a walk on the wild side

A couple of weeks ago Rudee took a day trip with some of the "motorcycle ladies". They drove to Cincinnati and went shopping  at Ikea and a grocery store called Jungle Jim's. Our daughter Amanda went along as well and they came home with these.

We breaded and fried the alligator using a cajun seasoning and it was really good. The elk and kangaroo were made into patties and grilled. The results were pretty mixed. The alligator was a big hit, the kangaroo not so much. :-)

Now here is my idea of cooking out.

This was dinner last night with our son in law Ryan manning the grille. Our son Matthew and his wife Mandio were visiting and we all had a great time just sitting around the table eating and talking. Ryan even pounded some stakes in the ground and we pitched some horseshoes. Thanks Guys! I have needed a night like that for a long time!

The appointments for Rudee's treatments have started. They are looking at surgery as early as next week and we have 3 more appointments between now and Friday. We are anxious to get the treatments started and get rid of this cancer, it just doesn't fit our lifestyle and has to go!

On the insurance front, the trailer has been totaled and we received a very fair offer. The bike, on the other hand, is moving at a slower pace. They were supposed to call yesterday to give me an update but, as usual, no one called. Geico has yet to fulfill even one expectation they have set for themselves and I find this very disappointing. When I called and reported the claim they told me I would be contacted in 2-3 business days, I ended up calling them on  business day #4 because no one had called. The adjuster then told me he would call me by 10am the next day, never happened. When I called him the following day he was full of excuses, "3rd largest insurance company in the Nation", "busy with lots of storm related claims" etc. I really didn't care to listen to his excuses, he set the expectation, he needs to live up to it! They finally decided the motorcycle was totaled and are due at some point to go and evaluate it for a settlement offer. I have been told this should occur by tomorrow but have my doubts since I didn't get the call yesterday, communication and follow through have been non-existent on their part. I do still have some contacts in the insurance business so I can "shake a few trees" if I have too. :-)

Yesterday on our way back home from the doctors office we stopped and did some mushroom hunting. I love Morel mushrooms! Blame my Dad, he taught me to mushroom hunt as soon as I could walk! Eagle Creek Park is a really nice city park on the northwest side of Indianapolis. The park is more like a State Park then a city park and has a large woods surrounding a reservoir where we could try our luck. We hunted a couple of areas but the ground was still really soggy with some areas of standing water. Moving to higher ground we spotted a good looking area and started walking into the woods when Rudee yelled "snake"! Needless to say that ended our day of mushroom hunting! Snake 1 Mushrooms 0. :-)

We will be busy with Rudee's appointments for the next several days, but maybe I can coax her back into the woods to look for some more mushrooms. I'll keep you posted.

and the hits just keep on coming!

We have been set up here in our daughters driveway for the last few nights. Howard and Linda from RV Dreams refer to it as "mooch docking". :-)
Our plan was to leave here tomorrow and head for South Dakota for our summer work camping job. We have enjoyed our time back "home" visiting our relatives, spending time with friends and spoiling our grand kids. I could have done with out the flood but that is just small potatoes in the bigger picture of life. We have also been busy doing our annual routine medical exams while we are nearby our family doctor. We got our prescriptions renewed for another year and Rudee took care of those "female" exams and xrays. She had to go back for an additional, more extensive, mammogram. This has happened several times before because the normal screening just does not provide a clear enough view. The day before the flood we drove to the appointment in Indianapolis for the additional exam. This time they called us back into a consultation room after reading the test results. They saw an abnormality and wanted to do a biopsy. They assured us that 85-90% of these type of abnormalities were benign. We were both concerned about this but Rudee wanted to keep it to ourselves, "no need worrying people when there is only a 10% chance of it turning out bad".
Monday was the day for the biopsy and it went very well. The tests results on the removed tissue would take 2-3 days to return, again they kept emphasizing that 85-90% of the time nothing was found but we were still uneasy. We anxiously waited for Wednesday to come so we could actually start planning our trip west except that no word came on Wednesday, and we could not get an answer Thursday either. First thing this morning Rudee did get in touch with the right person and her results were in. Breast cancer! :-o The words hit us like a two by four to the forehead!
We are both two very scared people right now.The cancer was caught very, very early, in fact they are calling it "stage 0" and her prognosis is extremely positive. We have an appointment with the oncologist Monday morning to schedule surgery and lay out a game plane for her treatment.
In the meantime, we have talked to our boss in South Dakota and she is very supportive. We may still be able to work there, arriving later then planned, but it all depends on Rudee's length of treatment. We were both really looking forward to working at Mt. Rushmore and are disappointed things are not working out for us to do that like we planned.
Rather then just sitting around I may be able to pick up some "diesel fuel money" working for the local Ag supplier here. Our son in law, Ryan, works there. He talked to the boss and they may be able to use me some this spring to drive a truck delivering product to the guys using the sprayers and spreaders in the field. They are well aware of our situation and are willing to work with me on scheduling and availability.

In other news, both the cargo trailer and the motorcycle have been "officially" totaled by their respective insurance companies. We are still waiting for the offers on both but are hoping we can get them settled by this time next week. I'll keep you posted.

hurry up and wait

Man oh man, what a week we have had. We did get moved back into our home on Sunday. The weather cooperated with my efforts to get the basement compartments cleaned out. I removed all of our "stuff" from the basement storage and rinsed all the mud out that was left behind by the flood. I used our small space heater to dry the indoor/outdoor carpet that lines the compartments. By Monday afternoon I had them all cleaned out, dried out and all the stuff put back where it goes.

Tuesday morning the insurance adjuster for the cargo trailer arrived (right on time!) to look at the damage. He took some photos and gathered some information but said he would have to pass it on to a specialist to resolve it. I understood, after all most of the adjusters out there are trained to look at cars and trucks. Cargo trailers are something they don't see a lot of.
Later in the afternoon I received a call from the specialist who went over the coverage's  deductible and what was and was not covered by our policy. He did say the trailer would be a total loss and he would call me back before the end of the week with the settlement amount.
The motorcycle, on the other hand, is still sitting and I have not heard a thing from the adjuster assigned to handle it. When I called I was told it would be 2-3 business days before someone would contact me to schedule an inspection. I think 2-3 days is a little long to wait for just a phone call and I'm not real happy with the service right out of the box. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it goes.

Tuesday afternoon we drove to Lafayette to our son, Matthew's, home. He had purchased a new grille and asked for help putting it together. When we arrived he had started the job already. I quickly found out this was not an ordinary grille. The directions to put this "Nasa Space Shuttle" size grille together was a small novel. There were 34 steps to the assembly and the directions were all pictures, no words at all!
Matthew was on step #3, only 31 more to go. :-)
We worked most of the afternoon and got the grille together and working fine. Pretty cool, no trips to the emergency room and only one screw left over!
While we were working the rain started. Rudee and I are both pretty tuned in to rain fall right about now. I knew they were predicting some light showers but as the day wore on the rain got heavier and heavier. Oh No!
We made it back to the motor home right as it was getting dark. I did a quick survey of the water level in and around the campground making a mental note of the height. The rain not only continued but got even heavier! By 10pm I was on my 3rd trip around the campground and it was obvious the water was rising! :-o
We decided we were not going get caught in it again and started packing up. I got soaked but we found out we can go from completely set up to road ready in 20 minutes! I don't recommend it but it can be done! :-)
We pulled out of the campground and headed towards the Wal Mart in Brownsburg about 15 miles away. Once we arrived I changed my mind and decided to move to the Lowes right up the road. The Wal Mart was a 24 hour store and was in a busier area then Lowes. We got parked and were both happy to be away from the flood risk. We could hear the rain hitting the roof most of the night so we are sure we made a good decision to leave. I'll keep you posted.