Capturing Today

Bitty Baby Cow

2009-11-03T21:16:00.003-06:00

Went to check on the cows and the new bull yesterday afternoon - the new "pecking order" seemed to have been established and all was well in the pasture.Sugar Plum Princess still wasn't keen on bringing her calf up, but I did get a quick glimpse and photo using my zoom:And another shot of our new bull, who seemed happy to pose yesterday:This weekend starts our fall beef deliveries - so it will be

Recent Arrivals

2009-11-02T07:38:00.003-06:00

We've had several new arrivals on our ranch in the past few weeks - thought it was time to finally get the photos uploaded and share them!Here's a heifer calf born 02 Aug 2009 - here the calf is 3 months old. It belongs to our friend Mr. Thomas, who keeps one of his cows on our pasture:Here's one of our bull calves born 14 October 2009 to Lollipop (mom is protectively watching him - she's a 1st

Our Fall Home

2009-10-31T22:04:00.002-05:00

Scenes of fall around our home this week:HAPPY FALL!

Birthday Photos

2009-10-28T17:54:00.003-05:00

Here are a few of the photo's from our birthday celebration this week - my youngest daughter turned 4!Here's the birthday table - I made her cake and decorated it from scratch - she wanted a "chocolate cake with white icing and lots of little pink flowers on top".She seemed pleased.Ready to make a wish and eat cake:She wanted a ballerina outfit:Close-up of the birthday girl (and no, the wall in

Another Celebration

2009-10-26T20:20:00.003-05:00

Hard to believe that my "baby" is turning 4 years old tomorrow! We had a celebration at the first of the month before hubby left with the Reserves so he'd get a chance to celebrate with her. We also took her to her favorite Mexican restaurant where they sang her a birthday song in Spanish and she got a delicious free dessert!Tomorrow we'll celebrate with Meme and Papa - having lunch and

4-H Sewing Projects

2009-10-04T11:24:00.002-05:00

My oldest daughter and I will start today on our sewing projects for the upcoming Harvest Festival on October 10th. Our 4-H club will have booth to sell various home-made crafts; the money raised will go into our funds to help offset the costs for various members who travel to different state competitions.We are signed up to make several aprons (adult and child), some fleece scarves, some beaded

4-H Friday

2009-10-02T18:50:00.002-05:00

Today is the first Friday of the month and at our house during the school year, that means 4-H and Cloverbuds!My oldest daughter is starting her 2nd year with 4-H and has chosen sewing, photography, and community service as her primary areas of focus this year. We're getting started this weekend with a sewing project that will carry us into most of next week - sewing items to sell at a local

He's Off

2009-10-01T18:43:00.002-05:00

Well, got up at 3:30 this morning to help hubby get final things packed and a nice send-off breakfast complete with some home-made iced coffee.He left for Ft. Knox, KY around 5 this morning. He's arrived, signed in and is going through the sometimes labor-intensive and patience-trying aspects of being in-processed.He'll probably be home once more this month to get the rest of the items he'll

Squared Away

2009-09-29T20:44:00.002-05:00

We've been spending the last 8 days getting my husband squared away for his upcoming mobilization with the Army Reserves - he's leaving this Thursday for Ft. Knox, KY for a one year activation.We've done this once before - he was mobilized from Jan 2006 - July 2007. We had a bit more notice for that one; this one we've known was a possibility since the beginning of August, but thought the

Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters

2009-09-19T06:28:00.003-05:00

Have you guys had a chance to try these yet? I was able to sample all four different varieties recently by participating with My Blog Spark. Well, actually, my husband got to do the most sampling! He's been gone quite a bit this summer and fall with the Army Reserves, and he really like to have quick and easy items for snacking or a afternoon pick-me-up. I often make him a homemade trail mix;

Swine Flu Spreads After Fever Gone

2009-09-15T07:33:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's been awhile since I've had a chance to post - things have been really busy here around the household, but hopefully I'll have a few more minutes this week.First up - I found this new research this morning and wanted to share it with you all, especially for those of you who might have family / friends in the high risk category:Link: National Terror Alert.com: Swine Flu Spreads Long

$30 In Kroger Grocery Savings!

2009-08-17T08:35:00.008-05:00

##### KROGER GIFT CARD WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT #####After taking out comments with no email address and duplicate entries, the random number generator has selected DEANNA as the winner of this Kroger Gift Card!Congratulations to DEANNA and to all who stopped by to leave a comment, with a special note of thanks to My BlogSpark for offering this to my readers!~~~~~~~~~~~~~Original Giveaway Post ~~~~~

Getting Fall Ready

2009-08-09T09:22:00.002-05:00

Things have been busy the past few weeks at our humble abode. Canning has been a major activity and there's still quite a bit more to do.We've gotten all of our homeschool plans made; books and supplies have been purchased and are being organized for our start of school at the end of this month.Hubby got a last minute call last week from the Army Reserves and he headed out on Friday to spend the

Preparedness From a Woman's Perspective

2009-08-08T08:34:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday American Prepper, WVSanta (WV), Matt (KY) and Bob (SC) were interviewed on James Stevens' Family Preparedness Guide radio show on Blog Talk Radio. They did a great job explaining the ins and outs of prepping and why we do it. It was a great show guys!!! If you missed the show, you can still download it here.This Saturday (08 August 2009) James is having the ladies on his show to

Archery Moments

2009-07-25T15:53:00.005-05:00

I'm very proud of my oldest daughter (age 10) who started archery this February. She started with the local homeschool league - they do a series of 5-week leagues throughout the summer. In June, the archery range started a JOAD program (Junior Olympic Archer Development) and she was asked to participate in that program.She's doing very well and it has been such a pleasure to watch her as she

Canning, Canning!

2009-07-16T08:57:00.002-05:00

Busy week of canning is going on - I've taken lots of photos and will post soon. So far on the list: 8 pints of pear butter, 8 pints of pear pickles and 17 quarts of hot pickled veggies! Our pear tree is loaded still, even after I picked 55 pounds of Asian pears earlier this week!Stay tuned for photos and recipes when I get a spare minute!

Worth Keeping An Eye On

2009-07-08T08:51:00.002-05:00

Here's another good post this morning from The Market Ticker - explaining what's going on in California with the state issuing IOU's for payment of services. This bears watching, as our government as a whole continues to spend way beyond its means:Link: California: The Shape of Things To ComeExcerpt:So now California is literally stealing tax refunds - that is, over-payments, and issuing "IOUs

Health Care Reform?

2009-07-07T14:56:00.002-05:00

A most excellent article regarding health care reform that is worth your time today over at The Market Ticker - please take a few moments to read it - as it makes perfect sense to me:Health Care Reform: Who Are They Trying To Fool?Excerpt:Whether you are paying privately, you have private insurance or you're a Medicare patient if you need to have a breast reconstructed due to cancer the

Preparedness Training

2009-07-01T14:03:00.002-05:00

New show starting tonight (01 July 2009) on the Outdoor Channel:The Best Defense, with Michael Bane. Sponsored by Midway USA.Info: http://www.downrange.tv/bestdefense/episodes.htmExcerpt:July 1, 2009:Episode 1: Welcome to SURVIVAL!From Disaster City, the premiere training facility for first responders dealing with community wide disasters, Michael Bane introduces us to our new series The Best

Summer Canning Underway

2009-06-30T19:01:00.004-05:00

Spent the better part of the day today working on some cucumbers. Put away 5 pints of sweet pickle spears and 7 quarts of sweet pickle relish. Also dehydrated 6 trays of apple slices from our backyard tree. My feet are ready for a bit of a rest for sure!Update: Photos:Cucumbers ready to make into relish. I use my Vitamix to make chopping a breeze:Relish ingredients all combined and having a

Garden Update

2009-06-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

Thought I would post a few photos of our garden and how it is progressing this summer. We planted most of our garden in tires this year - much easier in this hard soil than tilling!Our tomatoes are starting to get a nice size - we have some heirloom Brandywines that are as tall as our 6 foot privacy fence!Our second round of Rainbow Swiss Chard - we have 2 tires of these:One of our Banana Pepper

Dad's Day Photos

2009-06-28T05:30:00.000-05:00

Was remiss in sharing photos of the girls with hubby on Father's Day.First thing that morning my oldest daughter and I went to the Wolf River Bowhunters 3D Archery Shoot at Herb Parsons Lake. We got there about 9:00 and went through the 20 station course by lunch time. Hubby came along to watch his oldest and her archery skills, which are really coming along well. I hope to have pictures from

Applesauce

2009-06-27T10:08:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a really nasty storm blow through. A tornado touched down about 3 blocks from our house; trees were down everywhere; power was out for several for up to a week. We lost our power for about 20 hours.When we were picking up in the backyard, we realized the wind had blown several of our apples out of our apple tree. Not wanting to let these go to waste, I decided to

Time to Call Congress on UN CRC!

2009-06-25T14:01:00.001-05:00

Yesterday had an overwhelming response to the plea from ParentalRights.org to let our Senators and our UN Ambassador Susan Rice know in no uncertain terms that Americans do not support ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but that we DO most definitely support the Parental Rights Amendment (H.J. Res 42).TODAY, ParentalRights.org is requesting that we now turn our efforts

Thinking Through Fall Flu

2009-06-25T09:25:00.004-05:00

There has been some great reading this morning (heck, actually all week) over at The Market Ticker. If you don't regularly read that blog, I cannot express strongly enough how much I encourage you to do so. You'll get some straight-forward analysis of the current goings-on of our economy, the bailouts, the markets, unemployment, the banks - everything. And it is in plain English, so you'll