Thanksgiving--Highs and Lows

Farmer: "Hey! Drop that poison ivy!"
Cityite: "Tut, Tut! Calm yourself my good man--this wasn't picked on your land!"

As we try to save them from themselves.... :)
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Cold has come--bitter cold and frozen waterers already! (Except for the stock tank, it has a heater!) I have seen lots and lots of geese flying, too. Patrick and I saw a mess of them in a field on Monday. Part of the field was white and hundreds more were circling low to land. A neat sight, wish I would of had my camera!!



It has been a long week already. I got Jared a room reserved for Thanksgiving weekend (can't stay on the base) and am bummed he can't come home. I did send him the video game device he requested (I forgot what its called, Game Boy?? Its an older one......I can't keep 'em straight!!) along with a bunch of games, AND the charger. ;-) I had to send it to the motel because he still does not have an address!! Here is his "dressed up look" to go mingle and shop at a mall on Friday (he loves his bowties!!):



We also got news Tuesday (as we were trying to make some kind of travel arrangements for Jared to get home for Christmas) that he might get "orders" before Christmas and get shipped elsewhere. :( Oh joy, I don't want to buy plane/bus/whatever tickets and not have him even remotely near the starting point!! ACK! Plus he might not get his time off if he does go elsewhere. So now we play "the waiting game". (where's my grumpy-rolling-eyes smiley again??) I have requested time off work to drive and get him if needed. Might be a little hard if he ends up overseas!! :(

Things are interesting with having one vehicle for 3 people. Kyle has been riding the bus in the mornings, but usually has work or something after school so comes to my work and rides home with me.

I think the Chicken Hawk got my Buff Orphington hen. :( I had let them out Monday, and had to go to town. When I came back, she was laying in the trees, feathers all about. GRRRRR
So much for hatching some out come this spring! :( I will have to order some, or find someone who has some they are willing to part with.



Thanksgiving I worked and got to eat a (late but yummy!!) plate from the In-Laws. Patrick was busy Wednesday making his Pumpkin Pies, and Thursday morning made 40 (that meant 80 total!) Deviled Eggs to take. I can't believe he actually brought some back home, usually they are all gone. I asked him why, and he said: "That's because Casey (one of his nephews) wasn't there!!" HA
We will have our Thanksgiving on Monday when I have a day off and Kyle doesn't have to work.

I guess many got to talk to Casey and Jared via phone. I am hoping they both can make it for Christmas to the family gathering. That would be awesome!


Friday morning Kyle got Pat up early to go shopping. He knows better than to ask me, I ain't a-goin' out with the hoards: nope, no way!! Shopping isn't my forte' anyhow! (Unless its at the feedstore!) HA Pat likes to shop, so for years I've just given him a list of what I need. (It started out of necessity, he had the time, I didn't! And its just stuck!)



On Tuesday, a dear friend of many (milk cow folks) passed away. JerseyMike will be missed, and things like this make one reflect on them, and ones' self. It took a full day for it to sink in he was gone.....I was on autopilot helping others and answering questions and when things settled down, "it" started sinking in. Sigh. My heart goes out to Edith and family!

Nov 14 week news

The "girls" out in the back corner of their little pasture earlier this month.

Sunday-Worked on cleaning in the messy kitchen (a never ending job!). Later Pat and I drove over to Ann's and picked up her trailer. (Ours has a shredded tire and two more are flat. Hasn't been used in a year!) Dropped off a milk jar, too. Went to the annual Patch n' Powder Gang (Blackpowder shooting) meeting. Not too many folks showed up. :( So they postponed elections until the February meeting.

Monday-was crazy busy at work, I didn't feel good, which didn't help matters any. Kyle stayed home from school, he didn't feel well either. Made Beef Stew from the last package of stew meat in the freezer. Jared calls most every evening, but I didn't get to talk to him, I was bushed and went to bed.

Tuesday-felt drained and my stomach wasn't doing too good either. Didn't go to work (third time I've missed work in over 2 years). Ate dry toast to help my stomach and then leftover stew for brunch and supper. Today is Porter's day to go to the locker. He loaded really well (he loves alfalfa!), and walked right into the trailer, made me feel guilty. It seems every critter I want loaded (except Dolly, she'll go anywhere!) fights and ticks me off, oh, but not this time! GRRRR I detached myself from the situation and went back inside to veg. The weather was nice, I let the chickens out to roam the pasture area since I was home and could watch out the window. ;-) There is a Chicken (or Red-tailed??) Hawk that flew over and "screamed" at them when I went to put them in for the night. Sigh. At least the Rooster and Hens noticed him before I did and took cover in the wooded area.

Wednesday-its raining and cold. I still don't feel 100% but will muddle through work today. I put a roast in the crockpot so it'd be done for supper. Didn't do much else than chores and the regular routine. Talked to Dad, he is home from the hospital and talked to Jared as well.

Thursday-Earthquake in NE Nebraska this morning. It was only a 3.3 but earthquakes aren't "normal" around here! I was in and out of the house all day doing odds and in things. The puppies are getting big and its fun to watch them play. My bantie put a cat in its place--I warned the cat beforehand! HA Patrick is working on putting a window in the chicken coop. His idea(s) and mine aren't meshing.....as long as there is more light in the coop is all I really want! ;-)

Jared said there is only like 27 guys left in training, out of about 80 to begin with, and everyone that has come back has been Airborne. :( (Red-tape BS--grumble-grumble-gripe!!) He was going to go to Florida for Thanksgiving with a buddy, but decided not to so he can save money. But, he's been informed he has to find a motel room for the 4 days off. Wish I could go down there and surprize him! (Its nice and warm down there too!) HA

Friday--took Kyle to school early, as he had a Speech Team meeting. Last year the skits were pretty good. The kids can really make you crack up! I look forward to seeing them again this year!

It has been getting cold at night--in the 20's or low 30's. Finally plugged in the tank heater the other day. They are talking teens for a low soon, argh, I'm not ready for winter! We've been spoiled with the weather this year.....I'll keep it! ;)

The weekend: worked and spent time on the phone with Jared and getting him a room reserved for Thanksgiving. He is looking forward to coming home for Christmas. Not so sure he's going to like the weather when he gets here, though! ;-)

Snow!

Yep, we officially got our first snow last night. I took pictures while doing chores in the dark. Anna is eating her goodies (a bit of Alfalfa hay) in the new chicken coop area--this will be my milking area eventually. (No more milking in the garage in bad weather!) The black cord (on the right) is for a solar light we put up and haven't gotten around to getting that part 'finished'. And then Porter and Dolly eating their goodies in the old water tank while it was snowing. (The chicken tractor is in the background). They like to boss Anna around, so she gets her treats by herself. It also helps me to work with her, and knows I'm not really a scary monster! ;-)

The locker called the other day, Porter leaves Tuesday for a 'moved up' appointment. He is over 800#, not quite as big as the last steer we took in, but he will do. He had a rough start in life and is short, but meaty. :) Here is a photo from about a month ago:


Dolly was in heat this week, and Anna tried mounting Porter. I marked the calendar, as I'm not sure if she was really in heat, or re-acting to Dolly's heat. Time will tell.

Kyle has is helping with the play at school, and is a stage-hand. Sometimes he gets too many "irons in the fire" and runs himself ragged! School, work (2 jobs) and his extracurricular school activities.....I keep telling him he needs to slow down!

The other morning my clutch went out on my truck, so we are down to one truck to drive until it gets fixed. (Yes, we are an oddity, we don't have a "car"!) So that means more trips to town and running around with the big Dodge diesel. It's made for haulin' and pullin', not run-around-all-over like one does with a car. And of course, diesel jumped from $3.05 to $3.17 a gallon this week--Murphy's law I guess. :(

Jared isn't in training anymore, he can't "really" tell us why he and some other Infantry fellows (like half of them) were dismissed. "Its' classified" he says and I sigh and roll my eyes. But I can put two and two together.......they need other professions right now, so I think they're nit-picking everyone else. They did give them a 4-day weekend for Veterans' Day. He and 3 friends went to Peachtree mall and played video games on Thursday and got free burgers at Hooters. ;-) Not really where I'd like him to be, but that's a mom thing. He's a big boy.....ha

Patrick and I finished up the chicken coop (for the most part) the other day. It's "chicken safe" now, so they are in it. But its dark in there, they need a window. We did pick up a neato solar light that was on sale for there. And it has re-chargeable batteries (back up). We have lots of those here! :)
All in all its been a very good week for getting things done around here. Of course there is always more to do, but isn't that normal? HA

The puppies continue to do well and like exploring the yard. Other than that, they sleep, play, eat, all like normal! ;-)

What a (long!) week!

It's been a week of ups and downs for my 'ol brain this week!

Monday, dad had his surgery. He was kind of grumpy when we went back up to see him on Thursday. But he looks great, no pasty-color! :)

I was elated on Tuesday when Jared graduated, then came reality again. The next training is an intensive 8-week course. Less than half graduated in the last class. Time will tell if Jared's body can take it, he's still sore from Airborne. But he did get a three-day weekend since Veterans' day is coming up. So that gave him a few extra days of healing time. (Plus he got to go to the movie theater and watch a couple of movies, a luxury!)

Kyle went to Crete to preform with the Honor Band again Saturday. It wasn't a contest this time, just a concert. He's off to work tomorrow at his 'old' job--but works mostly at his new one, Pizza Hut. (Hope he doesn't eat all the pizza!) HA

Saturday we lost Lily, our Minn Pinn. She got out and was by the highway, and a poor fellow accidentally hit her. He went into the bar to see whose little dog he'd hit. I felt bad for him! At least she didn't suffer. But, she leaves behind 5-week old puppies, I'd forgot to mention she had a litter back on Oct. 3rd. Two boys, two girls, one of each color. (Red/tan and black/tan.) It is their photos at the top of this post in the doghouse a week or so ago.

Patrick is slowly but surely making progress on my chicken coop. It has a roof and sides now. It just needs some chicken wire on a part of it and a door, then the henny pennys (and Mr. Rooster) can move in! ;-) I get sometimes 7 eggs a day, and sometimes 4. All are laying now but the bantie.

We had a hard freeze two nights in a row, the only thing it didn't really affect is the carrots, what few I have. We are having unusual weather for November, its to be in the 70's for a few days, then back to chilly reality! At least the weather is agreeable to get outside work done!

Airborne-Queen of the Battle + News

Jared with his "new" (he says: bad ass) haircut! :)

Jared graduates from Airborne today. They've been delayed several times in getting their jumps in mostly due to the weather, and one (major!) plane issue. Graduation was supposed to be Friday (10/29), and then changed to Monday, but on Monday they got their last two jumps in. The last one was so family that was there for (the delayed) graduation could see them parachute onto the field. Wish we could of made it, it would of been a sight to see!!

So the whole Charlie Company (like 400 of them!) graduates today!

CONGRATULATIONS JARED!!! :)


Airborne is called Queen of the Battle, also known as: Death From Above (grim reminder of what their purpose is!) He took the above photo with his phone while they were cleaning and getting ready. I didn't realize until I downloaded it onto my computer that he was in the latrine! HA

Jared after his first jump running off the field. And his wings!







My dad had heart surgery Monday (they replaced his Aorta Valve--with all things, cow tissue!) :)
He is in ICU but is doing well, holding his own. Pat and I went up to see him Monday before surgery, and will go see him when he's out of ICU--that should be tomorrow, or even later today if they feel he's up to it. Hopefully now he'll feel better and not get so out of breath so easily. (His old aorta valve was working at 6%--no wonder he was having issues!!)

**And keep this kid in your thoughts and prayers (Pat's nephew), he's pretty messed up right now, but he is getting some help now (long story). I don't think he realizes his family still loves him, even if he has done some stupid things.

We are human, and make mistakes. The key is to LEARN from them, kiddo! ;-)
This is he and Jared the day Jared left for Basics: