Live and Learn - Emphasis on Live!

Safety comes first with my family! Here is Dad riding my bike wearing all his safety gear.

I'm too lazy to rewrite this story, so I'm just going to copy an excerpt from a letter to my soldier (I'm a Soldier's Angel) who had mentioned that he was surprised that I had a bike -

I've always been fascinated by motorcycles. I bought my little Ninja 250 last year, and I've been riding it to work quite a bit. But I'm still learning! I wish I could learn without everybody knowing who I am and watching me. You know what I mean? There are so many people that think bikes are dangerous (which they are) and shouldn't be allowed on the open road. And then here I am a girl, and I'm still just learning how to ride. I feel like I don't have any business being on a bike. But how am I going to learn unless I ride, right?!

Anyway, I was coming home on my bike the other day, and usually get off the main highway and ride on the back roads. I noticed my bike was acting a little funny, and when I stopped in the turn lane my bike died. I felt like I was out of gas, but it seemed to me like there should have been a low fuel light come on. But there was a gas station half a block away, so I pushed my bike across the road and headed down the hill for it. As I was rolling along very slowly, this guy on a cruiser pulled up beside me and asked if everything was alright - "No, I think I've run out of gas." I kept pushing it along the road, hoping he would leave me alone. But Okies are the chivalrous sort. He pulled up beside me again, "Well does your bike not have a reserve tank?" I had forgotten about that, and oh man, did I feel stupid! But I swallowed my pride, turned on the reserve tank, and started my bike. I think the guy on the cruiser was trying hard not to laugh as he rode away. But you know I made his day :) He was probably on his way to have a few after work drinks at the local bar, now he had a good story about a silly girl on a street bike to tell to all his Harley buddies!

And then, while I was getting gas, this car pulled up beside me with several people inside, and the guy tells me to be careful and keep wearing all my gear that they had just gotten back from a funeral for a man who had died in a motorcycle accident. I was already feeling pretty humble and then that just made me feel like a dog!

And then (yes there's more) I thought I had turned my fuel tank back to normal, but I unwittingly turned the fuel completely off! So on the way home I was running out of gas again! I had my bike full throttle and was only going 40 mph. I wanted to just pull over to see what was going on, but there was no shoulder, and I already had a line of cars behind me. I finally just reached down and switched the knob in the direction that I thought it should go. It worked. Fuel was able to flow to my engine and away I went. Sheesh! Just a bad bike day, but I survived, and I learned a lot too!

Guitar

You know how sometimes we are hesitant to try something new until the opportunity is placed in your lap (or crammed down our throats)? Well, Lindsay placed a guitar in my lap for my birthday. Now I just need someone to place guitar lessons in my lap as well - I'm willing to pay the going rate ;)

Cats don't wear dresses!

And the older generation shall teach the younger generation...

When I was a little girl I spent hours dressing my kittens and puppies in doll dresses. On Sunday, Mom told me where the dresses were and to show my niece how to dress the cat. The time had come for her to know. I picked out my favorite dress and started in on Count Rugen. While I worked at getting his freakish six toes through the narrow sleeves, my niece told me repeatedly that "Cats don't wear dresses!" And in between bites, Rugen voiced his agreement with her. Finally the deed was done. My niece didn't seem too impressed. Rugen laid around for a little while, and then the dress came off again. But that doesn't mean that the Count wasn't tormented by other means the rest of the evening! Poor cat.

Dad's Day

For father's day, Bo & Sara and the girls came over for dinner. Here are some pics of Dad...

Dad and Zoe

Dad and Bo

Dad and GB#2 Don't you just love him!?

Ranch Security

Lunch at the Park

Yesterday, Sara and the girls met us at the park for lunch...and I have a new camera :)

What can I say? My mom's a little weird. Feel free to leave a caption!

Scuba Diving at Lake Murray (Oklahoma)

Saturday, I went scuba diving at Lake Murray with Robby, Alex, and Tucker. This was my first time to dive in a lake, and maybe my last too! Visibility was very low - I plowed into the lake floor a couple of times (no, not with my head, but with my legs) which only made the visibility worse! We followed a line that took us from the surface down to different platforms and eventually to a sunken boat and motorcycle. Supposedly, there were two sunken boats. I only remember one, so I'm thinking I saw the other but didn't realize what it was!

After that we went along the rocks by the shoreline. Robby had a flash light that he used to peer into dark cavites with. I was kind of dreading and kind of hoping that a catfish would pop out. Alex and Tucker were funny too. I guess Tucker stuck his hand into a hole to "try his hand" at noodling. Alex happened to be on the other side and saw Tucker's wigging fingers. Alex said it scared him!

New Camera

You know how it is when you get a new camera, and you are just itching to take some pictures, but you don't have anything picture worthy, but you take pictures anyway? Well...

Here's mom watching TV. Yeah, that was the first night I had a chance to play with my camera. I still have a lot to read about the manual settings. All these pics are just dumb luck shots. Especially the cat eye pic.

This is Harriot, who unfortunately used up all of here nine lives yesterday :(

This is the stuff on top of my desk - a picture of my dad and brother, old books (Beau Geste is my favorite), and some jars filled with sand, shells, and rocks from some of my travels. I think this could be a good meme!

The Donkey Painter

Some people specialize in painting blue dogs or fat women. I think I might have found my niche in painting miniature donkeys. The first one I painted for fun, and actually sold it in an art show. The gentleman who bought it asked me to do another one for a friend of his, thus beginning (and ending) my donkey series.

Hawaii - Day 7 - Last Day

The morning started off with Reagan getting pooped on by a bird while we were eating breakfast. She's the lucky one!

We went to Lahaina and kicked around there for a while.

Here is a man of questionable sanity preaching on the street in Lahaina.

This is a beach near Paia. This was my favorite beach by far!

You know how it is when you get bored at the airport.

When we were taking our surfing lesson, Troop called us the Wahines. I asked him what it meant (I know I'm ignorant :) He said it meant women. And Lindsay, she's so funny, says, "I thought it meant toilet!"

And that's the end of the Hawaii pics. Aloha - goodbye.

Hawaii - Seven Sacred Pools

Just past Hana in the Haleakala National Park, we visited the Seven Sacred Pools.

People were jumping off the ridge into the pool. You can see a girl jumping in this picture. A couple of days before there had been a 26 year old killed while diving at Black Rock where we went snorkling. After hearing that story and countless others we were feeling more towards the mortal side and opted not to jump!

Looking out from behind the waterfall.

On the way home, we saw these wind surfers.

This was our last sunset in Maui *sniff*