Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Not Always Sunshine and Rainbows

Things are always happy around the homestead. There are things that break, go wrong, don't get done, etc every single day. Most of the time I just choose to look at the blessings of the day and go on. There are times when I just can't get past the aggravating things to look at all the blessings. We have had so much rain that is is really a mud pit everywhere you step here. The goats hate and I mean hate coming out of their houses because they have to walk in the mud to get to their feed buckets. We are actually putting their hay under the big shelter so they can stand in the dry while eating. The chickens feet are so muddy and they all look like they need baths. The ducks and Lucy Goosey are the only ones happy around here. Not much yardwork is getting done here but we are still mowing customers lawns. They all have the nice sod lawns that don't seem to make mud pits. I get so jealous while mowing their lawns. I can't keep laundry caught up. Bella is still in heat so is still staying inside. I put sheets over the two sofas in the livingroom, the love seat and chair in the diningroom (gathering room as I like to call it). I hate to have a dog smell in the house so I am changing the sheets twice a day as well as sweeping and mopping the floors in the mornings and evening. I also have to walk Bella, Tramp, and Rusty several times a day as I can't just let them out like I usually do. Bella hates thunder and when I wasn't home yesterday when it thundered she got mad at me and jumped up and peed on MY side of the bed. In all the time we have had her she has never had a accident inside so I know she purposely went to my side of the bed and peed. Luckily I had a blanket laying on top of the bed and she got mostly that wet. But we were scrubbing and changing the bed before I could even start supper. Pepper the kitten has decided my laptop is his favorite toy. He logged himself on as guest and made a file named hhhhhhhh and then started my malware which kept popping up that it couldn't find the hhhhhhhhh file. I had to fix that, find all my bookmarks that he moved, and log out of yahoo because he opened up a chat with someone I didn't even know. Came back to find this person typing hello????????? are you there??????? Didn't have the heart to tell them they were talking to cat so just closed the window and logged out. Pepper will turn my laptop or post nonsense by just walking across the keys. He loves to lay across and just look at the screen. This year has truly been the year of the snake. I have never seen as many snakes as I have this summer. I think because of all the rain they are coming up out of the swamp. We had the water moccasin on the back porch. Had the rat snake on the light switch in the feed room. We have 2 black snakes in the hay barn and one big snake I have no idea what it is that has fallen when I open the feed room door at my feet. It has done that twice! I am so afraid one day it is going to fall on me! There are 2 snakes that were sunning on the corn stalks we cut to use this fall one snake I saw crossing the driveway the other day. Rain and snakes aren't my favorite things. Even with the rain it has been so humid that our clothes are wet as soon as we go outside. Looks like we took a shower with them on. Rained out our flock swap last Saturday and all the rain has kept me from cleaning pens and nesting boxes. Two of our push mowers broke but thank goodness William is good at repairs. Our riding mower got a oil leak today so he is going to have to fix that tomorrow. A dear sweet older lawn customer wants me to sit nights with his wife who has dementia and stays up all night so he can get some rest. As much as I would love to help him and the pay is fantastic I just can't. I don't have enough time to get things done here and I am going to the mountains next month for a few weeks. I am behind on getting things done for Megan's wedding and things ready for the craft fair I am committed to next month and in October. There are some things going on with family that has me praying and thinking about a lot. William is behind on repair projects and work projects and we are both behind on getting our chickens sold we aren't taking with us as well as some rabbits and ducks. The price of feed has jumped and its hard buying chicken feed every week or so. We have way too many chickens. So you see life isn't always sunshine and rainbows around here. I just try not to write about the bad. We all have things happen in our lives that are hard to deal with but if we take the time to count our blessings one by one, no matter how small..... We see we are truly blessed!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Snake, Rain, and Mud Oh My

Had tossed some throw rugs (guess that is why they are called throw rugs) on the back porch so I could shake them out before tossing them in the wash. After sweeping and mopping I went out and started to pick up the rugs only to find  a small but angry snake. William checked him out and it was a water moccasin. Guess with all the rain he wanted a dry vacation. He curled up and struck at me when I tried to shoo him off the porch so I went back inside and watched through the door as William took the broom and swept him off the porch into a bucket. He carried him down to the swamp and let him go. Now everywhere I step I am looking for the rest of the snake family.

We are having rain again and its suppose to rain the rest of the week. Goats aren't happy and when they aren't happy they make a lot of noise. As in stand in the milk stall right under the baby monitor and let it be known they aren't happy with all the rain and mud. Buster (Great Pyrenees ) thinks he needs to bark and whine with them so someone will come out with treats to make them all hush. Buster will hush long enough to eat his treat or bury it depending on his mood , then he is back singing the blues with the goat choir.

I have been making and canning plum jams from plums given to us. I am also making  goat milk soap gift bags for my daughter Megan's wedding. She is having a fall outdoor wedding at our old farm  so trying to make the soaps, gift bag, and tag look fallish but nice. Made the tags today after showing Megan a sample and getting her approval. I am enjoying being involved in the wedding planning and making things.

Have  the flock swap this weekend so am working on getting ready for that. Just every day busy things around the homestead. Hope your days oare fillled with blessings!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Trying to Trick Blogger So I Can Post

  I guess it worked. I can't see past the first paragraph to see if the rest of the post is there. But at least something showed up before the ad.

I am so fed up with blogger! I keep getting video ads when I try to post, when I try to read other blogs, and when I was trying to change my background I couldn't get to the edit button for a ad. There are no places to click to make the ad go away, so it just stays there in your way. I have been using Firefox but was told if I use Google chrome I can use their pop up blocker to get rid of the problem. Am going to try and see how that works. I have goggle chrome on my laptop but just haven't taken the time to get use to using it. Right now I am writing this post in Microsoft words and will move it to post and see how that goes. Thanks everyone for all the advice on how to get around the problem. I know blogger needs to make money and don't mind the ads in the corner I can click to delete. I just hate having ads I didn't choose stay in front of things I need to do or see and have no way to delete or see around them.

Around the homestead is busy as ever. Trying to get a lot done before I head to the mountains the end of September. I will stay up there a few weeks and then come back for a wedding and a few things here before heading to the cabin for the winter. William hopes to be there by Thanksgiving. We are still slowly selling chickens. With the price of feed no one is buying more than one or two at a time. We want to get down to 15 or 20 to take to the mountains and have a ways to go. We have so many here because we have big egg customers that buy 10 to 15 dozen at a time. We won't have that in the mountains. We also have a few more rabbits to sell and several ducks. We are going to wait until the very end to sell Mammie and Buttons as we are using their milk. Will be taking Lil Vicki, Rosemary, and Mary with us. Hope to have them bred before they go up.

Garden is completely gone now. After being underwater so long from all the rain most if it died and the rest we just finished picking last week. We are going to have a small fall garden or at least try. I have been canning everything I can get my hands on. Want to be ready for a good old mountain winter! We have also been splitting and hauling firewood for here. Whoever is here will need firewood to heat the house and we will be back and forth a few days at a time and want to make sure there is plenty of wood. Have been helping William with some of his handyman jobs so that has slowed me down on homestead projects. There is a craft fair September 14th that I am trying to get ready for. Hope to have some handpainted signs and well as my soaps for sale. William is wanting to make laying houses for chickens. I think they will sell too. Just like everyone else we have lots to do but not lots of time. Hope you are enjoying the last days of summer and your days are filled with blessings! I am counting down till fall !!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Crazy

Blogspot has been crazy the past few days. Each time I start a post I get maybe 3 sentences and then a ad pops up and there is no way to delete it. It won't move nor will it let me type anything else on my post. I have several drafts that are waiting to be finished but can't because the dumb ads pop up.

So far things are okay posting today. In other things around here. I moved Lucy Goosey and all the ducks into one big pen. They all seemed to be doing well together. They have 2 kiddie pools and one bathtub to swim around in and lots of room to walk and be out of each others way.

I made a batch of strawberry jam today. 8 half pints and 2 pints. Wanting to make a batch of grape jelly and one of apple butter and that should be it with what I already have left from last year. The ad is back and making it impossible to type below the picture of  the jam. So I will cut this post short and try another one later with what else has been going on around the homestead. Have a blessed one!Wa