It's over!

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

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

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

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

~Author Unknown

100% humidity

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

(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

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

I'd rather have roses on my table 

than diamonds on my neck.  

~Emma Goldman

retail therapy!

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

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...

Piece of shit month of May.

That is all :-(

unsung heroes

A dog may be man's best friend, 

but the horse wrote history. 

~Author Unknown

sushine makes busy!

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

~Author Unknown

*choir of angels*

"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...

...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

why hast thou forsaken us?

buckets and buckets and-

...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

For some moments in life there are no words.  

~David Seltzer, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

the single wife

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/