Day in the Life of Susannah

Oh Susannah - what a day you had. Starting off waking up with sister Sugar Pie (honey bunch - yep that song) in pen looking oh so sweet.

Not two minutes later - looks like you were thinking seriously of chomping down on Luci Watusi's ear - git it outta my way says Susannah.

Not sure I can get bloggerized enough to make these show up in order . Caught a series of photos throughout morning showing how deceptive appearances can be.


Susannah climbs atop the tree perch -looking for fun? OR someone to conquer?

Bubbles shows up - thinking"I'm older than little show off Susannah - I'll just make my move"

Location location location isn't just relevant in real estate - makes a big difference in queen (or at least bossy girl) of the tree stump .

Susannah starts in her defense mode and

and

and

Yep - butted off the stump by an uppity little doeling!

Last shot shows Susannah's obvious "Come On - You wanna piece of this tough Texas gal?"

OK maybe just maybe I exaggerated a tiny bit - but it still made me laugh on Buhlaland and that is always good!

Our State Fair Is a Great State Fair

You may not recall (probably aren't that old) a movie with Pat Boone and Anne Margaret called State Fair - musical score by Rogers and Hammerstein I do believe. We didn't look much like Pat Boone OR Anne Margaret but here is the modern skyline of Dallas as we drove to Our State Fair in Big D last week. Large white arch is part of new hoity toity bridge project over Trinity River.











Oh My goodness - Girl taking these free digital pictures was obviously more interested in showing the Camaro part than making us look any nicer - but 'tis me and hubby as we entered Chevy Land at the fair.
They had a Chevy with decorations honoring the military on display - really nice.














Can't go to the Fair without watching a little livestock judging - that little gal in the pink shirt was working it like mad - didn't see how she ended up but she was definitely showcasing that animal.

Of course there are lots of pink piglets napping up against gigantic sows.

Picture doesn't show too well - we went to a Stunt Dog Show - the dog onstage with trainer was a 3-legged pit bull - missing a hind leg. The dog was amazing - could jump more than 25 feet into a pool to the right of the stage. All the dogs used in show were rescue dogs from shelters.

Permanent buildings at Dallas Fair Park are all done in an art deco style - very pleasant with big trees and many ponds or fountains around to keep you cooler.

Can't go to Texas State Fair without saying Howdy to Big Tex - those are real clothes he has on - talk about Big and Tall sizes.




I had on my list I wanted to visit the Butterfly house - hotter than blazes in there and very high humidity - all tropical butterflies so you have to go through sort of an airlock to prevent escapes of non native species.

Wild metal sculpture outside Butterfly Exhibit - a butterfly costing over $6000 - no we didn't buy a souvenir of our outing!

We drive west from Dallas - having enjoyed our first visit to the Texas State Fair - it was Senior Citizens Day so entrance was free with parking $15. Didn't eat any of the yearly featured fried foods - took our snacks and purchased bottled water and a coke. It was an inexpensive and great fun day for us - haven't been able to get "away" much and this was just long enough to enjoy and not too exhausting.

We had fun at Our State Fair - it was indeed a great state fair! Back home to Buhlaland with tired feet and big smiles~!

Natural Lessons

(New Living Translation)

John 15
Jesus, the True Vine
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

Jesus taught using images which could be seen all around us, to help our very weak minds and hearts to grasp eternal meaning. In recent years I've felt the Lord's "pruning" of my branch, and I only can trust Him that it may produce fruit of the spirit and in deed. It is good on Buhlaland - grapes aplenty for the birds and pruning might hurt for a season to be part of His harvest - it is a very good result.

Picture was taken in our back pasture -
Mustang Grape
'Vitis mustangensis
Vitaceae
Mustang grape favors disturbed ground, fence rows, woodland edges and sandy slopes in the eastern half of Texas, east to Louisiana and north into Arkansas and Oklahoma. Althought its fruit is usually pungent and unpleasant, the fruits of the variety diversa are actually sweet and have often been used in wine-making. This is a high-climbing vine which tolerates great heat and drought. The lower surface of its leaves is very white and densely hairy, a noticeable ornamental feature. It is reported to be largely resistant to Phylloxera and hybridizes with several other grape species. 'source

Yep - it is autumn

Tried to find some clever theme for blogging today - not feeling clever but have been reveling in the beauty of our little bit of Texas recently. We've had unusual rainfall for September and October - resulting in a November

of rare autumnal color. We often have brown and beige autumns - after a long dry summer the poor trees are just wanting to shed those leaves sucking the sap out of them and heal over the winter. This year - looks more like the trees want to hang onto their finery a while longer.

We haven't had a frost yet - cool nights and mid to high 70's in the days. Good it isn't like this all the time - we'd be over run with people moving to Texas! As it is - here on Buhlaland it is GOOD to be enjoying autumn - we're grateful.

Snapshots

Remember when we called casual photographs "snapshots"? Definitely dating myself with use of the term. I wanted to share a few pictures with almost no interesting story behind them. The moon recently was so brightly shining just after sunset I took this picture - liked it then and still like it.

Other pictures are from our trip to the rock yard - how odd to live in the country and drive to a place to buy rocks . The little view of a rock waterfall is by the pond at the rock yard. Then we have a picture of the rocks we bought (called mossy builder stone) for DH to use around gate posts. Solar panel for gate openers seems to be working perfectly. The red flowers are wildflowers we saw while out on one of our listings. Not exactly breaking news from here on Buhlaland only real update is we are experiencing Texas weather - like a TexMex restaurant menu - gonna be chile tonight but it'll be hot tamale! Groans are cheerfully acknowledged!

Homemade Christmas Gifts

I think I've mentioned before that my dear husband can literally do almost anything - this year for Christmas he made these lazy susans - I get the red one and other was for someone else. They are like him - useful and attractive . (explanation of couch cushion sticking up there at an odd angle - only way to keep our little dogs from nesting on top of the cushion and breaking it down - we actually move the cushions into more normal couch position to sit there!)






One of his "lines" when he was courting me (or I was chasing him? - hard to remember which direction that went) was there were only three things he couldn't fix, the break of day, a broken word and a broken heart. At the time I thought it charming male malarkey but he has proven it over and over.

The small picture is one of my keepsake ornaments - a big deal here in Texas is the yellow rose (old song -the yellow rose of Texas).

Trees picture is the very last bit of sunlight on a blessed Christmas 2007. We had a lovely Christmas - life is good here on Buhlaland (and very early to bed - we were laying there reading by 8 pm!).

Last roses of what season?

We still have roses blooming - the rose bushes look just awful but the flowers keep appearing. Such a long warm spell- here is it December and we still have roses. Cool huh? Texas weather is quite variable but this is unusual even for us. The rose garden - well not at the White House in Washington but here in Buhlaland.