Sunrise

A beautiful sunrise this morning out my kitchen window...!

Caitlin

Today I was reading Miz Booshay's blog and found a link to a new blog I Heart Faces. They have contests each week and I just had to enter my little friend, Catilin's, photo.

Ice

You know you are in Texas when the temperature is in the 80's one day and the 20's the next. Although the temps were not quite that extreme this time we were in the 80's on Saturday and today we have freezing rain and a little accumulation of ice.

I've been trying to feed the birds...but we have so many they empty the feeders in a day! I really felt bad that I forgot to fill them before the freezing rain.

It was a chilly day ...good to stay inside and drink hot chocolate and catch up on a little reading!

We had a busy holiday season with some catering...lots of family and friends celebrating Christmas at our home...and much good food!

Now it's back to work...

It's Here...!

When I ordered my new camera I calculated I would receive it a few days before Thanksgiving. I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived less than a week after I ordered it instead of the anticipated 10 business days!

So...here it is...a Nikon D90 with a 18-105mm lens. I ordered a kit that included a 70-300mm telephoto lens and a 50mm 1.8 lens. I have much to learn...its been a long time since I've shot photos with my Minolta 35mm camera back in the day of film. My little Nikon 3100 Coolpix is a very good camera but it just doesn't get all the shots I need...

You see I have grandbabies...and they are just too fast for it to focus...

And the animals...they are also too fast....this is my friend, June's, cat....Smoky

So...I really needed this...

My little Nikon Coolpix would do great macro shots....like this...

But other shots like these were not as good...

So...now I must learn all about my new camera ...and of course...Photoshop!

I will be sharing my photo experiences with you...

Leah

Bonnie

For many months...I have wanted a new camera. I needed a new camera.

My little point and shoot Nikon Coolpix 3100 just doesn't take the kind of photos I need for my website. I love photography...at heart I'm a frustrated artist with no drawings skills...and I love a beautiful picture!

Not only that...I have 2 beautiful and amazingly cute ...darling granddaughters ....that I am dying to photograph. My little Nikon...just doesn't work....!

So....after much researching and contemplating and waiting and trying to find a way...by the grace of God...I made some decisions and worked really hard to earn enough for my purchase.

For many years...I have kept my favorite doll...she is just beautiful....but for the last 40 years...she has lived a lonely life in my closet. I decided to do a little research and see what I could find out about her. I had never seen another doll like her. I looked and looked on the Internet and couldn't find her. I knew she was made by the Ideal Toy Company. Finally I found a doll collector website that had a good collection of vintage Ideal dolls. But...still not a sign of my doll.

I decided to email the contact for the website and ask for help. After sending an email with some photos of my doll attached I heard back from a lovely lady telling me that my doll was a very rare Bonnie Playpal. She was only made in 1959.

So I looked up sales on eBay for this doll and was shocked at the prices. Could I part with my beloved baby? My favorite doll that Santa brought me when I was only 7 years old. I decided to give it a try.

First we had to go shopping....Bonnie needed some new clothes for the sale. I borrowed one of my daughters blankets that she left at my house for my little granddaughter...wrapped Bonnie up and we went to Target.

People looked at me a little strangely. I passed two young mothers in the store and noticed they turned around to look after passing me and whispering among themselves. I could only imaging the conversation..."what is that weird old lady doing with that doll all wrapped up in a baby blanket?" They stayed their distance....

Bonnie and I went to the baby department and we tried on several outfits before deciding on one. We got a lovely little dress and then went on to find new shoes and socks! Finally we were finished and headed to checkout. Bonnie was wrapped up in her blanket while I carried her in my arms and pushed my cart towards the front of the store.

Who do you think I met coming down the main aisle at the front of the store....my daughter with my little granddaughter...what are the odds....a town of over 70,000....and there they were. My daughter had a funny little smile....my little granddaughter was smiling too.

"Mom....what are you doing?''

After showing her what I was up to and having a good laugh....she says to my little granddaughter....

"Your Mimi....is crazy....!"

Bonnie and I came home...I gave her a bath...combed her hair...and dressed her in her new clothes....made her photos ....and posted her on eBay. She sold for hundreds of dollars...and I was very pleased. Who would have known....I had no idea she was worth that amount!

So I had to send my baby to her new home...it was quite emotional for me...it's just a good thing no one saw me carrying my doll...crying ....at home....they would have shipped me off to the mental ward!

She is enjoying her new home in New York...in a doll collection with her sister Patti.

So I ordered my camera....and it should be here soon.

And you thought my baby daughter was nuts....with Rachel the Pumpkin ...she comes by it naturally!

Leah

The Story of Rachel the Pumpkin

When my youngest daughter was in the fourth grade her teacher assigned the class a special project. She bought them all a real minature pumpkin. Their first assignment was to name the pumpkin and then make adoption certificates for it.

My baby was thrilled as she named her baby pumpkin, Rachel Ann. A very proud parent who adopted her from The Pumpkin Patch!

I was so amused that she was having such fun with a pumpkin! She carried it everywhere with her and gave me a day to day report of the things they were doing at school with their pumpkins. They painted faces on their pumpkins, made clothes and houses for them. They wrote stories about their pumpkins and at night her homework was to keep a diary of Rachel's activities. I noticed that she included Rachel's name on her schoolwork papers with her own name.

My baby's older brother began to tease her about Rachel. It was a constant challenge at home with my baby playing with a pumpkin wearing a dress and treating it like a real person to keep my fun-loving son from traumatizing her. I even began to have some reservations about this school project. My baby was emotionally attached to a vegetable!

Each day I would look at her papers from school. Her story of Rachel....

My Pumpkin Rachel

I am going to tell you about my pumpkin Rachel. She is so cute! She is funny and smart. She has orange skin and is not a brat either. Everybody at school loves her. I love her too. She is 5 days old already.

Rachel and I have had fun the last few days. Lets see.......We have gone on bikerides. We went to the mall, walked around the block a few times, played with the dogs, went to play across the street, and played basketball.

We fixed her a house for herself. It is pretty too. She loves it. She has a kitchen, restroom, her own room, and a living room.

Well that is all I can tell you about Rachel.

I was a little more concerned at another paper on adjectives to describe her pumpkin...

orange skin, brown and green stem, green freckles,
green face, white and black eyes, blue clothes, funny, smart, responsible, talks alot, shows respect to me, a girl named Rachel

Oh dear...when I remember...that child needed help...! My son was right...she was nuts...!

And...the icing on the cake was this diary entry...supposedly written

by Rachel...

Dear Diary...

My mom and I watched some MTV and a soap opera too. We cleaned her house and we vacuumed, ate a snack, and played
with two dogs. One named Angel tried to bite me thank goodness she didn't. She looked vicious but my mom saved me. Then we went to sleep.

Believe me when I say this child never watched MTV much less a soap opera! But she was definitely in "La-La Land" during this time...so I guess that explains it. This saga with the pumpkin went on for several months...even after they were through with it at school. Rachel had become a member of our family. My son kept telling me I needed to do something with his sister...

Little Rachel started to shrivel....much to my dismay....I had to explain to my baby that she wouldn't be with us much longer. We wrapped her in a blanket and kept her in the refrigerator. My baby would come home from school get her out and play with her and put her to bed there every night. We prolonged her life for several weeks. Then she started to fall apart...

We had to have a funeral...and buried dear Rachel Ann in the flowerbed.

I went to school to see the teacher ...

For a couple of years we had to buy her another pumpkin to play with with during the fall.She never loved them the way she loved Rachel.

Her brother still teases her...

Someday maybe I will tell you about her motorcycle trip to Chile with Troy Aikman!

The Oven

Yet another saga with "The OCD Engineer"! I was just in my kitchen this morning and looked at my poor oven. It came to me what a story ...so let me tell you...

I have a very nice electric glass top Maytag range in my kitchen. It is a great appliance and has served me faithfully for about 10 years. However, not without its personal challenges...that being the ever so well-intentioned but totally neurotic...Mr. OCD! That poor range has suffered through his most antagonizing moments and it's a miracle that it has the gumption to continue its service to the both of us. For what it faces with Mr. OCD, it also has the daunting chore of living through my own hell!

In our house we cook all the time...! I always have some huge project on hand in the kitchen and even when I have the opportunity to take a break from the kitchen...I find myself thinking about what I could cook! While my life follows it Murphy's Law pathway I am forever letting something boil over on my glass top burners...or not using the correct sized pan and something runs over to spill in the oven.

Then, as with all things in our house...there he is...Mr. OCD running the cleaning cycle on the oven or god forbid...using Barkeepers Friend and one of those horrible course green scrubbing sheets to clean the inside of the oven or the glass top!

Now...don't get me wrong...I love to clean and want my oven to be spic and span...but I run the cleaning cycle about once every three or four months. The glass top is challenging to get clean especially after one of my cooking disasters but I always use discretion in my choice of cleaning products to avoid unnecessary scratches and wear.

But just try to explain that to you know who! The saintly one who insists that he is God's gift to the world and knows all about every subject known to man. Let me tell you...it requires patience...diligence...and the biting of the tongue...to say the least!

Now, that is only a portion of the poor appliance's trouble. There is the situation concerning the oven door handle. I mean we have used this range for years in a capacity that would rival a restaurant! The constant opening and closing of the oven has finally taken its toll on the handle. About a year ago I mentioned to Mr. OCD that the handle was really loose...I don't know what compelled me to do that...I just have a penchant for trouble. This man thinks if you can't fix it with duct tape or tie wraps...it can't be fixed!

But I do have to give him credit for this one. After taking an assessment of the situation...he apparently thought this called for bigger and better...he really pulled out the big gun for this job. He got out his heavy duty, top of the line, Dewalt drill! He searched his tool room for the longest and biggest bolt or screw he could find and set to work on the repair.

I couldn't watch...it was too painful.

He proceeded to attach the handle explaining he thought the holes there were probably not sufficient...he drilled new ones through the oven...and the handle. It was a disaster...and to top it off he came home the next day with some white duct tape to cover his new holes in the handle. And if that were not enough...now several months later...it has come loose again...and I came home to find another repair. He confidently explained that he had to re-tighten his previous repair and to make it better he caulked around the edges of the handle where it fits on the glass of the oven door and replaced the white duct tape.

I think we're up for a new nomination of "You might be a Redneck if..."!

Engineering 101

Here is the latest chapter of the perils of being married to an engineer...

It's a long story so I will try to be brief...several years ago when we moved to our country place we had plans to build a storage building but with "Mr. OCD" one is never enough...we had to have two. He managed to convince me that we needed both of them as we would build a large one for our storage needs and a smaller one to use as a well house. Of course when they came out to build them he and his partner in crime, our ex-neighbor and friend Bill, convinced me that "Mr. OCD" really needed the smaller one as a tool room for his extravagant collection of tools.

Lately I've noticed the doors on both storage buildings are looking a little ragged. Mr. OCD is a big believer in once you've got it ...that's it...no upkeep...no repair...it will last till you die! Of course the door fell off the little store room...his tool room.

Now you would think...owning at least one of every kind of saw known to man...that you would run down to Home Depot and buy a little lumber and just make you another door! But not at this house...oh no...! It is much easier just to use what you have lying around the house....in this case....he just tacked an old moving blanket over the door and turned up this huge cage on its end to cover the door.

I would go make a picture of this...but I'd rather not...it is just too revolting to have to look at...so just imagine what it probably looks like and make it a little worse that what you could imagine...and somebody send me a carpenter!

Leah

Life on the Ranch

Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, growing up on a ranch was the best experience of my life. My parents moved out there shortly after they were married to the dismay of my mother who had envisioned city or at least small town life for her family. It was a huge shock when my dad told her in confidence that if all went well they might get to move to the ranch. He was delighted and she was horrified! But move they did to live for over 50 years on the family ranch.

My dad moved out there to work for his dad who lived in town and was a pharmacist. He was paid a very meager salary all of those years as ranching is a hard way of life. My dad and mom were always supplementing their income with other jobs besides the ranch just to make a living. My dad worked at the local auction barn on Saturday’s during the big sale of the week, he built stock trailers, he artificially inseminated dairy cattle, and a couple of times raised dairy calves to sell to the local dairy farmers in our area. My mother worked for a local photographer coloring photos in the days before color photography.

We raised Black Angus cattle and Angora goats on the ranch. My dad depended on my brothers and me to help him with the livestock. We often got up before dawn to get up the horses and go somewhere on the ranch to work cattle and goats. There were several places on the ranch that were not accessible by vehicle so rounding up the livestock could be interesting and challenging at times.

What fun that was…I always was so excited every time we got up the horses and saddled them up to go work livestock. Sometimes we would just ride from the barn and corrals to the pastures to round them up but many times we would have to load the horses in the trailer and drive to where we would be working them. I could have done that for my entire life!

Of course besides that we were in 4-H and raised animals and I dragged my dad to every rodeo within driving distance during the summers just to ride in the Grand Entry. He would never let me race barrels…he always said that would just ruin a good horse. But he would load up my horse and take me to the rodeos.

Of all the things I miss …life on the family ranch is number one on the list.

Give Me A Break...

This morning as I was snoozing away...so enjoying my day off...

All of a sudden...before 7:00 A.M. - I might add...my bedroom door is flung open and there he is...
"Mr. OCD" in all his glory proclaiming..."Do you know it's seven o'clock and we are both in bed?"

My response..."It's Saturday morning...for heaven's sake...could you possibly let me sleep? Go back to bed!"

His answer...
"Oh, I thought it was still night. You mean it's morning?"

There is no rest in this house. I had a lot of trouble going back to sleep at that point.

Give me a break...
Leah