I'm Sleepy

July 27, 2015, Still Monday

Everything was closed. *cue The Park Is Closed from Jurassic World* 

Ok, not everything, just all the museums we wanted to go to. It would seem that everybody else decided it was a good day to stay in bed and snuggle down inside their covers whilst reading a good book home. We drove around for a bit, and stopped for lunch at Subway, because we couldn’t find a Chickfila, before arriving back at the house around 4:15ish. At least it was a nice day for a drive, we got to see a lot of pretty country.

Before our little excursion, we parked outside the library so that some of us, ok, I, could catch up on email a bit, Post a blogpost, and so that I could send dad the pic of his fish. I think I had around 20 emails, not including my junk inbox, which had five emails in it. 

Thing is, I have like, three different email accounts that I check on a regular basis, so not all of them came in at once. So, at first, I thought I only had eight emails (not bad, right), then, right when we were about to move away from the wifi, *bam* “wait, twelve more?!” I let them load, then looked ‘em over. All from blogs I follow by email. “Ok, nothing serious, I can read those later.” The only thing I don’t like about re-reading blogposts in my email without wifi, is that I can’t see any of the lovely pictures.

I found out I got tagged. 

Sorry! I’ll have to wait until a) I can have wifi for an hour, or b) I get home. Thanks anyways! I can’t wait to do it!

I looked at my blog feed when I made the last post. Eesh! Y’all decided to get back into blogging right when I left. Law of Murphy, of course. I’ll have a lot of catching up to do.

Christian and I have upped our count on animals. I have now seen eleventy-one deer, and fifty-five antelope. He’s seen more than me…

I can see my breath outside. O.o

I should do a “Currently” post. 

Yeah, I think I will.

Goody goody!

Ok, I am currently:

Reading

Gulliver’s Travels. I’m over halfway through, be proud! This is a re-read. “Why?” you ask. “For school…” This is the second time it’s been assigned. Alrighty then. I’m in the third part. Where he’s on the floating island thingy. This guy is so crude. Do not think, for a moment, that I am enjoying any part of this assignment.

I am also reading The Brainy Bunch. I believe I mentioned it in an earlier post. It’s so-so. Mom wanted me to read it. I’m not dreading it, like I am Gulliver’s Travels. 

Listening To

Not much. Mostly when I listen to music, it’s when I’m trying to sleep. I listened to some of Lindsey Stirling’s music, and also some music from a website that I downloaded to use for youtube videos, last night.

Watching

Mostly superhero type movies. I can add Iron man, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, and The Dark Knight to my list of “seen movies”. We also watched the fourth Pirates, The Monument Men, and The Penguins of Madagascar (I know, we have very weird movie-watching patterns).

Writing

I’m still working on my long-lost, newly-found June QQ, “Now They Whisper”. I’m also in the midst of writing (and editing) the set-up, people-profiles, and basic history for a story under the working title of “The Lost Kingdom”. 

A snippet, or two, if you would like:

“ I feel a tickle. I spin around, hand raised to slap whoever had startled me, and was face to face with...“Brec!” “I was only havin’ a wee bit of fun.” He grins. I try not to. “By interrupting my soliloquy?” “Well, watching you jump and whirl around is fun.” He chuckles, as I frown. ”

“ I don’t like wearing shoes, they pinch. My sisters say it is bad enough that father allows me to wear Brec’s old clothes, altered and mended of course (how am I to work in a long and cumbersome dress?), but to be without shoes in public, never mind the fact that everyone has known me from birth and was like family anyway, is horrendous. ”

“ “Come,” I say to both of them, trying to sound like a peace-keeper, “Favik, my sister wants to make it up to you for what she did, if you will join us, I do believe a talk with father will settle everything.” They both look at me like I’m one of the Fools that entertains at feasts. “Alright, if you have any better ideas, pray, tell,” I spit out, my temper beginning to rise. ” 

“ I run home at a fast pace, quickly losing Brec and Favik. When I reach our hut, I slow to a walk. I search under my cot for my sword, disregarding Greyla’s calls to care for the livestock, bring in another pail of water, and could you please quiet the dog? I grasp the cool metal hilt, and pull my sword out into the light. ”

Doing

What am I doing? Well, to answer that question, I am sitting in my little cave (actually, the bottom bunk on the bunkbed that my delightful little brother is sharing with me), with the laptop backlight on “dim” (because dad is warming up to catch some z’s) writing up this post, listening to some kinda upbeat, ok, energizing majestic music (with headphones, of course), getting towards bedding down for the night, and plotting the death of one of my characters. 

Minor things, really, I assure you.

Random Thought(s)

“I feel like a dwarf in these ginormous boots.” 

(The boots we use when we fish are specially designed not to get ruined when they get wet and muddy. Also, they have to be big enough to fit your feet, a thick pair of socks, and a special over-sock type thingy that goes inside the boot, then hooks over the top to keep stuff from getting in the boot. The boots are already thick, large, and cumbersome by themselves, so really, my feet almost double in width, and are in general, very big compared to what I’m used to seeing when I look down at them. They also increase in weight, very much so by the end of the day, when the boots have soaked up all the water in the pond. Walking uphill can be difficult at times.)

“Maybe I should have taken the top bunk.” 

(Every morning when I sit up, only to remember that there’s another bed up there, and if I’m not careful, I’ll end up with a bruised forehead for the next couple of days.)

“I should look up (blank). Oh, wait…”

“What can I do that would be less boring than reading Gulliver’s Travels? Ummm…I haven’t looked in my “stories” folder in a while, maybe I can start a conversation with one of my characters.”

“Wow Christian, what are you doing up there? Taking apart the bed?” 

(When he shifts around and rolls over during the night, the bed makes a very loud creaking.)

“What is the insanely annoying beeping! Christian says it’s the wind. That is NOT the wind.” 

(We found out the next day it was Grampa’s hearing aids. Apparently he left them on, so they kept making a really high-pitched beeping noise, like, “hurt-your-ears” beeping. Not exactly the best thing to fall asleep to in the back of a truck, you’ll most likely have a headache when you wake up.)

“I wonder how many emails I have by now.”

“I need to take more pictures. I forgot to bring my camera here, didn’t I? Yup. Grr.”

“I should probably go to bed soon. *checks clock* Yup, definitely soon. Like, “right now” soon.”

July 28, 2015, Tuesday 

My hand is so sore, it’s hard for me to type correctly. Thank you, little red line, for showing me exactly how bad it is.

We went out to the Sun River today. I caught two more fish, both around 14-16 inches long. Dad caught two, Christian caught one, and Grampa caught four or five. 

We tried to fish up at the pond, but the wind was too high and crazy. It was still a bit windy where we eventually fished, but definitely not as bad.

Waist deep in grass, “it may be a too late to ask this, but, there isn’t any poison ivy in here, is there?”

Guess what? I was hungry enough to eat half a sandwich at lunchtime! 

Jurassic Park is going to be watched tonight. Mom really did not like the Jurassic movies, but then again, this is coming from the person who only saw Lord of The Rings once, and with her face covered, so… I have seen the new one, and because I liked it, now I’m obligated to see the original trilogy. 

I find that’s how it usually works. Saw The Fellowship, must see all Tolkien related movies. Saw The Curse of The Black Pearl, must see the next two, and eventually be dragged into seeing the over-rated fourth. Saw National Treasure, had to see the next one. It can work backwards too. Saw the third Madagascar, was determined to see the first two, even though I didn’t really like the third one.

I have a crazy tan-line going on. My boots dived my shins in half, and then I’m wearing pants rolled up to my knees, so I have a tan bar around both my legs. My sunglasses are also leaving their mark, I have very faint “raccoon eyes”. Thankfully, my hat is keeping my face from getting completely crazy looking. I’m also wearing t-shirts, so I have the beginnings of a farmer's tan.

Tomorrow’s our last day, I believe we are going back to the Sun River again, just a different section. 

A few hours later…

We just finished watching Jurassic Park! Dad’s reaction (he’s seen it) “Pretty intense, right?” Christian’s reaction “I don’t need to see that again. Why would anyone want to do that? I’m not going to sleep soundly for weeks!” My reaction “I love it! I must see the rest!”

July 29, 2015, Wednesday 

I woke up with my right hand really really really sore. I could barely even use it for some things. I could tell that if I tried to cast with it, the ending would not be pretty. So, I stuck to walking around and taking pictures for the morning, while everyone else tried their luck in the water. Then after lunch, around 1:30ish, I crawled into the truck and napped the afternoon away. 

This is how disoriented I can get: when the others walked back up to the truck, I had just woken up. I almost called out “good morning.” Thankfully, I caught myself. 

For some reason, the fish weren’t really biting today, nobody caught over three. I guess I picked I good day to sit out. 

I’m ready to be home. I miss the rest of the family. I miss my cat. I miss the view (though, the view here is really pretty too). I miss riding my neighbor’s horses. I miss the food Mom cooks. I even miss the smell of our house (weird, I know). I miss taking care of our chickens, and torturing them with the sound of my voice when I practice singing (they are the only ones I don’t mind hearing me). I miss the heat (it’s July, I’m used to it being in the upper 90’s to 100’s, not 60’s and 70’s). I miss late night chats with older sis. I miss being able to check my email as often as I want, while I’m at it, I’ll just say that I miss wifi in general. I miss explaining movies to Lydia (because, in her case, they almost always need explaining). 

I miss a lot of things about home.

I did enjoy the trip though. I loved the mountains. I can’t complain about the food. We’ve seen several interesting animals. I’ve gotten to have a fun experience. I did catch fish. The drive up was pretty (once we got past Nebraska and into Wyoming). 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

Ava is covered in hives, and is so swollen that she can’t see. Apparently, she is having an allergic reaction to some antibiotics that a doctor prescribed that morning. It’s a 24 hour dose, so the poor girl is gong to be feeling terrible until late tomorrow morning. Mom and the rest were worried that she might have caught pneumonia (I have no idea how, I’m just relating what I’ve been told), she has been sick almost ever since Dad left, so they went ahead and took her to a doctor. I certainly hope she’s feeling better by the time we get home. 

This is going to be a long post, isn’t it? Yup!

Our flight’s at 2pm tomorrow, but we have to leave by 10:30-45 in the morning, so we can pick up somebody else. The airport is really small, I’ve heard that most people around here can get there with only half an hour to spare, and still be fine, whereas in Dallas-For Worth, you have to get there two hours in advance, and that’s still cutting it close sometimes. We fly to Denver, Co, I believe, and have a 1-2 hour layover there. After that, we fly home. We get in at about 9pm, and after that, we have an hour drive to get home, the final arrival time being 10pm. It’ll be a long day.

I should probably start re-packing the bag. Yeah, good idea.

July 30, 2015, Thursday

Our first flight is already delayed by an hour. New departure time is about 3:37pm, arriving in Co at around 5:30pm. We now have a half hour layover, before leaving at 6:0something. I think we’ll be able to make it, but it’ll be tough, and we may miss dinner. But, in the case that we don’t make it, Dad planned it so that we would not be on the last flight to Texas, so if we really have to, we can probably get on a later flight (and hopefully get dinner).

Well, our flight’s back on schedule (no idea how they did that), but I’m the only one with a seat on the second flight. So the person at the desk said he’d check every few minutes to see if there are any more seats.

Wifi at the airport was a little bit wacky, but I think I got it… or not. I’ll try my luck at the next one.

“Here, just because you’re the last in your group to go through security, and because nobody’s behind you, let’s stop you and give you a completely random pat-down for no reason.” “It’s because I forgot to take off my hat and my watch, isn’t it?” “No, it’s just completely random.” 

And I’m thinking, great, just great. I’m wearing jeans, there’s not really much I could hide in them, especially since I can’t fit anything in the pockets. 

My hand and wrist are still a bit sore, definitely not as bad as yesterday. 

Final count: deer, 143, antelope, 66.

Christian is still ahead of me.

Well, would you look at that, I have 36 emails…

~Chloe