2010 FAIR SEASON BEGINS...

Madasan's 2010 Fair Season started this week. For the first time she will not be starting the show season in our county. Because of a conflict with the 4-States Livestock Show she decided to show in another county so she could participate in the 4-States Fair.

There is so much work that goes into getting ready for the BIG SHOW. The girls got their cattle in the show barn on Monday afternoon. They had to put shavings out for the cattle and do a little decorating. Madasan stays at the barn all day. She exercises her cattle, bathes them and sees that they have feed and water. All day spent in a cattle barn is so much fun (in my opinion...you can tell by my picture that I was already hot and with the sun coming in it makes me look like I am bald).

Madasan is showing an older heifer and a young bull. One of her friends, Shonda, is showing one of her heifers. She is hoping she has some winners this year.

She misses a week of school so she collects her assignments and does her homework during the down time at the barn.

She participates in the county, 4-States, district and state competition. This means she misses quite a bit of school but so far she has been able to keep up with her studies and her grades don't seem to suffer.

She shows her cattle on Wednesday night starting at 6:00 p.m. After the show she is required to keep her animals in the barn until Saturday night. That makes for a long week.

Sheyanne is attending college in DeQueen so she takes Madasan and a friend to the barn, she goes to class and then returns to the barn for the remainder of the day. Their mom goes over during the day and then both parents go over until bed time and bring the girls home.

Sheyanne no longer gets to show but is around to do some bossing and helping out.

**Madasan won Reserve Champion on her bull and heifer and Shonda won Reserve Champion at the Sevier County Fair. Madasan was disqualified in Showmanship because she decided to show the young heifer that she had raised that Shonda showed. One of the fair officials disqualified her because she was not showing one of the animals she showed in the show earlier. No one told her that this was not allowed. It seemed a little strange to me that she was disqualified for having the wrong animal since Showmanship is judging the child on their showmanship skills and has nothing to do with the animal.

REMEMBERING...

It has been a while since I added to my blog. So I thought I would come up with something…Reading FaceBook tonight I saw all of the excited parents with their little ones starting back to school, teachers starting off with a new group and for a moment I had withdrawal pains of what once was. For thirty-nine years I felt that excitement on the first day. I always looked forward to what the new year would bring.

Despite the few problem children, problem parents, problem teachers, new rules and regulations I still found the majority of the people I worked with enjoyable. I tried very hard to make our school an enjoyable work place, a place that the teachers and children didn’t dread coming to each day. Today my thought went back to the good days of being at school for so many years.

I am now enjoying my retirement. I think my health could be a little better but I am thankful that things are going as well as they are. I recently spent three days in the hospital. I had a combination of dehydration, anemia and some kidney problems. Since returning home I am feeling much better. I am on a pretty rigid Renal/Diabetes Diet and am eating more but enjoying it less. Sometimes you must do things you don’t like to get better. I’m working on it.

My granddaughter is starting in a new direction with her education and I have been a little anxious about that. She had some problems with one of her classes in the nursing program so she couldn’t continue with the program until next summer. She decided to enroll in CCCUA over at DeQueen. She is taking some nursing classes but is trying Ag. Business and has joined their new Rodeo Team. The Rodeo Team will be traveling all over and participating against other College Rodeo Teams. She is really excited about this. I just hope it works out for her.

The other granddaughter is in the ninth grade. She plans to play basketball and continue showing her cattle and participating in the High School Rodeo Association. Last year she was in the finals and is hoping that she will do better the coming year. As you can see, participating in barrel racing is big on the girl’s list.

My daughter’s poultry business has been pretty exciting recently. All of her help left and she has been working extra hard to keep her head above the water. Her hens are just beginning to get with laying eggs (around 3,000 per day in each house) so the girls are pitching in to help in the afternoon and she has two guys that help in one house. They are searching for a new crew to help run things. She takes care of four egg houses but two are without hens at the present time.

Now let me share the latest on my dog, Tuff. I had kept him on a chain for quite some time and finally decided that it was just too cruel so I let him run free. Surprisingly he stays around the house and does very little wandering around and getting into trouble. He begs to stay in the cool as much as possible so guess what…he stays in the cool. He is a very well mannered dog and loves me dearly. Sometimes, when I’m having a pity party, I think he is the only one that does love me.

My quote for today is the following: Maybe it’s true that life begins at fifty. But it’s then that everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out. ~unknown

MY BEAUTIFUL COWGIRLS

MADASAN BILLEE

SHEYANNE BRETT

UNUSUAL HAPPENINGS

I stole this picture because I think it is pretty spooky. This creature was caught on a game camera in Athens, AR. It is a mountain lion. Recently we have been hearing a loud growling creature near our house. When I saw this I decided it must be a mountain lion. (Julia, thanks for sharing this picture. Thanks also to Mason for catching it on his game camera.)

You might wonder about these two beauties. They participated in the Gender Bender Contest held recently to raise money for the Nursing Home. The one in blue was the big winner. Many said his rendition of one of Beyonce's songs won it for him but I think he is quite lovely. The other one won "best hair". I think he put on quite a show. He had that hour glass figure and long flowing locks. Lovely!

If you happened upon this little cemetery in the woods you might think, "Now this is a strange cemetery!" You would be right. This is a pet cemetery. All of the pets buried here were loved by one very special man. Most people just bury their pets but his pets get the royal treatment when they depart this world. Each one is given a marker because they were loved so much.

OK, what do you think happened here? This little bird was found hanging below his/her nest. A long horse hair was wrapped around the neck and that was it. It completely took the chirp out of this little fellow. Poor baby!

You can tell things are getting pretty boring at my house when I search for something to put on my blog. I did spend three days in the hospital but believe it or not I didn't get pictures.

MY GRANDDAUGHTERS AND THEIR BARREL RACING

Sheyanne and Madasan are running the barrels every chance they get. They were in a show up by Ft. Smith on Friday night and tonight they are participating in the benefit show in Foreman. It is for one of the families that lost loved ones in the Albert Pike Flood.

I worry that they spend so much time out chasing barrels but I guess that is better than out chasing boys. It is something they love and their mom is right there along with them.

BEAUTIFUL RAINBOW

When we left church we were greeted with the most beautiful rainbow. I failed to get a picture but later found these on Facebook. I think one was taken at DeQueen and the other north of Dierks. Thanks FB friends!

GIRL'S NIGHT OUT TO SEE ECLIPSE...

It is that time again...Twilight Saga. We went to the 6:30 movie of Eclipse and then invaded the Olive Garden for a great meal. We had mixed emotions on which team we were on Jacob or Edward. Toss up...

TUFF

Awwwwww, this is the way I like to sleep.

Turn the tv down...I getting ready for a little nap.

FIRST DAY TO WEAR SCRUBS...BIG DEAL!!

This was the first day that Sheyanne got to wear her scrubs to class. She was so excited about that.

MORE ON FLOODING AT ALBERT PIKE

Saturday found approximately 200 searchers combing the 20 miles of wilderness.
The search is expected to take several weeks. Several from Dierks were among those searching.

Teams scouring miles of river and rugged wilderness found two more bodies Saturday. This brings the death toll to 18 from the flash flood that swept through Camp Albert Pike. Many are still unaccounted for.

A pre-dawn wall of water surprised sleeping campers, leaving them frantically trying to get to safety.

Six of the 18 people killed were young children. 15 were identified from the list of 18. Those identified were from Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.

DISASTER AT FAVORITE CAMPING AREA

The Caddo River going into Glenwood

Albert Pike flood

More devastation at Albert Pike

One of the cabins destroyed

Sign to Bard Springs and Shady Lake

Albert Pine before the flood.

Flash flooding in the Albert Pike area left campers stranded and search and rescue teams from surrounding counties are working the area. At this time they have rescued approximately 30 people.

Arkansas State Police reported 16 fatalities by early afternoon.

Arkansas Department of Emergency Management has set up a call center. People can call 888-683-2336 for information on missing people. The call center will be open until 10 p.m. tonight and Saturday and Sunday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

2010 Luau Bunko

42 attended Julia's Bunco Luau

Julia, the hostess with the mostess...

Enjoying the pool and a little chat.

#1 GRANDDAUGHTER STARTS UAMS NURSING PROGRAM

Sheyanne started the BSN program with UAMS at Hope on May 26. She has been so excited about getting the first two years over so she could get going with her nursing degree. I hope she likes this as much as she thinks she will.

She really has to study to make her grades. Things don’t come easy for her but she has good study habits and can do it if she sets her mind to it.

She has always been a great little athlete but now that that is past she is taking up barrel racing. She seems to be taking to that quite well. Now with two running barrels I guess I will be attending more rodeos.

She is spending the night in Hope tonight and studying for her first BIG test. Several friends are joining her and hope to do well tomorrow.

This picture is the new love of her life, Pistol. He is enjoying the good life since she adopted him. He sleeps with her and is being spoiled royally.

WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON IN MY LIFE...

My life has its exciting moments and then many drab moments. Occasionally things liven up but my days are filled with reading, watching my favorite shows, searching the web, blogging, and maybe once a week I go shopping.

Recently some friends and I had a night out on the town.

We went to Texarkana and had supper at Applebee's. As we entered the building we were hugging the two new ones that joined us and ended up with everyone hugging and making a BIG spectacle of ourselves. One nice guy with a dark tan even got into the hugging. (Maxine didn't participate in this hugging game.)

While there my friend, Iris, brought out her bottle of cough syrup and politely asked the waitress if she could have a spoon so she could take it. As you can see from the photo it was a humongous bottle she had tucked away in her bag.This livened the bunch up and a few times I was afraid we would be asked to get quiet.

We enjoyed a great meal and headed out to the movies. We saw Jalo's new movie, The Back-Up Plan. We all liked the movie.

I failed to get a group picture. I took these pictures with my phone. These gals were seated across the table from me.

On Friday I joined my girls and attended a Barrel Racing

Clinic in Texarkana. It was a three day event but I managed to only go Friday and Sunday afternoon. It was pretty exciting. There was nineteen participants.

Sheyanne won in her division and Madasan would have been second but she knocked over a barrel. They were pretty satisfied with what they learned at the clinic. They love the Reinharts and want to go to their next clinic. ( Can you believe it...I didn't get any pictures of this adventure.)

On Monday Mary, Suzanne and I had doctor's appointments in Texarkana. That was super fun but we did have a great lunch out before appointment.

Today was my daughter's birthday. She is now a big 41 years old. She was pretty excited because my nephew and his wife had their baby today.

Last but not least is the adventures my dog, Tuff, has been on this week. I worry all of the time because he must be on a chain because he wanders off and pesters the neighbors. Well he broke his chain and I just let him stay out. The first day he was gone all day and came home so dirty and smelly late that night. The next day he stayed home all day and night. Next day he left but returned pretty quick. When I left for Texarkana he wanted to go but I told him to stay home and he did. When I returned he was here. He may get into trouble but at least he is happier and so am I.

My next adventure, to look forward to, is the big Bunko Luau at Julia's in June. While waiting I guess I need to finish that Nora Robert's book...

STORMY NIGHT

An apparent tornado plowed through Dierks, AR Friday evening. This picture was captured and submitted by Ramona Hill. The storm left behind widespread damaged to the area with damage to a several homes, a laundry mat, and several chicken houses. Fortunately, there were no reports of injuries. (Thanks, Mary)

Jerry's storage buildings*

The Laundry Mat *

The girls keeping busy while in the storm shelter.

Nights can be pretty tough down in our part of the country. Last night we had severe weather in our little town. My daughter is so afraid of storms so she keeps a close watch on what is going on. The minute a WARNING is given she is at my house ready to get into the storm shelter.

We entered the shelter the first time around 9:30 p.m. and while we were enjoying our close quarters the girls were communicating with everyone in the country about what was going on in surrounding communities. “Take cover, it is headed your way!” was a common text that they received. (What did we ever do without a cell phone???)

When we came out the first time one of Madasan’s friends called and wanted to come to our house. She was scared because the storm had done quite a bit of damage in town and she was wanting out.

We had other visitors to our storm shelter when we returned for the next round of storms. You can see from the picture that the girls were keeping busy with their cells while in the cozy shelter. Our dogs joined us and were so nice while all of the excitement was going on.

Finally, the storm was over and we continued to hang around waiting for the next round. Brett and a friend remained outside while we were inside. Suddenly we heard a huge bang on the door; Brett had hit the door trying to scare us. The girls nearly had a heart attack. You know it DID NOT scare me at all…

*pictures taken by Cindy and taken from F.B.

WHAT'S NEW WITH SHEY

Smiling pretty

New dog

New horse

Sheyanne is just about finished with her Associate Degree and will enter the BSN Program with UAMS in May. She is all excited about getting into nursing school. I just hope she loves it as much as she thinks she will.

During her spare time she is learning to ride. I think with little sister keeping so busy with her horses she got the fever.