Hi every one, so we have yet another addition in on our little farm. Bronco the Billy Goat. He is four month old and is the cuttest thing. He is still very afraid to be touched but we are working on it. He gets along great with the girls but we will have to seperate him from them down the road so they don't breed to early.
Bronco (he is the one looking at the camera) and the girls This weekend we went to the Beach for a mini vacation and to celebrate Patricks birthday. It was absolutly what we needed, we had such a great time. In stead of a party at home and toys, we booked Patrick a day at a ocean park with doplhins and sea lions and such. They have a program there were he was able to be trainer for the day. He got to shadow the trainers all day and got to feed all the animals, go in the water with a dolphin and participate in a dolphin show on stage.
He had such a wonderful time, I am really glad we did this for him rather than buying more toys he don't really need. We finally got some rain so the trees and vegies are starting to grow and we should be able to get our first tomatoes, corn and cucumbers this week. We also finally tore down the front porch , which was so old and rotten that it was almost dangerous to walk on and replaced it with a smaller one. Here a pic from Pat working hard and another of the new porch.
Of course Diamond (our dog) already decided to chew on our new step corners..... I hope she stops this crap soon she is almost a year and a half and I am really sick of her destructivness. I didn't want a big porch again since we don't sit on it anyway and it is really just a walkway and a way into the house. We did however transfer the "The Jones " sign as you can see. It was so funny that the old owners had the same last name and already had that on the front porch so it kind of has sentimental value. well, thats it for now, Hope you all are well. God Bless |
Hallo Everyone, I know I know it has been forever since I have updated my blog. Well I was incredibly busy. Since my new job revolves around tax season we had to work a lot of hours until the end of April, now things are finally back to normal. A lot has been going on, the bunnies had two more litters and are the cutest thing to watch, hopping around in the yard and between the chickens. Phillip has grown soooo much and looks almost like an adult horse now. He is going to be one beautiful horse. Jack and Prizz are doing well too. I rode Prizz a couple of times but not nearly enough for us to get used to each other. Hopefully I will be able to ride more this summer. The garden is in full swing, we planted some peanuts this year to, well see how they do I have never tried them before. All the blue, black and raspberry bushes I planted in January are doing great and all have leaves now. Oh the strawberries that I planted last year are doing super. I have to go out almost every day and can pick a nice big bowl full. I ordered and planted a Cherry and a plum tree and hope they will make it. So far the cherry tree has not opened his leaves but looks healthy, the plum tree however I think I will have to send back and try again. Becky had her Birthday the end of March and we had a party for her at the farm. We had a great time, piñata, water balloons, cake and Ice cream you know the works. You will never guess what she wanted when I asked her what she wanted for her Birthday, a Barbie and some baby goats. That’s my baby girl for ya…. Well so we had to go and buy her two baby goats. Ginger and brownie is what she named them, (pic’s to come) they are the cutest and funniest thing. They have a few toys in their pen and love to play with them. They are a mix of meat and dairy goat and we are planning on breeding them next spring and then milking them. We want to use the milk for us to drink and for things like, goats soap and cheese, which I both love. The kids are getting excited about their summer break coming up in a couple of weeks and as it seems both are going to have good grades A’s & B’s I am proud of them for doing so good in school.
Well as you can see I still have many plans for this summer, well see how it all goes. I going to post some new pics in a couple of days check them out. Well that’s it for now. I hope you all are well God bless |
Happy New Year everybody!!! I hope you had a great start into the New Year. Ours was wonderful. The trip to my sisters went great, we had so much fun and I really enjoyed seeing my nephews and nieces again. Wow, it is amazing how fast they all have grown, makes one realize how old one gets Anyway, Maryland was so beautiful and we got to go to a nearby ski resort where I tried my luck at skiing for the first time. I must say I can see how people can seriously get hurt skiing but it was tremendous fun. I think I did pretty well even though I fell a few times. Pat went snow boarding and was pretty bruised up the next day since he decided not to take his lesson before trying to make it down the slopes. Becky went snow tubing with my sister and when I caught up with them she was red faced and beaming with pure joy. She yelled "mommy, mommy you have got to try this it is so much fun, while bouncing up and down, that was one of those really good moments in life, seeing how much she enjoyed this. Of course I had to try it too. It really was a lot of fun. We were all happy and tired that night that's for sure. When we got back home we decided to have a new years party and invited some friends. We made a fire outside and had our new years party by the barn. Since the weather was nice and the kids were with us, I figured it would give them more space to run and play. Everybody came and we had a great time, did fire works and all. When I went back to work after New Years I lost my job. I had been unhappy for a long time and my employer new that. The office has way to many kinder gardeners and I am not interested in all the little games people there like to play. If I can't do my job because people think it is more important to play high school drama, then that is the wrong place for me. I had the intention to look for something else after the New Year anyway so it was mutual. Well we left it on good terms I got a month pay and took the next couple of weeks to find something else. I have to say it was scary (As it always is) to have to find something new but I found a great position with a CPA Firm doing everything but Federal taxes for businesses, which is pretty much what I have been doing for most of my career. It was great to have a couple of weeks off though. I tell you what my house is clean and I finally had some time to fix all the little things I never got to. So I start my new job tomorrow, well see how it goes. The only thing that worries me a little is that during tax season I am going to have to work a lot of overtime, between 60 and 80 hours they said. That is great for money but really bad for the kids and the farm. Oh well, it is what it is we'll get through it. Speaking about farm, not much to report other than I finally got to plant the peas and potatoes but then it got really cold here and it rained a lot. I hope they make it . The kids and I also planted a bunch of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries I hope they make it this time. I got to start some seeds for the spring planting and they are doing great so far. Oh I guess there is some news. The bunnies that live wild had three babies. It's funny because the buck is white and the doe is brown and they had one white, one brown and one black baby, all are well even though I had to rescue the brown one from the cat once, it didn't get hurt though. I think now they are almost big enough were she won't bother them anymore. They must have been born somewhere around Christmas. OK that's enough for now, it is time to finish my tax return and send to the IRS. And then once it warms up a bit we are going horseback riding. Hope everybody had a wonderful holiday season. God bless you all. |
HOHOHO Merry Christmas to all!!! I hope all of you will have a wonderful Christmas and an even greater New Year!!! We are leaving tomorrow morning to go to Savannah to see one of my sisters and then we will go on to Maryland to see my other sister. The kids are so excited and are praying for some snow in Maryland when we are there. They have never seen it snow or have played with real snow so I do hope they get to experience it. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel. Yesterday we had some excitement on the farm.... All three of the horses got out and went across the street to my neighbors yard. The kids were at home with the sitter and I was at work when I got the phone call. I am 30 min from my house so of course I was scared to death that some one would get hurt. Well I left work but right before I made it home, Pat called me to tell me they had them back on the pasture. I am soooo proud of Pat he went and got a lead rope and put it around Jacks neck and lead them back across the street while some neighbors were so kind to block the road so no one would get hit. Prizz and Phillip followed Jack right back home. Puhhhh I was sooo relieved. Other than that I dropped of the last two rabbits with my Dr and that’s it for rabbits. The only ones I got now is the two parents that are loose on the property and are doing great out with the chickens which is pretty much were the moved in on their own. Phillip got his hooves trimmed for the first time last week and I was so surprised at how well he did. He stood still while I held him at the halter and let Britt trim all four hooves even though he had only seem him twice when his mom got her’s trimmed. I really think he is going to be a great horse he is so sweet and smart. Our garden is pretty much empty and resting except a few beds were I planted some winter crops like red Cabbage, white Cabbage Kale, Brussel sprouts and in January I am planning on planting Pea’s and Potatoes. The rest of the gang is doing good all healthy and well. Well that’s it. Hope you all have a great holiday season. God Bless you all |
It sure has been a while, since I posted anything. Mostly because there was not much to report. The farm has been quit and finally no bad suprises. Pecan season is in full swing and I already sold three loads in town. We are having a bumper crop this year and therefore the prizes are only about 80% from what they where last year. Oh well; it is what it is. At least we can make some money with them. Phillip has gotten real good about putting his halter on and I started leading him. As soon as I can afford it I will buy and build a round pen so I can wean him. I rode Prizz again and she did great same as the last couple of times. I guess that she really did just act up in the beginning beacause phillip was soo young and everything was new. A friend of mine from Orlando decided she is going to move to my town with her three kids and so we have been really busy helping her find a house, a job and get settled. We just went to Orlando to get her furniture this past weekend and moved her into her new house yesterday. I am very glad she is here and it will be great for my kids too, since they were good friends with her's in Orlando. Hopefully it will make the transition for her children a little easier to have friends here. I do hope she will love it here as much as we do. We finally got rain tonight. It had not rained here for the last month but boy is it comming down now. It has rained non stop since about 10PM last night and will most likeley continue for the rest of the day. The kids and I are starting to think about christmas and are going to decorate the house this week. Thanksgiving was great, we cooked some turkey and sweet potato casserole and went to my friend Peggy's house. It was very nice and oh the food was awesome. Well, that's it for now like I said not much going on right now. Talk to you all soon. |
We went camping last weekend and had an absolut blast. Our friend David came with us and we went fishing, played games roasted marshmellows and even danced on the site in the dark by the fire. It was great and we all decided we are going to have to do that again soon. The pecan harvest is in full force now. We had a lot of rain here last week and so I was not able to pick them up, but wow there are a lot of them to be picked up this weekend. I bought a new pecan picker yesterday, that I can tow behind my lawn mower, if it works well it should really cut down on the time it takes to pick them up. I am planning to buy a roundpen for the pasture, Phillip is pretty much ready to be weaned now and as soon as I get it build thats what I am going to do. Other than that the horses are doing great , they look so cute right now because they are geting their winter fur and look all fluffy. I brought two more rabitts to my boss, that leaves me with only two more and a buck and doe. I have decided that I don't want to breed rabitts anymore and so we are going to keep the buck and doe as a pet and that is that for the rabitts. We are however talking about buying a couple of goats, maybe two kids so we can raise them. The kids really want to try and see if we like goats. I am thinking about it No news on our chicken front all is well with them. Our pumpkins are growing and I am going to harvest the first batch this weekend. Thank's to the rain I can now till the soil for some more fall crops. I am really late on some things but the soil was just to hard to till it. The only thing I got planted so far is some brussel sprouts and red cabage. Well that's it for now, Hope everyone is well, God Bless |
I AM SOOOO HAPPY, I HAVE FINALLY GOT A HALTER ON PHILLIP (THE FOAL) It took me 4 month but it finally paid off. I have been petting him and trying to get him to trust me and then on Saturday afternoon he finally let me put on the halter with almost no struggle at all. Then sunday we took it off and on three times with no problem. YEAH, YEAH, YEAH Other than that we have spent all weekend cleaning up the property trimming some trees and hedges and getting everything ready for winter. I was finally able to open the doors and windows on Saturday morning and enjoy the crisp fall air even if it only lasted a couple of hours before it got to hot to leave them open. We have the first few Pecans falling now and so Pecan season begins. I hope it will be a good one. I love the transition of the seasons. Oh we went to the circus on Thursday, Our favorite part was the Elephants and motorcycle stunts. Mann was it expensive though, not the tickets but the food and drinks. Oh well I guess they have to make their money some how. On Friday night we went to October fest. The kids looked sooo cute dancing after the folk band. We had a great time. Seems that we are going to be very busy this fall. We are planning on going Camping in a couple of weeks, then there is Halloween and then in the beginning of November the fall fair is comming to town and of course we have to go to that. Other than that things are quite right now and I like it.
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Hi again, Well, I thought it is time for an update. Not to much going on at the farm right now. The pumpkins we planted are growing and we are finally getting rain consistently. The kids are excited about halloween and all the approaching holidays and the weather is finally getting a little cooler (YEAH!) The tree limb got removed from our roof ($900.00) and the hole got repaired by a roofing company. So I had to put in a claim with my insurance, which I really didn't want to do. Oh well got to do what we got to do right? The biggest thing in our life right now is the Wounded Warrior Project. Our local Radio station decided they wanted to do a Charity walk for this project. walking 80 miles in three days through three cities. This organization helps our severly wounded soldiers recover and try to get back to their lives. Basically they pick up were the military leaves off. It is an awsome organization, check it out and help our soldiers they need our help. We decided to help our radio station with this and have been selling T-shirts. The kids have been so excited about being able to help and make a difference. I am very proud of them. The community raised $37600.00 with this walk and the whole experience has shown me again how wonderful and caring the people in this community are. We are truly blessed to be here. I rode Prizz again to. She did great so I guess she has settled down and got used to us but it will still be a while before I will trust her with Pat. Well that's it for now. Hope you all are well.
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On Labor Day we went to Beth's house for dinner and got home so late that we went straight to sleep .At three AM I woke up because the dogs were barking and I tried to find out why, as I looked out of my back porch I see a tree limb hanging from the roof and thought to myself "oh well guess we got to pick up more branches tommorrow" and went back to bed. At 6 AM I got up and and went outside to find this:
That was not a good thing to wake up too. The bad news is that under all those branches, is a hole in my roof the good news is that it can be repaired and I have homeowners insurance. The limb is removed and I am waiting for the roofing company to come and fix my roof. I am sure this happend while we were gone because if it would have happend while we were sleeping I would have heard it, and it probably would have given me a heart attack. My bedroom and bath is right under the tree. I can tell you this "Never a dull moment" OH, Buster got in to the chicken pen again and killed another chicken. I don't know what to do with him anymore and thought I see if I could give him to the local small dogs animal shelter but they have over a 100 dogs and can't take him. I can't just set him out and so I guess we are just stuck with him. I told the kids that we will just have to keep him in the dog pen from now on. I hate that for him because he can't really run in there but I have to do something. The lady from the shelter told me she would post him on their site and try to get him adopted. well, we'll see. Other than that, everything is great. The kids got their first progress report and are doing good, our pumpkins are growing really great and I am about to go outside to get the fall beds ready in the garden. The temperatures are starting to drop a little and thus my favorite part of the year begins. That's it for now, Hope all is well with all of you, God bless you all. |
Well it's time for an update. We had a great weekend. On Saturday morning I went riding with Jack and after we came back I decided that it was time to ride Prizz again, low and behold she did great. It was like she was a different horse from the last two times. When I tried to get on her no problem, I rode her around and she did great listened to all my commands, I even got her to canter a little and not one time did she try to rear. I was so happy!!! I still don't trust her with Pat but it is defiantly an improvement. Now I just got to keep at it and then the next step is to get Phillip weaned and then I can try to take her out on trail rides this fall and see how she does there. Then when both Prizz and Jack were nice and tired, I put Jack back on the same pasture with Prizz again and now they are one happy little familie. In the afternoon we went to the beach and it was wonderful. It started getting real dark and I thought we would have a repeat of last time but then the weather cleared up and we had lots of fun swimming and playing and I got a chance to relax a little. We are finally getting some rain now got rain the last two days and also have more in the forecast. Unfortunately it is a little late for some of my plants but at least my pumpkins will have a chance to grow and hopefully we won’t loose any more pecans. I did a juice detox this weekend and I must say it was really good. I can only recommend it. I am going to try and do this about every three month or so, like a little tune up. The kids are getting settled in school and are doing really good. Becky is already talking about Halloween and is ready for trick or treating and pumpkin pies. I don't really like Halloween that much and we really celebrate it more as a fall celebration with pumpkins, hay and fall things rather than witches and stuff. No scary stuff I don't like that. I am just ready for fall, no more heat and lots of holidays and days off to do things at home and spend time with the kids. Well thats it for now. I hope you all are well and send you all lots of love. God bless |
It is so funny to see how much Phillip likes Jack and he keeps wanting to play with him and Jack is so patient with him but he does teach him when he had enough. I am going to post some pics of the three of them toghether soon. Phillip really looks like he could be Jacks son because of his color. It's too cute.
Just when I spent the last post complaining about the fact that we didn't have any rain for so long it rains the very next day. Becky and I where in the pool because by 12:00PM it was way to hot to work outside and the clouds came so we started singing our rain song again "Rain, rain come today don't come back another day" Then Becky said we should sing "Rain, rain come today and tommorrow and the next day" So we did, over and over again and then we prayed for rain. Pat decided to come in the pool to and we played "I Spy" and all of a sudden Pat shouted out "wait a minute it's raining!!! and we started yelling and thanking god for the rain. Yeah we are a little nuts but It is really strange how happy rain can make you when it is so badly needed Anyway it rained for about 2hours a nice and steady flow I am soooo happy.
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Well it's definatly summer..... It has been 100 and up by 11AM for the past week and no rain in site for the last three weeks or so. Our lows at night have been in the high 70's. I am really getting concerned we really need some rain around here or the grain and produce prices are going to go thru the roof. The poor horses are completly drenched in sweat by the time I get home from work. I havent been able to ride then in a long time and so I decided to get up early this morning and by 7AM Jack and I finally took a little trail ride. He is getting way to fat even though I hardly feed him any grain at all. I give him just a hand full so he wont be jealous when I feed Prizz and Phillip. Hopefully it will cool down a little soon so that we can ride more. I have been freezing empty coke bottles that I got from work and I put them in the rabbitt cages so the don't get heat stroke. Talking about rabbitts, I moved them outside it a little encloser within the chicken coop were I have raised the chicks we had in the past, because Beth and Brian bought their first load of hay and we unloaded it in my barn. This really increases the temperature and so the rabbitts are better of outside in a shaded area. Well a day after I moved them, the mama doe that has her three babies right now got out of her cage and she and her babies were loose in the chicken coop. this is not really a problem because I can catch them fairly easily, however Buster (the dumm dog we adopted, no offence Terry if you read this) prompty decided to go in there and killed the poor mama and I asume one of the babies because I can't find it. So I caught the remaing to babies and pout them back in the cage. I really need to get rid of Buster. This brings his death toll to three rabitts, three chickens and two squirrels. Anybody need a hunting dog? The garden is in terrible shape because of the heat and draught, the only thing doing OK right now is the Okra and the tomatoes when they don't bust open because of the heat. I have been picking them when they are orange and letting them ripe in the house so they wont bust. I am slowly starting some seeds for fall vegetables but can't set anything out yet until we get some rain. I can't even till the beds to get them ready because the ground is to hard. I have however been able to get a lot of figs and pears from my neighbor and have been canning up a storm. Pickled okra and pears sauce. Becky and I love both and have enough of them for the entire next year A scarry thing that has been happening is that the Pecan tree's are dropping a lot of limbs because they a loaded with green pecans and are so dry that the branhces just crack off. For some of you, who have been at my house you know how many trees I have around the house. the other night I was cooking dinner and all of a sudden we heard a load thud on our roof and sure enough a really big Pecan branch hit the roof at the corner were my bedroom is. Thank god it didn't damage the roof. We really need some rain. Well that's enough complaining about the rain....... The kids started school and we went to becky's open house last week. Both of the kids are having male teachers this year which I am really glad about. They never had a male teacher before and since they spend so much time with females, it will be good for them to have interaction with a male on a daily basis. well I guess that's it for now, sorry if it is a litttle negative but that's the reality right now but we are all healthy and have plenty of food and that I am grateful for and thank god. hope you all are well. God bless PS: check out the pics I posted from the garden before it got so dry |
Hi all, Man it is sooo hot. I can't wait until it cools down a bit. It has been in the high 90's every day and so humid that I can hardly be outside past 1PM. Phillip is making good progress in trusting me and lets me pick up his hoofs now even without a halter. I know I would be able to halter him by now if had had a little more time to spend with him. As it is now all I get to do is spend a few minutes in the evening but I guess it is still working since he gets used to us more and more. i guess it will just take a little longer as I wanted it to. Well, we got two years to train him what's the rush right? I had an interesting experience yesterday. I fixed the breaklights on my car and it was so simple. It really amazes me how much we rely on other people to fix stuff for us and once you start to be a little more self reliant it is amazing how simple many things are that I used to pay people to do. I also bought a bagger for the ride on lawnmover. I really hated spending the money but I think longterm it will be great. Not only can I use the grass clippings in the garden for the compost and for mulch but it also keeps the grass from having to much thatch. In the fall I can pick up all those leaves and use them for compost and mulch too and that alone is worth it for me. So I spent about two hours putting this thing together and then found out that it didn't work, it kept getting clogged and it drove me crazy. i couldn't figure out what was wrong until it hit me that I had to change the blades on the mover since mine where so beat up from the pecans and their branches. Now it works great. I will post some pics. The Corn is done for this year and I pulled it all out this past weekend. The watermellons are starting to be ripe and I pulled our first one out. I kinda hate when the plants are done producing. It's strange watching a plant go through its life cycle. You plant the seed, you watch it mature and produce and be so beautiful and then it dies and you pull it out and throw it on the compost pile. I know it is silly to think of this but it always makes me a little sad to pull them out and I thank them for the food they produced for us in their lifetime. It is always a moment of prayer for me to thank god for his blessings and that he created all these beautiful plants for us, so we may survive.
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Well, It's been a while again but I have some good news. I tried to ride Prizz again and it went pretty good. I got her ready but when I tried to get on her she kept trying to walk away so I decided to get the lounge line and give her a chance to get some of her energy out before we ride. The tie down I bought didn't fit her at all so I had to try it without again. I was not sure if she had ever been lounged before so I was a little nervous but she did great and after about 15 minutes of lounging her, I tried again and she let me get on her and the ride went great. She never tried to rear up and did just perfect. As far as Phillip, I haven’t got a halter on him again but I did get to brush him and he lets me touch him rub him again. My neighbor thinks I should just wrestle him down again to get a halter on him before he gets to big, but I am going to try the slower approach for now. Yesterday when I fed them I took some feed in my hand together with his halter and kept feeding him little bits and I got the halter on him and almost buckled. So I will keep trying and hopefully he will let me do it without the drama of a wrestle. I continue to put Prizz and Jack together but every time I have to take Jack of to feed and such they seem to go through this game of having to reestablish who is boss and Jack herds Prizz around and they start fighting a bit. Both of them have several spots where they have hurt each other, nothing serious but still, I hope they get over this soon because I stand there worried that one of them is going to get seriously hurt or break my fence and have to hold my breath until they come down. We had birth again at the bunny front. We have three white babies born about 2 weeks ago and they are doing great. They just opened their eyes and are hoping around all over the cage. The rain is back and we get some about every other day now. Finally the summer rains have started and the garden is taking off like crazy. Unfortunately so are the weeds and the grass and I am in danger of being swallowed by it in the garden. All the fruits are getting ripe now and I get to go out almost daily and pick them. I love bringing a bucket of assorted fruits and veggies to the house there is such a satisfying feeling in being able to provide a lot of your own food, even if it is not as pretty as the stuff from the store. It tastes great though and I am going to have to start canning soon. The kids are going to Orlando next Friday for two weeks to spend some time with their Aunt and Uncle there. I know I am going to miss them terribly but I am also looking forward to having some time by myself and to having a clean house for a couple of weeks Well that's it for now, I guess not to much crazy stuff going on here..... God bless you all
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WOW, I can't believe how time is flying. It has been three weeks since I had time to post. So much for my weekly updates Well let’s see. I tried to ride Prizz for the first time and that didn't go to well Well I went and bought one and I am going to try it this weekend. I let you know how it goes. Phillip is getting used to us slowly and I get to feed him by hand a little, to get him used to us and he lets me rub him more and more. I haven’t tried putting a halter on him again because I changed my mind about just wrestling him down, to get it on him. I am going to try a slower approach and get him used to being touched and handled and then try to get him used to having the halter around. I think I scared the heck out of the poor guy the first time I tried to halter him. I didn't have to much time to work with him this week because my friend Beth was out of town and the kids and I had to feed her horses, cats, ducks and chickens (I had to count 54 chickens Other than that, Well the chickens are doing good no exciting news there, they are laying their eggs and doing fine. The Rabbits are doing well too. I just moved one of the does in a new cage because if all goes well she should be giving birth this weekend. The remaining two babies are doing good and growing. Oh, I almost forgot (how could I) we finally got some rain this week, quit a bit actually. My gauge said about two inches in one day, yeah!!!! We had rain three days in a row and the grass is finally growing. That is great so the horses have something decent to eat and maybe we will have some hay this fall. It is amazing tome how fast things grow after a rain. It is as if everything was dormant and within 24 hours after rain it all starts growing. Maybe the garden will do better after this. The cucumbers I planted haven’t done anything yet, probably because of the draught, but the corn is doing amazingly well and we pulled out a total of 28 ears so far. They are great. The tomatoes, green beans, okra, watermelons and carrots are doing well and I finally got to pull out the potatoes I planted in winter. I got 25lbs of potatoes out. Not as much as I hoped for, from 2 100 ft rows but it is something, considering the drought and the fact that the plants died prematurely. They taste good though and we have made mashed potatoes and potato salad from them. The fruit trees are doing ok considering the drought and the blueberries are going ripe little by little each day. Unfortunately I don't get to taste a lot of them because Becky made it her hobby to go out every afternoon to pick them off and then eats them before they ever make it to the house We went to a lake near by last weekend and the kids and I got to go swimming and rented a 4 person Paddleboat. We had a blast and it was a wonderful day. Sunny Beth's (godfather/adopted father) went with us and we really enjoyed having him with us. He is 78 years young and is sort of an adopted grandfather to my kids. We definatley have to do that again soon. Well that enough for now. Got to go to bed and get ready for tomorrow. Hope you all are well God Bless you all. |
. She did great as far as getting her brushed and saddled, even getting on her, no problem but after a couple of minutes riding, she decided to rear up on me. Of course I couldn't leave it at that, so I got straight on her again and again and again. We went through this several times. Finally she gave in and behaved. So I decided at that point that it was enough and rode her to the pasture gate and got off. I don't know for sure if this is a vise that she has or if it is a combination of her baby, a new place and rider and not being ridden for over a year, or all of the above but whatever it is, she is going to have to get over it and we are going to have to do some serious work together. The first thing I did, is to ask all the people I know what they thought and they all agreed that I should try a tie down that will keep her from being able to rear up as I ride her.
It is defiantly summer now. Most days we have a high of 90 F and still no rain. At least we are having some in the forecast for next week. I really hope we are getting some before then. Prizz and Phillip (that’s what we named the foal) are doing well and have adjusted. Jack and Prizz like each other and it is so cute that Phillip and Jack stand in front of each other and touch their muzzles through the fence and mom just keeps on grazing. She is really great and I am glad she is not so over protective, she is a real people horse and loves to be petted. I can't wait until Phillip is big enough so they can join Jack on the big pasture. I put a halter on him for the first time this past weekend and he made me wrestle him a bit but I got it on him. Unfortunately it was way to big for him even though I bought the smallest they make and so he pulled it off a couple hours later. Oh well, I will just have to try again this weekend. We didn't go anywhere for the holiday weekend, just stayed home and worked on the farm and rode Jack. He got a bath and lots of loving and thoroughly enjoyed it. Other than that we just went in the pool and the kids had a couple of friends over to play for a while. The garden is surviving the draught, but only barely and only by watering it almost every night. I pulled out the first Zucchini’s and they were great... The first two ears of corn are forming and the tomatoes are blooming, I love this time of year because everything is growing. It is really a miracle how that works. You take a tiny seed put it in dirt; add water and sunshine and you get food. God is really awesome. The kids are excited about the end of the school year " No more homework...YEAH!!!" and I agree with them it takes so much of our time in the evenings. I know it is important but I will enjoy the break too. One of my Neighbors came this weekend and took three of the baby bunnies from the last litter. She has three kids and they are going to keep them as pets. Much better than the alternative... My boss still wants more bunnies and told me he would by them from me as discussed earlier, so I breed one of the older females yesterday with my buck so we'll see if we have new babies in a month. I am starting to accept that this is just part of my farm life. And if I want to be more self-sufficient I have to accept these thing, I guess Well, that’s it for now got lost to do as always. Hope everyone is having a great week.
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well, we did it. After going to ride her, we decided to buy Prizz and her baby boy. On Tuesday night we went and got them home. Thank's to Beth and Brian with their truck and Trailer. I love you guys and will be forever in your debt. god has really blessed me with wonderful friends. They are both so wonderful and the baby is already coming around and slowly starts to trust us to touch him. I thnk the old owner didn't touch him at all and got him used to being around people a whole of a lot. I guess I don't blame him since he knew he was going to sell them. Now we have to find a name for the foal any suggestions? So far the kids and I have settled for Drake, Spirit or Phillip. I know they are kind of strange but each of us picked there favorite. Can you guess who picked what? Anyway, if you have a good name let me know. we are open for suggestions. Here is the first picture I took.
BTW ignore the date I never set it on my camera Aren't they beautiful? We are alredy in love. Prizz is such a good girl, I think she will be great for Patrick and Becky to ride. I guess that was our big excitment this week other than the fact that we finally got some rain....Yeah!!! It only lasted for about twenty minutes but hey its better than nothing we need rain so bad, all the fields are brown there are wild fires everywere and the crops are not growing. I hope we will have a wet summer or we are going to have some serious problems not only with prices but also with finding hay for the winter. We have been praying for rain every day and the kids keep singing : Rain, rain come today , don't come back another day On another note. I did give two of my female Rabitts to my boss and he said, he did you know what with them and that he was greatful for them. It is really hard for me and I do try not to think about it. I guess its part of the circle of life and its not like we don't eat meat but it is so much harder when you raise it. Well anyway my boss told me he has a couple of friends that would be interested in buying them from me. So now I am contemplating if I can do that. To keep raising them and then selling them for stew.. What do you guys think? Well That's it for now I guess. I am looking forward to a long weekend so I can go riding on Jack, work in the garden and play with the kids. Hope all of you have a great Memorial Weekend.Until next week. |
Well, I had an exciting week. I think I may have found a horse for the kids and me. Her name is Prizz, she is a seven-year-old Tennessee walking horse and she has a two-week-old Baby boy. We went to look at her Saturday and the kids loved her and so did I. It started raining as soon as we got there so I couldn’t ride her though so I am going back tonight to do that and make a decision on buying her. She is absolutely beautiful and so sweet she was not even upset that we were around her baby. On Sunday the kids made me a nice Breakfast in bed, with eggs, toast, bacon and apples slices. They are so sweet and tried really hard to be nice to me. I Love you guys !!!! After Breakfast we decided to go to the beach but as soon as we got there it started thundering and within 45 min it was raining and lightning, so we had to go back home. The kids were crushed because they were looking forward to the beach all winter. About ten miles from the beach, the weather was sunny and dry. Go figure!!!! Well we stopped at a swimming area of the local river and the kids got to hang out there for a while which was a good ending to our day. Once we got home I saw that we did not get any rain at all, this is really getting bad everything is drying out and the plum trees are already dropping they’re fruit so I had to spend the evening watering everything. I also started pulling out the peas, it is getting way to hot for them now and they are done. I still got a ton of peas yesterday though and now have several bags in the freezer. The rest of the garden is doing great everything is growing good and the corn is holding up ok thanks to my sprinklers. I really hope we get some rain this week but the forecast says there is only a 10% chance. Well maybe god will hear our prayers and help us out a little. The blueberries however are doing great and we should have our first batch next weekend, yum, yum. I love fresh blueberries especially in pancakes and pie. Oh, I found someone to give some of our rabbits to. He is going to butcher them but that is OK after all they are meat rabbits. I just told him don't make me eat them I can't do that, at least not yet. They are way to cute. Well I guess that is it for now; I let you all know how it goes this afternoon with Prizz. Wish me luck I think she would be great for us. God bless
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Wow time flies when you have fun... I didn't realize it has already been two weeks since my last post. Well lets see... The Baby bunnies are growing have their eyes open and are starting to eat on their own, they are sooo cute.
The garden is in full swing and I spend every spare time I have there. I took out an entire bucket of Pea's yesterday. The red cabbage turned out great, and I cooked some more yesterday. The corn came up and I am crossing my fingers that it wil grow this time. Last year I tried and we had such a draught that it never made it. Oh and I built my little garden shed, that I wanted to build so I can keep my tiller and garden tools in the garden and don't have to log them back and forth from the barn. Check back for a picture of that. I recycled the plywood I had pulled out of the back porch in February where I dicovered a nice plank floor beneath it, no clue why the old owner did that. I used the roof from another area on the property were the old owner had his airpressure tank sitting under and low and behold the whole thing cost me 8.00. Hehe, I love it when it works out right. Beth and I are discussing doing some canning together this year, I think that will be great. It is a lot of work but can be much more fun when you can do it with someone. Other than that, well Becky and I went to Shannons (My friend Beth's daughter) first Horse show on Saturday and I was so happy for her ,she did great. Good job Shannon. Pat went to see the USS ALabama in Mobile with the cub scouts and had a blast. They spent the night on the ship and had a treasure and alligator hunt. This Friday will be his last event with the Cub scouts, because he is crossing over to the Boy Scouts and is receiving his arrow of light award. I am proud of him for sticking with the Cub Scouts since he was in first grade. Let me tell you it was not always easy but I know he had a lot of fun and has learned a lot. Well, that's it for now. lots to do. Until next week. Check out the new pics in our album. Dont forget: CHANGE THE WAY YOU LOOK AT THINGS AND THE THINGS YOU LOOK AT WILL CHANGE.
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More garden work this weekend. I guess it will stay like that throughout the summer. The pea's are doing great and I just picked the first batch. The red and white cabbages are ready too and I am going to try my luck at cooking red cabbage tonight. My sister gave me her recipe and I know her red cabbage is great!!! Thanks sissy . We had more rain and a lot of wind this weekend and I was really worried about all the seedlings in the garden but they made it Ok. The lettuce I planted is finally coming up, this is the fourth time I tried to grow lettuce and never had any luck but wow, now I have a 100 ft row growing. There is not much else to report. Spring is finally here in full swing and all the fruit trees now have little fruits growing. I really love this time of year. I love to walk around the property and watch things grow. Oh, talking about growing, I forgot we had birth three days ago. One of the rabbits that had gotten out of her cage about six month ago was in the chicken house the other day so I decided to catch her again because I am worried about the rabbits breeding out there and us having hundreds within a few years. Well she was pregnant and had five babies 2 brown, 2 white and 1 black one. They are doing great so far but now I really have to find someone to buy them because once they grow up I don't know where to put them anymore The guy at the feed store said he knows a guy that breeds them for meat and he might buy them from me. We'll see. With these babies it makes 10 rabbits, plus the two that are still running around the farm. I really need to catch my Buck. He is the daddy to all these babies. Well that's it for now not that much going on at the farm, thank goodness all is peaceful and growing. Till next week. |