Pioneer Woman at Heart

Yesterday morning, I saw Jasper (one of the house cats) sitting on top of the wood stove.  I didn't dawn on me that something might be in it at the time.  I thought he was just chasing spiders (which he loves to do). Later, closer to noon, the dogs barked at a noise coming from the stove's chimney.  I heard it too.   I went and asked my son to check it.  He opened the damper and then closed the stove door again.  A little later, I heard scratching noises at the glass door on the stove. My son opened it and a bird flew out.  The crazy woman that I am....pulled a blanket over my head and ran around after it with a broom.  We opened the door, but it kept flying from window to window to get out.  Poor thing.  Funny part is, is that the house cats were all napping at that point.  They missed the "show." I didn't have to go far to do bird watching, ha ha ha!

This is Tiger's new "hang out."  We can typically find him sitting here almost every day. The recycled wood pellet bags come in handy for new baby chicks.  The sides of the cages are covered to keep curious cats out. 

Barn cats Sapphire and Aurora.  They join me at the porch every day.  If fact, if anyone is on the porch, they arrive in a few minutes to join. Gus.  His favorite place is the rug on the front porch.  Here he's been drooling.  We were grilling out and having dinner on the porch.  

I am loving the warmer weather.  It sure dries my laundry faster. I love the smell of bed sheets after they have been out on the clothesline.  I actually think it helps me sleep better too. Speaking of sheets, I had to wash my bedding this morning.  Not because I am trying to de-germ the house, but because the two younger girls got Milo (our rabbit) out of his cage and let him play on my bed this morning.  They gave him a newspaper to rip up and play with, but while they were laughing at his excitement, he left me a little present.  The girls are now cleaning my mattress - ha ha ha!  No resting in there for me today. I've gotten many "do's" this week from my 10 year-old daughter.  She wants to be a hair stylist when she grows up and she has been learning and practicing how to french braid my hair.  She's told me that I can't get more than 2 inches cut off, so she can continue to use me for practice.  I kind of enjoy it anyway....

A very sad evening here today. Our oldest dog alerted my 15 year-old daughter that a cat was inside the tote.  We have two totes on their sides, filled with dry bedding for the barn cats to keep warm. When my daughter checked the tote, she found Joey.  He was already gone.   Most likely he was hit by a car.   He walked himself to the house and went into the tote.  He rested there until he went to Heaven. There is a blog that was written about him:  The Little Orange Cat the Could  Joey was loved and will be greatly missed.   We love you Joey!  

Where can you find someone willing to sell you a truck load of wood for $25.00? It's rare indeed.  Thankfully, my son can lift these heavy pieces and put them on the wood splitter for me to split.  He unloaded the truck too.  Most of the wood was in stump pieces about 3 feet wide, the kind that no person really wants to mess with.  We, on the other hand, were very thankful to God for this wood.  Regardless of size.  We spent the afternoon splitting about half of it, until we needed to go inside and thaw out our finger tips. Now, if we could just find wood pellets.  Clerks were giving my husband a weird look when he asked if they had any.  So far, we are not finding them.   One store even told us they are not ordering any more this season.   This morning, we are off on a venture, to locate a store that has some.  Thankfully, we can call ahead, but even that isn't always accurate.  One time we called, they said ye...

I haven't done any "real" sewing for a while.  I found this fleece on sale for $3.99/yard and my daughter approved it.  Not bad for sewing my first dog coat.  Isn't he handsome?   Next sewing project . . . pot holders.

I have walked around the property (some of it) and found two different types of mushrooms growing.  One was growing on a fallen tree.

I have no idea what I was thinking.  I picked a small piece of wild growing catnip and put it in my flower press. Every day, my 9 year-old's cat (Tiger) would attack my flower press.  I finally opened the flower press yesterday and gave him that dried catnip.  He went nuts!  Then along came the other cats and wanted some.   My 9 year-old has been wanting to dry some to make a safe cat toy for her cat.  I had her look at my wild flower book, so that she could identify it correctly, before she picked it. We now have catnip drying in the garage, away from Tiger.  The catnip will not be making an appearance on my wild flower book, for the sake of keeping my book in tact. Dear Lord, Please bring me some of that delicious catnip tomorrow. Amen.

Got newspaper?

My son, bless his heart, went to work looking like he had not slept in a week.  His co-worker, told him he looked like he was on drugs.   His eyes were swollen, his ears were swollen and covered with poison oak, as well as his entire body.  I was about to take him to the doctor for a quick fix, when we started using a spray bottle of apple cider vinegar and water (50/50).   He had been using a wash that we've always used, followed by a cream to dry it up. It just kept showing up in other places on his body.   We mixed the water and apple cider vinegar and he sprayed himself, anytime, including taking a small bottle to work with him.  He looks so much better and he's not scratching. I think we found the culprit too - one of the dogs.  We think the dog slept with him, then spread it, and spread it.  We did a major wipe down/clean up too. Even I got it on my arm after walking in the house and only being home for about 15 minutes....

Jasper hanging out. Tiger hanging out. Mattie hanging out. Another picture of Tiger in his favorite place - on a newspaper And another one of Mattie

Finally!  I found an article for a solution to repel biting insects, including flies.  Here is the link to share with you all.  My eye balls about popped out after reading that there is a 190-proof grain alcohol.  Wow!  That's some dangerous stuff there.   Herbs vs. Bugs:  Herbal Insect Repellant We have been using our homemade oil mixture, for a tick repellant,  on our dogs for a week or so.  So far, it is working.  We are also putting a dab of apple cider vinegar in their water bowl, and that is keeping the fleas off of them.  So far they have not had fleas on them.  This has kept our pets healthier and we have saved almost $200.00/month on pet meds.

Gus was so proud of himself.  He caught another ground hog.

Really Mattie?  The kitchen table?  Sheesh.  She must think she's queen of the castle today.  Good grief. Meet Aurora (black calico) and Joey (golden tiger) .  They think the lawn furniture was put outside for their convenience.

It's not what you'd expect for a wake up call, but I woke up from a wet willy.  An 80 pound hairy blob sitting on me, wagging her tail so hard the bed was shaking.  The wet willy was her tongue of course.  Blech.

Misty is very content after being fed.  I snapped this photo when my 8 th grade daughter was relaxing in the wicker rocker on the front porch. Misty’s brother doesn’t like to be left alone, but it’s so hard to not give this little girl attention.  Every day after school, she is in the house running around, and up on totes we leave in the kitchen for her.  One day I had to laugh, as I had turned around, she had hopped up on a kitchen chair and was looking over the table. It’s so much fun to watch out the window and see the goats play.  When a car or school bus pulls in the driveway, Misty will jump, run, buck, and even do a sideways bounce.  She’s hilarious. 

Yes, we are getting more snow.  They are saying we may get another 4 1/2 inches.  The previous snow has almost melted, making a gushy mess in the yard.  I am almost wondering if I should stone the underside of my clotheslines for convenience year-round.  Then again I could just lay an extra piece of wood down to avoid stepping in the squishy mud.  It's all worth it.  With a large family, not using the dryer has cut down our electric bill tremendously. Sunday's are a good day to curl up and watch Little House DVD's. . . Or spend time crocheting Christmas gifts or hope chest blankets . . .   Or sipping tea, coffee, or hot chocolate . . . Although the snow is now coming down, the chickens enjoying their time out of their coop.  As a result of the recent warmer weather, they have starting laying a few more eggs. Even the house cats were all fired up last week.  While checking on my e-mail one morning, I kept hearing a crinkle sou...

Our goal was to make sure our dogs had a healthy weight balance, by substituting 1/2 their dry dog food with peas and carrots.  The results are wonderful.  Not only are they loving the change, but they now go from their own bowl, to the other bowls in search for any leftovers. This morning "topped the cake" with results.   We found one of the cats sneaking peas from the bowl right after we poured them in, and before the dogs could even get to the bowls. My daughter told me that if your dog is overweight by even 8 pounds it could cause havoc on their health.  In our efforts to create a healthier diet for them,  we have drastically cut down on our dry dog food costs.  I can't say that making our own food is out of the realm of future possibilities either.

I don't care what you say, I'm NOT going in!