BBQ

Wednesday night, we went to a church barbeque at our friends place. They have their own park down by the creek behind their house. There were good eats, lots of good visiting, and music around the firepit. We went home smelling like campfire, funtimes.

Gettin' There

These are the barn doors Jim and I built recently. We were going to have a "painting day" today, but there were lots of odds and ends that needed to be finished first. As usual, there were plenty of time consuming glitches that put everything behind schedule. Shimming and trimming, caulking.... We'll try again tomorrow, and plan on getting an early start. We're pretty tired. Yesterday we loaded, hauled, and unloaded lumber from Kates. The rental trailer had to go back today. I had a wedding rehearsal to go to, and Jim mowed.

Girl time

Josie came and spent a few days with us while brother was gone to camp. The girls came and spent time with her. They had a lot of fun with the dress up trunk of clothes, and playing pioneers. We loaded everyone's bikes into the back of the pickup and went to a park. There was a picnic lunch, biking, wading, and skipping rocks in the river. When we got home they got completely soaked with the hose, which is totally Bella's kind of fun. That night we made home-made individual pizzas, movie night (The Retrievers), and a sleepover.

Aunt Laurel's

On our way home from the family reunion, we took a little trip down memory lane.

There used to always be barking collies to greet us as we drove in the driveway.

Recollections of: Hot summer nights sleeping on the porch, shrieking and hiding under the covers when bats would pay a late night visit. Listening with nail-biting intrigue to the scary stories of older cousins. Breathing in the warm fragrant smell of the unruly yellow rose "wall" on the south end. In the yard next to the rose bush, a bunch of kids all piled on the old gray mare. I always tried to sit right behind my oldest cousin, because she would make the horse rear, and everyone would go sliding off the back end, falling like dominoes. I would hang on for dear life. If I went....she was going too!

The dining room. The room where if there weren't other adults around, Aunt Laurel would let us "chopsticks" the ivories off of the old upright piano to our little hearts content. The room where she let me cut calico patches out and sew them into a doll quilt on the sewing machine.

So many yummy family meals of spaghetti, baked salmon with lemon, and sandwiches she cut out with cookie cutters for a summer day lunch for us girls. Extra special to me, considering she had been up before daylight, milking dairy cows.

When I stayed there, I was assigned calves to feed and take care of. Aunt Laurel gave us each an allowance, and took us to town to spend it as we pleased, while she washed clothes at the laundromat.

The old milk house. It was always wet and cool in there. And it seemed so much larger then.

One time, they returned me home after a visit, my cousins and I rode all of the way (over 150 miles) in a homemade camper on the back of this pickup. At a stop I remember my uncle getting us each soda pops and a bag of those orange peanut shaped marshmallow candies to share.

One year, Mom and Aunt Laurel got 100 baby broiler chicks. That was my first experience in butchering chickens. We set up work stations, and a pot of boiling water. Everyone teased and horsed around and we were all covered in wet feathers. It made a less than wonderful task another fun reminiscence.

The old place is up for sale now. It's not hard to imagine someone coming in and "cleaning it up". Someone razing all of the existing buildings and replacing them with new pole barns and a new house. I'm thankful the memories are with me forever.

First Day of Summer

Ahhhhhhh, the sun! the sun! streaming through the kitchen window! Welcome!

Hmmm, 1st day of summer, house full of kids, a farm full of eggs....what's for lunch?

lemonade and "heavenly eggs."

(Tori doesn't believe we should give the enemy anything.)

The little girls played and played. Riding double on the tricycle, pulling the wagon around, entertaining each other for hours.

Papa gave a "hayride" all over the place.... up the hill, through the orchard, down the lane. The kids loved it!

It was great having the kids here. The cousins enjoyed each others company so much. There were even some tears when the girlies went home. Bella loved all of the company and hugs too.
Unfortunately, little Joe's visit was cut short. We had to make an E.R. visit with an acute asthma attack and he went home with his Daddy afterwards, to spend time with his parents and the babies.

It's a Jungle Out There!

There is a lot of difference between a Cottage Garden and a Weeds gone Wild garden. Yikes. Who knew all that casual look required a little Miss Marple to work in it....24/7?? It's just not feasible around here. Our life is too fragmented for that. We are busy cleaning out the works, and going for a much cleaner look, with easier upkeep. Larger plants like the hydrangeas and ferns can stay. Flowers are going into pots.

Because....making your way through jungle high blackberry vines, dandelions, dock, and grasses,
is reeeeeally tiring.

Down at the Farm

When Matthew and Josie came for their time with us, we had a hoe-down throw down here at the farm. It was a kick in the pants, getting our musician/actors makeup and wardrobe gathered, and we had a blast "shooting" our "muvee".

Matthew helped me put pictures and music together, and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately our original version had many of the pictures in yesterday's post, plus more. It was so long, I couldn't post it or email it to anyone. That night working on it, we lost computer power, and much of our work, so after everyone went to bed, I set out to restore it. When I got to the hoe-down part, it was after midnight, and I was afraid I was going to wake everyone up. I was punchy, and I got so tickled at it, just cracked me up! Jim is suuuuuch a good sport. Don't you agree? He's always been so good about playing along and having fun. Down at the farm....He's the Hoot.....I'm the Nanni.

Spring Break

There were lots of little boots running around the farm last week for Spring Break.

There was cuddling and movie watching....

Egg gathering....

Enjoying Cousins, and playing Wii....

Drawing pictures

playing outside....

catching hailstones in hoodies, frolicking in a hailstorm....

Playing with Bella....

Making a movie.....

Eating..... Eating.....Eating.....

salmon & asparagus & rice

banana splits

hot dogs & chips

applesauce waffles

fish 'n chips

banana splits

popcorn & red vines

egg "Mc Muffins"

Super Nachos

root beer floats

Instead of the Freshman 15.....I have a feeling we've gained the Spring Break 17!

C.S.I.

Yes,

Yes I am....

giving a chicken a bath.

She was sick and I thought perhaps she was eggbound. I'd never heard of treating it by relaxing them in a warm bath before; but that's what a number of people recommended on-line.

You've heard the expression madder than a wet hen? Not even. She really did relax, it was amazing. She acted like she was in her own back yard spa. Unfortunately that, palpating, and a lubricant, did not help any, as she was not eggbound.

It was much more serious. I did additional on-line studies and performed an "autopsy" upon her death, revealing she had Ascites (fluid filling the abdomen) from EYP Egg Yolk Peritonitis and her organs had suffered a lot of damage. Sarah and I were talking about it on the phone last night, and she said I had my own C.S.I. .........

I guess that stands for Chicken (Sickness or Science) Investigation.

Snow Ice Cream

A dry snow....not the right stuff for snow balls, snowmen, and igloos;

but perfect for snow ice cream!

Start with one farm fresh egg in a mixing bowl.

Stir in 1/2 cup sugar.

Add 1/2 cup evaporated milk

and 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Whisk well.

Gather a nice large bowl of very clean snow.

Add snow to the custard mixture and stir in until the consistency you desire.

Sorry, we didn't get any pictures of the finished product...we were too busy lapping it up!
This was some left from the little farm-girl. She had already eaten a bunch. (We made a double batch)
.

*******No young children or elderly persons were poisoned with salmonella in the making of this treat******* If you are concerned about it, you could maybe cook the custard mixture first and chill, or use egg substitute? Haven't ever tried doing that, so am not sure if it would work or not.