Butterflies and lilacs

I took these pictures this afternoon and they were too pretty to not post so that's my post for today! Butterflies and lilacs... two of my favorite things about spring!

Hope you have a wonderful evening!

Soccer and a county fair!

I had big plans for today! Lots to get done around the house and all that but first we had to go into town for my daughter's soccer wind up. As we were racing out the door, a friend called to tell me that it was the County Fair as well today so I told her we would stop in for a few minutes after soccer. Well, 'a few minutes' turned into five and half hours at the fair but we had a great time so yet again... the laundry can wait!


My daughter in goal.
Look at those strides! She can pretty much catch up to anyone on the field!

Her and her coach with their medals. I think she might just be a superstar in the making!(but of course I'm biased!)

We hit the County Fair right after soccer and wandered around taking in all the sights. Inside the Omniplex was the 4H cows- these are like the cream of the crop(I didn't take pictures of them) and it was quite hilarious watching these cowboys(and cowgirls) primping and polishing livestock. We're talking hair spraying, combing, blow drying etc. You couldn't even smell cow over the smell of hair spray! It was laughable to say the least. We cuddled the animals in the petting farm and the kids bounced in the bounce-o-rama.

We took a wagon ride pulled by these beautiful black Percherons. They are huge and just gorgeous!

This was the hugest steer I have ever seen in my life! He's a Holstein and was about the same height as the Percherons. That's my friend, Nija in the picture and she's taller than me. That gives you an idea of just how tall this guy was!
More Percherons.

And yet again, more Percherons. They certainly were the horse of choice at the fair because they are drivers and are bred to pull. This was a 6 horse team and we missed seeing them in the parade but got to see them at the fair at least!

So we had a great day today. I am burned to a crisp and the kids are totally wiped out! Guess I had better get them to bed! I think I might try and watch a movie tonight... the laundry can wait for another day! Have a wonderful evening!

Why do I do this to myself?

I rented a couple of movies yesterday and this is a very rare occurrence. I don't watch many movies nor do I watch much tv. To be perfectly honest, other than forcing myself to sit and watch 'New Moon' the other night, I haven't turned my tv on since the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. Last night was a write off. After having to chase those cows around, the kids and I didn't sit down to watch their movie until 8:00 so there was no way I felt like watching another movie after that. So I decided that tonight after the kids were tucked away in their beds I would treat myself to a nice relaxing evening by myself with a movie...

At 9:30pm a little voice in my head suggested that it would be a great time to get those chicks moved out of the basement and into the shed. So there I went, moving chicks by the toteful from the storage room downstairs and out to the shed. Then the waterer needed to be washed out, as did the feeders; while I'm at it, I may as well put them up on something so that they get less wood chips kicked into them. Then I had to have a shower because I was covered in chicken pooh and now its quarter to 11 and what the hell would be the point in starting a movie now? Why do I do this to myself? If I figure it out, I'll let you know. Have a good evening!

That was unexpected...

The rain stopped this afternoon which made me dash outside with my camera to take some pictures. I have a love/hate relationship with dandelions. I think they are beautiful as long as they stay out of my garden. They don't, of course, therefore I rip them out by the roots but I allow them to stay in the yard.

My peas
Beets

Carrots
I took this picture of the dandelions and then all of the sudden, something occurred to me...
the cows were not where they should have been. I looked in their field and sure enough, one of the rails had been knocked down. The swearing started at this point while I looked around wildly for my beef. I found them, having a lazy nap in the lower field. So I got myself a bucket of oats and headed that way. I'm a little leery of these two lately as the bigger one, Chocolate, has been rather aggressive. She has charged me a couple times in the last week and so I didn't particularly want to get too close to them. I managed to get them moving in the right direction with the bucket of oats after plenty of coaxing and yelling at the dogs who thought they were 'helping.' Finally they were back in their original enclosure and I made the mistake of not locking them in while I went back to close the gate. Like a pair of mind reading vampires ;) the two of them anticipated my mistake before I even realized it and they took off like shots passed me and out the gate. (More swearing)Yet another case of the grass is greener syndrome.I left them alone at this point and closed off the bottom field to hopefully deter them from escape. My egg customer came by to buy eggs and offered to help round them up. Of course they cooperated making me look like an idiot after my complaining to her about not being able to get them back to where they were supposed to be.

So instead of Spring Stew for dinner like I had planned, we ate pancakes because it was already 7:30 and no time to make a stew. I have decided that the cows don't deserve nice names like Chocolate and Vanilla. That would suggest that they are sweet and lovable. No, I think T-Bone and Prime Rib are much more fitting. Anyone care to come for roast beef dinner? *smile*

Chick update

Wow, another Thursday is here already. I can't believe where the weeks go! So Thursday has come to be 'Chick Update' day and thankfully I was able to locate the police car for the chick to model with. Still haven't found that SUV... hmm. Anyway remember how cute these little guys were the first day?

Well they are kind of getting really ugly now. Have you seen that movie "The Dark Crystal"? Well I can't remember what the bad creatures are called in that movie but those are what the chicks remind me of. If I had my wits about me, I would have googled it. Next time...

And I figured while I was at it, I would do a kitten update as well. They are into their fourth day today and getting pretty cute! I only got one solo kitten picture because when I tried to take an orange one for a picture he whined so much that Daisy took him back. This kitten is my favorite anyway. It was the first born.

And here's Daisy looking at me like, "Okay photo shoot is over, take a hike."

So that's it for updates for this week! Hope you have a wonderful Thursday!

Fighting chaos

I'm feeling a bit chaotic lately and that does not sit well with me. I like routine. I like knowing when something is going to happen so that I can prepare myself. I am not particularly spontaneous and perhaps that is part of my problem. I make lists so that I don't forget things and there is always a date book on my counter with sticky notes and daily reminders of things I need to do. And yet, I was looking for paperwork today and discovered how disorganized that aspect of my life is. That stresses me out. We are in the process of switching banks and if you've ever done that, you know how much it entails with switching pre-authorized payments and such. Like I need any extra on my plate right now.

Not only that, its been raining for days so I am dealing with bored kids and dogs tracking their mucky foot prints all over the house. We can't play outside(yeah, we are made of sugar thanks for asking) and I feel like cabin fever is setting in. This is worse than when its -30. At least you can go outside when its cold. Who wants to go outside when its pouring buckets? And if I don't let Zama in from the rain, this is what she does to my sliding glass door:
I've got cows chasing me, a cat with kittens, 50 stinky chickens in my basement, a dog that craps in the house, two kids that act like they are going to rip each others throats out at any given moment and no bathtub to have a damn bath in even if I could find time to have a bath! At least I can find time to read. Although even that seems to be riddled with chaos. I have never in my life been able to read more than one book at a time. I like to read one, finish it and move on. This is what my nightstand looks like(and no they are not props for the sake of a picture, I really am reading all 9 of them and its insane!)

I was hoping by getting this all out, it would make me feel better but to be truthful, I think I feel more stressed seeing what I'm stressed about! I think I had better sit down and watch a movie or something. I hope that tomorrow brings some sunshine and maybe I can blog about something cheerful, like my garden.

My apologies, Dog

Dear Indi,

I'm sorry for accusing you of sh*ting in the house today. I now know that it was in fact Zama that was the sh*tty dog. This apology is a one time apology and does not make all the other times you sh*t in the house okay(which I know you did because there was a time that Zama slept in a kennel at night.) Thank you for being a good guard dog and barking and scaring all the oil field personnel that come to the house. You are a good girl... except when you're not.

Love Maya... the one who feeds you the good dog food (not the crappy food you steal from the farm dogs up the hill)

The actual guilty dog: