Most AWESOME canoe trip ever!

The only up side of our camping disaster was the canoe trip.  I guess I never did count how many canoes there were, but I think it was about 7.  We headed out on the trip to canoe for a couple hours on the river that comes out of Hiland Lake.  It was SO much fun, the river is fairly slow in the first leg, and a little winding, then you get to the dam in back of Dam Site Bar in Hell, MI.  You have to ford your canoes around the dam and at the other side in the current is quite a bit faster.  That was FUN! It's a bit challenging to keep your canoe upright right at the beginning but it was a good time. We went through woods, and got a little lost at one point because of the flooding, we out and around some fallen trees and ended up way off the river and had to paddle back through the jungle of crap we just went through, but that was my favorite part!   Below the dam the river wasn't as wide, and it was really cool, straight through the middle of nowhere.  We came to another small hidden lake w/ no houses on it, we saw 9 turtles sunning themselves on a log, and several swans.  One swan was taking off and flew within 3 ft of our heads, that was AMAZING!  We also came to a bridge that we had to ford the canoes around because the water was so high.  After the bridge the river did a bunch of curvy switchbacks which was also really fun.  Best trip EVER! Well except for the part where Brooke and John Ryan were screaming and wiggling because of spiders that ended up in the canoe after our trip through the woods. We ended up back at the campground and everyone was tired but had a good time....LOVED it!  Would definitely go back to Hell to canoe, but I would never camp there.  Beautiful scenery, nice and quiet, just a great trip.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera :(  Hopefully someone else will post some pics.

Camping experience from Hell, in Hell

Or Hell Creek Ranch to be exact, which is located in Hell, MI.

Will not EVER camp there again. Partly it was the weather, but partly the campground, do NOT go there if you value your sleep. We got there yesterday after working all day, coming home and pack everything, and leaving. We had friends going and were going as a whole group. They got there before us and graciously set up our tents. It was misting all night, finally I gave up and went to bed about 9:30 as I was whipped. The people next to us(not our friends, other campers) were bikers...fine. They were fairly quiet, until their friends showed up on LOUD ass motorcycles at 12:30! 12:30! Who the hell lets people in a campground at 12:30...then they proceeded to be exceedingly LOUD and every other word was fuck, or other colorful language, we had our four kids w/ us, two of which are under 10. These people knew this because we'd talked to them several times before I went to bed and helped them out w/ a few things they'd forgotten. So they are drinking, swearing, laughing, being obnoxious...and I'm thinking that SOMEONE will come around and do something about it. No, I yelled at one point, "trying to sleep here!!!" but I doubt they even heard me. About 1:30 they started up the loud ass bikes and left, THEN the people who were being loud and obnoxious down the hill had to go to the bathroom, and on their way by our neighbors stopped them to talk....they THEY started talking and being loud...oh dear God I didn't think it would ever end. FINALLY about 2 am they went to bed.

We were supposed to stay Fri to Sun, we packed up and left Saturday afternoon before more rain that was on the way, and I will NEVER go back there again. I did not take horses nor did I check the trails, but the campsites were such a nasty muddy mess, I can't imagine the trails were any better.  If there are separate areas for horse campers I didn't see them. It SEEMED like there were horse campers intermixed w/ all the regular campers. There were a LOT of horses there too, but they were pretty quiet. I wouldn't take my horse there, he would be terrified of the motorcycles, he's kinda fruity like that.

Apparently the place has changed owners quite recently.  As for the owners...the only reason we went there in the first place was because our friends, who had been there a number of times, were talking it up, lots of great things, and yea after 11:00 it's quiet time and they drive around and monitor it..etc. There was NO ONE driving around monitoring it. If there were they ought to be slapped. These weren't the ONLY people being exceptionally loud, I could hear others around the campground they were just farther away and less of a bother. These 'neighbors' were less than 20 ft away. So IMAGINE trying to sleep and having people starting up their Harley 10 ft from your head?

 I don't know if the guy that kept coming by was the owner or just a helper, but he was not the brightest crayon in the box. He had to come back twice and have our group pay more money because he didn't know if we'd paid enough for the weekend. Why bother talking to the owners, they obviously didn't think it was any trouble to let people ride their extremely loud motorcycles in and out of the campground between 12:30 and 1:30 am. 

I'll stick to state or county campgrounds were there are rules about noise and actual people coming around at night to check on things. On the edge of murder...

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday, I'm 37.  So far so good, except I got up too early and now I'm hitting my afternoon slump and I REALLY want a nap, however I'm at work, so I could see that being frowned upon.  Went to Secretary of state yesterday to renew my license and tabs for my car.   Went yesterday morning, got there at 10:38 I was number 39, they were on 19.  Waited til 11:00 then I had to leave because I had some other errands to do before having to be to work at 12:00.  However I did get my tabs renewed at the Kiosk by the door, handy little thing, you can renew 24/7, bout time they figured we could handle that part ourselves.  I figured I'd just stop back after work, and hope they'd be less busy.  HUH! Fat chance!  Stopped by after work, walked in, turned around and walked right back out, it looked like there were 70 people in the waiting area!  Well I had to pick my kids up and there's another SOS office fairly close to there, so I figured I'd try that one, what the heck.  So I get to that one and it looks like there are at least 200 people there waiting!(ok, that might be an over exaggeration..there MAY have been just a few less than 200)  WTH! Is everyone's birthday on May 25/26th?  So I gave up and went home.  Decided I'd go this morning.  This morning I get the kids off to school and head straight to the SOS office.  I'm the first one there.  It's raining and 25 minutes yet til they open...sit in my car and wait.  Finally get out and go up to the door, find that the vestibule is open so I can wait out of the rain at least.  I'm first in line...by the time they unlocked the door there were 30 people behind me.  CRAZY!  At least the cashier was in a good mood.

Go to the barn, clean stalls, uneventful...well...mostly.  Somehow my dumb horse managed to scrape his face on something and has a big gouge out of his skin right on his nasal bones.  Only he can find a way to get hurt in a padded room.  I have NO idea how he did it, I can't find anything in his whole stall sticking out for him to scrape on.  Oh well?  He'll live...long way from his heart.

Go to Walmart, looking for a tie out cable for the dog for camping.  They don't have any, bought cheesecake to bring to work and share w/ my people.

Get to work, I have a card on my desk :D  and a package of Andes mint chocolates! Love these people!

Eat lunch, change into my work clothes and work.. plenty of day left.
Band concert...they call it the spring concert, but I figure it's more like my own personal birthday concert ;D  because...yeah.. I AM that awesome! :D

Editing to add the rest of my day...Now understand I've been married for 9 years, and every year I make it CLEAR what kind of cake I want for my birthday.  I want white CAKE w/ chocolate frosting.  It's all I ask...I don't even care if I get anything for my birthday but I love cake and I want CAKE!  So I get home from work before my husband does, and the kids are bugging me..."where's the cake?"  I don't know cause that's your dad's job on my birthday.  He finally walks in and I'm expecting him to be carrying my CAKE...no...he has a small brown box.  A bakers box.  So  I ask, "what's in the box?"   He says, "cupcakes".   He got six gourmet (gag) cupcakes instead of cake, 1 for each of us.  I'm instantly heartbroken, all I wanted was cake...but what do ya do?  I tried to be gracious and thankful, but he could tell I was disappointed.  Men are so dumb sometimes.

Rules are rules...they have a purpose

This is really about my job but I'll keep it vague so as not to light up anyone in particular.  OK my job has certain rules/forms that must be filled out in order to attain certain items.  It has a reason.  So anyway on a DAILY basis I have people come in and ask to purchase said items and they haven't filled out the paperwork.  Half the time they don't even know what the paperwork is/never heard of it, had no idea...etc.  Excuses range from, "I'm just picking them up for so and so", " I had it filled out at home but forgot it", "No one said anything about paperwork!", and on and on.  OK, so I politely and patiently (and sometimes let me tell you it's SO not what I want to be doing but it's my job) walk them through filling out the paperwork and get it done.   Then there are those days like today when a lady came to pick up one of said items for her husband...she was in a pissy mood when she walked in...complaining about.."You have THE craziest hours on the planet! I had to leave work early"  actually we don't, they are the same every day but Friday when they are actually longer.  I tell her she needs to fill out the paper work, her attitude goes south..."well I just to pick it up for my husband.."  OK so I'll show you how to fill it out, do you know the child's name?  "No, I don't know his name, my husband wasn't even sure that he earned it BUT he needs it by TONIGHT!"  Here's where I stop and think to myself then WHY is your husband willing to give it to the kid?  Anyway...so I politely tell her, that I'm sorry I really can't sell it to you w/o the form being filled out.  She storms out saying "NEVERMIND! I'll just give him my sons...I'm SO glad my son is quitting next year!"  Bummer...poor kid, he'll miss out on some really cool stuff.  On the edge of customer abuse...

Got Brakes?

Having good brakes is a good thing.   I told my husband about a month ago that my brakes on my mini van were getting bad, they were squealing.  His reply, "didn't we just change them last spring?"  Well yes, we did, but guess what, they actually do wear out....kinda what they do.  So last week they seemed to just be a WHOLE lot worse, it was getting pretty close to the floor, and feeling like there were no brakes at all.  Finally Friday night upon arriving at our friend's house the brake light came on.  I told him again that the brakes needed to be fixed.   I guess he didn't believe me, but he ended up needing to drive it on Sat. for something and he came back and said, "uh..yeah...you need new brakes."  Mmm hmmm...like I said.  Anyway, so last night he and a good friend of ours Mr. Murphy, fixed them.  The difference is amazing! LOL  I can actually stop the vehicle now, imagine that?!  I guess it was just in time to, because someone pulled right out in front of me today of course.  Praise God that it wasn't yesterday, cause I wouldn't have been able to stop in time.

NOW, it's a good thing that the seat belts are in good working order, because I'm used to having to stomp on the brakes, not so much anymore.  It's a little bit like trying to throw everyone out the window when I slow down or stop.  On the edge of my seat...

Yard work 101

UGH!  busted my rearend today, mowing, mowing, mowing...mowed the front and side yards, they were SO long.  It's been raining for what seems like 3 months straight so we haven't been able to mow.  The back yard was so long, I set the mower deck as high as it would go, mowed it once, put it back down, and had my son mow it again in the opposite direction.  Looks like a hay field, but it's done.  Bagged up some leaves, tore out some old rotted wood landscaping timbers.  Hubby weed whacked...ahhhhh....on the edge of a shower and bed.

What is there to sing about at 4am?

Thursday morning I was awakened by birds.   Not the lovely sunny morning around 8/9 am mind you...no, it was 4 am and not even light yet.  What the hell is there to sing about that early in the morning?  You don't even know if your gonna get to see daylight yet.  Stupid birds.  My husband opened the window that night because it was supposed to be above 30 degrees and if  you live in MI you know that that is open window weather, better enjoy it while you can.  So here I was sleeping peacefully in my warm bed, and the damn birds start singing.  UGH!  WHY do I have to be such a light sleeper...it's SO not fair!  Long story short...I was awake for the day, because I'm also terrible at getting back to sleep once awakened.  On the edge of birdocide...

School, what's the point?

One of my sons has a not so good grade in English.  SO, I kept telling him, "You CANNOT fail a core class, you won't pass to the next grade and you'll have to do summer school".  He kept telling me, "no, it doesn't matter, they told me that Mom."  So yesterday I called and left a message for the school counselor.  She called me back this morning.  I told her what I thought, and what he had said about it, and I asked her if she could just please sit him down and let him know that he's wrong, that he can't fail English and still pass.  She paused for just a second, and then she said, "He's right.  Since he's not failing nor has he failed 6 classes, they will do nothing.  He will not have to take summer school, in fact it's not even available this summer due to cuts in funding.  He will be passed on to the next grade w/ no repercussions."   WHAT?!  I was shocked, when I finally picked my jaw up off the floor, I didn't know what to say.  I had suspected that was the case all along, but to have the COUNSELOR come right out and tell me that, I just couldn't believe it.  She also told me that all the kids know it, they are completely aware and if they don't want to do the work, there's really not a whole lot that the teachers can do about it.  Can someone then please tell me, WHAT THE HELL IS THE POINT OF GOING TO SCHOOL???!  If the kids are aware that they can do absolutely nothing and still get prodded on to the next grade then how do they get any learning done?   I just don't know what to say, my frustration level just went up with that call and I don't know that there's a way to fix it.    I feel really bad for all the teachers out there, if this is what they have to deal w/ and their hands are tied, I don't know how they deal w/ it on a day to day basis.  On the edge of pulling all my hair out...

Weeds?

Yes, I suppose they are weeds, but how can you help but to like them?  I actually enjoy them and never try to kill them out of my yard.  To me Dandelions are like little puffs of sunshine, they make me smile.  The violets are just an added bonus, together they make a beautiful bouquet.   I always love it when the kids bring me a big 'ol handful of Dandelions and tell me they picked me flowers.

Spring sky: my version :D

My friend Jamie, posted a pic of the spring sky it was blue and pretty w/ white fluffy clouds, so it inspired me to go outside and take pics of my kind of spring sky.   To me it's just not spring til ya see a good thunderstorm, the kind that ROCK the house, knock out your power and make ya wonder if you're going to be in one piece on the other side of it.  It also scares the bejeesus out of my husband, which in turn makes me laugh, so even better.  Here's my version of "spring sky"