Life @ LPD!

I don't know if many of you noticed, but a while ago I deleted all the "Life @ LPD" posts on the blog. At the time I did so, there had been several police officers in our local news that had gotten in trouble or fired for posting pictures of work related material on their Facebook page. Let's just say it was mega inappropriate. Anyways, to make a long story short I decided to delete my posts even though I never state names or locations and only include info and pictures that the news has already made public. I just didn't want to take the chance of Dan getting in trouble...

I have made an effort NOT to post anything police work related for quite some time... but something happened this morning and Dan did give me permission to blog about it since it did not involve the human race!  WOOT WOOT!

I think I have talked about it before on here about Dan having to put several deer down this Spring either from getting hit by cars or other weird accidents. I find it awful that he has to do this, but he often tells me if I could see the amount of pain these deer are in I would put them down too. I suppose he is right... I would never want an animal to suffer.

Well, early this morning he got a call about a deer that had impaled itself on a families iron post fence and was still alive. Pretty much the deer had tried to jump the fence and didn't make it over. Pretty sad!!! Of course Dan had to put the deer down. After inspecting the property the officers realized why this deer had even tried to jump the fence in the first place...

 Curled up in a tiny ball rest a tiny, probably only days old, baby deer...

The momma deer had tried to jump the fence to retrieve her baby. Dan said this little guy was so little that he just slipped right through the bars of the fence. He said the baby deer was no bigger than Remington when we got him... that would only be about 10 lbs!

  How precious!

One of Dan's fellow officers holding the precious baby!

I of course was very concerned about what was going to happen to this orphaned baby. Luckily, there is a deer and elk wildlife preserve nearby that agreed to take this little fella in. A very sad ending for the momma deer, but hopefully a full life ahead for this little guy!

Thankful Thursday (3 Day Weekends)

Today I'm thankful for three day weekends! Aren't these babies the best! Since Memorial Day was last weekend and we got three days off... I'm so happy I only  have to bear through 4 full days of work this week!

HOORAY FOR 3 DAY WEEKENDS BECAUSE FROM THEM ARE BORN 4 DAY WORK WEEKS!

Mileage Monday

Running stats for the week of May 21st - May 27th... Holy moly! It was a hot one this week! All my runs were dedicated to the evenings right before the sun went down. PHEW! It is amazing how much running in the heat is different from running in the chilliness. Running in the heat wipes me out! Although I do feel like I got an amazing workout when I come home soaked in sweat ;) I downloaded a cool app this week that tells you when sunrise, sunset, beginning of civil twilight, and end of civil twilight is. It is a really nice app for me because in the evenings it allows me to know exactly what time I'm going to run out of light. Right now I can run to about 9:30 without total darkness. I just love daylight savings! Memorial Day weekend kind of put a damper on my running... but it was a nice little break!

Monday, May 21st, 2012 - REST DAY!

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 - Stretch / Ab Ripper / 40 push ups

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012 - 3 mile "easy" run

Thursday, May 24th, 2012 - 5.03 mile "tempo" run

Friday, May 25th, 2012 - REST DAY!

Saturday, May 26th, 2012 - REST DAY!

Sunday, May 27th, 2012 - REST DAY!

Total miles ran this week : 8.03 miles

Photo a Day - Week #19

Week of May 21st - May 27th

Monday

(80 degree weather all week calls for a Frappuccino)

 

Tuesday

("Mom, let's go to bed...")

Wednesday

(happy hour)

Thursday

(love waking up to this face in the morning)

Friday

(jet ski time with a 6 year old driving)

Saturday

(my buddy "Tack" and I)

Sunday

(Memorial Day wore us out)

Thankful Thursday (3rd Shift)

Today I'm thankful for 3rd shift! Yes, you guessed it! Dan got moved from 2nd shift to 3rd shift! YAY! Most wives probably wouldn't be happy with this deal, but it really works out best with our schedules. 2nd shift was a nightmare for me to adjust too. I hated working all day and then spending my evening completely alone, having dinner by myself, and watching my shows solo... Dan and I would go days without hardly seeing each other except when we were sleeping, but now I won't have to anymore! Plus, now Dan has decided to finish up his Master's degree since he'll be free during class time! Way to persevere Dan!

I'm sure this will be another big adjustment for Dan to get used to as he tries to sleep during the day and switch some of his part time work around, but truly I hope this will be a blessing for our family :)

Back to Blonde...

Right... I was all about trying to get my hair back to its natural color... which is probably a blondish brown...

But I couldn't do it!

After I got it dyed a little darker a few months ago... every time I saw a picture of myself with darker hair it just didn't look like "me."

Last night I gave in and went back to my blonde self.

What can I say... its who I am :)

Mileage Monday

Running stats for the week of May 14th - May 20th... I didn't run at all during vacation so I was a little nervous about starting back up again. I never know how my first run will feel after a long break... sometimes good and sometimes really bad. I would say this week my runs were just so so after my week long vacation. I never felt sore after my runs, just dead. My legs just never seemed to want to push me along... it was a struggle to get every run done this week. Hope the upcoming week is better.

Monday, May 14th, 2012 - 3 mile "easy" run

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 - Stretch / 40 push ups / Ab Ripper

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 - REST DAY!

Thursday, May 17th, 2012 - 5.09 mile "tempo" run

Friday, May 18th, 2012 - Stretch / 40 push ups / Ab Ripper

Saturday, May 19th, 2012 - 2.5 mile "easy" run

Sunday, May 20th, 2012 - 6 mile "long" run

Total miles ran this week : 16.59 miles

Photo a Day - Week #18

Week of May 14th - May 20th

Monday

(he was one tired pup after vacation)

Tuesday

(long lost friends reunited)

Wednesday

(forever stamps)

Thursday

(taffy log rolls make my day)

Friday

(some nerds for a nerd)

Saturday

(peek a boo!)

Sunday

(love this kid)

Gatlinburg Vacation - Parrot Mountain and Gardens

If you're ever in the Gatlinburg area you must go visit this place. I'm not a bird lover or anything, but this was seriously the highlight of my trip. This place is amazing! Pretty much Parrot Mountain is a place that takes in abandoned and abused birds so they have a safe place to live out the rest of their lives... which can be a very long time because parrots live 80-90 years! We took over 200 pictures while we were there if that gives you an idea of just how much we liked it!

When you enter the area it is covered in beautiful flowers and of course parrots everywhere just hanging out on their branches!

As you make your way through there are also other beautiful birds like peacocks and little finches!

However, soon you enter an area full of lovely parrots that you can feed and hold! It was sooooooo AWESOME!

The pictures do not even do this place justice... it was a very memorable experience! We spent tons of time feeding, holding and talking to (yes they talked to you) the parrots, but after your done you then get to go and feed the lorakeets!

I would describe lorakeets as much smaller than a parrot but bigger than a parakeet. They were neat, but we enjoyed the actual parrots much more!

This place was a hidden oasis!!! So pretty and peaceful!

After we were almost finished touring the place we ran across some baby parrots during their feeding time!!!

Ugly but kind of cute little things aren't they! The owner was feeding them and told us all about the parrots there! You could tell how much he loved and how well he cared for the birds!

I really did not want to leave this place. I could have spent the entire day there! The next time I'm in Gatlinburg I'll definitely visit again!

Well, that pretty much concludes the highlights of our Gatlinburg vacation! Hope you enjoyed all the posts and pictures! We had a really great time!