Life on the High Plains

Irv was going out to feed the horses this evening and ran into this little guy right outside the back door.  At first glance we thought it was a bull snake which are very common in this area.  Upon further investigation we thought it looked a little different so I ran in to google it.  (Aren't you impressed that I took the time to find out what species it was before I ran and got the shotgun?) This is a prairie rattlesnake. This is the snake Irv caught. They looked the same to Irv and I.  What do you think?   Google also informed me that prairie rattlesnake season in Colorado starts on June 15th and you have to have a small game license to hunt them.   Do you think that applies to people who live on the prairie with these snakes? 

It's not often in life that you get to witness a true miracle.  You may remember Heather, one of my 4-Hers who suffered a traumatic brain injury on July 16th when she took a bad fall from her horse.  Things didn't look too good for Heather, but her mom kept the faith and had a huge group of people praying for Heather.  Those prayers were answered and yesterday Heather went home from the hospital!  Before they left the hospital Heather's doctors told her mom that during the first few weeks they had no hope for Heather.  She still has a way to go and will be working with therapists for a while, but this is a miracle.  Heather's mom is amazing in her faith, she never doubted that Heather would be healed.  Thank you Jesus!

We had an unwelcome visitor last night.  One of the geese, Chicky Baby, went missing between 8 and 9 o'clock.  We searched for her for about an hour, but couldn't find her.  We can only assume a coyote came into the yard and took her and Irv found proof of that today.  Poor little Chicky Baby--she may not have been a beloved pet, but she was a critter that I took responsibility for and I'm sad that we couldn't protect her.  Now we have a very lonely Lucy who doesn't really know what to do without her buddy.  It's kind of scary that a coyote would come so close to the house so early in the evening.  Of course the geese have grown up with dogs so I'm sure they had no fear and were easy prey.  Makes me mad!

DP and Adam and their friends just got back from a week in South Africa.  While there they visited Capetown then stayed at a lodge on an animal preserve and got to see all kinds of wildlife.  These are a few of their pictures. We were invited to go with them, but decided against it.  Now I'm really regretting that decision.  For an animal lover like myself, seeing these animals in their native habitat would have been incredible.  I guess South Africa is now on my bucket list of places to visit. More pictures of their trip are on Picasa  and she has promised to update her blog soon. FYI...if you're wondering when DP will be coming back to the states, she is going to be in Australia until May 2011. .

This past weekend Irv and I took Mr. Beans, MP, and JP camping at 11 Mile State Park.  The boys left right after school and headed up there to set up our camp.  The girls weren't able to leave until after work so it was kind of late when we got there.  Everyone was starving so the first order of business was dinner. MP was responsible for Friday night's dinner and she made some outstanding Hobo dinners and corn on the cob over the fire. For dessert I made peach cobbler in the dutch oven over the fire (yummy).  This was my first attempt at cooking with a dutch oven...it turned out amazingly good. After a freezing cold night and very little sleep, Saturday morning started with a little fishin.  MP was fishin by 5:30 in the morning.  She has become quite the fisherwoman this year.  The only thing caught the entire day was a crawdad. JP cooked delicious French toast for breakfast.  She used the campstove that my parents gave us.  I thi...

Irv said Mr. Beans did "Oklahomas" at football practice last week.  My first thought was "Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain...", but I guess that wasn't it.  (Shiloh is on the left in a gray t-shirt.) So why are they called Oklahomas???

Our clan is heading to the mountains to go camping at 11 Mile State Park this weekend.  Yesterday Irv got the tents and other camping supplies out to make sure they're still in good working order.  It has been 13 years since we last went tent camping.  The tents looked good.  The camp stove and lantern were a little scary because they had really old fuel in them, but they both worked. We're going to go fishing, hiking, kite flying, game playing.  Doesn't it sound like fun?  You should come along, all of us are going even the dogs.

A girl needs a new pair of boots every now and then.  Thanks to some unexpected incentive pay from work, I bought myself a new pair of Ariats. Aren't they fantastic?  I can't wait to wear them.

I went to Mr. Beans' football practice tonight.  This is his first year of tackle football.  I think we've entered a whole new world.  We've gone from the friendly games without scorekeeping to a world of competition where the opponents are the enemy.  The coach yells at them and teaches them to push the opponents shoulder pads up and into their throat (a legal move) and he tells them to never say they're sorry.  On Monday the coach says he's going to "separate the boys from the men".  What does that mean?  It will be their first practice with full pads.  They're going to learn how to tackle and bring down their opponents.  Poor Mr. Beans.  I don't think he knows what he's in store for. I have just one thing to say...thank God I had three daughters.  Ballet, tap, music lessons, gymnastics, cheerleading, horseback riding lessons are so much more civil.  Good luck Mr. Beans...you'll need it.

Something you might not know about me is how much I love my barn. Several years before we made the move to the country I started saving up for my barn. If you've ever looked for a house in the country, it is a difficult process. There aren't a lot of nice homes on acreage that also have nice horse facilities. It's usually one or the other, but not both. After looking for quite a while we found our house. It was new, had a floor plan we liked, but it's definitely not our `dream home. My barn on the other hand was built to my specifications and I'm way more attached to it than I am to my house. I got to choose the layout, color, doors, feeders, aisle width, everything! The walls are safe and kick proof. My stalls have outside Dutch doors. Each stall has feeders that can be opened from the aisle with one hand. The structure is completely fireproof and safe. The stall doors have grill tops and solid bottoms. The aisle has built in cross ties. I was able to have 12'...

On Sunday night Irv, Mr. Beans, JP, and I ventured out to Sky Sox Stadium for my first ever Sky Sox experience. We've lived here for 12 years and used to live a couple miles from the stadium, but I had never been to a game there. I love going to Rockies games but it costs an arm and a leg to take the family to Denver for a game so I thought we'd see how a Sky Sox game compares. Sky Sox Stadium  Dinger, the Rockies mascot, made a special appearance. Dinger, the Rockies Mascot The Sky Sox are a AAA minor league baseball team.  Many of the Rockies have played for the Sky Sox and they come here after an injury to get back in shape before returning to the Rockies.  A couple weeks ago Tulo played a couple games here and on Sunday night Matsui and Jonathan Herrera were both in the Sky Sox line up.  Matsui at Bat Mr. Beans and Pappy JP enoying the exuberant young Sky Sox fans sitting next to her (thanks to them JP was shown on the big screen) The game st...

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Heather is improving, but still has a long way to go. She's off the sedation medication and has been moving on her own. Her neurologist is seeing some improvement also. Keep her in your prayers especially for the infection in her lungs to go away and for strength for her family.

My Dad hasn't been feeling very well so I thought I'd cheer him up and make him the focus of my blog although I'm not sure he knows how to access my blog. My dad is 82, but still going strong at least until this week when he was laid up because of strep throat.  He was supposed to be in Flandreau, South Dakota for a family reunion this weekend, but he called and cancelled his flight.  That tells me he's really not feeling good. My dad is from South Dakota where he grew up with his mom, two brothers, and a sister.  He lost his dad to pneumonia at a very young age.  It must have been a very difficult time for his mom because there weren't any programs to aid young widows at that time.  They had his grandparents though and I think they were a major influence in his life. This is my dad with his sister when he was about two years old on the family farm. This is his high school graduation picture. This is my mom and dad wh...