I'm in LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had to go to town and get my new toy. My FN 5.7. All I can saw is WOW!!!!! This is the most amazing gun I have ever shot! Some call it an expensive .22 magnum. I call it awesome! I loaded two mags with shells, 20 in each one. I tossed a stick about 2 ft long and about 1.5 inches around into the pond maybe 15 ft. It stuck in the mud so I had a 6 inch piece of wood sticking up to aim at. I shot low not much, close enough if I had been doing a chest shot they would be gut shot. Next shot was even closer. Third shot I blew the stick into!!!!!! From there I danced it across the pond. Several times I made it fly into the air or sink under the water. I only shot about 25 rounds. I was so amazed. Wanted to not shoot my whole ammo stash in one shooting. I can see how that would be SO easy and SOOOOOOO fun to do!

I am by no means a good shot with the 9 mm I carry. I tend to hit lower and just do dot to dot going up a line with it. This one was more a grouping instead of a straight line. A CLOSE grouping for me! I would guess every shot would have been on the paper if I had a silhouette person target to aim at.

My son can't wait to play and do some testing to see how well it penetrates wet phone books. As close as he can come to gelatin. I was notable impressed!

After just 25 no make that 3 rounds I was pleased with my purchase. I have had several people want to shoot it. I told them $25 for 50 rounds :) I may need to order more ammo! Anyone know of a cheaper place than Cheaper than Dirt to get the 5.7 round right now?

"A Call to Die"

Yesterday I started this book. It is TOUGH! You have to commit to spending an hour a day in prayer and study. This isn't proving to hard as it takes me about an hour to go through each days devotional and do the study. That isn't counting my regular Bible time. I have moved it to the afternoon when I sit down with a cup of coffee. You have to choose one thing to "fast" from for 40 days. I prayed about it and feel I need to fast from so much internet. I will be shutting my computer down when I head out to do chores of a morning. I won't be turning it back on until some time after 4 pm. I don't spend evenings on it anyway. When DH comes home I set it aside most nights. The exception is when we are looking for something or researching something with him on one and me on the other. I try very hard to not give in to family time on the computer. I do think I would be tempted to much if I just left it up all day and told myself to stay off of it. It would be to easy to check just "one thing".

I will have the the 'family' computer if I need to check weather or find something for one of my kids. For some reason that screen is hard for me to see so staying off it for "fun" isn't a chore.

The net is my "escape" when I don't really want to do. I will have to find other ways to entertain myself. I plan on reading more books. I have several I ordered from CBD not long ago. I can also spend time working on my loom. I will have more kid time to help them or guide them.

If anyone needs something from me during the day don't email, I won't be checking it until evening.

Fun Fun Fun!

My house was almost back to "normal" last night. DIL and the littles were home. Her mom and brother were here. Older son and his family were here. I would have taken pictures but who had time to grab the camera after they all got here.

I think we fed 17 people for supper last night. Dh and Ds grilled steaks on the grill. Other kids wrapped potatoes in foil and we tossed them in the oven. I made a cherry cheese cake for desert and we had lots of salad. It was yummy and easy.

I did manage to snag family photos of all but my grand daughter including son! This is his family minus his daughter who was way to busy playing to even hang out in the living room.

Maybe I can snag a picture of my grand daughter tomorrow when I keep them. She might have time for that if I have her all day.

Sunset..........

Last night was one of those nights when the sunset was amazing. Weh had gotten a shower and there were clouds around to add to the colors.

I had so much fun. MN and I went on a picture taking walk. We ended up taking moon rise pictures on the way back.

Playing with the light on my camera I got these two very differnt pictures of the moon rise.

Just some of the many I took and enjoyed...

Well he IS my baby! So why not put him in the bouncy seat for a nap?

Anti Glare Coating on Glasses

Did you know that the newer anti-glare coating will only last for a year, maybe? Then it starts to bubble and your glasses look like they are greasy. You wash them, no help, you wipe them, no help.

I am blessed in that I can see without them, so I go buy a pair of cheap sun glasses to drive in until I can get to the shop to see what is going on.

Today I took them in, he looked and said oops, sorry. They are only warrantied for a year. I kept thinking and finally told him I don't think I have had them even a year. He pulled my record and I was right!! 10 months! So they will be stripping the coating off. I told him I do NOT want it back. He said they may charge me up to $25-30 to do it that way. I would still rather have it not on. Down side is I had to leave them, maybe for a week! Upside is I am blessed in God has my eyes where I can drive just fine and see to read with reading glasses. I made a stop at Family Dollar and got a $6 pair of reading glasses. I am set to go!

I know that having to keep up with reading glasses will be a challenge instead of having them on my face all time but I praise God I can see to drive and read and do all I need too.

Snap shots of our week!

Just a few snap shots of critters and the good help we have around here.

This cat has a pretty face.
Talking clothes off the line. Lots of "good" help.

MN didn't want to share her coffee. Swan thought it smelled pretty good.

Hard day at the office!

Bath time.....

One really fun thing about girls is they think bathing critters is "fun". I didn't get pictures of them bathing my pup, until I rescued him. Poor shivering puppy. He did NOT like a bath.

They were on to the next customer er victim. Poor Swan.




Notice the determined look on MN's face as she keeps this tiny puppy in the sink.

Out they come, water dripping from the towel. I am not even going to consider what type of liquid it was, it was water!

Finished product! Clean puppy!

They then took off looking for the next client. MN's 3/4 wild kitten. Seems this cat is SMART. He was unable to be located at this time. I will post pictures if and when they find him and get him wet.

I did suggest they do the big white dogs. They could use a bath. MN said "In the sink?" I assured her what ever floated her boat. Don't look for them to be clean anytime soon, unless she could lure them into the pool. Wonder if dad would be ok with flea shampoo in there?

Busy week.......

Doing what? The week is half over I really don't seem to have accomplished much yet seem to have been busy a lot.

I have someone coming out to look at puppies today. They are driving about 1 1/2 hours so I feel they will take one, maybe more :D Then some one else is coming on Sat. She is wanting a "Yard Ape" I laughed and told her that these would work great!

We had a ewe lamb, triplets. She seems to be able to keep up with 2 but that third one we keep finding here and there so............... MN brought it to the house last night! Not a big deal since we don't have vacation plans for a while. We have more than enough milk to feed it. MN will willingly feed it.

I have started a new rule chores MUST be done before school is started. I find it amazing that both chores and school are getting done now. It really seems to help. If they get up early they may do school until chore time. Then ALL chores are done.

Pup is doing well. He is BUSY! He plays ball. The kids are loving how busy he is. He is funny in he plays then comes to me and once in my lap is out. Or if I won't pick him up he gets in his bed by me. Last night he was trying to bite Grizzly's nose from my lap. Remember he is our BIG male. Grizz just stayed out of range of the snapping turtle in my lap. Since that didn't work then he decided to just growl at Grizz. Yes, he is a BIG dog! in a small body! Oh I named him Pepper. Why? I have no idea, but he already comes to it.

Monday!

Where did the weekend go? We had a great time at Church yesterday but chased rabbits down rabbit trails in our discussions until 4 PM! Usually we are home about 3. It was very deep and enjoyable discussions about many areas most even Biblical.

Once we got home older son DD dad and I trimmed the donkey's hooves. :) She had been on the back side and I didn't know until Sat her hooves were in such a shape. Once that was done I was off to "play" in the tractor with the new double disk. I managed to get about 3 circles done in the field before I blew a radiator hose. I told dh it was to hot to work! I had to find some way to stop.

After that I enjoyed visiting with older son. We were discussing guns and what gun I want to buy. I think I have about talked myself into it. I want an FN 5.7. The more I read the more I want it. I really can only find about 2 downs. Number 1 is the price! As my son pointed out they are pricy, but no where near the level of some of the guns he wants. The other down is it will be larger to conceal. DS has also found a new holster that looks really comfortable to wear. That might make it easier to conceal. The price of the bullets isn't as cheap as 9s but not as $$ as 45s so :) I keep looking and reading and considering.

As the kids swam I gave the boys hair cuts. I called them out of the pool one at a time and lowered their ears. They all three looked bad before. My clippers are dull or in need of replacing so they hair cuts took longer and don't look great, but they aren't girls anymore! I need to see if I can find a set on Amazon reasonable.

Sat. afternoon a friend came and PG tested my milk cows. I was please that he said all but was was bred. I didn't think the one was though since she has been sorta sickly. He said she has bag worms and told me what wormer to give her. I hope she will soon recover. MN had already My friend said usually you can look at a cow and if she is equally fat on both sides it is a grass belly no calf, but if she is lopsided then she has a calf. If she lops to the right bull calf and left is heifer. I can't wait to see how well this figures. My old jersey is very muchly a right lop. So were most if not all of the others..... lots of beef if he is right!

I also sold a couple of my cows. One that should have been heavy bred was open so she was out of here. Her last year calf and the calf of the cow I am milking for the house. So I can't cheat and just let her calf out with her if I don't want to milk. I have never used her for a nurse cow so don't know how easy it would be to teach her to feed calves. Oh well as soon as my old jersey calves I will dry her up.

Pup is doing great. This morning he was bringing his toy to me to throw from across the room. I can't believe how he brings it to me. Most puppies the chase is on to get it. Not him. I throw it and he brings it straight back. With a little growling he gives it to me to toss again. He has claimed this house as his. When someone walks in he barks. Last night MN pulled up on the ranger and you would have thought a strange creature drove up the way he sounded. This morning when D8 got up and came into the living room he got growled at and barked at a bit, but then it was OK. He has learned to get on my rocker footstool so he is napping by my foot on it.

This week my goal is to have a normal week. I just don't know what normal is! I plan on doing some more sorting and giving away from the school room. IF my dh fixes my cabinet in the bathroom I will tackle that. We have therapy on Thursday and a Bible Study on Friday.

Friday we harvested the green chili's from my 15 plants. I got almost 2 coffee cans from them. I picked half the plants and T did the others. I think I counted 33 or so peppers on my side. T then roasted them for me. She loves that job. We need to peel them today. Then put them in the freezer.

Off to milk and see what I can use milk for today! Anyone need milk? :) I have plenty!

Blame it on Dh............

Yesterday was Buffalo Gap Flea Market. We enjoy going and usually go eat Chinese after we walk the flea market. We sorta stay together, but leap frog along as someone finds something to look at we don't always wait, but will go until we find something to look at. I had been in the lead, and when DH caught up with me I told him he should be proud of me I resisted looking at some fox terrier puppies. His commit, "Why, I kinda miss having one." Now Hank has been gone for 3 years or so. He slept the last 10 years or so of his life on the foot of our bed on DH' side.

So..... we wondered back that way and looked. They had three. They assured me they were fox, not rat or worse (to me) Jack Russel's. :) I know lots and LOTS of people love them. I grew up with fox and rat terriers so that is where I love most. Two had very little color. One I immediately picked up. I discovered it was a male. I cuddled it and it cuddled back. I held and held and it was totally happy there. I finally put it down, only to have it climb up the cage toward me. I picked him up again. My DDs were NO help! They stated, if you don't you will regret it. My dh was NO help, he still missed having an ankle biter.

So.......

I think in 31 years of marriage we have been without a fox or rat terrier maybe 5 years. Most of that was with 2 dogs. But, my love didn't start there. Last night I was thinking about the terriers of my past. I had Penny from the time I could remember. My brother had Sissy. They were sisters. Penny was more white, while Sissy was more black and smaller. At the same time my other brother had Saddle. Those that read my blog and knew Saddle will smile at his name. I don't know that he was full short legged rat terrier but he was part I'm sure. I don't think you can claim he was a "good" dog, but he was memorable. He could procreate faster than rabbits ever thought of and he bred true! For 20 years after he was shot or died you could still see "Saddle" pups around town. He also was terribly afraid of thunderstorms. He would tear a hole in the first screen door he found. Remember this was at a time when most people didn't have AC but screen doors. He wasn't picky who's house he sought refuge in. Since fences meant nothing to him he was seldom "home" when these storms happened. He was busy procreating. Once he was gone the next dog my brother got was Penny. :) I really think he had 2 or three Penny's over the years. While my other brother got Odie. Now Odie loved freedom much like Saddle, but he couldn't procreate. My brother tried hard to contain him. Even adding an electric fence inside his chain link. At that Odie would walk back and forth a bit then back up start yelping and RUN through the electric fence and under the chain link! He would then hang out at Grandmothers or one of the rest of the family's until he got took home. By that time Dh and I had Brownie. He was a toy fox. He looked more like a chichwaa. He had lots of spitfire and fight. We had him 12-15 years. While both boys were born and young. Once he died we found another rat terrier. The boys named him Hank. Yes, I know Hank was a cow dog and Drover was the ankle biter, but ..... :) Hank lived 18 years. Even my first round of adoptive kids remember him. After that we went through several "older" puppies and adult rat/fox terriers, but none of them stuck. They would roam and disappear.

I haven't came up with a name for this little spit fire yet. He had claimed my lap as HIS. This morning we were sitting outside and he was in my lap. The big pup I like came up and this mean growl came out of my lap. Big pup backed off some. In a few minutes pup stuck her head in my lap and SNAP! Little pup established territory! She sat back and barked at him.

Yes, he slept on the bed last night, ALL night! No whining or fussing. I didn't even get up with him until 5. As I type this since my lap is full of lap top computer he is sleeping draped across my shoulders. He already is my shadow. He will play with the kids but when I leave the room he does too. My older boys would find me by looking for Hank. They knew he wasn't far from me.

Hank loved to play balls. He would find his ball for you if you ask. This pup seems to like to play ball. I have one of those ropes with balls on it that are made to tug. This morning I would toss it a couple of feet and he would go get it and bring it back where I could reach it.

Puppy Pictures

Male mt. cur cross.
Pyr/Anatolian maleMale

males, the red collar is Ceder, grandson's pup. Or as he says, Ceder don't do that. He told his other grandmother that was the pups name.

Male

Females

Female mt. cur cross.

Female

Female

My pick! I really REALLY don't want to let her go. Not sure if we will keep her or not. She isn't pretty, she is personable.

Females

Female pyr/anatolian cross

School Room update.........

Blogger didn't like me this morning. I took these first thing and have been trying off and on all day to get them on here.

View from the kitchen door. Don't you love my half circle desk? I used both of them to make a half circle with area for kids to work or sew or craft and mom to be out here too.

Kids desk area. See EIGHT desk! We still have to put lights back above each work area.

Bay window area. I have finished removing the clutter from the table and have been cutting plastic for desk covers. I had long runner type on the work space before with each child's area defined by fabric of their choice. Now I am taking the plastic and trying to figure out how to cover the desk without making it to loose.

Books books books...... Yes the yellow is all National Geographic! I got one set off freecycle and the others I paid $10 for 2 big heavy boxes full. MN was in charge of putting books up.

Did I mention I got a book order from CBD in yesterday evening? :) Under the map is still more books. I have another map I just got I want to hang up there. The closed part of the book case is 5 ft tall. I took my book cases I already had and added them above. Then we stacked a few more books on top of that! I'm not sure how many more books are still hiding. Can you tell we love books?

Life School

Yesterday we didn't do book school. We spent the day re-working our school room. They kids learned to use a dolly. They really started that lesson on Sunday. I assigned 2 kids to move desk. I refused to help them. They were to work together and communicate! It was quite a show. About the time they got it figured out I made them switch. The "boss" had to be quite and allow the other child to run the dolly and give the orders. I have some children that are natural leaders and some that aren't. It was very hard for my leader to keep her mouth shut as someone bossed her who didn't know how to do it. I finally allowed her to go find an other job to do.

The girls sorted and moved books yesterday. I had to watch MN close or she would loose herself reading a book she didn't know we had. She likes reading! T and D8 alphabetized all my Louis L'Amour books. Just by letter, not all the way out. This was no small feat as I have many and many duplicates. I tend to buy the whole sack of Louis L'Amours and not worry about having a couple of them as between my son and I we wear them out.

I did laugh at D8 as I had him put the rest of my assorted paper backs on the bottom shelves. He put them in upside down, spine in and all. When I went back and discovered it I called him over. He knew they were wrong. I took them all out and allowed him to try again. I assured him he could practice until he gets it right. Amazingly he got it totally right that time.

Several times I allowed kids to move stuff with me telling them I need this here. Let me know when it is done and walked out of the room. I walked out to keep my mouth shut on the "best" or "easiest" way to get it there. Each time they managed to get it where I wanted it without killing the other child helping.

The kids also had to go through the toys which have procreated to the point they don't have room to play for the toys. I allowed each one a produce crate of toys, the rest went to the barn. I will see how this works. They really don't play with that many toys. They will have room to play now.

Today we will do life school day two. They also had to do lots of measuring to figure out what would fit where. I hope to help them learn to apply the school we usually learn. That they will see understand how important this education they are getting is in the world.

Time to start this day. I hope to have lots of pictures this day of all our accomplishments.

Your Tax $$$ at Work and other ramblings of our weekend...

Saturday we went to a school auction. The town had a new high school so they were cleaning out the old one. It really made you sick to see what they didn't need. I am guessing there were 400+ desk in good shape that weren't going to be moved. So many MANY other pricey things that they wanted new or a new style and were selling at less than penny's on the dollar. I wanted 6 of these desk.

They had two styles of them. These which are older and made out of 3.4 inch plywood and some "store bought" ones that looked new. These sold first. DH wanted to make sure I got a few so he bid on these. I didn't care which ones we got. What they would do is sell "choice" once or twice then sell what was left. I think choice went for about $5 each. Then they sold the rest, that is when DH bid. I got my 6 and about 10 more! Those are just the ones he brought home!!!!!!! He bid $5 for the lot!

This picture is sorta hard to tell what it is. It is three trash bags on their side, HUGE trash bags. What you ask are in them? Lap top computer cases.

They are used, but I counted the ones in ONE sack and I think there were 8. They are soft cases, but sorta hard sided. Going to be a great computer bag/Bible bag for trips. Keep in mind he bought 3 trash bags full!

Shelves anyone? I couldn't resist this little wooden one. It was $1.

This metal one with one bent shelve was a couple dollars. The tool boxes inside it were less than 5 for both of them.

More shop shelving for DH or me :) The taller one is going in the school room. The locker has shelves (homemade) in it.

It is hard to see here but the desk are setting on top of metal shelves. they are some what taken apart and still as wide as the trailer and 8ft tall. There are three sections that size stacked in the trailer.

Rocking chair anyone? These are HEAVY gliders, solid wood. One had a broke arm, but is very fixable.

I didn't buy many chairs, I should have but just didn't. They had lots and they went cheap!

I really wanted this desk. I thought it would be great for working with kids are maybe even sewing. So I got two of them!

For me this was the "steal" of the day. You can't tell to much about it in the trailer, but it is 8 ft long, three door 5-6 shelves 5 ft high cabinet. I paid $1 for it.


I got part of this worked into the school room yesterday and will finish today. I plan on getting several plastic shelving units out as I fill this wooden one and the metal one with my books and such. I moved the shelf that the kids used as a "desk" up just high enough to slide the new desk under them. I could fit 8 under there ! Think DH will let me fill all the desk?

I will take pictures today as I get it set up the way I want it. Now the school room looks like a double disaster!