Some Days are Just Like That

Thursdays are fiddle lessons for The Boy.We drive in towards the Big City for this.We try to do everything we would possibly have to do in The Big City on this day as not to waste gas and time and, most importantly, my nerves.Because leaving my little oasis in the woods to go to any Big City is like a cheese grater across my brain! The Boy is my only baby and if my only baby wants to play fiddle,then by gosh,Momma is going to make it happen even if I have to go to civilization!
So, today The Boy wants to take Hubby's truck instead of mine because it has some kind of souped up radio,it came with the truck,and he can hook up his little music thingy to and we can drive around looking redneck but sounding ghetto.I say why not.So we are redneck -ghetto thumpin' our way down the interstate at about 75 mph and I feel a vibration.At first I thought it was the road,then I thought blow out,then Wham!Ca-thunk,ca-thunk-ca-thunk...all in about 4 seconds!I was able to get over to the side of the interstate and get out to look,no blow out.I drove across the shoulder to the service road, ca-thunk ca-thunk ca-thunk,because let's face it the side of the interstate going in to a major U.S. city is a death trap! We get out and look some more,hmm...nothing.The movie theater is about a 100 yards away so I decide to limp in there.We get out again and notice the back tire is going flat,there is a huge piece of metal in it.

So I call our road side assistance and they say some one will be there in 30 minute to change the flat.I have been driving long enough to know a slow leaking tire is not going to cause the ca-thunking.
So the tow truck driver gets there to change the flat and I am still looking.He can't get the spare off because it was apparently air tooled on.About that time I notice something hanging down,not connected to anything.This is exactly what I suspected, a dangling thingy somewhere that was obviously broken! I tell him don't worry about the flat because I probably need a tow and can he look and tell me what this thingy is that is broken.Yes,I am that mechanically savvy,everything on the truck is a thingy!So this nice young man schooches under the truck and says that it is what is left of my 4x4 drive shaft,it shattered.

He has to go and get his flat bed tow truck to tow ours, so we wait.While we are waiting The Boy starts telling me all the horror stories that could have happened,we could have flipped or a piece of metal..

could have gone through the gas tank, etc etc.I am glad no one was behind us to get hit by flying metal after seeing the huge hunk in the tire.Did I ever mention we always say a prayer before we set out to The Big City?


The sad part is the whole time we sat there,a woman and boy on the side of the road not one person stopped to see if we needed help.We were out of the truck most of the time so it was evident we didn't have any man help.Half a million people drove by in the couple of hours we were there.We didn't need help,but that is not the point,we could have had we been less fortunate and not had road side assistance or the money for a tow truck or a cell phone for that matter.I leave my phone at home all the time.What is wrong with people in the Big Cities?Every small town I have ever broken down in or had a flat some one has stopped almost right away and helped me.Once The Boy is grown I think I will complete my hermit transformation and stay in the woods in my uni-bomber shack!

Throwback Thursday

Welcome once again to the past! The week we go back to 1955....



This is my MIL,aka, Nana.Sorry Nana,it is your turn!I have no idea why she is not centered unless she was falling off the stool when they were taking her picture!Wasn't she a cute little thing.Nana is a tiny person,most of her adult life she never broke a 100 lbs! You know the old saying dynamite comes in small packages?Well her picture is on the label of that pack of dynamite!
Nana is a good MIL and a good Nana too.She sent me a package in the mail last week for no reason,just because I am hers.It had a cute dish towel done by one of her friends who machine embroideries, with a rooster on it.My kitchen has a lot of chicken stuff.I can't help it,I like those little fluffy butted creatures!

It also had some wonderful hand spun yarn from The Spinning Spinderella.

She was at a little craft show and there was this nice lady,Leslie, there spinning.She called me so excited because she knows how much I want to do that and told me all about it and gave Leslie, the Spinning Spinderella, my blog address too.
Me and Hubby are different from the rest of the family,but Nana seems happy to let us do our own thing,even if she doesn't understand why we are a little weird! She never gives us a hard time and always tries to find someway to support us.I am not talking with rose colored glasses,we have had a few disagreements over the years,but let's face it,in almost 19 years who wouldn't.
You would be hard pressed to find a better MIL,thanks Nana!

Veterans Day

I know this is titled Memorial Day but I think it fits today too.Veterans day is for all Veterans living and dead.I just find this poem very moving.By the way the author,Joyce,was a man.


Memorial Day

"Dulce et decorum est"

The bugle echoes shrill and sweet,
But not of war it sings to-day.
The road is rhythmic with the feet
Of men-at-arms who come to pray.

The roses blossom white and red
On tombs where weary soldiers lie;
Flags wave above the honored dead
And martial music cleaves the sky.

Above their wreath-strewn graves we kneel,
They kept the faith and fought the fight.
Through flying lead and crimson steel
They plunged for Freedom and the Right.

May we, their grateful children, learn
Their strength, who lie beneath this sod,
Who went through fire and death to earn
At last the accolade of God.

In shining rank on rank arrayed
They march, the legions of the Lord;
He is their Captain unafraid,
The Prince of Peace . . . Who brought a sword.

Joyce Kilmer

Purplehull Peas

They only need one word...YUM!!!


Most southern people love purplehull peas.I'm sure most of us have that childhood memory of sitting on the porch on humid summer evenings shelling peas.The purple stained thumbs and fingernails.We didn't care because most folks had the same purple thumbs and if the didn't they knew why yours look dirty.


At my house if you made the mistake of sitting down somewhere,anywhere you were handed a bowl of peas to shell.You had better not hand that bowl back half shelled either!If you wanted to watch TV you had to shell some peas!Only place we didn't shell peas was riding in the car,I don't know how we escaped that!


My granddad made a pea sheller out of and old ringer washing machine.I wished he'd made one for us!
I am thrilled my little fall garden has given us several messes of peas.I was afraid it had gotten too cool for them,I guess not.They are The Boy's favorite veggie.So here's to good,simple,homegrown food and purple thumbs!

Fellow Farm Sister

I would like to invite you to check out Cold Antler Farm.It is written by Jenna,a farm girl through and through.She lives in a little cabin in Vermont with sled dogs and has sheep and chickens and rabbits.She is a lovely writer and great photographer.I am never disappointed when I read her blog.Her dream is to one day own her own farm.She lives simply and fully.Oh and she also plays the fiddle!
She is having a contest to win a radio and all you have to do is visit her blog and tell some one about it and leave a comment saying you did just that.If you don't win the radio,you will still be winner just from enjoying her blog!

What's Been Goin' On

I dreamed this morning that our two preggers goats,Sweet Pea and Guinness,and our not preggers Doodah all had babies.The strange part is in the dream they were all living under my bed! All my dreams,that I remember,are weird.If my dreams ever start to come true,boy,we are in trouble for sure!
So here is the update on what we worked on while Hubby was home.He and the Boy got all the t-post in for the new pasture,but not corner post or stretcher post.Hubby wants to use pipe for these and could not find any at a reasonable driving distance.


The sheep shack.

We are big and recycling.We will reuse as much as possible even if it doesn't look magazine pretty.The sheep shack is in the back so it is not noticeable from the road,Hubby built the frame.Then he use metal from a huge above ground pool wall to do the sides and roof.It is also on skids so it can be drug to another pasture when we move the sheep.
How did we get this huge roll of metal pool wall you may ask.I will tell you since Hubby is gone.If he was here reliving the story would give me the urge to hit him with a cast iron skillet!
Hubby and The Boy came home from church one Sunday,I did not go because I was not feeling good,to tell me some folks at church had offered us a huge above ground pool!All we had to do was take it apart!
Let me tell you,I was excited!I hate the heat here and a pool would have made it soo much more bearable.So ,we go on over to these nice folks house.When I get to the pool what do I see?It is buried half way in the ground!That means we have to dig it out before we take it apart.Hubby left that part out.Some of it had already been started though.Half way through Hubby mentions it has no liner,I though it had been taken out already and put aside but noooo.So a full,hot day later we get all this stuff home.I start asking when we gonna do the pool?That was a year and a half ago.I just gave up.So I started to look for other ways to use this huge pile of junk.I would hate to take that much junk to a landfill.Poor Hubby,he has a pack rat gene.He will take home all kinds of junk,especially free,useless junk and he never wants to throw anything away.When he is not home I get rid of stuff,he never misses it.Did I mention this is genetic,I think The Boy may also have pack rat stamped on his DNA!
So Hubby used the metal to so the wall and roof of the sheep shack and to wall in my turkey coop.The turkey coop he is not happy about.It would have looked much better if he would have turned the tin around so the nice side was on the out side.If he added some trim along the edges it wouldn't look so bad.But he was out of time to do anything more.

You can see it from the road and he says it looks junky,makes us look kind of trashy.I told him to look around, because it blends in just fine with everything else!It is not like Southern Living Magazine is beating on out door to do a photo shoot!Any way,he says he is going to build a new coop when he is home next time...right....I will believe it when I see it!
He and The Boy also got our little barn covered with tin,real tin not pool tin.

One day we are planning on building another bigger barn and this one will be for the goats.

This little barn is partially recycled too.The roof was on an old,dangerously unstable chicken coop when we move here.Hubby saved the roof because it was really well made and still useful.

Also he built some goat houses.

The goaties sleep securely in these at night.

We have too many coyotes here,they love to eat goats.

We put up almost everything at night because of this,goats,sheep,calves and poultry. We also have our own legendary evil creatures I have yet to see but everyone seems to know about.They are suppose to be from some sort of wolf-coyote-dog mixture.The story goes that years ago some one was raising wolves and either they escaped or the folks lost interest and let them go and they mixed with the local canine varieties.Now,like I said,I have never seen these fearsome beast.They have a fierce and monstrous reputation.Me, The Boy and my friend did hear something howling one night that defiantly wasn't a coyote.
Hubby also,finally, put latches on the gates so me and The Boy do not have to keep tying them shut with hay string every time we leave to make sure the dogs don't get out!I could have put on latches but the gates need repairing also.I have no ability to do any kind of carpentry!
What I hope to accomplish before Hubby gets back is fence for the turkey yard and new fence for the goat yard and some minor things on the sheep shack.Plus me and the Boy are woefully behind on our chicken processing.We have got to get that flock thinned down.I know this doesn't sound like a lot but if you add in the endless painting,animal care and school and garden and.....well you know life in general!I need a clone!A younger more energetic clone!

Holding down the Homestead

Well, Hubby is back on his way to China.His time home was shorter this time but he will be gone a shorter amount of time this trip.Plus he will be home for Christmas.I know many people out there don't understand how we live our lives apart so much.First,I would like to say we are best friends.While some would think that would make it even harder it really makes us stronger.Second,we've done this in some way or another for along time.We both went in to our marriage with a strong commitment that we would not give up on each other no matter what hard times came our way and believe me we've had our share.I am sure our trials have been the same as many others . I am sure we have had less than a lot of folks too,some folks get more than their fair share it seems.Most importantly,I know, is our faith.I don't talk religion on here much.This is a blog about our farm life but we a Christian family and it will creep in from time to time,unashamedly I might add.Really,when it comes down to it ,there is no way to explain how we have been able to make our life work.We just do,we love each other,we are tough.Besides,when you think of how many service men and women are separated from their families,it makes our separation seem small.




We kind of adopted this song as our theme song,it really goes with our life.I am not a big country music fan,too whiney for me,but there are a few songs I like.In an odd twist I like bluegrass and folk music.I know,I am way cool!This is just a quick post,I will show what we've done and what me and The Boy still hope to finish before Hubby gets back next time.