Our Yester-Day on the Ranch

6:45am Alarm Goes Off

7:00am Boots on headed to the barn to feed horses

7:20am Head back to the house

7:22am Brush Teeth/Straighten Hair/Breakfast

7:46am Restaurant Supply guy stops by to look at equipment

8:02am We decide his price was bad and we'll list it all on craigslist

8:03am It starts to rain

8:05am Load 2 horses up to go to the vet/troublshoot lights on the horse trailer

8:42am Head to the vet

9:15am Enter civilization

9:19am Arrive at Vet/Realize straightening hair was worthless

9:27am Leave horses/Head back to the ranch

10:00am Get call from flooring guy who can't find the house

10:13am Grown man crawls around on our floor trying to find the smell

10:27am He decides it's everywhere but will barter work for the pool table - SOLD!

10:42am Head into Corpus Christi in the rain

It all gets very city regular from there. You know - notorize that, sign this, scare employees by showing up at the restaurant.

The craziest thing is our mornings are pretty much like that everyday. Just substitute realtor/pest people/plumber for restaurant supply guy and flooring guy and switch Home Depot or H.E.B with the vet and that's our typical morning.

That is Love

Today we accomplished our list of tasks. Not because we had a reasonable list of tasks but because we had some help. Sam and Jen and their plus ones drove all the way from Houston to visit and help us out. Thanks to them we got a screen door hung and dinner made while Joshua sold 2 of our horses. In return they are getting a 24 hour ranch experience.

Don't they look the part?

Fresh Perspective

So Joshua and I were talking and we're going to treat our new adventure a little like our European adventure. We're going to carry the camera around and give ourselves a really good documentation of this month of our life.

How does that sound internet?

Oh it's gonna be good. Tomorrow is fleas, realtors and visitors. You don't want to miss this.

Our New Winter Home

When I was twelve and my family finally got cable I loved Nick at Night programming. We weren't allowed to watch MTV and there were only 10 other stations at that point so every night we would watch the Nick at Night line up. I'm probably the only person my age who knows anything about the original Get Smart. It was actually my favorite show when I was in junior high and I always wanted to be Agent Niney-Nine.

Fast forward 19 years and I find myself stuck in a Nick at Night episode not quite as bad as The Beverly Hillbillies but we definitely aren't spies. To catch you up we are temporarily relocating to a small town in Texas called Swinney Switch. Now please don't underestimate my use of the word "small." This town is a gas station and a bar.

Gas Station. Bar. Joshua's dad's house.

This is one of those places that doesn't have internet access. NO INTERNET! It's the kind of things you read about but you just don't think really exists. (Thank goodness for 3G cards)

The crazy thing is this is some people's dream. 20 acres of land + horses + cattle + diesel trucks + tractors + millions of stars

Unfortunately Joshua and I are only really enjoying the stars part of that equation. Every time I'm out in the barn feeding horses or watching Joshua on the tractor I can't help but sing the theme song from Green Acres. I hated that show but I'm understanding Eva Gibor's character more and more every day.

Undeck the Halls!

Yesterday some friends brought us dinner and helped us put away our Christmas decorations.

WHAT??????

I know! We're still 10 days out from the holiday but our life took an unexpected turn 2 weeks ago when Joshua's dad died suddenly. He'll fill you in later but we are now heading to Texas for a while and we really didn't want to come home in February to a trunk sticking up in the window with a pile of needles below it.

Thankfully the de-seasoning of our house took just under 30 minutes and I'm immeasurably thankful for Greg and Memry who helped make that possible. The speed in which it was accomplished made it impossible to be sad that we were having to do it.

On a more comical note I AM curious what our neighbors think about our Christmas tree sitting on the brush pile on the street. On January 1 that would be no big deal but a Christmas tree on the curb by December 15 is a bit curious.

More than likely they won't bat an eyelid because they have come to expect things just a little outside of normal from the Fykes.