Skip a day to Thursday

Wed was a normal day. 

Thursday, Me and Kimberly went to Tropical Smoothie to get smoothies.  Hence, the name tropical smoothie.  We no sooner pull into the parking lot when Kimberly's phone rings.  She picks up an 8 year old boy from school everyday and watches him till his mom comes home.  His mom said that he was complaining about his back and neck hurting and that she needed to pick him up early.  So we backtrack to his school, pick him up and take him home.  We were there about an half an hour to an hour when his dad came home to take over. Course, time flew by as we talked and played with their Yorkie, Chipper.

Chipper

 So we headed back to Tropical Smoothie and got a smoothie and half of an sandwich.  It was pretty good!  Mine was called Sunny Day.  It had Kiwi, Mango, Orange and Banana in it.  I didn't want bananas in it so they switched it with pomegranate for me.  It was awesome:)

We then rented The Lone Ranger and us three girls watched it while folding laundry. 

Day 6 in AL

You're like, but Rachel, what happen to all the other days?  Hmm, well I didn't really take pictures,and nothing too significant happened.  Day 1 and 2, Thursday and Friday was spent traveling and being sick. 
Saturday Day 3:  shopping and going to a b'day party and egging people's houses(gasp)  Its actually not as bad as it sounds.  You're hiding Easter eggs in certain people's yards as quickly as possible(you don't want them to catch you in the act)  Then leave a sign on the door telling them that they've been egged.  One of the eggs is empty but its symbolic saying, Jesus has risen.
Easter Sunday Day 4.  Side note, Their church is super duper big.  Their 3000 to about the 100 people in my church can be a bit overwhelming!  So to start the ball rolling we worked(watched kids) during the 1st service.  The 1st service is more traditional, music wise.  Plus they have their own orchestra if that isn't amazing!  Back to watching kids, in the class that I was helping watch, there were a total of 23, 4 and 5 year olds.  I don't think they were too rowdy.   After that, Sunday school.  Theres enough people for guys and girls to be separated into different classes(going by grade!)  Then there was 2nd service.  In the beginning there were a couple baptisms then the service continued.  The 2nd service's is like the music you'd hear on the christian radio.  They have their own band and what not. 
Then Home.  A couple families that the Millers know(the family's last name that I somehow didn't mention in the first posting??) came over.  So after a great meal, hiding eggs for the littler kids, laying on the couch, I went into one of the bedrooms and laid there. 
Monday Day 5:  hmm... Monday...I think Monday was just an ordinary day.  One of the girl's had to work from 7:30 to 3 so I didn't see her till then.  Played Go fish with the boys.  Helped clean the house a bit... yeah.  That was Monday.

So now onto Tuesday!  The day that I decided to take pictures. 
All of the Miller kids have SAT testing this week so they left around 8.  Their mom had to work so it was narrowed down to me, Mr. Miller and Christian(he's the youngest of the bunch.)  Mr.  Miller showed me some things I could do if I wanted then he left for work. 
Once Christian finished school, we went out to pick up some of the larger sticks that had fallen.

The stick pile

Watering the bushes because we can;)

Did some laundry, played Farkle with Christian then everybody came home.  Had Tacos for lunch.  Afterwards me and the 3 boys sat down and had an intense game of Go Fish.  I know.  It just sends chills down your back when you imagine it.  Hairs standing straight up on your arms, I bet. 
Visited with Kimberly(oldest girl)  before she had to go to work then moved into Katie's room(2nd oldest girl)  Before long, I was outside playing tag with Christian and Andrew(2nd oldest boy)  and their friend, C.J. , their neighbor.  Jumping through bushes and scaling over the chain link fence is something I haven't done for a while.  Did get a bit scraped up, not sure when it happened though.  The boys continued playing, I, on the other hand went into the house. 

Around 5 or 6, Caleb(the oldest boy) had a ball game.  So I tagged along with him, Kimberly and their mom to the ball park.  After having Kimberly try to explain what was happening, half way through, I just gave up on trying to understand.  I guess we play the less complicated version of baseball at home.  Tried a peanut, DID NOT like it. 

Peanuts is like their major crop down here I guess?  Just like we have a popcorn festival they have a peanut festival.

There was a couple balls that made it over the very very tall chain link fence to where people are sitting.  One of which was two benches from hitting me and Kimberly.  We sat at the top of the bleachers. 

Caleb can throw a pretty fast straight ball which may be the highest of compliments, but compared to the pitchers on the other team who were throwing every which way and that, it's a pretty high one in my mind.  Caleb's team won by one. 

Afterwards, we came home, ate something, and went to bed.  I think we didn't get home until about 9 or so.  Hope to get more pictures taken as the days progress:)

In the air

So.... flying. 

On the 17th, at 2:30 in the morning, I got up to get ready to go to the airport.  I was going to fly down to Alabama to see a couple friends of mine and stay with them for two weeks(Booyah!)
I was a bit concerned about Lucy since she just had surgery done, but my grandpa and grandma were going to watch her so that gave me some reassurance.  Skeeter doesn't mind being on a one man ship(or kennel in her case.)  so she's at home. 

Got to the airport, went through the scanners just fine(thank goodness!)  then we waited.  It was then that Dad realized that the airline people must have switched gates for our plane because what was on the screen wasn't matching our tickets.  Thankfully, we caught this way ahead of time so that we weren't rushing all the way down the other side of the airport to the gate. 

 

The plane wasn't as large as I thought it was going to be,(not that I cared either way) just wasn't what I had visioned in my mind. 

After all the announcements from the lady, we took off! 

 

We weren't in the air very long when I started regretting not taking air motion sickness pills.  It hadn't really crossed my mind that I would get sick having my stomach levitate up and down.  So I got to see the inside of a plane bathroom for the first time. 

It was about an hour flight before we landed in Atlanta. It was going to be an hour layover. We arrived at gate C and had to get to gate G.  It took a train to get us there.  Apparently, if you don't hold onto anything you fall down onto other people.  Luckily, I got to observe this, not reenact it to the other passengers. 

 

This plane was bigger than the first so there was someone sitting beside me this time.  I was sick on this one as well.  (my condolences to the man next to me.  Oh, and dad too.)  Just my luck the bag had a leak in it. 0.o  We arrived in Panama City, Florida a half an hour later. 

Found my luggage, met up with the grandma of the people I was going to see, said goodbye to dad, and left.  Dad was going to head right back to home.  I believe he got home around 9. 

 

I was feeling a bit stable, but wasn't overly the greatest.  I actually had I guess jet lag the next day and stayed in bed for a while.  Everything is spinning, even when your eyes are closed, and you feel sick.

 

So yeah.  That was my flying experience.  Wasn't my favorite, but hey, beats a 14 hour drive in the car. 



 

My little baby!

Okay, so she's not a baby, but I cuddle her like one. 

We've been having some troubles with neighbor hood dogs coming to our house lately.  I guess with the warm weather and all, people are letting their dogs out.  I don't mind as long as they don't do any damage.  Three different dogs have come to our house so far. 
Two of which , one of the pipeliners thought were ours.  Upon telling him that they weren't, he told us to lock them up in our barn till quitting time.  One of the dogs we attached a note to the collar explaining what the situation was.  The next day we got a call from a lady across the field thanking us for taking care of her dog.  Apparently the dog was an inside dog who had just had surgery. So we only saw that dog once. 

Then thats when trouble started. 

I left the dogs out over night and the next morning when I went out to let them out there was a yellow  lab next to the kennel.  The lady's dog was also a yellow lab so I thought maybe it was hers. 
However, it wasn't because this one was a male and the lady's was female.  Upon getting closer as the dog ran away, I saw that it had tried to dig into the kennel leaving holes all around it.  Thankfully, he did not get in seeing how Lucy was in heat. 

This dog hung out around the house all day a couple days later. I looked out the window to see him and Lucy together.  Lucy had unfortunately had dug out.  (which isn't too surprising seeing how holes were dug all around.) 

I was mad, I'm not going to lie.  The thought of my dog getting bred by a dog three to four times her size was,well, upsetting.  I couldn't get close to the dog,(good thing too or I probably would've strangled it) but it had a collar. 

At the time I was watching Katie because mom and Sarah was gone.  They came home not long after the incident.  And that's when the great search began.  I couldn't follow the dog because it had disappeared somewhere in the pipeline and when ever it leaves our house it goes a different direction every time.  So I gave our surrounding neighbors a house call.  SEVEN houses I went to, nobody home. I guess they had plans for their Saturday afternoon.  Finally, I went to one of the neighbors just to ask if she knew who owned the dog. (They also have a lab, but it wasn't theirs.)  Thankfully, she was home and she thought she knew who owned the dog. 
So I headed down the road about 2 miles(yeah,  2 miles)  to the house.  The lady opened the door and I asked her if she owned the dog.  She said it was hers.  Luckily for the lady, I had just gone through seven other houses to let off some steam in my car. 

Here's the ticker.  She knew that her dog was running around and that it had been gone most of the day.  To which I replied, "Well, its been hanging at our house all day, and my little dachshund is in heat.  She got out today, and your dog bred her."

What the woman said next shocked me and I think if I wasn't in shock that I wouldn't have been so mild mannered.   She said, "Well, its the female dog's owner's responsibility to keep their dog locked up when they are in heat."

I think my mind exploded out the side of my head. 

"Your dog has been hanging out in OUR yard for the last couple days, and tried to did into OUR kennel.  And my dog was locked up, but dug out because of your dog.  So please if you could keep your dog locked up, I'd greatly appreciate it."  I said(still mild mannered)

"We'll try to."

Then I left.  And that's when I wasn't so mild mannered.  I mean, the nerve of the woman.  Maybe she didn't understand the situation.  Maybe she didn't realize that if I don't get my little dog fixed that it could potentially die.   I mean, she wasn't sorry that her dog was running around.  

I think I wouldn't have been quite so upset if she had apologized and had been concerned.  I don't know maybe that's just me. 

So Lucy is going into the vet on Monday to be spayed.  She'll be home Tuesday.  I'm a bit concerned because she has some separation anxiety issues.   But I'm glad that the vet can get it done before I leave on my trip so that I'm around if any problems arise. 

So I guess the moral of the story is, people keep your dogs in your yard because if they're in my yard I might have to do something.  Drastic.  More drastic then telling you that you're dog is in my yard.

Or that people are arrogant pigheads who should apologize for their mistakes and not be so proud. 

And Rachel got hit by a herd of goats...

Every winter, our neighbor goes down south, and every time me and Sarah, partner up  and do her animal chores for her.  Of the animals she has, are goats. 

This was taken last spring.  The goats are much wider like a barrel right now.

They are put out in their pen morning and brought into the barn at night.  And they usually,knock on wood, go where they're supposed to. 

And then....
All chaos broke loose.
All because...of one...little....black....dog.

At the time, it seemed like a great idea.  I mean, why not?  Why not bring Skeeter and Lucy along with me while I do chores?  They can search around in the barn for varmints, mess with the cats and run off some energy.  Who knew what was going to happen.  It didn't enter my mind that maybe barking dogs, especially a certain little black one, would spook the goats.  Or that a dog that had never seen goats in its life would chase them.  Nor did I think that I could be so easily knocked down by a bunch of goats. 

So... this is how it went down. 

I opened the stall door in the barn where the goats were to let them out to the north side of the barn. We started out fine when.. *cue barking dog*.  Spooked, goats run to the south side of the barn towards the open entrance.  I didn't want them to get out that way because they can't get to their pen that way, and herding them back into the barn would've been a back breaker.  So I go dashing off to try to get in front of them to block them off.  Turns out, those goats are sturdier than I thought.  I can't remember how I ended up in the midst of the goats, but I soon realized that goats are sturdier than you think not to mention they're like puffer fish right now.  Knocked down to my knees, I'm scrambling to get back up before I'm fully trampled.  Got out of the mob, and blocked the doorway. 

Whew!

Now to get them to go the other way.  Turns out, Lucy is blocking that way.  Goats won't budge that way and are trying to escape.  Thankfully, Lucy gets bored and goes back to exploring.    With her out of the way, the goats go down their normal route and get out into their pen. 

So chores were a bit more exhilarating than normal.  And thats when I noticed that the cats were clawing up the rafters of the barn.  I guess they were none too pleased with Skeeter and Lucy's visit either.   

Lessons learned:
1. You can't just knock a goat the way you want it to go.  They're like cement walls.
2. Goats don't like dogs, same goes for particular dogs such as mine.
3. Don't bring the dogs while doing chores.

Sillies

Meltdownish

There's water, but at the same time its frozen back over.  So I guess its keeping the water somewhat temporary. 


Water across the road



All icey in front of the barn

Flooded field

 

I went to do chores for our neighbor and when I got there it smelled like smoke.  So I walked around a bit, and I found the problem.  Apparently, when the rain leaked through the roof, an extension cord to a water heater got wet.(this extension cord was questionable to begin with mind you.)  It was smoking and buzzing at where the water heater connected.  Guess I won't be using that cord anymore. 

Whelp, thats all I got. 

Ice Ice Baby

I know I'm a little late getting this up seeing how everything has melted and is flooding everywhere.  But, I figured I might as well put it up. 

Flooding pics hopefully to be coming soon!