Vans & Roses

On Monday, the Hubs will take possession of this.  And it's about time!  His current van is a 2002 that he bought when we  moved here in 2003.  He has put over 200,000 miles on it.  It's time to retire the beast before it costs us any more $$ to keep going. 

It made us realize that I have had my Tahoe for 5 years, this month.  I don't know what the deal is, but I absolutely LOVE my 'Ho!  I love the looks of it and totally love the way it drives and handles.  My last couple of vehicles in Alaska were Chevy S-10 Blazers and I loved them as well.  I can only imagine how awesome it would have been to have had a Tahoe in Alaska!  The 'Ho is an '03 and I only have 128,000 miles on it.  I am hoping it will last a very long time.  I don't particularly care for the looks of the newer models and it's a good thing!  Chuck checked the prices on them, just out of curiosity,  while he was looking for his van, and they are like $50-$60,000.  I'm not even sure if that was the Z-71 model.  Yikes!  How do people afford payments???  If I recall, for mine, we financed about $30,000 for 5 years and my payments are $468 a month.  It must be that a person buying a brand new one has to decide between a house payment or a truck payment!  LOL

Chuck picked my 1st roses for me yesterday AM.  My favorites bloomed beautifully and the bush id LOADED with buds! This is not a great picture.  These are actually a salmon color, with tinges of deep pink.  Ya' know!  The camera on this iPhone4 that I have really sucks compared to my 3GS.  I'll be so glad when I can upgrade in November!

What a dork I am.  Here is a MUCH better shot taken with my 'real' camera.  Nikon to the rescue!  This shows the true colors.

Anyway, the roses have started blooming early this year.  Last year they bloomed after I went to Alaska and I'm pretty sure it was sometime in May.  This will start my summer of fresh roses by my computer every day.  Chuck will pick me fresh ones, every couple of days :)  He has his moments.  Wonder who he'll pick them for whilst I'm gone??  Susie & Dixie, mayhaps :)

I'm getting down to the serious stuff in getting ready for my trip  I was commiserating last  night with Terri (lovely daughter) as to what knitting projects I should bring.  I have so many projects lined up, it's hard to decide, but I did narrow it down to "the less complicated, the better".  I've only been serious about knitting for a year, and I really don't have a lot of experience or confidence going for me yet.  I'm so easily distracted, that if I can't focus entirely on what I'm doing, I make mistakes.  If I don't catch it right away, it's difficult to fix and often I have had to rip something all out and start over.  But as I was about to say, there will be a LOT of distractions in that house while I'm there.  I can't wait :)

Back to the knitting thing.  For some reason, I am having the WORST time with a baby blanket I am trying to knit!  Its ridiculous.  I'm making it for the gal that works for Chuck.  She is due next week (in fact they are inducing her on Tues.)  I have known abut her pregnancy since the 1st moment she found out.  She helped me pick out the yarn & I got it right away.  I already had a pattern I wanted to try.  So, yeah.....this was about 8 months ago.  I didn't start it right away because I had several Christmas gifts I was making, figured I would start it after the New Year and have it finished in plenty of time.  I was so wrong!

This was when I learned how dangerous distractions can be.  I "thought" I was comfortable with the pattern.  I "thought" I could knit on it while watching TV.  I "thought" wrong!  Twice I found mistakes and had to undo a few rows, stitch by stitch and redo them.  (very slow process)  The 3rd time I screwed up, I took it as a sign that this wasn't the pattern for me!  I found a new pattern that I liked even better and I seemed to get along alot better with it.  In fact, I was zipping right along and had the blanket about 2/3 completed when I went to San Diego.  When I came home, however, that had all changed.  Murphy had pulled the needles out of the knitting, she chewed on the needles making them worthless and she chewed up and pulled out a bunch of the yarn!  It was a mess.  So.....I had to start over. 

I've been working on it every chance I get, but have had a couple of set backs.  A couple of those opportunities happened to be in the middle of the night, when my hip & leg are hurting and I can't sleep.  That's when I get up and take a couple of pain pills.  Yep, you guessed it.  I shouldn't be knitting during those times.  It took 2 screw ups before I finally got the hint.  I do believe I will be taking this project to Alaska to finish & will mail it to her.  The baby will never know the difference.  But I've gotta tell ya'.  It's great yarn and I DID love it, but I am so damn sick of it it's not even funny!!

Packing and Nimrods

A week from today, at this very time, I will be on board Alaska Airlines Fight #189 for the last leg of my trip, preparing for take-off from Anchorage to Fairbanks!!!  YAY!!!!  This is the very 1st time, out of all the times I have flown up there, that I will be arriving in the afternoon! 

I get in at 4:18.  Unheard of!  Of course, in order to do that, my flight leaves here at 6:00 AM.  It was originally 7 AM, but they changed it.  That means I need to be there at 5 AM and we live 45 minutes from the airport, so we need to leave the house at 4 AM, which means I need to get up.....O.M.G.......2:30 or 2:45ish.  UGGG!  I can't even begin to function without at least 2 cups of coffee, and don't rush me with that!  Then there will be the last minute items to go in the suitcase, but I think I can avoid any of that.  That way Mr. Hustle-Bustle won't have to be chomping at the bit to load my suitcases. 

Some members of our amazing Derby Family have arranged for a little get together, upon my arrival :-).  It's going to be at River City Cafe, where my dearest Riley works!  Next to the fare at my daughter's home, this is the best food in the Fairbanks North Star Borough!! I already know what I'm going to have.  I'll start with an X-Large Cinnamon Latte with extra cinnamon (to help keep me alert) and then I will have a Roast Beef Croissant sandwich, with cheddar, sprouts, avocado, tomato and horseradish.  Oh, Lordy!  I can just taste it now.  To go along with that will be a fresh Raspberry Lemonade.  Yummm!  I sure hope Riley doesn't have to work so she can meet me at the airport with her Mama and the rest of my sweeties!  Gads!!  I just can't wait to get HOME!!

And have I been packing!  Well, gathering, actually.  1 huge suitcase on the bed, 1 huge suitcase beside the bed, and the bed is piled with stuff and clothes and stuff....I need lots of clothes for this time of year up there.  There will be chilly days, then very warm days during which I will sweat like a pig 'neath that big Alaskan sun!  That will turn into just chilly mornings & evenings and very warm afternoons.  Shorts, sweaters, sneakers, sandals....they are all required.  And God forbid I don't take all my favorite clothes!  What would happen if I went to get dressed and there was nothing there that I felt like wearing?!?  That's pretty bad, but I've always been that way.  I wish I could just love all of my clothes unconditionally and be able to wear any of them any time......but I don't.

Well, the Nimrod did the front door thing again last night, and I was having one of those days where I could barely put any weight on my left leg without it feeling like I was going to self-destruct.  It was about 5:30.  Chuck wasn't home yet.  I was in the kitchen working on supper and I saw him pull in behind the barn, then turn around and leave.  Next thing I knew....bang, bang, bang on the freaking front door.  I went, opened the door and he said "So, Pops isn't home yet?"  F*** me!!  No, Nimrod!! If his van isn't behind the barn, there's no place else for him to hide it!  ARGGG.  Really, all I said was "no" and he turned and bounded down the steps and left.  I slammed the door so hard the windows rattled all over the house.  About 5 minutes later, Chuck came in the back door and Nimrod was right behind him.  I waited a few minutes and then I asked him if he could do me a big favor, and explained the whole thing to him.  Nicely.  Calmly.  Diplomatically. He said, sure.  No problem.  Chuck piped up and said to him, what the hell do you do that for?? He said,  "hell, I didn't want to walk to the house from there!"  Chuck said, "well you better!  Don't be expecting her to have to run around letting your lazy ass in!"  Hee hee.  I loved it!  But we'll see how long it lasts.  Ya know, he could have just called me.  Didn't even have to come to the door to verify the obvious. 

Garden Planted

Chuck got most of the garden planted last night.  We don't usually have a whole lot of luck with our gardens, especially since we moved to Arkansas.  We did much better in Alaska.  But then, I was the sole gardener in Alaska and Chuck is the sole gardener here.  Hmmm.....

I love planting and harvesting.  All that other stuff, not so much.  I like watering and fertilizing, and I like 'tending' things, like tomato plants, but I hate weeding.  And I'm not real crazy about 'preparing' some of our bounty, when things DO produce.  Trimming ends and cutting up green beans.  Boring!  Washing beet greens or spinach to get every bug & speck of dirt off.  Tedious!!!  I love cukes & tomatoes and all that stuff that requires little care once harvested.

Chuck worked hard to beef up our soil this year.  He had it so screwed up a few years ago.  Someone told him that horse manure was excellent for your garden, and to till in mulched up leaves.  WRONG!  Horse poop is the worst thing to put in your garden.  To make matters worse, since we had an abundant supply, he figured 'if a little is good, a lot will be better'. What didn't burn up' from whatever chemical process took place, grew into unrecognizable vegetables.  We had round cucumbers that looked like golf balls.  The yellow squash & zucchini had skin about 1/4 inch thick that resembled Armadillo armor.  No amount of steaming, boiling or beating with a mallet would make it edible!

The past couple of years, he has continued planting and has only tilled in a bit of fresh dirt each year, waiting for all the horse poop to just 'go away'.  Last year he did add some "dirt" that he acquired from the Water Treatment Plant.  I don't EVEN wanna talk about my feelings on that!!  This year he decided to get serious and it seems to me that just maybe he got it right, but only time will tell.  He brought home a load of GOOD top soil, a load of sand and bought copious quantities of Steer Manure (which is what I always used in Alaska, btw).  He got it all mixed in and tilled and re-tilled and finally got started planting.  We decided not to plant too much stuff, but I might just sneak a few plants home to add to the mix.  We only bought tomatoes, although we got several varieties, and green bell peppers, Serrano peppers, zucchini and onion sets.  We use all the onions at the Scallion stage.  For seeds we got lots of beets....for the greens.  OMG, how we both love beet greens!  I like beets real well, but he doesn't so they never get to grow up and be real beets.  LOL  Also got spinach (not sure why, as it always bolts before we can eat it), swiss chard and green beans.  Oh, and a couple more strawberry plants to add to the 3 I got last year, that actually survived!  I know that within the week I will be bringing home some cucumber plants because I simply must!! The only thing better than a sun warm, freshly picked tomato is a fresh picked cucumber!  Ahhhhh......TASTY!!!!!!

Tonight he will transform the dirt in my flower beds and we will plant my flowers and hope they do much better as well.  Last year, I bought a lot of my flowers before I left for Alaska and he intended to plant them for me, but never did get around to it.  Many of them died in their little containers.  This year, we'll get them planted before I leave!  He's very good about watering every day, so they should be safe:)

Hopefully we've got our shit together (sorry, I couldn't resist) and our gardening endeavors will work out marvelously!!!

Beware.....Pure Bitching

A couple of days ago I started a rant and wrote out a big bitch post and then deleted it.  My friend, Terri was disappointed that I deleted it.  She enjoys my rants.  LOL  I will attempt to recreate it.

Everyone that comes to our house, on an almost daily basis, knows:

• I hurt.  I need surgery.  Have needed it for eons, and as time goes by, I hurt more and more.  Some days, much more so than others. It's just a fact of life.
• Our front door is always locked.  If someone goes to the front door, I have to trudge thru the freakin house to answer the door and let them in.
• Our back door is always open, if we are home.  The people that come here the most often, (oh, let's say an employee's spouse for example) come to the back door, knock, holler a greeting and come on in.  (not my favorite scenario, but then I don't make all the rules).
• Why the F*** would said person, come to the front door when all they intended to do was to walk thru the house...to the BACK door and on outside to see Hubby who was in the back yard (and CLEARLY visible from the front driveway!!) 
• Same person was here the night before, seemingly 'quite concerned' because I was having an extra painful day.  Yeah, right.
• And even if he wasn't going to just pass on thru, the 'gathering spot' at our house is the kitchen, which is just inside the fooking BACK DOOR!  I have fairly large house, people.  My walking is limited.  I don't like "wasting" it by doing a lot of unnecessary running around!  Duh!

It just amazes me sometimes (and frustrates the living shit out of me) when people are so thoughtless (aka, brain dead).  This one usually takes the cake!  Never fails to amaze (and annoy) me.  I am not used to being around whiny, snively men and he is always so wrapped up in himself that he can't see beyond his own damn nose!  If it was just once in awhile, it would be okay.  He does it all the time.  All he has to do is park behind the barn and come to the back door (or in this case, half that distance, to the garden) and leave me the hell alone! 

My previous post was better, cuz I was freshly pissed off.  This one will have to do.  It still pisses me off.  In FACT.....employee did it just this AM when she knows better than most that I am always hurting in the morning for awhile after I get up.  She drives out behind the barn to unload some posts from her truck and then drives around front and makes me answer the freakin' door, when she intends to come to the kitchen and have coffee.  Now I ask you????  She is more easily forgiven than her sad sack, redneck spouse.....but still.  GRRRRR

One of the reasons I deleted the original post is because I felt that I was doing nothing more than putting an "Oh, poor me" moment out there.  Maybe it is.  And just maybe, every once in awhile, I am entitled to "Oh, poor me" moments!  I've been pretty damn tough for over 3 years (almost 4) dealing with all this bullshit in the various stages.  So, I feel entitled....as long as I don't over-do it.  Right????? It IS okay, isn't it????????  If not, then buzz off.......but please come back later ♥

And THEN...........get this!  He is SO brain dead that when they stopped in the night before the front door incident......he started bitching about Wal*Mart and his hour long shopping experience.  Totally ranting about how crowded it was, and how rude people are and how loud and noisy everyone's kids are and how people are inconsiderate and get in his way!  For an hour of his life, he was THE most miserable person to ever set foot in a W*M store!  O.M.G.  I kept trying to remind him that I used to spend 40 hours a week there, as a cashier, on the front lines.  Totally exposed to ALL the fun and games that the W*M experience has to offer.  He would have none of it.  Totally, repeatedly insisting that I had absolutely no idea how bad it was.  Holy shit!  The trauma!  And drama! 

I am surrounded by people like this.  The positive energy just FLOWS around my little corner of BFA!  ARGGGGG..............

On a lighter note, I saw my 1st Hummingbird of the season a short while ago.  I love it! :-)

Floral Tax News

Allow me to start off this entry bitching.

Okay.....so I wrote my bitch session all out and then deleted it like a good girl.Now I don't know what to write about.......

How about my roses?  Here's a shot of their progress thus far.  I sure wish we had known what we had when we planted them.  As you can see, they are all different types and look rather odd because they are all different sizes and growth patterns...or whatever.  But we got them from a neighbor that was moving a couple of years ago and she had cut them all down to the nubs, so we didn't have a clue.  Oh well.  No big deal.  It will fill out better soon enough.

 I have one pink one that has opened and the others are loaded with buds!  I hope I get to enjoy them before the Japanese Beetles move in!

 We did go and get plants for the garden and some of my flowers, yesterday.  I got 3 of my new favorites, Mandevilla.  I love them and the Hummingbirds love them.  It's a Win-Win for me!!  The plants get huge and trail down with clingy vines.......gorgeous!!

 Then I found some of these!  The 1st time I ever saw them, was last year in Alaska.  Terri & I found some at a greenhouse up there.  Purply magenta with green edges.  They are SO pretty and I was thrilled to see them at the Depot of Home yesterday!

 I got really radical with my Azaleas last fall and trimmed them WAY back, cutting off most of what they had going for them.  They haven't been flowering that well, so I didn't figure I had much to lose by trying it.  It worked out very well!  They are full and beautiful.  I just wish they kept blooming all summer.

 I would write more, but the day is wasting away and I must go pick up our taxes.  Yes, they are done and my finding of various deductions that I had overlooked saved our butts!  Put us in the 'black', thank God!!  Whew!!!  Another severe screwing averted. 

All About Horses

My husband can be a bit trying at times.  People really close to me, know exactly how kindly I am phrasing that.  But I have been sitting here watching him out my window, as he works with Dixie in the round pen. He has a way with animals.  At least with dogs & horses.  I don't approve of all of his 'methods', but he is pretty good.
He's been standing in the middle, and has her running the perimeter.  He will point and say 'turn' and she stops and heads in the opposite direction.  He'll sit on the milk can in the middle of the ring and say 'stop, Dixie' and she does.  'Come Dixie' and she walks to him.  'Kiss' and her nose is in his face.  It amazes me how well he has trained her.  How well he works with her, and she's almost as dedicated to him as Gus is!  In reality, I think the part he likes best is pointing his finger at her and having her respond.  We learned 2 things about each other early on.  I know not to slap him in the face (only happened once) and he knows not to point his finger at me for any reason!

 Anyway, here is Dixie when we first got her. (March '09) She was 19 months old at the time.  We had already bought her Mama, Susie, a year prior.  When our friend decided he also wanted to sell Susie's 'kid', we jumped on it!  I promptly registered her as Sweet Sue's Little Dixie, ( as Susie's registered name is Jack's Sweet Sue and Susie's mama had Dixie in her name, so I liked the combo).  Dixie had been running free with J's other horses most of her life, and no one had ever worked with her much at all.  There was much to be done, as she was a wild, crazy little sh**!

 This is Dixie last fall, getting trained on pulling the buggy.  She took to it right away, pretty much like everything else Chuck has tried to teach her.  She will pretty much do anything for him.  Totally unlike Susie, who was 17 when we got her and extremely set in her ways!!  I was worried about how they'd get along when we reunited them.  Wondered if they'd remember each other.  It was amazing!  If horses could hug, they'd have been hugging for days!  Sadly, they are now inseparable, which can be a BIG problem at times!  But that's another story.

Chuck is working with Dixie to get her ready to go on a Cattle Round-up in Wyoming.  He was at the ranch last year with our BIL for a hunting trip and became good friends with the owner of the ranch.  He's been invited back to participate in their Spring Cattle Round-up for branding season.  It will be a dream come true for this old cowboy.  I sure wish he could have done it while I could still ride.  How I would love to go with him and spend a couple weeks at the ranch, riding Susie on all the trails on that beautiful ranch of theirs!   Anyway, he's been working with her everyday, to get her 'exercised up' and in shape, as well as training her on 'herding'.  That means that they have been herding Susie around the pasture and she doesn't like that one little bit!!  Susie is usually the one that is herding Dixie around!  It's hysterical and I must get a video to share!

So, I will return from Alaska on May 23rd and he will load up the horses and head out on May 26th.  Uggg.....the thought of returning home after that long flight and having to jump right into getting his laundry done and getting him packed and ready in 2 days blows my mind right now, but once he's gone, I can kick back for 2 weeks and prepare for my surgery.  He'll return on June 8th or 9th and I go under the knife on June 11th.  It all sounded good when we planned it, but now that it's getting close, it seems like we could have/should have done something different, but it'll all work out.

What the Cat Dragged In

I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I missed a couple days of writing here, but I'm sure I'll get over it.  Over the weekend I had a couple of those 'speed bumps' that life throws your way on occasion.  I did however get enough cooperation from the "speed bump" creator, that I got my booth moved at the antique store.

Here are a couple of shots of it, although I still have work to do. I need to spruce it up a bit and find some more goodies to sell.  It's nice having all the space.  I next big thing will be to find a large hutch or something similar to replace the table with.

I'm all ready to give my crazy cat away again.  Today she brought a baby snake in the house.  All I can say is, thank God I saw her messing with something and checked to see what she had!  And thank God I managed to chase her down and capture it....with a butt load of paper towels, with which I rolled, squeezed, twisted and smooshed and threw outside!  When Chuck got home and I sent him to investigate, the paper towel had been moved around to the front of the house and there was no snake in it.  There was, however, some blood and squishy stuff on the paper towels so that was a good thing.  There were several Blue Jays in the yard today, so I suspect one of them carted off the paper towel and most likely feasted on the nasty little corpse.  Ewwwww.