A VERY VERY Sad Day

This morning, our beloved Stormy, Boy's Dog, was hit and killed by a truck in front of our house.  We are all heartbroken and having a hard time functioning without our little smiling friend.  He was the only dog we've ever seen that would pull his lips back and smile.  His sister, Kristl, is also having a very hard time. 

I know that a pet loss isn't as tragic as some things, but it is still very hard, especially on a young boy whose best friend is now gone.  Plus it was so sudden, not like with Freckles that was with us for 17 years.  We only had 2 years with Stormy and we were looking forward to 4H with him and agility training.

Rest In Peace, Stormy

Wonderin' if we ever had a clue....

"Well I'm wonderin'  'bout the road ahead of me
Wonderin' 'bout the things you said to me
Wonderin' if these dreams will ever do
And I'm wonderin' 'bout the way I spend my days
Wonderin' if it's even worth the chase
Wonderin' if they're stealin me from You (God).....
......
And hey, if I could turn back time
I wouldn't touch a day, I wouldn't shade the shine
"cause I do know this, I won't be remiss
with the memories locked away in my heart
Wonderin' if we ever had a clue."

TobyMac from "Tonight"

The first stanza of this song really speaks to me about the farm, and my life and choices.  I just thought I would share.  (The song is not complete on here).

Keim Lumber

The WHOLE family took Friday off (Man almost never gets a day off!!) to go to Keim Lumber's Anniversary Sale.  Keim is one of the biggest, neatest lumber/hardware stores you may ever see.  It's up in Amish country about 2 hours away from the farm. 

Even more fun, dear friends of ours came too!  Actually, they drove.  We had both the dads, both the moms and 3 kids.  We went to Guissenberg cheese (one of our standard stops when in Amish country), but because it was early on a weekday, we did get to see them making their famous "baby swiss" cheese.

Then off to Keim.

Here's boy and, from what they say, my future DIL.

Boy, DIL, and her older sister.Shopping.

Silly kids!

Then off to lunch at our favorite restaurant, Der Dutchman.

It was a fun, out of the ordinary day!!!

Loving the new mower...

And the new Toro too!

FV

Well, this is from days ago...so since then it's been updated to be a 20X20 farm (only 1 upgrade left).

The stable is now done...nursery barn is 1 nail away from being done. 1 more grape sheep and a trillion more chickens and foals.

And ask me if the real garden is in?   Um...well...I FV while cooking, folding laundry and while I'm checking up on all my homesteading friends...who are also on Farmville and have real farms to run too!

So the garden isn't in, but I did get 5 loads of laundry done while doing the mess above.  And did the taxes too!  Happy Tax Day, BTW!

fv

You'll be missed...RIP Thumper

Well, our sweet little Thumper did not make it.  It is very sad as this bunny was definitely more than a farm animal.  He spent just as much time in the house as he did in the barn.  Was carried around and was the most docile thing.

He started acting sick on the 9th and lasted until the 14th.  In that time, he lived in the house as snuffles is highly contagious.  He was still with us when Boy and I got home from church.  I gave him medicine and then 20 minutes later, he was gone.

Boy is VERY upset.  Thumper has been buried at the base of our new Honeycrisp Apple tree.

Boy's New Friend

And look at those biceps!!

(On my strong farm boy...not the snake-silly!!)

Silkies

Our fancy Silkie Chickies are starting to get their silkie feathers and the furry feet!  They are SO cute!!!

And Suzie the Sussex.  She is the only one that doesn't have a match (as you know about my "Noah Homesteading")  Her match didn't make it from the first cold night.  The babies all piled together and she was at the bottom of the pile....warm, but crushed. :(  So now Suzie has a special place in my heart.

Oh, hello!  Aren't I cute with my new white chest feathers and spots coming in on my wings?

Fun days on the Farm

Today was a random, nothing much kind of day...but I took some picture so you can see what goes on.

Here is the dogs running the pasture.  Kristl & Iona playing together.  Iona doesn't take Kristl nearly as seriously as Kristl does.

Boy can Iona RUN!

Stormy stood outside the pasture and barked and barked (rather than come through the gate, he decided tor try to come through the fence...BTW, he doesn't fit and is stuck in this picture.)

I made homemade Chimichangas for dinner with pulled pork I made over the weekend.  It was the BEST left overs!!

Here is the progress of the plants in the laundry room.

Tomatoes (We had 99% germination rate on our tomatoes!!)

Cherry Pear Tomatoes, Tomatillos (for Salsa) and Celery(!)

SugarBaby Watermelon (the personal size ones) and Cantaloupe

Cucumbers (2 kinds)

Newly germinated cantaloupes, Zucchini and Broccoli.  Also rainbow peppers off to the left.

Fun Word Cloud

Popples

Well, I bred Meg and Molly (the Californian Rabbits) on March 2,3, &4  Which meant that they should have kindled about April 2-5.  On the 8th, I became impatient and figured no one was pregnant since all 4 of us (Meg, Molly, Robbie, & I) are totally new a rabbit breeding. Neither pulled any fur to line the nests.  Actually they ate all the hay out of the nest so all was left was sawdust.  So I did what the books said and moved the nest boxes back out of the cages and proceeded to put Robbie back in with Meg on the 9th and Molly on the 10th.  Things are still awkward romantically.

Then I came home from work yesterday(today 4/12) and went for my morning nap only to be awakened LOUDLY by boy hollaring "Mama, we have popples.  There are popples in the cage.  I think they are dead."  Yea, just they way you want to wake up...yes?  So I threw on shorts (it is way too cold for shorts, btw) and ran out to the barn.  Sure enough, 3 naked little bunnies.  Completely cold and definitely dead.  I went to pull them out and...ok...whoever said rabbits are docile....apparently have only seen the ones on Disney movies.  She was fierce with really sharp teeth!@! So after blocking and covering up Meg, I was able to the get the kits out.  So little.  I'm not sure if they only succumbed to the cold, or if Meg tried to keep them warm and sat on them and crushed them.  The one had some blood on her so I think they might have been crushed too. 

The nest boxes are back in the cages.  We'll see if Molly goes into labor tonight as she was bred a day later than Meg.  Plus, I guess maybe having Robbie visit may have started Meg's labor.  Either way, they may already be pregnant again.  We'll have to see.  I'll update tomorrow after I see if Molly had any babies.

 I realized that I have never posted a picture of Thumper, our little boy lop ear.  He doesn't look great in this picture as he currently has "snuffles".  We are hoping he will survive, but despite the cute name it is highly contagious and can get bad quickly.

New Mower!

Today was an interesting day!  Yesterday our push mower from the 1950s (seriously, I'm not kidding!) decided that it had enough.  I think it saw the 2 1/2 acres of grass to be mowed (not including the pastures) and had heart failure.  So off to Home Depot went the "boys".  They came home with a new safe push mower that the boy can use.  Big wheels, safety bar, self propelled.  So as I planted they spent 3 minutes putting it together and then off they went.

7 hours later the yard is mowed, and half of Iona's pasture.  It looks like a racetrack. :)  Hopefully this will help with the tick population.  I am not very hopeful about that though.  Boy LOVES mowing.  We are going to bring the riding mower back from W'ville soon and that will help with the big pastures, and cut down on the time spent....I hope!

What I planted:
5 Blueberry bushes
4 Grape Vines
2 Blackberry Bushes
3 Red Raspberry Bushes
1 Black Raspberry Bush
1 Honeycrisp Apple Tree

8 Raspberry/Blackberry bushes dug from W'ville.  I have no idea what they are!

I also dug out a wheelbarrel full of Daylilies an relocated them out to around a tree and not in prime planting areas.

Here is the random race track in the pasture and Iona & Kristl playing in it.

Ticks! Ticks! Ticks!

I HATE TICKS!  There I've said it.  This year is going to be an awful tick year!  I've heard that usually they don't start getting thick until May.  We are daily pulling ticks off of the dogs (usually about 7 each) and off of each other.  It just gives me the HeeBee JeeBees!!!  Just typing about it is making me itch!

So my Boy wants a buzz cut hair cut.  I really like his hair longer.  But after spending the last week hunting for ticks in the thick tresses of his hair, he is going to get his wish.  Right after I take a few more pictures. 

Actually, I'm thinking of getting a buzz myself.....not really! :)

Buckeyes

So today was the day that we got the second set of our Day-old chicks.  These are Buckeyes.  They were actually developed by a lady here in Ohio.  They do wonderful in our weather and are the color of the Buckeye Nut.  They are in high demand for chicks...so the long term plan is to breed them for chick sales.  We got 4 females and 1 male.  They are very cute!  Eventually they will run in their own run so we can be sure the eggs are pure bred and fertile, then our Silkies will go to work as our incubators!  We'll see how the plan works (As you know, the best laid plans of mice and men....name that book)

There is <4> 1-week-old Buckeyes and <1> 4-week-old Buff Orpington in this picture.

Man had a delivery in Cleveland and was able to stop by the hatchery on the way back and pick them up for us.  It sure saved me some time!

Happy Resurrection Day!

May you have a blessed day!

Easter Flowers (From W'ville-grin!)

What green Arica eggs look like dyed.

Boy's Basket with his new Webkin, Judah