Tag Archives: farm life

Where has the time gone…

Hello… is there anybody out there?  My goodness.  Has it been three years?  What in the freaking world, you guys?  Man.  I think I need this space now more than ever.  I suppose I always knew I would return (since I kept paying for my site name and all), but prioritizing it into my overly scheduled day… not on my top five list of things to do before I crash ungracefully into bed and try to sleep.

Since it has been, oh… for fucking ever, I will do a brief recap.  Taylor and I still live on the ranch with our smart, strong, beautiful daughter Josephine (who is now 6 and three quarters, unbelievably).  In addition, we went ahead and added on a second daughter, Lucinda Jane, a little over a year ago.  She is a spitfire.  Determined, hilarious, smart as a whip, and oh so sweet all at the same time.  Lucinda was born quickly and hit the ground running, determined to do everything as fast as possible.  She had no interest in being a baby, and so she really wasn’t for very long.  Other than the fact that sleep is a thing I do in two to three hour spurts each night courtesy of said baby, I think we have transitioned well.  Josephine loves Lucinda to absolute pieces (sometimes she thanks me profusely for giving her a sister, and I burst with love), and we couldn’t imagine life without this second crazy kid, and time is going too fast, and my kids are growing up, and all the other cliches about kids and time and I’m one big weepy mess, y’all.  Here’s a picture while I dry my eyes:

13754229_10207487121476042_7790809175522452873_nSeriously… those kids are good people.

Anyways, onward and all that.  We are still out here and the ranch.  We now have a herd of goats and a flock of chickens, and two crazy farm dogs, and a whole mess of thistles that have made themselves at home and are feeling pretty safe since I haven’t been out tending the pastures for the past two summers (you better watch your back, thistles.  Your time is coming).  I still have the same Program Coordinator job, which seems to grow in responsibility and stress each year.  I still have the same salty attitude, and life marches on.

With the addition of Lucinda Binda Boo, time is even more precious.  I have even more need to kick my laziness to the curb and kick it into HIGH GEAR!  So here I am.  I liked the accountability of this space, I enjoyed the way it made my mind work, and I need a hobby, so that when I’m doing icebreakers at work I don’t sound like a sad old lady (“I used to have hobbies, sometime before I had kids.  I liked to, um, well, yeah, I don’t remember, but I am sure I had hobbies).  So here I am.  Back in the virtual saddle.  So much to say, so little time to type it in.  Let’s see how this round goes!

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Goings ons

What has been happening in my oh so exciting life, you ask? Well, let me tell you:
Last week while in the back pasture digging thistles in the never-ending thistle apocalypse, I lost grip on my shovel and it sprung back and smashed me in the jaw. Ugh. I had to check for broken teeth it got me so hard. Inexplicably, I have no bruise to show for it. Only a little swelling, but it totally blends in with my chins, so I doubt anyone will notice.

That same afternoon, in the far back of that same pasture I decided to pull out some stray blackberry starts (I love having the big bramble back there, but would love to keep it there, and not let it spread). All good and fine, except I was wearing a tank top an I cut the heck out of my arms and stomach (how my stomach? I am not sure). One of my colleagues suggested my antics be filmed. America’s Funniest Home Videos, perhaps?

It would have been hilarious, I’m sure, to see me yell on Tuesday night as I pulled my hip sitting down on the floor to clean up kid toys. Seriously, friends, I could hardly walk, and I’m still hobbling around. Sheesh. That life insurance policy idea is looking better and better.

In other news: I shattered my iPhone glass. Like, completely destroyed it. Luckily, Taylor is amazing and had an extra part and replaced the glass. I have some grey spots around the bottom of the screen. All in all not a total loss, but since I do all my blogging on my phone, it’s a slight inconvenience. Just slight.

Also, we added a new member to our bustling little family. Everyone, meet Ricky

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We adopted him from the shelter and he’s a pretty good boy. He was someones baby dog, so it’s been an adjustment to life outside, but he seems to be adjusting alright. Now if he’d only learn his name and come in from the pasture when called, we’d be in business. Of course, he has a lot to live up to, since Buddy is the golden child. He lived up to his reputation on Saturday afternoon by killing and eating a baby possum (whose mother just might have been the sneaky pete who was under our house for a week).
*DISCLAIMER ~ graphic dead possum pic*

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That’s a good boy!

So, lots of clumsiness and a new dog. That’s that.
I’ll leave you with a picture that was a dream realized.
I had some friends and kids over last weekend and they played and played and played. It was a dream come true. Me, having wine with some friends while our kids played. Ooooooh, so nice. I am really loving spring out here!

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And finally, a big congratulations to some lovely friends who gave birth to a perfect little boy this week. It’s baby season here in Oakdale! This was the first of five babies due in the next couple of months. Baby spring fever, here I come! Particularly since my “baby” is actually a giant two and a half year old with a mean case of the “Mama can I’s”. I mean, just look at her. A baby no more.

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(this is her irrigating outfit, by the way)

Oh, ok. Maybe kind of a baby still

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Until I fall again….(which should be later tonight by my calculations) 😉

Thistles

In the process of moving and getting adjusted to life out here, we let our pasture maintenance slip. Before the goats and horses came, our pastures became pretty overgrown. And then the thistles came. And then they bloomed (such pretty purple blossoms). And then they seeded the hell out if the pastures. I’m sure our neighbors are simultaneously laughing at us and cursing us (since I am sure some of the thistle seeds blew onto their property). I now know why they say to take care of weeds before they seed. I’m afraid this one season is going to take us years of work to undo. Recently I started the de-thistle process. Man. I went through most of one of our small pastures. The main goat pasture. The back end of it is full of flat thistles, with a few tall ones thrown in for good measure. Josephine and I went to town, and still, we did not get them all. Notice I said Josephine and I were in the goat pasture. This is possible because…we no longer have the asshole goats!!! Hooray! Yippee! Party time! We are down to three: our two wonderful, lovely goats named Duck and Billy, and the rental goat, a fat Pygmy goat named Giselle who likes to make a lot of noise, but who is quite well mannered. Now that the asshole goats have moved on to a new farm somewhere with tall fences that they can not leap over, it is safer for Josephine to spend time in the goat pasture with me. And now that she has stopped (for the most part) asking, “Where Bobby Poppy?” (the names of said asshole goats), it is quite pleasant to be able to walk through the pasture or do maintenance without being reared at or head butted or pushed around. Thank the goat lord!
Anyways, thistle time. We have a long road ahead of us, but every day it’s getting easier to do chores with Josephine in tow (in the pasture she spent a lot of time throwing grass into the water troughs, dipping sticks in the water to “paint” on the rocks nearby, and talking about her muscles. She is strange). Taylor even irrigated with Josephine this week without a hitch. You can be sure she had a blast tromping through the waters with her boots on! As for the thistle, one day we will look back and realize that we conquered them. And I will dance a jig (because I am strange, ok? I take after Josephine).

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Oh, and one more thing. The neighbors butchered Mister Cow. Right in the pasture directly in front of our living room window. Luckily Taylor saw and closed the window before Josephine could watch. She LOVED Mister Cow. Farm life just got real!