Now - the continuing saga - this part is more fun....fun??? Ok, maybe not - but more interesting - I'll try and cut down on the rambling a bit though since I know this is getting long. It would be a better read if I had pictures.....but I only took like 5 pictures...during the last 10 minutes of our stay :( My camera doesn't take very good pictures so I have no incentive to carry it...
Sunday - It dawned a beautiful sunny morning - we took advantage of the free breakfast and then went to try and piece together the car so we could continue on our way before the noon deadline to get out of our hotel room. Upon getting the block heater into the open so he could look at it, Trevor discovered that one half of the retention tab had broken off - so off we trekked back up the street to the Cenex gas station/hardware store/western store/feed store.... The hardware man was VERY helpful, and although they didn't have the right type of block heater to replace ours, he rigged up a screw with a holder that would work and put a neoprene washer on to try and seal it. With thankful hearts, we walked back to the car and installed the part - then added some water and started the car. Water came from the block heater in a small stream - the washer just didn't quite seal well enough - so while Trevor removed the part again, I trekked back to the place for some silicone and a couple gallons of water. After adding silicone to the assembly - we were satisfied with just a slow drip of water coming from the area - but the car was not running well - we decided to get some water and see if we could limp it into Boise. We topped up the car, filled all our jugs, packed up all of our stuff and stopped to pray before leaving town. By the time we were 4 miles out of town we had to stop and fill up the water- and discovered we had already burned all the water in the system - we decided this was no way to go, so we turned back for Dillon and before we reached town we had to stop again. The engine had eaten about 2 gallons of water in 8 miles! Now, feeling somewhat defeated and knowing that something serious and expensive was wrong - we started brainstorming how we could get to a place where Trev could work on the car to keep the costs down. It was almost noon now - and knowing everyone we knew would be in church or meeting, we stopped in at Pizza Hut for the buffet to kill some time. When we finished, we limped the car back up town to where we could reach Internet signal and began checking out our options - we were 6 hours from Boise - we did find that there was a U-Haul place in town where we could rent a truck and trailer if needed... We also discovered that we were only 3 hours from Aberdeen where Trevor knew some people - so later that afternoon we called with a plea for help. Much to our relief, Marc and Michelle were able to come with their truck and trailer to haul us back to where Trevor could work on the car. Once they were on their way we still had a few hours to kill, so we wandered around town a bit - looked at all the cars and trucks on the new and used side of the dealership lot, then over to the farm machinery on the John Deere/New Holland lot across the road and checked out all the tractors a balers. We also spent over a hour in the Cenex store - I tried on some boots and would have bought some White's Packers for winter riding if we hadn't had an expensive car repair ahead of us!! I did however buy a new pair of jeans - one of the things I had planned to buy on the trip. I didn't even buy Wranglers this time - Carhartt jeans....they fit really good!! Eventually it started to cool off as the sun fell behind the mountains and we wandered back to the car - from here I talked to my friend Rachel and get contact info for her sister Dorothy who is going to college in Dillon and we arranged to meet for coffee. We weren't there for 10 minutes before Marc and Michelle arrived with the truck and trailer to rescue us. We all went out to help load the car and ended up having to half push the car onto the trailer as it had absolutely no power. Once the car was strapped in place, I hugged Dorothy good bye, with promises to pass the hugs onto her family that I planned to see later in the week. Then we settled in for our trip to Aberdeen, with pleasant conversation along the way. During the course of the day, my grandparents made arrangements to pick me up the following morning and take me to Boise so I could visit with my family as planned while Trevor stayed in Aberdeen to repair the car. We arrived in Aberdeen around 9pm and un-loaded the car. We were a weary couple as we had a bite to eat(very good elk sandwiches!!) and headed for bed.
Monday - Grammy and Papa arrived mid-morning to pick me up and after loading my stuff and dropping Trevor off at the shop to work on the car, we set off for Boise via Twin Falls - where Papa had arranged for us to have a quick lunch with my cousin Josh and his two boys (the youngest of whom I hadn't even met before!) It was nice to have a little visit since I hadn't seen Josh in almost 3 years! After our stop, I drove the rest of the way to Boise so Papa could rest - they had had an early morning! On the way through the city we picked up dessert for the family gathering that night. We were almost all together that evening at Grammy and Papa's place - Aunt Bonnie (with her canine friend Sophie), Aunt Judi and Uncle Dennis as well as Becky and Lance joined us for Grammy's favorite Taco Casserole and Jody, Rob, Amy and Casey joined us for dessert. It was a nice visit!
Tuesday - I slept in to try and recover from the eventful weekend! I had a nice breakfast visit with my Grandparents and then we had a game of Upwords, for old times sake! At lunch time, I met Becky at a local Sushi place for a great lunch and she took the afternoon off so we could hang out - and hang out like girls we did - we hit the mall with Rob in tow - poor guy he got dragged around as we looked for pair of shoes for me and then Becky took me to her favorite
Bra store (Us Bateman girls all have to share our bra finds, since we all have rather large needs....)... by now Rob went to wander for a bit on his own - but then, who could blame him? He WAS raised with 4 sisters, but even that couldn't prepare him :D Becky bought me both the shoes and the bra as an early birthday present - Thanks so much Beck!! After our successful shopping trip, Becky and Rob headed back to Becky's and I headed to the local Christian book store where I of course spent much more money then I had intended...but it was worth it! Rob made a supper of tortillas for us that night at Becky's and we spent the evening visiting and playing Rock Band - only about the second video game that I really liked!! That evening I made it home before my grandparents did! I enjoyed the freedom of being able to stay up late and sleep in by spending time on my computer and reading my newly acquired books! When I talked to Trevor about the car that evening it was back in one piece with many new parts (head gaskets, water pump, thermostat, spark plugs, etc....) but still running rough - so they planned to hook it up to a computer the next morning to try and diagnose the problem. Ok - enough for another day...I'll finish the story later! but here are some pics of the snow that has fallen this winter.
Me driving the 350 moving snow before we left.
The snow in our yard....
Drifting snow today - sunny and clear but the roads are nearly whiteout conditions with all the blowing snow - its terrible!!
This is the clamping that I did in order to build the laminated top for the dishwasher cupboard - the wood is all Aspen (Poplar) that my dad cut from his forest at home and milled on his little sawmill and then planed and brought to me in December. The project is nearly complete now, needing only final assembly and a coat of finish - I'll post further pictures when it is finished.
Oops, I forgot to rotate that picture - but Cootie is going to be very sad when I finish the cabinet - since she had taken to sleeping on top of the dishwasher on the soft insulation.
Last week we had a potluck with a whole bunch of people here to visit with Alex as he was home on spring break - this is my version of Anna's chicken with seasoned cream cheese smeared over it and under the skin....mmmm - I forgot to take any pictures of the people or the enormous table of food though!
Yesterday I did some baking and cooking - this picture from left to right - Chicken noodle soup (from the carcasses of the above chickens :), Oatmeal Pan Bread - rising, and the second half of the Cinnamon Bun dough waiting to be rolled out.
And in the oven - two loaves of whole wheat/4 grain bread. I can only make two loaves at a time since I only have two loaf pans....I think I need to fix that!!
Cinnamon Bun dough rolled out and the sticky bottom concoction prepared in the pan - no such thing as calories in these babies - only whipping cream, butter, sugar and corn syrup!
Another delectable dessert - peanut butter pie - we had this at Andrew and Jaime's for dessert today - yummy but really rich!
Last night's dinner, chicken noodle soup, oatmeal pan bread (with a herb/Parmesan topping), pickled beans and yum-yum sweet/sour pickles.
This was the last quilt I did - for Grace's little boy - I was trying to decide on a backing - I chose the blue plaid with bears on it (in the middle)
My little friend Cootie - she loves to watch whatever I'm doing -especially if it means she can look out a window at the same time!
This is "Piggy" another picture which I forgot to rotate - but this is him sniffing at me when we were out doing chores the other day.
