Judging By The Water Falling From The Sky

It's raining again.
I know I should be thankful - the rest of the country is getting snow by the bucket load - and happy because we need the water for watering crops and drinking and bathing and all that, but I'm not. It's wet and cold and annoying and unpredictable and I would like to drive around my own town with the top down on my car.
There I said it.
Now you can judge me for being selfish.
Don't worry about it, I am judging me.
It's not like I haven't lived through precipitation before. My second year of college it rained so much the water was up to my knees when crossing the street. And I did live in The Frozen North for most of my life.
But in neither place did I own a convertible and I have found it is much more fun to drive with the top down.
On the way home from my parents' tonight I was increasingly anxious about the whistling noises coming from my car. It's true there can be quite a breeze out in The Desert - every car whistles an extraordinary amount - but earlier this week I had driven LBO home from school - with the top down natch - and apparently we did not put it up correctly because on the way to school in the morning one corner popped out and freaked me all kinds of out.
So it made me nervous to hear noises, loud noises, while driving home. There aren't any noises when the top is down.
Of course tonight, it also started raining on the way home.

This is me and look what nice things do to me.

Irrevocable

Is there some law that says these business things can't go smoothly?
I understand growing pains and getting into the swing of things and learning curve and all of that.
I do.
But why, once we've made all our mistakes and figured out the whole system and gotten some prospects that are promising and some people who like the way of life up here and want us to succeed - if only for their benefit - after all of that WHY does the roof still fall in?
Or the bottom fall out?
Or whatever the expression is. Whatever is happening, it is not me falling into a pile of money.

This is me and if I ever meet Murphy I'm going to punch him in the nose.

Hoo-Ah!

The family business was supposed to receive an order of horse feed this week. Monday was a complete debacle with the wrong order in the truck, a broken forklift, unhappy customers, suppliers, and employees. There were words exchanged with and about people. Such a bad vibe.

The replacement order was supposed to come this morning but the driver called yesterday and said could he come in the afternoon since he was arriving early.

We said sure.

Only the forklift was still busted and the repairs were not being completed until today. So with a grand total of three hours, I had to find a rental forklift and have it delivered to the house in the back of beyond. I asked for a small forklift - we were only moving eight pallets of feed - but with the time crunch, they sent the first one available.

Check out what I got to drive:

I had one of Tarzan's cousins tell me once that every woman should have the experience of driving heavy machinery. She said it was very empowering.

I think this qualifies.

Feed moved, deliveries made, happy customers, money in the bank, happy employees.

This is me on a much bigger forklift than planned.

Raining And Pouring

Today makes the second day I have been able to drive my car. Once home from the dealership and then today.
Logistics being what they were, I was not able to take the new car to my parents house this week.
And today it was raining. Which means half of the time I drive my new car, I can't put the top down and what's the point of having a convertible if you have to drive around with the lid on it?


This is me, wondering what lesson I should take from this...

Ginger

My sister, IWH's horse died today.

Nothing dramatic or violent, just old age. Ginger was 30, which in horse years is a lot. She's the first horse my family ever owned and she's always been the lead mare. She moved with them from The Real Desert and through every subsequent move Ginger has managed to stay in charge and manage the other, younger mares.

She had her share of horse challenges, getting strangles and a weird growth on her face that had to be removed a couple of times.

She was a tough old thing, never one for nuzzling in the hopes of a treat, but I think she was glad IHW was there at the end, holding her head and stroking her neck.

For IHW, it's not the sort of Valentine's Day I would wish on anyone.

And yet...

Her faith and trust blew me away, as she sat in the corral, stroking Ginger's head. She prayed and asked that Heavenly Father heal her horse or take her quickly so that she wouldn't suffer anymore.

"He knows best," she said when it was over.

That's some kind of strength.

This is me, rest in peace Ginger.

Because A New Car Wasn't Enough

Tarzan took me to The Melting Pot for dinner last night.
I sure love to eat there - the Baked Potato cheese fondue was amazing - but I feel just a teensy bit spoiled. All he got for the holiday was a card that called our relationship unnatural. (One of those joke cards.)
Before we went out ATL wanted to take pictures, so here you are:

For people who like our jeans and T-shirts we sure dress up a bunch.

This is me with two (2!) Valentine's Day presents.

Behind Door #3...A New Car!

In the past couple of weeks my trusty Saturn has developed some transmission issues. As in it no longer likes reverse - at all - and shifting from 2nd to 1st gear requires some serious negotiations with the engine. (It's an automatic transmission.) I took it to our mechanic and he said it wasn't worth the time and money to fix/replace the sensors and parts and possibly the whole transmission complete. He would if we wanted but his suggestion was to get a different car.
Tarzan, not one to bemoan material possessions, immediately started looking at slightly used vehicles in our area.
I was a little bit sad; I've driven this car for nearly four years, we've been through a lot. My quitting my job, working at the high school, volunteering, parents moving three times, transporting A LOT of kids to church and school activities, taking cats to and from the veterinarian. We knew each other very well.
And then Tarzan found a sweet little car which we'd always talked about wanting but never had the nerve to buy because it's not as practical as our other cars and we feel guilty getting anything flashy. But the price was good, the dealer was down the road and it had really low miles.
We went, we looked, we drove, we paid, we brought it home.
So I went from this:Which was very dependable, had FANTASTIC gas mileage, but didn't have a lot of flair. Manual locks and windows and it was small, which mattered not to me but bothered Tarzan a little bit. It had an itty bitty motor with not much power.

Driving up hills was a job that had to be planned well in advance.

I went from that to this:

My dream since moving here to The Jungle has been to drive a convertible. They're very much 'the thing' here because of the fabulous weather all year and I have been just the slightest bit envious of the top down driving I see. I fully expect to love this car. There are some serious luxury items in this 2004 Chrysler Sebring; the heated seats for one. NEVER expected that. All I was hoping for was power windows and door locks - which it does have. It's standard on all Chrysler's I believe - but since we've never owned one we didn't know - to have the estimated mileage for each tank of gas, the estimated miles before refueling is required, average miles per gallon and length of time the engine has been on. All very snazzy.

I'm going to need to invest in some hats or scarves or something to keep my hair out of my face and it only seats four - instead of the standard five - but I think I'll be okay with that.

I've been hit on once already and I haven't owned it for 12 hours yet.

This is me, and my groovy new car.

To My Tree Doctor

Dear Tree Doctor;

Is it a problem that my apricot tree is budding already?

It's February:

Also, I did the off-season pruning only last week. Is that bad?

This is me, respectfully.

Would Love Me A Train

How do commuters manage it? This back and forth from my parents house stuff is really messing with my sense of time and space.
I missed a meeting last week because I plumb forgot what day I was in.
Didn't remember it until three days later.
I can see how taking the train became such an advantage to the daily commuter. Get on, read, sleep, change clothes, make calls, drink, all while lettiing someone else do the driving.
It's a beautiful system.
Dang these Jungle inhabitants who love their Independence and never put trains in.

This is me and it's a good thing I have Internet in both places.

You Might Not Have To Have Been There To Get It

You may not read Robert Jordon's Wheel of Time series - honestly, it's a daunting task; fourteen books with at least one more to come and each epistle is 800+ pages, not for the faint of heart - but if you've heard anything at all about it you will appreciate this farcical book cover:

This is me, thanks QC for the joke.

Deep Breath

I'm all about the olfactory experiences right now it would seem.
Walking out of the post office today I caught the maintenance crews working hard.
Fresh cut grass in February. There's nothing like it.

This is me, loving the smells.

Completely Pure

I wish computers had that smell-o-vision stuff they were talking about in the 60's.
It would be so much easier to explain the difference between artificial vanilla flavoring and real vanilla flavoring if you could smell it. I lucked out the last time I went shopping - usually artificial vanilla is SO MUCH cheaper that I settle - the real stuff was on sale. And I had a coupon for a large bottle.
So I bought it.
It is awesome.
The cookies are baking right now and I can forget all the stresses, the worry of travel, the forty-seven things I haven't done and the sixty-two still to come.
I can ignore all of that when the real vanilla scent is wafting through the room.
I'd forgotten about the warmth of that pungent smell when one is baking, the extra zip in the air that comes from the real thing is just too good to forgo for a piddling little thing called price.

This is me and I will never go back.

The Great Secret - Unveiled

As you may recall Tarzan has been acting all secretive and stuff lately, giving thinly veiled references to our "big secret." As you further may recall I promised it wasn't that big a deal.
BUT
Tarzan wants the big unveiling, so here we are.
My family - my parents really - have opened a business.
As many of you know, my parents have horses and live in The Desert where there is much room for such things. The company that had been supplying their horse feed and supplies was going to be closed because the owner has a family thing and is moving down close to the border. With the opportunity presenting itself and the location right in their literal backyard it seemed a no-brainer to buy the feed company and continue the feed delivery service to the locals who have a surprising number of horses, goats, chickens and dogs.
This solves the problem of my parents horse feed delivery and who doesn't want to have their own business? One that can operate out of your house.
Okay, not everyone does, but it's ideal for us and that's the whole point.
My part in this grand plan has been to cart things and people around, offer opinions on how stupid bureaucracy is and order office supplies. Despite my love affair with post-its, or maybe because of it, we are proud to announce the opening of [my family's] Desert Feed Delivery!
If you and your horse/goat/chicken/dog are ever in our area and are really hungry stop on by and get a free sample. We even have our own Facebook page.

This is me, and we're in business.