SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY

TODAY I SAW SOMETHING I TRULY HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE! IT HAS BEEN A WEEK SINCE I MOWED THE GRASS...SO IT IS A LITTLE LONG TODAY. MY DAUGHTER AND THE BOYS ARE SPENDING THE LONG WEEKEND SO I WAS UP PUTTERING ABOUT (WITHOUT MY CAMERA OF COURSE) AND WALKED INTO THE BACK YARD.

THERE WAS A FLOCK OF CARDINALS IN THE BACK YARD. THE SUN WAS JUST COMING UP SO THE DEW ON THE LONG GRASS WAS SPARKLING. THE FLOCK OF CARDINALS WERE TAKING A BATH IN THE DEW!!! IT WAS SOMETHING I HAVE NEVER SEEN BIRDS DO.

THIS TRULY SHOWS THAT THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY TO KEEP CLEAN. VERY COOL.

MAKING A WISH

How often do you stop for just a moment, and drop a penny in a gold fish pond and really really believe your wish will come true? Has your life become that busy? My wish for any who reads this today is that you will take that moment and believe.

CLUB HOUSE RENOVATIONS

While I was gone to NC my daughter house sat for me with my two grand sons. It appears there have been some renovations to the club house. I spotted these as I was leaving for work. I might need a little help interpreting the sign out front. This is too totally cute! I love grand kids!

NIGHT OF THE FAIRY RING

He wha tills the fairies' green
Nae luck again shall hae :
And he wha spills the fairies' ring
Betide him want and wae.
For weirdless days and weary nights
Are his till his deein' day.
But he wha gaes by the fairy ring,
Nae dule nor pine shall see,
And he wha cleans the fairy ring
An easy death shall dee.[

I wonder if there is a curse (or cure) for building a horse fence through the middle of a fairy ring?

3 post day! Last post!

Wow I could not share this sunset. Please pray for my mom. Tomorrow is going to be very scary.

2 post day--2nd post

1 down...who knows how many to go. I ran out of rabbit manure and have to go back and get more on my way home from seeing mom at the hospital. I have to stop and feed the horses and goats at the farm where I keep my horse, so I think I will clean out the goat pen while I am at it and add that to the compost pile. I only used about 10 piles of grass and have probably twice that left in piles. I am out of time though. Shower, run to church, run to the hospital, run feed goats, run get more rabbit poo, back here hopefully with enough daylight and energy to build another compost pile.

MOWING AND RAKING...GIFTS?

As I attempted to get out of bed this morning and my body moaned in protest, I have to remind myself that I have much to be thankful for this day. My mom is healing! I have been given the gift of 100's (ok it only seems like 100's) of piles of grass for the compost piles, I have bags of rabbit manure picked up yesterday to layer with the new grass clipping, I have a dog waiting outside the door for his favorite game (pick up the grass clippings) and it is not raining.

I could go on and on but there is work to be done and it is getting hotter by the second. I am very blessed.

GYPSY MOTHS AND PURRING ALARM CLOCKS

This has been a rough week, but the sale of the turkeys couldn't have happened at a better time. Mom had heart surgery on Wed. The hospital is about 35-40 miles from my home. It is the other direction from work. So I have been spending a lot of time there. It is so hard to watch someone you love in pain and confused. So I thought this morning I would sleep in late because I plan on sleeping at the hospital tonight. We all know there is no sleep at the hospital. How can you sleep late when the day is so beautiful, the birds are singing and you have a purring happy feeting alarm clock laying against your back? So the coffee is on and the birds, cats and Bull have food, the sun is just cresting the trees and in 30 minutes I leave to go get a load of rabbit manure. By then the grass may be dry and I can put in some mowing, hit some of the crazy weeds with Round Up, take a shower and go to the hospital. Today is Ron's birthday!! (he is the guy batheing his dogs after they rolled in the turkey poo. I think today is going to be a good day!!!

Happy Birthday Ron!!

THE TURKEYS ARE GONE

My dad finally admitted that he liked the turkeys too much to help me kill them. They are too big for me to kill alone and all my friends are animal lovers!!! Now What??? Thank goodness for craigslist.org. I listed my turkeys last night and had an email waiting for me after work that a local man wanted to buy all of them. He, his wife, his brother and his little mother came, paid cash and they put them into a cage in the back of the truck. When I asked them if they were going to butcher them, the man nodded yes...the little mother nodded no. He scowled at her...she said "No they are too pretty!" He was twice her size, and he smiled at me and said, "I guess we will butcher some and keep some." And this little woman smiled up at her son with the same kind of love that I feel when I smile up at my big son. The money I made paid for the birds and the food. I think I might try to buy another batch to sell at Thanksgiving!

Home from Vacation

What a good time. I got to take my grand kids home from TX to NC to their mommy and daddy. They have been visiting us grand parents here for a month! And mommy and daddy missed them so much. So off we went on a plane through Atlanta airport and to NC. While we were there we got to go and visit Peggy, a fellow Homestead.org person and see what a wonderful farm she has! She was so wonderful and friendly and she welcomed me, my daughter in law and my grand kids with open arms. Her two grand sons took Lane under their wing and taught him how to shoot a pellet gun! Her grand daughter was such a wonderful hostess (I can't believe I didn't get a pic of her) and showed us all of the wonderful animals and her work in the soap house. Kailyn fell in love with the Bo Bo's (goats) and needed to give them kisses and tell them her secrets. Thank you Peggy for such a wonderful time!

FUTURE FARM NUTS?

Here are cool nuts that my friend brought me from Austin, TX. They are about the size of a silver dollar and look like mini black walnuts. Spicy scented. Does anyone have any idea what they are? I am going to plant them in pots and soon in the ground.

VISITORS ON THE FARM PART 2

When daddy showed up to pick up Pete and Lucy, they became suddenly very brave. And ran under the turkey pen. Only to discover the most amazing cool wonderful mess....and no....it wasn't mud under there!

VISITORS ON THE FARM

If only I could capture a bark on film. When Bulls buddies Pete and Lucy came this weekend to visit, there was sooooo much to bark at. Kitties, humming birds, wind blowing, Bull, leaves blowing in the wind, and oh my goodness, the pièce de ré·sis·tance. HUGE WHITE BIRDS IN A CAGE!!! Yes these birds are bigger than Lucy so she kept a safe distance.....and stayed in the shade because barking is hot work....and did what every smart doggie would do when confronted with a giant dog eating bird. Barked her head off.

Lucy went hunting all by herself! She loves Aunt T but sometimes a girl just has to get alone.

NIGHT OF THE BOYZ+ME

Savage warriors...until they get a boo boo. Makers of fire....with Neena's help. Lovers of turkeys...so at Thanksgiving the bird on the table is a really big chicken. Conquerers of mighty mountains...that have swings hanging off of them. Finders of exotic birds nests....until Bull eats it. What a night. I left work early....racing out the door at work and down the road to sure adventure. I first picked up Jayden and Dakota. The evening would not be complete without Lane. It will be his last time for a long time to spend the night with his cousins. He will be going home soon to North Carolina. A hurried trip to Walmart for t-shirts, boxers and flip flops...along with the agreed upon dinner. Not something cooked on the fire outside but....Neena's home made pancakes...the dinner of champions. Jayden is butter and syrup. Dakota is butter and jelly. Lane is peanut butter and jelly. Cold fresh bubbly milk tops off the meal and off they go to the living room to play while I finished the dishes. While I was cooking dinner, Jayden being the oldest, and with the strongest love of fire, gathered sticks, logs and pine cones and filled the fire pit brimming and ready for the bon fire. Soon we were sitting around the blazing fire telling scary stories and waiting for the fire to die a little so that we could roast chocolate marshmallows. Bull was sad when we went inside but we had to build the best tent of all time. It had to include the TV or it would not have been perfect. As I sit in the dark and I hear silence from inside the tent I realize that here they find peace....if only in their hearts.

www.farmblogs.blogspot.com

Thank you Ian for gathering up all of the wonderful farm blogs in one place.

10 MINUTES OF HEAVEN

Well I just got home, fixed a little dinner, changed into the work clothes and started to put my work shoes on when I heard a strange noise. An unfamiliar noise. One I could hardly remember hearing before. I heard my poor Flash crying as if acid were being poured on him....outside I ran with my trusty mop in hand...what I use to fend off all man eating lions and raccoons. And when I opened the door this is what I was confronted with....

.

From Night to Day

100 upon leaving work...1 hour drive home....80 when I got home! Thank you tropical storm Eduardo! 1 hour! Why do I do this? Every day on the way home I ask myself the same question. Every day I am given a slightly different answer. Today, not only was it 80 degrees outside, but the sky had a magical quality to it. The wind was whipping about, 2 doves sat on the picnic table bird baths still as statues. My wind chime sang non stop. Clouds looked like pink cotton candy. Hummingbirds were having a hard time balancing in the high wind. All this I saw in a glance as I pulled into the driveway. But as I got out of the car, I was confronted with a sight that took my breath away. Pictures will never do a rainbow justice, but this rainbow absolutely took my breath away. Against a gray back drop, with the sun setting behind me, I was awe struck. All thoughts of piddling around the yard, trying to paint a little, moving the rabbit poo out back simply left my mind. All I could do was look at this and wonder at it. In the background I heard the sounds of a rooster crowing in defiance of the setting sun, the sounds of cattle lowing readying for the long night, and the soft talk of the mourning doves and eastern blue birds....and still all I could do was stare in awe.

Then reality set in.....found the water was turned off......guess I will have to pee in the yard!

PEACEFUL HEAT

My daughter asked me why I can't just sit all day on my "day off" and why I have a need to do something all the time. She said she guesses that when she owns a home of her own she will feel like doing something on her days off. So on my day off, I set the clock for 7am since I was up until almost 2am chatting and talking with Heather and playing on the computer. Inside me is a "buzz" that wants to do something. Rake the pine needles and move them into a pile and cover until Feb for the blueberry bushes, move the 5 new bags of rabbit poo out by the garden, rake the first of 100's of loads of dead leaves and take them to the garden, layer the leaves and the rabbit poo with water in a compost pile where I told my grandkids, God makes magic happen....and finally start painting the house. Well the boys and I got some of this list done. The pine needles are in piles ready to be moved, haven't raked the leaves, the rabbit poo did get to the garden and we did start painting on sealer over the hot pink paint. It's a start but by 10am it was way too hot for anything put water play and sitting in the shade watching the hummer battles. Peaceful day off.

PFC BRURING

My boy is now a Private First Class. The army is getting him ready for me to put him to work on the farm!