Long Time No Hear!

Hello there!

Long time no hear! I'm not even going to check the date of my last post.

Okay, okay…I looked.

And – Oh my, it's been that long? And really, it hasn't even been a year since my last post. Still, I guess time flies when you're not looking.

I can't say the usual ‘time flies when you're having fun’ because it's hardly been all fun this year. Mr. Janney and I did our job switch and tried our hand at being a lease/owner operator. It wasn't an epic failure, because we learned lots. It will be a while before we try it again, for many reasons I won't address at this time.

Mt Ranier

I did get to see the Rockies again, and the St. Louis Arch. Spent a bit of time on the West Coast. California and Washington. Got a better picture of Mt. Rainier than I did the first time we did over the road work. Still not as good as the one I took of Mt. Shasta, but a decent enough picture. It was amazing to see it as I drove to that particular Shipper, especially when I realized I was getting closer than I ever had before!

We almost got to see the Pacific ocean. There was a sliver of blue through the trees that might have been the ocean, but it was a short patch, and we were going just fast enough that we really couldn't say for certain.

It was a valuable experience and had things at the end gone differently, I'd probably still be out there. Mr. Janney has a problem with following distance and the truck's cameras dinged him one too many times. He was politely invited to quit. I'm not sure I agree with how the company handled the situation, as there was some miscommunication over a previous safety ding (the company doesn’t like you exceeding their personal speed limit even if you’re still in the legally posted limit). I drove Solo for about a month or just over.

We almost lost our home. Still on the verge of losing the Nissan Rogue that was supposedly a birthday present a few years back.

Oh, and I almost died last summer.

No, I'm not being overly dramatic by saying that. Only mildly dramatic. Do I tell that story now, or make it a post of its own? It would be a little mean to mention it and not elaborate. Even though I am quite clearly still alive to tell the tale.

Well, to make a long story short, I was unable to get my weekly diabetic shot. And the longer I was off, the higher my blood sugar climbed. I may have been able to compensate by becoming stricter with my diet, but there were quite a few days where I was eating 0 carbs and my sugar wasn’t going low enough. It finally did though, and once I was able to get my medication again it all smoothed out.

However, I am in that ‘no health insurance’ place again for a little bit. The new insurance should kick in at the beginning of March, but I don’t know exactly when I’ll be able to get the shot. It’s a miracle drug as far as I’m concerned. More about that another time.

Let me know if you want the longer story and I’ll make it into a separate blog post. For now, I think I am going to sign off. I’ll edit this post, pray I get all the typos, then post. Ever since I began journaling back in January, I’ve had ideas for blogging and I’ve finally decided to make the leap. I have a literal list made up! Mr. Janney did say he wants to see me get back into writing, and journaling & blogging is a good step in that direction.

Until next time, I bid you ado!

Robin Janney

x

No Time Like the Present

Every time I think about writing a new post, I either get distracted or discouraged. Part of me is like: why bother? Another part of me is like: why not? While these two sides of me is arguing, there is a third side sitting there eating popcorn wondering who's going to win. My internal monologue can get quite hectic sometimes.

Who am I kidding? Most of the time my internal monologue is hectic!

Today, so far, the "Why not?" side is in the lead. We'll see how long that lasts.

Thankfully, the most interesting thing that has happened to me personally recently has been a rodent getting into the electrical works of my dishwasher. Little jerk got some wires and a drainage hose. After some ado, we finally got it fixed and it's working again. It was down quite a few days though and I buggered up my bad knee by trying to wash dishes by hand. I know, it's really kind of a first world problem to be complaining about, given the state of America right now, but we all cope with this shit any way we know how. And really, pain is an equalizer for any world.

Whatever rodent is haunting the house has also been causing Pete some anxiety just by existing. I say haunting because I haven't seen the thing, I just know it's there. It also has been raiding the pantry, which is on the opposite side of the room from the dishwasher. It got a chunk of vanilla candy melt I had leftover from Christmas, and an old ramen noodle pack. I hope it chokes.

Mr. Janney and I are taking a break from driving while we switch companies. I'm trying to catch up on everything I couldn't get done while working 50 to 60 hours a week. I'm also taking time to just relax because I was burnt out. I still feel burnt out, but it's beginning to ease. I've probably picked the worst time ever to be switching jobs again, but there's no time like the present. Besides, is there ever a really good time to try something new?

I'm hoping to get out past the Mississippi River again and see the Rockies before summer's end. Fingers crossed! For now, I've got to resume the search for this years taxes. I'd like to get them paid before we take off and it might take me that long to find them. It's just a little slip of paper, but so far I've concluded it's not on my desk soooo I've got to switch my search to the kitchen table. Wish me luck!

A Little Bit of Everything and Nothing

I've decided to keep on blogging. I don't know how often I'll be posting and I'm not going to try to set any kind of schedule at this point.

And just like any other time I sit down to write anything, my mind is as blank as the screen or paper in front of me.

Am I afraid to write what I'm thinking? Afraid of judgement? Afraid I'm writing into a void? Afraid I'm not writing into a void and someone is actually there?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

I'm also tired in a way that has nothing to do with wanting to take a nap. Life is a barely bearable routine at the moment. Up too early with no way of knowing if the dispatch in my text messages is 100% accurate, and no matter where I'll be going the scenery remains the same...if I can see anything beyond the early morning darkness. And no guarantee that the work day will end before my bedtime.

I have managed to write a few poems recently, so there is that much. I'm not sure what to do with them. I haven't posted on my poetry blog in years and it seems pointless to start back up there. I've thought about compiling some into a book and publishing them, but that's as far as it's gotten.

That's enough for now.

Here's the last poem I wrote, for your reading pleasure.

Happy New Year 2025

 Here we are, almost at the beginning of another new year.

The calendar page flips and that's about all. Depending on how you view the seasons, we're either at the start of winter or in mid-winter. Regardless it's cold and often snowy here in Northeast PA.

I checked the last blog I posted and it was near the end of 2022. So two years have passed since I've given you a peak into my life. Not much has changed. I don't have a head cold like I did in that post, although I have recently gotten over a sinus infection. Those are always fun; this one lasted about two weeks.

Hubby and I are still driving truck, still local. The pay is good, the hours long, the scenery unchanging. Granted, at 3am all scenery is too dark to see! I miss seeing the Rockies though.

Pete's second favorite hobby
is napping in my lap

We did get a new dog in January of 2023. He is a little turd that we love dearly even when he is demanding that the tennis ball be thrown down the hallway, which is quite often. When we're not doing that, we're sitting in my recliner pictured to the right.

I also don't have to share the laptop anymore. We were able to get Mr. Janney his own for gaming. I'm still not used to that change in things, but here I am typing on a new keyboard he got me for Christmas seeing if I can't remember how this is done.

How does one string words together anyway?

One after another.

I have been working on poetry here and there over the past few weeks. A friend recommended that I install a voice-to-text app on my phone for when I'm driving and it has helped me get those old gears grinding again. I usually drive with my phone mounted on the dash so I can keep the map on even though I know where I'm going. The map usually gives me a few minutes notice about slowdowns ahead and accidents. It also has a setting that allows me to control whatever I am listening to, whether it is an audiobook or music. And it allows me to see who's calling in the middle of all that.

I am looking at a preview of this post and it shows font changed that shouldn't be there and it's so discouraging. Why is this so hard dear BlogSpot? Just because I added a picture?

Not going to lie, I don't know if I'm going to keep up on this blog. Not because I don't want to really. Just because I'm not sure what the point is. Of any of it right now. With all the various social medias, is this even worth doing anymore? I don't know.

I guess we'll just see what the new year brings.

Kiss and Tell?

 I'm not usually one to kiss and tell - but my husband kissed me and now I have his cold. Share and share alike I guess. Going to keep taking time off to rest.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Short and Sweet

Just a short post today.

I took my mom out this afternoon. Picked up the fudge I ordered from a friend through Facebook, then we picked up our Walmart orders. After fueling the car up, I swung into Dunkin's for hot coco and a donut (maybe 2). Then got us both home before it started snowing.

Now I have to go get back to laundry. Yay.

A Jump Turned into a Hop

Me last Monday: Ooh, an extra day off! I can get a jump on my blog posts!

Me last Thursday: What happened to this week? I have to do a post for Veterans Day and Monday and - oh bugger it, I'm tired.

I did have this nice post in mind for Friday, I even had a picture all picked out. But I lost track of time and it didn't get written. Maybe next year. For now, we'll just pick up here and keep on moving forward.

There are certain things in life I will always try to get a picture of if at all possible. Flowers. Pets. Deer. Moon. Husband. Mother. And as seen above, rainbows!

This particular photo is from July 15, 2019 near Shakopee, Minnesota which is just outside Minneapolis. That was in our first year of driving truck, and according to Google Photos we were coming from an Amazon center.

This particular day was one of the more interesting ones because it happened to be the day this warehouse had a strike. We decided not to cross the picket line and whichever one of us was in the sleeper bunk, I think it was me, had to call up the satellite image of Google maps for the area to see where the would be a safe place for us to get off the road and sit while we waited for the strike to end. We called our Dispatch to let them know what was going on and, well, there's not a whole lot that could have been done. We found a lot large enough for us to sit and just waited.

I'm not sure how long we waited, but the sky ended up opening. It poured buckets.

I don't remember if we decided to see if the strike had ended on our own, or if we talked to Dispatch first. But it was over by then, so we got in and got back out in time to see that amazing rainbow. In this second photo you can see better the faint double rainbow it was.

A little over a year later, coming up I65 in Kentucky, just outside Cave City there was this cool rainbow that pictures just don't do it justice because the fact that it wasn't a solid curve but a little bit wavy didn't come through very well. It was taken from the sleeper bunk by a somewhat cranky husband while the truck was still moving. In my defense, he was already awake as we were soon to be switching in just a couple exits. It's his picture posted above and to the right.

And one of the cons about driving truck locally is that I don't have someone in the sleeper bunk to take pictures when I can't just pull the truck over! This past weekend as I was coming north on I81, I was climbing the long hill after the I80 exits and even though it was noon, the angles were just right that there was a rainbow visible at the top of the hill! Given how miserable the weather was, it was a definite bright spot to driving that day. I think it was Sunday, but it could easily have been Saturday.

I can tell I had a cup of caffeinated coffee earlier today, I'm just running off at the keyboard! I've been trying to cut back on caffeine since July when the DOT doctor was giving me a hard time about my heart rate, rightfully so, but man oh man - life without caffeine is hard. Especially when your day begins at 3am. Earlier if you count the time the alarm goes off.

Okay, shutting up for now! Until next time!!