So, to help myself and maybe even some of you out there, I dug around to find out what these elected positions entail here in Kentucky, since we will be going to the polls later this month to cast our votes in the primary elections. Thanks to Franklin County for the summary of duties of elected officials. Red text = emphasis mine.

The County Judge Executive: Acts as the presiding officer and member of the Fiscal Court and serves as the county’s executive and administrative official.

The Jailer: Has custody of the county jail and all persons committed to the jail.

Magistrates: Serve as members of Fiscal Court and conduct business of the county.

Constables: Charged with and serve various court documents such as summons, civil actions, and warrants.

The Coroner: Investigates certain types of deaths and attempts to determine their cause.

The Property Valuation Administrator (PVA): Assesses or estimates the value of property for taxation purposes. (Has some secret formula you will never see to come up with your property value and subsequent taxes).

The County Attorney: Serves as the legal counsel for county government and represents the county when they are named as parties in legal actions.

The Sheriff: Acts as a law enforcement offical, collects real property taxes, provides court security, performs various other duties.

The County Clerk: Issues licenses, registers voters, and performs other election-related duties, files and stores various legal records and county records, and prepares county tax bills. (Is pleasant and always has a smile on their face).

There you have it folks. Hope you learned something. Remember to vote May 18 and be thankful we have a voice.

First was the consultation, where I saw more eye machines than I thought existed. It took a solid 3 hours to be evaluated and counseled. I experienced my first dilated eyes here. It is crazy how wide the pupils go!

I scheduled surgery for a Thursday in March, the beginning of March Madness. I planned to walk out of surgery looking like a pirate and watch the first round of basketball one eyed. It didn’t quite go down as I had planned, but more on that later. The only pre-surgery instruction was not to wear my contacts three days prior.

The details of the surgery can be found and watched online, I won’t get into the specifics here, but will tell you what I felt and thought through the process.

The aspect I was most nervous about was smelling my eye burning during the laser work. Jeff, my brother, had LASIK done and told me details of his experience and the only part that made my stomach turn was the burning smell. How would I manage? With Valium! I got my first dose of those relaxing pills prior to surgery. Standard procedure from what I could tell. After about 15 to 20 minutes for the pills to take effect and pulling my hair back in a hair net, I was called into the surgery room.

For the next paragraph my words and thoughts will be in red while what is happening around me is in black:

The doctor introduced himself. Nice to meet you too, although I can’t really see you. I don’t have my contacts in remember? He asked what I did for a living. “I am an engineer.” “What kind?” asked the doctor. “A structural engineer.” He then began to tell me about a house he recently built in Montana, as the assistants were guiding me to the bench to lay on, making sure I was properly placed on the bench, gave me a long stuffed animal fish and told me to push the head of the fish up under my chin to keep my head back and hug the body – a stuffed fish, wonder how they settled on a stuffed fish – numbed and securely opened my eye – this is not as bad as I had heard, it is weird not to blink though – all in what felt like 30 seconds. I want to hear more about the house. I asked the doctor something about the house. The lights in the room were turned off and I remember practicing looking at a green light and a red light. My eye always seemed to be getting some sort of drops or solution in it. I remember squeezing the fish tight. The assistants would count out the number of drops or seconds a solution was in my eye as the doctor talked about that Montana house. I remember the cornea cut – oh, I just saw the cut and the removal, cool. I then remember looking at the red and green lights again – oh wait, that is smoke, wow, we are to this point already, oh, I smell burning. I remember letting out a deep breath and the laser portion was over before I really recognized what was happening. I was told I did well, whatever that meant. Then more solutions in the eye. I squeezed the fish again and let out a deep breath again. Boy, that light is bright, I want to blink. Oh, all I want to do is blink. Hurry up with the solutions, the lights are way too bright. The slowest part for me was the cleansing afterward. I was ready to be done. After my eye was thoroughly rinsed, a clear contact was placed on my eye as a band-aid while my cornea grew back. The process was finished and when I could blink again, I sat up and looked at the doctor. Ooooh, you are clear. “I can see you.” “Yes,” says the doctor, “but don’t test your eye today, go home and take a nap.” He told me other things that I honestly can’t quite remember, I was too excited that I could see already. The whole thing took about 10 minutes according to Peter. Amazing. I was then taken to another room to get instructions on eye drops and restrictions.

The eye drop schedule was explained to us. It was so much information and I thought how crazy fast the lady was explaining things. She assured us it was all laid out on this one piece of paper. Thankfully it was – one set of drops when I wake up and when I go to bed, another set of drops every 4 hours with an additional set 3 minutes after the first, pain pills every four hours for the first day and then as needed, but no more than the maximum stated on the bottle. Seriously, what person with Valium in their system can comprehend all of that? I was given these awesome bug goggles to wear the rest of the day and then at night. Keep my eyes closed, both of them, for the rest of the day, take a nap or naps. I am so thankful for my ability to nap. It came in quite handy.

Bug goggles.

I took all the drops and pills on schedule the first day and felt no pain or discomfort. When I wasn’t napping, I was listening to March Madness on sports radio. Not a bad way to take in the games.

I did not drive on Friday, or spend much time on any one thing. I did not wear the goggles, put lots of drops in, took half the pain medication and got my first glimpse of really great sight. Although I was told this would only last a couple days and then my vision would tank as the cornea grew back. I did not have much discomfort Friday. I wondered why people didn’t have both eyes done at once, so far this seemed like a breeze.

Saturday was more eye drops. On my restrictions list, it said I could shower today, so I did, trying not to get water or soap in my eye. I took a pain pill in the evening when my eyes started to feel quite scratchy. Sunday I experienced the tank of my vision. Things got really cloudy and blurry and I began to realize why one eye was done at once. Again, my eye started to feel scratchy at the end of the day.

Monday was my follow-up appointment. My cornea was still growing back, so the clear contact remained in. My vision was tested and I think I was at 20/50, but a really cloudy 20/50. With the contact and amount of drops in my eye, things were definitely clouded up. The scratchiness stopped about Tuesday night. I figured it meant my cornea was doing its thing healing.

The rest of the week consisted of drops by the schedule and having a blurry, cloudy spot in the middle of my vision. I went back to the doctor on Friday, one week and a day after surgery. Apparently my cornea was so close to completely healing over, just a pinhole was still open. The clear contact was removed though. It felt like an eye lash was in my eye, but I was determined to keep the band-aid off. Friday was a bit uncomfortable, like I said, kind of felt like an eye lash was in my eye when I looked and blinked a certain way. My eye was quite watery too. By Saturday, my eye was feeling much better, and even better on Sunday. I kept at the drop schedule until Sunday, one week and three days after surgery, and then cut back to only one drop four times a day. By Sunday, I noticed improvement in my vision. It was not clear, but I can see improvement. And the “eye lash” feeling was gone. I have noticed a sensitivity to light. After the clear contact was taken off, I feel like I am more sensitive than before. I also have an odd sensation like my eye is bulging. That is the best way for me to describe it. I feel like when I blink or look a certain way my eye feels big. Maybe swollen? I have no idea. I do know it feels different from my other eye. Not uncomfortable, but different.

Here I am one week and five days after surgery and hoping for an end goal of 20/15!

Tillie

Those of you who often hike in the Indian Fort Mountain Trail System, more than likely are acquainted with Tillie, but we had not met her. Tillie looks like an Australian Shepherd and her tag says this:

A hike was on the list for Tillie today

Needless to say she followed us on our hike to West Pinnacle and eventually lead us to Indian Fort Lookout. We gave her the title of Sherpa.

Our Sherpa leading us on the trail

Tillie seemed to have a rock at each stopping point where she would patiently wait for us to take in the sights, eat lunch or drink some water. She would watch us closely and be on the trail the moment we made a motion to move on.

Mom and Tillie

Toward the end of our hike we realized food may play a part in her decisions to join people. We met a group of college kids having lunch on East Pinnacle. When we made our move to leave, Tillie curled up on a rock near the kids. So much for our Sherpa. It was a lovely addition to our hike and she truly did assist us in finding portions of the path. Thanks so much Tillie!

Tillie and her new friends

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,” -John 3:14 NIV

I had never really understood the tradition of giving up something for Lent. In one sense it sounded like fasting, and another sense sounded like a New Year’s resolution. Those seem like good things to do, but why for Lent?

One thing I do understand is how I dread going to the dentist for a filling. Honestly, it is a minor amount of pain and discomfort. It looks incredibly petty compared to the discomfort of the cross and the pain of bearing all of humanity’s sin. In the days and weeks leading up to the first Good Friday, Jesus felt apprehension and dread about what was to come. We see this in His prayer recorded in Luke 22:42. Jesus asks, if possible, that he wouldn’t have to go through the crucifixion he was about to experience. Yet, in the same sentence, Jesus surrenders His will over to His Father. He knew it would hurt, and He was willing to go through with it for my sake, for your sake.

I can use my apprehension to better understand what Christ did for me. And I can use self-denial or fasting as a daily reminder of Christ’s sacrifice. A sacrifice made in order to complete His greatest work on this earth, a work that saves us from the pain of eternal separation from God.

Instead of the typical conversation of “How are you?” and getting a canned answer. We can ask “How is [insert prior prayer request topic here]?” and get a real response that is more than surface deep.

River Walk - check.

Guacamole at Boudro's - check.

What else did we get into? Well, we found the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch African Safari – Texas Style. AWESOME. A 4 mile drive through 400 acres of Texas hill country to see some of the over 500 animals. Some close, some not so close and some a little too close. Check it out:

Too bad I can't remember many of the animal names.

I like the stripes on these guys.

Long horns are HUGE!

Definitely well fed animals.

Did I say well fed yet?

The ostrich is up to no good.

He made his way down the line of cars sticking his head in each one causing squeals and laughter.

So many differnt horn styles.

Twisted horns.

How many people can say they shared the road with such a beast?

This occurred just after the educational cd we were listening to said the zebras should be avoided because of the danger. Instead, Peter gave him a little pet!

Baby zebra, oh so cute.

This park has a different kind of traffic jam.

Sicilian donkey. See the cross on his back? Yeah, I touched one.

I think it is an emu and I think he is crazy. You can see it in his eyes.

We ended our safari at the petting zoo hoping to get rid of extra food and all the goat wanted was the bag!

If you ever find yourself in San Antonio, TX, we recommend you check out the River Walk, guacamole at Boudro’s and the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. Oh and don’t bother with the extra bag of food…you don’t need it.

Mini agility course set up for the class.

Get ready, set, go!

Jump through the tire. Go Cruise!

More jumping!

Next, jump over the bar. Go Kipper! Even short legs can do this.

And then wait on the table for 5 whole seconds!

No time to scratch, you have another bar to jump.

The treat comes at the end. Nice try though.

Into the tunnel.

Out of the tunnel.

Into the shoot.

Out of the shoot.

Finish strong!

And the winner is...Pablo, with the fastest agility course time. Yeah!

Maybe next summer we will try the intermediate level!

We stuck to the plan and all things considered walked away with a few good memories.  Saw tiny frogs, had a nice camp site, and toured the bison reserve.

One of a bazillion tiny frogs we encountered.

Campsite on the edge of a freshly cut field. Pablo liked the spot.

Baby bison on the reserve.

Pablo was definitely curious about the creatures.

But we had our share of difficulties. The insane amount of spider webs strung across the hiking path was fixed easy enough with a waving stick held by the leader.  Our spur of the moment decision, early our first full hiking day, to add a loop to our planned hike made the end of the day really tiring but made us more determined. The strong thunderstorm late in the evening the second night, that lasted most of the night, didn’t dampen our spirits much.  But the mosquitoes, ticks and chiggers tried us mightily and nearly broke us.

My fearless, spider-web catcher husband and his trusty, side-kick, tick-collector dog.

We stopped about a mile into our hike the first night and discovered ticks on our socks and legs.  This led to a tick check each and every water break.  Poor Pablo had to of been tired of us poking and pulling at him.  He was attracting TONS of ticks. The mosquitoes were just a general annoyance.  But the chiggers were sly, we didn’t realize their presence until the second night camping.  They might be little but they cause a BIG itch.

So Peteifer and Pablo decommend the LBL in July for backpacking.  Stick with the water adventures friends, your skin will thank you.

Waiting for the start of the race.

The first time the cars came around the turn heading to a green flag just took our breath away.

Heading around turn four to the start.

The wind, the dirt and grit, and the noise. You just have to experience it for yourself.

The race went well into the evening.

The winner of the night – Joey Logano.