Friday was Epiphany, or more commonly know in our house as "Little Christmas". According to chruch tradition, epiphany is the day that the Magi presented their gifts to Christ. It has been a family tradition in our household to celebrate by exchanging small gifts on epiphany. We have a dress-up candlelight dinner and Daddy reads Luke 2. After prayer one or the other of the 'kids' starts to pass out the presants (this year it was Katherine). I was quite thrilled with the adorable apron Savannah made me, as well as some CD's and other things. Savannah got another hat and I gave her a hatpin...I figured with all her hat's a hatpin might be nice/usefull. As usual, Katherine got a baby doll. Some folks might think she's too old for dolls, but I don't think she ever will be :) It's not Christmas unless she gets a doll. Anyway, this new one's name is Beverly. Mama and I had been to town yesterday afternoon and we went to the Goodwill where I picked up a handfull of old movies. Some I haven't seen before, but other I have. The first one I snatched up was a copy of 'Mrs. Minever'. I have looked for that ever since we checked it out of the liberary years ago. It is an amazing British 'propaganda' movie. I also found a copy of 'The Best Days of Our Lives', another one I've been looking for for a long time. Then there was 'The Philadelphia Story', a hilarious Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn film. There were a few others too... Anyway, I wrapped them all up and put them under the tree. We had a pleasant evening and I think everyone was pleased with their small piles of gifts. I think the apron was my favorite : )

Today we worked cows. Okay, only our tiny herd. We took the calf over to Granddaddy's and when we work cows over there next week, she goes to market and we're going to get a pretty red heifer in her place. We also took Snowflake (i.e. Trumpet Face) over there so we could use Granddaddy's squeeze chute. (We don't have one.) So we, (more accurately Daddy) dehorned her, ear marked her, and branded her. She was very mad at us by the time we were done and would not load into the trailer. So we went in and ate lunch and watched old Western's with Granddaddy. After lunch and coffee we went back out. Snowflake got up and started kicking sand again...and a well-aimed hoof-full sent sand into my brace. Needless to say, one of the first things I did upon arrival home was remove it and wash. It's a good thing that Laurie sent home an extra arm-sock. I needed it.

A bit later, Daddy says, "Come on Racheal, we're going to take the trailer back to Dad's and feed Snip on the way home." We went ahead and put the trailer up to the pens so it doesn't have to been done next week, then we puttered along in the pasture towards the west. At some point Daddy started pounding staples back into the fence and I got behind the wheel. I have short legs...I had to sit on the edge of the seat to reach the gas pedal. Once done with one side of the trap, Daddy said, "We'll do the other side Monday" and I took us all the way to the house. We stopped in to make sure Granddaddy remembered that he was coming for supper (he did).

It's been a full and busy day of one sort or another...I go to the doctor Monday morning for a check-up on my arm. Who knows, I may get to have the brace off. Then the real work begins. (Looking forward to it and yet not...it's going to hurt to get my wrist back into shape.)

P.S. Added a 'Photos' page and put up a slideshow on it...enjoy!

I am typing on Katherine's laptop...I asked her if I could use it for a little bit since it was on and my computer is not. And like the sweetie she is she said, "Of course!" So, thank-you Katie...otherwise there would have been no post today.

So, I did it. I actually did it! I dusted my room today. Big deal, right? Well actually yes. I don't like dusting or re-arranging stuff and I often end up dusting only once or twice a season. So the fact that I have dusted twice in two months is a step up! (Now, let's see if I do it again in the next two months.) I really don't like living in a dirty, dusty room, but I often end up that way because of my aversion to dusting. I think some of the baulking I do when I think about dusting/arranging my bedroom comes from the days when it took me all day long to clean my room. That would be several years back before I learned to put stuff away when I was done with it--I'd have piles of junk, like clothes and baby dolls, all over the place. Those were the days when Savannah and I shared a bedroom and a bunk bed--me on the bottom--and she'd get so fed up with my mess everywhere that she would put it all on the foot of my bed--including my nasty shoes. That really used to bug me, but it did make me put my stuff away.

I practiced my guitar again today. I'm sounding alright. I trimmed my nails this morning and got them a bit too short so I had to work over that problem :) Then I also practiced the cello (the second day in a row.) I tried it yesterday and was pleased to find that I could hold the bow. I am denfinitely not going to brag about how good I sounded because it was pretty awful. Correct bowing is harder than it looks and sounds and it is particularly hard when attempted with a brace on.

Mama laid out a couple of old news papers for me too look at; mainly they had to do with the local rodeo which got started using my great-granddaddy's stock. An uncle of mine supplied the animals for several years too and then announced for several more. He was always watching the bull riding on TV and I think that he had a VHS recording of every televised pro-Rodeo compition for at least a decade. I learned this evening that he was actually a roper, rather than a bull or bronc rider. He loved to watch the bull riders though...I prefer the bronc riders. I can't remember if I ever told him that though...

Sometime I think about this uncle when riding Snip and wonder if he'd be as proud of me as his wife is. Those two will always have a special place in my heart. I always loved to visit them when we were 'home'; the hospitality was beautiful (it still is), the TV was too loud, this uncle called us girls "Sister" (something I miss), and we usually had music. I learned how to 'buck dance' from their daughter while he looked on and cheered us on. He was a man's man and even though I never remember seeing him on his feet (he sat down and didn't get back up someplace along the way--he regretted it later and told us, "Never sit down and give up") he was one to be respected. At his funeral, his son-in-law told a funny story (funny in retrospect) about after he got engaged to his wife, my uncle made him some kind of partner in his rodeo stock company. My uncle told him to do something, and he came back with a retort that went something like this (I paraphrase), "I don't have to do that no more...I'm one of the guys in charge." The jist of the response was, "Oh yeah, well I'm the boss. Do it." And his son-in-law did it. You just didn't cross this uncle. I never saw him angry, but he was one of those jovial characters that you don't want to anger.

I'd better quit rambling...Katherine might want her computer back :)

P.S. I added a new link on the "Links" page...Thine is the Kingdom. Enjoy!