The heat is on....

We had an extremely wet winter that allowed us three good snowfalls. That was wild...

This spring has been beautiful with cool temps in the morning and warmish temps later in the day, but a breeze stayed blowing.

But I think Mother Nature got a little ahead of herself. We should still be getting some mildish mornings and warmer afternoons. We're not. So far we've recorded record high's for May here. It's been up to 98 degrees that I know of recorded. It's stinkin' hot and feels like July already...that's scary.

I'd like to say I've been out putting training time on Charmer, who is four this year, but it's too hot! I've had some great rides on him this spring though. I was pleased with his progress. I need to send him to someone to finish off though. I've started him pretty good though I think. He'll go in a bit or rope halter (prefers halter). He side passes, backs, walks, trots, and turns on que. I've not cantered on him yet since no one was out there with me. I like having someone out there just in case.

A winter video...

This was a video made by my friend the day it snowed. You'll see me with Sophie in her coat at the end of it.

The kids were having such a good time!

Taking down the tree...

The snow stuck for three days here. It sure was pretty and the kids loved it. We were without power most of the day that it snowed and our telephones were out for almost a week. I was able to get some pretty pictures of it all.

The dogs loved the snow...I didn't love the mess though! I tried to get some pictures of them running around, but most of them came out blurry. The dogs were just so stinking excited from it all!

Today was spent taking down the live oak tree that we lost and taking broken limbs out of the other trees.
Those poor horses! I tried to rub them down a few times to help get them dry, but I don't think it helped a whole lot. They did wander out into it and I followed them out to snap a few pics, but they headed right back towards the shed once I got out there! Stinkers...

The record snow fall...

So it started snowing early on the 11th and it didn't stop until mid afternoon. By the time it was all said and done, almost 6" of snow was on the ground. We lost many limbs from our live oak trees and we lost the entire live oak tree that was right off our back porch. I was very disappointed. It would have eventually been cut down as it was really too close to the house, but I sure didn't want to do it any time soon!

The horses were miserable the whole day. I felt bad for them...they wouldn't stay in the shed, they were soaked from the rain the whole day and night before, they were shivering and there wasn't anything I could really do about it. They got lots of hay though to keep them warm. Poor Napoleon got the worst of it as the other two wouldn't let him in the shed at all!

The kids really loved all the snow. They went through a ton of clothes since I wouldn't let them go back out in wet clothing. They don't really have proper snow gear, but that didn't stop them from playing until they could no longer feel their hands or feet..."we're fine mom"!

They made 6 snowmen, had tons of snowball fights and declared it the "Best day of their whole life"!

Jacob's other 'snow-woman'. It's supposed to be Britney and she has leaves for hair, LOL!

It's snowing! No kidding....I have pictures to prove it!

So I didn't go to bed until after midnight this morning since I was up with Tall Girl. Of course it took me a while to fall asleep with my pup and Steve snoring on each side of me.

Steve got up this morning to head off to work and came back to tell me that it was snowing outside...and not some rinky dink snow like last year that made our roof white. This is a full blown real snow. It's slushy as all get out...it's going to shut down the city since we don't have anything remotely capable of dealing with that..no sand or salt machines. People are going to drive stupidly I'm sure, so there will be extra crews out today pulling people from ditches. I sure hope none of that happens though.

Of course he had to wake the kids too...who have no appropriate snow clothing...why would they though?! We live in Louisiana. The other day they were wearing shorts! It's December for goodness sake, LOL!

They headed out there and I took some pictures. It's the only real snow they've seen in a long time. I so wish we could take them up north for a little while to enjoy a good snow, but that will have to wait. The dogs freaked out though when I sent them out. Sophie ran out and then ran back to the house, jumping onto the water barrels on the porch. She looked at me like there was no way she was going back out in that weird stuff! She had been super glued to my leg since I let her back in. As I type, she is resting her chin on my leg, patiently waiting for me to start petting her again. She's been like that for the last 10 minutes! I think she's wanting to head back to bed, but she won't go without me to the bedroom.

Steve is not used to driving in that sort of stuff anymore so I hope he's real careful on his way to work.

It would have been really nice if this would have happened on Christmas Eve or Day...that would have been awesome!

SNOW?!...You're kidding right?

Nope, no jokin'! We had snow a couple of weekends ago (the 8th)! So it wasn't some major snow fall...it surely didn't shut the road systems down, although down here, there may have been a few accidents from rubber necking at it!

I got up that morning and got moving to get the farm chores done. We had a soccer game at 9 am for both kids.

I walked outside, knowing it was going to be a bit cold but unprepared for the fat white flakes falling from the sky on what was a very sunny and pretty morning! I ran to tell the others. The kids have been asking, no...begging, for snow for years. B remembers a little bit, I think, about the snow in Virginia that she got to play in when she was little, but Little Man has no clue...one day we'll take them skiing or something...hopefully we'll move a little farther north and get a few snows then...

Steve and B shot out of bed like their feet were on fire and Little Man grunted, looked at me, then rolled over, LOL! He likes his sleep like his daddy. He did get up a little while later after B pounced on him and aggravated him up out of bed with all her excitement!

It didn't snow long, just an hour or so, but the kids enjoyed the later part of what they saw...they thought it was just cool and was telling everybody about it at soccer...many of the other kids hadn't seen it since it was going on at 6:30 AM and almost didn't believe him...but I told them too.

Their soccer games went well although the Hawks (the team Steve and I coach) lost...the boys were just Popsicles out there playing on a field that was still a bit wet and muddy...the team they played I do not like...the coach's and parents encourage them to be rough. I don't do that with mine...it's not necessary. B's team didn't win either. Both of our teams were short players I think mainly due to the cold, but that didn't stop any of them from wanting to play and trying their best at it. They were all troopers!

Funny thing is this past weekend the temps were up at 88 degrees! Good grief! Freezing one week and hot the next. Our kids did great though, B's team won by 3 I think-she almost scored 3 goals by herself. That girl can dribble a ball down the field and around those girls like crazy! I was hollaring for her like some loon! LOL. Some of the parents of the other team were ridiculous acting though-just ugly to the ref and towards our team. I just don't get parents like that. This is a kids game, it's supposed to be fun for them, but they make it so much more than that at times. The Hawks tied their game, 2-2, though it was a team we beat last year by 1. Funny thing is, their team had at least 12 players, ours had 8 and we still tied them! LOL. Our boys were playing hard by the second half and had we had 5 more minutes or so...we could have won it. Our boys weren't letting the other team even get near their goal.