Spring is Arriving Early on the Farm!

The 3 eggs we collected today-one of each color!! I am so tickled! Finally got a green one after all these months. And even better news-we have 3 turkey eggs as well!! And a litter of bunnies was born today, too! And all this while I was at work! Jeff is having all the fun! He got the big tiller up and running today and tilled up our big garden-it hasn't been worked in several years-and also got his Mom's tilled as well. She was ready to go buy seeds and start planting!
Jeff is nearly finished with the greenhouse, too! It is looking great! Even better when you realize most of the materials were free-Yeah! And he picked up the steer from the locker plant last Friday-282 lbs of fresh beef! YUMMY! We had t-bones the first night-not much bigger than the size of your palm-just the right serving size! And very tender! Had round steak the other night-good eatin', too!
We've got several home improvement jobs to do in the next few weeks-got to get to our bathroom first. Got a leak somewhere in there-and the old gardentub is just getting to be a little bit difficult for Jeff to get out of-so we're gonna take it out and tile in a walk in shower-It'll be really nice when it's done. Also want to move the stove and frig around-so we can get a new frig-ours is over 15 years old and in a pretty tight space-so they will swap places so we can get a side by side. We've also got to replace some yard and garden fences before we plant.
The weather's been warm-then cool-then rainy-I'm ready for some sunshine and warm-It's comin' and then it'll be HOT. Have a good one!

Wow! Time is flying by-Again!

We got to work again on the greenhouse today-yeah! Jeff got it framed in and Curtis, Jr came by before dark and they got the glass put in! It's looking good. We've got to go get the plastic for the roof now and decide what we will put at the bottom below the glass pieces.

I spent part of Tuesday afternoon trying to get this tomato plant up and back into the cage-it is loaded with tomatoes and blooms! It-and a few others-survived our HOT summer and are now blooming and making tomatoes like crazy! We have 2 other ones that look very much like this-one I've been able to work a little on-the other I haven't gotten close to as of yet. This one will be inside the greenhouse-so hopefully it will keep producing through the winter.
The rest of the garden is doing wonderful-I need to take some pictures of it as well-but my camera isn't taking very good pictures these days. I've asked Santa for a new one already! ;) All the pics I take with it are just fuzzy and it has a very low zoom on it-I can't get close ups like I want too. Anyway-the broccoli has finally taken off-along with the cabbage. The brussel sprouts are still a little slow-the carrots are doing well and the jalapeno peppers just won't stop-they are still blooming as well. The beets never did come up and the lettuce is a little spotty-but they were all old seed-so anything from them was good. We've gotten a little rain almost once a week this last month and you can really begin to see the difference in things. Our first cold front hit Thursday-if you want to call it that-and we lit the first fire in the wood heater last night. I love to watch it burning!

The cows are doing well-I just wish we had more grass for them! We keep rotating pastures and give them a roll of hay every now and then-but it just isn't enough somedays. They love to see me working in the garden-cause they know I'm gonna throw the grass over the fence to them and will stand there and hollar at me to give them more-they are SO spoiled. Glory is due to have her calf around Thanksgiving-I need to check for a more precise date. Oreo is growing like a weed and I can't wait for her to have a buddy to run and play with-they can be SO cute! The 2 rabbits are bred-and have been busy building their nests-they are due to kindle in the next day or 2. This will be the first litters since summer began because of the heat. The pair of turkeys are growing nicely and the kids just love to hear the tom gobble. The one we hatched in the incubator is growing very fast as well-we moved her (hopefully!) into a cage next to the older ones so they can start becoming aquainted and won't fight when we add her to the flock! We did finally get 3 more Aracauna hens 4 weeks ago-but no eggs yet. Actually, we haven't really been getting any to speak of-be glad when they start laying again. It's almost time to start all that holiday baking!

The youth group at church is going well. We had our first big outing and they all had a ball. One of our parents took a bad fall from a horse today and had to be Life Flighted into Herman in Houston-but she's gonna be OK-has 5 broken ribs. Please keep Paige in your prayers-Korey told me tonight that her Mom might get to come home tomorrow.

Jeff is hoping to get the hayfield cut this next week-it has gotten enough rain over the last few weeks to really make it come on and grow!! Hopefully it'll make more than the 11 1/2 rolls that it did earlier in the Spring. I think we only have 1 more roll from our half of the cutting. Shorty still has several-but since he sold all his cows-I don't know why he is holding on to it. Guess he's waiting to buy more cows. We still would like to get the milk cow-but until it rains a little more-and I guess we get rid of a cow-we really don't have the pasture for one. Diesel will be going to the locker plant after the first of the year-but we'll have 2 more calves with the one due in a few weeks. I don't know-we'll just see what happens!

New Dexter Calf!

What a wonderful surprise! We came home from Church today to find her! We had gone out this morning to check on Sugar-only to have her lick Jeff's hand and arm to pieces-then she has the calf while we're at Church. Anyway-Oreo is a little heifer and oh so cute! She is half Dexter and half Hereford. This is Fozzie's first calf and Glory is due around Thanksgiving.
We did get a little rain the first of this past week-but just about all the results of it are gone. It was really cool yesterday morning-but was 22 degrees warmer this morning. It's gonna be warm the rest of this week and another cool front is due in by the end of the week-hopefully with a little rain.
We brought the 2 sheets of glass home yesterday for the greenhouse. Jeff started working on it again on Friday and got the old sliding glass door from the house put up for 1 side. We've been working on getting the garden cleaned up so we can plant some stuff-we just seem to keep running out of time. We've bought tomatoes-broccoli (2x's)-brussel sprouts and cabbage plants and still have loads of seeds left over from the spring we want to get planted.
We have all but decided on getting a milk cow. The price of milk is outrageous-but the cows aren't cheap, either! Since we do live on quite a tight budget-we've got to find something very inexpensive. Any excess milk can be fed to the pigs and we might have found someone who will allow us to bred them with. Also have another lead on just buying a young boar-but will have to do some more checking on that! A friend was going to try to pick us up some new Araucauna hens at the Bird Show in Conroe today-but she called and said she didn't see any really nice ones to get -so we'll keep looking! I really miss having a few green eggs!

Jeff & Rascal

These 2 are just like best friends! She is actually chewing on the snap on his shirt!

I'm finally feeling much better!-still coughing some and feeling a little weak, but I got outside yesterday and piled some limbs and helped Jeff hang his deer feeder(that I got him for Christmas) and move the game camera. He got 132 pictures last night of the does-we haven't seen the buck since Dec. 17th.

The eggs are due to hatch any hour now-I did find 2 pipping this morning-I know-I'm not supposed to open the incubator-but I can't help it! I was thinking they were due yesterday-but we didn't set the eggs until bedtime-so that does kinda throw it to today. I have seen some of them jumping around in there-just can't wait to see what we get!

I'm missing the cows a little bit too-it's bad enough getting rid of them-but the insult of getting such a pitiful amount for them-they were worth SO much more than that! I know-I get just a little too much attached!

We had another COLD morning-but the sun is shining. The weather we got before Christmas tore up the greenhouse-broke the pvc pipe in several places-it'll have to almost be totally rebuilt-don't know when we'll get to it.

Well-I've been invaded by grandkids-Grandpa went and bought doughnuts for everyone this morning! Have a great day!

Thanksgiving Holiday ?

This is the same beach where the picture of Jeff and I was taken that is posted on our about us page at the beginning of our blog. We were sitting with our backs to this part of the beach -although that spot is now under water. You used to be able to drive down the beach quite a way from the dunes-what is left of them in this picture is the black hump with the waves crashing off it. Homes were built right up next to them on the left side.




Sheila and me standing in front of what's left of the beach house. It just looked so much worse this weekend. I'll say it was because the weather was so gray and gloomy.

We have been home so little these last 4 days- it seems like home is a Bed & Breakfast!!!! Thanksgiving was wonderful-the weather was warm enough that we basicly stayed outside in the yard visiting with everyone all day. That meant we never left to go see anyone else either :( Alana and I got to Wal-Mart - and home without any problems-but it was a mad house. Couldn't believe the news later that someone had been killed in the mass going in the one in New York!! That's just horrible!! No amount of money saving is worth someone's life!!! WE came home-Jeff and I took a nap-then headed to Livingston. We stood in line for over an hour to check out in Baskin's. I know Jeff's back was killing him!! We made a few more stops-then ran by Mom's-then by Sheila & Alfred's. We later met them in Cleveland for supper. Before we found a place to eat-their son Jeremy called-they were admitting him into the hospital in Conroe with blood poisoning in his hand. So we ran over there and checked up on him. They kept him over night and released him Saturday night. We met them again on Saturday morning and took a drive down to the beach-they hadn't been since IKE. It just seemed SO much worse this time-maybe because it was overcast and windy. We found a few more things buried in the mud in the yard. And we drove down to Crystal Beach for the first time-MAN-It looks like a bomb went off down there!!! It's just awful! There is debris everywhere. Nothing that we saw was even open and doesn't look like it will be for a long time. There are still abandoned cars along the sides of the road and ruble is everywhere. It is just heart breaking to see. We decided we were blessed to have all of our stuff gone-than to have to deal with that kind of cleanup!! Sunday morning it had turned out REALLY windy and cold-And of course-the greenhouse is coming apart-AGAIN!! Jeff says now we need more of the clamps that I found at the dollar store-the same one we had bought at Lowe's! Yesterday was the first day I had been able to even check on it-I needed some green onions for the seafood gumbo I was making-which turned out great-and the beets are coming up! Still waiting on the lettuce and the spinich. We had to go up to Mom's and load some logs of Shorty's to take to Alfred's sawmill and to get a roll of hay for the cows. Again it was right at dark by the time we got home to feed. So the whole holiday I've had just enough time to load the dishwasher and wash a few loads of clothes. My house is a WRECK!!! I think I might could fill up a new vaccumn cleaner bag with just the dirt off the carpet in the livingroom floor!! And all the kids are wanting to go to the Christmas tree farm and get our trees-My house has to be cleaned up first-I can't start dragging all those decorations out with the mess in here! Guess I'll just have to get in gear today and get busy!!!

Sad Greenhouse :(

We had some pretty bad rain and apparently wind here last night!! I heard the rain hitting the side of the house a few times. Got up this morning and looked out only to find my greenhouse MESSED up!!! Jeff leaves for work before daylight-so even though he went out to feed the calf-I don't think he saw it. And to top it off-since the side closer to the pasture was revealed-the cows found-and ATE-my tomato plant and 1 of the broccoli plants :( Guess I get to start over! Jeff butchered the goat on Sunday evening-it's been in the ice chest-so we have to process it tonight-I think we're gonna make alot of it into jerky!! Yummy!!!!! I'm feeling a little better-so I went in and worked 2 hours at the county. Ann needs me 3 days next week and Jeff has to go back to the Dr on Friday-so that only leaves me Monday off. So I'll work awhile with her on Monday-then get the rest of my week lined up! I am subbing at 2 different schools the rest of this week-so busy-busy-busy! Well-the sun is shining now-hope that doesn't mean we'll get more heavy storms this evening!! Someone said we'd had between 5-6 inches in the last 24 hours!! I think we're gonna have leftovers for supper-I made homemade chicken noodle soup last night and cabbage and sausage on Monday-and there's plenty left for another meal. Think I might just make a blueberry cobbler to go along with it!!