Anyway, we have batteries in our weather radio and it is set to alarm so it goes off alerting us whenever a warning or watch is issued. These aren’t just issued once either, the alarms and sirens do a great job at making you very aware of the situation at hand!

The somewhat messed up thing is that now Evansville sounds the sirens and radios for severe thunderstorms that could produce massive sized hail. I guess hail damage has been an issue in the past and they decided it was something people needed warning for. To protect their cars or whatever.

So now we hear the sirens for severe thunderstorms or tornadoes which normally isn’t a huge deal. Unless it is 3 am and you just fell asleep. You can’t ignore the sirens and alarms because what if that thunderstorm has now escalated in to a tornado or something?

So we both wake, head out to check that the patio plants/ furniture are secure and that the animals are in their homes with shelter for the storm. We turn the TV on to see the weather coverage (because whenever the sirens go off N’s station cuts in and does a weather update, even at 3 am). Once we hear all about the weather situation and are sure there are no threats of tornadoes we can go back to bed…

Unfortunately the town sirens keep going off and the thunder, lightening, rain and hail aren’t easy to sleep through. I mean Tater was even being startled by all the noise, she would jump at the loud thunder claps and was also wide awake with all the chaos.

So, N is able to drift off back to sleep a few times while I lay there being kicked, prodded and startled by all the jumping and startling inside my uterus. These sleepless nights are good parenting practice right?

So yeah, I am pretty tired and am also noticing that my energy level has begun to impact my decisiveness about things. We are still living out of boxes and N wants direction about where to hang things and how I want to set things up.

Really, I just don’t give a crap about anything much these days. Which means my floors need moping, carpets need vacuuming, boxes need unpacking, cupboards need organizing, the bathtub needs to be cleaned, the garage is a disaster of exploded boxes and all I can do is lay and think about how effed up the place is and how I just can’t do anything about it.

What is better is once we get home with Tater we’ll have all sorts of company here at the house. Do you think they will mind the coffee splatter on the kitchen tile and the cat hair all over the white carpets? —-

[and now an abrupt change of subject]

Yesterday you might have noticed how I was tweeting weird stuff, it was me testing out the live blogging capabilities of a new twitter plugin I found. The idea is to allow me to tweet via text message (if I have cell phone reception) while I am at The Farm and to have those tweets seamlessly show up here on the blog. You know to give everyone some sort of info about how the days are progressing and when labor starts. Plus, I don’t want to leave the blog all empty and sad while I am away.

So, yeah… Got the live blogging all worked out. I am also adding a few people as guest posters to the blog in case they want to blog something while I am away.

Oh and…

• Don’t forget about the live chat tomorrow on my web baby shower site. Stop by and hang out if you can. I’ll have photos to share and fun slideshows plus it will be a realtime chat where we can talk about anything.
• The mad-lib birth announcement is making it’s rounds to those who have said they would like to be included. There is still time to sign up if you wanna play too, the more the merrier!
• We still need more people to sign up for the Talina’s Baby Weight Contest, you’ll win a cash prize and all you have to do is guess my weight! Go forth and enter now…

[okay, brain dump complete]

The post What a night! No sleep, hazardous weather and baby fun… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

When I did venture outside I was loving the view of the lake so I went down to take some photos of the view and to enjoy the morning a bit. My mom and Dixie were already down enjoying the water.

We have taken Dixie to a creek before (it was oak creek canyon north of Sedona, AZ) and she was so scared of the water. No matter what we did we could not get her in it so when I saw her wading through the water at the RV site I was amazed. I took photos, of course. We threw stick for her to fetch and she had a great time.

We got the whole group together for a traditional group photo at the campsite, I was feeling a bit artsy- see how I got some pretty flowers in the shot? I thought it was cool!

All the animals have behaved remarkably well on this trip. We have had 2 cats escape the RV through the screen door but we noticed and retrieved them before they got too far. Gabby and Hailey will sit with us while we are driving down the road, all my boys (my male cats) hide under the bed while the RV is moving.

Here is a funny video of Dixie, we stopped to take photo with a few giant fake farm animals in a park. Dixie was not comfortable with the huge cow.

We visited the Dodge City Museum before heading towards Emporia, KS and had a great time. We learned about the historic buffalo slaughter that occurred. Apparently the government felt that killing all the buffalo was a good way to drive the native Americans out of the area and to end the conflict between the cowboys and “Indians”.

While we were browsing the shops I was looking at the rag doll kits. With them you can make your own rag doll like they did back in the day on the wagons. This reminded my mom of one of our relatives who was orphaned during that era.

Apparently her parents feared for her safety while they were traveling by wagon (since the native Americans were attacking the “white man” who were attempting to take over the land). This relative was left on the side of the trail for someone fleeing the land to adopt and take to safety. The only thing this relative had when she was left on the side of the trail was one of those rag dolls.

Here are some the photos taken at The Dodge Museum, some are a bit funky because of the lighting in the place.

After we finished up at the Dodge City Museum we headed out on the 400 towards Wichita, KS to do our mystery shop. Along the side of the road we spotted some fun “whirly-gigs” in Mullinville, KS  (zip code 67109). We pulled off to admire them and take photos. Basically the owner of the land shares political opinions via a slew of entertaining and eye catching yard decor. It is sure a sight to see!

Next we drove through Greensburg, KS, This town is significant because about a year ago it was hit very hard by a tornado and now it is being rebuilt all Green (as in environmentally friendly and energy efficient). We pulled off to take photos and take the sights in. You can still see the devastation left behind by the tornado but they sure are rebuilding! As you exit the town you get to see a fun little sign.

Once we arrived in Wichita, KS we did a mystery shop at a tanning salon, N was the one tanning since he is he whitest one out of the two of us. He tanned for 10 minutes and was told he wouldn’t see results with such a short tanning time. The gal tried to suggest the most expensive tanning session to him and wasn’t educated about the process or eager to help him through his first time tanning experience. As a result he had an awful experience!

2 hours after his tanning he was looking like a lobster and was feeling like crap. They didn’t have him use a tanning cream or any kind of skin protectant and he was even talked out of getting protective eyewear. We are tanning salon people so we had no idea about whether or not you are supposed to burn to a crisp, he did…

Check out the next posts in the series:

• Road Trip Day 5 – Emporia, KS to Kansas City, MO
• Day 5 continued – Kingdom City, MO to Stanton, MO
• Day 6 – Stanton, MO to Evansville, IN
• Days 7-11, We are here but the chaos continues
• Sitting in the garage, watching Ike blow through.
• OMG, we are actually living in Evansville…

or you can checkout the previous posts in the series:

• Road Trip Day 4 – Dodge City, KS to Emporia, KS
• Road Trip Day 3 – Logan, NM to Dodge City, KS
• Road trip day 2 – New Mexico to New Mexico
• Road trip day 1 – Arizona to New Mexico.
• We pull out tomorrow…

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The post Road Trip Day 4 – Dodge City, KS to Emporia, KS appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.