November 16, 2018

Feline Friday and Friendly Fill-ins

In the house, we have a food and water dispenser so Buddy boy will always have clean food and water. In the fifth wheel, we have small bowls for his food and water, and in the garage, we have another set of bowls. But when Buddy is in the garage, what water does he crave? The five gallon buckets that we used to collect condensation water from the air conditioner!

Actually, he prefers the orange bucket and usually stands on his hind legs with his front paws on the rim to drink. But when the water was an inch or two below the rim, he got inventive.



It's a good thing the gray bucket was full of water or it might have turned over and dumped him into the orange water bucket. Silly cat.

But because I love him, I'm going to let him answer the Friendly Fill-ins today.

1 – I can’t wait to have both my people home to pet me on Thanksgiving.
2 – I am thankful for a warm home, plenty of food, and all the water I can drink.
3 – When it comes to pie, I'll let my human mom and dad have it all.
4 – A feast is not a feast without lots of leftovers.

Linking to:
Feline Friday at Comedy Plus
Friendly Fill-Ins at 15 and Meowing

November 09, 2018

When a Good Plan Takes an Embarressing Turn

This spring, when the weeds were growing taller than the hay, we I spent a lot of time mowing. I usually mow in the evening, but one day was so nice that I started in the morning and didn't finish until early afternoon. I usually wear a long sleeve shirt when I mow, but that day I was wearing a short sleeve shirt and I got one of the worst sunburns I have had in a long time. Luckily, there was Preparation H in the medicine cabinet. If you haven't used Preparation H on a sunburn, go buy some NOW and keep it on hand. It works like a charm to take away the burning pain and to turn a sunburn into a tan practically overnight. Your skin won't peel either, provided you stay cool and out of the sun for the next day or two. And no, this post isn't about Prep H; I just got carried away. Besides, you need to know how I got my dark farmer's tan.

So anyway, I now had a super dark farmer's tan next to my super light normal skin, and I wanted to wear a sleeveless dress to an event in a few days. I considered sunless tanners or spray on bronzer, but I didn't know if the color would match or if I could get it dark enough. Then I saw a commercial on tv for Covergirl Tru Blend Matte Made Foundation. The selling point of the commercial is that the makeup doesn't transfer onto clothing and stays on when other makeup melts into creases. Naturally, I wondered if I could use it on my upper arms.

The next day, I was at Target and looked for the makeup. That Target only had four shades of the makeup. The two darker shades were D40 and D70. D40 looked too light and D70 looked too dark but it was hard to see through the glass bottles. I felt like Goldilocks looking for makeup, without the middle shade that was jussst right. What I really needed was a demo, but this was Target, not Dillards, and there was no demo bottle. A peek inside the bottle would tell me the true color, but under the lid was a pump top, not a view of the makeup. I have never, ever, opened makeup in a store before, but I did this time.

I pumped a small dot on my fingertip and touched it to my pasty upper arm next to the tan line and it wasn't a bad match, but I thought it might look lighter when it was spread out across my skin. It didn't. That tiny dot was now a dark streak across my arm and I couldn't rub it in because I still had a little more makeup on my finger. So I wiped my finger inside my wrist, which was a shade darker than pasty, and then tried to smooth out the makeup on my upper arm. It spread out, but didn't thin very much, just enough to be a perfect match for my tan. Then I tried to rub off the streak on my wrist and only smeared it up the inside of my arm. By this time, the palm side of my hand was also dark tan too.

No problem, I thought, I have a water bottle in my cart, I'll just get it wet and wipe it off. No dice. Water just beads up on the makeup. Then I looked around the makeup aisle, which was mercifully empty, and couldn't find anything resembling a wet wipe, a makeup removing pad, kleenex, or anything - nothing except makeup. Now what? Search another aisle, where there were people, or just hold my head up and go through checkout with brown streaks on my palm, inner arm and upper arm? I tossed the D70 into my cart, clamped my streaked arm and hand to my side, and managed to get out of there with nothing more than a few strange looks.

Once I got home, I tried to wash off the makeup with soap and water. It thinned it down to a brown stain, but didn't totally remove it. Hand sanitizer removed it completely though. If you need to fill in a light area in your tan, this product works. It works great on legs too, and goes on without streaking. And of course, it probably works great on the face since it was made for that. But take my advice, don't try it out in the store!

Covergirl Tru Blend Matte Made Liquid Foundation

November 07, 2018

Coincidence or God Sent?

Monday afternoon, I had some errands to run in a town not far away. I forgot that the time change Sunday made it get dark earlier and was worried I wouldn't get home before dark. I have light sensitivity and night blindness so it's not a good thing if I am driving at dusk or later. But here it was, dusk, as I turned off the highway onto my road.

This particular stretch of road is pretty deserted, in fact, I don't remember ever turning off the highway at the same time as another car. So I was surprised and a little annoyed when I saw car lights behind me. Not only were their headlights blinding me, but they were driving close enough behind me that I knew they wanted to go faster than I was going. I always feel pressured to go faster when a car is following that close. Not that they were tailgating, but they were close.

I finally got to T intersection and hoped they would take the right since I was taking the left. As I rounded the corner to go left (which is west), the last rays of the setting sun totally blinded me and I couldn't see anything. I couldn't see the road and I couldn't see the fields on either side. Just the blinding sun in front of me and the scene in my rearview mirror. Then, that car rounded the corner behind me and then I couldn't see anything in the rearview mirror except their headlights.

I eased over to the side of the road until I felt the rough edge of the road under the tires, and the car passed me. I was getting out my phone to call Hubby to come get me when I realized that the car (it turned out to be an SUV) was blocking a bit of the sun. Even better, their tail lights were so bright, I could see a bit of the road behind it. So I dropped the phone, hit the accelerator, and tucked in behind them. I just prayed that they were going all the way down the road and past my house, or at least until the road turned back to the north and out of that blinding sun.

I'm sure they thought I was following them for some other reason, or maybe road rage. Their speed increased to 50mph in a 35mph zone, (not unusual, unfortunately) on a road so pitted with pot hole patches that I usually go 25mph, but I hung with them until they turned into a place at the bend of the road. By that time, I could see to get around the bend, and once I turned away from the sun, I could see a little bit again. I slowed to a crawl, turned on my bright lights, and made it on home.

When I got home, I had time to think. The odds of someone turning onto that road behind me were slim. Most people who live near me turn at a major exit where the road is somewhat better. The odds of someone on that road going all the way on the west-facing section are also slim. Most people who turn off the highway where I did live on that section before it turns west. It was either a timely coincidence or orchestrated by God, and either way, I am very thankful.

But here is the main question that passed through my mind. Why?

I'll admit, I've had a lot of down days lately and my faith has slipped. I've prayed for healing, I've prayed for an end, and I've prayed for acceptance. I haven't prayed for a guardian angel and I haven't prayed for proof that God hasn't deserted me. (But I've certainly thought it.) So I wondered, why this, and why now?

I don't know. What are your thought? Have you ever had an coincidence that you thought was God sent, or that you were being protected in some way?

November 05, 2018

Can I Outsmart These Deer?

The deer finished off my last lily Saturday night. I thought I would have to put a cage over my lily tank, but then I found this youtube video (below) and I think it may be my answer. I've certainly got enough cat food cans!

If you have a better solution that isn't too conspicuous and doesn't restrict me from walking up to the tank, I'd love to know it.



November 02, 2018

Walking in High Cotton, Hard Times Never Looked So Good


Around here, a good cotton crop is normally about thirty to thirty-six inches tall. The cotton in the field behind me is about sixty inches tall. It is lush and pretty, and totally worthless. Want to know why?  Take a look at cotton from a good year.  I'm not sure if it's the same field.  It was taken in the fall of 2016.


The cotton plant is compact and the cotton is thick and plentiful on the plant.  This field had just been picked except for these two rows so that is why there are some stripped stalks behind this and and empty field.

After a long drought this summer, the cotton crop looked dismal; not just this field, but everything around here was stunted, including corn and hay. By the end of August, most of the cotton in this field was barely a foot tall, with a few bolls hanging from each bare twig. The leaves had long since dried up and fallen off.  By the end of July, these plants had given all they had. Farmers didn't harvest it, either.  Maybe because such slim pickings wouldn't make a profit or the cotton machinery wasn't scheduled to be here. I don't know; I wasn't consulted.

But then, at the end of August, it started raining. And raining. It rained for days on end, stopped for a few days, and then rained again. And suddenly, the crops started growing again. The corn, which had already been stripped and baled, put up new shoots and entire fields of corn were growing again. The puny cotton twigs sprouted new leaves and seemed to fill out overnight. They grew taller and taller, but had very few blooms. Now it's the first of November and they have some flower buds, some bolls ready to open, and still have the cotton bolls that opened in July.  You can see some of that cotton on a plant about five feet left of me.

In the almost forty years we have lived in cotton country, I don't remember ever seeing this happen.  I don't know much about cotton, (which is why farmers don't consult me), but it will be interesting to see what happens next with these plants.  It's time to start planting wheat too, and yet still too wet to get into the fields.  I hope they all had insurance this year.

Farming is risky and stressful and for most, has a small profit margin.  But farmers are a rare breed of optimists.  They can lose money on crops one year do it all over again the next year.



This is my "farmer", getting the hay moved before the storm.  Even though the hay started growing again after the rain, and everyone got a second cutting, cattle ranchers had already been feeding the winter stockpile, so many are still looking for enough hay to get their herds through the winter.  We saw a sign yesterday: Coastal $95 per round bale.  Time to plant coastal!

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I've been asked by a couple of people why I haven't been blogging as much and if I am moving over to Instagram with them.  No, I'm not going to close my blog.  I do have an Instagram account but seldom think to post to it.  I'll try to do better.  I haven't been blogging as much because I've been having more vision problems for the last few months.  Turns out I have thyroid eye disease, aka Graves Eye Disease.  My eyes burn, my near vision is worse, and it hurts to move my eyes, so I haven't been doing much more than I have to do lately.  I've got enough doctor appointments in the next three months to keep them employed, and hopefully, we'll find a solution.