Oh Yeah, I Forgot!!!

Oh well....

I forgot that... puppy + food = poop!

I forgot that... puppy + water = pee!





When the big dogs go out to do their business the little dog follows.

She sees what the other two are doing and does her business too.

She just has to do it more often!

Now if she could just get the hang of letting me

know when she needs to go out we would be set.

Anyway....

I spent the greater part of yesterday steam cleaning rugs and mopping floors.

Thank goodness we haven't put carpeting down yet.

After I cleaned the rugs, I rolled them up and put them on the deck.

Maybe by spring Fluffy will have the hang of things and I can bring them back in!

A little ammonia, mixed with orange essential oil in the mop pail had the place

clean and smelling great  in no time.

I need to go finish making soap,

 so....

Till next time,

I'll be watching where I step.

Bonjour

The Cow

SO...

Steve and I have been wanting to raise our own beef .
Not just any beef either.

Yummy, hormone free, grass fed beef!

Steaks, roasts, ribs, that’s what I’m talking about!

That requires a fence to keep said beef, aka cow in

and the cattle rustlers out.

The fence is about ¼ done.

Seems the most important thing at the time was to

make the property unappealing to would be crooks.

Phase one,

the fence down the driveway with a gate.

If you want in bad enough, you’ll have to go cross country.

We now need to complete phases two through

four to actually keep a cow or two.

Go figure!

Opportunity knocks…

Friend of a friend has cows, hormone free, grass fed.

Brangus? (Brahma, Angus mix)

We are now the proud owners of  ½ a Brangus.

Or were,

it’s now resting quite comfortably in my freezer.

All 156 pounds of it!

(Other ½ split with a friend).

What can I say?

I’ve had a steak or two at the restaurant on special occasions

but,

in my entire adult life, I don’t ever recall purchasing

a steak at the market.

Is that sad or what?

The rundown.

15 ½ lbs-hamburger, 1 pack-brisket, 3 packs-chuck roast, 2 packs-arm roast,

1 pack-pikes peak roast, 1 pack-rump roast,

7 packs-round steak, 3 packs-short ribs,

4 packs-rib eye steaks, 5 packs-t-bone steaks, 7 packs-sirloin steaks,

1 pack-soup bones, aka dog bones.

Price?

$381.25 or $2.44 average, per pound.

The Cow!!!!

It's our first time,
did we do good?
Till next time, moo...I mean,

Bonjour

P.S.

Hope we don't experience any

power outages this winter...

The Attack Of The Vacuum Cleaner

Lady, being mad at me. Red, after the alien abduction, they made her eyes aqua!

Well....

 Let me just start this with,

yes, I did get around to vacuuming the rugs and floor.

That said, next would be.

The only reason to have dogs in the house is,

you live in a Igloo and it's a three dog night!

OMG!!!!

I had to empty the canister three times,

yes,

 I said three times.

So much dog hair, under the beds, on the sofas,

every nook and cranny, crammed with dog hair.

No wonder I have allergies.

I'm vacuuming, shooting the evil eye at the dogs,

the minute Steve opened the door to go outside they were gone.

They understood the look!

I'm thinking to myself, just wait until you come back in,

I have a surprise for the two of you.

Evil laugh here.

I finished vacuuming the house and then,

 ever so sweetly, called the dogs to come back in.

Evil laugh again.

First I caught Lady,

(those collars are good for more than a few things). 

I proceeded to vacuum her.

I'm using the hose attachment with the bristle thingy,

 not actually running the vacuum over her,

Please, give me some credit!

Only thing was, her hair kept clogging the bristles.

I'd have to stop and clean it out, at which point she would run and hide.

After about three or four times of cleaning, catching, I was done with her.

During all this, Red was investigating  the goings on.

I'm thinking, you just wait, you're next!

 Red, look at yourself,


Love those aqua eyes Red!

 have you been rolling in that dead grass?

Geez!!!

Caught Red too.

Oh wait,

that makes four times emptying the canister.



Really Lady? Get over it!

Let's just say,

there was a reason Mom never let dogs come into the house!

 And please don't call PETA on me.

Till next time, happy vacuuming!

Bonjour

Lets Cool Things Off A Bit, Shall We?

 SO...
ANYONE UP FOR SOME SNOW PICS?

Our Mesquite & Maple Trees

The Girls, Miss Lady & Little Red

Pond From The Deck

Pond View From The Dam

We are now at day 25 of triple digits.

I was doing a little research and

 found this little tidbit about the 1980 heat wave.

I had only been in Texas about three years when this happened.

By DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News/2010

It was 30 years ago that a 42-day string

of 100 degree days –

the longest heat wave by far

in the region's history – was broken.

For one day.

More triple digits followed,

and when autumn mercifully arrived,

temperatures had hit the century mark 69 times.

Some people had theories

about what was causing the heat wave.

One letter writer to the mayor's office said

the Soviet Union had installed space platforms

with lasers beamed at North Texas.

 Another said the heat was God's wrath

at people who were gambling

on the outcome of the television show

 Dallas' who-shot-JR episode.

Other people had remedies.

On July 20, people performed a rain dance

 near the Turtle Creek fountain across from Lee Park in Dallas,

asking those who couldn't attend to

 "concentrate their thoughts

on thundershowers to provide enough

energy to manifest a rainfall."

For the record, it rained the next day –

though not enough to break the heat wave.

Feeling cooler now?

I know I am.

A positive note,
the laundry only takes about 30 minutes on the line!!!

Till next time,

Bonjour

What Little Red Found In The Road!!!

OMG.....



Poor Little Guy

Nathan and I were out flying his kite this evening and we decided to check the mail.

The dogs followed us to the mail box and

Little Red (Black Lab mix) found this Cardinal lying in the road.



Little Red

She had it in her mouth and I think she had plans to eat it! 

I told her to bring it to me and

surprisingly, she dropped it in front of me.

Nathan was freaking out!

To be honest, so was I.

The poor little thing looked dead.

Miss Lady (German Sheppard) came over to see

what all the fuss was about

and pushed it with her nose as if to say "get up".

Miss Lady

I picked him up and he chirped, cried, I don't know,

but I did know he was still alive.

Nathan and I brought him into the house and placed him

in the old bird cage along with some dead grass,

water and some johnson grass seeds.

One of his eyes is not so good and 

I figured he wouldn't make it past the night.

An hour or so later he is hopping

around the cage looking for an escape.

I had to clip mesh around the watering bowl holes

lest he get stuck trying to get out.



Poor Little Guy Looking Much Better

Steve thinks he might be blinded in that one eye, it does look bad

but, he does seem to be feeling better.

I've turned down the lights and

now he's resting more comfortably.

What should I do?

Let him loose in the morning into the trees where they hang out?

Keep him a few days to see how he's doing?

I'm afraid he'll hurt himself  more trying to escape!

He does look better than when we found him!

HELP!!!

Soap, Ear Infection And Tornadoes

So....

Running out of soap.
The last two shows have been great,
but,
the soap supply is running short.
Odd.
We have been doing the soap scene for about seven years now
and the most popular scents have always been the floral.
Now?
Mostly the earthy, spicy scents with the fruity not far behind.
I was caught off guard, so now I'm scrambling to catch up.
What used to be a predominately female demographic (floral)
is now evolving into a unique mix of both the sexes.

Gotta love it.

Anyway....
I won't trouble you too much with my recurring ear infection..
BUT...
I've about had enough.
You would think,
one GP, one ENT and one emergency room visit (ruptured eardrum)
should have fixed this five or so year problem.
NOT...

I'm not kidding!
I have been told I have allergies.
I had about given up.
As a last resort I went to the local clinic and guess what?
I have a fungal infection.
Diagnosed by a PA!

The GP, the ENT and the emergency room blew me off.
I could have had a seizure, lost my hearing, even died....

This PA was appalled, O.M.G. she said.
Needless to say I'm pretty drugged up, and hopefully, on the road to recovery
without too much damage done to my hearing.

OK,

THE TORNADOES!
GEEZ...

Being that I couldn't sleep Monday night due to the storms
I took a vacation day on Tuesday.
I'm laying in the lounger on the deck reading, napping,
when I was awakened by the sound of dog nails clicking on the wooden deck around me.

Lady was circling me, trying to wake me up.
Seems there was a possible tornado about five miles away.
(We call Lady the weather dog because she knows when there's bad weather approaching).
 OK Lady, I'm awake now, what's up?
 I spent a few hours in the closet with her and Red.
The storms moved off to the east towards my mother-in- law's house in Canton, 
passing her but hitting Edam and Ben Wheeler.

Today Sunday, AM started out cloudy with signs of rain that never materialized.
I went out to pick wild blackberries and discovered several more berry patches on the property.
WooHoo, I do love free food.
Later the temps turned cold so we spent the day making soap, canning meat, berries,
 and also doing a little baking.
Also made some ham beans and cornbread.
YUM!

Believe it or not I had to get the winter quilt out of the blanket chest
cause it's cold in this house tonight!

Disclaimer
Any awry statements, typos or incorrect sentences will be blamed on the blog and not the drugs!!!

OK, there's the rain, darn. I have laundry on the line!
OH well....
Till next time.
Bonjour

P.S. For some reason the "blog" decided to bold almost everything, align things incorrectly and not

print most of my text! I swear, it's not the drugs!!! I give up. I'm going to bed!

A Sledding We Will Go....Iditarod.. Anchorage, Alaska

IS THAT A VOLCANO?

Well....

While I'm toiling away in Zee Soap Factory my girl

 Heather is lolling about in Alaska taking in the sights.

She has 3 more weeks on this contract, 1 week home,

 then back to Anchorage for another 6 months.

She is really loving the snow, skating, skiing and

whatever else she's up to???

They must really be short on nurses up there!

Oh my!!

They're having the Iditarod so she was all over it with her camera,

Snapping pics of weirdly appropriately dressed people, beautiful dogs

and odd normal sights.

BIGFOOT?

ANASTASIA?

WHO ARE YOU?




MUSH!!!



IS THAT A WOLF?















NORMAL COFFEE

Heather reports that fuel is $3.59 a gal.,

produce, at this time is through the roof,

meat is moose, salmon and bear, to name just a few

and

IT'S DARK!!!

Go figure!

She's so brave,

I don't know if I could be there, I don't like the cold,

but I could definitely enjoy the food and sights.

How about you, would you go into the unknown to

 a totally different world from what you're used to?

Till Next time,

Bonjour

 

No Dallas Super Bowl Sunday For Me!!!

WELL....

I had another quilt post scheduled for today

but since the weather was so super, I was able to venture

outside for some much needed sunshine!!!

Laundry was hung out, carrots and fruit trees were planted,

spray painting projects were finished, herbs were meddlied, bees were checked on,

and many pictures were taken.



FRUIT TREE




LADY POSING IN FRONT OF THE ROSEMARY

 






RED DOG



STEVE PLANTING CARROTS

























BEE HIVE



NATHAN MIXING HERBS






REDOING AN OLD FLOOR LAMP



POND AND MORE ROSEMARY





Also made some herb bread for Nate to take to his mom,

un-molded soap, and generally just enjoyed the warmer weather.

BAD weather on it's way!!!

Till next time,

Bonjour

I live In Texas For Pete's Sake!!!!

RED DOG

THE SHED

SO, HERE WE HAVE IT....

MY POOR TRUCK

THE DECK

VIEW FROM THE POND





I think tomorrow should be a vacation day
with a dose of Nancy's sugar cookies!!!
And Brendie, you are a lucky gal!!!

Till next time, if I make it...
Bonjour

One Down, Many More To Go



BEFORE



PAINTING IN PROGRESS

DRYING



AFTER





LADY

Lady is making sure no one steals my chair.
What do you think?

Till next time,
Bonjour