Bustin' Sod

Sunday was a productive day here at the Acres. It was warm, but not too warm. Somewhat sunny with a chance of rain for later in the day. We deciede that it was a perfect time to expand the garden. Last year Mr. B and I planted a small vegetable garden, a trial run. We enjoyed the garden and the homegrown produce; it would be a permanent fixture on our homestead. Over the course of the winter we came to the conclusion that we needed to expand, what we had was not going to be large enough. Our veggies were crowded last year. There were things we wanted more of and different vegetables we wanted to try our hand at growing. Approximately three times the size would do. 

We measured, staked, and put down the twine. Then we got down to serious business. Cutting the grass with a spade, flipping the sod, rolling it, and shaking off the extra dirt. Six hours later as the first rain drops came down we were finished. We now have a garden roughly the size of a two car garage.

Every one pitched in and helped. Well everyone except Patty. She was busy keeping her siding warm. Gus laid in fresh dirt and supervised. Bernice followed along eating the sod, making it lighter for us to carry, and eating wormies. She also had the courtesy to fertilize along the way. 

When we were finished I had dirt in places I didn't know was possible to. Mr. B and I both had that sense of accomplishment that comes from a hard day's work. And let me tell you we are both feeling it today. 

The Orange Chair

My mother-in-law bought this chair before Mr. B was born. It survived their two moves, three dogs, a cat, and three children. It is faded and worn and the cushion needs a patch job. It still smells slightly of their house, a mixture of woodsmoke and generic fabric softener with a hint of dog. I love this chair. It is squishy, but not to squishy. It's large enough to fit me comfortably, but small enough were I feel wrapped in its warmth. It is the perfect chair for quilting. 


When Gus would stay at his Gammie's and Grandpa's he would curl up in that chair and watch people walk down the street. Like me he fit perfectly in the chair. And as an added bonus the arm rest is the perfect height for a pillow.


Back when my in-laws were moving into their new house my mother-in-law asked me if I would like it, one less piece of furniture to move. Like it, we (Gus and I) would LOVE it!


Since it has moved to our house it has been claimed by Gus. I hardly ever get to sit in it. He takes his prenap nap in it, his nap, and his post-nap nap in it. He even sleeps in it at night. Which is wonder as he is a notorious bed hog. 

While many may think of it as a hideous chair, it has a permanent home here. Gus loves it and I love it. 

Shadow Update

The little bugger is doing awesome. She, we checked last night and we are 99% positive Shadow is a girly, is still smaller than her brothers and sisters but is growing. She still loves to snuggle with the geese. Unlike the other ducks Shadow is less skittish; last night she was eating lettuce out of my hand. The geese are much calmer than the ducks and I think some of that is rubbing off on her. I know parents aren't supposed to have favorites but she is just so darn cute!

Patty and Her Siding

A few weeks ago Mr. B cut a hole in the house to vent our dryer. (A monuments occasion for our wet clothes.) He left the piece of siding lay were it fell. I like to think he was so excited to finish hooking up the dryer and to take it for a test spin that it just slipped his mind to pick it up. A few weeks ago Patty, pumped up on hormones, found it. Over the next few weeks she built up a nest for it. She has been diligently tending to her siding; sitting on it at every night and most of the day. She is very protective of her nest. Gus found this out the hard way.

She has laid a few eggs for us and we snatched those up when she wasn't looking. They made an amazing chocolate cake. I am secretly hoping that we were right in naming Charles. Patty has shown some good mothering instincts and we could have a few little "Buff Pilgrims" running around next spring.

I think I will let the nest go for a few more weeks and then take it away. But for the time being it's pretty darn amusing. My baby girl is trying to hatch a circular piece of aluminum siding.

Nugglies

I'm an adult and I deserve an adult glass!
But I still LOVE "little kid" food. I use the quotes because I don't think anyone truly grows out of their love of finger food. You can deny it all you want, but deep down everyone has that favorite food from their childhood. Mr. B has a soft spot for grilled cheese and SpaghettieOs. On a rough day mac and cheese and hot dogs will do it for me. And both of us are suckers for chicken nuggets and tater tots. 

Over past year I have shied away from buying allot of the processed premade food. We aren't overly healthy or completely organic by any means, but we are making an effort to be more conscientious about what we eat. By we I mean me and Mr. B goes along with it.

Last night we were planning the menu for the week and making out our grocery list. I was looking online for some inspiration. Mr. B was playing words with friends (supper addictive) and giving his two cents every so often. Anywho, awhile back I had pinned this recipe for homemade chicken nuggets, thinking that it would be great for our niece. Mr. B saw that and chicken nuggets it was. With tater tots. There was no going back.

The recipe was supper easy and delicious. Mr. B gave them a definite make again. While I did make the nuggets completely from scratch, we bought the tots. But hey one out of two isn't bad. Ok one out of three, we did douse everything in ranch. I have made our own ranch dressing before, AMAZING by the way. But I was feeling lazy. I should also start looking for a supper easy homemade tot recipe if this is going to be put in the regular rotation.

I think that you would be able to make a large batch of these and freeze some to pop in the oven later. That, in my book, is always a plus. I think I will make a double batch next time or when there is a great sale on chicken. That way we can be prepared for unexpected little people for dinner. (real little people or those still little at heart) 

Next on the list..SpaghettieOs!!

Shadow

Tonight while cleaning out the nursery Mr. B and I noticed something wrong with one of the duckas. He was smaller than his brothers and sisters and he just didn't seem to have the same fight as the others. We have placed him with the geese, Charles and Thelma, hoping that he won't have to struggle as much for food and water access. We shall see what the next few days bring. My hopes aren't high for this little guy, but he might pull through and surprise us. With a name like Shadow, think Homeward Bound, he just might have a chance.

Dinner Disaster

It all started with me wanting to plant the asparagus last night, nasty vegetables but Mr. B loves it.  Well mother nature had something else in mind. Rain, ALOT of rain. Alright, we need the rain so I rolled with it. I had been planning on making meatloaf this week any way. What better on a cold rainy night than some nice comfort food. All afternoon I had been thinking about dreamy creamy mashed potatoes, heavenly meatloaf, and peas, frozen peas cooked to perfection still crisp with that wonderful pop not mushy like school lunch. A combination that, in my opinion, can make the angels sing. Afterwards Mr. B and I would snuggle in on the couch with Gus and watch War Horse. A perfect evening.

The meat loaf was coming along, vegetables were cooking and Mr. B was doing dishes. We were trying this recipe. It was going to be able to make not one not two but three meatloaves. Score!! I could freeze the extra two for latter meals. We were up to the step were every thing gets mixed together into one gooey lump of meat. However, Mr. B had pulled out a roast not burger from the deep freeze. CRAP!! Ok not to worry we will roll with it and just make something with that hunk of meat. We could finish the meat loaf the following night. Quick inventory of the fridge and stir fry it is. That did not turn out the way we had planned. For the first time in two years Mr. B told me that dinner was edible but not that great. The first time in TWO YEARS!! And he was right. To top it all off by the our just edible dinner was done it was to late to watch the movie and still make it to bed at a reasonable time, we have to be functional human beings rather early. 


It was a crappy night! But no crying over spilled milk. From the meat loaf disaster I learned two valuable lessons.

•  Always double check what you are grabbing from the deep freeze. Yes the basement can be rather creamy and you just want to get back upstairs, but read the label!
• Venison roast is horrible for a stir fry. Last night it had a horrible gamy flavor, more than I had ever had. Now I love venison and we use it in the place of beef for just about everything. Stir fry is not a good idea. 

The babies are here

Today was an important day on the Acres. I had to go to town to pick this up from the post office.

In the box were fifteen of these cuties.

and two of these adorable fuzz balls.

We have decided to name the geese (the yellow fuzzies) Thelma and Charles. We believe we have a boy and a girl, to the best of our novice goose sexing abilities. The little black cuties, runner ducks, will remain nameless until some personalities develop and they prove they have enough street smarts to make out here on our frontier. 

(Let's just say we had some unwanted visitors last year)

In case you were wondering we ordered the birds from Murry McMurray Hatchery. We purchased some geese from them last year with good luck. These little guys made it to us just fine. Some fresh water and some tasty lettuce and they perked right up.

 Mr. B helped me rig up this high-end brooder box: three Rubbermaids, a pair of saw horses, one of the ramps to get the ATV into the truck and two heat lamps.We know that it is not the most glamours set up but it works. The only thing we had to purchase was a heat lamp and the Rubbermaids, which will be disinfected when the kids are all grown up and we will be able to use them for storage.

The babies need to stay inside under a heat lamp for a few weeks until they have some big bird feathers and can venture outside, about fourish weeks. So for now they are hanging in the dinning room. Not the most common place for birds but it works for us. Its safe and warm and close to one of the limited outlets.