Spoiled

When we first moved to the farm, we had a cat named Esmerelda. I had found her in the parking lot of the car dealership I was working at. I later took a picture of her curled up with Peter. Sadly, the coyotes or something got Esmerelda.
So now there is Smokey. He is supposed to be Alex's cat but has attached himself to Peter. Smokey's not the brightest cat. Maks, the giant puppy, carries Smokey around like a toy. Maks tried it with Tigger once. Just once.
And can we turn off the wind, they are reporting that the wind is blowing 60 miles an hour here, and they are probably right.

Farm Sounds

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. And nothing signifies spring on a farm like baby animals. So I went to the auction today. Came home with 8 hens, one rooster and 10 baby chicks. Sometime this week the goats will be arriving back at Green Gates Farm. And then we start building the new horse barn.

No we're not

Moving, that is. We had a house found but then the price went up five thousand dollars. Not going to deal with that type of behavior again. So we will stay country people. I did get a new dishwasher. And we are going to spend the new house earnest money on a carport. And a new barn for the horses. Monday the goats come home and maybe I will buy some chickens at the auction. Need to order some baby chicks to raise and sell. I'm thinking buff orpingtons, buff brahmas, amercaunas and two other breeds. Maybe austrolorps.
It was horribly windy here today. There was a fire a couple of miles away. It burned 80 acres and one unoccupied house. Because of the dust, we couldn't even see the smoke.

Bigger steps

For the last several months I have been working on moving into town. We've lived out here in the country for over 10 years now. I'm tired of the wind, sand, snakes, cows, flies, travel distance and HOA. The snow storm a couple of weeks ago was pretty much the last straw.
I have sold all the poultry except for the ones the coyote got. The llamas have gone to a new home. Magie is taking Sophie and Comet for her girls. Sara is determined to turn Sophie into a rodeo horse for barrel racing. Gypsy will be sold.
I have a new home for two of the cats which will leave us with Sheba and Tigger. Finding a new home for Maks which will leave us with Mischka and Jack for canine companions. Plus Dirty Mike the hamster and Andy's fish tank.
Today we put earnest money down on a house in town. It is three bedroom, two bath with one car attached garage. It will need the carpet ripped up in the bedrooms and wood floors put down. A window replaced in the kitchen. The cabinets are very nice in the kitchen and both bathrooms are in good shape.
I'm thinking the weekend before we officially move we will have a garage sale at the new house to sell the stuff we don't need or have room for. I had taken some things to the auction and didn't do well at all.
So we will see if we get this house or if we keep looking.

Destination Imagination

Alex has spent the last several months working with Destination Imagination (DI for short). He's had a lot of fun. Andy didn't want to do it, so he'd go to Magie's after school.
I asked Alex to describe DI but he was too busy playing Wii with the girls who are visiting.


His group built a structure which was to catch and hold golfballs while maintaining it's integrity with weights being placed on it. It held the weights but didn't work with the golf balls.
They (a group of five boys) also had a play to perform. It involved money, a bank, a bank robber.
The boys didn't place at Regionals on Saturday but they did get medals for the DaVinci award which is for creativity and perseverance.
I was an assessor for the Instant challenge portion of the day. It was a lot of fun.
It was a busy weekend. Friday night we went to the Pediatrics (high schoolers) vs. Geriatrics (adults) basketball game. Just like last year, the Geriatrics won.
Saturday night after a day of DI, we went to the community play "Great Smokies". It was really fun. There was also a talent show. For a small community there are alot of talented people.
Sunday we went to Fargo's Pizza for Andy's birthday dinner.

Stamps

Way back when I was a young child, I started collecting stamps. My grandma Smith actually got me started right before my family moved to Germany. While I was living in Germany (dad was in the Army) I learned about soaking the stamps to get them off of the envelope.
When we came back from Germany and I was working on some stamps and put them in water, Grandma was (I think) a little shocked. She had never heard of doing this.
A couple of weeks ago, Magie and I were at a friend's house helping the friend get ready for a moving sale. This friend, Kathy, gave me some stamps for Andy's collection. He may not get them all.
What brings up the stamp story? My mom called this morning and said that Grandma had passed away early this morning. There will be a graveside service on Wednesday back in Kansas.

Shoes

We have a thief living in our house. His name is Maks (Maximum Force Against Coyotes). Maks is currently three months old and loves shoes. I can not find at least four shoes. I have half of a pair but the mate is missing. And I have looked. I'm wondering if Maks ate the shoes. I hope not because I really like my slippers. For a Great Pyrenees, Maks is a soft, sweet and so obnoxious dog. We had one when we first moved to the country. Bear was a GP crossed with a malamute. He would chase down a coyote and shake it. Right now, we are keeping a real close eye on Maks, not only is he too young and small to deal with a coyote, he's probably try to play with it. And while he may enjoy hiding my slippers, his favorite chew toy...either cat, Ming or Smokey. He's learned NOT to mess with Sheba.
In other news, with the snow we had last week, I am ready to move to town. So is Alex and Peter is almost there. Andy doesn't want to move. It snowed Thursday night, we had a snow day from school, Peter didn't go to work. With the drifts and no one to clear the HOA roads, it was Tuesday before Peter could go to work. I wasn't willing to risk getting stuck so the boys had an extra day. It was the first day they had missed all year, so much for perfect attendance. The HOA road grader cleared two roads and the battery failed after that. Before they did our road. So part of the two miles to county road, we are driving on pasture, it has less snow than the roads which have sunk below the pasture ground level and tend to fill with snow. Driving across the pasture definitely isn't good for Peter's car and I don't like taking my truck across. There are way to many bumps and we've gotten flat tires from the sagebrush.