Saturday, November 22, 2008

Surprise!

We're moving!

To Houston!

Hal has been offered a job as a design engineer with Oil States in Houston, TX. And he/we have taken it. So, we're going to be moving to Houston! It sounds like it will be an awesome job, actually designing things! (Which is good!) We're excited!

He starts next week...

So, I guess that means we're going to try to sell our house in Wichita Falls, and head on off to Houston! Well, we're heading off to Houston either way, so hopefully it'll sell! Whew!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Pieces of news and adventures

So, I never feel like anything much is going on here... and then I start rambling and come up with all sorts of stuff to say!

I don't know that I've ever mentioned it, but I started working (as a temp) as a receptionist at a company called Burk Royalty back in June. Anyways, I've been there ever since. They offered me a "full time" job (which I find a funny term 'cause I was already doing 40 hours a week, but now I'm on their payroll, not the temp agency's) about a month ago. Neat, huh? Anyways, they're "in oil", which apparently to some people means a whole lot, but to me... not so much... it seems to be that they manage oil things. They find the fields where they think there might be money to be made by drilling for oil or minerals, take care of buying/leasing it, hire someone to drill a well, and then proceed to manage the resources (oil and money) we get out of it. Anyways, I'm slowly learning all about the oil industry. It's a pretty good job. Fairly relaxed and mostly very slow paced...

We've both gotten new callings at church. I've been released from my calling in Young Womens and I've been called to be on the enrichment committee. (Hurray! I get to got to Relief Society!) Hal's been called to be in the choir. I'd heard a rumor that if they didn't get some people to start coming regularly, they'd starting making callings, but I thought it was kind of a joke...


We did go on a couple of "outings" with our new camera last weekend. We took our ferrets to the park. As I'm sure ya'll can probably imagine, we've got hundreds of pictures of our wonderful ferrets, these two are my favorites from our latest excursion. The top one captures the ferrets perfectly. I can almost hear them thinking what is it? To chew? To hide? To play? And bonus! All three are in it! And this bottom one... well, I was following Rocket, who had to wander away, and Cocoa was stalking me! It was too cute!

And we went to Sikes Lake or Midwestern pond or whatever it's called and saw some ducks, geese, and swans. We saw a yoga texas goose. (My very favorite!)
And I attempted to chase them...
*sigh* Sadly, I'm not very committed to it, and they can tell. They don't even budge! They hiss at me though...


Also, and kind of my biggest news, I've started taking a new drug (well, new for me) for my migraines. It's called Topamax. It's... entertaining, to say the least. The side effects are WOW! But I haven't had a migraine this week... or maybe I did and I just didn't care? Not really sure what's been happening... Hmmm... jury is still out. More about that a different day, just wanted to share!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Alien brains

On Saturday, we were out running errands and drove by the waterfall and noticed the bright red color. Of course, we had to go home and get the camera! Usually when the river is muddy, they turn off the waterfall. (It's a man-made waterfall to replace the waterfall that used to be around here before it was washed out a really long time ago!) The dirt/clay is red here, and when it rains, the red sediment rushes into the river... coloring it red, not just murky brown. (Hence the reason the Red River is called the Red River... it's red!) It's really gorgeous!
Anyways, Hal posted a whole bunch of pictures about the day on his photo site, and it seems silly to repeat all the photos, so I'm going to focus on my favorite parts of our walk by the river!

First of all, I was walking out to a bank on the river while Hal was taking pictures of a spider web, spider included, with dew on it. It was a really pretty web! As I was walking out, this little brown leaf in front of me started fluttering along the ground. And then I realized it wasn't a leaf. It was a little tiny frog! He lept over the edge and landed down below. I thought he'd went in the water, but I still looked and looked for him on the river bank. I finally found him and Hal took a picture of him. Can you see him?
I wanted so bad to climb on down there to try to catch him. But Hal pointed out it was probably a bad idea. Slick river mud, gross water... bad combination! So I didn't get to try to catch him.

A little later, I was checking out the river (again) and I saw the most wonderful thing! This green brain!
And then I climbed out (onto the rocks) and fished it out of the river. Isn't it cute?

I'd never seen anything so green alien-like and lovely! So, of course, being me, I wanted to do two things with it. (1) Take it home and (2) break it open and get out the dinosaur egg or alien baby or whatever was in it!

Hal said he'd really rather I didn't take it home. And he didn't really want to break it open with me.

So, I conceeded. I didn't take it home and I broke it open myself, right there on the river walk. My wonderful husband took pictures of the whole occassion.

Sadly, there was no dinosaur egg. And there was no alien baby in it. Bummer, huh?
But it did look kind of like an alien brain!
I totally looked like it should be edible! It had this pineapple-like texture and I think it smelled really good! Faintly familiar...like I'd smelled it before!And I'm kind of embarrased to admit this... but if it hadn't been soaking in the river, I might have tried to taste it! It looked totally edible! (Even if slightly brain-like.)
I had a blast tearing it apart! It was super fun! And it made my hands smell totally yummy!

The only draw back was that it made my hands sticky! I was so confused by that! The outside wasn't sticky before I started tearing it apart. And the inside wasn't very sticky, either! Hmmm... My hands felt kind sticky like I'd been trying to climb a very pine-gummy pine tree. (Done that before!) At least this stuff washed off! Unlike pine gum...

When we got back to the car, I was just standing there minding my own business, smelling my hands, when Hal decided to take a self-portrait, reflected in the car windows. Hence, this: Here we are all distorted by the reflection with me sniffing my fingers. Hal laughed really hard after he took this one. (Here's a picture of both of us Nickie! Your wish has been granted! ...probably not quite what you had in mind, but...)

After we got home, I researched what in the world this green brain fruit was (I googled "green fruits" and immediately came up with a picture of it! Weird, huh?! I never have such good searching luck!)

"Whether it is known locally as Osage orange, mock orange, Osage apple, hedge, hedge apple, naranjo chino, bois d'arc, bodark or bow wood, it is the same distinctive tree." - Jim W. Grace

Wikipedia (love that wikipedia!) says: "The fruit... is roughly spherical, but bumpy, and 7-15 cm in diameter, and it is filled with a sticky white latex sap. In fall, its color turns a bright yellow-green and it has a faint odor similar to that of oranges." Hmmm... fruit! And filled with latex sap! That's why I was all sticky! And it has an odor similar to oranges! That's why it was so familiar!

"The fruits have a pleasant and mild odor, but are inedible for the most part. Although not strongly poisonous, eating it may cause vomiting." Good thing I didn't eat it, huh? My inclination to taste something that smells good is probably one best repressed.

I'm totally fascinated by this tree! Apparently, they come in male and female trees (weird, huh?) and only the female trees can bear fruit.

And I'm sure the squirrels in that area, who apparently love the seeds from this hedge apple/osage orange fruit thingy, are very grateful to me for breaking it open and leaving it on the sidewalk for them! Yes, I left it smack in the middle of the sidewalk. So everyone else could see it, too!

Look at all this information gleaned just because I found an alien brain in the river! And now all of you get to hear it, too! Lucky people!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

BRRRRR!!!!

I just have to share...
It's so incredibly cold outside today! 55 degrees! Holy Moo!! (He he he! That cracks me up every time! Moo!) & I know some of you are going to look at that and go, "so what are you complaining about?" But it's just downright cold feeling! I feel like I should bust out my coat! (Just FYI, it's colder here in Wichita Falls right now than it is in Victor, Blackfoot, or Pocatello. According to Wunderground, we're all in the 50's but we're colder than all ya'll! Does that make us the winner or the looser?)

On the bright side, it's warm in my office today, so that's good!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

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!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

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.

Friday, October 3, 2008

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:

Friday, September 26, 2008

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.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

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...

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

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!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

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?!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

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!!!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

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!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

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!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Phew!

Hi all!
I'm sorry I've had the same post up forever Lac! I'll try to remedy that now...

So, I've been a little more busy than normal the last few weeks. I've got a job. I'm a receptionist at a very slow paced oil company. Neat, huh? I like it. It's right up my alley! I've been stuffing envelopes, typing up information, and helping them "upgrade" their record system (in accounting) to all digital (this last involved scanning old invoices and saving them in as a pdf). Oh, and I answer the phones. Roughly 3-5 times an hour. Sounds tough, huh? Super cool!

Anyways, I've been getting super excited to get on an airplane (3 of them! Each way!) and fly to see my Mommy. And the rest of my family. And Sheena's wedding. YAY!!! It's just now hit me that I'm probably going to miss Hal like crazy though... It's a sad though... I might just cry!

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OK, so story time! A few weeks ago, we got our electricity bill. It was an incredible almost $300! (Like $286.) Well, golly gee why don't you just hit me with a baseball bat?! Anyways, once we got over the shock and anger, we seriously decided it's way past time to get someone to spray insulation into our attic. (We had like 3 inches... way lower than the recommended 12 inches!)
So, Hal made arrangements for someone to come do that for us.

And then we decided that before they come, we should pull out the heater (installed in the house in 1961, they have been unofficially declared a fire hazard) in the bathroom ceiling. (It's turned off and on by a light switch beside the regular light switch.)

Hal got to work trying to get this thing out of the ceiling. One of the biggest problems being that when we flipped the breaker to the bathroom, it turned off the bathroom light, and also turned off the hall light. And then he couldn't see. So we made the decision to leave the breaker on, and he'd just be really carefull with those wires.
During the whole removal event, he shocked himself! He hollered and dropped his tools! Scared me halfway to death! But he was OK. Apparently it just scared him, mostly.

Then we decided to replace the light switch in the bathroom with an electrical outlet. 'Cause, well, everyone needs an outlet in their bathroom! It gets really old stringing an extension chord along the hallway to the bathroom every time I wanted to blow dry my hair.

So I did my part and replaced the socket (I've successfully replaced all but 2 electrical outlets and 2 light switches in my house). I DID turn off the breaker that goes to the bathroom and used my headlamp to see. Everything was going so well! I was trimming the last wire with my wire cutters... And there was this "POP" noise! And the sparks flew! I got zapped! Hard! I yelped so loud! I scared Hal half to death! (Revenge!!! OK, so it wasn't on purpose, but...)

Anyways, I was so super confused! And furious! (Once I got past the scare of thinking I'd been electrocuted!) I turned off the breaker and everything! How did that happen?!?!?! GRRR!!! Bad word!!!

Wow! Hal went into the bedroom and looked at the breaker box to see if he could figure out what had happened. And noticed that there were two breakers turned off. The one I had turned off for the bathroom, and... the one labeled "heater"... Ta da!
Guess what?! If we'd used our noggins and GUESSED we might have saved us both a good zapping! Anyways, we pulled out our circuit tester (yes, we did have one, I just assumed that I had the breaker off and didn't need to test the wires to make sure they weren't live. Bad assumption! I'll never assume that again!) and tested a few wires. We learned that indeed there are two breakers that go into our bathroom. The one for the light and the one for the heater! (Hal could have worked on removing the heater from the ceiling with the bathroom light ON and the heater breaker OFF, and he wouldn't have gotten shocked! And I could have turned them BOTH off and I wouldn't have gotten shocked! GRRRR!!!)

Turns out that Hal's friend Jake was right. (He's an electrician.) He told Hal one time that as long as you have a breaker box, you won't die if you get zapped by live wires. It'll just flip the breaker.

The neatest part of the whole thing was seeing the singed wire insulation! The wire and insulation were totally burned by the electricity! I had to trim the wire back past the burned part. I kept it and I've got it sitting on my desk by the computer. The insulation was totally burned off! Neat!

And just for all of you who want to know what getting zapped by a wire in the house feels like... Go grab an electric fence! The feeling of getting shocked by an electrical wire in my house was... wait for it... just like getting zapped by an electric fence! The same muscle clenching, terror striking, awful, painful feeling! Ugh!

And that's my story of the zapping...

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Oh! And last night I was on my way to bed and I saw this little tiny pink thing stuck to my wall. So I walked closer to see what it was. (I knew it wasn't a spider. Spiders aren't pink!) It was like an inch long, pink, and it had legs and a tail. It looked like one of those little sticky toys you can get out of the quarter machines at stores... know what I'm talking about?
And then it moved. And I knew what it was! It was a gecko!!! The same kind that are getting stuck to my sticky traps! What is it doing on my WALL!!!!! They can live in my kitchen and eat my kitchen bugs, BUT STAY OUT OF MY BEDROOM!!! EEWWW!!!!
At the same time though, I kinda want to catch it! It was a little baby lizard! Ohhh!!! Too cute! I don't have one of those! Are leopard geckos reptiles or amphibians? Hmmm....
Eeewww!!!

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And I've been meaning to say this for just forever! I have the sweetest husband ever! For my birthday he got me a keyboard! 'Cause I've been missing playing the piano! (I'm not very good, but I enjoy it.) Isn't he just the sweetest?!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Archimedes!!!

"Something tells me you're all wet, Archimedes!" That's my thought of today!

He's a little camera shy... Can you tell? I love his little toes! His little back claws are too cute!

I named my turtle! I've finally picked a name! My brother Skyler and his wife Lacey were brainstorming ideas for me, and they came up with Archimedes! It's the name of the owl in "The Sword in the Stone", which Lacey and Abi had just watched. (And also just so happens to be one of my favorite movies ever!)

Well, needless to say, I love the name. So thanks for naming my turtle Sky and Lac! I'm so excited! I'm not entirely certain he knows I'm talking to him when I yell "Archimedes" at him, though...

I do have to say... I told a couple of the Laurels (I'm in Young Womens at church) that I'd named my turtle Archimedes. And I quote "That's the stupidest name for a turtle I've ever heard!"

So, I totally picked a good name!!! :)

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

20 things...

Thanks for tagging me Lacey Joy! This looks fun!

20 things that make me smile
(in no particular order, just what came to mind)

1. Garret trying to getting free when we accidentally leave a door on his cage open... (he'll climb out the doors approximately 3 and 4 feet off the floor, and drop to the floor. And head waddling off to the kitchen!) OH!!! And watching him 'run'. His little duck waddle/hop routine is super cute!
2. Rocket chasing his squeaky toy.
3. Cocoa... well, being Cocoa... she's just cute!
4. Ferrets playing with each other, chasing around the room, hopping and jumping, and quacking (it's called dooking).
5. Killer lightning/thunderstorms! But not in the middle of the night... Just when I'm supposed to be awake!
6. Worms on the sidewalk.
7. Cute kittens. And maybe or maybe not the generic 'cute' kittens... see "my" kitty Two-Two if there are any questions about that!
8. Most baby animals.
9. Zoos!!! and Aquariums!!! I love all animals!
10. Hal! (of course!)
11. Froggie croaking. And sometimes his food chirping... But sometimes it's just annoying...
12. My new turtle, who is still unnamed. I was thinking Fred (honestly), but Nickie said it might be cursed... so hmmm...
13. Looking out my new window. (That Hal put in all by himself! Well, I helped a little, but not much!)
14. Other smiles.
15. Talking to people I like (Family and friends).
16. Thinking of funny stories (like almost getting electrocuted... tee hee...).
17. Getting a kids meal.
18. Driving really fast! (But safely!)
19. Mountain Dew!!!! :) Just the thought of it makes me grin like lunatic!
20. Finishing a project (like finishing sewing something/crocheting something/cross stitching something, fixing something... etc...)

Ta da! 20 things that make me smile! In no particular order. I didn't feel like trying to re-arrange them. Phew! That was harder than I thought it'd be to come up with 20!

And now I tag... anybody else who'd like to name 20 things that make them smile!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Guess what I've got now?!

I got a turtle! One of my Young Women has baby turtles and she gave me one!!! He's the cutest little ugly thing! I've always wanted a tiny turtle!!! Too bad he won't always stay this little... (Which reminds me of a question: Are turtles like goldfish? If you keep them in a small cage, they stay small and if they're in a big cage they grow bigger? Also, would that be completely inhumane?)

It's kind of a bad picture of him, but at least you can see the top shell! He was a little scared to be moved around so much... I think I could get a better picture of him now! He's a bit more well adjusted.

What should I call him?! I haven't been able to come up with a good turtle name yet... I kind of like Squirt, but that's totally straight out of Finding Nemo... hmm.... And he won't always be two inches big... Any ideas?!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Wow!

Here in Wichita Falls, TX, we have the neatest thunderstorms! I love watching lightning and listening to thunder! A few weeks ago, we had one that was accompanied by lots of wind. There was a tornado warning that went with it, too! Neat! :)
Unfortunately they usually happen between the hours of 10 PM and 6 AM (when we're sleeping, of course!)

Story #1

We had another amazing thunderstorm last Wednesday night. We were woken up at about 5 AM Thursday morning by this loud thuderous BOOM!!! I'm mean it was killer loud! My eyes flew open and I watched the lightning flashing. The rumble (of the thunder and the shaking of the house!) lasted for what seemed like FOREVER, in actuality it was probably only like 45-60 seconds.


I thought my house had been hit by lightning! But there was no smoke, so probably not.


And then the firetruck came. It flew through our neighborhood the siren and lights blaring. I jumped up in bed and peered out the window... to watch it turn on the next street over! It being 5 AM, I wasn't wearing much and didn't feel inclined to follow it to see what's up...


Story #2
When we got up like an hour later, our internet (my lifeline to the world!) wasn't working! Hal messed with it for a while, and then decided it's probably AT&T's problem to fix. And he went to work. I called AT&T to report that our internet is down, and got in touch with someone in India or somewhere. 45 minutes later, I'd managed to convince her that my problem was indeed from somewhere other than my computer/modem connection, and she reported my problem.

The people investigating the problem called me back a little while later and told me, via automated voice system, that there is no problem.


When Hal got home, he called the company and did his "I know what I'm talking about! There is a problem!" routine. They scheduled an appointment for a repair man to come out the next day.


On Friday, the repair man came out to my house, hooked his little computer sensor thingy up to my internet line and SURPRISE! There's a problem! We had no signal! So he went out back to our phone line box (I'm not sure what it's called really) and there was no signal there either! So, he got his ladder off his truck and climbed my power pole... There's no signal there either! Up the row to the next pole, and the next... after climbing five poles, he finally found the problem...


The conclusion to both story #1 and #2
The telephone pole just up the block from our house was hit by lightning.

Which fused all the telephone wires together, effectively ruining all of our neighbors phone and internet connections luckily, the repair guy was able to fish out my two wires and fix my internet. (Which makes no sense to me... If the whole bundle was fused together, how was he able to pick out the yellow and green wires and make my internet work again?) However he did it, my problem was fixed! Yay!


Also, when the lightning hit the pole, the current traveled up the phone line and lit his house on fire. Hence, the firetruck! (The repair guy learned that while he was fixing my internet and the people that live around there told him all about it!) Neat, huh?


I'm so very grateful that my house wasn't lit on fire! Whew!!!

Monday, June 16, 2008

All gone...

Well, Bam, Bob, and Jinx left last night. We'll miss them terribly! But who knows? Maybe they'll come visit again sometime!


Okay, so they weren't our ferrets. We were ferret-sitting for the weekend. One of the guys Hal works with has ferrets and he asked us to watch his ferrets for him. It was super fun! We all (Hal, me, Garret, Rocket, and Cocoa) had fun playing with the new guys.

...Laundry baskets and empty cereal bags... What FUN!!!

So, no we did not get three new ferrets! I don't know that we could handle having six ferrets! They're super cute and fun, but 6 ferrets makes a lot more work than just 3. (Come to think of it, 3 is a quite a bit more work than 2!) However, it was fun while it lasted!

This was my favorite game... we have this tube (it's like a dryer hose) that the ferrets play in. We tried putting (shoving) all six of them in there and holding the two ends of the hose together... they went around and around chasing each other through the tunnel! It was super fun for us! I like to think they liked it, too, but did they really?

Anyways, we had a lot of fun ferret-sitting! I had a blast watching them all play together! And playing with them!

And now it's time for....


Gross things with Dani!


Last Thursday I walked into the kitchen intending to fix lunch for Hal (he comes home for lunch most days). I happened to look down at one of my sticky traps (I have them all over) and saw this black thing sticking out of it. I'm like...what is that?!

So, I cleverly looked closely and saw this big spider sticking out of it. I'm totally freaking out at the size of this thing, and then IT MOVED it's legs!
I immediately decided two things:
1) It has to DIE!!! and
2) I can't cook now! Not with that thing in my kitchen!

I (very bravely) reached under by kitchen sink for my Ant/Roach/Spider spray, and gave him a good dousing. And he continued to move for what seemed like forever!!! EEWWWWW!!!! Anyways, I couldn't even stand being in my house anymore! When Hal came home, I was sitting on our tree stump outside. (Which is kind of ironic.... I was chased out of my house by a spider stuck in a sticky trap, and went and sat on a stump that has TONS of bugs under it...) He thought I'd locked myself out again. I told him nope, I just couldn't be in there anymore.... He went in and made sure the foul thing was dead, and told me I was very brave to spray it. :-) Isn't he sweet?

By nighttime, I was finally able to go into the kitchen again (I was way creeped out all day!) and of course I had to take a picture. Have you ever noticed that spiders seem to be bigger alive than dead? I think it's because their legs are all fluffed out when they're alive...
EEWWWW!!!

I just keep thinking... what are the chances I only have one of those huge things? And where did he come from?! And WHAT IS HE DOING IN MY HOUSE?!?!
Isn't he huge? He kind of reminds me of a tarantula, only smaller...
(It's not a very good picture. I was having a really hard time holding still!)

Yes, that is an animal by him. We think it's a leopard gecko... This is like the 10th one (maybe? I've lost track.) that we've caught on our sticky traps. We have NO IDEA where they're coming from, but they can't be bad if they eat bugs, right? (Still, EEWWW!!!) I've seen them in my backyard, too. And on the side of my house. (They tuck themselves up under my siding.) Any ideas how they get in?

Thanks for viewing my lovely creepies! Hope you're not too completely grossed out!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Ferrets! And more ferrets!

Our ferrets have multiplied! Well, not literally, 'cause they're all fixed...
But we do have double!

Allow me to introduce you to:
Bob. He's the "snuggler" of the bunch... or so we've been told. We haven't seen (felt?) much evidence of that yet. I think he looks a little like Rocket, only bigger, bigger ears, and more rat-face like.

Meet Jinx. He's the littlest of the three. He's very pretty and seems to be sweet! I'm not sure how old he is, but he's by far the smallest adult ferret I've ever seen!

And lastly, but not least, meet Bam. He's an albino, so yes his eyes are pink, and he's white... or he's supposed to be white, when he's clean. He's a big boy!

They're all very mischievous! (That's a very ferret like quality... But they're even more so than Rocket, Garret, and Cocoa.) They insist on climbing up as high as they can get and have figured out how to open the door on their cage, so metal clips serve to reinforce the door.

This evening, once we had them in the ferret's room, we closed the door... six ferrets are FAR more stinky than only 3! So, all six got baths, hence the bath pictures. :) And just for good measure (and bathtime safety) they got their nails clipped, too. (Think bathing a cat... you'd cut their nails off first, too!)

I'm sure all the new guys are just loving us!!! I know I'd love some stranger chopping off my toes, drenching me, slathering me up, drenching again, and roughing me up with a towel.


That's my news for today! We have 3 "new" ferrets, making a grand total of 6. Do you think that's enough? 6 can't be that much harder than 3, right?

And just for your information, 6 ferrets = 120 toes chopped off! (Hal does the chopping... go Hal!) No, we don't really cut off their toes, but they sure act like we are!! It's pretty funny...

Chop! Chop! Chop!

As you may or may not know, I don't always think things through before I start. (Note, painting kitchen cupboards without proper ventilation...)

Our neighbor has these bushes/trees of some sort planted in their backyard right by the fence that separates our backyards. These
lovely bushes have been allowed to grow free for who knows how long, and had effectively claimed our fence and the yard for about 4 feet in. It made it really hard to mow the lawn over by the fence (as you can imagine).

So, yesterday I decided to trim the bushes! I got out my handy dandy pruning shears and headed out. I knew that the bushes were out of control and very bushy, but I didn't really think it would take as long as it did! I figured it'd take 15-20 minutes tops, and I'd have all of the branches cut off... boy was I in for a surprise! It took me almost an hour before I'd finished! WOW!!!
I forgot to take a picture before I started, but this is what they look like today. My side (the right) looked almost exactly like the neighbors' side. The bush (tree?) at the back of the yard is next!!!
(It's a little scary! There's spiders and bunnies and probably snakes under there, too! Yuck!)




My pile of branches. Funny, it doesn't look quite as huge in pictures as it did in person...

Once I got all done, I thought I need a picture of this! So I took one, just before I loaded it all into the garbage can. I was able to cram it all into our garbage can, though! It was super hard! I'm not sure which is more of an accomplishment: cutting it all off, or cramming it in the can...



I realized after who knows how long that my hand was starting to hurt a little... perhaps I should have worn gloves, huh?
There are three blisters that you should be able to see (I can see them, but then again, they're on my hand!). There's two on my middle finger (one on each joint) and one on my ring finger. My pinkie hurts a little bit, too, but there's nothing to see there! (I could see a little tiny baby blister last night, but it's gone today.)


I learned two valuable lessons that I'll try to remember:
1) Gloves are a must when playing with pruning shears! (Hal was like "what do you have against gloves?!")
2) And long sleeves would probably be good, too! You should have seen my arms! Luckily it was only surface scratches and they look much better today!