Drum roll please....

*pauses, hand to ear, until she hears a stirring drum roll*

Thank-you...thank-you...

I am pleased to announce the Rebel Gray Socketeer webite!!!

Please check it out and tell me what you think. I only have two pairs of socks listed at the moment, but I'm well on my way to getting the first sock of the third pair completed. :) I'm really enjoying this knitting stuff.

The other day, one of our visitors asked me how long it took me to make a sock. I kind of laughed and said, "Well, that depends on how much TV I watch!"

Now, I just need to talk to Mrs. K about putting them in her sutlery...I don't think she'll have any problem with that at all. (Maybe I'd better figure out some nice tag thingy before Brooksville! :D)

Merry Christmas, everybody!! I'm pleased to say that I almost feel like Christmas. We had a two day cool snap over the weekend which helped. :) It also helps that I just got all my stuff wrapped and poked under our antique Christmas tree. It looks rather measly, but I'm used to have 7 people's things under the tree instead of only three.

The above mentioned cold snap has brought on the winter feeding routine. Yesterday morning I stepped out of the house, pleased with the fact that I needed a jacket, to be greeted by the smell of burnt plant matter. (That is frost bitten kind of burnt. ;P) I already was planning on going across the creek to feed my cows, but upon seeing the state of the grass (it looked like snow), I knew I really needed to go feed them. Wednesday I will be doing my feed-store routine.

Upon my arrival at our place this morning, I was greeted eagerly by all five head (the calf was on the other side of the house). Soon they were running each other off the pellets like their normal greedy selves. Socks is roping some, but she is no where near ready to have her calf. However, I'm not concerned because we learned with old Poky (I miss that cow!), that they fool you with their roping. As far as I can tell Socks is the only one of my four cows who is pregnant.
 
I'm not exactly sure how we are going to do Christmas Eve (we usually do a semi-fancy dinner--but I don't know if Savannah is planning on that); nor Christams day for that matter. I think this is going to be one of the most different Christmases ever.

Here's a few pictures of us taken yesterday, before we headed off to church...

Have a Merry, Merry, Christmas!!!

What? I haven't posted since Monday?? Gracious. Please forgive me...

Tuesday we went to visit cousin Butch. That was fun and Granddaddy even said he'd do it again sometime! That was kind of unexpected because it's a good long haul to Butch's.

This afternoon, I watched an old 1944 movie called "The White Cliffs of Dover" (I wasn't feeling so great). I don't think you could exactly classify it as a war movie or really a romance. It was a Drama more than anything about a woman who loses her husband in WWI and her son in WWII. It was fairly good and it made me cry. I had a feeling the young man was going to die--but what really made me cry was the final sentiment (it was reapeated I think three times, but not unnaturally so), "We must never break faith with our dead again." THAT is what made me weep. For, almost 70 years later, that is what we (our nations--both English and American), have done. We have broken faith with those dead, dying to keep us from the grips of communistic, socialist, facist governments. We have fallen prey to the very clutches they DIED to keep us out of. Why? Well, part of the blame can be laid on them (that pains me to say that--I hate saying anything bad about my beloved WWII vets!), but it goes even further back--to their parents who let things slip. The acedemia also is greatly to blame and I don't know who's fault it is that no one noticed or took it seriously.

I finished the movie and had a little cry...not just over the sadness of the tale (it actually ended on a hopeful note even as the boy dies) but over the state of our land and how it must grieve those veterans still alive who are truely aware of what is going on now. Sometimes I wonder if I'm too strongly patriotic. Anything and everything that messes with my country infuriates and/or saddens me.

Anyway, now that I got that out of my system... :) Have a lovely evening!

Episode 3 of James and Burke has been posted over at 'Stories By Racheal'! So far, I haven't really heard any feedback on it...I suppose that means it's okay.

This morning (and early afternoon) I de-spidered and pretty well cleaned the garage here. I didn't find an awful lot of spiders, but I did have some of those light brown 2" diameter spidy's streak off. (I killed all three of them eventually.) Those kind of made me jump, but honestly, I think they were more terrified of me than I was scared of them! I swept the garage, stacked boxes, cleaned out the whole summer's worth of sweet-feed sacks (I ended up burning them all since they were molding and several had been used like a litter box when Mama Cat holed her last batch of kittens up in the garage), and wondered at the number of egg cartons we have. Those are all neatly stacked on the shelf. I was surprised that there weren't more spiders around them than there were.

I did not take the fabric (in bags) that Aunt T has put there off the shelf. I did get to thinking though that Savannah and I ought to go through it. It would be better to put it someplace else less...spidery.

I didn't get too creeped out, but I did keep getting the shivers. However, I think that was more because I was sweating and kept going in and out of the shade and then there was a nice little breeze blowing...besides the fact that I was probably on the verge of dehydration. Once I realized that I went and got something to drink.

I also semi-organized a few other things. I'm pleased to say that it looks and feels somewhat better out there than it did when I started. I also aired up the flat tire on the golf cart. I'm just going to have to keep airing it up so it doesn't crack worse. I don't use it much, so it just sits there. (I use it like a saddle rack!)

Anyway, I'm glad I got that done. I'm not particularly looking forward to doing our place across the creek, but I think it needs it worse than this place did (spider-wise; it certainly doesn't have near as much dirt in it because the door isn't stuck in the up position!) However, that will have to wait til later in the week because tomorrow we are going to visit cousin Butch...and then Wendesday I have a chiropractor appointment. (My back has done really good since the last trip...I don't think it has actually hurt me though I have felt it be just on the verge of 'going out' a couple times. It has tended to feel rather stiff down there when I get up though. I think that is because of the horse riding--not an everyday occurance.)

Anyway, that's what I did early today. Since then I've been writing or editing (James and Burke)...you know, it takes a while to take an on-average 5-8 page 'script' and turn it into story format. More time than I expected....'tis fun though and I love writing stories!

I haven't done much today...I've been dragging all day.

This afternoon, around 1:40, the livestock sheriff showed up to take a peek at what I suspected might have been tire tracks in the pasture. (I noticed them yesterday while riding Snip.) He's got a nice truck. It's a white, king-cab Dodge. Anyway, we rode out and walked around some. I think he agreed with me that they looked kind of like tire tracks. He did tell me that he recently learned/found out/was surprised by the fact that tire marks can sometimes still be around a month after they were made. (Personal story of his.)

After coming back to the house, and Mr. B leaving, I went into town and bought a roll of hay for my cows. They were glad to see it. :) I don't know, but they might look just a hair fatter than last time I saw them. Not much, but maybe just at tiny bit--and every little bit is an encouragement as they look pretty awful.

This sound very dry and not very engaging at all, doesn't it? I literally feel like I'm falling asleep--but being the time of day it is--there is no way that is actually going to happen.

So, cheerio, until next time!

I went to town this afternoon...did some grocery shopping after I poked around for a couple hours Christmas shopping. Now, if that was the whole of the story I was going to tell you, then this really would  be a VERY short story. However, it's not.

I went to Sweetbay last. Believe it or not, I got a parking spot right at the very end of the row--the end closest to the door. :) (I was driving the pick-up.) I hopped out and strode (like I always do in boots) across and started to yank on a shopping cart. It was caught on the one in front of it. While engaged in fruitless yanking, an older gentleman with a cane walked up with his grandson. I'm guessing the boy was about 13 or so...a good-looking, clean cut youngster. Anyway, the gentleman saw what was up with me and said something like this to his grandson: "Son, help her get a cart." The boy reached out and grabbed a hold of the carts and then said to me, "Push forward a bit." Seconds later, the cart was free and I was grinning from ear to ear, saying thank-you.

It sure is nice to know that there are gentlemen still out there. Maybe that grandpa will engrain it in the boy so much that he won't need to be prompted to help. The fact that I could have done it myself doesn't factor in...I was grateful for the help and by whom it was given.

This is just to say that my story 'James and Burke', is no longer going to be posted on this blog. I have started another website called "Stories By Racheal" where you can read 'James and Burke' and any future stories. Due to the amount of work it would take to move 'A Gray Kepi' over, I am just leaving it on here.

Anyway, let me know what you think of my new site.

Now, I didn't do anything crazy today--unless you count riding almost to the very back of the leased property. That's rather interesting because I must stay alert--I never know if some nutty squirrel is going to spook Snip. He was rather interested in the dead cow...but I didn't let him dawdle too close or too long next to said corpse.

While back there, I noticed one of the cows was over on this chunk of land by herself. I got to looking at her and concluded that she was the cow that about two days ago I had said to myself, "She's fixing to have a calf." Meandering closer to her, I determined (a guess mainly) that she had had her calf. So, without trying to look like I was searching for it, I took Snip in several different directions around about. I had a feeling the calf was bedded down someplace to the west of where the cow was--blame that on how the cow was acting and where  she was looking--or better yet, when she started watching us closer. Anyway, I was headed west when I saw the calf off to my left. It is white, but other than that I can't tell you about it, being as it bedded down. I wrote it down in my little book (while trying to get Snip to stand still and stop nibbling on that palmetto.)

Anyway, I had a good, uneventful ride. The back-40 is slightly creepy sometimes...particularly when floating through the orange grove one hears Christmas songs played by something that sounds somewhat like a music box. I found another tree stand today too--only it's on the other side of the fence. There are at least three 2x4 constructed deer stands on the leased land. I also saw three raccoons scurring away from us. I don't know if Snip saw them or not, but I had stopped him because I was listening to the squirrels bark and chatter at us. Fortunately, I didn't run in to any dangerous critters. I did almost ride through a spider's web with the spider (a crab-spider) still in it though. I saw it just in time, backed Snip up, and went around the tree from the other side. :D

Snip finds the leased land just as fascinating as I do. He walks along (almost too quickly sometimes) with his ears pricked forward. Here I would like to interject and say that if he was not responding to commands fairly quickly, I would not be riding back there. As is, he is behaving quite well, stopping, turning, and backing without much more than slight pressure on the reins. Admittedly, stopping is his worst point.

I had fun...I just wish I didn't have to fight the bit into his mouth. He KNOWS how to take it and once it's in, he's calm as a cuke. I even think he's been enjoying the rides! He's just bound and determined to make me earn my ride by forcibly stuffing the bit between his teeth. Except for the bit, he's been being super good--mostly.

Oh well...I think God is using this to teach me patience...at least with this critter.

So, I really went crazy this morning. I did one of my spur of the moment projects. I sound so-so...but the point isn't to wow people with my etheral tones. Instead, the point is to show how one little girl loves her veterans. This tribute is especially dedicated to the men who were at Pearl Harbor seventy-one years ago today.

Today, the 7th of December, is a day that brings back some memories...

Last year, at about 4:30 in the afternoon, I took a headlong fall off my horse and broke my wrist. Remember? (If interested in re-reading that tale, you can find it under December 2011 on the "Archives" page. I wasn't using the blog format yet...)

Besides the pain, I was rather disappointed that it was (at earliest) 9 pm by the time Daddy and I left the ER with my fractures splited. (That splint cut the blood off from my pinky finger something bothersome!) The reason I was so disappointed was that I had really, really been looking forward to watching 'Tora! Tora! Tora!'. It has been a family tradition ever since I can remember to watch the movie on December 7th and we hadn't managed to see it for the last 3 years. (I'm fully planning on watching it tonight. I brought our VHS player over for that express purpose!)

The morning of the 7th of December, 1941 witnessed one of the most horrendous attacks our country had ever sustained up to that point in time. Many men died that day as the USS Arizona sunk and the other ships in the harbor were severely damaged. "The day that shall live in infamy" is one that my family has always honored. This is a day never goes by without a thought of the past. Thoughts of the men who died...thoughts of the men who sacrificed their lives so that we could be free. I pray that we will not forget the noble sacrifices of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines--past, present, and future.

While I may have broken my wrist on the day of infamy, even while sitting in the ER I didn't forget these men. (That's not a brag--at all.) I wonder how many young people my age pass the day without any knowledge--or care--of what happened at 8 o'clock that Sunday morning 71 years ago. This, my friends, is a reminder to never, ever, ever forget the men who have died to preserve our freedoms. This is reminder to honor those men...and I don't care if they are 100 or 18 years old! You owe your freedom first, to the grace of God, and second, to the soldiers He has seen fit to bless you with. Don't ever forget that.

God Bless Our Military!

P.S. You won't get any smart-aleck remarks about the Air Force or Navy out of me today....