Long One

Well, howdy there. I hope all you Americans are doing so super well and are enjoying the sunshine for me. All of you who aren’t Americans, I hope you’re doing well too. I guess. Moving on! After Rostrevor and Dùn An Ri, Leo and I went out one Sunday to what we thought was going to be a really cool place to walk and enjoy the rare Irish sunshine. We got there and it was some memorial thing. It was still interesting but not anything what I was expecting. We (meaning Leo) decided to drive up the road see what else we could find. We came across an old castle. It looked more like a place soldiers live.....what’s that word? We’ll just call it a solider house and you’ll all nod and smile like you happily understand. So we went up to this solider house *que for nodding and smiling* and had a look around. It was a really pretty view of the valley around. One the way down Leo showed me his full moon and man is that thing bright even in daylight!! Irish white, believe it or not, is whiter than Karcie white. Sorry mom. I know that you liked being the whitest shade of white but the torch has been passed and the only way to get it back would be to make yourself a tone slightly darker than translucent. After I got my eye sight back, poor as it is it’s better then seeing nothing, we found a cool forest park that we are going to go back and explore at some later date. Pictures of all the above (except the super white full moon) click here.

It is funny how things work out. It was fairly decent weather two weeks before my parents showed up but since then it has been you’re typical Irish weather with plenty of liquid sunshine :) I got that from a guy in Belfast. That’s how it was almost everyday that my parents were here. 

Day 1

They arrived on Sunday May 4th and drove up to our place because of hotel checkin times. They went to church with me and my mom practically slept through church. Unfortunately she still had the afternoon and evening to stay awake. For some unknown reason I didn’t have my camera with me the first few days of there trip here so you’ll have to look at my dad’s pictures. I took them to the ruins near our place and then into town where I found out my dad and Leo share a similar problem. No, unfortunately is not their running abilities, though I’m sure my dad would love it if they could share those. It’s the fact that they both pee like they are pregnant. Now the last time I checked seahorses and a few other animals have the dad give birth. I didn’t think I married a seahorse and I know Leo’s not a girl. If he is a girl he has a big deformity below the belt. I don’t know what their excuse is but whatever it was, mom and I (we didn’t use the toilet before leaving unlike someone...) were grateful that he had to go and made a quick turn around and headed back to Cois Croinn. Mom and dad helped cooked dinner and after Leo got home from work, my mom leaped for joy and ran off to the car. Well, as much as a jet-lagged Brewer can. We all know how well they skip on the best of days. 

Day 2

After setting off the smoke alarm, Leo served my parents up an Ulster Fry. You’ll have to ask them what they thought of it other than there was a lot of bread. After breakfast we headed off for Cliffs of Moher. Mom slept just about the whole way there. It was really good having a chat with my dad and sometimes my mom :) I’ve missed them lots. It was a good but long journey. The highlight was Leo getting zapped by the electric fence. 

Day 3

The next day we headed up to Ards and introduced my parents to the grands. Mick and his girlfriend stopped by to say hi as well so that was all fun :) After a quick hello we picked up some lunch and had a picnic at Scrabo Tower. From there we headed to Giant’s Causeway. It was a much more official visit than our first time there and a lot less windy as well. I will say that my sisters are going to have a fantastic time touring this small island. Oh and Jaden too. Which I hear he’s super smart, graduating high school, and giving a speech at his graduation or some nonsense like that. That would make sense because he’s such a noob. Congrats man!! That is pretty cool, even if you’re not a full fledged mistborn...

Scrabo Tower

Giant's Causeway

Day 4

Wednesday we left Leo in bed and headed off to Boyne Valley while he headed up North to school, which he found out once he got up there, was canceled. We went to the Boyne Valley Battle Site, which confused my mom and rained REALLY hard on us. Once it stopped raining, we got in the car and drove (typical) to Newgrange Memorial. This day was awesome because everywhere we went there were no entrance fees that day. At least that’s what they said. Maybe they were recognizing my mom as the queen she really is. After lunch we made quick stop in the town of Drogheda and headed back to Saltown where we met Leo before going out to Ravensdale. Kelcie didn’t get her mission call that night so we got to sleep all night and not get up at 2 AM. Horray!! Maybe this week though.

Newgrange

Ravensdale Forest

Video of the Goat Whisper

Day 5

The last day my parents were with us was my mom’s favorite and I’ll tell you why. We went to Carlingford, where it rained. and showed them the medieval town street and leprechaun cave (which wasn’t open). After that we stopped in Belfast for lunch and to get some gifts. In Belfast it rained until my dad bought a rain proof jacket. After a short drive up the coast we stopped at Carrickfergus Castle. This was my mom’s favorite spot. Ah! Not yet. We looked around the old keep and walked the walls and went to the bathroom. This was my mom’s favorite part of the trip. She’s not pregnant, well I sure hope not at their age, just very cold. The bathrooms were very well heated. Remember that if you ever come to Ireland on a visit. It made my mom’s trip and it could make yours! After the warm up, we headed to Bangor for a pier walk and some dinner. 

Carrickfergus Castle

Bangor

Complete Map of Travels in Ireland

After spending some time in Ireland, my parents headed over to Scotland for a few days and had some good old Highland fun. We met up with them again on Tuesday night after they flew into Dublin. They were super nice and got us a hotel to stay in so that we could bid them a-due Wednesday. Which was really quick and super sad. Since I got here I've enrolled in How to Cry 101. I practiced on my mom and dad's shoulders. If that had been my crying final I like to think I would have passed with flying colors.

Not much to report on the daily day stuff. I mailed off what I double hope and cross my toes for is the last set of documents immigration people needed. We should hear back from them soon. “Welcome to our country!” is what I’m praying for. Everything else is going well. I have my moments where I’m sure Leo wonders why he said yes just like I wonder why I decided to do so much change in my life. For someone that struggles with change, that was a really dumb idea on my part. Don’t get too use to that though. It was the first one in my entire life. Getting use to being married is hard enough without all this culture shock. Marriage is good though and I still love Leo with all my heart. I want to say thank you to all who voted on my poll and HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all those motherly people out there :) I miss you and love you all!!

The Pinnacle of Cynical 

Some of use are probably wondering how I arrived at the pinnacle of cynical. 

Well it was the simple case of this equation 1002^678 = can you charm the knickers of a gothic fairy = no chance, which then in turn equalled the pinnacle of cynical. After a few other conversions through decimal, hexadecimal, binary, and then it was finally figured out and all mathematicians have also settled on the math of the title.

On the subject here's a challenge for use. For some it'll be easy for others it won't be so easy. Ok, so here it goes. So you’re a computer hacker on a mission and you have intercepted data from a SQL server. The data is encrypted 987654321. You intercepted prior communications and the prior communications said that the data is an Indian phone number. What is the decrypted number?? Answer in the comments and the answer will be in the next blog post. Hehe get cracking :-) 

It was great seeing Karcie and Brad or Brad lad and Karc with that beautiful arse. Hope you two had a super wicked awesome time in Ireland and yes its far prettier than Scotland!! No matter where you’re from!! Being surrounded by yanky doodles I’m kinda pickin up the slang. Back to Brad and Karcie, they drove here in Ireland very slowly. On country roads was funniest when Karc got all freaked and scared by on coming traffic tight bumpy lumpy twisty turny roads. Every, I’d say two mins, ya herd a chimp or monkey coming from the back of the car. At one point Brad near went through hedges at the side of the road because of a puddle covering up a huge pot hole but me and Brad lad remained calm and at the same time Karc and Kai screamed loud like they were on a super harsh, hairy n scary roller-coaster ride. For the next time Brad, heres a vid that will teach you how to use a roundabout properly, without upsetting lorry drivers or others that swore and pumped there horn at you. For next time dude, check out this video. http://youtu.be/a3W1JzWJ5Z4 Enjoy it will help. It was great showing you guys some great landmark areas here in Ireland and hope you two will defiantly return. It was greatest pleasure having use here, but next time Karc, your driving!!!!!!!!!!! ALSO CHECK OUT MY NEW WEBSITE http://www.tsrmedia.net/ 

Rainy Days And Sunny Days

Hello Earthlings! Yes, you are all from Earth so you are Earthlings. Well, except you Deidre. We still don’t know what you are. Anywho, Welcome to my blog.

I hope you enjoyed Leo’s rendition of blog time. If not, fear not! He expressed that he would not like to have the responsibility ever again to write a whole blog himself. So that means you are stuck with me for the rest of eternity!!! Or at least until you close this page and never open it up again. Whichever comes first. From now on he will only be co-writing blogs with me. I hope you enjoyed both the videos we had on the last plog bost :)

I would like to warn all you who do not know about European cars. If you ever become tempted to buy a Renault, be warned!! They are famous for their electrical problems. Leo’s car is a Renault and it is probably the quirkiest car I’ve ever been in. Randomly the lights in the dashboard stop working, including the lights that give the milage and open door signal. The other day it was so lovely outside I rolled the window down only to have it not go back up. So as the sun was going down we drove on the motorway with one window down for most of the trip. Luckily I had my coat so it wasn’t too bad, plus we got the window up after Leo’s pee break (I’m telling ya, small bladder!!). Now you have been warned!!!!

Very few interesting things happen these days. Something interesting that happened back home was fake Easter. I hope all of you had a good fake Easter. When Leo heard about how a certain someone was canceling Easter(you can’t cancel Easter!!! I don’t care how many times you fell in the sewer, you’re still not entitled to “cancel Easter”!!!) he got the idea for this video. I hope that you all enjoy it. Click here for the video.

I hope everyone had a good real Easter as well. Here in Ireland, we didn’t do much to celebrate Easter. We also had a mix of fake easter and real easter. Leo found his basket on Friday. I went to church on Sunday and when Leo got home we had our egg war and Leo have me a chocolate egg. It was good but nothing like home. Oh, and I won our egg roll :D

Last week was good. It’s been slowly getting warmer and a little bit more sun these days. One day last week it was sunny all day!!! I couldn’t believe it either! The days it’s been nice and Leo’s been off work, we’ve gone hiking in different places. Ravensdale, Rostrevor, and Dùn an Rí is where we’ve been to recently. At Rostrevor he showed me the bike trail he rode in his race last year for the World Fire and Police Games. It’s a pretty gnarly track but I think my mom could handle it. With her nerves of steel there’s not much she can’t do. I mean, not everyone makes it to the top of Angels Landing. 

Dùn an Rí was a nice forest. Leo said it was the first time in his life he’s paid to get into a forest but I think it was well worth the five euro. Pictures are here. The cool ones at the end were taken by Leo.

As I was writing this, I got my documents I mailed off to immigrations earlier this month. That’s the good news, that they were so quick this time around. The bad news is that they want more documents. Previously they wanted documents listing his benefit claims but since he doesn’t work down here in the south he doesn’t have any. Now they want documentation from down here saying that he doesn’t have any benefit claims. They also want a letter proving he has private medical insurance down here. Maybe it's just be but that’s really redundant because he works for the north where, being apart of the UK, they provide you with medical insurance. They know he already has insurance that would cover him but they want him to get insurance down here as well. A super pain in the butt :( Not much we can do though. 

Yippie skippy!! 9 days until my parents come for a visit!!! :D I can hardly wait!!! :D :D :D

Leo has recently become a Grimm-aholic. I’m being as supportive as I can because let’s face it there are worse things to be addicted to than awesome butt-kicking adventures and creatures. I know it’s no Pushing Daisies, Hannibal, or Sherlock but it is still a good 40 mins.

The other day Leo and I went for a walk to the gas station down the road to top up on this internet dongle we bought. It’s a little device that give us internet where ever we are as long as it has cell service. Anyway, on the way there I noticed people looking at us and leo had called some people dicks because he said they were looking at us funny. He didn’t say it to their faces though I’m sure he would have said it to their face if they weren’t on the other side of the street. I told him that it was probably because they thought we were guy. He said probably but he didn’t care. (you can thank me for cleaning up the language later ) About halfway back to our place some little boy steps out of his house just as we walk by and asks (keep in mind I have my sweatshirt off and am wearing one of my Perry the platypus shirts which, I personally don't think are baggy or super boyish but maybe that's just me) and asks, “Are you a boy?” I turned around and asked, “Am I a boy?” “Yes.” “That would be a negative,” I replied and continued walking away. Leo busted up laughing and exclaimed, “The cheek of some people!!” The whole way home I noticed people looking at us funny. I guess I should give this sports bra a 5 star rating for keeping me tucked in so well I look flat chested.

I have recently been looking into the process we will have to go through to get Leo a green card which led me to a phone call with a paralegal in California. Not surprisingly it seems like it is going to be a much longer and more expensive process than what I am doing right now to become an EU citizen, so I guess I should really moan to loudly. In any case it does sound do-able :)

I found this picture of me with long hair the other day and thought I'd poise a question for you all to vote on at the poll just to the left of this post(it's near the top, for those of you who cannot locate the poll). 

I have been volunteering once a week at Ravensdale Equestrian Lodge which has been a good way for me to keep occupied and entertained. The owner has been super awesome about getting me on horses and having lessons for my time down there, which he doesn’t have to do but does anyway. It’s really nice to be around horses and occasionally hop up on one :) I’ll have to take pictures at some point.

Not much but so is life :) I miss you all and hope well you all are!!! 

Home Remedy For A Hangover

This will be an interesting post for all use Yankees over there in the us of A.

Ok, so let me start a very wonderful post wrote by the little lad leo. Yes, you sure read that right Leo is writing this whole blog post and don't let that put you off reading as we switched roles. Kaiya is making a few videos for this blog, this one should give use a right ole laugh this video called words should have use pissing your pants or close too it!!!! and i don't mean what use call pants as to us here in Ireland pants mean under wear not TROUSERS. words video

So since the last blog post i got pulled over by the peelers or truffle hunters (police) or how i seen it ecilop (if use are spanners, that’s police backwards). I was pulled in for speeding but i wasn't speeding as such as i was sitting about 1 or two kph under the speed limit but the police see it as speeding for me as i have retard driver status or politically correct Restricted. That means I'm not legally aloud to drive faster than 45mph and have to display on the front and rear windscreen a big red capital R so other drivers know I'm a new driver or could potentially cause accidents as I'm what authorities call a non-experienced driver. HOW DARE THEY.. Although no formal ticket or points on my license. I just got a wee slap on the wrist and told to just play the legal game. Then the cops got called to another incident aww freedom. Back on the road again. 

We took a wee trip to Ards to visit my grans for a wee bit after Mother's Day (yep its on a different day here). Turns out she was in hospital after collapsing in a shop having a good ole Ulster fry for lunch. The docs could not say what caused it but it sure wasn't that fry as its the best food of all time!!!!! Sorry to tell yas all that......IM NOT SORRY AT ALL 

So while on that there wee trip up we decided to go for a fun walk at Nendrum monastic site sorta on the other side of Strangford Lough.  it has some kinda ties in with vikings and raids and such, but lucky for the irish the currents of that lough killed loads of vikings and smashed there ships but some got through. So we looked at the ruins of this ole place and looked at various things from the ruined thick walls like it was built like a battle castle but nope a religious stronghold of the drunk monks and well i guess i forgot the name of the thing its tells the time.. OH yes its the sun dial which told them the times they had to pray with weird symbols and such. I tell ya use mormons are lucky not needing to pray as much as these guys did poor souls they had over like nine times a day to pray and such lucky for those drunken monks and thanks to the vikings for providing or helping us have some nice ruins to visit and see and to get a flying squirrel attack me. AKA The Misses Don't forget to see the pictures and you will see..............Scary when she want to be..........This is not a good time to look behind you................................behin behin behi beh.........F**** Click here for pictures.

As i was writing this blog iv deleted so much and so many times to write nice almost legible english  but iv come to realisation it doesn't suit the irish at all. Then my second though was this is the hardest challenge on not offending anyone in the world, but then i thought no matter what being nice or really offensive i will not have happy campers in any which way i go about writing…so well most who know me well could guess what i was going to write but those leprechauns kidnapped and held me ransom until they make this blog so offensive or something. I will do my best to fight those little drunk feckers away from this ipad. 

So for all of you unsuspecting lads out there, don't go in the woods with out some teaspoons and maybe for a little bit of extra protection. A big bore .50cal long ranger preferably. If you go into the woods today you'll be in for a big surprise. They’re not bears ya gotta watch for.. they’re called cockadoos. Trust me Iv seen these creatures up close and personal. They’re scary. The only way to deal with them is with teaspoons because they would not expect you to have one nor will they see it coming. After all you would in a split second have it stuck in the unsuspecting creatures  eyes and be pooping out there eyeballs. Then feeding them it and hopefully it fecking chokes. If that fails you need to knock it out, tie it to a tree, and wait until it comes around again. Go to your car, syphon out a whack of petrol, pour it over the creature, ignite with any ignition source handy, stand back, watch, and listen to the sweet tones of the creature burning. Don't put it out let the mother F**ker burn out and make sure its dead by a shot of a .50 to its head only once the fire dies out...TAKE THIS AS A WARNING LADS. Don't say i didn't warn use..........Don't come crying to me if you see or hear these dreadful creatures just remember the teaspoons and you will be fine. 

This part is for my own entertainment Puffins Piles of puffins. Enjoy decrypting that and good luck with that. My wee mini Hitler will get this wont you dearest? And nope i didn't call you Margaret thatcher. Not just yet dearest. Hehe arnt i an evil one. I'm glad iv hidden that 666 tattoo in under all my hair... now don't be going into my village with pitchforks and torches of fire my village is already missing their idiot. They cant loose there eejit that would ruin balance of village life, and it will surely spur on the end of the world a lot quicker and I'm not a convert yet so hold on. Please. 

IF ANY OF THIS HAS BEEN OFFENSIVE PLEASE CONTACT SOMEONE WHO CARES ( DISCLAIMER if i get complained to il smile and make you even more mad how tragic)  

So you have decided to read on, thats good keep going. You may miss something important just bear with it. Well at least you made it this far and got through because now heres the bit you all wanted to read well maybe.....>  Marriage is good craic hard at times but by golly its worth it  that little ball and chain of mine is the best shes super great. Thanks Brad and Karcie!!! 

We get up to quite a bit of adventures some weeks other weeks not so much but there should be a heck load more. I think iv wrote quite abit but haven't really told yee all about it yet but just know its been great craic. On the next blog your normal author will have taken back the reins and will fill you in with all the missing details of what should have been here. 

This was her idea not mine. I'm by no means a creative writer or know how to keep it flowing nicely and thanks to all use getting this far and not being offended it means a great deal to me.

Tara howdy hows she cutting? Also please don't be in kinks laughing or pissing your pants (refer to first paragraph if you don't understand). I think you would be the one laughing the hardest out of anyone even if anyone else hasnt cryed,pissed themselfs laughing i can count on you cant i. Cheers tara your laughs will make this worth it. 

I just remembered there that day i first met kelc and the ball and chain. They though i was an irish hick. Haha, now the ball n chain could now tell ya i actually speak more clearer and more understandable than most in this country which i find very funny one thing I’ll always remember. Plus theres one more thing il always remember too but I'm staying stum i am an evil basssssssssssssss

Well if any of this long typed up pile of Shite hasn't made any of use laugh be sure to check out the pictures and Video by clicking on the links below. They wont be offensive the one you wished your read her words made them 

 so look right here ------> funny, words video (incase you didn't see it the first time)

BONUS FOR YOU GUYS ENJOY THIS A MATE WROTE THIS AND I BECAME A THIEF ENJOY

maybe you noticed that Rhode Island colorado and a couple of other states recently enacted new statuses simultaneously that both legalized gay marriage and decriminalized the possession of small amounts of weed (Mary j). This makes perfect sense in the light of the text in Leviticus 20:13 “If a man shall lay with another man as with a woman then the shall be stoned…” ——> we have just never properly understood it. 

SLáN

leo 

Rare Ole Days

Hello readers. Some time has passed, I realize, since my last post. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it. You see Leo and I went over our data limit for our internet so  they slowed our connection way down. Super slow. Google takes nearly 10 mins at times to upload. To stop us from suffering from internet withdrawals we contacted another company to come and install an actual line into the house for internet so we don’t have to do this satellite thing anymore, plus then we will have unlimited data :) I’ll spare you my angry ranting but it’s been since March 3rd and we still are no closer to getting on the line then before.

I don’t remember where I left off on the last bloggness so I’m just going to start with Cliffs of Moher. Back near the time of March first, on a blustry saturday morning we set out westward. We traveled for about four hours before we reached our destination. With many potty stops (Leo pees as frequently as a pregnant lady) and a near heart attack for Leo (he let me drive :D ) we made it. So with pee stains on Leo’s shoes (he’s not a very good aim), sweat stains on the pit of my shirt, and hair in my eyes we emerged from the car and began our adventure. The cliffs are really spectacular. Leo took some very nice photos as usual. I would suggest anyone visiting this island to go to the cliffs. They really are very beautiful. Cliff pictures here. The ones with TSR MEDIA all over them are Leo's pictures.

After that let’s see.....I got a letter back from the EU Immigration. All the letter said was that I need to send some more documents before they could pass judgement on me. Some of the documents are pretty retarded like a letter from this tenancy board saying that apartment is registered with them and that we indeed are the tenants. I guess our lease agreement and utility bills wasn’t enough proof for them. I should be getting said letter shortly and then can mail off the rest of the documents and will hopefully hear from them soon. A useless hope, but a hope nonetheless.

Then came my birthday which was awesome. Thank you to all of you who gave a birthday hello and to those who sent money :D Both were really appreciated!! My parents got me a keyboard which is awesome. Now I can play my boredom away! Watch out Miki!! Soon I’ll be better than you!! ;) Leo got me waterproof hiking boots, an irish music book, and a fly fish rod. We went out fishing the next day and I actually caught a fish. It isn’t so cool when you look at the 9 or 10 Leo caught but still! It was fun to reel it in.

Thank you cards have finally been mailed out. Finally. I hope that everyone got one. If not I apologize. I had a retard moment and mailed some without stamps and so when I reprinted them I’m not sure I reprinted all of the ones I needed to. Someone out there may have received two thank you cards. In that case, I am indeed doubly grateful as the two cards represent. 

A few days after my birthday Leo and I went horse trekking, which just a different way of saying we went on a trail ride. It was so nice to smell and be next to horses. It was bliss being on one again :) Leo, on the other hand, has a different story he’d tell. Let’s just say he says he’s going to ride with sponges adorning certain bits of anatomy if he ever rides in the future. He did well though, for not being on a horse in so long. We trotted, cantered, and walked and he didn’t fall off once. Though he did say that cantering felt weird to him the first time we did it and it reminded me of of Amy on Liz leaving her spirit in the dust after taking off so quickly. Good times :) 

A few days after our ball-busting adventure on the horses, I finally got my hairs cut!! Yay!! I can see again and it’s wonderful!! One thing I would like to mention, though, regardless of if my hair is in my eyes or not, the Irish are far worse about calling me a boy then the Australians ever were. At least the Australians could tell after seeing my face that I was a girl. Not the Irish. Once I’m declared a lad, that’s what I am. I’m not sure if it’s because they have horrible vision, I really do look super manly (in that case what does that say about Leo?), or the Irish are too drunk to tell the difference. In any case I’m not offended by it at all and actually think it’s pretty funny. Since Leo and I almost always get referred to as ‘ye boys’ I like to joke with him about how he unintentionally married a lad. This is even made funnier by the fact he’s a homophobe :)

Before

After

St. Patricks day we took the train down to Dublin. I would suggest that any means of transportation would be cheaper than taking the train down. Transporting from a worm hole in a black hole would possibly even be cheaper than taking the train, and would be faster as well. What was suppose to be an hour was 30 mins longer than it should have been. Another plus to dimensional space travel is that you won’t have to deal with snotty Irish children smacking their parents in tantrum. Let’s just say I was tempted to pull a Karcie. We walked around and enjoy the ambience of the streets. Lots of people from all over the world in Dublin for the day. We waited for the parade and then watched most of it before we decided we needed to eat. They had some pretty cool floats and stuff and lots of different marching bands, but I’ve never really been into parades but this one was pretty good as far as parades go. After that we headed back the long way to the train station and had a good look around. By then the parade was over and most families were gone and the people left were the ones looking to have some drinks. All this walking around plus the horse ride from the day before left Leo with some sore manhood. Nothing that some NuSkin enhancer and birthday-suit basking couldn’t solve :) To be fair, it has been so long since I’ve ridden that even my back was sore from  riding. 

Almost a week after our ride I went down to Ravensdale Lodge and spoke with the owner/manager Niall (yes Irish names are really weird) and asked if I could volunteer at his barn to take up some of my daunting free time. Due to a show he was busy and said he’d give me a call later that night. I stuck around a bit and watched this guy school a horse over some jumps and his dad came up to me and started talkin to me like we were old buddies, such is the Irish way. He found out my situation, that I currently have nothing to do while I’m waiting for my immigration stuff to come back and that I eventing in the states a bit. After his son was done a man named Conrad McGuinness came and talked to me. His horse was the one getting schooled and the father of the son had talked to him about me. Conrad said that he knew of this gal, Cliodhna Breen (pronounced like cleana, I told you Irish names are really weird), who needed some one to exercise her horses. He gave me her number and I called her shortly after we parted. She called back later that night and arranged to meet me in Dundalk on Saturday around three. We really met almost two hours after three in a coffee shop in a shopping center about 25 mins away from my place, if you walk. We talked about what she was looking for and if I could help her out. She said she would have four horses for me to work on the flat five days a week and that she would need me at least until June when her exams are done. Wow, the wind outside is really bad right now. It just blew over a garbage bin. She is studying to be a lawyer. She asked me to come by her place Wednesday afternoon to ride one of her horses and see if it is going to work between us.

Here are four things I’ve learned while walking the streets in Ireland.

1. Even though you’re surrounded by most languages found on the European continent you are still in Ireland
2. When you’re walking down the sidewalk DO NOT step in anything you don’t know exactly what is it! Even if you do know exactly what it is, still DON’T step in it!!! It’s more than likely poo, sick, or a puddle of pee that a leaf or newspaper got stuck in after someone threw it on the ground once they were done with it.
3. If you encounter someone along your walk and they mumble what sounds like a curse at you, mumble back to them! This is how they greet each other here. They aren’t actually saying anything at all (they can’t possibly really be saying anything, can they?), but they don’t want to be rude and ignore you.
4. Just because you’re a pedestrian doesn’t mean anything to those who are driving. To them you are in a military tank and if they hit you you’ll be fine. So keep your eyes open and alert for someone who randomly wants to park on the sidewalk or go to the gas station even though you are in the middle of the entrance when they made the decision to turn. They won’t slow down for you.

I would like to add a disclaimer that Ireland is not full of drunks, there is not dog poop everywhere you go, it is not always windy and rainy, Irish people are not stupid, and I am not always right. Though many, including the latter, of those listed things are quite prevalent as you walk the streets

For those of you who are wondering if I am the same old me since I moved away and have been married the answer is simply dug! Or as Tati would say, “Doug.” Tati you make my heart smile, and no that’s not suppose to be creepy like the way Kelcie imagines it. Then again she imagines things a little differently and has a hard time imagining herself as a person. to be quite honest, so do I. I still have my same old tick, whorloops, and quirks. I still won’t eat after nine at night, I still have retirement center syndrome (get up every morning by 7:30 and to bed by 11:00, thank Clay for coining that phrase), and most importantly I still don’t like brown sauce *shudders with disgust*. I have picked up a few weird habits from Leo like touching my fingers to my mouth unintentionally when I’m thinking. 

Overall I am the same person I was before.

I bought Leo two nice shirts and some nice slacks, and dressed him up. I’ve never seen him in dress clothes that actually fit him. His work uniform is huge on him. So it was nice to see what he looks like when he halfway “suits up!”.  As you may be able to tell, I am writing this over multiple days while waiting for our internet to be set up.....but after a few long phone calls and a random set of engineers tipping up led us to discover that our place is not able to get a phone line put in due to the fact that our landlord is cheap and doesn’t want to pay for the piping for the cable to be set up. This means that we have to stick with the internet we have, which kind of really sucks since our providers don’t have an unlimited data package :( That means I will not be posting on my blog as often as I have as it requires a bit of data and we need the data for Leo’s schooling. It also means that I will for those of you who like to video me, there will be much less of that as well. Maybe once a month or so. The last one isn't me!!!

My test ride with Cliodhna didn’t go so well. She had me get on her four year old gelding that isn’t very broke (trained). She does show jumping which is pretty cool but I had no idea her way of riding would be so very different to mine. We got in the arena and I asked the horse to walk. A couple of steps into the walk and he freaked out and started running around the arena like a crazy man. Bucking and all sorts, it was a little bit of a rodeo and every time I would just about have him calmed down he would freak out again. I couldn’t figure out what was going on until she said she rides him with really short reins. It was almost like magic, I shortened my reins a lot and he stopped freaking out. He was still a little skittish but was much better. She proceeded to tell me that she never rides on a loose rein. Maybe I’m just really naive or stooopid but in all my years of  riding I have never heard of someone that never rides on a loose rein. In any case I didn’t impress her and what may or may not have been the truth about her dad wanting her to ride the gelding for a few weeks before I start, she finally told me that she was looking for someone with more experience and hoped I wasn’t offended. Fair play to her as I don’t have any experience with horses with almost no training. He was a cute horse though and I hope that she is able to find someone to help her out so she can get showing. Luckily I will be able to volunteer a couple days a week at the place I went trekking so I won’t be so bored :)

This is Derek the 4 year old I rodeod with 

Today we went to Bernish Viewpoint and while we didn’t really like much of that viewpoint we did like the view after dandering down the road for a bit. We ran into Ballymacdermot Court Tomb which is burial chamber of some really old Danes that once inhabited the area. Apparently it had a roof but some of the farms years ago took the stone slabs away to use on their farms. It was supposed to be haunted back in the day but I sure hope not because I walked all around that place and sure don’t need any old small midget ghosts haunting me tonight!! I say midget because they would’ve had to have been really small people in order to fit into the tombs!

Well, that’s all from me this time around. I hope that all iz vell!! And that you aren’t still suffering a St. Paddy’s day hang over, because that would be called alcoholism :)