A bit late, yes, BUT things have been hectic the last month! So, gonna recap the last few weeks with a ton of pictures.... then tomorrow have an actual 'new year/ new goals' post!
It has been a very rainy and wet winter. Christian's brothers and sister were all planning on being home back in Louisiana for Christmas, so Christian headed out the day before Christmas Eve, and I stayed at the farm for some 'sister time' with my little sis and to also start some time-consuming projects here at home!
Eddie's second official Christmas was good, cozy, and filled with toys and treats!
Taylor spent several days here helping me with various farm projects during the day, and feeding our old tradition of UNO at night.... We played a lot of UNO in the months after our dad's passing. It was hard to connect sometimes emotionally so soon after the tragedy, but to connect over a simple and competitive game of UNO was good for our souls....I have a feeling she knows she is gonna win this game...I got NOTHING.
Land clearing uncovered the most perfect little Christmas tree...
....and while clearing out around the concrete building on the property, this was the view of the sunset....
...we got a burn permit and had a few fires to take care of the piles of brush we had cleared... These fires were fun. Sometimes all you need is a fire and some quiet time. Taylor shared stories with me about our dad and her making fires and roasting weenies and marshmallows....
...then some nights she would play a game where she built roller coasters... ha!
.....then the next day I decided to use the electric hedge clippers to get in here where there was no other option....
I hit a wire and it jammed the blades, which I thought were disengaged, so as I was pulling the wire with my left hand and pulling the clippers with the right, they engaged - ON MY FINGERS!!! Luckily I was wearing really thick leather gloves, so the damage was minimal. Lesson learned: ALWAYS UNPLUG ELECTRIC HEDGECLIPPERS WHEN MESSING WITH THE BLADES! Ha!
I washed the blood off, and put on a bandaid, and got back at it!
Put new locks on the doors of the building....
....and had my 'big ticket Christmas item' delivered!!! Eeeeeek!
Stacked the blocks and got ready for a lesson in laying them!
...mixing mortar and sand with water...
Viola!
At the end of the day, my finger already looked ten times better! Close call for sure!
Next was repairing some places in the fence. I replaced the plastic knobs with ceramic ones because they had broken a few times.
...finger progress...
..view of the house from the back side of the field where I was repairing the fence.
rain, rain, and more rain = mud & poop.
.....but in the places where I fed rye, made a beautiful bed of fresh ryegrass!
I snuck a peek inside this tree to see this little fella...
On New Year's Eve, I lost my leghorn. She was the fastest runner and the most productive layer, but she was an old gal. I noticed on New Year's Eve that she was moving a little slow and brought her inside to keep warm and hopefully pull through, but she died that night. At least she got some good affirmations of love in her last hours- she never would let me catch her to show her while she was in good health! She is buried now on the backside of the property with my Milly!
My other new Christmas present arrived the day before New Year's Eve, and we made all the staples for good luck in the new year with MY NEW STOVE!
Lots of playtime and toys make an Eddie Ray sleep sound...
Foggy and mild days make for majestic photos!
Oh no!
The threat of a blizzard came was forecast on the weather and I never got around to finishing the horse shelter last year.... Change of plans for the week... Instead of catching up on the blog, and making new inventory for Fox and the Forest, I would now be making sure all the animals are set IF we get some snow....
....all done! I must admit I am very proud of myself!!
..this is the newly finished side....
...and the other side, also known as Hazel's side ;)
...and it looks like I have enough hay to last through the 'blizzard'!
THANK YOU for always letting me depend on you, Black Beauty! The hay and the shelter would have been a WHOLE lot harder without you!
No blizzard - not even an real dusting! Just a few flakes....but I was super happy that the horses were able to stay out of it IF it got bad. Now I am ready for snow, so bring it!
The temperatures did continue to drop throughout the day though and I noticed the well house didn't appear to have the lamp working.... I went to investigate and found this. Oooops. This is what happens when you forget there are electrical cords in the path of the tractor....
I found another extension cord, drug it to the well house, and we had light!!
!!!!
after the 'snow' stopped falling, this was all we got. Boohoo!
Eddie was not at all interested in the cold wet outdoors. We was just fine cuddling and staying warm under his blanket.
I had planned on playing outside ALL DAY, but since there was nothing to play in, I decided to finally tackle my loft. My creative space/ studio/ closet.... Ouch - see this mess? Yeah, I am not as organized as some of you might think....
tada! Clean! Now I can get busy on some projects....
After cleaning my space, I decided to feed the animals a midday snack. They need more to eat when it is this cold, so I was glad it was Saturday with no work, when I could feed them a little bit several times throughout the day...
I also took a little walk and thought this view of our house from the dirt road was just beautiful!
Then it was on to tend to the horses. It had rained all night so they got wet and were muddy - and I knew it was going to be even colder later, so I wanted to brush them out, and fluff their coats so they could keep warm better! Hazel has really fine hair that gets the worst dreads... This is just one of four of these in her mane.... I had to stop working on these because of losing daylight... Maybe one day after work I can tackle these again!
..progress!
picked their feet.... they really need a trimming', so I'm hoping the farrier can come out one day this week!
...and a secret egg stash! What?!?!?
...an Ellie #felfie
.....and then for Saturday night, a pecan pie!
...annnnnnd that brings us to this morning. Frozen waters, BUT NO FROZEN PIPES! Whew! To be honest, I actually woke up at 3am in a panic about the line that goes to the toilet... How does one let that line drip?? Will it freeze? OMG! We forgot to close the vents under the house! So I got out of bed googled some things and then was WIDE AWAKE. Oh, well.... Apparently that line is less susceptible to freezing...
Anyway, the vents are now closed, the animals have plenty of hay for yet another cold freezing night, and I am almost ready for bed - Guess that serves me right for getting up at 3am. Gonna try to tough it out til at least 8:30 ;)
and, now I leave you with some pics of the goats! I am always snapping away with Rose and Hazel, but today I spent some time with the goat crew....
My mean ol' Eli...
My mean ol' Eli...
Ellie Mae...
Ellen....
....and the most loving girl in the world, Misty...
Night, y'all! Oh! And would ya believe it?!?!? My mangled finger is completely healed! No triple antibiotic, just a soak in epsom salts and the amazing healing helichrysum oil blend from Fox & the Forest!
(a little blurry, but you can see the amazing difference in just one week!! Crazy!)
Night!
xoxo!
-s
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