Taking A Break

The hot weather is here

so I'm taking a 

"Blogging break" 

to catch up on things

around the farm & in

the old farmhouse.

I hope the weather is

cooler where you are.

 :)

Early Morning

It was a beautiful sunny morning

so I grabbed my camera

and snapped a few

pictures.

 

 

Starting on the back porch.

 

I'm still patiently waiting

for the screened porch

to be built.

 

It will happen one day...

too many other things

need tending too

before the porch reaches

the top of the priority list.

:)

 

 

Now on around the corner

to the Annabelle hydrangeas

along the front of the house.

They're struggling where they are

but I'll keep working on them

and hopefully one day they'll

be happy there. 

 

The wagon is near the arbor

and front gate. 

We have to do a bit of work 

in that area yet but it will

get done when the porch 

and new sidewalk go in.

One day 

;)

 

 

Now we're over to the veggie

garden. I've been waiting

for free mulch for a couple

of months but I got an email

this morning that they have some

...now they just need to let me

know where it is!! 

 

One day I hope to have most 

of the garden area covered with mulch

to help keep the grass and 

weeds out.

Right beside the veggie garden

 is the chicken coop/garden shed.

My favorite building

here on the farm.

 

It's a neat old building.

 

 

Now we're over to the little 

orchard. We have two pear trees

an apple a cherry and two 

plums. We had two peach

tree's and another cherry 

but they died. All the 

fruit trees are old.

I don't know what I was doing

when I took this top photo...

I sure wasn't thinking of focusing!

 

This is the other pear tree above,

it's a different kind of pear.

These get a brownish

skin on them. 

We've never been able to enjoy

our fruit trees 

because the trees were let

to grow too tall over the years

(not by us)

and just when the fruit is

ripening...the birds come!

They seem to know when 

we're not home because we've

never seen them do it

but we know it's them

because before the fruit is ripe

they'll come in flocks as if to 

test how ripe the fruit is.

Then I think they send out scouts

to see when we leave the farm

for the day.

Then they fly in for the 'kill'.

I'm sure of it.

 

More shots of the coop/garden shed

along with one of our other 

old buildings.

 

Finally we're back to the porch

and the Trumpet Vine

that you just can't kill.

This old vine was growing up a

dead tree right in that spot

when we moved here 3

years ago.

We cut the tree down

(it had termites)

and dug up the vine....or

so we thought.

Now it grows up 

the eagle weather vane

and is taking over the 

old porch.

 

I don't really mind...

I may just let it grow along the

new porch...one day.

I hope your week is a good one

so far.

The View From Right Here

It was a beautiful morning.

The sun was shining the birds

were singing

and there was a gentle

breeze blowing.

 

It was too nice of a morning 

to be inside so I took

a break and grabbed

my coffee

and headed out to the back porch

to enjoy the view.

 

 

The back porch looks out onto

the "back 40" as we call it. 

The horses had just gone inside 

the run in shed for a rest.

You can also see the 

chicken coop/garden shed

from the porch.

I love this old building.

I found the BUNKHOUSE

sign at our big monthly

flea market last year. 

 

The chickens were fed

and let out into their pen,

the dogs and cats had been fed and 

the horses given their treats

and the clothes were 

softly blowing on the line.

 

It was nice to just sit and sip

and enjoy the porch.

 

 

I have a pot 

filled with Basil 

that smells wonderful

in between two chairs

and a fern hanging

in the shade of the rafters. 

 

It's not a big porch

but for now it's all we need.

One day it will be replaced

with a screened porch.

  

 

After I finished my coffee

I took a little walk 

and checked on the gardens

to see if they needed watering.

It's been very dry here

in our part of Kansas and every

day I have to water everything.

 

 

The herb garden was looking good

especially the lavender. 

 

 

You can see how the little garden

is laid out.

These are old bricks made 

in Coffeeville Kansas.

 

 

 

I decided to put water in the

bird bath since it's so 

dry. I thought the birds

might need the water.

Now I just need to keep

a watch on the cats!

 

 

I was going to stain the picket

fence and I even started

a couple of years ago

but it was too big of a job

so I decided to just let it age

naturally. 

I wish it would hurry up!

No white picket fence 

for us I'm afraid.

Our rusty water would have 

it stained in no time. 

 

I think it will look

just fine...

one day.

In the meantime...I'll just
enjoy the view from right here. 

~~~~~~

I hope your week is a good one.

Looking Back

My how things change.

With March just around the corner I decided

to look back and see how things looked

during our first spring here on the farm.

These pictures were taken all during

the month of March 2010.

In September 2009 we bought our

little Phoebe.

She was a Miniature Mediterranean Donkey.

A friend of ours had offered to give us one

but when that never materialized

we decided to buy Phoebe.

She was 5 months old.

At the end of December

our friend showed up with the male

that he had promised us months earlier.

He was a stud! 

Because we are softies we couldn't tell

him 'too late'....so we kept the donkey

and named him Eeyore.

Along came March.

Unfortunately our fences were no match

for Eeyore's determination

to visit Phoebe

but since she would not be old

enough to breed until she was 

around 3 years old

we decided to have him castrated. 

A couple of weeks later 

Eeyore and Phoebe 

went to live on a large farm

where they could be together with

lots of pasture

and strong fences!

Towards the end of March that year

Hubby and I were in a 'farm store'

and overheard a lady complaining to the

store clerk that they had just been in the 

store with their 12 year old Grandson 

and his friend. 

Behind their back he purchased a chick!

She told the clerk that she wanted to bring the 

chick back because they had no place to keep

a chicken. The clerk said 'sorry...we don't

take chicks back'. 

The lady was ticked so I whispered to hubby

"should we buy it from her?"

Since we had 63 new chicks coming a few

days later he said to go for it. 

The lady was so happy to find a home

for the little fellow that she wouldn't 

take any money.

So 'Spring' came home with us. 

Unfortunately Spring was a Cornish X

and was destined to live a short life.

It may have been short...but it was a good life. 

The very next day was the first day of spring.

We had a snow storm!

Two days later the snow had melted

and the chicks arrived in the mail.

Most of the chicks were Buff Orpingtons.

Yellow fluff balls! 

Their days were spent eating...drinking...pooping

tearing from one end of the trough to the other...

and sleeping.

Sometimes they wore themselves out so much

they fell asleep standing up.

The remainder of the chicks were

Black Australorp.

Hard to believe this little fellow

would grow up to look like this!

While the chicks enjoyed their cozy warm

shelter in the garden shed

the older chickens were able to finally 

enjoy the barnyard.

The barnyard was Eeyore's domain

and he decided that the chickens were

NOT allowed on his turf.

He chased them every chance he got.

The day after Eeyore and Phoebe

left the farm....the chickens

had the barnyard all to

themselves.

They were happy chickens!

FYI ...see that long building? 

We sold it that summer and this time

last year...it was down and hauled away.

Hopefully if we get some rain this summer

we will have some good pasture grass

growing there :)

The end of March meant Shep was 8 months old

and Lizzy and Olly were 9 months old.

Shep had a blast trying to chase the cats.

Olly would run but Lizzy...well

she NEVER backed down.

She stood her ground and then some!

End of March sky.

2010 was a good year for rain but

last year we were in a drought.

Hopefully we do better this year.

Above is our nearest neighbor 

as the crow flies. 

Two years ago the fields across the road 

from us were yellow.

This year they are green with winter wheat

shown below in January 2012.

We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that

this March will be a good month

with lots of gentle rain.

If all goes well the grass seed we sow

will take root before the heavy rains hit.

After all....April is Tornado season

here in Kansas!