Not the End. Merely the Beginning.

I tried water polo but my horse drowned.

     As school is coming to an end, all of my friends are getting excited for their summer plans of relaxation. I on the other hand am awaiting a hectic summer. My summer is booked to the max with rodeo. I love rodeo so much that I let it over take my social life for the whole summer.
     I think it is horrible that some people don't know what rodeo is all about. Most kids in school don't know that I rodeo and may not even know that I own horses. I bet nearly every kid in Beulah High School could tell you at least five boys that play basketball. It is a shame that some sports go unnoticed. I practice just like all the other sports. I ride for an hour a day everyday and that doesn't include the hours spent caring for my horses everyday. Sport is defined as a competitive physical activity. Technically that means hobbies such as rodeo, dancing, and cheering should be recognized as sports.
     I am not asking for the smurf squad to come cheer for me at every rodeo. I simply just want kids to know there is such thing as rodeo. I would like for more people to compete and realize how much fun it is. As of now, I am the only high school student that rodeos from Beulah.
     My horse Dandy has the heart the size of Texas. He is always willing to give me his all. We have an incredible bond that is built all on trust. Sometimes, I feel as though I care more about him than my brother. I spoil him very much. After every run, I give him a whole apple and he gobbles it up. He has won the last three rodeos for me and we are currently third for the year-end in North Dakota. The top four go to nationals, so I hope to qualify for nationals again.
     You could be having as much fun as I do every weekend. All you need to do is start competing. If you live in town and are unable to own a horse, you are always welcome to come ride horse at my house. The only reason people own cats and dogs are because they live in the city, and they aren't allowed to have a horse.

Miracles

     Miracles happen in all shapes and forms. You just have to look for them. Whether it’s getting a lucky hand of cards, finding money, or surviving a near death experience. Personally I believe my 1/16^th Irish blood really gives me a fourth leaf on my clover. Through my years I have had three main miracles. 

     Pulver’s voice slowly fades into the background. Click. Those two? No I can make a strip candy there! Click. That pair? Whoa no there are more jelly over there!! Click. One more candy and 14 moves. I can do this. I can’t let my month and a half of practice fail me now. Click. I, I, I, did it? I did it!!

“Woohoo! I did it!!”

Courtney hears my yelling an immediately spins around, “You beat level 79!?!?”

We high five and Pulver gives us the eye.

“I just… figured out how to name that Alkane,” I quickly attempt to cover for my disruption.

Pulver’s chuckle proves to me that my cover was blown.

     Finally the raging water had gone down. Huge tree trunks filled the small gap beneath the bridge. My mom was on the creek bank and waiting on me. My task was simple. I was in charge of rapping a large metal chain around one of the huge logs. The chain was heavy for my arms that were much smaller at the time. As I stuck my hand in between two pieces of wood, I creature the size of my hand jumped onto the tree trunk I was standing on. I quickly ran for the bank. The Wolf Spider chased after me with its legs as big as fingers. Tears began racing down my checks. Once I reach the safety of the old wooden bridge, I notice my body is shaking in fear from my hands to my knees.

     Today is Lumberjack Day. I have never completely understood why each day of homecoming week has to have a theme. I hop into my truck wear my “lumberjack hat.” The sky is still pitch black due to it being 6:30 AM. Our FFA Parliamentary Procedure morning practice is the reason for this very early drive. My dim lights shine on to the continuous gravel road. I use my dims because they are brighter than my brights which are pointed straight at the ground. Suddenly a deer is right in front of me. I firmly press the breaks but the deer is just too close.

Poomff!! Psst!

Lost in confusion, I realize that the dust in the air must have come out with the airbags. The huge airbags make the road not visible. As the deflated, I see I am headed straight into the right ditch. I quickly crank the wheel left. The shifty gravel throws me directly towards the left ditch. My rims catch. I begin to roll. This is going to total my pickup for sure. Crack. Roll. Crack.

     It’s funny how a person reacts to these life miracles. Reactions such as over excitement, over emotional, and even over calm often happen. To this day, I am still unsure why my life never flashed before my eyes as I was rolling. My only thought was that I would wreck my prized truck. I had no concern of the face that I could die. If it were to happen over again, I know the second time around my life would flash before my eyes. Yet, I also know that I would still be just as calm because I know that my Savior Jesus Christ is in charge of all of the miracles in my life.

Addict Thoughts

“Doc, help me. I’m addicted to Twitter!” 
The doctor replies, “Sorry, I don’t follow you …"

     Urban Dictionary defines addiction as when you do something more times than a frat boy says the word bro in one day. We all are addicts. Some fall victim to Twitter, Facebook, or Snapchat. Others have a guilty pleasure of shoes, food, or spending money. We all have that one strange addiction though. The problem may not be as bizarre as the ones people have on the television show My Strange Addictions, but their is still that overruling question of WHY CAN'T I STOP?

     I am a true addict of Candy Crush. Most people have heard of the game or maybe even played it. I claim the name of The Ultimate Candy Crusher. Okay you caught me. My real name is Leah, and technically I have never been named such thing. I am an addict though. The true kind that wastes at least two hours everyday and often times more than that. I even play it in class. Of course there is always the risk of getting caught with my phone out, but      Candy Crush is worth it. I stay up passed midnight every night often just trying to beat another level. Recently, I have had a problem of being sick. It is more than likely caused from lack of sleep, dehydration, eating gluten, or maybe even a mix of all of them. BUT, Candy Crush is worth it.

     At this point you all think I need mental help, I understand your concerns and I am in the process of getting my life back. After I beat level 79, I promise I will work on playing less. I have been stuck on this unbeatable level since two weeks ago, and I have tried over 50 times to beat it. Mission Impossible will one day be possible. I keep trying and trying and I continue to fail. I have just come to the realization that the reason I wrote this blog about Candy Crush was in desperate hope that one of you could beat level 79 for me. I played three lives of Candy Crush before I got the motivation to write this blog, and I will more than likely play at least three or more before I go to bed.

All Tanked Up

What do you get when you cross an octopus and a cow?
An animal that can milk itself.

Watch "Tanked - Season 2 Promo" on YouTube

     Tanked is a reality TV show on Animal Planet. The show follows Acrylic Tank Manufacturing in Las Vagas. They are the world's largest manufacturer of customized aquarium installations and are owned by brother-in-laws Wayde King and Brett Raymer. Wayde's wife/Brett's sister Heather is the company's accountant. Heather and Brett's father Irwin Raymer, aka The General, is the office manager. Other regulars in the episodes include tank technician and plumer Robert "Robbie Redneck" Christlieb and sales coordinator Agnes Wilczynski.
     Unlike Duck Dynasty, Tanked is not scripted. The show is real. They go through common problems with things such as acrylic, pipes, tank inserts, and even sharks. My favorite episode is in season one when Heather has to put coral into a very small tank. When they get there they find out the sharks are already in the tank so she has to go in with the sharks to insert the coral pieces.
     The staff pulls jokes on each other quite often. One time Wayde gave the office fake lottery tickets. Brett and Heather thought they had each won 10,000 dollars. Another time Heather surprised Wayde for his birthday by puting a octopus tank in his office window.
     The first season is on Netflix and I recommend you all watch it. Last week it was on TV on Friday at 5pm and 6pm. I however have a hard time keeping up with TV shows so I prefer watching it online at Animal Planet's website.

Attention Awareness

If you are having trouble getting your kids' attention just sit down and look comfortable.
-My Mom

     Watch the video before reading my blog. Seriously! Stop reading and watch the video. It is only one minute long. You could spend one less minute on Facebook tonight to make up for your "wasted time".
      Awareness is the key to life. Stop looking for the key to happiness and just embrace everything around you. Did you see the bear that was moonwalking? Truth is 86 percent of people don't see the bear. It would be tragic if you were actually there and too busy counting to notice Kobe walk through the group. Maybe he isn't your main man, and you wouldn't care about missing the chance to meet him. It also could have been Jenna Marbles, and everyone wants to meet her. Girls think she is hilariously honest, and boys think she is hot. Hate to wreak your lifetime dreams, but rumor has it she is dating her new bodyguard mister muscles. The point is to never miss the details in life, because sometimes the details really matter.
     Sometimes you may be missing the little things or even life threatening situations. Multitasking is the main cause of unawareness. No I'm not saying multitasking is bad, but try to limit yourself to only doing two tasks at a time. Doing so will make it possible for you to notice a eagle, smell smoke, or even see Jenna Marbles. Take the time to stop and smell a cactus. That would be a new experience for me and probably almost everyone else. All people know cactus are sharp, but rarely does someone know what one smells like. Everyone in the world could explain the delicious smell of a rose, but only a quarter of the people would know that roses have thorns.
      Awareness is most important while driving, which is why we shouldn't text and drive. Now, I am not going to go and say I am perfect, because I have texted while I was driving before just like all of us have. What conversation is important enough to end your life for? Answering none is not being selfish. Everyone should answer none, because in all reality "Last night was great. I thin..." is not worth your life. Phones take your awareness away from the road. Just a few days ago, Mr. Zubke's girlfriend's cousin was texting and drove head on into a semi in the other lane. We are teenagers; we aren't invincible. Next time you go to grab your phone as you're driving 65 mph down the highway, I hope you consider the risks on not being aware.

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Bro.

Sister: My brother is a real pain.
Grandpa: It could be worse.
Sister: That's impossible.
Grandpa: He could have a twin.

     Since the legendary Cinderella, sibling fights have always been the main problem. Does age difference between siblings affect how well they get along? I have often asked myself this question, because of my eight year old brother Lane. I have friends who have siblings who are much older and younger than them, and they seem to get along better than my brother and I do. However, I also have friends who have siblings close in age, and they also get along well with them. Are my brother and I just not very "compatible" siblings? Do we just never really want to get along with one another? Or is there really some correlation between the age gap in siblings, and how well they get along with one another?
     There has been a lot of research done about this topic, and many families even try to have children spaced apart a certain way to guarantee that their children will get along. Many psychologists and family doctors say that how well siblings get along depends mainly on their personalities, not how far apart in age they are. Other factors to consider are things such as parenting strategies and children's gender. However, it has been found that children who are more than two years apart sometimes have more conflict than those closer in age. Often, the farther apart in age the siblings are, the more they will fight. Kids who are closer in age are more likely to spend time together and to share friends and interests. Siblings who have closer relationships in childhood generally have more positive times together. Siblings who are not as close and have conflicting personalities often fight more. These siblings can even carry their resentments and anger to old age.
     Lane is my reason for why I will be an angry grandma. I really do love the kid, but we have had our moments. When he was one and a half, he threw our house phone at me and made my whole left jaw back and blue for weeks. The phone eventually transformed into big metal toy tractors. Incase you were wondering, they don't feel too great. Last year at his birthday party, he was shooting me with his not so soft airsoft gun. My mom watched and laughed at us.
     I must admit I am not all innocence either. Several years ago when Jenny was over, my brother kept kicking us. I finally pushed him, and he fell on to a laundry basket and got a bloody nose. Three years ago I was shoveling the sidewalk, and he ran right into my shovel mid swing. My mom came running out screaming at me for using a shovel to hit my brother. We both bursted out laughing as we told her that it was accident and that I wasn't  beating him with the shovel. He now has a inch long scar between his eyebrows from that horrible accident.
     We usually are fighting but on one rare occasion we hugged. This picture is from right after I told him that on my way to National FFA I would get to stop at the John Deer factory to buy him a new tractor. What can I say? He is the best brother I have.

Dream vs. Dream

There was this boy who woke up one night with a nightmare. He cries, “Mummy, Mummy!” His mother came rushing into the bedroom and the boy told her that he had a dream that Grandma died. So a week later, his Grandma died.The boy woke up another night screaming and he told his mother that he dreamt that Grandpa died. Strangely enough, a week later Grandpa died. The boy woke up yet another night screaming that he had a nightmare in which his father died.The mother told the father and he became very cautious. He watched his health and treated his body excellently. So a week passed and the postman died.
     What is a dream? Is it your thoughts at night or your high hopes. These should not be named the same. I do not dream at night about my dreams for the future, nor do I dream of doing my dreams at night in the future.
     Having these two named the same may wreak kids confidence. It tells them that the horrible things that happen in the their dreams are the same thing as what they want for the future. Then, we wonder why children don't want to sleep.
     I have always had scary dreams that skip aroundand do not make any sense. At the end, I usually end up dieing. For example, our house is flooding and I drive the diesel pickup into the water and drown, I am in a sketch old motel and people chase me with needles, or when I am running away from a psychotic killer, I get suck under a fence and he stabs me to death. I have had enough bad dreams to count for 10 people.
     Night dreams should be named mistakes. Then, all of our "mistakes" would happen at night while we are sleeping. Often times our night thoughts are forgotten too. I would definitely enjoy sleeping through and forgetting all of my mistakes.