Soggy Bottoms

Thursday is my late night at school. Tonight when the last student was picked up, I looked outside to see rain... pouring rain! Well, today was a bad day to wear stone colored pants and cute bellwether, slide shoes. When I forded the flooding parking lot to get to the car, my pants and socks were soaked. Boy, did I feel like a real pioneer! I think I will start packing gum boots in the car. I arrived home to the perfect solution to my soggy bottoms... a pot roast, potatoes, carrots and onions on the table for supper. It is simply amazing how a little home-cooking can change my outlook on the day. Thanks to Grandma Chuck, we all sat down to a wonderful meal.
By the way, coyotes-1, hunter-0. I will keep you updated on the safety of the Lough Ranch.

Release the Hounds

For the last few nights the coyotes have been raising cane around the Lough Ranch. Now, for most people that is not a big deal, but around these parts it's HUGE. This means war for the hunter and the 3 furious hunting dogs. Briley walked out of the garage the other night and whispered, "Brett, did you hear those woooves?" (wolves) I believe the girls were scared to death when they heard the high pitched barking and howling. I was also scared to death... for the chickens and goats. Let me try an analogy, coyotes to goat as humans to ice cream cones; or coyotes to chicken as Leslie to cocktail shrimp. You get my point. When we heard the coyotes, Blake automatically used his professional coyote hunting experience to "locate" where he thought they were sitting. Sure enough, with the spot light from the garage, he was very close. We watched Wile E. Coyote run from the pond to the road and back. We may have to schedule another special coyote hunt for the safety of the livestock at Lough Ranch. SAVE THE PETTING ZOO... release the hounds!

Saddle Cleaning

Last weekend we attended the neighborhood Saddle Cleaning Party. Let me define... this group of adults get together and clean, condition and polish their saddles to get ready for their much anticipated rides in warmer weather. I think I should have used a power washer first, it's been a few years. This year was the fourth annual get-to-gather. Look out next year is the fifth anniversary, it might get ugly! Food is provided by some of the finest cooks around, (someday I hope to be half the cooks they are) and all enjoy a few adult beverages. The girls had a grand time also... swimming in the hot tub and enjoying Uncle Donnie overruling mom's word on everything... he is worse than Grandma Suzy! Overall, there were about 10 saddles cleaned and we were the fuddy-duddies that went home early.

Two French Pigs

No, the Lough Ranch does NOT have pigs, yet. But, the blog title surely made some of you wonder... fainting goats, french pigs, what's next? This morning before we went to church, Briley told me she wanted a new hair do. I asked her if she wanted a French Braid? She quickly replied, "No, two french pigs!" So here is a picture of the two french pigs hair style. I absolutely love her comments! So feast your eyes on Bri's new do!

Clem-Bob and Billy-Bob

We voted on the names of the goats today. Clem-Bob and Billy-Bob won with a 3 to 1 vote. I was the 1 lone vote. I thought Conway and Loretta would be wonderful names. If you listen to the new tunes on this blog you'll understand... old county music is my favorite... and Conway is one of the best... not to look at, only to listen to. I don't think the rest of the family shares my passion for these tunes.

We also built a hideout in the hay today, Blake added a tunnel for the entrance and I added windows. We are not competitive... the windows were the best. The girls thought it was awesome with the amazing windows and the lame tunnel. But without the tunnel the windows wouldn't be crap!!! (Blake just added the last sentence.) Whatever!

I almost had to send out an Amber Alert this evening. We lost out dog, Dally. Luckily she came home just after dark. Wow! What an exciting weekend. After our much enjoyed day off today, we all return back to the routine tomorrow. Our next day off from school is Easter break... that's in April... uuug!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday, I walked into the school office and saw flower arrangements and a few balloons on the counter, very common site the day before Valentine's day. One certain balloon caught my eye, it read "Wanna get lucky" with dice on it. I automatically thought- nice! I say to our secretary while laughing, "Wow, what a balloon!" She calmly looks up for her desk, giggles, and replies, "It's for you." My response, "Yea right, my husband doesn't send flowers." She comments,"Look at the card." Sure enough, the card said my name, and yes I panicked. I frantically hide the balloon in the corner of the office and threatened her that if the "balloon" left the office it might get ugly. I didn't want 25 4th graders asking questions. Oh, my face must have been the color of very festive redish-pink shirt. Luckily, the balloon didn't get delivered to my room until after school. Blake was successful with his plan to embarrass the holy snot of of me. Mission accomplished! The 6 beautiful red roses attached the the embarrassing balloon are wonderful! Great table decoration for a snowy weekend.

Briley decorated her Valentine box for her preschool party this week. Between Brett, Briley and I, we had candy hearts, little cards and a box of spilled Nerds all over the living room, thank goodness for vacuums.

Baby goats

OK, so this is not the best picture. It is from my cell phone. But look at these goats, they are so cute. They are the newest addition to the Lough Ranch. I say they because they do not have names yet. The girls like Clem-Bob and Billy-Bob or Sally or Jane and Bill. We have not decided on names. We got them form a man in Missouri. That is another blog... later. Anyway we will update when we settle on the names.