Merry Christmas!!

This always brings a tear to my eye.  It is the true meaning of Christmas.  Amid all the rushing around trying to find the perfect gift and decorating and cooking and wrapping presents, take a moment and reflect on this Wonderous Gift!  I hope everyone has a wonderful day and I love you!

Happy Birthday Sage!!!

Belated Happy Birthday Sage!!   First grandson in our family!!  Love you!!

Update

Update on the project across the street.  South side replastered?, front painted black, roof new coat of silver, inside of buildings gutted, fence built from stones from old building (can't see much in this picture).  Lots of work going on but can't tell what it is going to be.  The property has sold to an individual here.  Looks good! 

Trick or Treat!!

Welcome to my House of Horrors!!  Enter if you dare, but be warned these photos are not for the  faint-hearted!!

The bottomless sink of dirty dishes, might be full of moldy items if left too long.

 The rack a/k/a  dining room chairs where I think every coat I own is draped over  and it's only October and really only 1 cold morning this season.

 The exploding room of things to hide store  throw from the rest of the house.


The box of projects that I want to do and have been going to do for maybe 3 years.

 So why am I wasting time blogging instead of taking care of all the above things?  Because I want to wish you a HAPPY HALLOWEEN and I really don't want to do housework today or yesterday or the day before that or..... anyway have a fun day and hope it is full of treats and not tricks!!

Baseball Is In the Air

Baseball fever has hit Texas in a big way.  Even the barbed wire looks like baseballs!  Hopefully the rest of the games will go better than last night's loss.

Tree Lessons

Life lessons can be found in many ways.  Here are a few I learned from a tree:

• Don't litter, it makes the ones who have to pick up after you unhappy.
• Don't drop things on the sidewalk or people.  You might hurt someone and be sued.
• Don't take it personally if some think you are ugly and too much trouble.  There are others who enjoy your company and think you're pretty awesome.
• Don't become a security threat.  Dire consequences could occur.

All of the above were reasons to cut this tree down at the courthouse.  I'm going to try to remember not to do any of the above.

Smokey Bear Bike Ride

 Second Annual Joy VFD Smokey Bear Bike Ride was a success.  It was a beautiful day and we had more entered than last year.    Door prizes, trophies for different categories of bikes, and we provided the gas home from the ride!

Not for the bikes, but the bikers!! 

Weather Alert

Well it's not a cold day in hell, but the Texas Rangers are GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!  I couldn't breathe through the last 2 innings until that final out.  I'll be glued to the TV when the series start.  Arlington is probably still rocking this morning! 

Phone in a Hay Field

Last Friday, Behm lost his phone in the hay field.  When I got home we went to try to find it.  In the dark.  We parked near where he thought he might have lost it and I began calling his number to see if we could hear it.  I never realized there was so much noise at night in the country.  During the 3rd attempt at calling, I heard it ringing.  I called again & kept walking until I got closer & voila  there it was!  That's twice I have found things he's lost in fields.. his wallet earlier in the year and now his phone.  I think I need to go into the finders business.

Crazy Thought #455

This sign always makes me wonder:
1) Are there slow running children ahead?
2) Are the children slow?
3) Why do I think such crazy thoughts?

Please don't answer that last question, I might really get depressed!

Remembering

The 79th annual Clay County Pioneer Reunion is over and this year's theme was Christmas and Remembering the Greatest Generation.  As I was walking back from taking pictures of Tally on her float, this little man sitting at the edge of the War Memorial caught my eye.  He appears to be asleep, but maybe he's reflecting on all that his generation has lived through.  As soon as I saw him I knew he had to make my blog!

Are You Ready???

The bulls are ready!!

Chairs are ready!!

Rodeo grounds are ready!!

I'm ready for

A weekend that is special in all Clay County natives hearts and has a very special place in this transplanted Jack County heart.  Every year holds different memories and I can't wait to see what captures my heart this year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!

I hope you don't need a fire truck to put out the candles on your birthday cake...just make a wish without candles!  I love you!

Late Birthday Wishes, Last Year's Picture

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TALLY & PRESLEY!! 

Stay Cool!

 Been waiting since February 13, 2010 to post this photo.  I knew when it was 102+ for days this would be perfect!  

Storage

Behm & I went to a storage building auction a few weeks ago.  This scale was one of the items that was for sale.  I loved it, but no place to put it so I let someone else take it home with them.  Some of the things that were stored should have been thrown away.    Just like my room of junk, but at least I'm not having to pay someone else to store my "treasures".

HAPPY 4TH!!!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th!!  Thankful for the freedom I have in this great country of ours (even with all the problems it is a great place to live)!

Grasshopper Menu

Innocent looking little thing, isn't it?  Add about a thousand more of these and they are quite the eaters.  They especially like squash,

and corn.

So far the cantaloupes (cantalopes?) haven't been touched.  Look how much this baby has grown in a week!

The mesquite trees on the side of the garden look like they have yellow beans on them, but are filled with grasshoppers just waiting for their turn to attack.  If only I could figure out a market for grasshoppers I might be rich before this summer is over.

Invasion

of the grasshoppers in the garden.  They sure are a hungry bunch!  Wednesday afternoon the black eye peas were almost ready to pick.  Yesterday, they had already been eaten.

We bought a small freezer earlier this year to be sure to have enough room to "put up" our harvest.  Don't look like we're going to need it.  That's what I get for planning ahead!

Hopefully next year will be better!

Garden News

Pulled the carrots yesterday.  They are a very pretty plant with their fern like leaves.  Not yesterday though...all you could see were stems covered in grasshoppers.  The grasshoppers have attacked the garden.  Just hoping they don't entirely wipe it out!  Maybe these birds need to move to our garden and have a nice dinner!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Happy Father's Day to Daddy & all the fathers in my life!  You are all CHAMPIONS in my eyes!  Have a happy day, you deserve it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANDON!!

Happy 4th Birthday Landon!!

Hope you have a day full of fun & cookies! 

Ceiling Fan Redo

I've been on a cleaning and redecorating kick lately.  My house is FILTHY!!!  I don't know why, I think I cleaned it really good about a year ago!

The ceiling fan in our dining room is old and needed something besides this ugly wood look.  The opposite side was a rattan look, which was worse than this. 

I first thought I would paint them black, but had a bright idea to cover them with fabric.  I bought this piece of fabric at a garage sale 2 years ago.  I didn't have a clue what I would do with it, but loved the western theme.

I just cut the fabric larger than the fan blade, used spray adhesive, and now a new look for our fan.  In hind sight (which is always better), I would have painted the edges black and just cut the fabric the size of the blade.  Overlapping at the top & the tips was a pain and I think it would have been easier to do it that way. 

Yee Haw!!

Garden Update

Beans are blooming, weeds need pulling, something is nibbling on the leaves.

Squash are blooming!

Watermelons sprouting up!

We planted sweet potatoes Monday.  Won't be long until I will be picking beans and squash!  Remind me in a few weeks how excited I was about picking these!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

No matter where you call home,

Hoping all the mothers in my life are Queen of their home and having a very Happy Mother's Day!  I love you!!

Spring Christmas

Red & green ... Christmas colors.  They are abundant this spring.

These Indian Paintbrushes always make me think of Mia.  When we were on our way to Oklahoma the day she was born, the sides of the highways were almost solid red with these flowers.

Small green tomatoes.  Having a better year for tomatoes than last year, or the beginning of it.  Hope they continue to do well.

First radishes from the garden. 

Different shades of green in the trees.  I love the color of mesquites when they first leaf out.  They are almost lime.

Happy Spring!

Beautiful Flowers

These flowers were planted at a grave site next to Bud's (Behm's dad) grave many years ago.  This year they were in full bloom at Decoration Day.  I don't know what they are, but they are so beautiful.  All the rain & snow we had this winter has made for a beautiful Texas spring.