New Tenants. Best Buddies.

We have some new tenants on the farm. Matt came home from the stock pen today with two new heifers. Give 'em a day or two to settle into the place and they'll be right at home. Aren't they pretty?
We've also had a visitor the past few days. Cousin Hannah came to stay several days with Katie. And boy, have those two had fun! You just can't imagine the things those two best buddies have been into.
They've camped out (really...all night long!)...
they've roasted marshmallows...
(thanks to a little help from big brother) :O)
They've been on treasure hunts, they've been swimming in the pond, they've solved mysteries and been on adventures. (I have them washing dishes at the moment or they'd be doing something else really exciting, I'm sure.) It's really nice having a best buddy (who just happens to be your cousin), don't ya think? And what has Rachel been up to this week? She got to spend a day with Mamaw and Papaw. That was a nice treat. Other than that, she's just been hanging around being Rachel. Wouldn't have it any other way. :O)
That's all for this bloggy update. I'm going to make some homemade ice cream. It disappears fast around here! Bye for now!

Just when I thought I was finished...

We picked yet another 5 gallon bucket of beans yesterday. So I was busy canning today...just when I thought I had canned enough! :O) But I'm not complaining....I'm thankful my shelves are stocked with plenty. And I'd say 78 jars of green beans is plenty, wouldn't you? (especially since there are some beans left from last year too!) :O)
We went fishing again Monday at Douglas Lake. Spent most of the day fishing and swimming and just boating around. I love to go into one of the many coves on this lake. It was quite refreshing to dive into the water when it was a hot and muggy 95 degrees outside. We caught about 5 or 6 fish....most of them too small to keep. But here's a picture of the Queen Fisherwoman (as she called herself) with one of her bluegill....
The mountains looked quite "smoky" today....it was pretty hazy. Just when we were in the thick of catching fish, a storm rolls in. We didn't get rain, but the lightning was awful! We pulled into a small cove, tied the boat on shore, and waited on the bank for a while. (Rachel grabbed the cooler to take with us....just in case we're stranded here for days? "Mom, how long do you think this last ham sandwich will last us?" "Oh, at least 20 minutes Rachel...at least.") I do not like being near water in a bad storm!! Yikes. Scary how quick one can come up! Here is a picture of one of our fishing spots....if you look closely, near the center of the picture you can see Indian Creek Bridge. We fed alot of fish here....yep, fed them. Quick as we threw our line in the water, they stole the bait! A few times, we'd almost get one up to the boat, then it'd get off the line! We didn't actually catch any fish here, but we left them alot fatter than when we got there! :O)
Oh, and the other day we went fishing in the Nolichucky River...wading and fishing (a very fun and refreshing thing to do on a hot day). Only one of us caught any fish that day. I'd tell you who it was, but I really don't like to brag. And it would be bragging for me to say that I was the one who caught that BIG BASS. So I won't say it. I'll just keep it to myself. I'm really a modest sort of person. Really.
Won't be long before school starts....August 6 is just around the corner.

Scratch. Scratch. And Scratch.

This has been quite an "itchy" week for 3 out of 5 of us. :O) But things are looking up now....Katie looks great and it seems out poison ivy patches are beginning to dry up at last....thank the Lord!! Ugh! This has been like a plague! Katie's shown quite an improvement from this past Monday. Within a few hours of taking the steroids, we started noticing the swelling going down slowly. Now you have to look closely to even see a faint outline of where the poison was. She is one happy little girl again. :O)
In between itching episodes, I was able to can another 18 jars of green beans (bringing my total to about 60), and I also tried something new this year...pickled peppers. I put banana pepers, jalapenos, and cayenne peppers in the same jar. Hope they turn out well.
Thanks to all who were concerned about Katie. :O) Hope all is well wherever you are! And now, we're off to do a little fishing in the Nolichucky! I'll be posting again soon!

Another "DUH!" moment in the life of me.

I will readily confess that I've never been "overly" smart...but when I look back at things I do sometimes, I can only slap my forehead and say "What WAS I thinking??" Ugh! What a weekend. In my last post here http://tnfarmandschool.blogspot.com/2008/07/big-tree-singing-dog-o.html you may remember that I wrote about the big tree that fell over the fence and how we worked to clean up the mess and fix the fence. Did I mention that there was poison ivy on this big tree? Actually I probably didn't because, even after seeing the poison ivy, I still didn't think a thing about it! No bells and whistles went off in my head. No memories of days gone by when we'd have Katie at the doctor's office waiting for a prescription of steroids to take care of the poison ivy. So anyway, on with the story...you may also remember that I even (stupidly) took a picture of Katie standing beside the big tree. Katie...my youngest child...the one who is highly allergic to poison ivy. (I confess I even took one of her climbing ON the tree! Now how dumb is that???) The sad part of all this is that it just didn't click. There was no electrifying moment when I gasped and said, "Oh Katie, get away from that tree!" Nope. Sorry to say that I just did not think. Period. And so because of my not thinking....we've had a long weekend. Matt's arms are swollen from poison ivy. I have patches of it all over. But Katie (yes, the one who is highly allergic to poison ivy) is just pitiful. The picture below was taken on Sunday....it was bad...
but Monday morning was even worse!
I feel so terrible! I was never so glad to get to a doctor's office as I was this morning. We were there when they opened up. And so....little Miss Katie is now swallowing 4 prednisone pills at a time for the next 7 days, then we begin to taper her off. *sigh* What's a kid to do with a mama like me? *sigh* The moral of this story? Some poor youngens just have to look out for themselves. Y'all pray for her. (and for me while you're at it.) *sigh*

Big Tree. Singing Dog. :O)

Usually every morning, we ride around on the 4wheelers to check on the cows. We also check the fenceline. Well this morning, it's a good thing we did! There was a really big tree that had fallen and taken part of the fence with it...leaving a nice big hole for the cows to walk through. Thankfully, they hadn't found it before we did, so they were still in the fence. The tree was a really big red oak and it'll give us lots of good firewood for the winter.
So that takes care of the "Big Tree" part of the title. Now onto the "Singing Dog". By now you all know that Rachel plays the violin...quite well, I might add. We're not quite sure if Johann the pup likes it or hates it! Everytime she plays, he starts howling. I really don't know if he means "I'll sing along while you play" or "Stop playing, you're hurting my ears!" Either way, it's quite amusing to watch.

Summer Days

Ah! Summer days...
Pretty flowers (thankful to be getting some good rain lately!)...
Goodies from the garden...
Jars filled with treasures...

And fish :O) Rachel caught this bass (and a bluegill) in our pond today (of course, Katie had to take it off the hook)...

Happy Birthday to Jacob!

Wow, another birthday has come to our house! Jacob turned 17 years old today! It's almost unreal that 17 years have passed. I vividly remember the day that little....I mean, BIG baby boy was born....weighing in at 9 lbs, 13 oz. Ouch. As with all of our youngens, we're very proud of Jacob and look forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for him in the days and years ahead. :O) And now for some birthday pics!

In the picture below, Jacob was trying to look "nice" for the picture...we were all singing Happy Birthday to him when, just as I snapped the pic, his Dad burned himself on the match used to light the candles and was yelping in pain. :O)
The birthday cake he picked out this year was a little different. It was some kind of ooey-gooey German chocolate cake-type thingie. It was good but oh-so-sweet! Instead of ice cream, we had ice cream sandwiches.
And for his birthday meal...we grilled ribeye steaks!! Oh yum! I also fixed fried new potatoes with little bits of bacon, and some fresh green beans right out of the garden.

His big birthday gift??? Doesn't every 17 year old want a new cell phone? :O)