Merry Christmas!

Teaching Evan to shoplift as a “cost savings” approach to this year’s Christmas shopping probably wasn’t the best idea after all…..

Why I hate Randall's Grocery Store

So, before I joined the "I hate the Randall's Club Card" group on Facebook the other day, I had already taken notes and photos that describe precisely why I hate Randall's. So here it is:

I am wondering why Randall's Grocery Store is engaging in fraudulent advertising? They are the type of store that has a "club card" and if you use it, you pay one advertised price, if you don't use it, you pay a different advertised price. Well, I found a book in a bin full of clearance items that were 50% off, according to the sign. When the cashier rung it up, it came out to the full price. I told him I found it in the clearance bin and it was 50% off. He told me that the 50% off only applied to "club members". I went back and looked at all of the markings on the bin, as well as the book, and no where did it specify "club members only". People that have been to Randall's know that there are always 2 prices listed for all of the items: the "club" price and the "regular" price. I went online and nowhere online did it state that only "club members" were entitled to clearance priced items. There’s not even a “color-coding” system or anything listed anywhere that describes that “x” color code means this price and “y” color code means this price. I think that Randall’s is full of sh*$! While standing there at the checkout, the lady in front of me who had not completely walked off yet, turned around and said that I could use her card if there was a problem. She was very sweet but I told her “no, thank you”, I will not use the card, thus allowing “The Man” to keep tabs on anyone. I deliberately don’t have a “member card” b/c I find it unseemly to discriminate like that for no good reason. This isn’t a program that you pay to get into and that offers something special for being a member. They just make non-members pay outlandish prices and play “Big Brother”, spying on all the “members”. I have gone to that store when I needed something quick because it’s the closest to my work, but never again. I will most certainly drive out of my way from here on out. That is a promise!
I consider what they did to be outright fraud. They advertised a specific price - no strings attached - and then did not follow through on the sale. In fact, I’m wondering if it was illegal? I am attaching a couple of photos so that people can see that they did not identify the bin items as “club member only” ANYWHERE.
I hate Randall’s Grocery Store and I will never again give them any of my business.

Anybody who would like to explain to me how Randall's is not engaging in fraud and is actually a great company, please, by all means, enlighten me.

A Sunday here at home

I thought I would share a typical Sunday in the summer out here at my home. Being that the temps have been in the 100's for most of the summer, it seems like most of us come to life in the morning hours, then hibernate for the day until the temperature drops below 100 in the evening. These photos were taken around 8:30 am today:

Scott and Evan check on the water level at the tank in the lower pasture.

Hummingbird at the esperanza.

Hummingbirds at one of the feeders.

A doe and a buck at the barn.

Butterfly, a purple-spotted or a pipevine swallowtail, at the esperanza bush.

Indira, my peahen, sits on the car that I should have parked in the garage just for the very reason that she usually likes to perch there.

My peachick, who is quickly growing up.

Then, as I said, not much happens during the heat of the day. I cleaned up a bit outside, cleaned the chicken coop, etc. and felt absolutely awful, like I'd run a 10K or something, and wanted to throw-up. It's just so damned hot!

By 7pm, the activity starts back up and I captured a few more pics of the residents out here in my backyard. Here they are enjoying the evening hours:

These two photos are of Buddy, Minnie Pearl, Almond, then Prime Time and Paleface.

The hummers come back out to get some dinner at the feeders.

Evan helps water the plants.

Then, it's time to go inside, cool off a bit, get ready for bed and start a new day...Monday.....

A couple of notable passings in the backyard

A couple of my favorite animals past away this past week.

My very elderly longhorn, Honeycake, finally went to sleep and didn't wake up. She was a lovely and sweet cow. Very pretty and a truly wonderful and strong mother to all of her calves. In fact, she had her last calf this past winter. She lived a really long life, approx. 30 yrs. give or take. I am glad that she didn't suffer. She was up and walking around, eating, drinking, using the bathroom, just being a cow, all the way to the end.

Then, one of my favorite chickens, a little white bantam I call Ballerina didn't come in to roost the other night and hasn't been seen since. I'm guessing it was a hawk, but I don't know for sure. She was incredibly sweet and one of the few that would always let me pick her up.

I really miss her.

We had a batch of chicks earlier in the month and three of them are hers, so I am hoping that maybe one will look like her and have her temperament.

Everybody is trying to get by in the heat this summer.

Well, we have made several heat and drought records this year. Fifty-something days of over 100+ degree heat. Very tired of the heat.

Oh well.

It seems that everybody is hot and thirsty. I took a pic of a frog this morning around 10am that was hanging out at one of the chicken waterers. Neither the chickens nor the dogs paid him any mind. I guess everybody understands we all need to just get through the summer.

More Pictures from Evan's Birthday

Max is such a little sweetie.

Scott's old friend, Layne, and Scott.

Ed and Jenny.

Ed, Steph and Mom.

Evan turns 3 years old

We celebrated Evan's birthday with a very small family get-together. Work and an incredibly hot summer made the thought of throwing a bigger party a little too much to handle right now.

Evan had a great time with his cousin, Max, and his aunts, uncle and Nana. Just the right amount of presents and birthday cake, too.

Peafowl

OK, I am working full-time again and I absolutely do not have the brain capacity to manage a blog and everything else.

That said, what's going on with me? Well, I have been trying to build my peafowl flock but it's just not in the cards.

Indira, my peahen, still wanders around, but my peacock has been killed and my peachicks have ended up as snake food, save for one little guy. I started with 5 chicks and I only have one left. The snakes have been feasting on my chicks.

Rat snakes seem to be the predominant species around here, although I've seen indigo and coral here from time to time.

This morning, I checked on my last 2 peacock chicks around 6 am and by 7 am, when I was ready to leave for work, a rat snake had killed and half eaten one of the chicks. The shovel made swift work of said rat snake.

I am sooooooo pissed. I am trying to figure out what to do, but, seriously, I have never had this much trouble with snakes before!

Lord knows I've raised plenty of chicks around here, but this is the first time I've had the snakes come out and kill them so aggressively! I wonder if it's the drought that's finally driving them to do this.

Anyway, I am really mad.

Pottery

I enjoy pottery. I enjoy pottery that I know someone made with their own 2 hands. My neighbor is an artist, print making is her specialty. This is the second year that she and I and another friend have gone to the annual "Art of the Pot" here in Austin, where artists display their wares and demonstrate their craft. It is a lot of fun.

Below are some of last year's finds:

Just the bird cups and the elephant at the front of this photo.

TV

OK, I' m a little behind on my TV shows. I'm about 4-5 episodes behind on "In Treatment". But, I just watched "In Treatment" week 4 Oliver. Oh, my goodness, I love this show. I love Gabriel Byrne and I love the writers! I don't know what else to say. He is such a superb character!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dead Chicken

Woke up, let the chickens out of the coop but one didn't leave. She was one of the americauna chicks. Older now, about the size of a bantam chicken. This, of course, is sad, but also concerning. The chicken looked wet and slimy from the top of her head down to the bottom of her neck. Yes, it looks like a snake tried to eat her but she was just too big.

I've fortified the base of the coop and I'm going to put up additional screening. I hope that helps. Poor thing. When chickens are asleep, they are "sitting ducks". It's kind of like being under anesthesia.

Evan and the rain

It rained!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, we need rain! Evan got a super cute pair of rubber boots and umbrella from his Nana and they finally came in handy!

Beautiful Morning

I woke up to a beautiful moon this morning. I believe it's jupiter that is sitting just below it. The pictures don't do it justice. It was lovely.

Easter Egg Hunt at Home

This year Evan really "got" the Easter Egg Hunt, as I told in my previous post. At home, we did another hunt for him on Easter Sunday. It's so funny, though, b/c he lives in the moment, so each egg had to be opened as soon as he picked it up. As you can imagine, it was a slow process...

And Scott, bless his heart, tried to get a few cool things for the eggs besides candy. He got some cute little stretchy bunnies, little stretchy animals, little spongy animals that come in capsules that enlarge in water, AND...fireworks! I say FIREWORKS b/c they were little flammable bottles where you pull a string and that triggers a "pop" and flings streamers. They're more like caps for cap guns, in that they have a tiny little gun powder charge that goes off and shoots whatever is in the bottle. It smells awful, just like fireworks, and scared the crap out of Evan.

I didn't want to spoil the day, so I tried to act cool, but inside I was going, "what the hell?!" You gave my child fireworks? The label said in all caps "FLAMMABLE" and "NOT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN". Fortunately, Scott circled back around and said he didn't realize what they were and was surprised b/c he bought them at WalMart in the "holiday" section. He thought the bottles were like the eggs you can buy where you crack them open and there's confetti inside--no explosives, very low-tech. No, Scott, next time bring your reading glasses and read the label.

It was funny b/c Scott pulled the string on the first one to show Evan how it works. It went "POP" and Evan looked and then said say in his little-bitty voice, "That's scary, daddy!". The intonation was so cute and yet, so matter of fact.

Evan's Easter Egg Hunt at School

This year was Evan's 2nd year taking part in the MDO Easter Egg Hunt. Last year he didn't fully understand the hunt but he had fun. This year he realized that the eggs had goodies in them and, thus, were very valuable.

Last year, Scott and I both attended with Evan but this year I couldn't make it since I'm working full-time. But Scott did a great job of taking pictures to commemorate the event. Unfortunately, he forgot to send Evan's Easter Basket along, so Evan had to use a paper bag, but that's OK.

Visit from Bryan

Bryan is an old friend of Scott's. They met back in college and Bryan is Scott's BFF (besides me, of course). Isn't BFF weird to say in relation to a 40-something? It sounds so wrong, it makes me LOL. Obviously, I am a relic trying to exist in these tech-savvy times. Pat me on the head and send me on my way.

ANYWAY, it's always nice to see him. Evan thoroughly enjoyed his "Uncle" Bryan, too.

We took the daily walk down to check on the cattle.