AL - Recording baby steps: Newest Addition

[AL]

What our news crew reported as a torndo was a waterspout.... shows how often we have tornadoes. We have had tornado warnings throughout the night, but we don't have any kind of alert system unless you go on weather.com or have a TV/radio on for the *BBEEEEEEEP* of a weather alert. All's well so far.

The winds have picked up a LOT... I love it, the dogs love it and Skye loves it. The chickens? Not so much. Except Pat, because I let her back out in the backyard.
I started to get a pick of the trees bent over, but it is hard to get a photo of the wind

 

[AL]

Wow... evidently we haven't really had the remnants of TS Lee yet, should be coming through over the next hour or so. Wind is gusting over 40mph, my metal windchime was almost horizontal. Even the teenage roos are in the shelters. No rain, or not much.... so I sit outside and enjoy it!

 

[Wifezilla]

stay safe

 

[Farmfresh]

How are things this morning? Did you get blown away??

 

[AL]

Thanks... no damage at all. I loved every minute of it!! When it rained I sat in the alleyway of the barn, but otherwise I just walked in the wind, sat in the wind... you get the idea. I think our highest gust was 57 or something. Over the weekend we had 9" of rain but fortunately it was a slow steady rain and had time to soak in or runoff. We aren't really prone to flooding right around here anyway. The wind did clear out a lot of dead little limbs from the pecan trees and , much to Skye and the chickens delight, blew out some leftover pears as well.
This morning it was 62*!!!! I wanted to jump up and shout! And they are wanting the lows to be in the mid-upper 60s all week! WOOOT!
So I am planning to get out and try to find my garden again this weekend. I don't know if I can run the big tiller yet but I can mow and clean up around the blueberry bushes (that have had a sudden growth spurt... interesting they are growing now while BUDDY is gone). If I can run the tiller without discomfort I'll just do a piece at a time. Hopefully the cool weather will hangout for a little while and I can rake and clean after tilling. I have so much to do out there after neglecting that lot for the summer.


In the mood to add photos today ....

I love clouds. They grab my attention wherever I am .....
This is the leftovers of Lee

After that passed

Random thunderheads forming back in August

The Roos
This is the Barred Rock / EE roo that is so fancy. You can barely see it but he has golden feathers near his tail. His tail feathers are kind of thin... I was trying to move them to their shelter Sunday night, it was raining, thundering, lightning and this guy started to slip by me. I grabbed him, but he lost some feathers in the process. He is ending up to be kind of a small,slight roo.

This roo is huge! At 6 months he is taller and bulkier than Poppy. He is also the one that grooms the other 2 young roos.

This is my pretty boy.

And it isn't a photo post without Rio.
Poor dog, he'll be so humiliated I put this on the 'Net. Diva bosses him around like he is a 5lb Chihuahua

He's such a goofball. And the more you laugh at him the crazier he gets! I hope in the coming months to get him to a Canine Good Citizen test and start him towards being a visiting therapy dog for the children's hospital and the nursing homes. He has a little more maturing to do though

 

[AL]

Playing outside today... 77*

Came in for lunch and found this interesting.... check it out honey folks (y'all probably already know this but humor me )
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-...ml?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl8|sec1_lnk3|93243

 

[AL]

I am going to look at this on Friday afternoon / Saturday morning. There is some rust on the hitch so I am sure there is rust elsewhere, so I am taking my dad with me. Overall I think it looks great. '05 2 horse bumper pull. YAY

I have cash for it if she'll take my offer.... but it is using not only the money I have been trying to save for a trailer, but also what I set aside for Rio's 2nd knee surgery, so I hope he does ok for a couple of months! Keeping him inside and away from possums! I have to use some of the money to build a shed for it so it can be out of the weather, and since my dad is almost 78 I am thinking it will be me building it and hiring some help. Yikes

 

[JRmom]

Isn't this weather the BEST!!!!! It's only 81 degrees here. The trailer looks nice - hope the rust is not too bad.

 

[AL]

It warmed up some today, but the humidity is still low, so it is liveable!

This day has been mostly a bust. I had a couple of appointments this morning, then went over to the bank and withdrew cash to buy the horse trailer because I just KNEW it was going to be perfect for me. The trailer is close to the little town named after my mom's grandad's family, so she brought along some flowers to put on her mother and daddy's graves. Well, my mom is pretty much strictly wheelchair bound. She can get from one chair (manual) to the other (motor) but other than that she can't use her legs much ... shredded her knees many years ago and they are paying her back now, plus she is extremely overweight.
Anyway, she was going to move from her motor chair to the seat of the van because it was about an hour ride, and she fell in the van. So there's my 78 yr old dad, me 3weeks post op from abdominal surgery, and my morbidly obese mom on the floor needing help up. So we drove to the fire department Those good ol' boys came out and fussed over my mom like she was a skinny, bikini-clad 20something. They did get her back into her chair so we thanked them profusely and were on our way.
Well, after nearly an hour's drive we get to the horse trailer ... and it just won't work. It is a small 2 horse , for small horses evidently. Buddy could probably do fine, but my big mare wouldn't be able to get in without me moving the center divider. Strike 1. There was a lot of surface rust - the kind you sandpaper, spray rustoleum and repaint- but the issue there was that the frame under the trailer was pretty rusted. My dad said he thought it would have to be sandblasted. Now I know some folks, but it would still cost me a couple hundred to get the trailer blasted and painted. Strike 2
The death blow landed when she refused to come down any at all. She said she needed the money to pay for school. I don't know how that trailer sitting in her yard is going to help with tuition, but more power to her. So now I am once again desperately seeking a horse trailer. You would think with people so broke they are turning their horses loose in the state forest, they would be selling trailers too! *sigh*
(ETA - my cousin said he went to a cattle auction with a buddy, they hauled an empty trailer in case they saw something they wanted. When they came out there were 2 horses tied in the trailer. This was more south of me)

The silver lining was the trip to Robinsonville. I think I saw a house there LOL and there is a tiny little church with the cemetary. My mom put flowers on the graves of her folks, then we went around looking at different headstones and she told me stories of family (like the little girl who died from blood poisoning when her arm got caught in the cane mill while she was helping feed the cane into it... she was 4yrs old; the veteran from the Spanish American War; the doctor who served in Korea and then came home to die). We looked at the old old graves. She told me about the fenced, grassy field next to the cemetary. It was a smallish lot, but neat as a pin. In the 20's there was a flu epidemic that killed just numbers of babies and toddlers - they were wrapped in blankets and buried in that field with no markers... so the church tended it as a cemetary, with the same respect.
On the way out of the cemetary we were going to go along the fenceline that borders with a pasture and my mom got stuck. I had to pull her and her big motor chair out of the hole. I am so sore and my sides really hurt, like somebody kicked me in the ribs.

Tomorrow's agenda is only for shopping for gym shoes and then setting up to try my hand at raised beds. I think I can get some cabbage in in time.

 

[Farmfresh]

If it is any consolation I would not buy a two horse trailer ever again. I have had to deal with too many horses that hate to ride in one to ever fight another battle.

Horses choice? An ugly old slat sided stock trailer every time! Besides that you can use a stock to haul wood, hay, cattle or other animals and even furniture if you ever have to move. Give me a cheap old stock trailer every time!