Ummmm....

Today I have been one step behind everybody else. My mental state seems to me to be a bit sluggish today, even after my 45 minute afternoon nap. Once I told my MD that I thought I had Adult ADD, he just laughed and told me I did not get near enough sleep as my body needed. I still think his diagnosis is wrong. Anyhow, this morning I set some ribeye steaks out to thaw for dinner. Hubby looks into the fridge and says "yumm, steak tonite". I commented that the steaks I was cooking tonite were from my friend F. over at Sugarcreek Ranch. A few weeks ago she was outside with one of her new foals as I sped down the highway, I did an impulsive u-turn and stopped to visit with her for a few minutes. I had not visited with her since basketball season when our son's played on opposing teams. I met her when I first moved to Oklahoma and we ran around in the same 'partying circle'. Her first husband was a complete asshole, but a wealthy one that she took to the bank in thier divorce. I was happy for her about that because her married life was pure hell. Back to the day we were visiting. I had a small cooler full of Indian Meatpies that I had ordered from M. on the reservation when they were taking orders and selling for a medical benefit. When M. is making the meatpies, I always order atleast 12 so I can stash some in the freezer, they are delicious. I gave 3 of them to F. because she likes them too, so in turn she offered me some steaks out of her sub-zero deep freeze. She had just sent some steers for butchering and filled her freezers. F.'s 12 yo son was leaving to spend the entire summer in Texas with his father, leaving F. home alone with her elderly mother. I glady accepted the 6 steaks and promised to sit with her at The Cattlemens Dinner coming up soon. So, as hubby and I are standing there looking at the 6 steaks, he says "why are you cooking all 6 of them?" then it dawns on me that I only need to cook 4 because our 12 yo is in MI. Hubby and son #1 usually eat 2 steaks, wee one and I only require 1 each. So I put back 2 of them in the freezer. That is how my day started.

Do you remember this kind of candy? B-B-Bats in banana, strawberry, and chocolate? Sugar Daddy pops? This is candy from the good ole days. While we were touring and shopping at St. Louis Union Station I purchased lots of candy at a candy store, mostly brands from my childhood that are hard to come by these days. I have my goods stashed in a safe place. Except my 2 yo has eaten almost all of my banana flavored ones!

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Yesterday as we were driving down I-44 back t0wards Oklahoma, I was viewing the beautiful and rugged Missouri country-side. I was thinking about 2 missing persons cases that are never far from my mind, Amanda K. Jones and Teresa Lynn Butler. In both of thier cases, my gut feeling is that the 'men' in thier lives is responsible for thier disappearences. Even tho in Amanda Jone's case, the suspect I have in mind is just the sperm donor(not husband) to the baby she was to have delivered just days after she disappeared. Both of these very much missed mothers are from Missouri. I wrote Has Amanda Jones Been Forgotten? awhile back and I now feel like her case is now cold. I first wrote about Teresa Butler here and followed with Part II. Teresa Butler's case has also taken on that chill of becoming a cold case. As I looked out the window at the lush green Ozarks and rocky terrain, billboards of Jesse James hideouts, caverns, and caves whizzed by on the edge of the interstate. I couldnt help but think, are these 2 women somewhere out in the Missouri wilderness waiting to be found?

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Little neighbor girl A. came riding by on her pink bike while I was feeding this evening out in the pasture. She stopped near the gate by my driveway and waited. I asked her how she was and she gave me one of her trademark 'juliaroberts' huge grins and said she just had a birthday and she is now 9yo. She also said she had a birthday swim-party with a Bratz cake and got lots of money as presents. Its hot today with very high humidity. As I stood there chatting with A. in the lowering sun, I could feel the sweat beads rolling down the side of my nose and noticed A. had sweat streaks running thru her little, cheerful face. She motioned to the white wicker basket with the big pink flower in the middle when I asked her what brought her my way. She said inside the cloth bag was a Horny toad she caught earlier today in the road out in front of her house. She wanted to keep it as a pet but her Grandmother told her that would be cruel and unfair to the toad. So A. was going down to the creek where it was nearly dried up and rocky to let the horny toad go because thier geese would kill it(no doubt there, thier geese are meaner than a pack of rabid rotties). Since it was so hot and the sun was setting, I told A. to park her bike. I fired up the Jimmy that hasnt been driven in eons and we ran down to the creek bed. Son #2 wasnt too sure about the horny toad, he did have the right idea tho and kept calling it a treefrog. A. let her little friend go without incident which somehow made me think about this idiot guy with his pet snake:
According to Louis, the snake's owner, no zoo or nature center in the world has such a huge specimen of a Burmese Python. 'Baby' is 13 yo and 20 ft long. What is wrong with people?!?!!! Hasnt this guy heard about the Thirteen Foot Burmese Python who Killed Owner? or 14yo killed by Pythons? People are nuts....