A Quick Thought

I'm sitting here at the front of the room.

Full of hopeful "young" folks

preparing to take my class final.

We've covered all the material.

We've laughed.

We've shared.

We've learned.

We've talked about EVERYTHING

insurance related and not... (grin)

I'm READY to be done.

And so are they.

But we wait as the clock runs out

to 6:50 before we can begin.

I just want to eat my Subway

sandwich hiding in my office

at my desk.

Instead, I'm playing on my blog.

Hopefully all of YOU are having 

a satisfying, uplifting, encouraging

and successfully restful Sunday.

I'm shooting for Monday.

HA!

Trails

Yesterday I decided to check the state

of "my" trail that goes from our

back pasture out to the preserve.

We haven't been out that way

in quite a while...

I expected they would be in 

pretty poor shape.

They were actually better than

I thought they might be.

Thanks to the wild pigs

and the neighbor's cows

who insist on coming to the

grass on the other side of our

property to graze.

They actually have a nice little

trail system going!

Not tall enough for a person

on the back of a horse...

but the ground work was

mostly done.

I did some trimming for about an hour

and then some exploring for another

15 minutes or so and then

headed back to our property since

Rod was due to come home soon.

This is mid-point on the trail,

looking west towards the preserve.

This is the part of the trail that

has ALWAYS been really overgrown.

It still needs work...

And this is from the same point looking east

towards our property.

Doesn't this just look like a trail that

NEEDS to be followed????

I found a little friend.

He wasn't as happy to see me....

Did you know gopher tortoises HISS?

Yup, they do.

Scares the living daylights out of our horses.

hahaha

There are a couple of trees that will

require the help of a chain saw weilding

person of the male persuasion.

But for the most part its ready for riding!

YEA!!!!!

(The farrier came this week and the

boys all got pedicures... so they are

ready to go play in the woods with me!)

Not Beau's Fault (for once)

Beau really really enjoys

chasing chickens.

And if he catches them...

it's not good.

But this little bird 

wasn't his fault.

It wasn't there the night before,

but in the morning when I 

went out to feed and release

the chickens

(sounds like "Release the Cracken!")

there he was.

I think maybe he fell out of the

oak tree?

Who knows.

Poor little guy.

He wasn't as lucky as the hummingbird.

Luckily that little guy just got a

knock on the noggin and

got up again.

Lucky little bird.

You know what Rozann says...

If you rough house, you're gonna get hurt!

LOL

Labels

I have all these canisters with good stuff

in them. And I know what it all is.

But the others in my house are often 

confused as to what is what.

So they stick to the chocolate whey powder,

cuz it's pretty obvious.

And delicious.

Today I decided to take the bull

by the horns.

So to speak.

Aren't they cute?

There are 2 crossed spoons on the top,

then the ingredient name, a blue line (that was supposed to be green)

and a bunch of random spoons.

Now the guys will know what they are

looking at!

I also use a bunch of different kinds of rice,

so I made some labels for my mason

jars I use to keep those in as well.

And I made labels for some of the other

strange stuff I use, but haven't committed

to putting in jars yet...

I needed 18 different things for the sheet

of labels, so I made one for everything

and then put them away in case I

decide to get stuff out of my pantry

and display it on my shelf.

It was fun!

And they look nice.

And Rod will be happy.

SCORE!

Flowers!

I didn't think my little hibiscus

would survive.

I don't have a GREAT track record

with plants... might have to do

with my black thumb.

You be the judge...

This little yellow guy has SIX flowers!

Some are a vibrant yellow and

some are a pale yellow

but all have a beautiful red center.

This guy was a TOTAL surprise!

You don't get the full effect,

it's almost white with little pink

stripes running through the petals.

A beautiful flower!

(Good thing, cuz there's only ONE)

I didn't really expect anything out of

this guy for a couple more days,

but when I got home from the store,

he surprised me with a pretty pink flower.

They all look healthy and happy!

And, of course, my little gardenia.

Hang in there little guy!

Survived!

And thrived!

So far...

Behind

As Rod so gently reminded me yesterday,

I'm BEHIND!

It's been a busy couple of days.

Like it always is when you return

from a vacation.

Then you have to catch up all the 

stuff you didn't do while away.

But I'm caught up now.

Mostly.

So let's take a look at my photos and

see what we all missed, shall we?

I bought a new purse!

It was so nice using Nancy's little

red purse, I missed it!

This one is a little larger

and certainly NOT red.

But I like it so far...

And then on Saturday, Kyle and I

got a wild hair.  Rod was taking a 

VERY well deserved nap on the couch.

So we went to Lowes.

Sat in their comfy chairs in the a/c

and discussed our wild hairs.

And this is what resulted.

We had three bottle brush trees that

the previous home owner planted.

I kept hoping they would DO something.

But 13 years later they are still

scraggly, pathetic and just ugly.

So Kyle chained them up and

pulled them out.

Tractors are the BEST TOYS!

This one had a root on it that went

nearly all the way to the ditch!

6 feet of tree and 40 feet of root!

No wonder the tree never did anything.

All the energy was going to that root!

Loaded them up and took them to the street.

(See! I told you I didn't take our Christmas

lights down last year... or the year before...)

LOL

And then we planted four pretty little

Hibiscus bushes.

They are pink, red, pink, yellow(ish).

All have LOTS of buds.

I'm looking forward

to having something pretty along the drive

in the coming weeks / months / years.

They are small now,

but they grow fairly quickly,

Especially since I'm watering them.

And going to put some fertilizer on them.

If I remember to buy some.

Otherwise I'll just go to the pasture

and get some "natural" stuff...

(grin)

It looks better already!

(And a new gardenia bush, but its inside

the fence and I forgot to take a picture of it...)

Yesterday was a nice, relaxing Sabbath.

And this morning I'm continuing the trend

by following my eating plan (started a new

2 week no cheat challenge yesterday and

so far I'm 100%!)

(And down a pound)

Also started my annual T-Tapp 60 Day Challenge

on Sunday which only meant taking pictures.

This morning I entered all my 

measurements (which are DOWN from

the ones I did 60 days ago on 2/15/18!)

uploaded my photos (ick)

and did a 27 minute workout that

focuses on healthy hormones and menopause

management. Which is what I need.

I'll do that one for the next 4 days

and then we'll see.  I have LOTS to 

chose from. Sometimes sticking to the same

one is what I want, and sometimes I need 

lots of variety to stay on the band wagon.

Considering I've done approximately 14 

workouts in the past 12 months, I haven't

landed on the right combination yet...

LOL

Wish me LUCK!

Tucson 2018

I'm having a wonderful time

visiting here in Tucson.

We are busy everyday.

But when I look back at the end of the day

I'm not sure exactly what we have done.

Lots of driving around,

Lots of errands.

But also lots of eating,

talking,

laughing,

looking at pictures,

seeing bits of Tucson.

It's fun to have mountains on the horizon.

And fun, rolling roads to drive on.

We've visited with lots of different

branches of the family.

Now that Sondra and Gary are gone,

the frantic "must do something every minute"

pace has slowed significantly.

But the amount of food consumed

seems to be pretty constant.

LOL

I even got a picture of a monkey

playing with his antique wrench.

Unfortunately, Rozann and Greg have

been pretty sick almost the whole time!

I feel so badly for them!

We've gotten to spend a little time

with them, but mostly from a distance.

(grin)

I'm still here for almost another week,

so there is hope they will be better

soon and we can catch up!

Meanwhile, 

today Mom has a "procedure"

for her heart at the hospital this morning.

Nancy and I are heading out soon to pick

up her "Thursday Bagels" to take to her

chemo patients at the foundation,

and then back here to get Mom and Dad

and take them over to the hospital.

And then it's up in the air.

We have LOTS of different options,

we'll just see what we feel like doing

at that point.

But regardless,

it has been VERY relaxing.

(Except for this EXACT second!)

There is a red headed woodpecker that

hammers on the metal air conditioner EVERY

morning about this time and it scares the

socks off me every. single. time.!

LOL

He's done now.