Monthly Update?

So much has happened in the past month. I'm actually not joking.

We started school on August 18, then due to lovely Tropical Storm Fay, we had two days off school. The storm was actually worse than everyone thought it was going to be, because it sort of stalled over my area and dumped a ton of rain on us. There were a lot of roads that were flooded, but the coastal areas near me had it much worse. One town had over 200 of its roads closed due to flooding. There was some flooding my yard, along with a lot of fallen palm fronds. I took some pictures on my cell phone, which is why they're a little on the blurry side.

Luckily, I have amazing yard people that mow, weed, etc. and one day I came home from school to find the yard cleaned. It was actually on the Thursday right after the storm. They are pretty much great, and because apparantly there is a lot of competition for lawn business, the price is right. As in not very much per week for all the work they do. Anyway. I digress. I did lose cable and internet for a few days, but all in all, it turned out ok. There were even a few restaurants in town that were open. Of course all the bars were as well. "Hurricane parties" seem to be a pretty popular way of passing the time.

After the storm, school continued as scheduled, and I'm starting to get to know my students. One has already been expelled for bringing brass knuckles to school. I just hope that doesn't set the tone for the rest of the year!

Skip ahead to Labor Day weekend: Emily came to visit! It was really perfect timing because the rodeo was here, which is obviously a big deal. I had to go to Eli's Western Wear to get advance tickets. That's serious. I think her favorite parts were Mutton Bustin' and the Calf Scramble. Both involve children, so it's got to be cute. The first event is where mean parents sign up their children to right sheep, and the announcer makes fun of them for crying when they fall off. Highly entertaining. The second event was open to any child under 10. The kids gathered in the arena (there were probably 100 or so...) to chase around 5 baby cows with ribbons on their tails. The kids who get the ribbons first get a prize. It's pretty great. There was also some pretty feirce roping and bull riding. The bull rider from Okeechobee qualified for the finals, which were held the following day. What a great, proud day to be from Okeechobee.

Another highlight of Emily's trip was being able to go around to all the local hot spots. And by hot spots I mean bars. I even dragged her to 8 Seconds, even though she didn't really want to go because she was tired. I think she's secretly glad she went though. It's an experience. We did stay just long enough for beer to get spilled all over my feet, then I felt it was time to go.

I also started my classes at IRSC (Indian River State College), but more on that another day. It's way past bedtime.