Back to school, back to work. It's all the same for me. I drive a school bus. Pick kids up, drop kids off, pick kids up, drop kids off. That is my job. I drive A LOT! Oh, there are regular school days and then there are field trips and let's not forget the sports events. It is amazing how many muscles are on hiatus during the summer months. When school starts, Oh, the aches and pains begin. And the finger bruises. Those are the worst.
But, when you see the nervous smiles of the first day step up on the first step of the bus, your heart melts and you smile and say "Welcome back!" They just beam a smile back at you and you just know that it is going to be another good year.
Ok, maybe not a good whole school year, but mostly good. The kids are getting younger every year. Do you realize that I transport kids that have just turned 3 over the summer and barely potty trained? Back in my day, you had to be at least 5 to go to school. Now we offer preschool transportation. Times are sure different now.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Fair Happenings
this is Buck
and this is Cisco
getting Cisco ready for the ride meeting.Unfortunately, Jayde didn't show at all at fair for 4-H. Buck was still not up to par and there was a mix up in what class she was to show in. When she did get the opportunity to show in the open classes, Cisco didn't listen to her. So, we borrowed another horse for barrels and the ball race. The horse's name is Speedy. He is a thoroughbred and he used to be a barrel horse after his racing career was over. Anyway, they blew the barrels. He never made it past the first one. But, she got him under control on the ball race, but neglected to throw the ball in the barrel. DQ. She did, however, enjoy the ride! I finally saw a smile on her face after 5 days of fair.
Traci showing Jayde that Cisco will go over the bridgeSince she had her time, it was time for me. After spending all but 1 night at the fair, I decided to have a go at the fun stuff, myself. I enrolled in the baby bottle competition and the ribbon race.
Baby bottle is where 2 people ride 1 horse. The one that is "driving" the horse holds a baby bottle, filled with 2 inches of water, behind their shoulder and "feeds" it to the person sitting behind them. That person cannot use their hands to guide the bottle and has to empty the bottle as fast as possible. (that was me!) We did not win, nor did we finish in any placement. But we had a blast!
Ribbon race is 2 people on seperate horses, each person holding opposite ends of an 18" ribbon as tight as possible. The judges make you walk, trot, canter, turn, turn nose to nose and back your horse across the show ring. My partner dropped it at canter. But it was fun.
I borrowed this picture from Google images. example of ribbon race.
Our end of the barn, 3 days into fair.So, after a week of RV living, it was time to pack it in. I did not stay for the demolition derby or the cattle sorting. Both events draw a huge crowd and I just didn't have the strength to handle the crush of human bodies. So, I got my end of fair food, cleaned up the RV and said goodbye for another year. It was fun, but it was time to go home.
Wish I had taken more photos than I did, most of which were of the club decorating the barn. Since Jayde didn't really "show" I really didn't take out my camera much.
Now that fair is over, it is time to get down to the business of getting ready for work and school. Oh, yeah, that kinda goes hand in hand in the business that I am in. lol
I really hope everyone has had a great summer and enjoy the beauty of the coming fall.
Road-trip part II
To finish my road-trip story, I will try to make it a little less in depth than the last blog. Here goes....
So, Jayde and I arrived at mom and dad's after dark. I cut the lights and pulled into the driveway and parked. Observing that the back porch light and the television were on, we got out of the van, closed the doors very quietly and, in "007 style", slid in the back door for the big surprise.
I thought Bruce was going to have a heart attack, litterally! The look on his face was priceless. Of course, if someone just snuck up on me like that and started waiving at me, I would be in shock too.. So, the next surprise was for mom. Bruce went in first and I don't know what he said to her, but when she stood up and turned around, she was almost kinda peeved that someone was here. However, when it hit her that it was her daughter, she was overwhelmed with glee.....:)) Hugs then proceeded to be given and then the ritual of carrying in of the luggage. Dad confessed to knowing about the plan the whole time.
We talked, ate, laughed and ate some more. Jayde had to make hobo hash for everyone. (her favorite) Jayde and I went swimming with the manatees. Then Beth came over for a visit and she and I went swimming with the manatees. I could have stayed in that water for the whole day if permitted. But that was not the case. I took lots of pictures.
Oh, I have to tell you about the night that I stayed up worrying about the mass murderer in my head.....Beth and I stayed in the RV, so as not to keep people up while we stayed up talking. Anyway, I got to the RV before Beth and the subject got on how my sister-in-law died. So, that was probably what got my whole brain rattled. Beth fell asleep and I was left with my own thoughts rolling around in my head. I started thinking that if something happened to us, we were not connected with the house, nobody would hear it. Then I kept hearing noises. (being in a camper, you hear noises). Anyway, I convinced myself that it was nothing, and got up to show myself that I was right. Crazy, huh.? Well, when I did, I found that the door to the RV was hanging wide open. OMG!!!!! So I close the door and LOCK it. then I turn on the light and check the camper from front to back. Turn off the light and got back into bed. Still hearing things outside, waiting for the camper to shift it's weight and staring into the darkness for any shadow that moved. I finally heard a group of kids walking down the street laughing and talking. Somehow, that calmed me down and I was able to get some sleep. That was my mostly sleepless night in the RV.
Jayde and I got to spend our last day in Florida together on the beach, making our sand turtle, chasing dolphins and taking lots of pictures, mostly of Jayde. We were going to go canoeing, but the weather didn't cooperate with us. So we just had a most relaxing day on the beach before the big drive home.
Mom, Dad and Bruce were sad to see us go, but we had to return to our "real" life back in Ohio. I was kinda excited to be going home, because Richard told me he had a big surprise for me when we got home.
Soo , the ride home was great until I fueled up just outside of Chattanooga. Apparently, I put some bad gas in the van, because it started acting strange and I started stressing......Badly. So much so, that I started making plans in my head as to who to call if I got stranded on I-75 on the Jellico mountain pass. I called mom and dad and started crying, (Jayde was asleep) I called Richard and was crying. They called each other worried about what was going on. And it was all for naught. I made it over the pass just fine, and stopped and got gas again in KY. I felt like such a fool. BUT, just to let you know, I was praying the whole way over that awful mountain pass. I had God's protection over our travels. Anyway, we stopped at Jonathan's and dropped off his 13 fresh herb plants that I got for him. It was an aromatic drive home to say the least. Basil, thyme, mint, aloe, etc. We got home around 930pm.
Oh, and my big surprise from Richard???? A new wood floor in the kitchen. He spent a week tearing out the nastiest carpet and rubber kickboard you have ever seen in your life, and putting down a beautiful new wood floor. I have to say that he can be pretty thoughtful when he wants to be.
So there you have it....a synopsis of my trip to Florida, summer 2011. Hope you enjoyed the journey.
So, Jayde and I arrived at mom and dad's after dark. I cut the lights and pulled into the driveway and parked. Observing that the back porch light and the television were on, we got out of the van, closed the doors very quietly and, in "007 style", slid in the back door for the big surprise.
I thought Bruce was going to have a heart attack, litterally! The look on his face was priceless. Of course, if someone just snuck up on me like that and started waiving at me, I would be in shock too.. So, the next surprise was for mom. Bruce went in first and I don't know what he said to her, but when she stood up and turned around, she was almost kinda peeved that someone was here. However, when it hit her that it was her daughter, she was overwhelmed with glee.....:)) Hugs then proceeded to be given and then the ritual of carrying in of the luggage. Dad confessed to knowing about the plan the whole time.
We talked, ate, laughed and ate some more. Jayde had to make hobo hash for everyone. (her favorite) Jayde and I went swimming with the manatees. Then Beth came over for a visit and she and I went swimming with the manatees. I could have stayed in that water for the whole day if permitted. But that was not the case. I took lots of pictures.
Oh, I have to tell you about the night that I stayed up worrying about the mass murderer in my head.....Beth and I stayed in the RV, so as not to keep people up while we stayed up talking. Anyway, I got to the RV before Beth and the subject got on how my sister-in-law died. So, that was probably what got my whole brain rattled. Beth fell asleep and I was left with my own thoughts rolling around in my head. I started thinking that if something happened to us, we were not connected with the house, nobody would hear it. Then I kept hearing noises. (being in a camper, you hear noises). Anyway, I convinced myself that it was nothing, and got up to show myself that I was right. Crazy, huh.? Well, when I did, I found that the door to the RV was hanging wide open. OMG!!!!! So I close the door and LOCK it. then I turn on the light and check the camper from front to back. Turn off the light and got back into bed. Still hearing things outside, waiting for the camper to shift it's weight and staring into the darkness for any shadow that moved. I finally heard a group of kids walking down the street laughing and talking. Somehow, that calmed me down and I was able to get some sleep. That was my mostly sleepless night in the RV.
Jayde and I got to spend our last day in Florida together on the beach, making our sand turtle, chasing dolphins and taking lots of pictures, mostly of Jayde. We were going to go canoeing, but the weather didn't cooperate with us. So we just had a most relaxing day on the beach before the big drive home.
Mom, Dad and Bruce were sad to see us go, but we had to return to our "real" life back in Ohio. I was kinda excited to be going home, because Richard told me he had a big surprise for me when we got home.
Soo , the ride home was great until I fueled up just outside of Chattanooga. Apparently, I put some bad gas in the van, because it started acting strange and I started stressing......Badly. So much so, that I started making plans in my head as to who to call if I got stranded on I-75 on the Jellico mountain pass. I called mom and dad and started crying, (Jayde was asleep) I called Richard and was crying. They called each other worried about what was going on. And it was all for naught. I made it over the pass just fine, and stopped and got gas again in KY. I felt like such a fool. BUT, just to let you know, I was praying the whole way over that awful mountain pass. I had God's protection over our travels. Anyway, we stopped at Jonathan's and dropped off his 13 fresh herb plants that I got for him. It was an aromatic drive home to say the least. Basil, thyme, mint, aloe, etc. We got home around 930pm.
Oh, and my big surprise from Richard???? A new wood floor in the kitchen. He spent a week tearing out the nastiest carpet and rubber kickboard you have ever seen in your life, and putting down a beautiful new wood floor. I have to say that he can be pretty thoughtful when he wants to be.
So there you have it....a synopsis of my trip to Florida, summer 2011. Hope you enjoyed the journey.
Friday, July 22, 2011
First leg of Road Trip 2011
Jayde and I decided to take a trip to Florida this summer. However, the vehicle we were to drive, my van, decided to take a different trip - to the transmission shop. Soooo, we waited. And waited. We were supposed to be there over the 4th of July. By the time the van was done, my schedule was starting to become busy again with fair preparations and home duties. Yes, we had to cancel our trip.
Or so it seemed.
We devised a plan to sneak attack mom and dad and Bruce. Seemed pretty simple. Get up at 330am drive almost 1000 miles and show up on their doorstep without advance notice. Good plan, huh? One hitch, though. What if they decide to just go somewhere and they are not home. Hmmmm, kind of a dilemma. So, I let dad in on the plan and he gave me the go-ahead.
Since Jayde had to work the day before we left, she was totally unprepared. Doing laundry at 10pm and not packed. I, on the other hand, had been packed for 2 weeks. I had refused to unpack because I knew I would eventually get to go. So, the time had come and I had all my stuff in the van. I told Jayde to make sure her stuff was in it before she went to bed. She agreed. Staying up until about midnight/1am watching Netflix, and keeping me awake was not the best thing to do for her. She didn't pack anything in the car the night before, except what she was going to sleep on. Needless to say, we didn't get gone until 417am.
We had to make a stop before getting into Dayton, to get ice and other things, but the interstate welcomed us at approximately 5am. I always dread the Cincinnati traffic, but this morning it was a very smooth drive into KY. It seemed that as soon as we got through the state line area, the fog set in. And it didn't lift until we were almost in TN.
I saw a sign that said that I-75 had a detour ahead and to take 25W. There was a hazardous spill on the Jellico mountain pass, and all 4 lanes of I-75 were shut down. Northbound traffic was being diverted onto 25E and Southbound traffic onto 25W. I decided to take 25E because I am familiar with that area. So, there was the first slowdown. Jayde had finally woken up and decided to play co-pilot, which was a great help to me. So, we started off going "round the mountain". I felt totally at ease and was enjoying the comfort of knowing where I was and not feeling disoriented at all. It was great! The Eastbound lane on 63 was bumper to bumper, while Westbound was free flowing and easy driving, until we got to Lafollette, TN. Halfway through town, we came to a stand still. There were traffic cops directing the diverted Northbound I-75 traffic in the middle of town. It was backed up for about a mile going that direction. We, however, were going the other way. It was about a 15 minuted wait for us to get through and we were on our way.
While we were sitting there, we happened to be parked in front of a local radio station. So we tuned in to see what was playing and see if there were any updates on the traffic conditions. There was a song playing on the radio that was singing about Speedwell, TN. Jayde thought it was cool road trip music, fitting the situation we were in and where we were at. It was a really cool time, being in that traffic jam. I'm really glad we went that way.
More about our road trip in future blogs.
Or so it seemed.
We devised a plan to sneak attack mom and dad and Bruce. Seemed pretty simple. Get up at 330am drive almost 1000 miles and show up on their doorstep without advance notice. Good plan, huh? One hitch, though. What if they decide to just go somewhere and they are not home. Hmmmm, kind of a dilemma. So, I let dad in on the plan and he gave me the go-ahead.
Since Jayde had to work the day before we left, she was totally unprepared. Doing laundry at 10pm and not packed. I, on the other hand, had been packed for 2 weeks. I had refused to unpack because I knew I would eventually get to go. So, the time had come and I had all my stuff in the van. I told Jayde to make sure her stuff was in it before she went to bed. She agreed. Staying up until about midnight/1am watching Netflix, and keeping me awake was not the best thing to do for her. She didn't pack anything in the car the night before, except what she was going to sleep on. Needless to say, we didn't get gone until 417am.
We had to make a stop before getting into Dayton, to get ice and other things, but the interstate welcomed us at approximately 5am. I always dread the Cincinnati traffic, but this morning it was a very smooth drive into KY. It seemed that as soon as we got through the state line area, the fog set in. And it didn't lift until we were almost in TN.
I saw a sign that said that I-75 had a detour ahead and to take 25W. There was a hazardous spill on the Jellico mountain pass, and all 4 lanes of I-75 were shut down. Northbound traffic was being diverted onto 25E and Southbound traffic onto 25W. I decided to take 25E because I am familiar with that area. So, there was the first slowdown. Jayde had finally woken up and decided to play co-pilot, which was a great help to me. So, we started off going "round the mountain". I felt totally at ease and was enjoying the comfort of knowing where I was and not feeling disoriented at all. It was great! The Eastbound lane on 63 was bumper to bumper, while Westbound was free flowing and easy driving, until we got to Lafollette, TN. Halfway through town, we came to a stand still. There were traffic cops directing the diverted Northbound I-75 traffic in the middle of town. It was backed up for about a mile going that direction. We, however, were going the other way. It was about a 15 minuted wait for us to get through and we were on our way.
While we were sitting there, we happened to be parked in front of a local radio station. So we tuned in to see what was playing and see if there were any updates on the traffic conditions. There was a song playing on the radio that was singing about Speedwell, TN. Jayde thought it was cool road trip music, fitting the situation we were in and where we were at. It was a really cool time, being in that traffic jam. I'm really glad we went that way.
More about our road trip in future blogs.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
test blog
I am starting this blog today. Just testing this to see how it looks and to get it started.
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