On a September evening

I have had qualms about exactly what to write on this blog.  I don’t read others so I can’t compare – do I write just about the farm or about the kids or about me but I guess since it says ball family that is what it should be. All kinds of things have been going on lately.

 

I am still enjoying the wonderful sunrises!  We have had some very foggy mornings and it is like walking into another world with fog shrouded tall dark sentries in the distance and swirls of clouds caressing my face.  There is also a planet, I don’t know which one that is very bright every morning and positioned directly in front of me as I head east towards the chicken coop.  Speaking of chickens my chickens are sick.  They have chicken pox!  It is actually called avian or fowl pox but it is yucky.  The chickens all have black crusty looking sores on their combs and wattles (the red part above and below the head) and slight sneeze sounds.  They also have stopped laying and for a while there Fancy wasn’t crowing al all and Fancy loves to crow.  Fred crows occasionally but Fancy will crow dozens of times a day.  It took me several days to come up with what they had, actually Shelly came up with it (research specialist) and then if was confirmed by Brett, the rancher that rents our pasture and then the Montgomery County Ag extension agent.  We just need to wait and they will be better in a month or so.

 

We also have lost a cat.  One day Spencer was just gone and we haven’t seen him in almost two weeks.  My guess is he became someone’s dinner but I guess he could have found a different home.  Our duck is still doing well.  She came waddling up to the house the other day, we hadn’t fed her yet.  If she doesn’t have a mate we may buy some baby ducks for her to raise come spring.

 

Meanwhile, I think I may have broken the third toe on my left foot.  I dropped a very heavy plastic thing on my foot and then jumped around a bit and finally soaked it in ice water for a while.  It is really a very ugly toe right now and I still can’t wear shoes. I was supposed to get it x-rayed today but it just didn’t happen so I am just going to treat it like it’s broken.  It would help if my children would stop stepping on it.  So far today, Mandy has stepped on it three times and Nathan once.

 

I was very proud of myself last Friday as I mowed the entire yard in one day.  For those that haven’t heard about our mowing issues, they seem to be ongoing.  When we first moved to the farm we bought the old riding lawn that the old owners sold us.  It lasted about 2 ½ mowings.  Then we bought a rebuilt mower from Johnny the lawnmower man and then it kept breaking down.  I think it took 3 times of Johnny coming out and fixing this or that before we could actually run it.  Ask Jeremy, the poor guy kept climbing onto the mower and mowing a strip and then the mower would break and the circle would repeat itself with Johnny coming out, etc.  Finally, right before Cyndi and family left for Arizona it was finally running smoothly.  Anyway, in all this time I had never accomplished mowing all of it in one day until last Friday and I was able to get it mowed even thought I had to pick Nathan up from school and do some running around afterwards.  It looks so much better when it is mowed!

 

Glenn isn’t coming home until Friday night as he had a management meeting in Denver and Nathan doesn’t have school tomorrow and so we get to sleep in, Yeah!  Sleeping in at my house usually means 6:30 but it beats 5:45.  We hope to work on the road some tomorrow.  I am not sure how I am going to do that with a broken toe but it really is getting bad.  With all of the rain we received in early summer it has many and deep potholes and so it is time to do the dirt/gravel fix.  We have priced a tractor with an attachment that would fix the road but Glenn is waiting, I’m not sure for what but he is waiting.

 

Hurrah – we also received Mandy’s Social Security card today!  It’s been a year since we brought her home but we finally have it.  That’s it for the evening.  Ya’ll have a great night.

 

The sunrise

Since I take Nathan to school every morning, I need to get up fairly early to get myself dressed and feed the assorted chickens, cats, dogs and children.  This means that I am feeding the chickens every morning about sun up.  Each morning as I walk across the back yard to the chicken coop I am greeted by this beautiful scene.  Yesterday, the sun was sending orange shafts of light toward to sky and the surrounding clouds were laced with orange and pink and dark blue and white.  Other mornings, there is a mist that still clings to the ground and around the trees and I am in a nether land of contrasts.

 

 It is fast becoming my favorite time of day and even though I still am trying to figure out a time to go to bed so that getting out of bed that early is ok, I am loving the sunrises!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to our Mandy, who is 4 years old! Wow,  it has been over a year since Mandy’s gotcha day!  We are going to have a birthday party for her on Saturday but we did celebrate at Preschool with homemade cupcakes and juice and then we met Shelly’s girls and had a fun lunch at McDonalds and we play, play, played!  She has come a long way from the little girl that cried for hours and screamed “My Mother has left me!” at any passer by in Mandarin.  She is quite a character and has Attitude with a capital A but is turning into a loving, creative little girl.  Her language has finally caught up with her mind and she is now truly talking and describing what her life is to her.  On Saturday, we were driving to Shelly’s to take some things to her house and Mandy talked nonstop about Cinderella.  She went into every detail and every scene. It takes almost an hour to get to Shelly’s’ house and she didn’t’ stop talking.  Her monologue included sound effects and when the Royal messenger comes to the Cinderella’s house – she said “and he went ding dong” and just continued.  Anyway, again Happy Birthday to Amanda Paige Xin Jie Ball who is now 4 years old!

We have a

Happy Labor Day everyone!  We have done just that this weekend – we have labored.  Shelly and family came and stayed at the Ball family Bed and Breakfast over Friday night and spent part of Saturday with us.  I think everyone had fun and we got some work done.  We have a beaver that has moved onto our island at the pond.  It looks like his/her den is actually on the island – there is a pile of gnawed on sticks on the bank and a big whole in the ground under it and a larger hole to the side , which I am assuming is the escape route.  When Jason was out walking Bevo on Saturday morning before Bevo decided to be a bad dog and run away (he came home later) they saw the beaver at the island and watched him jump into the water.  So, we worked out on the island and wrapped the trees with chicken wire, hopefully if the beaver can’t get to the trees he/she will go away. 

 

Ducky Wucky (the kids named the duck) is doing well and has made her home under the little deck we have at the pond.  It would be nice if a male mallard would come along and we could have baby ducks.  We will see.

 

Jason figured out how to mow the long drive all the way to Riley Road and now you can actually drive with out hearing the grass hit the bottom of your car.  It is very nice.  Thank you, Jason.  He continued to mow a little after and then this morning, I got up and mowed for about an hour, Glenn took over for a little while until he had to stop and then I continued for another hour or so.  I still have some left to do but it definitely looks much better.  The day has been over cast all day and about an hour ago it let go and rained!  It is still raining some but not with the force it was before.

 

 We are busily thinking of plans for our Reunion in July 2008.  We are getting excited; I think it will be a wonderful time for our family.  Have a great week.