Are things looking up?

Well, it has been a few months since my last blog.  Just haven't been in the mood to type anything.  Since February, we did take a cheap vacation that didn't turn out so well.  My husband did get a job - that he absolutely hates - they treat him like poop.  He's been in the hospital with a serious bacterial infection.  We adopted 3 horses.  I had a job interview on June 10th and made it to the 2nd round.  That round won't happen until a certain person gets back from vacation on Monday.  I am so hoping I get this job.  It is only 6 miles from my house and it's 8-5 most of the time instead of 10-7 with an hour commute each way.  This company also offers full benefits - which means hubby could quit his job and go into the hay cutting business that he wants to do.  I know - a lot of risk, but it could be worth it.  He and a neighbor are working on the detail.  We took our 12 acre field out of the CRP program - wasn't happy with the requirement to spray Monsanto's Round-up products - they make enough money poisoning our food supply and I'm not going to help them.

We are currently babysitting a friend's puppy while they are vacation for the 2nd time this year.  He's a sweet puppy, but he keeps pooping in my bedroom - even after we take him outside.  Frustrating - thought I was past the puppy phase of having dogs!

I am currently bottle feeding 2 orphan rabbits.  Their mama is a Red San Juan mix, but refused to care for her litter of 8.  These 2 are the only ones left - they are almost 4 weeks old now.  Starting to reject the formula because they are eating grass, pellets and carrots.  I have installed a water bottle for them, too.  I guess I am adding 2 more pets to the herd as I told my hubby that they were not getting sold and they were not going in the freezer.  He just frowned. I've worked way too hard to keep them alive thus far. Going to try to figure out to build a hutch for them with scraps and a little farmgirl ingenuity.  We'll see what happens.

I failed miserably with my seed starting this year.  Oh - it started out great, until I put them outside to harden off and I forgot about them until about 2 weeks later.  They were certainly crispy.  Oh well.  We have direct sowed many other seeds and things are growing.  We have some volunteer pumpkins coming up in some very strange places, too.

Hubby built 4 raised beds for me.  He also built 2 stalls in the barn and we are going to start on a 3rd one this weekend.  My 2 year old horse is at the trainers for the month and so we have put off building it.  We put the 10 year old in his stall and the 15 year old in her own custom built stall.  She's only 28 inches tall so everything had to be built to scale for her.  Seems to working.

That's it for today - getting ready to head home from work.  Yes - I did this while at work.  I can do things like this while at work because we are a very slow store.  As long as we help customers when they walk in, the boss doesn't really care what we do.  That's one thing I will miss.  See ya' next time.

Looks as though Zeke has the right idea for these bitter cold days we've been having. It a bit warmer today than it has been. Looks like a balmy 26 degrees out there. The horses are enjoying 2 bales of hay and the ducks and chickens are enjoying some sunshine. Yesterday, after we discovered a broken frozen pipe, we called the plumber. They were able to fix one problem, but when we turned the water on, we found another. They asked us if we thought we could make thru the weekend w/o running water because if they came back on Monday it would so much cheaper. We are waiting until Monday. We shoveled snow in the horse tank. After that load melts, we add more. One strange thing that has happened since the plumbers were here though, is the outside cats have found a secret passage that somehow leads IN THE HOUSE!! I haven't found it yet, but I think it is around the old furnace. We don't use it anymore because it was so inefficient. The plumbers had to remove some of the duct work to get to some of the pipes. I am just sure that is where the kitties are getting in! AND if they are getting in - what else can get in- oh the thought!!!!!

I really hate not being able to do laundry. (did that sound sincere?) No - really - I like doing laundry. The only problem is since I didn't get to it last weekend from helping my mother, the mountain is growing! It will take a week to get caught up. We only use the dryer for my uniforms because of the lint. We even went out and purchased another wooden drying rack. Now I have three. I line them up in front of the pellet burner and let the heat from that dry the clothes. It also helps add moisture to the air. As much as I like the pellet burner, it really dries the air out!
Another drawback to not having water is that no dishes are getting done. We are trying to use compostable tableware, but unfortunately, we are eating out frequently. I am out of pans to cook in. I was holding out, trying not to buy water, but I am afraid we are going to have to get a couple jugs anyway. We are using hand sanitizer and baby wipes to clean up with. What about the bathroom, you ask - Well we have that covered as well. You see, a while back, my husband read about making a port-a-pot out of a 5-gallon bucket, wood shavings, and an old hose winder. You know the square kind that is supposed to look nicer next to the spiggot that a coiled up hose. Our plan was to take it with us when we went trail riding with the horses since, a lot of times there are not bathrooms close by. I guess you can say we are roughing it. It doesn't smell too bad.....you just have to layer in a bunch of shavings after you "go". It sure beats having to spend money on a hotel room or going outside!! Afterall, we are still going to have a hefty plumber's bill.

Thanks for reading. Leave a comment if you wish.

Greetings to all

Well isn't this nice. I am new to this blogging thing so bear with me as I learn by making mistakes.

I am a farmgirl from Indiana and am learning the organic way of life. I have always liked the outdoors and animals. We have 2 horses, 2 dogs, 13 cats, several chickens and 2 ducks.
Our horses are Doc, 15 y/o Arab/Morgan pony (1 inch from being a horse) and Rocket. Rocket is a 4 y/o quarter horse that was a rescue from an abusive owner. He is from the "IMPRESSIVE" bloodline and had the blood disorder that is famous with that line.

Harvey is 7 y/o black lab and Henry is a 6 y/o Finnish Spitz/Chihuahua (looks like a fox).
Zeke is our 7y/o house cat adopted from an animal shelter (the same one Henry came from). We have 12 more barn cats: Tippy, Momo, Skippy, Shadow, Smokey Joe, Chesapeake, Dobby, Betty, Frostie, Cujo, Junebug and Rajah.

Bubba and Duck Tape are the two ducks and the only chicken we have left that is named is the rooster, VADER. We have several hens, but none named.

My tractor is a 1941 Farmall M in great shape except that we can't get it started right now. My husband is not much of a mechanic and I haven't had time to look at it. My 92 y/o grandpa told me several things to check and hubby has, but he still can't get it going. I think it may have moisture in the gas.....(to be continued)

I have been married for 15 years and we have 1 child together. Lliam is 8 and is a high functioning autistic also known as Asperger's Syndrome. He is a very bright child, but socially backwards. Looks a lot like Opie.

Well, I guess this is enough to start with since I am tired (1230 am and I have to work tomorrow!!)

Good night.