Work on the Road and House Site

What progress! Wow, so many of the "t0-do's" checked off our list the past several days. The dozer moved in and Buddy did what he does so well...create a work of art. His maneuvering the dozer is like watching an artist with a paintbrush. It's amazing.





All the dirt piles brought in last spring to fill in low spots have been spread out.

The rock was hauled in for the road.

After measuring and moving stakes several times, we finally decided on the exact location for our house. This is the before picture.

Then it came time to take out trees to accomodate for the house and carport. This was emotionally hard for Buddy to do. He does this every day but he still hates taking out trees.

Of course, Riley Joe had to help his PawPaw run the dozer and get the blade just where he wanted it. I'll post more pictures later of Riley helping out.
This is the picture after the trees have been taken out.

Ta-Da!!! Done! Now we're ready for more dirt for the house pad. He just loves playing in the dirt with the big toys.

Happy Trails...

And The Apron is Hung

It's official. My apron is hung. I'm home. What a month! I must first say to God alone be the glory! God has continued to shower His blessings on us. Somehow both the house in town and the RV at the orchard survived Hurricane Ike. Ike arrived the weekend we were supposed to be out of the house. We prepared everything at the orchard and camped out at the empty house in town where we continued to finish packing and cleaning. So many trees were down in the neighborhood. Unfortunately for our next door neighbors, two trees fell in their front yard and one came right down on one of their cars. We managed to get completely out of the house and return to the orchard where, to our amazement, that only one tree had fallen on the fence. The RV was still in the upright position. God is good!

Because of Ike, our closing on the house was not finalized until yesterday..five days later! So now we are officially home! It has been a whirlwind to say the least. Now the fun begins to let our dream become a reality.

All the delays over the past year have given us time to see exactly where we want the house. I think we've moved the location about four times now but this is where it's going to be. Of course some trees will come out but our plan is to remove about 100 after harvest anyway. Hmmm...harvest....not sure this year will be any good. Considering the drought and Hurricane Ike, the crop might be minimal.

So now our journey continues. Right now fall is in the air with leaves falling like rain and cool crisp mornings with a hint of skunk stinch. Oh how my cup runneth over.

Happy Trails...

Turning the Page

I guess summer is officially over when the grandkids have gone home, school has started back and Labor Day has come and gone and we put away our white shoes. What ever happened to the first day of school being the day after Labor Day? Ahh, the good 'ol days...
Buddy and I are going to be turning a new page in our lives. Our house has sold and we close in a couple weeks. The finality is just now sinking in since I'm packing up the last bit in the house and making arrangements to have utilities turned off. We are so anxious to get out to the orchard and start making all our plans a reality.
It's amazing the things that we carry with us in our lives. I am learning to not be such a packrat and unload a lot of things. We have decided that our lives on the farm are going to be simple. These little darlings will stay with us..

Buddy's Davy Crockett mug and my Hopalong Cassidy

Now these will go...

Does anyone remember these? They have to be 30-something years old! I looked up the definition of an antique. An antique is something that is 100 years old from the date of purchase unless it is an automobile and then it's 25 years. So...I don't guess the antiques broker from Antiques Roadshow will be coming up to me and asking "Do you have any idea what these are worth?" I think the Hefty bag wrapped around them will be worth more.

So I will sign off for now and get back to my packing, wishing you

Happy Trails...

On A Clear Day

The harvesters have come and gone across the road from us so now, on a clear day, we'll be able to see forever. I never dreamed that I would come to love this flat farmland but I do. I still love the rolling hills and countryside in the "Garden of Eden" in Lee County as my father would put it but I do love our little pecan orchard. The past few days have brought heavy rains and our "lake" is back. Since we have two of the grandkids with us now, we have moved back to the house in town until the ground dries out. As depressing as it is to see so much standing water, Buddy and I have to agree that it is a blessing. It has given us plenty of time to decide the best location to build the house and what needs to be done with the land and which trees need to be thinned.

After all the harvesters had left, Jacob decided he was going to harvest his own little crop of corn to feed the birds. I think it ended up that the dogs were eating most of it.

Our house is still in the negotiating stage with the buyers. I know God, in all His glory, has all this in His big plan for us and it will all come together at just the right time.

Happy Trails...

Kid's Play

Tropical storm Edouard brought us some well needed rain last week that immediately soaked in the ground but brought up new sprigs of grass. Not enough rain to help the pecan trees but we were so happy to get what we did. Last week also brought out the harvesters..

What a show this was! The harvesters came early Friday morning to get started on the corn across the road from us and they worked til about midnight. There were huge grain trucks in and out of here the entire time...even til midnight. I stayed up taking pictures of them in the dark but they didn't turn out. It was so eerie because the entire area was engulfed in dust stirred up from all this and the huge contraption on the left looked like something from outerspace in the dark in the dust with all it's lights. It reminded me of a spaceship.

Jacob and I have been making trips back and forth to the house in town, gathering up more to move out to the orchard. In between all that, we're still trying to make time for fun and adventure. One day was going to the city pool again with our neighbor's son. He and Jacob have become big buds..

The day came when he could finally go ride. It's either been too hot or too wet after the rain but the other day was perfect. Poor Bridget, she just hated to see us coming. It's been so long since she was saddled up but she was a sport about it. She always seems to come through for us and let the kids have their fun.

We put a birdbath out front but the birds seem to take a liking more to a mud puddle at a leak in a hose connection. Jacob discovered the binoculars and decided he would venture out with the binoculars and a pen and tablet to write down all the different birds he would see.

With a watchful eye, I saw him walking all around the place and then he purched himself up on the tractor where he could get a better view and jot down all his findings.

Oh, the joy of being young...it brings back so many memories. I just pray that a summer with Grandma will be full of memories for him and many...

Happy Trails...

Going to Bed with the Sun

I have spent many an evening here watching the sunset but this was the first one that I didn't drive away from. We spent our first night here Saturday night and, to me, it was heavenly. I woke up Sunday morning and had my coffee outside with all of God's wonderful glory. Then it was a dash to town for church. Next Sunday I will have a better idea of how long it takes me to get to church; usually we are the first ones there but this time, we made it exactly on time. It was great to be able to come home to the orchard.

It has been around 104 here and too hot to do anything outside. We have even started haying the horses because there is no grass left. Saturday's project was going to get hay. Looks like we'll be getting a lot more soon to store up for the winter because not sure if anyone's going to get a second cutting this year. We had a fantastic chance for rain last night but not a drop. Buddy and I were watching this huge blob of rain on the doppler and felt for sure that it was going to rain. We sat outside with the wind stirring up and finally gave up and came inside. It all ended with a big clap of lightning and thunder but no rain. So we wait....tomorrow there's another big chance.

Remember when I talked about having that huge "lake" after all the rain we had last spring? Jacob was out on one of his adventures over at the now dried up lake and came back with a pocketfull of these beautiful little onions. They are so clean and shiny, they look like little pearls and smell so good. I've never seen anything like these? I would love input from anyone that might know anything about them.

Today brings another day of moving more stuff from the house out to the orchard. We've been "in between" and my kitchen has not been complete. I think I'm the only one enjoying roughing it. We get only one channel on the TV and, trust me, it's nothing worth watching. I'm loving being able to go outside and go for walks. My mind is whirling thinking of all that I need to do and want to do. In the meantime,

Happy Trails...

Back in the Saddle....almost

It's been a long time since my last post due to recent hand surgery three weeks ago. I'm now able to start typing again even though I still have no feeling in my right hand. The doctor told me not to expect anything until 6 months. So I will try to be patient. It is extremely hard for me not to be picking things up when there is so much I need to be doing.
But let me reminisce about the past several weeks. Unfortunately Peggy and Patty have met their demise. Jacob and I found Peggy but never came across Patty. Jacob gave Peggy an honorable burial. We had since picked up Pig from Lynsey, where we got Peggy and Patty. Pig is so named because of his attachment to the farm piglets. Lynsey gave me the okay to copy the picture so will have to pass it on to share with everyone.

Isn't he adorable?

Let's see, we also purchased the round pen so just as soon as I'm healed, I'm anxious to get working with Jess. It's been so long since I've ridden, you might say I'm the one chompin' at the bit! I've added a couple pictures of Jess to show how pretty she's gotten.

Check out that butt!

Everything has been so dry lately. Even with Hurricane Dolly, I thought we'd get some rain but it seems to be raining everywhere but here. It's almost like fall with all the leaves on the ground. Today while out walking, I noticed that new green pecans are falling to the ground. Looks like we're going to have another poor crop this year. Last year we had so much rain that the county evacuated us when the river was going to crest and this year it's dry as a bone. Time will tell.

We were really hoping to get some kind of crop to sell at the local farmers market. God willing, we might still be able to. In the meantime, we pray for some rain to come our way but know that we are truly blessed to have what we do.

I will continue to heal and look forward to working with Jess. Jacob has been waiting for it to cool off so he can ride Bridget. The round pen will be perfect for that. And, of course, I really can't wait to get back in the saddle.

Happy Trails...