The Cow Fairy

Saturday
    The Cow Fairy visited us last night.  We went to bed with 10 cows.  We woke up with 55 cows!
We had a field full of cows!  Pretty soon the bull shows up and decides all is well so takes a nap out in the middle of all his cows.   I guess he decided to go with the majority of cows.  There must be only about 10 cows on the other side of the fence.  We thought we had all the holes in the fence fixed, but apparently not!  The cows must be taking the saying , "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence," literally!  They don't bother us as they help eat down the pasture.

    I don't have time to deal with this now as I am headed to Cotter to visit with Doug and his family that are up from Memphis for two or three days.  Leslie and her girls and her step-son's baby, Logan, are also going to be at Cotter for the night.
     I am excited about seeing Doug and his family as I haven't seen them since Halloween.

Making progress

Thursday, March 27
    Yeah! Joe has all the 4 x 8 ply boards up and out of the house.  I peeled the tar looking paper  off the floor and pulled nails along the wall so Joe can start to saw out the floor boards.  We are just about to the building stage instead of tearing down things.
     Joe cleaned 3 tractor buckets full of junk from the outside fire pit.  We can now have a fire this weekend.  We work a bit inside and a bit outside to try and make the place more livable. I believe we are making headway.
    This evening was so peaceful.  I enjoyed having a cup of coffee, watching the sunset, listening to the birds calling, and looking at the dozens of daffodils in the yard. Especially since I didn't have to plant them.  The ones in the yard are all yellow.  The daffodils across the drive are yellow with a bright orange center.  I want to plant some white with yellow center daffodils next year if none pop up this year.
    We are getting 4 eggs a day.  I am making an Angel Food cake tomorrow at Leslie's to use 12 of the eggs.  The girlslike having colored eggs.
    Updating my post at 10:47 pm.  Joe, Bill, and I have been outside watching the sky to our north light up.  The lightning is not finger lightning.  The whole northern horizon lights up behind the clouds. Beautiful, especially since the storm is passing on northeast of us.  We can't hear any thunder so the storm must be quite a ways off.

Finally Rain

Friday, March 28

      I am so excited about the progress on the house today. Joe has a special saw that only cuts as deep as the floor boards and doesn't cut into the joists.  Joe's worker took the sawzal and cut the boards so they could be removed in smaller pieces.we have all the flooring out in half the house.  Joe will add new floor joists in between the old ones.  We will leave the old ones, but add new boards 12 inches on center.

      We finally got a good warm rain today.  The dogs and I sat in the shop with the big door open and watched the rain.  I could almost see the grass turning green before my eyes.  I let the 5 hens and 5 Guineas out to free range today.  I wasn't sure the Guineas would return to their pen, but they did when it started to rain.  They probably really returned to their pen to be under their heat lamp.  Hope they return when it is warmer and their heat lamp is off!
      We went to Leslie's about 6 pm so I could use some of our eggs in an Angel food cake.  This may be one of my best angel food cakes if I do say so myself.
       I am heading to Cotter ( about 45 min from here ) to visit with Doug and his family.  Doug and Leslie's dad owns Denton Ferry RV Park with a very nice a vacation house/ cabin.  The cabin is available this weekend so Doug can stay there.   I haven't seen them in months and am really looking forward to seeing them. Leslie and her girls are also going for a visit. It will be great to have all the Grandkids together.

Wednesday

Wednesday, March 26

     Busy work day.  Joe is removing the 4 x 8 ply board off the floor.  Only 3 more pieces to go.
Once the ply board is out, and I remove nails along the wall on the floor, he can stet cutting out the sub floor boards.  We demo, clean, haul it out of the house, and start more demo.
     We took out stones on the side of the house so all the stones will be the same height once we put the cap stones on the front stones.  Old stones were way too high and different heights on the patio and  chimney side.
     Our supply order for our joists, framing lumber, girders, and tools was coming Tuesday, but will be here Wed. now.  I think we will be ready.  This means we can start building!
     I am still worried about Joe's foot and wish he would get it x rayed!   He is getting around better but it still is swollen and hurts.
     

   

Church & rest 3/23

    No work on the place today.  Church and a nap.

 Callie and I visited a church in Diamond City.  The Sunday School teacher had spent 25 years in  Africa around Kilimanjaro, where Callie is going for her Teen Mission work.  They were able to talk and the lady invited us to come visit and talk about Africa.  Miss Sally taught Callie two Very Important words in Swahili -  wapi choo - which means, "Where is the toilet?"  She will teach Callie  words like thank you, greetings,  and good bye  in Swahili .
   I was amazed to meet a lady who had lived in Africa for 25 years , just a few miles down the road, and we were put in touch with her by a wonderful lady we met at lunch last week.  One of those meant to be things.
   We took Callie to the new Mexican food restaurant , about 10 minutes down the road, for a quick lunch before we ran her to trap shooting practice at school.  She is on the trap shooting team.
    All is well on Duck Lane.

Blog Hell

Thursday, March 27

       Well I am in Blog Hell.  Apparently I have a Blogspot account and a Google + account.  I noticed my blogspot posts were staying there and going to the Google +, BUT the Google + is not showing up on Blogspot.
       I want to share my Google + with Mom, but I have no idea how to tell her to find my blog.
       Maybe my cousins Rachelle or Carol Joy can help me.  I hope so!
   

Another trip to Rogers

March 15


Another trip to the Rogers area.  Seems like that is where we find most of our good deals...thus making the 2 hour drive worth while.
Joe found a good used 4 ft Bush hog to hook to our Kubota to mow the heavy brush and pastures.  Our little tractor won't pull anything larger than a 4 footer.
On the loop back from Rogers, we picked up 12 cuckoo Maran young hens - pullets.  Marans lay very dark brown eggs usually referred to as chocolate colored eggs.

Taking a back way to pick up the pullets, We discovered a beautiful place along the way called War Eagle Mill.  The original mill was built before the Civil War by a young man needing to grind his corn.  The mill is on a farm that has a fall fair featuring artisans from the Ozarks.  We can't wait to go back and tour the mill and visit the area.

Got home and set up a pen for the Marans inside the shed and pen where the other birds are .  Didn't want the hens or peacocks to pick on the young pullets.
We are up to 16 hens( possibly 1 rooster), 3 peacocks, and 5 guineas.
Guineas are across the yard in their own pen.

Mini horses are  settling in just fine.  They seem to enjoy their big pen attached to the barn.  We made the round trip to Oklahoma City and back in a very long day.

Our helper tore out the top layer of flooring today and cut away down to the joist in the old kitchen, and back bedroom.  Those joists will have to be replaced due to rot from a water leak over who knows how many years.

Saturday 3/22

March 22

     Saturday turned out to be a much better day than Friday.
Bill and Leslie brought their truck over and pulled the Dually out of the pasture. Great they live so close.
     Joe's foot is still hurting badly so he will go to the doctor on Monday.  He was supposed to be resting, but he climbed up on a ladder and screwed in the gutter pieces I assembled via his directions.  I have never put up gutter, but could do it now. This gutter is on the side of the workshop.  There was only a partial gutter before so the rain poured out of the old gutter and pooled right outside the chicken pen thus seeping inside.  This should eliminate this problem.  Weather predicts rain within the next week, so we shall see.
     The cow herd holds at 9.  Two of ours, 4 of Tiffany's and 3 young renegades from Francis' herd.
     Joe and Bill are fishing, so no telling if they will catch and release! or bring fish back.
Oh- I almost forgot to mention how excited I was this evening to look out the window and see a big blue heron on the pond below the house!  I have been hoping we would get wildlife on the ponds.  I have seen several wild ducks on various ponds on the property.  I haven't seen the 16 turkeys in a few weeks, but we see deer everyday as we are coming or going on the driveway.
     Update: Joe caught some bass, but didn't bring any home.  Probably a good thing as I don't really want to cook fish in the trailer.

Little Frogs

March 20
     Little Frogs
    My son in law told me tonight that the noisy frogs in our pond are what he calls peeps and they are about the size of my fingernail. I hope to see some of the little frogs if I take my chair to the pond and sit and look for them.

Joe Injured 3/21

March 21

   Joe fell through some bad flooring last night and now we think he has sprained or fractured his foot! He wanted to get the cat looked at first, then think about his injuries.  His foot is a bit swollen and the ball of his foot is turning purple from his big toe back to the opposite ankle.  I think he will get it x-rayed soon.

    A sad day. We had our cat put to sleep.  He had something causing liver, kidney, and pancreas problems.  Vet said Pooh Cat was not a good candidate for surgery .  He was dearly loved and spoiled by us.  He will be missed.

   On our way to the vet, I got our big truck stuck in a mud patch when I was backing from the barn and went too far into the wet pasture.  Joe, limping on a sprained or fractured foot, went to get the tractor and attempted to help get the truck unstuck, but the pasture was too wet and The truck sank more.  I walked back to the house and got the car as the truck is STUCK until Bill brings his dump truck to pull us out.  Thank goodness we have our Toyota pickup to run around in so we are not in a rush to get the Dually out.
 
    I just hope Friday passes and Saturday will be a better day on Duck Lane .

                                       Dark colored Maran eggs

The Snow is Gone. 3/21

  March 21

     Hard to believe only 4 days ago we had 5  inches of snow.  Today, it is 70 and beautiful.  The daffodils continue to pop their little yellow crowns up toward the sun. I am finding more outcropings of them as the weather gets warmer.
    This morning we realized there was still one large calf that was separated from its mother.  We were able to push the cows up the hill and back out our gate.  With several cows, the bull, and our cow and calf still here, I ran to get some hay to feed Heidi.  She followed me away from the gate while Joe let the few cows and bull out.  Again, as luck would have it, we have all but 1 of Tiffany's cows, but a skinny cow has stayed to eat with ours.  Once we get Tiffany's last cow, and the skinny one back home, we might have the cattle situation over here under control.
     Joe has unloaded the 4 ft bush hog from the truck bed and I have been maneuvering the tractor so he can hitch the tractor to the bush hog. It is taking awhile to get everything connected but he is almost finished.  We can now mow the pastures with the tractor and bush hog.   Beats mowing with a riding mower, besides, the bush hog will chop down brush and bushes.
     Joe removed more flooring and a wall from inside the house.  I have been getting on a medium sized ladder and removing drywall tacks from the ceiling boards so the new drywall will go up smoothly .  The old tacks stick out about 1/2 an inch and come down easily with a lightweight pry bar .  After a break to get the bush hog connected, we are back to the house to haul out another load of stuff we have torn down .
    Joe just hollered that he has the bush hog connected and ready to run.  They are close to $1000 new so we are quite pleased to gave found a good used one for $400. He is now out in the field doing his official farm duty of bush hogging.
     The 3 peacocks are doing well , 4 of our 5 hens are laying, and the 12 cuckoo Maran pullets are growing like weeds.  Marans are the hens that lay chocolate colored eggs.  They won't start laying for at least two more months.  I hope to sell half of the Marans and make a few dollars to help pay for the ones I am keeping.
    I haven't done much with the minis except love on them.  Should get my arena set up soon and start riding again.  I like to start out in an arena when the horse hasn't been ridden in months.
     Time to get back to work.  It would be so easy to sit here in the shade and rock in this log rocker. ( that reminds me I need to get it stained and sealed before our next rain.)

      Don't think I mentioned that the pond frogs must be happy it's spring. They are making some kind of almost chirping sound. Something like the sounds you hear on HGTV when people are house hunting in the jungle of Costa Rica or Nicaragua.

Well, We Wanted Cattle 3/19

Well, We Wanted Cattle.                                  

    My oldest granddaughter, Tiffany also decided purchasing a few cows would be a good investment. She bought 4 cows from her parents and we said she could keep them at our place.  Two of her cows are very tame and the calves are somewhat friendly.  The bad weather has hampered us getting hers, and our cow and calf out of the larger herd they are in with on the property next to ours.  The property and large herd belong to Bill's dad, Francis.

    A few days ago during our last snow, Tiffany's cows and an extra cow showed up at our place eating at our hay ring at the barn.  We couldn't believe our good luck.  We didn't have to herd these cows over here now!  

    As luck would have it, today our cow, Heidi. and calf were down the fence line with several dozen other cow, calf pairs.  Joe went to the barn and grabbed part of a bale of the " good tasting" grass hay.  I called our cow to the fence and started feeding her through the fence. ( the grass is just starting to grow so she was happy to get some good tasting hay). I would walk about 30 feet and wave some hay through the fence, call her, and she would come for more hay.  This continued until we got up the hill to the gate.  Joe had gone ahead and opened the gate so I could bribe Heidi right on to our place.  (Normally the gate is open, but our horses decided to explore Francis' property today so we now keep it shut.  The horses exploring is a whole other story!)

    Well, this sounds all fine and dandy,  but Heidi wasn't the only cow to notice I had hay.   By the time we got Heidi and her calf in, and the gate closed, there must have been about 30 cows and calves mooing at our gate wanting in to be fed.  Joe went to grab more hay so he could go out the gate and lead the mooing cows a ways down the road on their own field.  Low and behold, here comes the bull to see what is going on and why half his herd is gone and why they are mooing.  Just before Joe returns with hay on the tailgate of his  Toyota, about 20 cows head farther up the hill past our gate.  Next thing I know these cows have found an opening in the fence and come crashing through the brush in the upper field and head over to the barn! Tiffany's cows are eating quietly at the hay ring so the new cows decide to stop and eat with them with a few spreading around on the pasture to eat.

   Ok, so we have a few extra cows we will have to separate in the morning.  At lest we have the 6 we wanted over here.  Then...a calf or two decide their moms must be in the bunch OUTSIDE the gate.  I open the gate and let them out.  We realize maybe we have pairs separated, so we open the gate and in saunters the big bull followed by the remaining cows by the gate.  They head to the hay ring and pastures to eat.  At this point it is dusk and we close the gate and all are in for the night.  We had talked with Francis about letting his cows over to help eat some of the grass so we will leave the cows here for a few days and then Leslie, Bill, his dad, and brother in law can help us herd them back out - minus ours and Tiffany's , we hope.  We need to string some strands of barded wire up the hill where the cattle came from Francis' fields into ours.  Once they realize there is uneaten pasture here they will be back if we don't fix that fence.

     All and all, at the end of the day all is well.  The horses are home and the cows are eating quietly.  The birds are roosting, frogs are croaking by the pond, and the stars are shining .  Another good day at Duck Lane Farm.

Snow in March 3/16

About dark last night a light rain started to fall.  Within a few hours we had what grandma Melton would have called , " A gully washer" of a rain. It continued this way until about 1 PM, when it began to snow. Mind you, yesterday was almost 70 degrees and weather is  supposed to be 59 degrees tomorrow. Not sure that is happening now.
At 4:33 PM the snow is falling so quickly with large flakes that an almost white out condition exists.  It is absolutely beautiful if you don't have to go out in it. Snow must be 3 inches deep and stacking up quickly.

The daffodils in the yard were just starting to bloom. I was so thrilled to see hundreds of daffodils sprouting up that must have been planted decades ago.