Week 18 - Surprise! I'm on TIme!!!

Happy Sunday, everyone!  Today is a truly beautiful day in the Ozarks.  Sunny, breezy, clear blue sky.  Just beautiful!

So I told you about Belle having her calf...it turns out it's a boy.  Since Belle belongs to our son and his family, they get the honor of naming the wee thing.  In keeping with the Beauty and the Beast theme (Belle, Beast....) they have decided to name him Maurice!  It's a beautiful french name but my Mr. Wonderful just can't bring himself to yell "Here, Maurice" out in the field so he's decided to call him Mo....That brings our bovine total to 4.  Rosie and Belle with their offspring, Murphy and Mo (rice).  It's so fun watching the two little ones chasing each other in the fields...they scamper like little goats!

Last Sunday the third round of Sock Madness began.  The sock was a lovely lace and cable design that made me happy to knit.  They were taking the first 20 finishers from each team into the next round.  I knit my brains out and was the 17th finisher for Team Firedrakes....I made it into Round 4.  Round 3 doesn't end till a week from today so I've got plenty of time to work on other things before I need to knuckle down again.  In the meantime, here are my Safe Harbor socks from Round 3.

They're so lacy and girly!  

We just keep adding more and more livestock to our holdings.  This past week, we got 26 baby chickens. They were hatched on Monday and we received them on Thursday.  They are a different breed than we've done in the past.  We are trying the Freedom Rangers breed this time.  

Yes, folks, that is 26 baby chicks in that 'pod'.  They will stay in the brooder area of the barn until they get feathers on their entire bodies and then be moved outside to the chicken tractor...probably another 2-3 weeks.  And then 8 - 12 weeks till the Great Chicken Massacre happens.  

There, I think I've gotten you all caught up with life at Pieceful Harbor.  Thanks for stopping by.

Week 17 - and a half

More cows.

More Rain.

More Knitting.

More on Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Week 16 - 4 Cows in the Field

Last week I told you about Rosie and her little calf...John determined the calf was a male and we thought with his red pelt and jovial personality, he was definitely a Murphy. Murphy is so happy and healthy!  He sleeps a lot, as all young 'uns do.  

Yesterday, Mom called me about 1 in the afternoon to tell me we now have 4 cows in the field.  Yes, Belle had her calf shortly after noon with no problems.  This calf is black with a splash of white across its face in two places.  We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet but once we do, our son and his family will tell us what its name will be.  In the meantime, here are Belle and her mini-me...

This little one is about 4 hours old, but is full of spunk!  Murphy galloped over to it and wanted to play...it looked at Murphy and promptly lay down to take a nap.  Frankly, Murphy's energy makes me tired, too!

On the Sock Madness front, I finished my Round 2 socks and they have been accepted!  Now it's on to Round 3...not sure exactly when that will start.  Round 2 ends officially at 6:00 p.m. on Friday and the next supply list can come out anytime after that with the actual start time being between 1 minute and 48 hours after the supply list appears.  Here is my pair of Checkbox Socks for round 2 of Sock Madness 12.

I made them fraternal and I really like that!  

The weather is starting to hint at spring...it was wicked cold over the weekend - W.I.C.K.E.D. cold!  But it started to warm up a bit yesterday and today it's positively balmy!  Temps got to about 77 degrees...and the sun is shining brightly.  Perhaps we will actually get to see spring before summer gets her claws into us!

Mom and I spent the morning at the local yarn shop...I had a student and mom loves going to the shop.  Well, I do, too!  We knit and chat and have a lovely morning most Tuesdays.  Then we came home and I made a spiced apple cake with bourbon glaze...yes, folks, I really did cook!  I think we are going out to dinner. Rib Crib is having an all-you-can-eat night.  Apple cake will be nice to come home to!

Thanks for stopping by.  

Week 15 - Rosie the Mommy

Mother Nature is having some identity problems this past week.  She just doesn't know whether it's going to be spring or we should keep winter a bit longer.  Personally, I vote for Spring, but I have no say in the matter.  We had some lovely weather for about an hour this past week.  And we had some hideous weather for far too many days this week.  Cold, windy, rain, sleet, and even snow!  

They say we are going to have warmer temperatures this coming week but I'm not counting on anything yet.  I haven't put away the warm jackets or sweaters or sweatpants.  Today it's very cold and sleety....overcast and gloomy.  Perhaps it will clear up and we can see some sunshine later today...perhaps.

We have a new addition to Pieceful Harbor....Rosie, our white-faced red heifer gave birth sometime during the night to her first calf.  We don't yet know if it's a Zeke or a Zelda, too soon to tell.  But it look amazingly like its momma...red with a white face.  It probably only weighs about 50 pounds, if that.  Rosie is nursing and proving to be a very good mother!  Yeah, Rosie! 

Round 2 of Sock Madness 12 same upon us suddenly. We got the supply list for the next round on Friday at about 4:30...that usually means we have somewhere between then and 48 hours before the pattern actually comes out.  Mom and I left to meet John for dinner and when we came home, the pattern had dropped....My heart fell!  Why, you ask?  Because I have always had a problem with a technique called Brioche...for some reason, my brain has just never quite wrapped itself around the concept.  And this sock uses brioche!  A lot of it!  My first thought was, well, I'm done.  Then I read the first page of the pattern and thought I would give it a try.  Evidently, my brain was perfectly in gear this time, cause you can see that I am having not one whit of problem with the sock so far.

I might just be able to knit that brioche shawl I've wanted to do for so long.  

Well, folks, I have some speed-knitting to do so will leave you till next week.  Thanks for stopping by.

Week 14 - The Signs of Spring

Spring officially started over a week ago...but I only began seeing the signs the other day.  While stopped for the school bus lumbering its way along our road, I happened to see that one of the properties have added a new enclosure....and filled it with sheep.  Mostly little lambs.  Since the car wasn't moving, I rolled down the window and was greeted by the baaaaahs of all those lambs.  

They saw their children getting off the school bus and started making their way to where the 'kids' were...and the soft bleating was so enjoyable.

Winter just hasn't decided what it wants to do....some days it's warm like spring, other days the temps hover in the 30's and the wind whips goose bumps onto your skin! Today the temps started at mid 60's and right now one needs a coat and mittens if  going outside.  I'll be glad when the days start warming up and we can put the jackets away till next November.

Our newest heifer, Rosie, is almost ready to have her first calf.  So is Belle (she belongs to our son and his family in Utah).  We expect both of them to deliver within about 2 weeks of each other and soon!  They're both getting a bit tubby and lumbering across the fields...it won't be long, ladies!  Pictures coming soon.

John told me the other day that the 2 remaining chickens hadn't been laying in a while - like 2 weeks or so.  At least they weren't laying in the brooder boxes he built them.  He went into the barn and looked around - it seems they decided to lay in the old birthing part of the barn....John found about 25 eggs.  

Since he didn't know exactly how long they'd been laying in that location, he decided not to keep them...they went into the compost pile. At least now he knows where else to look for them when the girls stop laying in the roost.

Sometimes, when I drive only our place, I'm so stunned at how pretty it is. What do you think?

A truly happy house!

Until next week.

Thanks for stopping by.