Trapping the Skunk

No pictures of this since we wanted to avoid the "fragrance" we might receive if we got too close!
Monday morning, a skunk was at the barn and hid behind one of the horse stalls; so, Monday afternoon we put our 2 cats in the barn and set a trap for the skunk.
Tuesday morning, a black and white cat (not ours) was caught in the trap.  Mel opened the trap door and the cat "flew out" and headed north.  We don't know whose cat it was, but we have a feeling it will not be back for visit for some time, if at all!
Still, no skunk so Tuesday afternoon we repeated our ritual to set the trap.
Well, Wednesday morning the critter was captured!  Now, what do we do with it???  Mel had me check on-line to see suggestions.  It was covering the cage carefully with a tarp and disposing it.
Finally, after careful actions on Mel's part, the critter will not visit us again.

Our Trip to OKC

The Affair of the Heart and Jett's school program prompted us to go to OKC.  We left about 6:15 so we  could get Amberlea and head to the Fair Grounds for the Affair of the Heart.
After standing in line for about 10 minutes Amberlea, Margaret, Joe, Mel and I were ready to shop.  We were disappointed not to find much that we were interested in this year.  The highlights of the arts and crafts show were seeing former co-workers and visiting with them.  There were so many people that after a while it was not enjoyable to try to shop.  When everyone had experienced all they wanted we left.
Since it was a cloudy cool day soup sounded good!  We headed to Panera Bread and the line was out the door.  Definitely not interested in standing in line that long, we went across the parking lot and enjoyed Olive Garden.
Jett's school program about a house and too much noise was very cute.  The kids all did a great job.  Jett was a donkey in the program.
Afterwards we enjoyed dessert with him.  Nothing like hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies to celebrate a great performance.
Our day in the city was fun and entertaining!  Time with family and seeing your grandchild perform was great!!

Standing in line for The Affair of the Heart

Don't you just love Mel's expression!  He actually bought more than I did!!

The line was too long for our soup

We enjoyed a delicious lunch here.

Jett's program

Jett left with us after the program.

The group

Jett and Grandpop visiting

Jett's favorite dessert  - chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate from Panera Bread

Ordering our desserts

 What a fun day!

Amberlea and Jett Visit the Farm

Amberlea and Jett spent the night with us.  Jett had carved pumpkins at his house the evening before and was still in the "carving mood".  We bought 2 pumpkins and the carving kit.  He and Amberlea carved 2 cute pumpkins.

As Jett said, "Now the "yucky" part."

The Yoo-Hoo Drink

When we went to the barn to do chores, Jett drove.  Coming back to the house, he had his Yoo-Hoo drink.  Amberlea was our chauffeur.  During our drive to the house, Jett dropped his drink.  We turned around to get it and found a squashed can.

A fun day on the farm!

Boots' Comfy Spot

When I drove up the the barn, Boots was in a box that Mel had put in a trash barrel.  Inside Boots had made a comfy spot for himself!  I figure he was out of the way of our other cat and had "peace and quiet".

Leaving his comfy spot - maybe time for his favorite, soft cat food

What Happened to Our Mailbox, Flowerbed and Antique Mower???

Early Tuesday morning, Mel was going to put some letters in our mailbox.  He called to say he couldn't because overnight something had happened to it.  Since it was still dark, he didn't know what had taken place.  After it was light enough we checked it out.  Someway, somehow someone had gone across the corner of the flowerbed, run over the mailbox, and paper box and taken our antique horse-drawn mower with them.  They stopped a little ways down the drive, then backed up across the drive onto the other side of the drive.  Parts of our demolished antique mower were left there.  One metal wheel was completely destroyed and the other has not been found. They left deep tracks and evidently used 4-wheel-drive to get out of the ruts, drove onto the turnpike and pulled over a short distance west on the turnpike.  The Highway Patrolman found part of a bumper on the side of the road.  We have no clue how it happened or who did the damage.  We do know they have quite a bit of damage to their vehicle and will have a hefty repair bill.  We just hope they learned a lesson from the episode.
To top it all off, Mel had a flat on a front tire of the tractor.  Since we had to get the tractor tire fixed, we just got our new mailbox, landscape timber, cement, etc. all in one trip to town.

Our first glimpse 

You can see the tracks and part of a metal wheel from the mower

Our flattened mailbox and broken landscape timber

The other side of the drive where the demolished mower was left

The tracks they left

Hard to believe this was once a horse drawn mower!

The deep ruts and squashed seat from the mower

Concrete for our new mailbox

Getting a post and landscape timbers

The post-hole diggers on the tractor to make a new hole for the mailbox

The debris left

The forks on the tractor were used to reset our other antique equipment that was moved during the episode.

Our mailbox and paper box combination

The new mailbox and flowerbed repaired, minus the antique horse drawn mower  :-(

Jett on the Farm

Coming home from Santa Fe we stopped to get Jett.  He was coming to the farm.

Jett getting home from school

Telling us about school

At Pauls Valley it was time to stop and get a malt (Jett's favorite), a burger and milk.

The next morning Jett enjoyed pumpkin loaf - another of his favorites.

During his week-end stay I made 2 pumpkin loaves for him.

Craft time

Grammy visited

Amberlea checked Jett's backpack and found this note from Jett's teacher.

How proud we are of Jett!!!

Malt and popcorn - what could be better?

Putting together a model kit so he read the directions

Grandpop and Jett watched the video of Grandpop's cow work and pleasure competition that  I had taken at the last horse show.

The video

Special time enjoyed together!