Busy Busy Busy....

Wow life has been busy busy busy and I have been neglecting my blog, so I am back at it and catching up.

I have stayed out of the gym completely for about 6 weeks and concentrating on eating and gaining weight. This has been to no avail. I am still holding at 97 lbs. Hopefully a doctor and labwork will eventually figure this out. All hopes of the Emerald are for certain pushed way back, but that is how life goes sometimes.

Cheyenne is doing good and growing fast. She is still struggling with Math in school so we are working on that with her at home each night. This week will start working on her fractions through cooking. She is going to adjust all my recipes for me to the proper amounts. Her reading skills are several years ahead of her age group as is her science. History is a good subject for her as well...now just to work on her writing and punctuation.

We are getting roommates next week. Summer and Steven are coming back to Oregon from Missouri. Their hopes and dreams were based on deception and they have both been deeply hurt by Summer's mother. So, they will be coming here to stay with us. We are looking forward to it also because they are both wonderful people and fun to spend time with so, we will celebrate the holidays together. They can heal and we can all discuss the future and our goals...it is nice to have someone else to talk with and get a new perspective on such issues.

Springtime means baby chicks! Husband is going to let me have chickens, so I have picked out the three breeds I want and am pre-ordering them for spring. I already designed their hen house and run, have the roofing material and now just waiting to get the rest of the materials and the babies in the spring.

I will catch up more later, now time to clean the kitchen and get some things moved around for Summer and Steven's arrival.

Later...

Catching up on life!

So much has been going on that I sometimes feel like I do not have time to stop and breathe freely. Between helping my friend with her business, working on individual projects for myself and a couple of friends, spending time with Samson before he goes to New Mexico, housework, fighting to VA and dealing with the Army's latest stupidity...I am worn out!

To day we went to the Wild Cat park here in town and it was tons of fun. It was a spur of the moment thing so I did not have my camera with me...this is okay that merely means I get to go back. I remembered back in January, the sound of a lion's roar waking me in the middle of the night. That is not a sound you normally hear in the US countryside...well I got to meet the producer of this roar today. His name is Shaka and he is close to 500 lbs of 12 year of lion. He is absolutely beautiful. They believe Shaka has some lineage with a not extinct species of lion because of his mane. African Lions get big bushy manes that go just past their shoulders...Shaka's is more like the extinct species of lion....his goes all the way back to his hips. Gorgeous animal. Unfortunately they have been unable to breed their lion and lioness because the two animals hate each other. The lioness is extremely aggressive and she stalks the children that come to see her. I mean she runs towards them growling and roaring and jumping at the fence! True predator behavior...she wants badly to grab a small victim of opportunity. Thankfully she is behind a 20+ foot tall chain fencing and a concrete bottom perimeter that is about 3 feet tall under the fencing. So she is not jumping out of there.

Then there was my personal favorite...the tigers. They did not have any siberians but they had three beautiful Bengals. They have a white bengal and he is gorgeous. Not true white like the siberian whites but more of a very pale cream or buff color between his stripes. Then there were the black leopards, lynx, leopards, snow leopards, cougar, cervils and ocelots and african wildcats which look just like the domestic housecat. They are where the domestic cat came from. Cute little guys. The two jaguars were awesome. Two brothers in the same enclosure. They only exist together without killing because they have never been separated. A mere 24 hours apart and they could never be put together again because they would fight to the death. They were very cool to watch. Cheyenne got a kick out of learning about them...she learned that the only two big cats that purr are the panther and the cougar and they are the most shy of the big cats...the roarers such as lions, tigers, jags and leopards are more aggressive and more readily seen. She also learned that leopards are the most difficult to work with and the most dangerous. The owner of the cat park, Craig, is a leopard specialist and we were able to see him walk into the enclosures with some of the cats and play with them. Often during the summer, he takes the tigers swimming in the river here. People have gotten used to seeing him swimming with his tigers and the locals just give them plenty of room and go about their business.

So that is all for the catch up, tomorrow is going over to meet Samson's new owner, go riding and give him treats. We are going to be talking to him about building a custom saddle for him and Samson. That will be a fun and LARGE project. :)

More later!

The kid is back!

Well Miss Cheyenne is back from Florida. She was happy to get home and we were glad to have her back. The house is never the same when she goes to visit the grandparents...there is no caos or havoc, no noise, no 100 questions in a 10 minute span and no loud TV and laughter from the hall.

We have a little bit of time before school starts so we have been just goofing off so far. We went over to Eddy's on Sunday and wished her a happy birthday and played with the horses a bit. Knightmare and Fancy were tickled to see Cheyenne and even more pleased when they realized she had bought an apple for each of them. Samson as usual was thrilled that I was there and as he expected, I gave him all of my attention. He has begun to play games with me now and is giving horse hugs. Horse hugs are great but when it comes from an 1800 lb percheron, it can be a bit knee buckling. LOL.

Cheyenne and I are going to hit the Wild Cat park this week...she wants to see the lions, tiger, ligers, cougars and such up close and personal. I have not warned her about how horrid the breath of a lion is when he growls...I think I will let her find out for herself.

Well off to bed for the night and more later.....

Its a new day...new choices

I woke up this morning feeling like there are things I need to get accomplished and open matters I need to close. So, I made a list and am going to start working on them one by one until they are completed. Some of them are great things to get done and others will make me a bit sad...but nonetheless, they need to be done.

Our free time is nearing its end. Cheyenne flies home Saturday and we will be going to Portland to pick her up. While it has been a nice break for her and us, we are all ready for her to be back home. She is more than ready. She is excited because her new school year starts soon.

She is growing up so quickly and changing each day. I think she is going to make a wonderful young woman. She has courage, strength, intelligence, drive and determination. She will do good.

The garden is going well and I have harvested my first squash...now soon the tomatoes shall be ready. yay.

Well off to get started. Have a great day.

Ponderings about our government

I often wonder what is going on in the minds of corporate America some days. If you are in the military, lenders think you have stable income but demand you carry tons of insurance in the event you are killed they get theirs, when you get out and you have a steady retirement, they do not trust their own government enough to be able to pay your retirement years from now and they want "more solidl" earnings. I ask you WTF? This scenario just happened to an acquaintance of ours. How ridiculous.

Recently, I was graced with this editorial and it says so much...I wanted to put in my blog. Hopefully, some government official somewhere will read it and get a clue!

Editorial:

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table... everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore.

I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the backyard was like it used to be...quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now let's see...our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be a automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor; your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English; Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English; and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder.

Amen to the author of that piece!

There are some things in this life that are worth everything. Moments like this with the love of my life are it! As parents and grandparents we often miss moments like this in just dealing with life's daily routine. We are all alone for about a month...the nest is empty while our daughter visits grandparents. So now the trick will to see if we do as we normally do...nothing but sit and enjoy the quiet and calm or maybe this time, we will let our hair down and go out or sneak away from it all for a day or so. I have very lax in updating my blog but it seems when summer rolls around and no school hits, there is just never enough time. I am determined to take some time and heal my inner spirit and enjoy my husband. One way or another...it may mean disconnecting the phone, pulling all the blinds, hiding my van so no one knows we are home...but whatever it takes So Be It!

A new gift!

Hubby bought me an antique rolltop desk...it is about half the size of his. The previous owner had placed a matching back on it rather than leave it open. I am going to remove that eventually, strip and refinish the desk to remove some scratches and such. But it was a sweet surprise and gift. I already am using it and love it!

Workouts have been going great but I am still down in weight. Summer is so hard for me to pack down food and gaining weight is always hard for me. Losing it easy. I am sure there are tons of women in this world that would love to be able to burn off fat the way I do, but it is not a good thing when you are trying to gain size and muscle...you need a little fat too. Sheesh.

Hubby's trainer competed this weekend in the Colorado Pro Am. The judges had said they wanted drier, leaner and harder and he was ripped and ready. What did the judges do...the went with size...and just the opposite of what they said they wanted. He is so discouraged right now he cannot see straight. A year he has busted his butt for this and he could have stayed at 240ish and gotten better than third...when in reality he should have taken first...second at a minimum. The judges and their system, blindness and wishy-washy attitudes in infuriating at times. No wonder good people like BuffMother, Kat Meyers and others stop competing.

Well off to get my consistency report done for the week and my new POA. Yay!

More later...

Another hot day!

Thursday was hot as hades outside. I am so thankful for the cool mornings and nights here...but midday was blazin. My poor little squash plants started to wilt midday...but I watered them really well at dusk and they are standing tall again.

I am currently in the process of writing out my plan/schedule from now until the Emerald. Complete with reminders to register with NPC and for the Emerald, posing clinic appointments, workouts, diets, when to start contest prep, when to order posing suits and etc. There are a ton of things that have to be done for a first contest for sure.

Meanwhile, the overall plan...heavy bulker through December then start contest prep after the holidays...about 16 weeks out from the Emerald. Start with trainer in August and until then keep at what I am doing, make plans for Cheyenne's trip to Florida, Hubby's re-evaluation at Fort Lewis in July and the normal tons of other daily stuff.

Time to go climb in bed with hubby and get some sleep....more later

Some excitement,,,,some laughs

My golden sage plants are doing nicely and the smell wonderful! They are growing with some Spearmint. My tomato plants have been transplanted into the raised bed with the squash and sweet red peppers. From the seeds that Phoenix sent me, I ended up with two Beaver Lodge, 1 Russian Black, 1 Oregon Star and 4 Cherokee purple. The veggie stealers got the broccoli and spinach, so I have re-started those and some Seneca Corn.

The deer are just too cute. They watch me watching them and move closer to my veggies. I step out on the deck and they stop. When the realize I am not going to leave, they head across the road. So now I am patrolling my garden area early mornings and at dusk. The baby is growing like crazy and is still beautiful. They are growing on me...LOL. The corn plants I started are primarily for them. I also threw some tomato plants (I picked up from a lady down the road) up on the ridge for them.

Last night got real interesting at 1:30 in the morning as we were going to bed. I was doing my door and window check and two mountain lions decided to start vocalizing LOUDLY right outside our bedroom window. So the two of them (mama around a 100 lbs. and baby about 70 lbs) raised cane and finally took off across the street to my neighbors. So I woke her up at 2 am to let her know so she did not walk outside early morning without looking.

Workouts are going well but my progress is not. I have lost 2 pounds..grrrrrr getting weight on me is a nightmare. But I am just going to eat more, lift heavier and do less cardio. I have almost a year to get the weight on.

Well off to the gym for tonight's workout.

Gardening and updates

I have been getting boulders moved, raised bed finished, tomatoes transplanted and working out. Not to mention a 10+ mile hike across the river and into the mountains. These beautiful wild ruffle leaf lilies are growing everywhere are my house and they are gorgeous.

I have just hired a trainer who will start training me after his show in mid-July. So with his help, Hubby's help and the grace of the Creator, I will be ready for the Emerald Cup in April. So far so good, I just came through a major cutting cycle and trimmed off 18 pounds...15+ of which was fat. So not back to bulking...which is always fun because I do love food.

Cheyenne has graduated the fourth grade and is excited about the upcoming year at the Dome School. They learn their basics like math and spelling and etc but they also learn alternative education subjects....hikes in the mountains learning survival, recognition of native plants, different wildlife signs, holistic health care, organic gardening, alternative power sources and other skills necessary for living in this environment. Most importantly, she loves it and thrives in the environment.

So, off to bed and tomorrow is a new day!