Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Happy Birthday to….

our son. 27 years old today! Wow, truly… where DOES the time go? Here’s a cute pic when he was just a wee man, packed up in his car seat, ready to go with his buddy Ernie and “coffee cup.”

BatchEd1carseat 1983 age 1
And another one of my faves – he was about five with bib overalls and ice cream face. Oh, those were the days…

1987 age 5 ice cream face

Happy Birthday, John!!! And many more to come!!! We love ya.

p.s. John has a new fiddling CD – on its way from the studio. I’ll update the blog with pictures and info, and maybe a snippet from the CD once it arrives. We’re all excited for him!!

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Sunday, March 29, 2009

Garden trowels on Etsy

Today we listed some garden trowels for Flat Creek Forge on Etsy - “Your place to buy and sell all things handmade.” Thanks to Preston’s ‘opinionated blacksmith’ buddy Ed for reminding us about this venue. I’ve bought several items from Etsy sellers in the past, and we had been intending to try our hand at selling there for a very long time. Here is the link to Preston’s first item for sale on Etsy <drum roll please>
the most wonderful authentic railroad spike garden trowel.... ever :^)

Wonder what my tip will be for spending a good part of the afternoon tackling this new venture? More garden tools? Yippee!

trowel2
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Friday, March 27, 2009

Snow Weekend…. Really???

We have a winter storm watch in our area for the weekend. Yes, indeed, a winter storm watch in Spring. What?! Up to six inches of SNOW for our neck of the woods, and some cooler temps than we’ve been used to the past few days. Just last weekend I was planting our early garden. And speaking of which…

The garden is really coming along nicely. I planted another partial raised bed last Saturday. Lettuce and radishes are sprouting in the bed #1, which was planted one week ago today. The straw bales are lookin’ great…. hoping for some lettuce and kale from the mini bale gardens within a few short weeks. I was also excited to see that the heirloom tomatoes are sprouting today in the little “greenhouses.” They don’t look too impressive yet, but I have high hopes!

heirloom_tomatoes_3-27-09

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Friday, March 20, 2009

First Day of Spring

Today we celebrated the first day of Spring by planting the first raised bed of the vegetable garden. Rain is in our forecast beginning tonight, and lasting throughout the weekend. This is the earliest we’ve managed to start the garden in years! Hope it’s a great year!

raised_bed1

Donkey Helpers a/k/a
“Little Poopers” (Fertilizers) :-)
muddy_girls

First attempt at a Straw Bale
Mini Garden, Planted 3-16
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Lookie… some sprouts today!
Can you see them??
sprouts1


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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Birdwatching

I had soooo hoped to get a picture of the Rufous-sided Towhee who just arrived in our yard today. The only little guy who didn’t flee was this Downy Woodpecker. That’s ok. Love these little guys too!

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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Sweet Allis ~ A Tribute

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Three beautiful ol’ Allis Chalmers tractors call this farm their home: 1953 WD, 1956 WD45 and a 1957 WD45. These girls can also still put in a good day’s work when called to duty.

Here is a tribute in song to these hard workin’ old gals on the farm.


Thank you for your many years of service to the farm, and here’s to many more.
wd-45_ad allis_heart

Allis & Guys 1998

Monday, March 9, 2009

Flat Creek Forge

Yes, there REALLY IS a Flat Creek Forge. A small, rather active blacksmith shop on the farm. It may be small in size, but I’ll bet that you cannot imagine just how much is enclosed in that little building. Tools galore, works in progress, and an ever-growing list of homemade or traded-for *useful* equipment and machinery. And, oh the stories that have been told in that building.

Today I’ve been working on Flat Creek Forge’s website. I’m doing an overhaul of the original website which began around 2005. Next up will be the RubyGracie website re-do.

Here’s a preview of the new Flat Creek Forge banner, and also your chance to meet “Pinhead” the blacksmith shop cat. He’s a sweetheart.

FCFbnr1 copy pinhead_sm
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Wednesday, March 4, 2009

It’s Wednesday, so it must be…

Project Day!! Yep, that’s right. We checked a few things off the list:

*Recycled (tore apart) pallets into kick boards for the donkey stall (actually, to give credit where due - the hubs did most of the manual labor on this one).

*Manure from the "A$$" pen was scooped to the garden.

*Laundry was hung out on the clothesline today, thereby saving electricity and $$$. Go me :)

*Garden seed ordered! Yay!

Here are two pictures to end the day with:

sundown2wtexture
Sunset tonight in the front yard. I used the telephoto because I was actually stalking cardinals to photograph. I added a Photoshop texture.

here is the only cardinal I managed to snap. He is contemplating which sunflower seed looks the most delectable.

cardinal_contemplates

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Life gets ‘tejus’, don’t it?


Listening to the ‘old’ oldies on our local radio this morning, I again heard this song from Carson Robison. I’m not sure what year this was released, but I love this one (especially his pronunciation of tedious as ‘tejus’). Can’t we all relate to this at least sometimes – when the simple mundane tasks seem too overwhelming? A pity party ensues for a bit, then the realization soaks in of just how silly this all is. We’re truly blessed, but there are times when life does seem ‘tejus’… that’s for sure.

Life Gets Tedious , Don't It?
The sun comes up and the sun goes down,
The hands on the clock keep going round,
I just get up and it's time to lay down,
Life gets tedious, don't it?
My shoe’s untied but I don't care,
I wasn't figuring on goin’ nowhere,
I'd have to wash and comb my hair,
And that's just wasted effort.

Water in the well gettin' lower and lower,
Can't take a bath for a month or more,
But I've heard it told and it's true I'm sure,
That too much bathing weakens yer.

Open the door and the flies come in,
Shut the door and yer sweating again,
And in the process, I cracked my shin,
Just one durn thing after another.

Ole brown mule, he must be sick,
I jabbed him in the rump with a pin on a stick,
He humped his back but he didn't kick,
There's something cockeyed somewhere.
Ole mouse chawing on the pantry door,
Been chawing there for a month or more,
When he gets through he's gonna be sore,
There ain’t a durn thing in there.

Hound dog howling so forlorn,
Laziest dog that ever was born,
He's howling cause he's sittin' on a thorn,
And he's just too tired to move over.
Tin roof leaks and the chimney leans,
There's a hole in the seat of my old blue jeans,
I et the last of my pork and beans,
Just can't depend on nothin'.

Cows gone dry and the hens won't lay,
Fish stopped biting last Saturday,
Troubles piling up day by day,
And now I'm gettin' dandruff.

Grief and misery pain and woes,
Bills and taxes and so it goes,
And now I'm gettin' a cold in the nose,
Life gets tasteless - Don't it?

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