Correctional stories from your not home town....

No Iowa, instead I went to Ohio to buy a truck this weekend!

2007-03-04T07:25:00.001-08:00

So, I couldn't go to Iowa, but my Mom called a couple hours before I had to go to work and asked me if I wanted to go to Ohio to buy a truck, Ohio street that is... :) So I figured, sure why not. So apparently I took my stupid pills that day and we went to Ohio street to look at a 1997 Ford Ranger with 4 wheel drive. So my Dad took the truck for a spin, and it had brand new all terrian tires and that is about 500 dollars worth of tire. Of course, it had a few dings on the passanger side and a bent antenna from hitting a deer and the mirror was gone, a few tiny surface rust spots, not many, a little hole in one head light, the inside dome light removed, and a line dented on the tail gate. Hmmmm... I wanted a full size Chevy, 4X4. Okay, so it was a 4X4, but a FORD *groans*, So we left and my Dad told the guy it needed too much work. So I ask him what he thinks as we drive back, and he says well, it is cheap what do you expect. Neither of us knew book price on it though. Then I state, but it has good tires and they want 2,000 for it, so basically you are getting the truck for 1,500. Hmmmm... so I call the guy back as we are driving, and his wife answers, and I state I don't know who is in charge of the price negotiations, but I figure I have to put in at least 200 dollars in work on the truck, and I only planned on spending 2,000 dollars, so how about 1,800. With no hesitation she says okay, it is a deal. WHAT? What is wrong with it, I can't believe they said okay with no hesitation... something is wrong here. My Mom says she knows them and they are honest people, we shall see about that? Ugh..... so I tell my Dad, turn around lets go get the truck before I have to go to work. So we swing around and within an hour I was told of a truck and bought a truck, a FORD!!!!!!!!! What was I thinking!!!!!! So I was short on time, so my Dad drove the truck home for me, and I have this truck I haven't even driven yet myself. SO I go online and check book on private party Kelly Blue book price for a poor condition extended cab Ranger and it states, 3,265. Hmmmmmmmm... score... even if the engine goes out I can replace it without going below what the truck is worth, and so far it seems to run good.... Heeeheee... I always find a deal when I am not completely looking for something... but then, it is a Ford!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FORD, FORD, what am I thinking!!!!!! :)

Iowa trip cancelled

2007-03-04T07:24:00.001-08:00

Hmmm.. well we were going to go to Iowa this weekend still, until the trainer from Iowa called and said, he was canceling for now, as he couldn't even get out of his drive way, and both major highways to his place were closed down. He said to come in a couple of weeks. Hmmmmm... well, I guess they aren't as hardy down there as us Minnesotans, or as stupid at least! :) So, I called to work and rescinded my vacation... so off I go to work this weekend... with Friday being my one day taken off. Hmmm... I will save the vacation time for a better time of year.... and more fun... one of these days the vacation plans will work out.... I will not give up... :)

VACATION DAYS!!!!!??!#^%!^$ !)@)!*@ @!(_@_ #!_#(!_(#_)!( !_(#_!(#

2007-03-04T07:23:00.002-08:00

So, I am on vacation time this weekend, lovely.... Murphy's law comes into effect every time I take a vacation day off from work, I think I am better off just working *scowl*. It almost NEVER fails, every single time.... *&#@)*( *#)(*! What this time you may ask, well the answer is obvious.... WEATHER CONDITIONS. Yep, weather, especially when I took the days off to drive my horse down to Iowa to the trainers, and rescheduling is mighty near impossible for the next month and a half to come... YEP, I was dead set on doing that THIS wonderful snow filled, blowing winds weekend! MURPHY'S LAW!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH......... what can go wrong will go wrong. WHEN, WHEN!!!!!!!!! may I ask, do I get some vacation days off were everything goes as plan and I can relax and have some fun?!?!? Hmmmmmmmm... it has happened about two or three times in the past three years were time off went as planned, and yes I have taken A LOT of vacation time... kinda... Murphy loves my vacation days, let me tell you!!!!!!!
So in conclusion! I am not going to take days off any longer... THIS IS RIDICIOULOUS!!!!!!!!!!! I have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off this week... a WEEKEND FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blah, yes, I need to give it up!!! EVERY SINGLE TIME I TAKE DAYS OFF TO HAVE SOME FUN IT IS A MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT!!!!!!!!!! I hope I am proven wrong this time, things can flip around, right? .... Well... pray for easy sailing and a safe trip for me, my Mom, Laurie, and the horses if you so feel inclined because there aren't any other days we can take off to get them down there, so we are going.... I think... :)

Working out?

2007-03-04T07:23:00.001-08:00

So I had my days off, and I was sore... way too much working out. So my knee starts bothering me, so I do 30 minutes of Tae Boe with just the arms and back, then my back and shoulders hurt... hmmm... what can I do to get my heart rate up... I killed everything on my body? I better gain weight from this I think... So, I went horse back riding, not exactly cardio but they say it burns more calories then jogging, hmmmm... hard to figure, I think not, but who knows? Either way it was pure bliss and I felt little pain, or was distracted from it. FUN! Had lunch with my Grandma, ran some chores, and the next day, sore as can be I went swimming, and now I feel great. Swimming for 30 minutes of cardio and then afterwards 20 minutes of cardio on the tread mill and still no pain? Swimming, the cure all? I don't think I will push it though. Now... how can I get a pool to use every day is the question! :) Over all it was a good couple of days off, but I need to start working out heavy again... we shall see, gotta keep up the health aspects.... I want to have abounding energy, but I seem to be getting death warmed over, but ah... it is winter and look at the weather... what else is there to do, and when summer comes, I can jog the planet over.... okay a little exaggeration there. I mean how on earth could I possibly get across the ocean after all?!??! Jog on a ship, hmmmm... maybe not an exaggeration, but I imagine the ticket sellers wouldn't be happy about my sloppily written check as I jog to write it out... :)
Alright, alright... sorry not much else to report here... back to chores, responsibilities and working out I guess!

One more day...

2007-03-04T07:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, so today is my day off, so I played with the dog ALL day... okay well half an hour anyway, close enough, right? Okay, so I woke up, worked out, went grocery shopping, cleaned my Mom's house, got the mail, did laundry, (BORED YET?) cleaned my house, ate (it was 1:30p.m., opps... little late on the eating thing), and impatiently waited to work out (as my work out clothing were in the laundry). How energetic of me right? WRONG!!!!!!! I wanted to get the working out done with so I could veg sooner. Yep, get everything done, and crash... you should try it some time! Now, if only I could really pull it off. You see... today is another day in the sequence of my life. Yep, chores, responsibilities, blah blah blah... same day in and day out. I can't seem to sit still and enjoy myself. Growing up my Dad was always working and working and working, and he still does the same. I admired it to some degree, but thought he should relax a bit more and have some fun. So, I picked up this trait I admired and I see how he works, BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I have a hard time relaxing. I can sit for maybe 20 minutes max during the day before I think that there is something I should be doing. Mind you, this is after I did all the stuff I already needed to get done, but still, I find something else to do, and if I can't find something to do for myself I find something to do for other people!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I am my father's daughter.... now how do I undo this?!?! It isn't always good, good but not always... like say remembering to eat or taking the time to do so, especially when you need to gain weight... I know, I know... smack me later... everyone else is trying to lose weight and I don't need to and I keep losing it............. HELP! So do me a favor and give me a hand, who wants to take me out to eat and pay?!? Make sure it is scheduled, so that it is in the obligations list please, or I may otherwise occupy myself, taking reservations for my company, you pay, I eat!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

A couple of things...

2007-02-02T10:42:00.000-08:00

So, I woke up this morning with a BAD HANG OVER.. okay, well maybe not a hang over, but a lack of sugar headache that killed. I am told it is exactly like a hang over, and if that is correct, then I never want to have a hang over! I get enough experience with low blood sugars.... apparently while I was out of it I had this whole conversation with my roommate, though I refused to talk to my roommates daughter?!??! Apparently when I don't know what is going on I lie and am stubborn... I LIE?!!!!!! I guess I can't say I don't lie then, but I only lie when I don't know what is going on, nor will remember the next day. So apparently my buddy Corey was over, my roommate, her daughter, my roommates boyfriend, and my Mom's friend the nurse came over twice, once to revive me from my diabetic stupor, and I REMEMBERED NONE OF THIS!!!!!! So I wake up and go... boy my blood sugars are low... so I drank some bug juice, tried to figure out what day it was and if I had to work (yeah, I was out of it)... realizing if I did work, I had half an hour to get ready, but luckily it was my day off. So I look around and see an empty Mountain Dew can... HUH? Did I accidently drink that last night... I thought... then I looked around some more... hmmmmmm... my diabetic machine is in my bed room, and it was in the fridge last I checked... UH OH... I thought. So I got up, fixed my second coma like low... took a shower... and went to the doctor... yikes I got nothing accomplished being in a coma like stated until 1:30 pm.... Mental Note.... avoid coma like states!
Second, here is a late post. Last week my buddy Chad came to visit... you know the one that moved to Michigan... supposedly. Chad called and stated he was coming back to close on his second house (he sold the first one he owned, and now was working on the second). He also stated that when he moved all his stuff and then checked on jobs in Michigan they all laughed at him. *smirk* Hmmmmm.......... so he wanted to come visit to check out jobs on the Iron Range, as he needed to find a job to know where to buy another house so that he would have a place to live. So sell two houses, move your stuff to Michigan, then look for a job, then house, then move stuff back to new house??!?!? Hmmm.. interesting? My friends keep me entertained that is for sure.
On a positive note, I took a bath with the great bath and body stuff my sister-in-law got me for my birthday. It was GREAT, JUST GREAT!!!!!! Ah, when life unfolds, take a bath and forget about it!

Living at Work

2007-01-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

So the other day I went to work and thought, GREAT!!! I worked 1 to 9 pm, so I actually got off earlier then usual and volunteered to take care of the horses in the morning, as I would get a good nights sleep for once. So I drove the offenders to their destination (an hour from work), and drove back, worked out at the weight room with the offenders with the music blaring and heard, "Ofc. ____ to the Officer in Command, can you respond to the gym!" Hmmmm... that was my co-worker, interesting?!? So I turn up my hand held radio, turn down the music on the other radio, and luckily the offenders didn't hear the call. Then we go over to the dinning hall, and the Officer in Command and the Superintendant walk in, and the superintendant says, "So, do you know what is going on?" Ahhhh......... no........ I was at the weight room. So he fills me in on the situation, and states we are transporting so and so back to the Minnesota Correctional Facility - Shakopee. Okay, so let me know what I need to do then. So I monitor the offenders while they take care of business, search her stuff... ummmm... contraband... double charges... pack up her stuff after writing a report, and called my parents stating, "Hi, I won't be able to take care of the horses in the morning." To this I get a WHAT!!!!!!!!!!! WHY?!!!!! Ummm... ahhhh... I have to work overtime... I won't be home until.... well I don't know when I will be home, probably tomorrow?!?!? So, the superintendant calls me on the phone, "Ofc. _______ would you mind transporting offender _______ to MCF-Shakopee tonight?" Sure I reply, not a problem. He states, "Well, are you going to want to drive there and back tonight, I would prefer if you stayed at a hotel in Shakopee, we can make reservations, I don't want you driving with that little sleep." So I response, "Well, I will leave it up to Sgt. _____, it doesn't matter to me." So, we transport offender ______ to MCF-Shakopee, leaving at 10 pm!!! On the way we needed the phone number for MCF-Willow River (where we stop to let the offender use the rest room) and MCF-Shakopee. I called the facility and they state they will get back to me with the number, and then I lose reception on the phone, but my radio works and I chuckle. We hear over the radio, "Ms. ____ to Ofc. _________, did you call Ofc. _______ with the numbers yet?" She states no back, and we respond over the radio, "Sgt. ______ to Ofc. _______, yeah, when are you going to call us with the phone number?" *smirk* They didn't know we had radio reception, but no cell phone reception, caught them off gaurd and made everyone laugh at work. So we get the numbers once we have cell phone reception, and it is 11:30. OPPPSSSSS....... I forgot to call my roommate. So, I check my cell phone messages, my Mom... when you clean the barn tomorrow, remember... ..... ..... Funny!!! that won't be happening. Second message from my roommate, "Ummm it is 10:45 pm, where are you? I thought you were suppose to be home at 10 pm and it is like 10:45, anyways, I didn't lock the doors and don,t have my keys, so don't lock the door when you get home." Not a chance of that happening now is there? So I call her back and she states, so what is going on, where are you? I state, well driving the country side, well not driving, but riding around any way. She states, Ummm... WHY? I state, I am working, and can't talk right now, I will be home at........ ummmmmmmmm.... tomorrow? Midnight? She states, okay. So we arrive at MCF-Shakopee at 3 in the morning and drop off the offender. Then we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, getting there at 3:30 am and sleeping until 8:30 am... leaving at 9:30 am... well supposedly. I leave the hotel room at 9:25 and realize my co-worker (male co-worker, hence different hotel room) hasn't been out of his room yet (my detective skills noting the newspaper in front of his room door determined this). So, I go to the lobby and wait. At 9:45 am my co-worker comes out, "Oh there you are, I knocked and called your room and the room next to yours, I couldn't remember your room number." He states he got up at 9:03 and it took him 20 minutes to get ready. I state, yeah it took me about 20 minutes to get ready too, but I had a hard time determining what to wear! Mind you, I only had what I had on, as I was not prepared for an over nighter, but luckily I did have an over night bag with that I usually keep in my car for just such occasions. So we left the hotel and arrived back at my place of work at 3:15 pm, 15 minutes after my next normal shift started. My boss walks up, what are you doing here? Well, I work at 3 for my regular shift, right? He states, oh, I figured you would be tired so there is an extra officer on if you want to take vacation time. NICE!!!!!!!!!! I love my work place. So I worked 4 hours of my regular shift, and then got groggy and went home, taking 4 hours of vacation time. Yeah, it felt like working day in and day out.... and it wasn't bad actually. 14 hours in a car in two days, getting paid for 12 of those hours!! Lots of overtime and four hours vacation, I can handle that!

Birthday!?!?!?

2007-01-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

Well, so I had a LONG weekend this week... *smirk* Tues, Wed, Thur, and Friday... okay no weekend involved, but it was MY long weekend since Tuesday and Wednesday are my normal days off! Tuesday of my birthday week, I survived.. LITERALLY SURVIVED, yeah, it was just GREAT!!!!!!!! I woke up and couldn't move (bloodsugars VERY low), but I did manage to bite the top of a Mountain Dew bottle by my bed and squeeze Mountain Dew all over my hair and got some in my mouth... Wonderful, so I took a shower afterwards and headed to my hair appointment (twice a year hair cut). That night I went to my parents house and apparently I should take showers more often because my sister-in-law bought me a shower/bath deal thingy. Is that a hint?!??! After that I watched a movie. The next day I had the vet come for a coggins test on my horses, and then my friends from Bemidji came up and we went bowling, played cards, went out to eat, and watched a movie. That was fun, but I was SOOOOOOOO tired and hot and cold and hot and cold... hmmmmmmm.... and low blood sugars AGAIN... maybe I am sick/was sick?!??! Today I went to Duluth and picked up my new glasses I bought and two shirts... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, I tried for a new style since my friends are always ragging on me for my Men's t-shirts and hoodies. I bought a men's flannel shirt and a green men's shirt with long sleeve army style sleeves. HEEEEEEEEEHEEEEEEEE is that better I ask everyone? Okay, okay.... old habits are hard to break, sheesh!!!!!!! Then I got home and looked in the mirror and with the new glasses, my twice a year hair cut, and a men's shirt on I hardly recognized myself!!!!! :)

New Years Eve

2007-01-11T13:47:00.000-08:00

So the day before New Years Eve, I stopped in at my parents house to chat with the parents. I spoke to my Dad since my Mom ditched out and went horse back riding, and I asked him if he had any plans for New Years Eve like a work party, etc. My Dad states, "Didn't your Mom tell you? We are having a party at your house!" I was like... ah........ what........ I have to work!!! He states yeah I know, we were going to burn that wood pile behind your house, but we might still be there when you get off work at midnight. EXCUSE ME!!!!!!!! This is backwards! MY PARENTS WANT TO HAVE A PARTY AT MY HOUSE WHEN I AM WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yikes!!!! Luckily it snowed heavily and my parents couldn't burn the wood pile and I made it to and from work in one piece... with my house and wood pile in tact as well!!!

Bemidji, the gang!!

2007-01-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

So I went to Bemidji the other day to visit the gang. Seven of us came together for one last hurrah... isn't it funny how life takes everyone in different directions, but once we are together it is life as usual for the group. So two of my friends are moving to Conneticut, and two to Michigan.. hmmm... :( Well, two already live 2 to 4 hours away, and the others are from Indiana... they are just moving farther away... Any how, I drove into town and met up with Chad, and followed him to my friend Javin's, and then we went to Green Mill for lunch, and Chad paid... :). Then I left with Chad to go back to Javin's house. We then waited for Aaron, Michelle, and Matt to show up. Matt of course states, "What the.... are you doing here, go back to where you came from!" Of course Matt then gave me a big hug! :) Finally we all arrived, except Kyle who was working, and we started picking on each other, started insulting each other, beating each other up with the pillows, figured out if we throw the office chair at the double doors into the bedroom the doors open and the person in the chair ends up on the bed, we took a million pictures, Michelle wanted to eat at Ground Round so we ate at Ground Round and Javin paid for me, and we just had a blast hanging out afterwards, beating each other up, and gabbing.

Moral of the story: For free food I need to travel to Bemidji more often (did I mention Javin cooked breakfast too?!?)!!!

Presents!!!!!!!!!

2006-12-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

So, my family has decided NO MORE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS! Christmas is all about family, and we buy stuff for each other year round, and buy what we want, so why buy stuff for each other we won't use or exchange gift cards!??! Great idea!!!!!!! It makes Christmas time so much easier, especially since I work Christmas day. Well, this year, I was going to buy a garage door opener, especially since I almost never use the garage and my Dad uses my garage all the time, his 4 to 6 garages/storage spaces aren't enough.... so for my Father I wanted to buy a garage door opener, and the problem was that I found one at Sears where my Grandma can get a discount. So I ask her to buy me one and stated I would pay her back........ NOPE.. NOPE... instead she buys it and says I am the Grandma and I can buy you a Christmas gift if I want.... it is your Christmas present... FINE!!!!!!!! Christmas eve my Mom calls and states, come over for Ham and a Christmas gift! I state, "MOM!!!!!!! We aren't suppose to get each other gifts!" She says, "well, I can and I did!" I then go on to state that I can't open it because it isn't Christmas, and she states, "Well, we use to open gifts on Christmas Eve." I respond, "YEAH, ONE GIFT ON CHRISTMAS EVE! I will come over at 5 am, like usual to shake and rattle it until you get up!" She states, "Well, I only got you one gift, so get your butt over here!" So I go to thier house, and my Dad gleefully brings me the gift and states, "It is what you have always wanted!" I state, nope it isn't heavy enough and I don't see any truck keys, let me leave so you can insert those! So, I open the gift and there sits a Breyer plastic horse trailer and a Duramax Diesel toy truck with a note stating Merry Christmas, you know I always try to get you everything you want! Okay, so I took the toy home, and I called my parents, and my Dad states, "WHAT!! DID SHE TOTAL THE TRUCK ALREADY, I DIDN'T HAVE A CHANCE TO PUT INSURANCE ON IT YET!" Very funny... very funny.... hmmmmmmm... MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Late for work?!!?

2006-12-21T21:04:00.000-08:00

So, I am a little slack in my blogs, I could post a few different things on here, but last week, on Sunday I made a mistake, but hey I am one to make every mistake once... hopefully only once, so I am good now! I set my alarm for 9 since I had a shift exchange, had to work at noon, and had to leave my house at 10:30. So, my alarm never went off, I woke up at 10:20 am, and not realizing it was 10:20.... I went about my business. I showered, got ready for work, talked politics and criminal justice with my roommate and her boyfriend, and at 11:15 am I checked my phone messages and my Mom had called stating, "Hey, I saw your car was still parked in the yard, I thought you had to work at noon, or maybe you had to leave at noon?" I whipped around, looked at the clock and went, "WHAT!!!!!!?!?? It is 11:15 not 10:15!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE..... " With that left in the air I was out the door in under ten seconds with my roommate and her boyfriend jaw dropped in confusion.... :) So I was on the road and I called work stating, I am going to be late, I just left now and if I don't get pulled over for speeding I should be about 15 minutes late. They stated, oh, don't worry about it, don't speed, and don't hit a deer, be careful! I stated I would be there and would e-mail my boss letting him know I was late. They state, don't do that, we got you covered! So, I went to work and showed up at 12:15 pm, a new driving speed record, and I e-mailed my boss and got no response... perhaps he was speechless considering I turned myself in even though he wouldn't have known about it. Ah... life goes on, we all make mistakes... and I am usually 15 minutes early... it usually takes an hour and fifteen minutes to get to work and I leave an hour and a half early.
So, on Monday an old friend came over and as late as it was I went to bed and left him on my couch... he fell asleep and in the morning I was busy so I said, "Good morning, I have to go, Tracy (my roommate) will give you a ride home," and I left. Tuesday and Wednesday I cleaned the house, rode horse, hung out with Scott and relaxed watching TV. Wednesday, I went grocery shopping, cleaned the house (the cats knocked off the potted plant in the living room when the dog chased them), and hung out with Scott.... yeah... so back to work and hopefully I won't be late again.
Oh, I called on another horse and Monty Bruce (reknowned trainer) e-mailed me back stating for 225 dollars a piece he would do a two day horse training clinic up here if 10 to 15 people were interested in May... any takers...?!??!?

Christmas... is suppose to be a wonderful family event!

2006-12-21T21:03:00.000-08:00

This Christmas I am going to spend with the offenders at work, and I am happy about this. I took the job as a Corrections Officer knowing I had to make some sacrifices, and the offenders have taught me a thing or two. You know, I listen to people this year frustrated, and disgruntaled about Christmas... whining and whining... and complaining and complaining about Christmas being commercialized, not enough money, bickering and fighting... on and on, well the offenders at work that I work with have it right, they are disheartened because they don't get to have Christmas at home with their loved ones. They don't have money for gifts, they can't even pick out Christmas cards, but all they care about is not being able to be at home, and they do their best to make cards, draw, send videos, and make sure their loved ones know how important they are to them.

Many other people in my life outside of work are complaining and whining... well, Christmas doesn't have to be this way, and don't be disheartened, don't whine, don't let money or greed of others get in the way of what Christmas is all about! Yes, Christmas is suppose to be about family and loved ones, and a joyous time of year... so make it that way!!!!!!!!! Be a part of the solution, do your part to make it what it is suppose to be. Don't worry about money, don't let other's greed take you down, don't whine, fix it, make Christmas what it is suppose to be! You have it right, it isn't about the money, but don't let others stop your and your families special time of year. Stay positive, come up with solutions, and bring back the Christmas cheer.

If you don't have the money, explain this to others, invite them over and make supper, and letting other people you care about them. Let them know they are appreciated and important to you, make it special again! Spread the cheer, and defeat commercialism... make suggestions and suggest no gift giving for the adults, but a time for family fun and bonding. Make gifts from the heart, gifts of your own. Use what you got and try to make Christmas a time of joy and family togetherness! Don't let others and commericalism get you down... I for one plan on having a merry, joyous Christmas because even though I am working, I will try to embrace what Christmas is all about, and I love and appreciate my family, and they will be truly thought of and missed, and wished a Merry Christmas.

20,000 dollar horse.. I OWN ONE!!!!

2006-12-21T21:02:00.001-08:00

So on Wednesday, my one day off, I drove all the way to New York Mills to look at a good bloodlined, trained, solid horse that anyone can ride, supposedly... that has never bucked. So I drove four agonizing hours through no whereville, and finally ended up at this place to look at this well broke 5,000 dollar horse. Lets see.... she had a short neck.. not following her bloodlines for a reining horse, but she was pretty. I hopped on her and she didn't neck rein, didn't stop well, I had to fight her to get her to back up, she didn't know side passing, wasn't soft, and when I went in the field to ride her, she tried to do whatever she wanted, pick up speed when she wanted, and when I wouldn't let her do as she wanted, I swear she was thinking about bucking this mean rider... but I held her good and kept control. 5,000 dollars my butt.... if she is worth 5,000 then my horse is broken to death and the best broke horse alive, well worth 20,000 dollars (my mare that I would never sell anyways)! In the end, I keep looking at these expensive, supposedly "spook free well broken horses" and I realize that my two year old knows more then these horses do. Hmmmmmmmm........ well the golden boy I have decided not to sell and to send to the trainer again if I have no time to work with him myself... I think... and I talked to a trainer... a renowned trainer and he stated he might even do a horse clinic up here... on to the next adventure, my boy has his home, he is staying and one of the best horses alive... I guess looking at other horses has taught me a thing or two........ my horses are GOLDEN!!!!!!!!!!

X-mas decorations

2006-12-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

So nothing new is going on with me lately, except the normal. I write someone or call about a horse trainer... no response from them... go on to the next... no response from them... on to the next..... hmmm... at least it keeps me going online to check my e-mail and interested in checking my phone messages.. day in and day out.. no response.. SOME BUSINESS PEOPLE THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!
Work.. I go.. and go again.. and go again... and on my days off I go to work for mandatory overtime... and go again.. and again.. oh, I have to work today too.... on my day off.....
This is kind of like my x-mas decorations! I put up lights, then put them up again and again and again... Same thing with the tree... I put it up, put it up again, put it up again!!!!! I have set up for christmas like ten to twenety times!!!!!!!!!!! Reset up=cats! My life seems to go in circles, but hey, at least I am staying busy.
Speaking of which, I should probably get going to work AGAIN!!!

Always make back up plans!

2006-12-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

So, I had three days off this week, and with the soreness of last week's riding episodes, and picking up extra shifts at work the last couple of weeks, I wanted to have some fun. So I made plans to see a few horses with my Mom, but alas, bad weather. So we saw one horse nearby that we didn't ride because it was freezing out, and cancelled on seeing the rest. That is alright though, plan two, I was going to do someting fun with my roommate, BUT she got the flu so I saw hide nor hair of her and she was in my house! Okay, plan three, I went to a movie, out to country kitchen, and back home to see two more movies, and it was great, but next time, I am making plan 4, 5, and 6, just in case!!! I did take pictures of my horse, and help my Mom take pictures of her horses, and we put them for sale on the internet, www.equine.com, and I also answered a few questions on my horse, and learned something interesting. One of the people asking me questions I sent the web link to my horse's sire's web page, and as a result I checked out the page. Yearling, untrained foals out of the same sire they are asking from 2,500 to 10,000, 10,000 being the most common price, and I am asking 3,500 for a trained two-year-old..... ummmmmmmm....... I may have to rethink my price. Also, looking at this other horse and some others, my two-year-old is looking like the prize horse right now.

I was thinking about selling my horse, just thinking, really!!!!!!

2006-11-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

SUPERB reining blood lined 2 year old Smutty Buckskin Gelding

"Sheriff" was bought as a two year old, and sent for 60 days professional training last May. Sheriff won the nationals for lounge line in Montana as a yearling, and this gelding has the bloodlines to shine. He has Mrs. Kalico, Hollywood Dun It, Fritz, Cody, and many other money earners in his direct bloodline, he is bred to the nines for reining. He is a grandson of Hollywood Dun It, and his Sire placed 3rd in the Amateur reining competition in Florida last year, and has just started his career. They are planning on taking Sheriff's Sire into professional reining competitions this year. I have ridden Sheriff a half dozen times in the arena and a half dozen times out in the field. He is a very intelligent horse and learns fast. He is level headed, and is not very spooking for a two-year-old. He has only been spooked once when riding, and he trotted off a little ways, and when I turned him around he went right up to the farm equipment he was scared of. He hasn't jumped at stumps, noises, anything in the woods, and is always eager to go. He has a motor on him, and doesn't seem to tire easily. He lopes, trots, and moves off when asked, 9 times out of ten taking the correct lead. I would recommend Sheriff for an intermediate rider, as he is young, still learning, and an intelligent horse. I bought Sheriff right after I had moved and had planned on having a "project" horse to train, but with the move, I drive farther to work, and don't have the time to put into him. With his excellent bloodlines, I sent him to a trainer that trains reining, barrel, and ranch horses. I had started him under saddle myself before shipping him off to the trainer, and he was one of the easiest of our lot to train. The trainer told me Sheriff likes to go (lopes fast), and is sometimes soft on the mouth and other times a little more stubborn. I have noticed the same thing when riding him myself. He still needs a lot more time put on him, and has great potential.

Sheriff is a smutty buckskin. In the winter he looks more like a bay with a rich chocolate brown color with the buckskin color showing around his eyes and muzzle. In the summer the buckskin color starts coming out more and shows under his belly and on his sides as well. I am not a fan of bay horses, but even in the winter when the brown hair takes over, this boy is gorgeous. Come see for yourself, his horse is going to be dynamite. He was bred and hand picked for his bloodlines and beautiful moves, has great proportions, and a great mind.

Horseback riding= Keeping the horse between you and the ground.

2006-11-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

So, I forgot to take my stupidity drugs the other day, and had a few episodes. First, my Mom comes over and states, me and Laurie were going to go riding if you want to come along. Me, "Sure, I'll take Sheriff." She states, you are a crazy girl. I comment back, ah, he'll be fine, he is ready. She comments, I dunno.... because you see Sheriff is my green broke two year old, and I had wanted to take him out trail riding where he has never been before. As it turns out, our friend Laurie was running a little late, so no trailering the horses any where, so I just go and grab my two year old and take him out by himself through the scary woods, and farther then I have taken him before, and he hasn't doing too bad... he wasn't too bad at stopping, not spooking, backing, and bucking. So I make it through the scary woods, and head out into safe zone, the field, and with all his pent up energy I ask him to trot... and get nothing... so I ask him again, and I thought what a clutz as he pops on the rear a little bit (WHAT AN IDIOT I AM), and then he lambastes me.. kicking way out on the rear throwing me up towards his head, which gives him rein and keeps me unseated.... well, after two good bucks and me scrambling to stay off his neck, I decided to opt for bailing safely, and while my landing wasn't a perfect ten, it was a good landing.... so I scrambed looking for my glasses, check, cell phone, check. Horse.... well... ummm... I still have ten blocks to walk in and there goes my horses loping and bucking in... so I walk five blocks and once some of my gimpiness fades I start trotting in, as my Mom brings me my horse. So I crawled back on him, and rode him in because you have to get back on when you get bucked off. I then went into the areana and ask him to trot, and he does and he tries to act up, but I caught him before he could.. so he was listening well, and I put my precious angel away, and grabbed my mare. I figured I am sore, and I need to keep these muscles warmed up, so I will ride my mare bareback... stupidity pills please, I needed some badly. Regardless of the situation, I had thought, my odds are better on Baron, me= 5, her= 1 as far as getting me off. She hasn't really bucked on purpose ever, but she has bucked and jumped over creeks five feet in the air... etc.... So I walk her out in the field and it feels AWESOME, so I ask her to trot... wonderful.... so I turn her home at a trot, and something behind her spooks her......... and she launches foreward...... so I pull back on the reins and pull more then I intended since she was launching forward at the same time, and she pops off the front and kicks up off the back.... and..... I stayed on, but OUCH, my poor back... so I brought her back, me 6, her 1, and I put her away and thought is this a conspiracy theory or what!?!?

Sorry all, my internet is down and I have been busy..

2006-11-18T09:52:00.000-08:00

So, my internet is temporarily out of service until my handy dandy brother can come over and hook up a new cable. It is funny, I didn't know I was so internet dependant, now what do I do with my free time? I suppose I could read some more of the educational books I bought, clean the house, play with the pets, or do some other pointless task? You know they say the internet is a great learning tool, and it is great for research, but I think I learn more when not on the internet because I like to read.
Speaking of research tools, my internet couldn't have gone out at a worser time. I have decided after driving on the roads that one treacherous day that I would like a pick up with 4 wheel drive. Yeah, I can drive my car, but really... can I drive it out of the ditch or through 3 feet of snow, and can I really predict when it is going to snow too much for my car? Okay, enough excuses, what it comes down to is I want a truck, I have always wanted a truck, and I have just been too cheap to buy one, but now I have excuses to go with my wants, so it is all good. My mind has been flying around with ways to save money and all the possiblilities... and finally I found ways to break even on the extra expenditures of a truck... put liability on both vehicles, only drive the truck in the winter so I can still save on gas, have a spare vehicle and less worries about saving up money in case my car gives out on me or I hit a deer... good enough excuses for me.
Problem is I like my spending money too.... and I have some spending money saved, soooooooooooooo...... cheap truck... wait better yet, totalled truck, less worries once again. So I checked out the insurance auction and I bid on a S10 4X4 with hail damage. My Dad said if I got it he would get me a bumper sticker for it that says "I am a little dingy." Cute... really... but I lost out on the dingy pickup so on to the next one... it is like gambling, eventually I will get a totalled dingy pickup for cheap, but I did really like the S10, even though I trully want a full size one. It just so happens a buddy at work has the exact pickup I was looking for and he is giving a co-worker a deal on it... me.... if I want it and he is asking exactly the amount of money I have saved up.. great.. I would be broke with a pickup... I told him to try and sell it for what it is worth first... he can't just give away X amount of money because I am a co-worker... that isn't right....
Oh, and as far as the eligable bachelors my Dad had lined up for me at his work party... yeah... umm... there is the 60 year old with 100,000 in the check book supposedly, and the young buck with three DWIs that still drives cars without a liscence, just buys a new car before the tabs expire... great Dad, thanks really.... thanks... at least he considers me worth a lot of money with the first one, but the second... really... yikes... the worst thing was he got his buddy on the band wagon of making fun of me.... *grimace* Oh well, the party was alright.

Relatives..... entertainment? worry??

2006-11-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

So I was talking to my Mom the other day, and she states, so I hear you are doing a good job at work? HUH!??!?!? How would my Mom know....??? So she states, yeah, your grand parents had lunch with your boss the other day and he had nothing but good to say about you? My WHAT? My grandparents had lunch with my boss!?!??! They don't even know him!!!!!!!!! My Mom goes on to state that my boss did a speech at the lions club (which my grandpa is a member of), and after the speech my boss happened to be seated across the table from my grandparents, and mentioned that he worked where I did and the conversation progressed. Its a small world after all!! Its a small world after all!! Oh my.... I wonder what my grandpa said... oh no...........

So, next, my Mom asked, "So do you happen to have Thursday Nov 16th off?" Why would she be asking?!? Of course I don't, but she asked if I could get the day off, so I state, "maybe." She goes on to state, oh because your Dad has a work party from 5 to 7 that day and wants you to go. WAIT A MINUTE, JUST ONE MINUTE!!!!!!! My Dad and his work buddies... and he wants me to go, so I can listen to the shop talk? This doesn't make sense.... then it dawns on me. This summer my Dad hurt his thumb and couldn't fix equipment, and being a senior guy he worked as foreman in the afternoon at the shop with the young bucks, and he kept going on and on about how I should bring him supper so I could meet all the young mechanically minded men at the shop... OH!!!!!! It is pathetic... my parents, my family......... yikes.... if I wanted to find a guy it isn't that hard, but they keep trying to set me up!!!!!!! Well, my Dad doesn't ask for much, so I requested the day off... to be... "shown off" to all the younger guys my Dad works with *grimace*. Luckily, my Dad isn't exactly a socialite, but he does get intrapped and talks for hours to anyone who approaches, so I should avoid being introduced to too many guys or having to talk too much... I can just slip off and keep him happy by going!

My room mate locked my husband in her room!!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-30T21:27:00.000-08:00

So, I have this friend who stated that people replace husbands and kids with pets... well I disagree, but this got me thinking... I have two cats and a dog, so which pet is the husband? Hmmm... not the dog because he is clingy, childish, and happy no matter what. Of the two cats, one disappears outside and wanders off all over the neighborhood and comes home for food and shelter... hmmm... maybe he is the typical husband after all... but my other cat is the home body, cuddle bug, and he is an attention hound... so being my favorite, I picked him. So, I came home, and being the typical wife, I didn't even think about Petey, my cat. I went on the computer and then crawled into bed and hear "mew." Then it occurs to me... I haven't seen the cuddle bug all night! So, I get up and wander around not seeing my cat. Well, my roommate always shuts her door and I thought, I bet he was under the bed and she locked him in... sure enough... there was my cat. I let him out, and rather then food or the litter box he wanders around and mews... so I called him to me, cuddled a bit and pushed him away. He then went about his business.

Speaking of my roommate, she took my joke well... and posted the eviction letter on the cuboards. The next day she made me breakfast/brunch, and checked it off the list. NOW... if I would have known she would joke back like that I would have added more to the list!!!!!!!

Work... I am not going crazy after all....

2006-10-30T21:20:00.000-08:00

Cognative Thinking skills... Feeling.. stressed... thinking.. work is always walking on egg shells.. I am worried about making my co-workers paranoia or causing a new rumor to start that is untrue.

Feeling level... stressed... 50% level of belief in my thoughts... GOING UP every day... 50% I suppose.

Why is it going up... lets consider the facts... hmmm which cognative skills to use... compare and contrast.. defense attorney... ahh... I will just list them and play prosecutor... not the correct way to do cognative skills, but it is my blog!!!!!!!
So I work with nine officers total. Two are day staff and are awesome, wonderful guys with weekends off, day shift, and close to retirement. Two are midnight staff and usually work alone and have little to do with the politics because they avoid it. 5 people are on my watch. Of those five.. one is under investigation and not working right now, I am the second... that leaves three left. Of those three, one wants to transfer to midnights to avoid the politics and trouble, one wants to take a part time job at the kitchen, and one wants to transfer to a different facility. WOW... the stress isn't just in my head. I am not crazy after all....

So back to cognative thinking skills, my thoughts are proven... sort of.. there is stress at work anyway... so how do I fix it? Hmm.. I can wait until they quit or move, and I work with new people. I can take the challenge of working with a stressful environment/people and learning careful communication. As far as administration and politics go, I have no problems with them... as other people do... ahhh the waiting game... having my feelings validated makes me feel better... that means other people want change to, so I am not in this alone!

Random thoughts...

2006-10-30T21:15:00.000-08:00

You know, I was driving home last night and there was a lot of deer out.... as always. I keep trying to hit one, and I could, but then I decided it would be better to put a kangaroo rack on the front of my car first... So, I was driving and I saw this orange glow towards the ground... I thought what kind of animal is that and I stared and stared, and HIT THE BRAKES!!!!!!!!!!! Two feet from three deer in the middle of the road I stopped... and one ran off, and two casually walked off of no concern to them. You ever consider it from the deers prospective though. Mama deer... and baby deer... Baby, "Mom.. car.. car... car coming.... Mom... car......." The baby deer then runs frantically around in circles. Mom, "don't worry about it, they won't hurt you.... just ignore them and stay calm." Then they stand on the road... and the baby deer stays come, ignoring the car coming and SPLAT!!!!!!!!!!! So the next year the Mom goes... CAR!!!!!!! Car............ CAR!!!!!!!!!!! and rounds frantically out of the ditch and on the road....... SPLAT!!!!!!!!!!

Then there is indoor plumbing... ever think about it.. truly... who came up with it? What a mess would it be if we didn't have it... how did indoor plumbing evolve.. I never saw a show on that!
So, I went outside with the dog today and threw his tennis ball. Question... how many times do I have to throw the tennis ball to equal a walk?
I also cleaned my house today throughly... that takes a while. I must have been in a good mood to do that!!!!!!! None the less, I thought, hmmm... maybe I should put an eviction notice on my room mates door, You are being evicted and have two hours to move out, unless of course, you clean the bathrooms, vacuum, do the dishes, dust, and windex the windows, oh and cook me a meal too. Do you think that will go over well? She cooked breakfast for her boyfriend and didn't cook me any.... Hrmmppp... (hopes everyone realizes I am joking) I may have to try the eviction thing though... *pauses blog and gets right on that* We will see how well this goes over, of course I shouldn't have cleaned the house first.... oh well...
What else... oh, I am reading this new book on Cognative Therapy.. and it is really good, intense, and you need to concentrate... a lot of good stuff! My brief overview of it... ask a lot of questions when helping someone, and if they ask a question, answer with a question, let them counsel themselves and come up with a solution. I know some friends that would be really good at this stuff....

The negative cycle had started again!!!!!!!

2006-10-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I have this theory that life has its ups and downs to make us stronger people. A few weeks ago, multiple problems came up even after I was thinking it can't get much worse. In the end, nothing major went wrong, and it created quite a funny story of one bad thing after another... in succession. Well, I had a few okay weeks, and now.... well, back to character building. Who said I wanted any more character building? First work... problems with the offenders, and everyone being paranoid with everyone else.... investigations at work, short staffed... but that has gotten better. At home my dog and cats kept making my house a disaster... I had problems with some friends that are now straightened out, and now I have a few old friends I haven't talked to in a while that I am hanging out with again. At work, a new problem came up... can't get halloween off... I had plans, but I cancelled those, and now I find out that perhaps I can have the day off... I will find that out today, and I also got invited to a halloween party a friend of mine is throwing, and of course I have nothing interesting to wear any more... I may have to get creative. I keep trying to fix each problem, and I do, but new ones keep popping up. Yesterday, I walked the dog, played with him, bought some new toys and new chew things, and this morning.......... my couch cushion was tore up. So now I need a new love seat and couch becuase I like my house to look at least nice... the dog is expensive and apparently I don't have enough time for him... solution, get rid of the dog. I am not angry but resigned... I probably won't get rid of the dog, but truly I am seriously contemplating it... and I would give him away if my Mom could take him.

Alright, so what next, bring it on... I am ready...... and even more ready for the positive cycle to begin!!!

Pin pricks...

2006-10-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

One pin prick at a time, I am wondering if coming back up here was worth while. Friends and family wise... despite some troubles with friends... it is WAY worth it in those respects... life is interesting. I bought a house and I am here to stay, but boy do I miss my old job!!!!!!!! I actually loved working with the mental health kids with severe problems, and awesome professional co-workers... Why is it that I can't have both worlds? Life is a trial, and we are to make it better and better, but I am starting to understand why criminal justice personel are more likely to become alcoholics. I get along with everyone for the most part, but you can't make everyone happy. At work, if I make a joke, one person will laugh, one gets paranoid about what I am saying in their own implied meanings, one scowls and is offended, one gets ticked off, one is bored with the whole conversation, and one is entertained. Okay, so that wasn't a real life situation, but it gets my point across. Dealing with so many personalities with co-workers and offenders at work... I have never ever dealt with anything like it. If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger, right? Like I said working with the mental health kids seems like a walk in the park now, although I must admit I usually enjoyed going to work at Red Wing, it was a great job, one of my favorite jobs thus far! I MISS RED WING!!!!!!! Well, I miss working there, not living there. Now, I run into so many problems... not one person... not one place... just small pin pricks here and there, but with so many it gets old after a while...
I apologize to my readers, this isn't my typical fun loving blog, but a little insight to the fact that I am human too, and have to deal with all the difficulties in life, hopefully I can learn from my difficulties.

Friendship is a two way street!

2006-10-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

You know, I am a pretty easy going person, and I believe most of my friends know this. It takes a lot to tick me off, or even get me slightly upset. I believe only about two people in my whole life have gotten me really upset before, and I still talk to those people (even though some I probably shouldn't). I am more likely to get mad at myself then at others because I can only control myself and not others. If someone ticks me off I am the one that choose to hang out with them, I choose to make them a friend, or perhaps I did something that they reacted to. Most people hold grudges or internalize what other people have done/feel, but I figure, grudges aren't worth it, just do what you need to do to fix the problem on your side. Of course this is easy for me because I am not a very emotional person by any means.

I recently posted a bulletin asking how do you be a good friend. You know, I always thought I was pretty intelligent, but that doesn't stop me from being dense at times. Most of my friends commented to the bulletin stating something to the effect that I have always been a great friend. Most of my friends aren't on myspace, and I know some times I do make mistakes. Like when I was in Red Wing, my friends came down to visit me two or three times from Bemidji, and while I tried to get up to Bemidji I never made it or something came up... I know excuses, not good. I did make it there once this summer. I also need to get up to the middle of no where to visit some friends past Buyck because they have been great at calling and inviting me, and I have been busy this summer. I was going to make an attempt this vacation period, but they went out of state. All of my excuses don't cut it though, a person can always make time. For the most part, I am great about being there when a friend needs help, calling, bringing over food, letting people know they are appreciated, listening (some times I get distracted and can be bad at this), and whenever something new or exciting happens in someones life I am there to join in. For years I have invested a ton of time and had a lot of fun. In my life there was little new going on, so it was fun and easy to help people move, celebrate a new child, send funny cards and pranks, help friends in trouble, celebrate a new car or house... live vicariously.. :). It is the great part of friendship celebrating with others and helping out. This year, I had a lot go on in my life. I moved, got a new job, got a new car, a dog, and got a new house. When I asked for help moving... well... me and my Mom did it because everyone was too busy. When I asked for people to come over, three came over without being pushed and bugged to no end. When I told everyone about my new dog they listened for a bit and zoned out, and never made an attempt to stop by. With most of my friends this is understandable, they are busy with boyfriends, houses, jobs, children, and I truly understand. I have always been free and able to help out, and I have been there, but after years I finally have realized that with some of my friends, my friendships are more of a one way street, which brings me to a new thought... now what do I do with these friendships, drift off to better ones? What do I want to do about this? A few of my friends I have talked to about the one way street before I did get ticked off, and we hashed it out... others, well... it is a tricky subject that puts people on defense... so what... walk away see if they bother putting in an effort after I have invested years into the friendship? It is hard because obviously with the realization I have made some things will be different between me and that friend. Like I said I am not one to hold much of any emotions towards the situation, but it will sit there in the back of my head now that it is acknowleged, and luckily I am a very open and forgiving person, so if things change in the friendship I am more then happy to forgive and forget.

Pranks!

2006-10-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

Pranks
So, I got bored this week with all the time off, and decided to remind a few friends I was thinking about them, what a good friend!!!!! :) Heeeheee... unfortunately it didn't turn out as I planned. I sent a ugly horse picture to Laurie, a friend of mine, and commented that the horse was in her price range, I believe she pledged to get even.. I am waiting... as long as no miniture donkeys show up in the pasture! I also had my roommate write a note, and I put a ugly skeleton on the grill of my brother's car. Unfortunately I told my Mom about the prank, and she told my brother... :( So much for telling my Mom my pranks..... of course I do have one more out their for my friends in Bemidji, and we shall see what happens with that one. You see what happens when I get bored? So, anyone wanna give me their address.... :) I am sweet and innocent, honest!!!!!!!

Round up at the Bar V Bar Ranch

2006-10-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

So I just got back from the ranch... shew... showers are a luxury, let me tell you! I got there Friday night in long johns, shirt, sweat shirt, and I quickly added a vest, a coat, and a duster, along with gloves and a hat. When we pulled up the drive we rounded up some cattle alright, they followed us in!!! As we take the hay bales out of the horse trailer, and hurry to grab the horses and get them out, about 60 hungry cattle step closer and closer... ummm... yeah.. get those horses out NOW!!!!! So we pulled the horses out and threw the hey bales back in the trailer, with 60 hungry cattle now about a block away, so we scared them off. Next, the ranch manager comes in and about 40 to 60 head of cattle follow him in, and we chase those ones off too.

We then proceeded to the bunk house after putting the horses away in a corral, and were encouraged to have a few drinks and stay up... oh no... no no no no... I am smarter then that! So, I was the first to slip away a little after nine o'clock, and climb into my sleeping bag still fully clothed, and curl up and fall asleep. At 6 o'clock I see a whole line of horse trailers pull up, and get quickly told to get out of bed. So, I put on the vest, jacket, duster, gloves, and hat, and head out tossing tack on my horse as fast as possible... saddling up and jumping on just as the ranch owner states, "Where is the paid help that semi will be here at nine to pick up the cattle." So he goes down to the bunk house on his horse and kicks and pounds on the wall... "Get up!" Then someone comments, "there are some hunters in there to." He comments, "Well they can get up too!" (The paid help was the one that stayed up the latest and drank, I could see this one coming) So off we go running up the hill and round up cattle that were only like 10 blocks away from the corrals... easy pickings.. across the river and up the hill and into the corral. Next, we round up some more further out... through the river and up a few hills and to the corral. Then as we were putting those in the corral, the rest came in on there own!!!!!!!!!! :( Where is all the fun.. all we were missing was one bull... :( So, we rode around, but with the snow we saw no cattle tracks, and the horses were a slippin and a sliding... The next day the semi trucks came in at 7 o'clock the next morning, and we were up watching as the last of the cattle got hauled away.

To tell you the truth it was easy pickings, and only one person got bucked off in a river and I didn't get to see it! I also learned the warmth was none existant, and after a while, cold didn't seem to matter much... Of course, now that I am home, boy am I sweating to death, and in jeans and a t-shirt none the less, what a luxury!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it is off to the Bar V Bar Ranch!

2006-10-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

It is now time to leave to round up the cattle... hmmm... spurs, check. ariats, check. boots, check. long johns, check. carhart, check. spurs, check. warm clothing, check. saddle, check. bridle, check. spurs, check. long johns, check. duster, check. saddle pad, check.

Make up? Nah.... who needs it?!?!? Of course, I did tell the manager of the ranch I wanted a discount on trail rides because there was no cute dudes there. He said here I am. I said, "I was thinking of a newer, less used model!" To which his wife laughed, and I was assured that some young, "dude ranchers" would be at the round up... we shall see about that...??!?!?

Oh yeah, Medication, check. Horses, check., Camper, check. Long Johns, check. Spurs, check. First-aid kit, check.
Some things you just have to double check.

Why did I want to become an adult? Or should I say a zoo keeper!!!

2006-10-07T10:29:00.000-07:00

You know, when I was young I use to play adult, and think it was great!!! The pets were great companions, and any problems and it was "Mom, the cat puked!" Then of course, it was, "well, clean it up!" I didn't mind so much then because my Mom took care of it half the time, I just played...
As an adult, I come home from work, and it is as if the cat exploded... a mess every where... he ate WAY to much... Ugh.... So I use half a roll of paper towels, and head to the garbage only to notice kitty litter and "Almond Rocca" (use your imagination) on my carpet that the dog had decided was a great treat out of the litter box... *grimace* So I clean up some of the mess, and notice mud and hair on my kitchen floor... now where did that come from... Dog, play with your toys... on second thought... there was fluff from the dogs sleeping bag on my floor and tore apart toys on the living room carpet... *sighs* So, I cleaned up some of that... and went to sleep, there is always tomorrow.
I wake up, and my horse needs to be exercised, so I head over and try not to repeat the previous day. The previous day my dog was bouncing around like a mad man, and I didn't want to ride my horse and then come home to walk the dog, so I thought why not take both out. So I head over to the barn, put my dog in the arena and go to grab my horse, only to see my dog squeeze through a tiny space in the arena and join me in the pasture... OKAY, DUMB DOG... your going to learn to respect the horses, for sure!!! So I grab my horse, and the other seven horses see the dog, and my dog can BOOK IT let me tell you!!!!!! The dog took off, for the barn at top speed with seven horses chasing him at top speed as well... luckily he made it in one piece, and he decided the pasture wasn't a good place to be. So, I took the horse out and the dog followed cautiously about 60 acres, then through the woods, and then out to the 60 acre field... the dog took one look at the horse following and took off at full speed for the house. Now, I have to worry about the highway and the dog crossing it, so from three blocks behind I kick my horse down, and across 60 acres we flew... the dog ran in the yard and behind the house, and peeked out...Shew... all is well... so I put the horse away and took my dog home, and he was STILL HYPER.... *grimace*.
So, today I took my horse out, walked/jogged the dog, scrubbed the floor on hands and knees, swept, and well, vacuuming will have to wait as my roommate is still sleeping. So, now it is off to work to walk the offenders.... :) On the plus side, who needs an exercise routine... and I get to look forward to tonights "surprises" when I get home....

Becoming the perfect person

2006-10-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

About three weeks ago, I went to the North Shore and stopped in at Barnes and Noble in Duluth on my way through, and naturally I grabbed a book on counseling and a book on horses. Naturally, to become perfect I have to learn more about counseling where I work and on my outside hobbies, horseback riding. I also bought some cheap books that had personality tests in them, why not? One of the test in particular was quite in depth, and I spent an hour answering question after question, until I couldn't wait any longer to read the results... I mean once you hit that hour mark you are thinking... next... answers please...

After an hour of carefully answering each question, the results read, in a three sentence answer that I was "balanced" WHAT?!???!??! Balanced leaves little room to work there... So what are my personality flaws? Wait, don't answer that, it could be dangerous ground, and I am well aware of some of them..... but still................

So, I decided to spend my time reading my counseling book instead... and I read and read... and read... and I still haven't figured out if I learned anything from that book, other then the fact that I need to order a different book! It is a decent book, but all it says is to learn something about the person you are counseling focus on how you react to them... and it goes on and on about the counselor and never says how to use your reactions to the person or the problems you might identify to help out the other person. Usually the book recommended that the counselor refer the client to someone else. If I am reading the book, why would I want to refer someone else after I finally identified the problem.... hello, I want to try to help them!!!!! Yes, I know, some times referrals are needed. So all I am learning is some statistics, and how to manage my feelings and thoughts better if I react to the person I am counseling... which usually I don't... hmmm... I shall keep reading... but back to becoming the perfect person..... I could start by ending my ramblings and stop switching directions, but no.... why bother....

So after finishing the personality test and reading a book that was of little help, I tried to figure out what "flaw" to work on in my life. What people don't realize is we all have flaws and things to work on constantly, and some of the best people we know and might consider heros, are people that are constantly trying to better themselves, are open-minded, and willing to take a look at what other people tell them. Our whole life we will always have something to work on, and I find that I am happy searching through life and constantly working on becoming the "perfect person." No, I don't think that will ever happen, but I will keep trying to better myself because by working on my "flaws" I naturally find better ways to handle my emotions (I know, not often a worry for me, I am more down to earth... but emotions are always involved some where I think?!?!), deal with people, deal with situations, and live life happily. We can also learn from almost anyone around us if we give it a chance... most people are better at something or some personality trait... etc... if we pay attention. If you admire a trait in someone else, why not look at your own way of doing things and maybe correct it or add to it?

So the flaw I decided to work on was validation. For every one positive we hear, we as humans, hear ten negatives. We are also ten times more likely to believe something negative someone says about us. Human nature also dictates that we all want to be useful and hear we are doing well. I hung out with a few friends and co-workers who are really good at saying stuff like, you are really good at...., you did a great job with...., and I liked how you handled this situations, can you show me how you did that. Well, I often appreciate people, or think they look nice, etc., or have some compliment floating in my head, but I only say something to the person about 25 to 50 percent of the time.... why? Most people have these thoughts, even driving by a house... wow, nice halloween decorations, or so and so got a nice car... but we rarely say anything, and validation is so important in society... very important, without it, a lot of problems arise...
If you don't believe me, you can borrow my counseling book that talks about how you react to the client because they need acceptance.... and you have to manage your own feelings as a counselor and understand and respond to that......:)

Sheep Ranch in ON!!!!!!!

2006-10-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got some good news, and after the horrible weeks I had last month, I should have a bunch of positives coming my way... or maybe the bad was to neutralize the good I had prior to those two weeks... who knows, but I take what I can get.
I guessed well, and picked the right weekend off so that I can help round up the cattle at the sheep ranch. YES, cattle, NO SHEEP thank you very much... that is just the name of the cattle ranch, Sheep Ranch... don't ask me... maybe they call it the sheep ranch to keep outsiders away, who knows? In lineu of this revelation, all I have been doing is riding my mare so she is fit for hours and hours of rough riding... course if she is out of shape, she can't buck me off, as happens to most of the riders at least once during round up. My mare hasn't bucked yet out of having a temper tantrum, and she has yet to get me off when she has because of getting jugs stuck on her feet etc, so I am not too worried. Last year my Mom took my mare to the round up, and she was one of the FEW who didn't get bucked off... too much excitement, horses, cows, frenzied activities, and the horses are nut cases, and I will love every minute of it... especially watching all the bucking shows, as long as it isn't me being in the show :).

Domestic life style?

2006-09-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

I think I am losing my mind lately, Ms. Non-domestic cleaned the house, went grocery shopping, made food for my brother and sister-in-law and friend, and then went to Dairy Queen. The next day I walked the dog, went horseback riding, and again visited my brother. I am still not quite sure what is going on with me... craziness, this domestic life style needs to stop! Paris, France, Florida, Italy, the Cities... any takers?

So, a new dog found me!!!!

2006-09-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

This morning, I got up, went outside, and there was this black lab sitting there shivering, scared, and hungry looking outside my front door, and I thought, Oh my gosh did we leave Buddy out all night, and why isn't he coming in... what is wrong with.............. WAIT A MINUTE, THAT ISN'T MY DOG!!!! So I coaxed the poor scared thing, and petted her, and got her in the house, she ate, and then my roommate let my dog out of her room... I quickly listened to barking as I pushed him in his kennel..... and the barking continued and the new dog quaked... but slowly warmed up... she was a sweety.. about 8 month old female... probably a pure breed lab. She stole my heart, but I took her to the Magnum Retriever Kennel where they said they would find her owner or a new home... HOW NICE... I just called to see if they were missing one of there dogs.... So I got a dog, named her honey, and then I gave her to a new temp home.

Riding on the brink of disaster

2006-09-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

So Labor Day weekend, I actually got vacation time... yippie, that never happens!!! I had planned to go to Ren Fest with my buddy Scott, but, alas, he had a funeral to attend to... understandable, so I made other plans.

Sunday, I made plans to go out horseback riding at Stony Brook with my sure footed, spook free, confident, well mannered mare... USUALLY anyway... so we headed down the trail and a mule went by, no problem, a few horses went by, no problem, a pony went by, no problem, and finally this itty bitty Shetland pony went by... and my horse freaked out!!!!! I mean she was quivering so much I was shaking sitting on her back... She was snorting, wide eyed, braced to run, and going crazy... but luckily she never broke and ran... I would have been dead if she had, let me tell you.... So my Mom and Laurie laughed and laughed... yeah just great.. glad I could entertain someone. So, off we went... loping later (close to running), and some leaves from a tree gently float down on teh trail, and my horse hits the brakes, almost launching me out of the saddle.... what? She has never done this before, so I spur her on, only to have her hit the brakes again at some unknown spooky thing.... so I get mad and say some unpleasant things, and spur her again... so Lope, stop, spur, buck a little, lope... repeat process like ten times!!!!!!

Monday, me and my Mom decided it was my Dad's day, so we ask him what he wants to do, and he says fishing. I ask where at and say I would really like to go to a different lake, as Vermilion hasn't been so hot this year. My Mom then states, "Well if you two really want to go fishing then go ahead, but I am not going." My Dad... oddly enough... put his foot down stating, "We are all going." So off to Vermilion we went, catching two small northerns and a perch.. no keepers..

Tuesday, me and my friend Tracy had plans to have a camp fire and do some fishing off shore, but alas, we had no need, as the neighbors place started on fire... I was outside with Tracy when I looked up and saw lots of smoke. I commented to Tracy, "That is a lot of smoke, and that isn't from no little fire, lets go check it out." Tracy then states back, it looks like it is right behind Jim's house (a friend of ours and my neighbor). I explained that looks could be deceiving... hopefully. So, we took a drive and some lots of smoke way back by the rail road tracks, and then we drove back... and there was LOTS of smoke... so, I had Tracy drive to Jim's house, I ran across the road.. and a saw smoke and out ten acres on the edge of his field... fire in the trees on both ends of the property... yikes... so I offer Jim's Dad the oppotunity to store stuff on my land, and he states, "No, we're fine." FINE?!??!?!???! Fine?!?!? WHAT?!??! Smoke, flames.... okay buddy. So off I went to my house, and since the fire men wouldn't let us get close enough to roast marshmellows, we got some movie pop corn and sat outside watching the smoke and bomber planes for hours on end... 50 loads of water dumped at least.. and if we had climbed on my roof we might have been able to get a free ride, but I didn't feel like getting dumped on a fire... We had to stick around in case the fire jumped the road and started burning my land.... plus we wanted to be around in case Jim needed any help. All went well though, Jim's house which the firemen said was a maybe... was saved... Yippie!!!!! I guess Jim's Dad was right after all, they were fine...

Wednesday, I was suppose to go to Sheep Ranch to check the fences in the cow pasture... but I got sick.. :( No Sheep Ranch.. I did ride my mare though to show her who was boss, and wouldn't you know, she was an angel... something is up with her... she is up to something, I know it!?!?!??!

Thursday, I slept in (a rarity), and I looked out and didn't see my room mates car, so I wondering if she had been home and stepped outside... only to realize, yes she had been home, and she had also LOCKED THE DOOR. So I was outside in my PJs with no socks, no shoes, no phone, no keys, and a dog!!!!!! So I checked all the windows... locked... then I put the dog in the other trailer house that we have for sale and walked three blocks across an open field bare foot, then across the highway, and finally I reached my parents house, BUT their door was locked too... just great *(&(&)*# #!*&!(@*& #&!(*#&&)( #(*&!(*#&. They are smarter then me though, and I got in and called my Mom... I asked where are you... she says driving home, why? I state, because I locked myself out of my house and I need you to unlock it for me... So my Mom laughs and laughs, and laughs some more when she gets home and sees me bare footed in my PJs (good thing I wore the warm ones).

Today, it took me an hour to wake up after my alarm went off because I was suppose to go to a horse show... but my blood sugars were dangerously low and I kept screaming no at my room mate every time she tried to give me sugar, and then when she went outside I shakily wandered to the fridge and had an ice tea... by 11:30... I was fine, and it was to late to go to the horse show... but I am alive and well so though I ride on the very brink of danger, I question everything, am I having good luck or bad luck.... who knows? But at least I am entertaining people along the way....

So my Mom asked me if I wanted this dog..??!???!?!

2006-08-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

So my Mom asked me if I wanted this dog..??!???!?! My response... "No, not really, why?"
So I got this dog.... ummm.. yeah dog!??! Well, so far I have kept my horses and my cats alive, so why not get a dog and start a zoo right? Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No more pets... except the dog, speaking of which, anyone want a dog? I just got is neutered yesterday... he is ready to go...
This all started when I went out to breakfast with my Mom and she asked if I wanted a dog... nope, no sir, no dog... I am a mover and a shaker... I don't stay home much, now I do, so maybe I will save more money with the dog? :) My mom went on the explain that her boss at the cement plant had a guy stop in with this black lab mix puppy in his truck that was a barking away, so they guy swore some and went to the truck and hit the dog, loudly complaining... it was a cement plant so my Mom's boss said, "You can let him out if you want." The guy responded, "Ain't no way I am letting that (&*(^*( dog out, he is on a one way trip, all he does is bark all night in my %^*&#$^ yard!" My Mom's boss responds, well why don't you let him in the porch at night? His response, "I ain't letting no &^*&$^$ dog in my house!" So my Mom's boss responds asking the guy to let the dog out of the truck so he could take him. So the dog was let out of the truck with twine as a collar, and saved from being shot. Well, Mike has four dogs already, his wife said no to another, and he had no money to fix the six month old puppy, so bleeding heart me took him.... so now I have a dog..... By the way the guy didn't really say &^*&$^$ , those were substitutes for swears... :)
Horse, job where I want to live, car, house, and dog... so when do I get the husband!??!? :) Oh... right the good things are the ones I don't expect to happen... so nope, no husbands wanted for me.. plus like I said, no more pets!!!!!!!!!!

I've moved...

2006-08-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

I've moved, and I am hiding from everyone.... not telling anyone where I have moved to... just as long as I can hide my car behind the house across the road from my parents so no one knows I live there... yep, yep!!! Life is crazy fun... I moved into my trailer house finally, only to have my parents invite me over for dinner two nights in a row right after I moved out.... hmmmm... they miss me... it is funny though because when I asked them to send me a menu they quit inviting me over?!?? My Dad still kept coming over though, working on the last finishing touches... :) I have had a few friends over to that *angelic smile* helped out my poor father so I didn't have to.... :) My Dad likes my friends, and likes it over there so much that my Mom has to yell at him to get him to come home... NOT my fault I say.... :) I am loved, what can I say....

Sister Bay Wisconsin

2006-07-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

So, I recently went on vacation with my parents out to Sister Bay Wisconsin to go Salmon fishing in Lake Michigan. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with Sister Bay, it is in Door County, the far... far... tip of Wisconsin that branches up into Lake Michigan. Now, fishing Salmon is great, but I have a question, WHY did we drive 9 hours to go Salmon fishing when I very well know there are also Salmon in Lake Superior? Ah well, it was great to get away to some richy tourist town with all the cute shops, and Cherries galor... as that area is known for.... its Cherries... ummm... fresh Cherry pie!!! Any how, I didn't get much time to spend traveling around the touristy stuff since I had a bazzare schedule (I did get to go Parasailing though, fun!), and I refused to miss out on any chances to catch fish, so religiously at 3 am, I woke up and headed out to the Lake every day... if it wasn't thundering or raining that is. We then came in at 9 am, showered, took a nap, and at 2 or 3 pm.... out to fish again until 9 o'clock pm... yeah... You know what the great part is, we kept fishing in the wrong spots!!!! Yes, we did figure it out on the day we left *smirk*. Go figure... Of course, we did catch fish... about one or two a day, so at least I got up early for something, but we should have had 8 a day at least.

The first day, we went in one bay and caught little, the next day we switched bays and caught one or two. The next day we went back to the same bay, and it was windy, so we caught nothing (Salmon usually don't bit much in six foot swells, luckily we had a big boat though :) ). The next day we went to another bay and caught little. The day after that we went back to the bay we caught little in and the next two days we caught one or two fish. Now, the funny part is that the Salmon hadn't moved into the bay we kept fishing in yet, they were in the second bay we had gone to, but whenever we went there it was windy so it wasn't productive so we didn't know... until some buddies from the camp site asked, "So how many fish did you catch this morning?" Our response, "Well one 17.6 pounder." They replied, "Yeah, we got 7 or 8 and so did Chuck, we were over in the other bay, the Salmon haven't moved over to the bay you were fishing in yet." Mind you this was the last day we had open to fish.... Ah well. One cool thing though, I caught a Steelhead.. 9 pounds. It only took me my whole vacation to figure out what exactly a stealhead was... at first I was excited about catching a new fish that I had never caught before, and later I learned that I had caught a steelhead before, since they are really rainbow trout, they just change colors to silvery in the summer... but hey, it was the biggest one I have ever caught thus far.

How to avoid the sun/heat.....

2006-07-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I started off my fun avoiding the sun by going out to my friend Scott's house and going swimming. Okay, so I didn't avoid the sun, but I did stay cool. Then after swimming in the sun all afternoon, we waited until dark to go to my Brother's air conditioned house to watch TV and play pool?? It all worked out though because I didn't get burnt and I had a good time. The next day, I did an even better job of avoiding the sun and heat... :) In 90 degree weather, me and my Brother bought a tub and were out on the lake fishing, and of course you have to step out of the canopy to cast, right? I also had every intention of staying cool, as I wore my nice swim suit exposing my very white legs, and wore sun screen 75 SPF... let me tell you that didn't work. After a while, Scott came out to join us on the lake and we played in the water tubing for an hour or so, and then me and my brother went back to fishing. Noticing my pink skin and the pain radiating from my skin, I put on more sun black and questioned my Brother about going in, especially since he told my sister-in-law we would be back around 6 pm and it was 7, but my Brother simply stated, "Just one more fish." Never mind the fact that this was the third time he had said that, after we had already caught another keeper (Walleye, Small mouth bass, crappies, large mouth bass, sun fish, blue gill, and rock bass were all caught that day). So just as the sun was starting to go down my Brother brought me home and I left again to visit some friends and relax in air conditioned environments... :)

In the end I was in air conditioning at night and direct sun light during the day... I am burnt, but I had a blast!

Off roading in my Toyota Corolla

2006-07-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

I blacked out and went 4-wheeling in the ditch with my Toyota Corolla... opps.... oh and I think I had a stroke a few days before that... not to worry though my car and me are fine and I am going to the doctor tomorrow. I wish I could have at least remembered the 4-wheeling part though, what good is 4-wheeling if you don't remember?

My Dad has decided I need to get married?!??!

2006-07-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

So my Mom, my Dad, and me were standing in the kitchen talking one day and my Dad states, "You need to find someone to take care of you and get married." My Mom (bless her heart) trying to save me states, "Honey, she kind of needs a boyfriend first." My Dad states back, "What do you mean, she is going out with a different guy each week." To which I protest, "Dad, those are my friends." He then states, "It doesn't matter, same difference. You need to just pick one and stick with them. You are going to get married within the next year." He then wandered off. The sad thing was that my Dad was dead serious, what to do.................... Honor thy Mother and thy Father... I guess I will be getting married faster then I thought... I better start looking, it takes a while to plan a wedding after all and I want to know the guy I marry some what at least......

BUSY?!?!??

2006-07-01T00:55:00.000-07:00

Yikes.... life is crazy... and I thought I was done being busy.... This weekend my friend Tracy asked if I could help her move Thursday... well... I work Thursday so I offered to help out Thursday afternoon for a bit before I left for work, and she states, "well that won't really work, we should be done by then." So, I offered to help her clean Friday morning. Then Cheryl from work calls and asks if I can do a shift exchange and work for her Friday afternoon. Hmmmm... well I told her I needed to check as I was going to help a friend move/clean. So I get off the phone with her, and I notice I have two voice mails. Hmmmm... it was Tom Rask.. "Hey, I am coming up this weekend and will be camping Friday and Saturday night if you want to stop in?" YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't had the chance to visit one of my favorite friends in more then 6 months!!!!!!!!!! Oh wait, shift exchange... yeah... On to the second voice mail, "Hey Nell, it is Nikki, I am coming up for the weekend of the fourth starting on July 1st, so if you want to get together on Sunday night that would work best for me, give me a call." I haven't seen Nikki in 6 years and she use to be my best friend... oh wait.... I have a wedding to go to that night..... a friend of mine had to get married last minute as her husband enlisted in National Guards and is leaving SOON. Great................. As I am listening to this my Mom states, "What are you doing tomorrow, I was hoping to go riding?" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH............... yikes priorities... Wedding first... clear Sunday, no visiting Nikki, but hopefully I can hook up with her later.... Thursday I would be off if I did the shift exchange and helping a friend move is more important that camping because I CAN visit Tom some day when I get a free weekend (huh, funny). I couldn't visit him on Saturday because I promised my brother (who I haven't hung out with all summer) and his buddy Scott I would show up at Scott's fourth of July party. So I called Cheryl back and took the shift exchange reluctantly.... then Thursday I help Tracy move from 1 pm to 1 am, yeah she wasn't done by afternoon (some people didn't show up that were suppose to help), Friday I worked... now on to Saturday... and I stil have to do laundry etc............ Help me!!! So next weekend maybe I will be free.... Huh... yeah right............. I have been saying that for months on end.... one of these days.... maybe?

Land of the Loon

2006-06-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

So, I went to the Land of the Loon street dance for a bit this year..... and the whole thing was wrong, just wrong, I didn't know what to make of it. First off, I went down with my friend's Wes and Kristen and their baby. We walked around for a little while, and Wes met up with a buddy of his. After a while, their buddy ran off to grab a burger, and Wes and Kristen left, but I needed to stay up late, so I wandered off without them, promptly running into their friend, who had a burger in hand, and a perplexed look wondering where his friends had gone. I explained that they needed to get home, and he then asked me to walk around with him. Sure why not? So I wandering around getting to know someone new for the first couple hours, passing my brother's friend Scott several times and waving. Well, I had promised Scott I would get a hold of him and run him down eventually, so I begged my leave of Wes's friend, and found Scott. Me and Scott then ran into two more of my brother's friends, one of which was drunk and felt the need to apologize profusely for picking on me when I was younger *rolls eyes* Oh please.... help me! He then felt the need to explain that he doesn't really get drunk like that often... over and over again. Yikes!!!! Okay I probably shouldn't have been at a street dance if I wanted to avoid drunk people right? So I asked where my brother was, and one of them said that my brother was at home and only wanted to play pool? Hmmmm... so they seemed to enjoy my company and I couldn't find many people I wanted to hang out with, so why not? So, I ran around with my brother's three friends and a few other guys and quickly realized men are pathetic.... all three were hitting on me.... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My brother's friends?!?? Ummmmm..... I would like to say they were all drunk to ease my conscience, but only one was, the others don't really drink. What would my brother think???? So the one insisted on getting me a diet coke, which I tried to reject... but was unable to. Then my brother's other friend bought me a meal, which I would have rejected but he was drunk and insisted on paying for everyones meals, and you don't argue with a drunk person.... so yeah.... ummm... I didn't know what to make of the whole night, it was rather odd.... hang otu with a stranger for two hours, then your brother's friends who are trying to chase women and are hitting on you..................?????? Yikes...... last I checked 51% of the population are female... and why rush, single is good and fun..... enjoy while it lasts I say......

Land of the Loon

2006-06-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

So, I went to the Land of the Loon street dance for a bit this year..... and the whole thing was wrong, just wrong, I didn't know what to make of it. First off, I went down with my friend's Wes and Kristen and their baby. We walked around for a little while, and Wes met up with a buddy of his. After a while, their buddy ran off to grab a burger, and Wes and Kristen left, but I needed to stay up late, so I wandered off without them, promptly running into their friend, who had a burger in hand, and a perplexed look wondering where his friends had gone. I explained that they needed to get home, and he then asked me to walk around with him. Sure why not? So I wandering around getting to know someone new for the first couple hours, passing my brother's friend Scott several times and waving. Well, I had promised Scott I would get a hold of him and run him down eventually, so I begged my leave of Wes's friend, and found Scott. Me and Scott then ran into two more of my brother's friends, one of which was drunk and felt the need to apologize profusely for picking on me when I was younger *rolls eyes* Oh please.... help me! He then felt the need to explain that he doesn't really get drunk like that often... over and over again. Yikes!!!! Okay I probably shouldn't have been at a street dance if I wanted to avoid drunk people right, so who cares it is expected, right? So I asked where my brother was, and one of them said that my brother was at home and only wanted to play pool? Hmmmm... so they seemed to enjoy my company and I couldn't find many people I wanted to hang out with, so why not? So, I ran around with my brother's three friends and a few other guys and quickly realized men are pathetic.... all three were hitting on me.... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My brother's friends?!?? Ummmmm..... I would like to say they were all drunk to ease my conscience, but only one was, the others don't really drink. What would my brother think???? So the one insisted on getting me a diet coke, which I tried to reject... but was unable to. Then my brother's other friend bought me a meal, which I would have rejected but he was drunk and insisted on paying for everyones meals, and you don't argue with a drunk person.... so yeah.... ummm... I didn't know what to make of the whole night, it was rather odd.... hang out with a stranger for two hours, then your brother's friends who are trying to chase women and are hitting on you..................?????? Yikes...... last I checked 51% of the population are female... and why rush, single is good and fun..... enjoy while it lasts I say......

I did call to harrass my brother, and his only comment was, "WHAT, I NEVER SAID I WAS PLAYING POOL, AND CHAD CALLED AT ELEVEEN AT NIGHT, I WAS SLEEPING ALREADY!" Oppps... I let the cat out of the bag.....

Red Neck Fishing...

2006-06-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

So, I went fishing the other day, and as we were fishing from shore we could never quite cast out far enough, and we kept catching sunfish and bass. Since I wanted to cast out farther then I was, I put on my swimsuit, and still I couldn't quite cast out far enough. So what else was there to do, but put bobbers on and swim out to the exact spot that we wanted the bobbers at. So I gave my buddy my rod and grabbed one line with a leech on it and one line with a minnow on it, and swam out a block or two, deposited the bobbers, and swam back to shore. The question is, who would the DNR ticket for having two lines out? I had the lines, my friends had the fishing poles, so who is liable?

Work Hard, Play Hard, and Sleep Hard.... sounds like fun!

2006-06-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

So, my life continues to be a hectic swirl leaving me very busy, happy, and content. Life up on the Range is a 24/7 vacation... fishing, hunting, shooting, mudding, horseback riding isn't just for vacation time any more, I can do those things every day... once the responsibilities are taken care of, of course. This last weekend I slept 3 and a half hours, got up, and went to the Sheep Ranch and checked fences.... I then went to work, came home early, and slept 13 hours. I woke up, went to L&M, picked up paint and a few other things, went to Kmart and picked up an outside patio bar table for my indoor kitchen table :), I went mudding with my Toyota Corolla (no I didn't get stuck), I went for a walk, I hung out with friends... then I slept 4 hours, woke up, cleaned my walls in my trailer house, cleaned the cupboards, put my table together, moved my deck to the house, and then went out fishing at a campsite I know.

Now what was so funny about my fishing methods is the question? I went out to the campsite... off shore.. with my swimsuit on because I knew it was shallow and I wanted to cast out farther. Well, my plan worked and I caught a good eater Northern. So I took the bench at the camp site, threw the bench in the water, grabbed my fillet knief, and proceeded to clean the fish while kneeling in the water. I then cleaned off the bench with water and heard some giggling coming from a boat and some guy say, "Is that a female cleaning a fish, in the lake?" Now I take it these guys were not from the Iron Range, what was so wrong with my methods? :) MEN!!!!!!!!!!!

Updates and more updates, since I am too busy to post everyday let me try and remember it all....

2006-05-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

Update on work at good ol' Togo:

Work is great, except the past couple days..... The last few days my mental haze returned, I was feeling great, and enjoying my job for about two or three weeks there, and I took ONE day where I only got six or seven hours of sleep instead of eight, and I was in a haze again where my thinking fuzzed up, and I was thinking... I can't think straight, did I get everything done? Can I fake it and figure out the rest of my work day in my haze? Can I make it home? Are my blood sugars okay? How can I stay awake? You have no idea how awful it is to be in this haze... you feel so out of it... completely out of it... and there is no way to get out of the haze except to fight through the haze until X time when you can drive home (hopefully awake and alice), stumble around, and finally crash on your bed, quickly falling into a deep sleep, oblivious to all around you.

I like having my weekend off and I know once I switch to afternoons it will be a LONG time before I see weekends off again... But I DON'T CARE, GET ME OFF NIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!! Hmmm... what happened? I was doing so well, no haze it was GREAT... I didn't feel that way last week... my solution, chew menthol gum (yes, it helps), and keep busy changing up what i am doing and acting crazy like, it works well for me!!!!

New occurances outside the norm:

I am working on moving my new trailer house over across the road from my parents that I recently bought. We have the skirting off the old one, and we will probably set up the new one and move it in on May 31st. Chris (the guy that was renting it) bought a house and said he will be out next month, so I will have the place to myself soon.. YES!!!! Privacy (right across the road from my parents, yeah right), quiet time (in other words more sleep), and home ownership (cleaning and cooking, yuck). Oh, I also got an added bonus, the owners are leaving me a swing set, YES FREE SWING SET... heeeheeeheee that will make people wonder... hmmm.....

The Tonka Toy:

My little tonka toy Corolla is treating me well, especially with roller coaster gas prices and extra bills coming soon.... (that isn't the type of coming soon I welcome). I also haven't wrecked my tranny YET!!!!!!!!! Actually I got he hang of that car pretty quick... although I so still stall it every one in a blue moon.

The New Horse:

My new horse is a peach and a handsome devil that has won my heart... rats I wanted to sell him and make a pretty penny... oh well, he brings me great joy so he is worth it... plus his direct Daddy keeps winning competitions so his price tag just keeps going up.... hee heee :). Maybe I will sell him yet, who knows.... I will just wait and see what else his Daddy does....

What have I been up to:

Lately I have been shooting, fishing, horseback riding, training my new horse (he hasn't killed me yet, me, the saddle, and the bridle are still in tact after riding!!!), looking at furniture, walking with friends, hanging out with friends, helping out friends, helping out my Dad (my Dad picked up a box at a Sheriff's auction with Heavy Metal CDs in it he didn't want it... he asked me about it, like I know about that stuff... huh... but I found out and sold them for him at a music shop), and running around making sure I get all the paper work completed on the new trailer. Heeheee all my chores everyone else has been taking care of for me... more fun time for me!!!!

Guys:

Adam... the only one I am interested in, helped my Dad with the skirting on my trailer and I seltp through it... yeah great huh? I haven't heard from him, but we text back and forth every once in a blue moon. Adam is really busy with his kick boxing, as he won Regionals and is soon to go on.. possibly being aired on ESPN.. My friend Jeremy keeps trying to convince me that I want to date him... he is rather persistant.. I can handle a guy like my brother's friend Scott that I know likes me but is to afraid to persue me, but what about Jeremy? What do I do with him... he just keeps doggedly pursuing.. and he is a very good friend.... yikes. I have just been hanging out with Scott more instead... but I am not sure if that is a good idea. Also, there is another Jeremy that my friend Amy tried to set me up with... and he is boring, nice, moral, has a 64 and a half mustang (his best quality), and he is a PUPPY dog!!!! Help me.... I don't need more men.. nope, nope.... I have enough thank you.................... NOOO MORE!!!!

That is all for now.... thanks for reading!

Mother's Day, why not Friend's day?

2006-05-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

You know, I get the whole Mother's day concept because personally my Mom is great. For the most part Mom's listen, are understanding, are willing to help out in anyway they can, they are there for you, they always provide a shoulder to cry on, and they brought us into this world, and they should have a special day dedicated to them, but..... what about friends, they stick around and they don't even HAVE to, now that is impressive!

My Mom is still an expensive date!

2006-05-14T01:03:00.000-07:00

So it is mother's day soon, and I figured that Saturday would be a much better day to treat my Mom then Sunday. I had the perfect plan, I would wake up early, ask my Mom to go out for lunch as an early Mother's Day treat, and swing buy the greenhouse to pick up a potted plant she wanted to surprise her. So I woke up late, my Mom had just eaten, and I asked her if she wanted to go to the green house, and she stated, "No not yet I want to wait because I don't want to take care of the plant inside the house." OKAY... soooo... now what? I explained my planned day, and asked her what she wanted to do. My Mom states, "I want to go look at this trailer house for you, I think it would be a good idea." Mind you last time we looked for trailer houses I ended up coming home with a car!!!!! Ah well, it is what my Mom wants to do right? So we looked at the trailer house, three bedrooms, huge kitchen, nice and airy, nice living room, appliances included, central air, only 6 years old, and over all very nice. So we leave and my Mom states, "I really like it, we should go to the bank and see how much your payments would be on a loan. I think you should offer 20,000 for it (they are asking 25,000). Hmmmm.... ummm... well, we shall see. Do you ever get the feeling other people are making your decisions for you? Over all, when I look at things, it would be a good idea for me, and I did really like the trailer house, but if I hang out with my Mom any more, I may have to file for bankrupsy!

Back from vacation with my Mom, Ex-future husband, and his Mom

2006-05-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

My trip went wonderfully with my ex-future husband.... perhaps he can win back the future husband deal yet?

So I drove to Eauclair Wisconsin, and found the hotel right away after fighting with the crazy Wisconsin drivers in my manual. I entered the hotel and found my room (they had odds on one half of the building and evens on the other half... how confusing). Then I went to gather more stuff and Adam, Adam's friend Ryan, and Adam's little brother Jaime pulled up in Adam's Dodge pickup (he spent 3 times more on gas then me... heeheeeheee:)). I then proceeded to tell Adam he was going the wrong way, and that evens were the other way. Adam grinned at this and laughed and I wasn't sure why... then I found out, I thought Adam was staying in his Mom's room which was next to ours, but apparently the hotel gave him a free room, which was luckily in the same hall as us (So I didn't look like to much of an idiot). After this I went to Adam's Mom's room and her other son Phil was there with his girlfriend, which was GREAT because Phil's girlfriend had this threatened, puzzled look on her face for almost an hour observing me. After an hour, I overheard her ask Phil who I was, and then she relaxed. I am Adam's Mom's horseback riding friend of course, what is so hard about that? Next we went to the fight, and again I saw Adam take his shirt off :( :( :( :( :( :( :(. Hmmm... Adam has lost weight but man was his arm nasty... all black and.... well... ummm... white.... yes tattos... the whole arm!!!!! Yes, guys......I hate to say it, but women notice these things. To top things off Adam grins during the whole fight and laughs as he gets pounded in the face and kicked... and he was fighting a HUGE guy... I thought it was all over when I first saw the other guy, but Adam held his own, and over all it was a good fight with a tie the first round, Adam winning the second, and Adam losing the third. The end result.... the first judge said 29/28 Adam's favor... second judge 28/29 other guys favor... third judge 29/28 Adam's favor...... heeheeeheee Adam won. Unfortunately his brother Jaime got pummeled, but on the plus side he got pummeled gracefully and never gave up no matter how bad he was getting beat up.... plus some white collar kick boxing dude told Adam and Jaime that he wanted them to fight live on ESPN....hmmmmmmm....... Adam better get a tattoo on the other arm before then to balance out... you wouldn't want to be unbalanced now would you? After the fight we all went back to Adam's room for some healthy banter with his brothers, his Mom, his Dad, his kick boxing trainer and his wife (who run the sheep ranch we do the cattle drives on). I had a lot of fun picking on Adam, and getting to know Ryan. Hmmm... I thought I didn't get along with Adam's type of friends, but I was wrong this guy was good looking, polite, a lot of fun, and he had colorful tattos running up both arms, but he owns a tattoo shop in Duluth so it was understandable... advertising of course!!!! What fun.... and on the way home my Mom stated, "You know it is quite obvious that Adam likes you, he just doesn't know what you think of him." Hmmm..... well he needs to get some guts then and pursue.... Men, it is there job. I also found out from Adam's Mom that Ryan was his best friend and they got into deep conversations with each other... hmmmm.... new perspective... perhaps I was over hasty in my judgements of Adam.... perhaps I could reconsider him as a future husband...?!??! hmmmm..... after he gets some guts to pursue!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the fight we went to the horse expo, and even though I sold my car to some twenty year old kid (*sob* He better be good to it), I still managed to spend very little of the money in my check book, and have a lot of fun. So me, my Mom, and Adam's Mom tooled around the horse expo, spent the night in a hotel in the cities, and headed home Sunday morning..... I spent more time with Adam's Mom in the end... and I still like her better :)

Updates and Slack Blogging

2006-04-27T06:04:00.001-07:00

Many apologizes to my kind fellow bloggers, summer is upon me, and I tend to disappear, and find less time for online pursuits. In the only way I can make up for it, I shall give you the update all at once, besides what else is a person to do at 8:04 in the morning on a vacation day?

Update:

Vehicles: I am still enjoying my Corolla, especially now that I have learned how to drive the little tonka toy, and with gas prices on the rise, I am not complaining about my choice in cars. Yesterday, I believe I sold my beloved Impala, and the kid is to come back with the money today. I will miss that car dreadfully, especially since I just filled it up with gas and was going to take it to the cities on my vacation... now I have to drive my manual in the Cities!!!!!

Ex-Future Husband: I have reconsidered my injustice to Adam and given him a second chance to move up to Future Husband status again (of course he doesn't know about this). I went horseback riding with Adam once so far, and we have attempted to set other dates on horseback as well, but we have been having some difficulties with Mom's wishes and schedules. I am also going to Adam's fight in Wisconsin tomorrow, and then to the horse expo in the Cities with my Mom and Adam's Mom, but not Adam. I have also been hanging out with Adam's Mom almost daily. Who needs Adam any way, his Mom is more fun!

Boys: Not much to say, actually I am still apt to not fish, and I am more prone to simply abandon ship, although I must say one of those rare occurances happened the other day at work where a spark of interest was shown. I ran into one of those stop in your tracks good looking guys. Yikes, yeah I would just like to stare at that one for a while. He was on the phone though so I waved, and carried on my merry way. The next day during building checks I saw him again, and went up to talk to him, and he said "Hey, sorry I didn't introduce myself yesterday, I was on the phone. I am Nick." He then went on to ask many questions about me. *sighs* Unfortunately, he works in a different program, and the only times I would see him was during building checks, and I no longer do those. Oh well, there is still Adam to keep in mind because me and him would get along great, we would never see each other... yeah stick with Adam.

Work: I now work at Togo permenantly on Midnights with Saturday and Sunday off, which is truly Friday night and Saturday night off, so this will be a fun summer, and the first in four years where I have weekends off.... amazing, I don't know what I shall do.

Horses: I got bucked by Baron when I loped her or tried slowing her from a lope. She needed work, but now she is working beautifully, and she is a great jumper (much to my shagrin..... trees less then a foot of the ground do NOT require you to jump Three feet in excess of the tree!!!!!!!!!!). My Mom's horse caused a big headache for me, operating in 1st and 4th gear but not seeming to find 2nd or 3rd, and when I pressed the issue he bucked. Yes, lots of bucking this year, but I held on without falling, miracles do happen!! The funny thing is my new horse did not buck the first time I got on his back. Sheriff seemed annoyed, but put up with all that was required of him. Yes horse season.... I definitely will not be getting in much online time.

Extra: Other then that I have been working some overtime, helping out friends, and I have been sick because of my new medication... after some time to adjust and more horseback riding, all will be well with me!

There is your update, enjoy!

My Mom is an Expensive Date!!!!

2006-04-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

SO I went down to Duluth to look at Trailer Houses and ended up coming back with a car?!??!?!??!?! I had no intention of buying a car, and I am not sure quite what happened there, but the great thing is I actually like the Tonka Toy!!!!! So anyone wanna buy a 2000 Chevy Impala LS with high miles (119,000), but WELL taken care of (as I am immaculate about that stuff), electric start, and power every thing (7,500 starting price, but I am willing to take offers)? Of course, maybe I should wait a while, since I don't quite now how to drive my 5 speed yet, and it may not last long........ hmmmmmmmmm....... Plus, the 2002 Toyota Corolla may not work out the best for living quarters and I may want to sell it..... hmmmmm.......

The Update

2006-03-23T05:04:00.000-08:00

The update, okay so it has been a long time in coming, but my update is..... that I have no update...... Shows how much my Mom knows trying to set me up with some guy Hrrummmpppp..... he doesn't even now how to call a girl back. Of all the nerve... unless of course his parents gave my Mom the wrong number?!?! Ah well.... men, at least I get out of being set up with a clean conscience. I did my job and called. Banking on him being shy I left a message when he didn't answer his phone stating, "Hey this is _____ calling, my Mom did your taxes at ________, and apparently our parents think we should hang out some time. I realize that this wasn't mine or your idea, so if you are uncomfortable with meeting that is fine with me. I trust my Mom's judgement, and am willing to give it a shot if you want to hang out sometime, otherwise I won't be upset if you decide not to call. My number is ______, call between 4 and 6 pm if you want to get a hold of me. Well, talk to you later or not, Bye."

SO Apparently I am suppose to go on this date, the only thing is I don't know the guy, the guy doesn't know me, nor about the date yet.

2006-03-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

Now just wait one minute, I pulled my boat ashore and was quite content hiking instead of fishing for a while, but apparently this wasn't good enough for my parents!!! AM I that pathetic?!??! Okay, don't answer that..... any how, here is the story that has yet to be continued....

So my Mom does taxes for H&R Block, and apparently this young man came in that was "perfect" for me. So my Mom did this young man's taxes, saw that he was 28, had 40 acres, a house, a good job, liked the outdoors, went to church, was shy, and was good looking. Well, keeping with professionalism my Mom thought "Wow, he would be perfect for my daughter. So the next day, an older couple with the same last name came in. My Mom chatted with them and asked if their son had come in to H&R Block earlierthat week and they stated that he had and started talking about there son, and my Mom sneakily asked, so he has a new house, he talked about how excited he was, but he didn't meantion a fiance or girlfriend, what does she think aboutthe house. Alas, the lad had no such fiance or girlfriend, and only mainly hung out with two friends of his that where married. After talking some more my Mom meantioned some things about me, and after a while this guy's (Patrick is his name I guess) parents said, "Oh well you have to have your daughter call my son they sound perfect for each other." The Lady then proceeded to hand my Mom Patrick's phone number. To which my Mom replied something to the effect that Patrick wouldn't know who I was if I called, or how I got his number. His Mom then continued stating that she would talk to him about it first, and all I had to do was call. She then again stated she hoped I would call.

WHAT!?!??!??!? My word, don't I have a say in this? Is this back to the dark ages where your parents pick out your husband? Am I that pathetic? SHEESH?!?!? Help me..... now I have to call this guy to hang out. Advernture here I come... stay tuned for the continuation of this blog coming soon!!!!

In conclusion: I must be a bad fisher woman because now someone else has taken over my boat, driven me to a new fishing hole, chosen my bait, thrown the line over board, and handed me my fishing rod. I just keep thinking that all I want to do is blow up the whole freakin lake!!! Where is that dynamite, and then............ in analogy terms what exactly would dynamite thrown in a lake mean in relationship avoiding? Pulling out some teeth, not showering, gaining weight, talking funny or like an idiot, or.....??!?!?? Hmmm..... any ideas out there?

Irritating your co-workers, and stirring up the fishing hole!

2006-03-02T21:38:00.000-08:00

So I decided to go snowmobiling with Clint at work because I felt sorry for the poor boy who seemed to have no friends at all........ Yes, Nell your friendly Togo Corrections Officer decided to be nice, but it didn't last long...... So, hearing I was going snowmobiling with Clint, the other fishes went into a frenzy and decided to attack little ol' me, and the fisher woman decided to fight back with a vengence! I poisoned the water and threw in a stick of dynamite, forget swimming to shore!!!!!!

Translation: I worked with Brandon, and testy little Brandon started a war. Brandon began the war by stating "So... your going snowmobiling with Clint, Huh? Where are you guys going to go snowmobiling?" To this I replied to the seemingly innocent conversation stating, I think we will probably go to Side Lake. Brandon then replied yeah you could go to Bimbos and have a candle light dinner.. (Bimbos being a restaruant people). To this I replied, I don't think so, we are just hanging out, it is not a date or anything. From this Brandon presisted in giving out wonderful ideas for dates and a romantic get together, and the fisher woman got more and more pissed off. So, I stated "Wow, you have all these good ideas, Clint is not my type, we should go out some time.." To this Brandon became visably shaken and my revenge was set in place. So I continued along this line as Brandon floundered, tried switching the subject becoming more irritated, and continued to tease me about Clint again trying to switch my focus to no avail. Onward the night went, and Brandon continued to find ways to piss off the fisher woman. Brandon then insisted that I play Snood on the computer to which I denied knowing my denial continually irriatated the poor boy more. Eventually Brandon gave up for a while and sat crossing his arms until the next strike. Brandon then came up with a new plan stating sweetly, "Can you do me a favor?" To which I replied, "No, I AM NOT PLAYING SNOOD!" Then feeling bad, I recanted and gave in stating yes I shall try Snood after all. I then played as Brandon tried a new ploy to get even, SMACKING my arm as I played Snood stating "Good Job." To this I responded you know it is against policy to smack the the residents, but no where is it stated that we cannot HIT STAFF! I then started thinking off all kinds of forms of evil revenge.... SO, the next day Brandon questioned my fidelity (don't ask), we talked religion and politics, he answered my questions with a question, and ever onward we continued to irritated each other further. He then stated I always had to one up someone, was I in Vietnam twice or what. To which I replied, "No, I was in Nam three times actually." Then we went around in circles, and I told him he was nice one tenth of the time, and quite the jerk despite what everyone else at work said about him. He then told me I was dishonest... and the conversation got nastier. I then decided I best not kill him so I switched strategies, and quit talking to him for the health of my future career. Brandon then became more irritated and asked questions which I refused to answer, irritating him more and slipping out the door when my relief came without answering his question, except in spanish which he does not understand.... thankfully!!! :) Then I drove home in a ticked off rage planning my revenge.....

How to avoid guys, tip #1 Don't take advice from me!

2006-02-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

SO, after all my frustration with men, I decided I needed to get away, and what better way to get away from men then to visit three of them! So, I headed off to Bemidji to visit Matt, Javin, and Chad. What fun, I was back home in Bemidji again. I love that place, miss college, and definitely highly miss my beloved friends!

So I drove to Bemidji from Togo, MN at very fast speeds (well I was following the speed limit, but not the recommended cornering speeds). At one point, I was going down this very bumpy cornering road when I came around the corner and noticed 3 deer on the road at 60 miles an hour, so I slammed on the brakes, and much to my dismay there were many bumps and cars can't brake in mid air!!!!! So I let off the brake and came crashing down, and luckily the noise of my car falling to pieces scared the deer into the ditch (sheesh, close one)! Along I went cruising through the middle of no where, but I was excited because I hadn't been to Effie in a while, and I had never been to Northome, Turtle Lake, or Black Duck!!!!

I called my friend Jeremy and chitter chattered happily about my journey while screaming about the drivers going 50 in a 60 mile an hour zone!!! Were the five 60 mile an hour speed limit signs wrong or what?!??! You are not suppose to go UNDER the speed limit... GRRRRRRR..... SO eventually, I harassed Jeremy enough (calling him two times), and I let him go and arrived in Bemidji. I was so excited that I called Jeremy again!!!! So, I let Jeremy off the phone, and I called Javin and found my way to him, Chad, and Matt's home.

Matt and Javin where home so I chit chatted with them until Javin left, and then I chit chatted with Matt. The next day, me and Javin went on a date to breakfast (which we didn't know was a date until the end of the day). After breakfast, we went shopping for souvenirs for my friends back home (wherever my home is, I am not quite sure yet). Yes, I took the poor guy shopping, and he passed test number one. I even found a good exercise for Newsy News..... the block exercise. Cut off a small chuck of wood, throw the wood on the floor, and walk around it twice, then you can say you walked around the block twice (please post newsynews). Next, me and Javin rented a movie which I still don't know what happened in because after one and a half hours nothing had happened so we shut it off. After we shut off the movie, we talked about the day and I stated that I was going to hang out with Chad the next day, but I didn't want Chad thinking it was a date. Me and Javin talked about this, and we decided I could ward Chad off by telling him me and Javin went on a date, so at the end of the day we decided we had a date. So Chad showed up, and I was suppose to go roller skating with Chad, but we had to wait for Kyle (who I hadn't seen since college five years ago) to drop off a gun cabinet for Chad (not a very safe contraption if you ask me because there was no glass on the doors so you could pull the guns out, and Chad left the key in the cabinet, sees!). So, Kyle showed up and we all decided to go out for breakfast (YES, three guys all to myself for breakfast, who is complaining?). On the way out to breakfast, I talked about a monster truck show in the cities I wanted to go to, and Kyle agreed. Kyle stated we should go, and I thought that sounds like a great date. I agreed and we had two against two. Javin wanted to go, but had to work, and Chad whined about the drive (personally I don't believe he wanted the others encroaching on his date, but I decided I liked the new guy better). So, we decided to hold off reluctantly. We went out for breakfast, and Kyle continued to figure out expensive divided four or three ways for the monster truck show, but we still decided it wouldn't work. Come 12:30, Kyle realizes he was suppose to meet his brother for work at noon (an hour drive away), so Kyle calls his brother and states "I am running a little late." So, Kyle continues to run late, and sticks around longer gabbing. About the time Kyle probably finally started thinking about leaving, work calls Javin and states that they had some vehicles down and he didn't need to go to work after all. Hmmmm... we figured we had to leave at 1:00 at the latest and it was ten to 1:00, so we decided to go. By 1:15, we were out the door and gone. :) Off to the cities we go, only a five hour drive! We made the drive in less then three hours, and in a stage coach none the less, with very good breaks!!!! So since Kyle was the first to want to go, I decided he was my date. Kyle agreed as long as he got to hold my hand, and I figured why not.

SO, we got to the metrodome, bought the tickets and I sat down. Then.... Javin sat down next to me, and stole Kyle's seat. So I reached across Javin, and held Kyle's hand, and Javin put his arm around me, while Chad glared. Hmmmm... that wasn't working, so I decided to fix the problem and asked Kyle if he wanted to walk around and he said sure. So we walked around, and I held Kyle's hand, but after a bit, Kyle was preoccupied and Chad grabbed my hand.... oh well I thought. So I held Chad's hand until I got a look from Kyle. I quickly brushed Chad off, and went back to holding Kyle's hand, and explained for Chad that Chad saw that he was preoccupied, and was trying to help out and look after me. A little later, both Chad and Kyle got distracted, so I held Javin's hand. Next we went back to the monster truck show, and Javin decided to be nice and let me sit in between them. So I sat there and I looked back and both Kyle and Javin were glaring at each other behind me!!!!! So, I decided to hold neither one's hand!!!! Well later, I gave in and grabbed Kyle's hand, and Javin tried to snatch the other, so I went back to holding no one's hand once more. So the show ended, and the happy crew of 100% norweigns in the stage coach headed back to Brrrmidji Minnesota in the dead of the night or actually morning at that time.

The moral of the story: In order to hold many guys at bay, divide your attention equally amongst them, and then no one gets the upper hand, and no one knows for sure what is going on!

Point number 2: Kyle was running REALLY late for work that day!

Forget the new fishing hole, abandon ship and swim to shore!!!!

2006-02-11T12:25:00.000-08:00

Alright, enough fishing for this girl, I don't know what I was doing out in the boat in the first place since I don't know what I want, and I am not really interested in taking any fish home, nor do I like just throwing them back after they bite. Unfortunately, my boat is getting rather crowding with other people trying to point out new fishing holes or telling me which fish to try to catch. HELP ME! Apparently everyone else thinks I need to find that keeper to take home with me. Maybe they are tired of me fishing? I THOUGHT I had made it clear, I am not interested.... la la la...... GRRRRR... I know my blog seems to imply otherwise, but the truth of the matter is, no no no!!!! Perhaps because it is Valentines day soon everyone is on this kick?

So my Mom works this job where she meets all kinds of interesting people and gains a healthy knowledge of their background. My Mom also works with Lori, my ex-future husband's (Adam's) mom. Any how, I guess my Mom told Lori to make a list of good eligable men for me... (HELP ME!!!!), but Lori's response was "No, she is going to go out with Adam." My Mom quickly replied to this, I don't think she is really in any hurry, and I Adam hasn't shown too much interest lately. Lori then responded, "He likes her, I know he does, he just needs time." Now..... don't I get a say in this? So my Mom is making a list for me, and I hope she checks it twice and then........ burns it!!!! I believe the list is mimimal so far so I have lucked out, there is no one listed. My Mom said one guy fit the bill, nice, good looking, good job, but then when she asked him what he did for fun he said, "Well that is why it is hard for me in this area because I really don't like all that outdoors stuff." Yes!!!! I guess that comment got him axed off my list.

Without my Mom's help, and Lori trying to get me to go out with her son, I seem to be doing an alright job on my own. I ran into my brother's friend last night, and he was sort of hitting on me.... hmmmmm..... he is a nice guy, but... once again I have no idea what is going on lately and the last thing I need is to date one of my brother's friends... that would just be odd. I also have Jeremy of course still hanging close.... he is a sweet heart. Then there is...... a lot of guys all over the place looking for some reason.... is it rutting season? Where did all these guys come from? Why me..... are all the good women married already and I am the only one left? I am not use to the attention, and I am a rather plain and ordinary girl... nothing special and I like it that why, but what is with all the attention?

In conclusion, YIKES, ABANDON SHIP!!!! ABANDON SHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Work Boys

2006-02-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

And after working with the boys at work a little more, my opinion... ehhhhh.... on to the next fishing hole! Who wants one any way?

Disclaimer: Note there is no reason for the rejection of these fine men listed on this blog, and please do keep in mind that most of the interest marked on this blog is for the viewers enjoyment, and may or may not be factual.

Sticking it Rich, or Should I Say Locating a New Fishing Hole?

2006-02-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

I have found gold, pure gold, all for the picking! I hit the Jack Pot! The fishing hole is plentiful! Who would have thought of the possibilities until seeing your co-workers in the daylight hours. I hit the jack pot.... oh what FUN to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went to my work meeting and all with these gorgeous guys popping out of the wood work, seemingly comeing out of no where.... with good jobs mind you since they work where I work, that live near by, and typically have good morals (once again most in my profession do), are outdoorsmen, and seem as friendly as can be. I was in heaven... yep ten guys my age that like the outdoors, look good, and with no other women around... yeah!!! At first they ignored me, and then Brandon (who I pick on mercilessly over Instant Messager at work, but have never met) introduces himself to me. Brandon seemed to open the can of worms though and everyone else came by... that one lone fish approaching the hook gave the others courage you see. So I met 4 Johns, 2 Chads, a Clint, and a Brandon for sure.... I met some other guys too, but they had rings on there fingers.. I forget there names? Hmmmm..... So anyways, one guy introduces himself and says "Hi. I am John, so your from Virginia, huh? Someones been talking about me? Hmmm... what have these boys been saying? Rats!!! My picking on Brandon probably was repeated and I scared them all away. *sighs* What is a girl to do... oh wait... this reminds me of a Treasure Islan Casino Commercial (not endorsing them, mind you), "the odds are better here." I am the only female to choose from after all. So on with my story.... so everyone filed out for lunch and I was left lost wondering what to do for an hour and a half so I asked Brandon where everyone was going, and he said out to eat, wanna come with, hop in my truck. So I went in Brandon's nice truck to his nice clean house (he is a guy isn't he? hmmm...), and then we went out to eat where he paid for two people's meals, my pop, and stated "see you should have ordered something I would have paid." Of course I did spend most of the meal talking to his good friend John. So at the end of the meal they picked on me more, I called them Red Necks stating I would fit in great up there, I watched the rest of training and took off, but not to worry I am furthering my research.... I haven't given up! I e-mailed Brandon and asked, "So is John or Chad single by chance?" Heeeheee mind you it was a joke because as I said before there are two Chads and four Johns.

Pyscho Deer

2006-01-28T19:05:00.000-08:00

I need not worry about trading in my car, I figure if I wait long enough, the deer will do my car in for me. The other day I was driving to work in the dark, and I noticed these two eyes bobbing up and down on the side of the road running towards my car. I thought, that is strange, and it is an awfully big dog if that is what it is. But alas, it was not a dog, but a deer jogging down the side of the road straight for my car. So, I stopped the car, and the deer turned and ran in front of my car and off into the ditch. Boy I wish I had my truck... mmmm.... fresh deer meat. So I continued on to work, worked until almost day break, and started home. On the way home, I thought why is that guy stopped on the bridge or is that a deer.... nah... can't be. Low and behold, it was another deer standing in the middle of the road by a bridge.... Yikes!!!!! Again, I slowed down and the deer jogged in front of my car and into the ditch. That is it, now I really need to take the pick up out!!! So I drove some more, and in plain day light there was a deer in the ditch staring at the road looking both ways with four more behind her. I slowed down and slowly passed, and again the deer looked both ways, and then proceeded across the road with the rest of the crew in tow. So there was a smart deer among the bunch after all!!!!! The deer up there care me.... that is it plain and simple. They scare me, yup, I need a weapon!!!!

Updates and Boys, lets make this long over due blog interesting.

2006-01-23T15:16:00.000-08:00

Alright, I have been working, sleeping, and driving, and sometimes that feels like that is about all I do. I apologize for the lack of blog postings, but life has gotten crazy. The biggest changes are I sleep all day, work all night, drive over two and a half hours a day, people actually request my help all the time now, and I actually have friends here!!!! Of course, I don't appreciate the requests for doing such and such at noon because that is my midnight or two in the morning....... come on people if I asked you to run to the bank (well atm machine or such) for me at 2 am you would say no problem, right? Well, if you wanted to steal my money you might comply. Well, I am getting use to it slowly but surely, and I love having friends around. Thistle Dew is also a trip, it is very different. I must say, after two weeks I prefer Red Wing over Thistle Dew employment, but Togo works, minus the midnight shift.

On to the boy update. I called Adam to go horseback riding, and he eventually called me back, but we couldn't come up with a good day we were both free. Isn't it great that me and the ex future husband can get along and be friends and all? Now, boy number two. Lately, I have been hanging out with an old friend that I ran into from high school. I haven't seen him in years, but he was the first person to introduce me to Christian music. I get along with him very well, he has changed a lot and I am impressed with what I see. I plan on taking a road trip with him to Indiana since his Mom moved there and I love her, and I have Michelle and Aaron to visit there. We would drive through of course. He wants to date me, but I said "No, I do not want to date anyone right now, we will just see what happens." I don;t know why, but I don't want to date him, although I like him a lot. Now in the mean time, I was kidding around with guy number three at work. I was instant messaging a guy from work and he hinted a few times at hanging out with me, stating all his friends moved away and he had no one to hang out with. He was super nice and had good morals, so I figured I would talk with him more, but he doesn't get my joking. I instant messaged him and stated that I would go snowmobiling with him, but I would need to add a tow rope for his Artic Cat. He didn't get the kidding around part and said, "No problem I have a Polaris, we could meet some where between Big Fork and Virginia, how about next Friday?" Ummm.... ops.... dude I was kidding. He seems very nice, and he was cute when I relieved him at his post in the boys dorm in the dark, and he seems nice and we have a lot in common. The question remains, what have I done, and what am I doing?!??!? I have no idea, I have just been shrugging and saying whatever to the whole thing.

Well that is my update.

Life at Minnesota Correctional Facility Togo Working With Adult Female Offenders

2006-01-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

It is funny what I remember from my first day at Togo. All I can tell you that sticks out is that MCF-Togo is in the middle of no where, it is errie, and definitely a desolate place........ Next, everyone who works there is very relaxed. I must seem super up tight to them, but I am use to security, security, security!!! To their credit, it is a different type of place altogether, and I liked being relaxed.... perhaps I got too relaxed myself? I was bored, and tired as well and impatient (I know it was a personal problem). Boy I hate to admitt this, but it is hard getting my sleep schedule in place, so I was too tired to find any stimulus at work and zoned out at times. That doesn't help with first impressions. I did seem to perk up when my boss came around though... hmmmmm.......

The only other thing I remember that really sticks out was the typical conversation with the adult female offenders. Yes, typical.... pull your hair out after hearing it ten times typical!!! Here goes:
Them: Permission to speak Ma'am.
Me: "Permission granted."
Them, "Permission to relax ma'am."
Me: "Go ahead."
Them "Permission to use the restroom ma'am"
Me: "Go ahead."
Them: "Permission to be dismissed ma'am"
Me: "Your dismissed."

I mean, wouldn't it be easier for them to say "Can I use the rest room?" Everything is military style, and let me tell you, I would not make a good drill sergeant.

Over all, it is pretty up there though with deer wandering near by at all times, the lakes, and the wilderness surrounding you. It is also very desolate, which is what I thought I would like, but that desolate!!!! I am not quite sure what to make of it yet. I like the great outdoors, but Togo might be a little too far away from civilization. :) Ah well, don't count your chickens before they're hatched, right?

Life after moving, nothing has changed.

2006-01-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

You know, I moved and although I haven't started work yet, nothing has changed. Well, I no longer have my routine, and I now have friends to pester, and chores to do for my Mom now, horses to take care of, and I no longer have a place of my own to crank up the music, stay up late, etc., and I tend to get less sleep so far, but despite all of this, I still get restless, bored, and seem to be searching for that next bit of fun (is that a big enough run on sentence to bug people?). Some things never change. Truly I can see little difference in my mood, contentment, or wants and goals in life. Over all I am content and happy, just restless sometimes. So.... basically, moving accomplished nothing except the added resources to play with, if I actually can get time play after starting work...... Oh, and there is now the horses for my enjoyment again, which sadly enough brings me the most joy, especially since it is an activity I do with my Mother.

Hair Dye and Pets

2006-01-07T08:04:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, I was bored in Red Wing, Minnesota when I called my Mom and stated, "Mom I am bored, what should I do, get a new pet, or dye my hair?" To which my Mom replied, "Well, your not getting a new pet, and your not dying your hair!!!" She then suggested that I look at vehicles.
So, after a few weeks my Mom asked me to look at a horse for her, and to make a long story short I decided to look at the horse for a horse to buy for myself (see previous blog entries). Now my Mom was all excited, wanted all the details, and was thrilled when I mentioned a new barn friend. My Mom wanted to see him but later got frustrated with me moving... etc.... and stated that if you want him lets go get him, with her excitement mounting.
So I decided I wanted him, and yesterday, I went down to pick up my new horse in Mankato, Town Sheriff (yep, thats his name). Yes, I gave away my gelding Bandit and got the Town Sheriff!!! I needed to clean up the barn a little. Any ways.... on the drive there me and my Mom talked horses, and spent about one out of four hours arguing over what color my horse is, and we came to the conclusion that he was simply a buckskin horse that didn't look like one and that calmed our nerves. This is a long story but apparently the horse changes colors or is a rare color according to the previous owners (so in other words with all the color changes it would be like three horses instead of one throughout the year). The horse is suppose to be tan with a black mane and tail, but instead he is chocolate with a hint of tan on his muzzle and under the eyes. I don't like brown horses, but love buckskins. Either way, this guy I got for a steal and his breeding makes him by far worth it, so I bought him even though he is Brown and is suppose to turn tan. Actually he is a pretty chocolate color, I can handle that as well. It is all very confusing.
So we put him in the trailer and on the way home I stated to my Mom with a grin on my face, "Hmm... I defined you, I got a pet!" My Mom then laughed and stated as long as you keep it outside it is okay, but no dogs! So now... anyone have a dog they want to get rid of?

I've moved...... but I am not sure where to?

2006-01-04T09:59:00.000-08:00

I apologize for not blogging soon, but I have been rather preoccupied lately..... Yes..........., life has been a real whirl wind lately. For starters, on Dec 30th I found out I was accepted for a mobility position up in Togo (Yes, what am I to do, I am no longer Nell, your friendly Red Wing Corrections Officer, but rather Nell, your friendly Togo Corrections Officer). I then found out, that my last day working in Red Wing would be January 2nd. I found out December 31st that January 2nd was my last day working in Red Wing. Wait one minute!!!!!! Three days to move, THREE DAYS?!?!?? Hold your horses, THREE DAYS!!!!

Speaking of horses, did I mention that in the midst of all this the guy I had called and left a message making an offer on a horse called me back and stated he accepted my offer. Okay, move my things in the horse trailerout of Red Wing, and pick up a horse from Mankato?!?!?

Yikes.... luckily we decided to pick up my things first and move me out (that helps my things smell better as the horse trailer had been cleaned out at the end of Fall). My parents picked up all my stuff, and my things were moved out Jaunary 1st, and I slept peaceably on the floor that night with nothing but the bare walls to keep me company. The next day, January 2nd, I went to work, and left at ten at night to drive up North and rejoin the North Country.....

So in all, I moved.................... but where to remains to be determined...... *smirk* well I am not altogether sure yet where I am moving to, but I know I am moved.....

Surprising work evaluations, what my supervisor doesn't know!!!

2005-12-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

So I went in for some overtime today at work to talk and gossip about the residents in my building. On the way in, my supervisor snags me, and asks to go over my yearly evaluation. Okay, no big deal.

So my supervisor sits me down and says I heard this about in this cottage.... and this from this cottage..... at this place.... and you did a great job with this ...... all of this was positive right, and my question is WHERE WAS HE HEARING THIS STUFF FROM??!??!?! People going out of their way to send him a positive e-mail about ME?!? I mean, WHAT!!!!!!!! I am clearly shocked. Even the Captain supposedly sent him an e-mail on my "thorough reports." Of course, I have no clue.... who is spreading the lies? He said this is the best eval someone with my time in has gotten that he knows of.... of course most of it was just satisfactory and only a few beyond that, and I do try my hardest, but truly. Hmmmm.. perhaps he doesn't hear about all the stuff I do wrong?!?!?

For example, just this last week, literally, I locked a kid in my building when the rest left of us left to go to the weight room. The kid wasn't on my "count." In other words he was visiting and didn't sleep in my building, but still..... I counted my kids twice, locked the door and left. A short while later, I realized where is John Doe....? OH NO!!!!!!! Adding thinking errors, (here I will give my readers a taste of program language and thinking errors and show how I use them too, not only my residents) I thought "blaming others" that the other unit never verified John Doe, if they would have I would have remembered... then I knocked some sense into me, it was my fault. Then I thought "justifying" if he was on my count I would have remembered and I did count twice, but again I knocked some sense into me. So, I immediately called patrol and had them pick the kid up (who had been quietly sleeping in his room and then went out to the main living area in a daze wondering where everyone went), and had patrol bring him to the weight room, and I said I will call Lt. so and so when I get back to the living unit where there is a phone and I could inform the Lt. of my error. Patrol stated, "well, you wouldn't have to, I don't think John Doe will say anything, but you never know...." I stated, "No, I believe in integrity, I made the error. I can't believe I did that!" So, not believing it was wrong to kick myself while I was down, I let myself verbally bash myself a little bit, and then I corrected my thinking again, and thought "Well, I am trying my best and that is all I can do." So, I counted and recounted adding 11 and 1 kid visiting in my head to my count correct my error from there on out.

When I got back to the unit, I called the Lt. on duty and he stated, "Well, I will let this one go since nothing terrible happened," he lectured me on what could happen, and he gave some advice on helping me avoid this same sitaution happening again. Over all, I got off easy.

Needless to say, what about this type of stupid stuff I do every once in a while (not that it happens to this extent or that I do it on purpose, but it happens) .I forgot about a kid!!!! Of all things, I forgot!!!!!! Yes, Great Job says my eval. BTW, who is positively making comments any ways, no one says any thing to me? I only hear the negative gossip! Maybe my supervisor felt sorry for me, either way, I basked in the compliments despite my perplexedy on how on earth I received such praise, and I refrained from bluntly disagreeing with him.

Shoveling troubles

2005-12-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I only have a few wakeful hours of material to work with here, give me a brake!

Anyways, I shoveled today, and shoveled, and shoveled some more. I shoveled out my entire driveway (which doesn't need to be done) thinking A. I am helping out my downstairs neighbor shoveling out her spot, or B. she moved because I noticed truck tracks backed up to her door and her things were gone out of the garage so I can put my car in there now! I was almost done with the driveway when neighbor A comes out on the right of my house stating, "Why are you shoveling there?" I explained my thoughts on this and he stated "Well, I think she moved out." So I continued my job and just as I was finishing my neighbor to the left, neighbor B came out and said, "Why are you shoveling that?" So I explained to him that I wished to use the garage. He then stated, "Oh, well I would have snow blown that for you, but I was at work." He then proceeded to take out his snow blower to work on his yard. So I walk to put the shovel back in the garage and I notice I need to shovel again, as there was almost an inch of snow where I had shoveled. *sighs* I then tried to open my garage door, and alas no power, the downstairs neighbors electricity takes care of the garage and had been turned off as she had moved. So in the end all I got was a good work out, and a clear driveway except for that new inch of snow!

The confusion of money and buying things

2005-12-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

I live in town, I have none to few companions in this town. Those friends I do have live far, far away, so what is it a city person does in town to entertain themselves? Why of course, what all city people do! Merry Christmas to me! I do have money saved up after all!!! *smiles* So the other day I was looking at new cars for the fun of it (no I didn't find any cute single car salesmen yet), and I may want to buy a used newer then my car vehicle, some time in the near or far future (very detailed list of wants, don't you think?). Car shopping, no big deal, right? Well, I mentioned to my Mom that I may go to Rochester to look at Toyotas and Subarus (one needs to do their research right?), but then my Mom mentioned that there was a horse she wanted me to look at, although she really wasn't looking to buy a horse, nor did she need a horse, but she wanted to look anyway. *sighs* This gave me an idea, I could buy a horse I don't need! *smiles more* Ah yes, a car they say? A horse is cheaper to begin with, I have the money, and it would be fun, even if I don't need one....

Now after all these thoughts I came to a conclusion. Perhaps you can't tame a country person after all. You can put a country person into town, but you can't take the country out of the person. What city person wants to buy a horse instead of a car or going shopping?!?

Politically Correct Seasonal Acknowledgement To All

2005-12-13T08:41:00.000-08:00

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit,my best wishes for an environmentally conscious,socially responsible, non-addictive, gender-neutralcelebration of the winter solstice holiday, practicedwithin the traditions of the religious persuasion ofyour choice, or secular practices of your choice (withrespect for the religious/secular persuasions and/ortraditions of others or their choice not to practicesuch traditions at all).

*Furthermore, I offer my (non-binding) best wishes forthe onset of the generally accepted calendar year of2006, but not without due respect for the calendars ofchoice of other cultures whose contributions tosociety have helped make America great. (Which is notto imply that America is any greater than any othercountry or is the only "America" in the westernhemisphere.)

These wishes are offered without regardto the race, creed, color, age, physical ability,choice of computer platform or sexual preference ofthe wishee.Happy (if happiness is in your belief system)Holidays (if you recognize them)*

This greeting is subject to clarification orwithdrawal. It implies no promises by the wisher to actually implement any ofthe wishes for herself or others, is void whereprohibited by law and is revocable at the solediscretion of the wisher. This wish expires within one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first.

Why Me? Working and Aggravation

2005-12-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

So this week I worked two 16 hours shifts in a row, only coming home to sleep, or to try to sleep!!! So I got home from my normal shift and tried to sleep, but my cats decided to chew on the Christmas tree and scratch the rug. Now you would think they would stop, but no...... nope, no sir! So I yelled, they stopped, they started again, I yelled, they stopped, they started again, I came out of my bedroom, they ran, I became more mad, I went back to bed, they started again, I came out, they ran, I opened the porch, they ran in the porch, I threw the litter box in the porch, and I slammed the door. Merry Christmas to you too!!!! So I went to work 16 hours and came home. My cats chewed on the Christmas tree, and even waited to do so until I was tucked in bed. So I got up, they ran, and I scared them into the porch again, and I slept. I got up, worked 16 hours, got off, scrapped my car off, attempted to put my key in the ignition in my need to get home to sleep, and the key wouldn't go in, and wouldn't go in, and wouldn't go in. Now I have a car I can start with my electric start, I can sit in, but I can't drive, as the car stalls when I hit the brake without the key in the on position. Luckily, two Christian fellows came out the door. In my tired and worried state realizing I knew no one in town that could pick me up, I stated in a frantic voice, "Do you know how to turn the key in the ignition to turn on the car?" They both gave each other an odd look and started asking questions. So one sat in my car and inserted the key, but it would not turn. So I got a ride home, and asked the guy for his phone number and a ride to work tomorrow (I need to try this ploy sometime if a new cute officer starts working there). He gave me his number, and drove me home. I called my Dad in my frantic state, and ended up yelling at him in my tired irritation (nice way to repay the guy I called for advice when he was already sleeping) about talking on the phone and keeping up my Mom up, and my disagreements with his advice. So that night, my cats again chewed on the Christmas tree and I thought about killing them!!! This time I caught one and shook him before throwing him in the porch and scaring the other in so I could sleep. The next day I called the guy from work, hoping his wife wouldn't answer, especially since I didn't know his first name, and I asked for a ride to work. Once back at work, I sprayed some WD40 in the key hole, which didn't work at first, but in my frustration I jammed the key in and out, and something loosened up and my car started!!!!! Hmmmm.. *grimace* My Dad was right!

The Winter Horseback Ride

2005-12-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I wasn't fortunate enough the finagle my way out of the second planned horseback riding outting, so I saddled up the horse, practiced roping in the areana, and waited..... and waited..... and waited..... then I put my horse away and practiced roping off the horse, and waited..... and waited..... sheesh. So I saddled up Adam's horse and waited.... and waited... MEN!!!!!! So, I took my horse out again, and attempted to chase down some deer I noticed in the pasture! Then, I saw a truck drive in the yard. Okay, my Mom had mentioned that Adam was looking at buying a truck, so I thought maybe it was him. So I went back to the barn, and warmed up the bit for Adam and off we went around and around the pasture, with Adam saying nothing about the truck. Adam kept prolonging the ride stated he wanted as much time out as possible, but he would add no conversation besides making friendly jibs at me. *scowl* His horse kept bumping into mine, great accuse Adam... and I accused him of playing footsy. Adam then threatened to throw me in the snow. So on we rode, with me chattering away waiting for him to say someting. I asked some questions and got small responses. I talked about looking at trucks, and Adam said nothing. Well, why was he driving this strange truck then? Not to over step polite social bounds I refrained from asking and on we rode. Eventually I needed more stimulus, so in the snow and ice I encouraged my horse into a gallop, and Adam's followed for a while! Adam, got his just desserts when the horse stopped suddenly..... and.... well he didn't. *smirk* At the time I said, "are you okay several times, but inside I was truly wickedly giggling. I couldn't keep this attitude, as later he stated that he got over his need to throw someone in the snow, and as he did the job himself he would leave me alone. It paid not to make a snide remark when he fell, you see.
Point number two for me, while riding he kept prolonging the trip and I stated, "Well, this is great because I need to zip on over to my friends house afterwards and I would rather they set up before I get there, as they always tend to be late in getting everything set up." He then commented, "I don't have any plans today, so this works well for me, lets ride around once more." *smirk* Was he going to ask me to hang out... huh... two up on him, I already had plans.... :) Oh, I am so wicked at times, but remember I did keep these comments to myself, so it all seemed well to the unsuspecting Adam. Adam did have two points up on me, he made me wait on him, and women should never wait, and two he again asked me to give him a call so we could go riding or snowmobiling next time I come up!!!! *raises on eye brow* One fall wasn't enough, maybe it will take a bit more work to scare him away! *evil grin*

Now, two question for my blog readers, why didn't he talk about his truck? Who's was it? Why not talk more? Grrr.... Men!!!

The non-winter horseback ride

2005-11-30T09:10:00.000-08:00

No I didn't go on my winter ride yet... I managed to Finagle my way out of it yesterday. Now, today is a different story.....
So here is the non-winter horseback riding story: Yesterday, all throughout the morning, my Mom kept hinting on how cold it was, the wind chill, and so on. I knew what she was hinting at, but being the prideful creature I was, I didn't want to sound like a wus to Adam, so I responded to my Mom's query by stating "I will let Adam make that call, if he is stupid enough to go out, I will freeze my butt off too." My Mom then exclaims, "Are you calling Adam stupid!" Urrr... ummmm..... I then went on to undo my words, and stated, "No Mom, I meant it would be stupid of him if he came out in this weather, but you know men." My Mom then continued to state, "I don't know, you guys are nuts." I resignedly stated, "Fine, I will call him and cancel." My Mom then replies, "that is not what I meant." Sure.... Mom, I can read between the lines. I then tactfully decided on a truce, and stated, "I will just go walk out in the north field and see how cold it is. So I bundled up in long johns, a shirt, another shirt, a sweat shirt, a vest jacket, a carhart jacket, gloves, really warm boots, and a head band and headed out. I called to my dog as I trotted off, and she followed me to the tree line before hitting the brakes, refusing to budge another step. I braved the winds, and stepped into their full force feeling a stinging on my face, but hey, I am stupid. So I yelled to my dog, and motioned for her to come, and she just stood there and stood there and stood there some more, staring at me like I was stupid or something! The burning started to get worst after walking a short way out, so I walked back towards the barn, and my dog followed me in there. Once in the barn, I attempted to groom my horse, but the hair was stuck in tiny frozen ice drops throughout her coat and mane. I groomed her for twenty minutes, stared at the fields, and thought, nope riding wouldn't be too much fun at the moment. So I gleefully called Adam and left a message stating, "Well, I went for a walk in the field, and it was too cold out to go, my dog wouldn't even follow me out, and your Mom said she doesn't want us roping off Hunter until she trains him on roping herself, so there isn't a whole lot to do in this weather, if you want we can try again tomorrow, but I don't think it is going to get much better. If the wind dies down we might be alright. It is up to you, just give me a call if you are interested." Once again I gave him the out, and then I left my house hoping he would get the message because he was suppose to get off at 3:30 and meet me at my house, but it was 3:00 and I had other friends to meet! :) So, at 3:20 I get a message on my cell phone, "Hey I got your call you wimp, too cold huh? I even got off early for you, no, just kidding. Well, lets try to go out tomorrow then, I will go to work early, so I can leave a little earlier. Give me a call if you want to wus out on me again." What!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wimp!! Wus!!!! Oh bring it on Adam!!!! we are going no matter what now buddy, I hope you dress warm! I gave him two outs now, a good reason to back out, and he still wants to stick around??!? MEN!!!!!!!

Seeing the divorced ex future husband

2005-11-29T06:28:00.000-08:00

So, I headed up north on my four day weekend (mine = Monday through Thursday), and had a lovely visit with my friends, family, and missed out on my favorite cars salesman. Yeah, Glen quit Iron Trail!!!! Ugh.... Now who can I go to for honest advise on vehicles.... Grr... so I had to blow off the salesman who approached me, and go back to the other dealership that I loath, but at least I trust one of the dealers there!!!!! One last chance for them, some time in the next two years I might even buy a vehicle from them!

Oh, yeah, back to my story..... So, I headed up north, and I hesitantly decided to follow through on a promise I had made to my divorced ex future husband, Adam. I called Adam and left a message on his voice mail, "Yeah Adam, it's just Nell calling, I told you I would give you a call the next time I came up, and we could go out horseback riding. I am not sure what my schedule is yet, but if you are interested call me back, and we can see whats going on." Notice the "if you are interested call me back" part, I gave him an out, no call necessary, and I followed through on my promise. I was quite pleased with myself, and figured after this call he wouldn't call me back, and I would simply quit calling him, since he has proved to be very busy and a quite unreliable friend! Much to my chagrin, the jerk called me back stating he was free on both Tuesday and Wednesday! Of all the nerve!!! MEN!!!!!! So, I was busy Wednesday night, and I had Tuesday free, so today I will be off to freezing my butt of riding horses with with my divorced ex fture husband (translation: friend and always has been friend, except before when he was simply my friend's son Adam).

When bored, visit with your local car salesman to pass the time!

2005-11-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

So, nothing new is going on in Red Wing, so I talked with my Mom and told her, I am bored, so I either need to dye my hair or get a new pet. This being the hobbies me and my friend Kristen have picked up whenever we are bored. Luckily we are not bored all to often. Well, this came much to my Mom's dismay and she stated your not dying your hair, and your not getting another pet!!!! Okay, there goes that idea! Hurmmph.... My Mom then suggests that I go look at cars. Hmmm.. why not, as long as I don't give the salesman a false impression, right?

So, I drove around the lot when a good looking young man steps in front of my car! Yikes, are sales that bad that they go to such extremes, I just wanted to look! Being as he was cute and all, I decided not to run him over, and I got out of the car and spoke with him. I explained that I was just looking, didn't know what I was interested in, had a long time to look, and wouldn't look seriously until I moved up north and established my finances. He then stated, where from up north. As I explained he said, "what a small world my girlfriend is from up there." Well, there goes that idea!!!!! So, he asked me to test drive the Chevy Torrent that I was looking at, and I said, "No thinks, I don't want to waste your time, I am just looking." He then got excited stating, "No, I am bored, it is no problem, we can test drive as many cars as you would like, trust me your doing me a favor!" Alright then, but I still didn't want to drive something I really wasn't interested in. They had no Impala's that I was interested in, so I decided to try out the Chevrolet Colorado, since I was always interested in the turck, but too practical to test drive one or take it seriously, but gas prices are down, and why not. BIG MISTAKE, I WANT A TRUCK!!!!!!!!!!! *sobs* So, we drove around, chatted about vehicles, fishing, Wisconsin, salmon fishing, Boundary Waters, horses, and all manner of things that we both had common interests in. He was a lot of fun, and he must have thought the same because he kept encouraging me to drive more and more. Eventually I drove back to the lot, and he immediately pointed out anything and everything to try out, again stating he was bored and would be glad to go out and test drive more vehicles. I politely looked at a Bonneville, and shot his offer down. I then said, no thanks.... no thanks.... and left. Three minutes later he calls (I gave him my phone number in case any specific vehicles came in that I would be really interested in) and says, "I forgot to ask, did you want to drive that Torrent, I have time on my hands and it is no problem to take it out."

So I though about it and came to the conclusion that A. He is really broke and really needed to make a sale to be that desperate, B. He was bored, and had a lot of fun roaming around through town, C. He liked talking with me, or D. (in my hopeful mind) He wanted to set me up with a friend of his. Then I realized, great... I forgot he lives in Somerset Wisconsin, which is an hour away.... and I politely stated again, "no thanks."

Life's complaints can truly be blessings....

2005-11-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

I find myself gripping over the silliest things lately.

#1 Holding 2 weights to lift is bulky and uncomfortable, not to mention the fact that I am doing too many reps and need more weight.
- Yikes, in reality I should be very pleased that I moved up weight ranges so fast.

#2 I am so hungry all the time and feel sick.
- In reality this is from working out so much, and not eating enough. I have lost weight and am in better shape. Plus, I can eat more now!!!!!!

#3 The library won't let me renew my book and I only have a chapter left to study.
- I am so thankful for the library, and at any given time I have about more then 3 books checked out at once. What a great advantage to be able to have access to so many books.

#4 I don't get to spend Christmas with my family, no friends, no gifts.
- We decided not to give gifts this year, and that means the only person I have to shop for is me!!!! :)
- I have the opportunity to work so that someone with kids can spend the holiday season watching their children's faces light up!
- I also get to have fun writing personal letters, sending bouquets, and brightening my families Christmas from miles away.

#5 What a boring blog I am writing.
- At least it gives me something to do and an artistic outlet for my craziness.

Over all, when grubbling about something, take a second look.

Winter

2005-11-16T08:22:00.000-08:00

Alas Winter is upon us in Red Wing, break out the news cameras, put all avaliable staff on the story!!!!! What excitement, what a scare! Come on now people.... yikes..... trying living in Northern Minnesota, really it is no big deal. After all, I drove to the library in this scary weather.... to return a movie I had rented.
Yes, it is great that the library rents out movies now a days, the only problem is I don't understand french.... you would think they would label these things better!!!!! Ever watched a movie in french? Hmmm... I watched part of it before "braving the weather."

Why should I post when nobody else does?

2005-11-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

I realize it has been a while, and I apologize to my loyal readers. *taps screen* Anybody out there?!?? At least I think I have loyal readers, if not I am enjoying my crazy world....... of typing to no one, getting paid to sit and watch TV at the hospital with one of the juveniles from the facility(yep, lucky me), exercising, and buying things to spoil my cats rotten. Good thing I don't have kids!!!

Thanksgiving day blues

2005-11-15T12:06:00.000-08:00

So, I finally came to the conclusion that living away from home makes holidays more expensive then living near the folks. Realizing I am working on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have to buy cards and flowers for my loved ones at home. While I love giving to those I love, I would rather enjoy their company and cooking. Hmmmm.... no overtime pay, no good food, and paying out to send flowers and cards. It would be much better if I could stuff myself silly with delicious Turkey, stuffing, salads, and pies, and send flowers as more of a surprise rather then obligation! Hmmm... good thing my family doesn't read this blog!!!! :)

The moral of the story: Nothing substitutes for time spent with family and friends, and that is what thanksgiving is all about!

So I ran over a garbage can!

2005-11-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

So the other day, I pulled out of my drive way (if you can call it that) only to hear a scrapping noise........... I stopped the car, got out, and noticed I had ran over my garbage can!!! Yes, I had looked in the mirrors, yes I had seen nothing, and no I hadn't placed the garbage cans there. So who did? Hmmmmm..... I have no enemies here yet that I know of.....?!?!?!??!

Men, Be a Jerk, or Not a Jerk, But Make Up Your Mind!!!

2005-11-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

So here is the story..... I know a lot of guys, and some of them are what you would classify as jerks, and some nice guys. Now the jerks I have not a problem with because at least I know what to expect. No big deal. I can smile, help out, feel sorry for, and altogether chipperly talk to and hang out with a jerk because I know what to expect. As a matter of fact, I almost feel sorry for jerks because what a sad life they have.

Now on the other hand, there are the nice guys, and these guys I adore!!!! My........... what a breath of fresh air to hang out with a good ol' boy. Men who are honest, willing to help out there fellow man, and trust worthy. Thanks to all those good guys out there, and I know there are good guys out there because I have let a few go, and a few others are good friends of mine.

Now, I can handle either of those types, but the ones that show both qualities drive me nuts, up the wall, crazy!!! Give me a lable here guys! So, the other day I was back on the Range driving, and I noticed I was following my no marriage but soon to be divorced from me friend Adam (if you are confused look back at my log and then you will see the joke behind this one). Now, I was in a bad mood and decided to lighten up my day by calling Adam and teasing him about driving while talking on the phone. So, I call him, he picks up his phone, looks at the caller ID, and sets the phone back down. I see how I rate!!!! JERK!!!!! Fine, no big deal, so I will write him off..... Much to my chagrin, later that night, at the very end of the night, when I had finally officially decided I could lable Adam a jerk, he calls and leaves a message. Ahhhhh..... I was even more irritated!!!!! Sheesh, at least let me lable you a jerk and move on with my life!!!!!! So, I leave a message the next day, in humorous short story form, picking on him for not answering my call, and then I invite him to go horseback riding to show no hard feelings. So a three days go by............. alright, fine then, JERK!!!!! So at least now I know what I am dealing with...... so finally it is almost time for me to go back to Red Wing, and I can officially write him off as a jerk, and then.............. he calls! UGH!!!! MEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He states he didn't know I was up and he has been busy, but we should get together and go riding next time I am up, and kids around about me making him for like a jerk for not picking up his phone, explaining that he was almost to the club where he was going to work out. So we banter back and forth and then end the call. GRRRRRRRRRRR.... MEN!!! Yikes.... Jerk or not a jerk, come on make up your mind and make this easy!!!!!! MEN!!!!!

Men, Be a Jerk, or Not a Jerk, But Make Up Your Mind!!!

2005-11-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

Hmmm.... I had a very good blog written under this topic, but then I lost it all.............

It is getting to be that time of year again.....

2005-11-01T11:55:00.000-08:00

It is getting to be that time of year again..... it is time to hibernate in good old Red Wing Minnesota. After an overactive and eventful summer/fall, it is time to regroup for next years festivities.... that is if I don't get pulled out of my comfortable ghettoville apartment to live in the middle of no where with a bunch of other crazed people........ Hmmmmm...... only time will tell!

Keeping It Real!

2005-10-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, and I would love to tell you some joyous humorous stories, but I like to keep it real, and this week had truly taxed me. I believe I can pull a few humorous clips out for my readers though, and I will do my best.

First, the Minnesota Corrections Association Conference in Duluth Started off my supposed fun week of getting out of the office. So I arrived on Tuesday night, and give the clerk my name at the Hawthorne Suites. The clerk quickly replied (after I gave him my name three times) that I was not in the system. Okay, no problem, so I gave him the training director's name (who last I knew was suppose to be sharing a suite with me and two other ladies). So the clerk found her name and tried calling up to her room to no avail. So, he gave me a key, and I headed up to find a one bedroom suite.... ahhhhh...... wait a minute. So I thought about this for a second............. where would by co-workers be??? Hmmmm.... ahhh yes the clerk had mentioned happy hour in the hotel lounge. Alas, I was right, and I found all of the 40 to 50 year old co-workers drinking up the free beer. So I patiently grabbed a Diet Coke, and waited to explain my room dilemma. Luckily, the lady stated that she had forgotten to tell me of a change in room plans and that I was in the wrong room.............. her and her husbands room!!!!! So, we talk to the clerk, straighten things out, and I get to my suite that I get to share with one other person. The suite was huge, with two bedrooms, three beds, two bathrooms, a jacuzze, a living room, and a kitchen, This "room" was better then my apartment, 10 fold. So....... I plopped my stuff down and my co-workers asked me to join them at Old Chicago, no big deal.... Luckily, I am with the older crowd, right? How bad can it be? So we go to Old Chicago, and more beers are order by my co-workers from Sam our cute twenty some year old waiter. So, I ordered my meal, and as I was eating my meal, my co-workers flirted, hooted, and hollered at Sam the whole time (who the older co-workers pointed out was cute and may be single, after I had rejected their ideas of me dating various guys from work and my companions sons that were about my age....). As if this wasn't bad enough, Sam asked if he could do anything else for us, and one of my co-workers starts clearing off the table, and asks Sam if he could strip for us! HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sam politely stated that he didn't do that, but their was a strip club across the way, and he quickly made his exit with a mischievous smile. So after this escapade with my "safe" co-workers, I made a quick exit myself, and headed to my hotel room to read and go to sleep at 10 at night. Now, I thought that perhaps I was safe in my suite, but it was not so....... Yikes!!! So, I was peacefully sleeping when I heard, "WHAT!!! She's sleeping!!!!!! You have got to be kidding!" Yes ladies, I was sleeping!!!!! So I ignored the noises coming from outside my room, and went back to sleep, only to have this scenario repeated several times. The next couple days where spent with my co-workers trying to tempt me to go out to the bars with them..... I hung out with my buddy Tom and saw North Country instead....... thank you very much, even though I had to catch a lot of grief for it because I didn't go out with them, and had once again went to sleep at 10 o'clock at night.

Thursday night at the Nursing Home. Next, I received a call from my Mom that my Grandpa was going to die soon, so I stressfully made some really quick decisions (calling my boss, getting some one my keys to take care of my cats, notifying people I was leaving, checking out), and headed to my parents. I then visited my Grandpa and some other lady that kept asking my Grandma if I was her SON!!!!!! Talk about getting a complex about your looks. She said many other things that made no sense before the other elderly gentle men in the room kicked her wheel chair, grabbed hold, and gave it a shove sending her sailing out of the room. He then informed us that you had to be a little tough in that place and just kick people out some times. At this point, I was more stressed watching my Grandpa suffer, and having some lady call me son over and over again. So, I told my Grandpa I loved him, and left, driving around until I found some friends. I was stressed beyond belief from being with my co-workers, feeling guilty about leaving work, and with my Grandpa's condition. After hanging out with my friends, I finally fell asleep at 3:50 in the morning after staring at the walls for hours, only to be woken up at 4 am and told my Grandpa passed away. Luckily, I fell back asleep after this.

Friday Morning, my Mom woke me up at 7:30 am...., and asked that I get outside right away. So I got up with my PJs on, pulled jeans over the top, out on a sweat shirt, two more jackets, gloves, and I walked out the door in about three minutes time, to see my Mom's yearling filly bleeding from both knees badly cut right above the knee. So, the vet was called out immediately, and by about 12:30 p.m. I was hungry and the horse was all stitched up. At this point, my Dad is gone at the funeral home (I was going to go with him but decided to stay with my distraunt Mom), and my Mom is frantically worrying and running around.

I am stressed!!!!! Luckily I have a few days off, two for funeral leave and 4 days after that. *sighs* It can only go up hill from here, right?

Dress Codes

2005-10-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dress Codes can be a good thing, and they can be a bad thing. Obviously, my job follows a dress code. I personally like the dress code because I don't have to decide what to wear to work. Every day, it is the same outfit, and best of all, the state pays for it!!!! Of course, with a dress code I have to change every day before I go to work, or wear my outfit every where I go, and get called a wanna be cop. Wanna be... blah, my gold colored plate, name tag thingy on my coat says Ofc. _______, and I'm real edjumicated too...... Any how, I ran into a problem with the dress code at work. The dress code requires a person to iron their cloths before work every day. Hmmmmm.... wouldn't the state be interested to know that I don't own an iron, and I have never owned an iron since I started working for them over a year ago! *smirks* Now, so far this hasn't been a problem, but I want to transfer to Thistle Dew where I would be living in a dorm style living arrangement with other Corrections Officers. In this setting I suppose I would have to buy an iron, as my fellow officers would probably notice that I never ironed before work or that they had never seen an iron in my possession. So I got to thinking about this, how to acquire an iron........ hmmmmm....... I got it, I will have a room warming party when I move up there, and ask specifically for an iron. Of course, then I would have to learn how to use it!

Two A-Team Responses!

2005-10-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

So, I had a fun day at work the other day, where I had to call two emergency (A-team) responses to my cottage, errrrr..... I mean...... I called one, with the other I.... lets say.... ummm... had my hands full, so my partner called for the A-team response.
My day started off in the downward spiral. At the beginning of my shift I asked that everyone go outside since it was a nice day, and as the facility had no power that day our gym time was cancelled for the afternoon. The residents swore, gripped, and complained the whole time, continuing to state that it was unfair. I responded to this politely, and took in their concerns in, stating too bad!!!!!! Next, our resident paranoid schizophrenic took it upon himself to steal the remote when no one was looking, and watch BET (not allowed) trying to fool my partner who usually doesn't work in my cottage and doesn't know the rules. She confronted him on this and he became angry with her, beginning to target her. Next, it was discovered that two residents were in the same bathroom stall (doing each others hair), which is a huge no no. So, we called patrol, and when the paranoid schizophrenic came out of the stall (he was in there with a sex offender kid, luckily a straight one), my partner asked the paranoid schizophrenic why he was in the stall with another resident. The paranoid schizophrenic then became angry and paranoia set in, so I intervened explaining why the ruls were in place. The paranoid schizophrenic then went off stating that my partner was accusing him of having sex in the stall with the other residents. He said this loudly refusing cues and suggestions to take a break in his room. He also stated that my partner needed to leave the building, as we know what happened last time (he assualted a female officer), that he doesn't get along with female staff, and that he could not control himself when he became defensive and didn't know what he would do. Eventually, the Lt. came down and spoke with the resident, and he calmed down and apologized profusely to me and patrol, though pointedly ignoring my partner. Next, the unit went to the weight room to lift weights. On the way, a different resident was talking loudly about another resident as our cottage passed in hearing distance of the resident he was trashing. The resident was told by another resident to watch his comments, as this could start a fight. The resident ignored this, and the guy that confronted it notified staff. The resident then started calling him a snitch, and went off to lift weights. After some weight lifting, the resident all of a sudden went off, swearing and talking about niggers and snitches. He was given several cues by staff and residents to take a break and use his interventions, but he continued to verbal abuse others. I then contacted the Lt. and he gave permission to lock the kid up in the security unit. The kid that started swearing stating "I ain't going no where because of some snitches and &*^%$es." We spoke with the residnet for several minutes trying to get him to turn around and cuff up. The resident then stated "Fine, but I ain't going to make this easy," and he laid down on the floor with his arms clasped underneath him. We then used as little force as necessary to restrain the kid and attempt to get his arms out. We pulled him on his side and he started to resist, kicking my partner who called for an A-team. The kid was restrained before they arrived on scene. Next, we returned to the cottage and it was reported that the resident had arrive at the security unit and smashed his head into the door (when in the room by himself) spreading blood all over the glass and possibly breaking his nose.... smart kids!!!! It was also discovered that another resident was trash talking and that had set the resident at the security unit off in the first place. The resident was pulled aside, and I attempted to talk to him about the incident, but he lied and went around in circles until asked to go down to his room. The resident escalated and argued stated he was not going down to his &*^% room. He then walked away swearing and telling everyone to get away from him, repeating that he was not going to the security unit. He then clenched and unclenched his fists, walking towards the desk. I activated the A-team and as they arrived the kid suddenly unclenched his fists, leaned against the dek and put his arms quickly behind his back.... hmmmmmmmm..... A-team number two.

So....... anyone want my job????

Divorce proceedings

2005-10-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

So, I had my Mom question Adam's Mom about his lack of calling so that I would have a substantial case for a divorce, and it was found out that Adam had called me and left a message, and I never responded, so he thought I was busy and didn't want to bother me??!?!?! Hmmmm.... he must have been thinking of his other wives, because I never got a message from him! Hrrrummmppppp.... Any ways, he called and we scheduled a reconciliation party at the Sheep Ranch... how romantic, a repeat of our first date. If he thinks I am going to take him back now, he has another thing coming!!!!!! I will still take the free trip to Sheep Ranch though!!!!! IIt still can't be considered using him, as he knows nothing about our dates, marriage, or divorce, :))

Divorce before marriage

2005-10-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

Alright, that is it!!!! A women's wrath!!!! Adam has not called, and it has been a week a a half! He is in for it now!!! I want a divorce even before the marriage............. and I am going to tell his Mother about this!!!!!!!!!! Not about the divorce....... but about the not calling part! Men!!!!!!

Yikes, *stops and thinks for a minute*. I hope those who read my blog truly know that while most things I write are factual, I tend to hint towards the humorous end of things. The whole marriage to Adam deal came up because of what I had told his Mom before meeting him, and went into an interesting story that could sound rather bizarre to those who do not know or understand me. True I like and admire him, true I did hang out with him quite a few times, but unture that they were dates, and untrue that I had plans of making him a future husband. In reality I simply enjoy having a new friend to hang out with. One should not stress about relationships or worry no matter how old you get. For one, anxiety, worry, pushing for a relationship, and fretting gets you no where but being an anxious wreck. Then you ruin the fun you could be having each day. Instead, enjoy each day, and have fun thinking about the next adventure in life. Relationships is a universal topic, and it is always great for story telling, but relationships should truly be taken in stride with great patience, no worries! Oh, and about kidding around about divorce, I don't believe in divorce. Well, there is the FYI for you.

Learning words in a correctional facility....

2005-10-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

The last few days have encompassed nothing, but working with entertaining youth. Although I am sure the youth are not at all entertained in their anger and delinquency, but I am quite amused by their langauge and shenanigins (how do you spell that?). For instance, the other day one African American called two other African American's "Thoroughbred ass niggers." How perplexing, first I thought about locking up the kid who had numerous problems that day, and second I wondered who the kid was truly insulting. Thoroughbreds are suppose to be the top horses, and as far as slang goes he is insulting his own race, so while they are thoroughbred ass niggers, that would leave him as a simple nigger, in his words......?!?!??! Hmmmmm..... awe well. Needless to say, I asked that he not use the word nigger, as I detest that word no matter who is using it, and second he had to deal with lots of blabbing in his ear about his words and actions that day.

This leads to another question.... who is being racist, the Mexican, White, or Black? Myself, a Mexican resident, and the same Black resident were discussing racism. The Black resident (also a paranoid schizophrenic) stated that Whites were holding power and it had not change since slave days, it was just that Whites were losing power and it was to their advantage to change the ways to maintain control (A conspiracy!!! in his words). Also judges were racist, the nations leaders were racist, and we just put Blacks in prison for no reason. OKAY then! The Mexican then stated that all people are selfish and any majority tries to use any common trait to loop together and prey upon the minority gaining an advantage because all people are inherently selfish. Okay............ hmmmm....... Both the Black and the Mexican then said when the population shifted and Blacks and Hispanics were the majority, the Whites were in for it because of their mistreatment of them. I went on to ask if this was addressing racism in any way shape or form, or possibly promoting it further through the lines of the conversation. The answer was a simple, White's deserve it and it is the natural course of things amongst people's selfish reasoning. Yikes!!!!!! I really hope not everyone sees it that way! I explained that the way they were speaking against racism was actually promoting it, and that there were better ways to address the issue by speaking out, etc. The Black stated that this would not work, as Abraham Lincoln was assisinated, along with Melcom X, and Martin Luther King.... hmmmm....?!!? They both stated there disagreements with my appropriate suggestions to deal with racism stating it would always be a factor in life, and sticking to their theories. I then explained that their thoeries promoted racism, and if they persisted I would lock them up, hence forth the conversation ended.

Whats the most reliable species? Male or Female? 2nd question, do I smell bad?

2005-10-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

So I came up on Friday night and hung out with a few friends (as posted), with plans to have a great six day vacation. On Friday night, Amanda calls stating that she is up from Duluth. I request that she hangs out with me and she states, no problem, I will call you on Sunday. On Sunday.... no call. So, on Sunday I call Adam and thank him for the fight, stating get back to me whenever you can..... no return call. On Monday, my buddy CJ calls and states he is busy, but would like to see me. CJ then never calls back. On Tuesday I call the Newsy News sisters, and they state we can hang out on Wednesday. Now, they did call on Wednesday, and we did hang out, but they stated they would call me back after eating lunch, and they never did. On Tuesday Tom also called stated he was up from Duluth, and I asked that he call me back when he was done car shopping. He did, at 7:30 p.m. and I was too tired so I told him to call Wednesday afternoon, he didn't return my call, even after I tried to call him to tell him I was free. On Wednesday I also missed a call from my friend Chucky, and I asked that he call me back.... he never returned my call. On Wednesday I also called Traci, and she returned my call six hours later....... but at least she returned my call!!!!!

Lets calculate: Women: 2 call not returned, 2 calls returned. Men: 4 call not returned, 1 calls returned. Hmmmmm..... Moral of the story....... men are worst then women at returning calls, and I am in low self-esteem mode for the next week to come.........

Kick Boxing Adventures!

2005-10-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

So, I got the chance to go with my family to the Hinckly Casino to watch Lori's son's kick boxing matches. Adam had originally had his fight cancelled, but last minute another guy's partner cancelled out, and he still wished to fight before his family, so Adam's trainer Frank (the manager of Sheep Ranch) set up an exhibition fight (where they are not fighting, just showing technique). So for Adam's exhibition fight, I got to see him with his shirt off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh..... ummmm.... I mean, I got to see Adam's technique which was great, he is good. It is odd to see guys deck each other, and kick each other and then smile at one another while fighting. Usually they don't smile, but since it was a exhibition, they could relax some. Adam, of course, would have kicked this guy to no wheresville had it been a real fight. The referee had to seperate the two, and tell Adam to let the other guy finish the fight. I guess his mock hits were getting a little too hard. The best part about the whole fight was watching Frank's girl fighter Deedee. What a little tiger, my word. I don't think I would mess with the 4 foot tiger. She knocked down a tree and won! Jaime, Adam's brother fought too, and he lost his first fight :(..... He did an awesome job, and gave it his all. When he accidently fell on his opponent, he even helped the guy up. Wow, after some guy almost breaks my nose and kicks me to no end, I don't know if I could do that!!!!!! I might offer my hand, and then let go while he is half-way picked up off the ring floor :). Over all it was great. Here I thought it would be hard to watch friends get punched and kicked, but instead I wanted to yell, knock um out, lay them down, punch their lights out, but I refrained and politely behaved myself.

So the moral of the story: I got to see Adam with his shirt off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A woman's way of paying back a man!

2005-10-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

So, I recently went to visit my parents to spend some quality time bonding. I arrived at 8:30 pm, and promptly left to hang out with my friends Kristen and Traci at 9:00 pm. So, after my long drive and lack of eating throughout the day, I was frightfully hungry, so me and the girls went out for some soda pop (I know makes complete sense doesn't it?). Any how, I ran into an old friend of my brother's, and he offered to buy me a soda pop. Hmmmmmm..... he also had sparks to his eyes and wanted my phone number. Well, I gave him my number, and he asked that I call him next time I come up, and he gave me his phone number (which I had deleted off my phone list a long time ago). Hmmmmmmm............. Well, what do you say to that? My Mom practically adopted the boy a long time ago... then he disappeared for the longest time, and my brother is good friends with him. I use to be the annoying little sister that tagged along annoying my brother, and his friend Scott (the guy). Scott use to pick on me mercilessly to get me to leave them alone. Funny, as I got older something changed, and he asked me out for coffee once a while back, but I had told him I would have to ask my brother first to get his take on him taking me out (even for coffee). Well, my brother gave his permission, but I never saw Scott after that, as our paths never crossed, and being the woman....... I don't call boys, they call me. The guy is an awesome fellow, truly. But, alas, I am not interested (plus I was fearful of my future husband finding out). I did accept the drink, and I would love to get together with him for a friendly chat (brother/sister type), but..... I don't want to falsely encourage the guy because I am pretty sure he likes me?

I asked my friends about accepting a soda pop from a guy, and they said to pay his kindness back all a girl had to do was hang out with the guy, so that they did not have to sit all alone and look like a loser? So, I invited him to temporarily join the group of girls. So that was easy, free pop, and all I have to do is sit there!!!!! He even offered to by my friends pop!

One last item to discuss on this blog..... What is going on with men lately?...... I have strangers off the street hitting on me lately. Craziness!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not use to this. It is just odd! Perhaps it is the Iron Range, is there something in the water? Hmmmmm.... I took a bath this week, maybe that helped? I am not sure I like all the attention, yikes! No more baths for me!

I was going to blog, but.......

2005-09-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

I was going to blog, but....... I am surrounded by children at the library and am getting mighty freaked out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great distractions...

2005-09-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

So.... I have few friends in the far away town of Red Wing, and the one near Rochester moved far far away..... *glares*, Soooooooooooooo................... when I do manage to stay in Red Wing, I need to look for as many distractions as possible to keep myself busy. Yesterday, I took care of the cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, worked some overtime, drove to Wisconsin to go for a walk with a friend, read, and talked on the phone. Today, I was all excited because I had decided to distract myself by annoying the Amish and going for a trip where I could corral one and ask a multitude of questions, but, alas, it is raining out, so I thought the Amish may be hiding in such weather. Then I decided to go to the Mall of America (ha ha, I can do that on whim!!!). After further consideration, I decided I didn't want to spend money on stuff (even though my shirts are in tatters and I need some new ones) and driving, so I went shopping for vehicles and cloths in the pathetic town of Red Wing. I must admit I was very successful, I bought nothing!!!!! I must be bored because I honestly hate shopping...... Well, at least I can save my trip to visit the Amish for another exciting day. My next distractions will include a trip to a recreation park in Wisconsin, a trip to Hudson, a trip to harass the Amish, some frisbee golf, hiking, and perhaps some basketball. Hmmmmmm... or maybe sleeping and watching TV?

Someone stating "I'll knock their head off" can be considered an improvement!

2005-09-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

So the other day (Monday to be exact), I was working, and I came in with a rather gleeful spirit with all intentions of locking someone up. No reason why, I just knew it would happen. So this argumentative kid who never shuts up, accepts responsibility for his actions, is loud, and a big pain in the butt (Yes I still want to help this kid), was continuing to be a pain throughout the weekend. On Sunday night I had told him he needed to "Run down an issue" (program langauge) for being disrespectful to the other residents. On Monday, I asked the argumentative kid if he had "run down an issue" for being disrespectful, and he stated no pointing fingers and talking about all the wrongs that had been done to him the past couple of days. The other residents stated they tried to get him to run it down, but he had stated, "I ain't running down shit." On he went for a good hour while we were at the gym with this smirk on his face. So we returned from the gym with this kid still going on and on, irritating every one around him. I asked the resident to step into the quiet room with a few of the other residents to run down the issue. I directed him to run down the issue and he got more vocal telling others they had wronged him, flipping the focus, cutting others off, being disrespectful, and in general refusing to run down the issue, instead stating all the woes inflicted on him (all not true, but if you keep others on the defense they can't hold you accountable." I tapped my fingers and tuned him out waiting for him to run it down knowing he wouldn't, and starting to get excited about sending him to our security unit. Eventually he again stated, "I ain't running down shit." I then sent him down to his room, and turned to my co-worker stating gleefully and clapping, "Can I lock him up, can I, can I?" He then replied, go ahead. At this point I hear the resident yelling from his room and slamming things against the door. So I called up the Watch Commander, and rather then ask, I told him I would like to lock up so and so for disorderly conduct and refusing a direct order. The Watch Commander replies, go ahead. So patrol comes and puts the handcuffs on, and on the way out the resident states, "I am a gangster now, I am a gangster now." He is hopping around now with his cuffs on. He then states, "Next time someone asks me to step into the quiet room, I am gonna knock their head off, you hear that Miss _______? Next time someone talks to me, I am gonna knock their head off." So after the kid left, I turned to my co-worker and stating with a smile. "Wow, he is really making improvements. Last time he said he was gonna kill us and named off our names, and calling me a bitch. This time he just said he was gonna knock someone's head off!" My co-worker responded with a smile, "Yeah thats right, he is making improvements!"

Going out on dates without either person having to ask... Date # ummmm....Eight I think?

2005-09-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

So the other day, I went out horseback riding with my Mom and Lori. On the way home, Lori comments to my Mom, "So.... do you think we can go to the sheep ranch tomorrow." My Mom comments, "It is to bad ____ can't come, he must be really bummed out about that." My Mom then states, "Well, we could always go out later when ____ gets off work." Lori comments back, "Yeah, lets do that." Then we get back to the house, and I ask if I need to put the tack away. My Mom comments, "No, we will be going out tomorrow any ways." Lori then comments, "Should I put ____'s saddle in the trailer then." I finally commented on this stating, "Lor.... don't you think you should ask him first?" Lori then kids around stating "No, he doesn't have a choice." So later that night I let a message on ____'s cell phone. "I just wanted to let you know that I was up north again, and I would ask you if you wanted to hang out on Wednesday, but we already are, you just don't know it yet." This is all great, no pressure to ask one another out, life is grand!

(the ____ is because I don't want to give away my parking space by letting other people know who the he is that is available).

The day and the life of a corrections officer!

2005-09-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

So, I returned to work on Friday with all my lovely youth and found out that in my wonderful expertise, I was working all by myself in the lovely mental health/transition cottage for the whole 16 hour shift (I was working a double so I could get the previous day off). Now, with 6 mental health residents and 7 transition residents this proved to be quite the undertaking, not to mention against policy to have me working by myself (1 officer for every 4 mental health... we were over, and 1 officer for every 12 regular guys, sorry we had 13). So I had one guy in the building under protective custody (his group members from another cottage wanted to hurt him I guess, no one had the insight to leave me an explanation of what was going on with this kid), one who argues like no tomorrow, one paranoid schizophrenic (who hates females, has assualted female staff before, and is angry at the drop of a hat), one sex offender attracted to anything with two legs, two suicidal kids (one how always seems to say the strangest most disrespectful thing and acts two), and several transition kids who usually help out but happened to be on an off-grounds that day. So I sent the little darlings off to school, and sat at my computer, with one kid sleeping in his room down the hall (the one in protective custody was not sent to school). The we had a graduation ceremony so I gathered up my one resident and headd over. Now half the kids who recieved honors were rewarded pizza in another building, so I commented to the kid in protective custody, "So I guess you won't get to go up there for your pizza." To which he replies, "No, I get to go, they told me the other officer in the building was going to escort me up there." Hmmm.. interesting, I have an imaginary officer working with me? Now here is a delema to solve in all of five minutes, not to mention the fact that they just informed me that the paranoid schizophrenic was being released to me.... *sighs* So I left the kid in protective custody in the bleachers (he was surrounded by teachers, no problem, I hope!!!). I then gathered up my brood of mental health residents with the paranoid schizophrenic gaining in agitation and impatience as I looked about for the psychologist with four mental health residents trailing and me trying to keep count of them in the crowd and get back to the one under protective custody now that the crowd was moving. Eventually I explained my delema to the pyschologist who offered to take the kid to pizza, and I managed to some how keep the agitation down and my little clan together and usher them back to the cottage and open it so all could return. Hmmmm... and that was just the start of my day! Luckily it was a good day and I got by unscathed.

An uneventful week!

2005-09-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hmmm.... you know I have no clue what to do with myself since I have absolutely nothing to report this week. Yikes, after all the excitement how does one come down off that without becoming depressed as life goes back to normal? I suppose a person could create a crazy abnormal normal daily life? Hmmm... any how, by the time I dug up worms and found some chocolate to dip them in, I lost energy and went to sleep instead.

Also, I had no dates with Lori's son this week, though I ran into him at 9:30 at night at Festival Foods and he called me. It was quite embarrassing since I am not a kids or babies person and I was helping my friend grocery shop with her three or four month old. :) I guess it turns out that I only like SOME kids..... so I guess I can handle this for now.

What, no comments on my Blogs?

2005-09-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

No buddy loves me, everybody hates me, I'll just go eat worms.

Taking care of my Father....?!?!?

2005-09-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

So, my Dad was released from the hospital yesterday with his thumb in tact and lots of pain. Being the good daughter, I decided to keep my poor lonely Father company. So, as soon as we got home I left to see my Brother's new house, visit with my sister-in-law, stop at a friends, run to Target to pick up some muscle shirts and a thermometer for my Dad (he can only get on muscle shirts with such a huge cast), and I went grocery shopping for my Mom. After several hours, I went back home and sat down with my Dad . My Dad promptly started dozing off while I was talking to him. Hmmmm.... so I went bareback riding out in the field with my horse, came back in and my Dad was awake. So, I chatted with my Dad and left to go shoot stuff. I then noticed it was only seven o'clock when we finished shooting stuff and stated I can't go home now! So I visited with Lori after shooting stuff. Next, I visited with Lori's son some more and figured I burned enough time, so I left and went to Holiday gas station to visit my friends who work there. Finally at 8:30 (which is much better then my usual midnight time) I arrived home and spoke with my Father who promptly fell asleep. So I tried to eat and woke my Dad up and apologized. My Dad then states it is okay, I should probably stay up later any how. So I started talking to my Dad again who falls asleep...... Hmmm... oh well. The next morning I get up and go down stairs and my Dad is awake so I start talking to him and....... he falls asleep.

The learning lesson in this story? If anyone has difficulties falling asleep, call me and we can talk on the phone until you promptly fall asleep. Either that or my Dad was faking it?????!??!

High powered toys yeah!!!!!!

2005-09-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

And so I went shooting stuff.......... and now.......... well.......... who needs an arm and a leg any way? :) I am pretty good at typing with my left hand, and two missing fingers hey? :)

I hopes people realize I am kidding...............