Swamp Water

The secret life of ducks

How did I get here?  Well ......

My Dear Daughter took my truck yesterday to town to pick up some groceries.

Dear Daughter left for school on the bus this morning and forgot my keys were still in her purse.

The boss wasn't over joyed with "No Keys, can't crank truck" excuse, but I had everything I needed to work on my laptop.

So, I got to work at home today and I had lunch with the ducks. 

Here they come single file:

After coming out of the pond, they stretch:

Then they groom themselves, talk about yoga positions:

We have two duck cliques in our pond.  This younger group that allowed me to eat lunch at their table is bullied by a smaller clique of three older ducks.   The head mallard duck always chases them around the pond.

He always separates and picks on the smallest one.  I am waiting for the big white duck in the younger group to grow up and stomp on his head   uh, put him in his place.

You know your a redneck if ..........

1. Right in the middle of frying chicken, you have to stop and pick up your daughter from school (the same highschool you graduated from) after she has been at an FFA competition.
2. You hop in your 4 wheel drive vehicle and turn up the tunes on your Ipod to Lynrd Skynrd "They call me the Breeze"
3. Your truck smells like fried chicken cause your dropping some by Meme's.
4. You get caught by a train and the tractor behind you blinds you with his headlights.
5. The music from Lynrd Skynrd is so rock'in and you don't care if anyone sees you singing along.

Make that a "Getting Old" Redneck.  I never thought I'd be doing such at age 40.  To tell the truth I didn't even think about being 40. I am still waiting to grow up. 

Wake me up, Mama

That's what my DD said last Sunday as Fire fighters were preparing our house for the fire that was heading our way.  We got a couple of shots of the chaos from the cell phone camera and they are really blurry. 

But when you think about it, aren't dreams a little blurry.

Yellow coats moved fast all over.  I didn't get a good count but I know there were atleast 30 of the yellow coats clearing pine straw and anything else that might catch a burning ember and blaze away.

There were atleast seven trucks and vans in the yard.  They covered the house and the other sheds, making them a little safer from a spark that might drift in.  Before they left they put our water sprinkler on top to wet the house down.

We felt a little better that day after they left. Thinking we might not have to leave the house.  But within ten minutes the sheriff department came by to say we had two hours to leave cause it was getting that close.

All of the stuff we felt was important was packed and ready at the door. I still couldn't shake the feeling of not being prepareded for what might happen. We didn't leave. We stayed to see what would happen.  School was out the next day and the winds blew the fire back.

You see all kinds of information on preparing for emergencies and you watch tv and see things happening to someone else.  But when it came down to crunch time I forgot everything I had read or seen. That was the scary part......

Not knowing what to do.

Brand New Year, Brand New Plan

OK, the Holidays have blown through,but not without running me over once, backing up and running over me again leaving me starring into space with glassey eyes.

How I made it, I don't know.  But the Holidays were great anyway.

For the month of December, my brain went on shut down.  I let the past year go by without finshing what I started.  I must have been nominated for the worst blogger in the world. And did I mention that my vehicle was giving me fits and finaly died on me leaving me stranded for atleast two weeks.

But now, I have a brand new year, a slightly newer vehicle, and a  brand new plan.

This is only some of the things I want to do:

1) I want to learn to Knit. I've been listening to Lime&Violet and have caught the yarn fever. I want a yarn stash.

2) I want to Run 100 miles by April 1st.

3) Get my Alphabetica Journals out the door and mailed out.

4) Start a 365 day picture journal at Flickr. Neat O idea.

This is only the begining >>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Rhonna Farrer's 21 day Challenge

I sat around and watched as others were succeeding in their goals on the last round and I didn't even post anything to my blog.  I just wished that I was one of them that had committed their selves to making a good habit or breaking a bad habit.

After all, I have no bad habits. Do I? Just because I haven't posted anything to my blog in almost a month doesn't mean I have bad habits. Does it? 

Something was getting in the way and I kept trying to tell myself it was the move to another job and I'm tired and I don't have anything to write about and I don't have anything to share .......Whine, whine, whine.

My Inner Critic had something to say about that, " I think it has something to do with priorities and what makes you feel good."

My Inner Critic asked myself , " Does plopping down in front of the TV make you feel good after you come home from work?  Do you love TV or do you love creating and art?  What is your priority?  Do the characters on Law and Order care if you write, draw, or create digital collages?"

The questions stir around in my head.  "No TV does not make me feel good and I love art and I love creating and accomplishing.  Those are the feelings I want."

"Well," My Inner Critic said, " No one cares if you feel good except you.  You are going to have to cut the bad out and rearrange yourself to accomplish the good.  You know you can do it. You've done it before.  Take charge of yourself, woman."

So with that little self talk (I know what your thinking, no I wasn't talking to myself, outloud anyway) I am not going to sit and watch others comitt and accomplish their dreams.

I am going to participate in this, the 3rd Round of Rhonna Farrer's {21 DAY CHALLENGE}.  I will post every day for 21 days.  I will find a way.  No more excuses.  This is for ME.

My Trip to the Mail Box

They said it was going to rain today, but look at our sky.  Today at 2:30 the puffy white clouds made the sky look the bluest BLUE.  To keep from falling asleep at my desk, I got out of the office to drop the mail off at the post office.

Of course I had to ride with the sun roof rolled back. I didn't open the sun roof just because the weather was nice. My air conditioner only works when my truck is going 75 miles an hour and they don't like it when you go that fast Downtown, go figure. (The drivers side window doesn't roll down, the right passenger side door only opens from the outside, the fuel pump makes noise, it whines louder the faster you go, I could go on and on but that's another story.  The stereo/CD player still sounds good and that's all that counts, right? LOL)   

That's the water tower outside the sunroof. The town sky scraper.  It's not very clear.  I took it with my camera phone, pushed the send button, and emailed it to myself so I would have something to look forward to when I got back to the office. How slick is that?  I think the cops that were standing outside City Hall thought I was a spy or something.  They kept starring at me through their sunglasses.  I just thought it would make a cool picture.

Yes, I know this post was about part of my boring day, but I'll take it.  At The Edge of Reason, Kelly has elaborated on the subject of boring too. But with her little dog Misty and her eloquent writing, boring is not a bad thing.

Case of the Blogger Black Out

I am a victim of Blogger Black Out.  I have no idea how the time passed so quickly between the last post and the present. One day slipped by and then another and then another .......

I feel like I have been asleep or maybe just in a twilight sleep.  The kind where you are half awake and half aware of your surroundings.  Just go through the motions and get through the day seemed to be my motto. My self defense mechanism may have put in that mode.  The past weeks haven't been overwhelmingly busy, just really weirdly stressful.  I just needed to get through the days.  I  also had the belief that  it would get better, if not the next day it would surely be the one after that.  And it did, either the load got a little bit lighter or I have found a better way to handle the little struggles that bring you down.

I am guilty of  letting "Life" take over with out looking at it.  Digital Scrapbooking,  my photography and Blogging kept my eyes open to the happenings in mine and my family's life.  Why would I not let myself take a picture or write a blog entry?  Creating makes you feel so good. Why not let myself enjoy that everyday?  I had let something else control what I do and how I felt. 

Enough deep thoughts.

We did go to Sunbelt Expo held in Moultrie, Georgia last Wednesday. The Expo is more of an agriculture, livestock and equipment showcase held every year.  The last time we were at the Expo, it was twenty years ago. Me and my husband were seniors in High School. The FFA went to the Expo.  We have always wanted to go back but it is always held on weekdays never weekends.  It  took twenty years for us to get our work schedules and off days straight so that we could go.  I took lots of pictures and we had a great time. Lots of walking, lots of oohhing and aahhing, and lots of  "I need one of those".   I also found my next SUV. I love the smell of Diesel.

Derric's behind the wheel trying it out while I think my husband is in sticker shock.

On being Southern and Living in Georgia

Lately I have been a lurker.  It just doesn't seem like any thing interesting is going on in my life and there sure ain't nothing worth writing about.

So while I lurked around I came across these blogs that brightened up my disposition.Glimpsies into the Southern Culture. Facts known to Southerners and those who study us.

Holli at Chicky Talk offered these known to those who live in South Georgia.(You can read the whole thing here.) and Mr. Kenny, The MacDaddy Of Scrap offered these thoughts "On Being Southern".

My favorites are:

Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up "a mess."

And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say,"Bless her heart" and go your own way.

(I think of my Granny all the time when I see them)

And from Georgia, my favorites are:

The directions to your house include "turn off the paved road."

People actually grow, eat and like okra!

How too true these qualities of Southerners are. 

I'd like to add to list from personal experiences that just happened with in the past week or two.

*The whole family gets excited when they see the new shipment of camo clothes at Wal-Mart and we can all find our sizes in the T-Shirts, we are from the South.

*Coming out of the Post Office you look up and there's a funny looking "dawg" in the extended cab Chevrolet next to yours,  watching you as you make you way around to the drivers side.  Wait a minute,
that's not a funny looking "dawg" in the back seat, it's a deer.........and you smile at the driver, get in your truck and go on your way, ............... Only in the South.

We are all Artists

....no matter what medium we create in.

Besides Digital Scrapbooking, ATCs, Art Journals,( the list goes on ), I do a little crochet.  I was checking out some crochet blogs and came across this from EnigLdy.

                        

The Knitting Machine  from Artist Dave Cole.

Having a background in construction, the excavators caught my eye. I love watching big excavators work. Especially when the operator knows what he is doing. My Dad was one of those Equipment Operators. I would stand and watch Dad excavate ponds and move land with those machines.  He could make the arm of that machine seem like an extension of his own arm. Reach and scoop, pull back, swing over and dump, all in a graceful fluid motion. It was awesome seeing so much power under control. My Dad died in 93',  remembering makes me realize how much I miss him.

And then to see  Excavators on a crochet blog, wonderful. I wish there was some video footage of the event.

Here are the scale models:

And here is the real thing:

This picture came from the news article you can read more about the Dave Cole's project here.

Tenika's Meme Challenge # 7

10 Things You Wish You Knew When You Were in High School

Wow, what a mixture of good and bad memories does this bring back.  So here goes:

1) I wish I knew that I was not fat in my senior year.  Even though I had lost a lot of weight between my 10th grade year and my senior year, I still thought I was fat.  Man do I wish I was that "fat" again.

2) I wish I knew not to believe what everyone says and do no. 3

3) I wish knew that I could believe in myself  enough to  have trusted my own gut feelings.

4) I wish I knew to take more pictures.

5) I wish I had known that more time spent with my grandparents would have been priceless and

6) known to listen to  what they had to say and

7) I wish I had written in down.

8) I wish I kenw to take art classes along with the industrial art classes and learned how to draw along with drafting.

9) I wish I had known to take more time to read books.

10) I wish I had known to enjoy writing assignments more.  Now that no one wants me to write, I want to write.

All I know now is that Life is Crazy and Unexplainable.