Back from Vacation...

Well I did it again...left without saying goodbye. So sorry to disappear like that, and I can't promise it won't happen again. Never fear, though...I'll always make an appearance sooner or later. I trust everyone had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Mr. Hooter and I have returned from our Christmas/Late Honeymoon ski trip to Colorado. Of course it was awesome, and we lived through the horrible "Holiday Blizzard of 2006." What I found pretty funny was that while the local news here was predicting Colorado's doom in the awful terrible world-ending snowstorm that just might wipe the state off the map, the people of the town we stayed were celebrating "finally" getting some substantial snow that would help tourism. Funny how point of view can differ. I do feel bad for the folks stuck in the airport, but from what we saw, they were the only ones in real dire distress. We suffered through the horrible blizzard as best we could by careening down the ski slopes, drinking plenty of hot chocolate, and enjoying the 22" of white stuff immensly along with the locals.

Stay tuned for more...and for entertaining ski pics!

Aaaaaaad....I'm back

So sorry for all you out there just biting your nails waiting for the next post. :) Well, I've been out of pocket as of late...December is a busy time for park stuff. Week before last was the Gift Show at DeGray, and last week was a preliminary training for prospective park gunslingers, of which I am one. January 7th I'll have to report to ALETA (that's the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy for those of you not in the know) along with Kendra and Travis for 3 long months, after which we'll be officially qualified to stand around with arms rested on gunbelts, slugging down donuts, and yelling Park Rangery stuff like, "FREEZE! Put your hands where I can see them, and get the DOG on a LEASH!"
This past week was a park training so we can become more familiar with our park-issued weapons and to be sure to pass the shooting course at ALETA. And I'm VERY grateful for the pre-ALETA training...I can't imagine what it would be like to get down there and slapped on the shooting range, thinking, "what the crap is this???"

I'm happy to say we all did well...if the park system is ever attacked by cardboard man-silhouette targets, the parks will prevail.

Cuttin' up

Cheesy title, yeah...sorry about that, but it couldn't be helped. This is my friend Judith in a cutting competition. Doesn't she look cool? I aspire to this position someday soon, but for now I'm just a lowly admiring spectator and illustrious horse warmer-upper.

Turkey Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Marden and I made a trek down to Shreveport, LA to visit my bro Tye, which is one heck of a long haul at 7 hours driving, especially with two dogs, one of which had to be in my lap the whole time. Lucky for me it was the small one which required the lap. But it was a good time...nice for a change to have a calm, quiet, lazy dinner and afternoon as opposed to our usual big-family-stampede-eat-like-cavemen Turkey Day. Which is nice, too...

Say a big "Yeeeeehaaaa!" for the Chief's win over the Denver Donkeys....er, I mean Broncos...on Thanksgiving night!

The Weddin' Party

Kendra, Kristyn, Me, Marden, Wylie, and Lynn

The Cakes

Jodie made this cake! Isn't it awesome! And our wedding wouldn't be
complete without a trout cake.

The Hitchin'

The ceremony at the overlook...Bull Shoals Lake is on the left, the White River coming out of the dam on the right...and of course that is Bull Shoals dam running right down the middle. Perfect sunshiney day! My youth minister from days of yore (hey, not THAT long ago!) Lance Green performed the nuptuals, while my best buds Kendra and Kristyn served as my attendants and Marden's buds Wylie and Lynn served as his.
Unseen to the right are Travis Eddleman and my cousin Brittney Engelken who did an awesome job of playing "Annie's Song" for the processional.

Mrs. Hooter Speaks

My apologies to everyone who actually reads this blog for my recent absence(there's got to be one)...I've no excuse to offer except that I'm lazy, and I've been busy lately being married. Yes...I'm now OFFICIALLY Mrs. Hooter. For those of you who didn't get to go, I'll tell you a bit about it.
FIRST - I think my wedding about killed my mother. I hope I have sons. Mom did a beyond awesome job getting everything together and enlisting help from others, and the rest of my fam also worked very hard to make it the perfect day. And perfect it was! We had a week of really crappy weather, including the day and night before, and magically for the big day it all cleared and warmed up. The fall leaves were the prettiest they have been in years and years, and everything just kind of fell into place. The flowers were awesome, mom did a fantastic job on the bridesmaid's dresses, and the sash she made for my dress was just perfect perfect perfect. Marden looked handsome in his dress blues, the food was great, the cake was marvelous (running out of adjectives here) thanks to Jodie, the decorations were superb, the live music wonderful (thanks Travis and Brittany)...pretty much everything I wanted in a wedding. Informal, but not TOO informal. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary even happened, which isn't really my pattern, and I'm happy for that. No nosedives down the steps, no falling and tearing of the dress or anything like that. The only small flub was that I got a bit tongue-tied and called Marden my "fartner" rather than "partner." But actually, that's pretty appropriate.

A HUGE loving THANK YOU to all our family and friends which made this day the best of my life so far!

Stay tuned for more, and for pictures!

Ghosts of Davidsonville

Old Davidsonville State Park, which was my stomping ground last year, recently had their 'Ghosts of Davidsonville' event...which I was SO thankful I could participate in without having to plan the darn thing. To say the least it was a big success...this is me and Joe sliding down the big inflatable slide. I'm the one wearing the sexy gray-toed socks. Joe is Justin's son, who is the superintendent. While it may look small, this thing was actually pretty tall, and climbing up with a kid in one arm (even one as cute as Joe) isn't an easy task!

YIPES

Holy smokes...10 days before I get hitched! It's so hard to believe. (Lena, I don't see how you're doing it with a bun in the oven.) I'm getting a bit stressed, even though Mom and aunt Martha are doing most of the work. Marden doesn't seem to be stressed in the least, so it must be a girl thing? Keep your fingers crossed for me that we have good weather (the ceremony is outside), as that's pretty much my main worry at the moment. Though it's not like worrying about it is going to change anything...if it rains, it rains.

Tonight is my shower given by Kristyn and Kendra, and (like Lena) I'm not looking forward to being the center of attention. I already feel like a Big Greedy with the wedding gifts that people have already sent. Which reminds me - we got the MOST AWESOME gift yesterday from my Aussie friends Clare and Shane...EIGHT boxes of TimTam cookies. Well, they call them biscuits, but you sure wouldn't want to put butter and honey on these...they are chocolate rectangle wafers with chocolate cream filling dipped in thick milk chocolate, and you can only get them in Australia. I brought back about 5 packages with me last year, and they lasted all of a week. The best is doing a "TimTam Slam" which is to bite off opposite ends of the cookie (biscuit) and slurp up hot chocolate through it. YUMMY. Gotta take it easy though...need to fit into that dress!

Cell Phones

So I've recently figured out that you can't hang up on someone when you're on a cell phone. Should you find yourself hanging up on someone while using a cell, expect something like this:

*SLAP!* the phone shut...phone rings...rings...rings...then finally answer and the other party says..."Hey, we got cut off"..."Um...no we didn't, I hung up on you."...."You did? Well, ok....so should I get off the phone?"..."No, now the hanging-up-on-you is pointless"..."Well, I can hang up on you?"..."No, because I hung up on YOU!"..."Well, If you want, you can hang up on me..."

Thankfully, I've got the flip kind...much more satisfying to slap that puppy shut with a vengence than to somehow "angrily" push the button. "Take THAT!"

I guess you could just turn your phone off, but then the other person will just think your phone went dead. See...this cell phone business has totally ruined the act of hanging up on someone.

The Reef

One aspect of our trip (Themostawesometripinthehistoryoftrips) that deserves it's own post is the Great Barrier Reef. Snorkeling on the GBR has always been on my List of Things To Do Someday, and getting it crossed off was unbelievable. The whole time I was there, the only thing going through my mind (other than "dang...I hope I don't barf) was "Holy crap! I'm at the Great Barrier Reef!" Of course I had to add Snorkel Great Barrier Reef Again on to the list, but that's ok.

So the first time we went was on this huge boat that held like 200 people, but this boat was the only one (supposedly) to go to The Dropoff. If you've seen Finding Nemo, you'll get that. If not - watch it. It's the best animated movie so far. If you don't agree, get off my blog.

After an hour or so, we finally get to the reef, and of course it's beautiful. The boat pulls up to a permanent platform thing, where we're free to explore the reef all we want in the confines of a large roped area. We were also informed that for just a small fee of $5, we could rent a "stinger suit" that was not only UVA/UVB proof, but also Box Jellyfish proof. Now, later we found out that the danger of Box Jellyfish on the reef is minimal at best, but what did we know? If $5 could keep me from an excrutiating screaming death thousands of miles from home, then ok...seemed like a small price. So we get into our LOVELY bright blue suits (complete with hood and mittens), and make for the reef. Actually, just Daryl and Judith make for the reef (after stopping to get snorkels, masks, and flippers to complete their stunning blue ensembles), because my attention has been drawn to the announcement that you can sign up for a small snorkeling group who goes away from the big boat in a little boat, where they will commence to flit around with a GENUINE Marine Biologist. Since I'm the naturey nut, this piqued my interest...I decided to sign up for the "special" trip. I found the Marine Biologists signing people up (and taking credit cards), and was consulted by a woman about my age. Here's our conversation:

Marine Biologist: "Ah yeah...ya been snork'lin' before, aye?"
Me: "Yes, but only in lakes...never in the ocean"
MB: "Ah yeah? Well, thea's two trips goin' out ta'day...one beginneah, one advanced. Ya look like ya belong in tha advanced...ya 'can swim good, aye?"
Me: "Yeah, I can swim, but like I said...never in the ocean like this. I'd like to go in the advanced, but I'd better stick with the beginners."
MB: "Ahhhh (in a dismissive tone)...good on'ya mate... but ya'll be foin in that advanced group! Ai'll go ahead an soin ya up."

15 minutes later 10 of us - the illustrious "advanced group", plus the same MB that signed me up, are flying across the water. A few minutes later, we come to a stop, where we're instructed to put on our snorkels, flippers, and masks, and jump into the water. So I do. Promptly after hitting the water, I swallow at least a gallon of yummy sea water. So after coughing and choking for a while (MB: "Ya good, Ash?"...uh no, I just caused the sea level to go down an inch worldwide) our group is all in the water and MB is informing us that the mainland is 100 some miles in that direction, and South America is 1000 or so in that direction, so DON'T GET SEPARATED. Nice. I can actually only see her for half this conversation because the swells are so friggin' huge, and it's all I can do to stay above water.
And we're off...looking at the reef, and it's amazing, of course. I mean, it's The Reef. Every once in a while MB dives down and comes up with something notable to talk about, although I miss most of her stuff because I've got water in my ears, my flipper came off, or I'm lagging behind the "advanced group" because I can't keep up in against these swells and the current. So the whole group knows my name because MB keeps yelling, "YA OILRIGHT ASH? TRY AN KEEP UP, OK? D'YA NEED THE RESTIE THING?" The "restie thing" is a little yellow float she's carrying for us laggers. Although I happen to be the only one. So then, the worst happens...I LOSE A CONTACT. Except it's not lost, it's somehow stuck to my forehead...don't ask me how I found it up there. OR how it got there. All I know is that my group is getting farther away, and I'm treading water with a contact stuck to my finger, cupping it with the other hand so it doesn't blow away. For those of you who know me, you know how blind I am...to go on without this contact was completely unacceptable! So I did the only thing i could do...try to tread water and put it in my eye...while the wind is blowing and the swells keep getting bigger...and now my group is nowhere to be seen...my contact isn't cooperating and I'm also trying to think which direction she said the mainland is in, or at least South America. Oh yeah...and another bit of info she gave us..."Naow...there aah sharks in heah this close to tha dropoff...keep a watchful oiy!" Ah dang...and here I am looking like a big blue seal. Well, I finally did get my contact back in, which hurt like the dickens with the salt water, and I faintly heard MB coming from my left, so I headed that direction and over a swell, there they were. And of course, "Ya oilrioght Ash? Evey'thin ok? Try an keep up, ok? D'ya need tha restie thing?" "YES...PLEASE give me the restie thing..."

Despite the troubles, it was well worth the extra little trip. Upon getting back to the big boat, they're in the middle of serving lunch. Seafood, of course! Yummy...and I'm hungry. After lunch, I joined Daryl and Judith for a snorkel, then it was time to shuck our stylish suits, turn in our fins, and go. On the way back, the seafood got me...that gallon (plus some) of salt water probably didn't help, and I left my lunch in the Coral Sea.

Our next trip was on a little sail boat, with no more than about 30 people including crew. If the first trip was awesome, this next one was awesomeer! I won't go into such detail...this trip was great. Except both myself and this Asian chick got stung by sea lice, which sounds gross, but they're just little stinging cells in the water at this time of year. HURT like HECK. Hmm...maybe should've opted for the blue suit this time? NAH...

On to Cairns!

If you're gonna say it like an Aussie, you gotta say "Caaans" like you've got a couple of wallabies stuck up your nose. After 4 days in Sydney, it was on to Cairns (Caaans) up in the tropical part of Aus for more than a week. Cairns was MY kind of place! Sydney was cool, but it was a city. In and around Cairns we snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef twice, hot-air ballooned, rode horses, rented a car (scary), swam in the stinger nets (to avoid the deadly box jellyfish), walked the beaches, hiked in the rainforest, and lounged by the pool at our awesome hotel watching old French guys in their speedos with a kind of disgusted fascination.



Here's me, Daryl, and Judith doing the tourist pose at an overlook between Cairns and Port Douglas (P.D., by the way, is near where Steve Irwin had his run-in with the stingray)

Then Daryl, while we're waiting to take off in the hot air balloon.

Then here is me unwisely traveling off the beaten path at Mossman Gorge National Park. Aussies don't travel off the path, and for good reason - turns out every other thing can either temporarily maim, permantly maim, or outright kill you. Of course we didn't really know this at the time...luckily all any of us suffered was a case of Mango Itch. Actually, it was just me, and I didn't know what it was until a couple of weeks being back in the States...until then I really thought I'd be fitting into the "permantly maimed" category. Mango Itch is an ugly, itchy rash similar to poison ivy, and happens when you pick a green mango, let the watery sap run down your arm, and then don't bother to do any more than wipe it off on your shorts. Lesson learned there!

The Land Down Under

So I've been reflecting a lot on last fall's vacation to Australia, mostly because I'm finally getting around to finishing the scrapbook. No, I'm NOT a scrapbooking nerd...I just dabble.

Anyway, I thought I'd put some pics from that Mostawesometripinthehistoryoftrips up on my 'lil blog here, for those of you who haven't seen the pics or heard me rant endlessly about it. So, take a quick gander at this fair dinkum bit 'a photos. Good onya mates!


First of all, I went to the Land of Oz with my bestgoodfriends, Daryl and Judith Greenwood from Bull Shoals. I guess you'd qualify them as 'older', but believe me - they don't act it. Still, we got pretty cracked up at how many folks referred to them as my "mum and dad."

So we landed in Sydney after a loooooong 14 hour flight and were so excited we hit the ground runnin'. Four short days in Sydney, but we made the most of it, which included a play at the Opera House, a boat ride up through Sydney Harbor, the Sydney Aquarium, a didgeridoo performance (which promted me and Judith to buy our own gen-u-ine didgeridoos), the Blue Mountains, and my first taxi ride...which was absolutely terrifying.

One evening we met up with a friend of mine, Clare, and her main man Shane. I used to work for Clare's uncle at the sign shop, who's an imported Brit.
During my employment for her uncle - which has been a few years now - Clare came to the states for a month to visit, and I showed her the finer points of southwest MO culture. You know...slowpitch softball...cows...trees...squirrels...yeah, that's about it.



I got to hold a joey (baby kangaroo) at the Ferndale animal rehab center in Sydney. As you can see...I want one. I wonder how hard a 'roo is to potty train...?

Stay tuned for the next episode...

The most boring day...

So today has been the most boring day of my life. Officially. Consequently, this will be the most boring post. Ever. So I've been sitting here alone in the visitor center all day, it's raining, and not a soul has come in or called. Unless you count Marden. And we don't. I'm so bored I'm wishing for yesterday, when the phone rang off the hook with people wondering about next week's Hunter Ed class. Let me tell you...there are a LOT of idiots who don't need to be running around in the woods with a loaded weapon. SCARY.

Some of the questions I've been asked:
"What if I can't read?" "Can I get my huntin' card without takin' the class?" "Do we need to bring our guns to class?"

BAH!!!

My Pals

Here's a pic of me and my two cloest buds, Kendra (left) and Kristyn (right). They are fellow park nerds, and will be the attendants at my hitchin'. Kristyn is an extra big park nerd because she's married to a Park Superintendent, as well as being a Naturalist herself. This pic is from a "training" trip we took to Georgia, where you can see we really took the sign that said, "Please Stay Off Exhibits" seriously. That was from a couple of years ago, and we've grown up a lot. Yeah whatever.

Weddin' Update

Well, so far I'm still holding it together, though I just realized that in just over a month I'll be an old married broad. Marden and I are perplexed as to how in the world we're going to get ALL our crap into my little park-supplied house. (Little does he know, he's going to part with some gosh-awful bar stools). I did just get a storage building, but I am afraid that will only put a dent into our storage woes. Everything else is still on track...the invitations are IN THE MAIL. Oh, that feels so good to say...all I can say is that ya'll better like them. Gotta jet for now...we're celebrating the liberation of our invitations by going to the rodeo! Yee haw!

Aaaand...one more...

And last but not least, this is Amos. (I actually have more critters, but this is the last of the pets). Yes, Amos was born without a tail. But what he lacks in tail, he makes up for in bad-ass cool attitude.

The Cat's Meow

Sam
Originally uploaded by ashliedodson.

This is my cat Sam in one of his usual poses. Sam's been around for a while now...10+ years he's reigned over my living spaces with his arrogant 'tude. I couldn't imagine living without him...and the constant coughed-up hairballls...the wads of white fluff left under the bed...and his odd habit of putting all ponytail holders in the vents.

Moment of Silence

The whole world was saddened by the loss of Steve Irwin, "The Croc Hunter", including myself. He was kind of a goofball, but he also did wonders for helping people develop an apprecation for the natural world by not just dealing with the cute fuzzy critters, but also the "creepy crawly scaly" critters, too. Not only that, but he was a very influential conservationist. The whole world will miss his work and his zest for life.

Silly Sally

Sally is Marden's new rabbit hunting dog. Can you FEEL the visciousness?

The Girls

This is Lucy (lab) and Sally (beagle). Lucy was 3 years old in March, and Sally is about 9 weeks old. As you can tell...they are buds. Really I think Lucy thinks that Sally is her new toy that moves. Lucy is kind of a knucklehead...she's confined to the indoors at the moment because in late May she attempted a daring escape from her pen by going over the top and in the process skinned her leg and belly...lucky for you this photo is from an angle where you can't see it. After a couple of weeks at the vet she was deemed fine to recoup at home, so she languishes all day in the A/C, eating bon-bons and watching her stories.

Technical Difficulties...

Well I've been trying to add posts for the last couple of days, and I can't seem to add photos. Apparently from what I've read, Internet Explorer kind of sucks when it comes to blogging, so I'll have to try a different tactic. Stay tuned...

By the way...it's Labor Day weekend and I hope you all are enjoying a long weekend because all us park people are WORKING. BAH!!!

"You an me goin' fishin' in the dark..."

Here's Marden and I looking like poster-children wana-bees for the L.L.Bean catalog. Our shared passion is fly fishing, and this is us in Colorado fishing on the South Platte River. (No comments about the size of my trout, please). I've been fly fishing now since college, and have graduated up to tying my own flies (that didn't stop us from spending a small fortune on flies out there) and making my own fly rods. Someday I'd like to start my own custom rod building business, but as of now, it's just a hobby. Marden didn't start fly fishing until last year when we met, but he's taken off with it like a rocket. As you can see, he's got the look down. We're even having a fly-fishing themed wedding!

Howdy Doody

Alrighty...after some bugging from faraway friends, I have decided to create a blog...which sounds like something that happens to a bug when you step on it, or when you fart underwater. Apparently it's not. Anyway, seemed like a good way to keep in touch with folks, so I'll give it a go. For those of you who may not know, I am now living in northeast AR. If you're thinking of moving here, please reconsider...unless you think rice fields are pretty, ignorance is bliss, and mosquitoes make good pets. I work at an Arkansas State Park as an Assistant Superintendent. What does an Asst. Supt. do, you might wonder? When I find out I'll let you know...to the general public it seems that I am only known as "Hey Park Ranger!"
Anyhoo, here is a pic of me, Marden (my fiance), and my brother Trent at the top of Pike's Peak last month. Marden's last name is Hueter. His friends call him "Hooter." I am still coming to terms that I will soon be "Mrs. Hooter." You'd think if I were to be known as "Mrs. Hooter" I could have bigger boobs, but alas...it's apparently destined to be sarcasm. For those of you who don't know, the Dodson-Hooter nuptuals are set for Oct. 28th...keep a lookout for your invitations! I agree Lena...an e-vite would be so much easier. Stay tuned for more from your friendly Park Ranger.