Garden Pics & Happy Cows!

Sugar & Oreo enjoying the grass I pulled from the garden this afternoon. They're eating out of one of the troughs Jeff made from the hollow tree he cut down. He's made 2 planters from pieces as well.

Here's a picture of the baby turkey we hatched in the incubator-SHE'S getting so big!

Broccoli plants growing!

Cabbage plants growing!

The carrots are in the lower right side bed-The squash-Jordan & Suzanne planted the seeds-are in the upper left-and the snow peas are growing up the fence at the top!

Well-no baby rabbits, yet. I forgot to add the extra days-I only added 28 days. One has pulled fur-so hopefully tomorrow.

We had Homecoming at Church today-we had well over 100 people-had to pull out a few folding chairs to seat folks! It's always great to see some of the older people-but sad to think of the ones we've lost this year. We had one couple come "home" from Missouri-it was great to see Danny & Linda! And of course-LOTS of good home cookin'!

We are planning to take the Youth Group to see the movie "Courageous" on Tuesday night. Minnie & family tried to go see it tonight-the Texan Theatre is showing it for free-but they couldn't get in. We had plans for Wednesday-the last night-but decided we might better try for Tuesday instead. It'll be hard for me to get from work-and picking up Hailey from Drill team practice-on time to leave. Gonna try not to worry about it!

Have a great week!

RAIN-OK-2/10ths!

We did manage to get a little-but a good drenching rain would be great! It has just been SO hot and dry this year. But we got our first cool front yesterday-it is WONDERFUL!!!
Well-we did our first football game in I don't even know how long. Last Friday night was Jr. High night at the High School game and was Hailey's very first drill team performance. She did great and even won Belle of the week. We were SO proud! And the Trojans beat the Mustangs!!
Only 2 of the turkeys hatched and lots of guinnes. Only one of the turkeys made it though. We bought 2 pigs yesterday-one that is 175 lbs and a small weaned one-both gilts. We'll watch the oldest to see if she comes in heat-she was in a pen with a young boar-and then decide who will go into the freezer-her or Lucy. We really need to find someone with a boar that we can hire to bred one or both-they are becoming WAY too hard to find and expensive as well! I'll get some pics of them when I can remember to take my camera out to the pens.
We start teaching a youth class at church tomorrow night-keep us and the kids in your prayers. We feel very honored to be asked to lead these young minds toward a closer relationship with Christ.
Mom is back in the hospital again-she was holding lots of fluid-Long story as usual-but she's having a bad go with gout now-she's been there for over a week-hopefully she'll come home soon. We didn't go camping for the long weekend, either. Just decided it wasn't worth it with the high gas prices and all. Our anniversary is next week and may go then or might just book a hotel room in Galveston-we haven't really decided-it's hard to make plans when you don't know what's gonna happen with Mom.
We've been having a ball watching the hummingbirds on the back porch-I go out there when I get in from work and watch them fight over the feeders. Jeff counted 8 one day last week-why they can't share is just beyond me-they fuss and screech at each other and it seems like no one gets anything to eat!!

Cold-Icy Weather

Icicles hanging off the back porch on Saturday morning-they've been there for 2 days now!

Ice on the back porch-it's beginning to melt!

And on the porch railing-you really had to watch your step out there-it was frozen over!

Icicles hanging off the back of the house.

Thankfully it's all over now and we've had a beautiful, sunny, and warm day today! But we have more icy fronts predicted for the middle of this week! I am SO ready for Spring! We took a bad weather day on Friday-no school-because of all the iced over bridges and roads-we also had reports of trees down over the roads-but we were fine here. Just went through LOTS of firewood. It even got so cold at one point we turned the gas heat on-the wood heater just couldn't do the job on its own!

My back is much better-but is still bothering me at times. I don't want to take anymore of the pain meds-so I'm just bearing with it. I'm still trying not to lift anything and just being a couch potato most of the time. I got out and walked some yesterday-went down to the pond to check the water level-it is filling up nicely with all the rain we've had. A little bit more and some warmer weather-and we might be looking for some fish to stock it with! We did go into Cleveland yesterday and picked up some feed and a few groceries-so I walked a little bit there, too.

We had the Grand Opening of our new library at Church this morning. They had a donation luncheon along with getting to see all the work they've been doing on it. All the kids seem to be loving the idea that they can get books at Church as well as at school. We've even had a few computers donated as well. There is a children's side along with books for adults to check out as well.

We've got 3 roosters to butcher this week and Jeff just got a call for 6 more rabbits to be delivered to the Austin area-so looks like he'll be busy starting the week off. And we had a heat lamp on the front porch for my houseplants-but it appears some of them froze anyway-:( The cold got my ivy's-a little of my big palm-and a few others-hopefully some of them will recover!!

Oh, Well!!

Oh, well-no pics today! So very much has been going on in our lives-I do believe we are meeting ourselves coming and going!!
Jeff's dad seemed to take a turn for the worse this weekend-running fever-won't eat-not responding to anyone. It is just so hard for everyone to see him like this! He has always been SO full of life and laughter! He has said several times in his sleep that he is seeing angels-so we really don't know what to expect. I was telling Randy yesterday how much as a child I loved to listen to him pray-he was like a completely different person when he talked to God-such good memories!! But thank you Lord-he has turned around again and is feeling better today-talking and eating again!!
Mom isn't feeling well, either-just don't know what to do with her! I know she would like for me to be with her all the time-but I just can't and she is more than capable of taking care of things herself-she just won't!!
Jeff and I bought 4 new hens and a rooster on Saturday morning-the hens aren't laying-YET-they are sex-links and an auracauna rooster-yes-I got another one! I can't help it-they are my favs! The bitties he picked up nearly 2 weeks ago are growing like crazy! Oh-and Jeff got a picture of the coon on his game camera-so we at least know what we are up against! He also set another incubator up with 32 quail eggs-so we'll see how these hatch this time!
It's raining!!! YEAH!!!! It is SO dry-we had a few cool mornings last week-but the temps are still way up in the 90"s-I am SO ready for Fall!
Our best friends-Sheila and Alfred are the proud new grandparents of a baby girl! Leah had her on friday-we've not been able yet to see her in person-but the pics have just been precious beyond words!!
We threw Jeff's mom a surprise birthday party on Saturday afternoon-she was so happy!! We just did finger foods and Tracy made her a beautiful cake! Everyone enjoyed the visit-even if Curtis was out of it the whole time-we still talked and included him in the whole thing!
Yesterday was the retirement party for Bro Thom and Mrs. Dorothy at Church. It was very special and was enjoyed by all! Darryl said he counted 145 people that stayed for lunch-and SO much food!! He will surely be missed and we all wish him the best of luck and health! I got locked inside the old fellowship hall while I was getting my Sunday School Classroom ready for next week! I finally found my way out of the dark-after running into something in the hall-I now have a huge purple bruise on my leg!! I really didn't know how I was gonna get out if I couldn't unlock the door from the inside!! Leave it to me!
Mom just called-she has fallen again-but says she's ok-for now-But she is thinking she has Lupus now-someone mentioned it to her-so I don't know!
The guys have been working so hard to finish painting the house-I'll get a pic of it posted as soon as I can-I can now say I do live in a barn-maybe that's why I can't get the kids to shut the door behind them! Have a great week!!