It's very exciting here !! We finally finished moving, lock, stock, and barrel, to the new place. And for the most part, we've unpacked ... in between sunshine days we've spent outside and back to back activities
(Scouts, Horse Trail Clinic, boxing, horseback riding here, horseback riding at the arena, volunteer opportunities, etc).
We still have some things (piles) to put away ... but overall we're settled ... and on rainy days, we work inside putting things away and getting organized ... and on sunny days we are outside.
The tornadoes last Wednesday in our area
(actually, over much of the South) were horrible. Thankfully we only had a few limbs down, despite watching funnel clouds walk the hilltop beside us, eventually touching down in the next town. YIKES !! We are praising God for His protection !!
And this past weekend we were out enjoying the sunshine. Soaking it up !!
On Saturday Dumma was here, so we went to the Mennonite farm to get strawberries and to check out the animals for sale (4th Saturday of the month is their animal sale) --- we didn't buy any animals, but it took every bit of willpower we had. HA !! Strawberries and peanutbutter cookies .... yummy. Saturday was DadToCherub's 39th birthday, so in the afternoon we took the boat out for it's maiden voyage of the summer. The water was cold, but DadToCherubs and our 6 Cherubs went swimming anyway. And the lake was gorgeous !! Then we had a nice Birthday dinner at the Marina's restaurant. It was also Cinnamon's birthday - she's 27yo now. We visited with her, gave some much needed tummy rubs, and hugged her dearly -- and she had some horse treats instead of cake. :o)
Sunday afternoon was spent in the yard. First, we hung DadToCherubs' hammock with hammock straps from two huge oak trees -- and he test drove it a bit. Perfect !! Then DadToCherubs, Cherub 6, and Cherub 5 gathered and burned some piles of sticks and limbs that were scattered about. There's a lot more to burn here, but those piles were a great start !! Cherub 1, Cherub 2, Cherub 3, and Cherub 4 worked on finding the yard -- taming the yard really. Weeding, mowing, trimming ... planting 5 huge Lavender plants that Dumma brought to us ... it' starting to look really nice.
Today M.C. is coming back with his tractor -- to till our garden spots -- WOOOO HOOOO !! He came last week to plow
(ours are never-been-gardened-before spots) ... after much discussion and debate, we decided on
TWO gardens this year. One near the pasture for corn, green beans, melons, and squashes ... and one closer to the house for tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, spinach, herbs, eggplant, and a few other things. Very exciting -- in two weeks, we'll be planting our very first TWO BY TWO garden. :o) I fear we're going to have to fight the rabbits this year for our harvest ... I see sooooo many rabbits here. But by next year, the spots will be fenced if the rabbis are an issue ... or at least that's the plan.
(There's simply not enough time to get it fenced this year, if we want to actually plant this year - ha !)
Once the yard is tamed and the pastures mowed again
(wow the pastures grew up FAST !), we're going to start working on building a chicken house ... and then will be buying new chickens ... and some guineas to deal with the HUGE number of ticks and creepy-crawlies that live here. Then we'll be working on thinning the treelines/brushlines between the house and the pastures ... and starting on fencing pasture #2 ... for cows ... for beef
(and we're looking into maybe getting a family milk cow, but the decision is still out on that one until the research is done). And somewhere in that will be working on a run-in shelter for the horses ... and then .... well, the list goes on and on and on and on and on ........
These are very exciting times indeed !!!
