Karrie’s Blog

I wasn’t feeling so great earlier today, but am feeling fine now. I’m excited and nervous about tomorrow’s appt. Tomorrow we find out how things are going inside me and what the next steps are.

Best case scenario everything is ready and we’ll do the Ovidrel injection tomorrow evening and the IUI on Friday, but this is highly unlikely.

I’m hoping I won’t be told I need more injections of Bravelle, but I’m guessing I most likely will. I’ll do things a little differently next time in hopes of it not burning as much. I’ll try an ice pack on the injection site before and after to numb the site and also make sure everything is room temperature before injecting it. I think the first injection may have still been a bit cold from being in the refrigerator which may have caused the burning.

Keeping my fingers crossed for good news tomorrow!

I’ve been one moody beeotch today. I think J’s handling it ok, if handling it ok is the equivalent of hiding out downstairs.

The hot flashes are in full swing right now which increase my irritability and my stomach just gurgles all day long. Tonight we did the first Bravelle injection. The needle itself wasn’t so bad, but the medication really burned. Then to put pressure on the site after the injection just made it burn even more. I was shocked it hurt so bad. It almost brought tears to my eyes and made me feel like I was going to pass out. I told J I was going to lay down for a minute. I figured as long as I was laying down I wouldn’t hurt myself if I passed out.

The burning ended pretty quickly and then it just felt tender, like I’d been punched in the stomach or something like that. For now I seem ok, just really tired. I think I’m going to take the rest of my meds for the night, grab some ice cream to celebrate National Ice Cream Month and to treat myself and head to bed shortly.

Saturday night and Sunday morning were far from pleasant. I managed to forget about all the meds I’ve been putting into my system and the additional side effects and things I should be thinking about now that I’m taking them.

After spending most of the day on Saturday playing in the sun I ended up with hives Saturday night because one of the meds makes me more sensitive to sun. I was itchy, but couldn’t take anything to make it any better because I can’t have anything other than tylenol. I finally found this JASON Tea Tree Gel I had around the house which was able to make the hives bearable enough for me to go to sleep.

Then I kept waking up throughout the night with hot flashes, a side effect I had forgotten about from the Clomid. Add to that some really freaky dreams, another side effect of the Clomid and a horrible migraine in the morning and I was not a very happy person.

At least I got a night off from the meds. The injections start tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be the last dose of Clomid and then a day off on Sunday before we start the injections.

I’m starting to get nervous again as we get closer to the next appt. I’m really hoping the appt next week goes well and the meds are doing their job! When I first took the Clomid last year it did make me ovulate, so I guess I should be confident that between the Clomid and Bravelle we’ll at least get a couple good eggs this round.

I keep hearing about other people having good luck, I’m hoping ours is good as well. I’ll just keep trying to relax and keeping my hopes up

I’ve been really tired the last couple of days. Guess it’s my body’s way of forcing me to rest up for the next couple of weeks.

Took the Clomid again and keep thinking about what we have going on just around the corner.

I really hope we’re successful this time. BUT, while I hope we’re successful I’m also worried. I’m worried that we’ll end up having a miscarriage since I’m at a higher risk for it. I’ll have extra progesterone after the IUI to help sustain a pregnancy, but there’s still the chance it won’t work. I’m also worried about the higher chances of having multiples. The drug combo with IUI + a history of multiples in the family I think would raise those odds significantly. Twins or Triplets would be fine, but anything more than that and I think we’d both be pulling our hair out!!

Had the ultrasound and blood drawn early this morning. I was stressed out most of the day because they found another cyst this time on the left side. Last time it was the right side and was producing estrogen. If the one of the left was producing estrogen we wouldn’t be able to continue with the treatments this month. That meant waiting for the results from the bloodwork to come back to find out how the hormone levels looked.

Luckily it was only a few hours, but those few hours were torture. I was ecstatic to get the call from the dr’s office this afternoon that the hormone levels looked good and to go ahead and start the Clomid this evening. In addition to the Metformin I will take the Clomid today through Saturday, then have a day off of meds on Sunday and my first injection of Bravelle (by Jason) on Monday.

I’m a little nervous about my ultrasound and bloodwork tomorrow. I guess nervous and excited would sum it up best. I’m excited because we’re starting our first treatment cycle, but nervous something will be wrong and we won’t be able to do it this month which would mean more waiting.

The Metformin I’m taking to help counteract the insulin resistance associated with PCOS has just had my stomach upset for the last month and a half. No great weight loss like I had hoped, but hopefully it’s doing it’s job as far as preparing the important parts of my body for what will be coming up.

During a treatment cycle I’m supposed to treat my body as if I’m already pregnant. This means I’ve been spending a lot of time lately figuring out what foods are allowed and what foods aren’t allowed. I knew the obvious — no smoking, drinking, drugs, meds, etc., but didn’t know about some of the foods that aren’t good. Ever since finding out I have to avoid deli meats, aka cold sandwiches I’ve been craving one…probably because if all goes well I’ll be looking down the barrel of 10 months without a cold cut or my favorite…a turkey club.

J gets to rest up this week. He doesn’t have to poke me with needles or do anything really other than put up with me until next week. Next week though he’ll get to join in on all the fun.

Off to read my book and rest up for the early morning appt. Hope we get good news!!!

Two important lessons I was taught as a child continue to resonate truth throughout my adult life. (1)Life is Unfair, and (2) Everyone Makes Mistakes. As many times as I’ve stumbled through these lessons in my life, they often continue to catch me by surprise.

I believe I’ve done well at managing what has been dealt me, either self-inflicted or out of my control. However, while managing may keep up appearances, it is void of emotion. Acceptance requires dealing with the associated feelings, and I find acceptance to be the most difficult.

Whether constantly asking myself why something would happen or beating myself up over something I’ve done wrong, there are some things I’ve been trying for years to actually accept, but I’ve always been able to manage.

Not long after we got Starbuck someone gave me the book Marley & Me for my birthday. It was supposed to make me feel better about all the pain and aggravation Starbuck was causing. It worked for a little while, but lately my patience is wearing thin. Here’s a list of things I can remember Starbuck stealing from the counter or destroying. I say the things I can remember because I know there’s a lot more, but wanted to at least get a list started:

1. Cough Drops
2. Children’s Dimetapp
3. Children’s Benadryl
4. Bag of snacks for Hershey Park
5. Red Velvet Cake (while it was cooling)
6. Too many socks to count
7. Flip Flops
8. Slippers
9. Chocolate Pound Cake (my birthday cake 2 years ago)
10. J’s Bank Card
11. Nicotine Patches
12. Nicotine Gum
13. Wooden Hangers
14. Picture Frames
15. Boyds Bears (A Christmas Gift for my sister. I bought a replacement and successfully hid them from him.)
16. PJs (A Christmas Gift for my mother. I bought a replacement and he ate those too!)
17. Cahlea’s Cabbage Patch Doll
18. Cahlea’s Sippy Cup
19. Doggie Bed
20. Doggie Ear Cleaner
21. All dog toys, even the “indestructable” ones
22. Poppy plants
23. Jalapeno Plants
24. Tomato Plants
25. Box Woods
26. Disney Pins
27. Steaks
28. Oakley Sunglasses
29. Garmin Speed Sensor
30. IDPA Membership Card
31. Door stoppers
32. Power Bars from J’s bag
33. Shredded the carpet in the family room
34. Cigarettes
35. Candles on the Patio
36. Throw Rug in the Foyer
37. Peanut M&Ms
38. Nutrigrain Bars
39. Flavor packets for Water
40. Paint Brushes
41. Rolls of Papertowels
42. John & Brodi’s Easter Baskets
43. Lots and lots of boxes…many other things were protected only because they were in a box and we rescued it before he got all the way through the box.
44. Kitchen Trashcan
45. Knocked a ladder on my new car and put a dent in it
46. CDs
47. Gift Card Holders
48. Crayons
49. Moon Sand
50. Pumpkin Pie @ Thanksgiving
51. Bread, lots and lots of bread

I called to check on Pinky this morning while I was driving to work. He was still alive! I’ll call again tomorrow morning to check on him.

I’ve been tearing through books this past month. It all began with “The Traveler” by John Twelve Hawks. J got me this book for Christmas and I just hadn’t gotten around to starting it, despite it’s previous flight to Florida with me. I’m not exactly sure why, but I always hesitate when he recommends a book. Once started though, I tore through it so quick and liked it so much I went out and got the second book in the trilogy, “The Dark River”. It was a great book as well, but unfortunately I have to wait until summer of 2009 for the final book to come out. The vast machine is certainly real, but I don’t think I’ll be going into hiding. I should look for a random number generator though because I’m way too predictable.

After reading those two books, I figured while I was waiting for “Odd Hours”, the latest Dean Koontz book which was just released today, that I would read “Rhett Butler’s People”. I enjoyed reading “Gone with the Wind” and “Scarlett” when I was a teenager and picked up this latest book sometime in the winter, not long after it was released. Loved this one as well! I was able to finish it up this evening before heading to the bookstore to pick up “Odd Hours”.

When I got home from work this evening I did my ritual of walking around the gardens to make sure my plants were doing good, deadheading what I needed to and just keeping an eye on things outside. I was almost done my loop when I checked the the Rose Mallow sprouts and noticed a small bird lying on the ground.

At the top of the rain spout on the corner of the house I knew we had a Robin’s nest and this looked to be one of the little ones. I was hoping it had just been a little stunned and was going to get up and fly or run away, but it wasn’t looking too good. Once I realized it was still alive, but not well enough to walk or fly away I found a box in the garage and fashioned it into a makeshift home for the little one. I kept an eye on it for a little while and then went to dig up some worms for dinner. Got him two worms and ground them up hoping it just needed some food for strength and it would make the bird strong enough to fly off. The ground up worms didn’t tempt it into eating - it wouldn’t have tempted me either, but hey - I thought that’s what he wanted!

I quickly realized I was in over my head. I didn’t know how to take care of this thing and frankly, I don’t really like birds. I guess that’s a little odd considering I have bird feeders, a bird bath, love listening to the chirping and think they are pretty…the thing is, they scare the hell out of me! They move way too fast and their claws and beaks are really sharp. They can bite and poke and claw at me before I would even realize I was under attack. But, this little guy needed some help and I couldn’t just leave it there to suffer. After a few more minutes of keeping a close eye on it in it’s new box and nervously glancing over my shoulder every few seconds for the mother or father bird to start attacking, I went inside to try to find information on someplace that could help.

Luck would have it there’s a vet clinic not too far away that does rehabilitation for wild animals. I jotted down the information I needed and got ready to take the little guy for some help. It was then I realized I had enough of an attachment to the bird, it warranted a name. As I’m thinking of what to name it I look down at my hands to see my pen had exploded on me with pink ink while I was writing down the information for the clinic. My brain works in wierd ways and this made me think about Pinky and the Brain I’d watch in cartoons as a kid and I chuckled thinking the bird I found was definitely not the brain, so he had to be Pinky.

In honor of his new name I rummaged through my drawers to find an old pink tshirt I could put in the box with him to keep him warm and a bit more comfortable on the ride. I got him set up in his box with the shirt and went to put him in the back of the Forester, but worried the box would slide around and he’d end up hurt even more. To prevent further injuries I decided he had to ride in the front passenger seat so I could keep an eye on him. We didn’t have far to go, but it was a tense ride. The entire time I kept glancing at the box to make sure he was still breathing and secretly, to make sure he wasn’t getting out of the box and ready to start flying around my car and attacking me. Yeah, even though he was definitely hurt badly I was still afraid I was going to be attacked by a bird. I kept trying to tell myself this was some intensive therapy and by the end I’d be over my fear of birds. I don’t think it worked, but we made it to the clinic without incident.

They took a cursory look at him and had me fill at a form. When they came back they told me they wouldn’t call me, but I was welcome to call tomorrow to find out how he was doing. They could tell he had suffered some sort of trauma, but weren’t really sure what was wrong with him yet. They were brutally honest though and told me they didn’t think he was going to survive.

So, all evening I’ve thought about this bird and hope he makes it. I told J if they are able to fix him I’m hoping to ask if I can bring him back here when he’s well enough to be released. If he’s here maybe he can find his family again. I’m sure there’s a sad mama and papa bird out back right now. I’m hoping for good news tomorrow when I call to check on him - that he survived the night, they know what’s wrong with him and feel confident they can fix him!

I was forwarded an article with seven tips for winning back your gaming spouse, written specifically for those of us who are adversely affected by our spouse’s gaming. I wasn’t very impressed. Mostly because I know each of the seven tips wouldn’t work against my gaming spouse. I read and reread the tips, hoping I was missing something I could find useful. Then I noticed the article was written by a man, a man most likely without a gaming addiction.

So, what were these profound words of wisdom?

1. Learn from the game – The author basically tells you to try some Pavlovian bell ringing to reward your spouse for taking out the garbage. We’re talking about a grown man here. Rewards shouldn’t be necessary for taking out the garbage, putting dirty clothes in the hamper or tidying up the house. Yes, my husband neglects some primary household chores on occasion due to his game, but if it wasn’t the game it would be something else. We all neglect household chores every once in a while. I won’t be ringing a bell the next time he takes out the garbage, there are more important things neglected than the garbage can.
2. Suggest a date at a video game movie – This just sounds like torture, torture for me. I don’t think my offering to watch a movie he’d be interested in, but I would hate would make him give up a raid night.
3. Fake a power outage; cuddle up with candles and a board game – The initial reaction to a power outage would be an insane amount of cursing. Then, he would most likely jump in his car with his laptop, power inverter and air card to play the game.
4. Put some game into your nighttime activities – This suggestion was to switch up the usual bedroom routine and theme it like the game they are addicted to. Wow, great suggestion if your spouse actually came to bed before you fell asleep. Whether prepared for a theme night, or a night of the same old same old – neither is going to happen when he finishes his raid at 2am and then needs to run stats to figure out how to improve on the next raid.
5. Try a different kind of role-playing game – Dressing up as a night elf still wouldn’t work for the same reasons cited in #4.
6. Get away from it all – He suggests a getaway and tells you to leave the laptop at home. LOL! Not happening with my man. He takes his laptop with us on every trip. Thankfully though, he refrains from playing WOW on most trips. Those trips he has played, he got an earful from me. He does still “chat” with the people from WOW when we’re away….at least, that’s what he tells me he’s doing. He’s not “playing”, he’s “chatting”.
7. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em – NEVER! I tried the game for a couple hours when he first got into it and spent the entire time running back to my dead body after being killed repeatedly by rats. I couldn’t imagine wasting so much of my life on a video game anyway.

Anyone else have a suggestion that may actually work?

I stumbled across this article that was published in the Oprah magazine last year. It definitely helped me feel like I wasn’t alone…didn’t know J shouldn’t be riding a bike though.

I’ve gotten a little behind on my tv, surprising considering with the strike there hadn’t been much on, but I got behind none the less. I was watching an episode of Law & Order this evening where they were questioning a lab to see if they do any controversial research (which they didn’t), but as with all labs, they had a botched report. They told a couple their child was going to have Down Syndrome and a week later found out they gave them the wrong results. By then the couple had already terminated the pregnancy. Needless to say I didn’t watch the end of it and gave up on catching up on tv, at least for tonight.

It seems nothing is safe — books, tv, radio, movies….lately they all have something in them about suicide or down syndrome, either of which drum up emotions I’m trying to suppress right now.

I did end up finishing another Nicholas Sparks book - The Wedding - and I’m happy to say it didn’t depress me. It had a very good ending and made me happy — I wasn’t able to convice J to read it though.

The latest book on the nightstand is “Spinning Disney’s World”. J got it for me for Christmas and I thought it would be good to read before our next trip. We leave Jan 31st…but, I haven’t started it yet.

After finishing the Nicholas Sparks book I picked up “A Quiver Full of Arrows” by Jeffrey Archer. It’s another one of his compilations of short stories and I find them easy to pick up in between whatever is going on. I’ve read many of his books in the last few years and read “False Impression” and “Cat O’Nine Tales” on vacation in November. “Cat O’Nine Tales” was another compilation of short stories. “False Impression” was a page turner about a bad man and a smart attractive woman who takes him down…well, in a nutshell I loved the book, but wouldn’t recommend starting the book on an airplane. It made me a little uncomfortable considering it started with the planes crashing into the World Trade Center on September 11th and that heroine, she was in one of the towers during the crash. The book isn’t entirely about 9/11, but some of the circumstances play a part, like believing someone died in the crash when they didn’t or finding alternate modes of transportation when no planes were flying. I’d definitely recommend the book and really any of his books I’ve read.

Now to figure out what book I’ll be starting tonight!

I just finished a book I started a few days ago by Nicholas Sparks called “Dear John”. It was a very good book and definitely a quick read. Out of all the books on the shelf to choose from, I’m still not sure why I chose that one. It was sappy book I found hard to put down which is good, except it made me miss my husband even more when he was hiding out in his man cave with World of Warcraft. Otherwise it did it’s job, it entertained me and allowed me an escape from everything going on right now. I’m trying to decide what book to start next. I’m not thinking it would be a good idea to follow this one up with another Nicholas Sparks book or anything remotely similar, but I want to find something that’ll keep me wanting more and again allow me a little bit of an escape.

I’m hoping this form of expression can help me begin to heal, while I still doubt it’ll do too much good. I’m a firm believer God won’t give you more than you can handle, but I truly believe my handling capablities are being stressed to the max. Only a select few know of the events with my youngest sister in the past month. It has proven to me that a person’s true character always shines in a crisis, because it is most recently I’ve realized who my true friends and supporters are. Without them, I don’t know how I would’ve handled it and how I would go on to provide the support my family needs.
In addition to everything with Jamie, J and I have been working harder and harder to try to bring a little Ashmore into the world. After many years of trying to conceive and many many tests we began the latest leg in our journey several months ago. While not always pleasant for me, it’s provided hope. Hope and disappointment… There’s only a limited time on this leg and it’ll only get harder from here, so I had begun exploring other options. Meanwhile, my other sister has been on her own journey, the one causing the current heartbreak.
Baby John is 6 months old and my sister got pregnant again 5 months ago. First she was pregnant with twins, then triplets, but two of them died, then another died, but there was still one alive which meant she was really pregnant with 4 from the beginning. Although the loss was great, she still had one baby inside her, another baby to tend to and a 7 yr old boy at home. Fast forward a few months and she finds out her new baby is a girl. We began discussing baby names. I didn’t like her first choice and helped her decide on Delilah. We’d listen to the song “Hey There Delilah” and think about the baby that was coming. Soon after she found out the baby had Down Syndrome. She had a sneaking suspicion there was something wrong with the baby which could have been the same reason the other babies died. At first mention that she may want to terminate the pregnancy I spoke with her and asked her if she decided she didn’t want the baby, if she would carry her to term and J and I would adopt her. She thought about it briefly, but said she wouldn’t have been able to deal with her being raised by someone so close to her and she has the opinion she’d be torturing the child to allow her to “suffer” either physically or emotionally as a result of the DS. As a result, Delilah will be sent to heaven this week. At her age, it wouldn’t be impossible to survive outside the womb, but she won’t be given that chance. I understand this isn’t my body, I understand a child with Down Syndrome would be harder than other children, but I still can’t come to terms with it. I can’t stop thinking about Delilah and envisioning her death. How can someone throw away a child, literally throw away a child? The most baffling part of all is it’s legal. If given the chance it would be possible for Delilah to survive outside the womb right now. Since she’s still in it it’s ok to kill her. Once she’s out of it, it would be called murder. It doesn’t make sense…

J had a good laugh this evening when he saw me once again hiding out from a raccoon. A couple years ago there was one that got on the deck at the townhouse and was taunting me from the other side of the sliding glass door. I could just tell by its menacing grin it wanted a piece of me and while it’s much smaller than I am, I knew it had me on speed and agility and was definitely not a monster I wanted to mess with.

Tonight I was enjoying a peaceful last trip out for the night when I saw what I originally thought was the neighbor’s cat prowling along the fence line, but soon realized it was one of those darn raccoon monsters. J thinks they are cute…they terrify me! Of course, J thinks I’m cute too and when I see myself in the mirror I terrify me too…

Once I was safely back inside I told him about the little visitor and he had to go investigate. He took the boys out (I think he was secretly using them as protection) and came back in telling me it was just a baby. I know the one I saw was no baby, it was huge — I had to have seen the mama raccoon then, it wasn’t my imagination the thing was that big — really, I swear!

So, I did a little research on Wikipedia to try to alleviate my fears and see that they were really just a cute and cuddly creature. It didn’t work out that way. I think I’m more afraid of them now than I was before. Did you know that their opposable thumbs help them not only open garbage cans, but doors too? When I ran away from it I shut the garage door behind me so it couldn’t get in. I didn’t realize I need to lock the door to keep the raccoon out! I guess I won’t forget to the lock the door anymore. I wouldn’t want the coon attacking me while I’m sleeping. My habit of sleeping with my head under the blanket to keep the bad guys from finding me won’t protect me from a raccoon who decides to gnaw on me at night.

Wikipedia says they are sometimes referred to as vermin, I’d have to agree with that one, except they are always vermin in my book. One of the sites I visited said they are deceptively cuddly looking, isn’t the same said for bears? I think I’d much rather see a bear than a raccoon (maybe I am irrational), but I’d prefer to see neither in the back yard or so close to my house.

I think it’s going to be a long night…I can’t stop picturing the pointy snout, the beady eyes and the look of a fierce animal who’s just found a tasty meal. I might just have to sleep with the light on tonight

My day started off a bit rough and l wish I could say it got better rather quickly, but I can’t.

The 1st trip to the bathroom this morning resulted in a clogged toilet. The toilet wasn’t completely clogged, just mostly clogged. The water would go down, but it was very slow and would take many flushes if someone would have actually put toilet paper in it.

I spent the next few hours becoming friendly with the plunger, but it didn’t play very nice. I have blisters on my thumbs and the palm of my right hand from using the plunger so much today. I tried pouring hot water down the toilet when that didn’t work, but while I was filling up the container of hot water the faucet broke. It was still usable, but would need to be fixed. The hot water didn’t work though so I tried putting some dish soap in it and then pouring hot water, but that didn’t work either and in the process I had used all the dish soap in the house. I also tried vinegar, but that didn’t do anything either. All the time I’m still plunging.

By about 11am there were no more home remedies I could try so i headed to the store for some drano. I used two full bottles of two different types and neither of them worked either. By about 2pm I had given up and called J with a request for a toilet auger and snake. He showed up around 3pm and tried the toilet auger first, the 50 ft 1/2 inch snake next and neither of those did anything either.

Our last resort, remove the toilet and try to clear the clog with the toilet removed. Once the toilet was up we could tell the drain in the floor was completely clear so it had to be in the toilet, but even with the toilet disconnected we couldn’t get any of the tools to clear the clog. This meant, time for a new toilet.

So, it was off to Lowe’s to buy a new toilet, and oh yeah - we needed a new faucet too, but the vanity in the bathroom is a double vanity which meant since one of them needed to be replaced, both of them needed to be replaced so that would be 1 new toilet and 2 new faucets.

We picked out a toilet, new faucets, a couple wax ring kits and a bunch of connector hoses, etc. The toilet installation went surprisingly well, but the connector from the copper pipe in the wall to the hose to the toilet was leaking and we would have to replace that. We also didn’t realize we needed a new toilet seat. The toilet bowl and tank we purchased were sold separately and we completely forgot about the seat. Unfortunately the old toilet was a round toilet and the new an elongated so we couldn’t just swap the old one out.

J got the faucets installed and we headed out to Home Depot to get the connector for the pipe and the toilet seat. Chic Fil A is right next door so we made a quick stop for a late night dinner. By about 9:30 we were back home with the final pieces for the evening. J put the connector on and finished with all the plumbing so the water could be turned back on while I unpacked the new toilet seat. We opted for this $50 seat which looked really nice with a feature that kept it from slamming shut. Unfortunately we won’t experience that anytime soon because the toilet seat was broke inside the box. At this point it’s 10pm and both Lowe’s and Home Depot are closed so it was back out to WalMart to get a toilet seat so the toilet could actually be used.

We are both exhausted, but by about 11pm everything was done and here are a couple pictures of the new additions:

Upon arrival in Las Vegas on Saturday we picked up our rental car and headed for Arizona.  1st stop - the Hoover Dam.  Cindy and I took a bus tour there 3 years ago, but J had never seen it.  Along the way we came across a Jack in the Box and stopped for lunch - we were both starving, but even if we weren’t that hungry it still would have been good.  I was particularly happy that they had curly fries….mmmm!

We got some pictures of Lake Mead alone the way and not too much later arrived at the Hoover Dam.  J took pictures of the dam and we walked to Arizona.  We saw the angels and he rubbed their toes for good luck.  Of course it wasn’t a tourist stop without us hitting up the gift shop!

Next stop - Chloride, AZ.  This was supposed to be a ghost town and the only one that tourists hadn’t pillaged pieces of old buildings, etc.  Although disappointing as far as a ghost town went, it was still VERY different.  We thought we were missing something or that I was mistaken in what I had originally read.  After driving through town and not seeing what we came there for, we stopped at the visitor center.  The visitor center looks like an old house.  It’s actually a house, visitor center, gift shop and local convenience store.  We looked around and the lady running the place asked where we were from.  Once we told her, with a little too much excitement she asked if we’d sign the guest book.  We signed it, bought a few souveniers and got the low down on how to get to the places of interest. 

The town and the people kind of gave us the creeps though.  I told J I thought we were signing the guest book because they were going to offer us as human sacrifices to keep the aliens away.  Because they can’t grow grass and have lawns like back home, they instead have lawn art.  Some of the lawn art was unique to say the least.  My favorite was a metal sculpture of a kokopelli like character on a motorcycle.  Some of the lawn art wasn’t quite so nice and reminded me more of Sanford & Son than it did art. 

We saw the oldest working post office, the bank, an old gas station and the jail.  We were actually able to go in the jail.  As the lady at the store instructed we removed the nail holding the door shut and went on in.  We stayed away from one of the walls that was falling down and they’d put a plywood holder up to keep it in place.  It was obvious someone had been sleeping there at some point in the recent past…remnants of their stay which were out of character for the time period of the jail remained in one of the cells.

Sunset was coming though and we wanted to be far from town by the time it got dark - just in case someone followed us.  There were a couple of other stops I had wanted to make, but we decided since it would be dark on the way to the GC we’d stop on the way back to Vegas. 

…To Be Continued