Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Silly pups and some blither blather






de' salsa, it be calling my name and burning my fingers.


12 pints last night after work.



Have you noticed a lot of bloggers have recently quit or just stopped? One of my favorites The Horseshoeing Housewife or aka Postcards from Arizona has, she is going to write a book about her adventures instead of blogging about them. I will be eagerly awaiting her first book.


In the amazing category - Did you hear about Nie -burned 80% of her body in a near fatal airplane crash, is now pregnant with her 5th child!?!?!?!?!? Phenomenally wonderful!



The kids have an open house at school tonight that I am missing because of my shitty hours. I am taking off on Thursday though to take them to school on the first day. A family tradition of sorts. We take pictures at the school sign every year. Funny Colton didn't want us to come with him yesterday to take pictures. Also I will add that having him go off to college (yes, I know he still lives at home and I will see him most every day) was harder than him going to Kindergarten.. I was a bit teary all day yesterday just thinking of it.



Ok, me and my bruning fingers must get ready for work now. Toodles...


Sunday, August 28, 2011

Weekend fun

The last weekend of August is here.


The pumpkins are ripening and I've got about a bazillion tomato's to do something with. Unfortunately my tomato to pepper ratio is off and I needed additional peppers this year. My pepper plants set all their first flowers well, but didn't set any more flowers till about two weeks ago so I just don't have enough of those baby's.



This pigs are recovered from their sunburn. You can still see a bit of red on their ears though. The porkers keep tipping over their feeder. The hubby anchored a tray thing to a pallet so they cannot tip it over anymore.




Chyann has decided to try out the cart for Casper again this year and after two days of working with him, has success with him pulling her.



Up and down the driveway they went. And if you're wondering why her leg is hanging out the side - it's because she wanted to be able to launch herself out in case of an emergency and not have to worry about getting it tangled up.





Caden gets a ride too. Shortly after this picture was taken they had a minor cart incident with a pole breaking. No one was hurt and the Hubby can repair it.






Colton starts school tomorrow. He is excited, but admits to being a bit nervous as well.

I know he plans on going to the tech school for at least this semester, but he'll probably try to go to a four year college - with dorms in January or at the latest next fall. He has all these new ideas for things he'd like to do... And I guess that is normal? Everyone I've talked to have said that they changed their mind at least twice during college (one gal told me she changed her mind FIVE times!).








Wednesday, August 24, 2011

New canning thing-a-ma-jig and poor porkers



Check out my new completely custom made canning station!




Conveniently located right off the back porch.




And it works great! Got 10 quarts of salsa done over the weekend.





Horse update: Vet doesn't really know what the horses have got. He is positive it's not strangles though. Scotch is completely healed up, with only a small scab under his jaw. Gypsy obviously had a more extreme case of whatever this is and is now scabby with no more oozing - but looks/acts less thrifty to me (meaning I can catch her easily). The other horses show no signs of this crap - yet..



And as such Chyann has been riding Jenny everywhere. A renewed love for this gorgeous gal.







PS The pink pigs are no longer pink - try sunburned red. The poor porkers are not liking being confined to their pig house during the heat of the day since they are apparently enjoying the dirt so much they are ignoring their skin turning into pork rinds.



Monday, August 22, 2011

Hog Heaven

Marco and Polo have spent their first few weeks with us in the barn and it is finally time to move them to their new home - the pen outside.


Having been born and raised until now in barns with concrete floors they were literally in Hog Heaven when they met the soft dirt and can now root around!


This pen has not been used for a while and had lots of greens growing in it, that the pigs loved! They completely exhausted themselves on Saturday just rooting around, enjoying their new world.



In other news, our mare Gypsy appears to have the same ailment that Scotch had last week. WTH?!! He supposedly had a puncture wound that got infected? She started showing symptoms on Saturday morning - oozing yellow from along her jaw bones to the base of her throat - no punctures anywhere. Yesterday she was starting to swell. I cleaned her all out, she seems to be having more pain than Scotch did, and gave her a shot of Scotch's antibiotics.

I'm going to call the vet this AM and see what they think. I'm sure it's not strangles, but have no idea what it might be..
Interesting enough Chyann volunteered to help give shots and has now given Scotch two! wowo!


Friday, August 19, 2011

Animal Friday again...

Sure it's animal Friday again. Where has the last two weeks gone? Who knows..


Anyhow...


Chyann has been setting up jumps and obstacle courses for the horses. Her current favorite riding partner is Scotch, he really likes to jump and that thrills her.


Scotch has somehow managed to get a puncture wound between his jaw bones. Chyann first noticed a lump about the size of a quarter that was a bit wet on Tuesday evening. We thought it might be a bug bite he was having a reaction to since 1- the bugs at our place have been ferocious this summer (we've went through so much fly spray this year) and 2 - all the horses get bit in that area some. Wednesday AM I went out to feed them and holy cow Scotch's face was scary swelled!! Looked like a huge friggin goiter about the size of a baseball, not to mention how it extended out on either side of his jaw too. It was hard and oozing infection! Of course this is the day we go to the cites for Chyann's doctor appointments. Colton was home if the vet could come out while we were gone, but it worked out that the vet after a doing a few other emergency calls was able to get here shortly after we got home.

A good cleaning, tetanus shot and 20cc of antibiotic, followed by 10cc of antibiotics twice a day for another nine days and he will be good as new.

It's been a while since I've given any shots. Yesterday morning I stood there with the syringe full of medicine and contemplated if I could do this.. I managed to work up the courage and got it done. Last night was much easier. He already looks much better.



I've started canning too. One big batch of salsa and a batch of spicy beans and brussle sprouts - Yum!


Also of note Chyann's range of motion is now at 103*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Yes, the doctors were totally thrilled with her progress - all smiles and pats on the back, with I knew you could do it thrown in. Course they are now talking about looking at when to take out her hardware when she comes back in October, guess we'll see.


TGIF!!


Sunday, August 7, 2011

Yadda, yadda, ect...

Here it's been another week plus of no posts.


Can you believe it's August already? My Dad in AK says he can already smell winter coming. My Mom in OK says it was 113* at her house the other day. Us? We've got a cool down coming this week with temps only in the mid 70's.




Marco and Polo arrived a week or so ago. We've had to put them in the chicken coop in the barn because the outdoor pig pen was flooded from all the rain we've been having.


I like having pigs. They eat all the kitchen and garden scraps and nothing goes to waste.



Chyann had a good time in MN at the horse show. She ended up coming home with Nan's folks on Saturday afternoon. It was 98* there with 100% humidity - minimal shade. They showed early in the morning and by noonish she was totally done in by the heat.




It was all a great experience for her though. There is another show over Labor Day weekend that she won't be able to attend because of school, and 2 parades she'll be marching in.




Chyann is with Corva who is pretty young and Nan is holding Ellie (Nan's sister in the blue, I've forgotten her name).


Have you noticed grocery prices rising in your area? Seems to me like everything has gone up! From milk to fruit to taco sauce. For example I like Taco bell's hot sauce. It comes in a 7.5oz bottle. Last year at this time it cost 1 dollar even (plus tax of course), yesterday I got the very same bottle and it cost 1.46! How's that for inflation!


Corn is ripening in the garden and it is so delicious! The green beans are about ready to be pickled. I'm having to trim back the suckers on my tomato's to get some air moving between the plants to dry them out. The few that have ripened have had wonderful flavor. I love a fresh tomato sandwich.


I'm on the hunt for a recipe for spicy pickled brussel sprouts for my Dad. If you've heard of a good one let me know :)


PS Chyann got 94* at PT this week! This kid is phenomenal! and wont her doctors be surprised when we see them later this month ~ or maybe they'll just say we told you it would come, patience was all you/she needed.