Well the park is no longer closed so we can have the Oakes Family Gathering where we planned, with a few changes. First of all the septic system for the park is still under water so we will be using porta potties (oh joy). Secondly, the road that I gave everyone instructions to use to get there is still under water. That means that I need to get there bright and early to figure out the new way to get there and put up signs.
Today I will put the finishing touches on my power point presentation and also my family picture slide show. I also have to complete as much of the family names and birthdates etc for the family tree as I can. Then there is the shopping and the wrapping of 25 mystery door prizes as well as buying the table cloths and picking up the flowers for me to arrange tomorrow. I will be making 13 gallons of tea too and baking about 4 dozen cookies (little oak leaves and acorns).
Yesterday I spent a good part of the day working on Cranfest and getting things done that we can get done now, so they are out of the way. Our radios have not worked correctly during the festival for 5 years so we had them move the antenna. As they were moving it they found out that a part of the repeater had been broken years ago and has never worked. No wonder we had dead spots before. They fixed it yesterday and boy does that change things. We were running all over with radios asking "Can you hear me now?" and they could!
After all of that I went over to my sister Dale's house and picked strawberries. She is remodeling her house and does not have the time to do anything with her strawberries this year. I can sympathize and then I also can run over and pick them.....her loss is my gain.
I have made 4 batches of Rhubarb strawberry jam lately. It turns out well and people seem to love it. The last batch had more rhubarb and less sugar. We'll see how people like the difference. I want to get it just right and write it down. Then I can go onto the next. I also want to work on a Rhubarb Cranberry and a Rhubarb Blueberry jam too. This year, I want to put up as much canning as I can.
Will and Jake really worked hard around here. They weed-eated and then they put up the fence around my garden. Of course last night when I took the dog out to potty, the deer were all checking out the fence. They are SO nosy. If we move anything in the yard or change anything, they check it out that night. If the ground was softer we would have deer tracks all around it, every night.
Speaking of wild life we saw the bear again on Wednesday as we were leaving for church. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw it as it finished crossing the road. I guess I should say not "the bear" but we saw "a bear". This one was smaller. We're still trying to get a photo for the blog, but never seem to have the cameral when we need it.
Another thing we have had a lot of around here lately are MOTHS. If you get a chance to look them up check out pictures of LUNA Moths and Evening primrose moths. They are just two of the moths that hang around, but boy are they beautiful. It's interesting to go out and look at what is hanging around under the yard light. I have never seen as many different kinds. The Luna is light green and the primrose is yellow and pink. Beautiful. God does good work!
Well time to get busy on house work so that I can get everything done that I need to before I go to work. Then I will be working on the Gathering. My goal is to have everything done and packed tonight so that after a few last minute things in the morning, we can just head out. You know what they say about "best layed plans". Remember the stupid things rule. It just makes you wonder what's going to happen this time. Oh well, it keeps life interesting.
Hope you all have a blessed weekend.
dea
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Oh Mighty Hunter!
My mighty hunter Will had to set out on a quest again this morning. There was a bat in the house. That's one of the good things about having an indoor cat. She notices EVERYTHING. I look over and she's looking at something on the side of the door frame. Now I do not have my glasses on, it's 4:55 am. All I see is a dark blob, but then the blob starts to move up the side of the door frame. Even not being able to see, I can tell what that is....yuck, a bat.
It's not like I hate them or anything, but they really creep me out. When I was young we were playing "kick the can" outside at night or maybe "Ghost in the graveyard", I was running and I had longer hair at that time. My hair must have streamed just right because I ended up with a bat stuck in it. He did not hurt me at all, but what noises and what a gross feeling. Now chills run up my spine when I see one.
Of course add to that the fact that when the "Mighty Hunter" tried to get one out of the house a couple of years ago, he accidentally threw it right onto my chest. Thank you so much dear. Not really confidence building.
So back to the story.....there is the bat. There is the cat. There goes Deanna. I left the frig open (don't remember doing it) and headed for the blue room and closed the french doors behind me. With the doors open just a crack, still watching the bat to make sure it doesn't move (which it did)I called the Mighty Hunter, who was not thrilled to come to my rescue. In fact he wanted me to go past the bat and get him a towel to catch it with. Yeah right.
He goes to grab the bat with the towel and the dumb thing flies away. Will opens up the outside french doors and screens and goes to get the bat. The dumb thing has fallen into my dish water that I had left some stubborn dishes soaking in for the night. Oh great. He dumps in the towel. Drags out the sopping bat and throws it into the yard. The indoor cat goes running to chase the outdoor cat. The dog is trying to help anyway he can, which is really no help at all. Meanwhile it is now 5:00 am and this is not how we wanted to start the day.
We catch the cat, bring the dog back in and as we walk by I look over at the bat who is now making his way into my flower garden. He's looking like a drunk sailor staggering home. Of course being chased by cat, flung with a towel, dunked in a bath of soaping water and then flung into the heavens in the light of day probably was not how he wanted to end his day either.
Disaster averted, I am now safe, Will has gone to work, the dog has had his morning constitutional, the cat is curled up on the bed, the kids are both sleeping soundly and all is right in the world. I can tell it's going to be a beautiful day.
Hope you have one too.
dea
It's not like I hate them or anything, but they really creep me out. When I was young we were playing "kick the can" outside at night or maybe "Ghost in the graveyard", I was running and I had longer hair at that time. My hair must have streamed just right because I ended up with a bat stuck in it. He did not hurt me at all, but what noises and what a gross feeling. Now chills run up my spine when I see one.
Of course add to that the fact that when the "Mighty Hunter" tried to get one out of the house a couple of years ago, he accidentally threw it right onto my chest. Thank you so much dear. Not really confidence building.
So back to the story.....there is the bat. There is the cat. There goes Deanna. I left the frig open (don't remember doing it) and headed for the blue room and closed the french doors behind me. With the doors open just a crack, still watching the bat to make sure it doesn't move (which it did)I called the Mighty Hunter, who was not thrilled to come to my rescue. In fact he wanted me to go past the bat and get him a towel to catch it with. Yeah right.
He goes to grab the bat with the towel and the dumb thing flies away. Will opens up the outside french doors and screens and goes to get the bat. The dumb thing has fallen into my dish water that I had left some stubborn dishes soaking in for the night. Oh great. He dumps in the towel. Drags out the sopping bat and throws it into the yard. The indoor cat goes running to chase the outdoor cat. The dog is trying to help anyway he can, which is really no help at all. Meanwhile it is now 5:00 am and this is not how we wanted to start the day.
We catch the cat, bring the dog back in and as we walk by I look over at the bat who is now making his way into my flower garden. He's looking like a drunk sailor staggering home. Of course being chased by cat, flung with a towel, dunked in a bath of soaping water and then flung into the heavens in the light of day probably was not how he wanted to end his day either.
Disaster averted, I am now safe, Will has gone to work, the dog has had his morning constitutional, the cat is curled up on the bed, the kids are both sleeping soundly and all is right in the world. I can tell it's going to be a beautiful day.
Hope you have one too.
dea
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Plan B
We're still hoping to have our Oakes Family Gathering at Devils Lake State Park, but don't know whether it will still be under water or not. The park is closed until the 25th with the staff looking it over again on the 24th. Until then we will not know if the water will have gone down enough for people to make it over the road to the pavillion. It's hard to be in limbo, not knowing what to do. This is a big deal for me. I have been doing this gathering for 6 years now. I promised my Gram that I would do my best to make sure the family kept in touch. It's not easy. We are so spread out now.
I've been working on my genealogy again. Trying to get together a power point presentation. It shows the family "where they come from" and includes pictures from our vacation last year. I'm trying to make it interesting and not get too "in depth". Not everyone loves history and dead people as much as I do. I can see their eyes glaze over when I start to talk. Truthfully, many don't really even pay attention to the "live family members" let alone the dead ones, but there are some who enjoy hearing it without doing all of the work.
Plan B is a little hard to come up with because everything in the middle of the state is under water or has been under water in the last 2 weeks. Pretty soggy with some roads still under water or damaged by washouts etc. It can be tricky trying to navigate around our beautiful state. My cousin suggested having it at the rest area on the interstate. It may come to that. We'll have to see. I've been checking into the businesses in Wisconsin Dells that lost their summer business because the lake drained away. One or two of them have meeting facilities and I'm sure they could use the business and we don't need the lake for the gathering.
Around here things are dry. We are pretty sandy and so it all drained away quickly. I could actually use some rain. The family and I have been planting our garden. We planted over 60 tomato plants, over 40 green, yellow, purple and red bell peppers, cucumbers, 4 kinds of squash, muskmelons, watermelons, onions, potatos, carrots, kale, lettuce, green beans, wax beans and snap peas. Probably some other stuff too, but I cannot think of it right now. I am praying that this garden will grow and prosper and be plentiful, so that we can share it with friends and family.
The kids both spent the night with their cousins last night so the house is quiet. Although at this time of day during the summer it's always quiet. Band does not start until next week. Then show choir starts in July. I've got to sit down and write out schedules on a board today, or I will be lost come next week.
We had a campfire night here on Monday night and it was great. God really gave us good weather for it and no bugs. What a day! I love the cooler summer days that are breezy.
Less than 100 days until Cranfest and we are working away at it. I hope and pray that it goes as well this year as it did last year. We really were ready ahead of time for it in most areas and that was wonderful. Now if we can do it again. This year I am co-chair of the Farm Market as I've been helping my Aunt Gale out for a couple of years with it and now next year she would like me to take most of it over. Should be fun.
Well, on to housework before I head in to work. Hope everyone has a great day. Remember to keep those in the flooded areas in your thoughts and prayers. Not all the flooding is over and in at my Aunt's house the water is still rising.
Take care,
dea
I've been working on my genealogy again. Trying to get together a power point presentation. It shows the family "where they come from" and includes pictures from our vacation last year. I'm trying to make it interesting and not get too "in depth". Not everyone loves history and dead people as much as I do. I can see their eyes glaze over when I start to talk. Truthfully, many don't really even pay attention to the "live family members" let alone the dead ones, but there are some who enjoy hearing it without doing all of the work.
Plan B is a little hard to come up with because everything in the middle of the state is under water or has been under water in the last 2 weeks. Pretty soggy with some roads still under water or damaged by washouts etc. It can be tricky trying to navigate around our beautiful state. My cousin suggested having it at the rest area on the interstate. It may come to that. We'll have to see. I've been checking into the businesses in Wisconsin Dells that lost their summer business because the lake drained away. One or two of them have meeting facilities and I'm sure they could use the business and we don't need the lake for the gathering.
Around here things are dry. We are pretty sandy and so it all drained away quickly. I could actually use some rain. The family and I have been planting our garden. We planted over 60 tomato plants, over 40 green, yellow, purple and red bell peppers, cucumbers, 4 kinds of squash, muskmelons, watermelons, onions, potatos, carrots, kale, lettuce, green beans, wax beans and snap peas. Probably some other stuff too, but I cannot think of it right now. I am praying that this garden will grow and prosper and be plentiful, so that we can share it with friends and family.
The kids both spent the night with their cousins last night so the house is quiet. Although at this time of day during the summer it's always quiet. Band does not start until next week. Then show choir starts in July. I've got to sit down and write out schedules on a board today, or I will be lost come next week.
We had a campfire night here on Monday night and it was great. God really gave us good weather for it and no bugs. What a day! I love the cooler summer days that are breezy.
Less than 100 days until Cranfest and we are working away at it. I hope and pray that it goes as well this year as it did last year. We really were ready ahead of time for it in most areas and that was wonderful. Now if we can do it again. This year I am co-chair of the Farm Market as I've been helping my Aunt Gale out for a couple of years with it and now next year she would like me to take most of it over. Should be fun.
Well, on to housework before I head in to work. Hope everyone has a great day. Remember to keep those in the flooded areas in your thoughts and prayers. Not all the flooding is over and in at my Aunt's house the water is still rising.
Take care,
dea
Thursday, June 12, 2008
rain, rain go away PLEASE!
We are trying to get ready for the Oakes Family Gathering, but I'm not so sure that we won't have to move it. You see the park that we are supposed to have it at received 11 inches of rain the other day and now they just received another 4 or so inches today. I'm not sure what will happen. A friend called and said that someone had called a meeting here in our village from his cell and that there were animal bodies floating in the water down there on the sides of the road and people calling from the water in ditches screaming for help. This is not a good mental picture for me. I'm having a hard time getting the urge to go to bed.
What terrible things floods are. I mean any natural disaster is terrible, but having almost drown once, floods scare me. Of course when you add in my time out on a shrimp boat in the middle of a hurricane....it is kind of a mental thing when I think about all of that water.
So for now, I will continue to try to get ready for the Gathering and hope that the water receeds. Also down in that area of Wisconsin Dells, is the Lake Delton that you hear about on the news. The whole lake drained away. Not good. Those poor people with hotels and resorts on the lake, now have no business, until they can fill the lake which looks like next year at the earliest. Insurance companies are denying them saying that they did not have flood insurance, but they didn't flood, they "drained". I don't know why it would not qualify as an act of nature.
Work has been fun in all the rain, but God has been good and I have not had to have my rain coat out at all. I've been in the rain over and over again while driving, but as soon as I've had to get out the rain has quit. Thank you Lord. I hate getting wet unless I'm in it for fun. Squishing around in the jeep seat is not my idea of fun.
Our poor SamDog had to go to the vet yesterday. He follows me EVERYWHERE. I mean everywhere. When he stopped following me and just laid there, I knew it was vet time. He ended up with Lyme's disease and some other tick born disease called Anaplasm (I think). He even had a dog fever of 104. Not good. Now he's on meds for 4 weeks. Thank God he takes pills well. What a chore if he didn't.
Will worked on the computers all day today while it rained. I bought a new scanner copier months ago and he had to network it between all three computers. Short job made longer by all of the interruptions, but he's done and I'm very thankful. Now I can scan documents (genealogy) and email them to relatives also stricken with the search for dead people bug.
Well, maybe I'll go in and lay there for a while and see if I can get to sleep. If not, I'll come out and work some more on historical searches or recipe recovery.
Have a great day tomorrow. Keep these flood victims in your thoughts and prayers.
dea
What terrible things floods are. I mean any natural disaster is terrible, but having almost drown once, floods scare me. Of course when you add in my time out on a shrimp boat in the middle of a hurricane....it is kind of a mental thing when I think about all of that water.
So for now, I will continue to try to get ready for the Gathering and hope that the water receeds. Also down in that area of Wisconsin Dells, is the Lake Delton that you hear about on the news. The whole lake drained away. Not good. Those poor people with hotels and resorts on the lake, now have no business, until they can fill the lake which looks like next year at the earliest. Insurance companies are denying them saying that they did not have flood insurance, but they didn't flood, they "drained". I don't know why it would not qualify as an act of nature.
Work has been fun in all the rain, but God has been good and I have not had to have my rain coat out at all. I've been in the rain over and over again while driving, but as soon as I've had to get out the rain has quit. Thank you Lord. I hate getting wet unless I'm in it for fun. Squishing around in the jeep seat is not my idea of fun.
Our poor SamDog had to go to the vet yesterday. He follows me EVERYWHERE. I mean everywhere. When he stopped following me and just laid there, I knew it was vet time. He ended up with Lyme's disease and some other tick born disease called Anaplasm (I think). He even had a dog fever of 104. Not good. Now he's on meds for 4 weeks. Thank God he takes pills well. What a chore if he didn't.
Will worked on the computers all day today while it rained. I bought a new scanner copier months ago and he had to network it between all three computers. Short job made longer by all of the interruptions, but he's done and I'm very thankful. Now I can scan documents (genealogy) and email them to relatives also stricken with the search for dead people bug.
Well, maybe I'll go in and lay there for a while and see if I can get to sleep. If not, I'll come out and work some more on historical searches or recipe recovery.
Have a great day tomorrow. Keep these flood victims in your thoughts and prayers.
dea
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Yesterday was a perfect day
I don't know what you consider perfect weather, but yesterday was my idea of the perfect weather day. It was about 75', sunny and had a slight breeze to keep the bugs away. Perfect.
I went to work and mail was light. That was great. It made the route go by quickly. Then I pretty much ran home and started working. The kids helped me until they wore out and then they came in and rested.
We raked leaves pine needles etc., we cleaned yard, we weeded stuff, we weed eated and we mowed. Then I decided to continue on with my quest of getting the house stained. I stained a good 2 or three hours and then weed eated my courtyard.
Too much to do and so little time. Although, I have been trying to get the housework done in the morning and then work on the "to do list" in the afternoon. The list is down from 9 pages to 7 pages.
Today Will goes in to help Dad move an electrical panel. Then this afternoon I hope to have him till the last part of my garden so that I can finish planting it. I have held off because of the bad storms we have had lately. If you hear about the flooding in Wisconsin, a good portion of it is in the southern part of our county. Gays Mills is in the next county over and is where many of my family are buried. I have to go check on the cemetery when this is all over and make sure that the stones have not shifted and clean up any debris. The reunions are next month so I will check on the way there. Now they are predicting up to 4 inches of rain for the remainder of the week. Just what we need.
The Oakes Family Gathering is in 17 days. Lots do to for that, but I'm actually farther along than usual. I have the supplies bought, I just have to finish adding new stuff to the power point presentation that I am showing. It is full of family pictures and genealogy information. I'm still looking for someone to put our family 8mm movies onto a DVD for me to share with the rest of the family. Still trying to get the power point presentation ready to make copies for anyone who wants it.
The day before and the morning of the Gathering, I have to make 12 gallons of tea, 10 lbs of hot beef for sandwiches, 50 ham sandwiches, 4 desserts, 2 corn casseroles, 2 gallons coleslaw and 100 oak leaf and acorn cookies. It will be fun. The kids and I will head out and be down there by 9:00 am on Saturday and will spend the night Saturday night near Wisconsin Dells and then come home Sunday. We have family flying in for the Gathering and I want to spend as much time with them as I can.
Different members of our family keep seeing the bears. I say bears because there seem to be many different sizes. Will and the kids saw a much smaller one the other day and a couple of weeks ago we saw the larger one. Jessalyn saw another one from the school bus window when it stopped to pick up one of the kids down the road. Evidently the kid was waiting for the bus while the bear was 100 feet away behind a shed, eating peanut butter out of a jar that it had found. It's kind of exciting, but we never seem to be able to find the camera in time.
My poor dog does not feel well. I don't know what it is....he is just sore. I cannot tell if it is a foot or if he just pulled a muscle, but he sure moves carefully. He was fine early yesterday but as the day went on he got slower. He probably hurt himself playing with Jessalyn. Whatever he does he does with his whole body and I think some times he moves wrong. We'll keep an eye on him.
Well time to get some more laundry done and finish the kitchen. Then it's off to work for another day of saving the world from mail.
Have a great day!
dea
I went to work and mail was light. That was great. It made the route go by quickly. Then I pretty much ran home and started working. The kids helped me until they wore out and then they came in and rested.
We raked leaves pine needles etc., we cleaned yard, we weeded stuff, we weed eated and we mowed. Then I decided to continue on with my quest of getting the house stained. I stained a good 2 or three hours and then weed eated my courtyard.
Too much to do and so little time. Although, I have been trying to get the housework done in the morning and then work on the "to do list" in the afternoon. The list is down from 9 pages to 7 pages.
Today Will goes in to help Dad move an electrical panel. Then this afternoon I hope to have him till the last part of my garden so that I can finish planting it. I have held off because of the bad storms we have had lately. If you hear about the flooding in Wisconsin, a good portion of it is in the southern part of our county. Gays Mills is in the next county over and is where many of my family are buried. I have to go check on the cemetery when this is all over and make sure that the stones have not shifted and clean up any debris. The reunions are next month so I will check on the way there. Now they are predicting up to 4 inches of rain for the remainder of the week. Just what we need.
The Oakes Family Gathering is in 17 days. Lots do to for that, but I'm actually farther along than usual. I have the supplies bought, I just have to finish adding new stuff to the power point presentation that I am showing. It is full of family pictures and genealogy information. I'm still looking for someone to put our family 8mm movies onto a DVD for me to share with the rest of the family. Still trying to get the power point presentation ready to make copies for anyone who wants it.
The day before and the morning of the Gathering, I have to make 12 gallons of tea, 10 lbs of hot beef for sandwiches, 50 ham sandwiches, 4 desserts, 2 corn casseroles, 2 gallons coleslaw and 100 oak leaf and acorn cookies. It will be fun. The kids and I will head out and be down there by 9:00 am on Saturday and will spend the night Saturday night near Wisconsin Dells and then come home Sunday. We have family flying in for the Gathering and I want to spend as much time with them as I can.
Different members of our family keep seeing the bears. I say bears because there seem to be many different sizes. Will and the kids saw a much smaller one the other day and a couple of weeks ago we saw the larger one. Jessalyn saw another one from the school bus window when it stopped to pick up one of the kids down the road. Evidently the kid was waiting for the bus while the bear was 100 feet away behind a shed, eating peanut butter out of a jar that it had found. It's kind of exciting, but we never seem to be able to find the camera in time.
My poor dog does not feel well. I don't know what it is....he is just sore. I cannot tell if it is a foot or if he just pulled a muscle, but he sure moves carefully. He was fine early yesterday but as the day went on he got slower. He probably hurt himself playing with Jessalyn. Whatever he does he does with his whole body and I think some times he moves wrong. We'll keep an eye on him.
Well time to get some more laundry done and finish the kitchen. Then it's off to work for another day of saving the world from mail.
Have a great day!
dea
Monday, June 09, 2008
Too Much to do...
And too little time to tell you about it. But you're worth it or we wouldn't have this page! Friday was an awesome day for me. The first day of Summer vacation for the kids so Deanna got to sleep in before having to go to work. This means I got to sleep in too! Still we both got up to chat before she went to work which was really nice with both kids still sleeping.
Then, after Dea was off to work, the kids and I got breakfast and headed out to the driveway. Less than a week ago I bought a rust bucket Isuuzuu Troooper. It cost me only 300 bucks so I figured how could I go wrong? I can sell it for scrap for that. By the time I actually got the heap home I was seriously considering scrapping it. I literally put the for sale sign back on it and Kicked myself all weekend long for wasting time and money. We were looking for a smaller sport ute that we could beat up reading electric meters. For the money, this seemed to fit the bill. Until I drove it home. I don't have time or space to give you the list of things wrong with it. Still, it did ride pretty nice. Tuesday that was the only good thing I could say about. So I went to bed Tues. night praying "Lord make this vehicle into a story that will Give Glory to You and be a blessing to me. That was Tuesday Night.
But this was Friday Morning! So, I thought why not? The kids hadn't been in it yet and we were just traveling a few miles down the road. So we piled in and the little beater started right up and sounded pretty good! PRAISE GOD! The more we drove it the better it behaved! So I was in really good spirits when we got to our Destination.
One of the Cranberry Marshes had donated use of their land to the Military to do a rescue exercise that teaches pilots what to do in the event of a Bail out and having to be rescued in a hostile situation.
We had front row seats! A-10 aircraft so low you could see the pilots. BlackHawk helicopters with guns shooting fire (and blanks) and a couple of poor "security" guys on the ground playing "bad guys" who "died" , then got up and "died" again; over and over.
The training exercise went real well and we all really enjoyed watching it. They said they would probably do it again and I can't wait.
After all that the kids and I came home and made use of the great weather to get all kinds of work done around the yard and house.
Turns out that was a good thing because the weather turned lousy after that. We had tornadoes about 20 miles south of us on Saturday and Sunday had a lot of rain too.
Still, we had such a great time on Friday, that it made up for the rest of the weekend.
There was a lot of other things going on that I just don't have the time to tell you about at the moment. Maybe Deanna will fill you in.
But I have to leave for work now.
Oh, and the troooper is still running fine! It does need some fixin before I try driving too far with it, but I'm praying the Lord continues to make it an amazing Blessing from which He can Receive Glory!
May the Lord Bless You and Keep you!
Will
Then, after Dea was off to work, the kids and I got breakfast and headed out to the driveway. Less than a week ago I bought a rust bucket Isuuzuu Troooper. It cost me only 300 bucks so I figured how could I go wrong? I can sell it for scrap for that. By the time I actually got the heap home I was seriously considering scrapping it. I literally put the for sale sign back on it and Kicked myself all weekend long for wasting time and money. We were looking for a smaller sport ute that we could beat up reading electric meters. For the money, this seemed to fit the bill. Until I drove it home. I don't have time or space to give you the list of things wrong with it. Still, it did ride pretty nice. Tuesday that was the only good thing I could say about. So I went to bed Tues. night praying "Lord make this vehicle into a story that will Give Glory to You and be a blessing to me. That was Tuesday Night.
But this was Friday Morning! So, I thought why not? The kids hadn't been in it yet and we were just traveling a few miles down the road. So we piled in and the little beater started right up and sounded pretty good! PRAISE GOD! The more we drove it the better it behaved! So I was in really good spirits when we got to our Destination.
One of the Cranberry Marshes had donated use of their land to the Military to do a rescue exercise that teaches pilots what to do in the event of a Bail out and having to be rescued in a hostile situation.
We had front row seats! A-10 aircraft so low you could see the pilots. BlackHawk helicopters with guns shooting fire (and blanks) and a couple of poor "security" guys on the ground playing "bad guys" who "died" , then got up and "died" again; over and over.
The training exercise went real well and we all really enjoyed watching it. They said they would probably do it again and I can't wait.
After all that the kids and I came home and made use of the great weather to get all kinds of work done around the yard and house.
Turns out that was a good thing because the weather turned lousy after that. We had tornadoes about 20 miles south of us on Saturday and Sunday had a lot of rain too.
Still, we had such a great time on Friday, that it made up for the rest of the weekend.
There was a lot of other things going on that I just don't have the time to tell you about at the moment. Maybe Deanna will fill you in.
But I have to leave for work now.
Oh, and the troooper is still running fine! It does need some fixin before I try driving too far with it, but I'm praying the Lord continues to make it an amazing Blessing from which He can Receive Glory!
May the Lord Bless You and Keep you!
Will
Monday, June 02, 2008
Back in the saddle again...
I pretty much played "hookie" all weekend long. My cousin Kelly and her daughter Stephanie were here from Alabama for the weekend, so I spent as much time with them as I could. We have not had a good "sit down" chat in probably 10 years. It was so fun. We just hung out on Saturday after I had finished work. They invited Jessa and I to go horseback riding on Sunday after church.
Practical Deanna thought I should say "no" and stay home and work.
But then I remembered how quickly things can change. I mean we had spent 10 years between good visits, how long would it be this time? I asked Will if I could play hookie and he said "go"....so we went.
My cousin Kathy had a little boy on Thursday and they named him Rhonan Lloyd. Her sister Kris and her mother Marjorie (who plays the piano at church) went down to take care of her other two kids this week. That left me trying to fill in at the piano (I pale in comparison, but make up for it in effort). After church Jessa and I ran home, changed clothes and then jumped in the car for our adventure.
We went down to a stables about 35 miles away. Got saddled up and ride em' cowboy we were off. I have missed riding so much, but didn't realize how much until I sat down in that saddle again. It felt kind of like coming home. Of course I was riding this huge horse and it felt kind of like riding a coffee table. Around here the grass is pretty lush so every one of them had a grass belly. Sure is nice to see healthy horses.
The horse I was riding on was named Lady but should have been Lazy. She kept falling asleep while we were walking and when the horse in front of me would stop she would still be walking and walk her face right into that horses back end. Of course I didn't stop her, I wanted to see if she would actually do it again. Yep, she did. You guessed it "she was a blonde". We laughed quite a bit over that one.
Jessalyn was having a great time. Her horses name was named Lefty and she said that he was backwards because he always wanted to head off to the right. This was her first time actually riding where she was in control and not just being led around a ring. Boy was she grinning.
Jacob didn't want to come. They didn't have an "engine". He stayed at home with his games and called his friends.
The interesting part is that when we got home, I felt "good". My neck for the first time in forever was actually not having problems, even after falling off the ladder. I have this permanent disk sticking out because of the deer accident. I had Will feel it and it was not sticking out. It felt wonderful. Not only that, but I was never sore anywhere else after an hour long ride.
Now I know how to fix my neck. It's cheaper than the chiropractor and more fun. Wonder if Will is going to agree?
The girls are moving out of the apartment. They found a trailer to live in that was in their price range and will let them try their wings out on their own. Now we are going to trim out the apartment and complete the kitchen etc. Then use it. I can move some stuff in there and turn one of the two bedrooms into a craft/sewing room for Jessa and I. The other will remain a bedroom. So all in all, Will and I now have 5 bedrooms, 4 family rooms, 2 kitchens and soon to be 3 bathrooms. Are we crazy? Probably.
I've been trying to make up for my weekend of hooky. Not working so far. I spent all day Monday working, doing our monthly singing gigs at the nursing homes and picked up kids from school before coming home to endless phone calls and paperwork about school. Tuesday pretty much the same and yesterday was endless running and meetings. Not feeling too productive, but I'll keep trying. Today's another day.
Jessalyn made it into Show Choir. It's a big deal up here, so not only does she have band now to learn the flute, she also is in 2 choirs. You know what that means......ENDLESS RUNNING for Mom. Not only do I have to deal with her running, add in 3 other little girls that I have to pick up and get to band and then home. Their parents work, so I'm the only option on that one. Then in July/August it's summer school for both kids. Jessa has show choir and Jake has extra work to catch up on. Boy howdy... what a mess.
NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS! Jacob got an 86 for the quarter in English. He HATES English. This is the first time since 4th grade that he passed his English. Boy are we proud of him. He has always hated it. He understands all that they do and if you ask him the questions out loud he can answer them off the top of his head, but the writing down his answers really causes disaster due to his learning thing. He has a screw that is connected different. Not wrong because he can multi task anytime, but different because he has to multi task in order to do well on his work when writing it down. His teacher now understands him and his situation. She's wonderful. She has him listen to music while doing his work at a computer and that helps him to focus. It's so wonderful to see him show progress. I think things are looking up on that front. Praise the Lord!!
Last day of school today (for now).
Hope you all have a great day!
dea
Practical Deanna thought I should say "no" and stay home and work.
But then I remembered how quickly things can change. I mean we had spent 10 years between good visits, how long would it be this time? I asked Will if I could play hookie and he said "go"....so we went.
My cousin Kathy had a little boy on Thursday and they named him Rhonan Lloyd. Her sister Kris and her mother Marjorie (who plays the piano at church) went down to take care of her other two kids this week. That left me trying to fill in at the piano (I pale in comparison, but make up for it in effort). After church Jessa and I ran home, changed clothes and then jumped in the car for our adventure.
We went down to a stables about 35 miles away. Got saddled up and ride em' cowboy we were off. I have missed riding so much, but didn't realize how much until I sat down in that saddle again. It felt kind of like coming home. Of course I was riding this huge horse and it felt kind of like riding a coffee table. Around here the grass is pretty lush so every one of them had a grass belly. Sure is nice to see healthy horses.
The horse I was riding on was named Lady but should have been Lazy. She kept falling asleep while we were walking and when the horse in front of me would stop she would still be walking and walk her face right into that horses back end. Of course I didn't stop her, I wanted to see if she would actually do it again. Yep, she did. You guessed it "she was a blonde". We laughed quite a bit over that one.
Jessalyn was having a great time. Her horses name was named Lefty and she said that he was backwards because he always wanted to head off to the right. This was her first time actually riding where she was in control and not just being led around a ring. Boy was she grinning.
Jacob didn't want to come. They didn't have an "engine". He stayed at home with his games and called his friends.
The interesting part is that when we got home, I felt "good". My neck for the first time in forever was actually not having problems, even after falling off the ladder. I have this permanent disk sticking out because of the deer accident. I had Will feel it and it was not sticking out. It felt wonderful. Not only that, but I was never sore anywhere else after an hour long ride.
Now I know how to fix my neck. It's cheaper than the chiropractor and more fun. Wonder if Will is going to agree?
The girls are moving out of the apartment. They found a trailer to live in that was in their price range and will let them try their wings out on their own. Now we are going to trim out the apartment and complete the kitchen etc. Then use it. I can move some stuff in there and turn one of the two bedrooms into a craft/sewing room for Jessa and I. The other will remain a bedroom. So all in all, Will and I now have 5 bedrooms, 4 family rooms, 2 kitchens and soon to be 3 bathrooms. Are we crazy? Probably.
I've been trying to make up for my weekend of hooky. Not working so far. I spent all day Monday working, doing our monthly singing gigs at the nursing homes and picked up kids from school before coming home to endless phone calls and paperwork about school. Tuesday pretty much the same and yesterday was endless running and meetings. Not feeling too productive, but I'll keep trying. Today's another day.
Jessalyn made it into Show Choir. It's a big deal up here, so not only does she have band now to learn the flute, she also is in 2 choirs. You know what that means......ENDLESS RUNNING for Mom. Not only do I have to deal with her running, add in 3 other little girls that I have to pick up and get to band and then home. Their parents work, so I'm the only option on that one. Then in July/August it's summer school for both kids. Jessa has show choir and Jake has extra work to catch up on. Boy howdy... what a mess.
NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS! Jacob got an 86 for the quarter in English. He HATES English. This is the first time since 4th grade that he passed his English. Boy are we proud of him. He has always hated it. He understands all that they do and if you ask him the questions out loud he can answer them off the top of his head, but the writing down his answers really causes disaster due to his learning thing. He has a screw that is connected different. Not wrong because he can multi task anytime, but different because he has to multi task in order to do well on his work when writing it down. His teacher now understands him and his situation. She's wonderful. She has him listen to music while doing his work at a computer and that helps him to focus. It's so wonderful to see him show progress. I think things are looking up on that front. Praise the Lord!!
Last day of school today (for now).
Hope you all have a great day!
dea
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