Fried food and chicken poop

So, yesterday I made an 8 hour round-trip drive with Andy. Well, 3/4 of the drive was with Andy and the other 1/4 I drove a mini-van back to his place of employment. This drive was made in the afternoon and evening, so the kids arrived home on the bus from their place of education. When they left for said place of eduction that morning, I didn't know that I would be gone when they came back to the home-base, so I didn't have dinner made for them.

Their Auntie Tara (sometimes know as Auntie Booby) came over and made cookies with Nattie, so I called her up to tell her that the kids could cook up some hamburgers and throw some salad on their plate and call it good. She took me up on it, and when Andy and I arrived at home-base the smell of fried food hit us like a brick when we opened up the door.

Andy's way to solve the problem of the smell was to open up the window in our bedroom. Whoa. Fried meat is not pleasant. The chicken barns are not pleasant. Add them together and you have downright biological warfare possibilities. I'm thinking about bottling it and contacting the Pentagon. There are possiblities here, I'm telling you.

Wordless Wednesday

Winter's Twilight.

Spring is Around the Corner

The kids and I planted some starter seeds for the garden. Grandma and Grandpa are in California, and because of Grandma's health they will be staying there longer than they thought. That means if we want a garden it's up to us! ( We need positive thinking on this one!)

We planted the herbs last week, and are getting tiny little shoots showing.

This week it was tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and peppers. The basics.

Wordless Wednesday

Work is a four letter word. Sleep is not.

Winter has finally come to Missouri. Saturday brought us at least six inches of snow, which is still on the ground. The kids have been outside rolling around in it. They come in with chapped, red cheeks and track snow all over the floor, dropping hats and mittens as they go, like wannabe Hansels and Gretel. Too bad they don't retrace their path and actually pick them back up.

Yesterday Monkey and I braved the snow to clean the control rooms in the barns. We hopped on the four-wheeler, loaded it up with supplies, and started on our work day in the 30 degree weather. It took about 20 minutes or so to wipe everything down, sweep the floor, take out the trash and replace the water filter. My little helper went right along with me until the fourth barn. He decided to stay on the four-wheeler for a few minutes. I left the door open, and the next time I went out there he was still sitting there, leaning over the handles, sound asleep. I guess he was cozied up in his little Carhart coveralls, hat, gloves and workboots. He was so cute. And he stayed right there asleep while I finished the next two barns. I just climbed up behind him and held on to him while we drove to the next barn. Did I mention how cute it was?

OK, one more birthday boy post

On Joe's birthday, Andy went into the post office here to pick up the mail, and Vicki told him she had a package for him, but couldn't guarantee that the butterflies were still alive! Turns out the package that Nonni had sent from insectlore.com arrived on Friday, but thank goodness they were still catapillars! We watched as they formed chrysallids, then we moved them into their butterfly habitat. They all turned into painted lady butterflies. We enjoyed them for a day, then let them loose to pollinate the fields.

The farm dog

Hi, I'm Reagan, resident farm dog.

I'm named after President Ronald Reagan.

I like long drives on the back of the four-wheeler, any time of the day.

My interests are: eating, sleeping, barking all night, swimming in the sewage lagoon, and riding shotgun on the four-wheeler.

My dislikes include: coyotes, the dark, and coyotes in the dark.

Nice to meet you!