I am NOT good at keeping up with this!

It has been a very busy past two months!! I don't even know if I can remember whats happened! I restarted classes and I absolutely can not stand being in Auburn in the summer. I'm pretty miserable. I go home every weekend and have some fun, so that makes it all better! :)

My Mema had 2 unplanned back surgeries and was in the hospital for the past four weeks. She is now recovering in an 'Assisted living' until she gets back on her feet! She's doing much better though.

I went to the beach one day with Josh, his mom and sister and her friend! We had a lot of fun! Josh and I met them up there on Saturday night and spent Sunday on the beach! We had a lot of fun for one day on the beach!


The peach festival was also this past month! My mom, my sisters, my little brother, Blair and me and Josh all loaded up and went to it! It was fun, but not as much fun as it was when I was a kid! We got to see the peach cobbler! I ate some :)

My mom and dad started the worlds largest peach cobbler years ago! They finally passed it on to someone else but it still is in good hands!


My niece will be 9 months on the ninth. Look how big she's getting! I got to spend some time with her this weekend down in dreamland! We went to pick peas at seven then we went back to the house and shelled some. Then it was TACO TRUCK time at the watermelon farm! It was soo good. I had chicken mole with rice and corn tortillas. It was some kind of yummy. Of course, I can't go to dreamland without getting a bunch of yummy watermelons! I think I ended up going home with ten! I only had 5 when I got back to Auburn! I gave some of them away as thank yous and some away as I love yous! I cut one last night and ate 1/4 of it. It was so good!

This past weekend I took my roommate home with me. We were driving and popped up on a sunflower field and I was bound and determined to get pictures there on the horses! So, that night I called a friend- she said she could do it! The next day, we rode the 6 miles horseback to the field and here is the result!


This is about when the fireworks started going off! What an interesting ride home we had....





I absolutely love every single one of them! I think Rhiana and I are going to have a few blown up and put them in our new apartment when we move in. Speaking of that... that's what I've been doing this whole week besides studying! I moved the couch cushions, the kitchen table and chairs, the area rug, and a bunch of stuff out of my room yesterday. My poor little liberty was packed to the roof all day! But now all I have left is my furniture in my room and the couch! I'm gonna have to wait on the boyfriend or mother to come help me move those!

We've had a busy summer so far! We had our family reunion fathers day weekend and I also went up top the Lake to Josh's family reunion!

I'll try to keep this more updated :)

Needed Catchup

It's been since February 17th?! Where does the time go...

I just realized today is May 1st... really. where does the time go?

I took my first of four finals this morning. It was possibly the hardest test I have ever taken in my life (ok, maybe not as hard has Fundamentals of Chemistry II final with Baker- the teacher from Hell- literally), BUT rumor has it that my teacher doesn't count the final... (?). He doesn't believe in finals and just gives on to give one. According to more than 5 people who have taken the class, the grades will be posted tomorrow night (tomorrow night!?!)! That was a 12 page (I mean BOOKLET) exam I just took. There are at least 60 of us in that room. That's 720 pages of test that he has to grade in less than 24 hours. Even 48 hours is not enough for that!! It takes him a week to grade our 5 page exams! So, I believe them. I hope that my B will magically turn into an A, but I'll settle with my B. Maybe sitting in his office all those hours talking about pigs and gardening will pay off!! ;)

Over the past 2 months I have been working on a Scrap book for Josh and me! I absolutely love it and I can't wait to finish the pages I have yet to do! Here are a few pages that I have done!






The pages I have yet to start are The hiking page that will come after camping, Callaway Gardens, and golfing/Masters page after that!

So, mid March Josh and I went camping and it was so much fun! FDR State park claimed they had a ton of wildlife, but we only say one deer and a million squirrels! One of the squirrels and a few of his accomplices chewed a hole in our tent to get some bread. Let's just say Josh and I learned not to leave food in the tent no matter how hot it's going to be in the back of the truck!
We also went on an EIGHT mile hike. It was an intense hike, too. Up and down huge mountains and around a few. I definitely wasn't prepared for it with my one little bottle of water! I was glad to be back at the truck that day.



After hiking, we drove the five minutes to Callaway Gardens and got in for free! they had some kind of party going on so we just mosied around by ourselves and got fun pictures!



After we got back from camping, mom asked if Josh and I wanted to go to the Masters. I mentioned it to Josh (who didn't know dad has tickets) and he flipped his lid! I thought he was going to go into shock. He was so excited and said absolutely we are going! We decided what day we wanted to go on, and in a few weeks we would be heading to Augusta on Sunday April 12 to the Masters!
A few weekends after camping, Josh and I made a trip to a local golf course and I watched him golf and he taught me the basics. I never knew what a birdie or bogey was until that day. I guess the excitement of going to the Masters got Josh in a golfing mood. It was a lot of fun watching him play and I got some cool swinging pictures to add to the scrapbook!

The Masters was a lot of fun! We left at about 6:30am and got up there early enough to get our chairs 5 rows back on the 18th hole! We watched the first 5 or 6 pairs go through the first hole and then walked over to ten and sat in the grass for a while. We ended up walking to 6 and watching Tiger Woods and Phil Mickleson putt. Then we raced through the crowd and got to 8 to watch them tee off. Then we ran to 10 to watch them putt! It was a lot of fun! I think we ventured back up to our chairs after that! We were really tired and hot! The three way tie at the end was a treat for us to see. That hasn't happened since 1987 (that was the year i was born!), so it has been a while!
Since it was a tournament day... no cameras. I was devastated, but my mom let me keep one of the tickets and I'm going to rip apart that little booklet they give out to put in the scrapbook. Maybe that'll look ok.

Other than that not much has been going on! I went down to my sister's house and got to play with my niece! She's so much fun and I loved being able to see her and hold her! I'll probably get to go down there again soon because I'll be done with classes for a few weeks! I'm quite sure we'll have a playdate!

Neigh... i mean.. Quack!!

Ada, Maddy, Lucy and Inman in the front :)
These are my precious, 3 day old Mallard ducklings that I raised one summer. I think it was summer of 2006. I had a job at our local vet and I was a little bored and decided I wanted some new pets. I went to the local feed store and talked to them about some homing ducks but they weren't getting any in... so I settled for Mallards. I fell in love with them... and them with me :) They followed me everywhere!

This is when they were a week old! Their first swim in their brand new lime green kiddy pool!

3 weeks old, just being good little children!
When people asked me their names I would tell them which one was which and they would say, they all look the same! how do you know who is who?! well, the stripes on their heads were different! Inman's went to a point, Maddy's didn't go all the way to the black part, and Ada's was thicker than lucy's!
Throughout the summer they went to work with me, took swims in the pool, followed me around the yard, had a run in with a mean golden retriever that tried to eat Maddy :( she lived though and had no injuries thank goodness.
This is my drake, Inman.

My little duckies were a big hit with my neighbors so I was able to take them to the pond across the street and release them!These are pictures from the day I released them.

Right after they got done drinking they took off running and all of them tried to fly and kind of "coasted" toward the house! :) it was so encouraging!

did I mention that they LOVED riding in the car! and on the golf cart!!


This is Maddy... you can see their green feathers starting to come in!
I have searched my files and can't find any pictures of them on the pond after i let them go, but they did amazing! They were flying within a few weeks. They made a new friend that was half mallard half peking duck. He couldn't fly but that didn't stop my four from flying! They would take off and 'mutt duck' as we called him would go crazy honking at them! I can just imagine what he was saying... 'get back over here! don't leave me!!'. everytime they were done flying they would go right back to where mutt duck was swimming in circles! they were there for a while and then finally flew off! and of course, Inman had his beautiful green head!! :) He was gorgeous!
This november/december I was riding horses over at the pond where I released them and they were out there swimming on the pond with new friends they had brought back! ok... i don't know if it was them for sure.. but i like to think it is! haha.
I did put colored rings on their feet so that if somebody shot them they'd feel bad for killing ducks that were banded. Oh well!
I did enjoy raising them though! they were a lot of fun!
If you ever want to raise ducks, I would recommend it! They take up a lot of time but they definitely aren't expensive! :)
Thought I'd change it up a little bit and do something besides horses!

Valentine's in perry!

I got to spend Valentine's day with Joshua! He got me some beautiful roses :)

I love getting flowers! Even though they don't last long, they make my room smell really good and I get to enjoy them while they last!
And... I also got my really late Christmas present! I don't care that it was late cause I absolutely love it!! He tried FOUR times to order it and finally got the right one on the fourth try! He was about to give up.. but thank goodness he didn't!

Isn't it so pretty :)
I'm in love with it!
I hope y'all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

My Scouty Boy

Scout was born on May 9, 2002. His dam was my 'first' horse, Melody. Oh look I found a picture of them! His sire is none other than Flint. Scout was a sweet sweet horse. Not that many people got to ride Scout, but my best friend, Rhiana, did ride him if she wasn't riding Sassy. Rhiana and I would ride on the weekends that we weren't in Auburn and we would usually end up taking Scout and Flint out. We had a lot of fun on them. They really liked each other.. most of the time!Scout and Flint
And we got a little daredevil-ish with them. yes, I know this is dumb- but, they're good horses.
Well, one day Rhiana and I were going on a ride in november and I noticed this spot above his anus that looked like a bug had bitten him or a parasite was in his skin. I treated it and kept an eye on it. By December I decided that it wasn't getting better so I took some pictures of it and took them to the vet I was currently working at and my Dr. said it looked like squamous cell carcinoma. I started bawling. All I could think was cancer... dying... my poor horse. So, we immediately got an appointment at Auburn's vet school, called everyone we knew that had a horse trailer, and we were there the next day. (I'm going to put some links to pictures of what the cancer looked like so don't click on them if you have a weak stomach or don't want to look at horsey butt!)

At Auburn, they took some cells to culture it and confirmed squamous cell carcinoma. Scout stayed in Auburn for a week and had surgery to remove the tumor that was growing to the left of his rectum. This is what it looked like right after he had surgery. I was able to see him everyday and spend as much time as I wanted with him. How convenient that I was in school at the time. Mom took him back home and he had an appointment for chemo in 3 weeks. We did the whole chemo every three weeks for 5 months. This is what it looked like after he had chemo. It would scab up and turn black. Scout's cancer had good weeks and it had bad weeks. Scout was never in pain that I could tell. This picture is one of the "good" weeks. It looked like it was getting smaller and that we might have a chance of getting rid of this stuff.

Through this whole thing, I don't know what I would have done if my mom wouldn't have been there to help me. She drove him to and from Auburn on the days he had chemo and she also cleaned his stall, washed and cleaned him, and fed him while I was at school. She has the biggest heart for animals and tries to help before she gives up. That's where I got it from. I prayed and prayed that every time he came back to Auburn that those cells would be gone.

In May of 2008 the Dr. said that the cancer was moving too rapidly for the chemo to stop. Mom and I had come to an agreement in the beginning that we wouldn't spend thousands and thousands of dollars on a horse that wasn't a show horse so I decided that it was time to keep him at home and as comfortable as I could. I continued to clean the wound and stall him to watch his bowel movements and keep him cool. He was perfectly fine. He got soaked senior food with oil to help the movement in his system. I treated that horse like a little king for 2 months. In mid June, you could really see the cancer spreading. It had made a halo around his tail and looked like it was blowing up inside of him. This is the picture that is the worst. I took this in the end of June. As long as Scout was happy and could go to the bathroom they said he would be fine. In the beginning of July, I decided it was time to let Scout go. I have never put a horse down and never had to make the decision, but it was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

On July 15 I had my vet come out to end Scout's battle with cancer. We went on one last ride around the pasture, bareback with a halter and lead. I hugged and kissed him and led him back up to where dad had chosen to bury him. Josh had come out to be with me and he was waiting there with dad and the vet. I got off Scout and we walked him down to where the tractor was. I held him one last time and told him I loved him and that I was sorry I couldn't help him anymore. I didn't watch, I couldn't. Just hearing it was awful enough. I just hugged Josh and thought about how it was the right thing to do. Afterward, I kissed my Scout one last time and walked back to the house.

I will never forget Scout. He was such a loving. I called him my little teddy bear. I know that he's in a better place with everything he could ever want. I hope I never have to go through that again, but you never know with horses. Rest in peace Sweet Scout.

This is Scout and his full sister, Lizzie, out in the pasture. You would have thought they knew they were siblings the way they hung out together all the time. They were precious together.


I'm sorry if this post is a little scattered. I get upset when I think about Scout for a long period of time and I had to take a break in the middle. Sorry it's so long too. Y'all have a good rest of the weekend! Spend it outside cause it was beautiful today! I'll be heading out to Auburn's horse unit tomorrow to evaluate some conformation on some horses for a report!

Home again home again, Jiggity Jig

I was able to go home this weekend! I absolutely LOVE going home. Everything I care about is there and I love seeing it all! Sometimes I don't get to see everyone... I didn't get to see Ashlee but I'm sure I'll see her next time I'm home!
I did get to see all my horses. They had their feet trimmed on Saturday morning- in the rain. It only took an hour to do all 6 though. It usually takes a little over two hours. I also got to see my family, but I spent most of my time at the "fair".
Friday night, Saturday from 10 to 8, and Sunday 10 to 3 I was at the NJSA Swine show at the Ag center in Perry. Josh shows pigs so I was there to watch him. Friday was Showmanship... he didn't get anything in that one. Saturday was the gilt (female) and boar show. His sister Alexis showed the gilt and I think she ended up getting Second in class. His dad, Mr. Troy, showed the Boar.
He also got second in class, I think. and then Sunday was the Barrow (castrated male) show. Josh showed this pig and he got first in class and reserve champion for the breed!
Other than that I just rode Flint around for a while and had a few neighborly conversations. I also went and saw my neighbors new puppies. 9 Australian Shepards! They were so cute.
That was my weekend... just laid back and didn't do much but sit!
Hope y'all had a good weekend!

A Title...

After many suggestions of Titles to name my blog (like, "This blog is Stupid", "I'm a weirdo", and "The Confessional" (?!)) Linsey never came up with one. she did either say this or inspired it.

eh, i don't like it... help me.