Saturday the 14th

I did not blog yesterday. It was Friday, the 13th (cue ominous music). But that's not why I didn't blog....I was not home! I don't really care out Friday the 13th. I don't think I am superstitious. Yesterday I went to Rapid....by myself. I really love to go by myself sometimes. I am on my own "non"-schedule which is super relaxing to me since the rest of my life is fairly scheduled by necessity.

We had overnight guests on Thursday the 12th. Kenzie and Whitney stayed over while their parents went to a wedding. The girls and I stayed up late and watched a movie - GAME PLAN - it is a cute little movie and although Cole had seen it before and enjoyed it....or maybe because of that....he elected NOT to watch it with us. So John and Cole went to bed and at 10pm (yes, I am usually in bed by then....see post on Insomnia) and the girls and I started the movie.

It was almost midnight when it was over and after I put our snack dishes in the dishwasher it was just after midnight and I headed to bed. So....it would have been Friday the 13th already but that has no bearing on anything....just orienting you to the calendar. Anyway, I started to go in the bedroom and the door was locked. WHAT? I jiggled it a little in hopes that John would hear and hop out of bed and unlock it. He did not hear. The door is not usually locked. I don't know what was up.....but I was tired enough that I just went to the couch and slept there. I could have unlocked it with a dime but 1) I was real tired and 2) I actually really like to sleep on the couch and 3) I usually get an uncharacteristically crabby comment from my hubby when I rouse him as I am trying to go to bed. Given all the reasons, I went to the couch.

I didn't sleep well, but I don't think that had anything to do with Friday the 13th....sometimes I don't...again I will refer you to the Insomnia post.

I woke up about 5ish.....John was in the kitchen searching for coffee. I found it later in the guest room - don't ask.....but it really isn't at all surprising to me that it was in there.....so again, no bearing on Friday the 13th.

I got ready for the day with the intent on leaving about 8 but remembered the the 4-H ID papers were due that day and although the pigs were "tagged" with the special 4-H tags....we had not done the paperwork on them or the dairy cows. Cole and I tried to remember birthdates, tatoo numbers, and correlated the pig numbers to the right pig...or at least we hope we did. That took awhile. Finally, I was ready to go and grabbed my camera....the batteries were dead...which I knew the night before and intended to plug it in but forgot...not unusual procrastination/forgetfulness scenarios for me, so, not because of Friday the 13th.

John said I could take his camera. The fact that I never know how to operate it caused me only momentary stress. I loaded up in the van and remembered that I had forgotten to grab my "travel cash" so back to the house - again, not unusual activities.

Finally, I was ready! The van wouldn't start. Dead. Deader than dead. So my hero, John, got the jumper cables and I moved the pickup into position and he connected all the cables and....and.....nothing.....no juice was flowing. My persistent hero got the charger from the quonset and a long cord to plug it in with and let it charge a minute or so and we had some success. Ok. So this never happens....but I must have left the key on the night before which would fit my M.O. perfectly. I am my own worst enemy sometimes and I can in no way relate that to Friday the 13th cuz....well....I just can't.

So I was off. But I had to get gas. The fact that I paid $4.07 a gallon - which is a good 10 cents higher than my last visit to the pump - is sad and disturbing...but not connected to the date.

Rapid was fun. I went to Sam's. I love Sam's. They had a bunch of sampler carts up and running so I shopped and snacked. How can that not be great!? I went to Target and Scheels in the mall and wanted to eat at the Olive Garden, but it was crazy busy with a 20 minute lunch wait....I can only assume that those people were superstitious and were concerned about the increase in fatal home kitchen accident rates on Friday the 13th. Whimps.

I elected to go to Fuddruckers (why do I feel like I need a swig of Prell when I say that restaurant's name?) and had a great burger and malt instead. Then I was off to Lowe's. Yep....most women would spend their whole day in the mall but to me....it is just a necessary hurdle to clear until I can get to Lowe's or Menards. Today....it was Lowes....cuz I had a coupon and....there was a huge cloud of smoke just east of Rapid out where Menards is located...I'm not saying it was at Menards....I'm just saying.....I had a coupon for Lowes....we will leave it at that.....It WAS Friday the 13th you know...although that has no bearing....just sayin'.

I finished my salivating, I mean, shopping at Lowes and headed out of town toward Custer. You see, the point of the trip was to look at a horse near Custer and to meet my friend, Amanda for supper in Custer - I just took the opportunity to take the long way. :)

I arrived in Custer a little ahead of schedule and still had 40 minutes south east to go to get to the ranch where the horse was, but I needed a drink, wanted water and knew I would have to order something to achieve that as I went through the Dairy Queen Drive Thru....what else would you order at Dairy Queen? Yep, I got a cone, dipped in butterscotch. MMMmmm. As I headed out of town that crazy cone started dripping all over me. What is the deal with that?! Friday the 13th wasn't even that warm. Whatever, I cleaned up as best as I could and scarfed the rest.

The drive was beautiful and to get to the ranch I had to go through Jewel Cave National Park. There were a lot of forks in the road but they caused me no trouble (as you would expect by now that I would take a wrong turn and end up lost in Wyoming somewhere) but most of the forks were blocked off with CAUTION tape. I assumed the forest service was a little superstitious. I was ok with that...it made my navigation easier.

I got to the ranch and all went well. I will blog about that at a later time. But, I did preliminarily buy a horse. The owner wanted to wait until he, the horse - not the rancher, was gelded before we completed the transaction and that was scheduled for next week.

So, back in the van and off to Custer with just enough time to meet Amanda for supper as scheduled. Oh...the caution tape was all down now.....and all kinds of military vehicles were spilling out of those forks! Evidently a huge "Training Simulation" was going on. So....I was stuck in the middle of a military convoy.....going 10 miles an hour with 30 minutes to make a 40 minute drive. This did have to do with Friday the 13th because...well....that is day they were scheduled to do their thing and the day that I was there to get caught in their midst. But I'm not being superstitious about it....just that's the facts Jack.

We traveled(?), crept along for miles. I had no cell service to make a call but by some miracle I was able to send a text to Amanda. I was 20 minutes late! Whoa! But I was safely escorted by the few (many, actually) and the proud - so all was well.

All in all a fun day. Friday the 13th was NOT a factor for me.