My daughter and her husband went out for a date night last night.
We knew a blizzard was brewing, but we weren't concerned.
Before they got home, they got a call from a friend that their dog
was having puppies. So, they went there. No problem. However, it has
taken 8 hours to deliver and now they are snowed in.... not a problem...
the kids can watch TV when they wake up...
The first kid wakes up bright and early (6:30) and immediately wants
to watch morning TV. OK! I turn it on. Small problem... there is only
static! "TV broke".
What ever am I going to do with a preschooler and toddler with no TV
shield?! (I managed to survive my own without one) Guess I'll have to
break out the play dough after the other one gets up.
I am back home and enjoying watching the snow melt! ??
I did my hair again. This time, I alternated patches of blue and purple. Then, combed it through before rinsing. Not as much purple showed up as I thought would, but we love it! ?
My first product video with me in front of the camera! Woo-hoo!
Ok, it's not perfect... I'm too close to the camera, I had to keep gathering my thoughts (a script would be helpful but then lacks that touch of personality), and I should have explained how I use the essential oil. But, I'm going on the "it doesn't have to be perfect - just do it already" philosophy and I think it's not too shabby for a quick first attempt in front of the camera. I'm feeling kinda proud of myself.
I'm excited! The snow storm missed us and the next four days are going to be nice!
I only added ONE drop in my diffuser and the livingroom was full of the aroma of spikenard in 15 minutes. It is no wonder that the whole house was filled with the aroma when Mary anointed Jesus feet.
If you are in my area and have been curious about what spikenard smells like, feel free to drop by (or send me a message of when you would like to stop by).
This image speaks volumes to me. I am a complicated woman. But, you know what? Today, I can honestly say "I like myself".
In the past, there were aspects of myself that I did not care for, but my ex-husband's family insisted on. I tried very hard to be that person, stuffing much of my personality into the dark recesses of an inner box. Today, though, I relish the freedom of completely being myself - even if one moment I can soar with joy and the next I am back in my inner shell with a total lack of confidence (which, thankfully, is happening less and less often).
My grandson just declared me to be dead.
Cause of death? Eating bugs.
Four days of cleaning and I can see almost four stall mats. The manure is so wet and heavy that I can only move half a wheelbarrow full and I have to limit myself to 4-6 loads a day to prevent injury. As long as the mud doesn’t get too bad as the snow melts, I figure I should be done in two weeks. It is slow going, but the exercise is good and I would like it done before the ammonia starts to build up (that is never fun!).
It is so very wonderful to be able to start working on the barn so early in the year and to get out there whenever I am ready instead of waiting for one of the guys to give me a ride to the barn after work!
I set out the deck chairs Sunday. I thought I'd enjoy a change of scenery while writing my to-do list on the deck.... only I found all of the seats occupied.
Apparently it is ok for our neighbor's little dog to come to our yard whenever it wants, but not ok for our "vicious" dog to go over there to say hello. There was a small scuffle between dogs and a bit of complaining by the human. Sigh. We had hoped to be friends with our neighbors. But, even if we can't be friends, living here with ready access to the horses sure beats living in town!
I'll be putting up a temporary electric fence with a second, lower strand to discourage the dogs from wandering after the next storm. We'll try locating the property line again ourselves; but, if the problem continues, we'll have to get a survey done and a proper fence put up sooner than later...
Most of the snow is gone - just a bit lingering around the barn. I am now confident to celebrate that I made it through the winter without injury!
I wrapped a few treasures. This makes 6 that I have wrapped and 5 that I have drilled.
The blue iridescent one is my favorite (aura black tourmaline).
The cleaning should start getting easier now!
I have the step in stakes in the ground surrounding the yard. I attached two rows of electric to it and... changed my mind about where the start and end spots should be. Ugh! Thankfully, I haven't cut the electric to length yet (the spools of tape and rope are just sitting next to the last post). I need Bob's help deciding where we want "gates" for easier access to various areas (like my garden spots) and setting up those sections before I start cutting. Ideally, I would like to be able to put it all up and leave it this year instead of moving fencing to a different area for the horses to graze every three weeks like I've done for the past 6 years. It may only be temporary fencing, but I can think of far more interesting things to do! I, for sure, need to be a bit more organized before putting up permanent fencing! At least, we'll be able to test the dog's responses to the fence to see if this will work or if we need a third line.
My laces wore out before the shoes did. I asked Bob: what color should I get? Black (like I normally would)? Purple? Pink? Maybe bright yellow? He says: Rainbow! Rainbow it is. I don't remember ever having such colorful shoe laces!
I don't have enough energy to do everything I want on nice days like this!
Early last spring, I purchased a bunch of wildflower seeds to spread at the farm that we had the horses at to enjoy the blooms. Before I could do that, we moved! It was too late to plant them by the time we were settled in, but I prepared an area today and planted them. Now to wait and see what will sprout!
Last weekend, Bob helped me line up where I wanted this t-post. I
had also wanted help with forming "gate anchors" to make my
life easier, but a cold wind was blowing and he had things he wanted
to do first (like finish a vehicle project and fill in low spots in
the driveway).
While Bob was discovering that a wheelbarrow load of dirt is quite
a bit heavier than manure (he really is smarter than that, but had never
experienced it first-hand), a design came into my head and I determined
to attempt this project on my own. I've watched my Dad work with wire
a number of times, but I don't remember ever trying to manipulate it
into a form on my own before. I found it to be a little harder than
he makes it look!
I showed my design to Bob and he says it is great! I created similar
gate anchors in 7 other locations using 3 different styles for different
functions. The electric flows properly through them all. Apparently,
I didn't need quite as much help as I thought!
I am super sore today, so decided to take it easy. I spread grass
seed on about 1/2 an acre and set up a couple of garden spots.
When I cleaned out the hay shed last summer, I set aside about a dozen
moldy bales to use gardening this summer. I went to move them to the
spot that I had envisioned for them, but found that I could only move
six. The others have deteriorated too much to hold together while moving.
However, I had not decided where I wanted to plant the potatoes yet.
So, when I saw that the bales could not be easily moved, I decided that
right where they are is the perfect spot for the potatoes!
I am using Bale Buster to condition them all for growing. This will
be the first year that I will be gardening in this fashion. However,
growing in 1/2 hay, 1/2 potting soil in my mini-garden worked so well
in Madison that I have high hopes for this method.
Yesterday evening, I heard the dogs snarling, growling, and otherwise
carrying on. I looked out the window and saw the neighbor walking with
her little dog. The little dog was lunging on the leash, dancing on
his hind feet and I could imagine him saying: Let me at 'em! Dogs can
be so dramatic!
Obviously, the last encounter these guys had made them all quite aggressive
toward each other. Now, I can totally see why the neighbor would call
our dogs "vicious". They certainly looked it! (the only reason
hers didn't look vicious is the size - somehow, a cat-sized dog is not
seen as intimidating, though they are more prone to biting).
I really don't know how to change the dogs' behavior without planned
and willing interaction with the person and dog in question. Moving
the pen after spending so much money on getting electricity out there
is not an option. Besides, it really is the best place for them with
good shelter both summer and winter, but it is right next to the road
and they don't really have a different route to go on their walks.
We may have to resort to no-bark collars to get our dogs to stop.
The problem with that is that I do like them telling me that someone
(or critter) is here.
Sigh. Surely there is a solution to this.
Update: Current solution until we can afford proper fencing: tighten
up the barnyard so the dogs can't get through the gates and play with
them there instead of in the yard as the electric is not going to slow
them down if someone is walking past (and ignore their snarls for the
time being).
I was sore again yesterday, so decided to skip another day of barn
cleaning. So, I thought, I know! I'll spend a few minutes with the metal
detector looking for the old fence line and maybe find the property
pin... I gave up three hours later...
Now, I have lots of holes to fill and a pile of scrap metal. I did
manage to find evidence of the old fence line (sections of barbed wire
was buried), but no property pin.
Today, I found a gnss app for my phone so that I could compare the
coordinates from the county's gis viewer. As I expected, the gis map
is waaaay off. According to the longitude/latitude, the property line
goes through the middle of the barn. According to the ground utm cooridinates,
one line is somewhere out in the corn field and the other line somewhere
down the neighbor's driveway.
Aside from digging up a 1,000 sq ft area, I think I've done all I
can.
The zucchini can hardly wait for it to be safe to get outside, while the tomatoes are like: yeah, I guess...
