Day 2: North Henderson, IL // Amy, Steve & the Gang

To all who have been actively watching, my utmost apologies and of course, heartfelt appreciation for taking the time to look even though I haven't been around.

The second day in North Henderson was comprised of visits to other places (Alexis, IL where I got gas for 2.51/gal) (the house/farm Steve's grandfather used to live on) as well as hilarity and goofiness from Amy and I...

One of the things we stated betwixt the two of us, was that it was great to be back in the company of someone who knew what the heck we were talking about. I get sick of re-explaining things to day-to-day people. Amy always knows - sometimes we just make faces and understand what we're saying. I think that's one of the qualifiers regarding if someone is your best friend or not :)

Without any further adieu... some pics!
So first off in the day (after lunch, where we grilled out, and Amy and Steve showed me that baked beans on a hot dog are amazing) we got to another farm :D This farm had work horses, 2 silly dogs, some sheep, and metalworking tools/stuff.

Here's Amy on a cool swing that Steve's grandfather made!


Remember those two silly dogs? I don't have a picture of Bart, but he totally looks like Sandy from Annie :) Murdock, however, looked like a mobile mop, and was awesome. I think he's a Cairn Terrier? Ha! He was stalking me around the farm... in a fun and playful way.



Amy told me to pick out a horseshoe for good luck: I must have very good luck, because we forgot to take them in, and she picked one out and I picked one out, and they're in my car hehehe (I will show you pictures of the forge and anvil when I get those posted - they were taken with the D-70, so they will be uploaded when I have a snidge more time and different internets... it's difficult to find time to post when I'm hanging with family I haven't seen for almost 10 years)

However, we ended up going back to the farm I was staying with them at... and got to play with some of the animals. Everyone was in a good mood, despite the heat.

The alpacas were actually coming up to me! ...Almost TOO close to get a picture, haha.


Amy explained that the kittens are in a stage where they are learning how to play fight :) It made for some hilarious pictures.


But the kittens and alpacas and pony (it was very difficult for me to get a good shot of April Buttercup, I'll try and find one between the two cameras) were not the only friends to spend the day with on the farm :)

Have you been introduced yet to Charlie?


I also call him: Charles-in-Charge, Sir Charles, or Big Dude.



Charlie is part-lab, part-great dane... and all AWESOME. He even poses for the camera!



Later that night, Amy was kind enough to let me post the FIRST North Henderson post... I find that it's ultimately a lot easier to do it at the end of the day THAT day before I go to sleep... and I've also recently found that doesn't always happen the way you want it to, haha.

So we hung out in the house for a bit, Amy made some iced Americanos for us (Amy decidedly makes the best coffee evar.) And she tried painting a cover for my sketch journal (which, for those of you who heard me say that and cared about it... which probably amounts to M@, ((haha)) No, I've not sketched yet - I SWEAR it's going to happen!!! hehe) but she didn't like the first version, and then she worked on the second version. Neither one of these did Amy like. She ended up stating "These paints just really suck," and I was like :( and then we laughed.

I was thrilled (though I think I found this out the night before, but I could be wrong) to find that Amy and Steve both like the Lapsang Souchong - or Russian Caravan tea. Those of you who have had my presence accompanied by my "tea library" will remember it as the "campfire tea". I left them with a fair amount of it because everyone else who has tried it has hated it :( Tea needs love, just like peoples! I also left Amy with a tea I made for her that has: mugwort, pennyroyal, chamomile, peppermint, and hibiscus in it. I will likely need to re-calculate the percentages, but I think the flavors work well together. I made it 'specially for Amy and called it "The Brew of the Western Oracle" - kept a bit with myself so I remember what I put in there :) I miss having someone around who likes tea as much as I do. hehehe

After the attempted painting, we went back to the trailer and were "cleaning stuff up" before Steve got back (we were gonna have steak! yay!) aaand... well, we decided on doing an art project together earlier the day before (at Blick) however, didn't have a whole lot of time... SO we painted our hands and made handprints, two each and then cut it in half so that we each got a handprint of the other AND our own print... and we're going to do an art trade with it, so we're going to work with the handprints and return them to eachother (I am so excited, I haven't done an art trade in forevers.. and definitely never one like this hehehe).

After a tasty dinner, we were all kind of bushed - we hung out for a wee bit attempting to get Phantom Moon and/or the American Gods audiobook onto my computer (but with no avail) ... it was put onto my flash drive... but I think I left my flash drive there, lol (oh noes!) because it isn't my flash drive, it's Reid's. Dangit! Well, I'll figure it all out.

I was very sad to leave, I loved hanging with all the animals, (I still want to take Cat Stevens, Jr. home, even if he is a bit of a spitfire...) and the obvious: hanging with my best friend :) I miss you, Amy, and it was fun, I have to come back soon, if you guys will allow it, haha.

Lesson learned for Day 2:

True friendship is one of the strongest bonds someone can have.

I'll catch you all momentarily, when I talk about Days 3 and 4...