the horses is coming!!

No matter how hard she tries, she can never fill their horseshoes.

I've been pining for my horses. You see, back in late November my horse-trainer decided to move down state. It was a difficult problem for me:  I wanted to keep the horses close but I didn't have the resources or the time to deal with them. Mom was getting sicker and I had zero spare time to manage or clean up after horses. I made the decision to let them move with the trainer, until I could make some rational decision in the future.

Death and dying are outstanding refiners of attitude. Through Mom's illness I missed being with my horses....missed being outside, missed touching their muzzles, missed the stress relief riding a great horse can be for me.

The wiener dog instinctively knew I had a horse-shaped hole in my heart. She gamely tried to humor me. She patiently endured my enthusiastic demonstration of how to make a cool cowboy string halter.

Isn't she having fun?

See, Roxy-Doxy....with just a little bit of soft rope, a creative cowboy can make an effective horse-leading device!

Don't ask her about the day I hand-galloped her around the circle driveway.

Lucky for the wiener...the horses is coming! the horses is coming!! I've been planning. Death has made me realize how much I truly and deeply enjoy my equines. I don't want them out of my life.....yet. (sorry, Texan...he thinks horses are expensive!) They will be returning around the middle of this month.

happy times at a horse show in Albuquerque, NM

I'm giddy. Can't wait to brush and lead and ride and get horse kisses and be outside with friends.

Roxy-Doxy is glad, too. She wasn't looking forward to feeling these in her sides.

I hope you are spurred to achieve great things this week!

Rope halter love to all.

proud 'person of walmarts'

It was our familiar ritual for six years.

Mom and I trekked to walmarts weekly to fetch supplies. It would have been easier for me to do her shopping for her, but how much fun is that? Picking her up at the home, assisting her to the car, driving to walmarts, and situating her old bod in the zippy electric cart was the stuff of Joy legend.

It irritated Joy that the elderly advanced-aged greeter liked me. She thought his crush was unbecoming and she expressed her displeasure.

What am I supposed to do, Mom? Run from the old guy? My hugs make his day! You're just jealous!

She would've LOST it had she known he stalked me while I was shopping and plied me with free candy. Texan, are you reading this?? 

I offered to help her shop. She replied she didn't require my assistance. After she laid a tire track up the back of my skinny ankle, I was ecstatic for her independent spirit! More time for me to hang out on the ammo aisle. I was always ready to hear the announcement.....

Attention walmart choppers, because of an unfortunate motorized cart incident, we will no longer have fresh eggs available for sale today. Would the daughter of Joy please report to the security office?
****slinking out of the store****

As her world grew smaller, the forays to walmarts became more important.  It was one place she could have independence. She'd gleefully drive where she damn-well pleased in her motorized cadillac.

Sometimes I'd catch a glimpse of her in the aisles....I swear the woman touched each blessed item in the store! She'd buy everything from nicotine gum to brassieres, sugar-free yogurt to micro-fiber panties. She desired the best deal and she'd study the advertised discounts. Stopped counting the number of times she carefully checked her receipt and we had to go back to customer service for the $.50 or $1.00 they'd stiffed her.

The last time this occurred, I bribed her with $2.00 cash if we could just let it go and go home and put our groceries away. She was unamused and muttered I hadn't learned the real value of a dollar. 

It usually required Joy about 1 1/2 hours to complete her basic shopping. The time she wanted to purchase a digital camera and a photo printer required a little longer.

What are you wanting a digital camera for, Mom?

I want to take pictures of my friends (at the home). I want to print pictures of them so I can remember what they looked like. (This was after a couple of her bestest girlfriend bridge buddies passed on)

The 83 year-old woman was a picture-snapping demon for weeks on end. She took pictures of all the residents, the office help, the girls in the cafeteria, and the maintenance workers. All photos were taken 'down-low'...wheelchair perspective only. The photos were odd...always looking up at the subject, but she was proud of them.  On special occasions, she would frame them and give them to the person as a gift.

I went to walmarts by myself this week. Didn't see my greeter boyfriend...must've been his day off. I got my shopping done....quickly....efficiently. Home in a snap. Sigh.

Check out this website and chuckle
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

Can you spot Joy and me?

Discount shopping love to all.

her birthday

Today would have been her 84th birthday.

Joy and her older brother, Scott

She was just six days short of the big day.

Her passing makes the memories of her 83rd birthday all the more precious. I think we devoured a dinner of steak and crab legs last year to celebrate. Had some family over. She relished every minute of her birthday.  Said they NEVER served steak and crab legs in the retirement home.

The mood of our chicken coop here On a Chicken Wing and a Prayer has been...well....sad, is what it's been.

But we take solace in sharing our fond and funny memories of Mom....Grandma.... Aunt...Sis.......Joy. She was one-of-a-kind and we will miss her. The hospice nurse told me I would never go anywhere without her and she'd never go anywhere without me. I think that's right.

With her ornery grandson

Birthday Joy love to all.

search for Spring

On a mission to document Spring! Grabbed the camera and tromped around the homestead with my wiener sidekick to take killer, artistic shots of the emerging season. I envisioned tender buds on shrubs, trees preparing to burst forth and shy crocus revealing their purple crowns above the snow.  I desired to show you, my fellow chicken-wingers, the gloriousness of the changing seasons.


Sniffing out Spring



What I found:  dead (or gravely injured) nandina, boxwoods with brown and frost-damaged leaves, and a couple of brave daffodil bulbs peeking up only to have their green tops brutalized by the recent cold snaps. Who wants to see a photo of such winter's carnage?? Not me.

Spring seems far, far away.

Like a distant galaxy.  Like Pluto.  It's there, but we can't see it with the naked (I said naked!!) eye.

I'm sure it's charging up the hill, streaking like a meteor.

But I must use the telescope to catch a glimpse.  Hey!....did you just see that....that shooting star??

The reminders of Winter are so.....ever-present.

And the promise of Spring is still just that.....a promise.

Winter and grayness are still the focus.  Spring may be coming....but it's blurry.

And it's carrying a ball.

Anticipatory love to all.

tough guy

Sunday found me at Mom's nursing home visiting with the residents. My sidekick today was the amazing, famous waving bichon freee-say Sophie.
Remember her CHRISTMAS ANTICS?

She's the BEST nursing home dog...she'll do anything for a treat. Can we say time to diet??  Wave, speak, play dead, shake, sit up....you name it and Soph will do it.  Sometimes she waves out of the kindness of her little white heart, but mostly she waves her paws off for foodical tidbits. The dog loves the nursing home!

enjoying warmer temperatures at the lake last summer

The residents have different reactions to the famous waving bichon.  One nice lady (whose head is always perilously close to dropping into her mashed potatoes) manages to lift her heavy head and smile. Sophie waves. Another resident (who is barely verbal) speaks and wants to pet her. Sophie waves. Another resident gives her a very hearty 'HEL-LO'.  Sophie waves.

I met a new friend...a resident named 'D'.  D spoke slowly and articulately of his two poodles he dearly loved. Sophie waved. Said his children had to do something with them when he went into the hospital last June. He never had the heart to ask what they did with his two beloved pets and his children never volunteered the information. Sophie waved. I told D he looked too young and healthy to be at the nursing home. He proudly related he was 80 and he had had 15 strokes. (15!!)  He asked if I would visit room 17 whenever I came around with the dogs.

Of course, I will. You must be a some kinda tough guy, D, to have survived 15 strokes!

No, I'm not a tough guy....I have a big God.

Sophie waved. I waved. If you can't find me in Mom's room, look for me in Room 17.

The spirit of Room 17 love to all.

doppelganger dolls

Never cared much for dolls.  I was more of a singin', dancin', makin' up plays sort of drama kid.

To tell you the truth, dolls kinda creep me out.  Any of you remember the Twilight Zone episode with Agnes Morehead, where the little alien people landed on her roof?  She went nuts and tried to kill the little folks (looked like dolls to me) with a butcher knife?

Pediophobia (fear of dolls) must be universal.

Need any proof other than the ghoulish Chucky movie series?

Chucky in Child's Play #3!

Isn't he getting more and more adorable?  So loveable, he took an evil bride.

Who could forget Seed of Chucky...a very bad seed, indeed.

****best Rod Serling voice imitation****
Imagine, if you will, my shock and utter horror when I was confronted with these 2 characters at our office recently.

Over my screaming and the embarassing puddle on the carpet, the middle Sprout struggled to explain.......

Mom, they're dolls of me and GP from  iamastuffedanimal.com

See.....they make dolls to your likeness.  Can you tell that GP is dressed as a triathlete-sunglasses, swimming goggles and cool Ironman outfit?

I dunno about doppelganger dolls.  Seems kinda sinister, Sprout.



Can you guess who had -0 temps last night, with 50mph winds and lots of snow?
  Beastly abomindable snow dolls!

OK, Sprout.  Promise me you'll keep them away from the DVR.  You're a goner if you see Chucky on your Netflix bill.

Snowy love to all you Chicken Wing dolls.

Super Sunday

What a week! Not one I want to re-live anytime soon.

Like much of the country, West Texas was in Old Man Winter's icy clutch last week. Temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind blew for three days straight 40 to 50 mph. Wind chills registering -30F!!

The Texan and I did battle with no gas (not the stomach kind, the house-heating kind), no water in the house because of frozen pipes, and a big water leakage freeze-a-palooza with our well. The Texan is seeing money signs flying around possible replacement of the well. 

Checked out some of our cattle at the grow-yard yesterday. Lots of the young cattle didn't make it through the cold blast. Some of their sad, lifeless bodies were drug to the side of the yard. Other bodies were still littering the pens.  The owners and employees of this cattle grow-yard looked drawn and weary.  They'd worked their butts off under unbelievably bitter conditions to save cattle.  Talk about good people....they are my heroes.  Crazy storms.....s**t happens.  Let's keep on keepin' on.

But hey, we're still here and we have lots for which to be grateful.  Today it is snowing, and it almost seems warm compared to the frigid weather of just a few days ago.  We desperately need this moisture.

To kick-off your Super Sunday, I'm sharing this little, short (har-har) video. It gives you a taste of what it's like to live with a highly interactive wiener dog. She's doing what she was born to do. Perhaps it will make you smile??

Now....lean back in your recliner. Light the fire. Gather family/friends and the young'uns around.  Grab your favorite adult beverage and scoop that chip deep into your favorite carb-laden dip.  Savor this Sunday.  Eat a brat for me, will you?
Highly interactive love to all.