This one is just for fun

Some of my followers already know that I am a truck driver and that I train new drivers. I thought I would post this story on one of my students, the names will not be posted, but nicknames will be. Here goes the story of Weed Hopper:

A few weeks ago I got a new student sent to me. I met him in Council Bluffs Iowa, and he needed to drive to the North East and North West and he needed to get at least two mountains. These are all required before my company allows a new driver to move on to the next phase of training. This guy was pretty cool to train. He was in construction in Florida, and Georgia, and when the construction jobs dried up he decided to make one last career change and become a truck driver. He gave himself the nick name "Weed Hopper" because he kept saying "Yes my Trainer" when I would correct things he was doing wrong. When I asked him why he said it like that he said he had always been a fan of the T.V. show "Kung Fu" and thought that since grass hopper was already taken he would be a "Weed Hopper". Pretty funny if you think about it. So I started calling him Weed Hopper. We were swapping trailers with another trainer and his student, and Weed Hopper was checking the new trailer out, and really embarrassed the other trainer when he found an expired registration and a flat tire on the trailer we were picking up. Normally I would have had to tell these guys that I was not going to take this trailer, but the load got me to Home, and from previous posts you should know that my Dad is in the hospital, so I took the trailer. We called in the flat tire, and moved across the street to await a tire guy to come out and fix the tire. Two guys showed up, and they has said it would take about an hour for them to get there, they were there in 10 minutes, and watching them change that tire was amazing. Normally this takes almost half an hour, but these two guys went at it like they were a NASCAR pit crew, and were done in about 10 minutes after they arrived. Weed Hopper was just amazed at how fast this was done, and when he commented on how fast they were, the one guy said, yeah I gotta get to Rugby practice, or it would have taken longer.
Later Weed Hopper said, "That guy wanted to go to Rugby practice pretty bad didn't he?"
My response was "Yeah and it takes leather balls to play rugby, so he must really like the pain." We laughed about this for about three days. Weed Hopper has moved on to the next phase of training, and will be a successful driver, which is the goal of the training program, and I will never worry about having a flat in Cedar Falls IA cause the Good Year guys there doe a great job.

Old Marine getting better and on the move

Well here is another update on the Old Marine...He has moved out of the Madison VA hospital and is back in Milwaukee. He is in a Rehabilitation facility trying to get well enough to head home. But he still has some tubes sticking into him. He is hoping that he can be home in 14 days, but if not he will be signing up for VA Rehab in Milwaukee. He is doing better, but does not like the low fat low cal low salt diet he is on. He will get used to it, but you know how Marines. He wants what he wants and he will get it somehow I am sure. Thanks again to all the well wishers from Run For The Wall that have sent out prayers to him and for him. He really appreciates his extended family, and he even remembers a few folks by name, and mentions them every now and then. He is getting a little stronger every day and is working hard to get better.

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The Old Marine gets his waffle

Wow, I guess some one is following this. First let me apologize for not updating my Dad's status sooner. I received a comment requesting an update from some one. I have been a little busy in the last four days, went from Indiana to Indiana by way of New York State and Wells Nevada.

Here goes the update. As of this morning about 07:30 CST he was doing well. He has been walking, he still has a stomach tube, a chest tube, a liver tube and an IV, but he is not attached to the Christmas tree any longer which means he is free to walk as much as he can (He won't admit it but my Uncle Ed said he has probably walked more in the last three weeks than in the last three years.
He sent my Sister to the Slop Shop for more Pogey Bait (direct translation for the Non Marines Grocery store for some stuff he was not supposed to have, in this case Twinkies, I got him a Hershey Bar last week). He is eating regular food and pretty much anything he wants right now. He sounds a lot better on the phone, and I should be able to see him by the end of the week. I am headed to Dallas for business, then home for the weekend I hope.
When I talked to him this morning he was eating a waffle, no strawberries or whipped cream, but plenty of syrup and oleo (margarine for the younger folks).

I think he will get better, he still has some problems, pain from stomach incision and pneumonia, and they think he has a hernia (considering that they opened him up a second time and pulled his insides out to inspect I do not think he should have a hernia, but what do I know, I am just a truck driver and a concerned son.)

He will be in Madison for a few more days yet. Docs are discussing sending him to Milwaukee, but not sure if it will be the VA or the rehab center he has picked out.
Thanks again to all of you that have been praying for him. He also has mentioned more than once that he is thankful to all his Run Buds cause he knows those guys are praying for him and thinking about him.
OK anonymous, that is all I know for now. Except his room mate is headed home for therapy and that he is hoping he at least gets another Marine, cause those Air Force guys are cantankerous. His word not mine, wait was he talking about me?

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