Around the farm

The grapes are growing and the cattle are grazing.

The kittens are growing and starting to play.

The garden is growing.

The clothes are drying.

And this little guy is outside our window.

What a beautiful day!

Little treasures

Look what we found!

It's tucked away nicely in a rose bush. I tiptoed back later and saw the Mother bird sitting on it. She hunkered down when she saw me so I didn't go any closer. These little eggs are about the size of a mini-cadbury chocolate egg....they're tiny!! I love all the little treasures we're finding around the farm (I'm not including the snake in my strawberry patch as one of those treasures though)!!

Kittens, Chickens and Fairies

I have a long list of things I need to get done IN the house but this gorgeous weather has kept us OUT of the house the past couple of days. So, instead of housework I've been playing!

We played with the kitties and let the Mommy cat out for some exercise.

We couldn't let the chickens and ducks miss out on this nice weather so they got to do some exploring.

We even had our lunch outside!

Since we had taken care of our animal friends, we decided to take care of our imaginary friends. I've been wanting to do this with Leah since I saw the idea last year. She was super excited about making a fairy house and couldn't wait to check the next day to see if a fairy had visited.

The whole time we were making it I kept imagining what it would be like to live in the tiny little house.....use acorn caps as cups, leaves as blankets, dandelion pillows, pebble walkways. I always wanted to be a Smurf or one of the Littles when I was a kid so I guess it makes sense that now I want to be a fairy so I can live in our little fairy house.

We hope you are enjoying Spring too!! If you need a pick-me-up.....go outside, play with some animals, eat a bologna sandwich on white bread, and make a fairy house. It will instantly make you happy!!

Kittens - the definition of cute!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that our cat was pregnant. This is one of the farm cats that we inherited when we bought this farm so not exactly a tame cat. No one even lived here for 6 months before we bought it so these cats are true survivors and ran every time we walked out the door. I have slowly gotten the female cat tamed down a bit by feeding them our scraps (no garbage disposal) and could give her a pat or two while dumping the scraps into the pan.

We knew she was close to having her kittens but thought she would probably have them out in the barn and then we'd never get a chance to play with them and tame them down. That was, of course, if the tomcat didn't get them first.

Leah and I were walking in the back door this past Thursday and happened to see the mother cat under the back steps. Upon closer examination we saw that she had 4 kittens! We were SO excited (that is a complete understatement by the way)! My excitement immediately turned into panic when I realized that her nest was not exactly in a safe place. Her and the tomcat curl up under those steps and sleep all.the.time. What was she thinking?!?!? Didn't she know her "partner" didn't care that he was the father of those babies and would kill them as soon as he found them.....all he wanted was for her to come back into heat so he could....ya know. Sick isn't it? I tell ya, even male cats have one track minds.

As it turns out, she actually did a pretty smart thing. She must have known that a do-gooder (that's what Jason is calling me now) was living here now. He's just as guilty as I am though because he suggested moving her into our utility room until we could get her a safe place outside. An important side note here is that Jason is very allergic to cats. So, I managed to somehow lure this half-wild mother cat with newborn kittens into our house. I am still amazed at how easy it was and that I didn't end up scratched from head to toe. It really didn't take long for her to settle in either. We left her alone most of the time.....checking in now and then to give her food/water and make sure she was using the litter box (yeah, that was pretty important too!).

Here's where the story gets crazy. Saturday morning I give her some fresh food so she got out of her box to eat. I glance down at the mound of kittens and think to myself "Wow...they've really grown." Then I start counting heads......1, 2, 3, 4.......5, 6. What??? 1, 2, 3, 4.....5, 6!!! She had 2 more kittens about 24-36 hours after the first four. I immediately got on the internet and found out that cats can, in fact, stop their labor if they get disturbed. I think that is amazing!!

We had her in the house from Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon. Jason built an awesome hutch to keep her and the kittens in until they will be safe from the tomcat.

She seems pretty happy in her new setup and has become pretty tame too. She lets us pet her and the kittens and purrs very loudly as she curls up around her babies. It's so precious. I'm pretty sure if you looked up the definition of cute....you'd find a picture of a kitten!!

I haven't taken any pictures since the last two were born so this is just the four. I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty of kitten pictures so there's plenty of time for the last two to get some coverage!

Who says kids shouldn't watch TV?!?!

I know there are a lot of people out there who say you shouldn't let young children watch very much TV. Before I had children, I swore I would not allow mine to watch much, if any, TV. Things have changed. (Come on....why would they have PBS kids or channels like Noggin if we aren't supposed to let our kids watch it?!?) I am going to admit right here that my child gets more than the recommended 2 hours/day of TV. I'm not saying that's ALL she does EVERY DAY....there are days that she watches quite a bit but there are days she doesn't watch any. Depends on what we've got going on.

She LOVES infomercials and has come to get me multiple times to watch something that she thinks I really need.....the topsy-turvy tomato plant is the latest one. She'll make me watch the whole thing and will glance my way to see if I'm as impressed as she is. "Look Mom.....they're going to double your offer!!" Then she'll repeat things like "Isn't that amazing?" Let's see....she thinks we need the topsy-turvy tomato, Aqua Globes and anything the oxy-clean man is selling.

Lately, all she wants to watch is Animal Planet. She'll come running, yelling "Mommy, tonight at 10/9 central Crocodile Blues is going to be on!" (Her mind is a sponge I tell ya.) Today she's watching a show about Orangutans....she just came to tell me a little bit about it...

"Mommy, some of the bigger mean monkeys are watching the babies. But they aren't mean to the babies."

"Oh...why are they mean? Are they mean to other grown up monkeys?"

"Yes, they are protecting the babies from the other mean monkeys. They are just being the babysitters for the exhausted mothers."

"Really? Do you know what exhausted means?"

"Yes, it means (throwing her arm up with the back of her hand at her forehead and throwing her head back) SO tired."


As I'm typing this, she came to ask me what fascinated means. See....we're having a vocabulary lesson here!

Spring is here.....I think!

I'm sitting here at the table on March 28 looking out the window at sleet & snow falling. We were just planting garden last weekend!! I love Spring. In fact, it's become my favorite season. I used to love Fall, but Spring is my new favorite. Spring is everything new and fresh...buds popping out on trees, flowers peaking up through the ground, all kinds of babies are born. It's a happy season!! We've had several calves born, our cat is round with life inside her and we have some other babies we've been raising in the house...

These first chicks (3 Rhode Island Reds & 3 Barred Rocks) were already about a week old when we got them.

The second group (6 Buff Orpingtons) were day old chicks when we got them. Needless to say, they have gotten very spoiled! One in particular is very friendly and wants to be held ALL.THE.TIME! Leah named her Seedsy...because birds like to eat seeds. OK!

This picture is what the first group looks like now. They have been moved out to the chicken coop and I think they were happy to stretch their wings!

The newest babies around here are these little guys (or girls).

Ducks were the first thing on Leah's list that she wanted when we moved to a farm. Mom called last week and said the feed store had baby ducks and she was bringing some to Leah. Aren't they cute?! Just look at those feet! Do you notice how they are looking at the camera in the last picture? That is about as much "love" you'll get from these guys. They DO NOT want to be held. I don't know if we just missed the imprinting stage or if ducks just aren't cuddly....but they aren't going to be lap ducks. That's probably better anyway because they are poop machines! They have already been moved out to the chicken coop (with a heat lamp of course) because I couldn't stand the mess anymore. I kept complaining about how much water they were splashing out of the waterer and Jason said "They are ducks you know." So, they are doing their duck thing outside now! I threw down a few extra wood chips and lowered the heat lamps a bit this morning...'cause ducky it's cold outside!

Our farmhouse remodel

Well, well, well....it has been awhile since I've been here. Several times I have thought about doing this post but I was hoping to have pictures of our house all finished WITH our furnishings in it. We do have our furniture in and are living here but I'm not ready for pictures yet (too much stuff still laying around). So, I'll show you some before and after pictures but you'll have to wait for the final pics. These pictures were taken prior to getting new flooring so ignore the floors....they look MUCH, MUCH better now!

This is the living room before we did anything.

I am now realizing that I haven't taken any after pictures of the living room...oops! Basically, it got paint and flooring....nothing major. You can see it in a later post with furnishings.

This is what Leah's room looked like when we got it. Several layers of wallpaper covered with bright yellow paint and some hideous carpet. Leah's idea was to paint it pink but keep the carpet...yeah, right Leah!

She dressed herself this day!

Her room needed a new ceiling,

and got the perfect shade of pink on the walls (one wall had to have new sheet rock and the other three walls were completely skim-coated over old, bumpy, rough plaster). This room took the most time by far, but Daddy wanted Leah to be happy in her new house!

This is in the kitchen (before).

This is that same area after. It has since been painted and crown molding added.


The biggest transformation was in the dining room. Here it is before.

This is looking from the dining room into the living room.



All of the old plaster was torn down...very messy.

New sheet rock was put up.

The existing window was replaced with a bigger picture window.


Here is the dining room after...

beadboard, crown molding and new trim was added....then painted.

That's the big picture of what we did. There are still some things to be done and eventually we'll do something to the kitchen and utility room. It's pretty small but it's home and we are loving it so far.

Remembering Lily

December 6, 2006. Two years have gone by....but not one day has been without thoughts of Baby Lily. A tiny angel that God called home to be with him. I think of her everyday and even though life goes on, my heart is and always will be broken.

No farewell words were spoken
No time to say goodbye
You were gone before we knew it
And only God knows why.

Those we have held in our arms for a little while, we hold in our hearts forever.

Busy beavers

Wow! What a month it's been! I thought I should give a quick update since it's been over a month since I last posted. Let's just say I'm not spending much time on the computer these days since we are trying really hard to have our house ready to move in by Christmas Eve.

When we bought this farm we knew there were some things we wanted to change about the house...mostly just freshening up with new carpet, paint, etc. Well, once we got in there and starting really looking around, it has turned into more of a remodel than a freshening up! I wish I could post pictures for you to see but I'm using my parent's computer for the time being and don't really want to dowload my pictures on their computer...so I'll have to do that later (I have taken lots of pictures).

Just a quick rundown of things we've done are painting, stripping wallpaper, tearing down old plaster walls, adding a picture window, adding electrical outlets, tearing down a couple half walls to open the rooms up, ripping up carpet and framing a new ceiling in Leah's room. Still to do are putting sheetrock up where the old plaster was torn down, adding trim, getting carpet installed and of course painting and cleaning. Then all that's left is moving our stuff in and unpacking. All in freezing cold weather when I haven't even started Christmas shopping!! Whew! I'm worn out just thinking about it!!!

We are really hoping to get it done soon. We are doing all the work ourselves so it will feel like such an accomplishment to have it done! I am so thankful to have such a smart, talented husband. Jason is completely doing this remodel. All I can take credit for is painting, stripping wallpaper and holding a few boards for him. I am so proud of him!!

Farm tour

I thought I would post a few pictures of our new farm for everyone to see what we're so excited about. So, come along on a tour with me!

Pulling into the driveway you see this...

If you look to your right you see this....

....the orchard. There are 3 peach, 2 apple, 2 pear and a couple walnut trees there. We plan to add a cherry tree. Leah and I also want to add some kind of berries somewhere. Maybe blackberries....yummy! Those are pears in the bottom picture. I picked one up off the ground and I'm not kidding you, it was the size of a softball!

Wanna take a walk around? You'll see this....

Love this! I am a huge fan of old barns and this one definitely qualifies. It needs some repair but still usable.

The chicken house. It also needs some repair/paint but once it's fixed, it will be perfect for some chickens.

The grapevines are along the fence on the left side of picture. By the way, those tractor tires will be going. They were being used as planters, but we'll till up an area for a garden.

This will be our new home. It's small but will be cozy. I'd invite you in, but since we haven't officially moved in I'd better wait. My mind has been racing lately thinking of all the things we want to do with this place. Among other things, I have paint colors, flooring choices, furniture arrangements and storage space issues on my mind. It's probably a good thing we're moving here during the cold season because that way we can focus on getting the house in order and not get distracted with wanting to be outside.

We get possession next week and then the adventure begins!

Green Acres is the place to be!!!

Remember that farm we were hoping to buy? Well, we bought it this weekend! To say we are excited would be an understatement. I can't even begin to explain how relieved and happy we are to have gotten it bought. If you're new to reading this or have forgotten, it was sold on auction so we had no idea if it would be ours or not until the auctioneer said "SOLD!" and let me tell you.....it seemed like an eternity waiting for him to say it! But he did finally say "SOLD!" and we were the winning bidders.

I wasn't expecting the kindness that followed. The auctioneer asked for our names, introduced us to the crowd and asked them to "Give a hand to the new owners of this farm!" So, there we stood....a ball of nerves wondering if it was really real with all these people staring at us and applauding. The seller (an older man) and his family all immediately came up to us and introduced themselves. The rest of the afternoon, neighbors from surrounding farms would come up and introduce themselves and congratulate us as well. It really was such a great experience and a very nice welcome to our new life.

Several different people said how glad they were to see a young family buy the farm. One of the old man's sons said that he thought it would be easier for his dad to let go of his farm (he'd lived there for 62 years) knowing a young family was going to start their farm life there. I hope so. I hope he and his children know how happy we are to have their farm now. I hope they know that we will take good care of it and will treasure it for what it is. I hope they feel welcome to come back from time to time and revisit their homeplace. A place where so many of their memories were made....and so many of our memories await us.

Flu Shot

I told Leah yesterday that she would have to get a flu shot sometime soon. (We always tell her about her shots ahead of time so that she'll be better prepared and not so freaked out.) So, last night we're laying in bed and.....

Leah: "Daddy, I have to get a flea shot."

Daddy: "You mean a flu shot?"

Leah: "Yeah, a flu shot."

silence for about 30 seconds

Leah: "But, I don't want to get a flea shot!"

Batista

Since I just wrote a post about the chickens, I thought this would be a good time to tell you what we named our rooster and why. We wanted a tough name. Something easy to say (or yell) but really, tough. He is going to be the chicken guardian after all...he needs to have a tough name!

His name is Batista and he's named after the wrestler on WWE. Yeah, you read that right....WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). Isn't that funny? Before you start thinking I'm the wacky person who watches that, let me just tell you it gets even wackier than that! It's my DAD that watches it! He LOVES it. In fact, Friday nights at 7pm are set in stone around their house....Smackdown! Jason and I give him a very hard time about it and try to tell him that it's not real (hence the name World Wrestling ENTERTAINMENT) but I really think he believes it. He knows all of the actors, I mean wrestlers' names (his favorite is The Undertaker) and says things like "I bet that hurts!" when they bash each other with metal folding chairs. Yeah, right Dad.....I bet it hurts all right.

I have to admit that I know several of the actors, I mean wrestlers' names too.....but ONLY because we're at Mom & Dad's house every weekend and that's what's on the TV when we get there. I do feel a little weird about having a link to the WWE website on my blog, but hey...you guys needed to see the inspiration for the name!

We have a lot of fun with the Smackdown jokes and no matter how much we tease him about it, he still loves him some Smackdown!! I bet there aren't many 69 year old farmers watching Smackdown every Friday night! So, that's why we thought Batista was such an appropriate name for the Roo since Dad would be taking care of the chickens most of the time. He can have a little WWE around him every day!!! I do draw the line at one WWE name for the chickens though....we're not going to be naming the hens after the WWE Divas!! Don't get any ideas Dad!!!