Hot Rod Cowgirl

“Blog Of The Year 2012” Award Times Six Stars! What a wonderful award gift to be given:) I am very late in posting the news of this award as I received the award between my hubby’s two surgeries with December 26th being the second surgery and then we lost our beloved dog Kiah…who we miss very much.

I was both the head nurse and doctor at times…when you live 60 miles from the hospital and the Dr., you learn to do both…my friends laugh at our “Hallway Closet” as it is the equivalent of “Rite Aid,”with all kinds of tape, gauze, antibiotic creams, itch creams, bug sprays, thermometers and band-aids. Between taking care of WB and making sure he did exactly as he was instructed to do and did not sneak out of the house to go to the shop, life has been busy…thankfully his doctor gave him the heads up to venture out a few weeks ago, but the first few months I had to watch him like a hawk!!!  I run the office so I am forever busy keeping up with both the ranch books and our custom car business, and I can’t believe how fast the months go!

We hired three new employees to add to our team, one great apprentice and two gifted, talented and experienced technicians that know how to do the job right. Luckily our winter weather has not been terrible this year so with the help of our new apprentice, I took care of the horses, making sure their water, which is heated during the winter months, was working and heating right. I felt like I was the lady of many hats, as I wore many different hats from Head Nurse to the Mrs. Grrrrr Boss to the Cowgirl Queen of All…hee-haw!

And then I had the nicest surprise in receiving the nomination for the “Blog Of The Year 2012” Award with the first of six stars from fellow blogger Candy at http://findingorderincorpusa.wordpress.com/ I was both humbled and in a state of shock in a very happy way:)

 Thank you Candy for thinking of me:) Be sure to check out Candy’s blog as I promise you will enjoy it! She has a blog full of positive encouragement, which helps as we go through some of those truly yucky-blah days of our lives…and she also shares lots of wisdom to apply to our lives too. Here is the link to Candy’s blog and also the link that has all the rules for this award  http://findingorderincorpusa.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/

And then I received my second star and another nomination for the “Blog Of The Year 2012” Award from my friend Marilyn at http://teepee12.com/

I was now laying on the ground, having fainted with delight, while my horse Melody was staring at me with her big beautiful eyes wondering if I was ok…you can see she is worried, she is the sweetest horse I have ever had. “Ahhh Mel, I love you lots, but I’m ok:)” I was smiling and glowing with excitement as I felt so very honored to receive this award by both these admirable friends and fellow bloggers…go check out Marilyn’s blog at  http://teepee12.com/2013/02/24/daily-prompt-the-glacier-quarter-2011/

Because it was the holidays and the season was full of holly jolly joy joy! My laptop was singing away with sonar ba-blurps, as my notifications sound like a submarine when they come in…so I checked to see who was ba-blurping me and it was Marilyn at http://teepee12.com/2012/12/15/blog-of-the-year-2012/ she had awarded me with my third star, to add to my nomination for the “Blog Of The Year 2012” Award!!! If you have not gotten over to Marilyn’s blog by now…get going! She has a worthy blog called “Serendipity” that is filled with words written by Marilyn, who is a gifted writer.

The picture above is Annie, she is so pretty…and the photo below with the white stuff hanging off the garden stake with the horse on top next to the fake flowers is called “Hoar Frost.” It builds and grows each day until it hangs off of railings, power lines and etc. When we have long periods of freezing temperatures with freezing fog, a heavy hoar frost will grow on everything. Often we lose power as the power lines sag with the weight of the heavy frost eventually breaking the lines, leaving us without power for several hours or days. When you have livestock, they need water to survive. Horses can colic, which means they get a tummy ache and they lay down and roll on the ground trying to get rid of the pain, and often twist their gut. In severe cases they can die or will need surgery…the colic is caused by eating dry feed without water for their gut. so when you lose power and are without water for your livestock, you haul it or bucket it from another water source.

With Christmas upon us and snow forecast with freezing fog delight, my kitty Minnie was doing her computer time a few days later and said,

“Meowzers Mom…I just heard your laptop make that funny email noise again…I peeked and now you have four stars, as Marilyn gave me, (Minnie), a star for Christmas cuz I’m the cat who knows where it’s at! Meowohooey! Thank you Ms. Marilyn:)”

I did a fancy cowgirl two-step with a yee-haw and

Minnie looked at me and left in a hurry….she was worried it somehow could involve me picking her up for a kitty hug and holding her close to my heart for a kitty dance. She does not like to be held off the ground at all…and since I am 5’9″ tall, I’m a skyscraper in her eyes!

The Rules For This Award Are Simple And Easy:

1. Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award.

2. Write a blog post and name/tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3. Please include a link back to this page  ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!).

4. Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them.

5. You can now also join The Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook Group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience.

6. As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting the six stars.

And Wowee-Wowzers!!!

And I just got my fifth star!!!

The best part of receiving this special award was being nominated by my peers for the equivalent of the Oscar Award with the “Blog Of The Year 2012” Award. It feels very good to have recognition from your friends that are on this artistic journey with you. When I began this blog I had no idea that it would feed my heart and soul the way it does. I have always always always loved to write…and photography has been a passion that I knew was there in my heart but in raising our kids, money was tight and buying fancy cameras was not in my budget…basketball shoes alone cost as much as a college education. I did write and I have journal upon journals of my life over the years, filled with emotions, memories and daily life.

And then only a day before Christmas I found I had received my sixth star from Marilyn as she too wanted to pass on the holly jolly joy and share her stars with me for the “Blog Of The Year 2012″Award! Thank you Marilyn and Big Hugs:)

Thank you Candy at http://findingorderincorpusa.wordpress.com/ for the first nomination for this awesome award and thank you Marilyn at  http://teepee12.com/  for blessing me with this awesome award with several nominations…neither of you had any way of knowing that, on the days you blessed me with another star to this award, it was a day that I had a fire of life dilemma to put out here…so each of your stars gave me hope and a big smile! Thank you both for being my friends and fellow writers on this journey of words and of life:)

Drum roll please for my nominations…I would like to nominate all of the bloggers and writers I know…I enjoy every blog on Word Press:) It is not easy to choose only a few blogs as I have many that I believe are worthy and that is all of them!

1.http://euzicasa.wordpress.com/ George has an outstanding blog that I love to read as I often learn new things about many different areas of life, music, various animal species, historical world events and then today I heard two songs that I had not heard since way back when and they brought back great memories:)

2.  http://thesedaysofmine.com/ I love Dianna’s blog…she has a beautiful kitty angel named Sundae-Girl who also writes occasionally…she is one of my kitty angel Minnie’s best friends! Dianna shares her sunrise and sunset photos with the ocean behind them and the water right out in front of her home…and also her daily life with her family and her historic roots that run deep in Virginia.

3.  http://rumpydog.com/ Be sure to go meet Rumpy dog as his blog is awesome! He keeps us filled in with animal news and all things animal…different new animal friends and also animal health facts as well as animal fun stuff. Rumpy is very cool…how many dogs do you know that have their own blog? Go see Rump’s blog and enjoy:)

4. http://savannahspawtracks.com/  I love Savannah’s blog..she is a very cool kitty angel, she is always up to something fun and she takes good photos. She calls her blog “Autobiography Of A Shelter Cat”…she is very beautiful, as she is a Russian Blue kitty angel with a great personality to match her beauty and lots of white detail like Minnie has on her toes and under her chin:)  Her Mom and Dad are awesome for adopting her and they loves her lots! Minnie loves her too:)

5.  http://catfromhell.wordpress.com/  Minnie and I both love reading about Nellie’s adventures…she is 14 years old and is also a rescue kitty. I think her Mom and Dad are awesome for adopting Nellie and making her part of their home. Nellie writes great daily blog entries that keep us hooked, reading about her explorations and life full of fun with other kitty angels and she loves Rumpy too:) She is a very cool kitty as she paints some beautiful paintings of her friends and she is part of the FBI too….so go say Hi!

6.  http://triciabookerphotography.com/2013/02/21/beautiful/  “Capturing images, words and horses.” I saw the previous sentence by her name and I was hooked:) I truly enjoy Tricia’s blog and her amazingly beautiful photography of horses, various animals, flowers and life through her lens:) She is an amazing photographer…go see as she has incredible images to see and enjoy:)

7. http://tau0.wordpress.com/  I love this site as the amazing scenery in Mike’s photography speaks directly to my “wild at heart spirit!” Both my hubby and I share the wild at heart…I love the sheer beauty of isolated, jaw dropping beautiful places that you can not see unless you are willing to get off the beaten path and seek them out. Mike captures amazing views and waits for the perfect light and his timing is magical:)

8. http://russelrayphotos2.com/  Russel has been a photographer for many years and shoots beautiful shots of San Diego life and history…and incredible shots of scenery and flowers, butterflies and life etc. but my very favorites is “Zoey, the Cool Cat!” He is a character and great at posing for Russel’s camera.

9.  http://marcellarousseau.wordpress.com/ Marcy has a great blog that educates you on healthy eating and living. She is awesome as she seeks to help others to lose weight and get in shape…I know I need more of every fact she teaches and shares so I check her out often to see what is good for me and what I need to get rid of:) And we both share the same name of Marcy:)

10. http://godguidesme.com/ Vivian has a wonderful blog and I so enjoy the pictures she takes of the Nevada Desert…I love the peace and solitude of the desert and have found that the desert has a way of drawing you into its magical light, colors and silence…there is something incredibly beautiful and spiritual about the desert and Nevada has LOTS of mountains too so don’t let the desert fool you. Vivian’s blog is full of inspiration and incredible scenery.

11.  http://emjayandthem.com/   MJ’s blog is awesome as she makes you think deep and I love to think deep! She shares about her life growing up and also her life today…the lessons she has learned and the ones she is yet working on…her writing style hooks you into her words as you can identify with what she is writing about…she is a great writer and also takes great photos. She is an incredible lady to know and I always enjoy her comments when she visits me:) Go check MJ out…kind of funny but I am also called MJ…so from one MJ to another MJ go enjoy another MJ’s blog:)

12.  http://pacificnorthwesttravelerdotcom.wordpress.com/ I so enjoy Bob’s blog as I live about 200 miles from him and many of the various photos he shoots I am aware of or I have been there. Today’s lesson he is giving is on how to frame one of your photos in Photoshop…and I plan to give it a try too:) He shoots incredible scenery shots and then also goes to the Portland Zoo and takes some amazing shots of the various animals there….as well as “Jack” the kitty cat!

13.  http://onespoiledcat.wordpress.com/  This is Pam (Mommy) and Sam’s (Sammy) blog on Sammy’s fun antics and Pam’s wonderful words, she has a wonderful writing ability, she has published a few books and also short stories and she also is an artist as she paints. I always enjoy seeing what Pam is up to and Minnie has a kitty girl crush on Sammy…and I love to see what Sammy is up to as he has gone undercover before as a secret agent and he has taken care of business:) He is one cool dude!

14.   http://catnipoflife.wordpress.com/    I truly enjoy Sharla’s blog, her writing style, the memories she shares, the books she has published, and I love the name of the blog Catnip Of Life…yeah, that is perfect and Minnie agrees:) Sharla gives you deep things to ponder and think deep on which I love as it keeps me thinking all day when I am out and about doing ranch stuff:) I love her poetry too, her positive comments and her laughs as I love to laugh:)

15. http://patinaandcompany.wordpress.com/  Awesome blog! I will be reading each article on gardening, flowers and landscaping that Patina & Co. has posted. I am subscribed to Leslie’s blog, she lives North of Toronto, yesterday she posted pictures of the snow around her home and yard…I will not complain anymore about our weather!!! Go check out this blog as she also has interior decor ideas and ideas for the exterior of your home.

Marilyn, thank you again for nominating me for this awesome award, Marilyn writes and takes us into whatever it is that she is describing…and that is what I strive to become, as a writer…I hope to write and pull the reader into my story so that they can actually hear, feel and taste or smell what I am describing…and I hope to do the same with my photographs:) Marilyn, I am working on “Tagged”…I wanted to get this award out as it is so special to receive. If you have not been to Marilyn’s blog yet, go to: http://teepee12.com/2013/02/24/daily-prompt-the-glacier-quarter-2011/

Thank you Candy for nominating me for this honorable award and for blessing me with the first star:) Candy has a fun blog as well as a web site for her professional organizer business…and she can be hired to come into your home or office to organize it so that you can do your work or job with everything in its place instead of a mess. I am pretty organized most of the time but right now with taxes and going through all the office stuff I need you Candy!  On her blog, Candy has fun stuff, encouraging slogans and positive remarks for us to keep on a keeping on:) So be sure to check out her blog at http://findingorderincorpusa.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/blog-chill-day-8-2/  and also her business web site at http://www.orderyoursteps.net/

Minnie and I have learned so much from all the many bloggers we have met in the last almost two years. The best part has been getting to know you…and to view your artistic abilities from photography to writing words that tell the stories of your life or of the lives you write about. The creative spirit is amazing and ever changing, growing and developing…I love the burning fire of artistic abilities that are God given, that burn deep in my heart. It is always there…sometimes it just smolders and other times it fires up into a roaring campfire…I love it:)

These roses are for each one of you:) I am going to keep on writing words upon words and shooting a zillion photo images to share with you:) How about you? Have a “Super Sweet Sunday!”