Never saw it coming...

I few weeks ago my sweet friend Whitney and I were catching up... I absolutely treasure these talks. She always has her hand in something cool or stylish or yummy. Everyone needs a Whitney... or two... or four! Well anyway, her husband's birthday was coming up and I was on pins and needles to hear what fabulous things she had planned. Much to my surprise, she said it was going to be a low key thing because Ty wasn't a big birthday person and was really jonesing for this cooler. A cooler... um OK? Like the thing you put beer and fish in? (I don't even slightly pretend to understand the mind of a man). Well, that's sounds good. She said, "well it's not just a cooler, it's a a YETI". A "Yeti", right, I think I know what that is? Well tell Ty we love him and Happy Birthday!

MAYBE, a week later... We were so blessed to be able to spend the 4th with some dear friends in Clay's home town. In prep for the big weekend we had food, drinks, etc. Whoops! We threw out the cooler after the last fishing trip, nothing to transport all this stuff. In retrospect this is the part of the story I should have gone to Wal-mart and picked up a nice $20 IGLOO cooler. But no, I send my charming husband out on the task. He was so thoughtful to bring home a huge, expensive, bear proof cooler that will keep ice solid for a week. Seriously?!?!? I would have loved to get really steamed but I haven't seen him that excited since he got his new truck almost four years ago! He actually read the entire instruction manual and spent an hour on the YETI website. It was really cute. And even though I lost my shopping budget for July, I have a freezer for ice and there are no bears in West Texas, I am really glad he splurged on himself. But I will say this... that cooler is staying in our house no matter how ridiculous it looks. If it gets stolen, it is NOT getting replaced!

Love you Claybear

If you need a gift idea for the men in your life.. check them out here.

My girl{s}

Clay and Macy

Somebody who reads this may think I am borderline nuts... they are just dogs. I get that, I was that! Growing up we didn't really have dogs. The occasional pet here and there, but they never lasted very long. And 'those' dog people drove me nuts: getting their hair done (with bows), including them in the family Christmas card updates, doggie car seats, cooking meals for them- YES COOKING... "so weird, do they think it's a kid or something?!?!"

I must have rolled my eyes hundreds of times over the last 26 years of life at people and their dogs. And now I am one, what happened to me...

I met my husband around this time five years ago... maybe six, not so good with dates. He was tall, strawberry-blond, with the deepest blue eyes. Just dreamy. I think he could have spit on me and I would have blushed. Well, as I'm sure you can tell by my description, I fell head over heels pretty quickly. He on the other hand, I just wasn't sure...

We were out one night and I mentioned how much I loved his roommate's dog and I said he should get a puppy (you don't have to be a dog person to love puppies). Kinda forgot about it but a week or two later, Macy- our boxer, magically appeared. I guess that's when I knew he REALLY liked me too. His mom jokes he got the dog to get the girl, it worked! Overnight I became a dog lover and our girl has been with us ever since. Thankfully (I think it is the breed), she has totally eased me into the dog thing, she is obidient, calm and loves to cuddle.

Me and Molly

Then there's my Molly! Macy is definitely Clay's dog. She loves me but she follows him around everywhere just waiting for his attention. Molly is my dog. We got her for Thanksgiving (?) in 2009. She is a lab/ German Sheppard mix. She is spunky, energetic, SWIMS and just wants to play ball. I'm not really sure how it all worked out but my girls love us and they love each other (even thought they are so different). I think life would be rather boring without them. While they are very spoiled, don't worry! No bows, no cooking for them, no car seats and definitely no Christmas card updates... so far.

Boxers
Best... don't bark, calm, obidient, generally friendly, short-haired (less shedding), love to cuddle
Worst... ear infections, can't swim or tolerate cold, really no purpose (don't fetch, can't hunt with them, low endurance, don't protect), moody

Lab/ German Sheppard
Best... fun, friendly, can fetch, swim, hunt, tolerate cold, protectors, happy
Worst... long hair/ shedding, bark a lot, not cuddlers, less obidient

Dialysis and Bragging Rights

So I am a nurse. Three days work, four days play- enough said. But anyway, I was pulled into a co-worker's room last night to learn a new kind of dialysis. I almost couldn't contain myself when I saw one the key components to this life-saving treatment was a.... FISH SCALE- an awesome, top-of-the-line, fish scale. Really?!?

The first year we were married I was last minute Christmas shopping for Clay (one of the best things about being married to an outdoorsy guy- there is never a shortage of things he wants, I just go into Academy or Cabela's and done!) Well this particular time I veered into one of the many fishing aisles and got a fish scale at the bargain price of $5. A scale is a scale is a scale, right? He will never know...

WRONG! DISCLAIMER: If you learn one thing from reading this- fishing is ALL about bragging rights! You never hear about a fishing trip without hearing who caught the most fish, the biggest fish, the most rare fish, etc.

Well the particular fishing trip after Clay accumulated this lovely Christmas scale, he caught a big fish, huge 'apparently'. When he went to hang it on his new, shiny scale and bask in the glory of his catch in front of his crew- the scale broke, wire snapped, no back-up. I still hear about this illustrious catch that got away, un-weighed (aka un-braggable) and his almost infamy among his fishing buddies. Upon arriving to home sweet home, he inquired about his xmas gift and was oh-so-kind to educate me in fish scale importance and consumerism. Just in case you have a 'Fishin' Frank' in your life here's what I learned:

• There are 2 types of scales- spring and digital
• Spring is a hook attached to a lever- the weight of fish pulls down on hook to measure weight
• Digital is same principal but calculates weight for you
• Digital scales are often more expensive but not any better. In fact, some digital scales are not waterproof and may require batteries. A "dead" fish scale is no different than not having one at all. Remember- all about the bragging rights!
• Better to get one with a handle so if the fish is flopping your scale doesn't go flying
• Unless we are taking about deep sea fishing, you probably don't want a scale that will weigh fish greater than 50 lbs, they get less accurate the more potential weight they can measure
• The reason spring scales vary in cost is the length of time the lever will stay accurate and strength of wire (ex. the more times the lever/wire is pulled may not retract fully and weight not accurate or as evidenced above- may snap)
• Make sure you purchase a scale with rust resistant aluminum
• Most importantly- don't shave a few bucks here!

Ironically, after the whole 'spring scale is better thing' Clay ended up with the above Rapala Scale- digital. About $30. He is adorably obsessed with all that is Rapala...

The Monster in the Kitchen

Each year for Clay's birthday we plan a big party. I always justify the splurge saying it's for him- the kindest, most generous, best husband ever! And... I love an excuse to plan a good party! So a few months before his birthday this year I took out my little black book of party ideas to have the annual convo. As I cleared my throat to begin my brilliant plans, he politely told me the only thing he wanted for his birthday was to have friends out to the ranch for the weekend. Oh... okayyyy then. He checked with his family, made his guest list and like a good wife I sent out his evites. Wow, totally anti-climatic...

It was probably a few weeks later I had an epiphany... what the heck are we going to do out there in the middle of February with a dozen people? Oh and then there is that little budget thing... I totally panicked!

I took a few days... weeks of convincing but Clay finally got me on board with buying this automatic skeet/trap/clay thing? Despite looking a little scary and taking over my kitchen for a few weeks during the cold weather it is probably one the coolest things we have ever invested in! All you need is open space, "clay pigeons" (not to be confused with being pigeon shaped???) about $5/100 at any sporting goods store, gun/ammo and it powers through your car battery. Other than the initial cost of the machine we couldn't have spent more than $50 for people to shoot skeet the whole weekend... and it was really fun! There are a lot of games you can play (all somewhat resembling 'HORSE' in basketball) to keep larger numbers of people entertained. Touche Clay, genius! I never doubted you...

More info: Just click on the picture for the link at Cabela's. Disclaimer: It is huge and doesn't come apart (think 1/2 to 3/4 refrigerator, you need a truck bed to transport). You can also put a 'wobbler' on the bottom to make the skeet/trap more challenging, definitely something you can add later. Also, keep your eyes peeled at Walmart and K-mart for clay pigeons and shotgun shells to be on sale. Fun fact: If you want to sound like you know what you are talking about: a skeet course (kind of like golf course) is called "sporting clays", if the clay pigeons are being fired while moving away from you (shooting it before it gets out of distance) it's called "trap", if there are two machines shooting side to side in front of you its "skeet". This machine is considered a trap machine. I have learned a lot of un-fun facts about this stuff too if anybody is interested.

4/5/11
The Pioneer Woman wrote all about shooting trap this weekend... indulge in her adorable blog entry here.