11 miles and a seven year old....

"Are we there yet?", didn't hear that....."I'm tired!", didn't hear that either.
Over the weekend my seven year old and I went on an 11 mile bike ride in 95 degree heat. We rode down to Springs Spree, a local park festival, because I had to work for the station on Saturday. Anyway, with parking being difficult we decided to make a day of it and brave it on the bikes. Chad picked us up in the truck later and took home the bikes. It was fun, and an adventure. We stopped for water when we needed to. We stopped to have the lunch I had packed for us. We crossed carefully with traffic and she listened well. It's good to teach kids that cars haven't always been around. It was amazing to see how much you really notice when you're not stuck in an air conditioned car with the windows up. You take in smells you'd never smell. You see little details about neighborhoods, flowers, people working in their yards, broken fences, fences being fixed, dogs barking, cats in windows....you see the world. Every now and then it's not a bad thing to go back to the simple things. We're getting away from the little things, and those things can bring us joy if we seize the opportunity to let them!

Traffic and other thoughts

When did people start running late to everything? I say this as some jerk sat behind me fuming at the fact I was in the right lane AND obeying the construction zone speed limit. He was swerving back and worth, right on my bumper and jamming his fist on his steering wheel. As if this action was like a magic button that would make the old lady in front of him step on it.
With all of the convenience gadgets and devices in our world to make it easier, why it is increasingly more difficult for folks to cope? We don't iron anymore, wrinkle-free clothes are a god-send. There's five minutes you get back in the morning. You can get news text alerts delivered right to your phone, Coffee literally makes itself with new single cup coffee makers. My point is there are so many amazing things to make it easy and happy for mankind...and mankind is NOT happy. Why?
It's not only that people aren't happy, they're unusually cranky. Ok, let's see the economy could take some of the blame, the oil spill in the Gulf brings us terrible images of sick wildlife and people are losing their livelihood, a lot of folks are not happy with the leadership of the country...but does it really need to be exasperated with angry moodiness inappropriately displaced on others?
So get over yourself! Deal with it! And treat others with respect and kindness, it's not their fault you're in an unfortunate mood. Remember....what you put out there will come back to you!

Fly fishin and more...

Back from a wonderful vacation to the Ozarks, I did NOT want to leave. Our family packed the car like gypsies and headed East last week to Branson, Missouri. My aunt has a home there and invited us to come and stay. The winding hills, lush green trees and grass and cold, clear streams and waterways were unbelievable!! It was incrediably pleasant. The weather was gorgeous too. It was a little humid but I pulled the crazy curly hair back in a ponytail, put on a hat and dealt with it. If you ever get a chance to go to Branson...you must ride a Duck, an old Army vehicle that goes on land AND in the water. Our little girl loved the "duck", little giggles and squeels of joy came pouring out of her. My aunt always hosts with greatness too! She authored a cookbook so you can imagine the eats are good! Really good!!! We canoed in a small private lake, hiked and learned to fly fish. I did NOT want to leave! It was a wonderful experience. We're planning next year's trip back!

So I put away the fleece...

..actually, if you live in Colorado you know that's not true but rather wishful thinking. It's finally getting warmer! Today, it's going to be sunny and 67 and it doesn't get much better than that. I will, at last, put my tomato and pepper plants in the ground. I will walk barefooted in my grass, I will soak up the sun on recession beach.....(uh, my deck) and enjoy it, that is until next week. That's when we could be digging out the snow boots. Naw, I'm kidding of course but it IS Colorado. It's where you can experience three seasons in twelve short hours.
:)

Crock Pot, how I love thee....

There's nothing better than putting a big hunk of meat in a big pot add a few ingredients and let it cook. Coming home to the smell of crock pot wonder is a wonder in itself. If you don't have a slow cooker, you should really consider getting one. Here's why, it took me about four minutes to assemble a complete dinner for my family of three tonight. Roast, two cups of broth, three onions, four potatoes, a pinch of garlic, some basil, peppercorns and a beer. Set it on low or warm and leave. Come home later to wonderful, home cooked goodness. The whole meal probably only costs me about seven dollars. It will last for two meals, at least. I love my crock pot. This is my thought of the day. It saves me time and money, two things that are very precious today.

"Let 'em eat cake"

Oh, boy. Oh boy. I just wanted a chocolate cake for my wedding with chocolate icing....not traditional, I know but I don't care for cake much to start with so there has to be something to hook me. This was met with some opposition. In the end we decided it wasn't worth having words over, however I just have to draw the line at eating YEAR old cake (YUCK) on our one year anniversary. That's just nasty. And I'd much rather the extra cake go to the guests.

My favorite things...

You'll remember the song if you ever saw "The Sound of Music", I recently thought, what would my favorite things be...? We all have things we love and here are a few and why.

Spring grass right after a rain on bare feet, the smell of coffee in the morning and of course it always tastes better in a chair on the porch watching the sunrise. I love bluegrass music for its simplicity and tradition. I love big band music too. There's Greek food..good BBQ and very cold beer, not necessarily together. A ride on a four-wheeler, a horseback ride on a relaxed and laid back horse. A trip to a museum that I never appreciated but now do. Seeing an old friend and seeing them with the happiness they deserve. Fresh, hot sourdough bread when I'm sick and knowing that Fiance Chad will know that. The way my eyes look when I wear plum eye shadow, the way my running shoes make me feel sporty and cool. Catching just the right moment to take a wonderful photo. Having Hannah hand me something new for her art gallery. Listening to her learn guitar. And my favorite things list could go on and on....but "these are a few of my favorite things".

"Is this what they eat in prison?..."

...I heard this come out of the mouth of my sassy seven year old daughter. When her grandmother visits it's always cookies and ice cream at every meal. I'm totally surprised dessert hasn't been introduced at BREAKFAST for heaven's sake. So when Grandma leaves there are tears and complaints of NOT wanting to eat the meal I've prepared for the family. I am NOT a short order cook. I do NOT believe in asking the child what they'd like for dinner. They eat what we eat...end of story. We make it a habit of drinking ice water or tea without sugar. We limit the sugar and fat as much as possible. That being said...I'm not against cooking with a little fat every now and then, I am, afterall from Oklahoma. But the recent whines had become too much.
Finally one night at dinner, Fiance Chad told the "little" that we could eliminate meat for an entire week. Chad is the son of a cattle rancher and loves beef, it's what's for dinner after all. Han loves meat too....loves it.
So on night TWO of "No Meat" week...she asks "Is this what they eat in prison?"
Wish us luck...we have two more nights of this.

Wh What?

Call me old fashioned! I can take it.
It's ok.
I don't claim to be hip and cool anyway, after all I have a daughter I'll need to embarass soon as she becomes a teen.
So the grandmother (not my Mother) is visiting and took my "little" who is seven, to get a manicure...fun, plain girl fun right? Well, they came home to present their beautiful hands....Grandma wearing ballerina pink and grandCHILD wearing RED HOT hooker, porn star RED!!!!!!!!!! eeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk woooonggg woooonggg That is the sound of my head spinning around backward and my eyes popping out (wh-wooga wh-wooga).
The response I got was....."she wanted green...or purple....so I said YES to red" . Ok, how about a little NO every now and then? It didn't hurt me! I heard NO NO NO all the time....I also heard the non-commital "we'll see" which you know means NO.
I think Nancy Reagan said it best...."JUST say NO!"

Countdown to the big day...

...well, not the big wedding day but my birthday....which is Wed. March 17th.
I look forward to it now more than I ever have in my life. This is why...

Thursday, March 23rd, 2006 I spent a week in the pulmonary intensive care unit on oxygen and coumadin following a diagnosis of pulmonary emboli or blood clots in the lung. I've blogged about this before but I re-visit it to stay thankful! I've recovered since and done well but I lost a career over it. I had been in the Colorado Springs Police Academy as a recruit. I lost my peace of mind over it for awhile. Anytime I had a leg cramp, I worried it was again another clot. I've recovered from that too.

So Birthdays are extra special to me now! And I'm not sure how I'm going to spend it--- I DO know that I will spend it being thankful to God and the great things he does. It just wasn't my time.

Branded!

By now if you follow my blog or just read it from time to time, you know my boyfriend Chad--now Fiance Chad and I spend a lot of weekends on the farm. His parents operate a large cattle ranch in Eastern Colorado, Lincoln county, and that's the next one over to the East of us here in El Paso County.

This past weekend, my little seven year old girl helped her soon-to-be cousins with branding the Taylor calves. My friend responded to my Facebook page as "she'll be a well-rounded" girl. I believe she will. The actual branding skill will only come in handy should she decide to become a rancher but she learned more than that this weekend. You learn teamwork. One person takes the front of the animal, the second pulls the hind leg so no one gets kicked. There's a person stepping in to vaccinate, one stepping in to do the branding. The calf kicks like a three year old throwing a temper tantrum like you've never seen! It's hard to continue to hold such an obstinate beast. They want UP, and NOW! Anyway, I feel as though hard work and getting dirty is good for kids. At the end of it all, they realize they can do amazing things. They can deal with emotions and fears. And the love and support of family who are right there with them. It was bonding of sorts for Han and her "cousins". She finished up and took away a great deal from the experience. I'm proud of my little "cowgirl in training".

Once you've restrained an angry bovine beast, you're on your way to being ready for almost anything!




-Branding at the Taylor Ranch in Lincoln County. March 7th, 2010

A lot of BULL!

"Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction".

Don't know who said that but it's good advice. Speaking of bull, we'll be seeing them from the front, the rear and every direction. Saturday will be spent at the La Junta Livestock Sales Arena for the Reid Bull Sale. The Reids will soon be my relatives.

If you've never seen a livestock auction it's interesting. It's not a whole lot different in theory from art auctions. Well, ok, the BULL isn't exactly as serene or still as the still life you might see at an art auction. He's usually well "full of it"! They parade him into an arena and announce his attributes. A few hands go up, and so does the price, a few more...sometimes the auctioneer stops his chanting to pitch him up a bit. "Now, folks, this is a great bull, you'll be very happy with him. His offspring have good birth weights..." etc. etc.

My little girl loved watching this last year. She was glued to the action like it was a kid-tastic Disney presentation. It gives you an appreciation of what ranchers go through. You choose a good bull, you get good calves, you get a good price, it's good. A good life. It's a gamble. We take for granted just how much work goes into that steak on the dinner table.

I will post photos next week after the sale. For now, I must get going I have a lot to do.....and that is NO BULL! :)

The wedding dress fiasco!

I'm no spring chicken! I was married before but I'm excited about tying the knot with Boyfriend Chad or uh, now Fiance Chad!

Chad's never been married. So we're doing the big wedding. I actually like the idea of it because I never had much family. He's related to half the county and I think he's inviting them all. Yep, all of 'em. I jokingly refer to them as the "Kennedys of Cattle", mostly because everyone is related to someone who does the same thing for a living. They're ranchers and farmers. Don't take politcal offense please.

Yesterday I experienced a very frustrating, almost exasperating moment. I went to try on wedding dresses.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee YIKES!

My helper was a nice girl who was fairly down-to-earth but it was obvious she'd been groomed in training to work the bride-to-be's ego. She brings me a size 10. I am one, usually. But at 5'10" tall and a muscular build, I'm usually on board with the idea of needing to go BIGGER! I'm a grown up girl and can take it. Go ahead and bring me your best double digit size cause I'm not going to spend my day feeling like a sausage.

She explains they run "small". I know...they are often European designers of wedding dresses and those women smoke and do NOT eat!

So bring it on out...the big one...yep...I want to be pretty but comfortable, is that too much to ask?
I ended up going with my first choice. Usually the gut knows...now if I could just get rid of mine....LOL!

Annie had a little lamb...

...ok, so that's just...well, dorky but the story is very sweet.
We spent the weekend at Fiance Chad's family's ranch. They have cattle and sheep and they're having babies now. So the gigantic Lincoln county maternity ward has sickness like any other.
Sunday morning a tiny lamb was brought in from the cold, weak, small and not doing well. We put her near the stove in a box and allowed her to warm up a bit. She looked helpless and alone so I couldn't resist picking her up wrapped in a towel to hold her close to me. If this was her last moment, she shouldn't be alone...no one should..but that's another topic for another day and frankly can't be handled in ONE blog. Back to the lamb.
I can't describe how it feels to hold a fragile life in your arms and I can tell you it feels like the best feeling on earth when you feel it makes a difference.
About twenty minutes later, she started to perk up and nibble on my neck and ear. She was looking for dinner. Along with my little girl, I gave her a bottle. She devoured it. When we put her down on the floor, she stretched her too long for her body legs and stumbled about. She followed me around the kitchen, almost like I had become her "mommy".
It was precious and sweet! If she didn't make it, she gave me something I'll remember always. Everything has a purpose on this earth only if for a short while.
And "Ewe" know it's true! ahhhhhhhhh that was probably just plain dorky....like me! :)

And there it was...

...the call in the middle of the night that most of us have received.
"Mom......I don't feel well!", "I'm sick".
My little girl is seven and has been very healthy all of her life so this is frightening.
I stayed home from work because it is ME and only me who can take her to the military medical care facilty to which we are assigned. It ended up being stomach flu and after a day of gatorade, rest and an OTC remedy, she's fine.