Stormage
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Life in Texas

It rained like crazy all last night. It started just a bit after 1:00 while I was online, but it took me a bit to realize what was going on. Usually there's a big thundery announcement before the sky spits on us for 15 seconds, but this time it just slipped on in nice and quiet like. I actually stayed online for a good half hour or so before lightning started to make its presence known, so I bid the cavers later on, figuring I'd be back online once the wet was done. Well, it rained pretty much solid until about 4 in the morning. It's crazy wet out there. It's about damn time too, because we've been wondering how anything we tried to plant out there would do with the pathetic spittage we've been getting so far.

Of course it would be silly to assume that this is going to make us a bumper crop. We've been fooled before. Hopefully we won't get entirley screwed again. 

Pussy galore
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Life in Texas

More kitties. We're up to 7 now, and there is a chance of 1 more. Assuming that one shows, this is the limit. So now I'm going to do the annoying pet-parent thing and let you know all about them.

The original ones are Nub and 'Cid. They don't like the new babies, especially 'Cid. Then we got 'Cid's quasi-brother who I named Weezer cuz of his cute little upper respiratory infection. He's basically tamed now, but for the first couple days he was not having the domestication nonsense.

It was supposed to just be Weezer, but the hubby's boss had some extra cats lying around and I got to go get them. I named them Tucker (after Chris Tucker, because he's a little black dude that's really playful and has a big mouth) and Black Jack (aka Jacko). They're smaller than Weezer and have had human contact, so they're good to go.

Then just the other day one of the girls at the office spotted a couple fluffy tabbies at the bank that had apparently been abandoned. They're a bit older than Weezer, so I'm just getting them acclimated to us before I teach them all about living outside on the farm. I named the bigger one Lila (which has been lengthened to Delila), and the hubby named the little one Tinkerbell. Tink is a menace - she's all high strung and psycho and loves to beat up on anything that moves. She'll be a great mouser.

Assuming that Weezer's littermate gets caught I'll have to go through the involved taming process again, because I know he'll be full on feral like Weezer started out. Fortunately I'm good with cats and it'll learn the addictive joys of petting and free food. 

Animals
Mood:  hug me
Topic: Life in Texas

Well the kitty quota has gone up. We've apparently lost 1, which is sad, but have yet to find an actual body - could have been got by the coyotes. But now we've got 3 more added - 2 that are littermates and at the end of the stage where their eyes turn color, and 1 that is related to 1 we already have (same mother), that is bigger. The 2 little ones are almost entirely tamed, they're just still jumpy. The other one is only now starting to come around, and he's a little sickly. This is definitely going to throw the routine around here into a spin.

We got the hotwire fence situated today, finally. The 4 cattle we've had in the pen are about out of green stuff to eat, and I had to go out there and shovel cotton seed for them today. We didn't want to turn them out into the back yard today, since 3 of them are still pretty wild, so we're gonna wait until this weekend so we can keep an eye on them while they discover the joys of electrified wire. 

No bonfire
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Life in Texas
Well it looks like the big July 4th bash is going to be off this year. Nobody seems to be able to afford the time or money to make it out. Not that it really matters, since there is a chance that we wouldn't be able to do any fireworks or bonfire anyway because of the burn ban going on now due to drought. We did get maybe an inch or so of rain the past couple weeks, but I don't know if that is really going to count.

Next year seems to be the year - everyone tells me that they're more likely to make it then than now. Which is fine, I'm sure we can take a year off and run down to Big Spring and Lamesa to visit a bit. It also gives me a whole extra year to make it the huge fiery bash it deserves to be.

Woke up just in time
Mood:  cool
Topic: Life in Texas
The cooler is now in the window. It's quite nice in here. Indeed, the desk is chilly.

Sure, encourage my insomnia.

A walking slab of beef getting ornery is not cute
Mood:  crushed out
Topic: Life in Texas
The cattle are going to be hauled off either Friday or Saturday.

Here's why...

Phone sitch fixed
Mood:  chatty
Topic: Life in Texas
Got a call from the hubby just a bit ago, and it seems that he and the Ram have found a place. Ram's a bit on the cold feet department, but it's the right thing to do - it needs to be done.

His phone is on now, but he called me from Ram's phone. But the phone is indeed on.

Whoops, jumped the gun
Mood:  d'oh
Topic: Life in Texas
Okay, I'm a dumbass, and tax season didn't end 'til today. It's over already anyway.

Freedom for da hubby
Mood:  crushed out
Now Playing: Danger Doom
Topic: Life in Texas
Which means he gets to be out of the office at a reasonable hour today. I hope he goes out to dinner with his good friends, since he never goes out with the boss after the season is done. I do know he'll be having Easter in Farwell. It's nice to know he won't be in his desk chair at home all weekend. I missed calling him at lunch today. I've managed to catch him a few times though, which is fun.

After this weekend he's going to be busy, visiting Ram in Dallas and helping him find a place. Of course I'll be at the Tornado's place after the weekend. Hmmmm... odd timing there.

Squishy
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Life in Texas
I meant to post this yesterday, but some weird bug has me in its clutches and insists that I stay on some demented day schedule. I mean, look down there at the posting time. I didn't stay up all night to get to this time and post, I woke up in the single digits. Madness!

Anyway, what the point of this post is, is to say that it snowed. Seriously - like maybe 1/2 an inch or so. It started out round noonish, only it was these tiny, inconsequential specks of white on the ground. I was gonna call the hubby about it, but I figured there wasn't any real need. So I get to doing the daily Bettyness, look up through the kitchen window, and *doink!* there are these fat flakes of snow floating down. I was on the phone to the hubby in 15 seconds.

It actually hung around until the next day (being yesterday), and now the ground around the house is all squishy and wet. This means that we'll have something green out in the field for the cattle to eat, and that means that we'll be buying some new cattle sooner or later.

It also means we ended up getting mildly screwed. It just figures that the weather we've been waiting for comes around just before we have the insurance guy go to the Ponderosa place to check the crop. We'd hoped to have that crop completely failed, because it did. But I believe that the wet perked it up just enough that he decided we could have made 1 bushel, so that will be deducted from whatever insurance we get. Biiiiig surprise. Fek weather.