IT'S SO HOT....

It's so hot, my chickens are laying boiled eggs! PHEW...what in the world??? Here's the thermometer outside my kitchen window the other day! Today it was only 107 and it felt like a cold front had come through! No rain in sight...everything is drying up and blowing away in this oppressiveness!

This is kind of a random posting this time...not a whole lot going on - it's too hot to ride and quite frankly, it's too hot to do much of anything outside past 8am! Found this picture of Zack - from back in the spring when Jake and Blue (cousin) had him stand on the tailgate of the pick up while they saran wrapped (that industrial size plastic wrap that you wrap your round bales in to protect from the weather)him to the telephone pole...and then....pulled the pick up away and left Zack wrapped to the pole...I know in the last two postings, I have had a photo of Zack and some kind of "pole adventure"...I think all that pole stuff comes from my mother's side of the family! HA!!!

I've been heading into town every morning at about 7:45 to hit the gym...walk 3 miles, do arms and abs...exercise sure does make you feel better...it originally started as PT for my ankle, but now that the ol' ankle is getting more range of motion, I am continuing to go...here's what I see every morning!The middle treadmill is where I go...no one else is in there at that hour, so I flip on the flatscreen, watch the Early Show and powerwalk! It faces the street, so I can watch everyone heading to work for the day.


Coons are doing great and now when they hear my voice, they scramble down the hollow tree to get their bottles!

The heat has really hindered the growth in the garden...even with daily watering, it's just too hot for everything...I think we've harvested 3 yellow squash and that's it!

Dyke decided to till it up, to keep the soil aerated. Had to locate and put the two turtles, that live in the garden, in a bucket while Dyke tilled... these turtles have lived in the garden for more than 2 years. During the winter, they burrow down and hibernate and come spring and early summer, here they come tunneling back out! I feed them canned catfood and they just gobble it up!

It sure looked good when he got finished! The concrete curb and fence is much better for a garden out here...it keeps the moisture-sapping wind away from direct contact with the plants and the bermuda grass in the yard can't creep in and cause more weeding than necessary!

BREAKING NEWS: Just purchased a new vehicle...Chevy Equinox. It's gorgeous and I get to pick it up tomorrow! I can't wait! My maiden voyage will begin next Wednesday when I (solo) drive it to Santa Fe (I've never been there), stay the night and prowl around that historic, high end gallery town and then head north to pick up Zack in Taylor Park, Co. where he's been working at the same adventure camp that Dyke and I worked at for 5+ years! So...lots of fun blogs to come out of all of that!! Blog ya later!

THE SADDLEBAGS ARE STOCKED WITH NEW ADVENTURES FOR ALL!

Friday was my last day of work and oh was I glad that summer had finally gotten here! It was like the last day of a long pregnancy...seemed like it would never get here! Although I miss my kids A LOT, I certainly am ready for a break in the madness! During the last week of school, I visited with the Fire Chief about the possibility of having one of the fire trucks attend our SPLASH DAY, for those who qualified due to their good behavior. It worked out perfectly and I was so thankful that there were no fires to fight that afternoon! The kids had an unbelievable time and it was a super way to end the school year!During that last week, before school was out, I had headed back to work after my "home-rodeo wreck". A teaching friend talked me into letting her take me to Wichita Falls to get "a second opinion" on my ankle. As we neared WF, I decided to call a friend who is also an athletic trainer (and helped us when Jake broke his tibia) to see what he thought, where we should go, who we should see... He told me that he'd like to take a look at it, but that he was not at home. I told him that we were headed to WF. He said, "Where are you on the highway?" I told him where we were and like it was already planned out, he said, "I'm only 2 exits in front of you...I'll pull off on the access road under the overpass - meet me there and I'll take a look at it. SO, here I am on the tailgate of his pick up, after he checked it! He said that it wasn't broken, but that it would take about 6 weeks to heal up...After my examination, we turned around and headed back to Vernon! Crazy, eh?? Divine Intervention! Being that I was all crutched-up...I didn't make it to the rodeo this year...but one of my friends who is an accomplished photographer, shared these pics with me!

On the East Coast, they do things a little more refined, classic and elegant-like...my two young nieces competed in a horseshow in West Springfield, Massachusetts...It must be in the blood! I remember showing "ENGLISH-STYLE" when I was young...brought back many fond memories!

My brother and his family at the West Springfield horseshow!


Our 23rd anniversary - a night together, a fine meal at Olive Garden and 2 boys the didn't want their picture taken...

SMILE BOYS!

Rehabbing a couple of raccoons...trying to start them on the bottle...

Quick naptime then back out to the tree!

Once they got the hang of the bottle, it was MUCH EASIER!

Zack taught Cole how to "pole dance"...out at the lake!



Last week, Zack took his boater's ed test and passed, so now he is licensed to drive boats, jet skiis and the like.......oh goodness, next is his driver's permit! Dyke and Zack headed to the Texas Coast to do some saltwater fishing, camping on Matagorda Island and just soaking up some rays!
Several fishing yarns about how he "caught the big one, but it got away"...he even had the lure with straightened hooks to prove that this big Jack Cravalle fish got away! I'd never heard of a Jack Cravalle, so I googled it...here's what one looks like...

It's been brutally hot, dry and 40 mph winds on most days...summer hasn't even started! Please pray for rain!

Then, there are places in this awesome country where there is so much water that the deer find the only dry ground around...someone's front porch!

We've had some severe weather already come by us...brought a couple inches of rain, and moved on to Oklahoma...

This is a picture after the recent tornado hit one of the dorms at Springfield College in Massachusetts, where I went to school -it's 1.5 hours from my parents home! C-R-A-Z-Y!!! Tornados in Massachusetts??

Jake's girlfriend came to visit us! Of course Jake didn't want "their" picture taken, so I had to borrow one from her! She is darling and definitely keeps him under control! She's on the equestrian team at WT and as uncanny as it is...she and I have a lot in common! It was amazing!

OFF THE CUFF...

I love words, and their creative usage - especially when they make you laugh out loud ...Here are some fun puns that I discovered:

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet writes inverse.

18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you'd be in Seine .

21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'

22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'

23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'

25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Another great nugget of info - FOOD FOR THOUGHT... to share is: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT! (Many of you may have seen this before, but it's sure worth repeating!)

It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... All before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We're such slow learners...God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!
God's Pharmacy! Amazing!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... And YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

SO...Be Safe - Work Hard - Eat Well - and Praise GOD Each Day for The Breath That He Gives You To Do The Things You Love!