Oh my poor beautiful tree!

My beautiful, old apple tree that used to look like this.....
that used to put out beautiful, fragrant apple blossoms like this....

now looks like this...

(By the way, notice the dog house in the above picture? Well, look closely and you'll see Diamond the hound dog peeking out of the dog house. She was in there when the tree fell. :O) It almost got her!)
It just sorta fell. It was a very old tree but we still hadn't expected this to happen. It was loaded with little apples this year, as it was most years. Once we went outside and looked, it didn't take but a second to figure out what happened.
This....

is the stump. You can see clean through it!! It had really rotted out bad on the inside. It rained the morning it fell, so I guess the extra weight from the water was all it took to tip it over. Sure will miss that tree. We got many a good apple from it!
Oh, and ewwwwww! Look at this huge spider we found!! I don't know what kind it is, but he was one scary looking dude. Might have to look real careful to see him. He was pretty well camouflaged. Anybody know what kind it is? Not that it matters. He's gone now. :O) Just curious.

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope everybody had as nice a Memorial Day as we did today. We spent most of our day out on the lake. It was a bit overcast today, but that made it nice...because it actually got quite hot out there! We fished a bit, had lunch, Katie went swimming, and just boated around. :O) This first picture gives a clearer understanding to why these mountains are called the Smokies. :O)

And here is where we were fixing to go under the I-40 bridge over Douglas Lake. (quite a bit of traffic out today!)
Here's Katie swimming...

Rachel driving...

And one tired little girl on the way back home. :O)

New Jersey...

Well, actually not just ONE new jersey, but two. :O) We got two of the CUTEST little jersey calves today! They're both steers. One will go in the freezer around October or November. The other one will probably be sold after it puts on more weight. Aren't they just the most darlin' little things you've ever seen?

It's been a busy, busy day on the old farmstead today. We were in the tater patch most all morning. We cultivated and hilled. (When I say tater patch I don't mean just a few little short rows....we're talking nine rows of about 75 feet each...maybe longer!) We were famished by lunchtime! Then we went and picked up the little calves and brought them home. Got them unloaded in the corral and all settled in. Then Jacob bush-hogged a field and we loaded up the cut grass the old-fashioned way....by hand with a pitchfork. Ugh! Hard work! God bless the old-timers who had to do it that way all the time! :O) We'll feed the cut grass to the calves until we let them out of the corral and into the pasture with the other cows...probably later in the week. We had plans of working in the garden and doing a few other things, but the daylight hours just ran out on us. I guess we'll enjoy our day of rest on the Lord's Day tomorrow, then go back at it on Monday. I'll leave you with a picture of Johann...he's growing like a weed. :O) Hope you all have a great Memorial Day!

This has been a busy week!

We had three big events take place this week. Thursday was the first event...SCHOOL IS OVER FOR THE YEAR!!! Yippee! It's funny, but most years we really celebrate the end of school. We're all excited and happy and normally do "something" to celebrate. But this year, school was sorta just....well...over. It just ended. Oh don't get me wrong...we're all excited and happy about it and looking forward to summer break. But there was just no big party mood. It's done. It's over. Now let's move on to summer. :O) Suits me fine. I'm always ready for a break, but as usual, I'm already planning for next year. Speaking of next year, we are working on getting Jacob enrolled in the community college here so he can get a jumpstart on his college courses. Even though he'll be a senior in high school, he'll be able to take some courses. He's really looking forward to it! I'll keep y'all posted about that.

Our next big event was Rachel's spring recital. She did wonderful! She played a Bach piece entitled Sheep May Safely Graze. I understand it's a popular song to play at weddings. She was nervous, of course, but being nervous isn't always a bad thing I suppose. Here are some pictures taken just before the recital:

Here is the picture taken after the recital with her teacher, Mrs. Jenny.

And last, but not least, we began replacing our cows again!! Woohoo!! We're just tickled pink about that. A farm is just not a farm without some cows. Our hills have seemed so lonely without them. So far, we've started out with four.....three are Matt's and one is Jacob's. Aren't they just beautiful?

A Nice Warm Fire...

A nice warm fire??? in May??? Well, technically, we're just making preparations for a nice warm fire...next winter. We've been working on getting next year's firewood. I've always heard that using wood for heat "warms you twice...when you're cutting it and when you're burning it!" I believe it. It isn't one of my favorite chores...cutting wood...but come winter, it's definitely worth it. As always around here, workdays are "family bonding times"...(haven't quite convinced the kids of this yet.) We all work together...everybody has a job to do.
Jacob with the chainsaw...
Matt busting wood...

Here's Katie holding the wood down...lest it blow out on the way back to the house...

Notice Rachel...clothes are clean...hair is all in place...let's see, if I remember right, I think she said her job was putting the maul in the truck when the work was done.
Even the dogs participate in work days. Sugar was there to keep us company.

My job? Oh, don't think that I wasn't working just because you don't see a picture of me! I broke a sweat too, ya know. It's a difficult thing...standing out in the hot sun...being family photographer. :O) Nah, seriously, I worked. I even used the chainsaw. By the way, for those of you who don't know, that chainsaw has a special place in my heart. It's MINE. Matt gave it to me as a gift on my birthday. No joke. (Thanks again, Honey!) He's such a romantic! :O)

Row, row, row your boat!

Katie had some birthday money to spend this week, and here's one thing she picked out...it's a one-girl-raft. :O) Learning to row was a bit difficult (and tiring) at first, but she's getting the hang of it now. So far, it's brought her several hours of pleasure.

Puppy love :O)

Apple trees, puppies, and school

Ah! Springtime brings with it some lovely scenes, doesn't it? Our old (and I do mean "old") apple tree is just bursting with blooms again this year. (Last year I think we got 3 apples...tiny apples...due to the drought.) Typically, this old tree has been faithful to load us down with delicious apples at the end of every summer. I can hardly wait for some good cooked apples!! Aren't the blooms just beauti-mous? :O)

Ok, so that takes care of part of the title to this post, now onto the puppies. I was sitting in my chair yesterday morning about 7:00 reading. Hearing a noise, I looked out the window to see three itty bitty puppies running down the road whimpering. :O( Long story short, apparently someone had set them out. (This happens quite a bit around here.) By the time I got out on the front porch, they were down the road and around the corner. It wasn't long, however, before I heard them again. I woke up Miss Critter (Katie...just in case you didn't know) and as soon as she heard what I said about puppies, she leaped out of bed and flew out the door! When she got out there, only one was sitting in the road...whining and waiting. She picked the pup up and lugged it home. :O) She was ooh-ing and aah-ing over it, when lo and behold, here come the other two. They were so scared. :O( Anyhow...(I did say I was going to make a long story short, didn't I?)...so here we are with three pups on our hands...two females and one male. Hmmm. No, I don't think we need more dogs, do we? No, in fact, I'm quite sure we don't. So, because we have a neighbor who is in charge of our local pet adoption program, she came right over to pick them up...well...all except the little male. Katie already has two dogs, so Rachel gets the bright idea that she just HAS to have this one. After all, she's NEVER had a puppy before. Her dad agrees, so she sets about coming up with a name. Being the budding violinist that she is, she immediately names him Johann...as in Johann Sebastian Bach, the composer. Oh how she just loved little Johann. I mean, "he's just the sweetest little thing, isn't he, Mom?" she would exclaim. Two hours later, she is informed that she needs to go clean up sweet little Johann's "mess" in the yard. Oh, she does it allright, but before she even gets back in the house, she's asking, "Does anybody else want Johann?" Serious. Can you guess who has him now? :O) Bet ya can.

In the picture below, notice the look on Rachel's face...give this gal a violin and some Bach music and she's in hog heaven. Give her a puppy and it's like this..."Umm, you're really cute little puppy, but, um, you kinda stink and you're dirty, and ew, don't lick me! Guh-ross!"
Now, note the look on Katie's face. Yep, Katie and puppies...it's a natural. In fact, Katie and animals in general are just quite natural.

And now for a school update...achievement tests have been taken and we are in the final lap of our 2007-2008 school year!!! How close are we to the finish line, you ask? I'm glad you asked!! I'm happy to announce that, after today, we have FOURTEEN school days left!!! May 15th and we are finished! It's been a good year...we have all learned alot...and I already find myself planning for next year, but come May 15th, we are going to celebrate! :O)