Wow

I've already gotten more response than I expected from the serialization of Jane.

I have the very best readers, obviously. Ya'll are great.

I'll leave Chapter Five (with which you get everything posted on the blog with a bonus of the prologue) available for another week or so, if I can get Chapter Six polished to satisfaction in that time.

Once Chapter Six is announced, if you need Chapter Five and previous, you'll have to note that on the paypal page when you make your donation.

I'll do my best to get chapters out in a timely fashion, from here on out.

Thank you guys, really. You all Rawk!

Poll

Over to the right there's a poll. If you want to weigh in on which recipe(s) Farmmom posts on here, speak your mind there.

I'm so helpful, I can't hardly stand myself.

Just because Phlemmy made my head swell I will put up a couple of recipes here on FarmGirl's blog.

I will leave it up to you folks on what you want me to post. I will post with photos (if Farmdad and Farmgirl will help with that) because some of the directions will be "when it looks like this". I warn you now that most of my recipes are a splash of this or dash of that or what have you. So spicing is gonna be to taste. If you like it spicier add more! Take the recipes and make them your own.

The biggest majority of my recipes came from my mom and grandmother, various aunts and not least my mother-in- law and the best cook in the entire world, Farmdad's Grandmother. Grandma Sugar was bar none the best cook I have ever met in my life and I learned more from that woman than anyone else in this whole big world. She was an incredible woman and would be proud of her recipes being passed on. So tell me what Country Cooking recipes you want and I will try to pass them along.

And yes Phlemmy the Pan Gravy will be the first!

Jane

Well. You all know about my car troubles and the fact that I'm gonna be working to get a new truck in the immediate future.

I'm going to be picking up a second job and selling some critters to help raise the cash for it. It's still a daunting prospect at this point, however, because what I need for my day to day life is rather expensive. But as it stands I was driving other family members' pickups more than I was driving my car even before it blew up, just because I needed the space/towing ability/four wheel drive or what have you to accomplish what I needed to accomplish.

Someone commented that I should put up a tip jar. And shortly, that I should point it out, since they just realized that I did have one over there on the right.

Now, I haven't pointed it out and I haven't been asking folks to tip, because frankly, I consider a tip jar just that... a tip for liking what I post. If folks want to tip, great. If not, well, times are hard all around and I'm not going to bleg.

So please remember, this isn't a bleg.

This is an offer. One that I wouldn't make if I weren't hurting for cash. Not that I don't love all ya'll enough to offer this it's just....

I'm going to quit while I'm ahead, and tell you the offer.

I think most of ya'll are familiar with Jane, and she and her friends have gotten some really good feedback. I've been asked elsewhere when the next chapter will be available, and I've been answering "when it's published."

Well, here's your opportunity folks. Over on the right is a donate button. Everyone who donates a dollar gets all of Jane through Chapter Five in their email inbox.

Everyone who donates more than a dollar will also receive a thank-you note via snail mail, provided they give a mailing address.

Availability of Chapter Six will be announced, as will availability of the rest of the chapters as they're finished. I figure it's not fair to start something like this and then not finish it.

Also, what's currently up of Jane on the blog will be ALL of Jane that's available on the blog. It's not fair to the people who are kind enough to help me out and pay money to see my scribblings if I just throw them out there for everyone afterwords.

I want to take this opportunity to thank ALL of my readers for just reading. I enjoy my little corner of the blogosphere, and it's such a compliment when someone takes the time to comment or email me saying they like what I write.

You folks are the ones who keep me writing, whether it be a blog post or sitting down of an evening and banging out a little more of Jane. So thank you for taking the time to come and see me here, it means a lot to me.

A Weekend to Remember

Just to start things off, I don't have the gift of words that all of our guests this weekend do.
I really just wanted to take an opportunity to thank all of the wonderful folks that took time out of their daily lives to show up in our little town and grace us with their personalities and humor.

To start the weekend off NFO and AEPilot Jim showed up Thursday and worked their coondog butts off helping finish things up before everyone else got there. They pitched right in cleaning brisket and pork shoulder with a little bit of munching thrown in ( which is a prerequisite for cleaning BBQ). Then on Friday they helped FarmDad set the range up. And such a range they put together! The weekend would not have turned out near as well as it did without their help. Thank you so much guys!

Thursday night Christina LMT, Gay Cynic, Labrat and Stingray, Breda and Alan from Snarkybites and Snarky got in.

Christina... Such a warm giving woman! Lady you are magic with your hands. My Physical Therapist says that you have taken probably 4 weeks off of my recovery time! You are a very special individual and let no one ever tell you different.

Gay Cynic... You have a heart of gold and a sense of humor that makes me spit liquid all over my keyboard. ( I'm not telling how many times this weekend I spewed drinks through my nose because of you)

Labrat and Stingray.... You are just adopted! You are now my children and you are stuck with me! I am expecting monthly visits to your poor decrepit nother mother.

Breda.... What a wonderful woman. Such a go to attitude! I loved seeing you on the range. There is nothing you won't try. I admire you immensely!

Alan.... We really didn't get to visit much but I did enjoy what little time we did!

Snarky... I have to admire the way you stepped right up to the plate to try new things.

Saturday brought Ambulance Driver and Miss Katy Beth, and Lawdog and Phlemmy.

Ambulance Driver.... Wow just what can I say. I am sooooo sorry that I missed the Lapdance! I am so sorry about the deer incident but you have to admit that it did make a whiz bang ending to the weekend! Come back soon!

Miss Katy Beth... Such a darling child. Cute as a bugs ear and just as well behaved as anyone could ask for. Her parents should be proud as punch! Especially knowing who her Daddy is!

Lawdog.... He stole my heart right after he showed up. The man gives amazing hugs!

Phlemmy.... A woman with a heart the size of Texas who oozes class from each and every pore! It was such a joy to have you!

Sunday brought in MattG and JPG.

MattG...... such a gentle giant! It has been a long time since I have seen such a gentleman. It was our pleasure to have you in our home!

JPG... It is a little hard to say what I want to say about you since it is on such a personal level but I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the gift you gave me this weekend. Know that you will always be welcome in my home. God Bless you!

I thank each and every one of you for coming. There is so much more that I want to say to each of you but I just can't find the words. I am already looking forward to next year! I have not had this much fun in years!

Ugh

Well my car is toast. I did get the satisfaction of seeing the startlement on the faces of my old stand-by used car dealer/salvage yard owner and his mechanic as they realized that I was still driving the last car that I'd bought off their lot.

(I believe I purchased the car in '02. It's a '98, and it just died now. Not bad.)

Unfortunately, according to Alan, it's not worth dropping an engine in the car. He says it would cost about $1200 to put an engine in and I'd only get $1500 out of the car in trade, maximum.

For three hundred dollars, when I don't actually have the $1200 to lay out right now anyway? Not worth it.

And, I can get that three hundred or so out of it in salvage as it sits. So why bother?

Meanwhile I'm going to have to take a second job to bring my income up to something steady enough that I can get a small loan. Alan will be in Denver himself looking at some pickups next week and he's promised to peruse them with an eye towards what I want, since the one sitting on his lot that met some of my requirements on first glance garnered a stern look and a "You don't want that."

It'll all get worked out. Bro has offered me the use of his little Pontiac until I can get all my ducks in a row on the purchase of the pickup I really needed two years ago, so I'm not on foot.

But still, if I hadn't nearly concussed myself getting in the back seat of the pickup at six this morning, I'd feel like beating my head against the wall. The headache is fairly fierce and it's only compounding my crankiness at various snarky individuals suggesting that I should have checked the oil once in a while.

If only I could win the lottery, I could buy the truck I really want, pay off all of my bills, finish my house, and finance next year's Blogorado all in one fell swoop.

*counting money in pocket*

Then again, I'd have to buy a ticket...

Things I'll Always Remember

About this weekend.

First, the meet-in-the-back grin that ChristinaLMT wore every time a gun was put into her hands. I had a blast watching her be instructed by, well, everyone even remotely qualified to instruct that was present on the range. I also giggled my head off at her bouncing around and trying to write down every gun she shot for her later breakdown of events.

Plus, the ass-grabbery. I mean really. My butt got more attention this weekend than it did in my last relationship. Even GayCynic got in on the butt-grab action, although Alan started it. More shocking, however, was goodbyes yesterday at breakfast.

Labrat and Stingray were saying farewell to myself, as I was heading out for an airport run. I got a hug from Mrs. Get Off My Lawn herself, at which point she looked at her stoic spouse. I smarted off that I wasn't going to hug him, because he might shiv me. The next thing I know I'm being wrapped in a bear hug, lifted off my feet, and shook around, and then, just before he set me on my feet, he reached down and patted my ass. "Just because I don't want to be left out."

Another thing I will never forget is the look on Stingray's face as he came thundering up to the gate whilst riding Rebel. LabRat was on Joan, who had finally given up the stubborn bit, and she was loping along behind him, but what captured my attention as I looked up at the sound of thundering hooves (my first thought being "well shit what spooked the horse and can the person riding stay on until he feels like he's far enough away from said scary object?) was the huge grin plastered across Stingray's face as he galloped along. Then the touch of surprise and worry as Rebel continued to thunder along. I hadn't really expected anyone to kick him up that fast or I'd have made sure to mention that Rebel is extremely seat-cue oriented, so if you're going fast and leaning forward... he's gonna keep going, no matter how hard you pull on his mouth. It's a remnant of his rodeo training, because in steer wrestling it's hard to avoid pulling on the horse's mouth as you go off every time.

They got stopped, and Stingray didn't get launched over the gate and the crowd gathered there, so kudos for him for staying in the saddle. Rebel did make the gate ring a bit with his face, but he's fine, horses have hard heads.

Another horse tale: Breda's grin and giggle when Joan decided to come back to the gate at a lope without Breda's encouragement. She did get to go faster than a trot, and she did very well riding it out without much instruction. The horse was rather proud of herself as well, although we'll be having a couple of discussions about how we're supposed to behave when I've been talking up how sweet and kind we are.

There are so many more moments, but those are some of my favorites. Everyone had a blast (FarmFam included) and that was the goal, so I'd say the weekend was a huge success.

Blogorado (ok, yes, I've given up on that one. AEPilotjim has threatened to trademark the thing in my name, I figure once that happens I have to give up on it) will remain an invitation-only event, if only because our little town can't handle a truly large influx of people, but it looks like we're doing it again next year.

Probably a little earlier in the year, though. We lucked out this year on the weather for the weekend, but if we move it up to the late August/early September range we can pretty well count on it being Hot and Dry.

The FarmFam will start discussing actual plans once we recover from the awesome.