Memorial Day Weekend

I suffered my first major disappointment yesterday: The neighbors cows aren't mini... They're just calves.



Met our other neighbors as they drove up on their ATV to check on the calves. I suppose only a silly, ex-city girl like me would make such a mistake, but in my defense, I was told they had mini cows. They used to have mini cows. I also learned donkey's name is Buford and likes peppermint. He is only 7 months old. I didn't realize a donkey's nose would be so velvety-soft.



Finley, Joe, and Reanna had a lot of opportunity to ride horses this weekend. The neighbor's 8 yr old niece gave Fin and Joe rides on Queenie, an older gentle mare, and Reanna got to ride Cane, a younger, sometimes-feisty male, solo around the neighbors' yard.



Joe and I are getting more than our share of ticks. We've each had three to pluck, and last night at 3 a.m., I felt another crawling on my shoulder. I threw it down on my night stand and smashed it with my contacts case.

Sunday, we got a visit from friends and Chris' folks, and Monday, my family came to visit for the holiday. I made beer-butt chicken for the first time. Turned out quite well.

The kids have been having a blast on the tire swing I hung out in a tree in the backyard. The previous owners had hung a small, old, tractor tire from the tree with doubled-up clothes line. It had long since fallen down. It was sitting on the ground full of stagnant water offering mosquitoes a nice nesting ground. Remembering how much I hated the sloshing water in the tire swing of my youth, I had one of those 'eureka' moments, and drilled holes in the tire to allow rain water to drain. I was also able to hang the tire out far enough from the tree so that no one will ever smack into the trunk. The result is a nearly-perfect tire swing.

The to-do list is a mile long, the garage is still half-full of boxes, and I'm anxious to get started on garden prep and compost bins, but first thing on my list is to paint the kids room so that I can move them out of the room that smells like mildew.

My coffee cup is now empty, so I'd better get the move on...