Sunday, February 24, 2008

About us

Welcome to our informative family blog!! I thought it would be fun to start a family blog. I was also hoping other families might follow suit, and do the same. This will give us all an opportunity to keep up with each other and have updated pics and info. Eric and Nicole started one about the new chapter in their lives. Thought it would be fun to do the same. It's easy to do, so what are you guys waiting for?
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2 comments:

Gayla Claborn said...

I love your photos Misti! I have been missing getting to hang out with my friend as often as we used to be able to. So... I very was excited to be able to see all family smiles this morning bright and early. My absolute fav was the one you took of rodeo :-) So cute! I LOVE the one of Rodeo! Love ya girl! --Gayla

March 5, 2008 at 6:19 AM
Unknown said...

hola como estas?

i love the snow pics......tana looks like a snowman.....thats great....it snowed here....but it was gone wheneva it came to the ground...so no fun for me :-(((

bye
robert

March 6, 2008 at 2:02 PM

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Little Country Girl goes to the Big Ol' City of Chicago

Wow, I can't even believe the enormousity of this place (is that even a word?) People everywhere, all the time, all the day and all the night. Even when its pouring down rain and the umbrella is doing the opposite of what it should. I don't have a pic to share of the torrentional rainfall. I was afraid to bring the camera into the mess (I'm a puss), and I was seeking shelter, duh! But apparently, you guys where all pretty much drowning too. I'll share a flik or two for those of you who aren't as refined as myself. (I was trying to make that rhyme, I lost it somewhere, didn't I) Ha, this was my first big city trip and I'm already gettin' big headed! I wonder what Laci and Danny think of me know?

All the pretty lights on Michigan Ave.

All the pretty lights on Michigan Ave.
I was mesmerized by all the pretty lights, I felt like a wee toddler. You don't see those kind of lights in Vandervoort, Ar. Shoot you can't even see the stars in Chicago. At least on any given purty night in big V you can see the gorgeous stars.

So Lost, just me, not my highly directionally minded hubby!

I would have gotten so lost if not for my handy, dandy hubby. He always seemed to be tuned in to his inner GPS. Although I will admit, at times I began to question even his knowledge on this matter. Mostly when we walked here and there and everywhere and started to make a few full circles. Thats when I clued in. This was our conversation:
me: "Hey this looks familiar, I think I remember bein' here about 4 hrs ago. (scratch, scratch on the nogin)
GPS man: "NO, No baby, your confused again, (I am?, oh yeah I am.) We were coming from the other direction."
me: "Oh, silly me, I'm so glad your here with me, I'm so confused."
Anyways, after miles of trekking through the mazes of skyscrappers and alleys (no, actually we were smart enough to stay out of those, they were scary looking. Isn't that were escaped crazies hang out, so they can capture little country bumkins like me? Yeah, no way I'm goin' in there.), and honking cabs, and beggin' bums, through really grotesque smells and then wonderful aromas of Italian food, through 3 levels of streets and metras all over the place (for you uncultured folk, a metra is a sort of cheap transportation, that will take you anywhere you want to go in Chicago, DUH!)

The blue line metra

The blue line metra
We traveled the blue line twice a day. To go to downtown to party and act like tourist and to go back to our room. Very cultural, don't ya think?

Be smart, not dumb, smart! It's that easy!

I just wanted to give you all a quick lesson on who you ask directions from. A normal looking Joe, is most likely a bum. So be selective in your seeking of directions. I'm just guessing of course, because I'm not that dumb. I ain't no fool, or so I thought. Hey I was just bein' nice, right. So I gave him 5 bucks. It didn't happen again ( because I ran out of cash really, really fast in this big ol' town, thats why.) So I asked a guy how to get to somewheres, he was so nice. Poor guy he apparantley was having some hard times due to a recent knee injury or somethin'. Poor fella, the sad part is, there are bunches of these poor unfortunate souls that are stupid enough to hand these guys money. Go figure! Go get a job already, right!

The blue bum

The blue bum
I thought it was appropriate. Do you agree?

The Hancock Tower (Go ahead and consider me your new guide to big city life, ha!)

If you ever find yourself in Chicago, you must go to the Hancock Tower. It has 96 floors, you can go to the top, have your self a sit down, rest those barkin' dogs, and have a spot to drink (starting at $12 bucks a pop). The tower has the best view of the city, you can even see the Olacean from there (a little word I made up, I happen to think it is more appropriate for Lake Michigan. I mean come on, have you seen the size of this so called "Lake"? Its the monster of all lakes, ok, so some call it "the Great Lakes". I happen to like my word better. If I weren't such a highly educated girl, I might think it twas the ocean. I'm very dissapointed to say, I did not get a good flik of that big ol' thang. So I kindly pasted a site here for you to look at .http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/lake-michigan.html
Oh, I've got a big, fat headache right now, and I'm kinda gettin' lazy with my spellin', if you see anything, let me know. I will correct it on a later date, when I don't have such a frazzlin' HA!!


Hey guys, Sorry I haven't done much with the blog lately. We just haven't done much this past week. It's been really pretty outside until yesterday. It started rainin' a bit around 3:30. It started pourin' after sundown. It rained all night, our muddy lots where just startin' to dry up. So much for that. I'll be wishin' for this kinda weather come July!! I'll put some new stuff on as soon as I can. Love ya!!

Wheeler Ranch West Side

Wheeler Ranch West Side
For those of you who have not been to our place, this is the view from the corner of our place, coming in.

The West Herd

The West Herd
We keep 7 horses on this side of the pasture. It was the geldings and babies until one of the mares broke in. She's the buttercream buckskin looking at the camera. I couldn't get a very good pic because one of our babies "Zippy" kept coming in front of me. He's such a pup. As you guys know we are going to be moving soon. We are going to have to find good homes for many of our horses. If you or anybody you know are interested in purchasing a horse or colt. Let us know, we've got them set at good prices. We can only keep a handful of them. (sigh, sigh)

Sunday Morning coming down

Sunday Morning coming down
On Sunday mornings we usually clean house, work in the yard, take care of the animals. We used to go to church on a regular basis, but things change. We haven't found another church home yet. One thing we have to do on Sundays is get hay. "Push that thang up on there hunny. You can do it, ya don't need my help? Do ya? I mean consider this your weekly work-out. Look at those guns workin!" Ah, he can do it. One bale will feed about 4 horses for about 3 days. We have 15 horses, you do the math. It also takes about one 50lb bag of feed to feed them daily. I buy a great feed product that has minerals and nutrients built in, which cost about $9 a bag.

Roxie

Roxie
Roxie was so cute in the snow. This was her first snow and she had a blast in it.

Tana on her new snow tube!

Tana on her new snow tube!
Tana was so excited when she looked outside and saw the ground covered with snow.

Tana and Dad

Tana and Dad
Dad was busy riggin' up a way to pull Tana around on the 4-wheeler. Snow plowin' has become a traditional snow day experience at our home.

Snow Plowin'

Snow Plowin'
The Fun begins, Roxie ran behind the snow tube the entire time. About two hours worth of runnin'.

Watch out, Tanas' drivin' now!

Watch out, Tanas' drivin' now!
Tana had a ball plowin' dad around the pastures. Dad couldn't handle it for long though.

Todd

Todd
Daddy is done, I'm tellin' you the truth, that man is worn plum out. A few turns, with Tana behind the wheel and he's callin' it a day. Is it because he's actually physically worn out, or mentally from yellin' "Watch out for that tree? Don't get so close to the pond, and Dang girl watch out for the horses, for heavins sakes alive, your gonna kill me." Or just intellectually for usin' such small words with our wee daughter? I was actually just tryin' to see how many double L words I could fit in there! Ha, see how I entertain myself?

Tana was covered from head to toe. She wasn't ready to quit. This girl loves the snow.

East side of house

East side of house
Just to remind everyone, our ranch is for sale. Tell your friends who are looking. LOL

Todd playing a song for us.

Todd playing a song for us.
We went camping at Dave's property on Sat.(3-1-08) It was a beautiful day, although the wind was blowing somethin' fierce! I thought that little ol' pop-up was gonna blow over!

Kotah

Kotah
While Todd and I were outside by the campfire, Kotah decided to get out of the wind. He and Mema went to the pop-up. Good thing he brought a book to read. He was getting kinda bored. Of course Mema reminded us that she spent most of her younger days reading by lamp light.

Goin' down Ken & Chelle's driveway.

Goin' down Ken & Chelle's driveway.
Ken & Chelle's is just a short piece away from Dave's camp. This was my view for the next few hours. We had to go by their place to pick up Tana and Halea who had spent the night with Michelle.

Ken & Chelle's cabin

Ken & Chelle's cabin

Goin' down one of Ken's many trails.

Goin' down one of Ken's many trails.

Tana's favorite view

Tana's favorite view
Of course we had to go to Tana's favorite view just up the way from Ken's.

Tana and Tradition

Tana and Tradition

The backside of the Rock Quarry

The backside of the Rock Quarry
We keep our hay at Mema and Richard's. They live about 5 miles from us. This is a view from the backside of the quarry (one of the many Todd represents). Just thought I would through it in so everyone can get a feel of the ride over to Mema's.

Blueberry

Blueberry
Ok, I thought it was time you all met some of our gang. This is one of our 15 dogs. We call him Blue or Boo-Boo, he was born on the first day that Dakotah started 1st grade. He's such a great and loyal friend. Oh, it takes about two 50lb bags of feed a week to feed the gang!! I know, I know, that's a lot of Freakin' dogs. I can't help it, I have such a soft heart for animals. When I see one in need I give them a good and loving home. I get all of our animals fixed (and you should too). Blue was born on our place in Georgia, by accident. His mother was one of Todds' parents dogs that we took in. When I took her to the vet to get her fixed, they said, she's to old to get bred! Well guess what, Whatever to them!! I had to find homes for 9 pups, we kept this one. BLUE!!

Sadie

Sadie
Sadie needs a good home. Sadie is our newest edition to the gang. She comes from a very sad story (Don't they all). Someone dumped her pregnant mom off down the road right before she delivered. She appeared to be a German Shep mix. She delivered her pups at an abandoned house, 9 of them. After the pups were about 7 weeks old, someone shot her. Leaving her pups to fend for themselves. At this point the pups started to die and were becoming road kill. I couldn't stand it any longer. I decided to go get a few of them one night. Well they were a bit wild, and I could only catch one. Little Lucky Sadie. One other pup ended up surviving and has taken up with a neighbor accross the street. Anywayz, if you or anybody you know would like to give this little girl a home, let me know. She is a great dog. She has a bit of watch-dog in her as well.

Kitty Kitty

Kitty Kitty
I have 3 cats that look exactly the same!! So I just call them"Kitty Kitty" Mema has their bro and sis, they look almost the same as the other 3. Only one was born different she's much brighter with stripes. How did I wind up with so many? As I was walking out in the pasture checking on horses, I hear a "meow". Its a kitten, of course I pick it up and take it home. What I thought was a kitten was actually a very, very small female cat who had already been exposed to a male tom. Thinking I had time to get her fixed, becuse she was so little, I waited. Thinking I'll do it when she's a bit bigger and when I have more money. After a couple of weeks at her new home Kitty starting getting much rounder. Soon afterwards she had 6 kittens. Five of them where females. I got the momma fixed as soon as the kittens were a week old. As soon as the babies were old enough I had them fixed as well.

River

River
River is the brother to Dakotah's favorite cat Mindi. Funny story about these two. We used to have a potbelly pig. We decided she needed a friend, so we took her to a friend who also had a few potbelly pigs. But she would only do it if we took some kittens off her hands. So we came home with River and Mindi. We've had them for about 4 years now. A few days later as I was driving down the road, I saw a wee kitten. So I stopped and picked her up, she was about the same age as our other two new kittens so voila, Mia became part of the family too. Right now we have 9 cats!! I love them all. Cats are really great pets, I wish more people would give them a chance. I'll post more cat and dog pics when I get them. Some of my dogs are camera shy. It's so funny they act like I'm pointing a gun at them or somehting!!

Kitty

Kitty
This is the 6th sister to all the twins. She was the born last, the runt of the litter. She's quite small for her age, just like her mother. She's the only one you can tell apart. She looks just like her mom. Her mom, we named "Berry", disappeared when the kittens where about 10 weeks old, after I had her fixed.