Who Needs Curtains?

 My living room is 13' x 13'.  It is basically a "peninsula" if you will.  Three walls have picture windows.  Standing in the middle of the room, I took some photos this morning.

North:

 

East:

West:

Who needs curtains?

One thing everyone needs on a snowy morning, though ...

Off to continue cleaning ... more later.  And maybe even some pictures of Wooskie-Butt.

Pup Trade?

Assuming the breeding took, Echo is due the first week of March.  Pups will be ready for their new homes in early May.  Depending on how many pups she has, I may have a pup or two available.  If someone would be interested in trading a pup with me, send me information about a pup/dog (young adults are ok, too) you've got or will have available and/or information on the parents.  I'm sure I'm not the first person or only person to come up with this idea, so I figure I'd just throw it out there.  It'd be an easy way for both of us to add new lines to our kennels.

Coroncodone

Came home tonight straight from work.  It was still light out.  I took the opportunity to pull up my trash can, bring it over to the area where the mobile home used to be, and clean up the two heaping piles of crap I raked up months ago.  I am starting to prepare that area for my garden.  When I come home tomorrow night, I'll rake it all up real good, and start popping the T-posts in the ground so I can put up the hog panels around it.  I'm going to move Bacon into there so he can till the ground for me.  I am not sure HOW I'm going to convince Bacon to cooperate, but a bucket of grain will probably help.  We'll see. 

When it got dark, I came in the house and putzed around, made a pot pie (Marie Callendar's creamy mushroom chicken ... it was actually pretty good).  I unpacked a box of toiletries from my old house.  It's amazing all of the products I've been living without for the last few months.  Every time I needed something, I had to buy it.  Now I have a surplus of tampons, conditioner, lotions, etc.  Oh, and speaking of lotions, I ordered a bunch of Bath & Body Works lotions online ... for less than 1/2 price ... and it all came today!  Woo hoo!  My lotion supply was getting pretty grim.  Festive Vanilla Fig rocks! 

My mouth has been pretty good, although a bit sore at times.  I took a Vicodin this morning, and then drove to work.  Dumb dumb dumb.  I was fighting falling asleep on my way in.  I'll do that differently tomorrow.  Was pretty sore when I got home because I hadn't taken anything since 6:00 this morning.    Took another tonight, and had a couple of beers.  Much more comfortable. 

Dye in a box.  Yeah, I'm doing my hair.  Dark.  Hopefully it will cover up some of the gray.  Thanks mom.

Why is it that no one these days questions anything?  And if you do question stuff, you're labeled a bad guy troublemaker.  What is wrong with people nowadays?  Are we all turning into sheep?  Just go with the flow ... don't cause any waves ... just do what you're supposed to ... put your head down ... and by golly ... don't ask questions.

Screw that.

I'm sorry ... I'm not paying "membership dues" that do not get me anything.  I'm all about supporting the different herding organizations, and I do by putting on trials and advertising, etc.  But if all the "membership" entails is receiving a newsletter every couple of months, full of information that I can usually find online, I'll save my money and put it towards an entry fee or ... needles to stick in my eyeballs.  Thanks, though.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this weekend, and hopefully moving more stuff into the house.  I am avoiding painting or touching up paint, or finding something new to paint.  Pretending I don't know what paint is.  Hands over my ears ... lalalalalala

Gotta go rinse my hair out and hit the hay.

Night all.

Need an idear (as pronounced by my mother)

But first ... who is going to post on the couch with the lovely Echo Monster?

Gee ... can you guess who wins?

So there's my couch in place.  No, I haven't scrubbed the overspray off that one section of the hardwood floors yet, and no, those are not the permanent curtains. 

I want to personally thank Craigslist.  I found the exact dining room table and chair set I was wanting ... all for the whopping price of $50. 

I picked up a load of my crap from Kirk and Janie's hangar today.  I was mainly after the glass shelf for my refrigerator (the pieces to my fridge seem to be in like 4 different places and I'm not done collecting them all yet), but found a piece of furniture I forgot I had ...

(ignore the dirt ... I haven't cleaned it yet)

But it matches my table and chair set nicely, so now I have to decide where to put it.

I did a load of wash tonight.  The water is still backing up into my tub because of the grout that went down my bathtub drain, and what a gross film it leaves in the tub.  It is also causing the hookups at the washer to leak all over the place.  I am going to have to have the contractor come back out and clean this out.  I'm not looking forward to that bill, but it needs to get done.  I don't see this getting any better.  Oh another day in paradise.  Have I told you about my love/hate relationship with home ownership???

Oh, so here's where I need an idear. 

The pellet stove is in.  The tile pad that it sits on is all done and looks awesome!  Here's a photo.

I'm sure you see more than one dilemma there, but the one I am trying to get worked out is that bag of pellets.  I need to figure out something to hide it with.  I'd like to go with something antique and country.  Kirk and Janie have a great metal antique washtub with a lid that they use ... kinda like this one ...

So I don't want to do the same thing.  It would kinda be like wearing the exact same shirt as your best friend and then standing next to her all day.  Wouldn't that be tacky?  ;-)

So I'd like to find something different, but sort of the same idea.  Thought about using an old milk can, but it would be too narrow and too much of a hassle.

There are some great old wooden chests ... but I haven't found one that I like enough yet.

I can't think of other antique-looking things that would work in that space that would be the right size or whatever.  Any ideas?  Please throw some at me, even if you feel they are stupid.  It might spark an idea for someone else or whatever. 

K thanks.  Vicodin and bed ... here I come!

Clinic and stuff

(How's that for a creative title?  They get better and better, don't they?)

So, as you can guess, Colleen came down this weekend.  She pulled in Friday night around 7:00.  We sat and had a few beers, and then the sock-sliding contest began.  You know ... hardwood floors ... two drunk chicks in socks ... what did you expect to happen?  So we made a bet.  We didn't clarify the terms, but the winner got to make the loser do something.  I lost.  I had a great time, and Colleen cheated (yes she did! can you believe it? me either!), but the last round was pretty clear ... she won.

Saturday morning, we got up early, and being that I had some errands to run that day, we took two separate trucks.  Got about five miles from my house when Colleen's truck broke down.  So we put all the dogs in my truck, called the tow truck and headed to the clinic. 

It's always nice to see people you haven't seen in a while, and a relaxed clinic environment makes it even better.  Patrick was his usual awesome self, and Dianne is a great host.  I brought Whiskey for the socialization, and socialize she did!  I finally got to meet Leonard -- the gentleman I had been corresponding with via email who was looking for a pup.  I hooked him up with the Closes, and Colleen delivered his pup to him when she came down to the fun day.  I was running a dog at the time or something and didn't get a chance to say hi then, but ended up sitting next to him at the clinic.  Leonard, if you're reading this, it was great meeting you and I hope to see you at Dianne's clinic!  Abby is way too adorable!  I look forward to watching her grow up.

Saturday night, a group of us went out for Chinese food at one of the local restaurants here in Nampa.  The food was pretty good, but with a group that size, as usual, the service left something to be desired, as did the seating arrangement, etc.  But we all ate, drank, and made the best of it. 

Colleen and I decided to go out for a beer or ten afterwards, and we ended up meeting up with Katy and hung out at Whiskey Roes in Homedale.  Colleen's plan was to make me sing for losing the sock sliding contest.  The only glitch was ... I was driving, so I couldn't drink much, and no one can sing karaoke sober.  We settled on me buying Colleen shots and Colleen would sing.  See previous photos.  What a riot!  She did great!  I had no idea that she was really a rock star underneath it all!  Go Col!

Sunday, I dropped Colleen off at the clinic, and did some shopping.  Stopped by Janie's on the way back and had a yummy homemade cinnamon roll and chatted for a bit.  While I was there, I made contact with someone selling the exact dining room table and chair/bench set I have been wanting to find for a reasonable price.  Got directions and went down and picked it up.  For the price, I feel like I stole it!  I'll take photos tomorrow and post them.

That night, Colleen and I went back to Janie & Kirk's, and Kirk cooked up the steaks and stuff that we bought over.  Yummy! 

I went to work on Monday and Colleen headed home.  Work was pretty uneventful.  Came home, and ended up going back up to Janie's to pick up some hay for the sheep.  Nice hay!  This was some replacement stuff because of a mistaken load that was delivered last fall that had some foxtails and stuff in it.  The sheep were much happier.  Janie has a student at her house right now ... Michelle.  Michelle cooked some stuffed bell peppers that were to die for!  I took one home and had it for lunch today.  I love it when Janie has students in town.  The food is incredible!  LOL!

Late this afternoon, I had a dentist appointment.  I had 4 molars pulled.  These are the first four of seven total that I will be having removed.  The pulling of the teeth itself was pretty miserable, however, the dentist was really nice, and did it pretty quickly.  What we first thought would be oral surgery turned out to be "simple" extractions, and he didn't need to slice me apart.  It feels so much better now not having those cracked teeth anymore.  So between now and July, I will be having three more teeth pulled, a couple of cavities filled, and a deep cleaning done.  After July, we'll do the two partials, and I will be done with teeth work for a while, and I will have a healthy mouth for the first time in many years.  Feels good to be moving in a positive direction.  Forward.  Imagine that.

Meds are kicking in and I'm fading.  Night all.

Kriptonite!

"If I go crazy then ... "

"...will you still call me Superman..."

"If I’m alive and well, will you be there a-holding my hand ..."

"I’ll keep you by my side with my superhuman might ... "

"KRYPTONITE!"

 Hey Col, any time we go to Whiskey Roes, your shots are on me, and I'll call you whatever you want!  

Too much fun!

J

Don't Phone Home

If you need to get a hold of me, you'll have to email me.  My phone just fritzed out.  (Don't ask me how.  I'm not telling you!)

More progress!

The first load of laundry ... what a mess!  The water didn't drain and ended up all over the floor of my utility room.  I called the handyman who worked on it, and he came out and checked it out.  He called me and asked me if there was someone putting grout down the drain.  Um yeah.  Well, the handyman got the drain cleared enough so that when the washer drains, it will first drain into the bathtub, and then drain out from there.  For now, that's fine.  I'll deal with it later.  I'll just have to remember not to try to take a shower while I have a load of wash going.  So I ended up doing a couple of loads of laundry last night.  And finally I can wash all the yucky towels and things I've been wiping up the floors with and such.  Woo hoo!

My electrician ... his name is Bryce (girlfriend's name is Linda and their cute son is Scotty) ... ended up doing a lot of non-electrician work in my house.  He switched the water and dryer positions for me so that the washer is on the left (nuerotic thing on my part, I guess) and then piped the vent out the wall.  Much better than that stupid $7 little box that you put water in that my handyman talked me into. 

Linda and Scotty came over too, and Linda took to cleaning the hot tub out.  For those of you that looked inside that nasty thing, it is now all cleaned out.  Scrubbed clean with Comet.

Bryce also hooked up all of the shower parts and my new curtain rod so I actually have a shower now, instead of a handheld thing I was contending with.  I loved showering this morning.

Bummer.  I just realized I forgot something from the house.  Bryce also plugged in my fridge, and hooked up the water for the ice maker, but water leaked all over the floor.  We figured out that, in the move, we must have broken the filter and water was leaking through.  Bryce finally got the old filter out of the fridge, and I left it on the counter instead of taking it with me so I could replace it and start making ice.  Rrrgh.

I broke out the crockpot and made a big stew last night.  Cooked it all night and then stuck it in the fridge this morning.  I didn't have any tupperware to put it in to take it to work today.  It will be nice when I really get all moved in.  But ... I have dinner waiting for me tonight.  Can't wait!

And ... best news yet ... Bryce got the hot tub working!  The jets work!  The thermometer thing works!  And I believe the heater is working.  (It was hard to tell because he filled it with warm water from my water heater last night.)  So I am going to stop tonight to get the chemicals.  I'm jazzed!  That will be awesome!

I have started clipping coupons.  I mentioned to my friend at work that I haven't found my coupon sorter yet, so she said I could have one of hers and that she would bring it to me the next day.

Remember "The Barn" ... you know the comic strip I keep talking about?  THIS ONE.   Well, my friend at work brought me the coupon sorter.  She had gone out to the dollar store and bought me a new one, and did this to it!

This shows the many faces of Rory (the sheep) and friends:

And this one shows screenshots of our favorite strips!

Is that not the coolest thing???  I love it!!!

I Have A Dog

By Jodi Darling

I have a dog.
His name is Jag.

I cut off his balls.
So they don't sag.

I have a dog.
His name is Zip.

He has balls.
Until they go snip.

I have a dog.
Her name is Whiskey.

She's red and cute.
And fluffy and frisky.

I have a pig.
His name is Bacon.

He screams like a girl.
No fakin'.

I have a dog.
Her name is Echo.

She laughs at me.

What a bitch.

One Load Down ...

Couch came over yesterday with his giant trailer, we went to my storage unit, and I helped him (I was going to say he helped me, but that's not quite accurate) load my fridge, short couch, washer, dryer, microwave, a couple of tables, and a few incidentals.  We basically took all of the stuff I can't load myself.  We put the fridge in place, opened it up, and lo and behold, there is this lovely black fuzzy stuff growing in there.  So I spritzed it with some water and closed it again.  I hope that stuff turns into cash or something. 

Yuck.  I didn't take photos of it.  Nice of me, eh?

I've spent the better part of this morning cleaning the mold out.  I can't believe I am 40 years old and never thought about leaving that friggin' door open.  It didn't happen in the fridge ... small favors and all. 

The washer and dryer are in place, but the dryer plug that the contractor installed is the latest and greatest, and doesn't work for my "old" (5 years old?) dryer.  So the electrician is coming back out to take care of it some time today.

And I now have a house to clean ... again. 

Oh, and I have a new resident coming in at noon.  :-) 

More later ...

Cute as a bug's ear

What have I been working on?  I'm not sure I can tell you.  I little of this, a little of that, but managing to stay busy.

Friday morning, I woke up to a flat tire.  I called Roadside Assistance.  I told them I don't have any tools ... just the jack.  I was aware of this because when Katy got her flat tire, I was going to help her but realized I didn't own a jack handle or a lug wrench.  RA comes out, and they are unable to lower my tire from under the truck bed because ... I don't have the jack handle that I told them I didn't have.  The guy tells me I should have the truck towed.  I said, "No, I'll figure it out."  So I called around to find a jack handle and lug wrench.  Schucks do not keep them in stock and would need to order them.  The junkyards don't inventory them, so I would need to go there and look through vehicles for something that is surely not there.  So I called the dealer.  They have them, but they want me to buy the jack, the tools and the bag ... for close to $170 dollars.  Um no.  He finally got authority from his boss to break up the set and just sell me the tools I need for $60.  Fine.  I put it on a credit card, and the salesman who sold me the truck several years ago lives near me so he took the parts home for me, and Janie drove me over there Saturday morning to pick them up.

I get home with my new tools, and I call Roadside Assistance to come change my tire -- again.  It's raining.  My RA expires next week, and I might as well use it since I pay for it.  So the guy comes back out.  When he called me to tell me he was on his way, he asks me if I got the tools.  I assured him I had.

He gets there, jacks up the truck with his own jack and then puts the jack handle together, and is looking around the bed of the truck for where to put it ... the wheel well, under the truck, etc., and is not figuring it out.  Standing under the eve of my house while it continues to rain, I tell him that the place to put the jack handle is somewhere right over the license plate.  I leave him to do his thing. 

I check on him a few minutes later, and he still has not gotten the tire lowered.  He tells me that the hole isn't lining up and he can't get the tool locked on.  I asked him, "So they sold me the wrong thing?"  He said, "No, but it's not working.  You're going to have to have the truck towed and see what one of those tire places can do for you." 

He left.  I looked at Kirk (who had shown up just a few minutes prior) and said, "Looks like I'll have to do it myself."  So Kirk and I went to Walmart and bought some stuff, and then came back to the house.  He was going to go back to his house because he needed to pick something up that he'd forgotten, when he looked at the back of my truck -- right near the license plate -- and, pointing at a little round thing with a keyhole in it, said:  "What's that for?"  I said, "I don't know."  I took my truck key, inserted it, turned it, and lo and behold, it turned and the little cap popped out with nothing behind it.  I looked into the hole, and imagine that, it lines up to the area where you put the jack handle in to lower the tile.  Ford made it so no one can steal my spare.  I can understand Roadside not knowing every little thing about every vehicle, but like Kirk pointed out ... this is all in something magical called an "Owner's Manual" ... that RA never asked me for!  He would have had me tow the truck.  Wow.

So Kirk went back home and I changed my tire myself.  Consulting the owner's manual, I was able to figure it all out.  Whodathunkit?  A little wet, a little dirty, I was none the worse for wear.

The electrician has finally finished all of the work I was having him do.  There are now flood lights over the lambing pens, over the backyard, and over the dog run.  I have a porch light!  And there's a motion light in the driveway.  I bought a new fan/light for the living room that's bushed nickle with dark wood fan blades.  The brushed nickle matches the curtain rods.  I was looking for a little chandelier for the dining room, and Home Depot had them for a couple of hundred bucks.  I wasn't paying that.  I found one on Craigslist for $20 ... and it's brushed nickle!  Woo hoo!  There's also a new ... very bright light in the kitchen.  And we moved the old brushed nickle kitchen fixture into the dining room.

Here's some photos.

The dining room:

Here's the living room.  That's the pellet stove sitting in the middle of the room.  The tile pad is almost done, and then Kirk will stall it.  Can't wait!  It will totally make the room!  (The curtains are the old panels I used in my rental.  Janie's making the new curtains.)

Here's the light in the kitchen.  Sorry about the photo.

Janie made my kitchen curtains for me last night.  I love the material!  We left the edges frayed and it's such a great look! 

Kirk also hooked up my sink.  I just tied the curtains back with hair ties just to see what it would look like.  The sink needs a really good scrubbing.  It's got quite a bit of paint on it, just like everything else I own.

I also bought a little freezer to store meat and stuff in.  It's an older freezer, and I plugged it in and it works great.  It makes quite a bit of a humming noise, though.  Does anyone have a chest freezer?  Is it supposed to make noise?

That's all for now ...

Jodi

Screw This!

Just in case anyone was under the very mistaken impression that I actually LIKE remodeling this house, I am here to tell you that the truth is quite different.

I have learned several things.  One of those is that I do. not. know. how. to. screw. a. screw. in. the. wall.  Profanities come flying out of my mouth faster than anything else, and if I owned the screw gun I am using, it would have gone through the window ... every window ... by now.  Remember those lovely painted walls?  They now have holes in them.  Lots of them.

I have a feeling I am going to say "screw it" and hammer a few nails in the walls, hang up a few sheets and call it good.

The new fan looks great, though.  I didn't screw that into the ceiling, though.  Mr. Electrician did.

Back to go screw more holes in the pretty painted walls.

J

Takin' a break for a minute ...

Well, I worked at my real job today and came home tired.  Didn't do anything when I got here but enjoy the dogs for a bit.  Someone came out (Craigslist ad) and took the old slate tile that we took out of the kitchen.  I felt bad throwing it out, so I put it up on CL for free, and a very cute family came out and weeded through what I had and took the better pieces.  They are going to do some mosaic stuff on some pillars on their deck.  I asked them to send me photos when they are done.  We'll see.

The dog run is working.  No one is escaping.  :-)

I am selling the old range, and it seems I have a buyer for it.  He should be out tomorrow.

My electrician blew me off today.  Supposed to be out tomorrow morning.  We'll see.  My patience will run very short very quickly with this.  There are too many people who WANT to work to mess around with flaky people.  Nice kid, but I am not impressed.

I can't believe how late it is.

Went to Janie and Kirk's.  Kirk made dinner.  It was yummy, as always.

Tomorrow, Janie's friend Penny is coming to town.  She is a kick in the pants.  I hope I get to see her.

I bought a Belgian Waffle maker off CL.  I haven't had a Belgian waffle in a long time.  Jaenne picked it up for me, so I need to get together with her to pay her for it.  Cook up a couple of waffles with some bacon and a duck egg or two ... YUM!

I want to go on a romantic sleigh ride up in McCall with a nice looking guy and see elk and stuff.  Bucket List item.

Looks like I'll probably be moving some stuff in this weekend.  I can't wait to have my stuff around.

I'm tired.  Heading to bed. 

Jodi

Coming Together ...

I don't know where I left off, so I'll just start writing.

I got the kitchen vanity installed.  I just threw the mirror up there until I figure out how to hang it.  I am also about to order the shower riser for the tub so I can stop taking showers with the hand held shower head.

I got a killer deal on a pellet stove, so Kirk has been busy this weekend working on the tile base for it, and prepping to install it.  I can't wait.  That is going to absolutely make this house.

I'm putting the curtains up in the dining room.  Cute little things, and this photo doesn't do them any justice.

I've been painting the kitchen ... endlessly.  It is taking several coats to cover those nasty, very dark colors.

I have also been burning lots and lots of sticks and crap in the burn barrel.  The barrel has been on fire since early Saturday morning.  Hopefully, by spring, I'll have the backyard all cleaned up.

While I was out there burning, the races started.

Off they go!

The huddle ... deciding on the next big move.

"Should we do it?  Should we do it?"

"Let's get ready ..."

"Let's go!"

"Round and round the mulberry bush ..."

"Go!  Go!  Go!"

"Faster!  Faster!"

"Harder!  Harder!"

Oops!

"Dogs never bite me.  Just humans." -Marilyn Monroe

I also bought a new kitchen range.  I thought I would just live with the one that came with the house, but as it grew closer and closer to putting it back in the space we took it out of, the more I was dreading it.  One burner doesn't work, and the light in the oven doesn't work, and neither does the clock or timer.  So really ... all I could do is make it get hot ... or most of it anyway.  So I looked on Craigslist, and found another killer deal.  This stove has all the bells and whistles and they all work!  It's all hooked up.  Thanks Kirk!

And yes, new tile above the stove!  The "Tile Fairies" came and made it all so pretty!  Here's a closeup.

Here's the cabinet on the other side of the kitchen (right behind me while I was taking the above photo).  The cabinet is one I bought off Craigslist for $35.  Kirk installed it and made it pretty and cut all of the tile for it.  I painted it. 

So, it was quite a productive weekend.  I Whiskey-proofed the dog run, so now she can't squeeze through the bars.  (It's also duck-proof in case I decide to switch things up a bit.)  Got quite a bit of painting done in the kitchen, sealed all of the tile that's already been grouted, hung curtains in the dining room, put up the curtain rods in the kitchen, lined some of the kitchen shelves with some pretty cool shelf paper, spent a ton of money at Home Depot, and got the electrician all set up to come tomorrow and install lights outside (motion light in the driveway, regular porch light, flood lights in the backyard, over the lambing pens, and over the kennel, and then move some other lights around, and install a 4-banger big light thing in the kitchen.  I'll be happy to come home to that stuff tomorrow.

Echo is back home from being over at Cash's house.  I hate admitting this, but I missed her while she was gone, and am glad she's home. 

I found some additional, quite disturbing, information about the food we eat, but I am way too tired to address it or wrap my brain around it at the moment.  I will be doing more research this week, and then expect a big long rant on the issue.  I will be doing it more to document my research, but I hope it also helps at least one person.

Happy tails,
Jodi

Food for Thought

I have been thinking about how to set up my place come spring as far as pastures and pens and things for the different animals that will be there.  I'd like to make the best use of the pasture grass, and the small space, that I own. 

Janie's been reading Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and discussing it with me quite a bit.  I am going to order a copy so I can read it myself.  It is an excellent resource for rotational pasture raising.  We have had many discussions on feed lots, grocery store foods, genetically modified foods, etc. and it's really starting to get under my skin.

I watched Super-Size Me (gross) and most recently ... The Future of Food ... and it has convinced me that I really need to make the effort to grow my own food and cut the food I buy from the grocery store to a minimum as soon as possible.  I can't go all-out immediately like I normally try to do with stuff (and fail miserably most of the time), so this will be a slow process.  But I am going to make the effort.  I do not like the way the animals are treated in the feedlots, and I do not agree with genetically modifying foods or all of the chemicals used in the majority of farming today.

There is a movie out now ... Food, Inc. ... which I hope to see very soon.

Like most Americans, I didn't think much about any of this, and if you were to ask me where food came from, I would have told you (tongue-in-cheek), "the grocery store."  However, over the last year or so, I have been scratching the surface of looking into where food really comes from, I couldn't be more grossed out, and couldn't feel any worse for the farmers out there who have been struggling to do things right.  They will be the ones that get my business.

Check into some of this.  If nothing else, it's great food for thought.

Jodi

Sheep Bridge

If I post the photo here, it won't be as large as it could be for you to enjoy it ... so I am posting the link for you to click on.

SHEEP BRIDGE

How would you like pushing sheep over that bridge as a part of a trial?  I think that would be a kick!  Check out the LGD in the middle of the photo.

The photo was posted on a blog I really enjoy reading.  It's called Lava Lake.  Check it out.  You won't be disappointed.

Roller Coaster House

This house thing has been quite a trip.  I go from loving it to never wanting to see it again in .02 seconds flat.

I haven't done anything these last couple of days.  Friday was our fun day.  The weather was rainy, cold, and windy.  My favorite.  We had to put up a new arena so no one (sheep, dogs, or people) broke their legs from slipping on the ice.  There were quite a few dogs and the owners braved it with us.  Lunch was yummy, thanks again to Kirk.

Colleen is down from Northern Idaho!  Woo hoo!

The whiskey was flowing and I don't remember the rest of the night, so I can't tell you about it.  Something to do with coming back to my house, Janie bringing us dinner, hanging out by the burn barrel, and somehow earning the nickname, "Crash."

Sunday morning, Colleen and I went out to Dianne's for Colleen's lesson.  While getting ready, Colleen went out and warmed up her truck.  When we went back out to leave, we discovered that she locked her keys in her truck ... while it was running.  The door wasn't completely shut, so while she was trying the old hanger trick with wire that was much too flimsy, my handyman showed up to fix a leaky sink.  What luck!  He and his partner finally got the window rolled down so Colleen could get in. 

Anyway, out at Dianne's, she and Reena made some really good progress.  They drove back and forth across the arena and everything was nice and controlled. 

We then stopped for lunch so I could put something in the horribly abused stomach of mine, and went home and got ready to go to mountains to find some hot springs.  Drove past the first ones, only to find like 15 cars lined up.  No thanks.

Headed to others north of Crouch only to find the road was closed.  That turned into a hike with the dogs for a bit.

Hopped back in the truck and headed east of Crouch, only to find a spring that a couple of people were at.  They yelled up the hill, "C'mon down ... we're done."  Woo hoo!  We get down there, and the water is ... luke warm.  Bummer.  Not worth getting wet for.

We go back down to the original springs that had 15 people at it, and there were the same amount of people, if not more now.  So we headed back down to Horseshoe Bend and had dinner.  Came home, watched a movie and crashed.

Colleen heads back up the Northern Idaho today.  :-( 

I guess I need to focus and get the rest of my kitchen painted so I can move in.



Party's over ...

Jodi