Let’s see if you know what this is…
Here is the clue for this week
There was tons of good guesses and Gene you guessed it!
Here was the clue
And here is the whole picture.
It’s our porch light that has been on the house way before I ever knew Daryl! I laughed because when I was looking to see just what kind of light it was – I couldn’t find the exact one but I did see that they sell for over $200. Crazy stuff man!
I won’t be calling myself computer savvy for awhile, but I am getting more used to this new laptop. The old saying is that you just have to use it to get used to it is really pretty true in this case.
So I’m trying every night to figure out something new on it and tonight’s adventure is to figure out more how to do pictures. I have to confess, up to now I’ve been downloading them on my old computer and then using the laptop to finish the post. Maybe not the best use of my time now is it?
But tonight I’ve made the switch. And I didn’t even say a bad word or anything which probably shocked me the most!
So here are some pictures that I am sharing tonight. They’re just photos of day to day stuff here on the farm.
The first one is that of our apple tree. As you can see they’re loaded for bear! A lot of the flowers will fall off with the spring winds and rain, but it sure looks pretty tonight.
Our apple tree in full bloom
The second one is a common sight these last couple of days. Thank goodness Daryl got our crops in before the cold front moved in along with the rain.
Spring rains are on the horizon
I’m starting to see how I want to wrap the soap once it’s ready to give as gifts and this is my first idea. I’m not sure if it’ll be my final plan, but at least it’s a start.
The tags look nice but they take way too long to make
Now the last picture is of Daryl working up the ground the other day to plant soybeans. Can you tell on this one a found a photo program to make it fancy? And just maybe little bit too fancy now that I look at it closer! 
Daryl was able to get all the corn and bean crops in by Sunday night! Whoo Hooo!!!
You just never know how the weather and the fields are going to be when you’re putting the crops in. I think I wrote in an earlier post that we have had extremely wet springs in the past and you either have to wait for the field to dry or you literally work around those spots until they’ve dried out. Now this isn’t the most favorable situation and our luck always has it that these wet spots are right by the highway, but you do what you have to do and make the best of it.
But for this years crops, Daryl had sunny weather and he even made a comment tonight after he finished up with the soybeans, that he sure felt that it was a great night being out in the field and working up the land. I’ve never heard this before, but he said when the hay starts to sway in the wind, it’s time to get the crops in. It was fun to hear him talk like that and it’s kind of a good visual picture thinking of him out in the field.
His goal today was to hurry up to get everything in before a band of rain was going to come that was crossing the state late this evening. And like I said, he was able to get the crops in and was just cleaning up when the rain hit. Now of course it had to be a good old rain storm and in this case it brought some hail with it. So not cool! The hail was about dime size and didn’t completely cover the ground, so that’s good. With all the farmers having a lot of money invested in their seeds that is just laying in the ground, you would hate to have them either washed away tonight or have the ground beaten up so bad.
For now, it’s only thundering off in the distance and it’s time to think about this upcoming work week. I’m guessing it’s going to be a busy week and I’m also guessing that we’re going to have to fit in some rock picking soon!
I’ve been putting off getting a new laptop computer now for maybe a year and a half, and last week I finally bit the bullet and did it.
Granted I have gone to the store more than once to check them out and I’ve always had gotten so frustrated and overwhelmed that I always left empty handed. But last weekend when I was writing a longer email and it would either erase all my information, or it would get kinda funky – well that was enough! Seriously, you know how some people get road rage? Well I’m thinking I might have a type of computer range, and take my word for it, it’s not a pretty sight at all.
No matter what I was going to do this past week, I was going to buy a new computer.
So I’m chit chatting with the salesperson and after giving her the old deer in the headlights look I’m sure, I finally did decide on one that I think I’ll like. It was a different brand and platform that I’m used to, and I knew that there was going to be a learning curve, but how hard could it be right?
Another deciding factor on what computer I was going to buy was that it was on sale – caching, I had another 10% coupon off of the price – caching, I cashed in my money that I made so far at the second hand store – caching, and then I had another $50 off with another promotion – SCORE! At this point you’re thinking if it wasn’t free aren’t you? Well it wasn’t free, but I did end up paying only about 50% of the original cost. Yup, I’m the new owner of a MacBook Air computer. And making the transition over to a MacBook? Seriously, how hard could it be? We have an IPad, so it should be a breeze.
* Update on my skill level with the new computer. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to get this one program off my screen when it started up. Yea….. it might be a little longer learning curve than I first anticipated!
What in the world are dryer balls right? Well if you’re asking this question to yourself, I’m pretty sure that others are also right now saying the same thing.
Dryer balls are usually made out of wool and they go into your dryer instead of using a fabric softener. It’s kind of a Tree Hugger thing. OK, it is a Tree Hugger thing. But seriously it’s also pretty interesting!
‘They’ claim that if you use them they should take at least 25% off your drying time and at the same time you won’t have to use any fabric softener on your clothes. Now honestly I do have these other plastic dryer balls that I’ve tried and all they are good for is to make it sound like you put a brick or maybe a family member in your dryer. It sounds horrible! So it’s time to try out something new.
Now you can get them two ways. You can make them. There is a YouTube video on how you buy this special wool yarn and how to wrap them and then to kind of cure them in your washing machine and how to set them up in your dryer. OR you can buy them for around $20. Yea, that’s a no brainer if you ask me! I got out my debit card and in no time I had them delivered and sitting on my kitchen table 
So to continue this Eco Friendly adventure, I put some of my Essential Oils on the wool balls so make the laundry smell good once it was dried, and tossed them into the dryer with some blankets. It was my first test to see if I like them. The noise was about half of the other ones that I have so that wasn’t so bad. And when the load was dried, it seemed like they did a good job. But I still wasn’t convinced if they did a great job so I put them to the test. And what better test is there but bathroom towels right? I gathered up the towels that needed to be washed (and some that I just grabbed to make a large load) and into the washing machine and then the dryer they went. Once they were done, I went and gave them the old ‘smash them in your face’ trial to see if they were soft enough and didn’t have static cling. And guess what? They passed the test!
And what does Daryl think of all of this? Well he came into the house and was wondering what in the world I had in the dryer that was making all that noise 🙂
Wow! Just like that spring has Sprung! And not a minute too soon if you ask me. We’ve had a couple of days that we’ve got some small rain showers to clean off the leftover dirt from the snow and it looks like we’re ready to get out the shorts and short sleeve shirts! Yea!! With all this spring talk that I’m doing, I’ll show you a couple of pictures that I took to prove my point. The first one is that of Daryl. He started to plant corn on Wednesday and is hoping to get it all done by this weekend. It’s been working pretty good for him so far (keep your fingers crossed) and that would be so great if he could get it all planted without any issues with the planter or weather. Sometimes the monitor doesn’t work or the ground is too wet. You know … just stuff. So here is the first picture of spring that I have to share with you
Daryl planting corn tonight
Now the second sign that spring is here is that I actually got around to getting my garden seeds planted. I know that I said that I wasn’t sure if I was going to plant the garden, but I seriously couldn’t stand it that the greenhouse was there and honestly looking a little underused. So this past week I planted way too many tomatoes and some flowers. I’ll use the flowers as fill ins but will need to get more for all the flower boxes and areas that will use them. Here is my second picture that spring is here – check it out.
I REALLY did try not to plant too many tomatoes!
Of course another sign is that the dandelions are coming up in full bloom
And for my last sign. Well this is definitely the cutest one of all! I picked up my chickens tonight and while I was there had to literally keep telling myself that we for sure DO NOT need any ducks, geese, turkeys, or whatever else that was just hatched yesterday at this hatchery. But man oh man they were cute! Here is a picture of everything that was just hatched and waiting for their new owners to pick them up.
Ducks, Chickens, Geese, oh my!
These are one day old ducks wondering what this big person was doing with something that flashed in their faces – aka my camera!
1 day old ducks just hanging out looking pretty darn cute!
So finally the best picture of spring is one of the little chickens that Kyle took for me while they were waiting in the living room when I was getting their temporary housing set up in the chicken house. Not only is this the last picture that I’ll share today, but it’s also the Picture of the Day. Very cute!
One of new little chickens that will be hanging out our farm
Try your luck on this one.
Here is the mystery photo this week
Here is the results of the Mystery Photo last week
Here was the picture 
And here is what the photo was.
For those who guessed it was a hive – it was! The occupants of this hive are wasps! It must have blown down with all the crazy wind we’ve had lately.
So did you think I was going to talk about me in this post 🙂
The cows have been out on the pasture now for a couple of days and they are loving the fresh air, soft ground, and green grass.
Yup, they’re living the good life!
