Final Farm Fotos of 2012: Still Learning

Still learning how to use my new camera, that is....

As you can probably tell by the picture above, I have not mastered the action shot.

After a wonderful Christmas with the family, we've been hibernation mode and trying to stay warm. 

Our weather went from sunny and upper 60's a week ago to damp, dreary, and 30 degrees. 

Brrrr.

Before my hands got so cold I couldn't feel the buttons anymore,
I took a walk around the place today with my new camera to get more familiar with it.... .

 Hello, Meatball!

 Cecil strikes a pose for me.... I love how he looks like he's wearing his fancy pants.

I was trying out some of the neat features of my new camera on these next ones:

Wide Angle....

Sepia....

Antique.....

I'm not sure which setting this was, but Lily is cute in it anyway. :)

The hens are on the hunt for bugs in the garden....

Lily and Edie take a moment to catch up on the latest barnyard gossip.

Daisy's pose sums it up pretty well ....

It's the "end" of another year!

So long, 2012!

Santa's Workshop? Not exactly...

 But it does look like the World's Messiest Elf has been hard at work around here... 

For the last couple of weeks I've been spending my days working on some handmade gifts, 

so messes are to be expected, I guess. 

Some of them are for little ones in the family, some are for the grown-ups... 

I wish I could show them to you now but I since I don't want to spoil the surprises 

I'll have to share pictures of them later. 

The Head Elf doesn't really care about all the mess, especially when it's nap time.

I'm taking some time off from the computer until after Christmas, 

but I'll be back sometime next week with my last post of the year, 

-Final Farm Fotos of 2012- 

which, by the way, will be taken with a brand-spanking-new camera! 

*SQUEEEEAL* 

(Hubby's present to me, but I'm not supposed to know about it... *insert evil laugh here*)

I love my blog friends so much....

I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas spent with the ones you hold dear.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: 

and the government shall be upon his shoulder: 

and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, 

The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."    Isaiah 9:6

Friday "Festive" Fotos: Random Scenes of the Season

Happy Friday, everyone!

Friday Farm Fotos: Barn Cleaning

Hubby, Big Red, and the Poop Wagon. (Manure Spreader.)

It's probably the least glamorous job around here... cleaning out coops and barns. 

But if you have animals, you know it's a fact of life. 

It's a stinky chore~
especially after it rains, or in the hot summer months when the flies are horrendous; 

but on the flip side, you always have lots of valuable fertilizer at your disposal. 

I don't mind it too bad if I have Hubby there to help, 

and he doesn't mind it too much anymore since we got the little tractor
with the very handy front end loader. 

It makes quick work of what used to be lots of back-breaking shoveling.

First, the sheep have to be locked out of the barn.

They do not like this, because we have disturbed their afternoon nap.
:)

Then, all the waste is shoveled away from the walls
and from underneath the feed trough and manger.

Ew.

 Next, Hubby scoops it up the with the loader.

Easy peasey!

It's dumped into the manure spreader.....

And with some help from Big Red, Hubby takes it to the pasture. 

He has to engage the chain drive that spreads the manure...

Then back on the tractor and away it goes!

Nice. 

This will make the field beautiful and green next spring,

  

In the meantime, I finish cleaning the barn down to bare dirt.

Then we spread lime all over the entire floor.

 This not only gets rid of the odor but it also absorbs new waste.

Hubby does a very neat job at this.

Once we're finished it not only looks and smells better, 

but it's healthier for the sheep to not have all that stuff under their hooves.

"Can we come back inside? I have to go to the bathroom."

*Sigh*

Happy Friday, everyone!