Crazies

Last weekend I had a bunch of crazies

in my classroom and elsewhere.

But mostly in my classroom.

On the first morning, a lady forgot

her Drivers License, so she thought

that meant she didn't get to sign in.

So she sat through 5 hours with no credit.

Silly lady.

In the afternoon we got her figured out

and if she ever brings her ID, she will

get credit.

Then in the afternoon there was a 2nd

lady who wasn't there in the morning,

and she never signed in either.

Seriously people?

Which part of

"Has EVERYONE in the room signed

on my iPad after lunch today?"

did you not understand????

It's a royal pain to get them credit

after the fact.

Then on Sunday, the first lady forgot

her ID AGAIN! For real?

Still sitting here with no credit!

Good grief.

Oh yeah!

On Saturday, I was working with a

student, making up time since she was

20 minutes late to class, so I forgot

to pre-order my Subway sandwich.

When lunch time rolled around, I was 

trying to decide if I should chance going in

to Subway and getting a sandwich, I only get

20 minutes, that's often not enough time,

or just suffer and hit the McD drive thru.

As I was walking out, a middle-aged, slight,

normal looking man came walking in.

He said "I'm here to pick up a book so I can

start studying. I'm going to come to class

next month."

"Well, ok. When you come to class next

month you can get a book! I can't just

hand them out to random folks..."

He said ok, I told him since he was already

there, he could stay for the afternoon and

get a book and get a head start on his hours.

But at the moment I was leaving to go get lunch.

He says "So what's to eat around here?"

I told him where to find McD and Wendy's.

He says "So where are you going?"

I said "I haven't decided yet."

And I start to walk out.

He follows me.

As we get to the stairs, he says

"Want to give Wendy's a try?"

I just looked at him.

WHAT?

NO!

You are NOT invited to eat lunch with me!

I explained that I had just talked for 5 hours.

And I was getting ready to talk for another 5 hours.

This next 20 minutes is the ONLY break I get.

I'm really sorry, but you are on your own.

And I left.

Sheesh!

He wasn't there when I got back.

I'll be interested to see if he returns for class

next month.

(We have a standing rule, I never get in the car

with a single man and Rod never gets in the 

car with a single woman... single meaning

one, not marital status...)

And a STRANGER to boot!

Ha!

Never going to happen.

Then there were the two guys that walked in

and sat down at 4:00 on Sunday afternoon.

(Class starts at 1:50 and runs to 6:50.)

They were literally smack dab in the middle.

I recognized one of them from last month.

He failed my final exam.

And when I went to an instructor's lunch

last week, the instructor from the next town over

said he came back to her class 

(he had already done her's, failed, did mine, failed,

and went back to her's and failed again...)

she said he was coming back to me again.

Anyhow, at the next break they came up 

to my podium to chat.

I asked what they were doing wandering in

2 hours late?

They said they were there to retake the exam.

I told them they were a week too early!

LOL

So they'll be wandering in next Sunday as well.

Sometimes keeping all the crazy people straight

is the hardest part of my job.

Keeps me on my toes!

Bye Bye Shadow

Kyle was home this weekend.

Had to bring a large load of hay

to the "south farm".

He stayed to spend some time with Rod.

It was Rod's brother Tim's beach fire party.

His birthday party (60) was delayed 

because of weather.

So this was the rain-delay re-do.

They said it was fun.

(I was at school)

Anyhow.

He was loading up Monday morning

to get ready to head north again

and I helped him load a dog crate

into the back of the truck.

She was a little freaked out.

Yesterday Kyle said she was still

not super comfortable yet.

But I'm sure she will settle in.

And I'm sure she is missing her puppies.

Meanwhile, nothing personal Shadow,

but the dogs here are doing fine.

Bandit looks for Shadow now and again,

but she's kind of enjoying being "top dog".

They (Kyle and Shadow) will be coming home,

probably tomorrow, for the weekend.

There is the big annual air show at Rod's airport

this weekend.

They are saying it might be the last one.

He and Kyle go every year.

They are both excited about it.

I'll be teaching.

And trying to keep my mind on insurance,

while I'm mentally packing and

trying to keep my vacation excitement

under control.

I'M COUNTING THE DAYS!

(BIG NEWS! Rozann and Greg were going

to dismantle their Casita and turn it back 

into a garage for Greg... so I wasn't sure where

I was going to stay, but I just talked to Rozann

and they CHANGED THEIR PLANS!

AWESOME VACATION HOME

here I come!

I'm not excited AT ALL!)

Ranch Work

We had a successful ranch working day yesterday.

The cowboy (Bo) arrived right on time

at 8:00 (instead of 7:30)

(amazing how just 30 minutes makes

such a big difference!)

He unloaded his horse and 2 of his dogs

and we headed out into the WAY back

pasture so he could round 'em up

and bring 'em on in.

Kyle left me in one of the pastures

and ran back in the CanAm to open/close

gates as needed.

Good thing he did, Bo ended up needing

2 more of his dogs and Kyle was able

to get them out of the trailer and 

bring them up to him.

These are his 4 working dogs.

The light one in the back right corner

got stepped on and cut her foot,

but she was walking on it, so its not broken,

just gonna need a wrap for a couple days.

That was our only casualty for the day.

Which we were very happy about.

Bo brought the cows in, and then unlike 

the other two cowboys we have used,

didn't just tie his horse up.

He used him to cut and sort and

brought the cows through the chute

in 3 smaller groups.

It was all very calm, quiet, efficient

and IMPRESSIVE!

We loaded up the alley way with as many cows

as we could stuff in there at one time.

Keeps them calmer and doesn't give them

enough room to do any damage with those horns.

He walked along the catwalk and

pulled seeders which he then handed to me,

I traded him the seeders for the gun.

He then walked the length and gave each

cow a quick shot in the neck

and then traded that gun for a 5 gallon

jug of fly spray and gave each cow

a long squirt along her spine.

DONE.

So slick, efficient, and IMPRESSIVE!

Pile of pulled seeders.

After doing 3 groups, I looked over

to see how many we had left to work and

realized we were all finished!

He had seamlessly cut all the calves

and they were standing in a bunch in the corner.

We had a new calf (the last one) born on Saturday,

she needed an ear tag, 

so he hopped on his horse and roped her.

She was SO tiny that when he "heeled" her

(caught her by the back leg)

the rope wouldn't pull down tight enough

to catch her tiny little leg.

He ended up roping her around her middle,

hopped off his horse, I handed him the

ear tag gun, he popped the tag in her ear

and that was that.

We pushed the babies out through the

holding pen and out to their Mamas

who were waiting just on the other

side of the fence.

We got started just a few minutes after 8 and

finished just a few minutes before 10.

We were expecting delivery of a rental bull

at 10:00 so we were pretty pleased!

If you are interested, here is a little 4 minutes

video I made for Rod since he hasn't

been out there since Kyle made his modifications.

The bull guy ended up having an issue

(he thinks coyotes got in his heifer pasture

which resulted in a bunch of downed fences

and loose cows....)

so the bull didn't show up.

In fact, Kyle drove over this morning and

picked him up.

He is now safely in the back pasture with

Kyle's cows.

Kyle is sitting on his CanAm with his Kindle,

"supervising" since the neighbor also put HIS

cows out with his bull.

This morning.

In an adjoining pasture.

The bulls are each walking the fence line

(there is a 20 foot alley, 2 square wire fences,

a barbed wire fence and an electric fence between them)

making noises and faces at each other,

but we imagine they will settle down and get

to work pretty soon.

The neighbor's bull is MASSIVE

and Kyle's rental is a much smaller, much younger 

little guy. He'll get the message pretty quick.

Fingers crossed.

Driving, Driving, Driving

I get to do lots of driving

over the next couple of days.

This morning I'm heading to Orlando.

I have a Florida Coach Luncheon

with the head of our department.

From there I'll head up to the ranch.

We have a cowboy coming tomorrow

to remove the seeders,

vaccinate,

and put on some pour on fly stuff.

Then I'll drive back from the ranch.

And Friday I'm heading down to West Palm

to start teaching a new class.

I have 59 people registered!

Good thing I love my little Jetta!

Ranch - Vet Visit

Last week we had a vet visit.

I drove my car up to the ranch

on Wednesday and got to spend the

night with Kyle at his house.

I brought up a couple rib eye steaks.

We fried up some potatoes and

a couple of steaks and had a yummy

dinner while watching TV

and relaxing for the busy day ahead.

Thursday morning we started early.

Headed out to the back pasture

to start rounding up the cows.

When the vet got there he suggested

that we walk them in instead of using

the ATVs, (which we were doing anyway)

so Kyle stayed behind to gather any

strays and I headed in with the

main herd. If you just walk behind

them and clap now and again,

they are pretty good about just

quietly walking on up the alley.

Linda and Gina had arrived while we

were busy bringing in the Mamas,

I worked with the cowboy,

helping him sort off the babies

and getting the Mamas into the "hopper"

to start them heading through the chute.

Kyle was still in the back, closing gates,

Gina was up with the vet,

helping him set "seeders"

and Linda was running around being

the official photographer.

We got all the mamas run through the chute.

They all got a seeder (for lack of a better

description its kind of like a chemical 

soaked tampon that is inserted to help

them come into season...)

Once they were all finished, we needed

to put ear tags in all the new babies.

The cowboy decided it would be easier

to just bulldog them in the pasture.

He got all of them done except for one

bigger girl (not going to market, they 

are selling her to someone as a grass fed

cow in about a year...).

She wasn't particularly cooperative.

Didn't really want to be tagged.

They caught her between the fence and

a gate, but she squirted out, 

like a banana out of its skin.

So the cowboy said he would just

bulldog her in the open.

Nope.

She kicked out and got him

right in the face!

I was SURE he broke his nose.

Or his entire face.

Luckily she hit him with the edge of

her hock (elbow) and not her hoof.

He was sore, but not broken.

Whew!

I was busy running around helping the cowboy.

So I didn't take many pictures.

The cowboy's horse (and yellow dog)

waiting patiently to see what Hayden

wanted them to do next.

These are the babies they have currently.

And behind them is a cow they sorted off.

Kyle took her to market this morning.

She brought $.48 per pound.

She's old.

She is the only cow that didn't have a calf

this past year, and so she was "culled".

We were expecting between 25 and 30 cents

per pound so they should be happy she

brought a little more.

Kyle said there were lots of buyers

but not nearly as many cows as there were

when he took the calves a couple of weeks ago.

Luck of the draw, I guess...

He did an excellent job reworking the

facility and it was SO much easier to use.

He put in new, stronger gates,

changed a bunch of the fence configurations,

hand made a bunch of hinges and latches

so the gates all swing in both directions

(the vet and cowboy were both VERY 

impressed with his hinges and latches...).

The vet started the day kind of grumpy,

but by the end of the day he was

very happy and super complimentary

to Kyle about all the work he had done.

Once they were all gone,

Kyle and I headed down to Ocala

to Rural King (a fantastic store, kind of like

Tractor Supply but 1000 times better)

and we each loaded up our trunks with 200#

of feed to bring down to our farm.

They sell everything for $2.00 per bag

CHEAPER than Tractor Supply!

Plus they have a nifty round roll cradle

that I want to get once we get our calves.

Nicely made.

And less expensive than Kyle can make it.

We'll pick one up in a couple of months.

Our horses are barely eating any hay these days.

Both Andy and Buddy have lost many

of their grinding teeth,

so they both get soaked alfalfa and beet pulp

twice a day with their sweet feed.

CJ still eats hay, but not much.

We might go through 2 bales in a week.

Buddy and Andy are both 31 and CJ is 28.

Everybody (except Andy) has started their

spring shed, so there is a bunch of hair

everywhere. I'll go out later this afternoon

and do another round with the shedding blade.

And maybe next week I'll see about

clipping Andy.

We are having another "cold front" today.

It's only 72 with a breeze from the north,

so they aren't too uncomfortable yet.

But by April they will need their winter 

coats to be gone.

Meanwhile, its time for lunch.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Nancy

I was at the ranch all day yesterday.

We had an EARLY start.

With daylight savings kicking in,

the sun wasn't even up yet when we started

out to collect the cows.

And it went from there.

I'll tell you all about it later.

But it was also NANCY'S BIRTHDAY!

I thought about her lots during the day.

Watching the cowboy moving the cows

around with his horse and thinking

about how hard she has worked

on her horsemanship skills.

She is a WAAAY better rider than I am now.

Just being outside and feeling my love

for nature and knowing that is

something that we share.

A love for all God's creations and creatures.

Linda and Gina joined us for the day.

Watching their interaction as mother/daughter

reminded me of the love Nancy and Mom share.

The relationship they have built over the years

and the closeness they have now that they

have the opportunity to spend so much time together.

Nancy is such an amazing example of

pure love.

Love for family.

Love for friends.

Love for her "clients" at the foundation.

Love for random people!

Being with her in Boulder it was amazing

to see the connection she could immediately

establish with the many people we

had the pleasure to interact with.

Her love shines out and people grab it.

She is selfless.

She is forgiving.

She is STRONG.

She is meek.

She is gentle.

She is not a pushover.

She loves deeply.

She loves unconditionally.

She is amazing.

And I am grateful to call her my big sister.

I love you Nanc.

Attack of the Killer Love Bugs

There were no love bugs on Sunday.

There were no love bugs on Monday morning

when I went outside to feed the animals.

There were no love bugs when I went out

to let the AT&T/Directv guy in to install

our new tv and internet.

And then, an hour later...

there were literally THOUSANDS of

love bugs. All sloshing around in the air.

It appears they all hatched at the same time.

They aren't very good fliers.

They stick kind of close to the ground.

And they get in EVERYTHING.

And then a "cold front" blew in overnight.

It's in the high 70's today, 

but since its overcast, it feels colder.

But I guess the breeze blew all the

love bugs away again.

Cuz there aren't any out there today.

But they'll be back.

Resolutions Revisited

I guess it's technically not "revisited" since I

didn't actually "visit" it in the first place.

I don't like to post resolutions.

I know, you are supposed to tell

somebody about your goals.

Accountability and all that.

But I'm a rebel.

And lazy.

I made a couple of "unofficial" resolutions

this year.

1.  NO DIET COKE.

Check.

(Except late one night in January

when I was driving home from school

and was pretty sleepy. I stopped at

McD's on the way home and got a

child size... two sips later I threw it away.

CHEMICALS, ugh!)

2. WORKOUT 3-5 TIMES PER WEEK

Check.

(Except that one CRAZY week in February

when I was in a different city every single day.

I did manage to workout once that week.

In my hotel room in Orlando.)

3. KEEP MY KITCHEN CLEAN

Check.

If I'm in town, the kitchen is neat and tidy.

No dirty dishes in the sink.

I run the dishwasher regularly and empty

it as soon as it is done.

"My house is a house of order."

I've never been a cleaner.

As a busy Mom, working a LOT, my philosophy

was "clean enough is good enough".

It worked for me.

But now... it's not.

And I'm happier with a tidy kitchen.

(And clean floor.)

Don't ask about my bathroom.

I'm working on that as a new goal now,

but I'm not there yet.

4. STOP NAGGING ROD WHEN HE DRIVES

He "sloshes" around in his lane.

And he drives with his wrist draped over the steering wheel.

Despite that, he manages to get us wherever we are

going, safely, every time. And I'm grateful for that.

Maybe it's not that he's a terrible driver, so much as,

I'm a terrible passenger.

So... I am making a conscious effort to stop nagging.

Stop telling him to use his hand on the wheel.

Stop pointing out the car in front of us is stopped.

I can't totally say Check on this one yet.

But I'm working on it.

I'm maybe 75%.

I still get nervous.

I use my phone or read my Kindle a lot.

It makes for a more pleasant ride for both of us.

5. JOURNAL

Fail.

I remember to jot stuff down now and again

but there is no sort of consistency.

I kind of use my blog as a journal.

And obviously that's sort of sporadic. 

But at least I have that...

So........

I'm making progress.

And I have a ways to go.

But I'm not dead yet.

"If you're green, you're growing...

If you're ripe, you're rotting..."

Guess there's hope for me.

Crockpot

This post is mostly for Rozann and Sammie.

WHERE WAS THIS WHEN I WAS A

BUSY, WORKING MOTHER???????

I just read a tip from another 

Trim Healthy Mama.

Crockpot.

Crockpot liners.

That's right, plural.

You can put one small meal in one liner,

and another small meal in another liner

(or one small meal and a yummy side...)

and put them BOTH in your crockpot

TOGETHER!!!!!

And now you have TWO MEALS!

(or dinner and lunch...)

(or breakfast and dinner...)

(or dinner and desert...)

Oh my goodness!

Why didn't I think of that,

back in the day when I often had

2 or sometimes 3 crockpots all

going at the same time.

Think of the possibilities!

Steel cut oats in one bag

(that, in itself, right there, is a miracle... 

I love steel cut oats, but they are kind of a pain to clean up)

And, say, a med. recipe of chili in the other?

Or roast/chili/chicken in one bag

and creamy spinach (or other veggie) 

in the other...

And of course, there are all those amazing

crockpot cakes, puddings, etc.

I might just have to resurrect my crockpot.

(My pressure cooker totally took over.)

(except for yogurt, which I haven't made in awhile...)

Fixed

It's FIXED!

So here are the pictures I wanted to share yesterday.

This is my pretty cake.

It smelled so totally awesome while it was baking.

And then a couple of hours later I made frosting.

This is a salted caramel cake with 

salted caramel frosting.

You are supposed to also make some caramel topping

and drizzle it on.

Yeah, right.

I can't taste it for another hour.

But I'm excited to give it a try,

I used garbonzo bean flour for the first time.

Which is awesome,

because I would love to teach Nancy how

to bake things Reid can eat,

but most recipes have almond flour and that

leaves Nancy out!

Fingers crossed...

And here's a terrible picture of my fish.

It was so delicious!

These were tiny frozen tilapia fillets

so I made three of them.

I could have stopped at 2.

This morning I washed all my makeup brushes

and little egg shaped sponges.

The Roomba did her thing.

The dishwasher is running.

I was going to do laundry, but Kyle is home and

doing some more welding and he uses my outlet

that my dryer plugs into...

so no dryer for me today.

Instead I'm going to run to Aldi and see if

they have any sprouted bread today.

Sometimes they do,

sometimes they don't.

If they don't, I'm going to give baking it a try.

I have a recipe that uses the bread machine.

I have an old one I bought used a million

years ago. I rescued it from my

"going to Goodwill" pile a couple

of weeks ago, but if this doesn't work out,

then back into the pile it goes.

And I might actually make it to Goodwill!

(Don't hold your breath...)

***************************************************

Update:

Yum.

Thursday...

Kyle came home last night.

He has a bunch of stuff to do for

the cattle facility that he needs to be

here to do. (Welding and stuff...)

I ate oatmeal for breakfast yesterday

and I felt GREAT all day.

I worked out.

I did lots of prep cooking stuff.

It was a good day.

And I felt like oatmeal again today.

So I had some.

But I ate my only banana yesterday.

So today I had cranberries and apple.

I totally should have cooked the apples

in my air fryer first,

because it was weird.

But filling.

And I feel good.

But I was MISSING my okra!

So for lunch today I had breakfast.

Just ate a big bowl of okra and eggs.

It was AWESOME!

(I might have enjoyed it more for lunch

than I do for breakfast!)

Yesterday I had FISH!

I don't like fish.

But my podcast (Trim Healthy)

talks a lot about "What if you could..."

and "I'm that girl who ..."

Well.
I took a picture.
But Blogger is broken.
Bummer!

502. That’s an error.

The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.

Please try again in 30 seconds. 

That’s all we know.

Well, that was useful.

Anyhow.
I made "Flaky Parmesan Tilapia" and put it
over a giant bowl of sauted zucchini.
It was a LOT of food and it was YUMMY!

And I just made a BEAUTIFUL caramel cake.
And I took a picture!
And you'll just have to use your imagination.

(Yup, I closed Blogger and reopened it...
still broken...)

Anyhow.
Again.
I also made a yummy pot of chili for dinner.
Using my awesome black beans.
And yummy ground beef from the new cows.
It was really good and kind of perfect on a chilly evening.

Maybe I'll come back later and try to do pictures.
Or not.

Hot Sox

Mom made me some SOX!

They are so beautiful!

And I got them in the mail just in time!

Today it is Cold.

(Sorry Aunt Karen, cold is relative...)

It was 85 here on Monday.

Right now, at noon, it is 57.

That's as good as its likely to get.

But I don't care, because my feet are warm!

Check out the detail!

Aren't they gorgeous?

They worked great in my boots.

And kept my feet nice and comfy

while I went out to feed.

Thanks Mom!!!!!

Yesterday it was a little chilly...

But I was disorganized and forgot my sox.

I also forgot food.

I ate my okra and eggs, and then 3 hours later,

I was ready to EAT!

But I was out "doing nothing".

Enter quick emergency rations.

It was about 1/4 of a green apple, 

6 or 7 cashew halves,

a couple of dried cranberries

and a couple of tiny cubes of cheese.

The cranberries had sugar in them, but literally

so little that I wasn't going to skip them.

I love cranberries!

(I had unsweetened dried cranberries in my

bowl of oatmeal this morning... YUM!)

A little fat from the nuts and cheese

and just enough carb from the tiny bit of apple

to be perfect.

I wouldn't eat it everyday,

but I was amazed how quickly it helped me

not "need" to stop for fast food.

Today, I'm staying home.

Right now I have a pound of dry black beans

in my pressure cooker with some onion,

garlic and chicken stock.

In 30 minutes I'll have 6 or 7 cups of cooked

black beans that I will put in freezer zippies.

I use a LOT of black beans and these are

a gazillion times yummier than canned.

Next I'm putting a couple of trays of bacon

in the oven for Bakin' Bacon.

Rod likes bacon with his eggs in the morning.

And then I'll whip up another batch of

Cowboy Cookie Dough Balls.

A delicious no bake with almonds and

chocolate chips that we both LOVE.

It's spring break down here, so there aren't any

students flying at the flight school this week,

so Rod has the week off from his 2nd job.

Which means he'll be home in 3 hours instead of 8.

So I'll probably also pull some beef out of the 

freezer and get working on some yummy chili.

All while wearing my snuggly sox.

Tuesday. Nothing to do today.

This morning starting out... weird.

I woke up around 5 to make sure Rod

had food to take to work with him.

And then I headed back to bed.

Usually I kind of doze off and on

and get up around 8 to workout.

This time I went back to SLEEP.

Like HARD sleep.

And a very specific, very detailed,

very annoying dream.

Teaching.

In a new site.

With no white board.

And electronics that wouldn't work.

And a 2 year old.

And a deaf woman.

And someone stole my car.

And, and, and, and, and.

It went on and on and on!

After all these terrible things happened,

I thought, you know, it's March in Florida

so home office sends out auditors

*cuz who doesn't want to come to Florida

in March...

I'll bet MONEY I had an auditor this morning.

And I'm probably fired.

And with that, my eyes flew open and I was awake.

And it was 9:18!!!!!!!!

My poor dogs!

(They had been in their crates for MANY hours...)

Which meant no workout this morning.

But I did get everybody fed.

Just as I was getting up, the sisters texted,

one of them left her book bag.

I offered to drop it off for them.

Fed the animals,

fed me,

got cleaned up,

dragged the garbage can out to the street,

realized I missed the trash guys,

dragged the garbage can back to the house,

drove to the wrong apartment,

(the elders live there now...)

drove to the right apartment,

drove in to town to Walmart to pick up

the dishwasher soap I forgot yesterday,

drove further into town to pick up 200# horse feed,

drove back to the house,

remembered I was supposed to stop at town hall

to sign off on the minutes I typed up

last week (they were approved last night at

the regular town council meeting...).

Drove to town hall, signed, visited,

and came home to unload the feed and 

head into the house to eat a bowl of leftovers.

Whew!

Good thing I didn't have anything to do today!

Hahahahaha.

Last Minute Decisions

We signed up to feed the sister missionaries tonight.

They are coming at 5:30.

That is an hour and 20 minutes from now.

I just am not feeling the whole cooking thing.

Did some grocery shopping after spending

a couple of hours at town hall.

I picked up a tray of chicken breasts.

Mostly because, although we have LOTS of

meat, it is all frozen solid.

When I got on facebook to see what I could

find, there was a post called

24 things to make with chicken.

Sweet!

The 2nd one down is Pineapple Ginger Chicken.

I remember seeing a can of pineapple 

chunks in juice in my pantry.

And I always keep ginger in the fridge

because I use it in my drink.

Score!

Now to put some brown and wild rice in the

pressure cooker and get that going...

Dinner is figured out!

(Except I forgot to buy a bag of ice.

The ice maker in our fancy new fridge...

doesn't work anymore.)

I need to call Samsung and get it fixed while

it is still under warranty.

But not today.

Today I'm making chicken.

And no bake peanut butter bars with a 

chocolate topping.

I made them last month for the elders

and they took them all home with them.

Guess I'd better get off the couch and

get into the kitchen.

Happy Monday!

Nice Ride!

It was sunny this morning.

74 degrees with a light breeze.

Beautiful!

We decided to saddle up the horses and

head into the woods for a little ride.

We actually didn't stop here.

This picture is from our last ride.

Somehow, neither one of us took a picture today!

THAT's never happened before.

lol.

I'm wearing the exact same clothes though.

I always wear pink in the woods.

Makes me easier to see.

However, I HAVE trimmed down a little

in the month since this was taken.

So hopefully I look a little better

on my horse.

AND.....

I mounted with NO difficulty!

That's what a month of thigh workouts 

will do for you.

Ta da!

Of course, I only got on once.

Rod, ever the gentleman, opened and closed

our gate, both times, so I didn't have to keep

getting on and off.

And he has a nice set of mounting steps

to use, since HIS horse will stand still. (ish)

Stiller than mine, anyway.

Andy lines all up nice and neat and then

just as you swing over, he swings away.

And laughs.

For reals.

(Cue Lucy and the football...)

It was a nice, 45 minute ride.

We only met 3 bikes, our neighbors,

and they were just coming out as we

were getting ready to go in.

Murray and his wife and a friend.

Murray is the president of the BMBA

(Brevard Mountain Bike Association)

We use "Mountain Bike" pretty loosely around here.

He has been talking up "horse etiquette", so when

they saw us, they stopped, got off, and he took off

his helmet (the others didn't) so they were

recognizable as human.

We told them thank you, and we appreciated it,

but our particular horses were used to bikes and

they were fine.

It was a nice interaction.

Because we went out a little later,

nobody else was on the trails.

Which is always nice.

And now we have a bunch of "Saturday Stuff"

to do. But it was a GREAT START!

Thanks for suggesting it, my darling!

Love you!

Last Day! (Almost)

I've been working at the town hall for 3 weeks.

Well, not really, since 2 weeks ago I was

mostly out of town all week.

But I DID go in on Wed and Fri.

So there's that.

Anyhow.

Today is my last "official" day.

Except for Monday.

Debby is coming back tomorrow and

will absolutely be in the office on Sunday,

but I'll "swing by" on Monday to catch

her up on what I did, where I put it,

that sort of thing.

And, of course, she has to go back up

for another week a little later,

but I don't know when exactly.

I'm amazed at how tired this has made me!

I used to work TWO basically FULL TIME JOBS

for heaven's sake!

This is an average of 4.5 hours a day.

But it's taking a toll.

Maybe because 2 weeks ago I was kind out

out of town every day.

(It has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with

the fact that I'm OLD! Shut up those of you

who are older and work WAY harder than me...

ahem, Rod, Sondra and Nancy!)

Whatever.

Pansy.

Anyhow.

I'm excited to be done.

I have a little bit of stuff to do there today,

so I won't be there for HOURS and HOURS.

Just need to make the week's deposit.

And... something else I can't think of 

at this moment.

Probably nothing, because yesterday was

really productive.

Anyhow.

Again.

I'm happy.

And I'm not going in until 11.

So there's that.

(Yesterday I had to be there at 9 because

the receptionist had a dr appt...)

UGH!

I don't get up that early anymore.

Except when I'm teaching.

And then I'm in a hotel and NOBODY sleeps

late in a hotel.

As evidenced by the noise directly outside my door!

So.

Next week I'll catch everybody up on the 

goings on at the ranch.

We have another vet day on the 14th.

(Happy Birthday Nancy!)

Kyle has been re-vamping everything to make

it more user-friendly per the vet and the cowboy's

suggestions. (They were AWESOME and gave him

lots of excellent advice based on years of experience.)

He's home today.

Making 8 more heavy duty gate hinges.

WAY thicker steel.

Beefier (ha) in every way.

Also take longer.

Anyhow.

Again.

I've fed the animals,

done my morning workout,

fed myself,

and now I can see Andy in his stall 

waiting to be let out into the pasture again.

And then I'm going to hit the showers

and head off to work. (in an hour...)

Have a GREAT WEEKEND!