New Year's Eve Eve

Whew, back to titles. It's been a lovely day. In the morning I watched the cows and did some more research on Geocaching, looking for spots to hit on my way to meet Bonnie for a movie and some dinner. I found several, then ended up going a different way entirely. I spotted a couple in Seguin but got shy and didn't stop.

Bonnie met me in Lockhart and we went to see Yes Man which was actually quite cute and funny and philosphical in that Jim Carrey way like Bruce Almighty. We ate so much popcorn and Coke that we weren't really hungry for dinner and just split an appetizer, Queso Flamedeo, and I splurged on a Margarita! We both had a really great time. We hadn't been out together in so long. We both agreed to say "Yes" more often to life like the movie suggested.

Bonnie said she is making me a painting. I gave her an invisible IOU to make her some jewelry. She wants something dainty in pinks and purples. Tomorrow, I want to work more on the front room and maybe make some jewelry, too. I have so many nice stones and ideas right now I can hardly bear the torture to actually make something, it seems to take forever and then I end up wanting to re-do it!

Now back to my book Sandstorm, ah no, I finished it last night! Good thing I have the next one handy! Deep Fathom by James Rollins. Ellen lent me one in October and now I'm an addict! Only 3 more and I will have read all of them!

A Geocacher is Born!

The big excitement for today is Geocaching! I made 2 finds as they are called. Both within 5 miles of my home, which is something cause I live waaaaay out in the country. One was called Caraway Cemetery and was supposed to be my first. I thought this was the cemetery where my family is buried so I just went there, but I entered the coordinates wrong and ended up driving past another cache called It's Hang'n so I did that one first and knew I must have done something wrong. Good thing I had my laptop and aircard with me, I looked up the correct coordinates and Presto!

Yesterday I took the dogs for another long rambling walk around the property. I found a deer antler. That's the 5th for my collection.

Black dogs turn on the couch!

Cool, Overcast and Damp - Beautiful, to me!

The cold front came by yesterday afternoon and the rain (and I use that term loosely) came about 6 this morning. Actually, it was more of a thunderstorm, more thunder than storm. Nothing even registered in my rain gauge but the temp is 45! The babies and I may even take a walk since it's not muddy.

Yesterday I hung a few more pictures on the wall and did a diagram of the guest bedroom. I think I want to switch the guest bedroom with the crap, I mean craft, room and make it the library I've always wanted. I'm pretty sure I have enough bookcases. 3 from Colleen, 2 Ross & I made, 3 Papa made (1 of those is in Houston and the custodians want to send it home).

I'm trying to get rid of junk. I still have too much for this little house. "Be ruthless" is Tammy's advice. I try. I took all my VHS tapes and cassettes to Half Price Books! I never watch them and don't have any way to listen to the cassettes.

Tomorrow I plan to start my Geocaching adventures at Caraway Cemetery, it's in Leesville, only 3 miles away.

I also managed to change the water filters yesterday. I really need to build a pump house both to protect the water pump and tank and to mount the filters so they are more easily accessable and secure. I also have a flat on the ATV and one on the lawn tractor. The Bronco won't start. There's plenty to do in the country.

I could get used to this staying home all the time. It's only been 1 week of my 2 weeks off and I regret squandering the first few days. There are so many things I want to do, like make more jewelry, paint cow skulls, paint pictures in general, make beads, write a story or memoirs or both, teach my old dogs some new tricks, meet a nice fellow and fall in love. It's good to have goals!

Bright and Sunny with a chance for Thunderstorms!

Apparently San Antonio had a record high yesterday of 83! A cold front is supposed to come in this afternoon bringing rain and a chance for Thunderstorms. We could sure use the rain and I LOVE thunderstorms.

I wanted to show off more of my Christmas presents because they are just so darm lovely!










The boot is from Sonia at work. She calls me Calamity Loomis! Hmm, she might be onto something.

Last, but absolutely not least are these beautiful pendants from Ana.

I have several ideas for them already and I'll post what I make with them.

Day after Christmas

Hello again, I don't know what I'm gonna do for titles after today! It's a loverly day in Leesville, a little to warm for my taste, especially for December, but there's a nice breeze.

Had a great time a Gary's for Christmas Dinner yesterday. I was only gonna stay a couple of hours and was there till 10:30 p.m. It's always good to see Nancy and her hubby Moon is a sweetheart. The food was all so good! I have to get some of the recipes. Lawrence brought out a guitar and took requests. He played When I Get Where I'm Going, American Pie, Shaving Cream, Rubber Ducky, and the all time holiday favorite The Masochism Tango among others. Gary took a turn and sang some songs he wrote, on for his dad. My brownies were somewhat of a disappointment. Had kind of a funny taste to them. Yo said they were edible, I'm not so sure but I finished mine. It was my first time to really meet Kimberly. She is a lovely woman. It's possible "Those Matteson Guys" (even only 2/3) overwhelm her a bit. I met a friend of theirs, Steve. He seem like a very nice man. Fit in rather well with the whole motley crew. I was a bit embarrassed I didn't have any pics of the babies. They have a sweet old basset named Bailey, I'm sure cause she's the color of Irish Creme. Oh, and Nancy gave me some yummy sweets and a small bottle of homemade Kahlua! I didn't know it was possible! It's wonderful!

The babies and I took a walk this morning. It was supposed to be a dry run for my planned morning walks before work but instead turned into an exploration and GPS mapping frenzy. We found a large bone pile I've christened Coyote Cafe. I found another cow skull there. (I now have 4 and want to paint them someday.) There was even a large dead turtle on it's back. It was almost the size of a serving platter, bigger than a dinner plate. With long cruel looking claws. We also found a nice batch of Horse Crippler cactus. I remember there being one there before but now there are several! We rounded up all the decoys from the west dry creek bed. Not sure what to do with them especially since there's no water. I'd hate for the cows to walk on them and crush them. I suppose I should gather them up and put them in the cabin until we have water again.

Some sleepy babies after our walk!

I was looking into upgrading my Garmin maps when I ran across a link to a Geocaching site. It's something I wanted to look into but needed info. Here was "The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site" http://www.geocaching.com/. It looks very interesting and I want to try. That's the reason behind the marking of waypoints all around the ranch. I'd like to map the trails someday, too.

Well here I am supposed to be cleaning house, again, and instead I'm distracted, again, by the computer!

Good Christmas Morning!

I couldn't wait for morning so at 11:30 last night so I opened my present from Colleen. Which was the only one I had left.

Isn't is beautiful!

Colleen - you shouldn't have spent so much money on me. Thank you very much! It's quite beautiful and goes lovely on top of my entertainment center as you can see.

Mikasa! My goodness!

Right now brownies with pecans are in the oven to take to Gary and Kimberly's house for Christmas dinner. It's not exactly Christmas fare but who can turn down pecan brownies? (Unless you're allergic to pecans or chocolate, or whatever.) I already baked a batch of double blueberry muffins for breakfast, mmmm good! I almost took a pic but figured that was overkill. I should have gotten pic of the mouse trying to get into the muffin tin after I put the muffins away! Every time he touched it, it rattled and scared him, then I yelled at him, he scurried away and I washed the tin.

After the brownies are ready I'll shower and get ready to go to San Antonio. I wonder if Starbucks is open on Christmas day so I can start using one of my presents from Tammy and family! While I wait I'm trying to update my Garmin for the trip to San Antonio.

Hello, Happy Christmas!

Thank you Tammy for the Tree!

Thanks to Leti, a co-worker for the Santa candle.

Well, another day got away from me. I started out cleaning house and as usual got distracted. Cleaning is not my favorite pastime. Oh well, the dirt and dog hair will still be there tomorrow. I did get around to making some chili, turkey chili that is! My first, and damn if it doesn't taste pretty good, but that's just sampling while cooking. The test will be when I sit down to eat it with some chopped onions and shredded cheese with crackers and butter on the side, and maybe a glass of wine, too!

Frank stopped by today on his way to Corpus for Christmas. We visited and chatted for a little while. The Neighbor, Kent, stopped by this morning, too! He brought homemade wild grape, and I mean Mustang, and wild plum jam! Plus cookies - snickerdoodles and some other chocolate cookie I don't know the name of but it's good. I just love cookies and milk before bed! We walked around and chatted about the place and stuff. He heard the gun shots I had heard last week. And the person I saw walking around Sunday was he and his brother in law! That's a relief. Just as I was trying to text Steven he texted me! We bantered a bit back and forth, I think he had a few if ya know what I mean. We may have a "date" on Friday. We'll see. He usually forgets or something comes up.

Yo called. He's invited me to join him at his nephew Gary's house for Christmas Dinner. Gary's mom, Yo's sister, Nancy and her husband Moon will be there. I'm considering it but not sure I want to make the trip. If I do go, I may bring some brownies.

Well, it's time to sit down with my bowl of chili! Well the choice of red or white wine with turkey chili is the question? I decided on Crisp White, Franzia Box, courtesy of Chase, a co-worker. My my, that's not bad chili! If you're wondering here's the recipe for what it's worth.

cook 1 lb. ground turkey breast

in sauteed yellow onion

add lots of chili powder

some cayenne pepper

plenty garlic powder

salt & seasoned salt

ground black pepper

Tony Chachere's seasoning

can stewed tomatos

can tomato sauce w/italian seasoning

simmer

Whew! Just finished my nightly ritual of herding Angel into the house. My Christmas present to myself - a real tree camo cap with LED lights in the bill is coming in really handy! It's so cool how the dogs' eyes are iridescent in the light.

Arwen's curled up and ready to finish our movie, Love Actually . . . and to all a Good Night!

FYI - MY mouses are stirring! Damn them!