Never mind the centrals...

Hooray for hubby...

and the planets, which must have mysteriously gone into alignment (it only took four little ol' months to make it happen too... isn't that amazing? *rolls eyes*). We FINALLY got DH's work schedule, the neighbors schedule, and the weather to all match up so we could go get Tilly [the tractor]. Because it was right around the corner from us, and we don't have a trailer, DH was going to just drive it down the street, around the corner and down the road to the house (and that sounded SO simple when we said it, too ;o) This is the main reason it took so long; their house is situated on a curve in the road and when you are putt-putting along at 2mph it's always a good idea to have clear weather (you know, so you don't get squashed flat by a ginormous SUV careening around the curve at 40mph).
The girls were more interested in the implements that came with it (and you just know that little Miss Taya made a beeline for the front yard when she heard that tractor motor sputtering up the driveway *laugh*).

DH got some work done on the patio too, and the first piece of metal is up - yipee!! He had to cut a small section out to go around the post on the end; it was getting dark outside so he only did one, but I'll bet you can guess exactly what I did when those sparks started flying...dove for the [Canon] camera, of course! What else? Woo! :o) Is that wild or what?

Like my new sidekick? I don't. It's driving me absolutely dotty (can't wait to mail it back in another week). This is an event monitor and I've been sentenced Er, instructed to wear it for 30 days. It monitors your heart rhythm and records any irregularities. Do not be fooled by the picture that shows only two small wires to be attached (photos can be tricky). There are at least 59 separate wires growing out of that evil little box, and every last one of them has attempted to strangle me at least once (and we're not going to talk about the ones that have been zipped and buttoned into my clothes, either). It's been a royal pain staying wired up 24/7, and I only thought dropping the cell phone in the *ahem* pot-tay was a worry (can you imagine dropping some little $30,000 piece of medial equipment in there? eek!) Hopefully it will explain what's up with the heartbeat hiccups, gallops, thumps and thuds going on in there. We'll see. It is definitely a nifty little piece of technology though. When the alarm goes off, I just call the (800) number on the front, give them my ID number, hold it up to the phone and press "send event". Goes right through the phone lines and pops up on the other end. Then they send it to the doctor's office. Pretty cool, eh?

A baby shower for a friend from church and 5th grade's turn to bring food x2 pretty much annihilated my [post bills] checking account for the month. Sometimes it's awfully handy to be able to make your own gifts; had I not been able to, she might have ended up with a small bag of M&M's (but hey, chocolate, right? Ha). Anyway, I made her a mommy's memory box with a poem I composed last year on the top. There was a cute little coordinated strip wrapped around the divider cards that came in the box and I used it to make a matching tag to put on the bag. I don't think I'll type the whole poem on here, 'cause you just know some rude person is going to steal it and I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to put them in my Etsy shop (I'll share the box with you though ;o)

I'm pretty sure she liked it (hope so, anyway!) Guess that's enough for now. I'm trying to put together a short video clip of what Bella and I did this week (we've been playing *cough* working really hard...honest! ;o) Here's a hint for you...

Just so you don't hurt yourself squinting, the jar says "horse treats" on it. As for the square thing behind it? Well. If you're not sure, I suppose you will just have to wait and see, 'cause we're not talkin' ;o) Have a great week everyone!

 

We have had a busy week!

♪ ♫All I want for Christmas is my SAN-I-TY♫ ♪

Did you know that's the official name for your two front teeth? Upper Right and Upper Left Centrals. Sounds a little weird that way. I guess it would be quite the understatement to say "It's been awhile" wouldn't it? Sometimes time just has a way of slipping flying fleeing through your fingers; or at least it does mine. Has it really been over a month since I last posted? Apparently so, and EEK. Although I have been popping around visiting [and reading] everyone's blogs, I have not taken the time to comment much. It would seem that someone punched the fast forward button after my last post, and things got just a teensy bit crazy around here. In the midst of all the lunacy I managed to host Thanksgiving dinner, get a tentative Fibromyalgia diagnosis and finish and send off another grant proposal. I think that leaves me somewhere between productive and destructed *rolls eyes*. Whaddaya think?  I got a kick out of this picture of Bella yawning (it sums up my month pretty accurately ;o)

Guess what? We are up to six (count 'em SIX) posts set in concrete by the demonstration area, and one support beam - Woo! If DH could manage a week that didn't have 65-70 hours of work in it, we might actually finish before Spring. We also managed to [finally!] purchase a real tractor for the farm. Our neighbors at the top of the hill had an old garden tractor and some implements that they sold to us. Made possible by a generous private donation; is that awesome or what? :o) I don't have a picture of it yet, but this one is close enough. Now if we can just get enough funding we can repair some of the damage done by our wacky weather patterns over the past couple of years (not to mention that little tunneling terrorist who took up residence for awhile).
I've decided to name it Tilly for the following reasons (let's see if you agree):
1. We are a fun loving, kid-friendly place so it makes total sense to give the tractor a silly name;
2. It is a terrible pun (therefore irresistible);
3. Tilly Tractor is a marvelous alliteration (and we all love a good alliteration!)
Since I am in a frivolous frame of mind, I think I'll see if I can't just embed a little poll on here and let you all (excuse me, that's Y'all here) tell me what you think:

Since I am a major early bird, I strolled outside to see if I could get a photo of the lunar eclipse the other morning (although I think I probably missed the coolest pics, as I am not quite that early a bird :o) It still looks pretty neat, and there was still a little tinge of red leftover for me. Did anyone else see it? I managed to make it outside for the meteor shower last week too - although there were not enough falling stars at one time for me to manage a shot. I had just enough time to say Ohhhhh, raise the camera a couple of inches, and Poof - all gone darn it.
As long as we're in the sky, I thought I'd share a shot of the sunrise at feeding time. Other than putting the decorative edge on, this is untouched (God sure does paint some pretty ones, doesn't He? :o) Nothing like watching the sun come up through the trees...

Question for the crafty folk: Have any of you tried the Knifty Knitter? A friend of mine went on a bender a month or two ago, making hats for the homeless (sounded like a winner to me). So armed with my 40% off coupon - the only way to shop - I hit Michael's and went to work using up some of the yarn from my stash. I have to give that little loom two thumbs up, as it is super easy to whip up hats and even scarves (DD is looming those). Here is a link to some free patterns on the Provo Craft site - because who doesn't love free? The blues and other colors are mediums and the browns are larges. I think my favorite yarn was the Red Heart Light and Lofty (the turquoise hat). It made the best hat; nice and thick and super soft, but it seems none of the stores here carry it in grownup tones, only pastels for baby (grr). So, I suppose I'll wait for a sale, and hit Herschnerr's. Or maybe Ebay, hmmm...

Since November was fairly quiet in the pasture, someone was definitely overdue for a blankie moment. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, Shadow suffers from *cough* Cranial Colic (otherwise known as a dramatic episode). He will usually get right up once he has his blankie, although he does sometimes opt to sit and pout awhile longer (because who doesn't love a drama queen with a strong sense of theater? ;o) As you can see, Shadow was rather offended by my photographic audacity and bumped and wiggled himself around turning his back to me in a huff so I would get the message (after first giving me the fish eye, that is):

Well, I suppose that's [more than] enough for now. Here's wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Here you go, have a peek...

Our tiny tractor turned up its little tires and died (actually, it "slung a rod"). Can't say I know exactly what that means, other than the darn thing doesn't work. Since the four-wheeler [and beware relatives bearing bargains] bit the big one several weeks ago, this put me back to walking around with a cart to tidy up around the pasture (and raspberries to that).

I found this marvelous muck cart  for less than half price in the sale barn at Jeffers and was tickled pink (guess it carried over into the bucket I bought to go with it - ha :o) The only hiccup was a couple of missing parts; and don't you hate that? I have to give a big thumbs up to Miller Manufacturing whose friendly customer service rep apologized profusely and quickly mailed them out. Isn't it wonderful when the phrase "customer service" isn't an oxymoron? The back of the red and white truck in the pasture - it's one of Retta's landmarks - was full of the old netting used on the big round bales of hay. 

It was one of those things on the proverbial list of things to do (empty it) before the horses find them. Too late *sigh*. All I can say is it must have been one heck of a party, because there were hay net blobs everywhere (grr). While I marched around picking those up, DH volunteered to drag the pasture (and thank goodness, as it was getting pretty darn poopy out there!) We may not have much in the way of equipment, but a chain link fence and some old tires do the trick quite nicely.The multiple trips to Mayo have really put a chink in our

changepurse (but thankfully, we're done). Since we are past the halfway point on Epic Farms' Phase II, it's time to shift some of our focus to Phase III. With that in mind, I completed and turned in our application to submit a grant proposal to a foundation (basically, this means I asked them if I could ask them for money *grin*). Here's hoping we will make the cut. In reading through their criteria and zones of interest, we are a perfect match. Feel free to send a prayer or two our way; we sure could use 'em! For more information on our Phases and where we're going with all this stuff, please visit Epic Farms' Accountability lens on Squidoo.

Here is the most important thing I learned this week: It is humanly possible to actually consume skim milk provided it is prepared correctly. (Boo-yeah :o)

Oh! One more thing. An update on puppygate: A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about The Girls' cute new neighbors (if you missed it, you can read about it here). I'm happy to report that they have not breached the yard again. However, methinks we're not quite out of the woods yet....what do you think? Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you have a terrific week!