the Vandersluis Family: 2008

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Janice takes a "CHILL" in Bend after our trip into the ditch

I started my drive up to Bend on Tuesday with my car loaded down & I was pulling our utility trailer that was "way to heavy" according to Nathan. My good friend from work, Janice Jackson was kind enough to make the trip with me. It sure made the drive much more enjoyable. Janice would say, "yea, right". On Tues evening we decided to stop for dinner in Klamath Falls, which is about 2hrs from Bend. In the restaurant there was a lg chalkboard with road conditions & closures on it. Hwy 97 to Bend was closed probably for the night due to a double fatality about 40 mi away. Well, that was fine with us as it was pitch black out & snowing. Nathan had also told me to stay put as the roads are far worse at night & people drive crazy at the beginning of the winter. We had no problem finding a "motel" & the restaurant even gave us a 10% discount on our meal because we were "stranded"...lol. The next morning we left fairly early and we didn't really see much snow until we were nearing the fatality site from the night before. I had my car in four wheel drive & I was only going 30mi. an hr....I'm not lying. Janice is my witness. The road was one HUGE sheet of ice. We had just passed to pickups that were in the ditch when I think the trailer started to slide. There was no correcting it. We slid all the way around & as I was thinking were about to go in the ditch side ways, which would have made us roll, the weight of the trailer pulled us the rest of the way around & we ended up backwards in the ditch. The trailer landed along side a tree & the entire back end of it/lights etc were buried in dirt. Janice got on the phone to AAA as soon as we came to a stop. I was crying & she was consoling me. I said a few choice words as you can probably imagine. AAA said they could be out in an hr. & I said there is no way I'm going to sit in this ditch for an hr. So we assessed the situation & I got back in the car & started rocking it to & fro to try to get up the embankment to the road. I actually got the front end up to the edge of the road by doing it that way. But I needed more traction to pull the trailer out of the trees. As an old MN native I was stuck in snow more times than I care to remember. I called Wayne, a friend in Bend & he told me to put my cables on the front tires. Janice & I were sure that the truckers driving by enjoyed seeing us lying in the snow & dirt trying to get those cables on. Of course no one stopped to help us. I really don't blame them because had they tried we would have had another fatality. Once we got them on it took awhile for the traffic to clear so we could work our way up & onto the road. We didn't want to cause another collision. The car was not damaged at all, nor the trailer. I was so upset about our near death experience that I forgot to take any pictures. I've included pictures of the my car & the back end of the trailer on our arrival here in Bend....:-)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Moving on...........Bend, Oregon or bust!!

Most of you know that I've taken a job at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, OR. I will be working in labor on the night shift. Yes, that's what I said, "the night shift". It's the only full time position they had available at the time they made me an offer. Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to it. I'm sooo totally ready for a change. I'll miss all the people that I have worked with for the last 19 1/2 yrs. Many helped make an unbearable day bearable and there were alot of those days. I'm going to try & maintain my per-diem status @ St. Agnes. Once I get my schedule up there I'll know whether or not it'll be possible. It's a union hospital & it's not self scheduling....:-(

So......... to the end of the line I go!