Hot August Nights

Hurray for us......haying is done and now it's time to play......well errrrr sort of....but it has been so hot and haying was delayed so long that now we are stuck close to home trying to keep everything growing.....The yard is a total loss at this point....so dry we are afraid to pump too much on our well system so the yard had to go first.....The only way to water it is with the irrigation system and it had to go back on the hay fields first. So here we sit amidst crunchy brown lawn moving a pipline, but the critters have to eat.
Haying went well and we now have 70 nice round bales for our crew this winter.....Craig is adjusting to the new feeding system by feeding a couple of them now. So different from the small square "idiot" bales we all are familiar with.....each one of the round ones weigh in at about 700 pounds.....lifted with the tractor into the back of the truck and fed a little at a time....
Best news is I got my car back from the repair shop...it's all better and looks fabulous. Going with out wheels for 10 days was like being in prison....but I did accomplish getting my long overdue garage sale over and done with while I was housebound. Thanks to my good friends that either came to lend a hand or just hung out and kept me company. I managed to clear out a whole lot of "stuff" and make money towards my new dining set, being delivered tomorrow....The garage sale took 5 days to complete, three to get everything out priced and organized. The sale was 2 days from 8am to 6pm. My dear hubby volunteered Monday to help me haul all the leftovers to town. What a guy! I was exhausted!
Last week I decided to power clean.....so the dining room, master bedroom, kitchen and master bath now all have clean curtains, mini blinds and glass...all long overdue!
Perfect way to wash mini blinds.....wear shorts (or a bathing suit would suffice too) climb into your shower holding onto the blind with one hand....steady the handheld blind against the shower wall. Spray with Mr Clean (the Fabreze kind smells so good) and using a large soft sponge wash the dirt from the extended blind then using a sprayer rinse well. Then I just hung them back up in the window to dry....SPOTLESS!!!
Another milestone this week is my little girl's birthday.....to show you just how cute she was here is her baby picture....Tess turns 5 next Saturday.

Tess is so cute.......
Okay I need to go do something about dinner.....until next time..

Enjoy each day!
Julie

PINK PINK PINK AND MORE PINK

In my previous blogs you all will see that I was excited about having my very first grandchild.....all indications were it was 97% boy...well Mother Nature took it upon herself to drop the twigs and berries and now it is definately a girl....Hey, I saw the 3D ultrasound myself and no doubt in this grandma's mind that is a little girl and I am 100% sure.....so bring on the PINK I am having a granddaughter.....


So I went to see Scott and Jaclyn last week......a spur of the moment descision with a late Thursday afternoon phone call from Scott. "Mom this would be time for you to come down for a visit...we have nothing planned." I really wanted to deliver the Baby blooms baby quilt to Theresa in person so I washed clothes threw them in my suitcase and off I went the next day. An 8 hour drive but I didn't leave until 1pm. I posted pictures of the baby quilt gift a while back. Theresa is Jaclyn's best friend and had the cutest baby girl Brynn on June 21st.
I got into Ogden around 9pm and the kids were at a dinner....I have a key to the back door but I was a bit apprehensive about their dogs....Jackson is a huge Goldendoodle. Key in door, deep voiced dog bark.....uh oh. Open door slowly, almost get trampled by a huge white fluffy dog greeting me with wags and wiggles...."Hi..OH BOY COMPANY!!!. you here to play?.... Jackson makes a lousy watchdog! Good thing they have a well secured house.
Kids arrive home around 10. Oh what a sight to see. Jaclyn comes in wearing a full length back evening gown with a sexy open back and deep vee neck and looks absolutely fabulous. Yep her baby bump is definately showing but she looks so cute. I never looked that good when I was carrying...Scott is next dressed in his dress blues. I totally messed up...the dinner they went to was his inductiuon ceremony for Master Sargent. ( I just didn't listen when he told me what the dinner was or I would have tried a bit harder to get there earlier....dang!)
Oh by the way on my way there I dropped off my laptop again for viruses...and guess where the camera SD card is......in the computer so I go to use my camera and no memory....DUMB!!!
Saturday we sleep in and after a quick and easy breakfast we all jump in their Jeep ( an 81?.....cute cute cute)and go the the Ogden Farmers Market. We all enjoy the crafts and wares, no real produce yet but it's fairly warm so we all enjoy a snow cone...Saturday night Theresa Dustin and Brynn come over for an inpromtu BBQ. Burgers on the smoker. Me, I get to hold this precious 3 week old baby girl all evening. She is adorable. Theresa and Dustin both really liked the Baby Blooms quilt I made.

Plan is to use it as a wall hanging while the weather is hot. I am so glad she liked it...
Sunday we all got up early ( remember I am retired and not an early bird!) but the kids loaded up the jeep and two 4 wheelers and we headed up the mountain....forecast was for 90+* Jaclyn and I took the Jeep and Scott and Dustin rode the wheelers. Jackson came along for the ride too.....Again no camera....dumb! We had a fantastic day jeeping the roads at 13,000 feet in cool 70* weather....I even rode the 4 wheeler for a while...fun time! That evening Scott made a great dinner seared Ahi Tuna and coconut shrimp. I think he may end up being a master chef someday...he loves to cook. Jaclyn is a great cook too. She made yummy muffins for me. I even managed to whip up an apple pie for them...Scott's favorite!
Monday was the bad one.....Both the kids went to work and I took off to go shopping....planning to meet Theresa for lunch and do a bit of "secret" baby shopping. I sort of got turned around and turned one street too soon to find the main thoroughfare....confused and trying to watch many things at once ....construction on one corner to my right...a food cart on the near corner to my left...trying to locate the street name sign, which should be located on the left side corner, right and a looming overpass ( that I knew I didn't want to go over)I finally looked up to find myself cruising through a red light, which, by the way, had the street name directly above it.....Too late.....

The other car needed towing but speed was not a factor as much as the angle and momentum of her car with me hitting her rear wheel and spinning her 180*....now I hear she is claiming bodlily injury...grrrr why can't people just be honest....it was just a minor fender bender.....
Back to being a granddmother.....because that's what we do.....Jaclyn and her friend, Theresa, have been hitting every yard sale in the Salt Lake/Ogden area for weeks.....the cute baby things they have found are amazing only one very small problem.....everything was blue.....trucks, footballs, dumptrucks, you name it it all shouts BOY BOY BOY... and both Scott and Jaclyn were stressed about not having the time to go find pink stuff......So remember I said I was off that morning to do some serious shopping....TJ MAXX is the best!! I loaded every blue boy outfit in my car and when Jaclyn got home from an awful day at work I lead her to the baby's room..complaining about a shelf that had fallen.....TA DAH.....open the closet to find it filled with pink pink and more pink....sleepers, dresses, shoes and even a toile tu-tu for those adorable newborn photos. I had more fun. Now their stress is lifted a bit and Jaclyn can fill in the empty spaces with the things she wants....So if anyone out there knows of anyone that is expecting a boy...come see me before next weekend.....Yard Sale time....
Monday night ended with a quick visit with my favorite niece from Dallas. Shelby was in Salt Lake for a convention so we swooped her from the airport and had Lobster tacos at the famous Red Iguana Mexican restaurant....Visit was short but great as I haven't seen her in a few years.....
Well one more thing before I wrap this up today....the view from my front porch is always a good one......this one was taken just a few minutes ago...neener neener you have cherubs and birdbaths, my yard art is way more expensive than yours!!
..hay still isn't cut....maybe tomorrow????

Have a fantastic week!!

Julie

Oh what a beautiful Day...

Are you humming along to that old tune......Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day. I got a wonderful feeling......everything's going my way......La La La....and that's just how my day went.....Left early this morning to pickup my horsesitter, and friend Laurieand herm horse, Easy. Ride was suppose to start at 10:30 am and after the hour long drive to the lake we found out when we arrived they all wanted to leave at 10....that gave me 5 minutes to saddle up and be ready to hit the dusty trail...so the group decided to split up, the faster horses would head South and the slower ones would travel North....12 horses and riders all total. I was with the slow group and there were had 7 of us....not all slowpokes just not riding "walkers" and movers and shakers. What a gorgeous day and the weather was perfect.....Barney was on his best behavior and a great ambassador for his kind......the draft horse cross. He is part Belgian and part Quarterhorse and today showed off his talents of being the perfect gentleman and perfect trail horse. We rode Lake Como trails and surrounding area....starting off riding along the canal....this water actually ends up irrigating our hay fields...and we are 30 miles from here...no traffic or worrys here just a smooth calm easy ride. And lots of girl talk.......and laughter. PERFECT!

One gal will lead for a while then will slip back and someone else takes over. The ride continues through the trees up mountainsides and then we hit the top and the view of Lake Como above the spillway is terrific...

So by now my stomach's growling. I had picked up Laurie and her horse Easy at 8:30 and it's getting on close to noon.....my early morning coffee and no breakfast is getting to me. Then we stopped for lunch....at a mineral lick...where the elk come to find minerals in the ground....the wild daisys were everywhere and we ran into another group of 4 women stopping for lunch. One gal grabbed all of our cameras for a group photo. Sandwiches and lemonade overlooking a hidden mountain meadow couldn't be better...

The ride ended about 3pm after a quick horseback cruise through the campground.....Cameras were clicking from one car from out-of-state.....guess they just don't see horses from where they are from.The clouds started forming as we all sat in the campground wikth our afternoon snacks...Then came the rain......a total downpour but after we had loaded up and set out for home....
and guess just what I found in the driveway when I got there.......finally.....
Next week's work.....let the haying begin..Have a great week and keep reading!!
Julie