My protector

Last night it was just Lane and I.  Madolyn was at church camp as a babysitter and Jay was at work.  Right at dark, Abby, our oldest surviving dog ever, started barking.  I went out to investigate and saw her staring into the woods behind the barn.  Hank the Tank II, the most pitiful dog ever-but we love him, came outside with me and looked that way but immediately tucked his tail and retreated inside.  I couldn't see anything and also went back inside.  Lane asked me what was going on and I told him that Abby must have seen or heard something in the woods, but I didn't see a commotion.  All was well.  We went on with our evening.

A little bit later, Abby started barking again, and I decided that maybe I had better head outside and look a little better into what she was barking at.  This time Hank the Tank took off outside and joined Abby behind the barn barking.  Lane asked me what I was doing when he saw me looking for the flashlight and he said to wait on him, he would come with me.  By the time I had found a working flashlight (you know how that it is) and my little man had his loaded rifle in hand (didn't know that was coming), the barking stopped.  We went ahead and decided to do a walk-around the barn.  With my brother and parent's cows, the horse and the pigs, you just never know.

So I with my barely-beaming flashlight and Lane with his loaded rifle set out to investigate the ruckus.  I swept the woods with the flashlight and Lane followed by my side...randomly sweeping the horizon with his rifle...as I ducked and swerved to miss the barrel.  (Good heavens, it would help if he were as tall as me.) We saw nothing.  Lane's solution was to just start shooting into the woods and pond to shut whatever up, and I said that was not a good idea.  Safety first, right?

We retreated to the house, let Hank back inside and Lane told me he would leave the loaded rifle on the kitchen table just in case.  (Isn't that where everyone leaves their loaded weapons?)  We carry on.

Because it has been so beautiful out the past few days, we had our windows open, which means that Sweet Josie has free reign in and out of the house.  Fine with us, but I knew come bedtime, she would want to be indoors when I shut the windows.  By about 9:30, I was ready to shut the house down.  I started looking outside on the front porch for Sweet Josie.  She was nowhere to be found.  (She is getting braver all the time.)  I called and called for her and nothing.  I went out on the back steps and listened to see if I could at least hear her somewhere.  All I heard were coyotes crying and every dog in the country block barking.

Out comes the Bud...with his loaded rifle.  He says, "Let me shoot at my target, that will take care of them." So I figure, why not?  At least he's shooting at something and not just into the darkness.  He fires away, we hear the blast and the ping of the target.  All is still and suddenly very quiet.  My nine-year-old looks up at me and says, "And that is how I take care of things around here.  Those coyotes can go kill someone else's cows."

He put his rifle up and guess who popped in through the living room window?  Sweet Josie had returned. Lane turned around and smugly said, "Huh, I even got the cat back in the house."

When we're on our own, we do okay, me and my protector...

Not quite, but almost

I've not quite, but almost recovered from the fair, church camp and the 4-H fair.  I'm afraid to ask what else could be added to the month of July!  To shake things up a bit, I tossed a head cold in there too, but I think I'm finally about over that one.

Maybe next week I'll be back to normal...hahahahahahahaha!

It's Fair Time!

You may not hear much out of me over the next week or two.  Once July hits, it's crazy time for us.  The wonderful, fantastic, out-of-this-world Martinsville Ag Fair starts today.  Next week is church camp and then we'll come back for 4-H fair.

I told the kids last week was the last relaxing week for us for a while.  We had ball games (I'll have to post about that) but I consider that relaxing...unless you've seen me at a ball game...ha!

If you're nearby, you must stop in this week and visit the Martinsville Ag Fair.  Once again, the fair board has worked hard to bring us quality, affordable and safe family fun.  I've even heard a rumor that calories don't count during fair week, so come stuff yourself!


Remember that the gate admission is $6 whether you plan to ride the rides or not.  The debut of the Clark County Comedy Tour is tonight at 8:00 in the church tent.  You won't want to miss that.  If the feedback is good, maybe they'll return for more!

You might want to wear some old shoes or even some snazzy rubber boots though.  Our excess rainfall has caused an over-abundance of mud.  We know the kids won't mind, it will be the parents having fits!  Won't that just get the kiddos ready for the ever-popular scramble on Thursday night!

As always, a complete schedule as well as other valuable information is posted on the fair website, www.martinsvilleagfair.com and we have a Facebook page that we are constantly updating.  Also, there are several area businesses sponsoring events this week.  If you see a sponsor, tell them Thank You.  It takes the whole community to put together an event like this one.

Thank you, fair board and sponsors, for a great week to come!

See you at the fair!

Pretend you're hot.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

I was reading in a devotional book and saw one of the best quotes ever:  "Fake it 'til you feel it."  I LOVE THAT.  If you have read many of my posts, I'm a firm believer in attitude and seeing the positive aspects in all things.  I may not always reflect that, but I do strongly believe it is essential to peace, contentment and happiness.  I never want to come across like everything is hunky dory all the time in my world, and I'm not walking around 24 hours a day pretending to be happy, but I must admit that sometimes I have to "fake it until I feel it."

Last week our canoe/tube trip was a perfect example.  As a recap, we went on a canoe/tube trip and it poured down hard on us the entire time.  I mean, every single second we were out there.  Every one.  The temperatures were supposed to be in the mid nineties.  I can't tell you with any certainty what the temperature was when we set sail, but I can say that the water in the creek felt very, very warm.  I can only guess that it was around 70 degrees, which means the air and rain were even cooler than that.  Ugh. 

It was definitely not the ideal trip on the water with 13 children.  But as I am learning, my kids seem to hold me accountable for things, even though they don't realize it.  When my kids are with me, I try very hard to keep the whining to a minimum because if mom is complaining, the kids will follow suit and it will become a complete whine-fest.  I had to put on a good face because 13 kids were watching the seven adults and how we were reacting to this not-so-ideal-canoe-trip.

Halfway through, when it became obvious the rain was not going anywhere but with us for the ride, I started shouting out the positive aspects of the trip. I have copied them from my post about our weekend:  It wasn't extremely hot (I don't like to sweat), no chance of sunburn, no bugs, we were still burning calories (we had just eaten taco salad and nachos for lunch, yummy), it wasn't hailing, there weren't high winds (although we had some wind every now and then...brrrr), water levels were good, we weren't going to waste our whole day out there on the creek and we were MAKIN' MEMORIES.

I was determined to FAKE IT 'TIL I FELT IT.  And do you know something, I actually enjoyed that silly trip down the creek...I wasn't miserable.  It wasn't the most fun I have ever had by any means, but in my mind I kept thinking, "I can't believe I'm not miserable." 

At one point I told another tuber, "Pretend you're hot!"  And instantly I felt like my father.  I can't tell you how many times the Quackdaddy has said those words to me.  Growing up when we would be out sledding or something and it would be absolutely freezing, he would say something along those lines.  "Pretend you're so hot you can't stand it."  Hmm, I never really felt that helped at the time, but I sort of get it now...or at least pretend to:)

Do I think we should walk around pretending to be happy and acting fake?  No, absolutely not.  God wants us to be ourselves and to be real.  Do I think that sometimes you have to re-adjust your attitude regarding the situation at hand to appreciate it?  Absolutely.  Sometimes you just gotta fake it 'til you feel it.

The shift from shift work

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?   Luke 12:25 (NIV)

About eight-and-a-half years ago, Jay got a new job.  Suddenly, we went from the normal or traditional workweek to that of a shift worker.  Just the thought of it was scary.  Lane was less than a year old and Madolyn was four.  Suddenly, I was going to be a single parent seven-to-eight nights a month, which doesn't sound like much, but at the time, it seemed like a huge ordeal to me.

Every January a schedule comes out for the entire year.  We know by January 1 what days and holidays Jay will work that year and when he doesn't.  It's kind of nice really to be able to plan things out in advance. 

From the get-go, we decided we would take the good with the bad and go with it.  If he worked a holiday, we would not dwell on it.  We would appreciate the holidays he didn't work.  The way his shift work rotation works, every month he is scheduled off seven days in a row.  It is great for planning vacations without having to use his vacation days.  Then he saves his vacation days for the times he really needs to be off work.

At the beginning, I had trouble with the nights.  Getting the kids to bed was stressful anyway, and doing it solo was even worse.  Fortunately, this schedule came into play once Lane was a little older, and thankfully, he was a better sleeper than his sister!

Often times I would find myself awake at midnight because I was scared, and for some reason, felt safer if I was awake.  Silly, I know.  I would hear noises outside and think for sure someone was driving down our lane...only to realize it was the train in town.  (Boy, is it noisy if the wind is just right...and we live seven miles out!)  A perk of not going to sleep was that sometimes I would stay up and clean.  Unfortunately, that perk passed.

For years I have prayed that some day, a position would open that would allow Jay to have a more traditional work week schedule, and hopefully by the time the kids would be in junior high and high school and more active with sports and such.  It is hard on him when he has to miss the kids' events and I get that. 

And you know that saying that you better be careful what you ask for...

Since January, Jay has had the opportunity to work a regular workweek schedule, for the most part. I think he has worked two of his normal shifts in those five months.  And although there are many advantages to it, it has been kind of eye opening and surprising to me how much our lives adapted to that crazy shift work schedule.  I never realized how difficult it might be to adjust.  For all of us.

Instead of working 14-15 days/nights a month (half of those days, the other half nights), Jay is working 20 days.  It may not seem like a big deal until you factor in that his days off are on the weekends and we're usually busy running here and there.  That is always how my schedule has been, but it's quite a change to him.  He is used to having days off where he can get a lot of stuff done around home (and so am I).

Now that summer is upon us, words I never thought I would hear my daughter say have surfaced, "Does dad have to work again?"  Something we hadn't considered...our kids are used to Jay being around quite a bit in the summer.  Normally, he would only work five actual weekdays in a month.  He would work some weeknights in there, but he only slept until mid-morning and would get up and have the rest of the day with the kids until I got home and he headed out again.  The good thing is the kids are older so it hasn't created a huge problem as far as their care; it just means my mother has to deal with them on a more regular basis. 

I am not complaining about the adjustment at all.  It hasn't been horrible or unbearable to live with.  It is nice to have him around evenings and weekends.  It is just very different.  It is also not permanent at this point.  He will go back to the shift work (we think) and we'll go back to our 'normal' around here.  Regardless, we are very thankful for his job, whatever schedule he is working.

Turtles abound!

Lately I have seen several turtles crossing the road.  And I mean several.  Last night I asked Jay if he had seen more turtles than usual and he said, as a matter of a fact, now that I mentioned it, he had.  We both agreed it had to do with all the rain and excess water.

So I did what any person sitting near a computer would do...I googled it.  I learned a few interesting things about the common box turtle and I thought I would share a little bit of that knowledge with you.  Aren't you a lucky one?

I found this quote on hubpages which explains the rain/turtle connection a little:  "Box Turtles spend much of their life buried under leaves and in fauna but they love to come out during and after rains to rehydrate and forage for worms and insects brought out by the rain, often following drainage ditches (many drainage gullies are along roads) and areas that temporarily fill with rain water. They navigate by the sun to find their home range so if it rains for several days with constant cloud cover they can wander aimlessly sometimes out of their range and thus may cross a road they normally wouldn't go near."  Interesting.

More cool info:  Box turtles aren't at breeding age until they're almost eight years old.  The females usually have yellowish, brown eyes and the males usually have red or orange eyes.

I learned that you should not pick a turtle up off the road and put it on the other side for various reasons:  a) it could be lost (see note about the sun above); b) it could have been knocked off course by a passing car already and turned in the opposite direction; c) they have very strong homing instincts...if someone did pick up a turtle and take it home, the turtle could have escaped and might be trying to get back home.  A turtle's home range could be three to four acres.

I also saw that turtles like to lay eggs near roads because the ditches make good nests.  Hmm, I wouldn't have thought that, especially with the threat of tractors mowing the ditches.  (I guess the turtles don't know about the tractor's mowing schedule.)

Wikipedia says that, "The average life span of adult box turtles is 50 years, while a significant proportion lives over 100 years."  WOW!  It also says they'll eat about anything they can catch.  Hmm, makes me wonder about what they catch since they're so slow.  It did mention berries.  Now that one makes sense.  They could definitely catch up to a berry, right?

I can't remember a time when I've seen so many turtles crossing the roads.  They're everywhere lately...but then so is the rain.