I have decided to take a two week vacation from blogging for a few reasons: writer's block, my husband was sent off for TDY for two weeks and took my laptop with him, and I just wanted to take a break from a lot of things.
The two weeks that Jared was gone seemed forever. It was nice for a couple days to have the house to myself but then I started to struggle to sleep at night without him. I have a horrible time sleeping without my husband home. I just can't do it without the help of a few glasses of wine, which is a horrible habit to have. After the first week of him being gone, I had a late night scare that kept me awake for almost the rest of the second week.
My dogs are usually good at letting me know if there's someone around, or close to, the property and I've been relying on them as alarms. As for personal protection, I don't think they're much help. So I had kept two impressive looking knives and a pellet gun, loaded with pellets that could injure someone enough to, hopefully, scare them off. Thankfully I never had to use them. I've once or twice woken up by Ranger barking but it ended up being kids passing by our house to the bus stop.
I'm just glad that Jared is back home.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Friday, August 14, 2015
Farm Friday
Sorry for being gone for a while. A lot has been happening and this past week was nuts between my grandparents visiting, a backpacking trip and me studying for an important exam (I'll talk about it Monday).
About three weeks ago I've planted a few things a little late but I figured with Texas we'll be warm for a little while until late October. I planted summer squash, cucumbers, pumpkin, and green beans.
This is the green beans about a week ago. They're twice as big now. I'm super excited to see what will come out of this.
This past weekend, Jared and I met his parents halfway to Arkansas to go on a backpacking excursion. We picked out a trail that was about five miles long. I've never done anything like it and it was such a blast. The pictures below will show you what we mostly took, and who carried what.
I'll have to admit it got pretty miserable the first evening and trying to find a place to hunker down for the night. We wanted to be near the lake but it was mostly surrounded by rocks.
No bueno! But my father-in-law found a spot that looked like it was used as a camp site. It had rocks formed to make a fire pit and a table...weird.
Once we settled in and jumped in the cool lake I felt loads better. Our way back felt it took less time and it was very rewarding because at the beginning of the trail we discovered a creek with running COLD water. That was all we could think of on our way back. As soon as we were done, we changed and got in the cold creek. It was definitely the perfect ending of a hot hike. The evening of the second day we camped out on the official camp grounds near the trails and relaxed on the lake and played games.
Not only am I proud of myself for doing it but I'm proud of my in-laws. They have incredible strength and endurance. I love that we were able to create amazing memories like this trip. It will definitely be something I will never regret. We agreed that we are going to make it a tradition to meet halfway and go backpacking...but we'll do it in the fall, not in the summer. haha!
About three weeks ago I've planted a few things a little late but I figured with Texas we'll be warm for a little while until late October. I planted summer squash, cucumbers, pumpkin, and green beans.
This past weekend, Jared and I met his parents halfway to Arkansas to go on a backpacking excursion. We picked out a trail that was about five miles long. I've never done anything like it and it was such a blast. The pictures below will show you what we mostly took, and who carried what.
I was in charge of snacks, meals, and clothes.
Jared was in charge of the big, heavy stuff like our tent.
I'll have to admit it got pretty miserable the first evening and trying to find a place to hunker down for the night. We wanted to be near the lake but it was mostly surrounded by rocks.
Once we settled in and jumped in the cool lake I felt loads better. Our way back felt it took less time and it was very rewarding because at the beginning of the trail we discovered a creek with running COLD water. That was all we could think of on our way back. As soon as we were done, we changed and got in the cold creek. It was definitely the perfect ending of a hot hike. The evening of the second day we camped out on the official camp grounds near the trails and relaxed on the lake and played games.
Not only am I proud of myself for doing it but I'm proud of my in-laws. They have incredible strength and endurance. I love that we were able to create amazing memories like this trip. It will definitely be something I will never regret. We agreed that we are going to make it a tradition to meet halfway and go backpacking...but we'll do it in the fall, not in the summer. haha!
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Written Word Wednesday
"...I love the early mornings that get me outdoors before the sun crests the tree line. Ad I love the early nights tucked in under heavy blankets with my kind dogs, too tired and too grateful for their heat to kick them out from under the covers. I love holding baby chicks in my dirty palms and feeling their rapid-fire heartbeats under baby down. I love the black soil of spring, the sweat and humidity of summer, and even the downpours that wash away three months of work inn the garden. To become a farmer is to accept the worst offerings of chance and laugh at them, understand that there is no difference between the pleasure or the pain because feeling either is proof you are still waltzing among the living. You pray to the fireflies and black flies alike. You learn to love both the smell of baby lambs and the blood buckets on hog-slaughtering day. They are the exact same thing in the end. Life. All of this, proof positive that life surrounds us, and leaves us, and we're just another bit of blood and meat blessed with pleasure..."
"...My spring garden is tilled up with a hoe, shovel, and pitchfork as soon as I can work the ground(which is generally in April), and then I seed directly into the soil. My growing medium is a combination of the rocky topsoil and compost from the piles of animals' bedding and manure that break down over the seasons. Any particular garden bed may receive the gifts of last winter's pigs', chickens', and horses' plop. Time and the magical heat of decompositions turn the manure into a black, worm-filled powerhouse of veggie nutrition...All winter I eat good, filling meals, but they mostly consist of root vegetables, meats, and soups. The kind of comfortable foods you mop up with a chunky of heavy bread, that leave you ready to curl up and take a nap by midafternoon. But as spring awakens I crave lighter fare; my body screams for it..."
"...My spring garden is tilled up with a hoe, shovel, and pitchfork as soon as I can work the ground(which is generally in April), and then I seed directly into the soil. My growing medium is a combination of the rocky topsoil and compost from the piles of animals' bedding and manure that break down over the seasons. Any particular garden bed may receive the gifts of last winter's pigs', chickens', and horses' plop. Time and the magical heat of decompositions turn the manure into a black, worm-filled powerhouse of veggie nutrition...All winter I eat good, filling meals, but they mostly consist of root vegetables, meats, and soups. The kind of comfortable foods you mop up with a chunky of heavy bread, that leave you ready to curl up and take a nap by midafternoon. But as spring awakens I crave lighter fare; my body screams for it..."
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