New Life Old Farmers

We have true free range chickens.Unfortunately they like to hang out on the porch on windy or hot days…or still, cool days…or rainy days.  Yep, just about everyday, hanging out, pooping on the porch.  They have a short memory, because they get chased off with a broom by me often!  Then they jump into what was supposed to be a strawberry patch-flower garden and take a dust bath.  The high price of fresh eggs.The girls do provide what I think are the best eggs in the valley.  Even Our Friend the Farmer, said, “Oh, I sure do like your eggs!”  He has geriatric hens that have stopped laying, so he has joined my small, but faithful collection of egg customers.I set out a dozen eggs, in a cooler.  I have a low tech, collection container for payment.It is all done on the honor system.  Folks pay for the eggs and then help me out by laying the sign down and putting the cooler beside the fence.

Do people steal the cooler?  No

Do people steal the eggs?  No

Do people bring back egg cartons, even when there are no eggs?  Yes, lots.Is life good?

You bet!

We have a few flies here at the farm.  Flies are ugly, nasty, gross insects.  Where there is poop, there are flies.  I can well remember my mother, Betty, hollering at us kids,

“Do NOT put the fly swatter on the table/counter!!!  Flies land in dog doo!”

It left a mark on me.  She was right.  Flies are gross.  They land in dog doo and any other doo they can find.  Fly swatters are gross.  Flies in the house are gross and annoying, swat them with a swatter and they smear on the surface.  Swat them with a random ball-cap and you might (I did) break a window.

We saw this video of a man shooting flies with salt.  My Loving Spouse was on the internet ready to buy it.  He found it for $50, gotta say, that did slow us down.  We waited a bit, after all….would it really work and $50 is one expensive Fly Swatter.

I was then off to JoAnn’s fabric shop to check out a sale in Yakima.  Some one was really thinking when they put this store in, because next door to the shop is a very nice Ace Hardware.  Not to stereotype anyone, but ‘if a wife is shopping for fabric, a husband does have somewhere to go.’

I needed a door magnet, so I popped into Ace.  There I saw it.I asked the Old Boy who was helping me,

“How much fun have you had with that Bug-a-Salt?”

‘I LOVE it!  It really works and it is a hoot!’

I was on the phone to My Loving Spouse.

“They’ve got the Bug-a-Salt at Ace.  Only $40.”

He said only two words, “Buy it!”

This is the most fun I’ve ever had killing those gross flies.  No mess, just a bit of table salt added to the dust we already have, (hardly worth mentioning).  Everyone who I’ve let try it, wants to know how to buy one and has a long list of people they want to buy it for.  

If you visit, I will no longer be embarrassed at our flies.  I will just hand you our Bug-a-Salt and let you have some fun.

Life is good…..if, you are not a fly.

I was driving in hay the other night.  Seriously, imagine me (born suburban girl) driving a truck and trailer through the edge of a hay-field.  The object was to drive slowly, stay out of the plethora of ditches, do not run into any fences or dogs and try not to actually drive over any of the cut hay.

Yes, I could do that…

My Loving Spouse and I were helping Our Neighbor The Fire Captain, who has a mid-sized hay operation.  Mid-sized means that he has all the fancy equipment to get the hay down and baled, but not the fancy equipment to get it picked up.  He does the picking up with hay hooks and muscle.  I drove through the back swath (back swath – fancy farm term for the perimeter of the hay-field, where the hay is first cut and baled and picked up, thereby allowing the tractor and baler to turn at the end of each row).  We were going to buy this hay for our herd, so by helping him load it onto our trailer, he could start work the next day baling the rest of his field.

I drove.   The Fire Captain walked along the trailer, hauling the bales up to My Loving Spouse who stacked them.

I could not hear the guys for any instructions and I couldn’t always see the bales behind me.  Frankly, I gave up trying to hear them and just idled through the field.  I figured, that if I was not going the right speed, one of them would eventually tell me.

Fresh cut hay smells so sweet.  It was a beautiful evening to be driving in hay, getting it all picked up.

I know I am living in the right place for me, because I loved every minute of it!

The last week has been eventful!  It started with our pregnant black lab, Zoe not eating.  Labradors typically eat as if their last meal had been days ago not simply hours ago.  Labradors eat everything and anything, that they are allowed to gobble up.  Zoe was huge (large, giant) and resembling a pot-bellied pig more than a lab, so I was worried about this big Mama not eating, especially with a whole week left to go until her due date.  Zoe would gobble up scrabbled eggs.  She was quite partial to farm fresh, free range eggs, lightly scrambled, so I obliged…all week.

The first pup came after a restless night at 5:30 am, born on our bathroom floor.  Born exactly on her due date a little girl, black with a white blaze.  We quickly moved mom and baby into the whelping area, relieved and nervous that things were finally underway.

2, 3, 4, 5 came quickly…and then there were 7, 5 black 2 yellow, all wiggly, wet and ready to eat.  Mama Zoe then took a long break, which really, can you blame her?  I spent the rest of the day, counting little pups, and hand feeding anything Zoe would eat, fresh turkey, sliced ham and left over steak (that My Loving Spouse thought would be his dinner when he got home).  Every time I checked, they looked the same, a lot of puppies on the teets.  It took a second look to often spot another new-born pup.

8 another yellow!

9 another yellow!

After a long day, I was sure she was done.  Zoe hoped she was done.  Number Two Son came home and counted…10.  10!  We counted again, black legs, black pups, tired humans…it took a few tries, and sure enough…10.Zoe is still being a picky eater.  We are catering to her.  Under the circumstance, this is fair as she is eating for 11.  Canned dog food (stinky) mixed with high protein puppy food is her current fare.  The pups…all getting rounder by the day, each one cuter than the next.7 girls, 3 boys…

Puppy love!

We celebrated My Loving Spouse’s birthday in a big way!

First, let me back up.  A few years ago we gave Team Offspring an IOU to go Tubing on the snow.  Then one of them broke their wrist, then there was no snow, then another of them broke their arm, then there was so much snow we were sick of it and nobody could ever get the same day off!

Yesterday, we did it!  We rewrote our IOU’s, everyone managed to get the day off and we took off to Lake Chelan for a day on the water jet skiing!  The sky was blue, the lake was warm and the hills were filled with rows of orchards and vineyards.  It is gorgeous!

We rented two large jet ski’s and the 4 of us jumped (climbed, cautiously slipped, nervously mounted) our floating motor craft.  With the Y Chromosome members at the helm, we sped out onto the water, with some of us saying things like “Slow Down!”

I finally took my turn to drive.  My Loving Spouse, knowing I’d never been on a ski before offered vital words of instruction.  The actual quote was,

“Goose IT, Mother!”

We all did get good at zipping around the absolutely beautiful lake.  The day was filled with laughter.  I did manage to ‘catch some air’ and when our Jet Ski capsized, well, all I can say is, that I was not the one who was driving.

We capped it off with a quick wine tasting at Hard Row to Hoe Vineyard….how they got their name is another story.

…and we are certainly blessed.

Thank you each and every one of you who entered the first ever ‘Giveaway’!!!

Your comments and your entries made my day!

Thank you so very much!  

Winner, winner chicken dinner….

My best to you all!

Update July 17, 2017

Today I received a photo from our winner with the table runner on her table in her home.

It is a perfect fit!

Thanks for sharing, Cynthia!

We have lights in THE Bathroom!  Lights as in, one walks into the room and flicks a switch and lights go on!  Not the lights we have had called, do not trip over the extension cord to the power strip, which led to the shop light leaning up against the wall.

We had the lights themselves for quite a while.  We’ve had them so long, that My Loving Spouse forgot what was actually in their box, just sitting upstairs waiting for the wiring to be finished.  I had ordered them online, with My Loving Spouse’s complete agreement at the time of ordering.  Except…we both forgot about one thing…the room is not square.  It is not even a rectangle….in math terms it is a hexagon.  Yep, 6 sides, which makes lighting on the wall (where I wanted it) more difficult.

Enter “One of THE Seattle Cousins”….who was on his anniversary trip…complete with his tool box.He graciously worked all day on our electrical, hooking up light switches, installing the new lights (that everyone thought was wrong), conferring with me about their placement, which meant for the first time in my life, I got to boss him around!  (This nut did not fall far from the Bossy Tree, but being one of the younger cousins, I rarely got to exercise my bossy ‘gift’ with him.)See that short slanted ceiling…yes, that was the bit we forgot about.  With My Loving Spouse off driving, My Cousin put the lights I LOVE where I want them.  This does mean I will have to redraw the plans for the medicine cabinets…oh, well, those plans only exist in my head anyway.I love them!  We had time for dinner, croquet and card games!…and one of my favorite things ever…sitting in the same pew at church with people I love.

Thank you!

…and I am very blessed.

Have you ever read the most famous blog Confessions of a Pioneer Woman?

Ree Drummond is sort of amazing.  I do enjoy her blog, her honesty and the cows.  How much she takes on could be a tad overwhelming, but I do urge you to check her out.  She also does…Giveaways!  Seriously!  This gal gives away some amazing stuff…boots, mixers, purses and plates….  I’ve entered a few of her Giveaways, but so far, my 1 in 10,000 chance has not panned out.

It made me realize that I wanted to do my own Giveaway.  The first (possibly the only) New Life Old Farm Giveaway!

Just in time for the Fourth of July, a red, white and blue table runner.

It measures about 12 in by 55 inches. 

Made by me….candlesticks not included.

Here is the scoop.

How to enter:

1. Comment saying that “I am in” or “Winner winner chicken dinner” or “Please pick me!”

OR

2. Email me at Ellenewalton@gmail.com and tell me to enter you in THE Giveaway.

I will place your name in the hat.

Giveaway ends Sunday June 25, 2017 7:00pm PDT.

Entries really will be put in the hat, everyone is eligible….family, friends, foes…

I figure your chances of winning are probably about 1 in 5, but who knows maybe I will be surprised.

I had fun making this table runner and the thought of sharing it with one of you makes me smile!

Sometimes in life there is that friend.

The friend that inspires parents to say such things as, “If Johnny/Susie/Taylor jumps off of a bridge are you going to jump off of a bridge?”  Of course the ‘child’ always says, ‘No’.  However, if that friend invites them to jump off a bridge, then… they are probably jumping.

Which might be how on a certain recent evening The Hillbilly Rig was driven (noisily) up into the hills.  It was drizzling and the windshield wipers added more noise to the journey.  The road was shared with more cows than people, which was just perfect for our Hillbilly escapade.  We arrived at our location and enjoyed some appetizers.

…and a bit of ‘cheap’ beer.  I am a tiny bit embarrassed to say, that I did like the ‘cheap’ beer.  What can I say?  I’ve never been known as a beer connoisseur.Yes, that is a gun, and no, it doesn’t take bullets.  It is a pellet gun and it was so much fun!  We did a bit of target practice and this is considered the ‘proper’ form.

Who knows what kind of form I had, but not only did I actually hit a few cans, but I took the award for the most dents given to the cans.I’d probably be bragging a bit more, but I also earned the ‘one who had to pee in the woods’ award, so enough said.

We had fun!

So much fun, that more Hillbilly escapades are planned…quickly…. before My Loving Spouse sells the Hillbilly Rig!

That friend….every Thelma needs her Louise!

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