Weekly Update

This last week has been so darn busy...
First off, you need to know that I got my drivers permit yesterday! =D I took a three day driving class Monday through Wednesday, which basically taught me that motorcycles are evil and that I'm going to end up killing someone (probably a motorcyclist). 
Okay, so that's me being pessimistic. But that's honestly how I felt on day two of driver's ED. After seeing blood all over the highway, learning that 16 year old's die 10X more often than a middle-aged person behind the wheel...I would freak.'Cause this is me we're talking about, not someone who believes the glass is half-full.
Anyway, Tuesday night my brother managed to calm me down about the whole matter, and I went into my last day of driver's ED no longer scared to death. I passed the tests with flying colors, and I could've gotten my permit that very afternoon, but the place closed half an hour early -_-. So I had to wait to get my permit until yesterday.
Meanwhile, two days ago was my second day of marching band. As a band, we're doing so well already! If I remember correctly, last year, we didn't start backwards marching as early as the second week. We are this year, however, and the new rookies are doing amazing. In the low brass section, there's been a few changes, in that Trevor plays the tuba now and Johnathan (a once-upon-a-time tuba player) plays the baritone with Jared and I. Hector and Ryan are keeping their roles as trombone players, and the second tuba player, Patrick (I think that's his name, heh), is still playing tuba with Trevor. Also, we got our music for the show yesterday as well! It looks harder than last year's show, so we'll have to work a lot harder this year as a section. I know I'll be.

And now, for today! Today has been full all in itself, like a lot of Saturdays around here. I woke up around 9 this morning (earlier than I would've thought, but, okay) and after throwing the cat out and getting dressed, I played around on the computer a bit. It was when Dad woke up that I started in on my Saturday chores, which have been reduced as of late since my guinea pig passed away about a month ago. Since she's gone, her cage no longer has to be cleaned every week, leaving me with an extra thirty minutes, and so I was done with my work fairly quickly. Expecting Dad to take me out on my first drive then, I asked him about his schedule, and I learned he wouldn't be able to take me until this afternoon because he and Mom needed to discuss our Yellowstone trip that we're taking in two days (!!) while going on a short date at the same time.
And so, my plans tempered with, I decided to head outside and mow my neighbor's lawn. It's a job of mine, you could say, and I do it once a week. I'd waited two days longer this week due to the fact that I'd be gone all of next week until next Sunday, and so I didn't want her lawn overgrown by the time I came back. The sun wasn't bearing down yet, so I didn't think the heat would be a problem for me. Getting out the lawn mower and my iPod, I started in.
I was 2/3 of the way through with her lawn, when I spotted a squirrel in the tree. Now, if you were to ask a squirrel if I'm a good person, they'd tell you in a heartbeat that I'm not. When my family and I first toured the campus of the School of Mines for Oliver, I remember how fun it was to chase the poor squirrels back up their trees, laughing at them as they'd chatter back at me angrily. I found it so exciting when I would see squirrels, because they didn't live in Westcliffe, and I loved their fluffy tails.
Today, however, our relationship has turned even more sour. There's this specific squirrel that lives around our yard (or, I like to believe it's the same one) that is always scolding me and my cat for being too close to its tree, or something. I've taunted it, yelled at it, but it never seems to go away. If anything, it just gets defensive until I leave him alone.
And so, seeing the squirrel up there in that tree this morning, I had a good feeling it was him; that nutty ol' scolder that hates me and my cat with a passion. I greeted him sarcastically, complaining about how much I hated him, and he only got angrier and climbed down his tree a few inches. Now, being the photographer I'm turning into, I suddenly saw a picture opportunity. Running back into my house, I grabbed my new camera and ran back out and started taking pictures of the now more than irritable squirrel. Scolding me, the squirrel climbed further down the tree, about five feet from me, the closest a squirrels ever dared come to me. Alarmed at its boldness and beady-eyed stare, I backed up a step, still taunting the thing. Rootbeer, my cat, decided to take an interest then, and he climbed up the fence and swiped a paw at the squirrel. Looking back, I'm surprised the squirrel didn't attack right back, but instead he climbed a few feet up his tree, probably relieved to see Rootbeer loose interest and jump back down the solid ground. Meanwhile, I scolded Rootbeer for having not killed that darn squirrel while he had the chance.
Finally, when the nutty animal didn't appear to be backing down in the slightest, I backed off and continued my mowing, muttering under my breath about dumb squirrels that don't have a life. Looking back into the tree, I suddenly saw something that totally sent my mind on spin-mode. It was a nest. A squirrel's nest, to be precise.
"So that's why he-or her- was being so protective!" I exclaimed, understanding, and I tried to keep my distance from the angry mother from then on. I had been a threat to her babies, I now realized, and now I understood that by me throwing a rock in her general direction earlier (heh...cough), she would react violently. She was only being a protective mother.
And so I now know to stay away from that tree for a while...(here's some pictures of the nut). xD

The Squirrel's Nest

I had just finished mowing the lawn and dealing with the squirrel, when my parents finally came home from their date.
"Ready to go driving?" Dad asked, and we left thirty minutes later after I recuperated from the mowing. 
We started off in my school's driving parking-lot, which was completely empty. First, he had me just drive around slowly and get used to the car. He gave me some pointers on the curves, and told me to always try and have a constant speed, for the benefit of the car's I'd be driving around later.
Eventually, he had me move out to the real streets. Instantly, I became stressed as I tried juggling looking through my mirrors, keeping a constant speed, stopping gently...but at the same time, it was kind of fun. =) Dad says that by the time I master my driving, I'll probably really enjoy it, like himself (considering that we're alike in many, many ways). I think he's right, too. =)
Anyway, that should sum up this week. This next week, I'll be going to Yellowstone to visit family (!!), and I'll be gone all week. Prepare yourself for one huge blog afterwards! :D
~Kathy
P.S. In my spare time, the flowers around my house have been getting a lot of attention...! :D

Marching Band

Today marks...the first real day of this year's marching band season!! Whoo-hoo! =D Parts of me are extremely stocked for this new year, and what we're going to cover, and other parts of me...well, nervous, I guess you could say.
I'm a little worried with the set-up this year, for starters. Last year, everyone in low brass (like myself), was either a tuba player or marching baritone (I was the latter). This year, however, we got two new low brass instructors (which, we needed), and the one decided that this year trombones and marching baritones would be used. At first, this excited me, especially when Trevor (my section leader) informed me that trombones are in fact lighter than baritones when marching. But then, the instructor decided to give the trombone parts to Trevor, and two other boys named Hector and Ryan. Me and a new boy named Jared where the designated baritone peepz for the year. When asked if this would suit me, I said it would...looking back, I regret my answer. Sure, I love the idea of being challenged again this year with the baritone...but, really?! I feel ripped off. -_- But you know, it's my own fault, so there's no turning back now. And even if given the chance to do so, I'm afraid I'd be too stubborn to take up the offer, anyway. :-/ (Note to self: Work on stubbornness issues.)
Also, what if things go as they did last year? Our instructors keep telling us we're going to rock, and this year is going to be tens of thousands of times better than last season (which, really, wasn't our best year, especially in the brass section). I mean, they have so much hope in this year, that they've purposefully gotten what sounds like a much harder show for us this year! Sure, we need to be challenged...but humiliated I'd like to avoid, thanks.
Ahg. Well, at least God has a plan and knows what He's doing with this.But, let's move onto the exciting elements, that have got me grinning. To start off, this year's show sounds amazing! Our instructors have told us that there's going to be two groups in this show-the bad group, and the good group. The storyline revolves around the good and bad groups fighting, and in the end, the bad group is killed by the good group. Oh, and I'm on the bad team! Yeah, maybe I shouldn't be so excited for such a role...but hey, at the end I get 'killed' off anyway. :P
Also, this year should be a lot easier on me...or, so I tell myself, anyway. I have a year of experience under my belt now, and I've grown a lot in the past year, I'd say. I now know ahead of time that the only way I'm going to succeed is if I work at home a lot. No, not just working on the music-that was the easy part last year. The worst part of marching band for me last year was holding the horn up at all times. Apparently, I'm weaker than I once imagined. Towards the end of the year, I figured this out, and began doing push-ups and laps by myself at home. It totally did wonders on me. By the end of last year, I could run the laps and not die from exhaustion. And so, I've already started this process for myself here at home for this upcoming year, and when we ran the lap today...let's just say I didn't die. Exactly my goal. =)
Oh, and another contributing factor...I'm not the youngest one anymore! I have other people to help out now. Although I don't want to be the section leader (too big of a title for me...I'd bang myself up at every mistake I made leading!) I think I'll have fun this year guiding the new kids. =)
And so, this concludes my mixed feelings over marching band this year...! Be prepared, my journal entries are probably going to turn into a lot of rambling about marching band and how it's going. I know that's how it went last year, haha. =)
~Kathy

Hard Labor and Clean Music

Today has been spent mainly outside, working. And although I don't generally like work-let alone hard work-I can actually say I had a pretty good day. =)
Cindy, the lady we rent from, was the reason I worked today. She's like my Dad in that she's the kind of person that likes things looking perfect, clean, and overall amazing. This of course means a lot of work on her part (for it does for my Dad). Before she came to work on my family's yard, she told me that she'd hire me to help her today. I decided I might as well, considering I have all summer to play around on the computer.
At about 9:30 this morning, Cindy and I started on our job, where we were laying wood-chips from across the street onto the bare parts of my family's front yard, to help keep the weeds from growing and to make the yard look nicer. While she arranged the wood-chips on the ground, I loaded and re-loaded the wheelbarrow, going back and forth. We took a lunch break, two long breaks, and I know I took a lot of one minute breaks between the loads. The temperature's high today went up above 90 degrees, and 90 degrees is hot where I live. Thankfully, some amazing clouds blocked the sun's harsh rays from after lunch until the end of the day. =) Cindy's still working out there, but she said I could go in...I don't know how she's still alive, to be honest.

As I was working today (totally changing the subject, FYI), I began to ponder all my summers at this house. My family and I have only lived in this house for three years, and this is my fourth summer here. I decided that my summers should be called, "The 'Getting-To-Know-You' Summer", "The Mathematics Summer", and "The Marching Band Summer".
The first one's name came from it being my first summer here, in a totally new landscape. We had just moved from the mountains that first summer, and we now live in the city. It was a hard summer that year, having no friends, but looking back I'm glad we moved. =)
The second summer's name is due to the fact that I did math over the summer. You could say it was summer school, but I wasn't doing math because I'd been behind in school; I was taking pre-algebra so that I could be a year ahead come the next school year. We went through a good chunk of the textbook that summer, which says something, considering schools these days can't get through a textbook too often when they have nine months. I mean, really. That's a fail on their part.
Last summer is now referred to as it is, because it was my first summer of marching band. No one else in my family, nor any friends had ever been in marching band, and so it was a complete new experience for me. It was a hard summer again, but I'm so glad I went though it. I grew so much last summer, not only in my trombone playing, but in my character. I'm taking marching band again this year, mainly because I enjoy being challenged every now and then, and though most people would say marching band can't be qualified as a sport, I'd say it has a way of being tough. Especially on 'wimpy' people like me, haha. =)
Now why I just told you all of this, I've no idea. But I felt like sharing a piece of me. Hmm, somehow I get the feeling that's the whole point of this blog... =D

Anyway, speaking about titles, you're probably wondering about this blog's title of "Hard Labor and Clean Music". I mean, I've talked about hard labor and my past three summers, but not clean music...
 Well, today I came across a clean romance song, teaching a valuable lesson, and I love it so much I felt like sharing about it somewhere ^_^ The song's called, "Just A Kiss", by Lady Antebellum, whom I didn't even know existed until today. When I first heard it, I was skeptical about it staying clean; after all, the lyrics say at one point, 'It's hard to hold back when I'm holding you.'
Immediately, my mind went on red alert, and inside I died like I do every time something that seems good-like a book or song-turns bad. But then, I heard the whole song...it's about not having sex before marriage! Not the other way around! And I was like, "whoa, it's clean!!! A clean romance song teaching a lesson about waiting! EEK!"
Yes. I got overly excited. ^_^ But, I mean, the ending lyrics say, "Let's do this right. Just a kiss goodnight." Meaning, nothing more than a kiss, 'cause anything more right now is wrong.
Oh, geez...I need to take a chill pill =)
 Anyway, that's all for tonight! Laterz!
~Kathy

The First Week

Well...the first week of summer is about to come to a close! And boy, has it been a blast...! Since I've got nothing better to do, I'll go ahead and tell you all about it. =)
Monday was Memorial Day (duh), and so Dad and I decided to do something together that day (Mom had volunteered to work at her job, and Oliver was working on a work/school project). After pondering our choices, we decided to go up the road about an hour and hike in this park/mountain area. We'd heard from some family members that it was a very beautiful hike, and so I eagerly brought along the camera.

The three mountains

When we got there, we were faced with what looked like a field of wild grass, with three large mountains hanging above us. It looked like it was about to rain, and so Dad warned me that we might not be able to stay for very long. With that said, we headed up the trail, with me stopping every few minutes to take pictures of the wild flowers. The only wildlife we saw was a gigantic bee the size of a quarter, a group of caterpillars, and we heard some ravens scolding each other.

The quarter-sized bee! D:

The caterpillars...be disgusted =D

 

 

 

 

Random wildflowers

After a while, Dad and I started heading up into the mountains. It seemed like a rather simple hike at the time, although towards the end of the trail it got a little tough. However, we finally reached the end of the trail, and we stopped to rest on the pile of boulders as we looked out into the city down below us, where we could still hear firetrucks blaring down below, even after getting 'deep' into the forest. We probably rested there for five minutes before we decided it might be a good time for us to try and find our way back down, when we saw a couple and their dog climbing up the trail we had just come from.

The Rocky Rest Stop

"There's another trail higher up that'll lead you safely down," the male told us, "but you'll have to be mountains goats and climb over these boulders for a bit."
"You game, Kathy?" Dad asked, and I nodded. We followed after the couple then, but it wasn't long before we lost them. They were fast, I tell ya! 'Sides, the rocks we had to climb over weren't rocks, they were boulders.
From then on, Dad and I struggled to find this 'supposed' trail for probably a good thirty minutes, getting lost multiple times while we were at it.
Finally, we found what looked like a trail, and when we heard voices heading up the trail and saw faces, we knew we'd found what we'd been looking for. Breathing a sigh of relief, we immediately took to the new-found trail, and I again began taking pictures, now that I could use both hands to take pictures instead of pull myself up boulders.
We got home from our little adventure that day at four, me totally wiped out, but happy. It had been quite the adventure, even though we'd gotten lost, and I wouldn't trade that experience for another. =)

Oh geez...I'm only to Tuesday! Heh, I'll try an' shorten the days up for ya.
Tuesday for me was basically a work day. No, it wasn't the 'cleaning around the house' work day, nor was it working at a job. For the summer, I'm planning on making a lot of music videos. Music videos are videos and/or pictures being put to a song. In this case, I put family pictures and a few of our videos together with a song called September, by the band, Daughtry. Although I didn't finish this project on Tuesday, a good part of my day was spent scanning photos from the photo albums onto the computer and placing them into my music video.
Also on Tuesday, I made myself breakfast. Usually when I do so, I make pancakes, eggs, and bacon; you know, the usual. But I wanted something different that day, and so I eventually made myself Sunny-D pancakes (we were out of milk, so I put Sunny-D in its place...) and the best omelet ever invented! It consisted of two eggs, a lot of cheese (too much, actually), some tomato, lettuce, and a torn up piece of lunch meat. Very tasty! =)

Wednesday! Like Tuesday, a good part of my day was spent working on my music video, where I was making headway. Sometime in the afternoon (don't know when), the doorbell rang, where there was  a package from Amazon. I totally freaked out, because I knew what was in the package...
My new camera!!!!!! =D I had actually bought myself my very own camera, so that when my trip to Yellowstone came this summer, I wouldn't always have to steal my parents' camera, but I could have my own. My aunt who loves photography had helped me pick it out, so I knew it'd probably suit me well. Quickly, I opened the box to find a very small and delicate looking camera, the color of aqua. After fiddling around with it some, I learned that it didn't take batteries, but had its own battery thing that you could charge in the charger also given to me. Stealing one of my parents' camera's memory card, I turned on the camera and began playing around with it. I totally love it ^_^ .
Also on Wednesday, my youth group meant. Wednesday is usually the day we meet, but I haven't gone for a good month or two due to it having ended for a while (end of school year stuff), and because of lame excuses I've come to forget. Although the kids are nice enough in my youth group, I just don't feel like I belong there. For example, the kind of stuff we talk about is too easy for me, and yet it goes above my small group class's head. And so I often find myself not going on a given Wednesday.
Anyway, the only reason I went this Wednesday, is because the high school was welcoming in the new freshmen of the year, and a few of these freshmen are my friends in church. Wanting to be there because of them, I forced myself to go and not look too shy as I walked into my group. I had a feeling I was bound to be scolded from the kids on having not been there for weeks. They always act that way-it's there way of saying they love me and want me there, but it's also there way of making me feel bad and even less connected to them. However, the moment I walked up to them, one of the girls cried my name and pummeled me in a hug. There wasn't any scolding from any of them, much to my relief, and I was quickly reacquainted into my group of friends. In the end, it was a good night, and I had fun. =)

Thursday (almost done, don't worry)...! Yesterday, I finished my family project (YES!!!! =D) and went to my grandparent's house to bake cookies with my grandma! =D We baked these cookies called Banana Drops. Often when we go to their house, Banana Drops are offered, but until I baked them yesterday with my grandma, I had no idea bananas were in these cookies. But, not like I'm complaining xD. The cookies turned out to be amazing, and we still have some here at home (in fact, I'm going to go get one now!).I had fun. =)

And today has been pretty good too; I went out to eat with my Mom this afternoon before she headed off to work, and I wrote this.
So...not a bad first week. =D The end!
~Kathy