Dodging The Bullet!

Wow, did we ever get a big break last night. A wicked storm rolled thru here and according to reports KFVS12, and WSIL3, we had a tornado last night. The pictures came from WSILs facebook. The affected area is just 15 miles as the crow flies to the southeast of me. So far, from what I can see right around the barn lot, all we got was a couple dead branches down and that crappy old barn lost a little more roofing.

Now, here it is, February, not even close to the normal tornado activity time of the year and now there's 40 houses damaged, the power is out to a large section of the county, several local businesses are damaged including ones that provide food for the area. If you are a "prepper", this will not affect you. Most people only have 3 days worth of food in their homes and no source of water other than the faucet. No power, no water coming out of the faucet and all that preprepared, frozen food is going to go bad. Hmmm, seems like a no brainer to at least be a little emergency prepared, doesn't it?

Rambly Day

It's overcast today, some rain coming in for tonight. Still too cold overnight for the mud to really do too much drying out and I'm not even close to having a spot to put the cows and horses so I can work up the garden spot. I have been working on seeds and I noticed this morning that the Dill is sprouting thru the dirt in the milk jug planter. The seed I started Friday is starting to sprout in the baggies as well. I've been too busy with other responsibilities to do much cooking and baking. I am not too happy about that. Hard to eat healthy that way and I miss my bread! I refuse to eat that store bought crap passed off as bread so if I don't bake it, we don't eat bread. Just the thought of consuming ground up human hair or duck feathers is all it takes, LOL.

Lil Sister is getting over her encounter with the goat wormer. Poor thing, baby goats should not chew the goat wormer bag. Never would have dreamed she could reach that bag way up on that shelf, but she did. Glad she lived thru it with no lasting effects.

Grizz has claimed the desk rug for himself and defends it so he can lounge as his whim. Lil Sister wanted to sleep with her favorite kitten but could not fit in the hole so she did the next best thing. That goofy goat slept with the kitten standing up, with her head in the hole and the kitten curled up next to her.

This week will be chickens week. At least, that's what I want to get done. I have a bunch of work to do that will directly affect the chickens and the egg laying situation. The need to protect them from the hawks is increasing and I'm just plain tired of the daily easter egg hunt. That dang coop is gonna get finished!

I also need to do something about the old, rotting rabbit hutches. I hate to breed if the kits will just end up falling out of the hutches. What keeps the big rabbits in, I just don't know. I've lost 3 big rabbits in the past 2 weeks, they're not in the hutches anymore. Technically not lost, I see them in the yard, just can't catch the buggers. One buck and 2 young does. Not like I have somewhere to put them once I catch them. This place is just plain falling apart around me. Lots of work to do...

Got Sprouts Going

The sun is back out today after a day of little ice balls and rain. The wind yesterday, it was vicious! Of course, I spent all day fretting over my seeds and seedlings with the constant drafts in this place. Doesn't seem to be any casualties today tho. Now, if I can just keep Lil Sister from jumping up on everything and eating the tops of my seedlings!

Another week or so and I will be out building strawberry boxes, a couple of raised beds and prepping ground for the new garden spots. it will still be a while before the main garden spot is ready to be worked. plenty of slop/mud still in it.

Lil Sister has been a BAD goat. She's ripping everything she can reach off the storage shelves, chewing on everything, pee'n all over the place and just being a general PITA. Geez, I miss Lucky goat. Actually, it makes me appreciate Lucky all the more. What a good boy he was, even when he was being bad.

Sonya pup got her stitches out of her stump yesterday. Poor pup, you should have seen the look on her face when I carried her into the vets office! I know she was thinking about what might get cut off THIS time, LOL After the wire stitches came out and the stump was all clean, she suddenly loved the vet, go figure. Now she's back to wagging her tail (stump). Poor dog held that stump still for the last 2 weeks, never moved it one tiny bit. Now, she's fascinated with her new stump/tail and spends time chasing it and trying to play with it. She's so rolly polly, she can't quite get it. Probably a good thing, it kept her from chewing on it. To the boys' credit, they didn't either so we've got a good healing job.

Well, off to scrub floors, the puppies left me some land mines overnight........

Construction Day

I needed some extra space and some puppy/goat protection for my desk things so today was construction day. I built myself a desk with some shelves on top of it to keep little chewers from ruining my stuff. I also worked a bit on that milk jug planter idea. I need some more milk jugs to finish it and I didn't quite follow the original plan. I just kind of winged it. As I get a few more milk jugs, I'll post pictures of what I did with mine.

How about those airplane ears on Lil Sister? She's growing like crazy and has just now started to munch on soaked alfalfa cubes. A couple more weeks and she will be ready for the barn lot full time.

Looks like I might need to restart a few seeds. I did get a few of the sweet peppers sprout today but some of these seed sets are 14 days old now and should be sprouted by now. i think the cold and overcast smoked them. hard to get good germination when the peat pellets are constantly cold. Oh well, happens every year so just have to start some more when we have a few sunny days in a row.

Now to clean up all the sawdust those darn puppies scattered....

Busy with Nothing

Seems like the busier I seem to be and more stressed I feel, the less I get done. The truck got fixed and it wiped out the tax return. So much for the grand plan. Seems like it's the way it always is, at least for the last 3 years anyway. The puppies made me a huge mess while i was picking up the truck. Partly my own fault for leaving the trash bag by the door and not taking it out. What there is that's so interesting about a cat box, I guess I will never know. At least the box was clean.

The week long overcast days have taken a toll on the seed sprouting. I've lost a couple baggies to dampening off even with the heater going for them. I need to get more sprouting shelf space built since I can't use the bottom of the old sprouting table with the goat in the house. I've got some scrap around here I can use but no screws so maybe I can get some this week and get it set up. I've got a bunch of aluminum cans I can trade in.

I've been looking at this cool design over at Coach House Crafting. Scifichick hooked me up with this link. I think I will give this a try as an indoor herb garden the cats and goat can't munch on.

Other than that, it's been just the same old thing here, bored and waiting for spring!

World War 3 in the Kitchen

The puppy alarm clock went off again at 5am, LOL It's good tho, I have things to do today. The war starts when I put the food bowls down. 3 bowls, 3 puppies. Do you think they can eat out of their own bowls? heck no, they have to get into each others bowls, bark, growl and throw fits. Then, throw a couple of cats into the mix! Wow!

Some of the seeds have sprouted. I was hoping for a better amount by now but the last 4 days of overcast and cold haven't helped much. There's no moldy peat pellets so I think I'm in good shape still. The sun is supposed to come out today, maybe I'll get some new sprouts from it.

The floors need scrubbed, again, as usual. No getting around it with 3 puppies, 8 kittens and a baby goat in the house. Time for a whole pot of coffee. Speaking of which, I have some fresh coffee beans headed my way in the mail. i will be starting new coffee plants soon. Hopefully these seeds are fresh enough to actually sprout instead of mold in the dirt.

Nasty Mood

Yep, today is one of those nasty moods. It's mostly because of what happened yesterday and then waking up to 3 very noisy stock puppies. They are a handful, all the time. They can't help it, they're just puppies. The bowel movement thing is getting better and they're anxious to go out every morning so poop isn't my problem, not really anyway. They actually use the paper for the most part now.

Yesterday, I had to get a couple tires put on the dually. I'd run the pair of left rears to the cords and the inside dual has been flat for a couple of weeks now. There goes $350. So, I had the tires from the front put onto the back duals so the 2 new ones were on the front. My trusted tire guy comes to me and says " You need to come take a look at this". Of course, my heart sinks instantly. My right side ball joint is completely ate out and you can literally lift it out of socket, both inner tie rods are shot and the left side ball joint bushing is gone. Hmmm, I was thinking that the squeak I was hearing was the front shocks. Guess what happened when I pulled in the driveway with it. Yep, you got it, broken truck. This is the only vehicle I have to drive. I'm waiting on an estimate before I have it towed to the repair shop. Kind of glad hubster is already at work for the week. Guess he will just have to stay there until the truck is fixed. Good thing since we're gonna need the money. Of course he won't like it much since he doesn't really want to work anyway. So much for the new orchard and used farm equipment. The worst of this is my son's truck is broken too. He lost the tensioner pulley last week. The holder bolt broke on it. So, we got a new belt and a new tensioner pulley assembly but we can't get the hardened aluminum bolt out of the bracket. Have not found a bracket yet. He still needs to go to work every day. He likes his job and his paycheck tho and will find a way to get there no matter what.

So, I went to bed not really in a good mood. Then, in the middle of the night, Sissy peed the bed. Wake up at 6am to an overcast day and 3 stock puppies heeling me around the house and biting my toes. Open the door, out they go, time to feed Sissy. Now, the goat is fed, the puppies are back in the house and the obnoxious "hey, I'm awake, fed and I feel good" chase is on. The 4 of them will jump on and run across every piece of furniture I own, knock everything they possibly can down and bark for the next half hour. Yay rah! LOL I need a cup of coffee.......

A Bit of Spring

I've got lots of seeds going in their little peat pellet baggie greenhouses. The group I started on the 7th is looking pretty good with some seeds already sprouted. Not much evidence of growth in the newer seed bags yet, it's been overcast and cold here. The pups are getting better about being housebroke but they still can't make it overnight without having accidents. Lil Sister is a lost cause. So very cute but just not the sharpest tool in the box. Oh well, they all can't be Lucky goat.

I am really excited about this years planting and the wood chips in the garden. I have such high expectations for it all. It better perform like I hope it will or I;m gonna be a mad gardener, LOL. Either way, it can't be any worse than last year with the drowning rains and scorching heat. With no hay equipment and no prospects for replacing the damaged equipment, guess I won't be overheating myself in the hay field. Not too sure what I'm going to do to feed the critters for next winter tho. Can't afford to buy hay from somebody else. I guess I'll jump that hurdle when I get to it. God ain't gonna miracle a couple grand into my bank account to buy some used equipment and I can only handle one problem at a time around here.

Guess i better get back to scrubbing the floors....

it's that time again

Yep, it's seed staring time. I jumped the gun by a week but I couldn't stand it. Happens to me every year, LOL. I've got some cold crop seed going, broccoli, brussels sprouts, etc plus some of my major crops. The seedlings are good sellers so I always start a couple dozen more than I intend to plant for myself.

There's my puppy! He's a dandy and making a niche for himself with his unique personality.

Nothing like some fresh baked bread. I whipped this double recipe up at the last minute for supper last night. Hardly got rise time but it came out really nice.

Lil Sister getting her morning attention! Sissy is starting to chew on everything and the squirt bottle is getting a workout. Never a dull moment around here.

Well, back to scrubbing the floors....

Just Too Funny Not to Share

While I was at a preppers meet up this afternoon, my son sent me a picture of Lil Sister sleeping in my recliner. Apparently, the puppies wore her out!

Moving on with life

The empty spot in our hearts is hard to bear and the loss of a valuable stock dog is rough but life has to go on here. Lil Sister is hard headed and is not as much fun as Lucky goat was. Sissy has no intention of ever being house broke so the extra work cleaning up after her careless lifestyle is annoying to say the least. She needs to hurry up and grow so I can throw her little butt out of the house!

Enter the 3 new puppies. Each will create a special nook in our hearts and at least one will grow up and become the stock dog we need around here. I am once again not disappointed by the incredible intelligence of the Australian Cattle Dog (red and blue heelers). 2 days and these tiny puppies are paper training. 3 days and they are already herding the cats and Lil Sister. Now if they will just quit chewing on everything, LOL

11 days to seed starting! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I've already been sorting my seeds and playing with them. Planning and dreaming of the coming bounty. I can't wait to get some new raised beds built and get the wood chips spread out into the garden rows. I have some fence fixing to do as well. I can't have those darn goats getting in the garden again this year. They are much too hard on the plants and I need to be able to harvest what I'm planting for myself.

The unusually warm weather bothers me. it's hardly been cold enough to kill off any of the pest larvae and I wonder how bad they will be come spring. I'm also a little concerned about the trees already starting to bud up. If we get a cold snap, how badly will it damage the fruit and nut harvest? It's still a few weeks before the official flood season gets here, I wonder how badly this weird weather is going to affect how much we flood? ARG, the waiting and worrying kills me. Come on spring, get here and get it over with already! LOL