"Your Neighbor is WHO? Really??"

Have you ever met someone new and after talking to them for 15 minutes you were glad you had stumbled upon someone so interesting and fun to talk to?

That happened to me today.  While I was waiting to have a tire fixed in Arkansas City. 

Now for all the uninitiated, that's pronounced, AR-kansas, like the state Kansas with AR in front of it.  If you come down here and say AR-KAN-SAW City, everyone will know you're not from around here.

The real bomb was that Sue lives right next door to Ree Drummond, more commonly known as Pioneer Woman.   We all love her blog, don't we?!

(Ok, when I say she lives "right next door to her", you have to remember, this is the wide open prairie, where most people own a few hundred, heck, a few thousand acres!)

So they actually live about 15 miles apart, but their pasture land butts up together somewhere in Oklahoma.

Isn't that just the coolest thing?

But it really WAS cool talking to Sue.

Another cool thing I found out from talking to Sue - one of her sons quit his job in Dallas last year to do something he had always wanted to do, travel to every state in the U.S. 

Not only did he do this in his ole 1998 pick-up truck with a tent and a kayak, but he BLOGGED about it too.  You'll have to check out his blog, The Hitchhiker's Guide to America.  I checked it out real quick-like, and you just have to read his intro/bio.  So interesting, and he's funny in a rather dry way!

Sue lives in Grainola, which is northwest of Pawhuska, where Ree lives.  The town propers are about 47 miles apart but as the crow flies, the distance would be much shorter.  I'm guessing that Ree travels to Bartlesville to do most of her shopping, which is another 30 minutes (26 miles) east of Pawhuska.

Another side note:  The hubby's been to Pawhuska many a time in his past for his team roping events.  Just another reason I need to visit Pawhuska....

I have another blogger friend who lives in Bartlesville, Christina.  She started blogging her photos not too long after me, in 2009.

So I'm thinking I need to quit postponing my road trip to Pawhuska and Bartlesville.  Been wanting to do that road trip for about 2 years now!  I've heard Bartlesville is a really cute town.  I'll bet Christina could tell me lots about Bartlesville.

It's a 2 hour road trip to Bartlesville from here.  I'm ready to go -- who's in?

Who's ready to road trip with me?!  :-)

Saving Keet #3 From Sure Death

Did you think I had forgotten about my promise to tell the story of keet #3?

Remember my post last week about his 2 days worth of pipping?

Tuesday afternoon

I had vowed, yea SWORE, I would not help any keets hatch.  Every single bird authority in the vast sea of internet information said "if they cannot hatch on their own, then they are weak or have some deformity and will not survive anyway."

Wednesday afternoon

In sheer desperation, I turned to fellow guinea owners on the Guinea Fowl International forum-- should I help a keet hatch, when he's been trying to hatch for 2 days?  (Great group of people there!)

The overwhelming response was YES and DO IT NOW OR HE'S GOING TO DIE!!

One gal even gave me a link that was rich with information on helping a guinea keet hatch. I assembled the necessary tools-- small nail scissors, tweezers, cotton balls, q-tips, bowl of warm water, wet & warm washcloth.  Oh yes, and my eyeglass readers too, so I could see what the heck I was doing!

Thursday morning

As I picked up the egg and removed it from the incubator, I could feel the small keet move inside. I sat down at my computer desk, enveloped the egg in the warm, damp washcloth, and began to chip away at his shell with the tweezers.

But I had a problem.

My hands were shaking so ferociously,
I feared I would hurt the keet!

I was very, very cautious at first-- almost too timid.  I used the nail scissors and the tweezers interchangeably, trying to create a crack in the shell with the scissors and then pull it away with the tweezers.  I wet the edges of the shell and the dry membrane with a q-tip dipped in warm water, and gently pulled at the membrane, careful not to pull any of the keet with it.

After my assistance

Once I had made his hole larger, I put him back in the incubator (huge sigh of relief!) and waited for him to finish the job.

I returned in 15 minutes expecting to see a hatched keet... um, no.  

In fact, it appeared he needed MORE assistance from me.

Oh good grief.  My poor shaking hands....

... this time, as I helped him one of his little eyes popped open.  I wonder what he thought!

After my assistance AGAIN
I just LOVE this leg photo!

Ok, let's put you back in the incubator again, surely you can finish the job yourself this time, you silly little keet... we'll check back in 15 more minutes...

I returned again to find he was STILL not out of his shell!  

Ok, this time we removed enough shell so that only half remained.  My hands did not shake as much ... I was getting used to the procedure.

Let's put you back in the incubator one more time. In fact, let's tilt the egg so you, well, sort of FALL OUT.

Yay!!  He finally "hatched"!  A REALLY BIG SIGH OF RELIEF.

A hatched, healthy keet!

Today marks his one week birthday.  He's a fine, healthy keet, and growing as fast as his sibling.  I'm so glad I took the chance to help him out.

Several hours later, fluffed and with his sibling (keet on left)

What lesson did I learn from this experience?

I learned I can do something I'm scared to death to do.  Believe me, I was petrified to help him.  But then I asked myself:

What is the worst thing that can happen?

And I realized, in that moment, the answer to that question was the same answer to "What will happen if I do NOTHING?"

4 days old (he's behind his sibling)

All of us step out of comfort zones at one time or another.  Living in the country is helping me do this more and more.

When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone, 

did something out of character, and in the end, 

was really, really happy that you did so?

Grit Giveaway Winner(s)!

And the winner is.......  Laura of A Simple Happy Life blog!  

And then, as always, I wanted to give a few more readers a taste of Grit magazine.  So I'm sending two back issues to Cindy of Write Up My Alley and Linda from Wander to the Wayside.  Grit magazines have information that is timeless!

Congrats to the winners ~ please send me your addresses so I can get the goods out to you.  {There's an email link at the bottom of each blog post, or you can go to my profile and email from there.}

Thank you to everyone who entered, and remember, there's going to be lots more in the coming months.  More country magazine subscriptions, more country books, more country STUFF!!

Stay tuned!!

And the best way to not miss a giveaway is to subscribe to my blog.  You'll get an email notifying you when I've put up a new post.  

The "subscribe" box is in the left sidebar, Follow Oz Girl Via Email - you can always unsubscribe at any time if you decide my blog just isn't relevant to you any longer.  

It's easy to sign up, and it's easy to get rid of me,

even though I hope you won't do that.  :-)