frog crossing

Kyle, my nephew, is staying with us this summer.  I gave him a few things to do for me to earn some money, one of things was to make a rock climb, so that the frogs can get up into the pond.   I miss not seeing frogs.  We want to get the pond back into the ground, but it is going to take some time.  We have so much other things that need to get done first.

The horse shed needs some repairs, the horses are locked out until it is fixed.  Then we need to get hay done.  Still working on getting engines ready for shows this summer, and we have a leak in the dining room.  We are going to do a patch job for now and think hard about replacing the addition with a new and wider one, so that we can move the kitchen.  I don't think we are really up to spending 50 to 70 grand to replace it though.  Decisions, decisions.

I'm back!

Now that there is a little more going on in my life, I thought it would be a good time to come back to blogging.  Here is one of my favorite things about summer, and that is the hummers!  I love to watch them.  I have four feeders out on the patio. 

My job is going great!  I actually like going to work in the morning, instead of dreading getting up and having to go to work. 

I have a girl that comes and works with Sirocco and I.  I love her, she is a great young lady.  I feel comfortable.  So, she is working with both of us.  I hope to be confident enough to do some trail riding before the end of summer.  I have to work on my riding skills again.  I plan on taking Annie, my 22 year old and do some bareback riding to get my seat back up to par, and plus get her back into shape again. 

We have been doing a lot of work on the back porch and patio.  Looks great and I love to sit and have a glass of wine after work by the pond. (which is now a stock tank that is above ground for now.

Hope you have a great week.

The famous lake

 Yes, I am blogging, the hubby begged me to blog.  He has been disappointed, that I have not kept up with the blog.  He says it  is the only way, that he can connect with me when he is gone.  So, I said I would blog but it would only be a few days a week.

A couple of months ago, we went on an all day drive and ended up in Lake Placid.  It sure was a beautiful ride.   The mountains look a lot larger the further north you go in New York.  These are just a few pictures, that we took while we were there.  I will post more tomorrow.

The new job is going great, I still really like it.  The people I work with are great, it is a nice relaxing atmosphere.   I am not working full time, which is nice.  It gives me time to do the things, that I need to do at home.  I am still getting used to working outside the home though, which takes getting used to.  I seem to be too tired to really do much of any thing else, when I get home.

I have put the weaving on the back burner, I hope to get back in the groove soon.  I really need to keep up with the weaving end of things.  I also, want to get back to riding the horses, that has also been neglected.  

I have found that it is still hard to get over the fear of riding, even though, I know that my horses are trained enough, that I should have no problems riding.  I want to always come up with excuses not to spend time with the horses.  Rain, cold, is Sirocco really trust worthy for me to ride him yet, not having someone around in case I fall, you name it, I think of an excuse.  I have even thought about getting rid of  them.  What is the sense of having them if I don't ride.  I do have a girl that is going to come over to my house and work with me and Sirocco.  So, hopefully things will progress past my fear.  Sirocco has had a lot of training done the past couple of years.   It has been away from my house, and it seems like when he comes home, it is a whole new ball game!

So, other than that, things are pretty much the same here on the farm.  Hope you have a great night.

Done

This is in front of the American Pickers shop in Le Clair, Iowa.  The shop was a disappointment, too many souvenirs and not enough antiques.

I am taking a break from blogging, as you can already tell, I haven't been blogging much.  I find that I really don't have all that much to share, and I have gotten lazy in the picture taking end of it.  So, I am leaving for a while.  When and if I have something to share, I will post.   I hope you all have a wonderful spring and summer.  I will be keeping up with the ones that are on facebook.  My husband is a little disappointed that I don't blog.  When he is away from home, he likes to see what is going on at home.  Sorry, dear, but I just don't feel up to posting much.

You all take care, and I will be back to posting once in a while.  With the new job and changes that have been going on, I don't get on the computer all that much.  Take care!

Eatery

The Mississippi River!

Zoom on picture if possible and it shows the line where the flood waters rose to.

Docks outside of the restaurant.

One of my favorite things that we have back home is, what is called Chicken George.  It is basically battered chicken fingers with a special sauce, that they make to go with it.  This is the restaurant that makes it.  We all went out to lunch after we were coming back from going to the American Pickers shop, Antique Archaeology,(which was a great disappointment)!  They had all their tourist memorabilia there rather than antiques.  Well, I should say some antiques, but not much!  I will have a picture of the car tomorrow.  Hope your Monday is going well.

Are We at the Zoo???

The hubby and I were out driving on the back roads in Illinois, and I could not believe what I saw.  These giraffes where in someones yard out in front of their house.  In the middle of no where!  Matt's aunts loves giraffes and I had to take pictures and put them up on facebook.  I thought that I would share them on my blog also.   They were life size, as you can compare from the garage in the background.  Never thought I would see that on a back road out in the middle of no where!

Hope you are having a great Sunday, The sun is shining and the degree is going up to 70 here in upstate New!  Have a great day.

Road Trip

If you don't know, we had to take an emergency trip to Illinois the week before.   As we were going out, we hit sunshine, snow, rain, ice.......sunshine, snow, rain, ice........and the cycle kept repeating all the way from Ohio to Illinois.  Was not a nice trip that was for sure.

April is now one of the worst months of the year for me.  My dad died a year ago tomorrow, and my step-dad, he was the best step-father anyone could ask for, he passed away on the 7th.  He taught me how to drive, he would take me to work with him, when he worked in the rock quarries.  I got to move a track, rock drill. I was able to stand under a Euclid dump truck, while they would blast rock.   He helped me move to New York to be with my husband, when we first met, and were only girlfriend and boyfriend.  He was always there, when I needed him.   I loved him like he was my real father!  He came into our lives when I was about 18 years old.  He will be missed.

It was nice to see family, that I hadn't seen since I lived in New York, which has been over 15 years.  It is just too bad, that it takes something like a family member passing away to get together.   I was glad to go and be able to see my mom, since it will be a while before I can see her again.  Now that I have a full time job, it will be a while before I am able to get back out to Illinois.

My mom is a pretty strong woman, she had shoulder surgery two months ago and still has two weeks, before she is able to even start physical therapy.  She is dependent on my sisters now. to help her do a lot of things, until she gets her shoulder back to normal.  Plus, having to deal with the aftermath of dad passing away.  I don't think anyone is ever ready to have to do the paper work, and getting things settled, when a family member passes away.  Life insurance, mortgage, retirement, pension, getting rid of personal things, social security, etc.  Plus having to deal with your own grief.   She brought up us four girls all by herself for most of our lives.  She had been married two times before the best one came along.   She has had back surgery, knee surgery, a broken ankle, heel surgery, two shoulder surgeries and she deals with high blood pressure.   I just hope I can be as strong as she is when I grow up.   :-)