The heretic has a mild conversion

I showed calves in high school and was forced to listen to country music at every stock show we attended, by virtue of one of the wannabe cowboys always bringing a boombox well stocked with Straight, Nelson, and Hank Jr. Every time I went to the barns, there was some whiny booze boots and Bocephus crap blaring. My tastes ran more to Flock of Seagulls and Howard Jones at the time. I could also be caught blasting Run-DMC, Sugarhill Gang and LL Cool J from the cheap speakers of my 76 Cutlass while in the school parking lot. In FFA in 1987, this pretty much branded me a heretic.

In later years I developed a mild appreciation for some of the newer country, but still lean towards the pop charts. However, when Michelle Branch joined up with Jessica Harp to form The Wreckers, I had to add their CD to the collection. And now, there's Miranda Lambert. She's got a decidedly old country sound to a lot of her stuff, but I have to say I like her enough that I picked up her Crazy Ex Girlfriend CD the other night. Blessedly devoid of overbearing religious references, wrist slitting sob stories, and pointless professions of love towards someone who don't want it, it was worth the $15. I really like the drive to Crazy Ex Girlfriend too, though my head banger boyfriend cringes at the lyrics, heh.

Don't count on seeing me go redneck any time soon though.

My bad attitude

A comment made about me by an ex boss worked it's way back to me. She said something about me being extremely smart but having a bad attitude. Also that I'd be rich if I'd move back to Dallas and work there.

Big newsflash. I have an attitude, something she knew about BEFORE she came begging me to come work for her. I don't take kindly to someone throwing their trash on the floor right beside the trash can and expect me to drop what I'm doing to go clean it up. I damn sure don't smile when someone chews me out for something I didn't do and then act like I'm lying when I tell them so. Getting in my grill for not doing everything that you meant to tell me to do, but never actually told me, only serves to make me fantasize about lighting you on fire. I'm not a psychic and calling me at 10 pm to bitch about ain't gonna make me into one.

I never would have accepted the job had I not been harnessed to a hateful crackhead for the past 2 years. She wasn't really a crackhead, but I don't know of an appropriate name for someone who tweaks on Dramamine. I was so desperate to get away from that chain smoking, mouth twitching, paranoid, tourettes afflicted harpy that I'd have taken a job prepping Tijuana donkeys for their stage performances. I liked the new job for a while, but it wasn't long before I started having to put up with all the bullshit the other employees warned me about. I shoulda known when the employee both bosses told me was lazy and worthless proved to be anything but. She busted her ass cleaning and straightening and all they could do was tell me she was lazy and never did anything.

I eventually got fired (only the 2d time in my life, wow) and praise Jebus because my old job offered me the position the twitchy nutjob had recently vacated. It paid double what I was making, and kept my days free. I don't have to clean up someone else's messes or watch my two bosses screaming at each other in the middle of the store over something as asinine as suitcases. No more asking me if I did something and then going over to check it right in front of me as if to say "Just in case you're lying let me check it right now". Best of all my pay stubs actually show the hours I've worked and what I've made, vs the blank page I used to get because they were too "busy" to set up the system to provide us with earnings statements.

Despite my "bad attitude" I work unsupervised each night and everything get done right, and the people I work with don't go home calling me a harpy bitch every night. Except for Donna, but she was too stupid to tie her own shoes so she doesn't count.

I am a slob

We're having a downpour today. It was raining when I woke up and hasn't stopped yet. The holding pen is flooded, and the sheep trails look like small creeks running through the pasture. They've grazed the rye and weeds down to the dirt, so the timing couldn't be better. I'll pen them all up for a few weeks and give it time to come back in so they've got something to eat on for a while.

Since it's too mucky to go outside today, I've been cleaning the kitchen. Domestic goddess I am not, a fact proven by the inch thick layer of dirt on the cabinet shelves. Yes I said dirt, not dust. I gutted the kitchen a few years ago and I left some built in overhead cabinets in place, despite the fact that they were open faced and therefore subject to frequent mouse invasions. I've tossed a few things up there over the years but never really paid much attention to them. In anticipation of doing a lot of canning this summer though, I decided I'd better clean them out and get them ready to use.

Normally I listen to hip hop, but today I have an 80s channel on. Eddie Murphy is singing Party All The Time. Oh Eddie, why? Thank goodness he never did THAT again! And hey, what happened to the guy who did DELIRIOUS? That was some of the best standup I've ever seen. Now I get Daddy Daycare? I can't reconcile the two, not to mention everyone under 25 thinks of Eddie as nothing more than a cross species telepath and the voice of Donkey. I did like Dr Doolittle though...

Anyway, these shelves are NASTY (which is why I'm on here instead of finishing what I started) and now I'm quite embarrassed that I've had people over and let them go into the kitchen. Hopefully they didn't take a close look.

Garden 1.0 Game Over

Wretched cats. I am down to 1 intact tomato plant, 1 very chewed up one, and 1 pepper plant. All the onions have been yanked from the ground. Now I have to start ALL FREAKIN OVER. I am thinking carpet tack strips aren't going to be enough. Maybe some mouse traps in the mix...

I have been reading up on Akbash dogs, of which Diesel is half. I did not realize that they are rather bad for play chasing. So, I guess it's back to the puppy pen, supervised visits with the sheep, and a shock collar while he's with them so if he DOES go to mouthing or chasing, I can zap him in the act. Not like I can chase him down, and anyway he stops it if he knows I'm watching. He's just a year old, and they don't really mature until 2. Hopefully I can retrain him.

I have a new lamb today and he is a chunk! Tri color paint, pretty little guy. I didn't even realize mama was due, she hides it well.