Pictures and more pictures!

Now that it's cooled off a bit (you know, 85, not 105) we've started going outside during the day again. And we got Hal (well, us, but Hal's the photographer) a new camera, so we have to try it out!

Here's some of the fun things we've done:
By the way, these are just some of the tons of pictures Hal's taken. More of them are posted on his photo blog. These are just some of my favorites out of the bunch! He's so good! I'm always so impressed! If you have time, I'd recommend clicking the pictures to view them large size, there's lots more detail that way!

1. Visited our friends the camels. They weren't quite as happy to see us as last time. Only one came to the "door" to greet us.
(Nice teeth, huh? I think he needs a dentist!)


2. Drove up to Lawton to visit the buffalo on the Wichita Wildlife Reserve. We successfully spotted 2. But we saw some prairie dogs...
(They're so cute! I want one! Hal said if I can catch one, I could have one. 2 problems: 1. That would be illegal. 2. I can't really catch them. They're too sneaky!)
And we went up Mt. Scott (tallest point around! 2,464 ft.) and took some pictures off of that.
(There were so many birds circling! It was kinda creepy!)


3. Drove up to the Wildlife Reserve again, to try to see more buffalo. First we stopped in Medicine Park (a little town outside of the park, Oklahoma's first Cobblestone community). We saw Bathlake and lots of other fun stuffs!
(Both pictures of the "lake", but in the bottom one see the cute squirrel? He was trying to run away from Hal, and found me on the other side of the grass. Poor guy! )
(Cute praying mantis, huh? I had some of these once.)

(These three statues were all in and around Medicine Park. We loved them!)

(This top one is only important to show you where this bottom one is... It's some sort of water treatment dam thing. BUT I found the perfect place to go sliding! Look! (below) You could just slide on the moss! You would have to lower yourself over the guard rail down like 20 feet and slam into the junk at the bottom, but, hey! I've known people who would do it!)Then we headed into the park, where we spent hours trying to find some wildlife! We saw prairie dogs,
(Awwww! Below: He's eating some bread that some kind family was feeding them. Cute, huh? It's what drew the coyotes, too.)
coyotes,
grasshoppers,
some longhorn cows (not pictured), and finally on the way out, a buffalo.
If you haven't noticed, we go to the park to see buffalo, and end up seeing... well, not buffalo. Lots and lots of prairie dogs, though!


4. Went to a couple of parks and picked a few pecans (for bringing up at Christmas for show and tell) and hunted for some "huge" acorns one of the ladies I work with said are there. I didn't have luck with the big acorns, but I found some "regular" sized ones. I love acorns! They're so cute! I've got a whole collection, but I'm not sure what to do with them now...
(Above: This was actually taken up by Medicine Park, but it fits better here. These particular acorns are small ones and have STRIPES! Cute! And I'm in a picture Nickie! Tee hee...)

And we saw more animals and such!
(Aren't they just too cute? I love that both of them have the same foot off the ground.)

(What is it? I think it's some sort of cross between a goose and a turkey. We've seen him before, or one like him. Eeeewww, huh?)

(Don't look now, but he's in goose territory. Notice how he's very leery? All the trees right around there have tons of nuts on the ground around them, and the rest of the trees in the park have zero to be found. Coincidence? I think not!)
(How many pictures do you have to take to get a squirrel blinking? Lots! But isn't he cute?)


5. Trips to other parks at other times to take random pictures. One of my favorite is this:
(It's a bunny! In the dark! Cool, huh?!)


All in all, we've been enjoying the slightly cooler weather!

Hal's new photo blog

This is Hal posting. I just finished putting up a new blog website. The link is also over on the right hand column.

Also, I plan to upload .zip files with photo collections, and flash applets that aren't compatible with Blogger, so the photoblog is going up on this website:

halbradbury.oxyhost.com

I will be trying to implement comments, subscriptions, RSS-feed and other components so that I can blend in with all the Blogger accounts.

PIctures!

Hi, everyone! This is Hal today. Dani never posts new pictures, so I've got a couple for you. This is the rubber chicken that she was so excited about:
And this is poor Cocoa's stump where she lost her fingernail:

Ferret stories!

Cocoa's nail troubles
So, do ya'll remember a while ago I said that I was a horrible ferret mommy? Just a refresher, Cocoa got her nails stuck into her hammock and was stuck there for who knows how long before we realized she was firmly attached? She'd ended up pooping right in her hammock and was laying in it. We cut her out of the hammock and since then we haven't let her nails get that long again. (And I did throw away that hammock, in case anyone wondered.)

We'll apparently she learned from that experience...

Hal was looking at Cocoa the other day, and noticed that it looked like one of her claws was missing! (Ferrets have claws more like dogs than cats. Their nails aren't retractable and are always out there to get caught on stuff.) There is absolutely no nail in one of her little toes! And the hole where it should be looked like it had dried blood on it! I could have just cried! I was like when did that happen? Do you think it hurt? Did it bleed? How hard does a ferret have to struggle and pull to get a nail to come right out of the socket?

So I looked through her t-shirt bedding until I found a little (it really was little, so I don't think she bled much) brown spot. And firmly attached to the cloth was a ferret nail. Including the base of it! (With hairs, it's called a follicle, what's it called with nails?)

My poor baby got stuck... again! And instead of staying stuck and waiting for me to rescue her, she freed herself. By pulling on her foot until the nail came right out! Ouchy! I feel so incredibly awful!!! I'm feeling a little unfit for pet ownership! How can I let her get hurt like that? How does that happen?! I feel like I'm such a neglectful awful ferret owner! I leave her in her cage for hours while I'm at work and hours while I sleep. She only gets out for a little while a day, and to top it all off, she gets hurt while she's stuck in her cage!


And then, just to make myself feel slightly less awful, I'll think about how I was holding her and snuggling her just a couple of hours ago. And she bit my chin. That little snot!


Rubber chicken! Boo-yah!
On another, still ferrety, note. We were at Dollar General the other day, and they had this squawky rubber chicken. You squeeze the belly and the squeak comes out of the mouth a few inches away. Genius!

Rocket goes, well, a little nuts at a squeaky toy. We like to squeak it high enough off the floor that he can't get it and he jumps and jumps and jumps for it. It's too funny! And then we let him get it. And he runs off to his cage with it, where he proceeds to kill it. He shows that squeaker just who is in charge of this whole operation! He'll squeeze the squeaker until he gets sick of it. And then shake it a bit, just to make sure it's dead. And sets it down very gently in a corner. And runs away. At which point we reach in and take the toy back and squeak it again. Oh, the joys of squeaky toys...

Anyways, we HAD to get the rubber chicken. We can squeeze the squeaker and Rocket won't bite us in his frenzy to get it. (It must die, you know.) It totally rocks! The most awesomest part is that it's just the right pitch that it drives not only Rocket crazy but Garret and Cocoa, too. It's totally hilarious! One of these days maybe we can get a video. (If the stupid camera will work right! It keeps glitching and corrupting the videos we take. Grrr!!!! Not funny!)


Anyways, my ferret world is as entertaining as ever!

And Cindy, I too have heard of people walking their ferrets, but I can't figure out how they'd get their ferrets to actually walk somewhere! We've tried to take our ferrets for a walk on a leash. (Yes, we have leashes for our ferrets.) They don't... how shall we say it... walk correctly? It seems to be more about the journey than the destination, if you even reach the destination! They get distracted very easily, and don't ever go where you want them to go! Mine just go in circles & go here & then there & then run around my feet & tangle up the leash, etc.

Tag!

So, I've been tagged! And like always, I seem to like them to pile up before I do them! (We'll, I've gotten them both since the last time I posted...)

Michelle's tag (http://joshandmichellebell.blogspot.com):
Quirks:
The Rules:
Link the Person who Tagged you.
Mention rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
Leave a comment to let them know.

1. I LOVE to collect animals. The more the merrier! Right now, I'm up to 3 ferrets, a frog, and a turtle. I'd love a kitten, but I'm really not up to scooping more poop! 3 ferrets make lots of poo! And I really want fish. I big ol' aquarium of them. (I want a snail, one of those sucker fish, maybe a nemo fish or a shark fish, maybe one of those crabs that go on the bottom, etc, etc, etc.) I've been thinking lately about hermit crabs. Anyone know if those are fun?

2. I'll usually be "in the middle" of several books at once. I start one and then forget I was reading that, or loose interest, and start another one. And then I finish them off one at a time, until I'm back to zero, then it all starts again! Note: This is NOT the same multiple books at once as Clyde Ricks (Maria's dad).

3. If I can't sleep (at night) I do some repetitive motion, over and over and over until I fall asleep, like: scratching the wall or my pillow or the sheet (that drives Hal crazy!), flicking things with my finger nail (tooth, wall, etc), petting my nose, or ... well, I'm out of examples.

4. I say "might could" in casual conversation, periodically. As in, "could we go to the store?" "We might could." I always have and I'm not sure where I picked it up at. Apparently I like it better than "maybe." I don't usually realize I'm saying it either. It just... slips out... But it fits right in here in Wichita Falls, TX! I hear it ALL THE TIME!

5. Since moving to Texas, I've learned to say a few words wrong... vowels are "pronunciated" different here, and it's a drawl. I'll, occasionally, say a word like "baseball" and it comes out sounding like "Bays-bull." I'm not sure WHY I speak funny now, but I do. Sadly, I suspect I'm not the only one who's noticed. I have NOT adapted "fixin' da" yet. (As in "I'm fixin'da bring you that.") And I hope I never hear it come out of my mouth.

6. I have a tendency to isolate myself from the rest of the world, just 'cause I'm like that. I'll just stop answering my phone, I don't call anyone back, I usually don't email people, or blog, or visit anyone, or go anywhere. I just don't deal with people. It's really kind of... pleasant... for a while. And then it gets boring and depressing. Ah, well, such is the life of the recluse!

I tag: anyone who wants to do it! Claim I tagged you and go with it! (Or you can just post some quirky things about yourself.)


Cindy's tag:
The Five
Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

10 years ago I:
1. Was just starting 8th grade.
2. Was helping take care of my adorable baby brother (he was 1 that September) and having a blast... mostly. (He was colicky that fall and winter, and when Mom was at work I would sit outside on the front porch with him. Forever! Until he'd stop crying!)
3. Was TRYING my hardest to irritate one of my teachers. (Mr. Gaylord) And I think I succeeded very well, if the number of times I got yelled at was ANY indication!
4. Was doing my best to befriend some boys. I was sick of the stupid girl fights all the time!
5. Had the biggest crush (again? still?) on Seth Woolstenhulme. He was totally the cutest goofiest boy ever.

5 things on my "to-do" list:
1. Make a Dr. appointment.
2. Work on Christmas presents! Buying, making, etc.
3. Change Archimedes' water.
4. Buy crickets for Froggy.
5. Find a stupid ferret cage for Cocoa! I need one that's in between giant, like the one that Rocket and Garret are in, and little, like the "big" travel cage that she's in now. She doesn't seem to be able to figure out that you poop in a litter box and not on a shelf. So, she's in "time out" somewhat permanently. Sad, but true!

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Chocolate!!!
2. Milkshakes! (Ok, not a snack, but... YUMMY!)
3. Frozen grapes.
4. Did I mentions chocolate?
5. Chips. Almost any variety.

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
(What did I do to earn that? and how do I really be a millionaire?!) Just a 1 million or like 100 million? 'cause that matters! But if it were unlimited and I could do anything...
I'd start by being smart and investing and stuff like that. And then...
1. I'd do whatever I want!
2. Travel. A lot.
3. Maybe buy a zoo. Or something.
4. I would have the most awesomest house in the world!
5. And have the most laziest most pleasant life I could possibly imagine!

5 places I've lived:
1. Victor, ID
2. Driggs, ID
3. Pocatello, ID
4. Wichita Falls, TX
5. ??? Something will come, I swear! I find it depressing that if I really reach for it I can only come up with 4 places I've lived! (Victor and Driggs? Come on!)

5 jobs I've had:
1. Babysitter & Nanny
2. Farm labor (move pipe, drive tractors, break stuff, etc.)
3. Front desk at hotel
4. Receptionist at gym
5. Receptionist at an oil company/royalty company/or something like that... is it important to know what exactly I do?

I tag: Anyone who wants to play this! Even if you don't type it, you should really consider some of these things! Some are very thought provoking! (Like my favorite snacks. Now I want a brownie. Thanks!)


That's it folks! That's all the tags I've gotten... unless I want to do some of Lacey Joy's... Maybe I'll work on that and post them later! Like next time I post! :)


Oh! And I've misplaced the questions that people sent me to answer! (Lacey and Nickie (I think, maybe?) both emailed me some ideas and I can't find them!) So, if ya'll would like to send me more questions, or post them as a comment, I'll try to answer them! (If I can. Sometimes I just don't know the answers!)
I'd probably blog more regularly if I felt I had anything to say!

And Cindy and Nickie: I didn't take pictures of Cocoa outside 'cause it was raining. Sorry. And once I came inside, she just wasn't being as cute! I'm really regretting that we didn't just brave the rain anyways, 'cause now I don't have any pictures of it! Bummer! :( Maybe another time...

Once again, I don't really have much to say again...
It's raining... again. No it does not always rain, but when it's not raining it's "hotter 'n hell" and that's not exciting!

Here's a fun thing! I took Cocoa outside to play (for the first time EVER in her short little life) yesterday in the rain. She loved it! Ferrets are adorable when they're discovering new things! She kept running her nose through the grass feeling/sniffing and just having fun! She was SOOO wet! She found a worm and mud and weeds and a giant puddle (that strangely enough she felt inclined to walk through. Whatever!) and lots of wet grass! It was too cute! She was so dirty when she was done.

And then, me being the meanie I am, I gave her a bath. AND didn't take Rocket and Garrett outside, too. I think they felt slighted.
I just hope she didn't "catch" chiggers! Whatever they are!
Later!

LOTS of rain = floods! (and new records!)

Ok, so I know I just said I don't know what to post about... But I've got something!
This last weekend and the last couple days, it's been... how shall I say it... COLD & WET!

I know it won't sound cold to all of you people from Idaho, but for us, who have just gotten (sorta) used to the above 100 degrees, 70 is super COLD! It is currently 71.4, according to wunderground.com, as opposed to the 84 degrees it says it is in Victor, ID, today! How is it possible that it's warmer at my parents house in Idaho than it is in the middle of the desert in Texas?!

And in other weather related news... remember a while ago I posted about being woken up in the night by a big old thunderstorm that ended up lighting our neighbors house on fire? (See my post on June 22, called "Wow")...
We had a killer awesome (unless you wanted to be sleeping, that is) loud thunderstorm last night. It poured rain all night long! And, consequently, today, we have flooding in Wichita Falls. This morning some of the roads in and out of the city (highways and such) were all flooded over!

I heard two neat stories at work this morning:
The first one is: one of the ladies I work with has horses. Apparently her pasture is kind of lower than the surrounding area. It was flooded last night. Bad enough that some of the horses were STUCK in it this morning! She stayed home from work today to try to rescue some of their animals!
The second one is: another of the ladies I work with has this son-in-law... who went to go get in his brand new car (he's had it almost 2 months) this morning. And found that it was surrounded by a lake. The water was about halfway up his car doors. (Teach him to park in the middle of a parking lot, huh?)

We more than doubled our previous rainfall record! According to the statistics that I found, on Sheppard Air Force Base (a couple miles from our house), the previous record daily rainfall was set in 1961 (on this day). It was 1.26 inches. Today, so far, we've gotten 2.67 inches. Cool, huh?!

Please help me!

I've been curious, but only today feel inclined to TRY to find out, as to how many people read my blog. Regularly or occasionally.

So, I'm going to try something. If you read this, would you mind letting me know?
Leave a comment! Telling me you read it, just saying your name, if you'd like me to answer some questions in future posts ask me those, or if you'd like me to add you to my "blog link" list, let me know that too!

If you don't know how to leave a comment, I'll explain!
If you don't have a "google/blogger identity" IT'S OK!!! You can still comment on my blog! (Even if you can't comment on some other blogs.)

Here's how: (in very descriptive terms for people like my wonderful Mom, who doesn't know how to comment... or at least didn't before I tried to show her while I was up there... I love you, Mom!)

Right below this post (but before the next one) there's a line that says "Brought to you by Hal and Dani at 4:50 PM" (followed by) "__ Comments"
CLICK ON the "Comments" word.
It will bring up a new screen, which has on the right hand side a box that says "Leave your comment" above it. Click on the box and type what you want to say. Then right below the box, it says (in orange) "choose an identity." If you DON'T have an identity click the "button" in front of "ANONYMOUS". Then click the "Publish your comment button". (Just to be kind, I've copied these instructions to the comments section, too. So if you get there and get lost, just read the first comment!)
Easy cheesy! *BIG SMILE* :)

Thank you for playing along, everyone!!!

Ummm...

So, I don't really feel like anything exciting is happening to blog about... (Well, not that most people would be interested in, anyways.)

Cocoa (our "new" little girl ferret) has decided punish me, or something. She's decided she has no use for litter boxes, and can poop anywhere in her cage she wants. That human girl (that's me) will clean it up for her... Grrrr....

And I've caught two geckos lately. I opened my front door and some little tiny critter ran it. So, I chased it and stepped on it. (It was a little tiny gecko.) No, I did not squish it. I was able to pick it up (with a paper towel of course! Ewww!!!) and throw it back outside. I think I pulled off it's tail somehow, though... hmmm.... And then the other gecko suddenly appeared on my wall. So Hal helped me corner him (we snuck up from both sides) and I caught him and flushed him away. I've also caught a few more in my sticky traps, but that's not very exciting.

And it's been nice and cool the last few days! Downright pleasant! Under 100 degrees! Wahoo! It's actually like 83 today! Talk about "cold"!

Anyways, that's all I've got to say today... Have a great one!

My trip...

I've been back in Wichita Falls for two weeks now, and I'm finally getting around to posting about my trip! I'm such a slacker!

One of my old roommates, Sheena, got married July 18th, in Idaho Falls. I had promised that I'd come back for her wedding before we moved... so I had to go! :) (I did want to go, too!) And I really wanted to see my family! So, I got to go home for a week. Wa Hoo!!!!
The plan was to fly from Wichita Falls, TX to Jackson Hole, WY, by way of Dallas and Denver. 3 flights each way. Wichita Falls to Dallas, Dallas to Denver, Denver to Jackson Hole.

The trip there was OK... until the end, when it got really frustrating!
In Dallas, my plane was delayed because, apparently, there were "some mechanical failures" (wonderful thing to tell a bunch of potential passengers, huh?) that they were trying to work out before we got into the air. Hmmm... thanks? We finally took off 1/2 hour late, and made it to Denver late, of course. (But it's OK 'cause I had an 1 1/2 hour layover in Denver.)

When I got to Denver, I read the departure board and found, much to my horror, that my plane was delayed. By 2 hours! And then a little later, found out that the departure time had been bumped up an hour. So it's only 1 hour delayed. And then the gate changed, so we all (there were a lot of people waiting for this plane!) headed on down to the other gate. And then it was delayed again. And the gate was changed again. And then the flight was bumped back up again. And then it was delayed again.
Apparently the pilot was in the air circling the Denver airport. He couldn't get permission to land... (What? How does that happen? And where had he been for the last hour and a half?) I finally made it to Jackson 2 hours later than I had planned. (My little brothers, Jake & Zac, were just in heaven! It meant they got to swim at the Rec center in Jackson for even longer! Yay!) I was so relieved to finally be done traveling to get there! It was so great to see my family!

Anyways, I had a blast! I went to Pocatello, where I hung out with my old roommates (Sheena and Maria) all afternoon Wednesday. We got our kids meals (that's what we do for fun. This time Artic Cirlce had fish shaped squirt guns! Sadly, I seem to have misplaced my green shark somewhere in my travels... I hope whoever finds it enjoys it!) and talked and shopped and talked! It was awesome! I miss my girls!

While in Poky, I stayed with my brother and his wife (Skyler & Lacey). And played with my adorable niece, Abigail Joy, every chance I got! (All day Thursday!) She's just too cute! My brother and his wife sure make a cute kid! (And soon to be kids!) I'm so excited for this next one! I don't think I can say here what their expecting, but lets just say I'm super excited!

On Friday, Sheena got married, in the Idaho Falls temple. (That's where Hal & I were married.) And I just have to admit... It's awfully sad to go to a wedding without my husband! During the sealing, I cried. It could have been that it was so beautiful watching Sheena and Travis get married. Or it could have been that it made me miss Hal. But either way, I cried. Sheena was so pretty & Travis adores her. (At least, it looked that way to me!) It was really sweet!

Then we did 'girl pictures' (Mom, Lacey, Me, Memorie, and Abigail) and played for a couple hours together before Sheena's wedding reception. I made Abigail giggle so hard and so much that I gave her hick-ups! I felt so bad!!! I hope when we come up for Christmas, she remembers how fun her Aunt Banani is! :)

After the reception in Pocatello, and dinner with Sky, Lacey, and Abi, Mom & I (and Mem and Maria) all drove back to Idaho Falls, where we dropped Maria & Mem off at their cars. And Mom and I went shopping! (It was almost midnight, but so?!) Anyways, we finally got home to Victor at about 2 (or was it 2:30? I forget...) And stayed up talking 'til all hours of the morning. I think we finally fell asleep at like 4 or 4:30 or something...
Whew! Big day!

The rest of the time I was there was a lot slower paced and more relaxed!

Saturday, I was feeling ambitious! And did yard work... It was a great day for it! All nice and cool! (Read 75-80 degrees.) Poor Mom came out with me... I think I about roasted her alive! Then we went to a bridal shower for Serenity Woolstenhulme. (Yay, Seri!) I was so tired! But it was fun and cute and yummy! :)

Sunday was church and we played games as a family. It was fun!

Monday... well, I don't remember... But I'm sure it was full of talking, laughing, and games!

Tuesday Mom and I (and Jake for a while, and Ben for a while) made beads. They were gorgeous! Until they dried... And then all the colors went all yucky and weird! Grrrr!!!!
And we invited Ben's girlfriend Chelsea over to play with us. (She's great! We all love her to pieces!) We tried to weed the garden... and got hailed out! We had hailstones - no exaggeration - the size of quarters. Neat! (Luckily, I don't think it ruined Dad's grain!) It was so cool!
And we made more beads. And played games. It was super fun! It's great to have whole crowds of people who will play card games with me!
By Tuesday night, I'd developed a migraine. (Surprise! I didn't have one all week! So, it was about time...) So, I'm not sure how nice or fun I was, but I have fond memories of it...

Wednesday morning Mom had to take me back to the airport. It was hard to say goodbye, but I was excited to come back home to see Hal again! I'd missed him like crazy!!

This time all my flights were on time, so I got home OK, but...
The flight from Jackson to Denver was uneventful. Denver to Dallas was OK...kind of bouncy! (turbulence filled) They did change the gate on me -twice- before my flight. Two gate changes in 1 1/2 seems like a lot to me... Anyone agree? The most eventful part for sure was when we were going to for a landing. The pilot must have been dropping too fast, or something, 'cause he hit the "gas" just before we went in for a touchdown. I don't think I've ever landed going that fast before! What a rush!!! Wow! We were flying down the runway so fast! ...for far enough that I seemed like we'd end up taking off again...

When I got Dallas, I was waiting for the plane... and one of the cleaning crew came in and told the lady running the ticket counter/boarding that they were cleaning some vomit from the back of the plane, and to verify that they were finished before sending people out to board. Ewww! Anyways, by the time we landed in Wichita Falls, the entire plane of people were sick. I actually heard someone say "if that last flight was anything like this one, no wonder the person threw up!" No kidding! Wow!

Anyways, I was wonderful to visit, and it's wonderful to be back home. I'm so excited for Christmas to come visit again! I never knew I'd be some homesick... *sigh*
I wasn't sure where to fit this in at, so it's just here at the end. Huge, huh? I don't think I've ever seen such big hail! After the hail stopped, everyone (Jake, Zac, & Chelsea were all running around gathering up the big hail pieces. They were all melting! :( So we had to get pictures quick!