The River's A Risin'

We've had a lot of rain in the last couple days. Our creeks have reached their limit plus some. So much so, I had to back down our road and take another way home this afternoon. The creek was rolling over the bridge and road.

Remember my cute little bridge. Well, now it's covered by a ragin' river!

I went thru some water at another creek. I shot water as high as the top of my truck. But when I got to this bridge, I figured I better "turn around, don't drown!"

Sunday Stills-Barns

You'd think this would have been a slam dunk for me...a picture of a barn! Well, I've had family at the house for a few days so I didn't get out to take any new pics. I dug around in my archives and found a couple of barn shots. Of course, the Sunday Stills challenge was a little more than just a barn pic. It specifically said, "look beyond the typical barn shot." So since all I had was archived photos, I thought I would get a little creative with them.

Let me know what you think....

A Momma's Love

We've been having more calves lately. I just love catchin' the mommas with their babies.

You Know What??

Buffalo Butt!

Yes, I revert to childish humor at times. It gets me thru the day!

Wordless Wednesday

Marathon Bull Futurity

Oh my! The bull futurity lasted FOREVER yesterday! Let me give you a run down of our day...

8:30 am- Load Stubby in pouring rain

10:00am- Arrive at futurity

10:30am- Unload Stubby and pay entry

1:00 pm- Event is suppose to start, still waiting for contractors to unload bulls

2:15 pm- Event finally starts

3:00 pm- Begin bucking first section (yearling bulls) there's about 20 of them

5:00 pm- They change the order of the sections due to the time. Older bulls are bucked so bullriders don't leave.

6:30 pm- 3-4 year old bulls bucked (31 of them)

9:00 pm- 4+ year old bulls bucked (15 of them)

11:45 pm- 1-2 year old bulls bucked (20 of them) This was our section.

12:30 am-Stubby FINALLY bucks.

2:00 am- Get Stubby loaded and head home

3:30 am- Get home and unload

4:00 am- Get into bed

It was the most unorganized, poorly ran futurity I had ever witnessed. It was awful. Plus around 8p, I got a horrendous headache. I laid in the truck for several hours before and after Stubby bucked.

But there were some silver linings to the crappy event. I got to hang out with this cutie patootie pup named Ace.

Isn't he just adorable. A good friend of ours had him and let me watch him thru-out the event. I just loved it. He told me whenever I want a pup to let him know, he always had one for me. I just had to say when. He lost his main dog last week as well. So he knew what we were goin thru regarding Lil Man.

Oh, and the other silver lining.....

Stubby won SECOND place!!

He did awesome! Especially since he sat out in a pen for hours upon hours until after midnight to buck. We are so proud of him.

Here's a look at how he won...

Sunday Stills- Religion

I'm here but just barely! Here's my additions to Sunday Stills for the week.

Gonna Have a Wild Buckin' Weekend

We entered Stubby in another futurity this weekend. So tomorrow morning we will load him up and head out. Hopefully, with us hauling him this time, he won't have as many "issues" as he did at the last futurity. We've hauled him several times since then and he's not caused us any problems. I think he has a phobia about enclosed trailers. Our trailer is an open stock trailer. My rent-a-husband hauled him in is an enclosed aluminum trailer. That's the only thing I can figure that made him wig out so bad.

So keep your fingers crossed for us. I will be twittering as the day goes on if you want the play by play.

In other buckin' news, the Husband took Death Wish to a local jackpot on Wednesday night. It took forever to find a guy to get on him. No one wanted any part of him. They thought he might be mean or something! I don't know where they got that idea. I don't think the Husband told them his name. Maybe he was snarlin' his nose at them when they walked by his pen. He has a habit of doing that when he gets agitated. I think it's cute, but of course, I'm not gettin' on his back!

A kid finally volunteered to get on him. He lasted longer than I thought he might. See for yourself....

The Word for Today Is.....

Green! Everything is so very green. And the weather has been beautiful. So the dogs and I went for a long walk this afternoon. I took them farther down the road so they could explore. They needed to have some fun. Let's see what we find further down the road.....

Cows wondering who the heck we are! They've never seen the likes of us before.


A very lush wheat field...

A tank hiding in the trees...


My bridge! I love this old metal/wood bridge. I have even decorated it at Christmas with garland and bows. Sadly, the highway dept. was surveying the area recently. The husband stopped and asked what they were doing. They said the old bridge is going to be replaced. I wish I could move it to our place!

Here in Texas, it is a Spring tradition for people to take pictures of their children in the bluebonnets. Well, this was my pitiful attempt. Harley had a bad attitude about the whole situation.

Headed back up the road, I ran across these two monsters. Yes, they are mine. They were hollerin' to the boys across the road. Where they get that, I have NO idea! Hussies!

Comin' back up my drive. The lawn boys came today. I just love coming home to fresh cut grass. It makes me happy.

So now do you see why the word of the day is GREEN! Spring has definitely sprung 'round here.

Turkey Disease??

I have to tell y'all about the conversation I had with the Husband on Easter. It's one thing that has made me laugh over the past few days and I thought it might make you as well.


For Easter, I cooked ham, mac and cheese, potatoes, green beans and apple pie for dessert. Don't think to much of it, most was out of a box, can or bag! Anyhoo, the Husband ate well. After he finished, he took his plate to the kitchen and was talkin' about how stuffed he was. Then he said it....



"I think I might have that turkey disease."



Turkey disease?? I busted out laughing.



I knew he was talking about tryptophan and needin' a nap but I had never heard it referred to as the turkey disease! Plus why he associated ham and turkey as the same, I will never understand. He just cracks me up.

So beware all you over indulgent eaters out there, you may be susceptible to the dreaded Turkey Disease! Be warned!

The Husband's Story Continued....

Hey, it's the Wife. First I want to thank you all for the kind words, thoughts and prayers regarding our loss. It means a lot to both of us. The husband wasn't feelin' much up to finishing his story but he had already written it down. I took it upon myself to type it up. So where were we? Oh yes, the fire truck disappeared into darkness.....


Dean turned the truck and trailer around on a dime in the middle of the road. How he did it without hitting any vehicles is beyond me. All I knew is I wanted the heck outta there! We went about a mile back to the north and pulled over.

We called our friend (large producer of great rodeo bulls for over 40 years) as the fire was raging across his pasture. He said he was okay but thought he lost the house. Then the phone went dead. We were very upset now. We wanted to help him but there was nothing we could do. His ranch was west of the road and engulfed in smoke. We decided to head north another mile in hopes of gettin' out of the smoke. As we pulled over in a sale barn parking lot, we noticed they closed down the southbound lane. Must have done it just after us.

There was a fire truck broken down in the parking lot near us. We went over to speak with 'em and listen to their scanner. All we found out was that there were several MORE fires in the area. We started calling other friends that were close, informing them of the fires. Some already knew and were evacuating, others didn't have a clue. We heard the stock contractor lost his home and an unknown amount of cattle.

We finally decided to find an alternate route to get home. After a few extra hours of driving and seeing three or four more fires, we thought we were finally safe. But then we spotted a massive fire to the northeast. At the same time, we said to each other we sure hoped this road doesn't take us that direction. The road took a sharp turn to the north and east! Yep, we were headed straight to the fire. What the heck do we do now?! We pulled over once, then decided to ease up the road and take a look. As we topped the hill, we saw the fire to our right. It was just off the road. There were several fire trucks and police officers but the road was still open. We said heck with it, just drive and drive FAST! Believe me, it was a nervous and fast 10 miles as we drove along the flaming roadside.

Finally, we were headed south again, only an hour from Stephenville. We began to relax. But then, smoke to the south. The radio station said there was a big fire to our west but three more to the south and east. This time we weren't worried about driving thru the fires, we were worried about Dean and several other friend's places.

We finally arrived in Stephenville after nine hours. We were totally drained but everything seemed to be okay. I decided to head home (about 2 more hours) around 7pm. The drive home was supercharged with energy drinks but uneventful. As I pulled into the last town before the house (about 15 miles away), two fire trucks came flying past me. Holy Crap! No way, not more fires! The next 15 miles were fast and furious. I could see a big orange/red glow just to our north. I pulled into the house and started callin' my neighbors. Oops, I woke up most of them! One told me that just before dark, he thought he had seen smoke in that direction but didn't worry about it. The other neighbor called around but couldn't find out anything. I finally got in touch with the Wife as she was coming home from photoshop class. I told her about the situation and asked her to drive that way to check it out.

Okay, this is the Wife. I'm gonna pick it up from here. As I made my way home, I saw two fire trucks. They were at someone's house. Didn't see any flames. Then I drove over by the mysterious orange glow. It was the prison lights! The husband was so paranoid. I called to tell him. He asked if I was for sure. Yes, honey. Those are the prison lights. What you thought were the prison lights are the stadium lights. They are on too. (Okay, back to the husband)

I called the neighbors back and apologized. After explaining the day I had, they fully understood. 18 hours of driving, several close encounters with fire and many friends losing cattle and homes.....I was never so happy to be home and safe with the wife!

Sad Day on the Ranch

First of all, I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter. I hope you all had a blessed day. We have spent most of our day sittin' in the house. We had a tragic evening last night and just needed some quiet time. I really hate to be a debbie downer on the holiday but this is what is going on here. I just need to put it out there. So here it goes.......

Lil Man passed away yesterday. It was a freak deal and we are stunned. The husband is devastated and guilt ridden since he was involved in the incident. He states he "killed my dog." But I know it was an accident and find no fault in the events that happened. He said I could hate him if I wanted but I don't. Things happen for unknown reasons and the only thing I can guess is that the Lord needed a good dog this Easter weekend.



Y'all have watched him grow these past four months and I thought I owed it to you to let you know. This was the very last picture I took of him. How ironic, huh?

The Husband's Hair Raisin' Adventure as told by the Husband

Yep, that's right folks. This post is by the Husband. He had a pretty eventful adventure this week and wanted to share it with y'all. So without further adieu, here is the Husband and his story......


It all started when I got a phone call from my bestfriend Dean (aka Rent-a-Husband). He was headed to Shamrock, Texas to pick up our breed bull the next morning. After taking care of some business, I showed up at Dean's around 9:30 pm ( he lives in the world's greatest town Stephenville). We knew we had to get up very early to head out the next morning but we couldn't help but stay up till midnight talkin' bulls, cows, calves, etc. After a few hours of sleep, we rolled out of Stephenville about 3:30 am.

Everything went well on the way up there. We did, however, decide we were way too old to be staying up so late! We were draggin' butt. We pulled into Shamrock at 8:30 am. We got the bull loaded and talked with the Dr. for a few minutes. The bull was up there getting "collected" which means the vet was collecting and freezing his semen. Unfortunately, we didn't have much luck with it. His semen was to weak and didn't make it thru the freezing process. Anyways, we left Shamrock around 9:00 am. We should be back in Stephenville by 2 pm.

The first two hours or so driving were uneventful. Then we turned and headed due south. The 50 to 60 mph wind blowing west to east were becoming an issue. It was hard to keep the truck and trailer on the road and outta the way of the little cars, tumble weeds and dust storms. We even saw a guy who had very recently been blown OFF his motorcycle. It didn't look good but EMS were arriving on the scene as we were trying to get around the accident. All I could think was what was this guy thinking! I wasn't comfortable driving in a one ton truck let alone on a motorcycle!

Shortly thereafter, we spotted the first wildfire....then another and another. We were spotting the wildfires left and right. We counted six fires in less than an hour. Just after passing thru Wichita Falls, we spotted another one. This one was pretty dang big and was to our southwest. Not good. Wind blowing west to east at 50 to 60 and we're headed south. Dean decided it was a great time to tell me about a friend of ours who tried to out run a wildfire a few years back. I was already gettin' pretty darn nervous and did NOT need to hear this story. Our friend made it thru but his trailer floor caught fire. He was okay and got the trailer fire out before much damage was done.

While he was telling the story, we are getting closer to the fire. About that time, a fire truck pulled onto the highway headin' south. After a few miles, we decided we should pull over and let the fire truck get in front of us. We kept our distance from the truck but continued headin' south. Watchin' the fire very closely, we were confident that it was well off to our west. It is very flat and you can see forever. In a matter of 2 miles, we went from thinkin' we were fine to HOLY CRAP! As we were discussing what to do, cars and trucks were pulling over on the sides of the road. The fire truck disappeared in total darkness and we knew were were in trouble.

To be continued......

Frollockin' in the Wheat

Took the dogs out for some play time. We walked over to the neighbor's winter wheat field. It has really shot up since the last time we went over. They had such a good time burrowing thru it.

Here we are heading down the drive. All the gang excited about goin' on an adventure.

Lil Man and Zena had a blast! And they were the only ones I could see in the wheat thus no pics of the other dogs!

Here they are bounding across the field.

Zena would stop ever so often to make sure I was still watchin'.

Then it was back off to running a muck! Lil Man was doing his best to try to keep up with his big sister.

Zena is the model of my kids. She always poses for me.

She was having a blast. Can you see the smile on her face?

They finally got played out and we headed back towards the house.

What a fun time we had.

People Never Cease to Amaze Me

This is why I could never be a 911 dispatcher....because of people like this. I don't deal well with stupidity.

Wordless Wednesday

Let's Take a Stroll

On any given day, you can find me walking aimlessly down my road with the dogs and my camera. I love trying to find beauty in my surroundings. Luckily, there is very little to no traffic on my country road so the dogs and I roam up and down the ditches enjoying our time together. Sometimes I wonder if the neighbors think I'm a little kookie when they see me on my knees trying to photograph a flower or bug in the ditch. But I only have two neighbors and they both already know I'm a little strange. I figure they just say, there's that crazy girl with her camera again!

So come, walk with me and see what I found this weekend.

Some pretty wildflowers......







Then I tried following this butterfly. It wouldn't ever land.




Harley was still upset about his new haircut.




Lil Man and Pepper leadin' the way.




Well, did you enjoy your stroll down my country road?

Sunday Stills- Animals of Husbandry

I was looking forward to this week's assignment. I mean, really, what subject do I take the most pictures of.....animals! I thought easy cheesy! But of course, I didn't have time to get any shots in. So back to the archives I went and got you some misc. pics.

What Happened!!

My yorkie was transformed into a chihuahua!! And he is NONE to happy about it!

The husband took him to get groomed this week. When they called to say he was ready, they said "You won't even recognize him." Yep, you are correct!! The husband sent me a picture of him on my cell phone. I wondered why he was sending a picture of someone's chihuahua to me! I've had the dog for 14 years and had to take a double take!!

Photoshop Class

Today, my co-worker and I start our Photoshop for Digital Photographers class. It is with the same instructor that we had for our digital photography class. You know, the one that thought I was a smarta$$. Well, we bought tshirts for the first day of class that say this......

I can't let my smarta$$ image be tarnished!

Couldn't Help Myself

Wordless Wednesday