Put on your dancing shoes!!!!

Do you ever have one of those days at work where you just NEED to "focus" and for whatever reason you can't drown out the background noise? Well, that was me today! So, I put on my headset and visited one of my favorite sites......"You Tube".

I had heard that Seether made a remake of George Michael's Careless Whisper. So I listened to that and then decided to take a step back in time (Okay a GIGANTIC LEAP) and see what I could find on WHAM. If you don't know who WHAM is please don't hurt my feelings by saying so! G

These are so awesome!! I just had to smile! Can that really be 25 years ago!!! OMG!

I really wanted to put "wake me up before you go go", but I guess you'll have to go to YOU TUBE on your own for that one!!! VBG

Listen, Smile and LAUGH OUT LOUD!!!!.

Calamari Adventure!

Something old, something new, some thing borrowed .......oh wait....WRONG POST!! G

Saturday afternoon after our Agility Trial in Columbia, MO, the 6 of us went out to eat at a little bar and grill. It was VERY YUMMY!!!

Michele F ordered some Calamari. She's a FISH LOVER, (she also order 'fish tacos' too, now that is WRONG) which is rather strange since she lives in Iowa, home of the best Beef and Pork around. Okay, so I'm a little biased and I ordered Chicken Fiestas! LOL

What is Calamari? Well, it's Squid. Carrie warned me that it can be a little chewy. So, I tried a 'ring', it was batter fried, so how bad could it be? Actually, it was quite good, especially dipped in the "hot sauce", which I just HAD to have with my Fiestas! The round rings were very tender and good, the large curly pieces were chewy and not as tender. I later learned (from the video) that those were the Tentacles. I don't think we have to worry about Meme, Jeff W or Bill trying this anytime soon!

Of course, this got me to wondering, how do you clean a squid? No one else at the table was really all that interested. In fact, I got some funny looks, okay, what else it new? Don't you ever wonder these things I asked? "NO!!", was the answer. I bet it's on YOU TUBE! So, when we got back to the hotel and my "Venus-Flytrap bed" - I had the pull out sofa, I searched. Yep, it's there!!! G

The first link (it doesn't allow you to post), it the professional version. Watch it first....then you'll understand the second one. The second one is just music, (Which I find quite 'catchy' and it makes me bounce in place in my chair) it's NOT nearly as professional. I do enjoy the part where the head slips out of his hands into the sink however!! LOL


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1nYXf-0IfQ


RedNeck Cleaning of Calamari -

Hotel Hell - Kansas City, MO

I know....it's taken me forever to update my blog!! NOT MY FAULT!!! Well, it is kind of.....you see, I have a baby due in 3 weeks and I'm only 1/2 done with it's blanket. I took the wrong yarn to KC, so now every spare minute is spent, working, swimming, running, biking or crocheting! You get the picture! Or.....maybe you don't. G

So, take a giant step back to last Friday! Carrie and I roomed together at the converted Motel 6 in KC, MO. Now, you all know what the typical Motel 6 is.....dumpy, tiny, cramped, dull.....that pretty much sums it up. This one was said to be a converting from either a Holiday Inn or Howard Johnson's. We could really "nail" anyone down on which. Needless to say, we were pretty excited about our "up scale" accommodations! After all, we're known to sleep in our vans!

So, we arrive and Carrie goes in....since the reservation is for "one", with one 20lb dog. I look at Addie.....um.....someone might need a diet! (More on that later!!!!)

Carrie returns about 20 minutes later. I didn't time it, but I should have! YIKES!! She's a bit frustrated and we haven't even seen the room yet. It seems that the clerk tried to get her into a queen (one bed) for $10 more a night. She said she had registered for 2 full beds for 35.99. He asked her why she needed two beds. She said that her and her "20 lb dog" (I think she left the weight part out), like to spread out and have their own beds!! Luckily she had her on line registration with her. She asked for a 1st floor room, of course they didn't have one, we are full. I might interject here that there were 3 cars in the lot! She asked if it would at least have the microwave and fridge that she requested. Microwave, no, it's in the lobby, but it would have a fridge. So she accepted the key and we make our way to our second floor room.

The room was actually very nice. It was HUGE and the furniture, bed spreads and curtains were all new. Um, no fridge. We found the spot the fridge should be and there was a nice little safe....but no fridge. Carrie was NOT happy....but, we had all our junk in, so oh well.

Of course Carrie only had one card, she said she would have had to tell another "lie" (which she doesn't do well under pressure), to get another one. I told her, maybe her little 20 lb dog needed her own! She agreed, that that is probably what she would have said. Well, it's a good thing we only had one, because they must have been running out of card sleeves!! See below. We were in room 117.....wait, that was the second room....first we were in 209. G

I guess this is called recycling???

So, we're over the initial shock of no fridge. Actually, I was over it before it started as I really didn't need it. Carrie only needed it for her chocolate milk! LOL So, we unpack our "supper". I'm going to have a turkey sandwich. Kruz and Mad Dog are laying on the bed, and my sandwich is stilling on a paper towel while I'm putting things away. Addie is on the floor and not seeming to notice my sandwich at all. All of a sudden I notice some strange happenings and Addie had taken a corner of the bread and a slab of turkey. I didn't think much about it, I just went IN!!!! Oh, no you don't little dog! You give that back. Poor Addie, she just stood there with my hand 1/2 way down her throat. I was able to retrieve the turkey and broke it in 1/2 for Mad and Kruz. No, I didn't put it back on my sandwich! G

So, Carrie makes her sandwich and she pulls back the covers to climb into the bed. Um....HAIR!!! OMG!!! LOL So I check my bed, it's perfectly fine. I'll add here, Carrie picked her bed, so she can LIE IN IT!!! Apparently that was the 3rd strike. While Carrie called down stairs, I pulled out the point and shoot to take some evidence. Too bad it doesn't have a macro lens...but you get the general idea.



So, he tells her to call back in 10 minutes and he'll find some sheets. Carrie, now gets to make her own bed!!! He calls back and guess what, he doesn't have a key to the laundry, so he offers her another room. She asked, will this one have a fridge. He asks, did you request one? Carrie is really frustrated now. Yes! So, feeling rather cocky now, she asks, "Will it be on the first floor?" He says YES!! Hum....amazing how that happens! So she goes down to pick up the key.

She comes back, shaking her head. She said he wanted her to leave the other room key. She explained that she had to move her stuff out of this one first. UGH! She did check out both beds and they appeared to be "hair free". We also had a MEGA big fridge! WOW~~~

So, when she goes to return the key the poor guy tells her just a minute. He's taking his BLOOD PRESSURE!!! LOL Carrie DID IT!!! She returns the key and then asks if she could have a do not disturb sign. He said, we're all out!! OMG!! Once we were settled, it was a nice hotel and we'll stay there again!! Making sure to bring our confirmation along of course.

Below is the little turkey stealing 20 lb Addie!! Apparently she'll eat egg salad too!

Tastes Like Chicken.....um...I mean Turkey!!!

The Turkeys and Chicks arrived "safely" in the mail yesterday!! It's crazy how that works out just fine. It always makes me a bit nervous, but it seems to be just FINE!!

Seems like so long ago that I ordered them. It was back in January!!

They Turkey's are Bourbon Red "straight run", which means you won't know if you have boys/Toms or girls/Hens for awhile yet. Unless Michele would like to try "sexing" them for me!!

The Chickens are ARAUCANA or Easter Egg Chickens "Pullets" - girls. They will lay those colored eggs that everyone thinks are duck eggs! I only had one of those left, so what the heck. The turkeys needed someone to educate them about the food, water and heat....so, thus the chicks.

Below is a picture of them. Can you tell the turkeys from the chicks?

The turkey's are slightly taller and have a little bump right between the eyes. Hopefully it's not a "stupid" bump!!! They are lighter in color than most of the chicks, although there are a couple light colored chicks too. They all seem to be eating and drinking fine.

It's hard to believe something so small could be over 30lbs in 6 months!
The plan is to keep 3 for "babies next spring",
(not sure if baby turkeys have a name of there own....other than baby turkeys?)
and butcher the other 3 for supper this Fall!
(In other words....Don't get attached!!!)



This little Turkey fell asleep with it's head on the food container.
Yes, that is an empty egg carton! G
Sick and Wrong!!! But they work so well!!

Would you STOP taking pictures already!!!!

That's a "Turkey - Hairy Eye-Ball" in case you're wondering!!!

Laughter is the Best Medicine!!

That's good, cause I generally have a LOT to laugh at.

Thanks to Susan Garrett's blog.

This guy IS FUNNY!!

Laugh and ENJOY!!!

Sprint Triatholn - 8 weeks and Counting!!

It's time to get SERIOUS!!!!

I'll admit, I've been a bit "slacking" in the training department. I have been really good about the swimming, but let's face it, the swim is the SHORTEST part of the race!! It's the biking and running I really need to get working on!!! To help myself be accountable I'm going to start posting my hours worked each day. I'm suppose to be on a 5 hour minimum a week training plan and I found out yesterday that I can't count travel time or "thinking about it" time....that means I really need to pick up the pace!

I've been getting to the pool a minimum of once a week and twice a week, the last couple of weeks. I'm going to commit to twice a week for the next 8 weeks and 3 times if I can swing it. I no longer feel like I'm going to drown or pass out after one lap, and I can now out swim most of the grandmothers. Yes, I'M PROUD!! It doesn't take much!! G

Funny thing is, I really enjoy the swimming. I would have never guess, but it's GREAT!! You're weightless, you get to blow bubbles and you can scream underwater and no one hears you! At least I don't think they do? So, now you're asking yourself....does she really scream under water? Well, no, but I do like to make the Jurassic Park growl on my flips at the end of the lane. I don't know why, it's just kind of fun. You know, the noise in Jaws when the shark finally gets blown up and there's this groaning/growling noise? You'll just have to trust me...or you can find the clip on You Tube!!!

I freestyle, aka "crawl", which is the most efficient use of your swim. Alternating breathing from left to right every 3rd stroke. I can do the 11 laps or 600 yds in about 10 minutes. (This is about the distance in the Pigman) I swim for 30 minutes without stopping. So, I'm feeling pretty good about the swim. Of course, I realize that the open swim won't be as easy as pool swimming. No blue lines at the bottom of the pool to keep you swimming straight. No end of the pool every 25 yards, no clear water to see who's coming or going (this could be a good thing). This is a little bothersome at times...but I try not to think about it. I'm pretty good at denial.

As I mentioned, one fun thing about swimming is the bubbles you can make. With each stroke you blow air out your nostrils so that on the 3rd you are ready to take oxygen in. The bubbles are so blue and happy, it's kind of fun. It's not so fun when your allergies kick in and your blowing out some snot along with your bubbles. Okay, it's my snot....I don't care.....but then you start to wonder if the other 6-8 people in the pool are doing the same. Then it gets a little frightening!! Thank goodness for chlorine!

I am setting some goals for myself. Just to help myself stay on track and not slack off until the week before. THAT WOULD BE BAD!!!! Dawn, my sister, was telling me about a time she was in line for the swim for the Pigman and she heard a couple gals ahead of her say, "Boy, I guess we should have gotten to the pool a few times huh." OMG!! I do NOT want to be those people!! LOL

The down side is my swim cap during the race is BLACK!! Of all colors!! The one they are LEAST likely to see go UNDER!!! I'm pretty sure Bill had something to do with this decision! He told me today while he was adjusting my bike seat that I should be sure to carry my health insurance card. Gee....THANKS!!! G

My Personal Goals

Finish in the top 3 for my age group in the Swim.

Overall time - 1 hour 45 minutes.

10 minute Swim - .5K (547 yards)
55 minute bike ride - 25K (15.5 miles)
30 minute run - 5 K (3.1 miles)
10 minutes overall for transitions and "lost time"

As a side note - Lyle from Dawn's Club will be racing again this year.
He's 78 - Last year, at 77 - his overall time - 1:42:52

GO LYLE!!!!!!

Ditch Burning Day!!!

Need I say more??

It's Ditch burning day!!

Need I say more! Talk about one of my favorite times of the year. The smoke, the fire, the snapping of the grass, the burning of the eyes, the use of rakes and shovels....fun fun fun!!!!

If this is my favorite day of the year, it's one of Bill's "least" favorites. The smoke, the flames, the burning of they eyes.....well, you get the idea!

Our ditch burning was very controlled yesterday and quite honestly very boring. It more fun when it takes off with a mind of it's own and is done in 30 minutes. Okay, so there's the yelling, screaming and cussing that goes along with burns like that.....maybe that's what I was missing? G

There wasn't much wind yesterday, so we could easily control the fire and burn exactly where we wanted too. You had to "pick it up" on your rake at times to move it to the next bunch of grass. A number of times I told Bill I was "bored" and he didn't really care. While Bill would rake up and burn one patch at a time, I generally had 5-6 good patches going. Bill was obviously WAY FAR AWAY from me. He mentioned, Dangerous, Insane and Stupid to me several times.

So, I wonder where Bill is today?????

Oh, don't be silly. He can't get off THIS EASY!!!! G

I wanted to move my "tiger eye" bushes. I really like them, I just didn't like where they were. I tried to move them a few weeks ago, but the frost line was still about one foot down, so it was "no go". Yesterday was a perfect day, so we dug them up as carefully as possible and moved them out to the north corner. It will be a couple weeks before we know where they will survive.

Above is where they were and below is a picture of them in the fall. They sure are Purdy.

After these were moved we went on to move some sedum and hosta away from the fence line. Holy cow!!! We only completed one fence line yesterday and have several more to go. We're moving it 2' off the fence and giving it a 2' spacing. I'm hoping this will prevent moves in the future. Bill keeps asking, "Are you sure this is where you want it?" My reply is as of today....yes, subject to change. He doesn't like that answer much. G

What a great day to be outside!! I'm hoping for much the same today!! I think the wind is suppose to pick up however. I need to get the baby bird pen set up as we're getting some chicks and Turkeys next week. I believe they are due to hatch tomorrow. Chicks are always fun and I've never had turkeys before, so looking forward to that.

Baking Soda REALLY DOES put out Fires......

Just in case you ever wondered about that....it's TRUE!!!!

I wish I could blame Bill for this one, but he's safely outside and I so KNOW I'm going to get the hairy eyeball when he comes in and all the windows are open!! I'm so lucky it's windy outside!!

I've been busy all morning doing different things and it's mid afternoon and I'm HUNGRY!!
So I thought I'd boil some eggs to make some egg salad sandwiches. I put 10 eggs in a pan, put it on the burning, turn it on high and leave. I return a few minutes later to see if it's boiling and imagine my expression when I have a FULL BLOW FIRE!!! SH*T!!!!!

The whole large burning is a-flame (is that a word??). Crap!!! I never could tell my right from my left!! Apparently I'd turned on the Left burning (which "had" a plastic cutting board on it), vs. the right which had the sauce pan of eggs! Of course I pick up the cutting board and it has this nice imprint of the burner on it. FOCUS TAMMY!!! There's still fire. So I grab a dish towel...and swipe at it a few times. F!! It's not going out. I give it the ole birthday candle try! NO GO!!! Who ever said I was full of hot air it WRONG!!!! S! !SS!!! S!!!!!

Oh, it hits me!! Baking Soda!!! Thank goodness I just cleaned out the refrigerator a week ago and opened a brand new 2007 box!! I rush to the fridge, open it and my SAVIOR!!! I grab the box and dump half of it on the burner!! YIPPEE!!! It's OUT!!!!

I look around and the house is in a fog. Luckily the dogs are outside with Bill, so it's just me. I opened every window in the house and the temperature is dropping at record pace, but the air is clearing!!!

Our poor Stove!! Yes, it has a name - Sherry Bake Oven. We got it "third" hand from a gal at work 9 years ago when she got a new one. So, it only had two working burners!! The oven works!! Gosh, I wonder if we're down to one burner now??

Who left that cutting board on the burner anyway????

BILL!

FOR Sale - One slightly used Magic Chef Stove. Oven works along with one burner. Price negotiable.
Free cutting board with purchase!
Pictured below.

PS - Bill is still outside....would anyone like to volunteer to explain this to him???

You almost can't smell the burning plastic anymore.......ALMOST!!

Yard Work GALORE!!!!

It's so nice to get back outside in the sun and wind (not so much that) and get your hands dirty again!! Friday was a really nice day to get some yard work completed. This weekend isn't shaping up to be too nice. So, Friday was IT!!!!!

The 3 dogs were out front romping, playing and rolling in smelly things. Seeker LOVES to chase Kruz when they are outside. He is OCD when it comes to herding this particular Border Collie. Interestingly enough, it's Mad Dog that he teases and taunts into playing indoors. I guess it's nice that he gives "playtime" to both of the more "mature" dogs. If Mad or Kruz tires of Seeker, he simply finds his own game to play. Chasing leaves (see the wind is good for something!), or occassionally he'll find a lid that was used for a marker. This winter he discovered the "recycle bin" in the chicken coop and what could be MORE fun than a empty milk jug!! Okay, obviously a full one, but we don't keep those in the chicken coop. G

So I'm raking and notice Seeker has found an old milk jug and was tossing it in the air. Having a great ole time. I thought I should go and get my camera and take some shots. Well, you know how that goes, Camera comes out and then they ALL want to know what your doing vs. being cute. So, I got a new milk jug, which Mad quickly decided was HERS!!!!! Kruz got the old one and Seeker, he could care less.....he had dogs to CHASE!!!!

It's really important to find the appropriate place to carry a milk jug.
It makes sense to me that you would use the handle, but here Mad shows
a different technique. This is easier until a little customizing can be accomplished.

While customizing does take time, for the skilled craftdog, it can be very rewarding!!

You can gage an "older" milk jug by it's color and shape.
Luckily, the recycling place doesn't seem to mind and it makes more room for others!

Of course with Tomato Plants coming in the next month,
I'll be needing some of those milk jugs to remain intact!

Can someone tell me why I bother buying toys again????

Distraction Training.

We all know how important it is to "proof" your dogs.....making things more challenging.
Experiencing something in training, that you would NEVER see at trials.
That way, when you get to a trial, everything will seem so EASY!!!!

So, living out in the country does have it's drawbacks.

NOTHING EVER HAPPENS!!!

So, as I like to say, "You've got to MAKE it HAPPEN"

Can you find Seeker??


He's in there. G

Chickens are GREAT for distractions!

Or maybe I should say....they are GREAT for MY dogs as distractions.

You might NOT want to try this at home.

There he is!!

GOOD BOY SEEKER!!



So, really what was the point of the distraction?
We were working weave poles.
Entries to be more specific.



Have you hugged your chicken today?

Meet Burke

Anyone that's been around me for a "long" time, knows I've always wanted an Irish Wolfhound.
In the van I've always had my "wolfhound' spot. That's the place where "van campers" normally sleep! G I figured that it to the be "wolfhound spot" as there's no way you could really have room for a crate for a dog that large! G

Anyway, a friend of mine from IL was involved with a re-homing project of some large breed dogs. She happened to mention on Monday that she had a litter of 3 IWH. WHAT!!! Yes, she said that they were about 3 - 4 months old and were in need of a home. She had 2 males and a female. I asked a bit more about the female and she said she didn't seem to have a lot of bone and was a lot smaller than her brothers.

I've always wanted one!! Wouldn't it be great to have a MACH IWH!!!!!

So anyway, we pick up Burke on Saturday in Peru, IL.