Adventures on December 25th and 26th

On Thursday, mom and I left Waycross and drove down to Frank's house in north Florida. About an hour into the drive, we passed through the small community of Stockton, GA, and decided to stop and check out the old school building:

It was boarded up, but not locked...
so we went inside.

Someone's using the main auditorium for storage and woodworking.


The classrooms were pitch black and I didn't have my flashlight, so I just stuck my camera in and snapped and checked out what I got later.


This room has a blackboard that still has writing! If I'd known it was in there, I would've gotten a clearer shot so I could read it!

I liked this shot, looking out the exit.

The weather in Florida was hot and sunny - t-shirt weather!

And mushroom photography weather

Frank collects old cars... so while he and mom were working on dinner, I poked around in his garages:

Frank's Studebaker

Frank's Packard

Frank's Ford

Frank's Corvette

Frank's 1927 Chevy

For some reason I neglected to take a picture of our dinner - it was absolutely delicious and I ate more in one sitting than I can ever remember doing! But moving on to the next day...

Leaving Frank's the next day, we passed this super awesome tiny trailer that MUST be a relative of my Spartan. I would *love* to own it.

Mom and I had to go to Lake City to pick up a car (long story) and on the way there we passed a Mosque - in Columbia County! I was quite impressed, as I'd had no idea there were enough Muslims in the area to warrant a mosque... and I was impressed by the fact that it hadn't been torn down by any of the Christian fundies who make up so much of the population down there!

After taking pictures of the mosque, we decided to drive by our old home to see what it looked like. We drove through the long loop driveway. The two videos below aren't too great and will probably only be of interest to people who knew me when I used to live there.

We stopped at Chris's to pick up Melissa's car... just in time to meet a stray cat that wandered up. I took him home with me, and I've named him Krosp, after the King of Cats.

A postal miracle!

Before I left for Kyrgyzstan, my mother asked me to buy her a Kyrgyz saddle while I was there. Early on in my trip, I found an antique wooden saddle for about $14. In late October, shortly before returning to the US, I shipped it home. You may remember the story: I spent a ridiculously long time in the post office, spent $100 on shipping AND they managed to insert my absentee ballot into the box instead of mailing it to its proper destination. Anyway, after being home for nearly two full months, both my mother and I had given up on the saddle ever making it to Waycross. I figured it was being ridden around Kyrgyzstan by whoever acquired my fitted sheet and my chocopies, and whatever else the Kyrgyz post stole from me.

The box, in its hand sewn linen sack

Hand stitching and a wax seal

A closer look at the wax seal of the Bishkek Post Office

Hand stitching and seals

Mom gets her saddle

The saddle in all its glory :-)

And, of course, my ballot.

Lead a horse to water...

Mom and I went for a really nice ride the other day, through some very wet areas. Amusingly, when she bought Merlin, his owner told her that the one thing he would NOT do was go through water. Well, he seems to have changed his opinion somewhat! Enjoy the photos and the video :-)

Honey is not a leader, so pretty much all of my photos from trail rides feature Merlin's rear end.

Merlin, wading away

Brin came with us, too

This stretch of trail was entirely under water.

My father and brother visited this weekend!

Me and my brother Pressley in Huddle House

Pressley pumps as my dad drinks.

Me riding Honey as Pressley, Brin and Merlin watch

My dad shows Pressley how to hold the reins

Leading Pressley around the field on Honey

Also led him on a short walk down the "road" and back

Later he had tons of fun playing ball with the neighborhood kids.

Dodge ball is quite possibly the most horrific game ever, yet they all loved playing it.

They also played some squareless form of two-square.

Brin liked Pressley a lot :-)

Trapping, spaying, neutering and general cattiness

Mini, the black cat in the trap, is the mother of Braveheart (right) and Tabby One and Tabby Two is a feral cat who has been eating regularly at my house for a good year and a half. I was finally able to trap her in my lovely humane trap and get her spayed. She's currently recuperating in my bathroom.

I got little Heelix spayed, too. Here she's feeling a little grumpy post-op.

Braveheart - who is so sweet and friendly, despite having a feral mom and two feral siblings - got neutered as well.

Little Cylon is still a tad too young to be neutered, but soon...

He's just so cute!

Heelix and Cylon

Daddy Cat
I should really get a scale and weigh this guy... he's SO heavy!

Bagira (inside) and Daddy Cat (on the AC)

Ware County fog photos

A couple recent photos

This is my mom loading pine straw into her station wagon...
Sunset over a drainage pond near my land.

This way to the crazy cat lady!

I swear there's a sign in kitty-language that points them in my direction. That or I give off an odor of catnip. Last night another kitty showed up. It's a tabby male that looks to be roughly six months old. I'm calling him Cylon since he looks just like some of the other tabbies that live at my house (Battlestar Galactica reference for those who don't know what I mean).

Cylon Kitty - he's super friendly and slept on my pillow.

Meanwhile, these guys (who were born in March or so) have been named Tabby One and Tabby Two by my mom... and I haven't come up with anything better. But they inspired me to name the new one Cylon.