Blogger and I are friends again.

Okay, I think I am back in business thanks to my BFF Pea over at Pea's Corner! I have just purchased an additional quota of pictures to use on my site. Pea sent me a website to go to for help and it walked me easily through it. Now it might take up to 24 hours to become active but I can live with that. :o) Thanks Miss Pea!! xoxo

It's been another glorious sunny, breezy day here in the north woods. I wish I'd had some sheets to hang out on the line as it was the perfect day to dry them. I just changed them so didn't think I'd tear everything apart again. Mar*tha Ste*wart I am not. Well, if I had all the help she has I would've rung the bell and asked someone else to do it but I'm not and I don't. Don't get me wrong, I think she is an amazing person and has some wonderful ideas. She has marketed herself so well over the years and even made an amazing comeback after her debacle with the Feds. I even tried to peek over her stone wall around her house once when I was in Conn. visiting a friend. I have no pride. I am also lucky no one called the cops.....

Congratulations to my niece Lauren who got her drivers license this week! She is the one that comes up and rides Nick for me in the summertime. He's the one that needs a job. Badly. He is too young to be just standing around looking gorgeous in the pasture. I don't want to lease him out as I want him here at home with us in the summer but I do wish I had someone to ride him more regularly. He's gotten rather spoiled and lazy.

All the guys got their bridle paths clipped this week and their whiskers snipped off. Also I like to trim off the winter hair around their feet as it keeps them from getting what we call 'scratches' from the mud. Now they aren't really scratches like a scratch but something they get out of the mud that makes scabbie things on their legs that have to be treated. Now I know you non-horse people are just loving reading about digging scabs off horses legs but it all goes with it. :o)

Everyone got wormed too. They don't mind it except poor little Skipper who is my rescue pony. He just freaks out when you try to put the wormer tube in his mouth to squirt the paste in. I don't think he had even been wormed before we got him and that probably contributed to his weight being so low along with not being fed enough. We finally got the wormer into him and once he figures out it is going to happen he is fine, it's just the five or so minutes before that where he rears up and tries to get away and is really frightened. He's not being bad, he's just scared. I try to reassure him and once he has it over and done with I give him some good rubs on the neck and a treat.

I had a meeting today at the Humane Society. I don't know where my head was as I didn't take any pictures and there were some of the cutest puppies there to look at!! One Mom had NINE Labradoodle puppies! They are so adorable. Remember the President was considering a Labbydoodle but ended up getting a water dog? Sniff.......I would have taken the labbydoodle! There was also the cutest pug there that I wanted to bring home! He was shivering from nerves as he was due to go in and be neutered in a few minutes.

Are you all concerned about the swine flu? I am getting ready to haul my grand kids out of school and home school them to keep them out of the germs but I guess Son and DIL wouldn't let me do that. I am naturally a little germaphobic anyway and this has not helped. I guess you can't find a face mask in the stores now. Glad I have some on hand.... :o) Also rubber gloves, I have a whole box of those. And hand sanitizer.

Well Blogger is going to stick to it's guns and keep me waiting the few hours until it lets me download some pictures. Sigh..... I thought I might luck out and at least get a graphic early! I guess tomorrow will have to be soon enough.

Do any of you watch Dancing With The Stars? I can't dance at all but I love watching other people dance. I really liked the couple that is really a couple in real life, the dancer and the singer but they got booted the other night. I thought the rodeo bull rider would have gone before they did. Guess that shows all that I know...... Also American Idol is getting down to the wire and the competition is hot! I don't have a clue who will win this one but if I were to guess it would be Adam, probably now I have jinxed him! Sorry Adam.

I'm mad at Blogger!

Tuesday already. When I think of how for a year or so I posted every day it blows my mind. Now I am lucky to get three posts per week out. It's either that I am really busy doing other things or that there just isn't enough going on here to write about. I prefer the former rather then the later.



In my quest to get Barney The Barn Cat tame enough to live in the house I have started feeding him on the back deck rather then in the barn. I think if he spends more time around the house and the goings on here he will get used to us quicker then living his solitary life in the hay loft. He has been coming out more and playing with Noodles on the back lawn so that is when I made the decision not to take food down to the barn each day but urge him to come up here to eat. It has worked beautifully, he watches for me to bring the food out on the deck, waits till all is clear and then comes and eats. One step forward!



The week of school vacation I called T and D to see if they wanted to come over and play for a while which they did. Then I decided to take them to the feed store to see the baby goats that are there for sale. The feed store has a long time resident rabbit named Stuart and when we walked in we saw Mr. Stuart in the pen with the goats! He was right at home with them, I think he likes the company and was even letting one of them chew on one of his big ears!

For some reason Blogger isn't letting me download any pictures. Grrrrrrrrrrrr..... It is saying that I have exceeded my photo quota. Now what does that mean?????!!! Anyone know what this is all about???? Blogging without pictures just quite 'ain't' the same!!

Weekend Get Away

We finally got our little weekend get away in after all the chaos that's been the case around here the past couple of weeks. Our temperatures went up about 30* which was nice except I didn't take any capris or sandals so was kind of hot. Not complaining though, as we have waited a long time to get temps almost 80*We got on the road about 7 Friday morning to head to Portland. It's a really pretty drive down 95 with lots of farm land to look at. We passed a big truck loaded with round bales. I yelled for him to drop them off at my place but he didn't pay any attention.......rats! Hey Mister! My horses want some of those round bales!!! I'm sure he was thinking why is this crazy woman taking pictures of my truck as I took four or five as we passed him.

We met up with the kids in Freeport, the home of LL Bean. D likes to go in there and feed the trout in the trout pond that they have set up. There are lots of outlet stores in Freeport and we hit a few of them before heading down the road.

We always like to go to the Christmas Tree Shop when in Portland. It has all kinds of different stuff, not just Christmas and is huge! The big mural is so pretty and lifelike.

By then we were hungry so went to Uno's for some pizza. T and D like eating there as they can make their own pizza.

Next it was on to Jokers. This place is gigantic! It is a kids dream. There is everything under the sun fun to do in this place and they did it all!




After a few hours at Jokers we headed to the mall where I went to Chico's and the kids did Build A Bear.

By then it was time to get some dinner at Outback and head to the hotel. The kids went swimming but I was about in a coma from all the activities of the day by that time so sat on the sidelines and played photographer.

The next day we headed for home. It was gorgeous weather and we had things we wanted to get done around the yard. I had a nice surprise waiting for me from my dear friend Pea! The most beautiful trinket box to keep things in and a Someone Special pin for my birthday! Thank you so much Miss Pea, you are a wonderful friend, kind and thoughtful, I am so happy that I have gotten to know you over the past couple of years!!! xoxox

Next week my kitchen should be finished. Yippee! Mom and I have gotten most everything put back in the cupboards. I am waiting now for the electrician to get the power to the dishwasher, stoves and microwave and put the plates on the outlets. The painter has to come and touch up the ceiling and do above the cupboards and then we will be done. Again, yippee! It's been a process but is sure worth it to have a nice bright kitchen where everything works, doors stay closed, the fan doesn't sound like a jackhammer, drawers open, etc Pictures in a few days. :o)

Thank you everyone!

First and foremost, thank you all for your kind words and prayers this week. One person put it so right when she said that this is where the blogging community is at it's best, upholding one another in prayer. (thank you Carrol family!)

It was lovely here this weekend. The sun was out, the temps mild and it seemed like everyone was out raking their lawns, puttering around the yard, just enjoying the sunshine. There are three boys that live down the street from me. They moved here when they were just little tots and now one of them has a drivers license with the other two coming along to it quickly. I looked out yesterday morning and they were raking my neighbors lawn for her, the one who lost her husband so tragically. I've known these boys for years and always thought they were such nice boys, always waving and smiling and now I have an even higher respect for them and for their parents that brought them up to have a caring heart. I think I am going to go buy some Micky D coupons and send them over to the boys just so they know their kind act didn't go unnoticed!

The kitchen romodel continues on. Hubby took me out to the furniture store that I like and we found just what we were looking for for bar stools. We don't have a lot of room between the new bar and the dining area so I wanted something that would tuck right in under the overhang nicely and I think these fit the bill! We brought them home and Dad and Hubby put them together and I am tickled pink! Should have more cupboards up today and hopefully my refrigerator put in tomorrow.

Speaking of refrigerators, little D came in last night after church and wanted a juice box so headed for the refrigerator............."Grammie, is your refrigerator invisable?" he asked. I told him for the moment I didn't have one so he would have to go over to the apartment and get something out of Mimi's refrigerator. That worked and he was happy. :>) My invisible refrigerator!

It was my birthday yesterday so the kids brought gifts and a Dairy Queen cake over after church last night. I had my camera sitting right on the table but got so busy gabbing with everyone I didn't take one picture! :0( Good grief, I'm slipping! D and T had made their own birthday cards and they are soooooooooo cute! Those will go in my memory book for sure!

Gotta love this one!!!

T's was also pretty and creative.

Even a little pop out!

I loved the signs that they brought me.

It was a fun time and the best present for me was having my family here with me. We are planning a little overnighter in Portland soon too so that will be fun. I like to go to the big city occasionally. And then I like to come home. Amen.

Family Weekend

This weekend was truly family oriented. My favorite kind of weekend. Saturday afternoon the kids came over and we had a fire in the fire pit. I didn't have any marshmallows but did have some hot dogs that they cooked. D decided he didn't want to eat his after he had cooked it. It was charcoal on the outside and cold on the inside. Guess one of the raccoons got that one. Yum!

T, D, and Cousin K had fun riding their bikes around the barn and around the circle in front of our house. They used the swings, jumping off higher then I would have liked but remained intact. Later that afternoon we decided to go to our favorite truck stop for supper. Yes, this is a truck stop. It's right off Interstate 95 near here and there are always lots of big rigs in the parking lot. The truckers know where to find good home cooked food. No frozen nuked food for them.

We mainly go there for the homemade yeast rolls. Sometimes they are white sometimes wheat, either way they are just to die for right out of the oven. Everything is home cooked, turkey dinner is the real thing, not turkey roll or imitation turkey. The pies and other desserts are made right there, I like the grape nut custard with a little real whipped cream on top. Or bread pudding. Or peach cobbler.

The other thing they are known for is their baked beans. They also are to die for, they must use lots of molasses and cook them for a long time as they are never hard like BB's. (Not like my one futile attempt at baking beans.) :o( Anyhow we all had a nice supper (you can't call it dinner at a truck stop) and came home. We gave the kids their Easter baskets and they had fun going through everything. They loved their beach towels that I posted pictures of last week also all the other goodies.

Sunday morning the church was full to the brim and the fellowship sweet. Funsize, Hubby, Son and I were on usher duty along with several others and we were busy finding spots here and there to tuck more people in. I like ushering. I get to see everyone and chat a minute or three with them plus greet new folks that have come in. Funsize played the accompaniment for the ladies singing group Adoration and it was beautiful. She is playing more and more all the time and I have a feeling she will be the church pianist at some point. :o) Cousin K wanted to help with the offering so we put an usher tag on him and he did a really good job.

After the service we all went to the Muddy Rudder for lunch. They have a nice buffet plus you can order off the menu which is what I prefer to do. I tend to load my plate up too much going through a buffet line.........

I have a bad cold so when we came home from lunch I decided to read a bit and take a nap. T called and wanted to come over so I told her I was going to nap for a few minutes so she came anyway and crawled in bed with me and was out in two minutes. We slept a couple of hours! Guess she was tired too. We got up and roped Grampie into playing Clue with us for a while. She beat us, and we didn't just let her, she guessed right! She and Grampie went riding on the Rhino but I was in my pj's so stayed put. There was no evening service as the pastor wanted us all to have family time so there was no youth group either. Grampie took T home about 7 as there was school today and it seemed very quiet around here from such a busy weekend.

Today my yard man is here doing some spring clean up. Lots of leaves and branches to clear out plus tree limbs to be trimmed that were damaged by all the snow. I am waiting for the counter top people to arrive. It's almost 10 and I haven't seen them yet so hope they still plan to do the counter top today. Once that is done things should move along really quickly. Yea!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend with your families! :o)

Random Friday

Do you ever sit down at the computer and not have one single thing to say? It's Random Friday and I don't have any randomness to talk about. Kitchen remodel is coming along. The counter top is going to be installed on Monday. I had a shot in my heel yesterday. That's always exciting. Bone spurs can be really entertaining. Now they are talking surgery and 12 weeks being in a cast for each foot. I think not. Well unless it gets so bad that I can't stand it any more. So that would be 24 weeks, six months. Ugg. So I either lose all summer of horseback riding or all winter of snowmobiling. I guess I would much rather lose the snowmobiling then the horseback riding, even though I fall off my horse more then my snowmobile. :o) Not really.

We are going out for Easter lunch. That's one thing about not having a kitchen, you don't have to cook for anyone. We've eaten out way too much lately. My waistband is complaining. I had the best salad at Longhorn yesterday with greens, mandarin oranges, crumbled cheese, strawberries, grapes and a nice light dressing. It was a meal in itself but I didn't know it was going to be so big so I ordered Parmesan chicken with a sweet potato too. It was soooooooo good!

You can see that I am struggling here to fill up space.

The snow is all gone.

The turkeys are trying to attract mates and being very vocal about it. They walk around with their feathers all puffed up and their heads a funny shade of bluish white. I guess that's supposed to be attractive to the lady turkeys.

Someone sent us an unsigned letter about feeding the deer. Sigh...... How about signing your name and we can talk about it?

Anywho that's it from Mud Country. I hope you all have a very special Easter. We all have so much to be thankful for and are so blessed!

Hallelujah, He Is Risen!

Job 19:25
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.

Monday Musings

It's raining cats and dogs here tonight. Most of our snow is gone and this will take the rest of it for sure. The pasture is so muddy from the horses walking around in it, what a mess. I'm glad they are at the stable and not in my pastures as I hate them all chopped up. They will be home after our business trip the middle of May and things should be dried up pretty well by then.

The Snowbirds have landed! Mom and Dad arrived Sunday about noon time on their direct flight from Florida. It is about the only direct flight we have from there now and it makes it so much easier for them not having to change planes. Buffy, as always, flew with them under the seat in her carrier. She is a veteran flier having made the trip twice a year over the past nine years. She doesn't yowl all the way like Mr. Noodles did when we brought him home from Florida. She is too dignified for that.

The kitchen remodel continues on. Today they made the template for the counter top. I hope it doesn't take the counter top people too long to get it cut out as nothing else can be done until it has been installed. To say that I am sick of dust would be an understatement. To say that I am sick of piles of stuff everywhere would be an even bigger understatement. I find clutter very tiring. I like things where they are supposed to be. I need to stop whining and get over it. This was my idea, my project, so I need to put a smile on my face and be thankful that soon I will have a nice new kitchen where everything works! (I am smiling now.)

Last evening at church the Sparkies youth group had their car races. They aren't old enough to participate in the Awana Grand Prix with the wooden cars that they make so it was decided that they would have some races with Matchbox cars. Usually they go and watch the older groups race but it's not much fun when you can't race yourself.

There is always the obligatory nose picking.

Waiting at the finish line.



Miss T.


Mr. D.




Son helping D get his car lined up on the track.

It gets pretty exciting!

Miss T grabbed the camera and took a shot of me. At least I wasn't sticking my tongue out this time.

Awana is a wonderful youth program. We have had it in our church for well over 20 years. The children learn the Word of God and have tons of fun doing all kinds of activities. I know some of you have this same program in your church. Son went through this same program when he was a youngster and now he is the director of the Sparks program. His Momma is proud! :o)

A few weeks ago when I was out running errands I stopped at Micky D's for a quick lunch. I went through the drive thru and parked in the parking lot rather then go inside as I like to watch the little birds that are around begging for tidbits. One little guy was particularly brave and landed right on my rear view mirror. Can you see the piece of french fry that he is coming in for? I think he is come kind of sparrow, anyone know for sure? Do you think these birds have high blood pressure from all the salt????

Guess that's it for tonight. Time for Dancing With The Stars. Oh to be able to move like that! Oh to be able to wear those costumes! Yikes!!!! I don't see anyone wearing a Spanx there!!!

Random Friday

It's Friday again. How time flies when you are having a good time. Is the kitchen remodel over yet? No. Are we moving forward? Yes. I have cabinets! Yea! There aren't any tops or doors but there are cabinets!

They arrived yesterday morning and I was doing the happy dance all over the house!

It didn't take long for the men to get them unpacked and some put in place.

We still have a long way to go but this progress is so encouraging!

Of course now I am trying to come up with what I want to put on top of the cabinets. At Christmastime I will be putting up my Dept. 56 villages which I think will look so festive but in the mean time I'm still not sure. My Mom has roosters on hers and they look so cute but I can't be a copy cat. I keep perusing TJ Maxx home goods dept. for ideas but nothing has hit me yet. One reason I wanted to do this remodel (besides the doors that didn't close, drawers that slipped off the track every time I opened them, etc etc) was to get rid of the soffett (I don't know how to spell that and spellcheck doesn't have a clue but you know what I mean) over the cupboards so that I could decorate there and now I am stumped. ANY IDEAS????????

Most of our snow is gone. We are officially in mud season. The footwear of choice for the next month will be muck boots. For good reason, I almost lost one of my Clarks off while going out to the barn yesterday to feed Barney Barn Cat.

Speaking of cats, Noodles is on the naughty list for staying out last night! He would not come in and we couldn't catch him. It was a very mild night so I think he was enjoying being out but I like them in the house at night due to the wild animals that we have around here. Finally we gave up and went to bed, leaving the garage door up so that he could get in. When we woke up this morning he was snuggled in with us sound asleep, all worn out from his wanderings! Tonight he's not going out after 5 pm!

I am loving the sound of drills, hammers and saws as I type. Music to my ears! Monday the counter top people are coming to do the template for the counters. More pictures to follow!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!