Watcha Got There?

So what gets my boys attention?



Momma with bull treats of course!




They're so cute, I just want to give them sugars!



I love my boys.

The Sculpture Ranch

On our drive to the B&B, we noticed a very cool metal longhorn.  I mentioned to the husband that I wanted to stop on the way home and take pictures.  So on Sunday, we found it and pulled over.



Cool, huh!  There were a few other "things" by it and a sign that read "Sculpture Ranch, 5 miles".  What the heck, right!  The husband and I head down the country road for what seemed like 20 miles.

Finally made it to the "ranch".  As we drove thru, there were all kinds of strange, abstract sculptures.  Stuff the husband and I do not get or understand.  I told the husband the cool stuff by the main road was just a ruse to get people in the boonies to murder them!  He got on to me for saying that while we were in the middle of nowhere!

The stuff was really weird.  But I finally saw this one.





Jumped out of the truck just long enough to get a few pics.  Got my pictures and yelled at the husband to "Drive!"  hehe

There were signs stating you "must" register at the main office after entering the "ranch", however, we decided we didn't want to leave any evidence we were there.  We were rebels and turned around and left.  It was a strange place.  Maybe if we were a little more cultured, we wouldn't have been as freaked out.

But Animals Always Love ME

I learned something this weekend.  I don't think llamas like for their picture to be taken.  Or maybe it was just these llamas.  Or maybe they just didn't like me.

It started out well.  Nice llama eating grass.



But quickly went downhill to evil llama mad-doggin' me.  The pinning of the ears made me a little uncomfortable.



Pinned ears never mean anything good.  I started to think I may need a spit shield.  Looks like llama is gettin' a loogie ready for me.  Yikes!



The evil eye continued.  And yet, I still stood there taking pictures.  You'd think I'd get a clue. Nah, not me!



But then I got this....and it was not pretty.  Do llamas bite?  Why am I still standing here?



After the gnarling of teeth, lil llama decided to call in back up!



"Hey guys, come here.  We got an idiot human thinkin' she's paparazzi.  Let's show her what llamas do to paparazzi!"

Okay, idiot human got the clue and backed away slowly....

A Weekend in Texas Hill Country

The husband and I set out for a weekend trip on Friday.  We needed to get away for some rest and relaxation.  I originally made the reservation at the bed and breakfast when I registered for the local 5K.  Well, I didn't run but we still enjoyed our weekend away.

We stayed at a B&B outside of Fredericksburg.  We stayed there before and loved it.  It's on a family's ranch about 8 miles out of town.  The cabin was built in 1846 for the original landowner.  It was later used as a barn for 60 plus years.  An older couple own the ranch now.  They bring hot breakfast to you every morning.  It is DELICIOUS!  (The actual cabin is on the left side, you can see the door.)



There is a tank for fishing.  The husband took full advantage of it.



Prior to leaving, the husband told me he had a surprise for me.  But he wouldn't give it to me until the weekend.  Can you guess what he bought me?



Yep, a new fishin' pole.  It's black and pink.  Too cute!  And I out fished him with my girly pole!  But at one point, I had a whopper on my line.  As I was reeling it in, the reel came off the rod!!  I lost the fish by the time I managed to get it in.  I asked the husband what kind of crap he bought me! :)  But he got it all fixed up.  I think he left it loose on purpose cause he knew I would out fish him.  He had to handicap me somehow!



All that fishin' really poops a person out!  While he was resting, I was managing the grill.



Wieners are no match for me!  And the next night, we had Boss Hog steak!



Best part of me cooking, the husband does the dishes!



There were all kinds of interesting things around the cabin.  Lots of old tack and equipment.  The husband was intrigued with this rock.  It was like one rock inside another.  He swore it was somehow fake.  Me, I just think it was a natural phenomenon.  Sometimes you can't explain things.  Husband is a very concrete thinker though.



After a nice weekend, it was time to pack up and head home.  But there was a guard at the gate.



Yep, guard llama!  The husband and I have never dealt with llamas before.  Give us bulls anyday!  We managed to shoo it away and got the truck packed up.  Back home we went.  I'll post more pictures from the weekend throughout the week.

I just noticed something running thru the pictures.  The husband looks like he never changed clothes!  He did I swear!  Just not a lot of variation in his wardrobe!  He's a denim kinda guy.

Ugh, Mondays!!

Please Don't Send PETA

I mentioned a few days ago that we had something bad happen to Mojo.  Do you remember Mojo?

He's one of our 2 year old bulls.  The husband's FAVORITE bull to be exact.  But Mojo had an issue, he's pretty skittish.  Doesn't take much to rile him up.  So we sent him to stay with Rent-a-Husband for awhile.  Rent-a-Husband was working with him for us.  Taking him to the arena, putting him in the chute, calming him down with all the activities associated with bucking (Rent-a-husband has more time and arenas available than we do right now).

Mojo goes into blind panic when you put him by himself, well he did at first.  He actually went crazy at Rent-a-Husband's house right after he got there.  Tried to clear his pipe pen and busted his head on the top rail.  Rent-a-husband thought it killed him.  But Mojo got up and went on.  Vet looked at him and said it broke his jaw!

Then we tried bucking him about a month ago.  When he got off the trailer, he kicked thru the load alley and cut his leg really bad.  No bucking that day!

He has been one disaster after another.  But he is still the Husband and Rent-a-Husband's favorite.  They really needed to know how well he bucks because both want to breed with him.  So finally, he was healed up enough to buck while I was in SC.  Husband had to work so Rent-a-Husband took him.

Husband gets the call that Mojo broke his leg while bucking.  Rent-a-Husband is beside himself.  Feels so bad.  Husband tells him that this stuff happens and he doesn't blame him one bit.  They decide to wait and see how he is before they put him down.

Fast forward to last week...Mojo is getting around on his own.  He's able to lay down, get up, move around.  He eats and drinks.  We decide to give him a chance.  Vet looks at him (same one that worked on Doodle) and tells us that we may be able to put him in a contraption to immobilize the leg.  Gives husband 10 page instruction manual to build contraption.

After much consideration and weighing the pros and cons, we finally decided to just let him be.  There were so many variables to the contraption.  Plus it would most likely rub sores that may become infected.  And Mojo is not easy to handle.  If he was a pet, it would be one thing.  But he's FAR from that.

On Sunday, Rent-a-Husband hauled him back to our place.  We turned him out in the arena by himself (he's a lot better about being by himself and the arena is pretty large).



That's his broke leg, left rear.  Broke it up high.  We're hoping it will heal itself.  Don't care if it's crooked.  Just want him to live and hopefully eventually be able to use him for breeding purposes.  If at any point we think he is suffering, we will put him down.  We're hoping for the best but you never know.

Bikini Challenge-Feelin' the Pressure

OH MY GAWD!  Have you noticed the bikini countdown counter!  73 days till the big reveal!  Holy Smokes Batman!  I hadn't paid much attention to it because July seemed so far away at the first of the year.  Well hello, time flies when you need to squeeze your ba donka donk in a bikini!

Maybe I can find a vintage bikini.  One like this, high waisted!

Belly, butt and thighs.  That has always been my trouble areas.  They seem to be gettin' smaller but it's a slow process.  On the bright side, I didn't gain any weight while I was in SC.  Nope, weighed the EXACT same thing upon my return as I did when I left.  That's good cause my eating wasn't as good as it could have been.  And I ate out a lot in the evenings.  But kuddos to me, I didn't eat any sweets.  Well let me clarify, I did go to a praline shop, but I bought sugar free chocolate.  So I had "sweets" but they were sugar free.

Since I've been back, I started a weight training program.  I'm hoping that will rev up my metabolism and get me ripped!  Okay, maybe not ripped but a little toned by July.  Fingers crossed.  And I'm still on the crappy elliptical.  Leg hasn't mended yet.  I go back to the doctor on Monday.  So much for my 5K race on Saturday.  Just gonna go pick up my goody bag (gotta get something for my $20 entry fee) and leave.  Ugh!

"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough." -Og Mandino

Baby-Palooza

Okay, so according to one anonymous commenter, I need to get back to bulls and such.  Guess he/she grew tired of all my wildflower drivel. (Drivel?  Is that right?) Who cares.  Anyhow, I like to make people happy...(haha, people who really know me would LOL about that statement.)  But for this one time, I will make an exception to my usually "bite me" personality and give ya some cattle pictures.

Not really much bull business going on right now.  We had a really bad incident with Mojo while I was out of town.  I'll post about that later this week.

But for now, I'm still stuck on Spring.  And we all know what Spring brings...BABIES!  And they finally let me take pictures.  So without further adieu, I present some of the 2010 Crazy M herd members.

These babies are at the house.  They all have the same bull daddy.  You remember Mr. Grumpy Pants?



I think some of his attitude rubbed off on the off springs.










These babies are at the lease place.  They have a different baby's daddy.  (oh, look at Jasper in the picture with the babies.  Y'all remember her?)







There were some I haven't seen in person.  The husband had sent me pictures from his cell phone but I hadn't been over there in awhile.  They were just too cute.

Wildflower Overload

I just can't stop myself from taking pictures.  Seems like I went from nothing to photograph to picture-palooza!  And I'm so lovin' it.



Plus I was having photo withdrawals while in South Carolina.  Wasn't in many places that were conducive to picture takin'.

Then I get home to wildflower greatness!  I've just been snappin' away.  I didn't even care that it was overcast and rainy this weekend.  Nope, didn't bother me one bit.

I took the above picture on the way home from the grocery store.  This is a lil country church out by my house.  I noticed all the Indian Paintbrush on my way to town.  Saw that the fence to the pasture was down in the corner.  So on my way back, I parked and snuck in the pasture for a quick picture.  I think it was well worth the trespassing.

Harley, The Model

Went with the hubby to take Bully to the lease yesterday and check the cows.  Harley tagged along as well.  Couldn't resist taking his picture in the bluebonnets.



There was a lot of "stay!", "look over here" directions going on.  But I think we got a good one.  If only he had been groomed!  Oh well, he's a rugged lil yorkie.  Always has been.

I'm HOME!!

Yep, made it back late Friday night.  Husband was waiting at the airport with flowers.  Tulips to be exact.  My favorite!  He's so sweet.

All the kiddos were happy to see me too.  I bought them new toys yesterday.  They were really excited about that!







As you can see, Diesel wouldn't put his new ball down for pictures.

Got lots going on today so I will try to post more later.  So happy to be home.  Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!!

An Answer to the Riddle

Well, kinda.  Several of y'all inquired as to my profession and what the heck I am doing.  Can't really tell you what I do because of security reasons.  You know, if I tell ya, I'll have to kill ya stuff.  :-) 

However, part of my job is teaching defensive tactics to others.  I am getting my national certification right now.  Thus all the bruises.  I'm sure that answers all your questions, right?

But guess what....two days and I'll be home!  Yippee!!

A Riddle

What's black, blue and sore all over?

Me! 

Well, I was really sore last week.  Not so much now.  But I'm still black and blue.  There's too many bruises to count.  Kinda like connect the dots on my body.  And I've bled several times.  But it's always been the same spot.  You ever get carpet burn on your elbow.  That's what I have.  And I keep reopening it.  This evening I was bleeding thru my bandaid and onto the equipment.  Good times!

I added more marks today.  I was punching without gloves.  Now my knuckles are real pretty.  I sound like a real bad a$$, huh!  Really, I'm not.

It's all down hill from here.  I'll be home before you know it!  The husband is going to wonder what I've been up to when he sees me!

Photography Woes

Can you explain to me why people are turds?  Really? Can ya?  Let me explain my rant.

My photography domain recently expired.  Well, right as I was coming to SC, it expired.  I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with my site, whether I would leave it as a blog or make it an actual website.  Stupid me didn't even imagine someone else BUYING my domain name. 

Can you believe that?  I went to check on it and found out that it was taken.  So now when you go to crazymphotography.com, it's a generic photography search site.  UGH, I was soooooo mad!  It just infuriates me.  I know the person behind it is just out for money.  But I don't play those games.  Even though all my stuff is printed with that web address.  I will NOT allow them to take advantage of me.

So it looks like I will be changing my web address to crazymphotography.net.  I'm gonna wait till I get back home to deal with it all.  I'll have to buy new business cards.  And take care of all my other crap that has it printed on it.  What a pain!

On a brighter note, I sold almost three times as much stuff at the craft gallery last month after my move to the bigger space.  I'm real excited.  I hope it keeps up.  Fingers crossed.

Plus, while I've been gone, the husband has been trying to get me photography gigs.  He called the other night to tell me that a stock contractor had put out a request for recommendations on a photographer for a bull futurity on a rodeo web board.  The first response listed... ME!  Can you believe it!  So the husband contacted the contractor.  They said they thought a photographer had been found for the event but would like me to come to the ranch and take pictures of their cattle if I was interested.  How cool is that!

And guess what!!!!  Only 5 days till I get to go home!!!  I can't wait.

I received this from the hubby today.

The husband said Diesel was being so good.  According to the husband, he sat there begging to have his picture taken for momma.  I miss my fam.

Close Encounters

This morning myself and two co-workers went to a local park.  It is only about a 1/4 of a mile down from the hotel.  We walked and it was such a nice park.  And it was so good to get out of the "city" and into some country. 
In the park, they have paddle boats.  We decided it would be fun to go out on one so off we went.  



We saw several turtles.  This one was really posing for me.


But then, we came across this!



Are you kiddin' me?!  There is an alligator in the paddle boat area.  At this time, I'm thinkin' there's not but about 6 inches of boat between me and the water.  This was the closest I've ever been to an alligator.  And I can tell ya, don't really want to get close again.

We asked the park people about it.  They said as long as you didn't bother it, it wouldn't bother you.  Really!  That's all you can tell me.  We were really surprised they don't move it due to liability issues.  Guess it's no big deal to SC peeps.

I'm Always the Odd Ball

Training is going well.  I'm black, blue and sore all over.  Sounds like it's going well, huh!  I enjoy going to training.  I always get to meet interesting people from all over the nation.  But it always makes me feel kinda like an odd ball.  You ever experience that?  The people are great but they have no concept of my "real" life outside of work.  I mention I live on a small ranch and raise buckin' bulls, I get REALLY surprised looks.  And it wouldn't be the buckin' bull part.  Just that I have cattle is so intriguing to people.  Are there just not many country people anymore?

Then there's the "hey, let's go out and have some drinks."  This is another situation where I stick out like a sore thumb.  I don't mind hanging out with new people.  But the only thing I have in common with them is work.  And I am not a night owl.  I like to go to bed early.  Plus, I'd rather be hanging out with the husband if truth be told.  So I'm not good company.  Oh, and I don't drink.  It's not like I can't be around people drinking or anything, but that just doesn't seem like a good time to me.  Do I sound like a prude?  I do, huh!  My idea of fun is playing with the dogs or watching calves play or taking photographs.  Really, I'm an introvert.  It wears me out to hang out with a large group.  Usually, the husband is the social one and I can sit quietly.

Here is where I've spent every evening after training...

It may seem unsocial to some.  I hang out in my room, talkin' to the husband on the phone and cruisin' the internet.  The last two evenings, I've walked to local restaraunts and ate supper by myself. 

But you know what, I may be the odd ball but I don't know anyone else who's spouse has sent them a cute note like this...(well, couldn't get the picture of the note to upload so here's what it said.)

"Hey, Hope all is well.  The dogs send their love.  Hugs, kisses and slobbers.  I love ya and miss ya tons!"

I wouldn't change my "real" life for anything!

Bikini Challenge-On the Road

Can I just say how proud  I am of myself?  Is that wrong of me?  Well, let me tell ya why.  I have done so well with my eating.  Yep, I'm patting myself on the back.  Just can't help it.  I am making good food choices even though I'm at a place where I eat in a big cafeteria type dining hall.  Pretty much anything and everything you could think to eat and as much as you want.  For breakfast, I am eating scrambled eggs for protein and plain oatmeal.  Lunch and supper is a salad and chicken breast.  Yesterday, I was hungry for something sweet after I got back in my room.  I'm still sugar free so I ate a banana.  I'm dedicated to this challenge.  Finally reached that point where it's easy to make the right decision and not be so tempted with crap.  I will let myself have "bad" stuff on occasion but I don't sit and obsess about it anymore.

As for exercise, my training is taking care of most of that this week.  My leg was still hurting from the race so I quit doing everything middle of last week.  But with training, I gotta do what I gotta do.  But get this....I was doing kicking drills this morning with my hurt leg.  I kicked the pad and felt a big POP in my leg.  I thought holy crap, I really did it now.  It was immediate pain.  But I continued with the drills.  Then I realized my leg didn't hurt AT ALL!  No more pain.  I could jump, walk down stairs, jog, everything without pain!  So what the heck?  What in the world did I have out of whack?  The pop was at the back of my leg right above my heel, right where your achilles would be.  But you can't dislocate an achilles tendon, can you?  So wierd.  And it felt so good, I went to the gym and used the elliptical.  Can you believe it!

It's been a good week all around.  I weighed in on Saturday before I left and the scale continues to go down.  Two thumbs up!!

I'm Back Online!

The husband did mail out my power cord this morning.  Love you honey!  But I couldn't wait, so I borrowed a co-worker's for the night.  Luckily, I have a co-worker here that has the same laptop.  When I asked for it, she asked if I was going to do work.  I laughed and said "NO blog!"  She said she figured as much. 

Not really much to report.  I haven't been able to take any pictures.  We are very limited on what we can take pictures of at my training.  Pretty much nothing.  And I leave the hotel at 6:15 in the morning and return after 6 in the evening.  Then I take a shower, apply bengay to my leg and lay in the room.

So, I'm hoping this weekend when I'm out messin' around, I can get some pictures.  I was here about 3 years ago and I love downtown.  So many beautiful things to take pictures of.  Plus the weather is beautiful.  In the mid 80s right now.

But I can't not leave y'all with without something.  I had this bluebonnet pic laying around from Saturday.  Thought I'd post it.  I could use some reminders of home.

Oops! See comment

Gettin' on a Jet Plane

I will be tomorrow, bright and early.  Trying to get everything packed today.  Haven't been able to stay on task, maybe because I'm not real excited about going on the trip.  Before I left, I wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Easter Sunday.

I also stopped on the way home from the store this afternoon and took a few bluebonnet pics.  The wildflowers are coming out in force this year.  Must be all the rain.  I guess it was good for something!




I'll try posting from South Carolina.  I'm takin' my lil camera and my laptop.  Maybe I will have time to take a few pics along the way.

It's All About Attitude