Catching up

Last week and this weekend were really really busy. I'm not sure that I've caught my breath yet. I had my followup doctor visit after the ultrasound just so the doctor could confirm that all was well. He's in about the 40th percentile for size and is right on track for the September 13 due date. (Pretty please be just a little early!!! September 1 would be a lovely birthday!) Number 2 also has very firmly decided he DOES NOT like to be poked. The nurse must have spent almost 15 minutes trying to get a count on his heart rate because every time she got the little wand over him, he would completely move over to the other side of my belly. She said it looked hilarious because she could totally see him moving from side to side trying to avoid her. It didn't feel nearly as hilarious!

We also finally found a new home for our little dog Dixie. She was a very sweet little dog that was very bored. With her Border Collie/Blue Heeler heritage, she just needed a job and wasn't getting enough here with me during the day while I was working. The last two weeks she was on a full scale rampage and managed to tear up the safety netting on Carter's trampoline, was caught chasing the horses several times, chewed up a roll of Robert's landscaping fabric, chewed on the bottle calves tails, destroyed two pairs of Carter's shoes, dug up several rows of my garden, and ate the two bitty bitty bunnies. I'm not sure that if I had had time to think about it, that I wouldn't have just let Robert shoot her like he was planning. Luckily Bob stepped in and saved her. He works for Robert and decided that he really liked her and would take her home with him. It's actually been a huge relief with her gone, and I really don't miss her spending all day barking at the cats in the barn. Naturally Robert already been looking for her replacement. I'm hoping for a nice quiet house dog this time.

With all the lovely weather, it just seemed like there were so many projects that have been waiting all winter to finish that now needed immediate attention. Robert got all the fuel tanks painted silver right along with himself. The picture doesn't do him justice. He looked a lot like a cowboy version of the tin man.

Robert did manage to take some time out to go "play" and help my brother tag calves. His horse did manage to buck him off when Robert accidentally jerked his rope up under Slick's tail. Carter, upon hearing the story, put her hands gently on both sides of Robert's face, and very seriously told him, "Papa, you need to hold on." Even better, she later brought him over her stuffed pony and told Robert he could ride her stuffed pony since it wouldn't buck him off. Oh how I love this little girl. I was nearly in tears from laughing so hard. In the picture below, she's showing Robert just how you hold on.

I was in a big hurry to get all the garden finished and planted. Carter's help slows down the process a fair amount, but she's so dang excited to help and well, that's the only way they learn. Besides, when I just quit worrying about how it's going to turn out and that fact that it's supposed to be fun, it is fun. Carter has lots of interesting ideas about how to plant gardens. Although it sounds like all I do is work on the garden, it actually is a rather small garden. It just has lots of rocks, and needs lots of work in order to get each row of seeds in. While it's not exactly the ideal garden, it produced pretty fair last year, and with any luck will again this year. Carter did manage to pull up my peony that I had managed to save from the horses. I had been so excited that it had survived the move over here and had came back up this spring. I just about cried when I saw the carnage. Deep breath. She really thought she was helping since I'd spent most of the afternoon carefully weeding it around it, that well, she wanted to get the one I missed. Robert managed to spray around my main flower bed with Round-up, and Rance had drove over all the irises I had gotten planted on the edge of the garden last fall when he came over to help Robert work on the corrals and was dumping "compost" from the corrals on the garden. I was feeling rather abused. So if you don't see any flowers around this outfit this summer, it's not because I didn't try really hard! I'm praying the irises in front of the house and a few of the hollyhocks will survive. Always next year.

Last night Robert and I were out late last night trying to beat the rain. He was reseeding the lawn, then came and helped me with the garden. We didn't get everything planted, but got pretty close. The rest, well, it will wait. Today, I just enjoyed the rain. It started around 8 am this morning and has been a wonderfully wet day. I love the rainy weather. Must the the ranch kid in me, but the rain just makes my soul happy. It says rest and enjoy the break, curl up and read good books in bed and snuggle with your sweetheart. With little kids, it also means jumping in mud puddles, making mud pies and bringing just as much mud into the house as you possibly can.