Gone!

I'll be away from my blogger for a little more than a week. I am so excited about seeing son #1 and my family! I am not too thrilled about the long drive but it'll be worth it a million times over. I doubt Ill have time to be blogging while I am away enjoying the beautiful Great Lakes and visiting with my much missed family. I promise to take lots of photos and post them.

I am hoping I have time to visit my absolute favorite place on earth, Whitefish Point . Of all the Great Lakes , Lake Superior is my favorite. It has many faces: calm and serene, stormy and deadly, clear and pristine...

I have a big family reunion to attend on the Island on my fathers side. I am looking forward to seeing many, many of my relatives I have not seen since I was very young and also it will be a GOOD party!

My animals will be well cared for by my father-in-law. He is one of the most trustworthy and dependable people on this earth. So, I can take a break and not worry (too much!) about my animal's well being.

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As soon as we get back from N.MI Ill be busy enrolling son#1 in Junior high, checking out football equipment and so on....so I'll post about my trip with pictures of course as soon as I can. Take care!

Blazing Sun

I really want to practice throwing my rope but its hotter than hades outside right now. There is a good breeze but its HOT. Maybe when the sun is setting....we are not going to the round up club play date. I should be packing for our vacation or doing something productive but I am not. Ill pack last minute in a rush on Monday, I hate packing.

The back of Toddler Terror's gator. A few old girths that need throwing out, a tomthumb snaffle bit that is older than the hills, some rocks, old hay, 1 old leather rein, a toy car, another toy that I have no idea what it is, and son #1's old basketball- not his good wilson ball......yes, there is a difference!

I took this picture of the sky just outside of the barn, the sun went behind a cloud for about 2 seconds, it was a nice break from the blazing sun while it lasted.

This is the bean I removed from The Old Guy's urethra. In all of my horsey experience years, I have never removed one this large from any gelding. Scooter was just cleaned in early March and an itty bitty bean was removed from his uretha then. I about fell over when I finally got this huge thing removed! I am wondering if I didnt get it all removed last March. Anyhow, he finally cooperated, even for the 1 and 1/2 minute he allowed me to gently removed this from his tender part. I am hoping that is all of it, it most likely is but I will still have to take another look at him. Scooter was interested in the bean and I had to move it from his sight because he kept trying to get it where I set it down on a bucket in the barn-silly horse! I brought the thing inside and took a picture of it before I threw it out. Just after I was done taking the picture hubby walked in from work to get more ice for his water can. He said "what's that?" I told him what it was and where it came from. He grimaced and said"it came from inside his what?!?" I said"yep, sure did." Hubby said "what the hell is it a kidney stone?" I told him no, it was dirt and secretions. Then hubby said "ouch, oh my gawd, that HAD to have hurt! I thought the vet check out all those things?" Ummm no the vet does not check specifically for those things, its a horse owners responsibility to clean thier geldings or breeding stallions......

Anyhow, I know you are all thrilled to be hearing about my horse's pecker!

The Old guy even looks happier. He is so hard to take pictures of because as soon as he sees me outside he speeds over to me. Then I back up to take a picture and here he comes chasing me down, so I have to be quick. I wanted to ride this evening but it doesnt look possible now, its too hot and I am not sure when hubby will be done at the new well head. Sigh.....such is life in Oklahoma.

Ack! A Notso Pleasant Task...

orning I thought maybe I could have slept in until about 8am. No such luck. Toddler Terror and his father were up at daybreak and being loud. So since I was not allowed the luxury of more sleep I got up and went outside to start my daily chores. Here is Elvis begging for a belly scratch, I gave him one from a distance with a stick. He is still a bit skunky smelling. He tried to bite brother-in-law W. last nite. He even tried to sneak up and bite BIL when he was walking to his truck to get in to leave last nite-brat!

Wee One playing with his farm animals and his barn. He and hubby played until hubby had to leave to work. This afternoon we are going with him after the drilling rig is finished up. Wee One will get a kick out of seeing the drillers tear down thier rig(we'll watch w/ hubby from the AC inside the pick-up). Its kinda cool if you never seen it done. Wee One is already tired this morning so I parked him on the couch with his 'Bambi' movie. He seems quite content for now.

The Old Guy bright and early this morning. I called him up to the barn. I had to perform a nasty task that is the most unpleasant thing about owning a gelding. A couple of days ago, I notice his Sheath seemed a tiny bit swelled. At first I thought it was just me but yesterday I checked him again, and it is swollen up a bit. He has been urinating fine and didnt seem sore or tender at first. I am thinking he has a bean but he is being a brat and not cooperating with me. Last nite I washed him with the hose hooked up to the warm water but he would not totally relaxed and distend his pecker-jerk! Usually the pervert has it hanging out every chance he gets but when it needs cleaned (he is so dirty too!) he sucks it up as far as he can into his belly-grrrrr. This morning I tied him to the fence post and let him relax again. Then I tried to see if he had a bean in his urethra but as soon as he saw me coming at him with the rubber glove he would not cooperate! This needs to be done before we leave Monday. I will be so p*ssed if I have to call the vet and have him tranquilized for this procedure. He is used to being cleaned and doesnt kick or fidget. He was fine when I attempted to clean him and was just a bit tender but its a tender spot for male horses anyhow. An hour before Toddler Terror goes down for his nap, I am going to tie Scooter up in the shade and then when Wee One is napping I am going to try one more time to get the bean out. I am almost positive that is what he has. If I do not succeed or am NOT able to do it up to my standards then Ill have to call the vet and hopefully she can come out Monday before we leave. I also have another vet who doesnt live too far away, he is a decent vet and most likely will come out this weekend if I call him. Sigh....I am NOT happy about this new develpoment with The Old Guy, he was just cleaned in late winter!!

Our heat-wave is back. We are AGAIN under a heat advisory and its going to be over 100 degrees today. The heat index is promising to be a sweltering 108+ degrees. If I win the lottery tonite I am going on vacation in Alaska!

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Please go over and visit my buddy Paval, he has an excellent post up about how ignorant people REALLY can be. It is one of the reasons why I think people can really suck and another reason why I would rather spend my days with my horses than people in general. I am all for immigration reform but this is so far from THAT topic its not even funny. Paval is a hard working, tax paying, father of 2 who happens to be an American of Cuban orgins since he was 5 years old. Give Pavals post a read, he is very nice about the whole thing. I would have been screeching my car to a stop and then acting in poor taste, probly ending up in the county jail, if I were in his shoes.

The Birds

This is not the best picture but it was the only one I took. My camera needs new batteries already (I think!) My zoom isint working very well. Anyhow, see these birds by the blue bucket?(bucket is full of water) There were about 20 of them but most flew away when I went outside to get a picture except for these 4 or 5 determined ones. I put some scraps in the small white bowl for Elvis yesterday afternoon. I came inside to wash the dish and saw Elvis was chased away from his food by those birds!

Here are the determined ones, they were watching and waiting. I felt like I was in a Alfred Hitchcock movie. As soon as I went back inside the door, they came back. I was not able to shoot them, I couldnt find ANY pellets or beebees for the guns-grrrrr. Either we were out or hubby has stashed them somewhere.

Some kind of creature came out of this hole in my driveway. I have no idea what kind but I bet its creepy. Hubby said it was a crayfish. I thought those things live in/very close to water. They do in Michigan.

I caught 2 mice in the barn this morning. I tried to get a picture without them escaping but couldnt. They are gone for good now.

It hot and muggy outside today.

We did get a little bit of rain last nite, we need more.

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There is an alligator living in a pond in Broken Arrow, OK just outside of Tulsa Alligator Spotted In Broken Arrow Pond. They were trying to trap it and let it loose in SE Oklahoma. I guess we have alligators in Oklahoma.

I am so glad its Friday! even if I did read this in the news first thing this morning: Cindy Sheehan Buys Property in Crawford. That woman needs to give it a rest and fade away.....please.

Yes, Elvis is still kinda stinky. I did give him a bath yesterday in some potent soap Uncle D. uses on his coon dogs. It helped a little bit. I think maybe another scrubbing with it today(if it doesnt rain here) might damn near knock the skunk smell out. Then stinky Elvis will need another high dollar dose of his Advantage flea/tick monthly application. That is some great stuff. He NEVER has ticks or fleas and he runs all over the countryside.

When I was outside feeding The Old Guy last nite, hubby and Wee One were out on the front porch until the skeeters got to be too much. Elvis snatched Wee One's little stuffed horsey that whinneys when you squeeze its belly. Elvis snatched it and ran.

Here he is with his catch. Wee One wanted it back but it was stinky and wet from dog slobber. Also Elvis hid it inside his doghouse for about 5 seconds until he wanted to play with it again. The Old Guy has a thing for this whinneying toy too. He tried to snatch it from Wee One last weekend when we were in the barn!

I'll be glad when Elvis gets unstinky, Wee One is well behaved when Elvis goes in the car with us.

The Old Guy after I fly sprayed him. Guess he had an itch. He really needs another grooming-badly!!

The Old Guy sticking his tongue out. I went outside yesterday afternoon while Toddler Terror was taking his nap. I did a few things around the yard, picking up sticks and raking some gravel along the edge of the yard. I also gave Scooter a good fly spraying and some cut up carrots to snack on. I took my camera outside to get some good pics of The Old Guy but Wee One woke up from his nap, so no time for good pictures....

But....I did catch a few pictures of this chopper that flew all around my area, for a long time too. All of these pictures are without my zoom.

It was weird because I was out in the front yard raking and I thought I kept hearing a chopper. At first I thought maybe it was LIFEFLIGHT flying to Tulsa but it never went away. Finally they flew right over my house, pretty low. I was watching them and they circled back around a few times. I kept thinking maybe I knew them or our tiny town is getting an important visitor. They never did land anywhere that I know of. I also couldnt see any distinguishing characteristics on the chopper to see who it might belong too. I watched them fly around and could hear them off in the distance for quite awhile.

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Hubby had a brainstorm this morning. He said we should rent an RV for our trip instead of driving his new truck. It would probably be the same gas mileage and a lot comfyer(is that a word?comfy?) Anyhow, I am not too thrilled about the idea. I havent watched the new movie out last spring called "RV" but I am sure our trip might resemble something similar to it if we drove an RV. OMG, I cannot imagine! Instead of 19-20 hours one-way on the road, it would be 30 hours one-way. But, just to keep his bitching at bay, Ill call the places in Tulsa and the surrounding areas, get price quotes and hope to hell they are so HIGH DOLLAR that hubby will think his idea is not so great.......

I do not want to drive my car, I want to save miles on it. It already has 16,000 miles on it!

Wednesdays Musings

Lastnite's sunset. This is my favorite time of the day. I am not sure why. Sunrise is also a favorite time of the day but not as much as sunset. I like the dark as much as I like daylight.......maybe moreso. I used to be a night-owl but since Ive grown older with kids, I am not so much anymore.

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Yesterday's doctor's appointment went very well. Toddler Terror received a new ointment that is working and another round of meds by mouth. The last 3 times we have seen the NEW pediatrician Indian Health has hired and he is excellent! We still like Dr. S. but the new Dr.E. is better equipped to deal with my little one. He comes to the IHS Clinic we use 2X a week, kind of a pain when scheduling appointments but if we want to use this MD we have to work with his schedule-thats okay. Wee One's next appointment is in 3 weeks. I am not thrilled about hauling his portable medicine cooler with us all the way to N.MI but it will be something we HAVE to do...sigh. One HUGE and important thing we found out from the blood tests is that Wee One is HIGHLY allergic to ALL dairy products and Wheat Germ. Even a tiny bit of dairy will set his itchy rash off (thats what his MD said) so when we kept a food diary, a lot of the items had dairy in thier ingredients, which is why we could never narrow it down to the exact food. Same goes for Wheat Germ. That sh*t-its in everything!!! Wee One also has an allergy to detergants and something outside, not sure how we'll figure out exactly what that is tho.

The dairy thing is a BIG deal. Wee One is a HUGE milk drinker and always has been. So on the way home I stopped at our ONE grocery store that does not have much to choose from and picked up some soy milk. They OF COURSE do NOT carry rice milk or oatmeal breads. So I bought what was available. The chocolate SILK soy milk, Toddler Terror likes and has drank 3 cups of it but the OFF BRAND vanilla flavored soy milk he said "thats nasty, gross". and handed his cup back to me this morning. The OFF BRAND was the only kind our ONE grocer had....maybe the SILK vanilla brand is better? I hope so! Anyhow, this afternoon, Wee One and I are driving to B-ville to see what is available for him at one of the BIG grocers. This is a huge pain in the *ss since we are leaving in less than a week for our trip but Toddler Terror needs to eat between now and when we depart on our adventure up North.

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Here are some random thoughts that have been bouncing around my empty chamber where my brain is supposed to reside, its taken a hiatus from me the last few days it seems.

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I am so thankful the highway sniper was caught. A teenager was behind this horror? so it says here Teen Faces Murder Charge in Ind. Shootings.

Was anyone suprised by this: Lance Bass: I'm Gay ? I was not, it was quite obvious. I am waiting for the rest of the band members to ackowledge thier sexual preference in the news now (not really, I could give a sh*t less) but it still amazes me when celebrities or public figures try to lie to the public, it never works. Reminds me of Clinton's: " I did NOT have sex with that woman!" yeah, sure I believe ya, uhuh. I could give another sh*t less who the president boinks, or ex-pres in this case. It makes little difference to me as long as he is doing his job of running the country. Just do NOT lie about it!

I watched the video of Jockey Head-Butts Horse. This creep does not deserve to be in the company of horses ever again! He says his act did not actually hurt the horse. He butted his helmet to one of the most tender parts of a horse, the horse's muzzle. This jockey has also been reprimanded for using his whip improperly and is also being investigated in another event while riding a green horse. O’Neill faces a ban of up to 21 days if found guilty. Not nearly long enough in my opinion. This incident makes me wonder what this idiot jockey does when nobody is watching!

All over the blogosphere, bloggers were talking about jeopardy-champ-ken-jennings-blasts-show . It appears Jennings has his own blog and was dissing Trebeck, calling him a cyborg and a robot, then he was rudely blasting the show that made this nerdy software designer a millionaire. Talk about ungrateful! Jennings needs to go back to his nerdy little life and his nerdy little job. I had forgotten all about this nerd until I hit the blogs lastnite. Ill give the guy credit, he is very smart in some areas and obviously very stupid others.

This past weekend I read a story in the news about a missing 5 yo girl, Destiny Norton from her backyard. She vanished within 10 minutes. It appears over 1 week later her tiny little murdered Body was Found in Neighbor's Basement . This neighbor shared a backyard with Norton's family. Norton's Uncle tried to search this house and was told by police he would be arrested. Police knocked on the neighbor's door but did not have probable cause to search it. This is just like the Lundsfords case. Child kidnapped by a neighbor and the child is literally FEET away from the child's home and police still cant find the child. I believe it is time for our laws to change. It should be mandatory that houses within a certain perimeter are searched for a missing child. If a child was missing in my area, I would gladly let police inside my home and property to search. If my child was missing I would expect the same from the people neighboring my home. They would welcome a search, most of them are good people who Ive known since Ive moved to Oklahoma.

Stinky!!!!!!!

Bright and early this morning I went outside to feed Scooter. As I stepped out onto the porch my nose was assaulted with that awful smell of a skunk. It triggered long put away memories of my coon hunting days and having a young or new dog trash on a skunk. That was the worse case scenario when out hunting in the night. Anyhow, this morning the guilty party was not a blue tick or walker hound, but my own little bitty Elvis hound dog. It seems he must have met up with Mr.Skunk sometime last nite and got himself sprayed-ick! I am so PO'ed I could just choke the little *sshole. At 9am I am calling our doggie groomers and hoping he is working today and not too busy to get stinky Elvis in. I hope there is something he can do for the little jerk. Wee One loves to play with him and he cant now.

Last nite Wee One all lathered up in his special skeeter spray jumping on his 'Bubba's' trampoline. He is getting braver and was jumping by himself.

Another jumping picture. We'll have to show these to his older brother because Toddler Terror would never jump alone, only with his 'Bubba' (who he kept talking about while jumping). Last nite hubby killed a Black Widow spider inside the garage. So he took everything back out of the garage and sprayed some high powered, super-potent bug spray inside the garage. The Orkin Man was here just before we moved, he was supposed to have treated the house, yard, and ALL of the out buildings. I am calling the Orkin Man today and seeing if the idiot guy even did our garage! They charged us for it and they are NOT cheap. Oh, and I almost forgot I am the lucky one who gets to put all that stuff back inside the garage sometime today-grrrrrr.

Wee One washing the sticky skeeter spray off in the big bathtub. Earlier I had both of the bathroom doors opened but Wee One wanted them closed which is a big no-no so we compromised on leaving 1 of the double doors open. How can a 2 yo be modest?!?!!

The Old Guy getting himself a drink out of the old black water tank. He is barely drinking from the stock tanks. I guess the water just tastes better in that old black round one. He has always done this. Silly horse!

Toddler Terror has his follow up MD appointment today. I am hoping they were able to find out more from the lab tests they were supposed to have did. Its back up into the high 90's again, still better than 106' thats for sure!

Mundane Monday

Monday is cleaning day. I already accomplished my domestic chores. My day started early so I got an early start on my house cleaning. I am finishing up the last load of laundry right now. I wrote an earlier post in between my tasks but blogger had a seizure and erased it.

About 8:45 am I stepped out onto the front porch to shake out a throw rug and saw Scooter taking a morning nap.

He wasnt the only one either. Elvis was snoozing on a chair. He wasnt happy when I woke him up.

The goat neighbors...........ummmmmmm, they reek if you get close. I hope I am not able to smell them at my house. I do not think the wind blows often out of the SE direction. But with my luck, it'll probly start!

The Old Guy yesterday afternoon. He and I went for a super short ride. I rode him bareback and his whithers are not as comfortable as they used to be. He was watching hubby put away his tools in the barn when I took this picture.

Wee One trying to mount my saddle when I was vacuuming. He was chasing after the vacuum until I chased him with it and he ran for safety. Little fella can get in the saddle fast!

This is scary. In Indiana, a sniper is loose. FBI Joins Indiana Sniper Investigation . Hubby and I are leaving in a few days for our trip to N.MI and we drive right thru Indiana. I have driven this trip many, many times. Its about 20hours one way, gaining an hour coming home, losing one going North. I told hubby about this sniper and tonite Ill show him the newslinks. He said its still not too late to fly. But, geesh-our tickets would all cost the price of a new compact car if we bought them this late! I cannot believe people out there in this sick world! I hope Law Enforcement catches the wacko/wackos doing this horrible thing.

Nicer Temperatures!

Its cooled down since friday nite and yesterday was very nice. We had a breeze and it was about 93'. A huge difference from the 100+ degrees that lasted a week. The humidity is not bad either-that makes a huge difference!

Yesterday morning I saw Scooter interested in something in our driveway.

A whole bunch of Gunniess (?not sure how to spell it) hens came down the driveway and stayed in our yard eating bugs.

I made Elvis get on the porch so he wouldnt scare off the hens. He knew better tho, he was outnumbered.

My friend Stacy trying to catch her son's ornrey pony who lost his rider.

Here is the horseless cowboy.

Bulls and steers for the nightly rodeo events.

Not the misbehaved pony, just one waiting for thier events to start.

My friend Stacy's horses. Toddler Terror kept trying to pry his hand loose from mine and run off. Our visit was short and sweet. I didnt get to take any good pictures because of Wee One. He was kinda tired, needing a nap, and just being a pain in the *ss the whole 2 hours we were at Calvacade. Finally we stuck him on Stacy's mother-in-law's miniature burro and led him around. That kept him busy so I could visit with a few friends. I let him take a bath in my big deep bathtub last nite and he had a riot, he needed one badly.

Today I have a lot of stuff to do. A mountain of laundry, many things outside to do before it warms up again. Yes, another heatwave is in the forecast...sigh.

No Rest For The Wicked

We were all rudely awakened this morning at 6:15 am by one of hubby's lease pumpers from down South. Something was wrong with one of the wells. Something that the pumper could not or did not have the authority to fix (I didnt bother to ask!) So, hubby had to leave at 7am and go to work. He really needed a day of rest but to be quite honest, he is on my last nerve! He got in from work yesterday about 5 pm and we went out to the chinese place for dinner which was delicious as always. But when we got back home from town and I wanted to spend time outside doing stuff, he was constantly yelling for me off the porch or bothering me, grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. He cannot seem to manage Toddler Terror for more than 5 minutes by himself. One of these days I am going to leave and then he'll be up Shit Creek without a paddle. I long for the days when I only had myself to look after! These were the best of times:Who cares if the fridge is empty, I can always shop/eat later! No laundry doing today because its just my clothes, I have a lot of them, I could go weeks without having to do laundry. No messes to clean up because I am not going to dirty up my already clean house! I can get up in the morning, feed the horses and go back to bed, breakfast can come later. No clutter around my house, I like things put away. No TV blaring either, I could careless if I have a TV or not!

sigh......yep, those were the good ole days!

I moved my grill off the porch and put it under the big shady tree. Now while I am grilling I can visit with the old guy and relax in the shade. Today I am going to move the picnic table over there too. My old rope out there has seen better days!

It was 103' degrees when I took this picture, HOT!

The Old Guy mowing.

My clutterless house (for now!) Ill take another picture in 1 month after son #1 gets home and hubby has his 'stuff' strung out all over the house. I hate clutter and I am constantly picking up or throwing away junk that does not belong laying around. I am not putting my good saddle in the barn or laundry room. I am afraid in the barn a mouse or rat might chew it and in the wash room it might get molded or dry rotted. So I am keeping it inside the house for now. Notice the fruit bowl is empty....I have to go to the store today and get some food and necessities like laundry soap, fabric softener, ect...

I am planning on making a brief visit to Calvacade today. Ill take pictures! Catch y'all later.......

TGIF! Relief Is On The Way

This morning, the local weatherman is promising a small cool down! We have a 20% chance of rain, which we badly need. But, the best part is tomorrow's high is only 94' degrees with noticably lesser humidity. I am waiting impatiently for this small cold front to get here. Today our high is going to be a hot and humid 105' degrees.

This is my new neighbor who introduced herself yesterday afternoon. Just behind her is a small pond. I was outside in the pasture looking at some fencing when out of nowhere this cow came trotting and mooing towards me just across the fence. She never did get too close, stayed about 15ft away, but followed me around. I think she was curious.

Elvis after his scolding for following my car down to the end of the driveway, almost to the road. He was in trouble. Even with all of his running freely about he is still on the chunky side. When Wee One sees him on the porch, he goes "oink, oink, piggy."

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee! Its Friday, I could not be happier!! Y'all have a super weekend!