HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMMA!

Today is Gramma's birthday.

As you can see she won't be dancing today in celebration, unless she does the one-legged bunny hop. She is doing really well, much better than we both expected. She jumps in the wheel chair and gets herself to the bathroom, lets the dogs out in the morning and yesterday made her own lunch when I wasn't looking. Awesome woman, and cute too. Happy birthday sweetheart.

In other news I need to cut hay again. Here's a pic of our "new baler". It's only 34 yrs old. The other one was from the 60's. Cross your fingers and hope it works. Ta.

Jumpers

We have quite few new additions to the deer herd this year. One set of triplets, at least one set of twins   and I'm not sure how many singles.

The twins.

One of the twins chasing my cat.

The triplets. It was foggy.

We also have a set of last years twins hanging around almost daily. They come up close to the house in the front and back yards. A doe and a buck. Sure has been fun watching them. The twins were checking out a couple of Sandhill Cranes in the south pasture the other day until one crane got tired of it and pecked the one fawn right on the end of it's nose, that made them lose interest quickly. Anywho,  be good, be careful and be sure to keep your chickens cool in this heat. Ta.

More Birds II

So after three months and getting a new computer, (Thanks honey) I think I'm back.

Mama oriole.

Papa oriole. We have been getting young orioles too.

Mr. Rooster.

Grosbeak, house finch, (we call them rosy fiches) goldfinch.

We have a large contingent of humming birds this year. Lots of young ones. I'm constantly refilling the "two" feeders. I've counted as many as ten at one time and it's not easy counting these little speedy guys. Thanks for looking, there'll be more. Be good, be safe and be sure to keep your hay dry. Ta

More Birds

Just some more birds that are here all the time.

 

Pileated woodpecker

Turkeys

Redwing Blackbirds

Blue Jays

Chikadees. We also have lots of different sparrows, swallows, sand hill cranes, geese, ducks and we usually have bluebirds, but we haven't seen any yet and I don't know why.

Here is a surprise this year. An Indigo Bunting. So very pretty. Poor pic, but it was raining. See ya later.

Birds

Here's some of our regular visitors.

 Rosebreasted Grosbeak.

 Mrs. Grosbeak.

 Goldfinch.

 Ruby Throated Hummingbird.

 Downy Woodpecker.

 Baltimore Oriole.

 Mourning Dove

And the ever-elusive and seldom seen Barred Rock. More to come soon. Ta.

Last Calf

So the last calf was born today.

 He's a cutie. Another red cow and another bull calf. I guess that's all Frank can make is bulls. So, a red calf.

 A brown calf.

A black calf. Now if that's not diversity, I don't know what is. Mom and baby doing fine. Thanks for stopping by. Ta.

Sugaring

Sugaring is over, finally.

Here's the syrup in the pantry, less one pint for me for ice cream, 1/2 pint I gave to Clayton and two pints for hooch. The most sap we ever got before was just over 50 gallons. I started boiling on the 5th and boiled the last batch on the 29th. 168 gallons of sap! It made 4 gallons and 1 pint of syrup, so that's about 42 gallons for 1 gallon of syrup. If you notice, the last jars on the left are dark. These two batches came after the trees started to bud. They taste a bit different and aren't as sweet, but they're still good. I read where some syrup made after budding can be very bitter tasting, so I guess we lucked out. This was a lot of work! So if you want some syrup, come see me. Bring two forms of I.D. and pass a background check and sign a form stating that you will only eat it on ice cream and we'll see if you can have some. Be good, be careful be sure you don't over cook your sap. Ta.