Snow!

Baby, its cold outside...

Yes it is,

 and it is going to stay that way

 for a few days....

Early morning

23 degrees and dropping

Its getting colder.

We got a total of about 2 or 3 inches.

 It was a real wet snow too.

The snow has not melted completely away,

 which is a little un-usual for these parts.

It usually is all melted away by noon

 the day after it snows.

Not this time.

It

 has

 been 

very

very 

cold.

Icicles

Wolfy happy bone!

Hoppy

nice 

:-)

ma

It's 12:38 am

and

something

woke me up

 out of a
 deep
 deep
 sleep.

  I had been asleep about 3 1/2 or 4 hours.

 All I remember is
 I woke up,
 not really knowing at that instant
 why  I woke up
 and

I reached my right hand over to my left arm.
I don't remember feeling it on my arm,
but I kinda dragged my hand over my stomach
and then
I
felt
it.

I felt it move under my hand.

The next few moments are very fast.

I fly up out of bed and 

peel out of my night shirt.

It's pitch black but I knew I had to move fast

and at this point I don't even know what it is,

but I kinda have an idea......

I quickly grab my glasses and turn on the overhead, room light

and slip on my Birkenstocks.

I don't see anything

but I start to feel the bites.

One on my left fore arm 

and 

one 

on my stomach.

They are starting to really hurt and burn and sting.

I get a freaky bone

and

 wig out

 trying to make sure nothing is in my hair,

while at the same time looking at the floor to see if its there and

I am looking all thru my night shirt and by the way the bites feel, 

I am thinking it is something big.

I am starting to cry,

for

 many,

 many

 reasons.

This makes it even harder to see.

I convince myself that my night shirt is safe,

which took

 some over and over and over looking

 to be sure

 nothing was hiding in a seam or fold.

I put it back on.

 I am getting cold.

Now I really start to cry,

the reasons just keep adding up in my mind.

I leave the room to go out to the front porch to get a flashlight.

I have a small one right by my bed, but I wanted the 

Big One.

I go back into my room and with the flashlight I look 

under the bed and don't see anything.

The bites are really starting to hurt.

I look thru the covers

and start getting freaky again,

just thinking about trying to get back in this bed,

and I still, at this point,

don't-for sure- know what it is,

but

 by the way my tongue is going numb,

my lips tingling,

my mouth feeling like I just ate sand,

I knew what it was.

I remembered all the times 

I 

shook that jar and tortured

that

damn 

scorpion.

Well - there you go-

What comes around-goes around.

Pay backs are hell.

You have to sleep in the bed you make.

Scorpion Karma.

I could go on,

but 

why....

I am starting to feel bad and just want this to end.

I slowly pick up my pillow

and

there it is

and 

it is

a 

Big One.

One big ass scorpion.

UNDER MY PILLOW.

Knowing my enemy well,

 and armed with a 

mag lite,

I kill it.

Dead Dead Dead

you nasty thing

I didn't take its picture,

I didn't want to.

I'm sure you can visualize.

Pieces of scorpion body parts and goo

smashed on the bed and pillow.

Scorpions are hard to kill.

If you have never done it,

come on over

 and give it a try.

Its harder than you think.

 I am just exhausted.

The bites

really 

hurt.

I'm really cold.

I am very traumatized.

I'm very tired.

No way, am I getting back in that bed.

I flat damn hate scorpions.

Where am I going to lay down at and feel safe and be able to relax?

I am so tired and starting to feel funny.

Not ha ha funny.

Poison funny.

Living in this desert set the stage 

for me to be bitten 

by all kinds of things.

Creepy things.

When I was about 10 years old,

I was  walking along a cement cinderblock fence

 with a friend  

and we came across a wasps nest

 and were both bitten

 ALL OVER

 our bodies.

I had a bunch of stings on me.

It was horrible.

 It HURT.

I didn't get sick or have any lasting scars,

but

I do remember laying on the couch

 and crying

 while mom put some kinda

 baking soda paste

 on the stings.

Fleas,

 ticks,

 bees,

scorpions,

centipedes,

 ants,

 wasps, 

hornets,

 general biting bugs,

wild birds,

 dogs,

 cats,

 monkeys,(yes we really had monkeys)

 horses,

donkeys,

 goats,

 pigs,

 rabbits,

 chickens, 

quail,

lizards,

 and snakes.

I have pretty much been bitten by all these creatures except the centipede, snake, lizard, quail, and believe it or not, a hornet.

Scorpions and ants have stung me more than anything.

None have been too bad.

The scorpion this time, got me good and are hurting pretty good by now.

All I could do was sit in the bathroom where I knew nothing could crawl on me, or fall on me.

I tried to get over the sick feeling I had.

It just urks me out.

  I put some cream on the bites.

I started trying to figure out where to sleep now.

There are 2 other beds,

one in the spare room

and J is in his room in his bed.

Both are very sleep ready, but both have heater/AC vents over them, just like my bed.

I decided I could go sleep on the couch,

 because the legs on the couch are made in such a way,

 that no scorpion could crawl up on the couch.

All I had to do was make sure my blanket didn't touch the floor.

One could crawl up the blanket and on to me.

There is no heater/AC vent over the couch either.

I had my suspicions

 that the scorpion

 may have fallen out of the vent

(from the attic)

 above my bed.

They have done it before.

We moved in this house when I was 6 years old.

We have always had scorpions and centipedes.

I named this house

"Centipedeville"

many years ago,

 after my little

chihuahua, Rocky

 woke me up to tell me

 about the centipede in the bed with us.

I was not bitten,

but I flew out of bed and threw the covers and centipede across the room.

I never did find that damn centipede.

I went and slept in my car that night.

Great Memory Bone     :-)

This time,

I finally did fall back to sleep on the couch.

The next day, J went around the house and took off the heater/AC vents and put a screen over them and then put them back up.

 He is such a good egg!

Thanks J.

Now, if a scorpion falls out of the vent, it will have to be smaller than 1/4 inch big.

I have seen them that small.

When W was only 6 or 7,

  I put him in his little twin bed,

and when I went to sit on the side of the bed

to kiss him good-nite,

a HUGE MAMA

 scorpion

 was on the side of the bed 

and I sat down

on her 

and her 10 or so babies that ride on her tail.

She stung me on the back on my leg and behind my knee.

All the babies just scattered every which way!

I grabbed W out of the bed and ran into the other room with him

and made sure there were no baby scorpions on 

MY BABY!

oh, my , lord.

What a night.

Try to get a kid to go to sleep after that.

Not too easy.

We lived way out in the boonies in an old ranch house.

When the wind blew out of the west,

 the cabinets in the kitchen would blow open.

It was an old, old homestead house,

 built out of orange and fruit crates.

They used what ever they had.

We did,

 over time,

 fix it up

 and it was a cool place to live,

 with no one around for miles.

Lots of scorpions there too.

Going thru this has made me tougher 

and

 has made my hate of scorpions

 even greater.

I will prevail.

I'll get 'em,

and then

they 

will

get 

me 

back.

What a bone!

Morning Moon

Little Jiggsy

ma

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom turned 84 years old on the 24th of October!
woo hoo

As you can plainly see,

she HATES to have her picture taken.

I had to do it.

Her HD biker shades are a new, favorite accessory.

They are a gift from her neighbor across the street (aka the hall).

Never mind that Mom wears RX glasses, and has a good pair in her drawer.

"Ms. Hollywood."

She has been insistent since Dads big party, that she did not want a party like that. 

"Its just too much"

Mom doesn't want to make a fuss, especially a fuss over her.

Of course, we could not let her 84th birthday go un-noticed.

I spread the word to all the fam that we could all just go by and spend some

 one on one time with her and Dad, and not try to do a "group" thingy.

Its too much stimulation for her if 50 + people try to talk to her.

It worked out great and she had a steady stream of visitors for days.

It wore her out any way, but she loved it.

W & C flew in to be with her, and we all had a blast.

Chico - my love.

Chico has more frequent flyer miles

than anyone in the family.

For real.

T stayed at home and we all missed her very, very much.

We had cake and ice cream at the October Group party in the activity room.

Dad

We spent 3 full days with Mom and Dad.

It was great and Chico remembered where their room was.

He loves to run down the hall.

All the old people want to touch him.

It depends on his mood, if they get to, or not.

Verdell was so happy to see W & C.

We took Mom fresh flowers and ate Red Velvet Cake.

The cake was so good!

 She enjoys the fresh flowers, and dries the ones she can.

She has an empty kleenex box full of her dried potpourri made fresh in the nursing home from previous flower gifts.

She has a "knack" for that.

Housekeeping threw away almost all of her 'dried flowers' once,

thinking they are just dead, dried up flowers.

No, not here.

They are a work in progress.

Mom is still creative.

This is a tile mosaic Mom made in the 60's and it is still behind the stove.

Overall, Moms birthday went very well.

 I know she enjoyed her time with W & C.

W and J and I went to the High School football game on Friday nite.

Mom has been wanting to go because her Great-Grandson is the star Quarterback.

  He is a Senior this year. 

 When it came right down to her going,

 she didn't,

 she is always too tired,

 and it is just so stressful to travel

 and get out of her comfort zone. 

I think just knowing she could go is a good feeling for her. 

 She is the one who decides to go or not.

She decided not to go "this time".

We won the football game and we had a good time.

 W got to see several of his cousins and other members of the "fam".

Its always nice to chew on a few family bones.

One of Tyler's touchdowns!

The Cardinals are undefeated and are District Champions.

1st undefeated season since 1958.

Thats the year I was born!

Holy cow.

The play-offs will start soon.

I know it will be exciting!

W and I worked at the townhouse, hauling off trash to the junk-yard. 

 It was very dusty, and we couldn't get the dust out of the truck.

  We made 2 loads and it helped me alot. 

 The little house is almost ready to rent. 

We found that someone had turned the water on at the meter,

 and you could tell it had run for quite a while under the house. The plumbing is not finished and there are open water lines.

 It is still a mystery bone. It could have caused a lot of damage.

It soaked the wall in the utility room!

W took me out to eat and then we went out to see M and the Big Guy.

We visited for a while and it was really nice.

We played with a real lazer and looked thru the telescope.

We saw Jupiter's moons.

We always have fun! 

Flower growing by the curb in Lovington.

All too soon it was time for W & C to go home.

It was so nice having the new airport open.

It is only about 20 minutes from the house instead of driving an hour and 10 minutes to Midland.

I couldn't leave until I watched them fly away.

Thats them just lifting off the runway.

The holidays are coming, and W &T&C will not be coming home this year.

J and I will probably spend our time with M& D, and I have encouraged

J to go see his Mom and family in Las Cruces.

I always look forward to the next time

 W&T&C

and I

 get to see eachother.

 I hope it will be soon.

I am so blessed to have a son

 that takes his time and money to come all this way to see us.

Thanks babe.

Once again,

 I have all the love,

all the bones

 and alot of great toys.

ma

There Was A Bird In My Room

Crazy thing.

I walked into my room, and saw something kinda fall down the wall

behind the tv.

All of a sudden,

it flies up and crashes in to the window.

It's a real bird!

How in the hell did it get in my room?

How did it survive getting by Verdell and Hoppy?

I always heard that it was a bad omen to have a bird fly in your house.

This bird flew in my house, thru the hallway, around two, maybe three corners,

and into my room.

How weird.

I imagined the small little lice flying off as it soared over my bed.

I imagined the poop it could poop as it kept flying.

How do I catch it?

I holler for Justin to come look at it.

It flew into the window and was very scared.

Justin just walks in and gets right up to the window and grabs the bird.

Just like that.

It is caught.

What a guy.

I want to see the bird so I say, "oh, let me see"

Well, J tries to let me see, and the little turkey gets away and is flying around my room again.

Once again, J just reaches over and gets the little bird out of the window.

He takes is outside and it flies away.

This is not the first bird in the house. A few years ago, I drew a picture of Justin and had it setting out, and a bird flew thru the front door and pooped down the front of it.

For real. 

I couldn't bring myself to clean it off.

The poop just seemed to belong there,

and adds an element no one seems to forget.

As far as the bird being a bad omen,

forecasting death and destruction?

Not too scared today.

ma

Damn Cactus

I saw this beautiful Golden Barrel Cactus at Wal-Mart and I had to have it.

It was in a black plastic container and I wanted to put in in something better.

The pot it ended up in is this clay pot in this picture.

Getting it OUT of the old and into the new pot was difficult.

I get my leather gloves and have the pot and I am ready to give it a move.

Well,

I lean it over to kinda get a grip on it, and the damn thing

rolls out of the black container and rolls onto my right foot.

Oh, my Lord in heaven.

Now, look at all those beautiful golden spears sticking out of this cactus.

As it rolled onto my foot, each and every thorn that could easily penetrate my bare foot ( I had my sandals on) 

DID penetrate my foot.

They are so sharp, they go very deep in to my skin, and as you can see, it is a fairly big Golden Barrel Cactus, so its weight 

HELPED THE PENETRATION OF THORNS INTO MY FOOT!

Very painful bone.

I managed to get the damn thing off my foot and in the pot.

 The pot is really too small for it,

 but

 too bad,

 so sad. 

I'm not messin' with it again.

A week or so later, my big toe started hurting me.

I take a look, and would you believe,

a thorn from that damn cactus had broke off

right in the part of my toe between the nail on the side and the skin.

 Ouch.

 It was a really big broken off thorn.

man o man

it hurt.

I got it out. Its ok now.

It does look nice in my rock garden.

Cow Crippler

These are from Texas! My brother Ben brought then to me!

Thanks Ben!

This picture shows my Black Diamond watermelon vine growing over the Golden Barrel cactus.

I can't wait for a watermelon!

Pretty Clouds

Pretty Verdell

ma

Lots

Lots and lots of love

lots and lots of bones

lots and lots of toys.......

Lots of living and dying has been going on around here.

Last Summer 2011 Sunrise

Summer is gone and with it,

so died my Aunt Tody. (pronounced  toad-ee).

My grandfather named her Tody because she

"hopped like a toad" when she was a kid.

She was my Moms only sister.

Big sister.

Mom has taken her death very hard.

Her dementia keeps her from fully grasping reality,

but she fully understands and knows her sister is dead.

I tried as best I could to help her deal with it,

 but she never really got to say

good-bye.

Its the same when my brother was killed in 1976.

She didn't get to say goodbye to him either.

All of a sudden

they are

gone

and you never get to

see

them

again.

No touch, no look, no nothing to make this real.

All you see is a coffin.

The body of the one you love is in it.

AND

you are supposed to fine with this.

Accept it, take it, let it be.

In the end

you do or don't.

It is the last choice you have.

I went to my friend Brenda's memorial today. She died of cancer at age 54.

We grew up together and she married my brother Ben.

They divorced, but as with alot of divorces, 

family ties are strong. 

She had  3 boys (from a previous marriage) and they still love and adore my brother and still talk to him alot. He has been a positive force in their lives.

Her death comes at the same time as another friend of my mom and I, Clifteen.

She died last week.  Another friend from here died of cancer, Gary. He wasn't even 60.  My friend Kathy lost her daughter at age 16 last week. My heart aches for her.

Circle of life.

There is nothing but life.

With death everywhere

life is everywhere.

Some one told me once that dying is as natural as being born.

well,

its just as ugly and you don't end up with a baby.

Where would we be if we couldn't laugh?

We are all in this together.

God's speed to all on the way out of here.

We will meet again.

Last Summer 2011 sunset

ma

Babysitting Booger

Booger is a miniature horse.

A real horse.

Poco equine.

He weighs 125 lbs.

Booger with his long hair-mane & tail

Booger Bean eye

D  left little Booger here for us to babysit

while she and her family went to the lake.

 She rents our stalls/barn for her other horses 

Dream, Skipper, and Cowboy.

 I have been feeding them and enjoying the time I have spent messin with them.  Booger lives in D's back yard (they live in town)

 and she didn't want to leave him alone, so she fixed the pen so he couldn't get out, and he would be fine.

 Of course he will,

 and he is.

     Booger and I started our relationship with me walking in his pen with food

 (hay and milo).

 I put the food in his barrel and

he started eating right away and I started petting him. 

  I turned my head and looked away at something and 

that little turd

 reached around and got a-hold of my forearm

 and went into clench mode.

 Square-dab in the middle of my arm

 he bit me so hard, 

I thought my arm was broke in-two.

Crap.

Oh man it hurt.

I screamed and reflex and adrenaline injected, I slapped the shit out of him right in his mouth.

Well, he thought that was funny and the fight was on!

He started going after me!

I was dodging his attempts to bite me again .

Fast little Booger.

I barely escaped bite after bite.

He didn't get me again, but it wasn't easy.

I got the lead rope and put in on his halter, and tried to make him settle down.

That was funny too.

Strong little Booger.

He became more interested in his food than in me, so

he settled down.

I took the lead off and left him to his food.

The bite was bad, but it did not break the skin 

so I rubbed on it and

 continued on to feed the other horses.

ow-ee

Skipper, Dream, Cowboy (behind)

Booger

Skipper and Dream 

Things rocked on with no real incidences

except I scolded Wolfy for barking at 

Booger. 

Booger would respond by hitting the fence with his little hoofs

and biting at Wolfy. 

They would ya-ya thru the fence, I would yell,

and then they would stop.

This happened  a couple of times when I was outside.

It is so hot, I usually get outside early

 and don't get back out there until later in the day.

I've noticed the dogs don't do much in the heat either.

Bonnie won't even chase a car in 103 heat.

They ALL have been getting in the swimming pool alot.

Justin put up a cooling vapor mist-strip along the fence so the horses can cool off too.

Justin is a good egg.

The Beauties 

One thing I love about the desert, 

is that is cools off at night.

 It almost can feel cold on a summer nite.

Now, and the next 4 weeks will be the hottest of the year, but our days are getting shorter already.

The mornings are nice and cool, so I open up my bedroom windows and

a couple others in the house.

Just for a little while, I air out the house.

Thank goodness I opened the windows on Monday,

because when I went to shut the front window,

I heard a faint little whinny-kind-of screaming.

I instantly knew something was wrong with little Booger.

I hurried out of the house and noticed right away that Shaggy was out of the fence and running wild. Since the new renters moved in next door,

 this has been a problem.

They don't know how to shut the gate. They sure cant latch it.

IS IT BRAIN SURGERY? IS IT THAT HARD TO DO?

(I swear under my breath at these people)

If Shaggy is out, Verdell can be out too

and sure enough,

as I got closer I could see

Verdell was in Boogers pen fighting with him.

Bonnie, Clydee, Wolfy, Hoppy were all in the pen getting their bites in as well.

It was a free for all.

Booger was on the ground and Verdell kept charging at him.

I started screaming at everyone and they all scattered.

Just like when Verdell killed Jane the chicken, 

he acted as if he knew he had done wrong and started being ashamed.

I shamed and shamed him.

My first concern was to see how badly little Booger was beat up.

His neck on the mane or hair side had deep bites in it. There were at least 4 or more big holes from Verdells big teeth.  It was awful.

Fortunately, there were no bites on his throat or to any vital organs.

His legs had several bites and he had a gash about 7 inches long on his little thigh.

Crap.

I decided he was ok-enough for me to get Verdell put up, so I went in and got his chain and leash,

and chained him up.  I then went and found a guitar strap and whipped him good.  That may sound like abuse to some people that don't understand dogs, but Verdell is a huge animal.  I have to make him understand that what he did is not 

ok.

"Don't be too hard on him", my Dad said. 

 "He's an animal"

He said the same thing when Verdell got Jane. 

Dad agrees that I need to make him understand that 

he can't do what he did,

 but chances are,

 if he had the chance,

 he would do it again,

 he is an animal.

Verdell the animal.

I left Verdell tied up on his leash, which makes me nervous because I have seen dogs accidentally hang themselves when they are tied up.

I put him in a spot where I could keep an eye on him.

I went back to Boogers pen and he was doing ok, but he was in pain.

He wasn't bleeding real  bad, but bad enough.

 I washed the wounds out with peroxide and tried to clean them the best I could. 

 Booger didn't try one time to bite me.

Thank goodness.

Poor little Booger.

He drank a little sip of water.

Now was the time to call Justin.

I knew we had to fix the pen,

 and  determine whether a trip to the vet was in store for us.

Booger was doing fine, but he was in pain

and I was afraid of BAD infection

and I didn't want him going into shock.

Justin came right home 

and we fixed the pen and decided to 

take Booger to the Vet.

We have a nice horse trailer,

but it is not here at our house

(go figure that one)

so Justin and Booger Bean

rode in the back of my truck 

all the way to Andrews.

Its about 40 miles to the vet

and it was at least 101 degrees.

It was so hot.

I was proud of little Booger and Justin,

they did real good on the ride.

Justin told me Booger was so 

calm and happy because he was singing

Merle Haggard and Buck Owens 

to him.

I could see Justin's

Lips-a-flappin

in my rear-view mirror

but his lips are 

always flappin.

He never hushes.

I'm sure Booger was thoroughly entertained.

We got to the vet and they started right in on assessment of little

Booger.

The vet said he would be fine, he needed a tetnus and another shot, and then stitches and antibiotics.

Thank you Lord.

Boogers little hooves needed triming and we all agreed that it would be great if the vet could trim them while they have him sedated.

The only problem was he had no clippers.

We drove down to the store and bought a pair and by the time we got back to the Vets, Booger was all stitched up and looked much better.

The vet started clipping his hoofs.

Justin really tried to help.

Lips-still-a-flappin.

Lordy.

Finially,

with Justins help, we were all done.

We paid out and got Boogers RX's and back in the truck we went.

Booger was still sleepy and laid on a blanket most of the way.

Justin fed him ice and we made the ride fine.

When we got home, getting a sedated mini-horse out of your truck

is kinda tricky.

We did it,

 and he was fine and happy to be back in his little pen.

He looked so cute with his mane cut off.

I know it was a tough way to get your hair and nails cut.

Cute little Booger.

 I had tried to call D and tell her what happened,

but we never talked, so I decided to just wait and tell her 

when she came home.  I feel bad about what happened.

I am sorry it happened.

I am so thankful he was not killed or hurt real bad.

He was hurt bad enough, believe me.

Tough little Booger.

D was a champ when she saw Booger. He looked pretty bad because the puncture wounds on his neck were draining pus

and it was ugly and stinky.

D is in nursing school, so I knew the pus and stink

would be something she could handle just fine.

She did.

I probably won't get the best babysitting award, but

I was sad when they loaded him up and took him home.

I miss the little Booger.

He tried to bite me again before he left.

Fast little Booger.

ma