Farm Pictures!

The garden still looks pitiful-but the buttercrunch lettuce and broccoli is trying to make a go at it-it just got so hot again after we planted it. It should really enjoy the weather we're expecting the few days! Rain tonight and tomorrow-HOPEFULLY!! The change has sure given me a headache and wrecked havoc on Jeff's back!

Back view of Glory-is that side sticking out or what?? Backside is getting pretty floppy, too!!

Glory, Fozzie and Blackie enjoying a new roll of hay-sure hate to start feeding it now-we still have some grass-and can move them across the road-just trying to space it out as much as possible until it rains (hopefully tonight-did I mention that already?)

Here is my rooster-isn't he beautiful?? Mady noticed him crowing for the first time this morning-she couldn't figure out what that noise was! Julie had to be at work at 6:00am-so she's not used to being over here that early-then she thought it was SO funny that his job was to wake everyone up!!

Jeff put the other doe in with the buck today-so hopefully that means another litter in a month.

It is just so hot and still outside right now-sure hope that means the rain is on the way! Julie has Hailey at the Dentist now getting another tooth pulled-some fillings and some of the stitches out of her tongue. She just got in-she's good for 6 months now-and they'll let the rest of the stitches dissolve.

Don't forget to go vote tomorrow!!

COLD-COLD-COLD

I am REALLY getting tired of this weather! We even had about 4 hours of sleet last night-none stuck though!
I really guess I need to do an update-I really don't know where to start-or I don't remember were I last stopped? Ok-let's see-Jason did get the pig butchered-and we are still watching the sow-she's getting close-but no pigs yet. The chickens are still laying like crazy-the kids have a friend coming by this afternoon to buy 5 dozen! We have 6 bunnies left from the last litter-1 of them has been spoken for. Jeff sold 5 butchered fryers last week to someone out in the Austin area, I believe, so we now have a buyer for almost as many as we can raise!!
Jeff's mom had to have a heart cath on Tuesday, so he's been staying at their house because she can't pull on his dad to lift him out of his chair. It is really taking a toll on his back! He stayed overnight with them Tuesday-and will most likely stay tonight as well. But she is doing fine-only slight blockage found and a small anyourism (sp!).
We still haven't gotten any word from the Social Security Admin. on a decision on Jeff's back. We expect to hear from them at any time now, though. My boss is in Austin this week at a convention. We got in our big shipment-so I have lots to do! Our Income tax Return is due to be in the bank tomorrow-so we have some catching up to do on bills and getting a few things taken care of-like Jeff needing tires on his truck-BADLY!
Guess I'll close for now-I really need to get some pictures taken of the bitties-they have grown faster than any we've ever had! And we've been slowly trying to get the garden in shape-but this dang weather just won't cooperate!! Have a great day! :)

Warm Week, But.....

Our weather has been SO nice this week-so far! Changes are coming this afternoon late, though. Lots of rain-up to 2 inches is heading our way and the temps are gonna drop-won't get out of the 40's tomorrow or Saturday! Hope we have enough firewood-better check on that this afternoon!
Jeff gets his new teeth today! YEAH! His parents are supposed to ride with him-just to get out of the house! His dad still isn't doing well-but doesn't like sitting in the house for too much time! Jeff butchered a rabbit for him yesterday-he was wanting rabbit for lunch!
Jeff's nephew, Jason, has bought the last feeder pig we have, so he's supposed to be here tomorrow night to butcher it. We weren't planning on selling it, but we have no room left in the freezer and not too many cool days left to butcher before it does start warming up for Spring. He has some deer meat he wants to add to it and make sausage. And the sow is getting huge-I thinking she'll be due somewhere around Valentine's Day. I just love baby pigs!
Have a great day!

Bunnies!

One of the does had 7 babies! The other is the larger of the 2 and she did pull hair-but no babies yet! I put the 3rd one back in with the buck yesterday-so another litter is due Dec. 12th. The garden just will not grow-I don't know what's up with it! By this time every year I usually have beautiful brocolli coming on and it looks awful this year! The cabbage has not grown at all since I planted it. The beet seeds have come up and are the only thing that looks like it might do something!
The new pump and heater for the hot tub are due here today! They went out a few weeks ago and Jeff has been trying to get them to work-he had a spare set a guy at work had given him-piecing the 2 sets together. Then the light bill came in -YIKES!! Our usuage had more than doubled!! And everytime we turned it on the light meter just spinned like crazy! So we broke down and ordered a new set. Hopefully this one will get nice and warm-not just tolerable. And not make the bill go up so much!!
Still no word from Jeff's Dr. He actually is at a conference and will not be available until Monday. So he has to wait til then to see what's gonna be done. Jeff said yesterday he would have come home if he could have afforded to-he was hurting that bad! We just don't know what's gonna happen with his back!
I ate Thanksgiving lunch with Hailey at school yesterday. GOOD! We are all waiting for the end of next week-we'll be off the whole week for Thanksgiving! Then back to school for 3 weeks-then off for 2 for the Christmas break. It just doesn't seem like we are that close to Christmas!! I really haven't done any shopping at all! Better get busy!!

A-Not as Planned -Weekend!

We had another one!! Our plans were to go to the beach-Sheila and Alfred were going down, too. Then on Friday afternoon-I got a call at work that Jeff's mom had been taken to the ER with chest pains-thank God she is fine-all the test came out negative! We worked in the garden all morning on Saturday-it was SO bad-I wouldn't even take a picture of it! Jeff was murder on a few remaining things-he accidently broke the main stem to the gourd vine off at the ground and cut down both of the grape vines with the lawnmower. I did manage to save a few tomato plants-although they look awful! I got the beets and some squash seeds planted in the greenhouse. Saturday we met Sheila and Alfred and went out to eat-we had a great time!! Sunday we spent cleaning up and gathering firewood. It was SUCH a beautiful weekend-then the rain started in again this morning! Hopefully it will be nice when I get in from work tomorrow-I want to plant the rest of the seeds I have. We are supposed to get another round of rain and cool weather towards the end of the week-then another beautiful weekend ahead. We'd love to head back to the beach-but with Halloween-I don't think the grandkids would forgive us for skipping out on them! My dad had knee replacement surgery today-so he'll be down for awhile. But he never allows any of us to help him out! Ricky sold 6 rabbits for me on Saturday-sure was glad to thin them out a little-the feed is $10.50 a bag now!! So I'm down to 3 does and a buck-there are still 3 fryers that need to be butchered and I have a litter due on Thursday or Friday!

Bedroom Remodel

We almost finished it this weekend!! After getting in and OUT of the hot tub Saturday night, we decided really quick that the door had to be put into the bedroom for quick access into the house!! It was nearly 60 degrees outside-but it really feels COLD when you get out of the warm water. So the door went up yesterday-and it looks So good! Now we need to hang the closet door and finish getting things put back in their place. Next-finish the bathroom!

With all the rain we've been getting-our boar's pen was deep in mud. So on Saturday afternoon-we halfed up the sows big pen and gave him half of it. He was really glad to get out of all that mud!! The hen's were laying pretty good again-but with this cool-rainy weather-they have completely stopped laying-again! I bred 2 more does on Saturday afternoon and Ricky sold 2 and delivered them on Friday. We need to get up to Mom's and bring the bull here to service the cows before they start coming back in heat. And we will be needing to start hauling the hay home before too long.

Jeff hasn't gotten anymore pictures of deer on his camera yet. He did get a few of a rabbit and one of Tim's dogs-have to check it again this afternoon. Have a great day!

Vacation Pics #3

The new outside shower at the beach! We still need to get a curtain for the opening and I need to finish decorating it! Cold water only this time!

5 of the 6 Gaff top that were caught on Saturday-Gotta get that clothes line painted!

Jason & LeAnn-I do believe she out fished him!!

I think this will be the last of the pics that I'll post from last week. We had such a great week! Anyway-when I got home from work yesterday, Jeff had butchered 3 rabbits. I was wondering what I was gonna fix for supper-but mystery solved when there is fresh meat in the kitchen sink! I lightly browned one, then smothered it in gravy to finish cooking-good eatin'! One went in the freezer-it was kinda big- so I'll have to slow cook it and Jeff's Mom wanted one-so we later took it up to them. The hens have all but quit laying-it's just so hot and dry! We checked out the fence across the road yesterday and will move the cows up there this afternoon. Rainbow somehow got out last time-but we couldn't find anyplace that the fence was down. There is a little grass up there and a roll of hay that they didn't touch last time they were in that pasture. The grandkids helped us clean up the garden a little-they love throwing the old cucumbers over the fence to the chickens and cows-Jordan can throw a pretty good way, so he had the cows really searching for them! I got all the grass out of one of the beds and started on another-I may have to get the lawn mower and weedeater in there to get it back under control!

Well-I need to go get ready for work-Have a great day!

We Got Some RAIN!! Happy July 1st!!

Jeff picking tomatoes in the garden.

One of the sunflowers-Can you see the bumblebee?

It RAINED!!! And , boy, did it! We got 3-yes 3, inches yesterday! Of course, it was too much-too fast-but it looks so much better here already!

Mom is still in the hospital. She was supposed to be moved out of the CCU yesterday into a managed care room-but there weren't any available. Hopefully they moved her during the night and she'll get to come home today. I only work 2 hours tomorrow-so I'll either go to the hospital when I get off at 9:00-or go to her house and get things ready for her to come home.

And the calf is finally nursing on his own! YEAH!! What a relief! The 2 turkeys are doing well. I weaned 1 pen of bunnies-only a litter of 2. We have 2 more litters that were born a day apart-1 is almost ready to wean-3 of them, the other one had 10 ! She has 7 left and there is a huge difference in the sizes of the 2 different ones. But is just SO hot out there on them! We expected Momma Cow to have her calf overnight-but it hasn't arrived yet! hehe Jeff put a roll of hay out for them-maybe they'll give the grass a little chance to catch up with the rain. Have a great day!!

SHARKS!!!!

Dusty and Cayden with one of the sharks that Tom caught.

Randy and his shark-tickling him!!

We had another WONDERUL weekend at the beach! Two of Jeff's brothers-the twins-and sons came down on Friday morning. They set up on the beach and started fishing. They caught many small sharks over the weekend. David caught a 3 1/2 foot one on Friday. All the rest were small ones. Julie, Randy and the girls came down on Saturday and enjoyed a sunny day. Randy caught his first shark, too. He had seen on TV that if you rubbed their bellies, they would just lay in your hand-SO of course, he had to try! And it worked!! The shark just layed in his hand for almost a minute-then rolled over and swam off!

Our Doc visits went well. I'm waiting on the Doc to call me back with results of the x-rays and blood work he ordered. He seems to think there is a separation and infection in my heel that is causing my ankle to stay swollen and hurt. Guess we'll see!

The garden is coming along-we did have 1 almost ripe tomato when we got home. I need to pick the beans again this afternoon and will have to run the sprinkler this evening, too. We have NO chance of rain this week and some of the hottest temps this summer.

Still watching the cows-it could be any time now. I thought I saw a calf when we got home yesterday-but it was only a shadow under the trees. Jeff butchered 2 more rabbits-didn't get finished-we had some friends stop by and stay for awhile.

This is my first day of working 10 hour days. I won't get home til 5:30 this afternoon-YUCK! But I only do it for 11 days-unless they need me for more! I have plenty to keep me busy at work-so I know it'll go by fast!

Have a great week!!

Slow Weekend ?

I was thinking that we had a pretty slow weekend (probally 'cause I got a nap in each day-WOW!!), but when I got to thinking about all we had done-we were busy. Went to Conroe on Saturday morning - after I had an hour & a half phone call from a dear friend that had the beach house next to us. Pat-I SO enjoyed talking to you and Congrats again on the first grandbaby-a little girl!!! Got a BIG roll of hay in Conroe-payed too much for it-but it's REALLY good hay. Also picked up Jeff's beehive-they didn't have the top or bottom boards-but he can easily build them. We went to the outlet mall-with a HUGE roll of hay in the back of the truck!!! You wouldn't believe the questions we were asked about it!!!. Anyway-I needed to go the Kitchen Store to get a peel and a bread stone to try out a new bread recipe. Then when we got home-I took a nap-after breaking out in hives-go figure! Later we got ready to go to Jeff's Christmas Party for work. It wasn't a very good party this year- not many people showed up-it was catered with fried catfish-it was alright-I didn't care for the DJ at all. Well, Sunday, we got busy around here trying to get some clean up outside done-It's been in the high 60's to low 70's since the snow the other night. We got the chicken tractor moved closer to the big chicken pen and the old layers-who are laying better than the young ones right now-put them in with the other hens and put the bitties in the chicken tractor so they'd have more room. And got the new rabbit cages hung in the rabbit shed. I should have 3 litters due in the next month. I tried out the new bread recipe-I really liked it. Jeff took some to work with him-so I guess he liked it too! It's an artisan bread thats REALLY easy-and it makes 4 loaves-the dough just stays in the frig for up to 2 weeks. I'm gonna make up the Amish Friendship starter today-I think. My Grandmother gave me some 20 years ago or more. We loved it! I still have the original instructions she gave me with her handwritten notes on it-it'll be the one I use and give out with the starter to friends.
I was hoping to get to work today-but no phone call this morning :( This 4 1/2 day week is the last to go on next months paycheck-I've only worked 3 days this time! And Alana wants to go do some last minute shopping without the kids-she's babysitting today-so no go today!
The weather is changing YET again!! The temp has dropped 6 degrees since I sat down at the computer! It started out at 60 degrees and is dropping to 39 by early afternoon-East Texas weather!!! Shorts yesterday-Coats today!!!! Have a great day!!!

Milking!

Jeff with the fresh milk-not much for the first time-but it'll get better!

Jeff, Alana, and Hailey Suzanne-He had LOTS of helpers this morning!

Jeff and Wyatt-Wyatt had never milked a cow before!

Cleaning off her bag to get ready to start milking.

We separated the calves from Mama Cow yesterday-so Jeff milked for the first time this morning in a year. We dried her up on Thanksgiving week last year cause it was cold and we were going out of town every weekend to the beach and no one wanted to come over and milk for us. Anyway-Jeff got 3 quarts of milk-He hasn't milked yet this evening-we've had a crazy kinda afternoon. I got 5 more rabbits today-so I have to decide where to put them-they came with cages-but don't fit right in my shed. I need major overhauls on ALL of them!!

Hurricane Ike/Rabbits

All eyes around here are focused on Ike. Latest reports have it making landfall at Rockport during the early hours of Saturday morning. That puts us on the dirty side-'specilly the Beach house. They say that the tide could be a little over 6 foot in Galveston-so that puts it around 3 foot at our place. Since we can see both the Gulf and the Intracoastal Canal from our porch-we do tend to get high water under our house. We are a 2 hour drive from there to here at the farm so we could get some wind and rain.
I finally got to go to work yesterday! I am a substitute teacher at our local school district. I had a class of Kindergarten students. There are so much fun-but you could tell it was only the 11th day of school! They still don't have the whole routine down!
This morning's weather is still and very warm. It tends to start getting like that before a storm. It should reach 96 degrees tomorrow afternoon. We do have a cool front heading this way-it's part of what's steering the Hurricane. I got out and planted a short row of snow peas-the seeds are a little old-so we'll see if they come up (or get washed away!). I also had to put a nest box in with one of my does-she's due tomorrow-but not looking very pregnant. Jeff has gotten way behind on butchering them. We have 4 that have almost gotten to breeding age and 6 from the last kindling that are almost getting too big for fryers. He wants to make sausage from the older ones-we haven't made any in awhile and it's really good!