The Closing Out Of Summer:(

You know the end of summer is drawing near when you see the tractor mower take out the sweet corn patch.

 

 

One last weekend road trip before school starts- perusing the streets of downtown Hannibal, MO.

 

Babysitting my two little sweeties one evening and having a little self-portrait time.

 

Game night with my first cousins- truly a joy!

 

School has begun now and unfortunately, easing into the new semester is a thing of the past.  I guess they figure we've been together long enough now that there's no use wasting time!  So, I can't say there will be a whole lot of action on here between now and Christmas break.  I mean, who really wants to know all about the mundaneness of my studying anyway?  Not me!!  But hopefully there will be something blog worthy come up now and then because I like to be on here.  It's a little bit of a therapeutic outlet for me.  Until then, happy end of summer to each of you!

Cedar Closet Treasures

While cleaning out the cedar closet, my mom found this gem of a shirt.  It was mine, back when I was about 5 years old.  I know I've mentioned on here before that my dad raises turkeys, and I acquired this particular shirt after one of his turkey conventions.  Yes, such a thing exists:)  And I felt cool.  If you can't read it, it says "Turkeys make wonderful friends".  I mean, who WOULDN'T feel cool in a shirt like that??? 

 

 

 

 

My mind travelled back to Kindergarten, when, while wearing it one day, I was quite confident that I was the coolest girl in the classroom.  The shirt made me feel a little on the invincible side.  I ask again, who WOULDN'T feel invincible in a shirt like that????  Because I had such confidence, I was sure I could do whatever I wanted in the classroom, just so long as I was wearing that shirt.  So one day, I decided to get from point A to point B by running, which, as is common in most classrooms, is a big no-no.  But not worries- I was wearing my awesome sweatshirt.  All was well until my teacher, Mrs. Norman, said above the noise of the classroom in a very sing-song, teacher-ish voice, "Sarah, we don't run in school"! 

 

I felt utterly deflated.  Devastated.  Confused, even.  I had just gotten reprimanded in front of my whole class.  While wearing my turkey shirt!  All of a sudden that shirt didn't make me feel so invincible.  In fact, if I remember correctly, I might have even been a little nervous to wear it again the next time because it stirred up those memories.  Now there's another generation that fits into that shirt.  Judging by her reaction to my request that she model it for me, I think it's safe to say she will not be experiencing any embarrassing moments in Kindergarten because of the turkey shirt!

 

What Was I Thinking?!?!

This summer while I've been babysitting, the challenge has always been to find something to do on the cheap.  Or even better- free!  Today we found ourselves going out to lunch and then PetSmart to look at the animals and fish they had in the store.  We came to the bunny rabbit section and one of the girls lamented over how much she would love to have a bunny because they're so cute.  I had to agree that yes, they are cute.  But I also had a memory come to mind.  A memory that I knew I absolutely couldn't share with the missing-her-two-front-teeth-big-brown-eyes-girl in front of me.

 

Have you ever done something in order to try and look cool and really it's about the dumbest thing you could do at the time?  Something that, when your parents ask you what in the world were you thinking, you really have no answer?  You just really weren't thinking?  Turns out, I used to have a pet bunny myself.  Her name was Nibbles.  I had her for about two years, from 5th to 7th grade or so.  I really liked Nibbles!  She was really cute- she looked about like the rabbit here.  But for the sake of coolness, Nibbles is no longer among the living.

 

 

(Source)

 

I shot Nibbles.  Granted, it was just a BB gun, but I shot her nonetheless.  My brother had a friend over and had gotten in trouble for something while the friend was there.  After lunch, my brother had to make restitution for whatever it was he had done, and it was left to me to entertain the friend.  He and my brother had been using the gun before lunch he wanted to keep using it afterwards.  Between the need to prove that I knew how to use the gun and his convincing me it wouldn't hurt the rabbit, we took turns firing at poor Nibbles.  And even more importantly, I had a huge crush on this guy's cousin and just KNEW that he would pass the word along that I was soooo cool!

 

Then my aim happened to be dead on and I hit Nibbles.  It didn't kill her right away, but I had never seen her jump that high!  We were far enough away that it didn't even really cause bad injuries, however, she was so traumatized and didn't move for the next few days until she finally just died.  As  soon as I hit her I realized what I did.  I was too scared to say anything so we just quietly put the gun away and went on with our afternoon.  I thought I was home free until my dad found her dead in her cage.  Then I had a LOT of explaining to do. 

 

You know how I said sometimes we do things just to look cool even though it's a really stupid choice and we don't really know what we were thinking?  I had no explanation for my dad.  And he didn't think I was cool right then.  Lesson learned.

 

Poor, poor Nibbles.

R.I.P. Giant Chicken Statue

Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time travelling on Route 24 between Illinois and Indiana knows the giant chicken statue.  Many a carload has stopped for a photo opportunity with it.  This past weekend, after yet another trip to IN, the passengers of the car I was in collectively decided to stop and take pictures of some of the well known places along the road home, including the giant chicken.  Actually, it's a rooster, but everyone calls it a chicken.  Two of us have already had our Kodak moment with the statue, but the third had only viewed the attraction as a passer-by.  As we came upon the place of the statue, we were horrified to see that it was gone!  Truly, it is the end of an era.  There was nothing to do but pay our respects and continue on our journey.  It is our hope that the giant chicken statue is only being repaired and will one day return to it's proper place.  But until then, we will look back with fond memories.  Rest in peace, giant chicken statue.