Pretty Lady

 

I have discovered a very cool way to upload pics directly from Picasa to my blog and am playing around to see how they turn out.

Big Man on Campus

 

Another reason I love snow days is because you don't have to feel guilty about not doing things that should but don't have to be done outside, thus leaving more time to play...for example on the computer! Which is exactly what I'm doing. HA!

SNOWDAY!!!!!.......

Seriously though,here we go again! But really, aren't I too old to be enjoying a good ole fashion snow day?! Absolutely not! Of course I now have a slightly different take on it. I'm not bundeling up to go enjoy it from the outside,no, no, no. I am deliriously happy with being "trapped" in the house knowing that everyone is fed, warm,and dry, all tucked in for the day and night and maybe another day. Although, I am longing for a cozy blanket, a cup of hot cocoa and a copy of the movie Snow Day with Chris Elliot's fantastic version of Snowplow Man!!!(which I don't have)



Yes, for whatever reason, the turkeys have come home after being gone all summer and I quite enjoyed them being gone but what do you do. Anyone up for a turkey dinner for Christmas? ;)

Overdue update.....

Perhaps knowing that I included a specific timestamp in my heading will ensure I update this before the holiday following....

As I've been reminded frequently in the past month and a half, I need to get out here and let you know that we did indeed get the roof finished. It took only 4 weekends and looks quite nice! Very clean and new. I wish the inside of the attic did. And isn't it funny how one new item amongst several old ones makes the old ones look even worse than the did before? I am now trying to decide what color we should reside eventually. Not that white is bad, it just seems lacking. I'm thinking a nice gray/green.

Of course the pink Tyvek really adds a little sumpn sumpn doesn't it?! :)

This weekend was not a good one. I had to say goodbye to a very special and dear girl that has spent the last 12 years being my very best friend, sticking with me through thick & thin and giving unconditional love and sassing every day. It is far from the first time and I ask myself, why do I continue to set myself up for the inevitable heart break. I guess it means the love and happiness is worth the heartache. She had a long (although it never seems long enough) and very good life and I am comforted knowing I was able to give her that. I will miss her very much.

MissPgirl. 1997-2009

I really have no other updates at this time. I am looking forward to my youngest getting his drivers license. It seems most parents dread that time, full of worry and anxiety but I can't wait! I have put more miles on my car in the last year than the previous 4 I owned it! One more month and I will have more time at home than I will know what to do with!! WAHOO!!!
They had a wonderful football season this year losing only 2 games and since track is the only other sport he goes out for, we will have some time to relax.
#69-Trevor J. puttin the smackdown on some poor guy!

Smite Me Oh Mighty Smiter!!

Finally enough money to purchase the materials to put the new steel roof on the 140 year old house. A large crew of excellent help and a beautiful weekend. We (everyone not involved in roofing) had a wonderful Saturday. The kids had a good time again. Give them a stick, a big chunk of rope and an atv and watch them go! How creative they can be!




It took all of Saturday to get the 4 layers of asphalt and original layer of wood shakes off the entire house. They say hind sights 20/20. Perhaps we should have done this in sections i.e. part off, part on, part off, etc. and perhaps we should have taken everything out of the attic to keep it clean. Who'd have thought when everything was off you'd be able to look completely through both sides and see blue sky?!


But we didn't. Go for the gusto right?! Rip it all off! After all, putting the big sheets of steel back on should be a piece of cake right?



That was Saturday.....Sunday was a slightly different outlook. I kept a wary eye on the wasps, with visions of them taking up new residence inside our now easily accessable house or possibly the slightly larger winged creatures of the night.


Sunday morning, all was good-except the dirt that fell into the portion of the attic where all my extra's are stored.


Sunday afternoon it was all to obvious that only a small portion of the roof would be completed before days end. Oh well, glass half full, I have a really good vacuum cleaner to suck up 140 years of dust, dirt and grime and Tarps were at the ready.

Monday morning, while the internet guy was reinstalling the dish dismounted from the now scantilly tarp clad roof, I thought I would begin my vacuuming.
Then it started to rain...I was thinking how nice to hear on the tarps, soothing, like camping but as it came down harder, I realized it was now raining inside! I was no where near done cleaning all the collective crap and now was watching as water poured down from the heavens, through the tarps, soaking boxes, turning the dust, dirt and grime to mud and muck and it was coming in hard!! Panic stricken, I scrambled for buckets to catch the water when I very quickly discovered they were no where near big enough to catch the incoming flow! So, mud and sweat from head to toe, in the midst of anger and dispare, tears and swearing, I managed to shove everything over enough, dumped stored clothing from rubber maid tubs into garbage bags, (more laundry to do later) placed the tubs under the leaks (leak is such an understatement) took an extra anti-anxiety pill, shut the door and went downstairs. That was Monday, it's now Thursday and I've not been back up.

Well, after re-tarping the 3rd night in a row, I think it's holding. More rain forecasted for the weekend. Bring it on.

More from the "Big Top" later......

Continued....

I've decided to break my post up seeing how this is my 3rd attempt at posting. Living beyond the reach of high speed, and even though I sacrified satallite T.V. for the expense of having satallite internet vs dial up, connection can still be quite slow and I've found that too slow might as well be none. But, I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Partridge Cochin Hen.



Embracing his inner lion! Aren't zebras supposed to have stripes?!

Timeless rambelings

Here we are half way through September, the leaves are turning, falling, and Halloween is just around the corner. Obviously blogging has ranked low in my all to often scewed list of priorities and yet, with all the time that has passed since my last post I feel I have nothing new to share except my new found appreciation for all times when I was young, hearing the common phrase udders freaquently (from those who at that time seemed old!) "where has the time gone?!"
However, I felt compelled to post some new pics of the "ladies" (and gentlemen) for Thelma...or is it Louise, (I never know which is which)as well as a few others that prove I am very easily amused.
My lovely little flock as really filled out over the summer months. They've been given free range of the farm yard for the past couple of weeks and I still love wathcing them do....what chickens do. No eggs as of yet, but I knew going in that I didn't purchase a great egg laying breed.

Chipndale in all his glory now living up to an alternate reference of his name. He has matured much quicker than the rest of the chickens and is trying with all his little rooster might to be the ladies man! (whether they like it or not) However, being extremely high strung, very noisey and somewhat aggresive, he will probably not be a long standing member around here.

Blue Cochin Rooster- still looking very similar to the hens but as I mentioned, late bloomers. Still pretty though.

White Chochin Hen
Silver Lace Cochin Rooster- Can't wait to see what he looks like all grown up!

Black Cochin Hen my bravest and most laid back. (Dare I say favorite?!)

Buff Cochin Hen.

Therapy????

I've read that having a fish aquarium can be very theraputic and reduce stress levels. True but I no longer get enough satisfaction to outway the hassle of cleaining it. No fish for me. Although I love to go the big aquariums and could spend an entire day sitting in one spot.
Instead, I have my girls who are growing up to be quite the lovely ladies! This week was their first venture outside and they are really loving it! I find that I can easily lose 30-60 minutes just watching them do.....what chickens do.

I took these pictures with my phone so the quality is lacking a bit. If you look really close you can see the feathers down the legs. They look very retro in their bell bottoms! (except Chipndale)

And here is Chipndale looking nothing like a chipmunk anymore.

I can't have ALL chicken pictures!

And even with the insane schedule lately I was able to catch a movie...in a theatre! Nothing beats that! I was dying to see Drag me to hell and my bff Fran was eager to join me! It was a blast! Not only because of the good company, turns out it wasn't so much scary but but grosly hilarious!! If you like the Evil Dead movies this is definately a must see! Nothing like seeing a haggard old gypsy woman put the smackdown on the cute little doe eyed blonde!! And what did I take away from this? Don't mess with the elderly!

Catching up

Well not bad, 3 weeks since my last post. It feels like it's been longer. I've been wanting to get out here but between an unbelievably slow connection (still working on that) and extra hours at work which is due to be increasing more starting next week (thankful I have a job) and getting a 2nd house ready to put on the market (Now the things I've wanted done for 5 years are getting done) It seems to leave just enough time to feed everybody give them a little attention and head off to bed to start again tomorrow.
Another reason I've been itching to post is due to the babies. They seem to grow and change daily! They no longer are the cute little cotton balls I picked up in one small box just 3 weeks ago. Sad, but yet exciting. They have gotton a lot of their feathers in and you can now see what color they are going to be!

This little crabby looking girl will be completely white.

This will be what they call blue.

Here is a group shot that shows the buff and partridge(brown)as well as the silver lace (black s/white speckles)

Here is one of the blacks.

And of course there is chipndale who it turns out is a speckled sussex?? To me he/she looks like a sparrow. He/she was the first one to feather out and has far more than the rest of the group.

The yellow chicks which were CXR's (jumbo rocks) are really growing fast. It's seems all they do is eat and grow.

And I can't forget some of the other "Kids"
...They really do have a regular water bowl but I guess it's not as fun...

Here's the "old lady" kicking it up a little.

Finally here!!!

I want to put out a very special Thank you to Murray McMurray Hatchery!

We just couldn't wait any longer (plus I couldn't stand the thought of my little babies being shipped via mail). When Dan told me it wasn't far, I called and changed my order to "pick up" instead of delivery and this morning we headed west!
I was in love from the minute they opened the box lid to show us our purchase. I knew they would be small (this isn't the first time I've seen a baby chicken) but I never realized they would be that small! They are absolutely DARLING!!! ....and messy.





They've been home now for about 7 hours and everyone is eating, drinking and making a mess of the newpapers. Whew! I was very excited to take some pictures and took several which proved to be a smart move because they are very difficult to photograph. They are constantly moving, not to mention the time I spent trying to edit out the babypoo which proved next to impossible, in 7 hours it's everywhere!! Dan's gonna stay pretty busy for a while! LOL!

Of course all the yellow babies are going to grow up to be white and I know what most of the other are supposed to look like as well but there is one that really stands out and has me puzzled....it looks like a chipmunk to me so this one is going to be.......chipndale! (did I just age myself?)

Another week...

Spring has finally hit our little mini farm! As we were out splitting wood (cleaning up a huge pile of cut wood that came with the house) I noticed that the trees were blooming! I so often get caught up with the fast pace of life and end up missing the simple yet extrodinary wonders the surround but not this weekend!! The buds were so beautiful that I just had to stop what I was doing and grab my camera.
We are hoping to put a new roof on the house and add a dormer or two and turn the attic into a bedroom but to do that, we need to clean up the wood pile. It's a crazy six degrees of seperation thing that I won't go into but there you have it. If I clean the wood up then complete several other things I will end up with a new bedroom and maybe, just maybe an upstairs bath.
We also spent some time today getting ready for our new arrivals due May 4th! Dan has been diligently reading books and taking notes. We have the first "brooder house" ready. 37 little fuzzy peeps!! You know I'll be taking pictures like a crazy woman when they get here!!

Easter Weekend

Heres hoping everyone had a Happy Easter!!
Since Mother Nature decided to be gracious this weekend and kindly grant us lovely weather Dan and I decided we would take full advantage and do some much needed cleaning of the treeline. Yes, I know some of you may be saying "but what about the natural habitat?" and to that my reply is.....we live within a couple of miles of a large county park- the critters can go there! (plus there are still several fence lines in the area) OR they can go hide in the barn. It currently has very easy access!
We decided that it was better to clean it out and let new bushes grow in and rid the area of the years of knocked down, broken and dead shrubs and tree tops. I was suprised how much dry, dead, brittle wood was crammed into that small area. It was actually more of a kindling line than a tree line. Not to mention Mulberry trees, HELLO!!! Why is it they grow everywhere you don't want trees and no where you do? We did leave several large ones so there is my contribution to the wildlife. There will still me many berries for the wildlife.
We were able to clean out half of it. Just enough to really let you appreciate a good days work and make the remaining untouched half look ten times worse!
The biggest battle was disposing of the waste. Burning is not often an option here due to being located on very high ground and having a constant "breeze".
We were able to burn a small portion and hopefully finish the remaining already cut a piled messes within the week. Then we can start on the second half!
Dan's biggest toy really made quick work of hauling the brush! Nice not to have to haul it by hand but it left big tractor tire dents all over. Oh well, I'll worry about those another day.

this is how you make a really big fire! It was orginally SO big I was to busy watching for the surrounding Cedars to burst into flames to take a picture!!

Whos got the marshmellows??