Got Milk?

 The boy now drinks fresh cow's milk.

This is the newest addition to our refrigerator.
Freshly "squeezed" cow's milk.

  Our friend and fellow rancher, Annie, decided Patrick needed to pack on a few pounds, so last week she sent the Senator home with a lovely container of milk.  She had just milked "Bessie." 

   I was a bit skeptical, but deep down, I have always admired AnnieandJerry's big strappin' sons. If Patrick can grow to be anything like them, I'd be more than happy. Annie guarantees fresh cow's milk will put meat on his bones. 

O.K. then bring it on! 

Pour it on!

Gulp it down! 

Get milk! 

Got it!

First, I had to pour off the fresh cream.
AND, not wanting any of it to go to waste. . .

I immediately poured myself a nice bowl of granola,
topping it, of course,
with the FRESH CREAM.
You would do that too, wouldn't you?
You would, I just know you would!

Land Sakes!

As I was slurping it down,

I knew every ounce of that rich, heavy cream

 was going directly to my hips,

AND

I did not care one Eye-OH-Tah!

After all, it was fresh from farm to home.

It was all natural.

There were no preservatives.

Isn't that what we are all striving for?

Who needs Whole Foods Market?

I've got Annie's cow.

(Besides, the nearest Whole Foods Market is about 957 miles from my cottage on the Range.)

AND

It's good for the kid.

I'm sold on this stuff.

Got Milk?

I do.

from the range, peace,

kathleen

the handy girl

All the Way to State! Hey!

Now just hold onto your horses there, parder. . .

We're not talkin' bout Basketball! 

No sir-ree. . .

We're talkin' gymnastics!

You see, yesterday, the boys headed to a round-robin day of basketball in a neighboring town.  The Senator's team of 7th & 8th graders were playing, and Patrick went along for the ride.  The optimist that I am, I figured they'd lose every game and be home by Noon.  Wrong! 

They ended up winning every game! 

Can you stand it?

Soooo, around Noon, when I heard they wouldn't be back until much later, I headed to Wall to watch our girls gymnastics team in their Region Tournament.

It's just a half hour jaunt down the Interstate.

Well, lo and behold, when it was all done and over, the girls, who had consistently been coming in 2nd place throughout the season,

WON THE WHOLE DANG THING!

Don't ask me for a lot of details, all I know when they added up the numbers,

BINGO
our girls were:

"the cream of the crop"

"the icing on the cake"

"the tip of the iceberg"

"the Bella of the Karolyi" (huh?)

Here are some shots of the girls:



Jair-A-Merica



Miss Kate
O.K. so here is the story inside a story. . .
Her mom, a very famous jewelery maker, was on the same flight as
Patrick and me, when we flew to
Phoenix a couple of weeks ago.
Huh?
O.K. not impressed? Wait till you hear this one. . .
 A few years back, Lisa Z.O. was at a juried art show
in Uptown (Minneapolis), and bought a
bracelet from her jewelery-making mom.

And to think they live just down the Lane from us!
Sah-mawl world!



Coach Momma and daughter
Seriously, this gal should get the woman of the year award!
She's got four kids under the age of twelve.
Two of them are boys.
And I mean B-O-Y-S!
She's a nurse at the local Care Center.
She coaches gymnastics.
She's head of the local wrestling club.
And she's fit and trim and has a super cute hubby.
Yup! Woman of the Year in my book!



We're goin' to Stay-ate!  We're goin' to Stay-ate!



Congratulations!
Good Luck at State!



from the range, peace,

kathleen

the handy girl

ARIZONA - It's All About BB and Golf

We left this. . .



And this. . .




And eight degree temps
(just forget that "exhaust filter full"
note on the dashboard-it's a Dodge thing-ahh!
We made it to the airport just fine.
AND thank you very much fine people at Dodge,
who like to put me into a panic with
all your fancy-schmancy computer messages!)




We arrived in sunny,
but a bit chilly,
Scottsdale, and met up
with the Senator, 
Grams & Pops,
and 
brotherbobby.
And, of course, we had to immediately find
a basketball court. 
Jeeesh! 




We even got Pops
out on the court.




The Senator and Patrick showed us
a variety of moves.




Then it was off to
the pool and hot tub.
(Please take note that there was no one
else in the pool.  It may have had
something to do with the
balmy 60 degree temps!)




As they say in AZ when it gets a little chilly,
"Oh, but the sun is
always warm."





On Friday,
we met up with
brotherbobby at the
Phoenix Open golf tourney.




O.K., so it is officially
The Waste Management Phoenix Open.




Here's Patrick sitting on the 10th green
waiting for "Phil."  Mikelson, that is.




Due to frozen greens, the tee times were delayed,
so Phil didn't even PLAY the day we were there.

Oh, well we got to see Bill Haas, in the stylin' blue
sweater, and Luke "somebodyeranother," the guy
with the bushy beard who can hit the ball like no
tomorrow.  Neither of these guys ended up
winning, but they both placed better than
Tiger Woods, who was too chicken to even show up!




Oh, look, we found Phil. 
"Hi Phil!"




Not since I worked the US Open Tournament
at Hazeltine back in '91,  have I seen so
many intoxicated  golf enthusiasts.






Good Bye, Phoenix Open 2011.
It was a fun day!
Thanks brotherbobby for being a great host.




Grams and Patrick after a day on the course




We met up with Pops and brotherbobby for
supper at Flo's. 
A perfect ending to a perfect day!


from the range, peace,
kathleen
the handy girl

Snow Day

School is closed today.

My life is cold. 

My life is inside. 

My life consists of weather updates, road conditions, and wind chill factors.

I cook a lot when it's cold.

I watch a lot of ESPN SportsCenter when it's cold.

My butt gets bigger when it's cold.

One thing remains constant.

BASKETBALL.

The boys still play it.

The boys still live and breath it. 

One team continues to have a superstar(PB) who scores a ton of points.

One team, well, let's just say they haven't won a game yet.

BASKETBALL.

IT IS MY LIFE.

Oh, just as a side note,

I am going to the Valley of the Sun tomorrow.

It will be cold.

High of 60.

But it's better than the cold on the range.

I shall get a pedicure.

I shall go to the super-sonic tanning bed.

I shall go to Flo's for Chinese food.

I shall watch Papa watch Patrick shoot baskets.

I shall sit in the hot tub with Mother.

I shall go to the Phoenix Open golf tourney.

I shall watch the Senator, Patrick, and BrotherBobby climb the mountains.

I shall NOT think of heck freezing over on the range.

I guess my life will get a bit more exciting in the next few days.

Whoopeeeee!

from the range, peace

kathleen

the handy girl

They Lost.

Yep.

Both BB teams lost.

One by a little.

One by a lot.

More games tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted.

from the range (still frozen), peace,

kathleen

the handy girl

The Range is Frozen

When life gives you ice. . . play basketball!

When life gives you snow. . . play basketball!

When life is below zero. . . play basketball!

When your name is Patrick. . . play basketball!

So, here we are in January, on the frozen range,

with nothing to do but play basketball.

That's why I haven't been updating you on anything else.

The first game is on tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted.

From the frozen range, peace,

kathleen

the handy basketball girl

The Christmas Tree and the Mountain Lion

The Christmas Tree. Well, I should say, trees, Christmas trees.  We cut them down in the Black Hills over the long Thanksgiving weekend. 

The Deadwood Visitor Center
(pictured here in the summer)



I had to go to this building to buy the tree tags.  I am just kicking my self, because the cute, little, old lady who sold me the tags was just a spittin' image of my Grandma Mimi, and I didn't get a picture of her.

Oh, I thought about it, but I thought it would seem funny if I asked, "Excuse me, cute, little, old lady who merely sold me a tree tag, would you mind if I took a picture of you?"  Anyway, I'm kicking myself.  I even called Sis Tarry to tell her about it. She thought I should have gone back to get the picture.  Oh well. . .



While I was getting the tree tag,
the Senator and Patrick went to the top
floor of "Deadwood Dick's"
to visit with the Ambassador,
who was staying in the penthouse suite.
I was not sure who those women were,
in the windows,
and I was not asking. . .
I just wanted to go cut down the trees.



So we headed down the trail, well it was really a road.
It was a bumpy, narrow, slippery ROAD.

We looked high.



We looked low.

 Finally, we found a spot to park the pickup and took a hike into the woods to find the perfect tree, well, trees. We stepped out of the pickup, found a nice trail and started hiking.  Keep in mind this was the day after the 400 hour snowshoeing expedition, so I was ready for anything!

Of course, the handy girl was leading the way.  I was on a mission to find the perfect tree, well, trees.  I had gone about 50 yards up the trail when I looked down and saw THIS:

For those of you in-the-know,
you KNOW this is the footprint of none other than a
MOUNTAIN LION.

YES, This  mountain lion:
(I'm sorry I can't show you the picture, but trust me it's a mountain lion!)


If you don't believe me, below is another picture I snapped.  Oh, I know these are not perfect pictures, but I would say they were pretty good for somebody who was shakin' in her boots!

Kind of scary, huh? 
No, not my photography skills, silly. . .

The Senator and Patrick acted as if it was a daily occurrence, to see mountain lion tracks while out cutting down the family Christmas tree, well, trees. So, staying true to form, we continued on the trail.  While I realized the tracks were not "fresh," just the thought it had been in the area, was cause for alarm on my part.

Oh no, not my boys.  No worries here.
They were hot on the trail for a tree, well, trees.

Before I knew it, Patrick was hauling a tree out of the forest.
Hey, what happened to the handy girl being in charge here?

O.K. I gave up.  We had our tree, well, trees. 
Besides, I wasn't thrilled about being in the forest with
"you-know-who" lurking just around the next corner.

We packed up the pickup and wound our way out of the forest.

Did you notice I included no pictures of the "packing up the pickup" part?  Well, the handy girl tried to take charge, and it didn't really work. Oh well. . .



"That was exciting.  I'm ready for a nap."



It's dark outside right now, so tomorrow I will take a picture of the tree, well, trees, on the front porch of the cottage. 
You're just gonna love it! 
I can hardly wait.



from the range, peace,

kathleen

the handy girl