Recovery Time

Taken about 4 hours after surgery

I had my surgery on Thursday. Luckily it went well and they only had to remove the left half of my thyroid. I stayed one night in the hospital and have been at home recovering since then. The surgeon did a great job and the cut is very small.


 The only problem I am having is with my left ear. I don't think it's related to the surgery. It's like it has water in it, but I dont think it does. I just can't hear out of it and it pops and cracks a lot. I finally broke down and made a Dr. appt. for this afternoon to have it looked at. I can't stand the feeling of having half my head feel like it's stuffed with cotton!

Other than that, Christmas was nice. Time at home has been nice. New Years Eve is tonight. Obviously, we have no plans for that. Just can't wait to get back to feeling 100% again. I am actually already starting to miss being out on the road. Although after hearing the weather reports, I am glad I'm home in Florida. Don't look forward to driving through all that snow.

Happy 30th Anniversary to Us!!

From our wedding May 14, 1982

Yesterday was our 30th Anniversary. Surprisingly John forgot. I don't think he's ever forgotten before, and this was kind of a milestone anniversary, but oh well, I don't really make a big deal out of birthdays, anniversarys and all that stuff. If you love someone, dont wait for a holiday to tell them. Show them with your actions year round.

 Greeting cards dont really mean anything to me. Just words someone put on paper and people get guilted into spending money for. I'm much happier with being taken out for a good meal, skip the card. I remember way back, John had a dozen roses sent to me at the office I worked at. I was so mad at him for spending that much money on flowers that were only going to last a couple of days. I told him to please never do that again. Guess I'm not a typical girl, which is probably why I love the job we do now. Typical girls aren't crazy about becoming truck drivers :)

 We just got back on the road today after being at home for a week. It was unplanned time off but our last load took us within 150 miles of home so we decided since we were that close to go ahead and get some more work done to the truck. There is an International shop in Ocala, Fl that we really like. We've been wanting to replace our front bumper with a nice new shiny one. The shop there supplies the fire department with bumpers that also fit our truck and if the bumpers come in with any blemishes no matter how small, the fire department rejects them and orders new ones. So then the shop has to turn them in to insurance or warranty or however they d o it and about 3 months later the bumpers are released to be sold or sent to scrap. We found one there that is a perfect fit for our truck and only has the smallest of a scratch that most people would never see and they will sell it to us for half the cost of a brand new one. So, $400 instead of almost $900.

 We thought we were going to get lucky and get it put on while we were at home, but it didn't work out. The bumper hasn't been released by the warranty company yet, so maybe next time we go home . We also had an air hose installed inside the cab of the truck so now I can blow the sleeper and the cab out and get it clean like never before. We have a MaltiPoo (Maltese Poodle) that travels with us and he doesn't shed, but loses hair like a human and between me and him, there tends to be quite a few loose hairs that are pretty easy to deal with now that I have the air hose.

 We also had an airline installed on the air tank outside of the truck so that John can hook a hose to it and air up our tires if they are low. The other thing we had done was to have a metal transfer plate made to carry with us. It's just a flat heavy duty plate that can be used anytime we have to do a swap with another truck. We drive a straight truck, so if you back two trucks up to each other there is always a little gap between them. You can't get a pallet jack across the gap, the wheels would fall down in the gap and get stuck. So that is what we will use the plate for. All about making our lives easier.

 We just recently did a swap with another truck. They had picked up the load, which was only one pallet, about a thousand pounds. They made it about 25 miles down the road and discovered the bearing was going out to their drive shaft so they stopped off at a truck stop and let our carrier know that they werent going to be able to finish the load. The carrier called us since we were only 25 miles away and offered the load to us.

It was a good load about 750 loaded miles, only problem was, we didn't have the transfer plate. Carrier says no problem, head on over and we'll figure it out. So we get there and back the two trucks together. The other truck had a piece of heavy plywood that he laid down to drive the pallet jack over. It looked like it might work, but it didn't. As soon as the wheels of the jack got over the area where the gap was, they crashed through and everything came to a screeching halt. The jack was stuck. The freight shifted forward and spilled all into the floor of our truck. You should have seen the look on everyone's faces.

 About two hours later, the load was on our truck after being restacked piece by piece by John and the other driver. I couldn't help because it was pieces of steel and each piece weighed about 55 pounds That incident is what made us decide we were getting a plate made asap. It's kind of funny now but John was certainly not laughing at the time. It was in Texas and it was so hot and muggy. His shirt was wringing wet with sweat by the time he got done. Now all we have to do is wait for another truck to break down and we can try out our new plate...just kidding, I really don't wish that on anybody. Breaking down sucks!! We've got two loads booked right now. We will deliver the one we're on now in the morning and then take another to Ohio.

Introducing the Newest Member of our Family

I've been wanting a dog for quite some time. I just had to get John convinced that he wanted one too. He said he'd never have another one after our last one passed away. The emotional trauma is just too much. I figured after some time passed that he would change his mind, but it has taken six years to talk him into it.

Gracie and Cody

We first decided to get a Yorkie. They're small and seem pretty intelligent. We wanted to get one from a shelter or a rescue so that we would be doing a good deed at the same time as fulfilling our desires. I started looking into the rescues and it was unbelievable to me what the requirements were to adopt one of these dogs. They want to come to your home and do a home study. You have to fill out questionnaires and provide them with the name of your vet so they can call and ask how you took care of your last pet. Pretty shocking really what they expect people to go through to get a pet.

We were sitting up in South Carolina waiting on a load to take us home and I got onto the county shelter website for where we live. I couldn't believe some of the animals that they had there. It's sad to think what must have happened to the families of some of these pets that caused them to have to be brought there.

Who could ever resist this sweet little boy?

One of the first listings I saw was a beautiful all white male dog who was listed as a Maltipoo. Half Maltese, Half Poodle. He had only been there a couple of days. I immediately called and asked if he was still there and they said yes. I asked if they could hold him for me until the next day and they said no. First come first serve.

I told John I wanted to get home and go see this dog. I thought he was the one. John agreed and we went ahead and deadheaded home. The next morning we were at the shelter as soon as they opened. Cody, the dog we came to see, was still there. They put him and us in a playroom to see if we all liked each other and while we were in there, another woman showed up and was wanting to see him also. I told her no, he was ours. We definitely wanted him.

Poor little guy was underweight and needed groomed badly. We paid the fee of $100 which would cover neutering and shots. The only bad thing was that because of the holidays, we weren't going to be able to take him home for 9 days. They absolutely would not let us have him until he was neutered. We told them we would bring him back in and have it done when the vet was there, but they have their policies and would not allow it. It broke our hearts to have to leave him there for another 9 days!

We seriously discussed sneaking back there at night and breaking him out. The pens they are kept in allow the dogs to go back and forth from inside to outside. It wouldn't have been too hard to get him out. I was so worried about him because we were about to have some record breaking cold temps. Since we weren't really going to break the law, there was nothing we could do so I just put it out of my head and tried to focus on the holidays.

As soon as the day came to pick him up, we went back and got him. He was still groggy from the anesthesia. He looked so cute with his eyes out of focus and wobbling around. Poor little guy! We took him home and he got to meet the rest of the family. He was a hit and everyone loved him. He was introduced to our sons dog, Gracie. She's a black lab mixed with something else. She came from the same pound as Cody.

The two of them have become very good friends, we just have to supervise their playtime right now until he gets fully healed up. It will be nice to have Cody along with us on the road. He can be our ears while we're sleeping. I'm sure it won't take us too long to get him completely spoiled!