My 2019 In Review

I always feel as if my year passes uneventfully, I get up, go to work, day in and day out. This year I KNOW something big happened, but I took the time to look back and see that there were some milestones and interesting things that occurred.

.

Back story, we are building a house on 40 acres of property in northern Arizona, we don’t live in the house yet. We are living in a 5^th wheel on the property until the house is completed.



In February we received 14 inches of snow! Certainly more snow that I have seen in many years! I had a grand time building a snowman and then taking the #10 scoop and “sledding” down a left over pile of dirt from the house foundation. If I had been more daring I would have hiked to the Knoll and sled down that. It’s a much steeper longer slope.



In April a friend of mine had a hearse meet up in Death Valley, California (you read that correctly, hearse as in the vehicle that conveys people to their final resting place). At that time of the year I was feeling pretty low about things and I decided at the last minute to drive out. I had to buy a new battery for the hearse as it had died from sitting all winter. That reminds me… I need to go start the hearse up when it warms up a little more.



I had much needed rest and relaxation at the hearse meet up, brief thought it was. I did miss going to the brothel (yes, you read that correctly too). Not sure how many people in this day and age have been to a brothel but I am intrigued by the whole idea. Of course, there is a restaurant, and you can eat and not participate in what happens in a brothel (which is what I would be doing, not the other thing).



I did have a strange encounter, while in Death Valley. We stopped off at a restaurant where the chef was a refugee from the bigger more extravagant restaurants IN Vegas. There was a fellow wandering around the restaurant with a pitcher of a bloody mary (I think). While none of us paid much mind to the fella, he came up to our group and asked who was driving the Buick hearse. I volunteered that I was driving the black Buick (my friend drove his white Buick, which I had forgot). The fella then said that he was dying of cancer and he really liked the Buick and wanted that hearse to be the one for his last ride. I thought it was an odd request, but I gave him my calling card. I haven’t heard from him, so I can hope that he is doing okay.



Now for the main event… In July/August I went to Sweden and Germany. I spent about 2 weeks in Sweden and then the 3^rd week was spend driving from Sweden to Germany.



So many things happened, I don’t think I could recount them all in this one little word doc. However while in Sweden I got to visit many cathedrals, both whole and in ruins. I also got to Anundshög and see the burial mounds and the big rune stones. While I was there I got to see Gamla (old) Uppsala, which is more burial mounds and a great deal of history. It was fascinating, I was disappointed that you were no longer allowed to walk the mounds. Unfortunately people tromping about has caused the mounds to weather more than they should.



One of the cathedrals I visited was the Uppsala cathedral which is surrounded by runestones as well. I attempted to take photos of all of them, but I probably missed some.



We went to Dalarna and saw the Dala horse factory. The Dala horses are the usually orange/red colored wooden horses from Sweden. I’m still not clear how a childs toy became so popular! It was great to see how the little horses were made, and that each town has their own color scheme for their Dala horse.



While we were in that region we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Rättvik, this was the week before classic car week, but the town filled up with all kinds of classic American cars. I think of all the classic American cars in the world, at least 50% of them are well cared for in Sweden. The big thing to do if you own one of these cars is to cruise, just like in the 1950’s. I think is some places cursing is illegal in this country!



We found a round-about in Rättvik where I sat on the grass and took pictures of as many classic cars as I could. It was a great time! I was filled in on what a “tractor” was. I thought it was farm equipment, but in Sweden it means something different.



I may have the details wrong, but I believe form 16-18 a Swedish teenager is given a driver’s license however they have to drive a “tractor.” A tractor is a car that can’t go above 30 Kilometers per hour.  Then when the young person becomes 18 I think they are allowed to drive a non-restricted vehicle.



On one evening I asked our host if they played Kubb, which is said something like cup and cub. Kubb can be described as a combination of bowling and horseshoes. It’s a lawn game where the objective is to knock over wooden blocks (kubbs) by throwing wooden batons (kastpinnar) at them. I’m surprised he knew what I was saying, because I was pronouncing it “koob”. We had a good evening playing Kubb and trying not to hit each other with the batons.



Then it was off to Wacken, Germany. If you know much about Germany, you would know that Wacken is a small town in the north. You might not know that Wacken is the home of the largest outdoor Heavy Metal Music festival in the world, which was precisely the reason I was going there!

It felt like a forced march to Germany, but I think that always happens with vacations, despite your best intentions you end up HAVING to get to some place by a certain time which causes this mad dash.



We got to Wacken at midnight, and we got a good camp site which was a 10-15 minute walk to the inner field of the festival grounds. Some people had it worse and had to walk 2 miles in to go to the shows. I was shocked, here in America I don’t think that would happen. Our lazy butts would want some kind of shuttle service!



The most important thing about Wacken was I got to perform my friends hand fasting ceremony there! I am honored that they asked me to do their ceremony! It was Viking themed, instead of rings, they exchanged a key and a knife made from a spring from their 1963 hearse. That was about as “metal” as anything could be at Wacken!



I saw 21 bands in four days. Didn’t know I was a metal fan? Interestingly enough I didn’t realize how many bands were “metal” enough to be at Wacken, including Ice-T (yes, the rapper).



Speaking of metal we took a 1970 Chevy Suburban from Sweden to Germany, the don’t make ‘em out of metal like that anymore. The Germans coming through our camp were intrigued by our old American cars.



I don’t know if I’ll every lay eyes on Germany again, but Wacken was truly an amazing experience that I will treasure, always.



Once Wacken had completed, we went to Denmark, and had a missed connecting with one of my friends, friends.



We made it back to Sweden went to a town called Trollhättan, because of the name. We North Americans find the name quite amusing. Trollhättan is a beautiful town, I would have liked to have spent more time there! We hiked along the canals, and took photos of the buildings and even visited the Harley Davidson store there.



We also went to another car show, with a fellow hearse driver’s hearses. It was amazing to see the European hearses up close and personal. It was also amazing to meet a few members form the SHS (Scandinavian Hearse Society).

There was even a 1970 Volvo at that particular car show, like the one I learned to drive in. I’m sure that my friends thought I was silly fawning over a Volvo, but it brought back great memories from my childhood.



We went to Stockholm, and did the touristy thing visiting the shops and the down town area. I took a picture of a sign that read, “Welcone to the center of chaos! presented by frustrated bikers, uncharged electrical scooters and lost tourists.”



Lastly visited a Viking themed restaurant, Tunnan. We sampled different types of food Vikings would have eaten, like reindeer jerky. I got “trout” which turned out to be salmon and turnips. We drank this mead/ale beverage, it was quite thick but quite good.



The next morning, I flew out from Sweden to go back home.



In September our house passed the combo inspection which consisted of plumbing electrical, HIVAC and framing. We are one step closer to living in the house. I think there are only a couple more inspections after the combo.



I think the last big event of this year was in November we got a St. Bernard puppy and named her Lucy. I believe she is 10 weeks as the writing of this word doc.



As a final thought, hearses, have connected me to people I would have never known and taken me on adventures I never thought possible. What kind of people drive hearses? Simply, the best!

2018 in review...

I always want to do a review of my year, but I always kind of feel it's 11 months of boring with a month of excitement.

Not this year, this year was HARD for me.

Technically starting in 2017... I was texted that my horse was bleeding on 12/29/17. I had my room-mate drive me to the stable because I was to sick to drive myself. The poor horse's chest was all swollen up, raw and bleeding. I called the vet out and that lead to six months of treating my horse for some unknown infection and scary diagnoses, which in the end turned out to be a summer sore and allergies.

While that was going on Tigger my cat, my best bud, developed a tumor in his nose. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do and I had to put him to sleep. I was terrified that Finn, the horse would suffer the same fate.

I had to ask my work if I could work from home or quit my job and start a wonderful career with Pizza Hut. I am extremely lucky they said yes, I could work from home!

Next was time to pack up the house. I didn't think the Waffle would have sold it so fast. Then it was a mad dash to sort, get rid of and pack up over 20 years worth of stuff. I hate moving, I just sort of get lost in the minutia of it all. So it was very slow and arduous for me. I am thankful for my room mate that did most of the packing.

Then it was time for HearseCon, which I almost backed out of 100 times. I had agreed to split my room cost with my friends. I just couldn't do that to them, so in spite of having to move at the same time I decided to make the drive to Denver. I think it was a much needed vacation. It was one of the best times I have had at HearseCon.

I returned to a much different home 174 miles away from my previous one. My 1500 square foot home on 1.5 acres has been downsized to a 5th wheel trailer on 40 acres. I live in the middle of nowhere and now we work to finish the house we've been building for about 3 years. It's all terrifying and wonderful at the same time.

So for 2019, we hope to finish the house and I am excited to achieve one of my life long dreams, going to Wacken Open Air in Germany!

Tales from the Hearse

So I own a hearse, and what follows are some tales of hearse adventure.

This passed weekend while driving the hearse on the way to N. Mountain park some guy held his fingers up making the sign of the cross (with a big grin on his face). Then on the way back I decided to take the Peck (roomies kid) to McDonald's. While in the drive through the cashier says to me, "oh I'm so sorry when did it happen?" Not understanding I asked, "when did what happen?" He sort of stammered and looked at the back of the hearse. Then I realized, I said, "oh, no one died, this is just my car." He seemed flustered but gave me my food and wished me a good day...

So I suppose I need another story, to make this a "some tales", right?

I drove my hearse out to HearseCon last year, which is in Denver. Thus I was on the road for some time, and I needed to take a short break from the drive. So I stopped at I guess what was once a store and restaurant. I popped the hood on the hearse to check the oil and have a look at the coolant. 

As I'm standing there with the hood popped, this church van drives by really slow. I swear that the van could have driven on two wheels as all the occupants faces were pressed up against the windows to take in the spectacle of a random hearse on parked in front of an abandoned building with the hood up.

Last year was my second year going to the Haunted Hearses Car Show at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. On the way out there I pulled over to get some snacks, and it was at night. So I sat down on the cement in front of the hearse to eat my snacks.

A car with two women pulls up and they get out and go in to the gas station to get snacks or cigarettes. When they come out they notice the car and then they see me. The ask if the car was mine, which I told them it was. They went through the list of questions, but one I think is the strangest one I've been asked thus far, "do you eat in there." Snacks in hand I tell them, "yes, it's just a car."

^^These are just a few stories, I'll try to update as time allows...

Halloween 2014 - the year of the Hearse

On October 30^th I lay awake trying to sort out in my mind what I was going to do for Halloween. I am so excited I can't sleep anyway. I had the ultimate Halloween prop, the hearse, this was our first year together.

I decided on a couple of different plans, I had hoped that I would be able to fold myself up at the bottom of the casket, hopefully being completely hidden by the second lid. I could also hide in the back of the hearse and come exploding out… or I could crouch down at the front of the car and run to the back when there were Trick or Treaters.

Finally morning came and then , I kept saying to hubby, "Hey, hey, guess what?" He would dutifully say, "what?"and then I would say, "TODAY IS HALLOWEEN." He would then say, "yes dear, you've told me 500 times today." Then I had to wait ALL DAY for it finally to be the “witching hour” when the Trick or Treaters would arrive. Seriously I think I am more excited than the kids.

I parked the hearse catty corner in the drive way so Trick or Treaters could see the side of the car. I put the purple lights in around the top and on the door. Harvey and Mildred my skeletons were in attendance. Harvey was sitting in one of the camp chairs, and Mildred was sitting in the back of the hearse as she often does at the car shows.

Malice placed many of her Living Dead Dolls on the table. We couldn’t find the usually candy bowl/cauldron this year, so I cleaned out all my sewing projects from the one cauldron and it was filled with candy. We had three 245, piece bags, and we went to the store for more that morning, by the end of the night we were OUT!

Next it was time to pull the casket out of the hearse and put it on the ground behind it. In pulling the casket out of the hearse and opening it fully we discovered that someone had already lain in the casket (with dirty shoes) and that the hinge for the bottom lid was busted, and someone had used a cotter pin to secure it to the top.

So with the crumby hinges, I wasn’t going to be able to swiftly open the lid at the appointed time to scare the kiddies. So begrudgingly I agreed to just lie in the casket and when Malice uttered the words, “don’t be afraid of the skeleton” I would pop up and reach out. I thought this was never going to work, I’d be instantly be made by anyone.

I laid down as the first group came, as I suspected no one was scared. I could also hear myself breathing in my mask, it was so loud! I don’t know how anyone else couldn't hear it! The next group came and lo, I did scar some, one poor little, little kid that was dressed like a foot ball player.

As the night wore on I hit some and some made me as soon as they walked up. I learned a couple new things… When you make yourself into a prop you don’t get to eat candy and drink booze while ooing and ahing over the Trick or Treaters costumes. I also learned that some parents are mean! So often they would tell their kids to come over and look at me and I would pop up and scare them!

Some neighbors that had been driving by wanted to come over and see the set up, they made me as soon as they walked up. We offered them shots and they stood around talking to Malice and Dragon. I was sitting up as well getting a drink. I had my mask up, I saw some kids coming so I lay down, assuming that they saw me.

So I lay still and hear people around me, and then a little boy says, “hi, skeleton.” I assume I’ve been made so I sit up and reach out for the boy, I think I even brushed him. He took off running and made it passed the neighbors house to the stop sign before his parents were able to yell for him to stop! Of course we are all evil and started laughing.

About 8:10pm a couple older kids came by, and they made me of course. They were given a couple big hand full’s of candy. They then said they had to put on a show, so the proceeded to do a choreographed sword fight! They were pretty good!

Malice’s kids were over and her grandson and son in law assisted me with a good scare. They poked me and said that nothing would happen. Then when I heard someone close I sat up, scared a couple.

It was a fun night, and now I feel like one does after opening all their Christmas presents… 365 more days to go until I get to do this again! Ugh... Oh well on to Krampusnacht...