Our Rural WalMart

 

Ok, I’m weird. I’m making a post about our Walmart.

Even though my hubby worked for our local Walmart for 6 months, I have to admit that I’m not fond of Walmart. The way they treat their employees, especially with their health insurance practices, is appalling. Even when my hubby worked for Wally World and we received a nice little discount at check-out, I rarely ever shopped there. In the past year, I’ve probably shopped at Walmart less than 10 times.

Shopping in a Walmart is like walking into a casino. You lose track of time and can waste way too much money inside.

After a Walmart visit I’m exhausted, so I prefer to do most of my shopping at our local grocery store, Family Dollar and feed stores instead.

But with all that said, I have to admit that I actually like our local Walmart. The parking lot is rarely crowded and the wait is never long in the check-out lines. And I don’t have to drive 30 miles into Albuquerque, but instead it’s only 6 miles to shop locally at our Walmart.

But that’s not the only reason why I think our Walmart is cool.

 

Our Walmart has cows. (View from our Dairy Queen)

 

 

(View from our Walmart parking lot)

On the other side of this field is the grocery store that I usually do my shopping at, as well as the Micky D’s that my kidlets often talk me into buying them a hot fudge sundae after we’re done our shopping.

 

So, what is your Walmart like?

Scenes from the New Mexico State Fair

 

Two weekends ago my kidlets and I joined our homeschool group on a field trip to the New Mexico State Fair. We spent the entire day there, ate lots of fattening and yummy fair food, spent way too much money, saw so many great things, and had so much fun.

Here are some of the photos we took while we were there.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that the New Mexico State Fair has passed and the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta has begun, it is officially Fall here in New Mexico. Fall won’t last long, though. Already we’ve had a hard frost and days with gusty cold winds, and mornings waking up to ice in the water buckets up at the barn.

 

My mare, Baby Doll is growing her winter beard and is already covered in a soft, thick fur coat and is fattening up like a Thanksgiving turkey. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m predicting a harsh, cold, snowy winter. 

I sure do miss summer…….

From the Tower of,

Christmas Tree Canyon

 

To follow are just a few photos of some of the interesting sights we saw while driving the route from Mora to Guadalupita, with a little visit in Christmas Tree Canyon, so Val could place a letterbox there.

 

Along the way, I pointed my camera out the window of the car, as we drove by lots of…………………

Cows………

Sheep…………………………

Horses…………………………..

Tractors……………………………..

 

Trees……………………….

And one curious lizard…………………………..

In………………………….

And just in case you might be interested………………..

I was.

From the Tower of,

Pay-It-Forward, Crazy Longhorn Contest

I bet you’re confused now, eh? Well, seeing as I’ve been treated really well and gifted by many blog buddies, I figured it was time to pay it forward a little bit. Quite a while ago I participated in Gail of At the Farm Pay It Forward contest and a little while later I jumped in with Grammy of The Empty Nester for her Pay It Forward contest.

Gail sent me a cute grey kitty shelf sitter that I posted about a few months ago, and it currently adorns my bookshelf. Grammy recently sent me a handmade toilet paper roll cover…….that my daughter has decided makes a cuter hat instead.

 

And anything she wears, she must try on her kitty, too.

Thanks Grammy! You’ve sure made my daughter and I laugh a lot recently. And it does look pretty on the toilet paper roll, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, now I’d like to do my duty of paying it forward and would like to run a little silly contest to go along with it.

And yes, it involves bovines. Longhorns to be exact.

Who me?

 Yes, you.

And you, too!

Ummm. Looks like someone’s in trouble.

The Number 86 isn't such a great number to be branded with if you’re a cow. gah!

Long horns really do come in handy if your butt gets itchy.

Ok. I betcha you’re starting to wonder what this crazy Longhorn contest is all about, eh? Well, here ya go.

You watch this video below. Laugh your hiney off (don’t forget this step!), and then leave me a comment telling me what ‘odd activity’ caught your eye (if you were paying attention).

And for bonus points, tell me the color of the cow that was doing all the ‘talking’.

The first 4 bloggers who answer correctly win!

What do you win, you ask?

Well, I promise it’s not this big boy. Although he is rather handsome and would make quite a few tasty steaks and hamburgers. (sorry big guy)

 

I’m going to be doing something a little different and choosing goodies based on the persons who win. It may be handmade or it may be storebought, but I promise it will be unique, useful, or make you laugh….and maybe even all three!

But there is one small catch. The winners have to keep the love flowing and host a Pay it Forward Contest on their blog, too. I chose 4 winners because I have two pay it forward contests to pass on. But the winners of this contest only have to choose two winners for their own Pay It Forward contest, so it’ll be easey peasy and lots of fun.

So, here ya go. Watch the video…..but go visit the outhouse first, or potty, if you have indoor plumbing. Or, have a change of underwear ready.

 

I’m serious. Heed my warning. Go do it now.

 

From the Tower of,

Moooooooving Up

Yesterday was exhausting. The day started off with taking one of my sons to guitar practice, we dropped him off, then my hubby dropped me off at my Physical Therapy appointment.
The real work is beginning now. They started me off doing squats, lieing down at an angle. They added a one pound weight and I could tell I wasn't doing all that great, even though I felt like I was pushing 20 pounds. My knee would hardly bend even though I was trying so hard. It felt even worse, when another tech came over to check on me and add another 5 pound weight, but instead, said, 'You're only bending a little, so we'll just keep it the way it is". So I pushed myself even harder until my 15 minutes was up. Felt like much longer, though.

Then I laid on a table and had to lift my leg, and bend my knee using my upper thigh muscles, letting my foot slide as my knee went up. I put my all into it and still barely got my knee up. I felt like I was playing tug o' war with a tiger. My leg just wouldn't do what I was willing it to do. Frustrating!

I was supposed to do 10 of those and have a one minute break and do 10 more. But instead I did 12 and then a one minute break, followed by 15. I need to see some real improvement and just doing the bare minimum isn't good enough for me.

It made me feel good when Monica's face lit up when I told her how many I had did. She's not pushy at all, maybe that will change as we move farther along, but for now, she seems to know that I'm capable of pushing myself. She knows how badly I want to walk again and get back in the saddle.
Monica still thinks I'll be using crutches for another 3 weeks and won't be able to resume normal activity, including riding, for another 4-6 months.
That seems like a lifetime.

Monica finished up the appointment with a calf massage and the Electric Stimulation treatment. The massage didn't feel so great this time because of the numbness along the side of my calf and all over my foot. The skin just feels dead and is very sensitive at the same time.
She was able to loosen up the knots in my calf caused by the hamstring stretches I do at home all day. And the Electo-Stim treatment did a great job at relaxing all my muscles even further.

I managed to reach my goal of getting my Continual Passive Motion Machine (CPM) up to 40 degree flexion over the weekend and within the last two days, I eeked my knee up to 52 degrees flexion. My goal is to get it up to 70 by next weekend.
Somehow I'm supposed to get the CPM flexion up to 90 degrees before my rental time is over, which is next week. If I can't reach the 90 degree goal, then the Dr. may extend my rental, but the rental is $20.00 a day, of which I pay about $4.00 a day. Between that and the two $25.00 co-pays for twice a week therapy appointments, the costs are mounting. I need to get better fast. I keep visualizing myself walking without crutches and being strong and well again. Hopefully that'll get me closer to reaching my goals.

Last night my family helped me move back up to my tower. I'm so happy to be up here, because it's sunny, bright, quieter, I have my own bathroom (3 males using the bathroom downstairs was more than I could bear.), and I can see all my animals from up here and I can even hear the roosters crowing and the hens announcing their laid eggs. I enjoy gazing out the window and seeing the mountains, trees, and sky again. All of my yarn and knitting stuff is up here, too. So I can start and finish a bunch of projects now.
I don't even mind seeing the cars driving down our county road. They're going somewhere.....and I am, too. I like seeing the trucks towing horse trailers and hay because it reminds me of my horse and my goals of riding again.

I did have a little melt-down cry-fest last night, though. I just got so frustrated and upset that I have to rely on everyone to help me do stuff I used to be able to do myself. I'm getting fed up with asking for help and feeling like a burden and inconvenience. I want to walk and be independant again. It did feel good to cry and get it all out, though. Now I can refocus my energy towards healing.

So, Rapunzle has moved back up to her tower again.

Here are some pictures I took right before my surgery, using my new Canon PowerShot SX110 IS. There's hardly any snow on the ground today, as it's a beautiful sunny day with temps in the 50's. A great day for riding.....

Over on the ridge property, where we sometimes ride our horses, our neighbor's got some cows on lease. I can see them from my bed.
Let's zoom in a little
And a little bit more.

Those same cows sidle right up to the fence near our neighborhood. I love seeing them there because it reminds me of how rural we are. I spied these cows from my daughter's bedroom, before my surgery.
Let's zoom in a bit.
A litle closer....
Have I mentioned before how much I love zoom??


By the way, I invite you to visit one of my favorite blogs, a blog called Our First Horse. I've been following along with them for over a year, even before I bought my own first horse. They used to live in a small town in Arizona, but now live in East Tennessee, where it rarely snows. It snowed yesterday, though, and their 4 horses were elated to be out in it, well at least two of them. lol! Check them out now to watch a beautiful and funny High Def. video of their horses cavorting in the snow. I promise it will make you laugh! (Tip: watch it on full screen)

So, what kind of mooooving around have you been up to? What are things like in your neck of the woods?

From the Tower of,