i'll be gardening?

here are a few pics of my progress thus far. since i decided to take over a plot of sod about 14x16 square feet in my parent's backyard, i've had to dig out the perimeter so mr. fox would know where to rototill. then i had to rake out the sod and now i'll have to do a little more digging & raking to get out those fern plants that stubbornly remain. but as for the fuzzies, (rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, etc.) if i need to i'll sit outside with a pellet gun to get rid of the varmints that will want to eat my veggies.

today i plan to erect my fence to mainly keep out the rabbits. (my dad's helping me.) but any fuzzies who i catch eating MY veggies will be subject to the hose, water gun, and if i get desperate, a pellet gun. unfortunately i won't be able to stand guard much. so hopefully my fence works really well.

btw, the house next to ours that has my garden flush up against their porch wall-which is actually on our property-has been abandoned for at least ten years. we have no idea what the heck is up with that but all i have to say about it is "no neighbors are better than rotten neighbors!" the house isn't the prettiest house and in fact the porch's reddish roof-awning type thing is quite ugly.

My Fix

i got my sailing fix last week. hopefully it will last long enough until i get to go out again! because SADLY, who knows when that will be. i'm back in valpo now. but although i'm back in valpotown, i don't have to report back to the barracks until wednesday. basically, i'm still in vacation mode but am slowly readying myself for another long haul. but i'll be ready.

freshest air ever

with an exception to the U.P., of course. (the air i'm referring to is out on the open water--where the calibogue sound and atlantic meet.) sailing yesterday was the funnest time yet. i went out on a tri-hull boat (four hulls including me! tee hee hee) and the wind was STRONG. in fact, my kayaking got cancelled for today because it was too windy. but i'm not too miffed because i got to sail yesterday and i'd much rather SAIL than kayak. but i do like them both. btw, i did see dolphins while sailing but didn't catch any of them on film. (how do you get saltwater out of a camera, anyway?)

remember how i explained earlier that everything on the island is really hard to find? stuff is very far off the road and just blends in perfectly? i found a very nondescript building today which ended up being a mcdonalds! the little silver sporty car in front is our rental. it's ok--but full of blind spots!

the guy with traci and i is Dennis Van Der Meer. he's a famous tennis coach who moved here from south africa about fifty years ago. he's a very cute old guy. the tennis school traci's at is called the "van der meer tennis university." mr. van der meer walks around a lot just nodding in approval and saying, "good, good." his wife is usually with him walking around and watching all that is going on. there's a guy named tim who works at the courts (my courts--in valpo) on occasion who took lessons from and met dennis van der meer and his right hand man louie. and this was all back in 1975! mr. van der meer is still here (obviously) and so is LOUIE! the van der meer tennis academy is a great little place with a lot of really supportive, kind coaches. it's full of a friendly staff who seems more like a family than a tennis staff of pros.

sorry i didn't post anything yesterday; i was too wiped out after being out on the water (and in the wind) yesterday.

and oops--i see i duplicated two pics. oh well!

dolphins are cute...

and fun to watch during dinner! our table was the funnest table at the restaurant tonight in sea pines. we had the best view of the sunset, the boats, and the DOLPHINS that came to say hi to us! dinner was good too. above are some of the pictures i took today. there is also a sign marking a spot on the ground where you are to stand if you want to be on their (holiday inn's) live cam. the holiday inn is one door down to the south of us. i went pool hopping today. it was fun. the holiday inn pool is not as warm as our pool here at the condo. but i like all the pools. (we're staying at a place called the "breakers.")

oh yeah, and the lady in yesterday's blog (picture of me and a lady) was my field representative from the chicago teacher's union...she was the one who i was in touch with when my one student decided to make me his gang initiation and shoot me...

anyway, i sat next to her on the flight from chicago to atlanta and we only realized who each other were after we had landed in atlanta! (small world!)

down to 64, up to 85

that's tonight's low & tomorrow's high. i can dig it. for any of you who are familiar with hilton head, we are staying at a condo on south forest beach. our condo is on the 3rd floor of a building that looks more like a boardwalk. it's very ocean city-ish. our front deck faces the ocean & pool. i'm most amazed at this island by the fact that everything is HIDDEN. for example, there is a walmart here and fast food restaurants, but the building code must have been such that no one can actually see them unless you study the landscape REALLY well and happen to notice a BUILDING back in all the woods/forest/foliage. it's amazing. and when you DO find the mcdonalds & walmart, the buildings are brown. VERY camouflaged. which makes finding things on this island a lot harder. not only is this a new place, they're trying to hide the stuff you're trying to find. not fair.

so of course, after we landed, we got our rental car, went to check out our condo, and went to have dinner. we had dinner at some restaurant in shelter cove in which a drunk guy fell off of a ledge about 10 minutes after we got there. (mind you, we were there at about 5:30 on a sunday evening...) i FELT the thud of his body hitting the ground. he is SO gonna feel that tomorrow! the entire restaurant staff came flying out to see what was going on and to shoo him away. hope he's ok!

we then went to walmart (after we searched & searched & searched) and crammed our little rental car with STUFF. besides the normal stuff like bottled water, snackies, sunscreen and all, i also got ANOTHER boogie board and beach chair. yikes. i spend a LOT at walmart wherever i go. it's disgusting.

so above you will see some pics from today. thankfully, traci has been here before and knows her way around pretty well. she starts at the van der meer tennis university tomorrow and that's when i start sleeping in. (and then going to the beach.) or the pool. it will prolly depend on whether the waves are big enuf to boogieboard on! and depending on whether or not i get my economic stimulus rebate placed generously in my account tonight, i'll be planning a few other fun items for myself later this week. but we'll see.

btw, i'll leave you in suspense till tomorrow about who the lady is that is standing next to me at the atlanta airport.

who could it be???

as i sit at midway--bored out of my mind

i decided to add a fun video. this was me and mark yesterday with rocks. i mean boulders. the one in this video almost took off my left foot. oops. yeah. that would've been bad! however, in jumping out of the way somewhat, i managed to try to catch the bajillion pound boulder. as, in, catch it with my hands. (actually, my LEFT hand, specifically.) it only took off a little skin. but three of the five fingers on my left hand are pretty stiff this morning. oh well.

cuz moving rocks at the courts is FUN. prolly should have worn work boots too. steel toed work boots. maybe next time.

considering the amount of $$$

considering the amount of $$$ shawn olson and his wife have spent on the ridiculous amount of mailings i've gotten, you'd also think they would have paid someone to proofread their junkmail. woops, i mean "literature." or maybe the money would have been well spent for them to attend some post-high school English classes since high school must not have done the job....

are you serious? the error is here:

"STANDING FOR THE TAX PAYER'S"

um...the tax payer's rights? the tax payer's hard earned dollar? what?

i think i'll vote for his opponent based on the NUMEROUS pieces of junk mail i've received from him/his campaign and the errors in such. it's the principle of the thing.

does america no longer know how to write well? ugh. i actually don't want to know the answer. but to be honest with you, if you send out numerous letters/mailings to homes in the area, you should REALLY consider sending out materials without such blatant/flagrant errors. have someone proofread them. OR just don't send out this crap.

SOMETHING!!!!!!!

LBC women's retreat 08

check out our crazy video on youtube!!! be sure the volume's on!

up late...

and it's one hour later here in this eastern time zone! i gotta go to bed. but i just hafta say i am having a ton of fun at this retreat. we got in trouble tonight from the hotel staff for being too loud. guess we gotta keep up tradition! i'm in the bottom of this pic with jamie costas, (forgot her married name), lisa haislet, bethany drew, holly sutton, and a sally person that i don't know very well. gotta change that!!!

but i duked it out on guitar hero with bette jo. she's fun! but watch out when playing spoons with her. she's VICIOUS! betty marquez and betty stralnic are animals as well and i must say cindy miller plays for blood! ruth fortney and kathy underwood will DEFINITELY be bruised tomorrow! penny sacrificed a necklace as well. too bad it looked like a spoon from afar. ahhhh, what fun.

oh well. (and GOOD NIGHT!)