Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Sticky, hot and the wet


Hmm.
Yes, terrible title eh?
LOL
True story though.

The humidity has been hovering in the 70's and it's HOT!
Think today's high was 98*.
We have no air conditioning, only way to stay cool is be wet.


Fans hum and growl in my office as I sit in a puddle of sweat, waiting for the next break or lunch to go hop into the pool with the kids. 
The race back to my office and relish being cooler for about five minutes.

The Hubby stated this evening that maybe it was time to invest in central air or at the absolute very least get a window unit for our bedroom. 
He did not sleep a wink last night I swear.
Tossing and turning and waking my cranky ass up.

First awakening occurred when the kids threw open the door screaming "do you hear the coyotes!!!" and
"We've got to get the dogs in!!"

Nope never heard the coyotes, but none the less stumbled outside to round up the scared pups and bring them in the house.
Sounded like the coyotes were right in the back yard too.

Then the tossing and turning began for me.
I hate the TV on at night.
The Hubby requires the TV on at night.
You see a problem here?
shit.

Anyhow.

Cannon ball!


Handstands and 


Splashing!


Then coming in to build a model when you are so water logged you can't stay in the pool any longer. 


Fun times in a heat wave folks.

Stay cool.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Last game, stats and cherries galore!


That last game was a nail biter!
To start it off we barely had enough players to have a game, the last one showed up five minutes before the game started - whew!

The coach giving Caden and his buddies a pep talk.


Caden's hit a nice one his first time up to bat that was caught by the outfield - bummer.
Second time up to bat was a HOMERUN!!
YAY Caden!!
The video is alright if you can ignore the crazy woman screaming/shrieking  "go caden go" the whole time.
Third time up to bad, he struck out - bummer, but it does happen.

Final score 9 to 4.

Season stats
9 wins and 1 loss
Runs scored vs runs allowed 92-18
Batting:
19/24 - hit and got on base 19 of the 24 times he was up to bat
7 rbi - relatively low due to him being first up to bat in the rotation
Pitching:
9 innings 
7 hits
3 runs allowed

Status -  ALL-STAR!
Fantastic!

Tonight is the end of season potluck and parents vs kids game.
Should be a lot of fun.

Finally it was time to pick the cherries!


I had an agile tree climber to get the ones high up.


We picked 5.5 pounds of cherries and as soon as I get off this computer am going to make some jam and a cherry pie. 

I was feeling strong yesterday so I took the gas weed whacker out and did around all the trees/buildings and anything else that looked like it needed whacking.
Was feeling pretty good - until I stopped. 
HOLY COW
My arms were absolutely noodle-ized.
I couldn't make a fist or lift my arms.
Had to lay on the porch and ponder this weakness for about 20 minutes.

Finally felt like I could move my hands enough to go for a short horse ride with Chyann. 
We rode down in the front pasture.
She sent Jenny over jumps while I slowly maneuvered Gypsy through the cone obstacle course. 
I say slowly because I rode bareback and my damn hands kept having strange muscle spasms - could hardly hold the reins. 
Jeez.

My hands and arms still feel a little funky this morning. 
Hmm. 
Weird.

Anywho, hope you have a great day :)

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Frustration in abundance

Remember I said about a year ago that our neighbors to the West were going to be putting cattle on their land?

Well they finally did
and 
that means freaking gates.

Gates at every trail head we use for riding.

Now they said no problem with us opening/closing the gates and continuing to ride through their land.
BUT
These damn gates are so fracking hard to open/close that I just do not have the muscle to do it.
That wire is strung sooooo tight - unbelievable. 

So.
We decided to walk the horses down the side of the road, it's about a half mile - one way,  to get to the closest trail head.
Yes I say walk because we'd never ridden by the road before.
Never had to because we could just cut through the fields to go out riding.
Did not know how good we had it.

I rode Scotch since I know he'd do better in this type of new situation than Gypsy would and if Chyann had problems with Jenny I wanted to be sure of the horse I was riding.
(fyi the Hubby was almost beside himself with worry over this riding down the road thing)

Fortunately the walk down the quite busy freaking road was uneventful, with the exception of a few LOUD almost frantic whinnying from both Scotch and Jenny to the Shire horses down the road. 
Those big boys were excited to see our horses, pacing back and forth along their fence.


Made it to the trail. 
Do you see the corn on the left?
Not exactly knee high by the 4th of July, eh?
These horses sure knew it was corn tho and attempted to get a bite whenever they could. 
Which in one instance resulted in Jenny flushing out the biggest ass wild turkey we've seen and
as you can imagine spooked her, but not too bad considering she was practically right on top of it.


The ever trusty Scotch's inquisitive ears.
That shady area ahead was actually a bridge over rushing water and the bugs were terrible!


We rode out a few miles before turning around and retracing our trail.


Chyann wanted to ride Jenny back home along the road since Jenny had done so well on the way out, but I wouldn't let her - mean mom eh?

That half mile walk home was hot and uneventful.
We walked past my favorite tree that was blown down in one of the recent storms.
Bummer, some of  Chyann's senior pictures could have been taken at that tree.


I don't know what we are going to do for future rides. 
Put them in the trailer for the 1/2 mile drive to the trail head?
Which would probably be good practice for them since none of them regularly get in it.
Chyann usually has them get in and out a few time a year.
Suppose that is both good and bad.

Anyhow.

Guess what?
Had to call Sears again.
This time I need a new motor for the dishwasher as the bearing is squealing.
It's currently still working but making a lot of racket.
I asked about just getting a new one since we've had so many problems with this one and was told if they came out four times for the same issue I would be eligible for a replacement, but since every time they've been out it's for a new issue I wasn't eligible.
Really?
With all the money in parts and service calls I probably could have had two new ones.


Cell phones.
Love 'em when they work, hate them when they don't.
Colton dropped his in a puddle running into work during the last big storm and it only works intermittently now.
We are out of contract with our current provider and his girlfriend is in sales at a different provider.
What to do, what to do.
I'll be surfing the web today attempting to find the best deal.
UGH.



Happy Saturday :)

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Red Sky in the morning

Tuesday morning we were treated to a glorious sunrise.
Went back into the house after feeding the animals and grabbed my camera.

The pictures don't really do it justice, but you get the idea.



Course I had to mess around with the settings and try the panorama setting.
Pretty cool,eh?



And of course I neglected to change the settings back so Caden took multiple panoramic photos while on his hiking trip.
WHOOPS!


He has been having a great time hiking this week.
Doing a minimum of five miles a day.


Last base ball game tonight.
Should be an interesting game, as this team beat the boys early in the season and we won the second game they played.

Have a good day!

Monday, July 8, 2013

It's always fun

when we hang out with Sherri and her family - which we did on Saturday.

Mr Cool, aka Caden absolutely loved cruising the place in a two seater hot rod go cart!


Somehow we squeezed through that opening in the trees


and cruised newly bailed hay fields.


Hell of a nice fireworks display


and a ginormous bonfire!


Even did some midnight swimming.
Ended up leaving entirely too early the next day, but that is the way it goes I guess. 

Chyann had a great time on her camping trip.
She kayaked, rode jet skis, pontoon boats, helped put out a wildfire, drove a gator, swung from a rope into the lake, stayed in the lap of luxury in a new fancy dancy motor home, and probably about a 100 things she didn't tell me. 
I'm so glad she is home. 
Missed her something fierce. 

This week Caden is participating in a hiking program the school is offering to the Ice Age National park. 
Today he hiked 5.5 miles in the HOT/HUMID weather. 
Good thing he had plenty of water. 
I would have loved to have been able to take some time off to be a chaperon, but couldn't. 
Maybe next year.  

Have a nice evening :)


Saturday, July 6, 2013

Plans changed

Hope everyone had a wonderful safe holiday!

You know what they say about the best laid plans ~ they change.

Chyann ended up going camping with a friend of hers and her family for the 4th up North.
She's been gone since Wednesday afternoon and is reportedly having a blast! With the exception of getting a blistering sunburn on Thursday, first day out and too cool to wear sun block apparently. Lesson learned though and has been liberally applying it and wearing a t-shirt when swimming.

Colton also high-tailed it out of here for a trip to the cities with the girl friend and her family.

Which left Caden a bunch of fireworks. Ended up casually inviting a friend of his and his folks over for dinner so Caden had a friend to do fireworks with. We had a good time.

We never buy much and nothing fancy. About 25 bucks is my limit, I just can't see throwing that much  money away. I'm cheap like that ya know.

I made the best new recipe for the 4th. Pineapple Pistachio Pie from Mr Food. If you are any kind of a Pistachio fan, this is the pie for you! Delicious!!   I did make two variations from the recipe however: I made a graham cracker crust instead of the shortbread cookie crumb crust and used chopped pecans instead of walnuts.  Side note: the recipe states to beat your heavy cream for 5 to 6 minutes.. Yeah that is way too long~ first go around I made butter instead of a nice fluffy whipped cream. Had to google what the hell "stiff peaks" exactly looked like, so my second go with the heavy cream only took 2.5 minutes to get the required "stiff peaks".  What the hell, learned something new anyhow.

The last home ball game was another win! 9 to 0! I tell you these boys totally rock! I heard one parent ask the coach if anyone would even want to play our team next year and he assured her that yes next year we move up a notch and literally everyone would want to play our boys - so expect an even fuller schedule.
The coach is putting together a baseball boot camp type of thing too, starting after the last game on the 11th. Two days a week  for three hours to practice and fine tune skills. Caden is stoked.

Chyann gets her drivers permit on the 15th. Can you imagine that?

Haven't done any horse riding since she's been gone. Maybe I will this afternoon. Depends if Colton will be around.

Anyhow, I'm off to hit some thrift sales and do the weekly grocery shopping.
Have a great day :)



Tuesday, July 2, 2013

A weekend home?

Yes that's right. 
We stayed home a whole weekend.
It's amazing the things you can get accomplished when you don't have to run kids to and fro.

The horses spent some time mowing for me.
Casper came over and nibbled on my shoe laces while I took a break in the shade from weed whacking.


It was beautiful out.
Not too hot and not a lot of humidity.


Caden gave me a headache he spent so much time riding the gocart.


Soon as the four big cows are gone (prob by the 16th) we are going to reseed the back pasture due to so much of the grass being washed away with all the rain we've had. 
Until then Caden is tearing it up and having a blast!


Playing around with the panoramic function on my camera while he raced down the driveway.
That back ridge in this picture is where Chyann and I will attempt a ride to on the 4th.


Speaking of rides we only managed two short rides over the weekend.
I actually put a saddle on Gypsy and rode her. 
Can't even remember the last time I used a saddle.
Felt pretty good.

I put an ad on Criags List to give away the kittens and they have all found new homes!
YAY!!
We are still on the list to get our barn cats nutered/spayed.
Hopefully soon!!!

Last home game for Caden tonight. 
I'm excited ~ Colton is even coming, how great is that!

We've got no big plans for the 4th since we both have to work on Friday.

Later :)