Oh my.. Whole Lots of Busy Going On!!

Hello dear friends and favorite family peeps!

Ah.. how I love being able to talk with just YOU!

No I did not fall off the face of the earth... it's May.. and this is the busiest time of our year on the ranch. We have baby lambs being born, markets to sell at, and the ranch is 'full speed ahead' (grass is growing, etc.)

For example, just this past week we have:

Celebrated Mother's Day
Sami and I left on Monday for 4 days to the coast - with the 6th grade class (insane time of year, but I refused to let either of us miss the trip! I could not let her go w/o a watchful eye - the teacher is one NOT in total control)
I purchased a special birthday gift for myself! New Camera! (Not an SLR, yet a great point and shoot!)
Saw my 48th birthday come and go on the 'down low' (spent with the 6th graders)
Pondered why some parents don't parent (6th graders)
Came home on Thursday night to 2 exhausted men/boys! They were sunburned, dusty, and worn out from helping the Shearing Crew (who travel on the road and shear flocks of sheep), Jake was pulled from school for 2 days to work.
Mowed the lawn for 1 hour - still have 4 to go!
Left for Boise yesterday morning - soaked up a beautiful day of sun and got back 12 hours later, and did chores - milk goat, feed 7 baby lambs, etc. etc. etc. Dropped into bed at 8pm.

And, tomorrow we have Jake's birthday.

I will share photos later! I have 122 shots from the coast trip. Lots of fun stuff!

Happy Sunday to you all!

Off to mow before the rains hit.

You Know it's Spring When....

Backyard Shenanigans
The kids are actually seeking refuge from the lambs!

My Favorite Tree Is now in Bloom!

Part of the Backyard Scene
See how tall the grass is under the trampoline?
Holy Moly!
Lambs, chickens, cats, kids.
Oh my...

The Far Away View
Dang that grass!
Its grows
It gets cut
It gets raked
Repeat
It's needs water
But it sure is gorgeous!

*********************

These are the signs of Spring at Casa de Sexton:

1. The apple trees are blossoming and smell so good!
   
2. The grass is super tall and we can't keep Mr. Deere on top of it - or a mower person. We mow in sections.. It can be a daily chore.
   
3. The grass needs to be raked.... and 'raker people' are hard to come by!
   
4. The bummer lambs follow you everywhere - and the kids seek refuge on the trampoline
5. The chickens are very chatty and like to get into the piles of raked grass
   
6. Bottle feeding schedule is out of control! GADS... 6 am for all 10 (2 babies died yesterday); 11 am for the babies, noon for the big ones, 4 pm for the babies, 6 pm for big ones, 8 pm for the babies.
7. We just could not get away for a decent outing yesterday.. Due to #6, and yard work.. The kids and I had hoped to go swimming! Another day...
   
8. More chicks are arriving this Thursday... Mr. Sexton is building the pasture poultry house! Yeah!
   
9. The town/shopping list includes:

• Claritin D
• Eye drops
• Wasp Spray
  
• 4 bags of chick starter
• Lamb pellets
  
• 3 bags of layena
• 2 bags of lamb milk replacer
• Coffee (lots, please!)
• Lots of fun ice creams and the makings for root beer floats

Yep! Spring has sprung!

Sweet Spring Sunday!

Riding Back Home
(Just take a right at the road!)

A Perfect Combo of Our Life
Biking on the Ranch - gotta dismount and play!

What Catches My Eye

My Bike Apparel!

Wild Rose

Oh I love my Sundays....

Sunday was a blustery springish day. The sun was out, and the kids and I went for a bike ride. Brr! Talk about a cold ride! We parked the bikes and then walked along the Tally Dobbin Lane - on the ranch.

I loved every moment! I played with catching photos and the kids explored.

We saw two hawks courting.

A flicker

Owl Pellets

A Wild Rose with a few buds peaking through

A grainery tree (where flickers stash their goods)

It was heaven....

Followed by some super fun craftyness...

I Love Sundays...

Signs of Spring

Mr. Deere - Last Summer, At his 'finest'!
(I'm driving this baby into the ground)

We had a gorgeous day yesterday.. It actually got above 70 degrees! At one point in the day it was 74. But, alas, today it is 43 degrees... and rainy, and the wood stove is going (again)...

Yet.. I do know spring is knocking at our door... Here at the signs:

• The red winged blackbirds are hanging out in the yard, stealing the little bird's food that I put into the feeders
• The magpies are here, stealing dog and/or cat food!
• Flies. When the sun came out yesterday so did a bazillion flies! Killed about 6 fat ones today.
• The robins are back!
• The worm castings are here and there in the yard
• The grass is growing!!!
  
• The grass is turning green!
  
• The days are getting longer and longer and longer!!!! (I love my morning light)
  
• There will be about 20 MENFOLK here Thursday night for an irrigation ditch meeting (spare me - that means mud or manure on my carpet, and talkers who won't take the hint that it is time to leave after the meeting is adjourned! Oh, and why do I feel the need to clean my house for this motley bunch???)..
  

And, the grand 'Signs of Spring' finale....

Mr. Deere is working again! Yippee! I am so excited, really and truly. On Sunday, my sweet husband fixed Mr. Deere... He gave him a tune-up, sharpened the blades and finally fixed the whole electrical problem that had me charging (and cursing) the battery each night last summer!!

So, the next clear day, guess who is mowing the lawn! Yep.. Your's truly! I'm sure there will be stories to be told... Especially since there is no sun in sight in the 10 day forecast, which means the grass is going to grow, and grow, and grow...

Welcome Spring! (yeah right!)

Puppies and Dogs - April 8th Snow fall!

Train Wreck About to Occur (someone stealing someone else's food)

My little Garden Zone.. Waiting Patiently

I'm still complaining over here...

We got 2 inches of snow last night.. It was a beautiful storm, I must say.. Big ol' fat flakes.. My husband was in Hermiston and had to drive over two passes with a trailer full of cattle... GADS.

But he got home safe and sound. Thank goodness for answered prayers.

A neighbor who has lived here all her life called... I thought she was calling to give sympathy to the poor Californians... and give a tease or two (we are the Californians, who have been here 9 years).. BUT she was complaining too! She called to see what was on our Christmas List, since Spring/Summer/Fall have decided to leave... We had a good laugh.. Unreal. Even the natives have had enough...

The sun is out now, and it's 26 degrees.. The 10 day forecast shows higher temps in our future.

Fingers crossed!

HELLO!! Spring? Where Art Thou?

Spring my big foot! There is frost on the deck, a light dusting of more snow, and it is 25 degrees here! I'm getting concerned about this funky weather pattern... It's April 5th!

Come on Spring... I promise to be a good girl... here are my promises to you this garden year (if you show up, that is):

1. I promise to mow my lawn before it's a foot tall
2. I promise to water the grass and not let it get too stressed
   
3. I will lovingly tend to all potted annuals, instead of letting them die a slow horrid death
4. I will trim all the nasty grass/weeds that grow along the fence lines instead of allowing them to get 2 feet tall (note: this is a big promise...)
   
5. I promise to rake and/or pickup the million and one pine cones BEFORE I break out Mr. Deere, instead of my 'usual' pretending I don't see them and thus, mowing over them and praying they don't break a window or knock out one of my kids after I send them flying from under the mower deck...
   
6. I promise not to hit the fences with the front or rear of Mr. Deere, or the dog houses, or flower beds, or the trampoline, or the swing set, or the all the other bazillion objects that ARE IN MY WAY! Including the tree trunks... (hmm, must be why most of them lean - but I will blame it on the North prevailing winds)..
   

OK.. I think that's a very good list of promises... So come on Spring.. Lift this cloud cover and snow fluries... Bring on the sunshine.. Spread some love here for crying out loud!

T.G.I.T.F.D.O.S.!

Notice Anything Different?

Can you guess what the acronym in my post title stands for? A hint or two are listed below... There are quite a few happening events occurring over the next few days. If you are a trivia buff, this post is for you!

• Day equals Night today.
  
• Vernal Equinox is today (dance under the moon, baby!) - A fancy name for the equal day and night thing... happens again in September. This is the time when the days get longer than the nights; and the opposite happens in September.
  
• There is a Full Moon on Friday (I follow the moon. It calls me.)
  
• Good Friday is this Friday
  
• I finally saw two Robins in our yard, today! They are in the photo above. Aren't they on time!!
  
• Easter is this Sunday (The date also has to do with full moons. Easter is on the first Sunday following the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox).
  

Got all that?
Thank God it's the first day of spring!!!

It's FINALLY March!

I have LOTS to share with you. I LOVE March! This is the month I can finally find a patch of bare grass (aka not covered in snow) somewhere within the snow drifts in the yard and THANK GOD for longer days, and warmer temperatures. I am so not a Winter girl. I love the warmth of the sun.. I love summer. I really love spring! And I miss all the warm places I love to visit. It's 39 degrees here, which is WARM for us! Yahoo! But it did snow yesterday....so I must enjoy one day at a time.

Here's my 'Why I love March' list:

• The days are getting longer! I love daylight. I am a morning person.
  
• I can start my morning walks again.
• The highway is not covered in ice and I can drive 55 mph instead of 15 or 20
  
• The robins will be back sometime this month bopping around the yard
  
• The red wing black birds are here singing their lovely morning songs
• All our colds and flus are behind us. See ya, germs!
  
• Sunshine in March is beautiful! It's the welcoming sunshine that you let into all the windows, not the hot stuff.
  
• It's too cold to mow the lawn (some years the snow has melted by now) yet warm enough to enjoy the great outdoors!
• Spring Break is at the End of the Month.. When the kids and I hit the highway for adventures! See ya Cabin Fever!
  
• There's still a ton of snow, but I know it is melting little by little each day!
• This is the month I get to mostly play on the weekends instead of work! My last Hurrah before the markets start up again.
  
• My metabolism seems to 'rise and shine' in March! I get back into my 'I think I want to be an athlete mode' and busy bee mode. The athlete thing usually peters out.. but this year could be different! Dick and I were on a diet (today is the last day) and I have lost 10 pounds! So, this March is extra special. I am a new person! I have a new attitude. And I want to keep this momentum going.
  

Below are some photos of latest events here at our corner of the world, as well as long posts... you can read em, or skip em.

Have a great day!

Yep. Spring, in Eastern Oregon
Finally! March has arrived! The kids decided to go fly a kite on the last day of February, since it was a beautiful 30 degree blustery day... Patchie is in the right corner, offering assistance.

Up it Goes!

Pencil Pushers... Ranch Style.

So, what do you do when you are bored and it's too cold outside to play? My husband is in charge of entertainment here at home (I'm in charge of off the ranch fun stuff, like dates). Well, for some reason, the kid's fearless leader (aka their father) asked if the kids could balance a pencil on their nose. My husband, apparently, is a pro! Little did I know about his hidden talent. Another one of those 'many years into marriage you discover ....' things. Wish I got a photo of him doing his demo, but he is a sly ol' fox!

Jake, eagerly offered 'Sure, I do it all the time at school'! Um... This would be one of MANY reasons that I bought Jake a Sponge Bob Square Pants shirt for Valentines' that says 'Uh, Could You please Repeat the part after Listen Carefully?".. It was more for his teacher than for him.. He is always preoccupied with his own priorities... sigh..
Now Sami, on the other hand, has never tried this trick. Nor have I. As in, good girls in school! The boys excel in this category of useful skills. Spoon dangling off your nose? Now that's something I can do! My three musketeers spent a good portion of one afternoon having contests.

Remember All My Complaints About My Woodstove?

Well here is the beast. Ripped apart. This is what my living room looked like for 3 weeks. Let's just say, the woodstove has been a very long winter saga. The saga of the woodstove that refused to work right. The topic of many a Husband vs Wife discussion...
He said: "It's just fine, you don't know how to operate it!"
She said: "It shouldn't be smoking! I'm tired of breathing in Smoke! It's not good for us!"
He said: "I'll fix it!" (About October, I might add).
She said: "OK, the stove is still not fixed. Can I call a professional?"
He said: "No, I said I would fix it!"
Repeat the above for about three months... then..

Finally, He got up on the roof to clean out the woodstove. He was waiting for the snow to clear (Hello! It's Winter!). This happened about two months ago. Then he lit a fire. Still smoked.. (I could have told him it would, but I let him find out for himself. I just knew the darn thing wasn't working right. I have my sources.)

Then, about 3 weeks ago, HE started the ripping apart process. Remember when I was sick? Well, on the very first BAD DAY OF SICKNESS HE sent me to the store to get parts while HE tried to do Ranch Payroll. Hello. Role reversal. I hate being out in public with a runny nose and scratchy throat. It's even worse waiting around for about an hour, with no tissues! Sleeves. Thank goodness my son was no where in sight to see me doing what I constantly tell him NOT to do! No telling how many people I infected. And everyone said 'Oh, you poor thing, are you sick?' Except what's his name. I'm still not over it.

THEN parts had to be ordered. Week goes by.

THEN he was too busy to fix the stove. Another week goes by.

THEN FINALLY on THE LAST DAY OF FEBRUARY the woodstove get's fixed! Yeah! Too bad this didn't happen oh, FOUR MONTHS AGO!!! I've been freezing my toes, and other pointy body parts for months!!! Sure, we have central heat, but there is no heat like wood heat. Which brings me to the next paragraph.

Today is March 2nd, and it's hotter than heck in the house...I think about 80 degrees worth. I better not complain. 'The woodstove is working just fine, darlin'!' I have the windows open upstairs and I am wearing a T-Shirt with my sweaty betties. And I am barefoot! The sun is out in all it's glory, AND IT'S 39 DEGREES OUTSIDE! Spring has sprung, baby.