Back at it with a bang!

After remembering last week I had my blog I have decided to come back to keep track of more memories! Man are there many that I have missed since last posting. There is no way to catch back up on those but if the opportunity from other posts allow me to touch back on them I sure will.

So right now I'm sitting in the house at 5 am thankful for all I have. This time last week I was preparing for Hurricane Matthew and wasn't sure if we would have a house to come back to. My biggest fear was our trees. We have many of them and I wasn't sure what would be taken out by them. I knew for sure that I had to get the animals out of here because of the trees. I got remarks from some that I was over thinking it, I should just stay it's nothing to worry about, but I had to do what my heart said to do and I was so glad I did. The big massive oak tree that I thought would go did not move! The healthy ones snapped like tooth picks. Crazy how that happens. Tree through our barn roof, trees down in each pasture. It will be a mess for a while but for now we are functioning. My house was unharmed! So very thankful for that.

Saturday after the storm Tony came back home while we stayed at my moms so he could evaluate what needed done before bringing the animals back.( He wouldn't allow me to come because my back is out!) Main thing was stabilizing fences and the barn. John, Tony's brother, came over to help with that effort. They worked really hard on getting that done!

The first Challenge was the roads! This is the road in front of the house and you can see that the trees are blocking all the way down the road. The whole neighborhood look like a bomb went off and exploded the trees.

At first glance from the house it just looks like some leaves and limbs but you would really have to be here in person to see the size of the massive trees on the ground next to both sides of the barn.

The big oak tree that I was afraid of coming down lost one of its huge limbs into the barn. Thank goodness the sheep where not here to have to witness this! I am afraid they might not have survived.

This big tree shaded our back half of the property. Not anymore! I didn't realize the center of it was even rotting like it was.

Its hard to tell in this picture but there is another massive tree on the other back side of the pasture. It will remain there for sometime because the water is just too high to be going through to cut it up. Surprisingly all the flood waters in the barn were soaked in by the time we got the animals home.

We ended up leaving Kisses at my mom's house so we only had to worry about a place to keep the sheep. Right now we have roughly 20 days till fair! Our main goal right now is to keep the market lambs growing and gaining in a comfortable safe area. I think we have managed that so far.

Carey and Jason came to help us on Sunday haul many limbs to the road so the county could pick them up. We have months and months of tree work to do but slowly we will get there.

I am on week 2 of my back being out. I really hate that I have developed a back problem. All I did was turn wrong getting in the car and out went my lower back. Shooting pain down my leg to the point I can barely walk. At this point I don't know if my back or my leg hurt worse, all I know is I want it to go away so I can get on with working in my yard!

Well that was my first post back on the blog and I hope to keep up with this for all of you and for myself. I really do love going back to see the memories that we had that just seem to slip by my memory. See you again soon!

Counting down!!

The countdown to fair is on! The Saturday before last we had barn workday to set up all the pens for the animals for fair. The kids all work together to make this happen. They have to put in the shavings and wash all the water and feed bowls for the chickens.

 

 

Brooke spent the rest of the week working on science project. Of course I didn't get a picture of that!! It was on which color crayon melts the fastest. (the white won).

 

Last weekend we had 2 days of Fall Festival ( Really 4 days if you count set up and tear down)! It was a lot of fun for the kids. We helped work the petting zoo most of the time.

 

 

Brooke fell in love with the Donkey! She wants him for Christmas and I said NO!!!!

 

 

 

He is really cute!!! Look at that face.

 

 

 

She really wants him!!! When she moves out he can be hers. LOL

 

So the rest of the week has been preparing for fair and doing the usual running around. Brooke had after school FFA meeting and when I returned, I found this..............

 

 

 

Bambi stuck in the porch canopy! I really don't know what she was thinking to get herself in this situation. Tony had to bend the piping to get her out. Afterwards, Gabby was running around ramming us. I guess she was really upset and maybe thought we did this to her. They are not very smart!!!

 

So that's about all for now. Brooke has a 4H dance tomorrow and Sunday begins the shaving of sheep and goats and washing of the chickens. Our 12 chickens are down to 5 because they are coming down with the pox. Hopefully no more get it!!!

 

I will be back soon!!

 

 

 

 

 

Awards Night

Another week has come and gone and there has not been a spare minute wasted! The kids had their 4H awards night on Saturday. Brooke had to be there at 1:00 to decorate and prepare for the big event at 6:00. The kids got lots of awards for all their hard work on projects during the year.

 

Brooke had a ceremony at beginning to welcome her and the other kids of the board into the new year for the county council of 4H. Brooke was and still is the parliamentarian.

 

The rest of the week was spent catching up on fair projects that are due tomorrow! Pictures of the chickens still had to be taken and record books had to be finished. Might I add that the science project is still not finished!

 

We had one of Ashlyn's show chickens come down with fowl pox. It is a bad case of it! The pox formed on her eye and it has swollen her eye shut. She is not eating very well either. She won't be going to fair for sure. I am hoping nobody else gets it! It is very contagious and can cause secondary respiratory infection so the whole coop is on antibiotics to hopefully keep that from happening.

 

 

 

There is really not a dull moment around here for sure! We have barn workday at the fair grounds tomorrow to prepare for fair. 20 days till fair!!!

 

Fall festival will be next weekend!! 

 

Drill Team

So another week has come and gone!!! Last weekend Brooke had a drill team competition. She has been working all year toward this and did very well at every practice but........ Kitty lost her mind there! Poor Brooke had to ride her with her bouncing off the walls. She did so well controlling her. Needless to say Kitty will not be returning to drill work!

Kitty- theme-Angels (which kitty was not an angel at all!)

 

After that ride was such a disaster, Tony went home and got Willow. Poor willow got pulled out of the pasture with no practice on this drill since may! That didn't go very well either. It was much better than Kitty but still not a great ride. We were all ready to go home for sure!

 

Willow -theme- Men in Black

 

 

Monday Brooke had to be at school at 5:45 am for an FFA leadership training field trip. With the amount of leadership training classes she has she should be able to lead the USA by now!!!

 

FFA chapter

 

 

We finished out the week with the dentist (more cavities... never ending nightmare), county council meetings, review board, 4h meeting and lots of homework. This weekend we have 4h awards!

 

No cavities for Ashlyn!

 

 

 

 

 

Beach and show fun

Last 2 weekends have been busy. The week before last we had International Coastal Cleanup at the beach. The 4H group went together for a community service project. Brooke was not able to go because she was at a District 4H officer training class. Ashlyn did a really good job at picking up trash. We were only able to keep the kids attention for about 1 1/2 hours! They ended up gathering about 30 pounds of trash in that short time.


Ashlyn losing interest in trash!!

 





Ashlyn in the beach with her friend Ashlinn

The kids were happy to get in the water with it being so hot! Afterwards we met with Ellie to have lunch with her because we had to shave sheep the next day and would not be able to see her at the family cookout.

 

This last weekend the kids had a Jackpot Sheep and Goat show. It was nasty, rainy weather at the beginning but did dry up a little toward the end of the day.

Ashlyn and Gabby

 

 

Ashlyn got 5th out of 6 people in showmanship. The judge told her that she needs to be a little more attentive but has what it takes to be good. Lets see what she does with that!!! Gabby got last in her class. She is just not show quality! Got love her anyway.

 

Ashlyn in her class

Brooke did not place in showmanship but she won her class with Lily!! She was so excited! She has been working really hard with her to get her fit back up after the baby.


Brooke and Lily (Brooke in pink)

 

So we have had some fun! Now the fun continues. This week we are preparing for drill team competition next weekend, working on 4H group fair booth, trying to finish up gameboards, posters and record books that are due for fair in the next 2 weeks. Oh and that dreaded science fair project for school! (I am really glad this is the last year for science projects for a while. )

So that's it for now!

 

 



Countdown to fair!!!

 

The state inspector came out today to test the out of control chicken population we have now for fair!! He was shocked at the fact we have 16 chickens now. I believe they will all test fine but it is a requirement for them to enter the fair. The kids were in school so I had to chase down 8 hens and 1 rooster, hold them while he stuck a cotton swab in their throat and then stuck a vein under the wing to get blood. I was cover with blood afterwards! One day my kids will love me for the little things I do. :)

 

We have a busy couple weeks ahead. The kids have a Critter Crew 4H meeting tonight to vote on officers, Brooke has a district 4H meeting Thursday and this weekend hopefully start the dreaded science project of Brooke's.

 

Next week is full of drill team, mandatory fair meetings, 4H meeting, open house for school, District 4H officer training, coastal cleanup and shaving sheep and goats for sheep and goat show. Me and Tony have homework and tests to fit in somewhere and maybe try to sleep at some point!! Love this time of year though because it is so much fun. I love my busy life because it means my kids are having fun!!

 

 

Horse Judging

The horse judging went really well. Brookes team backed out at the last minute so she had to judge by herself. She was able to go for an individual score. She didn't mind at all and she had a really good time.

The had 8 classes total that they had to judge. She scored perfect on 3 of them. this was her first time judging and I thought she did really well for her first time. She had a total score of 394 out of 450.

The most exciting thing was that one of the horses they were judging was a horse that we had owned! It is Danny. We had started breaking him so that Brooke could have him but we discovered he had a disorder called HYPP. It caused him to have really bad seizsures so we gave him to a home that was going to put him to pasture. Apparently that didn't happen! He looked really good.