Almost A New Year

The Holidays are over and A New Year is almost here. Hard to believe that another year is over. It seems that 2011, went by in a whirlwind storm. I can hardly remember what all went on. Since I'm thinking about it now, I am going to reflect on this past year.

Everyone had a birthday of course. The kids are getting older. This year the kids at home turned 4, 7, 12 and 14. The other two are now 22 and 26 years old, with growing families too. So far, I have six grandchildren. Linola has 4 and Jaymon has two. I will be getting another grandchild in the new year. I hope its a girl.

Timber is still the one who loves and cares for all the horses and other farm animals. Both Timber and Linda still love the theatre and their brother Jesse is starting to like it too. He recently played Tiny Tim in the community theatre. The girls were in the play too. A whole month of practice and 11 public shows later Jesse found out he liked the theatre.

Bobby is still working out at the Morton Salt Mine. He really likes this job. Its been almost 4 years now since he started and he has been in a number of positions and jobs. He is now in school for machinist and is working 12 hour days seven days a week most of the time. The holidays gave him a little break and some R & R.

I'm still at home with all the kids. Schooling, Farming and Running the kids to activities.

Our summer was a hot & dry one. We started in May with 90 degree temps and before June was over we were in the 100's and not one drop of rain. It stayed like that for 88 straight days getting has hot as 118. We did finally get a little break in Sept. because the temp dropped to the upper 90's, two weeks later it was in the lower 80's and we were freezing. Amazing how we got use to the heat. Because of the extreme summer we didn't get much done, except keep some animals alive. We could not keep our garden up and I barely kept the fruit trees alive. I did loose some shrubs and berry plants. The lawn died too. We had to use our rationed water for the animals and let the plants go. There will be a lot of yard cleaning in the spring, because we have lost a number of large trees due to the drought.

2011 is a year for the record books and a lesson in survival for us. We are looking forward to a new year and a new season. Looking for some new experiences and memories too. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and until then here is a couple pictures of my children and grandchildren.

In this picture is Timber, Jaymon, Me, Linola, Linda and Jesse in front

In this one is Aden, Faith, Me, Jasmine and Jeremiah, AJ and Avery

End of Summer?

Wow! What a summer we have had. I was beginning to wonder if the heat would ever end. Texas has had extreme temperatures this year and it has really been difficult to deal with. Added to the extreme heat we are in a drought.

Where we live in Texas, we have had over 80 days of 100+ temperatures. To put that in perspective, the normal number of days at or above 100 degrees is 7. Yes, only 7 days. We have had 11 to 12 times that amount. Needless to say, my children did not spend much time outside.

Added to the heat was extreme drought. Normal rain fall for this area to date would be around 30". I believe we have had a total of 12" of rain. Again, needless to say, ALL plants are dead and some trees may not make it.

Last night we had a light shower (I mean "light"! didn't even moisten the dust in the rain gauge) and some cool winds from the north. Todays high temp was 84 degrees. Wow. Our low this morning was 64 degrees, that is a whooping 40 degree drop and we needed jackets this morning. LOL

I hope our highs stay near the low 80's for the next three months. My kids need some outdoor time. It wouldn't hurt to have a little rain with that too.

Praying for our firefighters who have been fighting an outbreak of wild fires since the Labor Day weekend.

Garden is growing

Our youngest sitting in the squash patch. We are starting to get fresh veggies.

Here is the first Cantaloupe. Only one right now, but the vines are covered in flowers.

We found a handful of green beans. I'm so glad that we planted a second round of bean plants

We also found two tiny watermelons. Looking forward to eating those

Welcome to the Farm

Our family would like to welcome two new baby turkeys to the farm. These will be the large Broad Breasted Bronze Turkeys. My son has named them "cheep" and "cheep cheep" The rest of us have named them Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. LOL

Yes they will end up in the freezer come fall, but for now they are so cute. Aren't they?


Oh, I forgot to mention that our farm animals live in the house for the first couple weeks here. This picture was taken on my desk.

Container garden

Even though we have the large garden, some things just do better in containers. Like lettuce and radishes. Here are my radishes growing in their container. Looks like they are about ready.

It only takes about four weeks to grow radishes.

After picking a handful, it does look like its time to harvest all of them and replant a new batch.

My kids found this bullfrog on our property and were having a great time playing with it. Usually we find toads or tree frogs.


This frog was fun because of his long legs.