Where do I even start? This week has been absolutely insane. A few days ago, Jon and I were on our way to the practice space to get ready for our first concert of the summer. We spoke loud, trying to hear each other over the roar of my car which was gifted to me. "The Taurus-Saurus" is what we named it, naturally. It was a 4 door turquois Ford Taurus with a trailer hitch on the back end. I never had to tell people when I was arriving at their house because the car sounded like an army vehicle and they could hear me coming half a mile away. You would think it was maybe a dump truck, an old school bus maybe, or some kind of prehistoric dinosaur, but no.. It was just me. Notice how I'm describing it in the past tense?? Let me tell you the story..
So on our way to the practice area, something close to my feet exploded, ripping the front left tire and sending us to the shoulder of the road. We had no idea what happened, just that it was very loud and my tire was gone. We put the spare on and took it across the road to a nearby farm. Appearently, the farmers heard the explosion from the field they were working in and were laughing at the site of my beloved Taurus. Later that evening we came back to the farm to pick up the vehicle, and on my way out I managed to get stuck on some train tracks while pulling out of farmer Joe's property. We called 911 to stop the trains, because there was no way I could get off the sliding rocks. Thankfully, farmer Joe was able to attatch some chains to my trailer hitch and pull me to safety with his truck. The Taurus Saurus now rests in peace at the scrap yard.
All that to say, I got a new car! A Mazda Millenia, in very good condition. It's strange though, I'm not used to driving by people without getting strange looks. And I don't have to worry about setting off car alarms with the growl of my engine, or getting stopped by police because they couldn't hear their calls coming in. I don't have to hold my rear view mirror to keep it from vibrating to see behind me, and I never have to worry about my doors randomly opening while I'm driving. I can actually listen to the radio at a reasonable volume, even when I'm accelerating.
The same night the Taurus kicked the bucket, we had a fun adventure at the house. Earlier that week, Jon and Necia spotted a bat flying around in the house. They took after it with a couple of tennis raquets, but it managed to sneak away somewhere. On my way to my room in the basement, I found the bat. Or, I guess it found me. As soon as I turned on the light, it swooped up the stairs right at my face. I freaked out a bit, and it flew at me again. The adrenaline was pumping as Jon and I crept down the stairs with tennis raquets protecting our faces. It swooped around as I took a few swings. It was too fast. I noticed it would land on the wall from time to time, but it wouldn't let us get close enough to wack it. So I went to my little friend under the bed in my room, a fully automatic airsoft assault rifle. I came out of my room wearing my camo safety glasses, locked and loaded to defeat the monster that terrified the Ornee household. Jon was doubting the stregnth of the bbs, but if anything, I thought it would be fun. I found the bat clingling to the wall above the laundry table, and got down on my knee to take a shot. My first shot dropped him on the table where he lay motionless.
This week on Wednesday I explored around in Grand Haven, a very popular area of West Michigan. I walked a mile trail with my new found lady friend, Alecia and wound up at some dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan. We got there just in time for the sun to go down, and it reminded me of the Oregon coast where I've spent so much time over the summers riding the waves and exploring beaches. The trail went up and down hills through dense deciduous forest, leading to an amazing lookout and an army of stairs that led down to the sandy beaches. This whole Michigan adventure has been eye opening, and I can't wait to explore more places like this in the midwest.
