As My Garden Grows!!

Me and my cowboy.  We were riding on our four wheeler and stopped in a really wide creek to cool off.  Our best friends were on another four wheeler.  We had a blast!!

Boy you can really see a difference in my tomatoe plants.  I have been fertilizing them with coffee grounds. 



Big Difference, huh?  They have some blooms on them and so do all our pepper plants.  I love it....the squash are getting
really big now too!

Our calves are really growing too.  Here are the 3 newest calves.....they hang out together and its so cute!

Tomorrow my 70 year old cousin and I are going to visit with our Aunt Ruth who is 84 years old.  She is blind and lives all alone.  Its really a sad situation.  She made her daughter mad and her daughter hasn't been to see her in a year since she's gone blind.  My Aunts next door neighbors were helping her and taking her to the Dr. and doing her grocery shopping and paying her bills cause she can't see to do it or to drive.  Well, they ended up stealing a LOT of money from her.  We live an hour away so its not fesible for us to take care of her.  She has alienated everyone, she doesn't trust anyone and she is very bitter.  She is a very attractive woman.  She is my Mother's younger sister.   Out of 7 children she is the only one living.  When we visit, I can hear my mother in her....she has a blunt type of personality and since I was so use to my Mom being that way, my Aunt doesn't bother me.  I just can't understand why her & her daughter try to work things out.  She has a son that she hasn't seen in 40 years.  He moved away and didn't want to hear from them again.  Her daughter is married and well off and she doesn't have any children.  Her son has a daughter that lived with her Mom until she got married and she has a little boy......My Aunts only grandchild.  I am hoping to take some pictures of her and my cousin tomorrow.  I will post them later.

I have been crafting all week!!  I painted a really neat bench for our back porch, and I made some cute flip flops for my granddaugther, and I hade some signs to put up in my laundry room and I made a dry board message center.  Here they are:

Aren't they cute? I made her a hair bow to match.

Goodnight....I am tired and I have to get up early in the morning!

Mother's Day & Calves

Back to church for the first time in about 6 wks.  Since Bill broke his leg...it was good to be back and it felt good to be greeted so warmly. 
On the way home we had to stop at the grocery store to get a few things.  I went in and purchased the items and got change to get a newspaper.  My cowboy was parked right outside the door right next to the newspaper stands.  I threw my two bags in the back seat, and immediately went to the newspaper with change in my hand.  The newspapers were all gone so I jumped in the car and we went next door to get a paper there.  When I got out of the car I decided I wanted two papers so I reached for my wallet and it was not in my purse or on the floorboard where I thought I had put it.  So, we turned around and went back to the grocery store.  I just knew I'd left it in the buggy.  I usually always take my purse but for some reason I just carried in my wallet.  Well, it wasn't in the buggy and it was still sitting right there where I left it by the newspapers.  I went inside to see if someone had turned it in.  No such luck.  I went back outside and went through the grocery bags for the third time, looked under the seat, all through my purse again...still no wallet.  I was sick!! I had just gotten extra cash and I had 2 gift cards in my purse for 2 of my grandchildrens coming up birthdays and of course all of my credit cards, checkbook, cash, drivers license, insurance, etc and etc.  I cried all the way home.  It was Mother's Day and I wasn't feeling too loved by my children either.  At mail time on Sat I had not received any cards from either of my children nor my step daughter.  My step daughter in law and my step son had sent me a card a few days before and their children (my grandchildren) even sent me a card.  My cowboy and I don't give presents to each other so......I was really down and then this happened!  Poor ole pityful me!!  Waaaa waaaa....sob sob....
We got home and I went in and started calling about my credit cards.  I had left my number with the grocery clerk in case someone turned my wallet in.  I was praying they would call.  Well, my cowboy said, why don't I go back up there and see if maybe you put it on the car and it fell off in the parking lot or on the road somewhere.  So, he leaves and comes back and I am still trying to cancel my credit cards.  I was most upset about the gift cards and I was trying to get the company to find out how I could cancel them and take them off my credit card.  I was getting the run around.  Meanwhile, my cowboy came back with no wallet.  He called his Mom on his phone and told her what had happened and how upset I was.  I was really upset now and I couldn't find anyone on a Sunday that could help me with these gift cards!!  I said, God help me to calm down and get a grip.  I had received a text while on the phone and it was from my daughter.  I love you, Happy Mother's Day.  Wow.....a text!!  That even made me more upset!  She couldn't even call me......then I realized well, you were on the phone!!  Then my phone rang and I didn't recognize the number so I almost didn't answer it then I thought oh, its the grocery store!!  A young man asked for me and then told me he had found my wallet in the middle of the road and wanted to return it to me!!!  I was so happy...I said Praise the Lord.  He had called the only number in the book with my last name and spoke to my MIL.  I said, was it scattered all over the road and he said, no mam it was closed and all your money is still there.....I didn't touch anything, just looked at your drivers license!  He was going to bring it to me and I said oh, no....you have done enough we will come to you.  I was so relieved!!  There are STILL honest good samaritans in the world!!  We never give our younger generation enough credit of their goodness! 
Well, my daughter called me when I got home.  My step daughter and hubby called and left a message and then they called me back!!  My step son called and his daughter...my granddaughter!!  I had heard from everyone except my son!  I felt much better but I really wanted to hear from the last of my babies.  Alas, at 8PM he called.  He said you thought I wasn't going to call didn't you?  He then asked if I got his card and I said no, did you send one?  Last year, he kept asking me if I got my card and I never did get a card.  Then he called and said, well I found your card.....I never mailed it!!  He takes care of his alcoholic father and is very stressed out on his job so I was giving him the benefit of my doubts!!  He always makes me laugh.  He said well, I was gonna call late so I would be the grand finale of your day.....you know save the best for last!  He is very affectionate and told me how much he loved me and appreciated all I have done for him and for him and thanked me for being his biggest fan!!  Which I am!!  He sings like an angel and writes the prettiest songs with more heart than anyone I know.  He also plays guitar and piano all by ear.  He has a band and is excited about how well they are doing. 
Monday I got his card, my daughter called me Sun Mon and today!!  I was so excited and then she told me she was sending me something in the mail.  My step daughter said the same thing so.....we will see!! 
We have another calf!!  This one is a heifer..... yeah!!  We have three bull calves and one heifer calf.  We need those girls for breeding!  ha..  We went in the pasture to see if we could find her again cause I like to take their pictures to have for our records.  I took my baby Elwood with us.  I held him the whole time cause he loves to chase the cows.  While my cowboy fed them a snack I walked around with Elwood and looked for the babies.  After all the feed was gone, the cows started following me around.  One black cow got really close to me so I stuck Elwood out in front of me to see what the cow would do......and they touched noses!!  It was so cute......I wished I'd gotten a picture of that!!  We never did find two of the four calves so we're going back in the morning at a different time and try to catch them.  Its so much fun watching them grow.
I was excited about my tomato's too, they have a couple of blooms on them and so do my peppers.  My squash are getting big, not blooming yet.  I also planted some thyme and oregano and lavendar in an aluminum dish in the kitchen!! 
Ate lunch with my MIL.....she had heard my cowboy say he was wanting some pinto beans...........so she cooked some for her baby boy.  And she made some mexican cornbread and cabbage.  I don't love her food....cause she always put so much spices in it... like lots of pepper and jalapions (sp) and she loves garlic in everything!  I am such a bad daughter in law to talk about her like that.  I do love her, I just don't like her cooking.  But I did get some cornbread (it was black with pepper!!) not really like any mexican cornbread I had ever had so I piled the pinto beans on top of it and I got a spoon full of cabbage.  She also had marinated carrots which I don't like either.  I had brought my own glass of tea cause all she ever has is water.  The beans were okay and I ate a little of the cabbage....no carrots.  She got up to get something and I raked my cabbage and the rest of the beans in my cowboys plate.  Then she started questioning me about why I didn't get any carrots.  I told her I only liked cooked carrots....not cold carrots.  I made it through lunch and made her happy.  She is dying so it is a real effort for her to cook....and she loves to do it.  The least I can do is eat it!!  When I got home I made me a peanut butter sandwich!!
Tomorrow I am going back to pool aerobics....I've been away too long.  My cowboy started back last week.  I enjoy it once I get there, its just getting there!  I really am a homebody and I don't like to leave too often.  I certainly don't like to change into a swim suit and then out of it all at the gym.  Then I have wet clothes to take home, blah....blah.....blah!!  Waaa waaa waaa.. excuses excuses, right?  But once I get there I love it.  I hope I remember all the exercises! 
God is good......
Went to a meeting last night for my 40 yr class reunion.  It is so much fun getting together.  We always talk about somebody.....which is a great excuse to gossip.  Someone will say a name and then its like well, where are they now, what are they doing, etc.  Its just fun getting together with them.  I wasn't friends in high school with any of them.....I was a little wild thing in school.  Cheerleader and liked boys much better than girls.  Ha.....  One of the girls on the committee was a cheerleader with me.  She reminded me one night about me getting tipsy at one of the pep rallies....and I almost got caught by the principal but they guarded me so I wouldn't get in trouble.  And this county is dry!!  It was homemade wine my Dad had made and I snuck out of the house!  I was bad...not evil....just a little on the wild side.  So, its funny getting to know these folks all over again.  They are really nice folks!  One of the girls is married to the principal of the high school were we all graduated!!  It will be fun and I am hoping we all stay in contact after the reunion!
Goodnight blog!!  Better get in bed so I will feel like going to the gym! 

New Baby Calves

We have two new additions to the Dickey farm.  Two little calves.  One was born tues. night and the other one Wed. and we think there is another on the way very soon.  They are so cute and little.   I got to get up close and personal with them today and I just had to take some pictures.  We are not for sure, but we think they are both bull calves!!  We need some heifer's!!! 

"Another Day With Big Mom" aka my mother in law

Big Mom & Annie (my step daughter)

My mother in law has COPD and has always been a very independent strong willed woman.  She has outlived 3 husbands and I child.  For 50 + years she has run this farm and for about 20 yrs of the 50 she did it alone.  She has only one kidney because she had the other one removed due to cancer.  Her child that died drown in a shallow hole being dug for a well.  They were all working on the property when 16 mth old Timothy wandered off and fell in the well.  She has survived a lot.  She is the matrearc of the family.  We tease her and say she is the Bank of Big Mom, when ever anyone needs to borrow money they go to her instead of the bank.  She is tough as a cob on the exterior but a softie on the inside.  She has a very deep rough sounding voice and she is very opinionated.  Whatever she says goes.........  Did I tell you she is 85?  She has really had to give up alot of her independence since coming down with this disease.  She has two children, a daughter Delores and a son Bill whom I am married to.  We live on 133 acres and share it with Big Mom.  Her daughter lives in Florida close to her son & grandson.  That leaves the wellbeing of Big Mom to us.  She has been under hospice care for over a year now and unless she gets worse they are about to release her.  Which hardly ever happens with someone with end stage COPD.  Needless to say she pinches a nickel until it screams.  Today, we had to go to another Dr.'s appointment....one of those follow up deals so you can renew your medication.  She wanted to go with us and go by to pick up her medicine, run by the grocery store and go to Cracker Barrel to eat.  She informed us about 5 times that she was not going to pay $60 to have her yard mowed again, especially since she had to provide the gas and the mower.  She has about 2 or 3 acres to mow.  But Bill has always been able to keep the yards up until he broke his leg.  Anyway, we left the Dr's office about 10:45 and headed to the drug store.  They have a drive through and we always use it.  Well, we got there and gave them a prescription to fill for my husband and to pick up two that Big Mom needed refilled and had already called in.  They gave us our medicine and then gave her one prescription.  Of course, she is in the back seat with her oxygen on and has this deep rough voice and you can barely hear her. She is telling us and the lady at the window that she called that medicine in yesterday and it should be ready.  Then she tries to explain to them that its the thing she has to put medicine in and then puff it.  They tell her that hospice will no longer pay for it and she will have to come in and fill out paper work in order to get it through her other insurance.  Well, she starts telling them she called it in and can't understand why hospice isn't paying for it.  The lady tells us to go around and come in.  Well, in order to get this done quickly I tell her I will go in and take all her information and fill out the paper work for her.  I know the girls in the drug store pretty well and they all know HER.  I tried to explain to her again what was going on and she just can't understand why she has so much trouble getting her medicine.  (which we are the ones who always pick it up)  Now it is about 11:40 and she says she wants to go by Piggly Wiggly cause they have their Mountain Dew on sale today 4 for $10.  Everytime this stuff is on sale no matter where in town, she wants us to go buy her some.  Well, my hubby and I go in for her cause those huge cartons of drinks are hard for me to handle with my fibromyalgia and arthritis.  She has given me a list of other things she wants and she puts the size, cost, and flavor on it and if you deviate away from her list, you won't hear the end of it.  She wanted 4 lbs of cabbage for $1. No one head is 4 lbs and it won't be exactly anyway so I explain this to her and ask her if she wants me to get one head or two.....she only wants a $1 worth.  The next is Mr. P's small pizza's, 2 for $1 and they are 6.4 oz size and she wants the Mexican kind.  Well, I find the pizza's but the Mexican one;s are only 5 oz. each.....oh no...I stand there going through dozens of pizza to make sure I get the right ones and be sure I check that there is not a Mexican kind that is bigger.  I settle on the Mexican ones that are 5 oz.  The next is a 3lb tub of butter and its also a $1.  So, I have now been to the produce department, the frozen food department and now going to the other end of the store to the dairy department.  I find exactly what she wants and head over to my hubby that I hear talking to someone in the drink aisle.  Its the Pepsi man.....well, the paper said the drinks were on sale for Wed the 5th not today!!  He said, but you go up front and get a paper and I think it has a coupon on it and you can use that for today.  Okay, are we talking about a newspaper or a sales paper/flier??  I don't see any sales papers and I am not going to buy a newspaper for a $1 to save her a few dimes. (tough talking, aren't I?)  Well, I finally ask the clerk and she says oh we are out of the papers but I will run it through for the sale price without the coupon.  Praise the Lord!! These four items took us over 30 minutes to pick up!!  Of course we try to tell her the delima with all the food and she insists that is not what her paper said!!  OK....  now we are going to Cracker Barrel and she tells us she is going to buy our lunch for helping her today.   She usually tells me not to order tea cause its too expensive and tea is cheap....but today I was going to tell her I would pay for it if she said anything.  Well, I bravely ordered a glass of tea and sucked it down in a few seconds.  Her & my hubby (of course) order water with lemon.  We get our drinks and she only has one lemon, oh honey bring me alot of lemons......she then proceeds to make lemonade with the 6 lemons and sweet and low.  I bet my tea was cheaper for the restaurant than her water!  So.....am I being a -itch here?  Sorry, I need to vent...

Well, the nice waitress comes back to take our order (its 12:00 now and very busy).  I always order whatever she does so I don't get fussed out or questioned about what I am getting.  My darling hubby orders the most expensive thing on the menu and Big Mom is like, how much is that?  What did you say?  How much?  I was ready to crawl under the table.  WE get our biscuits and corn bread now .....I want blackberry jelly and alot of it for my biscuits.  She complains that her piece of fish is not as big as mine and that my hubby has too many starches on his plate.  We eat in peace and then its time to go and of course she wants a to go box for her baked apples and the rest of the biscuits and cornbread and jelly!  I have to leave and go to the restroom.....:-)  As I am coming out here they come.  Its a big deal to carry her oxygen and take her arm as she can barely walk and certainly can't breath.  As we get to the door, she asks hubby if he paid the bill, Yes Mom, did you leave a tip, I did Big Mom (me) and did you get my to go box?  No, I thought you had it.....so she tells me go back to our table and get it for me.  By the time I get to it, they have already cleaned off the table and everything is gone.  I am not about to ask where it was and make a scene!!  She is soooo mad cause they threw her food away, that was her supper.  She wears me out.... We get her home and take the groceries in her back door and then take her back around to the basement so she can ride up on her elevator chair.  She is exhausted!  Whew.....so am I!!  She never thinks that what we do is a big deal or causes us any trouble.  Its just that way and it should be done that way.  I have had to take stuff back because I paid too much for it.  I have to usually go to the Dollar Store to get her graham crackers and then to Walmart for her cereal, Warehouse for her grocery groceries and to Pig Wig for her drinks.  But we do it and never complain, except to one another.  Don't you just love your Mother in law?  My dear Mom has gone to heaven years ago and everyday I hear her in me......all the things I said I would never do!!  God rest her soul....I wish she were here to drive me nuts even if it were for just one more day! 

That was our day with Big Mom!!

"My Cowboys Trip to The Orthopedic Dr."

I took my cowboy to his appointment today to find out if he can put weight on his right leg.  The end of March while visiting friends in Ga he fell down two steps and broke his leg and crushed his ankle.  He had to have surgery and pins and screws put into his ankle.  Our ortho Dr has been a long time friend as I use to work with him.  My cowboy was suppose to be wearing a leg brace for the last two weeks after getting his cast off.....well, as you know Cowboys are "tuffer" than other folks so they think they are ten foot tall and bullet proof.  He quit wearing his brace a week ago, only using crutches to get around the house and putting a little pressure on his foot.  They took xrays today and the Dr. came in and said, your ankle is separating alittle like you've put some weight on it.......(ME=Big Grin)  I said, oops you got caught.  Then he asked him if the crutches were just for show?  And Dr. said I saw you hopping down the hall awhile ago with your crutches......and grinning!  He asked him if it hurt and my cowboy says, nah it don't hurt.  Dr told him he was going to have to wear a brace on his ankle to keep the screw from coming out.  Then my cowboy said, can I have a few more pain pills too?  The Dr. looked at him and grinned, I thought you said it didn't hurt??  Caught cha!! 

Here is a picture after his surgery:   He does have some nice legs! :-)

"Rainy Sunday"

A great day to stay inside and watch movies and eat!!  We watched a few old cowboy westerns on the movie channel.  Robert Mitchum was the hero in one of them......love those eyes. 
           My plants are getting plenty of watering....hope they don't rot.
Rode around to the other side of the pasture (we call it the old horse pasture) to make sure one of the heifers was doing okay.  She is about to drop a calf and we just want to keep an eye on her especially during all this heavy rainfall.  She was still fat and full.  Our newest little bull calf is really starting to fill out.  He was kinda of a runt when he was born.  His Mom is really past her prime for calving and she never did have much milk.  But he has held his own and doing good and grazing right along with the others.  I named his Mom "Elsie" and he is "Lil Bull".  I love naming them real names instead of the red heifer or the brindle one......less description needed. 

Here is a picture of Elsie and Lil Bull:

Forgotten........

My front yard

"Our Farm In Bloom"

The red barn....

"Our Farm In Bloom"

I just love the farm this time of year. Everything is so pretty and green and yellow clover is growing everywhere and the miniature daisies. I just want to stop and pick them all. The calves are running all over the place. It reminds me of some church picnic's we use to have when I was a child. All the adults when congregate in one area and the kids would be all over the place running and playing. That's what the calves do. They play tag, hide and seek, and follow the leader. I just love watching them.
We had someone fertilizing the pasture last week and he left the gate open. Well, I started hearing "moo" sounds coming from the back yard. I opened the door and there was about 50 cows and calves all around my yard.... I just knew they had eaten my plants. I started hollering "haw" to them and then here came the dogs pouncing through the door. Elwood, the Min Pin weighs all of 10 lbs was the first one out the door and then Petey Pie whose head is bigger than all of Elwood. They both start rounding up all the cows and ran them right back through the gate. I just love me some good 'ole cow dogs. Our pit bull- Tick...well, she just stood on the porch and cheered Elwood and Petey on by barking instructions to them. No plants were harmed!!

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