Scotch.  Scotch on the rocks.  Dewar’s blended scotch on the rocks to be exact.  That’s what I’m drinking right now as I write this post (which is scheduled to “print” tomorrow morning at 5 AM so don’t get your undies in a twist).

I have a feeling I will need to restrain myself when it comes to my writing for today’s (tomorrow’s…. the current post I’m writing) post.  My mind is ripping along at a millions parsecs (I snuck a Star Wars reference in!) a minute and there are so many directions I could go, but I’ll try to focus.  Deep breath.

I’m tired, Dear Readers.  Physically tired… not mentally… reread that last paragraph.  My dear husband and I cleared brush and cut down small trees and hauled firewood this morning.  Again.  Our plague of Oak Wilt continues and I’m caught in the cross hairs.  I don’t mind it really (don’t tell my husband), the methodical “bend over, grab stick/twig/branch/log, haul to appropriate pile” leaves a lot of time for thinking.  Thoughts rattle, or ricochet, between the super-fantastic ear muffs I was wearing to drown out the sound of the Husky chainsaw.

We have our property split into essentially five areas: driveway, yard, corral, East Pasture and West Pasture.  We’d been out in the West Pasture today, and just after starting, the neighbor’s father, Clarence, pulled up next to the fence and we went and “jawed” with him a while.  Clarence likes to keep up on what is going on around the area and since he’s seen the house my husband and I purchased go from …. okay, I’m just going to be impolite and say it, it was a “shit hole” when we bought it.  So Clarence has seen us move it from the “shit hole” that it was to something that we keep very tidy.  Perhaps one day I’ll write a post about all the things we’ve done. Perhaps.

As I wrote that I pondered if I should keep Clarence’s name out… but it is what it is.  Maybe I’ll start using first names now.  Maybe.

My husband and I have hit what I like to call the “Christmas-time Panic” when it comes to finances.  Where we look at our ledger and thing “We spent HOW MUCH?!”  Recently having replaced our truck, we’ve got a vehicle payment leering at us from the other end of the month, thankfully it’s not too hairy of a total, but still.  I think these things like to hit when the budget is particularly tight for the year, i.e. Christmas.  Factor in all those presents that you buy, my hours severely decreased as an Office Ninja and then a new vehicle (new to us anyway) payment and it becomes a situation of “EGADS”!

It’s all good – everything works out in the end.

Hmm, I rambled.  Not too much to report from the farmstead other than the tree/brush clearing.  The house smells of balsam-scented candles, the chickens aren’t laying as many eggs as I want to see coming in on a daily basis, and I’m struggling with switching them back to plain-old conventional chicken feed rather than the organic that costs three times as much because they were laying more eggs with the conventional feed.  I’m also still looking at ads on Craigslist for goats and sheep… don’t worry, chances are pretty good they’ll end up in the freezer.

Beyond that – I don’t have a thing… except for these Search Terms!  The award for Top Search Term of the Week goes to:  string of christmas lights clipart!  WOOO and HOOO!  I’d like to think that it is my Conclusion of the Christmas Lights Vandals that brought people here, but…. it’s not.

The award for Honorable Mention in Search Terms goes to:  amusing muse band gift!  HOORAY!  I’ve another stalker!!!  However, while I was, and am, musically gifted, I was not a “band gift” (well, you better check with my music teacher).  I was, to be perfectly honest, a band geek.

Now, before I ramble on into incoherence, let me get to those Facts!

Random Facts 331 – 337

Random Fact #331 – I actually like Mondays.

Maybe it’s because with my hours cut down I’m at home all but two days of the week, Monday not being one of them.  No, that can’t be it because even when I worked full-time I didn’t dread Mondays.  I don’t know… maybe it’s because it’s a “fresh start” for the week?

Random Fact #332 – I used to hate the color pink, now I like it.

True.  All true.  Black is my preferred color closely followed by grey.  Pink though… Pink grew on me.  I’m wearing right at this moment, hot pink and black, zebra-striped knee-high socks.  I have more on than that you pervs.  Sadly, that includes pants – because I was working outside and it was too chilly for “no pants”.  (Jules will be sad to  hear that.)

Random Fact #333 – I think the first snowfall of the fall/winter is magical.

We had our first snowfall the other week.  Less than an inch of white stuff stuck around for less than a day.  It was magical.  I said it.  You read it.  MAEH-JI-KAL!  Then it melted… and we had “brown again”.  Not so magical.

Random Fact #334 – I have a large collection of Country Music CDs.

I was, once upon a time, into country music.  And line-dancing (I’d still do that).  I’m not ashamed to admit that.

Random Fact #335 – I used to watch the Solid Gold dancers.

Damn right, their gold lamé mesmerized!  My brother was usually in charge of the radio and the channel of the TV when it was just he and I together.  He watched Solid Gold which meant that I watched Solid Gold.  Let’s call it expansion of my cultural horizons.  (Considering I was four when the show came out, my brother would have been nine, I remember this show VIVIDLY!)

Random Fact #336 – I am not a Buddhist.

Which is because I eat meat (I’m an omnivore) and I’m a Philosophical Taoist.

Random fact #337 – I own a great deal of Classical music.

I am in love with classical (and heavy metal).  I played with symphonies and orchestras and the middle- and high school equivalents for 18 years.  My heart longs to play again and I love to attend the symphony (and orchestra).  My 1940’s era Bundy trombone sits in its case just waiting to be brought out to play once more.  In the meantime, I listen to a lot of Holst, Liszt and a variety of other composers… and NPR radio.

Thank you for stopping by!  Check back again next week for more facts!