She knows just what I like, the angel on my bike.

The Wallflowers put on a pretty stellar show, as I was expecting :).
We didn't get to be in the middle, but we were in front, just off to the left a bit. So the view wasn't bad. Shayla got caught recording part of a song on her camera though, so this big, annoying security guard yelled at her, and stood a foot and a half away from us on the other side of the metal rail for the entire rest of the concert. It was ridiculous, and kind of put a damper on the whole evening. The sign on the door even said "no flash photography", and she wasn't doing that. However, people around us were snapping shots left and right, which the guard must've obviously seen, or he's blind, but he did nothing, just continued to make us feel annoyed and uncomfortable, stalked, the whole time. So because of him I don't have any nice pictures to show you all, sorry :/.

"Brrraaappppp"
Hah, in case you didn't guess, that's the dirtbike noise. Since I've been spending a decent amount of time with Tom lately, the morning after the concert and today, I haven't been a stranger to these two wheeled speed machines. After going to the hardware store to pick up his shock, we went back to his house to work on it in the shop. As I've mentioned before, there's just something I love about helping him work on things down there. It's in the bottom of a barn, so it's alot cooler than the outdoors with the lack of natural light and the cement. So it's comfortable, and I just like learning about what he's doing, and testing things out myself. We had to take apart some things in order to put the shock in, which required unscrewing and screwing of bolts, I helped by greasing certain tools up, and finding him what he needed when he couldn't leave what he was holding/doing on the bike. So I was semi-useful. I even figured out where this one thing went, when he wasn't sure himself. It took quite a bit of tinkering before it was ready to start up again, but we finished it after awhile, and he took it for a spin around the house and back yard. Personally I've never ridden one :P, I've never had the chance to really, and I'll face the facts, I'm not a daredevil. Another thing I like about working on things with him, is that we usually wind up having good conversations. We talk about the government, how the direction we're headed in can't be good. And how a vast majority of the human race is well, stupid/ignorant. We talked about alot of good things, but I won't elaborate further because that would probably be a borefest. It was nice though.
The way he talks about his dirtbike, and how he loves riding, makes me think there's alot more heart behind the sport than the stupidity people generally associate these kind of things with. There's a science to it. You have to get a feel for the bike, and learn when to break, what pressure to apply, where to go slow, and when to just haul, hahah. He's had his share of failed attempts, and has to deal with the painful, nasty rashes and sores because of it :P. It requires alot of time and care too, and knowledge about what's best for the machine. I guess my point is that everyone has their passions, and even if it's a dangerous one, it's better than not having one at all. Also, there's science and reason behind all sorts of things, sometimes we just need to venture outside of our own safe, cozy box, and catch a glimpse from other perspectives.
As for me, I'll probably stick to the excitement of reading :). But I find it invigorating and fun to explore new ideas and test out different waters.

So aside from all that jazz and excitement, I've been keeping myself busy. This morning Tom came over and we fed the calves for my mom, since she had to take my Grandma to a doctor's appointment. Those chores were actually pretty easy. Then we went to the carwash so I could vaccuum out my car. It's ridiculous the amount of rocks, dirt, and junk that have accumulated into my floor. So I put in a dollar, and it allowed us four minutes to complete the job. We rushed, vaccuuming at top speed, and we had sucked the dirt from the last floor mat right when tht time ran out. Conclusion: We would dominate on a tv game show ;).
Then we went off to Home Depot for bolts, and I wanted to look at paint. In case anyone was wondering, I never got my bookcase, because the table saw he was using to make it broke, so my present is on a little hiatus. I'll get it eventually though. After a quick stop into Walmart we ate lunch at Subway, mmm :). I'm growing addicted to that place, I need to cut myself off, hahah.

It turned out that the weather wasn't good enough for hay today, so after Tom took a nap and I sat beside him watching an episode of Dead Like Me, I brought him home. Tomorrow we plan on unloading three loads in the morning, and however many they can bale up for us in the afternoon. Oh boy..
As promised, here's a picture of a parked haywagon that's awaiting us for the morning.



Once I was on my own I did a substancial amount of cleaning, that really needed to be done. I always feel accomplished when I get things nice and tidy. As farmers, that's not the top priority of my parents. They're good, hardworking people. A little dust here and there, and clutter, doesn't bother you when you've spent all day dealing with large, smelly farm animals. You just want a place to rest. So I kind of take alot of the cleaning on as "my thing" because it matters more to me.
I apologize if this post basically sucks. It's past midnight and I'm at the brink of complete exhaustion. I felt like I needed to update this though, and keep my blogging moving along at a more frequent pace. So if it seems like I've been droning on or rambling throughout this---whoops :P, I'm sorry. I'm just typing whatever comes to mind. I anticipate a more thought out, concious post in the near future :).

♥ Olive