Not Crop Circles...

We have crop rectangles.

Bev has been working on a porch for the shop.  First she lays out all the boards, paints them top and bottom.  It will simply be a matter of transporting the boards and then nailing them together at the shop.

Great job, Bev.

Update...Hot And Tired

The porch has been emptied of all that does not belong.  I have a bench Dad made me out of hand cut barn timber on one side with an old metal egg basket full of pine cones and Ki's bed underneath.  On the other side is my chainsaw chair from hubby with a forked log table made by Melissa, my oldest.  It is topped with a smashed bucket used for trash.  The second fork of the table is used for my drink when I am sitting.  I know it's not Home and Garden but it's me.

Well, I haven't sat down much today.  I worked outside again until the heat ran me in but I am declaring the porch finished.

The corner I had to vacate,  due to the now deceased family of wasps, is closer to being finished.  I'm gonna add some wonderful rocks.  With the rubber underneath, the grass will not overwhelm me this time.

This is the pipe I am trying to camouflage and a flower bed Dad made for Mom years ago.  I'd say some attention is long over due.

Progress moves with the speed of molasses around here.  See all the mess I have to clean up?  It will have to wait until it dips below a hundred again.  I am working/playing inside now.

Almost finished!!!  Trimmed and moved the gladiolas to the back, removed the grass, and replanted the bulbs I accidentally dug up.  After I clean the mess from this, the rose at the end will be trimmed, mulched with rocks (roses love rocks) and I will have cleaned twenty feet.  I work too slowly!!

Oh, forgot to tell you...I'm on vacation this week.  First time in a long time that I'm off just for the fun of it.  It may be a triple post day every day because I hope I get a lot done to show you.

Heat, Headache and Horse S**t...

Oh, the plans I make when I dream, I was gonna get so much done today.  No hospitals, no obligations, nothing but plans of important treasured things  I WANTED to do.

 So here are the temps that greet me by nine o'clock.  All my outside adventures are literally melting before my eyes.  I have been up since five but other things demanded my attention...the normal crap assigned to women, dishes, gathering things, starting laundry, etc. I really shouldn't complain because while outside doing other things, hubby is making hashbrowns from scratch, ham, and eggs for breakfast (at eleven am).

I had topped off the water garden, removed a bag of mortar from the car to work on my rocks...bag's been there six months...and while there, I had to bring a blanket and a sweater in to wash, also in the trunk.  I have a sand and rock deck below my porch and have decided it needed mortar.  Note the big rock that is the center, compliments of  always-do-it-big hubby.  Siding-tracking always throws me off, see something that needs doing, do it, and go back to first job later.



Sadly watched the last chance of rain leave the valley

while longing just to forget it all

 and walk out that entry...

to explore.

Marcy shows with fresh corn husks...sidetracked, again.

Yes, I am in this equine huddle,

loving every corn fed moment of it.

The morning was not as productive as I wanted.  I gathered some limbs, used the cement, fed/loved the horses, refreshed their water and did not have a dry rag on me.

Oh, the freedom felt so good.

My Weekend Off and Catch Up...

My camera revived.  I had laid it in the morning sun in the kitchen window with all compartments open and everything removed.  I replaced the battery long enough to extend the lens and left it there.  God's light and the devil's heat did what I could not...it repaired it.  I did not get to try the dry rice method but do have it in my head, just in case, I need that information.

This was one of my test shots...my graduation photo from '72, one iron elephant bookend that I've owned forever,  and one Corning glass hen candy dish I found at a yard sale about fifteen years ago.  I wonder why I chose these two things to sit in the shelf beside me?

I had a wild hair, as some people say, this weekend.  I decided the tv room furniture needed to be in my sitting area and vice-versa.  I have had help moving one chair.  I still have one huge couch and one loveseat to move.  I am waiting on inspiration as to how to accomplish that.  When I get the furniture in the correct room, then I'll arrange it, I'm sure or I'm hoping with Bev's help because she is a true artist with furniture arranging (and many other things).

Bev came to help with my computer/craft/art/sewing room.  One chair came in here and two went out.  One chair went to Andrew's room from my sitting area.  One chair in the dining room and one from the den went to my room.  Are you confused yet?  I am!

Bev helped clean my floors...what a wonderful, sweet sister...moved some paintings and rugs around, dusted and washed dishes.  She was a life saver!  She has one big box of stuff packed for the shop.

Since my computer drama, I had not restraightened all the wires, etc...done.  My printer was returned and in now back by my computer. I have mended hubby's t-shirt pockets and altered some jeans.

Bev gave me homework, too.  I had one big box of toy parts to go through...broken ones, gone...collectibles in one box...just toys that someone else will enjoy in another. Working on another box to leave this house FOREVER.

Next on my list is sewing a tear in a chair arm and sewing a pillow seam that is partially undone.  Sadly, these will be by hand and I DETEST hand sewing.

Hey, I thought I was supposed to take it easy on a day off!  It has been a pure pleasure to see things go into a new spot and be cleaned, too.  It is very uplifting when you know a job is well done.

Now, a sample of outside photography, from my camera and my hot pepper, Ki-Anne.

No!!

This little bull is not running!

Ki's brakes are good.

They attempt to stare each other down.

Casually moving closer to each other,

The little bull is the winner,

and Ki, the chicken, runs out.

Well...

I've been lazy too long!  Hubby, who, by the way, has not been released from the doctor, got my weed eater started...with a full tank of gas. He is not supposed to be lifting more than five pounds, well, I think a gas jug, a weed eater and a splitting maul all weigh more than five pounds.  Far be it from me to offer advice to Mr Bull-Headed-I'm-Gonna-Do-It man!

The bush hog, which he was beating on when he had his heart attack, has not been repaired.  SOOOOO, Mr Fix-It drained the diesel from the old Deutz to remove the water from the tank(all more than five pounds, I'm sure) and hooked up the sickle and used that to bush hog the tall grass in the valley.  He came in and said, I messed up, I hit a root.  No kidding!  This is a hay mower, not a bush hog!!!

Anyway, back to my weed eating.  As you know, we have received vast amounts of rain and rain makes things grow.  My little distractions, such as hubby's emergency appendectomy and heart attack three weeks after, have gotten me behind on a few things. 

Full tank of gas, running weed eater and I am cutting that tall stuff.  A few flowers and berry plants jumped out in front of me but no problem we have plenty.  I am eliminating possible snake hidey holes.  The lawn has been mowed...by hubby, Doc said he could drive!  The weed eating has been sorely deglected.

I hit a styrofoam cooler...you can imagine what that looks like now.  I hit all kinds of things that have been hidden but the nice thing is that string just keeps feeding out.  I even found a spool of fishing line, not even going there...Hubby did not know how that got there, dogs musta done it!  Yep, got right into the tackle box and left the fishing line out for my weed eater to wind off the spool.

WE have a huge place to weed eat, around the house, the smoke house, the old house, the fence, the water garden, the shop...and this is just close to the house, it goes further.  There's around the mail box, the swing set, and Marcy's yard.

I kept switching arms, my muscles are twitching, I am as parched as a desert but I keep going.  I am as bullheaded as hubby.  Didn't get half of it done!!!  Ran out of gas and gas lasts a long time in the weedeater.

I thought, okay, enough for today(yesterday) and then discovered my arms were numb, my hand shook when I tried to drink something and I swear my entire body was vibrating.

Today, I have to finish!!!  Any volunteers?

Sunday Walk and Work...

 I tried to enjoy an early morning walk but somehow I always get sidetracked.  First I spied the Mule and all the trash hubby had accumulated.  I ended up cleaning out the bed of the Mule. Three full feed sacks later, I'm not out of the yard.

Whistling up the dogs, I head toward the barn, gathering hay strings as I go...two large wrapped bundles, I stash them to pick up on my way back and continue on my leisurely walk.

Arriving at my destination, a blocked culvert, I survey the problem.  A log has floated against the entrance, trapped debris, causing the heavy rains to go over the culvert, dropping rocks in its passage.

Yep, that's a problem and it's way down there.  I slide in and begin to dig out the blockage.  First the log, then the limbs, then the rocks.

The water had been clear.

I climb into the culvert

and soon am reminded, I really don't like tight places.

I hear the tractor coming, after I am finished.

Knot hears it, too.

No treats today but they all got a good scratching.

Their coats are shedding so time to find that curry comb.

Impeccable timing on hubby's part,

I am headed back to the house.

Charme stops for her scratching and the hair flies,

a good sign that spring is really here.

My little darlings settle down to graze,

and I back track, picking up my string,

heading to the house for a drink.

What happened to my leisurely walk?

Sometimes Farming Bites

Losing a valve stem slows things down a little.  Two days later and $155.10 lighter, the tractor rejoins the working equipment.

There is a dry ditch behind Marcy's that fills when it rains.  Hubby is widening, deepening and clearing some thorns from the main stream.

Bev is helping, supervising, then has to do all the hand work.  Can you imagine how long it would take to clear this ditch with a shovel?

The dirt is scooped for distribution into planting beds which will have to be done by hand.

The bed of the dry creek is deepened, waiting to be reshaped by the next rain.  The soil waits to be hauled where it is needed.  I know this isn't beautiful but three short years ago, this entire spot was filled with tornado twisted trees and debris.  It has come a long way toward being Marcy's beautiful back yard.

...and the hand work begins.

The most wonderful part is all this happened while I was at work!

I Promised A Tale...

of my weekend work but it's Monday and I think I've  forgotten.  I know I started with a walk, my camera died.  I piled some fallen limbs in the pasture.  I listened to the highland crew rumbling vehicles and cringed at the raping of the land.  I placed rocks in washed places and picked up flint chips. 

Eight AM on a Sunday, here comes another truck and they park at the gate where the horses have gathered.  I head that way to see if there's a problem.  No problem, waiting on equipment.  I asked,  coming
through the pasture? Yep.  Do you guys know how much it rained?  Nope.  The piece has tracks, no problem.  Well, I mentioned the last time they crossed that pasture when they were told to go another way, how they bogged down two vehicles and almost got the dozer stuck too (remember the pictures).  I was not heard.

Track equipment is wonderful for one thing...it does travel where wheels will not, but it also tears the land apart!  This is disturbing land that has probably never been tracked that deep.  Sometimes they even leave track piles on the county road that a car cannot cross.  Hush, Gail, you were gonna tell them about all the work you accomplished, remember, no griping allowed.

I headed to the creek to breathe deep and enjoy the quiet of my early Sunday morning, uh, not this week, that was another time BEFORE the crew.

The water cress is blooming so most of it is very hot to eat now but still good in a salad.  Conditions have been wonderful for it to grow and I add removing the water cress from the spring branches to my growing list of things to do.

I have been letting my horses out to graze in the yard and the spring valley since the grass is so wonderful.  They have been naughty.  They rolled in the freshly planted, things coming up already garden.  Charme walked over apple trees in the orchard and broke limbs off young trees just to scratch her belly.  Okay, guys, your freedom shall be limited now.

Opened the alternate pasture, remembered two sections were cut out of the web wire to get a tractor through to haul out logs for posts (a month ago).  Okay, here's your job, go get two cattle panels carry them to this section and Southern engineer the hole in the fence.  I get the Polaris and carefully balance a twelve foot panel across the bed and drive over all the lumps left by machinery, barely fit through the gate and finally get within forty feet of the fence...and the panel falls off.  I carry it the rest of the way, piece of cake, brace and tie it to a metal post and head out for the other panel.

The horses are grazing in their new section peacefully until I head back in with the second panel.  You could see the idea hit Charme, I swear there was a light bulb above her head.  She starts trotting to the hole in the fence.  I am hollering whoa, don't you dare, come back here, all this while I am reaching backwards with one arm where I won't lose this panel and bouncing toward the hole in the fence. Charme finally listened but I got that hateful look that she sometimes gives me when things don't go her way.

I am almost to the fence and same spot, the panel slides, I remember to let go as my shoulder is wrenched from its socket and also remember to stop the ranger.  So I am doing good here.  Carry this panel too, hook it into the other panel and it lacks six inches before it reaches the next post!  Go back to the ranger looking for wire, anything to fill that hole, found some wire, nothing to cut it.  I am not making twenty five trips back to the shop to get this done.  I am making do, Southern engineering all the way.  I found a hachet and a hammer and proceed to cut the wire.  It works and I weave my magic with the wire and the panels.

Whew, I am finished, no one has escaped and it is just noon!

Don't Know What's Wrong...

I have been working all weekend on loading pictures on cds. I had so many pictures, my computer would not defrag...now that's a lot of pictures. I am happy to say I have finished 2008 and have January and February '09 done. Just a few thousand to go!

I had been feeling tired and run down and just plumb lazy. Doc had put me on some Cholesterol medicine. I was hurting all over, my muscles, my joints, then I looked it up...side effects! So, unbeknowst to my doctor, I have stopped taking them. I am beginning to see the old me come alive again!

Now this is Monday and I've had a lively weekend. Work is heck on Monday(Can you tell me why people come a hour early to get their mail on Monday when they know there is two days of mail??) Anyway I was covered up with reports and suspenses and people mailing things, of course, that is my job so I did it and I did it well. At lunch, I wrote out my bills which is a job I always dread.

Then, here's the part where I don't know what's happening, I went to town from work, bought cleaning supplies and groceries, unloaded them, washed my car, washed the front porch, did laundry and dishes and took a shower because I am dripping wet from working so hard. What has gotten into me?

Lord, please let it continue!

And The Day Ain't Done

It is just now eleven am and I am back in the house, drinking ice tea and feeling the cooled air.

Granny Pruett always said lazy people count their jobs but I am proud of what I've accomplished this morning! I may be lazy but I am counting.

I shoveled manure while wearing my new boots, according to Rudee's instructions, Sorry, I could not do the gloves. I picked up rocks and gravel out of my soon to be used round pen, stacked the rocks, piled brush, pulled weeds and picked up some trash.

This is a view of the spring branch Den is working on. Headed to view the calves and cows. Oh, they are so pretty! Picked sticks up along the way, there is always something to pick up At The Farm. Working on Sunday Stills, Lisa, hint, hint.

Kubota King had a new project completed this morning. Since the run off from the pond has slowed, Den dammed the second spring so the cows can have a place to cool. It will clear as it reaches the pipe and hopefully, will flow beautifully.

Sunday Labor!!!

Before...

After

God knows that a farm family has to labor seven days a week. We sure would like to rest on that seventh day but we can't seem to fit that in right now.

Today was wonderful because we had help! Not just Bev, Marcy and I slowly clipping, piling and burning twigs...we had Kubota King and chainsaws and mules and someone to operate each one.


Checking out the job, how to do this without damage.

We got one big limb off the house without tearing anything up. Removed several limbs by the old house. Fire wood cut up, limbs burned and places cleaned...not many, but we made a big showing.

One more pecan limb to be cut up and saved for cooking with flavor!

Am I Done Yet?

NO!!! I listened to all advice, which was wonderful, and went outside to work. Who knows how many pretty days we have left before the winter completely closes us in.

The early temps were below freezing but it progressed to 39 degrees with a brisk ever changing wind. It was too windy to burn much but the Burn sisters had a fire going! Dressed in multi-layers, we worked.

Marcy took pictures as we prepared her spring flower bed. Every place we get cleared, I swear that oldest sister of mine wants to plant something! Last weeks clearing with help of the tractor is going to be for watermelons and cantaloupe, God love her!

Laughing Orca, please note the three sizes too big flannel pjs and the shoes!

Beverly and I worked our behinds off. She didn't have any behind to spare. I, on the other hand, did not miss any of mine!

We raked, we clipped, we dragged, we dug, we planted, we talked, we shared and worked. (I think she has forgiven me for the toilet thing). Now Marcy had told us she has one hundred twenty MORE spring bulbs.

I said all that to say this: No house work finished! I have been like a little male dog, a little here, a little there... I did get some laundry done, some dishes done (both of those grow, when you are not looking!) I could have some wonderful before pictures but have no after pictures yet!

Andrew and I did get the Christmas tree up and decorated after dark. I think we will put one live one in the dining room but that is a job for another day.