Part Two left off with us just settling in for the first night...
Friday, Sept. 19I was dead tired by the time we decided to go to bed. My can't-sleep-away-from-home creepiness overruled that though. The room was warm enough that I just laid on top of the covers and used a rolled up Vikings blanket we'd bought as a pillow. We left the TV and one light on. Just as I was eventually drifting off to sleep there was a loud BANG BANG BANG on our door. Gah!
Hubby stumbled out of bed and over to the door. He'd been dozing, fully clothed on top of the covers too...ha! From where I was I couldn't see who was out there but I heard the whole conversation.
A female voice, sounding very drunk or distraught or both, asked if hubby had a phone. As hubby turned to get his cellphone another female voice was politely scolding the first woman, saying she couldn't be bothering people like this. Hubby gives her the phone and I hear her eventually talking to whoever she had called, cry/whining "Iiiii'm bleeeeeeedinggggggggg."
What?! I'm still laying on the bed, quite freaked. The other woman is telling BleederGirl that they need to go to the hospital. BleederGirl soon tells the other woman "He wants to talk to you," and then I hear the other woman on the phone, telling Whoever that Bleeder has been beaten by I'm assuming her boyfriend or husband. She tells Whoever that she is an EMT and is trying to get Bleeder to go to the hospital but that Bleeder is afraid to go because of something probation related. EMT give the phone back to Bleeder, and I gather that Whoever (who I heard was in Florida?!) is trying to convince her to just go to the hospital. Bleeder starts whining to Whoever that she doesn't have any money. EMT gets back on the phone, telling Whoever that Bleeder is trying to give her gas money and that she can't convince her it's not needed. Bleeder is given the phone again and Whoever must have told her he'd pay or something, and eventually convinced her to just go to the hospital. EMT gives the phone back to hubby, apologizes, and I hear the two women moving away from our door.
Hubby closes the door and shakes his head. I ask him if it was really bad...? He says yeah, head cracked open and whole side of her face covered in blood.
"Eeuuw! Did she bleed on the phone?!" I ask. He goes into the bathroom to check and clean the phone. Then he goes back to bed. This whole thing took about five minutes. I know I won't be able to sleep after this. And sure enough, the rest of the night seems to last for weeks...just as I would doze off I would jerk awake, over and over again. I got *maybe* two or three hours of sleep if I piece it all together. Ugh.
Sat. Sept. 20I woke up before 5am, but tossed and turned and watched crappy TV until closer to 6am before finally giving up. I got up and took a shower in the tiny bathroom. Hubby was awake by the time I was done.
Around 7am we met the in-laws (including bro & girlfriend) for breakfast at Swan's Cafe. More delicious breakfast foods! MMMMM. French toast again for me, but this time with bacon. *drools at the memory* After eating Bro & Girlfriend headed back to the motel for more sleep. The rest of us went to the cemetery to find Grandpa E's grave. He had died many years before but hubby didn't know where the grave was, and FIL realized he didn't have a pic of it. He asked me if I'd take one for him.
From there we drove out of town because hubby wanted to go by his grandparents' old farm. The house is set back from the road behind alot of trees...you can't see it from the road. Hubby was suggesting he might just drive right up to the house and introduce himself. Fine, except that it's only about 8:30am on a Saturday morning. I was horrified at the thought, told him it would be rude. When we got to the place, we pulled over to the side of the road. Hubby had just gotten out of our car to go talk to his father in the van ahead when a truck pulled into the driveway and drove up to the house.
We all looked at each other like 'Well, we know someone is home and awake.' LOL
Hubby came back to the car and said "I'm going in," and turned the car back onto the road and into the driveway. His dad drove in behind us. The people we'd seen turned out to be a dad and his three sons, coming back from a morning of duck hunting. Hubby introduced us and explained who we were. The guy knew all about Grandma H, and was more than happy to let us walk the property. He invited us to go inside the house too but hubby and the in-laws politely declined. (Dangit, says me.)
The original house and barn and buildings were set back even farther than this newer house we were parked by. The grandparents had built this newer house in the 1970s. Hubby, the boys, and I walked to the back of the property to have a look and take some pics. My in-laws stayed in the front and continued talking with the guy.
This is the original yard. The house (torn down several years ago) would have been on the extreme left side of this picture.
Kinda cool shot of the lane that leads to deeper parts of the property.
And a pic of the newer house.
I had been to this place once before. Back in 1990, it had been sold and we all came to help Grandma H clean out the house. The old house was still standing at that time but it had been long neglected. And I think the newer house was still '70s yellow. So it had changed quite a bit, even for me.
By the time we came back up to the front property, my in-laws had already left. Hubby talked a bit longer to the guy, then we headed back to town. We swung by the cemetery again so I could get a better look at some big monuments and things. Then we took a bunch of pics of Lake Ripley, which is directly across the road from the cemetery. It's really quite a lovely view but it's so large that my pics don't do it justice. I'm thinking there were better vantage points elsewhere but we didn't go in search of them.
Right next to the lake, we discovered Anderson Gardens - Mini Arboretum. Hubby didn't recall this place from all his years of childhood visits to Litchfield. We stopped to have a look, and found that it was started in 1990. That would explain it. lol
It's a very nice place, all done by volunteers and donations. I wish my pics would have turned out better. I used my regular film camera here and pics have that kinda white haziness that I can't seem to get away from anymore. I was thinking before that it was old film my sister had given me, but I threw the remainder of that away and this was brand new film. This continued haziness makes me think the camera might be shot. It is over 20 years old now. Anyway....
After walking thru the gardens we didn't know what to do anymore. The party didn't start until 2pm and it was only about 10am at this time. Hubby didn't want to go sit in the motel room. The boys and I didn't want to go sit around the senior center yet. So hubby dropped us off at the motel and *he* went to the senior center.
The boys and I watched stupid TV shows...Cartoon Network, I think...until hubby came back about 12:15pm to get us. This was still way too early for our liking but there really wasn't anything else to do.
The party itself was 2-4pm. (Details in the Grandma blog entry.)
After the party, family members hung around and moved to a different room in the center for a lite supper and additional visiting. There was a slideshow playing, various pics from throughout Grandma H's life. We left about 5:30pm, stopped at a gas station for Dews and munchies and went back to the motel to relax for the evening.
I slept much better that night, but still not fitfully. And the night was uneventful. LOL!
Oh! I never did update on BleederGirl! Ok, at some point Saturday morning hubby was outside having a smoke when he talked to the EMT women from the night before. She was back to talk to the owner or something...? Anyway, he asked if the girl was alright. Yes, but she had three staples in her head, her eyes were black and blue, she had bruises all across her legs, and she was in jail. She had been twice over the legal limit for drinking, and that was a violation of her probation. They'd found out that the guy had smashed a phone into her head, threw a chair at her, and who knew what else. The cops were waiting for him at his workplace and at the motel and if he didn't turn up there would be a warrant issued.
Hubby and I, and bro-in-law and his girlfriend were talking about it, and none of us heard anything out of the ordinary the night before. Our room was a couple down from where it happened, but bro-in-law's room was right next to it. We all agreed we'd heard normal talking voices, and normal volume music playing, but we never heard any argument, any yelling, any smashing or crashing or crying. Never heard any sirens either, so who called the EMT? Very weird.
Sun. Sept. 21Even though I'd slept somewhat better that second night I was still up about 5:30am the next morning. A quick shower, then started packing things while hubby showered. We were completely ready and eager for home by 7am. We couldn't leave yet though because the WHOLE family was meeting for breakfast at 9am at Swan's Cafe again. More delicious French toast and bacon for me! Yesss!
After breakfast, the waitress that had served us the last two days came outside and took a group shot for us. She was nice, hope someone left her a big tip.
From here everyone was heading home, but each going their own way. Bro-in-law and girlfriend were heading straight home, shortest and fastest route possible. Hubby's parents were going to take Grandma H back to her apartment and maybe visit a bit more, but then head out. They wanted to stop at some huge fabric warehouse store somewhere along the way home. FIL's brother and his wife were heading back to Missouri. Hubby, the boys, and I were taking a side trip to the Mall of America before heading home ourselves.
We left Swan's and the rest of the family at 10am. Finding the Mall of America was a bit hectic and nerve-wracking but we managed and got there about 11:30am. Our mall adventures will have their own blog entry...lol
After leaving the mall, we were determined to make the drive home as short and fast as possible. We'd filled the gas tank before going to breakfast so we knew we were good for a while. We hit Wisconsin at 3:00pm, didn't stop until 5:00pm...in Millston, WI...because gas prices were steadily rising the deeper into Wisconsin we got. Potty break, stretched our legs, then back on the road and determined not to stop again until we were home.
I didn't bother with the cameras on the trip home. We did notice there was more fall color even after just two and half days, but I just didn't feel like taking more pics.
Somewhere along the way Ty reminded us we would need to stop for dog food. When we left Friday morning we had just given Meena and Lynx extra bowls of food and water instead of having someone come to tend them. So as we came into Ripon, we did a quick stop at Kmart, and then those last nine miles seemed to take For.Ev.Er.
We finally got home about 7:30pm Sunday night. Hubby still had two days of vacation but the boys and would be back to school and work the next morning. We had a quick pizza for supper. I did a load of laundry. And then I collapsed thankfully into my own bed for a long, peaceful night's sleep.
The end.
(Individual stories coming soon.)
