Lead the life that will make you kindly and friendly to everyone about you, and you will be surprised what a happy life you will live. ~~ Charles M. Schwab
In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways. ~~ Edith Wharton, A Backward Glance
I decided to continue with yesterday's product review on Muck Boots, except this time it we are talking about the box the boots come in. I normally don't have a great use for the boxes my shoes/boots come in but this time I do.
Mordecai has adopted this box as his own. I almost threw it away a couple of times because really, it is just in my way. But he loves his box.
Now how can you take the box away when you see this almost daily?
Not only does he sleep on it, he plays with it too. He is ate up with this box. So there, you get the boots and your cat can have the box. It is a two-in-one deal.
Occasionally when we are out checking cattle I have these strange ideas. On this particular day I decided that the cows (girls) have unique hairstyles. These are just a few of their winter dos.
This is one wild woman. Her hairstyle kind of reminds me of a guy we know. We will call this style the "comb forward." This guy, we'll call him Bell-Boy, he is just almost bald but he can't accept it. He has this little tuft of hair that is always combed forward. I just want to hold him down and shave his head.
She had just winked at me, that is why her eye looks like that. :)
Mohawk? Or just a spikey look? I wonder how she gets it to stand up that way...
This hairstyle is quite interesting from day to day. She has curls, but she also has straight bangs. She is one of the cows that thinks I should feed her by hand.
The Wave. You know how much money I would have to pay for a wave like that? A lot! And her's doesn't get all frizzy when its humid. Lucky Girl!
Okay, who was it that had hair like this?
This is just kinky. Rows! Ha! This is actually one of the boys, he has rows! Oh I am cracking myself up!
I think there is a layering problem here. She needs a new stylist.
Well, hope you got a kick out of these girls and their dos. Summer dos to follow...one of these days.
A little more progress. This is what we found Tuesday, the 17th. The roof of the porch is complete and they have decked the ends of the house. It is finally taking shape.
July 19, the roof of the carport and breezeway have been decked. YEAH! They are starting to deck the house this morning.
This next photo is not pleasant, just a warning. Not grotesque, but not pretty either.
Well, the other night I got home and go about business as usual. I left the gate open so the dogs could get out and stretch their legs, went in the house to grab the camera and heard Mia growling and barking. BAM! It hit me! The Coon! So I run outside still in all my work clothes and shoes, slides just aren't easy to run in especially down a canyon. I came upon Mia tossing our three-legged friend around. I was screaming and yelling at her. She was so proud. I was pissed. You probably know what she did with it, she brought it to the yard. But when I yelled at her again she carried it back out, that is when Hoss decided that he wanted the coon. They were standing right next to my pick-up playing tug of war with the coon when I walked up from the canyon. I continued to scream and yell at them and finally got them to drop him. He was dropped right next to the porch. Can you believe they actually left him alone, or should that say, can you believe they minded? He took his last breaths and then he was gone. I was a bit worried I was going to have to shoot him to put him out of his misery, but thank goodness I didn't have to. Out came the shovel and I tossed his limp body out of the yard. Poor thing.
Progress:
You can't really tell a whole lot about this photo, but they have put up a few of the rafters on the porch. See why I wasn't sharing very often? Did you really think I could do this without words? :) As always, click it to big it. I tried to make them semi-small for WT's sake, the poor bloke is on wireless and there are a lot of photos here. Sorry Pete!
WOW! The storage building is now connected to the breezeway and the breezeway is connected to the house. I know this must have taken a lot out of the guys because this is about all they did. Oh and they picked up some trash. Gasp! (Tiff you will see what I mean soon.)
You can't really see a lot of progress here, but it is there. See...
More rafters on the porch. Well, half of the porch.
Well let's see, this was taken on 7/6, they finished the rafters on the porch AND...
...put up the beams on the carport. YEAH!! More progress. They are moving right along, FINALLY!
Then...
Eeerrrrkkk....it stopped. Okay, this was my breaking point. Ever have a breaking point? I almost flew off the handle. I arrived at home at 12:30pm, Monday, to see how the progress was going. Ummm, they had already packed up and left. I was ticked! I called our builder and he called the framer to see what was going on. Turns out that Jeff, our main framer, didn't think the roof was going to look like the drawing I gave him so he wanted to see if I wanted it changed. Well, of course I wanted it changed. I want it to look like the drawing. (Sorry, don't have a scanner hooked up or even here in the abode on wheels or you would have seen the drawing by now.) Thank you Jeff!
Then when we came home yesterday, this is what we found. Real progress!
I can't wait to come home tonight and see what they have done. It is really starting to look like a house. How exciting is that?
Our first Horny Toad this year.
This little guy was wandering around the pens while I was working out last night. I was so happy to see him. When we were kids, we used to chase after these guys and caught most of them. We would do exactly what I did last night, put them in a shoe box and cut holes in the lid. That way we could gawk at him/her all we wanted. As kids we would make their shoe box a place of luxury for them. There would be grass and a little water, we even added bugs when we could - not knowing if they really ate those bugs or not. But we thought we were really taking care of them. They never stayed in the box for more than a day. After we showed them off, we let them go. That is exactly what I did last night.
I left him in the shoebox just long enough to 1) blind him with my flash, and 2) let McD see his little endangered self. I told McD where I found him and he took him back to that same area.
The funny thing about taking this little horny toad's photo is that everytime I moved the camera it would turn his head toward me. It was a cutey.
Tuesday was one eventful night. After shooting the bull snake, yes...Jammin and his Momma were right, I jumped in the shower and started "thinking" about supper. I was getting dressed when McD started yelling for me to come see this. He kept saying, "If you want to see a big spider come here." Well, I was thinking that I didn't really care to see a spider right then and then he said it was a tarantula. I go flying out of the house in nothing but my tank top and panties, oh it is so good we live out in the middle of nowhere. So I am crouched down in front of the barn snapping shots of the big spider. My camera was getting a work out that night.
Here is a shot of the snake with his body curled up in the air. 
Click it to Big it.
Here is the tarantula.
I am pretty sure Jammin' will know what this one is.
Next week we will have a nice post about the updates on the house. Believe it or not, they have been working.
Tuesday evening after work I grabbed my camera and my tripod and headed out to see what I could find. I went down in the canyon and took a few shots here and there. Then I moseyed up road to a spot where I had seen a tarantula the day before. When I saw that huge spider I ran to house, literally ran, to get the camera. McD had parked his bike behind the vehicles, so I yelled that I was taking his bike and I was gone. I pedaled and fast as I could but when I got back to the same area it was gone. I gave the bike over to McD and waded through the tall grass to see if I could find it, but it was gone.
Tuesday I was hoping to find something just as exciting, and boy did I. Mia found our unwanted guest. 
I was a bit panicky because it sounded like a rattle going off. But after zooming in on it, and listening a little harder I could tell it was just hissing really loud.
Click it to Big it. Can you see how big this thing is? This snake was about 20 yards from the house, no joke. 
It just amazes me at how big this thing is. Now I have to go and google it to see what kind it is. Of course, I could just wait and see if Jammin' Karmyn's son can identify it. He is so smart.
The photos of the snake with his body up in the air getting ready to strike didn't turn out. I may post one tomorrow if I can get one that looks half way decent. I was a bit shaky at that point, my adrenaline was pumping. I am sure I looked a sight. There I was trying to take pictures and yell at Mia the whole time. Hoss was such a good boy and went to the yard when I told him to, he was tired. Mia was just curious. I had to yell at her the whole time.
Then, my hero came to my rescue. 
McD drove up right as I was inching closer and closer to the snake. I yelled for him to get the gun. He came back and shot that sucker. He scooted off down in the canyon to die. Shoot, I was going to go and look for him today for another photo op, but I forgot. Oh well...maybe tomorrow.
The excitement continued...find out more tomorrow.
Awww, Mordecai and Mia sitting on the porch enjoying each others company.
Then Mia gets a little playful.
Mordecai got a little ticked off. The eyes say it all.
Mia didn't take the hint.
Meet "Puss in Boots" Mordecai.
The battle ended there. I am sure that won't be the last time though. All of these photos were taken through the window so they aren't too great.
