The Ick Factor

Sometimes, one comes across really icky things on the farm. For example, we have a very neurotic cat that is quite adept at catching, and dismembering, mice. She often is seen outside my mother's bedroom window, with a headless mouse in its mouth. Ick. We lost count at 11 mice in a two week period. The other morning, Callie the Calico Cat, really outdid herself. Instead of Callie outside the window with a headless mouse, we find the entrails of a mouse laid out on the kitty platform outside madre's window... There was no body, just the tail, and what looked like the intestines, liver, and I'm not sure what else. It really sort of looked like a mouse autopsy, or a scene from Rat CSI...

Other icky things one might see at the farm are things like the dogs dragging up a jaw bone of a javelina, or the hoof of a cow, a deer leg bone... Not really all that icky, but certainly not something a city girl like me sees everyday.

Another big ick factor thing are ticks. On the dogs. We fight the ticks with sprays and pills and potions and collars, but... the ticks are prolific. And, they love to attach themselves to our outside dogs and fill up those little blood ballons... Very icky, especially since you have to detach them by hand.... ewww...

The other morning, I was leaving the farm to head to work. It was daylight, but early. As I drove past the small pen to the north of the house, I noticed all the cows were facing west and standing totally still. They reminded me of the movie with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan, City of Angels. Remember the scene, if you even remember/saw the movie, where all the angels would gather at the beach and face the ocean? Suppposedly, being angels, they could hear music in the sunrise. Anyway, I wonder what on earth the cows were doing. It was just funny/odd to see... all the mama cows and their calves facing the same direction, standing perfectly still. Just one of the little things on the farm that make you go, hmmmm...

Boots

I got me some boots. Cowboy boots. Black python. They are kind of sexy cool. I got them from Dan the Boot Man up at the Warrenton antique show. Dan is the husband of a good friend of mine, Sheryl. Sheryl and my sister in law, Susan, rent this building in Warrenton and do these antique shows. Susan had an antique shop in Bellaire until recently. They’ve been doing these shows for a good while now. Sheryl does vintage linens and a variety of other things. Susan does estate jewelry and a bunch of nice things. Dan does boots. He’s a collector of western style boots. In his hunt for the truly collectible boots, he finds old boots and sells them at the antique shows.

I think Dan took pity on me, after hearing of my snake killing episode wearing my rhinestone studded flip flops and found me not one, but two pair of cowboy boots. I had emailed Sheryl before the show and asked if Dan could help me find a pair of boots. I have no idea what size boot I wear. I  have wretchedly wide feet and a high instep. So, Dan brought a bunch of boots for me to try on. He patiently watched as I tried them on, listening to how I described what was right or wrong with the fit of the boot. He went back to his house and returned the next day with another collection of boots for me to try. I am now the proud owner of the previously mentioned sexy cool black pythons and a pair of functional gray ropers. The ropers will be perfect for any future snake killing or tromping through the cow patties in search of a lame calf or what-not that sometimes happens on a cattle ranch/farm place.

I wore my sexy cool boots today to work. I do contract work, testing kiddos to see if they need special ed services at a school district about an hour's drive northeast of the farm. I wore a pair of jeans and a button down shirt. I felt very capable and sort of butch, but not too much... I decided that I will start calling the black pythons my "WYA" boots because when I wear them, I am pretty sure I can Whoop Your Ass. Justa kidding. I couldn't whoop your ass, unless I was heavily armed with a 2 by 4 or a loaded shot gun. What I was wearing - or not wearing - would have very little to do with it. But it sure was fun wearing those boots today. It might become a habit....

Regardless, I am able to check off “find a pair of cowboy boots that fit” from the proverbial (and actually non-existent) to-do list. Thanks Dan! You are boot-scootin’ boogie of a guy, and next to my husband, are just the sweetest thing on the planet!

the prodigal returns

Oh... I just noticed my last blog entry was dated September 4, 2011. Today is October 4, 2011. Better late than never?? The past month has just buzzed by. It's not like I live such a fast-paced life now, that I just have NO TIME to blog. It's just that I find myself saying to myself that I'll get to it tomorrow, or when I get back from Houston, or when ... whatever... before I realize it, another month is gone and my promises to blog more frequently have gone the way of my New Year Resolutions, my promises to eat better, exercise more, and several other unfinished projects, broken promises, and unrealized resolutions.... 

Which brings me to think of all the things I've recently left undone....

1.       Blog. Duh.

2.       Bake bread. My mother and I have been saying for months how we want to get out her salt-free cookbook and try out one of the bread recipes. Still no bread…

3.       Clean out closets. This is a task I just hate doing, but always always always feel  so much better once I bite the bullet and do.

4.       Write thank you notes to friends. When I retired, several really wonderful ladies did a bunch of sweet things for me. And it’s been 4 months and I still have not written one thank you note. An appalling lack of manners.

5.       Floss. It’s not that I never floss. I just don’t  do it with any regularity or consistency.

6.       Clean out my car. It’s a mobile landfill.

7.       Call my cable company  back home to fix the DVR issue that has been a chronic problem. I am missing episodes of my favorite programs because it says I don’t have anything recorded, or that I don’t have any space… That’s my favorite. I’ll try to retrieve a show that I set to record. When I get ready to watch it, It pops up a message that says I have no programs available for viewing. Then, when I go to see how much space I have available, it says I have no space available for recording. So, how can I have nothing to view, if there is no space available?? If the recording space is full, wouldn’t it be logical to assume that there IS something recorded to watch??? I mean, am I crazy?

8.     Return books to the library. And, pay my late fees. And check out something new to read. Just finished Grisham's "The Confession"... very good....

9.       Spray scotchguard on my newly upholstered chairs. I have two chairs that were recovered. They are currently wrapped in plastic, stored in the old stucco house on my mom’s property, waiting for the renovation on my aunt’s place to be finished and used in there… I bought 4 cans of this scotchguard spray stuff about 3 months ago. Needless to say, they are still in the same walmart bag I brought them home in…

10.   Research the options for wireless do-dad techno thingy for my new laptop. I want to be able to use this laptop no matter where I am. And I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it like I do for all the techno stuff at home, like cable, that isn’t even working right.

11.   Seasonal decorating. It’s fall. I love fall. I have a bunch of fall stuff and I haven’t put anything out yet. Where are my little mini pumpkins and gourds?? Where are my fall wreaths… well that doesn’t count. I think the fall wreaths actually just stay up all the time, because they look good in my house.  But I don’t get out any of my seasonal stuff anymore. I used to put out Easter stuff. Haven’t done that in years. I barely did Christmas last year.

12. Paint the window sill in my kitchen back home. A new window sill was put in about 7 months ago. Still naked wood....

13. Pay my electric bill.

my goodness... I haven't even really begun to reveal all my undone stuff....

hmmmm... Well… I’m going to leave the rest of my undone list, well,  undone.  There is something to be said about consistency…