A Continued Monologue

The past week and a half has passed so quickly that I can hardly believe it is gone. The time I've been here in South Carolina is now set in stone and unchangeable... Strange thought, that.

I have been thriving here. Thus far I have not gotten a single (bad) headache. It has been hot, though, and today it got up to 99 degrees, I believe. Where did I leave off...? Well, last week Zach took Michelle, me, his nephew Kevin, and his cousin Tim fishing. Although not much was caught, (besides one keepable fish by Michelle that got eaten by the snapping turtles while we kept fishing, several small ones by the guys, and two snapping turtles by Kevin) I had so much fun. I just love fishing... I don't quite know why. Casting... Reeling... I haven't yet reeled in a fish yet, tho. Not a real one, anyway. I've only caught a tiny one before. The place we went was so nice, and I felt so utterly peaceful. I wish I could've caught something, though. That would've been very satisfying and pleasing. Later in the afternoon we went to Hardees, and brought our burgers, fries and drinks to the lake again. We sat on the back of the truck quietly and ate. It was pleasant... Quiet and pleasant.

That was Thursday. That evening we went to Bible study. Ah, the events and actions we have done are all jumbled in my mind... :P Well, many nights we have played Catch Phrase, which is such a fun game. When I played with Elena on her team, I won, and when I played with Zach on his team, I lost. We shall have to play again. And this time Zach and I will /win/.

On the fourth, which was Friday, there were many people around. I didn't realize just how many Ellerbes and Harrises there are... Still, I guess that's how it is for anyone who meets my extended family... There are so many of them. :P I was able to meet two of Zach's sisters, two more of his brothers, and several Ellerbe men and women. I do not remember them all!

One evening that weekend, we played a wonderful game of volleyball. It was totally superb. I don't think I have ever so enjoyed a volleyball game. My team won but it was a very close and good game. It was such fun. Oh, good memories. :)

Every morning I rise and go help Zach with his hogs. Not that I do anything, because I don't do much, but we gather apples from the ground under the Apple tree, and either make up slop from scraps and a tea mixture and old moldy bread (Their medicine for the day, Zach says; a good dose of penicillin. ;) or throw them weeds. There is water to be pumped as well, and carried into the pen to be dumped into the water bucket. It is so happy... it is so good. I so love it. There's nothing so fulfilling and full of good feeling as farming. Though I do not mean to make it sound perfectly wonderful... There are the times when Squeelette dumps over the fuller of the two slop buckets when Zach sets them down to throw over some weeds to the inner pen (where all the other pigs are. Squeelette is by herself cause she's kinda mean), and when overnight the wheelbarrow Zach just put two screws in lost three more, and when the pigs dump over their water immediately after it is filled up again, and... Not much work has gotten done... It can be so depressing. Yet I think it is good and I love it. The troubles in farming bring out what is actually inside a man.

Yesterday we loaded up the giant hog, Sire Zali Zaxif (and I totally don't know if I'm spelling it right) in a trailer. Zach then took Michelle, Colin and I to the butcher's where good old Sire will be butchered and made into sausage. It was the most fun thing to load up Sire. It wasn't too hard, actually. Zach backed up his truck and the trailer (and he did /such/ a wonderfully good job) to the fence gate, and threw some apples and weeds and such into the trailer, making a trail from Sire's pen to the back of the trailer. We all stood with pallets blocking any escape ways, and he opened up Sire's pen. Sire went kinda slowly, but as soon as he was fully inside, Zach slammed the door shut! And we were on our way. Zach backed his truck and trailer at the butchering place up to the shute perfectly and Sire was led to his new pen.

Today Aunt Penny took Nathan, the twins, Michelle and me to the swimming pool. I've never been to a public swimming pool before, and that was really nice. It was so fun being able to go so deep! I went into the 12' section just to make a memory, but it was kinda terrible... :/ I choked and breathed water. I was... terrified, if I would've thought about it, that is. I wasn't gonna drown, and I was /able/ to swim for that distance without touching the bottom - I've done farther distances without touching the bottom or the sides... But it's just different. I'm not sure how. Maybe its just knowing that there's no ground within reach below you... I don't really want to go back again. :P To the twelve foot section, I mean. The five foot section came up to my chin when I was on my tippiest toes and bouncing upwards on my toes. The twins picked me up and dunked me quite a lot, and that was fun. :) We also all carried eachother across the pool several times. We swam for several hours, and had pizza... That was a memory! And on the way home we had McDonald's ice cream cones and argued with the twins about being gentlemanly and not hitting girls.

Ah... So many memories... So much good. :)

I hope you enjoy my stories...