Around Sand Flat Farm...

Meanwhile, back at the farm..

Just a few shots of what's going on at the Farm.  They're not in any certain order. I just haven't had much time for blogging lately.  But I thought this might be a little bit entertaining - at least it was for me!  Garden's going good so far... cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, purple hull peas, green beans, onion, cukes, watermelon, cantaloupe, a little corn, some dill for my pickles, cilantro for hotsauce, all kinds of peppers, squash & zucchini.

Into the sun view - don't look at the weeds...

Here's the side of my little tin garage with the rusty roof. I did this flower bed last year and my son made me a flower box and covered it with this old shutter. Neat, huh?  Planted dianthus here last fall, and they came back beautifully as did my roses.  I added some lilies of different colors, but they haven't bloomed yet. I also added some blue salvia and I think I'm going to add some more - I love that stuff!  Found these old fence pieces at a garage sale for $2 apiece.

Can you see my little mini-gardener perched on this piece of fence?  He likes it here very much - I see him quite often!

Here's a better shot of my salvia and my rock edging.  Eventually I'm going to collect enough rocks to do all my flower beds. Looks more old-timey, and I'm all about old-timey, rusty, chippy, and broken-down!

Another view of the back of the house. Oh yeah - red potatoes - I forgot to add them to my list.

I'm really proud of this flower bed of roses. It was the first one I did at the farm.  I've been learning as I go. Tony and I attacked this one and did it.  It has pink and red roses, snapdragons, zinnias, verbena, a crepe myrtle, and a vesuvius plum - the dark purple.  Gotta find me some more rocks...

Ok, I'm having trouble moving these pictures in the order that I wanted so you're gonna have to bear with me here. Sorry.

Now - look at this old iron crib. I got it for a steal at a garage sale. I thought my husband was gonna have a fit when I got him to go with me to pick it up. "WHAT DO YOU WANT THIS OLD PIECE OF JUNK FOR?" Well, I don't know yet, but I just couldn't pass it up.  So I'm asking YOU guys - what do you think I should do with it?  Make a flower bed in it - maybe roses or something?  Maybe let some viney flowers grown on the end pieces?  The one side piece comes off, and I thought maybe I could hang that up or put it in a flower garden somewhere and put clematis or something on it.  GOT ANY GOOD IDEAS???

Oh, and what's THIS I see on my tomato vines?  Ah-HA!  Little tomatoes! Oh I can't wait til tomato season!!!!  A tomato and onion sandwich with mayo (maybe throw in a couple of slices of bacon - that's called "baconizing", people).  YUMM-O!!!

Ok, see I couldn't get this one to go where it should have.  Just another pic of my roses...

The bluebirds would NOT come to the door of their house when I wanted a picture.  This house has been up for nearly 4 years now, and this year is the first year for bluebirds to nest in it!  We have tons of bluebirds out here on the farm, those and also scissortails - you can always hear them fussing.

Lookie here - can anyone tell me what's been chompin' on my cabbage and what I can do to get rid of the chomper?  I'll fightcha for my cabbage.  Daddy says we gotta let nature have a little, bitty portion of our harvest, gotta share a little, but looks like nature could limit their chomping to just ONE of the cabbages and not all of 'em.  Greedy little boogers.

Now on to other matters.  My guys are leaving today for a fishing trip to the White River in Arkansas.  They are looking forward to it and I hope they have good weather, and no tornadic activity!  Adam, my oldest, will go on back to Nashville, so that leaves me a sad mom today.  I told him he better not wait for 5 months to come back home again.  I know he's been super busy song writing and on the road playing, but that's just too long.  We had a trip planned to go up there, but that was when MIL fell and broke her hip. (by the way, she's doing well, but now she's having a problem with "drop foot". I'm taking her to the Dr. on Tuesday - bet she's got some nerve damage or something...)  I will be enjoying having some time off to do what I want - either go see family or spend time with friends, etc. YEA!  Princess will be home, too, so I'm sure we'll find something to get into!  We always do!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends.  Sorry I'm brain dead and can't blog about something worthwhile of your time.  So many of you have such wonderful well-thought posts about politics or current affairs or religion or such, and I wish I could do that. But I can't today. Take care of yourselves and know that I'm thinking of you "con mucho carino" (I can't get the tilde thingie to work)   Bye!

Let's Hear It For The GIRLS!!!

My daughter put the whoop on her brother and PopPop last Saturday.  My little tomboy all grown up into a girly-girl kicked butt on their fishin' trip.  Princess has been wantin' to go fishin' but has been away at school, so when she got home Thursday afternoon, she called my daddy to take her.  Her big brother also went. Princess hasn't been in awhile, but you flat couldn't tell.  Daddy and bro were cryin' when it was all over.  See what I mean ---

Just gonna show you pics - Daddy took them to a private lake up here - it was so beautiful. I've gone with him to this lake, too.

Look at this lunker!!!  She got several fish that would go 5-6 lbs or better!

Ok, son, it's about time - you gonna let your little baby sister make you look bad???

OK, son, she's several up on you now!  Here's another big 'un!

WHat's the count now???

I'd be ashamed if I were you, son!  I wouldn't let anybody take my picture with that lil ole minnow!

Ok, that's much better - are you sure that's not your sister's fish? Ok, it's yours. Good.

Good job, Daddy - don't let your little granddaughter show you up!

Twins!  Cool!

Way to go, Pop!

Look at that smile!!!  She had a wonderful time with her PopPop and her brother. 'Specially when she knew that she was the fisherwoman extraordinaire!!  She wants to give them another fishin' lesson when she gets back home again!  I'll bet she will, too!

Take care peeps - been busy - I'm visiting and maybe will get to catch up some this weekend. All my guys will be gone to Arkansas to trout fish on the White River for a few days so I'll have some time to myself. I'm looking forward to it!

The Jerry Springer Show

Hello my friends - Sorry I've been away. Things have been so busy around our household and I've not been able to do any posts. I've visited a few of you, but it's been very brief.

I think I've mentioned before that I manage two self-storage facilities along with helping out in a commercial construction office.  My main office is at the storage facility, and when you come in I am sitting in my office behind my desk.  I have a window with bars in it so I can talk to my customers in a bit of safety. They may not can reach me, but they sure could shoot me. I just try not to think about that. Well, I've been there nearly 8 years now, and I'm still okay.

Picture me, working at my computer, and in comes a customer.  Now, I'm not going to make fun of this lady, but I'm just going to tell you  exactly what happened on Friday afternoon. I'm just statin' facts and descriptions and my reactions here, K?  I felt like I was on the Jerry Springer Show!

Well, this lady came in - I say lady loosely - you know the emails that go around with the pictures of the Walmart people in them?  Well, this lady had to be an escapee from the video.  Probably about my age, but with long stringy dyed dark brown hair, very strange make-up, tight britches that looked like she had two pigs in a poke, lunch spilled all down the front of her shirt and chattering away on her cell phone.  Anyway, she wanted to check on an account that her live-in boyfriend had taken up with us about 3 years ago.  It was way past due and she wanted to make sure that we hadn't sold their stuff yet. I told her no, but that she'd have to get it all paid up before the next foreclosure sale or it would go into the sale. 

Then she freaked.  She started ranting and raving and telling me that all she owned was in the storage unit. That she was now living with her uncle and renting a room from him, cuz she was on Social Security and so was her boyfriend in Kansas.  I got a long drawn out sob story about how their account had gotten so far behind.  She was having a hard time talking and she kept putting her hand up to her mouth. Going on and on about her boyfriend had moved to Kansas to be near his kids cuz his ex-wife had moved up there to live with her l*sbian l*ver and she had custody of the kids, blah, blah, blah.

She's still messin' with her mouth.  All of a sudden, she shoves several fingers with dirty nails in her mouth and whoops her bottom dentures out and slams 'em down on my window sill above my desk!!!!!  Complete with spit string from her gums!!!  On the window sill where every body and their dog puts their hands, their keys, their purses, wallets, and money is passed over that sill many times a day!!!

"I hope that don't gross you out - I just got this new teeth and they don't fit right and I cain't hardly talk with 'em in", she said.  I didn't know what to say.  I just sat there like a complete goose while she kept rattling on and on.  In my 8 years there, I cannot believe what I'm seeing.   That's the weirdest and grossest thing that's ever happened up there at my office.  I'm flabbergasted.  Gross! Yuck! EEEWWWWWW!  I just don't have the words for it.

When she quit yappin', she picked up those nasty teeth and shoved 'em back into her mouth, germs and all.  I cain't tell you what all she said - it ain't fittin', it just ain't fittin'.  As soon as her tail was out the door, I jumped up and ran to the bathroom for my Lysol bleach cleaner and scrubbed the little pool of slobber off my windowsill BUT good.  Now, aren't you glad you stopped by my blog today?

Adam will be home in a few days for a few days. I'll be so glad to see him. He's been gone since Christmas and it's been way too long for this mama not to see her boy. My husband and a friend of his are going to take my 2 boys and the other guy's son to Arkansas on a fishin' trip next week.  I know they'll have fun. I plan on working on my garden, OR I may go see my seester for a couple of days.  We need to catch up! And bug my brother in law.  He's so fun to bug and embarrass!

I'm leaving you with a couple of pictures that have absolutely nothing to do with this post. But people like to look at pictures - I know I do - so here's a couple of big fellas that live down the road from the farm. I hope to have a couple of these guys on my place sometime. They're so... so... so TEXAS!

Keep that gown down!  See ya later ---

Anchors Away! (and other stuff)

Hey guys - I promised you a picture of my Navy nephew so here he is.  We had a great time going out to eat Mexican food with the grandparents and my sister and my hubby.  Clay is my buddy. He's always been my buddy.  He kept hugging me like he was never gonna see me again!  Which I just ate right up!

He's a good nephew and a good son to his mother. For some reason I didn't get a picture of his mom and him.   Hmmm, I think my sis was supposed to send me some pics, but I haven't gotten them yet.  Shout out to MY SISTER!!!  ARE YOU LISTENING, SIS???  Clay will be going back out to sea and back to the middle east in a few weeks. He's heading back to California in a few days and I'm so glad I got to see him.

This is what we woke up to, I think it was Saturday morning after the storms rolling through the southeastern states.  We got some thunder, lightening and a few showers, but the bad stuff missed us.  Thank the Lord.

Looks like sunbeams from heaven, don't it?   Sorry I've been gone for a few days. My mother in law went back to her nursing facility.  She is doing remarkably well for an 80 year old woman. Hip surgery was the only surgery she's ever had in her life.  The nurse said she couldn't believe how strong MIL is.  Kathryn is up and walking around - she's using her walker, but half the time she forgets. I hope she doesn't fall again, but she's puttering around pretty well.

We spent alot of time out at the farm and my daughter came home over the weekend, too.  We've been busy to say the least.  My garden is doing well and so are the flowers. That little rain just really brought them out.  I'm trying to install perennials wherever possible, so I won't have to keep buying flowers every year. Of course, I'll need some annuals for fillers, but it'd be nice to have a constant garden without having to keep planting.  I've moved stuff around and built some new beds this year - still have at least 2-3 beds more to go around the farmhouse.  It's slow going but oh so fun!

PS - my daughter did well on her speech.  She didn't faint, didn't die of embarrassment or stutter.  So I'd say it was a great success.  We're waiting to hear whether she got into nursing school for the fall semester. We know she'll be in for the spring, but we're hoping for fall.  Keep your fingers crossed for us if you don't mind. She's always wanted to be a nurse.  She wants to be a traveling nurse or work on Mercy Ships or something.

Gotta run, my friends.  I have a hungry man coming in a bit, and he'll be expecting some grub on the table. Let me go see what I can scrounge up.  Hmmm... We've been eating lots of venison lately - it's so lean.  He grilled some backstrap and some steaks Saturday over a mesquite fire.  They were SO good and so tender - I can't think of anything I like better!  YUM.  We had broccoli from the garden and a big ole baked potato.  We're getting some green onions that are pretty good size now, and I saw this weekend that there are a bunch of baby squash - yellow and zucchini.  The purple hull peas and green beans are up and so's the corn.  The tomatoes have blooms all over them.  I'm so ready for summer tomatoes!

Take care - keep your gown down!  Lemme hear from ya!

Freaking OUT! Hoofprints, and Nephew

Hi peeps! Hope your day is going well! 

Are you great at giving speeches and getting up in front of a classroom or a group of people to speak publicly. NOT ME.  Not my daughter either.  We totally freak out!  Speaking before other people gives us a reason to call in sick, to feign incurable illnesses, to stay in bed with the covers over our heads, suffer from insomnia, to have diarrhea, a nervous stomach, to throw up occasionally, to walk through life with glazed over eyes in a zombie-like state.  It's SO scary. My husband has no problems with it at all, nor my sons.  Unfortunately, my daughter is like me in this respect.  This post is about her - kind of a special request.

She had a speech to do Monday morning at 9 in her college classroom.  She fretted, walked the floor, wrung her hands, pulled wads of hair out of her head (not really), called me 2,017 times over the weekend, wrote and re-wrote, prepared her Power Point presentation and took pictures of herself in her demented state. The following are some of those---- Caution - you are now entering the No-Spin Zone! Images are not for the fainthearted...

One can plainly see the progression of the downward spiral of insanity of the mind that has taken over this young woman's psyche.  Recovery is slim at best.  Only after the speech is given and the appropriate visual aids have been dispensed to her audience will sanity once again return to said female subject.  Then, heart rate will return to normal as well as eating/digestion processes.  UNTIL the next time....

Her brother Josh was so helpful in cheering her up and encouraging her.  He sent her this stupid video from You-Tube, and told her not to worry about cuz people wouldn't be listening anyway. Thanks Josh. You can start this video if you want, but it's too long, and you'll only want to watch about may 8-10 seconds of it. It'll make your day and make you glad you have dogs instead of teenagers.  Actually, it did remind me a little of my daughter when she was much younger.... glad she outgrew that!

Now, on to other matters.

One of my neighbor's cows got out sometime yesterday and ran amock through my garden and all around the house.  Do you know what a several hundred lb cow can do to a garden?  Do you know how deeply their hooves can sink into the soft damp sand (it rained a little Sunday)?  Do you know what those heavy feet can do to a poor onion?  I followed the hoofprints all around the house and out the back of our place yesterday afternoon.  Tried to straighten the poor onions up and tamp down the dirt around them. Thank goodness that was about it.  There were no prints in my tomatos or peas.  Dumb cow.  Sorry I didnt have my camera with me.  I know you're so sad you don't get to see hoofprints in my garden.

Well, better run - husband will be here to eat lunch with me any minute.  Oh yeah, I'm getting to see my nephew this evening (and my sister).  He's been in the Navy for the past 18 months or so, and for the last 9 months he's been in the Persian Gulf and all around the world. I'm looking forward to seeing him. He left a 6'3" beanpole and is coming home the Incredible Hulk!  I'll have pictures!!!!  See ya!