As You Wish

It's challenge time again! This week's challenge over at Exposaroonie is "Your Location." If you weren't already aware I live in Winnemucca, Nevada otherwise known as "The Mucc." We have a population of about 8,000 people here. Our town was named after Paiute Chief Winnemucca. The meaning of Winnemucca is one moccasin.

Chief Winnemucca had a daughter named Sarah who was often called the Paiute Princess. She lived from about 1842-1891. Sarah was very influential for her time being one of very few educated Paiutes in Nevada. She was able to read and write in English and acted as an interpreter. Sarah was the first Native American woman to obtain a copyright and publish a book. She wrote an autobiography titled Life Among the Paiutes: Their Wrongs and Claims which accounted for the first forty years they had contact with explorers and settlers. There is a statue of Sarah Winnemucca in Washington D.C. at the National Statuary Hall for being a "defender of human rights, an educator," and an author.

You learn something new everyday. Did you ever think you would be learning something about Winnemucca?

Anyhoo...here it is...my entry:


This picture was taken behind one of the oldest buildings in Winnemucca. I really like how it has aged and I had fun trying to find the perfect area to photograph for this challenge.

Winnemucca is pronounced win-uh-muck-uh and it's Nevaaaaada not Nevawda. I'm just sayin'.

OH! I almost forgot if you want to vote for my picture you can go here on Friday June 13. Oh man it's going to be Friday the 13th muahahahaha.

A few nights ago Andrew got a sharp pain in his chest when we were getting ready to go to bed and didn’t think much of it. (Don’t worry he didn’t have a heart attack.) All day Tuesday he felt tension in his chest and it wouldn’t go away, so he decided to go on Web MD to see what it had to say. No matter what he typed in or clicked on, it told him he should be seeking immediate medical attention. So what did he do? He waited until I was off work to drive the 10 minutes from my mine site to his to pick him up and take him 45 minutes back to town to the emergency room.

When we got there he went to sign in and told the guy at the desk he had been having sharp pains in his chest and a continual tension. There were 3 or 4 people already waiting to get in, but I didn’t think we would have to wait because well…he’s been having chest pains. The guy told him to have a seat and they would get him back as soon as they could. Two and a half hours later they called him back. Let me repeat that…Two. And. A. Half. Hours. Later. The nurse took his vitals, asked him what the issue was, and sent us back to the waiting room because they didn’t have a room available yet.

If you have a bad memory like me you may have already forgotten what the problem is, so being the nice gal I am I’ll remind you. He has been having CHEST PAIN. While we were waiting my Dad called. This is how the conversation went down:
Dad: “You got a letter from (the place I work), and I wasn’t sure if it was important, so I stopped by your house and the lights are out and no one answered the door.”
Me: “That’s because we aren’t home…we’re at the emergency room”
I then proceeded to explain why and he said: “You’ve been there that long and they haven’t taken an EKG or anything????”
Me: “Nope. Apparently chest pain isn’t a big deal around here.”
Dad: “I’d be suing the hospital for $8 billion if there ends up being something wrong.”
Oh only $8 billion huh? Wow! We had a pretty good laugh about that.

They finally took him back and set him up for an EKG which involved several sticky patches attached to the hairiest part of his chest and lots of wires. The nurse laughed saying it was going to be fun ripping those off afterward and she told me I could do the honors if I wanted to. I liked her, but for some reason Andrew didn't find the humor. There was a monitor behind his head that showed his vitals and I had a pretty good time giving him the play by play of what it said. I have no idea what most of it meant, but I made it up as I went. At one point there was a loud beeping going on and flashing red lights and we both thought he was dying. Apparently we were wrong because no one came running and thankfully he is still alive. The EKG showed his heart is doing great, so that wasn't the issue.

The doctor poked, prodded, asked tons of questions, and decided to give him a GI Cocktail to see if it was heartburn. All that did was make his throat numb. Awesome. They then proceeded to take a chest x-ray which also showed his chest doing great. So you may be wondering what was wrong with him. Well honestly we don’t know and the doctor didn’t either. She thought it might be inflammation in the chest wall, so she ordered a shot of something that started with a T, 800 mg of ibuprofen every 8 hours, and if the pain returns he should go back to the hospital. Hmmmm…Did that help? No. Do we feel better about the situation? No. What are we going to do now? I don’t know.

OH…while we were waiting for the results of the x-ray we had to keep ourselves occupied (keep in mind that we were there for a total of 4 hours), so you know what we did? I’m kind of embarrassed to say, but Andrew was trying to teach me how to blow air out of the bottom of my mouth. You know how when you stick out your tongue and blow it makes a silly farty noise and your top lip kind of just flails around? Oh you don’t know. Dang it. Well take my word for it. So anyway when Andrew does this it is reversed and the air comes out of the bottom of his mouth and makes his bottom lip flail about. I couldn’t get it right for the life of me. The other people in the emergency room probably thought I was farting myself to death in our room.

When the doctor first entered our room she told us we had to stop laughing. I’m pretty sure she was joking, but she had to remind us we were in the ER. Side note: occasionally I revert back to about four years old just in case you were wondering. I was delirious, we were hungry, and Andrew was ready to tell them he felt better just to get out of there.

FYI: Just so you don’t think we’re some kind of freaks that think heart or chest problems are a laughing matter I thought you should know that Andrew was feeling fine and wanted to keep the mood light. If he wouldn’t have been feeling well or the pain returned believe me I wouldn’t have been laughing.

A few weeks ago we went sledding with some friends. It was so much fun!

We went to the movie theatre tonight and saw The Bucket List. It was a really good movie. I recommend it to anyone looking for something to do.

One of my favorite parts was when Jack Nicholson was talking to his assistant and gave him three things to live by:

• "Never pass up a bathroom."
• "Never waste a hard on."
• "Never trust a fart."

What more do you really need to know?

The following is completely unrelated to the previous story. For a couple of years Andrew played on a local pool league and now he only fills in when he is needed. He got a call this week because they were desperate for him to fill in, so he said he would do it. Its not really that big of a deal; all he has to do is show up and play four rounds of pool. The lady on the other team walked up to him, told him her name, and asked for his. Of course his response was, "Andrew." She asked, "Curt?" I can see how she could mistake Andrew for Curt...wait no I can't.

Last night was our company Christmas dinner. We went to a nice, fairly new, Basque restaurant. I ordered the Lamb Chops. I hadn't eaten lamb before last night, so I guess it was time to try it. I told Andrew quite a while ago that the next time we went out to eat and lamb was on the menu I would try it. He called me on it last night and I was pleasantly surprised. There wasn't much meat to it, but the meat that was there was very good. I also really enjoyed the soup, beans, salad, and bread. It could have been the fact that I was so hungry by the time we ate that I would have been satisfied with just about anything, but it really was an enjoyable dinner.

A few of the topics discussed at the dinner table last night:

• Trucks
• An undisclosed man's buttcrack that goes on for days
• My boss's wife trying to sell everything he owns (she works in sales)
• Trucks
• Men sitting to pee
• My boss was bent down to tie his shoelaces and one of the guys said, "While you're down there..." How original.
• My boss's son ate all of the jelly filled doughnuts that did not belong to him. His response, "No name fair game." And, "They looked so good I had to have one and once you've had one...well...you have to have 5 more."
• Trucks (I'm not saying this to be annoying, this is really how many times they talked about trucks, which if you didn't know already I am not interested in.)

When Andrew got home from work yesterday he came through the front door which is a rare occasion. He usually enters the house through the garage. I greeted him at the door and he handed me an envelope that had been sitting outside. Our lovely neighbors Annie and Jim left us a Christmas card on the doorstep which included a letter inside. Jim wrote what I think is the quote of the year, Winnemucca is "the land that green forgot." What more can I say? I mean this is the epitome of greatness. If you live in Nevada, anywhere other than Lake Tahoe, this should hit home.

We are leaving for Montana tomorrow, so... Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year just in case I'm not able to write for a while. We will be gone until January 6th! I'm so excited.

The other night we went to the late show at the movie theater to watch "I Am Legend." It was a pretty good movie. We both agreed that the ending could have been better, but Will Smith is a great actor. I wish I could say that I was blogging to sing the praise of a good movie, but unfortunately I'm not. I am writing today to curse the rude little 13 and 14 year olds who decided to grace the theater with their presence.

Let me first say that "The Mucc" (Winnemucca) is not a very big town. There are about 15,000 people at the most. I think the rule is that if a movie is rated R you have to be at least 17 to attend the showing or be accompanied by an adult. Well...in "The Mucc" this rule does not apply because if they didn't allow people under 17 at rated R movies they would lose too much business.

There were about 15 of them sitting in the first 3 rows of the room. They obviously have not been taught silence is golden because not only were they talking, but they weren't even trying to whisper. We have encountered this problem before and let me tell you there is nothing more annoying at a movie than getting distracted by a bunch of teenagers talking and playing musical chairs.

I am very easily distracted which Andrew will attest to and I have missed way too much of a movie to put up with this shit. The last time this happened (same scenario) the kids were playing musical chairs (moving from seat to seat around the theater) and Andrew (my hero) leaned forward, got face to face with one of the boys, and said, "Sit the f*ck down." I can't help but giggle while I write this because let me tell you it was awesome. The boy apologized and kind of quivered back into his seat. You might be feeling sympathy for the boy. Don't. He had walked from the front of the theater to the back a handful of times, he was talking, and quite frankly being very annoying. In my opinion he deserved it. I mean it's not like Andrew sat on top of him and pounded on him...which is what I wanted to do.

Anyway...back to the other night. Apparently we weren't the only ones about to blow a head gasket because about 2 minutes into the movie the owner of the theater walked down to the front of the room, leaned over the group, and said, "If one more person complains about these 3 rows you are ALL leaving." I wasn't silently applauding at this point. One of the boys in the group replied, "Sorry sir." The owner whipped around and snorted, "Who said that?" One of the boys confessed and the owner leaned down right in his face and quietly scolded him.

Once again young people who feel entitled drive me crazy. If you decide to go watch a movie I suggest you watch the movie. If you feel like talking do it at home or at McDonald's like everyone else. And if you don't have a car or you aren't old enough to drive...please behave yourselves (shut the f*ck up).

I apologize if anyone is offended by my language here. I think I offended myself, but I was in the moment and that is how I felt at that point in time. I wouldn't actually talk to someone like this or even voice my opinion for that matter. In my mind on the other hand I can strangle rude people and be completely content with it.

Winnemucca has several fast food restaurants including: McDonald's, Burger King, Arby's, Subway, Taco Bell, Taco Time, etc. We finally opened a Jack in the Box yesterday. For those of you who don't know this is a very exciting event. We have had the same fast food places for several years now and Jack in the Box is awesome. They serve breakfast all day long for crying out loud.

Andrew and I were so excited we had to go there for dinner last night. We both had the heart attack burgers, curly fries, and sodas. It was so good and so bad at the same time. We ate way too much like we always do and went home complaining about it (like we always do).

The opening of something new always brings out Winnemucca's finest. I do not mean the police department when I say finest, I mean the weirdos. I mean the people that should just stay home, the people that delivery was made for. Please excuse me if you think I am being rude, but it is true.


So should you ever be traveling through Winnemucca we now have one more choice in fast food for your pallet.


Bon appetit!

We are still alive! We went outside today and the fires are almost gone. There are still a few spots on the mountain that are burning, but for the most part the skies are clearing up. Andrew and I went to lunch with my mom and it looked like the firemen were doing a pretty good job handling our fire situation.

After lunch Andrew and I drove up by my bosses house to take a look at the damage. Thankfully his house was still standing! The fire reached the fence of his backyard and stopped there. Some of you may have heard of the fire that terrorized Tahoe just a week and a half ago...well my boss also has a house in Tahoe. He was a very lucky man twice because the fire in Tahoe was just down the street from his house and the fire in Winnemucca was just behind his house. After talking to him briefly he told us that a couple of houses down from his a barn burned down and the fire went over the man's house and burned the trees in the front yard (the man's house didn't burn at all).

So...Winnemucca will live to see another day. Hurray!

I'm not sure about the rest of Nevada, but we arrived back in Winnemucca around 7:00 pm Pacific Time and the fires were ablaze. The sky was covered in dark smoke from all of the fire that was around our poor pathetic town.

My boss and a friend live in one particular area of town and it isn't looking good for them. They are both on vacation, so they are not around to enjoy the bonfire (I know, that was a bad joke). When we got into town we drove toward where they both live and the roads were blocked off, so we couldn't see how far the fire had gotten. The mountains along one whole side of town were burning.

We got home and decided cooking was out of the question, so we decided to order pizza. I called Round Table and the boy on the other end of line told me, "Um, I'm sorry but we had to send our delivery drivers home because they are being evacuated out of their houses because of the fire. We won't be making any more deliveries tonight, but you can come pick it up." Um...I don't think so, if I'm too lazy to make my own dinner I am definitely too lazy to go pick it up. No worries though because Pizza Hut delivered and we did not have to starve. Yay!

I will post an update later as long as I am not scorched during the night.