off into the sunset

It is time to go feed the horses, feed being a relative term... I don't mind so much, but I have to put on SHOES...it is to hot for anything but flip flops...













(omg, I have HUGE feet!)

and I have to put on my jeans also...













and I can't ever remember where I put my barn shoes...













oh duh... downstairs, turn left twice, and trip over them...
and then...













off to the barn!
on our way there, Old Dog is attacked by a monster ~













From INSIDE the car...
Now, the reason I wear shoes and jeans would be...













...the Budman.
now, he doesn't look so bad...
Until you get up next to him...













Or, BEHIND him...













Like I say, he's not so bad...













you just gotta wear your shoes ~













At least until you ride off into the sunset.













:*

Beauty

this is my younger brothers work ~ go check him out at his website!

Tuesday, the first day of the week...

This past week, I have spent nearly all my time helping out people ~ not a bad thing, but it occasionally gets to me ... especially when I walk into my own space at the end of the day and my cats give me "the tail" treatment...

**sigh**

guess I need to get myself back on some kind of schedule, and find time for them.

I did find time for a mini picnic, this is the view I had from my table...














It is called Lincoln Rock ~ Can you see him? No?

M'kay, closer picture ~ :)














There isn't any snow behind him any more ~ been to hot here.

So, I don't know... I have to find someway to balance the work/play/family/me thing ~ this all or nothing stuff is not a good thing at all ~

On with my day, I've cats, dogs, kids, horses, stuff to sort, herbs to plant, dirt to move...

I think I need another cup of coffee...

Viggo? Outta bed man, if I have to be up, so do you!

:*

Laundry makes me sleepy...

It is Saturday already, and I do not know where Thursday and Friday went...

Yesterday we went to Walmart, mamma needed a new pair of jeans...I bought the last pair in my size. Then, I treated t2k to a new purse (denim) and a bit of jewelery from Panama Jack ~ We'd have gotten a pair or two of flip flops, but the only ones that were the correct sizes were uuuuuuhhhhhhgly!!!!!

Spent this morning running BACK to the city to pick up the bag of things we left at the WalMart...

*sigh*

so this week, I spent two full tanks of gas in my car, which gets about 300 miles per tank... as it was all pretty much hiway driving, I actually got 323 on one tank, so...

That makes it about 31 MPG on a fairly constant basis... I LOVE my car. :) No one would buy it for the price I wanted (4000.00) so I've just bit the bullet and kept it ~ it is worth every penny one would pay at the four grand.

Today, my sis and I finished up the irrigation repairs, we can now use the ditch water on the lawn and garden. We put away the snow blower (I could not get the feet off) and the boards that hold the snow off the front porch in the winter ~ took them forever to dry this year. Next in line is the swimming pool...

:p

I have spent a lot of the past week doing things for other people, my own work to sort and organize the mess after the yard sale is pretty much been... well... I'm not doing anything with it all. I don't think this is a bad thing really, but sometimes when I look at the mess (I just have to turn about in my chair here) I wonder where I am going to find the time/energy to fix any of it. My tiredness compounds by leaps and bounds when I look at the stuff too...one look at my two week old laundry pile and I could sleep for a week!

HA! I've found a sure fire cure for insomnia... two weeks worth of laundry... totally should bottle that, and make my millions...

The cats are telling me it is time for bed, O.C. is bumping her head against my ankle, and Little Girl is sitting on the desk above my keyboard staring holes in my forehead.

night night, sleep sweet, and consider yourself hugged.

:*

off to the hinterlands...

So, it has finally happened. The eldest daughter (the first kid, or T1k) has asked her sister (the middle daughter (the second kid, or T2k) to leave.

**sigh**

My life is about to get a whole lot weirder.

Again.

Now I have to deal with a child that seems to live to be negative...

**shrug**

To late not to have children, so guess I am stuck with it, eh?

Nice thing is that I am not stuck with the negative attitude... :) I ain't havin' it, ya know?

off to spend my day driving...again.

Don't forget to put the horses out viggo ~ and I will see you at dinner tonight.

:*

Monday morning sigh fest...

I am sooooo tired this morning... I am happy that my mom is still asleep, I am not to good with her idiosyncrasies when I get like this. I sincerely am worried about her ~ but I know that I can not do anything to help ~ and that STINKS.

**yawn**

Shees. I can't stop with the yawning.

I've recracked a rib, just by using the muscles that are attached to it. Made for bad sleep, and that could just be why I am yawning so very much, eh??

**sigh** I get so sick of being sick, especially with something that is manageble, IF one has decent health care...which I don't, so... eyah. :p

Subject change!!!

The dude across the road is a builder ~ he has one of those huge trailers that holds all his things. Currently he is trying to back up to hitch it up to his truck, unaided by another human being. Means a lot of back and forth, re-aiming the truck... and all the while the back up beeper thing is going...

Now I KNOW I am tired, weird little things are irritating me.

Speaking of irritating, I have to call the hinterlands today. Yesterday was taken up by drama over school, and things not wanted to be done and sisters and ... yeah. Teenagers stuff.

**sigh**

Today is going to be spent picking up the left overs from the yard sale, putting them in the truck and driving it all off to the city for the thrift store to put to good use. I will be happy to have it all out of my hair ~ though the thought that there is more waiting in the wings makes me even more tired than I really am...

Ah well, I mades my choices, now I pays the piper, ya know?

I want to get more things in the veggie garden today, it is finally warm enough ~ I am happy when I am digging in the dirt, so I really need to make the effort to dig some dirt every day. I long for my own yard and garden...desperately.

**sigh** Got to shut that thought down, or I will make myself insane.

Little Kitty has a new trick, she now sits on my shoulder while I work at the computer ~ she learned that all on her own. Currently she is washing her face, and every once in awhile she will give my ear a lick or two. Her tongue is so rough that it tickles and hurts at the same time...she is a weird little thing.

<--Little Kitty (and t2k)













Have to fly spray the horses today, and pick up a bit of manure too ~ and then figure out what to do with Bubba while the (apparent) jerk of a grandson is here next week. I went to school with him, but can not recall what kind of kid he was, I've only the aunt and cousins thoughts to go on. He does sound kind of ... well... unfriendly and dictatorish, but hey... guess I'll find out soon enough what is going on, eh?

**YAAAAAAAAAWN**

I better get out of this chair before I fall asleep.

Come on viggo, it is obvious that we need another pot of coffee...

:*

care worn and weary of it...

I am sooo worn out!

Now begins the cleaning up ~ which is going to be a pain, as a lot of ordinary daily stuff got left by the way because I was busily trying to get myself set up for der sale. We got the sale done just in time though, because it has turned very hot here now. Just three nights ago we had snow fall, and now it is about 85°F ~ talk about getting hit by summer. SHEES!

It is high allergy season now too ~ oh WHEE! I love looking like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer...only I am just a teeny bit plumper than ole' Rudie.

Okay, so I'm Morgan the Rednose Buffalo, but that is another story, m'kay?

Spent the afternoon hours on the phone with one of my girls. I worry for them all the time, even though they do not live with me... I tried tell her how I see the "why things go the way they do" in her life ~ and help her understand why I feel the way I do about them...

I think she understands, but I am not sure she accepts them.

Oddly enough, her dad and I are telling her the exact same things ~ as are her sisters.

so... **sigh** we shall see where that goes.

I've been so busy this afternoon that I have forgotten to go let the horses into the bigger field... dammit.

I get so tired when I am pressed from all sides, and today it was three different ones, and the fourth (animals) has been made to wait.

**sigh** not only am I tired from said pressure, I am tired and weary of it.

I can totally understand the care worn label now...

As I am trying to not sigh wearily again, me and viggo are off to take care of my horse(s)...

You can drive Vig... I am WAY to tired.

:*

Nearly a week later...

Oh my stars, I am HAPPY that this week is finally over. I am tired of trying to put prices on things I do not need, or do not want, (or haven't any idea where they came from..) and then trying to figure out how to prepare for the onslaught of humans ~

**sigh** but I have made it, and from much came a bit, and I have very little left to take to the thrifty folks at the Good Will store in the city.

Made enough to pay next months storage ~ where the rest of the stuff awaits my time/patience to figure out what to do with it all.

Moral of the story is... DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU.

Take the time to sort, store and get rid of things as you go through your life ~ it will be SO much easier for you!!!

I've spent to many days away from the kitties, they are both draped about my person, making it very hard to type. Old Dog is eating her dinner, that always takes precedence over mom... ;) Labradors!!!

I am so very ready for the bedtime hour...no one is here but me an my kitties, so I may just hit the hay early. I've not read any blogs, or emails, or... I can not imaging how many spam mails I must have...

Lookin' forward to church tomorrow...I'm glad there are two services. I so am NOT going to make the early one!

so...one more thing off the list. I have three months until the next anticipated sale...I know how to do it now, should be a piece of cake.

:) Come on viggo, I'm going to bed.

Turn out the lights for me, okay?

:*

The joke is on US

Today is the beginning of another week, and this one will be taken up with getting ready for our first ever, ( most likely ONLY) yard sale.

I am not sure that I will sell anything, I don't know what kind of prices to put on stuff, and... yeah.

**sigh**

The garden space is now completely ready to go (thanks to my older sister) ~ I can not work that closely with our mom, and my sis is very understanding of this... She does most of the "building' work with mom, and then I pick up and make the stuff fly.

I don't know for sure why my mother won't actually listen to me, even though I say EXACTLY the same things that everyone else does. **shrug** not that big of deal.

So... I went over tonight to feed the horses, which I do not have to do really, I just go over and say hello... there is plenty of grass in the upper pasture ~ And from the house, I hear...

"Hi Sue!"

"We have pie, you want some?"

me, I seldom turn down a slice of pie ...wait... come to think on it, I do not recall ever turning down a slice of pie...

At any rate, I go in to have pie...

I shoulda turned it down.

It was ... RHUBARB.

Now, I think that God made Rhubarb as a joke upon the world...He just put it there, just to see if we would eat it ~ he even let Adam name the stuff, telling him to call it a word with a weird spelling just to confuse us more.

And we, humans, being the foolish types we are, we DO eat the Rhubarb, even though there is NO earthly way to make THE Rhubarb taste good.

Anyone know of ANY recipe that not simply an attempt to disguise the stringy nasty stuff ~ whether it be in a ton of sugar, in a crust (with a ton of sugar) or (worst ever)... pickled?

I mean... SERIOUSLY. Even the deer, the pigs of all things green, won't eat it...point in fact, the lady with the pie ~ she plants Rhubarb around the edges of her garden to keep the deer OUT!

My insides (yes, I ate the pie) are not going to be right for the next week...that stuff does nasty things to a persons ... er... uh... systems... :P

**yawn** Well, I'm winding down, I'll see you tomorrow.

Come on Viggo, it is time for bed.

:*

off to the day

Finally, it is Friday.

**does a happy dance**

I'm awake, though barely. I leave the curtains down/closed because I am in the southern end of the house, and it always gets REALLY hot this time of year. My mom had her windows replaced, but they don't help much when the sun is beating directly in all the time.

Guess my point is that when I am sitting in the dark, it is hard to make my mind understand that it is time to get moving.

:)

Going to go over and check on the horses, I am teaching old dogs new tricks... switching the goodie time to evenings so that they come to the barn on their own. I feed them stuff that makes their poo toxic to fly larvae ~ or at least I am this year. We shall see how it goes. If this doesn't work as well as I like, next season I will try something else ~ I am amazed at how many different things one can do to keep the flies down.

Going to be warmer today, so that we can MAYBE get our garden in and going ~ we've got to order up another load of dirt, amend it and all that, but that generally doesn't take to long to do. When we are done, it smells so good ~

Getting ready for a yard sale too, my mom put up the pop up camper for storage of marked/ready to go items. Flash of brilliance on her part.

Sunday is Mothers Day ~ I am not expecting any of the girls to remember it ~ though I know that I will be disappointed when they do not.

**sigh**

such is life, eh?

so...off to the day.

Coming viggo?

:*

late

Poor horsies... nearly 9 a.m and I am just now having my coffee....

I fed them extra last night because it is cold here ~ not freezing, but still cold for this time of year. The garden ~ and I use the term loosely to describe it ~ is not doing well at all. We need to buy a couple of the "wall-o-water" towers for our tamaters to help keep them warm during the night...also called "tomato teepees" by my favorite Gardners' Supply place... :)

for the record, I do buy locally, but the specialty things I usually get online. I'm trying the tomato towers this year... or at least I intend to. Don't know if anything is even going to GROW. :p

Not sure what I am going to do with my day today. Most likely just get ready for the upcoming garage sale weekend ~ mark my stuff as I sort, saving time later. I hope I make enough to pay a bill...or two... **shrug** I have coffee, I don't need to eat much, so... yeah.

Torn as to whether or not to actually hit the welfare system up for money/food. Neither of the girls are living here, and I only need coffee...really... so...

yeah. No decision on that yet. I am SOOOO not going to help t1k finacially, she KNEW what she was getting into when she asked them up there, so... hey. NOT my problem.

Besides. I sent up a few things (unannounced) to see what she would do with them, and I found them sitting in the garage in the box they went up in. And yes, it IS an intentional slap in the face... that is how she has become. She cares nothing for how I feel ~ she must have some need to pay me back still for everything I supposedly did?

**shrug** I've gone past caring now.

**sigh** yeah. SO!!!

I'm late with the whole day, guess I need to get my backside over to the barn...my coffee really is portable, I'm just being lazy.

M'kay, I'm off now... Hay burners, I'm on my way... :)

SO!!!

WELLL... so much for the bus driving job. Interviews started today, and I have not been called. My overwhelming shyness in a crowd of strange people has finally caught up with me.

SO! No big deal, now I am honestly applying for Welfare. One of the 18% jump in the statistics in Washington state.

**sigh**

I will have to go back and "renew" my registration with the local Job Security place ( worksource here) and maybe being a welfare mom will help me actually GET referrals... I hope to hell that the welfare folks put pressure on the job service folks to get people off welfare.

Spent my weekend ferrying a child about, and when it came time to take her back to the hinterlands, she freaked. SO!! me being the caring mom (read: stupid idiot) that I am, I hung about to see what she would do.

I came home without her, and ... that worries me more than a bit.

I wish them all good luck, I am not going back up there until the end of the school year to discuss with t3k what she would like to do for the summer. That is... June 5th. I've a bit over a month of peace and quiet.

yes, I am changing my phone number, and "forgetting" to give it to them. They can call my moms house phone if there is an emergency, ya know?

Know what ticks me off the most? No one ever said thank you... again, I feel taken for granted...

which, by and large, I am. SO!!!

**shrug** guess they don't need me, and now? I am jettisoning their things.

eyp! selling off their things to pay their bills.

unless someone comes up with the money for the old phone bills that is... which, they won't. I am to blame for the girls living with t1k, so I should pay for everything... even though they haven't seen any of the money that my ex owes me in child support.

SO!! how screwed up can a bunch of people get?

**sigh** I'm done with it all. T3k will be coming back here to live, (or where ever it is I am) and that... is that.

:) no more games, no more bullshit.

heh... I said bull shit.

:P

off to the day, I've a ton of stuff to do.

Been...

A very long weekend.

Friday, t2k was supposed to drive herself down in t1k's Tundra ~ she hit a dog, and the sand on the road was so soft that it did not kill the dog, but the truck lost traction on the front end... and she went up the sand bank...

turned the truck on the drivers side... it looked worse than it was. BUT!!! the dog caused the wreck, it should not go against her on her license here...

SO! I drove up and got her, so she could go to the prom. (yay me)

She still has not said Thank you for my six hour trip... and feeding her, helping her with her hair, driving her about until she was ready to drive herself...

**sigh** and yes, sadly this is a normal thing, to not even get a thanks... :p

had a disagreement with t1k this morning... I'm tired of always being wrong... or as she says... never right... I can't even disagree with her about something ~ we can't have a difference of opinion, I am just flat out WRONG and that is IT.

SO... I was going to get her to a dentist appointment tomorrow morning, but I got pissy with her, and told her to find her own ride to the damn thing. More than likely, she will make t3k take her to the appointment, making t3 late for school, because what t1 needs is WAY more important that anything else anyone else might need...

She better not take it out on t2 either... I am SOOOO gonna get on t1 if she does.

and I've only three weeks to make space for t3 to come back.... I am DREADING this with all my heart.

**sigh**

life sucks sometimes.

been a long weekend, and tomorrow I drive t2 back to the northlands. I am sooo tired of driving, doing things for everyone and anybody, and not having time for what I need to do...

okay, enough whining.

Come on viggo, we're late for bed.

:*