Snow Day!

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Busy!

I have been so preoccupied with school bus school this week I haven't had a chance to post!
Between school bus school and everything that needs to be done around here my time for anything else has been zip.
So be sure to follow on facebook for updates and I'll be back with my normally scheduled posts soon!

Friday Farm Slides

Be sure to check in at Verde Farm for more Friday Farm Friends!

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The Best Worst Birthday Ever

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Yesterday was Wyatt's twelfth I hate that word, 12th birthday and he was a sick, sick, sicko.
He's been sick with what started out as a super sore oogy throat since Monday which has since turned into a sinus situation with a fever and intermittent puking.

Wendy came out last night and she said, "Oh, thats exactly what I had last week."
That would be last week when she came to our house last week.
She said that it spread through her school like wildfire.
Wendy, she's such a giver.

So I guess you could say that Wyatt's big day was kind of a big bummer.
Just me and Wen.
We took him to dinner but he was to sick and tired to enjoy it and as soon as we got home he got the heaves.

He did have a little bit of cake first though.

Wendy got him a great big grab bag from Michaels with all of his favorite things and a huge craft box to store it all in.

As you can imagine, this also throws a wrench in our fabulous fun friends weekend.

Kenna and the boys will have to stay at her brothers house since our house is under quarantine.

I can't believe it.

This is so dumb.

Nothing good ever comes from a kid being sick.

Oh wait.

Sometimes something good does come from a kid being sick.

Like when that sick kids mom gets the job of her dreams!

Here's how it all went down...

Monday after lunch Wyatt calls home sick and I have to go pick him up.

As I'm driving to his school I pass the bus garage where they have a big banner flying that says "Now Hiring."

I have wanted to be a bus driver for years but was a little chicken 

(fun farm pun) 

to actually do anything about it, but I figured now was the time.

I saw the "sign"

When we got home I called.

Tuesday morning I went and picked up an application, brought it home, filled it out and returned it.

They called an hour later.

Yesterday I went in for an interview and I swear it was the best interview ever. 

SO fun.

Bus people are fun people.

They said they would be in touch with me by the end of the week.

They called yesterday.

I GOT THE JOB!

From this day forward February 16th will be my lucky day because 

I got Wyatt and my dream job!!

I can't believe that this is going to be me!!

I go for my physical tomorrow and I start school bus school on Monday!

YaY!

Peas.

Thank God You're Eight

Ok everyone, do you know what today is?
Today is Wyatt's Birthday!!

Do you know what else today is?
The Blogs Birthday!!

So todays post is a repost of the first post that I posted four years ago.

February 16 2007

Today is Wyatt's Birthday, and every year and every birthday for everyone I know I am reminded of the words spoken by a wise old man I used to know.
He would say, "Thank God you're (whatever birthday it is) because I couldn't stand another day with a (fill in the blank) year old."

Here's Wyatt eating a blue popsicle in the yard on his first day of eight.
He says it tastes pretty much the same as when he was seven.

Speaking of birthdays I really need to get my Dad out of the Christmas wrap.
His Birthday is comming up soon so maybe I'll wait till closer to April and then find some nice birthday paper for him.
I'm glad I don't have to think of a gift for him, I have enough on my mind as it is.
We (by we I mean 6) went to the pool last night to check things out.
Wyatt is having a class birthday party there tomorrow.
He said it was a huge room for the party and the pool has one side that is nothing but a wall of windows.
Very cool, I hope it's a great time for everyone.

I just got back from the big house.
Grammy is resting on the couch and GK just got home from town.
He had to have a prescription filled for some "I don't give a shit" pills because he is having an MRI done on Monday night and is a little uncomfortable at the thought of lying still on his back that long.
I don't blame him, I try and spend as little time on my back as possible too.
GK has been having really bad joint pain since yesterday afternoon.
I think it's from the Lupron shot they gave him last week.
He says he's taking his pain pills, but they don't seem to be working.
Maybe a call to Dr. B is in order for something that might work a little better.

Something Funny:
When I took the dogs out this morning, Gizmo ran after the ducks.
The ducks aren't afraid of the dogs, they just stand up and flap their wings at them, but as Gizmo turned to run the other way one of the ducks hunched up his neck and hopped on two feet after him.
As soon as Gizmo turned around to see what was going on, the duck would stop and just stand there and look the other way.
As soon as Gizmo turned again the duck would hop after him.
I think it's a move he learned from the goose.

I have to go get my lunch ready, GH will be on soon and it's Friday.
I can't miss a minute of the action wasting my time making something to eat.
Sony figured out the combination to Alkazars exploding Briefcase that's locked in the vault so hopefully they can free the hostages in exchange for the code.

A Sick Kid And A Big Surprise

I am not even going to tell you about the disgusting images I found when I Googled "sore throat"

Wyatt is still sick this morning.
He's a little horse (I love saying that) and really tired and his throat looks pretty angry, but I've decided it's snotty angry not pusy angry.
Nothing a little rest and salt water won't cure.
Ohhhh, I know, how about a neti pot!

I could get him one for his birthday tomorrow, and look, they even come in blue!

Enough about Wyatt and his oogy throat, I have some big news.

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting here playing scrabble reading War and Peace when the dogs started going bananas.
Over their mayhem and my shouts to be quiet I could hear a faint knock at the door.
You know how your mind goes into overtime when something out of the expected happens...
I knew I wasn't expecting a package from UPS or Fedex and the Trailer Park People are all current on their rent, so that only left two options.
There was either a goat on the road or the Craigslist Killer had come for the free couches.
I got to the door, called back the dogs, looked outside and saw a man standing there.
No clue.
It could still go either way.
Would it be a rogue goat or the killer?
He said my name.
This narrowed the playing field a little, but I knew he wasn't an ex husband and I don't have a brother so I was still in the dark.
I said, "Yes, can I help you?"
He said, "Jason."
At this point I did a quick scan for cameras in hopes that balloons would start falling and he would hand me a big oversized novelty check but before I finished imagining what it was I could have won the bells went off in my brain and I realized it was JASON!
Duh, Jason!
My Grampy's nephew Jason from Minnesota!
Gahh, whatever, of course it was Jason.
So Jason is a brand new bus delivery person and he was delivering a bus form somewhere far away to California and the brand new bus broke down and they picked it up and towed it to somewhere close to here and he couldn't find our phone number and you can't 411 us so he drove out and surprised me!

This is what my face would have looked like if I was thin and blonde

I love it when stuff like that happens.

He stayed for dinner and we had so much fun talking about family and his travels in the bus but sadly it was going to just be a short visit.
His bus was ready first thing this morning and now he's headed for Oakland, but hopefully someday another bus will break down and he'll be back.
Until then, Happy Trails to my Kinda Cousin Jason!

DIY and Other Adventures...

The bathroom floor is almost done!!!
What a PIA it is to do something new and have to learn the hard way as you go.

First Mistake.
Only priming the bad spots and not the entire floor.
Always prime the entire surface, I don't care what you're painting, prime, prime, prime.

Next Mistake.
Choosing a dark color.
I thought I was going to cut a fat hog by choosing a dark color that wouldn't show the dirt and ended up with a dark color that looked like ASS.
Back to the store.
We started out with Glidden Porch and Floor paint.

It is the thickest stinkinist nastiest stuff you have ever seen, so when we changed color we also switched to...

Behr Porch and Floor paint.
Which in comparison was like walking through a spring meadow, but after two coats the coverage wasn't what we wanted and there was no gloss to it.
Back to the store.
Behr no longer makes a gloss porch and floor paint.
Why didn't they tell us that when we asked for Behr Gloss Porch and Floor paint.
So they swapped us out for a gallon of the nasty Glidden at no charge and explained to 6 why Glidden was the only way to go with a floor paint.
Glidden is an oil based epoxy paint, hence the deadly smell where as Behr is a latex based enamel.
So the Glidden you could drive a truck over and the Behr you can't even clean off dog dirt.

Problem.
We have to let the Behr paint dry for 48 hours before applying the Glidden.

Fact.
With Glidden you don't have to prime.

The obvious.
We need to do more research before starting our next DIY project.

Our mini donkey Jack was supposed to have his feet done yesterday but our equine manicurist never showed.
I think he was probably in the cross bar hotel.

Why do horseshoers always always walk with one foot on the wild side?

Wendy came out yesterday and things were pretty tense at first.
Of course it was all because the conversation took a turn to the douchebag.
But, we were able to move past it and get on with our cookie making and ended up having a nice time.

I will be taking a blog break the last part of this week because THESE GUYS are coming to MY house!

I don't have permission to show Kenna's spouses real identity so I disguised him.

I think he has to stay home and feed the dog or something so it's just Kenna and the boys, but her Mom is coming too and a bunch of her Moms friends will be in town and so it will be a mad middle aged best friends forever party woooHOOO!

I met the BoBo Sisters last year and let me tell you, they have stories that will almost make you pee, so I can't wait to see them all again this year!

This is them together last year with all the kids AND grandkids!

Photo courtesy of Erin :)

Ok, thats all.

Peas.

Fowl Weather

I put in my spring 2011 bird order yesterday!
I think this is the earliest we have ever ordered chics but for some reason it's already feeling like spring to me.
Although, I seem to recall this happening last year and I ended up with chics in the bathtub for a month, so cross your fingers it stays warm but I'll be picking up another heat lamp for the brooding room just in case.

I ordered two guinea hens.

I know, I know, your thinking to yourself, Marilyn, didn't you sell all your guinea hens two years ago...

Well yes I did.

I had ten or twelve of them because I hate the neighbor that lives down in the ditch so I thought a gaggle of guineas would really piss them off  annoy them but karma came and took a bite out of me and my guineas went rogue and just like in the movie Chicken Run they organized and took to roaming the streets and I was forever herding screaming guineas and directing angry drivers around the hens.

So this time I'm sticking with just two.

Next, I ordered two slate turkeys.

Is that a beautiful bird or what!

I have never seen a slate before, but when I was at the Chicken Mans house yesterday there they were and I knew I had to have a pair.

I love going to the Chicken Mans house and if you live in Clackamas County and want any type of bird with the best health guarantee at the best price let me know and I'll hook you up. 

C & L Farms.

I also might add that I got my Katahdin sheep from the Chicken Man and he and his wife Laurie even delivered them!

Ok so anyway, I also ordered four muscovies...

Let me tell you something, we LOVE our muscovies.

These are the friendliest ducks and they're also the best bug eatin' fly catchin' egg layinest' birds around.

But, bummer for us, our hen didn't hatch out any chics last year and we lost our drake this winter.

I think Piggy Pearl slept on him because when I went down to feed one morning there was Don laid out cold in Pearls bed and I think Peal may have even had feather prints on her cheek.

So thats it for my bird order.

I didn't get any chickens this year because I have four hens setting right now, so who knows what that will bring. 

Either some soft cooked half baked organic eggs or a few little chics, we'll just have to wait and see.

And... if you remember, last year we became an urban rooster rescue taking in all the town roosters.

People would get chics from the feed stores because you can have I think it's ten hens if you live in town, but as soon as those hens start crowing good neighbors go bad and want those early morning alarms out of their neighborhood.

So I answered one add off of Craigslist and somehow word got out that this was the rooster refuge and the boys just kept coming.

I drove in the driveway one day and there was a plastic tub on the porch of the little house with a rooster in it.

Another day we came home to this,

And they're not even roosters!

Ok, so while I have everyones attention I need to tell 6 something.

I may or may not have adopted this guy.

Homeless Cat

I was on Craigslist last night looking to see if anyone has found our Pansy who went missing on Sunday and that's all I can say about that or I'll start crying when I saw this guy who looks just like our Astro and he needs a home and they're even the same kind of cat, Turkish Vankedisi, and he even has one blue eye like Astro.

Astro cat

Really, what kind of cold hearted monster would I be if I didn't do something to help this poor ousted feline in his  darkest hour, his time of need, when all he wants is a second chance at happiness.

It's times such as this this that define our character.

So 6, if you're reading this, before you pick up that Blackberry to call home to give me the business, you need to remember this is a defining moment in your life and not many people are given the opportunity to define ones self while driving down the interstate behind the wheel of a Kenworth.

Just Sayin.

Farm Friend Friday

Verde farm

Since I don't post on Fridays this will also be my Friday Farm post.

Be sure to check out all the other great farm blogs by clicking HERE 

(On Friday)

And if you're new here and had fun, you can get fat bottom farm light on facebook seven day a week!

http://facebook.com/thefatbottomfarm

Peas.

Household Repairs

About a year and a half ago we discovered a leak in the pipe in the wall in our big bathroom.

Our big bathroom is similar in size and appearance to the Taj Mahal.
Wall to wall carpet, hanging chandeliers, marble countertops.
You could almost go so far as to say that my Grammy was a delightful woman with an eye for beauty, but she also had mild Liberace tendencies and may have suffered from a slight case of borderline bling disorder.

When we moved into the house I removed the velvet and lace curtains in front of the tub that were draped with faux pearls and hanging crystal and replaced the cut glass sink glasses with corelle.
I also replaced the hand embroidered hand towels with five for a buck washcloths from K-Mart.
Do you see where I'm going here?
The room really felt like there should be an attendant misting you with cologne and handing you a mint.

When we discovered the leak in the pipe we also discovered that it had been leaking for a loooooooooong time and we had no choice but to cut and cap the pipe and remove the carpet.
It was just days before 6 left for Iraq so there was no time to repair and replace anything and you know how things go, even since he's been home we haven't had time or money to restore the room to it's original glory.

So now we have bling gone bad.
The tub water is shut off, the carpet is ripped out, the sub floor has years worth of water damage and the marble counters are encrusted with Crest.

Jump to last Thursday.

Even though we haven't used the tub in over a year, we apparently live dead center in the middle of a modern day dust bowl because the  accumulation of dry dirt is unbelievable and the tub was getting to the point where I could have easily added water and hosted a community mud wrestling rally, so I got out a new bottle of Tilex, put on my fresh air mask and sprayed the tub down.
Fifteen or so minutes later I went in with my boiling teapot to rinse it out.
The drain was clogged.
I got out the bottle of Draino, figured what the hell carefully read the directions, poured a glop the recommended amount in the drain and waited.
I went back a few minutes later and the clog was still there.
So I poured more Draino in and followed it up with some more boiling water.
I waited.
The clog was still there.
I repeated this procedure until I had used the entire bottle of Draino with no success.
You can imagine my frustration.
What could possibly be blocking that drain when we hadn't even used the tub in over a year.
I was going to call 6 but I knew he would just say, "leave it alone until I get home."
Whatever, like I can leave anything alone.
So I sat.
And I thought.
Mostly I did a lot of sitting and I may have played a few turns of Scrabble on facebook, but then, it came to me....
I knew how to fix the clog!
I ran to the bathroom and...
Wait for it....
Here's the handy household tip part...



Let the drain out!


That's all I had to do, release the drain!
You know the little handle thing... I just flipped it down!
I know, I was so proud Of myself for figuring it out and not even having to call 6.

So, if you ever have a problem around the house and need another brainiac to help you figure something out, I'm your go-to girl : )

Peas.

Major Meltdown

Did you think I left?
I can't believe how time can get away from me and then I stop and think about how I've been applying for all these jobs (I haven't even got ONE call back) and wonder how I figure I'd find time to work and take care of the farm.
There is so much that goes on around here, taking care of all the animals and doing what little maintenance I can do to keep things from falling apart when six is on the road (you should see my feeble attempts at fence mending) hauling hay, trying to fix throw out of the way and burn the brooding room door of the henhouse that blew off it's hinges in our last wind storm, hauling and packing pellets for the stove with my John McCain shoulder and then all the regular stupid inside stuff.
It seems like I'm always doing laundry and I try to put it all away at least once a month, and then the dishes and dusting and sweeping and mopping and bathrooms and it's all so dumb!

THEN....
I have the trailer park people to contend with.
I have Gladys Cravitz who thinks she's the queen of the park and has to call me whenever somebody sneezes and really goes bananas if somebody brings home a "sleepover" date and lets me know that there were people outside smoking at 3:00 am and how nervous that makes her, and that sometimes people cuss outside and she can hear it and she finds it very offensive and doesn't think she should be subject to that and that I need to make it a senior citizen park because she doesn't like kids and they have lived here fifteen years and there were never kids here before when my grampy was running things and he would have never let kids live here and how they sure miss my grampy.
I want to tell her that I miss my grampy too and then shove some xanex down her throat.
Then there's the red headed time bomb who has an explosive temper after two beers but I'm sure never drinks less than twelve and loves to call me names and tell me to get off his property every time he sees me.
He's a real jewel.
This weekend one of them cut down a tree and it landed on their roof and carport.
Gladys was on the phone to me before the first branch hit the roof.
She said it was one of the big trees. At least a forty footer.
Turns out it was a snaggy landscape tree and now I get a new carport built to replace the forty year old one that was there.
Works for me.
Does it sound like I'm whining?
Does it sound like I'm melting down?
I am.
And This is why.

I had to say goodbye to Josie yesterday.

When I woke up yesterday morning I didn't see her so as soon as I got Stephanie's (our houseguest) soap makings started I went out to check on everyone.
I got to the pasture and saw her laying down near the barn and with much relief threw out some hay.
She didn't get up.
I panicked and knew right away something was wrong.
She had been acting blue and moping around for the last few days.
I even talked to my sister in Montana about it and we decided that because of the weather and lack of excitement she was just bored and feeling down.
She perked up at meal time and always came to greet you at the gate, but she just hadn't had her Josie sparkle for a few days.

I went back to the house and called the vet right away and he was here within thirty minutes.
He examined her and told me she was in critical condition.
He said outwardly there was nothing wrong with her, it could be a colic, but he believed it was more just her old age.
Old age?
We didn't even think she was a teenager yet and he told me she was in her mid to late twenties.
My heart was breaking with every word he spoke and the tears came quickly as the decision was made I can't say the rest of these words.

We brought jack and Josie home from a dirt round pen four years ago in a U-Haul trailer and they have been the bright spot of my day every day since.
I will smile every time I think of her and remember those sweet brown eyes and her giant MeeeeeshMaaaaaw.

Please don't say anything nice to me because it will make me cry, just think a happy donkey thought to yourself and make a crack about my weight, my facial hair or my double chins.

Tomorrow I'm going to share with you my newly discovered invaluable household tip.

Peas.

And The Winner Is......

Becky Nash!!
Yay Becky!
Becky won six dishrags two bars of oatmeal soap and an oatmeal honey six ounce soy candle :)

So, you're probably wondering what February's giveaway will be...
I'll tell you!
February's winner will receive a pastely eastery round rag rug and a six ounce sweet pea paraffin jelly jar candle!

All you have to do to win is comment here or "like" the farm facebook page!

Peas.