TEXAS HEAT - from us to YOU!!!

In the hopes of bringing a little warmth and sunshine to all you snowed-in folks north of the Mason-Dixon line (and maybe even a little bit south of that). We Texas Gals have banded together this week!  Even tho most of us are feeling a little chilly, too, we thought a searing blast of heat from the Lone Star State might warm up your toes, your buns AND your hearts.  Here for your cozy enjoyment are a few scenes from summers past and those coming up in a few months! hang in there people - we're on the upswing now!

Greetings from Sand Flat Farm!  See how the sun shines golden on the side of the house! It's a hot sultry afternoon here at the farm. We're sitting on the deck in the back, I would imagine. Sitting in our metal lawn chairs that'll burn your booty and backs of your thighs if you sit on 'em midday. Sitting & sipping some sweet iced tea and letting the sweat from the glass drip on the tops of our legs just cuz it feels so good.  Probably got some burgers on the grill, a big bowl of homemade salsa and chips on the outside table and we're laughing and visiting with all the family. Can't you just smell those burgers already?

 

After a night of burgers, watching fireflies from the deck and swatting mosquitos we'll have a good night's sleep & then we're out early in the morning to work in the garden. Here's some of the hay bales from the first cutting  in the pasture behind the garden. I love how they cast long shadows in the early morning. Morning is my favorite time at the farm. I like to sit out on the deck and drink coffee in the just-up-sunny morn. Our big oak and sycamore trees offer shade over the deck and keep it nice and comfortable for an hour or so before the temps get too hot.

Good morning cheery sunflowers!  I LOVE sunflowers!!! They did really well this year and I love how they turn their faces to the sun everyday!

Hello there bumblebee! We've got lots of you guys zipping around the garden this time of year. Thanks for staying so still so I can get a picture of you!

Periwinkles loving their little spot by my refurbished old garden shed. I love them, too. They always grow well for me. Even I can't kill them! I hope they like their iron-ore rock edging - just trying to use what we've got here on Sand Flat Farm! 

July 4th is getting closer. I put red and dark purple petunias here in my old wagon. I think I need to add some white ones, too - then it'll look RED, WHITE & BLUE!  I love July 4th!  A chance to celebrate our country's independence and have a big blow-out party with friends and family and have lots of beautiful fireworks! Gotta be careful, tho - don't want to set the pasture on fire!

My hydrangeas are blooming well. I set 'em out last year and they're still small but so beautiful! They bloomed all summer long. Now, I want them to turn blue, so I'll have to find out how to supplement the soil. I may wind up having to move them. The summer sun has been so hot on them, they almost croaked last year. They drank lots and lots of water!  Aren't they supposed to do best on the north side of the house? I think that's what I heard...

My husband is riding his trusty steed here and killing the never-ending weeds that spring up all summer long. This little trailer sprayer has come in so handy!  Good investment!  Just another day at the farm. I've gotta go - I will be pulling weeds today from the garden!  Yesterday I turned on the sprinkler at the vegetable garden and I was so hot & sweaty from working that I just kept right on working in the sprinkler!  It was wonderful!  I looked like a drowned rat, but it sure felt good!

Bye for now!  I'll be back tomorrow with more hot stuff from Texas!!!

Stretch Marks

You simply HAVE to go to visit Stretch Marks this morning and read her post. This young mother had one of the best posts I've read in a long time... Tell her Vickie sent you!  You won't be sorry!

Eggs

Ok, my little chicken laid me another green egg today, and I promised no more silly hen tacky, so I've added an egg count to my side-bar like all the other chicken people. Only mine is going to come from ONE hen. Let's see how she does...  K?

Edited to add:

I ate my two beautiful green eggs for breakfast this morning. They were beautifully orange big yolks and they tasted so yummy with a little milk, salt, & pepper and a little dab of butter to cook them in - scrambled.  I've been buying fresh 'uns from the lady down the road, but I guess cuz these were mine from MY chicken, they were ever so much better! 

Tony keeps asking me where I got this chicken. He doesn't believe it just wandered up. Well, it DID!  He thinks I'm trying to finnagle a way to keep chickens. How could he think that!  Well, it did just show up.  I promise.  I'm hoping to add to this one now, tho once he sees how great it is to have fresh eggs.  Guess I should have fed my two green eggs to him.  Well, I'll give him the next ones!  Promise!

WE HAVE AN EGGGG!!!

I know this is terribly random and silly, BUT WE HAVE A REAL LIVE CHICKEN EGG!  My little stray chicken at the farm has left me this beautiful light greenish egg to say THANK YOU for feeding her and taking her in!

I didn't know if she'd lay or not. She was kinda skinny-lookin' and VERY hungry. She comes running when she sees me now, but she won't let me get close enough to touch her. OR catch her.  I wanted to catch her because it's so cold right now and I was going to put her in the garden shed. BUT she evades me every time. I need a fishin' net.  I fixed her a nice thick box with hay and some fresh water, and chicken food on the front porch where it's definitely the warmest, and I hope she'll get in her box this week. It's supposed to be in the 20's and maybe even the teens come the later part of the week.  All you chicken people out there, do you think she'll make it in the cold temps?  She's been getting up under the front hedge on the south side of the house and making her  little nesty places with hay and leaves. I hope she'll be ok.

Here's another picture for comparison with a store-bought egg. It's supposed to be a large egg, so my little hen did okay. I guess she's probably a mongrel chicken, maybe? Maybe some Araucana in her to make the green eggs, whadaya'll think? I'm still learning about chickens...

Ok, I promise no more silly hen tacky.  I'm just so excited. I'm talking about getting me some more and building me a coop now, and Tony says, "no, Vickie, get the chickens off your mind." Sorry, dude - Not off my mind. I gotta have me some chickens.  It's probably cheaper to just buy eggs from the store or the lady down the road. But I want my own. Tony don't know even know he's beat yet...

Christmas Shootin'

Here's what we did Christmas afternoon .... We Texans know how to have fun!  Actually, this is a regular occurance here in Texas especially, and in most Southern states - don't tangle with us Southerners - we're loaded for bear.  We're BUBBAS and proud of it!!!  If ya don't got guns, trucks with a gun-rack, four-wheelers and a turkey fryer, you ain't got nuttin'!  Oh yeah - AND a big chaw!

Here's my guys, Adam, Daddy and Tony.  Don't they look menacing?  Don't let these sweet faces kid you - you cross one of 'em, all three turn into raging bulls! You don't mess with them or their family.  If you look in the dictionary under the term, "bubba", you'll see one or more of these guys.  I'm proud of every fightin' pound of 'em.   Daddy threw together this little shootin' table a few weeks so they could practice with their rifles, pistols and shotguns.  My Dad used to be a sharpshooter. I remember when I was a kid, he'd load up the family and we'd go to these tournaments and watch all these guys like Daddy compete in shootin'.  He had trophies and medals galore on the shelves at home.  Guess that's where my other son Josh gets his eagle eye from.  He can shoot stuff so far off with such deadly accuracy that it cannot be seen with the naked eye.  When he was a little kid, he said he wanted to be a sniper...

Safety first, of course   ---  we gotta wear  the "ear muffs" ya know...  here's Dad going first. Oh cool, I just notice that I caught his little puff of smoke as he fired. Cool!

Here's Tony going second...

And of course, my oldest - Adam.  Then I get my turn, too. I like shootin'.  It's good to get familiar with a gun and how it works.   It's good NOT to be scared of them, but to respect them.  Nowadays, you can't be too careful in having protection for you and your family - especially if you live out in the country.

Now here's me.  Look at that superior stance.  Look at the legs braced exactly  the right distance apart. Look at the right arm locked into position so as to control the kick - let your shoulder take the impact - otherwise if you're elbow's not locked, the gun tip can shoot UP a bit.  Look at the left hand helping brace the right shootin' hand on the butt of the pistol  - the concentration - the determination - the frizzy hair.  I'M YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE.  You think some "hoodlum" fixing to mug me is going to think I'm "packin" ?  I DON'T THINK SO!

Now we get the rifles out. I actually like shootin' with rifles more than pistols.  I'm much deadlier with a 30 aught 6  or a 12 guage or a 243 (which is my favorite).

Here's Dad - if you see him in any pictures he always holds up the "Gig 'Em Aggies" thumb - unless it's a quick candid shot.

All kidding aside - I don't mean to be flip about guns.  We are VERY safe. We've been taught gun safety since birth.  There's nothing wrong with guns or owning guns or hunting for food.  It's only when you don't know what you're doing with them or they fall into the wrong hands that they become dangerous.  We've been taught to hunt and eat what we kill, not to kill just for sport. 

I was raised on wild game - venison, turkey, dove, quail, squirrel, rabbit, pheasant, duck and of course fish.  Wild game meat is my favorite.  I used to tease my dad and my dates that I didn't even know what steak was until I started dating!   

I hope ya'll are having a Fabulous New Year's so far and that the Good Lord blesses 2010 for each one of you with love, joy in Christ, health and much much happiness - all my dear blogging friends!