Pre-Birthday Surprise

So, I'm kinda seeing this guy, Josh.
Josh really went out of his way to make my birthday this year special. He had been going on for three weeks about how I was supposed to come to his house after I got off work on the 6th. When I showed up, he had cooked me dinner. How nice.
The real surprise was when he pulled three pounds of king crab out of the freezer--overnighted from Anchorage. I just about bawled! When I had calmed down enought to be coherent, he asked what I had thought my surprise was. Earlier in the week I had written down my guess on a pice of paper--Alaskan Amber. He said, "Oh, like this?" and pulled one out of the fridge! I was absolutely astounded. It was a terrific surprise. We both ate king crab until we were sick, bringing back very fond memories of Alaska, and commercial fishing.
I am so thankful that, even though I won't be able to make it to Juneau for a few more months, I had some of Alaska brought to me. What a wonderful birthday surprise!!!

Tractor Supply Co.

The job that I mentioned landing in my last blog is at Tractor Supply Company (TSC). That is the actual name of the store, it isn't a co-op, which is a little confusing if you haven't ever seen a TSC. Our official uniform is a red vest over a t-shirt, jeans, and usually some kind of boot.
The boot phenomenon is a really good excuse to wear my cowboy boots, which didn't get much action in Juneau. I wore them tonight, actually and my feet feel great. It is kind of funny what shoes I prefer. My Merrels are more suited to a day walking around a city or every day ware; my Keens rate about as well as the Merrels, but have hiking insoles in them, so they aren't really the best choice either. (You all know my fascination with shoes, so you will just have to forgive the pair by pair comparison of my closet.) The beautiful sneaks that have never been worn outside of Pavitt's would be destroyed by the dust. All my other shoes are just not suitable (either XtraTuffs or high heels.) This all to say that my men's Justin cowboy work boots with the techno crepe, slip resistant sole are the best for working at a semi-cowboy store. How fitting.
If you have never visited a TSC, I highly recommend it. They carry around 40,000 items. Things range from dog treats/food/toys, to air compressors, hardware, paint, house decor, clothing, footwear, bird seed, fencing, llama food, chicken wire, plumbing, heating, truck, trailer, welding, power tools, electric and gas engines, equine, junk food, stuffed animals/toys, and last but not least tractor stuff. It is a pretty darn fun place to work. I get to say things on the intercom like "Load-out on the side lot for two bundles of T-posts, a red six food tube gate, and a pallet of rolled oats." (repeat) It makes me sound very official, except for tonight. Have you ever tried to say "Whole Oat Horse Feed" three times fast, over the intercom? It came out some thing like Whorl-ort-ors-eed. Nice.
For my second most embarrassing moment of the day.... This may only happen Down South, but sometimes people answer their phones, "Mule Barn, this is Jack." (You know, like a play-off of jack ass.) Anyhow, I thought my assistant manager was calling my check stand from her office because I caught the phone ringing just as I came in from an errand outside. Since she has a pretty good sense of humor, I cleverly answered, "Mule Barn, this is Jack." The customer on the other end of the line didn't even miss a beat. He asked what time we were open to and told me me thanks without even snickering--completely proving that I was, in fact, a jack ass.

PS It snowed here yesterday. Little fine ice pellets. It took hours for the ground to cool down enough for a fine dusting of the stuff to stick around until about 10 this morning. Next time it happens I'll take pictures. Until then, all you people in Alaska just envision what it would look like if you sprinkled a bag of flour in your front yard, and enjoy shoveling the real stuff. :)

Memphis Zoo

If you notice, the tag line for this blog is something like "... a sporadic account..." This is the part where I apologize for being so Sporadic! Since I last wrote, I have landed in the ER twice, and been to the doctor's more than I feel is completely necessary. Things are fine now, thankfully. My first ER trip was because I had a severe kidney infection, then I had an ovarian cyst burst, and now the infection is gone, but my Dr. thinks that I have a kidney stone. Bummer. But, like I said above, things are fine. Feeling 110% better, and BONUS, I landed a job yesterday.
Although I was just finishing my medication this past weekend, I did manage to go to Memphis with some close friends. The evening of the 15th, I beat Beale street on a mission to find Alaskan Amber. There was none to be found, but the music was great. The next day we ate breakfast at IHOP (which doesn't hold a candle to the SE AK Waffle Company) and cruised around the Zoo for hours. The zoo was fantastic! There were quite a few animals that I had never see in person. As you all know, animals make me super happy, so it was a wonderful day.

This is a picture of Willow and I in a bubble that put us at eye level with prarie dogs.

Fall Leaves

The leaves are falling by the bushel here. Today, after my arduous job search, Grandpa and I racked leaves. The rustle-y sound brought back so many memories of jumping into piles when I was little. If we would have had more day light I would have jumped around in the piles for a long time--I haven't grown up at all.

Today's good news is that I completed ALL the paperwork for college. In a week or so, I should get a letter detailing my financial aid package, and then all the worrying will be over.

The annual Bean Fest was held this weekend in Mtn. View, AR. It is quite the event. There are craft stalls that sell everything from pinto bean jewlry, to beautiful pottery and artwork. I don't know how many hundreds of pounds of beans are cooked each year, but the court square is packed with gassy people. There is folk music everywhere you turn, and of course, the notorious outhouse races. Yes, people construct outhouses on wheels and race them down the street. The prestigeous driver gets to sit on the royal throne and steer while two people push the contraption from behind. If you are really curious, there are probably pictures somewhere on the internet of this phenomenon.

Anyhow, I will keep you all posted on the job search. God bless.

Chick-Chick

Ahhhh... The wonderful fall days are finally here. For the last few days I have actually been wearing jeans! The crisp air and the beautiful leaves make me feel like I have a new lease on life. The last few days remind me of why people live in this part of the country.


Yesterday morning, while Grandpa and I were packing up deer roast, I found a beetle in the house. Ofcouse I immediatly had to identify the bug. It turns out that it was a weevil--the lesser of the two. Anyhow, when Jerry went to throw the bug outside he yelled that the cat had a chipmunk cornered. The little guy had gotten himself traped behind a ladder while he was trying to escape. After we threw the cat in the house I caught the chipmunk and promptly decided to rehabilitate him.






I found a cardboard box and filled it with the fallen leaves. Then I nestled Chick-Chick (yes, I had named him by this point) in a clean t-shirt and put him in the box outside. I had hoped that he would rest and then jump out of the box and run home. In the mean time I started painting my finger nails--which I subsequently ruined with chipmunk hair. How many people can say that? After about an hour he hadn't moved, so I decided to take a more active approach. The rest of the day I carried him around and petted him, talked to him, and made sure that he was warm and resting. It was a fantastic way to spend the day.


Later in the afternoon Chick-Chick was perking up a little bit, so I used the straw from a juice box to give him a few drops of water. He seemed to be quite happy with this and began to clean himself up. About that time my mom called on the cell phone and scared us both to death. Chick-Chick looked up at me and made a flying leap onto my shoulder. Then he proceded to run all the way down me to my toes where he paused for a split second before jumping onto the quilt on my bed. I grabbed his t-shirt and quickly bundled him up. As I headed to the door I asked Granny to take a few pictures before I let him go. The t-shirt kept him still until I made it outside, then he repeated his earlier performance of jumping onto my shoulder and using me as a jungle gym. The following pictures are action shots.

The day ended really well, because about five minutes after we released Chick-Chick we saw him scampering across the back yard toward his home. Hopefully the little guy learned his lesson and won't be frequenting the grage any more. If I ever catch him again, I'll keep him.

Wedding

Hello All!

It has been weeks since I wrote last! Jeez, and how busy those weeks have been. Mom and I spent days and days setting up for Beth's wedding. Beth helped a lot, too, but she was quite sick almost the whole week before the wedding. We kept teasing her that she would have to stick tissue in Keith's tux pocket. As it ends up, she just held some with her bouquet, and that worked well until I dropped it. Oh well, I don't think anyone noticed.

The Break Down:

Monday--Completely cleaned, moped, and waxed a gym floor. We also got some of the gym lights changed, set up all the tables, and the chairs.

Tuesday--Mom, Beth, and I spent the whole day in hair salons doing the practice run for wedding hair. Beth was really sick and I even felt icky, so we didn't make it to the church that day.

Wednesday--finished setting up the screens, wiped down all the chairs, put out the table toppers and caught rogue crickets that had invaded the gym-come-dining hall.

Thursday--Spent the morning in Batesville searching for paper doilies and more table clothes. Got to the church around 11am and cleaned, set up the sanctuary, and put the finishing touches on the gym.

Friday--Rehearsal hell. (It was only hell for me, I think. Everyone else seemed to be okay with it.)

Saturday--Hair, three hours of pictures, Wedding, more pictures, and relaxation!!!

Beth was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen. I am totally prejudice but she is one of the most beautiful women in the world. The wedding in its entirety was fabulous. There weren't as many people there as I expected, but that may be due to the fact that Beth actually had the audacity to send out invitations instead of listening it in the paper as "All friends and family welcome."

Mom did a smashing job of decorating everything, coordinating, arranging fresh flowers, making all the trimmings, and still smiling. She is amazing. I never realized the fresh flowers weighed such a ton! The bouquet that mom made for Beth weighed 10 lbs. it was crazy. When Beth handed me the monstrosity so that she could hold Keiths' hands I about dropped it! My arm got the shakes, but I pulled through--and that has nothing to do with the fact that I haven't been to the gym in months.

The cutest part of the wedding was the little flower wraith that didn't want to go down the aisle. The flower girl's mother was one of the photographers, so she eventually coaxed the girl to the front of the church. Once she got to the alter she backed up into my skirts and stayed there. The only other thing worth mentioning is when one of the bride's maid's passed out cold. She fell past me on the way down, and I thought "Why is Rachel leaning on my shoulder?" Then she kept going and hit the floor face first--just as stiff as a board. This is embarrassing to admit, but I stopped myself from chunking the bridal bouquet along with mine (had both at this point) to help her. That is awful of me, and the only excuse I have is that I didn't want to crush the 10lbs of flowers. Fortunately, since none of the bridal party freaked out, my aunts were able to step up and take Rachel to a seat. When she came around, she had no idea what happened. People are still speculating as to why she passed out, but I'm pretty sure she just cut off the blood supply by locking her knees. Ooops!

The reception was very nice. I shucked my dress about an hour too soon and had to put it back on for more pictures after the reception. Beth tossed one of the bride's maid's bouquet, but I was no where near the event, so I can't identify the catcher. My only form of protest at the wedding was to wear my red Merrel sneakers in some of the photos and to be barefoot in others. All in all, things went very, very nicely.

PS--Those are some of my wonderful cousins.

Fab Four

HELLO friends!!!  It seems like life has gotten pretty busy lately.  Over the past week I have spent a few days in Springfield MO, and am now watching four kids.  Springfield was a great get away for my sister, Beth, and I.  We shopped so so so much!  It was probably the best quality time we have spent together since I was 9.  I didn't take any pictures, but we visited the Bass Pro Shop and it was amazing!  While we were at Bass Pro we got to see tanks of rainbow trout and lots of different kinds of turtles.  The trout were really funny, they seemed to know when some one was standing near by and would leap out of the water and splash  you.  

As for the four kids, they are little ones that I have been watching for nine years!  The two littlest ones weren't born yet when I met the family.  On Thursday evening we had two soccer practices, a band practice, dinner, and a football game.  The youngest went home with a friend before the football game and burnt his finger on a hot glue gun!  The blister is HUGE.  We went to see a doctor that their dad has a practice with and he prescribed some ointment that has the side effect of turning skin blue.  They are all hoping that the finger turns blue so they can show it off.  

Tonight we are going to eat Mexican before we go to the home coming game.  I went to the pep rally so I could video tape the dance team, which the oldest is on.   The cheerleaders are still doing the same dances and cheers that they were five years ago--it was nostalgic.  All the little ones are excited about the game tonight.  The senior high football team literally hasn't won a game since my class graduated, so we will see what happens tonight.  It would be a good time for them to redeem themselves.  

This is probably the last I'll be able to write until after the wedding.  Please pray that everything goes well.  

Chicken Coop

Well, as much as I enjoyed writing about heterotrophic bacteria, I have decided not to pursue that research. After seriously thinking about the project for several days, I decided that I don't want to tie myself to AR for half the upcoming summer--even if it would look wonderful on my resume, etc.
Over the past few days I have been in Mountain View spending time with my sister and my dad. On Thursday I helped Beth set her new home in order. Much easier said than done. There are lots of "Before" and "After" photos, but there were still piles of things on the floor that needed to be washed and put away.

The weekend was spent with my dad and his wife, Jenny. We didn't do anything too exciting on Friday, but Saturday we went to the shooting range. It turns out that I'm a pretty decent shot with a 9mm. I also got to shoot a large rifle that left nice purple bruises on my shoulder. Hopefully I'm never called upon to serve in the military, because I was an awful shot with the rifle.

Most importantly, Grandpa and I are refurbishing an old horse stall that was used as a chicken coop. We are going to have to completely wire the outside of the "coop" so that critters can't eat my chickens. It will be quite the conglomeration of old stall, chicken wire, and plywood when we are finished. I've been researching chickens, and I think that we are going to get Rhode Island Reds. RIR are good brown egg layers and are also said to have great personalities. Just how great of a personality can a chicken have, anyway?

Heterotrophic Bacteria

Today was my first brush with the academic community. I was sitting in a former professor's office by 8:45am. Dr. Thomas e-mailed me late yesterday evening to ask if I would like to do research with him again. We have allready worked together on two projects,both concerning bacteria. Yum.

Dr. Thomas in Blowing Cave

Yesterday my sister's wedding was the only bothersome event in my life, now I have a grant proposal to write and what seems like yards of paperwork to do. I'm supposed to convince an orginization called SURF that they should pay me a couple thousand to study "Heterotrophic bacteria as a function of the depth at which it resides in a cave," specifically Blowing Cave, under Cushman AR. The problem lies in the fact that I couldn't--at first--recal what the heck heterotrophic meant! Besides worrying about hair appointments, I now need to relearn freshman biology.

So, you can all guess what I will be doing today, right? I'll be hammering roofing to a friend's house, and helping paint the inside. Hopfully my next entry will have a few pictures of Mary's wintertight house and the beautiful view from the bluff in her back yard. I can worry about heterotophs tomorrow.

Apple Dumplings

One of the best things about being Down South!

Back Log--Crooked Creek

On Friday, September 26th, I headed into the wilds of the Ozarks. A few of my friends from college heard that I was back in town, and invited me to go camping. Because they are still in college, we didn't get to start our adventure until after 8pm that evening. It was well past midnight when we made it to the campground.

Setting up tents by a river in the pitch black is a little exciting. I kept wondering when one of us was going to step over a bank on accident. Other than that, I really wasn't worried about what may be out there in the dark. Living in Alaska legitimized my fear of a bear eating me, so compared to that, the Arkansas darkness seems really tame. I did have a dream that some animal brushed up against my tent during the night, but (even in the dream) it was probably only a raccoon.

The next morning we all got up and fished in the creek. Everyone caught at least one fish, and several people caught four or more. The little small mouth bass that I caught was "cute." We would have had a difficult time making a meal out of those guys. The water was great, so I took a dip when everyone was done fishing. It didn't take very long for my clothes to dry out with the sunshine and heat.

After camping we stoped at an A&W to get one of the guys a famous A&W root beer float. The A&W was attached to a Long John Silver's and there were little bottles of malt vinegar on the table. Several people asked what the vinegar was for, and I happily told them it was to put on beer batter halibut. They kind-of wrinkled their noses at me.

We spent the rest of the weekend at a friend's house playing football and soccer in the front yard. Sunday morning I woke up to see the sun rising and burning off the mist from the river that was covering the hay fields and apple trees. It was such a different site than I had become accustomed to. This is the picture that is attached.

It was quite a lovely weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to doing more camping and fishing before it gets cold.

Yall C'mon Back Now

As you all know, I recently moved from Juneau, AK, to Batesville, AR. Leaving Alaska was one of the hardest things I've ever done, and I'm still not sure the move "stuck." Having said that, I am truly enjoying the company of my family and friends here in the Lower 48. Since the blogs of my friends in Juneau are SO appreciated by me, I thought I might give them a venue to keep up with my goings on.
It is amazing what can happen in two short weeks. I arrived back in AR. on Sept. 17th. My sister and mom picked me up from the airport in Little Rock, which was a total surprise. They weren't supposed to know that I was arriving in town a month before my sister's wedding. We weren't even out of the airport parking lot before I had been offered fried chicken and a whoopee pie. Yes, "Whoopee Pie." I laughed so hard that it hurt. Apparently, a whoopee pie is some sugar filling smooshed between two chocolate cookies. My little sister had made a whole batch that she said "went like hotcakes at church." It is going to take a while for my system to adjust to all the grease, and I'm pretty sure that I don't want to adjust. There is enough fried food consumed in Arkansas to satisfy the suggested daily value of fat for the whole United States. No kidding.
Back to the wedding; my little sis is getting married on October 18th. I've swooped in like Batman to help solve all the impending planning disasters. So far, I have gritted my teeth through the wedding shower, picked up the bride's maids' dresses, and volunteered to help Sis arrange her new home. Keep in mind that even though I am totally complaining, I did have to make a four and a half hour drive to get those dresses. Really though, it is neat to see her so excited about something. Since Beth's wedding is going to be my main preoccupation for the next few weeks, those will probably be the pictures that you get to see. Lucky you. :)