Its mid-summer already, how did that happen!!!!

Here it is mid June, summer soltice, longest day of the year. It seems just the other day we were hoping for spring and warmer weather. Well we got it now. It has been mi the mid 90's already this summer. Our garden is doing well all things considered. We thought for a while we might not be able to have one at all. But God blessed us once again. We got the field corn planted Easter weekend as well as the sweet corn, although Rodger was not feeling well at all. I think we both were really worried. Almost didnt bother with trying to plant a garden this season due to his health but we pushed on. Got out tomatoes, peppers and such transplanted and others things direct seeded. Everything came up good except the cucumbers. Those were zero sprouting. Replanted those a week or so ago. Finally got Rodger to see the family doc and long story short he was referred to a cardiologist and pulmonologist. He had been having chest pain when he exerted himself the tiniest bit. On May 11th he had a heart cath and 3 stents placed. As for his heart he is doing great. Just really low energy level. But we think this issue has been ongoing for a couple to 3 years and really has taken its tole as far as physical endurance goes. So he is doing cardiac rehab now and that is going great. So he is on the uphill swing. About 10 days after the heart cath he did manage to get our garden hoed out and tilled to try to combat the weed and grass issue. So far it all looks good. The beans are trellised and starting to climb the trellis. Sweet corn is short but tasseling out. Tomatoes have lots of green tomatoes on them. My blackberry canes are loaded with big green berries. Should have lots of good blackberries this year. My new thornless raspberries I planted ate looking good and have had a handful of berries on them this year. Rodger purchased some bird netting to use to cover the blackberries to keep birds and such from eating them. He and Jason got the net put up last evening. Now wait for ripe berries.

On May 27th we drove to Birmingham to pick up our 2 lil grandsons at the airport. A friend was flying his boys to Alabama to visit family and suggested the lil ones fly with him and make it a easier trip for us as far and getting them instead of the long drive to Arizona. So we have our sweet little grandsons, Liam and Zachary here for a month. We are taking them home leaving here about July 3rd or so. They have had a blast and as you other grandparents know so has this grammy. Such well mannered polite lil boys for 2 and 4 yr olds. They have got to play in dirt, play in the rain, gather eggs, pick and eat all the strawberries, just doing what lil boys like to do. If we can just keep the skeeters, chiggers and ticks from eating them up. They have their lil kiddie pool on the back deck to splash in to cool off on hot days.

Sasha loved the little boys as soon as she met them. Liam loves her, she still intimidates Zach bit.

Playing in the rain is especially fun when you can do it in your pajamas at Grammy's house.

Getting to go in the garden with papa is a big deal for lil boys. Until they get big enough to use a hoe at least.

Getting to watch the trains go by is a big deal when you are little I suppose.

As you can tell by the lack of pics of garden stuff and farm stuff I have been just entertaining and enjoying these lil ones. I know when they have to go home it will be entirely too quiet here for my liking. I have tried to convince their mom and daddy that it would be much cheaper and easier on all if we just keep them till mom and dad come home in December then they can take them home. That Idea is NOT flying at all for some reason. I can imagine they are lost to death without those noisy lil boys in the house.

Not much else happening here on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

If you plant, they will come

Bugs that is. They will come in droves to eat what ever you plant for you to eat. This week this fact is especially true of Japanese beetles. Oh my, they are having a field day eating my thornless blackberries and grape vines. So I had to get out the heavy artillery last evening and give them the old one, two punch. I sprayed with Liquid Sevin pesticide. I dont relish the idea of spraying anything but dang, we gotta eat too. I do always spray late evenings when bees are not active. So I solved the problem of Japanese beetles, hopefully for the remainder of the season.

I made myself a list of small task that I needed to get done yesterday and did manage to accomplish all of them. Amazing!! eh? But geez, little task can take all day when you let so many build up before you tackle one of em. I had lavendar that I had started from seed that needed to be put in the ground in the herb bed to live permanently. Got that done. Got the dill cut and in the freezer so it keeps fresh to make dill pickles later when the cukes come on. I have a shrub near the front porch sidewalk that was covering half the steps and sidewalk. Got it pruned back so you can walk by without getting your legs wet when it rains or in the early morning dew is hanging on.  I want to plant some fall cabbage also and finally got the soil in the peat pots and seeds in so now its cross my fingers and hope they come up and grow fast. Its hard to find fall cabbage and broccoli plants in our area. Most people just plant a garden in spring and once its gone they are done. I just happen to know the sweetest cabbage is grown in the cooler fall weather. After having Sasha to the vet for a minor skin infection she had to have a bath in medicated shampoo, so I got that done last evening as well. Jason had just mowed the yard and you know how fresh cut grass can cling and stain anything it comes in contact with. Well I didnt dry Sasha and just bathed her, rubbed her down and let her got. She too off running and would hit her belly and slide thru the grass clippings. Oh did she look awful when I put her back in her pen right before dark. Just glad she looks better today after she got dry and the loose grass fell off her coat.

Rodger got the field mowed yesterday around the garden and in the orchard, around the corn, pea and sunflower field. It looks so much better. Good thing the mowing got finished yesterday cause we got a pretty good little rain this afternoon. It didnt rain long but got things nice and wet. IF I can get my butt in gear in the morning and get the mulch put around the lavendar plants before the ground dries it will do them a lot of good. They do like water.

I didnt have too big a day planned today. Just catching up laundry, house cleaning, general every day stuff. Cook, clean, do laundry, dry, fold, repeat. Seems I have to drag out the vacuum every day now to clean up bird seed hulls out of the floor. I got 2 lil parakeets. My friend Jackie that I have known for many years has breeding pairs and had raised a few. I have had a few parakeets in my life so I do enjoy them. Jackie gave me a young one that she hatched (well her female bird hatched it) and another female that the others were being mean to. They hull their seeds out when they eat them and they when they flap their wings inside the cage all the hulls fly out in the floor. (self cleaning birds) So clean em up, repeat later in the day. But they are relaxing to watch. Me and my various birds.

A friend ask me the other day if I had any new pictures of the grandbabies. Well of course I do. So here you go Sissy. Enjoy the babies. Sissy dont get on facebook so she dont get to see the pics Amoy or Rob post of the kids. And yes I am a very proud grammy.

Love these 2 lil boys so very much. And their parents. Cant wait to see them this fall and steal hugs and kisses.

Not much else happening here on the homestead. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

Garden in full production, Moms passing

Our garden is in full production right now. Although I did lose the last of my sweet corn. It was just not important last week. We had other sad things to endure. My mom passed away suddenly August 8th. She had been doing really well after her stroke in April and up till about 2 hours before she passed. I find comfort in the fact that she did not suffer at all. My suspicion is she had another stroke or threw a clot. We buried her beside daddy on Tuesday. The week prior we were planning on Amoy and Liam visiting for a week and were scheduled to pick them up on Saturday at the airport. Rob was not gonna be able to come home with them due to trying to save his vacation time for when our lil Zachary gets here. But as it happened mom passed on Friday night and when we let them know Rob got a flight out of Phoenix for Sunday morning an got home Sunday evening. I was sure happy to get to spend some time with the kids and especially that sweet lil Liam. He just melts our heart.

He just had a hard time getting thru the flowers to get to his momma. He would eventually make a good lil country boy. There is truly nothing greater than grand kids. He did get to walk barefoot in the grass, step in his share of chicken poop, play in a creek, and pick and eat maters right off the vine.

Liam and daddy picking and eating Blueberry tomatoes that I planted in the herb bed. My good friend Deb sent me the seed for the tomatoes. That is the odd thing I grew this year. They are blue to purple in color and get red if they are in the sun. Liam liked em.  Love that precious lil boy. And his momma and daddy too of course.

Our tomatoes in the garden have done great this year. Rob and Rodger picked about 2 1/2 bushels on Sunday and I finally got them worked up on Tuesday. It will be hot for several days then rain for several days and this is hell on tomatoes. It will make them split and crack. Then they rot before they get totally ripe. But we are still having a lot  I made about 15 pints of salsa, and about 8 quarts of mater juice. When I wash and prep the tomatoes to run thru the Squeezo strainer to make juice I squeeze the seed pockets out of them. When they are run thru the strainer the juice comes out almost as thick as tomato sauce. Next project is to make spaghetti sauce to can. Probably this weekend. We had planned on picking green beans and tomatoes this evening but it poured rain till nearly dark. So maybe Rodger can do that tomorrow evening for me. Jason should be able to help him.

 I have to be out of town for visitation Thursday evening and the funeral on Friday for my Uncle Charlie. He was mom's sister Carla(deceased) widower. He had surgery on Monday to remove a tumor in his lung and passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday morning. My cousins are just devastated as to be expected. Two of those cousins were here last week as pall bearers for my mom's funeral. Love them dearly and loved uncle Charlie to pieces. It has sure been a rough couple weeks here on the homestead. Life can change in the blink of an eye. So tell your loved ones you love them today, tomorrow may never come.

In the past month since my last post, I did manage to get all my carrots processed. Some sliced and frozen, chunked and frozen, others shredded and dried. So they are all done. Now if it will just stop raining long enough to get the potatoes dug before they start to sprout with all this rain. I will most likely can most of them this year. We can keep them in the cellar but they do tend to sprout and thus ya lose a lot to sprouting. So if they are in a jar they are good till you decide to use them. So far I have only had time to make one canning of veggie soup and can it. Need to do lots more. Its also time to get the venison we have left out of the freezer and used up before the hunting season starting in October. We don't have much left but its still good and will use it in veggie soup and chili. What ever roast are left I will just can for barbecue or venison and gravy. Nothing goes to waste around here. When I took Rob, Amoy and Liam to the airport Monday I made a run to Sam's club and picked up another 50 lbs of onions to dry and use in soup as I can it. I got more pinto beans too for canning bean soup. We eat lots of soups in winter especially. Just glad Josh was in town that day to go with me to Sam's and help load the car. He is such a good friend to Jason and all of us. It was nice to get to spend some time with him even though it was during moms funeral. Dana and Dalton were taking care of his parents while he was here with us. Just wonderful folks, all of them, that we love like family.

I had planned several weeks ago to get my herbs cut and dried and still don't have it done. They have grown like crazy with all the rain. Maybe next week. God willing it will happen. If not, oh well. We will make do with what we have on hand. We have been more than blessed with our garden this year so I wont complain.

Not much else happening here on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Yep, I been busy goin in big circles

I cant believe it has been so long since I posted last. Goodness, where does time go? I am almost convinced that the older we get the faster it flys by. Or maybe its just that we do things less fast. Not sure, but..

We did get to go see our son and his family and enjoy visiting with them for Liam's first birthday. That lil fellow is growing up way too fast. Hes not a baby anymore. So precious. And you would think this grammy would have tons of pictures to post, but by dang I took mostly videos while I was there. I must do some editing before I can get them to post here. Dang it!! But we enjoyed our trip and visit. Sadly tho mom ended up back in the hospital while we were gone and was treated for pneumonia. She was back at the nursing home before we got home, which was good. Then the staff noticed some bruises on her right leg on Friday last week and sent her to the ER for evaluation suspecting it might be a clot or bleed. Finally today they have decided she has a bleed in her leg from the TPA she got when she had her stroke. She was a very sick lady and still is. They had to give her a unit of blood last night due to the loss. She doesn't recognize me now which is sad because I don't want her to think I am not there. Hopefully in a few days she will improve to the point where she can at least get to come back here to the nursing home for continued care with people she is familiar with. Being an only child stinks in times like this when you have to make all the decisions.So please keep her in your prayers for a continued recovery.

The garden stuff we had planted before we left on vacation is up and looks really good. When we got home Rodger and Jason got our sweet corn, beans and the field corn planted. Now as soon as we get a day or so of no rain we can get the tomatoes and such in the garden too. I think we have got behind again. But we did get the Cornish cross butchered off before leaving as well. Got plenty of meat in the freezer. Now if I can find time between running back and forth to the hospital to make the chicken stock all will be good. I simply had to be home tonight. Must do laundry or tomorrow we be naked. Or at least I would be. So I am workin on that as I type. Hey, I guess I can multitask after all. I am planning to get my incubator started up again really soon, I sure need to hatch off more chicks to replace my laying flock. The ones we hatched before we left are growing and lookin good. I still need to fix a place for them to be able to get out in the grass and still be confined to a small area so they know where to go to roost at night. Have just not had time to get that done since we been back. But it will happen soon, I hope.

My strawberries are loaded with blooms in the bed by the driveway this year. Hopefully we will have plenty of fresh berries soon. My friend Anna had sent me some thorn less blackberry plants right before we left for vacation and I still don't have them planted in a permanent location yet. But they are doing great in the pots in the greenhouse for right now. I got tons of grapevines started too, most of them have leaves so should have roots or at least will soon. Then they get put in individual pots till fall planting time. I get tired just thinkin of all the stuff that needs doing here sometimes. Geez!!!

Has anyone else had a terrible time with allergies this spring or is it just me? I got a snot nose and all that junk when we were in Nevada and it just didn't let up once we got home. I have had a plugged up left ear, left sinus feels stopped up, itchy eyes, cough, the whole nine yards. I guess it don't help a lot to be tired, stressed and run down either. But I must keep pluggin along till the stress eases up. Hope soon, before I crash. We both had dentist appointments today and got teeth cleaned and both got good reports. Thas a plus I reckin. I had a good laugh with Sheila, our hygienist as I got to be her first patient that she cleaned using her new magnifying glasses. It was hilarious. The glasses are designed to make it easier for the hygienist to see without having to lean over so far and strain they neck and back all day. But she said she could see things she could never see before. She chose Rodger and I to be her first patients using the glasses. She almost lost her seat when I told her I would keep my eyes closed in case she mis-judged her distance with her instruments. I do think it took longer than normal to clean my teeth with all the laughing tho. But thas OK, I don't mind being a guinea pig once in a while. I guess that was my bright spot in the day. Being on the road has really worn me out tho.

Some day I hope to get my ducks in a row and post on a regular basis. Until then, bear with me please. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Its spring, stuff is growing, time marches on

I think maybe, just maybe spring is here to stay. I be really ticked if it gets really cold again. But I am not in control of the weather. And God gives us just what we need, no more, no less. But here it is a week and a half into April already. Not long till vacation time and get to see that lil grandson. Well we gonna see his momma and daddy too, but thas a bonus. Cant wait to see Liam. He is growing so fast. I just wish we could let time stand still and be able to enjoy him at this young age for a while longer. It is so true, you never really know what love is until you have a grand child.

 

Hard to believe this lil fellow will be a year old the end of April. Seems like just the other day we were waiting for his to make his appearance. 

So far things are going rather well as far as gardening and getting plants started this year. Although it seems things that are started in the greenhouse are growing slower than I would like. Or maybe its just me. We have had a lot of rain which equates to little sunshine and slow growth of plants. But all in good time I am sure. If nothing else I should have lots and lots of tomato plants this year. My lil project for tomorrow is to get my azz in gear and get some composted chicken manure in a bucket and set it up so I can catch manure or compost tea to water the greenhouse plants with. I am convinced it makes them grow best. My friend Anna sent me some wonderful thornless blackberry starts a couple weeks ago. When they arrived in the mail I was like a kid in a candy store, literally. Cause I knew she had sent me homemade fudge in that package as well. Love that lady and so thankful for her friendship. I put the blackberry starts in individual pots to hold them and let them get started growing a bit before we set them in their permanent place. I think it will be so nice to pick berries without gettin eat up with thorns. In the greenhouse I have many many containers of cutting from grapevines. One container is for my friend Mamie who had ask me to show her how to prune her grape vines and I volunteered to take some cuttings and start them for her some new plants. Then this past weekend Rodger and I went to west Ky so I could prune Uncle Tripp's muscadine grapes for him as I had promised I would do and brought home 4 more containers of cuttings to get started for him and a few for us to keep here. All those in addition to the pot I have in the kitchen that has leaves on them already from our grapes here at home. I am thinkin I will be over run with grape vines pretty soon. Maybe I best dig out all my books on "wine making". I looked at the grape harbor out back today and they have lil buds and will have leaves soon I think. Cant beat homemade grape jelly and wine. I am hoping the ground is dry enough in the field this weekend so we can move my raspberry plants and start a couple new rows of them. We actually want to orient them in a different direction so all the rows in the orchard and vineyard go the same way. Rodger says its hard to mow around things when they go too many directions. But he has been doing well at it. 

We got home Sunday evening kinda late and was working on emptying the incubator that I had used to hatch my baby chicks in. I had one that was still trying to hatch when we left on Friday before and I had ask Lori my friend who was house sitting for us to just unplug the incubator if nothing else had hatched by Saturday evening and she did. Nothing else hatched. I guess my thermometer is bad because the chicks all hatched early at 19 days due to the higher than necessary temperature. But the hatch rate was really low, only hatched 7 babies. But am happy they healthy lil fellers. But when we got home I went to empty the incubator and a baby chick hollered. OMG, was my first thought. I knew the incubator had been off for more than 24 hours and this lil one had been trying since Friday to get out of the shell. I told Rodger, "dang if he is tough enough to survive this long, I just got to help him" and I know all too well if they cant get out of the egg on their own, most likely they wont survive. I helped him out, got him cleaned off, he was severely dehydrated. I gave him a tiny sip of water. He was weak but could still fuss. I turned the incubator back on to keep him warm and dry and let him rest for a bit. Right before I went to bed I picked him up to give him another sip of water in hopes to get him to make it. He took the sip, fussed a bit and died. Dammit!!  But such is life on the farm. I just sure could not make myself just toss the egg with the chick still strong enough to holler. But I had to give it a try and have in the past and had success. It is kinda tough to keep the heat and humidity just right in a still-air incubator. So if you are thinking of getting an incubator to hatch your own birds, just invest in one that has a fan to move the air and a good thermometer. I will make a big difference in the hatch rate.

My meat birds are doing great. They are growing well and not long till they will be in the freezer. Just a lil over 2 weeks to go now. And gosh do they eat a lot. They are funny to watch. When I open the door to feed an water them, they love to stand at the door and look out. But if you set one on the ground they freeze in their tracks. They have no clue what to do. But they like looking around but are scared to move. 

After we got situated at home on Sunday evening I was checking out facebook and email and such. I got a message from a lady whose blog I read and she has 2 books published. She was on her way to Ohio to a writing workshop and said she would like to stop by so we could meet and see the farm. Well needless to say I was beyond excited to get a chance to meet a fellow blogger and published author. You can check out her blog here. I always enjoy reading about her travels and stories of life. So Monday evening I got a phone call from Gianetta and she was in town. I went and picked her up at the hotel and brought her out for dinner and we got to  spend a wonderful evening getting acquainted and I so enjoyed her company. Such a sweet heart. Her books are both available on Amazon here and here. I started reading them last night late after I took her to her hotel. We waited till our only available photographer (Rodger) had went to bed to remember we had not taken a picture together. So imagine the laughs we had just trying to take a selfie. This is the result.

I was using my tablet to take the photo and had to use a mirror on the wall to see the button to push to snap the photo. I had several failures along the way.

I was thrilled to also get signed copies of both her books as well.  What a sweet humbling experience. After reading G's blog for a long time, and meeting her in person the books are just as wonderful. I hope you will grab those and have a read. Looking forward to your next visit G. 

It has started to rain tonight so that means not much gonna happen outside tomorrow. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Holidays, family time, now the flu

Once again it has been a while since I posted here and let you all know I am still kickin. Damn time has a way of getting away from me somehow. We had a relaxing family holiday with the kids all here. Rob and Amoy got here with lil man Liam on the 27th of December and stayed till January 4th when they had to fly home. We sure enjoyed having them here and getting time to see Liam grow. They learn things so fast at this young age it still amazes me. He decided he does not like a sippy cup but will drink all you will let him have from a bottle or regular glass. Of course he got his Ale8 fix by buttering up his daddy.

 Don't panic, its not beer, its just a regional drink here in Ky. Soft drink that is.  Rob and Amoy try to get their fill while they are here visiting because they wont get any Ale8 till we visit in April and take some to them in Nevada. But lil man sure did like it too. They had a busy week trying to see as many family members and friends as possible in a short time.  Liam got to spend lots of quality time with papaw too. Papaw is the one who takes lil humans outside barefoot to look at chickens.

As you can tell, papaw thinks this lil boy is pretty special. As do I. He is trying to get his nerve up to stand alone and let go but mostly loses his nerve and sits down really quick before his bottom hits the floor. Such a precious age. I look at this lil boy and wonder what things he will do in his life. He has wonderful parents to guide him so I see him doing great things.

We took Rob and Amoy and Liam to the airport on Saturday and had dinner out with them before they left. They made it home to their house on Sunday safe and sound. Their flight took them to Salt Lake and they stayed the night as opposed to driving 3 more hours on home and getting there very late and too tired.

Sunday the weather here was so nice and Rodger and I decided it was time to clean out the chicken house before the sub-zero temps set in the first part of this past week. We did not get to take the manure to the garden as it was far to wet to get in there with the tractor or it may still be there. So it is piled out at the edge of the woods to break down over winter and we can spread the compost later. I cleaned out the cob webs and next boxes in the house while Rodger shoveled manure. Got them all bedded down well for the cold snap. Then we took some plywood and made a dog house under the front porch for Luna. She did not stay on her bed on the porch that I had fixed for her. But I knew the weather was pose to be windy and very cold. I put a pallet down and we put up plywood sides on each end of the pallet for wind breaks an put her blanket and pillows in there and she is a happy camper. At least she will stay in there out of the weather and off the ground. She comes out in the mornings all shiny and new, dry and happy. In all this process and having the outbuildings open, somehow our big cat Possum decided he was gonna hide out in the building. By Monday the cold had hit and it was bitter cold. By Wednesday I ask Rodger if he had seen Possum and he had not. On Thursday morning he just happened to think that just maybe he was in the outbuilding. And sure enough he was. He had been closed up in there since probably Sunday. Poor guy was hungry and seemed kinda weak when he came to the porch to eat later that day. He stayed warm but he sure didn't have any food or water in there unless he happened upon a mouse or 3.

On Tuesday I went to help Jason at his house for a bit. He was thawing out some of his water lines that had froze because his heater under the house had malfunctioned and didn't keep it warm enough. I was not outside for more than 10 minutes, tops. I got back in the house and started chilling. Then I spiked a fever. For the ones of you that know me well enough know the meds I take for the arthritis suppresses the immune system and I don't get symptoms of being sick till I am deathly ill. Well folks, I am deathly ill. I went to bed by 6 that evening an didn't get up till 9 the next morning. My head hurt, my whole body hurt. I had an awful sinus infection. I started taking antibiotics for the sinus and chest congestion with high hopes that's all it was. I am now thinkin it is likely the flu. I still hurt and from time to time still spike a fever. I am just a miserable pup. I must get better to die. Not really much can be done for the flu other than keep hydrated and treat the symptoms. I can do that will chicken soup and teas we have here.

Sometime during all this chaos I found a recipe for cinnamon rolls made in the bread machine. I had to try them as they sounded almost too good to be true. Well folks, lemme tell ya, they are damn good. And really easy to make. No work to em really. So here is the recipe that I used.

For Dough:
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup butter, melted
4 ½ cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup white sugar
2 ½ teaspoons bread machine yeast

For Filling:
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

For Frosting:
1 (3 ounce) pkg. of cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
1 ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt





1) Place all roll ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Then select the dough setting and press start.
2) Let the dough double in size, then turn it out on a lightly floured surface. Cover with a towel and let it rest for 10 minutes. Meantime, grab a small bowl and combine butter, brown sugar,  and cinnamon.
3) Roll dough into a large rectangle (16×21). Spread the dough with the butter/brown sugar/ cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in two lightly greased round pie pans. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.4) Bake the rolls until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, make the frosting. Beat together cream cheese, ¼ cup butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread the frosting on as soon as the rolls come out of the oven.

I actually don't think the rolls needed to bake this long. At this length of time they get pretty brown. I think they are better when they are very light brown and still soft. But I tell ya, these are the bestest. I actually used a lasagna pan to put my rolls in, it was dark, and they did get a lil browner than I wanted on the bottom and top. Next time I will put maybe 5 rolls in an 8 inch cake pan and see how they do in that. They do rise really nice too.






Not much else happening here on the homestead right now. Not long till garden time tho. Just a couple months till we start up the greenhouse for cabbage and such. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

It is officially winter time here

I think winter time just hit us head on. We had lots of rain for a couple days. And last night it all turned to freezing rain and everything is coated with a lil layer of ice this morning. Not as cold as they had predicted tho. In the mid 30's here and the layer of ice is melting off the back deck. Mind you I have not been out there. I have hard enough time staying upright on a good day, not gonna risk breaking some body part with ice on the ground.
Rodger went out earlier to let the chickens out. They are none to happy about not being able to stay upright either. For the most part they darted back in the building. Not a chance of them catching a worm or bug on a day not fit for man or beast. My hens are not laying well right now and haven't been since early fall. I think it is about time to order a new flock of birds and start over with some young hens next spring. Some of my hens are close to 4 years old now and time for them to make soup and dumplings.
Before it started raining and getting all nasty I went out to the herb bed and cut the last of my lil cabbage from last fall. Oh they were sweet as can be and made perfect coleslaw. They were not huge or any size to write home about but sure were tasty. I wanted to get some turnips out before the ice came and they are not big enough for anything yet. I guess I did plant them a lil later than normal. Someone had given me some turnips one fall and I still had some in the fridge to snack on several months later. The longer they sit the better they taste. I don't like them cooked at all but love to just peel and eat them like apples. With a lil salt makes a tasty snack in the winter. I remember dad use to "hole" up our potatoes in the fall and one year he pulled an put a bunch of turnips in a pile with the taters and in the middle of winter he got some out. Talk about sweet and good. I still remember that taste. I did see some small rutabagas in the bed tho. That was my first time planting those. Next time I make soup from scratch I plan to cube up some of the rutabagas to put in as well. Those as well as turnips are cool weather crops that store well and get better with age in storage. Time and cool turns the starch to sugars in these root veggies and makes them more nutritious as well as tasting better.
My herb bed needs some minor fence repair come spring tho. I just put up deer netting about 2 ft tall to keep critters like cats and the dog from walking in the bed and it has seen some accidents and incidents since it was first installed. Lots of places it sags and looks bad and has some tears and some of the post are leaning. The beds out back need repair as well. I did have some metal "T" post driven in there to hold the net up and all was well till Rodger swiped the side of his truck down one post and bent it over messing up the fence. Now the hens can get in if they happen to be inclined to. Not to mention the dent in the new truck from the gas tank to the rear bumper. Ugh! Its always something here. He had backed up the back yard to unload deer and when he pulled back out he slid down the hill against the fence post and at that point was not a happy camper I bet. Glad I was not home at the time.
With it being nasty weather I guess its time to hibernate and drag out the quilt and knitting stuff and get busy. I have a quilt top that my aunt Connie had made that I do want to finish this winter for sure. And I still have lots of tee shirt yarn to make another throw rug for the kitchen. I enjoy my hibernating weather for sure. Just hate the guys have to get out an go work in this kinda mess. But am very thankful for the blessing of being able to be home and keep the home fires burning so to speak. Got to work on baby-proofing the house too. Cant have lil Liam getting hurt when they get home in about 3 weeks. Cant wait to see that lil fellow again. He grows so fast and its amazing to see him in pictures and videos as he discovers his lil world and learns new things. Thanks to my beautiful daughter in law for taking time to share all those precious memories with us long distance. She is so great and catching him doing cute things and sending pictures and lil videos. Love this one of him as he gets this "crawling" thing down pat. He will be a lil speed demon by time we get to see him.

This will be Liam's first Christmas and this grammy has already sent him several toys to unwrap at home. Not to mention he will get some new clothes and a small toy to have when he is here shortly after Christmas with us. He sure did not seem too thrilled with the Christmas tree tho. Maybe he was just having a bad day. He is cutting more teeth and that makes lil ones cranky. But cute none the less.

I have to wonder how long the tree will stay pretty with him crawling now. He will for sure keep his momma busy or building a fence around the tree. But thas why lil ones have good parents, to teach them things that will keep them safe. He loves their lil dog Abby, now if he can just catch her he will be a happy lil man.

Not much else happening here on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Farm work is hard work

I knew this all along but dang the older I get the more I become aware of this fact. Anything you do on a farm is hard work. We have been busy all day as usual playing catch-up. I needed to dig some horseradish for a friend so I could ship it out in the mail tomorrow and as I normally do I walk around the house with fork in hand to dig for roots. I passed by my wisteria that has been sitting in a pot for 2 years now. I stopped and dug a hole to put the plant in near the pole that runs up to our cell phone booster at the end of the house. Damn who knew there were that many rocks out there. I should have after all the holes we have dug to plant things over time. But I got'er done! Now I wont have to baby my plant and worry about the roots freezing and killing it this winter. One task down, many to go. I decided to fore go canning more mustard and turnip greens as I have more than enough for me and the kids to use. But I did dig some horseradish roots for my good friend Anna and those are in the box with the sage, homemade lotion and home grown cornmeal that I promised to ship to her. So off that will go tomorrow on my way out of town.

Rodger hauled water for us this morning and finally finished that up about noon. He had the yucky job of cleaning out our corn crib to get ready to put the new corn in when it gets a lil drier and he has time to pick it. I needed to help him with that and had to put off the job of cleaning the chicken house out for now. Maybe next nice day when I am home again. We had a good bit of corn left from last year and the year before in the lil crib here at the house. We use the corn elevator and wagon to load it to take to the field and dump for the wild critters to feed on till its gone. That should attract a few deer and many turkeys. Not to mention it will feed lots of lil birds for quite some time too. Lots of corn shells off when it gets run thru the elevator so the chickens will have lots to pick up and eat when they are out roaming about. This project involved lots of raking and fork work not to mention having to push the elevator to fill the wagon level and not spill over the top in some spots. Talk about hard on this ole gal. I already slept wrong night before last and had a pulled muscle in my neck and using the rake sure did not do it any good. Needless to say my neck is very sore and stiff about now.
Maybe I will sleep good tonight an feel much better tomorrow. Maybe......

But I do love fall. I think it is one of my favorite seasons of the year. The trees with all their beautiful color, cooler air, no humidity, just perfect weather. To me fall is like the last hour at work. You know its not long till you can get off work and rest up for the next round. That's kinda how it is here for me. We work out butts off all spring and summer with gardens and such, then in fall we wind down the work with the harvest and then you can rest for a while till its time to start over. Poor Rodger has to do stuff here and then STILL go to a job. I guess I enjoy it more because I can kinda hibernate after all the harvesting and butchering is done and the gardens put to bed for the season. I get to stay in and just do things I really enjoy for a few months. After a few months of that stuff tho I am so ready to get my hands in the dirt again and start planting things. This year I will be cooking for the deer hunters at the Drake Lodge in west Ky and for Snipe creek outfitters. I love doing this but it will be a little different this your without Aunt Ann. I have some really big shoes to walk in there. I helped her for about the past 4 years with the cooking and the lodge so its nothing new. Its just that this year she is not with us. Lots of hunters have been coming there for several years, some already know she passed away, some don't and that will be the hard part when they ask about her. The repeat hunters knew she was sick last year but some I had not phone numbers for to be able to contact them. I just hope I can do as well as she would have and do my best to make the hunters comfortable and make sure they are well fed. This I can do in her memory. I am looking forward to all this and the final hunting season in December. Then I get to be home for a while hopefully. I know I will be home for a good bit around Christmas cause Rob, Amoy and my lil Liam will be home for a week or so. Cant wait to see that lil man again. He got to go trick or treating for halloween. His momma got him a lil monkey suit for his costume. So cute don't ya think?

That lil fellow is such a beautiful combination of his momma and daddy. There really is nothing in this world like your grand babies. They are a whole nuther level of love ya didn't know existed.
And look at those 2 lil teeth he has. I can not believe he is old enough to be getting teeth already. Such a precious age.

And they got him a high chair and he looks like he is ready to put those lil teeth to good use here.

After he and Amoy were home for a visit they said he really didn't want his bottle much because he found out there is more tasty things than his bottle. Amoy had got him started eating baby food and for such a lil fellow he did really well at feeding time. UNLESS that was something that got his attention and he was totally distracted and it got a lil challenging to get food in his mouth and not somewhere else on his face. Cant wait till they get home so we can kiss those lil fat cheeks.

OK enough bragging but I earned the right like all grandmothers I think. Not much else happening here on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Life goes on here on the homestead

Life goes on here whether I am here or not. That's a good thing. I know I promised to post more often, and be dang! here it has been over a month since I posted last. Shame on me.
But maybe I can catch you up on life here. Or there. As for my health I am doing a great deal better managing my pain and RA and Fibro. I feel so much more "alive" now that I am off some of the meds that nearly killed me. I had my annual labs drawn about a month ago and now we find my thyroid is a lil on the low side. According to things I have read if you have fibro and low thyroid the levels need to be a lil bit higher than for normal people to combat the fatigue. So I go back to the family doc tomorrow to see what his plans are to deal with that. I guess there is a fine line between high and low with all labs when you have fibromyalgia.
I went to west Ky in early September to cook for the hunting lodge at the request of my sweet aunt Ann. She normally did not house hunters for bow velvet season but this year we had a full house. I spent almost 2 weeks doing that. Sadly on September 14th my aunt lost her hard fought battle with cancer and passed away. Talk about a hard week. I miss her so bad. I guess I keep waiting for her to call. Still we have carry on the lodge and cook for the hunters just like she would have wanted. So that will be what I do in November and December. It will be a tough few weeks seeing familiar faces as hunters return to hunt that have been hunting with Snipe creek Outfitters for several years and have to tell them that Ann is not with us any more. Not sure how tough I am when it comes to that. I got some big shoes to try an fill. Maybe I be best just trying to walk in her footsteps instead.
While I was gone in September Rodger kept the raspberries an tomatoes picked an taken care of . I still need to make some jam and get that done in the next few days. We got our sweet corn brought in that was left to mature on the stalk for seed. I should have enough Golden Bantam and Stowells Evergreen to plant next year.Also got some of the white corn field beans picked for seed as well. Still more of those to get off the vines as they mature and dry. I think we have a few green tomatoes left in the garden I would like to get picked an chopped an frozen to make fried green tomatoes later on. Maybe I can get those tomorrow evening after Rodger gets in from work to help me. Its getting close to time for us to get light frost. At least not too far off anyway. I picked the pears off our small tree here in the yard the other day and there is enough of them to make some pear preserves or pear honey. Or to just make canned pears. I like to mix canned pears an peaches together to eat in place of fresh fruit in winter time. Beats buying sprays stuff from the store. Hopefully next year we will have some fruit of our own to can. Our young trees should produce some fruits IF we properly care for them. Its time to start picking up black walnuts too for shelling and baking later. I told Rodger we can gather them, hang them in burlap bags in the buildings to dry away from squirrels and then shell the dried shell off with the corn sheller later. Then the hard part of cracking an picking the meats out of the shell. We also have wild butternuts here on the farm too if we can remember where the trees are that have them. They are easier to shell than the black walnuts. And have a lil sweeter taste too. Makes yummy cakes and fudge. The cabbage plants that I planted before I left to go west are looking pretty good. Had a good bit of worm damage but I think I stopped that with DE a few days ago. The mustard an turnip greens are looking really nice too. I guess I need to cut an can some of those this weekend so they can grow back and make even more. I kinda look forward to the turnips a lil later as the weather cools they get sweeter. I had some turnips that were pulled an stored in the fridge for like 2 months an they were like eating an apple, so sweet and crunchy. I still need to do more work on the herb bed. I think my plan is a go to kill back a lot of the mints and stuff an just leave patches of purple coneflower an mint and put down black plastic with mulch so in spring when it comes back out it wont look so scraggly and over grown. If anyone ever plants mint or anything in the mint family it for sure needs to be contained. Better yet, plant in containers so it don't take over. It propagates from roots an seeds and can get out of hand really fast. I started in spring with just a lil tiny sprig of peppermint and now I have a space of 3 ft square covered with it. I do like to dry peppermint for tea tho. Great belly ache remedy and sooths indigestion. I could stay busy for days on end and not get bored with things that need to be done around here.
But this week I don't plan on being too busy doing all this farm stuff. I got a lil grandbaby to play with an spoil this week. At least till Thursday till he an his momma have to go home to Nevada. Yes our sweet daughter in law Amoy an grandson Liam have been here for several days to visit. That lil man is so precious. He is the sweetest lil fellow. I guess when he goes home I will have to stay really busy so I don't go nuts missing him. Thanks for letting Liam and Amoy come home for a visit Rob. I know you miss them terribly but we certainly have enjoyed having them. Maybe we can just keep Liam and let his momma go home to keep his daddy company till Christmas when they come home to visit they can get him back. IF he is not so spoiled by then. But I really doubt they will let that happen.
Not much else happening here on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.


Stella

Canning potatoes, late garden work

Not much canning going on here this summer at all. But on Saturday Rodger and I got our potatoes put in crates and in the cellar for storage. We had put them on the floor of an outbuilding at Jason's house to cure and the skins to toughen on them and felt it was time to get those in the cellar while we had spare time. Not like we are all that busy but still lots of things to do on a homestead all the time. We had several that had developed soft spots from laying on the floor and I knew they would not keep stored in the cellar so I separated those and decided to can them so they can be used. So that is what I did. Not hard to do at all. I like to leave peels on my potatoes, especially for frying. I washed them really well and cut of damaged areas, cubed them up so they were uniform in size, packed them in pint jars, added 1/2 teaspoon salt, covered with water, added lids, pressure canned them for 30 minutes at 10 lb pressure. That is what the canning book says to do. They all sealed and needless to say I was a happy lil camper. This batch used the damaged ones, but I still have about 3/4 bushel of small ones that will shrivel over time in storage and be useless so those will be canned tomorrow, hopefully.

I canned a total of 18 pints, these are just ones I HAD planned on using for supper tonight for fried taters but someone changed my plans. They are still nice and white, you can see the brown areas which are the peels. The protein layer on the tater is just under the skin and this is just one reason I don't like to peel taters. Try to preserve more of the nutrition. I actually like to use boiled leftover taters to make fried taters anyway. They are just better. Try it sometime.

Over the weekend I did also get some mustard and turnips sowed to have for greens to can later this fall. I planted some rutabagas as well. I am not sure I have ever had rutabagas but they are kinda a taste between turnip and cabbage so they cant be all bad. Very nutritious as well and tolerate storage in the cellar. At least that is what I have learned about them from reading info online. I found 1 packet of parsley seed today while I was out and will get that sown tomorrow too. I do need lots of parsley dried for use till next spring. Still have some other herbs I need to cut and dry from the herb bed as well. Still need to dry peppermint, lemon mint, thyme and more oregano. Add that to my to-do list. We have picked a few ripe tomatoes in the last week and the raspberries are starting to get ripe too. Not enough tomatoes to can yet, but soon I think. The raspberries I am freezing to make jam later and for smoothies. Gosh so hard to grasp the fact that September is almost here already. Where did summer go?

I had a doctor appointment today and all went well with that. Last week I saw my family doc and had several lil basal cell carcinomas taken off. Those are peeling off and healing well. I cant complain. Life is good. It got even better when I got a call from Rob and Amoy to tell us that Amoy and lil Liam will be flying home in September to see us. That just tickled me to pieces. Cant wait to see them. Wish and still hoping Rob gets to come too, but if not he will be home in December for a visit. I do OK for about 3 or 4 months then I get to really wanting to see him and Amoy, in person, not just on ooVoo. Although I am so happy we have ooVoo so we can see Liam in real time and see him grow. Hard to imagine he will be 4 months old tomorrow. Damn time flys as we get older.

Not much else happening here on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I am still chasing that ever elusive case of fresh nectarines to can. I am thinkin it is time to give up on those. Maybe just get another case of peaches to can and be done with it. Rodger informed me last week we will have some pears this fall, not as many as we normally do but some. So we make do with what we have I reckin.

I know, I know, leave it to me

I know, I have been MIA for a while, again. No I been right here, not gone, just at home tryin to keep my oars in the water. You already know that I don't play by the rules. I am in the process of trying to get my meds adjusted as far as times that I take them so they can work better for me and not make me a zombie during the day. Its OK to be sleepy at night but dang being in a brain fog all day. Makes for some real unproductive days. But I am making progress. So on to the next project.

We got the garden planted and all the stuff is up and looks good. We still need to plant tomatoes and peppers, cabbage and broccoli, melons and squash. We have been having some rather cold nights with temps in the 40's which is not normal for us and I didn't want to plant tender crops in the garden just yet and let them get frost bit. I do think now the danger of frost is past so we will try to get those in the ground in the next few days. We had to make a trip out of town today to the bigger city to pick up some supplies and we got a roll of 6 ft wide landscape fabric which we will put in the garden, bury the edges of it to keep it in place, make crosses in the fabric and set the cantaloupes and watermelons in the holes so they can grow without competing with the weeds later in the summer. Hopefully we can take the fabric up and use it again next year. If this new roll last as long as the stuff we used up here in the yard when we first moved it will probably last us a lifetime. Good sturdy stuff. The plants in the greenhouse look good. Now to get them in the garden.

My new lil greenhouse sure has been handy this year. I finally got enough energy get in the yard and do a few more chores this past week. Our grape vines were in bad need of fruit pruning. As you can tell from this picture.

You can click on the picture to enlarge it and better see the many lil grape clusters on the plants. I did fruit prune them and take about 50% of the lil clusters off to give the ones left a chance to get bigger. Then I got another idea. I know, I know, you should not prune plants in the middle of summer when the sap is up. But prune I did. The grapevines were pretty scraggly with limbs goin ever direction. Makes it really hard to mow when you are getting stabbed and scrapped by grape limbs. So I clipped them back.
Before:

After:  

 Mission accomplished:

 I got all the wild limbs clipped and you can actually mow under the vines and this should greatly improve air circulation and prevent fungus on the grapes. There are lots of nice young growth on the ground after I finished. So I have a friend who is wanting some grapevines. I know, I know, THEY say you cant take cutting and start plants in summer time. But dang it, you know I had to try. So I took the cutting to the picnic table, trimmed em up, fixed a pot of potting soil, got out the rooting hormone, a pan of water, dipped the cutting in the water and then the hormone and stuck em in the dirt. We shall see IF they makes roots or not. I will let you know on this one.

 So once they were in the pot I put them in the greenhouse so I could take care of them till (hopefully) they make roots.

OK I was all done playing in the dirt so I moved on to the strawberry bed out back. OH my!!!!!

 I did not know there were that many berries ripe out there. So this required a trip back to the summer kitchen to get a container to pick berries.

I know, I know, the bowl will not be big enough but it is what was handy. Ended up I picked about a gallon of berries off this lil 8ft by 8ft bed. Yeah I know, I know, there are berries in the field ripe and the bed beside the driveway has a lot of ripe berries in it too. Yeah I picked the ones here at the house. Still have not got to the field to pick those. Maybe tomorrow.

After I finished picking berries Rodger came out and I suggested we go to the field and drive the post to support the new grapevines we planted the past couple years. So off we went. We got the supports put up and Rodger is way far behind on the mowing with all the rain we have had. Can ya tell?

There are about 30 grapevines in this lil vineyard once they get big enough to make grapes. There is a grapevine at every metal rod that you see. This clover we planted creeps and mats on the ground and gets rather tall It is pretty tough stuff but we had hoped it would be shorter to cut down on mowing and help keeps weeds from growing. The orchard has grass that is almost as tall as some of the young trees we have planted this year. It will look pretty tho if Rodger ever gets it mowed.

A pretty heavy thunderstorm blew in just as we got finished driving stakes and it was getting dark so I did not get to pick the strawberries that are in the field near this vineyard. Just not enough hours in the day.

We went out of town to get a pressure switch for our water pump today and to pick up a few supplies and as I already told you we got landscape fabric to keep weeds out of the melons. We went to Lowe's and I picked up 3 - 8oz containers of Valspar paint for free. I had coupons that I had saved for a free 8oz sample of paint so I took advantage of that lil deal. Got a couple colors and 1 white. I wanted the white to re-paint the base of our dining table. We made a stop at Walmart for a few other things we needed and Rodger had some gift cards that he had gotten from cashing in his reward points from one of our credit cards. Needless to say it is not safe to allow him in Walmart "lil boys" clothing section. He picked out several lil outfits for Liam. Who am I kidding? I picked out a few myself for that lil man. I cant believe how much this lil fellow has grown in just the few weeks since we have been back home. Although his daddy did tell me he is a lil colicky. Bless his lil heart, I hate this so bad. Sure is hard to see those lil ones hurting and not be able to fix em. They tole me today they are gonna change his formula to a soy based one to see if that will help some. I know Rob was on soy formula when he was a baby. I just pray this don't last long for him. I know it is hard for Rob and Amoy being so far from family and not having anyone close to help out so they can rest a lil bit. But this sweet lil boy will be worth all this and I am sure they would tell you the same things. Just precious.

                                           He looks like he is just itchin to get hold of something.

                                               Lookin all gangsta!! and cute.

 And just look at that sweet lil smile. Not long till he will be able to interact with his mommy and daddy more. I know they cant wait for those days. This Grammy sure misses that lil fellow.

Not much else happening here on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Hope you have a safe and happy memorial day weekend. Thanks to all our service men and women, past and present for your service to our country. God bless you all and keep you.

Stella

Finally got the garden in

The rain has held off for a few days now and we finally got our garden planted this evening after Rodger got home. He had gotten the ground ready a few days ago and it was dry enough and with rain in the forecast tomorrow we had to get er done. We got our sweet corn and green beans planted and the corn for cornmeal also. He filled in the plowed ground with purple hull and long horn peas. Those make excellent cover crops that feed the wild life and replenish the soil too. They add a good deal of nitrogen to the ground that has had corn on it.Our potatoes look good so far, no bugs as of yet. I am sure they are just waiting till it gets too muddy for us to get in there and then they will attack. My peas are blooming. They are really short too. So am not looking to get too many messes of peas off those vines at all. Simple fact we left town at a bad time. But dang it was worth it to see that precious lil grandson. And he gets sweeter every day.

 

I love getting pictures of this lil fellow every day in email or on my phone. I keep some pictures on my phone so when I need a Liam fix I can just check my phone.

Anyway after supper Rodger took the tractor and corn planter to the field to plant corn. He used the tractor to make rows for the sweet corn and green beans and the planter put down the fertilizer and then he used the hand corn dropper to plant the corn and beans. Didn't really take long but was hard on his back.

 It does take a lil longer to plant corn this way but it works. Imagine having to plant several acres using this method. The old folks did. My dad said he remembered planting 4 acres like this when he was a young man. The only drawback to this method of planting nowadays is that crows are smarter than they use to be or there is more of em. They can see where the planter leaves a lil hole in the ground and they will walk down the row and dig in each hole and pick our the grains of corn and eat it. Unless it rains like it is supposed to and the dirt fills in the lil holes so they cant see em. Hope we are lucky in that respect. He did use the tractor and corn drill to plant the corn for cornmeal and to plant the purple hull peas and long horn peas. I cant imagine his using this dropper to plant all that amount. The tractor does much better and is much faster.

He made a row marker to mount on the front of the tractor to use as a guide to get the rows evenly spaced. It is made with a piece of pipe and a piece of re-bar run thru with bolts to use as pins to hold the marker in place. A neat trick. If you click on the picture you can see the pieces of garden hose extending down on each side of the marker.  So its all planted. After I came back to the house I weeded the strawberry bed beside the drive way and got it taken care of for now. All that is left to weed is the herb bed and that will do the weeding for a few weeks.

My friend Anna made these neat lil cowboy boots for Liam. She is so talented when it comes to crafting stuff. They turned out so dang cute. I am sending those off to Amoy and Rob for the baby this week. I am sure they will fit him soon.

Don't ya just love em? I have no talent to even come close to this lady I tell ya.

Not much else happening here on the farm right now, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Our lil one is here....

Our first grandson, Liam Robert was born on April 27th. Is he beautiful or what?

                                                           Liam at 3 days old.

                                              Liam at 4 days old. And just look at all that hair!!

                                                      Liam checking out papaw Rodger.

                                                           Grammy's sweet lil boy at 1 week old. Liam is a beautiful combinations of his momma and daddy. A perfect lil angel in my eyes.

We got a call from Rob on Friday afternoon to let us know Amoy was having contractions. We packed up our car for the road trip to Nevada and headed out on Saturday morning. We made it to Missouri when I got a picture message of a precious lil boy on my cell phone. Rodger and I both were so happy that Liam was here and he and his momma were both doing fine. They got to come home on Sunday and we made it to Nevada on Monday before noon. We covered the total of 2000 miles in less than 30 hours total on the road. Then we spent the whole week with out lil man and it was really hard to not just hold him all the time but we didn't as it would have made it hard on him and his mom and dad when we left. I know newborns change daily and I had 2 babies but dang I don't remember seeing them change that fast. Maybe it was because back in the day you were kept in the hospital for 2 to 3 days before you were discharged home with the new baby. This lil fellow went from that wobbly newborn stage to trying to hold his head up by time we left this past Monday. The lil wrinkles had started filling out, he was eating good, sleeping good, just a perfect lil baby. Rob and I learned fast that Liam does not like to be touched with cold or even cool hands. He screams and has a lil fit. But he is really easy to sooth tho. Mine and papaws pride and joy. Grand babies are a whole different level of love. Get ready for it because I will post pictures of this lil fellow on here a lot now.

We finally got back here in KY to our house today, Wednesday around 2 in the afternoon. We got to see some new country the trip home too. Instead of traveling I-80 we took I-70 by turning south in Cheyenne Wyoming and driving thru Denver Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and finally ended up in Ky. Gosh after being on a road trip like that we were exhausted and glad to be back home. Miss the kids a bunch tho.

Now that we are home, it is back to the farm stuff. Jason and Mary Kay took care of things for us while we were gone and everything is good here. The plants in the greenhouse are fine and growing. The meat birds are HUGE!! Oh my, we must do some butchering this week and weekend. I am so very pleased with the results of the Cornish cross from Cackle hatchery. They have grown to my expectations. 

Our yard looks like a jungle, my herb bed is all grown up, the strawberry beds both need to be weeded. That will get done a lil at a time. I think it has rained several days here. The ground is really wet and it rained today. We will get started planting corn and the garden stuff as soon as the fields are dry enough to work. Jason got the big corn field worked while we were gone so it wont need much before it gets planted. We sure got lots of work ahead of us to get caught up. IF you ever really get caught up on a farm.

Not much else happening on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella