Today is the day I prove them ALL wrong!!

I have been caring for, loving, playing w/, feeding, and enjoying My pigs ; Sausage (Saucy), Bacon (killed by dogs grrr), & Hot Dog for many months now...

Yes they smell....
Yes they have terrible table manners,,,
Yes they dont know the meaning of staying inside ANY pen....

I love them...

They get out of the pen... I am the only one who can get them to follow her in a single file line (only because they know I am the lady w/ eggs in her pocket) into the hen house, so we can crate em and get em back into the pig pen and fix the fence yet again...

I got these pigs to fill my freezer and to have a New Years Eve Pig Pickin...

No one thinks I can do it... DH swears they will die of old age first! lol

Well.... Hot Dog and I are going to take a little trip to the butchers today....
He will be the guest of Honor at the pig pickin on Sat. ($30 to have “it” done and get him all ready for the big event)

Now…. I’m not saying its gonna be easy…. But I will get it done!!
No tears…. No changing my mind…
I don’t care how sweet he looks at me while squealing for my eggs that he just KNOWS are in my pocket…
I will be strong….
I WILL be strong…..
I WILL BE STRONG!!!

**sniff**

After Holiday Catch-up

Christmas was nice. Christmas eve Mom Bethany & Grandma came over. We had a really nice time. I got the boys pictures taken to give as gifts, everybody loved them. They did sooo good for the pictures, I was one proud momma!

The boys LOVED the scavenger hunts I set up for them to find their "big" presents. I have a feeling I have just started a new tradition here :) they each had 20 clues that had them running all over the neighborhood. lol they had a blast.

Then Charles had his fun. I got him another little truck for Christmas. He had to do a hunt as well. But his required him driving around town for his clues. He loves his new "toy".

Good Lookin Kids!

Wed morning.

Today we really really need to clean house. I have laundry piling up.. and WAY too much to do before Christmas.

You think posting it here will make it get done?? lol we'll see.

Yesterday had to go buy a new heat lamp for the dogs.. the first one burnt out!! a $10 bulb burnt out in less than a week?? geesh!

Oh.! I called another butcher yesterday to find out how much he would charge me to get Hot Dog ready for the pig pickin... (most of the other butcher shops dont scald/scrape like needed for a roast) well! he said $30. Thats it!!! $30!! the other ones wanted $25 to just kill & clean em!! Whoo Hoo!! I have heard from many ppl that this one is great! so when I drop hot dog off Monday I'll talk to him and see how much he'll charge to send Saucy to freezer camp. Also gonna buy a couple pounds of his breakfast & smoked sausage so we can see if we like it.

Anyhow.... I think we found our butcher!!!

Great Family Heirloom Idea

One of the incredibly creative and wise women on my HomesteadingToday.com boards posted this idea.. i think its GREAT and plan to start mine this Christmas.!

I'm gonna get a really nice plain white tablecloth. Then at each important family get together, I will have everyone sign and date it. After, I will needle point in different colors over their signature... each year it will fill up more and more and we will end up with a wonderful keep-sake!

How Cool Of an idea is that???

Monday morning catch up

Went to go see CATS Sat night w/ mom. It was GREAT!! We had dinner at an Outrageously expensive restaurant (located in the Hobby Center) It was nice.. but $65 for a meal?? WOW! I could have fed my crew several times very well for that! But it was really nice. Thank Goodness I have Mom.. or I'd be totally un-cultured lol

As we sat for dinner I asked Mom.. "How many other people here slopped pigs & collected eggs right before coming to the Theatre?" He he I wouldn't have it any other way! The best of both worlds.

The boys went to Barry's this week-end. Last night Bethany picked them up and took them to the zoo where they were having a special Christmas lighting thing.. they had a blast! Then she took them to Craig's fav restaurant in the world.. Spaghetti Warehouse. They came home late.. tired & happy.

Yesterday I got the bright idea to make a cook book. When I got married, I thought that one of the best gifts I could have gotten would be a cookbook from my new mother-in-law filled w/ my hubby's fav meals. Things passed down thru his family and they he grew up with. So, I am starting mine now. I have e-mailed everyone in the family asking for recipes & stories to add. I found a printing house that will print the books, should be nice. But this is taking a lot of time.. Like I have nothing else to do. **geesh**

The boys are all home today... Charles it at work... All is well w/ the world.... so far ;)

Noisy Friday

The kids are out of school for the Christmas/New Years break... ALL of them are home.....
Lets see, that's 5 noisy kids in the house cause its wet & cold outside.. add to that.. 2 Great Danes in Heat.. And a Male Great Dane who really REALLY wants to be w/ the girls in heat lol Oh my!

I think I'm gonna keep the boys busy for awhile today baking cookies, I have Sable & Sara outside and Arlo inside.

I am excited.. Tomorrow Mom and I are going to The musical CATS in Houston. This was a gift from her. Whoo Hoo! a trip to the big city for some culture. lol

Craig Bryan & Ben go to Barry's for the week-end. Bethany is going to watch Chris , Brooke & the dogs. Charles found out he has to work all week-end :( poor guy is working so hard.

Tis the Season...

Well.... as I said earlier, I have Sable in the house because she is in heat. Well.. we were waiting for Sara to go into heat so we could breed her w/ a wonderful harlequin Dane. Arlo alerted us about sables impending heat and we took care of it. Well... I went to the store to buy feed this morning came home.. and found Arlo and Sara stuck together. grrrr

Sara gave us NO signs of being in heat. Arlo was paying NO attention to her.. she wasn't giving him a second look. NOTHING! Its ok for her to breed now.. but I really REALLY wanted it to be w/ the harlequin!!

So... at the moment I have a very VERY upset Arlo in the house... pacing.. whining... panting.. poor poor baby.

well now we wait... we just may have some valentines dady puppies.

I tell ya, never dull moment here.

Brilliant Sable

I must say.... Sable is absolutely Brilliant!
It was time for bed... off we went, she of course stuck to my hip, after all I may try to sneak away for some reason and that would be just terrible! lol
anyway... Charles was already in bed, our room was dark... Sable walked in.. went to the pile of wrapped presents and got hers out! lol I was so impressed I let her have the rawhide bone to chew on all night. Goofy smart dog.
after chewing up the bone.. she quietly made her way to the couch for the rest of the night. sneaky goofy smart dog.

Arlo howled all night (if you can call that sound a howl) Poor Poor Arlo.

The boys get out of school early today for the Christmas break, 2 weeks! oh my Lord give me strength...

No rain expected for today... a day to dry out till Sat and the rain they say will come then.

Wet Wet Wed

Today it rained.... No, rain really isn't the word for it... it POURED!! no less than 6" in an hour and a half! I actually had to drain the pool because it was over-flowing!

And of course this was the first day I had an appt in town in the past month! lol Brooke and I were on our way home when the worst hit. We made it home and guess who was wading thru the ditch? The pigs! grrrrr

They were very happy to see me though. I ran thru the mud and rain to lift the barb wire fencing to get em back in the yard... Saucy came right thru, Hot-Dog took a little longer.. but that was ok because it gave Saucy time to try to eat my shoe.

Then they were good little piggies and followed me in a single file line into the hen house.... The hens were NOT impressed, but the pigs were contained & dry, and the hens went to the goat side to sulk.

the pigs wanted to play.. so by the time the boys & Charles got home to fix the pen and move the oinkers, they had torn down part of the roost, eaten all of the eggs and turned all the bedding material (that's a good thing lol).

This venture gave us a chance to weigh Saucy, well sort of lol we got her into the crate then put the crate on a scale.. it put her at about 210 lbs. good , if its right.

Yesterday I noticed our male Dane Arlo acting funny w/ Sable... so I was watching them.. sure enough, he stands over her and barks and barks and barks.... she is going into heat. She let him mount her, but didn't allow him to "do the deed" thank God!

She is the one who just had a very hard birth in August! so we do NOT want her to do it again till next year. I couldn't believe she was even going into heat again so soon! So she is in here laying under my desk :) I just LOVE Danes! They are awesome foot warmers!
Not that we need one right now.. its 67 outside right now! Crazy weather!

Arlo is beside himself w/ grief... he wants his woman.. NOW!!! Danes are just the best dogs.. but they are TERRIBLE howlers!! Oh my, he sounds like a wounded moose! lol Charles actually had to park the 4-wheeler on the gate because Arlo was sooo determined to get out and get Sable he would have had it open by morning because the ground is so wet!
poor poor thing.. Geesh men......

Charles is just about as miserable as Arlo.. no.. NOT for the same reason lol. His back is really bothering him. I'm not sure what to do . poor baby. I think I'm gonna make him a round rice bag tomorrow and see if the warmth from it helps.

Tonight, the boys had left over chicken & noodles from lastnight, I made a big ole reuben sandwich and Charles made Hamburger and beans lol wow what a combo!

Everybody is in bed... I'm here typing w/ a mug of hot chocolate, and Sable at my feet.... nice...

Tuesday Morning

Poor Bryan... went to the dentist yesterday. He had to have a tooth pulled, a new one was growing in underneath it. She wants him to go back Sat, and she may pull the one next to it to make more room. Bryan is NOT impressed! Poor thing. I'm letting him stay home today, he is awful swollen and sore. I told him... this is one of those times that getting great grades pays off!! mom is more lax about letting him stay home from school ;)

Last night I had fun making the clues for the kids to have a scavenger hunt to find their big Christmas presents. I'm gonna have the poor things running all over the neighborhood! lol The way I see it, the kids have such a fun time opening their presents, and this year they are getting less... why not find some way to make it last as long as I can? It should be fun, we'll see.

I have decided to try an new venture here at Clover Country farms. I LOVE to garden, I spend quite a bit of $$ on plants each year... My green house, as ugly as it may be, is working GREAT!! Its just an old swing set frame draped w/ plastic and it has a 100watt light bulb in it for cold nights. The sun keeps it like the tropics in there!

The only problem I have had w/ it is.. not only do the plants love the warm place.. the fire Ants have moved in! grrr those little buggers pack a wallop!

anyway....

I am going to propagate plants to sell. this past year I grew catalpa trees and had good luck selling them. I have had great luck growing tomato plants, herbs, perennials etc... but my fav is trees.

I can root most trees from cuttings from my own yard ( or the yard of nice neighbors ;)) so the only $ I'll be out is the soil & pots. I already have 400 4" pots here, so I'm good for awhile. I figure I can sell most perennials & veggies for $3.95 per 6 pk. and I'll only have about $.80 in em.

And trees, it'll just depend on the tree and the size of it. The trees will have a longer turn-a-round time. but they require so little care and I have an easy time doing them. I have bought young trees for $15 - $35 each, and If I have less than $1 in em... that's a good profit margin!

I figure I'll start by trying it out small scale at the flea market.. that's just $12 for the week-end. and see how it goes.

Alert The MEDIA!!

Call the papers!!
Alert the Media!!
The Christmas tree is UP!!
Mom gave us her Tree. Its BEAUTIFUL!! But, it touched the roof! lol So there was no room for the angel on top (don't worry, she is still on the tree) Whatcha think of our Neon Clover a-top O' the tree? Pretty Spiffy dont'cha think?

Brooke is NOT impressed w/ the fact that I wont let her touch most things on the tree. Poor Poor Brooke.

Poor Charles is hurting awful badly today, he really over-did it yesterday w/ all the wood.

I got quite a bit done today, I planted two peach trees, got the tree done and more lights up, and ate my first radish out of the winter garden! yumm!

I have got to do something about my hens tho. They are not laying well at all! I have a light in the hen house to make up for lost daylight... I am feeding them like there is no tomorrow.. and I actually had to BUY eggs today!! OMG store-bought eggs! grrr I never realized how bland and washed out they were till I got my girls. Oh well, maybe for Christmas they'll give me a dozen.

Bryan is at Barry's tonight, he has a dentist appt in the morning. Craig worked on fixing up his rabbit hutches today, Ben played at the neighbors, and Chris helped me w/ ant mound finding & killing and the Christmas tree.

The boys are now in bed, Charles and I are sipping Root Beer floats by the tree. lovely evening. :)

Pooped out Sat Night

We had a looong day.
Made French Toast for breakfast. Then it was off down the road to cut more wood. Charles cut & split almost 2 cords today. Poor baby is already in bed asleep w/ a hurting back. But he sure got a lot done. The boys actually helped a lot to. It was nice to have everyone working side by side.

Barry finally came to take the boys to dinner tonight and drop off the freezer. So it was a Big porterhouse steak for my Lumberjack tonight.

Daffodil got out of the pen today (out the door behind me) and she had fun following Brooke and the boys around for a while.

I made a HUGE batch of Hot Chocolate mix today so the men had lots of hot stuff to drink while they worked.

Vicky and Charlie had their Christmas party tonight, so we have their kids here tonight. pop-Corn & hot Chocolate for the bunch and now they are sprawled out on the living-room floor watching Sponge Bob Square Pants fun fun fun lol

I think I'm gonna play in a No-Hit Backgammon tournie tonight on zone.com. I LOVE the no-hits. Speaking of that, it starts in 4 min! Gotta go......

Friday events

Brooke & I were gone all day! We got her some great new Pink Fuzzy slippers. Then we went to The airport to check out the freezer and see what else Vicky had to sell.

The freezer is GREAT! and its NOT a 220 like I thought, its a 110. HUGE sub-zero.. its great!!

I also picked up 5 new chairs for the kitchen, 4 bar stools, a HUGE colander ( its so big that I'm not sure it'll fit in my sink!), 2 commercial blenders (5 bucks a piece!), some big ladles, and the MOTHER -OF-ALL_Roasting Pans! its enormous! whoo hoo!, Oh and I got a bread butterer thingie that butters your bread lol that one was for fun. Right now I have the kids trying to guess what it is for lol they will NEVER get it.

I went shopping for dinner tonight but didnt have time to go do our BIG shopping.

Oh I also went and used my $100 gift cert from mom to go buy some new underthings. Pretty ones :).

Chili for dinner tonight.

Friday Mornin

It's early, it's chilly (28) outside, Got Charles off to work, got the boys off to school, all w/ hot chocolate and hand warmers, got the fire flaming, coffee brewing, baby sleeping, it's nice and quiet round here. what a great morning!

Today is going to be fun & busy. My neighbor is having a "garage" sale at the airport. I am looking to buy a HUGE stainless steel sub-zero freezer, and some new kitchen chairs. I'm sure I'll find lots more to buy... But I shouldn't. we'll see.

I talked to a few hunters I know about them renting out space in the freezer for deer meat or hog meat etc., I'd like to be able to have a few ppl do that to help recoup the money this monster will take to run! They thought it was a great idea. And it will sure help when Saucy goes to freezer camp and will give us yet another reason to buy a couple calves to help fill it up as well.

Today Brooke & I are going to Super-Wal-Mart to do our monthly BIG shopping. That's always fun. Its just great to walk into the pantry/laundry room/mud room and see the shelves packed w/ food.

I'm also gonna buy the boys some new thermoses so they can take hot chocolate w/ em on the bus, and would like to get some plastic for the old windows in this house to help hold in some heat.

The dogs LOVED their heat lamp! they never even came out of their shed to bark! lol I guess they thought it was better to stay warm. lol The goats stayed nice and cozy in the corner full of hay . The tarps we put up around their stall worked just fine. Now if I can just find a way to teach them that the "pretty Blue Tarp" is NOT a good thing to eat! lol The chickens seemed to weather the cold just fine. And Eeyore didn't even bother to come out of his hay burrow to say good morning today lol

I need to go cut more wood today (Whoo Hoo chain saw time!)
.. it's amazing how much I go through on a chilly day.

One more day that I am planning on getting the Christmas tree up. we'll see.

Note to self... Coffee Mate Gingerbread creamer is GREAT! mmmmm

Barry is coming out to take the boys to eat, so it'll be Charles and I (and Brooke of course) for dinner.

Busy Thursday

went to the feed store got pig feed, goat feed, chicken feed, dog food.. geesh! why do they ALL run out at once?!?!

The butcher told us that saucy should be bigger than she is now.. so we are gonna pour on the feed... lotsa sour corn (yuck!) and all the feed they can choke down.

Bought a heat lamp for the dogs, the thought of the small heater scares me. They could knock it over so easily, I'll just hang this lamp... and get a timer so its just on at night.

wrapped the water spikots (wow that looks spelled wrong!), emptied and rolled up the hoses, gave all the plants a good watering.

bought some antifreeze for the truck & Suburban.

brought in more wood.

made stuffed chicken breasts for dinner.. yummm

The fire popped and crackled all night. God I love a fire! Woke up this morning to ice on the windshields, frost on the ground.. and a nice warm house. :)

Honey and I found it hard to get out of the bed this morning tho. But we did....

Got him off to work, older boys ready for school. Craig is home "sick" this morning. I'm not sure how "sick" he is, but he's home non-the-less.

Its so funny watching the news... it gets cold out and everybody FREAKS! lol Would love to see some of these ppl in Pa!

Once again... no Christmas tree up. **sigh** today.. Today...
The men from the SBA were here yesterday, They wrote down everything we lost and all damages, I don't know what they'll do, but they wrote it down. Sure would be nice to get the roof & windows fixed for Christmas.

Grrrr, I just had to fly to the end of the road to take Chris to the bus. This is the 3rd time the boys have been running down the long driveway and the darn bus driver flies on by w/o even stopping. I have called each time. I called this time and she waited for me to drop him off. I mean... if she comes earlier than the normal time, I really don't think its asking too much for her to come to a stop! grrr.. OK done venting about our wonderful bus barn for now.

Got me a Gooood man!

After a long day.. hubby & I were laying in bed .. I was thinking.... a couldn't turn it off kind of thinking....
The dogs.....
its too cold for the dogs....
Yes, they have lots of bedding....
Yes they are in a building....
Yes there are three of them to lay together....
BUT its just too cold for the dogs!

Poor Poor Charles....
God-love-him....
goes out to put up a better door for them....
In the cold..
In the dark...
and then started taring the house apart to find a little heater for them.

Yes, he forgot my birthday... But the other 364 days of the year he shows me how lucky I am to have found him.

It's gonna be a cold/wet one tonight & tomorrow, so I went down the road and cut some firewood. I had a blast! lol Hubby was at work, so I got to play w/ the big chain saw all by myself :). For some reason he is sure I'll cut off my leg! Not a clue why! hmmm

I got the trailer hooked up to the 4-wheeler, and cut enough for the next few days. Two trips loaded down in all.

Isn't it funny how something so simple th can just make ya feel great?

I look at my porch full of fresh-cut firewood and think..

"I did That!"

"I will keep my family warm!"

"This is Mamas House!!"

"I am Mommy!! Hear Me ROAR!!"

lol

Another chilly night around our place. :)
Didn't get the Christmas Tree up yesterday, But going to do it today. The kids were upset that we didn't make it to the big Tree lighting in town so I am planning one for us tonight w/ Hot Cocoa and S'mores.

It is supposed to rain and be cold today, so I guess its the perfect time to clean house. hmmm Not my favorite thing to do.
We have a very small house, w/ way too many people in it. I swear that the items that get plopped down on every horizontal surface in my house breeds and multiplies!! I just can't seem to get a handle on the HUGE amount of "clutter" around here. I find I get all motivated, then get everything out, and get overwhelmed and putter out leaving a bigger mess than when I got the bright idea to "Purge & clean".
We plan to build a room in the attic for the boys someday..... that sure would help!
A man from the SBA is coming out today to look at the hurricane damage out here to see if we really need a SBA loan for repairs. well DUH! lol the big blue tarp on our roof should tell him something! lol

Called the butcher today to find out prices for getting the pigs done... These are the first pigs i have ever raised, so I had no idea how much it was.. I think its a pretty good deal.. he said
$25 = kill, skin, cut
.40 = per lb for pork chops, ribs etc meat.
.70 = per lb for pan sausage
$1.59 = per lb for smoked sausage
.99= per lb for smoked hams/bacon

he directed me to another butcher to get Hot Dog ready for a pig roast, as he doesn't scald/scrape, just skins.

Will call him today and see what I'm looking at for that.

Brrrrr! finally! Its chilly outside!!

It was 83 outside on Saturday, and Monday night it got down to 29! geesh no wonder everyone is sick!
we had a lot to do to get ready for the cold front....
-Put extra hay in the goat house for warmth.
-Extra hay out for Eeyore to burrow into.
-Extra hay for the big pigs
-3 bags of wood shavings in the dog kennel
-Charles cut up a lot of nice wood for the fire.
-Got all the seedlings into the greenhouse. (old swing set covered w/ a tarp and a light)

It was so nice to have the wood stove going all day. so nice and cozy.. i cooked a big ole pot of beans w/ bacon, ham. sausage all day .. mmm mmm mmm the house smelled so good! Brooke & I wore our fuzzy pink slippers, It was great! I have been waiting for soo long for these cooler days.

I really hope we get a few "good" freezes this year, we really need something to get these skeeters & creepy crawlies under control!

Football season is finally over. The boys did great! but BOY will it be nice to not have to run to football practice each night.. or early Sat games each week.

Now Christmas is on its way.. ((shudder))
I'm putting up the tree today.. maybe that along w/ the colder weather will help me feel more in the Christmas spirit.
I have most of My Christmas shopping done, its a good thing too! cause I'm outta $$! lol

The boys have been begging for sloppy Joes.. so I guess that'll be dinner tonight.