Today is January 9, 2023
Spotlight Photo of the Week
This dirty pink mitten was found as is during a hike in Point Defiance Park last week. It made Rachel smile for some reason. Thoughts of playing in the snow as a child and building snow forts in the midwest came to mind.
On this day in history…
2001- Apple introduced iTunes, a digital media player application that, with the year’s later debut of the iPod, revolutionized digital music.
National Day…
Quote of the Week
“Live in the present, remember the past, and fear not the future, for it doesn’t exist and never shall. There is only now.”
– Christopher Paolini
Mira’s Photo of the Week
https://www.everafterphotographypnw.com/
A Few Good Facts
Top-ranking sumo referees carry small swords symbolizing their willingness to take their own life if they should make an error.
Eventually reimplemented as packing material, Bubble Wrap was initially conceived as a 3D wallpaper.
The titan arum plant, commonly called the corpse flower, produces a smell similar to rotting flesh. The odor draws carrion beetles, which aid in pollination.
This section is an add-on from Britannica.com. Each day there is a new fun fact in their All Good Facts section. These are a few that Rachel found interesting.
Word of the Day
Will you find it?
As a fun challenge each week, Rachel visits Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day when she sits down to write her weekly story. Whatever the word of that particular day happens to be, she must find a way to fit it into her story. Will you find it?
CONUNDRUM
Saturday, January 7, 2023
Meaning
A conundrum is a problem that is difficult, confusing, or intricate. Conundrum can also refer to a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun.
Taco Time
¡Hola! Soy yo, Taco (It’s me, Taco). Yes, I am sitting in a liter box giving my human a stare. My male human brought me to work with him for a day last week and I wasn’t digging it. I can’t see the birds outside of my favorite window from here. Why, why me? I decided to protest by sitting in the liter box. I’m still so very handsome, right? It takes quite the handsome cat to pull off looking good in a liter box.
Alec & Zahra’s Adventures
Alec and Zahra have each had their own adventures as of late. After Alec’s mother visited North Carolina in early December, he headed to Las Vegas to visit with his father, stepmother, and extended family visiting from St. Louis. Zahra traveled much farther and met her family in Indonesia for a traditional family wedding. Zahra even got to participate in a choreographed group dance at the wedding. While this wasn’t something she was excited about doing, and she attempted to hid in the back of the group, one viewer of the video must say that Zahra did a great job. Enjoy the included photos shared by Zahra, which include family, the beautiful scenery of Indonesia, her outfits from the multi-day event, and some fun monkey photos. What a nice way to ring in the New Year, and doesn’t she look lovely.
Story of the Week
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Five years ago, on January 8, 2018, Rachel arrived at her new home in University Place, Washington. Time sure does fly when you are having fun. How did she get here? There is always a story to tell. Sit back and enjoy this trip down memory lane that takes us back more than a decade.
In 2011 Rachel was working for Mesa View Regional Hospital in Mesquite, Nevada. A new CEO had come on board and mandated that the Thanksgiving weekend would be extended to a five-day weekend with forced use of paid time off. This agitated Rachel, as her boys would be spending Thanksgiving that year with their father and she much preferred to work. She couldn’t imagine a full five days in Mesquite, Nevada with nothing to do. This led her to hop on the Internet and search for “cheap flights.” She didn’t care where, she just figured she would take off and see someplace new. She quickly found $60 tickets, each way, to Seattle, Washington. Hmm, as a lover of rain, she thought, “why not.” Five days later she was on a flight to Seattle.
Rachel spent four days in downtown Seattle exploring until she was exhausted. She walked from end to end and visited every touristy site possible. She fell in love with Washington. Upon her return home, she told her boys, then ages 12 and 16, that once they were both out of the house, she would be leaving the desert she disliked and relocating to Washington State. “Okay, Mom, whatever you say.” This would be a common reaction from anyone that learned of her plans to relocate in 2018. Nobody seemed to take her seriously.
The very next year, Seattle would be host to the Seahawks/Patriots game on October 14, 2012. Another trip to Seattle was booked. Alec had been a Seahawks fan since he was little, and Rachel had selected the Patriots as her team several years prior. They couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see their teams play each other in person, and Rachel was excited to share what she loved about the area. Blake declined taking the trip with his mom and brother. He had teenager things to do.
The game was fantastic with the Seahawks pulling out the win in the last minute of the game. Rachel took Alec to all the places she had been and showed him around the city. He had a great time being in the home of his Seahawks and got plenty of souvenirs. She recalls his astonishment at seeing so many people decked out in Seahawks gear throughout the city.
Fast forward to 2017. Rachel had begun preparing to become and empty nester and relocate the Washington. She was purging unnecessary belongings and downsizing for the move. As 2018 drew near, she recalls friends being shocked and saying, “you have been serious this whole time, you really are moving.” Well, of course. When Rachel says she is going to do something, she does it.
In July of 2017, just a month prior to Alec’s departure to college, Rachel took a third trip to Washington to figure out exactly where she would live. She had done some research throughout the years and found that Pierce County would be the most realistic, cost wise. She stayed for a full week exploring Pierce County and looking at apartments. She visited several areas and would find police officers to ask about their area. She received some honest advice and was glad she thought to ask the right people. A few of them steered her to University Place, aka UP, which is in Tacoma. She found a couple of UP police officers and had a nice chat. This would be her new home. She identified three apartments and got herself on the waiting lists. Apartments all had lengthy waiting lists. She would be lucky to have one of her selections be available at the right time. Her move was planned for February 2018.
It would be December 2017 when Rachel got the call from Clearview 100 Apartments in UP. Clearview 100 was number one on her list. There was an apartment available in January. Did she want to take it and move a month early or risk waiting and having a delay in her move date? She would take it, of course. She found herself in a bit of a conundrum and everything went into hyperdrive at that point. There was now only a matter of weeks to finalize plans and pack, during the holidays, nonetheless. She also had tickets with her dear friend, Nancy, to see a live podcast in Las Vegas in January. It was to be their last outing together before her move. She would be moving a week prior to that event. Spoiler alert, Rachel booked a flight back to Las Vegas for a week after her arrival in Washington and went to that show with Nancy. It was a must, and it was great.
Back to the move. Rachel rented a U-Haul that she would drive and tow her car behind. She didn’t completely think through the whole drive a large moving truck to the Pacific Northwest in the middle of winter thing very well. After being sexually harassed by an idiot man at the U-Haul rental store and being told she would die attempting to make this drive and that she was too pretty to be alone and needed a man to take care of her, she moved forward with her plans. Wow, right? However, this did cause a bit of trepidation, and she reached out to her awesome cousin in New York, Jimmy. Jimmy would fly to Nevada and make the drive with Rachel, which would be a three-day driving trip to keep drive times short and keep her back pain to a tolerable level.
Jimmy was set to arrive in Nevada on January 5th when a massive snowstorm hit the east coast. His flight was cancelled. Rachel would have to make the first leg of the trip alone on the 6th with the first destination being Salt Lake City, Utah, a five-hour trip. Jimmy was able to book a flight from New York to Salt Lake City for the night of the 6th. He would meet Rachel there and join her for the rest of the drive. Rachel was excited to spend time with Alec on her arrival to Salt Lake City, as he was attending the University of Utah at the time.
As Rachel sat in the U-Haul truck ready to depart Mesquite, she had a flood of emotions. Fear to drive this large vehicle towing a car, fear to drive in winter weather, fear of the back pain the long drive would cause, fear of leaving friends and a comfort zone she had known for more than a decade. Just as she was having all this fear course through her body, she heard a voice yell at her from a nearby balcony. “You’ve got this, girl,” the voice said. Rachel looked up to see a woman on her balcony smiling and waving and giving her a thumbs up. She did not know this woman but was certain she had been watching Rachel and knew she needed some words of encouragement. With this encouragement and a friendly smile, Rachel’s fear dissipated, and excitement took over. The adventure began.
It wouldn’t be long before she hit a snowstorm in Utah. This wasn’t expected or ideal. The snowstorm was severe and her visibility highly limited, and she was driving much slower than she otherwise would have been able. Would Jimmy not be able to make it due to this snowstorm? Would she be able to see Alec one last time before reaching Washington? Would she make it safely? Again, she was full of fear and anxiety. She recalls that drive being highly stressful and intermittently tearful. That first leg of the trip ended up taking roughly eight hours due to the weather conditions.
While she did not get to see Alec due to the snowstorm, Jimmy did arrive late that evening and the two would set out on the next leg of the trip on the 7th. Rachel will be forever grateful to Jimmy for being there for her during this time. The two traded off driving, talked about all sorts of things, and enjoyed the drive. There were times when the fog was so thick it was difficult to see past the hood of the truck. Rachel recalls one morning when she was driving that Jimmy commented that he was impressed with her ability to remain calm in the driving conditions. Calm? She had him fooled. She was running on pure desire to survive.
There were a few intense moments along the way. The worst of which was at one point another driver motioned frantically to them pointing at the back of the truck. They pulled over and found that one of the ramps from the car tow had broken and was dragging behind the car. This was tied up with rope and they went on their way. Another was when they entered a busy section of highway in Tacoma and heard a terrifying sound that made them both think the car had become detached causing them to pull over immediately on a busy, scary turn. They were unable to identify anything wrong and kept going with no issue. Not too bad for a three-day drive in the winter.
Mid-morning on January 8, 2018, Jimmy and Rachel rolled into Tacoma and the rest is history. It was a stressful event but well worth a few gray hairs. Rachel doesn’t know how she would have gotten through this without the help and support of Jimmy.
The next week she made the trip back to Las Vegas for the show with Nancy, a week after that she adopted the late Honey, who she enjoyed for the following three years until her passing. Alec was able to visit her that May and Blake in August. Both boys came for Christmas that year and they got to attend a Seahawks/Chiefs (Blake’s team) game together.
Rachel loves her new home and hasn’t once regretted her choice of relocation. She still lives in the same apartment, which a new management company renamed Market Place Flats and has seen plenty of upgrades over the years.
Wrapping up the journey with the U-Haul idiot; Rachel knew that his treatment of her couldn’t be tolerated. Once situated, she sat down and wrote an email to the corporate office. Not only was she still alive but she had also survived yet another man’s harassment for being a single woman. U-Haul didn’t write back. No, instead, they contacted her by phone to apologize verbally for her experience with said idiot and gave her a decent refund on her moving costs. Now her move was complete. Until next time, be well.
