A Time and a Season

One of the things I’m finding particularly exciting this spring is discovering what plants we have on our property.  We first saw it in the dead of winter covered with a year’s worth of fallen leaves. (The fallen leaves from 47 pecan, several oak, a few hackberry, and handful of various fruit trees, and a couple of crepe myrtles, mind you!)  Over the last few months we’ve literally been able to watch as various plants and trees, each in its time and season, rise from a long winter’s sleep, and burst into bloom (or leaf) of some sort!  It seems as though there is something new every day.  Last week when I got home from work, Kevin made me close my eyes and led me out to the east side of the yard.  Seemingly overnight two, what were rather plain trees, had opened dozens of beautiful purple blooms!  I think it’s some sort of Hibiscus!?

Friday night we set up camp out in the pasture and lounged around roasting “snores and smarshmellows” (as the bobbins call them) with friends.  I forgot how sickeningly sweet smores are!  We allowed the six kids to “rough it” - They started out the night in the tent, but early Saturday, around 5:30 am, Kevin rolled over to find Skylar’s face inches away, standing by our bed.  He sent her to her bed just as I was awakened by noises from the den.  I walked out to find Mary, Gabriella, and Luke carrying in Eliana, Elijah, and a box full of chicks. It was lightening and they decided to come in and crash in the den. I love how responsible they were with their “no child, animal (real or stuffed) left behind” mentality! Even Jay Jay (stuffed family member) made it back into the house before the sprinkles started!  Kevin and I got up and put the fly on the tent and battened down the hatches.

 

As we fell back into bed, we heard this scratching noise and followed it to the kid’s bathroom – the noise was coming from under the tub.  We opened the access panel, cautiously.  From the noise level and number of pecan shells that were back there it was easy to deduce we have a squirrel that likes to have breakfast under there.   With the number of pecan trees surrounding us, wouldn’t you imagine an over run of squirrels?  To date, we haven’t seen many… just two on the east side… and now this! 

Also on Friday, we saw the first tarantula of the season, followed by a second on Saturday.  I guess I had anticipated some “cree-chas” but not necessarily those!   I felt somewhat better after we read that their bite isn’t really harmful to humans, unless you have an allergy, but that doesn’t make them any less creepy!

One of the cuter moments of the weekend involved walking in on six kiddos, ages 6 to 13, “taking tea” around my dining room table.  I can’t remember all the names but the ones I do are Mr. Gladiolus (Luke), Miss Iris, Mr. James Green (Elijah), Miss Rosemary, and Miss Sunflower…

Saturday evening we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset and dinner around the campfire with friends again – and in addition to the delightful company, we were enthralled by one expert story teller!  I had goosebumps most of the night, or as Anne (of Green Gables) would say, “Deliciously scared!”  (Diana: “Oh, Anne, I’m scared.”  Anne:  “So am I.  Deliciously scared.  Mrs. Hammond said she once felt the ghost of a murdered child creep up behind her and lay its icy fingers on her hand.” –-- *Nostalgic pause* - Okay, moving on!) 

 

Kevin kept the fire going most of the weekend and burned quite a bit of brush – we are going to rent a chipper to make mulch out of the other (rather ginormous) brush pile behind the shop, but this one was up towards the yard and needed to go!  We mowed several acres to keep things clean until we get a larger tractor with mower – the back pasture is already getting pretty high again though we hired someone to mow it mid-May!

What I love about our place is that you can wear your swimsuit and shorts and work around the farm, jumping in the pool every little bit to cool off – it really helps in the sweltering heat of Texas!  Otherwise you’d find yourself completely zapped of energy after the first couple of hours – if that!

On Father’s Day we went to brunch and gave Kevin his presents (power tools and a framed pic of the kids).  Then we stopped by the Trader’s Village to pick up some fleur de lis iron hooks for the butcher block so we can discretely hang the dishtowels.  It was so bloomin’ hot we made a beeline for the booth and only stopped to look at the puppies on the way out.

Monday came too soon as it always does.  As we were getting ready for work, a storm (which was not in the forecast as of yesterday) came up so quickly we only noticed because the morning sky grew dark and the trees came alive – I had just finished dressing, and we had to run out in the storm to check on the tent, but alas! it was already blown over.  We grabbed the chicks, who were frightened and had hunkered down into a corner, just as the sky let loose. By the time we made it in, we were both completely drenched.  We got ready for work a second time and made our way down the road.  Another weekend in the books, another work week ahead…  

Around these parts...

Work has been busy, and I had to fight off a cold this week – but all’s well that ends well, and the weekend is here!  These are the highlights from the past week!

Saturday we hosted the twins 6^th birthday party – swim theme.  We spent two days getting ready.  My husband was amazing and groomed the yard into spectacular perfection.  My attempt at fondant was a sticky icky mess and a pursuit quickly abandoned.

The kids seemed to really enjoy their day and I enjoyed meeting some of the neighbors and their kiddos!

My decorations consisted of balloons which were initially lots of fun… I learned there is a shortage of helium (what are they using all the helium for?!), plus it was graduation weekend, and no one could blow up my balloons on short notice so we picked up a helium tank from Michael’s.  Eventually I grew to hate the balloons. Over sugared, and over excited, the three little ones fought over them even though there were plenty to go around.  With every deflated balloon came an “end of the world” meltdown of epic proportions.  There was a unanimous decision; We will never do balloons again. Ever!

In other news, Skylar seems to have taken to the chickens more quickly than the rest of the children, though recently Luke has shown a little interest.  Elijah isn’t scared of touching them like Eliana – but he doesn’t have the same fascination Skylar does at this point.  She always volunteers to take them out of their tub and put them in the pin to scratch and play, and then move them back at night – two chicks escaped but she valiantly chased them down, despite enduring scratches (from falling down) in the process.

It’s really starting to warm up here – it seems as though we skipped spring and went straight into the dead of summer.  It helps the pool – but makes for steamy work conditions for our outdoors projects. 

Now that it’s so hot, maybe we will move indoors and wrap up our kitchen remodel.  I’m planning a post solely dedicated to the kitchen remodel, but here is a sneak peek of the kitchen and butcher block island Kevin built to match our new counters and cabinets!   I stained and painted and helped with the idea of it all but he put it altogether so beautifully – I LOVE it!   He’s working on a hutch/side bar now for all the miscellaneous appliances. 

On a whim, I made a sign to go over the thresh hold.  Five minutes, a can of spray paint and pint of trim paint left by the previous owner, an old piece of siding from the pile that was the old homestead and ta-daaah!

A field of sunflowers caught my attention on the drive to work – I turned around and went back to get a picture.  What a cheerful way to start a Friday!

The weekend promise to be bunches of fun.  A campout , grilling, and swimming and who knows what projects we’ll tackle! Plus, Father’s Day!

The Literal Pecking Order

Life has been rolling on here…

School is officially out for all the munchkins.  Summertime is upon us. 

Last weekend we finished up the bed behind the pool.  To say it was a daunting task, is an understatement.  I found myself rethinking my grand plan to plant azaleas around the entire front of the house.  We had to remove soil and then mix proportionate amounts of sphagnum peat, sand, and pine mulch to achieve the proper acid levels that promote healthy growth for azaleas (and also hydrangeas, as I discovered…) In addition, we planted a variety of other foliage to provide contrasting colors and textures.  Ruella, Lantana, Table Mountain Ice Plants and Lambs Ear, which, I’m told, were used in the Civil War as bandages due to the lack of medical supplies.  It may not look like much now, but I’m excited to watch them grow!

 

Samples of what ours will (hopefully) look like:

Kevin installed and repaired existing accent lighting in the bed and extended the sprinkler system.  He is so handy!

Another short, but interesting project was turning the yard near the pool, that was really just dirt with a few random weeds, into a lush lawn!  We picked up a pallet of Saint Augustine and Kevin and Luke carpeted the yard like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

I think it looks fantastic!

 

In other news, our little chicks have nearly doubled in size!  We let the scratch around outside for the first time.  They have been working out the pecking order.  Literally.  Flying at one another with much squawking.  It is becoming obvious which are the meek chickies, and which have the stronger personality.

I learned that we may not have all hens – some of them could be roosters – we won’t know until about 4-5 months when/if one of them starts cockadoodledooing!  Won’t that be a trip?!  If we have a rooster, he will be Henry Thomas William Alexander Rufflesby (aka Mr. Rufflesby)… although, Kevin suggested John Wayne, which is much less of a mouthful, and Luke chimed in with Clint Eastwood

The kids have been enjoying swimming almost every day.  The water is still a tad chilly for my taste, but you know kids!  They will swim till their little lips are blue!  Monday night I was exhausted so we decided to grill burgers on the patio and swim with the kiddos – it was nice to stop long enough to actually enjoy all our work!

 

This week I’m scrambling to throw together a little birthday gathering (swim party) for the twins.  I don’t know any of the kids from this school, or their parents, yet… so of course, I wanted everything to be perfect. I started out planning a grand set up. Picture raspberry lemonades in mason jars, served in a decorative galvanized beverage bucket and platters of all sorts of homemade goodies – until I realized there was no time and since I don’t own a lot of serving items yet, I’d have to buy all the serving stuff at once.  So, I scaled back my goals considerably, determining I will have to buy a little bit of serving stuff at a time so that next summer, I’ll have a full set up on hand!.  I have opted for punch, and juice boxes, a fruit bowl, veggie trays and good old regular chips.  I am making Red Velvet Cake for Eliana and Golden Cake for Elijah – Last night I decided to try making fondant for the first time – but I don’t think I did it right – it was a sticky icky experiment gone wrong, but one which I am not determined to master – just not in time for THIS birthday party!  

Tonight will be a mad rush to ice the cakes and clean up. Tomorrow I’ll make a run to the store for balloons and extra sunscreen. Wish me luck, and let the madness begin!