Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Here's my favorite Thanksgiving song!!

Our New Car!!!

Seems like everyone is getting a new car these days!
Everyone but US!!!

Wendie got a new ORANGE Element
Kathy got a new RED Rav-4

So, this weekend while we were in Lawrence, KS.
I was keeping my eyes open for a new ride!

So, we came across this little van.
It's sure cute!
That Officer would surely be able
to pick you out of a crowd!


Bill liked this one.
More travel room!!
Just think of all the dog crates
and stuff you could pile on top!!


Finally, on the way home we saw the wild
buffalo roam.
Okay, so they were steel cut outs.
I just LOVE THESE!!
How fun!

Today I'm thankful for my little van, Carrie.
She just keeps on a truckin'!
YOU GO GIRL!!

CHICKEN MOM of the YEAR!!!!

Okay, I'll admit it.

I LOVE MY CHICKENS!

They are curious, friendly and CUTE!

I'm always looking for fresh healthy food for them.
In fact, I plant extra in my garden, just for the chickens!

So, when a gal at work said her friend was trying to 're home' pumpkins,
I was all over it!

As long as I was willing to pick them up,
they would load them up.
What a deal!!

Now, I don't think about Iowa as a vegetable state, but
I was impressed by the size of the place.

They loaded me up with two pallets
of baking pumpkins!
BTW - they make AWESOME puree!

Of course the majority are for the birds.
It's been a bit cool, so when I break them open the
girls gobble up the seeds and soft insides.

They rest is not quite so easy.
I usually just let them rot a
bit and they will eat them then.
With the cooler temperatures,
that's just not happening.

I wasn't willing to cook all those
pumpkins in the oven!

I came up with a BRILLIANT idea!!!
I'll cook them over the fire pit!



THIS IS A BLAST!
You can pluck them off the
flames with the stem.
Or use a potato fork and pierce them.

They need to cool first of course.
In return -
My birds will keep on giving us
YUMMY eggs!

What a deal!

Back to "This Old House"

So, in 2002 I decided after the new red roof,
that a whole new paint job was in order.

Here's the house before the roof.

Here's the south side, in 2002, after a roof and with the chimney painted.
It's amazing how much a little color will do.

Boy, someone needed to mow the lawn!!

Here's the south side this summer.
In need of new siding, but it shows you the colors.

This little bay window is on the East side.
BORING!!!!

But add a little color and it really livens it up!
(Hi Kruz in the window!!!)

With the siding I'm going to lose the diamonds.
Not much I can do about that, but I'll have the scales.
These will be white!
BORING!!
I am able to paint them however, so I plan to.

The whole painting process took about 3 weeks.
We were hoping to only have the scaffolding for one.
We needed it for two.
It was a LONG JOB!!!

So, next time I'll show you what our
house looked like in 1923!!

It's OFFICIAL!!!

I've OFFICIALLY completed my training hours. Well, honestly, I do have a make up class on exciting TURF GRASS! I can hardly wait!! (insert sarcasm here!!) G

We had to miss a night as the conference room was booked for another activity. Word is that we'll be having the 'make up' shortly.

In the mean time I'm looking for a couple projects to do in my local community. Seems there are a lot of things going on in the 'larger' towns (I hesitate to say cities) in my county. The smaller towns seem to miss out, so that will be my focus.

There are so many grants available for planting trees, or seeding ditches...who would have thought? So, now I need to make a few phone calls and decide where my focus will be.

Is it too soon to start wishing for Spring?

Today I'm thankful for the rain!
My fall planted Garlic appreciates it!

I can't Drive 55!!!

Yes, it's taken me about 10 days to confess. I finally got a speeding ticket!! Before you ask, YES, I did say...."Thank you Officer and have a nice day!" I have been due a ticket for ages and realized my luck was starting fade. Let's face it, I've had 2 warnings in the last 2 years....what does that tell you! I WAS DUE!!!



Here's the sad part. I wasn't in a hurry! It was early Friday morning and I was heading to work after swimming my 30 laps. There wasn't any traffic in my lane on Hwy 151. I wasn't even listening to any hard rock!! I was listening to Susan Garrett's Crate Games of all freaking things!! LOL

I was on time, no reason to rush. Open road ahead, expect for that line of cars coming at me. Yep, that's a County Sheriff pulling over on the shoulder. I was so busted and I knew it. Pulled into the Walford Church parking lot....said a Quick Prayer that DIDN'T pay off! G

Oh well, now I'm being Joe Citizen and whining at all the people that zoom by me in the morning! That's what really hurts....Not racing with the big boys!!

So how fast was I going? Let's say he was being VERY generous when I got the 65 in a 55 ticket. Bill got some Amazon Points (Yes, POINT PIG) as you can now pay tickets on line for your convenience.

Oh, in case any of you are wondering what I drive. Her name is Carrie and she's a 2003 Silver Honda Odyssey, with 165K. Not exactly your sports car! Way to go Carrie!!

Today I'm grateful for all those officers that keep us safe. I just wish there would have been more doughnuts available that Friday morning!!! VBG

Red Roof.....

Not as in the "Red Roof Inn"!! In February 2002 we added a new roof. After a short debate, in which I WON, it was decided to change the color to red. To be honest, blue, green, black, white or "orange" (is there an orange?), weren't in even in the running.

It must have been one of the mildest winters in Iowa history. The temperatures were in the 50's and 60's. Just totally unheard of in February! Martha and Meme came out with Jamie and Robin to run around the pasture with Nina. It was WONDERFUL!!

It was also the perfect time to add a new roof. This involved a total tear off of two layers of shingles, one of wood and another of asphalt. I think I'm still picking up the nails! Then the new plywood and new red shingles, it gave the house a whole new look.

Of course, this meant adding paint come spring. Our 2002 "Parade of Home" venture began! I was excited!! Bill was...um....well, I was excited!!!

Here's the West side in June 2002.

The South side in June 2002 after the chimney has been painted.

Painting the chimney is always an adventure. The top peak is 19'. the chimney is another 5' taller. So, it's simple enough to climb onto the roof and do the West, North and East sides. The south side involves wrapping your arm around the chimney and holding on, while you do your best to paint the south side. The part against the house involves a 40" extension ladder. Yes, in case your wondering....painting the chimney is MY JOB!

Next post will involve scaffolding and painting the 2002 Parade of Homes!

Today I'm thankful for the turkey (not one of mine), I'll be eating for lunch!
YUMMY!!!!

10th Anniversary!!

I can hardly believe we're quickly approaching our 10th Anniversary at the Windy Hill Fowl Farm and Puppy Ranch! I should briefly explain the name for those of you that don't know. The first part is pretty self explanatory. We live on a hill and there's nothing between 'us' and Nebraska. Thus, it's WINDY!! Fowl Farm comes from my birds! In the spring of 2000 I started off with 7 chickens and 6 ducks. Since, we've never been with out birds. Puppy Ranch came from Bill's employer, they dumped it the 'puppy ranch' since we had multiple dogs and lots of fun toys!! AKA - Agility equipment.

Here's what our house looked like 10 years ago.

It's your basic 4 square farm house, built in 1890. Looking back, I do have to wonder, "What the HELL was I thinking!!!". The house obviously wasn't my priority. It was the 6 acres that went with the house! The barn and moving out to the country!! It took a long time to find an acreage that would fit our budget and be a reasonable distance from 'the city'.

Many thanks to Marsha, Melinda and Sandy who helped us tidy up
(as best as possible) and get moved in!!

It did turn out great. The land is flat enough for a couple agility yards. There's enough pasture for two horses, and room for the dogs to be able to get out and have some fun running. We really do love the country, even though Bill wasn't too keen on it at first. I don't think he'd ever move back to 'town'.

It didn't come without some issues however. I might blog about those at some other time. Let me just say, the whole interior of the house was painted either baby blue or baby pink! Walls and ceilings! It was horrible! The bathroom, well that along deserves a blog page by itself.

It didn't have any fences, so we had a side yard put on in December 99. Then some friends and family came out in March of 2000 to dig posts and put up 2"x4" horse fence out front. This was to become one of the agility yards. Thank you Melinda, Jeff, Dawn and Chris for your help!!

By January of 2002 it didn't look too much different. We did had the fencing and there were some red wood bushes added. Other than that, not a lot changed.

North - East View

East - South view

Winter of 2001-2002 it was apparent we needed a new roof. Looking to get some color on the house and move away from the boring white farm house. I suggested RED!! More on that in the next blog!!

Today I'm thankful for the wonderful weather!!

Things that make you go.....HUM....

Out here at the Wind Hill Fowl Farm and Puppy Ranch, we're having some work done. Actually, we're having our house sided. No more painting!!! Well, not as much anyway. More on this later.

This post is specifically about one of the workers. I'd say, 'your typical construction worker'. I'm not sure what that is anymore. So, let me describe him: 40's, a short stocky guy, kind of 'bar ruff' looking. Someone your Dad would love, as long as he wasn't dating his daughter. Your Mom would like him because he'd cleans up his plate and ALL the left overs. He drives a beat up Chevy Pick Up: Multi-Colored Red Neck type with Primer, rust, holes and a junk yard new fender of two tone brown/cream. In the back is a shiny new truck tool box. His pride and joy.

I met him Monday Morning as I had to go and rescue him from the "attack" Tom Turkeys. Leonard and Skynard. Yes, after the Rottweilers in Without A Paddle. The boys had him 'trapped' in his truck and he was afraid to get out. I guess I can understand. Two 20 pound birds making all kind of racket and strutting outside your vehicle. It could be alarming. They are actually very nice birds and great yard alarms.

Do you get the general picture?
Here's the truck.

Do you notice the "I Love My Dog" Bumper Sticker?
I did.
So I'm thinking Rottweiler, Pit Bull, etc......

BOY WAS I WRONG!!!

I got a good laugh out of this one!
He's really very nice, he feeds Rosie, our little chicken,
his bread crusts at lunch.
I told him he's never going to get rid of her now.
He just laughed.

Halloween Treats!!

It just must be something about being born on Halloween that requires that you make the BEST Halloween food! Carrie continues to outdo herself with her Halloween food prep. I am a bit concerned however that everything seems to be in the 'finger' or this year, 'toe' theme.

Hum.....carrots for fingers?
It worked!

Then her bread creation of fingers and toes!!
Her first making of bread, with yeast and everything!
They were DELICIOUS!
Reminded me of one of my favorite movies - Sweeney Todd

I stole an idea that Meme used several years back.
Lime Jigglers - for Rat Bait!

Then the Eye Balls!!
Sue Ann made some with cheese centers and tomato casings
They were AWESOME!

Carrie's creation involved doughnut holes and life saver gels!
Very cute!

What's Halloween without Swamp Water Punch!!
(See the recipe on Exercised Finished)
It is AWESOME!
You get use to the fleas!



Here's Mike during clean up.
He apparently likes to be blog fodder!
Mike, you play nice with Aragog!

Happy 88th Birthday!!

Leo Greco!!

I LOVE LEO!!!

Okay, so if you don't know who he is, he a radio personality.
He's on WMT 600 AM every Sunday Morning!!!
He tried to retire once, about 8 years ago.
It's lasted about 2 weeks!!

Leo plays "oldie" (real oldies) music.
It use to be a lot more polka, but he's branched out.
He's so fun to listen to, you can't help but smile.
Okay, maybe it's because I grew up with him!
(He's just a titch older than me!)

"Okie Dokie"

Leo....this song is for you!!!



Today I'm thankful for the sunrise at 6:30!!
Nice to see some daylight earlier!!