Grammys Corgi Country

Today was cold and wet. We got more rain and a lot of mist, which will be very good for the grain we had planted in the pasture last week. I hope that this will keep up, off and on, for the next month or two, and we should get a very nice harvest.

Unfortunately, for the Corgis, we weren’t able to take them out to the park as we had planned. Corgis are a bit on the short side (very little ground clearance) and running in wet grass leaves about half of their body wet, and, like I said, it was COLD out here today.

We ended up staying at home and watching the first season of “Eureka” DVD’s that I had gotten Hubby for Christmas. It’s a pretty interesting show, I think. We like Sci-Fi books, movies, and TV shows, and this one has all of the things we like in it… good character interaction, humor, new and interesting story concepts. That last is one thing that is often lacking in so many of today’s shows. Too many are sort of “reruns” of other shows with different people playing the same parts and having the same basic storyline.

That is also a BIG part of the problem with so many of the movies they make today. Half the time, the producers seem to think that making an old movie over and just making it bloodier, sexier, or scarier is a good thing. We don’t go to the show very often anymore, and THAT is one of the main reasons.

Another problem is that someone will decide that some book is good enough to make into a movie… often an old classic book that is really well loved, with a great storyline and message, but then they decide to “change” it until it hardly resembles the original story! THAT is very irritating! For instance, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” was done very well and followed the storyline almost perfectly. We, and everyone else that I heard that saw it, were thrilled with it. THEN, they decided to make a sequel, and they DID NOT follow the storyline nearly as well, and made it more of a war story. The original storyline had a really good message to it, but that barely came through in the “Prince Caspian” movie.

At least it wasn’t as bad as the second Batman movie with the Penguin… I think there were a BUNCH of parents that were upset with that movie, as it had been advertised through McDonald’s and most thought it was supposed to be a family movie… I grabbed my kids and WALKED OUT about a quarter of the way through that trash!

We NEED more good family movies with storylines that are encouraging to people who go and pay good money to watch them… things like “Sea Biscuit,” “The Incredibles,” “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” all of the Veggie Tales Movies, and “Cars.” Movies that older kids and families can watch like, “Ironman,” “Spiderman,” etc. are also great… They didn’t use a lot of blood and guts or foul language in them, but they had great action scenes and stories that weren’t far off the original mark.

That’s the main reason we get movies that we can rent on DVD. WE can pick and choose what WE want instead of having to listen to so much garbage that is on the TV or in so many movies. It’s another example, I guess, of making wise choices of what we put in our brains, as I mentioned a couple of blogs ago.

Have a great weekend…

Hubby and I took another drive today with O.C. and B.G. Dott is going to be “indisposed” for about two weeks, and can’t go in the truck or car right now. She was NOT a happy camper!

We went back out into the hills around the same area we were in last week, and since I got a new digital camera for Christmas, I took a lot of pictures.

We went a lot further up into the hills this time, with me white-knuckling the dash as I gazed out the window and straight DOWN several hundred feet into some very deep ravines. My leg was about worn out pushing on a non-existent brake pedal as we came down those steep switch-back dirt roads. One place was so steep coming down, that O.C. slid off the front of the truck seat!

It WAS very pretty up on top of the hills with the views that were available since the air was very clear. Some places were still a bit misty, but by the afternoon, most of the fog had cleared off, so it was beautiful.

On the way back down, we stopped by that little valley from last week again, and let the Corgis out so that they could run around for about 30 minutes.

I’d mentioned in a couple of my blogs that we are in oil country, so, since we drove through one of the many oilfields to get into the back hill country, I also took some pics of them.

It just so happened… Hmmm… that we “found” a few mud holes to run through, too, so Hubby was able to come home with muddy wheels. It is nice having him home so much more this past couple of weeks with so many paid holidays and just using a couple of vacation days.

Oh, and we also got another waterline break about 4 days ago, but we got it fixed today because it was so close to the surface and the blowout sort of dug it out itself. This is about the shortest time it has ever taken to do that, Praise God!!! We didn’t even have to haul in extra water for the horses because they had enough to last that long in their water barrels.

I hope your first few days of this New Year have been as nice as mine. Keep looking for the bright side…

One thing about Corgis, and Border Collies apparently… they are like cats…(don’t tell them I said that… it’s a “dirty word” to a lot of dogs). They play just like them, though. One of Dott’s favorite things to do is to chase the “fishing pole” type toy that my son made for her. It used to be a long buggy whip and he flicks the long end around and she chases it and sometimes even turns flips trying to follow it and grab it.

I mentioned, the other day, that they all love to chase the “little red bug” (my son’s laser light). In fact, you have to be very careful not to start a fight with that thing, because Sadie, Dott AND B.G. will all start chasing it and then bang into each other, which can cause a fight. It’s a lot like little kids that start playing roughly with each other, and then one gets hurt and they start fighting.

Sadie caught a mouse outside while I was feeding the horses the other day, and she was slapping it back and forth and tossing it in the air exactly like a cat would do. Dott and B.G. do the same thing with a lot of their toys, and it’s hysterical just to watch them.

Ok… so I take pleasure in some of the simple things in life, but letting God take care of my cares, and taking time to smell the roses or watch the Corgis play, makes life so much more satisfying than stressing about things that “may” happen, or things that I can’t do anything about anyway.

That is what is so wonderful about Corgi Country. It is a haven away from traffic, noise, and other sources of stress. I can always turn off the TV and listen to music or even just listen to the birds sing, or the horses munch on their hay. Doing what the Bible says in Matthew 6:34 has become my main philosophy of life I think… At least since I’ve tried to follow it this past year, it has worked for me! Essentially, it says to take one day at a time and don’t worry about tomorrow.

After all, we don’t even know if we will be here tomorrow (freak car accident, stray bullet, meteor coming through the ceiling, etc.). If you’ve taken care of the important things between yourself and God, then THAT isn’t a problem, so just do what you need to do each day, to keep things in running order.

Be careful not to add the world’s problems to your shoulders by feeding your brain depressing stuff you can’t do a thing about anyway… that doesn’t mean not to do your part, like voting intelligently according to your principles, but so many times we sit there and watch T.V. shows that just put junk into our heads. Computer people say, “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” when talking about programming a computer and some of those principles apply to what we allow to go into our brain.

Today, start the New Year by making an effort to feed your brain good things… things that bring you joy and peace, and cut back on things that bring you down. This has been shown, by numerous studies, to lengthen your life, by lowering blood pressure, and the levels of stress hormones in your body that tears it down over time… Take a walk with a loved one, or a dog (same thing actually) and really LOOK around you. Look at the rainbows in the diamonds of dew on the leaves or a spider’s web. Watch a comedy or read a funny or uplifting book. Feed your brain good things!

Take your first steps toward a more peaceful way of living today, and try to make it your way of life…

Proverbs 17:6 says “Children’s children (Grandchildren) are a crown to the aged…” Now I’m getting a bit “long in the tooth” as they say, but don’t exactly feel “aged” yet. Still, when I get to spend some time with my grandkids, I feel like royalty… or at least an especially blessed person!!!

Today, I got to have my “Little Bear” all day long, and it was so much fun. He is five years old now, and until recently (about 3 months ago) I had gotten to spend at least 2 days a week with him, and sometimes more, so he was a BIG part of my life. When his father, my cowboy son, got a new, much better job, they had to move to a town about 2 hours drive from here, so now I only get to see him a couple of times a month, sometimes for only a couple of hours a visit. I really miss him a lot, and he says the same to me.

This weekend, though, I saw him on Christmas day, and then today, he got to spend most of the day with us. It was a little bit of heaven. When we first got home, his Papa took him out to show him how our neighbor had plowed up our back pasture and planted the seeds to grow grain if it rains enough. He had saved some of the grain to show our “Bear,” and we plan to plant some of them in a pot or two so that he can see them grow.

I got to show him that big tarantula that I mentioned in my blog of about a week ago. It had died, and I kept it so that he could get a good close look at one. We had lunch, and then went out and picked some of the tomatoes that he had helped me start growing several months back. He was so excited to see that the plants had finally grown real tomatoes that we could eat.

After that, we gathered wood for making a fire since it is so cold out here, and he loves to help me with that task. We fed the horses, and then he came in and helped his Papa start a fire in the woodstove. It got dark, and we went out into the backyard for a while to listen to the coyotes and look at the stars. When we came back in, he and Papa watched cartoons while I made dinner. The time came, way to soon, when it was time to take him back to his parents.

He had wanted to spend the night (which we wanted, too) but his parents had other people to visit tomorrow, and EVERYONE wants to see my “Bear” when he is in town. They are a well loved family, which I am happy about, but they have a lot of friends and extended family that love them as much as I do, so I’ve had to learn to share, and just be thankful for the time I do get to spend with them and/or him… it doesn’t keep a little rain from falling, though…

If you have a chance to spend time with children that are special to you, cherish every moment you are given, for they grow up way to fast. Your life can be a model for them and others you know… make it a good one…

I had gotten to bed so late, that I slept in today, and then had a wonderful breakfast of leftover turkey, dressing with a fried egg, and mashed potatoes with ham gravy. I LOVE leftovers… just pop ‘em into the microwave and fry an egg real quick!!! Hubby had taken the day off work, so we watched several episodes of Eureka… he’d gotten the first season of the TV show on DVD as a Christmas gift… and then we watched the corgis play.

My son started playing with them with his laser light. He is very careful not to get it in their eyes so they don’t get injured, but BG, Sadie and Dott just love chasing that “little red bug” around the house, skidding around the kitchen floor and ripping at full speed down the hall. They chase flies or moths the same way, leaping and jumping around. It’s funny, too, when they catch one of the real bugs because they will get a weird look on their little faces and then spit it out real quick.

Later, while I was feeding the horses, Sadie caught a mouse. She has a tendency to play with them like a cat, too, pitching them up in the air and catching them. We always praise her a lot when she gets one, because she’s turned into a great mouser, and catches them in the house, too. That is one of the problems of living in the country with fields all around… the mice come in the doggy door.

After feeding, we walked the dogs around the pastures, so that they could run and play. They ran around like crazy dogs, checking every big rabbit hole, weasel hole, and squirrel hole. We’ve had rabbits and squirrels since we moved here, but a couple of years ago, when they had a big fire on the other side of the hills from us, some weasels moved from those hills to our place… at least that’s what we think happened.

My son was really surprised when he saw the “weirdest looking squirrel” peeking out from the woodpile, and then again a few days later from a hole by the ditch. He came in telling me that he’d seen a ferret and was wondering if someone’s had gotten loose around here, though it is illegal to keep them in California. We looked online and when we came across a picture of the animal he’d seen, it turned out to be a weasel.

It was such a nice, restful, fun day. It was extra nice because Hubby rarely takes a day off work during the week, and we will still have two more days before he has to go back. BG, especially, loves having his Dad home. He is his Dad’s dog, just like his grandma, Mist, used to be, and loves it when he gets the chance to go to work with him (rare now), or spend any extra time with him.

Oh, I almost forgot, the recipe to Nana’s Candied Yams:

You need 1 lb. of brown sugar, 1 Piloncillo cone (or another lb. of dark brown sugar), 2 c. honey, 1 c. water, and 3-4 lbs. of yams (peeled and cut into large chunks– about 1.5 inches each)

In a large pot with a lid, place the brown sugar, honey, piloncillo and water. Heat on high until syrup is in a high rolling boil for several minutes. The syrup should be almost hard crack candy when scooped with a spoon and dripped into a cup of cold water if done correctly… CAREFULLY (don’t splatter) put yam chunks into syrup and cover. Keep heat on high so that the rolling boil will restart and continue for about 45 mins. DO NOT stir!!!

The boiling syrup should be boiling over the top of the yams and coating them (Just peek to check, but don’t open lid to much). DO NOT be tempted to put in more water as fluids come out of the yams and all the liquid will not boil off in time if there is to much. While still fairly hot, spoon yam chunks into a couple of large cake pans. Coat a cookie sheet lightly with butter, pour syrup in and let sit until cooled to make candy chunks for later enjoyment.

I hope that you had a restful day after the rush of preparations for Christmas, and I pray that the rest of the weekend is a blessing for you as well.

It’s twenty minutes to midnight and I finally got a chance to sit down at the computer. Christmas is almost over. I just came in from feeding the horses and it is REALLY blowing out there… hard enough that I had to lean to walk against the wind while carrying the hay to Cory’s stall. At least once in the stall, it was nice and cozy, so his hay won’t blow away.

I put Dancer and Tuffy’s hay by some other outbuildings so that they can eat without their hay blowing away either. They do have a stall available, but I’ve only seen them in it when it is really hot and they want to stay out of the sun… I don’t think they like the creaking of the tin walls or something when it’s windy.

The stars shone so brightly that I could see the sweep of the Milky Way, which only happens when it is extra clear and dark. It made me think of a very interesting television show that I watched a few days ago. It talked about this lawyer that had a computer program that star researchers use, and how he had used it, along with all the references in the Bible about the star that the Wise Man followed, to pin-point what he thinks was the Star of Bethlehem. It was a fascinating program, and I plan to purchase it for our Church Library (I’m the librarian.) If you are interested in checking this out, his website is: http://www.bethlehemstar.net/.

It turned out to be quite a day. Last night, at about 1 a.m., I found that there had been a hole in my purse and my lower partial (which I had taken out because of a sore on my gums) had fallen out and the dog (probably Sadie) had chewed them up… This is NOT GOOD!!! I had recently had the dentist check to see how much it would cost to make a new set, and the part we would have to pay, even with the great insurance I have, is WAY more than we could handle. This partial is of the four lower, front teeth, so it is VERY noticeable. I guess I needed to be humbled a little or something. There is nothing I can do about it, so I guess I’ll just have to live with it until the Lord makes a way for me to get some new ones.

I finally got the last gift wrapped and went to bed, and when I got up this morning, my cowboy son called to ask if it was alright if he came by to bury one of their old dogs who had passed away. Cheyenne had been a rescue dog that they had found and befriended a little over 9 years ago. She acted as though she had been abused before they found her and was terrified of most people and just a bunch of skin and bones. My daughter-in-law finally got her trust and, like most abused or neglected rescue dogs, she won the COMPLETE love and devotion of the beautiful animal.

Cheyenne looked as though she was probably a cross between a Golden Lab, and a German shepherd. She looked like a Golden Lab, but with German Shepherd coloration. She was beautiful, and once she learned she could trust some people, she was very sweet, though still a bit wary around strangers. She was really good around my grandson from the time he was born. She was several years old when they took her in, and had been showing her age quite a bit lately. Cheyenne will be greatly missed by those that loved her. My son buried her out in the side pasture where several other doggy friends we’ve had over the years are buried.

The rest of the day went pretty well, though. There was tons of food, (tomorrow, I’ll give you the recipe to Nana’s Candied yams) lots of love, and fun opening, and watching the little kids open, presents. The Corgis helped clean up the wrapping paper, as usual, and enjoyed their jerky treats and the many handouts of food and leftovers during cleanup time.

It’s a good thing they don’t get to eat like that all the time or we’d be rolling them around from place to place. Corgi’s DON’T have very long legs, so if their bellies get to big, they tend to drag the ground… remember the picture of O.C. when she was pregnant with those eight pups?!

I hope your day was a full and satisfying one, and that you were able to give God your problems and count your blessings. .

Today was a beautiful day, if a little chilly. This afternoon, Honey Bear decided that he wanted to go out for a drive in his 4-wheel drive GMC Sierra pickup because it has rained most of the last several days and he would have a chance to do a little “Mud Bogging…” (Of course, he didn’t mention this to me until we were several miles from home.) For those of you NOT familiar with this redneck term, guys with 4 x 4 vehicles are drawn, as if by a magnet, to any kind of mud puddle, muddy creek bed, thick, oozy boggy area, etc. where they can proceed to try to get themselves stuck… (my point of view, not his… )

He wanted me to go along on this little excursion, and we decided to take the Corgis with us… You see, at the beginning point of this adventure, he said we were “just going to take a little drive, look at the beautiful greenness that is coming up, and find a nice quiet area for the Corgis to run in…” Yeah, RIGHT!!! I should have known better.

As I’ve mentioned a few times before, we live out in the boonies with miles and miles of oilfields and BLM land surrounding us… Lots of room for driving off road or at least on dirt roads, and there ARE some really beautiful little valleys, nooks and crannies that are fun to explore out there in the rolling hills of this area.

Of course, to get to them, on the dirt roads… that have been RAINED on a lot… you have to go through some rather LARGE mud puddles (small lakes filled with thick, sticky mud). We finally got to a beautiful little hidden valley we hadn’t seen before, with several large old oaks growing around in it. Some of the branches had died and broken off, so we also got some more wood for our wood stove. We were able to get out and let the Corgi Crew run their little hearts out.

They are so funny to watch. Dott is the ringleader and instigator, running wildly about sticking her curious little nose into every bush, squirrel hole, rabbit hole, etc. she can find, as fast as she can run. Her ears are rather big and the tips of them tend to flop up and down when she is running fast, and boy, can that little dog fly!!! She has out run Sadie (our Border Collie that is 5 times her size) when chasing a rabbit!!!

Big brother, B.G., tries to follow Dott AND mark everything that is at least 2 inches high in the area, so half the time he is running around on three legs. O.C., their old lady, mama, tries to keep up… for about 3-5 minutes… and then her wise little brain (and bad hips) tells her that it would probably be wiser to just waddle around slowly with Mama.

Of course, eventually Dott found a little runoff area that still had mud in the bottom of it and had to run through it, followed closely by Beeg. Guess they wanted to do some “mud bogging” of their own. Luckily, Hubby had an old towel in the truck to wipe off their little mud covered paws before they got back into the truck cab and onto me!!! O.C. sits beside me on her pillow in the middle. Beeg sits either on my lap or chest, or on Hubby’s lap, and Dottie sits on the back of the seat behind my head on these outings in the truck. She makes a good “headrest.”

After finding several more “little, slick, clay-filled mud puddles” on the way back to fishtail through, we finally got back onto a paved road. As we were leaving the back country, we came across some White Faced Hereford steer calves, so the dogs had fun barking wildly from the truck cab and seeing them run back to their moms. They all recognize the word “cow,” and when we say “There’s a cow,” they know they can “Tell those old cows…” (They really are well trained, and know they can have fun when they are told, but had better pay attention when it’s time to do that…)

It was a fun and relaxing day for my husband who is a wonderful man that works hard to provide for us. I guess I can spend some time every once in a while catering to his whims and joining him in his “version” of fun. What’s a “helpmate” for after all…

Spend some time with someone you love and take time to “smell the roses” (or the mud) today…