Rachel Noggle's Blog

In high school before absolutely everyone had IM and e-mail and all the other schazzies of the internet at their fingertips (yes, I know, I’m old) we used to write letters to friends. Real paper and stamp letters. Tell me, when was the last time you actually got one of those? Any more even Christmas cards don’t contain real letters. But anyway, I had several pen pals for a few years. Some were even overseas pals. I remember Germany and Hong Kong the best. However, I also had this pen pal from Oklahoma! We were very faithful to write each other for several years. Sarah Jane was her name, and I never got to meet her. We “grew up” together in a way even though hundreds of miles separated us. It’s pretty amazing how you can share with people on paper things that you have such a hard time actually saying face to face. Anyway, life moves on, college, jobs, and several moves later and we had totally lost touch. I had no earthly idea how to get in touch with my old pal even though I thought of trying from time to time. She however was much more sleuthy and managed to track me down. Last year we renewed our friendship, though I must admit it was now much more “electronic” than it was before. Still I guess e-mail and phone calls work too. 🙂 The first week of Oct brought my dear friend and her oh-so-cute little boy out to finally meet face to face. We had a fun time together! Visited the Grand Canyon, bought some Indian jewelry, and did some hiking. People would ask me if it was “weird” to have a visit from someone I’d never met before, but the question took me kinda by surprise, because in my mind we weren’t strangers. I mean, didn’t we grow up together after all? 🙂

This weekend we are up at the campsite in Alpine. It’s BEAUTIFUL up here this time of year. Actually every time of year is awesome in these mountains. Anyway, we are up here working to get ready for the couple’s retreat that will be happening in October. The trees will be awesome then, and the crisp air will be the recipe for cuddling in front of the fire place with your love. We’re hoping to pack the camp with couples (all we can actually handle is 12 couples though). Stu and Qade and the dog and I drove down to camp yesterday, and just kind of chilled out for a while. We went to the local coffee shop, but the drinks were hideous! Apparently the ladies running the place had NOT been to barista school. *snicker* but we sat outside sipping and writing and it was fun. Then we went to the only restaurant in town for dinner and that was pretty good. We even finished off with apple pie and coffee. Nummy!! Qade was very good and content in his seat, and he even fed himself his bottle. He’s getting really good at holding it himself. So today I’ve done some organization and the guys are busy putting in new cabinets and then at lunch we’re going to grill steak. It’s turning out to be a pretty awesome weekend. 🙂

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to write a teeny clarifying blurb.  I want my friends to subscribe to my blog so you can get e-mail updates whenever I write something, but please put your name down on the subscription page.  If it comes up with an e-mail I don’t recognize and no name, I’ll delete it.  There are just way too many spammers and creepies out there.  I wouldn’t want you to be confused with any of them now, would I? Ta ta

Guess who’s back??? Yep, here in the fur is Thomas himself! We thought for sure he was gone for good that time we couldn’t find him for several days. However, Stuart had one last hope that he would return and when we left for another short trip away he left out a bowl of kitty food. Sure enough when we got back he looked and some of the food was gone. When we went to the back door to investigate if the dog had eaten it voila, there was our Thomas!! We were sooooo happy to see him alive! Stuart had even admitted that he missed the furry fellow when he was “lost.” He certainly looked like he’d been in a scuffle, but I think he was out sowing his wild oats and had a cat fight or two. He was really none the worse for the wear though. He’s been around and even more at home than ever. He now is even INVITED into the house, and Stuart allowed him to nap on our bed! Ha ha ha!! He’s a friendly cat, and I pretty much like him except when I’m in the kitchen trying to cook or clean and he’s constantly under foot or worse on the counter tops. I like having him around because I know he’s a hunter and hopefully he will help keep the rodents and the snakes in check. However…… dum de dum dum duuuuuuum….. check out the next blog!!!!

Hello friends,

I have a suggestion for you… just try it and if you DON’T like it you can go back to the “old ways” ha ha. No seriously I love the web browser Firefox over just about any other, especially internet explorer. Unfortunately the one most of you use with your windows based OS is the explorer. Well, I’m challenging you to download Mozilla Firefox  and just give it a whirl for a little bit and see if you don’t like it better. There are several reasons that it’s superior. For one thing, web pages load a LOT better with things in all their right places. For example… if you’re using explorer you may not be able to see my pictures on this blog. Go figure, they are right there! Then another good reason I’ve discovered is that there are a LOT fewer stinkin’ pop up windows when you’re using firefox. Personally I don’t like seeing pictures of underwear adds jumping onto my screen when I’m trying to type or shop online. So, take the challenge, give it a try, all you’ll have to change is to “click” on the firefox logo instead of the big “E” for explorer. You’ll enjoy the experience, and be glad that you took my advice. 🙂

Your Welcome

The title of this post is a little obvious, but really what else DO you call the first post??? Some of you may be wondering why I could possibly need a “new” blog. Well there are several reasons, and since you’re here I’ll tell you about them. As some of you know I have been blogging on yahoo 360, however right from the start there were issues with that one. I found it terribly easy to use, BUT some of my friends and fam who I’d like to see visiting my blog have a hard time getting there and viewing it for some reason. (???) Plus I thought it would be way cool to have my own “site” ha ha. Probably the biggest reason though is the influence of the man in my life. Yes, I have to admit that he has changed my opinion on computers (go apple) and of course blogging. For one, if I get “goofed up” as is very likely, he can help me work out the kinks. Also one of his greatest arguments for this blog is that I can write posts ahead of time and then they can be posted whenever we have a chance to hook his laptop up to the internet. That is especially helpful since we have no internet access at our home at this point. My darling husband is an inspiration to me always, and even though part of me sometimes just wants to be stubborn and cling to my OWN opinion “just because,” deep down I know he is most often right. So I hope that you will come and visit me here often as I make this my new online writing outlet. I enjoy getting feedback and comments from friends, and it’s also a way you can keep up with us without long phone calls or tedious e-mail. 🙂

TTFN