Christmas Parade!

Last night was the annual Christmas Parade.  The kids' 4-H Club made a float and participated in the parade.  Our float had a gingerbread house, a giant popcorn cranberry garland (made of spray foam insulation and red plastic ornaments), and giant lollipops and ribbon candy.  It turned out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself!  It was a chilly night, but when you walk the entire parade route, you keep warm!

Lately

 My new favorite way to cut watermelon.  It's so easy to eat!
































I've been fighting with a black snake who kept creeping into the nest boxes.  I chased it out once, then relocated it once.  I found this scene one morning, and I had had enough.  I finally had to kill the snake. I hated to do it, but I couldn't keep losing eggs.

Grazing time!  And a little snack of watermelon.

We had some piles of manure and hay to clean up, and we rented this little loader from our local rental place. Man, that thing was awesome!!  It was worth every penny!

I picked blueberries and froze them.  I picked around 9 lbs, but ran out of time to pick more.  At least I have some in the freezer for this winter!

David bought a new project car.  He had a Mustang when he was younger, and has been wanting another one for a long time now. He found this one recently and decided it was now or never.  It had some rust under the hood, so David and his friend Jeff did some sandblasting.  Actually, Jeff is the one sandblasting. David was there for moral support and assistance.

The kids have been working with their 4-H lambs because the fair is in a week! Yikes!

Kylee wanted to sew a project to enter in the fair, and she chose a cute cape with a hood. She found the cutest fleece fabric.  We spent this weekend whipping it up, and she did just about all of the help minus just a tad bit of help on my part.

Her hair is so gorgeous. She likes to wear it in a pony tail all the time, but it's so pretty when it's down!  Maybe one day I'll convince her to leave it down.  :-)

And Happy Birthday to my dear husband today!!   We went out to eat and I told him my present to him was NOT telling the waitress it was his birthday.  He hates people making a fuss over him.

Lately

I've been wanting to blog more about our daily lives, because it's fun to look back and read what we were doing.  Seems I either can't remember to update the blog lately, or when I do remember, I can't find the time to get it done.  This summer has felt incredibly busy...busier than usual.  It makes me long for fall, when the nights are longer and everything feels more relaxed.

I caught the dogs snuggling in the sunshine.  They're so cute together.

Our big Crepe Myrtle is blooming now. This picture was from the beginning of the bloom, but now the whole tree is a mass of magenta blooms!

We got a new area rug for the livingroom.  It is so thick and cushy, the dogs rolled around on it right after I rolled it out.

I've met some new friends outside lately.  I tried to catch this Katydid to take a picture, and it jumped on me.

I am tearing down the old hog pen so we can rebuild it (it was rotting) and I found this little salamander hiding under a log.  It didn't even move when I picked it up...maybe it was scared. Maybe salamanders just don't move much.  I don't know...but it was cute.

During demolition of the hog pen...see the rotted post against the barn? Don't use landscape timbers because you're too cheap to buy nice fence posts. It's never worth it!

While I was out working, I let the sheep and goats out to wander around in the yard and graze.

A while later, I found June camped out behind the hay bale.  Lazy goat!

Then the others quickly followed her lead.

The garden is growing pretty well.  The turnip greens in the foreground are huge and need to be cut down for the animals.  The greenbeans are coming on, and in a few weeks we should have our 2nd round of harvesting for them.  The tomatoes are having a bit of a hard time with stink bugs.  It's so frustrating. They really damage the fruit.

Tiny baby bean!

My zinnias are blooming, and my cosmos aren't far behind.  Those are 2 of my favorite flowers to grow.

The kids have been working with their 4-H market lambs.  We bathed and clipped them this weekend.

My friend Jenny came to visit on Saturday, along with her mother and daughter.  They were on their way home from the beach and it was great to see them!  I made lunch for us all.  We had chicken salad sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, and fruit salad.  I made lemon water and cucumber water.  Lemon water is a huge hit in this house!

A black snake (or two) has been living under the hay bale, and finding tasty eggs in the chicken coop.  I had set 10 eggs under a broody hen, and a few days later I found a snake in the nest box, halfway under the hen.  The hen and I fought the snake off, and I blocked the hole where I thought the snake was getting in.  A few days later, the snake came back and got 8 of the 10 eggs.  I think it crawled up the coop and got in near the roof, where there's a vent all the way around. There's chicken wire around it, but the holes are too big. I was really mad.  I went outside first thing this morning so I could do chores, and saw the snake outside of the chicken yard.  I grabbed a nearby shovel, and my first instinct was to chop the snake in half, but then I had a change of heart and didn't want to kill it. I really like snakes, and want them to hang around, I just don't want them eating my eggs.  I caught the snake and relocated it down the road a bit.  I had to get pictures first...

I think there's a bigger snake hanging around still, but maybe that one is staying out of the coop!

Snow Day Fun

Barn across the street

I told Elmer to "get the squirrel."  (there was no squirrel in sight)

No, the snow wasn't dumped on her.