hmmm.....

When you spend your birthday doing this:

All 78 bales got baled up safely, no rain, no wind and no major accidents:)

You'd better get a little time to yourself to start this:

Curacao cowl by Thea Coleman - Baby Cocktails.

It's almost too hot here to knit anything larger:)

And FINALLY, after months of on-and-off knitting, finish this:

Rusted Root

Yarn: Elle Cotton Fields

Size: Medium

Perfect for summer!

It also helps if the day your birthday falls in ends up being in the low 90's and the air conditioned tractor that your husband is using to bale hay only seats 2 people, and both kids think it is great fun to go round and round the field with him at a snail's pace.

This meant lots of ME time last Sunday in between when I quit spreading mulch in the flowerbeds due to the heat and helping Todd by driving the skidloader while he drove the tractor to pick up all. 78. bales. of. hay. Although he wouldn't let me load them onto the wagon - I wonder why????? And helping Jessie wash her steer.

So we ate dinner at 9:30 that night. No big......

Later,

Kris

1 project done

Remember how I said we flew through Jessie's sewing project on Sunday, and had just the sleeves and the hem to do? Well, she buckled down again on Monday night and in under an hour did set-in sleeves and her hem:

Pretty cute, if I do say so myself. And she says she will actually wear it to school, church or wherever.

We still have to find brown leggings and brown flats to go with it. And some sort of jewelry. But that is minor compared to getting it done and actually having it look good.

Now as long as she doesn't sneak it out of the house before the judging on July 13th and wear it while doing this (and yes, she did try to after she had it on for the pictures):

All will be well in our little world:)

Kris

Summer

It's been hot, muggy, humid and rainy here the last two weeks. I'm so ready for some hot DRY days it's not funny. We haven't cut a blade of hay it's been so wet - and we are fast running out of hay for Jessie's steer. Fortunately he doesn't eat much.....Hopefully this weekend we can get the hay made.

But Friday I found this on clearance at our local home improvement store. And Todd was nice enough to put it together Saturday afternoon for me in the 90 degree weather. That felt like 105.

Just in time to use it for seating at an impromptu get together with friends on Saturday night. I do love summer.

Yesterday found Jessie and I working on her 4-H sewing project. All that is left to do is the sleeves and the hem. Which would have been done if she had been able to stay focused, but it's summer and that word is apparently not in her vocabulary right now.

But she did the majority of the work on it so far - and is saying that she will wear it - so that is a plus in my book:) She wants to find brown leggings and brown flats to wear with it. And the sash around her ribcage will have a button in the back rather than the bow that the pattern calls for.

Of course, when I sent her outside to play, I figured her brand spanking new sewing machine was already set up, so I might as well get busy working on her show shirts for the State Fair and County Fair. Seeing as how I am so not into paying $30 a shirt when she really needs 4 of them for the county fair. Since there is no time to do laundry that week.

I'm pretty happy with the way it came out so far. The collar seems a little stiff, but it fits her really well. I still need to do the sleeves, the buttons/button holes and the hem. Hopefully tonight I can finish this one up, and start on the lime green one next. Or the bright orange. Or maybe the hot pink.

She definitely wants to be noticed this year:)

And our last cow to calve finally had her calf last Thursday - a black and white bull calf.

Todd was really hoping for a heifer, but I was hoping for a bull calf to make a steer project for Jessie next year. I should have bet him on whether it would have been a boy or a girl.

So this year we were tied - 3 for 3. Now we just have to get everyone re-bred for next year's calves.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!
Kris

An update.....

I really don't have a whole lot to say (shocking, I know) but......

I think I'm finally getting caught up. Of course, I say that now and SOMETHING will happen. Oh yeah - that's right, we do have to bale hay at some point in time. But since my main job is to keep the cold drinks coming while Todd and others are baling, I'm going to put that one right out of my mind! And I have to spread 7 yards of mulch in the flowerbeds. Which I will use the skidloader for... But I think that is about it.

This is Jessie's feeder calf for this year at the fair:

Which we still have to bring home from a friends' house once he is weaned. We are trading a friend 1 of our heifers from this year for him and possibly another steer calf.

And these are the latest pig purchases from the live auction a few weeks ago:

The one where we got a little carried away (ahem) on the bidding.

Fortunately, they are growing like weeds. Still tiny (46, 57 & 73 pounds as of Monday) but I'm not stressing and obsessing about it just yet. I'm not stressing and obsessing about it just yet. I just keep repeating that to myself along with we have months until the county fair.

The kids' are 1 week into summer vacation. And bored senseless already.

Tonight Jessie and I are going to start working on her sewing project for 4-H. We went Monday and she picked out fabric and a pattern, I got it approved by the advisor yesterday, so tonight we will start. Hopefully I will have the patience to teach her how to sew clothing. We also picked up the stuff she needs to do a scrapbook project. The judging for both of these projects is July 13th, so we really need to get moving on them.

We planted the garden on Sunday - in under an hour. 32 Tomato plants (roma and eating), green beans, 4 pepper plants, 4 cucumber plants, 20 lbs. of potatoes, 4 zuccini squash plants, 1 butternut squash plant, 4 giant pumpkin hills and 3 jack o lantern hills. We comandeered the kids to dig all the holes, Todd dropped the plants in and I filled in around them with dirt. We'll see how this goes. And yes, I got a little carried away on the tomato plants.....

Have a great Thursday!
Kris

Memorial Day

Happy belated Memorial Day everyone! We had a busy weekend, but a very fun and relaxing one too (if that is possible). Although I did have to work on Saturday, but we aren't mentioning that right now......


I planted more flowers around the pond - I must have a weakness for flowers:) Either that or I am a glutton for punishment!

Everything is growing so big so fast! This week we are FINALLY going to get the bridge across the stream done. And Todd is putting an electric fence around the pond to keep Barlie out of it! I guess it shouldn't surprise me that she loves the water (being a bird dog and all) but my water lillies and the fish are probably traumatized.

Jessie was home sick from school last Wednesday. With the last day of school on Thursday what a bummer for her. So while she and Barlie slept the day away, I put up the gazebo and decorated my deck!

Remember my chair and barrel from the junk store? I still need to paint it, but it hasn't broken yet:)

I found the other 2 chairs at Lowe's for $17 each. I still want to find either a glider or a bench. Last year I had a table and chairs out here that we ate at, but Todd thought the chairs were too small for him, and there wasn't a whole lot of room up there. So I wanted to do something that we would use. I'm pleased that already we have spent hours out there in the afternoons and evenings.

Thursday was the last day of school. For Tyler's kindergarten teacher, I had the school's art teacher put the kids' handprints on this flower pot, and I filled it with flowers. You know it's a good gift when the teacher cries.

And this will be Jessie's feeder calf 4-H project. Once he is weaned from his momma, he will come to our house. We are trading our friend Jason one of our heifers for him.

Now it's back to work. I need a few more days at home, but.....I don't think I will be getting them anytime soon.....

Have a great week

Kris