Picture Challenge Days 22-24

Day 22: "Fav" Memory.  I think if you are going to shorten the word favorite, it is usually done as "fave" not "fav", but what do I know?
This isn't necessarily my favorite memory but when trying to find something that reminded me of a pleasant memory I automatically thought of my oboe.  I was a clarinetist from 5th to 8th grade.  I was progressing quickly but wanted something more so I started borrowing the schools oboe at my mom's request (I didn't know what an oboe was until my mom suggested I learn it-- thanks, mom!).  I took a few lessons with Mr. Dragoo, my band director at the time, and even got questioned by the DARE campus cop about my reed (apparently oboe reeds look like something you could smoke and I had one dangling out of my mouth at the end of the school day.  I took the school oboe home for the summer to practice so I could play in the high school band with it.  I took lessons with Nancy, my private instructor through high school.

At this point, my dad worked three and a half hours from home.  He got a small (really, really small) apartment in Pierre, SD to live in during the week and would come home on weekends.  I know he always felt bad about leaving us for the week but we all hated Pierre so we refused to move (sorry, anyone who likes Pierre.  We aren't into fishing, or wide open spaces... or the capitol building).  I really knew he was feeling guilty when he came home one week with this bran new wood Yamaha oboe.  I was so proud and scared of this thing that I brought it to an outdoor concert to show Mr. Dragoo, but had it and it's case wrapped in blankets and all sorts of precautions. 

Day 23: Any kind of animal.  This black pup is Chevie, our neighbor dog.  She comes home on weekends with her master who works all week in some other part of the state.  When she is home, she runs the neighborhood... okay, so really she just runs our yard.  She likes to say hello to David and sniff around our garage.  She also knows that we are dog people and will without a doubt love her unconditionally when she visits.  So she comes over for some pats on the head and a play with David and then we send her home.

Day 24: Random.  I'll take this picture opportunity to talk about my Labor Day weekend.  The random thing I saw this week was a puffy leaf.  After falling off a plant in the yard and laying on the ground all night, this little leaf puffed up and looked kind of strange.  When it popped it made the same sound as those fun packaging bubbles that I still get excited about.

The leaf fell to the ground because we are still working on re-doing our flower beds.  We are closer than ever (I would hope we wouldn't be getting further away!).  We had Reba come over and show us how to transplant flowers so our flower beds look a little more pleasing and so we wouldn't kill anything in the process.  Tonight, after a flute lesson, I will be laying weed fabric down over our largest flower gardens and Jim will be laying down the landscaping timber.  Next step-- rock.  Then we're FINALLY done with the flower beds.  Then it's tearing down the dead tree and planting three new ones... then it's the back yard...

Today, as part of our weekend, the cycling club, of which I am now a part since I purchased my scary road bike, road to Paxton and back for a pancake breakfast.  Here is everyone but me coming into town.

My butt didn't even hurt!

I again apologize for this blog being put aside.  I will do my best to be more frequent in my posts for those of you interested in my random life.  This ridiculous and failed attempt 30 day picture challenge will be over soon before the Indian Summer Rendezvous, which is my FAVORITE time of year here in Ogallala.  I plan on talking up my small town for a while surrounding those awesome events.  I will also be showing some before and after shots of the house, since we have completely changed the whole house it seems.  I will also, hopefully, be posting some more crazy stories of my small town life and talking about some of the amazing people I am blessed to be around daily.