What a difference a day makes....

Thursday I was off because I am working this weekend. It was a beautiful day with highs in the 60's. I spent the day outside, putting RoundUp on the fence lines (and there are a lot of them), picking up trash (more below) and mowing the first weeds. The grass hasn't started growing, yet, but the weeds certainly have.

Today, I got up and went running. Despite my feet aching (they have been doing that for the last week), I was determined to run. Running helps my physical as well as mental status, and I haven't been doing enough of it recently. I over-dressed, dressing for temps in the 40's when it turned out to be 56. By the time I had done my morning's work, temps were 38. I HATE those reverse days. The dogs are currently sleeping, fighting for the warmest location.

Back to the day off. I started off at my house, treating the fence line, putting down Weed 'n Feed, but then went to the ranch, once again treating the fence line which is MUCH longer. After that, I decided to pick up the trash on the road. I took a 40 gallon trash bag. Unfortunately, I had only walked half the distance of the road when the bag was full (and way to heavy to continue carrying).
I am really torqued that so many people choose to litter, but after being po'd with my neighbors, decided to look at it as a kind of census. The results:

1. The drink of choice is beer, followed by Dr. Pepper.
2. The beer of choice is Bud (not Lite) followed by Corona.
3. The food of choice is ice cream.
4. The fast food joint of choice is Whataburger followed by Taco Delite.
5. The smoke of choice is Marlboro followed by Grand Prix (a brand I didn't even know).
6. People who use smokeless tobacco seem to be compelled to save the spit juice in non-biodegradable containers (ooooeeeewwww gross!).
6. Someone is trying to stop smoking...but hey bud, when you threw out the box for nicotine patches you also threw out a nice coupon to use in buying your next box....or maybe you weren't trying to stop smoking.

Sigh.

During this task, the cows took interest in me. They are kind of cute, although their size still over-whelms me. Cows have their own society. I have realized that there are 3 cows that are always the first to approach. They have kind eyes. They are kind of messy dropping all that manure, but I'm thinking of collecting that and drying it for a garden.....If only there were more minutes in a day.

All the pictures in this post were taken yesterday...before the wintery mix returned.

Fun Monday, Lunch Time

Fay asks us to write about lunch in school via a writing lesson from Anne Lamotts's book. Before I write about lunch, I would like to plug the book/author. It has been years since I have read Anne Lamont, but she writes very well. She is both funny and honest. I found that I learned a lot of about myself reading her books, even when I didn't take the time to really ponder her writing. I need to dig her books out, again.

I am a product of the public school system – actually many school systems, since my father moved the family frequently during my first nine years of life.

I do not remember in lunch in kindergarten, first or second grade. I am assuming that I ate. I remember the cafeteria in third grade – a large room with picnic style tables that folded down from the walls. School assemblies were held in the cafeteria when the tables were folded up.

When we moved half way through my third grade year the cafeteria at the new school was a large room with tables and chairs in long rows. The walls were covered in institutional green tile. The food preparation was at one end although that didn't matter as I always carried my own lunch. I was allowed to buy a school lunch about once a month. I do not remember why I would occasionally get to have that "other" food. The drill was eat then play. Third grade was a difficult year. I have always been painfully shy, and moving mid-year was especially difficult. The cultures between the two schools (one in New Jersey and one in Texas) were quite different. I didn't understand what it meant to be a cheerleader or why I should care about football teams. I don't remember crying at lunch, but I do remember my homeroom teacher calling me in one day, telling me that I should stop crying because "no one is going to like a sad little girl."

By junior high, the cafeteria became a thing of the past – I knew where it was located but ate elsewhere. The band geeks would frequently go to the band hall. The lunch time was spent eating and gossiping. When I became more engrossed in school, it also became a time to study. In high school the band hall became the home base. We congregated there before school to read/study/visit. We met there at lunch to eat and gossip, and after school for practice sessions.

My mother always packed my lunch. In elementary school, I carried a lunch box. Oddly, I remember my brother's lunch boxes better than my own, although I do remember that I got a new one each fall. There was always a thermos with milk, a sandwich, a baggie of veggies (carrots, green pepper (I LOVED green pepper) or celery), a fruit (hopefully an apple and not the dreaded orange) and two cookies. Peanut butter with jelly or honey was the stand by sandwich. Special days were pimento cheese or thin cut lunch meat. Yucky days were bologna or other cut meats. Over time, I asked for peanut better with honey. By lunch time, the moisture from the honey would have been drawn into the bread leaving a crystallized sweetness on top of the peanut butter that was good for the shy student's soul. I think the lunch menu was constant over the course of childhood. There were never bags of chips or those other processed foods that came into vogue.

By the time I was in junior high, the lunch box was gone. The thermos of milk was gone. Lunch was carried in a brown paper bag. Frequently, my mother would draw pictures below my name. I remember my father also carried his lunch – he returned his paper bags every day, while I usually threw mine out. Occasionally, Mom would run out of fresh bags, and I would be given one of Dad's pre-used bags. I don't know why I remember that pre-wrinkled paper so well.

I remember wishing that I could have the cafeteria food when I was in elementary school: school pizza or fish sticks looked so good. Oddly, by the time I was in junior high, that just didn't matter. I was content with my four part lunch plan.

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Just some musings.

1. I had a long weekend. I finally forced myself to go into the Big City. Nearing my 6 year anniversary of living in Smalltown America, I ask myself, "WHY, do people live in the Big City?" There are so many people, so many cars, so many accidents.....We were happy to escape.
2. I have a Mini Cooper Clubman, much like the one above but a nice happy shade of yellow. Daisy is lots of fun, and she is small. One thing I noticed about the Big City -- with the marked proliferation of cars, the parking spots seem to have shrunk. Consider this notice: if a Mini Cooper Clubman BARELY fits into a slot, Mr. GMC Yukon: You aren't going to fit so don't even try. (The thing is, they do try and take up 1.5 slots....what is the point of having parking spaces if none of the cars fit?

3. We have more rain today. Yup -- more rain. According to weather.gov, this will be a very wet spring (after a wet summer, fall and winter). The dogs are now walking around the house two by two formation.

4. The neighbor's children are growing. The youngster has moved from a trombone (sounded like a dead moose calling for his mate) to a drum set. I find that I miss the trombone.

5. The neighbors at the whippet wranch have a tiger. Yup. A tiger. Not certain what I think of that. At this point, I am just observing. His cage seems substantial. I like that.

6. After living in Smalltown for almost 6 years, I can't imagine why people like the Big City. I do not miss it at all. I think I breathe easier in the country.

7. Last but not least, a blog post worth reading: http://drgrumpyinthehouse.blogspot.com/2010/03/checkout-time.html
Dr. Grumpy usually is quite "snarky" but I think this post was very well done. On a similar vein, but with a different perspective: end of life warning.

8. I feel really lucky to have my dogs, to live in Smalltown, and to only have to go to the Big City once every several months. Hug your hounds!

Snow

On Thursday, my part of the country experienced a once in a life time snow. Usually, we get snow about once a year....a little bit of white stuff that makes roofs pretty. Sometimes, there is enough to stick on the ground, and the children make the most ugly snowmen that I have ever seen (snow, mud and grass makes for ugly snowmen).

This snow was different. Initially, they had predicted an inch (the usual) of "winter precip" for the area. The day before it happened, we had fallen out of the snow zone. In the end, we received about 9 inches of snow with an accumulation of 5-6 inches.

I have never wanted to live in a snow bound state, but I found this snow absolutely refreshing. I was lucky enough to be off so that I could get out and enjoy with a camera in hand. Today, 3 days after the fact there is still a little bit of snow on the ground, although most of it has turned to mush/mud. We have had a crazy year (starting last fall) with a lot more rain that normal. We are saturated, and the melting snow is just hanging out on the surface.

I hope you enjoy my pictures:

Saturday evening musings....

Musings on a Saturday.

1. She's back...maybe.
Mati has been in a blue funk for the past 4 months. I have taken her to the vet's several times without a cause being found, but lots of mysteries suggested.

The funk started in September, after the WRA nationals. Mati refused to go jogging with me. This is the dog that is my 2nd shadow, so I knew something had to be wrong. I thought she might have a subtle injury, as I couldn't appreciate anything...Then she came into season (the 2nd time in 2 months....). I gave her a break from the jogging during her season, but when it was over, she still didn't want to jog.

I took her to the vet's -- low white count without anything else exciting. He suggested she was hypothyroid, although the numbers looked exactly like they had a previous time when he told me she was NOT hypothyroid. Then, she came into season again (3rd time in 4 months). I took her to another vet. He did a hormonal evaluation...blood work suggested she was not in season, while vaginal cytology suggested that she WAS in season. We won't dwell on the concept of the uterus running the show. That mystery, combined with the continued low white count, earned us a referral to the Big City vet who did an US and found nothing wrong. After telling me that he didn't like having dogs on medicines without a reason (referring to the first vet putting her on thyroid), vet number 3 gave me a prescription for doxycycline for 3 weeks without having a reason....I know, I am being critical, but I HATE IT when my dogs are sick and no one can tell me why. I sent blood work to Protatek -- she came back positive for Lyme, but when I sent a a IDEX C6, she was VERY negative. Long story shortened -- we yanked that pesky uterus out after the third season finished (six weeks long) and it was engorged but not pathologic????

Now, 4 weeks later, she seems to be coming back. This morning, she wanted to go jogging with us. When we got out to the road, she froze again, but THEN a pesky little cat decided to cross the road. All of a sudden, Mati, Gabi, Josi and Layla are pulling me.....After that, Mati was back to her old self. I think the cat broke the ice. Think it was in her head or in the uterus?

2. I have decided to try to try some sewing in my spare time. The new house will need drapes and pillows, and after spending all the money on the house, I am hoping that I can produce some of my own things. Well, I was doing great until this evening. I keep getting the same error message (remove lint or rewind bobbin). There is no lint and the bobbin is full. I am assuming that it is a tension thing, but why does this always happen when there is no one to call? No, Saturday morning when I could have called.....nah. Oh, well - there are always computer/picture things to be done.

3. There are times when I am glad that I am not a cow. Now would be one of them.

Yesterday, we went up to the property. The afternoon light was awesome so I captured a nice shot of Gabi. I thought I would try for the cows, next.

However, despite the afternoon light, cool pictures of cows were not to be had. They are filthy! -- hard to ask them to do that when we are SATURATED and predicted to have yet more rain tomorrow (and Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday.....).

How would you like to live with mud to your knees?
They may be muddy, but they are pretty cute, no? Are those not the cutest ears? And the muddy butts? I know, soon to be steak, but until then.....I think they are very cute.

Just when you think.....but why did I think?

Just when you think that spring is around the corner: BLAM. A cold snap comes your way.

As they say around here, "if you don't like the weather, just wait until tomorrow." Temperatures were increasing nicely after that last cold snap. A few days just to wet one's whistle with the hope that the really cold stuff was over, and then this front hit. Once again, it was accompanied by rain. I have decided that I need to keep a tally of how much rain we are having. It seems like a lot (well over 5 inches this month), but there is no official weather data collection center in this town OR this county. Odd. In the past 24 hours we received over 2 inches, which is now frozen in my rain gauge:


I know it was a little bit of a stretch for me to think that spring might be around the corner since it is still January....but I am really tired of this winter and it's short days. I have decided that I may need to move to the equator.

The winter weather is really inhibiting my resolution to keep running. As I have grown older, I have become a cold wimp, although running in 25 degree weather is a possibility. However, with the rain we had yesterday and the potential for ice, I think it was better for both me and my head to stay inside.

Work continues on house by the cows. I have been pleased with how it is turning out, although making all the decisions does get tiring. For the most part, I have made a decision and moved on, not looking back. That would take more time and energy than I have.

I am going for a "country" look -- trying to hit the 1920's with some modern touches so the overall look is eclectic. When the tile FINALLY came in (long story but it is really quite boring so I won't repeat it), I was pleased with the colors. I love the earth colors and so far, everything is nice and soothing. For some reason, the floor tile for the upstairs bath wasn't available when everything else was....it arrived two weeks later. When I first saw it, I was a little shocked. The pattern is right, but did I really choose those two colors? (Also, the tile is matte finish rather than shiny). However, the more I look at it, the more I love it. A little funky retro something....
I really thougth I had two shades of green, not green and blue, but I LIKE this. Still, did I choose it? If so...what was I thinking? But, in the end, I really, like it. Odd how things turn out that way.

A shot with the shower tile in view:

OK, maybe I shouldn't give up my day job to become an interior designer, but....it really does grow on you in person! Honest. So, come visit in a few months (I think it will be that long before we have a prayer of getting gravel in for the driveway, again).

The garage has a dog/utility sink constructed out of tile that I had leftover when I removed the carpet in my study:The MOST important thing: a flushing toilet for use if I ever have races at my place. (Big, big, big grin).I know, it's a toilet in a closet, but it is in a location where muddy shoes, etc. just won't matter

January 26, 2010. A year later.

The "almost" silent post.
(Don't ask what Charlie was doing...)

Dad, I miss you. I'm still trying to figure it all out.
In celebration of your life 11/24/36 - 1/26/2009. Has it been a year?