Beach Vacation!

Kaytlynn with her treasures from the beach this morning-lots of small shells and a few clams.

Jordan & Kaytlynn at the boat ramp at the campground-he's bound and determined to catch himself some bait in the dip net.

Our little piece of Paradice for the week-this is a really nice place to camp so far-but it is awfully hot! We brought Jordan & Kaytlynn with us and Ricky, Alana & Kylie came later in the afternoon. We spent a little time at the beach right at dark last night-it was just TOO hot to get the baby out!

But- this is Kylie and Alana this morning-her second time on the beach! She slept through this morning's trip though!

Last night's trip though-she was wide awake and trying to process it all! She slept well overnight-Alana said she only woke up once-and we never heard a peep out of anyone-Jordan & Kaytlynn were completely worn out!

Well-we finally made it-After ANOTHER flat tire-we had one on the camper bring it home from Mom's-and having to turn around and go back into Winnie for another tire-Ended up having to buy 4 brand new ones! It rained on us close to half of the way down-and Alana said that we got a really good rain at the house! YEAH! We finally-well almost-finished the fence around the new pasture and got the cows moved over there on Friday evening-boy were they enjoying the grass! I meant to take a picture of them-but with all the packing and getting ready to leave-I just forgot! Ricky is going to feed for us while we are here-they've already left for home. We lost 3 or 4 hens on Saturday to a neighbors dog-so they will have to be kept penned up until the problem is solved-that leaves us with only 5 or 6 left-so I'll be looking for some replacements when we get back. I hope to find some Araucaunas-we miss the green eggs! We let the horse into the pasture with the sheep so he can have some grass-A man Jeff used to work with is coming to get the horse on Wednesday-no one is riding him anymore and feed is just costing us too much-so he has to go.

We've fished a few times already-here in the canal and at the beach. I caught a small croaker and Jeff caught a hard head at the beach-hopefully we'll get into some bigger/better catches some time this week. Today is Jeff's birthday-so I really wish he'd hang something great! He just came in from walking Rascal and said it's just roasting out there-guess we'll have to wait til it cools off to try some more!

Last Week

Fozzie Bear-he is filling out and looking great-just wish I could get his papers in order!

Glory & Diesel-he is getting so big-we had him cornered up in the barn this morning-almost talked ourselves into banding him-but I don't know that Jeff & I can handle him by ourselves-better wait until we have more help!

The broccoli is starting to make heads-can't wait to see how big they'll get! Yummy!

Our BIG weekend project!! Jeff had pulled EVERYTHING out of our closet when I got home from work on Friday. I had been putting this off for WAY too long. Our closet had never been completed when we moved in on Dec. 23, 1983 and I think the last time I had everything out was in 1998 when Julie married and moved out. I had my reasons for not wanting to go in there too far-I really was scared of it!! No, really!! Well-it now is sporting paint-for the first time-a new closet bar and shelves-it looks so good-gotta take some pics of it!

We had some really cold weather this last week. Then it got all rainy and cool. The sun was supposed to come out today-and finally did-an hour and a half before it was time for it to go down! The pasture is So wet and soggy. Jeff did butcher the last hog this week-150 lbs of sausage plus pork chops and ham steaks. The freezer is stuffed-I can't even put in a loaf of bread-but what a wonderful feeling-so blessed! We are currently looking for more pigs-though. We thought we'd look into getting GOS-but they are going to be out of our budget level. We did go look at some hampshires yesterday-but he wanted a little more than we were willing to pay. We are finding out really fast that they aren't as easy to find as in the past. Jeff has just about decided that he is ready to get a sow and boar and start raising them again ourselves! The feed stores don't even seem to know who has any anymore!

I weaned a litter of 5 bunnies today-the other doe is due in about 10 days. The hens still aren't laying-Jeff let them out a few times this week-but a neighbor dog has his eye on them-so we have to almost sit outside and watch them to keep them safe.

Julie starts her college classes this week-her Thursday class got canceled-so she'll only be gone on Wednesday nights now-the other class is online. The girls will have to stay us on those nights. Alana will find out on the 28th what the baby is-we are all hoping for a boy! And Randy has started doing leather work and has purchased a building to work out of. He's doing some really nice work and is enjoying it! Have a great week!

SNOW!!!!!

We NEVER get snow in our area of East Texas!! It gets cold and we might get a ice storm every few years-but nothing like what's happening tonight!! 30 degrees at 4:00pm is a little cool even for here!

This is the sleet that we started getting about 4:30 this afternoon.

Then by nightfall-there was enough ice for the grandkids to really start playing in it. They thought it was snow!! They aren't old enough to ever have seen this kind of ice storm before!

Randy thought he'd get in on the fun, too!! He ran and jumped up on the trampoline with the kids-only managing to fill his pants with sleet pellets!!

Madyson is not sure about all this cold stuff everywhere!

Jordan, Cayden, and Hailey on the trampoline.

Hailey making her first ever snow angel.

The snow that had accumulated on the bbq pit in the back yard-This is before it really started snowing!

Randy catching snowflakes on his tongue. By this time-the snow was REALLY falling!! Some of the flakes are as big as 50 cent pieces!! We've NEVER seen snow like this in our lives!

Kimberly and Mady-Kim's lived in Colorado and she said she doesn't ever remember seeing snow fall like what we are getting right now!!


I'm sorry to just be going on and on about this-BUT S-N-O-W is something we haven't really seen in like 40 years around here. Like I said-we get ice storms where everything freezes over and power lines snap. Can't wait to get up in the morning to see what everything looks like!!! It is sticking now and should look just beautiful in the daylight!!!