Field Trip!

Today we went on a field trip with some friends to Treemont, a wildlife place in the mountains. We hiked on one of the trails, looked for and caught some salamanders, took pictures of wildflowers, stuck fingers in cold streams, and at our lunch spot, made war paint. To make this war paint, you find rocks (red works best), wet them slightly, and rub them on an even bigger rock. The end result is a war paint that is (usually) easily washable. So all in all, it was a really fun day!! Here are some pictures below:


My brother hunting for salamanders....

A absolutely gorgeous flower!

A very, very, very loud waterfall: beautiful!

~Tallie~ (continued)

Hey, everyone! This morning Mom took Tallie to the vet, and Dr. Bradbury thinks (after taking an x-ray) that Tallie ruptured a disc in her back - which would explain the loss of use in her back legs and her becoming incontinent. She'll be on doggie steroids and painkillers for three weeks, gradually being weaned off them. She appears to be doing better, but not great. I'll keep you posted! :)

~Tallie~

Hey, everyone! I've got some sad news. :( Yesterday Tallie was running to bark at another dog, and she hurt herself. I was in the kitchen when I heard her screaming. She'd lost the use of her back legs and she became incontinent. Dad took her to the vet at the emergency clinic, and the vet thinks she may have torn a ligament in her knee. Today Tallie is medicated, and tomorrow we'll have to take her to our regular vet where she'll be sedated and x-rayed. Please pray for her; she appears to be in some pain, and I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow! Thanks! :)

Sick

After avoiding a cold through all the winter months, I finally got one. While being sick is absolutely no fun, I've gotten to watch a couple of really good movies: Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda. Both are books by George Eliot, the pseudonym of a woman, now adapted into movies. One thing I greatly admire about both these movies is the fact that they've got the most perfect cast! If the character was supposed to be fawning, or studious, or creepy, or wonderful, then the actor was absolutely terrific in that particular role. It really is a talent to be able to combine actors in such a way that the whole story rings true! Both movies have made me think and think hard, because (one of) the main character in Middlemarch, Dorothea, and also Daniel in Daniel Deronda, deal with finding callings and passions. I've been thinking for quite a while now that it's time for me to branch out on my relationship with Christ more than just through my parents. I mean, I am a Christian, but I want to be a better one, who trusts Him more than I already do and witnesses to people! I want to be a better person, even with my own family, whether it's being nicer to my brother or doing the dishes without being asked! If you get the chance, watch these movies. They are good - and long! And if you do watch them, let me know how you like them!

Heartland Golden Retriever Rescue needs YOU!

Okay, everyone, I've got a request to make. Heartland Golden Retriever Rescue, the organization from which my family got both Bono and Tallie, needs your help! They are trying to win a $20,000 grant through a special contest, and the way they can win is so simple, but they need people to help them. All you have to do is go to http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/. Once you get there, click on the purple "Click here to give -- it's free. From there, go to the top of the page and click on the red "Vote Now box". For the organization, enter "Heartland Golden Retriever Rescue" and they're based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Click the "Vote" button that will come up next to the search result, and then you'll have to identify an animal to confirm your vote. You can vote every day, once per computer until sometime in July. Please help Heartland!! Remember: Once a day per computer! Your vote will help and count! If these directions are unclear, or don't work, please leave me a comment, and I'll do my best to fix them. Thanks so much!!!!

Oh, one more thing: Please tell your family and friends to vote, too! Every single vote counts!

Easter!

Well, it is the day after Easter, and I hope everyone had a good day, going to church, seeing special productions, hunting for eggs, eating candy.... Anyway, I had a great day, although it started really early! See, my aunt and uncle stayed with us over the weekend, since they had to go to Nashville to pick up a dog. My uncle had gone out early to get a stake to put in the backyard so that Jake (the yellow lab) wouldn't be cooped up in the crate while we were at church. As soon as he got home though, Tallie flew into a barking rage which woke me up, and then our neighbors let their yippy little dog out, so my day began at 6:37 am. I made muffins for breakfast, went to church (which was really great!) and then the whole family went out for lunch after church, so that was nice. And then in the afternoon, I walked Jake, who by the way, is an adorable sweetheart! He was a little stressed out from travel, but all in all, seemed like a pretty laidback dog. Now, please let me know how your Easter went! "Comments" are right below this post..... :)

Just a few more weeks!

A few more weeks until what, you might ask. And the answer is....... 30 days until school is out for summer!!!!!! Yippee!! I mean, I may be a nerd, well an "intellectual" as my friend says, but who doesn't like summer vacation! Of course, I'll manage to stay insanely busy for the remaining 30 days; one of my teachers wants to cover roughly 100 more pages of a math book we've been working on. It's not that we couldn't do it - it'll just be a lot of work. Mom's promised us a field trip or two, which will be fun, and next week I have an entrance exam at the school I'll be attending next year. I'm excited about my courses: Apologetics & Logic, Spiritual Life, Composition & Literature, Algebra I, Physical Science, World Geography, Health, and Drama or Computer I.

Today is a welcome break: Good Friday, and I hope everyone has a good Easter and Easter weekend!

Dog Washing!

For weeks, Mom has been complaining about Bono's Stench - with a capital "S!" It was a perfect day for dog washing today, so I decided to bite the proverbial bullet and get it done. After fifteen minutes of trying to hook up the hose (don't ask me why it wouldn't work!), and assembling the necessary items - such as shampoo, towels, the hose, and a pair of disposable gloves (the need for which I leave to your imagination), I got Bono out of the house. Big mistake! For, at that exact moment, one Great Dane and one Chow scrambled across our neighbors' yard, and Bono decided to go play. Of course, I hollered for him to come back and ran across the street and finally got him back in our yard to begin the dog washing. Today was one of Bono's few-and-far-between ornery days. He would not stand still; he shook all over me, on purpose I think!; he tried to roll in the grass; he wouldn't stay long enough for me to turn the hose off; he knocked the shampoo bottle over; that's to name a few! Below are some pictures of Bono once he finally quit being ornery; after the bath was finished of course!

Mea Culpa!

My title is for the benefit of all my Latin scholar friends; for those who have not taken Latin, "mea culpa" means "I am guilty." And I am guilty of the sin of not posting very recently and so much has happened! Let's see; my last post was five days ago. Here's what has happened since then...

1. I had my softball practice on Friday night, with my first game on Saturday. Both went absolutely terribly. My coach has always said that if you practice well, you play well. The same can be said for practicing badly, and we did. Nothing went right; people goofed off, balls were missed, and this was just in practice. Game day was really no better. We got in some dynamite hits, but our defense was lousy. Consequently, we lost by 9 runs! 9 runs! It was utterly demoralizing. The good news is that we have eight games to redeem ourselves!
2. We had some great meetings with friends over the weekend. It was wonderful; I got to see some of my good friends twice in two days when I usually see them only once a week! All us kids invented a new game to be played on the trampoline; President and Assasin, in which one person is the president, one the assasin (who is on the ground - everyone else is on the trampoline-), and then everybody else is the president's bodyguards. It's like dodgeball on the trampoline with body guards. So that was a lot of fun!
3. My aunt and uncle are passing through this weekend, so it will be nice to see them. They are coming to pick up a dog a few hours away, but they'll spend a few days with us. I can't wait to see the dog; my uncle breeds purebred labs, and this is a new dog for breeding, so he must be something special!

That's the news from this neck of the woods! Have a great rest of the week, everybody!

Christy

I finished reading Christy by Catherine Marshall recently, and I would highly recommend it. The book is set in 1912 rugged Tennessee. Christy travels from her city home in Asheville, NC to be a school teacher in the Appalachian mountains. She is in a time of struggling to find out what she really believes in her heart, as well as who she really loves. The book portrays vivid characters and descriptive language, and if you like historical, biography type books, you would enjoy Christy. If you read it, please leave me a comment and tell me how you enjoyed it! It is a goal of mine to post ALL my favorite books on here to share with you and let you know about excellent literature! If you take the chance to read Christy, you won't regret it!