Happy New Year

All the dogs around here want to wish my readers a wonderful New Year.  
Here you'll see the grandson's Great Dane, Titan, whining until he gets Iris to give him her ball.





Next, you'll see Titan trying to make friends with Angel.

Angel is pretty scared of him, but she doesn't run away.  He'll bat those king-sized paws at her, but he never touches her with them, only smacks the ground beside her.  Titan spent most of the day with us yesterday.

He followed Cliff around for a couple of hours, as Cliff got on and off the tractor.  Titan is one of the best companion dogs I've ever seen; he wants to be around his people.  


The high spot of 2011 around here was Cliff's retirement.  We have both enjoyed it thoroughly.  Yes, money is tight sometimes, but Cliff is so relaxed and at ease knowing he doesn't have to go to work.  It was the right thing for him to do.  
As of today, my only goals for 2012 are to visit Wyoming and Montana, and to find another bred Jersey heifer or cow, since it looks like Bonnie isn't going to re-breed.  It would be nice if we could find one equal to her.  Yes, I do have Jody waiting in the wings, but she's still young, and it will be awhile before she can be bred.  
I am so thankful for everything we have.  

I wish every one of you, my readers, a wonderful 2012.  I see this is Leap Year!

So many ways to say Happy New Year

Happy New Year

I hadn't planned to see the new year in, but since Cliff worked different hours for New Year's Eve and got home at 9 P.M., I decided to stay up with him. At midnight I was sitting on his lap waiting for my New Year's kiss; at 12:05, I was in bed. I'm a real party animal, I am.

At 5 A.M., I was wide awake, and at 5:30 I got up and made my coffee.

The forecast looks bitter, with no temperatures above the teens for the next several days. This sort of winter, of course, only serves to make spring more beautiful when it comes. I'm getting a seed catalogue almost every day now, but I'm tossing them in the trash; I prefer to do my seed-shopping online. Anyway it's a little early to be buying seeds; knowing me, I'd put them away and forget where they are.

My oldest granddaughter, Amber, came yesterday and spent the night. She and I watched an excellent movie I'd recorded on DVR, "Gone Baby Gone". There was lots of profanity in it, and since it was on TNT, substitute words were dubbed in; that took some getting used to, since the dubbed-in words were pretty ridiculous at times.

When Cliff got home, I told him about the excellent movie and ended up watching it again with him. It's a movie that left me thinking about what is right and wrong, and realizing that there are some gray areas after all... not everything is cut and dried. I'd recommend "Gone Baby Gone" to any adult, if you can put up with the bad language.

I won't be cooking black-eyed peas today; that's one of the few foods Cliff detests, right on his list with oysters, yogurt, and turnips.

I'm thinking maybe some of Pioneer Woman's chicken spaghetti would be in order.

How I spent New Year's Eve

Cliff's sister Rena came over after Cliff got home at 9 o'clock PM.

We watched the first DVD in the Johnny Cash Show set. I love those old clips from the Johnny Cash Show.

Cliff kissed me at midnight; then he gave his sister a kiss.

We watched Robbie Knievel do his big jump. I love daredevils and outlaws.

It's one of the best New Year's Eves I've had, topping off one of my best years ever.

My best years, though, were the ones when I had my babies: 1967 and 1969.

And this, to the love of my life:


God bless us all.

New Year musings

As I did my noon-day meal preparation and then the cleanup afterward, I kept thinking about how connected we all are, here on the Internet; and about the benefits we receive from knowing one another.

I had merely to mention in my AOL journal one time what a slob I am when it comes to housework; a reader on the east side of this great country told me about Flylady. I certainly don't stick with Flylady's advice very well, but when I do it's a wonderful thing. Every little bit helps!

On Tractor Tales message board, some of the fellows kept mentioning Craigslist. Lo and behold, once I inquired of them what it was and how to find it, I discovered the best way in the world of buying and selling, and at no charge!

In my kitchen hangs Pioneer Woman's calendar, and I have a couple of recipes I found at her cooking blog.

If I'm wondering about any given subject and want to hear others' opinions, all I need to do is ask, and people will leave comments telling how they feel about whatever topic it might be; as they did HERE.

Certain readers of this blog are quite knowledgeable about horses, and I'm not shy about asking them questions at times. I also go to Homesteading Today with questions about any of my farm animals: They have separate boards for cows, horses, sheep, chickens... you name it.

It's almost as though we bloggers live next door to one another, and chat over the back fence daily. I watch your children grow. I even see your bellies grow when you're pregnant. I laugh with you and pray with you and sometimes cry with you. We trade recipes and give one another product reviews.

I wanted opinions on the Dyson vacuum before I bought one. So I emailed a couple of bloggers who had them.

I've seen far too many deaths documented while reading these blogs, most of them from one form or another of cancer.

Ah, but the jokes that lift my spirits on days when the news on TV is all bad! We have some natural comedians out here in cyberspace, and I don't have to pay to enjoy their humor.

Anyone who has never made a connection in this way can't understand what a boon the Internet really is. They consider it impersonal and even dangerous.

I feel sorry for them. They don't know what they're missing.

Now to all my readers, commenters, and fellow-bloggers: I wish you the happiest of New Years. Please stay safe while you're celebrating, and keep on blogging! Thanks for sharing your lives with me.