Today, I spent 5 hours going down the Duck River in a canoe and had an absolute blast!
There was a group of 22 people (11 guys and 11 gals) from the Kairos that met at Brentwood Baptist Church this morning at 8:30 am. I know...can you believe that I got up? I am so not a morning person, if you don't believe me you can ask any family member and they will tell you. But I love hanging out with people, so I was willing to sacrifice my sleeping in.
We got to the Duck River (in Columbia, TN) around 9:30 am and were assigned partners (1 guy to 1 gal). My parnters(canoe mate, if you will)name was Jacob, I found out that like everyone else in this town, he works in the music business. He manages about 4 or 5 Christian artists/bands. It sounded like a really neat job, although, he really is on call at all times!
We all got in the water around 10 am and headed down the good ole Duck! For the most part, we all stayed together, there would be some that would get way ahead or way behind but in no time we would all be back together again. This was really a great group of people that went. We all seemed to get along great!
One of the guys that I play kickball with was actually swimming in the river and decided to try and dump us, but I informed him that I had no problem with hitting him in the head with my orr! :-) He eventually went away and we were on our way again - tip free!
We came across a couple of rope swings, there was one in perticular that we all tried. Yep, you heard me correct, I even gave it a try. I have seen people swinging on these ropes before in movies or music videos and I have always thought that it would be a lot of fun to do. I had so much fun, I did it twice. My first jump was the best, I was given a score of a 10, beginners luck, I say! My second jump was more of a pathetic jump, I really don't know what happened, but it just wasn't as smooth as the first although I still hit the water. Unfortunately my canoe mate was not as successful, Jacob's one an only jump cut him a little short of the water and he ended up cutting his foot and scrapping up his back and arm and then ended in the water. We all just looked at him not knowing what to do, "should we laugh", "I hope he's okay", etc... He was okay, a little embarrassed but he handled it just fine. From then on, he became known as "That Guy"! You know the stories I am talking about, the one's that start like "Remember that time when "that guy"....
Around noon we stopped and ate, which was nice to take a break and then we got back on the river.
Some of the group had stopped and gotten out to swim. Jacob really didn't want to get out and I was perfectly fine staying in the canoe and just floating down the river watching the others. We came across some cattle in the water and they looked like they were starting to form a wall trying to intimidate us. But as we got closer and the cattle could see that we were not backing down an in fact were pretty good canoers (am I even close as spelling that correctly)...anyway, they decided to head to shore and we went on our way.
We also came across some type of spring, that shot straight up in the air. Apparently there were only a few us that saw it, it was really neat!
I kept telling Jacob that we really should write a guide book because we were such awesome canoers (there's that word again), he was in complete agreement. I let you know when it comes out!
Finally after 5 hours and 9 miles later, we ended our trip and were returned to our cars.
I didn't realize how tired I was until we got into the vehicles and I started feeling sleepy! I ended up burning my arms, surprise there! But I am still confused a how I was able to burn my knees when they were covered the whole time! It's just amazing to me, why would I have expected anything less!
God provided such a beautiful day and introduced me to so many wonderful people that are now friends, what an AWESOME GOD WE SERVE!
There is going to be a white water rafting activity August 9th - I say "Bring it On!"
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Amazing Race - Two Rivers Style
How many of you are familiar with the tv show "Amazing Race"? There are teams of 12 that fly all over the world collectiing clues to the final location, the winner wins 1 million dollars. Well, out Single's Ministry team (which I am apart of), hosted a version of that at our church. Instead of flying teams all over the world, we had teams of 2 or 3 drive all over Nashville collecting clues. Surprisingly enough with the gas prices, we had a great response of people that wanted to participate.
I had planned this event last year, but it was only involving my Sunday School class. This year I suggested that we include all of the Single's, this would be a great event for all of us to meet and get to know each other better.
On Saturday, June 21 at 3pm, seven teams left the church parking lot in search of their first location. The first clue sent the teams to the Belle Meade plantation. The teams didn't have to do a task at this location, they just needed to get there and get their clue for their next location. The second location was Centennial Park, I need to tell you that last year when we did this, we had the park as one of the locations, not knowing that there was a huge Gay and Lesbian rally going on that day, it was hilarious! This year, there was not rally of any sort going on, and the teams had to find Sean (a professional entertainer - aka "Clown") and learn how to make a balloon animal. Sean had the balloons blown up already, each person on the team just needed to make a balloon animal before they could get their next clue. You like how I make sound like it's so easy to do! The third location was Ft. Negley, here they had to eat a Moon Pie and a RC cola in honor of the Moon Pie Festival that was going on in Beltbuckle, TN. I know, the fort didn't have anything to do with it, I just really wanted them to eat a moon pie and drink and RC cola. Now, the catch though was that the same person could not do both and so there had to be two people and they they couldn't do it at the same time, meaning that they had to go one at a time, which would slow them down. The next location was at "Cooter's", this place has some memoralbeilia...memoralbel..."stuff" from the "The Duke's of Hazzard". They have the General Lee, Daisy's jeep and one of the sherriff's cars. So here, the teams needed to have their picture (polaroid)taken in one of the cars before they could get their final clue. I was told that one of team members was so excited, that she actually jumped into the General Lee just like the good ole boys did, not knowing that she could of simply opened the door. I should have given her extra points having heard that, I love that! I would have probably done the same thing.
Going off on a little tangent, I promise I will come back to the race, but talking about the Dukes of Hazzard, it reminded me of when my brother and I were younger. I remember a time my mom moving our cars side by side out in the yard, so that my brother and I could pretend that were were the Duke's, jumping into the cars through the windows. What a great mom!!!!!
Now, back to the rest of the story. The final clue, sent the teams back to the church, where they had to find me and bring their balloon animals and polaroid picture from Cooter's to the finish line.
Sean had also created this huge race car that we had at the finish line. Unfortunately at one point it blew into the grass and popped a couple of the wheels, but he was able to fix it and later donated to the library which is doing a racing theme for the summer, how cool was that that they decided to do that theme for the summer, all planned before the "Amazing Race" was even announced!
After everyone got back we had a cookout and even played a couple of innings of Kickball.
What a great day, I hope the teams had as much fun as I did planning the event!!!
Here are some pictures from the day!
I had planned this event last year, but it was only involving my Sunday School class. This year I suggested that we include all of the Single's, this would be a great event for all of us to meet and get to know each other better.
On Saturday, June 21 at 3pm, seven teams left the church parking lot in search of their first location. The first clue sent the teams to the Belle Meade plantation. The teams didn't have to do a task at this location, they just needed to get there and get their clue for their next location. The second location was Centennial Park, I need to tell you that last year when we did this, we had the park as one of the locations, not knowing that there was a huge Gay and Lesbian rally going on that day, it was hilarious! This year, there was not rally of any sort going on, and the teams had to find Sean (a professional entertainer - aka "Clown") and learn how to make a balloon animal. Sean had the balloons blown up already, each person on the team just needed to make a balloon animal before they could get their next clue. You like how I make sound like it's so easy to do! The third location was Ft. Negley, here they had to eat a Moon Pie and a RC cola in honor of the Moon Pie Festival that was going on in Beltbuckle, TN. I know, the fort didn't have anything to do with it, I just really wanted them to eat a moon pie and drink and RC cola. Now, the catch though was that the same person could not do both and so there had to be two people and they they couldn't do it at the same time, meaning that they had to go one at a time, which would slow them down. The next location was at "Cooter's", this place has some memoralbeilia...memoralbel..."stuff" from the "The Duke's of Hazzard". They have the General Lee, Daisy's jeep and one of the sherriff's cars. So here, the teams needed to have their picture (polaroid)taken in one of the cars before they could get their final clue. I was told that one of team members was so excited, that she actually jumped into the General Lee just like the good ole boys did, not knowing that she could of simply opened the door. I should have given her extra points having heard that, I love that! I would have probably done the same thing.
Going off on a little tangent, I promise I will come back to the race, but talking about the Dukes of Hazzard, it reminded me of when my brother and I were younger. I remember a time my mom moving our cars side by side out in the yard, so that my brother and I could pretend that were were the Duke's, jumping into the cars through the windows. What a great mom!!!!!
Now, back to the rest of the story. The final clue, sent the teams back to the church, where they had to find me and bring their balloon animals and polaroid picture from Cooter's to the finish line.
Sean had also created this huge race car that we had at the finish line. Unfortunately at one point it blew into the grass and popped a couple of the wheels, but he was able to fix it and later donated to the library which is doing a racing theme for the summer, how cool was that that they decided to do that theme for the summer, all planned before the "Amazing Race" was even announced!
After everyone got back we had a cookout and even played a couple of innings of Kickball.
What a great day, I hope the teams had as much fun as I did planning the event!!!
Here are some pictures from the day!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
My CMA Festival!
The Country Music Festival was this past weekend, it starts on Thursday and then ends on Sunday. Aside from the patrons, most of the locals don't really care for this weekend because that means thousands of tourists everywhere! I really haven't taken part in the CMA festival, due to the fact that I would have to take off of work and it's usually the hottest weekend of the summer. Despite all that I still think it's a great event, you can see all your favorites all in one place!
This year, volunteering at the Country Music Hall of Fame, I found out that Kathy Mattea was going to be giving a performance there on Thursday. This would be a free performance for me since I volunteer. I decided that I would take a couple of hours off and go see her. I am so glad that I did, she did such a great job! I really miss hearing her music on the radio. She sang some songs off of her new cd, from what I heard, I think it would be a great cd. Then she sang some of her older stuff, in fact, we all sang with her on "18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses." It was really neat to hear. The theatre that she was in holds only about 200-300 people, so it was a really neat intimate setting. She talked about how some of the songs came about and what she has been up to for the last 10 years. She then ended with the song that my mom and I love, and I found out that it's a true story that her husband wrote about his grandparents. The song is called, "Where Have You Been," she stated that this song is her "signature song", how every artist has a "signature song". She joked that when you have a "signature song", you better enjoy singing it every day for the rest of your life! :-)
For those of you not familiar with the song, here are the lyrics, I also posted some pictures from the performance.
Where Have You Been
Claire had all but given up
When she and Edwin fell in love
She touched his face and shook her head
In disbelief she sighed and said
In many dreams I've held you near
Now at last you're really here
Chorus
Where have you been?
I've looked for you for ever and a day
Where have you been?
I'm just not myself when you're away
He asked her for her hand for life
Then she became a salesman's wife
He was home each night by 8
But one stormy evening he was late
Her frightened tears fell to the floor
Until his key turned in the door
Chorus
They'd never spent a night apart
For 60 yrs she heard him snore
Now they're in a hospital
In seperate beds on different floors
Claire soon lost her memory, forgot the names of family
She never spoke a word again
Then one day they wheeled him in
He held her hand and stroked her hair
In a fragile voice she said
Chorus
Where have you been
Ive searched for you forever and a day
Where have you been
Im just not myself when your away
Im just not myself when your away
Then on Saturday, I had volunteered to help out at the museum. Phil Vassar was going to be performing in the same theatre and I wanted to see that too. He did such a great job as well, he talked more about his songs, he's got a great sense of humor and then he also donated some of his original writings of some of his songs to the museum, that was really neat.
After the performance, I went into the gift shop to see what I needed to do. I thought for sure that they were going to tell me to fold t-shirts and just help with any questions. Well, I was actualy asked to help with the autograph session. Phil Vassar was going to be signing autographs for about an hour and I was incharge of making sure that the isle was clear so that those that were getting autographs could get through. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it! I couldn't believe it, how was I so lucky!
Phil Vassar's mom and two sisters were there and they walked past me a couple of times. One of the sisters came up to me and asked "How many times have peope told you that you look like Alison Krauss?" I told her, "Not enough!" :-)
I took a few pictures of Phil Vassar, when he was signing autographs and some at the performance, unfortunately not alot of them came out from the performance, I think it was too dark in there. Anyway, here are some pictures.
Okay, I'm almost done with my story, just hang in there!
I had found out a couple days before the CMA Festival that a friend from Wisconsin was going to be coming with her mom (Pat)to the festival. Tracy and I hadn't talked or seen each other since I move down here so it was great to see her again and hang out a little bit. On Friday night I had taken them out to the Loveless Cafe for supper, I thought it would be a great place that they wouldn't get to go to anywhere else and it was far enough out that the other fesival goers wouldn't be at.
Here's a picture of us at the cafe.
For the most part Tracy and her mom were at the festival the whole weekend, but on Sunday they went to church with me and then afterwards, Pat was tired and so she suggested that I take her pass and that Tracy and I should go to the Riverfront and watch the performances and then we would go back to the hotel and then Tracy and Pat would go to the concerts that night.
That was alot of fun at the Riverfront, there are two stages set up on the bank of the Cumberland and they have acts alternating on the stages all day long. This event is more for the up and coming stars and the "seasoned" stars that you haven't heard from lately. Some of the stars that we saw were Ty Herndon and T. Graham Brown, then I noticed that "Cowboy Crush" was going to be playing, I had met the fiddle player (Renae' Truex) from that group a couple of months ago, she came to the museum and helped us with the "Musical Petting Zoo", this is an event that the museum does 2x a month, where they put out a whole bunch of instruments and then they let kids come and play with them and learn about the instruments.
Renae' is such a neat person, she is about as sweet as they come. She plays the fiddle and mandolin, she smiles the entire time that she plays. I had asked her when she started playing, I don't remember how old she was, but she was very young. She had told me that she is from West Virginia and that is how you are raised.
I think Renae' will be very successful with her music and I am honored that I was given the chance to meet her.
Here are a couple of picutures of Cowboy Crush!
What a great weekend! I got to spend sometime with a friend I hadn't seen in a while and I got to hear some great music!!!! Ahh, LIFE is GOOD!
This year, volunteering at the Country Music Hall of Fame, I found out that Kathy Mattea was going to be giving a performance there on Thursday. This would be a free performance for me since I volunteer. I decided that I would take a couple of hours off and go see her. I am so glad that I did, she did such a great job! I really miss hearing her music on the radio. She sang some songs off of her new cd, from what I heard, I think it would be a great cd. Then she sang some of her older stuff, in fact, we all sang with her on "18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses." It was really neat to hear. The theatre that she was in holds only about 200-300 people, so it was a really neat intimate setting. She talked about how some of the songs came about and what she has been up to for the last 10 years. She then ended with the song that my mom and I love, and I found out that it's a true story that her husband wrote about his grandparents. The song is called, "Where Have You Been," she stated that this song is her "signature song", how every artist has a "signature song". She joked that when you have a "signature song", you better enjoy singing it every day for the rest of your life! :-)
For those of you not familiar with the song, here are the lyrics, I also posted some pictures from the performance.
Where Have You Been
Claire had all but given up
When she and Edwin fell in love
She touched his face and shook her head
In disbelief she sighed and said
In many dreams I've held you near
Now at last you're really here
Chorus
Where have you been?
I've looked for you for ever and a day
Where have you been?
I'm just not myself when you're away
He asked her for her hand for life
Then she became a salesman's wife
He was home each night by 8
But one stormy evening he was late
Her frightened tears fell to the floor
Until his key turned in the door
Chorus
They'd never spent a night apart
For 60 yrs she heard him snore
Now they're in a hospital
In seperate beds on different floors
Claire soon lost her memory, forgot the names of family
She never spoke a word again
Then one day they wheeled him in
He held her hand and stroked her hair
In a fragile voice she said
Chorus
Where have you been
Ive searched for you forever and a day
Where have you been
Im just not myself when your away
Im just not myself when your away
Then on Saturday, I had volunteered to help out at the museum. Phil Vassar was going to be performing in the same theatre and I wanted to see that too. He did such a great job as well, he talked more about his songs, he's got a great sense of humor and then he also donated some of his original writings of some of his songs to the museum, that was really neat.
After the performance, I went into the gift shop to see what I needed to do. I thought for sure that they were going to tell me to fold t-shirts and just help with any questions. Well, I was actualy asked to help with the autograph session. Phil Vassar was going to be signing autographs for about an hour and I was incharge of making sure that the isle was clear so that those that were getting autographs could get through. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it! I couldn't believe it, how was I so lucky!
Phil Vassar's mom and two sisters were there and they walked past me a couple of times. One of the sisters came up to me and asked "How many times have peope told you that you look like Alison Krauss?" I told her, "Not enough!" :-)
I took a few pictures of Phil Vassar, when he was signing autographs and some at the performance, unfortunately not alot of them came out from the performance, I think it was too dark in there. Anyway, here are some pictures.
Okay, I'm almost done with my story, just hang in there!
I had found out a couple days before the CMA Festival that a friend from Wisconsin was going to be coming with her mom (Pat)to the festival. Tracy and I hadn't talked or seen each other since I move down here so it was great to see her again and hang out a little bit. On Friday night I had taken them out to the Loveless Cafe for supper, I thought it would be a great place that they wouldn't get to go to anywhere else and it was far enough out that the other fesival goers wouldn't be at.
Here's a picture of us at the cafe.
For the most part Tracy and her mom were at the festival the whole weekend, but on Sunday they went to church with me and then afterwards, Pat was tired and so she suggested that I take her pass and that Tracy and I should go to the Riverfront and watch the performances and then we would go back to the hotel and then Tracy and Pat would go to the concerts that night.
That was alot of fun at the Riverfront, there are two stages set up on the bank of the Cumberland and they have acts alternating on the stages all day long. This event is more for the up and coming stars and the "seasoned" stars that you haven't heard from lately. Some of the stars that we saw were Ty Herndon and T. Graham Brown, then I noticed that "Cowboy Crush" was going to be playing, I had met the fiddle player (Renae' Truex) from that group a couple of months ago, she came to the museum and helped us with the "Musical Petting Zoo", this is an event that the museum does 2x a month, where they put out a whole bunch of instruments and then they let kids come and play with them and learn about the instruments.
Renae' is such a neat person, she is about as sweet as they come. She plays the fiddle and mandolin, she smiles the entire time that she plays. I had asked her when she started playing, I don't remember how old she was, but she was very young. She had told me that she is from West Virginia and that is how you are raised.
I think Renae' will be very successful with her music and I am honored that I was given the chance to meet her.
Here are a couple of picutures of Cowboy Crush!
What a great weekend! I got to spend sometime with a friend I hadn't seen in a while and I got to hear some great music!!!! Ahh, LIFE is GOOD!
Judge
A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilage of spending some time with a male named Judge. No, not that kind of male, Judge is an 11 year old black labrador.
My friend Stephanie (Judge's mom) needed to go out of town to take care of her grandfather for a few weeks and she asked me if I would be able to take care of Judge one of the weeks that she was gone.
Now, not having taken care of Judge before, Stephanie thought it would be a good idea for me to come over a couple of times, so that Judge would get used to me and actually let me in the house when it was my turn to come and dog/house-sit. So we did that and everything went good...then came the time for me to come by myself.
My friend Mel had watched Judge the week before, so the day that I was coming, she left Judge outside in the fenced in backyard, so that I could let him in the house when I got home. So I got to the house and went to see how Judge was doing, I was greeted with a waging tail and a low growl! Thankfully, I had not opened the screen door yet. "Wow, this isn't good!" was my thought, "maybe I should leave him out there for a little bit and continue to unpack my car" was my next thought. So as I brought different stuff in, I would continue to go to the screen door and see if the mood had changed and maybe I had moved up to the "pals" stage. The car was unpacked and Judge was still not happy. So I thought, "how about I call my good friend Mel!" So I called her and she offered to come over when she got off of work, which would be 8:30pm. I was glad that she was going to come over, but it was only 6:30pm and I thought I should maybe try one more idea. I knew Judge loved walks, so I suggested through the screendoor if he would like to go on a walk. Well, I do believe I had peaked his interest, due to the rising of his ears an a little tilt of the head. Just to makesure he understood what I said, I suggested it one more time and yes, this was definitely something that he wanted to do and the reason I knew this was because he was now hopping at the front door and barking. I ran and got the leash and decided that now he could come in the house.
Well, because I was so happy that he wasn't growling at me anymore and that he really wanted to go on a walk. I completely forgot to change into other shoes, so Judge dragged me all over the neighborhood in my sandals that had about a 3" heal on them, nice!!!
On our way out of the house, I had grabbed a big stick that Stephanie walks with, she had informed me that I wouldn't need to use it, however, if I felt more comfortable with it, there it was. So I decided to take it, just incase. Thankfully I didn't need to use it, however there was a little chiwawa, however you spell it,you know the Taco Bell dog. (As a side note, I hate those dogs. I know that "hate" is a strong word, but I really do "hate" them) Anyway, one of those dogs came running out at us like it was going to attack us, Judge just sniffed it and kept walking, I was winding up my foot, to send it airbourne, but one of the neighbor girls came and got it before it met my foot and took it home. I really think I could of cleared it over one of the houses!! As we got towards the end of the last street before we headed home, I saw this cage, now let me tell you, the last time that I saw cage this size, was about 10 or 15 years ago, when my family took a trip to South Dakota and we went to "Bear Country". Yes that type of cage was around a grizzly bear. So you can only image what kind of dog was living in that cage. All of a sudden, out steps "Cujo" - for those of you not familiar with "Cujo", he was a large St. Bernard, that had rabbies. Even though this dog did not look as bad as "Cujo", nor did he try to get to us, I did inform Judge, that if that dog had somehow gotten out, that "he was on his own"!
When we got back to the house, I had decided to start supper and I needed to make a couple of calls. I had forgotten my phone charger for the house, so when I was getting off the phone, I ran outside to use the car charger. As I shut the house door, I remembered that the door was still locked and that the key was still in the house. Yes, I had locked myself out of the house. The first night and only about 2 hours into watching Judge, not a good start!
Now not only had I locked myself out of the house and Judge in the house, but do you remember my comment in the last paragraph about me starting supper, yeah, I had turned the oven on! Sooooo...I called Mel again, I wasn't able to reach her. So I thought I would call another friend, Christa to see if she had a spare key. She didn't have a spare nor did she know of anyone that had one. But, when I told her that the oven was on, she said she would be right over!!! :-)
Even though Christa was on her way over, I wasn't sure what we were going to do with neither one of us having a key. Now we could have broken or window, although I didn't want to do that for two reasons, I didn't want to pay for a window and I wasn't sure how excited Judge would be about someone coming in through the window, even if I had taken him for a walk. So I called Mel a couple more times, still not able to get a hold of her, I decided to have her paged. When I told her what I did and after she was done laughing, she informed me that she had a spare key and that she was on her way. Mel told me when she got there, that one of her co-workers wanted to know "if I was going to make it!" We both laughed hard on that!
Thankfully, that was all the excitement there was for the rest of the time that I was there and Judge and I got along wonderfully. He really is a great dog, he has a great personality, he made me laugh on several occasions. Who needs a man, I'm just gonna get a dog!
Stephanie has done such a great job with him, I'm thinking about getting a dog myself and then have her train him until he's like Judge and I then I will take it from there!! I haven't talked to Stephanie about that yet though!!!
My friend Stephanie (Judge's mom) needed to go out of town to take care of her grandfather for a few weeks and she asked me if I would be able to take care of Judge one of the weeks that she was gone.
Now, not having taken care of Judge before, Stephanie thought it would be a good idea for me to come over a couple of times, so that Judge would get used to me and actually let me in the house when it was my turn to come and dog/house-sit. So we did that and everything went good...then came the time for me to come by myself.
My friend Mel had watched Judge the week before, so the day that I was coming, she left Judge outside in the fenced in backyard, so that I could let him in the house when I got home. So I got to the house and went to see how Judge was doing, I was greeted with a waging tail and a low growl! Thankfully, I had not opened the screen door yet. "Wow, this isn't good!" was my thought, "maybe I should leave him out there for a little bit and continue to unpack my car" was my next thought. So as I brought different stuff in, I would continue to go to the screen door and see if the mood had changed and maybe I had moved up to the "pals" stage. The car was unpacked and Judge was still not happy. So I thought, "how about I call my good friend Mel!" So I called her and she offered to come over when she got off of work, which would be 8:30pm. I was glad that she was going to come over, but it was only 6:30pm and I thought I should maybe try one more idea. I knew Judge loved walks, so I suggested through the screendoor if he would like to go on a walk. Well, I do believe I had peaked his interest, due to the rising of his ears an a little tilt of the head. Just to makesure he understood what I said, I suggested it one more time and yes, this was definitely something that he wanted to do and the reason I knew this was because he was now hopping at the front door and barking. I ran and got the leash and decided that now he could come in the house.
Well, because I was so happy that he wasn't growling at me anymore and that he really wanted to go on a walk. I completely forgot to change into other shoes, so Judge dragged me all over the neighborhood in my sandals that had about a 3" heal on them, nice!!!
On our way out of the house, I had grabbed a big stick that Stephanie walks with, she had informed me that I wouldn't need to use it, however, if I felt more comfortable with it, there it was. So I decided to take it, just incase. Thankfully I didn't need to use it, however there was a little chiwawa, however you spell it,you know the Taco Bell dog. (As a side note, I hate those dogs. I know that "hate" is a strong word, but I really do "hate" them) Anyway, one of those dogs came running out at us like it was going to attack us, Judge just sniffed it and kept walking, I was winding up my foot, to send it airbourne, but one of the neighbor girls came and got it before it met my foot and took it home. I really think I could of cleared it over one of the houses!! As we got towards the end of the last street before we headed home, I saw this cage, now let me tell you, the last time that I saw cage this size, was about 10 or 15 years ago, when my family took a trip to South Dakota and we went to "Bear Country". Yes that type of cage was around a grizzly bear. So you can only image what kind of dog was living in that cage. All of a sudden, out steps "Cujo" - for those of you not familiar with "Cujo", he was a large St. Bernard, that had rabbies. Even though this dog did not look as bad as "Cujo", nor did he try to get to us, I did inform Judge, that if that dog had somehow gotten out, that "he was on his own"!
When we got back to the house, I had decided to start supper and I needed to make a couple of calls. I had forgotten my phone charger for the house, so when I was getting off the phone, I ran outside to use the car charger. As I shut the house door, I remembered that the door was still locked and that the key was still in the house. Yes, I had locked myself out of the house. The first night and only about 2 hours into watching Judge, not a good start!
Now not only had I locked myself out of the house and Judge in the house, but do you remember my comment in the last paragraph about me starting supper, yeah, I had turned the oven on! Sooooo...I called Mel again, I wasn't able to reach her. So I thought I would call another friend, Christa to see if she had a spare key. She didn't have a spare nor did she know of anyone that had one. But, when I told her that the oven was on, she said she would be right over!!! :-)
Even though Christa was on her way over, I wasn't sure what we were going to do with neither one of us having a key. Now we could have broken or window, although I didn't want to do that for two reasons, I didn't want to pay for a window and I wasn't sure how excited Judge would be about someone coming in through the window, even if I had taken him for a walk. So I called Mel a couple more times, still not able to get a hold of her, I decided to have her paged. When I told her what I did and after she was done laughing, she informed me that she had a spare key and that she was on her way. Mel told me when she got there, that one of her co-workers wanted to know "if I was going to make it!" We both laughed hard on that!
Thankfully, that was all the excitement there was for the rest of the time that I was there and Judge and I got along wonderfully. He really is a great dog, he has a great personality, he made me laugh on several occasions. Who needs a man, I'm just gonna get a dog!
Stephanie has done such a great job with him, I'm thinking about getting a dog myself and then have her train him until he's like Judge and I then I will take it from there!! I haven't talked to Stephanie about that yet though!!!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Life In a Northern Town!
I was able to go and visit my family and friends a couple of weeks ago due to Katie's birthday.
Although, I was just home a month prior, I couldn't believe how fast my nephew was growing!
Kyle is walking now, he's still alittle shakey, but for the most part, he gets around pretty good. He loves being outdoors, so I was thankful that the weather was nice and we could be outside. We walked all over my parents property and when we got to some uneven ground, Kyle would stick up one hand letting me know that I needed to help him through the rough terrain!
Mom and I also found and cleaned up a little plastic chair that Kyle could sit in. Although he enjoyed pushing it all over the garage more.
My parents live up on a hill, I thought the view of the driveway was really neat!
My dad built this tree house for Katie and now Kyle. Wade and I joked about the treehouse looking like the one we had when we were kids...yeah, we never had one but always wanted one!
I was able to visit with some friends when I was home, which was great! I had brunch at Perkins with Michele, Sharon (Michele's mom), Casey (my godchild) and Ed. Even though, we weren't able to visit for a long time, it was great to see them and at least get to chat with them a little bit!
Brad and Medea opened up their home for some of us to get together! Thank you Brad and Medea. Unfortunately, I didn't remember having my camera with me until I was getting ready to leave. Sorry, Karen, Chad and Teresa, I'll catch on the next round!
Karen (yes, there are two Karen's), me and Medea
Brad, me and Medea
What a fun packed weekend!
Although, I was just home a month prior, I couldn't believe how fast my nephew was growing!
Kyle is walking now, he's still alittle shakey, but for the most part, he gets around pretty good. He loves being outdoors, so I was thankful that the weather was nice and we could be outside. We walked all over my parents property and when we got to some uneven ground, Kyle would stick up one hand letting me know that I needed to help him through the rough terrain!
Mom and I also found and cleaned up a little plastic chair that Kyle could sit in. Although he enjoyed pushing it all over the garage more.
My parents live up on a hill, I thought the view of the driveway was really neat!
My dad built this tree house for Katie and now Kyle. Wade and I joked about the treehouse looking like the one we had when we were kids...yeah, we never had one but always wanted one!
I was able to visit with some friends when I was home, which was great! I had brunch at Perkins with Michele, Sharon (Michele's mom), Casey (my godchild) and Ed. Even though, we weren't able to visit for a long time, it was great to see them and at least get to chat with them a little bit!
Brad and Medea opened up their home for some of us to get together! Thank you Brad and Medea. Unfortunately, I didn't remember having my camera with me until I was getting ready to leave. Sorry, Karen, Chad and Teresa, I'll catch on the next round!
Karen (yes, there are two Karen's), me and Medea
Brad, me and Medea
What a fun packed weekend!
Katie Turns 8!
I can't believe that Katie is 8 years old! Time is really flying by!
I have to say that before I moved down here, I was concerned that Katie and I wouldn't be as close as we used to be. I am the only aunt that isn't married and doesn't have any children, so I was more readily available to play. When Katie started school, I was able to meet her for lunch a few times and then I started a tradition of spending 1/2 the day with her at school on or around her birthday! I know, that she enjoyed that, although, I would have to say, I probably enjoyed that time more!
I have been able to keep the birthday tradition alive so far even with being down here. I don't know how that will work when her birthday falls in the middle of the week!
Anyway, as I babble on, I am happy to report that our relationship is still very close. I may not play barbies or "house" with her. (Although, I did offer to be the grandmother that never came to visit!)She still comes and spends the night(s) with Aunt Stace when I go back to visit and I love that!
I know that as she will get older, Aunt Stace is not going to be as much "fun" or as "cool" as I am right now and that's okay. ALTHOUGH, I would totally be fine with her thinking that I am always "Fun" or "Cool" Aunt Stace!
Here are some pictures from her birthday party! Disclaimer: The only reason why I bought her a "Spongebob Squarepants" pinata, is because mom reminded me that we would be beating it up!!! I think I loathe "Spongebob Squarepants" about as much as I loathe "Barney"!
They're never too young to start playing sports!
I almost forgot, Katie had a "Friends Birthday Party!" Where she got to invite 10 friends to go rollerskating. Family was also invited, so I jumped at that chance to go and hopefully do alittle "Roller Derby" with my brother and sister-in-law. Unfortunately the chickens wouldn't put on an skates on, so I was just left with tormenting my niece and her friends. Actually I didn't skate a whole lot. I was alittle shakey at first, but then it all came back to me.
I was surprised at alot of the 80's and 90's music that they played. I guess I thought that they would have updated their music.
Another New Layout...REALLY!!!!
I know...I know...yet again I have decided to change the layout of my blog. I guess I just get so bored with it. Hopefully I will keep this one for awhile. :-)
I will also add some more pictures of the family from my trip home 2 weeks ago. Yes, I know, I should have had them posted already, yeah, yeah!
I will also add some more pictures of the family from my trip home 2 weeks ago. Yes, I know, I should have had them posted already, yeah, yeah!
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