Digging @ MindSay 
Well it looks like Ol Man Winter and Mother Nature decieded to extend their Winter Foreplay for awhile longer this winter!
Mother Nature was giving us midwest and west states a break with warm weather so we all assumed that Ol Man Winter torked her off a bit! He must have wooed her back because we got hit with a pretty good storm this weekend.
It looks like a winter wonderland around here as long as you don't go looking at the roads!
Our family day went really well yesterday even if we didn't do to much. We, like the rest of the tri state residents of the area, loaded up and headed to the Home Show, Movies, Lunch, and Shopping realitivly early so we could beat the storm. Yes, we are all a tad bit crazy. Most folks hear a big storm is coming their way usually just do the shopping and go right back home and are preparing for no power and all that jazz. Not us midwesterners!:D We are the ones that hope Mother Nature will tease Ol Man Winter for another few hours so we can have our weekends:D
The Home Show was a disappointment. We try to go every year even if we rent because they usually have a lot of great ideas renters can even do if they rent houses. This year I was not to impressed even though their giveaways and drawings were bigger! After the Home Show we jaunted from downtown to the east side of the city so I could hit Target. (I have been going there over Walmart anymore-better quality items) I walked out with a Timex watch for $5 cheaper then Walmart, some hair items, and one work outfit. A pants outfit of course:P A nice pair of black slacks and a tourqouis blouse that can also be warn with jeans if I go out or skirts!:D I debated about getting a pair of black loafer type work shoes but I am extermly hard on shoes due to my size 9 feet, and the fact I have really high arches. Okay and the fact I walk on the insides of my feet and my toes:D So I looked at Randy and said I am going to hold off on another pair of shoes till I can get to a better shoe place. He of course rolled his eyes. After Target, we jaunted from the east side of the city back over to the Nebraska side of the city and hit my grocery store were I just added a few things that I didn't have and then we tried hitting the cell phone store that I want to get a prepaid phone with but they were closed for hte day. With a big HIRING NOW poster in the window. Looks like they can't get anyone in the shop:D So then we hit Wally World because I know they have the company I want back in electronics. Well they only sell the plans and the plan phones and tried getting me to buy off the shelf pre paid phones. Kiss my ass on that one because their calling prices are outragouse and normally don't let you roam on anyone elses's towers.
We finally headed home and were just saying that Mother Nature is really holding out on Ol Man Winter and then we passed the third to last town on our way home and Ol Man Winter got what he wanted! The storm hit when we were about 20 minutes from home. Rain, sleet, and snow Oh MY! We and many other folks slowed way down and started busting our way through the fast covered hiway of snow and sleet. A car behind us must have hit a patch of black ice because we slowed down and pulled over to make sure they were okay after the car did a few 360 circles in the middle of hte hiway and ended up on the shoulder facing the right way! Randy ran back and asked if everyone was okay and of course it was a couple of ol ladies heading home from the River Boat Casino! So I took over driving the big truck and Randy hopped in and took over driving for hte ladies. They lived in the town before ours and luckly not on one of the hilly side streets but near the hospital (the hospital we are hoping Randy is trying to get on at). We got them home and Randy and I walked them inside and told the one lady to call her grandson to come get her and NOT to try driving her butt home (she lives clear down bottom on country roads-yes I knew who she was and went to school with her grandson). Then we headed home and were the first ppl on our hiway to head east so all the cars coming out of our town were making sure to stay in our tracks a good ways back because they knew we would end up turning on top of a hill to our drive.
We made it home safe and sound right when Mother Nature and Ol Man Winter really started the Foreplay! By the time we got the bags in, kitty boxes emptied and re filled, all the snow in my bags melted and my kitchen floor was one small pond of very cold water! Me being me and as I told Randy in our marriage vows, "I am not your domesticated bitch"; Randy and the kids put grociers away and mopped up my kitchen while I cleaned up my very snowy and muddy mudporch and got my mudporch rugs washing!
Now since Mother Nature and Ol Man Winter have climaxed and seem to be smoking their pleasure cig with light snow, I am hoping my cousin Brian remembers that we are down here in the Valley and comes and digs us out! Normally I wouldn't worry about this but my aunty and uncle are out on a cruse and they left last week and aren't back yet! My uncle usually is the one that snow mobiles over to the farm and brings back the tractor to dig everyone out! If Brian doesn't come anytime this morning I am going to have to call him and ask him to have us dug out by tomorrow morning even if the kids dont' have school because Randy starts his job tomorrow and I have to get to work!
Today is a day of cleaning since we can't do to much with Ol Man Winter and Mother Nature still getting it on:D
The weather was grand enough for me to finish painting the arbor. I used red so it needed quite a few layers. That is the reason it took me soo long to finish it. My bro Spud helped me set it upright while I put it together.
I went for the Shinto Red that you see at japanese Shinto shrines.
Also, I had some copper plant markers that I wrote on. I will be putting these outside when I plant the herbs I purchased.
Yesterday was the demise of one of the flies. Our venus fly trap had a nummy meal. Pictures on a later day when I take them.
Diggers hotline FINALLY came out yesterday. That means I had the opportunity to plant alot of my plants I couldnt before. Yippee! Im sore now but its worth it.
AND saving the best for last: Its Leif's Birthday today. Go wish him a happy one. We will be having fun today! Wooo.
Here's just a few pictures I took while I was at home, (I finally uploaded them to the computer after a week long search for the USB cable I lost under my bed!). Thought maybe I could share them...
This one is of our driveway I took while standing in the hills across from it. The sign I'm pretty proud of actually...something I free-hand painted myself. Doesn't look like much actually, but I spent hours getting all the letters just right. :) I should repaint it when I'm home next, the weather has started to take its toll. Dad also wants me to add "Adios!" to the backside of it...would be very fitting, he uses that saying all the time.
I really liked how this picture turned out...it's of an old water pump that sits out by our mailbox. It never was a working pump (at least not in its present resting place), but it makes for a cute addition to the mailbox area. Gives it that old-timey ranch sort of feel.
While at home, I didn't have a whole lot to keep myself occupied, so I ended up going for several walks in the hills that surround the house. It was a bit strange actually, just walking through the hills...usually we're either on the four wheeler or in the pickup, driving through to go check the cows. It was nice though...very, very hot and humid (I was literally dripping wet with sweat when I came back home, and I had just been walking!), but fun. :)
Ok, this picture isn't all that great, I admit it, but it reminds me of this story and now I have a good excuse to tell it! :) My dad has 3 sisters, 2 older and 1 younger. Being like everyone else with busy lives, it doesn't happen terribly often that they are all home at the same time. When it does happen though, you can bet it's going to be eventful. Case in point...one hot summer when I was, hmm, probably about 10 or so, and all the sisters were home, the second oldest one, Terri, decides that she wants to take a yucca plant (or you may know them as soapweeds...we've always called them yuccas) back with her to her place in Minnesota. So all of us girls, (the sisters, my mom, my grandma, and me) head up to the hills with a couple spades to dig out a plant for her. We pick a smallish one, knowing that they had to find room for it on the car ride back, and begin to dig...and dig...and dig....and dig. Turns out that yucca plants are very adaptable...meaning that in the Sandhills, water isn't very prevalent near the surface so these plants have a single, thick root that goes way deep down into the ground in search of the nutrient that helps sustain them. It gets to the point where we have a hole dug so deep around this particular plant, that my mom (who stands a mere 5 ft. tall) is down in the hole with it, and it's almost as tall as she is. It looked like we had our very own palm tree! We finally decided to sever the root, because we had no idea how many more feet of digging we had left. We never in a million years thought it would survive a trip back to Minnesota and a re-planting, but it did, and still to this day is going strong.
Finally, this one is of the sunset that happened as I was headed back to the house...I kind of like it because you can see the power lines in the background, and it proves that, contrary to popular belief, Nebraskans do have electricity (and even indoor bathrooms! ha). :)
P.S. Thanks to nobody for the help posting the pics!
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