Rain

We have been so lucky.  Based on the Rockdale paper, which by the way is a total of 6 pages; 2 for news, 2 for sports and 2 for advertisements, we received 6" of rain last week.  That explains why we have so much water in our ponds. 

We were also able to have our first campfire!  My lovely husband was nice enough to bring all the fixings for a smore.....which is one of my favorite campfire foods.  And it was delicious.

The Barn

We have finally showed some progress on the barn.  We have 16 - 16' poles concreted in the ground.  Yes, we are exhausted, but we came out of it free of major injuries.  Not even a splinter.   There was also minor bickering.  I think we were too tired to have a difference of opinion on anything.    Today we started with just the corner post in but we got the remaining 12 poles set.

John has gotten much better with the tractor, it has really been worth the money.  It saved us from having major backaches.

By the way, this is not a picture of the board falling off the tractor.  John is placing the board in the hole with the tractor.  It worked like a charm.

TAA DAA........ All posts are in.  And then there is John showing off his......(what I am not sure)!

There is something that needs to be pointed out.  Look at John's pants.  They look pretty clean.  Look at mine.  Guess who had to do all the grunt work!!!! Yes, yours truly.

Check out the shadow, I took the picture of my pants myself!!!!!

Water!

I am so excited, we have water in the front pond and not just some water - it is full.  Due to the drought, we have not had any water in the front pond since we bought the land.  Our back pond never lost all of it's water, but the front has always been bone dry.  There are some that think this is silly, but for those of us who have had a LARGE hole in their front yard it is a big deal!

What the H@#$% does this mean?

Ok - I was going to Home Depot and was looking for a parking spot.  I saw this sign and decided that it perfectly described me so I parked there!  But I have no idea what it means.  Based on the type of shopper that goes in there, I just can't imagine that there are really PRO shoppers.

Christmas

Well, as good as I thought I was yesterday, today has started out very shaky.  I let my bread rising over night and the loaf bread fell because it rose to long, it did cook well, but looks like hell.  The rolls that I made looked perfect, but I over cooked them.  Yes, I said I over cooked them. SOOOO, I am having to start over with the bread which is going to be very tough since I need the oven all day for the other food.  And bread is suppose to be my thing....how did this happen!

And by the way, the popcorn balls that look wonderful, taste good but are a little soft.  What the F#@@$.

Arg....

It has been a few hours and I am almost over my meltdown.  I will say that John is happy to see me recover.  I think he thought it was touch and go for a while.

Since we are not opening presents till after lunch, when the kids arrive, John has been spending his time playing games on the iPad.  Yes, he has a tough life. 

Dinner did go well.  My second batch of bread turned out perfect.  The prime rib was delicious and everyone got great gifts.  Cheri and the girls came over.  It was wonderful to see them, but of course, I got no pictures during the event except for a few of the kids opening presents.  I am so bad at taking pictures.

Christmas was great!

And then there is the day after (Boxing Day for those born over the pond) ......

And yes, Tasha is still asleep (the only person in the family that can stay up past 10:00 pm).

The Day Before Christmas Eve

Today was a very busy day of cooking.  John and I have had so much fun and it has been a very nice and quite day.  Lot's was cooked, but there is one thing I have never made before and if I do say so myself, turned out really good.  During my research of this recipe, I saw multiple times were numerous people had posted, that if you ever make it, you will never buy store bought again.  And I have discovered, they are right.  Homemade marshmallows are wonderful.    And surprising it was not that difficult.  DAMN I AM GOOD!

I made these so we could have hot chocolate with marshmallows. 

My next thing was the holiday tradition of popcorn balls.    This is for Matt who loves them.

Then to finish off the day, I cooked ham, spaghetti sauce and am making ciabatta bread.  Another thing that John and I learned today is that we are no longer able to eat ham.  We thought we would have a ham sandwich for dinner.  It was wonderful, but both of our stomachs got tore up.  Oh well....
Was that too much information.

Starting the Barn

Well, we have finally begun the barn. Today we got the four corner posts in. Yes, it was a great feeling. And, I will say no major problems or delays, unless you can count forgetting the post hole diggers and shovel. Yes, I had to go buy each. This would be the first post hole dug.

And finally....all four in.

And this is Tyke exhausted from all his running. 

Farm

Pictures of the ‘FARM’, at least that is what I call it. Although nothing is planted, it is still the ‘Farm’. Besides that what else do you call it? We have completed one fence line and for a pair of rockies, it does not look too bad. We are going to start on the barn soon, baring weather and the holiday schedule.

Farmer John... We have gotten some rain, which has been really nice. Of course, not enough but just happy to get what we get at this point.