Thursday February 21st

The weather this month is just absurd. February 1st we had snow, February 2nd it was 65, February 5th we had tornados. Since then it's been back and forth, mostly in the mid 40s - low 50s, rainy and windy. Now it's cold and sleeting. 32 was the high today! I'm so ready for spring.

Wednesday February 13th

Today is six months since Mike passed. He is greatly missed.

Monday February 11th

Friday I drove over to Clinton. The town runs north-south on highway 65 and when you get to the south side of town everything looks perfect and business as usual. A little farther on, in the middle, EVERYTHING is wiped out. Houses, power lines, trees. There's about a half mile swath of devastation. Then you get to the northern part of town and everything is normal again. Surreal.

Friday February 8th

Tuesday we had horrible storms. Here's a picture of the tornado that went through Clinton, the next town over. You can see more pics at this site - http://clintonark.com/default.aspx

Everything is safe and sound here, Thank God. But we sure had a scare. A mountaintop is a great place to live but not where you want to be when there's tornados out.

Monday February 4th

Cheyenne - taking a break

Saturday was a glorious day. Sunshine and 65 degrees. I took the dogs for a hike past the garden and around the loop in the back woods. I'm suprised the trail is still there. It'll need some work in the spring. When we came back from the hike through the woods, Cheyenne went back to the house, she's 14 now and gets tired. Me and Tux turned down the driveway for more walk and went down to the pond so Tux could have a swim. By the time we got back we were tired too!

Friday February 1st

Nice view this morning!

Gone by afternoon though.

Wednesday January 30th

I haven't seen my resident two does lately, which just means I haven't looked out at the right time. Till this morning. They've eaten all the corn off the ground and now licking the spinner to get more. Ha! No wonder the corn goes so fast! (That's my deer-viewing feeder on the border of the backyard and middle woods). When I was developing the picture I saw they're NOT the does. You can see on the top of the head of the one on the left where his antlers were so he's a buck who's lost his antlers for the season. The one on the right has nubs.
I waited until they were gone before I went out to fill the birdfeeders (the #@!#! raccoon from last night wiped them out) and when I went out the backdoor about eight deer took off from the garden. I hadn't seen those!

Tuesday January 29th

Almost another week's gone by. Sheesh. I've been busy with some herbal things, seed starting, errands... nothing exciting. Till tonight, ha. The wind has been howling 40-50 mph all day. It was 65(!!!) earlier but now that it's nighttime it's getting cold. I kept hearing a skittering and banging that sounded like it was coming from the roof so I went out to see what the heck was going on. It was a RACCOON trying to stay warm under the porch eaves. Looks big in the pic but it's just a baby.

Wednesday January 23rd

Geeze, it's been 3 weeks since I posted. Sorry about that. I try to say something at least once a week so everyone knows I'm still here - but there just isn't anything going on lately.

It's winter. I'm lazy. I'm bored. I've been sick. I have cabin fever. Happens every year at this time. Pretty soon though it'll be Spring!

Every once in a while I shoot a squirrel for Tux. He loves it and it reminds them to stay away from my birdhouses. Lately I'm after the armadillo that digs up the yard every night and the raccoon that steals the suet cakes from the birdfeeders every night. Unacceptable!

I might have good news of a new neighbor.

::::fingers crossed:::::

More when I know for sure.

Thursday January 3rd

Well, I didn't like that last photo site because you can only see the pictures one at a time in a super slow slideshow so I moved them to here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/DenaPics/Snow
Also included my latest turkey in the yard pics from last friday.
Another cold day today, high about 35 but it'll be warming up starting tomorrow.

Wednesday January 2nd

I've been lazy about uploading my pictures lately! Last wednesday it snowed. One day late for a White Christmas but I took the dogs out to enjoy it and took pics. Good thing because it was gone by thursday afternoon. You can find them here:

:::::::DELETED:::::::::

We're having a cold front right now, last night was 18 degrees, today the high is 30 and tonight is supposed to be 9. Eeek! After that it'll warm back up though, next week the lows are in the 50s.

Tuesday January 1st

Happy New Year!

Praying this year is better than the last for everyone.

Merry Christmas

My Christmas wish for you, my friend

Is not a simple one

For I wish you hope and joy and peace

Days filled with warmth and sun

I wish you love and friendship too

Throughout the coming year

Lots of laughter and happiness

To fill your world with cheer

May you count your blessings, one by one

And when totaled by the lot

May you find all you've been given

To be more than what you sought

May your journeys be short, your burdens light

May your spirit never grow old

May all your clouds have silver linings

And your rainbows pots of gold

I wish this all and so much more

May all your dreams come true

May you have a Merry Christmas friend

And a happy New Year, too ..

anon

Thursday December 13th

Yesterday morning the turkeys came right up to the house, they had no idea what a big mistake that could have been! The one below just knew 'something' wasn't right. She was looking right at the window.

Poor Tux was having a fit! He was so excited he was shaking. He'd go to the gun rack, look at it, look at me, look at it, look at me, and whine. He didn't understand why we didn't 'get one'. You can see in the pic he's got a death grip on the windowsill with his claws. Too funny.

Monday December 10th

The wildlife has been super active the last couple of weeks. I've been seeing the same 2 doe deer from the previous picture most days, sometimes with a 3rd and sometimes there's a young buck with them. (I didn't have a doe tag and don't shoot baby bucks). Lots of cool birds at the birdfeeders - woodpeckers, goldfinch, chickadee, nuthatch, titmouse, junco, and I saw 8 bluebirds fighting over my 2 bluebird houses. The wild turkey have been feeding in the garden for hours a day but the last 2 days they've come right into the yard. The pics aren't too clear because of the fog but you can see how close they are.

Saturday December 8th

With the leaves gone you can watch the sunset from the front porch now. Here's a nice one.

Not much going on, the weather is cruddy. Rainy and gloomy since tuesday and it looks like the sun won't come out till next thursday. Ugh. The temps are all over the place - highs from low 40s to high 60s and lows from low 30s to high 50s. When it's warm enough I've been working on cleaning and organizing the shop so I can use it. That's a big job that'll take awhile.

The 2nd hunting season ended last sunday and I didn't get a deer. Bad weather, other things to do and a lot of laziness on my part. Some days I didn't go out because I just didn't feel like facing the aftermath if I did get one. I need to hunt harder during the christmas hunt or learn to bow hunt (bow season is oct 1 - feb 30) if I don't want to eat grocery store meat for the next year. Yuck!

Now that hunting season is over Tux and I can go back to taking our afternoon walks. Poor pup was bored to death being cooped up in the house but I didn't want to disrupt the habitat during the season.

Friday November 30th

Gus and Colleen are the couple who came and took the shed, Gus is an avid photographer and took bunches of photos of our demolition project. He's posted them on the web and you can see them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Dragon43/Cedar
Make sure to click on the slideshow - the captions are great!

Wednesday November 28th

Look what was waiting on my doorstep last wednesday morning......a copperhead! Eeeeek! I put on my rubber boots, grabbed a shovel, and he's in snake heaven now.

It's been a pretty sucky week. Thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, and monday were cold, windy, and rainy so I was stuck in the house with serious cabin fever. Coco (the 11 year old german shepherd) has been going down for weeks and died friday night. I buried her saturday morning. Now it's just me, Tux, and Cheyenne. Sigh.

On the good side - the weather has been gorgeous the last 2 days and the old shed in the front yard is gone. I put it on Freecycle http://www.freecycle.org/ for the wood and had a nice couple come out and get it. We spent the last 2 days tearing it down. (whew, I'm sore!). All that's left is a burn pile and shingles to haul off and I'll have a nice spot in the yard instead of an eyesore.

To make up for the ugly snake pic - here's a pretty moonrise at sunset from the backyard.....

Monday November 19th

This was the view out the back window this morning. The first hunting season ended yesterday. I swear, critters keep a calendar too. The only other deer I've seen in the last 2 weeks was last thursday when the wind was howling about 40mph. I didn't even think about going out because deer HATE the wind. Walked past the back window about 5pm and there were 3 of them prancing around the garden. I think they're laughing at me. Heh.

Wednesday November 14th

I haven't seen any deer yet but I haven't been hunting too much. The weather is terrible for hunting, hot (78 yesterday!) and super windy. The season ends sunday then restarts the 22nd to Dec 2. After that there's only the 3 day christmas hunt.

The picture is the view from my tripod stand in the middle woods, overlooking the garden area. You can't see the fruit trees at this time of year but they're in there.

Friday November 9th

November 2006

Deer season opens tomorrow, I'll be out hunting bright and early. Here's a pic of Mike and a nice 8 point he got last year. Maybe next post I'll have one of my own. Can't believe it's been almost 9 years since I shot a deer. I guess having someone else to bring home the meat makes you a lazy hunter.

We had our first freeze tuesday night, other than that it's been pretty nice. I've been mostly doing yard work lately. The leaves fall faster than I can clean them up but I don't want it piling up and having a huge mess later. And I started working on the middle woods, it was 'almost' cleaned up a year ago but now it's full of branches and vines again. Hopefully it'll look like the back yard one day and I'll have continous yard down to the garden instead of yard/woods/garden. Or not. Ha.

Saturday November 3rd

Last weekend I went to an after birthday spa retreat with Roxann (and Tux) at Lake Ouachita. It was great and a beautiful place. Thanks Mom! Here's a pic of me and Tux on the lake shore.

The weather this week has been perfect. Sunny and 60s every day. I've had a lot of running around to do but even that was pleasant because the drive to almost anywhere is just gorgeous right now with the fall colors. Funny, last weekend there were hardly any colors but now all of a sudden - wow.

Wednesday October 31st

Yikes, it's been almost 2 weeks since I reported in. Sorry about that.
The craft fair weekend before last was really nice. And it was Huge! We wore ourselves out seeing it all. Lots of beautiful handmade stuff. I have to say though, except for the woodturners (who had gorgeous bowls and vases), none of the woodworkers I saw had anything that compared to the beauty and quality of what Mike made.

Last week the weather was horrid every single day. Rain, howling wind, and cold. Ugh. I didn't get much done. This week so far is lovely. Sunny and mid 60s - low 70s.

Thursday October 18th

Well, I finished painting the bedroom finaly. It looks much better, but even if it didn't I wouldn't redo it. What a pain that job was! I'm glad it's fixed though, it'd been bugging me since day one.
Now I need to catch up on the yard work but monday it poured all day, tuesday I ran errands, and yesterday it rained all day again. Last night it REALLY stormed and this morning the yard is just covered in tree debris. Hopefully it'll dry up enough today or tomorrow to clean it up.

This weekend I'm going to the War Eagle Craft Fair with Roxann. Should be fun, it's the biggest craft fair in the state. http://www.beaverlake.com/wareagle/wareagle.htm

Sunday when I was in the bedroom painting Tux started barking so I looked out the back window to see what was up. There was a huge buck deer just standing in the backyard. He took off before I could grab the camera though - I "almost" had a nice picture for today.

Thanks for the song y'all ::::::smile:::::::

Friday October 12th

43 degrees this morning. Brrrr. It's been windy and cool this week so I started redoing the bedroom walls. I did a hurried and cruddy job the first time and the paint color was horrid, I've been wanting to redo it since day one. So far I've primed and retextured (hopefully it'll look like plaster when I'm done). Today I'll start the actual painting.
Starting tomorrow it should be warm again.

The seismic crews are finaly gone. I was seriously annoyed! The crew were mexicans who pretended they didn't speak english and kept trespassing every time I wasn't looking, even though I told them they couldn't. I managed to ambush one and give him a note to tell his boss to come talk to me. He knew enough english to tell his boss that there was a Scary Mad Lady. Heh.

Sunday October 7th

Yesterday I went over to my friend Roxann's place in the midst of the Ozarks. It's gorgeous up there. 3 1/2 hour drive but some of the best scenery there is. We went for a hike on her mountain and here's a picture of her by one of the rocks. There's several more like that. Wow.

Nothing much going on here. General day to day stuff.

Tuesday October 2nd

Gerald & Jody

I was looking in my files for a photo to post and found this cute one of Gerald and Jody that I took at the farm last month.

Not much going on. I finished painting the floor, from tan to hunter green. Looks much better, goes with the wall color and with the new rugs I got really accents the furniture Mike built. It does show every single doggie paw print though. Inbetween paint coats I've been doing yardwork. Next paint project is the bedroom (indoors) or the window sills and side porch (outdoors).

Haven't seen any more deer - or anything else - lately but it's been full moon so they're probably coming out at night. And there's been siesmic crews swarming everywhere disrupting the habitat. (a huge natural gas field was found in the area - they're drilling all over). Hopefully they'll be out of the neighborhood soon.

Wednesday September 26th

Backyard, Middle Woods and Garden Area

(way in the back, through the woods)

Monday I went to Conway to bring the fold-up wheelchair to the Hospice office. It was sad but hopefully someone needy will enjoy it.
While I was in town I stopped at Lowes and picked up paint, a chainsaw blade, tin snips, and a stovepipe cleaning brush. Obviously I have some fun stuff ahead of me. Ha.
Yesterday I started painting the living room/kitchen floor. Moved everything to the center and painted the rest. 2 coats. It's been raining since yesterday afternoon so this morning the paint is sticky. Guess I'll have to wait another day to move furniture back and paint the middle. Ugh.

It's getting to be that time of year - last week I set up the corn feeders and sunday evening there were eight deer in the middle woods and the garden area. One looked like a nice buck but it was getting dark so I couldn't tell for sure. Planting the winter grass in the garden is on my to-do-soon list. Don't want the critters to go hungry over the winter.

Sunday September 23rd

Floyd's Pond

I meant to check in sooner than this, time just gets away from me. Not much interesting going on just general day to day stuff.

Oh, Floyds place is officially for sale now -
http://www.idxvow.com/cgi-bin/pman/brockre/vlm.cgi?view=res.cgi&show=yes&id100=847
Anyone want to be my neighbor? :::smile:::

Late every afternoon I take Tux for a walk, last sunday we walked to Floyd's pond and it just looked perfect for fishing so monday I brought my fishing pole and fished awhile. Brought home eight nice Brim and threw back at least twice that many small fish, brim, goggle-eye, and bass.

Speaking of walks, the other day the girls (Coco - 11, and Cheyenne - 14) were hopping up and down like puppies so I let them come too. We went down to the garden to check the fruit trees. The dogs were milling around the corn feeder and I was standing at the edge of the garden looking over the clear cut. I looked down and not 10 feet away was a Doe deer laying in the brush staring right at me! She must have had a baby with her or she would have left when she heard us coming. So I called the dogs away and we went back to the house. I didn't want them seeing and chasing her.

Thursday September 13th

I've been trying to decide what to do with the blog.
I guess I'm going to keep it since everyone already has the address and it's a great way to share pictures. (If anyone wants to save any of the pictures on your own computer just right-click then select 'save as'). And if anyone wants to keep up with my doings they can check here, but it won't be daily updates - I just don't have that much interesting to say.
In the last month I've mostly been getting things in order after months of neglect. Yardwork, housework, paperwork. Still not caught up.
Went to Louisiana for a week to visit family, got back last wednesday night. It stormed all thursday, friday, and saturday and rained all sunday and monday. We desperately needed it, everything outside was suffering from heat and drought. Since tuesday the weather has been perfect, low 60s at night and low 80s daytime. Hard to believe winter is just around the corner already.