Never Let A Man Pick Out Your Vacuum Cleaner

August 20, 2012 ~ JodiLea ~ 4 Comments

My hubby and his buddy were living and working on our new home for most of 2011 & 2012. I was not able join them, so they were there without any female supervision. This was a HUGE mistake, in ways I am still discovering.

I was relieved when hubby offhandedly mentioned they vacuumed once in awhile. I assumed that they were using the buddies vacuum, because he was storing most of his stuff in our basement after he moved from his apartment. I knew better than to assume anything when it came to my hubby or his friend, but alas, my guard was down.

So… we move in and when one of the rooms (finally) got clear of boxes, I wanted to vacuum up the dirt and dust-bunnies that somehow hopped on a box and moved with us from our old house. Hubby told me it was in the laundry room closet.

OMG!!

I did not want to believe this. There stood the most big-assed, yellowest, ugliest, monstrosity of a vacuum that I had ever seen. It obviously is a vacuum designed for men. It’s casing made me think of Storm Troopers. I had to read the manual in order to figure out how to set it to vacuum carpet.

And get this – the yellow monster is so heavy (50+ pounds) that I can barely move it, so guiding it is a grueling chore . Only a man would buy a vacuum that looked macho and had a “Turbo” attachment. Am I right?

The thing’s own motor could not move the head enough to make it easier for me to push. I tried every carpet setting available. Some were better than others, but all of them strained my arm. It did not matter if I was pushing or pulling.

I would have used both arms to vacuum if I didn’t have to hold and maneuver the electrical cord to keep it from getting run over and eaten by Big Yellow. Yes, I named it – temporarily. I plan on coming up with a much snottier one later.

To vacuum the corners, I configured it to use the hose attachment. Using the hose was even worse. It wasn’t the hoses fault. It was the lifting and pulling of the monster around to get the short-assed hose where I needed it to go. My arm (wrist to shoulder) was not happy with me, and my herniated disc has not calmed down since.

Eureka!® must have had some reason to produce this monstrosity. Nice try. Men will certainly buy this model because it out-macho’s all the other vacuums. Then the woman has to use the damn thing. That is just SO wrong!

I’m going to write those people a letter!

Diary of a Nicotine Addict: Remembering Why

August 18, 2012December 3, 2012 ~ JodiLea ~ 2 Comments

Locked Up Memory — photo credit: maistora via photo pin cc

Let me say up-front: The Bitch has been up to her wicked ways, but she has not been successful. ♥

With major life changes going on, retiring and moving from a city to a small town in the Sierra foothills, I have dealt with stress and emotions for weeks now. I am wanting to start-up smoking again to relieve some of the pressure and strangeness I’m feeling.

Soooo, it’s time to remind myself of why I quit AND why I need to stay quit. I should remind myself of the perks too. Yes, believe it or not, there are perks!

Because I have not come up with the box that has my medical info and original list of reasons to quit inside of it, I will do my best to recreate it here. If you are recovering from any kind of addiction, I invite you to make a reason list along with me. You also have reasons to stay clean. Who knows? We may even share a few of them…

Jodi’s Reason List:

Both of my parents died young of smoking related illnesses.
I have chronic health conditions that are bad enough without being worsened by smoking.
I don’t want to be the source of 2nd hand smoke anymore.
Always had to interrupt whatever I was doing to go have a cigarette, because I just had to have one! (Perk: I won’t be standing outside in horrible weather because I have to smoke)
Two words: Ashtray breath (Perk: My gums are healthier and not receding anymore)
It embarrassed me to be the only one at work who smoked (Perk: People stopped giving me crap about it)
Was tired of being smelly (Perk: I can wear perfume and smell wonderful now)
Sometimes I would chain smoke until I was nauseous (Perk: I make a lot of baby blankets)
I hate the lying & conniving tobacco industry, and I don’t want to support them anymore.
I hate paying all the taxes when buying cigarettes. (Perk: I’ve saved $$$ )

Blogging All Night Long — photo credit: Federico_Morando via photo pin cc

How many can YOU list???

Local Lingo: Fire Categories

August 16, 2012 ~ JodiLea

I am (slowly) learning the local ways around my new home and the firefighting terms used lately. I thought I would share this article with you so we all can understand the Ramsey Fire updates as they are posted at The Pine Tree … I will be looking for them throughout the day, for the obvious reason. I will not be posting each update on this blog, however, if you are interested in Arnold, or it’s surrounding communities in the Sierra Nevada foothills, John Hamilton will keep y’all up to date. Just click HERE and bookmark it.

A Bit of Fire Lingo for You (Posted by: John_Hamilton on 08/16/2012 09:08 AM)
Ganns Meadow, CA…With the Ramsey Fire there has been quite a bit of interest in the how the USFS categorizes fires. This was sent to us and contains some great information. A single tree would be a Type 5 incident – a truck goes out and monitors or puts it out. Type three teams will have some air support, maybe a hot shot crew or two (Type 1 ‘Elite’ firefighters) , some engines and maybe one or two Type 2 hand crews (less skilled than Hot Shot crews, but still skilled). The Forest has evaluated the local weather, fire behavior and resources at risk in the local area and determined a Type II Incident Management Team is in order. When the Forest “threw the switch” for a Type II team, trailers for offices, a portable mess hall, supplies for a supply cache, porta potties, hand washing units and other necessary items for a “Project Fire” were mobilized. A special group of “Overhead” management staff have also been called, people who’ve spent their careers working to fill jobs on Incident Management teams.

The team will be communicating with the ‘North Operations Center’ (North Ops) in Redding as they evaluate the fire further and begin requesting fire fighters from across the country. They will divide the fire into Divisions or Branches and members of the Team will be assigned to manage each Division of the fire.

The big fire is being broken down into management units and each unit will be staffed with necessary resources to meet the management objectives of the Forest. Since this is human caused, it will be full suppression – the fire will be surrounded with fire line, crews will try keeping the fire inside the line, and when it cools off, the fire will be mopped up 200 – 250 feet inside the line by those Type 2 and Type 3 crews, it will be contained a portion at a time, and finally controlled.

If the fire turns into a Type I incident, that is a big one. The Type I team manages one or more Type 2 teams and all the complexity around a very large fire, the politicians showing up, vastly expanded media coverage, etc. If the fire goes Type I, pay very close attention to the news, wind directions, weather and your property.

Type 2 & Type I teams have Public Information Officers running an information “Trap Line,” a 24 -48 hour update of fire info to local media, posting maps and press releases in local businesses, arranging public meetings, making the world safe for dignitaries, managing TV and news reporters, etc. Find out where the trap line businesses are, and you will get the most up to date info possible, short of a Twitter feed, Inciweb is your next best source.

Ramsey Fire Morning Update…1,150 Acres, 30% Contained, One Way Traffic Control on Hwy 4 Through Fire Area

Posted by: John_Hamilton on 08/16/2012 08:54 AM

Ganns Meadow, CA…Today fire crews will continue with fire suppression efforts. Fire crews will be working on preparing an area along the southwestern edge of the fire near the Stanislaus River for planned burnout operation tonight and tomorrow morning depending on fire conditions. The burnout operation is being planned to help secure containment line along an area that is unsafe for fire crews to work in, due to steep terrain and standing dead trees. Steep terrain and limited access along the Stanislaus River is a major concern and are making direct line construction along the fire unsafe for crews.