June 21, 2018

How's the Weather?

It rained yesterday! At least drops of water hit the ground but they dried instantly. My mother would say that it rained a foot - every drop was a foot apart. But it's the first moisture we've had in weeks, so it's worth noting. The best part is that it was overcast all morning, which made for a cooler day. It rained sprinkled on and off for about an hour, and between the drops, it was often misty. I'll take it. But after the sun came out, it quickly became hot and muggy. The evening news weatherman said the high was 92° and with 52% humidity, it felt like 103°. I'd rather not take that.

Today, a local Wunderground station says it is already 96° and shouldn't get much higher.  But the heat index (shown here as FEELS LIKE) may be a lot higher.


I worked in the garage yesterday and it felt hot even with the door open. Usually, we get a decent breeze but not yesterday. I took apart a sink table that hasn't seen much use, and built a dutch oven table out of the pieces. By late afternoon, I was so hot and sweaty that I could barely hold on to the hammer. Finally, when I was just about finished, I walked around the corner of the trailer and saw that the two big windows were closed. No wonder it was so hot in there all day! Hubby thought we might get a heavy rain so had closed them before he left for work. I opened them, which didn't help much with the heat that had built up in the garage, but it did come in handy later.

After dinner, I started cleaning up my mess, and the mess that the cat made with his cat food, and eventually Hubby went in to take a shower and go to bed. I finished up and took the cat carrier outside to empty it and the door shut behind me. You have to know this door to fully appreciate that sentence. The door isn't the problem, but the door knob is a problem. It's the kind that doesn't really unlock when the inside knob is turned. The button in the middle doesn't pop out unless it is turned and then the door knob is turned twice. I bought a new door knob but it wouldn't fit. Hubby said we have to have a whole new door, and that just hasn't made it to the critical to do list. I had unlocked the door earlier and had been in and out all day. But someone locked it before he went to bed, and I didn't notice until I turned around to come back in.

Good grief! Now I had to pound on the door until Hubby heard me. But there were two things working against me: Hubby's hearing isn't very good, and the air conditioner in the trailer was on. If you've ever been in a travel trailer with the a/c on, you know how hard it is to hear over it. I had turned it up to 85 while I was working in the garage, so I knew it wasn't going to shut off for a long time and Hubby obviously didn't hear me pounding. So I picked up a stick and went around to the two, big windows and started pounding on them. They are only a few feet from the trailer's bedroom window which would make it easier for Hubby to hear. I pounded and pounded and FINALLY, I heard the trailer door open, so I shouted, "Unlock the door and let me in!" and then the trailer door shut.

Even though Hubby doesn't usually mind walking on the dirty garage floor, I thought he might have gone inside to find some shoes; I walked back to the demon door and waited. And slapped mosquitoes. And waited. And waited. Finally, I started pounding on that door again and when he still didn't come, I went back to the window and pounded on it. Then I heard the trailer door open again and Hubby shouted, "Where are you?"

To which I replied, "I'm outside, I need you to unlock the door!" And I went back to the door just as he opened it.

"What are you doing out there?" he wanted to know as I picked up the cat carrier and brought it back inside.

"Locked out, and I was just about to break a window to get back in. Why didn't you unlock the door the first time you came out/" I wanted to know.

"I thought you were on the other side of the trailer hammering on something."

"I was hammering on something - the window! Why you didn't call out or come around to find out? You didn't hear me yell through the window to unlock the door?" I was indignant.

We have got to get a new door. And soon. It is way too hot to be locked outside.

Six Sentence Story June 20

The cue word today is polish. Or maybe it is Polish.

Just Look For It


I studied the polish on my nails before I gave a reply.

"No," I said slowly, searching for the right words, "happiness is not hard to find."

"You just have to work on it as much as you do cost anaylsis or playing games on your phone."

Allison shrugged, "I don't want to work at it, I just want it to be there when I want it, like an automatic teller machine."

I smiled and shook my head, "I think you need to recognize happiness when it happens to you, like right now with your new manicure."

She looked at her nails with the sparkly crescent on each one and looked at me in surprise, "You're right, that did make me happy and I didn't even realize it!"


Linking to:
Six Sentence Story Thursday at Girlie on the Edge


June 14, 2018

Six Sentence Story Thursday

Thank you Girlie on the Edge for the warm welcome. I have always enjoyed this kind of writing; it reminds me of Weekly Readers in grade school that had a sentence starter like "It was a dark and stormy night..." If there is a way to comment on your blog, I haven't been able to find it, so let me just comment here that your Six last week was so touching.

Last week and this week, when I saw the cue word, a story instantly played out in my mind. A couple of hours ago, I asked Hubby read the one I wrote for this week and he finally said, "Gee, that's kind of dark isn't it, especially for you?" And yes, it was. In light of that, and not wanting to offend anyone, I have been trying to come up with something else. Nothing really clicked with me, but running short of time, this is what I finally settled on.

Cue word is INVESTIGATE
Jealous Bellus


Cassie was thrilled when her husband gave her a little ball of fluff named Corkie the Yorkie; her cat, Bellas, was not thrilled and watched from atop the refrigerator as Corkie was petted and pampered.

A stuffed, brown monkey with floppy arms and legs soon became Corkie's favorite toy; a spotted giraffe with squeakers was a close second, but one day neither could be found.

That afternoon, she heard Corkie barking hysterically in the kitchen; Cassie called but Corkie didn't come and when she went into the kitchen to investigate, she saw Corkie barking at Bellas who was sleeping on top of the refrigerator.

The offending puppy was thoroughly scolded and put into her crate and the mistreated cat was petted and given some treats to make up for being disturbed.

The next day, Cassie heard Corkie barking again in the kitchen and she ran angrily toward the sound; when she rushed around the corner, Corkie was standing on her hind legs with her front legs pawing the refrigerator while the stuffed monkey dangled over the top edge in Bellas' mouth.

Bellas froze when she saw Cassie, and then dropped the monkey to the excited dog on the floor; Cassie cleared her throat menacingly and Bellas dropped her head and nudged the giraffe over the edge too and walked meekly to her crate.

Linking to:
Six Sentence Story at Girlie on the Edge

June 11, 2018

Kids Tractor Pull

At the tractor pull we went to a couple of weeks ago, there was a kids event as well. These tractors ran on kid power. There were two pedal tractors for the smaller children and a pedal go cart for the bigger ones, and like the big event, they had to pull a weighted sled as far as they could. I just love this little boy. He put everything he had into it.


This boy and girl didn't get very far but they had big crowd support.


Linking to:
Tuesday Fun at Comedy-Plus

Until Blogger and Wordpress work out all the problems with comment notification, I'll reply to your comment on your blog if there is a link on your profile.

June 06, 2018

Six Sentence Story

After seeing this on MessyMimi's Meanderings, I've decided to give the Six Sentence Story a try.

The rain was pounding on the old metal barn roof, dripping through holes to the fresh straw below where a heifer was struggling to give birth for the first time.

Each contraction wrung a moaning bellow from the heifer followed by heavy panting, and I could do nothing but watch and wait.

Finally, two tiny hooves appeared and then disappeared, causing both heifer and man to groan; when the hooves appeared again, I caught them and pulled gently, guiding the calf into his new world.

Another push and a bellow and I had to dodge the flailing hooves of the heifer as she tried to get traction; suddenly, the calf was born and lying motionless in the hay.

The cow rose to her feet and I backed out of the way; she began licking life into her calf who gave a squeaky mewl and rose shakily to his feet and bumped his head along his mother's flank until he found warm milk.

It was past midnight as I trudged wearily through the rain to the welcoming glow of light from the kitchen window; I pulled off my boots, shed my coat, and sank into a chair as my wife put a cup of steaming coffee in my hand and listened as I told her about our fine, new bull-calf.

Linking to:
Six Sentence Story Thursday at Girlie on the Edge

Wheat Harvest




Linking to:
Wordless on Tuesday at Image-in-ing
Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday at Comedy-Plus

June 03, 2018

Small Town Texas Tractor Pull

Friday night, the weather man advised people to stay in Saturday and avoid the high temperatures. So what did we do? We went to a tractor pull! Overnight, a hay field becomes a plowed dirt track, with parking, covered bleachers, food tents, and kids events. And of course, tractors, mostly older tractors.


Some were fully restored.



Some were extremely modified.



And some looked like the aging classics that they are.


We've never been to a tractor pull and wanted to see what it was all about, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to use the action setting on my camera. And you know what? It was fun! In case you have never heard of tractor pulls, it works this way. Men (if there are women who do this, they weren't at this one) bring their tractors together to see if they can pull more weight than the next guy's tractor. The weight is a big trailer-like thing called a sled. A tractor hooks onto the sled with and pulls it as far as it can across freshly plowed ground. At least it was freshly plowed in the morning, as the day went on it looked like it was packing down. Check out this Wikipedia article for more information.

Before the tractors could get on the track, they had to weigh in.


The drivers were all ages too, and some were real crowd pleasers.


It's hard to show action with still photos, but this tractor was pulling so hard the dirt was rolling.


I think it was this little boy's first time to compete, in fact, he was the only boy I saw driving. It was so fun to watch him; he was so serious. First he had to get on the scale. He missed it the first time and his dad coached him around for a second try.




Then, it was off to the track; dad coached from the sideline although I don't know how the little boy heard anything over the tractor engine and wearing that helmet. But he pulled the sled a way before he misunderstood what dad was telling him to do next and he stopped the tractor. I love that the dad was teaching the little boy and I hope I see him driving again next year.


This guy was giving us a good show. I think he was the host of the event too.



This old cowboy pulled the sled further than most in his class.  The further he pulled, the heavier the weight, and his front end started rearing up.  Nothing bothered him though; I could tell this wasn't his first bucking bronc.



But this guy was my favorite. He pulled the sled a long way and as the sled got heavier, his front wheels began to lift off the ground, but it didn't stop him. He just pulled the sled with only his back wheels! The tractors have added weights to the front to keep them down, and it helps, but doesn't completely stop the lifting.



Linking to:
My Sunday Photo at Photalife
Sunday Snap at JibberJabberUK
Our World Tuesday
Sundays in My City at By Claudya