Saturday, December 31, 2016

Holidaze

The week between Christmas and New Years goes so fast.

We had a really nice holiday.
The kids were all home.
It was perfect.

The only mishap over the holiday was the ham bubbling juice over in the oven.
I spent two days cleaning that sucker out, but I can say it is now factory clean again.

I had to take the tree down right after Christmas.
When you walked past it the needles would literally rain off it.
Never saw such a thing before.


The cats had a ball playing in the needles though.


We had some snow this last week too.
Caden stripped off his jacket after getting hot shoveling. 
The temps have still been relatively mild, but we are expecting a good cold snap to come our way next week.


Dodge and his ball.
Silly dog will not leave you alone until the ball is thrown.


Our eldest is gone again already.
He's got that whole adult thing going on and had to get back to work.


Chyann did bird counting with the boyfriend and his family this week.
They didn't see as many birds as last year.

Cute Thor looking all ominous from the back seat lol


She heads back to college tomorrow.

Hope you all have a safe New Years eve!
later :)


Friday, December 23, 2016

And it's almost Chritmas

Crazy how fast this month has flown.
Here it is the eve of Christmas eve.

Somehow I've been ahead of the Christmas rush this year.
Pretty much got all the shopping out of the way around black Friday, with the exception of a few things I picked up yesterday while shopping with Chyann.

Yes our girl made it home on Wednesday.
She arrived with a car load of laundry and the good news of being on the Dean's list with a 4.0 grade average!
She has decided to do a double major - Environmental Science and English with a possible minor in soils. Guess she'll will decide on that later.
Super proud that her first semester away from home has been successful!
She even worked 15-20 hours a week.
Pretty damn impressive.


Our boy has began his Christmas break as well.
We had an interesting week worrying if he broke his nose at a friends house last weekend. They were sledding and he took a shoulder to the nose when they were screwing around trying to knock one another off the sled going down hill.
Fun for 14 year old boys I suppose.
Anyhow his eyes were black and his nose was outrageously swollen, made worse by the fact that he lost some nose skin in the collision.
Looked awful.
Doc said wait about five days for the swelling to go down then bring him in if it looked too crooked.
The Hubby was convinced it was broke. Me not so much.
We were both relieved to see after the swelling went down that it looked normal.
The kid is definitely on track to have a Wilson nose like Chyann does. Part of my family legacy we are passing on :)

Another enjoyable Christmas concert at school.


Colton will be home tomorrow morning it sounds like. He has some new schedule of working overnights from 10p to 6a. A shitty shift in my opinion. He doesn't like it much either and is going to see about changing it after the first of the year.
He just finished all his finals on Wednesday and is done for the semester as well.

I had hoped with all the snow we have gotten in the last few weeks we'd be able to get out the snowmachine and play outside while they are home, but it sounds like Christmas day is actually going to bring a mix of snow/sleet in the am then a bunch of rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Hard to imagine thunderstorms in December.

Today we are baking.
Cookies, candies and other goodies for us and for Chyann to take over to the boyfriends family's celebration that she is attending this evening.



later

Monday, December 12, 2016

Snow pictures


A few pictures of our recent snow fall:


Caden helping move some snow


A cardinal hanging out at the feeder today


The horses coming in for dinner


Gypsy and Jennifer


Meanwhile back in the house the cats are all snuggled up together.
I haven't had to get the cat tamers out at all today, they've stayed out of the tree like good little kitties.


Chyann made it back to St Cloud without incident, thankfully.

Both the big kids have finals this next week then are done for the semester, YAY!

Stay warm out there :) 



Sunday, December 11, 2016

Oh the SNOW

Yes it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The Friday forecast was for 1-3" overnight Saturday into Sunday AM with the majority of the snow accumulation being South of us, so Chyann decided to come home for the first time in over a month.

This morning we probably have 5" and it's still snowing - dang it. Guess we'll see if she gets out of here today.

Finally got a tree yesterday. A real one this year and the cats are loving it. We've had to employ nerf guns, which we call cat tamers, to keep them out of it. Works like a charm I tell you.

Are you ready for Christmas? I actually am. Shopping is done, wrapping is done. Imagine that. First time in a few years I could say that. Feels good.

I've been working a lot of OT. 30 hours last pay period. One more crazy week of it and then I will coast into the new year with a vacation that I'm really looking forward to as all the kids will be home for a bit.

I am contemplating a no drink January again this year. For sure no sugar or processed foods challenge though. Detox the body a bit.

I have pretty much stopped watching the news. I get so pissed off hearing all the shit surrounding our government. Not to mention all the people who believe the fake news that is out there. Come on folks don't be so damn gullible. Do some research. Ugh. That's all I will say about that.

Later


Saturday, November 26, 2016

Saturday AM coffee

It's outrageously foggy outside this morning and warm.
Well warmer that you'd expect for the end of November, 36*.
The snow is melting and will be gone soon with temperatures expected to get up to 50* on Monday.


It was harder than I thought it would be not to have the big kids home for the holiday. Didn't feel like much of a holiday at all actually. I am counting the days until they are home for Christmas.

Caden and I got out and did some shopping yesterday. We had fun. The kid even bought me lunch ❤


Not a lot on the agenda for today. I think I'll attempt to work on the quilt I've had in progress for about ten years. Or maybe read a new book that was delivered to my kindle. Or maybe nap. Possibly do some baking or make a soup. For sure refilling my bird feeders though.

Maybe I'll just look at old pictures and think about a better way to organize them.
Here's a good one from a few years ago.


Have a good day.








Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Winter arrives

It started snowing last night.

This morning when I went out to feed the horses, it was raining and I wondered how long the snow would last.


Two hours later we've got big flakes coming down.
2-4" expected.

It is beautiful.


I am looking forward to the Hubby coming home and firing up the wood furnace for the first time this season.

Since we did our Thanksgiving dinner with the kids already tomorrow we will be having ribs and all the yummy BBQ type fixings.

The most unexpected thing happened this week.
My Mother got a smart phone.
She had worried that it would be difficult to figure out how to use, but nope she is doing better with it than I did when I first switched.
Her first call to me was actually a facetime request!
I was absolutely thrilled to see and talk to her.
Made my day!
She worries occasionally that her hair doesn't look just right, but what she doesn't realize and I tell her is - I don't care how your hair looks, it's so good to see your face!
Especially when she laughs.
Technology people, it is a wonder.

Hope you have a great holiday and safe travels if you are traveling to be with loved ones.
later









Sunday, November 20, 2016

Sunday AM coffee


So what's been going on?
Eh, a little bit of everything it seems.
Busy time of year at work with overtime available so I've been taking advantage of that when I can.
Christmas is coming and there are bills to pay after all.

Up until Friday night we had been enjoying the mildest November on record for weather.
We had booming thunderstorms and pouring rain off and on throughout the day with a high temp in the mid 60's. Even felt a bit humid until the cold front moved in and the wind started howling as the temperatures dropped. 
Yesterday was freaking freezing!
With the wind and cold temps the real feel temp was 14*!
BURRRRR!
We had a few flurries from the storm system that moved through the upper mid-west, but Chyann in St Cloud had almost six inches of the wet heavy stuff.
Other areas of MN got over a foot of snow.

Fall concerts and Veterans programs.


Did I mention Caden got his braces put back on?
Phase 2 has begun and WOW his teeth are on the move.
He will have a gorgeous strong jaw line when this is over.
Totally worth it.

He has decided not to wrestle this year.
Which we support.
He was worried about disappointing the coaches and other wrestlers, but it's his decision to make.
He has other interests that conflict with the schedule and the opportunities there outweigh trying to shoehorn wrestling into the equation with the ever looming possibility of an injury wrestling. Just not worth it.


Anywho.
Yesterday was the start of the gun deer season around here.
Never heard a shot all day, maybe too windy for the hunters I don't know.
This morning though, no wind and I started hearing gun shots at the crack of dawn.
Course that bone head Scotch was out in the back yard this AM too. Don't know where he snuck through the fence at either so he could slip out again.
I can't imagine a hunter would mistake him for a deer, but you never know.

We got hay last week the first time since last April.
I was thrilled to find the price had not gone up, still 40 bucks for a 1000lb bale.

The big kids came home last weekend and we enjoyed an early Thanksgiving together.
I made a turkey and a ham plus numerous side dishes which made for a good amount of leftovers that they were both able to take back to school.
New ham recipe this year. Take your bone in spiral sliced ham, put it in an oval crock pot add 2 cups brown sugar and a can of pineapple chunks. Cook for about six hours. Delicious! Freed up the oven to cook the Turkey and sides. I put a Cajun rub on the turkey and that was good too.

The kids are doing well at school and in life. Sure makes us proud.

We've had some incredible sunsets this month.


later :)

Sunday, November 6, 2016

This and that

Did you remember to turn your clocks back an hour last night before bed?
Did you also remember to change the batteries in your smoke/fire and CO2 alarms?
We did.
Changing out your batteries twice a year is easy to remember to do when springing ahead or falling back.
So do it.
It could save your life.

In other news we broke high temperature records yesterday and have a chance at doing it again today by hitting 70*.

We let the horses out to do a bit of mowing since the grass continues to grow.

Jennifer Rain.
Hard to believe she is 11 now.


 That rotten Scotch was out again this morning so today I'll be running the weed wacker to clear the fence line and get the electric fence turned on.

With all the windows and doors open yesterday the cats sure wanted to go outside.
The orange kitties, Dewey and Captain Crunch, will be going to live with Colton soon I hope.
They are the sweetest but four cats is too many cats in my house. 


Before those two came in, Captain Crunch hid in the Hubby's garage over night and managed to knock down a super heavy metal pry bar. The bar clipped the end of his tail somehow. We figured he'd loose the tip of his tail where the bar hit him and sure enough he did.
Freaked me out to find that on the floor let me tell you!


Sunset from the other night.
It was spectacular.



Anywho.
It's time to get weed wacking.
See ya.

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Saturday AM coffee

Something you never want to see first thing in the morning from the bathroom window when you've barely rubbed the sleep from your eyes:
Scotch hanging out in the neighbors hay field.
No idea where he got out at or how long he'd been out.
That guys is Houdini in horse form.
Thankfully it was early enough that not many folks driving by saw me in my nightgown trying to get a rope on him. He must have been full as he was relatively eager to come home.


It's been gorgeous here.
Mild temps in the 60's.
Good tree trimming weather.

I gave the willow a trim earlier in the week.


It will be a whole lot easier mowing around it next summer.
This summer the branches grew to be laying on the ground about a foot or so and I had a hell of a time getting them out of the way. Once I ran over a chunk of branches which pulled on the main branch so hard it broke off and almost landed on me. Scared the crap out of me.


Random picture of how beautiful it is here.


We had Papa Murphy's pizza last night for dinner.
I don't think we'd eaten there in several years, but I have to tell you it was delicious!
They now offer roasted garlic as a topping choice.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat pizza with out roasted garlic.
It was the absolute best thing ever!
YUM!!

later :)

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Saturday AM coffee

What a week.
ugh.
It's done though and the weekend is here - YAY!
I managed to sleep in a few hours today, which felt wonderful.

Not a lot going on here other than the daily grind, which is perfect for the time being. I'm getting a few things done that I've put off for a while.
Like repotting my house plants. 
My big spider plant was 100% root bound and had almost zero dirt in the pot. It is doing better already.
Cleaning out the coat closet and getting some boxes ready for goodwill.
Things that need to be done, but are put off.

I'm thinking about painting the kids' rooms, but haven't gotten any further than just thinking about it because everyone has such crap packed under their beds and in their closets. If I'm going to paint my grand idea is to take everything out of their rooms, rip up the old yucky carpet. Paint and put new flooring down. One room at a time, but I can't imagine dealing with their junk. Who knows what kind of stuff I'll find and you know since they aren't home very often they aren't going to want to spend their time here doing that. So I'll have to figure out something.
With any luck I can start after the New Year and have it all done by spring.

The big kids are doing well at college.
Chyann says her advisor is impressed that she has the next three semesters mapped out already.
Colton's school has added new animal classes and he has decided to take two of them next semester and another teaching course. Which means he'll graduate in May rather than December and that is just fine.  I think it's exciting that teaching has become a focus of his.

Not sure if either of them will be home for Thanksgiving.
If not that's alright. Its just a day and we can have our Thanksgiving whenever it works out for them to be here.


That's all for now.
later









Sunday, October 23, 2016

Sunday AM coffee

I stayed up too late last night.
Watching baseball on TV, arguing political crap and reading my book.
Enjoyed the baseball and book, but not so much the political crap.

I don't know why I let myself get jacked up about it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion as misguided as it may seem to me.
Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and throw conflicting opinions into a political discussion and everyone turns into an asshole.
It is my vow NOT to speak of it again to ANYONE, ever.
sigh.

Moving on...
We've had a good week here.
The weather has been amazing.
It's the 23rd of October and damned if it isn't 54* right now with blue sky.
Happy Birthday to my nephew Cody! He is the big 25 on this day :)

Speaking of birthdays our eldest will be 24 next week.
Hoping we can work something out to get together with him.
Picture of him on a class field trip last week.


We've been letting the horses out to do a little mowing since the lawn mower is put away for winter and that grass continues to grow.


I took a ride on Scotch yesterday. Enjoyed the hell out of it.
I've got to get out there and ride more.
Somehow riding has fallen to the very bottom of my to do list.


 View from my office window last week when Caden was walking up to the bus stop.
Love the eerie light and colors.


Happy Sunday!
later

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

OH the colors

I love the trees!
Their colors are phenomenal.

The maple on the left always starts turning first and when it's done the maple on the right takes off.
 

An up close picture of it's leaves.


I'm not sure the variety of maple, but it's colors are the most vivid and vibrant I've ever seen.


Wow right?!?


Then this maple starts turning. It seems to have a lot more orange hues rather than red.
Course the willow back there holds it's color the longest.
I think I'm going to trim it up some so it's easier to mow around next summer.


Beautiful time of year.


Birds have the best view.


later :)

Monday, October 17, 2016

CHS baseball fun

We had the best baseball experience at CHS field in St. Paul.
It was amazing!
CHS field is where the St. Paul Saints play.
What an opportunity for these boys to play there and even win a game!


The boys up on the rail when we first got there.


Seriously what a place to play!
It was freaking exciting!
I loved every minute of it.
You could walk all the way around the field on a walkway, which was pretty cool too.


The boys warming up before the first game.


In the bull pen catching for one of the other pitchers.


Getting ready to take the field.


Up to bat for the first time.


He pitched two great innings too!


Team picture between games.


Check out those trees back there.


Racing for third


and running on to home!


Safe at home!


One of the other Mothers took the below pictures and sent them to me.
How nice was that?

After he slid into home one of the other boys congratulating him.


Getting ready to make a catch at short stop.


Then throwing it in.


Not sure what he was doing here, but it's a cool picture.
I tell you what though, those white pants took forever to clean.
Something about the red dirt on that field made it almost impossible to come out.


My favorite baseball experience so far!

Not to mention right next door was a huge farmers market.
I had the best honey crisp apples and fresh roasted corn on the cob - delicious!

later :)