Wonderful Wednesday

The day has started off pretty dang nice! Woke up at daylight, made coffee and poured me a cup. We forgot to shut up the chickens last night so they are already on the hunt for more bugs in the yard. They will certainly have their work cut out for them this year as it has been so mild the bugs will be in the gazillions.
  Yesterday morning I was awakened from my morning nap to someone ringing the doorbell. Now you have to understand .....we don't get company around here.......ever! Let alone at 9 a.m.....it was my son and his family! It was such a wonderful surprise! They were able to stay 3 hours! We played with Noah's Ark, gave the little ones a horseback ride and visited. Loved it. The only bad part was Tim was working.

It was really blowing out there (sustained wind at 30mph) but no one seemed to mind too much. The little guy had decided that since they live on a "farm" he should be a cowboy so his pawpa thought he needed a ride. Time to find a pony!

It was so nice to see them. We hadn't seen them since last fall.

Aren't they cute?

Not that I'm prejudice or anything.

  Things are going well here at the homestead. My chestwall is feeling somewhat better. I'm still reluctant to do much as it only hurts when I'm done stressing my upper body. Of course that involves absolutely EVERYTHING! Good grief! You know, washing dishes, doing laundry, making the bed, pulling weeds, feeding, cleaning flower beds, playing with the horses.

  I have a few flowers already blooming and buds on the orchard trees. I hope we will find time today to spray the trees. The beds are in awful shape. Some need thinning and some just cleaning up from last year. Maybe I'll take some pictures later of the mess.

  It will be in the upper 60's today and maybe some rain coming in tonight. We need it! So...for a few days there's a good chance of getting some. By Monday it's supposed to be 70 on Monday and Tuesday! Maybe the roof done? Then again T said he was gonna call Clayton and get an estimate on a metal roof. I'm not seeing it happen but who knows?

Greg's son Steve has gotten engaged and sounds as if a May wedding may happen. They've been together 6 years, not sure what the hurry is now. Oh, that's right, the church was suggesting it. lol Tina is such a funny girl. She walked right into that one. On with more family news....Jeff and his family have found a home and will be moving to Spfd in the next 30 days or so. Will certainly help the new generation of cousins be closer. Also gives Mike and Linda a big house to turn the Christmas gathering over to. They will finally get to be guests instead of hosts. I know they've been doing it for 30 years and now it's someone else's turn.

  It's strange being the "older" generation. Only my body feels old, translate that to ancient), my brain doesn't. Seems I've rambled enough for one morning.

    Some days are diamonds!

Throwaway Thursday

  Shouldn't be too hard to find something to throw away today. The house is full of crap haha...I'll see what I can come up with.
  I was so tired yesterday and went to bed at 8:30 last night. For the first time in months/possibly years I slept almost a solid 8 hours! Gosh, that was so nice. Unbelievable actually. Tim is off to work for the last day of the trick. As much as I hate to I'm hoping for some OT. We need it.
 Some days are diamonds!

Weird start to day

  the power went off at 12:38 this morning and came back on around 3:30 shortly after we got up ....the storm blew through pretty fast and we had no damage but something did happen in Cassville. Also, a tornado touched down in Buffalo and in Branson. Six altogether in the state. High wind damage also. 30 injured in Branson area...glad we mostly slept through it. I woke up just seconds before the power went out because of the wind. Just a couple of minutes after the power went the storm was gone and I went back to sleep. Yay! Alarms went off on time - called power company and they were already on it and a few minutes later- lights came on.
  Sun is shining and it's around 50*. Gonna be a beautiful windy day. 15-20 mph winds .....rain for the month-3.7" at least plus 1/2" of snow....
  We (I use the term lightly)turned Jeanne out with the other horses yesterday. No limping but she hasn't actually worked it. Maybe this weekend we'll throw at least a saddle on her and see how she does.
Sandi came and picked me up Monday morning early so we could meet mom at her dentist appt. She told the home folks she was afraid and wanted family there. Pretty much was just a way to get us to show up and visit with her about living with Sandi again. That hasn't changed any. Her memory's are still confused and not all there. She wasn't sure if she still owned the house in Oregon but knew she had money in the bank. She offered to help buy a trailer for them all to live in. I've got no problem with that but I think Char will. She doesn't want to lose "the bed" at the facility. Who cares? There will always be a bed somewhere.
  It's hours later now and they just reported that a woman in Cassville was thrown from her mobile home on the north end of town and killed in this morning's storm. It wasn't just an overturned big truck that Tim had to drive around on the way to work. What a day for the folks around the Ozarks.
                   Some days are diamonds and some days are stone. Today is both......

Sunny Sunday

  It's been a few days. On Friday I went to visit Susie and finally see her "new" place. She's been there 3 years and only 14 miles away. I don't get out much.....ya think? It's a very nice place and she's made a beautiful home there. It's comforting to know she'll always have a place and a place for her horses and pets.
 Yesterday was the opening for a new Tractor Supply nearby. I stopped for a very quick look around to see what they had to offer in the way of feed for my animals. Nope....they had the horse feed I've used for 15 yrs but $2 a bag higher, dog food abt the same, chicken - higher (scratch was $14!)so I kept moving and went to our feed store and will keep trying to help them stay in business against the chain stores. My animals thank me.

Most of the herd taking their morning nap. First time I've seen Betty lay flat. Jeanne is still under house arrest and healing nicely. I think next week we'll turn her out in a smaller pasture with Cotton and keep feeding them separately. Cotton has asthma and has been having some respiratory trouble. It will help them both. I'm not sure how the rest of the herd will feel about their "stallion" not being able to tell them what to do and protecting them. He often gets help from Spike and now Dick but still........hmmmm. We'll find out.

  Today is the Daytona race. Opening season of Sprint cars. We'll watch it tonight when Tim gets home. Last night we watched the Nationwide race and it was really good. Good start to the season.

  My chestwall is still very tender. A few things really bother it. Most of the time it's just hurting as a reminder but then if I push it....ack! I just need to be more careful in my upper body movements and it will heal eventually. Dang! As if chronic back pain and arthritis weren't enough!

  Just checked and it's up to 47* already at 9a.m.. supposed to top out around 62*. Yay! Breezy of course. When is it not breezy here?

  Some days are diamonds.

Mellow Monday-again

  Well, Tim has gone back to work and today will be so very slow. I love spending time with him. We had such a nice quiet, restful vacation. We did make a trip to Spfd to pick up his truck. That's as far as we went. He went and got 4 bales of hay, we picked up our tax papers and that was almost the extent of traveling on our "vacation". That's the way we like it.
   OMGosh! It's time for Nascar! Had the shootout this past weekend and next weekend is Daytona. Pretty cool.
  It's late in the day for this old gal so will try again tomorrow. Some days are diamonds!

Throwaway Thursday

  While Tim was working on the pickup I managed to throw away things in the shop. The garage and the shop will be cleaned this year! With the new glow plugs and the stuff he did this morning the truck should have no more trouble starting in the cold. Keeping fingers crossed. The block heater no longer works and hoping we don't have to replace it too.
  We've enjoyed our vacation so far. Sleeping in late, watching movies, puttering with things around the place etc.

The "kids" enjoyed the little bit of snow that we did get.

Here's Toybox, Sugar Brown and William the goat. Our first horses and only goat. Around 26-27 years ago. Good golly!

We have enjoyed homemade pizza, scratch pudding and whipped cream, beans & cornbread, hotdogs with fries, tacos from the Bell, waffles, dinner at the sunrise once, etc. Ate like little piggies.....
  Gotta go....some days are diamonds!

Monday, Monday

Starting the day off with a little bit of snow on the ground. Not much but the first snow of the winter. It will be gone tomorrow as the temp will be in the 40*'s. Supposed to turn to sleet later today tho. Hope that Tim gets the feed before the ice comes. Gotta have it today. Jeanne is still under "house arrest" and healing nicely. The top picture was taken in 06 when she was pregnant, with Frosty, I believe. The othe picture was taken last summer. Not bad for a 17 yr old that was used as a brood mare most of her life. Until she came to us she had a colt most every year, poor dear. She will become my next trail horse I'm thinking. We'll see how we get along during this rehab. She's not very respectful to humans but is generally easy to get along with. Be a good time to start her over with the ground work while she can't be under saddle.

Now this is funny. I'm so slow at some projects. I started this linen blouse last September and finished it a few days ago. Five months to finish a few hour project! Good grief!

Here's one from the way back folder. Time frame: had to edit what I wrote. Time frame: I was aound 9 yrs old. 1962-63..give or take a few months. I remember that Easter dress. It was taken at the farm house. Weren't we a handsome bunch? haha
 Had beans and cornbread for dinner last night. Sure was tasty on a chilly night. Will be good for lunch today too.
 I think I'll make a dessert of some kind today too. Haven't decided what kind. Pie, cake, maple bars or candy. So many choices.... and another homemade pizza for dinner. I will remember to take a picture of it this time.
  This may be a multiple post day as I need to get started on my chores.
       Some days are diamonds!