Saturday, November 27, 2010

Thanksgiving Ice

GREETINGS!

Hi! It seems like weeks rather than days since I've posted. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was very enjoyable. The day before Thanksgiving it was 80 degrees out. Thanksgiving morning there was an ice storm. As we drove to our friends house, which is about 20+ miles from us and in another county, it began raining and freezing. This was about 10:45 a.m. It truly turned in to a show only God could produce and invite you to! These pictures really don't do justice to the beauty, but maybe you'll get the idea.....

This one is my favorite; the weeds and ice on the barbed wire fence.



This one is a garden area in Kathy's front yard. The sun was hitting it in the afternoon and it truly looked like diamonds sparkling.



Same area as above, just a different angle.



A couple of pine boughs in the front yard.



And this I'm in love with; no ice on it yet, but it is covered in these brilliant red berries. I'd love to pick some branches, but I'm afraid the berries would fall off!
It speaks Christmas to me!!



Our dinner was superb: turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cooked carrots, cold slaw, deviled eggs, crescent rolls and homemade apple cranberry relish :) that was excellent. And for dessert, well there was mincemeat, pumpkin, and cherry pies and homemade apple strudel type thing. Divine. And the best part was Kathy sent leftovers home with us! It truly was the best meal I've had in a long time. Kathy is originally from Wisconsin so I think it was the Yankee touch that made it so good. Not that the Southern touch isn't good, just different than what I grew up with!

Most of all, I was so thankful for new friends to share the day with; friends whose children were away the same as ours and so we could share our stories and feelings about them and wish them all well.

Take care and God Bless.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Ugly Bathroom - Temporary Fix

GREETINGS!

I've been busy trying to fix the ugly medicine cabinet/cupboards in the master bathroom. These ugly doors were on them, and besides being ugly, you couldn't have anything on the counter because you needed all the space to open the door to get something out of the cupboard!



My temporary fix was to take the doors off and hang towels to act as "doors". At least now you can have some necessary items on the counter without having to move everything when you want something out of the cupboard! My hope someday is to completely remove the cupboards and do something different. Just need to catch Ronnie in the right mood to accomplish that!



Here's a picture of Ms Salli. Yesterday afternoon her and Patch took off on a journey again, and didn't return home until well after 8:00 p.m. We were so miffed at them - and worried! We couldn't imagine where they had gone and why they were gone for so long. It is not like Patch to be gone for such a long time. They were both kind of muddy, even though it hasn't rained - so who knows. Like Ronnie says, if some day they don't come home, there won't be any more animals. You give your heart and money and then lose it! And like I said, and Carolina Nana too, we do not tie dogs up; they are totally in God's care.



I'm tired today from mopping and vacuuming and such. Hope you are not wearing yourselves out preparing for Thanksgiving. Take care and God Bless.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Fresh Mistletoe!

GREETINGS!


When I first moved to Oklahoma, I kept seeing these round, green balls in some of the trees. It seemed very strange to me -- no leaves on the trees, but sometimes lots of these green balls! I took a guess that it was Mistletoe, and finally found I was right!





So, the dark objects you see on these trees are in fact Mistletoe balls (for lack of something better to call them).










This is on a smaller tree, but is closer so you can see it better. And it was the only one on this tree.

And this is a piece we picked off the small tree. Looks exactly like what you buy in the store around Christmas time. It's amazing!! I don't know if they preserve it with something or not, but I don't care........I'll use fresh stuff!!

Mistletoe is a hemi-parasitic plant that grows attached to and within the branches of a wide range of host trees and/or shrubs. They first sprout from bird droppings (poop) on the trunk of the tree. The droppings contain the seed of the plant. Mistletoe was the floral emblem of Oklahoma for quite sometime; and in 2004 the Oklahoma Rose became the State flower, so I don't know what distinction the Mistletoe hold here now, but it sure is plentiful in our area.

Besides the tradition of kissing someone standing under a branch of Mistletoe, it is also a tradition to keep a branch/bundle in the house throughout the year to save/protect your house from lightening and/or fire. You replace the bundle each year on Christmas Eve. I believe all these traditions started in Europe.

It amazes me the new things I learn about Oklahoma. It's truly an interesting place; as I'm sure every state is, it's just more so to me since I'm a new comer!

NOW! For the good news......when I came home from working at the church Closet on Saturday afternoon, Salli came bouncing into the driveway to greet me! I was sooooo
surprised! And grateful that God had answered my prayers - again! Note to Carolina Nana: when we leave the place now we put one of the dogs in the house in the crate so they won't be lead astray again! During the day all we can do is keep an eye on them and if we see them wandering off we call them back. Other than that, I don't know what you could do - short of tying them up, and I WILL NOT do that. Anyway, she was very hungry, is a little slimmer, and very happy to be home. And so was I.

That's all I know. Take care and God Bless.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Worn Out!

GREETINGS!

I have been working my fanny off (if I had one) this week! Ronnie and I had been sleeping in separate bedrooms for the past few months, and I decided that was enough of that and so the "move" began on Monday. There were all my hanging clothes to move, my chifforobe and of course pictures/accessories, etc. Not to mention having to move stuff out of one bathroom into the master bathroom. I think I'm about done, except for cleaning the guest bathroom.

I of course changed the bed sheets and dug out this lovely quilt I bought in Branson one year. And found these pillows on a shelf in a closet.



And of course I had to bring my old trunk back and put it at the end of the bed. It's nice to put the quilt on at night since it is so terrible hot with it on the bed.


There were lots of things to move into the back bedroom where I was, to make room for my chifforobe. Ronnie had amassed a lot of his gun/cowboy stuff and various other items in a heap next to the wall, so all that had to be moved. The gun safe remains, but I guess I can live with that. It will be nice when he has a separate "gun" room someday and all the guns and tools and stuff can go out of the mobile. In the meantime, I don't expect any company so it'll be fine. It was a very good excuse- or opportunity - to clean and revamp and organize.

Today was spent totally moving and organizing bathroom stuff. I threw away so much outdated stuff I'm amazed! I found an old box of hair color so I called Revlon and they recommended I throw it out. Even though it doesn't really expire, they recommended I NOT use it! There were several partial bottles of mouth wash, lotions, etc. all gone now! And lots more room in the cupboards. YAY. Even moved towels and sheets and blankets to better places in the linen closets. So, it's good to be done and back in my memory foam queen size bed. Now if I can just adjust to my husband and Patch.......... :)

And this (below) is Ronnie's winter radish harvest! I'm thinking it didn't go so well...........


Oh, my Sallie is gone again! Only this time we know what the deal is. Patch goes for "walks" off the property, and Sallie followed him. Problem being, he didn't wait for her to follow him back home. I wonder if that was on purpose??? They were both missing Tuesday afternoon, and then Patch came home, but no Sallie. I can only hope that she finds her way to a house, and that the people look at the tag on her collar and look up her ID # on the internet and call me. So far, nothing. I am praying that God will bring her back one more time..........

That's all I know. Take care and God Bless.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Rattlesnake Mountain Rangers

GREETINGS!

Well, it finally happened.........Saturday I went to a cowboy shoot with Ronnie. It is totally an understatement to say that he has an obsessive passion about this hobby of his, and that he cares more for it than me! But hey, you know what? It's better than hanging out in the bars all the time! :) Anyway, it was a very nice November day and it was the first shoot at this range and it was interesting and fun.

This old snag of a tree marks the beginning of the range/shooting area, and when the building fronts are finished it will look like a street in an old West town. This is where Ronnie goes to help his buddy build the fronts, etc.





This - above and below - is part of the "posse" getting their instructions and preparing to salute the flag, etc. There were 14 "cowboys/cowgirls" at the shoot.


This is a shot of the targets at one of the "stages". They are made of iron. You see, the whole object of the shoot is to hit the targets as directed in the scenario and do it in record time. At the end, it is tallied and you know who shot the fastest and with the most accuracy.



And to my mind, this was the best part of the whole thing! This is the bathroom. They made it out of a garden type shed and put a toy box like bench inside with a hole cut in for a toilet seat and a bag to catch the "business" and a can of cedar shavings to put on top of it when you are done. It's a green, compost toilet and is wonderful!! Very clever. And the sign is cute too.




These people have gone to great expense - financially and physically - to bring about this range for the "cowboys" who love to shoot. They are to be commended. And Kathy, my new friend and wife of the head cowboy owner, even makes cookies and coffee and hot chocolate for the boys to eat! Who could ask for anything more? I'm sure I will be going again; as long as the weather is tolerable. Although they do have a nice metal garage up and a big, tall propane patio heater in it!

That's all I know. Happy Trails to you! Take care and God bless.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

More Colors

GREETINGS!

I guess by now you can tell that I love the colors of Fall! And I am so awed by the fact that the best ones are right in my own front and back yards. These first 4 are of the back yard. It was cloudy when I took the pics this morning, so the colors are not as vivid as they actually are. The last 2 pictures are my favorites, and are in the front yard. I especially love the black trunks of the trees and the vivid colors. God did a wonderful job, didn't He?

Hope you are enjoying the colors in your neck of the woods. Take care and God Bless.

















Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Doctor Day

GREETINGS!



I didn't zoom in on this picture of the colorful hill, but you can get the idea. It is still amazing to me that I don't have to take a "trip" to see the colors in the Fall! As we drove over to Arkansas mid-morning today, we were blessed to see all kinds of colors. There is just no end to them........until a big wind comes along!



Ronnie and I both had appointments with the dermatologist today. I was waaayy past due for my check up after having surgery on my nose for Squamous Cell cancer in 2007. This picture is after the surgery and during the healing process. I print it because I want everyone to be aware of how skin cancer can sneak up on you. It is so important to wear sunscreen whenever you go outside, and use other protection also. My cancer was the middle of the 3 in severity, so I was very lucky. My check up went well, had some pre-cancerous cells blasted with liquid nitrogen (which really burns and stings) and other than that it was good. I just thank the Lord I have not had any further occurrences.

Ronnie had a couple of wart things on his eyelids and they were starting to bother him, so the doctor removed those today. I was really surprised she did it today, but that was a good thing. He also had a mole type thing that he had scratched/picked at on his back and the doctor thought it looked cancerous so she cut that out also. I hope that has taught him to quite picking at things!!

All in all, we had a great day. The doctor's office was right by a Taco Bell, so we had lunch there before going in to the office, which was nice. Got home about 2:30 or so, and the "kids" were very happy about that! Made Stouffer's lasagna in the new microwave for supper. It's amazing how much faster it cooks than our old, little one. Have to watch Dancing With The Stars tonight and see who gets voted off. Getting down to the finals real soon. Will only be 4 couples left after tonight.

Hope you all had a great day. Take care and God Bless.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Shopping Day

GREETINGS!



Ahhhhh, Monday, and things to do.........like laundry, grocery shopping, burning paper stuff, feeding critters, etc. Pretty typical for Monday, but the weather is so wonderful it just makes you not care about doing chores! It was around 73 and very sunny today.... perfect really. So we decided to go to Checotah WalMart and do our weekly shopping. That's less than 30 miles one way, so not bad. As I was driving down the main street I saw a sign that said "PECANS FOR SALE" and an arrow pointing to the right. I couldn't turn that corner fast enough! We got down to the street and found the place with the pecans..........an old farmers hardware store. They were in a garbage can in the middle of the floor, cracked, for $2 a pound. Well, we bought 5 pounds and went on our merry way.


That's Ronnie sitting at the kitchen table cracking a few. I have to watch him because he eats more than he puts in the container! I remember the last time we had pecans like that, and my Mom was still alive and living with us. She wanted to help, and she did, but we were always picking shells out of the nuts. Her eyesight wasn't too good, in fact she really could only see out of one eye. It was kind of like her potato salad, it wasn't Mom's salad unless you found an egg shell in it! :) God rest her soul! Now Ronnie says I have to put some egg shell in the potato salad when I make it so it will be like Moms! Oh well, I'd best move on and finish the nut story...... I've been using a lot of walnuts in my baking lately, and they are soooo expensive; and I was complaining about it too, so that's why it was so cool to find the pecans for cheap. And after looking at nuts in WalMart, Ronnie decided he was going back to the hardware store and buy more pecans instead of spending $2.89 for mixed nuts in the shell and $4 or $5 for shelled walnuts. We get back there and they were all gone! A little old lady we held the door for on our way out with our nuts had bought all the rest!! Oh well, they said they would have more tomorrow afternoon so Ronnie will try again on Wednesday when he has to go that way.

Our trip in WalMart was expensive!! We spent over $300 and that's a new high for us.
Of course we bought a new, bigger powered microwave, Ronnie got new tennis shoes, I got 2 new $5 bras (yippee), some splatter screens for cooking, cat and dog food, a lot of baking stuff, paper towels, toilet paper, etc. Oh, I forgot, we also got our turkey breast for Thanksgiving. And then all the normal stuff. All not cheap! Anyway, we shouldn't have to buy food stuff for quite awhile. Then of course, we had to bring it home and I had to find a place to put it all! My pantry cupboard is stuffed full; but maybe with some cleaning and re-organizing it will be better.

I did take some time to look for a pair of slacks that would fit me better than what I have. This not having a butt anymore is really a problem! The new slacks I bought a week or so ago are even bagging so I'm on the lookout again. I'm getting really close to looking for a fake butt! I may have found some, but didn't try them on as I knew Ronnie was wandering around and was probably getting antsy. But I'll go back by myself one day and try them on.

Now I'm exhausted so I think I'll close for tonight. Oh, today is our anniversary...
12 years of fussin' and fightin'. I thank the Lord for giving me the courage and strength to keep at it; who knows, maybe we'll make another 12.

Take care and God Bless.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Silhouettes

GREETINGS!

The following pictures capture just a few of the silhouette figures on this property. They are really unique. The man who lives here made all the ones you see and then some. However, he had to quit making them due to his age and ability. He told Ronnie that he sold his patterns and such to someone in a neighboring town. This place is about 7 or 8 miles from our place. We pass it on the way to town if we take the paved roads.

This first picture is of the entrance to their driveway.



This one is along side of their driveway.



And this one is around their pond. It's not real clear, but hopefully you can make out the cowboy sitting in the chair fishing, along with the steer in the background.
I think the sun was hitting the cowboy wrong for the picture.



o It was a good day, and I thank the Lord for it.

o I hope you all have a great weekend.

o Take care and God Bless.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Mid Week

GREETINGS!

This is the "thing" I was looking for yesterday out in the storage trailer. Ronnie went out today and found it buried way up in the front I'm so happy he found it. I bought this a few years back, and it used to hang over my piano. I loved it for an "architectural" piece. Since there are mirrors behind the piano now, I can't put it there and had to find a different spot. I took down a mirror I had hanging in this space and made room for my "church window". I love it.



And this is something I glued together the other day. It was/is my favorite tea cup, with little violets on it. The cup had 2 big chips in it so I decided rather than throw it out, I'd glue it and the saucer together. Now it can either be a bird feeder outside or a candle holder inside! Aren't I just clever? :) Now I just need to buy me a candle I think.

O Sorry for the blurry pictures. I'm using a different camera and I haven't
mastered it yet. Ronnie says I'm too close to the object I'm taking a picture of.
I'll work on it.

O My youngest daughter commented on yesterday's blog post, saying she thought I
should let you all know she is 39 years old. I guess she thinks that will make
a difference with her getting dreadlocks, which they call "happy" locks! Done.

O Oklahoma had a historical election yesterday; we have our first woman governor.
It was bound to be a woman as there were 2 women running. This one is Republican.

O Today is very blue sky and sunshine and temp of around 60. Nice but chilly in
the morning. Night time temps coming in the 30's. Brrrrrr

O As my friend Judy says: That's all I know. Take care and God Bless. :)

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

November is Here!

GREETINGS!

Hurray for November. I just love this month! As much or more than October (my birthday month), and I think it's because the colors of Fall are really kicking in AND it's Thanksgiving time, my favorite Holiday, outside of the birth of Jesus. The picture below is just a little Fall vignette I put on the counter between the living room and dining room. It's a good thing for November. And I think in December I'll use it to display my collection of old world Santas.



This picture I love because it reminds me of the trees blushing with embarrassment at shedding their "clothes" so to speak! Soon they will be naked and waiting through the long winter months for Spring to bring them a new suit of clothes.



And this is my little bird sanctuary, with the new bird feeder and suet block hanging in the lower branches of the tree. And the bird bath I got from the storage trailer today. It was my first venture into that trailer (you can see it in the background of this picture), and I was amazed at the things I'd forgotten about that are in there! Alas, the thing I was looking for I didn't find, but for now the birdbath will do! So far I've not had any birds come to eat, but I'm watching!



O Took Sallie in for her 2nd round of shots yesterday and she gained 12+
pounds in the last month! Little piggy.

O Ronnie put the new weather stripping around the front door today and it is nice
and tight and you can't see daylight anymore!

O My youngest daughter drove from Seattle to Portland,OR to get her hair done
in Dreadlocks! They do look pretty nice......

O Had some rain today........the grass loved it and so did the dogs. Nothing
like a good romp in the mud!

O That's all for now. Take care and God Bless you.

O Excuse the way this text came out. Don't know how to fix it! aarrggh