A Storm's A'Comin...Secure the Riggins!

It seems that every day this week we have had a BIG, LOUD thunderstorm in the afternoon. Today was no exception...except that it was gorgeous outside and all of a sudden the clouds came rolling in. I took this picture about 2 minutes before it started raining and then it POURED. I wish I had a better camera so I could have captured the colors, but you can see how it just got SO dark so fast! Nature is awesome. I love when God waters my plants so I don't have to! Thank you Lord for a wonderful downpour!

Clifford the Armadillo

So friends...meet Clifford. Well, I call him Clifford, my next door neighbor calls him Armazilla (Godzilla meets Armadillo). He is one of about 3-4 Nine-banded Armadillos that live near my yard. He is precious! He doesn't seem to be afraid of us and he comes to visit our flowerbeds almost every day. I have been trying to get pictures of him for about a week, but until today he was a bit camera shy (or maybe it is Ava barking like Kujo to save my life from the terrible creature). Him and his little brothers leave "tokens" all over our front yard and our driveway, which Tyler then throws in the flowerbeds as free fertilizer, Ava just can't keep up with our fertilization needs. I probably should be mad at this little bugger for tearing up my beds, but I can't help but love him. His little ears are the cutest thing and his claws are so paintable! I googled Clifford the other day and found out that he eats bugs and worms (not flowers) and so I figure he is just trying to help, right?!? He is so interesting, I have tons of facts about Nine-banded Armadillos, so here are some facts for those of you Discovery Channel/Animal Planet junkies:

1. Nine-banded armadillos are the only armadillos who live in Texas, they range as far north as Kansas and as far east as Florida.
2. They almost always have four identical babies (no wonder there is a family here and I am probably calling 4 different Quadruplets the same name - oh, sweet Cliff...s).
3. When they are scared or threatened they can jump straight up 3-4 feet into the air, that's why they are dead on the road so often.

The Calf Scramble

Have you ever been to the rodeo? Seen the calf scramble? Secretly yearned to be a part of it? I have!! And today - I got the experience of a life time. Chasing a calf in fron of a huge audience, cheering me on to catch the little baby...HOWEVER (didn't you know that was coming??), my audience was the angry road ragers driving down 518 that were honking at me to get myself and the lone ranger calf off the road. He wandered onto 518 while I was leaving the gym, so of course I did my civic duty to save the day. And I, no doubt, laughed hysterically the whole time wishing someone was with me enjoying this hysteric chase. I was accompanied on this adventure by 2 UPS workers, 3 random men, 2 police officers, and 1 other lady. It took all of us (who had no experience in calf roping) to get the little guy off the road and back in his pasture. Poor thing was scared to death. The most traumatic part for him was probably when some rediculous, 25 year old pale-face white girl DOVE after him, and missed (resulting in a face plan in the grass, good thing there were no cow patties in that particular spot). I looked just like those idiot kids who dive after the high speed calves at the rodeo. I don't know if anyone else laughed, but I certainly did, and I hope you are now. Have a nice day and YEE-HAW! Country girls can survive!

Spinning class is hell and the instructor is the devil.

Maybe that seems a little harsh, but that is what my butt and my legs are transmitting to my fingers to type. Jodi and I went to a spinning class at the YMCA this morning and I am pretty sure I only have about 3 hours until my legs go into sclerosis (which means the hardening of the muscle tissue, I looked it up). It was only 30 minutes of leg pumping, sweat dripping, techno beating butt bone grinding workout, but that was more than enough for me to discover that this class will single-handidly get my tail feather back in business. However, it might be a week before I can walk again, much less go to the next class. Whew...those of you who go to spinning regularly or do the 1 hour class - God bless you and hooray for conquering Satan and his fiery depths.