Warm Days Outdoors

 Monday was the usual running Jake to PoPo Practice.  I spent the time getting photos printed at Walgreens.  They didn't listen to a thing I said and when I went to pick them up, the guy I talked to was gone for the day.  Grrrr.  179 photos of NOT how I wanted them.  And...that was the worst thing all week.  So, pretty good week!

Tuesday we had a really bizarre adventurous day with Katy and kids.  We met at the park to walk on the greenway and play a while.  As soon as we arrived, we watched a crew set up to film a Redstone bank commercial.  Then Katy let loose her hounds in the dog park-which was FLOODED.  We discovered (after not looking very hard) a busted water pipe, so she called the city.  They arrived and fixed it within minutes!

The dogs were soaked and muddy, so off we went to walk.  We got in maybe a mile, hehehe.  The kids wanted to poke around off the trail and found a backpack in the water!  They fished it out and Katy opened a side pocket to discover some business cards with a name and number and she left a voice mail.

The guy showed up to get it a little later!  It had been stolen from his car.

We kept walking until we reached another park, then went back to get some lunch.

Ollie Powered scootering!

I went to Taco Bell to get lunch for us, it took half an hour!! SLOOOOOW service.

I am not eating anything fried at all to see if that helps the tummy.  So far, so good!
I like the cantina bowls.  :)

The kids played while I was gone, then we ate lunch and everyone decided to head to the other park, so Chan and I went to the library super quick between location changes.

She grabbed half the anime section and ran for the self check kiosk while I grabbed 5 various nature study books.  One, Southern Sanctuary, is an entire year's worth of photos and observations from a nature preserve in Huntsville!

Jake called to say he had to work over, so we had time for a quick game of soccer!

On Wednesday, we laid low and Thursday we had lunch with Amanda and the kids went to ballroom dance and attended the Christmas party.  One of the boys there has set his sights on Chan and (hehehe) asked Jake via Facebook for permission to ask her out.  Jake said, "Go for it, best of luck!"

I, with no formal training in prophecy, foresee said boy being turned down.

Poor kid, do the rainbows and Pride gear not register?

After dumping my kids on someone else discovering both kids were set up for the afternoon and making sure Gina didn't mind running them partway home, I actually mowed a trail through the pasture.  That was some major work, I was sweating so hard it was running into my eyes.  ack!  It needs more work, but I got a good start on it.

Between that and walking to the creek the other day, Murphy has decided that the fence is just a suggestion and has been getting out nonstop.  I have gone out and moved fencing, added fencing, threaded wire into X's on any gap wider than 4 inches and what he does is walks along the fence pushing his head into squares.  He walks along one row (it's field fencing, like for horses because we had 2 90 pound dogs when we set it all up) and tests every gap, then moves up a row and tests that, then back along the 3rd row up over and over until he finds a spot he can get through.

I have posted him for rehoming, I am NOT having a repeat of Zephyr in which a dog goes missing and I never ever know why or where.  So, if you know someone looking for a house dog, I have one.

Nia can't be moved off the bed because she will freeze to death.  She's in her 'but it's WINTER' mode.

She and Murph are eating a TON of food!  oh my gosh.

That's it for this week!  No holiday plans, but hoping to get some hiking in between the rain chances.  Matt and Jake will have 5 days off starting Wednesday!

Costume Shots

In case you wondered how fanged beings drink smoothies.

Saturday Evening Post

It's actually early Sunday morning!  But I do have pictures, so there's that.  

In the afternoon, we met Amanda to get the hat part of Rho's costume, then headed home long enough for everyone to get dressed.

Then we went to Southern Adventures to ride the swings!

Katy met us with Emma and Sarah showed up so Sophia could join.

They played around out front for a few minutes:

The we headed to Katy's for them to finish getting ready for the cosplay ball at the library.  Jake, Chan, Rho and Brit went last year, too.  I was glad everyone wanted to go this time!  They met up with Dae inside and we met up with her parents outside and the 4 of us went on a double date!

Our first stop was Harrison Brother's Hardware over in downtown, about a mile away.

You meet on that corner and pay the guy-cash or check, no debit or credit processing, and he gives you the tickets.

Then you wander around and talk to the costumed tour guides and the people in the tour shirts about the tours (if you don't already know which one you want)

This year they have the Old Town Tour, which covers the $ district and has stories from the Civil War and more or less that time frame.

The Twickenham Tour covers the $$ houses and covers the founding fathers of Huntsville and pre-Huntsville times.

The Downtown Tour is newest and covers businesses and streets around downtown, all the way to the Halsey Grocery.

We had no preference going in, so I suggested (based on crowd size) the Downtown Tour.  There were around 15 people waiting for it compared to 40-60 for the other tours.

They usually do the tours at 6, and here in Alabama, that's still not only in the daylight, but it's still HOT then. In October they added the 8:30 tours as well. 

Last night was cool, but not breezy.   My regular grey jacket was plenty, worn over a t-shirt.

I won't go into detail about the hauntings, so you can take the tour yourself.
Most of the buildings I took photos of had a story, but some I just took a photo of.

Keep in mind it's dark and my shutter was set to 1/2 second.  I propped when I could, using trees or street signs, but there's still going to be a good bit of blur and the photos are grainy due to high ISO.
These are from a pocket point and shoot.

The ghost here is supposed to watch us from the door.
I totally see someone peeking around the middle bit, hand dangling, there on the (your) right side of the door.  The face is next to the R.
I see the car reflected in the door, but only one woman went in and she had on tight black pants and jacket and had her hair combed out, it was springy and tall.

Shot this in passing, no story down the alley, but the 'orbs' amused me!  hehehe

Matt and me!

My legs and a parking meter shadow.

Matt saw this as a shield, I see a crazy cartoony face!

We went and grabbed some IHOP and then headed to the library and picked up the kids.
We offered to feed them, but the ones that heard me said no, they had eaten candy all evening and just wanted to get back.
I think Chan and Brit missed that conversation and were a little annoyed.  Luckily, while in town to get Rho's hat, we also stocked up on groceries!

We headed back home with various extra kids and our own three.  I think it was a pretty good night out!
The ghost tour was fun, I'd go do another one of them any time.  They only run 5 months out of the year, next weekend is IT for 2014!