In just a few days, we will be stopping to change the 05 to 06. It will take a while to do it more naturally. A brand new year to make better than the ones before. Such are the plans and promises and the desire to have more productivity and enjoyment. The resolutions to not eat so much and to exercise more, much more. 

Randy is building a small greenhouse that will be perfect for getting the baby tomatoes started. They must be protected from the oak sap and leaves. I have been taking photos so I should have a collection very soon to show all Randy's work. Seeds will still be started under lights in the Shop's light room. They just cannot stay there for very long. We will concentrate on fewer varieties of tomatoes and stand guard over them. 

I have cleared the new garden area so I can get started fencing it. Must keep out the killer bunny rabbits. The fence must be set low into the ground or secured at the bottom in some way. Those fierce critters can push their way under the bottom of a fence in record time. Better even than an ornery chicken. 

We will be needing to buy more baby chicks this coming spring. Actually they are available right now from McMurry Hatchery but we are not ready. We've gone 2 years with our many hens and are just now starting to not have enough eggs. The  puppies got used to having scrambled eggs every morning but they rarely get any now. I am gathering just enough for our breakfast and a few extra for cooking. 

Just a few days and we will have wished everyone Christmas cheer. Then we will move on to wishing the tidings of a Happy New Year. About this time we are already thinking and planning on the spring garden and changes we want for the coming season. I was out with the brush cutter this afternoon and cleared the space for the new garden. We've learned how very bad the oak trees are for most all garden crops. So we're back to the biggest clear spot not under any oaks. The space still must be fenced to keep out the bunny rabbits but now I can actually move around in the area. There is a pile of boards to be moved away but it really looks nice now. There is a weed growing but there was no briar or devil bush. That made the work go quickly. It only took me about 2 hours to quit vibrating from the effort. We have a leaf blower/shredder that vibrates so bad that I cannot operate it at all. 

Just think, a brand new year to try out the new ideas, to try and lose the old ways that proved worthless. Those ventures that wasted our efforts and made us realize what was important and really needed our attention. Now to convince IRS that they should allow us another year to start turning a profit. That always scares me.

Happy New Year everyone! Make it the best one ever!  

This is the week for wishing a happy Christmas. No matter how you celebrate, may it be a merry time for you and your family. So many people are sad. They have trouble coping with the rest of the year and this festive season is not a good one. Often they are surrounded with folks that delight in destroying merriment. Highlighting the morbid undertones and reflecting the sense of age and discomfort. Those are the humans to be avoided. 

Get busy making your own happiness. If you need professional help, seek it. But watch those thoughts and enjoy what and who you do have in your life. Nurture them and make more happy thoughts and memories for later on.

So the farm is enduring the beginning of a cold winter. Byron Tumlinson writes about their one dip to 30° and losing no crops. Sigh. Everything here is frozen down to nothing, including the Pampas Grass and it usually holds up well all winter long. This winter has not officially begun. That is two days away and it is usually Christmas before we get our first messy winter storm. This year has seen several already and it feels like it will be a long and harsh winter. 

Sing, hum or whistle your favorite Christmas song. Enjoy the happy feeling and warm thoughts. Let the words make you feel good, savor the fun and share with others.

What a brutal week for winter weather here. I know many folks had it much worse. Even Dallas/Fort Worth had a heavy ice mess to deal with. But we broke a longstanding low 2 nights ago. 10 degrees froze our water line and left us solid without anything flowing until this afternoon. I took Max and we walked down to the pump house to flip the switches back on to the pump. Glorious flowing water. All the critter's have bowls full of fresh water and I will get to catch up on washing dishes and clothes. I had filled gallon jugs with water plenty to keep us bathed and the toilet flushed. Now, I can refill all the jugs. Won't get anything else done but we have survived the deep freeze. We were almost up to 50 today and are scheduled for the mid 60s for tomorrow. Yippee!!

I will be more prepared for upcoming freezes. But it's always a disruption in the regular daily routine. The weather guy says now that we were below freezing for 60 hours. We don't do that very often. And weather this bad usually doesn't happen until about Christmas. 

Randy had  planned ahead and drug the full tank of propane around to where the tanks hook up. Sure enough I was watching yesterday morning as the fire level fell to nothing. Empty. If it had waited until he'd left for work, Sly and I would have spent the day freezing. It is good that gasoline and electricity prices are down since propane is so very high now.

Photos for the week... Fall Color... CLICK HERE

The first day of the last month of the year 2005. Where did all those days go? Christmas has crept up and is looking us square in the eye. Ready? Never.

So many deadlines have not been met. The first DVD is not finished yet. But it is so close that I must decide on other details and get the advertising going. Right now, we can only afford to advertise in PhancyPages. That will be fine. The item will be too late to be a Christmas feature and there is no way to move the calendar back. Just deal with it. IRS is the only one to be appeased.

Yesterday was up to 70, tomorrow will be 70 but today is not quite going to make it to 50. I just turned off the oven and it is so toasty warm in here. The smell of the peanut butter cookies is ever so sweet. It goes well with the smell of chili simmering in the crockpot. Randy's recipe is the best in the world. Yum.

I was watching the local new during the Thanksgiving season and they were doing a piece where the reporter was out at the mall, asking questions of people as they passed by. One was a young lady perhaps a teenager with her mother. The theme was about Columbus and how he sailed to America in ships. Question, what was the name of one of those ships. The daughter’s face clouded and she thought deeply and came up with an answer. “Is it Mir?” Mother dragged her quickly off camera.

The Scrubbies came in the mail yesterday and I will find some time this afternoon to get into the bird's room and get out the ornaments and lights. Everything will be miniature this year. I plan on getting the little tree created and photos taken to show you this week. I have had the time to think up some good ideas for making it pretty. Now, where to put it. Oh yes, indeed.

Arlene Correll, that's Home Farm Herbery, sent me a beautiful painting from her collection. Such a delight and one of the items that will only be used for our new house. She also included packets of her herbs. Basil, Summer Savory, Winter Savory and Marjoram. Wow, I am in spice heaven. They are so fresh and smell so very sweet. I think I need to bake a chicken and put the flavors to good use. My humble thanks to Arlene, she always knows what is pleasing. She has these items for sale in  her Home Farm Herbery store. Lots more and far better than you'd ever find in the grocery store. As close to growing your own as you can get and none of the work.

Last week, Arlene had mentioned that I should check out the new soup recipes she had added to her newsletter. I noticed them as I moved them into her PhancyPages recipe collection. She has a LOT of recipes and soups are ever so fine for the cold winter days. Click Here and look down the page for the latest recipes. There are lots of recipes in her collection. Take the time to look around.

The leaves and acorns are falling like rain. But with the acorns it's more like tiny bombs. It was scaring the doggies for a good while but they are used to it now. I used to appreciate leaves for using in compost until I found out that even in composting, they would need to compost for at least a year. We are talking high acid levels. They are the main reason our gardens have done so poorly. I have taken some photos and will have them on a page....

This evening was really a test of loving the silly puppies. I went out to make my rounds this evening and Beau was loose. All pieces had been broken and there was nothing left to hook him back up with. It's not the lines that break, it is the connectors that they just pull apart. Max got a new one yesterday and Sammy got a new one today. Randy just didn't realize that he needed to have bought another. Sigh. He had left the flashlight out this morning and on. So by the time he was needing it, it was completely dead.