Day of Rest?

Well, didn't get to church today. STILL no vehicle since the mechanic has decided he needs 75% of the total bill of $4,600!! So, looks like we won't have one for quite awhile!! Btw.. here's a pic of the fried spark plug that they pulled out of it.


I spent over 6 hours yesterday cleaning just the bathroom and sitting room of the bunkhouse - yuck!! And I'm STILL not done. And that was added to the ... I've forgotten... maybe 5 hours put in on those 2 rooms in the 2 days prior. But, I THINK I'm down to just the floors to mop and a few little items.

Then, got to do a major cleaning in the house today! I'm exceptionally tired of 409, Pledge, vacuum's and mops. NEXT spring, God Willing, the lodge and bunkhouse will NOT have been left in such bad shape when they get closed up. My body is very sore from all the bending, squatting, climbing, scrubbing (I spent 45 minutes on ONE shower stall - it's not even a tub, just a stall!). But, at least I can't say that I'm not getting enough exercise. Cleaning our house today, though, was almost worse. Not because it was dirtier, but I got 409 in my eye first thing and so it was burning ALL day. Then, set the oven to clean and some nasty fumes came out of that so it just contributed to the general all over pain.

OH... and Sage found a poor little baby rabbit somewhere. It has hair but it's eyes aren't even open yet. She didn't kill it, but now it's out there just squirming around the yard. It's momma doesn't seem to be coming to get it. And Jeff won't let me keep it. His response was "Sure, go get your eyedropper & feed it for 2 days until it dies".

RFD TV last night was great as usual. Emmylou Harris was with Marty Stuart and hte lead singer from the Statler Bros was on Country Family Reunion. On Larry's diner, he had a group called The Time Jumpers which is a group of performers who have their own gigs but get together Monday nights somewhere in Nashville & play. It includes Ranger Doug from Rider's in the Sky, Vince Gill and others. They are REALLY good... the steel guitarist is this years Steel Guitarist of the year, and they've been nominated for a number of awards.

Isn't Josie cute hanging over the rail? Ben took this pic.

And, this was our night visitor the other evening. It was pretty funny with him looking in our windows. Jeff opened the door & the screen door window & he stuck his head right in! Btw, we have our 1st foal of the year! No pics yet, but I'll post when I get them.

Well, that's about it this week. Our 1st employee flies in Friday, but I think she'll probably ride out w/ Kelly on Saturday. Most of the rest show up Saturday as well. So, it'll be very nice to have the help getting things done, but it will mean much longer days and cooking for 20 people for 3 meals a day. And so it starts... :)

Old School

Watched rfdtv again last night. It has become our favorite night of the week! Marty Stewart had Merle Haggard on as his guest, and then we watched Larry's Country Diner where Jimmy "The Sheriff" Cupps was featured - he's a fantastic guitar player! It was very interesting to listen to him as he reviewed some very famous "rips" of country guitar players. Then he played some of his own stuff, and they finished up w/ a couple of Marty Robbins songs sung by his son, Robbie. Then, we watched Country Family Reunion which always has several "older" country singers on. John Conlee sang "Old School" which is one of our favorites.

It made me wonder where we're headed - would most of us agree that "old school" was a better way of life? Or is simply because we're nostalgic or that we tend to view the past through some sort of filter that only makes is SEEM better? I really think that in a lot of ways it was better - not to say that there have been improvements today, but sometimes it seems like every "better" thing must be accompanied by an equally "bad" thing. The improvement in communication for example: Until relatively recently, we couldn't stay in touch except perhaps by phone or a letter. Now, we can be on opposite sides of the world and get instant updates from family or friends. We can pick up a cell phone and reach someone even if they're never home (or we never are). But - doesn't it sometimes seem like we've lost some "quiet" time in our lives? We're losing some sense of privacy and seem to feel the need to share every little detail of our lives with everyone else. What happened to a little mystery?

Or, even taken a little deeper - women's rights. We had none for decades - eon's even. Now we do. That is a very definite positive. But, with those rights, many of us seem to have come to the conclusion that we not only do we HAVE rights - we just always ARE right. And, also, as we enjoy the ever-expanding option of choices available to us, thanks to those rights, are we losing some of what it meant to be "wife", "mother", "female", "sister"? Are we so focused on getting what the guys have that we are in danger of becoming manly women? Do we really need to be as aggressive or tough as men? Maybe we do, but I still feel like we lose something when we give up any part, even a fraction, of our femininity.

Ok, well, enough of my "filosofizin' " as a friend of ours would say. I hope all you ladies had a great Mother's Day. Our's was somewhat quiet. Went to church this a.m., & then home. But, Jeff cleaned my kitchen for me and heated up my lunch. And then Jeni & Luke called which was great. Now I plan on lazin' around & readin'. OH.. BTW.. saw a Grizzly bear this a.m.! And me without a camera! GRRR! He was crossing the highway just about 1/2 mile from where our road meets it. He crossed & we pulled over to watch him, so he turned around to watch US. Makes a person very thankful for big metal boxes! I'd have been more than a little concerned with his scrutiny if it'd been out on trail somewhere. He looked really good, especially for spring. Probably ran around 450lbs at least, so in the fall he'll be a big feller. He was quite black but had those lovely silvertips on his hump. Also saw two red-tailed hawks on Friday right outside the lodge kitchen window. Is it mating time for them yet? They were grabbing talons in mid-air but then breaking apart right away. So, not sure if they were fighting over food (one of them did have something it was eating on the ground) or "getting in the mood". We see the hawks a lot around here. The massive gopher population, not to mention the plethora of stupid rabbits makes for a smorgasbord of hawk-kibble. Elk are starting to move back into the area as well. And, two Sandhill cranes have settled down here. They are a VERY large bird!! They always sound like they have a frog in their throat (well... maybe they do!).

Well... my book is cooing my name, so I think I'll go immerse myself awhile. Btw.. sorry no pics this time!