My Big News

So I've been hinting that I have some big news. News that is going to change our lives here at Cotton-Top Hills. The huge, exciting news is that next year we will be homeschooling! Oh, it's such a relief to have that off my chest. We've been praying about it, discussing it, mulling it over now for the whole school year. Really, it's been on my mind since my children started school. Anyway, it has been a journey. I'm not sure where it is going to take us. Em, says she would like to go to high school, so for now we will just take it one year at a time. I figure God will guide us where we need to go.

I've been burying myself in research for curriculum, picking the brains of my friends, like my former neighbor Connie, and trying to get organized for next year. Really, it is exciting. I think I'm as ready as the kids to be done with this school year so we can move on. Having said that, I hope we stay in touch with all the dear friends we have made over the last two and a half years at Em and Soph's school. We've been blessed with some really special friends and I would be sad if we lost touch.

I'm also hoping to either add on to this blog or start a new blog about our homeschooling adventures. The girls would like to journal their thoughts and feelings about the change. We're all about keeping it real. I might even let them tell you what an ogre I can be when I'm trying to teach them about fractions or some such thing. I'd like to share each step with you all, because someone else out there might benefit from hearing our story. Just like my blogging friends who touch my life each day with their stories.

Anyway, I'm full of hope and excitement as we turn the pages on the next phase of our life. God is definitely at work here at Cotton-Top Hills! I can't wait to share it with you. Oh, and I'd be happy for any advice for those already homeschooling:)

Country Visits

The other day our neighbors rode down for a visit. Let me just say that the girls were ecstatic. Little One yelled neigh neigh from the time she saw them up the hill until they arrived in front of our house. She showed no fear or hesitation when WB lifted her up to pat the horse's nose. She fell in love instantly.

And if they were excited about seeing the horses you can imagine the response when they asked if they wanted to ride!! Umm, yes.

I love where we live. I love the fact neighbors stop by for a visit on horseback. I love that they may even leave a present behind for our garden too!!

Herding Cattle

The other day I looked out our window and saw a bunch of cows coming over the canyon to the east pasture. They hadn't been around for a few weeks so Little One and I decided to go down and check things out. Little One gets so excited by the sight of the cows that she does a little jig every time she sees them and lets out a squeal. Anyway, as we walked closer I noticed something was out of place.

Yes, one cow had managed to find her way across the fence and into our yard. Geez, my work is never done around here! I tried shooing her back down to the creek where she crossed over, but I found myself feeling a little vulnerable staring down an animal that weighs over a thousand pounds while holding a 16 month old. So I decided to run to the barn and jump on my horse. Wait, I don't have a horse...okay I jumped on my four wheeler. Oh yeah, don't have that either...alright already I got on my riding lawn mower and headed out to the east pasture. Little One looked very adorable with her ear protection on, but I somehow missed taking a picture of that. Must of been too busy planning my herding techniques.

I approached on my rather loud steed, cautiously edging up on her to get her pointed in the right direction. Just as I backed her into a corner and was about to turn her down the fence line the garbage truck showed up. With the loud crash of the dumpster being dropped back to the road the cow and I both realized at the same time that I was standing in her way of getting away from the noise. I threw my trusty lawnmower into reverse, while Little One clung to me for dear life and the cow bolted ten feet in the wrong direction. And suddenly as I stared at the whites of the cows bulging eyes I realized something, we don't own any cows. So why the heck do they keep showing up in my yard?

We went back to the house and I contemplated my next move. I discussed all my strategies with Little One and I asked her what she thought of my ideas...
Yes, it seems she has inherited WB's ability to make me feel like a crazy, raving woman with just one look.

I then decided to discuss my plans with the cow.

She didn't seem to excited about them either.

To make a long story short she spent half the day under a mesquite tree. When she decided to wonder too close to the garden I got in the suburban and drove her to the other side of the road. She bellowed and mooed the whole way. At this point I decided to call my sister in the big city and tell her of my plight.

Me: What ya doing?

Her: Driving to the gym. What are you doing?

Me: Driving cattle.

Her: Whaaaat?

Me: Dumb cow in my yard. (at this point the cow starts making all sorts of noise).

Her: That's a loud cow. Maybe you could spray it with water or something...

In the meantime Little One could barely contain her excitement and laughed gleefully from her car seat. Finally, the cow found her way back so I could get on with my day without worrying about my precious cantaloupes and tomatoes being stomped on.

By the way have you ever heard a cow growl, just asking?

Memorable Moment Monday- Cotton-Top Hills Posse

Yep, folks there's a new posse in town. They can be ornery and cantankerous, but the Sheriff believes they are up for the job.

He rounded them up a few weeks ago when Cotton-Top Hills was threatened by a lethal fellow. Blue received a blow to the head by this guy, which quickly sent her to the vet. Needless to say his type is outlawed out here in these parts and our posse was organized to find him:

Dead or Alive

The posse searched high and low. They scattered woodpiles, cleaned up along the fences, checked under rocks, trying to oust this criminal from his hiding place. As dusk approached and the orange and pink streaks of sunset stretched across the sky Sheriff WB's posse came home empty handed.

But never fear Sheriff WB is always on the job and a few weeks later this venomous varmint slinked a little too close to WB's outbuilding. His warning rattle gave Sheriff WB just enough time to draw his weapon and this outlaw found himself staring down the barrel of WB's 22.

We can all rest a little easier knowing we have such a virile, um I mean competent, man watching over us.

Cow in our yard...Part 2

Yesterday's cow adventure was the most excitement we've had around here in awhile. Yes, I know that is truly sad, but what can I say. After finding out I had a herd of bovines (eight in all; four mommas, three babies, and a steer) I gathered my wits and told the girls to call their dad while I ran for the camera. I rattled off WB's work number to Em as I dashed out the front door. I was too excited taking pictures to listen to the conversation, but when WB got home he and Em had a little friendly chat about emergencies. Here's his version of the phone call:

WB: (picks up the phone and hears nothing, then screaming) Hello, hello?

Em: Dad, daaaaad. Dad. It's an emergency. (pause)

Okay, at this point in the story I felt really bad for WB. I know he was imagining me laying in a heap somewhere unresponsive, poor man.

WB: What's wrong?

Em: It's an emergency! We have Cows in the front yard!!

WB: (deep sigh of relief) Okay, where's your mom?

Em: She's taking pictures in the front yard.

WB: (probably rolling his eyes) Okay, could you put her on the phone?

Poor, poor WB he is a lone man trying to survive in a whirlwind of hormones and emotions. It's difficult for him to keep up on most days, but he rallies along pretty well.

Now for the sad part of the story. WB works a good hour away from home and didn't make it home in time to don his chaps (okay, he doesn't own any...but I'm thinking about getting him some). I don't know about you all, but I was disappointed! And Blue the cowdog, well she was put in the garage. I was afraid the excitement of the cows might give her a heart attack. She is almost thirteen after all.

This momma we called WhiteFace. She had no qualms walking right up to our front door, unlike the other cows.

So an hour after the cavalry was called they arrived...

Here is WhiteFace trying to hide behind that stick, um I mean tree, as they arrive. WhiteFace is unaware that we don't have a tree anywhere on the property that could even begin to hide her!

In the meantime Em was busy making sure the cows stayed out of our gardens!

Here's the two young deputies that came to our rescue. You'll notice they are casually walking along, the cows have scampered off in front of them. And that is it...the deputies walk, the cows scamper along until they find the opening in the fence and they just go back to their side of the fence.

See, there they are back where they belong, way down there! And you'll notice WhiteFace is looking at us thinking that it was all so unnecessary!

Weeds, Beautiful Weeds

Em examining one of our resident "weeds".

With spring upon us we decided it would be nice to take a nature walk after dinner one night. We only have two acres here at Cotton-Top Hills, but to us it's our own little piece of wildlife heaven. We decided to take pictures of the plants in bloom and the plan is to make a journal of sorts. That's the plan, but with everything around here the completion of the plan usually looms somewhere out there just out of reach!

Recently, while researching one of the plants we were going to purchase, I read that it was considered a noxious weed in some parts. Interesting, and here I was willing to pay an arm and a leg to get these plants for my flower beds. Well, not really an arm and a leg but I did sacrifice a pedicure for them. Well not really, I don't get pedicures unless someone is very, very sweet and sends me off to get one, aaaahem, sorry lost my train of thought for a second. As I was saying I'm paying for what someone else thinks is a stubborn weed in their yard and I'm putting it in mine. Well, I now have an idea...

Welcome to Cotton-Top Hills Nursery. We'll ship any of the below weeds, err, native, exotic wildflowers right to your door for a small fee. I can guarantee that they can withstand 70 mph winds, erratic changes in temperature, and drought. Not to mention the continuous stomping on by little feet and tractors alike. Check back in the fall where we'll have a special on tumbleweeds. You can be the only one in your neighborhood with genuine Texas tumbleweeds landscaping your yard! Feel free to browse below:

We also have yuccas and prickly burr plants by the dozens. These make great security systems for your home. Just plant around doors and windows and I bet it'll work better than any high tech alarm system. It will also teach your children to wear shoes!

Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By

I've been trying to post my new kitchen counter tops for two days and I keep having problems with blogger. First it wouldn't save, now it won't download the rest of my pictures! Urghhh...
I will keep trying.
Today it turned very cold, wind chill in the 20's. Yes, it was 85 yesterday and supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow! Gotta love this panhandle of Texas weather:) Of course we've been planting away so hopefully all our flowers will survive or I will cry. I mean really cry after all the money and time we've been putting into our flower gardens.
We had a landscape architect come out last year and draw up plans for the front yard. We experimented at our last house and after 10 years had things about where we wanted them. I didn't want to wait that long this time...hey, I'm getting older by the minute!! So, anyway he drew up some nice plans for us and we have been working on getting all the flower beds made and established. Of course they could come in and do that for you but I would have had to take out a second mortgage on our house to do it. Some day I will post our before and present pictures of the property. It was a huge mess when we first moved in...weeds, I mean native plants up to our waist and no sidewalk to the front door, etc. etc. We won't even go into the critters that had made themselves at home in our front yard! It has been an adventure, but we are getting there.
Okay, babbled long enough, I'll keep working on those pics.

Lost - High Plains Flight 1231

I never shared the story of downed flight 1231. It happened at the end of last year, Dec. 31st to be exact. We've needed some time to heal around here and put that doomed flight behind us. It was just to fresh to talk about it any sooner, but I think I can tell you about it now.

It all started with the anticipation of WB's birthday. The girls were excited, my parents were visiting and we were ready for a party. My hubby has his pilots licence, have I told you all that, well he does. He pretty much gave up the whole flying thing about the time the kids were born. It's an expensive hobby to keep up, he just switched to another hobby...photography, which is so much cheaper, not!! Anyway, he hasn't flown for awhile, which will become evident later in the story. Okay, so back to the birthday. The girls and I were in Toys R Us, what better place to look for a gift for Dad right?! We came across the radio controlled plane aisle. The pickings were pretty slim as it was right after Christmas and they had not restocked. But the girls picked out a sleek green and black Fast Lane R/C. It was a small chunk of change, but I knew it would be worth it. I imagined the hours of fun they would have flying it with their Dad. He could even teach them how to fly, from the ground that is. Yes, it would be such a beautiful bonding experience.

The girls couldn't wait to give it to him. They were so excited for him to open it and when the time finally came they almost jumped out of their skin as he unwrapped it. He was surprised by their gift, but loved it. They couldn't fly it that day because it was too windy so the next day, his actual birthday is when the flight was scheduled to take off. Em and her Dad went outside for their first flight. What happened after that is sketchy. Em has a version, WB has a version, and those of us watching from inside have some of our own ideas.

Here's the gist of it: It was still a little too windy. WB being a little rough around the edges in having not flown in awhile didn't take into account wind speed, air pressure, maximum lift-off, x=y, or whatever is done before a flight. From inside it looked like a good take off and then things went terribly wrong. The next thing we saw was WB and Em running for the canyon. When they came back empty handed we knew there was trouble.

First search party

After several search parties scoured the canyon it was determined High Plains Flight 1231 was lost.

Getting more organized, the search party pairs off.

Apparently, it was still too windy and when WB realized he was not able to get the plane back he cut the engine thinking it would just drop into the canyon. Unfortunately, it must of caught a current of wind that carried it far, far away, further than any of our search parties fared to venture. So that is the story of the fated flight and every now and then we look wistfully off to the canyon expecting to suddenly see the plane either on the hillside or stuck in some bovine creatures horn.

But so far no luck!

The Kamikazi Quail

Yesterday as the girls and I were gathered in the kitchen we heard a loud crash. We all jumped, but my eight year old gets the prize for not only the highest leap, but the loudest screech. At first I figured it was just the hose from the shop vac crashing to the floor after my daughter had carelessly strung it over something. So we went about our business until Soph went to look out the front window.

"Mom, look at this!"

Do you see that big hole and shattered glass in my storm window? I immediately told the girls to get to the back of the house. The thoughts that ran through my head were a. somebody was shooting skeet across the way and the wind blew it at my house b. some passerby threw a brick at my window and may still be lurking about (okay, yes we live at the end of our street in the middle of the country in which we get very little drive by's, but still!) So I of course picked up the phone and called hubby on his cell as he was still thirty minutes from home. I told him what the damage was and then walked outside while talking to him. Because if I was to get beaned by an errant skeet or flying brick I wanted him to witness the event, or at least hear my yelp before I hit the ground. That's what marriage is about isn't it?

This is what I see from the outside:

Oh, this picture was taken after I determined there was no danger. Little One had been tucked safely in the back with her sisters. But let's look at Little One's expression for a moment:

"What the heck happened here? They better not blame me!!"

Anyway, a foot away I see this. Please if you are of the sensitive nature shield your eyes from the next photo.

This photo tells me two things about this quail: 1. He mistook our window for the one in the Windex commercial 2. We are overfeeding our birds.

Our next door neighbor is a CSI detective and I really wanted to call him over to investigate the scene of the crime. Put up some yellow tape, take some measurements, collect some feathers, you know routine stuff. Could have been some fowl play involved, never know.

Oh, can you guess what we had for dinner that night?


*Just kidding, really!