well...it hasn't been quite a month since the last post...i've about decided i'm not gonna be able to swing the whole regular bloggin bit.
had a couple worthy game warden stories to share...
josh has officially experienced his first game warden-related injury, though it wasn't too bad. he and a few other wardens worked from dawn to dusk earlier this week tryin to catch enough fish for a big fish fry. (so...the game warden-related is a bit of a stretch...since he wasn't actually on duty). they jug-lined for over 130 catfish! if you don't know what jug-linin' is...well...it's a little more involved than a rod and reel. anyway, while josh was pullin one of the lines up, the fishin line sliced thru his finger. he was in a boat, on the middle of a lake, joined only by other very masculine men...so he figured wrappin a dirty rag around it secured w/a little duct tape would be sufficient.
side note: there's this thing that happens when you become a nurse...a thing that nurses joke about...and if you're close to one, you'll know what i'm talkin about.... one would think nurses would at all times display the utmost of sympathy and concern. well...that's not always how it happens. actually, most nurses tend to be pretty matter-of-fact and have tanks less than 1/4 full of pity.... that's not to say we don't get concerned about legitimate things, especially w/kiddos...but for full-grown adults? it takes a lot to invoke our sympathies.
so josh finally gets home around 8 or 8:30...we eat...we chit chat about our days...and then i ask him what's on his finger. he proceeds to tell me the story. probably a more naturally sympathetic wife would have insisted on a trip to the er and would have driven him herself. but that didn't happen here. we took off the nastiness referred to as the bandage and cleaned it as best we could. had he been home when this happened, a trip to the dr would have probably been justified...and stitches would probably have been in order. but at 9 at nite, the cut definitely did not warrant a trip to the er.....so we cleaned it and wrapped it up and repeated this a few times the first 24 hrs...then i found some steri-strips and plastered them on there. i think he'll be fine :)
also this week (it's been an eventful one!), josh went over to a neighboring county to help another warden w/an elementary school program. they had the 'operation game thief' trailer w/them, which houses a variety of antlers and stuffed animals and skins from confiscated game that were hunted illegally. the kids were all 4th graders, and josh came back w/some of the funniest stories!!
josh: can anyone tell me what kinds of birds these are?
kids: chickens! turkeys! peacocks! eagles!.....quail!
josh: that's right. they're quail. now can anyone tell me what kind of quail?
kids: boy quail!
josh: (smilin...not quite expectin a gender-specific answer) that's right, too. now can you tell me what kind of boy quail they are?
kids:.... ..... ..... (prolonged silence as they all squinted their little eyes and cocked their heads to the side).... ..... ........ ............ (then finally....) mohawk quail?!
josh: laughin
note: quail have fuzzy feathers on top of their heads that, indeed, look like mohawks :)
josh: can anyone tell me what kid of bird this is?
kids: turkey!
josh: that's right! can you tell me if it's a boy turkey or a girl turkey?
kid: that's a boy turkey!
josh: that's right. how do you know it's a boy turkey?
kid: 'cuz he's got chest hair (pointin to the turkey's beard)
josh: laughin....again
there were several stations at this program, and the game warden station was just one of them. inside this trailer were all the animals....and beneath or beside each animal/skin was a plaque explaining the story behind the animal. thus far, not one kid had seemed to pick up on this readily available information.
there were several stations at this program, and the game warden station was just one of them. also, at each station, the teachers would give the kids monopoly money for questions they answered correctly. one group came thru, and there was this little girl w/pig-tails, holdin a whole wad of monopoly cash.... so josh asked question after question, and each time, this little girl knew the right answer. over and over again....and her stack of money kept growin..... after it was all said and done, she came up to josh and confessed:
"you really shouldn't have given me all this money. all those questions you asked? i just read the information on the wall to get the right answer."
i think she deserved all that money for bein the only one smart enough to read the plaques!
they had a lot of fun....just laughed and laughed tellin me the stories :)
he's at a meeting the next couple days, so i'm gonna clean house and try to crank out some homework.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
tid-bits
this is my attempt to blog more often....
pippin caught us a lizard the other day. great cat. he caught it in the house. better great cat. also, yuck!
josh is workin hard....and lovin it. game wardenin' is a pretty non-scheduled job. just in these first few months, he seems to be either super busy or not busy at all. it's so unlike any other job i've experienced....the first 2ish weeks of this month, he was hardly home for more than a nap....things have slowed down....but this comin weekend is openin bow season for deer....so he'll work like crazy, and i'll hardly see him for probably 3-4 days.
i function better when i'm on a set schedule. predictability, to-do lists, productivity. needless to say, bein a game warden is not that :) but it's very josh, and that's the best part.
i'm still pluggin away at school. lots of readin, lots of research, lots of writin....and i'm learnin so much. learnin a lot of things i didn't even know needed to be learned!
hmmm....what else? attemptin to join the ranks of those who use coupons to save some serious money on groceries....but that's been a slow and rather feeble effort thus far. .... also tryin to learn how to compost....again, slow and feeble....and also kinda buggy. i should probably stop there, as this list is quickly regressing....
thank you for readin....for those of you who faithfully comment, thank you...for your attention and your prayers....for those of you who don't comment, thank you for stickin w/us....
pippin caught us a lizard the other day. great cat. he caught it in the house. better great cat. also, yuck!
josh is workin hard....and lovin it. game wardenin' is a pretty non-scheduled job. just in these first few months, he seems to be either super busy or not busy at all. it's so unlike any other job i've experienced....the first 2ish weeks of this month, he was hardly home for more than a nap....things have slowed down....but this comin weekend is openin bow season for deer....so he'll work like crazy, and i'll hardly see him for probably 3-4 days.
i function better when i'm on a set schedule. predictability, to-do lists, productivity. needless to say, bein a game warden is not that :) but it's very josh, and that's the best part.
i'm still pluggin away at school. lots of readin, lots of research, lots of writin....and i'm learnin so much. learnin a lot of things i didn't even know needed to be learned!
hmmm....what else? attemptin to join the ranks of those who use coupons to save some serious money on groceries....but that's been a slow and rather feeble effort thus far. .... also tryin to learn how to compost....again, slow and feeble....and also kinda buggy. i should probably stop there, as this list is quickly regressing....
thank you for readin....for those of you who faithfully comment, thank you...for your attention and your prayers....for those of you who don't comment, thank you for stickin w/us....
Sunday, September 13, 2009
reviews and reminders
a number of potentially blog-worthy happenings have occurred lately....josh's first openin huntin season...the unexpected challenges of grad school...mama, grandma, and my precious niece comin down to visit for a couple days...maybe even a couple projects to report on, such as findin new josh-acceptable-recipes or composting.... and maybe such topics will surface here sometime.
but today, we've found ourselves in the seemingly inescapable confusing sadness of longing for children....
shortly after josh graduated from the academy, we decided to try some hormone therapy suggested by the infertility specialist in lubbock. the bottom line: both of our bodies are okay but neither is workin well enough to make this happen on our own. so...josh's folks were more than generous in lettin us bunk w/them for several days as we went back and forth to the dr for ultrasounds and new orders. the regimen basically consisted of idealizing my insides in order to give us the best possible chance of conception: meds to ensure my hormones would work a little more quickly, meds to ensure my eggs responded in a healthy manner, meds to ensure i would ovulate in a timely fashion....pills, shots, ultrasounds...a few times over.
we waited. we tried not to let our hopes soar thru the clouds...and yet, the further along we went, the more encouraging the nurse became...there was a decreasing amt of evidence to suggest the treatment wouldn't work. we laughed and joked and let ourselves dream again...unlike we'd had the stomach for in several months.
and then the day came for the actual pregnancy test.....
somehow, it didn't work. no one knows why, of course. there's only so much monitoring that can be done.... they monitored and controlled as much as could be monitored and controlled....
we were so disappointed. not devastated. devastation implies surprise....an element of the unexpected. if for no other reason than the longevity of this journey, we couldn't simply ignore the idea of the treatment not workin...so we weren't devastated. but disappointed for sure. we cried. i sat in josh's lap a lot. we kept doin what we knew to do - wake up, do whatever it is we had planned for the day, eat a couple meals, have normal conversation w/family, go to sleep. there wasn't a thing to say.... to each other, to ourselves, to family and friends. not a thing.
for just a couple weeks (before the pregnancy test), we had a bit of reprieve. a break from the weight and the ache and frustration....from the awkwardness of conversation....from the inevitable shruggin of shoulders toward the end of such conversations....for just a little while, we breathed the fresh air of new hope....dared to stand on our wobbly legs....w/new earth beneath our feet....delight. it was a delightful time.
and then that soft earth crumbled beneath us....the air grew heavy once again...and we found ourselves in the familiar streams of longing unfulfilled.
and yet, the world doesn't stop. our friends keep havin babies....others findin out they're pregnant for the first time...or the third.... it seems awful when the first reaction to such news is a twisting of our hearts...a wrestlin match b/w rejoicing w/them, bein glad for them and runnin head long into confusion, all kinds of self-righteousness, even envy....
again, we find ourselves in a place of wordlessness....afterall, what's left to say?
we hesitate to write so honestly here....readin stuff on the computer can be so one-dimensional...neither the writer nor the reader's time allows for all the disclaimers and further explanations to ensure miscommunication doesn't occur...and we don't write to gain pity....
but we write. i think maybe we need to write.....b/c we're not as near to some of you as we would like to be...to those of you who want to know what's really goin on...to those of you who have remained loving and faithful.
so that’s where we are...on a practical note, i think we'll probably try the treatment again...but as my strong and tender hearted husband suggested, we need to give our hearts a chance to recover before strappin in again....
but today, we've found ourselves in the seemingly inescapable confusing sadness of longing for children....
shortly after josh graduated from the academy, we decided to try some hormone therapy suggested by the infertility specialist in lubbock. the bottom line: both of our bodies are okay but neither is workin well enough to make this happen on our own. so...josh's folks were more than generous in lettin us bunk w/them for several days as we went back and forth to the dr for ultrasounds and new orders. the regimen basically consisted of idealizing my insides in order to give us the best possible chance of conception: meds to ensure my hormones would work a little more quickly, meds to ensure my eggs responded in a healthy manner, meds to ensure i would ovulate in a timely fashion....pills, shots, ultrasounds...a few times over.
we waited. we tried not to let our hopes soar thru the clouds...and yet, the further along we went, the more encouraging the nurse became...there was a decreasing amt of evidence to suggest the treatment wouldn't work. we laughed and joked and let ourselves dream again...unlike we'd had the stomach for in several months.
and then the day came for the actual pregnancy test.....
somehow, it didn't work. no one knows why, of course. there's only so much monitoring that can be done.... they monitored and controlled as much as could be monitored and controlled....
we were so disappointed. not devastated. devastation implies surprise....an element of the unexpected. if for no other reason than the longevity of this journey, we couldn't simply ignore the idea of the treatment not workin...so we weren't devastated. but disappointed for sure. we cried. i sat in josh's lap a lot. we kept doin what we knew to do - wake up, do whatever it is we had planned for the day, eat a couple meals, have normal conversation w/family, go to sleep. there wasn't a thing to say.... to each other, to ourselves, to family and friends. not a thing.
for just a couple weeks (before the pregnancy test), we had a bit of reprieve. a break from the weight and the ache and frustration....from the awkwardness of conversation....from the inevitable shruggin of shoulders toward the end of such conversations....for just a little while, we breathed the fresh air of new hope....dared to stand on our wobbly legs....w/new earth beneath our feet....delight. it was a delightful time.
and then that soft earth crumbled beneath us....the air grew heavy once again...and we found ourselves in the familiar streams of longing unfulfilled.
and yet, the world doesn't stop. our friends keep havin babies....others findin out they're pregnant for the first time...or the third.... it seems awful when the first reaction to such news is a twisting of our hearts...a wrestlin match b/w rejoicing w/them, bein glad for them and runnin head long into confusion, all kinds of self-righteousness, even envy....
again, we find ourselves in a place of wordlessness....afterall, what's left to say?
we hesitate to write so honestly here....readin stuff on the computer can be so one-dimensional...neither the writer nor the reader's time allows for all the disclaimers and further explanations to ensure miscommunication doesn't occur...and we don't write to gain pity....
but we write. i think maybe we need to write.....b/c we're not as near to some of you as we would like to be...to those of you who want to know what's really goin on...to those of you who have remained loving and faithful.
so that’s where we are...on a practical note, i think we'll probably try the treatment again...but as my strong and tender hearted husband suggested, we need to give our hearts a chance to recover before strappin in again....
Sunday, August 23, 2009
summer begins to wind down
though neither of us is in school, we somehow managed to pull off a pretty nice summer break. josh had shoulder surgery the first week in july and continues to recover pretty well. we have an appt w/the dr this week, and we're hopin he'll release josh to go back to work! in light of his surgery, month-long inability to drive, and follow-up appointments, i delayed startin a new job...i'm plannin on turnin in an application at the hospital here in seymour this week... but all in all, we've had several weeks here of no work for either of us. we've rested and played and laughed and had a chance to reconnect after seven months apart. we're grateful...
the past couple months, we've spent an unusual amt of time on the road....almost entirely b/w seymour and lubbock or seymour and amarillo....though it's been tiring, we've been able to spend quite a bit of time w/our families, which has been good. lots of laughs, a couple projects, and plenty of piddlin around.... we also took a quick vacation to....drum roll, please...las vegas. yep...we ventured west for a couple days to be overwhelmed w/the sheer amt of over-stimulation....people, noise, lights...as josh said, everything's for sale in vegas. we had fun, though....saw some neat things and laughed a whole lot.
i also just found out i've been accepted into grad school at midwestern state university over in wichita falls. i'll be studyin to become a nurse practitioner. it was really late notice, so i'm scramblin to get things together in order to start in a couple days.... after adjustin a bit to the news, i told josh, w/some eagerness in my voice, "i love school!"
we're gettin to know seymour...little by little. as i recently wrote to some friends - the weather's hot, the pace is slow, and the people are wonderful. it's been dreadfully hot and dry here this summer, as we take our place among the many in texas suffering from drought. the pace is refreshingly slow....livin in a small town, you lose a lot of convenience...but i'm pretty sure convenience isn't all it's cracked up to be. and the people really are wonderful. they've been warm and sincere and friendly....folks in small towns innately take care of each other, and josh and i have been fortunate to be on the receiving end of that.
we've decided to go the methodist church here in town...the first chance we had to go was just a couple weeks after josh's surgery, so we were movin a little more slowly than normal. well, we ended up bein pretty late...really late, actually....we tried to sneak in and sit toward the back w/o drawin much attention to ourselves. then suddenly, right in the middle of the service, our sweet landlord stands up in the choir loft and announces, "i have a joy! i think i just saw josh and lindsey walk in. they're our new game wardens!" all of our sneaky efforts blasted out of the water..... the next week, we still couldn't manage to get to church on time....but we were only about 5 minutes late, so we thought we were safe....nope...this time, our landlord was the lay leader...so again, though not as far into the service, he announces (and in doin so, interrupts himself) our arrival. needless to say, we have not been late since then.... this mornin, when he stood up in the choir loft and began, "i have a joy," we both stared straight ahead thinkin, "but we were here on time!" and then breathed a sigh of relief when the folks he mentioned were not us....
so there you have it....w/the best of intentions, i'm hopin we can blog more regularly...now that we're livin together again and have internet access...now that we're not livin on the road or w/our parents....now that we're finally settlin into life in seymour....
the past couple months, we've spent an unusual amt of time on the road....almost entirely b/w seymour and lubbock or seymour and amarillo....though it's been tiring, we've been able to spend quite a bit of time w/our families, which has been good. lots of laughs, a couple projects, and plenty of piddlin around.... we also took a quick vacation to....drum roll, please...las vegas. yep...we ventured west for a couple days to be overwhelmed w/the sheer amt of over-stimulation....people, noise, lights...as josh said, everything's for sale in vegas. we had fun, though....saw some neat things and laughed a whole lot.
i also just found out i've been accepted into grad school at midwestern state university over in wichita falls. i'll be studyin to become a nurse practitioner. it was really late notice, so i'm scramblin to get things together in order to start in a couple days.... after adjustin a bit to the news, i told josh, w/some eagerness in my voice, "i love school!"
we're gettin to know seymour...little by little. as i recently wrote to some friends - the weather's hot, the pace is slow, and the people are wonderful. it's been dreadfully hot and dry here this summer, as we take our place among the many in texas suffering from drought. the pace is refreshingly slow....livin in a small town, you lose a lot of convenience...but i'm pretty sure convenience isn't all it's cracked up to be. and the people really are wonderful. they've been warm and sincere and friendly....folks in small towns innately take care of each other, and josh and i have been fortunate to be on the receiving end of that.
we've decided to go the methodist church here in town...the first chance we had to go was just a couple weeks after josh's surgery, so we were movin a little more slowly than normal. well, we ended up bein pretty late...really late, actually....we tried to sneak in and sit toward the back w/o drawin much attention to ourselves. then suddenly, right in the middle of the service, our sweet landlord stands up in the choir loft and announces, "i have a joy! i think i just saw josh and lindsey walk in. they're our new game wardens!" all of our sneaky efforts blasted out of the water..... the next week, we still couldn't manage to get to church on time....but we were only about 5 minutes late, so we thought we were safe....nope...this time, our landlord was the lay leader...so again, though not as far into the service, he announces (and in doin so, interrupts himself) our arrival. needless to say, we have not been late since then.... this mornin, when he stood up in the choir loft and began, "i have a joy," we both stared straight ahead thinkin, "but we were here on time!" and then breathed a sigh of relief when the folks he mentioned were not us....
so there you have it....w/the best of intentions, i'm hopin we can blog more regularly...now that we're livin together again and have internet access...now that we're not livin on the road or w/our parents....now that we're finally settlin into life in seymour....
Sunday, July 5, 2009
a lot has happened
the last few weeks have been....busy, eventful, and filled w/transition. up until about a week ago, i had a legitimate excuse for not bloggin for a while, as we didn't have internet set up here at the house for a couple weeks. since then, though, i've just been a little short on words....
not b/c we haven't had anything happenin since our last post. actually, several significant things have happened - josh graduated! i finished up at the va. we had a crazy week of travellin around the state. we've moved to seymour. we have the most wonderful landlords for our little while farm house that sits in the middle of a wheat field. in a matter of just a few days down here, we had numerous stories to tell about livin in an old house and the first official days of josh bein a game warden....
it's just that josh has been really busy, and i've been really tired....
he's beamin all the time....excited to be a game warden and enthralled w/the adventure :)
i had three things i wanted to do once we moved:
1. sleep
2. read
3. unpack a little along the way
i've been fortunate enough to have had a couple weeks of just those three things. i'm feelin more rested than i have in months. i've read or finished several books. and all the functional things in the house are set up and operational...w/only pictures and decorations remaining.
once we have some time, we'll post some pictures....from graduation and the surrounding festivities, of our house, and of our new life here. hopefully that will happen in the next day or two. and now that we have internet and seem to be settlin into life in the hottest part of texas, we'll get back on the bloggin wagon.
not b/c we haven't had anything happenin since our last post. actually, several significant things have happened - josh graduated! i finished up at the va. we had a crazy week of travellin around the state. we've moved to seymour. we have the most wonderful landlords for our little while farm house that sits in the middle of a wheat field. in a matter of just a few days down here, we had numerous stories to tell about livin in an old house and the first official days of josh bein a game warden....
it's just that josh has been really busy, and i've been really tired....
he's beamin all the time....excited to be a game warden and enthralled w/the adventure :)
i had three things i wanted to do once we moved:
1. sleep
2. read
3. unpack a little along the way
i've been fortunate enough to have had a couple weeks of just those three things. i'm feelin more rested than i have in months. i've read or finished several books. and all the functional things in the house are set up and operational...w/only pictures and decorations remaining.
once we have some time, we'll post some pictures....from graduation and the surrounding festivities, of our house, and of our new life here. hopefully that will happen in the next day or two. and now that we have internet and seem to be settlin into life in the hottest part of texas, we'll get back on the bloggin wagon.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
weekend in seymore
josh and i will both be in seymore this weekend...though not together really.
josh is headed north tomorrow. he'll spend the next 5 days w/his new captain and future-fellow wardens. they'll work the lake there (lake kemp)...and josh will begin meetin a whole bunch of folks he'll be workin alongside. just talked to him this evenin, and i could hear some relief in his voice at havin a few days away from the academy on the horizon.
the last couple days, i've been tryin to get a hold of some realtors there in seymore so that i could look at a few houses on saturday. this is proven to be a surprisingly....slow endeavor. nonetheless, the plan at the moment is for mama and i to drive down friday nite and spend saturday lookin at houses. we have no expectations of actually findin a place to live so soon....just hopin to get a general idea of the housing market and what some of our options might be come june.
in the meantime, we're countin down the days to graduation....
as a baby-side-note....i had the hsg test done last friday...it was less than comfortable, but the good news is that it was good news! for the first time in over 3 years, a test was run w/definitively positive results. such a relief.... playin phone tag w/the infertility specialist at the moment, as any next step is yet to be determined.
i'll try to post sometime early next week w/a seymore update....
p.s. congratulations to josh's sister and brother-in-law! mendi just officially finished her first year of law school-wife-motherhood....and bryan just graduated w/his doctorate. way to go, yall!
josh is headed north tomorrow. he'll spend the next 5 days w/his new captain and future-fellow wardens. they'll work the lake there (lake kemp)...and josh will begin meetin a whole bunch of folks he'll be workin alongside. just talked to him this evenin, and i could hear some relief in his voice at havin a few days away from the academy on the horizon.
the last couple days, i've been tryin to get a hold of some realtors there in seymore so that i could look at a few houses on saturday. this is proven to be a surprisingly....slow endeavor. nonetheless, the plan at the moment is for mama and i to drive down friday nite and spend saturday lookin at houses. we have no expectations of actually findin a place to live so soon....just hopin to get a general idea of the housing market and what some of our options might be come june.
in the meantime, we're countin down the days to graduation....
as a baby-side-note....i had the hsg test done last friday...it was less than comfortable, but the good news is that it was good news! for the first time in over 3 years, a test was run w/definitively positive results. such a relief.... playin phone tag w/the infertility specialist at the moment, as any next step is yet to be determined.
i'll try to post sometime early next week w/a seymore update....
p.s. congratulations to josh's sister and brother-in-law! mendi just officially finished her first year of law school-wife-motherhood....and bryan just graduated w/his doctorate. way to go, yall!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
big news!
after a rather significant week and a trip to abilene and back this weekend, i'm zapped....so i don't have much descriptive capacity this evenin. nonetheless, we have some news....
josh passed the tclos exam! woo-hoo!!!
he was also given his first duty assignment -- baylor county. it's just sw of wichita falls....the town we'll live in is seymore....and it just so happens this was our number one choice on the 'wish list.' i think we're pretty fortunate...
more to say, but i'm out of words tonite.
josh passed the tclos exam! woo-hoo!!!
he was also given his first duty assignment -- baylor county. it's just sw of wichita falls....the town we'll live in is seymore....and it just so happens this was our number one choice on the 'wish list.' i think we're pretty fortunate...
more to say, but i'm out of words tonite.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)