I see a woman in profile

A Calla Lilly and a hatching Phoenix

A bird in flight

The letter “M”

An Angel Fish

A Pterodactyl

Gumby in flames

I guess I suffer form Pareidolia, I see “things” in everything I spy each day. To the point that it is annoying sometimes.

Drain cover.

Fire hydrant

Reflections

Vines

Architecture

Free parking

And… Me

One day I will go back, then I will show you more.

From the time they arrived, Momma would tell us all that they found the perfect gift for Gator. She would just giggle and laugh about it and that would get us all going. With great anticipation we sat down to open gifts. When Gator picked up his first gift, Momma went to giggling, and we all knew this must be the perfect gift she had spoken of.

When he pulled it out of the package, we all burst into laughter.

I will spare you the comments that were flying around the room, though if you know us at all, I am sure you can imagine. I hadn’t seen Gator laugh so hard in a while.

What was it you ask? You can’t tell from the pictures? Well, Gator got himself a nice squishy boobie ball!

I will have to give a bit of background on the next gift. When the rentals were here in September, it seemed a couple of field mice made their way into the house. Daddy (aka Pops) had observed one running in and out of our live trap (so much for being humane.) He took one of our snap traps, and baited it all up with a nice little piece of bacon, complete with a pretty little green bow tying it to the trap. Said trap sat there for two months and was never even tripped.

G-Man decided it was only fitting Pops received his piece of art back to cherish forever.

Pops was wondering what it could be

He cracked up once he got it out of the box and could see what it was

He then showed it off to everyone, and at that point Momma burst into laughter.

He was amazed that it never caught the mouse in question. Said he had to be very careful with it, as it would snap really hard.

Then came the line we all knew would be coming… “You know this will be coming back to Nowata next year, right?”

The rest of the evening went pretty well, opening gifts, sharing laughs, being surprised, and very thankful. We all thought that maybe G-Man was going to make it out of this gift giving unscathed. Once the last gift in the room was opened, Pops brought out one final gift for G-Man. We all knew it was on at this point.

See, we have this thing for trying to out-do something from a previous year. Last year, G-Man sent Pops an old prosthetic leg that he had found in a dumpster a few years back. For a year we all thought that there was no way at all possible that Pops could do one better than that… Little did we know…

When G-Man pulled out his knife and was warned to be very careful, it was fragile, we all did not know what to think. Except of course for Momma and Pops, who were watching with bright eyes, trying not to laugh. G-Man said he was “giddy with anticipation”

What Christmas gift from Daddy isn’t complete without a CL Brothers box somewhere in the mix?

Now, Pops has a saying, what goes to Nowata, stays in Nowata. I think he insured this will never be sent back to Deltona. G-Man was thrilled!

I would say that Pops one-upped G-Man on this one. From my understanding he spent many hours working to make this into a leg lamp.

Complete with a crew sock and painted toenails, the lamp is truly a work of art. Now the game is on, and G-Man will be searching high and low in the coming year for something that could possibly top this!

On December 15th, one of the brown eyed girls became a new momma. Unfortunately, she had twins, and the poor thing did not know what to do. We gave it as long as we could, but with the babies fading fast, I made the decision to bring them in to the tub. Both are little girls and here they are two days old.

Then yesterday, December 16th, Beulah had twins. I was so frustrated with her. She wouldn’t have anything to do with them. I took a towel out and tried to clean them up some, and kept taking them over to her. She was not a very good Momma with these babies, I must say. Finally, I had enough and decided to bring them in as well. The House Herd just doubled in size. Of these two, one is a boy and the other a girl. Here they are one day old.

Four babies in the tub is just too many. Hopefully we will get them in a pen outside this weekend. They are getting more mobile and holding their own. The little white one is already trying to jump out of the tub.

Then this morning, December 17th, Black Momma had twins. She is one of our very best mommas and will take great care of her babies. Here they are maybe 2 hours old

Then the other brown eyed girl had her baby, bringing the total number of new babies thus far on the farm to a lucky thirteen. Here the baby is less than an hour old.

We sure have our hands full on the farm. Never had so many new babies all at once. I hope they all grow up nice and strong.

First came the twins, via Harriet, on December 4th. We named them Nellie and Bandit. Nellie’s name has since been changed to Nels, as he is not a she like I first thought. In these pictures, they are nine days old. Nels is the light one, and Bandit is the one with a black mask over her eyes.

Then on the 7th, Cocoa delivered a little girl. She is six days old here.

On the 12th about mid day “B” had a little girl. Gator’s Girl named that little one Boots, for obvious reasons. She is One day old here.

The night of the 12th, Greedy Gretchen had her newest baby girl. She is not quite a day old here.

Today, the 13th, Pink had her first baby. A great big ole boy.

This is Pink

He is a Few hours old here.

Boots and Gretchen’s kid could be twins

Here are Cocoa’s girl and Pink’s boy resting in the A-frame shelter

You can definitely tell which babies are Bud’s. Now that the big billys are no longer an issue, the ole tripod goat seems to really be making his mark on the herd.

Of course I wanted to paint it on up, which I did, and posted a photo on my 365 page here http://lanailens365.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/day-209-mobile-coop/

Needless to say, we got waylaid by numerous projects that took priority over the mobile coop. With the onset of colder weather, the coop became priority number one to insure the chickies had a nice warm place to avoid the weather.

This morning after our coffee, we set out to complete the mobile coop. The first thing we wanted to do, was cut the screen out of the window on one side, This allows me to lower the side door, and refill the water we plan to keep inside.

While I made handy with the box knife on the screen, G-Man made short work of removing the lower door on the other side which we plan for the chickens to use to gain entry and exit as they please.

The next step was to build roosts for the chickies to use at bedtime. Here are views from both sides of the trailer.

Next we hung a heat lamp for use on very cold nights, I just realized I did nto get a pic of that, sorry.

Then to figure out the placement for the waterer, hopefully far enough away from the roosts to keep it from being covered in poo.

Next to close it all up, and move into alignment with the covered dog pen. We wired the pen gate open, and plan to line the door up with the open gate.

Proper alignment was a bit trickier than we hoped, but with G-Man’s muscles, and a well placed jack he got it moved as close as we could possibly get it.

Add about half a bale of straw for bedding covering the entire floor area.

We placed a 1×6 across the opening for the door to help hold the straw in. this created a little shelf, or landing for the chickies to jump up onto before coming on inside.

The final step was to see if the chickens would even come into the mobile coop. One of the Others, a Rhode Island Red was the first to venture in, closely followed by Dotte.

What started out as a simple 6×8 open coop has grown into quite the compound. We will leave it like this until spring, when the great move will take place. For now, I think our chickies have quite the spread.

The chickens loitered around all day trying to figure out what the humans were up to now. On a final note, we took down all but 2 of the roosts in the dog pen, all twenty seven birds were making quite the ruckus trying to all fit on those 2 little roosts. Hopefully they will wise up soon and start using the place we put so much work into.

Then came our answers all in the form of one very special man… My Daddy, who in my eyes can make anything happen. In his words, “If you want it bad enough, figure out a way to make it happen, and just do it!”

Daddy came up with all the answers to questions we had for months, and answers to some we had not even thought to ask ourselves.

What is the project you ask? Installing a new skirting around the bottom of the house. Thank goodness the rentals love projects, and helping out! In their view, these are prime opportunities for those most cherished memories and “bonding moments”. We tend to agree wholeheartedly, and welcome the knowledge we try to soak in as Daddy works at his normal non-stop pace.

This is what we began with… A bit tattered and temporary band-aids put in strategic places where the goats ripped the vinyl apart with their horns… Durn goats!

First things first…. DEMOLITION! Now who doesn’t enjoy demolition?

With the old skirting and band-aids removed, we have a nice clean slate to work with.

As with any home improvement project, however, there always seems to be unexpected snags we encounter, however. This was problem number one….

A bit of water damage behind and on the south side of the deck at the base of the siding. Not at all good!

But the answer man was not deterred and quickly came up with a great solution!

With a bit of paint, it will look just beautiful!

Problem number two was that once all the skirting was removed, we discovered a break in the drain line coming from the kitchen sink. I was sent to Orcheln Farm and Home to get a “union” for the pvc pipe I had in tow… Mental note… These are called couplers in today’s society. Once corrected, we were back on track and ready to rock and roll.

Once the stringer board was installed, we were building the framework to hold the metal skirting.

Daddy’s plan to stabilize everything is really quite ingenious. A hole strategically drilled through the bottom of the frame, then level it all up. Once level, drive a piece of re-bar through the hole into the rocky Oklahoma ground. Drill a hole in a block of leftover 2×4, which is then beat onto the re-bar from the top. Nail to the framework and that baby ain’t goin no where!

The deck area was problem number three. I quite literally saw no way to put skirting between the deck and the house. The deck stands independent of the house, and is in effect it’s own structure. Not a problem for Daddy though.

Just remove some of the deck boards closest to the house… Such a simple answer, why didn’t I think of that?

Framing behind the deck was also problem number four. Not impossible, just very tight quarters in there.

We couldn’t wait to hang some metal, so before day one was complete, we put just a few pieces up to get an idea of how great the place was going to look.

Daddy ripped 2×4′s down like a pro to create the trim piece that we placed on top of the installed metal.

For five days straight we worked hard, though Daddy worked the hardest of all of us. Thanksgiving was spent working on the framing and the hanging of the metal.

We made great progress each and every day.

Then we encountered problem number five… Rain rain rain all day Saturday. This stopped all work on the rentals final full day here.

I have to be honest in that I was thankful for that day of rain on the final day of their stay. It allowed for a fun filled afternoon of the girls kickin the boys butts in Marbles… And for the record, three games were played in full with the girls coming out victorious!

The G-Man, Gator and I were able to get a good full day work in and completed all the framework for the backside of the house. Then this morning the G-Man and I leveled it all up, and drove our last three pieces of re-bar in the rain. We will be hanging metal in the cold tomorrow, and ready for the snow they are calling for Monday.

I couldn’t ask for better family than I have been blessed with. The old farm has most definitely become home to me. So I hope it is ready for me to settle in and stay a good long while. I do believe it will take someone chasing me with a stick to drive me away from this place and the happiness I have found here!

She is a stubborn and head strong little one though, and if you don’t watch her like a hawk, she will inevitably sneak into the orchard every chance she gets. I guess to her the grass DOES look greener on the other side of the fence.

For a few weeks we sat out there with hose ready, and any time she tried to be scoot on inside the fence she got a face full of water. This week we thought we would try it without the garden hose vigil, and while she watches and tries to keep us in her sight, she still sneaks in when she thinks it will go unnoticed.

Once inside, she eats as quickly as possible, and to her credit I must say she does steer clear of the trees for the most part. Now, of course, I am not going to let her stay in there long enough to get real bold and decide to nibble on a tree. As soon as I head in there, and she notices I am indeed inside and might actually try to touch her, she frantically starts looking for her entrance/exit hole.

“Where is that durn hole? I know it’s over here somewhere! Why can I never find it when I need to make a quick escape?”She says. It’s just to your right, honey. You best hurry up or I will come over there and touch you.

Much like a dog, she picked up a stick and is bound and determined to make it out of the orchard safely with stick in tow.

“Oh here it is! If I hurry maybe the girl human won’t try to touch my butt. One day I will be able to stay in here and eat all that I want!”

Like a flash she was out. What I did not get pictures of was when I closed the gate on the orchard, and she was back in there in less than five minutes and we went through the whole thing again. Oh well, keeps me and her on our toes!

With colder weather fast approaching, and the piggies quickly outgrowing their temporary hut, we set out to build them a nice new bedroom. We started with a base of an upcycled pallet thanks to a donation from TH Rogers here in town. We wanted to do the entire build out of reused materials, but did end up having to buy a couple sheets of plywood and a few 2×4′s.

This is a view from the front. They have a nice sized door to walk or should I say run through. In using the pallet, we were able to insure they have a nice dry floor to lay themselves down on.

A view from the front and right side. G-Man came up with the plan, and he did a wonderful job. He is the brains behind the entire project.

We built them walls inside in hopes of preventing drafts, and to keep them warmer in the cold months. With the addition of straw, they should have nice comfy sleeping quarters.

G-Man built the roof so that it nests down in the top and can be removed for cleaning days, or adding more straw for bedding. Once everything was said and done, he added some barn metal to the top to insure a nice dry hut.

I painted the exterior, and we used the handy dandy two-wheeler to move the pigs new digs into place. G-Man’s plans and measurements are perfect. It fit perfectly in place right where I wanted it.
Still using mistint paint, the exterior is a tannish color, and the roof is piggy pink. I plan to further “embellish” their digs, but with rain in the forecast that will be a picture for another day. Notice the bedroom is strategically taller than the covered run, or as I like to call it, the piggy lanai they have.

We used some rubber matting cut to fit over the door opening, in hopes of further reducing drafts and the wind blowing right on in. With Greggery being so wary of new changes, we were a bit concerned he would have nothing to do with the entire thing. His love for bread was the ticket, and after just a bit of coaxing he was up and in there happy as could be. Javelina has always been the brave one, and she of course ran right in, quite proud of herself.

A view from the outside of the piggy lanai with their new digs in place in the back. They took to it like a duck to water, I know I will definitely sleep better on the colder nights and not find myself worrying they are all shivery and cold.

The final shot I will leave you with today is one of the original temporary hut the piggies lived in. Their new digs are a veritable mansion!