Cha Cha Cha Changes

So I have a pop quiz for ya. What does it mean when.....

there is no mound of clothes to be folded in the chair.....

No dishes to be washed in the sink....

And the sidewalk redone so I don't hurt myself anymore....

Any guesses?

First hint: I'm domestically challenged.

Figure it out?

Second hint: No maid service or rent-a-husband.

Got it yet?

Well, the answer is...

The Husband fell victim to the economic woes and was laid off.

So now he's home, workin' on all the honey do's!

He sure makes a good wife!

(good thing someone does around here!)

On the Rodeo Trail with the Wife

The Husband isn't the only bullrider in this house. I spent many a seconds on the back of wild beasts myself! Yep, that's right, I was a roughy. The only girl around riding rough stock at the time. And the most stylish I might add....pink silk shirt and red cowboy hat! Come on!

I remember me and my mom walking to the back pens and checking out the stock. We would discuss which one we hoped I would draw. I remember one time mom picked one out cause it matched my hair. Yes, it was serious business!

I dined on arena dirt most times. No need for frito pies, I was full of sand. I think they had to drag the arena after one of my rides cause I dug a ditch with my head.

My roughy days were short lived however. Once I got old enough to advance to the next level, steers, I decided to hang up my bull rope. I wasn't much for horns!

Sunday Stills-Landscapes

I have to admit, I was not very excited about this assignment. For some reason, I just wasn't "feelin'" it. I waited till the last minute on Saturday to take the first pic. I pulled my point and shoot camera out of my purse and snapped the shot as I drove home from Wally World. Then I did a little magic on it with Picnik. Have you tried Picnik? It is awesome! You should give it a whirl if you haven't. It is the easiest, most user-friendly photo editing program I have found online.

Then I found this old truck photo in my archives.

I promise to be a little more spirited next week! Thanks for comin' by!

The Wife-The Young Years

Do you ever wonder where people come from? What they were like as a child? How they were brought up? What made them the person they are today? Yea, me too! So here is a little glimpse into my life growing up.......

I was practically born on a horse. I always had a horse. I never knew what it was like to yearn for a pony as a child. I was a lucky kid.

Dad would let me ride with him.

And my older brothers would take me along as well.

Then I got old enough to ride without being propped up! Oh, and my choice of clothes has remained pretty much the same. Baseball cap, jersey and blue jeans!

This was Thunder, my shetland. He was mean, imagine that. Plus with my two older brothers jackin' with him, he just got worse. But I still loved him so.

I never remember a time growing up that I didn't have a horse in my life. Not until I left home and went to college, was I horseless. It took me fourteen years to get a horse back in my life. I never realized how much work they are. I was spoiled to have my dad available for everything. I should have paid more attention growing up. But hind's sight's 20/20 right? Now I just call my dad constantly when I have an issue. Poor man!

I was blessed to grow up a country kid. I was told to go outside and play. I jumped off hay stacks and swam in water troughs. I saddled up a horse and rode around the place just because I could. I climbed trees and swung on my makeshift tree swing. I roller skated on the old cement slab to John Anderson's song "Just a Swingin'." Life was good!

Thoughtless Thursday- A Man and His Dog

Buck Tooth Calf??

When I went to the lease Monday evening to check and feed the cows, I noticed this......

Do you see 'em? Are those buck teeth?

This poor little girl. I couldn't help but take picture after picture laughing the entire time. Is that bad of me? I've never seen anything like it. Does anyone know a bovine orthodontist?

Oh, I have other business today. Remember that Spring giveaway. Well, we shook all the names up in my camo cap and the husband drew out a winner. I'm thinkin' this person could really use some Spring....way up there in the North! I may have to throw something in the box for Ruby too! She can't be left out! So have you figured it out?

The winner is....

This DVM's Wife's Life!

If you haven't ever checked her out, you must. She takes awesome pictures and has the cutest corgi, Ruby.

Drop me an email with your info and I'll get the Box o' Spring headed to Michigan!

Lil Man on Miracle Grow!

I think the puppy chow I've been feeding Lil Man must have Miracle Grow mixed in it. What do you think?



Just for a reminder, this was when I brought him home on January 11th at 6 weeks old. Awww, so cute!

Now look at the monster! This was yesterday evening!

He's a tad bit heavier! And a big goober.

How could you not love that face?!

My Little Boys

Let me begin by saying Sunday did not start off smoothly. It began around 4 AM when my Yorkie, Harley, needed to go outside. After he finished his business, I went back to bed expecting to drift asleep. But no way Jose. The Husband was congested and snoring. When he stopped snoring, his nose would whistle. Argh! So I had to make a decision about the nasal symphony, either smother him with his pillow or go to the recliner in the living room. I debated over it for what seemed hours, but I finally decided to go to the recliner (was lazy, didn't feel like disposing of a body). I managed to get a few more hours of sleep before the Husband walked thru to fix his coffee and wondered who was in the chair. Yeah, he didn't even realize I wasn't in bed!

So after a late start, it was time to load the bulls. First shot out of the box, I got all the yearlings to the load alley. But Zena was in front of the trailer and the husband didn't close the gate behind him, so when they turned to run out, they bolted. It took several more attempts to get the little suckers back up. I got head butted in the side and almost ran smooth over trying to stop one at the gate but we finally got em loaded.

We were off. But then we took a wrong turn. Can you believe it? It wasn't even that far from the house! So we traveled a little out of the way. Our morning was just a comedy of errors from beginning to end. We finally made it to our friend's house, about an hour and a half late.

Here are a few videos of the boys. The first one is Mojo. He's the one that almost ran me over!





This is Eyebrows.




And of course, my cutie patootie, Tadpole.



All and all, we were pretty pleased with the outcome of the day. We made it back home without any trouble, which was surprising after the morning we had! Spent the rest of the afternoon getting everyone situated in their pens and puttin' out hay. It was a good day.

Sunday Stills-Lines

So I wanted to give y'all something a little different from me this week. In order to do that, I took my camera downtown. Yep, no pictures from the ranch this week for Sunday Stills. Here's what I came up with from the city....




What ya think?

Spring Has Sprung **UPDATED**

Since our almost 5 inches of rain last week, everything is GREEN! It may have something to do with the 70-80 degree temps too! It's been so pretty. Thought I would share a few pics of the tree in my front yard. Hopefully Spring will visit you very soon as well!

Hope everyone has an AWESOME Saturday!

I just can't leave you with an awesome Saturday wish. I want to send you a box of Spring! That's right, I feel bad that I am enjoying such beautiful weather so I want to give away a box of Spring fun! To enter, just leave me a comment. I will include those of you that commented prior to the update unless you don't want me to. Then you can tell me otherwise. The deadline to comment will be Tuesday 03/24/09 at 9:00 pm.

Good Luck!

Thoughtless Thursday

What's My Problem Wednesday?

Why haven't I blogged more lately? I don't know. It seems the lack of sunshine last week put me in a funk. And it seems that I don't have as much time in the day. Why is that? Plus my life has been pretty mundane lately.

The husband asks me daily if I have blogged anything. No, don't have anything to blog about. He said I can't get 13,000+ followers like PW if I don't blog anything! I tell him I could blog from now until eternity and never reach that. Heck, I lost two followers this last week!

So I hope the funk cloud leaves soon and I resume posting as usual. Promise, cross my heart! Cause I can't bear the thought of more people droppin' off my followers list!

Sunday Stills - Water

This week's assignment for Sunday Stills was Water. Wasn't really feeling it this week cause it rained all week....thus dark and gloomy. But the husband went out to the tank yesterday and I got this pic. You can see the water is gloomy but it's all I managed.

Be On Notice

Everyone who truly knows me, knows I am not a kid person. Just not, never have been, don't plan on ever being one. I didn't grow up thinking about having a family with little urchins runnin' around. Gave the husband the "you know I don't want kids" speech prior to gettin' married. Friends and family know NOT to ask me to babysit. Went as far as sitting in the room while the husband got "fixed" just to make sure he went thru with it! Was that too much information? Sorry! Anyhoo, this weekend I found a sign I could not resist.

Isn't that the funniest! Now I'm just lookin' for the perfect place to hang it. What will a good heathen go for these days? I'm kiddin'.....well sorta.

Wordless Wednesday

Why is the Barn Spinning?

Miss Priss. She is my accident prone girl. She turns 2 this month and she has already had her fair share of injuries. You can see the scab on her back leg from where she laid it open down to the bone and severed her tendon. That took months and months to heal. Still healing cause she keeps bustin' it back open. She just can't keep from hurtin' herself. Her latest is fluid on her other back leg. Why, who knows!

Sunday evening the husband and I worked on draining it. No big deal. But then it happened...blood! Yes, BLOOD! Maybe I should preface this with the wife and blood do NOT co-mingle in any form or fashion. The wife hates blood. Doesn't give blood cause it should remain in her body. Blood is her enemy, her cryptonite.

Okay, so I have a small issue with the juice of life. But I thought I had overcome a lot of my problems after all the doctorin' on Priss. I've even had co-workers refer to me as Doc cause all the bandaging up I've done on this horse. Well my issues rushed back Sunday.

The husband was draining the fluid as I held Priss. Then I saw it....drippin' onto the ground. And then the conversation went like this:

W: "Umm, husband, she's bleeding."

H: "Yeah, I must have hit her vein."

W: "Umm, how much more do you have to do?"

H: "Just a little more, why?"

W: "I'm not feelin' too well." Laying my head on Priss.

H: "Go sit down."

W: "No, I'm okay. Just a little light headed." Having a hard time picking up my head.

H: "Go sit down! I can't have you passin' out under the horse! And take the needle and syringe with ya. Here's the cap too." (Yeah, nothing like giving a pre-passout woman a needle to cap!)

I turned and walked toward the feed sacks with the syringe.



As I leaned up against them, I try to put the cap on the needle. I manage to do it without hurtin' myself. Then the husband brought me a wet paper towel. But all I could think about was laying down. So I decided to head towards the hay.....



All I remember about the walk to the hay was I don't remember being able to see anything clearly and my feet were very heavy. I was so glad when I hit the hay. Sweet hay, it feels so good to lay on you. I don't care that the dogs are attacking my head. I'm just trying to stay put on the twirling bale of hay. Then the husband yells to me, "Guess vet school is out of the question."

Hey, I would be a kick butt vet until something bled! Take that!

Baby's First Steps

We have been patiently waiting for calves this season. For some reason, the cows are just not cooperating with our birthin' schedule! We're startin' to wonder about the bull we put out last year but I'm just keepin' my fingers crossed that they're just runnin' late.

Yesterday, we made our way to the lease to check and feed the cows. When we arrived, we found them in a nice grassy area enjoying the warm weather. We poured out the feed and all but one ran up. We knew she must have had a calf by the way she was acting. She slowly came up and you could tell by the looks of her that she JUST had the calf. She took a few nibbles of food and went back out in the grass. The husband and I couldn't resist following her to check out the new baby.

It amazes me how well these little babies can hide in the grass. All we could see was the head.

Then s/he decided it better get up and go with momma. From the looks of it, s/he hadn't been up and around yet. S/he still had sea legs!

Sunday Stills-Self Portrait

This week our Sunday Stills challenge was self portrait. Do you know how hard it is to be satisfied with a picture of yourself taken by yourself? For me, it's a big task. But it was the perfect opportunity for me to use my tripod and new remote (thanks Mimi!).

Here's what I ended up with.......

So you should have Wife overload now! But don't worry, it's back to cow and dog pictures. They are a much better subject.

And why was I singing "You're So Vain" as I edited this post? Hmmm...

When Lil Man Attacks

I am trying to work on my Sunday Stills assignment for the week. Yesterday after I fed the beasts, I set up my camera and took my first attempts at a self portrait. Lil Man decided that would be the perfect opportunity to ATTACK me! It's all caught on film. See for yourself!



My ear must have looked like a tasty treat! Gonna try for some more pictures today. See what I can come up with minus the puppy accessory.

When Net Wire Attacks!

We had an "episode" while my rent-a-husband, Dino, was helping me out this weekend. Dino and I were out in the pasture next to the house checking out the new baby Creme Brulee. I watched as Lil Man ran up and down the fence line whining cause he couldn't get in the pasture with us.

I would holler at him to go around but he didn't have a clue. Then I looked up and saw his head thru the fence. He put his head thru the net wire and was stuck. He started flippin' out so I ran over and tried pushin' his head back. Didn't work. Dino came over and tried turnin' it different ways, still couldn't get him out. So I told Dino where the plyers where in the truck and he jumped the fence to go get them. We had to cut the fence in order to get his head out!

Once freed, he was a happy pup. But I wonder about his intelligence cause not two days later, I saw him stick his head thru that fence again. This time, however, he got it out himself before I got to him.

It only took one hookin' for him to learn his lesson with the cows. He doesn't even step foot in the pasture when I feed anymore. But the fence lesson seems to be a harder concept for him to grasp. At least in a couple more weeks, there won't be any way for him to stick his big ol head thru that hole. That will be the end of that!