HAPPY BIRTHDAY TASHA NOEL Carlsen HORSLEY

Well, here I am again, a day late on posting the Birthday Blog!  Always a reason you know - not because I forget the birthday day but, something weird always seems to interrupt my thought process on the day of!  Yesterday, August 18th, for example, I decided to sift the dirt out of an area in our yard that is filled with rocks that act as a drain area for all the water that washes off our concrete pad back by the garden.  It gets so clogged with the dirt that after awhile nothing will drain!  So, I muster up all this enthusiasm for the project - and diligently work at it for 3 hours!  I produced 3 sifted wheelbarrows of dirt and a pile of rocks and a pile of roots and weeds.  The rocks and dirt and weeds were so compacted together that I actually had to chop away at the ground with a pick to loosen things up well enough for me to even get a shovel in.  As if that misery wasn't bad enough, after I was done I noticed I had a bunch of "marks" on my arm - and a few looked like there were (slivers??) in them, but - oh well, I moved on and ignored it.  By about 7:30 at night I noticed how red and puffy they were, so I started looking all around my arm and noticed a deep red/nearly black spot about the size of a 50 cent piece on my elbow - so dad and I drove over to Brady's to see what his "take" on it all was.  Brilliant as we all are, we concluded I had spider bite(s) - possibly from the deadly HOBO spider - so off dad and I dashed to the ER!  Whoopee!  That's always a fun event!  As it turned out the DR.said, nope, not a HOBO - go home.  But, I was still nervous about the looks of all these little pussy, swollen, red marks from my fingers to my elbow, so I decided to clean every (bite) - I have no less than 15 BITES BY THE WAY - with hydrogen peroxide.  It took me until 2:30 in the morning!  You could actually see the fang spots in all my bites - especially the one on one of my fingers.  I think the beast got into my glove somehow and decided to bite me all the way out! YES, I DID FEEL SOMETHING - but being the persistent nut that I am, I just said OUCH and continued on.................................................(sweating like a pig)!

I've deduced from this experience that hand sifting dirt out of rock piles using a framed screen over a wheelbarrow is going to be what you get to do for eternity if you go to (you know where)!

So long story short, sorry Tasha. I will glady fold your clothes for a year (you'll have to move to Spokane though!) Dad and I love you and wish you many more Happy Birthdays!