August showers bring...

Since the 23 of July, we've received 12 inches of rain at our house.  That much rain while in the midst of a drought is unusual.  Much needed, received with much gratitude, and enjoyed. 

Our yard consists primarily of Buffalo Grass.  During times of drought, it goes dormant and brown awaiting enough rain to trigger growth.  Then it greens up and takes off.  Personally, Buffalo is my favorite kind of grass.  It's soft underfoot (while green, when it's dormant, it tends to crunch underfoot.)  It's a fine bladed grass and is just a nice soft shade of green.  Plus, given enough time, it can squeeze out weeds and stickers on its own--without the need of chemicals.

 Rain also can bring a lot of water.  This creek runs to the north of our house.  During one of our rainstorms, we got 1.5 inches of rain, but those 10-20 miles from us received 5-7 inches.  All that water came downstream through our creek.  The highway leading to our house was closed for an hour or so as the water crossed over the bridge.  The shot below is after the water levels started to drop.  There are a lot of farmers/ranchers in our area who are now rebuilding fence and water gaps.

 I've appreciated the rain because it's caused the wildflowers to bloom.  This batch is in my yard.  Not sure what it is, but they sure are pretty!

A not so nice "benefit" of rain are these.  Stickers, or Goat Heads, or Texas Tacks.  They've been dormant until it rained.  And now they are popping up all over the place.  Kev and I can't go outside without spotting and pulling up a plant or 10.  The pretty little yellow flowers will turn into nasty stickers.  Any time we see a little yellow flower, we get down, find the base of the plant and pull those suckers out!  The plants then go into the trash because we don't need any stickers growing into new plants.  With all the rain, the ground is nice and soft, so they pull easily.  And yet, we can't walk anywhere outside without stopping to pull stickers.  And if you walk off and leave it, you might not spot it again until it's dropped lots of stickers.  Simple trips outside now aren't so simple or quick!

 And this stuff also grows.  It however doesn't go dormant during dry spells, but grows when nothing else will.  Bindweed...the bane of my existence!  I pull and pull and and it just comes back!  It's become a jungle in many spots now.  We've not been very diligent in pulling it.  Probably because we've been picking stickers.

But we'll put up with the weeds, and the flooding, because we love the rain.

Snow days

We were visited by Winter storms Q and Rocky last week.  In fact, the kids and I had 4 snow days.  Three for Q and one for Rocky.  Kevin stayed home all but one of those snow days.  He went to work last Friday, February 22.  The storms reminded us all of our last winter in Colby, when we got lots of snow every single weekend from the end of December until the end of March.  This time, we never lost power which was nice!  What was't nice was when our pellet stove quit running on Thursday.  The new part came in this week, and it's running again, but when it quit, I did have some concern with heat IF we were to lose power.  Fortunately, we were fine.

Winter Storm Q gave us 15 inches of very wet snow.  Rocky blew in with more, but I haven't heard the official amount yet.  Just east of us got almost 3 feet of snow from Rocky and they did lose power.  The storm was worse south and east of us.  And we had it much worse than Dodge City did.  In fact, when they announced that we'd have school on Tuesday, I thought they were nuts!  We were trying to dig out ourselves, and I couldn't imagine that the college was any better.  It was.  They didn't get much snow at all.

And what did I do with a 6 day vacation?  I baked bread.  I stitched on Eldar, I read, I baked cookies and made Andy a chocolate cake with carmel frosting. I cleaned house.  We celebrated Miss Kat's 17th birthday and we enjoyed time together in front of the fireplace.

Here's Andy digging the snow away from our front door.  (The white box is our old freezer.  We need to relocate it/dispose of it, but haven't decided what to do yet, so for now, we are rednecks with an old freezer in our yard.)  Right in front of Andy is the door.  Snow drifted it in completely.  Since our snow shovel also decided to break during the storm, he used a regular shovel and cleared just enough away for us to get out the door.

 This is the inside view of the snow drift.  (Please excuse the remainder of the paper label on the window.  I've not gotten around to scraping it completely off the door.  It's only been up a year!)

 Kevin got our tractor out on Monday, the 25th before the storm was over.  He knew he had to get started moving snow or we'd never get out Tuesday.  He had to dig his way all the way from the shop.  I know he spent 3 1/2 hours moving snow Monday, and he spent more time than that on Friday.

 He finally dug out Miss Kat's car on Tuesday (Feb 26).  Prior to that day, she drove the Escape and we drove the F250.

It's probably our first  last snowstorm of the winter.  We're in a warming trend, which will be nice.  The grass should green up.  I haven't heard of anyone complaining of the moisture or the snow.  It' s not enough snow to break the drought, but maybe it's a sign of moisture to come.

wildflowers

 We were treated to a gorgeous sunrise last Sunday morning.  Kev and I were at the farm, hoping to get a Turkey on this first weekend of the season.  We did see 10 turkeys, but they wouldn't cooperate with us and Kev didn't get a shot.  But, we did enjoy the sunrise and all the green grass and wildflowers.

 Last year, it never greened up, so no wildflowers.  This year, we've gotten rain, and the prairies are so nice and green and the spring wildflowers are going crazy!

 Grandma hasn't lived at the farm since 1973, but her Spirea was beautiful this year.

 Her wild roses were beautiful as well.  I took a cutting of these home last year, but my roses didn't bloom this year.  I think they spent last year struggling to survive.  Seeing these at the farm gives me hope that my roses will take off and bloom in the future.

 I liked the wild flax.  But, I'm partial to blue flowers.  I need to remember to plant some flax somewhere at our place because it's so pretty.

 No idea what the yellow flowers are, but they were so pretty with the blue flax intermingled amongst them.

 Even the mustard was nice to see.  Granted, it's 2 feet tall, and is everywhere, but still, it's green!

Just a parting shot of the pretty flowers on our glorious morning at the farm.

Tree stands and Monarchs

I realize that the official start of Fall is 2 days away, but since the heat wave broke, it feels like fall. Deer season opened last weekend. It's still to hot for anyone at our house to hunt--especially since we process our own meat and we can't let it hang when daytime temperatures get up to 80.

Last Sunday, Kev, Andy and I went to the farm to hang up another tree stand and to scout for deer. That's Andy, up in his tree stand. He's a handsome lad...all black and all...


I took the camera along, hoping to see some Monarch Butterflies. Last year, when we ran out there with Mom and Dad, the cedar trees were full of Monarchs...and there I was, without a camera. There weren't as many butterflies this year--either I missed the peak period, or there just weren't as many Monarch due to the heat and the drought. But, I managed to get a few pictures of uncooperative butterflies. The one above is the best shot. I just held the camera up above my head and had the zoom on max and prayed that I got a shot!

You can see a slight hint of orange in this one. If you look in just the right spot...I told you they wouldn't pose!

Just the shape of the wings here. Let me tell you, it's hard taking pictures of Monarchs when you just have a point and click camera and your subject doesn't cooperate at all!

We also saw a Tarantula. Seeing him made me wonder if the farmers were drilling wheat yet. Around here, it's time to drill wheat when you see the Tarantula's migrate. My fella wasn't migrating--he was just hanging around. And yesterday, we saw several guys drilling wheat. Which proves you need to listen to those old "wives tales!"

Other wildlife we saw included our resident doe with 2 fawns and a gecko. I hoped we'd find a horny toad, but no such luck. Maybe next spring...

Two posts in two days...I'm on a roll!

53

September...the end of summer...

We're at day 53 of over 100 degrees.

Record breaking summer. 53 days over 100 broke the record of 50. Average summer temperature? 98 degrees. Making this the hottest summer on record.

Normal rainfall is 25 inches. Amount received this year? 6 inches.

I'm ready for fall...and rain.

Dry

It's been a record dry summer here in Southwest Kansas. In fact, it's dryer than it was in the depression. We're in what the weather experts call an "exceptional drought."

We've had less than 10 inches of rain in the past year and there's not much in sight. We've also been hammered with 30 days of 100 degree temperatures. And, again, no relief in sight. The grass crunches as you walk across it. Weeds aren't growing...neither is anything else.

This picture is of our grapes. They are green and loaded. They are also watered by a drip system. Hopefully, we'll get grapes, cause nothing else in the garden is doing well. This is our corn. By now, it should be 6 feet tall and full of ears of corn. Instead, it's 2 feet tall, some is 3 feet tall. It has ears of corn on it, but there aren't any kernels and it's burning up. And, we water daily. Kev has a drip system set up, but it's too hot and dry.

Look across those pastures--no green.

We've been watering the trees at our place, trying to keep them alive. All are young trees and we hate to lose any. But, in this photo, you can see how the buffalo grass greens up with a little bit of water. That that hasn't been watered is brown. You can track our sprinkler through the yard.

Kevin and Andy actually mowed last week...spot mowing. They only mowed the weeds that had been "watered." Mowing usually takes 1/2 a day. This time, it took an hour. Yep, it's dry.

So, if you are so inclined, please pray that it rains in SW Kansas. We really need it.

Fightin Indians and pickin up buffalo chips

Over the weekend, a young man said to me, "I don't know how you live in Kansas. It's so boring. What do you do for fun?"

Sadly, it's not the first time I've heard that kind of thing. And, quite frankly, I want to smack such people over the head. Seriously. What do they think we do in Kansas? Fight Indians? Battle hoards of grasshoppers? Pick up cow chips for fuel? (And, don't even get me started on the Toto crap...)

Kansas gets a bad rap--an undeserved one. Most people's impression of Kansas comes from driving through the state on I-70. Therefore, they see a 400 miles stretch with 2 miles along either side of the Interstate. Guess what, I-70 was built where it is for ease of construction. The engineers wanted a relatively level area to make construction cheaper and easier. If you are traveling west, Kansas is the first state you come to that takes more than 4 hours to travel across. So, it does seem like a long monotonous trip. Additionally, the Interstate is not urbanized all the way across Kansas like it tends to be in eastern states, so you do see more stretches with fewer fast food restaurants. And, yes, there are fewer trees out here, so it is an abrupt change from the eastern stretches of Interstate.

If you truly want to appreciate all that Kansas has to offer, GET OFF THE INTERSTATE.

In Southeast Kansas, you've got part of the Ozarks and mining communities. In North Eastern Kansas, you've got lots of rivers and trees. Then there are the Flint Hills. In Central Kansas, we've got the Postrock country. And, more hills. In South central/west Kansas, you've got Red Hills. Northwest Kansas has more rolling hills and don't forget the Arikaree Breaks. You don't hit really flat country until you get to the extreme Southwest corner of the state. Even though it's flat there, it's beautiful country.

And nothing is better than a Kansas sunset. Nothing, except a Kansas dawn.

You can see the stars--lots and lots of stars in Kansas.

As to what we do...

Idiot, we do the same things that you "blessed city dwellers" do. Only better.
We have electricity and central heating and cooling. We go to church and visit with our friends. Sorry, but there are no wild Indians left to fight. We have Malls and the same stores you have in your cities.

Just because you drive across our state doesn't mean that you "know" what it's like here. Believe me, you've missed the best parts of Kansas by driving through on I-70. And, you know what, with an attitude like that...you can just keep on driving.

But, next time, when asked "What do you do in Kansas?" I think I'll say, "Well, just yesterday, I had to draw water from the windmill to do laundry. Then, I had to go out and pick up buffalo chips to build the fire with so I could cook lunch for the chillins and then I had to shoot a couple of Indians who were trying to steal my chickens."

Wonder what kind of reaction I'll get from that???

Pictures from our walk

I am a dork. Karin left a comment on my last post about there not being any pictures...and while we didn't take the camera...we did take Kev's cell phone. I did take 4 pictures, which are below. Now, lat night, as I remembered those pictures, I thought that it would be pretty easy to upload the pictures straight to the computer because a USB cord came with the stupid phone, so it should be easy-peasy, right?

WRONG.

After messing with the phone for 30 minutes, I did what every person does...I asked my kids to help.

And, after Andy and I messing for several minutes, we decided to bluetooth the pictures to his smart phone and then he could email them to me. But, guess what...bluetoothing didn't work for some obscure reason that we no longer cared to solve. So, I resorted to texting Andy the pictures and then he emailed them back to me. Something that should have been so simple turned out to be a major production.

And with that, all of you had just better appreciate these pictures!

One last vent about cell phones, except this one is really more about digital cameras. Point and click digital cameras are nice and all, but they aren't really designed for many outdoor shots in the bright sunshine. You simply can't see the screen. I'm amazed these turned out at all! New on my Christmas list is a SLR digital camera...I so prefer the viewfinder and not the LCD screen.

Vent over...Here's the pictures. Everyone, get ready to ooh and awww.


Flat Kansas.
The trees are growing at the bottom of the spring. You can't see these trees if you are up on top of the canyons--well, you can't see them from the trail and you can't see them from where we were picking up rocks.

One of our "waterfalls". This is the type of rock we picked up--just not pieces this big.

This was the coolest drop off. It was probably 3 feet to the bottom of the draw. You can see where years of water have smoothed out the rock. One rock. It was so cool.

And...at this point, I gave up using the cellphone to take pictures. But, at least you get a small idea of some of the beauty we enjoyed.

Kansas in Winter...or, more photo's from Miss Kat

I'm pretty sure these are some Kat took last night when she was supposed to be taking care of her rabbits. Her philosophy: Pictures first, Rabbits later.

But...if she's waited, the sun would have set and then we wouldn't have these shots...

Aren't drifts cool?

Miss Kat's photos

When Miss Kat and I had to share a camera, I was always asking...no begging her to email me pictures to post on my blog. She always had the camera and the USB cord and never let me have it or the computer, so I resorted to begging.

Then she got her own camera and voluntarily emailed me these pictures.

"What are they of?" I asked. "The sunset." She replied.

"Any particular sunset? Anything special?"

"NO, I just thought they were pretty and I want you to put them on your blog."

I'm a good mother and always obey my daughter....so here they are!

This one is from Friday--right after it quit snowing. We got about 5 inches of snow which is the first significant snow we've gotten all winter. It will be gone by Friday.

Yes, the wind blew, and this is a shot of a drift. I need to ask where exactly this drift is...

On Saturday, we woke up to fog and everything was covered with hoarfrost. Kat took several shots of the frost. But I'm just sharing a couple. Above is frost on our bell and below is frost on one of the bushes. Cool, isn't it!


That's all the pictures I have today. Maybe Miss Kat will share more in the future. I hope so!

Cold

Today the temperature is something like 6 degrees. Windchill is -20 something. When it's that cold, does the specific windchill temperature really matter? I don't think so.


Today, while driving slowly to work, I saw



2 cowboys



on horseback



moving cattle.



I'm not sure who I feel the sorriest for, the cowboys or the horses.


Stay warm everyone.

Fall's arrived

Yesterday afternoon, Kev and I ran down to Mom and Dad's. We kidnapped them, and went cruising around in the country. We went up to the Sand Creek Ranch to check it out for hunting. Kev was given permission to hunt it, but he just wanted to look it over, and since Daddy knows that area pretty well...we drug him along. Mom too.

Then we went by the farm to check out our tree stand there--to make sure it was in good condition, and that no critters had chewed away any ropes holding it in place. All well and good. A few branches need to be trimmed, but all in all, it's in good shape.

Then, we checked in the trees for some scrapes and rubs. Didn't find any of those, but did find hundreds of Monarch Butterflies. When Kev and Dad walked through the trees, Mom and I just stopped and watched the butterflies fly around. We counted at least 40 resting on branches, they'd move around and fly all around us. They were beautiful! Sure would have been nice to have a camera, but of course I didn't have it.

Imagine...hundreds of butterflies flitting around your head. It was a wonderful sight.

We decided that Fall must be here as they had to be migrating south. Which fits. The roads have been full of migrating caterpillars and tarantulas. Fall has arrived a few days early to SW Kansas.

heat

The temperature in my car last night at 5:30 p.m. 117.

The temperature in my car last night at 5:45 p.m. 113.

The temperature in Bucklin last night at 6:05 p.m. 95.

The temperature in my house last night at 6:07 p.m. 95.


Today, the new AC unit goes in. We've been without AC since the 4th of July.

It's been hot since the 4th of July.

Like well over 100 degrees every day.

The new AC goes in today, and the forecast is for a balmy 90. Shoot, I won't even have to turn the darn thing on!

Yet.

Spring

Kev and I drove down to the farm on Saturday evening. We had to get the camper brought home this week as Dad has cattle coming in and we really don't want a hundred steers using our camper as a scratching post.

We've had quite a bit of moisture these past couple of weeks, and everything is nice and green. The drive down was absolutely beautiful. As we drove down the county road, we even got to drive through water! See, there's a couple of creeks that run across the road, but they really only run when it's wet, so most of the year, they are dry. But right now, you get to drive through the creek! It makes me happy and excited. I wanted to stop and play in the water, but Kev said no.

Wildflowers are blooming, lilacs are blooming, trees aren't blooming, they didn't bloom well this year. Baby calves were running and playing in the pastures, baby horses were running and jumping. All signs of spring.

What's that you say? You'd sure like to see some pictures?

Sorry. Kat broke the digital camera. The shutter won't open. I priced a new one, but the one I really want is $750. It's just going to have to wait. I might get a cheap one and let Kat use it. Not sure yet...

So, without a camera, you'll just have to take my word about the green grass, the cute baby animals and the flowers. I guess I'll just have to play in the creek without you.

Mirages

One of the neatest things about living on the Great Plains is seeing Mirages.

And, I'm not talking about just heat mirages. Heat mirages are those wet spots you see on the highways during the summer. You know, those spots that look like the road is wet, but they stay just ahead of you, you never get to that wet spot in the road.

We see a lot of Mirages. And we saw a lot of them around Colby. There was one morning, one spring morning I remember distinctly. As we drove south to town, there was another town just a couple of miles off to the west of us. Their Grain Elevator was so clear, and the houses were just sitting there. Except there wasn't a town there. It was a mirage. But it was so clear, that you just thought the town of Levant, which normally was a good 10 miles away looked to be just a mile away.

Sometimes, we'd see Mountains south of Colby. Well, maybe not mountains, but there would be a high level of hills just south of Colby. Beautiful blueish, foggy, misty hills. In reality, there are no hills south of Colby. Well, not for miles and miles.

Down here, most of the mirages we notice revolve around Spearville's Wind Generator farm. It's located North of Spearville. The closest we drive to Spearville is probably 15 miles. And yet, sometimes, those darn Wind Generators move. One day, they'll just be west of Spearville. Other day's, they'll be South of Spearville. Some days, it looks like we're going to drive right by the Wind farm.

It's easier to notice Mirages when they are of man made items, but some of the more beautiful ones are nature. Once, as we were driving to Colby, we followed a long cliff of gypsum hills. Their white ridge was just about a mile away from us. In reality, they were farther north, and much farther west, but that day, they just sat there, a short distance away, glistening in the sunlight. And they look so real.

Mirages. Just another cool thing about living on the Great Plains.

I want it Wednesday

Over the past week, we've had at least 8 inches of rain.



We were about 6 inches behind "normal" rainfall for our area. I haven't seen official numbers, but I can safely say we're "over" normal amounts now.



Today, we can see the sun. I haven't seen the sun since Friday. I take that back, we briefly saw the sun Saturday morning, but she's been hiding since then.



Personally, I love rain, and this has been a nice, slow rain. No wind, steady rainfall.



But, it's soggy. I mean, there's water standing everywhere. We're saturated. Ponds are full to overflowing, but because it was such a slow rain, not any flooding in our area. Who knows, there might even be water in the Arkansas River! That would be awsome!



So, since it's soggy, and muddy outside, all we need right now--for "I want it Wednesday" are:



Waterproof, and versital, I can wear them to the treestand and not get my tootsies cold or wet or muddy.

Fire...and wind

My Dad is the Fire chief of Big E's volunteer fire department. As the chief, he has radios, and scanners always attached to his hip, and in the pickup, and in the house. Anywhere Dad is, there's some kind of radio. He always has the radio turned on, and since he's hard of hearing, it's rather loud and annoying to the rest of us.

Right after we moved, in fact, it was the weekend of my birthday in January, there was a big fire. Oh, it was in Oklahoma, but the wind was blowing and they were calling for help of all the area fire departments. But, Dad was at my house, not at home. He was ready to drive home, but Mom made him promise that he would stay and visit with us. He was a nervous Nellie. He kept listening to them call out one county, and one town after another until they had a pretty large force called out. He fielded phone calls from his fire-fightin' buddies, who wanted to know where he was... He pouted. He worried, he wondered if they were getting it under control, and he wondered how they were managing without him.

They managed. It burned over 5000 acres, and they got it stopped--without Dad's help. But, he was so disappointed that he missed out on a big one. Now, my Dad is 65. He has asthma, and his lungs aren't good, haven't been since he burned them with anhydrous ammonia years and years ago. So, being in smoky air isn't good for him either...but you tell him that, cause we all have, and he refuses to listen.

There was another fire recently, one that Dad did get to fight. He was like a kid in the cookie jar, excited, talking about how they couldn't get to the fire because it was at the bottom of deep canyons, so they waited up top for the fire to come to them. He talked about how ceder trees burn and explode. I swear, if he was a teenager, he would have used adjectives like "awesome", and "cool" and would have used sound effects.

Along with fighting fires, the fire department is responsible for storm watching, watching for tornadoes. Last Thursday was Andy's birthday, so Mom and Dad came up to have supper with us. It was stormy, and we were in a Thunderstorm Watch. It started to look bad, and a report of a tornado came over the radio. So what did Dad (and Kev) do? They went outside, with binoculars, and watched to see if they could see any tornado's form. The wind was blowing, the sky had some lightening, it was that dark, dark blue-gray...and they were standing outside watching for tornadoes. Actually, they were hoping for tornadoes.

We did see some try to form, saw some short tails drop down, but they would go right back up and none ever touched ground. But, Dad had to watch, and he was on the phone with his cronnies, sharing what they could see from all their viewpoints. Dad's phone would ring, or someone would call over the radio... "Woody, where the heck are you?" "Is anybody else around to watch? "Yeah, we're at the Meade Junction, there's nothin' here." "What the heck are you doin' in Bucklin?" "Oh, well, you need to get home, we might get to see some action." "Well, you just tell your wife that you need to come home!" And Dad, is agreeing, and laughing, and sharing what he could see and finally, telling them that nothing is going to happen tonight. They all finally agree and the excitement is done--for tonight.

Who says boys grow up? I personally don't think they EVER do.

Wind

At this exact moment in time, I'm sitting on my couch, next to my favorite person in the whole wide world, and I'm watching the wheat ripple, wave, and blow in the field right outside our house. The wind is blowing about 25 mph and that wheat is simply rolling and waving. For those of you who live by the ocean, imagine the water moving in the wind, but imagine it being green, not blue. That's just how the wheat moves. You can watch "waves" ripple across the field. It's actually a very pretty sight. Granted, 25 mph is a little strong, and I'd prefer it to be blowing less, but the wind is a part of life on the Great Plains, and to live out here, you have to learn how to deal with it.
The wind blows almost daily. Sometimes it's a light breeze, other times, it's rather nasty and can just about blow you over or blow your car off the road. During storms, the wind can push the rain or snow until it is moving more horizontal than vertical. Days like today are also extra hazardous if there were to be a prairie fire. The wind can move that fire very quickly making it very difficult for fire fighters to get under control. I know about that too, I've seen a couple of very big and very scary prairie fires. Blizzards, tornadoes, fires...all are additional factors you have to deal with when you have wind like we do.

I've read stories about pioneer women who were driven mad by the wind. I guess, growing up with the wind, I thought of them as being "weak," but, as I've aged, I've realized that they weren't weak. They didn't have well-built, solid houses, that could keep out the dust and dirt that was blown about. Their houses didn't block the sound of the wind, nor did the houses block the wind itself. Some didn't have windows. Some lived in soddies. Living more closely to the environment, it must have been very difficult to cope with the wind and all it brings...

Most of the time, I don't mind the wind. It's a fact of life, has been my entire life. It doesn't bother me too much. Oh, it is annoying, and for someone with hair like mine...it adds to my natural beauty. Yeah, my naturally curly hair, which seems to get curlier the older I get, just loves to do it's own thing when it's windy and humid. (Like today...) Poor Kev, he has to look at me and my hair on days like today...

But, all negatives aside, the wind can be a thing of beauty, and it is right now as that wheat field ripples outside my window.

random...again

It's a beautiful day. It's raining! I love rain. It would be more perfect if I was at home enjoying the rain from my house instead of at work, but it's raining. I love rain.

I love the sound of rain on the roof. I love the smell of rain. I love gentle rain, without wind and thunderstorms and lightening. That's the kind of rain we have at this minute, it's falling straight down, gentle, soft...sigh.

I think I like rain so much because it's almost a rare item these days. We've been in a drought for so long that all rain is seen as a blessing.

********
I'm taking two days off this week, tomorrow and Friday. Not sure what I'll do with two days to myself, but I think I will work on that last room in the house that is still stacked high with boxes and is totally unorganized. I've been wanting to tackle it, and think I will tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow, I also have to bake a birthday cake and make Carmel frosting for the first time ever. Mr. Andy turns 17. He's so gunning for unlimited texting. (Don't spill the beans yet, but he's getting it!) He also wants steak for supper, but since we are out of beef, he'll have to pick something else. Maybe I'll offer to cook venison steak instead... Miss Kat has her last track meet (I hope it's the last, we thought the one she had last Thursday was her last track meet.) She's mentally ready to be done, primarily because she has miss so many gymnastic lessons. So, my evening will be busy, with track meet and Andy's birthday supper.

signs of spring

Yesterday, the wind was howling around 40 miles per hour. It was cold, about 40 degrees, and misty, raining on and off all day long.

And yet, last night, I found a definate absolute sign that spring is really here.

No, it wasn't the chicks, it wasn't the daffodills, or the eleven kittens who were born on our place with in the last month or so, and, it had nothing to do with it being track meet season either.

I found a tick.

In my hair, crawling up some hair right beside my face. [insert shudder here]

I hate ticks. HATE ticks.

And I don't know where he came from. All ticks are "he". Nasty little blood suckers that they are...

I wasn't around any trees, or in any tall grass. The only animals I was near was the cats, who I didn't hold (well, ok, I held a couple of kittens, but they are too small to be out and about) and the chickens who haven't even seen the sky yet.

I have no idea where this nasty little bloodsucker came from, but I'm glad he was still crawling when I found him. The only thing worse than finding a tick crawling on you is to find one that has his head stuck under your skin. [insert another shudder here]

Ick.

If the ticks are out, it's spring.