It's Saturday!!

Yesterday evening Dennis and went mountain bike riding at Ritter Park with Jane and Buddy Lake and saw two of these guys! That's a barred owl if you couldn't guess! It was about 8:30 pm and getting dark and I saw this big bird swoop down from a tree. I thought it was a hawk after one of about 1000 squirrels that live there but then when it landed in the tree, it was an owl!! One girl was jogging by and said that she often sees three of them there. We saw two and thought that was really, really cool. They didn't seem to mind the four of us standing there with our mouths hanging open, staring at them like they were aliens either!

It has been a very busy week with all the "workshops" I've attended for dear old Cabell County. I feel like I am already back to work - blech. My sys op training was a real brain smoker. Heaven help me get the hang of those files, folders, settings, and steps to keep the wheels grinding on those old computers!!!! haha

Went out for my 3 mile walk this morning hoping I would beat the heat. Not so. It was already 81* at 10:30 this morning and I was sweating like a piglet!! Time to go cool down!

Where did the weekend go?

It's been awhile since I've done my blog, huh? Seems like only yesterday though! I spent Friday at the Board of Ed learning how to use the "Smart Board" in the classrooms. It's pretty amazing actually. You can show your computer screen up on a whiteboard, then write on it, slide images around with your fingers, let kids come up and work with it. Amazing how technology has advanced so quickly. I plan on doing some lessons including famous works of art and using it in my classes. We'll see how that goes! I can also put my lesson notes on a memory stick and carry it with me, plug it into the classroom computer and "viole' "!

Yesterday was way hot. Dennis and I decided to go to Beech Fork Lake and paddle yesterday evening. The water was great (we swam) but these darn horse flies were buzzing our heads continuously every time we got over to the side to park the boats! We started using my flip-flops to whack em. Blevins' 5, horseflies, 2. Score! Where do they come from?? I suggested we paddle close to these people swimming near their boat in the hopes of luring them to a "more inviting area" but they seemed to have a thing for kayaks! We've paddled that lake a zillion times in the summer but I don't remember ever having to fight off so many these little monsters! Anyway, we survived and it was fun getting in some cool water on a hot evening. Next time, bug spray........

Updates:

Jeepie - still running like a top!

Poison Ivy - finally gone!!!!! Yay!

Propane - got the credit forms filled out and mailed back in. Hopefully, we will have a nice big white tank in our yard in the next couple of weeks. Pretttty..... I think it would be fun to paint it up like a submarine!

Welcome home, Jeepie!!!!!

Finally got a call this morning that my Jeep was done and ready to come home - after paying $1486.00 big ones!! Oh well. Coulda' been worse, I guess. A new motor would have really taken some serious change.... Hopefully, this fix will last it a good long while, like 20 more years would be good. I am just sooo glad to have it back!!!

I am still hating all this rain! My goldfish are going to be swimming in the front yard before this is all done. However, one good thing, we haven't had all those dust clouds hovering out front because of the gravel road. Now there are just giant mud holes...niiiice........

Went to a workshop yesterday on the state computer program for kiddies called TechSteps. It's supposed to teach kids how to use different computer skills in grades K-8. "Dragging and Dropping for Kindergarteners" and such... like kids today don't know how to work a computer? This isn't a case of the "cart before the horse". This is more like the horse is already fifteen miles down the road and the state is sitting in the cart wondering what happened. Oh well. They mean well and I suppose there is a child out there who lives in a cave and eats raw meat who has never seen a computer in rural WV. Somewhere.....

Play outside day!!

I am hoping that everyone got a chance to do something outside today. After all that blasted rain, Dennis and I decided to go to Ritter Park with our good friend Ron Patrick and ride our mountain bikes. Just an easy ride on the bike path through all the leftover mud from the flooding yesterday! It really wasn't too bad except for the mountian bike path Dennis decided to take us on. It was a gnarly, watery ditch with lots of dead falls and rocks. Niiiiice.....and tons of poison ivy eager to get at my skin, I feel sure. At least I didn't wreck although Dennis couldn't get his shoe unclipped from his peddle and fell over. That was funny. He did it after I hit a big rock and yelled my chain came off. teehee Turns out it hadn't after all and I was able to keep going. We also took a break and rode over to Gino's and had lunch. Lovin' the Pubwich sandwich to death. I could eat one every day now. Not a low fat food, I feel sure. All that cheese and mayo and cheese...... yummmmm....did I mention it had cheese?????? hahaha There were tons of people out doing their thing at the park it was such a beautiful day! After that, I came home and mowed grass, weed eated, and trimmed the hedges. They look like big green ovals now. Cute....Dennis did the rider mower some on all the big stuff that I hate doing with the push mower. He goes really fast on that thing. Imagine that..........I think I'll go rest now.....

Yay! Jeepie will soon be home!

After two weeks of missing my Jeep, Dennis stopped by the garage that is fixing it to see what the damage was. They said the 2nd cylinder had stuck and was repaired/replaced and they should be done on Monday or Tuesday. We were just sure it would need a whole new motor but thankfully, that wasn't the case! Dodged a major bullet on that one!

Geeee, it sure would be nice if it could rain a little bit! I was out in the pouring rain at 7:30 am unclogging the drain at the top of our yard. You could have gone white water rafting down our side yard it was so bad! My fish pond was clear to the top of the rocks, which the fish thought was really cool, but it has finally drained down back to normal. I hope this doesn't mean a rainy fall and winter too. Enough with the blasted rain already!!! And the fact that today is the last of July. Oh my gosh, don't even get me started. Where did the summer goooooo?!!!!!!

I broke down and went to CVS and got some Technu and some other miracle poison ivy stuff. I think it may actually be helping. Those little poison ivy bumps remind of whack-a-mole. Just when one finally goes down, another one pops up somewhere else!! A truly evil weed.......see photo........

Ta Daaa - It's done!

I finally finished my bathroom redo and I think it turned out pretty good. I even cut the power cord on my clock radio to shorten it so it wouldn't be all bunchy on my shelf. Also, the corner things worked out really well and I was able to just measure and cut my trim. That was actually pretty easy! Yay!

Busy, busy, busy!

I guess I am one of those people that just can't relax. As soon as I finished my huge vacation scrapbook, which took days, I then began on redecorating the bathroom! I got up Sunday and just started tearing off the wallpaper! It had been on there forever and Dennis had been complaining about the border peeling up. (It was a lovely leaf pattern and well, I guess the leaves finally started falling. ;-) So, of course, the top layer of wallpaper peeled off nicely, leaving a layer firmly attached to my wall. Why is that? When you want something to stick, it comes off. When you want it to come off, it acts like it has become one with the wall. So. like my kitchen, I had to do the stinky oil base primer over it then spackle like there was no tomorrow. Sand, sand , sand 'til it looked it had snowed in my bathroom. Another layer of primer over all of that. Then finally do the painting. I worked from 7:30 am til 9:30 pm yesterday and felt like someone had beaten me with club all over. Today, I went to Lowe's for some molding for the top, mowed Mom and Dad's grass, mowed my grass, finished painting the bathroom door and tried to put some trim around the shower. Evidentally, cutting mitered corners requires super human intelligence and levels of testosterone I do not posess. I measured and figured and fought those strips of wood til I gave up in disgust. If I had had a white flag, I would have run around my house and in my front yard waving it. I gathered up my little strips of wood and tossed them in the utility room, slammed the door, and decided they wouldn't have looked all that great anyway! Tomorrow I am going to tackle the ceiling trim which should be easier thanks to those little premade square corner trim pieces. No doubt, invented by a woman who also failed mitered corner cutting 101. God bless her. I hope it all goes well.........photos will follow next time.....and yes, my poison ivy still itches......