things round here #6

 With the fact that spring has sprung, I have been trying to work on the chicken hatching thing..  I pick up a broody hen, throw her in for some loving with the rooster, then a couple of days later put her in the maternity ward,  so she can lay her eggs, and nothing...  The entire science of it all baffles me that I am not considering either  buying chicks, or getting the eggs once they lay them and incubating them. ..   Will keep you all posted..  : )

Planting season has also begun, Senior has been non stop getting the garden  plowed and the rows neat and spaced decently. I picked up a pound of Silver king corn seed last week, and over the weekend we got it in the ground..

 

We wore out the hired help, and much to their happiness we are finally investing in a seeder plow...

But, 15 rows later...so pretty!!!    I still have a quarter of the bag left, and I suppose Senior will do some more rows this weekend..

 I have the best niece ever, she does metal stamping and charms and made me this necklace for the boys baseball. I love it!!!

We just celebrated Easter, and for you all I hope it was truly blessed.  It was our first year coloring fresh eggs straight from the chickens, and I got to tell you the natural colors from the hens, made for some vibrant colors.... They also made for some great deviled eggs, that were so good the boys cleaned them out....

-JUGM

Spring is springing

Senior has been working hard on the garden, now that we have an extra hour of daylight, he comes home, eats supper and gets on the tractor. We got about 2 rows of sweet onions planted, which have began to sprout, a couple more weeks and the corn will go in. 

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am happy for Spring..everything is waking up and life is returning to our hilltop.

Saturday morning we had to be up early for the baseball jamboree and team pictures, I grabbed my coffee and stood at the kitchen window, then I caught a glimpse, and ran for my camera. She was standing at the edge of the garden, just walking around. Senior had even gone outside to get something from the car, and she did not get spooked. I caught this pic when she looked over at him.

I have been meaning to post this one for a while...the boys wanted sling shots. I guess it s a right of passage... It was probably the best money I have spent in a while, as they have become quite proficient with them, until they started targeting the chickens with acorns. Once I stopped that they go after the crows in the garden...

Well friends I must be off here, got chores and errands to tend too.

-JUGM

welp we moved in...

finally got closed on the house, and "Senior and Jugms moving company" had to go to work...and my Lord, we are still working!!!. Digging through boxes, finding things that have been packed up for 18 months....*Sigh*  But, it is a blessing to be in a place that is all our own......

I think the biggest thing for me is opening the boxes that held all the pictures, Senior has started putting them up on the walls, and its really beginning to feel like home around here.

its been a flurry of  activity all last week with the different service technicians coming in to connect stuff...like the Internet, TV Satellite, and now the gas company is here installing the tank for the gas fireplace and checking all the connections for us.
things though have began to calm down and we are getting back into our groove of daily life. This is the view from my new kitchen window: 

 

 Jack the Cat, who at first was not so sure about the place, has finally relaxed and loves his new digs and all the space he has to roam now... 

 

Now begins the daunting task of cleaning out my father in laws trailer that we called home for the past year and a half. We are trying to downsize the furniture that is in there, donate some stuff, sell some stuff and clean the place up.  One of our neighbors has offered to come by and paint the exterior for us, and I tell ya what, it needs it.

In other news..Little league is here, and NW is excited to be back behind the plate catching, not sure where ND will end up , but being that he is  a lefty he did quite well at 1st. I just hope they continue to love the sport like they do now. I want them to enjoy what they do and have fun at it.. 

-JUGM

thrift store finds...

With the new house about done, we have started searching for some new or nearly new furniture. Senior decided while out mattress shopping one day that after all our years of hard work  we need to reward ourselves and get a king size set. 

However, with a new king size set, that means king size bedframe to hold it So,  I searched through some thrift stores and found one for 150.00. 

Now I am on the hunt for a king size quilt. I prefer a quilt over comforters because they are not has thick.  I also swear to not buy one from a big box store, because in my mind buying a quilt that is "made in china" is like buying an American Flag made in China...Completely UnAmerican.! 

I have found a nice  hand made one, its navy blue with patch work and its in the same store where I got the bedframe..but my jury is still out on getting it. So therefore my search continues..Oh where oh where is my quilting grandma when I need her!  

While in said thrift store, I found a new /old jar to add to my growing collection of jars.I don't think it is actually that antiquated , but I liked the pattern that is etched into it, and thought it cool..besides it was only 1.00

Since we are on the verge of getting ready to move in, I decided to re-cover my dinning room chairs. The old is the white suede...white with small kids and pets, absolutely did not work..and thus no matter how many times I cleaned them, they still looked grungy. So I found a nice print and set to re-covering them. Once I figured it out it was a cinch..but I got to tell ya, those corners were real " You know what" ! 

Our weather got warm, and was really nice...but a nasty front moved through and now its back being blustery and cold. Last night we dummed ourselves down by watching a bit of the democratic debate, it did not take me long  to change the channel. And that's all I have to say about that...lol. Because anyone who wants to vote for those two needs to be deported...

-JUGM

kids and issues

Ya know, this world would be a better place if the kids could run it. Our nine year old ND had to write this little report on if he ran the world for a day, what would he do..  His first thing was to fire Obama. the second thing was to end common core, and the third was to return school lunch menus to their rightful place.
While all the other kids had wishful thoughts of toys, and video games, ND came out with a grown up political statement in which his teacher gave him an A.


I love to debate the issues with the both of our boys and hear their views on the world and the candidates. They know about the Hillary email issue, and  both firmly believe that if they pulled a stunt like that, they would and this is a quote: "lose their xbox for a year"   So why should she get off?

The other issue I was told is that "Gun Free Zones" should cease to exist. It was asked of me that Don't all these people know that the mass shootings happen in places that are gun free? You don't hear of these mass killings at gun shows or gun ranges do you? Noooooo you don't...always in a gun free zone!!, then if you want to stop it, get rid of gun free zones....


Another thing was to build our military back up, and add more ships, I mean we are the country that was turning ships out like tic tacs during WW11, so why can't we now?. We have an enemy out there that wants us destroyed and despite what we are told:  its not climate change....."DUH"

And the Space program!  What the heck is that about? All kids dream about being an astronaut and with one stroke of a pen and a speech that dream was crushed. .

Lastly, (and I said this to Matt in my previous blog post)...both boys would LOVE to stand before Jeb Bush during a debate and have him work an elementary school common core math problem.. and not some 1st or 2nd grade level problem...no, he needs to attempt a 5th grade problem.


 You don't think they listen to mom and dad too much do you?

 -JUGM

Seeds and stuff

It's the last day of January and the weather has warmed so much that it feels like Spring. The seed and chicken catalogs have started to arrive. While I in no way need more chickens, I am in to getting seeds.
Senior and I have been looking to purchase large cypress trees to plant in order to create a natural fence. Quite a few people have done it around here and it looks really nice.

I've got quite a bit of seeds saved from last year so today I picked up some seed starters in anticipation of getting things in to the dirt. I don't know about you, but there is something intoxicating about digging in the dirt and watching things grow. This year I am going to pick up some seedless watermelons, last year the boys had fits spitting out seeds and also like last year ND is planting more pumpkins.

The past week was quite a whirlwind for us NW had basketball 4 out of 5 nights and a game yesterday. Two more and we are done with this season and probably with basketball forever. Lets just say he is ready for baseball season to start.

Went to the library this past week and checked this out, its about the task force of ships involved in the Battle of Samar during October 1944. I got it because the first of one of Seniors former ships was involved. I didn't think I would like it at first , but now that I have gotten deeper into it, I have gotten into the lives of the sailors involved and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Tomorrow is what I like to call the opening day of voting season- the Iowa Caucus. I am very excited, and I hope that this will be the year the voters get it right. I honestly like aspects of Trump, Cruz and Rubio. Not too keen on Bush but, lets face it even the worst republican is better then what the democrats are offering up.
Anyways, if you live in Iowa then get out and caucus. Because if you don't vote, and let your voice be heard, then you have no reason to complain.

Hope you all have a great week!
JUGM

sorry for my lack of posts.....

I know its been a while since my last post. I assure you all that we are fine and all is well. NW has been playing winter basketball, and it has taken up much of our time, more then I would have liked. Then there are the daily chores of the estate, never seems to stop. Well before I knew it a few weeks had passed since I had been on here. So, after blog surfing and seeing what everyone has been up to, I decided to sit down and write a bit myself.

I am sure most of you are in the path or have been of this storm, the first sign we got that it was going to be bad came last night when the school district cancelled classes for today. I broke the  news and was met with many hoots and hollers. 

 Overnight it started....

 First came the freezing rain, then sleet and finally a bit of snow. Not a lot but enough to cover the ground and for the boys to have a few snowball fights

.Senior going to work today was questionable, and I made the decision for him, after watching the early morning news and weather..for us the storm involved ice and lots of it, I made the decision for him, his drive to work is more then an hour, and I didn't want him out there on these icy back roads. I am glad he agreed, because as promised, the ice added up and yes there have been many wrecks. 

I went to tend to the chickens, these are some of my new ones, and had no clue what snow was, I don't think they liked it too much as they stayed in the coop all day. I have noticed that our rooster "Black Jack" is not doing his traditional crow, he has started making more of a cackling noise. Not sure if this is because of the much colder weather we have had all week, or if he is just mimicking the hens...I have not had a roo do this before.

I have been hanging out at our public library more often, when I saw the trailer for this movie, I did not realize it was a true story until I saw Ron Howard being interviewed about it, so out of curiosity I  checked it out. and I got to tell ya, its one heck of a survival story. 

I truly believe everyone should read it, to learn the things "not to do" in a survival situation. I an about half way through it, and will sit at night and read parts of it to Senior, and tell him the things they did and shouldn't have done. Pretty amazing, I can't wait to get back in to it tonight. 

So the big parts of the storm have moved north...here we are having some small snow showers, but tomorrow promises to be brighter...might even see the sun..  

Hope you all have a good night, if you are in the path of this blizzard...stay off the roads, and stay safe..

-JUGM