Stormy Drive

A cold front came in the night last week and it stopped over the Ozarks to drop sheets of rain. The lightening was fierce and the rain was saturating. The storm knocked out the tv and computers to our dentist office. The staff apologized many times for the tv being out. It was fine by us since we don't have tv we would not miss the noise. The staff however were a bit unhinged over the loss of the talking box. I enjoyed the peace and quiet while getting my teeth cleaned.

Doors and Windows

We are watching and learning as our neighbor adds a mud room to his back porch. He accidentally bought doors that are 4 inches instead of the 6 inch width he needed for the addition. The windows looked great for anyone shorter than 6ft tall. The windows design puts a plastic partition right where a tall persons eyes would be, not a nice view. The solution to return the doors for the wider ones. The windows were cut apart and spaced upward for better wall design. These are setbacks today but by next week the changes will be for the better. At least the hummingbirds still have the open window to feed from; keeping my neighbor company while he works.

Truck Cage

My husband worked hard making our truck cage for our F-350 flatbed. We needed containment for hay, feed and building supplies for the farm. Things can fly off a flatbed and this cage gives our truck more usability. I stained the pine with chestnut deck stain to keep water from rotting the wood. The entire 3 sides are removable if needed, but they are heavy. We road tested it delivering our recycling from last winter into town. Nothing flew out of the truck and the cage stayed put. It feels good to make something safe for the farm and roads.

Tent Cities

Here is the side of our falling economy you don't hear about on the news, tent cities. People who have lost everything and have to live in tents outside/within a city. These are people of all ages and backgrounds living in 3rd world conditions here in the United States. They are not people with mental conditions either. They were normal citizens one week then tent residents the next. And rather than deal with the reality of Americans living like this, our government pushes its own bloated agenda. And our citizens continue to think life is great and full of rainbows in America. And city leaders quietly send in our military to "clear out the garbage" of these tent cities overnight. Nice to know our government is hard at work keep up appearances for city dwellers. Have I seen these tent cities? Yes, in TX they have several that crop up monthly. I will not say where they are, they don't need that. But every few months these TX tent cities get "cleaned out" with hardly any trace of families that lived there. Where did the people go? As Americans we need to open our eyes and ears and think once in a while about what our country is turning into. How many of us are one paycheck, one earthquake, one storm away from living in a tent city? This article about the USA tent cities, was written in the UK.

Barn Wood For Sale

There is a 100+ year old dairy barn needing to be removed here in Summersville, MO. The owner wants to put up a new barn as this one has lost its roof. The huge 150ft x 90 ft barn is made of oak and pine boards and beams that are 12 inches wide! The barn needs to be removed by January of 2012. By that time all the hay should be gone, fed to the cows. Under the hay are huge oak floor beams that were hand hewn in the 1900's. If anyone would like to buy and remove the barn wood, please leave me your info in my comments.

Truck Addition

We are adding wooden sides and back to our flatbed truck. We need to haul stuff and not have it fly out of the truck. Things like straw and hay bales, our recycling, auction stuff, groceries and lumber. After my husband finishes this, I will deck stain it for a longer life. This give our truck a more "farm" look too. And now our truck can hold more stuff safely on the roads. We got the idea after seeing other farm flat bed trucks added to this way. And if need be we can remove these sides in no time.

Neighbors House Addition

Here is our neighbor and his addition work to his house. He is turning his back patio into 2 rooms. He is creating a sitting room with a wood stove and a mud room all by himself. He works fast and it is always fun to see his progress. We are impressed how well it is being built and the speed of it all. It is great having skilled neighbors around us out here in the Ozarks.

Draft Dreaming

Eventually we want to have a draft horse on our farm. We have Fox Trotters and they are great. But there is nothing like riding a giant horse around. So we are looking at ads, listings, asking friends about a draft horse. We want a Percheron but a Clydesdale or any draft with feathered feet and broke to ride is what we want. There are a lot of Haflingers and draft mixes in Missouri, but they are too short around 15 hands. We want at least 17 hands and lots of fur on the feet. We saw some at auction but they were in bad shape. We would have to get them back up to weight and lots of vet work. And they were not broke to ride. So we are looking and taking our time. We have a friend who has several geldings from WI at auction and moved them here. They are such gentle giants. She rides her giants in the cooler months. One day we might get to ride our own draft in the snow, too.

Knit Windows

These are blocks a friend made after one lesson from me. I have to give her credit for the difficult medium of cotton knit. But she was able to make soft sturdy blocks into the cathedral windows pattern. She is making it for a gift to a loved on. She loves the idea of not having to quilt the blocks. Just join the finished blocks and you are done. The quilt is soft and machine washable to boot.

Good 'Nuff

When the winds blew down this neighbors tree last weekend it opened his fence. And his pasture cows could escape the loose barbwire. What to do? Why just pull a few strands of new barbwire across the tree and you are good to go. No need to bother with the tree. It is called "good 'nuff ".

Duck Walk

Today our sick duck quacked us awake and ate her food. She got some lap time and walk around time in the den. We realized she is strong and ready to rejoin the flock. Alan took her outside where she was greeted with quacks, questions and food eating. Her gang missed her and they had a lot to talk about. Tonight she will get her 2nd injection from me before bed role call. We have learned that Indian Runner ducks are very noisy to have in the house. They quack all the time. I am glad she is now outside.

Lap Duck

I came inside the house after feeding our farm animals to find our sick ducks indoor cage was empty. Knowing she is not a Houdini duck I suspected husband fowl play. And I was right! He had taken the duck upstairs into his office. There they both were at the computer happy as could be. Seems our sick duck enjoys the warm lap and the bright sunshine in his office. Our sick duck is breathing better today. I gave her a shot for the 1st time today and we both survived it.

Now I hope she lets us sleep later than the sunrise. She is an early riser and lets us know she is awake with very loud quacking.

Duck Doctoring

Our black Indian Runner duck was not breathing well and was not with the flock this morning. So I called one of our vets to see if she could be looked at. Our duck spent the day in a wooden crate and got taken to our vet 30 minutes from home. Our vet weighed her and listened to her chest. Our duck has fluid in her lungs. So for the next few days I give her a shot of steroid/antibiotic in the chest muscle. She is now housed in a caged horse water tank in our basement. She is bedded down with shavings, full water tank and all the duck food she can eat. She is eating and that is a great sign. She has to remain isolated from the flock until she can recover. I am so glad I do not have to tube feed her. We hope she pulls through and can return to her flock soon.