The Superior Express -

By

Sorry to have gone AWOL on everyone last week. I had attempted to get my writing done over the weekend, but with all the commotion in the house, it was almost impossible.

Last weekend, we finally gave up on fixing the old washing machine. Thankfully our friends had just purchased a new set and sold us their old ones. Unfortunately, while moving the dryer, it broke. So after hauling the old set out of the basement, then hauling the new set down, we swapped out a broken washer for a broken dryer. After getting over being mad at me for insisting the newer dryer be moved in, George tore into it to see what the problem was. The barring in the pulley for the belt that turns the drum had gone bad and had melted the pulley. Online the part was only around $20, but would take a couple weeks to get to us. So in the meantime, I washed clothes and hung them on the line Monday morning.

Monday morning, while driving Jackson and Nicholas back to Omaha, George made several phone calls and found the part we needed in Lincoln for about twice what it cost online. Since the clothes on the line were getting a second and third rinse and likely frozen, we decided we would pay the extra.

After dropping the boys at home, we stopped to pick up some groceries because having four boys home over the last week and a half had my cupboards looking bare. I had just gotten all the groceries put away when I got a notification on my cell phone. Grand Island was under an ice storm warning, and Jacob was scheduled to fly out the following day at 5:30 am. So after looking at the forecast and radar, the decision was made to leave as soon as possible.

Around 7:30 p.m., George, Jacob and I loaded up in the car. The plan was to get Jacob a room for the evening at a hotel that provided a shuttle to the airport. After a few phone calls, we realized that wasn’t going to happen. Since Jacob was only 18, he could not stay in a hotel room without an “adult.” We turned around near Sandy Creek School and brought George home since he would definitely be needed for work the next day.

Jacob and I made it to the hotel in Grand Island around 11 p.m. When we stepped out of the car, there was about a half inch of rainwater on top of a half inch of ice. After checking in, Jacob checked his flight status, and it was still on time. We set our alarms for 3 a.m. since check-in for the flight was two hours before. To make a long story short, his flight was delayed several times! When the sun came up, we were “oh so delighted” to see a layer of snow on top of the wonderful ice from the night before.

The car doors were frozen shut, making for an interesting morning. In my rush to beat the weather, I had forgotten my boots, so I was mucking around with frozen toes in my tennis shoes. Once I got the driver’s door open and was able to start the thawing process, Jacob and I had breakfast. An hour later, I was finally able to make progress with scraping the ice off the car.

A normally 15 minute drive took us 30 minutes, but we arrived at the airport around 11 a.m. His flight was to leave at 1:30 p.m. I helped him get his bags inside and hung out with him while he checked in, right up to the point were he went through TSA. I made it back to the car and had myself a good cry before heading back into town to hang out until his flight left. If it wasn’t for horrible road conditions, shopping on bad weather days would be great! I was sticking around just in case they cancelled his flight. The snow was still falling and I didn’t want to have to make a second road trip.

Finally at 2 p.m., Jacob said they were boarded and spraying the deicer on the wings. I took that as a good sign and headed home. His plane took off just before I arrived home at four! To be continued! X’s & O’s.