Merry Christmas to All My Blog Buddies!!!

We'll be Christmasing for the next few days at least, but I wanted to check in and wish you all a wonderful season of home, family, friends, giving, peace, joy and love for the Savior as we remember His Holy Birth. God gave us the best gift of all - His precious Son, and this gift was totally free - just because of His great love while we were still sinners!  It's almost too much to comprehend!  Rejoice, Rejoice and praise His Holy Name!!!  Sending my love and best wishes to you all for a spectacular Christmas and a Happy New Year!

And Merry Christmas from Alice, the washing machine cat!!!

And it's a chilly 78 degrees here today!!!

PS - Edited to add - NOPE IT'S 81 DEGREES HERE!!!

Cats, Christmas and Tractor Girl

Guess what I did Saturday afternoon?  You'll never guess.  It won't be that exciting to you, but I had fun.  We had cleared some big piles of old rusted hay rings, old fencing and aluminum gates, etc., hauled all that off to the bulk metal place and gotten our little pile of money.  Then what was left was a jagged, holey and hilly landscape behind the barn - not huge, but unsightly and you couldn't drive on it easily.  So, hubby was manning the burning pile, and me?  Well, ME was manning the tractor and doing some leveling.  Moving dirt from here to there - there's a trick to handling the bucket and I think I've got it!  It's sorta fun!

None of my friends know how to run a tractor and bucket and brush hog and box blade but I do. I'm sure alot of you people do, too, especially those of you that have a farm or ranch. Imagine this - It was 65 degrees and the wind was blowing. The husband was cleaning up and piling up stuff for the burning pile (and there was alot of stuff), loading metal onto the big trailer, and here I am in my capris and flip-flops and a cap driving the tractor around dragging the bucket across big mounds of dirt to level it, picking up big loads of dirt and dropping it in the gulleys. Husband said I did a good job. Sorry I don't have a picture.

Guess I'm a farm girl now - cuz I can man the tractor  AND  I can operate that tractor in capris and flip-flops! Now how's that!  Actually, I think probably some of my friends and family think I've absolutely lost my mind, but that's okay - I'm doing exactly what I've wanted to do since I was a small kid. I'm still plotting when I'm gonna get my chickens.  I'm determined to have chickens in the spring. I'm gonna get my dad and me and him are going to get my coop built. I think I've about worn the husband down into letting me get some.

Went to the Farm/Ranch/Feed store Saturday, too, to pick up some more gopher traps. It was customer appreciation day, and Joe Bob had cooked two huge cauldrons of beef stew! Hot and mild - with big man-sized chunks of beef and vegetables, and a good seasoned broth with jalapenos and a touch of chili pepper.  MMMMMAAAAAANNNNN!  I think Joe Bob makes the best stew I've ever eaten!  I ate two bowls full! With crackers and cookies and soft drinks!  I love customer appreciation day at the Feed Store! And Joe Bob's stew!

Wanna see sumpin' purdy?

My roses are popping! They look great right now.  Thought you folks in the blizzard zone might like to see some flowers right about now...  It's just now starting to get cold. We've had only a couple of freezing nights or just below and the flowers are still thriving.  Here's another...

The window box is full of petunias.  The flower beds could use some attention, and the yard actually needs mowing one more time before real winter sets in.  Cain't even see the edge of the bed right now! The dadgum clover junk starts growing when it gets cool and tries to take over.  Gotta squash that quick!

I've done a good raking once already, but will have to do it again. The catawba trees are dropping their foot long bean pods and they ARE messy.  And they'll keep adroppin' 'em til spring.

Not much Christmasing going on yet.  We are having some renovations done at our house and so it puts a damper on trying to decorate - we're getting a new roof and gutters due to hail damage.  We had the outside painted, and next is the inside... May be putting the tree up on Christmas eve!!!

New topic - I'm looking for a new home for my kitty, Alice.  I've tried every way I can think of to keep her. She's having to stay in the house all the time now due to Jasper.  He beats her up if she steps one little toe out of the door.  He's been neutered, and Alice spayed, but we think he's just being territorial and agressive towards her.  He beats her up and he's so mean to her.  Otherwise, he is the sweetest and nicest cat you'd ever meet.  The other reason is that my allergies to Alice are making me sick.  I thought I was gonna have two nice outside cats, but I can't let her out or...

THIS is where she stays!  Up on the roof!  And in this weather, I just can't let her up there.  Jasper can't follow her up the big oak tree - he's too heavy, but he CAN get on the roof and chase her.  I'm scared she's gonna fall off.  AND she's not being a mouser/gopherer.  Jasper catches mice and gophers all the time! He's such a great farm cat - and HE is what I was looking for.  He eats his kills - all except the heads - he leaves them around for us to find them.  Ugh.  I've contacted family and friends and hopefully I'll be able to find a good home for Alice.

Hope your holiday busy-ness is fun and Christmasy and cozy! I appreciate you all more than you know!

A Christmas Meme

A meme found at *Chocolatechic's:*  I'm joining in the fun - found this meme at Vee's place.  Should be fun to see what everyone's answers will be!  Be sure and go by their places and see their answers, too!

articlesbase.com

1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider?
        Apple Cider!
2. Turkey or Ham?
        Greenberg's Hickory Smoked Turkey  (and ham, too)
3. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree?
         We go back and forth actually...
4. Decorations on the outside of your house?
          You Bet!  Lights, vintage sled, ribbon - we have to, we never have Christmas snow!
5. Snowball fights or sleddin’?
           Snowball fights IF we had snow...  altho sleddin' would be so fun, too!
6. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping?
           Sorry, not much - unless I can get the family to go and we all just hang out, walk around & window shop and piddle during the  holidays & stop for coffee and dessert or something! Sometimes we go and look at Christmas lights together!          
7. Favorite Christmas song?
           "O Holy Night" - strikes absolute AWE in me and makes me weep  at the miracle of Jesus' birth and His holiness come down to man....  I can't even come up with a worth description of the image in my head. I only want to fall down before Him.  I'm utterly speechless....
8. How do you feel about Christmas movies?
            Mostly they're silly, except for the classics like "It's a Wonderful Life", the Bing movies, altho I do love both versions of "Miracle on 34th Street",
9. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music?
             Wait til after Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving has it's own special blessings to be enjoyed - don't rush through it.
10. Stockings before or after presents?
             After - that's when all the goodies and gags send us into fits of laughter!
11. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you?
             Go to mom & dad's house (same town) until they're ready to let somebody else host it!
12. Do you read the Christmas Story? If so when?
             Christmas Eve - by candlelight and twinkle lights
13. What do you do after presents and dinner?
              Sack out on the couches, watch Christmas movies, reminisce with loved ones, visit friends, call loved ones that couldn't come that year.  Have another dessert!
14. What is your favorite holiday smell?
               Pies cooking, leaves and wood burning, the fresh cut evergreens, spice candles, my mama's perfume...
15. Ice skating or walking around the mall?
              Would rather be ice skating, but we have no ice and no skating rink...  ;(
16. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas day?
               Christmas day!  Maybe just oonnnnneeee little bitty one Christmas Eve! Just cuz we can't stand it!
17. Favorite Christmas memory?
               From my childhood - the year I got my new 'big-girl' bike!  More recently - My first Christmas with my new husband (we didn't have any money and we gave each other one small gift) and the early years of my babies' faces on Christmas morning!
18. Favorite Part about winter?
               Snuggling in and being with family & friends in a warm cozy house, having all my kids home
19. Ever been kissed under mistletoe?
               Of course, haven't you???

(It's an easy copy and paste.)  Be sure and let ChocolateChic and Vee know you participated!  And me, too! I wanna see your answers, too!  Have fun!!!

Life on a Southern Farm's Giveaway!!!

Hey, people - quick post here til tomorrow maybe.  Just wanted to let you chicken people know about Georgia Farm Woman Pam's giveaway on her blog, Life on a Southern Farm.  Her husband makes the most fabulous chicken nesting boxes I've ever seen and she's giving away one of 'em for free!  Cluck on over there and check 'em out!  She has a very cool blog, too, by the way.  And you really should do some reading over at her place - they have the neatest farm and some very cute critters!  OH, AND TELL HER I SENT YOU!

Walk in the Woods...

Like to take a little walk with me?  I  usually walk around the farm through the woods for exercise most days when the weather is nice.  The trees are just about peak right now in color altho the leaves are falling fast and the wind is blowing.  Just grab a little jacket and come along with me on my walk...

Not sure what kind of tree this is along the fence line but it always turns this brilliant orange color. Let's turn along the woodline now. Okay?

I love how the leaves are strewn across our path...Look at the colors...  I wonder what's just around that bend in the path up there???

Up a little hill we must go.  Are you out of breath yet?  Let's keep going!

Oh lookie here!  Here's the turtle pond!  The pond is down - it's been so hot and dry this summer and we haven't caught up on our rainfall this year yet... Keep an eye out along the bank for snakes!

There's some kind of marker there on that tree - this must be the way!  Thank goodness!  I sure don't wanna get lost in the woods!

Deer antlers on this tree!  Wow.  Do you think maybe the Indians that used to inhabit this area put them there for some kind of marker???  Maybe!

The woods smell dark and dank and earthy and moist.  Let's keep going...

Oooo - I don't guess these are edible at all but they're kind of interesting-looking, aren't they?

Don't go through this way! There's an old gulch and creek down there over that little ridge.  Might be dangerous, might be snakes!  Sometimes the water's runnin' high!

But it looks like today it's running dry but you can see the water line on the trees.  There are lots of animal tracks in that sand there.

Here's a hickory nut tree that we moved from the deeps woods to this area.  I sure hope it makes it.  It was being swallowed up by all the trees and couldn't get any sun at all.

Looks like we're getting to end of our walk and we gotta kinda go around this big ole sweetgum tree.  It has a big hole in the front here that's sometimes full of water.

Look at this gorgeous, huge Hickory Nut Tree!  We've got several and they turn the most beautiful golden color in the fall!



Who's that there lurking in the woods with his chainsaw!  Hope there's not gonna be any funny business going on with that saw!

And here we are back at the farm house and the barn.  Thanks for going on my walk with me! Come back any time!!!

Thanksgiving 2010 at Momma's House

Ok, let's just admit it. I did BAD on posting my thanksgivings every day.  I had high hopes, but life was just too busy.  Oh, I have counted them and recounted them in my head, but they never made it to cyberspace. I'll try again next year.  We DID have a fabulous Thanksgiving. My brother drove here all the way from North Carolina - alone - his MIL is in bad health, and my brother's wife had to stay home and care for her. My sister came with her family, and all my kids were here. We had Thanksgiving at my folk's house.  As long as Mom wants to do it, that's what we'll do. Of course we all help her out with the food, etc., but the big get-togethers are at her house.

I have a few pics I'll show you...

above

My niece Jaci, me, Hayley, mom, my sis Lisa, and niece Taylor...

My sister Lisa, Me, and Mom

My oldest, Adam, and Dan, my brother.

 This is my brother, Dan!  He drove down to Texas straight thru so he could be with us!  I miss him so much!

Hayley and her Mema ...(My mom & dad always have invited Tony's folks over...)

Around the table, dad, mom, Lisa, Jaci, Tony, Adam (Taylor's boyfriend hiding), Taylor and her Dad & my BIL Wayne (Lisa's husband)

My Adam, Mema (Tony's mom), Tony and Hayley

Daddy attacking that Ham!  He had already done the turkey by the time I got my camera out.

 Hayley made the coconut pie this year - we burned one crust (cuz I wasn't watching it...) Grreat pie, honey!

Chickenfoot, anyone???  We had a tournament - I did win, once! That's all!  And you see my glass of tea sitting there?  Welp, I gave it a good wallop and sent it flying all over the table and my Mom!  Now, we would have all reckoned that it'd be my sister that would do that, but this time, it was ME!  Lisa, if you're reading, I love you, you graceful gazelle!!!  tee-hee!

And lastly, but certainly not leastly - Josh and Bug.

We had so much fun!  I can't wait for Christmas now - but I really think Thanksgiving and Christmas should be about 6 months apart so we can rest up in between holiday times!!!  Hope YOURS was a great as mine!  See you soon!

Keep your dress down!

Giving Thanks November 19

I have given up trying to post Thanksgivings every single day.  That's what I had planned on doing, but life gets in the way!

I had to go back to work 8 years ago.  Before I went back to work, I usually spent a day a week with my parents, one or the other or both.  We'd just visit and have lunch, Dad and I would work on a project I needed help with, Mom and I would go shopping or just piddling around.  One of my goals since cutting back to 3 days of work a week was to go back to spending time with my parents while I still have them and while they're still in good health.

 
Today I did that.  I spent the entire day with my mom.  Daddy was busy getting something fixed on their 5th wheel, and so Mom and I went to town.  I even took her to the DPS office to renew her driver's license.  She told me I didn't have to go but I told her she'd be bored waiting if I didn't go with her.  She laughed and said Yes she would!  We did that, we went to the Christmas store ( I could spend all morning there!), we ate at Spring Creek BBQ, went to a Christmas bazaar at a local farm and finished up at Ross and Beall's.  I took her home around suppertime.  We just had the BEST DAY!

I'm just SO thankful to have my mother.  She's an angel, I do believe, and I've been so blessed to have her in my life.  She and dad have always tried to lead their kids and grandkids in the ways of the Lord and be good examples to us.  I'm also thankful to be able to have time to spend with them again.  We've got lots of catchin' up to do! They're getting older - heck, we all are!  I intend to do this quite often. Mother has missed me.  I'm their only kid close enough to do this with.  What a wonderful day.  I think it did more for me than it did for mother!  Thank you God for my mama and daddy!

Giving Thanks November 16

Hello, my friends... Sorry I've been out of town and I have let my Giving Thanks posts go this past week. Shame on me.  I thought I'd have access to a computer and I could keep up, but I didn't.  So let me catch up now!

I am SO thankful this week for the close relationship that I have with my seester. I've been to see her this week!  She is 3 years younger than I - when we were young, we used to fight alot.  I was bossy, I was older, I always got blamed for our fusses, and she was taller, thinner and prettier than me!  She was in the Tyler Junior College Apache Belles and was their poster child because she was so beautiful. I wish I had a photo of her from back then. You'd all agree with me, too!  I was always SOOOOO proud of her, and Still AM!

As we got older, got married and started having our kiddos, we became closer and closer.  She is my best friend.  Is it hard for those of you who have more than one sister to pick just one of them to be closest to? I've always wondered.  Since I only have one sister, I guess I don't have to worry about it. 

We share everything.  She's been there for me through all my ups and downs, and I've been there for her.  Sometimes, we'll both pick up the phone and call each other at the same time.  Same thing with email.  We think about each other at the same time.  It's neat to be together with the family or friends and if someone says something funny or wierd or odd, we both look at each other.  She knows what I'm going to say before I say it, and I know her thoughts as well.  What a blessing she is and has been in my life!  Don't know what I'd do without her!  I thank God for her daily - we're sisters and best friends!  What could be better than that!  Coming from the same family and having the same 'baggage', the same parents, the same beliefs and ways of doing things gives us a bond that is so strong.  My daughter looks more like my sister than she does me. And that's okay.  We use to go places all together, and everyone assumed that my daughter belonged to my sister!  Here's a photo of my beautiful sister and her daughter...

This weekend, I am also thankful that the colors of Autumn are finally here!  The colors popped over the last day or two.  Since I've been traveling, I've been able to see a myriad of color up and down the highway and no two colors are alike!  God's been swishing through with His big ole paintbrush and dabbing a little color here and there, and it's just gorgeous!

Ok, I'm tired, my friends.  I'm still so tired, but I have to go to bed  Maybe tomorrow I can post more. I'm just absolutely exhausted.  Hope you all have a wonderful week and a blessed week.



Giving Thanks November 6

Today, I've spent a simple day doing regular simple things - routine, family, laundry, cooking, spending time with family.  I'm thankful for simple things - all the usual things of life, the things we do every single day.  I feel thankful because I know of people around me that don't have those things.  My husband works with a lady about my age that has absolutely NO family. NO ONE.  A home, a family, clothes that belong to my family that I wash, my hungry family that I have the privilege to cook for, ways to help my husband out here on the farm.  I am so happy to have all these busy, routine things to do because it means that I have a family, a home and a wonderfully blessed life that I'm living.  I feel so sorry for my husband's co-worker who has no one to wash for, no one to cook for, no one to spend the holidays with, no one to share one's hopes and dreams and children with. Simple things - that's what I'm thankful for today...

Just a few little simple things that I love.  There are so many more that I could list. It's the little things that mean so much.

November 5 Giving Thanks

 I LOVE this man ........

Today, I'm thankful for this man.  This big, goofy, silly husband of mine of 32 years.  He's been a wonderful husband to me. I could not do without him.  I've given him alot of grief over the years, and he's always been right here beside me - good or bad.  We've lived alot of life together, been through alot, loved alot, raised our kids together and we both have a strong faith in God and His power to see us through anything this life throws our way.  He has always been home with me and the kids.  When everybody else's husbands are hunting, fishing or playing golf or poker with their friends, he's been home with me and the kids.  Our children were his hobby, his past-time, and his joy.  He's coached soccer for all three for several years apiece, T-ball, football, cheerleading, you name it.  He was never too tired to "play" when one of our kids asked him.  Can you look at him and tell he loves the kids?  Our kids, the church kids, just kids.  He's always taught kids classes at church - they all love him. He's got a way with young people.  He can be stern and  no- nonsense, but he's understanding and kind towards kids as well as adults.

I love him, he's mine and you can't have him. And today (and every day) I'm so thankful to God for bringing this man into my life, breadsticks and all.

Giving Thanks November 4

Today among other things, I'm thankful for the successful surgery of my sweet kitty, Alice.  She got spayed  Monday, and came home yesterday.  She's doing well.  It's a little thing, but I get attached to my critters and worry about them.  Alice has a place in the laundry room until she heals up, a litter box and a little comfy bed.  She's enjoying being away from Jasper, too. Thanks for humoring me...

Giving Thanks November 3

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/johnmccoy/files/2009/11/rain.jpg

photo credit

Today, I have been so thankful to God for the rain.  We've had a long, hot, dry summer - going weeks and weeks with no rain. The last couple of days, we've had a slow, steady, soaking rain - the kind of rain that makes us feel cozy inside, that is quietly dripping off the roof, just a little pitter- patter.  The kind of rain that soaks into the ground slowly but leaves no major puddles. A perfect rain.  My yard has greened up again, my roses are sprouting buds again for another flush of color before freezing temps shut them down for the winter. The kind of rain that darkens the skies later in the morning and earlier in the evening and causes a foggy blanket to hug our landscape here in east Texas.  AND if you're lucky enough not to have to work, the kind of rain that puts you right to sleep...zzzzzzzzz.....

I've noticed through my gardening the last 3 years that the natural rain from the heavens does more for my veggies and flowers and yard than the purified chlorinated water that comes through the water hose. I'm so thankful on this day for this blessing of rain on the earth under my feet here on Sand Flat Farm.

2010 Giving Thanks! November 1 & 2

I decided to join up with Leah at South Breeze Farm this year to enter her month of November-long Giving Thanks Challenge.  I'm going to keep a list on  my sidebar and try to post something I'm thankful for MOST days, every day if I can.  I think this is a great opportunity not only for myself but for everyone who accepted the challenge as well as all the readers out there in bloglandia to look inward, outward, and upward and really search and find those things that we are truly thankful for.


If you know me, you already know that I'm most thankful for my Lord and His saving grace. AND my family, those are a given. I'm going to try to dig deeper and get down to the nitty-gritty - even if there's some particular aspect of God or family that I can be thankful for and share with you.

Since I'm just joining and it's November 2, I shall have two things to be thankful for today.  Yesterday, as I woke early to get ready for work, my husband and I walked outside to see what the weather was doing. It was still sorta darkish, but it was muggy and warm and the dark clouds kind of enveloped us.  Now here in Texas where we live, there are tons of trees. It's hard to get a good look at the sky sometimes depending upon where you are.  Well, at our farm, the hay pastures are wide open and we can stroll out to the middle of them and see 360 degrees of sky.  I absolutely LOVE looking at that sky. So, yesterday I was SO thankful for the ability to see a complete sky above my head. I can spin around in a circle and see nothing but sky! Whether it's cloudy and grey, starry at night, or filled with fluffy clouds & sunshine - I LOVE ME SOME SKY!!!

Today, since it's on my heart & pertinent to all of us, I'm thankful for our country and the right to vote. I'm thankful for our way of government that we can be a part of putting our leaders into office and we are free to vote for whoever we think would best fit the job. I've already voted absentee, but I know there are many, many people that are exercising that right today.

I hope you'll check out Leah's blog, South Breeze Farm, and see all the others who've signed up for this challenge.  I'll bet each and every one of you can find at least 30 things (or more) to be thankful for this November, the month of Giving Thanks! Hope you'll join in - or at least in your own hearts and minds, find things for which to be thankful in this season of the year!

YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!!!

Happy Halloween Weekend!

Halloween was so fun when our kids were little!  I miss those times when they would get all dressed up and we'd carry them all over our neighborhood trick or treating.  We had one of those great neighborhoods that was chock full of young families and wonderful friends - a place where families from all over our little town would bring THEIR kids to trick or treat!  It was like one big neighborhood party on Halloween! I miss that...  And this is not necessarily a Halloween post.  Just didn't know what to call this 'un! 

Alice has been up to her antics.  Last night she climbed up the giant sycamore tree. I heard her meowing up there and looked for her with a flashlight.  She was WAYYYYY up there at least 20-25 feet off the grown. She wasn't trying to get down, just enjoying the view I guess.  Maybe trying to get away from Jasper (or CB as we call him sometimes - Cry Baby). 

Anyway, there is a big hole in the middle of the truck that we've seen owls get in before.  Alice found the hole, and she was having a ball playing around in there.  I couldn't convince her it was time to come down so we left her up there.  She's good at climbing trees and backing down.  Hayley and I were outside at the fire pit enjoying the chilly autumn evening and the warm fire.

Isn't she cute???

"Alice, don't you wanna come down  now?"  "No way, Jose," she says. "Jasper is still out there on the loose!"

"Come on down, Alice,  we'll give you a treat???"

"Nope," she says.  "I'm going to stay up here and scare away all the goblins on Halloween night!"

"BOO!!!"