Nov 19, 2011

Ridin' herd on things

Do you ever have those days where you feel like you have to ride herd on everything and everybody? That the laundry, the dishes, the vacuuming and the grocery shopping are all about to stampede and you haven't even saddled your horse?

Yep. Been there, been trampled like that.

It's that time of year-
  • band concerts
  • dishes
  • science fair projects
  • laundry
  • getting close to the end of semester study projects
  • getting close to the end of the semester catch upon grading projects
  • dishes
  • dishes
How can a family who's eating most of their meals standing at the stove have so many dirty dishes? I'll spare you the visuals.

Add to the bawling herd a trip to Kansas for the holiday, a desire to cook some real holiday food, and fighting off the inner elf who wants to start putting up the Christmas decorations, and you have a drove of on-edge bossies who will spook and bolt at the smallest hint of an extra task on their already-too-full plates. I'm speaking metaphorically, of course. This is not a description of people I work with.

The last trip Philoboy and I made to Kansas we ran into this very thing. A herd of cattle, not bossy people I work with.



The disparity between city life and rural life is enough to give you whiplash. I've run into some boss cows in the city, usually on the PTA committees or at youth soccer games, but never a herd of cows.

There were cows coming and going. Cows almost as far as you could see. 



And cowboys riding herd on the cows. Somehow their herd ridin' looked a lot more fun than my city herd ridin'.


And I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show you the dirty windows of the Travelin' Van.  That's adventure miles dirt, ma'am.



"Dang paparazzi- we can never re-locate without one of them hangin' out a vehicle window with their dang camera...."




Ahhh, I'm looking forward to the holiday, going back home to a place where horses are the vehicles, walking is the pace of life, and cows are the most interesting thing around.


    Happy Trails, and may you always find a whole herd of adventures!

Nov 16, 2011

Ain't no sand on me!

I try out as much new gear as outdoor gear retailers, manufacturers and Hubby will let me. I like a lot of what I try, but I come across very few items that make me go, “Wow-this is everything it’s advertised to be,” The sand rug from CGear made me jump up and down and go WOW.



The company provided the 6' x 6' sand rug free of charge for my review. It arrived on my doorstep complete with its own small bag of sand and a huge dose of skepticism from my not-so-inner cynic.

Wow. Did I say that already? This thing really works.

The mats were originally developed by the military to create dust-free landing pads for helicopters. I had no helicopter on hand, but I do have a dusty husband and a whirling teenager. Together they can definitely raise a cloud of dust or tear up most any gear, given enough time.

Hubby poured the little bag of sand onto the rug. I would have liked a wheelbarrow load, but there was none to be had. Hubby brushed his hand across the pile of silica and poof! It was gone.




Hubby went Wow. He lifted the rug and there was the sand.



No sand came back up. Wow.

I mounded the pile of sand up under the rug, and had The Whee sit on the rug, on top of the sand pile, and just be herself. In other words, twist, wiggle and squirm. No matter how much she ground the rug into the sand, no sand came back up. Wow. I think I said that already.

Does it matter which side is up for the mat to work? Yes, it does, although even upside down it did a better job of taking away the sand than any beach towel or bamboo mat I’ve ever used. Not all the sand went through, but what fell through did not come back up.

Here's what I think about the sand mat:

I would recommend it to others, especially beach goers. We ain't got a lot of beach in Oklahoma, but this rug is enough to make me want to drive to the coast.

I would buy it for others. At $59.88, the best price I've found for it so far (Amazon), I'll only it buy it for people I really like, but I think it's worth every penny.

I think I'll stop avoiding the beach now.

I’m tickled I had the opportunity to try it!

See the rug and other sand-free products at http://www.cgear-sandfree.com/