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!!!

Jerky and Milk

I made 2 batches of deer meat jerky for Randy-One on the right is already done-The other is just starting to dry. This stuff doesn't last long around here-It gets eaten like candy -better for you, too.

Jeff milked again tonight and the onorary old cow put her FRONT foot in the bucket just as he was finishing up! Dang her~~ Had to give the milk to the pigs!!! And it looked like at least a gallon tonight!! Maybe I should start looking into buying a milking machine-sure would be easier on Jeff's back!!!

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!!

Christmas Tree Farm Visit

This year's tree-the last from our favorite tree farm!!Jeff and Mady cutting their tree.

Jeff and Hailey cutting our tree.

Jeff and CayCay cutting our tree.

Jeff, Julie and the girls at the tree farm.

Well we made our annual trip to the Christmas Tree Farm in Tarkinton yesterday afternoon.

Only thing-it was so SAD!! There were hardly ANY trees there!! WE did manage to pick out 2-then took them up front to be shook and bagged. While talking to the owners, we found out that this is their last year-OH NO!!! We've been bringing our kids and grandkids here for YEARS now!! It was the end of a tradition!! We left so depressed that something else is now gone from our lives.

Mom's heart tests all came back fine!! What a relief!!!! She had just about worked herself into a tizzy over it-but she's OK!!! We did a little shopping afterward and she was great!!

I get to babysit today-Julie's 2 youngest-Cayden & Madysen. It'll be a fun day-Trying to keep a 22 month old out of the Christmas tree and all the decorations-Maybe I'm getting TOO old for this!!! I love them to death-BUT they can be a handful!!!

Cold Outside!

Well, the old saying around here goes-If you don't like the weather today-Wait 'til tomorrow!! When I got up yesterday-it was warmer than when we went to bed on Tuesday night. It stayed warm all day-off and on little showers-of course after I put 2 loads of laundry out on the line to dry! They did manage to dry-then right after 9:00-the cold front ARRIVED! The temps started dropping FAST. Now this morning its 40 degrees and not expected to get out of the 50's all day-now that's pretty cool for this neck of the woods!
Randy shot his first deer in over 10 years on Tuesday (actually only the 2nd one he's ever got!). Talk about one excited big ole boy!! He was still shaking even after him and his dad got it cleaned!! So we had fried deer steak for supper last night! YUMMY!
Mom will be here in a few hours-I have to take her back over to Conroe for her next heart test-this time echo with the dye. Tomorrow we go back for all the test results-she is so nervous! I told her if she didn't just calm down-she's gonna make herself sick!!
I'm gonna stop by one of the feed stores over in Conroe today to see about picking up Jeff another bee hive. All of our old ones have just about rotted away. We did manage to scrap together an old one last week-he's trying to capture 2 different hives from trees. One is behind Mom's house in a neighbor's yard-and the other is in a tree at his brother James' house. This tree was blown over during IKE and is just full of honey and bees!! So Jeff's gonna try to lure them into the hive body and bring them home. We haven't had hives in years and he really wants to get started with them again!! Wish him luck!!!!

Green Things!

Here is grandson, Jordan, bringing in the GREEN STUFF from the garden and chicken pen yesterday. Jeff cut the biggest of the broccoli-I picked 5 more snow peas to add to my collection in the freezer ( I should have enough to cook in a week or two ! ) and the 1 and only egg (what's up with that !) we got yesterday-a green one. I meant to cover up the remaining squash plants-there are a few small ones left-because it's really cold out there this morning-29 degrees @ nearly 6:00 am. Frost all over the windshields-which reminds me-gotta go warm up the Jeep so I can go to work. Have a wonderful 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!!!