mud and not able to move more than an inch in any direction. MIOBI requires that every vehicle in the park be equipped with a working CB. Anthony hollered across the air waves for help but we didn't know our location. We tried to talk our would be rescuers through the path we had thought we had taken but it took them nearly two hours to find us. It seems that we had ventured down a seldom used dead end path that many didn't even know existed.

We were pulled out of the mud and backwards up the steep hill by two buggies strapped together.

As it was nearing dark (closing time for the park) we were told to follow the buggies to the campground. They had to go rescue another vehicle on the way so we were taken down a path meant more for buggies and rock crawlers than old, heavy and big 4-wheel drives. The buggies had to hook together again to pull us up another steep rocky incline before we once again entered the muddy forest.

The mud in this part of the forest was deep and that morning's rain had filled the deep ruts to their brim. A little ways down the path we slid in the mud into the wall of one of those ruts. The impact popped the bead off the passenger side tire. It was getting dark and we did not have a spare tire with us. There was nothing we could do to limp Swamp Thing to the campground so we accepted that we were there for the night and hitched a ride back to the Tahoe.

The hospitality back in the campground was amazing. We had people offering to help us in the morning, sharing their dinners and beer with us, and inviting us to enjoy fellowship and warmth by their campfires.

Early Sunday morning Anthony set out with several of his new friends and a borrowed trailer tire to perform their magic and rescue Swamp Thing. I was given the opportunity to sleep in (a rare occurrence) and read my book while snacking on our small supply of Lunchables. It took the boys from 6 am until 2 pm and working through a thunder storm to bring Swamp Thing back to the campground. During this time I watched with amusement as the tent across from me blew over sending several people scrambling out into the cold rain.

When they returned with the disabled truck we had another challenge to confront. How were we supposed to reseed the bead without running water? Anthony adapted with the only liquid we had left.... beer.

I watched with amusement as the beer foamed from the air filling the tire. In all my years around vehicle repairs I have never witnessed anything quite like this.


It worked like a charm though and we had Swamp Thing loaded on the trailer before 4:00.


I played around with my camera for a few more minutes while Anthony said his good-byes and then it was time to hit the road.
Swamp Thing has developed a few more issues since our little weekend jaunt, so it doesn't look like we will be taking her out again anytime soon. It was definitely a different experience that we both enjoyed despite all of our obstacles.

Macro

This week's challenge was actually a bit of a challenge for me, both in photography and poetry. The subject was Macro, which in simple terms is to photograph something small so that it fills the whole frame.

The photography part of the challenge showed me just how cheap my "cheap" ($150) camera really is. It takes great photos at the ball park and when out and about with the kids. Apparently it wasn't made to do anything fancy though. I have now declared that my camera must be far-sighted as it takes great close ups from a distance but not a good close-up from close up.

Still, I had fun experimenting with different techniques and came up with interesting shots.

Macro, not to be confused with Micro

This is the lovely display at my Aunt's house that inspired the close-up

Blow are a few of the shots that came close to decent while I was experimenting with my camera:

A screw hanging out way up on Auntie's garage

A nail in the wood pile

Oriental blossoms residing in a vase

Chocolate Easter eggs

Mudding anyone?

The poem proved to be a challenge too. Not only did I not have time to concentrate on it with getting ready for Easter at the lake, how in the heck does one go about incorporating the idea of Macro into a poem? I came up with a very short 4 line piece that seems to apply how Macro fits into our lives. I may sit down and tinker with it some more though when I actually have time for editing and revisions. You can read my interpretation of Macro here. And be sure to check out Photography139 for the rest of this week's photo submissions.

Something Other Than Karma

Karma is defined as "The total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny." If you believe in Karma, then you also believe that what I am about to tell you is a result of Bad Karma or "fate, destiny" or even more so "Informal. A distinctive aura, atmosphere, or feeling: There's bad karma around the house today."

While I agree that a person's actions and conduct make us who we are and can have a direct bearing on our existence, I so not believe that by choosing to have oatmeal for breakfast this morning in any way impacted my finding a quarter in the parking lot at work.

So call it Karma, call it Dumb Bad Luck, call it what you will. I've just plain had a bad week.

I really didn't know I had been having a bad week until I got to chatting with Ave tonight. I made a comment about burning the rhubarb cobbler Bug and I had made for desert. She retorted that at least my furnace was working now. I guess I'm just one of those people that normally has a positive attitude and can let go of little things. Reflecting back though, my week wasn't as good as I had led myself to believe. Blame it on my tendency to deal with a current situation and then let it go (hmmm... maybe that's why I stayed in a failed marriage so long, I dealt with all the little things but didn't look at the big picture?)

My week went something like this:

Sunday it snowed. and I'm not talking a little snow, I'm saying we got dumped on. I'm not sure exactly how much we got, I've heard between 9 and 14 inches. Cold, very wet, heavy snow. The kind where you can make a snowman one day and if it remains cold enough will be an ice man the next. So we missed church and cub scouts, I had an aching back from scooping, and I had to listen to Bug whine all afternoon about how bored he was until we had Ave's son over for a play date. At least the snow was starting to melt by the time we went to bed. The positive? I got a lot of cleaning done, watched movies with Sis, and found laughter in listening to the boys play.

Monday morning things started to turn for the worse. I was able to back out of my driveway. And that was it. For twenty minutes I tried rocking my truck, my new used truck mind you, back and forth in the middle of the street. I got out in my heels into the snowy slushy pond that had once been my street. I tried pushing as Sis steered to no avail.

I called into work to explain that I would be late.

They laughed. I work at the dealership where I bought the truck last month. They all knew I had four-wheel drive.

One of my kind neighbors came over to help (I practically live in Mayberry by the way. what a wonderful neighborhood for a single mom to live in). The neighbor pointed out that my four-wheel drive wasn't engaging. He was right. I had somehow stripped a gear when I was backing out.

I handed my keys to the guys in the shop when I finally got to work almost a half hour late. Positive? I work at a car dealership with a service department.

Fast forward to Monday night. I get home from work (with my truck that is waiting for parts and an available mechanic to work on it) and it is freezing in the house. Ok, not freezing, it's 63. The kids are bundled up in swetshirts and blankets.

I assumed the pilot light had blown out on the furnace. I assumed wrong. It was still burning when I went down to relight it. I changed the batteries on the thermostat. Nope. Wrong again. I called Ave, who called her Dad. He works at a local plumbing and heating business in town. He walks us through all the things we need to check. Yep, tried that and that....finally just as I'm ready to leave for the kid's conferences, Bingo! The furnace had somehow tripped it's circuit breaker. The positive? I didn't have to pay someone to fix my furnace and two hours later I came home to a very toasty abode.

Tuesday morning had me arguing with the Extended Warranty company about whether they were going to pay for my truck repair since I had just bought the vehicle 3 weeks before. In the afternoon one of our service advisors won that battle for me.

I went swimming Tuesday night. I swam laps without my cap that I somehow misplaced. What a pain. Im pretty sure I won't have to get my hair thinned out for awhile now.

I think Wednesday went pretty well. It's kind of a blur since I was so busy running kids to activities.

Tonight Bug and I had planned to make a Rhubarb cake for desert. I still have quite a bit of rhubarb stashed in my deep freeze from last year. We had fun mixing the batter and talking. We put it in the oven, set the timer for one hour, and settled down to watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

An hour and ten minutes later I realized something was burning.

The timer had stopped with 5 minutes left to go. Obviously I won't be trusting my stove to tell me when something is done again. The positive? We were able to salvage enough of the cake for us to each have a piece and Bug and I still had a bonding experience regardless.

Tomorrow is a new day. Bur I think I'll say a prayer tonight and ask God to keep bad karma away from me just in case.