Been about 3 weeks

   since I last posted anything. Sad part is nothing different happening. Or is that a good thing? I think it's a good thing in a lot of respects. You know: no news is good news....
  We do not have a completed roof. Actually the weather has held them up. But......they did the tear off on the front half so now is covered with a tarp. Just what you want during two snow storms. Too funny. Staying dry though. Not as warm in the house but it's dryer than it has been in years! lol
  I love the fact that just a few inches of snow shuts things down and slows down the rest. Means we live in a nice southern region that doesn't get much snow. Wish it was a little farther south haha.
  Pet food stamps. I love it. It is so tough for some folks to make it and I sure think most families should have a pet. It is good for the children to learn a little responsibility taking care of them and that's the least they can learn from loving a pet.
  We've got almost 3" of snow so far this a.m.. it looks just beautiful out there. My big brother will get a kick out that. He laughs at that piddly amount of snow. But while he's in it up to his ass an freezing, we are nice and toasty in comparison. He'll be working for quite some time since he just bought a new truck and trailer. I guess he plans on NOT retiring as soon as he can. Who knows what goes through his mind. haha.
  It's snowing again and the scanner has picked up. Domestic violence is so stupid. Risking the lives of our officers for such bs reasons. Repeatedly! 34 yr old female threw her son on to the floor and trashing the house!!!!!!They are having to go and give rides to jurors today too. Poor guys.
  Having a diamond day.

Same ol' same ol'

  Not much going on. The same old chores and what not. Feeding, watering, laundry, floors and dishes etc. etc,
  I did get to see Lee and Aiden for a little visit. He had to bring the utility trailer back so we could get hay. Oh, the good news? Best we can tell is the fire in the pick up was a build up of leaves and twigs that had accumulated and must have caught an ember from the hay guy's outdoor furnace. Thank the good Lord! Nothing wrong with the truck except the dusting and smell of the extinguisher. Yay!
  Other good news. Getting a new roof on! A metal one. Won't ever have to worry about it again. Better not anyway. Should last us a lifetime. Now we'll be able to slowly (I mean one sheet of plywood at a time) fix the floors. Can I hear another yay? YAY!
  Groundhog day. Gonna be winter no matter what happens. Spring doesn't start until March.
  Called my brother last night since I hadn't heard from since before Christmas. He was in the hospital for a few days right around Christmas time with bronchial pneumonia and influenza A. He's better now but still sounded kinda crappy. He'll be working at least another 4 years no matter what. He just bought a new big truck and the payments last that long.
  Nephew Joe just ask for an update on Gramma. Gave him the run down- short version. Also got his phone number. It's the same as it was when he was living here. I assume he will pass the word to the other kids. I would but not sure what good it would do or if they are even interested.
  It spit a little ice at us this a.m. but the sun is trying to come out again and will get to 40* today. I liked the 70* we had a few days ago much better. Got a little work done in the shop that day. Helped T with the truck too. Not sure what's on the agenda for today except my treadmill.
                    Gonna be a diamond day.

Sunday morning

  Already Sunday and I don't know that I've got much done lately. A little housework and a little outside work. Maybe a little more today as it's supposed to get to 60*.
  We had more vehicle trouble this week. T went to get hay and took a long time. When he got back (thank the Lord)he told me what happened. As he was leaving the place he noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the front of the truck where the windshield wipers are. You know, the little grill looking thing in between them? It now looks like a real grill. Long story short - had some more smoke and then some flame. Thank goodness there was a fire extinguisher in the truck. We'll be able to look closer at the problem when T is off again. And maybe today I'll air out the truck and get some of the extinguisher chemicals out of the interior. A light dusting every where! If it weren't for bad luck! etc etc

 

  

Here's Aiden and Dahlia riding Buck last summer. They sure had fun. I probably have already posted these but just now got them uploaded to my laptop from the pc. 

 Took this a couple of weeks ago. Some of our wonderful pack enjoying our bed and the sunshine. I have to keep my good blankets covered with that throw to protect them. lol The cats are beginning to think they are dogs too. When the dogs get excited cause someone is here, so do the cats. They want to go out with the dogs and pretty good at coming back in with the dogs. I can't leave them out very long at a time because of the hawks and coyotes but they sure like it (and the sparrows) I can see I will have to put bells on them soon. Next craft project coming up. haha 

  The old roo is still living on the porch. I had him out in the yard again the other day and the youngster took after him again. The next morning I let him back on the porch much worse for the wear so I haven't made him leave the porch again. He's been a good roo and guess I'll just live with him on the porch til he passes. Gonna have to change the name of the place to something about an old "folks" home. Of course the name is Rockin'TNC so it could be taken both ways. haha 

You know....rocking the house! or sitting in a rocking chair. Hardy hardy har! 

  I've still not started Walker's quilt! Good grief. How easily I'm distracted or how slow I am ....not sure which is the case. Maybe today will be the day. Some days by the time I get the "have tos" done I've barely the energy to make my mile walk. Winter sure is tough on my soul. I hate it more every year. 

  Gonna be a diamond day in spite of it all! 

 

Friday the 18th

  OMGoodness! I forgot yesterday was throwaway day! Didn't throw away a dang thing except in the kitchen. I need to do that today otherwise I will get behind. Ha! As if a person could tell just walking through my mess house. My so called library is absolutely trashed thanks to the kittens. They have tried to clean the shelves for me by knocking things off into the floor. At least they haven't killed any houseplants. I've got to go through that room again and thin it out. I'm hoping to get most of the house thinned out by spring so I don't have to worry about anymore. I'm sure I'm repeating myself. Maybe if I say it often enough it will get done.
   My oldest roo has lost his flock to the youngster so he has taken to sleeping under the porch instead of in the hen house. The last few days I've been feeding him separately and the last two I've fed him on my messy back porch with the quail. Well, not exactly with the quail but on the floor next to the crate. He marches up the ramp and into the enclosed porch and has his dinner. The dogs walk right by him and now the cats will. They tried to check him out and he puffed up. They respect that posture and now leave him alone.
  Speaking of the quail, one of them was playing with a cat this a.m....guess we'll never turn them out. haha Wouldn't last long if they're not afraid of predators. Still hoping to have baby quail next spring but not holding breath under these circumstances. Maybe later.
  It's 54* and sunny out there. T is busy in the woods and I'm doing a little house work. We'll have home made pizza for dinner and a nice relaxing evening. Watch a Barret-Jackson auction on tv. Having a diamond day and hope everyone is doing fine.
 
 

Icy morning

  OMGoodness, was it ever cold this a.m. at 3:30 when the alarm went off! There was ice on the ramp out the back door last night so I was concerned about T going to work this a.m.. The good Lord was watching out for us though. T went out to start the car and scrape the ice off the windows etc and there was none! Yay! He didn't even bother to warm up the car.

  Just a light covering.

  Got the ice broke on the water trough. We had to go back to busting ice because the dang trough heater started shocking the horses like the other one did. Guess they're only good for a couple of seasons. How cheesy is that? I guess I'll start saving my pennies and by the time there's only 2 horses left I'll buy one of those frost-free troughs. lol Too many other priorities ahead of that. 

 Not a very good picture but here's my great great grandpa. Taken between 1906 and 1920. James Oliver A. The family story was he ran off to Oklahoma to stay with some woman but according to his son Charles' family he just wanted to stay with them and not be taken back home. His wife, Nancy, was already dead so can't say as I'd blame him. I had been trying to find his grave for several years. I even sent to Oklahoma for his death certificate. They couldn't find one. This past year someone very kindly posted his and one of his son' s pictures online with the cemetery etc on find a grave's website! Too cool! 

Today's "wayback" picture is my brother and sister. Sometime around 1961 or so. Those were good days for me. 

  Had a diamond day.  

  

Saturday 5 a.m.

  Had a really nice day on Friday. Met an old friend in town, did a little shopping and went to lunch.  Came home to a cat with separation anxiety and a 1700 # horse in the old chicken run. How funny is that? Betty stayed there until Tim came home to rescue her. She quietly stepped over the part of the fence he cut open. It was way past time to do something with that fence anyway. Always looking for something to get into. Love that curiosity!

  There's an ice storm coming tonight. Well, I use the term storm lightly as it's not really a storm coming, just a cold front while it is raining, so to speak. As the weather man says,"winter weather advisory".  But.......it only takes about 1/4" of ice on the power lines to take out the electricity.
  I will be cleaning our oil lamps today just in case. Cooking and heat are no problem. Water and light is the only thing we can lose. Need to charge up phone and laptop too. Emergency radio is solar and crank - no worries. During the ice storm a few years back it took 7 days of no power before the National Guard showed up at the front door. Boy, was that ever a surprise! We were fine but running out of water for the horses. We used that water for the toilets. lol Purdy offered free water to folks for their livestock which was wonderful. We had a few barrels to fill so T took them to town and filled them.
  Went and got a few more groceries just now. Locked in the hubs on the truck so it's ready to go in the morning for T. I reminded him that he could use a sick day if he wants to in the morning. Depends on that ice. They are calling for an inch.

  I'll be glad when the cats grow to a size that maybe the hawks will leave alone. They sure do like it outside. It's getting harder to round them up and bring them back in! It's kinda hard to see but that's a red-tail hawk helping himself to one of the chicks last year. There is at least one pair living in the woods behind us. There is also a Prairie falcon hanging out this winter. He is fast and he cruises really low, about 7-8' off the ground and is not bashful at all. Has scared me in the yard a couple of times haha.
  I've been anonymously following several blogs for several years now. Once in awhile I post something and normally just left my name. Recently I started just leaving the rockintnc thing and not changing it to my name. Anyway, I started following sarawolf over at Sally's Country Home a long time ago. I believe I found her at the countryside forum. Her weaving took me there I believe. The blog kept me going back. I posted something after one of her posts and now I find out she lived in Purdy back in the 80's! What a tiny world we live in. It has been proven to me time and again.  We have a Purdy address but can see Butterfield from the front window.
  I just received a book with some of T's genealogy in it from a second cousin of his. She sent me a free copy of her book for helping with some of the research. It's a beautiful hardback one. We actually got to meet them 5-6 years ago when they were in "the neighborhood". They live in Vegas. eww! I just can't imagine living in that place.
  I'm having another diamond day. Hope you all do too.
 

Throw away Thursday

  Today I will throw more than one something away. Maybe a lot of somethings. lol My library is absolutely trashed! My lovely little pride of cats have such a good time in that room. So many things to play with and climb on and so little time! Get a few kittens - they will help you do your spring cleaning and re-arranging.
  Was able to pick up the van from the repair shop yesterday. Yay! So glad to have it back and running correctly. Well, mostly correct. It still has a little odd surge in it but the check engine light is happy, the air conditioner is working correctly and the cruise control is finally working again! It's been out for several years now. T was right. It was in the vacuum stuff. So was the a.c.. The check engine thing was it needed a download from Dodge that was due before we even bought the thing. Fuel for it is much cheaper than diesel. Only problem with the new repair shop - they don't accept credit cards. Who in the world doesn't accept cards these days? Talk about inconvenience. Now we have to find the money out of the paycheck all at once. Dang it, there goes the groceries lol . Pick and choose - rob Peter to pay Paul as they say.
  I checked out my sister's blog this a.m.. well done! I knew you could figure it out and not screw anything up. You're just a scared y cat. Don't believe everything R tells you haha. At least you've never deleted the entire operating system. haha Loved the pictures. It will make it a lot easier to find those pictures after you name and file them. Last time I saw them it was kinda willy nilly. I'll be able to come down south soon and help you out with that but I'm sure Jonathan can help.
  Did I loan you my disc for Kodak? I can't find it and I know I would not throw it out. If you don't have it maybe Lee does.
  It's hours later, the rain has come again and I finally got my cobbler in the oven. Blackberry of course. I'm just two days later than I planned. lol It will still be yummy. Having a diamond day- hope everyone else is too.