They call it a Strawberry Moon. Apparently from what I’ve read it’s because having a full moon on the Summer Solstice told olden cultures it was time to harvest. Seems a little early to me… I guess in Europe Strawberries aren’t common so they call it a Rose moon. It’s also known as a honey moon and a couple other names. Maybe that full moon explains some weirdness that’s been happening, like a snake in my car. Seriously who has that happen? I have an update on that… but not today. I just played with taking pictures last night and thought I’d share.
Supposedly this Strawberry Moon hasn’t happened since 1948. My Mother in law said she was 2 at that time. And supposedly it won’t happen for another 48 years. They say for most people it’s a once in a lifetime experience. I’m 32 + 48, I could potentially see another one…. I’d be 80. Yup, the English Major just did Math… check me!
The other night I was sitting in the house doing homework. Between reading and studying I was about to go nuts. Hubby had taken Abug outside with him, so I snuck outside to see what they were up to; that’s when I heard the tractor running. We lucked out, some really good friends of ours brought us their tractor over (plus mower, second tractor and baler, Thank you Jared & Karen!) to do some fall haying. Our mower is broken (again).
I looked out in the field where the tractor noise was coming from and they were moving the other bales off the field from the summer cutting.
Happy Labor Day. This supposedly marks the end of Summer even though we don’t officially hit fall until the end of this month… figure that one out!
Just for a reason to make your day and help you laugh on a Monday (even though if you’re a lucky one you have the day off so you’re already happy)…
My Saturday, let me tell you what!
I was abruptly woke up around 7am Saturday morning with a head crashing in to mine and a giggle from the baby. I should have known that was just the start of things.
We all laid in bed and watched a few episodes of Pioneer Woman until hubby started getting up and getting dressed. I thought we were going somewhere so I quickly got myself up and dressed and the baby. Turns out, we weren’t.
So baby girl and I went in and made Pancakes for breakfast.
Around 11am she was getting cranky. Hubby finally fixed my fog light on my car after 4 years of begging but he and his friend Robert had to drive to town to get something to fix it. When he got back he brought me a Sweet Tea from Sonic. I was laying on the bed with the baby trying to get her down for a nap.
I finally got her to sleep, tucked a pillow in on my side of the bed, moved her into the middle of the bed and tucked a pillow into hubby’s side of the bed, you know create rails for her. (remember we were laying on my bed because I was laying with her. I don’t fit in the crib….)
I was quietly backing away from the bed because moving her over into the middle of the bed she started to wake up but quickly went back to sleep. And that’s when it happened. I backed into the Sweet Tea sitting on the corner of the night stand and knocked it all over our {white} carpet and into the hallway. It was loud too.
First thought was crap I just woke up the baby. I didn’t. Then oh crap I have to get this tea up NOW! I didn’t get even one sip of that tea. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be for me to have Sweet Tea Saturday. Oh well…
And on that note I’ll leave you with one last comment… I just heard a Kmart commercial playing Christmas music. While I love Christmas and Thanksgiving and am totally waiting, kind of impatiently, I’m not ready because of Comps. I have to get through those First.
There has been a lot of uncertainty in our life in the last couple of years. Truthfully more than I even want to admit to… I know that God has great plans for everything and everything will work out in the end. I know that all the trials and tribulations help us grow into the people he wants us to develop in to. But I also know sometimes I just want to scream, pack up the bare minimum, move to a place no one knows me (far far away) and start a new life. Whew… uncertainty is very scary to say the least :). But that last part is an extreme.
So with that out of the way… If you know me at all, I take pictures of EVERYTHING. Think I’m kidding, just check my camera/phone/computer/external hard drive. No joke! For a long while I’ve wanted a photo wall, and I had one for a bit, then we took it down, and now we’re putting it back up. It goes with some of that uncertainty….
The initial photo wall was hung up with the Command Strips so that it wouldn’t put holes in the walls or do damage to the wall paper, etc… yeah that didn’t work. Sad but true. I don’t know if my sticky part of the command strips was too old or the wall paper was the wrong texture or what, but after I put them up, they came back down, some quickly (like a few days). It was extremely frustrating! So this time around there are holes in the wall. It was just easier that way…
Now here’s how to do it:
What you’ll need:
Photo frames/Photos (sizes up to you!!)
Paper
Pen
Scissors (just for cutting… ha. see below.)
Tape
Command Strips or Screws
if screws, then you need a drill
A Wall for photos
1. You’ll want to trace your photo frames on to paper. The first time around I used newspaper, this time around I used regular notebook paper, except for my 8×10 frames. Then I went into Tbug’s room and stole some used poster sized paper. Trace the size of your photo frames out onto the paper.
Sunday evening I had just gotten back from taking Tbug to her mom’s house. I left Abug sitting in her chair up by my house with my mom and went down to help dad with the tractor. Earlier I had been on the big tractor raking and just as I got done with the last row the tractor started acting funny so I shut it down. Turns out a line that runs hydraulic fluid broke and I drained the tractor of hydraulic fluid. #fail. But I shut it down the minute I realized something wasn’t completely right so I had that going for me.
So I was helping dad tear the line off to fix it and I start hearing a horrible metal clanging sound over in the field where hubby was on the other tractor baling. About that time I heard dad say shut it down you’re going to catch it on fire and then the fire broke out. Ugh! I ran to the edge of the field to see what was going on and then took off running (in flip flops, shame) toward the house to get a shovel. I wasn’t about to be able to put the fire out in flip flops.. this is why you farm in boots….
Let’s set the record strait, yes, we have a swimming pool. No we didn’t open it this year. There’s lots of reasons why that I don’t feel like going into right now, but yes, yes we do have a swimming pool.
Sunday the weather was sunny and hot! Hubby, Tbug, Abug and I went to run a few errands and then come back to the house so hubby could help work on the tractor and the baler (2 separate things… not one thing involving both… sadly!)
I figured that Abug would LOVE to play outside so I went and got a horse watering trough that we actually used for sheep and filled it with water for Tbug and Abug to play in. It really was the perfect size pool for Abug. She can stand up and sit down and stand up and sit down and so on… you get the point. I got Tbug a chair and said either A) sit in the chair and stick your feet in or B) get in and play with her.
Once we got them all set up in the shade, I left them up by the house where dad and hubby were working right beside them on the tractor and I went and jumped in the other tractor and went and raked hay. Should I mention I ran the other tractor out of hydraulic fluid? There was a line that busted… #fail! Luckily it happened right as I finished up my last row to rake so I parked the tractor and went back to the girls.
Abug got cold so Tbug was taking her in the house to dry them all off and then Abug went down for a nap.
So last fall hubby and I bought a 1999 Volkswagon Passat to keep the miles off his truck, plus it gets better fuel mileage than what his truck does so why not, right?
We were really looking for a Jetta Diesel but this one was less than what we wanted to pay and it was still kind of what we were looking for so we were able to get it. Sweet, right?
So there’s that info… now this… So like all kids, Tbug really can’t wait to drive. I learned to drive when I was 4 years old in a hayfield and learned to drive a standard transmission when I was 12. I can’t tell you how many times being able to drive a standard has paid off in life. So I told Tbug before she’s allowed to get her drivers license, she has to be able to do 2 things… 1) drive a standard (she’ll never be stranded that way) and 2) change a tire (again, never be stranded due to that).
So the Passat we bought is actually a standard. Score, a vehicle to teach her to drive one in, right?
Yeah, about that…
So 2 weeks before the Peanut was born, hubby got a phone call about a sale. That day we happened to be out and about in the VW (VDub). Hubby wound up riding home with Robert and Tbug and I took the VDub home. Since we beat the boys to our house, I figured I’d give her a chance to start learning to drive a standard.
We pulled into the driveway, I kicked it in neutral and put on the Ebrake and told her to get in the drivers seat. She looked at me like I’d lost my mind. So she got in, we slid the seat forward and I proceeded to tell her how to take off. Woohooo, we made it down the driveway only killing the car 5 times. Not bad!
We got down by the house, I had her stop, I got out and turned the car around and told her to drive me back up to the head of the driveway. She looked at me like I was crazy again but away we went. She only killed it 5 times this way again. Not bad!
By this point the boys had gotten to the house.
So when we got to the head of the driveway I told her to turn it around. I told her to put it in reverse you have to push down on the shifter and then go to the right and down. She did what I said and we proceeded to kill the car a few more times. No big deal, turn the key off and start back up (remember push in on the clutch!)
We finally got the car going in reverse, and had it going toward the hayfield. Now we don’t have a fence separating the yard from the hayfield which is a good thing because there is a slight incline there and we wound up backing down the hill into the hayfield.
If you’ve never driven a standard, if you have the clutch pushed in and you’re on an incline, you’ll go down the hill unless you have the break on or are giving it gas while coming off the clutch. Hubby asked why we decided to back into his hayfield and I laughed and said, ask the clutch :).
So it was at this point I was telling Tbug she needed to give the car gas to help get off the clutch and back up the hill before we wound up to far into the hayfield. She proceeded to tell me, I can’t see the gas. Dear you don’t need to see the gas… the gas is the far right pedal, the break is the middle pedal and the clutch is the left pedal in a standard. You don’t need to see, just feel for it. You’ll find it easily! Do you ever see me looking for the pedals?
So we get going back down the driveway, as we got up by the house we were headed straight for the tractor that was parked under the carport. She asked me what to do. I said, push on the clutch and the brake. She said I can’t see the brake. I said you don’t need to see the brake, it’s the middle pedal and you need to press it NOW!
Luckily she had the clutch pushed in and we weren’t going that fast because about that time we ran the car right into the big tire on the tractor. Hubby and Robert came running over. I immediately looked at her and asked if she was okay and then climbed out of the car dazed and confused.
Now the reason I said luckily she had the clutch pushed in is we bounced off the tractor tire instead of slamming into it and still going as you would have in an automatic. Whew!
Back in May of 2012, I shared a story with you about how the dogs apparently take joy in running across the roof. I don’t know if they’re using it as their own jungle gym or what… but they absolutely love running across the roof. It quit for a while and has started back up here in the last month or so, except this time around we generally don’t catch them in the act.
So last Wednesday night hubby and I were sitting here in the house just chilling and we heard the dogs up on the roof. Every time we run out to yell at them, we can’t seem to catch them so we just sat here.
A little while later, hubby had to get up and while he was up went and looked out the front door. He told me to quietly get up and grab my camera. I looked out the door and I found our “Watch Dog.”
After I snagged my pictures (2 through the glass door and one once I stepped outside, obviously she saw me) we had to yell at her to get off the roof.
I guess I’ve never really gotten into the Halloween spirit… I lived in the country so really my parents used to drive me to my grandparents. Then for a while my mom worked at a bank on the square in town and all the businesses would have the kids come trick-or-treat there, otherwise, that was the extent of my trick-or-treating.
I now live in the country so it isn’t like we get a lot of visitors but I always keep some candy on hand just in case someone decides to come see me :).
I saw on facebook yesterday that a lot of the schools around the area were doing their “Harvest party” yesterday… like one gal said, why? And why not call it what it is people. Let’s get over being politically correct. It’s Halloween, celebrate it on Halloween. There… that is solved :).
Last night as I was driving home from school I decided I really wanted Pepperoni Pizza for dinner so I ran by Walmart to pick one up (not enough time to make one from scratch sadly). On my way home I started noticing that all the trees around me were gorgeous. Since when did that happen? I’m not complaining bug I guess we really haven’t had fall the last few years so it was just pure amazement to see the beautiful colors surrounding me.
This is on the back road coming up to my house. This is just a gorgeous setting anyway with the trees “covering” the road like they do. But gorgeous colors!
This is at the head of my driveway.
And this is looking out into my pasture.
It was just sooooo gorgeous and then add the rainy day on top of that. Oh I was in heaven. I snapped a few video’s. In the first video, the thump is one of the dogs walking into something in front of my car on their way to greet me. In the second video, you hear a neighbor kid holler which they had to holler loud as you can see if you look where the neighbors house really is. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ARDNYtaT4]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8utSex4AyA]
I’ve recently mentioned but kind of breezed over the fact that we got a house cat recently. I woke up one morning and scoped out Facebook when I saw that a friend was trying to help her friend find a home for this cat.
Now, Earl and Pokey have a cat that every time I’m at their house I take pictures of and talk to, etc. So the joke has been that they are going to get me a cat. I didn’t want a house cat and my dogs wouldn’t allow an outdoor cat.
I had a house cat once when I was younger, she actually lived in our basement but came up stairs when we were home to check things out. She peed in my bean bag chair more than once, she peed on my parents bed spread, she scared the crap out of my mom when she learned how to open the basement door. We had to pull her out of the Christmas tree more than once. She played with the fake house plants and about knocked them off the ledge. I loved the cat but at the same time that was enough for me to think I didn’t want a house cat.
Hubby though had been wanting one. When I saw Sarah post about this cat on facebook, the cat was spayed, declawed and 2 years old. So I sent hubby a message and asked if he’d like this kitty. She was pretty, and declawed. Declawed was my biggest thing that had to be done. So long story short, I saved her from going to the humane society and we have a house cat out of the deal.
Bella (I did not name her!) has now lived with us around 2 months. Here’s what’s happened so far.
The first night she stayed under our spare bed until we chased her out of that room and closed the door. Then she stayed under our bed until we chased her out of that room. From then on though, she sleeps on the back of the chair. She meow’s every morning the minute the alarm goes off. She expects hubby to sit down on the love seat and give her lovins before he’s allowed to leave for work, or trust me she gets PO’ed.
She took over Tbug’s Papasan Chair as her own.
She comes in and sleeps while I’m doing homework and will share the Papasan chair with hubby, but gives me dirty looks when I try to sit in it.
Her favorite place to perch when we’re trying to go to sleep is on hubby’s hip. Now she does have those pesky back claws and we learned the other night if I drift off to sleep and then startle awake, she will dig those back claws into hubby’s hip as she’s trying to get the heck out of dodge.
One night she thought that my side of the bed was the side to sleep on and wouldn’t let me lay down until I made her scamper away.
She eyeballs my milk on my cereal every morning but when I give her some in her bowl she scoffs at it and leaves it there to create science projects in the kitchen.
She’s not afraid to take the tv remote from you as hers and even change the channel.
And most recently she has decided to start redecorating the house. She didn’t like hubby’s belt wherever she found it so she strung it across the floor. My house shoes wind up all over the house. Who needs cords where they are out of the way? and Tbug’s stuffed animals don’t stand a change.
Oh and as of last night, she thinks of herself as somewhat of a scholar and decided to read my paper I was writing for school.
Ah, the wonderful, joyful life of a cat. Nope, I wouldn’t trade her for the world but she does leave me scratching my head from time to time.
