Feeding bunnies, pitching hay - the good life.

When the grannies come to stay it's not all work and mostly play.

 

 

One of our February chores is putting up the greenhouse. This year it was a brand new one that Jeff bought me on sale last year. It was to late in the season to put it up so I have been excitedly  waiting for that warm day in Feb. when we could put it together. Gramps and uncle Greg have used a lot of patience putting it up with the help of Cash, Emma and Jaxon.

 

The frame seemed very flimsy but once everything was together it seemed rather sturdy.

 

Emma and Jax help by putting in the hundreds of screws. We did get the whole thing put together and now it is sitting snuggly in the garden waiting for that planting time.

 

Jaxon and Cash help with the horse chores. It takes a lot of trips with the little amount they get on their fork but they got them fed. Then Lucas helps grandpa look for places that the rabbits hide and fed them some grain and hay.

 

Did anyone watch that ad during the Super Bowl? The one about a farmer? Well I couldn't help but think of Jeff during that ad especially when it says a farmer will stop his work in the hay field to splint the leg of a bird. Well that's my Jeff, he would do that and may have even done that. I know he packed a bunny home that got his ears cut in the sickle and nursed it to health. He continued his work that day after hitting it, carrying  the bunny around in his shirt. Well now he goes out to the country and puts alfalfa out for the rabbits this winter and feeds the deer out of his hay stash because he knows they are hungry.  We really need to live in the country!!

 

 

January Blues or Blue Skies?

The climate is changing, that is the forecast and I am beginning to believe it. Instead of winter snows we are having winter warming. This week's forecast is to be in the 50's plus, which I find amazing, as January has always been our cold month here in ole Nebraska, but not this year. Ok we have had some cooler weather but it doesn't last long and I am OK with that.

This weekend, when it is suppose to be almost 60, **smiling**,  I hope to talk Jeff into setting up the little greenhouse he bought for me last fall. I have been aching to see it put up in the garden and now it is about to come true. That means it is also time to get my seeds ordered so I can start the planting process. So excited about this summer as last summer was so very hot and I was unable to work in the garden,  it is with great hope that I will get my fingers in the soil this year.

Glad to be back at work after having almost one month off in December. You would think that with winter there isn't much to do around the Fort but oh no, we are busier than ever. The guys are gutting the kitchen and replacing almost everything along with working on new plans for the Sutler Store. There is also animals to feed, the buffalo, longhorn and horses are fed daily and soon some new little longhorns will come along.

I am getting contracts ready, going through 2012 files and setting up 2013. Advertising for jobs and getting set for interviews. Ordering merchandise and working on schedules. So busy it is and soon Feb., one of my favorite months, will be here. Need to get some Valentine ideas a going...............!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Lu

Nothing to say - NOT!

A friend asked me the other day why I haven't been blogging. My reply "I just didn't have anything to say". Now when did that ever happen to me I wonder. Thought maybe I should at least put up some kind of a post, and all of sudden I realized I had a LOT to say. There, that's the old me.

So here I go.

Got my computer fixed. YIPPEE!! Sad news, when it crashed I lost all my photos, probably should have taken it in the first time I started having trouble and they probably could have saved some of them - DANG. Good news is  that it has lots more memory and an upgrade so now I can play with my photos again. And I bought this little 99 cent app and look what I can do with it.

Isn't that just fun. It takes just a matter of minutes and I could make Cash's eyes blue and highlight that Nebraska hat. Here is another photo.

I  just got a tickle out of doing that. Impressed? Just 99 cents........I am. There are several very inexpensive apps for the Mac that can do great things.

While picking up my Mac I ended up bringing home a new couch. We really, really needed one - last time I bought a couch we sat on lawn chairs for almost a year as I gave my old set to my son and his family and then couldn't make up my mind on what I wanted. This time I just took what I saw when I saw something I liked. It's leather, has recliners because that is what Jeff wants and is oatmeal in color, soooooo it matches everything and anything.

Work was very busy with the deer season opening up. On Friday, the day before I worked from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., not a big deal I put in lots of hours all summer but this time I was on my feet from the time I got to the Fort in the morning until 6 p.m. when we had to sign deer hunters up in the draw units. Tucker me out, well my feet anyway.

Also have been working hard on the Historical Dinner. My exciting news - Midwest Living Magazine will be there to do a feature story on it. Sad part - won't come out until 2012. So I really want to do a good job. Have a pointsetta/burlap theme going on.

Here is a photo of Austin's first buck. He almost made grand champion at deer camp 2011 but his dad ended up with a really nice deer, bigger and older than Austin's. But for an 11 year old this is a pretty nice 'starter' buck.

This is probably the neatest thing - a hand stitched quilt well let's see about 8 of them. The friend's place that all my guys going hunting at - we call it "Deer Camp" made each one of the fellows a quilt. I think that has to be the coolest 'warm' gift EVER! Babe, the lady who made these,  started working on them last year - not sure how she got them all done but she did. Here they are. 

Can you imagine, quilting eight quilts in less than a year and again I add they are hand quilted!! I am a wee bit envious, of the quilts and the ability to quilt like that.

Now with Thanksgiving in the air I am excited to say that all of my children and grandchildren will be home for the holiday. I can't wait to spend time with them and all of their families. Blessed - YES I am!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Check out my little Fiddle Player! I am so proud of Emma for taking up the violin and I hope she keeps it up. Emma went to a small concert out here at the Fort this summer. The band is new but I think will make it big some day. "Dyer Highway" a group of three siblings played for us on the parade ground. I understand why Emma became enthralled. The young fiddle playing lady (age 14) stood on the stage, a soft silky shirt that floated gently in the wind as she dipped and swayed to her music. It was like a feather gently teasing your senses. I guess it teased Emma so much that she went home and asked her mom if she could get lessons and sure enough her mama encouraged her to start.
This violin is just a little larger than her papa's hand and is not the smalled violin that is used for lessons. But it is about the cutest little instrument I have ever seen.
P.S. Please forgive the wild hairdo, she had been playing at full speed outside for hours with her cousins and I caught her just long enough to show me what she has learned.

Reasons to love fall!

WHY...why...why

Why do I have so many problems with blogger? Can anybody out there give me a hint? See my last post? Why do I have all that white area after I finished posting? Why after I download a photo I can not enlarge it unless I click and drag? Why when downloading a photo it always puts it at the top of the page even if my cursor is at the bottom of what I am writing and WHY can't I comment on many of the blogs.........it says to comment I need to check my profile and I check google and then I get this:
Your current account (debkennedy74@yahoo.com) does not have access to view this page. Click here to log out and change accounts.
I am so ready to quit blogging because of all of these frustrations. Anyone else have any of these problems?

Herman Hermits

I would really be amiss if I didn't blog about my chance to see my 'first love' in person. I could only have been all of 10 years old when I fell in love with Peter Noone, yes Herman of Herman and The Hermits. They were all the rage in the 60's and I was just another one of the groupies that loved to listen to "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" or "I'm Henry The Eighth I Am". My cousin lived with me at the time and although they weren't her favorite group she actually bought me one of their 78 records. She didn't seem to mind me listening over and over and over again to their music, so I think she liked them better than she admitted. It could have been that English accent that got me along with his wavy blonde hair. I'm thinking Justin Bieber may have stolen that hair do.

Here is a picture of him now. He joked about looking like Nick Nolte, but really he does, he looks an awful like him. Below is the photo of Peter from the 60's - and if memory serves me right it was the photo on either the cover or back cover of my record. Sorry but it was a really long time ago and although I THINK I have the album somewhere I don't really know where. It is too bad because if I had taken it with me and had him sign it they said it would be worth about $300.00.


Herman and The Hermits and Davey Jones of The Monkeys were to perform in Deadwood, South Dakota this past Friday and my wonderful daughter bought me two tickets to attend their concert. One for myself and one for a friend, she even talked the friend into going. I didn't think anyone but myself would really want to attend and my friend really didn't remember the group - but she went. Now this friend is only one year younger than me, but for some reason, she just didn't remember Herman. Once they started playing she sang word for word along with the crowd and myself, so I know she knew their music just didn't really remember the group.

We made friends with the people in front of us, and well, to the side of us AND the back of us. We had a great time singing along with music and gabbing with the folks. I don't think there was more than a handful of people under the age of 50 except for those poor little children, whose parents drug them to it so we fit right in.

Now..................I just had to see him up close and get his signature so I bought one of his CD's and we waited in line to get him to sign it. And he did, I handed it to him, he signed it said "Thanks Miss" and THEN put his hand out to my friend and shook it and visited with her.......the unjustice of it all, she didn't even remember him! DANG, DANG, DANG. I thought she shouldn't wash her hand for the rest of her life - she thought I was an idiot!! It's ok - I got to see him, and it was all great. Had someone told me when I was a youngun' that I would have seen him in person I probably wouldn't have lived to see the day, I would have died from heart failure on the spot. Isn't life grand??

Happy 6th Birthday Jaxon.

Happy 6th Birthday Jaxon - Looks like you took a 'bite' out of turning six years old.

My newest Junk find!

Look what I found for a little bit of nothing!

I haven't brought it home yet but can't you imagine how much it will love sitting in my garden full of pumpkins or pineboughs for winter?

CAN'T WAIT TO GET HER HOME!

Linking to Beyond the Picket Fence