He is Risen

     "Christ the Lord is Risen today.  Alleluia"

     So begins my VERY FAVORITE hymn.  I do not talk a lot about my religious beliefs.  This is mainly because I feel my relationship with God to be very personal.  I can be quite emotional about it and I just do not open up in that way to many people.  

     However, when it comes to Easter Sunday and that hymn I cannot help but smile and share.  Be glad you don't have to sit anywhere near me at church.  I am NOT a good singer, but that does not stop me when it comes to a favorite hymn.  




     This hymn is my very favorite not only because of it's message and the celebration of that message, but because it's so upbeat.  When pounded out on an organ it just penetrates into me and wraps itself around my heart, embracing the strongest of my emotions and beliefs.  It makes me feel alive.  It gives me hope.  It feels like a big breath of fresh air after a soft spring rain.  It radiates light to rival the sun.  It is the epitome of everything I am grateful for in my life.

     Isn't that what music is supposed to do, though?  It's supposed to elicit emotional responses and talk to that innermost part of us that other forms of communication cannot seem to reach.  For me, this hymn does that and more.

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Linkin' up with Yeah Write! and their 500 word limit challenge again this week!  

Come join all the great bloggers with me!

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Sleepless Night

     Last night was really rough for me.  I was tired, but sleep would not come.  First, I could not turn off my brain.  Too many conversations with people not present going on in my head.  Too much to think about after receiving some heart breaking news.

     Then, the dogs took over my side of the bed.  Moving them did no good.  They were like bricks.  Add to that the fact that hubby was snoring up a storm and I gave up and went to the couch.  Oh, wait did I mention it was about this time my RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) kicked in.

   For anyone that does not suffer from this be grateful.  You cannot  keep your legs still.  You cannot get comfortable.  Your legs feel jittery and like they have minds of their own.  Sometimes they jerk or twitch on their own.  It can make you feel like you're going insane.  I honestly just want to take my legs off and put them in a corner somewhere when RLS has taken over.  And, last night was no exception.

     I wasn't out on the couch five minutes when the two sleeping bricks had gotten up and found me.  They wanted to lay on me.  Yeah, that's going to work when I can't even get myself comfortable.  I tried that for about half and hour.  During that time I tried every one of my tricks I've learned to lessen the symptoms but nothing was working.  It really was the worst dance I've ever had with Mr. RLS.

     Finally, I gave up and went and took the OTC medicine I have for it.  I was able to get back into bed before the dogs came back and get myself situated so they could not take over my side again.  By this time it was 2:00 a.m.  I finally fell asleep.

     I'm really hoping to get a better night's sleep tonight.

Giant Snow Dog

   

Wordless Wednesday

(OK, so yes I did give some explanation, but it's mostly pictures)

     Spring started five days ago, but you can't tell it by our weather.  We had a snow storm that dumped over a foot of snow on our town yesterday.  Official total was actually 14.8 inches.  It was a wonderfully wet snow.  Perfect for building.  And, that is just what my husband and kids did.  It was supposed to be a Snow Scottie, but turned out looking more like Clifford.  Here are some pictures of the process and the finished Snow Dog that several people, even police officers have stopped to take pictures.  We've seen flashes from people taking pictures after the sun went down, too.

     The coolest part is one of my husband's co-workers sent a picture in to a local radio station and it was posted on their Facebook page.  It's gotten several comments.  There is a link to the radio's website at the bottom.

92.3 WIL

the radio station with one of my pictures

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop

Pet Peeve Tuesday ~ Litter Bug

People who throw trash out of their car windows.  Enough Said!

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An Exotic Pet

     I have had pets nearly all my life.  I say nearly because my husband and I did not get our first pet together until we'd been married for a little over 2.5 years.  And, then after that pet died we waited a year to get the two we have now.  Other than that, I have had at least one pet every day of my life.

     When I was growing up we had a total of 9 cats (no not all at once) and 4 dogs in our house.  The only time we only had one pet was the one cat we had when I was born until we got our first dog when I was three.  From that point on we had at least two pets in our home.  But, they were always just cats and dogs.  My brother had some sort of lizard or something for a short period of time, but it was just in his room and I had no interest in it.

     I love animals.  I would have loved to have had a horse, but I've never lived in a place where I could have one.  However, I think the coolest pet to have would be an Alpaca.  These animals are so cool!  They look similar to a llama.  They come in something like 22 colors and their fur is soft and warm.

     They don't have horns, hoofs, claws or incisors so they are pretty harmless.  They do get between 100 and 200 pounds, but you can pasture about 5 of them in just one acre.  They are gentle and easily trained.  They live for about 20 years.

     I've seen them at festivals and special events at some of our local attractions and have always been fascinated by them.   They were cherished by the Incans.  The softest ones were reserved for royalty. How can you not be entranced by an animal like that?

    Do you love animals?  What exotic pet would you like to have?

Morning Routine

     It's a few minutes before 5:00 a.m. in the morning.  I did not set my alarm clock, but yet I'm getting up no matter if it is a weekday or weekend.  I have one Scottie groaning in my ear and another one nudging my lips with her nose.  "We're hungry, NOW!  Time to feed us!"

The little leader

     Without really seeing anything I manage to put on my robe and take my short legged fur friends down off the bed.  One of them leads the way down the hall, tail wagging.  The other is behind me poking me in the calf to hurry me along.

     The calf poker gets her food first because otherwise she'll stick her nose in her sister's bowl.  The leader is patient and waits for her food to be shoveled into her bowl.  Then, the crunching starts.  I try to go lay down on the couch until they are finished, but little leader comes in and stares at me until I come back in the kitchen with them.  Then, she will finish her food.

The calf poker

     Once the chomping is done, it's time to go outside.  This is my chance to relieve myself, too.  By the time I get back to the kitchen, the two furry demanding goddesses are ready to come back in and now they want attention.  I can try to lay back down, if it's a weekend, but Miss Moaner will stand and stare at me and keep talking until I give in and either give her a belly rub or play with her.

Orneriness x2

     I really just want some more rest.  These two are wonderful alarm clocks except that they did not come equipped with snooze buttons.

Come join the fun and some good writing at Yeah Write!

Izzy Loves the Snow!

Izzy says, "Oh JOYFUL DAY!"

By the way, I stopped recorded just as she squatted to poop.  You're welcome!

How Many Men Does it Take to Rescue One Woman?

     Last summer I had a week to myself when my daughter was away at Girl Scout Camp and my son was going to day camp at the YMCA.  I spent a lot of time with my camera that week.  I also finally got to a county park that I wanted to go to for a long time.  It was one of the few local parks I had never explored.

     It was a very warm Friday morning when I got to the parking lot at this particular park.  It has three trails.  There is only one trail head at the parking lot.  It's the main trail that loops around inside the park for about 2 miles.  The largest trail loops off of this trail for about 3 miles.  There is also a dead end trail that spurs off the larger loop trail.

The map of the park

     My plan was to just walk the loop of the mail trail.  So, I grabbed my camera and began walking.  I figured I'd be in the park about an hour or so and then go grab some lunch before heading home.  Yeah, that was the plan.

    Two hours later I am lost.  Yes, LOST in a county park that has marked trails.  At some point I took the wrong trail and ended up a lot further into the park than I had intended.  I was getting light headed and I was very hot.  I did not have my water bottle with me because I didn't think I'd need it.  And, my cellphone battery was almost dead.

     So, I sat down on a log and looked up the county parks department and called them.  I just needed a ranger to come and fish me out and bring me some water.  Really, that's all I needed.  It's really all I asked for.

This was the only other creature I saw in the park.

     Well, the parks department called 911 and they called me.  Um, OK   I was talking to them when the park ranger found me.  They wanted me to leave my phone on, but as I said, it was almost dead and the park ranger was there so, I said goodbye.

     The park ranger gave me a bottle of water and sat with me while I drank it.  Great, now he'll help me find my way out and all will be good.  Of course I got a little mini lecture about walking through the woods in the summer without water, but hey, he was right.

     Then we heard shouting.  Wait, what?  There was no one else in the park, hence the reason I called the parks department.  Next thing I know here comes another ranger, two EMT's and a fireman.  So, now I have 5 men to escort me out of the park.  Really?

Honestly, the trail markers are NOT as clear as they seem here.

     Of course there is discussion on how to get out of the park.  Should we stay on the trail or bushwhack?  It would be easier walk if we stayed on the trail.  But, she (meaning me) really needs to get out of the heat.  Bushwhacking it was.

     After walking about another 15 minutes I needed to stop again.  They gave me another bottle of water and I sit down to drink it.  Now, we hear a helicopter.  I'm thinking there's an accident on the highway that's not too far away.  Then, I hear them discussing it.  The helicopter is for me!  What?

     Ok, let's look at this rationally.  I am one person that just needed some water and someone to show me where I needed to go to get back to my van.  It is towards the end of June so the trees are THICK with leaves.  While we could hear the helicopter, we could not see it.  So, how were they supposed to see me?  I'm not that overweight!

Maybe if I'd stood in one of those little patches of light, 

the helicopter could have seen me.

     And, yet it gets even better.  Since we bushwhacked we did not come out at the parking lot but one of the gravel roads that runs along side the park.  There waiting for us was yet another two EMT's with the biggest ATV I've ever seen.  It could have easily seated 8 people.  There was also another park ranger.

They drove me down a road that was only about a football field in length to a waiting ambulance and two more firemen.  Have you lost count yet?  That is 10 men on the ground and at least two in the air that have come to the aid of a woman who was just too stupid to follow marked trails and bring a water bottle with her into the woods on a summer day.

The trail marker at the parking lot.  

The one that got me lost was similar to this one.

     After about a half hour in the ambulance so they could monitor my vitals and pour more water down my throat they took me back to my van.  I'm sure that made an impression on the people getting out of their car to go hiking in the park when an ambulance pulled up and let someone get out so she could get into her vehicle.

     I wonder what they would have thought if they'd gotten there when the helicopter was hovering over the park?  I've not been back to that park yet.  And, in my defense, the ranger that first found me said I was about the 6th person that month he had to rescue from that park.  Maybe they need to rethink the trail markers?

Joining in on the fun at Weekend Funnies!

     My family is leaving me! 

I am going to be all by myself! 

Ok, so just for an evening and most of Saturday.  My husband and kids are taking a hunter safety class this weekend.  So, I will be home alone.

     I will drop the kids off at my husband's work this evening so they can leave from there.  They will be gone about 4 or 5 hours this evening.  Then, tomorrow they will be gone for about 9 hours.  That's somewhere around 13/14 hours of alone time.

     I am looking forward to this.  I love all three of them endlessly, but I do like my alone time, too.  Being alone allows me to breath and think freely.  I don't have to think about how my words are going to affect anyone else.  I don't have to worry about anyone else's needs.  I can pick my nose if I want.  I can dance around the house naked and sing as loud as I want without scaring anyone, well except maybe the dogs, but they are much more tolerant than humans.  I can watch whatever I want on television and not have anyone interrupt it. I can fart where ever I want and not worry about someone commenting on it.  I get to eat whatever I want for dinner! 

 

     Of course, I enjoy this because it doesn't happen a lot.  If I had a lot of alone time, it would probably be depressing.  But, for now, I am going to enjoy this, especially since I only had to work three hours today.  .

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Windmills in Illinois

It's Wordless Wednesday
So Here are some
Windmills in Northern Illinois

These are the windmills we saw when driving to and from the swim meet in northern Illinois this past weekend.

Here is one picture of the windmills as we are driving that I have edited several different ways. 

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