Palo Duro Canyon

This big guy is

SICK, SICK, SICK

and it's breaking my heart.

We came back early from our trip to Amarillo

as the neighbor texted us saying that RHETT

was very ill.

We knew we couldn't leave him overnight alone so

we headed back after the show

and arrived home about 1:30am.

It was a VERY long night

but I am glad we didn't leave him here alone

b/c he definitely needed us!

After Blake detected that he was pooping blood

I rushed him over to the emergency animal clinic.

They didn't seem to concerned about the bloody poo

but rather the vomiting going along with it.

We have been cleaning the house,

cleaning RHETT,

and washing towels

on repeat today.

Hopefully things will improve by tomorrow.

If not we are headed to our vet in the am.

george henry isn't ill

just lazy!

We headed up to Amarillo Saturday am

to eat some good food,

hike Palo Duro Canyon

and see TEXAS the musical.

We had an early supper

at Coyote's Bluff

and it was delicious.

We split green chile cheese fries

and a green chile cheeseburger with bacon,

ha!!!

Coyote Bluff,

literally the tiniest restaurant I've ever eaten in

Palo Duro Canyon

2nd largest canyon in USA

Palo Duro Canyon

is the starting point of the Red River

(which runs thru Shreveport).

Unfortuantley,

due to the severe drought

this is all that's left of the river.....

Palo Duro at dusk

The whole reason for our trip

was to see "TEXAS" the musicial.

It was very good!

If you are ever in the area during the summer months

you should try and make it to a show.

(It only runs May-August)

Please say a little prayer for RHETT

that he feels better soon

and that whatever is making him so ill

will go away!

I sure do worry about him.

Hope everyone has a good week!

CMG

Weekend Recap

The first sip of water I had in Lubbock

I knew we would need one of these....

The water out here is chalky in taste

and cloudy in color = not good!

Sierra Springs is the most delicious water you have EVER tasted

but comes with a pretty steep price tag;

$50 for 6 bottles of WATER!!

So at Blake's suggestion

we decided to try an inline water filter.

Try is the key word here.

After 4 hours, 20 towels

and lots of inappropriate words later

we shut off the water at the street

and went to bed.

Friday morning we woke up

and immediately called a plumber.

Everyone we called said "we can be there next week."

Ma'am,

I just told you we have a HUGE leak under the kitchen sink,

by next week we are liable to have floated away!!

Thankfully Roto-rooter had an opening

and Neil came over and saved the day!!

In a mere 50 minutes

he had managed to clean up the mess we had made

and get the silly thing to work without any problems.

I guess all it takes

is the correct parts,

knowledge of what you are doing

and patience

none of which we entail

(or for this project atleast!)

I haven't tried the water yet

but it's nice to know it works properly!

Saturday,

we woke up to finish yardwork we started last weekend.

We have the world's largest backyard

and one day is not enough time to do the yard!

That afternoon,

the inlaws came intown.

It was a short visit

but everyone enjoyed it.

We went to our usual Saturday 5pm service at church

and then went over to Tiny and Fat Daddy's for his

birthday celebration!

We topped the evening off with some

Marble Slab ice cream

and good conversation.

We woke up Sunday

to a delicious breakfast by my sweet husband

and the went to play golf at the Rawls course.

It was the slowest round of golf ever

but we enjoyed visiting and

watching the jack rabbits!

We enjoyed our nice, relaxing weekend

filled with family and fun!

Hope everyone had a good week!

CMG

Louisiana meets Texas

Kristen and Stu Atnipp

are dear friends of Kristen and Dave Buchanan.

Kristen Buchanan sent me an email awhile back with Kristen Atnipp's contact info

and I just let time get away from me.

Kristen and Stu just moved to Lubbock

as Stu is going back to get his Geology degree

so we are kind of in the same boat

except they are having a baby,

TOMORROW!!!

Well, Tuesday while at Best Buy

Blake spotted them and went over to say hi.

About 45 minutes later,

we exchanged numbers and vowed to stay intouch

and even made some plans to hangout Saturday night.

They were so sweet to invite us to their friends, the Ortloff's,

crawfish boil this past weekend.

I had previously met Leslie at a Kappa function

and I saw her at the courthouse often as she is a "land lady" too!

Such a small world!

So we ventured over to the Ortloff's Saturday afternoon

and had a blast!

It was so much fun to meet new people,

and get some good Louisiana food!

(Leslie's husband Clayton's family is from South Louisiana

so his crawfish and red beans and rice were spot on!!)

Delicious!!

Even Blake ate a few!!

Blake playing with sweet Riverson

Getting dirty but so worth it!!

We had a wonderful time

and are looking forward to the next get together with everyone.

There is a great group of people in Lubbock around our age

so I am beginning to believe that the next 3 years won't be so bad!

Hope everyone is staying out of the heat!

It is HOT, HOT, HOT here.

CMG

Jethro and Atticus

We got Jethro and Atticus last Sunday.

It took them a couple of days to get accustomed to their new surroundings

but they were really beginning to get comfortable.

Atticus (right) Jethro (left)

It has been a full time job keeping RHETT and george henry away from the coop

and last night I failed...

miserably.

RHETT was wimpering to go outside while we were eating supper so I let him out.

I forgot he was out there!

I opened the door and started calling for him

but couldn't see to find him anywhere.

And then I spotted his big bushy tail

IN THE COOP.

I was heartbroken.

Jethro and Atticus were dead.

BEG was so sad.

george henry was clueless.

I feel like the worst mom in the world.

I asked for these birds

and I didn't keep them safe.

Their nice little "safe" retreat we built them

ended up being their death chamber

and I am so sad.

CMG

Chicken Coop

Blake and I have been enjoying farm fresh eggs from our neighbor who grew up in Idalou.

Her mother still lives on the farm

and recentley offered us chickens so we could have our own eggs!

We agreed but had to build a coop first.

We have been rather busy lately

but today we finally bit the bullet

and built the coop.

We used our neighbors old screens so our project cost.....

$0!

Setting up the screens

Blake put a screen where the hole is

and henged it so that it will lift up

so we can rake the coop out and clean it;

pretty darn smart!

Tada....

(I'm going to paint their names on the bottom)

And in honor of our real chickens,

we got a fake chicken in the front yard!

P.S. Yes we chained him to the house column.

I don't want anyone to steal him!

There's a store on the side of I20 near Sweetwater

that is always closed when we pass by.

But Friday on our way to Abilene to return the trailer,

we caught her while she was still open

and snagged this cute guy.

Hope everyone had a good, productive weekend.

We sure did!

CMG

4th of July Weekend

Last Thursday we headed to Shreveport for a BUSY weekend

filled with family, golf, moving, food and fireworks.

Friday morning the boys,

Daddy, Mike, BEG and Tom,

headed to Squire Creek for golf.

They said the course was beautiful

and a bit difficlut but they enjoyed themselves.

(I have a picture somewhere)

Milly, ML and I went down to the Farmers Market.

It was HOT but we got some delicious produce for the weekend.

Rebecca and Murphy

stopped by Grandmother's for a visit

Nonna came by too

When the guys returned from golfing

we all headed up to the camp for the weekend.

RHETT enjoyed swimming in the dirty water

and riding in the boat

There is no picture to prove it

but I skied for the first time in 15 years.

I got up without incident

but my knees turned to jelly quickly so I didn't stay up for long

but I DID IT!!

Blake and I made our onion rings,

which were a hit

M made her famous catfish

And Monnie ate them all =)

RHETT was a bit unsure of Murphy all weekend

but they finally bonded

We got up early Monday morning

and headed to Gladstone to deal with this:

We had left the majority of our furniture at Gladstone

until someone moved in.

Thankfully,

we now have tenants

but that meant we had to get everything out.

And had to make it fit on this =/

Somehow BEG and Mike made it work, yay!

Driving 10.5 hours like this was interesting to say the least.

We made multiple stops on the side of the interstate

b/c our things were about to take flight.

But we made it

with everything still on the trailer and in one piece!!

After we finished up moving,

we headed to the Barnwell Center for food and fireworks.

Unfortuantely,

it started pouring down rain about 10 minutes before the fireworks were slated to start.

I was a little sad b/c 1) I LOVE fireworks and really wanted to see them

and 2) all of my furniture was on an open air trailer in Monnie's driveway.

Thankfully I was worried about bird's pooping on my things

and made the boys put tarps over the trailer

so my things were spared from the majority of the water.

Here we are inside the Barnwell

eating our sandwiches compliments of M

and waiting for the rain to stop.

They finally shot the fireworks at 10:05

and they were absolutely beautiful!

Well worth the wait.

We stopped in Abilene on our way home to eat and stretch out legs.

RHETT refused to get back in the car, ha!

We headed to Abilene last night after Blake's class

to get the remainder of our things,

Mike and ML brought some boxes back for us in their car,

and to drop the trailer he borrowed from a friend.

It is so nice to finally have all of things in one place,

well almost all of our things.

There is one more load in Shreveport

that Milly and Gilbo will bring in a small U-Haul trailer

when they come visit next month.

We hope that everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July weekend.

CMG