Pioneer Woman at Heart

Warning:  It's a "grab a cup of ...." kind of blog post today.   I was taking bets as to how many people would notice, including our kids th at were not home, the work we did on S unday . They noticed.  Whew.  Looks so nice when I look out my window now.  It's that ki nd of reli e f when you see a messy room all cleaned up. Our 19 year-old surprised us with a visit last Sunday night.  First thing she said, was "I noticed you don't have any outside lights up." Guilty. We had zero time with all the outside work.  She insisted we at least put some up around the front porch. We did not.  We ended up taking a road trip.

When I worked full time (and lived in the city) I always looked forward to Fridays.   Now, Fridays are no different than any other day, because Saturday's start with barn chores.  That's okay too.  Although on Saturdays and Sundays I have Hubby home to help, and the kids too.

Yesterday I woke up to this.... A sign fall is here to stay and winter is on the way.  Wood splitting must get into full swing here on the homestead.

One year ago (9-25-13), we drove to the county dog shelter.  The shelter is a "kill" shelter.

 (Winston, playing under the rug during a snowstorm) I don't know if you remember or not, but last winter (before last Christmas) we found this cat in one of our barns - declawed, neutered, and the best behaved, loving cat I ever met. Unfortunately, with 3 indoor cats already, and two that are males, spraying was a huge problem.  Unable to find a home for him myself, he went to a shelter about 1 hour away. I don't think I even blogged about it either.  It was just a sad moment for me.

Freezing temperatures again today - a cool -23°F wind chill.  And no we do not have any water in front part of the house - meaning no laundry, no washing dishes and one toilet not flushing (putting water in manually).  

On the 26th of December, the plan was to drive Winston to a humane society about 1 hour from here.  They said they would take any animal, from any county, and not charge a thing.   Perfect, right?  Well, he didn't go there.  He's still here.  Sigh.... He has been quite the entertainment here lately.  Oh, don't get me wrong.  There are still cat fights, and growling, and cornering him by the other two boys here (in fact, I hear growling right now). They've had a few pee wars too (most likely why his last owner dumped him, and I will spare you my thoughts on dumped animals, but you probably already know them by now).

This morning's sunrise was beautiful. The pink stretched for several miles. The recent 9 inches of snow is about to leave us.  In fact today.  Crazy as it sounds, the rains are due to arrive today. Winter does not give us a break in physical work here.  My son, the feed and pellet lifter, is working a much unwanted third shift job right now. 

The kids took advantage of the snowfall, and did some indoor creative artwork.  And, as you can see, I shoveled out my clothesline.  It was actually nice in the sun that particular day.  We've had 2 days of school delays, but no closings.  Last night my son's car went off the road on his way to work (3rd shift), but thanks to extended family, we got him safely back on the road (without injuries).

We did get snow on Friday night, but most of it came down all day Saturday.  Thank goodness there was no wind, so drifting was not a problem.  We are getting more snow today too.  I took advantage of the snowfall, and stayed in and cleaned my bedroom.  I was just getting a table ready for Hubby and I to have a candlelight dinner in there, but work called him away. 

The girls and I had planned to have a pedi/mani day, along with a hand heat wax treatment, right after we completed Monday's housework. They were home from school, and we were going to reward ourselves.  We ran out of time.  With my trip to town for pellets, then making dinner, and then time with Hubby, we just plain lost track of time. Oh, by the way . . . .

 (Alias, very tired and wanting to take a nap, but yet at the same time wanting to play ball) Have you been wondering how Alias is adapting to his new home here at Rooster's Crow Farm?  Have you been wondering if this 13 year old dog, put into a brand new atmosphere, has been a wee bit naughty or just down right loveable? Well, he's been both.

"You can't put that thing in the garage! It's a pest not a pet!" I screamed at the kids. "Fine Mom," they said reluctantly putting the baby raccoon in the wood barn. And that's how it started.  As the entire family ooh'd and ahh'd over this tiny raccoon, I remained inside finishing dinner and putting it back in the oven to wait for everyone to come inside.  They saw it roaming around the driveway about 5pm-ish.  They immediately started making phone calls. "No one will take that thing," I tried to explain.  "It's considered a pest." After dinner the kids had made their call and left a message.  The next day, they called back.  They would not take raccoons, but had a number of someone who would. Early in the morning, I walked out to the barn to check on the baby, and my 13 year-old walked out with me.  The first thing out of my mouth was unexpected, and of course my daughter had to repeat it to everyone th...

This little guy was rescued yesterday.  I was up at 4:00am and could not sleep.  When I went to the kitchen, I could hear this high pitched meow coming from the very front window.  I tried to see which cat it was, using a flashlight, but could not.  I did see our barn cat Tim, so I thought maybe it was him.   Later that afternoon, the kids came running, saying "you gotta come see this."  My son said, "I thought I heard something this morning." We, at first glance, thought it may be blind, or have an eye injury the way he held his head to the side.  Once we got him in the cat carrier we saw that he may have been hurt by someone tossing him out their car window, while driving by.  He was underneath a large evergreen that is not far off the road.  It makes me sick that people do this to animals. It's a poor photo, but you can see the little guy is hurt.  My son was able to drive him to the Humane Society for a $30.00 d...

Two of the kids went camping with my brothers.  My oldest brother wants to teach them how to fly fish. I'm taking over the milking of the goats for one of them, so she can have a vacation (I've never taken over her milking other than once and I skipped the Farmer's Market due to how tired I have been). While we were waiting for my oldest brother to pull in with his airstream camper at noon, we got a text message - still shopping and won't be there until 3pm or so.  At 4pm.  He still wasn't here.  Then we get a text from my younger brother - he's unloading his truck to come get the girls, as my older brother was stuck on the highway with a flat trailer tire.  I texted back - I'll bring the girls to you.   After we got there, hubby left the keys in the Explorer.  It locked on us and we spent quit a time getting into it.   We got a laugh when the alarm went off too.  Over an hour later we were back in the Explorer. I think that w...