Another Week that went by Way Too Fast!

We had a pretty good week this last one. All the kids are finally well-and the other two haven't shown any signs of getting sick. But now I'm having a severe case of allergies due to all the pollen! My voice is almost gone at sometimes-at others-it's just a squeak.
The hens have really picked up this week! We got 9 eggs one day-that means only 2 didn't lay! Seems the average is 6 a day right now. The eggs in the incubator are due to hatch starting Wednesday-hope all Jeff's mother hen work turns out! Jeff moved the cows into the pasture across the road-it was way past time to wean Cheyenne-and it has really been noisey here the last few days-Momma and calf Do NOT like being seperated-but Sugar is due to have a calf sometime soon-we don't have a good date on that one.
The garden is still going slow! Jeff checked on the potatoes this morning before Church-and still no growth showing. Pretty disappointing until we realized it hadn't been very long since he and Mady planted them-just rushing them! My snowpeas are pushing through the dirt-so at least something is showing green! We bought tomato plants and some bell pepper plants yesterday-but we are expecting a cool front tomorrow-with a 50% chance of rain-YEAH!-so we decided to hold off a few days before planting them. We also bought 20 strawberry plants-so those really need to be in the ground, too.
Well-I'm on Spring Break this week!Last night we went to Alfred and Shelia's and spent some time riding the UTV's through the woods and down to the river-then roasted some hotdogs. Once the coyotes started howling-a little too close for comfort for me-we packed everything up and headed back up the hill to the main house! We are going into Houston tomorrow to Reliant Center to see the Dexter Show. Jordan & Cayden are going with us-we'll let them spend some time in the AgVenture area and play around. We were only going to take Jordan-but just couldn't stand to leave CayCay behind. She just has a tendousy to run away-so we'll really have to have a hands on day with her! The smaller girls are just too little and we certainly can't carry them around! Hailey got to go yesterday with her Dad and she'll go again Wednesday with her mom and best friend for the rodeo performance. Anyway-other than tomorrow-we don't have any plans-would like to go fishing on the lake one day-thought about a drive to the beach-but it will be SO crowded down there-and just have some chores and things that need to be done here-as ALWAYS! Oh-well-the week will go by way too fast no matter what we decide to do!

Sick Week! :(

OK-we've had enough! How do you explain the fact that 3 of your 5 grandkids have the flu at the same time!! Alana called us @3:00 am this morning-Kaytlynn had 105.3 degrees of fever! We rushed her to the Er-so she maked the 3rd kid with the flu! Hailey and Mady have had it since late last week-Hailey can't go back to school until Wednesday and Kaytlynn can't go back until next Monday-ehich means she gets 2 weeks off for Spring Break! She fell asleep in my lap at the park yesterday during Jordan's birthday party-then stayed curled up in my lap at the ER-I sure hope she hasn't given it to me!!
I planted the snow peas on Saturday-now the hens won't stat out of the garden! But we've gotten 5 eggs a day for nearly the last week!! YEAH!! The eggs in the incubator are due to hatch next week! YEAH, again! We might be getting a pair of young turkeys-the hen has just begun to lay. Still no word from the lady we bought the Dexter's from-I really wish she'd get Fozzie's paper's to me-but I guess I knew better than to buy him without hhis papers in order!

New Cabin

Well-they delivered it yesterday-only problem-I didn't realize that my camera wasn't taking pictures until now! I'll have to see about getting some updated ones tomorrow in the daylight. Jeff built the front steps for it today-so we don't have to climb up into it anymore.

One of the rabbits had her litter of bunnies yesterday-more than 5 days early. We didn't have her nestbox ready-so she had them on the wire and since they were early-none made it. :( We got 4 eggs yesterday, too!!-Well-1 the hens broke. Only got 2 today-one was pretty thin shelled-so we gave them some oyster shell tonight.

Jeff has been tinkering with his old mechanic shop. He's closing up the front of it-that faces the road-and opened up the back side-into the pasture. He's parking the tractor and the cub in there now-but it still needs LOTS of clean up. He mechaniced out of it for many years and will now be used more for farm equipment and other STUFF!

The peach trees are starting to bloom and the pastures are really starting to turn green. Jeff & Shorty got the hay field fertilized on Monday-so the hay crop should be great this year-as long as we get enough rain-and it is getting dry out there already! We do have chance of rain this weekend-we sure do need it!

February Update

Where has this month gone to? Seem like I would almost have to get out the calendar to keep track of where we've been and what we've been doing! The weather has finally warmed up nicely-we still have had a few cool mornings-and a few cooler days are expected for this next week-but things are beginning to bloom-the redbud tree in the front yard is beginning to turn purple and a few of the spring bulbs have been showing their beautiful colors!
We spent more than a few days hunting down a u-joint that was needed for Shorty's tiller that goes behind the tractor-only to find out that it had to be bought from the dealer in Mississippi-Then when it got here-it had been redesigned-so the one at Tractor Supply would have worked all along! But the garden is all worked and tilled-Best of all-the potatoes have been planted-this last week along with carrots and beets.

And-sorry for the double pictures-but this is the new member of the farm-Lucille-or Lucy-for short. She is 11 weeks old and will hopefully become our next brood sow-in time! The pictures aren't to good-due to the cloudy weather-but wanted to get a good starting size picture.

The hens are picking up the pace-ever so slightly-we have now gotten 3 eggs a day-a few times! We also have the incubator going with 19 eggs-and 1 turkey egg-thrown in by our good friends-Bob & Viv! Hoping it hatches too!!

Fozzie bred Glory this past week, too. (Do you see a pattern of Spring here on our farm?) So we'll keep a close watch on her in 3 weeks to see if she took and we can start looking for a new calf in November!

Jeff and the cows-Glory is looking for any extra cubes he might have in his hand!

Alana and Ricky bought a log cabin yesterday and it should be delivered tomorrow or Tuesday. It is just a shell-so they have lots of work ahead of them. Their goal is to be in it before the baby gets here-but it'll take alot of work! I'll get pictures when it gets here and set up.

Got lots more to add-but it's time to leave for Sunday School. Get back with the rest and try to stay on top of the blog better!

Play Day-(Evening!)

Kaytlynn & Mady decided it was just too cold outside to play-so they turned the livingroom into a play room! They had blankets and CareBears and babies everywhere! It is so much fun to just watch and listen to them play! They had my undivided attention-they just didn't know it! They had the whole place to themselves-no older sisters or brother to boss them around or tell them how to play! And they didn't even fight with each other!
Last Wednesday the kids were picked up for a new class that was beginning at Church. They all had a blast and can't wait til Wednesday rolls round again! It is so great seeing them excited about going to Church. Kaytlynn was the only kiddo in my class this last week-so we had a great one-on-one lesson about Abram and God telling him to take his family-and all the animals and move to another land. She really enjoyed our story time!
The weather has been much nicer today-warmer, but very windy! We have a chance of snow again by mid-week-then back up in the 70's this weekend-I am so ready for Spring-Which reminds me-Spring Break is only about 5 weeks away!!

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!!

"B" Things-1 good-1 BAD!!

The first heads of broccoli-I put 1 quart bag in the freezer! And the other b-Jeff had to take me to the ER in Conroe Sunday evening-I have injured an old back problem that I didn't know I had! I just finished helping Jeff fill the wood rack on the back porch-in anticipation of today's cold weather. I sat down on the porch swing with 2 of the grandkids for about 20 minutes-then got up to go in the house and only made 3 steps-then couldn't walk any more-my back was killing me! I have never experianced pain like this before-it took me 20 minutes to just make it to my bed. I laid on the heating pad for an hour and got no relief. So we headed off to the ER. I have an old injury as I said earlier-a bulging disc-and I aggrevated it. I had done quite a bit this weekend-even rode Stormy a little bit-so I guess I over did it-You can bet that I'll take it easy and be much more aware of what I'm doing from now on! I stayed home from work yesterday and only worked half a day today. It is getting better-but it still hurts like crazy if I move the wrong way-I told Jeff that I really do know what he goes through now-and will probably be more protective of him-He's not having any of it!!

Boy is it COLD here! And will be for days to come-it's below 30 now and won't get much warmer through the week-and they are calling for SNOW Thursday night and Friday morning-up to 3 inches! That's alot for us-if we get any of it~

We got a pullet egg yesterday-the first egg a young hen lays-so that means they should all start laying really soon. But no eggs today-the cold change in weather might have messed them up!

Stay warm!!!