Kissy Missy frightens us all

Thanks to a seat belt and a remarkably strong roll cage in the minivan, Kissy Missy walked away from a horrifying rollover crash along I-75 near Grayling. Above, Bill the tow truck driver shows us the battered Dodge Caravan a few hours after the crash.

Kissy Missy was on her way to the U.P. to visit her mother. It had been raining, raining hard, but it appeared to have largely stopped when she came to the end of U.S. 127 and its merge into I-75 just south of Grayling.

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You may have to zoom in to see the accident scene.
"I was going a little slower than the traffic, so I got all the way over into the right-hand lane," Kissy Missy recalls. The interchange has four lanes northbound after U.S. 127 enters from the left.
"All of a sudden, the Mercury in front of me starts to fishtail," she said. "I was on water.
"I felt all four wheels come loose," she said. "I was fighting it, fighting it, up onto the shoulder, into the ditch.
"Then it rolled."



She came to rest, back on its wheels, in a muddy embankment between Old 27 and the freeway. She'd banged her head on the ceiling. The airbags did not deploy. She got out and retreived her mobile phone from the mud - it had been flung out the smashed passenger-side window. As several horrified drivers who had seen the crash gathered, she called me.
"Are you sitting down?" were her first words.


Michigan State Police from the Houghton Lake Post arrived and wrote up the accident report. An ambulance crew from Mobile Medical Response took Kissy Missy to Grayling Mercy Hospital for a CAT scan of her head.

Andrew and I headed up to Grayling as fast as we could. The CAT scan was negative. Remarkably, Kissy Missy suffered only extensive bruising - the shoulder belt bruise is a good one, and there's a beautiful bruise on her foot - and a heck of a headache. We retrieved her luggage from the smashed-up van.
The tires were flat. The roof was pushed out of alignment on both sides, and dirt and grass from the embankment remained there.

The windshield was smashed and a passenger-side window was gone. What remained of the electric mirrors hung limply from their mounts.
Anything not tied down inside flew around, including the contents of a bag of popcorn, the change in the tray and a jar of pickles. The pickles survived - intact - but landed far, far back in the storage compartment.
We haven't yet heard if the van can be repaired - we're thinking it's a total loss. But Chrysler's safety features worked.
Kissy Missy walked away.

An amazing few days

It's just been an amazing few days. Let's take it from the top:

• Kissy Missy: She left Thursday for an intense seminar in Detroit. It's the last session of her MBA Program. She's back tonight, tired, happy and exceedingly joyful she's earned her master's degree. Wow.

• Fuzzy: Picked up his new car Friday. His first car, the legendary Caprice, made it 14 years from the factory to the end of the line. It was an amazing vehicle, and proof, to me, that miracles happen. The new car: a 2004 Taurus. Sure, it's white-bread, boring and has only six cylinders. It runs, it's affordable and he'll make the payments.







• Robert: At Blue Lake this weekend for the first spring rehearsal for the Southern Winds symphonic band that will tour Europe later this summer. He's geeked - what can I say?



• Andrew: He's spending his mornings rehearsing for the high school's play festival (He plays evil genius Count Otto von Brunno, "the second-most dangerous man in Europe) and his afternoons and evenings working. Jobs do that to you.
And he's wishing for snow.

• Katherine: She attended a seminar on women's empowerment today. Tonight, she's enjoying Jazz Night at the Soaring Eagle Inn - Christopher's in the jazz band. At least he's not the drummer there.

• Me: I broke a tooth.

More from the Tech trip

I've added about 14 more images and text to the story of the Michigan Tech trip - scroll down or just click here.

Hello, City Hall?

We knew that water rates were higher in Mt. Pleasant than at Lake Isabella, but I wasn't quite prepared for what I saw when I opened up the water bill yesterday.
The bill was for $9,899.32 - if I paid it on time. The city was claiming we used 2 million gallons of water.
That's a lot of flushing.
I called City Hall, as I suspected there might have been, um, a billing error. (Ahem!) The conversation went something like this:
ME: Hi. This is Mark Ranzenberger ...
THEM: Oh, thank you for calling! You have a new bill on the way. I sent it out this morning. I am so, so sorry.
ME: Ah! You've already caught it, then?
THEM: Yes. I just wish that hadn't gone out. We have some new software, and the wrong multiplier got put into your account. It's fixed.
ME: So how much is the new bill?
THEM: About $20.
Actually, I've heard horror stories about unresponsive bureaucracies and weird errors. I'm actually quite impressed that 1. The department knew who I was right away, and 2. The problem had already been solved.
Maybe. I haven't seen the new bill yet.

'It's the right place'

Andrew, Kissy Missy and I ventured into the Great White North over the weekend, and Andrew confirmed for himself what he already thought he knew: He's committed to engineering at Michigan Tech.

Andrew fills out the inevitable paperwork as the day begins in the lobby of the Rozsa Center, Tech's fabulous performing-arts center. The Rozsa Center has the largest stage north of Midland. Engineers in costume, eh?

Andrew toured the buildings, met people and had a chance to explore the place. On the right is the R.L. Smith Mechanical Engineering building, the high-rise where Andrew is likely to spend an immense amount of time over the next few years. It houses Tech's world-class mechanical engineering program.

It's spring, so the cars frozen in over the winter are beginning their emergence. Actually, this is a piece of professional public art, created in conjunction with Tech's famous Winter Carnival. The whole story of the frozen car is here.

Now, Michigan Tech's student body is only 21.3 percent women, according to the university's public relations office. How does it happen that Andrew ends up having lunch with three women?

He's comfortable on the campus, even a campus where this is what "spring" looks like.

While Andrew was touring the campus, Kissy Missy and I took in some of the sites. We went to the Library. Capital L.

The Library began life as a student bar in the late 1960s. According to its menu, it was a beer and peanuts-on-the-floor
kind of place.

These days, it's a whole lot more upscale. It's a brew pub with a nice menu. It's a little pricey, and I don't think it's much of a
student hangout any more.

The professors and the parents, however, really, really like it.



Over on the other side of Portage Lake is Hancock. That's not a sidewalk; those are stairs leading down to the Lift Bridge.

I'm just glad the minivan had good brakes. Going up the hills was enough to make Kissy Missy scream a couple of times.

And the snow has melted back considerably, eh? Yes, this is "melted back."

Andrew had the chance to meet with a staff member at Mont Ripley, the ski hill owned by the university. He learned the facility hires committed, passionate, expert skiers as staff members - and they get season passes.


Andrew took a dozen runs down the hill and pronounced it "fantastic."


It was a 943.5-mile round trip, Friday through Sunday, but Andrew was in his element.
Send money.

Minden and München tour the new place

Nice counter! Is this where the goodies are going to be? Where are the kitty treats?

This is a great place for a sink! Nice wraparound counter, nice cabinets.

But you have to show me how to turn on the water.

Oooh! A gas-fired fireplace! Flip that switch on the wall, so I can stretch out and relax in front of the fire.
These are great! What do you call them? Stairs? And you got them for us? Almost as much fun as Cedar Point!

Yep. I love stairs. I really love stairs. Watch for me on the stairs. If you trip over me and hurt yourself, you'll deserve it for tripping on the cat.

A window just isn't complete without a kitty. Could you turn up the sunshine, Dad?

You know it's a home when the cats are in the windows. We'll let you live here, too, Dad, as long as you don't get in the way.

Moved!

The first load moves into the new townhouse
long after dark on Day One.

After years of hoping, hundreds of hours of work, months of delays and glitches and just plain weird stuff, we have a new home, a new address and perhaps for the first time ever, a home that actually reflects who we are.

It's a townhouse in town. It's brand-new, fresh, clean and terrific.
The move into the place actually came on Feb. 22. The deal for the house was complex and out-of-the-box. The real estate market has been awful, as everyone knows. But the developer of the condominium townhouses came up with a deal: An independent appraiser would set a price for our house in Lake Isabella.

Megan and Robert move my
grandmother's antique dresser.

We would market that house aggressively for 45 days, and if at the end of that time, the house was unsold, he would buy it. He gets out from under a high interest rate construction loan. We get a new home. This is, however, pretty far out of the box, and it took months for the developer to get the financing together. It finally came together.

Furniture, equipment and general debris
get loaded from the Lake Isabella house.

We proudly put the old house on the market in September 2005.
Ahem. The market tanked. The house just sat there. When this deal came along, it was too good to pass up. At one point, we were to close a few days before Christmas, and I declared that the first thing we'd do would be to put up a Christmas tree in the balcony over the front door. That closing date didn't happen, but I was able to keep my promise: The night we moved in, the Christmas tree went into the balcony over the front door.

Dad and Kissy Missy look on
as Robert finishes placing the
Christmas tree in the balcony.

There have been all the dozens of little things to take care of as we've moved in - including a misbehaving furnace, satellite TV (I will NOT use cable), WiMax Internet (I will NOT use cable), and the everyday stuff of living. The living room and garage are piled high with stuff. The first part of putting away stuff is to figure out where "away" is, and sometimes that's tough. All in good time. We're home.

It will be a very nice living room
once it stops being a storage shed.

Happy V.D.

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A Valentine's Day gift from us!

Winter guard

Until I saw a guard competition, I had absolutely no idea that such a thing went on.
I got asked (drafted, really) to drive six teen-agers to Grand Rapids Northview High School Saturday so they could take part in a Michigan Color Guard Circuit competition. The Mt. Pleasant High School guard finished second in Class AA with a score of 48.2 - behind Portage Northern, a comparable-sized school outside Kalamazoo.


The guard warms up in the Northview auxiliary gym.


Guard is an interesting combination of modern dance, military-style drill, marching-band flags and pure athleticism. In band season, it complements the marching band. On its own, it's three to four minutes of fun to watch.


The Mt. Pleasant guard "blossoms" during its show.


The guard swirls and twirls on the floor and produced some solid crowd reaction.


Coach John Demkowicz gives some advice to the guard, left. At right, Katherine listens intensely.

The pep band

Just because football season's over doesn't mean the band goes home. Robert's happily engaged in being part of the Mt. Pleasant High School pep band.
True - they just kind of sit there and play in the stands during basketball games, but it's fun, and adds to the atmosphere of the games.


Big Brother Matthew talks to Katherine as they soak up some of the atmosphere of a game in the Oiler gym.








Sun photographer Ryan Evon pays attention to something out on the floor. Ryan! The real stars are up here!











And why isn't it a surprise that Katherine finds a way to be a part of it all?

The Highest Honor

I had the high honor of speaking at the court of honor for three new Eagle Scouts last week.
It was 13 years ago this month that Troop 798 came back to life. Blessed Sacrament Church in Midland had a strong Cub Scout pack, but too few boys were crossing over into Boy Scouts.
The troop began with the blessing of the church, a hundred bucks, five Boy Scouts and a rookie Scoutmaster – me.
It changed lives, perhaps none as much as mine. Over the past 13 years , 10 boys have become Eagles from Troop 798, earning Scouting's highest honor.




I was humbled when I was asked to be the keynote speaker at the court of honor for Adam Beach, Stephen Bischoff and Garett LaChance.




I talked about success – and how it's elusive, how it sometimes has to be redefined in light of reality, how we learn the most from our failures, and how, when we succeed once, we prepare ourselves to succeed again..
I have to judge Troop 798 to be a resounding success.


Eagle Scouts Adam Beach, Stephen Bischoff and Garett LaChance take the Eagle Pledge.


Junior Assistant Scoutmaster Patrick Sandoval speaks at the court of honor. I also had the honor of speaking at his court of honor; his two older brothers were among the first five Scouts in Troop 798, and also are Eagle Scouts.

A plaque names all the Troop 798 Eagles: John Ballard 1998; Jeffrey Sandoval 1998; Steven Sandoval 1998; Brendan Eash 1999; Eric Gustafson 1999; Erik Rakus 1999; Patrick Sandoval 2005; Adam Beach 2007; Garett LaChance 2007; Stephen Bischoff 2007.

(Photos by Katherine Ranzenberger)