Weekend Update

Last week in Florida, the first day on the beach, I was out in waist-deep water. I saw a smudge of brown in the sand and thought it might me some critter. I blindly dug the net into the sand and came up with this crab:

His body was roughly 4 inches across. What a catch! None of us caught anything quite so large the rest of the week, but we did get a variety of small crabs, shrimp, pipe fish, baby flounders?, sand fleas, and sea slugs.

The kids enjoyed checking out our finds as well. Finley enjoyed playing in the shallow waves on the edge of the beach, as long as she had her trusty hippo floaty with her. Joe never got the courage to brave the water on his own (which was fine by me) and would also freak out a bit if we carried him out too far for his liking.

The kids also enjoyed playing in the pool at the house. Z loved floating around in the baby float, and Finley got to where she could kick her way across the pool on her hippo floaty. Not bad for a kid that had never been in a real pool before.

Today is my birthday, and 'back at the ranch', I am sitting here fighting off a chest cold, looking out on the property and wishing I was up to doing something... We badly need to bush hog, but the tractor was overheating when we got it running, so it needs a little work before we can really put it to work. Chris is off picking up my birthday present: a 10HP chipper/shredder that I can't wait to put to good use on the big tree that has fallen down back by the old barn. My future garden plot is begging to be dug up, and I have some plastic I want to put down somewhere to kill off the grass and weeds in another future garden spot. We have some basic ideas for the house we want to build, and I want to get the measuring wheel out and drive some stakes to see where and how big we are thinking, but I need to wait until Chris mows today. If I had a riding mower (next on my wish list), I wouldn't have to wait on him...

But since my lungs are touchy and my energy is sapped (and lets not mention the 90 degree weather and high humidity), I suppose it is best to take it easy...

Moving On Up

Finley and Joe finally got the chance to move on up to big-kid beds. It was necessary. Finley was about to kick the bottom out of her old bed, and we needed to stack the kids to make space in our little trailer. So Chris happened upon the perfect bunk on Craigslist last night: The footboards are carved with a running horse.

Even Z gets to move up in the world. She is inheriting Joe's old bed. (Not only does the color match the bunk, but she was always partial to his for some reason.) She spent her first night in it last night. I only had to chase her back to it a dozen times or so before she finally stayed and fell asleep in it. Today, I didn't even need to put her down for her nap. She got tired and crawled in bed and fell asleep on her own.

Home, Stinky Home

We just got back from a nice, week-long trip to Florida, enjoying the beach.
Our home greeted us with an unpleasant odor that I was hoping would not be there when we got back. Hopefully a little airing our will help.
Highlights from the trip will have to wait for another day while we attempt to settle back in to our not-quite-settled life here...

Peeping Frog

Caught him hanging on our living room window.

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...