Arthritic cats

This cold weather combined with our poor finances has our house a wee bit on the cold side lately. Both of my 20 year old cats have arthritis so they have been wandering around the house squawking quite a bit, even after I go to bed and before I get up in the morning. I know they are old and the cold doesn't feel good, but man, I'm tired! Then I thought about the hot water bottle. It last several hours and once they go to sleep they stay asleep even when the water cools. Of course, I'm also keeping a space heater in the bathroom on very low heat.
Don't they look comfy?! I wish I could relax that well!

Tumbleweed path

We had high winds yesterday. The tumbleweeds blew in.



When I fed this morning I couldn't figure out why the horses wouldn't come from the other end of the lane. They just kept circling in their leg of the maze. I thought Cinbar had finally lost it and couldn't find his way through. So I decided to walk down there. I actually had to move tumbleweeds out of the way and lead the horses through. I tried to get pictures of my path.

Devil's Canyon, UT

The rock formations and canyons along I70 in southeastern UT are just beautiful! We could have stopped every few miles to take pictures!

Teen angst

It's not all teenage angst!

Bountiful Harvest

We got 4 pints of corn and 19 quarts of green beans from the garden. We will enjoy them all year long (well, at least the green beans!).

Lovin' that concrete mixer! Now we have drains at the bottom of the rain gutter downspouts! Yay!

Ah, lazy homeschool days!

I remember hating documentaries when I was in school. Now with the History Channel, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel and the Learning Channel we have many options for great documentaries and educational programming. I try to use this option as much as possible for history. There's just so much to cover and even Benjaman has a limit on his reading.

We are currently studying World History through Weapons and Warfare. I've cleaned out the library of books and videos. Right now the focus is Ancient Civilizations, 2200 - 500 BC. Poor Ben is tired from 3 days of working in the hot sun at the apple orchard, but this video has to be returned tomorrow and can't be renewed.
Poor Ben is tired from 3 days of working in the hot sun at the apple orchard, but this video has to be returned tomorrow and can't be renewed.
When you fall asleep in class at Conklin Academy you get to keep sleeping!
There's always time to finish your lessons.

Apples!

I bought a bushel of apples.

My wonderful hubby bought me an apple peeler, corer, slicer. I don't know how I would have made it through a bushel without it! Thanks honey!

The dogs love apple peels. If you zoom in you can see the Rowdy has pulled a peel out of the bucket, kind of. LOL All 3 dogs took turns under the table.

Working my stove to it's full capacity. I need something bigger on the homestead honey!

One word: YUM!

Finished product; it doesn't seem like much after 3 days of hard work. Actually, there are about 6 quarts not in the picture.

I guess I need another bushel!

Ben's summer

Benjaman got to spend some time working on Leslie Farm this summer. He usually spends 1-2 months there.
Working on the latch for the new milk goat pen.
Apparently Benjaman dug many post holes this summer.
Ali (Catahoula dam)-she will be mother to generations as part of the Leslie Catahoula bredding operation. She was very flea & tick infested when we picked her up. Poor girl had to spend a week at the vets. She's doing fine now though.
Chilling with the dogs. Daisy (Doo Doo, the dachshund), Molly (the black mut), Blade ( the Catahoula sire-just call him Abraham!)
Guarding Grandpa from Grandma and Mom.
A break during hiking in Nogal Canyon.

Grandpa teaching Benjaman to cut using a torch.

Bathroom Remodel

We've been wanting to replace our tiny shower for years and the big garden tub has had a leak for years so was unusable. Thanks to Raymond and Shiral we got a jump start on the project last weekend! The new tub/shower is installed and working. We have new flooring and 2 areas for linen closets. I still need to paint, but I'm taking a little break since I need to nail down our school schedule for the year (school starts Monday!).

Professionals...really? Update

Well, Allstate's "carpenter" and the 2 movers finally made up to the buyer's house about 2:30 Monday afternoon. Remember, the owner promised to send them first thing? They spent 2 1/2 - 3 hours there and replaced the wood that was absolutely necessary and the ridge cap. They left the ridge cap hanging off the ends of the building and didn't try to bend the mangled tin or replace the torn tin. The building would have leaked. So Bo took Tuesday off work and went up there and fixed it right. We stopped payment on the check for moving the building. Bo replaced the mangled tin and fit the ridge cap. The new owner is now happy and we got paid- YAY! Bo deducted the cost of materials, his lost wages and gas to drive up there. We ended up having to reduce the moving bill by $270. Oh well. I just can't believe how unprofessional this company has been! I'm so glad the situation is now resolved! On with life!

Professionals...really?

So hired professional building movers to move the office when we sold it. The guys showed up and had to borrow tools and broke the big window right off the bat. Then the owner showed up and told his guys that the building was taller than he thought and they better be careful about the overpasses. We decided to follow them up to San Ildefonso Reservation, where the building was going. We wanted to make sure it made it up there okay and that the guy was satisfied. Of course, he hadn't paid us yet either. So we're driving down the highway behind the office and guys go under the overpass at Santo Domingo (16' 4") and they hit it! Tin comes flying down and we had to run it over. At least we were in the truck and the underneath is protected by skid plates. They took off the whole ridgecap; the building is now open to the sky! So we get the building up to the buyer and the movers level it. Bo talks to the owner of the moving company and that guy told him that they just moved the building, why can't Bo fix it. Bo told him because it had a roof when it left my place! So they owner agreed to send someone out to fix the building Monday. We wrote the movers a post dated check for Tuesday and told them that if the building isn't fixed Monday afternoon that we would cancel the check. The guy we sold the building to did the same to us. So the building is off our property and ruined and we haven't gotten paid yet! I debated posting their name on here, but I always post the name of businesses I am very satisfied with so it's really only fair to post those I'm completely dis-satisfied with. This move just wasn't completed professionally. Then to try to get out of fixing the damage they caused is totally unacceptable. We used Allstate Builders on the corner of 550 & 528 in Rio Rancho. We are dis-satisfied customers, will not use them again and will not recommend them.

Family

Redneck walk in the country

What do Rednecks bring home from their walk?

Beer cans, empty buckets...and snakes!

Turkey...mmmmm

Benjaman killed his first turkey in Capitan, NM! Yay! Well Done! Let's eat!

Great Horned Owl?

Ben and his friend, Nick, startled a bird out of a nest and it dropped this baby onto the rocks. Being curious boys, of course, they brought it home. Bo called The Santa Fe Raptor Center. The lady came to our house to get it and said it was a Great Horned Owl. She said the boys saved it's life. It's probably only 2 weeks old. They have a full grown male GHO that was imprinted so it can't be released into the wild. She was going to see if he would feed the baby so it's won't get imprinted and can be released into the wild. He was such a soft little ball!

Confirmation

Benjaman has been Confirmed in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. That means that he spent 1.5 years learning about the faith and the vows that were made at his Baptism. Confirmation is a re-affirming of the baptismal vows. He has now agreed to keep those vows himself. We are so proud of him!

New 'do

Well, after 4 years, I finally grew my hair long enough to donate to Locks of Love. Locks of Love uses the donations to make children's hair prostethis. These children lose their hair for any number medical reasons. It has to be at least 10 inches long in a pony tail. Jaclene, my hairdresser for 12 years, separated it into 2 pony tails to cut. I haven't made it home to measure the pony tails yet, but will post pics when I do.



Here I am after the cut. My hair has some serious re-training to do! It doesn't want to hold any syle! Poor Jaclene spent 20 minutes just trying to get it to do anything besides lay there! Maybe it was depressed! LOL

On the other hand, my head feels 20 pounds lighter! Now to re-grow it back to a respectable length. lol