Ahhhhh.....Vacation!

Well, it's finally here! This is my last day to work, before I leave for vacation! No more work for nearly 2 entire weeks!! I'm so happy. We are leaving on Tuesday for Daytona Beach, FL. After 3 days there, we are heading down to Orlando for the Florida International Reptile Expo or F.I.R.E show. It's one of the biggest in the country. We are planning on purchasing a couple of lizards to complete our breeding program, and you can get them really cheap at this show. I want another male, bearded dragon, preferrably a red morph, and Casey wants to find some female crested geckos. We also need a male tangerine leopard gecko as well as an male albino. Seems we have quite the little list doesn't it? At least I have a couple of days to get the house clean, laundry done, and to pack our bags. I've just about gotten all of Bear's things packed too. We are dropping by PetSmart this afternoon to pick up a few last minute things for him. I have a blogger e-mail account that I'm going to test in just a few minutes to see if I can send posts away from home. That way, you all won't have to look at the same post for the next 2 weeks! I sure hope that it works. I can't beleive that it's actually sunny outside today. It's the first time in a week that I haven't gotten out of bed to the sound of pouring rain! It cleared off about 2 p.m. yesterday. Worked out nicely for my afternoon swimming plans. I did about 30 laps yesterday in two sessions, so I'm improving. They had a lady teaching specific strokes to a set of sisters. I tried to eavesdrop and overhear the instructions. I applied the suggestions, while doing my laps, and it greatly improved my endurance. I'm thinking of signing up for those lessons myself now. Casey didn't get back into town until after 6:30. It ended up that their case wasn't even heard yesterday, so he'll have to go back again at a later date. He did emphatically tell them he'd be unavailable until after the 17th of July, luckily. We had spaghetti with homemade sauce, courtesy of Casey, last night for dinner, and boy, was it yummy!! After that I was absolutely no good, especially after getting up yesterday at 3 a.m.! So, poor Bear will have to have extra time added to his walk tonight to make up for my ommission of yesterday's walk. I sure bet he'll be ready to run today! I sure hope that everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend! Everyone stay safe! Just remember that fireworks often scare pets. If your dog or cat stays outside, bring them inside until after the fireworks are over. Make sure that they all have the ID tags on, just in case they become frightened and bolt away. For more 4th of July pet tips, log onto the Humane Society of the United States Website. Bear sure isn't afraid of fireworks though. I was out walking him night before last, and there was a little boy and his grandfather shooting bottle rockets that I came upon. Bear just sat down and watched non-chalantly. Never flinched, skittered, or anything. Seems he was enjoying as much as the little boy. He's such a calm dog in new situations. Now, my other dogs are a completely different story. Shiloh, my Jack Rusell is terrified of any noise, especially thunderstorms. Lola, the Cocker-Spaniel, was the same way until she lost most of her hearing a couple of years ago. Slate, the chihuahua, seems ambivalent to them, and the cats, being cats, couldn't give a flip. I don't have any real big plans myself. I may stay home and go out to our local city park with Casey and watch the fireworks there. We've also toyed with going into downtown Nashville to watch the big fireworks display there (it was voted 8th most explosive in the nation last year and is slated to be shown on CMT, I believe). Well have to play it by ear, since Casey has to go into work early on Monday. We may grill some burgers and hot dogs too, if the rain decides to stay away. That's about it for now.....tah!!