Winter is here again!

I feel like I was just sitting here a few short months ago, looking out the window at the snow accumulating and dreading the great out doors. The irony of it is DU has been doing great but every once in awhile he has trouble with his right leg. Of all days to have a problem its today. Taking him out in the snow is a problem to say the least. The good new is he has his wheels so if he chooses to walk around he can with his wheels. Taking in the moment around me I peer out the window only to see that the snow has blown against the screens and froze so my view outside is hindered. I listen to Jay lightly snooring in his recliner and the two children sleeping. Joy is curled up to D.U.next to the fire and JJ is on the sofa. I have a strong sense to write again and every time I try to I begin to fall asleep! What is all that about.
Over the past year we have elminated all the animals except the barn cats. We really want to cut out all the expenses. Running a farm can be costly. Since we want to put the farm up for sale in January, JJ's plan of getting a cow has been put on hold. However, he has convinced us to get a lamb for his science project. Will write tomorrow. falling asleep

Bull Frogs and Bumble Bees

I was taking the towels off the line this evening and I just couldn't help myself to stop and listen to the wake-up calls of the bullfrog and the bumble bees buzzing around my head. The noise of the country is almost indescribable. By the time the sun was down the orchestra of bullfrogs were in full concert. Its time like this that I wonder how I could ever move in town some day. I guess there is beauty in every landscape. Such a wonderful day!

Its time for a Spring Picture!

I look at this picture of the farm and it makes me want to go out and take a picture of the farm now.. not enough blooms yet though. Looking at that picture makes me depressed and also in augh that it wasn't that long ago that we endured that! Forsythia is in full bloom, and the pear tree is starting to blossom. The red buds are exploding on the maple trees. Daffodils are popping out everywhere! Tomorrow its start to warm up again so I want to finish cleaning up all the limbs lying around the side yard. Need to order mulch and freshen up the beds. 10 yards should do it.... ahhhh the smell of mulch... love it. Easter is next week. Looking forward to seeing the whole family. Maybe by then the yard will be cleaned up and a picture will suite me. Off to bed...

Delaware should be declared a marshland!

I guess the farmers almanac was almost correct in there predictions. They predicted a major snow storm in March as well. No snow, but 3 inches of rain! If that was snow we would have been looking at 3 feet of snow again! Now everything is under water. Peoples yards are small ponds. The poor farmers have had water laying in their fields since October. It is the first time I have seen farmers with crops still in the fields from the fall. In the middle of the storm at 4:00 am JJ was out running around chasing his hunting blind around in the dark, he peaked his head into one of the chicken houses to check on the birds when he saw that the temperature was down to 64 degrees! He came in to wake us up and we went out to find that our new curtain machine had misteriously brought down the curtains about 3 inches on the northeast side and the wind was just blowing so hard that pushed the plastic right off! We quickly fixed the problem only to find that one of the doors blew off in the other house! There was so much water on the outside of the house Jays boots sunk up to his ankles in water! We stapled cardboard up till day light when we fixed the door. It reminded us the hard way that we need to get the other 3 doors in each house replaced and replaced quickly. I think they are the original doors and the houses are about 40 years old. There was a break in the rain around 2:30 in the afternoon, so we went to Lowes to pick up materials to put up the trim around the new door in the laundry room. The laundry room is shaping up nicely. Its funny to think that things are more organized than ever around here and Jay will be going back to work in another week or so only to get adjusted to new routines again. I will enjoy it while it lasts.

Chicken are in!

Yesterday we got chicks back in. The first time we got chickens in less than 2 weeks! We were ready and willing, all the updates are going to cost us for 4 years, I want to make sure we keep chickens in. For the first time I was actually not dreading the birds coming back in. They came about 4:30 pm. The first time ever we have left them right away. We took TJ out for his 21st birthday. Came home and just peaked in before going to bed. Unfortunately this morning we woke up to a flood and lost about 100 chicks. We weren't able to go to church as planned. Everyone was out there blocked off the area and tried to clean it up as much as we could. I was proud of Jay he didn't freak out like usual. He was thankful and so was I that we lost them on day 2 not on day 20. We had help and we were able to enjoy the afternoon after all. Opened up the patio and sat outside with DU. I really wish we could afford to get him wheels.. He was so tired of walking he just kept falling down.
Spent yesterday cleaning out the laundry room cabinets. It feels good to purge and clean up. The laundry room is looking good. Jay is working a little at a time repainting and cauking and soon will be putting up the trim that has never gone up since we moved here. Two new doors and we should be finished in that room off to the kitchen to finish the trim there too. Goal is to finish up what we have started to some day sell and make life simple again.

Sad Day.. Rest In Peace Lucy...

Over the weekend Lucy took a turn for the worst. I am not really sure what happened but she yelled out in pain all weekend. I tried to control her pain with medication but it didn't do much. I had to make the call this morning to put her down. It is the most difficult thing to do. I have only had to do this one other time with my cat of 18 years. That time was even worse... I kept praying that God wouldn't make me make the choice to do it... I couldn't bare to see her in pain. I just felt so helpless when she would cry out in pain... I know it was the right thing to do.. sometimes the right thing is not easy. Dinner time tonight was odd.. no more little begger. In some respects I feel relief, one less to take care of and deal with her funny corks. I know that probably sounds heartless, but it is how I feel. I will miss her terribly and am glad she is no longer in pain.

Valentines Day!

Can't say the day excites me since it crept up on me due to being "shut in" for 10 days! I was up all night with Lucy my beagle. I think she is in serious pain in her back or something. Gave her pain meds from her back injury a year ago. It doesn't seem to touch it. I am sick inside because I believe she has had a good long 10 years, but her health has been deteriorating for sometime now. I just wish God would "take her" and not make me do it. I can't stand to see her in pain though. Early this morning I took the dogs out sliding on the ice to hear that we were out of feed in House #2. Called the feed mill and they said they will be out as soon as they can. Cleaned out two more drawers in my room today. Purging feels good. Cleaned out Feed Bin #2 before the feed truck came, it was crusted over with wet feed. Dreading tomorrow. Need to fix feed line cables in the houses before Thursday. (Chickens possibly go out). Take Lucy to the vet and D.U. is suppose to go to the Chiropractor and water therapy. Too much. Valentines Day will have to wait till next weekend. Probably not gonna have chickens next weekend and hopefully no more snow... maybe a date night to the movies and dinner... I'd like to make a simple date and go to Panera Bread for lunch. Chick Flick too! I might have to compromise.

We survived the wild weather again!

Its 7:00 pm Thursday evening and I marvel at how different the last two evenings have been. I guess the snow hasn't been all that bad. I'm sitting snuggled next two Brittanie on the sofa as she reads out loud to me about Richard Paul Evans and how he became an author. Humorous and annoying at the same time. I am trying to write on my blog and she keeps interrupting me with her new excitement over the book! The boys are playing Risk again. Jay beat the pants off of the boys yesterday, we will see how this game will end. The dogs are snoring, all three of them. I had a thought about this blog. I don't really want it to be a self centered thing. I want it to contribute in some way. I always had a journal. I think the reason I have done this my whole adult life is so that when I leave this life my kids and husband would have a part of me forever. I also think its nice to go back and read your entries to see how much things have changed for the better or worse. So I am not sure how this will evolve but I am thinking that as I write down my memories and stories of this farm you will send me your stories that intertwine with mine. For example... I wrote about my pigs and two of my friends on Facebook have similar stories. Write them here, maybe one day I will write a book and put your stories in my book! Who knows.. I do know one thing... Hearing from others who have lived my life ... I find comfort in that. It is hard sometimes to get people to understand where I am coming from sometimes because they haven't lived this kind of life. It is very different. So different at times I miss my old life... ok I miss my old life aloT! But I feel better knowing that there are others that know what I and my family go through sometimes. So please elaborate here! I would love to hear from you.

Accomplished reading a book!

I guess there is something good to be said about the snow. There was little to do but pace and look out the snow covered window at the chicken houses, to see if the weight of the snow had given way to our roofs. So I pulled one of the 10 books by Richard Paul Evans collection off my book shelf. Many thanks to my mother who started the collection back in 2002. I have only read four of them and today I read my fifth! The whole book. A sense of accomplishment and disappointment came over me as I finish the book. Obviously I don't get much time to read so losing myself in a book was quite satisfying. The men of the house are playing risk as D.U. sleeps between Jay and JJ on the sofa. Its nice to see TJ (my future son-in-law) engaging in a good game of Risk. The fire cracks and the wind whips. Brittanie started a book as well from Richard Paul Evans. The only on missing is Joy. She jumped at the chance to get snowed in with a friend. My prayers are geared toward the farmers as I understand the uncertainty that lays ahead for all of us as this Nor'easter bears down on the peninsula. Till tomorrow...