Its Monday, thank goodness for federal holidays!

Let's see, where to start.  So much happened this weekend, its all just a blur.  Had a friend offer me a go cart for the boys, and of course I accepted.  He said it ran the last time they used it....which was apparently a few years ago.  The gas was still in the tank if that gives you any indication of what shape its in.  Now before you go thinking how ungrateful I am, theres a hidden story here.  About two years ago I bought a brand-spankin' new go cart for my oldest.  Bad news was it was one of those Chinese jobs that ran for every bit of 20 minutes before it quit.  After several trips back to the place I bought it from, they kindly informed me that those things don't really come with warranties and that the next time I brought it in they would have to charge me.  Well that right there should have been enough to get my blood boiling (and my money back!) but I'm such a kind soul and besides, I can fix everything.  Well guess what?  I indeed can NOT fix everything, Chinese go carts being at the top of the list.  Oh I fiddled with this thing for over a year, tweeking this, adjusting that; even had my friends fiddling with it, but to no avail.  After finally losing my patience with this thing, I bought a brand-spankin' new engine to go in it.  How hard could it be to simply swap out identical engines right?  Anyway, this friend I mentioned came to get the go cart after I had pushed it to the barn of no return.  Once an item makes it to the barn, its as good as gone.  Well the friend came and got the go cart and said he was going to fix it and give it back to the boys.  Fine, have at it, good luck, and all that jazz.  Fast forward to now, the Chinese go cart is running like a sewing machine.  Unfortunately he gave it to his neighbor and gave me the "sludge mobile" in return.  I'm a little ticked because it wasn't really his to give away to begin with, but this friend has also done so much for us that I really don't feel right saying anything about it.  So here I sit with yet another broken down go cart with 3 eager boys asking if I have it fixed yet.  So far I've torn it completely apart and have a parts list a mile long.  Oh but no worries, I can fix this.

Denise, over at Nittinfool, has been so kind in leaving comments (which I love by the way!) and had asked to see the planter boxes I built.  So here ya go.  They are HEAVY and will hopefully last a season or two.  They are 8 feet long and 3 feet wide and 18 1/2" tall.  No bottoms so the rain can drain right on through.

Blogging takes time!

Well I let it happen.  I started yet another project (this blog) and after a few feeble attempts, I let it go.  But in my defense, alot has been going on lately.  The weather has been downright perfect!  Mid to upper 60's and plenty of sunshine.  Yesterday I think we even topped the 70 degree mark!  I also got approval to work from home 3 days a week!!  This is HUGE and is really making my life easier.  Of course now they are threatening a government shutdown since our continuing resolution runs out on March 4th.  Good times.

The baby donkey is still running around like he owns the place.  My wife has started a very bad habit of letting him run around with us and the kids in the yard.  I say its all cute and funny now, but when he gets to be 300 pounds it won't be cute anymore.  She says he will have a new home as soon as he is weened....we'll see.  The larger male donkey "Cleroy" is awaiting his new home not too far from here.  A fellow my wife works with wants him and since we really want the miniatures, we are happy to let Cleroy go to greener pastures. 

I built two above ground planter boxes the other day.  They are 8x3 and built out of 2x10's.  Seem to be the perfect size.  I will still have the plowed gardens but wanted to try my hand at container gardening.  If it don't work out, I'll slap a lid on 'em and have perfect coffins.

Today is a busy day.  All 3 kids have decided they want to play baseball again this year, so we have the oldest trying out at 10:00 and the twins trying out at 10:30 and then one of the twins has an Awana basketball game at 12:00.  Oh and I think we have a birthday party or two thrown in later on this afternoon.

Since I'm not much on kids birthday parties, I think I'm going to tinker around with the go cart once again.  I bought this thing last summer for $400 and it ran ok for a little while and now won't run at all.  I have been watching You Tube videos and I think I'm brave enough to tear into it.  I need to find a carb rebuild kit for a Tecumseh 6hp and there is only one parts store that would even come close to having one, and its in a neighboring town, in the opposite direction of any of the activities we have planned.

Anyway, I'm rambling, my coffee is cold and I hear the muchkins up and stirring.  Sorry for the lack of pictures...I'll try to do better.

Most embarrassing post EVER!

Well folks, I've got some news that will more than likely put me in the history books as the world's biggest dork, but here goes....
"Sally" is a "Sammy"
Yep, its true.  My wife and 3 kids all missed the um...ahem, "true sign" due to the excessive fluffy fur and the fact that none of us actually picked the baby up and did a good investigation until yesterday.
So there you have it.  My embarrassment is beyond description.
We don't really want to start a donkey breeding farm, so little one has a new home waiting for him when he is about 5 or 6 months old.  An alternate home for at least one of the other males is being discussed as well, and a visit from the vet for a little altering if we decide to keep one.

Some things just make you smile

Came home from work today and had the opportunity to have some one on one time with the newest addition.  Some things just make you smile, no matter how rough your day may have been.

New Arrival!

After months and months, and even MORE months we finally have the new arrival!  Born this morning probably around 10:00am.  I say probably because we didn't know until the kids went outside to play and came back with the news!

Absolutely nothing.

Thats what I got accomplished over the long 3 day weekend.  Oh I had big plans, including building planter boxes, getting a load of topsoil, buying a new mattress and beginning to clean out the small cluster of woods on the edge of our property that looks like snake infested jungle during the summer.  But instead I did nothing except tick off the folks around me with every thing I said or did.  We did manage to clean up donkey poo in the small pasture around the barn.  Its closest to the house and we really have this thing about piles of poo laying around.  Theres a certain amount of sadistic satisfaction that comes from watching your kids shovel poo while you supervise from the tractor seat.  And I learned also that using large round bales to feed donkeys creates ALOT of wasted hay.  I pushed up the two spots where I had previously put bales and there was just an enormous amount of wasted hay.  So I may need to add a spot to store square bales on my summer to do list. 

I'm home today with 2 sick kids, since I'm the one with the great job with a liberal leave policy.  The flu is making its way around these parts, and I just hope and pray this is not that nasty mess.  I'm supposed to go to Birmingham tomorrow to see a doctor about my back trouble, but not sure I'm gonna make it.  Truth be known, I aint' feelin' all that great myself.

Anyway, on the donkey watch, still no baby.  I spoke to their previous owners and they said that since she had a jenny last time, that from now on she will have jennies.  We'll hopefully see soon.  Oh and the chicken I was supposed to dispose of is no more.  Apparently my wife took her frustrations at me out on the chicken.

I hate heat pumps

Where I live the heat pump is the primary heating unit for our homes.  Outside of a fireplace and some who are tied into a gas line and are able to have a gas furnace.  For the rest of us eletrically dependent saps, its a heat pump.  I argue that a heat pump is the most inefficient way of heating a home when the temperature outside drops below, ooohh let's say 40 or so.  Temps here for the last 2 nights have been down in the teens.  That monster has ran non stop for 2 solid nights.  NON STOP I say.  And the temp in the house is still struggling to stay between 60 and 65.  Again, where I come from, thats too chilly inside a house.  If I could move my legs I would be kicking myself in the rearend for not going ahead and replacing the unit before the $1500 tax credit expired at the end of December.  2 folks I know have recently had their units replaced at the tune of a little over $5,000 and that was with the tax credit.  I shouldn't complain, the unit has been chugging right along for right at 21 years.  And I wonder why my power bill hovers around $300 a month  LOL
Went out to eat with our close friends last night at some Chinese buffet.  Wasn't exactly on our diet, but man it was good.  Then went to Academy Sports and spent my $100 gift card I got for Christmas.  I wanted to use that to buy a new deer feeder to put out in the corner pasture, but since the donkeys now have access to that area, it would be pretty useless.  Donkeys would love it, but uselsss otherwise.  So instead I bought clothes.  Yep thats right clothes.  Jogging pants, Magellan shirts and pants and thats all she wrote.  On the way home I took a little side trip through the Ford dealerships parking lot.  I have the new truck bug BAD!  And before anyone debates the whole Ford vs Chevy thing, I like the Ford because of the HUGE back seat on the crew cab model.  My boys fill up the back seat of my Chevy Colorado like sardines packed in a can, and it gets worse when they have football shoulder pads, or bookbags for school.  You should see us leaving in the morning...3 boys, each with bookbags, lunch boxes and whatever school project they may have had, crammed in the back seat with me and my wheelchair in pieces crammed in the front.  The thought of spending $30,000 on a truck makes my stomach turn, but my rationale of buying soon is so I can have it paid off before my 11 year old (soon to be 12) starts driving and we are helping pay a ton on insurance.  I've looked at used trucks and while some are very nice, they are almost as much as the new ones by the time you consider all the rebates and incentives they have on new ones now.  Theres a part of me though that says forget buying ANY truck because the whole economy is about to tank.  Mindless ramblings to start the day I guess.  Oh and one more thing about buying new.  One of the dealerships offered to throw in the cost of the modifications  for me to be able to drive, into the loan on the truck.  If I buy used, I'm stuck with having to pay the close to $10,000 from some other source.
Today is basketball at high noon, then nothing planned for the afternoon (that I know of).  Todays high is supposed to be 54 degrees, which will feel like a heat wave after the past couple of days we've had!  If we don't go looking for mattresses, I may have to go buy some wood shipped from China and start building some planter boxes for the spring garden.  I have a gift card for Lowes too!  LOL  I'm going to leave the big gardens that I plow with the tractor the way they are, but I want some smaller, above ground boxes (maybe 8 x 10) to put closer to the house.  And absolutely nothing will get done if I sit here rambling.