Cliff and I didn't take our walk this morning, but after he'd been gone a while, Iris and I decided to go; I love to walk in the snow. However, I hadn't gotten a quarter of the way to completing my walk before my cell phone rang: It was Monica, my daughter's oldest girl, saying they had ridden the bus out here; school let out early. As luck would have it, I made about a gallon of hamburger stew today, so they had plenty to eat when they got here. Kids are always starving when they get out of school, aren't they? These two aren't picky at all; they know what good food is! My son's daughter who has been staying here decided to go back home for the night because of the snow that's forecast; she's only five minutes from work at home. A wise decision, I'd say.
Monica and Natalie spent about ten minutes bundling up to go outside in the snow.
Monica wore my Muck boots, which fit her pretty well; Natalie wore Cliff's Muck boots, which of course were too big.
They were barely outside long enough for me to take their picture. Natalie came in, followed by Monica, who wasn't ready to come inside but didn't want to be out there by herself.
Looking through old photos, I found this set of pictures of me and my granddaughters playing on the railroad tracks adjoining our property. If you click on the four-arrow thingie at the bottom-righthand corner of the slide show, you can see it full screen; just hit the "escape" key to get out of the full-screen mode. The dog you'll see in the background is Mandy, may she rest in peace.
Since it was raining, my daughter's two girls came here after school.
I'd been needing their assistance, so it was a good thing.
First of all, eleven-year-old Natalie helped me with some things I didn't understand about Facebook (and subsequently, Yoville; dear Lord, I have to have a job on Yoville? I thought I was retired).
Then she helped me straighten some things out on my cell phone.
Later on, thirteen-year-old Monica took time out from her text-messageing to help me out on a few more things with my cell phone.
I babysit two granddaughters before and after school, and some of the summertime. Since Missouri has a summer school program which pays children $100 for perfect attendance for the duration (one month), that only leaves two months when the girls need all-day care.
They are nine and eleven years old, so it isn't as though they need to be watched every minute; they're not likely to do anything harmful to themselves if I want to go to the barn or garden, or while Cliff and I take our daily walk.
It's even gotten to the point that I don't worry if I'm riding the horse and don't get home in time for their morning arrival, because I know they'll be just fine. Cliff works nights, and he's asleep in the bedroom. And they can dish up their own cereal just fine.
My daughter pays me, by the way, for babysitting.
The girls themselves are no problem; it's trying to schedule the horseback rides and motorcycle rides and little trips that sometimes throws a fly in the ointment.
But this weekend they go spend a month with their other grandma, and some schedules will be tossed out the window. The only time frame I'll worry about is Cliff's going-to-work-at-2:30 PM deadline.
I won't feel I have to get up before 5 AM in order to ride my horse while it's still cool.
If Cliff decides to take a vacation day on Friday and we go for a motorcycle ride, we won't worry about getting home before the girls get home from school. We can take a three-day weekend, knowing the girls are being cared for by Grammy.
So, I consider this coming month as a vacation. I think it's good for them to get away from me for awhile, too. And I'm sure by the time the girls are back, I'll be ready to go back to the schedule.
The granddaughters are out of school now, and they wanted to work on their "horse skills". Monica is a little scared of Blue's back feet, so she cleaned his front ones.
Natalie happily cleaned his back hooves. The old Circle Y saddle is far too heavy, and Blue is too tall, for the girls to try and saddle him. Still, they are learning the right way to catch him, lead him to the barn, and put on the bridle. They haven't mastered it yet, but they're learning.
Natalie is tightening the saddle girth after I put the saddle on the horse.
When they had both had a nice ride in the round pen, Monica asked to comb Blue's mane and tail, and wanted to braid his tail. I suggested she braid his mane instead. When she was finished with that (the braids wouldn't stay in, she said), she led him out to pasture. I think the girls will be great horsewomen; just give them a little time.
These country roads are so slick, the mailman didn't even get here yesterday. What happened to that old oath they used to take... "neither rain, nor sleet..." something like that.
The temperature is around 10 degrees, and the granddaughters are already out playing on the ice. They have black-and-blue bruises on their knees from falling so much on Monday.
I hope I don't give folks the impression that the girls are difficult to have around; actually, they're great. Oh, they have the usual sibling tiffs, three or four times a day, but Cliff and I know how to nip that in the bud, so it doesn't last long.
Honestly, my main problem is I'm such a loner; I like my space, and I hate to share my computer (it's an only-child thing). Add to that the fact that I need to be outside every day for a while to keep from mentally and physically "rusting". And at my age, I don't want to take the risk of falling, so I'm getting pretty rusty.
Funny thing is, it's only about eighty yards from our house to a main highway that is very negotiable now. But our Mercury Grand Marquis is so helpless on ice, eighty yards may as well be five miles.
I'm thinking that if school is in session tomorrow (and Lord knows it had better be), Cliff and I will take the old four-wheel-drive pickup and get groceries. We're out of milk, Kleenex, paper towels, bananas, apples... well, you get the picture. We have plenty to eat, but we really do need a trip to the store.
