On the Farm | Cherry Picking

Cherry picking day for me began quietly in the orchard at 9:00 AM

I sat in the cool, fresh, early morning air with my Bible open in my lap.

Psalms - such an amazing book.

This year wasn't a very good year for cherries.  There were a lot on the trees, but all of the rain we got caused at least half of them to spoil and mold.  But we still had fun..and I'm still very thankful for all of the rain!

Lovely Michelle...

One of our three Matthews...

Three of the guys in our circle of friends are named Matthew - Matthew C., Matthew A., and Matthew H., respectively.

They've all been given nicknames by our group to help distinguish one from the other in conversations.

Even so, there's always some confusion.  I'm afraid if your name is Matthew, you can't be our friend - we just can't take any more! *grin*

Christopher...

Notice Bonnie looking at him adoringly?  

She just loves him...unfortunately she usually expresses her love by slobbering on his guitar or banjo when he's practicing.  He doesn't like that very much.  I can't say I blame him. ;)

You might recognize these cuties from Kellie's blog - two of her sisters, Tilda and Clara.

And the third cutie in the picture is Michelle and Matthew's family's new lab puppy, Cassie...

She and Bonnie had a grand time together.

Bonnie kept 'stealing' Cassie's squeaky duck toy, but they finally resolved their differences and took a nap together...

After we were done picking cherries, we went to the pond and Cassie got in some retrieving practice.

Bonnie loves wading in the pond, but she doesn't swim.  Boxers aren't exactly built for it.

Cassie is going to be one amazing hunting dog!

.....

Happy Trails y'all!

Miscellany

Sometimes, I get wild, insane impulses to clean.  Like yesterday.  A routine vacuuming and dusting in our daylight basement.  And then...it hit.  That one spot that's been collecting junk for several years now.  It's gotta go.  Within minutes the entire basement looks like a disaster area.  And then, looking at the huge mess I've created...the cleaning impulse fizzles and dies a violent death. 

Can you relate?

I've been listening to the Doctor Who soundtracks on YouTube.  Thank goodness they're on there, or I would have spent money I shouldn't have and bought them;)

Here's my playlist, have listen...

I had to start a new Doctor Who pinboard - my first one has over 600 pins and takes too long for my computer to load. *grin*

Cherry pickin' tomorrow!  I love having friends over to pick cherries.  Sadly, my dear Kellie is still out of town and won't be there. :'(

Speaking of Kellie, if you haven't already you should check out the awesome ModCloth giveaway going on at Accordion to Kellie!

We finally got some more hay.  Thank you, Daddy!!  It's amazing how much my stress level has gone down just knowing I have hay in the barn.  Plus the horse pasture was running low and the horses were starting to look a bit thin, which isn't good.  Now they've got plenty of green, leafy, grass hay to eat.  We always buy hay from the same place, and their hay looks soooooo good and smells soooooo good, I could almost eat it myself.  There's never any mold, dust, or rocks in it either!  I love this hay. :D

My bro and I went swimming in our pond the other day.  The water was the perfect temperature - warm-ish on the surface and cold further down.  There's nothing like swimming in a pond or lake.  It's the best.  We caught several different turtles, of which there are many in our pond.

It's raining today, so I've taken this opportunity to catch up on laundry, drink tea, devour English muffins with butter, create Sherlock desktop wallpapers (coming sometime soon!), clean (a bit), and watch Get Smart (the original 60's TV series).  Life is good.

I hope you all had a wonderful day, too!
Happy Trails, y'all!

On the Farm | a bit of everything

Things have been hopping on our little 'farm' lately...

A friend gave me five of her older chickens who aren't laying anymore to use for bug control around our place.

They've been quite industrious, scratching about the yard.

I converted our old lamb tractor into a coop for them...

For those not in the know, a lamb tractor is a portable fenced structure either on wheels or runners which is used to move lambs around the yard for grazing purposes.  You can also use them for goats and there are chicken tractors as well.  We simply removed the wheels from ours so it would sit flush with the ground and viola!  A chicken coop.  Our old one is 1) falling apart and B)...no...2) farther from the house.  Keeping them closer to the house will hopefully eliminate the predator problems we were experiencing.

The Muffin kitty, taking a break from hunting mice, grasshoppers, rabbits and birds;)

It will be cherry picking time soon!

We've already been sampling the cherries.  Just can't wait until they're completely ripe:)

The orchard was here when we bought our property - some of the trees are around 50 years old!

Resting in the shade with the Bonnie dog.

The best thing about summer - bare feet!

The Syringa is our state flower...

I love our cedar trees.  They're so big and tall and smell so good.

Dewey and Freckles are an interesting pair.
They're grooming each other one minute, then biting each other and squealing the next.  Silly boys.  Bob, being an amazingly intelligent boy, stays out of it;)

Oceanspray...

My garden is doing quite well this year, although it desperately needs weeding.

I learned my lesson on over watering tomatoes last year and there's no blossom end rot to be seen!

The sheepies are enjoying their lush green pasture...

It's been unusually hot lately - in the 90s - so I've been watering a lot.
And eradicating thistles.  I couldn't find my heavy work gloves, so I settles for cutting the heads off and bagging them.  I may or may not have amused myself by muttering "Off with their heads!" while doing so...;)

The llamas have been in the brush-y unfinished upper pasture eating the brush.
They prefer brush to pasture anyway, so it works out well for everyone.

Happy Trails, y'all!