Life on the High Plains

Wow!  Did we ever have a great Thanksgiving this year! Jillian and Brian hosted it at their house their year and was that ever a nice treat for me.  I contributed several side dishes, but it was nice just to sit back, relax, and let the "young uns" take care of things for a change. Jillian did an excellent job on her first ever turkey.  I think she will now be called "Jillia" Child. The bird weighed 24 lbs.  It was very yummy!  I love turkey! The most important thing I had to make was the pumpkin pie.  Pumpkin pie is Mr. Bean's favorite thing about Thanksgiving so of course I had to make my favorite grandson happy. There was lots of visiting, football watching, and drinking.  Dana and Adam brought their friend, Lee, from Australia.  I think he enjoyed himself.   Our nephew, Ryan, came down from Golden for the day.  He's the really smart one who goes to the School of Mines.  He's an awesome gu...

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."  Matthew 11:28   I can't image the despair one must feel to even contemplate taking their own life.  Unfortunately, for the second time in a few months my extended family has lost a young man in their prime of their lives.  From the outside it looked like both of these men had everything going for them, but obviously on the inside they had turmoil going on in which they thought the only way out was to leave this earth.  Both of them had families with young kids.   The cousin I lost yesterday took over the family ranch years ago.  He has a wife who has devoted herself to being a ranch wife and four sons who definitely aren't old enough to take over the ranch yet.  What will become of the ranch which is the original family farmstead?  What will happen to the wife and sons? I was awake almost all night grieving the loss of a cousin and also being angry at hi...

Saturday night Irv and I took our favorite grandson, Mr. Beans, to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.  We weren't going to go this year, but at the last minute Mr. Beans said he'd like to go.  Well, when your grandson actually asks to spend an evening with you, you jump into action. I'm a TSO fan club member which means I get invitations to buy tickets early before they go on sale to the general public.  This year we passed on that opportunity so I had to send Irv down to the World Arena to get the best tickets that were still available when Mr. Beans said he'd like to go at the last minute. Our journey with TSO began about 15 years ago when they were just a small group trying to get things going.  We have watched their rise from a simple show to a gigantic show with fireworks, flames, lasers, and a light show that is bigger and brighter than anything I've ever seen.  We haven't gone to see them every single year since they started 15 years ago, but we'...

While in South Dakota this summer we visited a local grocery store.  They had these hedge balls. What the heck is a hedge ball? Apparently you place these under your bed and it keeps spiders away. Who knew?

Remember all that rain we got at the end of summer?  Well, it was good at making things grow which was wonderful, but now it's winter and all that green stuff has died.  The remains of all those weeds are tumblin' across the prairie.  I don't mean a few either. We're talking thousands and thousands of tumbleweeds that show up when we have a good windstorm like today. Here's our fence line to the south.   Hopefully they will all blow north to Nebraska by tomorrow morning.  If they don't, who's going to go out there and clean them up?  That's a silly question...that's what husbands are for.  (Love you sweetie!)       What happens if some idiot throws a cigarette butt out the car window?   When I was a kid my mom used to gather up a tumbleweed, spray paint it gold, and adorn it with Christmas bulbs.  It was actually quite a beautiful decoration.  I've heard that city folk from the east will actu...

So I've made a new commitment--a half marathon next spring.  I don't know which one yet, but I'm going to find one that has a nice, flat course.  Apparently the first step when you start training for a half marathon is to actually sign up for one.  It holds you accountable. Since I'm a non-runner I started with some advice from an expert.  This author has a run-walk plan that sounds really good to me plus he starts with a reasonable training plan for a beginner that gradually builds up to miles of running-walking per week.  He even starts with the basics--shoes.  Where to buy them and what to look for. Wish me luck--I think I'm only about 25% committed to this especially with the cold of winter coming up.  I cleaned off the treadmill and got it ready to use.  Even Irv is jumping onboard.

Mr. Beans is wrestling again this year.  I have to tell you that I am so proud of that young man.  He puts his heart and soul into each match and although he doesn't have a pin yet, he keeps trying and puts up a good fight.  He has improved so much this year and I know it has to be torture for him to keep going out there.  He tried something new and kept with it even when it was no fun.  Here are some shots from a recent match.         He is about the cutest grandson ever!

Another great week for fantasy football in the Family Football League!  Not only did I retain my #1 spot, I beat the socks off my sweet husband aka Polcat's Pulverizers.  Woohoo!

"I've waited 269 days to hug my daddy"   Lots of welcome home signs.  At the last minute Jillian asked me if I had a pen--she thought she could perhaps make a welcome home sign on the back of receipt in her purse.   Right on schedule, here they come.   Brian is the one in the green camouflage.   Now I see him.     Here are the words to the Army Song.  I don't believe Irv ever had to learn the words to this song in all of his 26 years of active duty service.   He and Jillian found each other in that sea of people.   I didn't get pictures of the patriot riders who greet every group who returns home.  There's also an old lady who makes sure each soldier gets a welcome home hug.  How awesome is that?   We're sure glad and thankful to have him home.  Our family is together again!   Here's the whole ceremony on video if you'd like to watch it....

When I was in Tulsa last weekend I made a quick visit to the Philbrook Museum of Art.  The Philbrook was a gift to the city of Tulsa by oilman Waite Phillips.  It is an incredibly beautiful mansion that is filled with some magnificent works of art. Here are a couple of my favorites. This is a painting by Rosa Bonheur.  She was a French artist who was fantastic at painting animals.  The details in her paintings are amazing.  They are crisp and clear almost like a photograph, but better.  I was thrilled to find one of her pieces at the Philbrook. Another great find was this painting by Vasily Kandinsky, another of my favorite artists.  Most of his work is very abstract so this painting is something quite unexpected from him.  I love it! The museum also had a series of photographs of many old-time Hollywood stars like Gary Cooper, Jean Harlow, and Bette Davis.  They're all black and white and are exquisite.  They made me re...