Thursday, February 3, 2011

Quilt Visit




A lady in my town called me and asked if I wanted fabric since I am a quilter. Her mother was a quilter and she had a lot of her fabric to give away. And it was a lot of fabric. She also gave me a tour of her mothers and grandmothers quilts. So much handwork went into the pink gingham quilt. The red, white and blue quilt could have been a modern quilt, but it was made in the 40's. It is always a pleasure seeing other crafter's work. It was a real treat to see these quilts and hear the stories behind them.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Icy Wednesday





This morning we woke up to ice and snow all over our farm. The wild birds were happy to have sunflower seeds to eat. Our animals are staying inside to keep warm. Icicles are decorating all the edges around the house and trees.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Icy Tuesday


Today we thought we were ready for the ice storm. All the animals were fed, hayed and watered, but we forgot about us. What if the power goes out? And it did. This meant no water pump in the house, no running water nor toilets. This meant me going out to our pond to get 5 gallon buckets of water so we could flush. I did not realize the ground around the pond was not frozen and I sunk deep into the shore getting stuck. I pulled my foot out of my boot and fell into the pond. I got out, pulled my boot out and headed home to change. I came back and finished filling 10 buckets of pond water while getting sleeted on with cracking icy trees around me. I sledded all the buckets to our porch to be informed the power was back on. I brought in half the buckets inside just in case we lost power again. The rest froze and had to be dumped.
I learned we need to have the generator ready, water filled buckets ahead of time and fill the tubs the night before. And have more seasoned firewood than you need plus more. Burning green wood is not easy. My husband plans to get a transfer switch put in so we can use our generator if the power goes out next time. But at least our animals were warm and happy this time. Lessons learned in the Ozarks.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Sunny Day

Sometimes you just get a 3 horse pile up under the warm sun.

Busy Sunday

Here is what my Sundays are like. Get up at 7:30am in full winter gear, drive to the stables. Grain, hay and water 20-30 horses, feed the barn cats, crack iced water buckets, put the 100ft hose back into the heated office. Go home, feed and water my 4 horses, 30+ chickens and 2 dogs. Get inside to shower and get ready for church. Drive 1/2 hour away to church. After church visit with friends, go to lunch then go to the grocery. Get back home in the late afternoon. Feed the stable horses again, if needed. Chop wood from our shop,bring wood to the house for the woodstove, move a round bale for our horses, feed our gang again, visit with neighbors, drag our my 200 ft. hose to water my animals, put hose back into the house. Take a 20 minute break waiting for the chickens to come back into the coop. Then count chickens and gather eggs, put up the dogs, make dinner. By then it is late and time for bed. Sundays are the busiest day of the week for me.Whew!