My Favorite Re-Run ...

As we wrap Up another year, I am grateful to have my Mantra to fall back on for a final post for 2009. I must admit to being in a bit of a slump and having a hard time coming up with something new to write about. Fortunately, this is one of my all-time favorite posts anyway and I don't mind sharing it once again...

GONNA BE A  BEAR...

 In this life, I am a woman.

In my next life I'd like to come back as a bear.
When you're a bear you get to hibernate...

nothing but sleep for six months.
I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid.
I could deal with that.

When you're a girl bear, you birth your children, who are the size of walnuts, while you are sleeping...

and wake up to practically grown-up, cute cuddly cubs.
 I could deal with that.

If you're a momma bear, everyone knows you mean business.
You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too...

I could definitely deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate expects you to wake up growling.
 He expects you to have hairy legs and excess body fat.
I could deal with that.

Yup..

gonna be a bear.

DREAM says....

"Me Too!"

Let the Good Times Roll...

Oh, my Goodness!  For a dog that was SO very unhappy with the arrival of our new puppy, Bellamica has made a complete turn-around!  These two are absolutely nuts!  They play

and play...

and play...

and play some more!

Sable even got to come with me on Christmas Day and Pam took this picture of her playing  with my youngest Grandson, Nick:

I don't know about the dogs or the kids

but I'm exhausted!!

DREAM says...

"Things are pretty peacefull out here, Mom.  If you need a little peace and quiet, you know where to find me!"

I may just have to take you up on that, Dreamer! 

;-)

It was a White Christmas in the Bluff Country...

For the first time in her life, my Beautiful Baby Girl wasn't  with her 'family' for Christmas this year.  She's spending the Holidays with her Fiance and his family in Loiusiana.  We missed her VERY much but spoke to her a number of times and thought about her often.  I know that Katie is missing not only her family but the beautiufl snow that abounds in the Bluff Country.  This is for her:

Is it just my imagination or does Dazzel look quite pleased with herself?

I miss the colorful flowers around the chicken barn during the winter months, but the snow has it's own charm...

Katie's favorite spot in my backyard:

I'm hoping to see Katie and Carter sitting there in FEBRUARY!

Sable seems oblivious to the sheep!

But she LOVES the snow!

She and Bella have become good friends!

Sable's impersonation of a Cat:

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas.  Icy roads kept me home Christmas Eve but I was able to make it into town to spend time with Pam & Karl and my three Grandsons at Ben's house on Christmas Day.  It was so fun to get together with them!  As I said, we all missed Katie but were happy that she was able to spend the Holiday with the  man that she loves with all her heart!

DREAM says...

"We hope you had a wonderful Christmas too!

Mom says the New Year is either going to be an incredible year of new beginnings and growth or one of great loss.  I'm voting for new beginnings (again!) and growth!"

We Wish You a MERRY CHRISTMAS

A Christmas filled with

LOVE!

(sheep pictures tomorrow ~ maybe even later today.)

I  PROMISE!!

;-)

When Times Get Tough...

Set Eggs!

I had kind of a hard time this weekend. 

Not sure why but everything just seemed to catch up to me.

So, I set 7 more MFC eggs in my incubator!

I get so much pleasure just watching my chicks and it gives me something to look forward to. 

I almost couldn't  even do this because I couldn't get the 'bator up to 99.5 degrees.  It wouldn't go past 98.7 and that's not warm enough to hatch the eggs!  I was about to give up and just accept that my house is too cold (50 degrees) for my incubator to maintain the correct temperature, when 'Doc' suggested that I put a light next to the bator.  The lightbulb, next to the bator didn't give off enough heat but it  gave me the idea to do this:

I put the incubator IN a box (with the top left open) with a lamp with a 75 watt bulb above the box.

I even taped aluminum foil over the top opening of the lamp shade and raised the flaps on the box to trap as much warm air as possible. 

It worked!  The temp IN the box is 66 degrees and the incubator is holding steady at a perfect 99.5 degrees farenheit!  We'll have chicks in 20 days...

DREAM says...

"Be Still my Heart!!!"

Knock it off, Dreamer...

What's LUCK Got To Do With It...

Mom didn't win the random drawing for the nest box give away at the Life On A Southern Farm Blog.

The "winners" of the drawing for the free Hen Pals Nestboxes were  Chickenboys and  Donna, of Schoonover Farm .   They're names were  drawn from hundreds of entries from people longing to own one of those awesome, hand-crafted nest boxes made by the  "FarmMan" in Georgia.  They were LUCKY.

Typically, Mom doesn't have a lot of "luck".  In fact, she's not a big believer in luck.  Mom thinks she has to MAKE good things happen.  That is why she campaigned SO hard ~ heck, she even recruited ME to help out with her campaign ~ to win one of the nest boxes.   She asked friends that read her blogs to "vote" for her to win a nest box ~ and they DID!  Her daughters both voted for her and asked their friends to do so as well.  Mom probably had more entries in that drawing than anyone!  But her name still wasn't drawn.  So much for Luck.

Fortunatley, there are other factors that effect the outcome of events.  Factors like generous and caring Farmers/busnessmen who can relate to people who are struggling to make ends meet.  People like the FarmMan and his wife who didn't sell over 400 nest boxes this year because they were "lucky", but because they worked hard and created and marketed an excellent product!

No, Mom didn't 'get lucky'.  But the FarmMan and Pam were so impressed by her efforts to win one of their fabulous nest boxes and so appreciated Mom's abiltity to get the word out there about their awesome products  that they decided to GIVE her one, anyway!  Not the single-hole, standard size nest boxes that were being given away in the drawing either.  No  sireee!  They are giving Mom the three-hole BANTAM nest box that she has been drooling over for months!

Mom may not have the best of "Luck", but she's sure got great friends and wonderful kids!

She's got this beautiful 'farm' in the Bluff Country and Me and all my friends.  And she's got those stupid chickens with their really cool nest boxes!

Good Job, Mom!

Lucky chickens....

Well said, Dreamer!  I do want to thank Dream and everyone else who "campaigned" for me to win one of these fantastic nest boxes.  My wonderful daughters ~ who even posted on their Facebook pages! ~ and my loyal blog readers who 'voted' for me on the Southern Farm  Blog.  Thank You from the bottom of my heart!   And of course, I want to thank the FarmMan and his lovely wife, Pam for their generosity and all the hard work that they do to make quality products for our feathered friends.

Happy Holidays!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Except, I'm not Dreaming!

We got over 17 inches of snow last night and today it's blowing like crazy.

This was the view out my dining area window ~ looking out to the chicken barn in my back yard, this morning.  If you look closely, you can see the huge overhang of snow hanging off the roof out  the top windows. 

The window in my bathroom looks out over the back pasture.  The snow was plastered against that side of the house.  I truly felt "snowed in".

Bella was a little nervous about the snow piled higher than the door knob on the door to the back yard from the garage!

As I walked out to check on the sheep, it looked like they were pretty well snowed in as well!

The reality was there is a big drift in front of their barn but the snow was all blown away by the door and around the right side of the building.  Lucky sheep!

I only trudged out to Zorro's breeding group because Dream and her friends were all in the Big Barn and had plenty of hay for another day.

And it's REALLY cold out there!

The breeding group is still getting GRASS CLIPPINGS  that I saved from last summer.  They LOVE them!

Dilemma says...

"Uh-huh.  Yup.  That's right, we DO!"

I hope that everyone is safe and warm, where ever you are!

Tomorrow ~ DREAM in the snow...