Skinning the Elephant

Not that these are real elephants. But five lumpy, grey packages were rolled out of the barn doors today and we jumped to the job of pulling the thick skins back. This revealed huge rolls of bird netting and this means only one thing at our house. Guys, blueberry season is two weeks away!!

 

 

Tomorrow is the big day that they go up, which means no buttons, watches, rings, snaps, or fingernails because they will all get yanked off. Well, not the fingernails, but it will feel like it. =p Its a good idea to take out earrings, too. They won't last long, as I discovered today when one got pulled out. You live and learn, right? 

 

Have a lovely weekend and look forward to the berries to come!



Snowbird

 

 The end of senior year was quite busy and so was the summer with work, blueberries, and getting ready for school. And when I finally got to school I was just a little overwhelmed with it all. I've been loving college and I adore the friends I've made. I have been blessed. School work is hard, but more or less rewarding. Here is a little taste of my world down south.

First my itty bitty room.
 The closet.

 The desk.

 The bed. Yes, that's carpet on the walls. Don't ask.

 Fall break was quite welcome, but I was happy to get back to my mountain.

 This kid grew a ton while I was gone! Actually, I did too, so I'm still taller than him. 5'8!

 A gorgeous West Virginia sky.

 Trees on the way back to school after break.

 Lady Scots! I'm number 19 on the right. We were 7-1-2.

 We had a gingerbread day with my hall. Some of my artsy hallmates made the Grinch. I was quite impressed.

 Check out our adorable wreath. =)

 Christmas on Caledon.

 The rebel child in my cut bangs a few weeks into the first semester. They're looking a little shaggy here, but at least you know what they look like.

 My hall's poster.

Making rice. My friends are cool. =p What would you do on a cold snow day?

 Fall colors.

 Some of the lovelies from my hall. =)

Be back in May!

Projects

 This weekend we started a major cleaning job on our back porch. Then we hope to paint it. You can see the worn part where we walk all of the time.

 Of course, jobs like this require a big incentive! I love Mama's iced coffee.

 Katie, wiping down years of dust.

I love the light fixture on the porch! It just speaks old farm house to me.



Spring

 Everything has burst open in the last few weeks. We're very early with everything, which is okay with me, because I love spring. =)

 Brown rot usually ruins all of our peaches, but the blooms are pretty.

 Mom is getting the garden in working order.

 She has all of her raised beds dug up and planted.

 One of Dad's beds. I guess he's still working on it. =p

My best friend, Katie. =) Today is Palm Sunday, so we decided we should get a picture.

Lambs

 Well, its finally time for lambs!

 This is Katie's grown up bottle baby, Toasty, with on of her twins.

 THE GRASS IS GREEN!!! I'm very ready for spring. Our first crocus bloomed on Saturday, but it snowed this morning, so so much for that. =p

 The view from our orchard.

For the past few months we've been redoing our kitchen.

We had to move all of the furniture and empty the cabinets. It was a little hairy in the kitchen for a  while. 

Our new sink. =)

For a while we were missing a counter top. I don't think that I've ever seen the top of a dishwasher before.

A pottery graveyard.

Mom's new drainboard.

The sinks are incredibly deep, yay!

The new light fixtures.

All done except for the tile. =)

 

Animal Farm

 This post is for anyone who hasn't seen us recently or gotten an animal update. Above is Zip, or Zipper, our almost year old heifer. She's an angus.

 Her buddy, Button. He doesn't have an abbreviation. =p We like to name our calves by themes, and this year we did it with clothes holding objects. We've also done the hobbits, Joseph's brothers, Naomi's sons, comic strip characters, etc. etc. We get creative.

 Honey is our lovely, active, silly golden retriever. She is 10 years old this spring.

 Some of the chickens. We gave up naming all of them.

 Our four surviving sheep, Toasty, Heidi, Muffin, and Heather.  We've had coyote trouble recently, as well as decreased pastures, so we cut back on the sheep. Now we're looking forward to lambing season with in the next few months. =D

 Our milk cow, Cinnamon, and her grafted calf, Vel(cro).

 Zip's mom, Angie. She's really just a big baby, and fat as a butterball.

And finally, our goldfish. Yes, we name them, too. I can't tell you what these ones are, but somewhere to the right is an old white fish. His name is Gandalf. =p