Happy Halloween!

Darn.  You can hardly see it.

It is a picture of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Says:

The ultimate Chick Flick.

2 Women.

Trying to kill each other over shoes.

Happy Candy Collecting!  (Or giving out)  (or hiding in your bedroom and eating the entire stash by yourself since nobody ever comes all the way out to the country anyway... ahem)

No More Pool

You remember what our yard looked like...

Ok, it was a little frosty in this picture - but this is our yard.    Well, this WAS our yard...


And then Rod and Kyle got busy.

And that's all that is left of our pool.  The end of an era.  (And a money sucker...)

It's Fall - which means POOL!

Our pool table is in the "Dog Room" (ok, it's the old 2-car garage the previous owner closed in...)  In the summertime it is HOT and smells like dog.  In the wintertime it is COLD and smells like dog.  Enticing, eh?  LOL  But at least in the winter you can plug in a heater (or put on a sweat shirt) and spray a little Febreeze...  In the summer, it's just miserable. 

So... we only clear all the junk off in the fall. 

Yesterday Kyle did the honors.  (And bleached the floor so it smells like BLEACH flavored dog...)  We played our first few games last night.  Now, mind you, we didn't even play once last winter, so it's been awhile.  Rod and Jim are SHARKS.  While Kyle and I are newbs who just play for the fun of it.  And by the end of the season we are pretty evenly matched.  (although he tends to be better than me, but sometimes I amaze us all with a FANTASTIC (accidental) shot...)

He won the first game.  Easily.  (Like all my balls were still on the table except the 2 he accidentally hit in FOR me...)  He won the 2nd game.  Then he lost the 3rd game (I didn't "win" he hit the 8 ball in accidentally...)  Then I WON the 4th game!!!!!  I hit my last ball in the pocket!  Then I hit the 8 ball in the pocket!  On PURPOSE!  And then the (stupid) white ball bounced off the wall, careened across the table, and plopped right in the opposite pocket.  And I lost the game.  Sheesh.

Let the season begin!

UPDATE:
The guys dropped their load of HAND GRANADES and ROCKET LAUNCHERS, picked up a  much more innocent load in Chicago, and are heading HOME!  Should be in Orlando between 2 and 4 tomorrow morning and then it's MALABAR!  Can't wait to see them!

New Pasture

Rod has been super busy this week...  He's "on vacation" which means he's busy fixing everything he can think of.  Amazing what he can accomplish in a week!

CJ

Andy

Buddy

Trimming the tops off some of the posts

The boys are SUPER happy!

Home

The guys are back home for a week!  They did such an awesome job running special loads out there on the roads for 7 weeks, they earned 7 days at home.  Hit town around 2:00 Friday afternoon and they get to stay until next Monday!  A nice long break - that will be good for them - and us!


So Friday afternoon we just sort of relaxed and did some grocery shopping.  But Saturday morning we hit the ground running.  (And spending $$$)


Here's what we are going to be doing for the next couple of days.  (remember, you can always click on the pictures to make them full screen...)

I took this picture AFTER Kyle the beast had the trailer mostly unloaded.


It's time for us to fence in the front yard so we can rotate the horses through three different pastures.  We'll let them hang out front for a couple hours several times a week, giving the back pasture a little bit of a rest.  Maybe we can get better grass growth back there...


So here is the "before" picture...  this is what the front yard looks like now.

First we cleaned up the length of existing fence between our property and Rick & Chris' property.  It's been there for years and is pretty grown over and rusted.  During the hurricanes of '04 Bill took his big front-end loaded and knocked a hole in the middle of the fence so he could go back and dig out Rick's pond so the property didn't flood.  But they never got around to fixing it.  So that's our first job.

First hole

The one to the right was already there - no need to replace it...

They ran a string and started measuring for holes.  They measured.  I marked.

This is what happens when you let Mom use the spray paint...

Then they poked holes and dropped the poles.  A good system - until you hit a root.  But luckily Kyle bought a really nice manual post hole digger that made short work of them.  Oh to be young and have nearly limitless energy...

Trying to dig a hole right by the tree - gotta use the PHD and young muscles.

Kyle's first hole.  Good job!

I DID help, but didn't want my picture taken.  Rod snuck one in though... I look awful - plaid and stripes.  But in my defense, I started the day with the striped shirt and some cute black capris.  But you might notice all the sunshine.  It was HOT out there - so I changed into some shorts (plaid are all I have) but didn't want to change my shirt...  this one was already nice and dirty and sweaty.  LOL  So no judging, k???  

Kyle wanted to keep going - he still had lots of energy, but we decided to call it good for the day.  Went in and showered and drove up to Cocoa to take Pops and Zach out for dinner at the Alamo.  Jim and Sabrina were at her friend's wedding... (Sabrina was a bride's maid).  

Today we are relaxing and getting ready to head off to church. 

Have a great day!

BLONDE?????

No, no, no, FROZIE is the blonde sister.

But several years ago, my darling turned 40. 

So we all lost our minds. 

But we had FUN!

I decided to go "blonde" (started sort of a strawberry but eventually got to a "real" blonde - yikes!)

Then I went to Orlando to teach school.

When I came home - this is what I found.

Good times!

What's New?

Yah, I know.  I kind of fell off the earth.

Partly I’ve been busy (who isn’t) and partly I was exhausted from our little adventure, and partly I just didn’t feel like writing.  LOL

So…  since I’ve been home. 

Sabrina (Jim’s girlfriend, and a CUTIE) moved in with us.  She was watching the house, feeding the animals and basically taking care of the place.  The plan was to stay until I got home Tuesday night, but we came home early.  When we got there she asked if it was ok if she stayed until Wednesday anyway.  I told her she was welcome to stay as long as she wanted.  (I think it’s a little silly she pays rent AND gets treated like Cinderella where she was living… but that’s just me…)  Anyhow, she went “home” on Wednesday and was back that night.  She and Kyle went over and got all her stuff over the weekend while I was in Miami. 

We are LOVING having her with us – well, except for the whole 'deathly sick with a cold' thing.  Poor girl!!!  But mega doses of D3 and Oil of Oregano and she is feeling much better much quicker than normal.  And even SICK she’s a sweetie.  AND she takes care of Jim’s guinea pig.  So, you just gotta love her!

Kyle, in the meantime, has re-fenced part of the back yard (the part Andy tore down in his quest for the greener grass on the other side), tilled and planted the garden, cleaned up the horse's pasture, mowed the entire property, cleaned up the back pasture (piles and piles of old stuff the previous owner left and we've just never done anything with...) so he's been a BUSY and productive guy!  I'm so glad he came back home!  Speaking of which... this is him packing up to leave....

and here we are now that we have arrived.  His truck parked on our road in front of the property.

And a picture of him, excited to have FINALLY ARRIVED!!!!!

Meet Mabel and her daughter Rosie - our closest neighbors.....

And THIS is why he wanted to live at Woodland Valley Ranch, Arizona.  Is this not GORGEOUS?  This is the main road coming into the ranch.  

This is the Butte in the distance.  So many colors - so beautiful!

And, of course, a glimpse of the Painted Desert.  With some of the "native sculpture" you find all over the ranch.....  

It's a stark, beautiful place.  And some day, there will be a cute little cabin, full of Buffaloe's out there in the middle of it, enjoying the peaceful beauty.  

Just... not yet.