Late Summer Love

Summer is the season that seems to pass by so quickly. Maybe it is because I have a career in education.

But there are a few things I LOVE about summer coming to an end.

Deep-fried veggies straight from the garden!

Blooming Black-Eyed Susans!

Homegrown tomatoes!

Correction!!!!!

The new foal is not a girl!  Yikes!

Destiny and Dallas won't let too many people near, but upon further inspection...we have verified that "Andy" is indeed a boy. 

It's probably a good thing that I work in education...

New Arrival!

Destiny finally gave birth to her foal! She is a cute little thing - dark brown with a white muzzle.

Big Mama Dallas is watching over both of them with her protective eye. Some people have horses to ride, we have them to protect our stock!

But we need a name for the little girl! Suggestions welcome... :)

About to Pop!

Destiny is expecting a foal in the next few weeks, but I'm not sure she will make it much longer!

My guess is that the new baby will come along while we are in Kentucky over the 4th.

Cool Coincidence

Grady and I love estate auctions.  Actually it goes more like this:  Grady finds an auction he wants to go to.  I complain about it, but go anyway.  I end up purchasing more things than he does. 

It happens everytime. 

So a few weeks ago when he said he wanted to go to an auction for a goose-neck trailer, of course I complained. 

And came home with more things than he did.  :)

But the coincidence came when some guns were being auctioned off and I heard someone mention my late father-in-law.  I couldn't make out what was being said about him, but quickly informed Grady that we needed to pay attention.  The auctioneer then proceeded to read the little name-plate on the gun which had my father-in-law's name and address engraved on it. 

Sold. 

Arnold was a big trapper and Grady thinks this was one of the guns he took trapping when he was younger.  It is not a fancy gun, but it was Arnold's and that makes it worth more than what we paid for it. 



Cute Shot of the Week!

I don't understand the fascination, but it sure is cute!

The Adventures of Kevin Bacon continued...

The welcome rainfall a few weeks ago made for a super-happy pig. 

This...

Plus this...

Equals this.

Cute Shot of the Week

The rain has made us lazy...Sassy included. 

Gone

Winston

Noel

We sold two of our donkeys this past weekend.  I needed more loss around here like I needed a hole in my head.  ;)

A portion of the reason I was injured last week was due to the fact that we had two jack donkeys in neighboring fields with only a small electric fence separating them.  They loved to taunt each other - and get together for a brawl at every opportunity.  So somebody had to go...

Donkeys are very social animals and I knew I couldn't sell one by themselves (great sale tactic, huh?)  So Noel and Winston now live somewhere else.  But they are together.  And pretty happy I hear.

And there's a donkey sale in Mt. Airy this weekend...

Just sayin'.  :)

Cute Shot of the Week

Houston has been enjoying the warm sunshine this week...

Hope you have too!

Ouch!

WARNING!  PICTURE BELOW MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AUDIENCES!
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Accidents are bound to happen on a farm.  Something about animals having a will of their own mixing with heavy machinery.  We are fortunate that most injuries have been minor - but this time it was me on the receiving end!

As we were trying to move some stock to a different field, I was knocked down by one of our jacks.  Of course it would have helped if I had let go of his neck.  ;) 

Thanks to my claw clip, I now have a nice inch-long gash in the back of my head.  As my RN sister said, "your head is pretty vascular."  Translation:  it bleeds A LOT. 

I was a big baby - second time this week - but thankfully Grady can remain calm in stressful situations. 

I stalled going to the ER because the thought of shaving a part of my head for stitches was too unbearable.  {Told you I was a baby.}  So I went to the doctor today and she said I will be fine.  Just keep it clean and it should heal up on its own.  Especially with the dose of antibiotics she gave me since a nice fresh cow pie "cushioned" my fall.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Before...

...and don't hold your breath waiting on the after!

I started a new project this weekend.  And by started I mean I painted two strips of wood.  :)

We have this shed/dog pen in our backyard that I think is an eyesore.  It is cleverly designed to house some yard tools while at the same time giving three of our dogs a warm place to sleep.  But it is ugly.  Major distraction from the natural beauty in my backyard.  I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

Hideous, right?  It kind of matches the house colors, but not really.  I grabbed those barrells of hostas from the trailer to camoflage the uglyiness until I could put some serious time in updating this thing.  In a way I think that made it worse.

After much pondering and Pinterest searching - I have a plan! 

Taking a page from my style guru Stacy London, "It doesn't have to match, it just has to go,"  I purchased these lovely shades this weekend to start the major update.  The building itself will be the deep purple, while the trim will be the hunter green shade. 

I painted two boards yesterday and I can't wait to start on the rest - but wait, as with any project we do around here, it has become something bigger.  Grady uttered those dreaded words..."I think we need to dig the bank out a little bit more in the front."

UH-OH!  This means the project is on hold indefinitely because he will be digging up my backyard and spreading dust everywhere.  I would love to have the goal of a Memorial Day completion, but knowing us, it will probably be more like July 4.  



So long old friend...

Today is a tough day on the farm.  We decided it was time to put our 13 year-old black lab to sleep.  He has cancer in his mouth and after having it removed once, the vet advised us to let him live happily as long as he could since another surgery would not be successful. 

And of course I am a big chicken.  I made Grady take him to the vet while I sit here and bawl my eyes out.  He was such a great dog, and as most people say about their four-legged friends, he was a part of our family. 

So today we will pick out a special place in the woods near Dud and Jaycee where he can rest in peace. 

Photo from our 2007 Christmas Card.

Cute Shot of the Week

A few weeks ago I had to quickly head out of town to be with my grandmother in a Tennessee hospital.  In all my running around to prepare my bags and necessities, I looked up to find this in my armoire...

Scout is the most curious animal I have ever seen and brings true meaning to the phrase "curiosity killed the cat."  Anyone else have a cat like this?

If my furniture could talk...

...I believe it would have lots to tell! 

There's something about rural living that takes you back a few generations.  Couple that with my love of history and you get a house full of old stuff!  As one of my husband's friends so eloquently put it, "She likes things that the termites have already gotten a hold of."  I love going to antique auctions and turning old pieces into something new and useful.  (Just check out my pinboards on Pinterest if you need more confirmation on that!)

So I decided to share a few of my favorite things...

My husband bought me this old tobacco basket last year and we just recently hung it in our den.  My mother's family were tobacco farmers from generations back and so it is kind of sentimental.  The side is even stamped "Shelbyville, KY."  I doubt my relatives took their crop to that market, but it is awesome nonetheless.

This little treasure was handcrafted here in Floyd!  Only the door is old - it was the lid to an old trunk.  A local carpenter built a new cabinet and made it appear primitive.  I use it to store cd's and DVDs which is probably not what was stored in that old trunk!



This was a freebie thanks to some friends who let my husband take it off their hands.  Of course, when they let him have it the legs were about three inches longer and the whole thing was filthy.  After sawing off the rotten ends of the legs, giving it a good scrubbing, light sanding and a swipe or two of linseed oil - viola!  Our new end table. 

Do you have any special pieces in your houses?

Where've you been?

Spring is a busy time here on the farm and I do apologize for the delay in postings.  If I'm going to be a blogger - I've got to do better at blogging! 

Lots of projects are taking shape and I am excited to share them with all of you in the coming months.  I may even solicit your ideas on a few things Grady and I are undecided on. 

Stay tuned!

The Adventures of Kevin Bacon continued...

Since spring seems to have sprung early here in SWVA, Kevin has become an outdoor pig sooner than expected.  He is particularly fond of sunbathing...

Cute Shot of the Week

This is what I found when I went into the downstairs bathroom...

View from my front porch...

It finally snowed!  We got around six inches of snow here today and it is absolutely B-E-A-UTIFUL!  I snapped this photo today as it was coming down.  The bad part is we are forecast to be in the upper 40s tomorrow so it won't last long. 

The Turtleman

This doesn't have anything to do with our farm, but it does have to do with animals so I guess that counts.  And Kentucky - if you know my family you know that counts too! 

If you ever catch a show called "Call of the Wildman" on Animal Planet, be sure to watch a few moments.  You'll just love the Turtleman...

http://youtu.be/u-P644h8TJI

Live Action Y'all!

Cute shot of the week...

Sleeping Beauty...

Cracker Candy

My Granny Margaret is one of the best cooks ever.  I know lots of grandmas are good cooks, but I was blessed with two of the best!  It's no surprise that I call her up when I need an idea of something to make for a potluck.  She sent me this recipe a few years ago, and it has become a reliable dish for any type of function.  It's quick, easy, and oh so goooood!

You will need:

saltine crackers
1 cup butter (not margarine)
1 cup brown suger
1 (12 oz) bag milk chocolate morsels

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with foil.  Layer saltines on sheet.  In a saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.  Spread over crackers and bake for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle morsels over crackers and let stand 5 minutes before spreading.  Cool in refrigerator until hard. 

Remove from foil and break into pieces.

Enjoy!

The Adventures of Kevin Bacon

This is sure to be a recurring post.  This little devil is always doing something "post-worthy" that others would most likely find to be interesting.  It depends on exactly what he has done as to whether Grady and I think it is funny...

Kevin sleeps in the bottom of a pet carrier, all rooted up in an old moving blanket.  These are all of the pieces from Kevin's bed that I have been sweeping up.

And this is why I have had to sweep up all of those little navy pieces of blanket.  Crazy pig. 

So now he has new blankets for the second time since Thanksgiving.  And he seems quite happy.  You might say he is in hog heaven.  Or a pig-in-a-blanket.  We've heard them all. 

*Sorry about having to turn your head sideways!  I can't get that picture to post correctly!  UGH!

Why not?

I have been toying with the idea of creating a farm blog for some time now .  Sure, I used to have a classroom blog when I was teaching, but do we even have enough interesting things in our lives to post about?  Things that people would actually take the time to read?!

Why not?  Everyone is always asking about our animals and we don't have any children yet to talk about, why not give it a whirl? 

So here it is.  I can't promise it will be updated daily but if you have a few moments that you would like to fill with something random, check out what we have going on.  :)