Fall Colors Ride

Good Wednesday morning!

The Gallery Pics? Three guesses! That's right. More Zoo. (I'm hoping they will give me a "Get In Free" ticket for all of the positive advertisement they are getting this week from A Simple Life. Don't worry. Not going to happen!)

RANDOMNESS #1 - For some reason, I looked on a "basset hound rescue" site yesterday. I have been interested in basset hounds for a while now... because of The Pioneer Woman, you see. Oh. And the fact I love the hound... beagles, basset, etc.

Guess what? There are several male basset hounds available for adoption right now. TODAY! And they are precious.

I particularly like one named Arnie. (Great basset hound name, by the way.)

Mikie doesn't know I've been browsing for hounds... again. It tends to make him nervous. Much like my chicken browsing and my alpaca browsing of 2010. Very nervous, indeed.

You'll be the first to know if I add an Arnie to the mix. You'll be able to hear Mikie's agonizing cries for miles and miles around. Heavy, heavy sigh.

RANDOMNESS #2 - A Roxie Story - When Roxie started playing sports, Mike and I were surprised at her determination and aggressiveness. It was like watching someone who had to fight for every bite of food or piece of clothing they had ever owned. Not a chick who was treated with the respect and total admiration of a princess.

If she was after a soccer ball, you could be sure she would kick and kick and kick until she was the last girl/boy standing.

If she was trying to get a basketball away from another player, it would be better for them to just hand it to her on a silver platter... because the ball was eventually going to be hers.

If she yelled "MINE" on the volleyball court, make no mistake... it was "HERS!"

While Mikie and I enjoy watching her play, we have never been quite sure where the aggressiveness came from. Neither one of us are confrontational people. In fact, I'm pretty sure if I was trying to take a ball away from someone, I would ask for it nicely, and then move along when they told me, "Forget it, Lady!" No hard feelings. It just wasn't meant to be my ball.

At one particular basketball game, Roxie's team was neck and neck with their opponent. At one point, Roxie wrestled the little girl she was covering to the ground and removed the ball from her limp, cold hands. Surprisingly (NOT), she received a foul, and the ref motioned for her to throw the ball to him.

She threw it with all her angry might... right at the ref's head. Thankfully, he was quick and caught it before it broke his nose. Also, thankfully, he was the dad of one of Roxie's friends and didn't throw her out of the game.

Mike and I were sitting silently with our mouths hanging open in the bleachers. A parent beside us (from the other team) asked, "Who is that little girl? She has some major anger issues?"

Mike and I quickly and quietly scooted down the bleachers... away from the other parents. We needed to be alone with our thoughts. Did Roxie have anger issues? Did we need to address them? The coaches seemed to like her feistiness. In fact, the coaches seemed to encourage the behavior.

But as quickly as our little lady changed when she was on the court, she just as quickly became the Roxie we knew and loved when we settled into the car after the game.

When it was all said and done, we decided if she did indeed have anger issues, at least she was getting them all out of her system on the field or court... and since we are the most non-confrontational parents EVER, that works for us!

Wednesday Wisdom - I have an anxiety-ridden story I'm going to share with you tomorrow, so I found quotes about the subject for today!

"Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it." Mark Twain

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy." Leo Buscaglia (This is truer than true!)

"Troubles are a lot like people - they grow bigger if you nurse them." Author Unknown

"Worry, doubt, fear and despair are the enemies which slowly bring us down to the ground and turn us to dust before we die." Attributed to Douglas MacArthur

"Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is to small to be made into a burden." Corrie ten Boom

"I am reminded of the advice of my neighbor. 'Never worry about your heart till it stops beating.'" E. B. White

"A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work." John Lubbock

"If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you." Calvin Coolidge

"Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night." Author Unknown (Ahhh. My goal is to be this person... every day!)

"Rule number one is, don't sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it's all small stuff." Robert Eliot

"Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway." Mary C. Crowley (Love it!)

Fall Colors Ride

I found this tradition while blog-hopping the other day. I visited the site of a woman who was horribly burned in a plane accident a few years ago, and she has blogged about her life and her recovery since that time.

I like her because she is an Autumn Nut, much like myself.

"It began, just like that. Our annual Fall Colors Ride. It began today since I noticed that the tips of the mountains out my window were turning glorious colors.
Reds, oranges, browns and bright yellows. I am so happy!

"After church, I piled the children in the family gator, and we rode up beautiful Provo Canyon to Midway.

"The autumn colors do something to me. Something indescribable. It makes me happy, energized and competently content... even when I feel so awful.

"Every Sunday we will take the children to a new spot to show them what Autumn does to the trees, mountains and to my soul."

Doesn't that sound lovely? And doable? We're going to start the first Sunday in October. And I know the odds of all five of us going on a ride together EVERY Sunday for five or six Sundays in a row is almost impossible, but we'll take who we can... even if it is just me and Mikie.

Have a most wonderful Wednesday. I'll be back in the morning with Blog Linkage, Dates, A Roxie Story AND more Randomness.

Take care, and I'll talk to you in the morning.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda