OOPS!

When Rod came to pick me up at the airport

on Thursday... he was driving the big black Ford pickup.

Which is unusual.

He generally only drives that if he needs to pickup

like wood. Or feed.

Not me and my tiny carry on bag.

Sadly, it was because his little VW had to go to the

car hospital. He bumped into another car

(who took off - so no tickets or anything)

and we have GREAT insurance so its not much $$$

but a little inconvenient because he is now driving the truck.

Which means I'm vehicle-less.

Unless I want to drive the Trooper.

Which I LOVE.

But needs insurance and I don't want to put 

coverage on it for a week. That would be silly.

So Kyle gets to play "Driving Miss Daisy"

or "taxi Mom".

Hahahahahahahaha.

Luckily nobody except the car's nose got hurt.

Whew!

And it will be back before we know it.

But it made for a good blog post... 

so thanks honey!

(grin)

Meanwhile...

I just finished teaching my Monday morning session.

I only had 6 students which is pretty normal for the

morning sessions. Most people are at work.

But it was nice.

I got everything done.

And now Kyle is going to drive me to the grocery

store to get some stuff and to the pharmacy to get

Rod's eye drops.

Have a GREAT MONDAY!!!!!

Popping In

 Look at the interesting information you can

follow while flying across the country!

Check out the OUTSIDE TEMP!

And I thought we were cold in Calgary!!!

(It got as low as -78!!! I just didn't take a pic)

I thought it was WILD that I could fly all the way

across the country from Tucson to Atlanta in

THREE HOURS and 22 minutes...

Of course, we WERE flying 600+ mph with a pretty good tail wind.

It was fun to watch my little airplane make its way

across this big, beautiful country.

Bye Tucson!

Til we meet again!!!

(pretty sunrise, eh?)

Anyhow.

I obviously got home safely.

All in one piece and thankfully on the way OUT

I spent 4 hours in the Atlanta airport, because otherwise

on the way back I would have been TOTALLY lost

and stressed since I had a much shorter layover.

It was EASY the 2nd time though.

(I got lost twice on the first trip... lol.)

They need better signs.

Rod, Kyle and Beau were happy to see me home again.

And I was happy to be home.

I LOVE travelling and visiting family

and getting to catch up on all their lives.

But it is always good to be home.

I jumped right back in with both feet.

Taught class that evening.

And again Friday and Saturday nights.

As well as did a bunch of cooking and 

grocery shopping and laundry and stuff.

This morning I had to go to our old Ward's

ward conference to meet with the Primary Presidency.

They are doing a really good job but having some

struggles and challenges - as are everyone.

It was nice to see some old friends.

At least from the eyes up.

Then home to watch our ward's church and

get on the computer to catch up on a week's worth

of admin stuff. (I usually do it immediately after

a class but didn't feel like it... I was on VACATION!)

Anyhow.

I'm all done now and I'm heading back to the living room.

(Oh, and I bought some pretty baby yarn and I'm making

a little baby blanket - for - somebody.... who knows!)

I'll take a picture when it looks like something.

I had SUCH a great time!!!

THANK YOU EVERYBODY FOR MAKING IT

A WONDERFUL WEEK!!!

(And I'm so GLAD Dad is home again and feeling well!)

I'm teaching from 9-1 tomorrow morning but I'll hop

on after and update.

Maybe.

Tucson Day 3?

 We are having a wonderful,

low key, lots of family, visiting,

talking, laughing time.

Yesterday after our walk we all got cleaned

up and then Rozann and I did some grocery shopping

and then over to Mom and Dad's house.

We sat out on the patio with Soni, M/D and

chatted for a bit and then Soni, Rozann and I

went over to Rozann's house to see their awesome

home gym they set up and then over to the office

to see all the latest developments and sit and

talk business ideas (and eat great snacks... lol)

until Nancy said they were back from the gem show.

Back home, called Rod and chatted for a bit

and then over to Rozann's to help her make dinner

for everybody.

(Greg went to Phoenix for Naomi's birthday.)

We had a great chinese food dinner with awesome

roasted veggies and rice.

It was delicious!

It was just the 7 Stoddards.

No spouses.

And nobody got any pictures.

Sheesh.

OK, I took ONE of the puppies intently

watching Rozann cook...

Everybody headed home and Rozann and I hung

out for a little bit and then I headed home to bed.

We were all wiped out!

(unfortunately Rozann remembered about 12:30

that Sam and Randy were out of town and she and I

were supposed to go close up her chickens at dusk.

OOPS! She ran over and did it herself... 

How many times have WE done that!)

This morning Rozann and I took the dogs for their

morning walk (with a quick stop at Nancy's to see

her and Gary out eating breakfast in the yard)

and then home to get cleaned up.

Rozann went to church, I didn't know they were "live"

so didn't bring church clothes, opted to stay here and

watch our ward on Zoom and then made some

breakfast and set up my computer for this week's

Zoom Reviews I need to do from here.

And now we are heading to Mom's to spend the afternoon

before Sondra has to get on an airplane and head back

to SLC. Waaaaa!

Tucson Day 2

 Yup, I know.

There was no Day 1.

Its because I didn't have any wifi yet.

And I wasn't home much.

Yesterday started with a fun walk with Rozann

and her two beautiful dogs, Zoey and Kodiak.

And then a shower and over to Mom and Dad's

to spend the day.

We had a great time visiting!

And then back to Nancy's to help prepare a dinner

for EVERYBODY - so good to see them!

Soni is doing pretty good considering!

She was REALLY tired, but not in much pain.

So thankful!

Lisa just got her hair colored and cut.

Doesn't she look gorgeous?

Lots of family!

Thanks Christopher for being an awesome photographer!

And putting up with our silliness!

Of course Nancy and I had to try a selfie!

After a good night's sleep this morning I woke up and

had just turned on YouTube when Rozann texted me and

said they were up earlier than planned and did I want to

go walk the dogs with her? 

(It was 6:30)

So I hopped out of bed, got dressed and we headed out

across Nancy's property.

And then Nancy joined us!

And then Gary showed up!

So the 4 of us took a nice walk around the block with

the dogs and had a great visit!

It's a BEAUTIFUL morning!

Back to our respective houses.

I did a 30 minute T-Tapp while Rozann did 45 minutes

in her amazing home gym, and then I hopped

in the shower while my oatmeal was cooking.

Now I'm sitting here enjoying my morning bowl

of oatmeal (with a little spoonful of peanut butter

stirred in for fun...) and getting ready to go shopping

with Rozann. I just want a couple of things...

water

eggs

maybe some okra... (lol).

And then I think we'll head over to Mom's.

Nancy is taking Lisa and going to the gem show

for the day.

Getting Ready

 The time is counting down!

And I'm busy (hahahaha) getting ready.

Ok. 

I colored my hair.

That's it.

But I've been thinking about what I'm

going to wear / pack / etc.

I bought a cute little purple suitcase that

goes UNDER THE SEAT in front of me!

So I don't even have to try to lift it into

the overhead bin thingie!

It's not very big.

But should be big enough.

Since we aren't going anywhere...

I'm wearing my jeans and packing

shirts and undies.

That's all.

Oh, and my computer so I can teach,

but it has a handy insert that will hold my

laptop securely and safely.

Nifty, eh?

Guess I need to bring my teaching shirt too.

And earrings.

I can't teach without earrings.

It's my "Dumbo Magic Feather".

(Yup, she's weird...)

Anyhow.

The vet was supposed to come out today to look

at Buddy and verify he's old.

But he got called out on an emergency,

so hope he'll be able to come tomorrow.

If not... well we'll cross that bridge when

it gets here.

I'm not worried.

(My Town Manager thinks I should just blow the

whole thing off and let them try to cite me.

I don't think I'll do that.)

Anyhow.

I'll be back on again tomorrow.

But now I just got home from work and I need

to eat some lunch!

And get ready to teach this evening.

Are We in Kansas?

Good Night It's WINDY!!!!

Kyle just came in from the garden and said there

is a bunch of wind damage to the rattlesnack beans

that are growing on the trellis.

We've had strong winds (not hurricane, but still) 

all day long.

And it's coming from the NORTH so it's COLD!

I'm wearing a thermal long sleeved shirt,

a giant sweat shirt

and a coat.

BRRRRRRR!

However, he DID pick a really nice carrot!

The other two he picked were pretty small,

but TASTY!

He spent some time this afternoon

(while I went to get my hair cut)

finishing the new facility.

This is looking out through the sweep 

towards the catch pen.

From the same spot but looking to the 

left down the alley to the scales

and out either back into their pasture

or into the trailer...

The catch pen minus the 12' gate out into the pasture.

And the feed bins.

The corner heading into the sweep.

He put panels in the corner so they

don't get stuck in a 90 degree - they just

continue along the fence line into the sweep

and from there into the alley.

Looking into the sweep from the catch pen.

He learned a LOT while building and re-building 

Linda's two facilities and we are benefiting from

his vast knowledge and experience!

All he has left is to put up the big gate

and Rod will build and install the feed bins

and then we are ready to give it a try!

We plan to feed the cows in there for about

a week and then we will try running they down

the alley and over the scales.

Exciting times!!!

Grrrrrrrrr

 Buddy, our horse, is OLD.

He is 30+ years old.

He has no teeth.

So he kind of slimes his food,

spills lots of it,

but eats a good amount as well

*as evidenced by his poop.

Anyhow.

Thursday is City People day next door.

And one of them called Animal Control

because they were "worried" about him.

If you bother to look, you'll see the horse CJ

standing next to him who is FAT as a butterball.

And three FAT steers.

But be that as it may,

Animal Control had to come out and check.

And now I have to have a vet come out next week

and verify that he's old, toothless, but essentially healthy.

And then the A/C lady will come back out

and take a picture of the vet's report and close our file.

Meanwhile,

Rod is going to make a sign to hang on our fence.

Hi.

My name is Buddy.

I'm OLD and I have no teeth.

But I'm healthy and happy.

My vet said so.

Thanks for your concern.

I'd LIKE it to say something else.

But I won't.

I'd also like to bill the happy little Do Good-er

the $110 I'm going to have to pay the vet.

Grrrrrrr.