Bubblegum Diaries

Best! Horse! Ever!

2012-01-09T10:38:00.002-05:00

How amazing is this gorgeous horse? :-)

How anyone can send such regal and smart animals off to slaughter for meat is beyond me.

That's like eating cats and dogs!

Say NO to horse slaughter!

Under Leaky Gunmetal Skies

2012-01-07T14:40:00.001-05:00

Today is all about melancholy.

I blame the weather:

There is so much grey this winter, I don't know where to put it all!

I almost miss those mountains of white snow sparkling in the sun.

Almost.

We do get bits of respite, those are the days the dogs and I
manage to cough up enough energy to play for a bit.

Waiting for their friend Dante to arrive:

...and then it's back to this for the rest of the day:

...and this all night long:

In my next life I want to come back as my own dog.

****

It's raining today.

Vegas and I rebelled and went out for a Junk Lunch, I had

mozza sticks, french onion soup, black forest cake and coffee.

He had a cheeseburger, a poutine and coffee.

About 3500 calories, all combined.

It didn't help any.

Sigh.

Back to clean eating...

***

Come out, sunshine - I miss you!!

Love,

Blue Technodoll xxx

the New Year :)

2012-01-01T12:19:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I know - two months is a long time to be away from blogland...

No mojo = no posts and that's just how it has to be. Today I feel like sharing a few pics with you but I'm not promising a full return as I find *cough* facebook *cough* a more interesting place to hang out, so if any of you want to join me there just send me a message on gmail (my address is in my profile) and we'll take it from there, yes?

Cool! So! Onwards and upwards and in no particular order...

New Year's Eve at the Technofarm was a very quiet affair, just Vegas and I enjoying a little picnic in the living room and then a movie - neither of us like the pressure and fanfare of partying with loud drunk people so we made sure to hermit the evening away. It was lovely :-)

We did however celebrate Christmas day with my family, made the drive to my brother's place in harrowing weather - everyone thankfully made it unscathed - and oh, the laughs! the food! the noise! It was perfect.

Us on the way there before the snow, ice and bad drivers wiped the smiles off our faces:

Back at home, the two fatheads held the fort (and the tree):

Oh yes, there were many "just because" moments too! :-D

A couple of weeks before the holidays the doggies got treated to an afternoon at the spa, well OK mommy and daddy got treated by not having wet, smelly, shedding dogs in the house - yey! Everyone fell in love with the goofballs, they made us proud by being super well-behaved. It was Maika's very first time being groomed elsewhere than at home and Dakotah's second time, so yeah I was relieved and happy!

They are still nice and fluffy and sweet-smelling today, isn't that nice!

The weather, on the other hand, isn't that nice...

alternating between ice-cold, blowing snow, hail, freezing rains

and warm melty weather before it freezes again :-/

On the rare nice days I try to take Jack out for a little exercise, those horses are so dang lazy it's unbelievable! I guess the grey weather affects everyone. Ah, sunshine, come baaack!

I don't think I blogged about this but a couple months ago we almost lost Jack to an impaction colic that lasted three days... The vet had to come on emergency calls three times in two days, he suffered tremendously through all sorts of complications and I truly thought he was going to die, it was horrible. However this boy has a very strong will to live, he's a fighter, we stayed by his side until he got better and the incident brought us closer together -

I love my old sweet boy :-)

In April, this big old sweet girl named Gazelle is coming to spend the summer at our place, my friend would like to give her to us as they have too many horses... If all goes well with the other horses and if we can afford to feed an extra mouth next winter then she will stay - this girl needs some TLC (she has heaves) and I think she would be very happy here! She's over 20 years old and was pulled from a feed lot auction by my friend's daughter so not much history on her, however she is apparently very sweet, quiet, gentle and independant - so we'll see.

Counting down the days!

And that, my friends, is about it for now...

Wishing you all a great start to this new calendar year - be kind to yourselves!

necessities for growth

2011-10-30T22:20:00.000-04:00

Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom.

~Phyllis Theroux, Night Lights

improvised efficiency

2011-10-27T14:11:00.001-04:00

I sometimes surprise myself :-D

OK fine, it's just the brain going into auto-mode from years of absorbing stuff like a leaky sponge, but still. It sure comes in handy sometimes.

My friend raised some grain-fed meat chickens this summer, had them slaughtered at 14 weeks of age about a month ago - these birds lived outside in a big aviary, were never fed any antibiotics or crap and got to eat bugs and whatnot.

I bought six thinking they'd last until spring.

Until I tasted one a couple of weeks ago.

Oh my goodness.

First, they're the size of turkeys.

The meat is darker, there is no layer of fat under the skin - and they don't "shrink" after they're cooked, either. Grocery store birds are soooo disgusting when you think of it - I can never again buy that garbage, I'd rather go without. Did you know that unless the package says "air chilled", the meat is pumped with water? And the babies are slaughtered at 39 days of age, after being crammed in a dark stinky barn full of shit during their short lives? And let's not talk about what's being fed to them to force them to grow so fast, so quickly.

*shudder*

Anyways, I digress.

This morning I had one of these huge, defrosted, shrink-wrapped birds in my sink and no idea what to do with it. So I started taking it apart...

Breast meat in a bowl, skin off and cubed. Ah, I'll make an indian dish with that tomorrow evening. In the fridge it goes, covered and ready to go.

Huge legs went in the crock pot with brown sugar, dijon mustard, garlic, balsamic vinegar and pepper. I'll cook those down to fall-off-the-bone goodness and that'll be good for lunches - sammiches and whatnot.

The huge carcass with plenty of meat left on it and the two giant wings are now simmering on the stove with onions and celery, we'll have chicken and veggie soup later tonight and I'll be sure to make enough for leftovers. Oh and I'll have an extra container of home-made broth ready to pop in the freezer for another day, too.

It's amazing how many meals we're getting with just one huge, ethically raised & fed bird.

I sometimes wish I wasn't such a wuss, I could raise our own meat birds and save a lot of money on grocery bills and I'd know exactly what we're eating, you know? But alas, if I've seen it alive there is just no way in hell I could ever hurt it, never mind eat it.

I even have a hard time ripping veggies from the ground, sometimes I can hear them screaming when they're being cut...

Maybe I need help.

sweet

2011-10-26T15:29:00.000-04:00

Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out,

but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake.

~Author Unknown

Well, I'll be darned!

2011-10-24T12:55:00.001-04:00

Lowering high blood pressure by eating less carbs?

Who would have thunk it?

New studies are coming to light showing that a low-carb diet is key to lowering blood pressure - of course you combine it with a healthy diet full of lean proteins, fruit, veggies, good fats, not too much salt and nix the junky & processed foods. Exercise, reduce stress, bla bla.

But low carb is the key.

At least, it's kinda working for me...

I've been averaging 140/95 the past few years, my parents are both on BP meds and my doctor said it was only a matter of time before I have to take them, too. Ugh. I'm too young for that!

My annual doctor's appointment is next month so I have to take my BP at home at least twice a day to give her a month's worth of averages to consult. Well, imagine my surprise when, sprinkled among the regular high crap, I'm seeing days of 120/80 - hadn't seen that in years!!

The only lifestyle change I can attribute this to is the elimination of most carbs & processed foods since end of August.

After binge days (we allow ourselves a treat on weekends, a blow-out day so to speak) my BP goes right back up for a few days. If I eat really well and stay away from carbs, it goes back down to a normal range.

Wow, eh?

I don't feel any different though, not sleeping any better and I don't have more energy than before. I do have less padding on my hips & tummy, I have lost about 5 lbs and kept it off so that's good (for me).

Might reward myself with this for those dark days :-D

Happy Monday, peeps!

tuesday smile :)

2011-10-18T22:43:00.004-04:00

just to clarify the below...

2011-10-15T14:58:00.001-04:00

No, we are not adopting any bunnies...

But if we ever do in the future, way-off future - no worries:

they will all be of the same sex to avoid reproduction!

I may be crazy but I'm still sane, LOL!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

bunnies!

2011-10-14T20:13:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity to photograph some cuties this week...

Which one is your favourite?

I *almost* want some bunnies now...

But again it's just more responsibilities - sigh.

busy, busy, aaaaaa!

2011-10-12T17:24:00.000-04:00

Not much time to blog these days -

had to cram in as much outdoorsy stuff as possible

before the cold rains come - scheduled to start tomorrow

and last for a few long days, yuck!

The fall foliage is absolutely splendid this year,

a rare treat to see it so vibrant!

I'll post some pics this week :-)

Vegas is again in town tonight so no chance to cook up a nice dinner,

what a bummer - I've no idea what to snack on :-(

He works too bloody hard, my dear husband.

I don't like seeing him so burnt out and stressed.

It's a bit contagious.

Anyways.

Life is good, it's just a temporary hiccup in the grand scheme of things -

not exactly lemons but maybe grapefruit? LOL

Gotta run, the farrier's coming tonight to trim the horses' feet

and I'm alone for everything -

dogs to feed, chickens to put to bed, horses to bring inside the barn, etc.

And it feels like I *just* got out of bed, where the heck did this day go???

humans: nature's cancer

2011-10-09T17:36:00.000-04:00

Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create,

so that he can add to what he's been given.

But up to now he hasn't been a creator, only a destroyer.

Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life's become extinct,

the climate's ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.

~Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, 1897

Adult Truths

2011-10-07T20:14:00.000-04:00

(thanks to my dad for sending me this gem!)

1. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times

and still not know what time it is.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize

you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure

I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you
how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work

when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive
for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't

want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if

I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I

did not make any changes to.

14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to

answer when they call.

15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or

Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before

you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear
or understand a word they said?

20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to

prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty,

and you can wear them forever.

22. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not

know what time it is.

23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys

in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey -

but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away,

in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

24. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and

the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for

men to realize that their brain is also important.

someday.

2011-10-07T20:09:00.002-04:00

Someday, I'll find a blog background that I really, really like.

Someday.

In the meantime you'll have to deal with surprises

now and then.

Cool?

thought of the day

2011-10-06T10:53:00.002-04:00

it's all about the mud

2011-10-05T11:09:00.002-04:00

Seriously, after 5 straight days of rain

you don't want to see what the floors of our house look like.

Thank you mucky dog feets!

But I will show you what our old man Jack is sporting these days:

a wondrous coat of mud!

There are plenty of burrs to go around, too:

Yep, autumn - time of plant seeding, cold rains,

shorter days and less to eat in the fields.

I hate to say it but I'm happy I get to live inside!

Today is grey and blustery

BUT

apparently a nice stretch of warm sunny weather is on the way.

*I'll cry if not*

For dinner tonight:

Egg shred.

Layer in a baking dish:

Shredded potatoes, peeled and rinsed dry

Shredded cauliflower

Chopped spinach, green onions, peppers if you like

Shredded cheese

Cover with beaten mixture of eggs, milk, spices.

Bake until bubbly and browned on top.

Of course carb content has been monitored during the day,

plenty of fruit and veggies have been eaten

and junk food has been avoided.

Ideally.

*blushes*

I'll leave you with a sound byte -

it's kind of relaxing, isn't it?

Happy Hump Day, peeps!

distractions

2011-10-03T14:35:00.000-04:00

Oh boy.

I'm fighting a super-duper craving for potato chips right now,

it's the evil PMS in action.

Instead I'll have an apple and a cuppa this

and hope the cravings pass:

Gotta love organic hot chockit...

Apologies for those of you who know me on Facebook,

as most of these pics aren't new for you.

But whatevs - maybe some stories on here will make up for it? ;-)

***

My sneaky little sister took this photo of me

last month at my brother's wedding.

I have no clue what I was daydreaming about.

It's so kitch, but I love it :-D

***

My mom's going to Polynesia in less than a week,

can you believe it?!

She's dreamt about it for decades and planned for it last year,

and now the countdown is but a few short days.

I think she's flying to the west coast and from there

they get on a huge cruise ship and tour the Polynesian islands,

with lots of stops for visiting.

I'm so excited for her!

You only live once

so make the most of your dreams.

Sometimes it takes enormous sacrifices and face-offs with tough choices

but down the road: you're not taking your wealth with you to the grave.

Live now while you still can :-)

Go mom, go!!

***

Meanwhile, at the techno-farm:

Vegas watches soccer while I watch him watch soccer.

Someday we'll get to decorating this giant shell of a place...

Anyone else here dreaming of hiring a professional decorator

to take the pain away? LOL!

no dark n'dreary allowed

2011-10-02T13:47:00.001-04:00

I think I'm pretty much done with my blog facelift.

Kinda like the old one, but much simpler.

Light and airy, winter fairy ;-)

As I write this it's pouring down with rain, nonstop -

second day in a row.

Way to start your month, October!

Boo.

I still haven't set out that skunk trap to catch the little spraying bastard,

I'm afraid of actually catching it -

and then what?!

So we walk in fear, every day.

I'm such a wuss.

We have a new boarder on our farm,

she's been with us for two weeks now and it's going splendidly.

Her name is Flyka (alternate spelling to Flicka):

Isn't she cute?

She's the smallest horse I've ever seen!

Her new owner rescued her from the slaughterhouse last spring,

after saving up for a very long time to buy her very own horse.

Flyka, who is around 20 years old, was bone-thin and unkept

and badly needed someone to love her again.

Yes, this eleven year-old girl is just amazing :-)

Have a great Sunday, peeps.

one million reasons

2011-10-01T20:02:00.003-04:00

Those who think it is permissible to tell white lies

soon grow color-blind.

~Austin O'Malley

simplicity

2011-10-01T15:44:00.001-04:00

Ah, this feels so good - out with the old and in with the new!

Was getting fed up with too much junk on my blog.

So yeah...

I've started spring cleaning the house -

don't laugh, the seasons have no right to dictate when I can

get the grunk out!

Grunk: grunge and junk.

***

So, our new way of eating (see below posts from a couple weeks ago)
is going splendidly.

I can't imagine ever going back to eating the way we had been.
My god, was that ever gross.

The cravings for junk food are slowly disappearing, too.

I love seeing the tummy-and-hip fat melting away, w00t!

Now, if I could only find the secret to

long deep dark restful sleep every night...

Ah well, you can't have everything.

***

Anyone happy that it's already October?

arooiin' and wahwahin'

2011-09-21T13:13:00.002-04:00

I don't share our lovely doggies often enough...

Caught this on video yesterday afternoon, enjoy!

(Dakotah takes up the last half with lots of vocal happiness)

I can't believe our big boy Dakotah will be 8 years old this Christmas.

And Maika turns 6 this October.

Slow down, time!!!

On the home front

2011-09-18T10:38:00.000-04:00

Retirement: It's nice to get out of the rat race,

but you have to learn to get along with less cheese.

~Gene Perre

overhaul

2011-09-13T21:20:00.000-04:00

I keep trying to like blogland again but it feels like a giant snore - help!

Facebook has taken over my life.

Seriously.

Anybody want to friend me, send me a message at sparkleberrygirl@gmail.com and we'll take it from there. Trust me, it's much more interesting than here!

Maybe I'm just bored with my blog.

It's been looking the same for ages - blah!

If anyone could recommend a good, fast and cheap coder who would give this page a facelift, please be my guest. I'm inspired but this place brings me down for some reason... it feels worn out, know what I mean?

Time for change :-)

***

We're on Week 3 of our new way of eating and it's going great - much easier than I thought it would be. We just cut out most simple carbs (breads, cereals, pasta, etc), processed foods and junk food / desserts / snacks. Filling up on lean proteins, fruits and veggies - and wow, the pounds are melting off, I didn't expect that :-o

No calorie counting, just making smarter choices on what we eat. The best part is not being hungry all the time, no carb crashes or hypoglycemic attacks. Mind you, the detox period lasted a good 5 days and I was sick as a dog from morning 'til night - it was awful. Totally my fault though, I had been stuffing myself good n'proper with terrible junk food for too long, uggh.

When it gets to the point where you feel gross eating what's in your hand or on your plate, it's time to make some changes. I now try to avoid eating things that are made of ingredients I can't even pronounce!

Looking forward to grocery shopping tomorrow :-)

Incidently - shopping has become a bit depressing. There are entire aisles that contain absolutely nothing that I want to put in my body anymore, how terrible is that? Rows and rows of junky processed crappy foods, it's mind blowing. No wonder the industrialised countries are obese.

Anyhoo.

Time for bed.

G'nite.

on difficult times...

2011-09-07T22:08:00.002-04:00

If you're going through hell, keep going.

~Winston Churchill

Farmer is right...

2011-09-06T20:30:00.000-04:00

...Going 6+ days without blogging is unacceptable!

Just struggling a bit with life right now - see The Chicken Diaries for details.

Please spare a good thought for us?

I've not been around to any of your blogs for ages.

And I have no excuse except blogging blahs.

I feel sooooo bad :-(

My brother got married two days ago!

It was a beautiful and simple ceremony shared in great company,

followed by awesome food and a lovely evening.

I am blessed to have such a wonderful, loving and sane family!

And best of all my sweet husband Vegas (smooch smooch!)

True story from today:

Gotta do the groceries. Of course I pick out the crippled cart,

which breaks down halfway through shopping

forcing me to pull the dang heavy thing through the store like a donkey.

The cashier rings up my groceries and uhhh, don't you know it:

I forgot I had transferred my wallet to my other purse

two days ago for the wedding.

Frickin' brilliant.

Soooo not in the mood for this...

So yep, I had to drive back home empty-handed, retrieve my wallet

and go back to the store to get my bags.

Dumbass.

Days like these should end with a drink

but all I have is hot tea.

It will do :-)

this made me giggle :-D

2011-08-31T12:26:00.001-04:00

well!

2011-08-29T11:57:00.000-04:00

The last day of vacation was gorgeous!

Sunny, warm and did I mention, warm? ;-)

Vegas, all chilled out by the sea...

My stepdaughter, soaking up the rays...

No, it's not a dead child on the rocks! LOL!

The beanies all nice and cool and sandy
after a last swim in the ~~freezing~~ refreshing water:

We had to cut our vacation short by a day

to avoid driving home under hurricane Irene's wrath.

But!

Home sweet home!

We bunkered down yesterday and weathered out the storm,

so to speak.

Irene, what a bitch your far-flung slap was!

Everyone's fine, we never lost power

and kept most of our trees.

The creeks bordering our property have morphed into giant lakes

but stopped just short of flooding the farm buildings, thankfully:

Our neighbour across the creek got very lucky...

The waters stopped 6 feet from his basement windows!

So today is dedicated to cleaning up the yard from

strewn branches and leaves,

cleaning out the chicken coops from soaked bedding

and trying to enjoy the warm sun.

So good to be home.

I hope you're all good?

eye candy and techno zombies

2011-08-25T21:05:00.000-04:00

A few more pics of beach combing fun :-)

(all pics click bigger for crisp details - mmmm crisp)

We had the beach to ourselves, yay!

Happy doggies...

Ah freedom!

Maika fancied a bit of a swim

so she took herself out for a dip in the sea...

Vegas and his beanies:

I'm not sure what's going on here,

something about a big stick and big dog teethies?

Treasure!

Don't ask...

Dakotah's too heavy to swim

so he just likes to wade in the water for a bit of cooling down...

Made a bit sad by his limping

and inability to climb rocks...

This will probably be his last vacation by the sea :-(

Vegas, his daughter and the duckface competition...

I'm not sure what started the goofing off

but it led to a pretty hilarious photo shoot!

Yeah, we're on the straight and narrow, we are!

My favorite photo!

OK no I lied, this is my favorite photo!

"Help Me"

Two more days of vacation left - time is going by fast!

Cheers!

some pics of vaycay :)

2011-08-23T21:39:00.000-04:00

How can you not love a cottage by the sea that has high-speed internet? :-D

(all pics click bigger for details n'stuff)

Our deck chairs under moody skies:

Our cottage - we have the unit on the far right side,

it's 3 stories high with a wrap-around deck

and the smelliest water I've ever been forced to endure, LOL!

A few steps down from the cottage...

Driftwood, rocky shores and a pier.

Tranquility :)

Vegas testing his "shore legs":

Since I can't ride my horse,

this is the next best thing - LOL!

My stepdaughter being blown away by the wiiiiiinds!

All of this in jammies!

Yeah, we have fun goofing off ;-)

Happy doggies enjoying a strip of beach...

Front view of our cottage,

our unit would be on the left side now.

Completely restored historic building from 1853!

Vegas the sea pirate, arrrggggg!

I was being silly with the "duckface"

since we both think it's hideous...

...and then Vegas joined in.

He totally wins the duckface competition.

Stepdaughter enjoying a beach snooze.

It's not a dead child! LOL!

Hope you enjoyed...

Lots more pics on the way!

'Night!

yippee!

2011-08-20T10:07:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow, we're off tomorrow for a week by the "sea"!

It's not technically a sea but it's salty water with daily tides and rocky shores so that's good enough for us. We rented a gorgeous cottage which is big enough for us adults, Vegas' lovely stepdaughter and the two doggies - yes, they're coming too!

I may post some pics as there is internet... so... stay tuned ;-)

XXX!

Thursday funny :-)

2011-08-18T18:24:00.002-04:00

Click on the pic for the giggles!

morsels

2011-08-16T13:52:00.003-04:00

I finally filed a police report a couple days ago for the property break-in I blogged about... sure glad I did because not only was it a very positive experience, it was rewarding too: with my description of the criminals they now have a pretty good idea of who it was and may proceed with an arrest shortly.

Did I mention one of my close-by neighbours also got robbed that night? And that the theives came back 4 nights later, bolt-cutted through his toolshed lock and emptied it out? All while he was sleeping in the house a few feet away.

So yeah. Not putting up with that shit.

Gotta keep a safe and united 'hood :-)

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Got some oatmeal & chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven as I type this. I don't know how I'm supposed to melt my fat ass down if I have warm cookies within reach. I'm a knob.

▌║█║▌║▌││║▌║█║▌│║▌║█║▌║▌││║▌

They say when you're hungry in-between meals, you're probably just thirsty. So I'm trying to drink more liquids (the good stuff, not the sugar-laden stuff) instead of snacking. I keep forgetting to fill my glass though, then I'm both hungry AND thirsty and a bit grumpy from it all.

Knob :-D

▌║█║▌║▌││║▌║█║▌│║▌║█║▌║▌││║▌

Vacation countdown T minus 5 days!!

w00t!!!

/end of Tattered Tidbits post/

oh snap!

2011-08-14T11:27:00.000-04:00

Snap as in snapshots of life :-)

Vegas chilling out on the deck yesterday -

he likes to stick his feeeeeets in my face.

He he.

A few days ago I drove to the city where my grandmother is housed -

my mom makes the trip there from Quebec city once or twice a month

so it was a good opportunity to meet and have a girl's lunch.

Overcast day, nice and refreshing!

My mom and grandmother in the facility's gardens -

it's a really wonderful geratric center,

I was surprised to see how clean it was

and how much the workers there care for the elderly.

Make no mistake though, this is a place where people come to die -

very sad, in a way.

My grandmother can still stand to move from chair to bed

but that's about it.

I love my mom, she truly is the very best there can be.

We can still pass for sisters, you know ;-)

Moi et grandmaman.

She is 88 years old and afflicted with alzheimer's,

one of the worst curses ever.

She still has bits and pieces of her old self left

but it's just the rare flash here and there.

Soon she will lose the ability to speak altogether,

it's so heartbreaking :-/

But at least she still laughs and smiles a lot,

everyone adores her at the facility.

The past two years she has held onto this crazy little doll,

night and day and day and night.

She talks to it, kisses it, keeps it warm and covered -

it's a bit creepy but apparently very normal with this disease,

a link between the illness and the real world?

I'm so very glad I went to visit her-

the last time I had seen her was last November

when my grandfather passed away.

He also suffered from Alzheimer's.

I only hope this disease isn't hereditary O_o

Wishing you all a good weekend!

because it's super awesome

2011-08-10T20:05:00.001-04:00

If you take a moment to watch this,

to listen and to breathe it in...

I promise you won't regret it.

Love, Mother Earth

Please share far and wide!

happy, gay, joyeux

2011-08-09T20:46:00.002-04:00

Drag is when a man wears everything a lesbian won't.

~Author Unknown

scumbags!

2011-08-07T10:47:00.000-04:00

Really?

You little shitheads think it's funny to break into people's property at 2:30am to steal stuff? It's a freaking farm in the middle of nowhere, get a life!!

So yeah, we got woken up at 2:30am last night by frenzied barking (and I had earplugs!) - Maika was going crazy - she never barks in the night and certainly not so savagely. Vegas went downstairs to see what was going on and I stayed upstairs, ran to the front of the house and looked out the guest room window to see three young guys in hoodies with backpacks hoofing it out of our driveway :-o

I wasn't sure what was going on until this morning - I found a lock stolen from our small chicken coop as well as one gone from a side garage door.

Seriously, dudes? You steal door locks? From a chicken coop?

I don't know where those bastards went nor what else they stole, we think Maika scared them away before they got their hands on anything costly.

Thank goodness for big mean-sounding watchdogs :-/

Now we have to buy working locks for both coops, it's frightening to think that anyone can (and will) come on our property in the dead of night to mess around - what if they had tossed some of our chickens out in the dark, just for fun?? We cannot lock the garage nor the barn though, so now I'm a nervous wreck.

I worry for my babies :(

Took us ages to fall back asleep last night, I'm angry and pissed off - we left the city because of this shit, you know? And now we can't even feel safe in our bunker in the middle of nowhere?

We should train a few skunks to patrol our property at night - you come here uninvited, you get sprayed!!

Sigh.

Why are people so disrespectful?

how times have changed!

2011-08-04T22:08:00.001-04:00

this may be the death of it

2011-08-03T22:13:00.001-04:00

(( warning - brain dump ahead ))

It seems I just can't blog anymore.

I keep thinking it's just a phase, I'll get my writing mojo back... but nope, nothing. And I sit there and stare and stare and can't think of anything I want to write about - it's like it just doesn't matter anymore, you know?

My life is shrinking.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying every moment - but my farm life/ housewife routine seems too dull to repeat post after post. I've no funny job stories, I have my chicken blog to talk about the flock life, I don't go anywhere nor see many people so the adventures aren't there to share, and the private home stuff can't be shared here because too many wrong people have access to this blog - if I were anonymous it would be a whole different matter.

Most of you know what I mean, yes?

Anyways.

I'll probably get a part-time job after this summer is over, just to get me out of the house for more than grocery shopping.

Not that I miss dealing with the public but I don't want my brain to rot.

Something like that.

Thankfully I have a little "girl getaway" coming up soon, my bestie is picking me up and we're crossing the border for a couple days of eating bad greasy food and shopping at American stores - looking forward to taking lots of pics and just being elsewhere for a bit.

I'll be homesick after 15 hours but oh well :-D

Then in three weeks Vegas, his daughter, the dogs and I are spending a week by the sea for a real vacation, it's been three freaking years since we went anywhere!

So I'm looking forward to that, too.

Crisp salt air, hungry seagulls, the lull of sea tides against rocky shores.

And then it's September, my brother's wedding, time for apple picking and a couple of photography contracts, preparing the barn for winter housing...

...and then maybe I'll scrap this blog or give it a major overhaul, I'm quite tired of this look and feel.

Maybe.

Probably.

/end of Not A Writer post/

pinned down

2011-07-31T13:10:00.000-04:00

Suburb: a place that isn't city,

isn't country, and isn't tolerable.

~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

George Carlin

2011-07-29T11:45:00.001-04:00

Some of his famous oh-so-funny quotes - if you're sensitive to foul language you might want to skip this blog post. RIP, Conductor.

[about businessmen] They don't even trust each other. They don't trust one another. When a businessman sits down to "negotiate a deal", the first he does is to automatically assume that the other guy is a complete, lying prick who's trying to fuck him out of his money. So he's got to do everything he can to fuck the other guy a little bit faster and a little bit harder.

Whoever coined the phrase "let the buyer beware" was probably bleeding from the asshole.

Angels, shit. What about goblins? Doesn't anybody believe in goblins? We never hear from them, except on halloween, and it's always negative shit too, you know. And zombies! Where the fuck are all the zombies? That's the trouble with zombies, they're unreliable. I think if you're going to buy the angels shit, you might go for the zombie package as well.

I'm thinking of opening up a motel and calling it "The Sleep and Fuck". Wouldn't that be a good, honest name for a motel, who needs this "Shady Pines"-bull shit? "The Sleep and Fuck"-motel. Get me one of them big neon signs: "Sleep", "Fuck", "Sleep", "Fuck".

White people have no business playing the blues ever, at all, under any circumstances. Ever, ever, ever. What the fuck to white people have to be blue about?
"Banana Republic ran out of khakis"?
"The espresso machine is jammed"?
"Hootie and the Blowfish are breaking up?"
White people ought to understand it's their job to *give* people the blues, not to get them. And certainly not to sing or play them. I'll give you a little tip about the blues, folks: it's not enough to know which notes to play. You need to know why they need to be played.

This is my idea for one of those big, outdoor summer festivals. This is called Slug Fest. This is for men only. Here's what you do. You get about a hundred thousand of these fucking men. You know the ones I mean. These macho motherfuckers. These strutting, preening, posturing, hairy, sweaty, alpha male jackoffs. The muscle assholes. You take about a hundred thousand of these disgusting pricks, and you throw them in a big dirt arena, big twenty-five acre dirt arena. And you just let them beat the shit out of each other for twenty-four hours non-stop. No food, no water, just whiskey and PCP. And you just let them punch and pound and kick the shit out of each other until only one guy is left standing, then you take that guy and you put him on a pedestal and you shoot him in the fucking head.

Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man, living in the sky who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of 10 things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these 10 things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever till the end of time... But he *loves you*.

ok maybe not regularly, but... :-)

2011-07-27T17:43:00.001-04:00

comforts

2011-07-25T14:45:00.000-04:00

A day of comforts...

The heat wave is over, at least for now.

The storms are over, at least for now.

It's a perfect semi-overcast day, not too warm and not too cool.

Sweet breeze to tickle the senses.

The dogs are catching up on sleep,

wish us humans had the good sense to do the same!

Comfort food for lunch:

thick-sliced fried zucchinis, served with fat-free sour cream:

And a cold glass of home-brewed lemon iced tea:

Tending to my "herb garden",

a lovely potted gem given to me by a very sweet friend:

Hand-mowing bits and pieces of the property

such as the dog run next to the house

and the chicken coop runs:

Watching the horses graze in the field

after yesterday's lovely ride in the woods -

Old Man Jack and I had some awesome galloping time

through freshly-harvested fields on the mountain,

it was bliss!

Cleaning and packing up some eggs for this week's delivery,

the girls have been too hot and too stressed to lay much

so it'll be what it'll be:

What's summer without beautiful sunsets? :-)

What are you comforts for today?

oh dear lord

2011-07-22T10:02:00.000-04:00

Watch out what you wish for, eh?

My last post wished for rain-

and oh boy did we ever get hammered last night :-o

Got a minute of it on camera,

it lasted a good four hours in total.

You can see the force of the lightening in the middle

of the video and towards the end - yikes!

I'd never seen such a fierce tropical storm in my life -

something's terribly wrong with our weather patterns lately...

*scary*

One of our evergreens lost a limb

and smashed part of a chicken coop run,

so we had to fix that this morning.

The barn flooded and is a swamp this morning.

Our house flooded a few times last night too,

since the storm hit so hard and so fast

we didn't have time to close all the windows in time.

We played this game for 4 hours...

Open windows to try and cool the super-hot house down,

then rains would come smashing down

and we'd run around closing windows again

and suffocating.

What a summer!

if i had one wish right now!

2011-07-21T18:21:00.002-04:00

Rain.

Blessed, cooling, refreshing rain.

Pretty please?

It ain't pretty...

2011-07-20T21:01:00.001-04:00

I'm not ignoring you dear blogger friends,

I've just been battling some pretty horrific chicken coop problems since the weekend -

putting in 8 hour days is beyond draining,

I've not once spare ounce of energy left for anything but sleeping.

Bug warfare, it's not really chic:

Notice the long-sleeved turtle neck top to match the head gear.

There are also long pants, big rubber boots and rubber gloves.

Chemicals suck but bugs suck even more.

Fucking vampiristic predators.

To give you a clue of the misery,

the below sign says it all:

Hottest and most miserable week of the summer so far,

and it's only getting worse.

46C with humidex tomorrow,

that's 115F for you non-metric peeps.

I have to keep my flocks alive somehow,

this is beyond ludicrous.

If I wanted this kind of shitty weather

I'd move to India or to some tropical forest hell place.

Anyways.

Drained.

words for thought

2011-07-16T21:57:00.000-04:00

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.
~Emily Dickinson, "Time and Eternity"

well...

2011-07-14T19:29:00.000-04:00

I'm bored with blogging these days, can you tell?

Introspections remain in my head, private life stays at home and all the traveling I'm not doing shows up here (sarcasm), it's too hot to cook or talk about food, I don't garden and there's nowhere to bring the dogs swimming so no pics of growing veggies or wet pooches.

Thank goodness I have a chicken blog or I'd be invisible!

Vegas is in town on business until tomorrow so I may take the dogs out for a walk tonight after sundown, which we never do. Adventure in the hood!

Tomorrow night I'm picking up three new white cochin chicks, it's a bit of a drive but it'll be fun to visit some new friends and see their coop setup. Saturday I have a photo shoot the next town over, looking forward to that too :-)

Hopefully horseback riding on Sunday - we'll see, since the temps have been above average lately and aren't going down anytime soon.

Next summer I'm lobbying for a pool in our back yard!

So there you have it, the calm before the storm - I have a feeling life's about to rock n'roll pretty soon (in a good way), so no complaints. I'm just not used to having the luxury of enjoying a summer from beginning to end, you know?

Happy :-)

/end of SPF 60 post/

love, pure form

2011-07-13T17:39:00.000-04:00

Animals are such agreeable friends -

they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.

~George Eliot

seven nights of noise

2011-07-11T20:51:00.000-04:00

Every July our town hosts a music festival - annoying in itself because the bands are crappy and we're close enough that the racket carries loud and clear, but this year they started early: tonight.

And the Grande Finale is... Sunday.

Seven freaking nights of trashy noise blown into our house until midnight.

GAH!

Vegas said that this year we'll walk up there with the doggies one evening and hopefully they'll pee on a a piece of equipment or something.

*snicker*

Summer is kicking our asses this year, too. I kind of love it despite the 24/7 sticky sweat, the sleepless nights, heatstroke, the bugs and the fields-gone-crazy-with-eight-feet-tall-weeds. Because this year, I'll have had my fill of the heat and winter won't feel like such a nightmare.

You know?

OK maybe you don't, but try to imagine ;-)

Did you know that cooking your pancakes in vegetable oil instead of butter makes them crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside? Yes yes, it's awesome! Then you add a pat of butter on your stack and drench with real maple syrup and - oh god. Have a mega craving now. Dammit!

Don't watch The Food Network, it's evil.

Speaking of evil, there's a leftover home-made ice cream sandwich in the freezer.

It's totally mine.

Good night!

and fashionably so

2011-07-10T15:53:00.002-04:00

Fashion can be bought.

Style one must possess.

~Edna Woolman Chase

A Male Fairytale

2011-07-09T11:13:00.000-04:00

(I got this in my email this morning, had to share the giggle!)

Once upon a time, a Prince asked a beautiful Princess, Will you marry me?

The Princess said, No!!!

And the Prince lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles and banged skinny long-legged big-titted broads and hunted and fished and raced cars and went to naked bars and dated women half his age and drank whiskey, beer and Captain Morgan and never heard bitching and never paid child support or alimony and banged cheerleaders and kept his house and guns and ate spam and potato chips and beans and blew enormous farts and never got cheated on while he was at work and all his friends and family thought he was frikin cool as hell and he had tons of money in the bank and left the toilet seat up.

The end.

snapshots of life

2011-07-07T17:59:00.000-04:00

When you can't sleep, get up and take pics!

5am misty sunrise from a couple mornings ago...

It was beautiful :-)

Another foggy morning -

fascinating, eerie, ghostly:

It *does* get thick as pea soup sometimes!

We have a pair of these gorgeous birds that hang out

in our back yard - are they doves?

Snack time, yummy snack time!

(random, unstaged pic - yep, we live the high life)

More of our back yard -

I'm a big fan of the clouds, can you tell?

Sleepy fathead aka greyface aka Dakotah-bean...

Already going on 8 years old.

Where did the years fly to, old boy?

Good night :-)

smoking is so passé

2011-07-05T20:59:00.000-04:00

Thank you for Not Smoking.

Cigarette smoke is the residue of your pleasure.

It contaminates the air, pollutes my hair and clothes,

not to mention my lungs.

This takes place without my consent.

I have a pleasure, also.

I like a beer now and then.

The residue of my pleasure is urine.

Would you be annoyed if I stood on a chair

and pissed on your head and your clothes without your consent?

~Sign from Ken's Magic Shop

(s)well!

2011-07-04T22:31:00.000-04:00

The good thing about hot summer months is that you drink loads more.

Which, in my case, leads to alot of bloating - yeah, neither comfortable nor pretty.

But!

It makes my boobs a bit bigger, so that's nice :-D

Same old at the technofarm: battling the heat, trying to keep the critters as comfortable as possible, selling eggs to happy friends, reading on the shaded back deck with a cold drink in hand, enjoying this beautiful summer enough to make up for all the ones I where I was locked up in an office - ah! How lucky can a girl be? :-)

As you can see, blogging took a kick in the pants but I'm still posting polls (go votesies!), I'm all over facebook and, well, life is good.

Going on vacation by the "sea" in less than 7 week, OMGOSH!

You guys going anywhere this summer?

/end of Little Bits post/

counting sheeeeep

2011-07-02T17:31:00.000-04:00

If you can't sleep, then get up and do something

instead of lying there worrying.

It's the worry that gets you,

not the lack of sleep.

~Dale Carnegie

sleep: 0

2011-07-01T11:13:00.000-04:00

Ah, yet again another night of getting up to pee 8 times and thus getting no sleep. That'll teach me not to make salty rice and bean soup for dinner!

So. Bleddy. Tired.

And yes, that was with a dose of melatonin, too.

I'll just plow through this day as best I can, got plenty of chores to keep me busy - after all, it's Canada Day which means everyone's on vacation and everything's closed, not much else to do.

I like my farm chores :-)

Vegas gets to do his man things, like reading:

Cozy home, comfy weather - it's all good :)

I don't know where time is disappearing to, days melt into weeks that vanish into months - but I can truly say that I'm enjoying every moment and take nothing for granted. Every year brings new challenges and awesome opportunities, I've no idea what's in store for us down the road but part of the anticipation lies in the not knowing: all these possibilities!

So tell me, what's your joy these days?

/end of Sharing The Mojo post/

for the faint of heart

2011-06-29T12:02:00.000-04:00

Bits and pieces of my Sunday afternoon...

All pics click bigger for details,

if you're into that kind of thing.

While I can't convey what I felt there,

maybe some of these pics will touch you

like they touched me.

This is a very small cemetery,

old in some parts and new in others.

I only kept to the old part.

So old, some stones were scarred

broken and mended

adding to the desolation effect.

Many markers were just stones laid flat on the ground -

notice how they all depict date of death

but not of birth?

Almost forgotten...

Forgotten families laid out side by side

for eternal rest...

The older stones are hard to decipher

but most still have character...

This one broke my heart:

just one simple stone marker

for a child born and died the same year...

...and next to her simple stone,

that of her brother:

Born in 1792, lived a long full life -

kind of a miracle back in those days...

Two more babies laid to rest

side by side...

I wish I could read these inscriptions

worn smooth by time...

This is the only stone cross in the cemetery -

and a very old one, at that:

Some families could afford better stones than others:

wife of a doctor, eternal:

A life, resumed in a few phrases

carved in stone:

I wonder: do you want to be remembered this way?

Or just have your ashes scattered, no stone to commemorate

the passing of your soul?

songs of happy

2011-06-28T14:07:00.000-04:00

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries,

and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

~Joseph Addison, The Spectator, 1712

today was a good day :-)

2011-06-26T22:14:00.001-04:00

It started out sleepily, stormy, rainy, lazily.

But lunchtime I was bored, bored, booooored!

Didn't feel like doing any chores, cooking, internetting - and it was too soggy outside for any farm fun. Bah humbug.

The skies finally dried up long enough for me to grab my camera and head to the tiny old cemetery a few blocks away. I'd noticed some interesting stones in there before and wanted a closer look.

I'm not sure what happened while I was in there...

But it was very powerful.

Not in a religious way - in a very human way. I can't explain it other to say I felt very small down there, between rows of fallen, worn-out stones telling stories of long-departed souls. How many tears were spilled on the ground beneath my feet? How long until it's me that stands there, mourning my parents, my siblings, my friends?

My own self?

I had to leave after a bit, it was all too much. But I felt cleansed afterwards, filled with renewed energy and decided that today was going to be a good day, after all.

Vegas and I enjoyed a few games of Yahtzee while drinking hot tea and I actually didn't suck at it like usual - woo! Then I got some long-overdue weeding and coop run mowing done, spent quality time with the flocks and ended the afternoon with a great game of lawn badminton with Vegas (and the wind) - we sure shuttled that cock, LOL :-D

I'll post some pics tomorrow or the day after.

Powerful, I tell you.

/end of License To Live post/

pee-your-pants funny

2011-06-24T12:22:00.000-04:00

Vegas finds the BEST things!

So there's this guy on a dating site called Plenty Of Fish who totes himself as an artist, he apparently chats girls up and gets them to send him photos of themselves so he can draw them...

Some results and convos below.

I doubt he ever lands a date for all his efforts - LOL!

(click on pics to enlarge text)

Have a great weekend, everyone! :-)

lovely limerick :-)

2011-06-23T22:47:00.003-04:00

Found this on the internet and just had to share!

There was an old farmer who lived by a rock

He sat in the meadow a'shaking his

Fist at the boys who were down by the crick

Their feet in the water, their hands on their

Marbles and playthings and in days of yore

There came a young lady. She looked like a

Pretty young creature, she sat on the grass

She pulled up her dresses and showed us her

Ruffles and laces and white puffy duck

She said she was learning a new way to

Bring up her children and learn them to knit

While the boys in the barnyard were shoveling

Refuse and litter from yesterday's hunt

While the girl in the meadow was rubbing her

Eyes at the fellows as girls sometimes do

To make it quite clear that she wanted to

Go for a nice, pleasant stroll on the grass

Then hurry back home for a nice piece of

Ice cream and cake that stood three layers tall

And after desert she was ready to

Go for another walk down by the dock

With any young man with a sizeable

Roll of one hundreds and a big bulge up front

If he'd ask politely, she'd show him her

Little pet dog who was subject to fits

Then maybe she'd let him grab hold of her

Small tender hands with a movement so quick

Then she'd bend on over and suck on his

Soda so sweetly 'til she finished it

Then pull down her panties to rub on her

Hip that she bruised when she ran down the hall

'Cause he tried to force her to lick on his

Candy so tasty made of butterscotch

And then he spread whip cream all over her

Cookies that she had been baking all night

If you think this is dirty, you know you're damned right!

cycle of life

2011-06-22T11:10:00.001-04:00

I promise to visit your blogs this week, miss you guys!

As for here...

Latest developments on the technofarm posted here on the Chicken Diaries... wish it was better news but we don't control what life hands us...

my happy doggies

2011-06-20T09:57:00.000-04:00

Say hello to the beanies! :-)

Yeah, they're goofy but we love our sweet akitas!

dayum!

2011-06-18T22:29:00.000-04:00

Ah, glorious summertime -

when real life takes over and blogland becomes a place to visit

once in a blue moon to make sure everyone's OK...

I don't want to bore you guys with repetitive farm blabber, weather updates and the like.

So I keep it quiet.

I've not had the photo bug in a while so that's quiet too.

Just enjoying life, my critters, time with my husband,

the warm sun and fresh green everything...

And my gorgeous, sweet-as-sugar peonies:

Greetings from the furry beanies!

Back soon, maybe tomorrow - can't plan these things

in the summertiiiiime!

PS: do cast your votes on my weekly polls, just for fun!

Happy Birthday to my dear husband!

2011-06-17T15:40:00.000-04:00

A year older but still bananas over you!

Awe :-)

(the rest of the mushy stuff stays private, LOL)

On life

2011-06-15T21:08:00.002-04:00

Life is life - whether in a cat, or dog or man.

There is no difference there between a cat or a man.

The idea of difference is a human conception
for man's own advantage.

~Sri Aurobindo

look what we got today :-D

2011-06-14T21:13:00.000-04:00

Been wanting a panini press for years

and I found one today!

I guess it happened because I wasn't out shopping for one, LOL:

Breville rocks so it was love at first sight...

Plus it was on sale :-D

Tried it as soon as I got home

and lunch was deeeeeeelicious - best melty sammich evar!

That thing is fast, too!

Can't wait to go crazy on all kinds of sammich combos...

Vegas is my taste tester.

I'm such a good wife :-D

conquer it

2011-06-13T18:15:00.001-04:00

He has not learned the lesson of life
who does not every day surmount a fear.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I used to talk a lot. And walk even more.

2011-06-12T15:29:00.001-04:00

Now I just sort of live things rather than talk or think about them... not necessarily the best course of action 24/7, I realise. Sometimes life needs thinking about but I seem to forget how.

Feeling reclusive as of late.

Doing anything social or productive seems a monumental effort.

Now I'm reaching the saturation point - sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, you know?

Vegas reminded me that BC (before countrylife) I used to walk briskly at least an hour a day, sometimes two and I wasn't plagued with constant back aches despite my sedentary life at the office. I was fitter and happier with my body - yes, I was younger too (!) but still. This fattening up has got to stop, I don't feel like myself anymore.

I'm sorting out my iPod situation today - long story - and then I'll have my music back.

As of tomorrow my feet will start hauling this old carcass around town, at least 5 days a week - no excuses. I know I have to start slowly at first to get my walking muscles back to work but I look forward to that kind of pain. All this coupled with sensible eating, less snacking and my regular farm chores means I should start seeing results in a month or so - at least I hope so.

Otherwise this blue funk will become a sink hole.

Nobody likes a whiner ;-)

If you'd like to share your rejuvenation stories, weight loss experiences, tips and tricks to a healthier life I'd love to hear them!!

/end of Cheers To A Old New Moi post/

wouldn't this be nice?

2011-06-09T10:25:00.002-04:00

Ah, what luxury it would be...

A girl can always dream, no? ;-)

maybe we won't move to texas!

2011-06-08T10:05:00.054-04:00

Hot.

It's so very, very hot.

And humid.

I think the gravel in our driveway is melting.

In other news, it hasn't snowed lately(!) and we could use a little bit of rain to water the gardens... I didn't just say that.

It's been a roller-coaster of good cop/bad cop here the past few days.

Bad news: Jack's eye wasn't looking so good so I called the vet yesterday morning, left a message describing the symptoms and she rushed over right away as you don't mess around with suspected uveitis (inflammation of the eye, the leading cause of equine blindness). And yep, diagnostic confirmed. Uveitis.

Good news: we may have caught it in time, he's on topical meds 3 times a day so we'll know by tomorrow if the treatment is working. Could take a good two weeks to clear if all goes well. If not, then we're looking at months. Crossing fingers and toes. His vitals are great (heart, lungs, weight, legs, etc) so that's good news.

Bad news: yesterday the power steering broke on the car and Vegas was an hour away from home, in the city on business.

Good news: the problem seemed to has fixed itself after the car cooled down, which is strange and not very comforting, but at least he made the drive home in one piece. He's gone to the city again today so we'll see if it happens again. Still have to get it checked out though.

(pause for self-portrait of melting, sticky me)

Look at those ham arms :-D

Good news: found a local handyman who repaired the crappy little chicken coop yesterday since we don't have any spare money to build a new one - new roof with shingles, bump-out to add floor space and next week the whole ugly thing will be clad in white vinyl to seal it from the rain and pretty it up - yay! New summer home for the banties!

Bad news: missing roof shingles on our house, which is soooo tall we need to hire a professional roofer with proper equipment to sort it out. No funds for that but it's a need and not a want so we'll have to figure something out. Crap.

So, besides all of this, the heat and humidity are bringing the dogs down, specially Dakotah. He's been throwing up bile in the mornings and barely eating his breakfasts, which is highly unusual for the 4-legged hoover. His front limping is getting worse and he has zero energy. My naturopath expert friend will come give him a Bowen treatment tomorrow to see if that helps, if not then off to the surgeon vet he goes... I only trust the one who rebuilt his knee 3 years ago, even if the clinic is an hour away and very expensive.

C'est la vie, yes?

At least I get to wear the sexiest fuscia push-up bra evar thanks to sweet Prin, whose Victoria Secret shopping faux-pas often end being Christmas for me - seriously, she has been supplying me with the most perfect boob racks for a while now, I should hire her as my stylist :-D

/end of Cleavage post/

Happy Monday

2011-06-06T11:18:00.000-04:00

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.

~John Gunther

Now that was terrible!

2011-06-04T12:34:00.001-04:00

I'm not sure I should put this video here since it opens the door for lots of critiques and laughter, but what the heck.

My friend and I went for another ride last evening and it was pretty much a downer compared to the amazing "hollywood sunset" ride from last Wednesday. Old man Jack was not in the mood, he was tired and dragging his feet, huffing and puffing, sluggish and fighing the bit with every step - which is strange because he seemed fine before being saddled up and two days ago he had the energy of a horse half his age.

I guess everyone has bad days, specially when you're a geriatric.

Poor Jack. He gets the whole week off, I feel so bad.

We still took a couple of videos since we had taken the camera, so here's something for your viewing pleasure. But first! A few things!

1) WTF were my hands and arms doing flying all over the place like that, LOL!
2) Only noticed after the video was shot that the saddle had slipped off his withers - stupid too-big girth strap - that explains my weird riding position and posture
3) I need to do something about that helmet head, it's terrible
4) I don't know a thing about riding but I sure as hell enjoy it anyways

Now, here's my friend on Jack,

so you can see how riding should be done.

Someday I'll get there... someday.

Jack still looks pretty amazing for his age, doesn't he?

Most horses are retired in their teens and are lucky to make it past their twenties. Jack is a good 26 years old, an oddity in the horse world. I'm supposed to keep him fit with light trail riding, so hopefully last night was just a glitch and he's still in good shape.

I'll have the vet give him a once-over later this week, his teeth probably need getting done too. Better be safe than sorry.

In other news Vegas came home this morning after a long night of travel, he's passed out right now the poor thing. I'll let him sleep for a bit and then stuff him with fresh bread from our local French bakery and some hot coffee. Life is good :-)

/end of Happy Weekend! post/

Going to the birds

2011-06-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

Last night, about 30 minutes after shutting my light and dozing off, a grey dove appeared above my head, wings outstretched, suspended in the air chirping a happy song.

It freaked me out so bad I jumped out of bed, my heart beating a mile a minute.

I groped for the light, switched it on and of course there was no bird - only reality settling in that I had hallucinated - not really a dream since I hadn't really been asleep, had I?

But just in case, I had to research it:

To see birds in your dream, symbolize your goals, aspirations and hopes. To dream of chirping and/or flying birds, represent joy, harmony, ecstasy, balance, and love. It denotes a sunny outlook in life. You are experiencing spiritual freedom and psychological liberation. It is almost as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

Or, maybe my brain was just full of the 4 baby birds I rescued earlier in the day.

There's a nest tucked away under the roof of the barn, I often see mama bird flying in with a mouthful of goodies for the hungry babies - I'd never seen them but they sure do make a racket!

Yesterday afternoon I went to the barn to check on the banties (my small-sized chickens) and heard frantic peeping and scratching in the chute that used to allow bedding to unload from the attic to the ground floor. It's been condemned due to floor rot around that area, it's full of dusty hay and the trap entrance is covered with an old piece of plywood so I figured something must have gotten trapped in there - I had to go up to check.

To set the stage: yesterday was incredibly windy and very, very warm - an ususual combination for this time of year. The barn attic was an oven.

The old bedding corner is very dark and hosts potential wasp nests so I was very wary - add soft floors and it's really creepy. Something fluttered around and by the sound of it: baby birds in distress. I managed to locate three little grey things with panting yellow beaks, gently cornered them and returned them to their nest, figuring a gust of wind must have knocked them all out. I checked the chute where I had heard the scratching but all was calm, so I figured that was that.

Back down on the main floor the scratching and peeping was more urgent than ever and that's when my friend showed up to retrieve one of the new baby chicks I had gotten a few days before and didn't want anymore since it was obviously a boy. He was in a rush, it was sweltering, but I told him to hang on cuz there was no way I could let a baby die like that. He said "oh it's just a stupid black bird" but hey, I told him every creature deserves to live and I just had to do it.

Went back up, crawled slowly into the hot dark dusty corner, removed the plywood cover to the chute and there was baby bird, beak open and panting, exhausted and frightened. I gently lifted it out of the chute and put it back near the nest, where it dashed right back in with its mates.

There, so relieved!

Later on in the day I saw mama bird flying in and out of the barn roof with mouthfuls of food, I heard the babies demanding their dinner so I knew everything was all right.

Adventures on the farm, eh?

Last night the heat wave finally broke, everyone's happy after a good night's sleep and I'm not even that sore after an awesome horseback ride in the trails behind our house - although the bowed leg syndrome will no doubt appear tomorrow, LOL!

My friend and I galloped through lush green grassy fields, on hilltops overlooking the setting sun - it was like a hollywood movie, that's how excellent it was. My old man Jack was pumped like a mexican jumping bean, he had the energy of a 5 year old stallion and my friend kept telling me he looked so young and energized, not even close to his grand old age of 26!

Two more sleeps until Vegas comes home.

I miss him.

/end of Be Kind To Karma post/

Good morning

2011-06-01T23:11:00.000-04:00

The moment when you first wake up in the morning

is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours.

No matter how weary or dreary you may feel,

you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you,

absolutely anything may happen.

And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot.

The possibility is always there.

~Monica Baldwin

It's over!

2011-05-30T10:30:00.001-04:00

Spring, I mean.

We're now in deep in the dog days of summer, hot and sticky and headachey and full of hungry bugs - who knew Florida swamps could travel so far up the coast in a week? LOL

Vegas has escaped to California for the week, business meetings and all - the poor thing!

Ah well, the sun's out and what's a little sweat when you have a nice cool shower waiting for you at the end of a hard day's work?

Today's for cleaning out the main chicken coop (stinky), running a few errands (yey air-conditioned stores), taking pics of my favorite chicks to share the love (awesome) and tending to all the farm crittes (love). Oh and various house chores and paperwork stuffs (boring).

Things that make me smile today:

Things that make me drool:

Things I need to get through the day:

That's all folks - happy Monday!!

Today's smile

2011-05-29T10:53:00.001-04:00

she's a pssed off btch!

2011-05-28T15:15:00.001-04:00

Mother nature, that is.

Two nights in a row that we're startled awake at 3am by crashing thunder shaking the house, violent rains and blinding lightning - and more severe storms are in the works for later today :-o

Soggy, soggy, soggy.

30C with humidex right now, the air is thick with moisture - makes it difficult to breathe. I can feel the mold growing on my skin from lack of sun and dryness!

"mold, the other blue skin"

According to the weather tracking people, we've had more than double the normal rainfall for this area the past month.

Enough already.

In other news, well you'll have to wait for a post in my Chicken Diaries to find out... key word: chickies, glorious sweet chickies! Yep I gots 'em this morning - squeeee!

On the way home I stopped at the local bakery to get some hand-made artisan bread - you know, the good stuff you can't get in grocery stores. What a treat! The baker's from France and his shop's been open a year and a half, business is slowly picking up and I really wish him and his wife the best of success - I'll sure go back on a regular basis!

Super friendly, he showed me the kitchen, dough rising area, the ingredients (all organic and sourced locally) - wow, sparkling clean and oh, the sweet smell of rising dough... *heaven*. Every single client that came in while I was there was greeted on a first-name basis with big smiles all around, everyone raving about the quality of the goods. Then I mentioned I raised hobby chickens and had colored eggs... and what do you know, I just gained a handful of new clients including the baker, who will trade me day-old breads and baguettes for the flocks in exchange for some eggs!

Absolutely thrilling, if you ask me :-)

OK, time to go check on the new babies and prep the horses' stalls for the night, they need a break from all this rain and will for sure appreciate a good few hours of sleep for a change.

I just saw a threat of 1-inch in diameter hail with severe rainfall, thunder, the works - it's on the way. Are they kidding me? :-o

Dinner tonight is oven roasted chicken (not mine!), broccoli and a side of rice or something.

As long as we don't run out of power before I'm done cooking!

/end of Baby Love Not Rain Love post/

On change

2011-05-26T21:02:00.002-04:00

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.

~Author Unknown

100% humidity

2011-05-26T13:53:00.000-04:00

Thunderstorm! Raging rains!

And a very wet house inside, indeed. It's so warm that you need to crack some windows open not to be stifled, and now I can't find a single piece of paper that's not all wilty.

So gross.

I can hardly make out my old horse Jack out in the field, the rains are coming down so hard - he seems to be enjoying the shower though :-)

We had a most wonderful ride in the woods yesterday, I think I smiled all day afterwards. I was a bit afraid it would make my back worse but no, it actually helped a bit -

OOooOOooO lightning!

My eyes!

I think I have the attention span of a gnat today.

Been busy with a bit of photography lately, housecaring (who says housekeeping anyways?), shopping, farm work and the like - did I mention I'm getting a bunch of new baby chicks on Saturday? Yeah! One of my friends hatched some cuties so I get to take some off his hands, tee hee!

They'll keep me busy while Vegas is away, yet again, on another long business trip... he works too hard, this husband of mine :-/

Time to fold some laundry.

And dream of dry sunny days.

What do you dream about lately?

/end of Soggy post/

a gun post

2011-05-24T10:47:00.000-04:00

(all in bullets as my blogging mojo's on the shelf for now!)

caught a mofo sunburn yesterday thanks to my stupidity
aloe vera gel really helps, thank goodness!
the weather's been really nice lately for a change
been gorging on sun, wind, greens, bird songs
Vegas and I planned out coop upgrades for this summer, woo!
of course only if money magically falls from the sky
you never know :-D
we flew Vegas' super cool kite in our back yard yesterday
that's what you do in wind storms
the horses thought it was evil and celebrated by galloping all over the fields
super cool!
it's nice to have my husband home for the week
i feel spoiled :)
nothing exciting to report, life is chugging along
and i like it this way!

I love this stuff

2011-05-21T22:17:00.000-04:00

REJECTED COUNTRY-WESTERN SONG TITLES:

The Trailer Sure Seems Lonely Now That You and Our Nine Kids Are Gone

You Can Take the Boy Outta the Country, but You Can't Take the Bullets Outta That Liberal City-Boy Who Just Cut Me Off in His Saab

Smells Like Team Roping

I Dropped the Bookcase On My Darlin' and Pleaded Shelf Defense

(Her Bar Tab Is a) Leading Economic Indicator

I Thought I Had Tourette's, But I Just Like Talkin' Dirty To You

You're My Kleenex of Love, and I'm Afraid I'm Gonna Blow It

Bacon and Eczema For Two

Achy, Breaky, Hanky, Panky, Am I Drunk or Are You Skanky?

The Ballad of Pretty Mouth Dan

My Urine is A-Burnin', and You'd Better Believe I'm Pissed

Tear Stains on My Pillow Are the Only Wet Spots in My Bed

I Can't Stop Thinkin' About Cowboys (And I'm a Cowboy, Too)

little beauties

2011-05-19T10:32:00.002-04:00

I'd rather have roses on my table

than diamonds on my neck.

~Emma Goldman

retail therapy!

2011-05-17T19:49:00.004-04:00

Want to go shopping with me?

OK I already went but wanted to share the spoils with you.

Because I am very spoiled, indeed!

It was a great way to beat the blues yesterday -

my one-stop shop of choice was Winners,

because it made me feel like one - LOL!

First off, some badly-needed linen for our new bed -

Ralph Lauren polka-dots!

How awesome is that!

With a couple of deep red pillow cases, why not.

Now all we need are duvet covers,

but that will have to wait for another rainy day.

A sweet, stretchy, super-soft girly top
to wear with jeans - the cut is really comfortable!

It's a change from my normal whites, greys and blacks -

and with a little touch of sparklies on the front,

what's not to smile about :)

I adore this feather-light and silky soft shirt -

the sleeves can be worn either full-length or rolled up.

It feels luxurious on my skin!

A columbia sports top, very soft and stretchy material,

light and oh so comfy - the cut is awesome, too!

A very feminine knitted sweater,

shimmery dove grey and made of weighted silky material -

feels good and looks great for both casual and dress-up days!

I actually went in to get some jeans and voilà!

Found two pairs with a great fit, woo!

Being optimistic, I splurged on a pair of sweet cargo pants -

I love that they can also be worn as capris!

The belt is kinda funky, too :)

And no, all of this didn't break the bank -

I do love a good treasure hunt

for the process as much as for the rewards!

Today I spring-cleaned my closet,
it felt good to purge.

The church basement will get a big bag of gently-used clothing
that will make other people happy
and it made *me* happy to do it.

All in all, a lovely time :)

Whatta day... whatta life

2011-05-16T21:13:00.000-04:00

Woke up late this morning to another long day of non-stop pouring rain, after a bad night of sleep.

Found Jericho, one of our beloved roosters, very sick with the killer lung flu.

After mucking out Jack's stall (it's too cold and wet to leave the horses out at night), walking the dogs in the pouring rain - they refuse to poop in this weather, keeping it in and making themselves sick in the process - cleaning out the chicken coops, feeding everyone and injecting meds in the sick birds, I go to the downstairs bathroom to find a huge pile of semi-dried dog shit on the floor. Apparently Maika, whom I had to let out at 1am, was sicker than I thought.

After scraping up the poop and trying not to heave, I finally have time to sit down with a cup of instant (yark) coffee.

It's 11:30am.

I'm cold, everything's damp, my hair is a frizzy mess, I have a huge spot on my chin that has its own pulse, I'm tired and hormonal and the fucking Sears repair guy promised me two weeks ago that the dryer would be fixed in a week. Is the broken part on rowboat from China? wtf?

Finally get to chat to my beloved husband and manage to knock over my coffee cup on the laptop's AC adaptor battery - it's just that kind of day.

He worked his magic on me, letting me vent to my heart's content and not making me feel like a whiney bitch in the process. I lubs him :-)

Because, in the end, I have the very best life.

I'm allowed to sleep late on a Monday morning, I rarely use the alarm clock anymore as I have no set schedule. Most nights are good sleep, in our new king-size bed in our soundproof house - only the open windows let in the songs of frogs, crickets, rain on the grass.

I have more healthy chickens than sick ones and medicine to treat those that I can - some will make it and some won't, I can't play god. I have to live with that. I'm getting a new bunch of sweet babies next week, it's the cycle of life.

I'm grateful to have the best horse ever and a nice big barn to shelter him when the weather's bad. He's old but he's strong and healthy, we give each other our very best.

I'm also grateful to have the best dogs in the world, who never ask for anything and who fit perfectly in our lives - they're super healthy and I'm amazed to have gone almost two years without one of them being sick in the house. Heck, I'm sick much more often than that, LOL!

I turned up the heat and put on a clean hoodie to ward off the cold, my skin will clear up in a few days - I'm lucky to still be young enough to have hormones, roller-coasters are so much more fun than a merry-go-round.

The dryer will get fixed, it's under warranty, it's better than having a crappy machine or no dryer at all. Most people in this world wash clothing by hand in dirty water - who am I to complain?

Instant coffee's my fault, I'm too lazy to start up the espresso machine and use the good stuff. Our cupboards are full, the fridge is full, I've never gone hungry a day in my life.

I know how lucky I am.

I have a laptop, a TV, a comfy couch to sit on and internet to chat with my husband, who is beyond amazing. If every woman had a husband half as awesome as he is, there wouldn't be many divorces nor unhappy couples in this world. I still don't know how I ever got so lucky. He gets me. He accepts me and fixes me when I ask for help. He's across the ocean yet I feel him so near, warm and loving. He's magical.

The rains will pass, but the good life will stay.

Oh yes. I like it I think it's good.

In so few words...

2011-05-16T12:11:00.000-04:00

Piece of shit month of May.

That is all :-(

unsung heroes

2011-05-15T19:47:00.000-04:00

A dog may be man's best friend,

but the horse wrote history.

~Author Unknown

sushine makes busy!

2011-05-14T13:35:00.001-04:00

Being blessed with a whole week's worth of gorgeous dry weather and plenty of sun means yard work, tons of yard work... my poor Vegas worked his tushie off during his brief interlude home between long business trips - I lubs him :-D

Finally got the dumpy lumpy land flattened out enough

to be able to mow this summer...

An ordinary lawn roller won't do when you have a few acres

of really, really bad land to smoosh out...

Big guns hired, big husband to man the machine!

King of the Steam Roller :-D

The horses enjoyed a long week of sunbaths -

they're outside 24/7 now and are super happy campers -

all that grass! nummers!

Old man Jack is starting to put on some muscle,

it's lovely to see!

We even got a few tulips to brighten up

the front of our house :-)

And now... Vegas is overseas until end of week and the rains have moved in, next come the cold to make the days of rain even more miserable. I don't understand why we can't have a normal fluctuation of good days, bad days - why does it have to be weeks at a time of one or the other?

Strange, strange times we live in.

Time for a hot cuppa tea... laundry... hoovering the house... caring for the critters... then a hot bubble bath and a very early night. I'm absolutely knackered after coming home at 2:30am yesterday - reconnected with an old high-school friend whom I hadn't seen in about 7 years, if not more. He lives in the city so I had to make the drive, yeah being a hermit is nice but I've gotta have limits! LOL!

We yammered away for hours drinking tea, I don't wear a watch so was kinda shocked when I finally took notice of the time - yikes! The drive home was tedious, being super sleepy and crippled with night driving issues - I get blinded by oncoming cars and can't see the road, always scared to miss a turn and end up ass-first in the ditch :-o

Jeeebus heck I'm tired.

I wish chocolate had more caffeine in it.

Who am I kidding, I don't need chocolate I need sleep.

Whatever.

/end of I'm Not Singing In The Rain/

grab it and run

2011-05-11T21:02:00.000-04:00

Seize every opportunity along the way,

for how sad it would be

if the road you chose became the road not taken.

~Robert Brault

Hallelujah!

2011-05-10T10:29:00.000-04:00

The warm sunshine is both unbelievable and unrelenting!

LOVE IT!!

I'm not sure why I suddenly have spring allergies as I've never had any before, but what the heck. Small price to pay for superb weather.

I've got to finish the plumbing job in the barn to get water in the summer chicken coop and out into the paddocks today, while Vegas is going to attempt the first lawn mowing of the season but only in sections that don't need flattening - the steam roller is booked for Thursday 8am, should be fun :-D

All this while juggling laundry, dog grooming and two more sick hens.

Dinner will have to be quick n'dirty - I'm thinking cheese tortellini with homemade meat sauce?

Hope you all have an awesome day!

/end of Spring Bees post/

yeah baby

2011-05-08T20:37:00.000-04:00

Women are not the weak, frail little flowers that they are advertised.

There has never been anything invented yet, including war,

that a man would enter into, that a woman wouldn't, too.

~Will Rogers

Countdown!

2011-05-07T20:52:00.001-04:00

Vegas is home soon, whooo!

I have to fetch him from the bus station at midnight - I hope I stay awake until then, it's not even 9pm and the yawns are attacking me from all fronts.

*yaaaaawn*

Stupid flight and bus schedules, so rigid!

We're in for a week of gorrrrrrgeous weather apparently - I'm so chuffed! Today was dry with a few sunny patches, ah so lovely - I'll take what I can get! Gonna be really busy here the next few days as Vegas leaves again for another long week abroad and I need his man-muscles to get some urgent spring chores done. When you only have a short window of opportunity to do things and the weather sucks, your back is out of commission and your husband gone - it's pretty stressful.

But! Vegas promised me the Honey-Do list will be attacked with vigor and without grumpies! :-D

You won't want to miss the video I took today of the girls - posted in The Chicken Diaries - don't they remind you a bit of traveling salesmen?

Knock Knock (rather "Boc Boc")
Who's there?
Cock!
Cock who?
Hey I'm the one doing the surprising, now open the door!

Yeah, it's all fun and games until they figure out how to break inside...

/end of Happy Daze post/

murphy's foot law

2011-05-06T21:55:00.002-04:00

Fashion Law: If the shoe fits, it's ugly.

~Author Unknown

choir of angels

2011-05-06T20:56:00.001-04:00

"The sun! The sun!"

*points to the sky and runs around like a crazy woman*

Bliss.

Doggies enjoyed many sweet hours

sunning themselves on the deck.

The flocks went crazy with the lawn buffet.

They came to ring the doorbell to ask for more treats.

I obliged.

You don't want to know what the bread budget is here!

Still a single wife, it's getting old now.

Vegas home soon.

Bliss!

row, row, row your boat...

2011-05-05T10:47:00.021-04:00

...gently across our back yaaaard....

I wonder how we're ever supposed to mow this?

The grass keeps growing but so do the lawn lakes!

The horses are living in a mud pit....

...and I thought it better to laugh than to cry

when I pulled out my winter coat again...

...hat, scarf, gloves, thick wool socks...

The dogs aren't thrilled either, besides two potty breaks per day

they spend 23 hours a day sleeping now :(

- boring, boring, boring weather

Our property is bordered by two small creeks

that you hardly see in the summer -

they've turned into rivers!

The neighbor across the street is close to being flooded,

you normally don't see this tiny creek at all

but it's burst its bank since March

and it's getting worse with each rainy day...

Around the chicken coops - doesn't look so bad, but...

...yeah, there's no way to mow this giant sponge for weeks!

I had to move my flock of banties back into the barn,

the reason is pretty obvious :-(

Just noticed a chunk of the coop fell off

due to being too soggy from weeks of pelting rain!

Anybody got some dry weather

and some sunshine to spare, please?

Some warmth would be appreciated too,

it's close to freezing here!!

ode to spring

2011-05-04T13:13:00.003-04:00

why hast thou forsaken us?

buckets and buckets and-

2011-05-03T15:50:00.000-04:00

...buckets!

Spring's over, we've skipped ahead to November!

Cold and rainy -

it's cruel magic!

I hope all the farm critters can swim...

Today was for a quick drive to the city, egg clients were impatiently waiting for their goodies and since Vegas is away I had to bite the bullet (highway driving in torrential rain = stress!). However I had lunch with my bestie so that was really lovely - I just hope I didn't bore her to death, farm life does get pretty monotonous on the gossip I'm afraid... :-/

I hope that indian food only burnt on the way in, LOL!

So tasty though.

Dinner will be fruits, veggies, a bit of yogurt and nuts since I'm fed up with trying to squeeze my flab into pants that used to fit well. Seriously, I can't do much exercise because of my back and the crappy weather and yet I just kept on eating... and now, well - yecchh. Muffin top. So uncomfortable and aggravating.

My closet is full of nice stuff that "I'll wear when I lose that tummy jiggle".

Some stuff I bought last summer, FFS!

Wow, the power just went off for a minute there - how crummy. Now I can't seem to turn the TV back on - gaaaah! Effing technology! Vegas is the buttons n'cables guy, I don't know squat about that stuff.

Gonna have to call him :-/

Stay dry, peeps.

/end of Lost In Blobness post/

gone, but never forgotten

2011-05-02T19:38:00.000-04:00

For some moments in life there are no words.

~David Seltzer, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

the single wife

2011-05-01T23:05:00.001-04:00

Yep, that's me for this week...

Vegas left for the west coast this morning for a long week of business meetings and I get to stay home and hold the fort - he brings the bacon home and I cook it, lol!

We do make a pretty good team.

I miss him already.

*sighs*

My lower back is still a throbbing mess, there's no way in hell I can just sit still and do nothing so I guess I'm my own worst enemy. It's been absolutely gorgeous the past few days so I'm rushing to get all kinds of spring farm chores done- I only have a few windows of opportunity thanks to the shitty "spring" we've been having and I have to grab them when I can, you know?

No worries, the rains and colder weather are coming in as of Monday afternoon.

~~For a change.~~

This afternoon I was grateful for a few of life's little happy moments (not that they all happened today but over the course of a week or so, they add up!):

-pouring just the right amount of milk into your bowl of cereal
-a string of green lights down a busy road
-a busy store and an empty cashier line as you pull up with your cart
-an evening of your favorite tv shows, back to back
-finding a forgotten five dollar bill at the bottom of your purse
-falling asleep to the songs of spring frogs

Did I mention that I sort-of got offered a job this afternoon?

I had to make a quick dash to the equestrian store not too far from here and I think the owner quite likes me, although I've no clue why as I've only been there a handful of times. She's always been very helpful and chatty, her boutique is very nice and quite posh and we always get to chatting when I drop by.

We were talking about Vegas traveling and why I took a break from office life, she joked that I must be too busy to work and I said yes, actually, the 9-to-5 would kill me but maybe someday I'd want to work again, maybe part-time - and then she mentioned she was looking for someone to help her with her boutique and would I be interested?

Um.

She knows I know nothing about horses or the horse world / sport / equipment and yet she's looking for someone to handle the store on a part-time basis, just a few hours here and there - flexible time, nothing rigid. She said I'd learn on the job, wink wink.

I was flattered, really! But the money would be minimal, the hours unpredictable and since Vegas and I share a car there's no guarantee I could actually get to work when I needed to. And do I want to get into that kind of stress, handling a store chock-full of things I know nothing about, dealing with clients, sales, the phone, inventory, etc?

And missing the summer, my husband, my flock, my doggies, getting home exhausted after a work shift and dealing with the farm chores (summer can be a heavy workload), getting used to the alarm clock and having to go work even if I have a migraine or a sprained back - gosh, I feel ill just thinking about it.

If the pay was fantastic I'd give it serious thought.

The store is really amazing, though, and the change of pace would do me good.

I left the possibility open but I did stress the fact that transportation would be a big issue so I guess we'll see what happens. Maybe come autumn she'll still need help and I'll be ready to go back to work by then - circumstances change.

But for now... I just don't feel ready.

I need to get my health back on track, get our little farm in shape, enjoy a nice summer with my husband (we have a vacation by the sea booked for end of August when my stepdaughter visits, woo!) and then we'll see.

Right, I should get my old bones to bed, another long busy day looms ahead.

Like I said, I'll rest later this week when it's raining buckets.

My poor flocks!

/end of Life's Little Wonders post/

Da funky disco z'in da house

2011-04-30T17:48:00.000-04:00

...because everyone loves a good mashup...

...dare ya to watch and NOT tap your feet or nod your head!

Stayin' Alive In The Wall (Pink Floyd vs Bee Gees Mashup) by Wax Audio

Bubblegum Diaries

Best! Horse! Ever!

Under Leaky Gunmetal Skies

the New Year :)

necessities for growth

improvised efficiency

sweet

Well, I'll be darned!

tuesday smile :)

just to clarify the below...

bunnies!

busy, busy, aaaaaa!

humans: nature's cancer

Adult Truths

someday.

thought of the day

it's all about the mud

distractions

no dark n'dreary allowed

one million reasons

simplicity

arooiin' and wahwahin'

On the home front

overhaul

on difficult times...

Farmer is right...

this made me giggle :-D

well!

eye candy and techno zombies

some pics of vaycay :)

yippee!

Thursday funny :-)

morsels

oh snap!

because it's super awesome

happy, gay, joyeux

scumbags!

how times have changed!

this may be the death of it

pinned down

George Carlin

ok maybe not regularly, but... :-)

comforts

oh dear lord

if i had one wish right now!

It ain't pretty...

words for thought

well...

love, pure form

seven nights of noise

and fashionably so

A Male Fairytale

snapshots of life

smoking is so passé

(s)well!

counting sheeeeep

sleep: 0

for the faint of heart

songs of happy

today was a good day :-)

pee-your-pants funny

lovely limerick :-)

cycle of life

my happy doggies

dayum!

Happy Birthday to my dear husband!

On life

look what we got today :-D

conquer it

I used to talk a lot. And walk even more.

wouldn't this be nice?

maybe we won't move to texas!

Happy Monday

Now that was terrible!

Going to the birds

Good morning

It's over!

Today's smile

she's a p*ssed off b*tch!

On change

she's a pssed off btch!

choir of angels