Christy's Ramblings

New Blog Location - Update Your Links!

2008-11-19T19:08:00.004-05:00

After pondering for several months on what to do with my personal site, I finally decided to combine my site and blog into one place/domain. The best way I found to do this was to set up a Wordpress blog/site (sorry Blogger!) and keep everything in one place over there. I will be adding more to the site, but for now I have everything that I have currently moved over. So this will be the last post I make to my Blogger account.

Anyone that has me in their Blogroll or link lists, please update your links to point to my new forever home at http://christy.mesker.us. I'll see you on the other side!

Feed the Pups!

2008-11-07T12:23:00.007-05:00

I came across this cool site on someone's blog the other day and thought it was a really cool way to help feed needy dogs and cats. You simple go to the site, play the trivia question of the day and whether you get the answer right or wrong your participation helps to send kibble to shelter dogs and cats.

Click on the banners below and play along! It's fun and a good cause! You can even add a link banner from your own site or blog. :)

Feed the pups:

Feed the cats:

Prowling Vampires

2008-10-31T22:34:00.005-04:00

'Tis All Hallows' Eve...do you know where your children are?

Portia was an awesome vampire this year!
(and my new studio lights rock!)

It's a Dog's Life...

2008-10-28T19:03:00.006-04:00

On the days that I trudge down to the basement to walk a mile and a half to nowhere Blue likes to join me. And I don't mean he likes to join me in the workout...as I puff along, sweating, cramping, waiting for the commercials to go away so I can watch something half-way interesting...this is what he does:

Oh the life of a spoiled dog...

Meet Poe

2008-10-25T16:19:00.005-04:00

This is Poe. He sits beside me on my desk and keeps me company on the evenings and weekends while I work. He's my left-hand man, my stress relief, and sometimes my distraction. He's much happier now that he's out of his 1 cup of water from the pet store and into a gallon and a half bowl. He's a handsome fella.

Horse Play

2008-10-19T22:08:00.004-04:00

Taken at the Haupt Farm today during Jason's company's annual Halloween bash. Gotta love velvety smooth horse snoots!

B.Dog Development Launches New Site Design

2008-10-18T16:58:00.004-04:00

I was finally able to complete and launch the new and improved B.Dog Development site for my web design/development company (aka job #2). The original site was one that was sort of thrown together quickly and sort of swept under the rug and ignored. Like the old saying goes..."the shoemaker's kids go without shoes".

Check it out, tell all your friends... ;)
http://www.bdogdev.com

Shot Me an 8-Point Buck!

2008-10-05T10:06:00.008-04:00

Shot with my Nikon, that is. ;) You all know I could never kill an animal! This guy was a beauty. We were hanging with some friends and he walked through with four of his lady friends. He was kind enough to stop and pose for a few minutes before resuming his evening stroll.

(Please ignore the graininess of this photo - it was getting dark and this was the best I could do!)

Birthday Camping Recap

2008-09-29T09:22:00.010-04:00

This is Dog Woods on a camping weekend with great friends and perfect weather!

Even though we pulled up to four trees across the driveway and many more down around the campsite due to the windstorm Ike brought in, we had a blast - and needless to say, plenty of firewood. The electric company had already been out to fix the downed lines. Jason and Eric were on tree removal duty while Teena and I unpacked the vehicles and started piling up brush and twigs that were all scattered around the campsite. Paul joined us on Saturday afternoon and stayed until we packed up to leave on Sunday.

We had fires going all day all weekend, played cornhole until it got too dark to see the blue bags winging at us from out of nowhere, and when it got too dark for anything else we had some drinks and chatted around the campfire.

We ate good all weekend and had Jason's birthday dinner on Saturday beginning with fillet mignon and sauteed squash on the grill and ending with an apple cobbler that Paul cooked up in his Dutch oven. We have got to get us one of those!

The dogs did great. We had our three and Logan, a four month old chihuahua. At night we put glow necklaces on them, each with their own color, so we could always see where they were. Worked like a charm!

We're already planning our next weekend out since there won't be too many more this year before it gets to cold. We have some other friends that are hoping to join us on some of those weekends as well. More good times!

Go here for all photos.

Birthday Boy

Blue is at home in Dog Woods

Me and my camping hat

Eric & Teena playing cornhole

Paul Twittering

Little Logan in his camping sweater

Teena manning the fire

Birthday Camping

2008-09-25T14:20:00.012-04:00

This Sunday, September 28th, is Jason's 34th birthday. To celebrate we are heading out to Dog Woods with a few friends to go camping for the weekend. (If anyone reading this wants to join us give us a call and we'll get you directions!) We've got some people tent camping and others coming for the day on Saturday. We'll have cornhole, good food, a campfire and perfect camping weather...check this out:

Can't beat that with a stick! I'll be taking the camera and capturing glimpses of the festivities to post when we return. Happy early birthday to Jason - I hope it's a good one!

I <3 Hummingbirds

2008-09-21T13:45:00.003-04:00

Today I was finally able to capture hummingbird photos without them being on the feeder - something I've been trying to accomplish for quite some time. When Ike came through Kentucky last weekend our screen got torn off the side of the deck where the feeder usually hangs. Without the screen there the hummingbirds kept getting caught inside the porch. For fear of them not finding their way out, being hit by a ceiling fan or eaten by a dog we decided it would be best to move the feeder to the evergreen tree in the backyard until we get the screen fixed. Had I known that was all it would take I'd have tried this a year ago! Now when the hummingbirds decide to take a rest from eating or want to check things out before they approach the feeder they perch in the branches of the evergreen - perfect photo op!

(Click for a larger view)

Ike Came to Kentucky

2008-09-15T08:51:00.007-04:00

Ike decided to make a pit stop in Kentucky yesterday to cause some mischief. The day started out pretty windy in general. Jason and I left around noon to go grab some lunch and go grocery shopping. By the time we were headed home around 1:30 the winds had picked up drastically. By 2:00 tree branches were snapping, power was flickering and debris was flying everywhere in 75mph winds. We lost an entire side of screen on the porch, a dead tree fell on the fence - luckily it was a small one so no damage, and our turbine on the roof was knocked askew. We fared much better than our neighbors who lost shingles and window/roof trim and larger trees.

The weirdness of it all was other than the crazy wind it was a beautiful day. Sunny with a few clouds, warm but not too humid. Some of the neighborhood kids were standing on skateboards and using an empty pizza box as a wind sail to whip them down the street. Pretty ingenious!

So today 70% of the Louisville area is without power. We're one of the lucky ones that still have power and internet off and on, though our cell phone service is not working unless we drive to the beginning of our street - we don't have a land line. The last time this happened they took our power grid down during the process of fixing the others and we ended up without power for 3 days. Hopefully that doesn't happen again. Due to the extent of outages I'm also off of work today. They fired up the data center on the generator, but kept the main building down and most employees home. So a nice, unexpected day off.

I haven't been out with the camera, but lots of photos can be found through our local newspaper.

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-03T16:22:00.003-04:00

Oh how nice to have a four day weekend the week after being on vacation! And it's a good thing too, because that one week of being back to work was brutal! Friday after work I came home and got some side work done and attempted to clean up the house, which was still a disaster area from the painting of the bathroom, hallway and foyer (which looks so much better now). Then Saturday we got up and headed to Indy for our annual Labor Day weekend visit with Jami and Larry. We got there and grilled out some yummy burgers and dogs. Later that day we headed to downtown Indianapolis for the Sky Concert and Ribfest that was going on. We took Jason's F350, which is perfect for tailgating. After walking around for a couple of hours we headed back to the truck to play poker and have a few drinks. At 9:30 a spectacular firework show was a perfect end to the festivities. Pictures can be found here. Once back to the house we watched Superbad...a highly recommended movie for anyone that likes raunchy comedy. It was just as funny the second time as it was the first time, if not more.

Sunday we headed home and pretty much lounged around the rest of the evening, too lazy to do much of anything. Monday morning we got up fairly early and packed up the truck with stuff to take to the campsite. We finally were able to get the camper out to Dog Woods and get it mostly set up! It's going to be so nice! The last four times we've tried to go something has come up, but this weekend we're finally going to make it! Friday night we're helping a friend move and Saturday morning/afternoon we have my work employee appreciation deal at the fairgrounds. But right after that we're heading to Dog Woods for the rest of the weekend...with all three dogs in tow (which should be interesting). We still have a lot of work to do to get the clearing cleaned up. There are some random trees growing where they shouldn't be and lots of wood to cut up for firewood. The camper still has to be leveled and the bathroom area platform still needs to be built. We're also replacing weather stripping around all the windows and the inside could use some organizing. Hopefully we'll get some relaxing in at some point.

Thanks goodness for a two and a half day work week! More photos to come after this weekend.

Oh yeah, this is why you don't speed during holiday weekends - this was 9 of 15 vehicles we passed that were pulled over during our trip to Indy.

Camping Trip Delayed

2008-08-22T11:22:00.003-04:00

Well we were supposed to be headed to Indiana about now with the camper in tow to get the campsite set up. Unfortunately instead I am sitting at the computer, still in my pajamas and drinking coffee. Yesterday Jason screwed up his back pretty bad - something that happens once every year at some point, it seems. (This is the second time it's happened on vacation - last time we were in Orlando and he was stuck in the condo all day for most of the week.) So depending on how quickly it heals will determine whether we make it out this weekend at all. We may just reschedule to go next weekend instead since we have to take the camper out there, back it, level it and assemble a picnic table and dog pen, and all that is near impossible to do with a screwed up back. Not to mention, who wants to go camping in that condition? I sure wouldn't!

The rest of the vacation week has been awesome. We haven't really done much, which is just how we wanted it to be. We made a trip to the zoo and got lots of good pictures. I've done a lot of reading and porch sitting. And best of all, we've both managed to not work at all during the entire week! We've been online playing chess and scrabble and, of course, playing on Flickr - it's too addicting. So all in all, a fantastic vacation!

Speaking of photos, the Courier Journal has launched a "Capture Kentuckiana" contest that will result in an awesome coffee table book of the Kentuckiana area. I have submitted some photos and will be submitting some more. If you will, please go check it out and vote! You can get to my profile here...but be sure to check out all the others also. There are some awesome photos that will make a fantastic book in the end result!

Almost Vacation Time!

2008-08-14T08:29:00.001-04:00

Can you tell I'm looking forward to vacation? I think my brain is already halfway there. It's been a hell of a week. Work has been crazy, both at my "real" job (Job 1) as well as my "side" job (Job 2). I think I've put in about 50 hours so far this week in a matter of three days...yes, I need my vacation. I just have to get through 8 hours of training at Job 1 today and do some finishing touches and wrap-ups on Job 2 stuff once I get home and I'll be good to go.

Friday is only a half day at Job 1 and I go straight to the state fair after that to wander around before my booth shift starts at 3:00. But the fair is fun so I don't really consider that work. If anyone happens to be there Friday night stop by the Kentucky Farm Bureau booth in the South A wing and say hi! I'll give you a cool KFB notebook and yellow school bus bag and you can test your skills on Kentucky history. ;)

August in Kentucky?

2008-08-11T13:03:00.005-04:00

Not that I'm complaining, but it's weird!

Vacation Countdown

2008-08-10T13:38:00.002-04:00

In five days I will officially be on vacation for a week and I am so ready for it. I haven't had a real vacation since July of last year and now have accumulated 6 weeks of vacation time that is itching to be used. So it is time! We decided it would be nice to have an "at home" vacation. So we plan to spend some time at Dog Woods for our first camping trip there. We're also planning on hitting the zoo one day for some photography and maybe another small day trip. But mostly we want to have a week to loaf around. I'm taking off the entire week, including both weekends, from both of my jobs so that it will be a true vacation.

Technically my freedom begins at 11:45am on Friday, but since the Kentucky state fair begins this week that means Friday night I'll be working our KFB booth that evening. That earns me another day off so it's all good. Plus I get a few hours before to enjoy the fair myself. I always buy something for myself each year at the fair and this year I'm looking for a novelty plate for the front of my truck, though I'm not sure exactly what yet.

So...let the vacation count down begin!

Taylor's Third Birthday

2008-08-01T10:34:00.012-04:00

On July 20 my niece turned three years old - I can't believe it! Time sure does fly. In order to celebrate Amanda and Jeremy (my sis-in-law and brother) booked a party at Pump It Up. What a fun place for a kid's party! There is a big room full of bounce houses, climbing walls and slides...and the kicker of it is, this room is reserved for only members of your party. No looking for your invitees in a sea of strange kids...no wondering if some strange kid bully is after your child!

After an hour and a half of play time there is a party room with a throne for the birthday kid to sit in (which Taylor was so excited about). After cake and icecream gifts are opened and one of the staff members takes care of keeping track of who each gift was from, giving the family time to just relax and enjoy the festivities. I really wish they had something like this when Portia was growing up...how much easier things would have been! Here are all of the photos from the party for anyone with little kids that may be interested in having a party here...and of course for any friends and family members that visit my blog to see photos of Taylor's big day!

Jeremy & Taylor - First trip down the big slide

Princess Taylor

"Dog Woods" Update

2008-07-22T22:26:00.002-04:00

Dog Woods...the name of our 6 acre get-away. The driveway has finally been completed! Whoo! Jason and I are planning to drive out to check it out sometime this weekend. Now maybe we can actually use it once we get some electricity out there, which shouldn't be too long. W00t! We've decided to sell the camper and put the money towards building a small cabin to make it a bit more permanent and stable. Though it's a horrible time to sell anything right now, so I'm sure we'll have the camper out there for at least this year and probably into next year...but it's a get-away! More updates and possibly photos after our next visit to check things out...

Pure Luck - Hummingbird Moth

2008-07-12T10:01:00.004-04:00

Yesterday as Jason was casually looking out the front door he started all of a sudden flipping out yelling, "Camera! Quick! Hummingbird Moth! Hummingbird Moth!". After realizing what he was saying I snatched up my camera and ran to the front porch where we have a small barrel of flowers in full bloom. Sure enough, hovering over the flowers was a hummingbird moth! I've seen photos of these before but have never seen on in person and it was so cool! It was much smaller than I expected it to be. In the haste to get a good photo I switched the camera to auto mode, and glad I did because I only got four shots before it flew away. This is the only shot that turned out worth a darn. Jason has some more on his Flickr page.

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth

July Flickr Mixer

2008-07-06T14:05:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we had a local Flickr Mixer outing and headed down to Waterfront Park to take portrait photos. It was very humid, but we all had a great time. My photos from the shoot are here. After the shoot some of us headed back to the house to hang out on the porch and chit chat more about photography and new places to shoot. Jason and I will be going on a Safari workshop in September and I can't wait! John and Jenn may be coming with us as well. Hopefully we can get a whole group to join us!

Nikon D80 - First shots

2008-06-30T21:10:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend I sold my Nikon D50 and upgraded to a Nikon D80. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from my first outing with the new camera body. These were taken at the pond on the grounds of Louisville Memorial Gardens East.

Momma duck and her almost grown brood:

Dragonfly at rest:

New Eyes

2008-06-27T06:51:00.005-04:00

I can see again! It really is amazing how much better I can read the computer screen with my new reading glasses. Guess you really never know how bad it is until you fix it. I went cheap on the frames this time, but I kinda like them.

First Book Club Meeting

2008-06-24T22:57:00.003-04:00

Our first book club meeting was tonight. It was fantastic! I managed to read the entire book in two hours yesterday. (I am the queen of procrastination!) Jennifer cooked a wonderful dinner of grilled swordfish with rice, salad and various dishes the other group members brought. I usually don't care for any kind of seafood, but YUM was it good!

This is my first book club experience so I really didn't know what to expect, but it was so much fun! If any of my blog readers are here local and want to join let me know. We meet once a month on Tuesday evenings for dinner and discussion. The next book is "The Moonlit Cage" by Linda Holeman and the next meeting is July 29 (*hint hint to Jenn Lee!*).

I'm also looking for future book recommendations, so if anyone has any good ones let me know! I'm already raiding Pigs' list for the next meeting deliberations. :)

Busy Weekend

2008-06-22T18:22:00.006-04:00

Whoo boy...I'm almost glad to go back to work to get a break! Almost...not quite. ;) It's been a heck of a weekend that started Thursday night at the casino boat. Mom and I went out for what seems to be becoming an annual event for her birthday. We went to Caesar's (being renamed to Horseshoe as of July 11) and had a nice dinner to prepare us for our gambling. Then off to the slots we went. We found the new ones they had just installed the month before and much to our surprise we both did well on the first machines of the night! Usually when I go to the boat I'm out of my allotted money within 45 minutes...but we were doing so well we played for 3 hours! It was awesome! I still didn't come home with any winnings, but it was well worth the fun.

Friday morning was spent at work, as usual, and then off to the eye doctor at 2:00 due to some issues I've been having with headaches and focusing on the computer screen after about six hours. Seeing as I'm on the computer roughly 13 hours a day on average those six hours just weren't going to cut it. So of course the good ol' eye doc prescribed me some reading glasses...blah. They should be in sometime this week. At least they are cute...turquoise in color and with a little bit of a funky shape to them. With my dilated eyes I couldn't do much for the next several hours so I spent my time helping Jason assemble Portia's new desk. Portia's boyfriend joined us for dinner and that was all of the excitement for Friday night.

Saturday was spent hanging with a local Flickr group - one of our first meet ups as a group. We had lunch at Red Robin and then headed over to one of the member's house for some Photoshop tips and tricks. I learned a lot and have already started using some new techniques. After that John, Jenn, Eric, Tina & Chuck stopped out and we did the usual porch-sitting and chatting. Eric and Tina had a newly adopted seven week old chihuahua named Logan who everyone cooed over all night. Isn't he adorable?!

And of course today, Sunday, I had to catch up on all the work I had been putting off since Thursday. Now that's done and I'm loading up the iPod for a new work week and pondering on playing with some new flash techniques John taught me (camera flash, that is). He did this cool shot with Jenn when he was showing me some setting tips. Pretty cool, eh?

And as for my book progress for Tuesday's book club meeting...well, I'm on page 50 of 198. I might have a teensie problem in finishing that by Tuesday night...especially if I keep writing novels of blogs. :P So off I go to read my heart out!

Book Club

2008-06-14T12:45:00.004-04:00

Something I have always wanted to do is join a book club...and now I'm a member of one! As we were having dinner with our friend's Jennifer & Scott last week I found out that she was starting a small local book club. She asked if I was interested and I jumped at the chance to try it out. We'll be discussing our book over dinner and wine for our first meet-up. The first meeting is next week. The book of choice this month is "Amsterdam" by Ian McEwan. If anyone has read this book I'd love to hear opinions.

I have the book, but I haven't even read the first page yet, but it's only 193 pages so I should be fine. I'm already in the middle of a Patricia Cornwell book and I hate to start a new book when I'm in the middle of reading something else, but I guess I'm going to have to due to lack of time to sit and finish the other one first. I tend to stick with authors that I know and like and don't venture out much unless something is recommended to me, so I'm hoping this club will open me up to trying new authors and different types of writing styles. We'll see what happens!

Cicada City!

2008-05-30T14:44:00.008-04:00

Apparently it is the time of year for cicadas to hatch, or whatever it is they do. We have 3 trees in the back yard filled with moulted cicada shells. It really is quite an eerie site when standing under the trees and looking up (see photo below). All of the lower branches look like this from the underside of the leaves. And the ground around the trees is littered with shells as well. We are now starting to hear them sing when sitting outside...summer is here!

Though not all of the cicadas are singing their song. It turns out that dogs seem to have a craving for cicadas...and what we have is a free-for-all cicada buffet. Blue doesn't care for them too much, but I'd be willing to bet that Lois Lane and Hardy have eaten three days worth of meals in cicadas alone. It's a miracle there are any left to sing between them and the squirrels munching away. *gag* So if the cicadas go extinct this year, I'm pretty sure I know why.

One of the survivors:

View from under the tree:

The ground around the trees:

Clean Dog Smell

2008-05-23T15:02:00.008-04:00

Today all three dogs went to the groomers. Hardy got a bath and his summer cut and Blue and Lois Lane each got a bath. Since Hardy is going on 15 years old he is more grey than black now. But he has a nice black stripe down the center of his back when he is shaved, which we call his racing stripe. Blue and Lois Lane are so soft with their shiny and clean coats. All of them smell so good!

Hardy

Blue

Lois Lane

Loooong Weekend!

2008-05-22T18:48:00.008-04:00

Ahhh finally! A nice long weekend! With Monday being Memorial Day and a work holiday for me I decided to go ahead and take Friday off as well, even though we only work until noon. I have lots of vacation time to use up and it's another day to sleep in. PLUS I have to finish getting my house cleaned up because Jami & Larry, my dear friends from Indy, are coming to visit for the weekend! *happy dance* They visit every Memorial Day weekend and we always have a blast. This year we are all heading to Mammoth Cave on Saturday with our local friends, John & Jenn to take a cave tour, then back to the house to grill out some dinner and hang on the back porch.

This brings to mind several years ago when Jami and Larry visited. We had a rather large party that weekend. The next day as they were getting ready to head home a nasty storm came through, tornado warnings and all. So we're sitting out on the front porch watching them roll in with our neighbors when all of a sudden in the field across the street what seemed to be smoke appeared. What we thought was smoke turned out to be a tornado forming. Jason, Larry and Tom, being the "brave" boys they are, decided to run out to the field to check it out. As soon as they got about half way to it they abruptly turned right around and started hauling ass back home, waving frantically and yelling for us to all get into the basement. Turns out once they crested the hill of the field there was not one tornado, but two heading our way. So down to the basement we go - 4 adults, 2 teenagers, 3 dogs, 6 rats, 1 rabbit. Lucky for us the tornados were fairly small and popped back up into the air before they could cause damage...though they did touch down again in the neighborhood behind us.

As if that wasn't enough Kentucky excitement for Jami & Larry, on their way home just 30 minutes from their house bad storms were moving through the Indianapolis area. Once again they had to flee to cover when a tornado came barreling down the interstate towards them! So now we are always sure to check the weather closely before they come and visit. My fear is this year John will be with us also...which brings about a whole other realm of stories for another time! ;)

Squirrel Logic

2008-05-15T06:49:00.004-04:00

If I get the angle just right....

Property Photos

2008-05-05T06:55:00.003-04:00

Jason and I went out to the property to look around now that the trees have started to get their leaves and everything is starting to bloom - wow what a difference just 3 weeks makes from when we first went out to look at it! We also wanted to figure out exactly where we would clear for our camper and general living area as well as find the best place to put in a circular drive to easily get the camper and vehicles in and out. I took a few photos while we were there, of course it's mostly just trees! Also added an arial view from Google maps showing our tract. :)

Photos are here!

Camping We Will Go!

2008-05-02T17:14:00.005-04:00

This afternoon we signed the final papers for the purchase of 6 beautifully wooded acres in southern Indiana! No, we're not moving. We bought it to use as our own private get-away. We love nature and love to go camping, so what better than to have our own private camping spot all year long? For now we plan on putting the camper out there and may eventually build a little cabin in it's place.

I was hoping to get some photos up with this entry as we had planned on going out to the property after the signing, but it was pouring rain so it wouldn't have done much good. Plenty of photos to come I'm sure as there will be much nature and photo opportunities each trip we make!

I think we need to name our little get-away...but so far no luck in coming up with anything good. I considered "The Oaks" since we did buy it on Oaks Day (the race day before Derby Day here in Kentucky). But I'm not sure that fits right. We may need to spend a couple of weekends on site before it can be appropriately named. Jason mentioned "Camp Mesker" and another that comes to mind is "Dog Woods" since our dogs will almost always accompany us there. I'm sure we'll think of something eventually...suggestions welcome!

The Great Balloon Blow

2008-04-26T10:10:00.003-04:00

As part of the Kentucky Derby Festival each year there is a Balloon Glow the night before one of the hot-air balloon races. Generally this is a pretty cool event with up to 50 balloons lighting up on the dark fields of the Kentucky State Fairgrounds. Last night, however, we got to see a whopping 6 balloons...maybe 8. Unfortunately it was way too windy to allow the balloons to glow in their full glory. Under normal weather conditions the crowd is allowed to wander around the balloons up close, talk to the crew and get tons of great photos. Due to the balloons being tethered and the flame threat from high winds they crowd was not allowed into the field with the balloons. So instead, I will point you to my photos from the 2006 Balloon Glow and you can pretend that it's current. ;)

Moving the Earth

2008-04-18T09:29:00.002-04:00

...or rather the Earth moving us! At 5:40am Jason and I were woken up by the sound of the windows rattling, the blinds rattling and the whole house shaking. It was a short 5 seconds, but we knew what it was as soon as it was over. We had just experienced our first earthquake! Kentucky is not known for earthquakes as other parts of the nation are, so it was kinda shocking to us! The actual 5.2 earthquake supposedly evolved out of West Salem, Illinois, which is about 350 miles away from Louisville.

So that's my interesting news of the day!

Ditzy Blonde? I Think Not!

2008-04-14T20:11:00.005-04:00

Well, not on the outside anyway. :) Yup, I did it. I bit the bullet and went auburn. I've been pondering it for a few months now, working up the courage to change hair that has been essentially the same color for the last 32 years. But I love it! It was time for a change and this just did the trick. (Sorry Mom! )

These photos are courtesy of my good friend John of Fotographic who is a fantabulous photographer. Thanks John!

Disgruntled Employee?

2008-04-13T19:41:00.004-04:00

Where I work we have cubicles thus there is no privacy at all, what-so-ever. I about sneezed coffee out my nose last week when someone walked by having a fairly serious conversation and asked "Do you ever feel like when you are here you are stuck in 'Office Space'?"

What to blog about...

2008-04-03T19:36:00.004-04:00

I've decided that I work too much to blog about anything interesting. Thank goodness camping season starts this month! We're hoping to go camping at the end of April with a gang of friends at Green River...should be a good time! I haven't been to Green River since I lived there oh so long ago. We've actually got our camper up for sale in hopes of getting one that will better meet our needs. We'd like one with a slide-out and more storage space.

In other news, my blogger friend Jen just had a precious baby girl, so welcome to Lily! I've been following her blog just waiting for the day to see pictures!

It's supposed to be really nice this weekend so hopefully I'll get some more photography shooting in. If it's dry enough I plan on taking a hike through the woods behind our house to see what I can see. We have a pair of red-tailed hawks that live there and a HUGE woodpecker that I'd love to get shots of. I chased the woodpecker around a couple of times last summer with no luck. We shall see what happens...

Photography Hobby = Blogs of Photos

2008-03-19T20:39:00.006-04:00

So now that the weather is trying to get nice it's high time to break out the camera for some wildlife shots. I've been capturing photos of our backyard habitat critters for the last year or so and finally decided it was high time to get a good wildlife lens to really do the job up right. So after much research, off to Murphy's Camera I went to purchase a new Nikon 80-400mm VR lens. Since I've had it it's rained, rained and rained some more...go figure. But I did manage to get a little juvenile woodpecker to look half-way decent and in focus...but I have lots of practicing to do.

Speaking of practice, now I have a partner in crime! Jason decided he'd like to join me in my wildlife jaunts around the yard, local parks, zoo's, camping trips, etc and decided to bite the bullet and buy him a camera as well. So he is now the proud owner of a Nikon D80 (better than mine! *sob*) and a nice 200-500mm Tamron lens! So this weekend we're off to the Louisville Zoo to test out our new goods!

Glorious Snow!

2008-03-08T11:17:00.003-05:00

We're currently at 8" with 2 - 4 more on the way! We took a trip to the store just to see what it was like...

Snow! And an Elbow Update

2008-03-07T10:14:00.002-05:00

It's snowing! And not just the piddly little 1 -2 inches we usually get either! The current prediction is 8 - 12 inches by tomorrow morning for us here in the Louisville area. This started out as 3 - 4 inches and has been growing steadily. I generally don't like the cold or the snow, but to get this much makes me peek out the window every 5 minutes like a giddy little girl. The photography opportunities alone are enough to push me over the edge! With any luck I'll have some new winter shots up on my Flickr account in the very near future! And this gives me a chance to try out the new truck in inclement weather as well. ;)

In other updates, my elbow is on the mend. Further x-rays revealed that I have a small chip of bone floating around in my elbow area, but nothing to be concerned about. The doc said it is likely due to a tendon or ligament catching on the edge of the fracture and snapping off a piece of the bone during impact. The fracture is healing well and I was able to remove the sling on Monday and started physical therapy two days a week. It's amazing how quickly an appendage forgets how to work properly with just a month of immobility. One of my PT tasks was to pick up a pile of pennies and beads with my left hand and once I had a handful to put them into a container. Surprisingly it took me almost 5 minutes to fill up half a cup the size of a single serving yogurt container.

I'm happy to say that I have made progress through the week and can almost type normally now, can button my pants and can grip and hold objects that are lighter than 5 pounds. I still can't bend or extend my left arm all the way, nor can I turn it as much as I should be able to, but I should regain all of those movements within the next 4 weeks of physical therapy. Hopefully I've regained enough movement to easily operate my camera this weekend!

Photoshop Users Conference

2008-02-26T20:11:00.005-05:00

Woohoo! Lookie what I get to go to in May!

And better yet, my company is paying for it so it's free!!! I love photoshop and have dabbled with it for many, many years. This will be the first time I get some formal training for the advanced levels and I'm stoked!

Elbow Prettiness

2008-02-14T18:19:00.003-05:00

This is what a broken elbow looks like one week after the incident. Nice swelling with no indication of an elbow being under there - this is actually an improvement from 5 days ago. Amazingly enough, my elbow never hit the floor when I fell, rather I caught myself with the palm of my hand. The bruising is the result of the fracture itself, caused by a nice bone-to-bone chain reaction...pretty nifty, eh?

No cast!

2008-02-12T17:40:00.000-05:00

Yay! My orthopedic specialist appointment didn't end with me having a cast applied to my broken elbow! *happy dance* Instead I am only doomed to the sling for the next 8 weeks and possibly some physical therapy later. Not so bad considering the alternative. I got me some more drugs too, that always helps.

So in the last 5 days I have learned to do many things one handed - some of which take great talent. I can now get dressed, button and unbutton my pants, open mail, type pretty good, take a shower and wash/dry my hair, apply make-up, drive my truck, put on my sling and feed my fish, to name a few. What I can not do is connect my bra (sports bras for the next 2 months), open tightly closed bottles, hold objects heavier than a sheet of paper in my left hand, fold laundry (yay!) or operate my camera (boo!).

I have found that after a day in a sling my fingers resemble albino sausages, my shoulder blades ache and my entire left arm spasms intermittently. I have also found that showers become a bother, bedtime is dreaded and driving is done cautiously. Hopefully all will be back to normal in a couple of months.

Exciting Event of the Week

2008-02-08T09:31:00.000-05:00

It was Thursday morning, 7:00am and I was running late for work, as usual. Since a storm and cold front came in the night before I needed to start my truck and let it warm up before cruising in to work. I went back into the house to get some coffee for the road, not stopping to properly wipe my wet dress shoes on the rug. Upon entering the kitchen my right heel slipped on the hardwood floor. Before I knew what happened I was falling and heard a sound like velcro strips being ripped apart very fast. When I tried to pick myself up off the floor I realized that sound had emitted from my left arm as I tried to break my fall. Unfortunately instead of breaking my fall I broke my left arm - more specifically the radial something-or-other in my left elbow joint area. I've never before experienced such pain so bad that I felt dizzy and nauseous instantaneously.

After confirming the break at Prompt Care, getting a stylish navy blue sling and some good pain meds I headed home to start learning to type efficiently with one hand. My left hand isn't allowed to type for at least 3 weeks (not that it is functional to do so now anyway), which really throws a monkey wrench into my normal routine sine both of my jobs and much of my personal entertainment requires lots of typing. Go figure. Next week I have to see an orthopedic specialist to make sure there is nothing else wrong and to ensure that it will heal properly. They will determine if it needs a cast or if the sling will immobilize my arm enough for it to heal. I'm praying I don't need a cast.

In the meantime I'm pecking along with one hand and trying to get along with everyday normal things. You never really think about how important two hands are for the simplest tasks, such as: unbuttoning and buttoning pants, opening child-proof pain pill bottles, putting on a bra, setting an alarm clock, opening mail, etc. It's mind boggling! Driving to work Monday should be interesting...

Winter Sucks

2008-01-31T18:13:00.000-05:00

I hate winter. I really, really hate winter. I hate winter in Kentucky specifically. It's cold, it's gloomy and depressing. The ground is always mushy, which results in three sets of dirty dog prints throughout the house for three months straight and an irrate cat that tries to sneak into the house any chance he gets. One day it's sunny and 50 degrees and the next it's dreary, windy, cold and in the midst of an ice storm. Not to mention the tornados we had 6 miles from my house on Tuesday night. I mean really, tornados in January? What the heck is going on around here anyway?

So here I am on a Thursday afternoon, getting out of work in less than an hour. I was supposed to meet my friend Jenn for an evening out, to get away from it all for a few hours (which very rarely happens). But no, now we're waiting for 1/4" of ice and sleet and an inch of snow tonight. If it was just snow, meh, fine, I have 4 x 4. But ice - nope, not gonna risk it. I, being the weenie that I am, do not want to be stuck out on the slick roads in my new truck for just any moron to come flying by and hit me or push me into a ditch. Of course now that I have cancelled my plans the weather will "take a sudden turn" and do nothing but spit a little rain and move along - it never fails.

Luckily tomorrow is Friday and the work week has flown by. Thank goodness for the little things.

Resolutions and the Angst of Teens

2008-01-14T14:50:00.000-05:00

Week two into the resolutions and doing good! We've been getting up at 5:15 each morning to get an hour of stretching and cardio in before work. Next week when we're better aquainted with awakening at the crack of dawn we'll add in strength training. We've been eating well and have cut out all alcohol *gasp* for the time being. I do miss my beer, but it hasn't been too bad. Luckily we stay busy with our jobs, work at home and the ever-busy schedule of a teenager in the house.

Speaking of teens, it will be a miracle if I make it to my 32nd birthday without my head imploding. Why must everything be so difficult, contain such drama and cause so much stress?! Apparently rules are made to be broken, chores are for days with nothing better to do and homework is an unimportant waste of time. Apparently the only thing that is important is boys, boys and, hmmm, oh yeah, boys. You can only spend so much time lecturing, calmly checking your temper and trying to rationally explain the "why" of it all before feeling like an utter failure or just giving up. As always things will work out in the end, but hoo-boy how interesting these next 3 years will be. For anyone else with teen girls, you have my sympathy and understanding. Those of you that don't, just pray for me!

Tomorrow it begins...

2008-01-01T20:26:00.000-05:00

So tomorrow is the big kickoff day for our new year resolution. We put it off by one day since we were traveling today to take Portia's sister back home after her visit and knew we wouldn't be up for it today. Since baby steps are key, Jason and I will be awakening at 5:30 to do a cardio workout of 30 minutes. If it's not too bad outside (it suddenly got freezing & gusty outside today) we will take a walk through the neighborhood - otherwise we'll do some cardio indoors.

Today we went to the grocery and bought the necessary groceries for the next couple of weeks of healthy eating. We also rearranged the basement to create half of the large room for Jason's drums and guitars and the other half for our home gym. So far we have a stationary bike, a pullup/dip/leg lift stand, weight bench and a exercise ball. We pick up the weights this week. I'm desperately trying to find a used treadmill locally that has incline options, but everyone seems to be on this health kick with resolutions and all so they are hard to come by right now.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying my last bit of beer for a while, munching on some chips and getting to bed early to start my new adventure!

It's Resolution Time Again

2007-12-30T10:02:00.000-05:00

Usually I do not make New Year's resolutions simply because I never keep them. However this year I am determined to keep the one resolution I am making - to get healthy and in shape again. Jason and I have both put on more than a few extra pounds over the last couple of years and are both having some blood pressure issues and just feel plain miserable. So we have decided it's way past due to do something about it. We'll be buying a weight set and bench and will even get the dogs in on some cardio walking around the neighborhood. Lois Lane could certainly stand to trim down a bit herself. This will also hopefully help the knee issues I've been having and allow me to get back on the mountain bike and start riding some trails this summer.

The plan is to get up before work each morning to get the workout done first thing...I am not a morning person and don't know how that will work out. I already get up at 6:00 to be at work by 7:00. Getting up at 4:45 am really isn't my cup of tea, but I would prefer to get it done first thing in the morning....so we'll be giving that a shot. If cranky blogging begins next week, you have been warned.

Happy New Year! And much luck to anyone making resolutions this year!

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-23T10:32:00.000-05:00

So I haven't blogged in almost a month now...that's what holidays will do to you! Even as I sit here now there are a bazillion things I should be doing, but procrastination is my specialty. This week has been insane. I had training all week for work, Friday night was Jason's company party (where Jason won me a gorgeous new gold/diamond necklace - yay me!), yesterday was Christmas with Mama, today is Christmas with Mom, Dad and the entire Parson clan, and tomorrow is Christmas Eve service at church and then Christmas with Jason's family. By Monday night we'll be all pooped out. Then Friday it's Christmas with Celeste who will be visiting until New Year's Day. Luckily for us we're on vacation for the rest of the year.

Also during all of this we had all the carpet torn out upstairs and replaced with Pergo...and loving it! It was a pain to be shifting furniture and dealing with all that along with all of the above, but it's done and it looks fabulous! Bye-bye allergies!

And of course Christmas is always a good time for photos...all Christmas photos of the gang can be found here.

Merry Christmas!

Meet Clyde...

2007-11-29T21:11:00.000-05:00

...my new bestest friend!

Everyone should have an iRobot Roomba!!!

Non-Blogger

2007-11-18T10:40:00.002-05:00

So I was wrong about blogging more while I was recovering from my surgery...percocet's and blogging don't go together. Percocet's and reading don't go together. Pretty much sleeping is all that goes good with percocets. But I'm happy to say that I'm almost feeling back to normal and the worst of it is over.

The week before I was off work for my recovery I had put in a bid on a Ford F-150 that was up for auction at work. I low-balled it thinking there was no way I'd get it for a decent price. Well lo and behold, I won the auction! It was very dirty, very stinky and needed every type of maintenance done to it that you can think of. It was a reclaimed theft salvage vehicle and the plates expired in 2005...that should give a good indication of the shape it was in!

Jason spent the week changing oil, flushing the radiator, changing the fuel pump, etc while I spent the week cleaning out the inside, pressure washing the bed and cleaning out the junk that was left in it. It still needs new tires and some running boards and a few miscellaneous small fixes, but it's about done. So I now have a pretty 2000 Ford F-150 Lariat! Well, I might. I'm going to drive it for a few weeks before I decide if I want to keep it or my Ford Escape. But just look at this baby! How do I turn this down!?

Salad Fingers...my latest infatuation

2007-11-02T18:52:00.001-04:00

Jen turned me on to Salad Fingers a couple of weeks ago...now I just want a rusty spoon!

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8

Scooter, Camping & Land Hunts

2007-10-30T17:47:00.000-04:00

We had no luck finding Scooter's "owners" so he is trying out his new adoptive family with our good friend Mykel. Raving feedback from Mykel after two days indicated that "he has successfully peed everywhere". Doh! We have since heard that Scooter is learning to control himself and is settling in well. Hopefully this will lead to a forever home for Scoot.

Before Scooter was re-homed we took another camping trip a couple of weeks ago to Park City, Kentucky to visit Diamond Caverns. Campers included me, Jason, Portia, the rabbit and the four dogs...what a feat that was! Though it was an awesome trip and a great way to wrap up camping season for the year. We were able to choose our own campsite and managed to pick one with no one else around and facing the woods, so lots of seclusion. So much, in fact, that we were awakened by the yips of coyotes on both nights! It really is an eerie sound to hear so close! While we were there we took the Diamond Caverns tour, which was very cool, literally and figuratively. It was a worthwhile tour, though a bit overpriced in my opinion for what it is. One of those things you'll do once and probably never again. Lots of photos from the campsite and the tour are here.

In other news, not much going on. Work has finally slowed down to a manageable speed and I'm trying to catch up on everything I can before next week when I'm out for four days due to an out-patient surgery. Nothing major...but hopefully something that will give me some of my freedom of life back. Jason, the awesome hubby he is, is taking off work all week to look after me during my recovery and keep me entertained. Luckily for him a few movies, a good book and my laptop with an internet connection will do just fine. I'm sure I'll be adding extra entries that week out of sheer boredom.

And on a final note, we're back on our property hunt. We were house hunting for a while, but after realizing we're not going to find the combination house and land we want in our price range we decided to swap back to the property search with a bit different criteria. So we're awaiting information on a 38 acre farm, a 15 acre mini-farm and a 17 acre wooded tract and hoping they will meet enough of our criteria to go out and look at in person. We're really hoping the 38 acre farm works out...how cool would that be! We would later build a house to our specifications on the property along with a barn and a pond. Sweet bliss!

Indy Visit + Suckers = Dog #4

2007-10-16T17:24:00.000-04:00

What is wrong with this equation? Jason and I went to Indianapolis over the weekend to visit our friends, Jami (who I went to high school with) and Larry (her hubby). We had a great time - we went to the Indianapolis Zoo, had a great evening chatting around the bonfire with beer and s'mores and planned on finishing off the weekend with a trip to Jami's brother's store and lunch.

So we wake up Sunday morning, eat yummy donuts from Long's Bakery and head out to Country Harmony to check out Ryan's shop. We're not two steps out of the garage when the guy that lives across the street from Jami and Larry hollers out "Look what I found!". He gives a short whistle and out prances this dirty, curly haired, fro-headed little black and white dog. Cute little booger - but quite stinky and very thirsty. So we give him some food and water and put him in the back yard while we do our running around, hoping someone just lost him and was out looking for him.

But alas, we return back a few hours later to find little man lounging in the porch chair waiting for us to come home. Jami and Larry didn't want to keep him, the neighbors didn't want him, so the option was to let him roam around or take him to the shelter. Seeing as they live on a fairly busy street and a shelter is 100% out of the question he ended up traveling back to Louisville with us. He promptly got a bath and introduced to the gang. Hardy was pretty indifferent, Lois Lane now has someone to run with and Blue is put out and has been moping since we got home...but, no fights or major altercations.

In honor of Larry who calls everyone Scooter, this curly haired, afro-headed dog is now aptly named Scooter. So I guess the plan is to keep him for a few weeks to make sure no one in Jami & Larry's area is looking for him. Then, depending on how he's doing here, we will either foster him until we find him a home or end up keeping him ourselves.

Pass the sucker stamp please...

Chaotic Week Finally Ending

2007-10-04T16:16:00.000-04:00

So things have been a little hectic lately and I haven't had much time (or desire) to update my blog. Work has been crazy with a million tasks due at once, a million problems without answers and a million meetings to keep me from resolving my million issues. It's a horrendous cycle that never ends. Today I finally feel like I'm pulling ahead, for the first time in a month, thus am in a pretty content mood. Plus Survivor comes on tonight...I'm a hopeless Survivor addict.

To add to the above chaos, I've been having issues with my knees. I've always had knee problems (popping, aching, pain after physical activity, etc), but after buying a mountain bike earlier this summer it has become 10 times worse. So after 3 months of doctors appointments, 2 months of physical therapy and many months of knee pain, we finally know what is wrong with my right knee. I've been officially diagnosed with chondromalacea and patellar tendinitis. In English, this means that my knee cap sits at an angle, causing it not to track straight and thus slowly rubbing away the cartilage in my knee. Luckily it does not require surgery (yet) and some home physical therapy and a lovely knee brace should do the trick. So I've been starting out with some walking around the neighborhood (which the dogs are loving) and trying to keep my activities to a minimum to let the knee heal and begin to track correctly...so probably no more biking until next spring. :( Luckily camping is easy on the knees and we're planning our next trip...one that will be a four day event in mid-October.

We don't have much planned for the weekend. The company I work for closes at noon each Friday, which makes for a nice extended weekend or a nice time to play catch-up from the week. This Friday afternoon is the company's first annual cornhole tournament with all proceeds benefiting Metro United Way. Being a fun event and a good cause I signed up to play in the double-elimination tourny and will also be taking photos of the festivities. The rest of the weekend at home so far entails sealing our back deck/porch and doing some more yard work and landscaping before winter sets in. Fridays and Saturdays this time of year are usually spent hanging out on the back porch and enjoying the nice weather. It's not unusual for a friend or two or more to stop by and hang out with us, and I don't expect this weekend to be any different. After all, it's the perfect time of year for porch sitting and having a good time...and we have a great porch for it! This weekend might even be a good one for a small bonfire in the back yard. :)

A Weekend Alone

2007-09-22T19:30:00.000-04:00

Portia is at her grandma's for a family wedding and Jason is out for the weekend mountain biking and camping with his buddies (a well deserved and long overdue guys weekend out). Meanwhile, for the last week I've planned on lots of things to do with my limited quiet time home. Friday night was spent with Mom and we had a yummy dinner at Olive Garden and an evening out at the gambling boat. Unfortunately the slots weren't playing in my favor, but it's always exciting anyway. One of these days I'll learn how to play roulette or craps and do some real gambling. I came home, watched some tv and when I started nodding off on the couch around 1:00 am I went to bed.

My plan was to be lazy and sleep in Saturday morning. That plan was foiled around 8:00 am when the dogs decided it was high time I get my butt out of bed. I was awakened by two dogs spelunking around the bed, a wet nose in my ear and someone nibbling on my toes. After yelling at them to lay down I roll over only to have the third dog staring at me and whining until I invite him onto the bed. This leads to more dog wrestling and so much chaos that at 8:30 I finally gave up and crawled out of bed to make some coffee.

I decided to be productive and paid my bills for the next 2 weeks, checked email, fed the dogs, fed the cat and showered. The next item on the list...medicate Portia's rabbit. Now I knew this part of my day would be a challenge...Bunn doesn't much care for me and he decided to show me just how much when he saw me coming after him with a syringe full of baytril. Tip #1 - when medicating a bunny, remove the bunny before letting him see a medicine syringe. After 10 minutes of bunny growling and lunging I gave up and decided to wait until Portia returned to medicate the Evil One. Tip #2 - make friends with the rabbit so he will allow you to medicate when necessary.

So after this saga I ran up to the bank to deposit a check for Jason. Our neighborhood was having it's bi-annual city wide yard sale so I drove around looking for some deals. I did manage to get a huge box of miscellaneous scrapbook items for $10 and a few glass pieces to etch/paint on. On the way home I was trying decide what craft I'd like to indulge in with all my free time. Once I got home I remembered some work I had to do and killed 2 hours messing with all of that. After that, my motivation was gone. I watched some tv, filled up the bird feeders (Jason would be proud!), reheated some pizza for lunch, called Mom and chatted for a bit and organized the scrapbook goodies I bought at the yard sale. I then watched some more tv, talked to Portia for about 45 minutes and once the sun started to go down I watered the plants (again, Jason would be proud).

So now here I sit at 8:00 pm bored out of my mind. I'm in one of those horrid moods where I really want to do something, but really don't know what to do. I could read, I could craft, I could surf the net, I could watch more tv, I could call a friend, but no...nothing sounds good. So here I am blogging away on a Saturday night. Normally this time on a Saturday night Jason and I would be sitting on the back porch chatting (probably with John) and just hanging out. I've been out on the back porch today and it's cool for about 30 minutes and then it gets really boring. Needless to say, I would make a really crappy "alone" person. I don't see how people live alone and stay sane.

I guess now that it's almost 8:30 pm I should be thinking about dinner. I don't cook, I hate cooking and when I feed myself it's always something nukable or delivery. Luckily Jason thought ahead and bought me some nukable food for his weekend away. So, I'm off to nuke something for dinner and find something to do...

Jellystone Park Camping Trip

2007-09-16T14:50:00.000-04:00

We returned home today from our first camping expedition with the travel trailer. We went to Jellystone Park - Mammoth Cave in Cave City, Ky from Friday through Sunday. We had a wonderful time! The weather was perfect - mid 70's during the day and high 50's at night.

We had a full crew to test out the camper - me, Jason, Portia, Rebecca (Portia's friend), all three dogs and the rabbit. All of the animals traveled well and did great at the camp site. Bunn had his great wall to play in outside where he could get some fresh air. The dogs had the screened in 12 x 12 tent to wander around in when they weren't in the camper. There was a nice dog play area where we could take them off leash and let them get some run time.

Since it was our first trip we figured we'd end up with a list of things that we forgot, but we actually did very well and had everything we needed. We did find that our sewage hookups aren't the same as most "normal" travel trailers, so that will have to be fixed before Jason goes on his guys only mountain biking/camping trip next weekend.

We had a yummy steak dinner Saturday night and made smore's over the campfire. The park is very family oriented and there was lots of things for the girls to do. They played basketball, watched the ducks in the pond, hung out at the arcade and even did some homework - imagine that!

The only complaint we had throughout the entire weekend was when Saturday afternoon the park employees spent three hours cutting up a fallen tree two camp sites down from us. Three hours of listening to chainsaws is not my idea of relaxing with nature. Luckily once they finished they left the other two trees for later.

We're already planning our next trip, though, and we may even head back to the same camp ground. We're trying to get in as much camping as we can before winter gets here, forcing us to wait until next spring.

Photos from the trip can be seen here.

Camping Trip #1

2007-09-13T08:33:00.000-04:00

Our first camping trip is scheduled for this weekend and boy what a great weekend for it! Highs in the mid-70's and low's in the 50's - woooo! We are headed for Jellystone Park - Mammoth Cave in Cave City, Kentucky. Since this will be our first trip with the camper we figure a lot of the first night will be spent figuring out how to get everything hooked up and organized inside the trailer. Since this is also the first trip for our three dogs we will likely be spending a lot of time getting them used to being in a new place and around strange people, sights and smells. Portia is bringing her best friend, Becca, so they should have a great time.

The camping park has lots of nice amenities such as basketball/volleyball courts, an arcade, outdoor family movie night and even kid karaoke. There used to be a petting zoo, which has now been turned into a fenced in dog run so campers can let their dogs off leash to run and play. Lois Lane will definitely need some running time to keep us all from going nuts. Oreo, the rabbit, is also coming with us this trip. He's on medication for an infected tooth and I wouldn't give my worst enemy the task of shoving banana flavored antibiotics down his throat twice a day. Evil little so-and-so...

Camping updates and photos to come!

This Blogging Thing...

2007-09-08T13:15:00.001-04:00

So I finally decided it was time to enter the lovely world of blogging. I love reading friends blogs, and even some techy blogs, so why not?

A little about me to start things off. I'm currently 31 years old and live in Kentucky with my husband, Jason, and my daughter, Portia. We have 3 dogs (Hardy, Blue & Lois Lane), one cat (Big Worm) and one rabbit (Oreo, aka: Bunn). I used to have pet rats up until a couple of months ago. Great little pets, but it was time for a rat break after 12 years and too much heartache.

I work for a local insurance company as a web developer/web focus admin/programmer. I also have my own business in web development. I named my company after my dog, Blue. :) In my spare time I love to try out new crafts and hobbies and improve on others, namely scrapbooking, glass etching, rubber stamping and photography.

One of the big reasons I wanted to start blogging is to capture our soon to come camping expeditions. We recently purchased a travel trailer so we can go camping with our family, friends and furry critters.

Much more blogging and photography to come!