Rocket Science

So how many people does it take to change a tire?  Well, apparently, it takes two plus a couple hours, many tools and about three chapters of an owner's manual!

Why is removing your spare from under your truck so complicated??  In the 3+ years I've had the truck, we've never gotten the spare out.  Thank goodness I wasn't along some busy road when I needed it.

Here's the story in pictures.

It all started with this....

Then there were more "steps" then we knew about.  So we took turns looking at the manual.  It keep taking us to different places..."if this doesn't work, go to page 592."

The husband thought he would man handle it...

After he threw the truck's equipment aside....

Went to our back-up jacks.  There was a secondary release that wouldn't come loose...

All this work tuckered the dogs out...

Finally! Got the stupid latch released.  This was the cause of all our problems...

Woohoo, the tire is out...

And now it's on....

Too bad it was FLAT!!!

 
Yep, after all that, the spare was flat.  Really good thing I was at the house!  I think I may invest in AAA.

When There Are No Answers...

Crazy M has been in mourning.  We've lost one of our babies way too young. She was a feisty lil thing and will be missed.

We don't know exactly what brought it on but Ruby jumped on Pepper late Wednesday night.  Pepper never warmed up to Ruby.  She would bark at her and occasionally snap at her.  Ruby must have snapped back this time.  With the size difference, Pepper didn't make it.  It was just a horrible situation.

We are now looking for Ruby a new home.  One without small dogs.  We just can't take a chance she may hurt Harley, even by accident.  The husband is allowing me to keep her at the house for now.  I really don't want to stress her by taking her to the shelter.  Depending on how long it takes, I may not have a choice.  The entire situation has been so draining.

Takin' the Cow by the Horns

Yep that's how I roll.  You don't go where I want, I wo-man handle you!  Or really, I just play steerin' wheel with your horns.  With va-room, va-room noises of course!

Crazy M Meets Trainwreck!

Bloggin' has brought some awesome people into my life.  This past Friday, I was lucky enough to meet one of my bestest bloggin' buddies.  We met several years back when I first started.  Hit it off right from the beginning.  We had so much in common.  We call ourselves sistas.  I've even had people ask if we were actual sisters!  If so, she got all the looks and I got the big thighs!

So Trainwreck, of Cowboys, Kids and Sunsets, and her husband came to Texas!  I was SOOO nervous to meet her in person.  But when we sat down at the restaurant, it seemed like we'd known each other for years!  Well, we had but still....it's different!  We chatted for 3 hours!  Of course, our husbands hit it off too.  We finally left so the waitress could make some money.  Can you believe neither one of us took a picture that night?

Saturday, we invited them to go buck calves with us.  They would get to meet Rent-a-Husband.  I was so happy when they agreed to go!  Of course, the husband put her cowboy right to work in the arena.

I think the boys were having fun.

Trainwreck and I were enjoying ourselves too.  Taking pictures, chattin', watching the boys, what's better than that?

I am so happy we finally met in person.

Now to wait until she can move closer.  Then the real trouble will begin.  I can see us gettin' into lots of it together!

It was a great weekend!  Meetin' bloggin' friends is really cool.  I hope I get to meet more along the way!

Help Needed!

A friend from the shelter sent me a link yesterday about a pet photo contest.  Bissell is holding a weekly contest (for 12 weeks).  The top voted for photos are then eligible for the grand prize which includes a $10,000 donation to a charity of the winner's choice.  Of course I had to enter.  I would love to be able to provide that kind of donation to the shelter where I volunteer.  So know I need your help.  Harley and I need VOTES!!  Our week started today and will last till next Tuesday, 1/25.  You can vote once daily.  Only thing you have to do is register on their website.  They ask for your email address and physical address.  The site states it asks for both to stop bogus voting.

Just click on his picture below and it will direct you to the site.  It's a long shot to win the entire deal but it doesn't hurt to try, right?

Thanks!!

Sunshine!!!

Finally we have sunshine!!  I'm so excited.  The grey skies were getting pretty gloomy.  But the rain was even more ugly!  We got about 8 inches and everything is soaked.

This was the backyard on Sunday morning.

Our bull pens were just as bad.  I took this picture yesterday evening.

Just a muddy mess.  We penned and loaded some bulls in this on Monday morning.  Good thing we didn't need to get anywhere fast!  I wasn't very speedy sloshin' thru that muck.

But truly, I was just happy to see this...

sun glaring off the water!!

Other than that, not much else going on.  We are waiting for our heifers to calve.

Stubby and Eyebrows are waiting on treats!

And the dogs are waiting for the Husband to come home.

I Hang My Head in Shame

I have a skeleton in my closet.  

A dirty little secret.

Please don't judge me.

But I must come clean...

I still have Christmas decorations up!!!!  

Well, only out at our entrance.  All the other decorations have been taken down for weeks now.  

I've just been too lazy and it's been too cold for me to walk out there and take them down.  

Ahhhh, cleansing breath.  I feel so much better now that the secret is out.

Promise to get them down this weekend....well, if it's warmer and not raining and after the football game and if I'm not playing with Diesel, or if I'm not busy helping the husband or if I'm not taking a nap or if......

Grace is My Name....

Hurting myself is my game.  Yep, that's right.  I've managed to hurt myself again.  Really, it's not surprising.  I do it on a regular basis.  But this time, it brought me to my knees.

It all started with this...

Diesel and his soccer ball.  Harmless, right?  Well, I thought so too.  I was playing soccer with Diesel like every night when I get home.  But this time, instead of making contact with the ball, I smacked the frozen ground!  Really, I have no idea how I did it.  I'm gifted in hurting myself.  I excel in this arena.  

So I immediately felt pain coming from my big toe.  I actually sat down in the yard.  But when I saw Diesel coming at me with the ball, I figured I better get up or he would be on top of me.  I made it to the living room chair.  (Okay, here I must again explain that I hate blood.  It makes me light headed.  Even the thought that it may be coming forth out of my body sends my head a swirling.) My ears started ringing.  I could feel the end of my sock was wet.  I sat there for a little bit then decided to take my boot (suede fuzzy boot) off.  The end of my sock was bloody but not bad.  That was a good sign.  I knew I was going to have to take that sock off.

I went to the bedroom to lay on the bed.  I figured if it grossed me out and I passed out, at least I would be on the bed!  So I worked my sock down my leg and foot to the toe.  Eek!  My toenail was at a right angle to my toe! I bent it backwards.  Ick!  Good news, I didn't pass out!  I took a picture of my toe and texted it to the husband at work.

Of course, he calls wondering what the heck happened.  I explained and then he lectured me on wearing those "house shoes" outside.  Which they are not but he doesn't see it that way.

I tried cutting the nail that was sticking up but couldn't.  It hurt way to much.  Was gonna put hydrogen peroxide on it but it was in the barn.  So I found some horse ointment in the house and used it.  It throbbed all night.  Who knew a toe could hurt so bad.

Had to wear my wide toed barn shoes to work today.  Couldn't get anything else on.  I have court tomorrow.  Plan to wear them again.  Hopefully I won't need to testify on anything!  If so, hope the Judge doesn't look at my feet. 

I showed the husband what it looked like this afternoon.  Then I was able to cut the nail off.  He told me I was "one tough wench".  Ahhh, that's a compliment coming from him!

Now I'm self medicating with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  I think it's a miracle cure cause I feel no pain!

The Wife Speaks!

I know, it's very scary! But I saw this on two of my pals blogs, Nicole and Goodwife.  It looked like fun. It's called a dialect vlog.  Checkin' out how we speak around these parts.  I really enjoyed watching their videos and putting a voice to a face.  Thought it was a great idea.  After viewing my video though, maybe not so much!  I make the dorkiest facial expressions.  And I couldn't even think of some answers (rolly pollies!).  But I didn't want to do it again.  So you got the Wife unedited!

So there is a list of words to pronounce and a few questions to answer.  They are:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

• What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
• What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
• What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
• What do you call gym shoes?
• What do you say to address a group of people?
• What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
• What do you call your grandparents?
• What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
• What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
• What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

So try it and give yourself a voice!  We're all waiting to hear it!

Crazy M Updates

So, I guess I need to update y'all on a few things....

1.  Mad Dog is still on butthead's place.  One of the nice neighbor's finally got in touch with butthead.  He said our bull was still there.  He just hadn't gotten around to penning his cattle to catch him.  So nice neighbor said he would try to do it this weekend.  We told him that would be great.  If he did catch him, just put him in with his cows.  Mad Dog may be 3 years old before we ever get to buck him once!  Oh well, we're just happy to know he's still there.

2.  Husband went to doctor today to schedule his shoulder surgery.  He will have shoulder replacement surgery on February 14th.  So he calls me this morning to check the date.  I say "You're gonna have it on Valentine's Day?"  He says, "That's Valentine's Day?"  Then, "Yea, the ladies here say that is Valentine's Day."  Yea, I don't need verification!  So our V-day will be spent at the hospital.  I told him he better get me something good beforehand! :)

3.  I finally started back running!  Well, I'm taking it very slow.  Run about 2 miles at a time but take several days off in between.  My achilles is usually pretty sore the next day or two.  I still have a goal to run a marathon this year.  I want to take it easy.  Figure I have all year to build up to it.

4.  I closed my photography booth at the craft store in January.  Just wasn't making enough to even cover the rent.  But I'm okay with it.  Still have my website.  It's a lot cheaper to maintain.  And I added a Facebook page.  Haven't been good at updating though. :(

5.  Have found my passion.  Dog photography.  I absolutely love taking the dogs pictures at the shelter.  And I think I'm good at it.  The shelter really likes me and treats me so well.  Just waiting to win the lotto so I can spend more time doing it!

But a few things still remain the same, the love for my husband and our life here on the Crazy M Ranch.  I continue to be blessed in 2011.  I'm truly a lucky girl.

While the Other Kids Played...

Roscoe took full advantage of a walk-thru hayring!

Our Awesome Kids

I think my kid is a soccer superstar.  I know parents always think their kids are the best but mine truly is.  Diesel is an all-star goalie.  Any team would love to have him guard their goal.  And he takes his practice very serious.  He practices day and night.



The husband tries to fake him out.  As you can see, it doesn't work!  He's gettin' really good.  Santa brought him the new soccer ball for Christmas.  It's his third one.  But he still likes playing with the flat ones too.  He can grab them out of the air really well.

Then we have our smarty pants kid, Pepper.  She never ceases to amaze us.  After I told the husband what she did today, he said she needs to be in gifted and talented. ;o)  What did she do, you ask?  Well, when I got home she ran in the house.  So I let her stay in while I was changing my clothes.  I walked thru the living room and she was at the closet.  Showing me there was something in there.  She does that outside when she finds a mouse under the doghouse.  Anyhoo, I go to the closet and ask her if something is in there.  She tells me yes.  I'm thinking great, I really don't want a mouse in the house.  But at least Pepper is here and she'll catch it.  She's an awesome mouser.  So I open the door and guess what was in there.....her tennis ball!  I didn't even know her tennis ball was in there.  I think our dog may be too smart for us!

Girls Gone Wild

We put out hay again.  Never ending chore this time of year.  However, this time, the calves were FULL of it!  Let me show you the importance of a hay ring.

There is actually a ray ring around that bale.  But it's all broken from the bulls and cattle.  We put it in the calf pen thinking it would be okay.  Well, they showed us otherwise.  I think it's time for a new one!

See, I told you they were full of it!  And this girl will come especially!!

Helpin' the Neighbor

Our neighbor called this evening.  Asked the husband if he would put out hay for him.  Neighbor hurt himself and couldn't do it.  Of course, the husband told him.  So off he went to take care of it.  I ran out to the road to take pictures cause he's not hayin' just any 'ol regular thing, he's hayin'....

buffalo!

The neighbor got some a few years ago.  I think he said he took them in a trade for hay or farming.  Neighbor does a lot of trading.

Hayin' them is easy though.  Just dump the bale over the fence into their hay ring.

They seemed very excited!  And this one below, has a gigantic head!

I hope they have babies.  He had one a couple years ago.  It was too cute.  And they are an attention getter around here.  We don't usually have much traffic.  But you can always tell when someone new comes down the road, cause they usually go real slow .  Or turn around to come back and get a second look.