Happy New Year

2009 couldn't be complete without a few more embarrassing moments for my sisters. But because my new year's resolution is to try to be a nicer person, I didn't pull out the big guns.

Also, I know Trudy will retaliate.

So here is a quick reminder of days gone by and a few before and afters just for fun.

2010 is sure to have many highs and lows, but it is not likely to surpass the style-high of the decade, the trend that never caught on, but definitely should have:

The era of the purple star pants.

And it seems like only yesterday that these scrappy sisters were fighting one minute, hugging the next.

Oh wait, it was yesterday.

One has to wonder what kind of excitement 2010 will bring . . .

Cross-country flights?

Auspicious celebrations?

Orangutan look-alike contests?

Our (six) readers will have to decide who the winner is.

But wherever the new year takes us

Crowded airports

Or wide-open spaces,

hospital waiting rooms

or other places,

know that we are wishing you the happiest of new years!

Cloudy Day

If it weren't for days like this, I'd almost be missing the snow.

Weekend Plans

I should be shopping, or making Christmas cookies, or candy.

But instead we will travel the 80 miles from our home to attend

an all day basketball tournament for daughter #1.

Since the school the girls attend is so small the athletic teams are split into varisty and junior varisty teams. The varisty team is the top players for grades 6-8, and the jv team is the remainder of players for grades 6-8.

Since daughter # 1 is a 8th grader she gets plenty of play time for both the jv and varisty. She may not score alot of points, but she is a good team player.

She is always encouraging the other players and keeps everyone pumped up for the game.

Most of all she loves hanging out with her friends.

Go Crusaders!

Time Flies when you're having fun!

Sister Two has had one busy fall!

I haven't had time to post anything about my life of late.

So I'm going to catch you up .....

The girls have been busy with school activities, sports, and 4-H.



I turned 40!

I had to have minor surgery to remove my gall bladder.


Sadly we said good bye to our mom and grandmother.

We have been trying to finish up harvest ....

Corn Silage Harvest

We moved cattle to a pasture closer to home, so if a storm strikes they can be fed easier.
Daughter # 2 thinks the faster the better.... she is sure the cows can keep up.

But older sister reminds her slow down and drive safely.

While thanking her lucky stars they didn't move cattle by horseback that day.

We have been trying to finish combining corn,

but the weather hasn't been cooperating.

This morning temperature was a crisp 27 below zero!

The story of a farmer and rancher's life.
Nothing goes as planned.

All the while I have my thoughts on March

When the newest member of our family arrives ....

and the fact that I don't have baby stuff around anymore!

Daughter # 2 has been reminding me that in 16 days

Santa arrives

and he won't be sporting any

Daughter # 1 also reminds me

that I haven't finished my Christmas shopping yet

or even started!

I hope your fall has gone more smoothly,and you are ready at your house for Santa.

What do you do when ....

.... you have nearly a case of Pepsi and you detest the vile drink

because your great-grandmother taught you to love Coke at an early age

and you had just bought a case of Pepsi for your mother two days before she died?

You would do what any techno whiz would do.

You would google Pepsi recipes.

Tonight we will be dining on a Pepsi Roast.

We'll let you know how it turns out.

The Story of Roscoe

Meet Roscoe, our 22 pound bruiser.

He originated in the Wildcat Hills as a "barn" cat at my boss' homestead.
Being an intact tomcat, he spent more time scrappin' than anything else.
 As a result, each ear was tattered and he was constantly injured.
Of course, being such a big brute, the other
parties were usually worse for wear.

Karen decided it was time to find Roscoe a new domicile.
 Evidently she has my number in her rolodex under 
"sucker" because she called me right up.

"Do you guys want another cat?" she asked.

Well, we were down to Eddikins, Lilly, Bree and Mittens. 
Our mouse population was escalating so I readily agreed. 
 She delivered him to me at school and I carted him home. 

He was in rough shape. 
Both ears were completely torn up
and in various stages of healing.  
Mardell took one look at him and
called the vet clinic to get his balls snipped off.

That evidently pushed him over the edge.  
He hid under the bed for months.
Guess I can't blame him.


He only came out to eat and scowl at us.
Slowly but surely he came around 
and decided we weren't so evil after all.

He adopted Mardell as his own and 
planted himself on her every night.

Of course, he didn't want to share her 
so he growled at everyone (animal and human)
that came within a ten foot radius while he perched on her.  

The first time that she went to Mary's for a week-end, 
I didn't see him until I went to bed.  He jumped up on my chest 
and glared at me, while emitting a very low, guttural growl.  
I think he blamed me for her disappearance. 
I slept with one eye open that night.  

Life went on and he got used to her 
disappearing for a day here and a day there.

He definitely felt like she belonged to him 
and would have absolutely nothing to do with me.  
I was only good for feeding him and 
even then, he preferred for Mardell to do it.

After Willowby's kittens had graduated from the birthing basket to running around the house, he decided that he had had enough and moved outside to the shed.  I tried to coax him back inside with no luck.  I tried luring him with canned cat food.  No dice.  I tried tuna fish.  Still no dice.  I even tried liver.  If anything should have worked, that should have.  Eventually I accepted the fact that he wasn't moving back in.  I continued to put food out and after a fashion I saw him less and less, until eventually I didn't seem him again.  I figured the coyotes had feasted on him ... probably for a week or more! 


The summer was busy with moving to a new school and trying to get settled.
Just as school was starting, we decided to move Mom in with us and so there were more adjustments to be made.  Life went on and he slowly faded from our memories.

Mom was always a cat person.  The bigger the better.
Etta, her psycho Maine Coon cat, was extremely large and she hated me.
Etta, not Mom.  When Etta died, Mom mourned her loss for a long time.


I think the best thing for Mom about moving in with us was that we had cats.
Kittens were born the first week she lived with us.  Naturally they had to be in her room.


She loved our polydactyl tomcat, Mittens --- 
even when he began kneading with that extra toe.

He loved her too. 
He would lay on top of her for the
entire afternoon if she would let him.
It was a common sight to see him lounging on top of her.

We got up one week-end morning and 
Mom was out on the futon watching television.
"Look who I've got again," she bragged. 



I did a double take.  She thought Mittens had come in during the night and climbed up on top of her, but it wasn't Mittens at all.  It was Roscoe, who had now been missing for at least sixteen weeks.  He had come in the pet door, jumped up on her and claimed her, just as he had done with Mardell many moons before.  Now he spent all of his time with 
Mom and had nothing to do with the rest of us.


The day Mom died was kind of chaotic.  Once we finally got the CR-V dug out of the snow and had dealt with the county coroner and deputies, we went to town and made arrangements at the funeral home for her cremation.  We pretty much collapsed when we got home.  The next few days were pretty much a blur.  Once the dust had settled, so to speak, after Mom's memorial service, we realized that we hadn't seen Roscoe for several days.  


I went out and looked around the shed and some of his other haunts.
I didn't see hide nor hair of him.  We kind of joked around that he was torqued because Mom died and he up and left us.



Yesterday he waltzed in as if he had not been gone for a month.


He's still huge and he has once again reclaimed Mardell and her bed.
That doesn't bode well for Goliath.