Catching Up on This N That!

Goodness!  Where is June going?  They say (I don't know who "they" are), that when you are having fun time flies........so I guess washing windows, all 26 of them plus doors, etc, must be fun.  DON'T BELIEVE IT!!  IT IS WORK!  BACKBREAKING, ARM HURTING WORK!!  But I have finished the last one -- with the help of Pooh -- who had to climb to the top of the ladder to reach the very top of the last two windows.  Thank you Pooh!!  You saved my sanity and my arm!

Meanwhile, we all celebrated Wee Bob's 2nd Birthday with a Thomas the Train Party.  Wee Bob is really into trains - especially Thomas.   On a very still, clear day, the lonesome whistle of a freight train can be heard at our farm.  If Wee Bob hears it, he will stop and point over the mountain and say...."There goes Thomas!". ...... Back to the party, it was planned for outside at an area park but, alas, (alas?  LOL)  the weather did not cooperate so it had to be moved indoors to good old "Micky D's"!  What would we do without Micky D's?

Wee Bob just wanted the train on top of the cake - forget the cake!  Hold on....first you have to blow out the candle and make a wish.  (Wee Bob wished he had the train on top of the cake!)

Wee Bob looking over a book with Pooh and Uncle A.

Next to trains and planes, Wee Bob loves tractors!  He might even love them MORE than trains and planes!

The kids enjoyed climbing on the indoor playground.  The grownups enjoyed chasing them down---well, maybe not.

The grown-ups did enjoy EATING!  There is just something about Micky D's french fries that grab you right in the taste buds -- and they hold on tight until you finish every last one!

Lots of pictures were taken....Wee Bob, Pooh and Meme T.  Wee Bob was all smiles.  I'd smile too if I was turning 2!  Or 22.  Or 42 for that matter!! (I think this is another "alas" moment.....like, alas, I will not be turning 42 ever again!)

Wee Bob hopped from lap to lap hoping someone would start cutting the cake so he could finally play with the TRAIN.  Attention!! In the background you will see Big A pretending to be a TV announcer - just ignore that part of the picture......he is 14 and, alas, that is what a teen who is 14 does.

Once the fun of the party was over, it was back to work at the farm!  When you live on a working farm there is never time to be bored.  Imagine being a teenager and never being bored - that might be classified as a small miracle.  Imagine being the parent of a child and never hearing those dreaded words...."I'm bored....there's nothing to do"!  Hmmm.....maybe I could "bottle" farm life, sell it to the parents of bored kids, get rich, buy a house in the city, sit in front of the TV, and be BORED!! (I will have to ponder on that for awhile.)

Continuing on.....

JR and Mr. G. spent all last week getting the hay baler in top condition.  They removed the old chains that were rusty and ready to break and replaced them with shiny new ones.  Now they are ready to "rock and rake!"

JR and Mr. G. have also been working on replacing the old rusty panels on the catch pen with new shiny steel ones. Don't the new ones look "purdy"? 

Of course, there are always renegade cattle to tame.  These ladies refused to follow the crowd and join their bovine kin in the catch pen so they could be moved across the street to another pasture.  So now,  JR feeds them sweet feed several times a week and slowly, inch by inch, moves the feed trough closer to the catch pen.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.  

The "ladies" love the sweet feed but know we are up to something! "Eat up girls!"

Then there are times when you have to let the work rest and just get out and have some fun! 

Meme T, Papa G, Big A, Wee Bob and Pooh went mud riding a few weeks ago with some friends.  (I was with them in spirit but had to stay home due to a malfunctioning tooth.)  Here you see Big A pulling a friend out of a mud puddle.  How he got stuck is any one's guess.  

  

Here you see Big A trying to get stuck in the same mud puddle!  Will he ever learn??

Four wheel riding at it's best -- eating, drinking, and resting!

Loving summer, 

Dee Dee

Schools Out - Summers In!

How I love welcoming summertime!!  As I took my EARLY morning walk, I delighted in the wildflowers blooming everywhere.  To me, heaven will smell like wildflowers, honeysuckle, fresh hay and just a tad bit of cow poop!    

These violet blooms remind me of the bluebonnets of Texas.

This yellow cactus is getting ready to burst forth in bloom!

I call these flowers wild snap dragons.  I have no idea what their official name is.  But they come in white, yellow, and pink!

One of my favorites........the "loves me - loves me not" daisy.

Walking is easy when there are wild roses to smell!

Now that warm weather is here to stay (hopefully), Wee Bob is learning the "ropes" of summertime!

#1.  How to drink from a water hose.

#2. How to wash the cars and trucks.

#3. How to spend the day fishing.

All the important things a boy from the south should know!!

As Wee Bob's birthday approached, JR spent quite a bit of time wondering what to give Wee Bob for his 2nd Birthday.

Wee Bob and JR discussed quite a few options.  A pony?  A little four-wheeler?  A swing set?   It had to be the perfect gift for a little boy turning two!  Finally, after many cans of Mountain Dew, known as "Dew" in the  south, the decision was made to build Wee Bob his very own .............

SAND PILE!  When the load of of sand arrived, Wee Bob just had to stand at the top and survey his "kingdom"!  WEE-BOB, KING OF THE SAND PILE!!

Then he had to climb up and down several times.

On another day, Wee Bob tried sliding down the pile of sand.

Better yet, why not just roll down the sand hill?!!  A little sand in your hair never hurt anything!!

Eventually, JR constructed a border around the sand using old railroad ties.  Then he used the backhoe to smooth the sand into place leaving lots of hills for the trucks and tractors to go up and down.  

Wee Bob is loving the digger and dump trucks!

The dump truck with the blue cab seems to be a favorite.

A sand pile wouldn't be complete without a beach chair and a bucket!

What a way to spend a summer afternoon -- making sand castles with mommy and......  

....eating a Popsicle! 

The new sand-digger arrived just in time for summer fun!  Pooh is showing Wee Bob how to scoop up the sand and dump it in the dump truck.

Wee Bob is beginning to get the hang of it.

  First you scoop it up and then you....

swivel to the left and dump the sand into the truck!  

I have almost convinced myself that this is better than the beach!  Almost.  But you know what would really make it better than the beach?  Our very own swimming pool!!!  Are you listening JR?  Hello?  JR, are you with me on this?  JR, are you there?  Hello? Why do I get the feeling that my plea is landing on deaf ears???

(As I am writing this post, JR is putting a fence around the sand pile because you know what seem to think it is an ideal place to use the potty! How could we have thought that the cows would ignore all this wonderful, fresh, soft, white sand?)

Here's to summer fun!!

Dee Dee

gggggg

OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

The last time I was aware of time was in April......now it is the end of May!  Where did May go?  Did the sun shine?  Did it rain?  Was it warm?  I have no idea.  Things have moved so fast at school and at home that May has become just a blur in time.  Having several teeth that decided to malfunction did not help matters.  Some of the new pain medication will definitely send a patient to "la la land".  And why is it that whenever a tooth decides to hurt it is always on a weekend????  Nevertheless, as I look back over my May pictures I see that life was going on as usual.

 After several months of working day and night, Papa T, Meme T and Big A are finally ready to open their car repair shop.

 Big A and Papa G getting one of the lifts in place.

 Now it's time to paint!

 Big A painting all the high parts.  Hmmm....a couple of strong vines and Big A could swing from the rafters like Tarzan!  Wheeeeee!

 Papa G pressure washing the floors -- before the walls were painted.  They were very "nasty" looking!

 Big A securing "something".  Could it be a rope or a vine??

 JR. putting a coat of paint on some stools that will be used in the shop.  That's Wee Bob "working" in the background.

 Wee Bob is fixing "something" to take to the shop.

 Meanwhile, amid all the May madness, Pooh is hard at work learning the "ins and outs" of her new job.

 And YES, there was a Mother's Day in May.  I remember now!  We ate fried chicken, baked beans, strawberry short cake, and mashed potatoes with gravy. We drank ice tea and munched on green beans!   (Not necessarily in that order.)  May is slowly coming back to me now.  Warm, sunny days.....cool "open window" nights.   

 And sometime during the month of May, on a sunny, hot day, Wee Bob found time to swim with his friend.  

JR figured I needed some better luck so he brought me a 4-leaf clover he found

 Back at the shop......What an improvement!  The shop is painted and the picnic table is in place.  According to JR, all shops need a picnic table so that people can share munchies and "shoot the bull"!

The trees and vines are in place -- Whoops!  I mean lifts and wires!  Everyone is checking out the shop to see what remains to be done.

 Big A giving his opinion on "something".  I sure do have a lot of "somethings" in this post.   Most likely it is because I was aware that "something" was going on but I was not aware of what it was.  I could go on and on about what these "somethings" are but that would be fruitless.   For the most part, May, 2014, will forever remain a blurry mystery!!

 The office desk is in place.  The computers are up and running.  Tarzan is the new bookkeeper!  I mean Big A!  I mean.......Oh, never mind......Get ready, set.....GO!

And here it is!  Cumberland Mountain Automotive is now officially open for business!!