The kids are off to Camp...

This morning, Caitlyn and Kyle left for NRA Rifle camp in Marshall, MO with Dad.  They'll be there until Sunday afternoon.  After the kids left from mom and dad, I was left with Caitlyn's truck...a standard.  I was shown last night how to drive one, something I really never had the desire to learn, however, I did fine for the most part.  So, this morning, was the first time I was left alone to figure it out.  After multiple attempts to go forward, multiple times of the truck dying and getting stuck in the road...I threw it in reverse backed into mom and dad's driveway and rode with mom to work.  Nothing like giving up!  After work, mom took me back to the truck at her house.  I was determined to make it home.  After deciding the best route that avoided as much traffic, hills and stops as possible I headed home.  I made it home, but really don't care if I ever drive the truck again...it's just too much stress for me.  At least I can drive it if I have to.

When It Rains...It Pours...

I got a phone call from Troy just after 5am this morning.  The van had died on his way to work.  It had been running rough and randomly dying here lately...this time, however, it wouldn't start back.  Troy had called a guy he works with to come get him and take him on to work.  He managed to get the van rolled to the shoulder and further away from the intersection. Zack left for work at 7:20.  I got a call from him as he passed the van. I hadn't told him it was broke down.  He was convinced that it needed spark plugs.  After work, I made the trip for spark plugs and wires.  Zack stopped on his way home and bought a tow rope and picked Troy up from work.  They spent the evening working on the van.  After new spark plugs, the van ran better than it had for a long while.  Troy got in to take it for a drive.  He tried to pull out of the driveway with no luck.  Turns out, the transmission is out on it too....it goes in reverse, but not forward.  So...in about 4 days time, we have both our cars with the transmissions out...one goes forward, the other goes backwards.

I woke up this morning along with Troy.  His alarm was going off sometime before 4:20am...and he wasn't getting up!  I had set my alarm for 4:20am just in case he overslept.  I rolled over and woke him.  We just don't do mornings very well.  His schedule of alternating days and nights each month is so hard to get used to.  It's been 3 months at his new job and 2 of those have been on days....and are terrible months for all of us.  He doesn't sleep, I don't sleep and the dogs schedules are messed up...but it is a blessing that he does have a good job that he loves.  Our schedules have been the same for 12 years...he works nights, I work days...it's just hard to change.  This morning I did manage to get back to sleep a bit after 5am and slept til 8am.  The weather on my phone said the temperature was already 78 degrees.  I dragged myself out of bed, checked my baby chicks in the bathroom to find the 2 that I had been hand feeding for a week had died (after so much death in the last few days, I'm not coping well),  let the dogs out and went to open the barns to let the chickens out and feed everybody.  By the time I was done I was already sweating.  They are calling for another day with temperatures at least 99 degrees.  I like warm weather, but these temperatures are almost too much.  We bought a shade tarp for the animals outside.  I hope I am able to get it up for today.  I so miss our shade trees now more than ever.

I'm missing church today for too many reasons, none of which are really good enough to be missing.  I have to get things together and decide what to take for our family 4th cookout today...nothing like waiting til the last minute.

Back To No Vehicle....again!

Troy took all 3 kids with him to fish with a friend from his work.  I honestly can't believe on his day off, he agreed to get up at 4:30am to go, but he did!  The kids were all excited to go.  I wish I could have found my fishing tackle from years ago, but I have no idea where it is.  I'm assuming it's somewhere in storage.  It's pretty sad that I spent a huge amount of time at the lake and the river for the first 25 years of my life, yet, my kids have only been a handful of times.  It's depressing how time changes things.  They got home sometime after 10am.  Kyle and Caitlyn headed straight for a nap, Zack started searching the internet for more places to fish at and Troy crashed on the couch.  Turns out, Kyle was the only one that caught a fish...but of course...it got away.  I'm impressed that even though they brought nothing out of the water, they all wanted to go back.  

I made the decision to go to Del Rio to eat lunch, but had to drag everyone up from naps to go.  While taking our family of 5 out to lunch is expensive, I know that the trips will soon be few and far between with the kids getting older.  We have a good time and I know one day we will be wishing they were here to go with us.  We made several stops before heading home, Lowe's for tomato cages, Harbor Freight for Zack a tool box and tools for work, Sally's Beauty Supply for Caitlyn new hair dye and Toy's R Us because Kyle was feeling left out.  With the thermometer showing 101 degrees outside, my little truck was having a hard time keeping cool!  We stopped and grabbed a bale of hay for the goats and realized the truck would no longer go in reverse.  It seems the transmission went out...well, at least reverse did.  We managed to make it home, coasting part of the way because the truck wouldn't shift.  It's not what we needed right now. My truck was the most dependable vehicle we had that would haul all of us.  So, now I'm dependent on Caitlyn, the 16 year old with a learners permit, in her 1983 GMC truck that carries 3 very tightly....and has no air conditioning!  I know we will be fine, but I'm not happy about it.  Since it's a holiday weekend, we are stuck waiting until Tuesday to find out what it will take to repair the truck.   

At around 10:30pm, Caitlyn took Kyle and I into town to pick up a few fireworks for tomorrow.  After dark is the best time to drive a vehicle with no air conditioning!  Troy and Zack were already in bed when we got back home and it wasn't long before the other 2 were out.  It's nearing midnight, doors are locked, lights are out and I'm off to bed myself!

Mr. Turkey Died...

I came home from work early today to drop Caitlyn off to go to the falls for the afternoon.  When I got home, Mr. Turkey was collapsed in the water pan.  Our heat index was around 100 if not above and his wading pan was empty.  He had an automatic waterer in the pen to have water to drink, but evidentally, his being able to stand in the water in this heat was more important.  I don't know what happened, Caitlyn and Kyle were both home and neither of them managed to make it out to refill water while I was at work.  Kyle does it nearly everyday and I'm not sure what happened today for him to not do it.  I grabbed the water hose and started running water over Mr. Turkey to cool him off and gave him a drink.  His skin was almost too hot to touch.  All I could do was cry and tell him I was sorry.  I know, he's a turkey, but he was my pet and I had him for 4 years and I know laying in the sun cooking to death was a horrible way to die.  I managed to get him carried under a shade tree.  He weighed well over 50 lbs and was nearly more than I could manage.  There was no way he was cooling off fast enough.  I filled the 15 gallon rubber tub with water and got him lifted sat him in it.  He only lasted a few minutes before I could see the color start to drain from his head.  He was dying and I couldn't do anything about it.  When I could feel his heart stop, I lifted him out and laid him in the grass by the porch.  I covered him with a towel until Troy was home from work.  It took 2 hours to get a hole big enough to bury him. We put him under the mimosa trees in the yard. We saved him from being a butterball turkey only to have him bake in the sun...I just won't get over it...my heart aches. 

More New Babies!

It was a terrible night.  Troy is on days.  We were up most of the night with the dogs barking.  Sometime around 3:30am, Sammie went crazy.  Troy went out to check what was going on and found a raccoon in the chicken pen.  He had the BB gun in hand, but it didn't do much but scare the critter back over the fence.  Thank goodness we had the barn closed well.  He came back to bed at almost 4 and just waited for his alarm to go off for work.  Not long after he left, I hear Kyle standing by my bed telling me he had a bad dream.  He crawled in bed with me.  Within a few minutes I heard chirping from the bathroom...the black copper marans eggs in the incubator were hatching.  It was a rough night, but when I finally dragged myself out of bed for work, I had 3 of the 17 chicks hatched, fluffy and dry.

Live Performance!

I see on facebook...day after day...people advertising their bands or groups.  They ask people to come see them, come join them, or come have a good time.  They offer their services for parties and events.  They give their location and time and cost to attend.  I often read them and wish that I could see things from their perspective. So, today, I'm putting myself in their shoes...One night only!  Sometime between 6pm and 7pm, tomorrow night, you will hear 1 song.  I'm not offering an opportunity to see fancy costumes or intricate light shows.  No souvenirs will be thrown into the audience and the only beverages offered come from the water fountain in the hallway.  I don't have a band, or backup singers...except those included on the accompaniment cd, and I have no fan club.   I can promise a song straight from the heart and possibly a few tears shed on stage  from a 39 year old wife and mother who is nothing fancy.  A song from someone who would find it easier to fade into a crowd than to take center stage.  A song sung for my Lord and Savior meant to tug at the heartstrings.  Hmmm...wonder who would show?