Native bouquet

The kids and I picked these wildflowers and native grasses this afternoon. Then Maddy, Tristan, and I arranged them in a "native bouqet." I think it turned out beautifully!

Snapshots of a Saturday

Yesterday we went to First Monday Trade Days in Canton, TX. (More on that in another post.) The reason for this sojourn was to purchase some Ameraucana hens. You've probably all heard of these. They lay green or blue eggs. While I love my Barred Rocks and the brown eggs they lay, I just thought it would be fun to have some variety.

We were also made a very good deal on these baby guineas. Did you know baby guineas are called keets? Me either.

Sorry for the blurriness of this photo. You try holding a wriggling keet in one hand a taking a picture of it with your other hand.

Tristan picked out this little one. He didn't know it was a guinea. It was in a brooder with some bantam chicks and I guess it just looked needy to him. Being different can be hard.

And completely unrelated to poultry, we had some good friends from California stop by on their way home from Mississippi. They own some property right here on the hay farm and were collecting some things from their hangar. (You can see their hangar in the background.) Don't they look like a farm family getting ready to go to town to sell their wares?

All in all, a good Saturday!

Test

This is just a test for my signature. Do you like it?

Summer fun list

Thank you Sandra for this idea! 

Check out my kids' summer fun list on the left sidebar. This is just from two of my kids. I'm sure there will be more after my oldest daughter gets home this evening.

Hope you have a great and fun-filled summer too, my dear readers!

Well, it used to be a hay barn

We had some wild weather here this past Tuesday evening. I drove home from work while some golf ball-sized hailed pounded our Suburban. If I ever get that thing washed, it's likely we'll find some good sized dings. When I finally got home I was greeted by a tree in our driveway. I had to call my manly man to come out in the pouring rain to move it out of the way. We haven't looked at our house to see if the house incurred any roof damage yet but we need to. I heard the next day that we had straight-line winds in this area in excess of 70m.p.h. No tornadoes that I know of, but it turns out you don't need tornadoes to do some real damage.

This used to be my in-laws hay barn.

Now for those of you that don't know this, my husband and I own a wee spit of land in a vast hay field. That hay field is owned by Ron's parents. And so is this barn...or what's left of it.

Some of the stray pieces were carried to the neighbor's pasture. This piece used to be a wall.

This barn is just west of Trixie's stall where she stays at night. She had already been put up when all this happened. I'm so glad she obviously didn't try jumping from her pen again because she was spooked. I guess maybe she just hunkered down and waited it out. It had to make a racket, don't ya' think?

Belt testing X 2

We had belt testing this week at the karate school. This is old hat stuff for Morgan now as she has been through several. But this was Tristan's first test and he was a little nervous. Turns out, he had no need to be. He did great! His score was a 99!

Morgan also scored a 99. This was her highest score yet!

Congratulations kiddos! Y'all are awesome!

A picture of the past...and a request

This is a photo of my mom's family taken in the 1950's. She had 5 sisters and one brother. My mom was the second oldest. (That's her on the far right.) 

One of her younger sisters died in 1993 from breast cancer. Her father died suddenly in 2004. In 2005, my mom was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. She passed away on May 14, 2006, only a year after her diagnosis. 

I'm so grateful to be able to say that I'm confident she knew the Lord and was taken into His arms at the moment of her death. But, honestly, I would have enjoyed having her with us a while longer. Her grandkids are fast forgetting her. They were only 5, 7, and 8 when she died. My mom was only 58.

Her diagnosis and subsequent treatment, then death, seemed sudden. But we were told that her cancer, though aggressive, was very slow-growing, and could have been there up to ten years before she found out. She had never had a colonoscopy. 

Dear readers, listen to your body. Talk to your doctor. And most of all, live. Right now. Today. 

Question: If I registered for this, would anyone join me? Support me? Root me on? Colon cancer is deadly in it's last stages, but one of the most treatable at stage I. Let's help get out the word.

Sunset on a Thursday

Presented for your viewing enjoyment

A sunset
On this beautiful Thursday evening.

Have a great night!

For Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Here you go Sandra! That was easy and fun!

Update: Trixie

Even though I forgot to take my camera to the barn today I still wanted to update everyone on Trixie. The vet returned today because I could not convince Trixie that she needed to let me change the dressings on her legs. After about 30 minutes of struggling with her, the vet decided that we needed to try a new route of treatment.
He's treating her now with what he called an "old cowboy trick." He sprayed something called underwood (and this vet has a thick Tennessee accent, so I could be misunderstanding him) on the wounds, then dusted them with baking powder. He says this causes a chemical reaction which works to heal the lacerations.
The best part is I don't have to play rodeo every day now. He's positive that she'll heal up fine. The only complication would be some granulations building up and causing proud flesh. But he'll be back next week to check on her and if she's getting any proud flesh he'll shave it off so the skin can grow back completely. (Wouldn't it be nice to be able to take away our own "proud flesh" so easily?)
I'll sign off with that thought...good night.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Thank you for hosting this, Sandra!

On my bedside table:

My iPod. (I know, the same ol' thing every week.)

On the menu for tonight:

Oh, to be organized! It's a dream of mine.

On my to do list:

we're focusing on wrapping up school, and of course we have to baby Trixie every day.

New recipe I tried last week:

Does it count if I didn't actually cook it, but only ate it? Yes? Then Amish Friendship Bread. YUM!

In the craft basket:

I'm trying digital scrapbooking. It's cheap and fun!

Looking forward to:

Belt testing at the karate school to be over!

Favorite blog post of the week:

The Book Whisperer

Favorite photo from last week:

Lesson learned the past few days:

Diligence! Diligence is the key!

Devotionals, Scripture reading, key verses:

But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.

I Corinthians 10:13

A visit from the vet

Being the owner of a horse is no small responsibility. They are high maintenance animals that come with large feed bills and even larger vet bills. But Trixie has been worth every penny, even the ones I had to dig in the couch cushions for to pay the vet off yesterday.

Thursday evening, after Trixie was put in her stall for the night, she was spooked by the cows. Now, in Trixie's defense, this was the first time the cows had been let into the lot that is adjacent to her stall. It was dark, and all she knew was that where there used to be nothing, there was suddenly a living, breathing being beside her that she could not identify. She tried to jump the fence and caught both front legs on it, putting a good gash in each. A call to the vet was in order.

On Friday morning, the vet came out armed with medicine, bandages, and most importantly, sedatives. Trixie was quickly sedated and the vet and his assistant got to work.

Both gashes had ugly, v-shaped flaps of skin that had to be removed. 

After cleaning the wounds well and cutting off the flaps, the vet carefully wrapped Trixie's legs, giving me instructions as he went. 

Ron and I will have to change these dressings every other day.

Trixie is expected to make a full recovery. I, on the other hand, am not sure I can handle much more drama.

Clouds

This is addictive. I could literally sit here all night and play with all the different pages and elements I've downloaded. Tell me what you think. And if you have any digital scrapbooking resources you love, please share!

View from an elephant

Happy Homemaker Monday

Thank you for hosting this, Sandra!

On my bedside table:

My iPod. (I know, the same ol' thing every week.)

On the menu for tonight:

Menu? What is this menu thing you speak of?

On my to do list:

some ironing...not too much

sew patches on karate uniforms

New recipe I tried last week:

Well, no recipes, but the thrown together meal from last night was awesome! (See previous post.)

In the craft basket:

I'm trying digital scrapbooking. It's cheap and fun!

Looking forward to:

Bowling on Wednesday. We've missed two weeks!

Favorite blog post of the week:

Tightening you action point from Sarah at Coffee at the Cabin

Favorite photo from last week:

Lesson learned the past few days:

Be careful what you wish for...

Devotionals, Scripture reading, key verses:

"Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture." Psalm 100:3

YUM!

What do you get when you take your leftovers from the scrumptious steak and shrimp birthday dinner, chop everything (steak, shrimp, corn on the cob, and grilled jalapeno), saute it in some butter, and serve it in corn tortillas?

This:

YUM.

Be creative with your leftovers. Try to turn them into something completely different than the original meal. Your family will sing your praises and you'll get so stuffed you can hardly remove yourself from the table. It's a win-win. Right?

First Digital Scrapbooking Page

Below you will find my very first ever attempt at digital scrapbooking. It's very simple with not many layers or embellishments, but it was fun to make. I'm using Photoshop Elements and some free digi-scrapping kits from the web. With a little practice, I hope to put together some really cool pages.

Enjoy!

Snapshots of a Saturday

This was a full day! Wednesday was Ron's birthday and we had his traditional birthday dinner tonight. It was just our family and his parents. Ron really outdid himself by cooking his own special meal. We gorged ourselves on grilled rib-eye steak and shrimp, fresh corn on the cob, avocados, grilled jalapeno and bell peppers, and homemade rolls. The steak especially was heavenly; a combination of a good marinade along with Ron's superior grill skills. I didn't get any pictures of the meal. If I had asked this group to abstain from eating so I could snap some photos, I probably would have gotten a fork stuck in a very unpleasant place.

But since I made the cake this morning, I was able to get a picture of it.

This is Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake. And everything she says about it on her website is absolutely true. It is the best. It is divine. It is...well, you get the idea.

I wanted Ron to have a special birthday card this year. Usually I don't even buy him a card since he's really not sentimental in that way. Except about the kiddos. So I took some pics and Maddy made him a card that I don't think he'll ever throw away.

On the inside are some very sweet hand-written messages from the kids.

After I finished with the cake, I decided I needed some equine therapy. Trixie has been missing from this blog for too long. She looks so gorgeous now. She has shed her fuzzy winter coat and is simply gleaming.

As curious and sweet as ever!

While we were out in the pasture, we visited the new baby goats.

On the way back to the house, we encountered this little bird enjoying some lunch. Can anyone identify it?

Pretty soon it was time to clean up for dinner. ((Picture delicious meal here.))

After dinner, Ron opened his presents. There was the normal guy birthday stuff. Cabela's gift cards, Starbucks gift cards, bluetooth headphones...but then Morgan came in with this..

A fresh strawberry from Ron's very own strawberry plant. Ron devoured it in one bite and proclaimed it "awesome."

Things are winding down now. It's been a good day.

Wild and wonderful

This is the scenery that greeted me when I stepped out to snap some pictures of our sunset last night. A little scary, but very beautiful!