Sunday, August 12, 2012

Catching up

Good morning!  Come in and have some coffee or tea.  How have you been?  It's been such a while since we've visited and  it's good to see you.

I always have the best intention to write more often, but then somehow I always end up getting side-tracked with life and failing to follow through.  Ahhhh... just like New Year's resolutions.  (I won't make ANY comment about the treadmill taking up space as its destiny in life)

I can't believe how much time has went by since we last talked.  Let's see... what has happened here on the mountain...

Well, in February my spouse had a heart attack and spent some time in the hospital having a triple bypass.  Of course, nothing is close by and with all the animals to take care of, I was running back and forth but we got through that and he's all better.

Somehow we missed having a Spring this year, and despite my best efforts of planting a garden and adding fruit trees around the yard, high heat hit early and then drought, cooking everything in its wake.  I tried watering, but it still wasn't enough... that hot summer sun just sucked it out of everything.  Next year... mulch, mulch, mulch.

The drought dried up all our pasture land and then the grasshoppers ate what was left, making it necessary to sell off the cows because there's no hay to be found.  One of these days we'll replace them, but it was feasible to keep them if we have to feed year round.

But not all news is bad news here.  The freezer is full of beef and pork, and the pond is furnishing fresh fish anytime we want.  Our year old silver laced wyandottes are prolific layers, and I swear try to outdo each other on laying.  I've had eggs running out of my ears all summer, but we've sold eggs, eaten eggs, and hatched eggs just to try to keep up.  I have some of the cutest bitties in the world at the moment living in a container in my laundry room.

Our Great Pyrenees girls have both had their first litters of puppies this year.  Those are adorable puppies and were spoken for immediately, especially since the word is out what good protectors their mommas and daddy are.  I watched one of the three week old puppies following the ducks around this morning and "protecting" them.  He stopped to growl at a leaf that rolled by and threatened his wards.

I continually try to learn new ways to make life easier here on the farm.  (Easier does not mean I'm lazy... ha!)  I added a rain barrel under the downspout and with one little sprinkle, it filled up the 55 gallon barrel.  The discovery that Fedex will deliver most anything except perishables from Walmart for free if the order is over $45 was an "EUREKA!" moment.  Not having to wrestle those big bags of feed in and out of buggies and truck made it a winner.  Little things, but things accomplished nonetheless.

One of my favorite moments occurred last weekend when my little sister and my niece came to visit.  I don't see her often, and so it was great having them.  Of course you always wonder what to fix folks to eat when they come, and since they were going to be arriving late in the evening, I made snack food for their first night here.  The excess eggs got to take center stage when I used up a couple dozen to make a deviled egg dip to eat with crackers, and bread pudding made from my girls' rich eggs and some hot dog buns I'd been given. 



Since I see that my spouse has awakened and staggered to the living room, I guess I'd better hush for now and go fix him some breakfast.  Hm... eggs....

Talk to you again soon, and keep living country!