New Year's Eve

Whoa! Christmas flew by and it's already my oldest grandson's 9th birthday- er New Year's Eve. I left my gallbladder behind in 2010, but the bill follows me into 2011. The insurance is claiming it was a pre-existing condition. According to them, everything is a pre-existing condition. So what on earth do I have insurance for anyway? The bill is nearly my entire income for a year. I guess that's what payment plans are for.

Setting that aside, more pleasant memories. Both my sons stayed with me during Christmas- and their fiancees! Colin proposed Christmas morning to Mai. They haven't set a date or venue yet. Hopefully I'll be surprised to not have to travel very far. Wade and Jessica are getting married in March in Seattle and it'll be nice to see my old stomping grounds again. 

My youngest grandson and his first visit with Santa

We had a lovely Christmas. Our church choir sang the cantata we've been practicing for months and it went off without a hitch. Family was together. What more could I ask?

One of my daughters made me a quilt mostly from my own fabric stash

Today it took me an hour to dig my way out of my driveway. I stopped at a store on the way in and got some good 75% off deals. I was first at work so opened up and got the sidewalk shoveled. Later after the snowplow had cleared that area of town, I went out to shovel the ridge away the snowplow had left. While I was busy a very nice gentleman drove by in a pick-up with a blade on it. He motioned for me to move and then he plowed the parking lot entrances for me. The kindness of a stranger. How wonderful to see it! Maybe it's a Minnesota thing. But I'd still like to know who he was to properly thank him with a plate of fresh homemade cookies!

We're supposed to get more snow tonight, but I have 3 days off and plan on enjoying this time.

Happy New Year!  

In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, never in want.     ~Irish Toast

Snow again

This time of year brings the bragging weather. Deer season went by with just the last weekend with a little snow on the ground. It's easier to track a wounded deer with a little snow for the tracks to show up in. Not that I have to worry about that. Last year I shot my deer while it was drinking out of the stock tank. I shot it with my camera. This year I could have gotten one again, but I had 4 little kids with me. No worries, a co-worker who has been hunting on my land is sharing some venison with me her 11 year old niece shot in my back yard. And I found out that I have neighbors who have been giving permission to people to drive over my land. That'll have to stop. But with the snow and the cold weather I'll have to wait until spring to put the fence back up they tore down.

Yesterday and last night we got 12 inches of snow here. I was able to get in (from work) and back out (going to work) of my driveway, and in again ( home again).

 

And then my drive was plowed out and winged way back to make room the next 6 inches that is supposed to dump on us this weekend. Being Thanksgiving weekend, I have a long weekend to stay home and enjoy myself outside. I suppose I'll have to cook the turkey, but the kids are coming on Saturday to eat so I'll have a couple of days to play outside and clean house before I have to put the apron on. The wind is supposed to come up and the snow is supposed to blow. I've got my kerosene lanterns and candles ready if the power goes out. I just don't have an emergency backup heat source. However the dogs do keep me warm if I allow them on the bed.
























I have a confused Christmas cactus in full bloom right now. The bright red does add a bit of joy to the house.

This is the time of year...

This is the time of year for frost to be on my windshield every morning. And this morning this is what I saw when I got in  my car!

 

Toaster the cat made me smile!

Molly the Ditch Dog goes right in her dog house I built when I leave. I'm glad she's appreciative of my carpentry skills. I guess she can't help but be happy she has a home after being abandoned when she was a half-grown pup. Molly has been in training to be a Therapy Dog. She's absolutely wonderful. Not afraid of anything loud, smelly, funny looking, or anything else. But she sure needs a lot of obedience training. I was hoping to test her out on the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test, but the long sits and downs are beyond her at the moment. She'd pass everything else with flying colors. That's something to work towards. As it is now, we'll be visiting a nursing home next Thursday for the first time. She'll have a bath first and have her nails trimmed. Not much else to do with a short-haired dog! 

This time of year the fall colors have faded into the sunrises and sunsets. It's so beautiful in the mornings that I'm almost happy to have to wake up early to go to work.

Of course, I'm very happy to be home again as well.

Thanks, kids!

           My girl's- Actually their good friend who stayed up late to meet them at the airport, my Hermana Missionary daughter and her twin sister, The Girl, with The Kid. 

This past week has been lovely! My Missionary daughter came home a week ago from a Spanish speaking mission in the Tampa, Florida area. She was gone for 19 months. It is so good to see her again, and I'm so proud of what she has been doing with her life.

                                                   The Kid- 11 months old

She had a surprise- well not that much of a surprise since she knew about it, at the Minneapolis/ St. Paul Airport as she came through on her way north. Her twin sister, The Girl (her own name from her blog) and her newest nephew The Kid (again, his name from his mother's blog) met her there and and flew north with her. Hermana Missionary had never met her nephew and had a wonderful chance to get acquainted on the flight north. There were over 20 people who met the last flight of the night in B-Town to welcome Hermana home and were surprised to see The Girl also!

Then a couple of days later their next older sister, Honey Bee, came from Faraway Town with her son the Busy Bee. Hermana had never met the Busy Bee either!

                                                 












The Busy Bee- 14 months old


















It's been such a busy week with all the comings and goings, I can hardly believe that tomorrow is Friday. This morning Hermana and I saw The Girl and The Kid off on the airplane for their flight back to their home. I was to work very early this morning!





               The Busy Bee on my pony, Surprise.

I now have a jar of baby food in my possession as it alarmed when going through the scanners at the airport. They gave it back to me rather than have it wasted. They said it would have to be opened to be tested, and then it wouldn't be any good for The Kid to eat since it couldn't be refrigerated. It was still sealed from the store. I could get ticked off about it, but I choose to be happy about how secure our airport is and safe for my children and grandchildren to fly out of.

                                                      My Air Force Son and his Fiance.

I sure am going to miss The Girl and The Kid, but they'll be coming back in December to meet their future sister-in-law when she comes home with their big brother. I've met her and approve totally!

Thanks kids for growing up to be such wonderful people and providing me with my dear grandchildren!

My best friend

Today my best friend died. Keilas Morgan Accent was a 21 year old Morgan horse who guided me through many years of dark depression. She would snort and toss her head at my frustrations, sharing them with me. She loved me and took care of me on many rides. She insisted I scratch her first when going out into the pasture to visit with the herd. She came at my whistle. Other people could whistle the same tune and she would ignore them, but she always came for me. Keila taught me patience and gave me a filly who now stands in the pasture whinnying for her mother. Spy Royal-Tea Accent may be 14 years old, but the two mares were very close. As Keila went blind from Cushings, Royal became her eyes. When Keila was in trouble, Royal would come running up to the house whinnying for me. She would run back and forth until I'd come out and see what was the matter. Royal is the 'Lassie' of horses. Even my dog Molly spent time in the pasture with the horses when I wasn't home. Hopefully Molly and Royal have a bond that will get them through the transition of Keila being gone.

Keila has gone on before me exploring trails that she can share with me when I join her eventually. Now her eyes are opened and the darkness and confusion of this world are behind her. I love you Keila.

  Keila in her younger years. Cushings disease is evident here. Keila didn't shed her winter coat.

 

Keila and Molly

                Keila gave rides to my kids, grandkids and their friends as well as to me. She protected her dogs from strange dogs and was tolerant to puppies. Keila played catch with me in her younger years.  I had a white towel I used to rub her down and would rub her face when I was trying to get her over being head shy. One day I left it on the hitching post and she took the towel in her mouth and flung it at me. I tossed it back to her and from them on it was a game. She overcame the head shyness! This horse traveled from northern Minnesota through Texas out to San Diego, California to keep my daughter company while she was stationed in the Navy there. They rode together on the beach splashing in the Pacific. Then Keila traveled back to Northern Minnesota in the winter time with a quarter horse weanling. Geri thought Keila was a good foster mother and even nursed from her. One time Geri tried to hurt me in the pasture and Keila came thundering from the other side of the barn and tore into that filly teaching her that I was part of the herd and not to be picked on. The other horses protected me also. Keila loved being a mother and tried to foster every foal she saw, whether it was a horse, a full grown pony, or a donkey.

One thing about Keila. She wasn't terribly fond of men until she got to know them.

I eventually sold Keila to my daughter  who gave her to her son, the Busy Bee. The Busy Bee loved clinging to her back and would fuss when we tried to take him off. Keila was the perfect horse for the grandchildren to ride as she got slower with age.

I have a lot of good memories of my friend.

Catching up

The last post was the first part of July and now its nearing the end of August. So there was the Beltrami County Fair, a trip to Fargo and Becca's Hunter Jumper show, and today I attended the Christian Cowboys Cowboy Days camp out and trail ride. I just went for one day, while other people have been camping out since Thursday evening. I'm so glad I went today! They had a couple of wagons not show up for the ride and there were plenty of people there who wanted to ride the wagons- including me. I don't have a truck or trailer to haul my horse and cart to any of these rides so I have to depend on finding room on someone else's wagon.

Today they had a team and wagon, but no teamster to drive it. I told them that I know how to drive and they got the team harnessed up and hitched for me! Such service. Another fellow even drove them around the field for a little bit to be sure they weren't going to be runaways. They were tough and hard mouthed, but they got to listening for me. By lunch they were going by voice commands and easing off on the speed. I really enjoyed driving those Amish-trained mares even though they had only been driven together once before. They had no names, so I called them Black and Brownie. One was black and the other was bay. The black looked like she had many years on her as she was pretty gaunt in the flanks and had a sway back. The bay was younger looking, but she had plenty of years on her also.

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After lunch the other Teamster wanted to rest so he had me drive his team of Halflingers. Those geldings were so laid back I thought I was going to go to sleep driving them. Except when we came to driveways. They wanted to go into every driveway and so our tracks meandered all over the road. They went pretty straight if I kept them trotting, but I couldn't trot them all afternoon! And they weren't used to their teamster talking to them. Every time I talked to them, I startled them. I'm used to praising the team I drive and get them used to  my voice so they listen for me. I had a wonderful time driving the teams and giving rides and the people that rode in the wagons were pretty happy about their rides too.

 Trying the team out before they let me drive them. He told me that I may have to stand on the brake! I didn't use the brake except when I was loading passengers.

The clouds in the sky on the way home from work are spectacular! I just have to add them in here because of their beauty!

All the Grandkids!

Over the 4th of July weekend my grandkids were all in one state! We had a good time watching the Deb's parade where one granddaughter rode her horse and the rest of the g-kids collected candy!

















Then on July 5th we spent the afternoon at Itasca State Park wading, swimming and enjoying ourselves in the Headwaters of the Mississippi. The Kid, my youngest grandson got to dangle his feet in the mighty river and his cousin 3 1/2 months older tried to squirm out of his mother's hands to splash his feet in the river. The Busy Bee loves the water!

The 4 older kids had a great time swimming around and Ferb tried to dam up the river. It's still running down to the gulf, so no worries.

My oldest daughter and her husband walked across for old time's sake since not that many years ago they walked across the river in their wedding finery.

The cousins enjoyed themselves and I even got a picture of them all with me. It was hard to drag ourselves away to go home and eat some delicious hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon, and birthday cake for 3!

I sure am grateful for my family.

Disappointment

My daughter, The Girl, was supposed to fly home with 'the kid' on standby yesterday. The flights to Minneapolis from Salt Lake City were full and they weren't able to get here. Evidently her suitcase made the flight. I'm disappointed I don't get to see them. I couldn't get ahold of anyone to find out if she was on the flight or not so I went to the airport anyway. She wasn't there. Disappointment.  I went to Home Depot and bought a Weeping Willow tree since that's my favorite tree. (It was the only Weeping Willow and looks really sad. I hope it lives.) Got home and checked my bank account and saw that they charged me double. Disappointment. Another trip to town to get that straightened out.

On the happier side, I got hired and will start my new job on June 2nd. The Girl is hoping to fly home for July 4th. And so far the deer haven't eaten my garden.

Bees

Yesterday was tragic. My daughter called to first tell me her fiance was OK. Then that brings on wide eyes and "WHAT HAPPENED?" It seem that Joe and his boss were each driving a semi loaded with bee hives filled with bees. They were on the interstate south of Minneapolis at a slow down for road construction. Joe was 2 cars ahead of his boss Darren. Darren felt a whump, looked in his mirror and saw bee boxes exploding, and then saw a white food service semi along side of him. The pictures on the news showed the white semi jack-knifed along side of him. There were 2 cars in back of Darren that the white semi ran over the top of before he hit the bee truck. The news pictures were dreadful. The two cars were so mangled it was hard to tell that they were two cars except for the colors. The abruptly released and startled bees were swarming in a black cloud over the wreck and caused great hindrance to rescue efforts. The firemen hosed the bees down with water and hosed both semis of bee hives down in an effort to keep them calm and cool. The loss of bees from both trucks must be horrible, but even worse was the loss of two lives of the drivers of the two cars. The cause of the wreck hasn't been determined, but there is a lot of speculation. I won't speculate here, but I do have to say it was NOT the fault of the bee trucks as I see a lot of comments on several of the news sites.

I stayed up very late last night looking for updates of the situation online since I don't have TV to watch the news. I was greatly saddened when I read that the second car driver who was airlifted out by helicopter had died. She was 24. The families of the two who died are in my prayers. I'm very grateful Joe and Darren are alright. We have yet to see how many bees were lost and the effect on the lost honey production and pollination.

Mustard or ketchup?

Two Wednesdays a month my daughter has meeting for the other 3 kids and herself at church- cub scouts, etc.- that Phineas just doesn't care to attend. So he comes over here to bring a chuckle to my day. Today I've been wiped out all day so all I've wanted to do is keep my nose in a book. When the weather gets over 72 degrees I melt. Well, Phineas & I stayed in front of the fan and watched Horton Hears a Who for the umpteenth time. He snuggles on my lap until I tell him to switch legs because that one is falling asleep. He thinks that's hilarious.

When the movie was over it was tubbie time. I got one of those soft scrubbie things on a stick for him since last time he said I scratched his back with my scratchie scrubbie thing (I don't like sharing those anyway.) I scrubbed him up and rinsed him and then he had fun making more bubbles all over himself again. Such a character. Then it was time to get dried off and in pj's and get a clean dressing on his foot. He had cut his foot going outside a while back, barefoot- 10 stitches. The stitches were out today! Got the foot dried and went to put bacitracin on the bandage to cover the wound and Phineas called it 'mustard'. I told him I was real glad I didn't have to put ketchup on it! And that brought on more giggles.

I am so fortunate to get the happy and pleasing side of Phineas when he's here. His poor mom gets the meltdowns and tantrums that come with his attachment disorder. I wish I could bottle his happy giggles and the cuddles so she could open it up and sample some on those tough days they share.

Next time he's here we both may do some painting together unless another kid beats him to the paintbrush!

SWAGGER WAGON

I borrowed this off a blog I follow. Has nothing to do with me anymore since my kids are grown, but I sure got a good chuckle out of it!

Playdate!!!

Playdate! Puppies and kids- what could be better?! Phineas & I played baseball. I pitched the pinecones and he hit them and then ran the bases the wrong way, or sometimes in a figure 8. The 3 puppies had a grand time running around too! Since that 5 year old had a ton more energy than I, I was only up to bat once. Great pitcher though, he pitched me a home run! So since this old nana was worn out, I sat under a tree on a chair and pitched pinecones from a stockpile we made so we wouldn't have to go searching each time. Talk about lazy! (But smart!) Phineas' family's 2 puppies came and met Molly for the first time and they all hit it off. Molly now has a boyfriend.

Roy the horse likes to be in the thick of things and had to watch us play ball. Then when Ferb and Phineas were playing on the haybales, she had to go oversee them there, too!

Toaster the cat was just a little miffed. The puppies ran over the top of him and didn't even notice my grey fur-ball. When were were all in the house together Toaster sat on the back of my chair hissing and was totally ignored. He didn't even get to arch his back. So that miffed cat had to go sleep in a corner and ignore the rest of us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other 3 g-kids came over after school. I hear they ran down the ditch 'tween their place and mine all holding hands- it's about a mile from their door to mine. They ran back home again when their mom came to pick up Phineas and the pups, but there were two dissenters about the holding hands part! And I had to put Molly in the house, she was very upset the kids were leaving. 

 

 

 

(A time out in the infield while the spectators were asked to leave the field.)

 

 

And now I'm tired after my playdate with the puppies. My puppy is already stretched out by my feet sleeping.

(Picture is of that rare 2-headed cross-breed dog called Bob-Perry taking a cat nap.)