Small town recap:

Today was a  fairly average day in Hamilton full of random events. I began my day at Wally World and I went to the post office today which was pleasant change of scenery. Since I am headed to Africa soon, there are several things being shipped to me either that I ordered or have been asked to bring :-) I had to insert the smiley due to the smile on my face about my trip…ok back to mail. I have only known long lines at post offices. With my previous job, I’d literally drag my feet to go there. I couldn’t stand that I would have to go waste 30 minutes to stand in a line for something usually resolved in 3 minutes.  I got excited when I walked into the Post Office of Hamilton today and there were only two ladies in front of me! What a relief I thought! Then I realized that the two ladies in front of me had plenty of things that they felt they needed to share with Sue behind the counter. Respectfully, Sue would attempt to redirect conversation and do her job efficiently. Lady #2 at one point stepped in front of Lady #1 and hollered, “I just need one stamp!!” Sue graciously replied with a smile, “And I will get you one stamp just as soon as I finish with her.” Lady #2 not being satisfied with Sue’s response pipes up again, “But I just need one! Can’t you just give me one?!” (PS in Tulsa there is an electronic machine for situations like this. One stamp please. Thank you!) I was impressed with Sue’s calm and gracious demeanor, however I was a little frustrated that these ladies felt the need to chat about things unrelated to postal services. Eventually what I presumed would be a short visit was yet another trip to a post office. I left returning some mail that was delivered to the wrong address and picking up my lawn mower part. Yes, you read that right. Madagascar has need of a lawn mower part. 

Speaking of lawnmowers, I drove by “Mr. Perfect lawn” who was driving around on his little riding lawnmower. (See picture from Day # 12). That makes time #4 that I have seen him mowing his lawn already in three weeks. Again there is no shame if you have the time to mow and your lawn looks as perfect as his does. His next door neighbor was also out on his riding lawnmower while having the SECOND Garage Sale of the week. They just had one on Friday, but maybe they figured that Tuesdays in Hamilton would equal a few good bites. I mean I’d pay to watch these two older gentlemen do some type of synchronized lawn mowing show!!

I had phone drama again today! After the usual misplacing one of the phones and being without it when it was greatly needed, I found it. This was only after visiting sweet Sue at the Post Office again to see if I’d left it there. Then I was instructed on how to turn my iPhone off it’s constant silent mode it was in. Apparently under the Otterbox mine came with, there is a switch (all iPhone owners are laughing at me right now…I feel it). This will now minimized my obsessive clicking of my screen to make sure I’m not missing a work related phone call or text.  It’s the small things that make life easier.

I have literally killed 9 bugs tonight since 8pm. You can’t leave your front door open for any amount of time here.

Dog Update:LASTLY, but probably my FAVORITE part about today (except for my fabulous dinner guest/prayer time)… is the latest country dog update. I went for another run tonight (pictures above) through the hilly neighborhood. I didn’t have enough time to go anywhere else and I didn’t want the dog from yesterday to steal my joy. SO tonight I am running and there are not just one, but two dogs that meet me on top of a hill. One runs off while one is only advancing towards me as I turn my back to him. I took a video of my walking away from him (yes I determined it was male haha), but it won’t upload. Then the BEST part of my night was this-I’d had a friend over and heard a knock at my door. It was my friend I mentioned last night who came over and opened my salsa jars! He saw my guest’s car and dropped by to say hello. While the door was open at one point (and all the crane flies were coming in), I saw a dog walk by! I laughed and immediately darted out the door where I caught the dog POOPING OUTSIDE  MY DOOR!!! My friend left the apartment as he said, “Ahhh aww don’t take his picture like that!” I through intense laughter asked if he’d read my blog and told him that I just had to! I am cracking up as I type this now because in the picture the dog is literally looking at me!! Absolutely hilarious! I’ve never seen this dog before, but sure, we’re all family here so every unleashed dog is allowed to come defecate on my yard!

Just to clarify the only invitation I am really giving here is that if the picture below is of your dog, you are invited to come clean up it’s mess. With it I’ll even throw in a complimentary leash!:-)

It is never a dull moment around here…!

Tomorrow I’ll have to discuss the onion smells.

“Down on the Farm! Out in the street….” Anyone know that song? Ok, well maybe the lyrics really are “Down on the corner…”, but it was in my head for some random reason as I wrote this (my dad would be proud of my oldies reference). Ok so today is dedicated to the little farm that is around the corner from my office. This happens to also be about two blocks from “downtown Hamilton”.  The first time I drove by, I almost slammed my brakes in complete awe. I saw goats and chickens everywhere. Later that afternoon I took a picture and sent it to a few close girl friends. In a way, this little farm inspired my blog :-) Truthfully I drive by it on the way to and from work just to smile. I’ve gotten out a couple of times and talked to the goats. Don’t judge- you would too if you lived here! Since I moved here there were some baby goats born. By the time I shot the videos today, they weren’t so small anymore, but they still frolic around in the most adorable way! I am glad that I waited until today to blog about my little farm because from my perspective, new animals continue to come forth besides the baby goats. I initially only saw the goats and chickens, then there was a black pot belly pig and I named him Wilbur (I don’t eat pig meat so I can get personal with them). Then one day I noticed a donkey!! Then one day there were two pigs, then three…so now I’m not sure which one is the original “Wilbur”. There was one day that I drove by and laughed so loudly because there was this “thing” that was super hairy and reminded me of a miniature “beast” from “Beauty and the Beast”.  Upon closer inspection, I found he is actually a goat. The reality about the farm is that you truly need to get UP CLOSE and personal to develop proper perspective of the animals. You see, even though they are on a farm, when you view them, you are on the street (my song lyric makes more sense now right?). When you are standing there, you can see them for what they really are verses the drive by glances. What I mean by this…is well…there is actually not a donkey on the farm. He/she is a cow! Yes…for a couple of weeks I have thought that this grey animal is a donkey! I’m sorry but I’ve never seen a grey cow!! The cows by my house (I’ll introduce you to them later) are brown and then of course there is your standard “I’m going to draw a cow” cow that is black with white spots…or is it white with black spots?? The hilarity of my southern country adjustment is that I can’t even tell what animals are what!!! What on earth?! A video I recorded from last week has me referring to the cow as a donkey. I need more sleep or something. What is so funny is there are times of the day where all of the animals are scattered and cover the whole field, then times where nothing is out there and I assume they are all in the blue shed. I picture it being like Noah’s ark all crammed in there together. It really freaks me out when I can’t see any of them. I feel like they’ve been abducted or going to jump out and surprise me or something. This is similar to when I lived in Colorado Springs and the clouds would cover the mountains. I almost had anxiety until I could see them again. I just wanted to know that the thousands of feet of solid rock hadn’t uprooted overnight. Thanks to Jesus’ words, this is a completely scripturally founded concern. (Mark 11:23) So enjoy the videos of the farm. My little “beast” goat is the shorter video. He’s cute. I’m getting a soft place in my heart for him. Random question but why do we automatically assume based on our own imagination what sex a particular animal is? I am unsure about the donkey cow, but certain the ugly goat is a man. No offense guys :-) 

A week from now I will be on safari in Kenya! I will have to study up on my animals in light of recent events. Pray that I can tell the difference between a giraffe and a zebra ok? 

In other animal news (what is with today??) I had another encounter with a country dog tonight. I went for a run tonight in a pretty neighborhood. It has lots of hills that I literally could not run up because it was like turning a treadmill straight vertical. I was warned to not go down a particular road because of the “crazy dog” that bit someone recently. This would be a reference to the dog I almost hit last week. It’s great when everything ties together right? Ok so I avoided that street but ran everywhere else. Two tiny dogs were roaming around unleashed and they barked at me but they were down a steep hill. Later I came around one corner only to encounter a dog darting at me. Typically in a non small southern town neighborhood, you first think “Could this dog attack me?” by running through hypothetical situations in your head based on the fence height, animal size, and factoring in an adrenaline filled jump. Your first thought is not a realistic question of “Will this dog attack me?” However, HERE…your first thought is exactly that! I tried to calmly walk but that didn’t help. SO…I got a great work out while being chased by this little medium sized something (don’t worry, I knew it was a dog I just don’t know the breed). The silly thing ran 3 blocks barking at me. While I’m certain it’s bark is worse than his bite, Coco’s bite is still fresh in my mind and I wasn’t wearing jeans. Speaking of Coco, he is so pathetic. He thinks he lives at my friend’s house and if he does get to go home, he barks loudly. I heard him crying as I went running tonight. If anyone wants him, let me know! In conclusion, if you or someone you know owns a dog in the country,PLEASE ask them to domesticate their dogs or fence them in. Thank you :-) 

In closing, I’d like to thank my fellow neighbor friend who responded to a text for a need of man hands to open my salsa jars. It was greatly appreciated! “Go for the banana over ice cream”!

Goodnight ya’ll!

This may be the 14^th day of my blog, but it is my 21^st day here in Alabama! What has happened to the time?? Well, this small town girl went to the big ole city of Birmingham today!!! It was thrilling but exhausting. There were 8 lanes of highway!! You hear that!? 8 lanes! The only cows I saw were on Chick-Fil-A posters and this HUGE ceramic one outside of a store (I MEANT to go take a picture with it…BUMMER). It should be noted that even though I was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that I was not raised in your typical Oklahoma upbringing. My dad was raised in the northeast and his parents both grew up there as well. While he has lived in Oklahoma now over half of his life, he is a yankee through and through. He’d never dream of drinking sweet tea or saying the word “y’all”. While I was raised to not take on any form of an accent that had even a hint of southern twang to it, I did learn to talk at a fast pace to which every true southerner asks me to slow down. Thanks Dad :-) My mom on the other hand was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, but spent her summers in her father’s hometown in Massachuttes.  Her father was raised a yankee and she was raised with a similar culture as well. The only piece missing is my mom’s mother, and well…would you believe that she was BORN IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA?!?! YES! Some part of myself comes from right here in Beautiful Bama and might I add that I get my auburn hair from her too? Still though, no roll tide needed here. My blood is that of the Sooners ;) I love my grandmother and spoke with her last night before my trip to Birmingham. I think it is neat to have a little contrast with my heritage. With all of my yankee blood that should help shed some light to my southern culture shock. I bet you didn’t expect that I actually have roots here in Alabama right? Shocking!

 SO I ventured out today and honestly there is far too much to write. I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. I wish I was kidding when I say I was in culture shock. I always feel a little of this when I travel home from a foreign country. I get over stimulated by the hussle and bussle and the bombarding signs of materialism at it’s finest. Today I didn’t quite know what to do with myself and I wandered in and out of shops all because they were right next to each other not because I was buying anything. I did get several errands accomplished no thanks to the frequent “GPS signal lost”. I purchased a case for my cell phone (Android to clarify), a new weekly planner, a steal of a deal dress, and all things for Africa! I attended an incredible church service this morning that absolutely encouraged my heart! I had read a book titled, “Radical”, by the Pastor, David Platt. He’s  a young 30-something that wrote this book asking some great questions of us as a Body of Christ and our role in the Great Commission. Attending the service this morning challenged me as his book had, and I left taking away so much. It was refreshing and I  honor what they are doing there. I’ll try to attend a couple more times while I am living in Alabama.

Some funny moments of the day…

I went into a mall at one point and I had parked in the Macy’s parking lot. On my way out to my car, a print on a shirt caught my eye so I approached the rack that it was on. As I did so, two ladies who are literally the next rack over start talking about me while I am in ear shot. “Oh honey you are in the wrong section!” Laughs and additional comments are made as I realize that I am in the Plus Size Department. I calmly flipped through a few more shirts and walked off. As I did I heard one of the ladies remark, “Her eyes got big and she realized she couldn’t wear none of these clothes!”  I felt bad, but I also felt weird they were talking to me, but not exactly engaging in conversation.

I had far too many eventful moments of driving today while crossing 6 lanes of traffic, or U-turning, or cutting people off. I was by no means trying to be that driver, but everything was new to me. Sorry Oklahoma if I gave you a bad rap with my license plate.

Lastly, I almost had tears in my eyes seeing the block long Whole Foods building. It was so beautiful and humongous that I had to take a picture. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that there were people everywhere. I just very obviously stood in the middle of the road pulled out my phone and snapped a shot of the front entrance (picture below). CLICK. Then came the awkward stares…then in great southern fashion as noted earlier, people talked about me and I am clearly able to hear them. This couple found in my picture, walk towards me and the man says, “Wow that was really awkward and bizarre. I wonder why she did that.” I could have hit him because he was that close…not because I would have ;) I then cracked up and felt a little awkward. I loaded up my groceries and headed back to HamaBama.

Ready for week #4 and looking forward SO much to my trip to Africa next week! From the country, to big city, to far away lands! This journey following the Lord is never dull that’s for sure.