Dial-up and electronic devices

I am posting this half awake or is it half asleep...lol. I was up until 3:30 am getting the youngest daughter`s new ipod on the computer, which has been an ordeal. Needless to say it is still downloading on the computer......Have I mention how much I hate dial-up? It has took me awhile to be able to download just itunes 10.0...a newer version then my oldest daughter`s ipod. I had to delete some files I had on the computer before I could get the itunes to download and forward the phone to a cell...that the signal comes and goes....the joys of living in the ozarks, in which I love very much and wouldn`t change where I live and bring up my children.
Needless to say, it took all night just to download this new version of itunes and I still don`t have it installed on the computer.......I am close though , I think, lol.
I was and thought I was gonna sleep in, but I got up at 8;30 am , my hubby had it so hot in the house with the wood stove, I bet it was about 90 degrees in the house...too hot to sleep, lol...and he asked if he didn`t to put another log on the fire.....huh no. Hopefully one day she will be able to put songs on her ipod..... I have been going at this for about 3 or 4 days......itunes showed an error and I finally got a good answer from somebody and who told me I needed more space on my computer that why`s it wouldn`t let me download.....so I delete some games and some files I didn`t need anymore....now I am downloading the new software , so I can install it. I sure didn`t have this much trouble with the older daughter`s ipod.....I am about to fell asleep , so I will go for now and post this

rabbits....

I thought I post on the rabbits today. I put their cages out in the sun yesterday and clean out from under the cages. I thought ...mmm.. it would be nice to have some baby rabbits next month....as I thought I had a doe and a buck.....so I put the I took out the youngest daughter`s rabbit ( buck) and put in with the oldest daughter`s rabbit ( doe, I thought). I know you are suppose to put the doe with the buck. I thought if they were to start fighting I can take one out. The oldest daughter`s rabbit is a hoodoni of sorts, it will get out of the other cage. Needless to say in my surprize ....I have two buck rabbits. I guess I will have to find a doe somewhere. Some neighbors down the road have some rabbits, I am hoping I can trade one of the bucks for a doe.
I don`t know which one I will try and trade with as I like both of the bucks, lol.
I guess I will go for now.

new addition... ramblings

My oldest daughter got her Christmas wish.....a dashund puppy. She named her cricket..not she don`t sound like a cricket. She has settled in to her new home....other then thw whining at night , which has gotten better. she is chocolate and tan in color and is already spoiled rotten.
Now the youngest wants a puppy and wants to name it .....homework, yes thats right homework....leave it to her to want to name a pup something different....The child who wants bandaids for her birthday every year and has asked for them as soon as she could talk, lolol. To each her own.
Cricket has had two baths in Dawn dish soap so far because of the bad black bug....fleas...their is not a one on her now, The Trixie and Princess don`t seem to like cricket very much..they kinda of ignore her....the ducks are scared of little cricket..she hasn`t met any of the chickens as of yet. Bandit ( the crazy heeler) thinks she is a squek toy to play with.

We went to mom`s for the Christmas dinner and her Chihuahua, Baby thought cricket was her baby. Seymour sure got a lot more snow then we did. We got snow flurries and none didn`t stick around for to long, yay. I made home -made waffles this morning as Santa bought me a waffle -iron like the motels have that you flip to cook. Ohh the waffles were good.He also bought me a meat therometer and a salad spinner and another ceramic cat to my collection of persian ceramic cats, of course I also collect chickens and I got one of them as well. I started collecting ceramic cats because I remember my grandmother had ceramic persian cats, needless to say I have a few along with the ceramic white ducks and chickens and recipes.

remembering the reason....

On this day the shephards saw the star , so bright and followed it till they found a babe laying in the manager, because their was no room for them in the inn.
The babe in the manager might have had humble beginnings , but he became a King.
Happy Birthday to him, JESUS

And MERRY CHRISTMAS to all

Christmas memories...traditions...

I was stumped for awhile on what to blog about...then I thought why not blog about Christmas since it is Saturday. So here it goes.
The traditions of our family are always having family, a big bowl of nuts and another bowl of apple and oranges and fun times. Their has always been bowl of nuts, sometimes not a big bowl, but none the less nuts and of course apples and oranges. I remember sitting in front of the tv and eating peanuts till they about made me sick....ooh how we love peanuts, salty goodness. Of course my dad would always get as many dinners as possible in. We would have a dinner with mom and dad, where if you didn`t get the first time around the table forget you wasn`t getting a second helping of what ever it was, mine was usually mashed potatoes and gravy, mmmm good. Then we would get to mom`s side of the family dinner... not always enough tators for me...but everyone ate good....My mom would then fix dinner for just us and plenty of mashed potatoes. We would always have chocolate covered cherries, at least one box of them and ribbon candy.
The tree was always put up the week of Christmas. The presents were always put under the tree before Christmas , once they were wrapped of course.
I now , as parent put the Christmas presents under the tree on Christmas eve after the girls have gone to bed, their is still nuts and apples and oranges in the house. We don`t go to as many dinners as when I was a kid. My dad has since passed as well as all my grandparent except for one, but she is not able to cook anymore as she has alzheimers...I think a disease that robs you of your family. Candy is still in the house and memories are still there of the past of my growing up. I am making new memories with my children now. Every Christmas eve my hubby and the girls make cookies to put out for Santa along with a glass of milk, who the cats usually get. The oldest one don`t believe anymore but the gifts don`t go under the tree till the go to bed.....as they like to snoop.

thoughts of days gone by.....phones

Today when I was out shopping, I seen something that made me miss some things that have gone by. I seen a grandmother entertaining her grandchild, who was I say about 2 or 3 years old, playing with an app on her smart phone ( a game of some sorts). Remember when you just needed a phone to call a friend or a loved one. Today a phone is more than a phone, it`s a camera, or it could be a game system to play games on, it`s more then just a phone. You can even get certain apps to let you know of weather forcasts and daily remaiders of things that need to be done.
This so amazes me of the techology that we have, shoot 10 or 20 years ago who would have thought of a phone being more then a phone, a entertainment device.
I remember when I entertained my children myself, besides them bringing their favorite toy along to the store, or letting them play with some small toy that didn`t cost that much, of course the child ended up with it. Or giving them a set of keys to play with or a doll for a little girl to play with. these days , children want the latest electronic thing out there....
What happened to just pure and simple phones and simple things....when a phone was a phone,....a camera was a camera to take pictures with.
Yes, I agreed I do like some of the modern things, I don`t think I would let my 2 or 3 year old, if I had one that young, play with my smart phone..... I think I payed too much for it and it isn`t a play thing for a 2 or 3 year old. I hope I am not alone on this.

Remembering the things of days gone by I guess is not important....I just wonder what kind of things will be out there when my two girls are grown-up and have kids of their own...Will they look back and remember and think that these times and things that are out their now are simple ....... What will things be like then.....What kind of toys will they be......Just some questions that have come to my mind.

Christmas Program....

The girls school put on their Christmas program last night. The youngest had a speaking part and I thought she did really well, of course I am bias. My mom reminded me that next year the oldest will not have a Christmas program unless she is in music, that is so sad, and I doubt she will take music, she likes music, but doesn`t like to sing in public...teenage thing I think...ohh the blessings of having a teenager. So she will get to go and watch the younger one perform next year. The oldest really didn`t do anything at the program last night, the eighth graders were in charge of props and sound and effects, needless to say she is not one of the favorites at the school, yes the small school plays favoritism and alot of politics there, but I am not gonna get started about that, even though I could easily.
The Christmas program was very good, and a few laughs were had by all, the children are so funny sometimes during these programs, especiality the younger ones.

We are suppose to get some freezing rain here some time today. Ohhh , what joy.......freezing rain......I think I would rather have some snow.......as long as I didn`t have to drive in it.

bitter cold.....under the weather....

We didn`t go to the local Christmas parade because of the bitter cold and the chance for snow, I do not like to drive in it. We did get a light dusting of snow along with bitter cold winds along with it. If it wasn`t nailed down , it blew and ended up somewhere else in the yard or fields around us. We got a couple of nights with single digit temps. Saturday night because of of the wind half watched frosty on the television, What I mean by that is the wind kept taking out our signal, I hat digital tv becaue of this, The picture is great as long as the wind isn`t blowing or nothing in the air to keep the signal from coming thru, needless to say I am glad it will be coming on the tube again. We just have regular tv here , so no satulite here just regular tv. It is nice to watch the cartoons that I grew up watching whith the girls, The holiday cartoons that is.

Sunday it was still bitter cold and so was I and the older daughter, she had caught the stomach bug that has been going around, so both of us was sick. I have some sort of head cold, it is the season for it, but doesn`t mean I have to like. I have much rather have it then my girls to have. The youngest wasn`t ill, but complained of a sore throat, so both stayed home monday, Both are back in school today and the school`s program is tonight. I am feeling better today and still feel at time like the energy has been drained from me. I was gonna bake some Christmas cookies sunday , but I did not feel up to it, Oh well their is still all next week anyway to make them, both girls will be home for the Christmas break , so we will get some made then along with some homemade bread of some kind for the chickens and ducks. Well I better be going for now.

Baby , its cold outside.......

Today is a nice day for winter, ok not officiallity winter yet here. But tomorrow will be a differnt day. The high for tomorrow will be in the 40`s ,then the bottom will drop out and it is supposed to be rainy and might get some snow. Today the high is in the 50`s. The local parade is tomorrow and we will not be going due to the weather, I feel sorry for all those cheerleaders walking in the shortskirts,their legs are gonna be soo cold.
The chickens are out today just a scracthing in the leaves, and getting all the goodies that they can find.I am gonna cut this blog entry short so I can go and enjoy the weather.

update on afghan.....

This is the bottom row of the afghan. it is what I have so far, it is getting heavy with just this much so far. All of it is done in sngle crochet.

The picture above is of block 30. It is a bowl of sorts with roses and daffadils. I di d not like the pattern for the daffadils ,so I used another pattern I had for the flowers from a music box doll that had all sorts of flowers on her dress. I have made these in the past, music box dolls and have sold these as well. it is hard to find the dolls now.

This is block 29 ,just a stem with finger flowers

This is block 28. A block full of grapes. The pattern stated to have blue grapes and I put a bunch of purple and blue. I did not like the pattern of the grapes, so I made my own pattern, based on a grape doily pattern.

Last but not least this is block 27. This block is suppose to be a couple of branches of cherries. To me they look like some pretty red flowers.

trip to st louis...

Yesterday was a long day. We left at 4 in the morning, got in St Louis about 10 am and started with her appointments for the day( youngest daughter). First to do the OT and to my surpirize PT eval as well. The therapists made it so fun for her. She is weak in the legs and ankles ,so she need to do some exercises every day about 30 minutes at a time. They gave her some therapy dough ( like silly putty) .This is to stop the neuropathy in her hands, so she gets to play with some dough at least 30 minutes a day. They suggested to have her make cookies or dough of some kind ,mixing it with hands, playing board games with her feet.
Then on to the next appointment of the day...school liason, doctor, and social worker. She is starting to have some trouble with her comprehension at times after reading a book. The local school has what they call AR goal the every student has to do, they read a book and take a test on it, The test scores have to be at a certain level, or rather they want it at a certain level and then each quarter they get to do fun things if they meet the certain percentage on the tests.

The doctor says ,that alot of parents complain about their child being so tired , so they suggested to increase her activity, so the being tired won`t be such a big deal. In which some ways that makes since, but in other ways don`t. Some days school wears her out completely.

Then on to the other doctor and then labs . Her ANC was very good. Then on to home yay.

We got home late yesterday so we let both of them sleep in for awhile and took them to school, the youngest was still tired, and I know both will have alot of homework tonight.

We also were told after the next appoitment, we will only have to come once a year, yay . This will be in the summertime, another plus, no dealing with well is it gonna snow I am trying to get back rested up and things geared up for Christmas. I have the tree up ,but not decorated yet.

insights to living with cancer....

I decide I would make this blog entry about life with a child that has been diagnosed with Leukemia. When you first get the news, you feel like the floor has just drop up underneath you. No ,it can`t be my child, why,why!
It was hard for her going thru the treatments, taking the yucky medicine, besides losing her hair twice, yes ,I had a bald little girl at one time, wearing a mask everytime we went somewhere and having people stare at her, those that don`t know. Wondering if her counts were good ,so she can go to school or go someplace fun or even take the mask off. Wearing the mask is to prevent her from catching something, in which she still caught a few bugs during that time. I had one person came up to me during one of those times of wearing the mask and he asked if she was gonna to hold up the station, I just said her counts may be low and you could give her something, he didn`t say anything after that. Her treatments have been over with for alomst 3 years, yay!
The people around here that know her, each time we say well we are getting ready for another trip to St Louis, is she sick? No, we just have check-ups every 6 months, to make sure everything is ok. Just like her teacher, who I asked how she was doing with her school work, oh she is doing ok and she is done with her treatments so their shouldn`t be a problem now.She may be done with the treatments, but their is still the late-effects from those treatments. My biggest complaint is her being soooo tired at times. Sometimes ,a full day of school wears her out soo much. She falls asleep on the way home. She would like to play Basketball, but I am soo worried about her....I could just see her laying on the bench during a game and sleeping, lol.
I think she is starting to have trouble in her school work, its not really showing yet, except for her reading ,in which she can`t remember what she just read and does bad on the test for the story she just read.In which this is a late-effect from the chemo that she had.

I remember thinking one day while at the drug store, while waiting on them to make her meds, while she was taking chemo, I seen the lady come up with a mask on and she had just made her medicine am I putting in my daughter, then it occured to me, these meds are making her better and keeping the cancer away for now, so she needs them.

So ,please remember that after the chemo is over, their are still late effects that the families have to deal with.

pic of village...fun x-mas tree facts..

This is a few pictures from my christmas village I put up every year. This first picture is of the skating pond along with a business selling trees, looks like they are all sold out ,except for one.

This picture is of the barns that are in the village, in which no village is complete without the barns. I have a dairy barn as well as a horse barn. By the dairy barn their is someone milking a cow ...oooh first milk.

This one is of one of my favorite churchs that I have in my collection. It is fiber-optic and is very pretty when it is plugged in. Their is a small navity scene by this church as well as a family of deers.Yes, you do see a cabbage patch figurine in this picture , I have several toy figurines in the village. I even have Santa Claus, which moves around the village at different locations, which I am the one moving him around. The girls always look for him and of course move him.

I did not light the village up this year as it is hard to find enough plug-ins so as to light up the whole village.

Now, on to some fun Christmas tree facts. These facts came from the girl`s school newsletter.

There are approxiamately 25- 30 million real christams trees sold in the U. S. every year.

There are close to 350 million Real Christmas Trees currently growing on Christmas Tree farms in the U. S. Alone, all planted by farmers.

Norht American Real Christmas Trees are grown in all 50 states and Canada. Eighty percent of artificial trees worldwide are manufactured in China, according to the U S commerce Department.

Real trees are a renewable, recyclable resource. Artificial trees contain non-biogradable plastics and possible metal toxins such as lead.

There are more than 4,00 local Christmas Tree recycling programs throughout the United States. For every Real Christmas Tree harvested,1 to 3 seedlings are planted the following spring.

There are about 350,000 acres in production for growing Christmas Trees in the U.S. ; much of it preserving green space.

There are close to 15,000 farms growing Christmas trees in the U. S. and over 100,000 people are employed full or part-time in the industry.

It can take as many as 15 years to grow a tree of typical Height ( 6-7 feet) or as little as 4 years, but the average growing time is 7 years.

Birthday....

Today is my birthday and it is cold outside. I was hoping for warm weather ,so I could take a nice walk, ( I have added a few pounds on). Mother Nature has other plans, north wind blowing, whisteling thru the trees...brrrrrr. No big plans here ,as it is too cold outside and my hubby has to work tonight.
My two daughters have already given me my birthday card that they had made, these are always better then the ones you get from the store.....Homemade with love. I think the gifts that you make yourself are a gift of yourself to that person. Some of their friends also made me a card, in which I am alittle mad at, or rather upset at......she put my age on there..... My youngest daughter wrote the ageof 21... lol. Oh well, birthdays are a celebration of life.....and what life that has been so far......2 marriages, birth of 3 beautiful children, loss of one of those children...a child coming down with cancer, who is in remission, yay and thank God for that. I thank Him everyday for the many blessings he provides. It is almost time to go get the girls, so I will stop for now.....Everyone have a good day and night!

cat riding horse... update on afghan

Yes, this is a picture of Panther,

my oldest daughter`s cat ,born on her birthday. Panther will ride in a bag on her bike down the road, and loves it. It did ride Cocoa for a while earlier. This was the best picture of him setting on the miniature horse, Cocoa. It is small I think for his age, He was born back in the spring of this year. His eyes are a yellowish-green, so pretty. He is not solid black, he does has a few white hairs, but from afar looks all black.

The other picture is ,this is the first block I have done on the Baltimore Quilt Afghan that I am doing. This is block 26. I am working the row of blocks as I am doing it , to make it easier hopefully. I did have to take it apart several times, hince so it would be right.

The rose in the middle I think was the hardest part of this block.
I am now working on block 27 ,which has stems and cherries on it., so far it looks ok.

I made turkey chili today with the leftover turkey. We have leftover dressing and pumpkin and chocolate pie left from the feast on Friday and it has been nice today.

Happy Thanksgiving

First of all Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. Their is alot to be thankful for here on the farm. I am doing my baking today, as we are having Thanksgiving tomorrow, thanks to this Missouri weather. It stormed last night , and actually snowed today, just a light dusting of snow. I called my mom and she stated she had about a 1/4-inch of snow today. It is supoose to be bitter cold tonight , down in the teens ( 18). Brrrr that is cold and it`s not even officiality winter yet.
My hubby and I usually go out and are one of the crazy people that do Black Friday shopping at wally world here in our local town. I can not imagine going to a big city and doing black friday, anywho, this year I am not gonna be going as my hubby works tonight and will be there at wally world working and laughing at the people.
The things I was interested in was to be sold at midnight anyway and I don`t want to leave my two girls alone here at the house and it is gonna be bitterly cold so, I am not gonna go this year to black friday. Of course ,that don`t mean I might stop by there tomorrow.

need new stove..and other things...

Yes ,the title is correct I think I need a new stove. Last night we had a treat and I fixed frozen pizza, wanted something simple since, I will be cooking Thursday . I started smelling something burning and it wasn`t the pizza. The smoke alarm went off, I looked in the oven and it didn`t need cleaned out, in which I try and keep it clean. So , the pizza was cut in half and put in the toaster oven, till I could further investiage what the cause of the burning. this morning I looked at the oven and the bottom piece under the bottom piece (close to the broiler) was apart and was very close to the burner. So ,told my hubby and he states it could possibly be welded back. My hubby is not a welder, we called up a friend and he says just bring it by and he will see what he can do. So I will be using the toaster oven until I get it fixed or a another one. I am sooo hoping for another one, since this one is quite old.Another stove is gonna be hard to find, since the space is 36-inches and I have looked at those and they are quite expensive, hopefully we can find a used one somewhere . I am gonna start tomorrow the baking of the pies for thursday and get my dressing ready for thursday ,so all I have to do is stick it in the oven.

Remember the Baltimore aquilt afghan I am working on, I am redoing it. I did not like the squares and thought the squares looked too narrow to fit the applicate in and I tried it on one block and it was. I followed the pattern to the letter, needless to say it is being redone and I am fixing the pattern so it will look better for the squares. So I am taking it apart.

The chihuahua`s got a new crate to sleep in while they are in the house and a new pillow to put in the crate. You should have seen Trixie prancing around in front of Spunky, I got a new , a new crate. Princess liked it as well and was very happy about the new crate. It just seemed Trixie was very excited.

remember when....

We sat down as a family tonight and watched the waltons , I have some of the series on dvd . This was good family entertainment, no worries about what the walton children would say, while watching the tv, no worry about the children getting the ideas of being wicked. A story or rather a tv show that had true values and taught true values and morals, unlike some of the shows that our children watch these days. I am not saying I don`t like some of the shows that are out there , but some of the language that is used and the comments that are being made during the show.
Can you remember back when tv was a wholesome entertainment , yes their were cop shows that we all loved; Starsky and Hutch, columbo, quincy , Chips, to name a few. Their were family shows like All in the family, the waltons, little house on the praire. Remember when we weren`t afraid of letting our children watch anything on tv.Now ,we worry about the shows they watch on tv, because of the content of the shows.
Just a thought I would throw out and a pondering of my soul , or a longing for these shows to get back on tv. Wholesome show , like tese instead of shows like 2 and half men or the other ones out there

got rain.....and other things...

We finally got some rain, at least enough to get rid of leaves that have fallen and some brush. We didn`t want to start a fire and set the whole place a burning. Their is several fields around us of dry grass. My husband is just dying to burn the leaves around the house, but with the wind and dry conditions, not gonna happen.

The youngest is home sick today, caught some bug of throwing up that is going around school. Of course she has been complaining of feeling like she is gonna throw -up for a week now, she finally did it yesterday, she is feeling ok right now, so I guess she will be going to school tomorrow. The school has it`s annual Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, where the parents and grandparents can come and eat dinner with the kids. The youngest daughter said, " mom, you don`t want to eat their food, it`s no good". The oldest daughter agrees, I guess you know how they feel about the food by their statements, the oldest says it`s either burnt or not done.

I guess that is all for now......need to go and pick up the older daughter from school and take her to her girl scout meeting...

The things happening here

It is first day of deer season here. We usually don`t go deer hunting around here. the couple of times that my husband has gone since we have been married, he came home without a deer. He usually sat in or put his hand in a cow pile, needless to say he doesn`t go deer hunting. We have had deer meat, but from someone else that had extra.
My husband just threaten to get on his brown coveralls and hold up his deer rack and run streaking thru the woods, He wondered all many would shoot at him, I would say alot , lololol

I have started another afghan, I didn`t like the stained glass window one , so I broke it down and started the baltimore quilt afghan. I have had to teared it apart three times, first it was the needle, I used the wrong size, it called for G hook and I was using the H hook, I was on row 22. Then I realizied that I didn`t have enough stitches, I had 220 and it called for 225 foundtion chain. Then I had 223 stitches. I sooo glad I got it right this time. I hope I can finish this project. It calls for over 300 rolls , and then the same amount of row for the sides, besides the patterns for each square.
I am also working on the buck-a-block from last year , it is done in copper and white. Besides this years buck-a-block in which I am doing in two colors, mauve and a purple color.

I guess that is all for now, Good luck to those deer hunters out there

not much happening here....

As the title says not much happening here on the farm, for the time being. Just the usually thing gearing up for winter, Bringing wood to the house and piling it up to dry out a bit. We use wood as another source of heat.
Last week the youngest daughter was home basically all week from somekind of bug. Stomach flu is going around at school.
Dixie stampede was a very good show saturday, as usually. Two of the girl scouts that went have not been there before , so they enjoyed it so much. My youngest was watching the show and stating to me which horses were which during the show, yes, she memorized their names and what they looked like....she had her favorites... which were competeing for our side. lol.
We all had fun.

flu shots....

The girls both had a doctor`s appoitment in springfield yesterday. both got their flu shot, or should I say flu mist, which looked easy enough to take and not quite painful. Leave to my girls to make mountain out of a molehill as to regards to shots. The oldest had to have three nurses hold her down ,just to get the mist in her nose. I can`t wait and see what she does when having a baby,.... Ok I can wait since she is only 13... I don`t want her to have one until she is at least 30. lol.
The youngest wasn`t as bad, she still had to be held but by one nurse. She also had a shot of hep A, which she thought should be done in her finger( that`s is where her labs are done every 6 months). Needless to say it is always a experience to take my girls to the doctor, especiality when shots are involved.
I visited the Ladybug shop also, Girl Scouts, to get 2 patches for the oldest daughter`s sash to be ready for saturday. I so loved that shop, well enough for now.

voting...

This is just a let everyone know , you need to go and vote tomorrow. I know their has been some controversary over proposition B here in missouri. I am voting No on it. Just letting everyone know how I feel about this issue.
I have been a hobby breeder at one time. I took care of my dogs. I took care of the animals I had and have. The animals that I used to breed , were and are Pets first, then were breeders next. I still have the two females that I had bred in the past and they are members of the family and will not be bred again as like I said are pets and loved members of our family. I no longer am a breeder, but I still know some that do breed their animals and these people love their animals and would not mistreat them. They have water and are fed well and have shelter.
So please those bloggers out there that live in missouri vote no on proposition B.

not much happening here....

Like the title says, not much happening here on the farm, still got a crazy muscovey duck setting. It is Elizabeth that is setting on 1 egg, I figured that she could at least keep one baby warm ,maybe.
Last night ,we got the first hard freeze of this season. It got the oldest daughter`s watermelon plant. I threw the one little watermelon to the pen of the quackers ( ducks that quack, Cayuga breed) and did they eat it up. It didn`t get the one rose that is blooming, which is still as pretty as it was yesterday.
The oldest daughter had a 24 hour bug yesterday, I went and got her from school, she ached all over and had a low-grade temp. I hope the youngest don`t get it. Now watch her get it the next weekend, we are planning on going on a girl scout field trip to dixie stampede. OOOOOOoooo how I love their soup, besides the other food, .........oh yea the show as well too...it will be the christmas show. I love the navity scene that they do , it is all so magical, of course the season of christmas is magical and all the wonders of the season in which we celebrate. The way they do it is so pretty.
I think I will be setting up my Christmas village this year, already got my navity scene up, not I can`t wait for black friday weekend to put it up, or I could put it up before then , no I will wait.But I can start thinking about it and how to display the buildings and the different layers of the village. Our local Wally world don`t have any village pieces this year that I have seen, I guess I will have to look elsewhere. My birthday is coming soon and that is usually what I ask for is a village piece of some kind. I think I need more trees for the village. I might go out exploring and use what mother nature has such as sticks.
I guess that is all for now, it is almost time to take the cupcakes that I made to the school for the youngest daughter`s halloween party. The oldest had to bring something salty, so chips was the thing to bring.

Oh Yea, HAPPY HALLOWEEN to everyone out there in blog land

busy weekend.. birthday... girl scouts...

This past weekend has been a very busy weekend. Friday, we celebrated the youngest birthday, 9 years old. She won a few months ago , a gymnasitics birthday party, so that it what we had. We were limited to 15 children, I invited 8. Only one of those 8 came, her best friend. They had a blast, even though there was only three in total. Both my two girls and the one friend that came. I was very disappointed ,that nobody else showed up. I mean how often does one from our small town get to go to a gym and learn and play on balance beams, uneven bars, etc. oh well.

Saturday was a girl scout function, and really the youngest actual birthday. So we went....a big disappointment. They separated the girls in our troup and put them with others they didn`t know. The hay ride was soooo sloooow and not very exciting. Next was picture taking ,which was not at all exciting, Picture being taken with other girls, who didn`t want to talk to the other girls from our troup, Our girls tried to talk to them, but they didn`t answer them back. So we all decided to leave . I thought We might go to the annual pig roast our volunter firefighters have every year, nobody was there, it was over with, so the girls and I went home.

Sunday was a day of rest and to try and figure out what the girls would wear , since the next day was hippy day at school, This is red ribbon week.

witch`s stew

This recipe is from what my youngest and I came with. She has to journal sometimes on her school work. She has a theme for each day on the journal entry. So here is our witch`s stew recipe

1 heaping cup of monsters
11 frogs, slimy is best
10 spiders
cobwebs
3 scary jack-o-lanterns
1 black cat

Mix all ingredients in big black pot and stir with broom handle until done.

a new addition

We have a new addition here on the farm. Another rabbit , who just happens to be a doe. Her name is Hope. Here is the story on how we got her. My mom who lives in town , was outside and she seen something white and she went to investigate and low and behold a bunny. Needless to say she got it and bought it to us She first tried to catch it with a carrot, it wasn`t interested in that, then lettuce leaf and that is when she caught it. Hope belongs to the oldest daughter, her rabbit that she bought in the summer months died from the heat. Now I can have some baby rabbits, someday. Yah. The other rabbit we have is a buck and small as well. His name is fluffy, I think he might be possible have lion head in him ,cause he has somewhat of a small mane. Hope looks like a dawf bunny with the small ears. The oldest daughter named her Savannah Hope , Hope for short. At first she wouldn`t eat rabbit pellets, but now she is.

crazy duck

Why do I say I have crazy ducks? Elizabeth ( muscovey) is laying and thinks she wants to set, which would make her eggs hatch somewhere about the middle of November, if it was spring I wouldn`t mind her setting on some eggs. But fall is another story, it gets cool in fall and sometimes down right cold in November here. A couple of years ago ,we had a muscovey hatch out in the fall/winter time and needless to say her babies didn`t make it.
Lavender is also laying under the porch where no-one can get her eggs, unless a person crawls on their belly to get them.

do I look that old......

For last week , my youngest daughter`s friends have thought I was her grandmother instead of her mother. Yes , I am her mother and I have the scar to prove it ( She was a c-section) and I did carry her for nine months. I really don`t think I look that old . I am in my middle forties and I had my children late in life. I was 37 when I had my youngest and I would not change that. Considering what my husband and I have been through in our marriage. Their is four years difference between my two girls. I did not want another child after our son was born, because we did not think we could handle the possibly of having another child like him. I don`t regret having him. When We decided to have another child ,we wanted the oldest to know what it is like to have a normal sibling, of course what is normal. Cody was around the clock care, seven days a week, not that normal children aren`t. A person could not sleep during the night, since he could not swallow and had to be suctioned out. Yes, he was fed by a feeding tube and I never heard him say momma but I loved him just the same.
I do admit I do have grey hairs, I have natural frosting of my hair, lol.I love being a mom to both of my girls, even though they can be a handfull at times, red hair comes with tempers to match.
I have been thought I was a grandmother from both children and a parent. Who both don`t know our family. They are children ,whose family have moved into the area. So please don`t assume that a person picking up the child is a grandparent just because they have grey hair.

history ponders......

The other day I was helping my husband mow the cemetary and I was thinking about the different people buried there , especialty the old graves. What they would think of the world today in which we lived. What stories they would tell of the days in which they lived. Are they any relatives that they have that remember them from days that have gone by.
We have mowed the cemetary for at least 2-3 years now. During memorial day ,the older graves do not have flowers on them. I know some of the family that is buried there ,but not all.

This remembering of history that has gone by ,got to me thinking of how I got started in family research. I was putting flowers on the grave where my paternal Grandfather is buried at Oak Grove in the old town of Owens, which is between Hartville and Norwood, Missouri and my grandmother told me I was related to all of those people, who were buried there. My relatives on my father`s side founded the little town of Owens, all is left is the sign stating where the town once was and the old store building , in which a relative owned and ran for many years.

I just wonder what they would have thought of this economy, of our president of United States,
of the techonology, One person can talk to another person by just using the computer or using the telephone, what they would have thought about the world wide web ,we call the internet, the cost of our food and clothing.

Fall is here....

Fall is here in the beautiful ozarks. The trees are just starting to show the colors of fall, brown ,yellow, orange, red.We have had our first frost, patchy at best here.The nights are cool, where you need a jacket. Time to bring out the sweatshirts.
My oldest daughter`s watermelon plant is still going strong, their is one watermelon on the vine I am watching.The last of summer`s goodness. Persimmons are falling from the trees. I am thinking about making some persimmon butter. Their is a spoon in the seed ,which means some shoveling in our future. I will put that thought on the back burner for now. I somewhat like winter, but not the snow or ice.I think though if I lived somewhere where it didn`t snow or ice, I would miss it.
The girls have had their school carnival, in which we came home with a cake, in which I won at the cake walk, among other things. My youngest bought a ceramic cat, she seen the day before, which is very beautiful.I also got a exprssso maker, I have not tried it out yet. Neither one of my girls got to be queen or princess for the carnival, but they are already princess for the Give The Kids The World in Florida.
Soon it will be the Glade Top trail walk the school has annually, it is so beautifull up there with all the falls colors in glory.
It also will be soon the youngest daughter`s birthday, she will be turning 9 years old. Of course who could forget Halloween, then on to November and all of the birthdays, not everyone`s birthday is in this month, but I have at least 1 birthday each week.I guess that is it for now.

cocoa bean

This picture is of Cocoa is a few years old. My camera`s batteries are dead and even though I was at wally world last night, I forgot to pick some up.
Anyway this is my daughters minature horse, who I swear is part goat, sometimes.We got him when my oldest was four years old, she is now 13. He was a stud and a friend told us he would be more gentle if we cut him. So our friend found someone who could do it. When he was being cut, my daughters and I were in the house. The oldest at the time thought they was killing him, try to explain to a four old.Any way he is a gelding as of the moment.He is green broke. At that time he was our oldest daughter`s horse.
He has been sold to some friends down the road, they gave him back when the youngest was diagnosed, so techically he is the youngest`s daughters horse. But we all love him ,even though he is spoiled.I told my hubby, that he is not gonna to sell him again .That is all the youngest talked about when she was in the hospital.
Let`s see he has eaten roasted marshmallows. got it all over him. He has eaten weeds I thought he wouldn`t eat, he ate them cause I said he wouldn`t eat it ,just to prove me wrong. He will race with my hubby.He is spoiled rotton, everytime we go to the garage ( where we keep our feed) he thinks he needs to be fed also, even though he was fed earlier in the day, with hay or grain.
When winter hits ,as you can see in the picture he looks like a wooly little horse.
He loves it when I am pulling weeds out of the flower bed in our yard, I just throw over the fence and chomp, chomp he goes.

Quilt show, fall

We went to a quilt show yesterday in springfield. I saw alot of beautiful quilts.I also saw alot of pretty fabric. So much fabric ,sew little time to quilt with. I got a glittery fat quarter to use in my barn quilt for the month of December, which means snow sometimes here in missouri.I do not like snow to drive on, but it is pretty to look at after the falling and seeing the glistening of the sun hitting it.

We have a persimmon tree in the field behind us. I went and pick one or other 4 and looked inside of two of the seeds, a shovel is what I seen ,so that means a lot of shoveling in these parts. I have been thinking about trying some persimmon butter and some jelly. I have to wait until it frosts here, but with this cool weather , probably won`t be long. I have never made any of these but wouild like to try them.

Some of the trees are now starting the turning of the leaves to orange, yellow and red ,brown. Which comes the soup making and chilli eating time.

nothing exciting here....

Well, like the title of this post nothing exciting going on around here. The summer heat is back, along with the humidity.I so enjoyed the cool nights we had a couple of weeks ago.I thought of something to post on saturday night ,while I was waiting for my husband to get home, but come sunday morning the thought was gone. They say , that`s the first thing to go.....lol. Ok I am not the old, just a young chicken, lol.

Enough bout age. All of the tv shows are coming back on, yay. I get see my favorites, new ones ,instead of reruns. I am anxouis to see all my favorites and check out a couple of the new ones. I watched Chase last night, it was pretty good.

therapy, new modem, first place.....

I have some catching up to do since I posted last.I am now doing physical therapy at home ,due to neck pain. The neck pain stemed from the migranes I was having.The doctor sated that I have bone spurs in the neck, ( several) and degenerative ,which is like arthritis, but not.Sometime my left arm goes numb but able to still move it. This is due to a bone spur between the 6 and 7 cervical vertibrae. So therapy for now. I do cervical traction, which is a contraption that pulls your neck up, I don`t know if any of you have seen the Andy Griffin show where Barney has to be a certain height ,so they put a device like the cervical traction on him,Yes, my family laughs at me, lol.
The old modem went out, don`t know why , but it did, seems like we replace the modem every year.
I entered 2 of my quilt tops at the Seymour Apple festival and one won first place. Yay, it was my county fair chicken quilt, It took me a long time to get all the block patterns for this. I was not gonna enter this one but my mom stated why don`t you enter that one, so I did. The other quilt top was the Peace quilt pattern that Walmart had put out in July. My oldest so loves this quilt, She might get it for christmas.
I have started 2 quilts for my girls for christmas, I hope I get them done, as well as an afghan ,that I work on at night.The quilts that I am doing are rabbits doing various things, it is embroidery work and I am trying hard to keep it from them.I am also making a another quilt just for fun of barns.The Afghan is a stained glass window, which I am using scraps of yarn that I have, I work on this at night, since my old eyes can`t see the eye of the needle to thread it, lol

finally...rain...

We finaaly got rain ,we got 2 1/2 inches heres yesterday. Other places in southwest missouri got more ,some 10 inches ,that is total for the day.I hope it will convinced the grass to grow where the Cocoa ( miniature horse) is. The cooler air with out the humidity is gonna be great.The chickens are starting to lay somewhat again, yaya. I hate buying store-bought eggs. The home grown eggs are so much nicer, deep yellow yolks, yum.
Something got a hold of mascara, she is not gone but is now penned up for her safty and my piece of mine.Hopefully she will make it, at least the flies are not around her wound. The youngest put Blue eyes 2 children in the pen next to Mascara, she stated she wanted them to keep her company.So Blue Eyes is hanging around the pen and talking to these 3. Blue Eyes children are grown and she still treats them like they are small.

Where or where can the rain be....?

It has been dry here for quite awhile. Yes, we have had a few teasers in the way of rain, but nothing to measure in the rain guage.The grass just crinkles under your feet. My garden is so dry, the tomatoes are done for the year,the corn bit the dust and I have pulled up the stalks and saving them for fall decorations around here.The one lone watermelen plant is still green with a little yellow here and there and is still flowering , so maybe ( might be wishfull thinking). We have had some hopes of rain, but when it reaches the dry missouri air , it frizzles out.The cool nights have been a joy,Haven`t ran the AC, which is nice.
If anybody out there in blog-land has an excess of rain can you please send to missouri.

Bandit...the crazy heeler

I thought I would blog about our crazy Red Heeler pup named Bandit.His oringal name was bandana, but the girls shorten it to bandit.I was wanting a varmit dog, one that would chase away coyotes and get possoms and coons away from my pouultry. I have tried mountain cur dogs, and I thought maybe a heeler . I seen a beautiful red heeler in back of a truck one day and told my friend what a beautiful dog she had. Later she told me that her daughters boyfriend`s dog was gonna have pups by her male, I told her I wanted one, a male if possible.
I got him and didn`t know how crazy he was then.He is about 6 months old now and is crazy as a loon. He will chase and attack your shadow, chase a red laser light at night and try to get it. We have a duck pond ( a old turtle sandbox) that he goes in and digs and and bites the water. He hates to have the water hose spray him, but he will chase the water from the hose and bite at it.The last time we got rain, which seems like forever, he attacked the rain as it fell off the roof.Bandit has gone after rocks, I think he has ate a few, lol.If I throw out something out the back and he is in grabbing distance ,he will gobble it up ,no matter what it is, so no-one else will get it. He has woofed down a tomato slice, a jalepeno( seeds and all), now when I throw something out he does smell it unless others are around, like the the chihuahuas or chickens or ducks.

new ducklings, birthday, showers....

Lavender ,that was sitting under the porch has hatched out about 15 baby ducklings, ok I lost count how many that makes of muscovies, lol.All seemed to be the usual coloring of her other batch.
Yesterday, was my mom`s birthday and we took out for ice cream at Uncle Rooster`s, I sooooo love that place.She got a strawberry sundae and got her picture tooken with a rooster hat on it, and of course the girls wrote on the floor, yes this place is where your kids, or you for that matter can write on the floor.It`s also an orchard as well. I looked at the peaches, I plan on going back sometime next week and get some to make some more jelly.
We have gotten a few showers ,but not enough to put water in the rain guage or to settle the dust.Bandit, the red heeler pup loved the rain, snapping at the rain drops as they fell.I swear this pup was dropped on his head sometime before we got him, lol. He will barked at your shadow and try and get it and get a mouth full of grass.

Brumley gospel music

I went thursday to the annual Brumley Gospel music concert in lebanon,missouri.I went with my mom and it was awesome. I seen 6 groups plus a very funny comedian, who told jokes without using foul language. All of the groups were very good.The cocert started at 7 pm,but really it started at 6:45 pm because all of the groups got on stage and sung some of the old time gospel tunes that we all know and love written by brumley, I`ll fly away is one of them. The cocert started out with the Isaac`s singing the National Athem, Star Spangled Banner, it gave me goose bumps to hear this beautiful song with the beatuiful voices of this group.Each group sung about 30-45 minutes a piece. Did say it was awesome.I seen the Lesters, they sung a song about faith, which I don`t remember the name of the song.Then it was the Booth Brothers, in which one ws not there, they was very energic, I don`t remember what my favorite song they sung that night was.Then it was time for the Perry`s ,all of the music sung was good, The feamle singer of that group reminds me of my Aunt Sandy.I also seen the Triumphant Quartet which sung the bluegrass song the Old white flag, which was very funny to watch, I so love that song.I also seen the Isaac`s and jeff and Sherri Easter. The comdian`s name was Aaron Wilburn.The brumley gospel music is for four days every year

We also visited a couple of quilt shops that was in Lebanon and both were easy to find

is is hot or what

We have been having a heat wave around here. It has been about 100 degrees and that is in the shade. Their is heat advisories out and for the first time in it`s history Ozark Empire Fair in Springfield,mo is closing it`s carnival portion until till 4 pm.
I haven`t made it to the fair as of yet.
I threw out some lemon wedges and I have the Welsummers out of their pen and they went after the lemon, not a pucker in sight from their beaks, it surprize me that they went after the lemon, since saturday they got some oranges after I had made orange jelly with, they just sneared their little beaks up at that, lol
I did make some homemade lemonade, yummy.

new ducklings & duck happenings

Taylor finally hatched out 7 little ones,mostly chocolate and white in color, all carrie`s eggs were not fertile, so she didn`t hatch out any and is off the nest.

Mascara is thinking about setting again though, she has been laying the same place where she hatched out last time. She was laying down by the garage but elizabeth who was also laying there was setting there and wouldn`t get up , even thoug mascara pleaded with her severval times ,lol ...so mascara went back to the tree stump to lay her eggs, in which are covered up. Elizabeth has since left her nest thanks to some varmit who got her egg, yes, one lone egg , and she is no longer setting on it or on the spot where so much discussion took place.

ten commandments for good living

I was cleaning out the back bedroom and run acroos this is one of my many cookbooks.This comes from a cookbook called Treasured Recipes by Clark Convalescent home.


Ten Commandments for Good living

1. SPEAK TO PEOPLE- there is nothing son nice as a cheerfull word of greeting

2. SMILE AT PEOPLE--it takes 72 muscles to frown ,only 14 to smile.

3. CALL PEOPLE--the sweetest music to anyone`s ears is the sound of his own name.

4.BE FRIENDLY and helpfull, if you would have friends, be a friend.

5. BE CORDIAL--speak and act as if everything you do is a genuine pleasure.

6. BE GENUINELY interested in people--you can like almost everybody if you try.

7. BE GENEROUIS with praise--cautious with criticism

8. BE CONSIDERATE with feelings of others--there are usually three sides to a controversy; yours, the other fellow and the right side.

9. BE ALERT to give service--what counts most in life is what we do for others.

10. ADD TO THIS a good sense of humor, a big dose of patience and a dash of humility, and you will be rewared many-fold.

rain, finally......

Finally got some of that watery stuff that falls from the sky. We got about an inch of rain last night. I stood out in it, until the rain got heavy, I was in the middle of doing chores. Our heeler pup( bandit) was attcking the rain dripping off the porch and barking. I tell you this pup is crazy, attacks the water in a mud puddle, I can`t wait until snow starts flying just to see what he does.
The muscovies stood out in it as well, except blue eys and her brood, which are starting to get feathered out.

busy, busy.....award winning

This has been a very busy week. we took a trip to springfield for youngest therapy session and took the oldest in to the doc as well. The oldest had a nose bleed that lasted 30 minutes, so Labs were done and she is A-OK and I need to stop worrying. She did not like the labs being drawn, but the nose bleed she had gave me a flashback from when the youngest had hers ( hour and half).I am so glad she is ok
Afterwards went to incrediable pizza yumm, kinda of made up for the poke in the finger. The oldest soooo looooovvvveees pizza. She ate her fill.
I entered the local fair with 3 jars of my jelly, blackberry , plum, peach and my squash and zucchini.. The blackberry took second place , the plum took first and the peach took first as well. The summer squash took first ,the zucchini didn`t get a ribbon, poor thing.So I can now say that my jellies are award winning. I made som zucchini marmalade today with the prize winning squash and the zucchini, yes I mixed the two squash together, it taste very good.
I also rehomed my pair of turken chicks I had traded for, I have decided to just keep my cochins, and my dark egg layers and my course my silkies( which are good moms), of course my old english game pair.I lost one of the little polish chicks from the heat we have been having, ....... soooo neeeed rain, you know the water stuff that falls from the sky.

scorching heat....

It has been sorching hot, we have had a few rain drops here and there. Thursday night at vacation bible school it came a down pour, but at home not one drop. We heard the thunder and could see lightning ,but no rain. I have been watering the tomatoes every evening.
Today I pulled up the green beans, I think next year I will grow the bush kind instead of the pole. This years crop has been stringy,when cooked. The corn is coming up nicely and have gotten one little ear, which the youngest ate raw. I have been watering them as well.
All of the animals have been getting watered at least 3 times a day.
One of my little black cochin hen is wanting to set ,I put 11 eggs under her.
The incubator is shut down until next year, I want to make sure the chicks are fully feathered out before winter hits,It will probably be cold ,since it has been very hot, heat index of 105.
All of Blue eyes babies that we have kept looks like gonna be all drakes, except for one little chocolate ,which we named lucy. The youngest named the others as well,
shrek, donkey,prince eric and last but not least prince charming. The other two chocolate babies are hens as well they are violet and lulu bell. I don`t know if the all of the drakes will stay here or not, we will have to wait and see.
Lavender is still setting under the porch.
I am gonna try my hand at making plum jelly for my hubby, which is his favorite, I have never made this kind before so we will see.

Vacation Bible School

We have started the Vacation Bible school in our area. The girls are currently going to small church where my father-in-law preaches at. The theme is deep Sae adventure and having so much fun. My teenage daughter is the oldest in her class, but is having fun ,even though she won`t admit it.The youngest is having a ball and she will admit to it, lol.Their is water games and all children that attend do crafts.
Next week they will be attending a bigger size church`s vacation Bible school, where the older children don`t do crafts ,just the younger ones.

My incubator hatched out 2 welsummer chicks, 3 Golden Lace cochins, and a couple of Barred cochin chicks, one of them don`t look barred as of yet, yellow with some black on it.It would be nice to have all 3 golden lace be hens, but I will have to wait and see. I would like to see if I could come up with a blue lace red cochin, I need to find some more blue cochins. That`s all for now.

week full of events....

This July 4 week has been eventful, celebrated the oldest birthday, by going to the McDonald's in Oklahoma that is over the I-44. Yes, that`s right we drove all that way to eat at McDonald`s ,we did stop on the way back at precious moments, which is such a beautiful place, I recommend it to all vacationers, the chapel is so beautiful, Samuel Bucther ( I hope I spelled name right) is such an artist.

I picked over 3 gallons of wild blackberries, to sell some and make blackberry jelly. I have sold 2 gallon of them thus far. some of the blackberry briar's are starting to dry up, we sooo need rain, anybody out in blog land has any extra, please send it my way( rain). I took them to the farmer`s market, along with jalapeno jelly and Root Beer jelly, Yes, that`s right root beer jelly, along with four dozen eggs. I sold 2 jars of jalapeno and 1 jar of root beer and 1 gallon of blackberries and 2 dozen of my eggs. One customer stated she likes putting the eggs in the frig door and opens the frig door just to look at the eggs, I told her I soo liked looking at my eggs as well ( the dark brown ones, welsummer and Maran)
I got me, I know I should have but I did a couple of black copper Maran chicks and a batch of new potatoes

We went to a firework display in town and as always it was excellent. I took A blackberry cobbler, all I bought home was my empty dish.This is an annual event that this family puts on, everyone brings a dish and fireworks are shot over looking a pond. The youngest had another swelled up area on the back of her ear again that day, we drained the pus out of it.
The next day I took her to the ER so we can get some antibiotics in her and we had no water at the house, called the guy who fixes wells and he fixed it temporary and we have to replace the pump this week. When it rains ,it pours.

rain....ahhhh

Sunday we went to a fourth of July celebration and the girls got to ride a pony, jump in a jump house and the youngest got to catch a trout. We seen a sky driver and had so much fun, but didn`t see the fireworks ,thanks to the rain, but I am no complaining we need the rain so badly.I waited in line in the pouring rain to get a piece of cobbler, needless to say it was a long line, the cobbler was worth it, yummy peach. Later that day my sister-in-law called and we went to pizza hut and had pizza at closing time, but she lives in Texas and only up here for a couple of days. We so enjoyed the pizza ,basically we had it all to ourselves.

The buff and red cochin aren`t laying as of yet, since I put them in with the columbian rooster. The only cochins that are laying are the black and the golden lace and the one frizzle hen. I have one setting Birchen in color on frizzle and other cochin eggs, she insisted on setting on nothing, so I put eggs under her.
Taylor and carrie are now setting one in crate that was used for a chicken house at one time and the other is in hole of a stump from last years tornado.

The bunnies are a male and female, thank goodness I can have them in the same pen for a few months.I forgot what the girls named them.

another swap meet,new addtions, blackberries

We went to another swap meet today and rehomed 27 baby ducklings and came home with three new additions to the animal family. Two baby bunnies and a red turken chick. The girls have not named their bunnies yet.
Last night I picked almost a gallion of wild blackberries, of course bandana( red heeler pup) and trixie came along and was picking and eating the berries as well, but they picked the red ones instead of the black.
Blackberry cobbler and blackberry jelly sounds so good, yum,yum

swap meet

We went to a local swap meet today and We took some muscovey duckling along with my pair of frizzles and a pair polish . I did get rid of about 7 muscovey ducklings. Still have the frizzle pair and the polish pair. I came home with a old english game rooster for my little bitty banty hen. The roo I pick out is a blue , I really don`t know what my little bitty hen is but I lost her mate back in the winter months.The gentleman I got him from stated that someone he know is breeding blue roosters with wheaton hens and calling them blue wheatens.I also got a black standard cochin chick, looks like it gonna be a roo, so now I need to find a hen cochin chick, hopefully another black or a blue . I also picked up a siamese kitten ( I so love siamese and bob-tail cats), we named her Frosti.Now I need to find a bob-tail male kitty, so I can have bob-tail siamese running around.
I knew what I had in mind to find when we went ,the kitten wasn`t it, but who can resist a siamese kitten. I went looking for old english game rooster for my little bitty hen ( I did want a blue one),a pair of standard cochins ( I didn`t really care what color, but was thinking of buff or blue),a mottled banty cochin roo to breed with my buff cochin hen( trying for milli color), A blue banty cochin hen, since I lost my one last blue hen, of course more welsummer, and last but not least a solid white muscovey.
Their was alot people there with ducks, pekins, campbell breeds, call . of course chickens of every size and shapeand color escept mottled or blue cochins , bunnies, pot bellied pigs, goats, dogs, rats -yuk, mice-yuk. Tomorrow we are thinking about going to another local swap meet,but its not as big, so maybe I can find white muscovey or a blue cochin hen, or a mottled cochin roo.
We did get a few sprinkles today , we are need of some rain. I picked some wild blackberries last night and gonna pick some more tonight, I so love to pick blackberries, even with the thorns.Homemade blackberry cobbler ----yum-yum

update on farm

The red silkie hen hatched out 5 babies, In which I don`t remember what eggs I put under her, lol, I know 1 is a welsummer and 1 is a silkie. Oh well, 3 are reddish in color and 1 black and of course the little welsummer.
Something got my one blue cochin hen, I think a possom,I had her in with a cochin/frizzle roo with smooth feathers.
Last night I decided to let the baby ducks have some fun and I fill up the wheel barrel with water and put lavender`s brood in there first, which only has three in it but, a black pied drake, a grey pied drake ( which I am thinking about keeping just to see what color he turns out to be) and violet a chocolate hen. They had a ball ,so next I put in mascaras brood ( 5 in total), I have not named the one I am keeping in this bunch yet., Then it was elizabeth`s brood time and they all were having a very good time. I put Elizabeths bunch back with her and it looked like she was asking are you alright and the babies was peeping back ,ma we went swimming ,ma we went swimming. This sure looks like what they was saying to each other.I didn`t put blue eyes bunch in there ,I just thought they were to young just yet.They do have a shallow dish they can get in to in their pen and play in.
I am planning on keeping at least one from each bunch for right now.
Lavender is back free roaming with chocolate, which makes him very happy as his other two girls that roaming with him are wanting to set, at least that is what I think.

another doctor`s visit,

I took the oldest to the doctor because of running a temp and complaining of ear pain. My sweet soon to be teenager has an ear infection and strep throat. I hope and pray the youngest don`t catch it.....it will probably be next week when she gets the strep....I hope not. In which I am trying to keep the youngest away from big sis, which is hard to do sometimes. The oldest is laying in her bed sleeping, A warm compress to her left ear and a cool cloth on her forehead and ac running.The youngest in the front room watching cartoons on pbs.
The youngest had local OT eval today , her vincinstine neuropathy wasn`t that bad and they will see her before school starts again and that I can work on doing therapy at home with her on a daily basis, instead of making weekly trips to springfield.The doctors in st louis will OT eval her in december when are do to go up again.

another trip st louis..purina

Well ,we are back from another strip to st louis, the youngest had echocardiogram done besides labs. Everything checked out ok. I was worried though when they was doing the echocardiogram the techs ,which were two in there( not a busy day) they said they seen something, ( something that doesn`t close). When the doctors called with report they didn`t say nothing about it. So I guess the techs didn`t see anything or it isn`t nothing to worry about right now. I also got another book regarding information on late effects from the chemo....She goes to Ot eval and treatment thursday morning, thank goodness close by instead of another trip to st louis, but in 6 months she will checked by the OT department in st louis.Not another echocardiogram until 5 years down the road.She is ready and packed up for another trip to st louis now...6 months away lol.
We did enjoy ourselves while we was up there ,went to purina farms , the girls enjoyed theirselves. The youngest got to milk a cow, by hand. beautiful dogs..as a dog show was going on at the time, play in a hayloft, take a wagon ride,very enjoyable day,the youngest was tired out. She so enjoyed herself. The oldest enjoyed the dogs and the rabbits and of course the cats and the horses.
I sold three baby ducks and the young couple who came and got them were very nice and never had seen a horse, so he petted Cocoa( miniature horse)
Blue Eyes hatched out her babies 20 of them as of right now, their is still one more egg that was pipping.So a total of 60 baby muscovey ducks and 2 more to finish laying and start setting.

more ducks.....doctor visit

elizabeth hatched out 14 more baby muscovey ducks, all chocolate ,chocolate and white in color, three or four even have chocolate legs.One has a white ring around head and chocolate head named ringo. So now drum roll please, a total of 24 baby muscovey ducklings.most are chocolate and white. Still waiting on blue eyes to hatch out-(lavender colored muscovey with blue eyes..hence the name). Carrie( Underwood, yes famous singer) and Taylor( Swift, another famous singer) haven`t really started setting yet, but are laying.

I went to the doctor today at a local clinic, when I got there the computers are down and told me you can wait and see if they come back up if not you might have to make another appointment....what happened to old fashioned paper work in the doctor`s office..they can`t see any patients because the computers are down...come on, it`s not the computers that look at the patients, it`s the doctor...duh.I was seen ,I have a sinus infection, which is what is causing the headaches in the front , possible pinch nerve in the back of my neck for the neck and back of head pain.On an anitbotic for the sinus infection and steroid for the neck for now.

Cody, our beloved son

Cody is a son I lost and is now a angel and able to run and play. Cody was born December 19, 1998 and passed on December 4,2001. He was born with HIE ,which stands for Hypoxic Ischemic Encelphathy, which bascially means lack of oxygen to the brain.I was in labor with him. I would have contractions for an hour and then they would stop for about hour and half.He had Cerebral palsy as well.He was tube fed as he could not swallow and he had to be suctioned out with this.He was a very special little boy ,who had curly hair and long eyelashes. I learned that most children with brain injuries have long eyelashes.He walked for me in the last year of his life, of course I held up his upper body ,but he did walk for me., I was so proud of his accoplishments he made in his short time here on this earth. He outlived what the doctors thought he would. They did not think he would make it when they pulled the machine off when he was three days old, but he surprise them and he breathed on his own. and even cried, which I didn`t hear until he was 4 months old ,but he did cry. I did not ever hear him say mom, but that`s ok. I met so many people and friends with some of them people still.I remember one time ,when we took him to the doctor and the oldest daughter wanted something to eat so we stopped at mcdonalds and I was feeding him and these two young boys asked what I was doing and I explained it to them and the mother came and told them to stay away from us and to leave us alone, like what Cody had was catching.
I feel like I am special as well, as God entrusted me with a special gift like Cody, a special child who laughed and didn`t shed a tear when he had blood drawn. He would always smile when his big sis got in trouble.
I consider him a christmas present from God in his being born and a christmas present from God in his passing. He was having such a hard time when he passed with breathing.I wrote this poem the weekend before he passed , it was Thanksgiving weekend, this poem was also read at his funeral.

My Beloved Son

Your spirit is so strong
Your body so weak
One day your earthly body
will wither away
your spirit will soar
way above this world
to the arms of the lord
from my arms to his
You have been so stron
fought so hard,
Fro every breath,
Every accomplishment that
You did
I will always be proud
of my little boy,
who taught so much
and never said a word
when blood was drawn
you never shed a tear
you just smiles and took it all in stride
like you knew
you
could wipe away the pain

more ducks,more varmits

Well mascara hatched out yesterday with a total of 12, three eggs didn`t hatch out ,all chocolate and white in color. I sold three of them to a lady who has a duck that has been setting for 6 weeks and not hatching anything.
Lavender hatched out a total of 15 , varing in color from chocolate and white, black and white, grey and white. I have sold 7 of them to a lady who bought from me last year, she took all of the chocolate and white except for 1 little one.I think biggest part of the rest will be drakes ,except for the wee little one.Muscovey babies are easy to detect whether male or female by their size ,the larger ones are almost always a drake and the smaller ones are hens. The next to hatch out is elizabeth, she has 15 eggs under her. Taylor and Carrie are now laying as well. Carrie is on the other side of the tree trunk that mascara was setting. Taylor is more close in ,she is in a crate I have used for a chicken pen.
Funny law in norfold ,virginia It is illegal for hens to lay an egg before 8 am and after 4 pm during the day, I just heard this on the radio.I wonder if they told the hens that lol.
A coon has gotten two my chickens in the last 4 days. A little red rooster and a red hen.The rooster was in a separate pen, both were mixes . The red rooster was a favorite of my oldest. Both pens were dog kennel pens with out a top. The coon had crawled over the pen and took the chicken and crawled back over the pen and ate them.We found the carcass of both chickens.
I just posted three recipes on my other blog Hillybilly annie`s kitchen. I posted crazy meatloaf and crazy cake which is good with out frosting, along with bacon cheese bubble loaf.
My husband just got the cemetary mowing job, he had this back in 2008. He does such a good job in mowing it. This same cemetary is where our son ,Cody is buried. I will post on him in another blog.

baby ducks

I have now some baby muscovey ducks, I don`t know how many as of yet. Lavender( a blue and white) who, has been setting under the porch has hatched out, despite a snake 3 days ago trying to get her eggs. She did not even come off the nest, I would have killed the snake but was under the porch , way under the porch.This happened last year as well, that is where she set at last year too.I know their is at least 3-4 babies and chocolate and white in color as I can see some thru the cracks in the porch. So I think the next duck to hatch out is mascara, a chocolate and white duck), then Elizabeth and blue eyes.
We had about 2 inches of rain last night, so I don`t have to water the garden today , I water it every night by gallon jugs.I have been watering my blackberries as well.It is about 90 degrees here today and possibly storms again tonight.

memorial day 2010

First of all , THANK YOU VETERANS FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE SO WE MAY HAVE OUR FREEDOM!
During our annual trip of visting the graves of some my ancestors and of loved ones who have pasted. We visited the graveyard where my grandfather is buried along with my uncle and an aunt, along with alot of other relatives that are distant in relation.The veterans in this cemetary did not have a flag on their graves, this is not right , I know it is a small cemetary but still these people who fought deserve some rememrance on this holiday and a flag place on the grave to honor them.
I decided to visit some of the homes I remember when I was a lot younger, I am not saying wiser.We visited the one in grovespring, mo where I lived for about 6 months and remember fondly ,It was there My dad shot a lizard that was crawling up the wall and it was there when my mom`s horse was called a sick-um horse ( u know when you say sick-um and the horse goes after whatever). We tried to visit the house in grovespring where my grandparents lived , but we couldn`t find it. It was a beautiful home with columns in front, no running water on the inside, a goldfish pond across the dirt road, along with a graveyard there as well.We thought we found it ,but not for sure ,the house was no longer there, but the barn was.
The other houses I visited online last night thru googlemaps, oh how things have changed since I was younger and growing up. The house on Hasbrook is not there where I spent my elementary years I walked to school in those days and we were able to go to church during one day of the school week , no this was not a private school.

I got chicks....

My Dark Blue Cochin banty that was sitting has hatched out , I forgot what eggs I put under her, but I know for sure their was 3 welsummers, she still has 2 left, she hatched out yesterday I found a small snake under the nest box ,so I know what happened to the other baby. The other 2 chicks are feather footed, 1 white nad 1 black, so proably 1 out of the frizzle pen and one of the other cochin pens.My incubator is hatching out as well, so I have decided to try and see if she will raise all the babies for me ,so no heat lamp.The eggs from the bator are mostly banty cochins and frizzles along with a few others.

On the ducks...I have a total of 4 muscovey hens setting. Lavender is under the porch, Mascara is in a hole under a tree stump ( from last years tornado),Elizabeth is setting down by the garage, blue eyes under the old chicken house.Tow of the hens are not setting, thank goodness, but Taylor is looking for a place to lay.Lavender should ,I think start hatching out this weekend or next week sometime.


My girls found 3 baby kittens someone must have drop off, 1 male and 2 female, 1solid white one and 2 yellow and white. The male kitten helped himself to a couple of my baby chicks ,I hatched from the dark eggs I had bought.

gullywasher....

Yesterday was a long day, first off I butchered 3 roosters that I didn`t need. 2 were silkies, ..so chicken soup for them.
I went to town and on the way back ,it rained, rained , and I don`t mean just slight sprinkles, I could not see the yellow line ,besides, pea-size hail..I pulled over and as soon as I pulled over it slacked off.I called my husband and he forgot to put down two windows and was afraid that the inside the house was gonna get wet, this was a pop-up storm.I proceded to pull out again ...here comes the rain and pea-size hail for another couple of miles ,..then thankfully it slacked off. I pulled onto our dirt road and rounded the corner and our road was a big old creek, or river water everywhere ....I said a little prayer and proceded down the road almost to the slab, in which the water was going over pretty good,....said another little prayer and proceded thru the water..I didn`t stop...needless to say I got thru the water..called husband and told me I was at home and he asked what the problem was ..I told me the road was washed out badly....And I was at home..I looked in the rain guage and it had 2 inches in it.We got 2 inches in 30 minutes. My hubby finally came home and said how do you get thru the road ,his little s-10 drug on the road.He called the county commisioner and told him he couldn`t get out and he came over and checked out the road and had someone graded the road.
I was gonna worked in my garden today and try and finish my 8 x 8 bed and plant some sugar snap peas, but because of the rain it is way toooo muddy.We are suppose to have a chance of rain again today.

Butchering time in the ozarks

Well, I just butchered two of my extra roosters ,I could not get rid of so,in the pot they go. They are gonna make excellent chicken n`dumplings. I just have 4 more roosters to go to butcher.Both of the girls just stood out there and watched. The two roosters that I butchered were from last years hatch of dark eggs I had bought, I sure wished they were hens instead of roosters, which sealed their fate.

update... ramblings..

Both of my girls are officially out school. They will be going to summer school ,as this does help my oldest daughter with her school work.I can not beleive she will be in the
8th grade next year, my she is growing up.They will probably not be summer school next year because of the states funding. I think this is wrong, summer school helps out some of the children in their studies..and they have fun while learning.The children get to visit places they wouldn`t be able to go to otherwise or that the parents don`t know about, anyway enough on that subject.
The annual balloon lift was stunning as usual, green and white balloons floating into the sky. The school has this once a year .The balloons are attached with the child`s name and the school address, so whoever finds it can send a letter back and state where they find at.
It has been raining about every day here. We are getting the rain now ,but in July and August when we need it , we probably won`t get it.I will watering my garden then every day.
I lost my job, so I am in the process of looking for another, not neccessarily in the healthcare field.I need to support my habit of raising chickens and ducks.I think my husband needs to start working again and let me find something parttime and spend time with my girls. I know it is gonna be hard to find a job in this ecomony, but With these headaches every once in a while,(in which I had another bad one the other day just walking down the road).

school`s 8 th graduation

Last night was the local school`s 8th graduation. Their was a total of 5 young adults graduaing.The girls were dressed to the nines in dresses ( prom type) the boys had just a nice shirt and a pair of jeans. I think this is so unfair. I think the boys should at least had slacks or a suit on.Oh well I have to remember this is a small school.While I watched I was thinking about my oldest graduating next year from the eighth grade ,.... a total of 15 young adults in this class,...I need to start looking for the dress. Then thought of ...in 5 years both of my girls will be graduating one from the 12 and the other from 8th....Oh my two dresses to buy in 5 years at one time.

News from the farm....I have three of my muscoveies setting ,both on about 15 eggs,Mascara and Elizabeth and Lavender. The other ones are laying ,but don`t know where. I found where 1 was laying,...big black snake are getting those eggs

nice humid day

Today has been nice compared to yesterday which was very cold and rainy. I am thankful we didn`t get the storms they was predicting last nightI feel bad for oklahoma that got 37 tornados though.I got me another upside down tomato planter today. I planted grape tomatoes on the top and yellow tomatoes in the bottom, so we will see how they will do.The garden is coming along. The corn is up about inch.We did need the rain last night the apple trees are looking better since they got mother nature`s rain instead of the well water.
The baby chicks are coming along nice as well as the ducks. The lone duck that I hatched out looks like it is not gonna be all black as I wanted ,but still The youngest has claimed Her/him,still pretty just the same.WE are suppose to get more storms tonight .

HAPPY MOTHER`S DAY

Happy Mother`s Day to everyone.I got a mother`s ring for mother`s day ,of course I had to work but after work I met my hubby and the two girls at my mom`s and we had tacos.
The incubator (one) is going with mostly Cochin eggs in there as well as a couple of duck eggs.

new blog

I have decided to have a blog with just recipes on it ,of course some antidotes from where I got the recipes from and a little of information from the paper. The new blog name in Hillybilly annie`s kitchen.

illness..baby ducks..chicks.......

I have not been on here ,it seems like forever, I have a migrane from hell,excuse my french.It all started last week when I was at work and still hasn`t let up totally,but I feel more like myself. I am able to read and write as long as I have my eyes on ,lol.Except for fine print which is on the medicine bottles, over the counter medicines not the ones you get at the pharmacy.Last Wednesday ,I went to the fordland clinic ,since it is walk-in and don`t need appointment,A shot later in the hip, nuvane(not sure if the spelling is correct) and two meds ,which didn`t releive the pain,just made me want to sleep. The dr stated it was my muscles along the neck making my head hurt, ok.I went home and went to bed, slept the rest of the day and woke up the next morning crying with my head still hurting, Went to the ER, Iv put in,oh we think you must be dehydrated,1 bag of fluid run thru along with some nausea and another shot of nuvane,but this time thru the IV and a dose of diludid(not sure of spelling at this time), they sent me home with more pain meds,you will be fine, needless to say I was still hurting the next morning.I woke up Saturday morning ,according to my husband ready to beat the tire out of anybody and still crying out in pain, ...another trip to the ER and this time CT scan ,lumbar punture and found nothing and was sent home with a another prescription for nausea this time and continue taking you current meds and your headache willl go away. I do not remember this trip except on the way back home, that is how out of it I was.Headache continued the next morning.I visit another clinic and Two more shots, one in each hip.I tried going in to work on wednesday ,but did not work. I did manage to go in on Thursday and it was a short day, which I am thankful for.
In between this time I had about 15 baby ducks hatch from my eggs, Cayuga mixed and about 30 baby chicks hatch from the eggs I had gotten from A lady out of Ava who has some dark egg layers, which these eggs were a barnyard mix,the eggs looked like welsummers, so hopefully they won`t be all roosters.I did manage to hatch out 1 polish chick,which I hope is a hen, this egg was from my own pair that I hatched out last year.The rooster is a blue with white top and the hen is a black with white top.
My irises are in full bloom, White, purple,pink ,yellow.These picture were tooken last year.

Pork Chops A La Virdes

This recipe also came from the Kansan`s Silver spoon cookbook in the main dish section of 1967.

Pork Chop A La Virdes
Mrs. Bernice Thompson

4 pork chops
1 small onion ( I used only half of onion)
1 pepper , diced(optional)
4 potatoes, cut in 1/4 -inch slices
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 can tomato sauce
Fry pork chops until brown and nearly done. Place in baking dish and add onion, pepper and potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and pour tomato sauce over all. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Sweet potatoes may be used instead of white potatoes. Gravy may be made from drippings, 2 Tablespoons flour and 1 cup water.

Chili Fried Round Steak

This recipe came from the Kansan`s Silver Spoon cookbook, the Main dishes section and it was an award winner back in May 28,1967

Chili Fried Round Steak
Mrs. Howard H. Miller

2 pounds beef round steak ( ok I didn`t use round steak I used pork steak)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, beaten with 2 Tablespoons water
1 cup cornflakes, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup salad oil
Cut steak into serving pieces. Pound with mallet and trim off excess fat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dip into egg, then in crushed cornflakes mixed with chili powder. Brown on both sides in hot oil and cook until done.

Anytime Coffee Cake

This recipe came from The Kansan`s Silver Spoon Cookbook of 1967

Anytime Coffee Cake
Lou Ann Carmean

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powdr
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix cake ingredients together. Pour into 8 x 8-inch pan. Sprinkle with topping. Bake 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
Topping
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup nutmeats ( I used walnuts)

This cake is very good.

Honey Pineapple Bread

This recipe came from The Kansan`s Silver Spoon Cookbook of 1967

Honey Pineapple Bread
Mrs. Robert Allison

2 Tablespoon shortening
1 cup honey
2 1/4 cup sifted flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup nutmeats
1 cup bran
1 cup pineapple juice

Blend shortening and honey. Add egg and beat well. Sift flour ,baking powder and salt together and mix 1/2 cup of mixture with nutmeats. Add about half the remaining sifted dry ingredeints to egg mixture and mix well. Add bran and pineapple juice and mix .Add remaining flour and nutmeats. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake 1 1/4 hours at 325 degrees. Makes 1 loaf.

not your typical day........

First off I need to state that my husband always almost always gets up before me, except when I have to go to work.This morning I woke up and seen he wasn`t here. The truck was still in the driveway and his phone and wallet was still here, I step outside and heard a gobbler and hollered for him. It was still alittle dark outside, the sun was coming up.I looked again in the house and looked outside again, this had been about 30 minutes, needless to say I was worried and I had no idea where he went, he didn`t leave a note or wake me up to say he was going for a walk.....Here he comes in about an hour later and states he was in the woods playing with a gobbler,I told next time please leave a note, so I will know where u are at.


Met my mom at the county line swap meet today, she has canna bulbs to sell.I bought me 2 buff orphington hens, paid 7.00 a piece for them, got a book about Della Reese, it is her autobiography,She was on Touched by an Angel show,which I wish they would put back on TV.Yesterday mom had went to the farmers marget and sold all of the canna bulbs she had brought with her.I seen some chickens there, standard size cochins ,which I would love to have a start of, but the chickens didn`t have good feathering on the feet , so I didn`t get them.Before I left the countyline swap meet mom had sold all of the bigger bulbs of the cannas she had and still had quite a few of the smaller ones left.
I put the 2 hens that I had bought with my lone welsummer rooster that I had left over from last years hatch.Which I had named corn flake, he sure was struting around after I put the 2 hens in there. One of the hens my youngest has claimed.She has named it her blossom ,the oldest just spoke up and named the other hen angel.Not all of my chickens are named.I do have a rooster named buddy and one of his hens is named indian.I have one hen who is named zilla, short for godzilla ,since she is a mean hen, she beats up any other chicken I put with her.I don`t know what kind she is .
I got a dozen eggs yesterday,4 of them from the cochins.The other ones came from the welsummer pen and the What I called my easter egger pen, which has clored egg layers as well as white and brown egg layers.