Robins

I was out in the back yard a couple of days ago after dark and a robin started yelling at me from the tree by the shed.  I found it odd that it was yelling at me after dark and I thought, "I bet we have a nest."  I forgot about until we got home from work today.

We got home and let the dogs out and I decided to step out on the deck and enjoy the stormy weather, I love the weather of spring storms, and I looked over at the tree and remembered.  I walked over to it, didn't see any robins, didn't get yelled at and so I figured maybe it was just mad at me for disturbing it and nothing more.  But then I went around to the other side.

And lookie! a nest right at eye level.

I got a bit closer but it looked like it was empty.  

I looked around and there was still no mama bird anywhere.

I decided I was safe to go in a bit closer.

I lifted up my camera and look, two beautiful bright blue eggs!

Right after that, mom showed up.  She wasn't too freaked out by me in the daylight,

she seemed more worried about the dogs.

I got Andy to come out and see and then backed off

and she settled in.

I'm so excited to have a nest right where I can keep an eye on it and watch.  It's awesome.  We were planning to cut this tree and the big bush under it out, the city already cut half of it away that was on the other side, but now I think we'll leave it be. If they feel it's safe, robins will come back to the same nest for several years.

Walkies

After I calmed down a bit after stressing about my buddy, I was able to think about my day and relax a bit.  I had a good day at work despite being terribly sore from yesterday.  I had a meeting, got a lot done, and got my coworkers stuff done that I am back up for and helped get some of the new stuff I'm learning caught up.  I get to play back up for another coworker tomorrow too.  I had a wonderful lunch in the park with my husband and sister.  I thought it might rain on us all morning, but it was actually quite nice, if overcast.  I would really like to do that again some time actually.

After dinner, I decided to take Lilly for a much needed walk.  Her walks have been neglected of late because Chewy can't go for walks anymore, she's a pain to walk, and I've been lazy.  I have been watching this great show on Animal Planet called It's Me or the Dog and have some new ideas on how to work with Lilly to get her to walk well on a leash.  It required lots of starts and stops and lots of turning around and back again.  Overall it was dizzying, but she sort of started to get it in the end and walked a little less erratic and with the leash a little more slack.  I also got her to not bark at some people sitting on their porch after much turning around and back again.  They thought it was pretty funny.  However, once some kids came by on bikes, it was all over.  Lilly flipped out.  I don't know how to teach her to not be afraid of kids on bikes or scooters.  It's kind of funny to watch though, she'll let them pet her all they want but she continues to bark her little head off while they do it.

We only got three houses away to the east and back and then two houses away to the west and back, but I spent about an hour working with her.  Hopefully I can keep it up and work with her nightly until she gets it.  Chewy walks so well on a leash, he leaves it slack for the most part, stays on one side of you and walks in a straight line.  Miss Lilly is the exact opposite.  I can tell ya though, Victoria (the trainer on the show) makes it look so much easier than it is.

I sat on the front porch and relaxed enjoying the nice evening for a bit once we were done. It was nice.

Getting Old Sucks

My poor Chewy had a vet appointment today.  We had him in a month or so ago for a check up and were told that his cloudy eye (what I thought was a cataract) was actually an infection.  Well, when the drops were done, which didn't work all that well, his eye clouded right back over and then started draining and irritating him.  So we took him back today.  Turns out his infection is back, and worse than before and on top of that he now has a small ulcer in that eye and both eyes turned up low on the glaucoma test.  The vet said that this means that he most likely has an infection in both eyes inside the eye balls themselves.  She then proceeded to tell me that this is most likely caused by a systemic infection somewhere else in his body.  She refilled his pain meds, which have been helping a lot, and gave me an antibiotic to put in his right eye for five days and then he has to go back in.  At that point, if the ulcer is gone he'll go on another eye drop for the cornea infection and they'll have to do a blood panel on him to see what else is going on with him.  Vets are expensive.  I feel so bad for him and my wallet.  I just really hope it's nothing too serious, I got choked up just thinking about it after I got home.  Damn it sucks to get old.

Overdoing it

Being the wife of a man that is basically allergic to Utah, the lawn and all things yard are pretty much my job, which I don't actually mind all that much. With mower issues and lack of motivation this spring, I have let my yard go. Now last week a nice young man helped with the front so it didn't need much, just a quick once over, however, the monster that my back yard has become has remained untouched.

This is the back in the middle of mowing it.  EEK

 And just to give you an idea, miss Lilly is roughly 14 inches tall, if you can see her. lol

But I got it done with the mower on the tallest setting and the bag off so it threw the clippings like a weed eater.  I was stumbling around from exhaustion by the time I was done.

I think I'm going to seriously regret that in the morning but at least it's on its way to being tamed.  I'll have to go back over it sometime this week with the mower at the proper height and then clean it all up with the weed eater.

We had a role reversal though that I found to be entertaining.  While I was mowing, Andy was inside doing dishes and at one point I went in and gave him a hug smearing sweat on him.  I didn't mean too, but once I did, I had to laugh.  We're an odd couple that way sometimes.  I love my husband and wouldn't ever trade him.  : )

Andy also has the windows open and music blaring.  It was really nice to hear the music and my husband singing every time I stopped the mower.  We sat on the deck for a bit when all was said and done.  It was a great end to a busy, hard working evening. 

Same old stuff

Life has been same ol', same ol' for a couple of days. Had a couple of good days at work and got some house work done last night. Gonna stay home from water aerobics tonight and get some more yard work done and probably some more house work, we'll see.

Playing catch-up

My week:

 I was so incredibly glad we took Monday off work.  I could not stay awake once I got out of bed.  Neither one of us felt very good and I spent almost the whole day in and out of sleep.  I did finally wake up about 4:00ish and got a bath and the laundry started.  We finally made it over to the Boe’s to get the dogs and we had a really good visit and they invited us to stay for dinner.  Dan made some yummy shake-n-bake pork chops and mashed potatoes.  We were so happy to see Miss Lily and Mr Chewy and they were very happy to us.  I think all the cats were more than happy to see the dogs finally leaving.  We got back home and both dogs crashed.  They had had a fun filled exhausting weekend apparently.  I finished the laundry, changed the sheets, and we crashed too.

On Tuesday I woke up with a nasty headache and Andy was still feeling pretty crappy too.  We both spent the work day playing catch up and putting out fires.  I forgot to put an auto out-of-office reply on my emails and you would have thought that I had been gone a week, not just two days.  I left work with my headache back and decided to not go to water aerobics.  I ate dinner and then went to lay down for a bit, but I ended up sleeping for about 2 hours.  I felt so much better after that.

Wednesday was an interesting day.  Andy felt pretty crumby in the morning and he stayed home from work.  After work, I made yummy egg salad sammiches for dinner with enough for lunch the next day then I decided I needed to give in and mow the lawn.  I had really let it get out hand.  In fact it was long enough that the grass was seeding itself.  So I get the mower out and get going.  After about a lap or so around the outside of the yard, I hear someone saying, “ma’am”.  I look up and there’s this teenager standing there and he said that a woman should not be doing yard work and if he could finish it for me.  I told him I didn’t have any cash but he didn’t mind, he just didn’t want to see me have to do it.  I found this very amusing and wonderfully nice of him.   He asked where my husband was and why he wasn’t doing it.  I laughed and told him that my husband gets hives, a rash, all over him if he mows it.  He thought that was nice of me to do it for him then, but that I still shouldn’t be doing it.  He said his dad told him to never let a woman do yard work, that it was men’s work.  I rolled my eyes and stepped aside. He was a really nice guy and even asked for the weed whacker to finish it off, even going so far as to edge the lawn.  I thanked him, and was impressed with his generosity.  He kept repeating some of his questions and some of the things he said and I thought that was weird until I got talking with him when he was done.  He said he couldn’t work cause he was disabled.  I was surprised by this and I looked him up and down and told him he didn’t look or act disabled.  He then took off his hat and lifted his shirt and started showing me all his scars.  This kid had biffed it doing 35 mph down a hill in the middle of the street on a freaking long board up by the U.  He said he ended up in a coma for four months and now has a plate covering half his skull.  Holy cow!  After hearing all that I was glad he had made such a good recovery and said I hoped he would continue to improve.  Teenagers can be so dumb sometimes.  I’m glad he survived and is such a wonderful guy though.  His name is Russell and I asked if he would be willing to come back and mow the back lawn on Friday for pay, he said he would, but I’m not sure if he’ll remember.

Later that evening I went out to move the sprinkler and I noticed the neighbor outside with a chain saw working on this stump in his front yard.  We don’t know many of our neighbors and I had never met this one, but teasing yelled over the fence when he took a break and asked if he wanted to cut down another one and pointed to our ugly mulberry tree/bush thing in the front yard anyway.  He asked if I was serious and I told him only if he felt like it.  He went back to working on his stump and I set down my sprinkler and went in the house.  A minute or so later someone knocked on the door and it turned out it was the neighbor’s son asking me to move the sprinkler so they could work!  I didn’t think they’d actually come over and do it.  Awesome!  My tree is down!  While they worked I started loading limbs on our borrowed trailer and they put branches and trunk pieces on as it came down.  We talked for a bit and got acquainted.  He’s a really nice guy with only one leg and he has an actual race car sitting in his garage.  I got the tree limbs on the trailer settled a bit better, swept up the driveway, did some weeding and called it a night.  What a great night!

Thursday I had a great day at work, I finally got completely caught up and my boss offered me some new job responsibilities.  Nice!  I got home and went to aerobics all by myself.  I was proud of me for going alone, but it just wasn’t the same without my workout buddy.  It was also really weird cause only about half the people that normally show up were there and there was only one kid getting swimming lessons on the other side when there is normally quite a few.  I vegged the rest of the evening even though I should have got out and mowed the back.  I talked myself out of that one hoping Russell will remember to come back tomorrow to do it.

On Friday I had a meeting about my new job responsibilities and I might have a bit of travel involved in my job in the future.  It’s exciting.  I have to say though, it was really nice when the work day was over.  We went over to Andy’s mom’s after work to pick up his birthday present.  She bought him Julia Child’s books “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” he’s so excited about reading them and cooking from them.  We then went to Fiddler’s Elbow for dinner and we talked the whole time.  It was a wonderful evening.  I actually hoped Russell forgot about coming over as we didn't make it home and it was pouring rain.

Saturday has been a busy day.  Andy went to work to make up some time and I vegged for a bit.  A little after noon, we went over to Jason and Elizabeth’s.  We then went to the Living Traditions Festival downtown.  It was so much fun.  They had food booths from lots of different cultures and we did our best to sample a little from each booth and it was all really great food.  The only thing I found disappointing was a roasted cob of corn I got from the Tongan booth but that’s only because it was out of season and old.  The momo's from the tibetan booth were really yummy.  We watched some of the dancing and we roamed through the craft booths and watched a demo on how to make lemongrass beef.   Andy and I stopped to talk to a guy carving figures from wood and we found out he likes to use black walnut.  I called my sister and gave him her info because they cut down a huge black walnut tree quite a few years ago, but still have a little.  He’s going to go over and look over what they have left. He may also get some cherry wood from Andy’s parents.  They just cut down a huge one.  We all had a really great time and plan on going again next year.  Right now we are at Andy’s brother’s place, Mikey, for his birthday party. 

The ride home

The ride was fairly uneventful that evening. We stopped in Livingston for the night. Dad very generously paid for mine and Andy’s room. My mom and step-dad stayed there too and we all went to breakfast together the next morning. It was really nice seeing my parents actually talking a little, namely my dad being willing to talk to my mom for once, and kind of having a trip with both of them. We parted ways at that point and we headed for the North entrance of Yellowstone.

Andy and I really didn’t want to go through Yellowstone as Yellowstone isn’t a place you should simply drive through and there were faster ways home, but we got out voted and we went through and got in free with my dad’s old fogey card. Hehe. We took pictures at the gate and then we stopped for a bit at the mammoth springs, but not long enough to wander around the whole thing.

This is a really great family photo with my dad. I think it's the only one really, in years.

 Mammoth is mostly dry these days, but there are some parts that are still full of water.

We also stopped for a heard of buffalo and I got out for a bit and took some pictures. There were brand new calves in the heard that were just too darn cute and really neat to see. Some of them were still a bit wobbly even. That’s about all we got to see of the park though.

 These two were having a bit of an argument.  It was really fun to watch.

 The babies are just super cute and fuzzy.  I just wanted to grab one and hug it.

 There was a small heard of elk across the river from where the buffalo were.

 

 

We then headed for Rexburg, ID and bear world. I didn’t feel it was worth the entrance price. Most of the animals were asleep and they’ve added electric fences here and there to separate the animals making it more of a zoo than a wildlife sanctuary, which I found disappointing.I thought the white elk was neat though.

This bear was pacing back and forth.  I imagine it was bored.  You can see the electric wires in this picture.

This cub was the only active thing in this whole park.  Right after we passed it several other cubs joined it and were running around.

At some point we passed a field where the farmer had worked the name Bob into his field. Andy is obsessed with the name Bob and I had Stacie stop so I could get a picture of it. We also passed by a wind farm. I don’t know what it is about wind farms, but I find them to be awesome.

 I love wind farms.

 I took all these pictures out of the van window driving down the road.  : )









When we stopped for lunch, Becca and I were playing a bit while we waited for food. I was sitting down kind of in between two tables and she kept stepping on my foot. At one point she had her hands on both tables and she put both of her feet on one of mine, so I decide to lift her up. She thought that was a blast so I did some leg lifts with her on my foot. I was amazed at myself for being able to lift her. She weighs 30 pounds and was on my toes! I got her pretty high too! I got her to switch feet and I lifted her again with my other leg. Got my leg exercises in for the day!

We slept and traded drivers and when we reached Malad, ID Dad decided to stop in at a friend’s for a few minutes. It was nice to get out and stretch but it turned into a bit longer than a few minutes. We finally got Dad to go and then headed for a gas station, we called Dan and Denise and let them know we were going to be pretty late and they offered to keep the dogs one more night. I love the Boes! We bought a couple more lotto tickets and one for them and we finally got on the road again. We actually ended up being in the car the entire day Sunday despite no one wanting it that way. For some reason the closer to home we got, the more stuffed up and miserable Andy and I got. It was awful. We finally got home, got unpacked, got greeted by a very lonely Baggins who was very grateful to have us home, and crashed.

I have to say Becca was an absolute trooper and did really well for being in her car seat for so long and only being two. I really have to commend Stacie on her parenting skills as well. I was very impressed. The few times Becca got upset about anything or got whiney, Stacie never yelled or got mad, just very calmly told Becca that she didn’t understand whines and to say what she wanted. Becca would calm down and actually think about it and then say what she wanted or Stacie would give her some options, “Do you want your milk? Your blankie? A toy?” etc. It was great!

Our one short day in Dodson, MT

There’s one more thing I just have to mention about the trip up.  Dad had this little wrench sitting on the dash and we found out the hard way that it was a shocker toy and a lazy pointer.  We passed it around and took turns shocking ourselves for the heck of it.  Stacie decided to play with the pointer and aimed it at Becca’s hand.  She had never seen one before apparently and had no idea what was on her hand.  She slowly brought it to her face to look at it and then tried to eat it!  It was hilarious!  Stacie gave it to her at one point and she managed to shock herself with it.  She thought it was funny and did a few more times.  Silly girl.

Anyway, we get to Dodson, and found their house.  I got out and saw Shanna and started crying.  I’m such a sap sometimes.  She started crying and then Stacie started crying, we’re such girls.  I missed her and couldn’t help it.  We get in the house and I see Charlie and start it all over again lol.  We sat and talked for a bit and they got to meet little Becca for the first time, but then we needed to head for the hotel so we could all get showered and rested before the graduation.  We stopped to eat lunch at this little café in Malta called the Hitching Post before getting to the hotel and my mom and step-dad happened to be there too.  Becca decided it was fun to run back and forth between them and us and we all let her so she could get rid of some energy.  The other patrons thought she was cute and smiled and giggled at her.   We ended up not getting to the hotel until about 2:30 and we needed to be back by 5:00 and the hotel is 20 minutes away from Dodson.  The room that Andy and I were first put in had a broken bed and we had to be switched.  By the time we got settled and showered we didn’t have time to get a nap in, which sucked but we survived.  Mom and Steve stayed in the same hotel and they were ready to go when we were so we rode back with them.  It wasn’t the greatest Hotel, but it was cheap.  I should have gotten a picture.

We sat out in front of the school for a bit visiting and catching up.  My nephews have turned into some really great kids and hansom too, or maybe I should say men.  They’re all so tall.  Shanna and Charlie are sitting down, they're not that tall LOL

 

 Here's a decent one of all of us but my brother Scott, Ro, and their kids who couldn't make it and Kyle who was having a bit of an attitude problem at the time and walked off for a bit.  Jesse, Charlie, Brown, Becca, Kenton and Andy across the back.  Dad, Mom, Shanna, Stacie, Me, and Dad in front.

 Now this is what Charlie always looks like in pictures.  Look at those baby blues.

 

I caught him smilin' on camera!  and despite his warnings and insistence that it would break, my camera is still intact!  haha

Charlie was one of five kids graduating that day.  (He's on the far left) Gotta love small towns, my graduating class was upwards of 780+ students and it took forever!   His brother Jesse was also graduating from Jr High into High school.  It was a really nice ceremony for both of them and went really well.  Each of the students put together slide shows about themselves and they were all funny and well done.  They did a rose ceremony after, where the students passed out roses to all the people that had inspired them or helped them along the way in their lives.  That was really neat.  Brown gave one to all us girls and then rushed off saying he needed to go before he cried.  Aw.

 Shanna and Charlie are sure proud of their boys!

I had to add this next pic.  I caught mom sticking her tongue out while I was trying to get my camera settings right.  And she wonders where Stacie gets it...hehe

We had a really good time at the community potluck at the fairgrounds afterword.  The food and company were both wonderful.  We got to visit some more and meet some new people. 

After all the potluck Andy, I, Brown and one of his friends walked back to town talking about video games the whole way.  It was so much fun!  When we got back to town Andy and I went to the bar that Shanna works at and we hung out there for a couple hours.  It was really nice to hang out with my sister and talk and reminisce.  We all got a bit tipsy and had some good laughs.  Dad had taken Stacie and Kenton back to the hotel and then came back to get us.  He sat and talked with us for a bit then we all said good night and headed back.

The next morning we had planned to eat breakfast with Shanna, Jesse and one of her friends.  Big Charlie and Kyle were out helping with the yearly branding and Brown had to leave to start boot camp.  Shanna took us to the local country club for breakfast, it was very interesting.  It was all laid out fancy and pretty, but the atmosphere was totally relaxed and casual.  It was great.  The food was delicious too, but the service wasn’t all that great.  They brought our food out in spurts and then mixed up two of the orders, but they were all really nice about it.  Dad wanted to head out right from there and go home.  What?  We just got here are you kidding?  Keep in mind this only about 10:00 or so in the morning.  We finally got him talked into taking us up to where they were branding.  Yay, we got to stay longer!

They were branding, castrating, and vaccinating the new calves and they had a few of last year’s that missed getting castrated.  This is not a thing for the squeamish.  The smell of burning hair and flesh is a bit overwhelming.  It made Stacie nauseous and I teased her for it as is my right as a little sister hehe.  We were there for a couple of hours watching and I got designated the needle holder for a bit because I was in the thick of it taking pictures and it got handed to me several times. I didn’t mind, I just hoped they wouldn’t ask me to use it.  I could if I had to, but I didn’t want to.  I’ve given my dogs their shots myself several times, and I just don’t like doing it.

 Kyle was helping along with all the other guys.  They'd do seven or so of them and then take a break, for them and the cows.  It's hard, stressful work doing it this way.

For the bigger yearlings it took all of them to bring them down, this one in particular fought with all he had.  I don't really blame him considering what they took from him once they got him down.

This sweet dog was running around the property.  Her name is Copper.  I thought that suited her well.

But, around 1:00 or so, Dad finally made us pack up and head out.  I was sad to leave.  I was hoping to stay for more than a day.  Andy and I even mentioned staying another night and driving all day Sunday, but no one else wanted to as they wanted to split up the ride and not be in the car all day again. So we headed on our way.

The ride to Dodson, MT

As I start this, I really wish I had done a day to day journal of it en route.  I had my lappy.  Anyways, better late than never right?  lol

Andy and I were actually ready to go before our ride got to our house - I know, amazing huh?  We made a mad dash home from work Thursday afternoon and I gathered up the dogs and all there things, yes they have "things", and rushed them over to Dan and Denice's while Andy stayed home and gathered all of our things for the trip.  I got to the Boe's and no one was home.  I was a bit surprised by this because Denice had had surgery that morning and I thought she would be home at least.  I knew how to get in and quietly went down the hall expecting Denise to be asleep in their room, but no one was there.  Hmmm.  I was a little concerned by this.  I got the dogs and their kennels and their travel bag in and got got them settled and headed back home.  I tried calling Dan and Denise both with no answer.  I called our friend Lorie expecting that she would have been kept up-to-date through the day, but she hadn't heard anything.  I got home and finished getting my stuff in our bag for the weekend and then sat down to wait for everyone to get there.

I decided to get a glass of OJ while I waited and get to get my laptop bag and camera bag together and organized at the same time.  In the process of doing this I managed to spill my juice.  Almost all of it.  All over a couch pillow, my purse, my shoes, and the floor.  Thank goodness it missed all the electronics.  My purse is toast which leaves me purseless and I'm not really sure how I feel over that.  My shoes, well my shoes have seen much better days and have been in need of replacement anyway, but when Andy spotted them full of juice he grabbed them and through them in the trash.  My poor rocket dogs are gone.  I will miss them.  I didn't have a whole lot of time to mourn or clean up as that's when the family decided to arrive.  I had to quickly sop everything up and empty my purse and get everything wiped off and spread out to dry as well as decide what I really needed out of it for this trip.  We got loaded and headed out.  This is about 5:30.  I tried calling the Boe's again, with no answer and more concern.  Stacie decided they needed a potable dvd player and we had to stop at Walmart and then had to go find a maverick gas station.  We finally left Salt Lake at about 6:30.

We finally got under way but I was having a growing concern about Denise and my puppies.  What if something went wrong, what if she needed to be admitted, what if it was serious? What if Dan doesn't remember that the dogs are waiting in their kennels at their house?  Will they get let out?  Will they get fed?  Oh no!  But Andy finally got hold of Dan and everything went well, just took a little longer than expected.  Whew.  Denise did really well and was home and resting.  Dan had some brief questions about Mr Chewy's meds and that was that.  Now on to an all night drive to Dodson, MT.

We got under way and so far so good.  Stacie and Becca sung some songs to stay entertained.  Becca is so cute, she knows the words and all the actions to several songs.

 Here they are doing Itsy Bitsy Spider.  They entertained us for quite a while, and to my surprise Becca did actually watch a little bit of a movie on the player.  She's not a movie and tv type of kid.  I'm so glad she does so well on car rides. 

We got to Downy, ID and decided to stop to stretch and see what the cafe looked like at the gas station there.  Andy and I got some lotto tickets and we all decided to go on and find somewhere else to eat.  As we were loading back in the van, this car pulls up and three girls get out.  I get ready to climb in the van and out of no where I hear this blood curdling scream behind me and then another.  I turn around and two of these girls are just screaming away looking at the building, and I'm like "wth?" I look over in time to see a mouse, a mouse, running along the building and then under the ice chest.  The third girl and I just burst out laughing and then everyone else once they found out what was going on.  The first girl made the second girl carry her into the gas station.  It was too funny.  What wusses!  haha

I'm so glad we decided to go on for food.  We stopped at this diner in Pocatello, ID called Elmer's.

What a great place to eat.  The prices were a tad high but the service was good and the food,  the food was awesome.  My dear grandma was an excellent cook.  I never thought I would ever taste her food again.  No one can cook like her.  Well guess what?  Stacie got the roast beef and potatoes and oh my goodness!  The gravy tasted so close to hers it just as well be hers.  It was delicious.  It was the real thing, made from actual roast drippings.  No packet gravy there.  All our food tasted fresh and made from scratch.  It was awesome.

We made one more stop at another Walmart for forgotten supplies and we were once again on our way.  We traded drivers and took turns sleeping all through the night with a stop here and there for gas and stretches.  There was no moon so it was a pitch black night.  The sky finally started to lighten the sun started coming up.  Let me tell ya, when the sun comes up straight from the horizon with no mountains, it looks huge!

Here is the sunrise over the station we stopped at for gas in the morning, somewhere in southern Montana

I got this great picture as we were getting off the freeway.  Love it!  Too bad the bug splats on the windshield showed up...

We drove on, and on, and on.  We ended up stopping in Loma, MT for breakfast.  We stopped at this little diner called Ma's Loma cafe. They were open and there were people inside so we went in and found a table.  This guy came over with menu's and I looked up and thought, "Holy cow, Captain Kirk is gonna serve me breakfast!"  I kid you not, this guy was William Shatner's doppleganger.  I am a geek and a die hard Trekie.  I loved it.  Anyway, he took our orders and then told us that his cooks weren't in and it would be another 20 minutes or so to get our food.  Why couldn't he have said that before sitting us and taking our orders?  Oh well, we went outside and wondered around the property and found some really nice hunting dogs int he back to say hi to, and get our legs stretched out.  Turns out it was worth the wait too, the food was delicious.

We're running behind.  On the map, it's a 12.5 hour trip.  I estimated we could do it in about 14-15 hours with stops.  We get to Havre, MT - so close! - and Dad decided to make one more stop to see this old steam engine on display.

The engine was neat and cool, but only Dad and I got out, we were tired, we were sore, and we were so close.  We needed to get to Dodson early in order for us all to get naps and showers before the graduation.  If it had just been me, I would have gotten out, taken five pictures,s and got back in the car and went.  But no. 

Dad had to go around back and watch the trains in the active train yard for a bit.

I was starting to get annoyed, but then Dad found a couple of engineers and they were nice enough to let us up in the cab of the first engine in the previous picture.  It was awesome.

Looking out from the cab.  It's really tight in there.  With four of us, no one could move.  We didn't stay long and went on our way soon after.  After Dad had to watch the train leave of course.  : )

Dad had to chase the train for a bit and we followed it and it followed us all the way there.  We finally made it.  Yay!  But the 14 hour car ride turned into 17+ after all the stops.  We were all ready to get out and be done, but overall it wasn't a bad trip up.

More to come tomorrow.

Poisoning and excitement

Turns out I accidentally fed Chewy bad broth, so I gave my dog food poisoning!  I felt so horrible.  I'm glad I only gave it to him and not Lilly too.  He's doing much better though and can go to the babysitter after all.  I can finally allow myself to be excited over our trip!  I'm stoked - not looking forward tot he 13 hour car ride there, but I can't wait to see Shanna and her family again!  WOOT!

Heading out, gotta go!

Blowout

Having a 16 year old geriatric dog has started to be a challenge.  I've had him since he was five weeks old (I know, way to young, but so was I and I didn't know better) and it's really hard to watch him get old and decrepit.  Anyway, we have been leaving him in the bathroom with a baby gate up at night and when we leave the house to ease clean up of any accidents that may occur, which haven't been many so far.  Thank goodness we do this, though.  Chewy had a massive accident in the night.  When we woke up I headed for the bathroom only to find a huge puddle, poop and dirty paw prints everywhere!  Great.  He had slipped in it and gotten it all over his belly too, but I didn't get to find that out until I picked him up to take him outside.  Oh the joy.  Ew.

I had ten minutes to throw out his bedding (decided it wasn't worth cleaning), mop and clean the bathroom, give the dog a bath, and get me showered or we would be late to work.  We ended up being over an hour late.  I think Chewy didn't make it all the way down the stairs and therefore didn't actually go potty when we let him out before bed. I usually watch to make sure, but was so tired I didn't.  I also gave him broth with his dinner.  I think I won't do that again.  Live and learn right?  UGH! Literally, what a crappy morning!

At least I got a really good breakfast.  Andy made french toast from a loaf of crusty bread we had bought and covered it in left over cinnamon butter from Texas Road House while I cleaned up.  It was delicious.  I know, breakfast after all that?  What can I say, I was starving.

Hope the rest of the day is better.

Ranting

Andy's birthday and mother's day both ended well.  It was a good weekend.  My in-laws dog had to have ear surgery and the poor thing is in a cone bigger than she is and she kept catching it on everything and just looked downright miserable.  Mitch decided to paint petals on though and make her a flower LOL.

Yesterday was a normal average day and today is, well, blah.  I feel like a thankless corperate drone today.  I'm quite convinced that no matter what I do or how hard I work or how much I get done, I will never get a thank you or a pat the back.  I like my job, but days like today make it hard.  It's hard to see one single person get a great big thank you for something you, yourself, worked your butt off to help with. Oh well.  I really should just patt myself on the back and move on, knowing that I did my part, but it still sucks.  I love my job, I love my job, I love my job...

My thoughts on why people dread change?  Change doesn't always work in your favor.  Life could be worse, but it was better before.

At least I have Montana to look forward to, YAY! Super excited to get there and see family I haven't seen in so long. I miss them.

The weekend so far

We went and saw Iron Man II on Friday with the Boe's.  It was awesome, just as good as the first.  I never used to be a big comic book movie fan, but they have been putting out some really good ones and I have added a new level to my geekiness :)  Robert Downey doesn't hurt either...Dan and Denise treated us to dinner after for Andy's birthday at Texas Road House.  It was yummy, if a little too garlicky.

I spent Saturday morning trying to convince this dumb allergy cold that it didn't want to stick around.  In the afternoon,  I took Andy to In and Out for his birthday and we stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to get some chocolates on our way to my mom's.  It was a great visit and fun.  Mom loved her chocolates and Stacie, Kenton and Becca were there too.  Becca is getting so big and she has got one of the cutest personalities.  I'm so glad she is part of all our lives.  At one point I sat down in front of Stacie so she could show Mom how she does some of the twists she does in Becca's hair and to practice some new ones on my hair and Becca jumped in and wanted to brush my hair.  She's a bit heavy handed with the brush, but she did alright.  I love having other people play with and brush my hair, even a two year old.  Andy brushed out the knots for me when she was done, hehe.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way home from mom's and I managed to embarrass myself.  We got everything we needed and went and found a line to stand in and Andy went to the bathroom and I grabbed a magazine to read while waiting.  The store was packed with last minute mother's day shoppers.  Anyway, I got caught up in this article about Bear Grylls and next thing I know I hear someone saying, "Ma'am?"  several times and I look up and there is no one in front of me, it was the cashier trying to get my attention!  That was embarrassing, but he said that I wasn't the worst one, he had a guy fall asleep while standing in line once!

I made Andy breakfast this morning and the two of us have been lounging around playing games while I do the laundry this morning.  Time to get ready so we can go to his mom's and give her her mother's day chocolates.

A poem

Last night as I lay sleeping
I died or so it seemed,
Then I went to heaven
But only in my dream
Up there St Peter met me
Standing at the pearly gates,
He said "I must check your record
Please stand here and wait."
He turned and said "Your record
Is covered with terrible flaws,
On earth I see you rallied
For every losing cause."
I see that you drank alcohol
And smoked and partied too,
Fact is, you've done everything
A good person should never do.
We can't have people like you up here
Your life was full of sin,
Then he read the last of my record
Took my hand and said "Come in."
He led me up to the big boss and said
"Take her in and treat her well,
She used to work in Insurance
She's done her time in hell."

Zombie mode, aerobics fun, and friends

Spent a vast majority of the day in zombie mode, I just can't seam to get to bed at a decent hour.  I even got asked if I was actually awake at all when I got to work this morning.  Had to give up and go find a dark room for a quick nap at work this afternoon and ended up missing the first bit of a team meeting, oops.

Had tons of fun at water aerobics tonight.  Denise and I were singing to the music and even randomly sung "Singing in the Rain" in the middle of class, got some looks but a good laugh out of it.  Had my suit catch a pube and mess up my rhythm, that sucked and hurt!  At the end of class, as we were heading to get out of the pool, I ended up slipping on the black tiles and almost went under and Denise started laughing at me and then immediately slipped on them herself.  We both got a good laugh out of that one!  Remember the no food or drink in the poo area sign?  Well, we got looking at another sign that is in the locker room itself and it says that pants must show before entering the po and that food and drink are owed in the locker room.  Yet another says that food and drink are allowed in the pool area.  We left feeling confused LOL.  I'll get a pic up later.  We spent an enjoyable evening visiting over at the Boe's after and they were wonderful and bought us dinner!

We got home and let the dogs out and poor poor Chewy, when Andy let him back in he tried to walk through a chair he didn't think was there apparently.  He walked straight for it, bumped into it's legs, got confused and then just stood there.  It's hard to watch my cute little pup grow old and get senile. 

Busy day, sirens and howls

The emails and phone never quit, a refresher trainer for the rescue Stryker chair at work and computer problems interrupted it all.  I feel like all I did was solve or explain problems and get rushes done.  I didn't get any of my regular work done.  I didn't get to finish my lunch and every time I went to head for the bathroom, I got interrupted again.  I didn't get to go til 3:00 and I start work at 7:00.  I was dying.  I spent the day a little stressed out and am now exhausted.  Was planning to get some more yard work tonight, but all I feel like doing is sitting here on the couch with my huney.

I feel so bad.  A little under two hours ago, sirens went by and our little schnauzer, Lily, decided she would try her paw at howling.   It was so funny cause she is so bad at it.  We had a good laugh and I started feeling better until I watched the news.  Those sirens were heading to a house fire a few blocks from us where they found a five year old dead.  I shouldn't, because I had no idea, but I feel bad that I was laughing while that happened. I feel so bad for that little girl's family.

Poo area

Oh, I totally forgot to mention this, there is a sign at the pool we work out at that is missing a very important letter, and we finally got pictures of it!  I had to steal the pic from Denise because my phone is stupid and won't let me get pictures off of it for some stupid reason.

I find it entertaining that the "L" is missing and that someone attempted to write one back on with a marker!  LOL

Surprises and butt kickins

Could not wake up this morning.  It was so hard to separate myself from my bed.  Ended up being an hour late, ouch!  But Andy grabbed the mail as we were leaving and opened the mail on the way and guess what?  one of our bills was $50 bucks less than we thought it would be!  It was awesome and such a relief!

As the work day progressed I couldn't keep my butt in the chair, I felt like a jumping bean.  I think it was lack of sleep energy, you know when you are so tired that you get the jitters?  kind of like that.  I happened to wear a pedometer today and I walked almost 4000 steps today.  I know that's only just shy of 2 miles or something like that, but that's great for me.  Last time I wore it I only walked about 2500 steps.

When we got home from work Andy went to work on our huge pile of limbs in the back yard and I rushed off to aerobics.  I really think they added gelatin or something to the water.  Just as I was thinking that the water seamed thicker some how Denise voiced the same thought.  It kicked my butt tonight.  I'm worn out and my legs are aching something fierce.  Andy is just as worn out from yard work.  We should both sleep wonderfully tonight.

Now, with Chewy asleep in the middle of the floor, Lily asleep in my lap, Baggs dozing on the back of the love seat with her paws crossed out in front of her, and Andy and I yawning away, I believe it is time for bed.

Observations

There is a smoothie place on the way home from work and their sign says "Smothies"  they finally fixed it before I could get a picture of it dangit.  There is also a little ceasars on the way home from work and there is this guy that stands out front with a cardboard guitar with ads on it and headphones in his ears jamming away a lot of days.  Well, today we happened to pass with a guitar solo going on the radio.  It was awesome.  I have also noticed these two odd trees on the way home, they each have exactly one half of them with white blossoms and the other half with purple blossoms, it's neat.

Oh and the cat is a total dork.

Food, a better day, a wet shirt, and a busy evening.

For a monday, today has not been that bad.  Even with not a lot of sleep.  Andy managed to make breakfast once again, despite being out of milk and eggs.  Gotta make it to the store tonight.  It's amazing how having no milk and no eggs norrows down your breakfast choices, lol, thank goodness for pancake mix that only needs water.  We also brought lunch again.  We are doing so well in that department.  It's nice to not have "the same ol'" everyday.

I have been in a surprisingly good mood today.  I thoroughly believe in the power of choice and the difference that can be made when you realize you have been making the wrong one each and every morning of simply choosing, even subconciously, to not have a good day.  Today I am happy and can face my trials, even those involving a wet shirt.

I wore a long shirt today and apparently that drapes over the back of the toilet when I sit down, and leave it to me to choose the wrong toilet.  I stand up and feel something wet on my shirt as I get my pants up and situated and think, "Oh crap what is it from?" so I twist the tail of my shirt around and decide to smell it.  No smell, good.  So I look back at the toilet and lift the lid to see what might be under it.  Nothing.  So I drop the lid and see that the darn thing has a leaky pipe.  Great.  Now, to get back to my desk I have to pass by a whole bunch of short walled cubies with everyone facing the isle I have walk through.  Great.  Ever try to wish you go invisible for a minute?  ya it doesn't work.  I made a mad dash back, trying my best to not look like I was in a hurry and hoping no one really looked at my backside as I passed.  Then I got back to my desk and sat on it, ew.  Oh well, at least I knew I wouldn't get up again for a while.  So embarrassing.  lol

It's going to be a busy night tonight.  Gotta make a dash home, let the dogs out, and then dash off for a birthday party for Andy's grandma.  Hope we're not there too late.  Oh and I forgot to mention, I beat Bioshock for the second time so I could be the good guy LOL.  Now Andy can have his xbox back.  Let me tell ya though, when I'm having a crappy day, being able to go home and blow crap up is a great mood enhancer :)

Weekend, worries and books

So the weekend started out crappy but has ended on a slightly better note.  Money troubles and a cold stressed me out to the point of shutdown, but Andy helped me see reason and to know we will be okay.  All our bills are paid, it's just hard not being able to afford anything after that, such as buying underwear.  We sat down and scrutinized our budget and created some wiggle room to last till payday.  I can continue doing aerobics and now have new butt wear :)

I am still worried about money, but that goes without saying.  As I sit here typing, being up way too late once again, I look down at my 16 year old lovable mutt and realize he looks so tired even when he's asleep and wonder what future bills we'll have to keep him comfortable.  The cat also has a slight sneeze and I'm not sure if I should worry about it too much or not, and I know our other dog, Lily, needs her teeth cleaned so hers don't end up as bad as Chewy's, and they all three need shots.  And these are just a few of my worries.  Andy and I both need shoes as well.  With a trip to Montana coming up to see my sister and her family that I have missed so much and haven't seen in 6 years, all extra money will be focused on that so we can go.  that's been really up in the air, but we'll make it!

I have not used my main computer in a month because it has been having fits and I haven't had the time or energy to mess with it and get it working right.  I'm quite sure it needs to be wiped again, which will also give me the opportunity to get rid of stupid vista and go back to xp.  At least I have a nice laptop to use.  Anyway, my itunes and files that match my ipod are on my pc and I obtained several new books to load to it so I turned the dumb thing on to do a simple load and sync so I have something to listen to at work tomorrow and it turned into a huge frustrating fight, as usual.  I had to fight with it to even start itunes, then to update itunes, then to start it once again.  Then it gobbledy gooped every other line in the program so they couldn't be read.  I shut down the program, moved all my mp3 files to one single folder and out of the itunes folder and started it again.  The lines are fixed but now I had duplicates of almost every file for what ever reason.  grrrrrr.  Almost four hours later I have my books loaded, most of the duplicates taken care of and one more book converting to itunes format.  I'll let that run over night and do a, hopefully, painless sync before leaving for work tomorrow.

And so the weekend ends.  I still don't like my desk, and I really don't like our new commute, specifically what it has done to our fuel bill on top of gas already being over three bucks, and I don't like how quiet work has become, and I don't like that I no longer sit next to the ladies I get along best with.  But, I have a job, I have a stable job, and I work for a company I actually like working for and that's what matters most.  So it is what it is and I carry on.  All I can do is keep my chin up and do my best to keep a good attitude.  I have not been being very good at that lately, but this is a new week, and tomorrow is another day.  "The sun'll come out tomorrow, bet yer bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun, tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow..."...oh sorry...time for bed for sure.  hehe