the week in summary

greetings...
I have not made good on my promise for more timely postings... oh well... better late than never, I suppose...

This past week has been a hodgepodge of stuff...

I became reacquainted with the big black ugly icky slithering King Snake that lives under the house. It was out in the the yard and one of the many dogs (Lupita - PITA for short, which stands for Pain In The Ass) was barking it's fool head off at Mr. Snake. There has always been at least one of these big black snakes on the place... Unlike rattlers, we generally leave him alone since he does help keep unwanted varmits in check. But... with the small little Pita dog faced off with it and it's head up off the ground about a foot, eyeing Pita like she was a tasty morsel... well, let's just say I was reminded of how I really am semi-scared shitless of snakes....  I grabbed up Pita and held on to her until the snake slid off back under the house. Thank God. Only thing is, Lupita the dog gave birth to some puppies about 3 or 4 weeks ago... UNDER THE HOUSE... we still have not seen the puppies. We've heard them, so I'm pretty sure Mr. Snake has not eaten them. yet.... but still... I just wish she'd bring them out for us to meet them... I bet they are really cute... And I hope the snake leaves them alone...

My mom and I spied a little calf limping around in the field. So, being the big cattle rancher (yeah, right) that I am, I got in the big black pickup with my daughtern and drove out to the pasture to have a look. We discovered it having a snack on his mom (literally... he was nursing like there was no tomorrow, milk running down his face...) All I could tell was that he was favoring his right hind leg, but I couldn't really tell anything else... Like, was his leg swollen, was his hoof deformed, was there an injury??? . I would have gotten out of the truck, but I was wearing my little flip-flops, there was fresh cow patties, stickers, and sticky thorn things, and cactus in abundance, and there was this seemingly hostile cow with really big horns. Not Longhorn big, but big enough to put my eye out, or otherwise do me seriously bodily harm if she was so inclined... I decided not to risk it. Anyway, others that are more cow-savvy went out the next day and determined that the little red bull calf was intact and healthy, and he may have just had a temporary owie that did not require veternarian intervention...

I bought a toilet. As you may know, I have been trying to get the little place that my auntie used to inhabit before her illness renovated. It's supposed to be my "home away from home" while I am here helping out my mom and aunt, and it would give me and my husband a place to stay - other than at Day's Inn - when he comes to visit. This of, course won't happen until after football season, so I still have time to get it done.... Of course, I'd like to have it livable long before football season is over. I'm still staying on the porch and living out of my suitcases. One of the renovation jobs is the bathroom. We gutted it - except for the tub/shower thing - and replaced the flooring and will be installing a new vanity with sink and faucet, and a toilet, and a medicine cabinet, and new shower head.... The hold up was I had no money. So, I finally managed to get some money from my retirement stuff, and ta-da!! A new toilet is sitting in the house, still in the box, waiting for installation. It is fancy. Chair height (I am getting older and this is a much more comfortable 'squat' for me...) and it has a dual control flusher.... heehee... One for #1, and one for #2... I just hope it doesn't self-destruct if I use the #2 flusher for #1 business... It only cost $98, so if I hate it, I won't feel quite so bad about replacing it in the future... My other choice was almost $250...  I just hope I made a good buy.... So, maybe sometime in the next week or so, perhaps I will have a functional bathroom.  We are on 'manana' time here, however, so it may take longer than I'd like.

I killed a big ol' spider this morning. I thought of my friend Marcy who is deathly afraid and freaked out by the presence of spiders. So, Marcy, if you are reading this, this blog's for you... The spider was about an inch long, black and tan. It's spidey legs were moving in spidey rhythm, slowly walking along the counter behind the kitchen sink... I got a paper towel and squashed it.. all ooey and crunchy and threw him in the trash. If Marcy had been here, I would have probably offered to show it to her, or left it for her on her mousepad at her computer. Or I might have taken a close up picture of it and blown it up to an 8x10 and taped it to her monitor where she would have to look at it first thing in the morning.... heehee... I'm sure Marcy really misses me...

My mom is crippin' along... one of her big dumb-ass dogs loved her a little too hard on the back of her leg... Her skin is like tissue paper and even though the dog was just loving on her, his big ol' paw shredded the back of her leg... We got her cleaned up and got her bandaged, but she is really suffering. I was worried that it needed to be seen by a wound specialist, so we went to the doctor on Thursday. (this paw love fest took place on Tuesday) Her doctor took a look at it and said "my god that's just awful!" and it really is... he also admonished her and advised her to please start wearing long pants and long sleeves and shoes that actually cover her feet... Mom promised she would, but that ain't happening... Pants and long sleeves are too hot and mom hasn't really liked wearing shoes since she was a kid. Her shoe of choice is a TEVA style strap sandal... she refuses to wear athletic shoes or loafers or whatever... So, she looks like she's been in an ugly fight... all bruised and nicked and banged up...

Auntie is trying to eat better. She just really does not feel like eating much. And, her peculiar and picky eating habits don't help. Right now, she is on a pork skins kick. I've had to buy her sacks of Baken-etts... regular, not spicy!! she has also requested cool whip and cashews and ribs and large naval oranges (of which she eats one or two segments, and then tries to pawn the rest of it on to others...) Oh, and that cream cheese/olive spread that is sold in the little glass jar with the blue top. I tried to find it, but no luck. I don't even know if that make that crap anymore... And a rib-eye steak, but not the one I got her.. The one I got her had way too much fat on it. She wants a lean rib-eye. I don't even know what to say about that. A lean ribeye... isn't that an oxymoron??  And it's not that she wants to eat all this stuff together or at the same time. it's just sort of a weird collection of stuff, don't you think??

"Baby, have you made a necklace of shells for me yet?" This is the question my brother Bill's girlfriend just asked him... they are here at the farm for the day and night... She's a hoot. It's nice to see my brother. He's an interesting cat... I'll have to tell you some stories about him sometime too. He was quite the prankster, still is... But I'll save that for another posting...

I've getting a little more familiar with doing the sp.ed. evaluations for my contract job... learning new tests, learning how to do the cross battery assessment thing.. I have realized, however, that the contract job is only going to happen two days a week... at 140 miles round trip, it may not be financially feasible to do it 3 eays a week... nice thing about retirement... I can just say no to work when I need to... :)

I still miss my friends, my huband, my cat. I'm fighting homesickness, but I'll be able to make a trip back home next week. I hope to have a chance to see a few folks, get a haircut and a pedicure. grab a grilled pork sandwich and a vietnamese iced coffee at my favorite Asian bistro, Nobi... So until next time my friends.. adios from south texas....