Since January, a bunch of us have been working extremely hard to tone up and lose weight. Tammy has probably hit her goal as are a few of my other friends.
I am just going with the flow of things. I've lost weight, toned up and am happy with how things are looking-does that sound conceited or what?! It would be nice to drop another 5 to 10 pounds and get back to my college weight, but if it doesn't happen, I'm not going to stress about it.....too much.
A good friend recently brought up that she is going to get her belly button pierced. When another friend said she'd get hers done too, I jumped in and said, Ok, let's go for it. I have since rethought about it and am not sure I can stand someone fiddling with my belly button, let alone having something stuck though the skin there! We've given ourselves until the end of September to flatten our bellies just a tad more and then go for it.
SOOOOO, I have now been thinking of getting a tatoo, not a huge one or one that will be visible unless I want it to be visible.
I'll keep you posted on my final decisions!
Welcome to our home. Whispering Oaks is the place where things can just be. I can let my hair down and just relax. The woods are inviting to explore on horseback, there is a nice grass field to run the dogs in and then there is the deck to just sit on and watch the sun go down--when there aren't any mosquitoes. Grab a beverage of your choice-beware of spitting it on the computer screen as I will say very random things throughout the day, sit back and enjoy the happenings.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Check out this crazy looking buck!
Saturday is our day to pull the chips to see what has been through.
We saw this buck a few weeks ago, but the photo was blurry. We thought, Wow, that is a huge rack, sure wish it was clearer to see what is going on with it. What we saw were the tines that were upright and though that the whole thing was long.
As you can see, there must be some sort of genetic flaw going on with his rack that he is passing on. This younger buck looks to have the same sort of rack going on.
I'm going to have to make a bigger effort next spring to look for sheds to see if we can find these unique looking racks.
We saw this buck a few weeks ago, but the photo was blurry. We thought, Wow, that is a huge rack, sure wish it was clearer to see what is going on with it. What we saw were the tines that were upright and though that the whole thing was long.
As you can see, there must be some sort of genetic flaw going on with his rack that he is passing on. This younger buck looks to have the same sort of rack going on.
I'm going to have to make a bigger effort next spring to look for sheds to see if we can find these unique looking racks.
I'm not sure what is going on with this buck's left front leg, but at this point, he is not putting weight on it. The knee looks to be a bit swollen, he may have twisted it or done some tendon damage. There were other photos that showed the swollen knee and upper leg a bit better, but I didn't want to bore you with extra photos. Otherwise he looks to be in good weight and not suffering
Adventures in the Pasture
Tonight as I was riding AJ along the road, I noticed that we have some of that "Bag Worm" in a tree that is in our ravine. Part of me wanted to just let it go since the plan is to remove those trees at some point. Another part of me said "No, you can't let it go because those dang things spread". So after my ride and after a wonderful supper of BBQ chicken and Mac & Cheese, I headed back outside to 'get the job done'.
Grabbed my favorite clippers, stopped at the barn to grab a bag to put the stuff in and headed down to "The Ravine". Now I don't really particularly care for this ravine as it is somewhat a mess. By a mess, I mean there are trees that are leaning against each other, holding each other up, nettles, and prickly stickery viney stuff that grabs your legs, and ditch weed that is over my head and is dropping seeds, and logs that are decaying on the ground under the weeds and are hidden, waiting to trip someone, and snakes, and other creepy crawly things oh and GRASSHOPPERS that don't let go when they jump on your bare legs!!
Now you are probably thinking, silly woman, why didn't you put jeans on when you knew you'd be going down to 'The Ravine'. Well, I didn't put jeans on because from my view on top of AJ from the road, the 'Bag Worm' bag looked to be hanging over the pasture grass and within easy reach from the ground. HA, deceptive little suckers they are.
I had locked the horses up because I really didn't need or want their help. Took the trusty 4-wheeler down so I didn't have to walk through the tall grass to get there. Once there, I discovered that the dang 'bag worms' were a little higher up than I had thought. It's ok, I'll just stand on the 4-wheeler seat and grab it with my clippers. That worked out ok until I thought about do I really want to be standing directly under this bag as I'm cutting it down....stuff was already falling in my hair when I grabbed the branch. Let it go and it zinged back up dropping more crap on me. I can only imagine what the people are thinking that drive by when they see me out there!
Rearrange the 4-wheeler which is now parked in the stickery, prickly vine stuff that I have to cut away as it is grabbing at my legs. Why didn't I bring my leather gloves with me you ask? Um, because I think they are in my trailer. Yes, I'm sure they are in my trailer...I hope.
Finally get situated and get the branch pulled back down. Cut the diseased branches and stuff them in a bag.
Newt decides to join me to see what adventures I'm going to give him.
Continue to look for more diseased branches and come a cross a thorny honey locust sappling. Ok, really wasn't paying attention to where I was driving and caught the sappling in the wheelwell. Had to cut that out especially since it was thorny, don't need the horses getting poked on that!
Head to the southside of the ravine, where the ditch weed grows rampant. Stop and cut some of it down so we can at least see the fence. I do see where the horses have been traveling so stick to their path. Newt gets side tracked and hangs back. Pop out on the other side and have to go through a patch of nettles. I really hate nettles and need to get back down there and spray them. My legs still itch a bit from that experience. Newt gets stuck back there too and I see the weeds moving as he's trying to manurver through. He gives up and leaps out. He doesn't care for them either!
Finish scanning the trees for more stuff and see that the turkeys have been living down there. Plus we still have mulberries that are in the process of ripening. I also see where the horses have been trimming trees to get at the mulberries--brats!
I call Newt over and he gets up on the 4-wheeler and we head back to the barn.
Later this fall, when the grasshoppers are gone and the stuff is dead, I am going to make it a goal to get some of that stuff cleaned up down there! Things kind of got out of control this spring with all the rain we had.
Grabbed my favorite clippers, stopped at the barn to grab a bag to put the stuff in and headed down to "The Ravine". Now I don't really particularly care for this ravine as it is somewhat a mess. By a mess, I mean there are trees that are leaning against each other, holding each other up, nettles, and prickly stickery viney stuff that grabs your legs, and ditch weed that is over my head and is dropping seeds, and logs that are decaying on the ground under the weeds and are hidden, waiting to trip someone, and snakes, and other creepy crawly things oh and GRASSHOPPERS that don't let go when they jump on your bare legs!!
Now you are probably thinking, silly woman, why didn't you put jeans on when you knew you'd be going down to 'The Ravine'. Well, I didn't put jeans on because from my view on top of AJ from the road, the 'Bag Worm' bag looked to be hanging over the pasture grass and within easy reach from the ground. HA, deceptive little suckers they are.
I had locked the horses up because I really didn't need or want their help. Took the trusty 4-wheeler down so I didn't have to walk through the tall grass to get there. Once there, I discovered that the dang 'bag worms' were a little higher up than I had thought. It's ok, I'll just stand on the 4-wheeler seat and grab it with my clippers. That worked out ok until I thought about do I really want to be standing directly under this bag as I'm cutting it down....stuff was already falling in my hair when I grabbed the branch. Let it go and it zinged back up dropping more crap on me. I can only imagine what the people are thinking that drive by when they see me out there!
Rearrange the 4-wheeler which is now parked in the stickery, prickly vine stuff that I have to cut away as it is grabbing at my legs. Why didn't I bring my leather gloves with me you ask? Um, because I think they are in my trailer. Yes, I'm sure they are in my trailer...I hope.
Finally get situated and get the branch pulled back down. Cut the diseased branches and stuff them in a bag.
Newt decides to join me to see what adventures I'm going to give him.
Continue to look for more diseased branches and come a cross a thorny honey locust sappling. Ok, really wasn't paying attention to where I was driving and caught the sappling in the wheelwell. Had to cut that out especially since it was thorny, don't need the horses getting poked on that!
Head to the southside of the ravine, where the ditch weed grows rampant. Stop and cut some of it down so we can at least see the fence. I do see where the horses have been traveling so stick to their path. Newt gets side tracked and hangs back. Pop out on the other side and have to go through a patch of nettles. I really hate nettles and need to get back down there and spray them. My legs still itch a bit from that experience. Newt gets stuck back there too and I see the weeds moving as he's trying to manurver through. He gives up and leaps out. He doesn't care for them either!
Finish scanning the trees for more stuff and see that the turkeys have been living down there. Plus we still have mulberries that are in the process of ripening. I also see where the horses have been trimming trees to get at the mulberries--brats!
I call Newt over and he gets up on the 4-wheeler and we head back to the barn.
Later this fall, when the grasshoppers are gone and the stuff is dead, I am going to make it a goal to get some of that stuff cleaned up down there! Things kind of got out of control this spring with all the rain we had.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Trail Cams
About a month ago, I talked hubby into putting our trail cams back out. You're probably wondering why didn't you just do it yourself silly woman?? Well, a few weeks ago, there were a slew of MOSQUITOES in those woods that would have taken me hostage and eaten me alive. Plus, Mike needs to feel wanted and needed sometimes :)
Anyway, Saturday mornings are the day that we (he) goes and swaps out the chips with new ones. It's like Christmas morning turning on the camera that we have inside and seeing the photos from the week before.
Mostly we see does, fawns, some raccoons, turkeys and some blow by's. Luckily, I haven't seen any opposum. They are one of the few critters that are NOT wanted or welcomed here.
Last week was a jackpot. I finally got to see how "Notch" is doing. He's a rather large bodied buck that has been frequenting our 'backyard' for the past 4 or 5 years. I feel that he was one of the original fawns that started visiting our feeder the first winter we moved in. He's pretty familiar with the layout of things and is not shy to come up to the feeder behind the house. Notch's rack isn't all that wide, but it sure has some width at the base and some funky looking tines. We never did find his shed from last year or the year before. Sure would have liked to have those in the basement!
We have been having some problems with the cams not taking color photos during the day. Not sure what is going on, maybe I have the settings too high and there has been too much haze so it goes to blk/wht? I don't know. Fiddled with the settings this past Sunday so will be interesting to see what shows up. Of course, I wanted to yank the chips Monday but we've been on the go go go since Saturday!
Here are my favorite photos from last week
Notch is identifiable by his ears as you can see. The one on his right ear happened about 4 years ago. The left ear happened last year, most likely during rut. I told Mike that if he does take him this year that it will be bittersweet.
Anyway, Saturday mornings are the day that we (he) goes and swaps out the chips with new ones. It's like Christmas morning turning on the camera that we have inside and seeing the photos from the week before.
Mostly we see does, fawns, some raccoons, turkeys and some blow by's. Luckily, I haven't seen any opposum. They are one of the few critters that are NOT wanted or welcomed here.
Last week was a jackpot. I finally got to see how "Notch" is doing. He's a rather large bodied buck that has been frequenting our 'backyard' for the past 4 or 5 years. I feel that he was one of the original fawns that started visiting our feeder the first winter we moved in. He's pretty familiar with the layout of things and is not shy to come up to the feeder behind the house. Notch's rack isn't all that wide, but it sure has some width at the base and some funky looking tines. We never did find his shed from last year or the year before. Sure would have liked to have those in the basement!
We have been having some problems with the cams not taking color photos during the day. Not sure what is going on, maybe I have the settings too high and there has been too much haze so it goes to blk/wht? I don't know. Fiddled with the settings this past Sunday so will be interesting to see what shows up. Of course, I wanted to yank the chips Monday but we've been on the go go go since Saturday!
Here are my favorite photos from last week
Notch is identifiable by his ears as you can see. The one on his right ear happened about 4 years ago. The left ear happened last year, most likely during rut. I told Mike that if he does take him this year that it will be bittersweet.Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Puppy Breath
It's been 9 1/2 years since we had the smell of puppy breath in our home. Yep, I think I found the litter that may have an addition to our family.
I'm not even quite sure how I ended up on the website that I did, but I found an announcement for a litter of Wirehaired Pointing Griffons that were due on 8/15/2008. Hmmm, that seems like a good date. I'm one that believes in Karma and a little superstitious and feel that dates and things happen for a reason. I did some more research on the stud dog and dam. Low and behold, the dam is Stone's Niece. I looked a little bit further back and found on the stud side of the 'niece' was a pedigree similar to Duncan's. I didn't think that I'd ever find something like his again. I'm not real familiar with the stud's line of this litter, but I can tell you, it is full of hunting dogs that have been tested in NAVHDA (North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association). Looked further and discovered that the stud OFA'd Excellent and the dam OFA'd Good. I'm happy with those odds. Now I know that fluky things happen and hips can have some issues. But at least the breeder of this litter did his research and bred something that should throw good genetics. I could actually spend hours and hours looking at pedigrees on griffs. Another dedicated breeder has compiled a database of over 15,000 griffons.
I hoping and praying that one of the males, yep, another male, will have the temperament that Dunc had. I love Stone, but wow, that boy has tested my patience more than a few times. He also is not tolerant of the barn cats, strange male dogs and will give 'a look' to strangers. Barking and size are good deterrents, but I don't want to always wonder if he's going to bite someone. He can give some pretty intimidating looks to people.
Pup will have his nose bent out of shape for a few days I'm sure. He most likely won't like the newcomer sharing his truck, his office or his mamma. I can only hope that after the initial shock, they will become good buddies.
Pictures will be posted as I get them.
I'm not even quite sure how I ended up on the website that I did, but I found an announcement for a litter of Wirehaired Pointing Griffons that were due on 8/15/2008. Hmmm, that seems like a good date. I'm one that believes in Karma and a little superstitious and feel that dates and things happen for a reason. I did some more research on the stud dog and dam. Low and behold, the dam is Stone's Niece. I looked a little bit further back and found on the stud side of the 'niece' was a pedigree similar to Duncan's. I didn't think that I'd ever find something like his again. I'm not real familiar with the stud's line of this litter, but I can tell you, it is full of hunting dogs that have been tested in NAVHDA (North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association). Looked further and discovered that the stud OFA'd Excellent and the dam OFA'd Good. I'm happy with those odds. Now I know that fluky things happen and hips can have some issues. But at least the breeder of this litter did his research and bred something that should throw good genetics. I could actually spend hours and hours looking at pedigrees on griffs. Another dedicated breeder has compiled a database of over 15,000 griffons.
I hoping and praying that one of the males, yep, another male, will have the temperament that Dunc had. I love Stone, but wow, that boy has tested my patience more than a few times. He also is not tolerant of the barn cats, strange male dogs and will give 'a look' to strangers. Barking and size are good deterrents, but I don't want to always wonder if he's going to bite someone. He can give some pretty intimidating looks to people.
Pup will have his nose bent out of shape for a few days I'm sure. He most likely won't like the newcomer sharing his truck, his office or his mamma. I can only hope that after the initial shock, they will become good buddies.
Pictures will be posted as I get them.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Tents
I haven't really been 'camping' yet this year. Sure, I spent a week at Fort Rob, but was sleeping inside a house, not really 'roughing' it.
A few of us Cowgirls are thinking of camping in a couple of weeks. The full moon in August falls on a Saturday. Plans are to have a moonlight ride if the weather holds out. After making that plan, I had a little panic attack, thinking where in the heck is my tent!? I haven't tent camped in, oh, 2 years. The last time I used my cute little tent was at Fullerton when we were at Broken Arrows.
So, after tearing the house apart and asking Mike just where my tent was (he said we didn't have a tent! I'm sure he was having bad memories of the last time we actually camped together at Big Mac...bad thunderstorm, high winds, flooding, tent got blown over and washed away...bad deal), I found it tucked away in a cooler that we no longer use. How in the world it ended up in the cooler, I will never know. I gave a little squeal and pulled the hidden treasure out to see if there was any damage. Ok, remember, last time I used it, it rained and when I left on Sunday, it was bloody hot and humid and I wasn't in a mood to pack things away nicely! No damage, no mildew, some dead bugs and dirt. Found all the poles, stakes and rain cover thingy.
Now, the goal was to roll that thing back up to fit in the duffle it came in. I'm not quite sure how exactly they roll these tents up to fit in the micro-duffles that they come in, but you can never, ever roll them up tight enough to fit ever again. I thought I had done a good job on rolling it up and went to find the duffle. What the heck, it was still half the size that I needed. Ok, unroll the tent and re-fold it, smaller. By now, my knees have little imprints of the concrete in my garage. Got it folded and stuffed into the duffle. Dang it, I forgot the rain fly thingy, I fold that up and then squish it on top of the tent and pray that the zipper doesn't burst from the pressure within. Forget about putting the poles and stakes in there, there is no room!
I'm thinking that a living quarter gooseneck or a slide in camper for my truck is sounding pretty dang good right now!
The tent is now tucked away in my trailer trunk, so I will at least have it if I ever need it.
A few of us Cowgirls are thinking of camping in a couple of weeks. The full moon in August falls on a Saturday. Plans are to have a moonlight ride if the weather holds out. After making that plan, I had a little panic attack, thinking where in the heck is my tent!? I haven't tent camped in, oh, 2 years. The last time I used my cute little tent was at Fullerton when we were at Broken Arrows.
Even then, I didn't use my tent to sleep in----it RAINED both nights we were there! I ended up in the back of my Excursion, which really wasn't all that bad. What the tent was used for was a storage place for all of my crap.
So, after tearing the house apart and asking Mike just where my tent was (he said we didn't have a tent! I'm sure he was having bad memories of the last time we actually camped together at Big Mac...bad thunderstorm, high winds, flooding, tent got blown over and washed away...bad deal), I found it tucked away in a cooler that we no longer use. How in the world it ended up in the cooler, I will never know. I gave a little squeal and pulled the hidden treasure out to see if there was any damage. Ok, remember, last time I used it, it rained and when I left on Sunday, it was bloody hot and humid and I wasn't in a mood to pack things away nicely! No damage, no mildew, some dead bugs and dirt. Found all the poles, stakes and rain cover thingy.
Now, the goal was to roll that thing back up to fit in the duffle it came in. I'm not quite sure how exactly they roll these tents up to fit in the micro-duffles that they come in, but you can never, ever roll them up tight enough to fit ever again. I thought I had done a good job on rolling it up and went to find the duffle. What the heck, it was still half the size that I needed. Ok, unroll the tent and re-fold it, smaller. By now, my knees have little imprints of the concrete in my garage. Got it folded and stuffed into the duffle. Dang it, I forgot the rain fly thingy, I fold that up and then squish it on top of the tent and pray that the zipper doesn't burst from the pressure within. Forget about putting the poles and stakes in there, there is no room!
I'm thinking that a living quarter gooseneck or a slide in camper for my truck is sounding pretty dang good right now!
The tent is now tucked away in my trailer trunk, so I will at least have it if I ever need it.
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