Thursday, November 06, 2008

Since I've been home

My mom and I had initially planned to “test-drive” a horse in Macon on our way home from the Atlanta airport. Unfortunately, its owner had to work on Monday, so we didn’t get the chance to do so. I hope to have the opportunity to check it out later this month. We did, however, have the dubious pleasure of trying out a four-year-old nag out in Blackshear (about 20 minutes east of Waycross). The poor horse had been “trained” by a girl who was 14 at the most and who obviously knew nothing about how to train a horse. It definitely had potential, but would’ve required a LOT of work. And the poor thing was pretty ugly.

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Mom, riding the Blackshear nag

When you compare him to my mom’s beautiful Arabian, Merlin, well, it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Or perhaps fresh apples and rotten ones.

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Merlin!

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A closer look...

Merlin lives out on my mom’s land, which is literally in the middle of nowhere – no one lives out there but him. In order to make it look as though someone was living out there with him (to deter people from harassing him and whatnot), my mom purchased a supercool trailer to keep out there. Now, before you go thinking that the phrase “supercool trailer” is an oxymoron, check this baby out:

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It’s a 1951 Spartan Royal Mansion, filled with nearly all of its early 1950s “space-age” accoutrements. And I would LOVE to live in it. Unfortunately, it needs a bit of work – not to mention that my mom’s land has no electricity or running water. (It has a hand-pumped well to water the horse and that’s it.) But we’ll see. If I can get the stove to operate on propane and can build a solar-generator for the refrigerator, it might very well be doable.

What else? On Tuesday, I called about a job at the local animal shelter, and learned that I needed to have my application in by 2pm. I didn’t have a drivers license yet (y’all remember when it got stolen back in K-stan?), and seriously considered biking to the shelter... but it was raining and I wasn’t 100% certain where the shelter was located, so I snagged my mom’s car (she was at work with mine) and drove in to apply... taking care so to break no traffic laws! I’ve since had one follow-up interview, and might very well be gainfully employed soon.

After leaving the animal shelter, I drove over to my voting precinct and explained about my lack of absentee ballot, and was able to get approved to vote.

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The sticker on my shirt says "I'm a Georgia Voter"

I wasn’t able to stay up listening to the election coverage, as I was completely exhausted and still running on Kyrgyz time... but I woke up just in time to hear Obama’s acceptance speech, which made me cry with joy. Literally.

The next day, mom drove me to the DMV to get a replacement drivers license. There is a man who works at the DMV who is thoroughly unpleasant. When my mom went there to switch from a FL to a GA drivers license, he essentially accused her of being a terrorist for not bringing a passport or other form of ID with her. When I first got my GA license, he nearly made a woman cry by yelling at her... and she was there to get a replacement license because she’d lost hers. I have been stressing about dealing with this man ever since my license was stolen back in May. I needn’t have worried, as luckily, he wasn’t there. Five dollars later, I had a new drivers license. Complete with this ridiculous red hair, which I will bear on my ID through 2011 :-)

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Not much going on right now otherwise. I’m suffering through my mom’s dial-up internet (although I think I’ve convinced her to upgrade to DSL), cleaning my house (which, having been under the control of innumerable cats over the past year, is an utter mess), and waiting to hear back from the animal shelter.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the picture of you and the vulture, eagle, hawk or whatever that thing is. It is really a beautifully stunning photo!

Christopher

Anonymous said...

That refrigerator looks pretty old..It will probably cost more for the solar setup than to just buy a propane refrigerator.
I concur on the bird - vey nice.

Ben C.

Gwen said...

Hmm... I hope it's a non-kill shelter. Otherwise, I predict Merlin will have lots of company soon out in the middle of nowhere.

Brooke said...

Welcome home, Janechik! Glad you and the kitties made it back ok.