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April 18

Washout!

Our driveway is a mile long. There are two cattleguards, a bridge, and then a creek. We knew the creek was flooded but it had peaked early and the debris line told us it was about 8 feet deep at peak. When we saw the creek, it was down to about 4 ft. About 2 hours later when my brother got off work, I went up to the creek to bring him to the house because there was no way he'd get our little Dodge Dakota across, it was still 3 ft deep. He told us the little bridge was TORE UP. I didn't really know the extent of it until I rolled up my shorts and waded across the creek and walked over to see. This is what we found. We've spent most of the afternoon manhandling those huge railroad timbers so we could drive on it. We still aren't done, but it's passable. LOL!

4:38 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

And then there was RAIN!!

It started drizzling yesterday and didn't really do much at all until early this morning. We've been so dry for almost a year. I suppose our prayers for rain were backlogged and must have all come in at once! LOL! Tanks are full, land is soaked, and our creek is flooded. Only bad part is our driveway. It goes right through Scruggs Creek. No bridge, just a cement slab across the bottom so we can drive on it. In the picture below, it is about 6 feet deep.

10:21 AM GMT | Read comments(0)

April 16

Our little Buddy!!

Our Lil' Buddy arrived around 7 am this morning. He is the last baby off the old mustang stallion we had here, Buddy. He had the heart of a good bulldog, cared not the size of his opponent, and never admitted defeat. Unfortunately Buddy met his demise as a result when he tangled up with a stallion 4 times his size. He had bred to our Cowgirl the month before and this was our little gift she gave us this morning!

Meet Lil' Buddy!

9:10 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

Search for a Work Truck

We've recently found ourselves in need of a heavy duty work truck. We started at the usual place...dealership. It's hard to hold a serious face when the well-dressed young sprout doesn't have a bit of dirt under his nails and he's trying to sell us a $50K vehicle. He'll need a few lessons in reading people. Both of us in well worn Wranglers and boots, my hair windblown and tied up behind my head in the best knot I could muster. Heck, before the feller even opened his mouth, I stood there and gave him our requirements, told him our downpayment amount, and warned him not to call the bank with our numbers or they'd laugh histerically and hang up on him! He pressed on and even tried to hand me some keys. So I made sure the alarm worked when he was trying to show my "amused" husband what was under the hood. We let him know he didn't have what we needed and he said he could find us what we need. Again, I tried to explain it would be a HUGE mistake to go to a horse conformation show to find something you intend to work like a rented mule. Eventually we excused ourselves and he went on to smooth-talking another customer. We decided to start looking for trucks for sale by individuals. This proved hectic as well. Wherever I went, I was watching the sides of the highway for those parked out front with a sign on it. I managed to get a routine down where I tried not to let the seller waste their breath if they didn't have what I wanted. Most were appreciative. I don't like wasting their time OR mine. You meet some VERY interesting characters when you venture off into driveways, knocking on doors. One had the right truck, wrong fuel type, wrong transmission type, and no goosneck hookup. Another guy had 3 trucks that would have been PERFECT...but only took cash or bank cashier's check and I must have left the purse with the $13K in it at home. He said he was sorry he couldn't help me and I said I was sorry he couldn't help me too! Open-mouthed

The most memorable one in my mind occured when I was on my way home from taking the kids to a friend's house on Friday. This place had a nice pipe fence with 4x4 welded wire, and a sign up out front "Everything For Sale! Make offer!" Couple of tractors, a fork lift, Camaro, a 76 flatbed delivery truck (isuzu I believe), and a FINE 84 Chevy 1 ton with flatbed, gooseneck hookup, diesel....perfect. Old man flies around the corner in his electric scooter like he was in Nascar. LOL! He invites us (my oldest son and I) through the gate and under the shed to chat. He explained everything is for sale because he's tired of wheeling and dealing equipment, tired of living on the access road of interstate 10, and just plain tired. I understood completely and told him I'd like to make him an offer on his old Chevy. "Now young lady, I'm gonna tell you 'bout that there truck!" Boy did he ever. Evidently he bought it off the lot new, cab and chassis, 32000 original miles, added the work-bed and gooseneck hookup, Can't remember what size but it had an international engine in it, standard 5 speed. He explained something about Chevrolet bought a certain part of international and was able to use the engines for certain length of time.....can't remember. I politely waited for him to finish and asked him if he'd take $2000 for it. He stopped gumming his chaw of tobacco and looked like I had taken a swing at him. He repositioned himself and started again with the "Now young lady..." and again listed all the specs. He said his bottom line was $15K and he wouldn't entertain an offer any less! LOL! So I let him know we won't be looking at that particular truck then and I asked about the flatbed delivery truck.......Oh, sweet savior. "Now look here young lady, That there ee-zoo-zoo....Now let me tell you 'bout that truck...." My son was off behind the gentleman looking at the forklift and had seen the obvious position I was in....pointing at me and silently giggling. Again I waited and asked for the bottom line....$9K. I could see I was wasting my time and I called my son over so I could politely bow out and move on down the road. LOL! My 13 year old son has a twisted sense of humor. He had spotted some kind of dune buggy, painted camouflage and he asked the gentleman if it was for sale. He replied that everything was for sale. My son said, "Hang on, Mom!" He squatted on an old tire beside the old man, put his chin in the palm of his hand and his elbow on his knee like a kindergartner at story time. "Now look here Mom! This man is fixin' to tell me all 'bout this here dune buggy!" Prolly made the old gentleman's day and i nearly cracked up. His face was fixed on that man as he told him all the specs of that dune buggy, how he put the paint-job on it, new tires, up to 45 MPH because he put a big engine on it. ....yada yada. $12K. Finally managed to get back to my van and my son just giggled and said, "Mama, you know that man prolly don't have nobody to talk to and he just wanted to tell us 'bout them there trucks!" LOL! The next two places we stopped, he'd walk beside me and the seller and would say loudly..."Lookie here, mom, now let that man tell you 'bout this here truck!" I laughed all the way home. ;)

8:52 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

April 06

Never ending WIND!!

Well, the tomatoes died out. The wind has not slowed down a BIT for what seems like weeks. We put up the cage around the plants, and even taped up feed bags around it to try and block some of the wind, but to no avail. I didn't even get the other vegetables this week because they'll no doubt suffer the same fate. Maybe it'll settle down after this week or so.

8:21 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

March 31

Site...blog...updates...

Things have never gone SO slow with getting the site finished and keeping it updated. Just not enough hours in a day. These last few days, just turning on the computer is a luxury.

We got our tomato plants in the ground, finally! ;) I'm going Friday to pick up the squash, cucumber, and pepper plants. We're going to try some seeds, too. Corn, okra, peas, beans, watermelon, cantaloupe. It's been a few years since we did a garden, so we're going to stay small this time.

Our baby goats are being weaned and are NOT happy about it. lol. They are absolutely the sweetest goats. They love attention and will try to vocalize if you talk to them. The Neo pups have taken to sleeping in the barn at night with their little goat friends. It's really cute to watch them play with each other through the fence! LOL!

Something's going on with the kids that I have yet to figure out. On any given day after school, my daughter is on a rampage with razor blades shooting out of her eyeballs and flames from her tongue. This wondrous display of affection is usually incited by the older boy, who enjoys nothing in the world more than seeing his sister turn into "Reagan" from "the Exorcist". This is something I've accepted as normal because it would take divine intervention to change. That being said, I witnessed a series of actions yesterday that tells me they may be joining forces for a bigger cause. My daughter asked a question of the older boy without the usual "splash of poison"....and would you believe he answered her without being his usual degrading, smart allec self?? As if that didn't get my attention, there was another incident at supper. My daughter loves to fix everyone's plate. Not sure if it because she likes to be helpful (not likely) or if she is trimming the portions on everyone's plate so that there is enough left over for her to save for later. Either way, the older boy ALWAYS refuses to eat off the plate she makes for him...being a pain, out of fear, or he knows something we dont. Well, last night, he not only accepted the plate from her....but he said......."Thank you!" to her???!!!!!!

Call me paranoid, but they are up to something!! LOL!

1:09 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

April 02

Grim discovery

Looking up at the sky this evening, we noticed a large number of vultures circling very high. Being completely enclosed by hundreds of acres of cattle pasture as well as a creek, we are never surprised if we come across a carcass in the back woods. So, when the kids arrived home from school, my daughter wanted to go see what it was. After pushing through the brush and the briars to reach the open field, we discovered one of the neighbor's cows had likely died giving birth. I was content with simply knowing what it was, but my daughter was eerily fascinated. Not with the dang carcass, but with the buzzards! She whispered very loudly that she had never seen one up close so she wanted to sneak up and see one. OMG!! ....well, you know I didn't stop her. LOL! She proceeds to take off her flip-flops and hand them to me. "Hold these! maybe they won't hear me coming!!" I'm kinda giggling inside because the buzzards around here aren't scared of much. It takes this child 5 whole minutes to "sneak" 30 yards up to the gathering. About 12 yards away, the birds scattered and flew away. All her careful tip-toeing for nothing!! She screamed out a few words at the circling flock and started to walk back, very disappointed. One lone buzzard was brave enough to land again right away and curious enough to start walking toward my daughter. I pointed out her visitor that seemed to be following her. Soon as she turned around and saw that buzzard a few yards from her heels, she discovered there wasn't much about an ugly buzzard she really wanted to see that close and nearly took flight herself getting back across that pasture! Don't tell anyone

6:30 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

Colwell Farm