I remember the 80's. Do you?

1. Teddy Ruxpin - The first talking stuffed animal.
2. Bengals : Walk like an Egyptian – I had this tape and would rock out while cleaning horse stalls. Yes, I could walk like an Egyptian.
3. Gremlins – Remember the movie with Stripe the ‘bad’ gremlin who would always party. Man that guy could hit it hard! My favorite line from the wise old oriental man “With mogwai comes much responsibility.”
4. Ray Bans – Mine were purple and hot pink.
5. US Hockey team plays Russia at Lake Placid and wins!! Yay!!!
6. Mary Lou Rhetton – Super gymnast, I spent many hours in gyms watching my sister compete, she even had a MLR leotard!
7. Hungry Hippos – Great game, taught us all about greed, until your hippo got stuck!
8. Member’s only jackets – with a neck snap! Need I say more?
9. Break dancing – Yes, I could break it down a little.
10. Wacky wall walkers – Most amazing waste of money ever, kinda creepy and terrible texture but very entertaining!
11. Where’s the beef? – Remember that old lady that would say it on the commercials?
12. Moe town & Michael Jackson – Running in the morning with my Mom to the Thriller album… in the dark… on a ranch with wild animal… Yeah, I was brave.
13. Pac Man & Pac Man Fever – I liked Mrs. Pac Man, she was so cute with the bow. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very good.
14. Tetris – you would not blink for a half hour and later on, you are playing it in your head. You would see patterns all over!
15. Nintendo Game Boy – Mobile Tetris, what could be better?!
16. BIG hair & Aqua Net – Wow, I could share some really great pictures. My sister taught me all about teasing hair and spraying the heck out of it!
17. Lee Press on Nails – All the girls wanted these and all of our Moms said NO!
18. Human League: Don’t you Want Me? - Don’t you want me woahooo… Great for those school dances.
19. Rubik’s Cube – Save time, just take the darn stickers off.
20. Whip it by Devo – You must whip it. Whip it good! – Ugh! Not so good for the school dances!
21. Back to the Future - Best movie of the 80s. Had to go exactly 88 mph. Note: this does not work in my truck, the only place it takes you is the side of the road with a ticket.
22. Scratch and sniff stickers - Some were very accurate, some not so much. And Who makes a skunk sticker? Why would you ever do that???
23. Traper Keeper - 1st generation of binders for OCD.
24. Richard Simmons – Not to be confused with Gene Simmons…
25. Cher: If I could turn back time. I encourage you to google the video and check out the outfit. Can I just say - WOW! Way too much skin.
26. Prince Charles and Princess Di - A goober and a... well, princess.
27. Leather pants - ummm, no... not cool... ever! Unless they are chaps over wranglers; then yes, as often and as much as you want. Please?
28. Monster Trucks are born - Redneck heaven. I am still in heaven. Love it!
29. Mcgyver - The man was hot and could do it all.
30. The Mullet....

On that note, I'll close. What do you remember from the 80's?

Case of the mising dish towels

Does anyone else have this problem or is it just an Eastern Colorado Ranching thing?

I regularly purchase dish towels for the kitchen, sometimes they come with hot pads but most of the time I just need the towels. See, my hot pads never disappear; only the towels... I swear last month I had 4, today - none. Not a single dish towel, not even a remnant of a dish towel. No goodbye note or dear john letter; just *poof* gone.

Ah, there they are... In the garage covered in what I will presume to be grease. Nice!

So I ask, 'what is my dish towel doing out here?!' The response you will never guess... 'the picture was faded so I thought it was a rag, and I know how you hate rags in the linen closet.'

. . . *crickets chirping* . . .

'OK. Thanks for trying to help! Maybe next time, ask me before you cover it in grease?'

The power of prayer

Our faith has been building and growing by leaps and bounds over the last 2 years. We had two experiences this past week that I wanted to share with you as a testimony of the power of prayer.

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First happened on Thursday. We noticed that we were down to about 50 bales of hay and that we needed to buy more. With hay ranging from $4 - $8, we need to be careful to get good hay at a low price. The last hay we got for $5, while it looked nice, had little nutritional value. Max and Gunner both lost a significant amount of weight over a 1 week period. Both have ribs showing and we have been trying to get weight back on them for 4 weeks. Side note - it is easy for horses to lose weight and very hard to get it back on them.

R and I were discussing our meager money situation in the kitchen and found that we had only $100 extra for hay. At $4 a bale (I found some nice stuff!) we still needed $180 more and another $20 for goat hay. Basically we had $100 and needed $200 more. Not having an abundance of extra cash laying around, we said a prayer. Just a quick, to the point prayer. We need money to buy hay and we don't have it. We have done everything you have asked and are faithful in our callings, tithing and prayers. Please send us help.

I kid you not. 20 minutes later a guy from the railroad pulled down our driveway and offered us $300 cash for an old army trailer we had sitting our by the wood pile. The trailer had not been used in 2 years. Sold! We have horse hay money! We got hay on Saturday.

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Our horse trailer is huge. It is a 4 horse slant load goose neck with living quarters in the front and a tack room in the back. It is a steel monster and I love it!

About a year ago I had to take Max to the vet for his arthritis shot. C, you ask, why don't you do the shot. It is an IV shot, which I can do, have done BUT if you miss, you hit the artery and kill the horse in 30 seconds. For some reason, on something that important and routine (not an emergency) I would rather pay $15 to have the vet do it!

Anyhow - I took him down and turned a sharp corner ripping the light plug out of the trailer. I drove home with no lights. R fixed the plug and over the next 3 months, the lights would flicker and sometimes work - sometimes not. About 8 moths ago, the lights quit working all together. We went around and around on whether it was the truck or the trailer, we rewired both (R is NOT an electrician - things usually catch fire when he wires them). Luckily my truck and trailer did not catch fire but I have blown a lot of fuses over the past 9 months!

We have spent countless hours in wind and rain and snow trying to find the problem and fix it. Finally I called a trailer repair place and was told minimum of $500 and up to $1,200 to find and fix the problem. Great, more money - I really hate money.

We invited Janice out to the house on Saturday night for a bonfire and trail ride after church on Sunday. R pulled the trailer over to the house and I ran for cover! If he couldn't find the problem, I would follow him in my truck and act as his lights. If you have never done this for your husband, you are missing out - it really is a marriage strengthener, either you get closer together and work as a team of you kill each other.

R started working on the wiring and I started washing brushes and tack boxes. 10 minutes later, the trailer is fixed. What happened?! R said a short quick to the point prayer. Help me fix this trailer and keep the weather nice while I do it.

Trailer done!! So I of course poke R in the ribs and say 'What?! You couldn't say a prayer 8 months ago?!'

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