Almost forgot!

I forgot I hadn't really posted for about a week or so. I have these pics from Becky's Graduation. Excuse me.. DR. Becky's Graduation from KU. We're so proud of her!!

We missed Becky walking down the hill with the other FOUR THOUSAND students (whodathunkit, with all those distinct black robes). So Cowboy Gene went over and got the grad as she was waiting for everyone else to finish walking.

Mr. and Dr. N.

Little miss Ester, showing her KU pride! Ain't she a cutie pie?

I think this is one of my favorite pics from the day. This is looking over Gene's shoulder.

Unfortunately, when you graduate, your future employer kinda expects you to actually come WORK! *how rude* So Sunday Graduation, and Tuesday, Becky, David and Ester head off to PA for the new job. Plus they are buying a house and got there for their inspection. Crossing fingers all went well.

I will say, that they will be missed, but I have a feeling we'll be seeing them more than ppl think we will. If anything, we always have a place to vaca out east now! LOL.

Emma and Michael.. do you realize that Becky and David are not all that far from you now???!

Turbines

OK, anyone that knows me well, knows that I Loooooove the wind turbines. I would gladly let them put one up in my back yard. Seriously these things ROCK. I'm not sure why the windmill love, I just am amazed at the idea of free energy, about using something that is clean and just there for the plucking.

We saw these guys on the way home from Omaha. I finally got to see them actually spinning a couple weeks ago. This time I had my camera so we went into a restricted area (oops, didn't see the sign til we were leaving) and took some pictures.

Wind Capital Group is behind the turbines that are speckling the horizon around NW Missouri. Rock Port missouri (Cow Branch - where we were) is completely "off the grid". IE: they don't need to buy any outside energy, they are self sufficient now. That rocks.

I want a turbine!

No really.

I'd love to have free light and power! Plus I just think they are beautiful. Each blade is over 100 feet long, and the turbines have the "wingspan" of nearly a football field! You wouldn't believe how big the trailer is that brings ONE of these blades into town.

Henry Doorly Zoo

As I said in my last post, we went to Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha over the weekend. They say it's one of the best zoos in the country. I will say, it was one of the hottest LOL.

Gene and I in front of the waterfall, it was so nice and cool... this was late in the day so I'm looking a wee bit ragged.

They have a new gorilla compound. I really liked it a lot. They took their old gorilla compound and attached it to the old set up for the big cats with some cool new features. You could get right up next to them at the windows. One Gorrilla was sitting with his back to us, then all the sudden he rushed the window and beat on it. I think it was becaus this really big guy with a dark shirt was standing there. Competition? Everyone screamed... it was hilarious. Of course, nothing happened... he was just saying "MY TURF"

I'm so amazed looking at the primate family, how much at times they are like us.

They have a walk through tube where you can see sharks and turles swimming over you. Not nearly as good as Ripleys aquarium (it was about 5 times longer) but still really cool. And packed! The whole place was crazy busy.

Who doesn't love a confident little meerkat? Seriously.

I do not have an A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E!

And I shall name him squishy.

BAD SQUISHY.

(totally finding nemo reference).

Busy bees here in NW MO

Hey all, going to give you some quickie updates then I'll post some pics!

** First, Dad is not doing as well as he was before. Lincoln Hosp (bryan LGH) really wasn't doing as well for him as they could have. Mom and a nurse threw down, seems the nurses felt it was ok for dad to sit in a chair for 13 hours. It put him in a coma even tho mom BEGGED them to put him in bed. His CO levels went high so it put him in a coma. (lawsuit?) Anyway, mom had a fit, and I guess they finally put him back in bed. His levels went down and he came out of it. He got transfered to Omaha. Better than a coma, but not as good as he was the first few days. Keep him in your thoughts.

** Wedding invitations have gone out. Everyone should be getting them over the next couple days, except for you guys Emma/Michael. Since you all are canucks, it will take up to 2 weeks to get there. (that's what $3.81 will get you, if I wasn't so cheap it would have been there in 4 days and I'd be $20 poorer! lol).

** Water restoration is coming along. Pretty much everything is dry. Still have to have the underlayment on the house replaced, floors in the dining room replaced, replace some doors, fix the grout that had to be drilled in the bathroom and get the HVAC checked out. BAsically, a LONG way, but at least there's no mold (that I know of).

** Got a clothesline finally! Yay! Don't know what my love of clothes lines is all about, but I really always want one. I never had one when I lived in town (renting) so I had a line hung in the basement. *It's not the same*. Out here, we had the poles, but it had no line on it. I had aquired some line someplace, so we used that and some more that I bought. I've only been looking at my clothesline (no wire) for about 2 months now .. pining away. Finally tanner started it, but line has to be super tight for me to be happy, and that takes 4 ppl to make happen. There was only ONE fight. As soon as Gene figured out I was right, all was good :p

** David Cook won american idol! woo. That day had been kinda crappy, but that was a nice finish to the day. I am actually proud of him. Seems like one of the few times that the person that really should have won, did. Simon was a douche the night of the singing finale, and said that David A was a shoe-in (basically). Scared the crap out of me so I voted like 50 times LOL. I think it did everyone else too, so David C won by 12 million votes.

Of course, all of that is old news, but you know, it's part of my world.

And it's Tuesday. What is on TV on Tuesdays? *sigh*

** We were kid-less this weekend. Decided that we wanted to go do something for the memorial weekend, so we went to omaha. Just stayed in a VERY NOISEY Motel 6 and went out to eat, went to the zoo, and tried to visit dad (he was asleep and I couldn't get him awake). I haven't been to the zoo in about 4 years, so it was fun. VERY HOT off and on. Seems like the sun only came out from behind a cloud when I needed to walk outside. I don't do well in the sun. That and I'm out of shape. But it was great exercise... I only had one "moment" where I was DONE. And needed cold water. Let's just say, I'm not an outdoor girl. lol. I'll post pics from the zoo after bit.

** ALMOST FORGOT... Got my email fixed, so if you've had a bounced mail from me, send it again!

Lots of stuff to get done.. have quite a list going here, and only about 1/3 marked off!!

No emails

Hey all...

If you are trying to get ahold of me, hang on a bit. My email is DOWN. My host and I are fixin' to throw down. They did something to my server and apparently every time they do this, my email (being one of the earlier ones) has to be set manually (i'm assuming here) so what a PITA!

If you must get ahold of me... seriously, call me! If you don't have my phone #, email me at my hotmail account, username reneesj

I may be needing to change my email account *again* thus why I'm holding off sending out a "this is my new email address" email.

I'll post weekend updates maybe later tonight. Pics of 2 graduations!

Going to go get my hair cut.

House still not fixed, but had some optimistic news!

Back soon!

A day in the life....

First and foremost, my dad is doing *really well* I guess he's sitting up, wanting to get up to walk to the rest room (they won't let him and he gets pissed lol), not eating because they won't let him yet, talking, etc. He's *ok*.
weird.
How weird you can get CPR for 45 min and come out ok. Well, not great, he looks like he got beat up in a bar fight and lost BAD, but he's "ok".
Thanks for all your good thoughts.

***

We still have blowers here for the flood of Ought-Eight. (2008 children.. der). They ripped out the underlayment under the house and it will be replaced next week. The ServPro guys are really nice, they are doing an excellent job. They helped us move 1/2 of what we own into this:

Shipped 2 hours from KC on the night it happened. You should see the bill for that thing! Amen for home owners insurance!

Guess what we have!

Can you find it?

We have a hummingbird! He's pretty cute, came right up to the window yesterday. He likes the red writing on the storage unit. I am going to get a hummingbird feeder. I'm so excited there are ANY birds (barely any trees here remember?), let alone a hummingbird!

I usually prefer the squirrels, but I've not seen any of those out here.

Notice any similarities?

David Archuleta vs Bobby from Bobby's world.

For those of you out of the loop, the guy on the left is one of the last 2 in American Idol. I happen to want the other David (cook) from Kansas City! He's actually pretty good. My favorite tho was Syesha Mercado. She's soooo beautiful and an excellent singer. I expect to see her on Broadway someday.

Not a fan of Archuleta. He's cute, he's an ok singer, but it bugs me to watch him sing. I've heard better, and he licks his lips a lot which BUGS ME! I wouldn't buy a CD from him (not that I actually *listen* to music.. only time I listen to music is actually american idol... lol).

Go David Cook!

(I might even vote this time.)

Update #2

OK, so I've told you about dad so my day wasn't so great already.

This morning, gene is getting up getting ready for work and comes running into the bedroom "we got a flood!"

Not leak, not wet, not drip, not water.... FLOOD

Guess what. I did.

Long story short because I'm tired. Pipe in the bathroom burst sometime in the night, it was on the opposite end of the house, our door is shut, we play - ironically - water noises to sleep by so we heard nothing. Tanner apparently sleeps like a log so he heard nothing until we started yelling, and of course this would be the day he didn't set his alarm clock so it went even an extra 45 min.

Hot water - about 3000 gallons approximately - has entered my home and most of it has exited my home via floors, carpets, vents. The underbelly of the house has to be completely removed and new put in. *I am not doing it*

Yay for Farmer's Mutual - shout out to Bob Hall - he's been great "just do what it takes to fix it" and also to ServPro out of St. Joseph. They were here in about 20 min of getting the call.

I have drying machines here - I have floors that are ruined (that wood floor that took us 3 weeks, yeah, that floor), I have a mini storage pod that had to be brought all the way from Overland park so I had *someplace* to move all the stuff for them to dry under it. I *think* my scrapbook room is going to be ok, there's a lot of paper in there, I'm worried about that. My wedding dress was only a couple inches above all the wet.

They said that the drying part *should* be done by the end of the week, unless it starts downpouring...

Cross your fingers. It's been a sucky week, and it's MONDAY!

Update - my Dad

Mother's Day, we were set to get up, go pick up the boys and head to Gene's mom's house to spend the day with her and his brothers/Sisters in laws/kids. Gene and I sleep with the door shut and the phones in the other room.

I went to bed about 10:30, and when I got up, the answering machine was blinking, I'd missed 2 calls on my cell phone, (Chris and Torrie). I pretty much then knew it wasn't good news!

See, my dad has been ill for several years now. I can't even remember how long ago it was (amber was in high school), Dad had a heart attack. He was forced to retire early and he just hasn't done "great" since then. He has had a couple "episodes" that have landed him in the hospital several times. Once was about a 5 month stretch.

2.5 years ago, the drs said he had one year to live, and frankly I never believed them because they never gave me a definitive answer of why. So far, he's proved me pretty much right.

About a week ago, Dad had gotten up late (I guess he was watching tv and mom fell asleep on the couch) and he lost his balance and fell down the stairs. He did not get better and Saturday night, he said he didn't feel very good, very weak, etc. Mom ended up calling the ambulance and on the way to the hospital, he went "out". They did CPR on him for 45 min.

He was to be life flighted to Lincoln Neb, and they got to the hospital and could not land because of the wind, because of the fog, so he was taken via ambulance by the same guys that took him into Clarinda.

Drs say that when you get cpr over 15 min, you have a 10% chance of making it. They did a CT scan to see if he had any brain function.

Can you believe that crotchity old coot? He can hear, recognize ppl, open his eyes, move his feet/hands/head, he can also sort of speak. (he can't talk when his ventilator is in, or his trac tube is out but he can mouth words).

The drs now are saying his heart is working at 15% and he's just "wearing out".

Anyway, we headed off to Lincoln to see him, and he's not doing good, but he quite frankly is doing better than I expected.

I will keep you updated, but I just wanted you to think about my dad, give him mental good wishes and say a little prayer for him.

I also wanted to show you my dad.. so I made a few pics from my "albums" on my computer. I was worried I had no pictures, and I was surprised, I actually had several. Not a lot, but some.

My dad's family growing up. Only one missing is norma, but she was probably in Colorado with my great-grandma, she spent a great deal of her time there.

Dad Graduated in... '57 or '58 I believe. This is his senior picture.

Here is a pic from my parent's wedding. I never knew my dad had dimples.

A family photo, before my uncle's wedding. That's me my mom is holding. I don't know how to break this to you Torrie, but you look just like mom. Oh and Curtis, like it or not, you look like dad.

This is how I remember my dad from my childhood. He was a big guy until my 7th grade and he had to lose a lot of weight do to health reasons, but when I think back, this is the image I see.

This is dad at christmas in '02. I think he'd had his first heart attack then. Still looking pretty good, but getting some major grey-age action going. That is seth next to him.

This is dad and Seth, Christmas '07. I can't believe how much he's changed. He's literally 1/2 the man he was (weight) as he was at his highest. He actually had been doing pretty good, not at his worst ever, he could walk on his own, get up and get around.

I never realized how much he had changed over such a short time. I guess it's just a reminder that we need to take better care of ourselves, that things can change in a blink. Too much weight and smoking for years - eating not that great. I've done it all, except for the smoking!

Let's take better care of ourselves ppl!

Embrace the dandelion

Some random updates to let you know what's going on at the Cease Fire Ranch.

Raccoons must die. I don't care if they are cute little bandits. I heard Jesse James was good looking too, see how far that got him? OK then.

I'm pretty confident is mamma raccoon digging at our floor. I swear she's trying to get into the house, and doing a damn fine job if I might add. I really would like to shoot her myself!

Look what I have!!!!
Lilacs!

I was just commenting to Gene last week that I used to have lilacs in my yard and how pretty they smelled. I went to the car today and caught a flash of lavendar.. what the h....? Guess what, there was a few lilacs! I didn't even know we had a lilac bush. (The blonde is not REAL fyi). After I noticed the flowers I realized *of course* I know what a lilac bush looks like. They are so pretty, but there are not many. Of course it's planted super random like every other tree around here. I wonder if they really had some sort of plan when they planted our 8-10 trees, or if some branch just started growing out of the ground so they left it where it lay?

Remember the baby robins from a few days ago?

Look at them now!

Mamma robins get PISSED when they come back with a worm in their beak and you're standing over the nest with a camera.

Went to garage sales today, Friday garage sales are always best. Found a stand for $4.00 for us to put the unity candle on! This sure solved a HUGE problem. We sort of changed the set up for when we got married so no longer did I have an alter... we're getting married in front of a fireplace. So I had to figure out where to put the unity candle. Funny how whenever I have a need, God finds a way to get it to me, and at a reasonable price too.

I'm going to put a flower arrangement on it after I spraypaint it my favorite color - silver (well, favorite behind pink). Anyway, I have realized how much I LOVE to arrange flowers. I might consider applying at some flower shops for a job. Pay would probably suck LOL. I'm actually kinda good at it if I do say so myself, they are certainly better than my flowers the first time around (I did those too lol).

Please notate my bumper crop of dandelions. I have decided we're going to take our 2 acres of yellow goodness and make dandelion wine as favors for all of our guests. Yay dandelion wine!

LOL

*just wondering if Carol thinks I'm serious or not* ;)
We'll see I guess.

Embrace the dandelion!

Raccoon update

Frigging gads.. I had this typed once and blogspot gave me an error.. that ticks me off bigtime so this is the short version now.

Conservation agent came to get the pups...said to put ammonia around the house to scare off critters and put down the mamma if we see her because she'll tear up the house trying to find the babies if we don't. We did.

Now, there's something under the dining room digging at the floor every night. Is it her trying to get out because ammonia has blocked her means of egress, or is this a whole new critter?

Sigh.

It's a girl!!

And a boy... and a boy... and a girl!

Today, on Wild Kingdom, we explore the Cease Fire Ranch in NW Missouri.



Kinda cute for RACCOONS!

We got tired of the waiting game so Gene climbed under the house, split the underbelly lining open and pulled out the litter. Right now, we have one of the 4 inside of the live trap. Mamma raccoon will not be able to keep herself from "saving" the pup and WACK, she'll be in the *live* trap. (don't get your knickers in a twist, our goal is to relocate her and her brood.

In the meantime, the other babies are asleep inside of a towel, in a big rubbermaid tub in the living room. I have to admit they sure are cute. They remind me of when I was a kid, Uncle Kermit had some coons as pets. You can't keep them long because they tear stuff up, and I have no desire to have a domesticated raccoon that I have to set free.

Look what else is at our house. A big fat robins nest on the light pole. We thought it was an old nest, but it was a new one. I saw Momma Robin a few days ago busting a beak trying to get an old piece of clothesline off the line. It didn't happen. I did have intentions of putting out a basket of string and yarn for the birds this year, but seems they did pretty good without me!

I'll update you on the raccoons. I'm scared she's gonna trip out when it's time to let her go. I hear they'll rip your arm off!

(this is why god made men... that and spiders)

Happy National Scrapbook day!

To celebrate this monumental occasion, I did not scrapbook. :p Yet.

I probably will do something this evening... take a break from wedding stuff and sit and make a page... not about wedding stuff!

Today, we got up bright and early and hit garage sale day (city wide). Our mission was to get tanner his loft and/or bunk bed set he's been harassing - wanting for quite some time. Well first stop we were there before they opened the doors... along with 20 other ppl. everyone wanted it. We didn't get it.

Second stop, we missed it by like, oh... 30 seconds. wish we hadn't stopped at one on the way.

Finally, we gave up and then tanner spotted a third set about an hour later. Score!

This was my good find:

Have I mentioned that vintage tableclothes/napkins are on my 'good things' list? I love the hand stitching and love when they are starched. I think I have a collection. I didn't *intend* to collect them, but there they are.

I love little old lady garage sales, they are my favorite. They always have this cute kitchy decorations - and most of the time they just want to make room so they practically gave the stuff away. I had to pay more than I wanted for the 3 sets of tablecloths, which Gene wasn't excited about, but I maintain that it's cheaper than Crown Royal, and I have something to actually show for it... besides the spotted liver :p

I also got a FREE pair of cowboy boots. I've been finding them at garage sales for a couple years and cutting the tops off of them. I'm going to make a cool mirror like one I saw at Cavendars. Very awesome, and very not for sale. I'll share pictures someday.... when I get about 12 more pair of boots. LOL.

Gene got nothing. I think for him it's the thrill of the chase. I was surprised the only thing he found interesting was a set of civil war general prints. So very much not my thing... but it's ok if he likes them. But they were too rich for his blood.

On the raccoon front, well, we still have them... I've been trying the live trap and having no luck except for the 2 stray cats we caught. *note to self- cat food is great for catching CATS*

Raccoons really stink. I wish I'd figured out sooner that mice don't stink nearly as bad as raccoons. We kept thinking that the raccoon smell was mice and was about to banish the mice. Well, the mice hardly smell at all!

What a mess. Tons of research and I just can get her to go away (she had a litter under the house). If we can catch mama, the babies will be easy (with a leather glove mind you).

Raccoons are NOT CUTE. I hate raccoons!

Helllooooooooo (using my Mrs. Doubtfire voice)

Happy May!

I meant to post "Happy May Day" yesterday, and then just got distracted. I loved May Day when I was a kid. I guess *no one* does it anymore, but we used to make little may baskets and fill them with popcorn, candy or flowers (violets mostly). You would hang them on the door of a friend, and then knock on the door. If they came out and saw you, and caught you, they got to kiss you. I only got caught one time, and he didn't kiss me (trust me I was ok with that lol).

No "project" set yet. I did not want to do "this day in may" again. (25 pics a day), I wanted something different. But it is weird... I just realized that I've had this cell phone for over 2 years and it's still going strong.


KaBOOM!

It stormed HARD last night. I woke up at 4 a.m. wondering if we should be hovering in the bathroom. Seriously.. this house is the tallest thing for a 1/2 mile in any direction. We're destined to get blown away by a tornado (if one comes around) and NO BASEMENT. So I was thinking about rounding everyone up.. but it passed.

Then this morning, I was watching TV and it's cloudy, but not raining, kind of a dreary day. All the sudden there was this Looooooooong heavy thunder. It lasted probably a good minute, and it wasnt so much loud as it was STRONG. I was laying on the couch and I could feel the thunder as it shook the entire HOUSE. I wondered to myself it maybe it wasn't an earthquake instead. Definitely creepy.


Owww!

Big headache today. Again.

I have to get my neck sorted. I just hate going to the chiro because it costs $32 each time and doesn't last that long for me (neck). Nothing seems to help. I had relief one day .. yesterday.


I had a interweb... but I eated it.

You have to read the cheezeburger site. If you ever owned a cat you'll totally get it. It's a site dedicated to LOLcats (cat pictures with funny captions). There are some duds, but some that had me big giant belly laughing. If I'm ever in a bad mood, I head to I Can Has Cheezeburger.