What friends are good for

Friends will get up at 7am on a Sunday and drive 45 minutes to your house to help you surprise-paint your mothers bedroom.

Friends will spill paint on the drop cloth within 2 minutes of beginning to paint, and will leave said puddle there and just walk around it.

That same friend will then step in the spilled paint, giving you a reason to laugh at them.




You will return the favor later by stepping in the paint puddle, too.




Now you are even.

Friends will reset your circuit breaker box for you when you get paint in the outlet holes and blow the fuses.

Friends will help you get all of this done by 1030am so that you still have the whole rest of your day to enjoy yourself.

I heard you were going to a movie.....

I have to go home and clean house.

Hey, if YOU were any kind of friend you would give me your movie tickets and go clean my house.

Friend?

Helloooooooo????

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

The perfect fall day begins with a Chai Latte and a slice of pumpkin bread. This is consumed while I drive through the fields and backroads to get to Linder Farms where we are going pumpkin picking. (For the record, I would like it noted that my pumpkin bread is better than Moxie Java's, thank you very much!)

I met up with Anthony's sister and 2 nieces and family friends with their children and grandchildren in tow. We trod through the dirt parking lot and into the farm to begin our search for the perfect pumpkin. They had lots of attractions that we could pay for, but being cheap we chose to entertain ourselves with free things. These included, but were not limited to, burying childrens heads in dried corn, taking pictures of unruly children, and making fun of each other. (When Ramona asked why it was that they invited me places, I was forced to remind her that I'm the one with the camera and that's why they have to put up with me. No one else remembers theirs.)




We got to hop onto a wagon loaded with straw to ride out to the pumpkin patch. You would think the kids would be excited by this, but they all look like they're on the Bataan Death March.




We picked out a bunch of pumpkins to take home (I got three) and then stood around in the rain waiting for the wagon to come pick us back up. Meanwhile, does anyone know why children always seem to pick out pumpkins that weigh three times as much as they do? You know who's going to have to carry them, right? Well, in this case, it was Henry. Isn't he just the big, strong man?



After unloading and paying for our pumpkins (holy moly! 17.00 for three pumpkins!), we headed back to Ramonas for lunch and visiting. We now have a stack of pumkins in the garage awaiting their carving day next weekend. I can hardly wait!

The Nice things Anthony Does for Me

I recognize that I'm not the easiest person to live with. Most people aren't easy to live with. We all have our days and no one is perfect. And there are plenty of times that Anthony and I have wanted to strangle each other. So for absolutely no reason, I would like to take a moment to say thank you for all the nice things Anthony does for me.

Last night I dropped my 8.00 digital camera batteries into the kitchen garbage can. Which was full. Anthony got them out for me.

Speaking of garbage, he also retrieved my brand new knife from the outside garbage can when I dropped it in there with a dead mouse. (See Feb post about mice)

He stops on his way home from work at 11 at night when we run out of a)dog food b)ice cream c)cottage cheese, or d) something for his dinner because I didn't make anything.

He went to the pharmacy 15 miles away twice in the same day for me when I was sick.

He buys me practical gifts to keep me safe, like a Blu tooth for when I'm driving and a car charger so I'll always have service. But then he buys me pretty jewelry, too.

He loves my pets and takes care of them and spoils them.

He takes care of my cracked heels better than any spa ever could. And then he doesn't yell at me when I run around barefoot and he has to do it again.

He lifts heavy stuff and carries it around the yard until I figure out where I want to put it.

He ALWAYS cleans the cat box.

He will do the grocery shopping for me when I don't want to, and he always gets everything on the list.

He doesn't judge me when I say I'm on a diet and I cave and have pizza.

He tries really hard not to say anything when I'm driving us somewhere and I take all the backroads because I don't want to drive on the freeway.

He shares his free movie tickets with me.

And most importantly,

HE HAS NEVER, EVER, EVER LEFT THE TOILET SEAT UP.

Football Loyalties

For the past few years, I have been a BSU fan. Go Broncos! And they are doing really, really well. Our quarterback's up for the Heisman, our guys are drafted to the NFL on a regular basis, our Coach is phenomenal. Most importantly, he's teaching these boys to be gentlemen on the field and teaching them good sportsmanship. Showing off when you score a touchdown? You're benched. Get in a fight on the field? Benched. We had one game this season where half of our first string was benched. Yes, we're there to win games, but Coach Pete isn't putting up with that kind of crap from these boys. And if they lose a game because they're behaving badly? Well, so be it.

I bleed blue and orange. I do. I watch every game. I wear one of several BSU shirts every Friday to work before a game day. I dread the day when we lose a game - because it WILL happen eventually. That will be a sad day for Bronco Nation.




HOWEVER - I have one conflict. I grew up in Nevada. I went to UNR (however briefly). So every Thanksgiving I have to sit through the torment of watching BSU and UNR lock horns and I don't know who to root for. I would LIKE to see UNR win....but then I'll be sad that BSU lost. I would also like for BSU to stomp all over UNR, but then I'll feel like a little part of me got beaten down, too.

How do men do it? I swear I have watched games (Fiesta bowl 2007 anyone?) where I just about had a stroke and had to leave the room because I couldn't watch anymore. This year I have a plan. TIVO. Then, if it gets to be too much, I can fast forward to the scores. Yes, I know it's cheating, but I can't stand the suspense.

Sometimes I miss the days when I just stayed in the kitchen and brought out sandwiches and did laundry while the guys sat in the living room watching the game. Now I'm the one yelling at the TV.

And I still have to get my own sandwich.

Something you never see

Here's something you'll probably only see once this football season.






It's Anthony.

Do you know why he's cheering?

THE RAIDERS WON A FOOTBALL GAME!!!!

I figured I'd better get this picture now. (I don't think there will be another opportunity this season.....)

Hmmmm......

Wonder what the spider is thinking........

Look what I grew!

I am so proud. I actually got some stuff.

Purple Podded Pole beans, green beans, and cherry tomatoes.







Green beans, tomatoes, bellpeppers and lemon cucumbers!






All right.

I grew them.

I picked them.

They are sitting on my counter staring at me.

Now what?

Y is for Yellow

And yellow is for fall......

Crisp mornings, warm afternoon sunshine, fresh apple cider and glazed doughnuts..... I love fall.

There is hay drying in the fields.

















Late season Black-Eyed Susans.

















Not my corn. But I wish it was. All ready to be harvested.







I turned my heater on this weekend.

Sigh.

Neighbors

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life.....

Truer words have never been spoken.

Horrible incident in my home Tuesday night. I get home, I let my dogs into the backyard, go into my room to change my clothes. I hear screaming. (No, not from somebody viewing me changing my clothes, thank you very much.) I run out into the backyard and hear my neighbor screaming "No, oh God stop, leave her alone." The "her" in question was my chihuahua. What she was yelling at were her two German Shepards who were trying to tear my dog in half. (From what I was able to learn later, the Shepards had broken a board on the fence and when Izzy stuck her head through, they grabbed her and dragged her in.)

There is no greater feeling of impotence than standing on one side of a fence while your dog is being torn apart on the other side. Thankfully, my neighbor got to her dogs quickly and my dog came back through the hole in the fence while I was banging on the womans front door screaming at her to give me my dog. I finally located Izzy under my bed and was forced to make the decision to reach in and grab her, knowing that it was about the stupidest thing I could do. Having said that, I did it anyways and was rewarded by her fangs going through my hand between my thumb and forefinger. I dragged her out, switched my grip and was promptly rewarded by having her try to tear a finger off of my other hand. I got her to the sink to start to wash her off so I could see how bad it was. Believe me when I say that is difficult to do with dog fangs buried to the bone in one of your hands.














God bless my vet who drove in from 30 miles away, after hours, with two staff members to come take care of her. Amazingly, although she had a dozen bites in her throat, chest, stomach and genitals, none had punctured into her rib cage or abdominal cavity. They did manage to pull on her so hard that they seperated the skin and muscles in her chest, causing an extremely painful air bubble and extensive bruising. After clean up, pain shots and antibiotics she was on her way home. And I was on my way to the doctor.















Anthonys sister had actually dropped everything and driven over to help me as I was both a basket case and wounded. She drove me to the doctor where they cleaned my wounds, bandaged me up and gave me 100 pills that I have to take within the next 10 days. I wish I was exaggerating, but it really is 100 pills. Every 6hrs. Apparently dog mouths are dirty. Imagine that. (I've personally seen them dine from the cat box, so this came as no surprise to me.)





On the plus side, I'll have a really cool scar and can tell people that a Chihuahua tried to rip my finger off.

On the good neighbor side, my other next door guy, Steve, came over and fixed my fence and the only payment he took was a bucket of green beans and some tomatoes. Of course, this was after he chewed me out for not coming to get him when all of this was happening. I'll take it. Steve's a good neighbor.