Hanging In There

Have you ever thought that just getting out of bed should be your accomplishment for the day?

Things have been so crazy-hectic around here lately. First, I traveled 6 hours to the next state over to pick up my Ryan after a fun 2 week trip to visit his grandparents. Now I have to tell you that my sense of direction leaves much to be desired! I'm terrible going places I'm unfamiliar with because I tend to get lost quite easily. So after a few off track explorations...heh...I made it to my destination. Had a great visit with my sister in law and after adjusting my schedule an extra day to get a new tire put on, we were off! By the way, did you know most everything in a small town closes early on Saturdays at like...noon and EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays? Yeah...even tire shops.

So we come back home only to go to work early the next day. Oh yeah...I got a Jay-Oh-Bee. That spells JOB. Yes I am a working wife/mother. It's supposed to be part time but so far I'm working 8 to 5 like...all the time! So I work two days and then I'm off to the next town to take my Ryan to the doctor. An hour there, two minutes with the doc, an hour home. Heh...

Now I'm back to work and this weekend my girl has orientation for her college. Two hours there, and it's undecided if she is driving herself (I will post a blog on a mother's experience on her teenage girl getting her license soon, very soon) or if me and her dad are taking her.

The weekend after that is my scrapbook retreat (can we have a moment of silence while the angels sing)..................

Then school starts and off we go! So you can see why I would please like to ask forgiveness for not blogging for a week. Not that there's nothing worth while going on...it's just that my slow country living pace is catching up to me and I'm going, going, going!

So I was just wondering...could I just be this horse for a while? Thank you very much!

Tractor

I know you have just been waiting on the edge of your seats for me to show what happened to that wheat field, right? Unable to move on and function on a normal daily level because I just left you hanging. Well I'm sorry about that so here I am to show you just what happened to that wheat field.
What is that?

Is that a dust storm? We do have some killer wind here on some days but this seems to be localized! What in the world? I honestly hear music in my head right now...

Cue suspense, entrance music! Whatever it is...it's heading towards our home! AHhhhh!!!!

Wait a minute!! It's a tractor!

Tractor, Tractor!!!

Sorry for the screen shot. I was in my room when I heard this loud humming sound and had to quickly grab my camera for this shot! I was quite excited I tell ya.

It's tilling the wheat field. I wouldn't try to ever pretend to be any kind of expert in farming...heh but I tried to do a bit of research on the difference between tilling and plowing.

Tilling is supposed to be gentler on the earth and recurring crops and prevents clumping or something. Most farmers around here seem to till rather than plow...especially when it concerns the wheat fields. We will have to see if they plant wheat again this coming season...

It took this this guy about 8 or 9 hours that he split into two days. Guess this is not his only field.

When he pulled into the field, the tiller was in a drive position so he could drive the tractor on the road and not till up the only means to getting to the next town for supplies. It was pretty scary I have to say. It was all spiky and pointy and well...really scary. It tears that ground up people!!!

Anyway, thought I'd share this with you. Now you can resume with your normal daily activities. Sorry to suspend your living like that.

Take a break and I'll let you know what happens next but just so ya know...it will be a few months before anything else happens...I think.

Pay Day

After we had inches and inches and days and days of rain, our yard was high and thick. So thick and high that with only one push mower it has taken us a week to get it done. See our push mower is dead and the one we borrowed is the only one we are able to use. We are seriously looking into getting a riding mower. It was so thick that we had to raise it to the highest setting which meant we had to then go back over it on the lowest. My boys were so happy about that they jumped up and down and sang praises! Let it be known that I was the one who mowed the first two days!!

So after 7 days of mowing, it was pay day! You don't seriously think we pay our kids money do you? Heck No!!! We give 'em what they really want!!!

Oh yeah! Speeding on a dirt bike is what they really want! They don't want no stinkin' money!

Sliding and dounuts is what they really want! Money is for sissies!

Four wheeling is way better than anything money can buy...except gas for the four wheeler!

Even Dad gets in on the fun! He helped mow and weed eat. He also rebuilt the dirt bike and four wheeler so they worked! On second thought, it might be cheaper to just pay them money. Gas is expensive dangit! Plus it freaks a momma out seeing her babies zipping by!

Living large in the country is what we're all about!!

Something Wicked This Way Comes

This week has been hot, hot, hot!!!! See, last week I was gloating to my dad and sending him texts about our glorious weather up here. The weather has been mild. Like in the mid 80's with lows in the upper 60's.


Where we lived in the big city it was hot! We had 2 seasons...Hot and not-so-hot. If you've ever lived in Texas you know what I mean! So when we moved to the country, I was excited to hear there is an actual winter here and it snows from time to time!!! I figured the summers would also be cooler...


Well...it didn't take long for our mild weather to leave and now we are hotter here than where we moved from!!! Lawd have mercy!!! There's a lesson in there somewhere...



So do you remember that movie that came out in the early 80's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" directed by Jack Clayton and it was based on the novel by Ray Bradbury. We watched it so many times when I was a kid because my dad liked it. We liked it too even though some parts were a little bit too scary for us. Well, scary for my sister. She would always leave when things got too exciting!! I wasn't scared at all. Nope. It couldn't be helped that my bladder needed to be emptied right at the scary moments!!!



The reason I mention this movie was because the other night I went outside to see the sunset as I like to do when I saw this:


Look familiar? It sort of looks like the clouds when the storm was rolling in right? I mean, I can't really remember many things too well these days on account of my brain being overloaded (certainly NOT because I'm getting older) but this is what I thought of. Sorry but I can't be responsible about what's in my brain...

"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." And who didn't love Jason Robards?

Another movie that came to mind was "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". You know right when the mother ship shows herself to the people? I was a little nervous...heh...sorta waiting for something to pop out of there...

It was just a storm north of us. Lot's of lightening but it didn't come close to us. Just passed on through. And allowed me to entertain myself thinking about all these freaky, scary movies! "War of the Worlds", "Independence Day"...

All those movies started with something freaky like this I tell ya!!!

Speaking of something wicked coming our way:

Good Grief!!! This is Trixie. One of our new cats. That's right!!! I said ONE.

So here's the story: My husband's boss has a cat and decided to adopt a kitty to keep her company because they lost one of their beloved felines and they were a little down about it. He picked up three kittens from the shelter and after a day....A DAY!!! asked if we would like to adopt one or two kittens.

Now I am not ashamed to say I am not an animal person. I don't have anything personal against them but I take care of 5 other people in this family and can barely squeeze in any me time as it is, so animals just take more out of me than I have to give because it's me who usually cleans up puke and poop caused by said animals. We have a dog already that I had to be talked into and he has turned out to be the best dog a family could ask for! Buzz is a one of a kind dog. But I swore I would NEVER be a cat owner.

"They would be really great hunters" they said. "They would keep your pests and mice at bay" they said. We are having creepy crawlie problems and even though I haven't personally seen them with my own eyes, there has to be field mice out and about. I mean, we do live up against a field...

So...never say never apparently, because I not only own one cat...I own TWO!!! They are about 2 months old and...cute as kittens. Hahaa! You know I had to say it!

This is Rex. Since we have Buzz we named these little guys after characters from Toy Story also. Buzz, Trixie and Rex.

I have to say I really find these guys cute! I can't lie: I like them and maybe even...(gulp) love them!

Another reason I never had cats was because my poor mom is very allergic to them. So if I ever wanted her to come visit me we had to have a no cat zone. Not that I don't want her to visit me now...it's just we live 8 hours away from them. And if she ever does come visit, well, I guess I'll deal with it then.

They are much cuter than I thought they'd be. We have to keep them indoors for a couple of months and then they'll be let loose! Hunter cats is what they'll be!!! They are American Bobtail Cats. The hunter bobcat with the house cat disposition.

Yes dangit! Rex is in our bed...but not overnight. He's just cat napping.

Have you ever slept like this? Awww....all spread out and cuddly.

We've only had them for 2 days but for sure in about 3 or 4 months...they are outside!!!!

Seriously!!! Outside hunting cats!!!! NOT indoor cats. I mean it!!!! I've made up my mind!!! It's a done deal I tell ya!! DONE!!!!

Wading

The day we went to Quartz Mountain State Park, we climbed the mountain and then we went to see the water. It's a beach with sand which is different from what we're used to. The lake we used to visit was a rocky beach. We like the sandy beach much better.

We didn't exactly plan to go swimming so we showed up in our clothes. After much pleading and bargaining to please go home and get our suits and come back I finally put my foot down!
"Heck no!! Just take your stinky shoes and socks off and put your feet in the water. You'll be fine!" These darn kids are so demanding!!

So after the shoes come off I had all these darn kids asking me to hold their shoes! So I put my foot down and said, "Heck no!! Just stick your stinky socks deep into your shoes and carry them around with you!" Geesh! Demanding I tell ya. Some of these shoes could put a cow down! Seriously!

So they walked the sandy beach asking a couple more times if we could PLEASE go get our suits on. I told them when their momma (my sister) came up for that weekend, we would pack a lunch and all come hang out and swim before they left. Sounded fun to me...little did I know it would start raining for the next week!!

They played and got as far in as they could without getting all wet because I threatened them and told them if they got all wet they were going to have to walk home and they were not getting into my suburban all wet and stinky!

"Aunt DeeDee, you're so mean!" they said!

"I know" I said. "It's my job."

Even though they were in the water it was still a very hot day. Some of us didn't take our shoes off and wade in the water. Some of us were sitting on some rocks taking pictures while sweat was dripping down her back yelling for them to hurry up and have their fun so we could get the heck back home in the air conditioning.

Poor kids. Poor, poor, mistreated kids. I really was planning on coming out with my sister and her family and spending a couple of hours swimming and relaxing. Darn rain!

Does it seem like they're getting further out? Maybe a little deeper? Maybe hoping to "fall" or get pushed?

The good thing about fresh water is you don't have to deal with the stickiness of salt water or jelly fish. They were still a little nervous though.
Gosh these two remind me of my brothers. Isn't it weird how my kids can resemble my siblings? My sister says her daughter resembles me too.

They drew in the sand and threw rocks in. They abandoned their shoes on the rocks I was sitting on.

Aw...look at those cute little legs. These kids are getting so big! And you can tell we get no sun at all! Most of our legs are blindingly white like that.

We were going to go play on some playground equipment on the camp grounds after this but we were getting hungry and hot and tired. We took a vote and all but one of us voted to go home. Sorry Gabby, but you got voted off. I told her we would come back with her momma but we never got the chance. She was quite upset and didn't speak to us for like...10 minutes and for Gabby, that's a real long time!

Rock Climbing

So after days of hearing, "Aunt DeeDee how come we never do anything fun?" and "Mom, I'm soooo bored" I threw the kids in the suburban and said, "Fine!!! Let's go climb a dangerous and unstable rock mountain!" and all the kids jumped up and down and cheered! "Finally, something fun!"

So off we went to Quartz Mountain State Park. Here they are before they go up. I'm talking while I take their picture. I'm telling them, " You guys have to watch for snakes, and be careful where you step. Watch where you're going! And PLEASE don't fall!!! I don't want to have to take you to the ER with a broken limb or worse and have to call your mom and tell her!!!!"

All these kids heard, was "Blah, blah, blah, snakes, blah, blah, ER, blah, blah, Mom".

Fine! Just go! I'll stay down here and wait. And BE CAREFUL!!!! Coming down is harder than going up!!

And they're off!!!
And I start praying!!

I'm still praying. I'm such a Mother!!! All I can think about is an escape plan if one of these babies come flying down the mountain and how I'm going to get all of them back down without hurting themselves so I can get them to the hospital!

Um....guys? Be careful please! Guys?

Ahhhhh!!! Brandon? You okay? "I'm okay mom! Geesh! Just trying to climb....can you please calm down????"

Can you see them? Look really hard towards the center left you can see red shirts. Oh my gosh they're high!

Okay guys...heh. That's far enough! Go ahead and start heading down now....heh...before your momma has a heart attack...

Here they come...steady and careful.

I missed the memo on wearing red today I guess. Hehe. Here they come. The little punks! They told me, "I thought you said it was harder coming down! That was too easy!" Well it was hard for me dangit!!

This is probably why they call it Quartz Mountain...

Yay! No hospitals today!!!

Made it down safe and sound.

"Mom, you're such a buzz kill!"

"I know baby, that's my job."