Here's a few pictures of the place on a good day. Lawn freshly mowed, smelling like fresh cut wild onions (or is it wild garlic? I think it's onions but not so sure now.) Either way, the chickens love the fresh cut grass. They're laying enough eggs to give away to close friends and family now. Every little extra is greatly appreciated by them.

Darla and Daisy play like best friends since I have custody of Daisy until Cassie comes home. Jason and Kirk are moved out now that the wedding's off. There seems to be a lingering electric bill that got the power turned off next door though. Since it's tied to my water well, that leaves me with power at my house, but no water and no electricity next door. Jason promised to get that taken care of tomorrow.

Amber and Camaron are fixing the place up and should be all moved in by the time Cassie gets home from "A school" from the Navy Reserve training she's been doing. It will be so nice to have them all close by again! Cassie is so ready to get home and Amber and Camaron are ready to get on with things now that he's graduating from pharmacy school. Heather (Cassies friend that she met in boot camp that decided to be stationed close to Cassie here in Oklahoma) has been coming over to visit me. It's been very nice to have the company and she's a doll! And Friday is my birthday so we are having a nice barbeque on Thursday since it's my day off... Yay!

Feeling so much better these days after the pneumonia and work is all back to normal. Crazy people are out in full force with the full moon at work so things are settling back to some normalcy. If there really is an actual "normalcy."

At least Amber has decided to make a garden work and there's more pictures of that on the way. A garden this big with someone else that has the drive to follow through will help so much. It's always nice to have fresh veggies but when you're doing all the work and everyone wants a share of the bounty...well that wears on you. And we have eggs...and a calf on the way (though that is going to be a hard decision to decide whether to butcher the calf or keep it. I'll be thinking on that one...)

Hope ya'll have a fantastic day!

Sandy

Arts Festival

OMG! What a wonderful day! Still more pictures to share but Amber and I went to the Oklahoma City Arts festival today. The weather couldn't have been better, it was almost hot in the afternoon.

We got there around lunchtime and had umpteen food booths to choose from! I've had my heart set on trying something curry since I've never had it before so chose the Indian food booth. Amber tried the Orient Express booth and we both shared with each other.

The smells were amazing! The crowds were incredible for a Friday with all the downtown workers infiltrating during the lunch hour. The only seating we found was next to a homeless guy who talked to himself but was quite harmless. My food was good but really too much for my appetite so I went to throw the rest away and that's when William stopped me. He said, "No..no..wait.. if you're going to throw it away I'll take it!" So I gave it to him and apologized for not thinking to offer him any before. He shook my hand and asked my name and said his name was William. He thanked me and I patted his shoulder.

Me and Amber went back to the food booths and bought him a gyro so he'd have something to eat later. I offered him cigarettes but he said no thank you, he still had some. And that smile he gave me made the whole day worthwhile on top of it all...

The people wandering around were awesome to look at. The art booths geared to the wealthy so I didn't come home with any souveneers this time. But Amber and I had a $7 glass of wine together (I thought I was buying a bottle and she said under her breath that it was per cup!) Oh well...She didn't like her Merlot so I traded her for my Reisling. It was nice she was driving.

The wind art is one of my favorite inspirations! Especially in this windy area and working at Lowes I always want to make a try at sculpting wind art. It can be done ... it's all in the balance..

Stopped at a Sam's Club on the way home, stocked up on groceries. The sun is just now setting... No tornadoes in our area for the time being (the season is here!) Hoping to go to San Antonio in June and check out the Riverwalk, Japanese Gardens and maybe the Alamo.

Aaaahhh...today was really a good day...

Hope yours is as well!

Sandy

OKC arts Festival

This was an awesome day spent with Amber! I picked curry chicken from the Indian food booth. It was awesome!

Monarch Butterflies

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/30/eveningnews/main6348230.shtml

Hope this works. This story is very interesting. Every year butterflies pass through here on their migration but nothing like the swarms of them in the video. Sometimes I have looked out and wondered why leaves were blowing through the air this time of year then realized it was butterflies scattered in the breeze. They all tend to go a certain direction though randomly stopping along the way. I have a tree that butterflies LOVE and it's beautiful to see it covered with so many species.

Just thought I'd share..

Have a great day!
Sandy

Feeling better,,. sorta

Damn!

What a rough last couple of weeks...

Pneumonia has really kicked my ass! But not totally. Lost some wages with the time off but thank goodness for moms! It's going to be do-able now.

Being laid up, not knowing if I'd have a job to come back to, finding out they were being much more understandable about the situation, and accommodating too ( Human resources director figured out how to slide in as many vacation days, paid holidays, and sick time that he could) so I only missed out on about one week's worth of work. Not a bad outcome for living paycheck to paycheck and not foreseeing an obstacle like this.

Work has let me sit down and take a rest any time I needed, been completely understanding and are acting like my other family that I have thought of them since being out here in Oklahoma, away from California.

But it has been hard being out here alone.

Today is a much better day though. Planting flowers tomorrow and making the patio look nice will be good medicine. Maybe I will feel good enough to mow the lawn but we'll see how far I get. I will barbeque that chicken and things will be looking nice for whichever kids show up.

:)~

Looking forward to it all...

Sandy

Signs of Spring

Something about the blooming of things in the spring, flocks of geese heading back north, grass growing again to feed the spoiled cow...shows that good times are ahead.

Bulbs planted years ago, even though it doesn't seem that long ago, promise their loyalty to bring the cheer that was hoped to come back year after year. Those plants have a seemingly endless resilience to cheer the place up at just the right times. The flowering trees come out in brilliance just ahead of the ground cover that will seem to be a menace in days to come.

Oh how this winter has seemed to be rough! No landmark ice storms or truly record breaking catastrophes to speak of, but it has been a wearing down of the soul. At times. But not completely breaking of the spirit. It is survivable.

I guess some years are harder than others and of course, it can always be worse. There's always a story of someone worse off than yourself and self pity is a pool that drowning in is of your own accord. So I'll not do that. That's too easy of a pattern to settle into and detrimental to one's own peace of mind and well being.

But Spring (and Fall) are my favorite times of year. The new growth, blooming flowers after the dormancy of a long cold winter is so refreshing. Yesterday I pulled over on the side of the road to pick some wild daffodils. A couple of cars passed by and caught me at it but I really needed to have some fresh flowers in a vase in my house. The smells of things blooming, the air warming up enough to open windows, was too much of a temptation to pass up. I love spring!

I'm off to bed. Been sleeping and resting a lot getting over this but the nice weather is helping.

Hope ya'll have a nice day!

Sandy