Happy New Year... last post... Promise

Well this is my last post of 2009. I'm in for the night... shower taken, hair washed... warm for the moment.

Hopefully the warm water will help my head. It's still aching and pounding at times. It's be quite the little interesting day around here. Right now I'm just tired and almost ready to go to bed. I have no plans of staying up until the new year comes to my part of the world. I'm going by Australia time... and as it is they are closer to January 2. SO :)

Here's to '09. So long, farewell, good bye, toodles, ta ta, good riddance to bad rubbish.

My prayer for the New Year... Lord, Here I am... I'm tired, emotional and am only asking for you to take my stress, troubles, and handle them. Also while I'm asking would it be to much for some really awesomely good stuff to happen? And Lord while I'm at it, bless friends (near and far) and family beyond what they can imagine.

Very truly yours... Sara... amen...

Goodnight all!!!!!!!!

Headache...

It seems that the last day of 2009 is going to literally give me a headache. UGH... the pain, pressure, stuffy nose, runny eyes... blast it all, I need a shot of Micotil, banamine (SP), and some fresh straw... I know how to treat myself if I were a calf. :)

As it is I've taken two sinus headache pills... they make me woozy. I hope this goes away before chores. I'm not up to this combined with the major dip in temps happening out side...

I saw a commercial for Fiji today... I saw we move. :) Think they would take us and our animal crew? :)

Top Ten...

Found THIS, while looking for resolutions. :)

OK so the top ten in a quick review are:

1. Spend More Time with Family & Friends

I spend all my time with family... so check.

2. Fit in Fitness

Does chasing bovine down the road count????

3. Tame the Bulge

yeah yeah yeah... 

4. Quit Smoking

NOOOOOOO I can't do that... I'm just starting to get good at it!!! Tee Hee... on the serious side... the only thing I smoke is a brisket, ribs, and a pork roast. Cigarettes have never touched my lips... my lungs are as good as it gets. I hope...

5. Enjoy Life More

Sigh... I try. It just doesn't work out like I hope...

6. Quit Drinking

Hey I've never drank anything besides, water, juice, tea, and pop. Granted I do need to try and cut out the pop.

7. Get Out of Debt

LOL ... I dairy... out of debt???? I DREAM of that. Right now I'm looking at going IN more debt for cows... how crazy is this!?

8. Learn Something New

I do that almost everyday.

9. Help Others

I do this...

10. Get Organized

I have my own system. :) 

SO, there for, since I'm already doing (almost anyway) the Top Ten resolutions as it is, I now am firmly convinced I don't need to make any new ones! :) Life is GOOOOOOOOD.  (I'm going to try and be positive, even more so than normal... is that a resolution? Is this living in my own little world? I'm OK with that. :) )

Post 319...

Will it be my last post of 2009? Don't know... There haven't been really if any highlights of this past year. Personally I hope I just forget 2009 somewhere and sometime down the road. Don't get me wrong though... there have been a few and far between bright spots.

The 20 or so heifers we've had this year, the bank working with us, getting to know and "meeting" new blog friends (this was and is the ONLY thing that some times keeps me going).

So here we are... the last day of 2009. Praise the Lord we made it, survived it, and are here to tell about it.

Seeing as I don't do New Year's Resolutions... I won't be posting any! :) My hopes for 2010 however are:

Having more time to just be... without the constant worry over a certain lender in KS, without dairy pricing worries, without STRESS. Yeah I know that's asking just to much I suppose.

Maybe a small, tiny, itty bitty, getaway... doubt it will happen but who knows. It stresses me out more to be gone than to just stay here.

Getting the tractor fixed.

Finding some good feed for the moos...

Being able to sleep at night, without a kitten playing on your head, or it's mother sitting at your ear waking you up so she can get to the a for mentioned kitten playing on your head.  Sigh... I think I'm going to sleep at some point over the week end. At least try.

OK I'll be back later... right now I need to try and get some heat out of that blasted stove of ours. It would help if the last load of wood wasn't half green...

Year in review

I'm not up to it today. Today... I'm am getting ready to finally be DONE with this year. I'm SO ready to be done with this year... Can I get a H E Double hockey sticks YEAH in the crowd?

Time for chores... again... Where oh where does the night time go?

The Things I will watch on TV

It's amazing to me the things I will end up watching, and in turn fascinate me. On Sunday (at least I think it was then) I started watching a program about the AB (Aryan Brotherhood or The Brand). Just a tiny bit scary if you ask me. One thing about it, I'll never look at shamrock tattoos the same way again. Not that I've seen any, but I'm just say... Well you never know the meaning behind some things.

How does a person get to the point of becoming a murderer? And in turn joining a gang in prison, and doing additional murders? I just don't get it... Although I don't get why people would choose to start dairy farming in today's market and economy either. Both seem fairly nuts... IMHO.

BUT I was thinking... don't groan people. I think that Dairy Women need to start our own "gang". The DS (Dairy Sisterhood, the Poop Shoveler's, the If I have to figure out once more, how I'm going to make $100.00 go towards $1000.00, I'll scream...) Yup... I figure we could all get our own tat's... a hoof print. Those who cross us... watch out! A frozen cow pie can be quite the weapon! And of course we would pray for them. After all they need it...

All kidding aside, dairy women need something. There are getting to be fewer of us, the support system isn't there anymore. And besides that, something needs to be done to help farmers. Farm Aid is just about a joke... A topic for another time and another place... who knows maybe next year I'll do that for my first post.

Sunday Stills...

Firstly... I can find my thingy to transfer pics from my camera to the comp. here. ARGH... that's what I get for searching for them in the dark.

FYI, the jars are now filled with various yummy goodness. I wonder though, what did the previous owner put in these jars to feed her family? We acquired these jars (a whole huge lot of them) from our IBA guy. Over the past several years we've aged and gotten to know each other. Talk of our mutual thoughts on politic, the dairy industry, the house, and family... and I usually will ask him something he doesn't know... not on purpose however. :)

He knows we can a great deal in the summer. And so one time when he came he was loaded down with two HUGE boxes, and one 55 gal. drum of canning jars. You see his mother passed away with in the last year or so, and while cleaning up he came across these jars and thought we could put them to good use.

We are... I can't help thinking about her. Who she was... farm wife, mother of two boys, and a person besides. And what she put into these jars for her family. I would love to meet her once in Heaven. Then I sometimes wonder if my great grand parents and her and her husband have met... OK I'll stop rambling on... :)

For more Sunday Stills go HERE...

Wind...

The wind here hasn't stopped in well over 23 hours. It's pointless to say I'm sick of it already. I can hardly sleep with the howling at night, during the day the chores are miserable, calves are cold, and so is this dairymaid. Right now I'm sitting here in my chore coat in some effort to get warm before starting in on evening chores.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining... I'm blaming the cookies. THE COOKIES made me do it!!!! HONEST!!! cross my heart and hope to make it through tonight.

Well the hay just got here... UGH. I'm doing chores early, coming in and drinking some hot chocolate.  

Reason for the Season...

Luke 2 (Amplified Bible)

Luke 2

 ¹IN THOSE days it occurred that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole ^[a]Roman empire should be registered.    ²This was the first enrollment, and it was made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
    ³And all the people were going to be registered, each to his own city or town.
    ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the town of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,
    ⁵To be enrolled with Mary, his espoused (^[b]married) wife, who was about to become a mother.^{(A)
    6}And while they were there, the time came for her delivery,
    ⁷And she gave birth to her Son, her Firstborn; and she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room or place for them in the inn.
    ⁸And in that vicinity there were shepherds living [out under the open sky] in the field, watching [in shifts] over their flock by night.
    ⁹And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord flashed and shone all about them, and they were terribly frightened.
    ¹⁰But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people.
    ¹¹For to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ (the Messiah) the Lord!^{(B)
    12}And this will be a sign for you [by which you will recognize Him]: you will find [^[c]after searching] a Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. [I Sam. 2:34; II Kings 19:29; Isa. 7:14.]
    ¹³Then suddenly there appeared with the angel an army of the troops of heaven (^[d]a heavenly knighthood), praising God and saying,
    ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest [heaven], and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased [^[e]men of goodwill, of His favor].
    ¹⁵When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing (^[f]saying) that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.
    ¹⁶So they went with haste and [^[g]by searching] found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby lying in a manger.
    ¹⁷And when they saw it, they made known what had been told them concerning this Child,
    ¹⁸And all who heard it were astounded and marveled at what the shepherds told them.
    ¹⁹But Mary was keeping ^[h]within herself all these things (^[i]sayings), weighing and pondering them in her heart.
    ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.
    ²¹And at the end of eight days, when [the Baby] was to be circumcised, He was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.
    ²²And when the time for their purification [the mother's purification and the Baby's dedication] came according to the Law of Moses, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord--^{(C)
    23}As it is written in the Law of the Lord, Every [firstborn] male that opens the womb shall be set apart and dedicated and called holy to the Lord--^{(D)
    24}And [they came also] to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.^{(E)
    25}Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout [cautiously and carefully observing the divine Law], and looking for the Consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
    ²⁶And it had been divinely revealed (communicated) to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
    ²⁷And prompted by the [Holy] Spirit, he came into the temple [^[j]enclosure]; and when the parents brought in the little child Jesus to do for Him what was customary according to the Law,
    ²⁸[Simeon] took Him up in his arms and praised and thanked God and said,
    ²⁹And now, Lord, You are releasing Your servant to depart (leave this world) in peace, according to Your word.
    ³⁰For with my [own] eyes I have seen Your Salvation,^{(F)
    31}Which You have ordained and prepared before (in the presence of) all peoples,
    ³²A Light for ^[k]revelation to the Gentiles [to disclose what was before unknown] and [to bring] praise and honor and glory to Your people Israel.^{(G)
    33}And His [legal] father and [His] mother were marveling at what was said about Him.
    ³⁴And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, Behold, this Child is appointed and destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against--^{(H)
    35}And a sword will pierce through your own soul also--that the secret thoughts and purposes of many hearts may be brought out and disclosed.
    ³⁶And there was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having lived with her husband seven years from her maidenhood,^{(I)
    37}And as a widow even for eighty-four years. She did not go out from the temple ^[l]enclosure, but was worshiping night and day with fasting and prayer.
    ³⁸And she too came up at that same hour, and she returned thanks to God and talked of [Jesus] to all who were looking for the redemption (deliverance) of Jerusalem.
    ³⁹And when they had done everything according to the Law of the Lord, they went back into Galilee to their own town, Nazareth.
    ⁴⁰And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of God was upon Him.^{(J)
    41}Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year to the Passover Feast.^{(K)
    42}And when He was twelve years [old], they went up, as was their custom.
    ⁴³And when the Feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem. Now His parents did not know this,
    ⁴⁴But, supposing Him to be in the caravan, they traveled on a day's journey; and [then] they sought Him [diligently, looking up and down for Him] among their kinsfolk and acquaintances.
    ⁴⁵And when they failed to find Him, they went back to Jerusalem, looking for Him [up and down] all the way.
    ⁴⁶After three days they found Him [came upon Him] in the ^[m][court of the] temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
    ⁴⁷And all who heard Him were astonished and overwhelmed with bewildered wonder at His intelligence and understanding and His replies.
    ⁴⁸And when they [Joseph and Mary] saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, Child, why have You treated us like this? Here Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You [distressed and tormented].
    ⁴⁹And He said to them, How is it that you had to look for Me? Did you not see and know that it is necessary [as a duty] for Me ^[n]to be in My Father's house and [occupied] about My Father's business?
    ⁵⁰But they did not comprehend what He was saying to them.
    ⁵¹And He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was [habitually] obedient to them; and his mother kept and closely and persistently guarded all these things in her heart.
    ⁵²And Jesus increased in wisdom (in broad and full understanding) and in stature and years, and in favor with God and man.

Lest we forget the true meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas one and all!!!!

No snow yet...

Well, here we are, Christmas Eve 2009. The year has flown by at an alarming rate it seems. We have decided to just do our Christmas on New Years. Tomorrow will be a wonderful dinner and a time to relax. Something we have not done in a long while.

There should be snow on the ground by morning. At this point I'm just hoping it is just snow and no ice. It's hard to believe the Ice Storm of 2007 will three years ago, any more when the weather gets like this it makes me think back to then. Right now the flooding seems to be the worst in my county. Which is really odd, normally it's always somewhere else.

Anyway...it's been a day... I'm a tired baking elf who is going to hit the hay soon. Santa if your really there... you know what I want. :)

I'm Pauls mother...

Yup, it's news to me also... strange little week we've been having.

It all started when my grandmother and I had to go to the great big city... KC to the attorneys office. I had dreaded this trip. It's an easy 3 hour drive from here and that is with a little extra help on the gas peddle. :) I don't have a problem with speeding, just a problem with the limit being to low. Simple as that! :)

It really bothers me going from 1 lane cow paths to 4 lanes of interstate, to 6, then 10, then back to 6 then 8... how is it that if I stay in the same lane, I end up in the middle lane and then the far left... I have yet to figure this one out. Oh well, why try.

Big city's fascinate me. From a distance... going into downtown KC is an experience. Only because I'm used to fast moving bovine in brown, rather than people in fashionable clothes... I of whom am NOT one of those. The parking garages make me woozy and I can make myself car sick if I take going up or down then to quickly. And the elevators... LAVENDER DOORS! I know mom... shake your head. That's OK... I don't like the elevators at the something or other building... I know I left my stomach on the 22nd floor and it didn't catch up until later... it was all I could do to not stumble out once we landed on the 3 floor in less than 30 seconds... there had to be some G forces going on... OH MY GOODNESS!!! All in all it went as well as can be expected. More news on this later.

After we got home, our neighbor to the north... you know the one who in 32 years of being neighbors has never managed to keep his cattle or hogs (when they were still in the hog business) home... It's not that we don't get along... but well we just don't see eye to eye) Well him and his wife stopped by with a bag of oranges, a bag of apples, a pineapple, and a small frozen turkey... MERRY CHRISTMAS! she said... and wanted to know if we were doing alright. I was dumbfounded, I mean... never in all of our years here have they EVER wished us a Merry Christmas or anything... I managed a thank you and some chit chat... and came in to bring in my bounty. Oh my ... strange little day...

Then today... one of our cell phones was ringing, I answered... hello... HELLO... and I got this... OH you must be Paul's mom... is he there?... ummm no, sorry you have the wrong number. OH OOOOOOOOKKKKK. They just called back not to long ago... still looking for Paul... So PAUL who ever you are... give this girl your right number!!! I'm too young to be a mother of a teenager or 20 something year old. Aren't I?





Strange little days...

OHHHHH... Farm news!!!!! Snippy Jr. has finally started taking her bottle!!!!!!! doing the dance of joy here! she's also "woken" up. And she's a loud mouthed little tiger, who butted my finger tonight in a direction that fingers aren't supposed to bend... oh well,  what's a little swelling right?

Sunny but chilly...

Today brought some much needed and welcomed sunshine. Weather wise the week is looking so so... warm so no snow, but rain. I don't know which I'd rather have. Snow or Rain... snow rain snow rain... neither! That's it... I would rather have neither. I'll take the cold, but can do without the moisture.

I really should be out doing chores while I have daylight to help. And I still have to put hydraulic oil in before I do my major morning chores tonight. We have to see our atty tomorrow in KC. A 3 hour drive at best...ugh... one way! So I'm trying to get that out of the way to save time. I may even make some cookies if I finish in time. It will help to get my mind off of things.

What was going to be a peaches and cream in our atty's words, is now getting messy.  I try not to think about it... at least until I'm forced to. And after tomorrow I'm not going to think about it until next week. I hope it's not wrong to just want things back the "normal" stressful... I'm tired of thinking of PT, JK, GK, and all the others who have helped us into this mess, including our some neighbors.

Right now I'm tired (so very tired of more than the daily grind), and my emotions seem to be on edge. I keep telling myself, something good has to happen. Right? Then I war in my mind about the DELAP payment and how in the AG secretary's words... is going to help stabilize the industry. I'm sorry... but I don't see where $1400.00 if that is going to cover over $20,000.00 plus in lost income. Maybe he is trying his hand at miracles... It always brings to mind this:

We the Willing
                      Led by the Unknowing
                    Are doing the Impossible
                       For the Ungrateful.

                      We have done So Much
                         With So Little
                           For So Long
                      We are now Qualified
                         To do Anything
                          With Nothing.

So true... Promise to be in a more Christmas like mood later... :)

Sewing Machines...

There are just days when I would LOVE to toss the one I have... other days not so much. TODAY was one of those days.

I was endeavoring to make some calf coats for Phoenix and Snippy Jr. (who by the way kicked my TWICE on the back of the leg this morning. She is a demon seed I just KNOW it!!!) anyway I bought some fleece and a dog coat pattern, made a few changes... (I never follow the pattern directions... unless I mess up and then I read them). I turn on my faithful sewing companion, change feet, and away we go... until we get to the second seam. I was just sewing along thinking I was joining the two pieces, OH NO that would have been to simple. OK no bobbin thread. Took the bobbkin  out and there was still thread in the bobbin but it wouldn't feed, fixed that. AND away we go again... now the top thread is breaking, it did it twice! I had bits of thread flying every which way, my temper was rising quickly, and was on the verge of tossing the calf coat or the spool of thread. Thankfully it started working and I got at least one done. One more to go for the cute calf with and attitude problem... :)

I'm going now... 

It's a Snippy Juniorette

Well our dear sweet Snippy calved yesterday morning... It's a heifer. Yeah I know this really and truly is cause for a celebration. HONEST I'm really happy she had a little heifer creature. After all she's never had one before always little nasty  mean bulls.

So I thought, hoped against hope that if by chance she had a little girly maybe she would be sweet. *shaking head at self*

Yesterday was just one of those days when you would just like everything to go as planned... and if there was a new calf thrown into the mix that they would at least have the decency to take a bottle like a good baby. Sigh... Wasn't to be. I wasn't so shocked that she wouldn't take her first bottle, she was a little cold and low on blood sugar. But I thought at least she would take it last night. HA! I was late getting home and tired by the time I got out there. Thankfully Krissie had the two bottles warming for me and got the goat feed while I hayed the calved and gave Phoenix her bottle.  Fed the goats, and sat down to feed at that time no name Snippy's baby. I put the bottle in the little ones mouth, she rolled her eyes back in her head and had a fit! So I tried again... did the same thing except this time my hand didn't make it out of the way in time... three quick whacks of her back foot landed right below my index finger. It hurt, still does... I'm sensitive y'all!

At least she didn't get my head... so I just tubed her again... And I don't care what sweet Christmasy "S" name mom comes up with... Snippy Jr. is what I will be calling her from now on! She is just like her mother... she even looks like her mother, she is a short tank on hooves! 

Well it's time to get going... Lots of feeding of hay and babies to get done... NO snow yet! :)

Change & Vintage...

Some places never change. I was thinking this as I was standing in the tire shop today. Sigh... The building is the same, smells the same, owners (all be it they are 32 years older than when we first moved here and for some reason they don't seem as tall... :-), the office, all the sounds... It's a comfort of sorts. Yeah the guys fixing the flats have come and gone. Modern equipment and of course new tires... but it's just as I remember it as a little girl going in with whomever was going to town. Mostly during the summer when I was still in public school. Such simple times... hard, but simple. How I wish I could just go back to being a kid again... Which brings me to this....

Vintage... I like vintage cook booklets, quilt booklets, patterns (sometimes) and so forth and so on. So while browsing on EBAY a little bit ago, I came across a VINTAGE sewing book... cool I thought... IT WAS FROM 1978!!!!! I'm VINTAGE now?! I would have just let my head fall on my keyboard here except if I did I might lose my V key forever. So I just sat here for a while... and started looking again. And that was when I came across something REALLY wonderful... another VINTAGE sewing booklet... :-) this time from the 1980's!!!!!!!!! Oddly enough this made me feel better. :) So now the kids from the 80's are starting the vintage down hill swing... great peace of mind I can tell ya!

Well it's been a day here at the O K Dairy Corral... I took advantage of the warm weather and cleaned off the holding pen and side lot. The last time I'll do that nasty chore for 2009. And it more than likely won't happen again until late January or February of 2010. It's amazing how this year is winding down. And it seems like everyone can't wait for it to be over with and a new year and decade to begin. I hope and pray that the new year brings some stress relief and better times for one and all.

Dawn...

Well it's coming... a faint light is on the eastern horizon. I'm not a morning person... nor am I a night owl, OR an afternoon person. I'm becoming more of an evening person. I can relax then... the days work is done. For a few hours I don't have to think about calves, goats, hay, grain, milk prices, how to make things stretch... even sleeping doesn't afford me those benefits. I'll wake up and just start thinking and warring in my mind... ugh...

And so the day begins again. I wonder who can I irritate today so their inner pearl will become more beautiful. :) LOL I'm halfway serious. Who knows I might just email Ms. Boxer of CA.

I'm all for

E mailing this woman... It seems she is the one who is holding up the DELAP payment... as CA and other western Dairy farmers my not get enough... Sheesh! I'm sorry that mega dairy's might not get what they deem enough but, for pity sakes, why make this so much harder on the other dairyman out here! We are all not going to be getting much from it anyway... can't we just get the money so that we might be able to have some kind of a nice Christmas? Buy some hay? Grain??? ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Dairy Farmers 12 days of Christmas...

Here's how I see it. On the 12th day of Christmas the Dairy gave to me:

12 Springer HEIFERS (who are all insane BTW boy I wish I had some fresh, right now we are waiting until spring...)

11 dratted bull calves (thankfully I only have two now and they are about to wear me slick!)

10 dollars a hundred (I want to send a Thank YOU to all the people who made this year so nasty and possible... yes I'm being sarcastic. HEY but that's an idea... maybe we should all send Christmas cards to all the executives and thank them and tell them our personal stories... wouldn't do any good but maybe a little guilt wouldn't hurt some of them... some where there has to be a shred of something good in everyone... Right???)

9 dairy goats a jumping (out of their pen most likely)

8 in heat JERSEYS!!!!!!! (Heaven help us!)

7 flat tires (same tire, same time... always AFTER the tire shop closes in the evenings)

6 chicken laying their eggs in all the hidden places (favorite spot is the bed of the truck... go figure)

5 dogs barking at nothing (one is deaf as you remember)

4 degrees for a LOW (yup that's us this AM)

3 house cats (one with a baby who managed to survive the kitten massacre of '09 thanks to Kodie)

2 pairs of rubber boots!!!!! can't leave the house with out em... at least my pair.

1 truck, with 1 head light, 1 tail light, one PERFECT driver :), chasing 1 STUPID STUPID STUPID fresh heifer who at one time liked... now, NOT so much. :)

Merry Christmas Y'all!!!!!!

Grand plans

Don't we all do it? We have great plans and such of what we are going to get done, when, where, how... so forth and so on... yadda yadda yadda.

Well MINE was to get the tree done today... HA... I just wasn't inspired. I did get the bow made, lights on, garland strung, and the bow topper on... OH and 3 ornaments... Like I said, I'm just not inspired. It didn't help that the tree was leaning... and the more I did to stop the lean, the MORE it tried to come over and out... Thankfully I had to for thought to get some florist wire. So it's now wired to the wall. In the same fashion as when I was a little girl. Some trees stand... others need a little help. :)

So maybe tomorrow I'll have the tree fully dressed. Right now it's just not happenin'.

In other news... Snippy, good ole Snippy, a short, fat, wide as she is tall and NO I'm not exaggerating, cow is dare I say it... starting to make a bag?!?! woo hoo... I'm sure you can all guess how the Snipster  got her name...she's had an attitude problem for many a moon. So we may have another new one before years end, we'll see. It would be Snippy to do this. I know people don't believe this, but I do believe cows conspire against us at times. I'm sure they chat during the day as to how they can get us to go and act like fools. Then laugh behind our backs.

IF anyone would like...

I'm asking for prayers for our attorneys... mainly the one in Kansas City. So if anyone would like, or feels led... please pray for JP and CH. God knows who they are... and what it's all about.

Night all... :)

Jane Austin and such

Don't you just love reading Jane Austin's books? sigh a little sigh... I've watched the movie "Being Jane" twice, enjoy the PBS versions of her books better than Hollywood's. WITH the exception of Emma... and possibly Sense and Sensibility, and at some point in my life I would like to attempt making the quilt inspired by her or something like that. It's in the someday maybe mental pile of STUFF to do before I kick the bucket.  However, I sometimes literally do kick a bucket now and again. So maybe I should just rethink that... :) It makes me wonder though, will I have a sewing machine in heaven? I hope so... I just can't stand sewing by hand. :)

Well the tree is in the house, it's up, and watered. I do wish I could have captured mom's face when I came in earlier this evening. We had made a deal... she was going saw off the bottom of the tree if I, would just bring in the saw. BG So I brought it in and went about my chores. :) Came in, and there she sat, a look of disgust  on her face, the tree on the sofa and chair, the hack saw and the other saw, fir needles and such on the floor... I couldn't help but laugh. She wasn't amused, and told me to stop laughing... hey it was a comical scene!

Any who, the tree is up and relaxing, got some garland today at Micheal's, and by tomorrow night the tree should be all adorned with lights, ornaments and pretty garland.

BTW... Phoenix is doing well... :) she's already kicked me once, thinks I the enemy still, but I hope at some point will calm down. What a sweet little face... MUST remember to take her picture!

It's been a long day...

So what's happening with everyone?!

Not so much going on here, farming, choring, thawing, soaking up the sunshine. There were various sized brown bodies sun bathing today. Warmth... It was 45 today! It felt like a heat wave.

Mom and I went and got a Christmas tree today... while waiting for them to get back to the tree lot we went to a Flea Market... lots of pretty and pricey things. And mom being one who doesn't know a stranger started chatting with a fellow dairyman. We are all alike... us dairy farmers. Tired looking, believe it when I see it (that might just a be a Show Me State thing), keepin' on keepin' spirit of what else are you gonna do?

At least it's nice to know that there are still some of use out here in my neck of the woods.

Oh does anyone know how to fix the V key on my lap top? I was broke long ago by someones cat... who shall remain nameless. Well I fixed it or so I thought... and now it won't stay on where it's supposed to be. ARGH

Okey smokey y'all I'm going now... have a good one. :)

Taking the night off...

I'll post more tomorrow... right now I'm cold, tired (OH SO TIRED) and am going to take a hot shower, watch a movie and go to bed...

Thank you to EVERYONE for the kind comments... they made me want to cry... everything makes me want to cry...

OH OH OH... we have a new baby!!!!!!!!! half blind 118 had a HEIFER!!!! this will be our last calf of the year I'm pretty sure. SO any suggestions for a name? I'm all ears...

Where to start...

I don't know. All I know is we have filed and they can't sell our farm tomorrow. It's an odd sense of relief, there is still a battle to be fought. Our attorney tried to work with the lender and his attorney. But the lender would not postpone or work with us. So we did the only earthly thing possible.

It's not pleasant but, we are still here, still milking our little toast colored beauties... (I may get mad and complain about them, weather, prices, and such... but at least God knows my heart.) We are being led by peace and not our wants. If we had peace with packing up and leaving... we would have gone LONG before now. And I mean years and years and years ago.

HOME... what a beautiful word. Both earthly and heavenly.

I want to cry, laugh, put a sign out in the yard with this :-p on it... see that's my carnal side coming out... I'm still working on being heavenly minded. :)

We've got...

Wind, we've got cold, we've got rain drops, WHO could ask for anything more... Ummm hmmm let me see... I could come up with a few things... here is our forecast...

UPDATED: Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.

Some of the coldest air so far this winter is about to descend on the Ozarks. A deep low pressure system is currently forming west of Lamar and will track across Missouri tonight. As the storm deepens the winds are going to become incredibly strong out of the northwest with gusts greater than 40 mph. A few snow flurries are possible after midnight towards sunrise mainly north of Springfield. I do not expect much if any accumulation as the main system will be tracking east quickly. Temperatures will be taking a dive later tonight. The warmest reading on Wednesday is likely to be midnight tonight in the low to mid 30s. Wednesday morning the readings will be in the upper teens and low 20s with teens possible during the day before wrming to the lower 20s during the afternoon. The winds will remain breezy from the northwest at 15-25 mph so wind chills are going to be in the single digits. The cold really settles in Thursday morning as the center of the high pressure moves over head. The sky will clear and the winds will be light. Looking back upstream temperatures in Nebraska are in the single digits so I think this is where we are headed Thursday morning. The high Thursday should remain at or below freezing for a second day. A slight warmup will take place Friday into the weekend but overall temperatures will remain below average through the seven day forecast. A couple of small disturbances will cross the country with one coming by Friday and another Sunday into Monday. Neither system is very big but might be capable of producing a few light flurries, nothing looks major at this point.

SO no snow just cold... Right now I'm cold and heading back to bed before starting the day in the cold. I have one question... WHERE IS GLOBAL WARMING WHEN YOU NEED IT?!?!

There is no title for a day like today... it's raining, papers are flying, prayers and praise being sent heavenwards, the cold is coming, and fear is trying to take hold.

Yesterday I just had joy and peace. Today I still do, but fear is trying to take hold over me. Trying not to let my mind wonder to the what if's and keep my mind on God is some times a trial. I just want to fight and come up with some real ziggers for certain people. Then that in turn leads my mind to wonder how some people can be SO insensitive even cruel and uncaring. Note this is not meant for ANYONE who reads this... You all are and have been wonderful.

I just want to thank EVERYONE for the prayers (and continued prayers) and words of comfort. You'll never know how just someone asking if your OK and listening, well what it does the mind and body good. OK I'm in tears now... :) good ones (I hope).

What's yours?

Holiday traditions, movies, cookies or goodies. This time of year brings many things... Here are some of ours...

Watching: A Christmas Carol (the Hallmark version) several times before Christmas day. It's my mom's favorite Christmas movie. Mine on the other hand is "It's a Wonderful Life". At the moment it's lost... :-/ I'm sure we'll find it...

Cookies: We've never been big on making Christmas cookies. We have good intentions... time seems to slip away and leave us with the NEXT year promise. :)

Goodies: Mom's Toffee... HINT HINT that's one thing that is almost a shoe in for the holidays. That and peanut brittle... the BEST Peanut brittle EVER! BAR NONE! I'll have to post the recipes some time... so we don't lose them. Trust me it's happened before.

Traditions: Having oyster stew on Christmas eve. I really don't care for it all that much... but it's a tradition. I've never been a great fan of soups and such.

So tell me yours... I'm all ears... or eyes I guess. :)

Stephanie Nielson: Plane crash survivor regains hope

Stephanie Nielson: Plane crash survivor regains hope

I just made me want to cry...

Post #291...

Here I sit... toe throbbing, the blower on the wood stove belting out it's "My barrings are going out" noise and nonsense, it's trying to rain and sleet at the same time, and wondering what it all means. Now that I think of it I should be out watering critters before the hose freezes up again. UGH... winter... and just think it's not REALLY winter yet.

Well... I had... yes that my dear friends is the operative word  HAD a whole post written... and some how all but the top paragraph was deleted... sigh....

I'm going now... the auto saving function is great... but oh how I wish it wouldn't save everything so quickly and would let me SAVE if I wanted to, when I wanted to, and HOW I wanted to... GRRRRRR

An Apology

I just want to apologize if I have offended any one buy a post that has now been removed. It was not my intention. Please forgive me if I have...

Sara...

Sunday Stills... Pets

"Scout"

The ever present watch dog... what she's really waiting and watching for is her most non-favorite neighbor (it's the whole family) to chase... Naughty little dog...

"Ranger"

This is what he does best... :) He's never been a really active dog... maybe that's why he's so Fluffy! :)

"Wallace"

AKA: Wally, Bunny, Wallace Eugene (when he's being bad), Mr. Hateful... What a little terror he can be... :)

"Whinny"

Some dogs are just dorky... she is one of them... our first dorky dog. God bless her (with some sense!) :)

"Kodie"

Checking out his first Bumble Bee... :)

Had to go to the archives this week... I never seemed to have my camera handy other than for shots of the moon with the P&S camera.

For more Sunday Stills you can go HERE.

The pain of it all...

:-| that's just how I feel... OK, so here I have had a headache almost all bloomin' day long, about scalded myself in the shower, and to top off the night... I dropped the leaf that we took out of the table on my big toe. Don't ask how, all I know is that my toe is aching and so is my head... and that it all started with wanting to find a pair socks... :-| Just a simple pair of socks.

That's all for tonight all... I'm tired and cranky... can ya tell :) (note that was a forced smile) :)

It's time to hit the hay and wake up to a hopefully sun shiny day without the freezing drizzle that is in the weather forecast.  EWWW

I will be glad...

when my contract with Hughesnet is up. besides the cost, it's getting really old to have uplink issues and web acceleration issues... ARGH. Half the time it seems when you are trying to do something it won't work. It's just very frustrating.

Where will I go when it's up? Haven't a clue... but somewhere with GOOD internet at a CHEEP price. :)

Well I made bread yesterday... not Salt Rising, but just simple white bread and cinnamon bread... it's pretty good even if I do say so myself. It's not as good as Mom's but it will have to do. She makes the best bread...sourdough, honey whole wheat, and then healthy bread... you know the kind that is good for you but some of us just can't take the taste... Yup that's me. She does her bread without yeast... :-/ I need all the help I can get. :)

OK I have a tiny rant here... last night I had to go and get dog food. Some how I managed to forget it earlier in the day. I also needed to get some blinds, some spray stuff to help the tractor start (at the moment it's eluding my mind), and some crackers. OK so all went well got most of the stuff I went for. Came home got one pkg of mini blinds ready to go. I measured TWICE before I went.. 31" ... I buy the 31" blinds... come home...get ready to replace the old ones with the new. Would you believe that 31" blinds are no longer 31"... yup they are 30"'s being sold as 31". I checked the other pkg and it's the same way. This means I'm going to have to back into town and exchange them. ARGH!!!!! Now it's another wasted trip back into town that could have been avoided had they just not had false labeling. I know it's not that big of a deal but dag gum it all... isn't my time important? Wasted gas... sigh  

I'm pursed of lip...

Well the bread was a dismal failure. The "starter" never started. I guess the Lord knew what he was doing in not putting me in pioneer times. I personally have always thought I would have made an excellent pioneer. HA! I say again HA! I detest hand sewing (my thinking is... if God gave someone the idea and know on making a sewing machine then that means I'm to USE that machine, besides I love gadgets!), I like Air Conditioning, I think central heat would be utterly delightful (having never known life with it I can imagine) ! I LOVE heated seats in a vehicle :-) ... and how would I live without my laptop and internet?!?! Yes I know I could... but do I really want to??? NAH...

Anyway today has been a cold and nasty one. The wind just wouldn't lay, and even though the sun shone all day the wind just made it miserable to be out side. It feels more like a January cold than a December cold if that makes any sense what so ever. I some how thought it would be like that. This year the months seem to be switched.

I was thinking though... a great free gift is a simple smile. Have you smile at a random person today? I try to when I'm out and about, well if I'm not grieved of mind, body and soul. You can get some of the funniest expressions in return and every once and a while a smile in return... So get out there and smile! Raise your face value.

I'm atempting....

to make Salt-Rising Bread... Why???? Seemed like a good idea 45 minutes ago... :) Right now we are waiting for the cornmeal and milk to bubble bubble boil and trouble. :)

checking the forecast

I can't help it, I don't like winter... I think if I lived somewhere that there were winter sports or at least the thought of be able to do something fun during the winter months besides tripping, sliding, falling or frozen ruts, cows paths or all of the above except being glazed in ice I would be a much nicer person. :)

Around these parts winter is just blah... I'm sure if I lived were there was snow for most of the year I wouldn't like that any better, nor if I lived where it was mild in winter and roasting in the summer... I guess I'm just NOT happy in extremes... Is it really to much to ask that we don't go from the 60's for highs to the low 30's all in one day? OH well...

I'm hoping the water hose will thaw with some sunshine on it... just read the forecast... the cold is here!!!!! I know that's breaking news... :) but on the up side... no rain or snow for today. Yesterday saw our first snow coming down. It melted instantly, but according to folk lore (ya gotta love this one) the day you get your first snow fall is how many snows you'll have... HEY 2 isn't bad... :)

Gotta run...pray the tractor starts without have to put the battery charger on it... I just hate having to do that...

Hope...

Today I would have to say that HOPE is a great free gift...  Hope means so much, and it's such a little seed when it begins it's life. It's easily encouraged to grow, however it can be snuffed out in a moment. And all it takes to do either are words... good words, encouraging words, words said in anger, words that come and either disappoint or throw you for a loop. Words written, heard and said can shatter your hope. But thankfully we have God and his son, who are always there, ready to pick us up and if need be carry us until we can walk in confidence and hope again.

Hope is... Hope... Faith , hope and love... all linked. If you have hope, you have faith, if you have faith, you can love, if you can love you have hope... and the never ending circle will continue. It's always there, I don't care how low you might feel (trust me... I know LOW and believe me I've been in the depths of despair lately) and yet I hope... I have faith in God that all is and will work out...

Yes I'm giving myself a little pep talk... we all need it now and again... :)

Gifts...

They say the best things in life are free... some days I would beg to differ. Other days, I totally agree. In pondering what gifts I've been given that cost nothing (at least monetarily wise), I would have to say today's would be UNDERSTANDING.

I can give this to someone by just trying to understand where they are coming from, what they are going through, having compassion. Which in it's self is another gift. How much does it mean to someone when we just listen, understand, and have a tiny bit of compassion. How much better would this world be if we truly had understand and compassion for others? Real honest to goodness understanding of a person or situation... taking the time to find out and not run away if it's hard or not pretty.

OK I've rambled on enough... hope this makes sense... it does to me... but I well... I'm UNIQUE! One of a kind... (thank goodness... I know I'm wonderful, but goodness 2 of me... lol ;-)

It's cold and cloudless...

It's a cold and cloudless start to the day. Supposed to get into the 60's today. We'll see I suppose... Right now I'm just cold and slightly grumpy, a morning person I am not. And soon the neighbor will be coming, honking his horn to call up his steers and feeder heifers. Some morning that sound just grates on my very last nerve. It doesn't help that my nerves are already on point and I try NOT to let things bother me, and in trying it makes things worse if that makes any sense.

Oh well, life and the days march on...

In continuing with the theme of the 30 days of Thanksgiving... I'm going to try to find at least one "gift" I've been given every day this month. Something not bought with money, but true gifts.

I'll get around to this later in the day. Right now getting something warm on and starting in on chores is calling my name... Sara SARA oh dear Sara... calves, cows, and goats aren't going to wait forever... or will they :)...