We have had a busy week!

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!