Farmchick Chore #127- Chicken Beautician

You would think by the looks of this picture that either Hubby or myself had been trying to square up a bad haircut or something, but it's actually nothing like that at all.

Belle, my sweet little silkie girl, has been bumping into things and missing the feed dish, poor little thing- so I thought I'd do my good deed and trim the "hair" away from her eyes so she can see again. The pictures above were AFTER I gave her a trim, if you can believe it! Now I keep hearing Frankie Avalon singing "Beauty School Dropout" over and over in my head.... (I've only seen "Grease" 486 times- what do I expect?)

Remember a couple months ago when I hoped for some apples on my little tree this year?

They're small, but I counted 8! Woo hoo! Not enough for a stack cake, but maybe for a pie?

We're still praying for rain.... haven't had any in 4 weeks now! Every dark cloud I see I think, "Oh, please...."
Have a great weekend, everybody!

You like me! You really like me!!

Sorry to rip off Sally Field's Oscar speech, but I think it's very appropriate today.... I've been given an award!! The lovely Tammy from Country Girl at Home has given me the "Arte y Pico" award... I'm so honored!!! Especially to win an award I can't even pronounce!! (you should hear me try to pronounce it with my Southern accent... it's awful...)

Now the rules to this award are the following:
1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribution to the blogging community.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.
4) The award winner and one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin to this award.
5) To show these rules.

Hmmmm... it's so hard to narrow it down to only 5 from all the places I love..... I love to visit everybody! But I'll play fair... (humphh- that's a first.) I award the "Arte y Pico" in return to:

Kathleen from Eggs in my Pocket- I love all of Kathleen's garden and animal stories... and please check out her Yesteryear Embroideries blog... you will be amazed at her gorgeous work!
Mare from Moon and Stars Studio- Mare always posts wonderful pictures of a wide variety of things, from her artwork and handmade jewelry to her grandkids and flower garden! Stop by her place and just admire her beautiful watercolors!
Doreen at Vermont Harvest Primitives- Miss Doreen's blog is so much fun to visit, because she makes the most wonderful little primitive dolls and they have such personality, too. I personally gush at her creations... I think you will, too!
Renna at Finding my Knitch- Renna does some fabulous knitting..(Ugh, I am so jealous.) But she also blogs about her family, cooking, and being a slave to her cat. Never a dull moment at Renna's place!
Dani at Eagles Wings- Dani always writes such beautiful things, and she also posts really neat pictures of people and places from a long time ago to the present day. You never know what you'll see next!

Thank you again, Tammy.. this was fun!



Some of you have asked about how I arrived at the name "Pout House" for my little potting shed/lawnmower shed/ junk depository.... and I don't really know, except when Hubby first moved the chicken coop (which is what it was in it's previous life) right beside the house, we joked and said it looked like a fancy outhouse on cinderblocks. Once it was finished, it didn't really look like a normal potting shed with the lean-to's on each side, but I didn't want to keep calling it the "outhouse", so I just combined outhouse and potting shed. At least I think that's how it happened....

Speaking of, I have recently found out that someone has BEEN IN MY POUTHOUSE. Can you believe it, the nerve? I started seeing a little activity inside, so I decided to investigate....

Hmmmm... everything looks normal...

Sounds like there is something coming from the Wally World bag in the corner....

Great.... now I have to SHARE my pouthouse with a whole family of Wrens!!!
Jeez... I'll never get to pout in peace...

Cheetos Feast on the Fraker Farm.

Tag.. I'm it!

My lovely friend Ann from Annie Fannie's Green Acres has tagged me to tell 6 unimportant things about myself, so here goes....

1. I started going gray at 19. I'm 38 now and mostly gray, but the real reason I dye my hair is because I have a large gray streak that runs from my forehead all the way to the back on top. In other words, if I didn't dye it I would look something like a redneck Kitty Bartholomew.

2. Speaking of redneck... I tried snuff (dip) on a dare from my cousin when I was 10 years old. I threw up for three days. I cannot get near a can of Skoal Wintergreen to this day without dry-heaving.

3. Speaking of smells... if someone wears very loud perfume or cologne around me, I get a migraine. I once went out with a boy whose cologne made me so sick I had to tell him after 3 dates I couldn't see him any more. But, being the nice person I am, I never told him he was "Killing me softly with Polo".

4. I hear people talk about news flash moments they will never forget, like when President Kennedy was shot, or something like that. The moment I'll always remember is when Elvis died... I was 7 years old and had come in from playing outside, and my Mom was just standing there frozen listening to the news on the radio... it was really weird. And I really loved Elvis, too.

5. I get cracked up very easily at the worst possible times... like at a funeral or something where you're supposed to be extremely quiet. I'll start thinking about something really stupid, then I have to get up and leave because it will spill over into uncontrollable laughter if I don't.

6. I am still fairly new to the whole blogging thing, but my most humiliating blog moment so far came when I left a comment for someone, and then had to type the word verification twice. After I sent the comment sailing through the airwaves I noticed to my horror that I had accidentally typed the first word verification on the end of my comment. So in other words, it looked something like this...
"I really like your blog. frdpopshhthhmj"
I was so embarrassed I thought I would die.

Now that you know a lot more about me than you probably ever wanted to... I hope you all still love me in spite of myself!!

6/19/08- Rats.... I forgot to tag anybody!!!
Hmmmm.... how about......
Kathleen from Yesteryear Embroideries, Pam from Bear Creek, Laura from Harvest Lane Cottage, and Farm Girl Pam from Life on a Southern Farm!

Farm Happenings

Just so you'll know.... I'm still here! So much has been going on the past couple of weeks, I don't even know where to start, but here is a little update on a few things-




I'm getting ready to make a batch of zucchini pickles. (My first time-wish me luck!)




Yellow squash.




My sweet potatoes are getting runners and will soon be covering their little bed with vines.

My tomatoes are doing great... the peppers are slow.

I finished the landscaping around my new walkway...

The beans are being watered with a soaker hose, but they are looking terrific! The corn is to the left, it's looking good, too.

The Little Terrorist and her babies. (Who aren't babies anymore!)

The newest resident of the farm... "Tiny"- a silver Japanese Bantam.

After having some problems recently with the Burb, we took it to our mechanic and he gave us the bad news... it was terminal. We were looking at having to replace the motor. (Ugh.) So after much thought, Hubby and I felt we needed to just say goodbye to the old gal. *sniff sniff* Rest in peace, Burb.

Her replacement....
I love it!! I had a 4-Runner once before that I drove for 11 years and foolishly sold when we bought the Burb. I missed it so bad.... I'm glad to have another one!

Sunsets have been pretty, but still no rain!!!

I have chores to do now, but I'll be dropping by for a visit at your place later on today!!

Long time no blog!

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted... I think this is the longest I've gone without saying Howdy to everybody. I used to "blog" early in the morning after Hubby left for work but my schedule has been turned upside down by the fact that now it's daylight at 6:00 am. The main reason, however, is I've been trying to get most of my outdoor chores done early in the day before the heat and humidity gets so high. Yesterday the temperature was 91, but when you factor in the East Tennessee humidity, it's like being in a sauna.

I've been trying to blog in the evening after I come inside, so bear with me as I try to get caught up with what's been going on in your life. I've missed you!

I've been cleaning out coops and stalls the last few days to try to keep the flies at a minimum. (And no, it doesn't seem to be working.) We bought this barn fan last year at Tractor Supply-

We really couldn't afford it, but Daisy and Edie would have really suffered through last years' horrible heat without it.

In my beds-

I can almost taste the jelly!

We are already having to water everything... I've been watering my raised beds every day. Hubby ran a soaker hose to the beans Tuesday night, and today they look so much better. I'm praying for a good shower... but the weather man says nothing in sight for the next 7 days. We need rain!

And finally.... some pictures of my "pout house"! This was when it was still a chicken coop-

This is now!

I still have to fix up around it with some lattice and landscaping, and Hubby needs to build a step, but we are finished for now- we ran out of money on closing in the side walls, so they will have to stay open for a little while longer. Yay! I can move in!