7 Things You Should Know About Yesterday

1.  I woke up at 3am, worked a full day and STILL didn't meet my "calories burned" goal until 7pm, according to Cliff.
Either Cliff has a personal vendetta against me, or he is being trained by Jillian Michaels.
PLUS he kept calling me "STEPGEEK BEBE"!! What'sThatAboutCliff??

2.  Dr. Kirksy came to do a herd check, during which an UN believable amount of crazy-talk spewed from my mouth.
Was I deliriously tired?
Did I take my meds too early?
Did I drink too much coffee?
We will never know.
I hope Dr. Kirksy is still my friend.

3.  This chili recipe is life-changing.
I know, I know, I have talked about it before..how it has chipotles in adobo and cinnamon..but it was the only thing that kept me going.

I slow cooker-ized it at lunch, and the smell made me want to cry when I got home.
Again, deliriously tired?
Too much coffee?
Did my meds run out?
We will never know.
Martha knows a thing or two about chili and tax evasion.

4.  I read quite a few blogs (reason #47 why I love Pinterest), but one in particular stands out in the "Baking Win" category...it's Brown Eyed Baker's blog/website/thing.
I have made a few of her recipes, and I am never let down unlike Martha.

These were her Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, that I made.
De-licious.
There are hundreds more recipes on her site alone, which I would love to make, especially yesterday's.

5.  At approximately 2:30 pm, I was reborn.
I needed to put some cow info into the computer, so I made a mistake and sat down.
You know when you see little kids fighting sleep, their eye lids become 5 inches long, or they are drinking a bottle and milk starts running down their chin and neck?
That was me...minus the milk-thing...
Then...THEN I read White Orchid Bridals Facebook status update "Getting ready to start on my first dress for 2012!! Real French loomed lace!!! Sooooo beautiful I don't want to cut into it!".
MY dressssssssssss!!!!!
Second.Wind.
(Yes, I was on Facebook AtTheSameTime. Don't get all McJudgy on me...like you don't get on Facebook when you should be doing 25 other things..)

6.  I had a new milk tester(why I got up so early), and out of the constant conversation he was having with me, and my Hondurans whoDon'tUnderstandHim, approximately 10% was all I heard.
This was over a 4-hour period.
I laughed when he paused.
He did try an put a friendly(not creepy) hand on my shoulder a couple of times, which I successfully matrixed myself out of.
Don't.Touch.Me.

7.  Chuck's pretty.
I went home to put the chili in the slow cooker, and Chuck was in another one of his deep-conversation moods.
*sigh*.
We were discussing our Fitbit's and he maybemight have said something that I didn't know.  My surprised "oh really?" response opened a door through which he jumped, and said;
"Yeah! See, you love me because I'm smart! ROY-B-FIB! ROY-B-FIB!"
Ah geez.

I would rather be with someone who made me laugh though, than someone who made me cry but could recite the colors of the rainbow:).

Perspective.

Love,
Me

The Chicken Ladies

When Rebecca(Beenie) and I are together, things just...happen to us.
Weird, random, odd things.
Yet I insist that we do all sorts of tasks together.  We live on the edge.

That being said, let me axe you this...have you ever been in a group-that you don't know- and managed to single yourself out within minutes of joining that group?

Like..maybe you're 'Smelly Sara', the hairy-underarm mulch-in-dreads hippie, I used to have Ag. Econ with?
Or, 'Laughing Larry', that guy who laughs after everything he says..but it's a way funny laugh so everyone laughs too, but at him, but Larry thinks 'hey! I've got an audience!', so he keeps laughing?

Those are bad examples..no one wants to be Sara or Larry.
But you get my drift, eh?

Before Christmas, I was invited by UT Extension to participate in the first "Management Academy" that they were going to put on.
This academy is for young farmers, and is geared toward helping them get a good grip on the financial aspect of the agricultural industry that they are in.
This is a MUCH NEEDED tool.  Brilliant idea, for sure.

Anyway, I was excited about it and Beenie was immediately interested as well.
Seeing as we both wish to continue farming for the rest of our lives, this academy could do nothing but help us in our dream.
Yadayadayada...

The first meeting, an HOUR away, was before Christmas, and was at the OnlyPlaceFarmersHaveMeetings...the Western Sizzlin'.
Yes, "Sizzlin'"...not sizzler..because that would make too much sense.

I'm not sure if you know this, but Beenie and I are the soup-and-salad to other farmers steak-and-potatoes.
We're the 6" turkey sub, to their Thickburger.

I'm not trying to say anything bad about my fellow farmer, but the majority of them eat a little heavier than we do.
'Tis true, 'tis true.

We arrived at the Western Sizzlin'(late, 'cuz it's an HOUR away), and walked in expecting to be given a plate and free-choice of the lunch buffet.
Um, that would be incorrect.

We walked in the banquet room, realized we didn't know anyone and sat down.
Then we were told by the extension agent that we were going to have "chopped steak with a mushroom gravy and baked potato"...
Shut.the.front.door.

I really thought I smiled at him as I contemplated the next thing that would come out of my mouth.
EVIdently the look I gave him caused Beenie to think, buddy, you better come up with something better, 'cuz she's not eatin' that..
And she was right.

Maybe he read my mind, maybe I said something out loud...we will never know, but the agent quickly said, "I think they have chicken".
..It was then that I started breathing again.

What are we, workin' on the prairie?!
I can't eat steak inthemiddleoftheday!!
Then go back to work!!
Pfffffttttt!!
Do I look like I eat a steak for lunch?!
My body would shut.down!
I'd be passed out in a calf hutch!

So, as everyone else, including the extension agents, ate their chopped steak, Beenie and I enjoyed our sausage-patty-sized piece of chicken(I don't know if it was a breast, thigh, combination...) served over a lovely rice pilaf.
Hooooboy! High maintenance.

Ugh, ugh, ugh...I knew the entire time what I had done.
Why Rachael?
Why couldn't you have just eaten the steak, or moved it around on your plate?
I singled us out.

I mean, we were already the only females...at our own cootie-fied table...while the guys sat at theirs and talked about the corn crop, and how they wished there had been "more emphasis on the mushrooms in the gravy"..

Now, we are the picky ones.
The typical, "I'll just have a salad" girls.

We had our second meeting yesterday, this time at the county extension office.
On the way there, Beenie and discussed what we thought we would have for lunch...chicken.

Before the meeting started, the agent walked in and said(to the whole class), "Lunch will be catered, they will be bringing us french dip subs with au jus," then just to Beenie and I, "and..of course...chicken salad".

Chicken ladies.

I'm bringing lasagna next time.

Love,
EatMoreChickenCowLady

P.s. Jackson says "Hi"...:)

65 Days...

That's right, friends, 65 days until Chuck and I get murried.
I'm excited.
ILoveHimSoMuch.

I informed him of just how close his impending doom was(2 days ago), and doyouknowwhathesaid??
"So I've just got 67 more days?"......
I came back with, "Yes, honeylovecutiepie, BUT you CAN have AS MANY AS YOU LIKE IF YOU NEED THEM".
...I think I got my point across.

Then, he freaked out on me.
He started doing alllll of those things I put on his to-do list when I started planning the wedding.
Yep, this is really happening.
He really does need to get groomsmen gifts, a suit and find a rehearsal dinner venue.
I believe in him though, he's got this.

I, on the other hand, have a motherload of things on my list.
However, I am shoving that business aside this weekend, because, because you know why?

That's right, the Big Cheese is in town.
J-Dawg is in the hizzittyhouse!

There's no room for worry when those big blue eyes are sucking you in, and turning you into a big pile of mush.

I'm not going to worry about how many days there are until the wedding, or what I have to do tomorrow.
If I'm going to do anything, it's going to involve wondering where he threw up because I know ISmellSomething....

When Jackson and Malinda arrived on Friday, I went down to the house to see them.
I rushed into the living room to give them both a big 'ol smooch, and that's when it happened...
I forgot to tell Edna to wait by the door, and she scared the puffs out of the little fella.
Edna can come on a little strong at times.

So the first day was a little rough, as I tried to keep Edna out of sight, for fear that the little guy would have nightmares.
However, last night Baby J was performing center stage, and raising the roof;).

After his bath, he fueled up on some biscuit and proved that he can in fact, crawl faster than I can think.

I love having them in town.
I sat in the sunroom and played with J, talked to Malinda, and laughed with everyone as we looked at simply horrible old pictures.
Sure, there were 564 things that I could have been worrying about..including the wedding countdown..but I wasn't.

I was afraid that if I didn't live in that moment, then I would regret it the next day...and I don't have time for regret.

I don't think anyone does. 

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.- Corrie Ten Boom

Love,

PeacefulCowLady

 

Matthew 6:25-27

Keys to Working on a Farm: The Gate

They can be made out of wood, steel, aluminum, fiberglass, or a combination.
Gates.
And they are muy importante.(That's for my Hispanic following.)

Last night, around 8pm, I am finishing up dinner and I get a call from my LoveMuffin.
"Hi LoveMuffinShnookums!", I say, "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, running barefoot through meadows of Lavendar, and picnicking by the spring..."
"-you have cows out", says a voice I know is his, yet the crazy-talk I am hearing is not registering.

"Crap", that was the best I had at that moment.

Last night was his first night back, and he heard dispatch call it out, so he immediately knew that those cows morethanlikely belonged to his dingy fiance'.
I didn't want him to get bored...

All I could picture was allllll 200+ cows bounding down the road into the darkness.
Because THAT'S WHAT THEY DO. (Pardon my yelling, but it's true.)

Livestock can smell an open gate, or a fence that is down.
Then...it's on like Donkey Kong.

It's as if they turn into wild animals.
They don't just wander around once they walk through the open gate..nonono..they RUN.
Idon'tknowwhy.

Obviously they aren't thinking about the future here.
Where are they going to get their feed?
Who is going to milk them?
-Important questions, people.

I can remember sitting in my room by the window, when I was 15 maybe, and seeing Tim at full murderer-after-me run, because the dairy cows were headed to whoknowswhere.

Two Christmases ago, we spent the entire day looking for 23 heifers who had gotten out via a down fence, and journeyed 2.5 MILES down the road...to a fieldwithanANGUSbull.
That was not a holly, jolly Christmas y'all.

What I'm trying to say here is, if you want to succeed in farming, and NOT have the authorities called, keep your gates closed!
At all times!

I don't care if YOU didn't open it!
Close it.

I don't care if there aren't any animals in that particular field/pen.
You close that gate!
Because as soon as you don't, a tree will fall on a fence and the animals in that field will go into the field with the open gate, then exit via the open gate and rundowntheroad!
Trust me. It happens.

I'm just trying to help you succeed.
(And this is far cheaper than therapy...)

Love,

CowsOutCowLady

Out With the New, in With the New Old

...or something like that.

I gotta update you on Chuck's situation.
(Reader's Digest version...youcanthankmelater.)

So...about 4 years months ago Chuck went to work for the railroad.
It wasn't a good fit, to say the least.
Today he starts back at the Sheriff's Office on evening shift, still a Sergeant.
The.End.

(BetweenYouAndMe, the county needed my partnering skills.)

I asked him last night if I needed to get sworn in again, or refitted for my uniform...he laughed.
Whatever.
I'm still waiting on my carry permit...something about a psychological test somethingorother.
Whatever.

I reckon you know what this means, don't ya? Hmmm? Hmmm?
This means that Chuck will be working EVENINGS, duh.  Keep up.
Which means, I will have unlimited time to bake or cook or not clean!
(I think we're all winners here.)

OK, now that we have all of that business out of the way...did you know it did not get above 30 degrees yesterday?
Wait...sorry Edna...it did not even REACH 30 yesterday.
ICAN'TDOTHIS.

Sorry for screaming..but it all wells up inside me.

As a matter of fact, this is what it looked like yesterday...

..in my dry cow lot.
(That pretty, green field is Barley.  This site is educational too, ya know.)

5866 doesn't like the cold either.
Luckily the sun was out, if it had not been Edna would have cried.
(I cannot control this woman's emotions.)

Each time I walked by the office, I looked at the temperature gauge at it was STILL on 21.
(I even tapped it, youknowIdid, and it wasn't stuck.)
So I tried to situate myself in the sun, as much as I could.

Calf feeding time rolled around and Edna revolted.
She had alllll of the cold she was taking, and decided to be a straight up pain.

I started mixing a bucket of milk(ya know, powder and water) and grabbed the big, honkin', whisk, only to find that I.couldn't.grip.it.to.mix.the.milk.
There we were on the last lap, headed to the finish line and Edna decided to pull some geriatric stunt.
Pffffft! I'll show her!

I positioned the whisk in my hand and up my forearm, and used my whole body to move it.
I.am.awesome.

Today it is supposed to get up to 46...right now it's -46.
I am already dreaming of a blistering hot shower.

Who'd a thought I hit my prime when I was 25?!

Love,
DepressedCowLady

P.s. If you want me to be completely, brutally honest...ask me when it's 20 degrees outside.
P.P.s.TrainsAreStillCool.

One Honduran Short..

...of a fiesta.
That's right, here we are just livin' the dream.

Not really.

Have I ever mentioned that odd things happen around here?
That if you take a day off, you have to expect the unexpected when you return?
Well, I'm telling you now.

I have made it my "tradition" to take New Years day off, since I don't have Thanksgiving or Christmas worked into my schedule...like the rest of the world.

Therefore, I took Sunday "off".
Meaning, I woke up at the normal dark:thirty hour, fed calves, then went back home and got into bed, only to wake up in a sweat hours later wondering if I had dreamed the whole calf-feeding thing....
Scary moment.

I'm pretty sure I fed though...

Anyway, I took the rest of the day off and spent time with my honey.
It was wonderful.
Then we picked up Caden, had Saigon over for dinner and ended the evening watching Chuck and Caden play a rousing board game called, "Beat the Parents".
...I don't recommend buying this game.

No, really it was fun, however you can really only get one, maybe two, plays out of it.
The parents questions were HARD!

One of them was, "What are the two seasons at the equator?".
Don't know do ya?
I bet you're Googling it right now...

Needless to say, Caden won...Chuck rallied at the end, however fell on account of a Dora the Explorer question.
We are a party.a.minute.

It's always fun to come back to work after taking half a day off.
OK, it's not.
It's NEVER fun.

Yesterday I came back and found that one of my Hondurans had gone back to Honduras...
Which makes sense, right?
If he had gone to Jamaica I would have questioned pay-roll.
BecauseThat'sNotFair.

Out of the 3 remaining workers, um...ZERO speak English.
I'm just a girl, stranded on an island here.
Therefore, figuring out why Victor left was much like listening to Chuck try and remember the order of the colors of the rainbow in that game...
"ROY G BIV!!!!", I would scream.
Only to have him say, "OH! OK, red...blue...".
I got tired before it was over.

I looked at Nelson and said, "So...Victor...no worky?"
Nelson responded with a blank stare...
So I tried, "...Victor....Adios...?"
Light bulb!

Nelson's eyes lit up as he said, "OH! Victor! Si, Si!".
What followed can best be described as a feeling much like the one you get when you flip through radio stations, and accidentally land on a Spanish frequency.
You don't realize it at first...unless you hear trumpets..so your brain tries to make sense of the noise...
You're all like, maybe I'm not listening fast enough...when in reality, you just.can't.comprende.
So you stop trying.

All I heard was...
VICTORghakfnihrnakjfhrnHAHAHAHA!nfkashaHONDURASfhsifsfnaksht...
VICTORkajfhlaks.sCOWSshskhHONDURAShthsktHAHAHA!
And the entire time, Manuel was standing behind Nelson, nodding his head and using his index finger in the "cut throat" movement..

When I woke up from the Spanish-induced coma I was in, I smiled(because they were smiling at me), and said, "OK!"(because I don't know what Manuel meant by his actions), and left.

Then I figured I needed to call pay-roll and inform them of the employee change.
The Heat answered and I said, "So, Victor doesn't work here anymore".
Heat, "What?! Why?!".
Me, "Yeah. Well..he..uh, went back to Honduras. He has cows...I think. OKSeeYaBye".

Just a girl on an island.

P.s. The two seasons are rainy and dry.

January Employee of the Month!!

It's hard to be the first EOM of 2012.

There's a lot of pressure.

The first EOM sets the bar for the next to strive toward.

It's not a title to be taken lightly.

Therefore, I am pleased to announce an employee who is well-deserving of this award.

An employee who always works hard, and is there ten minutes late when I call.

The January Employee of the Month is.....

Mercy!!! Woohooo!

A little about Mercy:

Nickname: Mercy-licious

Job title: Whateverheistoldtodo

Zodiac sign: Cancer

General demeanor: "whatever"

Extracurricular activities: Soccer

New Years resolution: "To actually try in school" (*sigh*)

Two words to describe Mercy: Easy. going.

Hobbies: Giving hugs and collecting weapons

Approximate height: 8 feet tall

Approximate weight: 100 lbs soaking.wet.

Shoe size: Average length of a kayak

Biggest fan: Lydia Ledbetter, our 100-year old neighbor. He mows her yard.

What his BossLady(Blanca Diablo) says about him: "Mercy is a real piece of work, but a fine young man nontheless.  One minute he will be chopping wood, and the next he will show up behind you carrying a kitten in his pocket.  Good kid though, and he is developing a lot of cow intuition.  If the world-time was ten minutes late, Mercy would always be on time."

There you have it!

The January Employee of the Month.

We expect great things from this young man.