Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Disaster Averted...Barely: Dumpster Diving in a Downpour!

Hello,

This is our initial post as we leave Denver for a long drive cross-country to Florida as we embark on an extended vacation while seeking the Lord's direction for our future. I will try to keep this updated as often as possible with pictures and commentary. No pictures on this post, however, as we have already spent a day on the road.

This is how our vacation began...


July 19th

Disaster Averted…Barely: Dumpster Diving in the Rain!

Well, after finishing the packing and storing (thanks again, Tim), and the cleaning and the taking out the trash (a few times…thanks to DSI for use of the dumpster), and after taking a few things, including Cindy’s Toyota, to the Bloom’s for safe keeping (thanks so much Greg, Christy, Johanna, Nicole, Jonathon and Gretchen!), we then began loading up the car with all of our essentials, which included, of course, two iPods, two smart phones, one Garmin, one laptop and one…iPad. Thankfully, being sweaty and exhausted after working all day, we were getting ready to vacate the house and head to a hotel room to relax for the big day tomorrow. Little did we know that our “adventure” would begin this evening!

Upon packing our suitcases (we decided to leave some “travel bags” at the house to pick up in the morning), Cindy asked for the iPad. Uh-oh! Where’s the iPad?! Neither of us has seen it since Sunday evening and it wasn’t with the laptop or any of our travel bags. We figured it must have been in a stack of catalogues that I took to the dumpster yesterday (Monday 18th). What were we going to do?! If that’s what happened, it is buried under who knows what and has been thoroughly soaked (it had been raining heavily for quite some time now and didn’t look like it would stop anytime soon). We were very upset as you can imagine. We decided to go to DSI’s dumpster and take a look.

And by “take a look” I mean Jason jumping in the filth and wading through it all in a thunderstorm. Sorry, no pictures (too upset to think about); but it was a sight to behold! I was already hot and filthy from a long day working and now I get to crawl inside a dumpster in a downpour. I did have an umbrella with me which probably made the scene even more comical—to anyone but us! I went through that dumpster from top to bottom, from one side to the next and from the front to the back—twice! Nothing! Oh, I did find everything that I threw away for the last two days…except, of course, the iPad! Talk about a great start to our loooong vacation! (Sorry for all the exclamation points, Abbey, but I want to make sure I’m making my point!) :-)

We thought about going to get another iPad (yikes!), but decided to take a chance and check a few boxes that Tim and I just put in storage that afternoon. It was a longshot, but we were already tired and wet and thought, “What the heck. What would it hurt.” So, it was back to the storage unit in the rain. After not seeing it in the first box we opened, things weren’t promising. But, after a quick silent prayer that it would miraculously appear in the next box, guess what we found? Yes, some quilting magazines…and the long-lost (well, not so long, I suppose) iPad! See that? Prayer really does work! :-) Well, maybe it was already in the box. Maybe, though highly unlikely, I had accidently scooped it up with a stack of magazines that I put in the box earlier. I think I’d rather believe the miracle scenario than the lack-of-paying-attention-to-what-I’m-doing scenario. This would make the Dumpster Diving in the Rain a bit more palatable to me.

Now other than the grime, the filth, and the smell, we have a great start to our vacation.

Tuesday’s another big day (in the morning) before we finally “hit the road”.

Until next time (from who-knows-where)…

jj & cj

3 comments:

Dr. Russell Norman Murray said...

GGM, blessings to you and family and blessings on your trip and with plans. I have been to Florida a couple of times and it is pleasant.
Not much of a summer here so far...little sun.

Have tried Google+ upon request, no big deal so far.

Russ;)

Great Googly Moogly! said...

Thanks Russ,

We are now in Minneapolis/St. Paul taking it slowly. We like it here. We'll be spending two days here and heading north to the Great Lakes.

GGM

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