[eskielover]

Just thought I would give an update as to how crazy life has become around here......ready to dig a hole hide from everything to recover a little, but always ready to come out of my hole to trail ride in the country & visit with my wonderful friends.

The farm where I trail ride had graveled their road with large size gravel this spring.....the tires on my truck were old (56,000 miles on 50,000 tires). One of the rocks punctured my front left tire....somehow I drove back to my friends farm pulling the horse trailer. I knew my steering wheel was pulling like a low tire, but had no idea just how flat it really was. I managed to get my truck to a place to have it plugged.....but knew that new tires had to be handled soon. I kept postponing it.

About a month later, I went out to just drive over to trail ride & found that tire down 10 pounds of air, so I got out my compressor & sat there getting the air into it. While doing that, I ended up walking out to my mail box (don't always get there every day). Got a lot of mail, but one from the IRS telling me graciously that they took my tax return & applied it to my back taxes even though I had been paying the monthly agreed on payments......so there went the money to pay the CPA for doing my taxes & extra money for saving for the tires. I put a call into the IRS to ask them about it. They said they could waive my next payment, but their computer was down & I would have to call back later that night.....of course, that was after hanging on the line for 20 minutes waiting for them to answer my call in the first place.

So I drove to have lunch with my trail riding friends & go out riding in the afternoon. Good lunch, great ride. Driving out of the farm, I had my windows down in my truck & I heard a pop & a hissssss. As I drove, I hear the hisssssss, silence, hissssss, silence. I knew it was a tire on the other side of my truck, so it wasn't the plug. I realized I couldn't make it home with the air going out like that. I drove up to the road & stopped & sure enough, my tire was already flat (the rear right one this time). Well, several of the women were coming out behind me with their horses in their trailers. I got my truck across the road into that driveway so they could get out. One lady took her horses home (she lives only a few minutes away) & was returning to help me change my tire to the spare......& the other lady helped me get the spare down so we could change it. I got out the "HOW TO" manual & had my cell phone out thinking I might have to call my auto club which I had already almost used up this year just in case we couldn't get it changed. We managed to get the spare down from under the truck bed & I got it out & ready to put on, we got the truck up on the jack & the lug nuts offthe tire, just as we were trying to get the tire off the wheel (which wouldn't come off), along came a guy in his truck & stopped to help. A few heavy kicks & some good strong muscle & he got the tire off the wheel & got the spare on & tightened. With many thanks, & one of the ladies reminded me to get the manual & jack back into the truck & not leave anything laying on it, I was off to the tire store to see what prices they could get new tires for. Just my luck, my Dodge truck takes the largest light truck tires possible. When I arrived at the mechanic that my other friend suggested I go to (they are honest & the the other place had a bad reputation), I realized that I didn't have my cell phone & it wasn't in my truck........dang, I thought I had picked up everything just NOT my cell phone. Well, I got a good price on Cooper tires (several hundred less than all the other brands) they have a good reputation, just not paying for the name, but made in the USA. Ordered them for the next day & then I went back to find my phone.....somewhere in the several miles of road I had driven.

I was hopeful to start with, but ended up walking the 1+ mile road & found nothing. One lady mowing her lawn along the road loaned me her cell phone to dial my phone incase it was hiding under the grasses......but NO LUCK. I got back in my truck & decided to drive the main road very slowly, hoping to find my little cell phone somewhere along the road side. The busy road at 5pm, I drove slowly with my emergency flashers on.....not a car came up behind me. Slowly driving down the road about a mile & there I saw my little phone laying just on the side of the road. I pulled off into the ditch to avoid causing an accident & walked back to make sure.....& sure enough it was my phone. The thing about my cell phone is that it's the only phone I have....no land lines in my home (couldn't afford to have both anyway). It has some one & only phone #'s on it & some special puppy videos of the last 2 litters of Destiny's. I couldn't imagine how horrible it would have been if I had completely lost the phone besides needing to call the IRS that night to take care of the business I needed to handle. A true miracle that I found it let alone that it was still working & not broken....an answer to my prayer.

Took care of the IRS & got it oked to not pay the next month so I could pay the CPA. Got my new tires the next day (had to dip into my emergency fund again). Later that week the internet was down, so I couldn't get more money transferred over to pay a bill, but went in on Saturday to get all the money in place. Later when the internet came back up (storm had blown it out for 3 days), I found the bank had charged me a fee for not having the money when the change came in as a hold, but was in there by the time it was processed. They refunded because of the internet situation....& my electric company refunded the late charge because of the same.

Over the winter, my garage door roller had broken & I had to get that fixed.......was finding that the field mice seemed to be coming in through the partially open garage door along with one night when I heard a noise, I opened the kitchen door into the garage & found an opossum tearing apart my garbage. I chased him off that night, but he kept coming back. I had caught most of the mice that had been wandering around my kitchen, but there was one mouse that wouldn't get caught. I watched him one night & found out that he was so big, he could to into the humane mouse trap by stretching out all the way to get to the back & keeping the door open until he got everything out of it......watched him bopping around my kitchen under the noses of my dogs without them doing anything even when I told them to "get the mouse". That mouse terrorized my kitchen....ate the labels off all the cans & even ate holes in the lids & plastic spice jars......got into my up above cupboard & got into everything I thought was safe. Didn't realize that they were coming in over my stove where it vents out & ran across the top of my cupboards & then they hadn't closed the part of the cabinet that connects to that & they could climb down into the cupboard from there. I now have that taped over, so they can't get in. I managed to trap 3 more mice that came in after the fields were mowed in the spring & one last one kept avoiding getting caught. The other night when I was putting away the tools from fixing my garage door, I saw the mouse run in my dining room where I was working. Leo was right there with me & did'nt even blink an eye. I told him to get the mouse under the drawer I had sitting there. I lifted the drawer & there was the little mouse hiding under it. It ran behind more things in the dining room. I put up blocks so it couldn't get out of either doorway. Leo & I chased that mouse around that dining room at least 5 times when I finally got a large trash can with a lid & Leo got at one end of where the mouse was & I got on the other & we chased him into the container. Sort of a seethru plastic, Leo was having a blast tapping at the mouse & being a brave dog when he knew he was safe from the mouse chasing him (a trauma he had when he was a puppy at the California ranch where my horses were (& are boarded). I take the mice miles down the road & across the creek so they can't make it back here.....not that others don't come in but I just can't kill those cute little guys.

Ah yes, the garage door. I bought a new roller for it, but had to completely take off the bracket to get the roller replaced & one of the hex screws wouldn't come loose even with tons of WD-40 sparyed on it. I needed my power drill/driver to get enough pressure to get it undone. I managed to break the ratchet driver trying to undo it & had to put that back together after finding all the parts that flew across the garage when it broke. While working on the garage door that had to stay open about 2 feet from the bottom all winter & until I got it fixed, I noticed that there was a bird that kept coming in the garage. I finally found out it was a wren & he was taking moths to mommy wren that he had built a nest for in a large plastic container that I had a tool holder wrapped around without any tools in it at that time. I checked out the nest & it the bottom of the container was filled with grass & twigs & a sort of cave like area was made where mommy wren had her eggs & babies. I couldn't close the garage door even if I had been able to fix it at the time. I finally got the attachment so I could use my power driver & got the roller repaired. When I tried to get the automatic door to work, something is hanging it that I still have to figure out what's wrong. Since then, the baby wrens hatched & were so quiet until one day, all 5 of them were out in my garage learning how to fly......by the end of the day, they were all gone. I had been so worried that my looking at their nest had disturbed them, but one night after that, I went out into my garage & turned on the light & daddy wren had been purched on the garage door rails. He flew off his perch & into the wall of the garage. I hurried back into the house turning out the light immediately so he could go back to sleep. What a good daddy wren he was.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a deer in my back yard just in front of the woods. I walked out to my deck & it caught her attention. She just stood there for a few moments, then started making this huge blowing sound out of her nose. She kept this up for several minutes as she looked around to see if she could see me....my scent much have blown onto her along with the sound of the door. She slowly moved toward the woods, making that huge blowing sound all the way. I read on the internet that that's their way of warning other deer that there is danger that they can't see around. Wow, was that interesting as I had never heard a deer do that before.

So much fun here in the country....things I never experienced living in the city.

My mommy eskie (Destiny Dreamer) had a small tumor in the mammary gland area of her tummy that I found during the winter. I promised that I would take care of it as soon as spring/summer came & my bills got less. She decided to make me take care of it when she decided to chew on the lump, causing it to get infected......Got her into the vet & had surgery 2 weeks ago. She was so bouncing & feeling good when I picked her up that evening compared to her dragging self that morning......but I found out that it was not just a mammary gland tumor like her previous one...this turned out to be a cancerous tumor, but the pathology report seemed to indicate that all the cancer had been removed with the surgery. Of course, one never knows about what might be hiding in the lymph nodes or into the blood system after the surgery.....but praying that she will be ok......she is already 14 years old & would hate to put her through any horrible treatments at her age anyway.

Had a strange thing happen a few weeks ago also. I was on our PC chat Bible study around 11pm when I heard a barking. Initially I thought the coyotes were out in my yard, but as I listened, it sounded more like a hound. That went on for about 5 minutes. Then I heard a shot. I yelled to find out who was shooting. The barking continued after the shot, so it wasn't the barking dog that was shot as there was no yelp & no sound from it like it had been hurt. There were no cars or anything in front of my house. It took me about 15 minutes to find my flashlight & the courage to go out & check the area. While doing that, people who are renting the farm house on the large farm across the street came home. They drove up the driveway & stopped part way up. Then they came driving back down because they thought someone was looking around my farm with the flashlight & wanted to make sure I was ok (first time I knew I had neighbors as that house had been vacant for over a year) We never did find out that mystery. Guessing that someone was tracking a raccoon or something with their dog & the dog must have treed it & they shot it.....but have no idea & never went to the farms around me to find out if they knew anything. I get so nervous about shooting like that from my California background, knowing that stray bullets can fly anywhere & end up hitting in houses even across the street. It just gets my nervous feelings going & not feeling safe......but haven't heard anything like it since then.

Shaker Village, a beautiful historical area about 2 miles from my farm, had an adventure day a couple of weeks ago. Bird watching & identification along with wild flower identification along with trail riding was all part of the day. I ended up going on the wild flower hike & found out that what I thought was Queen Anne's Lace was actually Poison Hemlock.....that I have growing my my front flower garden. Just this last week, I decided to get it out there & cut it back before it goes to seed......so while cutting it back, I came across this stuff that they had also identified during that hike as poison ivy......eeeekkkkk, 1/2 of that flower garden that I had cleaned out my first year here, is covered thick in poison ivy. Sure glad I was made aware of what it looked like on that hike.....but just to make sure, the water meter reader was driving by at the time & I asked him if that was really what I thought it was.....he reassured me that YES, it's covered in poison ivy. I was so careful not to touch it, but guess I managed to get some on me from one of the other bushes I cut down in the middle of it. When I was out riding yesterday, I noticed a rash on my arm right above my elbow showed up. I was out by the lake & decided to walk down to the edge & get a hand full of mud to put on the rash from the poison ivy. Everyone else was telling me to put on benedryl lotion, but I went for the mud because it has always seemed to work before. Everyone thought I was crazy. My friend had picked me up to go riding while my truck was in having the rear brakes replaced & it wasn't ready when we got back from riding, so I went to help her with the horses & then we went out to lunch at the DQ. I washed off the mud as it had about an hour to dry. I came out from the ladies room & there wasn't a sign of the rash......she was really impressed by how good the mud worked. After lunch, I got back to my truck....they got my breaks done (had no idea it was going to be as expensive as it ended up being). Should have considering I had 56,000 miles on my truck & no idea of what work had been done since I got it at 32,000.

Very frustrating as I seem to work one day & need several days to recooperate......so I am still getting my Christmas decorations down, & still working on getting my front porch painted & the wood deck sealed. Hot weather this year...much hotter than last year & no AC working at this point, waiting for the grant money to come through the beginning of July to replace the heat pump unit that was installed faulty from the crook that I hired to install it several years ago. Don't want to spend the money to have them hot wire the unit for the AC when it's going to get completely replaced anyway.....so that doesn't help with my energy level. The bugs have been horrible this year. Between the mosquitoes, & spiders, & I think a few chiggers have gotten their bites in also, I itch constantly at the bites even with the spray....probably because I'm so hot. The heat is bringing in the red wasps also.....seems like I find 5 flying around my bedroom window every day.....they must be coming through the vents from the duct work. Wow, how many would blow in if I had the AC on & air blowing them through the duct work......ugh. Not to say that I have come across several ticks.....a couple on my dogs & a couple on me (luckily I have caught them before they bit)

I still love it here in KY & am much happier than I ever felt living in California.......I actually enjoy the little critters that show up around here even if I want to chase them out of my house. My yard has grown so much......I keep the grass cut in front of my house, but can't seem to get all the rest of the mowing done with my lawn tractor.....it's at the point it needs a bush hog now as the grass is over my head & takes so much cutting with my lawn tractor.....but it's really pretty anyway. Do hope that the killer spray I sprayed on the poison ivy leaves ends up working over the next few weeks. I need to get rid of that stuff. I have no idea where it even came from as there is no other poison ivy on the front part of my farm. Some little birds must have brought the seed there & since I didn't clear out the flower bed last year, it must have taken over.

Well, such is the life that's going on here in KY. I haven't had much time to be on PC lately even the days when I'm trying to recover it seems there are too many other things going on or I am trying to catch up on sleep as I am still not sleeping well except when I really have a good workout during the day. Seems that if we have a thunder storm in the middle of the night even if I was sleeping, my dogs land on top of me letting me know that there is thunder present somewhere within their hearing range (definitely not in my hearing range unless I listen very closely).

The other week, I was in doing my grocery shopping & got out just before the storm hit....the rain drops started coming down as I was trying to get the bags into my truck. Drove over to get the gas at their gas pumps & Leo jumped out of my truck as I opened the door a huge clap of thunder hit & he flew. Ran across the parking lot in pouring rain & into the first set of doors to the grocery store.....I was running after him & he opened the next set of doors & flew into the grocery store where DOG'S AREN'T ALLOWED......he didn't read the sign. He ran down the isle with people trying to stop him along the way. He ran all the way to the back of the isle when one of the workers came at him. He turned & ran right for me for safety at that point. I picked him up & carried him out of the store, scolding him for not reading the sign that he wasn't allowed in there. I now have a leash set up to attach him to so that he can't just jump out of the truck after that.....ugh. By the time we got back to the truck that was sitting there in front of the gas pump, we both were drenched & dripping in rain. I threw him into the truck & stood shivering, trying to stay out of any more rain while I pumped the gas into my truck. I was afraid to get back into the truck for fear he would jump out again.....so I just stook there dripping & shivvering. Grrrrrrr. Thunderstorms really freak out my poor California puppies.

So goes the saga of Kentucky life for eskielover.......I really do love it & wouldn't trade it for anything else. Therapy seems to be going well. Have the best psychologist that I have ever had since I started with therapy in 1994, so this is very good also & the pain specialist is better than anyone I had in the lofty UCLA California specialists. The only thing that will make it better here is getting my horses. I will probably end up selling this farm & getting a smaller house with horse facilities & then I will be able to get my horses here....but will have to see what the prospects are in selling this place but I will not be leaving KY. It is beautiful & such wonderful people that have become part of my life.

Hope this novel doesn't boar you to tears. I felt bad that life got so complicated that I didn't have much time to be here at PC much lately, but wanted to give you all a peak at what's been going on lately. I miss having the time to be here, but living in an area where we only have so many seasons to work in, I seem to be controlled by my environment.

[Perna]

Not bored at all! Wonderful story telling. Loved brave Leo and the mouse as well as the thunder :-) My cats tend to disappear with the thunder too. My male does so without apology but my female tries to be brave and kind of slinks off, like she thinks she might be able to hide from it first.

[lynn P.]

Wow ((Eskielover)) - you have a busy life and never a dull moment. Sounds a little over whelming for an average person - which makes me think you're a tough cookie lol. Thanks for sharing what it's like living on the country.

[ruffy]

((Eskielover)) Wonderful story. I truly enjoyed reading it. Laughing hard at the mouse scene, and grocery store!!! Oh my, I needed a good laugh. Sounds like you have your hands full!!

[Beholden]

It's so ggod to hear from you E.Lover. Don't good people and beauty
make it all worthwhile? So happy for you being "happy" inspite of all the drama on your farm.

Visit when you can, it's great reading your story.

My dog jumped out the half opened window on my SUV last week when I pulled up at my friend's house to plant some flowers for her! GRRRR....my friend loves dogs, and my dog loves her, and the only really bad thing was she pee peed all over the floor in the back where is was and around the arm rest in the middle and of course on me! Thank God for the bottled water I had with me.

Thanks for sharing, eskielover.

[splitimage]

Eskielover, thanks for sharing. I loved reading your story. It definitely sounds like you have your hands full, but in a good way. I could just picture the scene with your dog and the grocery store - it really made me smile.

--splitimage

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by Perna

My cats tend to disappear with the thunder too. My male does so without apology but my female tries to be brave and kind of slinks off, like she thinks she might be able to hide from it first.

Ah, the female is the one trying to be brave & the male doesn't worry about being the chicken....lol. Hmmmmm, I think I can relate to her.

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by lynn P.

Sounds a little over whelming for an average person - which makes me think you're a tough cookie lol.

Not really tough, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do one step at a time. I do have a lot of down time between what Iget done as I just don't have the energy or the ability to focus like I used to be able to do......so I just try to go with whatever I can do without trying to make myself feel guilty that I'm not getting it ALL DONE YESTERDAY.

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by ruffy

((Eskielover))Laughing hard at the mouse scene, and grocery store!!! Oh my, I needed a good laugh.

I think it's the laughing at all the cute funny things that happen that keeps me going. I need good laughs now too as my life was way too serious with no laughing for so many years......ah, the joy of laughing is very healthy for the soul & the mind. I always look for the funny stuff in life to keep me going.

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by Beholden

Don't good people and beauty
make it all worthwhile?

My dog jumped out the half opened window on my SUV last week when I pulled up at my friend's house to plant some flowers for her! GRRRR....my friend loves dogs, and my dog loves her, and the only really bad thing was she pee peed all over the floor in the back where is was and around the arm rest in the middle and of course on me! Thank God for the bottled water I had with me.

Ah yes, what would we do without wonderful people & beautiful country to live in?

Oh my goodness, I am glad your dog was ok after jumping out of the window. That's a long way down & if they land wrong on a leg....ouch. My Celia dog broke both bones in one of her front legs years ago, just jumping off my bed wrong with she was trying to get away from Destiny (they have NO LOVE for each other). EEEEWWWWW pee all over the floor, arm rest & YOU It's interesting how some doggies do that when they get sooooo excited about something. Good thing you had the water to wash it down with(PU).

I can relate to the water thing. A couple of weeks ago when we were out trail riding, I let Leo, Celia, & Tawny run around the shelter area where all the horse trailers gather to go out riding from. I was wanting to round them up & take off for home when both Leo & Celia came back after rolling in the horse poo. I sure wasn't about to allow that smell in my truck. I had a huge container of water in the horse trailer, so I poured is all over them & got it washed off (well mostly) enough so that I could stand to let them in my truck. Leo will never learn....it's his favorite thing to do. He especially love to run around my neighbors farm where they have black angus cows. I try to let them do a quick potty walk before I leave with them to go anywhere....that's exactly the time he comes back covered in cow poo......Always have my hose & a towel ready JUST IN CASE!!!! I usually like to just attach him to the 20foot leash & let him take care of his business that way, but at times I slip up & don't get him attached before he runs off. That's usually the time he heads for the smelly stuff to role in. He likes his privacy also & likes to run for the pine tree to hide behind so that he can do his business in privacy. Who would think that a doggy would care about something like that.....ah, for the modest eskie.

Hope you got the smell out of your SUV. They do have some spray that can be sprayed on material that nurtalized the order of animal smells (or at least as much as possible).

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by TheByzantine

Thanks for sharing, eskielover.

Enjoy sharing if I can spread around a few smiles & chuckles while I'm at it. Life is all too serious most of the time otherwise.....thank heaven for a bit of comic relief once in awhile...lol.

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by splitimage

I could just picture the scene with your dog and the grocery store - it really made me smile.

Glad it made you smile. Leo is quite a dog.....so many times he seems to have such intelligence that I almost think he's a human in a white dog fur coat & can understand every word I say & should be able to read on top of that...lol. Then he pulls things like the grocery store maneuver & I realize that he really is just a dog in that white fur coat.

[eskielover]

Saturday morning I went into the kitchen & found the mouse trap closed (the humane kind with a door on it). I picked it up & it was so light I wondered if the mouse might have just closed it like normal. The trap acted like there was a mouse in it though, so I decided to open it up & dump it into the plastic pail that I use for transporting the mice far away from my house. Sure enough after much shaking, out plopped a tiny mouse.

Woo Hoo, Leo had another mouse to play with that couldn't chase him.

Sunday afternoon I spend with my friend who is going to be 92 this next week. We have found that we both eat better when we really make dinner & sit down & enjoy a real meal......so this has become our Sunday afternoon tradition. I make dinner one week & take it to her house & the next week, she makes dinner. My house isn't furnished to have company at this point which is why we don't eat here besides, having 6 barking dogs isn't exactly good for entertaining.

We are so good at chatting & we were going through one of her card drawers & ended up loosing time. I thought I better get heading home & though it was about midnight...... when we checked, it was almost 3am. I loaded up my some of my leftovers, headed out to the car where Leo was waiting for me (I had him out on a 20foot leash earlier in the night) after turning on my emergency flasher lights like usual, & I headed for home.

I had a few things to do before going to bed like feeding the dogs (a huge process as the dry food has to be moistened which takes time), put away the left overs & found some very wilted plants that needed water. In the kitchen, I turned & noticed a little mouse heading over the edge of my kitchen trash bag holder. I sicked Leo on it & he ignored me. At first, I stuck a larger plastic trash can in front of a hole I thought it might have escaped into, but later stuck a waded up plastic bag in the hole & sat the trash can back upright. I went back into the family room & was folding cloths I had dumped there from my dryer earlier in the day & then walked back into the kitchen. I heard this funny, strange noise & walked back into the back porch. There was the little mouse....somehow had jumped himself into the little trash can that I had sat upright & he was popping around trying to get out of the walls that were just too high for it to jump out of. I took that mouse & dumped him in with the other little mouse. Here I was worried that they might get into a fight with each other, but I think they were overly interested in each other. Just what I need to do is breed those dang little mice as if they don't breed well enough themselves without my matchmaking

[jbug]

I could just imagine what it was like chasing your dog through the grocery store.

My cat Tyger doesn't like storms either but the silly thing won't come inside if he is outside during them. But if he is inside he will come and lay next to me on the couch. So either he doesn't like them either or he is just comforting me, can't tell which.

I know what it is like to have to let your tires go for as long as you can. I think I am going on thin ground with the tires on my car (I drive a Saturn).

I enjoyed reading your story and getting some laughs in.

Jan

[Beholden]

Just so you know....

About my dog jumping out the window of my SUV, my friend caught her! No broken anything! That is the only reason she dove out the window like that. Never did it before and I"ll not have my window down like that again when my friend is in her sights!

And my SUV is the kind I can take the garden hose to on the inside! So that's exactly what I did. The SUV is made for off roading or mudding or just plain getting dirty and it cleans up real well and easy!

My dog loves to roll in "crapy" smelling rotten stuff too. Oh, sometimes when she gets out by accident, she finds the must awful stuff. Most of the time it is right after her bath too. GRR. But you gotta love them for the little they ask for in return. Right now she is curled up at the foot of my bed like an angel. The minute I slide my feet into the covers, she'll jump off. I guess she likes my bed, not me!

[eskielover]

Don't you love those SUV/trucks that can just be hosed down. Wish the insides of my truck were that easy to take care of. I have white fur lined everything. I started putting blankets over the seats to keep the fur off. I also have doggie beds in there as they go everywhere with me & love to curl up in the beds while they are waiting for me (we don't do that in the summer heat though).

Leo jumped out the window once. When I had the rental car with the real estate agent looking at farms, I accidentally left the window too far open & he squeezed out & came running to find me (ah, the joys of having a dog with separation anxiety....not sure even why because I have never left him since he was born....or maybe that's why)

You are right...they always do it right after the bath....think they just don't like smelling good of having people say how pretty they look.

I have 2 of my eskies that have to be right on top of me. Even in the hottest of weather, she curls up right at my back & as soon as I go to sleep, she puts her paws on my face & lays her head on her paws & my face. Celia has always been the doggie that jumps into my arms (she is a little toy eskie & has a huge jump). I put a chair next to my bed to she could get up on my bed. She does a flying jump onto the bed & right on top of me.....ugh, don't know why they want to do that in the hot summer weather....don't mind in the winter....but NOT IN THE SUMMER!!!! I end up with Celia curled up at my stomach, Tawny right next to my back & Leo at my feet. I am sure that if all 6 of them got along & I could have all of them out at the same time, they would all be on top of me......eskies seem to be that way....or at least mine are.

You are right, the love they give is unbelievable & the most wonderful thing in the world.....really makes life worth living in my book.

Will be interesting to see if I catch another mouse tonight. Last night I caught another one......so I had 3 to dump out way down the street at the empty house today.....these 3 had to be the babies because they were very small compaired to the one big one I finally caught last week. Gotta get rid of this characters. I have mice in my house, but my heart just can't put the poison out to kill them. My friend keeps telling me how bad the mice are & how dangerous they are. All I have seen is that they are messy & have torn up the labels of my food, but other than that, they haven't done the damage like eating my electric wires or anything. They are too dang cute to kill....would rather trap & release far away from my farm. All the mice must know that I don't kill & am a softy though.....I think I have caught at least 12 mice over the last year.......keep praying that soon they will find no more buddies & go into my woods rather than into my house where I have all the food put away & not available to mice. GRRRR, they are taking advantage of my kind bleeding heart that can't kill most things......except for the huge red wasps that keep coming in my bedroom window even with the window closed.....trying to figure out where they are coming in from. Finding at least 5 huge red wasps in the window every day even when it's closed. Maybe they have a wasp nest in the eve, or in the wall behind my bricks & are coming in around the window which I don't have all the insulation put in there yet or the casing put up around it either. Can't imagine where else they are coming from at this point.

Those I can live without & have no qualms in sparying them with insecticide as I can't afford to get stung with all my allergies to things. Got one sting last year, but it was right inbetween my thumb I first finger but not in the hand...only in the skin area...how lucky. It didn't swell as bad as the spider bite I got this year on my hand in almost the same place.

Ah, I do love the fireflys that come out this time of year. They are my favorite & just love to watch their twinkle in the grass & trees. It's like all the trees in my woods have twinkle lights in them.....so very beautiful.

[Beholden]

I just could not stand to have 3 dogs hugging me at night, especially right now.

Our air conditioning went out last week and won't get the repair parts for 10 days. (10 business days???) So of course we are in our first heat way of the summer right now. 10 days from last week Monday should be about the end of this week before we are up and running again with cool air. I think Saturday is the first cool down in the forecast---at least the first day for possible scattered thunder showers.

We just got back from way nothern Minn. last weekend. It was great. Outdoor wedding and the weather was perfect and I saw my 2 brothers for the first time in about 15 years and my sister came to stay with us for 8 days. We had a great time getting to see the 'divorced' side of my brothers family and of course one can not go to MN without doing some kayaking! The land of 10,000 lakes and all that. All in all it was the next best thing to a perfect family reunion there could be.

I miss my sister already, but at least we see each other more often than my brothers. She visited 5 years ago. Not often, but we talk a lot by phone.

Well, it's nearly time to start cooking sloppy joes. I haven't had them in years. My sister reminded me of them while she visited. Yummy with a can of baked beans and some garden salad.

Keep up the mose hunting, but don't drop the little critters near my house, I don't have the same warm fuzzy feelings about mice that you do and I'm afraid they would be going to meet their maker!

[Junerain]

((((((((((eskielover))))))



here's to good and true friends of all ages I can feel your 92 year old friend's deep wisdom and heart, I sense it Kind of like your own

[eskielover]

Beholden,

What a wonderful trip to MN you had.....glad you could get some kiaking in. I'm dreaming about the cooler days we had last week now that it's up into the melting 90's (without AC also). The room AC is ok, but still my master bedroom stays around 85 while the dogs chill around 65. Can't seem to get the fan to bring in the cold air from that room.

Glad you got a chance to visit with your sister......ah, the memories that come back when we get together from people from our past.....sloppy joes.....now that's a thing way from my past too when I was still living with my parents before I got married in the early 70's.

Uhg, I went out trail riding yesterday. I promised myself that I wouldn't go out when it was over 90, but I was just needing to get out. I paid for it when I got home......I crashed about 3pm & didn't wake up until 8am this morning. I just can't function in this heat & humidity.

I have been out painting my porch at night.....until 1:30am several nights....just the primer, so it doesn't require perfection that the top coat will require. Praying for some cooler weather though. Hate just sitting here typing & the sweat is just running down my face, arms, & body......think I will give up & try to take a cool shower or something. Have my Psychologist at 2pm today.....need to cool down a bit before going there. I hate getting ready to go somewhere before I leave because I end up drenched & have to end up changing my cloths again & again.....ugh, I get a laundry load of cloths every few days at that rate......have to shower at least 3 times a day to cool off & wash the sticky feel away......yeech.

Hope you got your AC fixed. You live north from us......seems like your summers would be cooler just like your winters, but guess it doesn't work quite that way.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer in the cool of the AC.

[eskielover]

Junerain,

Yes, she is full of wisdom & her heart is beyond anything I have ever known. We do have wonderful chats......every topic we can possibly come across from horses, dogs, religion, politics, just life in general, to how to fix something that is broken as she has built her own house boat to doing the plumbing in her first house. She also worked in the local mental hospital way back when they were a horrible place to be in & her compassion helped so many.......her love for history took her into the historical society where she worked on all the historical papers & documents in the area....putting them to microfilm before there were computers.

What a blessing God gave me when we ended up knowing each other. She was the one that came over to my house the night my first dog died & sat with me trying to get me through the trauma. Strange to say, (even though my Mother was a good person) she is a better than my Mother ever was to be able to talk with even though she has never been married or been a mother.

Ah, isn't life interesting the people God puts onto our path as we walk through this life.

Hope your summer is going well & you are finding some very peaceful moments to enjoy.

[Beholden]

Thanks for your "cooling" wishes. Friday morning is when the A/C fix it man will be here.

The heat + humidity here = sizzling summer dayz!

I kept the car today so I could go to the mall in the heat of the day to do a little more cool down than hangin' in here. Plus I have many things to run around for.

I'm inspired to do more watercolor painting, and can't find my "flat" brushes. Who knows where they are hiding? This house has many places they could be...but I did find most of the other brushes and have done just a bit of practice paintings until I feel ready to compose my first real painting. It will have a few vases, some sunflowers and hydrangeas, if I can figure how to paint them. I just hydrangeas! But am finding them a real challenge to do in watercolor! I can do it, I can do it, I will paint beautiful hydrangeas! Yes I can and will.

Well, I've just finished my first shower of the day and am waiting for my curling iron to heat up...already the sweat is rolling off my hairline down my forehead!

[eskielover]

Hope you can find your flat brushes. What a wonderful challenge to do hydrangeas in watercolour...They are most difficult with all the little flower petals. I have things hide in my house & I don't even have furniture here to hide things in......how I can loose things in the middle of nothing is beyond me.....but I surely do.

Ah, I hate the showers that I come out of sweating more wet after I get out than when I'm in the shower......ugh......that was exactly what it was like when I got home after riding yesterday......NO MORE RIDING on days over 90F. I have patched for my migraine & they quit sticking after the med gets extra absorbed in the heat......they have to last 72 hours!!!! Can't do it when I go out in this heat even though my house is hot, it's not as bad as outside.

Leo is such a pain.......I have to have my laptop connected to the internet now that my router isn't working & no money to replace it this month while still paying for Destiny's surgery last month.....I left him baracaded in my bedroom.....he managed to knock down the door I had propped against the wall (still needed painting)....it managed to land on the puppy pen & knowked a huge hole in the door......grrrr. I got mad & put him on the leash in the bathroom & he tried to destroy the bathroom. Now he's in the computer room, just laying next to me so very quiet........how a dog who has never been abused or abandoned ended up having such horrible separation anxiety is beyond me. He's sort of like a guardian angel that's being kept away from who he's supposed to guard when he ends up away from me.....ugh, he will destroy everything to finally get to me.......I can't take him in the hot car when it's so hot out & I can't let him in the house because he destroys everything.......what a pain........I love Leo so very much, but he's the most difficult dog I have ever known.

[Beholden]

I haven't looked in one place that I'm 'afraid' to start digging in for my flat brushes! It is the closet in the eaves in the studio. It is a really scary place with the boxes of stuff in there.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who can loose things so easily!