We're Back!

Actually, we've been back for a few days.  I've been busy trying to get my life back in order with paying bills, doing laundry and keeping up with chores.  Thankfully, R didn't leave my house a mess.  I have to admit I was a bit worried about that.  We are so lucky to have great boys who looked after things very well while we were gone.  I felt a little bad when we'd call home and find out it was storming and cold.

We had a great trip with 9 days in Daytona Beach.  Seven of those days were spent at the track.  We saw the Sprint Unlimited race which was on my birthday.  First time I've had fireworks on my birthday, and it was probably my best birthday ever....except that it was a bit cold for Florida, into the 30s.  Not exactly what we were expecting. We were on the infield grass for the pre-race festivities at Daytona!  Pretty exciting!

The next day was Sprint Cup qualifying so there was a lot of action.  From the fan zone we could watch them work on the cars and saw a lot of the drivers, owners and crew chiefs walking back and forth.  We watched the 88 crew put a new engine in Dale Jr.'s car, and M wanted to volunteer to help Joe Nemecheck's crew since he doesn't have much for funding.

We took the day off on Monday and went to the Kennedy Space Center.  M is a bit of a space program fanatic--he can tell you who was on what mission during the Gemini and Apollo days, the years they went up and lots more trivia.  They had a "Cape Canaveral, Then and Now" tour so that's the one we chose.  The tour guides were retired Air Force men that worked on the rockets so it was very interesting to hear their stories.  We didn't have near enough time to see all we wanted to.  We could have spent another day there....or two.  I forgot my camera that day of all days so I took photos with my phone (actually, I had it in my hand but had to run back our room to look for the car keys and sat it down and the left without it).  I'll post those later.

On Tuesday the weather was beautiful and we had our beach day.  We went to the far south end of Daytona Beach to Ponce Inlet and walked the jetty and looked at the old lighthouse there.  It didn't take us long to get a little red--even with sunscreen!  It was windy every day so we felt hot and cold at the same time.  It also was really humid, especially the last couple of days.  Our clothes felt damp before we put them on and we had that clammy feeling all the time--yuck!  How do they keep everything from molding?

Wednesday was back to the track for Sprint Cup practice, Thursday for the Budweiser Duels and Friday for the truck race.  It was the first truck race for us, and we really enjoyed it.  We have a friend who is a big fan of Johnny Sauter so he's a sentimental favorite......and he won!  Too bad he's now in a Toyota so we can't really cheer for him.  We have to draw the line somewhere.

We enjoyed the days at the track when there weren't so many people.  It was noticeably more crowded on Saturday for the Nationwide race.  We were on the infield and right in front for driver introductions so I got some great photos.  Very cool.  The weather was great with near-record temps for this time of year--that's more what we were expecting.  The racing was good, too, until the last lap when there was a big wreck and car parts flew into the stands.  That happened a couple of sections away from where we were but we could see the engine smoking and the tire in the stands.  Scary for the people in that section.

Smoking engine in the stands

Tire in the seats and medical personnel

Sunday was the big day, the Daytona 500!  We headed to the track early to get a parking spot and have breakfast.  We were really getting tired of paying to park, and the cost of a space went up daily.  There was rain in the forecast, but we knew it wouldn't dare rain on our first Daytona 500!  We were right, the showers missed us although it did make for a humid day.  We spent some time in the midway where the merchandise vendors and corporate sponsors were.  There was music and games, food and drinks...and too many people!  We were in the infield again later and got to walk pit lane.  There was a pre-race concert by the Zac Brown Band, one of my favorites.  During driver introductions and the parade lap the drivers were close enough to touch.  Again, very cool to see those guys up close.  The race was great and our guy missed all the wrecks and came in second so we were happy.  We took our time leaving the stands to miss the rush of 150,000 people trying to leave.  Then we stopped and ate at a place near where we were parked to kill some more time and miss the traffic.  It was about six miles from our hotel on the beach to the track and an easy drive.

By Monday morning I was ready to come home.  We decided to head to Orlando so we wouldn't have to get up so early the next morning and worry about getting to our flight on time.  We thought about to Universal Studios but the day got away from us after waiting for an hour and a half for breakfast (which we never got) and then running into a roadblock and having to backtrack to get out of town.  We went to the Florida Mall in Orlando to kill some time.  We flew out on Tuesday morning and ended up being delayed in Denver so spent 5+ hours there.  Not good when we really just wanted to get home and we'd probably had enough togetherness for awhile. Once we got back to Billings we had supper and were ready for bed after being up since 3:30 am our time.

All in all, it was a great trip.  The people in Florida were really friendly (except the girl at A&W at the mall) and we didn't have any problems.  Our hotel was a bit of a dive with awful beds and inconsistent housekeeping, but we've stayed in worse!  Now that we know the ropes we hope to get some friends and family to come along with us next time.

We are officially in cowboy mode now with calving to start very soon.....

Road Trip III

We will be off on another adventure in the morning with a road trip to Billings.  From there we fly to Orlando on Friday morning and spend almost two weeks at Daytona Beach.  I'm not the best traveler in that I hate packing and I get a little anxious about the details when we're going somewhere new.  We've never been to Florida and M has never seen the Atlantic Ocean.

M was packed and ready on Sunday night.  I finally started yesterday, but after looking at the weather forecast I'm rethinking it.  I'm not sure it's going to be shorts weather much of the time.  Oh well, if it's over 50 I will be in my flip-flops.  And, my back brace is not making the trip!

We have plans to spend six days at the Daytona Speedway and want to spend a day at the space center.  Many people are incredulous that I will go to the track that many days.  I've heard that there is so much to see and do there, and I am totally into the whole NASCAR thing that I think it will be a blast.  I also always say that it is my husband's vacation and he's nice enough to take me along.  It is kind of cool that the Sprint Unlimited race (formerly the Bud Shootout) will be on my birthday and Dale Jr. will be making an appearance at the Fan Zone.  That's a good way to spend my birthday.

The past couple of days I have been working on last minute details--getting my nails done, paying bills, doing laundry.  I am also cleaning my house although I'm not sure why since R and our nephew will be here taking care of the cow chores and the dog so I'm pretty sure it won't be clean when I get back.  We're so lucky to have the boys to take care of things especially since M's brother and his wife are headed to Jamaica.  We're all trying to get our vacations in before the spring craziness begins (J and K just got home from Vegas).

Back to my chores............

Road Trip II

We took off for a few days on a slightly longer road trip.  This time we went to Rapid City, SD to see M's sister and family and R and go to the stock show.  M's dad is temporarily (we hope) in the local nursing home so that they could get his meds regulated and so M's mom could get a little rest.  She decided to go with us to have a little break from things. 

We left here on Thursday after cow chores.  We were up early (before the sun) and as we were pulling into the cow yard the thermometer on the pickup said -28.  Yes, a bit nippy.  Of course, things don't want to work properly when it's that cold so we had a few glitches in the usual flow of things, but got the feeding done and picked up M's mom, stopped to see his dad and were off.  We didn't have to get too far south for the temp to rise considerably.  At least we had bare, dry roads all the way.

On Friday we spent the day at the stock show with R, our nephew and a friend.  M's sister and mom met us there for lunch, and we continued looking at the exhibits.  M loves the stock show.  I've had enough after about ten minutes, but I was a good sport, as always.  I do enjoy looking at the cattle all clean and fluffed up.  I'm always wondering how my heifers would look if they were clean and fluffy.  A couple more friends caught up with us as well as our brother-in-law and we all went out to supper and then to the rodeo.  It's not quite like the rodeos we have around here.  Very professional and fast moving.  We saw Trevor Brazile who is something like a 10-time all-around champion.  Pretty impressive.  We also saw Clay Tryan whose grandfather still lives in our area.  There was some good stock and good rides.

Saturday M and I, R, our nephew and two friends headed to Deadwood to watch snocross racing.  We hadn't been to a snocross race since J quit racing in 2006.  It brought back a lot of memories.  Those really were good family times, and we miss them.  M really wanted to be back in the pits and on the staging line.  There are a few people left in the circuit that we knew or J raced against.  We couldn't possibly be in Deadwood without going to the prime rib and crab legs buffet at the Silverado.  It was something we did every time we were there.  The boys always tried to set a record of how many crab legs they could eat.  R had made reservations at a nice new hotel with a casino, of course, so some money was thrown down the drain.  I don't think anyone won big.

On the way to Deadwood R took us to the volunteer fire department that he's affiliated with.  It was pretty impressive--a little more high tech than the Richland fire department!

We left M's mom at his sister's house so she could see her granddaughter and great granddaughter and do a little shopping while we were in Deadwood.  They met us on Sunday morning and we headed home.  There was some snow and wind while we were gone but the temperature had gone up into the 30s.  It's always so amazing how there can be a 60-degree temperature change in a day.

Now we are busy gearing up for our next big trip......Daytona, here we come!!!

Road Trip

Yesterday we took a fun little trip to Grass Range, Montana, just a 250 mile (one way) jaunt.  We bought a pickup just before Christmas and needed a bale bed put on it.  There was a guy there that handles the beds and put it on for us.  He had picked the pickup up in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago so we had to go get it.

We had originally thought we'd make a weekend of it and spend the night in Billings, but we had too much going on to do that so yesterday was the only day we could do it for awhile.  We were up at 4:30 am, left the house a little before 5:00 and left Richland before 5:30 after hooking up the trailer (to bring the pickup box home) and fueling up.  I had a moment of panic when M plugged in the lights for the trailer and they didn't work.  Been there before--spending hours trying to get trailer lights working.  He jiggled connections and got them to work--sort of.

We ran through a bit of freezing rain but not much, and it was bright and sunny by the time we came back.  In fact, it was about 50 degrees in Grass Range at 9:00 am when we got there.  A beautiful day for a drive. 

We needed to pick up an auger in Malta but the co-op we were buying it from was only open until noon.  M didn't think there was any way we would get back there in time, but when we left Grass Range about 30 minutes after we arrived there he thought we could make it.  I was hoping we wouldn't because I didn't want to have to pull an auger home.  We pulled in at 11:50, picked up the auger (after the guy tried to charge me almost $1000 more than he had quoted M on the phone--thank goodness I had a clue that it was too much), had lunch and were back on the road at 1:30.  M pulled the auger and I pulled the trailer with the pickup box on it.

We were back to Opheim by 3:30 and stopped to have a beer and were back in Richland before dark.

I got to haul bales in style this morning with the new pickup.  It's a different bed than we had so it'll take some getting used to.  I just don't want to be the first one to dent or break something!

I don't think it will look this nice for long!

Back on Duty

I have finally started going to help with the cow chores again.  I think M was getting a bit impatient with me, but I'm really not much help.  I bet he was thrilled the day I just watched him fill and haul a bunch of feed buckets.  I specifically asked my doctor about hauling feed buckets, and he said I couldn't do it.  My main job is as the gatekeeper.  It saves M a lot of in and out of the tractor.  I also have been taking bales to him with the bale pickup so he doesn't have to come back to the hay yard with the tractor and processor.  That saves him time.  I can also chop the ice in the water tanks and feed the barn cats.

The first day I went along the temperature was in the high 20s with no wind so it was really nice.  The next day was a bit windy.  Yesterday it was 10 degrees below zero.  He fed close to the yard so I sat in the pickup most of the time to stay warm.  Today was a little warmer, about 0, so I was okay.

I'm enjoying getting out and getting some fresh air, and I try to make lots of steps to get my exercise.  I'm still wearing my brace part of each day and being careful.  We had a few warm days (above freezing) so things got a little slick.  I came close to falling once, but so far, so good.

I'm still working on getting some of the heifer calves to the point where I can pet them, and I think they'll get used to me soon.  I have a favorite one, but somehow it has R's brand on it!

The days seem to be flying by.  Winter rears it's ugly head once in awhile, but we really can't complain about the weather.  Throw in an almost-two-week vacation to the sunny south and spring will be here before we know it.  Hopefully, by then I will be back to normal.

Out With the Old

There was nasty weather in our forecast last week and M suggested that if we got the blizzard they were calling for we should tackle cleaning out our storage room.  It had gotten to the point that there was just a path through to get to the water softener, and we really didn't even know what was in there.  Big job, but it really needed to be done.

Sure enough, we had our first blizzard day of the winter on Friday.  M made it safely to the cows and back, and we gathered up garbage bags and set to work. We eventually had a pickup load of garbage in the middle of our family room in the basement.  We didn't quite finish before we were tired and hungry so gave up for that day.

Saturday was bright and sunny but really cold, like below zero cold.  M did his cow chores and then loaded up the pile in the basement (after shoveling through the drift in front of the basement door) and hauled it to the dumpster in town.  While he was gone I worked in the storage room a little bit, mostly sorting nails.  We should never, ever have to buy another nail with all we have left from when we built the house.  He had some plowing of snow to do so he could get to the shop so it was lunch time before he got home.  Then he rested...and then the football games were on, so, nothing more was accomplished on our project. 

On Sunday, I laid down the law that we were going to finish our project because I know how things go around here, and I wasn't going to have that mess for two years!  After chores he went to the shop to get the trucks in so they'd be ready to haul on Monday.  I thought maybe I had scared him off and he was never coming home!  He did and we finished the job.  Now he has a small workbench, all his tools are arranged and in sight so he remembers what he has, we again remember what we have down there, and we can walk all the way through the room.  There are a few more things that can probably go, but I hate throwing out things that are perfectly good and could be useful to someone.....like TV's. 

I'm kind of an anti-waste person, but who needs so much crap?!?  Around here, it's hard to find a place to take stuff.  I'm tired of having every drawer, cupboard and closet full to bursting so there may (should) be a lot more cleaning projects going on.  I told K that my next step may be the closet in J's old room.  She's pretty sure that he doesn't need any of it which translates to mean she doesn't want any more stuff moved to their house.

I have quite a list of projects I want to start on:  organizing my recipes that are ripped out of magazines and newspapers and stuffed in a cupboard, rearranging the extra bedrooms now that I have a new bed and moved the old one downstairs, finding pictures to make a photo book of his childhood for J now that he's going to be a daddy, the never-ending attempt at making more sense of my office, plus working on year-end book work (mandatory) and starting baby projects (fabric is arriving daily!).

Today I went with K to her doctor appointment and heard my grandbaby's heartbeat.  Such a cool sound, almost made me cry.  The baby projects may move to the top of my to-do list.

And We're Off.....

Happy New Year!  I seriously think it is going to take awhile to get used to it being January already, let alone getting used to 2013.  I worked on New Year's Eve day, and we stayed home and watched a movie that night and were in bed by 11.  Not much ringing in of the new year for us!  We did spend some time with my brother's family on New Year's Day so it sort of seemed like a holiday.

I had my checkup with my back doctor on the 4th.  He said my x-rays looked good and that I could start weaning out of the brace which I had already started, but no, I can't haul feed buckets yet. Yes, I asked that specific question.  No heavy lifting for six months.  By then I will be so wimpy that I won't be able to lift even if I want to!  I need to start some exercises to get some strength back, and I need to get out of that brace by the time we go on our trip in February.

Today we vaccinated, branded and re-tagged our heifer calves.  We had 119 to do (59 of ours and 60 of the neighbor's).  Thank goodness we had our A-team to help; R and our friend and bovine expert, Roger.  The process went relatively smoothly. but I find I'm not as much help as I used to be...sigh.  The local vet and her team are pretty efficient and a good bunch of people to work with.  They have a young Brazilian man working with them.  He thought it was too cold to be working cattle.  We politely informed him that it was a nice day and at least 15 degrees warmer than when we did it last year.  R and I each got five heifers.  He thinks he picked the best five after running them all through the chute.  Only time will tell.

I hope the new year is good for all of you.....and for us!