CHICKEN SITTIN'

Social Media Fast
President Nelson asked the sisters of the Church to fast from all social media for ten days. That's why I didn't post last week's blog until today, though I did write it last week! I think I was pretty successful, but I found laying off Pinterest to be difficult. I didn't allow myself to browse, a favorite time-waster, but only used it if I needed a recipe, or something for Seminary. Yeah, I have Pinterest boards for each book of scripture for Seminary, plus one for conference, one for games, one for Doctrinal Mastery, one for teaching tips....

This is what 10 days of no FB looks like.

Mud Like Nobody's Business!
Talk at RS today went like this: Every year where we get a lot of rain (example: 2018), we have a hard winter. Thrilling. Not.

Puddles don't seem to have a chance to dry out before the next storm comes. The mud is horrific. It's red, thick and treacherous. People in the country areas with white pickups (the majority, for some reason they all have white), find the bottom half of their vehicles sprayed with a fine mud red.

Analiese and I had to walk sixteen blocks home from the library Thursday evening (no vehicle) in the dark. There are few street lights and many leafy trees that block what light there is. It was tricky walking home, trying to stay on the few sidewalks there were, and keeping out of the puddles and mud. I used my phone as a flashlight so I wouldn't fall on my nose. Thankfully, there had been no rain since that morning; walking home in the rain (uphill, seriously) would have been miserable!

Chick Chick Chick!
Analiese and I took it upon ourselves to care for the Cate's eight chickens (and one guinea) while they were off on vacation. We went over to their house every other day to make sure the feathered girls were fed and watered. We also gathered up eggs to take home - yummy!

Analiese could stand up entirely in the coop,

so she'd pass the water bowls out to me to clean and fill while she refilled the feeders. Then I went around to the back to open up the area where their roosting box is to check for the eggs. I went with an egg carton (heaven forbid I try to carry eggs in my hands); we got seven on Thursday and four on Saturday. Jackpot!

It was a temptation to leave her there.

We'll go back on Monday one more time before the Cate's come home. It's been fun and not too messy. I think I could probably handle it on a full-time basis. Analiese, too.

Taco Belle
It happened. I knew it would (they say I'm paranoid); it was just a matter of time. A customer tried to pick up on my daughter Saturday. Analiese said he was probably in his mid-twenties and (apparently) not too shy on the looks himself. She just said she was younger than he thought she was. He thought she was nineteen!

With my glasses on, she probably looks even older.

Look, it's not just Mama-prejudice (though there's a healthy amount of that!). My daughter is cute and...shapely. Yikes! I warned Ken it was bound to happen and of course it did now that he's not working at the Chickasha TB. I told him to watch her. He probably did when he was there. Now, we just hope her co-workers will back her up. Mind you, she knows how to make weird faces to throw people off; she practices with her dad! She's spunky, too; I can't see her not holding her own unless someone was forceful.  But then, she's also very vocal. She can make herself heard.

But watch out, fellas! Mama's watching!

She's still a kid. Funny hair and face-painting from YW

It's not long, but the girls can still figure out what to do with it.

Zombie toes? Seriously, how is this appealing?

Crazy Drivers
I wish I had pictures for you. Some of the driving (and parking) in Oklahoma is head-shakingly astounding. But I was driving in both instances - one on the highway and one in a neighborhood about to turn a corner - so I can only describe the mania that exists here. There are people around here who have no right to be behind the wheel.

Case #1 - Neighborhood. It was a little compact car with a big dresser on the top of it. How was it secured? His (her) buddy was standing on the back bumper - I kid you not - holding it down onto the car. They were driving VERY slowly. At least there was that much common sense. What I would have given to have followed them to their destination. I wanted to see it take a corner! Or go up a hill-top driveway!

Case #2 - Highway. A pickup with a trailer going the opposite direction. On the trailer was one of those cheap carport shelters made of aluminum shed materials; basically it was just poles with aluminum siding. Crazy thing was, rather than sitting on the length of the trailer, it was perched on the width. Get the picture? He was taking up a lane and a half...and that road doesn't always have two lanes going each way!