Random thoughts

Humans require positive feedback to survive. The most important feedback source is our own minds.

I need my Wonder Woman cape.

Things are going right along today.

Roofs in progress on three houses - two rentals and my office. They finished another rental yesterday. Also they are repairing the corner of the Blue House where it had tornado damage.

Crew is here to take down the two dead pine trees in the yard at the Blue House.

Clint (the BIL of evicted renter) will be here later to work on the Blue House. More trash to haul out of back room at garage. Clint said he'd be late due to a teacher conference at school. One of his kids is coming home with pee soaked pants, and there doesn't seem to be a good explanation so far.

Jimmy the Farmer came by in his brother's truck this morning. Jimmy's truck was stolen at the Oktoberfest in New Braunfels over the weekend. Had three checkbooks in it and probably all his receipts for the last six months or so. Tools, etc.

Dan's outside picking up pecans. He thinks he has a buyer for them at $10 a pound, shelled.

Got cheddar out of the mold this morning. It looks good.

Talked to the attorney about paperwork if I sell the Doll House later this year. That looks good.

I'm still trying to get done on paperwork. ROFLMAO

Can't find my lists of things to do.

Back in Texas!

We got back on Halloween. Uneventful trip, thank goodness, spread over two days.

It's dry here. DRY. Dry. I was able to find hay from an irrigated hay farm north of Cordele.

Have had the experience of evicting a renter for the first time, complete with sending a certified letter from the attorney and everything! Yuk. He did move out without complaint, but we've hauled 800 pounds of trash to the landfill.... so far.

I've hired help to do the fixing up, cleaning, painting, etc.

Today, there were supposed to be three folks there working. One on the garage that the renter didn't finish building, one cleaning, and one on general clean up. The general clean up man called to say he was working in the oilfield today, and the house cleaner came by to say she wasn't going to clean due to her eye doctor saying to take it easy for a while longer after her eye surgery. The garage builder worked from 9:00 to 1:30, then got called to his oilfield job.

McCoys Building Supply delivered the materials for two of the four roof replacement jobs. They will start on Wednesday.

A painter who has worked for me before is coming Wednesday to give a bid on repainting the Blue House. It needs painting at least inside, maybe outside, too. We'll have to see how it looks after being power washed.

The good news is that Lonnie and I went to El Campo to have massages, and I went shopping while Mary G. did his massage.

Eating out is sometimes a challenge. Lonnie got choked badly at Travel America on Sunday, so he's cautious about eating at all today. We stopped at Praseks, got a chopped barbecue sandwich and sides, and it was AWFUL. Really bad. He was able to eat a grilled cheese sandwich this evening.

We will see what tomorrow brings!

Life throws you curves

It's summer in the Ozarks. We went from a WET spring to a HOT and DRY summer suddenly. Hay is cut and ready to be baled. Goats lie in the shade in the afternoons.

Lonnie's mom passed away a week ago. Now comes the process of sorting her possessions and settling her estate. It's going to be a challenge, in that her will has yet to be located.

Lonnie's health has declined as well. He is not strong, and he gets out of breath easily. The transition from active man to frail elder is hard on his mind, too. He's frustrated and fearful.

It's important to remember that this time will pass.

OOPS

I really need to post more often. It's March 28, 2011. The winter is essentially over, although today it was in the 79s instead of the 80s like we had been having last week.

Kidding is well underway with eight live births out of three does so far. We are bottle feeding some of Cassie's quintuplets.

Cole and Nathan came down for spring break, and a GOOD time was had by all. Travis came down for fishing, too. It's a job to pack in a hunting trip for antelope, red buck, and skunks... plus a fishing trip.... plus a birthday cake into one week, but we DID it!

Cold weather gratitude

It's January 12, and we are having our coldest weather thus far this winter. It was 31 when I got up this morning, and we warmed up to about 42. Pretty cold for South Texas!

I'm so grateful for a large stack of firewood and our wonderful wood heater in the living room. We've heated with wood since 1980, and I love wood heat! It's constant and soothing.

The insulated clothing industry also has my gratitude. Without layers of warm clothing, tending the animals would be MUCH more painful.

Soup will be on the menu tonight I think. Hooray for soup weather!

2011 - a Gratitude Journal

My goal here is to spend some time and bandwidth to record what I'm grateful for. It's so easy to focus on the negative things and to let one's thoughts become mired in the negative.

Today is 1/1/11. A good new beginning!

I'm grateful for having spent the Christmas holiday with Nathan and Cole, and for having Travis, MaryAlice, and Arielle come down here for New Year's weekend. The blessings of healthy children and grandchildren can not be underestimated!