Our Christmases 2011

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas as much as we did!  Are your decorations and tree put away for another year?  Mine are still up, but they're driving me crazy!  Unfortunately, it'll be a few more days before I can get 'round to cleaning up all the Christmas stuff.  There's something about a bare tree, no presents, wrapping paper, bits and pieces of tape , gift bags and tissue paper that just screams at me to CLEAN IT UP! Plus, with having 4-5 people staying here in our little farmhouse, nerves were beginning to fray... I heard my 30 year old son and 23 year old daughter fussing over what to watch on TV.  Haven't heard THAT in quite awhile! haha! 

A few shots of Christmas at my Mom & Dad's house on Friday....  I won't make them big so they won't take too long to upload...

Hayley and my niece, Erin...

Half of us... Mom took the other half, I don't have that shot yet...

My other nieces, Jaci and Taylor...

Daddy

I've been wantin' one of these stick blenders for a while now!

Mom and her leopard houseshoes! She was tickled speckled!

Adam's new guitar - Gibson - VERY nice...

Here's the other half...

We sure missed our son Josh and his wife, Lindsey, but I know they are happy and safe in Wellington, New Zealand, and the Lord is surely providing a family for them there.  Think I told you that they were spending Christmas with two different families there from the church.  The folks there have really taken them in and treated them like family!  I can't wait to meet these sweet families when/if we go over next spring sometime!

Here's a few pics from us 4 on Christmas day afternoon.  We had a small little quiet day after morning worship services, went to see Tony's mom at the nursing home, and later that evening, went to see "War Horse".  We had a fun day!

Working on lunch...

Hayley is hungry!

our little farmhouse Christmas table.

Hayley and her pooch, Remi...

Adam, Hayley, Bug and Remi

                                                      Tony's new vest - looking good!

Hayley got the guys a bucket tool carrier - they all loved it!

The rest of us. 

Well, that's all for today. We had a very nice Christmas, made lotsa new memories - kept it kinda low-key this year.  I hope Josh and Lindsey are with us next year.  I sure missed them.  First time in all these years that all my kids have not been here for the holidays.  First time I've had a married kid, too.  But you'd expect one to be gone to the in-laws - NOT ALL THE WAY AROUND THE WORLD!

Take care - keep your dress down! Be back soon!

What Do We Have Here?????

Be glad you were not at my house Thursday and Friday...  I was SOME put out...

Thursday, I had a nice lady call me and offer to adopt Lucy, my son's calico cat I told you about.  She was coming on Friday to look at her and possibly take her.  I had put Lucy on Craigsl*st to see if I could find her a good home.  Well, I went to take Lucy's collar off  because it seemed to be bugging her (which I had bought her a couple of weeks ago - it had a bell on it - I like to know where she is...) and it had irritated her neck  and she'd been scratching and her neck was all red and angry-looking.  So I thought I'd put a little  N*eosporin on it just for good measure.  I also tore off a clean piece of towel and safety pinned it around her neck so she'd not be able to scratch and put her in the laundry room in her basket to go to bed.  Ok, everything seemed to be fine.

We went out to eat at our favorite Mexican food place Thursday evening and when we got home, of course, it was dark.  I saw Gypsy out in the front yard playing with something and having the biggest time.  Altho the house porch lights were on I couldn't tell what it was that she was playing with.  We got out of the car and walked up to the house, and what do we have here!  There was a rooster laying in the yard that immediately hopped up and jumped on the porch with great difficulty and hid under the wicker settee.  There were tail feathers laying in the yard. Oh great.  We have a chicken ketchin' dog.

I jumped all over Gypsy and yelled at her - she knew I was mad.  She was very cowed down and submissive.  I clipped her leash on and  tied her where she couldn't get to the rooster.  I'm sure she thought I was going to be so proud of the cool play-purty that she brought home - you could just tell by her happy bouncy smile when we drove up.  The rooster was injured and looked like it definitely had a broken wing, so Tony went in and got one of his pistols and shot the roo and put it in a sack in a  box in the back of his truck.

Not sure where the rooster came from, but I know sometimes our neighbor's free-range chickens come on to our 80 acres on the north end.  Whadaya do?  Yes, I need my dog to stay on my property.  But there's dogs everywhere around here and they all run loose in the country, as well as the chickens and coyotes.  Got any good advice out there?  I'm going to get some chickens, too, and I don't want Gypsy playing with or killing them. Perhaps I'm being too optomistic here, but usually I can tell her or show her something that I want her to do or don't want her to do and she seems to understand.  She picks up things real quick and she really wants to please me.   I THINK I might could teach her not to mess with the chickens, but I can't teach her that if I don't have any right now.  Any and all advice would be appreciated.  I sure don't want to have to give Gypsy away and I can't keep her tied up all the time either, but I don't want my neighbors mad at me either.  'Course, they ARE letting their chickens run on our place...

Later in the evening, I went out and took Bug to potty (the chihuahua) and I was sitting on the settee waiting.  Gypsy came over, creeping up submissively and apologized so sweetly and I pet her a little bit.  Then she started barking at something we heard out in the darkness.  We could hear something moving about and didn't know if it was a varmint or what. She's such a good watch dog!  We eased over in the direction of the noise and it seemed to be coming from the back of the truck.  What do we have here? That dad-gum rooster was having post-mortem spasms or something!  It was moving around in the sack!  And it was deader'na doornail!  Is that possible?????  Scared the pee-diddle out both of us!  I told Tony and he said he was NOT going to shoot the rooster again.  He shot it 3 times.  And it was already dead.

Friday morning, I got up early (I always do) and made my way to the laundry room to let Lucy out.  Well, what do we have here?  CAT PO*P and CAT THROW-UP all over the the laundry room floor and the rug, too!!!  Evidently, she had gotten under that towel I'd put around her neck and licked all the Neosp*rin off and it made her sick to her stomach and she was going both ways!  Poor Lucy!  POORER ME!  Guess who gets to clean it all up?  Tony looks at me and says, "She's your cat, don't look at me!"  So I cleaned it up.  So, a lesson - if your cat gets clogged with hairballs, Neosp*rin works great!  (disclaimer - I don't recommend it - try some oil of some kind...)

Then I walked outside to let Bug out.  What do we have here?  I'd been putting Christmas items out on Thursday, and had some boxes sitting on the porch.  Gypsy had helped herself to one of the boxes FILLED with newspapers, and she had shredded both the box AND the newspapers and they were strewn all over the front yard!  I thought when I went to bed the night before that I really needed to move those boxes.  Thank goodness newspapers were all that were in the box! 

SOOOOO, as I'm cleaning up the mess in the front yard and as the morning work traffic is whizzing down our little country  road and all eyes are panning RIGHT to see our beautifully decorated (with cardboard & newspaper) yard with me in my flannel plaid sleepin' pants and jacket and no make-up and bed-head scraping up and picking and chasing down in the wind little slivers of newspapers and trying to keep them in the garbage bag!  TALK ABOUT WHITE TRASH!  And Tony says, "you're the one that wanted animals".  And smiles real big.

AND what ELSE do we have here?  My wonderful, thoughtful, kind and generous husband, dressed and ready for work and he's standing on the front porch enjoying my frustration.  Not only that, he's singing, "Welcome to my world! won't you come on in????"  waving his arms like an opera singer with an audience and making up silly verses about living on the farm and the animals and all the crap and inconvenience and mess they make!  Did he offer to help??? NO way!  He's thoroughly enjoying my dilemna.  I was so perturbed but he was having such a great time and singing at the top of his lungs - I'm sure anyone with their car window down could hear him.  I just had to bust out laughing - he was so funny and I couldn't help myself.  I had to laugh cuz I was too mad to be mad.  I'm still keeping my critters and I'm gonna get me some more.

How was YOUR weekend?

Meet the New Farm Pooch~~~

Meet the new Farm Pooch.  Her name is..... drumroll please.....

We don't know yet!!!  She's a border collie mix, an outside doggie (you see where she is don't you?), and I hope she works out and stays here.  I found her on craigslist actually.  I've been looking for awhile for just the right thing and I think she's IT.  Since we're in the country, she'll be loose. Hopefully, she'll help deter coyotes and maybe they won't eat our cat!

Well, this is a short and sweet post - it's midnite - just wanted to say hi - check ya later!

Stuff

Hey guess what???

IT'S RAINING RIGHT NOW!

We awoke to thunder this morning and a nice steady rain has been falling off and on from the sky for the last couple of hours.  I love it - unfortunately I'm at work, but it's dark outside and cozy inside, and I sure could use a nap.  I knew it was going to rain - sinus headaches the last couple of days. Higher humidity...  Think I'll lay my head down on my desk for awhile...

Just kiddin...  Thank ya, Lord, for the rain.  We've needed it so bad, and it'll take alot to get back caught up again, but I'm thankful for every single drop.  'Course, it's been so long since we've had any rain, couldn't find an umbrella anywhere at all this morning.  But I really didn't care!

NOTE:  Sand + rain = gopher trapping! Stay tuned for that!

Josh, my middle son, went up to Nashville to visit his big brother, Adam, awhile back and they sent me some photos.  They went trekking through a wood - some big state park or something.  They found a baby squirrel that wouldn't leave them alone.  They took some pictures and then placed it back in the tree where they found it.  I think it wanted to go with them.  Don't know where the mama squirrel was.  I hope she knew where her youngster was.

Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen?  I had a pet squirrel when I was a kid.  Dad found it one day while hunting.  It had fallen out of its nest and I believe he told me it was way up in the tree and part of its tail had broken off or been eaten off.  He brought it home to us and we named him Shorty.  He stayed til he was grown - Dad made him a huge cage.  We fed him milk with a doll bottle and veggies and nuts and whatever else we thought he might like.  We left the cage door open more and more and he would climb all over the outside.  Daddy said he'd leave someday, and sure enough he did.  I guess nowadays you'd call us "wildlife rehabbers".  I've probably told that story before...In fact, I know I have!

NEW TOPIC...

Can you believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it???  I'm really looking forward to the family being together AND of course all the wonderful things that we'll be eating!  Something about family, friends and holidays calls for lots of yummy delicious traditional and non-traditional FOOD! 

How are we going to keep our girlish figures?   Now, when thinking about watching our weight during the holidays this year - let's do what genteel ladies in the past used to do.....

I mean, they're easy to swallow and you suffer no ill effects!  How much easier could it be???  AND they're sanitized!  Why hasn't anybody thought of this recently? 

And keep yore dress down...

Palaverin' on and on about nothing in particular...

Well, let's see here.... .... what shall we talk about today???  Hmmmm.... I'm sorry I've been so out of it lately, blogging, I mean.  I've been in a funk, I guess - not enough time, too much to do.  Got alot of things on my plate right now with the wedding coming up and getting our house ready to put on the market - along with everybody else's.  Yeah, right - wish us luck with that one.  The painting is finished, the final clean-up begins.  Gotta get a storage unit or two from my office and stash some stuff in there.  Got tons to donate, throw away, and burn. 20+ years of stuff to do something with.

AND, to top it all off, the girl I hired to work the other three days besides my three days - well, let's just say I had to let her go and leave it at that.  So, I'm swamped again at work.  I don't need this right now. I've been interviewing some people this week, but so far -- nothing.  I had one real sweet little lady that might, might, might could do this job. She has to be only 98 lbs soaking wet, and I don't know if she could do any of the manual labor involved, cleaning out the occasional storage unit, driving the golf cart, hauling trash and junk to the dumpster - even getting these old storage doors up and down would be a stretch for her - they are heavy.  She's nearly 70, quick minded & spry - which isn't old (and getting younger to me everyday!) and she could do the office work, just not sure about the other part. Help!!!

Our church is throwing a big bridal shower for my son and his bride this Sunday afternoon, so I'm looking forward to that. What would we do without our church families!!!  So they'll be off to a great start!

I cannot believe what all is going on with all the protesting and hoopla up there in Wisconsin and Illinois and what was the other state???  Hey, some of you folks up in them parts - Tell us the REAL story!  Enquiring minds want to hear from someone OTHER THAN THE LIBERAL MEDIA!!!  Send us some links that tell what's going on!  I don't believe anything that I hear and see on the news anymore.  You can't depend on getting the unbiased truth from our media anymore!  It's such a shame to see what's going on all over the world right now.  Everybody's gone absolutely CRAZY!  Maybe it's the END-TIMES, people.  I'm ready, my family's ready - Lord, please come quickly!

Off on another tangent here - talking about end times... I was doing some blog-hopping last night late, and I ran across this website.  Now, one of the blogs I was reading had linked up to this website, and I wish I could give credit, but I don't know which one it was, so sorry.  http://www.backyardfoodproduction.com/  Have y'all ever seen this?  On YouTube, also, Marjory Wildcraft from central Texas does a 4 part video all about growing your own food.  She and her family raise their own food.  She talkes about gardening, composting, stocking up, how our grocery bills may double in 2011, how the food prices usually run concurrently with the oil prices, the weather's effects on agriculture (not global-warming, y'all), etc.  It was SO informative, so timely.  Not to scare anybody, not a doomsdayer, just good information that we can all use.  It was SO good, and you can sign up for her newsletter.  I don't usually go for these things, but I made an exception here.  Check it out - listen to the videos - very interesting and very easy to understand.

OK, on a more personal note - my little chihuahua is aging.  She's 12, and while little dogs usually live longer than big ones, she's beginning to show some signs of age.  She's been the jumpin'est little thing you've every seen.  She jumps on the couches (I know some of you are cringing) and even our high beds to snuggle or sleep with us.  To watch TV, I usually sit on the left end of the couch.  There's a little space about 4-5" wide between me and the arm of the couch.  Bug will jump up there, put it into reverse, and back into that little space and park it until I get ready to go to bed.  Can't you just hear  the "beep, beep, beep" as she backs it up?  I usually make that sound for her as she's reversing her caboose into her little warm hole there by me. If she thinks I'm too close and she doesn't have enough room, she'll push on me til I move over...

ANYWAY, got sidetracked there...  She can't jump anymore.  She waits by the couch or the bed and looks at us pitifully for some help up.  She doesn't understand.  The vet says she's got a bit of hip dysplasia.  Didn't know little dogs could get that, but I guess they can.  She's not putting much weight on that leg, just steadies herself with that back left foot.  When she runs around to potty, she runs on 3 legs.  And she's doing okay but I just hate to see that.  The vet gave me some anti-inflamatories, and they help, but it's not going to go away.  It'll come and go for awhile, maybe for a long while, but it won't go away.  Sad.  A couple of her teeth have had to be pulled, too.  Makes it harder for her to chew. I love me some Bug.

I ran across this photo below at Sand Flat Farm in late summer just remembering the warmth and the sunshine and looking forward to it again soon.  Makes me so happy!!! 

And, another beautiful sunset here at the farm and another lovely ending to a wonderful day here in Texas.  I feel so blessed.  Thank you Lord for eyes to behold your glorious and magnificent handiwork!!!!

Y'all have a great day, and as always ~~~

Keep your dress down!

The Jerry Springer Show

Hello my friends - Sorry I've been away. Things have been so busy around our household and I've not been able to do any posts. I've visited a few of you, but it's been very brief.

I think I've mentioned before that I manage two self-storage facilities along with helping out in a commercial construction office.  My main office is at the storage facility, and when you come in I am sitting in my office behind my desk.  I have a window with bars in it so I can talk to my customers in a bit of safety. They may not can reach me, but they sure could shoot me. I just try not to think about that. Well, I've been there nearly 8 years now, and I'm still okay.

Picture me, working at my computer, and in comes a customer.  Now, I'm not going to make fun of this lady, but I'm just going to tell you  exactly what happened on Friday afternoon. I'm just statin' facts and descriptions and my reactions here, K?  I felt like I was on the Jerry Springer Show!

Well, this lady came in - I say lady loosely - you know the emails that go around with the pictures of the Walmart people in them?  Well, this lady had to be an escapee from the video.  Probably about my age, but with long stringy dyed dark brown hair, very strange make-up, tight britches that looked like she had two pigs in a poke, lunch spilled all down the front of her shirt and chattering away on her cell phone.  Anyway, she wanted to check on an account that her live-in boyfriend had taken up with us about 3 years ago.  It was way past due and she wanted to make sure that we hadn't sold their stuff yet. I told her no, but that she'd have to get it all paid up before the next foreclosure sale or it would go into the sale. 

Then she freaked.  She started ranting and raving and telling me that all she owned was in the storage unit. That she was now living with her uncle and renting a room from him, cuz she was on Social Security and so was her boyfriend in Kansas.  I got a long drawn out sob story about how their account had gotten so far behind.  She was having a hard time talking and she kept putting her hand up to her mouth. Going on and on about her boyfriend had moved to Kansas to be near his kids cuz his ex-wife had moved up there to live with her l*sbian l*ver and she had custody of the kids, blah, blah, blah.

She's still messin' with her mouth.  All of a sudden, she shoves several fingers with dirty nails in her mouth and whoops her bottom dentures out and slams 'em down on my window sill above my desk!!!!!  Complete with spit string from her gums!!!  On the window sill where every body and their dog puts their hands, their keys, their purses, wallets, and money is passed over that sill many times a day!!!

"I hope that don't gross you out - I just got this new teeth and they don't fit right and I cain't hardly talk with 'em in", she said.  I didn't know what to say.  I just sat there like a complete goose while she kept rattling on and on.  In my 8 years there, I cannot believe what I'm seeing.   That's the weirdest and grossest thing that's ever happened up there at my office.  I'm flabbergasted.  Gross! Yuck! EEEWWWWWW!  I just don't have the words for it.

When she quit yappin', she picked up those nasty teeth and shoved 'em back into her mouth, germs and all.  I cain't tell you what all she said - it ain't fittin', it just ain't fittin'.  As soon as her tail was out the door, I jumped up and ran to the bathroom for my Lysol bleach cleaner and scrubbed the little pool of slobber off my windowsill BUT good.  Now, aren't you glad you stopped by my blog today?

Adam will be home in a few days for a few days. I'll be so glad to see him. He's been gone since Christmas and it's been way too long for this mama not to see her boy. My husband and a friend of his are going to take my 2 boys and the other guy's son to Arkansas on a fishin' trip next week.  I know they'll have fun. I plan on working on my garden, OR I may go see my seester for a couple of days.  We need to catch up! And bug my brother in law.  He's so fun to bug and embarrass!

I'm leaving you with a couple of pictures that have absolutely nothing to do with this post. But people like to look at pictures - I know I do - so here's a couple of big fellas that live down the road from the farm. I hope to have a couple of these guys on my place sometime. They're so... so... so TEXAS!

Keep that gown down!  See ya later ---

Just around the corner

Not much going on today around here.  Thought I'd post a pic from this morning. Just around the corner from my house there's a little stretch of road where the county put a "Deer Crossing" sign because we have a resident HERD (I kid you not) of deer that stroll our parts.  I don't know if you remember but I posted some pics back in the spring of the herd crossing the road and they had traffic stopped in both directions.  This morning early the deer were laying in a pasture along the road probably just waking up from napping. There were a couple standing around, but most of them were lying on the ground, legs folded under them, looking sleepy and flopping their big ole ears around.  Of course I didn't have my camera. I always have it, but I didn't this morning.  So I whipped my car around, flew back to the house, grabbed it and was back down to the pasture in a flash. Alas and Alack, they'd moved on, but I caught the tail end of the group as they wandered out of sight.  Here they are for your amusement and entertainment:

I hope you can see them. If I tried to make them too big, I lost the clarity. So...  Don't know if this interests you, but it always does me.  I'm a big animal lover, and I'm always excited to see our local deer herd.  Talk to ya'll later - Keep your gown down!

THE "RAT"

For the next coupla weeks, I'm Rat-sitting.  No, no, no - it has nothing to do with my gopher count, which by the way is up to 15 - did you notice?  Five more and I get a black belt in gopher kwan do.  No, my dears, I mean THIS RAT -

This little Rat belongs to my daughter, Princess.  Princess is taking finals this week and next week, and I was  finnagled into rat-sitting for the duration.  Princess called me yesterday when she went back to college and said she really slept well, and it was quiet.  The RAT likes to bark, and loves to play with her "mommy" there at college. "Mommy" is usually busy, so Rat gets into stuff and does really mischievious things to get attention.  Here's the RAT in her fairy princess outfit for Halloween. OOOOO!  Isn't she scarey???

The Rat is a merle Pomeranian and her real name is Bella, but she's such a pill and she reminds me of a little grey rat, hence, I call her Rat.  It's actually kind of stuck. (don't think Princess likes that name tho...)

Here's a saucy grin. You can tell she's just plotting some kind of sneaky activity "Oh what can I do next!!!"

It's like having a little bitty powerful cyclone in the house. And you can bet there's a trail of destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Rat!

She generally wears this cheeky expression most of the time.  She has a game called Gladiator Dog & has a couple of stuffed animals that she slings around in the air and growls like a big dog! I'm sure she's thinking she's ripping their bellies open and their guts are spilling out all over the floor. She loves the applause and the standing ovation.  She likes to use them as pillows.  She likes her chewy bones, and she LOVES to torment our chihuahua, Bug. 

Bug likes to lay on the couch and Rat comes up to the edge and just looks at her and wags her tail.  Bug's lips curl back, the ears go back, and the growling and barking start.  Rat takes off through the house with Bug in high pursuit.  Then she'll turn and face Bug, and they start mock-fighting and biting and growling and Bug's hair is standing up on her back. Tony and I yell for peace and quiet.  We usually have to separate these two because the Rat won't leave Bug alone for one minute.

Here're some shots of Rat in the pasture on the farm this past weekend.  She's very cute isn't she?  Kinda reminds me of one of those big fat spotted ticks.  She DID look like a fat hairy tick when she was a puppy.

Monday night when I was giving Tony a haircut, Rat found and destroyed into a million zillion pieces Tony's headphones for his computer.  Just like a child, if we hear (rather don't hear) her get quiet, you can pretty much bet she's into something. Worse than a two-year-old.  She loves to get into people's dirty laundry - socks, underwear, t-shirts, kleenexes, toilet paper, Q-tips, trash, you name it.  She eats everything she can get in her mouth - paper, pens, pencils, combs, coins, paper plates, Coke boxes, etc. If we were to do an X-ray of her stomach, no tellin' what we'd find.

Rat has some power struggle issues as to who is in charge.  Oh she minds me - she knows I'm an alpha female. I've had enough dogs to know how to get my bluff in early. The Rat thinks Princess is her litter mate, therefore, the Rat thinks SHE's in charge of their relationship.  Maybe it'll do her some good to stay with me for a while?  Princess is going to have to take charge.

Here she is in her Christmas finery.  Amazingly, she's left her elf collar on and hasn't bothered it.  I'm actually quite pleased with how she's avoided ruining the new Christmas tree up to now. But it's only been 3 days.  I think she just hasn't noticed it yet OR that there are some balls hanging within her reach. Hope I haven't spoken too soon!  Bite my tongue!

Princess informed me this weekend that when she gets into nursing school next fall, guess where Rat needs to stay so she can devote 24-7 to her studies?

Calling all Pellet Gun Owners!

Would somebody please come down here to my office building and take out these stupid crows on top of my metal roof PLEASE!!!  The sweet gum balls are falling on my roof and it sounds like those mini-buzzards are playing soccer up there.  Jumping up and down, cawing, and trying to stab the sweet gum balls and digging them out of the gutters. It's not pecking - it's hammering!  Sounds like a jackhammer!  They've made my office roof their new playground for the last 2 weeks! I'm surprised I don't have a leak in the roof yet!

Gopher Broke!

Got gophers?  We do. Hate them little suckers, rather diggers.  They are digging up our entire yard at the farm.  They are in the hay pastures and I guess that's alright, but I don't want 'em in the yard.  When you have sandy soil it's perfect for digging and burrowing.  It's a little scary to walk in the yard because you might step in a hole, or at least a soft spot and twist your ankle. Don't need to do that.

I bought me 4 traps. I've caught about 5 gophers in the last week so far and am working on the others.  Yesterday afternoon, it was a battle of wills with this one particular gopher. I knew he was purty big cuz he had huge dirt mounds and large holes in the ground.  I'm gettin' pretty good at finding the main tunnel. I poke around the mound with a long sharp stick and feel for a soft spot, dig straight down in a single motion and lift out the dirt. There you can see the run. There's kind of a talent to finding the main run and I guess I've acquired that talent.  Something extremely valuable I can use in the future.

Then you tie a string or a piece of wire on the back of the trap so's the gopher won't pull it down in the hole, set the trap and stick it way down in the hole - check.  Then you wanna make it a little dark in there so they won't see the trap. I shove some leaves or some loose grass and dirt down in there - check. Sometimes I put a little peanut butter on the square metal piece on the end for bait - check. (Hey they make poison peanuts to kill them so I figure what the heck)  Now, the trap's in the hole, the hole's covered up, and the other end of the string or wire you stake it in the ground outside the mound - check.  Now sit back and wait.

Sometimes you have to wait just a little bit, sometimes it may take a day or two.  If you haven't caught anything after a couple of days, it's probably a dry run and you need to try another mound.

ANYWAY, yesterday, I was going after this particular gopher, dug out a hole, found the run, set the trap, staked my string, and went to set a trap elsewhere.  Ok, I go back about 10 minutes later, move some of the leaves and dirt away and lo and behold, MY STRING HAS BEEN CHEWED IN HALF and the trap's gone!  I had to dig down and to the side another foot and finally found the trap - still unsprung and just a little piece of string still attached.  So I reset everything, put a new piece of string on the trap and waited.  Come back about 15 minutes later, SAME THING!  This time I had to dig even farther. Found my trap still unsprung.

OK, This is WAR!!!  (cue "Caddy Shack" music here)  I go to the garden shed and git me a piece of thin wire and attach it to the trap. He ain't gettin' away this time!  I'm talking and fussing out loud now - (cue Bill Murray)  Here we go again. I bring a spoonful of peanut butter outside and load up my trap, stake it out with wire and water my roses.

I pull on the wire, it's not wantin' to come out of the hole. It's stuck & I have to git my little shovel under it and bring it out.  There attached by a little piece of stomach skin was MR. GOPHER - nearly big as a rat, and he's jumpin' all around tryin to get loose.  First one I've caught alive. 

Now, I'm a big animal-lover & don't like killing animals no matter what kind - except snakes. But I can't let him loose to keep digging up the yard. I call my sister and ask her opinion. She's a big non-squeamish-do-it-yourselfer-cuz-you-don't-wanna-wait-around-on-your-husband type of girl like me. Wrong choice.  I thought she was going to tell me to take his head off with the shovel. No, she said I should let him go. WHAT?  Of course, it's not her yard and she doesn't have gophers.  So she shamed me into letting him go. BUT I let him go way down in the pasture by the pond. Hopefully he'll never make it back up to my yard.

I feel like a failure somehow. If I'm gonna be a farmgirl I've got to learn to do what has to be done. I wimped out yesterday.  I've always prided myself on being able to take care of business that has to be taken care of. It won't happen again - PROMISE!   ;o)

In the meantime, I've got Mr. Gopher by the tail and he's twistin all around trying to grab me and take a hunk out of my finger with those big ole gnawing teeth of his. Every time I tried to move him with my stick he's chompin on the stick, the trap and my gloved hands. Thank goodness for leather gloves! If he HAD of bitten me I guess I could have carried out my farmerly duties to cause his demise posthaste! So I carry him by the tail out to the pond and set him down in the dirt where he starts scurrying around looking for a place to hide.  I think he'll be alright.  I'll just let Mother Nature take care of him.

So that's what I did all afternoon yesterday.  Kathy B over at  Spot on Cedar Pond has been after moles at her place.  What'd you do fun and entertaining yesterday?

Roadkill (maybe?)

Hi all - thought I'd stop in for a quick check-in. I promised to have a new post up this week, but a few wrenches have been thrown our way and time has been precious. I've checked in on a few of you (I can't stay away) and my thoughts & prayers have been with those I know are having problems.

I ran into this little guy this morning on the way to work (not literally). I stopped to get a sausage biscuit at our local McDonald's (the slowest one in the state of Texas) and this booger was strolling around in the parking lot. Now mind you, this is quite a busy street in our little town, and it was totally out of character for a wild animal to be at this particular location.

I say "strolling"... he was actually wandering around in circles, head down, confused, staggering, falling down, getting back up. RABIES, I imagine. There were several people standing around outside keeping a watchful eye and someone was going to call the Animal Control folks to come get him. I had to go on to work.

Poor little guy. If he DIDN'T have rabies, then there was certainly something else wrong with him. My son Josh was in the car with me, and there were people waiting in line after me. But whoa, a PHOTO OP! Who's gonna pass up a good photo op for blog fodder! I keep my camera in the car alot (now that it's not 103 degrees), so I whooped out my camera like a six-gun and snapped off a couple of photos before gittin my breakfast. (maybe that's why our McDonalds is the slowest one in the state of Texas??? Maybe there are other people who also like to take pictures at McDonalds???) Anyway, I felt sorry for the raccoon - I'm sure he was about to meet his demise either way - if Animal Control didn't get him purty quick, he was sure to get creamed out on the highway and be roadkill for some buzzard's supper!

Which brings to mind a story - my nanny had a couple of pet 'coons when she was a kid. She said they were lots of fun and would come and dig food out of her pockets (or anybody else's) and look for food in her hair and behind her ears - she said it tickled. Until the male reached puberty - then he got mean, and she had to take him to the woods to let him go.

End of story - wasn't that interesting??

'Nuff said - I'll be back later hopefully - we had a great 50th Party for my sis. More to come....

THE END.

Deer Crossing

Just had to share this with you while on my way to work this morning. We see deer quite often, but I usually don't have my camera with me. Today I did, and was delighted. There were about 20 or so deer bounding across the creek bridge just off my street. They really didn't seem alarmed at all. I guess security in numbers... They were stopping to play and leap and frolic, jumping over the barbed wire fences, even squeezing through the fence, going into the trees and disappearing only to reappear a bit down the road. They're beautiful animals, full of grace and acting so silly this morning, just having a wonderful time in the sunshine and cool dew.

My FIL is having surgery to have his dialysis fistula catheter thingie placed in his arm this morning to begin official dialysis. We hope it will go well with him and he'll be able to be strong enough to go home in a bit. The Drs. said that dialysis "buys one time", as FIL is not a candidate for a transplant. If he can go home for awhile, we have discovered a place here called "Caring Partners" that can come to their home, clean, cook, help bathe/dress, take FIL to dialysis, shop, whatever he and MIL need. They are not medical people, but they help with all the things Tony and I CANT do because of our jobs. We're going to check them out and see if this is something that can at least keep them in their home for awhile longer. It all depends on my FIL's ability to get a little stronger and be a little bit more ambulatory. It will buy Tony and I some time locating a place for them to enter the next stage of their lives. Sad, but true... My mom is doing well, 3 more weeks til we see if her knee surgery worked or not...

Hope ya'll have a wonderful week, I'm checking on everyone as I can to keep up with you --- Vickie