The Farming Mac's do Hawaii...

Aloha, stalkers!  We have returned from our 10 day vacation to HAWAII!  We planned the trip around the big dog Ironman World Championship in Kona, HI.  We thought Butterfly had a really good chance to qualify.  It was a bad time of the year to be gone because B-rad needed to be helping with harvest, but what are you gonna do?  Big dog Ironman don't care about harvest.  (And there's never a good time to be gone with farming.  There's always something to do...)

Sadly, Butterflies time in Louisville did not qualify him for Kona. (He was in 16th place in his division last year.  This year he shaved about 30 min off his time & ranked somewhere in the 30's....)  Sigh, he always ruins everything...

Here's an interesting fact:  the Louisville Ironman is the 5th hardest course.  We met a guy who qualified & he was from Germany.  He finished his qualifying course in 10 hours, 17 minutes.  That was the exact time Butterfly did his in.  Just goes to show how competitive Louisville's Ironman is...

I'm sure you can imagine how many gazillion pictures I have to go through!  I will work on posts as soon as I can!  I debated on doing day-by-day posts (yes, I think about stuff like that... cuckoo, cuckoo...) but I think I'm going to show you Hawaii by the 'activities' we did instead!  I am also collecting my thoughts for a special edition about my observations of Hawaii.  Riveting stuff, I tell ya... 

 Since I know ya'll like pics, here's a couple from my phone that I took to text friends to make them jealous...

This is at Pearl Harbor.  You can see the Arizona memorial on the right.  It's that long white thing...

And I also know most of you like the beach.  So here's a pic of my view the first day we were on the Big Island... 

Also-I have some bad news to report.  Remember Sparky & his rectal prolapse?  Well, we got home yesterday afternoon after flying all night & I knew something was wrong right away.  Brady went over every day to feed the animals for us & he said he had not seen Sparky all week.  Hhhhhmmmmm....  Let me just say that there was 'evidence' in the basement that Sparky's condition had re-occurred.  I am super sad about this because we weren't there for him when he was hurting.  I don't even know if he's alive or dead.  We've looked all over for him & called for him but we've not seen him.  My heart is very heavy...  Poor Sparky...

And in OTHER bad news.  Yes, there is more...

We landed in Louisville around 10:15 am yesterday.  We dropped mom off at her house at 11:30 am.  We went home & then I was confronted with the Sparky issue.  I tried to lay down (Hawaii is 6 hours behind us...the time difference is a bitch!).  I couldn't really sleep because of Sparky & I get a phone call from Lora that dad was hit by a car.  I work in a small town & dad knows everyone so news travels fast.  Dad walks all.over.Palmyra.  He was crossing the intersection & the guy didn't see him.

Long story short - he's at Floyd Co Hospital.  His femur (that's the big bone from your knee to your hip) was shattered into 10 pieces.  He had to have surgery last night to put a rod in it to hold it together.  He also broke his finger & they splinted that.  My dad is impatient (uhm, sound like anyone you know?!) & he is NOT a very good patient.  They doctor said he won't be able to walk for 3 months.  He will be able to use crutches soon.  He will also be hooked to a machine that will continuously bend his knee so it doesn't get stiff.  Yea, he's not gonna like that...  After he's released from the hospital he has to go to rehab.  He's not the best at listening & taking directions.  They're going to have their hands full...Dad is almost 70, diabetic & does that tobacco chew stuff.  (yuck...)  All of those things will slow down his recovery...

So I'm dealing with a WHOLE lot in a matter of less than 24 hours.  Traveling, time difference, lack of sleep,  unpacking, Sparky, dad & trying to catch up at work.  Please pray for my dad & especially my mom.  Like I said, dad is NOT an easy person to take care of.  He's hard headed & stubborn.  (Not like me at all...)

I told mom today she may just kill him over all this.  She said, 'Yes...that or the guy that hit him.'

Stay tuned...I'll work on pics as soon as I can.  I'm dying to show you guys everything we did!