Wednesday, November 1, 2017

This and That

Nothing profound; kind of a ramble.

This morning leaving a hospital encountered a young mother and her daughter coming in the emergency room door at 0610.

Nurse on duty says, in a kind voice, “You don’t look like you feel too good”. The little girl nods. The mother explains, “Too much sugar again”.

Ah ha! Morning after Halloween.

What struck me was both the mother and little girl were neatly dressed, hair combed, etc. The little girl had her blanket and a stuffed animal. I appreciate people who can keep their shit together, and this young mother had it together. As I left I thought how this example would influence this little girl’s life as she grows up. Yes, the situation was serious. No, we don’t need to make a huge drama out of it.

Bad winds again this morning. All the truck stops and rest stops were clogged with big rigs. The only ones running were flatbed loads, tankers, and dump beds. Poor little Yaris was tossed around to the point I almost took the cruise control off 84 mph.

Going through Gurnsey, WY this morning a deer went trotting across the street as nonchalant as a domestic dog. When I told my route co-driver this, he was downright rude. Seems he and his kids went hunting over the weekend and got skunked. His attitude didn’t improve even though I offered him some tips on how to fill his tag.




Drive by this forlorn Triumph on our route. Been sitting there so long the For Sale has fallen to the floor.  Another thing to berate Trick Dicky, under his term we got smog control and safety regulations that killed off a lot of import cars and/or made them ugly and expensive. By design? 

Another conspiracy theory.

Yesterday was no fun. A minor snow storm blew through leaving ice and slush. The Nebraska snowplows only cleared the right lane of Hwy 71 between Scottsbluff and Kimbal. Got stuck behind a convoy of Southbound cattle trucks. Between too much spray and the verdamnit traction control on the Yaris couldn’t get past them. For whatever reason, they went through Kimball. I used the bypass (at about 85 mph) to I-80, then I-80 back to Hyw 71. Got ahead of all but three. South of Kimbal the road was dry and I got past all of them by the Kimball Airport. Yeehaw! 

It is a requirement, to get a livestock hauling endorsement, to pass a, “How to Drive Like an Asshole” test. Yes, courier drivers must pass the same test and I scored high on it.

Recently I posted about my neighbors getting into a screaming match in the parking lot and the impact on their two year old daughter. Looks like at least one of them is moving. Sure hope that little girl finds some peace and security.


Have four days off coming up. Maybe the muse will come back.

4 comments:

LL said...

The Yaris somehow seems to be an inadequate choice when driving slushy, icy, windswept highways in the winter. Then again, I'm sure that your safety was last on the boss' list of "must haves" when the car was ordered.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Works as long as he can find people dumb enough to do the job. Of course, some of us are in the, "Press on Regardless", mode. That is a conscious choice, not a requirement.

Anonymous said...

I believe that you wrote the "how to drive like an asshole test". It is always refreshing to see the wind sock at a smart 90 degree angle on I 25. Be nice if more people heeded the warning. But then I wouldn't have as many trucks to look at in that area.

Sisty

Well Seasoned Fool said...

One person's disaster is another person's livelihood.

RE Test. Just carrying on an old family tradition.