Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Rough Ride

So, Chyann and I went for a ride on Sunday morning. The sky's were blue with big puffy clouds and the damn wind was howling!
Gypsy wasn't too wild about all the wind, but we were going anyway.
As we got down the driveway and started going down a slope of about 45 degrees, into the field a truck pulling a huge camper comes down the road. All of the sudden we hear a horrible noise! I look and the upper corner of the camper is pealing back. About a quarter of the whole damn side is now flapping in the wind, not to mention the truck is probably going about 60mph!! Can you just imagine this noise? We let me tell you Gypsy thought Lions and Tigers had come to eat her!!
She almost falls trying to get up the slope and proceeds to dash down the drive way. I finally get her under control, turning some circles, trying to direct her mind back to where her feet are going. I look to see what happened to Chyann and Casper and they are still in the field with Casper eating some grass. Glad he didn't freak out. The driver of the truck is stopping on the road and the side of the camper is dragging on the ground still flapping in the wind. Gypsy decided Oh shit it's still coming for me!! So off we went again. I got her stopped and walked her back to the barn. Thinking I am so done with this today. The adrenalin dump gave me such a terrible stomach ache that I thought I might puke, not to mention shaky legs that would barely support me...
Chyann rode for a while and had fun. Good thing Casper is spook proof.



Jenny, Gypsy, Scotch, Cowboy and you can just barely see Casper's white back.


Anyhow.. We'll be back to riding again soon...

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Nice day for a ride

Nice day for a ride.
I have not been riding much this spring for some reason. Not because I don't want to, but it just hasn't worked out that I can. Chyann though, everyday is out playing with one of the horses and keeping them tuned up.
So, today we decided to head out.
While I was getting Gypsy ready Chyann got caught getting on Jenny with no rope/halter/bridle. She is a horse-loving, no fear gal that is for sure.

Oops, Mom saw me! Better get off....

Who, me? I'm miss innocent!


This is Gypsy.
She is an Arabian cross of some sort. About 20 years old.
She is looking good this year.

We took the horses up and down the drive way a few times then headed out around the pasture next door.
It wasn't a long ride since Gypsy had not been out in a while, she is a little barn sour and I thought it best to keep the ride short and sweet.
Chyann riding her little unicorn, Casper. As you can see she has clearly out grown him, but he is her favorite and they have a lot of fun together. She taught him to pull her on a sled last winter. Wow, that was so cool, I can't believe she was able to do that. We are looking to get her a cart for him to pull.



I need to finish weeding the garden, but she has talked me into going riding first.
So, we are heading out again today.





Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Strom Clouds and Hot WX

I took these pictures this morning. These storm clouds were toward the west and to the east it was nice and sunny. Lots of thunder and lightning and downpour rain for about 30 min, then a good soaking rain for about 2 hrs.







This bee was rescued from the pool yesterday. It dried off and went back to the flowers.



I gave Colton a hair cut yesterday. He hadn't had it cut since November. I guess the style was shaggy grungy looking. He couldn't stand all that long hair the heat though. Our weather (wx) here has been in the mid 90's with high humidity all this last week.



Caden and Chyann hanging out.





A deer we saw in the field next to the house.


Been busy doing all kinds of stuff. We got the garden about 3/4 weeded, lawn mowed and some horse work done. More about that some other post. I was going to donate blood today since I had not been able to the last few times I tried, due low iron, but decided not to because it's soo hot and I am going to drink copious amounts of beer tonight!


Also I got a bad rock chip in my windshield today on our way to Eau Claire!! Rotten luck it's just in my line of sight.. Good thing I have a hubby that can get that fixed.






Tuesday, June 23, 2009

My kids are home!!

The kids made it home early Friday morning and I can't tell you have good it is to have them back.
Grandpa and his brother-in-law Mike drove the kids up and it took 18 hours because around Wichita, Kansans, Caden started getting car sick. He tossed his cookies for about three hundred miles. All except for once was he able to tell Grandpa to pull over and made it out of the truck in time. Apparently the one time he lost it in the truck Mike handed him a paper bag to puke in and it had a hole in it, so that wasn't good. Caden use to get car sick every time we went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, but had not done that in about three years. No idea what sparked it this time, but hopefully it was a one time deal.
On Friday we all went to the local fair. Colton went one way and Chyann went another looking for their friends and I didn't see them until it was time to leave. Caden hooked up with some of his buddies and rode all the rides and played the rip-off games. I had to stop by the beer tent and have a beer to cool off because it was soo hot. Good time had by all.
Grandpa and Mike left on Saturday am. They made it back to OK in a record setting 14 hours.
The rest of the weekend was spent by the pool and weeding the garden until the rain came on Sunday afternoon.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

We have gotten quite a bit of rain these last few days and we really needed it. Our area had been in a severe drought and now we are only moderately dry.
Our potato patch, with ninety hills, is really looking good. We planted Yukon gold and a variety of russets. The Yukon gold were a lot slower to come up than the russets, so they are the smaller plants.

This is Cheese. Don't know why the kids named her that.

Meet Pinky. We give all the animals funny names and this batch of pigs are named Pinky and the Brain.


Lily and new baby Molly.








Molly is a beauty.


We have the pool all up and running.
And that one frog Cal found the other day has apparently called all his frog friends in, because last night we had an amazingly noisy frog symphony going! There must have been dozens of them!!
Yesterday I went clothes shopping with Kris. It was a lot of fun. I don't know why her sisters hate to shop with her. It was completely painless, especially since she was the one shelling out the cash. Then we had a fantastic lunch at Olive Garden.
OK KID UPDATE:
Yesterday they all went fishing and caught some trout in the huge pond that is on Grandpa's land. Grandpa has a secret recipe for grilling fish and they all loved it.
Grandpa, his brother-in-law and the kids left OK this am heading back this way. Not sure if they are going to drive straight through or spend the night somewhere. We can't wait to see them!!
The local fair starts today and runs through Sunday. Cal and Colton have to work the FFA concession stand on Sat and Sun, so we will be spending some time there.






Monday, June 15, 2009

We had a busy weekend doing all kinds of projects.
Cal found a frog (or is it a toad?) out by the pool when
we were getting the filter and pump out.




I finally attacked the hosta around the pool.




They sure look pretty when weeded.



We are putting a little water in the pool and when it's full we'll take a sample down to the pool people and have it tested for the chemicals we need.


Sure was a beautiful weekend here. Temps in the 80's and a light breeze.

Love WI in the summer!

The calf we had on Friday night is for sure a female and we have named her Molly. She is nursing well and soft as a kitten. She was hiding in the barn today so no new pictures of her.








OK KID UPDATE:


It's in the mid-90's there and HOT!
Everyone went to the movies yesterday and hung out at
the mall.

They are ready to come home, but I don't think they will be here till late Friday or early Saturday. Grandpa's sister and brother-in-law have arrived from CA in their RV and are there visiting also. Sounds like a house full to me.










Saturday, June 13, 2009

New Baby Calf

New Baby Calf
born June 12, 09 at a little after 9pm.

Everyday for the last week I've been saying, today is the day Lily (mama cow) is going to have the baby. I have been doing a lot of cow watching and had just decided that a watched cow is never going to give birth. So, we were cooking dinner last night, Cal doing the pork chops on the grill and me in the kitchen, when I looked out the window and saw something funny going on with Lily's tail. It was practically sticking straight out from her body. I told Cal to go check her out and he gives me the thumbs up that it is finally time! I turned off the stove, he brought the chops in and we grabbed the video recorder and raced out.

For about 15 minutes all you could see was two little white feet poking out of her. Lily was restless getting up and laying down again. She was laying down when she gave a huge heave and the baby's head and front shoulders slide out! WOW!! And Lily is looking at the baby like what in the world is going on here. The baby actually raised it's head up and mooed. That must have startled Lily because she scrambled to stand up with the baby still hanging half way out.


It was the longest minute or two for me when the baby finally came all the way out and hit the ground!! Lily spun around and started licking the baby all over. It was just amazing!!



Within just a few minutes the baby was trying to stand up. Those wobbly little legs didn't look like they could hold her up, but finally after a few tries she made it!
I think it is a female, but haven't really gotten a good look. No name yet, but I'm sure we'll come up with something soon.
OK KID UPDATE: All is well in Oklahoma. Very hot weather and they all managed to get a little sunburn yesterday from being in the pool all day. They LOVED Frontier City and are going again before they start home on Wednesday.
As for us, Cal and I are finally getting use to the house being so quiet. The other night we were eating dinner and Cal says, has the refrigerator always been that loud? It's always sounded like that, the house just never been this quiet so you could hear it.
Our weather here has finally become more seasonable, with temps back up in the 70's and lots of sun. Today I'm going to work with the horses and maybe paint the front door.



Monday, June 8, 2009

Aunt Krissy



Happy Birthday Aunt Krissy!


Today is my long-time friend Kris's birthday!


(this is us, about a 100 years ago, or maybe it was just 10 years ago)



I first met (via messages on the computer) Kris when we were working for the same airline in AK. I was in Cold Bay (CDB) and she was in Dutch Harbor (DUT). We didn't really get to know each other well until she was sent to Unalakleet (UNK) to get a station open there. At the time I was a green employee, having worked there for about three months and being just a wee 17 years old, I had a lot to learn about aviation. Kris had sent a message to CDB looking for a co-worker who was there visiting her boyfriend. I sent her a message back asking her where UNK was, because to me UNK sounded like it stood for unknown. She sure got a laugh out of that and we have been great friends ever since.


After I left AK, Kris would come down to visit twice a year and we would hang out talking about all the good old days when we worked for the same company. Laughing over crazy stories and wondering what ever happened to that pilot/mechanic/ticket agent. After a few years Kris decided she'd like to move to WI, so she did.


It has been great having someone from home, who knew you way back when, living so near. And if you can believe this we once again are working at the same place. We don't get to work together often, but when we do we sure have a lot of fun! Actually it's pretty funny that at our old job we had decided that the best job in the world would be to work in a library and now we do.

(this is us at the library)

OK Kid update: They are having a great time, enjoying hot sunny weather. Although there have been a few interesting things of note. Our little guy got hives yesterday and we don't really know what from, maybe the different brand of sunblock and he tipped the four wheeler over onto it's side. The princess ran the go-cart into grandma's stone garden statue and cracked it (only minimal damage to the go-cart). The big guy hit a stump when riding the go-cart and ripped out the throttle cable. Looks like grandpa will be busy fixing that today.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

A new day!

Welcome to my blog!


I have been thinking about doing this for a while now and have finally gotten started. I don't know how often I'll post, but I'll try to do it often enough that you are up-to-date with what is going on with us.


A little back ground on me. I was born and raised in Alaska. Lived in Anchorage, Wasilla and Cold Bay. Worked in Aviation since 1989 for Alaska's largest commuter airline. Married a handsome guy from North Dakota, who longed to move back to the country in 1991. We had two kids and lived in a duplex with a postage-stamp sized yard when my hubby got the opportunity to transfer with the company he worked for to Wisconsin. Of course, I had just learned we were expecting our third child when we moved. So, off we went to WI (I should also mention we only knew one person in the whole state and had never been here before) with all our stuff, a nine and four year old, two dogs and raging hormones (that was me).


From the first, I have been enchanted with Wisconsin! All the variety of trees, flowers, beautifully clean well kept homes/yards in the city as well as the country, amazing thunder storms, and very nice people. . We lived in the city for three months until we found our home in the country and the fairy tale began.


A hobby farm with animals, hubby who works and has tons of projects around the farm, a son with teenage angst and a drivers license, a daughter who must always be doing or going somewhere (preferably on a horse), and young son who thinks he is Evil Knievel and things can get pretty crazy around here! My theme song when things go sideways is Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle"!!


Anyhow, that is the basic back story on me...


Currently my three kids ages 16, 11 and 6, left yesterday with my folks and niece (from AK, who is also visiting the grandparents), for a vacation in Oklahoma. My mother was the trip instigator and I got right on board with that since I had spent numerous summers with my grandparents in Kansas and always had a great time. The kids were initially very leery, having NEVER spent any time away from us, but I finally got them talked into it, with visions of Frontier Land (OK's version of Disney Land) and many other benefits of hanging out for a few weeks with Grandma and Grandpa (being treated like Kings and Queens for one). The kids were happy and excited to get on the road, I smiled and waved them off. Then promptly burst into tears and spent most of the day alternating between anxiety and fear. Who knew I was such a sissy? Certainly not me. I had visions of my hubby and I sleeping in till noon, not cooking dinner if we would rather eat peanuts and drink beer and in general just enjoy each other. Instead I was in a funk all day and was exhausted from playing that WHAT IF game. So, it was an early night for us. Today I felt much better and actually enjoyed spending the day with just my hubby. The kids have made to OK and are already swimming in Grandma's pool. All is well there so far.


Stay tuned for more on their OK adventure and everything else.