Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Catching Up is Hard To Do...
I am so humbled. I got about a million awards and linky linky love from Meg Ryan's Mom and some kind of awesome linky linky love from Stu Pidasso (say it really quick). I can’t believe it.
I can’t believe I’m so flippin’ busy at work and with the Wonder Dog and Wonder Pup that I can’t take time to put all the little award icons on my blog right now. I certainly do not deserve any of those awards, as bad as I am at posting consistently. So, I’m going to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH I AM MUCHLY HONORED and let it roll from there. So here’s a big ol’ West Texas Mmmmmmmuuuuuuuuuuahhhhhhhhh from me! And, love and lickies from The Zack Meister and Zanna Montana, to boot! (You know they gotta love that.)
You guys so rock.
Please take the time to go check our their blogs, they really are great, and I love reading them both.
I’ve been a busy girl. ThatManILove is still stuck in Pennsylvania, this is my 8th week to batch it. We had a field trial this weekend, so that kept Zack and Zanna busy and me on the road in my cute camo and snake gaters. Younger Son and a friend went to Lubbock and picked up the jeep we purchased from our friends John and Suzan. When he arrived at the house, he said, “You’d better be careful, that thing feels weeeeeeirrrrrrd. It’s hauling to the right when you put on the brakes.”
He was right. I called ThatManILove and told him the jeep felt squirrely. You know what he said? "Wait until I get home, I'll drive it and check it out." Whattttt? Who knows when he's coming home? And I got me some hunting to do!
I took it to our local mechanic to get it all checked out prior to taking it out hunting. I said, “Gary. Will you check this out, fix the door locks, and drive it? It feels funky, maybe it needs alignment.”
Gary called me yesterday. He said the reason the jeep felt funny was the front left wheel WAS ABOUT TO FREAKIN’ FALL OFF! No joke! So…not only did angels watch over my friends’ daughter Becky (who drove the jeep from Dallas to Lubbock at 80mph) they watched over Younger Son (who drove it from Lubbock to Midland at 65 mph). I am so blessed, I swear. I called ThatManILove in Pennsylvania, called him a twerp for not believing me, and he said, “Get it fixed, baby.” Voila, it is being done as we speak.
And my automatic sprinklers aren’t working, nor are the security lights around the house. It gets dark in Texas early. And I leave the house early. Put the dogs in the outside kennel in the dark, early. With a flashlight. Last night, I made ThatManILove walk me through the drill on the mobile phone. Seems like a breaker is out. So, now, I’ll have to find a reputable electrician to come call me baaaaaaaaaaaaack into the liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Anyway, that’s part of what I’ve been doing lately. Hopefully, I’ll get back to posting more regularly and sending y’all thrills and chills. I loved everyone's comments on the Redistribution of Wealth post.
And tomorrow’s Wordless Wednesday. Arrrrrrgh! The PRESSURE!! What can I find to post? One of my readers (shout out to Marilyn in Canyon Lake!) sent me an e-mail after last week’s posting.
Hey Janie,
Boy after "Wordless Wednesday" you sure made up for it on Thursday. I surely enjoy your Blog. Cheers!
Well, heckamundo. Y'all know the drill. It’s never boring around here.
I can’t believe I’m so flippin’ busy at work and with the Wonder Dog and Wonder Pup that I can’t take time to put all the little award icons on my blog right now. I certainly do not deserve any of those awards, as bad as I am at posting consistently. So, I’m going to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH I AM MUCHLY HONORED and let it roll from there. So here’s a big ol’ West Texas Mmmmmmmuuuuuuuuuuahhhhhhhhh from me! And, love and lickies from The Zack Meister and Zanna Montana, to boot! (You know they gotta love that.)
You guys so rock.
Please take the time to go check our their blogs, they really are great, and I love reading them both.
I’ve been a busy girl. ThatManILove is still stuck in Pennsylvania, this is my 8th week to batch it. We had a field trial this weekend, so that kept Zack and Zanna busy and me on the road in my cute camo and snake gaters. Younger Son and a friend went to Lubbock and picked up the jeep we purchased from our friends John and Suzan. When he arrived at the house, he said, “You’d better be careful, that thing feels weeeeeeirrrrrrd. It’s hauling to the right when you put on the brakes.”
He was right. I called ThatManILove and told him the jeep felt squirrely. You know what he said? "Wait until I get home, I'll drive it and check it out." Whattttt? Who knows when he's coming home? And I got me some hunting to do!
I took it to our local mechanic to get it all checked out prior to taking it out hunting. I said, “Gary. Will you check this out, fix the door locks, and drive it? It feels funky, maybe it needs alignment.”
Gary called me yesterday. He said the reason the jeep felt funny was the front left wheel WAS ABOUT TO FREAKIN’ FALL OFF! No joke! So…not only did angels watch over my friends’ daughter Becky (who drove the jeep from Dallas to Lubbock at 80mph) they watched over Younger Son (who drove it from Lubbock to Midland at 65 mph). I am so blessed, I swear. I called ThatManILove in Pennsylvania, called him a twerp for not believing me, and he said, “Get it fixed, baby.” Voila, it is being done as we speak.
And my automatic sprinklers aren’t working, nor are the security lights around the house. It gets dark in Texas early. And I leave the house early. Put the dogs in the outside kennel in the dark, early. With a flashlight. Last night, I made ThatManILove walk me through the drill on the mobile phone. Seems like a breaker is out. So, now, I’ll have to find a reputable electrician to come call me baaaaaaaaaaaaack into the liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Anyway, that’s part of what I’ve been doing lately. Hopefully, I’ll get back to posting more regularly and sending y’all thrills and chills. I loved everyone's comments on the Redistribution of Wealth post.
And tomorrow’s Wordless Wednesday. Arrrrrrgh! The PRESSURE!! What can I find to post? One of my readers (shout out to Marilyn in Canyon Lake!) sent me an e-mail after last week’s posting.
Hey Janie,
Boy after "Wordless Wednesday" you sure made up for it on Thursday. I surely enjoy your Blog. Cheers!
Well, heckamundo. Y'all know the drill. It’s never boring around here.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Redistribution of Wealth
I got this today via e-mail. Makes you think!
Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.
Once in the restaurant my server had on an 'Obama 08' tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama "redistribution of wealth" concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful. At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even, though the actual recipient deserved money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.
Now you should go out and do likewise.
Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.
Once in the restaurant my server had on an 'Obama 08' tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama "redistribution of wealth" concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful. At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even, though the actual recipient deserved money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.
Now you should go out and do likewise.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Zanna Schwarzenegger
We are at a weird stage with the WonderChiens. WonderPerros. Wondersomethings.
Zanna the Wonderpup is a honking 5 months old. Zack the Wonderdog is a honking 5 years old.
That’s like having a 35 year old and a 3 ½ year old kid, in doggy years. Zanna adores the ground Zack runs across. She follows him everywhere – except up on the couch where he snuggles with me. When that happens, Zanna starts doing the…
Terminator.
Yup. She stands in the middle of whatever room she happens to be currently occupying, and scans the room slowly, just wondering what she can get away with next. For a minute or two, nothing moves except her head. From the right to the left, and then, from eye level to as high as she can see. Sloowwwly she turns. It’s hilarious to watch, and I’d love to know what goes on in her head. The problem is that I’m not always in the room, which is not so hilarious.
I stayed home today, which means the Wonders stayed pretty much inside, with me. Translate that to Terminator Zanna stayed in deep poop most of the day. She’s just leggy enough that she’ll try to reach dresser tops, table tops, whatever has something on it that catches her eye.
And she’s getting damn good at it.
Zanna’s list of stuff I’ve removed from her mouth.
Today.
Just.Today.
In less than 12 hours.
1) One of my brand new Mephisto sandals.
2) Any number of gimme caps, which she steals from a shelf in the TV room. She loves her some hats.
3) A bra.
4) The remote control. The heavy one. That goes with the B&O TV. Probably couldn’t replace it if we tried.
5) A towel.
6) A turtleneck. And then a pair of my slacks. Crap. At least they matched.
7) A dirty plastic ladle, stolen from the dishwasher while I was loading it.
8) A Franco Sarto leather loafer, snatched from the closet while I was hanging up clothes.
9) A medicine bottle that fell off my nightstand.
10) The toilet bowl brush.
11) The gun thingy that goes with the Wii.
12) My freakin’ blackberry. I am not even kidding.
And if I yell, “Zanna!”, or say in a singsong voice, “Zannagirl, what do you have?”, she runs. So I have to play the “fetch” game to get her to bring it to me.
Which only encourages her all the more.
She is flat wearing me out. And I wonder why I have trouble getting housesitters.
Zanna the Wonderpup is a honking 5 months old. Zack the Wonderdog is a honking 5 years old.
That’s like having a 35 year old and a 3 ½ year old kid, in doggy years. Zanna adores the ground Zack runs across. She follows him everywhere – except up on the couch where he snuggles with me. When that happens, Zanna starts doing the…
Terminator.
Yup. She stands in the middle of whatever room she happens to be currently occupying, and scans the room slowly, just wondering what she can get away with next. For a minute or two, nothing moves except her head. From the right to the left, and then, from eye level to as high as she can see. Sloowwwly she turns. It’s hilarious to watch, and I’d love to know what goes on in her head. The problem is that I’m not always in the room, which is not so hilarious.
I stayed home today, which means the Wonders stayed pretty much inside, with me. Translate that to Terminator Zanna stayed in deep poop most of the day. She’s just leggy enough that she’ll try to reach dresser tops, table tops, whatever has something on it that catches her eye.
And she’s getting damn good at it.
Zanna’s list of stuff I’ve removed from her mouth.
Today.
Just.Today.
In less than 12 hours.
1) One of my brand new Mephisto sandals.
2) Any number of gimme caps, which she steals from a shelf in the TV room. She loves her some hats.
3) A bra.
4) The remote control. The heavy one. That goes with the B&O TV. Probably couldn’t replace it if we tried.
5) A towel.
6) A turtleneck. And then a pair of my slacks. Crap. At least they matched.
7) A dirty plastic ladle, stolen from the dishwasher while I was loading it.
8) A Franco Sarto leather loafer, snatched from the closet while I was hanging up clothes.
9) A medicine bottle that fell off my nightstand.
10) The toilet bowl brush.
11) The gun thingy that goes with the Wii.
12) My freakin’ blackberry. I am not even kidding.
And if I yell, “Zanna!”, or say in a singsong voice, “Zannagirl, what do you have?”, she runs. So I have to play the “fetch” game to get her to bring it to me.
Which only encourages her all the more.
She is flat wearing me out. And I wonder why I have trouble getting housesitters.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Hunting Field Trial and More Hunting Dog Pictures
Okay, I have to show off pictures of Zack the Wonder Dog and Zanna the Wonder Pup from this weekend. They are so awesome. The dogs, I mean. The pictures? Yeaaaaaah, they're okay, too.
My friend Steve put out a live quail for Zanna to chase, and chase, she did! She caught it, and is bringing it back to me. With zero training. She is so funny!
And here are a couple of Zack the Wonder Dog on point. I never get to take these pictures, but this time, Kellygirl was with me, so she held my gun while I took pictures. And then, yes, I shot my quail. But that's another story unto itself, right, Kelly?
This is Steve's dog, Abby the English Pointer, on point. She's a beautiful gal.
And this is Steve, walking up to flush the bird. Notice Abby never breaks her point? She's stout, stout, stout. I think she's beautiful.
And of course, LB1, who spent the weekend with me. The little guy woke himself up at 4 a.m. and stayed awake so I wouldn’t be late for the field trial. At 5:30 a.m., he knocked on my door.
Janie: Hey, little dude.
LB1: Time to get up! We don’t want to be late. Can we go get a burrito on the way out?
The kid is a bottomless pit, I swear. I can’t keep him filled up. God bless his Mom. I don’t know how she does it! We ordered a large pizza for supper, and he ate everything but the two pieces I had. He does love him some pizza! (Notice, Kellygirl, he has on your snake gaters!)
LB1 was so great at the field trials. He loved driving the golf cart, and timing the events. I think his second best thing to do was to blow the horn at the end of the timed sessions. He is such a funny, bright young man. I love hanging around him!
Zanna asked to be put in her crate after Zack kept running over her while tied out. He just will not settle while hunting's going on. He thinks he has to be in on every run.
My friend Steve put out a live quail for Zanna to chase, and chase, she did! She caught it, and is bringing it back to me. With zero training. She is so funny!
And here are a couple of Zack the Wonder Dog on point. I never get to take these pictures, but this time, Kellygirl was with me, so she held my gun while I took pictures. And then, yes, I shot my quail. But that's another story unto itself, right, Kelly?This is Steve's dog, Abby the English Pointer, on point. She's a beautiful gal.And this is Steve, walking up to flush the bird. Notice Abby never breaks her point? She's stout, stout, stout. I think she's beautiful.And of course, LB1, who spent the weekend with me. The little guy woke himself up at 4 a.m. and stayed awake so I wouldn’t be late for the field trial. At 5:30 a.m., he knocked on my door. LB1: Miss Janie?
Janie: Hey, little dude.
LB1: Time to get up! We don’t want to be late. Can we go get a burrito on the way out?
The kid is a bottomless pit, I swear. I can’t keep him filled up. God bless his Mom. I don’t know how she does it! We ordered a large pizza for supper, and he ate everything but the two pieces I had. He does love him some pizza! (Notice, Kellygirl, he has on your snake gaters!)
LB1 was so great at the field trials. He loved driving the golf cart, and timing the events. I think his second best thing to do was to blow the horn at the end of the timed sessions. He is such a funny, bright young man. I love hanging around him!Here are Zack and Zanna, tied to the tail end of my new ride while awaiting their turn. Well, Zack's turn, really, since Zanna's too young to "hunt" yet.
Zanna asked to be put in her crate after Zack kept running over her while tied out. He just will not settle while hunting's going on. He thinks he has to be in on every run. I’ve had a rough weekend, missing That Man I Love. It's been six weeks today since he's been home, and I’m more than ready for him to come back to Texas. Zanna has already doubled in size, and you just wait until Zack sees MLH. He will flat go crazy. He loves that man so much!
Janie: Hey. Can you hear Zanna snoring on the bed, through the cellphone? She is flat rocking out some ZZZZZ's!
MLH: No, I can’t hear her. Is she as big as Zack yet?
Janie: She’s about half his size. She’s grown so much. You know those moms that start talking baby talk when they’ve been around their munchkins nonstop24/7?
MLH: Yes?
Janie: Well, I feel like I’m talking to Zack and Zanna every minute of every day and night allthetimenonstopdoyouknowwhatImean? I’m probably going to start incorporating my doggyspeak into my normal workday. You know, "Down, boy! " " Heel." "Hunt 'em up!" "Come arouuuuund!" "Fetch dead!" Oh, that won’t work at all. (MLH is laughing.) Oh, hang on, Zack has to go outside.
MLH: He’s probably just trying to fake it so he can grab Zanna’s rawhide.
At this point, Zanna wakes up, and runs to the door to be the first outside. She may be small, but she’s totally dominating Zack. And Zack? Doubles back, hops on the bed, lays down…and grabs Zanna’s rawhide. I am not even kidding you.
MLH is just heehawing on the cellphone – I guess I’ve given a narrative while I laid down the phone, or he figured it out by what I said to Zack. Which I’m not even going to repeat, so don’t go there.
Okay, enough whining already. Have a great week!!
Friday, October 17, 2008
New Blogger in Town!! Meet Kellygirl!!
Today was a great Friday! I went to work, and then was scheduled to go practice with Zack, as we have a field trial tomorrow. Around lunchtime, I got a call from our newest Midland blogger, Kellygirl at Life in the Sahara. Kellygirl just moved here from the Metroplex. We decided to meet for lunch.
We’d never met before, so Kelly and I had to do the “I drive a new blue Sequoia.” and “Well, I’m the girl sitting on the bench at the KentKwik where they’re washing my car.” No problem. We knew each other immediately…and when Kellygirl got in the car, and got in, well, I had a surprise for her - someone was on the speaker phone, namely, In_Spired at For Love of Home. Kellygirl’s circle of influence includes In_Spired’s pastor in Munday, Texas. And In_Spired introduced me to Kelly, so the rest of today is In_Spired’s fault! (Right, Kellygirl?) After everyone visited for a bit, we said “Bye” to In_Spired, and went to lunch at Schlotzky’s.
I knew right away that Kelly and I would get along. It was fun! And when I told her I had to go hunting, she expressed interest. So, I asked her to tag along, and she did! What a trooper! She even caught some pictures for me (will post later!) It was Kellygirl's first bird hunt (maybe her first hunt ever!)and I think she really liked watching the dogs work. She never missed a step, following us all around that field. We all had a good time watching little Zanna chasing a quail around, catching it and bringing it back to me. Zanna did well!
Oh, yeah! I had outfitted Kellygirl with some protective gear, and I sort of explained it, but as it unfolded, I’d not explained it well. We got the dogs loaded back up, and got in the truck to leave.
Janie: What did you think about that, Kellygirl? Did you have fun?
Kellygirl: It was fun! I'd like to go again! The only thing that bothered me was that snake skin. (Kelly walked right across where a bull snake had shed it’s skin.)
Janie: Yeah, that’s why you’re wearing those snake gaters over your jeans, just in case we ran onto a snake.
Kellygirl: Snake gaters?
Janie: Yeah. Rattlesnakes can’t bite through them, so they’re protective gear.
Quiet. Deeeeeeaaaaad quiet.
Kellygirl: Oh. Okaaaay.
Janie: I'm sorry, I thought you knew what they were when I handed them to you. (Well, heck, she just put them on like a pro!)
We laughed. She took it very, very well. Kelly decided to make it a day, and join me in the rest of mine. We decided to go eat Mexican Food…’cause you know they don’t have that West Texas kind of Mexican food in the Metroplex!
We ran home, put the dogs up, and picked up Little Brother #1, who's hanging with me for the weekend. We then met Bob and Cherie, who’d just returned from Toledo, at Casa Madrid. I believe Kellygirl had a great time! She and LB1 got along well, and I know she enjoyed meeting fellow bloggers Bob and Cherie!
Now I’ve flung a cravin’ on the Kellygirl for shooting, so we’ll be going and trying out some sporting clays on her next day off. What y’all wanna bet I’ve got her hunting before long?
Y’all go meet Kellygirl at Life in the Sahara, and give her a good ol' West Texas welcome!
We’d never met before, so Kelly and I had to do the “I drive a new blue Sequoia.” and “Well, I’m the girl sitting on the bench at the KentKwik where they’re washing my car.” No problem. We knew each other immediately…and when Kellygirl got in the car, and got in, well, I had a surprise for her - someone was on the speaker phone, namely, In_Spired at For Love of Home. Kellygirl’s circle of influence includes In_Spired’s pastor in Munday, Texas. And In_Spired introduced me to Kelly, so the rest of today is In_Spired’s fault! (Right, Kellygirl?) After everyone visited for a bit, we said “Bye” to In_Spired, and went to lunch at Schlotzky’s.
I knew right away that Kelly and I would get along. It was fun! And when I told her I had to go hunting, she expressed interest. So, I asked her to tag along, and she did! What a trooper! She even caught some pictures for me (will post later!) It was Kellygirl's first bird hunt (maybe her first hunt ever!)and I think she really liked watching the dogs work. She never missed a step, following us all around that field. We all had a good time watching little Zanna chasing a quail around, catching it and bringing it back to me. Zanna did well!
Oh, yeah! I had outfitted Kellygirl with some protective gear, and I sort of explained it, but as it unfolded, I’d not explained it well. We got the dogs loaded back up, and got in the truck to leave.
Janie: What did you think about that, Kellygirl? Did you have fun?
Kellygirl: It was fun! I'd like to go again! The only thing that bothered me was that snake skin. (Kelly walked right across where a bull snake had shed it’s skin.)
Janie: Yeah, that’s why you’re wearing those snake gaters over your jeans, just in case we ran onto a snake.
Kellygirl: Snake gaters?
Janie: Yeah. Rattlesnakes can’t bite through them, so they’re protective gear.
Quiet. Deeeeeeaaaaad quiet.
Kellygirl: Oh. Okaaaay.
Janie: I'm sorry, I thought you knew what they were when I handed them to you. (Well, heck, she just put them on like a pro!)
We laughed. She took it very, very well. Kelly decided to make it a day, and join me in the rest of mine. We decided to go eat Mexican Food…’cause you know they don’t have that West Texas kind of Mexican food in the Metroplex!
We ran home, put the dogs up, and picked up Little Brother #1, who's hanging with me for the weekend. We then met Bob and Cherie, who’d just returned from Toledo, at Casa Madrid. I believe Kellygirl had a great time! She and LB1 got along well, and I know she enjoyed meeting fellow bloggers Bob and Cherie!
Now I’ve flung a cravin’ on the Kellygirl for shooting, so we’ll be going and trying out some sporting clays on her next day off. What y’all wanna bet I’ve got her hunting before long?
Y’all go meet Kellygirl at Life in the Sahara, and give her a good ol' West Texas welcome!
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