Monkeying Around

This was the week of our family gathering.  At times, it seemed like chaotic craziness.  This first photo somewhat depicts what it can be like when my family is converging, all in one place.  There is always a lot of monkeying around in one way or another.

Sunday 7/1 - I needed to figure a better way for Amiga to wear the curtain hanger because I didn't especially like it covering her whole neck.  Patty met me at the barn at 8am and we tried hanging the tassels here in front of Amiga's chest.  I liked it much better this way.  Then I needed to try her out with this new costume placement.  

I threw my table cloth skirt on so Amiga could continue getting used to that. 

Patty got Zorro all cleaned up and walked him through the parade route.  I took Amiga around three times with little errors each time, so all were fairly decent.

A monkey wrench had been thrown in the works of the parade.  Unfortunately the mother, of stable owner John, had passed away and he would not be here to run the show.  Judy, Jan, and Shirley scrambled to make sure 'the show would still go on."

I removed our costumes and put Karen's leg wraps on Amiga and rode her on part of the Holly trail.  She did great and seemed so much more sure footed.

Once home from the barn, I changed, ate lunch, and then headed to the lake house to take inventory.  Next I went into Crossville to get a light fixture for the new fan going out on the porch.  I also bought things for Mom's party and household goods that would be needed.

Patty fly sprays Zorro before he went back out to pasture.

I unloaded and organized and then when Joe got home we went back to the Lake house after picking up chairs and air mattresses from Shirley.  We got tables and chairs set up along with the other two 'beds' (air mattresses).

I was in cleaning mode here for awhile until I was too tired and just needed to sit down.  I tried starting this blog, but only lasted a few minutes.  I looked like Monita here, falling asleep with my hand on the mouse.

Monday 7/2 - I was up at 4:30, after only five hours of sleep.  Even the sleeping pill I took didn't help me fall back to sleep, but I had a ton to do.  Britney texted before 5 am that she was heading to the airport but sad to leave Francis, her kitty.  While working here on this blog, she had boarded her first flight to Texas.

Joe headed to Nashville at 9 am to take Courtney to two Dr. appointments and then get Britney at the air port.  I finished painting the ceiling out on the porch, and while doing so, Bob (a handy man) came to install the new light and fan.  The two kits were not from the same company, and getting the light to attach to the fan was a challenge.  (Next time I'll know not to buy a cheap fan from Wal-Mart.)

My new porch fan and light.

I was multi-tasking doing laundry, painting, and holding things for Bob when needed.

Meanwhile, in the sunroom, Tony and Larry were installing that fan and the two wall lights.  The fan kit was missing the mounting bracket, so a trip to Ace Hardware had to be made.  (And that fan was from Lowe's, so go figure.) 

New sunroom fan and one of the wall lights.

Travis arrived, with his two children, who are very cute, but a bit of a distraction.  He got to work painting and they got busy playing with Maggie and in the creek and pond.







I finished painting the ceiling, and once Bob got done, I moved inside to make beds and do more cleaning.  There were interruptions from the kids and text messages from family but I was glad to hear that Courtney got her PICC line out and Britney had made it to Texas.  Larry and Tony were grouting between the tile and Travis continued to paint outside.

I grabbed a bite to eat and then went to the barn for one more practice with Amiga.  She did great considering there were two tractors mowing the field and ditch along the road, the riding mower going on the lawn and a dump truck offloading gravel.


This was a practice paint job on Gov's hip.  

Michelle was here helping with weeding when I got home and I joined her outside with trimming and cleaning up the flower beds.  Cathy and Ralph got here just as we were finishing up outside.  A little time was spent visiting and then I was off to Mirror Lake Blast and the Leininger's went to Food City.



Mirror Lake Blast was a monkey’s wedding - (this South African phrase refers to the weather phenomenon of simultaneous rain and sunshine).  After the 15 minute rain shower (with a quite hard downpour for a third of the time) it cleared off and the blast continued.  I sat with John and Margie and their daughter Britany, along with Patty and Michelle.

I tried to get work done before bed, but didn't last long.

Tuesday 7/3 - Once we'd had a little tea and coffee and had done some computerizing, Cathy and I got to work cleaning house.  She was such great help.

The work crew arrived, with the two kids in tow and were cleaning the floor, adding the remainder of the trim work and doing touch up painting inside.  The painting outside also continued.





Cathy, with the help of our cats, compacted all the fan and light boxes and packaging for recycling.
Joe, Jean, Brianna, Courtney and Britney arrived at noon and we all ate lunch together.  
Two trips with more chairs to the Lake house were also made.



As it neared horse parade 'show time', Patty picked me up and we were off to the barn.

Things were hopping as people were getting their horses ready to show.
Look at Zorro with all his bows, ready to go.


After brushing and tacking Amiga, I rode her around to warm her up and did one more loop of the parade route.  The band was setting up and chairs were ready for occupants.  






Pretty soon people started coming, including my clan.
(Jean, Joe, Cathy, Courtney, and Brianna)






Jan started the parade with the American flag.  And Kayla and Brook joined her while the national anthem was sung.


The parade was a great success and everyone did a super job.







Patty said Zorro was a perfect gentleman when she led him around.


I was very pleased with Amiga's performance. 

Chris and Travis had arrived at the barn to watch, and mingled with the crowd after the parade was over.   

Many of us brought our horses out onto the lawn to interact with the crowd and for photo opportunities.

By the time I got Amiga un-tacked and the sweat rinsed off her, my clan had left.  So I enjoyed dinner at the barn with all my saddle sisters.

 

The rest of the clan (The Sidensticks along with Mom, Patrick and Tamika, and Carol and her three dogs) arrived at our house before I got back home.  The party was hopping when I arrived.  But it had been a big day for all of us and we all retired at a reasonable time.

Wednesday 7/4 - Independence Day and the day we were celebrating Mom's 90th birthday, a bit early.  To see photos and read commentary about this event, go to (this link).

It was wonderful to get all of Mom's children and so many grandchildren together.  We had an amusing, reflective and enjoyable time... more fun than a barrel of monkeys. 




Monita is such a little monkey.  She was ready to party with us once we returned to the house.

She gets into to everything, making toys and games out of all of it, even Courtney's barf bags.  

Water glasses are always a favorite and needed to be watched carefully.

While we were gone, Travis had come and put up the trim molding.  The sunroom (Courtney and Britney's bedroom) was near completion.

Since a large meal had been provided for lunch, everybody was on their own for dinner.  Some groups ate out and others came back here to our house for leftovers. 

Once dark had almost descended on us, Courtney, Jean, Brianna, and I headed on a cruise around the neighborhood, looking for a place to watch the fireworks.  We settled on parking near the 4-way and had a pretty good view of the fireworks.

When we got home, the poker game was well underway.  Britney was waiting up so she could give Courtney her shot of Lovenox.

Thursday 7/5 - Britney continued to take good care of Courtney.  The Sidensticks returned from the hotel and Chris and Travis from the Lake House.  















We played board games, sat and talked, ate, and just hung around here at the house most of the day.  

There was even a little napping going on by several folks and critters.

And our pets were eating up the extra attention.

Sidensticks left mid-afternoon and then several of us went on a little walk.







   

We played more games before dinner.  And I believe Mom stayed in her house coat all day.









It was my night to cook.  Britney was great help to me in the kitchen.  Patty came over and joined us for spaghetti dinner.  We watched two movies to finish off the day.  It wasn't much of an anniversary, our 38th, but great to spend it with family.  Seen right, Monita in Courtney's knitting bag.

Friday 7/6 - started on a bad note with Courtnery vomiting a lot at 4am and her feeding tube getting dislodged or out of place in the process.  It was gaging her and causing great discomfort.  We monkeyed around - (Manipulating dependent variables to change an independent variable, also refers to when you waste time fiddling with something) trying to get it to quit gaging Courtney.  After trying a number of things in an effort to get it to go back down, out of her throat, Britney tried flushing the tube.  Water immediately came out of Courtney's mouth.  Something was really wrong.  Jean called the tube company and they recommended taking Courtney to the ER.

Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!  It was a short trip to Crossville and a fast in-and-out of the ER.  Courtney was given the option to wait for an x-ray and then try to reposition the tube, or just take it out.  Her Dr. in Nashville had been called and said she could try to go with-out the tube and see how she did.  Well, she came home without the feeding tube.  She was so much more comfortable.  And it turned out that she never threw up again or felt nauseous.  For Courtney, the feeding tube had been a 'monkey on her back.'  Although necessary, it seemed to cause more problems or issues and was a burden rather than help.  During the day, Courtney tried different foods, staying away from fat, red meats and spicy things.  She was doing great, and even felt hungry.


Mid-morning we went to the barn so Courtney could see Zorro and some of us could ride.  She was able to brush him, but tired fairly quickly.

Once we had both Amiga and Zorro saddled up, we took them out to the pony pen.  

 

Courtney wasn't up to riding but watched with the rest of us (Cathy, Patty, Jean, Brianna, and I) as we each took a turn on one or both horses.  Zorro did great but Amiga was really wound up.

Jean had caught this later stage tadpole down at our pond at some point in time.  And Carol took this great dragon fly photo.

Carol made Shepheard's pie out of lamb, for dinner, but accidently over salted it, which was a real travesty.  Most of us watched Mamma Mia together before bed, and Dan and Val arrived at 1am.

Saturday 7/7 -  The day started slowly with cloudy skies.  The great blue heron that Carol photographed, was busy as usual, catching frogs.
















The cats entertained us as we sipped our morning brews and watched the wildlife outside.  We are always full of things to discuss as well.


Once it was decided to go pontooning and we had a 10-11 time slot available, we got dressed and gathered up towels for the cruise.






Grandma waiting at the dock.

A tilapia in its spawning bed.





It was cool and cloudy and even threatened to rain, but ended up being a lovely hour of cruising around Lake Dartmoor.

 














Courtney was finally able to enjoy life without the feeding tube and very little nausea.  However, her energy level was still low.

Cathy and Jean were brave enough to go in for a little swim.










It was clearing off and warming up as we ate lunch and pretty soon I was off for my 2-7 shift at the pool.

Several of the clan came out to swim a little later.  What a joy to see Courtney happy and smiling.

Monkey see - monkey do.  Jean started doing hand stands and Dan was soon showing off his skills.

After swimming, there was some sunning, drying off, and then a few games of Boggle.

Cathy fixed tacos for dinner while I was at work.  I was able to close 75 minutes early, hurried home in time to say good-bye to Dan and Val, and took a quick shower.  Jean and I went to Hebbertsburg to join Shirley and Patty for some dancing.  We didn't get any photos there but Jean took this one of the sun setting as we drove home.


  

The clan was hanging out in the living room and watching The Shinning when we got home.  Carol had taken this photo of Dan and Monita earlier in the day.

I opted out of the scary movie and went to bed at my usual 9:30 time.




Sunday 7/8 - It was a beautiful sunny morning.  Carol got several great photos of this chipmunk.  It kind of remind me of us at the table, feeding our faces.  Then he had troubles negotiating his route down the feeder pole because he was so top heavy.

It was a typical morning lazing around, eating, chatting, playing with the cats and jealous dog.

Before lunch, Carol, Jean, Joe and I went kayaking at the Lake house for a little over an hour.

      

      

Chris and Travis and then Cathy and Ralph left right after lunch. 
      

A bit later, Courtney, Jean, Brianna, and I left for Nashville, with me driving.  That left Joe, Mom, Britney and Carol at home, here at the monkey house, a place of temporary insanity.

We girls in Nashville, excluding Courtney but including Mike, ordered Chinese food.  After consumption, Jean and I got dressed for Honky Tonkin' and drove into town.

We had a great time on Broadway, hitting many bars, looking for a band and music we enjoyed.  We had a drink at two different places, staying to do plenty of dancing at both.

We ended at Legends Corner, the first bar we had peeked into, had a needed water with some last few dances and were home by 11:30. 

That is one big monkey.

Courtney and Bri were watching Bob Ross when we got back to Courtney's, so we joined them.  Jean lasted 5 minutes and me for almost 15.  All the monkeying around this week wore us all out I think, but oh what fun we had.