It hurts bad

So this morning, I stepped on a nail. I came in when I was done with chores and soaked it in Epsom salts for at least a half hour. Then I was on my feet the rest of the day. And now it's huge. And throbbing. I am soaking it again. I have to go out and do it all over again  in a few minutes before dark. But the ball of my foot feels like an actual ball now. I hate getting hurt. Why do things like this hurt so much? Why am I such a whiney baby? OUCH! I don't think I can get shoes on anyway. Wah wah wah.

Yeah, farming is dangerous.

I am always getting cut on wire or scraped on fencing. Or hit with a hammer. Or stepped on by sheep or goats. Or even rammed by rams. Clawed by chickens. Scratched by cats. I can just walk by a wild rose or blackberry bush and I am dripping blood. Or in the very short goat barn, I am constantly hitting my head. I am surprised I haven't knocked myself out yet. Or broken a leg or arm. Or sprained an ankle. Just little things like this is dangerous to me. Like just this morning I stepped on a nail putting the ewes back out in the pasture. I am soaking my foot right now in Epsom salt water. I almost cut my thumb off almost 2 years ago cutting up meat for dog food and had to get stitches. They made me get a tetanus shot, thank goodness. I didn't really want it, but am glad I got it now. Farming is dangerous!

There was a guy last spring not too far from me, that was baling hay and his baler messed up. He didn't turn the tractor off and had his arm up in the baler and it sucked his arm up and he almost went in too. He was very fortunate and he lived. But his arm is all mangled and he won't be able to use it much. God sure protects us when we do unwise things. This guy has 2 young children and a wife to take care of.

So every day, I am glad I haven't broken or sprained anything. I can't afford to hire someone to do what I have to do here every day. I need to be more careful.

85

Yep. 85 degrees in this house right now. I am sweating. I have windows open. This wood stove will be great when it's down below 20. But right now? It's too hot. But I am so glad we got it though.  It even heats upstairs really good too. So it will pay for itself this winter for sure.

It so hot in here...

the dogs won't even come in! We got the wood stove all hooked up and started a fire this evening. It was so smoky in here and upstairs, we had to open all the windows. It's nice and toasty in here now. I sure hope we have a nice cold winter. Well, not too cold. But I'll be ready!

And we got the wood shed semi finished. I need to get some tarp for the back and put up some tin on the sides. It's 4x12 and about 6' tall. We have 3 pallets for the floor. It's wide enough to get 2 rows stacked at least 6' high. Me and my grand daughter got about half of it loaded with wood already. When I get a camera, I'll take a picture of it. I am right proud of us for all we got done today here.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I better go get some wood in. It's going to be in the 50's the rest of the week.

This morning I butchered the last 12 Freedom Ranger chickens!!!! I am so glad that's done. And they are ALL sold too. I also put an ad on Craig's list last night for my laying hens that aren't laying. I had a guy call this morning about them. He came out this afternoon with his oldest daughter and they bought 4 Barred Rock hens and Russell Crowe the rooster. So it's a little quieter here now. The Americana roo has not crowed yet. Maybe he will now that Russell is gone.

So I took all the fence and fence posts down and cleaned up the lot where the FR were. Buried all the guts and burned the feathers in a big brush pile. I am going to use the fence to divide the front pasture for the sheep. I think I'll have enough fence to do that. I have plenty of fence posts.

And I need another milk goat! Abby, my older LaMancha doe, is drying herself up. She has nothing. So I am just milking Sandy, my Nubian. I have 2 other young does that are pregnant, but will not freshen til about the middle of February. I have never bred goats this early before. I hope we don't have a blizzard about then. So if anyone close by has a milk goat in milk right now, please let me know.

We bought a brand new Wonderlux wood stove a few days ago. Had to have it delivered. Plus had to have a piece of metal special made for the front of the fireplace. My husband was just trying to get the pipe to go into the back of the stove and has decided we will have to have an adapter for the back of the wood stove. So yet another day before we can use the stove.

We also bought lumber and tin roofing to build a wood shed to keep all that wood dry. I guess we will be doing that tomorrow since husband has to leave Monday morning. Sometimes our weekends are nonstop busy.

I hope you all are having a great weekend and enjoying this beautiful fall so far.

Just thinkin'.

I try to see the humor in everything. Even when someone I love gets hurt, I laugh. Not mean laughing, and I hate they get hurt, but it is kinda funny sometimes.  I guess it runs in my family, but we have a dry sense of humor too. My brother and my nephew are the same way.

So when I saw that the people of Colorado had spoken and they now have legalized recreational marijuana, I thought about maybe moving out there and starting a marijuana and hemp farm. Some people don't think it's funny or a good thing at all. But some people see how this could be a boost to the economy and to farmers. Hemp is a plant that can be used for several different things. One being great clothes. Another being food. It's great fiber. I could see this being a good business. And I think the picture of a city in Colorado shrouded in what looks like a fog, and the caption says something like the people of Colorado have spoken and are very happy about the law passing for legalized pot, I think that's funny.

But when I saw a picture on FB yesterday of Obama standing at an open door holding an eagle with a caption that said "Knock knock. Who's there. America." I just did not see the humor at all. America? Really?? I just thought that was scary. Maybe half of America saw the humor in it, but the other half? I would love to hear their opinion.

So here we go, another 4 years. Are we all ready? I have no idea what's going to happen. Or if it will change very much in 4 years. I really didn't see too much change in the last 4 years. Not for the better, anyway. So he says he has 4 more years, lets see what he will do with it this time.

In the meantime, lets all try to see the humor in our world. There is a lot if we just look and not take things too seriously. I'm sure St. Francis saw humor in God's creatures.

Cameras?

My little camera is dead. For a long time now I was not able to look back at the pictures I had just taken. Then a few weeks ago the bottom that held the batteries in broke and fell off. I had black electrical tape holding the batteries in after that and it worked fine. Then last night I dropped it on the pavement and the top part where I turn it on was raised up. It still turned on and I took a few pictures. Well, then I dropped the darn thing again and that was all the poor thing could take. It's dead now for sure.

So I need a new camera. I would love to hear all the good things about the cameras you all use so I can start looking for another one. I love taking pictures and already feel lost without mine. So any help would be great! Thanks.