Wow!  What a great day to live 3 miles south of Fargo, OKLAHOMA!  Yesterday was perfect weather for January in NW OK.  Today was a bit more typical. Dry and WINDY!   However, it was nice this morning, then the wind machine fired up to the mid 30s mph, but then it died back down about 6.  The sky is clear, the wind is calm and the stars are shining.  Basically, it is a perfect evening to walk out on the back porch and take a wiz.  Nothing gets frozen and the wind won’t blow it where you don’t want it. All of the barns got aired out today.  Dust, odors, etc. are gone.  Duke and I got some work done.  The kidding barn–aired out.  The big barn–aired out.  

      Duke’s wethers got aired out also.  No blankets for several hours.  They liked it.  We also sprayed for fleas.  This is an under-rated problem that can hurt pelt quality.  Spray for fleas inside huts, hotboxes, blankets and spray the goats themselves.  Especially when it is dry and cold.  Those little fatherless (bass-turds) can find a home on a long-haired goat in a hurry.  Once a month spray takes care of it.  This will make them shear off smoother when it matters. 

       Our refigerator also got aired out.  Tammy went to OKC with her mother to a play on this Saturday.  Cool deal.  This meant that Duke and I got rid of a PILE of leftovers.  I will eat some leftovers, but….not many.  Tammy keeps EVERYTHING!  I took out numerous ziploc bags of various 1/2 pork chops, leftover brisket, roast beef, sausages and something that I couldn’t identify.  I did eat a leftover 1/2 ribeye and some red beans & rice with andouille sausage.  I covered them in Tobasco.  Duke also did his part by feeding this smorgasbord to GARP.  (why do I hear the Muppet’s Swedish chef when I type the word “smorgasbord”?)  I apoligize as some of you will now have that stuck in your head for awhile.  

     I do have a left-over topic that always perplexes me.  Chili gets better and hotter the longer it sits in a fridge. Why?  I get the hotter part, but the better.  Basically, chili is a lot like wine and bourbon–let it age a bit.  Maybe, its more like a side of beef at the butcher shop.  Let it hang a couple of weeks to enhance flavor.  Of course, I don’t clear a room after a steak, good wine or bourbon.  Chili on the other hand….I can burn nose hairs. 

      I welded up some panels from the kidding pens.  It is an atrocity how much damage does can do to panels.  

      Twenty plus years ago, I married me a hottie.  And luckily, for me, she is still smoking hot.  The Dragon Lady has held together much better than myself.  But, even though I am not looking to trade, I do like having affairs with a cutie.  As I needed to add some kind of fruit/vegetable to my heat em up, left over diet this evening, I opted for an absolute favorite.  A cutie.  Yes, the little oranges that are just bursting with flavor and juices.  I just love stripping that peel right off those little succulent, shapely bits of heaven.  The first slice is as good as the last bite.  

     And speaking of getting aired out….John Q. Kelln got aired out in that helicopter ride from Altus to OKC on Thursday.  Mom aired out her car as she drove faster than the speed limit to meet him at OKC. (I seem to be the only family member that has a joy of consistently driving fast).    Lots of tests, change in medicine and he is now back home in Shattuck, AMERICA.  He has some Dr’s orders to follow.  I actually think that he will try to march to these orders.  

      As I sit here, I am thankful for great family, friends, opportunities, good days and even better tomorrows.  Remember who to thank, do it and have a fabulous day.  Stay flexible but not limp.