Spring Snow

I admit it, I love snow. But I also admit that I don't like it in March. The moisture is awesome, but the snow can go. Spring break week ended with several inches of snow and strong winds on Saturday and Sunday. Here's the view out the back door on Saturday night before I went to bed. It wasn't even snowing, so I figured this would be the end of it.

 Wrong. We woke up to three, four, five (I really have no idea) inches of snow on Sunday morning. Church was called off and so we had the strangest Palm Sunday I can ever remember having.

 We have two steers that my uncle has graciously been feeding daily for us for months now. He was away for a few days so we needed to go to his place to feed Bucky and Train Wreck. Of course that meant all four of us piled into the tractor for the just-over-a-mile trek. Ben didn't bother with a coat. I, on the other hand had cover-alls, boots, a coat, my coffee and camera with me. I felt a little high maintenance.

 My aunt and uncle have the coolest barn. Look at that row of windows!

Oh, and there's Train Wreck and Bucky, hi guys! Thank goodness feeding them takes little effort, especially for me since I was still holding my coffee and camera. 

When we drove back on our yard we spotted Chuckles the pregnant (again) cat in a warm and sunny spot inside the barn. She might be promiscuous, but she has moments of brilliance. 

 From the start of Sunday, it was clear that our family was DONE with snow for the winter. The boys never wanted to go out and play in it. I didn't either - which is weird. We didn't shovel our sidewalks or driveway at all. We just did our best to ignore it all together. We'll take the moisture, but this spring snow is more than welcome to melt away quickly. I have a garden to plant!

Dish love

It was a treat to spend a day with my mom last week. We went out to Paramount Antique Mall in Wichita and found lots of fun treasures- most of which stayed at the store. I had intended to take my camera with me that day but forgot - look out for when I get my hands on a smart phone - there will be photos galore! 

Anyways.....I found some Harlequin dishes at bargain prices and couldn't pass them by. 

 I love these dishes. I fell for them 10 years ago when I was looking for vintage dishes to collect for Ben and I to use on a regular basis. I loved the colors and I loved their clean simple lines. Back then, my mom and I were shopping in Hutch and I found several pieces and decided I'd go for it. Now I've got tons of some pieces and many items I've never seen in person, let alone purchased.

I love walking through antique malls and flea markets and I especially love to find my dishes tucked into corners of crowded booths. It's even better when I find one labeled "colorful bowl". That's the best. Luckily this set of eight dishes is valued at about $60, but I paid only $25.
I ran them through the dishwasher and have been admiring them on my kitchen counter all day. Seriously, they make me smile.

Crimson Red

The chicken barn is quickly becoming crimson red. 

In reality, although I don't have a photo to prove it, the entire south side is now covered with red tin and looks amazing.

 The harsh reality is that there are three more sides of this decrepit building. But it's encouraging to see how fast this one side has been transformed. There's also work to be done on the inside....but whatever....let's just enjoy the fact that crimson red is slowly spreading all over the farm. :-)

And, one quick update....this previous metal dumping/graveyard is looking so, so, so, so much better!   

 A big motivation for cleaning things up around the yard this winter was improving the view from my kitchen window. Or at least that was MY motivation. The fact that I no longer look at a metal graveyard is an immense improvement. The crimson red chicken barn with crisp white trim is like icing on the cake. The rest of it nature will have to take care of: green grass and leaves on the trees.  

Just down the road

Our neighbors, Brendon, Susan, Brooke and Colby invited us over to meet their triplet baby goats. That was an invitation we couldn't resist! The boys and I went over earlier this week and had a great time! 

Susan helped us meet the little goats.

 Colby's in Kindergarten this year, so he falls right in between Noah and Levi age wise. The three of them were a hoot. Even doing chores was fun!

 Just about anything is fun when you've got friends beside you, right?

After we finished choring, the boys went exploring along the creek. I can only imagine what these three boys will come up with when they get older!

Garden prep

I can hardly believe it's time to start thinking about gardening again! Time is just flying by. It seems like we went from 10 inches of snow to 80 degree weather in a matter of days. Crazy.  So, since the dear Lord gave us a sunny warm day in the middle of March we borrowed a tiller and got the garden ready to go! All winter we've had this right outside our back door. Bleh.

Ahhh, it was so refreshing to see the nice black dirt come bumbling and tumbling up.  

Levi was curious and scared of the tiller. I don't blame him. I'm curious and scared of it too!

 The seed potatoes are hanging out....waiting for the weather to not only get warmer but stay warmer.

 It feels like we're off on another gardening adventure.

Six eggs a day

I've learned several things in the last twelve hours. 

1. The larger the vice grip the easier the work turns out to be.

2. Prep work on re-doing a building is very tiring and oddly satisfying.

3. We're doing a lot of work for six eggs a day.

The chicken barn received some much deserved love today. She's so old nobody knows who built her or how old she is. She's been well used, maybe even abused over the years, and now it's time for a makeover. 

I took this photo in January. 

The plan for the chicken barn is to fix the broken parts and cover her with red tin to match the red barn. She'll also get fresh white trim, new windows and doors and hopefully a fresh coat of paint on the roof, too.

 Today we made serious progress, although from a distance it doesn't look like much. We ripped off some pieces of the barn that were in various stages of disrepair, etc. That window sill to the left of Ben in the photo below is brand new. Dad helped us measure it out, then I sat on the board (someone's got to do the tough jobs) while Ben cut it out. After only minor adjustments it fit! Hooty-hoo! And it looks like it's been there all along!

 We also attached the chicken wire, then nailed trim boards on top of that.

 Thankfully, my dad is leading this project. Ben and I do well with common sense thinking and problem solving. But having dad's knowledge and experience right beside us is better, so much better.

 The windows are inside just waiting to be installed.

 This old building hasn't gotten this much attention for a couple decades!

 Old Chuckles the cat seems to appreciate the progress we're making, too.

 She's looking shabby, but still a big improvement.

 Dad held up a window so we could ooooh and ahhhhh a tiny bit. Next on the list - paint the trim!

new bed

Last fall, Ben told me we should do a raised bed next to the milk barn holding pen. I immediately said, "YES!" Usually, I'm the one who comes up with these ideas and drags him into the project. But this time he started it so he was much more inclined to make it happen. Last week we got on it. 

 The boards came from a cow shelter that bit the dust in a strong thunderstorm last spring. We cleaned them off, cut them down to size and slapped a couple coats of paint on them.

 Friday, an unseasonably warm day, I held the boards while Ben hammered the stakes in with the sledge.

 There was a chance for rain on Sunday, so we hustled to get the dirt in the bed before we had mud to deal with. Soooo...now we need to decide what we'll plant in this big new raised bed!

Ideas?

Visiting the Et Cetera Shop in Newton is a once (or twice) a week lunch time activity for me. The other day, I happened across a piece of 5+ yards of outdoor fabric. I loved the stripe and thought it would match the two cushions I already have for our patio. 

 So I bought it! And it matches...or at least coordinates! But I don't know what to do with it.

This happens to me all too often with fabric and the Et Cetera Shop. I buy it because I love it and then I have to work to figure out what to do with it. Got any ideas for me? At the least I can use for outdoor tablecloths. Otherwise....I'm just not sure.

A letter for Levi

Way back in November Levi wrote a letter to President Obama. It was a big deal to Levi on the day he wrote the letter and put it in the mailbox. But after that, he didn't mention it, ever. But then last week Levi got a big envelope in the mail from the White House. Right away he shouted, "It's a letter from President Obama!"

It was a super-big deal to him. The envelope had a photo of the President, and one of his dog, a coloring page, a garden activity page, a map of the White House and a form letter.

 Levi really liked the garden page. He got to put stickers of fruits and vegetables in their correct rows. He also wrote that his favorite vegetable is the carrot.

 I'm sure the White House gets tons of letters like the one Levi sent and it was really interesting to see what all we got in response. It certainly made Levi feel special when he got such a significant piece of mail and from the President no less.

After the rain

Saturday was a gloriously rainy day here. We loved the rain, but once it stopped we took advantage and got outside to play in the mud and puddles! 

 

 

We had such a good time, exploring, finding signs of spring, laughing, walking, falling, getting dirty and just spending time together.