Today I learned the difference between heat stroke and heat exhaustion

So, do all y'all realize how hot it is outside?
 It's hotter than two brown bears fighting over barbecue sauce in a forest fire.

(My brain is turned to putty in the heat. So much so that I have reverted to my southern roots.)

Apart from working a lot here in Ann Arbor, I've started straddling a grown-up job in Kalamazoo. This one requires putting on a full-faced mask respirator and body suit in a pseudo-Darth Vader fashion and squirming into attic crawl spaces to re insulate houses. Thinking about it, being in the lava like atmosphere of the attic is a lot like how Darth Vader came to be in the suit... My job brings it full circle.

But until such time that my rent is up here in Ann Arbor, I'll be running back and forth. And back and forth.

Last night I arrived back in Ann Arbor after three-day stint in Kalamazoo. I was pretty much bushed from three days of looming in the constant threat of dying from dehydration and manual labor and laid straight down to sleep. I woke to find my cat panting on the laminate floor of the bathroom. Technically, she's not my cat, so seeing her matted hair and watching her puff made me a little nervous. I immediately changed out her water for fresh iced water and let her out on the porch for some night air. Granted the air outside was only slightly less than the steaming humid soup air inside.
 No dice.
I was going to kill a rented cat unless I did something pretty quickly.

Funny thing about Ann Arbor, the stores that are open 24-hours are kind of a trek away. It keeps the small-town-island-with-a-big-city-feel going.

And that's the story of how I ended up driving for twenty minutes at 4:30am this morning to buy a fan that "my" cat is currently trying to hide from. I think the noise scares here. Closest thing I have to a vacuum, I suppose.

To the Blueberry!

Right after Christmas this year, I got into a pretty bad car accident. Travelling back from home to make it to Ann Arbor for work is a three hour drive that would have been greatly compounded by an intense sleet storm, but most bosses (mine included) wouldn't care that I had decided to spend an extra day with my family for the holiday, I was supposed to work.

And this was a place that didn't close on Christmas, if it helps to paint the picture in your imagination.

As most moms would have, mine forbid me to head out with the storm pelting half-frozen sludge on the windows, but I assured her, guiled her, got angry at her, and finally convinced her to let me out of the front door.

Yeah, I got about ten miles before I hit a patch of ice and swerved off the road, hitting the ditch after having spun 180 degrees to face the direction I had just been traveling in, like my trusty car knew where I was supposed to be headed: home. How ironic.

I rolled and crunched down the steep ditch bank (if you've never visited rural Michigan, here's a human for scale...).

Seriously, they're huge. I got this picture from the Nature Conservancy where they have a special project set up just to level them out. The one I drove into was a bit larger.

Before I hit the point of being upside down in my car, my only thought was, "S&*#, I should have listened to Mom...." Not exactly the last thought you want to have on earth as a conscious human being, but there it was.

Thankfully, I walked out of the wreck with a sore back and minor bruising across my shoulder--Always wear your seat belts, kids!--but the passenger side of the car was smashed in, almost every window had been shattered, and I would be shaking shards of glass out of my hair for the next couple of days. Without having to take a second look at it, my step-dad knew the car was totalled. Also, I lost my Blind Melon CD. By far the greatest tragedy of the night.

So for the next couple of months I was on the market for a new car, just like every other driver in Michigan who experiences the snowy roads of death. It was slim pickings and I had almost resigned to wait until later spring to purchase a new car, not ideal, but more practical. Then I stumbled across the new Fiat... Oh, what a beauty. I knew I had to have one. I had never been a VW Bug fan, but something about the Fiat 500 struck my fancy in a strong way. Maybe it was the excellent gas mileage, or perhaps the cute as hell design, or more likely, it was the most unique compact car I had ever seen.

The long of the short, after weeks of research, haggling, and convincing my family, particularly my step-dad how safe it was and how easy it would be to park in the city, and how the gas mileage was amazing and how by golly, I am an environmental major and just doing my part to save the planet, I purchased my new car.

The ultimate kick was when I took it home and my step-dad drove it and came out admitting it was a cute little car, and probably well-equipped for city living. Success!!

Most recently I have started working with a construction company. This is the beginning of my big-girl life with a full-time job. The past few days, I've been shadowing the crew on-site as they retrofit houses for new insulation and other energy-saving renovations.

Let's keep this in mind; my first day, I show up, a skinny little young girl hoping to fit in with many of these middle-aged burly men....and I pull up driving this:

Doesn't it just scream, "Take me seriously!" Look it's even all dirty and muddy and rugged.

Steady, As She Goes

 I don't know what I've gotten myself into. 
It's my first day off since my brother's wedding. I wanted to be productive...

I'm sitting on my couch eating bisquits and gravy from a styrophom take-out container. How does this happen??

I wanted to be productive, truly did, but then I realize there's a marathon of House Hunters and House Hunters International on the telly. So now instead of being productive I decided I wanted to buy a house...in Germany...In my shorts and socks.

In my defense, it is raining outside that sort of calming rain that makes you want to nap.

So I leave you with that snapshot of my life.

You're welcome.