Tag: Farm Update

Coming Out of Hibernation

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Hello friends!

It’s warming up slowly but surely and I’ve come to the conclusion I’m basically an overgrown houseplant. Basically if you give me enough sun, a little food, some water, and I am a happy bean. It literally boils down to basically if the sunshine is out, I handle life a lot better.

Joe feels the same way I think. The sunshine zoomies are intense and exuberant. He’s already curating the beginning of this year’s stick collection. He raids the yard trimmings and wind downed limbs for the best sticks. He’s been following Dad around doing yard work and helping me in my quest to de grossify the tack space. It’s a…work in progress. But Joe is loving when it’s warm and sunny enough to work outside.

Joe’s foot is healing nicely. It wasn’t a big deal, just a split pad, but we didn’t know when it initially happened, and he had the post-groomer zoomies around the house, and my house looked like a crime scene. Then, because I’m not particularly fast at learning my lessons, we let him loose to move freely again when we thought it was done bleeding and I had to play CSI: dog zoomies edition all over again. I used an entire can of the heavy duty Resolve Pet Cleaner and I still have little blood spots I keep finding. My dad has a carpet shampoo thingie so as soon as we have a warm day I can leave the doors open with, I’m shampooing the rugs. If the cops were to stop by the purple light thingies would be going nuts! 

Here he is taking full advantage of being babied

So, Joe had to wear some vet wrap and gauze for a while, and he’s quite upset because I’ve been alternating antiseptic and antimicrobial sprays just in case. He has super tickly feet so any sort of work around them is an ordeal. It took a while to find a groomer who could handle him because it’s a knee jerk reaction for him, he snatches his tickly little toes away and hides them.

He’s all good now, though, which is great as I was really worried about infection, and he’s zooming like crazy again. He’s had a serious case of the springtime zoomies for weeks, but otherwise he pretty much milked it for a day or two and then moved on.
We’ve had some more sad news on the farm this last week. The raccoon that has been terrorizing the animals and that we haven’t been able to get rid of has escalated his behavior and we lost our lovely last chicken. This one hit Dad especially hard since she followed him around during the day and played with the cats, and then he had a little night time routine with her to tuck her in each night. UNfortunately, some time in the last week or so the raccoon learned to manipulate basic latches and locks, so the previously secured chicken coop isn’t. Little one will be missed.

I wish I had gotten a pic of her playing with the cats, but here’s a cute pic of her strutting around her farm



I’m basically ready for Easter at this point, the eggs are stuffed, the food is all in various states of completeness but I think the ingredients have all been attained, and I’ve taken the Monday after as PTO. My boss is getting used to me, he knows I take Easter really seriously and he already had that day marked off for me. He’s a funny guy, he can be really hard some days, but I know he’s got my back. I hope everyone gets to have a boss like I have at least once in their life. Some of my cousins came to help me stuff the eggs and a normally four hour job only took about an hour. Because I think I am clever I fed them Egg Drop Soup in return. Let’s keep our fingers crossed we have a warm and sunny Easter. The last couple years have been a little cold and cloudy.

They burned the canal last weekend. Just got rid of all the major weeds and tumbleweeds that pile up over the winter time. They are always really respectful of the horses, and I happened to be driving in right as they went by, so I went and stood by the girls so they had a little extra support. They were amped up, but not particularly scared.

That’s been us most generally. Slowly turning into spring, and we are slowly coming out of hibernation. What are you guys up to? Have you been able to start your Spring Chores yet? Got any fun Easter traditions?

Until we chat again, my friends!

Catching Up

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Hello! Friends!
Well, we had a little thunder, some rain, some higher winds, but luckily it looks like maybe the snow is mostly over for the year. There’s been a lot of sad gray days, but that seems appropriate for the last couple weeks. I won’t dwell long on the sadness, we’ve had some truly heartbreaking moments trying to find a new routine without Scooby and watching my four legged family members work out that Scoobs isn’t going to come tippy-tapping through the door. It was particularly hard watching Joe’s face light up when he saw Scooby’s blanket for the first time again, and then look up at the shelf where I had arranged all of Scooby’s things when I went to tuck them in later that night. I know it’s silly to attach human ideals to critters since they truly think differently, but I swear it seemed like he was saying Good Night to Scooby.

Our raccoon has stuck around, although he’s realized we won’t feed the cats while he’s around so he’s now terrorizing the horses and Dad as well, which is grand. To clarify, we still feed the cats, but differently now, they are not going hungry, in fact, our sweet Honey has gotten quite the filled out figure. She’s not fat, but she could very easily get there. In her defense, it’s hard to exercise in the winter. No one wants to move in the cold.

Sunrise on a stormy morning… it was a lot less purple on my phone

I cut my hair finally a couple weeks ago. It was almost waist length and now it’s just above my shoulders. It’s cute, not terribly what I had hoped for, but I forgot how much my hair will shrink up when cut wet and I didn’t let the new stylist know. It’s cute though, so even though I was looking forward to chest length, I have a sassy little short cut, with lots of bouncy layers, and it’s like a bonus! But please, share with me what to do with short hair stylewise, because the last time I had short hair was middle school and I also had bangs and none of that was a good choice haha. I want to make the most of this bonus hair “phase” and do cute styles with it. I love the new stylist though, she’s amazing, and I am officially a loyal customer. It’s nice, I haven’t really clicked with a stylist since middle school, so haircuts weren’t fun or a priority. It’s kinda a fun, indulgent little treat to do something new with your look in a chill, supportive environment. Low key might be considering a balayage in the summer if I get bold.

I finally got some art hung up in my room again. There’s not much more to say on that but I am pretty excited about it. Good way to spend the stuck-indoors time, since unfortunately it looks like we still have a few weeks of mud and rain to mess up plans.

Someone gets super clingy at bathtime
His curls are so defined after bathtime
Guess who learned their phone has portrait mode?

On one of our rare sunny days, I tried hopping on Ro to see where we need to start training wise and…she needs some medical attention. Her arthritis is a little rough right now and she’s pulled something in her back and I’m not surprised, but I think this year is going to be a rebuilding year. It was a wake up call, her little soreness we’ve been managing isn’t just because of the cold, I reckon.  I want to focus hard on getting her topline stronger, working out the best solution for her arthritis, since she’s clearly not mentally ready to not be working (she instigated the initial session, she just got cranky when she got sore, and if she doesn’t get at least a little work occasionally she goes slightly mental), and I want to work on our teamwork, which can be done in saddle or on the ground. As for Miss Nellie Belle, my goals for her are more mental. I really want to expand her horizons, work through her still explosive fear response, and our teamwork… which is a trend. She’s such a clever girl, she deserves to not be scared of her world.
Joe has been spending more time down around the barn with me. I still try to keep a fence between him and the girls, but he’s been doing exceptional with his heel, sit, and recall, so I am slowly becoming more confident with having him around. I still don’t think he will ever hang out with me while I am working directly with the girls, mostly because Ro has no patience for dogs and Nellie is still a lit firecracker when overstimulated, but less so because my sweet overgrown teddy bear can’t listen. Although, spring fever hit him hard and being still pent up inside means our inside the house listening skills are slacking like crazy. He’s taken me out running around like a banshee a couple times already.

Until we chat again my friends!

Until We Meet Again, My Very Best Boy

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TW: Pet loss, grief, medical descriptions 

I won’t lie to you, I had written a fun little post talking about the animals and their spring fever shenanigans while father winter keeps fighting for all its worth. That post no longer feels appropriate.

Sweet Scooby-Doo has been slowing down for a while. He was a happy boy, liked basking in the sun and wandering in his yard. A couple days ago we noticed that he wasn’t acting himself, then he started having problems keeping to a potty schedule and generally seemed upset. Wednesday morning we took him to the vet thinking he had a stomach bug or maybe some senior potty problems. The vet asked if they could run some tests while I went back to work.

I’ll save you the suspense, and the brief batch of hope we were gifted. The final news wasn’t good. Sweet Scooby had no kidney function left. The vet was just as shocked as I was, he was a happy, busy, loving dog, without the ultrasound we wouldn’t have known. He had been off the last couple days because his kidneys had finally given their last.

Wednesday we had to make the heart wrenching decision to let Scoobs leave peacefully, surrounded by his brothers and family. The vet let us know he wouldn’t ever be pain free or comfortable again, and that we were making the kind choice. 

Not the easy one.

Scooby spent many years with us, almost two decades, and was such a sweetheart of a pupper. Scooby was technically my brother’s dog, a wonderful Christmas present, and a perfect addition to our family. I remember his little red bow and a note that said “This one was too excited to stay in the sleigh”. When my childhood dog was blind and deaf, Scooby valiantly took it on himself to be Winchester’s constant companion. We jokingly called him “the menace” because he was convinced he needed to be involved in everything, often pushing open doors or moving light furniture when it suited. He was my rock when Winchester passed and the constant comic relief, always talking and being ever so dramatic. He loved standing out on the porch when the wind blew but hated thunder, preferring to hide out when “the big dog barked”. He always made sure his brothers were hiding too, he was responsible, you see.

When we decided Scooby needed a companion after Winchester passed, and then accidentally came home with three puppies, Scooby hid under a blanket for a week. He had very little patience for his brothers, unless we weren’t looking. More than once I caught him playing with his brothers in those early days, before deciding it was enough and crawling back under the blanket. Luckily they grew on him, especially little Sherlock. He was a fantastic older brother though, firm, but teaching, and caring. He was a patient jungle gym for the little ones and a pillow for Joe, until Joe got huge, that is.

Losing Winchester and later, Sherlock, took its toll on my sweet Scoobs, he had a very big heart He wore on his sleeve. We noticed him slowing into his elder years after the latter loss, and that he enjoyed slower activities like sunbathing and naps more than zoomies. He was still always up for a good nature walk though, he loved to explore.

Scooby had many nicknames, most commonly Scoobs, Scoobert (occasionally pronounced like Colbert does his name), scoober-doo, the-doo, scoobediah, scooby-dubious, and his favorite, my-handsome-special-beautiful-boy (I told you, a flair for the dramatic).

It doesn’t seem real yet, and I doubt it will for a while. My mornings started with some Scooby snuggles and evenings ended tucking him in, he was always curled up in his little daybed, and I don’t know how many times a day I’d leave my desk to go snuggle him in a blanket. I think I got the idea in my head that he’d always be around to hang out with me, but the cost of love so pure is the loss, we are gifted with so many years, but we cannot have something so amazing forever. 

I will forever love and miss my sweet little bichon. 

I love you forever, Scoobs.

A Little Shopping…

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Hello!

It’s been a little warmer here on the farm, which has caused a very premature spring fever in everyone. The horses have been fussing like crazy, taking apart fencing, loafing in the sunshine, bullying each other (happens every spring, it seems) and getting all sorts of muddy and dirty. The dogs want to be out in the yard a lot more, especially Joe, which is fine when it’s warm enough, but since someone has to watch them at all times they haven’t gotten to go out quite as much as in the summer. The temperature itself hasn’t really even been too bad, but we have had a persistent icy northern wind for days, and it can physically hurt to be outside.

I did take my crochet out and sit in the sunshine while they roamed a couple days ago. I took some video so I could share it with my friends in Seattle, who were still fighting snow, so maybe I’ll cut that together and share with you all too!

I was on-call at work for a large part of the last two weeks, which means no leaving home or being away from the computer, so this last week has been a mad dash to catch up on all the errands that need running and chores that need doing. I had to go get more grain, run grocery shopping, pick up some cat food (which is a story I’ll share in a moment) and run to get my taxes done. All of which was in a different direction from one another so it took multiple trips. Crazy busy!

We also got to run some fun errands, I made everyone come to the used bookstore with me again and we all have some new evening reading materials. We have been trying to turn off the tv more often in the evenings, sometimes we talk, share news, and sometimes we read, enjoying each other’s company without needing to engage. It’s pretty common for us to do that in the summer on the porch, but in the winter we sometimes get a little attached to our shows. I, of course, got more mysteries, but also Pride and Prejudice, which has been on my TBR list for forever.

Christopher and I adventured a few towns over to check out a store called the Vintage Nerd too, a game store we had never been to. It was much bigger than we thought and we took about an hour and a half to walk through and browse, and I still feel like I probably didn’t see everything. I may have gotten some stickers, a game from my childhood, and some dice. I don’t talk about it a lot here, but when it’s cold and stormy, a favorite way to decompress after work for me is video games. I don’t play super often, at least not nearly as much as I did in school, but I do enjoy them. It should surprise no one that I love a good farming game.

I mentioned that I needed to tell you about the cat food. That was a bit of a misdirection because I don’t actually have much to say about the cat food (other than I tried to fetch it in a windstorm and I learned my local BiMart isn’t windproof). The currently ongoing story is that of a very large, very mean raccoon. He moved a few days ago and has totally trashed the tractor shed. He has terrorized the cats, broken some of the irrigation pipe that was stored in there, pulled wiring out of the hand tools and the lighting. He also got into some stuff a family member was storing in my shed and now I have to replace their stuff too. Luckily it was nothing major but still, I feel bad that their stuff got messed up. They were expecting me to keep it nice while they moved, ya know?

Then this little jerk decided to start camping out on my porch trying to work out how to get in the house. He’s super bold, and doesn’t seem to fear people at all. It’s worrying. He opened the tractor shed door himself, and for context, I can barely wrestle that thing open sometimes. He’s a chunky, clever little thief who is hellbent on food.
So, if anyone has any ideas how to handle that? I’m all ears.
Until we chat again my friends!

While I Was Gone….

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Hello Friends!

It’s been a minute! Oh goodness, has it been a while, but I am happy to be back.
I’m hoping you guys enjoyed the video…blog….vlog…thing that I posted. It was a lot of fun to make and I am excited to work on more kinds of media like that. I think it will keep the writing from getting stale and give you all a new look at the farm.

So, what did you miss in January? A couple big things, but mostly not much. It’s been a cold, quiet start to the year.

Mom spent the last few days of 2022 in the hospital unfortunately. Her asthma came back with a force and her oxygen levels got way too low for us to handle on our own. So that was a very stressful week, luckily I had taken some time off to recoup from the holidays so I didn’t need to worry too much about work. The nurses and therapists were absolutely amazing, and while some of that hospital stay lived up to the small town politics standard (there are always those who wish to build kingdoms instead of do their job) I will be eternally grateful for those lovely ladies and gentleman who took care of my mom (and dad, who stayed the whole time). We also have a new rescue plan in place now that puts a lot more of the responsibility on us, the caregivers, which makes much more sense post-strokes. Her asthma hadn’t really been a problem in so long, we never thought to take that step, but now we are more set up which is offering a nice peace of mind.

Joe has been the best nurse to Mom, he checks her breathing and won’t let her out of his sight

We’ve had some issues with wildlife knocking down the pasture fences, and Ro is on a mission to get up to the road now. I don’t know what I am going to do with that girl. The fencing has been in dire need of an update for a while but panels are so stinking expensive, I’ve kinda deprioritized it. I don’t think that’s going to be an option much longer. Poor Dad has been out several mornings while I am at work trying to wrangle the fencing back together. He and I are getting into the habit of just walking the fence line fairly often to make sure things aren’t completely broken.

Trying to look innocent while I reset a fence post they knocked down, also, can we talk about the dirt situation for a minute? How do they get that muddy?

Speaking of wildlife, a new creature has entered our section of the valley. There is apparently a moose afoot. For those, like me, who just loudly exclaimed, “a moose?!” Yep. Yep, they come around occasionally. I have not seen one, but I often hear the stories. I am aware of four moose…moosen….meese….since I’ve lived here, including the one wandering around now. Christopher and our neighbor have seen it toddling around. I am not sure what the plan is if that moose decides to take out some of my fencing, I don’t think even the panels would truly do much. If I see it though, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will try to get a picture. 

Our houseguests have found a more permanent place to stay. I am really quite excited for them, I think it makes a lot more sense for their family. The church is helping them out, they are staying in a church owned house, so their landlord is probably pretty reasonable (at least it’s probably pretty easy to get the tenant handbook….okay, well, I thought it was funny). They kiddos have their own rooms, they have a kitchen they can use whenever (they could here too, but it was a little awkward because the layout of our house kinda sets you up to be “on show” when in the kitchen, and I think it made him nervous to cook in front of us), and it’s in town, closer to schools and work. Their car broke down out here a couple times and it’s a lot harder to get a car home or to the shop when you live out in the boonies. I think overall it’s a way better set up for them. Admittedly, it’s brought the chaos and stress level way back down to normal for us too. I forgot how truly quiet and chill our household is normally.

Anyhoo, that’s basically been us. Just chilling out and getting back to normal after a crazy end to 2022. I don’t really make resolutions, but I have a few goals and dreams for 2023, so I am pretty stinking excited for this year.
Until we chat again, my friends!

..And To All A Good Night!

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Hello friends!

Happy Holidays!

We had a pretty wonderful, low key holiday. It was a much needed calm for the whole weekend.

Christmas Eve we hung around and finished up the last minute things before heading to a family potluck and cookie exchange. We had all kinds of cookies, but also five different versions of peanut butter bars. Not that it was a competition at all, all peanut butter bars are delicious and deserve love, but mine were unanimously voted the best. To Be fair, however, I’ve also made mine the longest, everyone else was trying out new recipes so it makes sense that I’ve honed mine a little. I also got mine from a genuine church lady, I don’t know where she got it, but little old church ladies generally either have the best or worst recipes, there’s no in between. So, what I’m saying is, my peanut butter bars are bomb. Not that it was a competition. But if it was, they’re pretty great. But it wasn’t. At all. 

We also had gingersnaps, fudge, a couple kinds of sugar cookies, I made my maternal grandmother’s almond butter cookies, and my cousin made these super cute reindeer out of Graham crackers and melting chocolate. 

My sweet mama stood and helped with every part of the cookie baking this year, her help was invaluable

We had a lovely time singing carols, eating yummy potluck, and watching my 16 year old cousin try to show off by sliding an icy donut in his little truck only to be chewed out by his girlfriend and my grandma. His girlfriend fit in perfectly by the way, which is a pretty terrific trick considering we are all crazy. She was in on the jokes, helping with the cookies, and playing with the kids. Pretty brave for a little 16 year old, I don’t think I’d have been that poised at that age. 

I ended up leaving before the church service this year, it was too snowy and icy and I didn’t feel comfortable driving on all that after dark. But it worked out because it gave me some time to be Santa’s elf. I had some last minute things to finish up.

We did our usual tradition of “something cozy for Christmas Eve”. It used to be “jammies on Christmas Eve” but we changed it because some of us stopped growing in the 6th grade and simply did not need more jammie sets. So I got a cute sweatshirt, my dad got socks (he requested them), got my mama a cute jammie set, and Christopher got a hoodie.

The tradition of finding the most ridiculous socks I possibly can for Christopher for Christmas continues

I once again proved that I have no spatial awareness and my stocking stuffers mostly didn’t fit, but I swear that’s becoming family tradition. Christopher tried to stay up and help me but he’s been working long shifts starting at 2 am so he was being super helpful, and then not so much, and when I looked over, he had fallen asleep mid stocking. But points for the effort. I got him to bed and Pat Saget kept me company via reruns. 

Christmas day we got up, I made some cinnamon rolls, and then we slowly started opening presents while snacking on a Hickory Farms box my grandma gave us. We were meant to have a roast but yours truly remembered she didn’t defrost it until 6 pm so… we had it today (I’m writing this on the 26th, for the record).

We had a lovely afternoon watching movies and eating far too many cookies, and all the critters got some kind of special treat. Then I started working on the kiddos gifts. They were at their moms for the weekend, but I knew they were coming home in the evening, so I set out their newly stuffed stockings, set out their gifts, and made sure they had some “Christmas Eve cozies” even though they were getting them a little later than expected. We had also set them up with a bunch of the cookies from the exchange, and a local charity had helped their dad get them some gifts from him. If squeals of delight were any indication, I think we attained at least a little Christmas magic. Mission accomplished. 

Overall the holidays were lovely. I’ve been lucky to have a boss that let me burn my PTO before it expired so it’s been calmer than usual and I’ve been able to catch up on some of the crazy that’s been going on. It was a much needed low key holiday after burst pipes, long term guests, a haywire heater, an ice storm, and a broken water trough. It’s been a December folks, but the holidays were bright and the new year is looking brighter. 

Until we chat again my friends!

It’s a Busy Home…

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

My house smells so good right now! One of those rare moments when I wish the blog had smell-o-vision (although, etymologically speaking, shouldn’t it be tele-olfaction? …anyways). Usually you probably wouldn’t want to smell the blog, I’m guessing it smells a lot like horse manure, eau-de-farm-doggie, and diesel. Just a hunch. 

But, for real, we made almond butter cookies and my house smells like a hallmark movie. It literally smells like a good day in here. It smells like christmas! (It smells like warm vanilla, almond, and unsurprisingly, butter, but let’s be poetic for just a moment).

I generally don’t super enjoy baking, and admittedly Christmas cookies aren’t an exception, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE eating Christmas cookies so I will do my part to get the reward. Love almond butter cookies. They are a bit involved so even though every year I say “I should make these more often”… I don’t. 

It’s been a crazy week on the farm. We had a water pipe go south on us that required digging up a part of the yard and calling a plumber. Then calling a diagnostic imaging company because they couldn’t find the pipe. THEN calling back the plumbers when we found the pipe four inches from where they dug the first giant hole. I’ll attach a photo of the yard now, because you can only dig a hole so many times before it turns into mud. I’m not exactly sure why it happened, something about a nylon joint going bad, but I’m just so grateful it wasn’t the septic system. It also put it on my radar that I should really have the septic system serviced in the spring. Added to the planner.

Here’s the hole, for context, I’d disappear if I walked into that quick sand. My 5′ self would have no chance
Here’s the pic I took a little while later, when the snow had frozen the mud and I was hiding in the barn before making a run back to teh house

Second thing that happened was two of my lovely cousins, who are skilled tradespeople (or skilled tradespeople in training) came over to put in an outlet for me. So my cloffice is official! I have power! Now to get shelves and such. I need to paint, because the wiring in this house, and the wall covering too, is a thing of its own. So we had to punch a few holes, and accidentally turned the power off on my dad mid shower, but it’s in and other than the color differences there’s no sign that plug in wasn’t always there. It was so cool seeing my cousins work, and my cousin who did the electrical is an apprentice, so she was really excited to do a solo job. I had to wash everything because I traded plaster for sheetrock in those holes, and both create just the most invasive dust. (Side note, there’s some potentially very dumb cleaning content headed your way, it made me laugh too hard to not share, so you’ll all have to cringe along with me next week).

My room is currently a pretty, but faded, green, and I like it a lot, so I might try to match it, BUT, I’ll add a couple pictures of the room as it is currently, and if yall have ideas I’m all ears. I’ve also, occasionally, had the urge to do some fun paint or wallpaper tricks, so I’m open to those, but wallpaper, even the peel and stick kind, is seemingly out of my price range for now. And honestly, paint feels a little less like a serious commitment, and I don’t know if I’m looking for a long term relationship with my decor choices. I don’t want to feel bad doing a refresh a couple years down the line, ya know?

Slightly older pic because it’s super stormy and dark this week and when I take new pics they keep looking grey
Slightly older pic because it’s super stormy and dark this week and when I take new pics they keep looking grey

The snow of course made both of these things a little harder, since windows couldn’t be opened and the ground was frozen. So obviously paint will be waiting for warmer weather. But thinking about it now will prepare us for spring. And it’s just kinda fun to day dream. I’m also minorly entertaining the idea of painting the cloffice a soft pink. Of course with that thought came my brain replaying that scene from steel magnolias on loop:

“My colors are blush and bashful”

“Her colors are pink and pink”

Might be fun though.

Until we chat again, my friend