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

Safe Places...

If you are in need of entertainment then here ya go..

Its something for all the little snowflakes out there...and its pretty funny.

-JUGM

piglets and other things

So we started off our search for piglets by going to a livestock auction, which produced nothing. Then I went to the craiglist ads. After searching and searching, emailing this one and that one, we finally found a hog farmer that was about 30 minutes away. So this past Sunday we took a drive. 

The daddy is a red waddle, and the moms are berkshire/hampshire mixes... the end results were some nice colorful and very healthy babies. He had three litters and we got to have our pick of the last litter. So we put a deposit down on 3 Sows.  They will be fully weaned and  available for pickup at the end of this month. 

Honestly we can't wait. This is a new adventure for us, and if we do well I think we are going to buy our own boar and sow and do some breeding. The market around here for sows is insane.

And we already have them named: Breakfast, Lunch and Supper....LOL 

The farmer had a menagerie of everything, but his real passion besides the pigs were his birds, all kinds of quails, peacocks, chickens and one "Guard Turkey" appropriately named Big Black. This darn bird followed us everywhere.

He also has two ponds with a full flock of Muskogee ducks that are actually his wife's doing. This guys farm was absolutely beautiful, we can't wait to go back to pick up the piglets....

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In other news, our warm weather is turning and we are do some freak cold air with even a chance for snow on Sunday. Yes snow in March here...not actually unheard of but, with this warm winter we thought it would never happen.. But, it is just a chance and the weather forecasters always screw these things up so we will see what happens. Either way, the temps are supposed to drop. First its all been unseasonably warm, now the lows are going to go below normal... So now I wonder if the trend is going to be cooler then normal temps for spring and summer...well it really wouldn't surprise me. The weather has just been plain wonky everywhere!... 

-JUGM

Kids Bug-Out Survival Bag

 When we asked the boys what they would like for Christmas this year, the first answer was for dad to put together a grown up survival/bug out bag for them. When they were little we started them off with some simple items, like a water bottle, change of clothes, compass and some small form of entertainment.

Senior was in all his glory shopping for these bags, looking for useful items that kids could use in the event we needed to bug out. 

First we found these bags from Mossy Oak, extremely roomy and can hold a lot of stuff:

 

The bags are so roomy inside that they can even carry their Hennessy Hammocks they got for their birthdays in 2015. 

Senior addressed three main areas when planning for these bags: First it was food, he got them a couple of bags of Mountain Houses, and a block of Emergency Food rations, these bricks are available anywhere and give you around 2400 calories..

Next came Warmth...before we added this to their bag Senior held several fire starting classes with them, and made sure he knew that they were well educated and versed in fire safety.  The orange can is "Murray's Super Light" hair dressing it is  very flammable,  Just rub a cotton ball around in it and put it in some tender. We also included some fire starters to spark a flame.  Fire is not only essential in keeping warm and cooking but it is essential to a persons morale.

Next and probably the most important item is water... He found this water bag squeeze filtration system. You put water in the blue bag and filter it out through the orange thing at the top.  A person can go three weeks without food, but the human body can only go three days without water...  A water filtration source should be the most important thing in anyone's bug out bag...

Shelter is also an important component, and we love the Hennessy Hammocks, first off they keep you off the cold wet ground. We gave them a Shemagh scarf to help camouflage them if we are out in the woods etc. And the boys think it is totally fun to wear them...lol

Some other useful items are a couple of pocket knifes, a multi tool and compass...got to know where you are going!

For this past Fathers Day we got Senior this folding saw...He loved it! And added one to the boys bags, it is great for cutting small branches and brush.

I know there are people out there probably scratching their heads as to why we  allow our kids to carry around knives and fire starting items..Well unlike yuppy kids, our kids are well versed in safety and carry with them the knowledge of using these items, they understand they are not a toy, and could one day save their lives. Our boys love to get outside and pretend to Bug-Out, they will set up their hammock tents and make a little campsite, it gives them responsibility and independence... They see their parents, prepping and carrying around this cool stuff and they want to as well. I guess it gives them a sense of importance.

So if you are searching for a gift idea for kids who are like ours, I recommend putting something together for them.
 Just keep the child's age in mind, some of the things we have for our kids, may not be age appropriate for yours.

Items that are not posted but just as important are A change of clothes, poncho,  flashlight, para-cord, toiletries and first aid items...

-JUGM

President Trumps speech, and a lack of respect....

Last night we sat proudly and watch our President give his first speech to a joint session of congress...  I found it inspiring, I felt like the adults were back in charge and was so proud of him. And I loved his new tie..  : )

What I found to be a pathetic show was of course the democrats: Nancy Pelosi, Wasserman-Shultz and all the others like them, dressed in white, and sitting on their hands, stone faced, and being completely disgusted by the fact that they had to sit there and listen to President Trump speak...  And what the heck was up with the white suits? I heard it was something about the suffragettes and woman's equality...who said women weren't given equal rights???? 

A very emotional moment came when:

 President Trump honored a fallen hero, Navy Seal Senior Chief Ryan Owens..  He also  honored his widow Carryn Owens, he reassured her that her husband did not die in vain, that the mission he was on had been highly successful, and he thanked her many times over. She received a standing ovation and a thunderous applause that went on for several minutes, as expected she was overwhelmed with emotion..my heart went out to her, I can't imagine the pain she must be going through. But then the worst of the worst came... a  public act of disrespect like none I have ever seen before from our elected leaders while some democrats stood to honor her, there were those pathetic people who didn't. These people are shameless and should not call themselves representatives of this country.  I understand it was their right to sit and behave like a 2 year old. But, when a military hero is being honored I expect them to be respected. I expect petty differences to be put aside.  You may not like President Trump, heck I never liked Obama, but when he honored our military I showed respect, these pathetic democrats should do the same.
Our military are not politicians, they volunteer and put their life on the line every day for this great country. I hope the constitutants of those that sat were watching and will hold them accountable next time there is a vote.
Oh and for those people who said Ivanka should have hugged her or something...I did see her comfort this poor lady, I saw several times that she whispered to her, and put a gentle hand on her... 

Then there was more disrespect when Trump was talking about murders caused by illegals... A father in attendance-his son murdered by an illegal who has been deported twice but kept coming back.... The GOP applauded Trumps new ideas but the Democrats sat...so I guess its okay for American citizens to be murdered by illegals. I loved how the President  looked at that side of the room and asked all the law makers in attendance what would they do if that was their child?

Then there was this guy:

 Who I felt bared a striking resemblance to this guy:

You remember him right ? The bad evil old man ghost from Poltergeist 2 ( the other side)...   

Well the first guy is the former governor of Kentucky Steve Beshear and given his likeness to the second guy I kept expecting to hear " Your all gonna die"!!!!!!!!

...This is the best the democrats could come up with for a rebuttal? The 72 year old ex democrat governor who was ousted by a republican, from the same state that Trump won overwhelmingly?  How Weak!
  He sat there in a diner with a bunch of old cronies around him, looking all pissed off like they forget their daily dose of stool softeners.  He is an EX for a reason, which I am sure has a lot to do with the way the coal industry has been done by the former administration and the EPA.

As for President Trumps speech, he really hit it out of the park. He was on point, did not meander off topic, and looked distinguished and quite Presidential. 

-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

Who would you be????

 As you all know I love to read. For me opening up a book is like jumping in to an adventure.
An old friend of mine who is a Christian Counselor and graduate of Liberty University, asked this question on her Facebook page:

Which book or movie character do you relate to and identify with the most and why? 

Gosh I really thought about that question for a while, most of the comments she was receiving was pretty superficial. I mean geez if you could jump into any book and become any character who would you be?   One of my favorite books and most read books was "To Kill a Mockingbird"  I always related to "Scout" she was a fearless kid and real smart mouth. But yet she cared for people and wanted to help others.

Then the wheels in my head started turning and haven't stopped for the past few days....after reading the Brian Kilmeade book about Washington's spies, I think I would want to be Agent 355. The mysterious woman that was in the British circles and kept her ear open and reported the things she heard to the Continentals. She did all that until she was discovered and jailed on a British prison Ship- The "HMS Jersey"  No one is sure of what happened to her, after the British left NY in 1783 they abandoned the prison ship, so its unclear if she died on board or was able to escape.Of course I like to believe she escaped the horrors of the prison ship and moved west.
  Her true identity to this day still has not been discovered, theories have floated around about agent 355 and who she was, but nothing concrete.
Why could I identify with her? Because she helped to create this nation, she helped to rid NY of the British, albeit a small part  however still significant because without some of the intelligence she gathered, Benedict Arnold would have handed West Point over to the British. She knew the perils of her mission but still accepted the challenge. What an incredible woman she must have been.

So now I ask you the same question my friend asked....   If you could, what book character or movie character would you be????? 

I look forward to reading the responses

-JUGM