Down on the Farm

So, today some people from my department at work went to the Equest Center in Rockford to volunteer. We had people who haulded hay, painted fences, pulled weeds, helped the kids on the horses, moved mulch, painted a stage. You name it, we did it. I decided it would be good to be in the weed pulling group. I have a lot of fun with Rick, Gary, Susie and Gwen, so it would be great! We weren't actually pulling weeds. It was more like digging the weeds out. They have several different pastures separated by fences. There are these yucky weeds that grow under the fences and we needed to dig them out because you can't get to them with a mower or weed wacker. We had a riot! I was thinking, OK. This will be easy. Then we got out there and there was horse poo! Can you believe it?! So, at first I was tippy toeing around it (Jessi would be so impressed), after about 10 minutes it was like screw it. I just walked right through it. If anyone has ever spent any amount of time in a horse pasture, you know that there is no avoiding it. To make it even more interesting, there were actual horses in the pastures while we were weeding. I'm not much of a horse person. Everything was going good until we got to the 2nd to last pasture. There was a horse in that one that just thought I should be it's best friend! I was weeding and turned around and there it was... inches from my face. That was a shock! Then I was trying to get away from it and it chased me around a stump. Of course I'm yelling for my co-weeders to get it away from me. I didn't think anyone else saw. Turns out a couple people in the barn were very entertained.

There were also pony's there. They were so cute! I swear not much bigger than Hemi. One of them layed down on the ground and took a nap, on it's side, just like a dog. Then his foot started twitching like he was dreaming. Just precious!

After lunch we finished up our weeding so I joined Chet and Roger in painting the stage. Of course, because they are such gentlemen, they volunteered me to paint the legs of the stage because they were tired of doing that part. They're just great. LOL! Nah, seriously, they are great guys and I had a good time with them too. The nice thing about working with the two of them is we can work in complete silence and it's never awkward silence. It was fun working with my weeding crew too, but they're rowdier and more talkative. Sometimes quiet is good.

We took a group picture, maybe I'll post it if I get a copy of it.

I'm sweaty, smelly and totally exhausted, but it was a very rewarding and fun day. I think the best part was that some of the kids were there. It's great to know that what you're doing makes a difference, but it's even better when you get to actually see the people our hard work benefits. Just makes it all worth it and really puts things in perspective.

Now, I'm going to go take a much needed shower.

Running

I'm so happy that I ran tonight. Why didn't I do this a long time ago? I feel like I'm on top of the world. I could do anything right now! F'ing awesome! I feel like that McDonald's commercial... the one when the girl is in the boring meeting at work and she's drinking an iced coffee and in her head she's like "go Katie, go, go, go Katie, yeah!". That's how I feel. Just replace Katie with Tracy. LOL! Ahhhhh... now I know why I'm a runner.

Fall

I love Fall. Growing up I was always a total summer girl, but the older I get the more I just love Fall. The leaves are starting to change color and soon it will be time to start raking. We just sat on the front porch this morning for a little while and just watched the world go by. The air is so crisp and clean... but not really cold.

We went to Yankee Candle on Friday night because they had tarts on sale. They had all their fall scents out, so I bought cinnamon and pumpkin scents... among others. Today I put the Harvest Gold scnet in. Yum! I just love it. Halloween and Thanksgiving. The Haunt will be starting in another couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to going to that this year. I'm going to be trying to talk Ron into going to Robinettes in a couple weeks for donuts and cider... just like my Grandma and I used to do when I was little. Brings back so many memories.

We took the motorcycle out for a short ride this evening. Just around the country part of town... if that makes any sense. There is this road that I just love to drive down. It's cool in the truck, but even better on the bike. It's so close to town but yet it feels like you're out in the country. It's winding and covered with trees. Very peaceful. There is a house for sale back there. Maybe some day.