More goodbyes and more ways to earn from home..

My husband’s uncle died this past Sunday morning. My daughter commented that there has been a lot of death lately and I agreed. We have lost 2 family members, a friend and 3 of our critters all within the past 6 months. Last summer a teenage girl died at Lifest. I told my daughter that’s why it’s so important to be ready. We never know when our time is up. I’m sure the last thing that young girl thought about, when she woke up that morning, was that she would be in eternity by evening. I’ll see my husband’s Opa and uncle, and our friend again one day because they all had received Jesus as their Savior. Life here is so short and it doesn’t matter what things we have collected when we die. The only thing that will matter is what we have done that is of eternal value, the people we have invested in, the people we have told about Jesus.

It’s been warm the past few days and has rained almost steadily for two days. Most of the snow has melted but, the lower pasture is all ice now. They are predicting another 2 - 3 inches of snow tonight. I wouldn’t mind the snow so much if it fell everywhere but the roads. Just don’t like driving in it much. On the plus side, it will hide all the manure piles in the pasture. :-) It will also give the horses better footing than the ice.

Erica went riding today. She said Cass was a bit spooky. She doesn’t get out so regularly in the winter so I guess that isn’t a big
surprise. So far we haven’t seen any more critters in the barn. I know there are some there because things are getting knocked over but we haven’t seen them. It could even be mice or rats. I saw a very fast gray furry thing run along the wall the other day. Guess a mouse or a rat.

I’ve decided to add more avenues of income to my work from home portfolio. I am not giving up on my main business but, I am adding more. Varied avenues are good when earning online. If one slows down another may pick up. I just signed up with Bux.to after reading several of the testamonials and some of the forum posts. I have not upgraded yet but did buy a 100 referral package. The best way to earn with the pay to click sites is to buy referrals unless you are good at referring. From what people were saying in the forum, it is a worthwhile investment and does pay you back pretty quickly. Here’s hoping! If these referrals are active and do earn money for me, I will invest in another 100. I also joined Bux3 but have not upgraded or bought referrals yet. I believe they are still pretty new so I want to wait a little while to make sure they are going to be around and then I’ll consider buying referrals there. Also added to my portfolio this week was Daily Clicks. This looks like a good site whether you buy referrals or not. Right now, they don’t have any to sell but they do have a good amount of ads so you can earn a pretty decent amount even without referrals. 2Bux is in prelaunch right now and has a sale on their referral packages. I purchased a small package of 35 referrals. The price will go up on Feb 1st. They also offer a $70 bonus if all your referrals are active! It is free to join and is offering at least 20 ads a day with a $1 payout.

Possum Wars continued

When we went to feed tonight, we didn't hear anything moving
in there and I even kicked the barrel twice! Hmmmmmm, now
I'm beginning to wonder if that thing manged to escape our trap
undected this morning. I don't think it could have. I was watching the bag
almost the whole time and Erica was right in there next to it. Surely one of us
would have seen or heard it escape.
I caught myself almost opening that barrel twice tonight!! Yikes!
So used to just going in and doing the routine which is opening the
barrel to get the cat food out.

We get in the car to go home and Erica goes Ummm so I look at her
and she's pointing at the floor under my legs. O.k., like I haven't been
creeped out enough today. She's pointing at the floor going Ummm. You know
what I'm thinking! The possum got out of the bag and climbed in the car and is
under my legs. I don't know whether to get out of the car or look to see what
I'm running from. I drive a minivan. It is not designed, even though it's a minivan,
for anyone with legs longer than about 2 feet. I always feel scrunched in there.
I have on 2 layers for a coat since I still haven't found a coat. I don't move
real fast. Panic is setting in when I look down and see Kermit, our cat.
We have this one barn kitty that is super sweet and loves to jump in the car.
I didn't even see him get in but there he was under my legs. Erica almost
died laughing at me, rotten child that she is, and I kept saying that's not funny.
So we put the cat out and get home, she has to change and get ready for work.
I drive her to work and it is pea soup out there. Fog is awful! Thankfully, she works about
5 miles from home. All country, though, so the thought of a deer jumping out kept
crossing my mind. It's been warm here. Apparantly, it's been warm enough for
other nasties to come out of hiding. As I'm driving home from dropping her off,
a spider comes out from the top of the windshield and starts dropping down. Great!
I'm driving almost blind and I have to get this stupid spider! Where's the kleenex!!!!!!!! I always keep some in the car just for spider catching. O.k., so what do I watch now? Watch the spider. Watch the road. Hmmmmm, watch the spider. Spider goes back up. Whew! Found the kleenex. I'm ready now, spider!! Spider comes back out. I need to get the spider without running off the road but, making sure it's dead. Stopped the car. Nobody else around, catch the spider, grind the spider (one of the things I'm o.k. with killing) put spider in garbage and go home.

We are supposed to get another winter storm from tomorrow night through Sunday noon.
At least we had some of the old stuff melt off before getting a new layer. Another 3 to 6 they are predicting. We are supposed to travel Sunday to my sis in laws house. Guess we'll have to wait and see about that.

The Possum Wars

Another chapter in the continuing war on possums in the barn. This morning, when we came to feed the horses, I noticed that the barrel where we keep our Senior feed and cat food in was not closed. The lid was off. Hmmmm, that is not a good thing. Erica peeked inside the barrel and there were no critters, however, the feed looked funny. The feed room was a mess, things strewn about, the horse treats were open and dumped so something had been in there.

We started going about our business of feeding horses, Erica was going shopping with a friend today and was on the phone with her friend. I got Kasha started on some grain and Erica was scooping some of the "funny looking” grain out of the barrel and into the feed bag we use for garbage. It was looking full so I shook it down and put it back up against the wall. I was standing in the feed room deciding what to do next, when the bag moved! It moved again! I don’t think Erica believed me so she peeked into the bag and looked right into the face of the possum. My mind is racing. I threw something at the bag to scare it away. But, wait! We have it trapped. How do we keep it trapped? I’m not going to kill it and neither is Erica. We have to trap it in a way that it will stay trapped until tomorrow morning when my husband can deal with it. Hmmmm. I picked up a brick (we have lots of loose and stray bricks in the barn) and threw it on the bag, hoping to close the bag on it. First brick bounced off. I threw another brick and it landed right on top of the bag and closed part of the bag. No movement. I threw another brick and got the other half of the bag closed. Now we have to put the bag under or in something. I know! Let’s put the bag in the barrel. We have to dump that grain anyway. No way it can get out of there if we lock the lid on. Well, you know I'm not going to pick up that bag so I managed to convince Erica to pick up the bag and dump it in the barrel while I stand with the lid to plop on there as soon as she lets go. It worked! Now the possum is trapped in the barrel. Well, I’m 99% sure the possum is in there. I’m pretty sure she or I would have seen it run off had it gotten out of the bag.

So, now my husband has a few choices. He can take the barrel outside and let it out and shoot it. He can load the barrel in the truck, drive it several miles away and just let it go, or he can load the barrel in the truck, drive it several miles away, let it out and shoot it so that if he misses, it is not on the property. I might consider dumping it somewhere else myself but can’t think of a good place to dump it.

Heat Wave!

Another day above freezing. We are getting a little thawing and melting. Erica is going to go out on Kasha today. She doesn't want her to feel neglected. The possum was back in the barn again this morning. We seem to see it more in the mornings than in the afternoons. This one will be harder to get. It runs away quicker than the last one.

Snowy went in to get fixed today. Our humane society has a program where you can take your companion cat in for $26 and get them spayed or neutered. Helena, the scrappy little kitten is next!

I was thinking, today, as I was getting ready for the barn, that my least favorite thing about Winter is boots. They are hard to get on and off, clunky and often leak. Mine are pretty good as far as not leaking and they're warm and I'm thankful for warm boots but, they are a pain to get on and off and they're clunky.

Just five more days til Christmas. The years seem to go faster and faster.

Beautiful Day

It was a beautiful day today with a high around 30 and sunny. Erica went out riding on Cass today. Midnight got all upset and whinnied to her and ran around the pasture. Seems he's feeling much better. I think his hip is healed.

The possum is back. We got rid of one and there is another now. It was in Midnight's feed box when we came in the barn this morning.

I signed up for 2 new home businesses to go along with my main program. Virtual Profit Academy and Friend'w Win.

It's hard to believe that Christmas is almost here again already. I love Christmas. A time to celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

It's supposed to be nice all week, in the 30's but, rain Saturday and snow Sunday. We are supposed to go to my sister-in-law's house on Sunday for Christmas. I hope it doesn't snow too much!

Winter Storms

Winter may not officially be here yet, but the winter weather is. It's cold and icy. We got hit with a winter storm on Saturday right during music practice at church. So by the time we were finished the roads were pretty bad. Saturday night was also supposed to be our church Christmas party but we postponed it to Sunday after church. After the snow, which lasted a few hours, we got freezing rain and sleet and after that, we got rain. It was prety nasty out. Once all the precipitation finished, the temperatures started dropping and everything froze up. I can walk on top of the snow it's so hard. Makes for a pretty nasty pasture situation. It's pretty slick out for the horses.

More possums in the barn. My husband shot one last weekend. Was hoping that was it but, afraid more would come and more did. There was one in there yesterday eating from the cat's food tray. Guess my husband will have to go possum hunting again this weekend.

We are supposed to get more snow tomorrow. They are predicting another 2 to 4 inches.

My Berry Tree business is going well and I am making money so I'm excited about that! After all the programs I've tried online that haven't made me any money but cost money, this is exciting.

It's cold and new radio station.

It was cold yesterday morning and I did see that the temperature was only about 16 degrees so I should have known better. How long have I lived in this part of the country? *sigh* After 50+ years, you'd think I'd figure it out. Went to the barn this morning in my very thin tennis shoes and a regular pair of socks. My toes were frozen by the time I got home. Glad I didn't have to feed my friend's horses that time. We had to feed hers today, EARLY as Erica is driving her to her PT appointment. I'm ready for the barn today, though. I got my thick warm socks and I wore my rubber boots. I think that will be enough for now. Kasha and Chester were in the barn last night as it was supposed to snow. Cass and Midnight were outside and have access to shelter. When we went to feed this morning, they were both shivering. We were there about 2 hour earlier than normal because Erica was driving our friend to her PT appointment so the sun wasn’t up too far yet. They were both standing behind the barn looking for sun. We haven’t used their blankets yet this year so we were trying to remember which blanket goes with which horse. I bought the girls new blankets last year and we had to get one for Chester because he was shivering last winter. I couldn’t remember if I had bought a new blanket for Midnight or not. I found his old blanket and put that on him, we figured out which blanket belonged to Cass and the last one was for Kasha. Kasha and Chester weren’t shivering but they were inside and out of the wind. The wind was really blowing this morning and is probably why they were shivering. The windchill was about 4 or less when we got there. So, we got everybody blanketed up except Chester, he looked like he was doing o.k without one, and they had started to warm up by the time we left.

We are supposed to get a winter storm Saturday, which is, of course, our church Christmas party and music practice. :-P Supposed to get snow, rain, sleet. I told Erica we'll get sneet or slow. :-) Sounds pretty nasty. Supposed to get a total of 5" between all the various precipitations.

Also, found a neat radio station online. www.slacker.com There is a Christian station on there (couple of them) and you can make up your own station with the artists that you like. Easy to use, too. So, if you like to listen to music while you surf, check it out. There’s also rock, blues, oldies, pretty much anything you could want.