washer disaster

The older I've become... I've also become one of those "wait-til-the-last-minute" people.  I'm not sure why, but that's just how it is with me & I don't forsee this changing in the future either.

I usually make Sundays my cleaning/laundry day.  Today I waited until almost 8pm tonight to put my first load of laundry in.  Keep this in mind... I have to haul my laundry across the gravel drive to Kevin's house (Fred's older brother).  We have no washer/dryer at our place because well... we have no room.  I hope for this to change in the very near future though.  Everyone keep your fingers crossed for me.

So after I turned the washer on, put in the soap & softener & let the water fill & put the clothes in... the washer decided to stop.  The water finished filling up & it was time for the washing cycle to start but instead it decided to just altogether quit.  It acted like it wanted to start washing but only made a few noises & then went silent.  Grrr.  I tried a few things & after I finally ended up cussing at it, I called Fred & begged for him to come home to the rescue.  When he arrived home he said that he switched the laundry over to the dryer... I'm like "HUH?"  The washer wasn't in working condition when I left it, so what happened?  Apparently it decided to start working after I left Kevin's house, who knows.

Frustrating I tell ya... just frustrating!

i'm thinking hibernation

COLD FREEZING RIDICULOUS WEATHER PLEASE GO AWAY NOW!!  I'm begging Mother Nature to let up on us a little.  This is just simply crazy... the temps she's been throwing our way are just off the chart!

I'm thinking I need to go into hibernation & not leave the warmth of home until the temp comes up to a reasonable number.  Although there's no way I could stay confined to my house for that long... I would drive myself crazy.

Winter is my least favorite time of the year.  I hate to be cold.  I like to be able to do things outside & not have to wear 30 layers of clothes.  This whole week the weather was absolutely miserable.  My truck doesn't like the cold temps either.  I can let it run for 30 minutes in the morning to "warm" up, but it doesn't even get remotely warm & it doesn't until I drive a little ways down the road.  Which sucks!  I don't like to jump into a cold freezing truck in the morning.

We still have slick spots & frozen snow drifts everywhere, left over from over 2 weeks ago... what is wrong with this picture.  This is Oklahoma, come on.

Dear Mother Nature,
If could find it in your heart, I would like to request the following changes:
1.  The tempture not dropping below 50 degrees during the winter months,
2.  Snow fall not to exceed 1" for any given day,
3.  No sleet or freezing rain of any sorts,
(this causes all kinds of wrecks & for some reason all the people that don't know how to drive for some reason decide to try their hand at it when the roads/weather is bad)
4.  I think it should only be cold for one month of the year (personal opinion)

I can't imagine living in a state that has cold weather most of the year or has snow falls up to 6 feet like I've seen on tv.  I keep seeing all these crazy weather stories & thinking if I lived there, I would pack up & move for sure!  Hibernation would have to be the only option in some of those cases.  You would have to always keep plenty of food & supplies at your house full time just in case you get snowed in & can't leave your house for like a month or something.

I've received some emails with pictures of snow drifts that are as tall as the house.  Now I'm not quite sure where this actually takes place at in the U.S. but no matter where it is, that's just insane.  It's one thing to see the emails that get passed around about things like that, but I just can't imagine me actually being in that situation & witnessing it.

I say we all team up & flood Mother Nature's inbox with tons of emails begging her to let up on us with some of this weather!

Sam Elliott day

Who doesn't love Sam Elliott?  I mean seriously.  Every movie I've seen him in, he's great!  He always plays the bad ass & does a fabulous job at it I must say.

We found this Sam Elliott western collection at Wal-Mart & Fred bought it.  We've had it for about a month now & we decided tonight was the night to watch two of the movies.

There's 3 movies in this collection:
"The Desperate Trail", "Rough Riders" & "You Know My Name"

Here's how our day went today...
We crawled out of bed around 10am-ish, watched a little tv, then put on 30 layers of clothes & headed out to start breaking water.  We broke water at our house then headed over to his parents house to break water there.  The water line was frozen going out to one of the tanks so we had to fill buckets & haul several loads of water out to the tank.  This took the entire afternoon.  Then my mom called to tell me that the pipe busted in the front bathroom & water gushed out everywhere, but she got the water shut off then spent several hours cleaning up the mess.  After we finished at his parents house we stopped by my parents house to see if there was anything we could do, but dad said he was just going to wait & call the plumber out first thing Monday morning to check it out.  He thinks there's a pipe broken underneath the house maybe.

After leaving my parents house we stopped by Braum's to grab some dinner then headed home to eat & relax.  We hadn't eaten all day so after we inhaled our food we were ready for a nap.  Yeah... that's right... we fell asleep around 5:30pm & slept until 9pm tonight.  We were both exhausted after freezing our butts off all day long.

So after we arose from our nice nap, we decided it was time to put in the Sam Elliott movies.  We watched two of the three movies: "The Desperate Trail" & now we're watching "You Know My Name".  I have a feeling we're going to be wide awake for no telling how long after taking such a long nap earlier.  That's the bad thing about taking naps so late in the day... then your up all night & can't sleep.

Who knows... we might be up until the wee hours.

my 4 legged princess

My first 4-legged born child... Abigail Elizabeth. I got her when she was merely 6 weeks old & just the most adorable baby in the world. Just like children though, they grow up so fast before you turn around. Even though she's not really a baby anymore, she's still and always will be my baby, no matter how old she gets.

I named her Abigail Elizabeth... I've always loved the name Abigail & well my best friend's middle name is Elizabeth.  Growing up we always told each other we would name our children after each other & so her first child was a girl & she holds my middle name.  And to me, Abigail is my first child, so I named her after my best friend.

I will be the first to admit she is spoiled completely rotten & that's putting it lightly. My dad always says & I quote "she doesn't even know she's a dog". Yeah... he's probably right. Wait no... I know he's right. It's my fault, I made her this way. I have to say I've learned allot of do's & don'ts with her that's for sure. First & biggest mistake was not socializing her when she was little & during her growing up days. She doesn't get along with any other animals, people, nothing... period. She barks non-stop when visitors show up & when it comes to other animals, well she becomes a little agressive & immediately attemps to be the dominate one.

Once she sees the same person a few times, she warms up to them & everythings all good. Some people she takes to right away & others it takes her awhile. Don't ask me why or how, she has her own personality that's for sure.

I think the #1 thing that bothers me the most is that she's not good with kids. I can't trust her alone with any small child. She attempts to "mount" them the minute she has the chance to. As long as I'm there to supervise she does ok. All in all though she's just not real tolerable of children & them trying to play with her. It just really sucks & I wish I could somehow change that.

Having another dog in the house with her, is not even an option. I've tried that & well let's just say that was way to much stress & just flat didn't work out. This is yet another regret I have in raising her... wishing she got along with other dogs/animals.

Abigail requires a fence! If she sees the opportunity to bolt & run faster then the wind... she takes it. It's quite a task to catch her too. Shaking the cookie box or squeaking her toy works most of the time - but sometimes it's not good enough. My biggest fear & worry is that she'll get out somehow & get ran over or something. OMG I would totally freak out if that happened. Ok, let's not talk about that. Moving on...

Honestly, for the most part, she's a well behaved child. Sometimes she thinks she needs to test the waters a little, but I guess that's to be expected.

When it's time to go nite-nite... Abigail knows exactly what that means & as soon as you ask her if she's ready to go nite-nite... she rushes to jump on the bed & plop herself down. She pretty much takes up the entire bed when she stretches out & gets comfortable. Yes I know, it's sad but it's the truth. She's a total bed hog & she insists on sleeping underneath the covers.

Our weekday morning routine goes a little something like this... I wake up, get out of bed, head to the bathroom for a shower... in the process there is no movement from Abigail what-so-ever. As soon as I emerge from the bathroom & reach the bedroom door, she comes out from under the covers & lays her head on my pillow & I cover her up & tuck her in like a burito. This is where she falls back to sleep & catches a few more shut-eyes while I'm putting on make-up & getting ready for work. As soon as I'm ready she knows it & rushes off to the kitchen & into her kennel & waits for me to come give her two cookies. As soon as she's done with her cookies, it's time to go outside to pee then it's time for me to leave for work.

Sadly enough, this routine is the exact same every single day of the week. Now, when it comes to the weekends... well that's a totally different story. If there's ever a chance to sleep in, then Abigail sleeps in too.

Abigail is definitely the "Princess" of the house - for sure!

Gray's Anchor Man

This baby is approximately 2 weeks old & he's such a cutie!  First time I saw him I didn't have my camera with me... go figure.  We went to feed hay today & I made sure I didn't forget my camera at home.  He's pretty quick on his feet, so it's hard to get close because he takes off.

I fall in love with all the new born babies, I just can't help it.  And if I could make a living off bottle feeding baby calves full time, I would do it in a heart beat!  Of course the ideal situation is not have to bottle feed the babies, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I'll at least have one.  Bottle feeding babies means that something has happened to their moms & that's not good... but that just means that I become their new mommy.  This new baby is doing great with his mommy though, so my mommy instincts aren't needed unfortunately.

We haven't really named this new baby boy yet... but more than likely it would be somewhere around the lines of "Gray's Anchor Man", but just look at these precious eyes.  White face, brown eyes... just adorable if you ask me.

If only I could get close enough just for a quick hug.  That is... without his mommy trying to run me over, knock me down & stomp me into a mud puddle.  I think I'll just keep my distance & enjoy him from a far.

Emery Cat Board

How many people have seen this info-mercial on tv?  It's called the Emery Cat.

Their description is "now your cat can trim their own claws with the Emery Cat Board".  I have to admit sometimes curiousity kills me, so I immediately visited the website to check it out after seeing this on tv.

"The fun new kitty scratcher that actually grooms cats' claws while they play"  "Buy one get one free... only $19.95 + shipping & handling"

For me personally I'm not a cat lover... #1 because I'm highly allergic to cats.  I can't even be in the same existance where cats live without having an allergic reaction.  If I wasn't so allergic to them I probably wouldn't mind them so much, but I try to just keep my distance.

I'm very curious though... I wonder if this Emery Cat Board would really work?
I love watching info-mercials just to see what people are coming up with these days!  I find it amazing!

turkey visitors

We have a group of visitors that have been coming around every day here lately to say hi.

This picture was taken December 29th early in the morning.  It appears that the turkey like my truck & want to go for a ride.  The only ride they would ever be taking in my truck would be in the bed & they probably wouldn't be aware of it.  Good thing I like ham allot more than Turkey or they might have been in some trouble.  They've been hanging out by the hay feeder with one of the bulls, but this is the first time they've ventured this close to the house.

I love waking up to look outside to see this.  Well... other than the fact my truck was currently stuck at the time of this photo.  Makes me wish I would've went with a 4x4 instead, but oh well it's almost paid for so that makes me very happy.

Last year we had some deer that would just walk up almost to the front door, but I wasn't ever able to capture any pictures.  It just happened that I never had my camera close & I tried to get some pics with my camera on my cell phone but they didn't turn out worth a flip.

Hopefully the deer will come back around again this year & I can sneak a few pics without them knowing.