I committed murder today

I'm not sure how many bodies are in my garden but I know it's many. My head hurts from breathing that stuff.

Yes I sprayed my garden for Japanese beetles and ants.

Does it make you feel bad to kill these insects ... I mean some of them were hooked up.... no really I mean HOOKED UP.... like making babies. Should I feel bad???

Heck no! If they had kept there weird green alien suit bodies in the woods and pasture they would be alive tonight. You chomp on my vegetables you'll pay a high price.

Ah to be young again

I remember how excited I would get when there was plans to go to the river. I can swim like a fish and all my grandbabies can too but you will notice in the pictures that we don't take chances with them. They all have on their life-jackets.

Their is nothing like spending a day on the water with friends... that is if you're young... if you're old it's a sunburn, mess up you sinus, get a headache from the sun day.

I was so sad...

As I watched my two youngest grandbabies paint the "Peter Rabbit" pictures on their nursery wall. They're not babies anymore.

They enjoyed the moment because they felt big doing a grownup thing but I could hardly keep back tears. Ah but life goes on and every living thing moves from child to adult. I refuse to get rid of any toys. I have the toys and books from when my kids were small.

It isn't my job to give them to good will... that is my kids job when I'm gone.

I have book fever...

Reading every night and I need to be cleaning, ironing, etc but what the heck that stuff will be there tomorrow.

I love the The Last Apprentice books by Joseph Delaney... I on book eight

I challenged my grandson to read 25 books this summer ... if he does he gets a 25.00 itunes card and then his parents sweetened the deal by saying they would match me. He has read 10 books so far.

If he can do it so can I... I think I can, I think I can

Here is my list to read. They are not in the order I will be reading them.

1. Demon Glass by Rachel Hawkins... this is book two in a series Hex Hall was the first one, loved it.

2. The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein ... this is book two ... first one was the Crossroads... great read

3.Small Persons With Wings (they hate to be called fairies) by Ellen Booraem looks like a fun book

4. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

5. The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal liked this one because I've always said I was born a princess and was kidnapped...

6. Birth Marked by Caragh M. O'Brien

7. Flip by Martyn Bedford interesting book cover

8. Selling Hope by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb... if you read the first two pages you'll be hooked on this book. Love Kristin and can't wait to dive into Selling Hope

9. Where She Went by Gayle Forman... read If I Stay and couldn't stop telling people about it... looking forward to meeting her characters again

10.The Iron King by Julie Kagawa ... my writing buddy and friend told me I needed to read this book

11. The Shifter by Janice Hardy.. I met this author at a conference and picked up her book ... the second in the series is out and looks amazing... got to read the first one fast

12. Entwined by Heather Dixon read reviews and thought it sounded like a book I would like

13.Drought by Pam Bachorz... I've not read her other books but this book cover pulled me in and I found the book flap interesting

14. Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn


Okay if any of you are looking for a good book check out my list at your local bookstore.

The picture is a new book I found so interesting and the book trailer at

http://www.ransomriggs.com/blog/2011/5/31/miss-peregrine-book-trailer.html

I know I've not figured out how to post a link yet, copy and past but this trailer is WOW

So Ransom Riggs will be fifteen and the book is ordered. I'll let you know

Here comes the Bride...

42 years ago Ronnie and I was married at 4 pm at the Lauderdale County Courthouse.

That is when my best friend became my husband. We have lived a great life together so far and if I died tomorrow I would have go to my grave with no regrets. We have laughed, loved and worked together.

I know I'm lucky to have a good man... who isn't perfect.. I tell him all the time he is the most hateful person God ever made and he tells me that I have a smart mouth... to which I answer "The rest of me is smart too" But you know a person doesn't have to be perfect, they just have to love you for the person you are, forgive your imperfections and be there when you need them.

He has had my heart from the first time I met him...well that isn't really true... we met when we were kids and I didn't like boys except the ones that could hit home runs, were great basketball players and hit hard in football... but the first time I saw him grown up .... WHOA MAMA was he cute. :)

If you have horses... your work is never done

Horses eat every day and you can't just pitch it in a bowl and walk away. No, no! Everyone goes in their stall, gets their food, is allowed time to eat their food, let out in the order that will cause the least fighting and I'm the boss horse get out of my way ... nipping and biting... yes even good horses do this, shut the gate behind the last one, chain the gate so the smart little demons can't open it and destroy the barn, make sure everything is back in place for the next feeding which will be in twelve hours. Whew.

We love it!

That is just the feeding not the upkeep and repairs of barn, pasture, fences, tractor, etc, etc.

Ronnie, Ron and Kane worked to replace the pipe for the sprinkler system in the riding arena. It could be worst... they could be doing hay in this 90 + temp.

Here comes the Rain...

For the next few days I won't need to water my garden. Here are some pictures. The big skips are from the deer and the dog hair on the ground and the strings on the tomatoes are to keep them out of the garden. The post the tomatoes are tied to are five feet tall. Look how big my babies are getting. The plant on the end was planted this week. Ronnie put the first plant in and he didn't bury the roots deep enough and it died. I planted this one.
We have first row... tomatoes
second row... half okra other half different peppers
Third, forth and fifth row green beans... thank goodness I planted three rows because the deer left maybe two if you took out the skips
sixth... big butter beans
seventh, eight... baby Lima beans
ninth, tenth, eleventh... butter peas... yummmmm
twelfth, thirteenth... squash and zucchini at each end and cucumbers in the middle and then peas that were sowed and not plowed... a little grassy and snakey but the peas do better without tending.

No beach for me

I've had my grand-dogs since Tuesday of last week and one granddaughter, Lake, while Missy went to see Joe. He's working in Kentucky. Jase is too big to stay with Granny. Was sending the dogs home yesterday... Lake can stay as long as she wants, when the phone rings.

"Hello"
"Mother, Sheila asked me to go to the beach with her... won't cost anything but my eats..."
"That's great. Lake can stay with me next week."
"Okay.... and what about the dogs."
Sigh. "Okay but you have to tell your Daddy."

Daddy said, "I hate those da** dogs."

They're really sweet dogs and know their manners but they bark and they chase everything. They're not Lexie. We have to keep them on the carport when we're not at home because they visit the neighbors.

I don't understand why everyone wants to go to the beach. I love the mountains.

Daddys, they work so hard

My Daddy hardly never says "I love you" but he worked a job, had cows, farmed a little all so I could go to a good school and have the things I wanted. I say "I love you" all the time to him but always (as a child) felt that he didn't love me or my brothers. Now that I'm an adult I know that isn't true. Some people don't have their Dad long enough to discover the truth. Dad's aren't poets or romantic... they are doers and shakers. Their goals are: feed the family, protect the family, work hard for the family. Thanks Dad, you did a great job! My Dad will be 82 Aug 24th.

Horse ownership

Words that are linked to horse ownership

Commitment: Horses are not cheap... oh to buy them they are but they have to be fed twice a day, wormer every 6 to 8 weeks, shod every two months or sooner if they throw a shoe, hoof flex needs to be put on their hoofs every day in this hot dry weather twice a week at least otherwise, fencing, barn, tack, treats, time

Experience: You require the knowledge of care, training and riding. This knowledge can not be learned in an hour, day, week, month... I guess I'm going back to commitment.

Inner Peace: A horse knows your heart and feels your emotions. If they get bad vibes your riding experience will be less than desirable.

Love: For the animal, for the sport... if you do not feel complete joy when you are on a horse, find another hobby.

I love everything about horses, their beauty (outer and inner) the smell of them, the feel of their mane and coat, the soft nickers when they see you, their desire to please and their big hearts to keep going even if they are in pain.

When I die, I hope the Lord sends a horse to carry me home. That he will let my last spiritual moments on earth will be spent astride a horse, its mane tickling my uplifted face as we race toward heaven.

Awww summer in the south

Only in Alabama can you swim with friends minute and then ride your horse bareback in a bathing suit the next. And only rednecks swim when they have a cast on their arm.

What happens when you kick a rock???

you break your toe and dislocate too. Missy spent hours in the ER last night and when the doctor finally saw her she said, "X-ray shows it's broke. Hummmm it kinda looks funny." The doc puts two fingers on Missy's toe and pulls... it pops, Missy screams and the doc says, "There that is better." She popped it back in place. Ouch!

Two free writing contest and nothing to send

SouthernBreeze is having their free members only contest...yikes and the deadline is the last day of the month.

Midsouth is have a conference attendee only contest with no entry fee... since I'm attending I guess I need to work on something to send.

I got an email from the Alabama Writers Conclave informing me Congratulations! You have won an award in our contest!! for my juvenile fiction story Snow-Cone Victory

I want to write a nonfiction picture book about Pride and the many jobs he did like plowing the garden, snaking logs out of the woods, a police horse, a lesson horse, a trail horse, and a clown. I'm going to blog about his mischievous pranks sometime.

I hope all y'alls contest entries get a thumbs up!

What do you do??

Have you ever felt like life has pulled you in different directions and everyone is just walking by without helping.... What do you do??

Like this colt, we've all been in tough situations but just remember nothing is hopeless. Ask for help, use your brain, but don't sit and wait for someone else to fix your problem.

I'm keeping my mouth shut... yes you read that right

A certain man that has lived with me for 42 years, or will have after June 27th, is not a very nice person some times.

I found a oak curio at a yard sale for 30 dollars and he was hateful when I brought it home... Why you might ask... I would have to move something in the great room...

"I'll just nail up the window and we'll put it there." can you believe he would say something like that. And then he told me I was getting fat! I'm not skinny but I don't have a beer belly.

But I'm not going to say anything more that might make you mad at him too.... I think I've said enough.

Sooo Funny

This huge dog herding these baby chicks and never once hurt them. She would take her nose and move them together. Once I coughed and they took off in five different directions and Lexie was so upset... whimpered and would start after one then decide the another one was too far away, I helped her get them back into a herd. She is at the door right now crying for her babies. Sorry Lex, there are too many critters outside at night to allow babies to be unsecured.

I came home this afternoon and guess what was at the end of my driveway... you got it... a chicken snake. Did I kill it? Nope, just chase it away from the house. I know it will come back but they do too much good to kill them.

It's a girl... five of them

I love baby chicks... these little girls are so much work but fun. Where am I keeping them because they are just too little to go in that big empty chicken house... why in a box that is sitting on my patio table in my sunroom, of course.

It is almost 9 pm and I just now checked my email for the first time today ... work, hair cut... SHORT... hot...fix supper, water garden, water flowers, wash a load of clothes, tend to chicks twice (once before I fixed supper and then after dark making sure the was not in the water or feed when they settled down to sleep.

OH yes, I went to yard sales this morning before work got me five pair of summer shoes for 5 dollars, I was at the first yard sale at 6 am

Tomorrow is going to be a great day... yard sales at 6, meeting Sheila at 10:30 to go to Pope's Tavern for frontier days, lunch, and at 7 pm going to watch my son Ron ride in a competition sorting event.

Had to say goodbye to an old friend today

To look at him you would wonder what made him so special but if you had been one of the hundreds of kids who got their first horse ride on the big red horse with the gentle spirit you would know that looks isn't everything. Never did he let his rider down, always alert to dangers and protecting the rider. Always happy to see a human face and loved loved loved to escape through a open gate. His gait was rough, but his heart was big and his mind was sharp. You never laid anything down while working in the pasture if Pride was around... why? He would steal it and run off with it. Not far, just out of reach and the game would continue until he got bored. I was the first person he saw but my husband was the last. He was a better friend than I could be... I said my goodbyes on Monday.

I guess this hot weather has put me in a funk

I quit... quilting, writing, blogging, everything I usually love doing I quit.

I'm just going to sit in my rocking chair on the porch and ponder my old age that is creeping up on me fast.

Whew... glad that is done with... I quit quiting... I need to get up and put the squares together for my friend Pam's charm quilt and finish the July Knowledge Power for the Kidsville News Letter just as soon as I finish this blog.

We all need to jump track from time to time, it plants us firmer on the track that takes us to our goals. Can you hear my whistle... I'm coming through!