Monday and Back to the Old Grind!

Back to work again, vacation is over! Wish it could have lasted longer, but it was good while it lasted. Except for Bill being sick, that we could have done without. He's better now.

It only took me about and hour and a half to get caught up at work, even after having been gone for a week. It's not a busy office.

Otter and I had a Mother/Daughter Day on Friday. We started that tradition when she was little, where we would spend the day together and just do whatever we wanted - mostly whatever she wanted. As she's gotten older, it has evolved into more shopping than anything else. But I'm not complaining, we enjoy the time together.

Among other things, I bought a skirt, blouse & pair of slacks. And they are all TWO SIZES SMALLER than the rest of my clothes! I'm not buying a lot of new clothes at the moment, as I'm still working on my weight. But I do have to get a few things. So we went to Goodwill. We also went to a few yard sales and found a few misc. things, not anything spectacular though.

Saturday was interesting. We were having our usual Sabbath observance, not doing much but enjoying the time together and resting. Bill noticed a teenage boy out in the field behind the house, he kept coming up to the fence and then backing off. Bill could see something in his hands, so he got the binoculars. The kid was texting someone with his cell phone. It looked like he was interested in the shed. The boy saw Bill watching him through the window, so he got on his bike and rode off. Then he came back a few minutes later and crouched down behind some weeds. He wasn't very smart, because a few weeds does not make a very good hiding place! Every so often he would peek up and he was definitely looking at the shed, we think he was trying to see what was inside. There is a window on that end of the shed, but it was closed so there was no light inside. Bill decided to "intimidate", in his words. He got one of the rifles, put it on his shoulder and casually strolled out the door towards the shed. I was watching out the window, I could see exactly when the boy spotted Bill (and the gun) because he jerked back, then he popped up and walked quickly to his bike - still texting it looked like. Then he got on his bike and booked it! He did not come back. We were pretty sure that he wouldn't be back, since he now knows that not only were we aware of his presence, but that we are also armed. However, I did go buy a lock for the shed door and also put one on the back gate. I think that the reason he kept backing down from the fence was probably because he saw the electric fence signs we have up.

And where were the dogs during all this you might ask? THEY WERE ASLEEP!!!!!

On Sunday, Bill felt better but not the best so he decided not to go to church. He mentioned mowing the lawn, I told him that I was going to stay home and keep him from mowing. He told me he would make a bargain - I would go to church and he would stay home but not mow. Well, I'm smarter than that. So I told him that I was taking the gas can with me, since the mower is out of gas and I didn't trust him to not mow. And I did exactly that, it stayed in the trunk of my car the whole time Otter and I were in church and Sunday School. I did fill the can up on the way home, but it rained again this afternoon so the jungle, I mean lawn, still needs to be mowed. Maybe tomorrow.

Otter went to work with me today. She was uneasy about staying home by herself since the incident on Saturday, and we weren't comfortable with it either. So we packed a lunch and she spent the day in "her office" as she calls the copy/file cabinet room that is off of my office. And she made money, EL gave her a dollar just for being there. He usually does that, he spoils her rotten. She's going back tomorrow, it's karate day and it will be easier if she's with me so I don't have to come all the way home and then back again.

Rescued several more frogs the last few days. One of them keeps getting stuck in the dog's water dish. Today, I put two bricks in the water dish so it can at least get out on it's own. There are billions of the little hoppers in the yard. Magginator was rolling on something yesterday, I went to check and it was what was left of a grass snake. She was not happy when I took it away and then tossed it over the fence!

And it turns out that we are not Cravens after all. We always knew that there had been an adoption in the family history on Mom's side, because of the Cherokee connection. It turns out that one of our ancestors was taken in by a white family, sometime after he left the Trail of Tears and made his way back to Arkansas. He took the last name of the family, Cravens, as his own. We don't have a lot of information, but the family legend we affectionately call Uncle Ben is one of those interesting but true stories. Go to Google, type in Outlaw Ben Cravens. You'll be amazed. Ben was probably Mom's Dad's brother, and even though he was the black sheep of the family he was in contact with his brother.

It gets better. Dad's family was more than just a little bit Indian. Little Gramma, as we called his mom, was possibly a Full Blood Osage. So now I have a whole bunch more research to do, and I am enjoying it. I really enjoyed what I learned about the Cherokee culture, now I'm going to research the Osage.

I took off the guestbook feature. Nobody ever signed it anyway.