Car Accident

Sunday afternoon my daddy had a car accident. He wasn't hurt bad, just some bruising where he hit the steering wheel. The other driver wasn't hurt. The car is messed up pretty bad. We are waiting for the adjuster to come take a look at it. Daddy has decided he is through driving. This is a load off my mind. I had been concerned about his driving for some time and he was not driving at night anymore. Anyone who has elderly parents, daddy will be 80 in December, has faced this dilema. I hesitated to tell daddy he couldn't drive anymore because that is such a big deal where independence is concerned. Daddy's health has declined rapidly over the last couple of years and I know this depresses him. I guess I just didn't want to add to that by taking his car keys away from him too. This accident may have been the answer to my prayers as far as what to do about this situation. If you find yourself in this position, I feel your pain. My advice is to pray about it.


Last week when I went over to Trina's I took quite of few shots around their place. Enjoy!

Yard Sale

Yesterdays yard sale was a lot of fun and we sold quite a bit of good stuff. I did pretty good in that I think I brought home less than I took. I did bring home some of Kathy's stuff. I have big plans for it though! Kelly did so well she is ready to have another one in the spring. I vote now that we don't start at 6:30 am! That was way to early for me. When we got done with the yard sale we went over to Ken's Sewing Center and looked into getting an embroidery machine. I was given so much info I thought my head would explode! We left there and went by Legends to eat lunch/dinner. It was great! Then we headed to Belmont, Ms to pick up some halters that have to be "created" for awards for the Sulligent Saddle Club. They need 'em by this coming weekend & we came highly recommended! That makes us feel really good. Ned & Kelly are here and we are watching Survivor. They forgot to set their DVR so we saved ours so they could watch it this weekend. I fell asleep at the very end so I especially need to watch that. I guess I really need to unload the car. I don't think I can haul around all that yard sale stuff for very long! Below are the rope bags and backpacks that we did for the S.T.A.R. awards. Those kids are getting some cool awards.

Weight Watchers and Me

Well I finally did it. I started back to Weight Watchers. Did you catch that "started back"? I am a lifetimer with WW. I know what you're thinking....30 pounds overweight and a WW lifer, WOW! I'm not necessarily proud of being overweight but it is what it is. I am proud that I did commit to the program once and lost a lot of weight and kept it off for quite a while. Because of this I know the program works. I haven't had the will power to tackle my problem on my own so I finally decided to go back. Yesterday was my first meeting back. It was like getting back together with an old friend. The feeling of "I can do this" came back. I'm telling all this because I expect to get the support of my blog followers. I will report each week on my progress. I hope this helps me stay loyal to the program knowing ya'll will be checking up on me! For right now my meetings will be Thursday mornings. If I don't report my progress by Friday, fire off an email to me[ kmcgee99@aol.com ] and find out what is going on. I plan on having such good results that I will be anxious to report in! If you are in the same "I need to lose some weight" place I'm in, I do recommend WW. The thing that attracted me to WW the first time was that in their commercial they say "no food is off limits". That appeals to me. I don't do well on "gimmicky" programs. You know the ones where you can't eat this but have to eat a lot of that....... If you're already doing the WW program let me know how it's going for you. Okay enough about my weight. Have a great Friday and a great weekend.

Halloween decorations....

Sometimes people will ask me to do things that require creativity. I don't have much creativity but I always respond that I have friends that do! Trina O'Kelley is one of those very talented friends. Below are some of the gourds that she has painted for Halloween. Aren't they adorable? I went over Wednesday morning and helped paint one of the gourds. While it was drying we went out through their farm and took some shots of the golden rod, the barn, the creek and just about anything we thought was photo worthy. We had a great time. We have these gourds in the store for sale. Some hang and some stand. They are a big hit! I have also included a shot of one of the wind chimes Trina makes. Did I mention she is soooo talented! October is right around the corner so I hope this puts you in the mood for the Halloween season! Enjoy!

Our Pond is a Puddle!

Yep! We are in our 3rd year of a drought. Our once large pond has been reduced to a puddle. I know I keep saying this so I thought I would take some shots of it just to emphasize just how drastic this is. Another couple of days and our 2 Watusis and 2 llamas will have to be moved to the front pasture. Dan has been going back there with the tractor and cleaning up around the pond so in the event it does rain maybe the pond will be in better shape. If you remember a couple of post before I mentioned the barrel race we had planned to go to had been called off because of a muddy arena. This arena is only about 30 to 40 minutes from our house. Mississippi has had way more rain than we have. East Alabama has had much more rain than we have. We are stuck in the middle with NO rain! Pray for rain, just not this Saturday....it's yard sale day!!!

Bumble Bee, Decayed & Overgrown

These are a few of the photos I took Sunday on our trip to MS. The Sunflowers in the sunflower field had not gotten much taller but they were covered with bees. Couldn't resist getting a shot or two. We went to a pasture to pick up a horse. Lo and behold there was an old homeplace there. I took several shots. From the back you could only see the roof... there was this much vegetation and overgrowth. The other shot shows the corner on the front of the house and the flat rocks that that are used for the foundation. I really enjoy getting shots of these old houses and old barns. This particular house was older and more decayed than most. There is still something interesting about it! Enjoy!

Barrel Racing, Yard Sale & Hawaii

We had a really fun weekend. Ned & Kelly came down on Sunday. The barrel race we were planning to go to in MS was rained out. Of course MS got a lot more rain than we did. But we still went to Central H.S. and got Bar-B-Q plates for lunch. It was a fund raiser for the booster club. Then we went to Mississippi anyway and did some horse trading. When we got home Kelly & I rode and set the barrels up for a little "practice session" while Ned was shoeing a horse. When we got done we went to Chili's for supper and Ned & Kelly headed home. It was a busy day that went by fast......
This coming Saturday the 27th Kathryn and I will be having a yard sale. My proceeds will go toward my Hawaii trip. If you are in my area come and buy my junk!!!!
Next year, October 2009 I will turn 50. In honor of this milestone birthday. I am planning a trip to Hawaii. So far my cousins, Kathy, Dora, Janice H., Theresa and Clara have said they wanted to go. I'm working on a few more friends and cousins to get them interested. If you think you want to go let me know, the more the merrier! kmcgee99@aol.com I need to really get busy saving my money now! I must come up with a good earnings & savings plan. I have thought about selling a kidney, I mean isn't that why we have two?
I know this is a short post, will try to add some photos tonight!
Have a great week!!!

Sampling of Cans.....

This is a sampling of some of the mini-rope cans we do. The boys cans are actually cosmetic cases that are made by a rope can manufacturer. The pink can is one we did for Mary, our daughter-in-law. It is called a "kippy belt" carrier. The inside is foam lined. Mary not only uses hers for her rhinestone belts but for some of her better jewelry pieces. They also have a goat string can that has a completely detachable lid. The cosmetic cans do not have a removable lid. We have called these "Daddy Diaper Bags" as they are perfect for the cowboy dad! You might notice that Ryder and Cooper's cans have leather shoulder straps, we do those too! These things come in a big variety of colors. Black, pink, red, lime green, purple, teal, navy and yellow. (maybe more)

Today is the "Trail of Tears" motorcycle ride. It has been raining off and on since this morning we are just hanging out inside this afternoon watching (what else but) a horse sale on TV!
We are planning to go to a barrel race in MS tomorrow provided they haven't had enough rain to call it off. Have a great weekend!

Rodeo awards & fair winners

Thought I would share some shots from the fair. My 2 photos and Danielle's drawing. We also finished the S.T.A.R. awards yesterday. I took pics of the halters showing a sampling of the colors we did for these. I believe we did 17 halters in all. We also did breast collars and spur straps. We have a couple of special orders to get ready then we will be caught up for a couple of days. The famous "trail of tears" motorcycle ride will be this Saturday. Because we sew patches on leather jackets and vests for bike riders we will do a lot of those in the next couple of weeks. And as always we will have people come in today for repairs on their leathers. Dan says he always does at least one leather bra every year! Feed sales may be down but everything else is booming. If you need awards for a saddle club or rodeo association call us 256-766-7446 or email me kmcgee99@aol.com . Our prices are very reasonable and we have a very quick turn around. Have a great weekend!

Awards, awards, awards.....

We have been covered up for about 2 weeks now getting orders out for a local riding club and a youth rodeo association in TN. We finished the riding club's awards Monday and will finish the youth rodeo's today. They all turned out good. I hope I remember to get pics of the halters, breast collars and spur straps before we send them on. This is something I always forget to do. If you have tried to leave a comment or use a link on the left side of this page and it doesn't work for you let me know via email kmcgee99@aol.com. A couple of people have tried to leave comments and were unable to. I went in and changed a couple of settings but this still didn't work. I certainly want my blog followers to be able to participate with comments and ideas! I'm off to the store to finish awards. Have a great Thursday!

I WON!!!

Yep! Dan & I went over to the North Alabama State Fair tonight to check out the photography contest results and my Magnificent Mushroom photo won 1st place in the Novice division. My Columns at Forks of Cypress photo won 3rd place in the Novice division. Needless to say I was pretty excited. Danielle won Best in Show, Novice division for her drawing. I honestly think the art & photography exhibits were the largest by far. I couldn't believe how many pieces there were. This was our first time to go to the fair since moving to Alabama 17 years ago. I didn't realize how many participants these contest got. Dan & I went through all the exhibit buildings and went up & down the midway , looked at the animals and headed home. It was fun, there is no way I would get on those rides though!!! The last time we saw Danielle, her and our friend Haley were in line for some scary looking ride. I told them they were crazy and we left. Now that this contest is behind me I can really concentrate on the Outdoor Alabama contest. Not much time left, gotta get moving!! Below are my "award winning photographs"!! Enjoy!

Kathryn's Flowers

Today on my way back to the store from the bank I stopped at Kathryn's. We were talking about her flowers and she said come back here I want to show you something. She has the biggest "daisy bush" [that's what I'm calling it anyway]This isn't the only beauty in her backyard. I got several shots of flowers and a few of this praying mantis. [59 shots total, but who's counting] I wanted to share some with you. Enjoy!

Followers.....

Unlike Freewebs, blogspot doesn't track how many hits my blog is getting. Blogspot does however have a thing called "follow this blog". I need followers!!! Kelly has signed up and I hope some more of you will too. One of my most loyal blog followers, April, is only allowed to view the blog [cannot comment or click links] because of firewalls at her work. I hope this isn't the case for everyone. It's just nice to know that people are reading and keeping up with the blog and enjoying it. I know everyone doesn't like to leave comments, but you do send me emails so keep 'em coming have a great week!!!

River Cruise

This afternoon Dan & I took mine and Danielle's photo's to the fair. On the way over we noticed a huge barge type boat docked at McFarland park. On the way home I said, "let's go by the park and check that out." We did and WOW was it ever cool. It is a river cruise barge. It originates out of New Orleans, LA. Not long after we got there it started pulling away headed to Nashville. It pulled out into the river and then turned completely around and took off. This was really cool to watch. Apparently it comes through here and docks for a while ever so often but has to turn around and head back out because it is too large to lock through Wilson Dam. When Dan & I were looking at it we were talking about how it would have to disconnect to lock through because it was huge. One whole barge section is a series of suites and the other is restaraunts and activities. Good timing on our part and we were glad we got to see it! Here are a few pictures. Enjoy!

Rock Spring Photo Shoot

The shots below are some random shots from our "humming bird shoot". You may notice there are no shots of any humming birds. We did see 'em, we just couldn't get pics of 'em. They are quick little scampers. The biggest problem though is that the orange flower below is what they are interested in as they migrate through our area and it grows along the water. They tended to stay on the water side of the plant. Bummer, I know. I did get several bumble bee pics and that was fun. We saw a beaver and some kind of duck. There was a huge beaver dam and the back water that is behind it is really funky. Smells bad too. Has a bunch of standing dead trees in it. The bridge is a stone foot bridge that you cross the spring fed creek on. We got some good nature shots and had a fun time. Charlotte is a lot of fun and we look forward to our next big photo outing. If you are in my area and want to go let me know we are going to plan something soon.
Dan & Bradly went to the horse sale last night. Mother, Daddy & I went out to eat. We had a great time. Good food, good conversation .....what more could you want?
Gas, or lack of it is the big story here. Since yesterday morning the lines at the pump have been long. Today a lot of places were closed because they had run out of gas. We did get some diesel this afternoon for $3.99 a gallon at the Kangaroo. All the stations out by us were out. Their diesel pumps are off by themselves. At Kangaroo the diesel pump is right in the middle of the gas pumps so I guess the reason they were out of gas but still had diesel was that nobody could get to the diesel pumps. I need to cut grass tomorrow but I'm out of gas for the mower, darn the luck! Tomorrow I take my photos to the fair, keep your fingers crossed for me!!!! I'll just tell you, I want to win! I want to win at everything I do regardless of how big or small. However, I am so proud of myself for just entering. Sometimes when I think about it I can't believe I am putting my work out there for judging.....Thank goodness they have an amateur division!

Another Busy Day

Monday's & Wednesday's are my Pilates days. I have been in Pilates class for over 2 years now. I am a Pilates believer! So on Monday & Wednesday morning I am at Pilates, stretching, strength training, working on my balance, you get the picture. Today after Pilates I came home to check the mail and feed Willie. I headed to the store with a stop at CVS for stamps and Big Star for bottled water and McDonalds for lunch. The afternoon went by pretty fast. Our side of leather came in that we will use for awards. The awards that had to be ordered came in so we are ready to start production tomorrow. When we got home we loaded the llamas and delivered them, picked up a dog from the lady who bought the llamas and delivered her to a friend. When we got home we saddled up and rode. We fed, filled water tubs and made it in the house by 8:30. When we get in we fix something to eat, watch TV and head to bed. Another day, another dollar.......

I called my friend Charlotte and she is coming over tomorrow after work and we will head out to "shoot" the humming birds. Keep your fingers crossed that we get some good shots. I'm still working on my Outdoor Alabama photo contest entries.

Friday Dan & Bradley will be going to a horse sale so I will take Mother & Daddy out to dinner. This has become a ritual for us. We always go to the same place and always order the same thing. We are so boring!!!! But it's fun.

This weekend I will be taking my photos over to the Fair. When the fair starts Tuesday they will have been judged and we can find out who won what. So I told Dan last night not to make any plans for next Tuesday night as we will be at the Fair! The Fair used to be in Florence but years ago they moved it to Muscle Shoals and I probably haven't been half a dozen times since it moved over 30 years ago. Before when it was in Florence, I never missed and usually went more than once. Funny how we hate to cross that river.......

Here are some random shots. Enjoy!