Did the Mud Run today!

What is a mud run you ask?

Well - basically all the rednecks in the county that have the guts drive their redneckmobiles up to Abilene and drive it through a giant muddy hole as fast and as loudly as they can. I think it's all very fun - but don't really want to do it in front of people. So, this redneck waited until the competitive fun was over and then talked her mom into driving the redneckmobile to the hole and playing.... the pictures and videos show the rest.


This was actually really disappointing - I should've taken another picture because after the second run, there was a lot more mud!

And one more?

We had another really good storm today. We were unfortunately very lucky. Literally about two miles away, the winds and rain were way worse. We had some limbs down, but none that could benefit us. (Hence the "unfortunately very lucky".) I got pictures... pretty amazing - all of this damage is straight winds.. no tornado today.

We drove over this in the Xterra - cuz I'm a bad ass.

The wind pushed the top of this electrical pole off.. and then the wires caught on the stub. Cool, huh?

Roof taken straight off.

Big bad trees. Big dead trees as of today.


Several poles were taken down.




I know this picture just looks like grass to most of you. But it's actually a field of soybeans. Or Alfalfa... I can't remember which and the leaves have all been ripped off by the wind.


This one still has most of it's leaves, but if you look at it bigger you can see how the wind has pushed it all over.

Again... very cool.


In other news... I quit that one job.. and now I have a new, new one. I'm a receptionist at a car dealer. Lots and lots better. Even if I do have to wear pants.

well, I'm out of training

... and sorta working today...

Oh, and we got 3 inches of rain last night! I got a rain gauge from a friend. I love it!

As the storm blows around me...

I actually AM in a thunderstorm right now. Nothing massive but I heard it's hailing out a friend's house. I've gathered up the dog leashes and a couple bottles of water just in case. I'm sure it will just be rain, but you never know.

My brother and Tara did get engaged! I'm so excited and happy for both of them... and can't wait to see them in person to tell them. And give them both huge, teary hugs.

The campground is really struggling. We can't decide what to do or know what we can do. Last night, I had a brilliant idea. Well, brilliant for me. Start a pig farm! Start small - 2 mamas, which would likely = at least 14 babies eventually. I did a ton of internet research and picked the brains (ok, I think thats hail) of some experts and rain the numbers in a spreadsheet last night. That's right, I've got my master's, ya know. Well, I am guessing that we could make about $260 + 1/2 pig worth of pork in the 1st year. Not great numbers. The next year, if we kept 1 girl pig out of the litters, we could probably make about $1000 + 1/2 pig meat. Now we're starting to talk. 3rd year, we'd probably lose again, because now we need more space = more land, bigger fence. Anyway, basically I decided as much fun as it would be to be a pig farmer (and there is absolutely no sarcasm in that) it wouldn't save the campground (farm), so not this year.... but stay in touch.. there's no telling. I leave you with this photo:



From Gracie's point of view: Snack Time!
From Ashes point of view: Oh, shit!

SO much time has passed.

I'm sorry

When a certain amount of time has passed (or a certain number of stories to tell have accumulated) I feel overwhelmed with all I need to say and so... I say nothing.

I've closed the daycare. There were a lot of reasons, but the two biggest were collecting $$ from people who don't think they have to pay for daycare and have a partner who shows up late 3 days a week, I couldn't do it anymore. I was getting up at 5:30 everyday and for the most part dealing with fantastic kids and lousy adults. I've felt that way most of my life, but this re-affirmed it. Kids are cool, grown-ups are not.

I start a new job today at Alpine Access - - just over the computer/phone customer service, so I still get to be a hermit. Mom is back until November-ish, to run the campground, since (I guess b/c of the economy) the campground can't afford to pay me, and I can't afford to not get paid. Sucks.

Been swimming (actually just got out about an hour ago) and mowing and doing stuff.

I really am going to try to get back into the habit of blogging, even if for no other reason than I like to re-read them. I have time, it's just a matter of doing it.

Anyway... love to all, sorry for the hiatus, and in theory, we shall blog again in a few days!

What a difference a week makes

So this time last week, I still had 3 jobs and only one helper. Now I am down to 2 and 2 helpers! I feel almost like I am normal! Jenny and I run the daycare together and Mom came into town this weekend to help with the campground (mostly outside help - she wants to work on her tan tooo) until July! I have gotten more done in my personal jobs in the last 4 days than I have in the past 4 months! Thank God for April 16th!

Pig Varietals

Kyler got his pig for the 4-H show that happens in August. He has to get one more - because apparently pigs are like me...and if they don't have a peer to distract them, they may just run away. He got a York. Polands are my favorite because they have socks.

Pig Tutorship to follow.

York:

Hamp:

Poland:


Duroc:

Guinea:

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Dinner:

Dessert:

Om Na Mah Shi Va Ya.

Om Namah Shivaya.

I haven't blogged in over a month. And even then, it was one of dad's updates from Philly. So much to say.

In the past month, I have:

Worked... but not as much as I should have.

Visited Atlanta. I loved it - I got to see almost everyone, including a visit with Elton John and Billy Joel. Elton and Billy were looking and sounding great as usual. I was a little surprised when I learned that Elton had given up caffeine, but they both seemed like they were doing very well.

Read... a lot. Right now I am reading Eat, Pray, Love. We can credit that book with the title of this particular entry which is one of the author's mantras. It means "I honor the divinity that resides within me." I know it's touchy-feely and new-age-y, but I like it. And I like the idea that everything good and divine is here... I am "Cassie seeking... " but maybe I am looking in the wrong places? I am really being cheesy and too sensitive today. I should've (or should I ?) read this book immediately after my divorce. I see the things she thinks about herself and is going through and think...she is me. But she should be writing this blog. You guys were all great before, during and after the divorce and break-down... but I did feel pretty alone in my understanding that I was the cause - I failed at something. To hear (read) this amazing woman in Eat, Pray, Love blamed herself... and to see her forgive herself and really stop blaming herself (not just saying she doesn't blame herself)... well, it sounds good to me. :) I've been reading so much because as a bonus, the tax shop gave me a Kindle 2, which I've named BOB. The kindle is an amazing, amazing invention. I bought a bigger purse to carry Bob with me everywhere I go. This past weekend, I literally pulled Bob out in a bar and read. This trip to Atlanta was even more fantastic thanks to Bob. I carried him on ... and was never bored. My flight from Atlanta to Wichita was delayed... I didn't care.

Missed watching Kyler in Rodeo School. That's right - rodeo school. I was working. He rode a bull for about 7 seconds with no hands. I have a video... I have to get it on Youtube.

Gotten the daycare into full swing. We still only have 2 kids, but I had to battle the city a little. I spoke at a city council meeting... twice. We are now approved and licensed and actually - getting the 1st daycarte paychecks this weekend. They are paltry... but ... getting a paycheck feels pretty durn good.

Made an offer on a house... sort of. We called a realtor because with the stimulus package.. it seems like this is a good year to buy. But the realtor has not called us back in the past week... so annoying. We are going to get a new realtor. It's a little outside of town - but not far - like 1/2 a mile and has 3 acres. Plenty of room for horses, pigs, goats, dogs, humans, chickens...

Seen baby chickens born (or hatched as they say in the city). At least 20 chicks came all at the same time and I helped with the hatching...which mostly involved just picking up broken shells...I am very important.

Bought eyeliner. Someday I should grow up and be an adult. I think eyeliner is required in the inventory. I have used it once. Maybe next month I will be an adult.

Have not blogged. And I'm really sorry about that. I am having this internal struggle. I am busy - and I work a lot. But I find time to go out too. And that makes me feel guilty. And blogging feels like something extra. I have always been very good about completely immersing myself when I am reading. I am in the book (or Bob in this case). But most anything else I do for relaxing... I am usually in the back of my head "...Cassie... get to work..." so...if I blog and show and admit how much I've been just thinking about working, instead of actually doing it... well, I will be even harder on myself tomorrow. Which brings me to our closing mantra, also from Eat, Pray, Love: bar far niente. This isn't actually a mantra, just Italian, but it means, "the beauty of doing nothing". I need to learn to experience bar far niente. I do nothing all the time, but the whole time I'm doing it, I'm beating myself up. I need to experience the beauty of it... and deal with all the crap tomorrow. :)

Dad's last words (really just an email from Mom)

This is probably my last guest blog for awhile...at least until 1 of you travels! I just got a summary email from Mom that I think is very clever and wraps up dad's trip very nicely...

His plane left Manilla 2 minutes early at 9:58PM Manilla time. That is 6:58AM Arizona which is the same time as Colorado right now. He'll land in Los Angeles around 6:30PM tonight CA time. Which will be 7:30PM AZ time. He has a 4 hour layover in LA which will get him into AZ around 1AM tomorrow morning after a 95 minute flight. Now you know why I sound confused all the time. Allowing three hours to check in and get thru security and immigration was overkill... he said, "Been awake nearly 24 hours now. Immigration and security was super fast. Been sitting here for 2 hours. Seat will not be as nice. I will be in 16A." Not sure what it finally cost him to leave the Phillipines, but he had heard that he would have to pay 650 pesos to get thru immigration. The pix is the upper deck of the plane - I crudely marked his seat with the red arrow. Sorry to those of you who are colorblind. Just look for the squiggley funny colored line on the right hand side of the picture. Sorry to those who are directionally impaired - I just hope you are not colorblind too. If you are then maybe this will help - he's up there on that side of the plane by the window. If that doesn't help then nevermind. And that folks is the end of the presentation at this time.
Love, Caron





So jealous that he got to be on the upper deck!

Ok - this is not an update -

This should've been blogged about long ago - I think two weekends ago. I was hard, hard at work on strangers' taxes and Tommy and the boys were making me jealous. Not only was it a balmy 70 degrees outside, but they were going bullriding. I KNOW! A guy here in town raises buckin' bulls for the rodeos and Kyler is bound and determined that he is going to join the circuit (circus?) one day. So the guy who raises them invited Tommy, the boys and a bunch of other people to exercise some of the bulls after a long winter. The bull the young kids were riding is actually a pet and doesn't buck, but I'm pretty sure it made Kyler's week (he's wearing the chaps). Slayde was pretty excited about it too... I just wish I could've been there instead of just looking at the pictures. I'da been up there - you can bet on that. They say Tommy was riding... but oddly no pictures of evidence... suspicious, indeed.

Enjoy!
xBullriders extrordanaire

Daycare open for business - half run by very tired lady.

Well the daycare opened today - at 5:30! Do you know how much I wish I was kidding?? I took a sleeping pill last night around 8:30 ish so I could fall asleep and get enough sleep to get up at that time - thinking well the kid will sleep when he is dropped off. Not so much - got some sleep the kid was dropped off at 5:30 - and refused to sleep. We did watch Spongebob Squarepants and I admit I dozed, but every commercial, he would lose interest and look to me (OF all people!) for entertainment. Luckily Jenny came at 9:30 and relieved me - and I didn't have to work at taxes until 12, so I ran home and closed my eyes for a couple of hours. So I did ok - but I will sleep good tonight. Tomorrow no kids are being dropped off, I have to do taxes at 9, but I will sleep until 8:00. Soundly.

We still have some hoops to jump through for the city, including a hearing (!), but for at least the next 60 days the daycare is licensed and permitted. Right now we have 3 kids signed up - plus Jenny's baby. So things are a little slow, but we expect to things will fill up as the word spreads that we are open.

Sarah's movie -

Usually I think that being a baby again would be pretty awesome... but this would be one point when I'd want to kick someone in the nuts! And if you notice Sarah does smile for a moment and then instantly furrows her eyebrows.

Sarah's intestinal bypass surgery

Well Sarah has come out on the other side of her bypass surgery and now that she can digest, she's sure to start putting ON some weight!

#3 - the fruit bowl

YES! good for all of you Chimera is a female - she is from the Philippines. For those of you who id not know, the Philippines were run by the Spanish in the 1500s, the British for a while in the interim and the Spanish again in the 1800s. They gained independence in 1898. But most of the surnames and a lot of the first names are of Spanish origin.

Eating: Mostly, I have been eating a lot of fruit. I find Mango to be delicious - even had mango juice and mango fruit as part of one meal - YUMMY!

One day, I ate Eggs Florentine, the next Eggs Benedict - I prefer florentine :-)

I ate a breakfast roll that had some sort of fruit in the middle - it was gross! Now I have to watch out for it :-)

Security here is amazing - every building has an armed guard. The Mall entrance has armed guards, metal detectors and metal detecting wands. Some entrances even have male/female entrances separated. Every street corner has police. There are at least 10 armed guards around the hotel and at least 3 dogs around the entrance as well. If you bring a bag in, there is a guard at the door with a stick to poke around in your bag (including purses).

The people are all very cheerful and nice. But, I think they only know how to say Good Morning, Good Day, Good afternoon. And "table for one?". Everyone in the hotel smiles and greets you as you exit the building and as you enter the building. There is always someone at the elevators to hold the door and even sometimes push the floor button for you.

McDonalds for lunch today - Big Mac and Fries are the same her as in the US.

Everyday, I get fresh fruit. There have been bananas, oranges, and apples.

Guest blog #2

My second day in the Philippines:

So, I slept during the US night - I went to bed at about 3:30 in the afternoon and set a wakeup for 9:00 PM and again at 9:30 just in case. As part of setting a wake up call, they also block incoming calls - so - if anyone over there is thinking of
calling me in the middle of the night - think again!

Even though I was ready by 10, I gave my co-worker til 10:20 to contact me. After not having heard from him, I called him and he said he would be downstairs in 20 minutes. At 11:00, we finally met and caught a taxi.

From the pictures, you can see the office is only about 6 blocks away - but, it is not completely safe to be walking the streets at night - even with someone else - so, the taxi ride with tip is 100 pesos - wow again big spenders - but then again sure would be nice to work in a safe location and save the 5.00 a
day...




so work was interesting - I met my team for the first time after having worked with them for 6 months. The team is fun. I will do a name today and the quiz will be to
decide Sex and Nationality:

Chimera Eriqbuagas

They all had pitched in and provide a basket of gifts:

A walking stick
(cane to us simpler people)
A bag of adult diapers
several packages of health aids for the aged - I left them in the office today for fun - but will bring it to the Hotel Monday for pictures

All knew of Sarah
and her plight and were anxious to hear of the progress of my
granddaughter. I showed them the pictures in my wallet which include me
and Caron young and old - they called Caron an "iron head" or "Helmet
head". This concerned me at first - but then they explained it is a slang
term they use when a beautiful woman "hooks up" with a plain guy. So, I am
not a bit offended - it says what I have always believed :-)

The pictures - more will follow (no bathroom picture and No Bidet for Tara!) - there is no bidet.

I show the room entrance (wet bar to the side). the king sized bed on the rounded
wall.







There are only a few out the window pictures. The traffic will make everyone believe it is quiet here - but remember, Makati is a tourist place and this is Saturday - so traffic was very light!






















Anyway - that is all for today - this old man is tired and must get some sleep now. I will do more waling around tomorrow. I have new battery in the camera - so,
definitely more pictures to follow - maybe some night pictures of some of the
buildings too...

Love
Dad

Guest blog !

Hi All - Dad is safely in the Philipines and here is a delightful message from him! All I know is that this is great to read and didn't give me any nightmares. From now on - Dad will travel for me and just tell me how he slept and what he ate:

Landed safe and sound at around 6am Friday Philippines time. After getting
thru immigration/customs/baggage he heard some saying "are you Sir Lewis?"
My ride to the hotel. The car was stopped on the way for security
inspection - dog to sniff luggage too. The driver had 5 kids - oldest is 17.
I told him "I had four and the youngest was 21" -- he laughed and said I did
not look old enough. He looked at me at least twice tomake sure I wasn't
joking. I guess I don't look so old when I wear a ball cap :-)

The pix is the seating chart of the plane. He was in Seat 4A - which
completely lays flat into a bed. Personal TV and noise-cancelling earphones.
In-flight movie "Eagle Eye". He willingly ate Phil cuisine and survived
(they offered western cuisine but he felt adventurous.) You too can have all
that luxury for only $3500 USD rt. "...took off my shoes, pulled the blanket
up, loosened the seatbelt and slept on one side or the other..."


(He had a double decker plane!!)




The hotel (www.Shangri-la.com) Makati is luxurious. He is on the 16th floor
in a nice room (Bed, Couch, Desk, Flat Screen TV, 2 showers - standard
toilet. 4 bathrobes - 2 heavy-weight and 2 light-weight). room is cold -
what is the celcius conversion? Humidity is very high. Raining.
He tipped the Bellman 100 pesos. Hey Hey Big Spender (ok so it was only
about $2.50 us)
He goes to work tonight about 10pm his time and gets off work about 9am. He
is charging the camera to take some pictures out his window to send.

Food Digested so far on this adventure:
Snack in Business Class lounge at LA Airport: smoked salmon sandwich
Dinner in-flight: some sort of beef tips on green beans
Snack in-flight: some sort of rice porridge with chicken in it
Breakfast in-flight: cheese and tomato omelet

All of the above are things he would never eat in normal life. But since he
is doing this trip for all of us - he has to try new things!

spring fever!

It's 70 degrees here and I got the day off work - woohooo!!! I have to work from 7-9, but by then the sun will be down, and it will be cold again!

Daddy does Philly.

The Phillipines that is - dad is heading out today for the Islands for 16 glorious days... Hopefully we can get some good stories when he gets back.

Sarah is back in the ol' hospital. She's got a twist or a crimp in her intestines and her surgery to fix the situation is supposed to be this week. So hopefully the poor kid can eat. Oh, and while they are in there they are going to take out her appendix. One less thing she has to worry about exploding!

I'm back !

And so is my computer - thank goodness threats of class actions suits can still spur corporate America occasionally!

Sooo... Obama is our President, officially! YAY! We can drop that wordy 'President-elect' and get back to the watching and waiting. What I love (love, love! I'm in a good mood to have my computer back!) is that we (being Rachel Maddow) are still critical of him. Truthfully, I think I will usually stand behind him - but I have seen a little bit of politi-crap ... it's interesting ... i like that we can be critical and still like him. For the past 8 years, i have to admit that I was critical AND didn't like the president. I dunno... i think just having my computer back has made me extremely optimistic. Ah, materialisticness.

Anyway - news around here - mostly I've been working. At taxes... last week was insane...they say the peak should be over by mid-February... so I'm kinda just in survival mode. Eat, sleep, taxes, eat, sleep, campground work, taxes, eat... well, you get the basic outline. In between, my friend Jenny and I have gotten the Daycare ball rolling....we've signed up a total of 4 kids right now - I'm going to take the early morning shift until I have to go work taxes. Then hopefully when that office slows down I will be taking more hours - then when tax season is over, I will be doing the daycare and the campground at the same time - and we will have 12 kids total (in theory).....I am crazy.

Love to your corner!

Computer going to get fixed!

I may not be blogging for awhile - like that's any different, huh? but i have to ship my laptop off to HP to get fixed!! So ... see ya when I see ya!

And you were there, and you were there, and you too!

So it's been sooo long since I was in Korea. But last night I dreamt I had to go either to Korea or India - I chose India because they spoke English there (at least they do in the movies)... and for some reason my brother was there. I had a job - but it wasn't teaching English. I ran into my brother and all of his friends at a restaurant and I was panicked because I had Beppo - what if my roommates were allergic. Mike helped me find my apartment, but then I couldn't find him anywhere. I woke up completely panic-stricken. I may never travel again.

Jeez...

This past week has just flown by... updates:

Moving: Tommy, the boys and I moved to the other house on the campground this weekend. It's about the same size, maybe a little smaller, but with a better layout and without all the campground stuff taking up two rooms (by campground stuff, I mean 1 computer and alllll my craft Sh-tuff) it feels like we are more spread out... not living right on top of one another. I think that I get very selfish about my space when I am living with someone, even my sisters. I'm hoping that this makes life a little less tense for everyone. It's not fair expecting a 10 and 12 year old to be quiet and leave me alone. :) I remember feeling very entitled to go into their (my sisters', not the boys') rooms and get whatever I wanted (usually fingernail polish believe it or not) but do not want people touching my stuff!!! :)





<---BRAT!




Work at the Campground: really the same - pretty durn slow - the only difference is now that I am moved (one house north of the campground) I have to 'go' to work. That's ok - because it gives me some separation between home/work. Ya see - it's nice to work from home.. as long as once you are home - work ends. During the winter, this isn't as big a deal, but in the summer time - even if the office is closed, people will come just to say hi or to ask about something going on in town and as much as I hate to sound negative, when the office has been open from 10-7 at 7:01 PM I am usually running out the door because I don't want to be bugged. The last 2 summers I would walk all over town (mainly because I didn't have any friends) starting at 7:01 to just be away from the campground. I'm hoping to avoid that desperate feeling. Plus - living with Tommy and the boys - this will give them some room to be without bugging me at work. The final benefit is the daycare... which brings me to the next update.

Daycare Center: My friend Jenny and I have been working towards opening a daycare and it looks like within the next couple of weeks we will be there! I'm pretty excited about this. We will be using the now empty (and soon to be clean) living areas of the campground house/office building. The benefit of this is that when I am at the campground, I am also at the daycare. I can be doing both at once with out having to shirk too many responsibilities. I certainly won't be able to mow and stuff during the day, but that to me is ok - I will happily mow on the weekends and evenings. Things are falling into place - we have to have a parent meeting (reminds me: call the paper and place and ad) and have an orientation training given by the state, but then we are on like Donkey Kong. Obviously, I will be working at it only when I'm not at the tax joint. Which brings us...

Working at the Tax Joint: (You may have noticed I am vague about the place and I won't be naming names - mostly this has to do with the fact that I may say some un-nice things - and I don't want the folks there googling me and finding this blog. Do I have an ego? Yes.) Mostly good stuff- right now pretty boring - haven't actually done any tax returns - although people are starting to get their W-2s, so be watching your mail. I have watched a couple and have placed a ton of sticky labels on paperwork. Berry Berry Boring. I'm anxious to do my first client interview and tax return because I learn best by doing - and all the examples they gave us in tax class were 'best case scenarios'... and if you are like me and learn by doing you understand that watching is boring and doesn't sink it in.

Anyway - this past week, I've been really busy. I'm hoping to do updates more often - sorry so quiet from this end!

I work, and I work...

and I go back tomorrow. I started my taxes job this week - and I am tired. It's hard waking up at a specific (and far earlier) time than you are used to! For the past two days, we've mostly just been getting the company line (I've forgotten how annoying it is to hear about how someone at corporate thinks you're important. I think I'm going to print up a new T-shirt in the style of "someone who loves me went to Cleveland and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"; mine will say "Someone is Corporate thinks I'm important and all I got was this lousy job".) No really, the job is not bad... at least so far, come April 14th, I might think differently. Tomorrow, we are done with training and the real stress happens. I do feel stretched a little thin though- the campground doesn't require much attention, but does need a little, working a 'real' job and we are trying to clean the clubhouse and get moved into it. Then we are going to open a daycare in the campground office. In a month, I should be doing taxes, daycare AND running the campground. If you think I don't blog much now....