And Part Three...The Animal Control

Well, we thought it was all over, at least, we thought there was no more that would happen after the encounter with the crazy neighbor who loves our dog just a little too much. After her threats and snide remarks, we thought there would be nothing more to it. Gone were my worries that our dog would be stolen since we padlocked our backyard fence and put in the invisible fence to keep our dog from coming up to the fence to anyone that should come up to it to bother her...well, looks like we were wrong. Apparently crazy old ladies take offense when their neighbors suddenly padlock them out from being able to come in to pet on their dog. I guess we crossed the line with her when we put in that invisible fence and prevented her from being able to pet on our dog. I guess she decided to take revenge on us. The spiteful old bat. Yesterday, while on my lunch break, I heard a knock on the front door. Before I reach the door, I could see out the window and I saw, parked in front of our house, an animal control truck. I immediately knew what was happening. I was not worried on bit. However, I was a bit shaken that our neighbor actually lowered herself so low as to call them out here to, I guess, TRY to stir up trouble. I know our pets are well taken care of, so I wasn't worried one bit that they might be taken away. I was just ticked beyond anything that this was actually happening. In the recent past, Hubby and I playfully joked around that our neighbor would call the animal control on us, as she subtly threatened to do to us not long ago, so she could have our dog. We didn't think she would actually do it. We were actually more worried that she would somehow steal our dog, which is one of the other reasons why we invested in the invisible fence. It would be a lot more difficult to climb our backyard fence and carry/hoist a 50 pound dog over it, while the dog would be hollering loudly because it's collar would be going off while outside the fence limits. Not to mention our dog is micro chipped and we can track her. So, with those worries set aside, we managed to put this crazy lady in back of our minds and relax some.... Until yesterday....
So, anyways, there's the knock on the door; the animal control vehicle parked in front and I answer the door. I cheerfully smile and warmly greet the animal control officer. I immediately invite her in and ask what's going on. SHe says, they recieved a phone call about our dogs that they needed to come check on them. Plural.....DogS... So, someone who knows we also have a strictly indoor dog...Hmmmmmm...a red flag pops up in my mind on just who exactly would call on us. Now, WHY would someone call the animal control to check on animals? Well, normally, it would have to do with abuse and neglect. So, anyone who is going to take the time to call the animal control, had better have good reason, other than waste their time for reasons of jealously and spite. Clearly, my hubby and I are not in the abuse neglect category in animal care and I was ready to show this kind officer lady just that. I waste no time and I introduce her to both dogs and both cats. I bring her out back and show her the dog house and invisible fence we installed a few weeks ago. The officer comments that she likes our invisible fence and that it's a good idea. She also commented on how healthy and happy all our animals are and she then says, "I just don't know why she would call..." I said, "Oh, so it's a woman that called?" And the officer replies, "Well, I'm not at liberty to say. It's anonomous..." I say, "Well, I have a pretty good idea who would call ya'll and why." She looks at me and says, "Well, apparently, it's a HUGE misunderstanding..." I said, "Nope, it's not a misunderstanding. I believe it's the neighbor lady right over there" and I'm pointing at the crazy old hag's house right across the backyard fence, "who's been harrassing us for our dog. She tried to trade her own dog for ours and we refused and then she had the bolts to come over to our house one morning and threaten us by calling ya'll, if we didn't give her our dog or give our dog to her grown Daughter." She looks at me in shock and then smiles says, "Wow....well, I still can't say who it is, but it sounds like ya'll have a problem on your hands..." I say, "Well, apparently, it wasn't a threat when she implied about calling ya'll. She definitely called ya'll. I apologize for the inconvenience our neighbor has caused you guys." The officer shakes her head and says, "Well, there's no reason for me to be here and we've got nothing on ya'll, so you just keep doing what your doing. I'm going to go ahead and head on then." I walk her back through our house and to the front door and say good day. On the one hand, it was a nice confirmation that we were doing a good job with our dogs and have nothing to be concerned about should that crazy old bat try to call in the animal control on us again. And maybe the animal control won't take her seriously, should she call them again...On the other hand, I'm ticked that we were inconvenienced with this visit, my Daughter was scared when the officer showed up, wanting to see our pets and I can't help but think what in the world are the neighbor's thinking, if they saw this animal control vehicle parked in front of my home??? Every fiber of my body wants to run right on over next door and bang on this witch's door and yell at her...but I won't. I have discussed this with my friends, a couple other family members and my hubby. All have different ideas and suggestions on how to handle the situation. I want to go over there with my hubby and talk to the husband to see if he's aware of his insane wife's actions....my husband has different ideas, as in, doing NOTHING. Another friend of mine thinks we should not say a thing to them. I can see where both my friend and hubby are coming from and understand that if we didn't do anything, then maybe the neighbor lady would be dissapointed to see that we are not so angry and bothered enough to go over there and yell at her, as well at the dissapointing fact to the witch that our dog is still in our back yard and not going anywhere.I'm sure when she calls to follow up with the animal control on their visit to my home, they will tell her what a waste it was for them to stop over here, well maybe not in those exact words, but I'm thinking it would be along those lines...I have no clue now what to do about this mean old lady. It really is up to my husband since it is his dog, but it was ME that had to deal with the animal control...I guess we will prolly end up not saying a word to them. Oh and up until this point, I was letting our Daughter continue her friendship with this lady...NOT anymore. If this lady pulls ONE MORE stunt on us...she will be getting served papers...she is already past the line of harrassment....

Here's a question...

Okay, so if you had family coming to see you and they, without asking if this was ok, brought along this stray dog that they picked up a few days earlier and refused to take this dog to the vet's office before bringing it into other homes, ppl and animals, dispite your request, what would you do? We have been looking forward to our inlaws' visit for quite some time. They had been planning to see us this summer vacation, but as is the norm with them, they kept putting it off week by week, constantly telling us, "Next week. We'll be there next week." And then the next week rolls by and then they tell us something came up and it will be the next week. This had been going on for the past month. Well, they finally are on their way up here. They will be here when we are doing school and hubby cannot take off work, but they are gonna be here now and what can you do? So today, my SIL calls me and informs me after the inlaws left out on their way here, that the inlaws have this stray dog they took along with them. The inlaws already left and did not even think to ask us if this was ok with us. I was not very thrilled about this, because we have no idea what sort of dog this is. Is it aggressive. Will it attack the cats or the other dogs? Is it housetrained? Is it loud and disruptive or destructive? And last but certainly not least, have they taken this dog to the vet to be checked out, vaccinated, had it's rabies shots, tested for worms and anything contagious like kennel cough or worse...So, I call the MIL up and I say I found out the news of them bringing this dog and I had various questions about what kind it was and what not. Turns out, it's well behaved and a small house trained miniature short haired daschund. Well that's very sweet, but what about asking us permission first? Nope, guess it didn't cross their minds to ask. Must not have been important. And my last question to her was about them taking the dog to get checked out before they took the dog across state lines. It's known that if you travel with your pet out of state, you are required to get a certificate of health and proof of rabies shot. Well, ofcourse they didn't think of this. In fact, in the past week that they have picked up this stray, they have not cared to take this dog to a vet at all to get checked out. They have brought this dog to two SIL's homes and other family member's houses and let it play with children and other animals. How thoughtful of them.... I told her the many risks they just put the children, and grownups alike and the other animals in and I requested very politely that they take this dog to the vet after they get here before letting it run around my home with my animals. I offered to make an appointment for them and everything. They REFUSED!!! I once again, implored them to please take this dog to the vets because of the risk they are putting us and our animals in. The MIL refused me again, saying that it would be just fine and la la la.... I wasn't very happy about this rudeness and disrepect. This was my home and they are my guests, but even if it's family, does that mean that they don't have to follow the respectable houseguest guidelines??? I had nothing more to say about the subject and it would have caused drama if I were to push, so I let it go. But I was/am seeing red. I was going to call a friend to watch my dog for the duration of the inlaws' visit so the stray dog they brought could not possibly infect my dog, but my husband said it would only make things worse, so I had to compromise. I am now going to have to be inconvenienced and go through about a week and a half of trouble in keeping this stray seperated. So again, what would you do if you were in my situation? As a person who is all for animal rights, I find it very disturbing that someone could refuse medical attention for a stray animal they want to keep. They have no plans on ever taking the dog in for a check up, vaccinations, spay/neauter and rabies shots and heartworm treatment and whatever else it might need. Not only will the animal likely have health problems in the future, but if it has anything contagious, other animal will get sick. All this I explained to the MIL, but to no avail. What the heck???

Crazy Lady Next door: Part 2

Sunday morning, I'm in the office chatting with my hubby and I hear someone knock on the door very quietly. I almost didn't hear it, but it was just loud enough to make my little Doxie woof expectantly at the door. So, that confirmed an unannounced visitor. I'm not much for unexpected visitors and most my friends and family know to call first before knocking on our door, so I'm thinking it's a stranger and so I'm a little cautious when I go see who it is. I Don't ever open the door to someone I don't know. I actually will look through the window first and then open it, if I know who it is. So, when I saw it was our next door neighbor, I feel this twinge of annoyance. "Great...what does she want now?" After our very awkward conversation a few days before, I was certain she would never speak to us again, much less come over to our house, but here she is. But than again, it's very possible, she is coming over to apologize. It was really rude the way she came across and maybe she realized this as an afterthought and felt the need to say she was sorry. So, I open the door and smile and say good morning. She doesn't smile, but she says, "Good morning" politely in return. I think to myself I shouldn't be rude, so I open the door wider and say, "How are you, why don't you come in?" and then she finally smiles and comes in, while saying, "Well, I thought I would come over and talk to your husband about his dog." My smile fades, but I make sure not to frown and this is very hard for me. I respond, "Well, he's in the office. Why don't you have a seat and I'll go get him and we'll have a talk." She goes and sits on the love seat facing at an angle toward our couch and when I see that she's comfortable, I decide to, first, get Daughter and tell her that Mrs. (shall we call her) Whatsername is here if she would like to come say hi, to which Daughter jumps up from playing with her toys and runs into the living room to say hello very enthusiastically. Daughter and Mrs. Whatsername get along great, so that's the silver lining in this whole situation, but if things turn sour in the future it could be an added consequence, if it gets in the way of the two of them being friends. Anyways, I digress...I go into the office and tell Hubby that our neighbor is here to talk about his dog and he gives me this look like, "Are you frickin' kidding me right now?!?!" He was shirtless, as this is his house and he can be shirtless if he wants to be and he just gives this big sigh, not saying a word, but just giving me this look and I give him a look in return that seems to say, "No, I'm not kidding, this is FOR REAL. Get your hind end in there and get this lady to LEAVE!" So, then he mumbles to me as he gets up from his pet online project, "Fine. I'll go put on a shirt."all the while looking extremely peeved to have to be interrupted with this very inconvenient, unexpected and uninvited visitor. I go back into the living room prompty so as not to leave our guest alone for too long and I didn't want to make her feel unwelcome, tho she was. As I enter the living room to sit down on the couch across from her and make small talk while we wait, I see her holding my little dog. Dang.....this is not good. My immediate reaction was to go over and grab my dog away from her, so she wouldn't get any ideas about my dog. But I know I can't do that without coming off really crazy and rude, so I sit down and smile at her with my plastic fake smile. A politician's smile. I just sit there and say what a beautiful day it's shaping up to be and I ask what their plans are for the day and she says,"Not much." Sure...just your diabolical plans to take my husband's dog, I think to myself, but that's not much...I think my dog sensed my feelings, because she actually jumped down off the couch and come to sit with me. I scoop her up, protectively, and hold on tight and my neighbor's just staring at my dog. I'm not really happy about this. Why does she have to look at my dog like that? It's the same way she looks at Bridget. Ugh! Of course, she completely ignores our two cats. I sense she has no desire for felines, so I can at least set aside my worry for them. Hubby comes walking slowly in...Finally, Captain Save The Day is here! He's just dragging his feet and he gives her a weak smile and says his Goodmornings and how are you's and then he plunks down on the couch looking defeated. I can tell he doesn't want to deal with this right now and is very much tired of having to tell this lady she can't have his dog. This subject has been worn down enough. There was no small talk before she got down to business. She immediately set in on my poor husband, drawing out the same story she did on me about how much she loves his dog and how much her grown Daughter loves his Dog and how much her Daughter wants his dog, and that she would provide the best for the dog and blah, blah, blah...(same story, different day) and then she added in the usual subtle insults here and there trying to make it look like they could take so much better care of Bridget than we ever could. And THEN she tried a new twist the the old scheme. She subtly threatend us. Not in an obvious way, but in much the same way she was trying to make us feel inferior in pet care to her. She said, "I noticed you had her tied out one day when you all were gone for a few hours." What does she do, sit by the window and spy on us all day? "Yes," my husband replies calmly "We were out of town for the day and we didn't have anyone to come watch her or let her out to go to the bathroom, so we bought a cable tie out and a stake at PetSmart and tethered her for a few hours. Don't worry, Mrs. Whatshername, she was fine for just a few hours. She had her dog house right there, it was under that big tree and she had access to her water and food bowl. It's a thirty foot cable, so she had plenty of room to get around. She was just fine, don't worry." I'm all the while looking at this crazy lady, perched on our seat cushion, who is trying to guilt us and I'm wanting this lady to leave now. Don't let the door hit you on the way out! Man, I was loosing my patience. I was actually just about to get up and go see what Daugther was doing, just so I could calm down. Let my husband deal with her and he does such a fine job in dealing with incouragable folks, I knew he could handle her just as well. But just as I was about to start to get up she then says, "Well, I know you don't think it's such a big deal, but there is an ordinance against chaining up your dogs and I don't think animal control would be very forgiving. I just wanted to let you know. It was just put into effect, so..." I'm frozen and so is my husband and we just stare at her. Is she threatening us? Is this woman in our home threatening us?!?! Now, this lady is trying to play the abuse and neglect card on us! Anyone who knows us and anyone who knows me, knows our pets are not abused and neglected. I was fuming. She said again, "Are you sure you don't want to give your dog up?" My husband says with malice in his voice, "No, I do not. She is well taken care of, as you can see." She then looks at me and then at my Doxi and says, " You have such a sweet little dog." I said, "Thank you, she is sweet." then she says," Would you be willing to give her up?" I'm not even hiding my anger at this point when I say, "No, I LOVE my dog. Why don't you come here in the kitchen for a minute." And she looks at me quizzically. I hop up offthe couch and come stand in front of her and I say, " Really. Come on. I want you to see something." I wait for her to get up. She slowly gets up with some hesitancy and the expression on her face looks a bit alarmed. Good. Maybe she needs some abrasiveness to get the point across. I then turn my back on her and walk in the kitchen and she follows. I jutt my finger out and point at Lacee's house first and say, "Here is my dog's house. Here is her food bowl. Here is her water bowl." All the while, I'm pointing at everything....I continue," As you can see, it's all full and the water is clean." I walk over to a cabnet and open it, "Here is all the dog supplies. Flea spray, flea drops, vitamins, dog brushes, shampoo and leashes." I walk over to a basket in the corner and point to it "Here are all the dogs toys and chewies. See? Look at all of my dog's clothes that I dress her up in. She is spoiled rotten. She is healthy and loved. I am not giving her up. She is mine. I have had her for five years and I plan on loving her and caring for her for at least ten more years. She is not going anywhere. She is MINE." I then strut out of the kitchen and sit back on the couch, holding my dog tightly with a smug look on my face. I figured I better nip her idea of having my dog in the bud now before she got to entertaining the idea and starting in on me. I am all out of niceness for this lady and I ran out of patience a long time ago. This lady threatened us when she didn't get her way and she crossed the line, all the while in our own home. I wasn't going to pretend to be nice to her after this. She just looks at me with this look of shock on her face and then nods quietly and says nothing. She doesn't go back to the loveseat to sit across from us, but heads for the door and says, "Well, I just thought I would ask...." She stopped ASKING a long time ago. She's resorted to a more dirty approach and we weren't having it anymore. My husband and I both alternately say in so many words, "Ok, thanks and we'll see you later. Have a nice day. Goodbye." She shut the door behind her. My husband doesn't say a word, but just gets up and goes back in his office. I'm sitting there by myself mulling over the whole scenareo from beginning to end and not regretting my lil closing statement with that lady one bit. I then get up and go into the office and hubby and I re live the whole thing and just chat about how incredibly insane this all was and we just couldn't believe this lady had the cajones to come over here and try to sway us the way she did. Wow....So, we won't be leaving our dog unattended in the backyard for quite a while to come. Every time I let both the dogs out to do their business or excercise, I sit at the kitchen window and watch them. I am even more worried that either one of them will be stolen. And Heaven forbid we tie our hubby's dog out for a few hours if we are away. I can just see the evil old lady just spying at her window, waiting for the right moment when we are away to either kidnap or call in the Animal control...I actually called the animal control AND the humane society today and I asked them if it was ok if I tied out my dog for a few hours if we couldn't be there to watch them and they both said as long as it wasn't for very long, they had shade, water, food and shelter, no problem. So, I'm not worried about the animal control, but I'm certainly worried about dogs being stolen. This lady is insane....

Crazy old Lady next door

I'll post more when I have more time, but the gist of what's going on is our neighbor next door wants my husband's dog and doesn't seem to like taking no for an answer. We've been living here for over two years and the neighbors who live to our left are very quiet and reserved and they mostly stay to themselves. Which we don't mind, as we like our privacy. It took us nearly a year after we moved in to finally have a real conversation with the both of them and find out their first names and the name of their dog. We still, to this day, have no clue what their last name is. Anyways, up until March, they continued to keep to themselves, barely waving a hello, passing by or seeing us outdoors at the same time they were. In March, my husband adopted a floppy lil' Springer Spaniel cross at the age of 2 months. She has the kindest brown eyes encircled in rings of black like a robber or raccoon, floppy brown ears and a big freckled black nose and mouth. We fell in love with her immediately. My hubby named her appropriately, Bridget. She just looks like a Bridget. She has since grown into a sleek, fat and happy dog who will never grow into her big paddle paws and gangly long legs, which adds to her "floppyness" and lifetime of cuteness. Well, nothing like a sweet happy dog to bring together ppl, I always say. Her presence in the backyard, along with my husband and Daughter playing fetch with her, brought out our quiet neighbor's social talkativeness. It was a nice change to actually have a few nice, but still somewhat reserved and quiet conversations with our older neighbors. The wife made no secret of her attachment and love of my husband's dog. While she has her own dog, who happens to be quite aggressive ( A true guard dog personality), she seemed to have put her own dog on the back burner and given our dog most of her doting and attention. I noticed this a few weeks after getting our dog. She was coming up to the fence and crooning over and petting our dog and then she started getting our dog treats and toys and finally, a kiddie pool to play in. I thought this was so generous and very nice and didn't think anything bad about it at all. One day, I told her she was more than welcome to let herself in our backyard to play with our dog, should Bridget happen to be out there playing at the time. So, there were a few occasions, I would look out to call Bridget back in or check on her and there would be our neighbor, sitting at our picnic table, petting on her. I thought it was sweet and thought nothing more. A few times, she would ask my hubby if he wanted to part with her and give the dog to her. I thought she was just joking and I just smiled about it, agreeing that his dog was pretty irresistable to fall in love with. One day she even offered to trade her own dog for ours. I now was thinking this was starting to be a bit strange and didn't laugh it off as before. Then one day, she handed my Daughter over the fence, a dog training book for me to read. I was, to say the least, trying to not take it the wrong way. I am a certified vet's assistant and I also completed a course in dog training and I was sure our neighbor had/has no idea of this because of our meager conversations in the past, so I just tried to blow off the insulted feeling and move on. I still have her lent out book on the bookshelf and I do plan on having my Daughter return it to her at some point. Last week, while Bridget was out getting her excercise and playing with Daughter, I was in the kitchen and I looked out to see how they were getting along and saw our neighbor out there with them. I decided to come out there and explain why I haven't read her book, that I am already "trained" in dog training and of my other accreditations...and also just to shoot the breeze and chat. Well, I hardly got past the hellos and how are you's of the conversation, and was about to get to the explanation of why I have not read her book yet when she said, "I want to ask you a question." My stomach knotted up for some off reason, which is not a normal reaction for me. I said, "Sure, what can I do for you?" I was thinking she might ask me to watch her dog or see if we would watch her house or something like that, which is not a problem, but my gut was telling me otherwise. She continues, "As you know I have grown very attached to your dog and I know you and your husband are not to bent on giving her up. My grown Daugther has come over here to visit and she has fallen in love with your dog and she and I feel that we can give her a very good home, if you would let her have her. " I immediately stiffen. A very good home? What the heck does she mean by that??? Can she not see how fat and happy and well taken care of my hubby's dog is? Does she not see how spoiled she is??? She continues, "We feel that we can give her lots of wonderful attention and she would be very happy and my Daughter really just wants the dog. I mean, she is such a sweet dog and deserves the very best." Ok, now I'm getting flared up at that last statement. I'm flat out insulted. Does this lady not think we provide "the very best" to our dog? I say, very slowly and kindly as I can muster (because, I know to not disrespect my elders), "Well, I've no doubt your Daughter would love to have my Husband's dog, but she belongs to him and he is very attached and LOVES her, as do I and our Daughter. I'm sorry, but no. We feed her every day, she has 24/7 access to fresh and clean water. She has a large and expensive house, more toys than my Daughter owns and she is happy, loved and she knows it. And she gets the best care a dog could want or need and she gets daily attention and excercise, as you can see when Daughter and my hubby are out here every day playing fetch with her. Sorry, to dissapoint but she is not going anywhere." She then replies," Well, since she is not YOUR dog and belongs to your Husband, I'm going to ask him." I was, by now, shaking with anger, but I say very calmly firmly, "That is fine, you go ahead and ask him, but I might as well tell you now, he will say no." She says, "That's fine, it doesn't hurt to try, tho." After this very obnoxious offer and attempted guilt trip, courtesy of this rude, crazy old bat, she then says it's hot and she's going inside. Fine, good riddance. I should have revoked her invitation of coming over here whenever she pleased while I was at it, but of course, I lacked the bolts to do that and thus, I turned and went back inside, shaking with anger. I call hubbs up immediately and tell him what happend. He laughs it off, but his laugh is laced with concern. I tell him, I'm actually scared of our dog being stolen and I made a mental note of not letting my dog out in the back yard without supervision. A couple days later, after the intial shock from that aweful conversation wore off, I began to relax. It was on a Sunday morning, when someone knocked on our door, I wondered who could it be...only to discover it was our crazy old neighbor. Great.....I can only guess as to what brings her over.....(to be continued)

Back home and resting up!

Hello everyone! It's a very quiet Friday and so scorching outside, so we are staying indoors, trying to stay cool. We came back home a day early, swung by to pick up my little doxie at a friend's, who's been watching her for me, while we have been away, then we pulled in our driveway, pretty much fell out of the truck, as we opened the doors, dragged ourselves and our luggage up the walkway, opened the door, turned off the alarm and fell on the couches. We pretty much stayed there the rest of the evening. The next day, we were couch potatoes as well. This trip took a lot out of us! It was a trip, not a vacation, tho we still found time to do a few things that were fun. But the main reason we went to Ms was for hubby's eye surgery. Thank goodness, they went through with the surgery, as they told hubby he was a borderline candidate and there was no guarantee they would give him the surgery when we got there. We chose to drive all the way there on our own dime on a "maybe". The way things were going for us, from the moment we were on the road, we were nearly certain they would not give him the surgery, just because things were going so cruddy, it seemed like a precurser for things to come. The trip there was supposed to be no more than 6 hours. Hubby accidently took the long rout without thinking and it took 9 hours to get there! As soon as we got there, this horrible severe lightening and flash flood storm happened. And to top it off, we put off eating dinner so we could get there as soon as we could, dispite running late, and then grab a bite, but because of the storm that hit when we got there, we were stuck in our hotel room for an hour, waiting it out and it was almost 9 pm....We did try to call for delivery, but get this; ALL the phone numbers we tried, were either changed, no longer in service or no one would pick up. We couldn't wait any longer because we were so hungry, so we braved the storm and aweful lightening and flooding roads to see if we could find any drive thru that might be open. We found Wendy's, thank goodness and grabbed our food and drove back. Like I said, we were certain that the next day was gonna stink, because hubby was to go to the Dr's and they would decide whether he would get the surgery or not. So, it was a huge and wonderful surprise when he came back from the Dr's that morning with good news! After the confirmation of the surgery, we moved out of the TLF (temporary lodging facility) on base and we went to the Fisher House on base, to stay, which is basically like a civilian hospital's Ronald McDonald house in comparison, where ppl stay for an indefinite period of time, when they are in treatment at the base hospital or have a loved one who is in treatment there. The Fisher house is awesome, btw. We met a lot of wonderful ppl there, made a few friends, have seen some sadness, when comforting and praying for a lady and her sick husband who is going thru chemo for cancer...

We did manage to get out to have some fun, before and after hubby's eye surgery. One day, we took our Daughter to this horse ranch and we went riding on a trail. That was our Daughter's favorite experience, she told us, of all the things she did while staying in Ms. I will have to post a pic of that...

We also went to the casinos and I only played the penny and nickle slots and I won two dollars out of the five dollars I played. I sipped on hot chocolate with whipped cream while I played the slots and of course the drinks were free, so I drank a lot of hot chocolate. Lol....Hubby and I went back the next couple days and our last night there, hubby won $250 out of the $100 he played, so he was up $150, which was neat. I only played that first night. I guess I just am not into gambling which is a good thing. :-) We went to the beach one day and then our very last day there, we went to Ship Island, which was so much fun. We took the ferry to this island and stayed there for the day. We saw a lot of dolphins on the boat, which was about an hour ride to the island and the segulls were so funny trying to catch the food that ppl threw off the boat for them. We also visited the Fort that was there. Fort Massachusetts. Very cool and it had the biggest flippin cannons I have ever seen in my entire life. Wow.....And the view from the top of the fort is breath taking...Daughter found lots of neat seashells, built sandcastles and swam. After we left, we went back to the hotel (We moved out of the Fisher house and into the Tyre House a couple days before, on the day of hubby's last Dr's appt there), we showered and hubby took us to the Casino for the buffet, which we went one time before that week and it was so good, we wanted to go back on our last night. The crab legs and ribs are so good. Over all, a great last day in Biloxi, Ms. The next morning, the morning we were to check out to leave, the hotel fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate the building. As I mentioned before, this hotel is called the Tyre House. It is on the military base, as well, and it's a very nice hotel. And I do mean REALLY nice. Anyways, so thank goodness, we were already up and moving around and we were all packed up and ready to start taking our luggage out to the truck when this fire alarm went off. So, for about half an hour, we sat outside with everyone else, watching the fire trucks and stuff do their thing. Apparently, it was nothing. I guess a false alarm. We left out, only 15 minutes later than planned, so it wasn't so bad. It was a 7 hour trip back home, because of all the stops and stuff, but all in all, a much better trip back home than it was getting to Ms... I guess the past couple weeks caught up to us, tho. We were and are still so worn out! Today is much better, but I'm still keeping it a quiet day. We didn't want to have any friends over this weekend, just because we want to keep it a quiet weekend and recover from the trip. Friday nights, we normally get out or have ppl over, but this evening we'll grill out a couple steaks and just relax, just hubby, Daughter and me.....Not much planned for the weekend, as well. Daugther and I need to get school supplies and ballet outfits and stuff, and I need to grab a few groceries too. That's about it! Hope everyone else has a good weekend! God bless...

Another trip coming up...

Once again, we are in the final stages of preparing for yet, another fun family trip. This time, to Biloxi, Ms. I mentioned in an earlier post what the main reason for this trip is for. We hope Hubby gets this eye surgery. I will let you know upon our return. We will be leaving out on July 26th and we will return on August 6th. Nearly two weeks out of town. I am actually looking forward to another family trip. Even tho this is not a vacation, we do plan on making the most of it and doing some fun things while there. A day or two or more at the beach comes to mind....oh and casinos. Lol....as well as a day at a horse ranch, which was originally intended soley for our Daugther's entertainment, but let's face it, I love horses too! Not much going on this week, aside from prepping for this trip. I need to pack up, tidy my home, (since I NEVER leave out on trips with an untidy place to come home to) wash the dogs, go to a friend's pool party Saturday and run quite a few errands that need to be ran this week for various reasons. Busy, but not too busy. Still time for visiting with friends and laying out to catch a tan before heading to the Biloxi beach.... Something I never really understood, but I seem to have adopted the habit that many women are guilty of: tanning before going on trips and vacations where beaches are. I guess we just want to blend in better with the tan, sun kissed people.
A total change of subject:
Anyone who is interested in the new Harry Potter movie, but has yet to see it: It was awesome!!! Sad, but awesome. Go see it, it is worth the money, but make sure to take that bathroom break before the movie starts, as it is two and a half hours long. Oh and best not to buy that extra large drink...
I hope you all are having a good week so far. Hugs and God bless!

Well, it's been a while...

I guess I really have been busy! Today was pretty unproductive and maybe that's why I actually thought to stop in and post something, since nothing else was going on. Fourth of July was awesome! I need to post pics, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. Just fireworks and such and I'm being lazy right now and don't want to take the time to exercise my muscles and get off my hind end and walk the 6 feet to the table where the camera is. It's midnight, so I guess my body's in sleep mode. Lol...
We are leaving in a couple weeks for Biloxi, Mississippi. I love spelling out the whole state name...It's got so many S's! Hubby is a candidate for some form of lazer eye surgery to improve his eye sight. He's pretty much legally blind. And that's where we are a bit nervous. Apparently, your eyes can be too bad for them to want to fix them. There is NO guarantee he will get this surgery. We are basically going all the way there on a "maybe". Now, I know most of you are thinking why the heck would we spend the money to go all the way up there and possibly, not even get the surgery he needs. Well, at least he will know for sure and never have the "what if" in the back of his mind....we are going to make the best of this trip and visit the beach and go horse back riding one day and visit the Casino's....I'm not a gambler, but hey, is it bad to plan on losing a few bucks? If I don't gamble and just plan on tossing X amount of my money away, I figure, if I do actually win some extra money, then it will be a nice surprise. Anyways, there isn't a whole lot new going on. It is indeed the lazy days of summer. I do love sometimes, when things settle down a bit and nothing crazy is going on and we just go with the flow.....We still have till September 2nd till school starts for my Daughter. She and I both, while enjoying summer break, are excited about this year. The curriculum has doubled, going into third grade. Apparently, A Beka Academy wants the children to be ready for college come third grade. Lol....I love A Beka Academy. It is, in my opinion, THE BEST Christian homeschool program for my Daughter. It is perfectly suited for her, as if they tailored it just for her needs. It's awesome and we are lucky that she benifiets so greatly from this particular homeschool program. I can schedule the lessons to her and my liking. We decided to try something different this year. Block scheduling. Since the curriculum has nearly doubled, we feel this would work out great. I had block scheduling in HS and LOVED it! I wasn't burned out on subjects like I was before. If you don't know what block scheduling is, it's where the curriculum is basically split up into alternating days, instead of all the subjects done all together every single day. Daughter is taking the standardized test at the end of this year and I am so curious to see where she lies academically. I know her strongest subject is Arithmatic, which she is a wiz at and her weakest is spelling....which I was the opposite back in school. So funny. I wish she took the test at the end of last year, but we will have to wait and be patient.....Anyways, enough of that. I am sitting her listening to my music and I'm starting to get sleepy. I am gonna try to catch up on a recorded tv episode and then hit the pillow. I hope you all are doing well and God bless....