Our little house on the Wild Horse Prairie

Dancing Valentine!

2012-02-15T09:59:00.001-08:00

Emily and I found this nice cabinet with plastic storage tubs to put toys in here at my house. Even has a nice place on top for storing more play things. It is only about two foot high. The other day Tressie decided that it was a nice place to sit on and read books. Well, then she decided that it was a GREAT place to break a few dance moves! And, as most of you know, this girl LOVES to dance!

She has all kinds of moves....

She doesn't even need music! She makes her own sounds with her mouth. Something she must of learned on the Disney channel show "Shake It Up"!

Oh, and did I mention? She's a big ham too!!

Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day!

Tressie & "The Kids" - Take Two

2012-01-05T19:11:00.000-08:00

You might remember me blogging last year about Tressie's first introduction to "the kids" also known as baby goats. She really wasn't too impressed and didn't really like it when this "kid" started crying really loud about the time Grandpa picked it up!

Well, it's that time again! Time for the "kids" to be born. Yesterday, Tressie and I ventured out to the barn to help Grandpa ear tag the new babies.

I put a baby in Tressie's wagon with her. This isn't too bad, she is thinking....

Everything went down hill super fast when we were done with the job at hand and Grandpa picked up this little guy so that Tressie could pet him. Yep, you got it.... Right about the time he picked him up, he started crying as loud as he could!

Then we had two crying kids on our hands!

The poor girl was so tired when we got back in that she went to sleep on my lap (which is un-heard of) and slept for about 30 minutes. At which point I decided that I needed to start supper and just laid her on the living room floor where she slept for another hour!

I'm thinking that we need to make some trips to the barn and pens and just let Tressie set and observe the babies playing. Maybe she will get used to them making those loud "noises" and learn to like them?!?!?

Computer Girl

2011-12-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

I left my desk for 2 minutes to go to the door and hand something to Tony. This is what I came back to.....

Tressie in Grandma's chair, wearing Grandma's glasses apparently typing on Grandma's computer!

The glasses make her look even more like a mini Justin!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

Some of my favorite Christmas songs are the most simple ones.

Away in a manger no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head,
The stars in the night sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

Oh come let us adore Him,
Oh come let us adore Him,
Oh come let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour!

She Likes To Play.....

2011-12-08T17:20:00.000-08:00

She likes to play......

In Grandma's cabinet!!!

Christmas Advent Calendar

2011-12-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

One of my childhood Christmas memories was having an advent calendar to open every day in December. I bought them for Emily when she was growing up too. So, one of the things I got on Black Friday was an advent calendar for Tressie.

You can see by the picture that I didn't spend alot of money on this particular calendar. I want her to be able to participate and hold it. She doesn't necessarily get to carry it around and play with it. I do know what would happen to it then! Anyway, beginning yesterday morning we will open a window every morning after she eats her breakfast. We will open several on some days to make up for the mornings that she is not here.

She does really seem to get excited about it! The only thing is, she doesn't want me to put it up after we are done! That's OK, Grandma has come up with a plan for that. Last year I bought her a Little People nativity set. When we are finished with the calendar, we come in the playroom and play awhile with her little nativity set. Well, it worked today. Might have to come up with a plan B or plan C, but for now, we will go with it!

Will try to post pictures of her playing with the nativity set soon!

Santa's Early Delivery

2011-12-01T19:11:00.000-08:00

Tuesday we received an early delivery from Santa. I guess his reindeer aren't up and running yet, as this delivery came by way of the UPS truck!

Our new sleep number bed! Now, we are not new to the sleep number bed. We have had a queen size sleep number bed for about 7 years now. What makes this one so special is that it is a KING size bed! I have been wanting a king size bed for alot of years now. After building the new house last year, we finally had the room.

It's hard to believe that everything we needed was in these few boxes!

Today was COLD and windy. We had a few snow flurries blow thru. What better day to spend inside putting up the new bed.

Let's not forget the awesome little helper we had!

Grandpa I think it needs to go like this....

After several hours, a lunch break, Grandpa taking a nap and then Tressie taking a nap, we were finally done!

The final result! Thank goodness for a 30% off coupon on top of a great sale at Kohl's. Since we had never had a king size bed it required buying all new bedding!

Am looking forward to a great night's sleep tonight!

Tressie's Christmas Train

2011-11-14T18:36:00.000-08:00

I have had my eye on this Christmas train for Tressie for several weeks now. She loves the little people toys and anything with music. Saturday we were at Kohl's and they just happened to be having a great sale! So, Grandma bought the train. We didn't dare show it to her in the store. We quickly hid it in the cart.

This morning, her Mama brought her down and before she even hit the floor, her eyes lit up and a she was grinning from ear to ear. She had spotted the train sitting on her toy box!

The train plays music (Jingle Bells) and also makes train noises and Santa sounds. She quickly learned to hit the button three times to by-bass the Santa sounds and the train sounds. She wants the music!

When she hears music of any kind her little body can not be still! She even dances to commercials!

Happy Birthday Little Sister!

2011-11-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Today is my "little" sister's birthday! She is a whole 13 months younger than me! But, today she is officially? over the hill! It's her 50th birthday!

This is such a silly picture, but I love it! Don't know if we had just gotten up, or was getting ready to go to bed, but look at those jammies! I am betting that Mom made them for us. Matching of course. We weren't twins, but Mom dressed us alike, alot! What's with the goofy smiles? Did they have us say "cheese" or some such thing that made us BOTH have the same look on our face? Look close...our hair is even "styled" the same! Did we mind? I don't ever remember complaining about it. But of course, we were little then!

What I do remember, is that we were the best of friends! Still are! We don't get to see each other as often as we would like, but we talk on the phone and e-mail each other. Do we Facebook? No...She is signed up but says she doesn't know how to use it, and me.... well I'm not even signed up!

The family is all getting together this week-end to celebrate ALOT of fall birthdays! It will be a fun time!

Happy Birthday, Sheryl, and best wishes for at least 50 more!

Operation Christmas Child 2011

2011-10-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's that time of year again! Time to pack up the shoes boxes for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child! I wrote a long post last year sharing about my participation in Operation Christmas Child. I can't believe it's already time to do it all again!

As I mentioned last year, I shop for the shoeboxes year round. I have a plastic bin in my closet that I collect items in throughout the year. It seems like it gets easier and easier every year to collect all of the items.

This year I packed 4 boxes again. Two for girls and two for boys all being in the 5-9 years old age group. Some year I need to branch out and do a different age group! Maybe next year.

These boxes are easy to pack and fun to do! I urge you to think about packing one or two boxes if you have never done it before!

I make an on-line donation to help with the shipping costs of the boxes. When you do this you receive a shipping label with a bar code on it. This bar code will be scanned when the boxes go out and I will receive an e-mail letting me know where the boxes were sent. Fun! For the last two years, my boxes have gone to Mexico.

I really can't remember exactly how many years I have been doing the boxes, but it's pretty close to ten years. I mentioned last year that I think it will be a fun project in a few years for Tressie and I to do together!

Walt Disney World Vacation!

2011-09-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a wonderful vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida with Tressie, Emily and Justin! I have been experiencing technical difficulties in trying to download pictures off of a new memory card that I got for the trip....Then, after finally getting them downloaded, I discover that most of them weren't worth downloading. My camera has not been taking very good pictures. I am sure that part of the problem is me and part is the camera. Luckily, Emily took her camera and got some great pictures on the trip! You can look at Tressie's blog at tressiegolding.blogspot.com to see some of the fun times we had!

I did manage to get a few good shots. I love the expression on Tressie's face in this picture! This was our first morning out and we had just arrived at Magic Kingdom. We actually got into the main gate before the big crowd. We had breakfast reservations and so were allowed in early. (Wish I knew what she was thinking!)

After breakfast, we went to visit with the stars of the show: Mickey and Minnie!! Tressie loved them! It was alot of fun watching her expressions and seeing her so excited!

These pictures are pretty random as like I said, I didn't get many good ones. Most mornings for breakfast, Tressie had waffles shaped like Mickey Mouse. They were pretty tasty too!

We stayed at Pop Century resort on the Disney grounds. Described in a tour book as a vivid celebration of Americana. The larger than life "time capsules" commemorate the toys, fads, dance crazes and catchphrases of the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's. Huge items such as yo-yo's, hula hoops, eight-track players, big wheels, bowling pins decorate the buildings and grounds of this fun resort! Here Tressie is posing with her friend Goofy! Notice she is wearing her hair bow and her Minnie ears!

At Disney's Hollywood Studios park they have a show called "Playhouse Disney-Live on Stage". This was before we went in. It seems like she is telling us, "I know these guys"! This was one of her favorite things on the trip! Maybe Emily will post some of the pictures of Tressie dancing and enjoying the show! Grandma didn't get any.

It was a great trip with excellent weather, good flights and lots of fun making family memories. Sure, Tressie won't remember the trip, but hopefully she will enjoy the pictures and the stories. And, MAYBE we will do it again some time!

Grandma is seriously saving her money to buy a new camera!

Today's Harvest

2011-08-23T09:33:00.001-07:00

This is what I harvested from the garden this morning. I never get the garden planted before the first of June. This year, we plowed up a new patch of ground closer to the new house. It was almost the second week of June before the seeds were in the ground. It was a joint effort: Justin, my Dad, and Tony plowing up the ground, and Emily, Justin and I planting the seeds and plants. I know alot of people plant quite a bit sooner than I do, but I always seem to have plenty! My Grandpa Chisman used to say.... "Plant in June, and it will come just as soon"! I believe he knew what he was talking about!

El Paso County Fair

2011-08-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Last week Tony, Tressie and I met up with my Mom and Dad at the El Paso County Fair. We went to watch the 4-H Market Goat Show. We had sold goats to several kids and went to watch them show their goats. The goats that we sold had a fair showing. No, no Grand Champions, but it's always fun to see the goats and how they grew. It's also fun to see how the human kids have bonded with the goat kids. I am sure that there were probably some tears at the market sale on Friday. Several of the younger girls that we sold to had their goats trained just like a puppy and they were following them all over!

I am pretty sure that Great-grandpa and Great-grandma came to the fair to see Tressie!

And what better way to pass a hot afternoon at the fair, than sharing ice cream with Great-grandma! Tressie loves her ice cream just like her Grandma!

Tomorrow it's off to two more county fairs to watch kids show goats that we sold to them. Elbert county show in Kiowa, CO in the early afternoon and Cheyenne County fair in Cheyenne Wells early evening.

Sonic Simple Pleasure

2011-07-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

Another of life's simple pleasures.... A large cherry-limeade at Sonic!!! I love going to Sonic especially on a HOT summer day at happy hour and getting a big cherry-limeade! Believe me, I will not drive on by if it's NOT happy hour! Just gotta stop and get one!

Yesterday, Grandpa, Tressie and I ventured to Colby, Kansas, to take some goats to the sale! And, it was HOT! Seems that Tressie also enjoys her a little cherry-limeade! Yes, we get along just fine!

Too bad that the closest Sonic is at least 75 miles away!!!

Life's Simple Pleasures

2011-06-26T20:35:00.001-07:00

Simple pleasures are the best,
All the little things that make you smile and glow,
All the things you know,
Life's simple pleasures are the best,
Are the best,
In all the world.

So where did this come from? The first two lines of this long ago commercial have been running thru my head for weeks now! What commercial was it? How come I remember just the first two lines! It's driving me crazy! So, I do what every other person would do.... I google it! Any guesses? Well, it seems that it was the commercial jingle for VAN CAMPS PORK AND BEANS! Are you kidding me? HA, so funny!

Well, I started thinking about life's simple pleasures and realize that I have many simple things in my life that make me happy.

The pictures below are a big clue to one of my simple pleasures. Watching whatever Tressie happens to be doing at the time! She is so busy and she loves life!

Do you remember running thru the water from the sprinkler when you were little? Well, I admit that I don't remember doing it at this age, but I do remember that it was a simple pleasure when I was a kid!

I actually have some pictures of my sister and I and our two cousins in my Grandpa and Grandma's yard running thru the water. You WILL NOT see those pictures posted in this blog! We were about 5 or 6 and we were in our underwear! Can't believe that our parents took our picture! Anyway, we all had smiles on our faces and we clearly were enjoying this simple pleasure!

A great Sunday afternoon activity for a little girl that needed a nap but was easily satisfied with this simple pleasure!

I plan to share more of life's simple pleasures with you all. You will come to see what a simple person I really am!

Life On The Prairie

2011-06-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Today I rode along in the pickup while Tony checked the water tanks in several pastures. I planned to get a few more pictures, but the battery in my camera gave out! I always think that these little cactus have the prettiest blooms. I had planned to get a picture of the yellow blossoms too, but maybe next time. Was actually hoping to see a baby antelope, but didn't happen to see one. Tony says that he has seen several this season.

Tony has most of our pastures cross fenced with electric fencing. He rotates the cattle thru these pastures every few days. I am always amazed that all he has to do is open the gate to the next pasture and give a little yell, and the cows are ready to go! They are pretty well trained at this little routine! I was lucky enough to get this picture of our belted cow and her calf. I call them the Oreo pair. Notice how the belt on the calf is almost exactly like it's mama!

31st Anniversary!

2011-06-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

Today, Tony and I have been married for 31 years! Happy Anniversary, Tony! I love you lots and look forward to many more years together!

One Year Ago Today!

2011-06-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

This is what it looked like here one year ago today. The ground was broke and the builders started excavating the site for our new house! It was an exciting day for us!

This is what it looks like today! Amazing what has happened in a year!

It's been a great year!

Week-End Project

2011-05-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

This is what we considered our yard....Not too attractive and alot of it ended up in the track of the sliding glass patio door when the wind was blowing. So, we decided to up-date to a more fashionable green color! It's amazing what a couple pallets of sod and volunteer labor can accomplish!

Tony and my Dad started the process late on Sunday evening. The plan was to do the entire job on Monday, but we had picked up the sod on Saturday, and some of it was beginning to dry out.

Justin joined the volunteer labor group on Monday.

Guess who the boss/supervisor for the job was? No, not me.....

Here is a look at the end result!

The guys finished in hurricane force winds! Thanks Tony, Justin and Dad! I don't know of anyone who will enjoy it more than I will!

Unless it's these two!!

Warm Spring Sunshine!

2011-05-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a few pictures of Tressie enjoying time outside in the warm spring sunshine. She did have a hat on most of the time we were outside. Her mama also had smothered her with sunscreen! Will be a challenge keeping both the hat and the sunscreen on this child!

One of my childhood memories was picking flowers for our Grandma out in her back yard. Now that I am older, I realize that most of the flowers that we picked were not intended to be picked! But we never got in trouble for it by Grandma. Mom maybe, but not Grandma!

Nothing like discovering God's beautiful creation through the eyes of a child!

By the way, she never picked the flower. Just enjoyed touching it and looking at it!

Beautiful Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

It really was a beautiful Mother's Day! A day spent with my family on a warm, sunny Colorado day! Emily, Justin and Tressie arrived early at a Colorado Springs restaurant to secure a table big enough for our group. After a great lunch, we took a few minutes to make some memories.

Here are the girls. My sister, Sheryl, and her two girls, Kendra and Kelsey. My Mom, Emily, Tressie and me. Notice the beautiful blue sky and Pikes Peak in the background!

Em, Tressie and me...

Sheryl and I have been blessed with a caring and loving Mom!

These are the beautiful flowers that Emily, Justin and Tressie gave me for Mother's Day! I absolutely LOVE flowers!!!

This morning when Tony came in from doing chores, he brought me these lilacs off of our lilac bush. Lilacs are my FAVORITE flower!

And where did this mysterious, lone carnation come from? The carhop at Sonic when he brought out my large cherry limeade!

Hope that you all had a BEAUTIFUL Mother's Day!

Tony's New Ride

2011-05-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking that other than getting a new ranch pickup, getting a new horse is almost or just as exciting and important! Of course, you rarely see much excitement on this cowboys face! Anyway, he decided it was time to start looking for another horse. Claims that his horse, Moe, is getting some age on him and is LAZY! I kinda think that he is thinking down the road a few years when Tressie is needing a horse. Moe will probably do her just fine!

Just so happened that the neighbor had a horse that he was needing to sell. Tony had him bring the horse over for a week to "try him out". Another neighbor had a horse out of the same lineage and really liked his "cow sense". That's important for someone that puts lots of hours in on horseback this time of year riding thru the cattle, doctoring, tagging calves, and whatever else might need doin. Well, we are now, or should I say Tony, is the proud owner of this 4 year old blue roan. His registered name is Blue Cutter McKeag. I think he's being called Cutter. They seem to be getting along just fine!

Won't be long until he has a little shadow taggin along on his old lazy horse, Moe!

Easter Thru The Generations

2011-04-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post these pictures last week, but obviously time just got away, and it didn't get done! Hope everyone had a blessed and happy Easter! We had a good day with family and friends!

Tressie looked like she was ready for the Easter parade, all dressed up in her new dress and shoes. It's a good thing that her Mama didn't pay much for this hat because she wore it for about 15 seconds! She was a busy little girl keeping up with everything that went on. She wasn't really into hunting eggs, maybe next year.

This is Tressie's Mama, many years ago. I'm really not even sure how old she is in this picture. Don't remember if she liked her hat or not! Her Grandma Chisman always made her Easter dress.

This is a picture of me when I was probably about 3 years old. Mom ALWAYS made an Easter dress for Sheryl and I. They were always matching, sometimes different colors.

It's fun to look back thru the generations and see what has changed and what has basically stayed the same. The styles have changed, the faces have changed, many things have changed. One thing that will never change is the reason that we celebrate Easter. Our Risen Lord and Saviour!

Shopping Anyone?

2011-04-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning after Tressie had eaten her breakfast, she came walking into the office with her purse and jacket! I think that she was bored with Grandma and wanted to go somewhere! I would of thought that she was still tired from our shopping trip into Colorado Springs on Saturday. I'm still tired from it!

Her big goose egg on her head is MUCH better. Check out her blog at tressiegolding.blogspot.com for pictures of the biggest, baddest, goose egg I'd ever seen!

Tressie & Grandma's Walk

2011-04-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Tressie and I decided to take a walk. It was a fairly nice spring day. Just a breeze blowing, not hurricane force winds! OK, so we haven't had hurricane force winds, but we have had our share of hard and persistent winds this spring! A very nice day can be ruined with wind, in my opinion. I am not fond of wind! It makes me grumpy! Did you pick up on that?

Back to our walk....We always see goats around our house.

This heifer was very interested in what we were doing in her territory. Actually we weren't in her territory, because we were outside the corral! Tressie was also very interested in her!

We helped Grandpa run some drip hose for the new bushes that were planted yesterday. There is a row of plum, a row of cherry, and a row of sumac. We also planted 50 lilac bushes. These will serve as a snow fence on the north and east sides of our new house. Notice the ominous looking cloud in this picture? All we got was a couple of rumbles of thunder. That was enough to cause Tressie's dog, Lucy, to hole up for an hour. She HATES thunder!

We also found a sign of Spring! A cherry bush in an already established live wind break was blooming!

Here are some of those lilac bushes that we planted. Can't wait until they are big and blooming!

Tressie loved the walk! The only bad thing is, she cried when we had to come in and start making supper!

Wonderful White Wet Stuff!

2011-03-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

This is what we woke up to this morning....

Wonderful white wet stuff!!

Now I am NOT a big fan of snow, but we have been so dry and haven't had much moisture, so we will take all of this wonderful wet stuff that we can get! The good thing about wet snow this time of year....it will be gone in the next day or two!

And the more snow/rain/moisture that we get....The better chance that we will look like this again this summer! I LOVE GREEN!

Pizza Night!

2011-03-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

Emily and Justin have started a nice tradition that I really like and appreciate! Occasionally on Friday nights they will bring pizza home from Pizza Hut for supper.

First of all, I LOVE pizza! It's on my list of favorite foods! Pretty much any kind of pizza! No, I'm not too picky especially if I don't have to cook it!

Another thing that I look forward to this time of year is fresh strawberries! Yum! Today I took out my angel food cake pan that used to be my Grandma Chisman's, and made an Angel Food cake. No, it's not from scratch but it's still pretty tasty!

I'm not too picky about how I eat my strawberries, but this is definitely one of the best ways!

Sunday Night Favorites

2011-03-20T19:57:00.001-07:00

Sunday night is my night off. I don't cook supper. That in itself makes Sunday night one of my favorites! We usually eat popcorn or something out of a Schwans box. But, one thing that I will make is Butterfinger milkshakes! One of our favorites!

Take the following simple ingredients....

Add to the blender that we got 30 years ago as a wedding gift....

And, you get a yummy shake! Almost better than Sonic or Dairy Queen! Almost...

Another favorite for Sunday night, is watching The Amazing Race! I love this show! We are cheerin' for the cowboys from Oklahoma! Come on Jet and Cord, make us ranch people proud!

Happy Green Day!

2011-03-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the little leprechaun who likes to remind everybody that she is "one"!

I think that she is thinking about saying something here...

And, she has learned how to climb into the recliners. Thinks she is pretty big stuff!

Big Birthday Bash!

2011-03-06T19:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the big birthday bash for Tressie's 1st birthday. What a fun day it was with lots of family and friends coming to the party! She got this nice rocking chair from Great Grandma and Grandpa Chisman. She thinks she is pretty big stuff having her own chair!

We took a few minutes before most of the guests arrived to get some pictures to remember the day by. I think that these are the only pictures where she kept her hair bow and shoes on! They looked nice, but she really wanted no part of them. Oh, and in case you were wondering, she never did attempt to take the necklace and bracelets off that her Mama made her!

She loves birthday cards! Her Mama had to keep taking them away from her so that she could get her to open the gifts that came with them!

Grandpa and I got her this Dora play tunnel. So today, Sunday, we had time to let her play with it. She really likes it!

She had a great time playing peek a boo with her Mama!

And in case you get tired of crawling inside it....you can try climbing on the outside of it!

It was a great party and a fun day!

Birthday Girl!

2011-03-01T14:41:00.000-08:00

Today is the Birthday Girl's special day! She is a year old! Grandma is having a hard time figuring out where the time has gone! It has been quite a busy and fun year! We started the day out by going to Limon to have lunch with her Mama and Daddy. Before lunch we visited with her Mama's co-workers at Farm Credit. Then went to Ruby's for lunch. We had to make a short stop at Alco. Can't go to Limon without visiting the Alco store!

When we got home she watched a little of the cattle sale on the internet with Grandpa. We decided since it was a nice day we should do one of her favorite things. Take a wagon ride! About half way into our ride, we found Hannah and Gabby's dog food dish. These two silly dogs take a notion to carry their dish off at times. I have even seen one of them carrying it around with dog food in it! Anyway, we decided to pick it up and take it back home.

We also made a trip to the goat barn. We usually don't have baby goats coming at this time of the year. But, several weeks ago a nanny had kids. Hmmm..that shouldn't be happening... After a little more investigating, Tony found about 40 nannies that were going to have kids. Oh.... I'll let you figure out how that happened! The last nanny of this un-scheduled kidding time, it kidding right now! We have 50-60 little baby goats running around. That is in addition to the 35 to 40 kids that were born in January for 4-H projects. I kinda got side tracked, didn't I?

I hear that Tressie's mama has made a cake for us to eat tonight after supper. She will have the "official monster bash" on Saturday.

Happy Birthday sweet baby girl! We love you more all the time!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T18:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I have always liked Valentine's Day. It's a fun day to do a little something extra to let your loved ones know that they are special! When we were little, my sister and I always got a card and maybe a little gift or some candy from our Mom and Dad. We never expected anything big, but it was fun knowing that there would be a "little" something special for the day.

It was especially fun this year with our special little valentine, Tressie! Even though the babe has her second cold of the season, she was having fun.

Here she is "reading" her new Fancy Nancy Valentine book.

And here it's her Dora's Valentine Adventure book.

And this one, her Puppy Love book, she prefers to eat!

She got a set of little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toys. She is pretty familiar with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto as she watches them every morning while she is eating her breakfast!

Happy Valentine's Day, Tressie! We love you lots!

Cold Morning!

2011-02-09T07:01:00.000-08:00

On my last post, I was enjoying the beautiful day of temperatures in the low 70's! This morning, not so much! I am a warm weather girl, and am NOT enjoying these cold temperatures! This morning it is -7 and I am not sure of the wind chill. The Denver tv station is showing wind chill of -25 for Burlington, and -31 for Lamar. I'm sure that we are somewhere in that mix.

This is a picture outside our dining room window this morning at about 7:00 a.m.

We have a fairly large covey of quail hanging around the ranch. I enjoy watching them. However, I feel sorry for them this morning as it is obvious that they are not enjoying the morning temperatures either!

It sounds like we will have warmer temperatures this week-end. Am looking forward to that!

Beautiful Day!

2011-01-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful January day in eastern Colorado! Tressie and I decided to get outside for awhile. Her mama and daddy bought her this red wagon for Christmas. She has enjoyed taking rides in it thru Grandma and Grandpa's house.

BUT...it's even more fun outside!

It looks like she is absolutely terrified of Gabby. Really she loves her! She has four golden buddies, Lucy, Lacy, Gabby and Hannah! She loves them all!

I'm pretty sure that this little red wagon will get lots of miles on it come nicer weather!

Tressie, Violet, and Her Pink Pony

2011-01-24T20:21:00.001-08:00

For Christmas, Grandpa and I got Tressie a dog named Violet. She has little cushions on her paws that you press, and she plays music, sings and does several different things. You can hook her up to the computer and personalize her greetings, her favorite colors, her favorite foods, etc. Well, Grandma sent it home with Tressie's mama, and she customized Violet. However, the software apparently didn't recognize the name Tressie. So, Tressie's mama had to pick one of the available options. When she greets Tressie, she says, "I love you Rock Star"! Any time she is talking about Tressie, she is refered to as Rock Star! Tressie thinks it's funny!

We also got her a pink pony. She can almost make it go by herself, but her little short legs almost aren't long enough to reach the ground on both sides. Her favorite thing is to press her cheek, and make her play music and whinny. Emily was watching her the other day when she was riding her. When she was ready to get off, she couldn't get her leg over the back of the horse. After several tries, she just gave up and fell off! We will have to work on her dismount before she starts riding the real thing!

The Balloon Has Popped!

2011-01-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

In my post a few hours ago, I mentioned that we only had one more nanny to kid and she looked like a balloon ready to pop! Well, Tony just got back from the goat barn, and she is the proud mama of triplets! Pictures to follow on another blog!

Baby Goat Up-Date

2011-01-14T19:24:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, Tressie and I ventured down to the goat barn with Grandpa. It has been a busy 10 days! The official count is: 6 sets of triplets, 12 sets of twins, and 7 singles. Most of the first time nannies are having singles. That is a good thing. Sometimes it's all they can do to take care of one, much less two or three! Tressie was content to sit on Grandpa's lap and take it all in.

This nanny was in the barn checking on her kids. She is an exception in the group. She is a first time nanny, and she has a set of twins. Most of the nannies were out in the corral filling their bellies with hay. Most of the kids were sleeping until I got done checking them all out and then they were running all over the barn and playing. Tony has the door to the barn open out into the corral. He has a big board across the bottom so that the nannies can come in and out to feed their babies. The babies can't get out. It won't be long until they will be able to come and go with their mamas, but for now they need to stay in where it is warmer.

Isn't this guy a little cutie! We have two solid brown goats and two solid black goats. Lots of white with red heads, and lots of white with black heads.

This set of triplets are the newest addition to the barn. It's nap time!

We only have one more nanny left to kid. She looks like a balloon about to pop!

A Dozen Baby Goats

2011-01-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, the baby goat count was still only 3 baby goats. Less than 24 hours later, we have a dozen baby goats. Another set of triplets, and 3 sets of twins.

This little guy is already one of my favorites! I love the little dark red headed babies! He might make someone a great little show goat this summer!

Several years ago, Tony and his Dad remodeled the goat barn. It is much more functional and WARM now. Tony has 3 more pens clean with fresh straw ready and waiting for the newest arrivals. He hasn't even made the 10:00 run yet, so the count may be higher than 12!

The Kidding Has Begun!

2011-01-06T18:39:00.001-08:00

I have anxiously been waiting for the first of the little baby goats to be born! I am always about 2 weeks ahead of schedule and drive Tony crazy every morning asking him if there are any new babies yet! Well, yesterday at about noon when he checked, one of our older nannies had delivered these triplets! Two billies and one doe!

This evening was the first time that I made it to the barn to see them. They are so cute! But, I've never seen a baby goat that wasn't cute! Well, since Grandma thinks that they are so cute, surely Tressie will love them right?

WRONG! Ok, she really, really liked them when we first went into the barn and was standing at the gate of the pen looking at them. Her pacifier actually fell out of her mouth, she was grinning so big! We stood there while Grandpa was outside feeding the rest of the nannies. When he came in, Grandma thought that it would be great to get a picture of Tressie with the little doe baby. Everything was going as planned and just as Grandma was ready to take the picture, the little baby goat decided to cry (really loud)! for her mama. Scared poor Tressie to death! The picture shows the result! I hope that we haven't scarred her for life! I guess that we will have to work into this slowly and let her get accustom to the loud cries of baby goats!

Stay tuned as I'm sure that there will be more baby goat pictures and stories to go with them!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T10:38:00.000-08:00

If I only had one decoration to put up at Christmas time, I would choose my Precious Moments nativity set! I got this the first year that Tony and I were married, and added pieces over the next several years.

It really conveys the true reason why we celebrate. The birth of Jesus!

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:11-12 (NIV)

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!

Santa's Little Elf

2010-12-21T08:31:00.000-08:00

Santa's little helper, aka Tressie, has been bringing little surprises this week for Grandpa and Grandma.

Yesterday morning I went to her bag to get her clothes for the day, and there was this candle from Bath & Body. I LOVE the Frosted Cranberry scent!

Today it was Peppermint Candy Cane cocoa and scratch tickets! Well, didn't win anything on the scratch tickets, but sure will enjoy the cocoa!

Thank you Tressie!!

Christmas Time!

2010-12-20T13:19:00.001-08:00

Yes, we are going to celebrate Christmas at our new little house on the Wild Horse prairie! I am just very slow in getting things done this year. We finally got this pretty tree after searching thru the town of Lamar, CO, one Saturday several weeks ago. Tony, Tressie and I went on the hunt and came up empty handed. Seems any place that did have them in Lamar, was sold out! We quickly made a call to Tony's Mom and Dad who were in La Junta buying a tree, and they brought this pretty tree home for us!

I think that I mentioned in an earlier post, that I collect snowmen. These happy characters are scattered throughout our house!

This little guy has the honor of holding Tressie's cute little Christmas picture!

Emily got me these three cowboy snowmen on one of our Christmas shopping trips. They will greet you when you come in the front door!

And, our new Christmas stockings that I bought at Target on Black Friday. Oh dear Santa fill them well!

The Judds Concert!

2010-12-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

Emily and I went to the Judds concert last night in Colorado Springs! We had a great time! Emily mentioned the idea of going way back when she found out that they were coming to town! Being the practical homebody that I am....I said, "Oh, it's on a Tuesday night and it will be late! It's in December, and what if it snows and the roads are bad?" You know, the un-fun Mom! Well, on Monday after checking the weather report and finding out that the weather was going to be great, Emily embarked on a mission to figure out how to get us to the Judds. Ends up, getting tickets was no problem at all! Yes, as you can see, my ticket proves that I was there! Unfortunately, none of my pictures turned out! You will have to check out Emily's blog, trailerhoodaristocrats.blogspot.com, for all of the fun details!

Oh, Christina, we had to drag each other out the door at the end of the concert to keep from buying Judds t-shirts! We figured that Tony and Justin wouldn't understand the importance of $30 Judds t-shirts!

It was a great time, and they were just as good, or better, than when we saw them 20 years ago at the Greeley Stampede. Thanks Emily for taking me along!

Christmas Crafts

2010-12-01T08:42:00.001-08:00

Emily and I have been working on our Christmas crafts and are going to take them to the Craft Fair in Kit Carson this Friday afternoon. We decided to add some pink to our crafts as there will also be a benefit dinner for a Kit Carson employee who is just starting her battle with breast cancer.

These chenille snowman turned out to be quite a bit of work, but aren't they cute!

As many of you know, I collect snowmen, so it's only right that we have ALOT of snowmen in our crafts!

Something without snowmen! Tony cut these metal stars for us, and I think that it is about the favorite for Emily and me!

I saw these cute button ornaments in one of my new Christmas magazines. They were so easy to make, and would make a nice little gift for the seamstress in your life!

I made these ornaments out of a quilt that my Great Grandma made for me when I was a little girl. Yes, an antique! Why did I cut it up to make ornaments? Because I had used it so much when I was little, it was literally falling apart! So I just tried to salvage what I could.

And, last but not least, the cherry mash! This has become a hot item at the craft fair! Last year I didn't participate, and had many, many requests for the cherry mash!

If you happen to be near Kit Carson, CO, on Friday afternoon, stop by the school and check the craft fair out!

Livestock Market

2010-11-15T13:11:00.000-08:00

What, you ask, has Tressie sitting so quiet and still on Grandpa's lap?

Watching the Winter's Livestock Sale on the internet, of course! They are keeping a close eye on the market as we will be selling some cattle in Burlington on Thursday.

Oh, in case you're wondering, the market is steady!

Operation Christmas Child

2010-11-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

For quite a few years now, I have been packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Last year, 8 million shoe boxes were given out in over 130 countries. Operation Christmas Child has one mission, which is: To demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

There is something very satisfying thinking about a child receiving their shoe box and the excitement that they must feel! For some of these children, it will be the only gift that they will receive.

I actually have started shopping year round for my boxes. I have a box in the closet which is designated for Christmas Child purchases. The dollar store is a great place to get very good items for the boxes. Another good time to shop, is back to school time. You can pick up a box of crayons for a quarter!

You can use any ordinary shoe box and choose to wrap it or not. I have started buying the plastic shoe box size with a lid at Wal-Mart. You can buy these for about a dollar. I consider it a useful item for the child, or their family.

Instead of wrapping the box, I buy colorful bandannas and line the shoe box. Another gift for the child! This one is obviously for a girl, the boys usually get the red or blue bandannas.

I usually pack boxes for the 5-9 year old children. You can also choose 2-4 year olds, or 10-14 years old. I don't know of any child that does not like to color. They always get a coloring book and a box of crayons in my box. I usually add a box of colored pencils and a pencil sharpener too.

Some of the suggested items to be packed are hygiene items. I always add a comb, a wash cloth, a bar of soap, toothpaste and a toothbrush (or two)!

I always include some kind of toys. This year I found punch balloons. The boys usually get some Hot Wheels cars. Jumpropes, small stuffed animals and games are also good. I ALWAYS send candy and gum (just not chocolate). After all, they do have toothpaste and toothbrushes!

A t-shirt always goes in the box. Sometimes socks as well.

When everything is packed, and ready to go, you stick a label on top of the box indicating if your box is for a boy or a girl, and which age group.

The last thing to be done, is to get your boxes to a designated collection site. Our church in Cheyenne Wells happens to be a collection site this year! They ask that you make a $7 donation to help with shipping costs. If you make this donation on line, you are able to track the destination of your box. Last year, my boxes went to Mexico!

If you are looking for a fun and fulfilling project, you might consider packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child next year. I am thinking that this might be a fun project for Tressie and I to do together!

Second Generation Pumpkin!

2010-10-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

Twenty seven years ago, Emily dressed up in her first Halloween costume. Her Grandma Chisman made her this little pumpkin costume. She looked so cute!

Today, I dressed Tressie up in it! She also looks soooo cute!

Sure it's a little big, but I couldn't wait a whole year for these pictures!

She's a keeper!

Still to come...we have a Minnie Mouse costume, a Raggedy Ann costume, a clown costume, a 50's poodle skirt.... Stay tuned!!!

Happy Birthday, Tony!

2010-10-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

Today is Tony's 52nd birthday! Happy Birthday, love you, and wish you many more!

Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins!!!

2010-10-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins are my favorite way to decorate for fall!

We have outdoor pumpkins, orange pumpkins, white pumpkins...

Homegrown pumpkins...(yes, I grew all three of these)!

Indoor pumpkins...

Mini pumpkins....(I grew these too)!

Big wooden pumpkins....

And small wooden pumpkins....

Chenille pumpkins...

And even a pumpkin pillow!

What would fall be without pumpkins!!!

Open House/50th Birthday Party

2010-10-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

We had an open house on Saturday, September 25th, which also happened to be my 50th birthday! It was a beautiful fall day and we enjoyed visiting with alot of family and friends!

Our neighbor and friend, Judy Jacobs, made a fun cake for the open house and also a 50th birthday cake for me!

I finally got some pictures of our new house posted in my last post. So, if you weren't able to come that day, you can take the tour via the blog!

Our new little HOME on the Wild Horse Prairie

2010-10-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

Tony and I have been living in our new house for about a month now. It is officially our new "home"! Everything has found a place, and we have been able to sit in the living room in the evenings and enjoy it! We still have quite a bit of landscaping to do next spring, but Tony has worked hard and we do have more than just a big sand pile!

Another view of the outside.

We are loving the open space of the living room/kitchen/dining room area!

The kitchen is very functional, with just the right amount of cabinets and counter top work space!

The large dining room space allows us to extend the table for more seating. The patio door also gives us alot of bright sunlight during the day!

The master bedroom.

The master bath.

The office.

The guest bath, which Emily refers to as the spa bath!

And, the guest room which also is Tressie's room with her crib, toys and baby gear!

We would love to have our family and friends stop by when they go "thru" Wild Horse!

Happy Birthday Hannah and Gabby!

2010-09-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our sweet Goldens, 8th birthday! Hammers Golden Hannah and Hammers Golden Gabby Girl are sisters. They have become part of our family and I can't believe its been 8 years ago that we got them! They are country bumpkin Goldens. You could stroll any city park in any city and see Goldens with beautiful, soft hair coats. Not our girls! They are country thru and thru! In fact, the other day I had to cut a big bunch of stickers out from behind Hannah's ears because I kept getting pricked when I tried to pet her! They also think that they are cow dogs, so don't anyone tell them that they aren't! If Tony goes out on horseback and doesn't want them to go, he has to pen them up!

Both Hannah and Gabby have given us three beautiful litters of Golden puppies. Here is Hannah with her last litter of eight. Her first two litters, she had 12 puppies each time. See the smile on her face. She was so happy to ONLY have eight!

Here's Gabby with her last litter. She had eight puppies in each litter.

This is one of my favorite puppy pictures! What a cute puppy face!

We call this picture, "Beware of the Dog"!

Want a real workout? Try taking pictures of eight puppies all going in different directions!

Tony and I would usually have to play with the puppies for 30 minutes to an hour to wear them out enough to get them to sit still to get one or two good pictures!

This was the last litter of puppies. We have some good friends in New Mexico who got a brother and sister pair. We still keep in touch with them and they let us know how the pups are doing! That has been one of the fun things about raising the puppies, is meeting other people who LOVE Goldens as much as we do!

Happy Fall Ya'll

2010-09-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

Fall is my favorite time of the year! Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Fall from the Hammer Ranch!

This is the entrance to our new house, with our old house in the background.

My pumpkin harvest was a little sparse this year. Had a few I could use for decorating. Still have a few bigger ones on the vine hoping that they might get a little bigger before frost!

The Market Report

2010-09-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

Grandpa and Tressie were reading the Ag Journal this morning before breakfast.

Tressie had the back page with the Winter's weekly market report. Well, Grandpa, do we sell now, or wait awhile?

I Want Watermelon!

2010-09-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we finally gave her some after she grabbed the bowl and pulled it to her! She just kinda rolls it around in her mouth, but she thinks she likes it!

Landscaping

2010-09-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, we have gotten everything moved! Is it all organized and in it's place, you ask? Certainly not! We are working on it, and it is getting closer. We have been trying to get things ready up at the trailer for Emily, Justin and Tressie. They made the move yesterday, and now they too are trying to find a place for everything and get organized. To complicate matters, Tony was checking cattle and had a group of very sick calves. So, he and Justin spent most of the day doctoring them. We are hoping that they respond well to the medicine. It is so dry and dusty and then hot in the day time and cool at night. Could use some good moisture!

We have been trying to get some of the landscaping done. I was reading about the zeriscape plants that we wanted to plant, and they recommended planting in the fall while the soil is still warm to give the root system on the plants a boost for the spring. So, we ordered a bunch of plants from New Mexico.

When I say "we" have been landscaping, I use the term "we" very loosly! Tony has worked hard on the project! Justin helped him one day on a sidewalk, and the start of the retaining wall.

Some of the plants waiting for their new home.

More plants!

Tony working on one of the retaining walls. He has finished one, and started on the second one on the other side of the house.

Tony was in Burlington on Thursday and brought home a load of red rock to put around the plants. It looks really nice! We have most of the plants in, but need to finish the other retaining wall so we can get the remaining plants in. Will try to post some pictures of the finished project later!

We Are Movin' In!

2010-08-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

That's right! We are moving into our new little house on the Wild Horse prairie!

It's hard to believe that this picture was taken on June 2nd, when they began breaking ground for the house!

AND... Here it is now, finished on August 26th!

We started moving some things on Friday afternoon, and spent all day yesterday in Colorado Springs, so we are not very far into the process, but it has begun!

We will have many more pictures to come of the finished product, but things need to be a little more organized before that!

The Countdown

2010-08-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

It seems the countdown has begun, and we may only be several weeks from moving into our new house! The last 2 days have seen people coming and going and getting lots of work done! Needless to say, this has kept the goldens busy running back and forth to see what is going on, and they feel the need to bark every time a vehicle arrives or leaves! I saw Hannah, the brave golden, with her front feet perched in the back of the painters van this morning checkin things out! No, she didn't take anything, just being noisy. Gabby was only observing from a safe distance.

As you can see from the picture, a new, shiny propane tank was set yesterday.

Mike, the tile guy, (sorry I don't know last names, just what jobs they do!) was here yesterday and today and finished the back splash in the kitchen. I imagine that he has had his share of trips to Wild Horse for awhile! Mike has done an excellent job on all of the tile work, and he did it all alone, no help!

The plumbers have also been here the last two days. We now have faucets at the sinks, bathroom sinks, toilets, an RO system, a water softener, and many other things which I have no idea really what they are. I do know that we will have lots of hot water and nice heated floors!

Kirk and his helper worked all day yesterday hanging doors, uncrating appliances and doing all sorts of little and big jobs. Kirk was back again today working all day. I am sure there are many things that Kirk has done that we don't know about, and thanks Kirk, we appreciate your hard work!

The electricians were here yesterday and finished up their work. We are waiting on the inspector for the final inspection. Hopefully next week!

This is some of the before mentioned objects that the plumbers have been working on that I said I really didn't know what they were!

When we went down to the house tonight, Tony decided to try the automatic garage door opener. Gabby, the not so brave golden, couldn't get away from it fast enough! I guess she will get used to it!

Carpet and Counter Tops!

2010-08-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

Tony and I went to Colorado Springs to pick up the carpet on Wednesday, and it didn't lay in a roll in the garage very long! The installers were here on Friday laying the pad and back on Saturday and got all of the carpet laid! It looks great and I love it!

Yesterday, Dave came back and installed the counter tops. I also LOVE them. You will get tired of me saying that about everything. But, it took SOOO long to finally decide on what kind of counter tops, and then what color. So, it feels really good to LOVE them rather than not like them and be disappointed.

The kitchen sink that we decided on is an integrated sink. It is molded into the counter top and there are no seams, it's all smooth.

Adding the tile backsplash will pretty much finish up this project in the kitchen! The guys are uncrating all of the appliances today, and the plumbers and electricians are scheduled for this week.

These are the counter tops for the bathrooms.

Things are really happening this week and it won't be long until I have nothing to blog about! Oh, it looks like Emily and Justin's house sold, and they will be moving out here into our trailer. I am going to watch Tressie, so I WILL have something to blog about!

Beautiful Wild Horse Prairie

2010-08-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

We have been blessed with lots of rain over the last several weeks! The prairie is green and beautiful! I wanted to post a picture of the green grass and yellow sunflowers as Tony is going to be mowing it soon. Yes, it's beautiful, but there is a bumper crop of weeds growing too, and we don't want tons of tumbleweeds blowing all over us this fall and winter!

Love, love, love the cabinets!

2010-08-09T18:26:00.001-07:00

The painters have been busy getting the paint on the walls. I tried to get some pictures to show the color, but the lighting wasn't the best.

I absolutely LOVE the cabinets! We had a very hard time deciding on them, but I think we made the right decision! Dave has done an awesome job on them!

There is still a little work on the cabinets, like hardware, but they are almost finished! The counter tops will be put in early next week!

This is my pantry/storage area in the utility room. There is LOTS of great space for storing things!

We are picking up the carpet on Wednesday and the installers will put it in this week-end! Exciting!

Tressie Time!

2010-08-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

We went to the Elbert County ranch rodeo in Kiowa yesterday. We had a fun day and Grandpa and Grandma got in some Tressie time!

After one of her little "power naps", she was good to go!

She just loves Grandpa's horse, Moe! Moe seems to not mind the attention!

Tressie's Grandpa Dave and her Great Grandpa and Grandma Chisman were at the rodeo too! She got plenty of Grandparent time!

Tile and Cabinets

2010-08-04T17:51:00.001-07:00

The guy doing the tiling in the house has been very busy! He has all of the tile in place and just needs to finish up the showers. It looks really good! After the cabinets are all in place, he will also be doing the backsplash in the kitchen.

The kitchen is starting to look like a kitchen! I am very excited about all of the cabinet space that I will have! You can see in this picture that I will have a lazy susan in the corner cabinet.

You can get a good look at the tile in the kitchen from this picture. You also can see a few of the cabinet doors leaning against the wall on the far side of this picture. I really like the color!

They have also been hanging all of the doors and putting up trim. A very time consuming job, it looks like! The paint is sitting on the office floor, ready to go on the walls. I don't think that it will be long now!

Yummy Veggies!

2010-07-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

The garden is finally producing! I have to admit that several weeks ago I had really lost interest in it. It was hot and dry and struggling! The whole garden has struggled since day one. We had nothing but wind for weeks after I planted it. In fact, I had to replant some of it due to the wind. We had almost 2 inches of rain last week, and that has really helped everything look better!

The corn is getting taller and taller! Tressie, we will have some corn stalks to decorate with this fall!

All but one of the tomato plants have tomatoes on them. Can't wait for a garden fresh ripe tomato!

And, sweet corn picked fresh from the garden! Yum!!

Tonight's supper: a piece of grilled steak, and yummy veggies from the garden!

Progress Update

2010-07-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning the stucco crew showed up and put the second layer of stucco with the color in it on the house. It's a little lighter than what we remember, but we like it and it kinds blends in with all of the sand around here! In this picture you will notice the stack with the boxes of tile on the driveway, is smaller. That's because...

The guy doing all of the tile started his work today, and this is what the dining room and kitchen floors will look like! He expects to be here every day this week, and part of next week. After the kitchen and dining room area, he has the utility room, and both bathroom floors, as well as putting tile around the bathtub/shower areas. After he finishes all of that, and the kitchen cabinets are in place, he will also tile the backsplash in the kitchen. He has a very big job and I am anxious to see it when it's all finished!

These pictures really aren't that good in showing the true color of the stucco and I also was getting alot of shadows.

I think that the outside of the house is being close to finished. We need doors painted and the hardware put on them as well as some lighting. Then we have TONS of landscaping projects. We would love input if you have any good suggestions for ideas around the sides and front of the house!

If any of you are pros at landscaping and get bored some week-end, drive on out!

Stucco and Doors

2010-07-19T18:52:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday the front door and the smaller garage door were put in. The stucco crew started their work on Friday. They worked Friday and Saturday and have the first coat of stucco on. Also on Friday, some of our cabinets were delivered. These were mainly the bases, so haven't seen the doors yet, but am excited as I'm sure that they will be really pretty! We finally made a decision on counter tops and the backsplash on Friday, and these have been ordered.

First thing this morning, several guys came and installed the rain gutters. Also, a load of materials arrived. The garage door was part of that delivery and was put up today. I will really feel spoiled not even having to get out and open the door to park the car in the garage!

This picture shows a pallet of tile for the bathroom floors and around the bathtubs. Yes, it's still boxed up and in a pile, but I bet it won't be there for long!

More Progress!

2010-07-14T18:44:00.001-07:00

First of all, let me say that I don't know what the raindrop looking things are in these pictures! No, it was not raining in the house when I took them! I did, however, drop my camera, so hope it's not something terminal! A load of sheetrock arrived first thing this morning. I'm sure that it was in a pile for several minutes, but after that, things really went fast! By later this afternoon, it was all up on the walls as you can see by these pictures!

This progress is really obvious. There was alot of work done today that people will never see. One of the guys spent the whole day up in the attic area blowing insulation in. He had a helper feeding the insulation into the blower. When we went down to the house, he had come out for awhile for a break. I mentioned that it was not a very good day to be in the attic. He said that there really never was a good day for that job! I think that I would have to agree with him! So anyway, we will be snug and warm thanks to his hard work today, even if nobody ever notices what he did!

Passed Inspection!

2010-07-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

We haven't gotten official word from our builder that the electrical passed inspection, but all indications are that we did! The underground electric has been completely covered up and insulation went up on the outer walls today!

The guys have been putting shingles on the roof, and it looks really nice! This picture explains a problem that we have been contemplating this week-end. How to keep the grandchild (and future grandchildren) off of the roof!

All of the insulation has been put in the walls.

The insulation for the ceiling is ready and waiting. When they get some sheet rock on the ceiling, they are all ready to blow it in!

The materials are here and the crew will start the stucco probably tomorrow. Now if we could only decide on the countertops and backsplash for the kitchen. Who knew that there were so many choices and it would be sooo hard to decide!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY!!!

2010-07-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Today is Emily Ann's 28th birthday! Happy Birthday, Emily, we love you! We have many fun and happy memories and are looking forward to many more! In this picture, she is 2 weeks old. We don't have many newborn pictures as she was in the hospital for a week with jaundice and I guess that we had other things on our mind!

This is one of my favorite pictures! She is 6 months old!

This has to be either kindergarten or 1st grade, but I honestly can't remember which! Notice the freckles on her nose!

One of her fun Halloween costumes! She loved Halloween and getting her costume together!

Her last year of 4-H with her Reserve Champion steer, Riley! We spent many summers at the county fair! Maybe someday we will be there watching Tressie show!

Thanks, Em, for keeping life fun and interesting for us all!

Splish Splash!

2010-07-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

Work on the house has been a little slower the past 2 weeks. Progress is still being made, but some not as visible as what has been happening. We are still waiting for the electrical inspection. After that, things should really speed up again.

Tressie, Emily and Justin have been here this week-end. This is Tressie sitting on what will be Grandma and Grandpa's breakfast bar in the kitchen.

She seems to think it's real silly sitting in the bathtub with no water!

The plumbers were here and brought the tubs and installed them, so someday soon Tressie can take a real bath!

They have also started putting shingles on the roof and expect to finish that this next week. Alot of work is scheduled for next week, we will see if we get the electrical inspection so that progress can continue!

Windows!

2010-06-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

Today we went to LaJunta to do some things. When we left, no one was at the house site, and nothing was happening. When we came home this afternoon, the house has all of the windows installed!

The electricians have also been here doing alot of "electrical things"!

The funny story of the day is about Gabby, one of our dogs. Like I said in an earlier blog, the dogs like to see what is going on down at the house site. Gabby is the one that only likes to go when Tony and I are down there and everyone else has gone home for the day. We were inside the house looking around. Tony and I were at the north end of the house in the bedrooms area. We heard some noise at the other end of the house. We stopped and looked and listened. Gabby had come in, we have no doors yet. She was down in the dining room area looking at the sliding glass door and was seeing her reflection. The hair on her neck was standing straight up and she was growling for all she was worth! It was so funny! She ran for the front door wanting to go outside to check it out, but was too scared. She ran back over to the sliding door and started growling again! By that time, Hannah, our other dog came in to check out the commotion! It just made us laugh!

Lookin' Like A House!

2010-06-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

The piles of lumber that were delivered last week are no longer in piles! I left on Friday right after lunch to go to Colorado Springs to shop and buy groceries. I spent the night at Emily and Justin's and when I got home Saturday right after lunch, this is what it looked like! This is looking at the north side of the house where the garage is.

This is the west side of the house. All 3 bedrooms are on the north end, with the living room at the south end. I couldn't get Tony to move this big piece of equipment so that I could get a good picture of the front! HA!

The south end has the living room/dining room and patio.

It's hard to believe that on June 1st, it was still just a pasture!

Framing It Up!

2010-06-24T19:40:00.001-07:00

Just a quick up-date! From my blog post from this morning, you saw what things looked like as of 8:00 a.m. this morning. These pictures show what it looked like at 8:00 this evening!

All of the exterior walls are framed up and its really exciting to walk thru and see where everything, such as windows, will be! They also have chalked out the interior walls and I can actually visualize what room is where!

These two windows are in the corner of the living room. Will let in lots of light and a nice view!

Concrete Work Is Finished!

2010-06-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our front porch! Or, at least the beginnings of our front porch! We had two more trucks deliver cement LATE yesterday afternoon, and we are finished with the concrete work! The slab in this picture is the front porch, and it will be covered.

This area is the patio. It will have a sliding glass door that opens up off of the living/dining room area of the house. I'm thinking that a fire pit would be fun out here!

We will actually have a place to park the car instead of in the mud! They poured us a nice big slab in front of the garage.

We even have sidewalks! This is the end result of the crews hard work! They finished up last night under the lights! Good work, guys!

The Floors Have Been Poured!

2010-06-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

Today was a BUSY day at the new house site! The septic system passed inspection and Tony's Uncle Bill was here first thing this morning to cover everything up. The form setters were ready and waiting when the first load of cement arrived. After 3 trucks had dumped their cement, the crew got to work finishing the floor. It was tough going as they were working in VERY warm temps and a hot dry wind was blowing out of the south! They did a great job, and the floor looks good!

As you can see in the pictures, they are setting forms to pour the drive-way slab, the patio, the front porch, and the sidewalks. We are scheduled to get cement tomorrow afternoon for them.

A load of lumber was also delivered and the framing crew is due to show up in a few days. I talked to our builders today and they are working with a cabinet builder in Hugo, and he is custom building the cabinets for the house! We have seen some of his work, and he does a really nice job!

Father's Day

2010-06-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

My sister, Sheryl, and I have the best Dad! We are lucky to live close to him and able to celebrate almost every Father's Day with him! Yesterday we all went to Tressie's dedication and then to Emily and Justin's house for Father's Day lunch. See Tressie's blog at tressiegolding.blogspot.com for more pictures of the days celebration!

Here we are with Dad quite a few years ago!

Why do they always make you look into the bright sun!

Here I am with Dad before Sheryl came along! This picture was taken ALMOST 50 years ago in Honolulu, Hawaii, when Dad was in the Army!

We'll Be Warm!

2010-06-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

The plumbers have been here working on the heating system. We are going to have radiant heat in the floor. The unit that they are installing is up to 98% efficient, so we are looking forward to being nice and warm during the cold, windy days of winter!

Tony's Uncle Bill has been putting in the septic system this week. Today he is working on the water line. Two more very essential systems! We are waiting on an inspection for the septic system, and then he can cover up the hole!

The big piles of dirt have all been moved around and leveled. The crew has been here this week getting ready for the cement pour for the floors and garage. We were scheduled for Monday of this next week, but we have been "bumped"! They are putting in a big wind farm somewhere up around Burlington, and they need all of the cement to go that direction on Monday. So, we will be rescheduled, and not sure when that will happen!

Tony and I have spent alot of time this week making final decisions on products and materials for the inside of the house. I believe that our kitchen cabinets need to be ordered this next week sometime so that they will arrive in time! I have never spent so much time on the computer checking out product websites and keeping in contact with our builders! The computer has definitely saved alot of trips to town and phone calls!

Checkin' Progress

2010-06-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

We went down last night to check on the progress of our new house. Tony is sitting on the wall which will be the backside of the house. The dirt has already been bermed up on the back side. He is looking down at what will be the floor of the house.

The dogs are also very interested in what is going on! Hannah looks at every day as an adventure! Who can I get to pet me today? Gabby is a little less sure about everything. She only likes to go look around if Tony or I are there. She is scared of all of the big, scary trucks and equipment!

Things are really moving fast! We are finalizing decisions on things for the interior of the house this week so that they can be ordered and arrive in time! This is what our "pasture" looked like on June 1st!

This is what it looked like last night, June 15th!

Don't Blink!

2010-06-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

Like the song says, Don't Blink... Just like that summer will be over, and we will either have a new house, or be close to it! It's hard to believe how fast things are going! This afternoon late, 4 more loads of cement were delivered and the foundation is taking shape!

This picture is for my Dad. He spent 34 years driving a mixer truck. He kinda wanted to come out and watch them pour this job, but we blinked, and it was done!

This is what it looked like at the end of the day!

Foundation Work

2010-06-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday several loads of cement arrived and the foundation work has begun!

These 2 small squares of cement are where the columns will be for the covered porch on the front of the house.

The large forms at the back are for the backside of the house which will be the "bermed" portion of our berm home. This entire wall will be concrete.

Our 30th Anniversary!

2010-06-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

Thirty years ago today, I married my best friend!

I hope that we are blessed with at least another 30!

Getting ready for concrete

2010-06-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

On Friday, June 4th, the form setters arrived late in the day and worked for several hours.

Saturday after branding, we went down and checked out the progress.

Dirt Work

2010-06-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

The excavating crew was out Wednesday, June 2nd, for a long day of dirt moving!

By the end of the day, the dirt was moved and ready for the forms to be set.

Our new house!

2010-06-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

Tony and I are so excited to be having a new house built. We welcome you to join us on our journey and keep track of the progress.

Here is a picture of the site for our new home, with our current home in the background.