Time DOES Fly When You're having FUN!!

Can't believe I can't keep up with this all of a sudden! Well-we got back yesterday from vacation in Galveston with the whole family-minus Randy and Rascal! We had a blast at Moody Gardens and just hanging out at the beach. The weather was wonderful-even if I got sunburned the first day and at Moody Gardens no less! Alana and crew went home on Saturday-so we called Shelia and Alfred and they came on down for the night. The guys fished at the beach and caught a few small sand trout and gaff top. A great time was had!!
Jeff finally got his first SS check-YEAH! He won't be getting the back pay, though, but we are grateful to just have the income back! He's making pickles today-we stopped by the farmer's market on the way home and got a few cucumbers-Our garden is just not worth speaking of anymore-and so are alot of others around here. It has really been a weird year-either you have veggies EVERYWHERE or none at all.
We took the steer to the locker plant before we left-so we should be picking the meat up today or tomorrow-can't wait for a fresh steak! We are thinking about getting a few goats to keep the pasture eaten down-and they will be easier for us to handle than the full size cows! The pigs are growing and we still have rabbits to butcher-I won't breed them anymore this summer-it's just too hot for them! The quail are starting to sound off-they sound so cool-eggs will be coming before too long!! The pullets are coming along nicely, too.
All eyes are on the Gulf now-with the threat of the first hurricane of the season looming. The oil spill is bad enough-we really don't need that making it worse! Galveston beaches are still ok-just lots of seaweed! I'll try to post pictures later-took some really good ones this weekend!! Have a great day!

Long Time-No Posting!

A pile of baby rabbits!!

Squash and peppers we put up today!


I guess there really isn't much of an excuse for not posting-other than just being busy with the normal end of the year school stuff and having a mild case of poison ivy and a chest cold! We got all the year end awards and Kindergarten graduations finished. We are on the count down for Jeff's Social Security checks to start coming in-it will be SO nice to have a paycheck coming in again!

The garden is about done for-we've picked green beans 2X's-only about a gallon bag full so far. We have a few small green tomatoes-but aren't holding out too much hope for them. Our friends-Sheila & Alfred gave us some of their surplus-so we've been busy putting some of it up, too. The hens are back up to 2-sometimes 3 eggs a day!!Yeah!! We've got 3 litters of bunnies right now-Jeff killed a BIG chicken snake last week in 1 of their cages. It had eaten 3 or 4 of the babies and the momma rabbit was biting the snake! We've got 6 fryers ready to butcher-Jeff will most likely get to them this week while I'm at work.

We are planning a family vacation to Galveston in a few weeks-gonna take everyone down and visit Moody Gardens and just hang out at the beach for a few days! I still have 12 days to work this summer-We work 4-10's in the summer-so I'll work 3 days a week through June then be off most of July. Time off will be nice this year since Jeff will be home!

ClawFoot Bath Tub Refinishing!

This is how BAD the old tub looked-it had been outside for along time-we sand blasted it and gave it a new coat of paint on the outside.

This is the finished product. We bought a refinishing kit from Lowe's-it wasn't very hard to do-just took almost all day long! Next we have to start tearing out the old bathroom and start the remodel on it!

HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY, JULIE!!!!

Our oldest daughter turned 29 today-someone PLEASE tell me where the time goes!!

We've been staying pretty busy around here lately-mostly with Doc appointments for parents and such! Everyone is doing fairly well at the moment-Thank God!!

School is winding down and the kids are getting excited about their summer break. I have to work 12 days after the kids get out then will be out all but the last week of July. We are trying to plan a big family vacation-my Mom & Shorty are wanting to go to Moody Gardens in Galveston-so it looks like we might take a big group of us and stay for few days-we just have to come up with a date when everyone can get away at the same time! Our friends -Sheila and Alfred are due back in today from their week long cruise to Alaska-we can't wait to talk to them! We know they had the time of their lives!

We went to the Trades Day in Conroe last Sunday-it was actually better than the last few times we had been-we did miss both shows last year. Jeff decided to get a few quail-so he bought 10 freshly hatched ones-SO tiny! We also got a new aracauna rooster and 6 pullets-3 aracauna & 3 marans. We had 1 old hen die yesterday-so it really is time to restock! We had a litter of bunnies born this week and another due this week.

The garden is still sick-but some things are still trying to grow. Jeff got 2 small squash and 1 new potato-the squash were really good! The green beans are blooming like crazy-so we'll have fresh ones soon. Only have a few small green tomoatoes so far.

We finally have 2 hummingbirds coming to the feeders and have a nest of wrens on the back porch. We moved the porch furniture around to the back porch and have been spending quite alot of time out there-it is so peaceful out there! The hot tub has been used alot this week, too! The kids are really enjoying splashing around in it in the evenings.

We have a long weekend coming up-school is out on Friday-a bad weather day and on Monday for Memorial day. We don't have any plans yet-other than going to Conroe on Friday to see if we can talk to the people at the SS office to make sure there isn't anything we need to do before Jeff starts getting his checks. And I have end of year awards at work Thursday evening-so we'll stay at Mom's that night.

We've had some pretty warm weather this week, too-so I guess summer is creeping up on us. We haven't done any fishing lately either-Jeff is really getting antsy to get out and start running his lines again-it's just been too windy to get out on the lake. Maybe one day this week!! Have a good one!

Happy Mother's Day 2010!!

I was blessed with roses this Mother's Day-I have a total of 40 on the dining room table!

These are the catfish Jeff & I brought in last weekend-boy was it fun!!-Jordan, Mady, & Aiden are checking them out!!

Hope everyone had a great day-I sure did!! We watched the girls for Julie today-they scheduled her to work-how sad is that-a single Mom having to work on Mother's Day! The weather has been cool today-I don't think it even got in the 70's-maybe lower ones. It was cooler outside than inside with the a/c on!

We've been to the lake a few more times-Jeff picked me up after work on Monday and we got 18-then Jeff & Randy went later in the week and got 29. Randy and Ricky went Friday and got 9 off the lines-and now it has been a little too windy to get out on the lake-maybe they can get out there in the next few days. Jeff fried fish for supper tonight-Yummy!

We stayed at Mom and Shorty's Friday night and spent a great deal of yesterday cleaning up the yard and mowing-got most of one side of the yard done-it looks really good! Bubba cooked crawfish-so we had mud bugs, corn and potatoes for supper. Shorty sent some kind of citrus tree home with me-he just sticks seeds in the ground and they come up and then he can't remember what he planted! I tell him all the time he could put a dead stick in the ground and it would grow-people with green thumbs!!

Well-they have stopped Jeff's short term disability-now they are saying he wasn't supposed to be getting it. He was only supposed to receive it for a few more weeks-then the Social Security Disabilty is supposed to kick in come the middle of June. It'll just be a long time in between paydays-only having my check from school to depend on. But God is in control and everything will work out in the end!! Have a great week!

CATFISH!!!

Jeff & Randy put a trotline out in the lake yesterday and this was what they brought home today! Yummy!! They caught 21 nice catfish-about 50 lbs-so 7 bags went into the freezer and we're having grilled fillets for supper! Randy is having to do most of the work running the lines-it's too much for Jeff's back to handle.

Our weather has just been wonderful so far this week-we got some rain the other night. Parts of the garden are coming along nicely-the green beans look great! I've got some okra up-along with a few watermelons and cantaloupe Jeff planted. He butchered 5 fryers last week and they were picked up Monday for delivery-works real well!!

It is so hard to believe that April is almost over-it hasn't gotten warm enough yet to turn the A/C on -but it won't be long! The hens are still laying up a storm and I'm hoping that at least a few of the bitties will be hens-they are sure looking like little roosters right now! I lost my big Rhode Island Red rooster-he never really recovered from the coon attack-I've got several of his offspring crowing out there now. I would like to get an aracauna rooster again and some hens-the grandkids like to gather the green eggs!

Time Rolls On!

Don't know where it goes-but time just keeps moving on around here! I look back and can't believe I let days go by without posting. Work is going great-we just seem SO busy lately! Mom had carpel tunnel surgury last Thursday-we moved our camper to their place so we can help them out and Shorty had cataract surgury yesterday-so we spent last Friday night with them-Jeff took them to Houston yesterday to the VA for Shorty's procedure and we stayed in the camper last night and will stay for the next few nights until they are able to get back on their feet. I already miss my grandkids-I bring them to school everyday!
The garden is starting to grow a little-somethings anyway! The green beans I planted last week are up and growing like crazy-about time something is! Jeff replanted some tomatoes and a few are looking up! Only a few cukes have popped up-none of the watermelons or cantaloupe, though. Maybe they'll all look better when we get to go back home.
The calves are about ready for the locker plant-the heifer just looks too nice to send to slaughter-we might just take her on to the sale barn-don't know. The hens are still laying like crazy-minus the one Jeff ran over with the truck last week-don't ask!! We had another litter of bunnies on Sunday-she wasn't due for another day or so and had them on the wire cage bottom-lost one-but the others seemed to be ok at last look-Jeff did butcher 1 pen of fryers last week-I really need to update my harvest count!
The afternoons have really begun to warm up-we haven't turned the a/c on yet-but the mornings are still a little cool. I love this time of year! It's a little breezy now and we have a chance of rain the next day or so-but we can always use it this time of year! Have a great one!

Our New Farm Toy!!!

The antique rose growing at the entrance to the house-just covered with yellow flowers-Beautiful!

The farm's (?-hehe) new toy!

We bought the Cub Cadet on Saturday. Jeff & Alana found it in Cleveland on Friday-and we picked it up the next day-What fun we've had in it so far!! It is SOO much easier on Jeff-he can just get in it-not have to climb on! We can hardly keep the kids off of it-they even use it as a jungle gym. The dump bed has already come in handy-hauling off trash!

The garden is just sitting there-not really growing at all-I don't understand it at all. Jeff bought a few more tomato plants today-but he doesn't want to plant them in the garden! I just keep watering it!

Everything here has turned green and it just cast a different look on everything-I just love it! Spring is my favorite time of the year! Jeff has been working on the back porch-little at a time-It looks so good! His doctor wants him to do just as much as he feels up to-he's had a good day today-but was in quite a bit of pain yesterday-good days and bad!