Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Too much water?

I'm a "flat-lander" girl. I was born on the High Plains and I still live on the High Plains. Water holds a great deal of fascination for me. After all, water is found here primarily underground. It has to be pumped to the surface in order to be used.

I expect rivers to be dry most of the year. And when I drive across creeks and rivers, it's natural to look down to see if the water is running. Water in a river is a novelty to me, a seasonal, short-lived event. It rains, and if it rains an inch or more, then the creeks and rivers will run for a few hours or maybe a day or two, then they dry out again.

That's how my world works. That's what's familiar to me.

So all this snow and rain and...water, is really messing with my sense of reality.

While driving last weekend to Great Bend, we crossed several creeks and rivers. Every single one was running. Every single one had wider than normal channels and was moving merrily on its way. Every river, every creek that I looked at had water in it. Lots of water. Not puddles, not tiny little streams, but lots and lots of water. My folks reported that at home, Sand Creek was running and Crooked Creek was running. And while the Arkansas isn't running (due to those water stealing Colorado people), the Cimarron River was running high and wide.

This is not normal.

This weekend, we got three inches of rain, and it rained again last night. We had only 1/2 an inch last night, but 6 miles north of us reported 3 1/2 inches. Kev called me on his way to Atwood and said it was wet and fields looked like wide rivers and lakes.

This is not normal.

The radio today has been issuing lots of flood warnings for the surrounding counties. And, it's rained on and off all morning and the forecast says it will rain on and off all day and will continue for the next couple of days.

Again, this is not normal.

Trenton Lake is the closest lake to us. And it's rumored to be flooding. I can't imagine it. It's been so dry for so long that I just can't comprehend that it's now flooding.

No flood warnings for Thomas County, my county, but then again, I don't think we have any real creeks or streams that go through this county. I wonder what it would be like to live somewhere where flooding is an issue? It's so far outside my realm of reality that I just can't get my head around the idea of flooding.

I know how to live with tornadoes. I know how to live with drought. I know how to deal with rivers that only run a few days a year. But I don't know how to live with too much water. It's just not...normal.

Monday, April 23, 2007

random stuff...part 3

It's a beautiful day outside today. All the Crab apple trees and Pear trees are blooming. I'm not a Spring Season person, but I do love seeing all those trees in bloom. The circle drive on campus is ringed by Crab apple trees. A sea of pink blossoms. Beautiful. I'm hopeful that the lilacs will bloom soon. I'm hopeful that the hard freeze we had the past two weeks didn't hurt them. Since the trees bloomed, and are so beautiful, I think I've got a chance to see the lilacs...

*****
Saturday, Andy competed at the State 4-H Shooting Sports Archery Match. He placed third in barebow 3-D shooting and 3rd overall shooter in his age bracket. We think he took 4th in FITA shooting, but haven't seen those results yet. Our other Archery Shooter from Thomas Co., probably got 3rd in the FITA shooting, but again, we didn't see those results. (Should hear by the end of the week.) As their instructor, I'm really proud of the boys. As Andy's mother, I'm proud, but know he could have done better if he had bothered to practice.

I think Andy was disappointed in his Open class events; while he shot well, he didn't bother sighting in his bow until Friday night. That's not when you should be sighting in your bow. Again, he didn't think he needed to practice. Wonder if he'd admit to anyone that he should listen to his mother?

*****
We spent Friday night at my brother's house. He doesn't have a big house, but he has enough floor space for us. He keeps saying that he wants to redo his bathroom. He needs to redo his bathroom. Wonder how he will feel about getting a toilet for Christmas this year. Then next year, we can buy him a bathtub and the next year, a sink. Sure would make my shopping a lot easier!

*****
My laundry room is almost complete. We painted it yesterday. I wanted to paint it a fresh, clean color. I chose a mint green because I tend to paint everything either blue or yellow, so forced myself to go with green. And, I wanted it to be a pale color because it's a small room.

When Kev came in he said "It looks like Grandpa Joe's house." Turquoise. You know how many older houses have a turquoise room in them somewhere? All of them. You know it's true. Well, now, I don't like the color. Now that it's dry, it's more green than Turquoise, but yeah, it looks like a room in an old person's house. Miss Kat and I are painting the shelves yellow and periwinkle. So, my hope is that the shelves will tone down the room. And once we hang up the coat rack, maybe it will look less like an old person's house and will look fresh, clean and
spring-y. If not, well, I do know how to paint.

*****
It rained here over the weekend. It started Saturday night and rained steadily until noon-ish on Sunday. No thunder, no lightening, no wind. We got 3 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Rain, which fell straight down, gently all night long. I got to sleep to the sound of rainfall outside my window. I got to snuggle in my warm comfy bed with my favorite guy while listening to the rain. I got to wake up to my favorite kind of day, cool, rainy, misty. It was fabulous. If only it had stayed that way all day, nope, it cleared off and then the wind blew. Hard.

*****
Tonight, after Band lessons, allergy treatment, and dance ,Miss Kat and I will attend the Middle School Orientation for 5th Graders. My baby will be in Middle School in 4 short months. Where did the time go?

Thursday, April 19, 2007

It's gone.

You know, I had something in mind to write about today.

And it's gone. Gone.

I know it had something to do with my kids, something about one making me laugh and 10 minutes later, the other one annoyed the heck out of me. An this all happened on the way to work/school this morning.

4 short hours ago.

But details? Gone.

I have no clue what it was all about now.

That's why I'm blabbering on and on about what I can't remember that I wanted to blog about.

But, since it's gone, I'll quit.

I'll stop.



I'm done.



For real.



Done.


I promise.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

We went to my folks for Easter. It was our first trip to see family since before Christmas. And, in typical fashion, we woke up Friday morning, the day we were to leave, to snow. The ground was covered and it was snowing hard. Big flakes. But, it warmed up. The snow stopped and we made our first weekend out of town since Christmas.

My Aunt Sandy was to join us, and she did on Easter Sunday. But knowing she was coming reminded me that I had promised Gina to post some stories about our Mothers. So I was intent on getting stories and verifying facts.

Somehow, no one was very cooperative, especially when I said I wanted to blog about it. It would appear that they don't want the whole wide world knowing about their childhood days. So, I'm sharing a couple of tid-bits anyway. Heck, neither one of them will ever read this. I've shared the address with them, so it's their fault if they don't check to see just what I'm gonna say. I'm the big mouth of the family, so I'm gonna write what I want. So, Mom, Sandy, if you guys don't like this, tough. You can leave a comment in rebuttal. You can disown me. I don't care. So there. Ha. (Besides, I promised Gina.)

Mom always liked to tell Steve and I about what a little brat Sandy was. Maybe it was because we begged for a little sister or brother. Maybe it was because Sandy was our favorite aunt. Or maybe it had something to do with us wanting stories about "when you were a little girl." One of her favorite stories was how when she was a young teenager and Sandy was a pre-schooler.

Mom liked to sleep in. And living on a farm, well, that n.e.v.e.r. happened. But she tried. One morning, she was told to get up. She didn't. Grandma told her to get up, Grandpa told her to get up. Finally, Grandma sent Sandy in to get her up. She still didn't get up, and probably told Sandy to go away (nicely, I'm sure). So then Sandy ran to tell Grandpa that Mom still wouldn't get out of bed. So, Grandpa took matters into his own hands.

He marched into the bedroom, picked Mom up and carried her outside.

To the stock tank.

And dropped her into the cold water.

Apparently Sandy thought it was much funnier than Mom did. Apparently, it was Sandy's fault that Mom was tossed into the tank. Sandy swears that she doesn't remember this ever happening, but Mom and Grandpa verified that it did happen.

Sandy spent a lot of time at our house. There's 10 years between the girls, and 10 years between Sandy and I. Sandy made a perfect babysitter for Steve and I, so she spent many days and nights at our house. I remember one night Sandy was babysitting us when we lived in Ashland. Steve and I were in the living room when Sandy and her "date" disappeared. We soon found them, in the kitchen,

kissing.

They didn't kiss very long, because there were two little heads peeking around the corner of the stove giggling rather loudly. They both acted embarrassed but Steve and I spent the rest of the night giggling and calling her date "Uncle Vance."

They didn't date long.

Wonder if we had something to do with it?

The priceless story I gathered this weekend was from my Dad, and indirectly from Wayne, Sandy's husband.

The guys ran out to the Hill to pick up some "stuff" for me. See, I can't go home without bringing back some junk, I mean stuff. They ran out to get a couple of timbers and some farrowing panels that I think I can jerry-rig and use.

So anyway, while driving out to the Hill, Wayne asked if the curves were where Sandy drove through the fence. Once they got back to town, Dad, being the ornery person he is, came in the house, walked over to Sandy and asked her if she remembered driving through the fence at the West Lake Curves.

The look on her face was priceless. It was sheepish, surprised, embarrassed, the whole 9 yards. Sandy looked at him and quietly said "Yes." Then a little more loudly, "I drove the car through the fence right after Daddy had gotten the car painted from when I drove through the fence earlier."

Evidently, while in college, or maybe High School, Sandy fell asleep driving home and went through the fence. Not once, but twice.

30 years or so later, everyone chuckled about it, even Grandpa, but he did admit he wasn't very happy about having to paint the car twice.

Now, if I've got this last story wrong, well, we'll never know, cause Sandy will never read this and never set the record straight. But, this is the conversation as I remember it from this past weekend. So Sandy, if this is wrong, let me know and I'll fix it. On the web. For the whole world to see.

I'm so glad that there isn't anyone who will blog about anything stupid I've ever done...

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Shooters with...

Trap season is upon us once again. Kev, Andy and I shoot trap. Miss Kat does not. She's much to dignified and...girly to shoot. She has absolutely no interest in shooting.

This year, Andy isn't shooting on my team. For the past two years, we've been "Andy and the Old Ladies." We aren't this year. He wanted to shoot with men and not women. Granted, he was the best shot on our team, but for some reason, we just don't hold any excitement for a teenage boy.

So this year, our all-girl team is "Shooters with Hooters."

Isn't that a cool name?

Well, we all do have "hooters." Some are larger than others, but we've all got them. I had to work to sell the team name to a couple of the girls, who suprised me with their embarrassment and their hesitation to be on the "hooters" team.

But, I think they were won over last night watching the reactions of the guys who run the gun club. They didn't know whether to call us the Shooters, or the Hooters, or if they could even look us in the...eyes. It was cute.

We discussed getting team shirts--like those worn by the Hooters girls...but no one wanted fat rolls hangin' out from under their shirts as we pulled our guns up to shoot. And, one of my Hooter girls was afraid that her hooters might peek out the bottom of a half-shirt. So, we vetod the team shirt idea--for now.

I still think we could get a shirt--full sized--that says "Watch out for Shooters with Hooters."

That would be a...


...hoot.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

just me being me...

Andy and I had his new goats banded yesterday. Banding means that a rubber band is placed around the testicles. Over time, it will cut off the blood supply and the testicles will fall off. Making our little buck into a little whether. We got the first goat banded just fine. (And, we did have help, cause we're novices, a friend of Andy's, a sheep-person, helped.)

When we went to band the second little goat, the one my son picked out all on his own, we discovered that this little buckling was actually a little doe. Yep, she's a little girl. She has 4 nipples instead of two, but she's a girl. So, I'm calling the vet to see how to remove those extra nipples and we, needless to say, didn't band anything on her. But, now we need to buy another little goat to show. We can show this little girl as a breeding female, but not as a meat animal.

So, evidently, Andy doesn't always know what to look for when picking out goats. I'm not real sure how he mistook nipples for testicles, but he did. And, since I'm a nice, loving mother, I won't harass him about this oh-so-important-difference. I'm confident he'll figure it out... someday...