Miracles Happen

from AP News...
The photo, below, shows a Japanese soldier right after he discovered a four-month-old baby in the rubble in the village of Ishinomaki. The soldiers somehow managed to locate the baby's father, who thought his baby had washed away with the tsunami's waves, and reunite them. "Her discovery has put a new energy into the search," a civil defence official told The Daily Mail. "We will listen, look and dig with even more diligence after this."

I'm so glad Spring is here!

I think they are too...

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

We got SNOW!!!

Now that may not be saying much to some of you folks. But here in SE Texas, it's saying something. Not only did we have SNOW!, but we beat the record for earliest timing of it ever happening. December 10th was the date of the previous record. We got SNOW! on December 4th.

AND, we got more than the little sprinkle that is gone once it hits the ground.
Just look!

{Remember, all pics can be clicked for a spectacular view~ you may even see the Woodpecker on the tree with the swing}

Our little cow dinner bell even caught snow...

A view off the back porch looking towards the barn...

Below is a view looking off the end of the front porch towards the one neighbor we have.
We're holding onto that sad tree as long as it can hold a swing-we had a big 'replacement' tree put in directly behind it just waiting-you can't see the tree in this pic, but those are the leafed branches from it sticking out.

Looking down the front porch (hi pups) towards the pasture...

Our little tree and the SNOW! outside...

We even had enough to make a little snowman -thanks to 'daddy', of course...

Acorns served as eyes, a baby carrot was his nose, and an aloe-vera leaf was the mouth...

The next day, most of the snow had melted away- enough for Smidgen to get a good sunning in dry grass...

Thankful Thursday: Garage Doors

Garage doors are a goodly semi-expensive thing. And, if they didn't complete the look of the house so... I wouldn't want to pay for one. But, alas, they do put a finishing touch on things, so we're getting a new one.

Ours is toast. It started with Hurricane Ike blowing her out. Since then, and being on a hill getting good winds, my handy-other half has fixed her up about four times now. But, with this last blowout, she not only came off the track (again), but folded back in on herself. She has been officially pronounced dead. So, we have a new one on order.

So, it's garage doors I'm thankful for on this Thursday. And I'll be more thankful when the new one is finally installed and ready to go.

Weather or Not, It Doesn't Add Up

Duel front gate opener ~ $600.00 (plus tax)
5.1 Surround Sound headphones ~ $240.00 (plus tax & shipping)
Atomic clock ~ $29.00 (plus tax)
Cordless phone ~ $59.00 (plus tax)
La Crosse Remote Weather Station ~ $110.00 (plus tax & shipping

____________________________________________

$ TOTAL: Over a Thousand Bucks

Do you know what these above items have in common? Actually, they have TWO things in common.

1. They are all wireless devices.
2. They are all toast.

Saturday, just after 2 PM, I walked back up the hall after putting our toddler down for her nap. My other half had his 5.1 surround sound wireless (in other words, expensive) headphones on -he had just started watching a movie (while Little Someone took her nap). I came from the hall, entering the foyer area that opens into the living room, and CRACK! (was like a loud bullwhip going off in my ears) accompanied by a white light.

Holy Cannoli! I about wet my pants ...but didn't. My husband turned and took his headphones off. We looked blankly at one another for a second and then I told him what I heard and saw... he heard it too and his headphones stopped working. So, he went up in the attic to see if we had been hit. No signs. Came back in the living room and we smelled a distinct burnt smell... an electronic burnt smell, it IS distinct. It was the receiver for his headphones.

Well, poopy-doop. That wasn't all... everything we had that was wireless was toast ~ no worky, kaput, out of commission, done for AND we each had headaches for short period of time. Aaarrghhh!

BUT, at the same time, I was having SUCH great respect for Momma Nature and LIGHTENING and EMFs. We were getting some weather outside at the time, but hadn't particularly noticed much lightening. That's probably what the last golfer that got struck by lightening said too... well, if it didn't kill him. Okay, so I'm thankful nothing more happened.

But, what doesn't add up is the amount. Well, yeah, it adds up. But, it's less than out home owner's insurance deductible. Hence, it doesn't add up.
Well poopy.

A Hum-Dinger of a Storm

So, if you've been reading, you know that I have been posting about the "hum-dingerness" of last week. The Hum-dinger of a Refinance and the Hum-Dinger of a Wild Cat were two reasons. But, there was a third reason causing again, Lack of Sleep.

(sorry, upon proofreading *late* (ha), I see that digression ensues...)

My friends, sleep is SO important. There is a reason why it was/is used on POWs -as a means of torture and getting information. Our brain HAS to have it. The stability of its electro-chemical wiring is dependent on it...we MALFUNCTION when we don't get it in the right quantity and/or quality. Okay, as it I have side-barred enough... A Lack of Sleep is really the main reason I'm going 'Ugghh' on having another child. I don't do well without sleep. I am a calm, even-tempered person... actual I have been called "bubbly"and cheerful ... but with out sleep... ?? ... so I digress.

Okay... so... the storm... so, I'm sitting on the couch scrupulously reading over a hoard of bank documents to make sure that there are no errors and we are not signing into some crazy agreement that has us pay an interest rate equal to my husband's shoe size (he has big feet), when I hear the wind start to kick up. Okay, so, the wind is kicking up. "They" (the weathermen, I watched more than one) said a front was coming. Well, the wind continues with more gusto. So I set my all important documents down in perfect order and head to the computer. I open the NOAA weather site that has radar for our region of Texas and, yup, there's a bright red line fast approaching. I gauged the distance traveled in the loop with beginning and end times and guessed it to approach at 12:30 AM. It was 11:50 PM at this point.

Well, let me tell you, yes, this baby picked up winds slowly and steadily all up until 12:25 when I thought Dorthy and Toto were coming to visit. Our west door started humming so loudly, like a loud off-key clarinet. At first, I sat there, listened, and tried reading more- when, all at once, the clarinet started screaming(!)... I just KNEW my daughter was going to wake up... and my mom (she was visiting) and my husband. I immediately got up and went to push the door back. The noise ceased, but then the door pushed me back ...let's just say, I did not wet my pants... but, very well could have. I pushed back harder to make the whine stop. Then, I started contemplating if I should go into the hall closet for safety... but what about my daughter... I don't hear a train... it's not a tornado... just high wind... gees, are the windows going to blow out... maybe I shouldn't worry about holding the door... no, the noise might wake everyone, they're still asleep... sooo, I stood there holding the door so all would be quite except for the loud continuous WHOOSH of the 86 mph wind(!) that was going on outside. Yes, that is what it was.

After another, oh, about 45 seconds, the wind dramatically died down and my pants were still dry. I raced in to tell my husband all was okay... because surely he finally woke up after that. Nope, asleep. Same with my mom. Same with my daughter (thank goodness). I then went to check our weather station display. Sustained winds of 55 mph with gusts up to 86.1 mph.

No wonder I about wet my britches.

I can't believe that we didn't have more damage than we did. Well, I guess hurricane Ike took care of any vulnerabilities back in September (see here). So, our porch rocker lost a leg since it was tossed from the corner of our porch out towards the barn.

And our garage door blew out... hurricane Ike started this problem.

All else was fine, so I am thankful. But it did add to all the 'hum-dingerness' of the week because of the whole lack of sleep thing, as I would have gotten to bed a lot early and been able to sleep had we not had Dorthy and Toto swirling around my brain whilst a clarinet screamed in the background.

Oh well, things could be worse.

[ p.s. please forgive any errors, I need sleep. ]

The Old Man of a Tree

We have an old Pecan tree. And, since we've owned our property, we have watched it change little... until more recently. Although looking at it, during any of the time we've known it, one can see the change it's endured over its life. Since we've known it, the center portion of it has been... gone. Yes, quite some number of years back, it was struck by lightening. Following, it healed itself and has flourished.

This tree was a grand stately tree. Right now, still, the trunk's circumference is 20 feet with a diameter of 6 1/2 feet. It is one huge tree... well not as much anymore... at least up top.

Below is a pic I took some years back, in the spring. I even titled the picture (which I don't always do) "Under the Pecan". The horses love this tree for the shade it can give.

I had a bench (that my creative other half made) sitting under it. It was my place to stop, sit, and ponder, cogitate, reflect, ruminate, speculate, acknowledge and laud (you get the picture) stuff in life.

**sighhh**

But, things change. Life changes. I usually am kicking and screaming the whole way when it comes to change... has pretty much always been like that. Am getting better due a life-long effort to be more cognizant of my sentiment. But... I digress.

So, the bench had to be moved because the horses started chewing it apart. My dear other half fixed it, but it sits elsewhere now.

Then more change. Hurricane Ike happened to our Old Man of a Tree. The left half of the Pecan fork was twisted around and broke. If you look at the pic above, you can see that the tree forks. Well, that whole huge left half broke.

These two pics (above and below) were taken from opposite sides of the tree. The Old Man broke... **sighh** ...and can you hear me kicking and screaming? I'm not so much doing that now. But, a few days ago, we had a tree service come out. Though normally this is something we would take care of ourselves... it was kind of like having your car's oil changed, with some things it's just easier to pay someone else to do it.

Anyway, all has been cut, cleared, and cleaned. And the Old Man's frailty is showing.
We left what we could of him, as shade is valuable here and his right side is tall/wide enough that he's good to go... just smaller and less impressive looking.

But, with change can comes positives too...

In the summer, when the limbs fill with leaves, the horses will stand underneath during ritualistic times of the day and take a break in the shade. We have plenty of other trees for shade, but the horses prefer the Old Man for his location. He is located near the fence that separates the mare's pasture from our stallion's pasture... and everyone likes to visit one another throughout the day and this is a perfect meeting place for them.

And... Ohhh boy, the firewood. It is not clear below, but there are two rows of stacked firewood-with the smaller diameter pieces being in front ...and we do like a good fire in the winter.

Our Little Someone had a bit of fun crawling around and atop these huge pieces of Pecan below- and sitting high up with her Daddy.

What a cutie in pink sitting next to tired Momma (I was not planning to be in a pic).

The dog's "grazed" on Pecans since all the limbs/brush had been cleared. Smidgen, the black Dane's mouth foamed because she was eating and swallowing as fast as she could crunch.

I'm sure the dog's enjoyed the change this brought. I will just look forward to spring so I can watch the leaves fill in and see the Old Man take shape again. Boy, if he could talk... the stories he could tell.

January Sunset

So, the days are getting longer and I'm loving that. Spring is my favorite time of year and with the sun staying out even a tad longer, it's great. Here's our back yard, which I love. It's the juncture for so many daily happenings around our place. We left room in case we ever decide to... "bite the bullet"? ...more like "bite a cannon ball" and put a pool in or ?? who knows what... I like just have it open for playing.

I didn't have a tripod, so focus is not the best. But I saw the sky behind our windmill and had to click the camera.

We had some sand/dirt brought in to fill in some some ruts left by a big tree spade truck (we bit the bullet and had some bigger trees brought in and put around our house). Anyway, the dirt... it's like sliced bread for a 2 1/2 year old. Only thing is, our Little Someone cannot play in the dirt before her nap, but after nap she can. Otherwise, I'd be changing and laundering double what I already do -no thank you. There's plenty of other outdoor things to do that don't involve heavy orange stains on cloths.
The other evening was SO nice, we even played in the dirt just a little past dinner time (which, right now, is at dusk). Daddy and dogs love the dirt too! This pic was taken when Daddy was making a track like the one that the "Polar Express (movie) Train" has on the mountain (swirls around and down/up). Click on pic and you can make it out better.

Baby, it's Beautiful Outside!

OMGosh! ...the weather! It is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous outside. Lots of ancillary things to do out there... and enjoy doing! Hence, the short post.
:-)

Hurricane Ike... from the hill

All was not bad with Ike, for us. He did remind me of some things to be thankful for: ELECTRICITY, for one. We just got our electricity back yesterday evening. All I can say is, wow, things had to of been difficult in the wagon-wheel days, especially if you had children ~ I cannot even imagine.
Below are some various pictures taken before, during, and after Ike.

Be sure and click on the pics to see their full size.

The sky pics are especially amazing when viewed full size.

While putting up boards, a 'little someone' reminded us that life is too short to not stop and dance on a good wood floor.


More windows boarded...


At 2 y/o old, Emma was quite helpful in picking up all of our 'garden art' (animal figures, etc. in the rock border) so they wouldn't become projectiles in the wind.


Daddy showing some musskulls.


Our dining room all boarded up & dark.


All three of these sky shots were taken within a total period of about 5-10 minutes. The sky was changing quickly and it was windy at this point. Ike blew in in the middle of the night. The lighting was amazing in the sky with different cloud layers having quite distinct colors.

Our kitchen window boarded up... but wait, there's a story here.

You see, I'm used to seeing a whole lot out this window; our back yard to our barn, and part of the pasture and more. Well, I asked my dear other half to leave the light on that is attached to the barn and that shines out a bit into the pasture~ so I could look out our door (that wasn't boarded) and see outside during the storm.

Sooo, that evening when all is boarded up and we are settling in and the winds have started kicking up, I go into the kitchen to do something at the sink... I look up to see darkness out the window and turn to my husband and say, "Hey, I asked you to leave the barn light on". He looked at me flatly while at the same it dawned on me and I said a short, "Oh yeah"... with a smile on my face, of course.

(duhhh).

It was 1:55 AM and Ike just started really to kick in. These two items below helped;
~water
~tums
and the weather station, that tells wind speed too, made things more interesting (you can see half of it in the pic).


AFTER Ike...






You can see part of the building's siding (on the left) in the tree.
This was a HUGE Pecan~ pics don't do its size justice.










Still windy and rainy, but Ike was gone and boards were coming off. After being cooped up in a dark house, EVERYone wanted to be outside, despite the conditions.

Note in the above pic: in the back left is our windmill. Kint took the fan-head off but I had made mention of wanting to know wind direction... he disappeared in the shop after boarding everything up. I went in to find that he had made a makeshift tail to go on the windmill post.
It didn't come off! ...and we could watch the direction through late that night and early the next morning.

Well, that was Ike, in our nutshell. He, obviously, proved more devastating for those in more vulnerable areas. You just cannot mess with Mother Nature... all the above damage occurred with winds just under 60 mph (according to our weather station... I think it's correct). We never received "hurricane force winds"... and I wouldn't want to.

That Humming in the Air (more like R!R!R!R!R!!!)...

...now that's my best guess on trying to reproduce, with letters, what a LOUD generator sounds like. We are in day three since Ike blew through and we still have no power. Not complaining, as I know many don't have a generator and having a refrigerator, water, & fans is nice.
At the same time, the advent of a hurricane is but one reason why we decided, years ago, that we would not live along the coast... sooo, while many in Houston have power, I would think that us ~ further inland~ would have had it by now. Oh well.
I am still getting pics together to illustrate Ike's presence. Ike peaked from 1:55 AM until about 4:30 AM Sat. morning.
Have to go for now... clean-up ensues.

YYY-Ike s!

So here's the pre-Ike post...

"Ike", the hurricane, is coming our way. This pic, below, was taken just before this posting at about 4 PM on Friday. We are already feeling the wind and are to get the Hurricane force winds in another few hours.
If you click on the picture, it will open bigger and if you look closely, you will note our location with the yellow 'star'.
By the way, Ike is moving WNW...hmmm, our direction.


Hence, the posting's title, "YYY-Ikes!"

This puppy is huge.

I have taken some pre-Ike pics of the preparation we have done and will take post-Ike pics to post.

I can only say that I sure hope they are very similar.