Grandpa

We had to Buy a New Bull

When I was a kid, my dad had red cows. I didn’t know anything more than that, but I knew we had red cows.

My dad’s favorite story was about an Aussie (Australian Shepherd) dog we had. Dad would be telling how good of a cowdog Shaw was and people would scoff. Dad would tell Shaw to go over the hill and bring back the black cow. Shaw would trott off and come back and sit at my dad’s feet. People then would laugh at my dad and his “good” cow dog. Then dad would say, walk over that hill and find a black cow. 

Like I said, we had red cows. Later I learned they were Santa Gertrudis. Then, my dad, had a guy pull in, offer him an amount to buy dad’s cows and he sold them. All of them. Except for my mom’s one dairy cow. Her name was Danielle and she was a Jersey.

Next thing I knew, we were out of the Gert business and we had Long Horns. (more…)

The Day I Drove My Husband Nuts… Coronavirus Day 34

Honestly, why am I recording all of this? Because someday I’m going to look back and see this and remember. Truthfully, maybe I don’t want to remember some of this. This Pandemic is nuts. It sucks too. But I’m trying to make the most of it. Plus, I can’t seem to sit still. It’s not like I went a lot of places before all of this, but the thought that I can’t has me stir crazy. Stir crazy enough to go all over our place looking for scrap to haul off. Not because I want the money, but because I want the crap gone.

Once I was done with our house, I went off to my parents. In fact, the more I think about it, I might be driving my dad nuts too. (more…)

Bottle Calves – Coronavirus Day 28 & 29

 We now have bottle calves. How on earth this happened I’m still scratching my head to figure out… but… Let me paint you a picture…

Last night just after normal chore time, I got a text message from both my parents saying my dad needed help and how fast could I get there. Real fast. Abug and I threw our shoes on and out the door we went. Good thing we just live down the road. She was in play clothes so she went into my parent’s house with my mom (too cold for how she was dressed) and I went out to see what was going on. I had been there about an hour before and a cow was laying funny on the hillside. Turns out, momma was pregnant and trying to calve. 

She got the calf out all right, especially for a first-time momma, but then she ran off. The baby needed a little assistance. So dad and I grabbed some towels and off to the field we went to try and dry the baby off. It wasn’t cold out, but it was cool and just coming out of mommy, the calf was cold. Momma cow wouldn’t come near. I think part of it was because we were there but she was a first-time momma and sometimes they don’t have those instincts they’re supposed to. (more…)

Time to Play on the Horse Walker (again)… Coronavirus Day 19

When I was a kid, my parents bought this horse walker. What is a horse walker? It is exactly what it says, a horse walker. There have been times we had horses get hurt and we had to slowly bring them back (think physical therapy for people, but for horses). You can put them on the walker and it helps build back muscles. Say you have multiple horses and you need to warm them up or cool them down, you place them on the walker. Say it is winter and you want them to get outside and stretch their legs, hello horse walker.

It’s a machine that helps the horse walk around in a controlled manner.

When I was a kid, one of the arms had a swing put on it for me to ride on. The horses learned how to stop the machine and as a kid, I loved to ride the thing… it was my job to keep the horses walking. (more…)

She’s Saddled – Coronavirus Day 18 (also)

This is Granny. Everyone, meet Granny, Granny, this is everyone.

She is a 2-year-old mare that we have. The youngest horse we have on our place. And it is time that we start doing something with her. She needs to earn her keep. haha. A few years ago I broke Bucky to ride. He was such an awesome horse. We sold him last year and to say I’m a little bitter about this… I am. I hear he’s an awesome horse though and the people who bought him are in love with him. That’s good.

A few years before that I broke Barbie to ride. Now… Once I got her broke, then I got pregnant and was “grounded” from riding horses for 9+ months… so my dad finished her for me. Because of potential complications, the doctors wouldn’t allow me to ride.

But now… we have Granny. That’s her barn name. A barn name is what you call them in the barn, etc… but they also have a registered name. Anyway… (more…)

Cinnamon Roll Birthday Cake

Guys, I truly believe this! My dad’s birthday is today. In all the world I couldn’t have asked for a better daddy! I know a lot of people say that, but gosh it’s true. I’m sitting here writing this while watching last night’s Dancing with the Stars which was a turning point in all their lives. I don’t know if the tears streaming down my face are because of my daddy or those stories… Truthfully it could be both. My daddy is the absolute best daddy a girl could have. I’ve always been a daddy’s girl. And I just want to wish my daddy the absolute best day he could possibly have.

So as most of you know… or maybe you don’t so I’ll tell you now… I’ve spent this year falling back in love with making cakes. Beautiful cakes. Cakes for every occasion I can. So of course, my dad’s birthday would be no different. I went through a lot of different recipes trying to find the absolute BEST recipe for my dad. That’s when I stumbled across a recipe for a Birthday Cinnamon Roll Cake. WHAT? I should inform you now that my dad loves cinnamon rolls so it’s perfect, right? (more…)

Chocolate Chip Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Mmmmm, chocolate chip cookies, straight out of the oven. Oh yum! And then… add coconut and oatmeal. And if you say, I’m not a fan of coconut, I’m telling you… you don’t taste it. It just tastes amazing!

My dad sends me recipes quite often. This particular email really jumped out at me. But I kept forgetting to make them. Until… I got my Birthday present early. What?!?! Well… My birthday is Monday (next week). I’ll be 35. Holy cow… when did I get so old? When I wake up every morning I feel about 80. But we’re really not focusing on that aspect right now.

So why did I get my birthday present early? Well, because my darling sweet husband has to be out of town for work on my birthday. I’m not saying this to make him feel bad, although truth be told, he does. I understand. I really do. I’m not really a fan of birthdays anyway. I like having them because it means I’m still on this side of the ground, but otherwise, my birthdays usually suck. I hate to say that, but if tears aren’t involved at least once, it’s probably not my birthday.

One year I got put down by a family member on my birthday. Yes, those are the types of birthdays I have. One year my whole family except my mom and dad (pre-hubby days) forgot about my birthday including my grandma who shares my birthday. Sadly, birthdays just aren’t fun for me. They are just another day if not worse. But… again, let’s not focus on that.

Let’s focus on my Birthday present!!

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Strawberry Birthday Cake

A slice of Strawberry cake sitting on a plate with the rest of the cake sitting on the cake plate behind it.

Today is my daddy’s birthday! Happy Birthday, daddy! I’m not sure though, that a birthday on a Monday is much fun. First off, I’m not sure of many people who like Monday’s… and secondly… read the first statement. Poor Monday does get a pretty bad rap… I wonder if people who Monday is their Saturday/Sunday hate Monday as bad as the rest of most of the world… Just a thought that has absolutely NOTHING to do with my daddy’s birthday.

Eggs

Abug and I have spent a lot of the summer learning (her not me, I’ve been teaching) how to bake. I’ve kind of created a monster really. Whoops. She wakes up a lot of mornings and asks what we are going to bake today. Haha. So I knew that she needed to bake Papa a birthday cake. I set out to decide what kind of birthday cake we were going to bake him. Little did I know, she had her own agenda. I finally decided upon a Cinnamon Roll Cake, but she changed my plans.

(more…)

7th Anniversary

Hello. We’ve now been married 7 years. Some days it feels just like yesterday that we were dating and other days it feels like much longer. But the thing is…. we still kind of like each other. (haha)

This year our anniversary fell on Labor Day Monday. It does that from time to time. I guess that’s what happens when you get married Labor Day Weekend. Chances are your anniversary will fall on Labor Day Weekend. Totally cool with that, because that meant we got to spend our Anniversary together. Score.

Our morning started off with breakfast at Jimmy’s Egg. Ever eaten at one of them? You should. They specialize in Breakfast and lunch. This… this is good and totally worth every last calorie laden bite. This is the Carnitas Skillet. I’ve tried and tried to find the description and I’m afraid if I tell you I’ll forget something…. so be prepared…. It’s hash browns, eggs, cheese (Monterey Jack), pulled pork, sausage, bacon (maybe, I can’t remember), topped with tomatoes and onions and just all around YUM!

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Your Earliest Memory | Blogging 30

Oh heck, my earliest memory? I have a lot of memories and to know which one is the earliest is a bit difficult. So let’s go with this one since we’ve been recently helping my parents renovate their deck.

When I was about 5-6 years old, my dad was building a new horse barn. We had a hay barn that we had makeshift stalls in for the horses, but he wanted something a little more permanent. So that’s when we (by we I mean mom and/or dad) got the idea to make a permanent horse barn. It either had 4 or 5 stalls plus a tack room. As a kid, I was always outside. I remember walking out to the barn area looking for my dad who I knew was out there. When I walked around the corner of the new barn I saw him on a ladder, hanging on trying not to fall. The ladder had shifted on him and the only thing keeping him from falling on the ground was he was holding himself and the ladder up. It’s hard to describe…

I just looked at him and said, What are you doing? I don’t think he’d ever been so happy in his life to see someone. He immediately yelled at me to go get my mom. She came out and helped him down. But I just remember looking up and saying, “What are you doing?” very innocently.

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