Lately...

We have declared war on the fire ants. What was that? You didn't know there were fire ants in Tennessee? Well, let me assure you there are because THEY ARE ALL IN MY GARDEN. It started out innocent enough. A little hill full of ants. "Let them be, Adam," I say. "They aren't hurting anything." Then the hill gets bigger and BIGGER and BIGGER and someone down at the market asks Adam if we have any fire ants and he says "Ummm, I don't think so. How can you tell if you do?" The guy says, "Well, it is a huge hill of ants." Then Adam says in a calm low voice, "Yep we got em." He comes home and we decide we'll just set a really big fire on top of the fire ants. Makes sense. Kill the fire ants with FIRE! Not REALLY. They then conlonized our GARDEN and the dear, Lovin' Husband went up to the co-op and talked to the really nice lady who thinks we are very weird people. She told him what to get and did one bottle work? Did two? We are on, like, bottle eleventy million and they are still finding new places to hide and it HURTS when they bite you in between your fingers. Betcha didn't know that! The red below is one of their recent attempt to recolonize. They carry their young. How responsible of them. Enough of that...

Hangin' with BoJangles.

Watchin' Maggie declare her utmost love, loyalty, devotion, and life to Adam. She really wishes she were me.

Now if that isn't precious I don't know what is...

Feeding weeds to the chickens. My goodness they start singing when they see us coming near them. It usually means a juicy treat of some sort. Worm here + weeds there = happy chickens.

See how they're waiting? They Know he's gonna come through for them.

Mmmmm. They cluck the whole time they're chowing down.

Watched Matoike the cat try to catch a dragonfly. I'll see if the video will upload.

Have been admiring the pretty flowers. This is my sage blooming...

Mowed the backyard (me! I did it!! - not even vicariously through Adam..., but completely by myself. He was proud...)

Nothing makes me happier than to sit down in the yard with Adam after a long day of work and watch the sun set through the trees and watch the shadows move across the freshly mown grass. Mondo likes it, too. See him?

Have a wonderful day!

Love,
Malinda

There is Hope...

Two months from now, I'll go out to the garden and see things like this:

There will be no more cold fronts - no more frosts. Now - am not wishing the time away. I enjoy my days, but I'm goin' CRAZY. I'm ready for the cold to be less frequent. Not that the weather should be based upon what I want, but I'm COLD. :)

We've planted potatoes, onions, peas, kohl rabi, and turnips and transplanted a TON of garlic. There are more potatoes in the house waiting for us to do something with them and I still have to get some broccoli in the ground. Lettuce too. Maybe a quarter of the garden is weeded and ready - our neighbor is fixing our tiller. We didn't want to use it, but will have to just to keep up for the spring, anyway. So we have garden prep to do, still, and getting beds ready (we do a funky kind of semi drought resistant raised bed system). We are also wanting to start some rain barrels this year.

There are five 3 day old kittens on the back porch (that will need a home in 5 weeks and 4 days) and 30 chickens on the deck in a pen that keep reminding us to build them a permanent home. They're not ready for it yet, but will be soon and we need to get busy! We are also looking for mutt homes. I have TOO MANY dogs and they are driving me NUTSO. If you need a mutt, let me know. I can help.

It is time to start tomato and pepper seeds and also time to be planting some apple, pear, and cherry trees, methinks. We're gonna cash in ye olde change jar and see how many trees that'll get us.

On top of all that is lesson preparations for students, lessons, house cleaning, window washing, church stuff, and music playing. One of Adam's friends down at Flat Creek Market gave us a four track digital recorder with an MP3 encoder, so we have a new toy to play with.

All this being said... I have plenty to fill my time until I can bite into a juicy, homegrown, bright red and purple heirloom tomato. That thought alone will get me through the spring time craziness!!!

I love life, I really do. I'm happy to be alive and see all that God has created - to be a part of it. There is so much to experience and do in this one short lifetime that I feel full of God's love and am in wonderment of His beautiful creation. I feel rich with all He has given my husband and I.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Keep warm!!!

Love,

Malinda

ps. I tried to separate my sentence groupings, but good ole blogger keeps putting them back together again...

How We Roll.....

They'll sleep all day, but when we start playing, it's over. They play and bark and get all manner of excited when they hear music. And they LOVE the good friend David. Once they calm down, they'll jocky for position at his feet.

They Share...

The first thing people ever say when they walk into our backyard and notice all the animals is, "Do they all just get along? Dogs, Cats, and Chickens??" Then they shake their heads and stare. Adam and I are used to it and do our best to assure people that the chickens are not food or sport for the four legged critters. The cats grew up patroling the coop (for a couple of weeks, the birds are enjoying some yard time and we're all ok with that - we had a lone chicken that needed reintegrating anyway). Occaisionally one of the dogs will remember that they are INDEED a dog and that dogs should chase chickens, but we do our best to reinforce to the dogs that if they eat (ahem, PLAY WITH) the chickens, then there will be no chicken eggs to find and eat. Ever heard the phrase "egg suckin' dog"? They love eggs - it is the weirdest thing. They share... we didn't teach them to - they just did it. Chickens love cat food. Who knew? What I do know is that a bag of cat food is a LOT more expensive than a bag of chicken food. (Note to Husband: we gotta do somethin' about the chickens, baby. I'll help. Really...)

Also, note violet down there by the *pond*. This is a big deal for poor, delicate V. You do not know how much courage that dog has summoned to be sitting where she is. She is not quite the brave country dog. More like a fragile broken thing that is finally recovering and becoming her true self. Good for you, V. (I know that I am talking to a dog on the computer. I know that she can't hear me or even if she could, she wouldn't completely understand, ok? Just cut me a little slack here...)

See, the chickens need a new coop and run*. Their old one is ok, but we have the materials to make them a better one that I can get into to feed/water/health check/collect eggs and not hurt myself (my back ain't so hot). Adam does most of the coop and pen work with the birds because of that right now, but I'd really like to dote on (spoil) them myself.

It has been too cold and muddy to build one or fix the run they escaped from, so right now we have chicken au naturale. We like it when they free range, but then they eat our garden (and our not so cheap garlic fertilizer -I'm not completely over that yet and it happened last year). We settle for feeding them all of the garden scraps (tomatoes - they LOVE tomatoes) we can.

** a run is where the chickens hang outside during the day - the bigger the better the happier the chicken - and we like happy chickens around here)**

Sometimes though, I wonder. Am I going to wake up one day to a big pile of fur and feathers in my backyard??

I think sometimes they wonder the same thing...

Happy New Year!

Not My Couch

So, I wake up this morning intent on coffe, my comfy couch, and my sacred alone/computer/wake up time. It is sacred because I can listen to whatever music I want, hog the computer, work, blog, etc. Why would this morning be any different, you ask? Well, I stumbled into the music room this morning at 630 and this is what I found. So I say, "Come on, guys, really? I don't see room for me on that couch." Mondo looks at me like this...

and then does this...

I'm sensing some serious St. Bernard apathy, here, folks. He really cares absolutley not at ALL.-
Now fast forward about 10 minutes. I have documented Mondo's apathy and gotten comfy (not really, but settled enough not to move when he groans, stretches and gets up to lay in FRONT of the DOOR. Something is waking...something very active, hound-doggy, wiggley, waggeldy, curious, and smart.

Good morning, Penny. (Reader, please note that my loveable, adorable, sweet, beautiful, well-behaved bulldog, Maggie, has slept through all of this - snoring occaisionally in contentment - and as I sit here an hour and a half later, she is still in the same place she was when I stumbled upon this little doggy fest on what I thought was MY couch.)

I would be remiss in not mentioning little Mary J. She is such a little opportunist. She'll lay anywhere between the months of November and March just to be warm. Apperently Maggie is the best heater...

Stay warm everybody and have a good day!!

Autumn...Beauty

Fall has been so beautiful this year...and, well...long and also very colorful.

The Lovin' Husband and I live in a cedar barren. There aren't so many of those in our country...even in our lovely state of Tennessee. If you look at the picture above, you will see what I mean. See all of the cedar trees on the right side of the road? They look like Christmas trees. My lovely four-legged critters love to chase rabbits, skunks, deer, groundhogs, occaisional chickens and bobcats through those very trees. They grow like weeds and house ticks by the millions...I've just decided that I will have to discuss cedar trees at further lenght, but later...ANYWAY...


When I see these lovely and colorful deciduous trees, I am thankful that no matter the cedar barren... and emphasis on the word barren... God has put beauty in all of our lives - wherever we are - all we have to do is always look for it. Always be ready for the unexpected and to find the beauty in ANY situation because it is always there.

Have a good week...I am going to Florida!! Yay!!!! Will be sure to post the photo of my toes in the sand as soon as it happens....

What I See Every Day

Hello...

Let's go on an adventure.

We couldn't go on said adventure without BoJangles. He whines terribly when left behind and drives the Lovin' Husband a bit nutso.

Of course, we'd lose out on mucho entertainment if Penny didn't come along as well. Goodness, the energy of a hound dog. She is hell on wheels, that one...

Blue skies shinin' on me. Nothin' but blue skies do I see...ah, willie, sing it to me...

Neighbor Stan says it best.... "I love livin' in the country..."

Here, my friends, we will cross the county line back into home territory. The sky is bluer, the grass is greener, the air is cleaner, and my wonderful Neighbors Stan and Donna are not a-feared of my sweet, four-legged critters and therefore they (namely Bo) do not have to suffer the indignity of a leash as soon as we cross that line.

to be continued...

Love Me a Thrift Store

I have been seeing owly things all over lately and had so far (until about a week ago) suppressed the urge to compulsively buy everything "owl" just because "everybody else was doing it". But look at the little guy...he is positively cute. Also, his side job is as a trivet and I compulsively buy those, too. So I simply could not NOT purchase the owl trivet. Two birds - one stone - nough said.

I got the canister for obvious reasons. Who wouldn't have? It currently sits above my stove and looks pretty...I haven't decided what to put in it yet. I was thinking maybe special recipes or my fortunes from the chinese restaurant excursions I go on with my family from time to time. I guess I could hide my spare change and extra guitar picks there... the Lovin' Husband would never thing to look there for those two very things there. Hmmmmm...

I needed a thermos, but I didn't want one that looked like a time capsule. Who would, right?
So I'm wandering the aisles of the thrifty store and come across this baby. Definitely original. It very politely asked me to bring it home and I did. It will hold my....

Coffee...Yes. We have decided that modern coffee pots are the devil and that we will henceforth be preparing our coffee on the stove in a coffee pot that I don't have to plug in and doesn't get clogged and take and hour to brew what I really usually need within ten minutes of opening my eyes to way too many sets of doggy eyes begging to go outside and then come back in to eat and then go back outside and then come back in and...well, you get the point.