I didn’t have any weddings this weekend and that is fine.  You have to have a break every now and then, so I took the free weekend to do some much needed yard work and get our pool up and running fo the summer.  Most years I have it up and already running by now, but this spring has been busy and wet, lots of much needed rain.  That has put me way behind in my spring yard clean up, so I took today to get caught up.

If you have never opened an above ground pool, there is so much that has to be done.  There is a winter cover on the pool, it is designed to keep the fall leaves out of the pool. The problem with it is that while it keeps the leaves out, it also keeps the rain water from going anywhere.  So, it ponds up in the cover and before you can take the cover off you have to drain all the water out of the cover and since I was behind it had gotten kinda smelly and gross.

While I was draining the pool I needed to get a couple of things for the pool, things like chemicals, a pool vacuum to just name a couple of the items I needed.  While I was at The Pool Place I noticed that they were short handed and a little busy.  Most pool places are busy this time of year so you have to have some patience.  I got all the items I needed and went to pay for them and got in line behind a lady that must have been having a bad day.  Here is what I saw happen;  she was getting some parts and chemicals for her pool.  From what I could hear the guy in the parts department give her the parts and told her they were $3 and some change.  When she got to the register they were closer to $4.50 which cause her total to be $10 more then she had calculated in her head. That set her off into a whole new world of pissed off.  The owner of the store was the person who quoted her the price and his wife was the person checking her out. The owners wife told her she was sorry, these were the prices of the items, but since the owner quoted her the price, they would go a head and charge her the price the owner quoted.  Seems like the right and the nicest thing to do, right?

This woman didn’t see it that way, she saw it as if the owner was doing her wrong and the person checking her out was accusing her of trying to get something for nothing.  She went on and on for a good 15 minutes.  She kept saying she had been using this store for 26 years, that she had spent over $300 last night at the same store.  This woman was going on about $10 for goodness sake.  It got to a point where those of us in line behind her started to laugh a bit, I mean it was $10.  Finally, the guy in line behind me jumped up and pulled a $10 from his wallet and slapped in on the counter and said, “here, I’ll pay the $10 if you will shut up and get out of there!”.  She got this look of total disbelief on her face and said, “well, I never….”.  The guy without missing a beat said, “yea, no kidding, maybe you should.”.  She huffed out of the store and we all just kinda of laughed as she left.

That would have been enough for a great blog post, but it got better.  When I got home I wanted to finish up the pool stuff and ran into a huge snag.  I drained as much water as possible from the cover.  I thought I had enough out, but I was wrong.  I pulled as much of the cover off that I could, but it would not come out due to the amount of water in the cover.  I asked Leeann to help me and we pulled but, it would not come out.  We tried everything we could think of but nothing worked so that left only one option; one of us had to get in the pool and push while the other one pulled the cover out.  Well, being the wonderful husband I am, I jumped in the pool.  To say the water was COLD is an understatement.  To try and stay a little warm I kept my shorts, shoes and shirt on, it didn’t help.  Well, after about 10 minutes of pushing, pulling and scoping out a bunch of gross water, the cover came out.

Some days I love being a homeowner, other days I wished we rented this house and someone else had to do all the work around here.  But, in the end it is worth it, even the pool which is running as I type this blog.   This July when it is hot as all get out, it will be worth it.

My alarm clock went off this morning at 6am to the sound of the news guy telling us that we were in Blackberry Winter.  I was half asleep and all I heard was winter.  To me, winter means COLD air.  That means jackets, long sleeve shirts and such.  I turned on the TV but, didn’t really pay attention to the station it was on or the girl doing the weather.  I just heard he say “Blackberry Winter”.  So, as I got ready to take KT to school I was prepared for some cold air.  Much to my surprise, as I walked out the door it was just in the 40’s.

What the heck is Blackberry Winter anyway?  When did we start giving a cold snap names?  We always called these things “cold snaps” because that is what they were.  I grew up in central Indiana and I can tell you, with pretty good confidence, what winter is and this is not winter.  It is a cold snap plain and simple.

After I took KT to school this morning, Leeann and I went out to the farm for Leeann to spend some time with her horse, Lakota.  I love going out there with her.  I spend most of my day at the computer in my office doing editing, budgeting and such, so I really enjoy getting out of the house and out into the fresh air.  Today was a wonderful morning for the most part.  The air was crisp, the sky was blue and the sun actually made a guest appearance in the sky.

Leeann got Lakota ready and she rode him for about an hour or so.  She looks so great up on that horse and she had complete control of him today.  I was so proud of her and I get this thrill watching her ride.  It makes her so happy.  Now, before I tell you the next part of what happened I have to say that I have a horse as well.  Her name is Sunny and she is currently at STAR where she is one of the lesson horses.  I have ridden her a number of times and feel pretty comfortable on a horse. I am no expert by any means, but I do OK.

Well, today Leeann asked me if I wanted to ride Lakota in the field for a little bit.  I got a bit nervous for some reason. I think it was the fact that the field she was riding in had a number of hills and the ground was a bit uneaven.  I wasn’t sure about it and I think Lakota could tell I was a little uneasy about all of this.  But, I took a deep breath and jumped up on Lakota anyway (ok, truth be told, Lakota is a big horse and I didn’t jump up on him at all, I got boosted up on him.  Don’t want to give any one out there the wrong idea).

Once up, I started to feel a bit more comfortable. But I did notice that the saddle was smaller that I am comfortable with, but no worries I thought, I can do this.  I wanted to start off kinda slow so I could get more comfortable with Lakota, but he had other ideas.  He decided to kick it up a notch and go a bit quicker than I had wanted.  He went down the hill at a pretty good clip and I felt like I was going to come off him at any second.  I was no longer in control of Lakota, I was just along for the ride.  Then Lakota went one step further, he really got going and as a result, it got rougher and I started bouncing in the saddle.  Not the most enjoyable ride of my life, but I didn’t come off him until I was ready. And at this point, I was ready.

As I got down I realized what was going on. Lakota was trying to tell me that he is Leeanns horse and Leeann is who he is going to listen to and who he works for.  Well Lakota old boy,  I got the message.  You just take care of my girl when she is on your back and I will make sure you have all the treats you want. But, I will not be up on your back again until you invite me.  I’m not holding my breath on that one.

Sunday’s are just the best.  We try hard to make it a family day, you know a day where we do things as a family.  My little girl, Katie, is 10 years old and is a true animal lover.  I mean she studies animals.  She reads books to no end about animals, watches Animal Planet on TV and will watch any movie with animals as the main character.  If it is a dog movie and the dogs talk, she is tickled pink.

Well, today we were going to do some family stuff and had thought about going to Dollywood for the day.  It is a fun place to go as a family plus, she loves the roller coasters there. However, when we woke up this morning, yet again it was raining, cloudy and just plain grim looking outside.  So, plan B.  We decided to go to a movie, but which one?  I have seen the new Star Trek movie two times now, but it is a bit too intense for Katie.  We did find the Disney movie “Earth” still playing at the mall.  This is a movie about our planet and some of the animals that live on it.  BINGO!

Now if you saw any of the Discovery Channels great mini series “Planet Earth”, then you saw this movie.  They just took some of the best parts of the TV show and made a movie out of it.  But here is the weird part, we tried to get Katie to watch the series when it was on TV and she wanted nothing to do with it. But at the movie theater, she was hooked and never took her eyes off the screen. One scene made her a little teary; seems there was this polar bear out on the prowl for some food.  He left his cubs with their mother and went looking for his own food.  Well, at the end of the movie he didn’t do so good getting any food and died.  So, guys take that as a lesson; stay with the wife and kids, you will live longer.

Anyway,  love Sunday’s because I get to be with my family and we all get a little down time which is so important.  I hope all of you get to spend some time with your families this Sunday.  Now, if the sun would just come out, I would be even happier.