Posts Tagged photos

Irises bloomed!

Posted by Lacy in Capturing Life in Photos, On the Farm on Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Yay! Mom's Irises's bloomed! Aren't they beautiful? Everything is nice and green now (except the purple irises LOL!)! The grass is growing, but it's not so "grassy" as I would've thought it would be after all that snow we had. It seems more weedy than anything, and growing kind of slowly {I think, anyway}. We haven't had to do any mowing yet except the push mowing Dad did last night around the garden edges! Gracie's keeping the front yard mowed down nicely, too.

Looks like I'll have to be changing my header image again to an updated photo! Snow just doesn't seem to match what it looks like outside anymore!

The first picture below is a flower I found in the front yard; it's on a really tall stem. I was surprised it was there since Gracie eats pretty much everything in the front yard field… maybe she just doesn't like flowers? Who knows! At least I was able to get a picture of it. Not sure what kind of flower it is though!

A couple more flower shots that I took yesterday… =)

Sunny, laying in my lap. I had a terrible time taking this picture, especially since I did it with one hand! He's sure turning out to be a great cat, and an excellent hunter! {He loves mice} When there's no mice to be found, he hunts for something else. Last thing he caught {that I know of, anyway} was a small rabbit. And yes, he ate the whole thing!

I've got a quicker way to do the animal chores in the evening now. After we milk Gracie, I go back out and fill the feeders up with the necessary grain, and clean / refill whatever waterers need done {I have to stick the chicken feeders inside the hen house, though, else they'll eat it all!}. This way, when I put all the animals in later, all the feeding and watering is done for everybody, and all I have to do is put them in! It's a wonder I didn't think of doing it this way a long time ago. It sure makes things go quicker!

Here's two not-so-bad self portraits I managed to take yesterday. I was wearing a blue {I love blue} bandanna in place of my normal tan covering. I had no idea my hair was hanging over my shoulder in the first one, and when I looked at the picture on the camera, I thought it was some big spider crawling over my shoulder! LOL!

big spider, blue bandanna, Capturing Life in Photos, cat, chores, flowers, Gracie, green, Headcovering, hunter, Iris, irises, Jersey cow, Lacy, me, milk a cow, mowing, photos, pictures, portrait, self portrait, small rabbit, Sunny

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Front yard fencing and Blogoversary

Posted by Lacy in Capturing Life in Photos, On the Farm on Thursday, April 15, 2010

You know, I honestly wouldn't have had any idea that today was my blogoversary (nor Barefoot Day, for that matter), if I hadn't loaded my blog page and seen "First Blogoversary ~ One Year Old" on my sidebar {under This day last year}!

We've been so busy today I've hardly had time to sit down at the computer! Dad, Mom, and I put in more t-posts, and corner posts for the front yard area that we've been working on getting fenced in for Gracie (can't remember if I've mentioned it in any of my posts before; so if not, now you know!). It's going to be electric fence, so we had to put those insulator thingies on the t-posts, too. Then we unrolled the fencing {I think it's called polytape, or something like that}, stretched it out as far as it would go around the posts, and snapped the insulator things down on it so it wouldn't go anywhere. Mom read online that putting twists in the tape was supposed to help it, so we did 3 twists in it between every t-post. It looks rather strange, though. LOL!

It was quite a job putting the twists in the tape, since every time you twisted it, it just got much more twisty up ahead. I had to keep going out ahead and untwisting it, just so we could go back and put the three twists between each post! Whew!

After we got it entirely fenced/taped off, including a piece of polytape over the "gate" area, we had Gracie in there just to see what she would do. Well, I'd been walking her in the front yard with a lead rope for about half and hour (and she wouldn't stay in the shade either, she kept me in direct sun ), then me and Mom switched places so I could go help Dad. Once Dad and I were finished and got the rest of the fence up, Mom let her off her lead rope so she could continue grazing by herself. She didn't run like I figured she would, but maybe this time she was just more intent on eating the tall grass than anything else!

When it was time to put her back in her pen, Mom let down the 'gate' fencing, and was calling her… then she had to grab it back up real quick because Gracie starting trotting over in her direction pretty quick! {We give her a scoop of alfalfa cubes in the evening, she thinks of it as a special treat, I guess, that's what she was hurrying over for; she knew she was going to be getting them!}

Well, I'm glad we were able to get that much accomplished today; but it was sure some hard work! I know I'm tired, and I'll probably turn in early tonight.

Can you believe I've been blogging since April 15th, 2008? This is my second blogoversary. Neato! It's hard to believe I've actually had a blog that long, isn't it? I've sure enjoyed it though! {And all the comments! I do love getting comments.} Now that I know how to reduce videos, I'll probably be posting some more of them as I take them (which usually wasn't very often 'cause I didn't have anything to use them for, now I know how to reduce them so I can post 'em!), if ya'll liked me posting the video, that is.

Oh, yes. Here's a photo I took of Mom yesterday. I thought it turned out really good. I was pretty surprised at how it turned out, actually. What do you think? (Mom was walking Gracie in the front yard on her lead rope, when I took the picture.)

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Woodson's Mill

Posted by Lacy in On the Farm on Sunday, March 21, 2010

I meant to post about this the yesterday, but I never got around to it, since we went to town (Tractor Supply) yesterday.. The other day, Levi and I went on a long, long, bike ride. It was a nice day, beautiful outside, so we thought we'd take a bike ride. We really didn't know where we were heading (hehe), and didn't really intend to go far, so we didn't even take any water bottles with us (big mistake!).

We ended up riding to a place called Woodson's Mill, and it took us an hour (on bike) to get there. It's probably a really good thing that I wasn't wore out by the time we got there, because it took us another whole hour to get back (if not a bit more, because we were going slower on the way back)! Which wouldn't have been so bad, if the roads weren't hilly, and if we would've had some water. We'd never went that far before, nor have we been there on bike before, so it was definitely an interesting trip! I enjoyed it, but I probably won't be doing it again.

Here's what it looked like, the mill, that is.

Like I mentioned above, we went to Tractor Supply yesterday, and got some fencing so we can fence in the front yard for Gracie, and I was able to get a pair of shoes (I absolutely dislike shoe-shopping, but I made myself because the soles on my other pair are falling apart ). It was so nice outside yesterday — up in the 70's, I think! Dad got the garden rotivated with the tractor after milking, and I was out looking for something to take a picture of (there isn't much yet — I'm waiting for everything to green up again!). With it being so warm out, who would want to stay inside? Not me!

We've been trying to get some of the leaves in the field and barnyard raked up so the grass will grow. By this time last year, we already had all the leaves up! But with all the snow we had this year, we weren't able to do that. The barnyard is soo wet and muddy under all the leaves — you rake the leaves back and you have puddles lying everywhere! The middle part of the field is mostly raked up, and we managed to get the heavy, wet leaves taken away with the new cart Mom and Dad bought (I'll have to get a picture of it). That works so much better than using a tarp — especially when the leaves are so heavy that we can't even hardly lift the tarp!

This is how Hannah naps.. Isn't she funny? Samuel (my guinea there on the right), was in a fight the other day with Jesse (another guinea male) and obviously he lost the fight. Jesse was picking on him terribly, so I had to separate him and put him in the hen pen for a while, till everything calmed down a bit. Though Jesse is still chasing him around, he's not pecking him as bad. Now everyone's (especially Big Guin [the old male guinea]) is chasing Blackfeet! LOL!

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Beautiful Day!

Posted by Lacy in On the Farm on Sunday, March 7, 2010

It was really nice and warm outside today! I didn't even need a jacket! (Well, after I got sufficiently warmed up!) Dad and Levi worked on the raised bed this morning, adding a metal bar to the center of it to hold it together better in the middle [the pressure of all the dirt inside was pushing the boards out], while Mom and I worked on working up the dirt in the other raised bed and getting all the weeds out, so Mom will be able to start her seeds whenever she's ready!

I think just about everybody was enjoying the warmth and sunshine today! As you can see from the picture below, the goats were just laying on the other side of the fence taking a sun bath, and watching us work! At one point, Shadow was laying completely over on his side, and he looked so funny! I went to get a picture of him doing it, and Hannah saw me and got up, which in turn made Shadow jump up, so I didn't get a picture of it this time. I'm pretty sure he'll be doing it again though!

Here's me — driving the tractor! This is probably only the 2nd (or possibly 3rd) time I've ever driven it. Dad asked me if I wanted to when we went to put the tractor away, so I did. I was kinda nervous at first, but it really wasn't that hard, and it was kind of fun! Dad hopped up on the back and was helping me figure out how to drive it. Things like when to take my foot off the clutch, and the brake, and how to change gears, etc.

I raked up some of the leaves in the barnyard today, and it sure was laying wet underneath all those leaves, so hopefully the ground will dry up a bit better now, and more green grass will grow! The goats were happy that I'd raked them a few leaf piles to lay in.. LOL! The chickens, well, they just decided the leaves shouldn't be in piles and should be scattered back all over the ground again! At least it gave them something to do!

I decided to be nice today and let the hens out early, and in turn they only gave me 2 eggs. Tsk, tsk, bad chickens! Hopefully they'll pick up production again soon! I remember when we were getting 13 and 14 a day! And, with Gabriel on patrol in the barnyard, I'm hoping the rooster fights won't be as bad this year, though I'm sure I'm going to have to separate Danny and Jacob if they start fighting that bad again. I don't look forward to all the separating animals again… lol, maybe I should just let them all fight it out!

Gracie is doing great, and still giving us about 2 gallons of milk per day! We use a lot of it just by drinking it at breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Mom has been letting the goats in with her sometimes in the mornings, and so far everything has been going well. Shadow and Hannah headbutt her, but she doesn't pay much attention to them. (Good cow!)

I suppose I should stop rambling now. Oh, and thank you everyone for the happy birthday's.

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Order my Steps

Posted by Lacy in General on Thursday, March 4, 2010

Is it possible? Am I really turning seventeen today? That seems like such a big number! Just last year I turned sixteen. Now another year has passed already… wow!

It seems like, the older you get, the faster time flies. It's March already!! But, it was just January 1st, 2010! I don't ever remember the year going by that quickly when I was 12 & 14! Here below is a conglomeration of pictures I collected of myself since I was a baby – up till now (the last picture at the bottom was taken last month, I believe). I figured ya'll might be interested in seeing what I looked like when I was younger/smaller. lol…

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. The LORD is King for ever and ever:
(Psalms 8:1, 9:1, & 10:16a)

Thou art my God, and I will praise thee; thou art my God, I will exalt thee. Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments. Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes. Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it. O GOD, thou art my God; early will I seek thee:
(Psalms 118:28, 119:66, 119:133, 119:135 119:140, 63:1)

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Sled riding!

Posted by Lacy in On the Farm on Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Whew! After not going sled riding for a LONG time, I finally got to do so again this evening! The sleds that Pap got us a long time ago are mainly for sledding on ice (at least, they generally don't work very well on snow… metal runners, you tend to sink (in the snow) with them ), and since we normally don't get a lot of ice, we've never had a chance to use them yet.

So, Levi got our sleds out of the Rabbit Building this evening and we proceeded to get a running start and sled down the slick, icy driveway! Boy oh boy was that fun! I apologize for the lack of pictures of the event, but I don't particularly think it would be wise to try to take pictures and steer the sled at the same time. I'd probably end up in the snow bank, LOL!

Gracie started running around in her pen when we started sledding… I guess she wanted to get out and run, and because she couldn't, just decided to run circles in her pen! She'd watch us sled down the driveway, and then run around her pen, and come back and watch us some more.. silly cow!

And, since I can't resist posting and not adding any pictures for ya'll, here are two pretty recent ones;

Sunny sittin' in the bird feeder, just hoping a bird will happen to fly in!