Miscellaneous Updates

Last year I cut Regal's hair really short, for the summer. He's prone to have skin issues and he gets really hot pretty easy (he lays in the driveway when it snows, instead of being in his house!) so I thought he'd be better off if I cut his hair. So, last year, I bought clippers and gave him a haircut.

It's about that time again now, so I tackled it today, which is also his birthday. I actually didn't remember...AKC sent him an email wishing him happy birthday. Some Mama I am...

Everything went fine with the clipping, until the clippers quit working. Pics of the process...

Regal LOVES getting a hair cut! I worked on him for well over an hour this afternoon and he laid there just like that the entire time. Every time I would turn off the clippers he's raise his head and look up at me, like "Um...what do you think you're doing?!"

Well, I clipped his whole right side and then got him to roll over so I could do the left. And the clippers quit cutting. Like, seriously, they wouldn't cut ANYTHING. I was keeping them cleaned and oiled and they just quit cutting. Sooo...you should see him now. It's quite pitiful...and also a little funny. One side is short and the other is long. Hm. I don't know what I'm going to do now...I guess I'll have to send the blades off to be sharpened or something like that. Inconvenient and aggravating!

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been working in our existing strawberry patch. I got most of it done, but now I'm going back over some of it to get all the tiny weeds out, and I'll be clearing out in between the rows so I can put down the black plastic sheets and sawdust, to keep that clean. I'm also replanting some strawberries that I dug up last week. Rylie was helping me yesterday...

We also had a lesson on why we can't pick the pretty flowers off the strawberry plants! The pretty flowers make baby strawberries!

My new favorite lunch...wraps!

This time I had stir-fried chicken, but most of the time I use lunch meat (the good stuff...no nitrates and all) inside. I pack it with as many veggies as I can find in the fridge. Most of the time, I use feta cheese (SOOO yummy!) but this time all we had was cheddar...I was out of feta. Let me see if I can remember everything..spinach, radishes, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cheese, chicken, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar...I'm sure I'm forgetting something! I LOVE fresh basil in these, but all I had yesterday was dried. Significantly less yummy than fresh! I usually use the bigger wheat shells, but Mom got these smaller ones when she shopped last...hence the two of them on my plate! These would be good with regular salad dressing on them, too, but I love the oil and vinegar and it's healthier than standard dressings! Wraps are so versatile...you can put just about anything you want in them. It's a great way for me to pack in a bunch of veggies without a lot of bread at lunchtime! 

By the way, if anyone was wondering...I eat really really slow. Just a fun random fact about me. So slow, that Jacob (now you didn't think I was about to write another post without mentioning him, did you?!) can eat twice as much as me and be done eating well before I am. Last Wednesday, we ate at the Mustard Seed (their store) and he was making fun of me SO BAD because I was eating so slow! We were at our own booth and one of his sisters was laughing because every time Jacob turned away from me, I'd chew really really fast and then we were both laughing and the poor man couldn't figure out why. 

He even wrote me a $20 ticket for eating too slow. I told him that just covered supper Saturday night. ;)

Looks like I'll be headed out to Pellyton again tomorrow sometime. Jacob's work schedule has been busy at the sawmill and he's been working on the house a lot too. He tore out all the flooring in the living room and kitchen already, and bought the wood to replace the floor joists. I'm anxious to get over there and help him work on it, but I think I'll be more helpful on the stuff that comes after ripping the floor out. :) Jacob's such a hard worker...he continually amazes me with everything he's doing.

See..had to brag. :) It's my job.

Fish, Strawberries, and Rainbows

No, not eaten together!

Last year, we got quite a strawberry yield. We just have 3 good-size rows, but we ended up picking well over 30 gallons. Or maybe I froze over 30 gallons. I can't remember! Anyway, I made a ton of preserves, in addition to freezing a lot of berries, so we were happy with our strawberry patch. This year, Dad was going to start another patch, and we weren't sure if we would be able to salvage the existing patch. See, we put hay over the rows last year, and I think there were a lot of seeds and stuff in the hay. So, this is how our poor strawberry patch looked, even after a little work. Hint: I worked on the beginning of the row on the far left, so the whole thing looked like the two rows on the right before!

Let me back up, though. Dad had worked in the strawberry patch a few days before. Well, I wasn't doing anything else so I decided to go out and help. So, I started walking down the path in between the rows. Dad had pulled weeds and threw them into the middle, where one would walk. Well, I started looking, and there strawberry babies (small plants) growing in the walkway! I talked to Dad about it, and decided to dig the plants out of the walkway, instead of throwing weeds on the poor dears and walking on them (aHEM) so I started doing just that. I dug and planted over 70 plants in pots, and that was only about half the first row. So, then we started clearing the row itself. Whenever there was a spot that didn't have as many plants, I would transplant the strawberries I'd dug up from the walkway. I still have 50 or so pots that I need to find a place for.

So that's one of the things I've been working on for the past couple days. We've (Dad's been out there with me some) gotten this much done:

It's looking better, but it's still going to be a while before it's all done. My back hurts from bending over, but I really don't mind doing it. It's nice to be able to clean up the rows, and it's good daydreaming time. ;)

I still have a lot of plants that I need to find room for. We may try to sell some of them if there are too many, because there are plants in the other walkways as well. They travel like CRAZY!

There was a rainbow Saturday:

Along with a pretty sunset...

And a handsome guy hanging around, who was apparently feeling peaceful. ;)

That, or he was trying to tell me he's two cute, which I am, of course, already very well aware.

Ok, Sunday, I headed out to Jacob's. The drive is a very pretty one, and one I'm getting used to driving pretty often. :)

I was able to tour our house Sunday, which was a major highlight! It's SOOO exciting!!! I didn't get any pictures...I know, shame on me! I do need to be pictures for our before and after comparisons.

I made this bracelet this past week...

And finally, we went fishing today. The guys went a few days ago, but I was at this one guy's house, so I didn't fish. ;) I went out today but I'm not keen on fishing without planning on eating what you catch. I love catfish fishing, and eating the catfish, but I don't see much point in fishing just for the heck of it.

So, here goes...

I cast. Or is it casted? Cast. Yeah. I cast.

Supposed to watch my bobber. Never have liked that too much.

Oh, look...Dave got one!

Then the dogs ran around the pond and I took pictures of them.

Dangit. Something ate my bait.

So I had to trek over to the bait bucket with empty hook...

Attach said bait...

I cast again...

Boys...

There comes Mom...

Mom and Dad...

Looks like Dave caught another...

Which reminds me...

No bobber?

Darn. I wanted a catfish!!!

This little guy swallowed the hook pretty good and I couldn't figure out how to get a picture of me removing the hook with the pliers. My hands were kinda full. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure this one will be ok. Dad said the turtles eat the ones that die, though. Guess turtles gotta eat too, huh? Facts of life, folks.

Yuck.

I tried a few more times after this, but never did get a catfish and those darn bluegill kept stealing my bait.

That'll wrap up this post. See y'all later!