#100 is Just for Duh!

This is the 100th post on my blog.

It should be special. I had planned for it to be special. But the only thing that will make it special is that I am dedicating this particular post to my young friend, Duh Girl.

Tonight, Duh Girl sent a message through Bex that she was mad at me. Why was she mad, you ask? (Remember, I can read your minds...) Well, she said she was mad because I hadn't posted anything new on my blog in a few days.

Okay. That is true.

So, Duh Girl....walk with me, talk with me....

As you no doubt know from my last post on Wednesday, things have been a bit WET around Lonesome Pine lately. For each trip into town from our vast estate, we now must add a minimum of 25 minutes...just to get to where we would have started from. That could easily account for me NOT being able to take another hour of my day to blog. But maybe not, maybe there WAS a time I could have written something special...hmmm....

So, let's see when I could have posted... hmmmm....walk with me through the past few days...

I posted Wednesday, right? So Wednesday was covered.

Early Thursday morning, Bex and I piled into her car and headed to town. Her first class was at 8:35am...so that means we had to leave home at 7am.... Okay? I was surely not an early-enough bird to want to get up and post Thursday morning.

After Bex completed her classes, we picked up one of my dear friends and took her to the bus station where she would begin her mission trip to Nicaraugua.

After dropping her off, we stopped at Arby's for lunch (they have a 5 for $5.95 special, we love!). We rang the bell because we got really good service. The manager was really sweet and actually had a personality! Go figure!!! (Arby's on Tennessee Street)

As soon as we were finished at Arby's we headed for the school so that we could take a very long, very hot, very airy, very loud ride on a very old school bus all the way to Dothan, AL to play our arch rivals in volleyball.

After arriving, we spent an excruciating 45 minutes watching our JV team, consisting of inexperienced 7th and 8th graders, play against a team of 9th, 10th, and 11th graders. Needless to say, our young girls looked like deer in headlights --and played that way. But we were proud the girls never gave up --even taking the thrashing that they did--they kept trying!

Our evening improved when our Varsity took to the court --playing nearly the same team from the other school. Come on! Let's see how you do when you play someone your own size!

I'll just say...our Varsity kicked butt and didn't take names! The coach of the other team was not pleased. Our coach and the scorekeeper (yours truly) were VERY pleased at how our girls played as a team, took charge of the game and never looked back! We won in 3 sets. (Best 3 of 5)

Then, after the very long, very hot, very airy, very loud (and I'll add very smelly) ride on a very old bus all the way home to Tallytown...we finally arrived home at Lonesome Pine about 11pm. Didn't feel much like posting then, either!

So, now we're up to Friday. Well, after tossing and turning all night on the couch -- Oh! Did I forget to mention that when I arrived home Thursday night and tossed the coverlet back on my bed that it was covered with THOUSANDS of ants? My, my that was so much fun. It was especially fun because we didn't have any Bengal to kill them! So, Mr. Fix-It slept on one couch and I sort-of slept on the other one...

But I digress... Friday morning, Bex and I got up and started our normal routine around The Pine. About mid-morning, our new neighbor drove up in the driveway whilst I was still attired in my night-gown. Lest the dogs use her as a chew-toy, I quickly dressed and went out to rescue her and ascertain the reason for her visit. She had come to let Bex know that her beloved CJ was limping on 3-legs in the field behind her house --obviously injured.

Since you and Bex share hearts, you KNOW this bit of news sent her into a tailspin. She took off in her car towards the horse pasture...conveniently forgetting to take her mom with her. So, after profusely thanking our neighbor and making sure that she had our telephone numbers for future reference, I waved good-bye to her and headed back indoors.

My first order of business was to see if any of our 'horsey' neighbors were at home. It's always good to have one of them on hand, in case of emergency. So, while I'm trying to locate phone numbers, etc., Bex calls and gives me the update that CJ's hurting real bad, but she can't find the wound. Surely you can imagine the drama!!!

I won't go into the details of CJ's injury here...but just so the world knows...CJ is going to be fine. Praise the Lord! It may take a few days of healing, but he IS on the mend. We have a very good idea of the nature of his problem and are taking measures to keep it from happening again. (I'm trying not to defame our farrier, here!)

During the afternoon hours, I have no idea what went on. I do think a few of those hours might have been spent frivolously. You know-- cleaning the kitchen, sweeping my bathroom, getting the 6" of sand out of the kitchen floor and rugs, reminding Bex to keep the washing machine and dryer running...

At 5pm, I do know that I took a shower so that I could get ready to go to the Gala at the Car Museum --they were opening a new room featuring model trains and train memorabilia. Since Mr. Fix-It is such a VIP with the owner of the museum, we were invited to the "invitation only" festivities. The party was a veritable 'Who's Who' in Tallytown. We were hob-knobbing with the 'beautiful people', don't ya' know! Actually, we enjoyed visiting with quite a few old friends, too. The food was catered from a lot of local restaurants. Can you believe I ate a 'fish' taco and LIKED it? The artichoke dip and Paulina's (gourmet) Pizza was good, too!

After touring the entire museum, we headed towards town to drop Bex at the volleyball coach's new apartment where the team would spend the night prior to today's tournament.

As we were getting into town, we saw a pickup truck just about side-swipe two cars at an intersection. Mr. Fix-It observed that the driver continued to drive very erratically. So as I dialed 911, Mr. Fix-It continued to follow the truck. After following the truck for about 10 minutes, through several u-turns, etc., the 911 operator told us we had to quit following him. "They would keep a look out for the vehicle...but that was all they could do." What? If that is all you're going to do...why did you ask us to continue following him in the first place? So, don't bother calling in to report drunk drivers --the cops don't care until someone gets killed by the drunk...like my friend Mr. Arnold's grandson who was standing on the sidewalk when the drunk decided to drive on the sidewalk, too! You can tell this didn't upset me very much.

After dropping Bex off at the Coach's, Mr. Fix-It and I had to make a trip to WallyWorld...it WAS Friday night, after all! (That may just be an inside joke here at The Pine about our life being so exciting that we go to Wal*Mart on Friday nights..I don't know if other people feel that way.)

After purchasing Bengal, our wonder-spray, we drove home our 'usual' route. We wanted to know how much the roads were still flooded --AND -- if our route to/from town could be shortened. After driving through and around much water, turning around, looking at the end of our road that is still covered with a foot or so of water, going around the long way again, we finally made it home about 11pm. Believe it or not, Duh Girl, I just didn't feel like typing a blog post then.

As the Saturday sunlight peeked through the blinds over the couch I sort-of slept on for the 2nd night because of ANTS!!!!, I heard this weird sound. About that time I figured out it was my cell-phone ringing. It was Bex calling to ask me to bring a list of things that either the Coach forgot or one of the players needed. (You know, the whole "Team Mom" thing.)

I scurried around and finally left home about 9am, went to the gym where the volleyball tournament was being held and decided to stay till it was over at 3pm. The Coach was kind of glad I decided to stay, since I kept the books for the team's matches...as usual. It might have been a bit awkward if I had left in the middle so I could run home and post to my blog, right? By the way, our team won each of its matches...Bex played a great game, as usual. Wahoo!

As we were leaving the gym, the Coach reminded me that the FSU volleyball team had a match at 7pm and she thinks she will be going. You KNOW we love volleyball!!! Bex and I decided we would stay in town for that too! It's wayyyyy too expensive to go home and come back, don't ya' know. So we decided to make a beeline to anyplace air-conditioned with FOOD--we picked the Mall. We enjoyed a nice lunch, spent a few hours people watching, walking and looking. (Macy's had a mannequin in the front window wearing a pair of white short-shorts and no top at all. She looked cold, if ya' know what I mean... We thought it was a bit risque for Macy's...I wonder if that's the newest style?) About 5:30 pm, we headed for Tully Gym and the game. FSU smashed Stetson University...that was nice.

After stopping at Publix on the way home (which you know about because Bex was on the phone with YOU!) we headed home --the LONG way and arrived at The Pine about 9:30pm. A very long day --once again.

So, Duh Girl...

I've been a bit busy. Since I don't have any of those cool little conveniences like a Blackberry or a laptop (Mr. Fix-It frowns on me taking HIS!)...if I did, I could post to my blog while running around town and all over the country. So, I guess you'll just have to be mad at me until I gather my little brains together to come up with a better post here at home.

But even if you're mad...I know you love me anyway...because that's the kind of gal you are, right? Yes, I know I'm right. That is why I'm glad you're Bex (and MY) friend.

I promise to do better. Remind me to tell you about our blogging contest coming up...A September to Remember...

Stay tuned.