Yesterday, after an emerency run to the feed store (I forgot to get more 'milk' when I was there on Monday), Savannah and I headed off a on 2 1/2 hour road trip to see a friend of Savannah's. Savannah and Emilie, a 'real live French girl', met online. Emilie's English is excellent and I noticed that the only word she tends to drop is 'the'. Her grammer is better than many native English speakers. Emilie is a reformed Christian and is quite sweet.
We had a delightful lunch; despite the fact that my jaw popped on me so badly that I exclaimed out loud. It hurt for the rest of the meal too. Anyway, the coffee was grand! After that we went to go stroll near a lake for a little bit. Here are a few of the pictures:
We had a delightful lunch; despite the fact that my jaw popped on me so badly that I exclaimed out loud. It hurt for the rest of the meal too. Anyway, the coffee was grand! After that we went to go stroll near a lake for a little bit. Here are a few of the pictures:
This guy flew by real low...
Little gator...
He was about 3...3 1/2 feet long.
Great Blue Heron
I have no idea what these 'hoppers are called. (Can you see him spitting?)
Bird of Paradise...
On the way to meet Emilie I took some pictures of an airplane writing in the sky. I found it totally fascinating...I took too many pictures, but will only burden you with four. :)
He wasn't quite done spelling out "Jesus Loves You" when I could no longer see it...
This morning, I rode Snip. He was a little ornery, but that was to be expected (to an extent) since he hadn't been ridden since last Friday. I finally got off and shortened my left stirrup back up. Today I didn't cramp with it all the way up. I felt more comfortable and then was really glad I had shortened it up when Snip went into a serious bucking routine with me. It took a little longer than usual to haul him in; and I stayed on--that time. A few minutes later, he did it again. While he actually wasn't bucking as seriously, he was turning a bit more (I think the big tractor mowing the ditch got him excited). I had him nearly under control when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to stay on (unless he had stopped that instant). I was literally hanging off the right side of the saddle, so I semi-controlled myself as I fell off. I landed on my 4th point of contact and did bump my head a little, but nothing serious. Not sure I even lost the reigns. The worst of it was--my hat got a new bash in it when it came off! I tied my bandana around my neck, put my hat back on, scolded a bit, got back on and rode a little more. When I got done, I called Savannah and told her, "I'm feeling photogenic...it might be because I fell off and didn't get hurt." :D Anyway, I'm going to bore you with some more Racheal and Snip pictures....(by the way, the random white 'stripe' on my right leg is my holster leg-tie...)
He didn't want to do whatever it was I was trying to get him to do here....
"There. That's better!"
Really?
I had my hand on his poll here...scratching between his ears.
He really is a sweet-heart...most of the time!
This afternoon, I did something I had never done before. I had never really watched Daddy do this either. That is: change the oil.
I went to the truck, pulled out the book, opened it up to 1-19, read the instructions through once, and got started. I would end up reading the instructions more than once as I did my first ever oil change.
As I lay under the truck, waiting for the old oil to empty out of the oil pan, I sang a smattering of songs--from the first four verses of the Confederate Yankee Doodle to "I'll be Seeing You".
Once the oil was just dripping, I called Daddy to see if it was okay if I put the plug back in...or if I was just being a very impatient person. He said it was fine for me to put it back in (yay!), and we talked a bit about removing the oil filter. And I am so glad we did--because I had to use the screwdriver trick.
I poked a hole in the very top (or bottom depending on how you look at it) of the filter and let the oil drain out some before I drove a large screwdriver into the side and pried it around that way. It took three different holes before I could actually get it off. I managed to whack my hands a couple of times. The last time it hurt so bad that I wanted to cry...but I didn't. I just sucked in a little air and relaxed for a minute before returning to work. Once I got it loosened up by means of the screwdriver, I was able to finish removing the filter with the filter wrench. By now, my hands and arms were covered with old motor oil, so I called Savannah and asked her to bring me some more paper towels. When she did, she hung around long enough to put some clean oil on the new filter's gasket and listen to me grunt as I put that thing on as tightly as I could with my bare hands.
It didn't leak either!!! If you can't tell, I'm pretty pleased...even though it took me twice as long as perhaps it should have.
Now, as promised...those random pictures. All taken on the past two Lord's Days.
I went to the truck, pulled out the book, opened it up to 1-19, read the instructions through once, and got started. I would end up reading the instructions more than once as I did my first ever oil change.
As I lay under the truck, waiting for the old oil to empty out of the oil pan, I sang a smattering of songs--from the first four verses of the Confederate Yankee Doodle to "I'll be Seeing You".
Once the oil was just dripping, I called Daddy to see if it was okay if I put the plug back in...or if I was just being a very impatient person. He said it was fine for me to put it back in (yay!), and we talked a bit about removing the oil filter. And I am so glad we did--because I had to use the screwdriver trick.
I poked a hole in the very top (or bottom depending on how you look at it) of the filter and let the oil drain out some before I drove a large screwdriver into the side and pried it around that way. It took three different holes before I could actually get it off. I managed to whack my hands a couple of times. The last time it hurt so bad that I wanted to cry...but I didn't. I just sucked in a little air and relaxed for a minute before returning to work. Once I got it loosened up by means of the screwdriver, I was able to finish removing the filter with the filter wrench. By now, my hands and arms were covered with old motor oil, so I called Savannah and asked her to bring me some more paper towels. When she did, she hung around long enough to put some clean oil on the new filter's gasket and listen to me grunt as I put that thing on as tightly as I could with my bare hands.
It didn't leak either!!! If you can't tell, I'm pretty pleased...even though it took me twice as long as perhaps it should have.
Now, as promised...those random pictures. All taken on the past two Lord's Days.
I had my hair in two braids, wrapped over the top of my head.
I just think one is so...cute!
Now, I have to run along and feed my critters! See ya next time!
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