simply beautiful

Enjoy the view. I know I do.

this never gets old for me

It was hot today. 90 degrees or so. Low to little humidity, so it was really great. My husband was out baling round bales with the baler we bought this winter. So that was good too.
Later in the evening my husband was out and busy so I took the kiddos to go swimming to cool off in the lake nearby. When we got home the sun was starting to set in the west behind the mountains. The sky was lit up and the sun looked like a ball of fire sinking lower and lower lighting up the sky with brilliant colors.
So naturally I grabbed my camera and

started taking pictures.

and watching the sun dip lower

 causing me to take it in

and gather my thoughts of the day

until it was down, ending another day in spectacular fashion.

I never tire of the sun sets. I watch them often. My life seems to be busy and crazy and stressful at times. But watching the sun set calms me and settle my thoughts about the day. Whether it was good, bad, or otherwise.
I pray I always live where I can watch the sun set.

just cause

Me hanging out in the cow pasture with my calf.

the princesses

Well the little heifers, or the babies as I call them turned out to be a couple of princesses after all.
We got a good down pour and then steady rain for a while with some thunder storms the other afternoon. My husband and I went for a walk later in the evening after chores and supper. But before we left I threw some hay in to the babies. Their pasture is low on grass and are moving them in the morning. And off we went on our walk. I really enjoy walking with my husband. We chat about our days if we spent it apart, or we talk about things on our minds. Or sometimes we are just quiet and enjoy being together. Well once we got home we walked into the driveway and saw...

the babies decided to lay down IN their hay instead of the wet ground!! Little buggers! Guess they decided dry hay was better then wet ground. Smart I'd say.

Have a great day y'all 

summer started on the beach

Well now it's officially summer. 
A bunch of gal pals, their kiddos, my kiddos, and I went to the beach to celebrate it!! Oh it was a such a beautiful day. The sun felt so wonderful, I even managed to get a burn. :/  The sun beating down, the waves coming and going in a rhythmic motion and sound. Seagull floating above letting out their usual squawk waiting for some food to drop, or steal it away from you. Sail boats sailing along. Happy children playing and splashing in the water. Yup we are even crazy to go swimming in the Atlantic ocean. Yes it's really cold. So cold your knee caps shiver! Only till your body temperature drops and you can feel nothing. LOL. But seriously!!  Even a couple got married and had some fun pictures taken down on the beach!

All and all it was nice to get away from the farm and chill. And what a beautiful ending to a great day it was.

My view never gets old. I pray I always live where there are open fields, and a glorious view of the mountains in the distance and the sun setting in the west.

Have a great night y'all.

15 minutes can change a lot

7-28-15 Started out a normal day. Nice, sunny, and  hot. Not many clouds. The kiddos and I spent about 2 hours in the gardens weeding and picking. It looked so nice when we were done.
The night had been unsettled. Thunder and lightening almost all night, but no rain. It had started again late in the afternoon on the 28th. I  could hear the rumble and grumble of it in the distance.
It was late in the afternoon when my Mom called me. I was finishing up cooking supper and the kiddos were chilling watching a movie after a long day. She told me we were having a tornado watch. WHAT?! I live in New England!  We don't get tornadoes! But we did have a funnel cloud here, last week or so.
 So I hung up and went to tell my husband. Then I checked the weather on the computer. It had a severe weather warning. Heavy rain, damaging winds of  60+ MPH, heavy hail, and heavy thunder and lightening. Headed our way at 20MPH! I quickly told my husband and hurried the kiddos to do chores, not telling them why. Didn't want to alarm them.
We had about 20 or so minutes to get things done. Getting the cows in, the horses fed, making sure water was plentiful in case we lost power, etc. We also made sure to put things away that could be a flying hazard too! I watched the storm coming closer. The thunder was angry with it's rumbles and clapping and more rumbling as it moved closer. Then the hard snapping crackle of the lightening. The air changed. I sent the kiddos and dog in the house.

I wanted some pictures of the storm coming. I love to watch them rolling in. Coming up from the valley. I could feel the wind kick up, and the air change and the first drops of rain hit my face. This storm sounded angry, and looked angry.
But come it did! First the wind with the thunder and lightening. Then the rain. It came down so hard and so fast.  I was in the living room with the family when I heard the hail. I pointed to the window as it came down and hit the windows. But then with a swiftness and anger I have never experienced before the hail came down. We couldn't see out the windows the rain and hail was coming down that fiercely. The noise was deafening as it pounded on our metal roof. I couldn't hear my daughter speak to me and she was right in front of me!
And just as swift as it came it was gone. In about 15 minutes. And just as fast as the water flooded everything it was gone too. Really weird, but I'm glad it went!
 We went out and I had my camera ready to go around my neck!

This is in front of my house right after the storm. Standing water! I have a flat driveway.

I was looking around when I noticed something on the ground near the grass. This was the first piece of hail I found...
We all came out and started looking around. Then I noticed this

 The river that was coming down the neighbors driveway that we share and the wheel barrows blown into it. Then I saw this

Our hay wagon crashed into the chicken coop. I just laughed. Then upon further inspection of the ground I found more hail. The kiddos had never seen anything like this before. Ice in the middle of the summer!

More hail. Then I went out back to see my gardens...

Destroyed by hail. Oh how I wish I had taken a picture of before.  Green beans and tomatoes are all that were in this garden.

They were so beautiful. Doing so well and the first fruits were coming along. I should still get some carrots and beets. As for the rest I have no idea. It doesn't look very good or promising. How depressing. I am not, and was not mad. It's life and I know. I've never experienced anything like this. I was shocked.

We kept on looking around and found more hail. Here is 2 more of the biggest pieces we found. Ping pong ball sized.

Our poor broilers were in standing water and not at all happy. We moved them, fed and watered them and they settled down. We had to put 4 in the brooder with a light on them. We didn't think they would make it through the night outside. They were not walking, very droopy, and not eating. Not good signs for them at all. But this morning they were up and eating and warm and dry. I'm happy to report!

 To give you a look at how strong the wind was, here is a round bale in the field that got blown away. I'm standing about where it was left out of the baler. See it's path?!  Ya.

And again. The wind blew our chicken brooder about 4 feet from where it started too. You can see the white and brown thing the left. That is what we propped it on to keep it even and steadier. Some serious wind and damage to the farm.

As the sun was setting and we were wrapping up chores I was in awe of God and his awesome power to control all things. The wild winds that do His will, came to mind. I am so thankful and grateful to Him. The storm that destroyed our garden did not harm any of the critters. He protected them through it. Our home and vehicles were not damaged. But most of all, He kept all that I hold near and dear to my heart and my whole being revolves around safe. My family. Humbled and thankful I went to bed to start a new day. Today.

year of the bull

Yup. That's right. We had our third and final bull calf born yesterday afternoon. Maggie surprised me with it. Now  knew she was due, but I really didn't think she would go yesterday. It's baby number 6 for her, but she just didn't look like she was going to go. But thinking about it I think her due date was yesterday.

My husband and son were away for the whole day, and I was home with the girls. We weeded one of the gardens and staked up tomatoes. Then I went to clean the horse barn, while the girls played in the kiddy pool. The reason I mention my husband being gone is due to Maggie's attitude when she has a calf. She is VERY protective and gets mean for about 3 days, then chills out. Throwing her head and pawing the ground. She has tossed her head at my husband and pushed him aside in a not so friendly way in the past after calving. She's a wonderful easy milker and mother. So I guess we take the good with the bad. She's just doing her job, as we have let the moms raise the calves for now.
I had come out of the horse barn and had things to put away. I looked up in the field and saw Maggie and said "son on a gun. She just had that calf!" I dropped whatever I was carrying and trotted up to where Maggie was. Sure enough there was the calf. I still have no idea what was carrying and where I dropped them. The girls called and asked if they could come up. They did.

He was almost dried off. It was such a warm beautiful day yesterday. It was also Suzie's first birthday too! (Last years calf)
We stood and watched for a while.  Then I called my husband to let him know. He said let her be for the afternoon, and milk her later in the evening. Then I called my brother and father in law and asked if they would come over after work to help me get Maggie and calf in the barn. I needed some help in case something went wrong, and I got hurt.

Well much to my surprise Maggie was totally fine. She did paw the ground when we walked up to her pen, but then she just walked nice as you please to the barn. She chowed down her grain while I milked her out. Then my BIL helped me give her some calcium to help prevent milk fever, and she never tossed her head. She just was like OK. I could hardly believe it. She was a totally different cow! I wondered when she would act out, and kept my guard up, but she was fine. I was so very thankful.  Later that evening when my husband called to see how things went I couldn't stop gushing about how good she was for us! He was pleased to hear that! Almost as pleased as I was to tell him.

Here he is this morning. See his tongue? He was a hungry little bugger. The pail that I milked in was almost full. We don't save the colostrum milk. That is why it's in the dirty plastic pail.
Well as far as the cows we currently have, we are done with our calving season. 3 bulls in one year. I'm thankful for the healthy calves and mamas. I am lookin forward to breeding them again, and hopefully getting some more heifers next spring and summer!
Have a great day ya'll!

some of the Creators handy work

I just love the view from our farm. I pray when we move to our own land I can enjoy the beautiful sunsets in the evening after a long day. And the warmth of a fire pit makin s'mores with my loved ones around me.
I can't find words to describe these sunsets other then one word. Beautiful.

Hope you enjoyed the view from my place and my fire pit.
 Have a wonderful day!

hayin

So we made some hay last week...it was looking like really nice hay too. We got to use our new/used tractor we bought this winter. A bigger one. And the new/used pin wheel rake. I got to use the pin wheel rake. My first time using it too! I am new to haying. Well, the actual driving the tractor and the doing of the haying! I love it. I get Allis, that is what we call the 40HP 6140 tractor. We name our stuff. ha ha.

See. Me on the tractor! No that is not our house. It's the guys who fields we hay's house. Read that twice real fast. I asked my husband who was coming behind me baling how the win rows were, if I did a good job keeping them straight. He said I did just fine. I was glad of that. I quickly realized to make real small corrections when moving a win row on a tractor to keep the rows straight.

 Haying together! See my boy sitting on a bale of hay? He can't wait for him to be big enough to drive the tractors!!  Having a second tractor is a real great thing. Saves time. Even though we had some break downs of equipment and then Friday afternoon it got poured on...and we are feeding this hay out first and have it real loosely stacked in the barn...we had a good day. Such is the life of farmers. Forever at the mercy of the weather. The weather wasn't calling for rain until Saturday night. Guess they were off a few hours.

My handsome hubby! 

Belle was hot and tired. Her first time haying. She had to be on a leash so she wouldn't get hit with all the equipment. She's still learning the trade of farming! She's 12 weeks old now!

We are still in need of hay for the winter for all the critters and the horses now. But we will get there with hard work and one bale at a time. We pray for our own land and fair weather!
Have a great day ya'll

belle says...

Have a wonderful weekend ya'll!! Happy summer!

because you know you've always wanted to know

what approximately 100 pounds of peaches looks like before...

 and after...

We had some serious rain the other night. And it came down hard. The peaches that were ready to sell got hit, and the rain ruined some of the skin on them. They were no longer firsts. But canners! The guy that grows them called and told me this. I've gotten peaches off him before so he knows I like to can! He said he would sell them for $1 a pound to get rid of them. (That is a screaming good deal)!!  I said OK, how many pounds do you have? He said about 100. I'll take them all!! I know I'm slightly crazy. So Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday morning I peeled, cored, cut up, and canned 38 quarts of peaches!! So the rain was good and I was blessed by it!
Ahh they will taste so good this winter. My kiddos love peaches, and so do I!

Have a great day all!

what i did on my summer vacation... part 1

Pull up a seat and grab a Coconut Oatmeal Whoppie Pie and and iced coffee, join me for a few minute!! They are fresh outta the oven!! Try to refrain from licking your screen. :)

Don't have any?! Oh well maybe I'll share the recipe with you.
So I'm still not all into blogging yet. Maybe once the winter comes and I'm in the house more and don't have so many things going on... hardy har har!!!!
I'll let you in on what I've been up to, other then turning into a beach bum this summer. But oh how I have loved every minute of it!
First off I gotta tell you I started the summer out in crutches. What?! Yup. I'm super talented ya know. The kiddos, my mom, and I went to crash my sisters vacation down on the ocean. She knew we were coming, and it was fun!! Well after a wonderful day on the beach, a sleep over in a hotel, and some fried white chocolate cheesecake...yes you read that right...fried white chocolate cheesecake!! OMW so amazing!! And another morning on the beach we packed up to head home. We stopped off at a big store, walked around, and were leaving when some how, and this is where my amazingness comes in...I was walking in the grass in flip flops, when my toe hit something very hard in the grass. It hurt. I kept on walking with some effort and limping. My mom asked me if I was alright. I said yes. Then I made the mistake of looking down at my foot. My left toe the one next to the little toe was cocked off to the left, not the way it should go...suddenly my bagel and 2 large iced coffees, I had several hours ago, wore off and I almost blacked out. Yup. Not my finest moment. My toe hurt bad and seeing it off to the left wasn't helping. Sitting in the car I caught my breath and called my husband. I told him I thought I broke my toe. After some debate it was decided I should go to the hospital. They took x-rays...

...not broken, but all the ligaments and blood vessels and tendons that hold it together were ruptured. The doctor said I would have been better off breaking the bone. Would heal better. My toe will never be the same. I was bummed because I had just bought some new cowboy boots and couldn't wear them. So my goal was to be back in them after a month. But not after some rough days of sitting and my throbbing foot as it swelled. It was all taped together. Was rough and took about 8-9 weeks to heal enough for me to be able work out. I was on my feet before I should have been, but I couldn't sit still any longer. And yes I was able to get my cowboy boots on after a month, but could only wear them for a few hours! But all is well now!

Things on the farm are going well. Our little herd is doing well. My husband made a stanchion for Daffodil, and now she has her own spot.

Daffodil's butt, Dandie's butt, and Maggie's butt. I've made lots of butter, and am hoping to make some cheeses soon too!! I love cheese!

My oldest daughters bunny named Misty had a surprise for us one morning... babies! Four of them, but the runt didn't make it. The three that did are all girls.

One white one is Snowball, the other is Betty. The black one is Odd Ball Jr, as far as I know that is her name. Named after her father, that was another daughters, but sadly he died. He was black too. They are so much fun, and oh so cute!
Well thats it for now. Gotta get supper finished and in the oven, and then I'm headed out for the evening with a SIL!!
Have a great night all!

Hey

Well I'm here. Sorta.
 I've had a much needed break from the blogger world and my computer. I just had to take a step back and breath for a while. Talk about burn out. Really.
 We have been hanging out here alot this summer...

The beautiful rocky, rugged, coast. Some much needed time with my kiddos and fun time playing in the cold Atlantic ocean. Working on my tan and body surfing ( I would like to try surfing, but can't really do that here, the waves aren't the same... or as big...) Hanging out with some BFF's, and enjoying the sunny days, when we have them.
Our summer has been very wet and chilly. Hasn't been a great summer for gardening or haying really. The gardens are wet and the fields are really wet. Rutted up one of them and had to bring the hay to the parked baler due to how wet the field was. Thankful for the hay we've been able to get though.

I'm hopeful for a good harvest from one garden and I do hope to get back into blogging and catching up with everyone again. I just needed some time!!
Have a great day all!