The Day is Finally Here....

This is a very special week for me. In a few days we will be driving to Michigan to celebrate my sister's high school graduation. I can't believe the day is almost here. I am so proud of her. She received a volleyball scholarship so she will be attending college in the fall.

I remember 15 years ago when I moved 12 hours away from where I grew up. She was 3 years old. I think the hardest part was leaving my little sister and knowing in my heart that I may never move back. I may never see her grow up. I was right. It still breaks my heart to remember it. I told my mom I would only be gone 1 year and I have now been gone 15! Where does the time go? I'm sorry Mom!

It makes me sad that I was not there to see her grow up on a daily basis. I know I missed out on so much.

Although, I'm a little over protective so maybe it was a good thing as I'm sure I would've drove her crazy. I remember when she came to visit me when I lived in Chicago. I was so scared for her to come and be my sole responsibility for the week. I was scared we would get into a car accident and she'd get hurt. Or something else would happen and she would get hurt. It worked out great though. Well, except the part where she refused to go to church because she didn't like the shoes my mom had packed for her. She was 7! I had to stop by Target on the way to church just to buy her new shoes so she would go. We had a special week together (minus the kitten dying! Sorry Tasha for that bad memory!).

Also, I remember the time when we attended a family wedding. I did my hair up and my mom did Tasha's hair down. She was devastated! She said, "All the boys will want to dance with Jaydie and none of them will dance with me!" All because my hair was up! In the end, I'm pretty sure she danced with a 9-year-old boy that night and asked my parents to lie about her age. She was only 7 and she was already worried about boys! Things haven't changed!

I wanted a sister growing up because brother's were too rough. So, when my parent's adopted Tasha I was so excited to finally have my sister, even if I was 17 years old when she came along. I loved her from the moment I saw her (the day she was born).  We may not look like sisters on the outside, but to me she is 100% my sister in my heart and until someone mentions how different we look I actually forget. 

She was the most adorable little girl and boy did she love the attention (still does!). If we walked into a store everyone went right to her and she was such an actress! She loved to act out Shirley Temple or Maria Von Trapp (from The Sound of Music) or she would make up her own songs. She has always been so talented, whether it was sports, music, school, etc (unlike her older sister).  I can't even count how many times she has been in the local newspaper for her sport's achievements.

I'm so glad that God blessed me with her as my sister. Even though she is my only sister I am not her only sister. I have to say...it makes me a little jealous to think she has other sisters and I'm not her only one.  But, I am glad that her sisters have a sister like her too because she is one special young woman. 

The whole family (including the extended family) has tried to support her in any way we can...probably too much at times.  Instead of having one mom I'm sure she felt like she had at least 5.  We are a very close family so if Tasha was going through something we all felt like we were going through it with her.  If her heart breaks so does ours.  If she is overjoyed, so are we.

Now, she is going to college.  Tasha, I pray that during this time you will remember that God loves you and wants to be close to you.  To call on Him when you are hurting or need help (even if it is just a prayer to win a volleyball game!).  This is an important transition in your life and decisions now may be lifetime decisions.  Good or bad.  I pray that you find a husband that loves God and who treats you like a princess (I think she would insert "Diva".  lol).  I love you Tasha Amber!  I can't wait to see you graduate on Sunday, but I'm not sure I can ever think of you as an adult.  You will always be my beautiful little sister and I will always want to take care of you and be over-protective of you!  Thank you God for the most amazing sister (I love you too Don and Dave, but sister's are just so much more special. lol!)

A Pretty Bluebird Couple and The Mean Bird

One of the first things we noticed when we started staying at the Mountain Creek Farm was the number of bird boxes/houses all over the barns, yard, porch, etc. 

Many of them are broken or need to be repaired so I was unsure if we would ever have birds living in them.

As you can see from the one above, the entrance has had repairs before.  The previous owner placed a template over the top of the original hole.  The reason for this is because the bluebird only needs a 1 1/2" hole in order to enter the house.  If it is larger than that other birds can take over their home and as you can see above a bird had previously made the hole bigger in order to take over their home.  At some point Kevan and I will try to create templates and encourage the nicer birds (bluebirds, sparrows, nuthatches) and try to discourage the more larger mean birds as you will hear about below.

One morning Kevan and I noticed a little head poking out of one of the houses that is attached the barn.  We were so excited.

Then, we noticed that it was a bluebird couple.  The boy bird is hanging out above the house on the edge of the barn roof watching to make sure his wife is safe.  See below?  Now, I know that in the bird world the male is the prettiest, but I like to think it was the male looking out for the female...so stop thinking about how much prettier the bird on the house is and how vibrant it's colors are...I think it's a girl.  :o)

And this is the boy...(husband)

And he is looking out for his honey...keeping watch...

And why must he keep watch?  I will tell you.  Because there is this "not-so-nice-bird" called the shiny cowbird.  This bird is known as a brood parasite.  This means that they do not lay eggs in their OWN nests, they lay eggs in OTHER birds nest and make them hatch them and raise them.  It is pretty interesting and a little funny to think that other birds will hatch their babies.  But, if you do a quick google search on cowbirds you will read that most birds try to push the alien egg out of its nest and the cowbird comes back and takes revenge on them.  Poor bird couples just trying to have their own babies and the cowbirds have to come and spoil it. 

When you watch them ripping apart a nice bluebird nest it will make you mad.  It made my husband so mad he threatened to go get his gun and shoot this cowbird if he saw him do it one more time.  I think the cowbird heard him...because we never saw him bother the bluebirds again.

You can't see it in this picture, but the bluebird flew away and the cowbird swooped in and started ripping their nest out of the house.  It was so sad.  But, luckily that was the last we saw of him.

Update: so the picture above of the cowbird looks like a grackle, but we think it is a cowbird.  Here is a picture of one of the cowbirds on our feeders (from my previous post of the cowbird).  In the sun these 2 had a brown head and do not look like a grackle, but the one above does even though I don't think he is.

The Beauty of God's Creation

Well, I've been back to Florida for 4 days and I already miss our farm.  I miss the land, the colors, the sounds, the stars and "our" birds.  So, I decided to type up a post that shows all of the birds that come to visit us.  I will probably do several posts since I won't be able to fit them all into one.

Back in December we would see various birds and as it got warmer the types of birds changed.  During the winter months we saw....(you may want to click on each picture to view them bigger as they are just so beautiful).


Robins...

Cowbirds (more on cowbirds in another post)...

Female Cardinals...

Male Cardinals...

Fat Finches....red ones...

 and yellow ones...

and the cardinals even waited their turn...

Sparrows..

 Nuthatches..

Then we started to see less Robins, Cow Birds and more Blue Jays...

Rose-breasted Grosbeak...

 Bluebirds...isn't he cute?  More on him in another post...

Tufted Titmouse (yes....that was not a typo)...

Hummingbirds in our Pear tree...

 Bright yellow male finches...

 Woodpeckers...

Hummingbirds at our feeders...

They were watching us...

 and Indigo Buntings...

Well, okay....we only saw one Indigo Bunting, but it was so worth it.  Isn't he beautiful.  I'm hoping to follow-up with a few more posts on birds...some stories, but I will have to wait until another night.  I'm off to bed.  Good night everyone.  Please feel free to comment so I know people are actually reading my blog.  :o)

"Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!" (Luke 12:24)

One of my favorite things...

I've had quite a few people ask me about my kindle cover recently so I thought I would blog about it.  I've had my kindle since November 2009 so I have the older version, but I'm sure the cover for the new version works just as well.

One of the things I LOVE about my cover is that it is splashproof.  I love this cover because I read each night while I take a bath and occasionally read while we are at the beach.  The cover keeps water and sand from getting to my kindle.  The cover is great.  I can't say enough good things about it.

As you can see, the front, all of the buttons, connections, etc are covered.  I never take my kindle out of this case.  My kindle looks just as new as it did the day I received it.  When I need to plug it in to charge it I just undo the velcro on the bottom and plug it in.

I purchased the cover from amazon.  Here is the link to my version of the cover:

http://www.amazon.com/OCTOVO-Splash-Display-Generation-Kindle/dp/B002BB68WU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1303165149&sr=1-1

Here is the latest generation version.  As you can see it is a little different.

http://www.amazon.com/OCTOVO-Tirim-splash-proof-case/dp/B004FUU54C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1303167652&sr=8-1

I can hardly wait!

As most of you know, one of my dreams is to one day own my own chickens.  I love them!  I can't wait to go searching for their eggs and I can't wait to have homegrown organic chicken for dinner.  I know....I don't know if I will be able to do the latter, but it sure would be nice to eat my own homegrown meat.

Anyway, Kevan and I went to a store tonight and when we walked in....I heard CHIRPING!  You should've seen me.  I ran right to them.  I was soooooo excited!  Look how cute they are!!

They had 4 tubs (or troughs) of chickens and 1 tub of duckies!  I was in heaven.  I'm sure everyone in the store thought I was crazy taking pictures of their chickens.  Yes, I'm a city-person who is a wanna-be country woman!  I was so happy to see them all with their little beaks and cute little wings flapping.  I love them!

Here are the duckies.  I almost had my husband convinced we should get a few.  Although, I wouldn't want them at the pond because I can't see it from the house.  Make sure to click on the picture to make it bigger because you have to see their cuddliness up close!  I love them!

I can't wait until we are here full-time and can go purchase our chickens and ducks.  I can't wait until the day we build our coop and get it ready for my "ladies"!  Have I said how much I love them??

Our First Farm Babies!

Well, we had our first farm babies born today!  It is a pretty funny story actually.  Both Kevan and I were on conference calls in different rooms.  We both saw something out the window and noticed that 2 people were walking into our barn.  It was kind of scary at first because you wonder why someone is on your property and why would they be going into an old barn.

Then, Kevan walked out there to see what was going on.  I looked out the window and saw a teenage girl run out of the barn and down our driveway to the neighbor house across the street.  I asked to be excused from my call for a few minutes.  Then, I sped out the other door to make sure Kevan was okay.  I got really scared when I saw someone in black come out of one of the rooms toward him.  Well, he told me everything was fine and to go back to my conference call.

Turns out the neighbor girls noticed blood on their dog earlier in the day and then they followed her to our barn to see what was up.  Turns out she had 6 puppies under one of the floors of our barn.  I wasn't able to take a picture of where they were because it was so far under the barn, but I did get a picture once they were out (the neighbors came and got them).  Look, their eyes weren't even open yet!

Here is the mama (Casey).  She is a really good dog.  She follows us around and rolls around on our porch so we pet her belly.  She has two different colored yes which is a little freaky, but she is sweet.

I'm sad the babies aren't in our barn anymore.  I can't wait until we have another animal in the barn!  Someday!  Once we are here full time.  :o)

An Update On Our Demolition Project

This weekend, Kevan and I decided to rent a belt sander so we could work on the wood floors in the master bedroom.  The belt sander cost about $42 a day (plus the cost of sandpaper), but since they are not open on Sundays we got a day for free. 

Once we made it home with the sander I realized we were a little early on the rental.  We still had a lot of the carpet still on the floor.

If you remember my earlier post when we pulled up the 2 sets of carpeting and pad there was padding leftover that was glued down.  We pulled up the rest of the carpet/padding and started working on the pad/glue.  We had to sit and scrape all of the black pad and glue from the floor before we could sand.  It is hard work.  Saturday night my arms felt like they were going to fall off.  One word...Ibuprofen!  :o)

While I scraped Kevan started using the sander.  You would think it was easy to use a sander, but it isn't.  It is hard on your arms.  Also, you don't push it...you pull it.  The harder it is to pull the better the sanding job.  Also, you CANNOT let it sit on a certain area or it will sand too much and create burn lines on the floor.  I know because I did it.  I learned quickly.

Here is what the floor looked like when we started the sanding.

After a few passes.  This will give you an idea of what it looks like.

A few more...

In the above picture you can tell that the middle is the most past area, followed by the bottom.  Then, the top is where we haven't passed at all.

After a few HUNDRED passes...here is what it looks like.

We only worked on it about 4 hours today since we had church this morning.  But, this is what the room looked like when we stopped tonight.

The sander is due back in the morning by 8am.  We were really discouraged when we stopped today.  We have been second guessing ourselves wondering if we are doing the right thing.  2 people that stopped by told us that we should just carpet over it.  I just feel bad carpeting over almost 100-year-old oak hardwood floors.  After writing this post though and reminding myself of where we started I feel a bit better.  I also looked online at the prices for flooring for a 14x15 foot room and it would be $900 (installed) for carpet and $1,000 for oak hardwood (installing ourselves).  After seeing the prices I feel a lot better too since we have only put out less than $100 so far.  We will need to do it at least one more weekend and then buy the polyurethane, but it will still only be about $300 for hardwood floors, plus the experience of having done it ourselves and the special-ness of having original flooring.

To give you an idea of how I feel after 2 days of scraping, sanding, vacuuming, sweeping and throwing the cats out of the room over and over again....I'm ready to go back to my day job tomorrow.  It requires no manual work whatsoever.  My back, arms, wrists don't ache from working at a computer all day.  I can sit in my PJ's until noon if I want to and just use my fingers to type.  I can't wait to sit on my bum and work at my laptop tomorrow.  :o)