My 4 legged babies

     Anyone who knows me knows I am an animal person.  It doesn’t mater if the animal is domestic or wild. Yup remember when I kicked off my shoes and chased a bear down the road?  I love all animal, except snakes and spiders. Yes, I have mated my cat before.  I use to breed Golden retrievers in NY.  I loved having kittens and puppies. They are just so darn cute.  Down in the south people don't appreciate animals the way they do in the north, or maybe it’s just where I live.

     Being I breed my dogs in NY I was going to give it a go down here. NOT!!!!  Why would I bring more dogs into this town?  When I first moved to Sand Mountain I noticed there were dogs everywhere. People down here don't keep their dogs on a chain, or in a fenced in yard. When I go running, for a walk, or a bike ride I am harassed, chased, and barked at by my neighbors’ pets. If your dog goes after your neighbors’ chickens, they won't think twice about shooting it.  I always see dead dogs in the road, it breaks my heart.

    Late last November there was a very sickly looking cat hanging around where I was working. I brought it home, gave her some food, lots of love.  I noticed Midnight (that's what I named her) was declawed.  I assumed she was also fixed.   Silly me. In my mind if you're going to declaw your cat, you’re gonna get her fixed too.  My kitty was missing for a day, she came back meowing like crazy. Yup you guessed it, she was in heat. She ended up having kittens. YES she is now fixed.

     I noticed a few weeks ago that my golden was in heat. I won't take my girls for a walk when they're in puppy making mode. All my dogs are kept in a fenced in yard. Every so often I'll let the girls run and play out of the fence, if I'm outside watching them. Rocky will take off and never come back, so he isn't allowed to run free. Anyway, Pebbles and Sandy don't play outside the fence when they're in heat.

    Even though I don't let the girls stink up the neighborhood, a male dog sniffed them down.  We would tell him to go home. I even spoke to his owner about him being at our house. One day he was lying outside my fence all day. The next day he was trying to help my dogs escape by digging under the fence. Then, for three days in a row I was finding him in my fence. YES the dog jumped my fence. By this point I had already made the decision, and the appointment, for my dogs to get fixed. When he jumped my fence my dogs were like "look ma, a friend came to visit". They were all happy.

     The day to get Sandy and Pebbles fixed had arrived. I sadly loaded them in the car and drove them to the shuttle bus. Yes that's right, a van picks them up and drives them to a fixxen clinic. They spent the night in Chattanooga; the bus brought them back the next day. It's now over a week later, and they are doing great. I think tomorrow I'll let them play outside of the fence.

     I loved feeling the puppies in my dogs’ belly’s.  I loved watching puppies come into this world. I loved watching the puppies grow. My puppies provided me with many hours of entertainment. That chapter of my life is over for now. I know deep in my heart I did the right thing.

DMV Redneck style

I'm thinking this is a smaller town thing. No, now that I rethink it, Fort Payne is a decent size. Anyway, the size of Fort Payne isn't what this is about, it is about..... Accepting the way they do things down here. My son had his wisdom teeth extracted a couple of weeks ago. He told me it was still oozing. Two doses of antibiotics later (no, I'm not happy about this either) I called the oral surgeon and made an appointment for my son to be seen later in the day. The doctor is about 45 minutes away. With gas being so blasted expensive I figured I would kill two birds with one stone. l would take him to get his learners permit today instead of Friday. The surgeons' office and the local drivers’ license office are about 2 miles apart. I picked up Bud (his name is Brian, but I call him Bud) and headed to the DMV. I kept the radio off, and my mouth shut (this was hard for me to do), so my son could study for his test. We arrive at the motor vehicle office, which is in a residential/commercial neighborhood. I made my way through the cigarette smoke, and the door of the one story building. Back up north the DMV is in a big county office building. Very modern, lots of people. We walk in this small room with about 12 chairs in it, and a clip board on the wall where ya sign in. We signed in, had a seat, and waited our turn. I pulled out my phone to check face book, as the only other person inside starts to talk to me. she told me that there is only one person who works there and she gives the written tests as well as the driving test. I shouldn't have to wait long. There is one road test ahead of me, but they only take 5 minutes. Again, not at all what I am use to. -In Catskill, NY, you take your learners permit test at a different location, by different people. -A short time after we got there a group of five people walked in. They all took turns using the bathroom. I was wondering if this was something they did often. Anyway, one other young man walked in, signed in, and sat down. A lady, dressed in a very official looking uniform, locked her office door, and went outside to give a road test. Yeah she was gone only a few minutes. That sure does make me feel safe driving down here. My son was called into the office with the other young man who was retaking his test. The person in charge told the other boy to go on computer 1 to take his test. My son & I filled out paperwork, gave the lady the required information, & Bud got his picture taken, as this other person is in the same room taking his test. I was asked to wait in the waiting room while Brian took the test. The next person was called in. All five adults went into the office with one man. WHY? They were all chit chatting while my boy, and someone else's boy are trying to focus on a TEST !!!!!!!! Anyway, Bud came out and told me he passed. I went back in the office to pay the $23.00 permit fee. I was told We would have to come back later, because it was lunch time. I KID YOU NOT. I've never heard of such a thing. Bud and I went & grabbed something to eat, and sat in the parking lot of the DMV. Sure enough, at 12:30 the door was unlocked, and we were allowed to go back in the office. All I had to do was swipe my credit card. The lady had to print a piece of paper. THAT’S IT! It took 90 seconds, tops. Why could this not have been done before lunch??? I keep telling myself, I'm not in Kansas anymore. Well, technically NY. Yup things are just done different down here. Ya gotta accept it for what it is, or go crazy. FYI, my son's mouth will be fine, thank God.

Ya know you're a redneck...... Mule day??

      My daughter came home the other day & told me about something that happend in school. The teacher said they would start a new chapter on Tuesday.  One of the students, a senior, said oh yeah, there ain't no school on Monday it's mule day weekend.  Krystal said don't ya mean "Labor Day", the teacher rolled his eyes & said, yup down here the don't know what Labor day is  Krystal  said isnt it your job to teach them.  "Bless their hearts"      Last year on Labor Day I had only been in the south a month. I saw advertisements, about "Mule Day". I was told it was like a festival. I really wanted to check it out.  I was looking forward to exploring the ways of these southerners. It was raining so hard last Labor Day they cancled the mule day festivities. I was sad:-(      On my way home from church on Sunday I asked a young man, who went to church with us, what Mule Day was. He said something like "it's really redneck, I go EVERY YEAR....... They have mule pulls....."I thought whoooo hoooo, my kinda shindig;-) ( technically it's not a shindig)       Come Monday morning, I woke up early, threw on my cow girl boots, grabed my umbrella, saddled up my horse, & rode into the big bad city of Ider.   No I didn't, I don't have cow girl boots, or a horse, and Ider is defiantly not a city.  It has  only one flashing red light, & a population of 723 in 5.4 square miles. (yeah I just googled it).  I told al y'all I live I the middle of NO WHERE.        As Krystal and I headed to the mule day festivities I realize we are following a bunch of pick up trucks with people  pouring out of the beds, no I'm kidding, but it is legal to ride in the back of a truck down here. I parked the car, open the door, & hear the sounds of horses galiping, ahhh the pleasant aroma if horse manure fills the air.  I look around & feel very under dressed in my tshirt, jeans & sneakers.  Everyone has on country button up shirts, coveralls, boots & cowboy hats, well  not everyone but at first it appeared that way to me.       Krystal & I found a spot to stand to wait for the parade. I did not enjoy the guy standing next to us spitting every 30 seconds cause he had dip in his mouth.   It started raining, thank God I remembered my umbrella.   The parade was about 20 min to 1/2 hr long.  Ider high school marching band, horses, fire trucks, floats, ambulances, tow trucks, followed up by mules, your typical parade. They tossed candy at ya, I watched it land in the puddle that had formed next to where I was standing. Everyone looked a tad bit cranky & wet. The rain temporarily stopped.      As we were walking into the park there were 3 people with orange vests on collecting the $2.00 entry fee.  Walking down the paved area of the park we were dodging horse/mule poop. Oh never mind, I WILL be stepping in poo before the end of the day, why fight it. There were a few vendors,  wood crafts,  a very good pencil artist. I did stop & admire his art work. There were also a couple of church groups giving out necklaces & bibles, a couple people selling raffles for a gun & gator. Of course there were a few food vendors too.  No fried dough or blooming onions though, I found this to be a little odd.       We checked out the old cars show. I did enjoy looking at the dozen or so cars. Then we moseyed on over to the mule pull.  I was impressed. Teams of mules were pulling 2000 lbs of cement blocks. By the time I left they were up to 7500 lbs.       I decided to walk down to the stage & see what kind of music was there. YEAH, contemporary Christian, I enjoyed listening to that band for a couple of songs, then another band took the stage. Oh boy a banjo, base, & 2 guitars. They looked like a middle aged man & his teenage boys. This group sang country gospel. As I was listening to them perform I noticed past the stage, in the distance, there was a big ol' farm tractor pulling a hay covered wagon giving people hay rides.  The sky opened, the rain started coming down heavier. I'm outta here.  Mule day is just a simply good ol' fashioned  country fair, straw chewing folk & all.  Will I go back next year, maybe.  A mule is a hybrid equid, a cross of a female horse and a male donkey, often used for transport in rugged terrain.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

     I planted about 6 pepper plants this year, so I have enough peppers for all of
the tri state area. My husband does not like the hot peppers as much as I do.
What AM I GOING TO DO with all these peppers.
     I decided to pickle peppers, &  make hot pepper jelly a few weeks ago. Yummm it
is so good.  I made more today. I also made watermelon, rosemary, and mint
jelly. Great now what am I going to do with all this jelly? 

     I went down to the farmers market today to get info about setting up a table to
sell my jelly, & a few can goods that I've made. The market is held at the
square in a small town near where I live.  There were about 10 tables set up.
People were selling veggies, honey, bread, candles, & soap. One lady had 2 jars
of blackberry jam on her table along with some honey. That's the only jelly that
was there.

      I started up a conversation with the couple who were selling breads. I had to
try the tomato bread, so I bought some.  I asked them about the fee, time, &
other info for the market.  The first time is free.  FREE, I like free!!  After
that it is $5.00 or 10% of your sales if they are under $5.00.  It's from 9-12
on sat morning, and you must live within 50 miles.  Yup, I do. You just show up
& set up.  I also asked about the parking lot down the road where people are
always selling stuff, kinda like a flea market.  Well, ya just go there, set up,
& maybe, just maybe someone will be around to collect $3.00 for the use of the
space for the day. WHAT!!!!!!! 

     Back where I come from they have a much bigger farmers market, & I'm pretty sure
you have to somehow pre register. There is no "flea market"
place where lived in NY, I'd have to think if there was, the fee would be more
like $25-$50. 

     Next weekend I think I am going to bring my teens, have one go to the flea
market spot, with yard sale stuff.  The other child will sell my canned goods &
jelly.  I'll go back & forth between places. Wish me luck!!!