There came a great wind...

This year has sure brought some strange weather around these parts. We have been having a ton of little dirt devils come through the field, over the chicken coop and by the house. A couple weeks ago we had a rather large one that sucked all of the pool towels right off the clothes line. Today we had what I would call a mini tornado...

I don't know how well you can see the picture but it is right off our back patio. The hay bales are about 500 pounds - they were stacked three high on the bale that is closest to the top of the photo. The "tornado" toppled the bales! Now, take a look at the dog house...do you see the pile of blackish stuff on the ground to the left of the dog house? THAT IS THE ROOFING! The roofing got sucked off - nails and all!

Thank goodness that none of us were standing out by those bales when this thing hit!

With the weather this year I am seriously hoping that we don't get about five feet of snow dumped all at once on us this winter.

Play dead...good doggy!

Check this dear little dog out...

If anyone were to happen upon her laying out in the sun on the gravel in 100°+ weather they would think she is dead!

I took this picture last weekend. We were using the skill saw and hammering away and here she is, 10 feet away from us, laying on the poky rocks taking a siesta. What a place to lay down and take a snooze»»»»».

To be fair, she must have a little trouble regulating her body temperature because she always seeks out the warmest place in the house or outside. I guess maybe she could just be hangin' out with the cats too much.

We love her and all her little quirks...she has to be an oddball to fit in around here! I almost forgot her most important role around the ranch. We have appointed her as our Boer goat mascot since her coloring and markings are just like the Boer goats.

14th Wedding Anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary. I've been married to my wonderful husband Warren for 14 years. He is actually starting to show a few grey hairs but I figure he has earned them for being married to me for so long! Anyone who knows me is well aware that he will never have as many grey hairs as I have and I am not saying anything about who gave them to me ;-)

I made this card for him and it was a lot of fun. This is the front of the card and when it is opened...

...the card folds out just like this. It has faux rhinestones, quilled hearts, scrabble letters, some stamping and I cut out the pieces for the circle on my Spellbinder. I recycled and envelope from the junk mail that was a little too big. I covered it with matching paper and then I ran it through the crimper...the crimper shrunk the envelope to a perfect size - Thankfully I remembered to write his name on the envelope first! :-)

I picked up the cutting and folding directions off of a website called splitcoaststampers.com. They have a lot of very cool information on the site and it is a great one-stop reference site for paper crafts in general.

Project...We Need Kidding Stalls

We started by cleaning out the lean-to (where we kidded last spring) - this meant taking down panels and cleaning up all the old bedding. Once we got that all taken care of we had 12 yards of sand delivered and it is nice stuff. Warren got all the sand put into the lean-to and leveled it out real good with the Kubota.

After all that was completed we went to Lowe's and purchased 4', 8', 10' and 12' gates. It was crazy but we ended up purchasing gates instead of panels because they were cheaper! We can't explain it...we just take advantage of a good deal/ We got all of the stalls completed with swinging gates (whoohoo!).

It is kind of hard to see in the pictures but we have 3 oversize stalls that can be subdivided to 6 smaller stalls right now. If needed, we can add on one more larger stall that can be divided into 2. I really like it and now stall cleaning will be a breeze! It will also be a lot easier to get into the kidding areas to squeeze the little ones :-)

The excitement is building...

We are starting to gain some speed on this life altering event that we hope is going to take place. I am getting exhausted just thinking about all of the things that could go wrong. I guess that is one good thing to chalk up to getting older...time goes by faster so it doesn't seem to take as long to find out what the outcomes are :-) Gotta stay positive!

I am guessing that I will be able to spill my guts in 3-10 days...

Circles...

So, I am at this estate sale last Friday and I find some really cool stuff. This is one of my treasures...they are belts from the 60's. The one on the right is gold toned and the other two are silver. I told Mom that I could use them on my ATCs but had no idea of what I was going to do. Yesterday I find myself on the computer checking out the AMR (allmomentsremembered.com) message board and I am posting an ATC swap for the theme "circles". I have never hosted a swap before but it just seemed like it was time. So, here we go...I am about to receive a lot of mail. Maybe I will like it and host some more swaps.

Jenn....this is the time to do ATCs...the shipping will be free!

Almost everyone rides...

This is Louise on Token. Token is a gelding horse and the only horse on the place...he pastures with the two molly mules. All of the adults got to ride Token and all of the kids chickened out.

Even Grandma Dianna took a ride trying to show the little ones that anyone can ride this little ol' horse.
I took the opportunity to have Louise snap a picture of Warren and I together. Thanks Louise...I really like how it turned out!

And here is Warren trying to show the kids that this baby horse is not wild. He doesn't even have his feet in the stirrups and he is using his lead rope as reins. They don't get any wilder than this unless they are dead!

Ropin' with Uncle Warren

Uncle Warren was showing Garett the "ropes" on this farm while he was here for a visit. This is a picture of Warren ropin' the dummy.
Here is the crowd of onlookers from left to right: Hunter, Garett, Dianna (Warren's Mom) and Louise (Warren's sister).

Here is little Garett learning to throw a rope. He did a really good job!

Project - Gate is too small...

This is just one of the little projects that needed to be completed. Warren started feeding the big bales (500 lbs.) and he would have to go through 2 other gates to get to the mule pasture because this gate was just too small (4').
Here is the new gate and it is 12'. We built the rock jack yesterday with a bunch of help from Warren's mom, Dianna. We filled it up, ripped out a post and rewrapped the fencing this morning. It looks really good and it will save a lot of time and frustration - especially when the fields get mucky.

Eggs, Eggs and More Eggs

We have eggs for sale! We are getting a little over 2 dozen a day and they can pile up pretty quick! We have a couple of regular customers which is very nice and we could use more. We are asking $2.50 a dozen or $3.50 for a dozen and a half. We are also paying .10¢ for each clean egg carton that people bring in. They can be picked up at the house or we can deliver to Prineville on Friday's.

Maddie says with a smile, "Eat eggs - that is what is for every meal around here!"

Waiting for the yard sales to open...

I have been up since 4 and I have about a gallon of coffee in me. I am ready to go to yard sales and I have a feeling that I might find something special today
:-). Maybe, just maybe, someone is cleaning out there scrapbook or crafting supplies. Warren went scouting with Keith but he left the pick up here (I might need it for something big ;-) ). I'm off to go get Hunter up so we can have breakfast and be at Mom's before 7:30 am.

Fishing at Prineville Reservoir

Warren, Hunter and my father went cat fishing at Prineville Reservoir yesterday evening. This is Warren but he doesn't look like he is fishing....
Here is my dad, Richard, trying to get Hunter lined out...literally!

Here is my photo hound son waving to the camera. He really enjoys Grandpa "lining him out" and showing him the ways of the world.

Really Good News

I thought this Maxine was just the ticket for how I feel today...

Monday was kind of a bummer day since we got bad news on our new venture. We had a setback and figured that we would have to find some other way to do it or wait awhile to go forward. Everything changed yesterday and we are really, really close to sealing the deal on our new life. I am thinking that towards the end of next week I can let the cat out of the bag. This whole household is so emotionally tied to this working and the house just started buzzing after we got the good news. My huge list of stuff to do has just shuffled once again and I gotta get a move on if I am going to make yard sales with Mom on Friday!

ATC Swap-Let the Sun Shine

I have mailed this ATC off for a swap called "Let the Sun Shine" in Idaho. The only rule was that we had to use a sun and we only had to do 10. I'm not a sun worshiper but I do like to watch the sunrise with a nice cup of milk-coffee. My wonderful friend Simone in Texas taught me all about milk-coffee and I still enjoy it to this very day and think of her often. Simone - If you are reading this I am drinking a cup right now just for you.

New Stereo & Nerf Bars for the Suburban

I am really loving this stereo! I cannot wait to figure out all of the bells and whistles. I think the best thing is that I can load my music on a thumb drive, plug it into the stereo and enjoy my very own tunes!
Here are the new Nerf bars. Warren installed them this morning and they will make getting in and out much easier. Now Mom and I can get in and out faster and easier while we are zooming to and from yard sales :-)

Crazy Goat Lady?

So, I am thinking that I am one step closer to being the "CRAZY GOAT LADY" since WE brought 2 more girls home last night. We are taking payments now in goats instead of cash...maybe I did become a crazy goat lady??? This gals name is Nelly but we already have a Nelly so we are calling her Nelly2. Nelly is a Boer-Nubian cross, 18 months old and really sweet. She is the mama of Wendy who is below.
This is Wendy and she is kind of a mess. She is 3 months old and a nice fawn color. She was born with a brother; we are told that the brother was pure black and he was an escape artist who ate any tree he could get his hooves on. They said that Nelly2 was bred to a Nubian but I don't think that is exactly what happened. She will be loved like all the rest and hopefully she will learn to trust us.

This is a picture of the pair out here in their new home.

Astoria-Fort Stevens...

This is a picture of Hunter in a Jeep at Fort Stevens.

This is a picture of the West Battery. This fort was constructed during the Civil War and remained active until shortly after WWII. The only thing that remains of the enlisted barracks, officer housing, commissary and other buildings is the foundations.

This is one of the 155mm guns that was used in many Coast Artillery forts but was never installed at Fort Stevens.


This is where the 10-inch rifles sat on the West Battery. They are reconstructing a rifle at this time.

Warren and Hunter are running up a set of steps to the top of the fort. Once at the top you can see the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Columbia River on the other.

Astoria-Columbia River Maritime Museum

We took in a movie at the Columbia River Maritime Museum where we learned a lot of things. We did not know that the area was called the Graveyard of the Pacific because over 2,000 ships have perished throughout history trying to cross the bar or negotiate the river. We also did not know that ships must have a "Bar Pilot" board their vessel to navigate them across the Pacific Ocean\Columbia River Bar and they must stay on board for 17 miles. If a ship is to negotiate the Columbia to a port further inland they must have a "River Pilot" board to navigate the river. Of course there are only 15 people qualified for these pilot jobs all together.





This is a life size Coast Guard boat battling realistic waves. This display was very impressive.










This is a picture of Hunter on one of the boat anchors out in front of the museum.











Here is a picture of him ringing the bell out front - trying to make himself def?





















This is Warren and Hunter standing on the deck of the Columbia.

Astoria-The Column...

This is called "The Column" and it is the highest point in Astoria. It is an observation tower and it has a spiral staircase inside that is exactly 164 steps from the bottom to the observation deck. The outside has all of this intricate engraving in the cement about the history of the area and it is really very beautiful.

Warren went up all the way to the top while hunter and I stayed below and watched.

This is just one of the pictures Warren took of us on the ground while he was on the observation deck. We were looking at a map that showed all the rivers and where the Columbia meets the Pacific Ocean.

This is another picture he took from above.

And here we are looking up at him when he first got to the top.

Astoria-The Firefighters Museum...

We visited a little Firefighters museum while we were down in the dock area of Astoria. They have all of these patches from different stations on several boards at the entry door. Warren is looking at all the patches in this picture.



Here is Warren standing next to the oldest ladder truck on record. There are only three left in the world and this is the only one in the USA. I believe the lady said that the other two were in England-Great Britain.








This is an old fashioned hose drying area. It resembles a chimney without the fire and they used to hang the hoses in here to dry between uses. Warren said that the first fire department he worked on used one of these.














I'm not sure why they had the gigantic arm chair in the museum but here is a picture of Hunter sitting in it.



















Then we have Hunter in the seat of a fire truck. They only had one truck that could be climbed upon and he didn't hesitate.