Wet!!!

We got a little rain a couple of days ago:) We really needed the rain but it seems like we either get nothing, or a LOT. We got a little over 3 inches and this is what it does to our place...
The above picture is of our river, I mean drive way. This isn't as bad as we've had it, but it's pretty close. All the water from the farmer's fields to the south and west of us (and maybe a river to the south of us, but we think it's too far away to be where this is coming from) flows through our place on its way to a river to the north of us. We know it's connected to a river somewhere because we get fish and crayfish left over after the flooding.

This pic is of our front pasture just to the north of the drive way (which is also still in the pic). About 2 acres of fast flowing 'lake'. Below you can see that at least the duck is happy about our new landscape:)

Yep, that's one happy duck!!!

Our drive way is now fairly dry with just a couple puddles left and the front pasture is mostly just extremely muddy, though some water is still flowing through. I actually like having the flooding (our house is safe, so I don't have to worry about that), because we have ducks (other than ours) and other water birds come to visit. And dd loves to look for the fish and crayfish and whatever else she can find in the water. She just wears her mud boots and stomps around in the water. We make her wear the mud boots because we don't know what is running off the fields (and we don't let her in the water at all if the fields have been sprayed within a couple days before the flooding).

I still need to post about some sewing and stitching I have been working on. As soon as I get that small quilt done and the small stitching project I am working on done, I'll post those:)

Progress

I think I've decided that, like gardening, I am horrible at blogging:) I have gotten some things out of my garden this year, which is an improvement over last year, but it is still very over grown with weeds (which is why you won't get a picture of the garden, hehehe). Here is a picture of the tomatoes and some volunteer sunflowers I picked yesterday. It is great that the sunflowers take care of themselves (and re-seed themselves) because I think I've proven time and time again that I cannot keep flowers alive!!!
I arranged the sunflowers with some 'wild flowers' I found during my morning walk. I think they turned out nice:) In the back ground of the picture is our dog 'Gracie'. She is a bit spoiled and lazy:)

I also have a new pic of our 'boys'. WOW have they gotten big (at least for Jersey bulls) and mean (normal for Jersey bulls). We are just about ready to send them off to be 'processed'. I thought that would be hard on me as when they were little I bottle fed them and petted them. However, the older and bigger and more aggressive they become, the more ready I am to have them gone, hrmm, in the freezer:)

I hope to have some progress pictures on stitching and maybe a small wall quilt to show off next time. I'm trying to get a few things made and ready to start up an Etsy shop. We'll see how much time I have though:)

New life

We'll I think we finally have new kittens for this year. I've posted before how my cats have all been letting their kittens die off, and I think that is still happening, but I finally have a momma cat taking care of a couple of her kittens:) We found several more that hadn't made it, but momma cat did take care of these two. And they are so cute:) I had to move them that first day as she had them under a tractor that was outside and clouds were moving in. I took the kittens and momma cat to the barn and set up a box for them. This way they stay dry and momma is closer to her food and water and can leave the kittens where they'd stay safe.

I never thought I'd say we'd want more kittens after last spring, but it just doesn't seem like summer without new little ones running around. So far these two are it for this year, much improved from the 21 kittens we had born last year!!!

These are much more welcomed out here:) These two hens shared a nest of eggs, and are now sharing the chicks as well. They had 7, but one died. After we moved them to this caged in coop I went to throw out the leftover eggs and noticed one was cheeping. So I kept it in a box with hot water bottles and about 1 1/2 days later, it hatched:) I then gave it a couple days and put it in with the hens and other chicks and they all took to eachother.

This was another hen that was sitting as well. I didn't know what to expect from her as I didn't know how old the eggs she was sitting on was (our hens are REALLY free range and I don't always know where they are laying at). I noticed the hen making some noises this morning and so I checked and sure enough, there were little heads peeking out. I counted 3 or 4 before asking dh if he thought we should leave her be for another day or two, or go ahead and move them today. He said to let her sit for a little longer to make sure they are all hatched this time;) I decided to pick her up to see how many she had and I counted 10 heads!!! After I took this picture I went over to the nest and another one was hatching so she's really going to have her feathers full;)

It is so great to have new life all around us:) I love watching the chicks learn to peck the ground and flutter around. And who doesn't love a little kitten (hmmm, don't ask my dh - who is sick and tired of having cats around;0).

A Stitchy Post:)

It's been a while since I've posted and I thought (okay it was requested:) that I'd give a little bit of an update. This will be the first in a couple of posts that I hope to get up within the next couple of days.

I've been stitching up a storm this past several weeks. This one is for a Quaker exchange I am doing. I still need to make it into something before the end of June for it to be ready. I think the hedgehog is really cute:)
This one I started about a month ago and then haven't done anything more with it. It is called "Bless Our Home" and is by Country Cottage Needleworks.

I have been mostly working on this one and like it so much that I ordered the other 3 in the set:) This is the spring section of "Saltbox Scriptures" from Little House Needleworks. I will post an update when I get it done.

And finally, after a full year of working on this one.... IT IS DONE!!! I need to look for a frame for it and put on the buttons, but other than that, it is done. I am suprised that I still really like this one;) I got it for my birthday in 2008 and finished it ON my birthday in 2009.

Well that is all for stitching. I have some updates on my garden and what I've been learning about herbs to write about later this week:)

New discoveries:)

I have, for a while now, wondered what kind of weeds we have growing around the place. I know that a lot of 'weeds' end up being useful herbs and wanted to see if we had anything useful growing around here. However, I really didn't know where to start to find out what these plants were, so this spring I've gone around and started tasting anything that looked like it might be edible (don't worry, I do know what the poison ivy, oak and such look like:). I know dandelion leaves are edible, so I started there. They are pretty bitter, but I think they should be cooked. I've tried a few others as well, but still don't know what they are.

Today my dd brought me a 'weed' and asked what I thought it was. The cats were eating it, and that is why she noticed it. So I smelled it and it smells like mint. I looked for a while on the Internet and found that it is either cat mint or catnip. Some sites say it's the same thing and some say they are a bit different. Both are from the mint family and perfectly safe for humans. Now to dig some of it up to put it in the garden so it is officially an herb and not a weed:)
I also saw the birds that I look for each spring. They don't stick around here long, but are really pretty and as we have very few trees, we don't get a lot of the pretty, colorful birds around here. Mostly we get prairie birds which sing beautifully, but don't have much color to them. I also looked these up and found them to be Yellow headed blackbirds. Not an original name:) And they are LOUD!!!

Here is our last discovery. I found this little one's momma while she was giving birth. She dropped her baby and walked away. I tried to get the momma to take some interest, but she had already let the first born die and didn't want to be anywhere near this one. I knew we couldn't keep it alive, but the other cats were a little too interested in the baby (which when wet and brand new looked much too like a dead mouse or rat), so I brought it in. Yes, the poor thing died, but we gave it love and care for as long as we could:( The poor little thing was so ugly that it was cute:)

That is all for now. I have several more pics of 'weeds' that I want to research to see if they are anything useful, I'll post what I find:)

Some stitching

I'm finally getting around to posting about the stitching I've been doing:)

This first one is just getting started. It is from Brittercup and will have a horse and a kitty on it. I'm doing this one for my dd, as she loves both horses and cats.

This one is getting pretty close to done. It is by Little House Needleworks called 'Heart of America.' I have been working on this since last June, so it's taking a while, but I just love it:)

I'm only working on this one on and off. I found this sampler at www.gazette94.blogspot.com and really like the red and white look. I'm doing this on 28 ct over one so it won't be as big.

This one I just started and finished. I love doing small projects that I can get done quickly. This one will be sent off as an exchange. Now my dd wants this one too:)

All turned out well after the storm. All the animals ended up safe and sound. Would you believe that we are getting snow AGAIN today?!?!? It isn't to amount to anything though, however the last snow isn't all melted yet. We do have the moisture we were needing though, so that really is all that matters.

More weather pics

Here are some more pics from the storm. I am thinking we are about done with it now. We have been lucky as a good deal of people are without electricity and we still have ours. The animals are fine and after a recount in the light this morning, it looks like we are only missing one chicken. She may still be in the barn, so I think we are okay.

These are not our cows. They belong to the man that owns the pasture surrounding us. They are okay, but looked misserable when I went out this morning. Poor things don't have any shelter at all out there.

Well, now on to clean up. You can see how high the snow is up to the shop. Dh is going to dig that out so he can get to the tractor and then he has to dig the blade out. Hopefully he doesn't get the tractor stuck before he can get to the blade. We are completely snowed in right now. I have no idea what the roads are like, but by the time we have our driveway cleared they should at least have major highways pretty good. Not that we are going anywhere. We are staying home!!!