Puppy Proofing and Flowers

I told you I would be boring you to death regarding the puppy...Today Michael and I went to town to find some organizational items for puppy proofing the house...below are before and after photos. (I can't believe I'm showing photos of my cluttered mess of a house) LOL...

This is our shoe pile by the front door...It is the catch all for any shoes and or boots....to me a Puppy chewing heaven!! Fred has been after me for years to do something about the mess and I finally did...lol...

We went to Lowes and found the bench below with cubby holes. I thought cool perfect for storing our shoes and boots and also for sitting down to put them on. I bought an extra basket/case to put our hats, gloves and flashlights in...not a bad idea and looks much nicer...So far Michael has been doing a Great job of putting his rubber boots back in a cubby when he comes inside. Now how long he'll keep it up is another story....It's that cheap press board stuff but it will work for awhile...

Television stand and wires and cables
Now the wire and cable mess under the television...ugh!! There really wasn't too much I could do here but tie up the cables and wires and then put plastic casing around some of them...For your information I was going to buy an entertainment center for Christmas as I am really tired of staring at the the bread rack stand and everything behind it...LOL...But the puppy I'm sure will be more fun!! Hopefully the puppy will leave this stuff alone. I wasn't too happy with my work but just don't know what else I can do here...It is an eye sore.

And for my dear friend Helen who has been asking me why I am not taking nature photos as of late...I saw I had a red rose blooming in the garden and know she loves roses....

Below is a Plumbago, one of my Mothers favorites...

I took the flower photos in full sun...not recommended but I think they came out pretty good!

I couldn't help myself today...I wanted to get the Puppies house crate out and set it up. Michael helped and it was fairly easy. We stuck all his toys, bowls, etc in his cage for now...Michael is starting to get excited now...hopefully by Oct 30th we'll have our new pup. Scarlett was trying to get in the cage to get to the rawhide bone so I just gave it to her. Michael threw a fit and told me it was the puppies. I told him that the puppy and Scarlett would have to learn to share and that we had more rawhide bones for the puppy. It's going to be a learning experience for all of us and I will have to use every ounce of patience I have, LOL....I'm hoping after the puppy is house-trained and done chewing we won't have to use the crate/cage...

Hope everyone has a great rest of their weekend!!

Fridays Fence

Yes sirree...The Fence is finished!!

My wonderful Father in Law (Grouchy) and Grandma came over this morning and we were able to get the old post out and the new post in....We weren't able to get the concrete out, but we did manage to pull the old rotten broken post out of the concrete and cut the end of a new post and pushed it in to the hole of the concrete block and it is strong and sturdy (what a run on sentence there!!). We also put up a smaller woven utility wire instead of livestock woven wire...so much better for Michael and the puppy soon to be...The yard is now toddler and puppy proofed. I think it's funny the things I get excited about but I love it when a job gets done and looks good!!

I was laughing at Michael below...he was inspecting the fence and told me "Good Job Momma"!!
To our surprise Daddy came home this afternoon, YEA!! Of course only to leave again but at least we had the day and evening with him and Trey. We ended up having a movie night. Yankee Chili for dinner and the Transformer movie for entertainment. Below Daddy and Michael trying to hide from the camera, the little darlings!! Michael eating on the futon, which in my book is a no-no but with Daddy around anything goes, ugh!!
In all honesty it felt like Saturday to me today and not Friday. I got so much done out in the yard and was just tickled that the fence is finally done. Tomorrow I start working on the house...cleaning for Grammies visit and puppy proofing, YIPEE!! I'm going to head to Lowes tomorrow, I think, and see what I can do about getting something to cover some wires we have coming from electronic equip....something I'd prefer the puppy didn't chew on...I also need to figure out something to do with all our shoes by the front door, ugh!! That will be a tough one as we have a lot of boots there too and the normal shoe organizers are not made for boots...if anyone has suggestions I'd love to hear them....think, think, think!

Tag your it!!

I have been tagged with the

"You make me smile award"

by my dear sweet Aussie friend Helen

http://hancocksat.blogspot.com/

I honestly think she thought I was bored and needed something to do...LOL...

I was also tagged by Helen to to share 6 facts/habits about myself...(she really thinks I'm bored)

This is going to take some thought....hmmmp!

1. I love taking photos of nature!! There is just something pure and true about being outside and catching things while they go about their daily lives...as Michaels says "It makes my heart happy"

2. I would say one of my true addictions is "Fishing"!! If I could, I'd go every day!!

3. One of my bad addictions is "Smoking". Yes I smoke and NO I am not proud of it!!

4. A Habit I have started is after feeding all the animals in the morning I walk the yard. Basically to see if there are any snakes so Michael is not going to run into them but I love checking my flowers and plants.

5. Something I believe in is being kissed every morning by my Husband before he leaves for work. I miss it when he works out of town and he gets a phone call first thing if he forgets from a not very happy wife!!

6. Another Habit is reading to Michael every night before we go to bed...I love reading to him and narrating the stories with the different voices of the characters...he loves it and there is nothing better in my book then making your child smile before he goes to sleep at night!!

Now I am supposed to tag some of my friends...but I don't have to many that blog...sigh!!

So here goes...

Colleen....yes you up there in Maine...it's your turn!!

Kelly if your reading this it's your turn too...I know you have a new baby so if you don't have the time I understand!

Karen yes Sis I'm speaking to you...time to get busy with your blog...

I'm tagging ya'll with the "You make me Smile" award...

and don't forget to share 6 facts/habits to your blog....Go For It Ladies!!

Misc. rambling photos....

To see the story that goes with these photos read the previous blog....

Michael with his Dragon Puppet! Thank you Aunt Karen!!

The broken post and cemented hole that are causing me Bigger problems than I expected!!

Butterflies fighting the wind trying to get some nector. The wind wasn't helping the photographer either...out of ten butterfly photos this is the only one that turned out!

I have been seeing and hearing this bird all week...I thought it was an Eastern Kingbird...Today he was sitting in our broadband tower and I snapped this photo....after looking it up in my bird book it is a ThickBilled Kingbird.

Misc ramblings....

Okay I have tried to upload photos but to no avail....I keep getting an error screen and it says they are aware of the problem and are trying to fix it...I'll try again in a bit but it may be later after I've finished this writing.

Michael's Aunt Karen sent him a dragon puppet as a belated Birthday gift and he loves it. Thank you Aunt Karen. The dragons name is Cinder.

Our new puppy should possibly be here Oct 29 or 30th...We've been throwing some names around but I don't really want to name him until we see and get to know him a little bit...Michael likes Jake, probably because it's fairly easy for him to say....but we shall wait and see.

I have been working on puppy proofing the house and yard, & Michael proofing the yard too. Making a list of things we need to get before the puppy gets here.

I worked on the back-yard fence this morning. There was a hole in the fence when we moved in here and between Michael and Ebony it got bigger...So this morning I tore the fence (woven-wire) down and cleaned up the fence row. I was going to put a new gate post in but was halted by some idiot (excuse the language) who when they put in the post put 2 or 3 bags of cement at the bottom of it, grrrr.....now it's rotted off and I'm going to have to use the tractor to try and get it out....Being the tractor is at the other property I can't go get it until Fred gets home so Michael isn't on the tractor with me.

Now Fred just called and is headed to Laredo so I'm really unhappy...I have a hole in the fence, no post hole to work with...and no way to get the tractor up here to the house. Oh my what a day!! Hopefully my step-son Trey will come by this evening after work and take me down to get the tractor and I can finish the fence tomorrow...that is if I can get the rotted post and cement out...Otherwise I'm thinking I'll use a t-post...Hopefully the cows and horse will stay out of the yard in the mean time...It always amazes me how a little project turns into a HUGE project before it's all over with....LOL...I've tried one more time with the photos and it isn't working...so stay tuned some time later I'll upload the photos.

It has arrived...

The Dragon costume has arrived!!!

I had been looking a month ago for a costume for Michael online. I knew he'd love to be a dragon as he is so into dragons right now....I didn't find any but I did find a McCalls pattern. I thought hmmp....My Mother sews, LOL...so I called her and told her about the pattern. She wasn't sure she could finish it in time but GUESS WHAT!! SHE DID!! She worked her rear off and finished it last week....Michael loves it and it is so CUTE on him!! It fits perfectly and is so well made!!

Thank you SOOOO MUCH GRAMMIE!!

She did a wonderful job and now if I could get Michael to take it off so he doesn't wear it out before Halloween, LOL!!

My Happy little Dragon!!

Soon to be....

Yes you heard me correctly....one of the puppies pictured above is soon to be our new family member...
Now to tell the story...
After putting Ebony down I so wanted Michael to have his own dog. I believe all children should have the experience of having a best buddy. I wasn't in a hurry but did a lot of Internet searching. First I looked at the different breeds. I wanted a breed that was an exceptional family dog and very good with kids. I remember as a kid my family having collies on the family farm. I remember those collies staying close to us kids and they were constantly watching us. Trying to check the mail was almost impossible as the collies would either block us with their bodies or gently grab our wrists to keep us from venturing near the road. I kept returning to the collie breed. I then started doing research and looking at breeders and collie rescues. I knew they could be very expensive so was honestly looking at collie rescues. I happened upon a breeder in Austin, Debra, and loved her website. She explained about the genetics of the collies and how she tries to breed her Collies so only the good genes are present. She also goes on to describe how Great the Collies are with kids and families and how intelligent and easily house-trained they are....I decided to email her telling her how I really appreciated her website and the information she had on it. I told her I was very interested in getting my son a Collie. She immediately emailed me back to thank me and told me she might know of someone who had Collie puppies available. I thanked her but told her that I would not be able to afford a collie from a breeder but then she sent me photos of two pups (brothers). I fell in love and she sent me her girlfriends (Denise) email who had the puppies. After emailing back and forth and finding the price was reasonable and seeing the Sire...I thought and thought about it. I called Fred and told him I needed my Christmas money!! I don't mind one bit using my Christmas money for Michael. I am so excited for Michael.
Our puppy is coming from Minnesota in about a week or two and I can hardly contain the excitement. I know we are all going to fall in love. I was going to wait to share our news but I know when the puppy comes home I'm going to be a bit busy and thought it best to share the news now.
Our puppy's father is Mason and his mother is Jazz. Mason is the Collie starring in the new Disney movie, Lassie. If you know me well I am not too interested in things like this but Mason just being himself and movie or no movie is beautiful.
Here is Denise's website and photos of Mason, the puppy's father.

http://www.northernclassiccollies.com/page/page/3923622.htm

And here is Debra's website, which I truly enjoyed!!

http://www.honeytreecollies.com/

I am so thankful to Debra and Denise. I truly feel God led me to these two wonderful ladies and I know we are going to have a lifetime of love with our new puppy.
Stay tuned because soon we will be having lots of photos and puppy blogs, LOL...I'll probably either keep you laughing or bore you to death!!

Mini-vacation continued...

Michael and Dacey.

Ready set go...getting ready to start cutting poles and load them up. Not an easy task and it took all 4 of us to get the poles loaded on the trailer. I had a friend ask why do we want so many telephone poles. They are great for building cattle/horse pens and other things too. I plan on having some really nice pens on our property. It's also a GREAT excuse for me to go visit with Dawn. Above Fred is bending over giving us a nice rear view, Dawns husband with the cowboy hat on and Dawn holding Trey.

YeeHaw!! Dawn and I talked the guys into watching the kids while we took a short ride on the horses. After a little whining I was able to get Fred to take a photo of Dawn and I. I am riding Geronimo and Dawn is riding Gracie.

Trey helping to feed his Grandpa's goats!

This is the drive on Dawn's parents ranch. Pretty much what the landscape looks like in the area. It is not as humid there as it is here in Goliad and was very refreshing!!

That was basically our trip. Nothing fancy but it was so good to see Dawn and be able to have a bit of fun. We left early Sunday morning to make sure we got home in time for Fred to watch his Dallas Cowboys...we made it and they lost to New England!! Ekkkk!!!

A mini-vacation of sorts...

This weekend we had a mini-vacation, well kind of anyways!

My girlfriend and her family live in El Dorado/Sonora Texas. We go up there (5 hour drive one-way) to pick up telephone poles and help them with their house. This time we didn't work on the house like we wanted too but Dawn and I enjoyed spending some quality time together.

Friday after arriving we took a cave tour at the famous Sonora Caverns.

This is a wet cave so there are Stalactites and Stalagmites plus some other amazing formations. It was a bit warm in the cave, shorts and light clothing recommended. It's the first cave I've been in where it was quiet warm and we were sweating. We took turns carrying Trey, Dawn's young son. The tour was 2 hours long. We walked 2 miles but only traveled 250 linear ft. Pretty amazing. The cave loops back on itself. This was Fred's first time in a cave and he thought it was pretty interesting and beautiful. Michael and Dacey were back together again and we laughed as it's amazing how they just take off together like they have never been apart. Kids sure are amazing!!

Fred holding Trey walking down into the cave.

Looking up at a strange formation in the cave roof.

Dawn, Trey, Fred, Dacey & Michael

Horseshoe pool inside the cave.

Walking down the cave path.

Stalactite and Stalagmite formations.

Halfway through the cave Trey decided to spit up and thank goodness he did it on his Mother....I love the look Fred is giving it as he hates being spit up on!! Ewwwwww

This shows where the water level was at one time with the different formations on top and bottom.

They call these cave formations butterfly wings. As this cave is a wet cave most of the formations were the result of water dripping or sitting in pools.

This was the last part of the cave tour and these wall were formed by the wind. It looked as though we were walking through a gigantic skeleton. To keep Michael interested I told him it was a dragon skeleton, lol...It was a pretty neat experience. I've been through some other caves and each one is different. Michael and Dacey did fairly well on the 2 hour trek, you could tell in the last 20 minutes that they had had enough and were ready to go do something else. Dawn was definitely ready for a shirt change, lol...Oops!!