Happy Birthday Grandma

Today would have been my Grandma's birthday.  She was born on April 30, 1920, in Howell County, Missouri.  She wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered there, but that didn't happen.
She was the oldest of three.  Her family moved around alot when she was a child but eventually they settled into Kansas. Her dad worked in the oil fields.

The picture is from 1998 and is my mom, Grandma and me.  My dad was running for sheriff (he won) and a new prison was being built in Burlington with an open house one night (before the prisoners were put in) and you could have your picture taken behind bars for a charity donation.

Diner

We normally don't have school on Mondays. We didn't today. Stayed home all day. Andy and Alex spent the day playing together, without fighting. When it was time for lunch, I called them over to get their mac and cheese (their choice) and Andy said "Let's pull into this diner for some lunch"
We had leftover apple pie as well.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from Green Gates Farm. This will probably be the last year the Easter Bunny visits here. Andy is 10 and Alex almost 9. But mostly because if the Bunny hides them outside, Mischka and Maks help themselves. And the Bunny does not like to be running around outside at 11 p.m. trying to hide 40 eggs.


See...I do have chickens

We had Easter parties at school on Friday. I ended up filling in for the Kindergarten/first grade class. Several of the parents couldn't make it. I had missed out on Alex's first grade Easter party since he skipped that grade. Karma.

Peter made strawberry blintz's for breakfast this morning. I had offered to make raisin french toast but the boys chose the blintz breakfast. While watching "Dirty Jobs".


Does anyone know what type of bird this is? It has white on it's upper wings when they are open. Can you see the bird well enough, that's as close as I could get.

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.