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It has been a tough three weeks. First of all, the film in Illinois sucked. They did an overshoot which means the area they shot had already been done as recently as three years ago so I didn't sell very many pictures. And the ones I did sell were for the minimum amount I could take. So I wasn't too happy about that.
Then my Aunt Elsie died on the 14th. She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June and it didn't take very long. She started really going downhill in August and when her kidneys shut down the first of October, she totally gave up and that was the end of that. So my mom lost her main morale support that Elsie gave her in dealing with her own skin cancer and lymphoma.
Air Photo gave me the Birmingham area to work and I cut my stay in Illinois short to go to Elsie's funeral. I took four days off to be with Mom and then left to set up camp in my new digs. The campground is nice enough and I have a huge site which is a refreshing change of pace after putting up with a site so tiny in Illinois that I couldn't even extend my awning and the living room slide covered up the sewer connection.
I worked for two days (Sunday and Monday) then made the long trip up to Memphis early Tuesday morning for Alan's green card interview. The dude who had our case was a total dickhead. He had absolutely NO sense of humor and couldn't be bothered to make any small talk. He would read the file, ask us some questions and then study the file again without any feedback whatsoever. The prolonged silences seemed so awkward. I had a devil of a time trying to explain to him our lifestyle and he just wasn't getting it. Plus he had a tendency to only listen to half your answer and then he shut you down not wanting to hear any further explanation. So I have to admit that it didn't take long for me to get an attitude toward the whole thing because in my mind there was no reason to be so rude and curt as he was. He had to go check with his supervisor four times with questions about the documents we had and ultimately he said it would be up to his supervisor if they would even make a decision on our case as he thought it should be transferred to Delaware since that is the state I claim as my residence. Even though I told him it would create a great hardship on me to make a trip to Delaware for the interview, he didn't appear to care. He said they wouldn't get any credit for deciding our case in Memphis (whatever that meant). So at this point, the Homeland Security people are not at the top of my favorite government entities list.
I stayed with Mom Tuesday night and went with her to the doctor Wednesday morning. That deal, too, was an exercise in frustration. We waited four hours for her to see the doctor about her lymphoma and after it was all over, she still didn't have any resolution as to her treatment.
After that I headed back to Alabama where I managed to sell three pictures yesterday. Today it rained but this weekend is supposed to be nice so maybe I'll get some sales.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Iowa to Illinois
Wow. How time flies. Well, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that at least one person in this household still has a job. The bad news is, the other person has issues.
Alan went through two weeks of training at Covenant and HATED it. He hates the job, he hates being away from me and he hates the lifestyle. For one thing, he got a horrible trainer who basically sat in the right seat for probably all of an hour and then said, "OK you got it," and went back to the bunk to sleep. Alan was brand new in the truck and it was baptism by fire. He drove to Kansas City and then to Houston and was doing OK. But his next trip was from Texas to California and they were doing a lot of construction work on I-40. It was dark, he was going down a hill on a curve, and he was in a construction lane with jersey barriers on both sides of him (single lane), and he was in the wrong gear. You can't downshift a truck when going down a hill because if you miss a gear you're in the shit with nothing but your brakes to hopefully slow you down. The experience was terrifying for him and after that he was a nervous wreck. He was freaking out every time he got behind the wheel and it was so bad that we made up a story about me getting injured just to get him off the truck.
He joined me in Iowa and took a couple days to get his wits about him. Then he had a go at doing my job and it sucked for him. He worked a week and only sold two pictures. After that, he resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to get back into the truck or else we're going bankrupt.
So now we're in Edwardsville, IL which is just up I-55 from East St. Louis. He's waiting to hear from his student coordinator to get himself matched up with another trainer. Hopefully it will be someone who will actually take the time to TRAIN him rather than just use him for a log book to get extra miles.
Other from that, there is not much news except that my mom is getting some pretty bad cancers on her skin plus she's been diagnosed with lymphoma. I'll be in Illinois for a month and after that I'll be in the Huntsville/Birmingham, Alabama area which will put me closer to her so that I can help her around the house and help take her to her doctor's appointments. The past year or so she has depended on her sister, Elsie, to be her support for morale but Elsie was diagnosed last month with pancreatic cancer and is not doing well at all. So my mom has lost that last bit of support and she's getting tired. I'm glad that I'll at least be nearby within an hour's drive if she needs anything and I'll be able to spend more time with her and help get things done around the house so she doesn't have to worry about stuff like that.
It has always bothered me that I couldn't be there for her when she needed help and although so many people in the neighborhood always say to just call them if she needs anything, I know how it feels to not want to have to ask. You hate to be a bother to folks. I'm the same way. Like mother, like daughter. It's not that we are too proud to ask, it's that we don't want to impose on people.
Tomorrow Alan and I are going to splurge and spend some money to go see the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. We really can't afford it but opportunities to see historical sights don't come along every day and so we are going to take advantage of it before Alan has to go back to work.
The "boys" are doing fine. I had to shell out over $200 for Gizmo because he got another eye ulcer on the scar that he had from the last one. While he was at the vet I went ahead and got him some more meds for his allergies as he'd run out months ago and his legs were completely bald from his licking, chewing and scratching. He's been on his meds (antibiotics and steriods plus coal tar shampoo) for a little over a week now and the hair on his legs has started to grow back. I have enough steriod meds to last him for a couple months now so maybe I can keep his itchies away long enough for his coat and skin to recover. Poor baby! But now he feels lots better and so do I.
Alan went through two weeks of training at Covenant and HATED it. He hates the job, he hates being away from me and he hates the lifestyle. For one thing, he got a horrible trainer who basically sat in the right seat for probably all of an hour and then said, "OK you got it," and went back to the bunk to sleep. Alan was brand new in the truck and it was baptism by fire. He drove to Kansas City and then to Houston and was doing OK. But his next trip was from Texas to California and they were doing a lot of construction work on I-40. It was dark, he was going down a hill on a curve, and he was in a construction lane with jersey barriers on both sides of him (single lane), and he was in the wrong gear. You can't downshift a truck when going down a hill because if you miss a gear you're in the shit with nothing but your brakes to hopefully slow you down. The experience was terrifying for him and after that he was a nervous wreck. He was freaking out every time he got behind the wheel and it was so bad that we made up a story about me getting injured just to get him off the truck.
He joined me in Iowa and took a couple days to get his wits about him. Then he had a go at doing my job and it sucked for him. He worked a week and only sold two pictures. After that, he resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to get back into the truck or else we're going bankrupt.
So now we're in Edwardsville, IL which is just up I-55 from East St. Louis. He's waiting to hear from his student coordinator to get himself matched up with another trainer. Hopefully it will be someone who will actually take the time to TRAIN him rather than just use him for a log book to get extra miles.
Other from that, there is not much news except that my mom is getting some pretty bad cancers on her skin plus she's been diagnosed with lymphoma. I'll be in Illinois for a month and after that I'll be in the Huntsville/Birmingham, Alabama area which will put me closer to her so that I can help her around the house and help take her to her doctor's appointments. The past year or so she has depended on her sister, Elsie, to be her support for morale but Elsie was diagnosed last month with pancreatic cancer and is not doing well at all. So my mom has lost that last bit of support and she's getting tired. I'm glad that I'll at least be nearby within an hour's drive if she needs anything and I'll be able to spend more time with her and help get things done around the house so she doesn't have to worry about stuff like that.
It has always bothered me that I couldn't be there for her when she needed help and although so many people in the neighborhood always say to just call them if she needs anything, I know how it feels to not want to have to ask. You hate to be a bother to folks. I'm the same way. Like mother, like daughter. It's not that we are too proud to ask, it's that we don't want to impose on people.
Tomorrow Alan and I are going to splurge and spend some money to go see the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. We really can't afford it but opportunities to see historical sights don't come along every day and so we are going to take advantage of it before Alan has to go back to work.
The "boys" are doing fine. I had to shell out over $200 for Gizmo because he got another eye ulcer on the scar that he had from the last one. While he was at the vet I went ahead and got him some more meds for his allergies as he'd run out months ago and his legs were completely bald from his licking, chewing and scratching. He's been on his meds (antibiotics and steriods plus coal tar shampoo) for a little over a week now and the hair on his legs has started to grow back. I have enough steriod meds to last him for a couple months now so maybe I can keep his itchies away long enough for his coat and skin to recover. Poor baby! But now he feels lots better and so do I.
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