AWOL & Getting Even

This week has been like most of our other weeks. Some good...some bad...and some ugly.

We woke Monday morning to sobbing and frantic searching. Sierra's pet hampster "Hammy" had escaped. He had gone AWOL and was nowhere to be found! (Sisi is like the girl on the animaniacs who says, "I'll love you ad hug you and squeeze you and call you George..." Here's a picture of her with our poor five year old Poodle Champ who has been a good sport WAY too long!) We looked and looked, but to no avail. We put a little bowl of food and water out, and set Hammy's wheel on the floor by Sisi's bed. The rest of the day was tragic, and Sierra mourned her loss.

Last weekend brought more rain. We've been praying for rain for the crops at Circleback. God has opened the heavens, and Rusty and Billy can't remember a year their crops looked so good. On the flip side, though, our driveway is hard dirt. When it rains, it's soft dirt. When it floods, it's nothing short of mud pie. Monday afternoon, I got our van stuck in the driveway so deep, the mud came up to the bottom of the van doors. No one could visit, and no one could escape. Since Benny was at the fire station, we got to wait until he came in to pull me out. One word of advice...always follow the ruts...don't try to make new ones!

Things rocked along until this weekend. Enter the ugly part... Benny's dad ordered cattle to run out on the land he bought from Pop. Being a Baker, Deck is the culprit who passed the "Baker luck" to us. His cattle came 11 hours late. They had to unload in the dark. He didn't get as many cattle as he ordered, and 15 were bulls instead of steer. In order to sell them for beef, they needed to be castrated to fatten them up. Weekend before last, Benny and Deck tried to bulldog the cattle against the fence, but they were too wild. So last weekend, Deck and Dexter built a chute to pin them in. This weekend, the plans were to castrate the steers and tag all of their ears. Benny, Deck, Nancy, Xavier, Noah, and Bo (a cousin) took the challenge. A few hard knocks and a FULL day of work later, all the steers sang soprano. Noah got bucked off the four wheeler and shot a few FEET in the air. He also got a couple of cattle that backed against the closing gate he was holding that put goose eggs on his head. He's a tough one, and hung in there. Benny got kicked in the knee, and that sent him over the deep end. From what I can tell by the stoires, he picked a 300+ lb. bull up off the ground and threw him in the chute after it kicked Benny in the knee. Both are quarantined today with the mad cow disease, but expected to make a full recovery!

Church went well today. We had a good crowd. Everyone was feeling better, and it was a good worship service.

We all got naps and aren't as cranky now. After we had some wits about us, we noticed a piece under the edge of the couch chewed up. Because of the fibro, I have trouble getting in the floor. So Benny lifted the couch, and I held it there. Guess who we found?!?!?!? HAMMY!!! He was curled up under the couch in a pocket of lining. Needless to say, Hammy's in solitary confinement again, and Sierra's once again happy to have a pet to pamper.

So all's well at the Baker house once again. Hammy's safe and the kids are hornery as ever. We have 349 hours and 4 minutes until school starts, and counting down! Have a great rest of the summer!