Like A Tank
Back in October 2007 I bought a new truck…a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 4×4.
It was big and roomy. It could haul the whole family and a load of firewood at the same time. It was as good on the highway as it was in the mud. It could gently pull in the driveway to keep from waking Ace, or it could let ‘er rip and pull a stump out of Grandpa’s yard.
Most importantly, it was safe. One of the main reasons we decided on this truck was to protect Ace in the case of an accident. I’m not the only dad that thinks this way either. Check out BusyDad’s Dada Truck.
Unfortunately I was involved in an accident not too long ago (Thank goodness Ace was not riding with me). I am not going to go into details about how it happened, because everything is not settled yet, but I will say that there was an accident. There was damage to the front end of the other car, which happened to be a Honda Civic, and the rear end of my truck.
I did not get a picture of the other vehicle, but I found a picture online that looks very similar to the Civic that I was involved in an accident with.
WOW! Right? The damage was extensive! I would guess that it was totalled.
So what did the Dodge look like?
That is an actual picture of my truck. Would you guess that it was in the same accident as the Civic? Me neither.
While I am sad that my truck was damaged in this accident, I am happy that it performed so well.
People laugh at me all the time about how much gas I go through, about how big my truck is, about how uncomfortable it must be to drive it long distances…but it’s all worth it to me. I walked away unscathed. Anyone else who could have been inside would have too. What else can you ask for?
Do Crocodiles Actually Cry Big Crocodile Tears?
Vacation! It’s coming soon!
Do you know the last time we went on a real vacation? A real getaway? Me neither.
In a few weeks we are going to pack 900 pounds of stuff into the back of Momma’s truck, and guess what…it is all Ace’s!
Seriously, how can such a little guy require so much stuff? The list of stuff to pack is 3 or 4 pages long!
Anyways, if we manage to successfully drive the overloaded vehicle (at what point are you required to stop at the weigh stations with the semis?) halfway across the country, we are going to be in for some good fun in the sun!
So you are probably imagining a beach somewhere, South Carolina? Florida? Nope, and nope…Iowa! Yes, I said it…Iowa!
Seriously! We are driving to Iowa to visit some old friends, and we are staying at one of those hotels that have the indoor water park! I’m excited! (I’m really a 12 year old in a…man I hate to say it…almost 30 year old’s body)
Not only do they have an indoor water park, the hotel is located on a lake for some outdoor water fun as well!
I’m so excited!
Even though all of this puts a big smile on my face there is one thing about the trip that I’m sure will make me cry big crocodile tears…
I think I cried 23.743 gallons after filling up my truck. 🙁
I plan on taking a record number of pictures on our road trip, as long as I remember the camera (and we don’t have to pawn it off to pay for gas to make it all the way home) 😆 . I should have some good shots to show all of ya’s .
Oh yeah! If the weather cooperates, Ace will be visiting the zoo for the first time this weekend! Please don’t rain! 🙂
This summer is going to be sooo much fun! 😀
Turning Trash Into Cash
A while back I wrote about how we save aluminum cans and I crush them with the old Blazer that sits in the driveway. Remember that?
Well, we have been saving cans for a while now. The bags were piling up in our backyard. Every time we had a storm or high winds I would have to trek across my yard and my neighbors yards to gather up all of the bags of cans that had been blown away.
I finally got a chance to take the cans in to get them recycled. Here is a pic of my truck loaded up with all of the cans…
Well, after driving to the recycling center, unloading the truck, the cans were weighed…
86 lbs of cans!
My engineering mind has got the best of me and I really want to know just how many cans make up 86 lbs?
- I weighed one empty aluminum can and it weighed 0.5 oz
- and there are 16 oz per lb.
- This means it takes 32 cans to make up 1 lb
- So 32 cans/lb x 86 lbs = 2752 cans in 86 lbs!
Two thousand seven hundred fifty two cans! Holy cow!
It’s hard enough to save money for ourselves, however we want to be able to put some money away from time to time for Ace’s future. Recycling cans is one way we decided to get this done.
Anyways, I received $55.90 for all of these cans. This money is going straight into Ace’s savings account. Don’t spend it all in one place little man!
Not too shabby for something that we would have usually thrown away, eh?
I Wish I Was A Kid Again
We just got our first snow last night in central Ohio. I woke up this morning to a wonderful snow covered landscape. It was so peaceful, yet exciting at the same time.
Remember when we were kids? I remember waking up seeing the snow and before I was even out of bed, yelling, “Mom! Is school canceled?”
“Not yet!,” Mom replied, “Come get some breakfast!”
The entire time my brother and I were eating an entire loaf worth of cinnamon toast, we were planning what we were going to do with our snow day.
Should we build a snowman? Should we build a fort and have snowball fights? Should we dig tunnels into the snow drifts? Will anyone take us sledding?
After patiently waiting for the radio to go through all of the school cancellations we finally heard the name of our school. We would jump up and down and rejoice!
Diving into the closet we would break out our slew of winter clothes. Snow pants, coats, hats, gloves, long underwear, boots, and those thick socks.
Did you have multiple sets of winter clothes? Remember playing outside for so long that your gloves and the knees of your pants were just soaked! Snot was dried onto your face mask, and spit crystals formed around the mouth of it?
Mom would call us in for lunch. We would come inside and strip down to our skibbies. We scarfed down whatever she whipped up that day. Mom would put the snow clothes from the morning play session on top of the furnace ducts so that they would be dry if we needed to change yet again that day. Then we put on our second set of fresh, dry, snot free snow clothes. Then we put on our second set of fresh, dry, snot free snow clothes and ran outside to do it all over again!
*** At this point I leave dream world and snap back into reality ***
Well, today was nothing like that for me. I didn’t eat breakfast because that requires me to get up 15 minutes earlier. There was no getting excited about anything. I didn’t listen to the radio for a work cancellation…because that just doesn’t happen. Since work wasn’t cancelled I hopped in my truck and drove across town. The normal 45 minute drive turned into 2.5 hours.
I was THIIIS close to turning around, going home, and taking a snow sick day.
Man, I wish I was a kid again!
I guess I can wait until Ace is in school and starts getting snow days. Maybe then I could justify staying home from work and playing in the snow all day long. Snotty snow mask and all! 😀
