Rainy Sunday

A cool and light,slow moving rain has settled in this morning, and I got up early to tend to all the animals before the heavier stuff starts. I apologize for the lack of posts lately...we have just been really busy around here.

Spring break came and went way too fast, but we got some things done. Like the new pen for the hogs. Senior took a couple of days off during that week so we could get it finished and move the girls in.

 They have nearly doubled in size since we first brought them home. It has been quite the experience...they are lots of fun to watch, and now that they have acclimated themselves to us, they like nuzzling up to us and even let us rub their backs and scratch their heads sometimes. We have decided to keep the spotted one, later in the summer we will start looking for a boar and hope to successfully breed her. Piglets are big money around here...especially the sows. The next building project is her own enclosure, we are going to put it right next to where her sisters are so they can still see and interact with each other. The two black ones are from a different litter then her and they over take the feeding trough and boot her out of everything. Those two will eventually be in the freezer....I guess that is poetic justice in a way because one day the spotted one could potentially eat the scraps of her bully sisters....

We have also been busy with the garden, got the corn in two weeks ago and the first sprouts popped though last week. We spent the money and time putting together a drip irrigation system which helps tremendously with watering and keeping the weeds under control. Then last weekend spent almost the entire evening on Easter Sunday putting in everything else like green beans, onions, squash, tomatoes, cabbage, a variety of different peppers, pickle bush cucumbers, and a load of cantaloupe plants. I hit the annual high school garden sale, and was only going to get 3 cantaloupe plants, but we had a cold snap the night before and they all looked crummy, so the lady said to take the entire tray at no extra charge just in case some don't make it...well, she obviously did not know me, I brought them home, loved them and gave them water and sunlight...and "POOF" they all came back so 12 plants went into the garden...hope all my friends and neighbors around here like cantaloupe..lol

We planted red potatoes in February and I have to tell you, the crop is looking very promising. Blooms have started to come out and I know with this rain that is moving in it will only help...

Last year the boys and I worked on a little garden area... Kind of like a memorial place for mine and Seniors parents, well yesterday we got out there and did some cleaning up and  added in pine needles. My gladiolas have broken through and blooms should start popping out any day..my mother loved her gladiolas I added them in just for her. And while they have not sprouted yet, I do have some elephant ears in there. It sits  outside of the kitchen window and I can look down at it and watch the birds on the feeders and even one pesky squirrel that wont stay off. The next thing to add will probably be a bird bath.  It is very nice here in the evenings, as it over looks the garden and faces west so we can watch the sun go down. There is an aspect of each of our parents in this little area, and it makes us feel closer to them.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday, now that the garden is in, all there is left to do is watch it all grow, so I hope to post more often and yes Senior and I are still working on the one project I mentioned in an earlier post...

-JUGM

The Three Little Pigs....

Once upon a time....Okay no this is not a fairy tale...  

But If you had told Senior and I Ten years ago, that we would be living out in the country, with property, chickens and now hogs..I would have just shaken my head. And said you were living in some fantasy world...
 While I was ready to leave living in a subdivision, I just did not see or could have predicted all that would happen to our family.  However time has flown by and with that came changes that we would have never thought possible.
God has truly blessed us, we have grown closer as a couple and as a family....Life is certainly good here at our little estate.

We picked up the girls this past weekend..  I think we will call them " Joanie, Lisa and Kathryn"  Since there are people out there that seem to follow suit and do what we do, I suspect it will be only a matter of time before they get hogs...  ( okay enough of being catty) 

The beginning of March a little bit of snow fell...  One thing I notice when it gets cold like that and snow falls is that all the song birds tend to come out..

And the woodpeckers....they seem to like playing in snow:

But, all that is gone now, it melted by that afternoon, it was fun though while it lasted. And made for some great pics..

Well kids, I got chores to do, time to bug out of here for a bit. Stay tuned to the clothesline, as changes may be coming soon...oh we aren't leaving the blogisphere....just thinking of doing a make over of sorts... 

-JUGM

Spring and Updates

Well its pretty evident that due to all the warm weather that an early spring is in the air.   Senior and I have started working on the spring garden, we got it tilled pretty good, and put in some red potatoes. We have also started down the road to a new venture: Pigs.

Eventually I would like a couple of goats and have a strong affection for pygmies. My cousin out in San Antonio, TX has the Nubian goats. She bought them for her granddaughters 4-H project and she entered them in shows and made a nice profit once they went to auction.

Last weekend we visited a livestock auction. The only pigs they had were 4 pregnant pot bellied ones...so when you bought one you were also getting her litter...no thanks!

Goats though were in abundance, I know they are so cute when they are babies:

 

But then they have to grow up: 

So back to the pig issue, my uncle in NC is on the look out for us, he has been visiting some pig farms and getting prices and looking at the stock. He is going in with us monetarily for them as he would like at least half of one in his freezer...so we put him to work doing some of the leg work.
The pen is built, and we are hoping in the next couple of weeks to have them here...
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I mentioned updates so here goes: Last Monday after dropping kids off at school I was pulling onto our road when I got rear ended by a driver who clearly was not paying attention...I had some minor damage to the back of my car, but his entire front end was hanging off... My trailer hitch went right into his radiator and ripped off his bumper...  antifreeze was everywhere. Thankfully no one was hurt, and the kids weren't with me.
He was very decent and immediately admitted fault, he claimed he looked down to grab his coffee-Yea Right! . So after the cop wrote him a nice big ticket, he got blessed out by his father...turns out he was on daddy's insurance-There goes those premiums!, apparently this was not his first rodeo and has had other traffic violations.
My car went in to the shop for a couple of days which was a huge inconvenience and his 2001 pickup truck went to the graveyard....it was totaled. 
But all is right again with the world, got my car back earlier then promised turned in the crappy rental car and drove happily home.

And in other news: On the 27th the guardian takes over for mom. My sister and I are very happy . I am thrilled that someone professional will be able to deal with all the paperwork and headache of medicare etc...  My brother is none to happy about it because for Christmas my sister and I got a very nasty letter where he claims he will never have anything more to do with us...okay A-hole!  no problem.
The best part about the letter is the coward did not have the testicular fortitude to address the envelope himself, he had his twit wife  do it...I guess he assumed we wouldn't open it up if we recognized his handwriting.. My sister got hers first so when mine came in the mail I simply wrote his return address and returned it back to him unopened..
 My sister had emailed it to me, so I printed it and keep a copy in my purse for in the future should our paths cross and he tries to speak to me, I can quickly whip it out and remind him of his actions...
There will truly be a special place in hell for him one of these days...

I just realized that my previous post was on Feb. 1st..   geez where does the time go????? 

-JUGM