MARTA'S OTHER ADVENTURES (Not-Quite-Ballooning, Not-Quite-Nursing) "Dance, Dance, Dance.  Moving to the beat burns off stress hormones and energizes you, making troubles feel more manageable."  —Alice Domar (Harvard University Psychologist)

---

Click on a story tiltle to jump directly down to that one.

• How Hard Can That Be?
  ... and "PS: ...A Little Bit of Rain"
• My Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades
• A Funny Thing Happened On The Way....
• Swimming With The Dolphins in Anguilla
• And more to come as time permits

 

I got to the place the trailer was parked, backed the truck up to it, and proceeded to hitch it up. How hard can that be?? We all know that "Marta" and "backup" are not words used in the same sentence. So I spent a lot of time backing up, positioning the truck, lining up hitch and receiver. Climb in, pull forward a hair, get out, see I'm a tad off (some say I'm more than a tad off, but that's all the other stories!), climb in again, back up. Get out, look. Gotta go a bit that-a-way now. So climb in, continue this process many many times. Did I say many times?

Got it all put together, locked, drove East on highway 70. I only had to get to Elks drive; several miles. How hard can that be? And the trailer fell off the hitch, right by Highland Elementary School! Nose dived right into the tarmac, it did. Safety chains work!

A really nice lady came by, went home, got her chocks. Then she had to leave. I couldn't get to my chocks because when the trailer fell off, the contents slammed forward into the nose, and I couldn't get to the storage shelf to get my chocks.

I remember thinking "I have a rolling repair and first aid station in this trailer; too bad there's no emergency kit on the OUTSIDE of the dang thing! " And thinking that a pickup with a lift-gate was looking mighty good. I found both my jacks and assembled them, raised the roof on the truck, and hoped for a good Samaritan.

Eventually, the custodians from the school came out and tried to help me. During this time, two different sets of people I knew came by and asked if they could help, but I thought the custodians had it under control, so I sent them on their way. The custodians wanted to lift the tongue, but the trailer weighs a ton (literally).

Another guy came along and had a floor jack. This worked a whole lot better than my two wimpy jacks. Got the trailer re-hitched and locked. On my way again, really slowly because I was very apprehensive at this point.

I only had to get to Elks drive; a couple of miles. How hard can that be?? So I headed East on 70 again, very slowly.

At the intersection of 1-25 and 70, the trailer slammed into the back of the truck! For those of you who know, this is a downhill slope, as you go over the l-25 bridge, beginning the bigger slope as you head down to Lowe's. I reacted correctly, but my heart was pounding like crazy and my whole body was shaking.

I got out of the truck and when I saw what the problem was, my knees literally went weak. A man came out of nowhere and said, "Do not worry, this is no big deal !". Super man in a Scion, he was!

The hitch was securely attached to the truck, but the tongue and hitch mechanism had completely come apart!!!! All of a sudden, there were males everywhere, including the fire department! Several guys in a big pickup had a huge tool box full of bolts and nuts and washers and tools. Oh, the tools they had!! They found all the pieces of the tongue assembly, put the thing back together. All those guys picked up that trailer and moved it all around the highway! First to get it out of traffic, then to reassemble it, then to reattach it. Those chocks really came in handy , keeping the trailer from rolling downhill anymore. The fire department made sure I got through that busy intersection safely, and I was on my way.

I had less than 1/2 mile to go. How hard can that be?

When I got to the lot where I was supposed to leave the trailer, the lot owner said I couldn't leave it there. So I went to the bathroom and cried and cried and cried. Then I called Jim Johnson, who got the whole situation worked out. This is the super man of all super men!

The trailer is on its way to Albuquerque for its annual inspection. The Suburban needs a little body work. I need a massage, or a new tongue assembly for the trailer.

Maybe I ought to sell the whole system and buy a motorcycle? How hard can that be??

I also need to find a way to thank all the nameless heroes who materialized out of nowhere, no questions asked, and who disappeared just as quickly. I didn't have the presence of mind to get their names, nor give them my balloon cards (but maybe this is as close as they ever want to get to a balloon?).

God bless them, each and every one.

Marta

 

PS: How about I talk about the weather instead? We recently had a Little Bit of Rain...

El Paso is experiencing a 50 year flood, or so the local media have dubbed this storm.  Some are calling it "Storm 2006".  I am calling it wet.  Dang wet.  It started raining a little, two weeks ago.  A welcome sight, indeed!    But then, last week, we had buckets of rain, and there was flooding in a few areas.   I had a bit of concern, because I have some leaks which the bathroom contractors have assured me they have temporarily fixed, and will finish with a more permanent job once they are done with the bathroom.  It stopped enough for me to get a whole lot of yard  work done over the past weekend.

Soooooo, Sunday evening, it started to rain … REALLY, REALLY rain!   Bunches and buckets and cats and dogs.  Had to get up in the night and close the windows.  That never ever happens. 

In the paper this morning was a story of an apartment complex in which the cars were all found to be floating. This complex is UP the road from me by about two miles!!  I wondered if I would be have to  find a canoe to get out.   On the way into work this morning, there was evidence of arroyo washouts every where, especially in low lying areas.  Many wrecks on the freeway ... a lot of debris on the roads. I had heeded a friend's warning about the freeway and took an alternate route to work.  He lives close by, was stuck in the traffic.  We arrived at work at the same moment.  It took him 80 minutes; it took me 35!  It poured and poured and poured all day, then it turned into deluge.  It was looking as if we need to build an Ark.

El Paso is made up of many hills and valleys.  Many low areas are on, or of, the freeway.  And what isn't low causes all the water to sluice downward to those areas that are.  So by noon, many parts of freeways were closed, as were many of the main arteries into and out of El Paso.  I live on the far West side, in New Mexico, two miles due West of the Texas line.  All avenues of approach to that area were closed in any accessible way, save for two. And the media said the "authorities" were considering closing those. 

The Highways out from Deming, Las Cruces, and Alamogordo were all closed off so that traffic would not get into  El Paso and further clog the roads.  This effectively isolated El Paso, and kept miles long lines of semis imprisoned on the freeway.  

It takes an act of Congress to close the clinic, but by 3 PM, there hadn't been any new clients wander in for several hours.  So the office manager locked the door and sent everyone home before everyone else hit the streets at 5 PM.   Congress must have been in session!  It was getting dicey to find a way home, but one street does go West to I-10 , and empties onto a part of the  freeway Westbound that would have no traffic, because once you get to that point, in this situation,  you have circumvented the clog  in the VALLEY OF THE SPAGHETTI  BOWL .  So I set off on that course.  So did everyone else who needed to go west.  A trip which would ordinarily take 10 minutes just to get to the freeway took 70 minutes, and then there was the rest of the journey to make. 

I finally got to a gas station on West Mesa, then proceeded to make the last 3 miles west. There is a very low area at a big intersection at Doniphan and Mesa.  It was very flooded, but I know that street very well, I knew how deep the water was, and I did know I could make it.  Every one was going through there every slowly and making it just fine, so I nosed the PT Cruiser into the "lake".  As I was half way through; a HUMMER came barreling East at a bazillion miles an hour, sending up a 5 foot wall of water, drenching many vehicles.  This was the most frightening aspect of the whole day.  I got through, but my alternator light came on.  I hope it just got wet and no other damage than that.  I hope the Hummer is happy. 

As I crossed the bridge over the Rio, I marveled at all the water in it.  It had crested very high over its banks, and people were out taking pictures of it.  They'll be able to tell their grand children,  " I  remember when the Rio not only had water in it, but it actually went all the way over there!"

I got home and found my front court yard flooded, the West rock walking path flooded, and the bed/ bath room roof with tiny leaks.  But the dining room ceiling is peeling away from the underlayment.  I turned off the automatic sprinklers.  I believe I won’t need them for awhile. 

I am sure many startling images of flooding here have made the national media.  One in particular was of huge dumpsters going tumbling down Mesa Street, a very main artery through town.  Arroyos broke, the Rio is engorged and overflowing its banks.  We have Monsoons here --or rather --we used to.  We have been in a huge drought for years, so we haven't seen Monsoons for quite some time.   This was/ is a bit scary.   Elderly people are saying they have never seen anything like it in their lives.  And though the rain has slacked off a bit, there is supposed to be another storm move in.  We can only hope it moves in somewhere else! I can assume that the airport was closed as well. When that happens, the skies become constipated. It sets off chain reactions on take off and landings all over the USA.

I brag about endlessly blue, cloudless skies here.  We don't have that now.   But the sun'll come up tomorrow, tomorrow … and we will wish it would rain.   

I'm taking the inflatable raft with me in the morning!

Marta, from "down under"

 

[posted 1 August 2006]

I lost my glasses on the trip out here to NC--at the El Paso airport--and had to have new ones made on Wednesday. I actually had the shuttle bus driver take me back to my car twice, searching for them. I was on the edge of being late for the flight by the time I got back from the second unsuccessful search, too.

That was quite an ordeal, living with prescription sunglasses for 24 hours; while in sunglasses, in the Houston airport, I wandered into the men's john by accident. And when the guys saw me, I smiled and said "it's ok, I'm blind!" and turned around and left. Sometimes I just slay me!

Then I went to a newsstand to buy Advil because all mine was packed in the suitcases, which were in the cargo hold. I needed Advil because I had gotten such frontal sinus pain on descent into the Houston airport that it felt like 10" needles being rammed into my sinuses with a high impact hammer! Another woman had the same thing happen, only to her maxillary sinuses (cheeks) and she was screaming in pain. The stewardess was NOT helpful. I need to write Continental an "Onion" letter. Anyway, as I turned away from the cash register, I slammed smack dab into Frank from Trading Spaces! I was so startled, I stammered “Hi! You’re............ Trading Spaces!" He smiled, ducked his head (I could tell he didn’t want to be I’d), so I said "Don’t worry, I'm incognito too, I wont tell anyone.” Some times there are those rare moments in one's life when they can actually be 2 for 2!

The next day, my daughter & I went shopping for new glasses. The first frames we saw were funky pink, so we threw them in the try-on pile for "fun". Spent time going to two different glasses establishments. Rejected dang near everything, then discovered the first frames were on a DEEP discount, so now I have stylish PINK rectangular Versace glasses!!!!

Marta
You are always a student

PS: In this part of the country (Durham, NC) there are two very distinct, pronounced phenomenon: Green sticks of varying length and thickness poking up from the earth--everywhere! And water falling from the sky! One must not look up during this intermittent occurrence, or one will drown!!

[posted 26 May 2006]

Two months ago, I decided to become a member of the University of El Paso's Alumni Association. It supports several good causes, and one does not need to have attended the U to be a member. I get a tiny tax deduction, and the U gets some $$. BUT, the added bonus (and ulterior motive for doing so), is that as a member I get unlimited access to the two indoor Olympic sized pools AND state of the art weight room. (For an additional "donation", of course). Since it is open very extended hours, since I am interested in getting some much needed exercise, and since the location of the place is right on my way to work, this all made sense.

The parking lot for the Sports Complex is 1/2 mile away from the entrance (or it seems so, anyway -- some days I am just positive they have moved it another half mile!), and at the top of a really really steeeeeeeeep hill.

This is great for going down to the Complex, but heckity on the knees (and lungs) when leaving it. I noticed that there is a huge number of handicapped slots just out side of the Complex, close to the door.

Sooooooo, I thought maybe I'd go to the Complex more often if I'd go get a temporary Handicapped placard to use, just until I could exercise enough to get my knee strength built up to make it easier to get up that dang hill.

Sounds like a fairly decent rationale, eh? It did to me.

Hrmmmmmmmmmm: a handicap card to use so I don't have to exercise after going to exercise because I need & want to exercise. Maybe it's a blonde thing. It's my story, and I'm sticking to it ... for now.

Well, page two: I got the card this past Thursday. Friday night I went dancing. Something called Contra dancing. Like square Dancing, but more fun, in lines. In a big auditorium, with a wooden floor, making it easier on the knees. Not very strenuous, but gets your heart rate up. During the second dance, I put my left foot down squarely (ha ha!) and felt the most gawd awful pain in my heel. I originally thought someone must have stepped on my foot, but this pain was from the bottom, and causing the foot to feel as if it had just disappeared. Except for the pain, the foot just wasn't there.

I have broken some bones since I have taken up ballooning, and had some interesting surgeries, but nothing in my many moons upon this planet has ever hurt as much as this did (does). It felt as if I had stepped on a sword, right into the heel, going all the way to the knee. I said "ouch!" (yeah right), and hobbled off the dance floor.

In my infinite wisdom (remember, I am a Nurse Practitioner who tells people all day long how to take care of themselves, but truly believes none of it applies to her), I thought it would get better. After rubbing it , and gingerly walking around for awhile, I still believed that. Until I put my shoe back on. Then it quickly became apparent that I might just have to give up that belief. So I hobbled to my car ( there's some good reason why I finally got an "automatic") and drove home, changing my belief to "it'll be better in the morning". There's another belief system gone down the drain!!

After the ER visit Saturday morning, I now have a diagnosis of tendon tear (maybe rupture - the MRI will tell for sure), an Ortho boot, a cane, pain medications, satisfaction of the insurance deductible for the year, and a very well used ice maker. Oh yeah, the Physician's Assistant who took care of me in the ER is a balloon pilot whom I know. Wasn't surprised to see me in the ER, he wasn't. (Though this is my first --hopefully last-- El Paso ER visit). Maybe I'll even get surgery. Whooo Hoo! I also have a temporary Handicapped placard! Very forward thinking of me to get that, don't you think? Of course, if I get to have surgery, I won't be using the thing for awhile. I never cease to amaze me. Love and grins, Marta RamblinRose [posted 21 August 2005]

---

Swimming with the Dolphins in the Caribbean When it was time to plan my next web site for 2004, I found my webmaster was working in the Caribbean. He was on a one-year contract doing web, graphics and information technology (IT) work for corporations on the small island/country of Anguilla in the British West Indies (between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea). Anguilla is well known for its 33 white-sand beaches. Some of them are among the most photographed in the world, but since cruise ships are not allowed their, it remains somewhat of a secret destination. Although the quiet atmosphere is why some celebrities frequent the desert island (accommodations can cost over 6,000$USD per night). Fortunately, I found the Arawak Inn far less.
	The winter of 2003 seemed a good time to fly down and work on ideas for my new web site. I spent much of my time on the computer working myself, but the 6-sided bungalow was only 15 feet from the shore, so I managed to get out every so often. One adventure out was swimming with the dolphins out at Dolphin Fantasies. I'll not ramble on here, but wanted to share a couple photos and recommend that you check out such opportunities to commune with these ambassadors of the sea at various locals around the world. These photos were taken at Dolphin Fantaseas in Anguilla.

---

Family is an adventure of its own. And I have a FAMILY PAGE dedicated to them... more>>>

More of these "Other Adventures" to be posted with time, I'm sure!