Seasons

Labor Day weekend.  And just like that summer is over.  One season ends and another begins.  Well not quite yet, but almost.  I can hardly wait until there are pumpkins in the stores!

It's been so hot and muggy here the last few days.  Yuck.  I'm not a fan.  Then again, who is?  It's supposed to cool down this week but get hot again next weekend.  I knew our run of good weather couldn't last forever.  September and October can be some of our hottest months. Thank goodness of air conditioning.  That and the beach is a mere fifteen minutes away. :)

It's slightly cooler at the stables and the sky last night was spectacular.  

I've been spending quite a bit of time there and have been riding a lot.  I'm enjoying it so much. I even braved riding bare back and I did great!  Well, I did strain my back a little bit the last time I rode without the saddle, but I didn't fall off, and my back is feeling much better now. Getting old sucks.  

I posted this picture last night with the caption "stress reliever".  I got some funny comments on it.  I know not everyone will get it but cleaning out stalls is relaxing to me.  It's good physical work.  Also, It's usually during feeding time when the horses are quietly munching on their hay and it's very peaceful.  

Speaking of getting old, my eyesight has deteriorated so much in the last year and a half. It's crazy. I went to the eye doctor last year and he said I need progressive bifocals.  I asked him what that meant and he said "Well, It means you can't see close up.  And you can't see far away either!"  Of course I never went and got glasses because they are expensive and there always seems to be ten other things that need money that are more urgent.  Right now it's car issues. Blech.  But I was at the grocery store yesterday and I was looking for pain relievers(see above about my back)  and I had to ask someone to read the sign at the end of the aisle.  Ugh!  I used to have 20/20 eyesight! Nothing makes you feel old like asking a teenager at the grocery store to read a sign for you. I'm simply going to have to cough up the money and get me some glasses. Driving is difficult because I can't read the street signs.  I've pretty much been driving by landmarks.  Like to get to work, I turn right at the clock tower, then left at the Catholic Church, then right at the Taco Bell.  Scary, right?? I guess I'm starting a new season of my life as the seasons change this year. That of an old person.    Blah.  

This was the longest week at my job.  My boss is gone and we are super busy.  Tuesday was an especially crazy day. I've been trying to do both my job and my boss's and I was running around trying to get everything done.  There was a box next to my boss's desk and it had been in my way all week so I decided to move it. As I was moving it the bottom fell out and this happened:

Oh.  Em.  Gee.   Those are pathology slides.  Like a thousand of them and they had been organized by date.   I started crying right there in the front office.  Thankfully I have amazing co-workers and they stepped right up(carefully...lol) and organized and put them all away. It took them three hours to do so.  Why didn't I help you ask?  I still had phones to answer and patients to tend to, and honestly at that point we decided maybe I had better just remove myself from the situation.  Good call.  ;)

File that one under things that would only happen to me.  

A friend told us about this event in Dana Point called The Parade of Elephants and it looked like fun so last weekend Joe and I went. It was very cool. Basically a bunch of different famous people paint and decorate elephants for charity.  Some of them were really beautiful.  I took a picture of every single one.  I tried to pare it down here but it was hard because they were all so wonderful. 

This one is in honor of the elephant that was fitted with a prosthetic leg after losing it's leg in an accident.  

I think this one might be my favorite. 

Klhoe Khardasian painted this one

This one was fun

Interesting.  I didn't catch who painted most of these.  I should have paid more attention to that.  

This is my second favorite

Can you guess who painted this one?

I guess I couldn't pare them down after all.   ;)

This week was the one year anniversary of losing Gizmo.  I still miss her every day.  I cried buckets of tears a few nights ago because I miss her so.  Is that weird?  To still miss my dog so much after a year? Sometimes I think I hold onto emotional stuff for too long.  I wonder if I'm "normal" in that sense.  I've noticed other people tend to be able to move forward more quickly with matters like that than I do. 

I think way too much.

 Anyway, I really miss my Gizmo.  I think if I was able to get another dog it would ease some of the pain. But I can't right now and I miss her and it sucks.  :(

In a few weeks we will start dragon boat practices again, and begin gearing up for another race at the end of October.  I'm so stoked.   We have never been to these races and I'm eager to see what they are like.  I just realized today though that we might have to get a hotel room because the races are an hour and fifteen minutes away and we have to que up for our first race at eight a.m.  I'm not a fan of getting up at the crack of dawn but I suppose we could.  It's only a one day race, unlike the long beach festival.  We'll see.  

I'm pretty psyched that Fall is officially on it's way.