Busted!

Somebody was on the table last night...

Darn kitty!  

Guess that is why I covered the cookies before I went to bed at 3 AM!

And, no, I'm not going overboard and burning the midnight oil to get ready for Christmas.

I've apparently adjusted to the night shift work schedule.

It's hard to be productive in the dark, 

but I make myself do something since I'm awake while the rest of the world is asleep!

Can't believe it's December 23.  Where did fall go?  I'm not feeling like it's Christmas at all.

Also last night I decided to decorate a tree.  

Thought it might help me get in the mood.

I used to do ALOT of baking, decorating, gift making, etc...

I'm going "easy" in my old age.

I decorated my 'barn' or 'stable' tree.
Just lights, some rope with bandana bows and stuffed barnyard animals.
Also goose eggs from my days at the goose farm.
Someday I'll find the perfect star to put on top.

Still need to go find a creche to put under the tree and that's about it for decorating.


I've got a pic of some weaving I did last weekend in the wee hours of the morning, but it's a gift...
Better not put it here until it's been gifted!

A late dinner here tomorrow ( aka noon meal - that's what we call it here, evening meal is supper! )
 open the few gifts that are being exchanged and probably candlelight services in the evening. 

Other than that? 

Rest.
I don't go back to work til Tuesday afternoon :)


Resting includes doing things around the house, my choice, my pace.
That's 'rest' to me :)

This is where I went on vacation...

National anthem by Trace Adkins....

National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas!

The trip was WAY too short, but I had a good time.

Now it's back to the old grind.  

Back to South Dakota weather, which I have to admit is pretty darn good for December, but much colder than Vegas!

If you ever have thought about going to see this rodeo, do.  

Awesome show!

...

Great sunset pic by my daughter, Leah!

Take this as a hint what my trip will include :)

Kinda. 

Excited!

Waited 25 years for an automatic water. 

Buckets and hoses, winter and summer.



After much procrastination and trying to figure it all out, we've got it done!

Today the girls are figuring it out.  From Flutter's stance, you can tell she's a little apprehensive, but she knows where the water is!

All set in regards for the girls and my vacation.  Hay and water are all taken care of.   :0)

Update on my weird life

So, yes, I said I'd hope to be more regular with my posts.  Still working on that!

Since I last posted, I have become a night shift worker.  Not liking that.  Not a night person.  Can't seem to sleep during the day. Most definately a morning person!

My work schedule is thus...  I punch in at 3:15 PM and work until 4 AM the next morning.  That's Monday thru Thursday, folks.  Then I go on Friday and work "only" until 2 AM.  That is, at least, until the mandatory overtime is repealed.  It's looking like it could be soon.  I've come to find most night shift employees aren't interested in overtime work.  They don't tend to "bust a**" either like the day shift.  Or that's what they tell me LOL. 

It's a bit frustrating.

Of course timing is always not good.  I had scheduled a craft fair that fell on my first weekend after the change.  It was our local that I help organize, so no getting out of it~

Here's a picture of my booth.

Nothing much fancy.  Mostly I just went and found all my "stuff" that I don't take to most of my shows.  I'm a little short on rug inventory~ no denim!  Weird tho, what do you think I sold????

I sold dog sweaters.  Makes me chuckle.  Throw away sweaters that I hacked the arms off of.  Some of them I didn't even have trimmed to shape or with leg holes yet.  I sold them as "green" and "adjustable" and cut them to shape while the customer waited.


You never can tell what is gonna sell on any given day!

This past week I had a short work week.  Only 2 shifts.  I'm enjoying the break!  I'm trying to do "get ready for winter" stuff.  An auto waterer is going in.  Hope to have that done this weekend if the electrician can make it tomorrow!  Yard pickup of all the tools and odd bits and pieces that are strewn about. 

Put a bale of hay out for the girls~ we got a bit of snow today and it's blustery and cold. Made arrangements for Cooper to stay at the vet's dogtel this coming weekend...


I'm going on vacation!

I must get my preparations complete by Monday 3 PM.  After that I won't have time to pack or otherwise. Unfortunately I will be working til 4 AM on Thursday morning and have to drive to the airport 4 hours away.  My flight is at 1:30ish.  So no sleep for me til I get on the plane.  That's the only thing I'm not looking forward to!

If I don't manage to get another post in before then, I will be back on the flip side.  Hope I get some good pics!

Tired always,
JULIE

Kinda Embarrassing....

You know how it feels when you haven't been to church for awhile?  It's hard to darken the door.  You are kinda embarrassed, kinda ashamed, kinda, I don't know.  You feel a little guilty you haven't taken the time to do something you really should be doing.

Not that that is the only reason to go, because I should, but because of this guilt thing built into me by my upbringing I feel like "less than" when I'm not "perfect".

What's that got to do with this post?

That's kinda the feeling I'm having right now. 

It's been forever since I took the time to sit down and put my thoughts out there.  Not that I haven't wanted to, or thought about doing it, or even longed to craft a post. 

It's the breaking the ice of my absence here that is hard :)

What is it that has kept me away?  Hard to say~

I am working that mandatory overtime thing yet.  Fifty eight hours a week.

I've been tying up loose ends in regards to my "full time" employment.  Physical, background check, proof I'm an American citizen and can legally work.  Can you believe the company that did the verification actually called me regarding my 'self employment'?  They wanted the name and number of my accountant or bookkeeper so they could verify I was self employed.  Ummmm... self employed in my world means I do everything!  Whatever!

I've managed to get pretty darn close to finishing THE FENCE.

I've got ends yet to do.  I'll have to cut some cross rails to size and slip them in an end post.  That will take some thought and precision.  Kinda scared to do it since I'm so tired all the time.  Think I'll make a mistake and waste the darn things!

Another view in the other direction.  That's DeeDee in exhile in the background.  She is still in drylot.  I have been moving the fence panels a bit each day so she gets to graze a little bit in addition to her ration of hay. She is cleaning up some rough spots~ two birds with one stone, ya know...   It's frozen a couple times here, but I think the grass is still not cured enough for her to be on full time, so it's twice daily feeding for me.  4:30 am feedings stink.  You see the light pole, but no light on it yet.  It's a little bit dark so I shine my car headlights that direction and take her her hay as I leave for work.

Today has been very unproductive.  I MUST pay bills yet today, I attended a fall dinner at my church, and I've done chores.  Not enough when I do nothing the rest of the week.  I did do my laundry yesterday afternoon.  Even folded it. LOL

I'm missing the creative activities.  I just pulled this out of the bag from when I went to the Fiber Fair. 

I got myself a super simple drop spindle.  I'm not thinking I'm going to be doing bunches of spinning or anything.  It's interesting, but I don't have the burning desire to do it, so I'll leave well enough alone.  Enough to do already!  What I got it for was to be able to ply some of the scavenged yarns that I've gotten from old sweaters.  Some of the nicer yarns are pretty dang fine, and being as I'm more of a "rustic" type of girl I wanted to make them bulkier.  I'm doing some very fine light green yarn with some angora white.  The resulting yarn is much stronger and I really like the color.  Eventually I'll make this into a scarf.

This is a slow process at this point.  I'm all thumbs yet!

So the bill paying process is calling me.  All for now and hope to be present here again sooner than later!

Ta!  JULIE

Baby's got new shoes...

Isn't it interesting how a person (me) has no problem whatsoever paying for specialty shoes for DeeDee, but balks at buying myself a new pair of work shoes?

Last week I found a very sore horse in the pasture.

Poor Dee ~ she foundered.  First time in her 20 years.  Grass founder of all things.  My wonder farrier said he's had oodles of horses he's worked on this fall with the same problem. 

It's all got to do with this summer's growing conditions and the weather this fall. 

She got clogs!  They basically protect the sore sole and take the pressure off.  She is already moving alot better!

Thankfully, I caught it early and with a dose of banamine, a weeks worth of bute, and these special shoes, she should be just fine.

The hardest part about her treatment?

Someone is now on a diet :)

More green grass at this point would make her feet worse.  So she is now in dry lot conditions with just a small amount of grass hay twice a day.

She could stand to lose a few anyway.  She's plenty prosperous!

Of course she thinks she's starving to death....

All for now~  JULIE