Things on the farm have been great - the arctic weather was swept out of here in a hurry and we have even had days that reached 80 degrees!!!! Zack, of course, was lovin' every waking moment of that! Jake went with some friends from college, to New Mexico (3 hr drive) to snow ski at Angelfire. They had a blast, but he had only been skiing one time in his mere existence on this planet and that was when he was 7!! The second day, he shucked the skis and strapped on a snowboard, with which he has never done! He said that 6 people told him that he should be wearing a helmet! When I delved deeper into more details of this winter adventure that he survived, his response was, "You only live once, Mother!"
Ohhhh, the worries!!!
Anyway, here are some updates since the last posting!
A good friend who goes to Mexico at Christmas time to visit her relatives, brought me this bottle of "REAL" vanilla! Oh, it is SOOOO not the same as the Walmart version! You outta try it sometime if you can find some!
I have blogged since 2007 and wanted so much to print each of my postings, for posterity purposes...well, I could never figure out how to print and I thought all of those memories, stories, photos and happenings were just going to be lost in computer space...until.....I.......happened across........this AMAZING website.....where you can..................PRINT YOUR BLOG!!!
Woo-hoo! It's called www.print2blog.com
My blogs, (yes, all of them), compiled into a near 300 page book, complete with a table of contents, page numbers, color photos and ALL of the blogs that I have ever posted!
Here's what the inside looks like! OMG...IT IS FABULOUS! If you are a blogger...YOU WOULD LOVE TO HAVE ONE! Check it out on line!
You start with live minnows. (Yes, that's my water trough that has now become a bait tank!) Make sure you have an aerator to provide enough oxygen to keep them swimmin'.
Next, you dip them out of the trough with a strainer, spread them out on something flat (An old rusted water trough works great!) and let them suffer, flop and bake in the sun 'til they draw their last breath.
Poor minners!
NEXT - scrape them into a 5 gallon bucket, add some menhayden oil and let the mixture cure for a couple of weeks...
BE SURE TO PUNCH AND MIX WITH A STOB. (that means, mix it well with a stick) Once the minnows congeal as one glob, add some "cheese" and some beef tallow...mix some more, wait a few more weeks and VOILA!
HOME MADE - REDNECK - PUNCH BAIT!
Switching gears.........
After school last week, we went out to fix a turkey feeder at our friend's hunting lease on the Red River. It was a spectacular afternoon and the views were astounding! When you can see 360 degrees, a camera just can't capture the sight! (but here's a try at it....)
scrubby pasture land
Red River Flood Plain
Zack and Dyke standing on the bluff, looking out at the Red River bottom land
Scouting for wildlife!
Fixing the turkey feeder
Another afternoon last week, as I was driving home, the sun was setting and it was absolutely amazing...again, the colors that God paints His sunsets are certainly not able to be captured by camera.
Almost home...
I lay in bed, covers up to my chin, wondering how the cattle made it through the night and if the new calf was still alive. The fire was out in the stove; although, the house was not too cold. As I usually do when I get up, I check to see if I can see any of the cows out...first I checked north and sure enough, there were about 8 that I could see. Huddled at the horse pens. Glancing out the east window, there were several more - pawing through the snow to get to the small strands of green wheat. I knew I better get out there and tend to things...I didn't even stop to put the coffee on. The frigid air stole my breath as I stepped outside. There were 4 strange dogs out by the barn. As soon as they saw me, three of them barked and took off. All except one that was all white and very thin. She had her head in a large silver pot out by the horse trailer. She wasn't stuck in it, but kept putting her head down in the pot. Of course, Penny and Jess went bounding over there, their hair standing in tall ridges down their spines. They ignored my call. By their agressive stances, curled lips and barred teeth, I knew I better get them in the barn before a fight broke out. It reminded me of the movie, Call of the Wild! My lungs and throat were strained and almost paralyzed, as I hollered at them through the arctic air. I had to cover my mouth with the flaps of my rabbit fur bomber-style hat, in between hollers. Finally, they listened and I was able to coax them in and shut the barn door.
The cattle were hungry. 
It made me smile to see the new calf shuddering at her mama's side. At least she was alive and with the herd. 
The chimes sang their 7 o'clock proclamation. It was warm in the house, but I knew that I would have to get out there and tend to the animals. By the time I got ready to go out, I couldn't even see the barn - visability was probably 10 feet. I put the coffee on, so it'd be ready upon my return, pulled on my coveralls, wrapped my wildrag around my neck and mouth, and zipped up my Carhartt. 
The wind was biting cold. Someone could die in weather like this. I trudged out to the barn through the nearly knee-deep drifts, the snow packing up under the legs of my coveralls. Ooooo, it was cold as it melted against my warm skin. 
The dogs ran wildly, chasing each other, until they became submerged to their ears in the snow. It made me laugh! As I got to the barn, the horses' shivering was very obvious. 
They were covered in snow and balls of ice, the size of silver dollars. 
Even with protection under the barn, they were very cold. As they chomped on their sweet feed and then hay, I scraped the snow and ice off their coats.
Their shivering seemed to lessen. I had to rip a iron fencepost from the frozen ground to break ice in the trough. 
The water was solid in places, and slushy in others - at least I could get some water released.
The drifts were nearly head high in places. I rolled under the hotwire and kept moving. I was really concerned with finding the new calf, but only a handfull of cows were at the hay, backs turned to the north, just standing like statues. I tried to look for the rest, but the frigid wind was freezing the tears in my eyes. I could sort of make out some black cattle standing down in the dry creek bed, out of the wind, so I decided if they weren't smart enough to seek cover, there was nothing I could do, and headed back up to the barn.
It was warm-ish in the henhouse, but their water was an iceblock. I could tell that there weren't 12 hens, even though I couldn't see all the way up under the nesting boxes. Again, there was nothing I could do. I closed them in and headed back to the house - all of my footprints from earlier, had been erased by the wind. Grabbing the cats from the barn, we pushed with the wind toward the house - the cats were glad for the warmth of the laundry room and some Friskies. I shucked all of my snow covered clothing and stood by the fire. Dyke had gotten up, remade the fire from the night before, and was watching the news. My cheeks burned with the instant warmth that touched them. 
I walked to the window to see how tall the drifts had gotten and saw something orange under my cactus.
As I tried to focus my eyes from the blinding whiteness, I realized it was one of my hens. She had been out all night, sought refuge under the cactus and just huddled there in the drift. I ran outside, snow crunching under my slippers, sounding like I was walking on a pile of broken pieces of styrofoam. I scooped her up and could feel the packed snow and ice under her wings and tail. Wrapping her in a towel, I sat with her beside the fire. She was unresponsive. The snow began to quickly melt and drip and I was able to remove the slabs that had frozen up under her wings. 
As I unwrapped her from the towel, thinking the heat from the fire would warm her faster, she opened her eyes. I placed her on the towel and she just hunkered there. Her toes were caked in ice. I knew she wasn't going anywhere soon, so I poured another cup of coffee and went up to wake Zack. I crawled under the covers with him and we visited. He was glad that school was cancelled. After I finished half of my mug, I headed back down to check on my hen. What I saw completely amazed me! 
She had laid an egg right there on the towel! It was so egg-citing! I knew I had to put that in my blog! It was warm and oh so fresh!