Dance like nobody's watching.
Life is better when you dance.
Dance to express not to impress.
Never stop dancing.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain.
I love these lyrics to the song 'Lord of the Dance' - "Dance, then, wherever you may be." The song was written portraying Jesus' life and mission as a dance.
'I dance in the morning when the world is begun...' what we should all do when we first get up.
The Bible doesn’t give specific instructions on dancing, but it does point out some examples of good and bad dancing. We should not dance in idol worship, to bring attention to ourselves, to tempt others into sin, etc.
Jeremiah 31:13 - Dance and be glad.
Psalm 149:3 - Let them praise his name in the dance.
Psalm 30:11 - You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
Part of Ecclesiastes 3:4 - There is a time to dance.
I think with the Covid crisis getting under control, now is the time to dance.
Saturday 6/12 - It was finally a hot, sunny, summer day. I sat here at my computer, blogging for quite awhile. I was behind on last week's blog, which I usually do a final edit of and then post first thing Saturday morning. I worked here for such a long time actually, that I didn't have time to go to the gym.
My Ava fix for the day was this (video) compilation Valencia made of Ava's first two months of life. I got this fairly recent photo of her off of the video.
I went to the pool at 1:00, but only put in a two hour work shift because MJ was subbing for me so that I could go to the Blue Jean Ball. Alice had invited me at the last minute, because she had an extra ticket.
On the way home I stopped to take a photo of a vulture, but it took off just as I clicked the picture.
I had to hustle, with only 50 minutes to get ready, do pet chores, and get to Food City, from where eight of us were car-pooling. This was my kind of event, boots and jeans was the attire. (Boots of Josephine, Coy, me, Mary Ann, and Alice.)
This was a fun raiser for Kids On The Rise, and held at The Barn, a newly built complex for weddings and parties. Seen here, we were in line at check-in. Over 320 people were in attendance.
It was a beautiful setting and I took several photos, wandering around the grounds and enjoying the picturesque scenery.
As the band (Soul Soup) was doing a sound check, people were getting checked in, and we started in on rather pricey libations, but all $ went to the good cause.
Shortly before time for the buffet line to open, storm clouds started rolling in and the wind picked up. Workers were scurrying to get the silent auction tables in to safety.
And then the storm hit. Rain was blowing in sideways and several tables got drenched. Cups, center pieces, and auction info booklets were blown off of tables. People tried to hold things down and get out of the rain.
The wind had died down, but it continued to rain quite awhile. Once the storm blew over though, it was a beautiful evening. The venue was an hour behind schedule, but resumed from where it had left off.
Dinner was late, along with the program and live auction, which was fun to watch. There was a lot of high bidders, competition for many items, and much action on the auctioneers part.
The calm after the storm...
As the sun was setting and the fog started rolling in, things got even more picturesque.
It was after 9pm when the live auction finished and we weren't even sure if the band would have time to play. I just wanted to dance.
Well, it worked out, and dancing did occur. The band stayed till 11pm and we girls were up dancing most of the two hours. Thankfully the storm had cooled the air down, but we were all still rather hot and sweaty.
Sunday 6/12 - Even though it was after midnight when I went to bed, I was up by 6:30. The doe I have been feeding finally decided to bring her fawn out in the open (seen from my office window), no longer leaving her baby parked in the woods somewhere while she was off foraging in the neighborhood.
We
had gotten word the night before, and photos, of a large tree that had
fallen on Patty's house.
Thankfully, the tree did not go through the roof because Patty had been sitting in her sun room when it fell.
Patty sent more up-dates and photos of the
clean-up and damage as the morning progressed.
This tractor thing is definitely a very slick and necessary piece of equipment for clean up.
Once the crew was finished, they left Patty with the stump (roots and up-turned ground) and the two eves that had come down.
We had also gotten word that the day before, Britney's tiny house had been safely delivered to the private property she is renting space on, just outside of Aserri, Costa Rica. Britney sent these photos.
I have
never seen such a tiny, tiny house. She will put her 'dinning area' up on the roof top, using the stairs on the side. The property owner is very nice and helpful (already letting Britney use her laundry) and once Britney moves in, she will have a ½ hour bus ride to work, instead of 2½ hours.
This is a view (from the home owner's yard) of San Jose in the valley below, where Britney currently lives. Britney is permitted to use and enjoy any of the outdoor space.
Britney proceeded to do a lot of cleaning because the
house had construction debris and had been sitting in storage for quite
awhile (thus borrowing the lady's laundry facility to wash all the bed linens).
This is the view Britney has from the door of her tiny house.
And this is the view looking in the door of her house.
I can't imagine living in such a small space, but it is her dream come true.
I headed to Mountain View Ranch mid-morning, stopping by the barn first to check out the tree that had been blown down out there.
Joe was busy hauling cleared brush when I arrived at the ranch. In this photo, he stopped at a well hydrant to get more water. He had gotten too hot.
I started clearing the hillside along the drive to the machine shed. I didn't get very far until I (and the weed wacker) ran out of gas. It was very hot out for doing hard physical work. The left photo shows where I had worked and the right shows where I want to continue clearing.
 |
| Photo from last week's blog |
Working in the shade here at the compost pile, the OCD in
me led me to redo the wall along the side of the shed. In order to add
the half block from the fence side to the shed side, I had to dismantle
some of the wall and put a full size cinder block in it's place. And then to put the half block by the shed
post, I had to move the end of the wall out from the shed about an
inch.
This meant taking almost all of the blocks on the right side down
and starting over after moving them as I angled (keeping a straight
line) the wall past the post. I had also had to move the pile of compost out of the way, but this churning of the pile needs to happen and was a good thing.
This was my Ava fix today. She has outgrown the little green cardigan that Tee Tee Courtney knit for her.
As has been the pattern lately, I lost track of time and used up all of my energy at the ranch, so I only had time to drop in at the barn and check on Amiga and Zorro.
I did meet the new boarders (Mary and Jack) who have Billy and Chipotle, the two new geldings that have been added to the herd with Zorro. They are renting here for six months, trying to decide if they want to move here permanently. Indirectly, we exchanged phone numbers and by bedtime, I had planned to ride with Mary in the morning.
Here is Mary on Chipolte, who is half Friesian and maybe half Saddlebred?
We rode across the street into the winter pasture and I showed Mary around the different fields. Amiga now has a new riding buddy also.
Mary rides similar to I, being fairly adventuresome, trimming briar and little branches, dismounting when needed, and even letting her horse graze occasionally when we stopped to chat. 
We rode the top ridge of the long trail and then once returned to the barn, we headed out the back so I could show Mary the Holly Trail. We only went as far as the creek crossing, but it gave Mary an idea of the trail difficulty.
I hadn't timed our ride, but I am thinking we were out close to two hours. Our horses were hot, sweaty, and tired by the time we finished. A cooling rinse at the wash rack helped them both.
I then drove Mary to our ranch to show her it and Terry's property that will be for sale sometime next spring.
Plans to do yard work once home were abandoned because it was already mid-afternoon and I felt the need to shower and de-tick. After I was cleaned up, reading on the couch naturally followed.
Joe dropped me off at The Grove for Mirror Lake Blast because I had forgotten my car was on empty and I had driven it longer than safe to go. While I was enjoying myself sitting with Patty and Shirley, and with lots others out on the dance floor, my wonderful husband filled up our gas cans and put a ½gal in my car.
Tuesday 6/15 - The morning got away from me and it was imperative that I go get gas first thing when I ventured out. I put 8½gals in my 9 gallon tank so I had been running on fumes before Joe put the half gallon in to get me to the gas station. Food City was next, to restock our food supply. I worked 1:15 - 6:15 and then called it a day. I didn't take any photos all day. There wasn't much to report.
Britney informed us that she had had lunch with the Minister-Counselor of the Cuban embassy in Costa Rica. She had a great conversation with him and he actually told her he wants her to go into the US foreign service. She told him she was more grassroots.
She does love Cuba and salsa dancing.
I finished a second load of laundry (started the previous day), packed a weekend bag, and cleaned part of the house before Dan, Val, Ava, and Tango arrived.
I took this photo of Ava while talking with her as she reclined against my legs. She has become so much more alert. Tango is in the background resting from his trip, while Maggie was trying to get a closer look at, sniff of and lick on Ava.
Once Ava got too fussy for me to console, I had to hand her over to Valencia. Ava really is a Mama's girl.
Joe and Daniel had run to look at a riding mower for sale, and then grabbed a few things at Food City I had forgotten to buy. Once home, we all had lunch.
Ava continued to fuss, until she had a few bowel movements and seemed to feel better.
Aunt Patty dropped by to see her grandniece. She had Ava smiling and making cute faces.
We put Ava in this little seat and she did well, for awhile. She liked looking at herself in the mirror. Maggie couldn't control herself, wanting to see, smell, and lick Ava (video).
I had to leave for work. Since Ava was not allowed at the adult pool, the others went to Druid Family pool to give Ava her first swimming experience. I was glad they sent lots of photos to me.
What a little cutie pie. It was reported that she
enjoyed the water, wasn't afraid, but did get cold so was not in the
pool very long.
At 4:30, the clan came to visit me at Drochester pool and join me for dinner they picked up at the golf clubhouse.
Joe, Patty, Daniel, Valencia and I enjoyed our meals while Ava seemed to enjoy being outdoors in her stroller.
I didn't get to visit long because I had my evening pool chores to do.
They all left as I was finishing up in the restrooms and then I headed home for some more Ava time.
It was the 'witching hour' for Ava, (usually from late afternoon into the early evening) so she was a little fussy. Dan said she takes most comfort in this position, when her belly is unrestricted.
We had a little dessert and some chocolate wine, which helped take the edge off for us, and Ava eventually settled down and fell asleep.
Once Ava was conked out, they headed back to Nashville, leaving Tango with us, but taking my suitcase.
Thursday 6/17 - The UTV was no longer leaking oil, but now it was over heating for some reason. So Joe loaded it up on the trailer from our ranch, and took it back out in the boondocks for further repairs.
I left for work at 9:00 and got back home at 2:00. I had hoped to go to the barn after work and ride Amiga to the ranch, put her in the round pen while I did a little work out there, and then ride her back. That way I would kill two birds with one stone, getting some ranch work done and giving Amiga exercise.
Maggie and Tango were quite glad to see me. They got rather hot during our walk and proceeded to plop down on the cool tile sun room floor when we got home.
I then took care of lots of little loose ends to prepare myself for an early morning flight and for being gone four days.
There was another load of laundry, neatening up around the house, watering new plantings outside, cleaning litter boxes, packing a travel bag, etc.
To get a little exercise, I walked the dogs again after their dinner, taking these two photos while out on the golf course.
Monita inspected my carry on before sun-up. I tended to last minute things, one being finishing and posting this week's Blog. It will be a long day of sitting (nothing like Dan's family though). And even though my feet won't be dancing, my heart will. Excited to see Mom and sister Jean and for them to see Dan, Val, and especially Ava.
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