Happy Sunday, Dear Readers!

That’s a much more enthusiastic greeting than what I feel – I’m tired.  We hit things hard here yesterday and today, and even went on a Go Take a Hike Sunday, hike.  DH and I got a lot of yard work done yesterday and this morning, from mowing and raking to moving rocks and turning compost piles.  I wasn’t very nice to myself and stayed awake in bed reading last night, fighting my tired eyes because I’m enthralled with a new series of books, The High Heels Mysteries, by Gemma Halliday.  I admit that I bought the first book in the series as “fluff”… an easy read for between reading the heavier classics.  The first book WAS easy… and addictive (though I swear the heroine has a tapeworm with how she eats and doesn’t gain anything).

So today, I had to force myself out of bed because “things had to get done”… and here I am… typing up this post for the blog.

Let’s do a little Good, Bad & Ugly today, shall we?

The Good.  The lawn was mowed, leaves raked from the lawn and piled on flower beds next to the barn and into my pallet compost bins.  More landscaping was done (aka “Playing with rocks”).  Mulch was bought and spread out.  Ooze Tubes were taken up, emptied and put away for the winter.  Radishes were roasted for dinner Saturday and they were DELICIOUS!  Big, late planting “Cherry Belle” radishes that are nearly racquetball-size but still tender; they went very well with the roasted chicken.  Today, we went for a hike.

The Ugly.  Chicken butchering.  I don’t think anyone wants me to elaborate.

The Bad. (Yes, I did this in the wrong order… I know that.)  I suck at butchering chickens.  Rabbits… no problem.  I can dress (it always makes me raise a brow hearing it called “dressing” a [insert bird or mammal you have intentions to eat]… cause really, you’re pretty much undressing them) a rabbit in 10 minutes start to finish.  Chickens take me for-freaking-ever!  It’s the plucking feathers part I think.  DH and I got two roosters done and the discussion while I was… there is no way around this…. cover your eyes you wusses… yanking guts out… was, “Is the return on raising the birds worth the investment?”  There were questions, there was discussion, but you know what?  Dear Readers, I LIKE knowing my the chicken I’m sitting down to eat that night had a happy, little life, running around the prairie and woods eating bugs and seeds to its little hearts content.  I LIKE knowing that it had adequate food and water.  I LIKE knowing that at night, it had a comfortable place to roost.  I LIKE knowing that once in a while, someone (that’d be me… or DH) went out with a treat like cereal or zucchini bread and they got to enjoy it.

But I suck at chicken butchering.  So I called around to butcher shops and heard of an Amish family that charges about $2 a bird.  SOLD!  The next place I heard of is $4.50 a bird and I HAVE to pick the birds up the next day and the fact that it’s over an hour to get there has me hesitant.  We have nine more birds to go under the hatchet… I hope I can hire that Amish Family…

And that brings me to the Search Terms (fair warning… 2013 will see an end to Sunday Search Terms unless I see some really amusing ones).  This weeks winner for Top Search Term is:  i love sleeping.  Me, too, Dear Reader, me, too.  (anyone else notice all the commas in that sentence??)  I love sleep.  Mostly, I love my bed, which is where I generally sleep.  This leads to good sleep, and since I like my sleep, I think it’s fair to warn anyone and everyone that I don’t like my sleep disturbed.  The damn house better be on FIRE before someone wakes me up.  Okay – there is one other exception… if I don’t wake up for my alarm, someone else is allowed to wake me up.  But really, you’d rather have me pissy at the alarm clock.  Just sayin’.

Our Honorable Mention for search terms this week goes to:  soaps with chastity belts.  Soaps with chastity belts?  Do such things exist.  Dear Reader… if you can find them – post the link in the comment section because I think I must have one of these things just for the novelty of it, like my Tattoo Fun Barbie!  You might think I’m kidding but I have a friend who NEEDS one of these in his Christmas stocking!

That said, let’s get to those Facts!

Random Facts 289-295

Random Fact #289 – I have been known to indulge in a few Rum Punches… mostly because the crew kept filling my glass ‘cause I was from Wisconsin.

You just have to love crews of snorkeling “booze cruises” in the Caribbean.  “Here!  Have some more *pour*!”  Enablers!  I call Shenanigenablers!  (It’s a word… I wrote it).  Best-snorkel-tour-ever.

Random Fact #290 – I will put salsa on just about anything “savory”.

I must buy stock in a salsa company… or just find a great recipe to make weekly for myself.  Yes, I go through THAT MUCH salsa.  I can polish off a 16 oz jar in the blink of an eye.  Well, maybe 10 blinks.  Okay fine… I will go through about 32 oz of salsa a week IF I have it on hand.  If you have a must have salsa recipe (I like lots of flavor with a little bit of heat), send me the link!!!  (or a message).

Random Fact #291 – The first and only time, so far, that I’ve been in an ambulance was because I came off my horse.

Long story short.  Bought a new horse.  Was going to go for first ride at the house.  Devine intervention told me to put on my “crash helmet” before getting on the horse… it was a complete afterthought.  Went to get on the horse, horse took off, I “bailed” and landed on my back and head on the asphalt of the road.  Rolled my head to the right and saw asphalt.  Said, and I’m not sure if I said this out loud or just in my head, “That’s not good.  I should get off of the road…” Rolled to my left and crawled on my hands and knees to the first tree I saw.  leans against the tree and had a VERY concerned DH looking at me, asking questions.  I remember saying, “I’m still alive…. where is my horse?”  After DH caught my horse, he started to pester me with all kinds of questions like “What is your name?  What is your birthdate?”

He stumped me on “What did you do today?”

“Well… I…. woke up.  We did such-and-such and then we rode horses.”

“What did we do BETWEEN such-and-such and riding horses?”

“We….. uh.  Hmmm… we…” *tears start in earnest* “I don’t KNOW what we F*****G did between such-and-such and riding horses, okay?!”

“I’m calling 9-1-1… DO NOT MOVE!”

“If you’re going to call the paramedics… tell them to keep the sirens off ’cause it’ll scare the horses…”

And they kept the sirens off, and I rode to the hospital, on a gurney in an ambulance and had filled in the missing chunk of the day by the time I went home.

Random Fact #292 – I admit that I’m scared to start riding horses again.

See the last fact.  I’ve been tossed off of horses, sometimes quite acrobatically and gracefully, many a time.  It’s just how things go with 30+ years of horse riding, but that was by far the scariest moment I’ve had with horses.  Watch that last step, it’s a doozy.

Random Fact #293 – I have a 2-year certificate in Equine Management because they removed the Associate Degree Status a year before I started.

Yep – I earned this BEFORE that last step.  By the way, I got an A+ in my Equine Genetics course, which WAS for credit.  I love genetics.

Random Fact #294 – I lived in Duluth, MN, for 10 months.

DH’s first job out of college took us to the north.  Technically we lived in Duluth for only 2 months… Central Hillside neighborhood.  We learned later that it was NOT the best neighborhood.  Something about drugs, gangs, etc…. We bought a house up the hill in Proctor, a suburb of Duluth.  And then, well… the economy took a nose dive and we had to move.

Random Fact #295 – I like to eat canned sardines, complete with the skin and bones.  YUM!

I know that Strange Trip Studios and Milkmaid will appreciate this fact!  Sardines are great!  However I do like the smoked in oil version better than the mustard sauce version.

Thanks for tuning in!  Check back again next week for more fun facts!