Not a Cloud in the Sky

This morning I woke up After another long night of unsuccesful bathroom breaks. I was tired. It had caused me to spend the Early morning hours in disturbed dreams. It really was a relief to get out of bed and rush to get my two oldest boys off to school. As I sat up I heard the pleasant sound of My oldest boy starting a fire in the wood burning stove. He's getting pretty good at it. Then He hurried to get dressed so that he could go out and water and feed the two calves that they are raising. When he came back in his comment was. Wow That only took me ten minutes. If I get out of bed at 6:30(His alarm goes off about 6:00 A.M. and he reads for awhile) I could feed the horses or dogs too then I wouldn't have any chores after school. I just smiled and nodded knowing that either way this kid was born a true blue cowboy and loves everything about it. I don't have to say a thing about his chores he just does them.
It didn't take long to get Caib up and going either. This kid is not a morning person. But, this morning he was very pleasant. Though we were running late we still got out the door a few minutes early. As I backed out of the garage I looked up at the sky and Said "Wow! No wonder it's so cold theres not a cloud in the sky. After the storm yesterday. the whole world was litterally brittle But it was Beautiful. Braden said, "so, if there are clouds it's warmer outside?" "you bet" I told him. So I shouldn't complain when it's cloudy, should I?

I am the crossing guard here in Loa. I really enjoy doing it. I have to be on the corner with everything set up, lights on and cones out, by 7:45 A.M. At 8:05 The bell rings and I can put the cones away and turn off the lights and go home. This year in the mornings I have three kids that cross. Two of them are hit and miss some mornings their moms or dads will take them to school but, the one little girl crosses every day no matter what. This morning it was just her. So I sat in my little Geo, Tracker and watched the whole town wake up. It only takes that 20 minutes for rush hour to come and go and all the businesses to open and come alive with people.

I'm greatful for the clouds in the sky that keep things warmer and then cause us to marvel at the beauty of a perfectly coudless sky.

Monday morning. I woke up feeling anxious and irritable. Last week was a long week. I'm trying to act happy! I thought maybe cleaning my house would help. but, I always seem to loose steam about half way through the whole process, look around and think ahh It's not that bad. SO here I sit checking emails blogging and reading articles on pregnancy (as if this will speed this whole process up). I am happy to say that the weather seems to have warmed up just a little. I think being able to go outside with out two undershirts, long johns, a couple of sweatshirts, a vest, a jacket and finally a coat. just to run get into the car will make a big difference. This has been an extremely cold winter here in Loa. The 7,000 foot elevation of our little town contributes a lot to the cold temperatures. Yesterday evening Roger and I were out putting up posters for a cowboy poetry gathering in Moab. The weather had been kinda snowy and wet all day. But I commented on how when it does snow or rain that it's kinda weird how you can look around and The mountains on every side of us are getting pounded with snow and we never get more than a skiff of snow to maybe three inches. and if we do get three inches the wind just blows it away. Roger, Who is in the middle of calving, Said " I think it's more of a blessing. " He's right. We'd probably loose a lot more calves to the elements if we had more snow in the valley. I'm just glad it's warmed up a little.

O.K. I'm gonna get back to my cleaning before I loose all the rest of my energy sitting here typing long and boring blogs about the weather of all things. SIGHHHHHHH! Will winter never end?

O.K. I'm 15 weeks pregnant. and lucky, lucky me. at 15 weeks into each of my last 5 pregnancies My bladder kinks off at some point in the night and I spend the rest of the night waking every hour to go to the bathroom. It doesn't work. I just make myself more and more miserable as the night drags on. Finally at around 4:00 A.M., on average, Roger says, "well, what are you going to do?" "let's see" I reply I've tried a warm bath, I've layed upside down for at least half an hour, I've sat on the toilette and pushed as hard as I dare while leaning forward as far as I can."(sounds crazy but it's worked before) I've even had Roger try to help as best he can. Nothing works. "I guess I'll call dispatch" I moan. But I still wait another three hours so the medical on calls can get a little extra sleep. By then I am just a little.... O.K. A LOT!!! uncomfortable and finally call. I swear it takes another half hour for the on call Nurse Practitioner to return my call and this is how the conversation goes... Nurse............................"Hi honey what seems to be the problem?" Me..................................." I'm pregnant and 15 weeks a long and I can't pee. I've had this happen with my last five pregnancies I just need my bladder drained." Nurse................................."Thats odd! Will you try something for me?' Me getting anxious..................."What?" Nurse......................................"Do you have a drinking straw?" Me, in shocked thought..............."No way!!!!!!!!!! " Nurse......................................"Just a regular drinking staw" Me.............................................."Ummm, Yeah" Nurse.......................................O.K. heres what I want you to do. Get a cup of water and while trying to pee blow with the straw into the cup of water. This works for Post partum problems lets just see if it works. O.K. honey" Me abrubtly and even more anxiously..........................."k" Nurse.........................................."Try that and call my cell phone if it works. I'll meet you at the clinic in 20 minutes. I really have to do something with my hair." At this point I am trying very hard not to tell her that I could care less what she looks like or if she is even dressed I just want my bladder drained and I MEAN NOW!!!!!!!! Me............................................."O.K. thanks bye" meanwhile Roger has gone to check cows and tells me to call him when I know what time we have to be at the clinic. I have Braden call him and by the time I'm ready to go he shows up and we head out the door as I laughingly tell him my first thoughts about the nurse and the drinking straw. Keep in mind that this whole time I'm walking around stooped over because of the pain. When I tell him my first horrified thought of what she was implying he laughed and said my first thought was...."I wonder if that would work." (Typical). On the way to the clinic Roger comments on how well I'm handling this most uncomfortable situation. usually I handle it much like a very bad labor pain. I then told him about the nurse and her comment on doing something with her hair. which started us laughing all over again. But, the funniest part was when we finally did get to the clinic, after stopping at the corral to make sure Rogers brother new about the heifer that was calving, we walked in and found our very vocal, motherly nurse practitioner scurrying around with the wildest hair you've ever seen. It was short with very loose untamed curles flying around her head. She had tied a two inch wide piece of silk looking material around her head in an attempt to tame it, But it hadn't worked. Really all she had managed to do was make the whole situation very non-threatening. Roger and I laughed our way home and went about the rest of the day as if nothing unusual had happened. In our situation and from past experience nothing unusual had happened. We're just expecting again.. By the way She listened to the heart beat......It's a girl!! February fourth we are planning on confirming that. I'll have my ultra sound that day.

Yes! This is a picture from last summer. One of our favorite things to do in the summer is to go up to Big Rocks( an area where there are litterally thousands of huge rocks scattered over a couple of miles) and just climb rocks soak in the sun and enjoy summer. I'm missing summer. Or should I say I'm missing heat. For the last couple of weeks I think the average temperature has been oh I'm guessing 0 degrees. I'm so tired of it. It was so cold last night my poor milk cow, who has been sick anyway finally died.

Poor thing she calved in the spring and we never could get her health back. We spent months going out every day and helping her stand up, using the tractor, but she just never did get better.

I'm sure she'll be missed by more then just us, too. Last summer she stood in her pen and let about 50 of my nieces and nephews try to milk her. She was really a good cow. I'm glad she's not suffering anymore.

Well I'm heading off to my boy's basketball game. I'm their coach so I'm kinda supposed to be there. It's a lot of fun to watch them play. I'm planning on taking my camera to try for some pictures. I'll post them for you when I get a chance.

Braden started out the new year with a BANG! obviously. This was his very first duck hunting trip. He hit the duck on his first try. Then, they cut out the breasts, Which weren't very big, and Braden cooked them and ate them. Caib thought they tasted like bacon. I, on the other hand, couldn't bring myself to try it. I was slightly natious anyway. But, I think it's amazing to see the sparkle in your kids when they come in all excited about an accomplishment like this.