My Specker is Pecking Out, ~;>

GUESS WHAT?????????????

After killing myself with my chores, college, homeschooling, housework plus a myriad of other things I do.   Hubby turned in the 'GANAS-less' wonder for this Husqavana riding mower.  See review I posted, you will understand better.  LOL

I was so frustrated with the Sears Weedeater (hubby was too) that I was using the push mower to tackle the grass while he is recovering from knee surgery.  Now in this deep South Texas area with all the rain we have gotten just keeping up with new growth is nearly flipping impossible.  So, we are turning in the Weedeater for this beauty. YEAHHHHHHHHHH

One thing to note about Sears their return policy has changed on gas powered pieces of equipment.  Instead of a 90 return policy; Sears now only gives a customer 30 days to decide if they want to keep their item.  Luckily, we grand-fathered in because I keep all receipts neatly filed away for tax purposes or in case of returns.  WOOO HOOO! I get to break this lovely mower in because hubby's left knee is still mending. 

He is at physical therapy now, yeppers he drove himself since we have an automatic which requires no work for his left knee.  My chauffering days are over for at least today. 

We are still awaiting word for when the new 12' by 32' hunting lodge can be delivered.  Some service folks in this part of the country are a bit slow to getting around to work.   But, so far its all a go with Lisa moving back home by August.  We are flipping the building into a small house inside our property to allow her to have her own place which at nearly twenty -- she needs. 

Next Saturday, hubby hired a company to come clear the rest of our land to include the stock pond some kind neighbor filled with garbage, barbed wire, water heaters and various other items while this place was vacant for five years.  YIPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEE!  I will take before and after photos to show the improvement.  I am hoping next year to buy a large tiller so I can plant a real garden.  BABY STEPS BABY STEPS

Off to read those I follow

Welcome new follower SMWOM.  I will stop by your place later. ~:>

Stitches Out, Day 7

Hubby had physical therapy today, while I homeschooled the boys in the parking lot. Woo Hoo, he is on his way to recovery.  They massaged and stretched his leg after taking out the stitches.  Really there is not much to see other than two little lines of healing. He will be going to therapy three times next week -- more fun schooling in the car.  Good thing, we have Tricare Prime as our insurer.  It is such a relief to know our health insurance coverage, ROCKS!

Today,  we scheduled Ranch Wireless to replace our Wildblue internet service provider.  Wildblue charges double for 1/2 the service uploads/downloads as Ranch.  Having more uploads is important since my university requires several pages to be opened while accomplishing class discussions, assignments, and research.   So, after five years I will be going back to using my Yahoo email account. 

Next Hubby called a man to come clear our property of high grass, brush, huisache and remove the items the rancher next door dumped into the stock pond while, this property was vacated. (Nice man eh?)  I am thrilled because I really do not believe a Cub Cadet (soon to be delivered; feathers crossed) can tackle the growth we have had with over 20 inches of rain the last half year.  The rain is great though for the water table but, horrible for weed and other invasive shrubs.

I will be calling my bank (Keesler Credit Union, Mississippi) at 3 p.m. to check on our loan process, can you believe I have been with them for over twenty five years?  I am loyal once I find an organization that respects its customers.  Funny, I choose them in Basic Training and stayed with them after others jumped ship during Hurricane Katrina.  Stay with a credit union instead of large banks, you not only get better service but a more personalize approach to financial management. 

Whelpers, Ladies and Gents

I have about 70 more pages to read, two articles to find, and some websites to critique this week for my assignment.  I hope you are are doing well in your Steamy Slices of Heaven.

This Mower Has No Ganas!

For the record,  I have had to mow grass since hubby has been out of commission.  I do not advocate this type of tractor for anyone with property over 1 acre because it lacks:  power, stamina, a decent gas tank, does not turn well or quickly, over heats often, sounds like a mosquito wheezing, has a small cutting surface, and get's mucked up quiet a bit with mowed grass.  Sears brand WEEDEATER for your information.

(GANAS or in laychicken's terms B.A.L.L.Z)

Hubby has survived his surgery (and me), starts physical theraphy tomorrow. He has only been taking pain meds at night for the last three days and joins us for meals at the table now.  He gets tired quickly now because knee surgery is painful and add limping about wears a body. 

  Whooopeeeeeeeeeeee!

I love having him home even though we grate each others' nerves being cooped up together.  LOL

Another point to our busy lives, the hunting lodge (mother-in-law suite) is soon to be placed on our land.  I will get pictures of it when we start the process just waiting for the loan drop into our account so, we can then schedule the pick up of the 'lodge'.  The small 'house' will be Lisa's permanent residence complete with a mailbox; where she can become an independent adult and start her academic life.   Hubby and I will be over seeing the addition of electricity, water lines, and sewage to make the 12' by 32' a two room home with the almost completed interior.  This place keeps on growing and changing.

ACK, I don't feel like I have had a moment to myself for the last ten days.  Unfortunately this fact of life will not change soon and my fifth class started just this morning.  So, I just want to let all know, I am hit and miss with writing here on blogspot.  Those I follow, I do read faithfully but have not had the time to comment. 

Barbara, Our mesquite trees have 'beans' sprouting so your flour meal will be forth coming when they are ripe and we harvest.  Well Ladies and Gents, I am off to town to drop some loan paperwork in the mail.  Does anyone need me to pick up anything for them?

Hubby B4 n After plus a special gift from Larry

Man, What a Day! First off we got up at 4 a.m. to take hubbyman down to Corpus for his knee surgery.  Lisa stayed with the boys.  What a huge relief and Sid came with us for the surgery and to be the chauffer. 

Now you Naughty Nancys here are his before and after surgery shots:

He does have on sexy purple surgery socks. LOL I am keeping those.

Mr. Larry sent us a surprise gift of cold water prawns and a whole sock-eye salmon.  So when we got home I wrapped these beauties in bacon to grill for a quick dinner to feed my ravenous man.  Thanks Mr. Larry! You Rock!  Just wait to you see what I am going to do with that salmon.

I have my husband home for the next two week while he recovers and goes through physical theraphy.  I think Junior, Sid and Lisa will be back down from San Antonio to watch Sunday's World Cup.  Have you seen that Bruce the German octopus"  He has picked the winners; his choice for champion is Spain.  Tentacles crossed here.  Have a great night!

I'LL Take It,

I hope all ya'll had a great Fourth of July weekend.  We sure did.  Junior, Sid, Lisa, Sarah (Frog) and Jaelin (Lady Bug) came down for the holiday.  Which was great to see them.  Also, they helped their father around the place to get things in order, before his knee surgery on Friday.  My mister will be home for two weeks post surgery for healing. 

Let see what else,  Lisa plans on moving down here at the begining of August and is spending the week.  I can't wait to see her enrolled in classes; which I will be able to tutor her. Yeah!  The boys are stoked and torture her daily.  Last night's fun was a water balloon fight.  I loved watching those crazy kids zipping through the yard having fun.

Just signed up for my next class and found I still have a decent GPA.  Not bad considering my last class was a PIP and drove me insane with what I thought was fruitless study.  It was not so much the material but, the semantics of wording for the tests that drove me to distraction. LOL I am getting so old and picky and do actually pay attention to details. 

Well I am off to find a way to enlist the kiddos in studying for pre-test exams.  WAAA HOOO

Alex, Yeah We Felt Him

Since Tuesday, we had been monitoring Alex.  Yes Ladies and Gents, Alex was a huge storm and the rain bands were far reaching late Wednesday before landfall in Mexico we started getting rain.

Then all day Thursday and Friday other bands of thunderstorms would roll in and the wind was kinda scary.  I will take pictures of a small flowering tree in our front lawn which, had its top layer of bark stripped clean hopefully, it was meant to come off naturally on its own.  I would guess on our little slice of heaven we got between 8 to 10 inches of rain.  What was great was-- the bands came far enough spread apart to have the run off complete so no flooding in our yard.  Though our hens have not free ranged since Tuesday.

This family however, was not so lucky.  Their house and property was sitting on low laying land and all the run off came into their yard.  This is just up the road from us near Beeville.  I really hope they had flood insurance.  I am trying to convince my husband we need it.  True our house is on a 'built up' pad foundation but, what if the next storm is even larger?  To me, $300 a year is for peace of mind is well worth it.  To all affected by Alex, I hope those recovering are safe and sound in their slices of soggy heaven.

Well we are off to prepare the house for visitors.  The older kiddos are coming down to have a grill out with their father.  Next week, he will be having knee surgery and will be home for two weeks to recover.

I hope ya'll are safe, happy, and secure on this Fourth of July weekend.  Please remember to say thank you to a solider while you are throwing back a few brews and eating outside.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – A Place of Their Own

I was thinking back on my very own first place. I grew up sharing a room with my sister; money was tight for my single parent mom. We had bunk beds for almost all our time in her home and shared one black and white 13 inch television; which weighed half a ton to move for cleaning. (The things you remember are strange, eh?)



Hum, it did not happen for me right away because I went into the military at age twenty. The open bay (barracks) environment during basic training was weird at first since there was always someone around due to the flight having 50 inhabitants. Thus no such thing as privacy ever! And men drill instructors would ‘walk the floor’ and thus we all kept covered no matter the time of day sleeping in tees, undies, and socks; so at reveille 50 souls would bound to the rest room in waves to get dress and out the door in ten minutes. A major feat don’t you think?


The barracks at Keesler were more user friendly, rooms with two women per on a long hallway connected to a common day room for television.  Not a bad arrangement then again some privacy but the only space that was private wasn’t really was the wall locker. Everything had to be in its place inspection ready. YET the rooms had a door. OOOOOOOh, how lovely the first taste of security. LOL


My next station was at Clark AB in the Philippines. OMG I loved that tour it was a shocker and I learned so much about myself and the world. My roommate was Becky; she was a flipping RIOT to hang out with. One thing here I will note, she was lesbian and told me the first day I moved into the room we shared and I learned about “the Family.” So, here is a dilemma it was 1986 and no such thing as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in place. The Air Force did have an honor code we were supposed to live by yet, why screw up a total stranger’s life because they make different decision which did not actually harm others.

Was I ever uncomfortable with her sexuality?  Noppers, because we had a defined relationship:  co-worker, room mate, and friend. Secondly, I was not attracted to her, her partners, nor were they attracted to me. (That I know of....LOL)

So, I kept her ‘secret’ because I really did not give a crap even though I could have been brought up on charges of dereliction and other non-sense for not turning her in. Even worse, our chosen paths had placed us in the Electronic Security Command ---- Top Secret nonsense thus punishment would have been swift and fierce.   Big Whoop Tee Do……


Here is another kicker folks……………… I will wager to say here. Most serving today do know of others who are Gay or Lesbian serving their country and just press on just like I did.

What got to me thinking about this issue:  I was watching the Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearings and Mr. Jeff Sessions of Alabama (my birthplace; he tends to wax on my last nerve with his pompass, superior air) and just have to shake my head.

He wants to make a big deal over her tenure at Harvard not allowing the BIASED military to have full access to students based on her opinion of the military’s stance on homosexuality. The kicker is, by federal law (my understanding) the military is supposed to have access to students for recruitment and they did have access through a veterans’ organization for the record. On the other side, the military is a discriminating organization which flew into the face of human rights which was against policy for Harvard.

I guess Mr Sessions would have a hard time knowing sometimes the right thing to do is just SHUT THE HELL UP no matter what the popular legal decision is at the time.


Now, I have heard all kinds of crappola about gays serving in our nations military. Ladies and Gentleman, I implore you to use your brains. They are already serving and have earned a place of their own among our ranks.

Sticks Tongue out at Hurricane Alex………..runs like the wind.