Little Farm on the Prairie

Wow, its been almost two years since my last post...

2010-08-01T19:58:00.001-05:00

I will try to update in the near future. I've been spending alot of time on Facebook, and with life in general. So, come back soon...

Kitten pictures! Two Days Old!

2008-10-20T09:42:00.016-05:00

Buster (Ahsoka)

Sissy (Sheila) and babies

Oops....Cat Explosion!!!

2008-10-13T09:21:00.002-05:00

You would think with over forty years of loving and having cats that I could tell the difference between male and female. Well, I was not the only one to do so. Last May or June, we took in two kittens to live in our barn. They were brother and sister, Buster and Sissy (also called Sheila). I guess they were about 6-8 weeks old. We were told that the "boy" was a boy, and the other a girl. The kittens were very shy so they didn't let us handle them for quite a while, and to "check" them out was almost impossible. When I did, it looked like they were the same in back, and yes it looked like they had the telltale male parts. So, I started thinking Sissy was a male. Now, I know you're thinking she's got to be nuts, she's had cats for years. But, in self defense, the last girl cat that I had was Chloe who died in 2000. Since then, being a staunch supporter of spaying and neutering, we've only had neutered male cats.

On August 8th, the barn cats came to live in the house because hubby bought 100 new chicks! Yikes! Around the middle of September, I started thinking that Buster must have worms because he was getting fat and hard around his middle. Never in my wildest dreams, would I have thought we'd have the surprise that Mr. Boo and I found 3 Sunday nights ago. We heard a kitten cry. Looking around, we found a very cold kitten in our kitchen cabinet (no dishes in this one). I took him out and tried to show him to Sissy and she wouldn't have anything to do with it. Buster, was apparently its mama. So, Buster is actually a girl.! The kitten didn't make it through the night. I'm still in denial, and still can't stop thinking of "him" as "her". He was so young to have gone through this.

I started looking at Sissy again, and she was also pregnant. She got fatter and fatter. Last Thursday night about 10:20 she had her first kitten. By 11:30, she had four little bundles of warm fur, crawling and eating. They're doing great and she is a very proud mama. I'll try to get some photos of them and upload them. The kittens are all very dark, as the mother is a silver/black tabby. One has a tiny streak of orange on its head. We're not sure who the father is, but the only cats we've seen are about a mile down the road and they are all black and white. We're thinking of asking our neighbor for child support, he he he.

We were so clueless, thinking that both of them were too young. They only left the barn on a few occasions, but apparently they were at the right time. So, the story of they're never too young to spay or neuter them is definitely true in our case.

Suze

Ode to Otto

2008-07-11T13:08:00.002-05:00

This week we said goodbye to my parent's cat Elliott. He was a beautiful brown/black tabby who had the most unusual turquoise eyes when he was born. He was over 20, his exact age is not sure, but he was one of 5 kittens that my sister rescued from a kitchen cabinet at the home improvement store she worked for. One of the kittens didn't make it and another was given to a coworker of my father. They kept three of them Elliott, Marvin and Daphne (Daffy). They were much loved. We lost Daffy several years ago, but Marvin and Elliott had long fulfilled lives. Marvin was also known as "Lump Kitty" because he slept under the bed covers. I had a special name for Elliott. To me he was not Elliott, he was Otto. So sleep well dear Otto and say hello to Shelby, Cincie, Chloe, Frisco, Jausenclaus, Marvin, Daffy, Lance, Ferrarri, Cymbah, Tiger, Poodah, Dax, Tuffy and to the many other animals our family have loved over the years. We loved you.

P.S. To see a photo of Otto, click on Ensign Eddie's blog under Rojo's (rooster) photo

Photos of the last year!

2008-06-04T10:46:00.004-05:00

Awana Closing Ceremony and Grand Prix. He won 4th in race, 2nd in Design.

First time playing soccer.
On the Homecoming Float

Mr. Boo loved the Statue of Liberty so he wanted his
6th Birthday Party to have that theme.
We settled for a New York City theme.

Mr. Boo on Digi our mobile office rv
Mr. Boo loved the globe and learning about the world and landmarks.

Kite Day. The kids made their own kites and flew them at the same time.

In Class after kite flying

Showing how smart he is!

What a great year and a great school!

Where did the (almost) year go?

2008-06-03T09:19:00.008-05:00

It's been forever since I've posted. Mr. Boo graduated from Kindergarten last week. It was such a wonderful program and experience. He has had a great year at his school. Some of the highlights of his year were: taking a train ride in Fort Worth; going on several field trips to museums, and local businesses; playing soccer for the first time; learning about the Statue of Liberty and other national monuments. I will post some photos soon.

The farm is doing pretty well. We're selling every egg we can get and have to turn away others. It looks like we will actually have a garden this year to sell. There is lettuce, cucumbers, pumpkins, okra, squash, sweet corn, etc. We've lost all of our oldest ducks, either to predators, or just not coming home. Big Daddy (white pekin) lost both of his girls one night. They had taken to walking down the road and spending most of the day there. He came home one night without them, and spent several days walking down the road looking for them. It was so sad seeing him. We have 8 female goslings, 7 female pekin ducks that will turn 3 weeks old tomorrow. They're pretty cute. The goslings are starting to arch their necks the way geese do. We also lost Napoleon, the little general, and our favorite sheep. He passed away in February, shortly before Josephine had twin lambs, Lizzy and Beau. Their daughter, Flo (Florence) had a baby boy (we haven't settled on a name, although Mr. Boo wants to call him Mount Rushmore, maybe Rush?) that is about 5 week old now.

Button (duck, see former posts and book below) fell off the front porch just before Thanksgiving. Mr. Boo wanted to see if she could fly. After surgery and several months, she can walk some. Because she is so special to us, we opted to have surgery to repair the leg that was broken right at the hip joint. Had we known that when the pin was taken out she wouldn't be able to walk right again, we might have made other decisions about her. Her leg fused in the hip joint and works independently of the hip. She is happy, can stand and gets where she wants to go, but she will never have the freedom of walking comfortably again. She had a great doctor in Southlake, and I would recommend him for any avian or other pet related injuries.

I'm still hanging in there with Heritage Makers. They've come up with some new products that are exciting, also a Scan Party (clients come together to scan their photos). Click on the link at the side to see all that we have to offer. You can sign up for a free account without obligation to buy anything. It just gives you a chance to play with the system. Here are some of the projects I've done.

Class Book for Auction
Cute as a Button
Snow Dogs (Click Rotate and Fold to see these functions)
Moving Day
My Girls
Birthday Party

I'm looking into Alternative Certification Programs to start teaching. I've been to two job interviews for traditional year round employment (both library research positions). I was concerned about Mr. Boo and what he would do while I was working, so I thought I would try for School Library Certification. Back when I got my MLS you could get a Learning Resource Endorsement. I didn't do this at the time, because I'd just had Mr. Boo. Now you have to have two years of teaching experience to be a certified School Librarian. So, I'm really considering the program so that I can hopefully teach in the fall.

Well, I guess that's us in a nutshell.

TTFN

Recent Photos

2007-08-28T16:13:00.000-05:00

Dancing to "Carwash" at Joe's Crab Shack on Mom's Birthday.

First day of school in chapel uniform, minus school vest.

I can see clearly now!

2007-08-28T13:37:00.000-05:00

I forgot to add this in the last post, but it deserves its own topic, I guess. After almost 40 years of wearing glasses, I can see clearly now. Hubby gave me Custom Vue Lasik surgery for our anniversary and Mother's Day. The operation was on July 6th (I think), and I'm doing pretty well. I had what is called Monovision surgery. My right eye is seeing 20/15 and my left eye allows me to read teeny tiny print. I'm still leary of night time driving though. I haven't done much of it, but what I have done is stll a little difficult. I may end up needing glasses just for driving at night. But, its pretty neat. I can see things and recognize what they are from incredible distances.

Mr. Boo Starts Kindergarten and a lot of catching up

2007-08-28T13:04:00.000-05:00

Well, the day came and went. Not too much historical to think on, but my son is now officially a student. Of course, we were almost late getting him to school, they were lining up for chapel as we walked in the door. So, it wasn't as difficult as it could have been. It was actually a little bit of deja vu. He's at the same school, same teacher, but going 5 days instead of 2 and was wearing his chapel uniform instead of his everyday uniform. We kept him in the private school so that he can get a good foundation. I don't know if we'll keep him there after this. There are 2 boys and 5-7 girls in his class. They'll have reading, spelling, math, history, science, spanish, art, music and PE. Quite a lot for the little fellows. But, I think he'll enjoy it.

I just had the most wonderful news. One of my oldest and dearest friends just had twin daughters in June. How wonderful is that? I would love for Mr. Boo to have a brother or sister, but its looking dimmer everyday.

We've been very busy this summer. Mr. Boo spent a lot of time with my parents while I was dealing with packing up and renovating the old house. The past week we did some fun things together.

Hubby was deployed to the gulf to wait on Hurricane Dean. He left on Saturday and came back the next Wednesday when it was evident that Dean wanted to go to Mexico instead of Texas.

Farm life has been hottttttt. Those poor birds are just making it through the heat. We are selling more eggs than they can produce, so hubby wants more. I'm not so sure of that. Currently, we have 15 adolescent chicks that will lay blue/green eggs/10 baby guineas/5 young ducklings, 14 older ducks, 4 geese, 2 quail (heat got to some), 48 adult chickens, 2 adult sheep and 2 young lambs. Definitely not boring around here. We finally had the sheep sheared yesterday. We'd been having trouble finding someone, and a nice young girl from the high school helped us out.

I'm hoping that my business with Heritage Makers will increase now that I can devote more time to it. I worked at a trade show this past weekend and have a couple coming up this fall.

Well, guess that's it for now. I'll post a photo of Mr. Boo soon. The camera's in the car and I'm too lazy to get up and get it right now.

Suze

Finished my first book!

2007-06-06T15:11:00.001-05:00

I just finished my first Heritage Makers book. Its a brag book about our famous little house duck, Button. I haven't received my printed copy yet, its in production, but if you'd like to see it, I have placed it in the Project Gallery.

To see Cute as a Button, click here.

I also am going to my first venue in the morning, so I'm working at getting everything set. Hopefully, we will do well.

Update on the house: The old house is almost empty, garage is getting there and our friends move in next week. They have started the repairs/renovations, so it should look much different soon.

We will be hearing peeping again at our house on or around Father's Day. I purchased some Spitzhauben eggs at the Texas Chickenstock and most of them look like they are developing well. We have a few of our mixed brown eggs in there too, but it is hard to see whether they are progressing yet.

Hubby has signed up for the Texas Guard, and is like a little boy with a new toy. He's getting his uniform together and is getting ready for further training. He will be a radio man and will work when natural or manmade disasters happen here at home.

Guess that's all for now.

Suze

A little surprise I found at the old house.

2007-05-10T22:09:00.000-05:00

Its hard to say that clearing out an old house is fun, but I've had some fun going through boxes and finding photographs, family papers, etc. that were long forgotten. There's still a lot to do, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I wanted to share a little surprise I found the other day. This is me and my handsome brother, Ensign Eddie, on the day of his Senior prom in 1982. I have no idea what we're laughing at, but I think its a great photo. Oh, and here's how I look now. Oh, too be that tiny again, probably about as possible as John having a full brother or sister. Enjoy! Oh and Ensign, I found something you might want!

What am I doing in the recent photo? Hubby gave me a loom for my birthday last October. I've wanted one for as long as I can remember. I made a window seat cover for John's bedroom. Here's a closeup.

Updates

2007-04-25T23:09:00.000-05:00

Well, where to begin....

Doc is getting big, he's turning into a great dog. We just completed our basic obedience training, and we are seeing some great results from him.

John turned 5 on February 1st. Wow, the time has flown. He's getting so big and learning so much. We are very proud of him.

Button, the only hatchling has captured all our hearts and has turned into a beautiful duck. She's still living in the shower, loves to follow us around and is putty in John's hands.

March 30th, we were surprised to come home to our two sheep and two babies! Josephine is a very good mama to Moses and Florence (Mo & Flo), and Napoleon is a very protective papa. We did lose Louis, the third sheep in early March. We're not quite sure what happened. We miss him alot.

Tara, the Cardigan Welsh Corgi, turned 14 on March 23rd. It hard to believe so much time has gone by.

My home of 12 years will soon become the home of one of my favorite friends. We are trying to get it cleared out and fixed up for her and her family.

I've actually purchase 3 domain names and have gone "live" with my own personal website promoting my services to help families organize, scan, and celebrate their family stories and memories through powerpoint presentations and self-published storybooks.

Farm Update: Planting has been done and undone by weather and chickens, but hopefully this time we will have a good showing. Hubby planted 90 apple trees of 10 varieties to startup his pick-your-own farm venture. We're selling alot of farm fresh eggs. The poultry are doing well. We have a few hens trying to go broody and a duck who shows up occasionally to eat. She's got a nest in the middle of a hay bale. We have apples and plums showing up on the trees.

In a couple of weeks, May 9th, we will celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary.

Well, that's what we've been up to lately.

Suze

Catch up, sort of....

2007-02-14T23:35:00.000-06:00

Life has been pretty hectic the past few months, but I plan to add some things in the next few days. Just wanted to check in and tell you about a new venture I'm going into. I've been wanting to open a business/service helping people preserve, collect, and store their images, including an end product sort of like an e-book scrapbook or powerpoint presentation. I've found a company that does just that, offers publishing of projects, as well as assistance preparing them. So today, I signed up to be a consultant for Heritage Makers. It looks like a really exciting prospect. Let me know if you might be interested in taking the journey with me.

Suze

Introducing .....Doc!

2006-11-27T09:28:00.000-06:00

We've lost two more chickens, a Buff Orpington and Gobble our bustled Rhode Island Red. We decided to look at a livestock guardian dog, and were considering a rescued Pyr/Anatolian Shepherd, but we decided the size might be too much for us. So, we looked at the English Shepherd. They look like they have the qualities of what we need in a dog, herding, guarding and hunting. We went to Shreveport on Saturday and brought home Doc Hudson, Doc for short. You can see more photos at http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e128/jausenclaus/Doc%20Hudson
Here is one of him and John.

2006-11-03T10:46:00.000-06:00

Introducing Button

In my last post, I posted photos of the chickens that we had lost. Since that time, we lost 2 of our oldest ducks to a early morning raccoon attack. This happened on October 6. The next day we hatched a lone duckling. He/she is doing great and is cute as a button, hence the name. Here is Button the day after hatching.

Here are photos of Button at 2 weeks

and almost 4 weeks, as well as his first bath.

Note, the pan he is in for his bath is the pan he was in right after he hatched.

Other bird updates

All of our original hens are of laying age now. This week we had one day of 12 eggs. Chickens need about 14 hours of daylight to lay eggs, and each egg takes about 24-26 hours to process. So, with the days getting shorter, our egg production will be getting less. Hubby is looking for sources to sell the extra eggs to, so if anyone's is interested, we do periodically have eggs available. Right now all are brown eggs, except for two hens that lay light green eggs.

Our latest batch of chicks, 44 total, are living in cages in the garage. With the cooler weather, we haven't decided the best time to integrate them with the flock. The cages are too big for the hen house, but we could have enough room if we were to add more roosts. The outdoor pens will be too cool for the the chicks. So, for now they're in the garage. We've only lost one chick out of the group, but we do have one that is having problems, not sure what, possibly neurological.

One last comment. We have some really goofy geese. They have learned to fly and have made it out of our fence. But, they are too "dumb" or "stupid" to figure out how to get back in. They are alot of fun to watch and seeing them fly is wonderful, but we may have to be clipping some wings sometime in the future.

Guess that's all for now.

Updates

2006-11-03T09:52:00.000-06:00

Wow, its been a while since I posted last. So, I'm going to be posting updates and photos today.

AWANA

John started Awana with a friend of his this past September. He seems to really be enjoying it, and was so proud on the first night when he got his vest. To get the vest, the children have to memorize the core scriptures and lessons that Awana teaches. Here is a photo of him in his new vest.

Halloween

Halloween was pretty eventful for John this year. His school had a party and a fall festival, and on Halloween night we attended the festival we've gone to every Halloween since he was two. This year, my mom went with us. Here's a photo of her and "Spiderman".

Five more years.....until AARP!

Yes, that's right, five more years to the big 5-0. It doesn't seem possible. I don't feel this old, but its here. My body does seem to be feeling it though, just ask the family. I guess that's all for today.

Photo Tribute

2006-09-18T07:41:00.000-05:00

Our chickens that we lost this past week.

When it rains.....it pours

2006-09-17T22:53:00.000-05:00

That's how life has been at our house this past week. It started out good, on Tuesday I went with John to his first PTO meeting. When we got home, I realized when I got home that the reluctance I was feeling might have a different reason. Hubby was putting the birds to bed when we got home, but he couldn't find one of our first and oldest hens, Thomasina. He was furious with some of the roosters because they had her so frightened aand harassed that she was hiding from them. So, since he could not find her, he left the three of them out of the pen for the night. The next morning one of the roosters could not be found and Thomasina was also still missing.

Hubby's 56th birthday was on Friday. On Wednesday, we drove to Cameron, Texas to pick up an order of Delaware chicks. They joined our week old "Rainbow Pullet" group from Meyer Hatchery. Because we had so many roosters, the plan was to buy more girls to keep the boys happy and also to sell farm fresh eggs. They are all adorable. That night, Hubby found evidence of the demise of Thomasina and Salvador Dali (formerly Dahlia, until he underwent a sex change).

Saturday, we celebrated Hubby's birthday and had a really good time. When it came time to put the chickens to bed, we couldn't find Willie (a gold laced Wyandotte, aka Rockstar). Hubby found him a few minutes later. He'd been killed and it was still light outside. It made us rethink what had happened with Thomasina. Maybe she was actually attacked instead of hiding from the boys.

This morning, we patrolled the area to see if there was any evidence of problems from the night before. As I was rounding the corner, I found Mr. French (Buff Orpington). It was a terrible sight. I won't go into what it looked like. I let the birds out, then couldn't find one of the ducks. So I looked for her, and finally found her. But, about 30 minutes later, Hubby found the body of one of my favorite girls, Lacy (gold laced wyandotte). Lacy was low girl on the totem pole. She was just starting to finish feathering out, it had taken a long time. She also like to ride the backs of the sheep and spent a lot of time in and around our garage. She will be sorely missed.

Well, the day just got worse and worse. John woke up feeling bad, so it was an at home day for him. I still don't know what was really bothering him. Around 12:00 noon, it started raining and rained off and on for hours. The ducks have a new pond behind the barn that they can actually swim in, pools of water everywhere and mud like quicksand. To top it off, the pen that we've been keeping the chickens in (a large dog kennel with tarp) is collapsing under the weight of the water on the tarp. If we have any more rain tonight, it might be totally collapsed tomorrow. Because of this, we spent over an hour running around in the rain, through the pools and quicksand rounding up chickens to put them in the barn overnight. Most of that time was with just about 3 or 4 chickens. Have you ever tried to run or walk with mud over the top of your shoes chasing a wet chicken. We're lucky that neither of us fell in the mud.

So, this was our week and our day. I sure hope it drys out some tomorrow.

Have a good week!

Labor Day...a year ago

2006-09-03T23:17:00.000-05:00

Wow, its hard to believe that last year on Labor Day John picked out a beautiful little kitten at Petsmart. If you go in my archives and look at September 6th, you will see a photo of him on the day we got him. He has turned into a beautiful loving cat with two major flaws. He puts Count von Jausenclaus to shame in the jaws and claws department. He ambushes us on the stairs, attacks us when we go to pick him up, and poor Tiger gets jumped every time he sees him. But, we all love him to death. And I think Tiger even likes him when he isn't jumping on him. I am posting a photo of him and Tiger from one of the rare times they actually slept close to each other.

Other updates:

John's first day of PreKindergarten

August 17th was the first day of John's K4 class at a local private school. He goes on twice a week, and they are providing a Kindergarten curriculum. He has to wear uniforms, so I'm posting a photo of him in his daily uniform. They also have a dress or chapel uniform which consists of a white shirt, tie, red knit vest and blue pants. I'll post a photo of it when he wears it for the first time, which is on Tuesday.

Swim lessons

We also had our first round of swim lessons. John did well, even went down the slide twice on the last day into 12 feet water. But, he needs to work on some things, including his concentration and paying attention. Here are a couple of photos of him at swim class and with the slide. We also bought one of those Easy Set pools at a discount and put it up after his swim lessons. He was delayed in being able to use it because he developed Scarlet Fever right after the swim lessons ended.

Coop is under construction

Well, we finally are going to have a more permanent home for the chickens. Hubby has been working hard at it, but with the heat we've had the past month, it has taken longer than expected. But, the door and ramp went on today. We just need to finish the interior wallboards, paint and trim. We also have to figure out the best way to treat the floor. I took a number of photos of the chickens, ducks and geese today and will post them in photobucket, hopefully tomorrow.

Here's the link for now. http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e128/jausenclaus/.

John's rodeo career ... mutton boy takes a fall

2006-07-20T08:49:00.000-05:00

Well, this happened on July 9, so its not so recent, but the story was asked for, so here it is. We've been working with the lambs, trying to tame them and they are enjoying the interaction. However, they are much more interested in the greenery around their yard than the harsh dirt in their pen. We've had so much to prepare for at the farm, the sheep came before we were really ready for them, so there are no other pastures fenced for them to graze in. So, our wonderful, smart little lambs have been escaping by crawling under the fence. They throw their whole bodies into in and make it through. Now, this wouldn't be too much of a problem because the area they're busting into is fenced along the perimeter (about 250'square, with a chicken/duck area inside). But, hubby has fruit trees as well as 20 new trees that we planted around the house. That's what the lambs are going for. So, on May 9th, Sunday morning about 8:15, Napoleon (the ringleader lamb) came under the fence by the new chicken house that hubby was building. Hubby was showing John and I how he could now sit on Napoleon. Of course, what 4 year old wouldn't want to do the same. So, crazy parents that we let him sit on him. At first, he slid off, but wanted to try again. Napoleon was very calm, let him sit on him, hubby stepped back, and Napoleon bolted. Bloodcurling screams later and John had a gash on the back left side of the top of his head. So we took him to the emergency room and he had 3 staples put in. Surprisingly, I was very calm during the whole ordeal. And he was really good. I took him in this past Monday to have them taken out.

Updates: I've been putting up blinds, pictures and have been searching for the right drapes for a couple of rooms. Besides the mess, the house is becoming to look like a home. We have 16 new baby quail (week old) and another sick bird in the house. One of the adult quail had an eggbinding episode and prolapse. Not pretty, I won't go into details, but I'm surprised she's still alive.

Goldie, our chicken that was attacked by a hawk is now a full fledged hen. We have a very small light green egg from her. So we now have green and brown eggs. Her "sisters" should start laying soon too.

I haven't done anything at the old house lately. Stuff keeps happening for me to use as excuses, but the main thing is, its depressing to go over there, and quite overwhelming. I enjoy being in the new house, so it makes it harder to drive the 30 miles to work over there, eve though I'm there usually for other reasons.

For those of you who know my mom, she took a fall at Denny's about a month ago and broke the bone in her arm that goes into her shoulder. It's been pretty painful for her, but she seems to be on the mend.

We have our first "party" next week. My book club is meeting here. It will be the first time in about 10 years I've been able to host book club in my home. We're reading books that pertain to chickens, Still Life with Chickens by Catherine Goldhammer, Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte or Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance by Martin Gurdon. I gave the girls a choice between the three. It ought to be interesting discussion. And no, we're not having chicken or lamb for dinner.

Cock a doodle doo!

2006-06-29T07:38:00.000-05:00

This was one of many firsts that we've experienced this week at Windy Acres Farm. Our 7 week old Buff Orpington rooster is warbling his first crow. He beat the Black Australorp who started with a single sound yesterday. Mr. French's crow was definitely a very watered down version of the famous "cock a doodle doo". The boys are also beginning to spar. It looks like we may have as many as 4 roosters from this group of 17, possibly 5 if one of the Wyandottes turns out male. So far, everyone is getting along well.

Other firsts:

John and I can actually pet the lambs. We started giving them grasses through the fence, and they will now come when we call. The two boys love having the ears and noses scratched. The largest lamb, Napoleon, even comes up the fence to "hug" me and ask for more. Last night, we got them to eat grass from our hands inside the pen. This is another big conquest, usually they run from us.

Goldie, our Americauna/Easter Egger/Araucana pullet who was injured in a suspected hawk attack, ran up to me the other day and squatted for me to pick her up. This is the first time any of the chickens have done this because they wanted to. We have a few that like to be picked up, but it is usually not their idea, its ours.

Snakes! We've found two snakes, possibly poisonous (Copperhead?) in the past 4 days. The first one was curled up in the nest box (cat box top) that we use for the chickens. It looked like a blackened banana peel. I was looking inside for eggs and saw it. Charles came and "took care" of it. What is really scary is that John likes to pick these up when a chicken or duck is inside. He could easily have done that and might have been bitten. Last night, I was getting ready to put John to bed and Charles was watering trees. I heard him yelling and waving his arms. He said there was a snake (he said rattle) and wanted me to get his gun. I hate guns and don't want John any where near them, but here I was running with a loaded shotgun out the front door, through the chicken pen to give him the shotgun. He said he almost stepped on it. Pretty scary. He wasn't sure it was poisonous, possibly a Copperhead or maybe just a rat snake. It was bigger than the one on Sunday. Definitely scary. The scariest part is that both John and I were walking in this area a lot on Saturday and Sunday.

Tuffy has finally found the cat door from the kitchen to the breezeway. He's been going out there a few times this morning. So that's another first. He and Tiger also escaped last night during the ruckus with the snake. If John hadn't seen Tiger outside, we would not have known to look for Tuffy.

And the last first. Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the fire at the Biblical Arts Center. The Dallas Morning News had an article about what the future has in store. They plan to rebuild it. In a former life, the BAC was where I enjoyed the best job of my career. It always felt like a mission to create the exhibits and work with the artists there. Now the office that I worked from is probably nonexistant. It was right behind the large Miracle at Pentecost painting. Charles and I loved the place so much that we were married there on May 9, 1998.

This might not be considered a first, but was really sweet and cute. It was the first time we saw anything like this. One of our 7 week old goslings (Toulouse) was "kissing" or nipping the female lamb, Josephine, this morning. It looked so sweet. Well, Louis (Josephine's twin) got jealous and put a stop to it. But it was really neat while it was happening

Well, I guess that's all for now. Just thought I'd share.

Suze

Life with chickens, ducks, quail and sheep

2006-06-22T23:25:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been over a month since I posted the last message. Not much has changed, but we are adjusting to life on the farm. All three of us look forward to being with the birds and the sheep. When I was first approached about having chickens and ducks, I thought my husband was crazy. He even mentioned wanting to have 50 of the things. I thought maybe 2 or 3 would be fine. But, once we got into it and I joined a few Yahoo groups and started really looking at them, I got hooked. Now, I'm not sure we have enough! There are so many different types of chickens out there it is amazing. And personality, wow. You just don't know what its like until you experience it.

So, each evening our highlight of the night is sitting in the chicken pen watching the chickens run and chase grasshoppers, chase birds, see ducks swimming in their pool. All I can say is I feel peace and I look forward to this every evening. I am planning to post some new photos in photobucket, or here on the blog, but I need to resize them for display, so it may take a few days. I'll just give a teaser right now, a picture of John with our 5 week old Toulouse goose, and some other goofy photos of John enjoying life. (I was just able to add these today, 6/25/06. Here is the photobucket link for future photos: http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e128/jausenclaus/).

We've had another supposed hawk attack. One of our Americauna/Aracauna/Easter Egger chicken was attacked about a week after Dax. But, we've been able to nurse her back to health. She sleeps inside at night, but we let her out with the others when we can be there to watch her. Because she's bare backed, she stands more chances of being attacked by the other chickens. We've lost a few quail, both to heat and escape. We did lose Ethel, the mom of most of our quail. And we also lost one of our Gold Laced Wyandotte chicks.

The sheep are slowly letting us touch them. As long as little mister is not around, I can actually put my hands on the face of the largest lamb. We've named them, Napoleon, Louis and Josephine. Kind of goes along with being French sheep (Rambouillet). We haven't named many of the chicks who are now 6 weeks old. The Buff Orpington rooster is Mr. French, and we plan to name his girls, Buffy, Jody, Sissy and Mrs. Beasely. But, we haven't come up with names for the Black Australorps or Gold Laced Wyandottes. A few of the ducks have names, but not many. We have Mud Duck (the only brown one), Cha Cha (a tall solid black duck, possibly a runner), Daphne (female Rouen or Mallard). The older chickens are Thomasina, Henrietta, Missy and Mollie (Barred Rock), Greta and Gobble (Rhode Island Red), and Merry and Goldie (we were told Araucana, but probably Easter Egger or Americauna).

Well, guess that's all for now.

Our first casualty

2006-05-18T22:28:00.000-05:00

We set out new pens tonight to give the chickens and ducks more space, and boy do they enjoy it. It was great fun to see the ducks splashing around, with everyone having a good time. But, I noticed that the sheep were acting funny and hadn't eaten much. This is very unusual for them. Our littlest dog, Dax, had really seemed to enjoy the farm. He even liked the sheep and went straight up to them, slept near them, etc. Today, he was sleeping in the yard, or we thought he was. Something didn't seem right, so I went over to check him and found out that he was dead. We're not sure what happened, we think its possible that a hawk might have caught him, or maybe the sheep did something to him. Anyway, we are now without a wonderful little dog who overcame a lot of hardships. He was severely abused when he was a puppy to the extent that we are sure he suffered brain damage. Because of this he never did well with potty training. His bones creaked when he walked because the arthritis was so bad. And he had allergies that caused his skin to itch and become irritated. Despite all of this we loved him dearly. He will be sorely missed by all of us. I was telling John tonight that while I was pregnant with him, we used to get Dax to howl just for the fun of it. He had the funniest high pitched howl you would ever hear. Our dear boy, we will miss your sweet smile. May you be running free of all skin problems, with a clear head that brightens your loping gait that has no pain. We loved you.

Anyone having trouble reading the blog?

2006-05-14T23:23:00.000-05:00

I'm having trouble viewing my blog, so if you can, please email me and let me know if you can see it. I may just be having trouble viewing it because the best we get on dial up out here in the country is about 14 kbps. But, all I'm seeing is a white space where text used to be.

Well, we've been here almost a week and everyone seems to be settling in. The cats have made it downstairs a few times, but they stay mostly in the master bedroom area. It sounds like a thundering herd of buffalo up there when they "playing". Of course, it depends on which cat you ask whether they're playing or not.

I now have the daunting task of emptying the other house. I'm hoping to clear out one room a day, which means I should have the house emptied by Monday of next week. But, we'll see. I'm the world's worst procrastinator.

John's MDO is having an awards/graduation ceremony tomorrow, so we are going to attend. He has learned quite a lot this past year there. Its hard to believe its over. He can now write his name, some letters and can read letters and numbers. They also can be credited for getting him potty trained. It sure wasn't me.

On another note, my cousin's daughter is not doing well. She has a young baby and has had complications ever since his birth. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Her name is LeeAnn.

Well, on for the next week. Have a good one.

We've moved!

2006-05-10T22:59:00.000-05:00

Monday was moving day for most of our large furniture items. The house is still packed like sardines, but all of us are now in residence at the farm. Things are a little different than originally planned. The dog room is currently used as a brooder room for 15 chicks, 9 ducklings, 4 goslings, and 18 quail, as well as the temporary home for all of the 20 adult quail. The babies are so adorable. I've taken pictures but the camera fell in a sinkhole on my desk at the old house and I haven't found it yet.

Our other residents, Tuffy and Tiger the cats, Tipper, Tara and Dax the dogs, and Uno and Dos the Cockatiels are doing fairly well. Surprisingly, the pet that has handled the move the best is schitzo Dax. He likes to talk to the sheep, goes right up to them in his staggering loping way with a goofy grin on his face. They actually looked like they were talking yesterday until one of the sheep butted him away. But, he continues to go toward them. Tipper and Tara seem bored, and Tipper has become quite the escape artist. Tuffy and Tiger have barely made it out of the Master bedroom, but they're becoming a little more bold. Tuffy actually made it to John's room and visited with him tonight. Our birds, Uno and Dos seem to really be enjoying life in the living room. They've been shut away for so long in the old office at the house. We just can't get them to keep quiet. The house still echoes because of the tile and wood floors.

John and I are still adjusting. We have yet to be able to relax and enjoy living at the new house. Every night and day have been spent on something to do with the move. John's schedule has totally been destroyed, so we're working to get that back in shape. He was rolling at 2:00 this morning for at least an hour. He does have a cold and cough right now so that takes care of some of it.

Yesterday was our eighth anniversary. We were married on May 9th at the Biblical Arts Center. Its so sad to think that the lovely place we were married doesn't exist anymore. We celebrated with a sick child. We tried to go to Red Lobster, met with a barf bag, cleaned up, then tried IHOP, met wtih the threat of another barf bag, and finally just got groceries and hubby cooked eggs and bacon. Tonight we ate at a local steak restaurant and had a nice time.

Guess thats all for the update now. My next few weeks will be to get the other house emptied and ready to sell. What a daunting task.

TTFN

Update - Are we in yet?

2006-04-27T22:53:00.000-05:00

I've had several people ask if we've moved into the house yet. Weeeeellll, no. Do we want to be, yes. But, I have 12+ years of my stuff crammed into this house and garage and am just now making headway into sifting through it. And that doesn't include hubby's stuff that is here. We were full when he moved in and every nook and cranny is stuffed to the brim now. We have bought a few pieces of furniture that are slowly making their way to the house. Hubby has been there for almost two months, finishing the wood floors, etc.

We've added to the farm menagerie. Three Rambouillet lambs joined us last week. They're very cute, but kind of skittish and aren't comfortable with us yet. We are anticipating a hatch of up to 56 quail eggs this weekend. I purchased 48 through the mail, so we don't really know how many will hatch. And we are also expecting a delivery of 12 chicks, 5 ducklings and 4 goslings around May 4th. So, we are swimming in birds right now.

I'll try to get some updated photos of the birds and also the lambs posted soon.

Suze

Photos of finished interior

2006-04-03T20:09:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos of the interior of the house. None of them really do the house justice, but they are a good representation. Most of the rooms with special features are included. More photos can be seen at http://photobucket.com/albums/e128/jausenclaus. All of the house photos should be at the front of the blog.

It's finished... the house anyway!

2006-03-30T19:12:00.000-06:00

Barring any unforseen problems, the house is now finished. I'm not sure when we'll be completely moved in, hopefully before Easter. I just now have to get my act together and get packed up. We still need the fences installed before we can move the dogs down there, so hopefully they can do that quickly. I finally think I have some good photographs, so I will try to post them later on tonight.

We have added to our farm population - six 3-4 week old pullets - 2 Rhode Island Red, 2 Barred Rock and 2 Araucana. So, we now have eight chickens and nine ducks after adding have four cute ducklings. Another batch of quail hatched on Monday, bringing our total to 18 babies and the two parents. We're busting at the seams with birds right now, but its fun and John loves interacting with them.

Well, that's all for now.

Suze

Rain, rain go away!

2006-03-19T22:18:00.000-06:00

What a wet weekend! We haven't seen this much rain in a long time. The news just stated that Waxahachie has had almost 8 inches of rain. We have a lake in our backyard and our chickens may have to start swimming soon. But, the biggest problem, we've sprung leaks at the new house. Some may be serious, most are around the windows. And, this was the week, our builder was going to turn the house over to us. Yikes! I'm just glad we got this rain now instead of after the closing. Almost all of the work has been done on the house. Charles spent the weekend at the house trying to finish the wood floor. He spent alot of time mopping up water, but there are only two rooms left to floor. So, we still have some dog doors to install, the screen doors on the breezeway and the fencing to go. I just hope we get some grass in before we move the dogs down there or we will have a horrible muddy mess when they go outside.

I've been looking at washers and dryers and was amazed yesterday when I decided to do some research on them. We have a second floor laundry room, and have planned all along to get a new set of front loading w/d. Because I couldn't make up my mind between two, I started looking into them and was amazed to find out that some of the models don't work too well on the second floor. They can vibrate the whole house. Some of the models are recommended to only work on a concrete floor. This is not something you hear when you go to buy them, so it was a surprise. Since yesterday, I've been reading alot and have determined which one to try for, but I've got to make sure whoever installs it can level it correctly, so my decision on where to buy it may change. Just something I thought I'd pass on, because it was a surprise to me.

Quail update: We hatched a new batch of babies on March 7th. Ten hatched, three with problems. Two of those did not make it, and the third has leg problems, but is very strong and healthy, so I don't know if it will make it. It may never walk right. We also lost one of the Valentines babies yesterday. I don't know if it died because of the power going off Friday night (scared and trampled), or if something was wrong with it. I think it was the last baby to hatch, because it was one of the smaller birds.

I will try to post photos of the house soon. Its turned out real pretty, but its kind of hard to take photos that look good and you can really see the rooms. We have a ton of work to do to move in, which should be within the next couple of weeks.

House almost finished!

2006-03-17T14:26:00.000-06:00

Well, the day is almost here and I'm no where near ready to move. We've been so busy dashing around buying the last minute stuff that we haven't even started packing. But, we're down to punchlist time and as soon as the fence is in for the dogs, we'll be moving down there. Charles plans to start staying down there now, and still has to finish the wood floor. There are only 3 1/2 rooms left to floor. We've both been down with pneumonia for a few weeks, so that has slowed the process. I'll post photos either this weekend or early next week. It is really looking good. Just wanted to update for those that are interested.

Quail update: We had a new batch of quail hatch around March 10th. This hatch had 10 babies hatch, 3 with problems. Two of those have not made it. We still have one who will probably never walk. We've separated him, and hope to get him up and going. He's healthy, eating, drinking, but his leg is dragging. This is sometimes fixable, but we don't know where its heading. The original hatch has 6 healthy almost adult babies that are doing great. We're very pleased with their progress. Our two chicks are also growing into beautiful hens, and should start laying in about 6 weeks or so. I'll post updated photos of them soon too.

Suze

Photos of Quail babies

2006-02-20T09:05:00.000-06:00

On Valentine's Day five baby Coturnix quail hatched. A "surprise" sixth chick hatched on February 17th. Hubby was planning to take the unhatched eggs out of the incubator and saw the little fuzzball running around. It may be hard to see him in the photos, but he is the smallest one. Here is a link to our quail babies. They are almost a week old now, and are already getting wing feathers. They all seem healthy and happy.

http://photobucket.com/albums/e128/jausenclaus/

Valentine Babies!

2006-02-16T08:26:00.000-06:00

After two failed attempts, we now have five healthy, walking, pooping, chirping, eating and drinking quail babies. They are cute little brown butterballs. Either we are finally getting this incubation thing going, or Fred and Ethel (mommy and daddy quail) are just getting stronger. They run all over their brooder box and are just adorable. I'll post photos of them later.

Coturnix quail are bred for both meat and eggs. The Coturnix hen will lay up to 300 eggs a year, usually in Ethel's case about one a day, sometimes skipping a day. We really have no interest in eating the eggs and will not be killing them to eat or hunting them, but we'd like to have a bunch of quail at the farm to enjoy. These little quail have very sweet sounds and are not too flighty. So, we just incubate what she lays and hope we'll get a few babies in the process. We do need to get some eggs from another location to keep these little guys from inbreeding too much.

House update: The wallpaper should be finished today. The builder has been hanging lights, so the house is getting its character. Its very colorful. John's room is adorable and the wallpaper in the downstairs bath is really pretty.

They put in the pipe for the propane tank yesterday. We have to get a mail box, because we are actually getting mail. We also should be having the final concrete flatwork done, probably nextw week.

Chickens, quail and others, oh my!

2006-02-09T23:33:00.000-06:00

I haven't talked much and have never introduced our newest additions to the farm family. Right before Christmas, we adopted a pair of Coturnix (Pharoah, Japanese) quail. This pair had been living with a lady who loved birds, but found she just couldn't take care of them anymore and was interested in giving them to someone who would be willing to incubate their eggs. Coturnix hens are prolific layers, usually laying one egg a day. We've had two hatchings (6 babies) of their eggs, but sadly none of the babies have survived. Tomorrow starts our third round, so hopefully by Valentines Day we might have some babies that will be strong enough to survive. Around the time of the first hatching, our friend contacted us about a pair of chicks that someone brought to her door. She asked us if we'd like to have them, so we brought them home and housed them with the quail until they got so big they were in danger of hurting them. They are now outside in the duck pen. We've named them Thomasina and Henrietta. The two quail are Fred and Ethel. I have a few photos of the chicks online at the following link - http://photobucket.com/albums/e128/jausenclaus/?action=view&current=henrietta.jpg
I still need to take updated photos of Fred and Ethel. They are looking tons better that they did when we brought them home.

This weekend, we are also expecting to receive about twenty-five quail from a rescue operation in California. The birds are just a small number of over 5,000 quail that were found in deplorable conditions at a slaughter house there. They are coming by van to deliver the birds to us. So, we have to get cracking on building pens for the ducks, quail and chickens. It has been a fun month or two, we hope everything will go smoothly when we move to the farm.

House update: Our granite countertops are in and are very pretty. The type of granite is Volga Blue and is very dark blue with peacock color blue shiny pieces randomly through it. I have yet to take a photo of it that shows it to its best advantage. In fact, that is one of the reasons I don't have current photos of the painted rooms yet on the blog. Its very hard to get good pictures of vacant rooms, especially in small spaces, so I'm goint to try to work on them. Charles has laid the floor in the master bedroom and hallway. It's looking really pretty. John's room is adorable and the two upstairs baths look great, just the way I thought they'd look. The master is still missing the clawfoot tub though. It will be installed with the rest of the plumbing fixtures. I meet with a wallpaper hanger on Monday, so hopefully we will have all the wallpaper finished next week.

Four Things Meme

2006-02-05T09:35:00.000-06:00

I was tagged here

Four jobs I've had:

Ice cream shop
Bank Teller
Museum Curator
Mom (the best job)

Four places I've lived:

Dallas Metroplex
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Brazosport area, Texas
Lubbock, Texas

Four websites I visit daily:

Yahoo Groups (Moms, Chickens, Pets, etc)
Ebay
Soapcentral.com
Google (I look for info on lots of different stuff, right now mostly house or kid related)

Four television shows I love to watch:

1. Desperate Housewives
Greys' Anatomy
Extreme Home Makeover
All My Children

Four of my favorite foods:

Chicken Fried Steak
Sliced tomatoes
Enchiladas
Seafood

Four albums I can't live without (at least for the moment):

I'm terribly boring and can't remember the last one I bought, probably kid related though.

The Wiggles Big Red Car (when we're in the big red truck)
Styx Paradise
Phantom of the Opera
Les Miserables

Four DVDs I can't live without (at least for the moment):

Anything Thomas the Tank Engine
Phantom of the Opera
Gone with the Wind
Showboat

Four places I'd rather be:

Grand Canyon
Colorado
Mountains
London

Four people I am tagging to do this meme are:

I don't know anyone else that does blogs, so I'm sending it to my book club and my mom's group.

This little exercise really shows you how boring my life really is.

Starry, starry night

2006-02-05T07:49:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, we had the first party at the new house. My son turned 4 on Wednesday, February 1st. Its hard to believe four years have gone by. We had mostly family over and his best friend. They seemed to have a blast. One of the nice things about living out there is it is great for kite flying, no trees, houses to crash against. We gave John a huge dragon kite and after a little bit of tweaking he was flying it really good. After dinner, we went back down to the house. As we got out of the car, I looked up at the sky. It was clear and you could see stars everywhere. It was so beautiful, quiet and still. We went up to John's new room and looked out his window to see the moon. Many people have wondered why we want to live so far out from town. This is definitely one of the benefits. I can't remember being able to see stars like that from my home, and the moon is usually behind the trees.

House Update: We now have a septic system and one flushing toilet. Wood flooring is being laid. I will be meeting with wallpaper installers sometime this week and we will be purchasing all of the hardware (door, cabinet, bathroom), and the last of the lights. We hope to be moving in by the end of February.

Painting!

2006-01-22T00:38:00.000-06:00

Well, the upstairs has been painted. John's room turned out so cute. Charles built a window seat with bookshelves on both ends, painted it white and the rest of the room is blue. We also have tile in John's bathroom, the laundry room and partially in the master bath. I think the paint looks great, Charles isn't so sure. They should start staining the kitchen cabinets by Monday. The electricity lines were dug so we now have real electricity running to the house. The septic system is another story. We're trying to get a conventional or low drip pressure system instead of an aerobic system and are having trouble finding someone who will install it for us. Seems to be too much rock where they're drilling and they seem unwilling to drill in a different location. We're hoping that we will at least have a flushable toilet installed for John's birthday party in two weeks. Its not looking too good right now. Hopefully, things will pick up.

Glory be! We have thunder bumpers going on. Some much needed rain is falling as I type. We've been blessed with good weather during the house construction, but Texas is sorely in need of this rain.

Recent Photos - stairs, cabinets, fireplace

2006-01-11T23:00:00.000-06:00

Here are photos of the fireplace, stairs and kitchen cabinets. The painter starts tomorrow. We have have set up a phone line, electrity and propane services, which have yet to be installed. Still waiting on septic, flatwork and the final plumbing and finish out.

Showers and cabinets!

2006-01-07T23:54:00.000-06:00

Friday the showers were installed in the master and downstairs bathrooms. We used cultured marble and they really look nice. Hubby wanted something that really looked like marble, so we chose "walnut swirl" for the master and "grey swirl" for the downstairs bath. Our cabinets have also been installed. Here are photos of the vanities for the master bath. I will post photos of the kitchen cabinets when I can get photos made of them. The stairs will be installed on Monday and the painter should begin painting by Wednesday.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T08:09:00.000-06:00

We celebrated last night with family at our house. We played board games and just had a good time watching John enjoy himself. My parents bought blowers with balloons, noisemakers and party poppers. John got a kick out of these. We started the tradition last year and hope to continue it in the years to come.

We finally selected our wood for the floor at the house. We bought Bellawood Brazilian Mesquite. Its really pretty. It has a golden tone, but also some red in it. We plan to match the color when staining the kitchen cabinets, doors and trim. We're still discussing the tile in the rest of the house. We also have selected wallpaper for the kitchen and dining room and are going in the right direction for the downstairs bathroom.

My baby will be four years old a month from today. It's amazing how time flies.

Well, have a Happy New Year.

Suze

Christmas and stuff

2005-12-28T22:35:00.000-06:00

Christmas this year seemed more of an afterthought in our family. We've been running crazy for the past few months trying to get all the decisions made for the house and its still continuing. Plus, everyone has been sick off and on for the last couple of months, my mom, John and I lately. But, we had a very nice time with family. Santa brought John lots of great things, his favorite being a "Doodle Thomas" or Aquadoodle. He's also already broken a few of his items. His Channel 11 helicopter got caught in Miss Piggy's hair and it fried the motor, he had a case of the intentional dropsies and broke the battery casing on his North Pole train. But, he's having a good time. Santa's biggest goof, the Limited Edition Fire Truck pedal car, has really got his attention, especially the bell and horn.

Trimming the house is continuing. Almost all of the doors are hung, and they are waiting on the cabinets to finish some of the other trimming. All of the debris has been discarded from around the house. We're still in limbo on the wood, tile and marble for the entry. But, everything's coming around.

We have a couple of new additions. I adopted a pair of Coturnix quail from a lady who wanted them to have a home that might be interested in incubating their eggs. So, we are now the proud owners of Fred and Ethel. We got our incubator yesterday and currently have 4 eggs inside. We'll see how it does. Hubby wants to raise quail, ducks and chickens out there, so this gives us a small start. Of course the family thinks we're crazy, but they've always thought that.

Finally, a brick house!

2005-12-22T08:41:00.000-06:00

Well, the brick has finally been laid. It took three additional loads of brick, and lots of wall tear downs, but it's done. The bricklayers did less than good job. It probably won't look too bad to the average person, but there are alot of imperfections in the job.

The bedding and texturing has also been done. Also, the fireplace has been installed. Charles is helping the builder trim the house - hanging the doors, base trim, window trim, etc.

Here are some photos of the brick. The exterior of the house still lacks paint on the porch, shutters, final doors and flatwork (concrete around the house).

Lost another one - I can't wait for this year to end!

2005-12-21T23:29:00.000-06:00

Tonight I lost my first pet that I had as an adult outside of my parent's home. Well, make that the second. This little bird was a replacement for a cockatiel that flew out our back door in February, 1985. Tonight I lost one of my best friends, my Frisco, a Cinnamon Cockatiel. Upon reflecting on his long life, I realized he made it to his 21st birthday. Quite a feat for a cockatiel. But, then Frisco had almost as many lives as some cats do. He probably should have died, or came close to dying at least two times. He had two wives, Roxie and Stormy, that he truly loved. And he left behind two sons that he taught how to wolf whistle and his own special form of whistling. He also has lived in every place I've lived - Dallas area; Lubbock, Texas; Colorado Springs, Colorado and Lake Jackson, Texas. His final resting place will be on the farm with the other animals we've lost.

This photo shows a one year old Frisco with a one year old Chloe (cat, died 2000) and his first wife, Roxie. Frisco has the yellow face.

We have lost so many pets this year - Poodah, Hayley, Jausenclaus, Lord Nelson, Nemo and now Frisco. I'm glad there are only a few days left in the year. Surely, 2006 will have happier times for us.

Brick!!!!....Finally!!!

2005-12-14T22:56:00.000-06:00

News Flash! They started laying the brick this morning. It was a very, very windy day with temps in the 40's when I was down at the house this afternoon. We do have a problem. The number of bricks was underestimated, so we are going to need another 4,000 to finish the house. We had a little over 11,000 to start off with. The person who estimated it did a bad job. The brick layers will install all the brick probably tomorrow. Hopefully, it won't take another 6-8 weeks to get the new brick in and the color will not be off. The interior doors were purchased today also. They will start trimming out the doors tomorrow. The bedding and texturing is on hold until the "mud" dries. It has been pretty cold and moist, so it still hasn't dried from last week.

Tuffy in the tree

2005-12-09T00:03:00.000-06:00

BRRRRRRRRR!!

2005-12-08T23:47:00.000-06:00

It's cold out there! Not much has been done with the house this week. The sheetrock has been taped but the bedding and texturing was supposed to start yesterday and its too cold for them to do it. We bought the vanity for the downstairs bathroom. We got a display and quite a discount on it. There's a little loss of finish on one of the legs, but it can be covered with a furniture pen. I've been going over and over trying to decide on the wallpaper for the kitchen. Just can't decide between roosters, floral or fruit. The lights we plan to use are stained glass and the pattern name is Tuscany, which means there are grapes on them. So, if we can incorporate grapes we're doing okay. We're also trying to make final decisions on the floors, do we want wood, tile, marble or what. We're getting close, but haven't finalized anything yet. I've told my mother, nothing is final until its put on the floor. Of course, then I worry and worry about whether we've chosen the right thing or not. It's seems I can't make any decisions without "buyers remorse", no matter how good or bad the decision is.

We've put some lights up outside and put up our tree inside, but our monster kitten won't leave me alone long enough to put on the ornaments. I've almost decided to not put any on. Every time I touch the tree, he comes running and climbing. (I've tried twice to post photos, but it is not letting me, so I'll try again later.) Tuffy's so cute, but he's totally full of it. He even divebombs our Corgi and Cocker Spaniel. They seem to love playing with him.

We have walls! Well, sort of. Here are some photos.

2005-12-02T23:51:00.000-06:00

Here are some photos of areas that you can kind of tell what they are.
1. looking up stairs 2. family room with fireplace 3. looking into dining room 4. looking from dining to parlor 5. Finished porch post and rails (still need paint) 6. Kitchen

Walls!!!!! Sheetrock goes up tomorrow!

2005-12-01T22:30:00.000-06:00

Well, if the people show up tomorrow, the first walls should be going up. The sheetrockers are coming! Yippee! Now if we could just get those bricklayers, we'd be doing much better. Our builder has replaced the straight wooden pieces with 3" turned posts on the porch and it looks so much better than it did. They really go with the larger posts. So, if we ever get the brick on, I'll share photos of that when it happens.

I met with the cabinetmaker today and we finalized measurements and plans for the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room cabinets. We're using maple cabinets with a rope detailing on the corners and in the crown molding. I think its going to be really pretty. We still have to decide on our range hood though. I really want a wooden "mantle" style range hood, but we have no way to vent it to the outside, so we may end up changing plans for that. If we do, we'll just put a microwave hood up there. I was hoping to "hide" the microwave in the pantry, but it may not be the best place for it.

Well, that's about all for now. I'm going to try to get the Christmas decorations up either tomorrow or this weekend, if the kiddo and kitten will cooperate. It's going to be all plastic, cardboard or fabric on the tree because of Tuffy. I wonder how long it will take for him to climb to the top? He can't knock it over because it is a 4' tree with a base tied to a table, so it makes it extra sturdy.

Happier thoughts and animal plans

2005-11-29T23:51:00.000-06:00

I don't know what came over me on the last post. But, its nice to get my feelings out somewhere. We've had something cool happen at the farm. Some people may not feel its so cool, and I don't know what's going to happen in the future. But I think its pretty neat. A beautiful barn owl is roosting in our garage. I haven't seen it face to face, but have seen it fly away. A beautiful golden tan with white underneath. Apparently he got trapped this morning and spent the day inside the house in the rafters. Our builder told us about him and that he had a very pretty face. He left the window open for him so he could escape when he wanted to. I was hoping I'd get to see him, but he wasn't there. One of the nicest things about the farm is to see the falcons and hawks flying behind the house. Once we move there and they bother us, we might not like them so much, but I love seeing them soar in the air.

I haven't talked about what we plan to do with the farm, so I thought I'd just mention a little of our plans. I've joined a few yahoo groups to get firsthand information on the different animals we're interested in, chickens, miniature cattle, goats, etc. I want to be able to have animals that we don't have to kill to have use of them. I just don't think I can take care of an animal, then put it in my freezer. I love chicken, steak, etc. but we'll have to sell or give away problem animals. One of the animals I'd really love to have is a llama. My husband and I stayed on a llama farm during a vacation to Colorado and loved it. The llamas are so beautiful and sweet, but they require a lot of work and I don't know how they can stand up to the Texas heat. So, we'll see.

My husband is also interested in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). He's been researching that and thinks it might be viable for a small area on the property. I don't know how we're going to manage all these animals and take vacations though. That's one of our favorite pastimes. We want to travel a lot and show my son our beautiful country and history. I guess we'll figure that out when it happens.

We still haven't got a brick layer out there yet! Ugh! The brick has been there for almost a month, but all the people our builder has called are already working on jobs. Very frustrating. The high winds this past weekend have wreaked havoc on the Tyvek housewrap that is supposed to protect the house from moisture. But, they do plan to put in the insulation tomorrow. Everything was caulked today in preparation. I guess we should be thankful we've gotten this far without too many delays. I just hope it starts picking back up soon. It seems like Thanksgiving week has zapped the energy out of the place.

Ode to Nemo - our goldfish - and our other pets we've lost

2005-11-28T00:06:00.000-06:00

I am very sad tonight. We lost our little fantail goldfish, Nemo, today. He was such a beautiful little fish and loved to come up and see you when you sat next to his aquarium. We got Nemo for Valentines day for my son on February 15, 2004. He started out in a little fishbowl, then we got a 5 gallon aquarium for him. About a year ago, we got him a companion goldfish who my son named Charlie (after his big sister). We have lost so many animals this year, not just here but in my extended family as well. I thought we were in the clear because all of the sick animals have passed away. It was quite sudden that Nemo left us. We started noticing some things going wrong on Thanksgiving, his eye had clouded over and his gill was showing more than normal. He has had a loss of gill due to a gill fluke for a long time, but it seemed worse this week.

As we get closer to moving to the new house, I can't help but reflect on the pets that I have loved and lost as I've lived in my home. In January, I will be in this house 12 years. When I moved in I had 3 cats - Chloe, Shelby and Jausenclaus, one puppy - Tara (Cardigan Welsh Corgi), 2 cockatiels - Frisco and Stormy and 1 parakeet -Nigel. Shortly after I moved in, Nigel died. I missed the sound of parakeet voices, so I bought a pair of parakeets - Charlie and Hayley. Shortly afterward, I added another Cardigan Welsh Corgi to the menagerie, Cincie who was a retired show dog and Tara's grandmother. She was the most wonderful dog in the world. In the first part of 1995, Frisco and Stormy decided that being together alone for six years was not good enough. They began a family and hatched 2 male babies - Uno and Dos. This was the only time that they ever did this. My little menagerie stayed pretty stable until I married, although Charlie died in November of 1996.

I married in May of 1998 and my husband brought his houseful of animals to live with us - 3 dogs, Poodah, Tipper and Dax; 1 cat - Tiger; 1-rabbit - Bunny. We also bought an English parakeet to be with Hayley shortly after we married. This was quite an adjustment for the whole family. It soon started downhill when Chloe started having kidney failure in 1999.

Since February 2000, we have lost about one pet a year - Chloe (2000), Stormy(2001), Cincie(2002), Shelby(2004). This year the numbers have escalated, we've lost Poodah, Hayley, Jausenclaus, Lord Nelson and now Nemo. Family members have also lost cherished pets in the past 2 years, Lancelot (Akita), Ferrari (cat), Cymbah (cat) and Marvin (cat).

The upbeat to all of this loss, is the wonderful memories we have of all of the animals. If Frisco lives through February of 2006, he will be 21 years old, Tara and Tipper turn 13, Uno and Dos turn 11, Tiger just turned 8, Dax (approximately 10), and Tuffy who is just a kitten. We have a lot to be thankful for these animals. I just am thankful that they all allowed us to share our lives with them and love them for the special creatures they are.

So as we leave this house that has been a home of great joy with the animals, I can reflect back on my memories of them and my life here with them. My greatest joy also came to me here, my dear little boy, John.

Thank you my dear home for sheltering my family and critters for 12 years. I am going to miss you.

Update - November 25

2005-11-25T23:48:00.000-06:00

Well, its been pretty slow with Thanksgiving yesterday. A lot of things will be happening next week, delivery of heater units and fireplace, hopefully brick laying, insulation and sheetrocking. The sheetrock was delivered late Tuesday. We are also making arrangements for propane, and one of my jobs is to get in touch with the phone company to find out what's needed to establish service.

Tuesday, we met with our cabinet maker. We're getting maple cabinets with a rope design on the edges and moldings. We're probably going to go with a granite counter top in the kitchen and have chosen "blue pearl". I really like it, there is a lot of mica in it that shimmers, and although blue it is not as dark as a green or black, somewhat of a blue-gray color. We will meet with him out at the house on Thursday to finalize plans.

We have been having intruder problems (two and four legged) and found one on the farm this afternoon. Left the house to go through the garage and surprised an owl that has been roosting in the rafters of the garage. He was really pretty, light tan on top with white underneath. You could see recent remnants of his meal also. At least he got most of it eaten before we surprised him. He's one of a pair that surprised Hubby in the middle of the night when he was staying down there a few weeks ago.

Thanksgiving was at our house, probably the last we'll spend here. It was okay, but none of the family have really been in the mood for celebrating. My mom has been sick for a while and so have all of us here, so we just had a small family get together here. My brother's birthday was today so we celebrated for him yesterday. He has a memorable birthday, born on the day Kennedy was buried, so he is always reminded of that when his birthday rolls around. He has started his own blog at http://ensigneddie.blogspot.com

Hopefully, there will be more to see so we can post more photos next week. It looks like we won't be in the new house before Christmas, so we'll be celebrating here for the last time this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Suze

Photos of exterior painting

2005-11-15T23:28:00.000-06:00

Here are some photos of the exterior painting of the house. The porch posts and railing have only been primed, so please disregard them. They will be painted the cream paint and might have some accent paint. We haven't decided yet. We also plan to take out the straight posts and install 3" turned posts in their place. We were told today that it is going to be another 3 weeks before the brick will be laid. We are trying to work with our builder to get this done faster. I've also included a photo of the bathtub for the upstairs bathroom.

House update - November 13

2005-11-13T11:12:00.000-06:00

We haven't posted for a while. The exterior has been mostly painted. We need to have some trim work redone, but it is looking very good. They've got the ductwork almost complete for the HVAC and most of the plumbing is in. We have a bathtub in the upstairs bathroom, and have purchased the clawfoot tub for the master bath. The brick should be installed sometime next week, as well as the insulation and sheet rock. So thing are moving along. We don't know if we can be in before Christmas or not, but we are working toward it. I will post more photos later.

The brick is in!

2005-11-01T23:24:00.000-06:00

We got a pleasant surprise when we drove to the house today. We walked out the back door and the brick had arrived. We were not really expecting it until next week and the company did not notify us of delivery. They have also put in all the gas lines for the water heater and gas heater, so that was new. We picked the colors for the siding and trim today also (before we saw the brick, scary!). Hopefully it will look well together. I'm going to keep the colors a surprise until we can show photos. The painter should start caulking and priming for painting tomorrow. We also looked at molding and lighting and found several really pretty lights for parts of the house. We will add more photos once the house is painted and the brick is complete.

Roofing complete!

2005-10-30T23:39:00.000-06:00

Well, we got the roof on just as there is supposed to be alot of rain tomorrow. We have been blessed with extremely good weather during the foundation and framing stages of the house. But, rain is in the forcast for tomorrow and some of it severe. Will it hit the farm, your guess is as good as mine. Hopefully, it will hold out for Mr. Boo to go to a local church festival and some of the relatives homes. We don't do traditional trick or treat and neither my husband nor I are fond of lots of munchkins ringing our doorbells on Halloween.

Anyway, here are some photos of the roof. We originally planned on a dark gray almost black roof, but hubby wasn't happy with that idea. So we chose this antique slate color and I think it looks great. Enough color variation to make it interesting. They're still wiring the house, plumbing is near completion (pipes, etc.) and they are installing the ductwork for the HVAC unit.

We are looking at tile and wood flooring, as well as finalizing the order for our clawfoot tub. We found a real pretty marble for a small area of the foyer, but are still looking around.

Recent photo of Tuffy

2005-10-27T00:56:00.000-05:00

Tuffy is getting bigger, fluffier and is so soft and sweet. He and Tiger are doing okay together. Tuffy ambushes him every chance he gets, but Tiger doesn't run away or back down. They'll even sleep together on the bed. So, hopefully they will become friends.

FRAMING COMPLETE - 10/25/05

2005-10-27T00:48:00.000-05:00

The framing is complete on the house. Electric and plumbing work continues. We look forward to receiving the brick later this week. Roofing is supposed to be finished tomorrow. We still haven't decided on what to do on the porch railing. It just doesn't look right yet.

Porch columns up, roofing started.

2005-10-25T08:48:00.000-05:00

The porch columns have been added, as well as the railing. It doesn't look quite right yet, so we're rethinking how it is going to be done. We have a few pictures, but I'm going to wait until we can show the roof and the finished decking on the walls before posting more photos. The plumber came out yesterday and has brought the plumbing up to the second story. A lot of the wiring has been run inside, as well as the electric boxes for the light fixtures and other outlets. They should have the roofing finished today. Also, the HVAC company is supposed to be out this week. Guess that's all for now.

Roof is decked - photos October 19

2005-10-19T23:38:00.000-05:00

The house is really starting to look like what we dreamed it would be. The roof has been decked, beadboard has been installed in the porch ceiling and door thresholds have been installed. We are still waiting on the windows that were ordered incorrectly. Here are photos from today.

Windows and fishcale - October 14th

2005-10-16T23:27:00.000-05:00

The windows have finally arrived and are installed. A few were sent in the wrong size so they have to be reordered. Also the fishscale has been applied to the garage. The character of the house is really starting to show. They should be decking, roofing and drying in this week and bricks should be in around the end of the month.

Photos - Tyvek and trim - October 12

2005-10-13T09:07:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos of the beginning of the installation of the soffett and fascia. The workers were delayed because the lumber company didn't deliver the materials when they were needed. The windows will come sometime this week and the brick is scheduled for delivery around October 28th.

More photos - October 6 - house and glass window

2005-10-07T08:53:00.000-05:00

The house is taking shape!

2005-10-05T22:46:00.000-05:00

The rafters are up on the second floor. You can really get a good idea of how the house is going to look. Here is a recent photo. We purchased a stained glass window for the upstairs hall today at an antique show in Round Top. It's really pretty.

Framing Photos - Friday, September 30th

2005-10-02T23:33:00.000-05:00

I guess I didn't take a lot of different types of photos on Friday. All of the floor decking for the 2nd floor is complete. Charles put some water sealer on it to protect it if it rains. John had a great time "marching" on the second floor decking. Saturday night we met with some of our friends down there and the boys had a good time exploring the site. Of course, we watched them like a hawk in all areas because there are dangers lurking that they could not see (nails, etc). Speaking of hawks, one of the neat things about being down in the country is watching the wildlife. While we were waiting at the site, we were blessed with the sight of a falcon looking for its dinner. It was a beautiful thing to see. We also watched a crop duster flying its rounds in and around the farm on Thursday night. Everything was so pleasantly peaceful down there this past weekend. Tomorrow they should start framing the walls on the second story. Charles says we should have both floors framed and a roof on by the end of next week. We'll see. Hopefully, the weather will continue to hold until the house is dried in.

Framing Photos - Thursday September 29th

2005-10-02T23:15:00.000-05:00

Framing Photos - Wed. Sept 28

2005-10-02T23:11:00.000-05:00

First floor is framed!

2005-09-29T08:04:00.000-05:00

The framing of the house is coming along nicely. The first floor is framed and it is so neat to be able to walk the rooms and see your plan come to life. The one room that I was concerned about is the dining room. Its kind of hidden in the middle of the house, but because it is open and the parlor is open, you can see into it from the parlor. The stairs separate the two rooms, but it looks like it is going to be really nice. They were supposed to put the second floor joists up and deck it yesterday, but there was a problem with the number of boards, so that has been delayed until today. There was a big rainstorm last night, hopefully that won't delay their work any. It should be alot cooler for the workers though. We still have some decisions that need to be made. There is a decorative window in the upstairs hallway, we need to decide on columns for the brick bases on the porch and still haven't decided on the bathroom showers. I will post photos later today or tomorrow.

A sad note: We are down to three birds now. Charles' English Parakeet, Lord Nelson has died. He was between 7-8 years old. His companion, Hayley, died earlier this year. So, our pet count is now 3 dogs (all 10years plus), 2 cats (1 8yearsplus, 1 kitten), 3 cockatiels (Frisco 20, his kids 10), 2 goldfish (1-2 years). Its very hard to have a geriatric pet household. We've lost so many this year alone, and some its just a matter of time. Those quackers we have are still sitting on the eggs, but no ducklings yet.

Tuffy's growing!

2005-09-26T16:24:00.000-05:00

He's becoming a little pest but we love him to death. He tolerates John's rough treatment and still allows him to pick him up. We are very careful with him, but we are encouraging that they bond together. Here are some photos taken last week, so he's somewhere between 10-12 weeks now.

Framing begins on the house!

2005-09-26T16:20:00.000-05:00

Well, framing has begun. We are so happy that Hurricane Rita moved east, because the longer we go without rain, the faster the house can be framed. It is so neat to be able to walk in the rooms and know where you are standing.

Pouring Concrete!

2005-09-26T16:18:00.000-05:00

Site Prep

2005-09-26T09:15:00.000-05:00

Recent Photos of House Construction

2005-09-26T09:10:00.000-05:00

I put together a few collages to show the status of the house construction. To view them at their actual size, click on the images.

Foundation poured and framing started!

2005-09-26T00:08:00.000-05:00

They poured the foundation for the house on Thursday, September 22nd. It looks really good. The framer has drawn out the floorplan on the concrete and put down the base plates. You can really see what the house is going to look like. We have photos and will be posting them after I've had a chance to trim them up. The lumber was delivered on Friday, so it will hopefully be framed within the next 2 weeks if the weather holds. We were real concerned about Hurricane Rita, but all that happened down there was incredible winds.

Photos of Plumbing Rough In and trenches - September 18, 2005

2005-09-19T23:38:00.000-05:00

Photos of House forms - September 14, 2005

2005-09-19T23:33:00.000-05:00

Problems posting photos

2005-09-18T00:04:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to post some photos of the forms, but its not getting them. I will try again tomorrow. I have to go down and get photos of the trenches and plumbing roughin.

Moving along quickly!

2005-09-17T23:02:00.000-05:00

The house is starting to become a reality. After a wild goose chase for brick, we have ordered the brick for the house. It is an Acme brick called Burgandy. The Acme showroom is built of this brick as well as another named Quorum. My biggest challenge now is to find a main color, accent and trim color that will blend well with the red brick. The second story of the front of the house will be in a Hardiplank lap siding and the gable will be in Hardi fishscale shingles. So, the challenge is to find a color that is complimentary that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. I'm looking at a Sagey green, darker green in the same tone and a creamy white for the trim. We have an 8-10 week wait on the brick, but the house should be ready for it within 6 weeks. Hopefully, I'll be able to check our paint color against the brick before it is painted.

Progress on the house:

The forms are up, pier holes drilled and filled with concrete, trenches for concrete formed, and rough plumbing installed. The steel is there to tie everything together and they should be pouring the foundation early next week. As long as the weather holds, this should go pretty fast, according to our builder. I'm posting some pictures, but you may not really be able to tell anything. Its pretty neat being able to go there and see the rooms that you've only seen on paper.

Update on the kitten and ducks:

Tuffy is turning into a special little kitten. He's very loving, plays with anything, and wants to be right with you. He allows John to pick him up like a sack of potatoes and carry him around. We have to really watch them together, but I think the kitten likes him and us. I need to take some more photos of him.

If the duck eggs are fertile, they should be hatching sometime within the next week. If they do hatch, we will have to open the whole back yard to them. There are at least 20 eggs out there.

John's MDO:

John is doing fairly well with MDO, but he's apparently not eating much while he's there. They will serve a hot lunch or they can bring a lunch. We've had 2 days of hot lunches and 1 of lunch we brought. He hasn't done well with either. He's such a picky eater. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to see how he does with the eating.

Big news: Charles is now a senior citizen. He turned 55 on September 15, 2005. He celebrated by going with John and I to the doctor. John woke up screaming that his ear hurt. So, we took him and determined that it was not an infection, but an incredible buildup of wax. Yuck! We also purchased our brick for his birthday. But today, we had a family dinner and a little party at my mom's.

House update

2005-09-06T23:43:00.000-05:00

We have ordered the lumber for the house. We were afraid that pricing would go up because of the hurricane, so we've locked in a price through the end of September. Also, our builder is starting to prep the site for the house. Just in case you're interested, here are photos of the floorplan drawings. The house will have an elevated 18" slab. We hope to give the house the look of a pier and beam. As you can see from the floorplans, we have a fairly closed floorplan. This keeps in line with the Victorian style of the house, but also allows us to close off areas because of the indoor pets.

Introducing........Tuffy!

2005-09-06T23:29:00.000-05:00

I have been spending a few weeks looking at kittens/cats on different shelter websites. We wanted to give Tiger a new companion, and John a kitty that enjoys/tolerates his attention. Tiger is very shy and only comes out when John is in bed or not at home. He's a very loving cat, just shy. Yesterday, John and I went to Petsmart and he fell in love with a little male apricot and white kitten named Neil. I wanted to get Neil's little girlfriend, a cute little calico. But, for some reason, this little kitten stole his heart and would let him pet him. So, we adopted him. The paperwork says he's 3 months old, but he sure seems younger. Its been a long time since I had a kitten, I found Jaws in 1992. John has decided that Neil should be named Tuffy, in honor of one of his Thomas engines (Duncan) who he has always called Tuffy. Here are our first photos of Tuffy. He looks a little ragged because he was surrended to the SPCA on September 3, neutered on September 4th, moved to the Petsmart location on September 5. We adopted him on the fifth. That's a lot of stress on a little kitty. He's coming out of his shell a little now, and seems happy with us.

House plans, builder chosen, lots of little quacks.

2005-09-01T23:57:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted in a while. Not much has been going on here, although the world has greatly changed with the aftermath of Katrina. I can not even imagine what those poor people are going through. I've lived on the coast and had runins with tropical storms and hurricanes, but we never got a really bad hit. I don't think I would have had the courage to stay in the city with that storm blasting down on top of me. I think of all the lost lives, homes, museums (that's what my career choice was) and the devastation and it is so very sad. I told Charles tonight though that maybe it was God's plan that the new basketball arena was built and Reunion Arena left with nothing to do. Maybe he knew these people would need the arena and the Astrodome for their temporary homes because of the disaster that befell them. If the new arena had not been built and the Astrodome was still in use, could they be used for the refugees? It makes you wonder. I thought at the time that a new arena was not necessary, but look what Reunion can do. It makes you think, doesn't it?

Oh, well, enough of that. We have finally decided on a builder for our house. We will continue to use the builder that has done all the work out here for us. I'm still unsure of brick with hardiplank. I think it will lose the character of a Victorian house with the brick added, but we'll see. We've chosen the Burgundy kingsize brick from Acme. Now I just have to decide the colors of the paint. I'm thinking 2 shades of green (jade, sage, etc) with cream, or taupe, red and cream or 2 shades of gray with white. Here are photos of the elevation drawings. You can double click on them and all of the photos here to see them larger.

Quackers. The ducks wanted to be fruitful and multiply. They are now sitting on 16 eggs. Wonder how many will hatch? Our last cat, Tiger has been cleared of all communicable diseases, so we are now free to get him a companion if we want to. That's great, because he lived over seven years with a FIP positive cat, our Jausenclaus.

Barn almost complete. New photos.

2005-08-21T18:29:00.000-05:00

The construction of the barn is almost complete. All of the electric and lights are in. The only thing lacking is the completion of the rear door installation and a few minor issues. It looks great. We are very pleased with the barn and with our builder. He's done a great job and this is the first steel building he has installed.

Updated photos of Barn

2005-08-13T17:23:00.000-05:00

Here are some updated photos of the barn. They hoped to complete it this week, but the wind has been real bad down there and was too dangerous to finish the roof. It still lacks 2/3rds of the roof and the front and rear siding. Also a ridge vent and trim will be placed on it.

Goodbye Jaws! We loved you.

2005-08-07T09:19:00.000-05:00

The day before Halloween in 1991, I was leaving work. As I went to my car I saw a little black/white kitten with his eyes barely open fall from the roof of the building next door. A family of stray cats lived there and we would see litter after litter of kittens come and go. I really didn't need another cat. I had 2 at home, but I took this little guy home because I couldn't leave him to the fate of the others. First, I dropped by my vet and had him checked out. Then I took him home.My older cat, Chloe, would not have anything to do with him. She'd already raised Shelby, allowed him to nurse when he wasn't even her baby. But, Shelby took one look at this little kitten and took him under his "paw". He did everything for the kitten that a mother cat would do, including cleaning him after he ate. Because he was so young, he had to be fed by hand, and we actually had a friend who lived in the apartment complex that babysat him while we wereworking. I never really intended to keep him, but he stayed with me. He got his name right before Christmas. We started out withArtie, Archie (after the museum where I worked), Zacheus (because hefell off the roof), but nothing ever stuck. You know how kittens are, mouthy and their claws don't go in? Well, that's how he got his name. But, I had to spell it different, so it wouldn't be tooobvious. So, his name became Count von Jausenclaus - or JawsnClaws. He has lived most of his life with the threat of FIP,and it looks like it finally took its toll. He hadbeen steadily losing weight, and this past week really went downhill. Friday, we noticed that he wasn't fighting anymore, usually growling and hissing were everyday occurences with him. He was all growl/hiss and usually never struck out. Saturday, he really went downhill. He died in my arms between 1:00-3:45am this morning. He will join my other two cats at the Rainbow Bridge. Update: We took Jaws down to the farm on Monday night. It had just finished raining, and there was a very faint rainbow just above where we buried him. We took photos, but they do not show up well.

Mr. Boo (John) is going to school!

2005-08-05T23:05:00.000-05:00

Just a Mother's Day Out Program at a local church two days a week, but he will be learning ABC's, Spanish, sign language and social skills. He starts just after Labor Day. It's hard to believe he is getting so big, he's 3 1/2 now. We feel that he needs to be around children his own age to play and learn from. We just hope he doesn't pick up too much of their bad habits.

Framing goes up on the metal barn!

2005-08-05T21:36:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos of the construction of the barn. The barn is 30 x 60 and will house a water tank and pressure system, which will enable us to have water if there is ever a problem with the water system. The barn will have red siding with white trim and a galvalume (silver) roof.

As of yesterday, almost all of the framework was completed. They delivered the red siding and white doors yesterday also. We will post more photos as the siding goes up.

Here Mr. Boo and Charles are inspecting the work. Double click on the photos to see them larger.

Quack, Quack...Quack, Quack

2005-08-05T21:17:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Charles surprised me with these fine feathered friends. I wasn't too happy with the turn of events, because we had just moved the tractors out of the backyard and I was hoping to start getting the yard back in shape. But Mr. Boo loves the ducks and what Mr. Boo loves, so does his mom. I could not take them back because of that. So, they are now residing in our backyard until we move to the farm.

Count von Jausenclaus - my black/white cat

2005-08-05T00:15:00.000-05:00

For those of you who know my cat, Jaws, just wanted to let you know that he is fading fast. I don't know how long he will last. He is wasting away and has stopped fighting/hissing when he doesn't like something.

Little Farm on the Prairie

2005-08-04T23:35:00.000-05:00

This is my first try at blogging. Charles and I wanted to give our friends a home to go to which will show the development of the farm. We will be posting photos and updates on what is happening out there.

The framework for the metal barn is almost complete. They delivered the siding today, so it will probably be installed beginning tomorrow. It's pretty exciting to see things finally happening. Tomorrow, I will post a chronology and photos of what we've done out there so far.

Thanks for joining us.