Even the day of rest is full of excitement around here

Not much has happened around here, this morning I was trying to sleep in and Matt bust in the room at 6:52- "mom a rabbit done broke out!! I need the staples and the gun!!"

So, needless to say, I was awake. I handed him the staples and the staple gun, then I went and turned on my coffee. Once it was done I went down to the pen. The rabbit was back in. Come to find out, BR had went to double check on Matts feedin and waterin before he went to work (thankfully he was runnin late), and one of the does we just bought for WAY more money than I ever wanted to spend,(it couldnt be the $10.00 buck... of course not...) was runnin around the cage sideways. Not listing, she was actually running on the upright wire, the 4 sides, feet never touching the bottom... Like one of them circus acts where they ride their motorcycles in the cage and go upside down and all in a circle. Well, it seems she was runnin the sides of the cages, and even though we had put a staple every 2 to 3 inches, on 1/2 inch square hardware cloth (meanin the wire is set so it makes 1/2 inch squares), she was able to pull them out and plopped down on the ground. By then Brett was out there in addition to Matt and BR said they just stood there.

The same boys who willingly catch and carry a nasty vulture over 3 acres just to bring it home.

The same ones who catch cardinals and bluejays and everything else, and bring them in the house.

The same ones who will catch a lizard in mid air, bring home snakes so I can tell them IF they are poisonious or not, the same ones who have no qualms about spending hours trying to catch an armidillo, or possum.

who set traps for spiders and let scorpions crawl on them.

They just stood there like a deer in the headlights. You'da thought the dadgum thing had rabies or somethin. BR finally got them to move, right about the time it went behind a tree, not 8 inches from the hog pen which runs alongside the tree.

Now if fluffy bunny would have gotten into that hog pen, she would have been a tender 10 lb meal for them hogs. there wouldnt be no savin' her.

There have been more stupid chickens loose their life in that hog pen than in a KFC plant.

Anyway, Finally the boys got in front of her and BR picked her up. he threw her back in and went to stapilin every single inch. up, down, top and bottom. This cage only had 3 rabbits in it at the time. But its an 8 hole, 10 foot long 4 foot wide hutch.

Thats alot of staples.

We hadnt put doors in it yet. The three that were in there were put in before we put the roof on. Since they are watered from the outside and their feeders stick through the wire you dont need to get in or anything.

We were trying to fiqure out where we wanted to put the doors, what we wanted to make them out of, if they should swing up, or down, or to the side. I reckon its a good thing that we hadnt cut doors, any weak spot would have let her out much quicker.

After that, BR and I spent the next hour out there trying to fiqure out what we were going to do. Where we were going to cut the doors and what we were going to make them out of. Finally we decided to lower it, right now its on 3 foot legs. But we are going to lower it, and take the tin off, cutting it, hinging it and using it as doors. Hopefully this will eliminate this problem.

This left us just enough time to get ready for church. Then I had to run all over time lookin for fence staples, we are gonna make this into a fortress, no more kamakazie rabbits.

My dad texted me today, he is due in on Wend for Bow's birthday party on saturday. He inquired about that silly little ball of wind in the gulf. I told him to come on, wasnt no stupid ole huricanne gonna screw up our week. Finally after a promise of a case of beer and no harm coming to him he relented. LOL

Of course, then I got to thinkin about it. I have all these rabbits, and alot of money invested in them, between gas drivin all over hells half acre to find them, buying them, building the cages, and buying all the crap they need, then I have hogs that were just bred,and of course all the time, money, and crap they need, not to mention almost a years worth of food, building pens and fences and lean-tos and various other crap, and all the high dollar chickens they have eaten---

AND I have the chicken coop, where each egg I get is costing me about 5.00 till I pay off the coop, wire and feed, buying the original chicks (of which I have 5 or so left... Thank GOD for my incubator....), and all these roosters I feed cause we havent had time to butcher them.

Plus my horses, who did get out last week cause my grandfather didnt double latch the gate and Tapper can open anything, luckily the sherrif was able to get them back in. I didnt even know they got out till my grandfather saw hoofprints everywhere and found the card the man had left in the properly tied gate.

anyway, I got to thinkin, with all that, then yep- IDA might just make a right turn and come see me. I'm tryin to decide how to convince which ever family member we stay with that I really DO need to bring 4 hogs, 6 rabbits and a dog to their house so they are safe... LOL



As I mentioned in the last post; I have a friend that loves to hunt, and her birthday fell on opening morning, so all week I have worked on her cake. Poor thing she was on the deer stand before daylight opening morning and stayed all day, but the only deer she saw got ran off by a dog. and it was the biggest she's ever seen she said.

Then a few hours later she was sitting there, quiet as a mouse, and a squirrel tried to get into her stand. She says it scared the daylights out of her.

I jumped up right then and tried to make a squirrel. I aint the best sculpter in the world but I put it on there anyway.


so here is the cake.
everything except the deer and the poles are edible. the deerstand is a cake in its own right, covered in fondant.

Halloween and Rabbits, only in my world do they mix...

I have sat down quite a few times to blog, and always get called away. the entire week was spent on a cake and running around.

Halloween has come and gone. First Matt got his cake done. He had to 'bury' verbs they dont want them to use in class.

I showed him how to make tombstones and then sent him on his way. Brett wanted to help constantly, and he wouldnt take no for an answer. He would get mad because he didnt get to help. But Matt really did do this cake. I baked it, and put on the crumb coat, then the last night BR and I sat down with him and made suggestions. You cant see some of the details really well. Like the hole dug in the ground for the new casket, or the mound of dirt infront of the fresh grave, but its there.

Matt painted them, and I had to threaten him to keep the ingrediants of the paint a secret. Its a well known fact that its best to use a liquer to mix your colors in, and it disapates, leaving NO trace as it dries, all thats left is the paint. But I didnt fiqure it would go over well if the kids at school went home tellin what was all over the cake.

Everything on it, except the posts holding up the sign are edible. Made of gumpaste.

It was a huge hit at school. All the kids loved it and Matts teacher loved it.









Halloween was one of those days where you just couldnt get it all done in one day. I went in and picked up the kids, I had to take the cake in anyway, and had a few erronds to run, that Friday, which is when we DID halloween. We did it on Friday because Saturday was youth opening morning. and the boys would be hunting.

I knew the bus wouldnt have them home until 5, and I wanted to take them to a carnival in town that was from 4:30 to 8. I had to paint 2 of them. and had to take them to about 6 houses.

Of course we couldnt find Matts costume, ANYWHERE.
that wasted about an hour. Bow wouldnt stay out of anything while I was trying to put the makeup on them, and There were fights and squirmishes the whole time.

My house is basicly like two warring parties that live in the same town. only there is NO place to seperate them. its like the gaza strip. day and night.

Finally we all got dressed and were ready to go. It took a while to paint them. and we finally fiqured out how to make Bretts 'bolts' stick to his head.

I did such a good job that noone recognized them. their own family was confused if Brett or Matt were the first to the door. Bow didnt wear his mask while we trick or treated, it kinda felll down to his neck, or he pushed it there.








We did finally make it to the carnival about 7. its a free carnival with lots of jumpy things, various games, and snacks. the kids had alot of fun and were able to just run around and do what they wanted.

they even had a small petting zoo. I didnt think I'd ever get Bow out of there. He LOVED loving on all the animals, he would just hug and love on them.







The weekend was spent in the deerstand, they didnt see anything, but both boys got to go twice. BR would take them before daylight, then again that evening, after a 2 hour nap, and then come home and get dressed to go to work. He worked all night, and when he got home he took the other boy.

Tuesday Matt didnt feel well, I ended up giving him milk of magnesia- which kicked in the next day- he said he could make it to school- around 9am Brett called, he was sick, so I headed in to get him- Then we went to walmart to get him some congestion meds. about that time Matt called, he had a bad headache. so I had to go and get him.

I had just about decided to go and get Rayley- and we saw the kids bus driver in walmart. she asked what I was doing, and I told her heading to the school to get another one. She thought I meant Rayley, since she had said on the bus she felt pukish this morning.

When I got in the truck BR called, and told me that he really didnt want Rayley to ride the bus alone, it was too long of a ride, and she would freak if the boys wernt there. So that cemented the deal.

I headed to her school, and was walking down the hallway, her class was in front of me coming back from lunch. I saw her stop her teacher and talk to her. About that time I caught up and she was telling her she didnt feel good and was fixing to go to the nurse. talk about perfect timing!

So, I gathered up all my children and headed home. the next day everyone stayed home, they all have bad sinus infetions, resulting in bad headaches and all the drainage is making them ill.

I had a cake that I had to get done in the meantime, and am trying to get my house spotless because my dad is coming next week. They are NOT helping any. the cake is for a friend of mine, she wanted a deer hunting cake. I have been telling her all week I am making a 'woodlands fairy cake' adn if you knew her you would understand just how 'not her' this is. She is more country than me. LOL she cleans up real good, and all, but butterflies and fairies and nympths are not her forte.

I finished it finally today, because the week has been so .... I dont want to say hectic, it really wasnt. but it was just.... time consuming. I never got to just sit and enjoy making the cake.

BR was off on Thursday, and we had alot of things planned. We only managed to get done a few of them. One was driving an hour away to get 2 more rabbits. This brings my total to 6. 2 does are the breed I need, and 1 buck for sure. 1 buck might be the right breed, he looks a little off, and one doe might be right, their color is just real faint. One doe is NOT the right breed. but might make for good breeding for the meat.

I still need at least one more doe, to guarentee I have 3 good babies for each boy to show in April.

After running to get the rabbits, going to walmart, and getting some other things, we were pretty much out of time. Plus about the time we got started on the rabbit cage we were supposed to build for all of them we found out I had gotten the wrong wire. We ate a late lunch and hauled butt back to town to get differnt wire. When we finally got back we started getting everything together to get started. First was finding BR's tape measure. I had found it outside, pulled out and in the rain, so I brought it in, tried to fix it and set it in the living room. With two hours till dark, we didnt have time to search, but search I did. after about 45 minutes I found it where Bow had hid it. I gave it to BR who then tried to use it. It wouldnt wind back up. he tried everything. finally he took the screws out. he couldnt get it apart. Finally he was able to break it. Resulting in a not so happy camper.

Then we went out to get started ripping the boards and the blade was too dull. It just wouldnt cut them. After that, our day was pretty much shot.

anyway, on Friday Rayley wanted to go to school, Matt said he was still sick, and Brett had a headache and was still real congested. Plus, he had failed to mention that he didnt have a clean pair of uniform pants. I sent Rayley with my mother in law, so she wouldnt have to ride the bus alone, and told the other two that they were not that sick and would be working all day.

We all were up before the sun, and ended up breeding the two rabbits of questionable linage, I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I breed for the show in December. I'd hate to screw that up.

Shortly after that I headed to town to get a new blade. I also found some plastic tin that was buggered up, so I bought that at a discount. fiqurin BR would gripe, but he was suprisingly not agervated. I was also instructed to buy him a new tape measure. So I did.

My friend had went with me, and we gathered up our stuff and left. After I had to go to customer service to get the money back on the taxes charged. Since its for farm use its tax exempt.

When we got back to the house BR asked for his tape. We had forgotten to get it. He wanted me to drive BACK to town. I declined. But did ask him mom to pick it up for me when she got off work.

Instead he broke 12 foot off the 'broken' tape and we used that. All day he would tell me "dont forget to bring the fancy tape" or "dont step on my fancy tape"

I plan to keep that section of tape forever. because a tape measure is something we are always loosing, and I can always drag out his 'fancy tape' and prove its just as good.
This project actually came together pretty good. Oh there was the normal stupid crap. Like him listening to my ideas, then telling me it wouldnt work, and we end up doing it like that anyway, but with his explination so it sounds more right. I dont know if I dont explain it thoroughly, or he doesnt listen or what, but this happens all the time. I just ignore it. But concidering that we just had an idea in our head, didnt have any plans, or know how to execute exactly what we wanted, we did a jam up job. and everything fit perfectly. We didnt waste any boards, and other than me breaking a nail, noone was hurt.

We finally got the roof on it and the wire done at dark thirty. We opted not to cut doors last night, BR said he just was too tired and might screw them up. and once you cut wire, you cant fix it.

We did put the three rabbits who were not in a hutch in there, we just put them in before the roof went on. They are fed and watered from the outside, so thats okay. We will get the doors cut sometimes today I hope.

All in all it was a great day, a rabbit condo got built, we bred 2 rabbits and bred one of the hogs. I just hope it all took. I cant very well run a pregnancy test on any of them, so I just have to wait till their due dates to make sure they 'took'.

Once I came in I got a shower, fed the kids and at 7:20 the boys were begging to go to bed. I let them.

Rayley fell asleep not long after and I got to work finishing the cake. its a cool idea, and if I was just a little more talented it would have came out so great.

Today we have been cleaning, the kids have alot to do, and I did the last of the stuff on the cake. I have to go into town later, to pick up that tape measure, my mother in law forgot to pick it up, and get one more peice of tin. I will start cleaning in earnest this week. Right now I'm making the kids do it. Plus I have to fiqure out what on earth to do for Bows birthday cake. Its next week and I dont have a clue what I can do for him. He doesnt like cartoons, is only 2 so he has no hobbies, and other than his boots he doesnt have a favorite anything...

Luckily its been a slow week

Well, its hard to get back in habit of blogging.

THis week wasnt a real busy one, we were supposed to have 4-H Monday, unfortunatly it was cancled, but noone knew about it so I drove in anyway. I wasnt real happy about that.

I went and got another rabbit. This one is from the show last year, so I know its a full blood. Its a buck, but I have a line on one more doe. Just have to wait a few weeks to get her.

We have gotten lots of rain this week, and another cool front. OH and the kids FINALLY decided what they want to be for halloween. THank GOD! I had asked them before, and they decided they wanted to be something scary. Of which after little discusion they decided on democrats. Yes, Democrats. I asked which ones. Well, Matt would be Biden, because he is always saying goofy stuff. That makes sense.

They were torn on Rayley, between Hillary and David Kusentich (sp). Finally they decided on Kusentich; their reason? She is small, has a funny haircut and whines alot.

Bow was to be Barney Franks. Cause he is fat and talks funny. I have never said my kids were politically correct, just that they had opinions.

Brett opted for Obama, cause he sees himself as the leader. And fiqures he reads the best, therefor making the teleprompter easier for him to handle.

Well, I told them that they couldnt do any of those. For one, it wouldnt be very cute, for two it would creep me out being around a bunch of democrats all night, and for 3, it might get me on the FBI's no fly list...

Instead they opted for normal halloween stuff. Dracula for Matt, Frakenstien for Brett, a witch for Rayley and Bow will be a skeleton. these I can handle.

Of course since the last two years Brett and Matt have managed to get into trouble and not be able to trick or treat, I dont know if I should waste my time.



I did have a 'blow up' moment this week. I was up until around 3:30 one night Bow wouldnt go to sleep. He didnt feel well. When my alarm went off at 5:20 (I set it a little early so I can snooze it)- I NEVER heard it. PERIOD. BR's went off too, but he turned his off. I never heard mine, next thing I know its 7:23 and BR is waking me up. Since the kids have to catch the bus at 6:15- my first thought was just let them stay home. But Rayley LOVES school so much, I hated to do that to her. And Brett had just came home talking about trying to make the whole year with perfect attendance. They have done it once before, and at his school they get a dog tag for every 6 wks that they dont miss a day.

So we jumped up, trying to get everyone up and dressed. BR was off that day, so he rode with me.

The kids didnt even have time to get breakfast, since Brett has to be at school by 7:55.

I got Matt to school on time, his school is closest. Brett was next, he was about 3 minutes late. Well, I walked him in, asking about detention. He would have to serve an hour. So I wanted to know if they would let him serve it during his lunch period. No they would NOT. it had to be before or after school. No lunch detention was avalible.

The principal DID offer to let him just skip first period and go to second.
there by not getting detention, But thats not the point. Once he skipped first he was no longer perfect attendance. We opted for them to just loose the money for his butt not being in the seat, because I wasnt driving back.

On the 21st BR and I celebrated 17 years of being together. It was the anniversary of our first date. ANd before you think "wow, she remembers the day of their first date" I am only able to remember it because its the day before our wedding anniversary. We have been married for 15 years. Thats a long time to not have killed someone.

We didnt do anything to celebrate, except watch TV. He was off that day, and we planned to build rabbit pens, clean up around the yard, and various other things, unfortunatly, it rained about 3 inches, so there was no outside work.

The kids and I spent a few evenings pulling the dried corn for the hogs. There wasnt much left after all the extended family went and got what they wanted to eat and put up, but we got some.


Then on Friday, my cousin took the oldest boys to the football game, I honestly just dont have the energy to take all of them to one. I wish I could, my nephew plays, but... Anyway, I had picked them up from school because I had gotten to town to get groceries and feed late, I took them with me to walmart and we barely got home by 5:30. they had to feed and water the rabbits, chickens, and hogs, and eat supper plus get ready for their suprise. they didnt know where they were going, just that they were. I kept telling them to get their jackets, a cold front had blown in and it was getting colder by the second. They kept ignoring me. Finally I just threw a fit, in the middle of trying to get everyone fed, deal with Bow and get some stuff together for my sister in law who was coming over and getting Rayley since she wasnt going to the game and I had to go to BR's deer stand and get the camera card out to check the times they were feeding and throw out some corn since the automatic feeder stopped working and put out some deercane (its some crap that attracts deer...) . they were leaving a little after 6. Finally after tearing apart their room I asked again where their carhartts were. Matt finally admited he had left them at school. He left one, then wore Bretts the next day and since its hot by the time school is out, he left it too. It was 5:50 on a friday, noway to get them - So I sent Brett off in my carhartt and Matt in a fleece zipup. I had told them about 5 times to wear a long sleeve shirt with an undershirt too.
They just ignored me. I had no sympothy when they got home and told me they were cold.

Finally she got there and told them where they were going. they were so excited, I shouldnt have let Matt go, after him loosing 2 65.00 jackets. BUT, at that point, I needed him GONE. My boys have been wanting to go to a game for years, We watch Football on TV every weekend, and they watch it too. But we only watch the Cowboys (yes I bleed blue and silver) and the University of Texas. Sometimes A&M. Anyway, they were sooo excited. Our team has been on a winning streak for the season, and are doing great in district play. Till my bad luck charms show up. Much to EVERYONES chargin our boys only got 3 points and let the other team score 27!

The next day my mother in law went to see her mom and told her that the kids had went to see the game. She told her to tell them to NEVER go again! they were bad luck! LOL She had gotten so discusted that she turned off the game on the radio and watched something on TV!! I've had to promise to not send them to another one to more than one person!

Saturday BR took the Brett to the deerstand before he went to work, he took Matt this morning. and Saturday night we went to a get together for a friend of ours daughters birthday. It was nice to catch up, we very seldom ever see them, and less often do we go out. But on the way home I stopped off by his job yard (where they park all the 18 wheelers) and instead of backing out and turning around, because I DO know to do that, I decided to be lazy and just turn. I dont know why it agervates me so much to back up, and go forward again, it just does. I guess I feel there are times its such a waste of time. BUT, I ran right off into a mud pit, it was PURE gumbo. (thats just THICK sticky mud that SUCKS itsself to your tires), well about 2 feet into it I realized what I had done, and threw it over into 4 wheel drive, but I tried to just ease through, and I only got it in 4 HIgh. to put it in 4 low you have to put it in nuetral and step on the brake, I made it about 15 feet, with about 5 feet to go till my front tires made solidish ground. But it wouldnt go. I spun, I burned, I turned the wheel, I threw it from forward to reverse, I punched it, I turned the tires, everything. I was laughing so hard that I thought Brett was going to just walk home. He couldnt belive I thought it was that funny. But seriously, what are you going to do? Crap happens. usually to me. you can laugh or you can scream and throw things. Either way, people are going to think your crazy, but if you laugh, you have less of a mess to clean up later!

BR was on his way back to the yard, I had dropped him off at his 18 wheeler after the party so he could unload his last load while I went to get Bow. So when he got there he tried to get it out. By then my front end was burried to about 8 inches between the bumper and the ground. I have a pretty tall truck, you have to use the running boards to get in. you dont just step into it.

He finally just told me to go and get his truck, and NOT get it stuck, he had parked IT in another mud hole. And boy he wasnt kidding, I walked over to it, in the dark (it was midnight by now) and literly fell ankle deep in the gooey life sucking mud. I managed to get his truck to mine, with out getting stuck, and we tied onto it with a chain. Which we BOTH carry in our trucks, but its usually for the poor sap we come up on or get called in the middle of the night to go fetch out of a hole their truck wont come out of.

We tied on and got it right out, less than 5 minutes. And its sad that I even got stuck, but its really easy to do in my truck. BR's would have came out, but he drives a Toyota. Light and compact. My engine weighs more than his entire truck, and there is NOTHING on my backend to even give me any weight. I just fall into what ever I am driving over. Even with a half a ton of feed in the back I wasnt getting out. I was honestly still laughing all the way home. With Brett just sitting there telling me I was crazy. Matt had fallen asleep on the way home and never even knew it. When he saw my truck this morning he asked what had happened!

Matt started on his 'verb project' He is supposed to make a something or other out of play doh or such, that shows you burrying (burying- ... whatever) overused verbs or somesuch. I dont get it. But, there is like 23 words that each year the 4th grade teachers 'bury' to get the kids to use differnt words.

well, Matt had wanted it to be out of playdoh. No problem. Then he heard one of the cakemakers on TV say that using gumpaste was like using playdoh. He decided he wanted to make a cake for his class. I told him to ask, and he got permission.

Now he are making a cake graveyard. I am trying to be good and let him make it himself. but its hard. I know that a 9 year old isnt as capable of making perfect tombstones. I never claim to be an excelent sculputer myself, I know I'm not- but its really hard to just let it look like a kid did it.

we managed to get most of the stones done, but are going to finish them tonight, I had to buy more gumpaste. His teacher emailed me, she is looking forward to the cake. I will cook it later this week, and he can put it together.

He will be hardpressed to get it done.
Next week is kinda busy, nothing unusual, We are supposed to have Archery Monday, but instead, they are going to skip it, which is a good thing, I have to be in town early tomorrow, to put red ribbons on cars at Matts school as they drop off their kids for Red Ribbon week, and then have a PTA meeting at 10. I sure didnt want to stay in town til 6.

But, instead the kids are going to take their hunter safety course. A friend of mine is having to take hers, and she offered to take the boys. Its from 6 to 10 on monday night, they skip tuesday and go again on Wend and Thursday.

This is going to play havoc on the cake making, its due Friday, and he will be gone all week except Tuesday, I plan on baking the cake on Tuesday, which is too early to actually decorate it. THEN, In a perfect world, we would decorate some Wend and finish on Thursday. But he wont be home Thursday.

I might actually have to let him skip school just to do the project. LOL

The other problem is; Brett, and to an extent Rayley. they want to do some of it too. This doenst work out well, for one, its MATTs project, if I cant do it, neither can they- and for two; they aint better artists than he is- no matter what they think.

when Brett was or is doing projects he wont allow ANYONE to help, but he just inserted himself into Matts projects, and cant understand why Matt doesnt want him to help. Matt is usually too nice to say anything, or too used to being bossed around. But I'm not, and I just finally have to get rude with him. And tell him, its NOT his and to step back.

I got my hair done a few days ago, My cousin does it, and I got it highlighted for the first time inmy life. I have that weird kind of hair that highlights itself, and is already black underneath by my neck. But once winter gets here, or I dont get out in the sun very often, it does darken up as it grows out. The roots start to look like I havent died it in months. So she offered to do a little something to it. She cuts it anyway, and I always like it.

Actually looking at it, it doesnt look 'done' it actually looks less 'salon done' now than it did when it was natural. LOL


This was taken this morning, its not very good, but Matt took it on the way to church.





The kids asked if a friend could come home with them, I told them yes, but we DID have work to do before they did any playing.

I have never let any of them have friends over, partly because I dont deal well with other peoples kids, and cause I saw no point, its just more opertunities to fight with the other sibling, or be mean to them. but this is a son of one of my friends, and he is a VERY good kid. He is a few years older than Brett but they all get along good.

Anyway, first we had to go to walmart. I am used to dealing with 4 kids in walmart, so counting to 5 was not a hard stretch. EXCEPT when he asked to go to the bathroom, I said yes, and then finished getting milk and started to walk off. I counted to 4. saw all 4 and thought I was good.

I just had to get in "BR is shopping with us mode" cause I do count to 5 when he is with us.

Then when we came home we had to prepare for the possible rain thats coming. I had put all the corn we pulled in the bucket of the tractor, so we had to get it out, shuck it and throw the cobs in the freezer that I have at the barn for that. It doesnt work, its just a box that we keep feed in. Everyone pitched in and we got it done pretty quick, Then we had to put the new feed in the automatic hog feeder that we built. WEll we built it big, to hold lots of feed- I was putting about 400 pounds in there but, I am nowhere near tall enough to put it in the 4ft tall feeder that sits about 8 inches the other side of a 4 foot fence. So this is how I did it.

I drove the tractor right up to the fence, lifted the bucket and then climbed in and emptied the bags one at a time into the feeder.








Here is the kids riding on the bucket, down to the barn.












Bow was 'helping' me drive. these are not good pics of me, but I promised Rayley I would put pictures she 'took' on the internet. If I remember I will take them down after she sees I put them up! LOL









I started blogging shortly after I got in from doing the feed, but have been interupted through out the day or had other things I had to get done, including making the tombstones, supper, relocating horses, dealing with the kids, talking on the phone and trying to watch the cowboys play. So I sent the kids to bed early, they were at each others throats, and sat down to finish with just Bow agervating me.
then I heard this awful sound from the kitchen, at first it sounded like a fire, then like water spraying- hard and fast. So I jumped up and ran in there. Sure enough, there is water flooding out from under my new fridge. (our old one went out about a month ago and we had to get another one. thats a weekend I SHOULD have blogged about, it was one thing after another.... ) So I ran to the water cut off for the house. cut it off and went back into the kitchen. The water had stopped spraying, but it was coming out by the gallonful. I pulled and pulled, the fridge wouldnt budge. its a HEAVY one anyway, The doors alone are so heavy I can barely pick them up (we had to take them off to get it through the front door)- and its full. so I had to holler for the kids. They jumped up and grabbed towells then Brett and I got on the floor and put our hands under it, grabbed the frame and put our leg up against the cabinets and pushed with our legs to pull it out. We got it started and I finally was able to pull it all the way out to shut off the water in the back so I could go ahead and turn back on the water to the house.

As I sit here typing the fridge is in the middle of the floor and every towell in the house is soaking up water. Even the two or three we didnt need down there because Bow got a bit overzealous.

We were so proud to have water and ice in our fridge again, about a year after we got the old one the ice maker broke, then was fixed then broke again. we never tried to use it after that, we just turned the water off to it.

Now I have to see if we can get this fixed. I am already spoilt to water comin out the door.

I reckon I should get up and fix it, clean up the mess and see what I need to buy tomorrow, plus get BR's supper ready. But I just dont want to.

Plus, my house is a MESS, eventhough I just had it SPOTLESS on saturday and we havent even been IN here all day today! I dont know how the kids can manage to destroy a house in the time it takes me to go pee, but they can. My kitchen literly looked like I hadnt cleaned it in a week, and all they did was have cereal this morning.

Rabbits, Rodeos, Truck Doors, Chess, Baptisms and TV stars!

Only my family could manage to cram all that into 3 days!!

Have you ever been in a store, and the Dr Peppers were on sale? well that means there are NONE left, or worse, there are a few left adn they are in the VERY back. you cant reach them. not even if you stand on the bottom shelf. Sure, you could walk to the other side of the store and get a broom or mop to pull them down, BUT what if someone managed to snag the last two while you were gone? There is NOTHING on this isle to reach up in there with....

Thats when a kid comes in handy. You pick them up and shove them up in there.




And have THEM push the bottles down to you....




I almost blogged on Friday, but was too lazy to upload pictures. then again on Saturday, but that was a BUSY day. and yesterday was an amazing day - I just didnt have time :)


Lets see, BR took off Thursday and we drove a few hours to pick up the kids 4-H project, Bunnies.. or Rabbits as they are properly called. I think I got gyped, but everyone seems to think it will be okay. I was under the impression that californians had black ears, tails, feet and noses, these are grey. I still want a true black buck to breed to the 2 does I got. I also need another doe. But one of the does I have is due anyday now. So we will see what she has.

We are doing meat pens. Thats where you breed on Dec 17, get the babies, and pick out 3 that are as identicale as you can get. you show those 3. they need to be uniform in color, body size, weight, and meat production. Since I have to have 2 pens, I need to hedge my bets with 3 does. Incase one or more doesnt produce, or we have crappy litters.

Anyway, we also went and got Rayley some new boots. hers were too little. Her prefered choices were pink, then purple, then blue, yellow, green, and if I could find pink camoflauge that would trump them all.

this is what I found.



Bow got a new cowboy hat, which I dont have a picture of him in yet. but he also got to ride the mechanical bull at the store!



When we got home we had to finish up the rabbit pens, which meant ME getting inside a 2 ft box and stapiling wire up in there. Not as easy as it sounds. But I reckon if it will hold me, it will hold them. Plus, we had to move around some stuff at the hog pen, and go get some hay from the horse barn. When we were leaving to get that, Bowdrie had walked around to the other side of the truck, while I got some stuff off the back. I heard the door slam and him holler, not a blood curdiling scream, but a mad holler. I walked around to see what was wrong, fiquring he had shut the door on accident and couldnt open it. well, he had. ON his hand. his entire hand was in the door. By the time I got around there BR and all the kids were there. Bow was trying to pull his hand out. he wasnt hurting. YET. it didnt take but a second after we opened the door for him to start screamin. Once we got him calmed down and fiqured out nothing was broken he was good to go. He toted his ice pack around like a baby, laying his hand in it. But it wasnt long before he forgot about that too, so he could help give the rabbits hay and feed and water the hogs.




On Friday Rayley wore this:



They wear their school shirts on Fridays and so every week she tries to wear a differnt outfit but the same shirt. She is running out of ways to wear it..




On Saturday our church had a youth rodeo. So I took the kids to it. Rayley finally got to wear her new boots, she was VERY proud of them. She thought her daddy and I did a perfect job of picking them out.










The boys played football all evening- waiting on the rodeo to start, I had went early to help volunteer. They were soaking wet before it even started, and it was a chilly night. We finally got our winter weather- at least for a week. But they never slowed down.

So far all 3 of the oldest have managed to get wet as can be at the church. Rayley fell in to the creek/drain a few weeks ago. I reckon she wanted to baptize herself.


RFDTV was there, to record the service on Sunday and the youth rodeo on Saturday. They will be airing sometime in December, so if you get the channel, look for Jasper County Cowboy Church.

Its funny, noone was extra dressed up, and honestly noone paid the least bit of attention to the cameras. that tells you alot about the mindset of the people that are members there. They are just downhome people and dont get starstuck easily.








Sunday was a wonderful service. of course before we left my kids got into the cake that my Sister in Law had sent over here the night before. I really had forgotten all about it, and it was a half of a halloween cake. meaning BLACK icing. So they were dyed black. Bow got it ALL over him. and the boys and Rayleys lips were black. It took lots of scrubbing to get them half way normal. I told them to avoid the cameras at ALL costs!

It was amazing and uplifting. And we had a baptism service, where 16 or 17 people were baptized, including Brett and I. It was around 50* but the water was warm, which was nice. We were soaking wet, and went strait home for warm showers, since it was a spur of the moment thing and we were not prepared by bringing extra clothes.


This is what Bow does during church. He loves to go, and will help me carry the chairs to the arena, then helps me set them up, while all the other kids run off to play before services. He wants me to get settled in so he can get started playin!






these are from a few weeks ago. but same thing.. LOL





This is the stage that the church band plays on, Pastor Brady is on the far left.





and an RFDTV camera.



If you are looking for a church, and have just never felt comfertable in one, or always felt you were being judged, try finding a cowboy church. You dont have to be a cowboy, or even halfway rural to go, its just laid back and enjoyable. If the one you find is half as good as mine, you will wonder what took you so long to join. I have been to lots of churches in my life, and just never felt I was getting Gods word, or felt I was being judged constantly. The total opposite was true when I stepped foot in that arena. And lots of them are actually held in buildings, not everyone does theres in the middle of a Rodeo Arena. Or if you are not sure you want to go to one strait off, try finding them on RFDTV, they feature a differnt church each week.



After church was over, we came home, did a few chores, and the kids asked if they could play chess. I told them I didnt care, BUT, there were 2 rules. one, they had to include Rayley, and help her learn how. and two, they couldnt scream and holler at Bow, they just had to deal with him.

They played a few games, the winner would play the kid left out. and about the 3rd time Brett and Matt played, Brett hollered "you cant do that!" Matt said "yeah- I can." I fiqured I was fixing to have to stop an argument, so I hollered out my new 'shutup'. "yall read Psalms 39"

"Mom" Brett says "I'm not being rude or mean, I meant to say 'please dont do that' "
Matt asked him "why"

"cause if you do that, the game is over!- "(meaning Matt had whooped him) "lets change the rules a little"

Matt declined, and I also forbid it. He was ticked cause Matt had beat him 3 times in a row in less than 5 minutes.

They did help Rayley. she doesnt quite get it yet, but will soon enough, the boys were about her age when they learned. Of course, I am sure that my kids are the only ones that make Chess into a contact sport. And now with Bow around, he ends up hitting, biting, screaming, stealing peices, and terrorizing them. He doesnt understand that he cant play.

We still dont have any baby bunnies, I wonder if the breeder didnt get the week wrong.


I reckon I am gonna stop typin now. My wrist is hurting- I have some kind of a cyst on it, and it hurts to type much. Its nothing serious I'm sure, I fiqure its a ganglion or what ever type cyst, I just havent had the nerve to put a huge book on it and hit it with a hammer to desolve it. Plus, I need to get a few things done, I was asked on Friday to take over volunteer coordinator for Rayleys schools PTA. I said yes, since the two postitions I have on Bretts and Matts boards are not very time consuming.

But here are a few more pics from the Women in the Outdoors event.


This is the skulls of two gators, one died of natural causes and was about 12 foot long, the other died from lead poisoning (he was shot) and was a little smaller.




Notice the black/brown spots? those are 'war wounds' bruising from fights, that is in the bone, they are loose places, kinda weird.

and of course the teeth upclose. the teeth are really weird to feel. like hollow peices of plastic.




and of me holdin the gator again. :)







I had a picture of one about 15 feet off shore, but you couldnt see him. just his head was sticking out. he was about 10 feet from where the airboat was parked.




Here is Bow waterin the hogs a few months ago. He LOVES to go down and mess around with the animals.