As most of you know, I had to work on Mother's Day. Not a big deal really since both of my son's had to work. And then, of course, you know that Wade came by the house later and dropped the bombshell that he's getting married on Memorial Day. So that made my Mother's Day special. Well it was pretty dead here at work on Sunday. Only about 4 employees came in to work. So I just drove around in circles most of the day, making sure the parking lots were secure. Plus I had to walk the inside of the building to make sure there were no water leaks, fires, doors unlocked, stuff like that. From top to bottom of this building is a two mile walk. So it did me good to get out of the car and walk. Plus we also have to check gauges in the "Chiller Room" which has the water chillers and boilers. We have to make sure the gauges are where they are supposed to be and none of them are off the charts. So that broke up part of the monotony of the day. The most interesting part of the day was the turtle that was determined to head west.
I found him wandering down the road at the back of the building. I thought maybe he wanted into the orange groves. So I put him on the grass.
I took a drive around the whole building to check out the parking lots and when I got back around to the back, the turtle was walking down the road. He was heading for a busy street. I didn't want him to get run over so I put him in the back of the truck and drove him to the gated part of our orange grove. I had to actually open a gate and carry him into the groves. It was quite aways from the street.
Here he is riding in the back of the truck. He was none to happy to be there and even unhappier that there was no room to move around.
Of course I wanted to make sure the turtle didn't go wandering again. So I drove around the building once and drove near the grove. No turtle. I drove around the building again and low and behold the turtle was walking west again. I guess some sixth sense was telling him he needed to go that way. So I just decided to leave him alone and let nature takes it course. When I drove around the building again and came back (yes, my curiosity got the best of me), I could not see him. I never saw him again. I hope he made to wherever he needed to be. By the way, this turtle is a gopher turtle. They do bite, they jump and they can stretch their necks all the way round. I was lucky this guy liked me and didn't try to bite me. He did jump for me though.
Now on a different note I want to share this really neat story about a mom's special daughter and what she did for her mother's birthday/Mother's day.
The mom works at my work location. She was celebrating her 50th birthday on Mother's Day. Her daughter came in the Monday before Mother's day with 10 roses in a HUGE vase. She also had a note from her brother to his Mom explaining 10 reason why he loved his mom. I was to call her mom and let her know flowers were here for her but couldn't tell her who dropped them off. On Tuesday, the daughter shows up with 10 more roses to add to the first 10, this time with a note from her father telling his wife 10 things he loved about her. On Wednesday, 10 more roses with a letter from the lady's mother with 10 reasons why she is such a special daughter. Thursday, 10 more roses and another note. Not sure who this one was from. I was at lunch this time when the daughter showed up. I did get to call Mom to come down and get her roses. And of course, everyday she'd want to know who dropped off the flowers and I would have to play dumb. On Friday, the daughter comes in with 10 more roses, the final 10 to make 50 (for her 50th birthday, get it). She tells me to just call her mom down, she is going to give these to her personally. It was such an awesome thing to do. The HUGE vase was so each day the roses could be added to it. They let me take their picture as they were leaving. I think this is one of the most awesome things I have ever seen a family do. And I'm glad I got to be a small part of it.
I try not to complain too much on my blog but sometimes you just gotta let loose. And I just have to vent, so thanks in advance for letting me do it. Why do people have to rain on other people's parades? Scenario.....Wade and Diana are getting married on Monday. Wade tells me and his father (my ex). We are okay with it. Wade is afraid to tell the rest of the family because they will be upset and want to talk him out of it. Especially his grandparents and aunt and uncle on his dad's side. Let me back up 27 years ago, today. That's when I married my first husband. When we told his parents we were getting married after a 2 year engagement, his mother wouldn't talk to him and his father hung up the phone. They didn't find out that we were married until 2 years later and then they were upset with us for not telling them. So that gives you a clue to why Wade didn't want to tell them. Also, the last time Wade talked to his grandmother, he told her he was dating Diana and that she had a 2 year old daughter. Well Grandma didn't even want to talk about that. So in a round about way to let Grandma and Grandap know, Wade sent invitations out over MySpace to his cousin Tony. Well Tony told his mom and dad(Wade's Aunt and Uncle), who of course called Grandma. Well Grandma calls me and I have to give her the news. She is asking 20 questions, how long have they been dating, why are they rushing it, why Memorial Day? They dated in high school and got back together, no she's not pregnant, they are just in love and want to get married. Not sure why Memorial Day, probably because they are both off work. Well Grandma says the family won't be there because they've already made plans for Memorial Day. Fine, miss your grandson's wedding to go to a drunken BBQ/dance at the local campground. Next comes the "buttinsky" Aunt calling, wanting me to call her back with Wade's phone number so she can call and "congratulate" him. She's got something up her sleeve, so I'm not calling her back until I hear back from Wade. I know she is going to try fishing some info from me. Not going to happen. I don't understand why this family can't be happy for Wade. And oh Lordy, wait until they see Diana's tattoos. This is a tattoo hating family. But Wade's momma, stepdaddy and daddy all love him and approve of his choice( and we have tattoos) so I say the heck with all those others. It would be nice, though, if for once, these people would just be happy for someone. After all who couldn't love a face as cute as Layla Sue's. 
This was the sun the other evening about 7:30......yes that's the sun.....through a haze after some rain. The camera didn't really do it justice.....it's was really cool.
Same shot....wider angle.
Most of you know that the building I work out of has amazing wildlife around it. I've shared tons of pictures in the past of some of the wildlife. This little dove is sitting on a nest in a tree as you come out one of the side doors. It is right next to a parking area. I almost didn't see her, she is very well hidden. But I did see her and for once the camera zoomed in and gave me a great shot. She didn't seem to mind me taking her picture.
And of course we have the yucky wildlife. This is a baby snake in a water bottle. Believe it or not this snake was in the Security vehicle we drive. And it was in the vehicle while I was driving it. The person who took over for me found it. I would have had a heart attack had I seen him in the vehicle with me. He is a non venomous snake of the garden variety. We did let him go.
Here's a clearer, upclose shot of the golf cart. I wish I had had nerve to go up and take better pictures. It's amazing some of the things you see as you're out driving around.
Here is Hut with the "sexy" green M&M.
Blue is my favorite color, so of course I had my picture taken with the Blue M&M.
They have a replica of the M&M racecar inside the store. It's pretty cool!
Kyle Busch, who races the M&M car. Not one of my favorite drivers but hey it was a photo op.
Our main objective at the M&M store was to get a bag of M&Ms with 17 different colors. Just so you know, there are actually 22 different colors of M&Ms.
Here's Hut sealing the bag of M&Ms that he filled.
And here is what a $50 bag of M&Ms looks like. Yep I said $50. We had no idea that M&Ms cost $11.99 a pound, but we do now, lol. At the store, for every $30 that you spend, you get a free pound of M&Ms. Since our total came to $72 (Hut got an M&M shirt, too), the cashier asked if we wanted to other 2 pound of M&Ms or did we want to take the 2 pounds off our total. Of course we took the 2 lbs off. So our bill was only $48,lol. It was worth it though. Now we just have to find someone to help us eat them. 
This is Hut standing inside the World Famous Gator Jaws. Gatorland had a HUGE fire in 2006 that destroyed most of the main buildings that this was attached to. Thank God for the quick thinking of firefighters to save this historical monument.
Here I am. No one was around at the time that could take a picture of us together. Oh well, we knew we were there together, lol.
This cute little guy greeted us when we first got there. Trust me they don't stay that cute for long. And his teeth still will put a hurting on you.
Look at all these guys waiting for something to eat. You could buy some turkey hot dogs to feed the gators. I had some pictures of gator wrestling but everytime I would go to post it, they would delete. Since I'm at work, I have no way to retrieve them, so when I get home I will add some pictures to this post. So come on back and check those out.
This is a WHITE alligator. Not an albino. This alligator doesn't have pink eyes. There is another term for this alligator, but I don't remember it. There are only 12 of these gators in existence.
Finally got the pictures to upload right. Here is the gator wrestling. Joey is pulling a gator out of the pond.
Here is Joey being brave. All of a gator's strenght is in snapping his jaws shut. Once they are shut, you can hold them shut with just your hands. They have no strength to open them.
Joey demonstrates how week gators are when it comes to opening their mouths, but holding this gator's mouth shut with just his chin.
This final photo shows you just how BIG those gators are. You can see how big the gator's head is compared to the man's hand. I couldn't believe they were brave enough to hold the chicken in their hands.
