A Childhood Regret

Today I was going to bring attention to our Mustangs plight and survival. However after a conversation last night with two of my daughters, today's subject has been changed.
One of my daughters asked me if there was anything from my childhood that I regret. Without hesitation I answered yes.


Of course they wanted to know what it was. So I told them. Afterwards they looked at me and couldn't believe I did what I did. They brought to my attention that I had taught them to accept people for who they are, not to pass judgement and most of all to be nice.


Then they looked at me and said they understood why I taught them what I had. But for me to understand and to teach my kids, I had to hurt someone feelings.


So here is my confession of a childhood regret.


It was the fourth grade. There was a girl, ( her name Elizabeth) and who was very heavy. Lived in the poorest house in town. She had no friends at the school. Her house was filled with family and relatives. And she had, well, really bad body odor all the time.


Well, one day a bunch of friends and I walked over to the play area where the playground equipment was. Elizabeth was sitting by herself on one of the pieces of equipment. When she saw us walking towards the area she got down and walked away. One of my friends made some comment about her having body odor and you could always tell she had been somewhere by the smell she left behind. So, being thesmartass I was, I walked over to the piece of equipment she was on and smelled it ( no, not exactly where she was sitting on it), then made a very loud comment to my friends that yes, the stink was still there.


Elizabeth heard me. She turned around and our eyes met. I can still see the hurt in her eyes. I wanted to walk over and apologize, but I didn't. Instead I chose to 'save face' and walked back to my friends who kept saying that they couldn't believe I did that. Here it was, they talked trash about Elizabeth behind her back all the time but never wanted her to hear it. And me, being a dumb ass, said it loud and clear.



It bothered me a lot and there were days I went out of my way and walked past her house so I could apologize. I couldn't do the right thing and apologize at school. No, that wouldn't be 'cool' ( sentence said in a very sarcastic tone). I never did see Elizabeth outside her house. And I never did the right thing and for hurting her feelings. In time her family and her moved away.



Even after all these years, and take my word for it, it has been a long time. I still regret not apologizing to Elizabeth. The harm and hurt I caused her.


So, to Elizabeth wherever you are, I am truly, truly sorry for what I said and not doing the right thing and apologize for the hurtful remark. All because I wanted to, "save face with my friends".



Yes, I am still outspoken. But in a much more productive way.



Do you have a childhood regret?


Until next time................

On the House & A List

Yesterday evening as I was coming into the house from feeding, out of the corner of my eye I noticed something on the house by the front door. As I looked closer it was a Praying Mantis! I haven't seen one in a few years so seeing this one on the house got me all excited.

Praying Mantis is a good omen. And he/she couldn't have shown up at a better time than now!

Thank you to all who left a comment about yesterdays post on fur. As Inger from Desert Canyon http://desertcanyonliving.blogspot.com/ said, reptiles are also included. Especially snakes. They are killed for their skin. Again, all in the name of fashion.

Also as Jabacue http://jabacue.blogspot.com/ mentioned, contacting the designers and letting them know that using fur/reptiles is wrong, is a way for them to realize just how many people are against the practice of killing for fashion.

I compiled a list of some of the designers who are using fur. Not all of them are selling in the United States, but they are selling their designs in Europe.

Gucci

Versace

Petit Nord

Prada

Odette Leblanc collection

Birger Christensen

Annika Heinadottir

Karl Lagerfeld

Glamour

Alta Moda

Christia

Olivieri

All of the above named designers can be found on the Internet as designers who use fur in their collections. Even though I cannot afford these designers clothing, it doesn't stop me from contacting them and letting them know that what they do is wrong. One voice becomes many.

Be prepared for the next post. It concerns saving our Mustangs!!

Until next time..........................

Disturbing Fashion Trend

About a week or so ago I was watching Good Morning America. There was a segment about the new season of Project Runway. Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Tim Gunn and Michael Kors were there and the audience got to ask them questions. One of the questions for Nina Garcia was what the fashion trend this Fall is.

She hesitated momentarily and said that Fur was 'in'. Real or fake, fur was hot this season.

My reaction was Really? Why? Haven't we as a society learned anything about the horrendous, cruel, barbaric ways of getting fur?

So, this means that thousands and thousands of more animals will be killed just for their fur.

Yesterday evening there was a small article about Janet Jackson who will be wearing mink for some designer. If I remember correctly she used to be against the wearing of fur. And now here it is she is promoting wearing it!

Back in the Golden Age of Hollywood fur was accepted. Mainly due to the fact that not many people knew exactly how the fur was obtained. They didn't care or chose not to want to know. A dark secret. It was luxurious. Made a statement of wealth. Etc...

This whole fur wearing disturbs me greatly. All in the name of fashion! The animals will be killed just for their fur. Just the fur! The meat and other parts of the animal will be thrown away like garbage.

Fur belongs on the animal. Not on us!

Until next time................................

I'm tired!

Be forewarned I am about to whine!

Have you ever reached the point where you are just plain and simple tired? Both physically and mentally? I've reached that point. It takes me a long time to get here.


Feeding twice a day every day 24/7, scrubbing water troughs daily, trying to keep up with the house work, selling on EBay, dealing with whatever needs to be dealt with at the time, etc..... It's finally taken its toll on me. Yes, I do this by myself.

There are four new stray cats hanging around now. That means four more mouths to feed. Which means more cat food to buy. Then if they can be caught, there will be the expense of spaying/neutering.
AJ's face has started to show signs of allergies to the oak trees. The only time of year this happens is when the trees are preparing for the Fall season. There is something on them that makes poor AJ itch like crazy. And with having over fifty oak trees,keeping her away from them is impossible. Time to get the medicated scrub out and start treating it as well as allergy pills to give to her. And she is miserable.

Every morning after I've scrubbed the water troughs and start filling them up, here come the Yellow Jackets. As I stand there they start to swarm then start drinking. The Yellow Jackets and I have an understanding. I leave them alone and they leave me alone. So far, so good.

Betsy goat is still here. No word from the neighbor if and when he wants his goat back.

It has been extremely hot these days. You know the hot I'm referring to. Bake at 350 degrees until done! Ha Ha

I've been filling the chicken water up with ice twice a day to try to keep them cooler.

Yesterday afternoon I knew I had reached my overly tired state. I walked straight into a thread of spider web with spider attached. I felt something on my cheek, reached up to find a small cream colored spider there. I looked at it, sighed, shook it off my hand and continued to go about the chores. All the while thinking that this has become too much for one person. Now I am sure you are asking why the whole spider thing was the reaching point. I am absolutely terrified of spiders!

This morning after I was done feeding I sat there on the Gator and came to the realization that have to find homes for some of the larger animals. The cost alone to feed is high, let alone the quality of time I can spend with each one, etc.... So, I have decided to find homes for two of the donkeys, Patti Cake the mini mule and my horse. Yes, I know in a much earlier post I had said I was going to sell my horse then changed my mind. Well, I've decided to go through with it and find him a good home.

There is so much more to whine about, but I will not bore you with it all. Maybe once the temps cool down everything will be okay.

Thanks for listening.

Until next time......................

Donkeys in the Sun

These past few days have been HOT! Doughnut and Cookie sleeping in the HOT sun.

Arnold snoozing in the shade of a tree.

Lets' see. Laying in the HOT sun or snoozing under a nice tree with shade. Hmmmm.

Just so you can see that there is more than one tree in the yard. In fact, there are six trees that provide shade. Silly girls!

Until next time.......................

Destructive morning!

There has to be something in the air this morning. First I found a pile of poop in the family room. Really! Come on. Poop!! And it was cat poop! Yuk. The litter boxes are cleaned twice a day! As I was filling up the water bowl for the inside animals I hear something break. One of the cats decided to jump onto the bookshelves knocking off an old ceramic decorative piece that was hanging on the wall.

Then as I was cleaning the kitchen I hear another break. What the hell! One of the cats jumped onto my dresser in my room and knocked off a vase that had silk flowers in it. As you can see the vase is a loss. After picking up the pieces then vacuuming to make sure all the glass fragments are cleaned up, I hear a cat scratching on something they aren't suppose to be.

This is what I find. One or more cats has decided that using a piece of furniture makes a great cat scratching post. I keep a blanket on the back of the chair and small sofa in the family room to help keep it in nice condition. A lot of good that has done!

This is one of the culprits this morning. His name is Otto, he belongs to the middle daughter who moved back home. I don't call him by his given name, I call him "Whatsyourname".

Doug is also in on the destructiveness going on. He decided to jump up onto a small table where the printer is and knock off a bunch of papers.

And the morning is still going on!

It's a good thing I love them all otherwise they would know how it feels to live out of doors!!! Not that I would do that, but the thought did cross my mind briefly. :)

Wonder what the rest of the day is going to hold!

Until next time..................

Talk about timing!

Just came in from collecting eggs. Same routine, different day. However something happened that has never happened to me before. See Bonnie? Well, her behind shot. Bonnie is insistent on being broody and wanting to hatch eggs. She has been trying to sit on the other hens eggs as well as her own.

See this egg? Nothing unusual about. But, there is a little story about this egg.

As I was collecting eggs, I put my hand under Bonnie to feel for eggs and the next thing I know, she laid this egg right into the palm of my hand! Yup, just plopped it right on out. I have never had that happen before. And am extremely grateful it wasn't poo she plopped out!!!

Until next time....................

Maybe permanent?

Well, maybe, just maybe Betsy goat is here permanently! Her 'owners' haven't come over to get her. Well, other than the two small boys who came over the other night to bring her some vegies. Which didn't go so well since as soon as the donkeys realized 'treats' were being handed out, they all came running to the fence pushing the goats out of the way.

I did notice that Betsy is starting to look a little better. She has now gained a bit of weight and her coat seems to have a touch of shine to it.

My goats and Betsy are getting along great. Betsy has a ways to go to get as 'chunky' as the other goats, but if she does get to stay, well, before long she will be as roly poly as the rest. Although with her having horns I do worry about her getting caught in the fence or a gate. And possibly injuring one of the other goats.

The little frogs are more and more visible these days.

Pretty soon they will attach themselves to the side of the house.

Until next time...................

I forgot something very important!

Yesterday I did something really bad. The temps have been in the mid to upper nineties with some hundred days too. Between the high temps and a lot on my mind, well, I forgot to do something very important. Yesterday afternoon I scrubbed and filled the chicken waterer. See the black cap in the center? That black cap unscrews and screws onto the drain hole so while you are filling up the water it doesn't continue to run out. Can you guess what I did? I forgot to unscrew the cap from the drain hole when I put it back into the chicken coop. And that meant the chickens had no water on a hot afternoon for about three hours when I went back out to check on the new baby chicks.



I felt so bad when I realized that here is was, a nice clean container of water with ice cubes in it, for the chickens, but the chickens couldn't drink it because of my stupidity. When I walked into the coop and saw my chickens panting like crazy, I turned the fan on thinking that was the problem and when I turned around one of the chickens was trying to drink out of an empty container! Quickly I unscrewed the cap and as soon as the chickens heard the water coming out they all rushed over to drink.



You can bet I will double check that waterer from now on!!!


And speaking of chickens, Little Inger hatched out two eggs. So now there are two new babies in the coop.

This is the first one born.

This cutie was the second to come into this world.

And these two girls are from the first hatched eggs months ago. They are now gifting eggs pretty much on a daily basis. It's at the point now that I am giving away eggs. I know, I could charge something for them, but the way the economy is, well, money is so tight that if it helps someone save a buck or two, then why not.

Until next time.....................

Ode to a Brown Dog

For those of you curious to know what the tattoo I will be getting is going to be........... It will be of the best damned dog I ever had the grace to share his life with. His name was E.Z. and if you haven't already guessed, he was a Pit Bull. He came into my life when he was six months old. At first I was pretty leery of having a bully breed in the house with my young children due to all the bad publicity the breed had. Yes, I had fallen for all the horror stories. The pic above is of him at about two years old.

This pic was taken when he was six and a half years old. E.Z. and I went through hell and back together. He was the best guardian over me and my kids. One night he heard something outside and frantically wanted out. I let him out and he took off running. All I saw was a shadow of a man running through the trees away from the house with E.Z. hot on his heels. The next thing I heard was the guy hitting the fence scrambling to get over it and E.Z. barking and growling. The guy managed to get over but not without ripping his pants ( there was evidence of his pants on the top of the fence that I found the next morning).

What really would crack me up is when I had friends come over who didn't know I was owned by a Pit. They would pull into the driveway and here would come E.Z. with his ball in his mouth 'talking' to the new person. Quite a few times they would honk their horn and when I came out of the house they told me that they didn't know I had a Pit Bull and were afraid to get out of the car. All the while E.Z. is still standing next to their car 'talking' to them and wanting them to throw the ball.

After explaining it was safe to get out of the car. That all he wanted was for them to throw his ball. They would get out of their car, E.Z. would drop the ball, stare at it and then them, waiting for them to throw that ball. When they did I warned them that he loved his ball and he would tire them out before he would tire out.

This pic was taken when E.Z. was 14, Jake on the right was almost two and Rosie on the far left was about four months old. E.Z. was such a great teacher to Jake and Rosie. By this time in E.Z.'s life he had been to all three of my kids kindergarten classes as show n tell. He was wonderful around kids. And one of the highlights taking him for show no tell was to educate both students and teachers that Pit Bulls are fantastic family dogs. That it is not the breed that is bad, but sadly owned by bad owners who taught them to be bad.

This is one of the last pictures I took of him. He was close to 15 1/2. He got cancer and it had rapidly spread throughout his body. One morning I took him outside to do his business ( he couldn't go outside by himself anymore due to his hearing was pretty much gone as well as his eyesight). When he peed, it was almost straight blood. The time had come to say goodbye to my best friend. On the way to the vet I stopped off at McDonald's, bought him a cheeseburger and gave it to him. The vet came out to the car and humanely put my buddy to sleep for good.

With the help of my brother, oldest daughters boyfriend at the time, they helped me dig a hole and bury him. He was buried with his ball. I carved into a cement block his name, date of birth and date of death. 12-1985 to 3-2000.

It's been ten years since I lost the old boy and there is still an ache and a hole in my heart from missing that Brown Dog.

So, he will be my one and only tattoo because he means that much to me. Although I am not going to tattoo his name!!! Loved the old boy with all my heart, but not going to tattoo E.Z. on me!! :)

Until next time..........................

Still here, tattoo, and another rant!

Well, as you can see Betsy goat is still here. Haven't seen or talked with the neighbor since Betsy made her way into my pasture.

My herd and Betsy are getting along great. In fact, Betsy now knows the feeding routine and she waits for me at the gate, then runs alongside the Gator as I drop off piles of hay. Oh, and Betsy has one eye!! As far as I'm concerned she can live here permanently!

Yesterday my Internet connection was in and out for the better part of the day. Thinking that the company I go through was having difficulties yet again I didn't stress about it too much. Well, yesterday early evening it went out completely! That's it!! So, I called and what did I hear? The infamous automated system. Okay, fine.

After answering questions and pushing buttons the system hung up on me. Fine. Called back. This time the voice I heard was all in Spanish. Um, sorry I speak English. Couldn't get to the English part of it so hung up. Called back. Got the Spanish voice again. Hung up. Called back. Finally got the English speaking voice and halfway through the call they hung up. Now I am really getting frustrated. I call back, nothing. Call again, still nothing. Call again. Finally the voice. Answered questions and pushed buttons ( yes I had a real tone in my voice by this time), again halfway through the call they hung up. Call back yet again, same routine answering questions and pushing buttons and yup, you guessed it, they hung up on me again!!!

Alrighty then. Time to walk away, calm down, and catch my breath.

After a bit of time had passed I called again. Got the English speaking voice. Answered the questions, pressed the buttons, so far so good. Then silence!! But wait, the voice came back on!!! This time the voice says that they are experiencing an unusually high number of calls and that the Internet would be restored shortly. Hmmmm, okay. I hung up ( yes after giving the dead air time enough for the voice to come back on). Within a few minutes the Internet was up and running!!!

Today's technology is blessing and a curse at the same time!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and before I forget I was reading Justina's http://morningbrayfarm.com/ blog yesterday to find out she and Carson over at http://www.the7msnranch.com/ got tattoos! The tattoos they got were of the their BLM donkeys' brands. How very cool is that!!! My youngest daughter has been wanting a tattoo and I have been telling her that when she gets one, to make sure it means something to her that she will always enjoy looking at. Not one that later on life you look at and ask yourself why did I get that! So I told her about Justina's and Carson's tattoos. Her eyes lit up and said that they were awesome tattoos and she is going to get her BLM Mustangs' brand tattooed on her ankle. So thanks for the idea Justina and Carson!! One of these days I'll have to tell you of the tattoo I am going to get and have been wanting to for a long time now. It will be my first and only tattoo I will ever get.

Until next time.................................

Drivers!!

Now that the summer time temps have arrived and not going away anytime soon, I started watching Mount McLaughlin ( I'm not sure how to spell it!) that can be seen from my house. As you can see there is still a tad bit of snow still left. But it is melting fairly rapidly. The old timers around here say that when you can see the Angels Wings on mountain, then it is salmon fishing time.

Well, the Angels wings can be seen now. Which means there is going to be a lot of salmon fishing going on around here.

Yesterday evening my youngest daughter ( who still lives at home) called me and told me to hurry outside. And she meant hurry! So I took off out the door to see her out of the car by the entry gate. She is yelling for me to run! Knowing that something was wrong I ran towards her.

Once I reached her she told me that as she was coming up our road to turn into the driveway she saw a car hit a cat right in front of our place. She got out, ran over to the cat, thinking one of ours ventured to the road. It turned out it was not one of ours. It was a cat that I hadn't seen before. She had picked the cat up, it was still alive, and gently laid it in the shade by our driveway. When I started checking kitty over to see how badly he was hurt, he passed away.

So, I sent my other daughter into the house for a towel to wrap the cat in. Then it was time to start knocking on doors to find the cats' owner and let them know what happened. Well, no one in the neighborhood owned the cat.

Okay, owners can't be found, can't leave the cat where he was, so I placed him into a box still wrapped in the towel and proceeded to dig a hole. Believing that no one or no animal should ever be put to rest without a name and a prayer I gave him the name Dexter. After burying him I said a prayer and told him how sorry I was that the driver of the car did not care enough to at least stop to see if he needed medical attention. I will never understand how anyone can hit an animal and not stop. I guess they either really don't care or they are too wrapped up in their own world to be bothered.

So, to Dexter, be at peace, enjoy the other side of the rainbow bridge, have lots of cat naps, eat your favorite meals, and be surrounded with love always.

Until next time..................

Sunset

Betsy the goat is still here. By the way, yes, the goat belongs to the same neighbor as the 2 year old stud colt that jumped the fence and stayed for a few days here. We had thunderstorms roll in late afternoon. And with thunderstorm clouds comes very pretty sunsets.

As I was walking around getting pics of the sunset, here came three of the donkeys wanting to know what the heck I was doing.

Donkey ears really are pretty special.

Until next time..........................

This time it's a goat!

Yesterday it hit 103 degrees here. Can you say Y-U-K!!! It was miserable.

Yesterday evening the two small boys from next door knocked on my door and informed me that their goat was in my pasture. Really?! Since the donkeys and Patti Cake the mini mule are in the back pasture they couldn't go out there alone to get their goat. So, out into the heat to help catch the goat. After about 45 minutes catching her was out of the question. The boys started chasing her all over the pasture throwing a homemade rope at her. Duh, I would run too being chased liked that. I finally told them to put the rope down and walk towards her calmly. Did they listen? No! The older of the boys couldn't understand why the goat didn't want to be caught. Well, by this time I am hot and tired. I looked right at him and told him if him and his brother were nicer to their goat then she wouldn't mind being caught. I then asked him how many times I have yelled at him for being mean to their goat. He didn't answer me. Little turd!

Anyway, enough was enough. I told the boys to leave the goat here overnight and to go home.

Well, my goats weren't too happy about having a stranger in the pasture. Neither were the donkeys or Patti Cake our mini mule. I took these pictures this morning. The brown goat with the horns is the neighbors goat. Her name is Betsy.

Betsy trying to get close to the food.

My girl goats banding together to chase Betsy away.

"Get the stranger!!!!!"

It's a standoff. The ugly one with the hair hanging off of him is Dick.

Um, do you see a difference between my goats coats and the neighbors goat coat? Can you see how much thinner Betsy is compared to mine? Hmmm, maybe I feed my goats too well!!?

Since it is going to be another scorcher I am not going to worry about the neighbors goat staying here another day or two. I am not going stress her in this heat to get her back next door.

Time to get some outside chores done before baking temps set in.

Until next time........................