Like I need an excuse to eat cake...

I didn't feel any different when I woke up this morning, but according to the calender I'm now 42.

*Sigh*

Funny..... this one kinda crept up on me. Do birthdays get sneakier the more you have of them? Hmmm...
Oh well, there aren't any wrinkles a little piece of cake won't smooth over.   :)

I'll be spending the day drying some apples and cleaning up my sewing room... as for a celebration, that will have to wait until tomorrow- Hubby is taking off from work and we're taking a little day trip with Lily to enjoy the fall colors and do some shopping along the way.

Speaking of Lily, I think she's finally recovered from her Birthday celebration a couple of weekends ago... Here is a picture of her right before her big night began-

The tiara didn't even make it to the car, but once we got into town she had a couple of chicken nuggets from Chik-Fil-A, her favorite restaurant.... (okay, actually it's mine but I'm pretty sure she likes it too...)
And gots lots of love and affection from everybody in the pet store plus two new toys, so it was a pretty big night for a 1-year-old.

I'll be back next week- have a great weekend, everybody!

Friday Funny: Farm Fotos that didn't make the cut

Last week I bought a new external hard drive to store all the important files on my computer... it was something I have been needing to do for a while. The last time I tried to back-up my computer, it said the drive I was using didn't have enough memory- in other words, the folders containing all my pictures, videos and documents are too big to fit on there now. This could be because while going through some of my files I had no idea how many pictures I've saved over the last 5 years....
The camera I am using now was a Christmas present back in 2006 and I have taken literally thousands of pictures with it. Not to mention the pictures I haven't kept- for every good picture I take, I've probably taken 15 not-so-good-ones. I usually delete the dark, blurry, or random ones off the card before they ever get to the computer. 

Some have fallen through the cracks along the way, though...




For example-

Silkie, exit stage left.

Mockingbird, exit stage right. 

                                                                                            

Apparently I saved this rare photo of a headless bird for a reason.

(I think it's head was turned. I hope.)

This next picture defies any logical explanation I have.

In the first place, why was I holding a dead snake on a pitchfork.

In the second place, Why did I take a picture of it?

Do I have issues?

 It always helps to move the screen door out of the way before taking a picture.

 Much better.

Here are some random pictures that need to be filed under something.

Wool. 

Wabbit.

Wainbow.

I'll just file them under... "W".

This picture of little Edie when she was just 6 months old has a funny story behind it- I grabbed my camera to take this because she was standing so still I thought she was posing for me. Turns out, her head is stuck in the fence. (Look closely and you'll see the little square around her neck.) The sad thing is, I snapped about 10 pictures before I finally started wondering why she wasn't moving.

 

 Speaking of Edie and Daisy, you sure can't say Daisy is camera shy. In fact, every time I have my camera outside trying to take a pretty picture, she always winds up in it somehow.

 *Sigh*

"Yoo-hoo! I'm ready for my close-up!"

There are times when you take a picture but you don't see everything through the tiny little lens....

While posting about how cold it was last winter,

I took this next picture of me breaking the ice out of the sheep's water.

Once I saw it on the big computer screen, I decided it would be best not to include this one.

Although I've taken lots and lots of bad or random pictures, each one has a little special memory attached to them- and I guess that's why I take them in the first place.....

Even if it's of somebody's rear!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Honey crop 2011

I've been working in a sticky (but sweet) situation for the past couple of days- we helped dad with his bees and now I'm in the process of draining the honey from two large containers into quart and pint jars. In between fillings I've been trying to make the rounds and catch up on my blog friends...

This years' honey crop is about half of last years- 5 gallons compared to 9 last year. Dad seemed to think the dry hot summer left the bees with little to work with.

But I still think it's beautiful... *Sigh*

If you are as fascinated by the interesting little honey bee as much I am, or know nothing about them and would like to know more- click on these links to go to some of my older honey bee posts.

Want to see a video of me "feeding" a honey bee some sugar water? Click here.
Want to learn some interesting and cool facts about bees you might not know? Click here.
Want to learn more about the process of "taking off" the honey from the hive? Click here.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Friday Farm Fotos: Whole lotta paintin' goin' on

After several rainy days in a row, it's nice to see the sunrise this morning!

And then of course, the fog moves in...

Instead of "Gorillas in the Mist", this is "Sheep in the Fog."

Lily poses in front of my Fall decorations.

The pumpkins have now been test-licked for freshness.

Remember back in the March when we built the bovine barrier?

We finally got around to painting it.

We liked the color so much, we got a few more gallons and...

Painted the big barn....

Painted the sheep barn.....

Painted Hubby's tractor shed....

And painted the chicken coop.

The Silkies are especially thrilled with the new paint job!

Really, they are.... they just have a funny way of showing it...

The house is next, but we won't be painting it- it just needs a fresh coat of stain and we're using same color that's on it now.

But before we do that, we are going to celebrate Lily's birthday, which was yesterday...

Look out PetSmart- here we come!

(And Chik-fil-A... her favorite restaurant...*grin*)

Happy Friday, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday: The grass is always greener.....

The Wedding and the Winner

The winner of my pumpkin giveaway will be announced at the bottom of this post, but first I wanted to share some pictures of my nephew's wedding, which was this past Saturday. The setting was a wonderful farm with a gorgeous view of the Smoky Mountains in the background, and even though it was a chilly fall-like day, an outdoor wedding in a place like this couldn't have been more perfect.

This is the building where the reception was held.... isn't it beautiful?

Down the hill from the reception hall is where the ceremony would take place....

Here come the guys.....

The parents, grandparents, and bridesmaids were brought down the hill by carriage.

My brother walking my sister-in-law to her seat...

My cousin's precious little boy, Aiden, waiting for the girls to arrive from their carriage.

This is Georgia, the adorable little flower girl.

The bride and her Dad also arrived in a beautiful carriage......

As soon as Shelby and her Dad started their walk down the aisle, the sun came out from behind the clouds.

 

 The vows....

 Mr. and Mrs. Nick Young!

And for a moment, I couldn't help a couple of tears that fell....

One for all the years that have flown by so quickly since Nick was a little boy, and one for my Mother who didn't get to see her beloved grandson get married....

*Sigh*

Then it was back up the hill for the reception.....

The inside of the reception hall was so cozy inside with it's beautiful barn lights on the walls.

 My two precious aunts- my mom's sisters- having a good time.

Late into the night everyone ate lots of delicious barbecue and laughed and danced and had such a wonderful time...

Beautiful festive candles burned everywhere and a fire outside for the children to make s'mores made the evening complete.

Congratulations, Nick and Shelby- may God bless you with many wonderful years together!

***********************************************

And now- for the winner of my fabric pumpkin......

I assigned every comment a number in the order they were left on the last post, then used a random number generator from CalculatorPro.com to pick for me:

My Random Number is

24.00

Random Number Calculator

Comment #24 belongs to... Dawn! (Blogger user name dsblanchard.)

Congratulations, Dawn- email me your address and the pumpkin will be on it's way to you!

Happy Tuesday, everyone... thanks for letting me share my nephew's special day with you!