NOT A LIGHTHOUSE STORY

SO...we really wanted to do a lighthouse story cos we saw that blog going around, and even though the closest thing we have ever seen that would/could resemble a lighthouse is this.............

We told our Mom it was an Iowa Lighthouse and mom said NO, it was a porta-potty in a cornfield where a big bikers rally was held a few years back.  So technically it was a beacon for someone in distress but mom NO ........and she has a firm way about her when she says that word.

I guess then we will tell you what happened to our mom on her way to work this morning.

So she is driving along on Hwy. 1 which is a pretty busy highway in the morning.  Peoples are getting to work, semis are going to the interstate, farmers are going to the local gas station for coffee, or maybe a porta-potty.  We are not really sure.

As mom is coming across the bridge she see's a truck alongside the road with their blinkers on.  At first, she thought maybe they were on their phone but then she saw a little tiny pig run out in her lane of traffic.  Luckily she was the only person on the road for that very moment, and she hurried and pulled off the side of the highway.

The guy said the little pig was going to get hurt running along the highway and he was trying to catch him.  We think he fell out of his farmers truck cos he had a yellow ear tag.  NO ONE ELSE WAS STOPPING TO HELP so Mom just stood in the middle of the highway and they were sorta forced to stop.

We don't know if this was illegal but probably the semi drivers were getting ready to call our local sheriff just to get mom off the highway.  Finally, the electric guys drive up and pull off and one of them gets out to help. They corner that slippery little pig on the bridge and grab him up so he is safe.

Mom gets out of the middle of the road, people wave at her, people flip her off, but Mom is happy. 

Hopefully that little pig goes to a really nice farm, where they will take care of him the rest of his long long life.

So thats our Wednesday story about mom and the pig.  We always thought mom would rescue a Golden not a pig.  You never know.

Mags and Gusser

NUFFIN MUCH TO SAY

See our pumpkin vine, Pip checks it our everytime she comes to our house.  I want her to come play wif me.  Gussie

That damn cucumber plant is starting to overtake our deck.  Its a jungle out there.

It stormed at our house last night.  Maggie

Who Cares!

Wheres my clean underwear Mom?  Ed

CHEWY REVIEW #2

Yeah we are late, but its Ellen and Henri's cat review and you know how some cats just don't follow the rules and have their own timeline...........well that is them.  Plus Piper had her tonsils out this week so we are late finishing our reviews up.

NO MAGGIE this is NOT what we got from Mr Chewy...oh my pug give me the damn keyboard!!!

So Mr. Chewy box arrives.

Okay.  Yay.

We are excited.

Mom ordered us some new wet cat food to try.  We love Mom but we wish she would have sent us a memo first for our approval on the order.

Does she have the can opener in her hand yet?

Cool little can..no can opener needed.  Each can lasted us about 3 days cos mom just gave us a spoonful with our dry food.  We loved it.  Blah blah blah blah blah............

Call of the Wild.  See that mountain lion on there, he is our uncle.  Yes, our uncle.  Geeze the doubters and haters that are on the internet now.

We got a whole case of 24 cans that were 3 oz. in size.

This food for us is made with salmon and roasted venison in gravy....we had a hard time keeping our dad out of it.  Our house is nuts.  Its also grain free which is important to our mom, but we don't really care as long as it tastes good.

It tasted great.  We would like to eat the whole can at each meal but our mom has a control issue and she loves to control how much food we get. 

5 stars for sure.  No monies were paid for this fangtastic review.

Ellen and Henri

CHEWY REVIEW #1

So mom ordered us these really great treats!  All she has to say to us is "do you want a treat" and we run right into the house.  Lord help her when that bag is empty!!

Finally, she picked something from Mr. Chewy that was for US and US only.

WE love Mr. Chewy, mom orders in on her magic computer and in just two days there is a box waiting just for US outside.  That Mr. Chewy is one fast driver.

This month Mom picked some treats called Earthborn Holistic Earth Bites which are good for our hair and skin.  We can be rather picky little pugs when it comes to our food so Mom wasn't to sure if we would like them or not, but they were an instant hit.

These are the things Mom liked about them.
1. Grain Free and no Gluten
2.  Contains Omega-3 and Omega-6 which are good for our skin, and hair.
3.  They are moist and not hard for us to eat.  Especially since Gussie only has so many teef left.
4. Contains fruits and vegetables, like apples and spinach.  Heck we were worried Piper would find         them when she stopped by and eat our snack up!


This is for all sizes of dogs, and comes in a 7.5 oz for around $5.99.  Our bag has lasted the whole month because mom only gives us one or two a day.  Mom needs to work on not being so darn selfish.

Okay folks we give this treat a thumbs up and 5 stars.

We were not paid any monies to say these words for our treats.

Mags and Gusser

TO DO

To Do List for Mom

1. Change the name of our blog.  Put up new pictures.

2. Get her own facebook page and quit using Stella Rose's page.

3.  Hire someone to do the first two things, cos Moms heart can't do it.

4.  Stop taking pictures of her damn flower gardens and start taking more of us.

Do you see the watermelon hiding?

Mags and Gusser

RIDING THE STORM OUT

Thursday was my mom's Friday, so she was really excited when she left work.  The day wasn't as hot as it had been all week, and that made her feel better also.

When she got home though the TV was telling her about a storm about an hour North of where we live.  A bad storm. So Mom watched the weather news to make sure we were safe.  Mom is afraid of BAD storms.

Then the storm turned into a TORNADO and it hit a plant that makes windows in a town called Pella.  It picked the cars up and stacked them like little matchbox cars on top of each other.  Several people were hurt at the plant but thankfully all of them got to leave the hospital later that day.

THIS PICTURE WAS NOT TAKEN BY OUR MOM.

THEN that tornado decided to drop down and head our way.  Mom watched it get closer to a town called Ottumwa which is about 30 min. North of us.....and the television was telling peoples to go to safe places. 

Apparently, TORNADO'S like to follow the path of the river, and since we live about a mile from the river, mom was a little concerned.  THEN she got really concerned when the news lady talked about towns that were closer and closer to where we lived.

See the sky?
Mom went outside and talked to Dad who was checking it out from the back yard.  It was getting darker and darker.

THEN the sky started to get really weird looking and Mom was getting more nervous.  Our house does not have a basement but our neighbors does .........Mom didn't want to leave us, and Dad said he was staying so Mom stayed also. 

THEN we noticed cars started to stop on our highway and peoples got out with their phones taking pictures of the sky.   THAT really made mom NERVOUS.

Then it started to rain, ............the news woman said it was called a "rain wrapped tornado" and they  were dangerous .........and weird and unpredictable.      Mom thought "great!"..........ugh.

(WE can't get our rain pictures to load for some weird reason)
So she made me and Gussie go into the bathroom closet with her, except Gussie kept escaping and mom would have to run out and get him, cos he wanted to watch the storm/tornado from the windows.  Then Mom heard on the TV the TORNADO was about 5 miles from our house.  GULP!!!

Dad was in the garage watching it, Mom was chasing Gussie around the house.  Our parents are not the smartest.  I was trying my best to round everyone up and head for the safe house under our parents bed.  NO ONE WAS LISTENING TO ME!!!

It rained, and hailed, and blew winds..............then the sun came out, it hailed again, and it stopped.  It was done. WHEW we made it through our first tornado. 

EXCEPT...............remember when we lived in Keosauqua all those years.  Its where my mom still works.

The county fair was going on.  Campers, Kids, and animals.............ugh.

This is what happened to the lumber yard across the street from the fairgrounds, and the county maintenance buildings.  (not mom's pictures)

Maintenance Building.

Lumberyard.



Earlier that day, local artists from the Village of Bentonsport had visited the Galloway Barn to paint pictures of it.  It is a beautiful old barn between 150-200 years old my mom goes by everyday on her way to work.  The artists planned to go back the next day, enjoying the nice weather and scenery.

As they often say.............People plan, God laughs.

When Mom drove by it today she saw old bricks, and old lumber and a pile of memories.  Soon, it will be cleared away, and cleaned up.  Not one person was hurt in the tornado that hit the county that we live in, for that we can be thankful.

Mother Nature is both wonderful and wicked.  Humans need to remember she is always in charge.

Something she left for us after the storm, at our house.

Mags and Gussie

BACK On MONDAY

Mags and Gusser

PICTURES

Remember I said Mom had more pictures.......well be prepared, or just shut the post off , thats what I would do.  Gus

This is Rusty.  He will be a dad someday.  Sometimes people who drive by and think he is a baby donkey.  Those people shouldn't be on the road driving if you get my drift.  He loves cookies.  He hates to be brushed.

This is "little bill".  He is a whether goat, which means he cannot be a daddy.  He loves cookies also.  He is a big baby, Dad brought him home when he was a little baby.

This is Pete hogging the camera.

Louie, Pete and their baby Rusty.  Bhahahahahahha.............................  You see they are not much taller than the baby goat, and they are almost one year old.

This is baby Lucky.  He loves Piper and she loves him.  He is part spanish and part fainting goat.  He is odd cos he does not have any horns.  He loves cookies also.

This is Bonnie.  She has grown up to be a nice girl also.  She also loves peppermint cookies.

This is me, Gussie Boy.  I have never gotten a peppermint cookie.  Maybe if I had horns and bawled MAAAAAA or DAAAAAA all day I would get one.  Do you like the way I frog sit?

This is Mags. She told me she doesn't give a crap if she gets a cookie or not.  She said if she wants a cookie she will just get the bag off the damn counter.  Mags is my idol.

Gussie

THE GRIEF SUITCASE

Mostly I am just staring at this blank screen nervous about the words that I want to write.  I have been writing this post every morning for the past month,  on my way to work, ...planning the right words.....and now that it is time, my stomach is nervous and anxious.

I almost didn't start it.  I was just going to wait till another day when I am braver, or stronger or something. 

BUT

Stella Rose deserves the words, she worked hard these past 8 years..........so I take a deep breath and start typing.

THE GRIEF SUITCASE

One month ago today Stella Rose went to stay at the 21st step of the rainbow bridge.  The deal she made with me was as soon as she knew I understood AND learned the "lesson" she was sent to teach me she would pack up her pup tent, and cross the bridge.  Although I reassured her I would be fine, and to please cross, I know in my heart, she has been waiting this whole month, to see what I would do.  She knows her momma's heart and soul better then even I do.

So I am going to tell you a story about how Stella's lesson came to be, and then I know she will keep her promise to me.

When I was 16 years old, my grandmother died.  She was 64.  Just one year older than I am now.  My grandparents had always lived right across the road from me, and I had a wonderful life with them.  I spent every day and most evenings running back and forth to their house, going places with them, staying all night, helping grandma around the house and yard.  I am the oldest grandchild, so I am sure I was spoiled and treasured.  I thought I would have her all my life, and of course, as many of us experience, God has his own plans.

One Sunday night she was so sick Grandpa took her to the hospital, and the doc told him she needed to have her gallbladder out.  I wasn't worried mainly because at that age, I thought I had control of my life, and I was sure Grandma would always be there for me, and plus it was a simple surgery.  Except it wasn't.  They found cancer.  It was the week before Thanksgiving, and they said she could come home, and would probably be with us till Christmas.

I didn't believe them, and knew,  was positive, once Grandma came home, things would be just fine.  Forty eight years ago people really didn't talk to their kids like we do now, so no one sat us down and explained her illness or the future.  After all, we were just kids.

Grandma passed away the day after her surgery.  They called our home around 9:30 that night, and mom and dad left to go to the hospital.  They didn't tell us kids till the next morning, but I knew when the phone rang.

The adults were busy making funeral plans; we became invisible, and over time I believe it just became easier for them to think we were all okay.  So I told myself I was.

Except I wasn't.  I had all these emotions rattling around in my brain and heart and I didn't know what to do with them, or who to talk to about them.  So I hid them away and pretended I wasn't feeling all the pain from grandma's loss, and that became the beginning of my grief suitcase.

Over the years it became a learned pattern for me.  My suitcase became so full, the only way I could close it, was the old fashioned way of sitting on it, and shoving crap inside and then locking it up. 

If I would start to feel any type of grief I would mentally run to get my suitcase.  I repeated this behavior until the day that Stella left my side.

Its an unhealthy way to live, never letting yourself feel sadness, or sorrow and sometimes even anger.  A person just mentally shuts down, but goes on with the life they are living.

I know many adults struggle with this same issue, and although we are happy and loving people, we also full of anxiety, and worry, and pain.

WELL, here comes Stella in my life and she managed to do something wonderful that even my children and grandchildren, whom I love dearly, were not able to do.  Open my suitcase.

Most of you know that Stella lived a horrible life until the day I brought her home, but she never let that affect her.  She was a strong little pug, and loved me with all her heart.  She taught me a lot of little lessons, and brought wonderful friends into my life.  Stella is one of my best gifts.  Best.

WELL.....

About a month before Stella left, I started to think about what her lesson to me would be and just the thought of not having her immediately made me feel these awful emotions, and I ran to the suitcase.  I ran several times, for several days and then one night it hit me....."oh no, its the damn suitcase, it will be her lesson!"

You know how you can have this love/hate relationship with something.  Well, that describes the suitcase and me.  Its my awful security, its my go to place when life is horrible......and hard, and heartbreaking.  Its. My. Suitcase.

I thought her lesson would be about love, and laughter, and friendship.  I had arguments in my head  and with Stella about her lesson, and I hung onto her.

AND...........

then one day I let go of her.

 I lost Stella and  I allowed myself to cry, and to feel my heart breaking.  It was awful.  It didn't set me free, it didn't make me feel safe or better, it hurt.  I hated it.  I knew though she wanted me to just once in my adult life feel these emotions, and deal with them.

So I did.  Of course there were a few times, like 100 times, I started for my suitcase, but I would stop myself, and feel the emotions of Stella not being in my life.  It. Was. Hard.

Some nights I pretend she is beside me in the bed.  I snuggle her, and go to sleep, those emotions hurt.   I talk to her in the mornings on my way to work, and those emotions hurt.  I am writing this post for her, and these emotions hurt.  

I haven't thrown that old suitcase away, but I haven't opened it up either.  I wish Stella could have stayed longer, but I know she was always meant for me, and me for her.  She was a wonderful teacher, and finally I am a willing student.  

Pack your tent up baby girl, step over into that wonderful world waiting for you, hug your brother and aunt, and baby cotton.  I know I will see you one day.  

Love your momma

  

NATIONAL PICTURE DAY

UM...well we really made that up.....its NOT national picture day, but mom needed an excuse to BOMBARD you guys wif pictures.  She finally got a new cord on her phone so now she can download all her pictures........be forewarned.  We personally think all 154,321.24 pictures should have been of US.

Last weeks rain storm, as Mom was leaving for work.  We are in a drought so the rain was much needed.  Today through next week in the high 90's,  Looks like we will be staying in the house.

This is Mom's cucumber plant growing out of a pot at the end of the deck.  Here are the cucumbers she has got off of it so far.  WE have no rude comment to make.  Sigh..........

These are for you flower loving peoples out there.  Daylilies, and Moms cutting garden.  The zinna's and cosmo's are finally starting to bloom.  Mom says she needs more mulch and more weeding done.  We say she needs to spend MORE time wif just us.

Another flower picture.

Mom likes hosta's cos they don't need much care.  Do you think that means mom is just plain lazy?

Mini Hydrangea plant,mom needs to get it planted ASAP!

Do you see the red tomatoes?

Stellie's planter filling out nicely. 

Deck plants.  Mom had to buy a drill last week, so she could put more holes in the pots.  After three different men looked at the drill and couldn't get it to work, the 15 year old grandson came over, and in about 3 min. had it working.  New tech crap is what dad said, Mom didn't say a word.

Plants are finally starting to grow.  Now it doesn't look like grass all around the flagpole. 


Well we hope you enjoyed visiting our house today.  Tomorrow we will show you all the animals that live wif us. 

Moving on down the road.
Mags and Gusser