Wednesday, October 26, 2011

5 Things on an October New Moon

I know, I'm late again this week.  But at least it's something, right? :)

1) Have started jumping through hoops for the land purchase.  Looks like I won't make December 1st no matter what I do as the parcel split needs to go before the zoning committee for the township and the next meeting we can make is December 1st.  Waiting for the ok to proceed with the plan from the seller, then the next steps are the appraisal on the farm and the survey for the split.

2) Had 1 showing on the Cottage house yesterday and have another scheduled for today.  If anyone is looking for a nice home for cheap ($500 to assume the loan!!) and the possibility of no payments til August, send them my way!

3) Need to find a way to corral the chickens better.  Mostly because I want to decorate with pumpkins but I know the chickens will peck at them.  Hmmmm...

4) Cleaned the mudroom this past weekend, including scrubbing the floor.  Moved the patio bench and chair into the mudroom for the winter.  Not looking forward to winter weather mind you... not saying that at all.  But I am looking forward to being able to sip a cup of tea in the mudroom on one of those "it's so sunny that the mudroom is WARM even with snow on the ground" days.




Of course when the door is left open, the barn cats have their own ideas...


5) Trying to figure out the plans for this weekend.  Having more work done (at least in the barn), may be judging Saturday, would like to go to a corn maze maybe, have the party on Saturday night, still need to clean for the impending appraisal, want to ride (need to if I'm hitting the Blessing of the Hounds next weekend), need to work on a costume, then make a dish to take to the office carry-in on Monday.  I need a longer weekend. :)

Thursday, October 20, 2011

5 Thing for mid-October

1. No news yet on the loan paperwork, although it's still early in the week.  I really don't expect anything til Wednesday or so.  Keep those "yes you can buy more land" digits crossed!

2. I really need to get Stewie a ball to play with.  Walked the fenceline last night to fix the electric in a couple places (no, just putting on new wire holders... I'm not an electric goddess) and he followed Reilly and I the whole time.  When we got back to the beginning, I walked off where I'd like to put an arena - trying to decide if 100x150 is ok or if I "need" to go to 100x200 and how it would look in the field, when Stewie decided he was bored or something.  He started PLAYING with a bucket... pushing it around iwth his head a bit then spinning and bucking like he was at the National Rodeo Finals... then back to the bucket.  I feel bad that he only has chicken friends.  He even tried to play with Reilly, but unlike when he first arrived at the farm, the boy has grown... Reilly hides behind me when Stewie gets playful.  If we do beef again, there will need to be at least 2.

(note, it's now THURSDAY!!  so much for finishing this "in a few minutes")

3. I participated again this year in the Ghosts & Goblins 5K race downtown (proceeds to benefit Children's Medical Center).  Fun race.  That was Tuesday.  Now it's Thursday and I swear I'm more sore than I was yesterday!  Something tells me I need to do more fitness work before I get horses at the farm... or hauling and tossing hay is going to be a daily adventure in pain.

4.  Same as #1.  Still no news yet on the loan application.

5.  Raining again today.  It's good for the land, but it shows some things that just make you want to laugh.  I wish I had a picture.  I arrived home late last night after meeting some old friends for dinner.  It was dark.  It was raining.  Yet there were 8 of the 12 Turkeys huddled on top of the rabbit hutch napping in the dark rain.  their house isn't perfect, but there is a roost pole in there and there are parts of it that ARE dry.  Nope... the turkeys seem to prefer being out in the rain. 

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Step 1 taken ... now the waiting begins

Turned in all the financial paperwork this morning to try and get the loan accomplished that will enable the farm to expand up to 20 additional acres.  Thinking positive and trying not to be sick to my stomach with stress as it's now out of my hands.  We should hear back from the bank by the end of next week.

Digits all crossed!!

Monday, October 10, 2011

5 Things (in pictures) on Columbus Day

Had to work today... ah the joys of working in retail.  Managed to get a few things accomplished this past weekend.  But decided rather than just recount those in words, I'd do most of today's entry in pictures.

1) Fall may be here but there are still some pretty things around:

Flower growing next to the back patio

Wooly worm making its way across the pasture
2) Still harvesting pears:

Pear from one of the trees.

3) The cow is happy about the pears... comes running when I'm on that side of the fence:

Silly cow coming to beg for pears.
4) Chickens are still dumb.  No this is not a staged picture.  Yes some dumb chicken really did leave the egg here.
Egg found on the workbench, "nested" among scrap wood.
5) Planted a new tree.  Hope to make the old burn pile area a nice garden/sitting area.  Started with the Royal Frost Birch tree thanks to Vogel's Nursery (and their 30% off fall sale!)
New tree near the barn.

Monday, October 3, 2011

5 Things in October

1- It's October already?  Wow!  Seems like just yesterday it was spring.  I love October for the most part, and just like the rest of Fall, I'd love it more if winter didn't follow so closely behind it. 

2- In the grand tradition of harvesting for winter that's happened for the entire of human existence, I did some canning this weekend.  Picked a couple grocery bags of pears from the trees in front of the pasture and made pear sauce from them.  Canned it yesterday into 14 pint jars.  All the jars sealed and look good.  Talked to the neighbor as well and she said I could "have at" their pear tree.  So I see more pear sauce in my future.  And maybe some pear butter too!



Pear sauce cooling and sealing.


3- Moved the fencing for the turkeys over the weekend.  Incorporated the rabbit area and fencing and figure it doubled the amount of space the turkeys have.  They LOVED it! 

4- Slight farm detour -- Saw 2 movies over the weekend on VUDU -- X-Men: First Class and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.  I'm really glad I saw X-Men first... while not a fantastic movie, it gave me something to fall back on that not all sequels are complete garbage.  If I'd seen Transformers first... I'm not sure I would have even bothered with X-Men.  Transformers was THAT bad.  I'm not usually one to complain this loudly about a movie but really... when Megan Fox looks like a genius for getting (herself?) fired and not being part of the project, you know it's bad.  Bad editing, bad story, bad script, bad acting... not to mention putting us through all that bad for 2.5 hours!  Bad movies should be limited to 90 minutes tops.  That way you don't waste the WHOLE evening watching something that bad.  I wasn't even engaged enough to enjoy the special effects.  It was just... bad.

5- Back to the farm -- Have a busy week ahead.  Putting together all the paperwork and bank statements for the loan application to get more land.  Plus Nikol came over yesterday and we talked plants and I would love to get a couple in the ground (while Vogel's is doing their sale).  Need to finish cleaning up my tack so I can get it all moved into the new tack room and clean out the mudroom.  Probably making more pear sauce -- since what I've done has turned out so well, I can't see waiting and letting pears rot on the trees (although Stewie the cow LOVES pears and is going to be quite miffed when they're all gone).  May even try making a few jars of pear butter.  And contractors come this weekend to work on the mudroom/bathroom roof issue.

Bonus:  took a ride on Spot yesterday.  Not sure if it was because he was in his stall, but he was quite full of himself.  His canter transitions are getting MUCH nicer though.