rambles – Page 5 – The Farmer's Blogger

Hippity Hop

Posted on April 22, 2022 by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!
Easter was fantastic at our house; I hope you had a lovely Easter too! (Or a lovely Passover or Ramadan).
We got incredibly lucky with the weather. It poured all day the day before, and it actually snowed and blew and rained and hailed, etc. etc., basically the entire week before. We got approximately two hours of clear skies on Friday to try to clean up the yard and we did our best.
But amazingly, it was beautiful and sunny on Easter! Cold, definitely large-jacket-weather, but so sunny and pretty. I got lots of family photos so hopefully with the lighting some of them turn out well.
We hid 350+ eggs and I am still convinced we haven’t found all of them. I think we got close though, the kids absolutely loved it. Each kiddo got a bucket and a little toy, either a stuffed bunny or a little set of pocket cars they could choose from (among the youngsters in my family stuffed animals and pocket cars are valuable riches, you see). After that it was off to the races.
This year there was enough youngsters that I had to send some grandparents and a grand uncle to the basement to supervise a Veggie Tales screening, because there’s too many bright sunny open windows upstairs to peek through, and the Easter Bunny is shy, you know.

(Most of my Easter pictures include family who would like their privacy respected so please enjoy these photos of some of the decor)

We had a lovely potluck dinner, I made ham and some chip dip, and lots of desserts. My extended family brought, in turn, turkey, some potato and pasta salads, some warm casseroles, and a couple more desserts. My mom tried her hand at deviled eggs and a little pasta salad kit, with supervision, and she did pretty well. A lot of the steps she remembers, it’s mostly just timing and remembering the safety rules, as well as reading the recipes. This is a huge improvement from even last year when she could hardly stand in the kitchen by herself without becoming overwhelmed. It’s easy to forget all the progress she’s made post strokes, and it served as a good Easter gift.
I also had set up an ice cream bar with lots of toppings, so the kiddos were very pleased. And very sugared up by the time they left. That’s my job as the fun cousin, although I think the parents were on similar sugar highs, we really did go dessert heavy this year. But we are a family of sweet tooths… sweet teeth?
Before we ate we had a nice reading of the bible story. This worked out well because, while I had made an Easter Bible Trivia set, everyone was so keen to be out in the sun we ended up forgetting about it entirely. I’m super glad we were able to get at least a little of the true reason for the holiday into our celebration. I think sometimes it’s really easy, I know I’m super guilty of this, to think about the Easter bunny for the kiddos and the food and the games and the yard and forgetting the whole Jesus thing. I’m guilty of that at Christmas too.
The kiddos also got to feed the horses some multicolored carrots, courtesy of our neighbors. The local research station rents land from my neighbors, and I’ve gotten to know some of the field workers. Since they are allowed to take home any harvests afterward (the research station is currently interested only in the seeds) I often get gifted some of the excess, this time, easily 15 pounds of various carrot varieties. I’m so grateful, not only that they think of me but also because its gorgeous, meticulously grown produce. I’ve been cooking with them lots, sharing with family, and feeding them to the girls, and even then, I don’t know if I will be able to use them all in time. Can you freeze carrots? Anyways….
The horses and kiddos had lots of fun, especially because purple carrots stain little fingers and horsey tongues, and little June was telling her little cousins about how she rides Ro and how “Manna” can give everyone lessons. I might be on the hook for a couple more tiny novice cowpokes this summer.
We got to try the new ladder golf setup, and everyone really seemed to enjoy it. I was a little worried about the tethered balls flying with the little ones around but for the most part they are pretty good about staying out of the game zone. My family tends to get a little competitive so the wee ones have learned pretty quickly to not get involved unless they really want to play.
I also bought a game called Throw Throw Burrito, but with the wind a little blowier than usual we didn’t think an outdoor card game would work exceedingly well. No worries, next get together we will throw three-foot inflatable burritos at each other, we have the whole summer after all.

I hope you guys had as magical a weekend as we had. I need to spend today cleaning up, my house looks like an Easter bunny exploded, so I’ll leave this here.
Until we chat again my friends!

Fix It Lists

Posted on April 8, 2022April 5, 2022 by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!
The funny thing about spring time is that it’s always fix it season. It makes sense when you think about it, most things have sat around all winter, cold, unmoving, and without the general mini maintenance that comes with daily use.
We have a little irrigation pump that we use to water the pasture and arena spaces with the canal waters each year. It’s a tough little guy, and mostly comes out of winter unscathed, except for one little valve that breaks every year. Every single year we end up replacing this little brass fitting and pipe section. Weve tried just about everything, it now gets taken off and stored, last year in the garage, where, despite being bone dry and out of the elements, it still cracked. This year we stored it in the basement, but it got so unreasonably cold I don’t know if I have high Hope’s. We will know soon enough, when the frost warnings are past, the canal is full, and we can safely use the pump.

This is when it first started running, it’s not usually this grimy and muddy. Also please ignore the humming, much like a llama I tend to mindlessly hum when I am happy, and any sign of spring makes me happy.

For the first time since moving next to the canal, I was actually outside when it start filling up this year. I was walking Ro into the arena, which backs right up to the canal, and we first it come crashing through some of the tumbleweeds that had settled in the dry ditch. She had one of her rare spooky moments but settled fairly quickly. Funnily enough though, she panicked anytime any of her humans walked too close to the rushing water, which makes me wonder what her past water experiences have been, since no one here has ever fallen in or anything. We ended up mostly just standing near the canal chatting so she could come up and check on the water and then retreat as needed. Nellie was not bothered at all surprisingly. She was completely nonplussed with the whole situation.

This photo doesn’t really relate BUT my girls never share this nicely so I had to share the moment. Please ignore how gross the trough is, it actually got cleaned the morning after this photo was taken and the pvc protecting the heater got resettled

To be honest, I have no intuition as to what this horse will decide is scary and what isn’t. Every time I think “Nellie will fear this” I’m totally wrong, and I have about the same success rate with “Nellie will be fine with this” thoughts too. As long as she’s learning it all comes out in the wash I guess.
We called in the sprinkler guy for our yard sprinklers, because theoretically that thing is all a computerized system. I don’t think the automated part of it has worked for more than a week at a time the entire time we’ve owned it, and the system in manual mode has never made it a full season without breaking down. I’m very grateful for our sprinkler guy, he has the patience for the system that I simply never will. It fouls up like crazy. I don’t know how the previous owners utilized it, or perhaps they had the same issues.
We’ve had significantly worse luck with other tradespeople lately, which makes me even more grateful for our sprinkler guy. I tried to hire a landscaper to help with the ever-growing craziness that is the yard. I can manage the day to day, but the previous owner planted some questionable things in questionable places, and I have bushes threatening my sidewalks, arborvitae growing tall enough to be a problem, trees that need love, and a severe amount of mint… everywhere. I’ve more or less just tried to maintain them until I had solutions but it’s getting a little crazy. I thought maybe someone would be able to help me out, and lots of people responded, lots of people gave me dates and times they’d come give me a bid, and a lot of people suddenly never contacted or responded to me again while I waited for them to arrive. Those that did respond mostly said things like “you’re too far out” and “I don’t work in your area anymore” which is a touch annoying since I clarify my address several times with people (we’re…. not the most Google Maps friendly address). But I assume people suddenly realize I’m not near Boise and it’s not worth it, which is fine, but a cancellation notice would be nice. I missed a fun dinner out the other night because I was waiting for someone who no-showed on me.

Not everyone has a cool sprinkler guy, they are to be treasured

Last week my sweet brother started trying to tackle some of the jobs I had hoped a landscaper would help with. I appreciate it so much, he’s really handy when he has time, and my aunt said she’d be able to help me relocate some of those bushes when she comes later in the summer as she’s a hobby botanist. So now I just need to find a dedicated tree guy, and an exorcist for the mint. (I like mint a lot, have always grown it, but in pots, where it can’t rapidly consume whole garden beds. I don’t understand just throwing it out in the beds all over, because it’s truly everywhere now.)
Ah, oh well, worst case scenario the gardens will overgrow, and I’ll lean heavily into the “garden witch” aesthetic. We will call that a solid plan b.
Until we chat again my friends!

Sunshine Musings

Posted on March 18, 2022 by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

I have been basking in the sunshine! It’s been gloriously sunny and warm for a few days now and it’s just the absolute greatest thing! It’s been in the 50s!

It’s been so nice for melting the snow and drying things out and lifting spirits around here. Of course, everything is sunk now in the mud, which is going to continue to be a big old issue for things like driving to maneuver out of my driveway and getting deliveries, but it’s a temporary problem. I have been trying to look at getting a load of gravel hauled in this summer maybe, to help fortify the driveway and to maybe build a drainage system.

I’ve mentioned this a bunch, but work has been pretty crazy lately, and I’ve totally let it get that way. The thing about remote work, at least in tech, I guess I can’t speak to it across the board, is that even the kindest bosses are probably not keeping track of your time like you are and are possibly heaping work on. They don’t mean to, but it’s simply not as easy to notice when the little slack “online” icon has been green for 14-16 hours. And even further in his defense, I’ve said nothing because I figured it was a temporary thing. But I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve accidentally trained my lovely team that I’m around and working all the time, and that’s never a good thing, but especially not good as it’s getting closer and closer to seasons of outside chores and I can only sit at a desk for so long before the sunshine and soft nickers win out.

Look at these muddy, happy ponies out basking in the sunshine! Such beauties!!

So, I’m trying to slowly work back into signing off after 8 hours, setting somewhat stricter “reachable” hours, and getting some of my free time back to be outdoors. It’s an ongoing cycle with me, seems like almost every 6 months I have to correct some sort of work/life balance issue, because when your work is always three steps from your bed, it can be hard to disconnect.

That said you couldn’t force me into an actual office role for anything anymore. I’m far, far too happy to not have a commute, to work on projects in sweatpants, and to be able to eat lunch whenever I feel like it. Remote work is definitely what I am built for, even more so when I can set my own hours (mostly) and work out on the porch. I’d be miserable in an actual office, I now officially can’t be away from my animals for more than an hour or two. Otherwise, I absolutely lose my mind.

Plus, it helps that, despite my complaining, I actually really like my job a lot. It’s not a case of “if you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life” because, frankly, I think that’s nonsense, but I think it’s about as close as you can get. I think the saying should be something like “find a good team, doing work you find mostly enjoyable, and work will be a manageable task each day of your life” …. but maybe catchier.

Because let’s be real, even when you love your job like I do, if you wouldn’t do it for free, you’re working.

Anyways, all that to say, I’m trying to arrange life around riding and farm chores again instead of work, and I’m so excited about it. I have had a few days now where it’s been heavy sweatshirt instead of a coat weather, and I am now thriving. When it gets to t-shirt weather, I’ll be unstoppable, and also never at my desk. Those are the days where I suddenly go “oh no, I was meant to finish the blog today!” And I quickly haul everything out to the porch, so I don’t have to go inside to publish it.

Such a model, always gotta find the best angles

It’s also the season of listening to the doves coo, which is such a warm and nostalgic sound for me. We did not have doves in the pacific northwest so each summer when school let out and I got to come over here to my lovely valley, that first morning waking up to dove coos was the sweetest day of summer. Doves cooing meant I was in my favorite place on earth, where I can read under ancient ash trees, go play with baby farm animals, take long walks with my camera, and write on the back porch to the sounds of running water and twittering birds.

Now as an adult I’ve been able to add “can fall asleep in my own bed, cuddle my own horses, and have halfway decent internet” to the equation and frankly, sometimes I have to pinch myself. To think I was annoyed when I first moved here, because it wasn’t the plan after college, I had to give up friends and, at the time I thought, the career I’d just worked so hard for as well. I don’t blame past Amanda for being scared about those things, while I’m so happy to be here, it’s not always been peaches and roses, and it won’t always be peaches and roses going forward. But I wish sometimes I could go back and tell her how good it works out, that her friends stay around, mostly online but they do come to visit, that she ends up purchasing two amazing mares, that she still gets to have her career.

I guess, in summation, take this small piece of advice my dad always reminds me of: “your plans and Gods plans may differ, but it’s only because you don’t know to dream any bigger”. Maybe you and I can both work on going with the flow more, it really seems to work itself out each time better than we can imagine.

Until we chat again my friends.

A Year On And…

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Farmers Blogger

Hello Friends!

I can’t believe I’m getting to type this, but one year ago I started this blog! (Plus a couple of days, because remembering dates has never been my strong suit, would forget my own birthday if others didn’t remind me)

I can’t believe my “Friday Farm Updates” at my last job evolved into this! From a couple of my coworkers who were as critter crazy as I am, to 24 of you! Little slack threads as an excuse to constantly say “look how cute my critters are” are now a weekly blog post about whatever has taken focus on our farm. I started the blog because a couple coworkers were sad about losing touch with Joe when I left, and it was the push I needed to chase a dream that had been noodling around my brain for a very long time.

I’ve had so much fun sharing our highs and lows and just generally keeping a very public journal as we learn how to share our little 6 acres. Some of our highs and lows hurt to write about, losing our little Sherlock and my little ER visit, most were an absolute joy, like all the baby animals and the explosive growth of our extended family, garden trials and triumphs and the joys of hosting holidays.

Sometimes I’ve really struggled to keep up with the blog, there’s been a few times I’ve had to write posts at 2 am the morning they go up, but I love the feedback and warm wishes from all of you and wouldn’t change it for the world.

I know I say this often, but I have so many ideas for this little part of the internet, so please stick around whilst I figure out the best way to start those projects! Plus, more photos of the gang, because I live for pet photos just as much as you do! As spring rolls around we will also have the garden to talk about, the horses will go back into training, and we will have lots of fun summer recipes to try! I’m so excited!

I’m so glad to have you all to share this with, and if there was any way it was possible, just know I’d love to have you all at my dinner table to share good food, pet pats, and some fun games. Truly, truly thank you for this!

(We will be back to our regularly scheduled rambles on Friday, with what I assume will be more shenanigans from my two- and four-legged cohorts.)

Until we chat again my friends!

Spring Fever

Posted on March 4, 2022February 21, 2022 by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

We’ve seen some sunshine and temperatures above freezing, so yours truly is a happy girl!

The girls are happy too, not only is it warming up a little and the sun is out to play in, but yesterday they had a nice little spa day with the farrier coming out to trim up their feet. They love that.

They both had just a little bit of a hard time standing still, but I think it was mostly excitement, they love Jimmie, our farrier, and they both can develop a good case of happy taps when excited. Jimmie is just such a gem of a human, I’m so glad he was suggested to me as a farrier possibility because I now count him a friend. He’s pulled my tail out of the fire a couple times and I can always count on him to have a joke and some helpful advice.

The warm temps in the day time have creates a couple interesting scenarios here on the farm. First, due to the run off and refreeze each evening, there are parts of the farm, mostly the little concrete patches in the driveway, that are a couple inches of pure, slick ice. To the extent that it’s getting difficult to get the car out of the garage without sliding about a little. Not ideal.

With the runoff and refreeze, the other issue is that doors and equipment are freezing and completely stuck. The building we call “the dirt floor garage” which functions somewhere between an equipment shed and a catch-all, as well as Cordelia’s main home, has been completely frozen shut a couple times. Once it took three of us to work on it before it came loose, once we sorta just gave up and fed a Cordelia on the porch. I don’t think she minded. We also had to perform an early morning repair on my parents car as the ice buildup had managed to catch and pop loose the little air dam on the front. It looks pretty rough, it cracked the plastic and scraped the paint, it also broke the little clips and needed to be fixed up before it sat right, but I think it’s mostly going to be a cosmetic thing, unless it makes a habit of falling the front of the car or something.

The warmer temps have also meant that there are places where you’d lose a shoe to the mud if you aren’t wearing the right boots. Especially around our lower elevations, since were on a little bit of a slope, the corral and lower driveway are basically a lake. I’m looking around to find a gravel company so I can get quotes and start saving up to add some structure and drainage to our mud. It’s been a particularly wet year.

Nellie and Ro are still having just a bit of a power struggle, but something interesting has occurred. Nellie Belle has more or less set her boundaries and will enforce them with a quickness whether I’m around or not. Usually, she stays pretty chill when I’m around, but it appears shed had it with her sister

She’s run Ro out of the barn area a couple times during feeding, stares her down, and then let’s her in a moment after, which is very uncharacteristic for Miss Belle. She doesn’t try to hoard the food but doesn’t let her sister hoard it either.

I’ve also seen several instances now of them sharing their food piles with each other (willingly) which has never happened before. I usually feed in two piles a minimum of a couple horse lengths apart so if anyone wants to guard the food, they have to at least really work at it.

Joe has been having a hard time with the warm temperatures too, he wants so desperately to play outside and run and play fetch, but it’s still cold enough I worry about him getting soaked and then getting cold and ending up with a doggie cold. We’ve had some of those go through the house this year and convincing a dog with a cough to sit quietly and rest is darn near impossible. So, Joe has done a lot of small trips in the yard, taken a few extra warm baths, and does a lot of staring out the window.

I have a serious case of spring fever, and much like Joe am struggling with wanting to be outside but not wanting to get soaked and cold and eventually sick. I’ve definitely spent more time in the pasture, and the dogs outdoors times are creeping longer and longer. We’ve had some of the most beautiful sunsets lately, I’ve been trying to figure the best way to capture them for you, as I’m sure you all know, a simple phone snap usually doesn’t cut it with sunsets, but I haven’t had quite the time to get a true camera shot set up (been working longer hours at work, so the sunsets kinda sneak up on me). But I’ve got an extra day off coming up and I am already excited to use it to get all my camera gear set up for spring again (I tend to not get out with my camera much in the winter, a learned behavior from my time in Seattle when it would rain solidly from September to April and, at the time, I was a broke college student who couldn’t afford rain gear (and was not going to trust my camera to a plastic bag or something similar). I have to remind myself that its different here. Although this year it was so cold for so long, I had battery drain and cracking parts issues which are a whole new thing to contend with. Anyways, I’ll figure it out and hopefully you’ll get some sunset photos soon.

Until we chat again my friends!

You Ask A Mare

Posted on February 25, 2022February 12, 2022 by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

Spring planning is underway, if only in its most speculative sense. It’s a little too early to start actually prepping anything, but we can start researching our options.

We are currently deciding what we’d like to plant in the garden. We didn’t have much luck with the starts last year, but our seeds did okay. I tend to think it was already too hot for our little starts when they were sent through the mail, we had such an unusually warm summer. Since this winter, funnily enough, has been unusually cold, I have a sneaking suspicion we may be on the hook to deal with another crazy summer. But I could be wrong. Either way, I think we are going to stick with seeds.

I definitely miss mornings in the garden. My favorite work schedule is a couple hours in the morning, long break for a morning ride and walk around the farm, and then the rest of shift. Works fantastically well for my brain, is the correct amounts of physically being busy and mentally, but this time of year, it doesn’t quite work because I can’t trust I’ll thaw back out after my break. And it’s been so cold lately I’m honestly concerned about coming back in and needing to finish the work while feeling suddenly ill. I’ve already had a bit of a rough go of the winter cold season this year. But spending some time in the garden each morning is good for the soul. Better yet, spending each morning out with the horses is good for the soul.

Poor Nellie Belle is definitely over this weather. She’s absolutely had it with walking on the ice and snow. Makes sense, her little leg was not made for intense terrains. Luckily, we have a warm, dry covered area. Unluckily for her, it’s a little small so for exercise and in order to not be completely bored she’s got to head outside.

Yesterday she wanted to hang out in the barn, Ro wasn’t done being in the pasture, and Christopher walked out into the middle of a huge horse argument. Basically, Nellie having an absolute shout from the barn, and Ro was grumbling from the pasture while frantically trying to finish grazing. Generally speaking, I would say Ro makes the lion’s share of decisions, she’s declared herself lead mare, but every now and again Nellie throws her weight around a little and an argument breaks out. I’m not sure the exact timeline but by the time I got signed out of work and out the door, Ro was dejectedly standing by the corral fence and Nellie was happily watching the world go by from her warm barn.

Seems like about every six months there’s a small war about who calls the shots, and I think we’re fixing to step right back into the middle of one. As Nellie gets to be a calmer and more logical little mare, she wants more and more say in how she spends her days. She’s really done a lot of growing in the last few months especially, and I don’t think Ro quite knows what to do with it all. I’m so glad my reactive little fireball has a much longer fuse now, and I walk away from many more of our interactions without injuries. She’s such a little gem of a horse. They both are.

There’s been lots of signs they’re in a little bit of a tiff again, beyond just yelling about how much time they spend in the pasture. I’ve also seen teeth marks in hides and there’s an ongoing bullying situation with Ro trying to hoard her food and Nellie’s food, but lately Nellie isn’t putting up with it. To clarify, these bite Mark’s don’t break flesh, and they absolutely would if my mares intended to, so while I hate that they nip at each other when mad, there’s not a huge injury situation at hand at the moment.

The food situation is harder, I just generally feed far enough apart that Ro can’t easily guard both and I try to correct the bad behavior when i see it. Problem is that as soon as i turn my back Ro Is back at her antics. But i tend to think Nellie waits to school her sister until my back is turned too, because despite Ros attempts at hoarding, there’s no noticeable weight gain on her part or weight loss on Nellie’s. Ros a pretty easy keeper so I’m pretty sure she’d put on some pounds if she suddenly doubled her food intake.

But isn’t that just the way with owning horses, and especially being a mare mom. You really can’t convince a mare she’s wrong, she just has to love you enough to concede to your wishes. I’ve always loved working with mares because of their attitudes, it truly feels like a win when your mare wants to do what you want her to do. Don’t get me wrong, I love a sweet little gelding too! Geldings can be such little goofs with high spirits and big antics. But mare behavior is just one of life’s little joys.

You tell a gelding, you ask a mare. You don’t even get to have a conversation with a pony… you just take orders as they come. At least that’s my experience.

Until we chat again my friends!

Signed, Your Very Opinionated Blogger

Posted on February 18, 2022February 5, 2022 by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

Its official. I’m over winter. I’m done, got no good vibes left for it. I gave it a good shot, drank the warm caffeinated stuff, crocheted the fluffy blankets (sorta, I’m slow, so it’s like a third of a blanket, but still). I lit the winter candles, and made the fancy soups and the snow angels, and tracked the animal prints. It was fun, I enjoyed it.

But now I’m cold and my frost free spout to the trough froze again, and I saw two degrees on the thermometer again, and I’m bitter and I’m cold and I’m over it. Everything’s frozen and slick and I haven’t seen above freezing temps in a week and I wiped out in front of the neighbors and Instagram keeps showing me #vanlife #onthebeach posts and I know it’s an algorithm but I’m gonna lose it.

Bring on spring.

Okay, time for a bit of composure. No one should ever let me write posts right after being outside. I can’t be trusted.

A little bit of a fun fact about this blog, when I first started I would set aside an hour or two every Friday to recap the week and write my posts. But I quickly found that leaving anything to Friday afternoon was a bad plan because I am usually running on fumes by Friday. I’m very much a push through, step up, you-can-sleep-in-on-Saturday kinda person about my weekly to-dos but Friday after work is generally when the wheels fall off and if it hasn’t been started, its not getting done. So I tried a few different systems and found just devoting a few minutes every morning or early afternoon is usually the most productive solution. Which is a very long winded way of saying the blog posts are most generally formulated in smaller chunks, which sometimes allows for refinement, sometimes leads to disjointed topics, and sometimes means the only thing I can think to write is “I’m cold I’m cold I’m cold” over and over. Its probably a good thing I don’t write for a living.

In actual farm related news, in addition to the ongoing nonsense that is trying to keep my water supply flowing, we are needing to replace the dualies on the flatbed. Its been a pretty long time coming, they’re pretty worse for wear, but after we parked with the latest hay bale I got out and heard the telltale “tzssssssssss” of a punctured tire. Pretty sure I picked whatever did it up on the highway. Probably a blessing in disguise, didn’t really realize how bad they were until I investigated. Taking it to the mechanic so it’ll all be done right and I don’t need to worry about it.

At least the tire was kind enough to wait for payday. That’s a win.

I’ve also got taxes to contend with this week, although it should be less stressful than last year because I’ve given up straight away and hired a lovely professional like I finally did last year. Turns out if you worked for a questionable company and then abroad briefly (remotely) your taxes get all sorts of screwed up eternally. Luckily 2021 was the last year of weird job situations for a while (I hope) and 2022 taxes next year will be a walk in the park. I still may just stick with the professional. The peace of mind was miles better when I stopped doing them myself.

I convinced my dad to come with me as well, hes hiring my sweet tax professional too, because last year the computer program he used (no names, but I’m sure some of you can relate) screwed up the filing so badly that they ended up declaring my mom deceased (shes very much alive) and they never did get their return (because dead people apparently don’t get returns). I’m sure you can see why I’m throwing in the towel. Some people do this as a choice, and I’d rather pay them to figure it out. Especially since I don’t think I’m shifty enough for tax evasion and even if I was, I don’t look great in stripes.

But, jumping on a soap box for just a minute, why don’t they teach paying taxes in school? At least the basics, that most everyone will have to handle at some point? Because my sweet mother got sick before she taught me, and shed done my parents joint filing for 28 years, so dad and I were hopeless! So much googling that first year when we filed ourselves. Luckily my younger brother was able to benefit from our mistakes, but I really do wonder why there isn’t a “here’s some real world nonsense you gotta learn” class in high school? My parents tried, and I’m very blessed for that, but I know some of my friends didn’t have as much support at home so if there’s real world nonsense I completely missed, I would bet they never even had a chance. And if you screw up your taxes there’s some very unforgiving consequences. I bet a class like that could be kinda fun too.

Anyways, rant over, although apparently ranting is the mood of the week. I will say that farm taxes are easier in that they demand a set amount and that’s it. The fact that they go up every year while the services they are meant to provide seem to deteriorate is another matter. Also why are property taxes and such due on Christmas? That’s some scrooge mcduck nonsense right there.

Well, that went entirely off the rails. Never let me blog while both annoyed and cold. And somebody take this soapbox from me, its causing me a mess of problems!

Until we chat again my friends!

Caution, Mushy Feels Ahead

Posted on January 28, 2022January 17, 2022 by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!
It’s the early early morning right now, but I’m up listening to the coyote’s yell. They’ve been pretty close lately, not that that’s terribly unusual. This time of year, when they move in because food is scarce and the neighbors have cows and sheep and the like.
We are slowly settling into winter routine, although admittedly under protest. But there are some nice things about the long stretch of winter after the last firework has exploded on New Year’s Eve and before the first little sprouts of spring come up in the garden. This is the season of warm lamplight, endless hot beverages, and cozy blankets, so it’s time to revel in that. I’ve definitely been making a point of turning my workday into a series of little winter treats. Mornings under the blanket next to the heater, coffee at 5 am (I’m up earlier, but I’ve been trying to break the zombie walk habit straight to the coffee machine and now I wait about an hour or two for coffee), warm tea at 10 am ish. I haven’t turned on my overhead lights in easily a year in favor of the cozy lamp look, and this time of year the warm white of the bulbs compared to the cold white of the snow is incredibly cozy. I do these little rituals during the weekends too, Christopher often jokes that I spend most of my life trying to be cozy, whether it’s an early summer morning ride, or my midmorning tea when the whole world is frozen. Trading out overheads for lamplight and the little morning ritual of clicking them all on and throwing open my shades to watch the sunrise.

My Desk! A constant work in progress to balance productivity and warmth. Things to note: My traffic cone phone stand (courtesy of my dad, gifted in middle school!), the little horse that has been on my desk since high school, and Animal Crossing water glass which was a more recent gift, both courtesy of my sweet borther! Can’t help but feel loved sitting at this desk (worth noting though, usually the mic is out only on the weekends and my work laptop takes its place, also, it’s absolutely chaos if you look too far to the left or right… work in progress, remember?)

My weirdest and favorite lamp! A gourd! (It’s turned off here to show off the dragonflies, a gift from my parents). Most of my lamps are stolen from my moms old classroom supplies, as she believed the harsh florescent lights made for a hostile learning environment and retired with more lamps than we had outlets.

He’s not wrong. I spend a lot of time being guilty about the past, stressed about the present, and anxious about the future. It’s my default state to be a worried mess, I’m pretty sure I was born that way. So, taking time to make my space warm, enjoying the big and small moments in my day, and just being grateful, those things have to be a conscious effort on my part, or I definitely get bitter and cranky. I don’t wanna live like that my whole life, so if taking a five-minute moment of peace with my tea helps, you can bet I’m on it.
I’m also very lucky to work a job where if I say “I’m walking to the barn, I’ll be back in twenty” generally no one bats an eye. Although lately it’s been closer to thirty because of the very slow going down to the barn across frozen ground. Winter vibes aside, I still anxiously await the coming of spring.

Joe really likes that I work for a pet friendly company and he can join me for work meetings!

Another thing I’ve been really trying to focus on more is gratitude. I’m definitely the kind of person who gets caught up in the stress and forgets that a lot of what I’m stressing about others would kill for. For example, I was really worried about being my cousins bridesmaid this year, what if I mess it up? What if we forget a major part (DIY wedding)? What if a guest gets crazy? But I had to keep reminding myself that the bigger point here was my sweet cousin has four sisters and still wanted me as a bridesmaid as well, that she included me in all the fun bridal trips, the decision making, and trusted me to help keep the groomsmen in line. It was such a fun experience that I am, and will always be, grateful for.
Another good example is being grateful for my job. I really like my job, but like any human, I’m naturally predisposed to grumble about anything i have to do or perceive i have to do. Heck, occasionally i grumble about needing to post a blog entry, and i enjoy this project! But reframing things like “i get to go to work tomorrow and have coworkers who are understanding and respectful” instead of “ugh, i don’t wanna go to work” can really change a Monday. In remembering to stay grateful I’ve also started what I call my gratitude mug. I was gifted a little zebra mug that’s beautifully hand sculpted and painted for Christmas 2020, and I decided to use it as a visual reminder to stay grateful. Every time I think, wow I’m so thankful that turned out that way, I write it on a scrap of paper and stick it in that mug. Then at the end of the year I read them out. Last year was really difficult in some regards, and there was a lot of tying knots and holding on for dear life when I hit the end of my rope, but looking at everything that I was grateful for, reliving the memories, and realizing I had so much good I couldn’t even fit all the little notes in a Ziploc, it was a wonderfully humbling reminder that above all, I am blessed. I hope you all are as blessed as I am, and if not, I hope more than anything that you get there some day.

Isn’t it adorable! This little mug was a gift from the company I worked at, every employee got a different customized animal mug! She’s got cousins all over the world!

Alrighty, enough mushy stuff, back to regularly scheduled farm shenanigans next week.
Until we chat again my friends.

She Cleans

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

Well, I’ve been trying to clean a little bit around the house, but decluttering is so hard when you’re basically a borderline hoarder. I wish I was joking.

But since we’ve had to be inside more, and more importantly, since I’m working from my actual home now, it’s becoming increasingly necessary that the house actually work for us, so I’m slowly going through bits and bobs. I figure if I try to pick a single project every weekend (that isn’t already jampacked) eventually the house will come together.

This weekend I tackled the upstairs linen closet. I wanted to get it cleaned out because I’ve been trying to utilize it as a first aid center as well as a bit of a long term project storage and laundry basket space. Frankly, I’ve been trying to annex it because my room is a bedroom, office, project space, part time tack room, and this year, I fit Santa’s entire dang toy shop in here. Understandably I need a little more space.

And to be entirely honest, having baby clothes and fancy antique linens in a well traversed area of the house seemed a bit like a disaster waiting to happen anyway. So theoretically, they are going to be much safer in the downstairs closet.

But at the moment they are all living on the guest room bed because I need to order space bags. At least I think I’m getting space bags, although I think technically the generic name is vacuum bag because yours truly isn’t really into spending a bunch more on a name if they generic works just as well, so were gonna test a cheaper, but still exceedingly well rated option. Fingers crossed.

The other main clutter I’m trying to figure out is my coffee mugs. You see, I have quite a little collection of mugs, some from different experiences, some that were gifts, and all that my family won’t use because most are handwash only. I totally understand that, it’s hard to not just be able to throw a dish in the dishwasher.

So, to be respectful, I’ve been trying to move my mug collection out of the kitchen space, so that my family can have easier access to the mugs they want to use daily. Unfortunately, at the moment my mugs are carefully stored away in a drawer my brother wasn’t using in his dresser, but he really kinda needs that back now. The boys very sweetly offered to build me a custom display shelf, which I absolutely love the idea of, however with wood prices being what they are, most of their carpentry projects need to be on the back burner.

Photo Courtesy of Christopher. Me for scale

I have been looking at those mug storage containers, that people seem to use for moving and long term storage, but I worry because so many of my mugs are oddly shaped. I have one shaped like a Boo from Super Mario and a giant Snorlax mug I was gifted this Christmas that is literally 51 ounces. Its giant, I adore it, but I’m not sure how to store it. Eventually I was thinking about getting a little fake plant and making it look like a pot (without needing to drill any actual water holes, also, due to where my room is in the house, it’s not really light or airy enough for real plants, those tend to stay in the communal spaces) but that’s a little ways down the road since I don’t actually have shelf space at the moment.

Speaking of cute mugs, I found an adorable little mug that says “it’s fine, I’m fine, everything’s fine” at our local department store that I’m sending to a friend (although admittedly, if they still have it next time I’m in there, I might pick up one for me, since that’s one of my go-to phrases). She is going through a rough spot life wise, and I thought she might need a bit of a care package. I picked up the mug, a nice blanket, a couple of my favorite little kitchen things since she’s moving and somewhat starting over (a spoon rest and some magnetic scissors, both have been invaluable in my kitchen), and finally a good dose of the artisan chocolates my little town is known for. Got everything wrapped up with little inside jokes, a little card, and some protective tissue paper, and it’s now on its way to the coast. I hope she likes it.

Please Ignore that I propped it up on a lightbar for photos… also no stress, she doesn’t know about the blog, so there’s no spoilers here

Joe was reaaally trying to help but got reaaaallu bored too.

But other than that, it’s been pretty low key around here. I started trying to build out a digital to do list as a paper and time saving method. I like physical planners, but for the minutiae of a daily to do it feels like such a waste of paper. It’s also the only way I get things done, so just dropping the to-do list habit wasn’t going to work (I tried). I liked using my whiteboard for a while, but its big drawback was lack of portability. So, I’m trying Notion, which is basically fancy online excel, and that way I can have a weekly to-do list and add to it from my pc or phone. So far, I’ve been more pleased with the computer over the phone, but their roadmap shows planned improvements so I’m hopeful the mobile experience gets better.

That’s all for me, I wish you lots of luck in your new-years-new-organization endeavors. Lemme know if you have many good mug storage ideas, I need advice.

Until we chat again my friends!

Cabin Fever

Posted on January 14, 2022January 10, 2022 by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!
Let’s talk cold. Like -2 degrees cold. Because over the holiday weekends that’s where we ended up. I know we talk about the weather a lot here, but like, I lived in a place where it rained about 70% of the time and was always grey and overcast! You know why the bluest skies you’ve ever seen are in Seattle?! Because you get so used to the grey you can’t fathom another color! I’m sure it shocks no one that at one point my little heart considered studying meteorology, but really it is fascinating.

Believe it or not, these were warm estimates, although it has slowly started warming up a little. I am sitting under a comforter next to a space heater though, so not fast enough.

Or, in the case of -2 degrees where its normally not that cold: its terrifying. Sobering. Punched a big ole hole in my “we’re prepared” mindset.
For one main issue: it turns out my heating system stops working at about 20°. This is normally fine because while we regularly get down into the teens, it’s usually only for a few hours overnight. It’s a big problem when 11° is the high for the day. Its been ridiculously cold in the house. I’ve had two comforters on my bed and basically don’t go anywhere without some form of blanket. My little space heater has been working hard because most tech devices don’t appreciate the uncharacteristically cold temperatures either.
It also caused the heaters to my outdoor water supply to quit. Which means literally everything froze up and I had split hoses turning my property into a lovely ice rink the minute we got a little thaw going. Not ideal.
I finally snuck out to get some hay, i was kinda worried about it because we haven’t really had the flatbed out in the snow yet, and due to the temperatures and such neither county had bothered with plowing the roads. In their defense, its been scary cold and dumping lots of snow, plus this time last year they accidentally parked a plow in my neighbors field, which I’d imagine is quite the deterrent. It was very odd to walk into my room look out on a pretty white snow patch (I wasn’t completely over it last year like I am already this year) and just seeing one poor gentleman and my neighbors standing out staring at a plow sitting askew down an embankment into my neighbors field. I’d imagine that was a very scary ride.

Poor dad took a fall in the snow this year, which has not helped his love of the snow, but he’s doing okay now. Jammed his back for a while, the poor thing. He’s already fighting a bad back so I’m trying to help keep him off the slick stuff as much as possible.
The upside to cold temperatures is it’s made staying inside a little easier. I’m less tempted to spend a whole day puttering around outside, which works out since we’ve been crazy swamped at work the last few weeks. My boss made sure we all got lovely holiday weekends, which I am so grateful for, but we are in a highly time sensitive space so there’s always a million things to be done and we are now playing a little more catchup than I think we had realized. I’m simultaneously glad and a little bit regretful I didn’t take any extra PTO for the holidays, because I was able to keep most of my plates spinning, but also, I’m kinda missing the usual new year refreshed feeling.
But it’s also cool because for the first time ever in my actual career I might be able to take a few days off this summer. I always got magically called in on days off in previous roles (except for the last one, to be fair, I just wasn’t there long enough to try a vacation). My first “grown up” role I worked 365 days a year because my boss always forgot they needed something on the weekend or on the rare holiday and I didn’t meet the priority standards for using any time off. We were not in any sort of hurry either, so I never understood. Oh well, each chapter of life is a learning experience. Some lessons blow but whatever.
In any case the crazy hours at work have meant less time to properly focus on the blog, or the farm, or laundry (its getting a little dire, not gonna lie) so I’m hoping to figure out a way of better juggling it all. Especially come springtime because I have plans! I have so many farm related plans. Some may be cost and time prohibitive, most involve me not breaking myself midsummer and needing to drastically scale back everything, and all of them require a good work life balance.
Also, in a completely unrelated realm of topic: I totally selfishly want credit for recording two 45 second snippets showing off some of the snow and my plans were dashed! Dashed I tell you! By the fact that they simply will. Not. Transfer. Off my phone. Help!

(This may be a sign this blog needs a companion YouTube channel so I could upload off my phone… but that sounds really, really scary). Anyways, if I figure this out, I’ll tack them on to the next post, or maybe just put them in their own little mid-week thing? But that’s putting a lot of confidence in my abilities to make my phone talk to my computer, and they simply won’t! Hatfield’s and McCoys dressed up as windows and android.
Welp, this went entirely off the rails, didn’t it? This is what happens when I can’t be outside. I need spring!
Until we chat again my friends