McKay Goes to the Circus

 

I love the circus. I always have. It reminds me of my grandmother, we call her Honey. Not every time, but often, when we visited her there would be a circus on television. Plus, she had these wooden circus animal toys that you could pose and stack and make do circus tricks - an additional treat when visiting Honey’s house.

Anyway, I love the circus. I love to be entertained. I love to watch, mesmerized as a daredevil or acrobat  performs. I love the animals, the glitter, the showmanship. I love it.

The circus came to Rapid City! And it was a GREAT one!

They had tigers jumping through flaming hoops

This pony act kicked it up a notch with CAMELS! They were amazing! One of my favorites.

Black bears doing tricks and looking adorable and dangerous at the same time

Tightrope walkers, flying trapeze artists, and this guy all made me hold my breath!

I wanted to be one of the acrobats hanging from a rope or a hoop a la cirque du soleil. *sigh*

The dog act was especially entertaining, funny, and adorable – terriers doing flips, dancing, leapfrogging, and catching loops around their necks!

The elephants are always amazing – just watching them move is captivating.

They finished the circus with the giant steel Globe of Death! You know, the one with the guy on the motorcycle doing loops inside a steel cage. Awesome, right? Well, even more awesome with THREE motorcycles! And even MORE awesome with FOUR!! WOW!!

There were other acts as well that were all very entertaining. It was a quality circus! I am so thrilled to have such quality entertainment come to little ol’ Rapid City!

Howards in South Dakota

South Dakota blessed these Texans with beautiful weather! It was sunny and high 50s/low 60s most of the time. Excellent.

In addition to our touristic trips, visiting Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, and the Badlands, Mom and Dad helped around the  house in a MAJOR way! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We had a great time and the Black Hills of South Dakota may draw them back again this summer… :-)

We saw the base

We visited Mount Rushmore.

We drove through Custer State Park

 

We went to the Badlands

Saw Bison

Enjoyed the patio section of Menard’s home improvement store.

Took a load to the city dump and were amazed at the crusher truck

The following is more for Rob to see the changes in the house since the Howards swooped.

Cleaned up the sunroom space

Fixed the handle on the sliding glass door, put felt stickies on the bathroom cabinets, weeded and trimmed the bushes and trellises, and set up the hammock stand (I have already basked in the sun today)

Cleaned the greenhouse and planted some seedlings in the earthboxes

Cut wood, made face frames, backs, and feet. And cleaned out the garage

We had a great time!!!! Thank you!!

I’ve Been Keeping Myself Busy

When fellow military spouses find out I don’t have a full-time job or kids, they look a little concerned. I assure them that I find plenty to do for myself and not to worry – I’m passing that along to you as well.

For one thing, I’m teaching yoga at LEAST four times a week, but usually five or six. That keeps me pretty busy as each class has a different focus and different people. I always prepare a plan for each class, whether I follow it or not – flexibility and living in the moment are acted out daily!

I’m preparing the plants to go in the greenhouse, transplanting to larger pots and rearranging the greenhouse to accommodate my seedlings until it’s safe to plant them outside (after Memorial Day! Only three months of growing season here! Yikes.)

Of course, I’m waiting a little longer before putting the plants in the greenhouse because it’s currently snowing outside. Yup. That’s right now.

I also had a friend over to help me cut plywood to make more boxes for storage. Here’s all my cuts made.

I’m making more of these boxes. I hope to be able to stack them in whatever configuration fits best in whatever house we live. I’m also making two “double wide” ones to fit bigger items. Next time, I might try a couple “double high” ones.

They’re all in four-sided box form now. When the weather gets warmer, I will attach the feet, backs, face frames, and doors. I’m also making an upholstered top for these three to make a bench. Since I adore antique hardware, I have grand plans of finding the most interesting and cool knobs and handles and latches! (rather than cutting shapes for handles like the above boxes).

I have also finished painting the wall in the living room, and am spray painting the outdated chandelier.

I’m getting excited because my B-1 painting from TM Gand (see facebook album at link) is almost finished! Once that arrives I can hang art in the living room and have a MUCH more decorated feel in the house! By the way, she sells prints of all her paintings, if you want a B-1 too…

At least once a week, I have one or two other “spouse-less” ladies over for dinner to keep me enjoying cooking. (Cooking for one is not nearly as fun after a week or more).

For those of you just here about my husband. Yes, he’s fine. Yes, I have been able to skype with him. Yes, I’ll let you know if he needs anything. And no, we don’t know when he’s coming back.