Peek a boo...where are you?

Gosh, I've been missing in action. I don't know what has happened to my blog. I really should be posting to it...there are things going on in my life...but I just don't seem to have the motivation to share much anymore. Hum....

Well...here's what is coming up in my life....

Taking the GMAT in November
The kids are all coming home for Thanksgiving
Lots of Christmas Shopping
Having Christmas celebrations with my family and George's family
Starting Graduate School in January and my freedom ends ;-)

Here's what has been going on....
We ordered a new bed...King size...now maybe Tess and George won't squish me so much

We are selling our mule and horse...waiting for the mule to be sold before I sell the horse

Not really anything interesting going on...we're just living the life that we have made for ourselves and looking for the next adventure.

Maybe it won't be so long before I get back her to chat.

Robert Earl Keen - Again

This weekend, George took me to Little Rock to the Village to see Robert Earl Keen, Jr. This makes the 7th time for us to see him. The show was not like any other of the shows that I have been to. The venue was different, and there was actually seating(though I did not sit through the concert).... REK came on stage with his band, mumbled their names and his and started playing....someone yelled out "what"... he said "there is a program under your seat" and continued to play.... after the first song, he said "that's the first song"....then they played another....and he said "that's the second song".... I admit I was a bit lost in all of this....serious me was like, well crud, he's drunk, but no...no alcohol is consumed by this band on stage, so why did I assume that... did he not want to be there? They why perform if you don't want too.....but....by now it was obvious that he was once again going to be AMAZING! He was just being a smartaXX.... he played some new stuff, some really old stuff, some in the middle stuff...and all of my most favorites (with the exception of Linville Train and I've never heard him perform that one live).....they even threw in some funny stuff that I've never heard them do... "How do you spell New Braunfels"... a riot!

The opening act was pretty good...they had their music too loud for their vocals but they, I'm sure, are still learning what to do... and they say they are from Hamburg, AR.... (that's where we always went to deer camp).

Anyway... We had a great time at the concert and enjoyed the whole trip (well, I did at least).

S W E E T! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

BTW.... just about 11 years ago when George and I were dating, George took me to my first REK concert (even had to give up a weekend of deer hunting to do it)... look what he started....

Russell's Graduation from NADC

August 27, 2010 at 2:00 pm was Russell's graduation ceremony from NADC (Nashville Auto Diesel College). We had a small family celebration going on....


Of course George and I attended.


As did Matt...


And Bill and Louise....


And of course Granny (Rita) and Papa (Henry).....

We had lots of good quality family time....and lots of food of course :-)

Congratulations to Russell. We are so proud of you!

Looking Up Again

YIPEE! Russell got a job in the diesel mechanics field! Just got out of school...and had two interviews and two offers. We go to his graduation this week in Nashville and then real life begins. He's set up for a great start!

Still waiting on Goat babies... George is great but he sure can't predict due dates.
I'm guessing September 10th or so now...

I've been having a lot of job related changes going on... it's all good though... waiting for those things to get settled so I can tell you all about it. I'm excited though!

Also thinking about a Master's Degree... need to take that GMAT and get it over with though. YUCK!

Nicole has started her first year of college at OU. I know she's got lots of adventures ahead of her and I hope she enjoys every one of them.

Ryan and Leah are both in school at U of A..... I'm sure they are tired of school by now but they are forging ahead.

And George...we'll you all know what he's doing...hunting season is fast approaching and he's READY for it.

And...... Robert Earl Keen is coming to Little Rock next month so George got me tickets!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So...that's what's going on with us right now....ttyl.

Look up.....

If you keep your head down and your eyes in directly ahead, you could miss a lot!

I was walking up my porch steps last night after feeding the horses....keeping my head down and watching just in front of me... out of the corner of my eye I noticed a bright spot.... so...I looked up and saw this amazing glowing sunset. By the time I got in the house, got a camera, and got back outside, the sun had lowered some...but I was still able to get a photo of the sunset that had caught my attention.



So, it made me think...if I don't look up and around.... what am I really missing???????? Think maybe I'll give it a shot :-)

Busy Busy Busy

We're having a really busy month this August! Gotta get things ready for Russell to get out of school and move back from Nashville....looks like he has a part time job with Fed-Ex in Jonesboro and an interview about diesel work too. We're doing a lot of work on the trailer at Bono for him.... paint, flooring, cleaning and rearranging....all sorts of stuff. That will be done this weekend....

This week I have a groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow and I will be glad when it is over :-) Have workouts every afternoon!

The next weekend is the qualifying shoot for George and the boys for the Horseshoe Bend hunt. Leah and I will have to find some way to entertain ourselves while they are doing that....maybe old Hardy town.

Russell's graduation is also coming soon. Going to Nashville August 26-28.... Then we have Labor Day Weekend....and all sorts of celebrations.

Now...you know with all of this going on, we have the normal things to take care of...so tonight I was weed eating by car headlight (lol).

Once upon a time....

Once upon a time... 11 summers ago.... I met a guy....



And it was the beginning of an all new adventure.....

It led to:
A move to Tulsa
A first flight
A first trip to New Orleans (and a second and third)
A first trip to Las Vegas (and a second)
A first trip to Washington, D.C.
A first cruise
A first dive at Cozumel
Another trip to Cozumel
A first time to Deep Sea Fish
A Second set of Dives at Cozumel
A travel trailer and camping trips
Deer Camp (many times)
House hunting (and again)
Remodels
A first horse and a second.... and a mule
Goats
A dog that owns me
Kids that are mine at heart (the way it counts)
A move to Catoosa
A move back to Arkansas
Lake Norfork (the place we met)
The White River and Trout fishing

The list goes on and on...

Once upon a time ... 11 summers ago.... I met a guy....

and he began to make all of my dreams come true.

Big sigh.....

Things sneak up on you when you least expect them. Some things, like bills and repair projects, and cleaning, etc....those kind of things... you know how it is...you mow the yard and then you look up and realize that it needs it again...or you look at your garden one day and it looks fine....then two days later..it's a mess....

Other things sneak up on you too....like the sudden urge I had this week to go to breakfast with Ryan. When we lived in Tulsa and he was the only kid living with us, when George would go out of town, we would go out for breakfast before work/school. I thought of that this week and remembered how much I enjoyed it and wished that he was close enough so that we could sneak off to breakfast :-)

There are lot of other things that sneak up too... birthdays (ugh), pounds (oh no!!!), etc.. and of course they are not all bad......

It's really nice when someone sneaks up with a hug.

50 and counting....

On July 14, 2010, George turned 50.
The kids and I celebrated with him over the weekend while they were home....but... today didn't go unrecognized...
George arrived at work to find a handicapped parking sign at his parking spot....























He was honored with a cool new t-shirt that I so look forward to him wearing everywhere we go (lol).....Here's the back....

























Here's the front.... and look at that smiling birthday boy...



























Somehow, they managed to find some props to use for decorating.:-) We can thank Henry and Rita for access to some photos..... and Dusty Clem for getting it all organized (Thanks Dusty).














I did find it funny that the only old fossil in this photo is Lonnie ! Haha





































They also had birthday snacks at break.

So... now.... he's stuck with just celebrating with me and Tess. He's having a ribeye for dinner and hanging out with us.

Hope he had a wonderful day....thanks to everyone that helped make it that way.

Visit with the kids

We've been having a nice visit with they kiddos this week. Russell was on holiday from school, so Nicole and Ryan rearranged their schedules so they could visit while he was here... so... we had everyone together at the same time... We got to have a few hours on the lake... here's a cell phone shot of me and Nicole... we were waiting for George to make some waves with the boat so we could crash through them....

Saturday night, we went to Pocahontas for Henry's (my father-in-law) retirement dinner. All of the family was there except Magi and Linda... it was nice to see everyone and celebrate Henry's new status...

Since I had all the kids together at the same time I got a photo of them when their Daddy-o. I don't get this opportunity often anymore, so I have to jump on it when I can.

Nice lookin' family that I have! Lucky me.

Everyone is leaving today and it will be just me and George and the critters for a while.

Oh....... I'm going to see Eclipse with my friend Suellen this afternoon :-)

Independence Day.... a day late

I really did start to post to my blog yesterday, but I've had so many electronics issues this weekend that I just couldn't do it. My laptop was down, George's computer won't ready my memory card and then it got malware problems as well...and my camera is on the fritz...

I have the computers working again but the camera is still not working correctly. But, I can now post the photos that I did get while trying to fix my camera.

We had a day at home taking care of things that needed to be done. We went to the lake on Saturday....though.... so... after working around the property with George and running back and forth to me...Tess wanted a nap...but she didn't want to miss anything, so she napped in the living room. Such a sweet puppy...on my couch ;-)

I made some slaw for dinner...had some baked beans.....so.... guess what was for dinner......

That's right.... ribs.... beef ribs to be exact....

George suggested we have ribs for dinner but we didn't buy any pork ribs...so we had some black anugs beef ribs from our Rex Whitfield cow. He has perfected a slow grilled method that takes quite a while....

I also made brownies a'la Drexene...which are brownies, with a layer of marshmallows melted over them and then a tub of chocolate frosting heated and poured over the whole thing.

This morning I got up and made a batch of Grandmother Dust's Sugar Cookies....

Yes, it seems like I'm going overboard... but Russell is home! and Ryan and Nicole will be here on Wednesday....so...I'm getting into the cooking groove... I know I'll need to make fried squash and probably fried chicken while they are here...and of course, we will need to celebrate George's birthday then too...so that means a cheesecake ;-)

Anyway.... our Independence Day did not have any fireworks or major plans but we have enjoyed a peaceful weekend together.

Charging my batteries....

I'm charging my batteries...literally. I have not had my camera in my hands since May 20th.... Can you believe that....I know I am not a great photographer but I usually do make an effort to take photos of what's going on in our lives.... this week I went outside to take a photo after the rain and my batteries were dead and the charger was still in the truck from our trip to Tulsa.

My friend Kim mentioned that she might start another photo challenge and that reminded me again that I still haven't charged my camera batteries.

I've been so un-me lately.

I have not.... cleaned out my closet or any of the drawers in the house, stayed on my diet, exercised, scrapbooked, taken any photos, ironed my clothes, or shopped.

Maybe I need to be charging my own batteries as well...but I'm not sure how to do that right now.....

Of course, I'm working up to a big new project....and maybe that's what I need is a little project to get me going again....I'm about ready to start tiling the living room, study and bedroom...that will make the whole downstairs tile. Of course, I still haven't ordered the tile, but I plan to this weekend.

I did get my paint out so I can do some touch up painting this week (Russell and I need to touch up his room for sure).

I just need to be motivated...or to have something to be motivated about.

Maybe I should go ahead and order that GMAT study book.....

Well...I've rambled on tonight...but maybe this is the charge that I needed....I guess we'll see.

Vacation June 2010

Wow! Vacation this year was great. George and I were gone for around 8 days... We packed up our camper and boat and went to Daisy State Park in Daisy, Arkansas. We fished, played in the lake, took a couple of day trips around the area, found a nice little Mexican Restaurant that made Carne Asada Tacos the way I love them so we ate there twice!

We camped at Daisy State Park until Thursday, then we drove to Greers Ferry to check that lake out.... Daisy is a nice park and Lake Greeson is nice as well. We only had our fishing boat with us, so we couldn't play a lot but we fished and found a nice cove to swim and float around on one hot afternoon.




George is a pyromaniac! He loves to build fires, so we had one most nights...and he's got a man crush on that little shovel that he bought just for the camp fires.

This is going to be one of those mushy moments.... It seems that George makes all of my dreams come true. Since I've met George, I've done so many things that I always wanted to do....and one of those things happens to be seeing the Cossatot River. Years ago I saw a picture of the Cossatot River and decided then that I would like to see that river in person....Well... here she is....
A very calm looking river at this point.....

This is Cossatot Falls...there are these huge rocks all around this area. I couldn't find a place to take a photo of them all... but they go across the river and then for quite a ways down the river.







At the time, that area hadn't had much rain so the river was low...I know it has some serious rapids on it when the level is right. I could have spent all day climbing around those rocks at the falls!

I wonder how much rain reached that river from the awful floods that came to the Little Missouri River and Caddo rivers soon after we left the camp at Daisy....about 12 miles from the camp ground at Langley. However, we were on the lake, not a river.
We were quite lucky to be out of the area though.

While we were gone, we went to the Crater of Diamonds too. I have to say...I am not a diamond digger....I might go again some time, if I'm with someone that just really wants to go, but it would have to be in the cool of spring or fall. It's just a huge plowed field and there is nothing like digging in the dirt in the hot sun and being all sweaty...not really my thing.

Greers Ferry was a bit disappointing in that only one campground had water hookups...and it wasn't the one we really wanted to stay at...and it was rainy on Friday...so we spent most of that day driving around looking at the area.

Anyway...all in all it was a very nice vacation! Relaxed and lazy...and I got a lot of reading time too.

Oklahoma Graduation

On May 20, 2010 the last of the children graduated from high school.

That's Nicole! She has plans to attend The Universtiy of Oklahoma in the fall.

Unexpected?

Bet today's blog is not what you would expect. I'm planning on multiple posts from the weekend but today's is just for fun....

Went to Oklahoma - Tulsa to be exact for a graduation celebration, but that is not what this post will be about....

Once upon a time, and it now seems so long ago, I lived in Tulsa....I learned alot about city life and had a lot of new experiences while I was there....then we moved back to the country in Arkansas....'cause though you can take the girl out of the country you can't take the country out of the girl :-)

After leaving Tulsa, I missed a few things....I'm not being sentimental in this blog, so don't start thinking friends and family, though that would be true....

The thoughts in this blog are a lot different than that....

One thing that I experienced while in Tulsa was.....

That's right... Head Country Bar-B-Q Sauce. Made in Oklahoma and man...is it great! So, while we were running around this week, we went to Wal-Mart and got 2 gallons....let's see how long that will last and keep me satisfied!

What really surprised me when I moved back to Arkansas was that I really was shocked at how much the local quick shop charged for a 20 oz. fountain drink...in Tulsa I had been getting 32 oz. fountain drinks for 88 cents.... I was shocked..... so....I really began to miss this.....

That's right! QuikTrip convenience stores.... they are the best and they are on about every other intersection in Tulsa.... (that sounds like an exageration but it's not far off)...and I notice that they were building several new one's around the city. And guess what the view from my hotel room was....yep...QT! I only managed to make one QT stop while I was there... :-( but that's more than none....lol

So.... how's that for the unexpected ;-)

Firelight

We've been trying our hand at camping with our new camping trailer. I'm known among my friends and family for my dislike of smoke. I don't like the smell of burning things and the smoke whether cigarette (YUCK) or burning leaves or wood smoke, I always get a stuffy nose...thus part of my dislike....HOWEVER, I really enjoyed the fire that George built during our Mother's Day weekend camping trip. I was lucky enough to stay away from most of the smoke and I still had a stuffy nose, but it was cozy, comfortable and beautiful...yet best of all it produced toasted marshmallows :-)



Here's a glimpse for you....

One down, a million to go

This weekend was the first of our camping adventures. We spent the weekend at Lake Charles State Park at Powhattan. I know...it's not too far from home....but it was a very nice park and a great test run for us and the camper.

Tess got to go fishing with us and she learned to watch the floater...when it starts moving, it's time to get excited. We caught enough bream for dinner but can't say that we were impressed with our fishing luck. Heard that last weekend was an awesome crappie weekend at that park.... we still had a great time and are already planning more adventures and even a return trip to Lake Charles.

Off focus

My blog has always been geared heavily towards goats. We have goats, so that makes sense but this weekend my camera turned itself toward cows....I really don't know why....two of my neighbors have cows and I see them every day...but they have never really been of any interest to me. However, this weekend they seemed more interesting. I took this photo last night after the calf caught our attention playing at the fence line. After I took some photos of the baby, I got interested in the Mom and the bull....but this was my favorite of the photos from last night because of the grass and the momma cow's face....

So behind....but catching up now :0)

WOW! It's amazing that I was nominated by my friend Kim W for this award. She has an awesome talent for all things artistic and crafty and she shares so well...I'm pleased that she nominated me... (THANK YOU KIM)

She gave me rules for the award as well...and for all of you that really know me...you know I'm such a rule follower...it's awful...so....for the rules...
And they are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award. (complete)
2. Copy the award & place it on your blog. (complete)
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award. (complete)
4. Share 7 interesting things about yourself.

About me:
1. I really really love having goats.
2. I have just recently learned that I really love FRESH veggies and fruit so much better than the processed ones(and I'm 41...took me a while :-) )
3. I can wakeboard (not very good though)
4. I LOVE having the CUTEST shoes
5. I covet Kim W's photography skills but I'm too lazy to learn to be a good photographer...I'm so hit or miss
6. George and I color my hair
7. Animals really get to me

So there are some things about me....I've changed them multiple times while typing them... :-) Must always second guess myself...that would be #8 :-)


Now for a little catch-up...
There has been a lot going on with us this year and since March it has been pretty busy and it looks like it will be a busy one still. Ryan and Leah came to visit in early March. Nicole and Bri came to visit for their spring break (we took a day trip to Branson with them). We bought a camping trailer and had to go to Texarkanna to pick it up. We've been going to some Perryman auctions and getting the place de-winterized. I think we pretty much have some other things taken care of that weighed heavliy on us this year...maybe a few final t's to cross but pretty much done.... Russell is home for his spring break right now.

Nicole will graduate in May, Russell will graduate in August and sometime in between we should have a vacation....so...there is a lot going on this summer....

Early in March we saddled Goldie and Hat and took them out for a little ride. It was time to start getting ready for the riding season. Goldie was a little high strung that day but not too bad. After we got back George worked on his rigging.


Today we took another ride and we saw the beauty of spring peeking through. This cow was drinking from the pond runoff. She let me get fairly close but there was a fence between us. Can you see the water dripping from her mouth. Sweet, huh.


Here's my pink dogwood tree..it's starting to open up. When we bought the house we didn't know this was in the front yard...what a great surprise when it opened up as we were moving in.


Here's a little moss that I saw growing in the woods....it just caught my attention and begged to be captured in a photo.

It is Easter and we chose to stay home this weekend. It is a beautiful day, though a bit windy on our hilltop. I spent most of the morning outside and I'm headed back out again. I know that I have "inside" things to do (like ironing) but they can wait until dark.

I hope to be more faithful to my blog and my blog reading friends...so again, bear with me and I'll keep you posted on our life.

What's for dinner?

Today I have been starving to death....you know that feeling...no matter what you eat you still want something else...you're not really hungry but you just can't seem to find what you really want.....wellllllllllll....I finally found it.....

It's what's for dinner.....


And it was even on my "diet".

Spring forward

Started the day out by trying to bottle feed one of our baby goats. She's been sick and I don't think she's getting enough to eat....she ate about 2 ounces and then wandered around in the yard eating some of the fresh spring grass.

Now we're hanving out waiting for the girls (Nicole and Bri) to get ready to go so we can got to Branson for an afternoon of shopping. They are here for their spring break. They have plans to visit the grandparents and hang out...

Exercise......

Sidney was getting a little exercise.... Little goats do lots of bouncing and hopping as they learn how they can move. They are so entertaining to watch.

Aimless Ramblings

Today I feel restless. I accomplished a lot yesterday and still hope to accomplish a lot more today but I just have a restless feeling floating around me.

In life, we are often exposed to situations and experiences that make us wonder about how those things could happen. It's disconsorting to me at times. I am a huge wonderer of WHY...so I always feel the urge to ask questions...but I do try to control that urge. Of course George won't say that I'm successful at it (lol).

I had the best feeling this moring. Standing outside in the crisp sunny morning holding my little baby goat, Sidney, made me feel so content. He was so sweet and cuddly today. He's getting more used to me. I play with him some everday so that he knows me and hopefully stays friendly as he gets older. If you have never been around a tiny baby goat, you should try it. They are extremely cute. They have such individual personalities and they hop, bounce, jump, rear up and fall down spontaneously. I spend lots of time just watching the goats....they can always make me smile.

I also have this feeling with Tess.... at night, she gets on our bed and when George gets in bed, he makes her move...she comes to my other side and stands on the edge of the bed and waits for me to scoot toward the center. Then she lays down next to me as close as she can get...usually squishes me (she does weight 80 pounds) as she lays down. Then she snuggles in beside me. She'll put her head on my arm or my pillow and snuggle with me. It makes me feel very comforted. Isn't it nice to be loved so unconditionally.

I am supposed to be ironing right now. I don't really like it but I don't hate it either. I just really don't want to do it today.

Yesterday, I sorted my closet and took some of the "too large" items out of the closet. There weren't many but there were some. I haven't lost enough weight to need new clothes but I did have some that were too big now (YIPEE). Now I need to iron what I have and maybe pair up some different outfits :0).... almost like shopping...just in my own closet.

Hope you weren't too bored with my rambling...but I did warn you that it was going to be rambling today.

Peace to you all.

New Goat Day

Today, Susie the Goat finally had the babies that I've been waiting for....she was huge so I expected twins and maybe triplets....unfortunatley, she delivered two still born kids but she did have one that survived. He is small but he seems healthy.
This is the new mom, Susie.

Meet Sidney. This is the newest addition to the Dust farm. Isn't he a cutie pie. This is the first photo ever taken of him :-)

Here's another shot of the little man.

Here's Sidney in his new little heated condo (inside his Mom's house).

They have their own personal house and pen for a while so they don't have to worry about all of the other goats getting in their business.

Scrappin' Candy

I got a Hobby Lobby gift card for Christmas and I finally got around to using it :-)

I of course tried to stretch my money as far as I could and look at all of the cool goodies that I got!

I can't wait to sit down and use some of these little lovelies.



Thanks Russell.

What a week.....

Wow, has this been a week. But....in the end, it has good results.

My dad went to have back surgery on Tuesday. He had a problem with his his spine closing in on his spinal cord. It was causing a lot of pain in his legs and hips and would have eventually led to him not walking. He had surgery and had that fixed....but after that he had a heart attack (while he was still in the hospital). However, no one knew he had it and when he complained the next day of chest pain, they did tests but couldn't find any sign of a heart attack. They gave him some meds for his stomach and indigestion and let him go home. After he got settled in at home I came home to Brockwell. (This is Wednesday)

About an hour and a half after I got home, Mom called to tell me that they were at the ER and that Dad had had a heart attack. I grabbed some clothes and headed back to Jonesboro.

After some tests (a blood test that revealed the problem) dad was admitted to the ICU. Luckily (sort of) the ICU was full so they put him in the overflow area and let Mom sit with him. You have to remember that he has a 5 inch incision in his back so laying still and on his back is a bit uncomfortable...and he was so tired and pale.

Now to Thursday.... They scheduled him for a heart cath and took him for that at 11:30. The results were that his stint from 2006 was clogged and he had 2 other blockages. They were able to clean out the first stint and added a second at that spot and then put one in another spot. The before and after photo shows such a difference in blood flow. He recovered quickly. On Thursday night, I stayed at the hospial with him so Mom would go sleep. At about 6:30 They moved him to the regular ICU when a spot opened so I had to sit in the waiting room...but at 11:00 that night they moved him to a regular room because he was doing so good and called me so that I could sit in his room.

Friday morning he was feeling good and they let him come home at about 11:00.
I spent the night with them to make sure he was ok and drove home on Saturday morning.

He has caught up on some sleep and is walking around. He went outside for a while yesterday to soak up some of that sun and this morning he feels good enough to go to church.

So, this week has been "a week" but the results are great.

Catching up with my old blog

As you can probably tell from past blogs, the sky is one of my favorite subjects. On most regular days in my life, I go out the back door in the morning to feed Goldie and Hat. Our back door faces the sunrise so I have a great view every morning...some mornings are a little more colorful than others and offer a little more eye candy. This is one....

This view is a little more zoomed in and south east. (LOL...I had to ask George....directions and geography are not my thing).

My horse is such a princess...She has this regal air about her and I just love her so much. She either stops what she's doing and watches me while I'm outside or she acts like she doesn't know I'm there (for a little while).

We put a round bale of hay in the goat pen for the goats and they decided it was as much a toy as food.

Well, that's just a little bit that's going on at our place.