Ranching 101 - Part 1

Our trip down to my hometown of Cotulla was fast and furious. Though we didn’t race any cars, or do any Tokyo drifting, we did have quite an exciting time.

Cotulla’s been going through a lot of changes lately because of this:

No, it’s not home to the newest theme park. This little town has nearly doubled in size because of an oil boom. This rig in the picture is right across the street from my old high school. And, since my house is two blocks from the high school, we can hear the rig running all night.

The field behind my house which once was the brush covered backdrop for many childhood adventures has been cleared to make room for trailers that house oil company employees.

In fact, any bit of free space in town now has a travel trailer parked on it. Every hotel room in town is booked for several years. There are two new hotels being built in this one stoplight town. There’s actually traffic!

But despite all of the oil activity, some things have remained the same. My dad still houses enough animals to rival Jack Hanna; the kids think this place is better than Sea World [though they’ve never been to Sea World]; and I  get stuck with the task of explaining why we can’t take that dog, or cat, or donkey, or baby calf home with us.

This trip in particular was filled with some planned and many unplanned activities right up until we left. My dad, besides being super busy as a feed salesman, has also taken up a job as a ranch manager. From the moment we arrived, we were schooled in the art of ranching…which my kids soon found out was no easy task.

Cotulla, like just about every other place in Texas, is going through a major drought, which keeps my dad’s feed business in overdrive. When he’s not hauling feed, he’s on the ranch, trying to keep the numerous cattle fed and watered. The first morning there, we accompanied my dad to go burn pear cactus, in which he burns the thorns off of the plant so the cattle can eat it. It’s not a pleasant job by any means, but especially in 100 degree weather.

This, as you can imagine, is a hot job. The kids sat in the truck a good portion of the time, munching on ice. My dad was sweating through his Carhartt jacket, which is like sweating through whale blubber….not easy to do. The kids weren’t too keen on this little venture, but the biggest weenie was this fur ball:

She was terrified. She sat in the floorboard of the truck the whole time, wouldn’t drink any water, wouldn’t even eat the beef jerky I offered. To say she’s a spoiled little city dog would be an understatement.

After burning pear, we helped my dad load up a cow to take to the vet 30 miles away. This poor cow had a prolapsed uterus. If you want to see something really gross, look that up. I wouldn’t recommend it, though. It might steer you away from ever having kids. I could barely look at the poor thing. Her calf, on the other hand was beautiful. Moonpie Alice Cooper, as we named him, almost made the trip back to Austin with me. Just look at that sweet white face and black eyeliner:

While his mom was getting fixed up, we stopped into DQ for some ice cream.

30 minutes later, we loaded the momma up, and headed for home, where we were met with a whole new adventure. I’ll tell you about that in Part 2 of our ranching adventure, otherwise this post would be the size of a novel.

xo

nessa dee

First Day of School

Today marks our official first day of school this year. It’s also the first year of officially teaching two kids…eek! I’ve had an easy road teaching one kid who was always willing to sit and do her work. We’ll see how it works teaching two, one of whom can’t even sit through a meal without getting up to expend some energy at least five times. ‘Twill be a challenge I’m sure.

Here’s my big 5th grader:

And my silly Kindergartener:

Since I’m getting this posted so late, we’ve already finished our school work for today. My biggest challenge was getting Finn to pose for these pictures.

xo

nessa dee

Hello, Monday!

This morning…

:: We’re enjoying how nice a cool 74 degrees feels. I actually wore a jacket for about 5 minutes.

::We’re trying to solve this puzzle of a desk system.

:: Stripes are nice. If I could get someone to paint them, that would be nice, too.

:: Crafting’s taking place.

:: So is mess making.

:: I finally cut someone’s hair. He said, “I look so different, but I still look like the same me! I still remember myself”

:: Ninja moves are a must.

:: Documenting everything from every angle, no matter how goofy you feel, also a must.

:: I really need to take my camera in to get fixed. It’s having trouble focusing on its work.

It also likes to just quit in the middle of a job. I think it needs some serious therapy.

Happy Monday!

xo

nessa dee

Back

The kids and I went on a quick 3 day trip to my hometown to visit my dad and all of his animals. It was a busy 3 days, and I’ll tell you more about it soon, but I’ll leave you with a little snippet of our adventures.

[photo by Audrie]

xo

nessa dee

Candy and Coffee

Besides getting me a new air conditioner for our anniversary, Jonathan also took me on a date…and not one that involved getting Chinese takeout and watching a movie on the couch [which, by the way, is my favorite kind of date]. We actually got dressed up and went downtown, which can be a lot of work for a lazy couple living in the burbs, but it wasn’t that bad. Jonathan found a show that involved ropes and masks and spandex. It’s not what you’re thinking. We went to a production of “The Red Shoes” performed by Austin’s very own aerial arts school, Sky Candy. I know, pretty cool, right? 

Here’s how awesome we looked heading downtown. Jonathan’s so hot, he’s actually glowing.

If you can see past the dirty window, you’ll note that I’m wearing hot pink lipstick. That’s how dressy this date got. And I had to purse my lips because lipstick that bright makes you do such things.

 

I wiped it off about two minutes into the drive. I felt like a clown.

I did keep my red shoes on, though. These are my favorite pair.

Here we are standing in line…

I really need a haircut.

Here’s the show poster…

The show was impressive. These people were super duper strong, and I was nervous for them the whole time. The few pictures I did get were blurry because we weren’t allowed to use flash. I don’t know why, something about endangering the lives of the performers…blah…blah.

Seriously, though, I was so worried that my flash would go off, and I couldn’t take the pressure, so I quit taking pictures.

After the show, I decided, as any normal, noncompetitive person would, that we should go do pull-ups and climb light poles. Jonathan left me on the street corner and went and had coffee instead.

Okay, he took me with him. We had a delicious piece of carrot cake and watched people.

We also took a bunch of silly pictures all of which exhibit my crazy-eyed look, so I won’t scare you with them. Well, maybe just one…

We considered going dancing, but my favorite shoes were not being nice to me. [At least they looked pretty, and that’s all that matters] Instead, posed for a few pictures and quickly got in our car before we got mugged.

Then we got home and enjoyed our nicely air conditioned house

xo

nessa dee

Finnja the Ninja

Finn goes through a new obsession about every four days. His latest…being a ninja. He’s quite skilled for someone who’s never taken a karate class. He does moves like this:

And all of these moves have names, but don’t ask me to repeat them…I don’t know ninja speak. The key to all of these newfound powers is, of course, the ninja mask:

Without this, none of those awesome ninja moves would be possible.

That being said, I think I’m going to go put on a cape. Maybe it’ll give me super powers.

xo

nessa dee

Kitchen Progress

I’ve had big plans for this kitchen ever since we moved into this house. I was never a fan of the blonde cabinets, I didn’t care for the flooring, and the backsplash was kind of mauve colored…not my favorite. Well, we have replaced the flooring, and now we’re moving onto the backsplash.

This tile was my original choice:

That is, until I realized how much of it we actually needed. Once costs were figured [double what we had expected],a new plan of action was needed. 

But I really, really loved that tile. Sniff.

So, a compromise was made. I convinced Jonathan to go with a 3x6” brick style travertine seen here:

I’m going to use this over the majority of the backsplash area in a brick pattern. Above the stove, I’m going to use my beloved original choice and frame it with matching trim pieces. And since the 3x6” tiles are half the cost of the others, I’ll be saving $$.

Now, as I’m typing this, I’m still wrestling with the decision. You see, as of now, my kitchen looks like this:

 

The guys that will be installing the tile are scheduled to come today, which means I still have time to run to the store and pick up my ever-so-perfect original choice. But while I know that kitchen and baths offer the greatest return on investment, we do run the risk of overspending for the neighborhood.

Our neighborhood ranges from cheaper tract homes to expensive custom estates. We live in a section that is somewhere in between. I think we have a very nice home, but from my window I can see two houses that have the exact same floor plan. I’m trying to strike a balance between making our home feel more custom without pricing it out of the area. I think the improvements we’ve done thus far will give us some return on our investment, but we still have a long list of to-dos, some of which are necessary [i.e. replacing carpet, fixing the roof, replacing the fence] and some of which are for personal enjoyment [i.e. painting the cabinets, turning a bedroom into a studio, building a banquette in the breakfast room], which means I have to make smarter, more budget conscious choices.

And since the doorbell just rang, I guess I am forced to make the smart choice.

xo

nessa dee