Sunday, June 20, 2010

Memorial Day


The boys and I went to my parents house for Memorial Day/Aaron's Birthday. Aaron celebrated his 32nd birthday on May 25th. He shares his birthday with our Grandmother in Arkansas, Grandma Brown, not in attendance. We had a nice (hot) afternoon by the pool and even squeezed in a game of dominos while much of the gang went by boat to a Crawfish Boil at a nearby boat dock. In the picture is my Mom, Kaden, Dad, Kolin, me and Aaron.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Bernice & Jack

On Wednesday we took a friend's trailer and drove to pick up a new cow and her calf. We loaded the calf first, tied him in and then loaded the cow. It went fairly smoothly. When we unloaded, TBone came running. He is very excited to have friends his own size to share the pasture with. As you can see from the pictures, he stays very close. We decided to name the cow Bernice. Many years ago, Kandy's grandfather named the first cow born on his farm Bernice. He kept her for over 20 years. Though our Bernice wasn't born here, we are hoping she will be here for a very long time. Enjoy the pics.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Garden-Spring 2010

Random pictures of our spring gardening
Kaden and Kolin helping to unload our free mulch from the county.

Cat, dog, barn and apple tree (small tree just behind the bird bath)

My truck full of free loot.

Dahlia and Mandevilla from shopping spree with Ciocia Sherry and Glenn

Broccoli

Friday, May 28, 2010

May Flood

As most of you know Nashville was severly flooded earlier this month as more than 13" of rain fell in 36 hours. I'm not sure what our total was but it nearly filled a 2 gallon bucket twice. Saturday it was a few inches from the top and one of the boys tipped it over. I was waiting to see if it would fill up. Sunday we had a clear day until about 3PM when the line of storms finally moved east enough to get us. The rain we got Sunday filled the bucket again to within inches of the top. The field flooded but honestly I expected it to be a lot worse since that portion of the property is in the 100 yr flood plain. The water got close to the barn, but never really threatened it. The debris that got caught up in the fence put a lot of strain on the new cross fencing, but they are strong and it held. The huge oak logs that are in the field towards the pond moved a little. Luckily they didn't really get going becuase if they had started cruising through the pasture they would have done serious damage to the fences. The stream of water ran right into our new 4-ball watering system and as a result a lot of the surrounding gravel washed out, 2' deep in some spots.




The boys really enjoyed playing in the water over the next several days.







Though our house was not flooded we did get damage inside the house. This is due to a crappy roof installation. We feel fortunate that these problems were brought to our attention before our 2 year warranty ran out with Rapid who did the job. That's the good news. The bad news it now we have to deal with Rapid again. We had water dripping from the ceiling in the middle of the living room, the master bedroom floor was wet from water coming in the upstairs roof, running down between the walls and even dripping into the crawl space under the house. We have found five leaks, so far, and the insurance adjuster says we need a new roof. So the battle begins...

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Kaden's Last Day of School




On Kaden's last day of school, Kolin and I attended a little program where the students sang songs and then received a certificate. As you can see Kaden a little taller than most students in his class. A recent measure at home had him at 3'5" and Kolin at 3'8".

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Pics By Kolin

Kolin took all of these pictures by himself. The chickens are now about 7 weeks old and we let them out during the day to forage in the garden. We work hard to keep them out of Mrs. Virginia's yard and flower beds. There are three white chickens and two brown ones. The brown ones seem to be a bit more curious and tolerant of being caught. The cats try to pounce them, but so far they haven't caught anyone. I'm not convinced they really want to catch them, they are either slow cats or are just entertaining themselves by running the chicks around the garden.





Chicks

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

As you can see we have some new friends on the farm. We got a few baby chicks from TSC on Monday. The boys are a little rough with them, it's especially hard for Kaden. Kolin really likes them and wants to go to the "coop" and hold them all the time. We bought the chicks to follow in T-Bone's footsteps, get fat and get in the freezer. I asked for meat chickens, but apparently there isn't such a breed. Of course they all lay eggs but she suggested a bigger bird for eating. We may keep some if they are laying eggs, but eventually...

Right now they are staying in a portion of Kash's dog house. As they get bigger I'll expand their area. We got a heat lamp with a red bulb, the red light is supposed to help keep them calm. During the day I lift the shade over the window and at light I lower it to keep out the draft. I also attached some small wire over the front hog wire so the cats can't get in. They were sitting on the window ledge yesterday, dreaming of being inside that coop I'm sure. I feel fairly certain the cats can't get in so now my main concern is a snake. I haven't seen one up here around the house before so I'm hopeful.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Flower


We're going to have to work on Flower's table manners...

Monday, April 12, 2010

Latest Addition






Friday night we went to the sale barn and looked at goats for two hours. Let me rephrase that. Konrad looked at goats for two hours. The boys ran around banging gates and helping themselves to free snacks, drinks and candy for two hours. I looked at Konrad's top 5 or 6 choices, tried to limit the sugar consumption of the boys and eventually sat down and read a magazine for two hours.



Konrad got off work early on Saturday to go to the sale. I called him about two hours in and he hadn't bought anything yet. A little later he called and said, "I bought one." My first question was how much? He was under the predetermined limit, so all was good. I have to admit I was a little concerned he would get caught up at his first auction as a bidder. I really wanted to be there to watch him, I know he enjoyed it. After the sale the boys and I loaded up and went to help him load the new goat. We weren't really needed but it was fun to be there.

The other goats checking her out.


We haven't officially named her but are leaning strongly toward the name Mimi, or Miss Mimi. She will be our herd nanny for many years to come.


Sunday, April 11, 2010

He's Home


Good news, T-Bone is home! He's thinner than when he left but looks healthy so we hope he starts gaining weight rapidly. There is plenty of grass to eat. As soon as he stepped out of the trailer he put his head down and started grazing.