Ground hog day

  The ground hogs think we will have an early spring but I disagree. We have been about a month behind since last fall. I figure that we will have winter until sometime in April. Just been such a mild winter and I've enjoyed it. Having a cold front coming in with a lot of wind is reminding everyone that it is still on the calendar.
  We had a really nice weekend with a visit from my sister and brother in law. He came up to help Tim with work on the tractor. They couldn't find the right part though so we are still broke down. Maybe this weekend.....Then on Sunday our son was able to come by for a nice long visit. A little catch up was great!
  I was able to catch the horses all taking their nap at the same time! Doesn't happen very often that someone doesn't stay "on watch".
 

Here's George and Hannah sharing a crate for their evening nap.

  One of the family's nephews by choice has had a heart attack! He has had a stent put in the completely blocked artery and rooted the other. No damage to heart thank goodness. Good grief, he and his family have been through so much the past few years and now this. I'm sure they will get through this too but it just doesn't seem fair. 

   My great nephew is out of the hospital and has returned to work from a partially collapsed lung! No injury or accident, just spontaneous crap! Life never ceases to amaze me! 

 This is for my sister...she can make her husband crazy when she tells him she has a new idea! haha He just loves her redneck hillbilly ways. She does enjoy teasing him. 

 You all have a diamond day! 

  

Sunday morning through Tuesday

  Not much happening. Later today the plan is to start cleaning out the bathroom of "stuff" and make ready for the repairs.

  I started this on Sunday and got sidetracked. It is now Tuesday and I may get sidetracked again lol.
  I talked to the kids last night and all is as well as can be expected. They have put the roof on hold since it continued to rain. Good news is that Aiden has gained another pound! He is doing just fine.

  Now we finally have a whole week that may be free of rain! I guess "summer" is over. Guess it was a waste of time and water to fill my pool this year. I waited til it started warming up and then it started raining and has not quit. The rain was much needed but I sure was looking forward to playing with the kids in the pool. This late in the season and the weather folks are saying we're done with hot weather. Gonna be in the 80's and lows in the 50's. Not at all like a normal August. Give us more fall like weather! I can dig it!!!!!

  Speaking of digging maybe I can save a few of the potatoes that are still in the ground. My tomatoes just suck. Weeds are hip high and the grasshoppers have taken over! I make a horrible "farmer" haha......

  I hope my sister can go visit MomPat this week while she's up that way. Even just a few minutes might make the difference. No sense in waiting until she has more trouble cause she's depressed that no one has come to see her. You know what I mean?

  For the first time in at least 6 years one of the horses got out on the road last night at dusk. Thank goodness the young guy next door was going for his run and took the time to stop and let us know. We just walked out and retrieved him. No problem but did not find an opening in the fence. In the dark it was hard so that will be the objective of the day. Find hole in fence or low spot. I told T that it was probably Betty. Her neck holding the fence low as she got the greener grass. lol

  I am doing some embroidery on the star from Jo. I hope it turns out okay. I don't embroider much so don't have many different stitches in my brain. lol I'll keep plugging away though. I have all but a couple of the other blocks done I think. I'll know more by the end of the day.

  Gonna be another diamond day! Take care.

Saturday .......

   Hard to believe it's just a few weeks away from another new year. As they say, the older you get the faster the time flies by. If the political idiots of the world play there cards right they might just be able to destroy the world this month. Chemical weapons! It's all insane. Never mind.....not worth the time spent to think about it.
  T is working OT today. Was off yesterday. We messed with the horses some and just messed around the house. He went to the feed store so I wouldn't have to. I did my treadmill and just finished it for today. 2.1 miles in one hour.... I'm now resting my bones...lol

 5# apples

 finished ! 

 pumpkin finished!

  I get no respect! That's her tongue sticking out! 

  

    It's going to be a diamond day. Gonna take a nap now before it gets too late.   Oh, the pictures are my pies from Thanksgiving day.

Last day of vacation....

...was Sunday. Tim offered to go for a drive. I took him up on that offer and we decided to make a round trip to Eureka and back. Hadn't done that all year. We used to do it quite often on the bike. Sunday we took the car. Was nice and sunny and about 55*! Pretty nice for mid fall. We dropped a couple of things off at Lee's and headed to Eureka. I was surprised that some of the shops were open. Back in the day you could walk the streets alone and window shop on a Sunday. Guess they had their Black Friday crap too. We kept going instead of stopping. didn't even bother going to the Crescent this time. That place has changed too from what I understand. It was still a wonderful drive . Our next stop was Ann's for a short visit. They were both sick with a virus that drs say can spread like wildfire! Didn't know that at that time. I sure hope we didn't catch it. We served ourselves some drinks so chances are pretty good that we didn't. Although it seems that Tim has caught a cold. Yuck. Poor guy is sneezing a lot.
  Back in the car to continue the short road trip. Only about 100 miles. We skipped Roaring River and stopped by my sister's place for a short visit. Hadn't been there in a month or so. The place is looking good. She was able to have mom Pat for Turkey day. She did well. No trouble taking her back to the home. I'm sure was a very long day for her. For sis too. I did dog nails while I was there. They are such good dogs to work with. All of them.
  Made it home after a stop at Pizza Hut. A salad and personal pan for me and rotini for him. Good stuff. T fed the horses and closed up the chickens etc. I still felt pretty good for a change. Yay for me. Chronic pain for 30 years is still hard to deal with sometimes.
  Have worked a little on my family story. Only 20 some pages so far.

  Here's one of the last photos of James O. 

I'm guessing since the other picture of him was around 1906 and was taken before he went to Oklahoma this was taken between 1906 and 1920. Aunt Jo always said that James O took off to Oklahoma to be with "that woman". Or "a woman" . The story on that end says he was living with his son Charles. How many other stories were left out or misunderstood? The more you hear, the stranger the family is. I guess not really strange. Just more of the same - dysfunctional all through the years . Just not "talking about it" like so many other families. lol 

 Funny, these guys look like brothers or even the same person but this James Samuel Rethford. Our other elusive ancestor. On momma's side. The one that also "ran off" with another woman. He probably did though. lol He deserted Ira's dad as a young boy and I believe started another family over in Wright county. Which is where they started out in Mo....

  Maybe it was just the times... or maybe they shared things like PTSD. They were both in their mid twenties when the war started.  James Samuel ran off just after 1860 while James O was in the 46th Mo Calvary during the war. In his case it was brothers against brother and father! Maybe as he got older he just wanted to be alone. We'll never know. 

  

  See how easily I get distracted? lol 

 It's that time of year! I'll be warm if it's the last thing I do hahahaha.... That wind is sooo cold. 

 Jeanne is still having trouble. Still giving her antibiotics and pain killer. I feel so sorry for her. She is still showing some improvement. Wish it was more. 

All the rest are fat and sassy. We still have hay and enough to last til the end of Jan so will have to get more some time between now and then....not too bad all things considered. 

  I put up a couple of quarts of turkey for later. Sandwiches and turkey and noodles. That's what I made for dinner. A medium pot of turkey and noodles. Was real good. Also baked two loaves of white bread yesterday. Today I'll bake a loaf of rye for Tim. 

 White bread from last year

Rye from last year. 

  Haven't taken pictures of yesterday's bread haha. I could make banana bread but think I will opt for banana pudding instead.  A small one for two. Tim is putting on weight since he quit smoking. I haven't shrunk his pants no matter what he says. haha

  Better get to the laundry...

  Gonna be a diamond day! Hope yours is too! 

   

Already November!

...good grief, I've tried to write some posts but it hasn't happened as you can see. I won't try to catch you up but sis and I did take a road trip to Spfd and we both got new glasses. Mine had changed  little in the last 2 years. Hers had changed in the last 12! years. We had a really fun day! Left early and came back late afternoon. Long day for me. She's probably used to it as she is always running all day long. She takes care of her family and several of the neighbors. They are always running some kind of errand.
  Anyway, the farrier was out. He said he thought it was thrush. I picked up some thrush remedy and we've been treating Jeanne. This will be day four. We treat for a week and then once a week after that. We will see how that plays out. I feel so bad for her but we're doing all we can. The farrier will check back in January to see if we need any work done on anyone. The rest of the crew looks good. We'll start working with the youngsters on their feet. They wear them down quite nicely so far but in the future they may need some attention. We keep everyone barefoot. We have ez boots if we need them.
  The kittens have settled in quite nicely in the household. They get along with the dogs and so far haven't gotten into too much mischief. They sure have a good time. I've got two on my chair with me right now - taking their morning nap. They sleep hard and play hard.

  Tim is off today. He worked OT again yesterday. I'm letting him sleep for a change. He likes for me to wake him when I get up but he's worked 60 hours in the last 5 days. The kids are coming up today for a short visit. Not seen them since Halloween. Here they are at Roaring River. It will be nice to see my kidlet. He was working on Halloween til late.
  I need to send some more pics to this computer so I can upload them. Dang it. Gotta go for now. It's gonna be a diamond day, I'm just sure.

Beautiful start to the morning,,,

..Tim made coffee and went directly back to bed. Haha He's on vacation this week so he's catching up on a little sleep. I hope so anyway. He works a lot of OT - he mowed the yard yesterday and it sure looks nice for the beginning of fall.
  I got most of my houseplants inside the past few days. A few are still on the back porch wishing they were inside. Banana tree is crying and all but banging on the door. We also moved the orphans into the house a few days ago. They are so cute. And have made their selves quite at home. Themselves? Not sure which is correct. Anyway, they have settled right in and are playing with dogs on occasion. Hank is afraid of them. Hannah is desperately trying to figure out the best way to play with them - Sheba is used to cats as she was raised with two.
  Fast forward 5 days ...I never got back to this until this beautiful morning. It's Sunday and the storms are over. Yesterday morning we had 2.7" of rain and haven't checked the gauge to see what we got in the storms that rolled through last night. Quite a bit I'm thinking.
  On Thursday we bought a little 1988 Escort that is still in pretty good shape from Marge. We're calling it Tim's rain suit. It will be so nice to have a little commuter car for T to take to work. They had been getting 32-40 mpg! It has over 300,000 miles on it. Got it washed and vacuumed out and almost clean. lol It still needs some elbow grease used on it. Marge even delivered it to us. Her daughter and son in law helped bring it down from the lake. I can not imagine what she's going through right now. How lonesome she must be without him. I know she lost another husband years ago that was the love of her life but now at this age it must be terribly difficult. She's a strong woman from strong stock and I know she'll be lost for awhile, but she'll be fine.
  Talked to big brother a bit on Friday. He's thinking of spending the winter in Arizona - fishing. I wish he would. He works hard and drives a lot of miles. He says he'll take a pole and bobber. No hooks ......and his cooler with a recliner . All he needs. Sounds like a plan.
  Well, sis has been dealing with C this week and more power to her. I'm still pissed at C for the way she has dealt with the situation this whole year. She has not done what she promised the folks she'd do. She has pawned it off on sis and her own son. I'm afraid I would not be as nice as sis about the whole deal. Glad I don't have to. Thanks Sis!
  Gonna put this on hold again, later.
  Fast forward again. The gauge had another 2.5" of rain! Good for that grass and everything else. Got another .2" in a little storm that came through.
 I have a helper this am. A little white kitten with no name. She's the last one to be named. We have George, Gracie and Patch so far.
  It's been several more days and not much going on. Same ol' same ol' . Daily chores and enjoying our place and our animals. Life is good. Some days are diamonds.....some days are stones. I like the diamond days much better!
  Buck is feeling better and Jeanne is actually showing a little improvement! A long ways to go but is improving. Jose got his well in and we closed the gate and turned the horses out on the west pastures. The wind was a steady 30 mph and 40 mph gusts. Tim put my plastic up again on the back porch. Just wanted to keep it somewhat dry this winter since the quail are still there.  I had it up but didn't put the lathes up with it so it didn't hold. Dang it!

  I've been in a writing slump as I'm sure you've noticed. When I think of something to say I'm busy doing other things and when I have time....I'm brain dead. Such is the way of it...........I love this picture of Jr Mom and Gpa. What a time they must have had. When ever you think you're having a bad day just remember how rough our ancestors had it on a day to day basis. We're very lucky to live in the time we do.

It's a great start....

     to Sept.! We got 2.3" of rain!!!!!! How cool is that? Our vacation started on the 31st of August. Was a really nice and relaxing time. We puttered around the house, got a few things done. Played with the kittens. I'll get a picture of them later. Mawmaw Kitty has decided to no longer live here. She figures the babies are okay with us and left them for her freedom. Too bad for her. I sure hope that Jonathan's friend Chris can have a kitty. As much as he does for his mother I would think that would be up to him.
  Anyway, we have the little front pasture gated off from the kids and will try to seed that section this weekend. If Jose gets his well drilled soon we'll be able to do the other little pasture as well. We have the seed already (it was 25% off!). Yay! We'll be able to keep them off of it for most of the winter and hopefully spring too!
  Got Jeannie wormed again. I'm hoping it will help her. It may be that her teeth need floating instead. Not really a problem but not sure I can spare the $100 or so. I need all I can save for the winter hay. Her feet are still pretty sore but they are improving her ability to get around.
  I missed throwaway Thursday a couple of times last month. This month I plan to make up for that. I will be moving the "cow collection" to the shop and next spring it will go to the trash if no one comes after it. I need the space in the garage for this winter. I'm thinning this crap down no matter how I have to get rid of it.
Gotta go - storm is coming...Diamond day

Never got around to writing

yesterday. It just away from me. lol It was a beautiful day and I got some things done in the yard in preparation of the rain that is supposed to happen this week. Doesn't look to me like it will come this way. The hurricane is in NO right now. Has hit landfall or whatever they call it.
  The new farrier came by yesterday afternoon and trimmed up Jeannie and Buck. Wonderful job and gentle fella. You never know, he could have been like David. Jeannie is still sore but we'll see how she comes along. He'll be back in 7-9 weeks. He only has a handful of clients down this way and will make everyone's appointment the same day. Yay!
 Our connection has really sucked this past week. We got a notice that we have to update our phones and our connection gadget or they will stop working in a few months. I think they meant now. My battery in my phone has stopped holding a charge (it's about 3-4 years old) and now the gadget is not working well. It figures. lol
  It's been a diamond day but my back was semi out so I took it very easy.
Our vacation started 10 minutes ago. Will have a week off. Hopefully he didn't sign up for OT. The scarecrow painting has been canceled/postponed. Linda is not up to having us all over etc.
  Not much going on. Guess no news is good news.

Good morning!

  Well, I've downloaded the chrome browser and trying that. Blogger no longer was supported by IE9, blah blah blah. Wondering why everything has to change every 5 minutes. haha

  Been fighting this crap and feeling like crap. Some times feels like I'm having a heart attack and won't make it. Good grief. I'm praying it's really just severe heartburn. May have it whooped now. I've got to feel better.

 My sweet pea about a week old.

My sweet pea almost 3 yrs old.

 Here's my girl Elvira about 5 days  old.

Here's mother and daughter in 2011. A few months later momma crossed the rainbow bridge. 

  I could go on and on about my big hairy kids. And the little hairy kids and the feathered kids. lol 

  I always have things to say on here when I don't have time to put fingers on the keyboard. Now that I have time I can't think of them.

  We had a week off (Tim had a week off)The first day we went to Marshfield with Lee's help we picked up a horse trailer full of stuff to store for mom. Made it back late afternoon. The yard had been mowed. We're thinking the city done it as Char hadn't contacted the mowing service yet. The water hadn't been turned on either. Guess Devon will do that while he's here getting his teeth fixed. 

 Tim fixed the gutter on the carport, brush hogged and fixed a few other things around the place. Took care of me when I felt like crap. We had 1.85" of rain during the week too. And another 1.1" on Sunday. Grass is loving it. So are the horses. There's a bale of hay in the ring and it's been there for a couple of weeks now. They have no interest in it at all. Of course that saves us money but I'd like to see the grass grow a little bit before they eat it down. lol 

  It's absolutely beautiful outside. The temp is around 55*, a slight breeze (when isn't there a breeze here?) and the sun is shining. Doesn't get much better than that. I managed a 25 minute walk on the treadmill this a.m.. only had slight pain after. Yay! I ate a few tums and it mostly went away. I think it's almost nap time. 

  The day started out so nice. I felt good for a change. By noon I was used up and feeling sick. The kids came by and woke me at 3:30. Did  a fast walk around with Jeanne with some bling in her hair while Aiden rode her. I was barely able to keep up appearances while they were here. Hard to pretend to feel good when you want to drop to your knees. Some days are diamonds and stones. 

  

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.

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!

Sunny Saturday

...another beautiful day in the Ozarks! A bit on the cold side at 32* but I love the sun. We got 1.4"of rain on Wednesday. Yay! We sure needed it. Some weather folks have said the whole of the country has pretty much missed winter so far. Pretty strange if you ask me. Like waiting for the other shoe to drop while watching the flowers come up. Jeanne's been in the barn for the most part for a bit. After she eats we need to let her out to graze just so she can keep her belly adjusted to their diet. I keep forgetting that. I want to change her diet along with the shoeing etc to see if that's part of the founder. She needs to keep up the exercise etc. It's kind of a pain too. None of the gates work the way they are supposed to so you have to lift and carry.  
                           Some days are stone.

Monday, Monday

  Haven't posted in a few days. What else is new? Not much going on but the rent, as they say. lol We had a good rain this weekend! My gosh! Had 5.4" on Saturday! Came down in buckets. Had another set of storms come thru yesterday. Possible tornado touch down in Washburn and another sited in NWAr. . Haven't checked the rain gauge after another 3" came down. Will look in a bit. Ended up with 8.3" for the two days. Yay! That almost catches us up on the year. Not quite tho.
 Just finished a bite for breakfast and time to start my day again. T and Dez left about an hour ago. Outside of the wonderful rain that we had, we had a nice weekend. T didn't work any OT and took all three days off. We pretty much just hung around the house, watched races. T did most of the outside chores especially while it was raining.
 Friday night we had smothered steak, creamed taters and peas.

They're smothered so you can't see them lol . Just put the taters in. Was so hungry by the time they were done I forgot to take a picture.

Buck is chowin' down too. Poor old fella, has quite a time on occasion but he sure likes his senior feed.

 

 
 For brunch Saturday morning we had bacon, tater cakes, eggs and toast.

Sunny Sunday, again

 am I complaining? No way! I'm thrilled with the sunshine. Beats a cloudy or rainy day anytime. It will be 100* before the day is out and we're under another heat advisory beginning at noon.
 Tim got a load of 4 big bales of hay yesterday. Put one in the feeder for the kids and we plan on picking up enough thru the summer to get us thru the winter but it always depends on the $ of course. He also picked up the mower at the repair shop. Yay, he'll be able to mow this morning if I get him up farely soon. The weed eater is still at the shop.
  Got my chores done. Whew! It's only 84* and I'm dripping again, lol. Spent most of my time this morning with Spike. He's decided that I'm better than just ok. He's always let me go up to him etc and catch him, halter him  but now he actually wants to be with me.

Isn't he handsome? Sometimes in the fall he begins to get this Elvis Costello look going on with his mane. Too funny but hard to get those dang burrs out. He has a heavy mane and tail. He's also got some sort of "draft" in his line. The next time Sandi is up I need to take a picture of her and her favorite....Betty Boop. Betty just loves her too. Always glad to see her.
  I never did hear back from big brother. Dang it! I left another voicemail for him last night. I'm sure he's fine but wish he'd call.

Gifts from the girls.

Time machine entry:

Great great gramma Lacey Rethford(Ira's momma) and her turkeys.

At least the second time our family has had 5 generations together.

Now, look at this fine group of folks. I think it's one of the few pictures I have that everyone is actually smiling like they mean it. 1956 must have been a good year. lol

Some days are diamonds.

Super Saturday

  Oh my! It's so nice outside this a.m.. About 70* with a breeze and just wonderful. Had a quail in the front yard a few minutes ago to go along with the bunny. How cool is that? Nope, didn't take a picture, just enjoyed the view. Did I mention this week that I also had an encounter with a pileated woodpecker? That was pretty cool too. Never saw one live before. Just about 5" away while watering flowers.
 Up to 77* already and pretty humid. Turned the air back on. I'm just dripping!
 Poor Sandi about froze last night while eating dinner. It was so nice having them up for potluck. A nice visit and some good food. Tim helped with the cooking and grilled the meat.

 Here's Elvira as a week old baby. They were all so well behaved when Sandi brought the kids up to see them. They were all in the barn taking a nap and trying to cool off. Ash and John both were walking amongst them. Surprised with John doing that. Didn't think he had any interest in them. He was really interested in the buggy. Wants us to take it to a parade and let him ride. Maybe one day. That's a dream of ours but who knows?

This is Jo. El's half sister. Born 16 years apart. This was Jo's first day. Tim helped bring her into the world. The following picture is Jo a couple of weeks ago. She's just beautiful! But then, so are all of them. I can't help it. I'm just a little predjudice. lol

Life is good.

I sent my brother a Happy Birthday text but have received no reply. Left a voicemail for him a few days ago and he didn't call back with his address. Guess the present will wait a little longer. Hope things are alright with him. I worry. What can I say? It's a woman's job to worry about those she cares for. Just a fact of life and nothing to do about it. lol

Throwaway Thursday

 What will it be today? I'll find something I'm sure!

My poor drugged baby. Just waking up from his surgery a few weeks ago. Handsome little fella isn't he?

Busy day. Maybe another time....

Sister's birthday, this and that

Today is Sandi's birthday. Won't say how old she is but I sure wish for her a wonderful day.

This is from 2 yrs ago I believe. Jay is on the left, Steve in the middle and Michael on the right.

Getting ready for one of her cookouts.

It's party time! She always puts on a good feed!






 
  Almost got the bus running again this weekend. The kill switch was stuck but now we need to "prime" the fuel.
  Was able to turn out Spike yesterday. He was getting around much better. Must've been a stone bruise. No swelling etc. Jeannie's was too. She was immediately better. Dick's swelling is going down from his surgery and the other spot is healing nicely. Yay!
  Tim cooked hot dogs and hamburgers for us yesterday evening. Really good. You can hardly go wrong with hot dogs though. lol I'm anxious to get the other grill that Sandi and company have put together for us. One down and one to go. Thanks Sis! I even bought a big bag of charcoal last week for 2.99 in anticipation.
  Talked to cousin Kate a few days back. She's hangin' in there. Carrying a pretty big load taking care of her folks. Wish I could make it better for her. I think we need to go visit soon. Seems big D is taking a meal to Foofie every day and checking on her. I think it's just now hitting him that his mom is needing care RIGHT now. Not some point down the road. It's a hard road as we all know. All three of us have already dealt with it, unfortunately.
  "Ran into" cousin Jenny O online the other day at ancestry. I have her new email in case anyone would like it. I'll drop her a line later today.

Want to share this picture I nabbed(SP?)from FB last year of the next generation of Atteberry "boys" and their families. I believe it was at their reunion at the coast last year. Someone please tell me Jeff's daughters name. Don't make me go look it up!

Found this in the way back machine! What a wonderful group of women!

I love this picture! Looks like Cayden Joe doesn't it? Hey, big brother, what a cutey you were.

  Now here we have another great group of women! I look awful but that's okay. Some days are diamonds and some days are stones.

  Dang it's humid out there! Got my chores done and back in the house. That's pretty obvious isn't it?

Windy Wednesday

Another windy day here on the plains. No surprise there. Temp at a wonderful 69*. Was 62* when Tim and Dez left this morning. A great beginning to the day!

Waiting on Buck to finish breakfast and have done the outside "chores". I actually have 2 tomatoes! Poor little plants. They're hanging in there quite nicely.
 For some reason I'm not able to upload my pictures today. A blogger problem no doubt. Maybe later. I was planning on uploading a couple of Dick and his stitches. We had him cut yesterday and a cyst removed from his side. He's doing just fine. A little sore of course.

Day three

  of our 4 day vacation. Yesterday we got our round pen put back together from being feeding stalls. This morning we put the final touches to the west yard fence. I use the term "we" lightly as all I did was sit in a chair and visit with Tim. Tim was able to get most of the brushhoggin' done before the alternator/generator gave out on the tractor. It's already repaired and he has gone to town to pick it up.

This is from last year since I didn't take pics this time around.

 It sure helps keep the dang weeds from taking over the pasture. A few more years and we may have it licked. lol




  In the next day or two I'll post a couple of pix of the horses helping T with the fence. You know that bucket of fence supplies sure sounds like feed? They sure think so.

  I may finally be "over" the dang stuff on my hands. Almost, which means I could wake tomorrow with both hands covered. Sure hope this thyroid-thing recovers quickly - whatever  it does. lol It might be what's causing it. I was inclined to think it was 2 different meds that I take that can cause rashes. Don't know why whatever it is affects my hands and nothing else.
                                                                                  

Cotton 15yrs old

Jeanne 17 yrs old

Jo 18 yrs old

 Spike 10 yrs old

I'll post more later...........

Throwaway Thursday

I'm still trying to do the throwaway thing. Doing quite nicely I might add.
This week it was some linens that had been stored way too long and in a chest that got ruined by weather the past couple of years. Didn't mean for that to happen but it did. Now the chest is gone too. Had it 40yrs plus-was my "hope chest" as they used to call them and it served it's purpose quite well all these years. I've been living my dream for many many years now.

May find some more things to get rid of today too. Hope so!

Buck's first month here-27yrs old

Our mustang-15yrs old

Dick as a baby -now 2

Elvira as a baby - now 2

Spike- mustang- 10yrs old

Some of our babies. Pasture pets. Big kids. Whatever you like to call them they have given me so much pleasure all these years. A good place to be for them. As T says once you're here you've a home for life.

You can really tell the mustangs differences : Cotton was from the Calico Mts in New Mexico and not sure where Spike's line is from but has some "draft" in it. Spike was born in captivity in Ar out of two fine looking parents. We got him at about 5-6 months.

Got my mile in for the day. Feels good.