First snow...........

Even with the time change, it's very dark when I get up in the morning. As I was going about my morning routine building the fire, heating coffee water, feeding the cats & dogs, etc., the sky was trying to brighten up. No sunrise today. About 6:30 a.m. it started to snow :) Being the snow lover that I am, it simply made me happy to stand on the front porch and watch the flakes fall to the ground. It smelled so good - like winter. That cold, crisp, fresh air smell. I didn't stand there long, it really was cold. It didn't accumulate and later on turned to rain and the rest of the day has been dreary and I've spent it inside doing housework :( I love a clean house but I wish I could achieve that without having to scrub and vacuum! It does look and smell nice and I'm glad it's finished.

I'm so excited that my jasmine plant is flowering again. One single, white blossom. I can always tell it has bloomed as the fragrance is so strong it permeates the entire house. Another wonderful smell. The blooms only last a day or so but are well worth the wait.

It's thankful Thursday at our house: Hubby comes home tonight after being away all week. I am always very grateful for that!

Wordless Wednesday...

Excercising your right........

As our country continues to change, and not always for the better in my very personal opinion, one thing they haven't taken away from us (yet) is our right to vote.

It seems Maine always has a *HOT* topic. Imagine what our state could do with all the money that both sides of the campaign have spent in the last year. Holy smokes folks - that amounts to a whole lots of cash that could do a lot more good in our state that the constant bickering it's caused. I just wonder if it's all worth it in the end.

Anyhow, I'd much rather be here ...

than standing in line with throngs of people but there I will be. Simply because it's my right.

~Have a great day everyone ~

Know where your meat comes from....it could save your life.

"New York Firm Recalls Fresh Ground Beef Products Due To Possible E. coli O157:H7 Contamination"

Over a half a million pounds of hamburg is being recalled in New England.

Read the complete story here:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_059_2009_Release/index.asp

Wordless Wednesday...

Family fall fun........

Indian summer has arrived in the North East. The last two days have been glorious and the rest of the week is supposed to be nice as well. Although we are busy preparing for mother nature's deep freeze, we did get the chance to enjoy some family time in the woods this past weekend. Our foliage has passed peak color but the beech leaves are still a beautiful yellow and the oaks a dark red. The woods smell so fresh and sweet. We saw several buck rubs and lots of deer sign. Pheasant and partridge are both plentiful as well as the smaller woodland birds.

Deer hunting season begins here next Saturday and our freedom to roam the woods will be limited to Sundays as hunting is not allowed on that day in Maine. The guys have been preparing for the upcoming season eagerly. It's a favorite time of year. Tyler recently completed his hunter/safety course and has his junior hunting license this year and will accompany Steve and Dave on opening day.

This was a gift to Steve a couple of years ago and this is his first season to use it. It took the effort of all of us to put it up in the tree! It's a huge tree stand. Very cushy and comfy for them on opening day. That and the fact it took hours to find just the PERFECT tree to put it in. Talk about fussy :) It really was a fun day.

~Good luck to all the hunters out there - be safe ~

Blogless week........

It seems we are in a type of transition period here on the farm and there hasn't been much of interest to blog about this week. You can see by the photo above, even the cat was bored. He really did fall asleep with his head on the water dish :)

We continue to ready land and animals for winter. I brush hogged the new pasture area we had cleared last fall. It was soft in places and the wild grass was thick but I managed to get it all cut down. I'd like to spread manure on the entire piece before snow but not sure that will happen. I have managed to get manure on one of the gardens for the winter and hope to finish the other two asap.

We are moving animal accommodations around for the winter months and putting in a new cow tie up. I'll post pictures when we finish. I've got the design in my head and a materials list written out. Now to get to it! That will make life easier for the cows and me in the winter and we will use less sawdust. Usually on blustery nights they stay in the box stalls and it takes a lot of bedding to keep those stalls comfy. Sawdust is harder and harder to come by and shavings are darn expensive! We are hoping the tie up solves both issues and I know the cows will be nice and toasty together.

My boys have come down with a nasty virus - no gastro or respiratory problems just fatigue and severe body ache. Tyler had to have blood drawn for labs for the first time. Let's just say it did not go well. Doc thinks its a virus that will clear up on it's own in 7-10 days and not related to H1N1 or anything of that nature. I'm praying it's not.

That's it from the farm for now. Hope you and yours are well :)