Finally Friday

It's finally Friday and Monday is a federal holiday so yea for a 3 day weekend! 
Day 3 of a diet me and wife are on and while I'm not necessarily hungry, I could eat the south end of a north bound mule if it were smothered in gravy and had a basket of rolls to go with it. 
This weekend is shaping up to be a pretty laid back one.  Tomorrow we have a Upwards basketball game and Sunday afternoon I may try to sneak in a hunting trip with 2 of the boys while the 3rd goes to the Shakespeare Festival with his granny, uncle and aunt to see a play about Bear Bryant.  For those not familiar with him, around here he is said to sit on a throne in heaven overseeing every SEC football game.  LOL
Also, I think the time has come for us to buy a new mattress.  It hurts my soul to pay so much for these things, but something has to give.  We've had one of those fancy, dancy memory foam things for about 6 or 7 years and its wallered out.  Wife was wanting to just buy oldest son a new bed since he's bigger now, but I say why not just give him our old one and buy US a new one.  We'll see how that battle shakes out.

Here's our pea patch from a year or so ago.  It was so warm.  I miss that day.

Dreams of warmer days

I am not a winter person.  Some folks get all giggly at the thought of snow, the crisp wind on their cheeks, or bundling up in layers upon layers of furry stuff.  Not me.  I was going through some pictures last night trying to think how I would keep this blog interesting and things I could/would/should write about and I kept coming back to this picture.  This was, I believe, our first havest from last years garden.  My mouth waters when I think of the bread 'n butter pickles my wife made from those cucumbers, the fried okra, the bacon, lettuce and 'mater sammiches and even that ol' nasty squash.  Last weekend while I was spreading the donkey doo on the garden spot and ran the disc over it a few times, I got the itch.  You know the one...you want to play in the dirt.  You want to be able to say, "Sure is a hot 'un today" when you go to the feed store to pick up some triple 13, Sevin Dust or to see if they have a new blade for the 60" finish mower.  You listen to the other farmers talk about how dry its been and we all pray for rain and secretly wonder how many acres THEY have as jealousy creeps into your heart.

Around here things are far from looking like spring.  Last nights temperature was 16 degrees.  Our heat pump never once shut off, as a matter of fact its STILL running as I type.  Todays high is supposed to 37.  I don't know about where you come from, but around here thats COLD.  The pond has a thin layer of ice on it

and I'm sure the kids are going to make us late by wanting to throw a rock or two on top to see how long it stays there.  Simple pleasure that will only take a minute or two, so I reckon I won't fuss too much.

Well I guess its time to make the morning journey into the big city and play office jockey for the next 8 hours, all the while dreaming of things to come.

Chickens

After using almost a dozen eggs just for breakfast omelets this morning for everyone, I got to thinking.....I REALLY need my hens to start laying SOON!!!!
Here's the rooster that started it all.  My son negotiated with one of his teachers at school and the next think we knew, she's knocking on our door carrying this fine specimen.

And yea, I know, roosters don't lay eggs, but I don't have any pictures of the others yet.  LOL

War Eagle

Congrats to the home team!  I'm not a football fanatic, can actually walk out in the 4th quarter without too much heartache, but I'm glad the Tigers pulled it out.  They announced on the news this morning that pretty much the whole city of Auburn is closed today. 

I think I'm broke

Today is one of those days when I would SO like to be drawing a disability check and staying my butt at home.  There, I said it.  I sometimes have what I call "Wimp Days"  when my back hurts so bad I can't see straight, my legs are having muscle spasms and I just feel downright uncomfortable from having my back twisted out of shape.  After almost 36 years in a chair, you would think I would have learned to adjust by now  LOL
Ok, enough whining, off to work I go.  Ya'll have a good day.

Crying Wolf

The weatherman gets so excited anytime there is even a remote possibility of some bad weather around here.  The huge ice storm we were expecting fizzled a little bit.  Oh sure the bridges and roads are closed in a lot of places, so most businesses and all of the schools closed.  Even my boss called this morning to say we were closed down.  But the tree snapping, power destroying, ice storm of the century was a little less spectacular than we all were lead to believe it was going to be. 
We did get a fair amount here at the house though....

7 inches of ice!!

The Perfect Storm

Weatherman says its the end of time, Mississippi River she's a' goin' dry....oh wait thats a little drastic.  But seriously, it wasn't supposed to start snowing until late this afternoon, but as I sit here drinking my coffee I see flakes of the white stuff lofting down every now and then.  Not a full fledged blizzard by any means, but for central Alabama enough to strike panic in the hearts of natives.

Hey guys, the grass IS greener over here!

Yesterdays running around getting things ready paid off because its 31 degrees with a wind chill of 22 out there right now.  I have my wood piled up on the utility trailer, a mere steps from the back door, covered to keep it dry and the boys brought in 2 buckets full of dried twigs and pine cones to get things started.  The donkeys had a full day to get adjusted to their new access to another couple of acres and were running around like excited puppies all afternoon.  I even got around to scooping up donkey poo and spreading it on one of the small gardens and ran a disk over it to work it in a bit.  Hopefully by turning the ground over, the hard freeze will kill the pesty weeds and grass I already see have taken root.  So now its time to sit back and wait for the storm they have been warning us about for days. 
I think todays schedule includes a heavy dose of house cleaning, as ordered by the true head of the house.  I doubt I will get around to working on the food storage closet but after reading Modern Day Rednecks post and seeing what an outstanding job he did, at least I have motivation.  Only one problem I see with his design....he left the light switches open within easy reach.  Now see, that right there shows he put thought into his project.  If I had done mine first, you would have seen the light switches hidden under one of the shelves.  Thats just how I roll   LOL

BBRRRRR

Folks its getting colder by the minute outside.  Me and two of the boys ran up to the Farmers Feed and Seed and bought a load of firewood this morning.  Based on what the weatherman is saying, we could be in for a real mess tomorrow afternoon into Monday morning.  Ice and sleet wreck havoc on powerlines and our house is all electric, so a little voice told me I needed to have something to keep us warm, just in case.  Good thing I got there when I did though, because they were down to only a couple of half racks left!  Around these parts, when anyone mentions even a remote possibility of snow, there is a mad run on grocery stores for bread and milk.  Even folks who are lactose intolerant buy milk!  Go figure.  Anyway, I feel somewhat relieved that if the power goes off, at least I have warmth and I guess push come to shove I could figure out how to roast a hot dog.  That reminds me, we need hotdogs.
One of the boys is playing Upward basketball at a church down the road and he has his first game today at noon.  He is so excited and I can't wait to see him play.  After that me and the gang are going to go shopping for a birthday present for their Mom.  Then when I get back home, my plans are to put some donkey poo on the garden spots and maybe run a plow through it. 
Oh and good news!  After months of planning and working, the donkeys were released into the larger pasture this morning!  They are acting like kids in a candy store.  I'll try to get some pictures posted later if I can squeeze it in.  Right now though I gotta get moving to a basketball game!