Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Wonderful Weekend

Last weekend got off to a great start.  Mom, Allan and I went to the play, "The Fantastiks", at the Paris Community Theater.
The talent was amazing!  I just love, love, love musicals!
We have gone to quite a few of the PCT productions and they are always great entertainment!

Saturday morning I got up BEFORE DAYLIGHT!  Yes, that's right...BEFORE DAYLIGHT!  We had alot of work to do on our new house and needed to get an early start, especially with this killer heat we're having, we didn't know how long we would last out there.
Allan got busy running the electric wire around all of the window openings.

He didn't need my help as much as we anticipated so I began my project for the day.  My cousin, Carol Ann, told me a while back that when they built their house, they wrote favorite scriptures on the frame walls.  We LOVED that idea!  I've been collecting and organizing what scriptures that I wanted to put in certain areas.  When the kids were home a few weeks ago, they did some in their rooms since they will not be back home before sheetrock is nailed up.
 I chose the scripture Phil 2:4-Do all things without grumbling...to go in my laundry room.  I will definitely need that little reminder each time I go to do a load of laundry.
"Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied"-Luke 6:21  This one is in my kitchen window. I'll be doing a blog post in the future with more about our scripture walls.
 We worked out at the house until late in the evening, came home, ate supper, cleaned up and went to bed.
Sunday morning after church, we drove to meet the kids for lunch at a little town halfway between us and them. This has become our meeting place whenever neither of us can make the full trip.
Yes, we eat at a place called "Pig Out Palace"
This restaurant has pretty good food and a gift shop too!  Not quite Cracker Barrel, well, nothing like Cracker Barrel.  If pig decor is your fancy, then make a stop at Pig Out Palace! This place is all about PIGS.  If it's your birthday, guess what?  A giant pig will come out and sing to you!
If pig themed lawn ornaments are your style, they have them too!
Anyway, we had a great lunch and visit with our kids!
Then we all parted ways and headed home to get back in time for evening church services.
On the stretch of road that we take towards OKC, there is this beautiful sight!  This "Jesus on the mountain top", as my kids have always called it, has been there for years and years.  I have no idea who keeps it up and replaces rocks as they tumble on down the mountain, but I do appreciate this reminder as we travel.  Jesus is ALWAYS near.







Friday, August 19, 2011

You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog...um Golden Retriever that is...

A few years back, our wonderful Golden Retriever, Roxie, passed away.  This was a huge loss for our family because she was pretty much the perfect dog...friendly, loving, playful, smart, obedient...and the list goes on and on.  Not long after losing her, a guy that Allan works with offered us another Golden, Sandy.  He said she was a great dog with most of the same qualities that we saw in Roxie.  So we took her.
Now, Sandy was a beautiful dog, but it didn't take long for us to realize that she had some 'issues'. Was she playful...not really.  Was she friendly...not really. She will hardly make eye contact with anyone.  Was she obedient...not so much.  She only does what she wants to do when she wants to do it.
One thing she does love is our cats. Hershey is much friendlier with her than Oreo, but he does like her too.
Sandy and Hershey snuggle alot of the time.  They really are good friends!

A while after Sandy came to live with us, we noticed that she seemed to be really fearful when it stormed.  She would not get in her dog house, but instead would just stand out in the weather shaking like a leaf.  No matter how many times we trudged out during a storm to put her in the dog house, she would come right out and beat us back to the house. 
Finally, it got so bad that she began to dig out under our fence and leave during a storm.  We came up with all kinds of contraptions trying to keep her in the yard.  She then began to go over the fence and  leave.  We were really afraid something was going to happen to her while she was out trying to outrun the stormy weather, so we put up an electric fence and armed her with a collar that would shock her when she approached it.  That seemed to work for a
w hile...until...one REALLY bad storm came.  She risked it all and made the jump over even though I'm sure the fence gave her a good shocking!  She was gone for 3 days!  I was just sick as I could be over losing her.  Finally, the dog catcher in town called me and he had her!  I was so happy to get her back.  She is now an inside dog!  She still has a terrible time with the storms and now even when it just rains!  We have to confine her in a crate or just sit and hold her on a leash to keep control of her during a storm.  She has evidently paid attention to the local weathermen, because she always tries to take proper precautions during these storms.
 She really does head for the bathtub during a storm!  She doesn't stay long but she gets in nearly every time.
Back in the spring, we had a real possibility of a tornado so I had padded up a place in my hallway with couch cushions and such.  Sandy immediately thought this was all for her.
Last week, we had a bit of a storm...if you can really call a little thunder and a few sprinkles a storm.  Sandy went nuts!  I tried and tried to put her in her crate but she was not going in!!!  So, I put the leash on her and sat on the couch restraining her with all my might.  Hershey thought, since he was a good friend of Sandy's that he might be able to reason with her and he tried to help me out.
Here he is, grabbing onto the leash.  "Sandy, calm yourself down girlfriend!" 
Notice that Sandy is panting like crazy.  Hershey is hanging on with every ounce of strength in his overweight body, trying to keep a hold on her.  "Sandy, it's only a few sprinkles and a little thunder.  The neighbor kid up the street's car music is louder than this."
After Hershey called it quits, Oreo decided to lend a helping hand...or paw.  "You need to take a chill pill, Sandy!"
After the so called 'storm' ended, I took her out for a potty break but Hershey thought she needed to stay inside a while longer.
Here he is trying his best to reel her back inside.

We really do love Sandy, even with all of her strange issues.  We have learned a lesson though:  If a co-worker is trying to get rid of this so-called GREAT DOG, you gotta wonder...just why is he trying to get rid of it.
We DO love you, Sandy Girl!