Pumpkin Harvest & BluesNBrews 5K

Howdy!  I had an action packed weekend full of dirt and sweat.  So I would call that a great weekend.

 

Saturday started with the harvesting of the pumpkin patch.  In total, we got 25 pumpkins from a 4'x8' frame.  We had at least 5 or so more pumpkins that were claimed by the bugs/rotted so much that they went straight to the compost bins.  I was expecting more than this at the end of the harvest.  Next year we are going to triple our frame size.  We have the field, so why not?!?

 

We only had two pumpkins that were untouched by the bugs.  THOSE seeds will be grown next year for sure!  Also, I have a few tricks up my sleeve for next year's battle with the bugs.  They better watch out, cause we've got plans.

 

Even though I was wanting even more in total, it's a very attractive line up.  I have a few picked out for the front porch and a few to give away.  I'm afraid they wont last too long though because of the blemishes by the bugs.  It's like they took two bites and went on to the next one.  Geesh, talk about picky eaters.

 

I dunked them in bleach water to try to slow the growth of bacteria, so let's cross our fingers, shall we?  Here they are lined up drying after their bath:

It's Pumpkin time!



Sunday has been a great day because I ran in the inaugural Blues N Brews 5K with Heather!  I also exceeded the pace time I wanted and surprised myself at the end--wahoo!  That must explain why my knee and ankle are wildly throbbing right now and I am hobbling around like a little old lady.

 

Today started WAY too early.  We woke up at 5:30.  Todd was such a good sport about this.  We picked up Heather and made our way downtown to where all the crazy people were:

 

 

Notice the sun coming up in the background?
I noticed the moon was almost full when we first got there.

My and my medal.  And my Blue Moon beer.
Because I had to put a Brew in this race.

 

We were very pleased to make it to the finish line with good times.
Not real pleased that there was no food, no free beer, no dancing cobras,
and the concert was way later than we wanted to stay.

The Blues Travelers were playing a free concert this morning for the event, but it was like 2 hours after we were done, so we bailed.  Nice thought, but maybe next year.



Todd is such a great sport about these events!

Now I'm off to bed to nurse my ailing body parts.  They aren't rebounding like they used to.  Oh, planting 100 irises today may have something else to do with it.  I only have 50 more to go.

 

Accidental Cowgirl

I've been wanting a pair of cowboy boots since I moved out West.  That was 6 years ago.  In July of 2010 right after I got laid off, I was walking through Macy's to go buy face soap and only face soap.  I browsed at the shoes and thought some day I'll shop again but not until I got a job.  I was trying to quickly walk through and then I saw a pair of boots that stopped me dead in my tracks.  They were Frye shorties.  They were a beautiful gray color reminiscent of the lovely color of a weimaraner dog.  They were more city than country in style, with a ~1" heel and slightly pointed rounded toe.  They had my size.  I tried them on. They were on super-mega-sale on top of a sale.  They fit like a glove with immediate comfort.  I walked away.

 

I went home that day with my face soap and a hole in my closet.  I wanted those boots.  I knew I'd never see them again, and I haven't.  I've been searching.  I'll continue to search.  But in the meantime, I have been shopping and searching for a pair I will love as much as that pair, if not more. 

 

We live in a small country town.  This little city is big enough to have more than what we need and almost everything we want.  Ideally they would build a Costco, Quick Trip, Macaroni Grill, Outback Steakhouse, and a Red Robin.  And maybe a Macy's.  But other than those places that we are missing and would actually rarely ever visit, we have everything else.  The community feels small and home-towny.  And best of all, it only takes 15 minutes in traffic to get end to end.  Who wouldn't love that?

 

So you get the idea.  We live in farmville.  And I want boots.

 

Oh, I forgot to tell y'all how cool my new job is.  I started this week in my new cubicle, working for my new boss.  I have a new team.  And when I say TEAM, I mean TEAM.  It is so cool to work with a fun group who likes to work with each other and have fun.  It was a long week, and we all worked hard.  Guess what?  My boss told us yesterday to go home at 3:30.  She demanded more than once that we walk away and leave.  I had an issue going on and I felt obligated to stay a little later, but it was so cool knowing she wanted me to have left even earlier.  So guess what I did?  Yep, I went BOOT SHOPPING.

 

I must have tried on at least 40 pairs of boots, if not many more.  I know it was way more than that cause I bet they had 100+ in my size alone.  I had to make sure I found "the" pair.  And maybe something sitting there would look and feel better on than I imagine? So of course I had to try most of them on.

 

I had fun texting pics to my hubby and getting his reaction.  He has not embraced the cow-country nature of where we live.  And BTW, I draw the line at country music.  I tried it once.  I'm not a fan.  Anyhoo, I thought I'd share a few of my pics with you so you could see the wonderful selection of awesome boots I sampled.

 

These were the first pair in my "maybe" pile.  I really thought I was going to walk out with these.  They fit really great.  But maybe they were a little too "loud".

  

Teal and gray--gorgeous!
To which hubby replied "Ick"

The next pair caught my eye in a subtle way.  I did a double take on them and thought, wow--they aren't red!

 

These puppies are PURPLE!

The purple boots started out comfy but then not so much.  So they were not left in my "maybe" pile.  Too bad.  I loved the color.  Hubby replied "Whee!!!"

 

SO comfy, like the leather was cushioned all around my foot.  Mmmm, soft.

I really loved the tooled leather in turquoise on brown.  But I didn't like the turquoise colored stitching.  I don't wear a lot of turquoise stones in my jewelry and this reminds me of that, so these were not THE pair. 

I tried on a few more brown pairs of boots, to which my hubby replied "I don't really like boots" (I ignored) and "You can't see shit on brown boots". Good point. I really should lean towards brown.  But there are so many pretty colors.

Look at these RED HOT BEAUTIES!

I loved these red boots.  The shaft was even beautiful all the way up and I could wear with a skirt.  They fit LIKE A SOFT LEATHER GLOVE, people!  And then I looked at the price tag.  Oh my sweet tea!  For $365, I will keep dreaming.  To which my hubby replied "Good because they're ugly".  I can keep them on my virtual wish list, right below those Frye gray shorties I may never find.

Next up?  The very first pair that caught my eyes.  I tried these on 3 times.  I had them in and out of my "maybe" pile.  Sorry if these ruin your opinion of me.  But I love them.

I know I look like I should be on my way to a Mexican Fiesta in these boots...

These boots felt wonderful.  The longer I kept them on, the longer I fell in love with them.  I really thought I was going to own these babies.  I sent this pic to hubby and he said "Cute".  To which I replied "Sarcasm", and he said "No".  He really meant they are cute.  GENUINELY.  Can you believe it?  I almost fell outta my boots. 

 

I asked a fellow shopper and her teenage daughter if she thought they were gaudy.  I'm a complete stranger.  You can be frankly honest with a complete stranger.  The silence told me everything I needed to know. And then I looked at the ladies (very country-bumpkinish) and realized, I asked the wrong person.  She did finally reply and said with an estranged look on her face "But are they comfortable?".  OK, they are a little much.

Hubby replied with a thought I had had too.  "... think about how dirty that'll get".  Yep, a dirty pink flower will look... dirty. 



Too much pink.

And honestly I may have bought them if the pink stitching had been orange. I'm not a fan of pink. At. All.

The next pair I tried is lavender.  The picture makes it look more pink, but in person, they look more purple.  If you compare, this pair does not have the pointy snipped toe of all the other boots I tried.  I wanted to make sure I prefer the snipped toe.

Too light color and too square toed.

So just when I thought I was going to walk out empty handed, I heard a younger lady talking to the sales lady about sizes.  I chimed in and asked her what size she is and what size of boots she buys.  Holy cow!  I had been shopping IN THE WRONG SIZE.  I needed to 1/2 size down.  They are going to stretch.  This lady said she bought her usual size and they stretched so much that she can't even wear them anymore. OMG.  She personally goes down an entire size. 

So I knew exactly what I wanted and the sales lady found THE pair I wanted 1/2 size smaller.  I AM IN LUCK.  And so lucky I heard the conversation, or I would have ended up with boots that are eventually too big.  Whew.  Disaster averted.

Introducing my new Tony Lama's:

 

 

My final selection.  These babies are all MINE!
There is a cute little star on the tug-up strap.

I am very happy with my selection and can't wait to get them.  The cobbler is stretching the shaft at the ankle but the foot part is perfect.  I pick them up on Tuesday.  Prepare to hear me SQUEAL WITH DELIGHT FROM HERE!  Best news ever, I found these online and I paid less locally.  I found my favorite new boot shop in my own little hometown. 

I also found another pair I really want.  But one of the boots felt funny, like the shaft isn't attached quite right to the shoe at the back of the heel.  So I will find another pair of these some day.

These will be my NEXT boot acquisition.

Maybe I can find a shindig to wear my new boots...

 

13th Anniversary + 1 Day

I remember the day after we got married. 

 

Todd:  Surprise!  Let's go to a brick swap.

Me:  Huh?

Todd:  No really, they are meeting today.

Me:  No really, whaaaat are you talking about?

Todd:  You'll see.

 

We went to our first ever brick swap.  We joined the IBCA International Brick Collector's Association that day.  STOP LAUGHING, I'm not kidding.  There is such a thing.  And we belonged for years.  I think we were the youngest members ever.

 

When we moved to NV, with our dozen milk crates OF BRICKS, we stopped collecting because we stopped having uses for them.  You can't exactly build a nice sidewalk in what they call "dirt".  As if our HOA would have ALLOWED it.

 

Cause you know, we don't collect enough stuff.

 

 

I remember this day like it was yesterday!
We were all giddy from having just gotten hitched the day before.

 

Lucky 13

Today is our Anniversary!  After 13 wonderful years, he is still full of surprises.  (In a good way.)

We actually celebrated Friday night with a wonderful dinner out at our favorite local restaurant.  We decided going out to eat on Friday nights is fun....  Maybe we'll do it again.

We didn't have anything specifically planned for today, so when he unexpectedly wanted to go pick up a pinball machine, I simply didn't have an excuse NOT to.  We ended up having a good day, and now he is preparing what will undoubtedly be an exciting dinner at home.

I took pictures of our wedding pictures today, because somewhere along the way, I've lost the negatives.  I remember that perfect day, and relived it going through the pictures.

Back on 9/9 of '99, we got married at 9am.  I joke that it lasted about 9 minutes, but seriously, it was that short.  We eloped to a secluded little secret park in the suburb in which we lived.  We made sure there was no scheduled maintenance going on--can you imagine them mowing or spraying when we wanted to get hitched?!? 

We were required to have 2 witnesses, which actually caused a dilemma.  We wanted to e-l-o-p-e.  As in, we go do it, and it's done.  If we got into inviting friends, then we had to invite family, and if you invite family, you have to invite ALL the family.  So we just decided to keep it as simple as possible.  We asked 2 non-standard-working folks we had just met down the street to be our witnesses.  We didn't really know them, and they jokingly offered at a neighborhood block party where we had just met them.  Little did they know we'd take them up on their offer.  And little did we all know that we'd become good friends.  Kind of funny how that worked out.  I feel bad for not having other friends there and family, but we just had to keep it simple.  I just wanted it to happen.  And it did.  Perfectly.

I wanted pictures to remember the day.  I found a photographer who sold the negatives, so I could always get reprints of whatever I wanted.  Well that didn't really work out the way I intended since I've seriously misplaced them.  CD's were not common way back then.  So I just took pics of my pics, and they turned out pretty good.

 

Here are a couple of my favorites.  Enjoy!

Just got hitched!

 

So excited about the beautiful day.

 

 

Our family, with Roscoe and Nellie

About a month later (after our 2 week honeymoon to New England), we had a Marriage Celebration, where we had all of our friends and family join us for a party. That took some planning and preparation. It was a lot of work. And fun.  I'll try to dig up those pictures and share a few.  They are around here somewhere...

Sad Day

Today has been a sad day.  Our Mysterious Shadow has been feeling poorly all weekend.  We knew something important was up Saturday.  You know, since it was a holiday weekend and all.

We've been noticing small little "nuggets" for a little less than a week now.  It has been confusing us both as to what animal it was coming from.  We figured out pretty quickly that it's Shadow.  I knew she was incontinent and I was treating that, but I wondered if there was such a thing as fecal incontinence.  Well, there is.  And she has it.  It's really gross, and that's OK.  We can hose the sidewalks and patio off.  It's not a big deal.  She's always been an outdoor dog, so she's happy being outside.

I was confused as to how this could happen but it all became clear today when we took her to the vet.  Todd reminded me that she had been in a car wreck like 4 or 5 years ago.  A car had hit her, but the wonderfully responsible owners that she had didn't see it happen and thought she was fine because "she seemed fine".  Guess what?  She was not fine.  In fact, it fractured her pelvis, and it healed on her own.  It healed badly, and now that she is older, it has caused nerve damage in her tail and hind quarters, so to speak.  She can't wag her tail anymore.  She can't control her urine or her fecal waste.  On the x-ray, I saw how clogged up the poor girl is.  She simply can't "go" because she can't control the muscles.

That makes sense now as to why I have to coax her to eat.  I'm talking steak, chicken, pork.  I put broth on her food, and once she takes a drink of the liquid, it makes her hungry and then she eats.  But what goes in, is only coming out in tiny bits here and there.  She can't keep that up for long.

As long as she is continuing to smile, be active, and look happy, she'll be with us.  Once her back legs give out entirely, and she is no longer active and happy, it's going to be a really, really sad day.

I'm pissed off that this whole damn situation could have been avoided.  It could have been prevented if her pelvic fracture had been taken care of when it happened.  Can you imagine the pain she must have felt while it healed?  It breaks my heart.

She is such a good dog.  Really good dog.  I am so happy that we've chosen to make her last year the best one she has ever had, and the short term future will be as good as possible.  She deserves it.

Shadow in her favorite spot during a road trip