When last I wrote regarding the move, it was last Tuesday and the move was scheduled for Friday. It did not happen Friday. It did happen yesterday!

We crossed one state highway and 4 sets of railroad tracks.

Then we (that would be the royal we- thank you, Jason) made 3 right turns, including one into a driveway and then he BACKED IT into the yard!

I opened the door cautiously - after everyone left - and not one thing moved or fell or was broken! God loves me and I love Him!

Thanks to everyone involved especially Jason (Moose), Wade, Clay (Ed) and Jason (Bubbles) and a huge thanks to Jacky and Johnnie.

Musings

Simone Weil:
anarchist
soldier
factory worker
labor organizer
school teacher
Christian
resistance fighter
philosopher.

This is everything that I know about Simone Weil. I read a quote attributed to her in a novel I recently read. It struck a chord in my mind (or what passes for it these days) so I am sharing it with you.

'A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves.'
Simone Weil

Have a great day and know that you are loved.

The great migration

Long story short, 1 and 1/2 years ago, my husband came home and said, "Honey, let's move the house." Why I didn't leave him then I couldn't tell you. Sooooooooo...



...this week, on Monday, he moved the first of the two 10x16 storage buildings we own preparatory to moving the house on Friday (that would be tomorrow). I have class after work on Monday, so did not get to see the move.



Tuesday morning, on my way to work, I decided to stop by the new place to take a picture of the storage shed - our first "footprint" on the new place. I was talking to my daughter on the phone and wondering where exactly her Dad put it. I couldn't see it. Finally, I saw it.









It rained Monday night but I really did not think the winds were THAT strong. I was evidently incorrect. The building was lifted over the fence and dropped in our friend's pasture, missing all the livestock, thank goodness.


So, the floor will now become the front porch when we move the house. The siding will become, when placed on top of 4x4s on the back fence line. shade for the horses (pasture side) and shade for the dogs (back yard side).


The new storage building will be delivered in approximately 2 weeks and will be SECURELY anchored. I'll let you know how moving the house goes...

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day Moment . . . as heard from a friend. Not my cat. Not my Chapstick...thank God.

A Cat and Your Chapstick

We had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him.

He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom.

Well we have 3 kids and at the time of this story, they were 4 years old,
3 years old and 1 year old.

The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves chapstick. LOVES it.

He kept asking to use my chapstick and then losing it. So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.

Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around and trying to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys are fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I am trying to nurse my little one at the same time I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a mess and everyone has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood.

We finally have the older one and the baby loaded in the car and I am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round the corner to go into the bathroom.

And there was Eli.

He was applying my chapstick very carefully to Jack's . . . rear end. Eli looked right into my eyes and said "chapped." Now if you have a cat, you know that he is right--their little butts do look pretty chapped.

And, frankly, Jack didn't seem to mind.

And the only question to really ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind or the hundredth.

And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your chapstick on the cat's butt.

Ah, there you are!

There are two types of people--those who come into a room and say, 'Well, here I am!' and those who come in and say, 'Ah, there you are.'
Frederick L Collins

I do not know who Mr. Collins is/was, but I will look him up. This popped up in my "quotes of the day" and struck a chord. I was thinking that I want to be an "Ah, there you are" person when it occurred to me that my dogs already ARE!

So, if dogs are the "Ah, there you are" people and cats obviously are the "Well, here I am" people then it follows that Mr. Collins was right (with apologies) -

There are two kinds of people -- those who are cats and those who are dogs.

Have a great day and know that you are loved.


PS: I looked up Mr. Collins and there is very little info readily available. I did learn that he had a story published in 'Harper's Weekly' in 1922.

Hostage Situation - Small town Texas style

Normally, I get about around 5:15. I shower, then bathe (not nearly as anal as it sounds - I wash my hair in the shower and then read in the tub), get dressed and leave the house around 6:30. I stop at the gym, the local convenience store, the post office, McDonald's (sausage biscuit for the dog at work) and then go to work, arriving there around 7:45.

Not this morning.

This morning, I ignored the alarm, my husband, and my dogs. I finally got out of bed at 7:09, jumped into my clothes, brushed my hair and teeth, kennelled the good dog, grabbed my stuff and left.

In the yard was the bad dog, the one who wouldn't come in. She was in our small yard, the neighbor's horse was in our big yard and my car was in the parking lot (my house is a mobile home in the middle of 5 acres of pasture). Holly, the dog, is just spastic. She won't come near me because she has convinced herself that I will grab her and toss her in the house. I don't have time and frankly, this morning I don't care. She didn't know that and she didn't care.

The horse, Freckles (I didn't name him), is a paint gelding. He was gelded WAY too late. He is unrideable, unreliable, sometimes disagreeable and generally NOT "my little pony." He is beautiful and he likes me - not his owner, not my husband, not the farrier, but me.

So, there I was, a 65 pound Boxer losing her mind behind me and a however many pounds horse leaning on the gate in front of me.

Freckles minds me not at all.

I told him to go. He stayed.

I told him to leave. He stayed.

I shooed him. He stayed.

I opened the gate into him. He stayed.

He was never vicious or anything. He was just unmoveable.

Finally, in desperation, I decided to call my husband. I would ask him to call me, in the hope that maybe the noise of the phone would startle Freckles and he would move.

I called my husband. He was in the shop with the rest of the guys. I explained to him what I needed and he started laughing. He then started repeating everything I said so the rest of the guys could laugh, too. He suggested I pick up a 2x4 and just hit the horse. I told him that that was why the horse didn't like him and did like me and that I was NOT gonna hit the horse. He said to just hit him across his rump. I told him I couldn't reach the horse's rump and that I was not gonna hit the horse and could he please just call me! The guys in the back are hysterical by this point. He did call me. Freckles LIKES the phone ringing. He moved even closer so that he could hear better.

I answered the phone and asked my husband to just drive into the yard. Freckles, as stated earlier, does not like my husband. So - my husband left his job, drove home and - the minute he turned off of the highway and the horse could hear the pickup - the flippin' horse moved! By the time Shorty (my husband) got up to the parking area, that blessed horse wasn't even close to our yard!

I walked through the yard, unchained the gate into the parking area (Freckles likes to open the gate and go out into the 'wide, wide world'), thanked my husband and got in my car. I was not late for work but I didn't get to the gym or the post office or.....

Thank you, honey.

Frustration

In an earlier blog, I mentioned 'in-progress' scrapbooks and working overtime.

I sent my daughter, this afternoon, to the local huge friggin' store that sells everything.

Sunday, I had left, on the digital camera intake machine, 179 photos to be developed. The machine did not print me a receipt. I asked the photo clerk and she assured me that I did not need a receipt, that that particular machine had not printed receipts in months and that all I had to do was come in and ask for my pictures by name (I should have named the pictures, dang it all).

Anyway, long story short, they do not have my pictures. They do not know where my pictures are. They do not know who I spoke to. They do not have any suggestions other than starting from the beginning.

I get off at 11:00 tonight. The store closes at 11:00 tonight.

The very helpful photo manager suggested that I come in during my workday tomorrow and she would see that I got my pictures for 1/2 price.

I downloaded the pictures into this very computer, ordered them online and will have them delivered to my house.

I do not know where I will be shopping for the foreseeable future but I think it's gonna be at least a couple of days before I go back to "the W---M--t".

It is Tuesday. I love Tuesdays because I have class on Monday, teach class on Wednesday and work late on Thursday and Friday. I work late on Tuesday, too, but I am not quite so worn out. The pace of this day has been sort of laid back and, I don't know, serene almost.

I have 3 scrapbooking projects in the works, 2 new books to read, a new CD to listen to and weather that is just almost perfect. It is mid-70s, a little humid but not too much and the ever-present Panhandle wind is NOT present. What a gift this day is.

I really have nothing to say today. This is more or less an exercise in consistency. I have a tendency to start things (ergo the 3 'in progress' scrapbook projects) and then lose enthusiasm. So I have decided to look at this as an obligation. Not quite an Ignation Review, but close.

So, having discussed the weather and my lack of motivation, I will just say have a great day and know that you are loved.