Autumn Has Arrived in Kentucky

Ahhh!  The colors, the crispness in the air!  I'm sorta homebound right now, but wanted to get at least one fall shot this year before all the leaves blow away.  So I stepped out on my front porch and snagged a shot of our little Maple that lives in the front yard.  Hoping to get a shot or two with some blue skies, but this may have to do!

The Art of Racing in the Rain

I don't often write of book reviews, but this one truly captured my heart!  "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein is utterly amazing!  Particularly if you are a dog lover, as I am.  It's a story from a very intelligent dog's point of view who's goal is to be reincarnated as a human.  It deals with love and loss, family trials and tribulations, and most importantly...love and acceptance.  It makes you think twice about your life, about what you have and what could be, as well as the faithfulness of our wonderful canine companions.  I urge you to read this book!  And if you have or if you do, please comment and share your theories.  I don't want to say much more for fear of ruining the book....but I highly, highly recommend it!  This one will definitely be on my re-read list.

Life on the Couch...and Another Photo Flashback

It's been 3 days since my surgery and 2 days since I've gotten home from the hospital.  All went well and I'm happy to say they found the problem during the surgery, which verified that the procedure was necessary to fix the issues I was having.  So now I'm off work for six weeks to fully recover and get my energy back.  Today is the first day I've really been awake all day (apart from one small nap).  I stopped the percocet pills this morning and moved to ibuprofen and it seems to be doing ok.  Percocets will be saved for night time for the next few nights and will then wean off of those.

The last couple of days the couch and I have become best buds and the dogs have argued over who gets to lay next to me.  It's a tie between Lois Lane & Blue currently.  I've watched "Sweet Home Alabama", "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants".  I've been online here and there, though not too clear headed to stay on for long until today. I have attempted to read, but still not clear headed enough to keep up yet.  (If this post rambles, you know why).

Family  & friends have been wonderful and I must send thanks out to all of them for the online well wishes, phone calls and visits.  Mom was at the hospital with Jason during the procedure and provided me with a cute nightgown and fuzzy socks, along with a ride home so I didn't have to climb up in the big truck.  She is bringing dinner one night this week - presumably homemade pot pie - yummy!  Grandma Parson came to visit me at the hospital also and brought me another cutie nightgown.  My dear mother-in-law, Emily, brought over some yummy food (check out her Marvelous Recipes) and some beautiful flowers and her and Ralph sat to visit for a while yesterday.  And today my  good friends Christina & Charlie brought me a goodie basket full of stuff, including a crossword puzzle book, which took up an hour or so of my time today.  And of course Jason has been awesome.  He dotes on me hand and foot, bought me a Snuggie blanket, has made several trips to the store for me and is just downright awesome.  I do have the best husband in the world, don't even try to argue that!  ;)

And since I have no interesting photos for the week, I'll provide another Photo Flashback from this time last year, when we were camping (as we usually are in October).

A snake we came across when hiking:

The gravel road leading to the campsite:

A horse at a Halloween bonfire we attended for Jason's previous employer:

Sleep Writing

I admit it, I'm a sleep walker (and talker for that matter).  I'd like to say I don't do it very often, but I really don't know.  Sometimes I wake up and sometimes Jason puts me back to bed and tells me about it the next morning, but there have been times when I would have never known I was up and about if it wasn't for the evidence I find the next morning.  For example, I once took an oil lamp from the dresser, set it on the floor and disassembled the entire thing and left it in 5 pieces for myself to find the next morning.  I have no recollection of being up, of having any dreams involving dismembering anything and Jason slept through that one.

Then there are times when I do something that causes me to wake up, like when I opened the back door and the cold, January wind woke me.  (I was dreaming I left my camera out in the backyard and had to get it before it rained).  When that happens I just simply sigh and take myself back to bed.  Except for the time that I dreamed someone was chasing me and that I was climbing a fence to get away from them...that one was a doozy.  Instead of climbing the imaginary fence, I was actually climbing the bookshelf that is in my bedroom.  I wasn't woken up until the entire shelf, along with about 130 books, toppled on top of me, waking me up.  That one freaked me out!

So my sleepwalking has been fairly calm over the last couple of months, or so I thought.  This morning I woke up, no recollection of dreams, waking up in the night or anything.  Yet printed on my left hand in blue ink in my writing was 5 numbers.  It looks like the number 51303 (apparently I don't write very neatly when I sleep).  I've been wracking my brain all morning trying to think of what these numbers might mean...no luck yet.  I never thought to blog before about my sleeping adventures - I'll have to start keeping track.  Maybe I'll find a pattern!

The evidence:

Camping Recap

Ahhh what a wonderful time we had last weekend!  It's been a busy week, so I'm just now getting around to updating.  We ended up having a group of 6 - Me & Jason, Charlie & Christina, Eric & Teena and of course little Bailey.  The weather was just about perfect!  Cool enough for a fire all day, but still comfortable.  All the wood was quite damp so the fire wasn't as good as it should have been, but we made due.  Lots of beverages were consumed, yummy food was grilled and lots of corn hole and ladder ball games were going throughout the day - so much that several of us had some sore muscles the next day.

A perfect ending to another camping season (even if it is only the second time we got to go this year).  Some photos:

Photo Flashback to October 2008

This time last year we were camping in Dog Woods.  This weekend, we'll be camping in Dog Woods!  Yay!

And a non-camping photo, but another from that same week when we were having a Mojo Red party at Kimmy's house. 

A Camping We Will Go!

Whooo!  Back to Dog Woods at last!  Check out this camping weather - sunny and lower 60's both Saturday and Sunday!


Sweetness!  We were actually supposed to go last weekend for Jason's birthday, but the weather didn't cooperate.   We haven't been to Dog Woods since Memorial Day back in May, which is just rediculous, but it's been a very hectic summer.  Sadly it will likely be our last camping trip of the season as well due to me having a (routine) surgery that will put me down for about six weeks.  But I'm so looking forward to this weekend!  We have two other couples going with us for sure and potentially two more - and with this crew there is never a dull moment! See our past Dog Woods camping extravaganzas here.