Our First Snow ~

Snowy Pines

When I was making my coffee early this morning, the sky was a gorgeous pink color looking east over the horizon. We had torrential rains on tuesday with 50 to 60 mph winds for 24 hours. It was a brutal storm. Thankfully we didn't lose our power as so many folks did. Towns just north of us received 12" or more of snow. ( I personally was very envious ) Yesterday it was 50 degrees.

It was about 30 degrees this morning for barn chores. Overcast and you could tell a front of some kind was approaching. About 2 hours later I looked out the picture window and it was snowing. Not spitting snow but really snowing. Yippee!! Beautiful, fat, fluffy snow flakes...... ( guess you can tell I rather like the snow :) Of course, the first thing I thought of was getting outside with my camera.....I know the snow will melt because it's still much to warm for it to stay but I also know this is a preview of what's to come and it shouldn't be long before we really get a good snowstorm!

I love the holiday season and the snow really helped get me in the spirit. Our local radio station is playing holiday music now 24hrs a day - I really think my cows enjoy it in the barn :)
The snowman family is the first decoration I put out and they now adorn my silverware box in the diningroom. Arent' they so cute?

Have a great weekend everyone !

~ Happy Thanksgiving ~

from all of us at

Tylerfarm

~Wordless Wednesday ~

The Hunt...........

Tyler's first hunt - 2008

For the first time this year Steve had a chance to get into the woods. Dave has been out several times but the deer are scarce here this year and he has seen little sign. It was a hard winter. The snow was deep, the temps were very cold and the coyotes were abundant.

This was Tyler's first hunt. They hunted our own land on saturday and he was about as excited as a boy can get! They were out about three hours and Steve said he did very well. Of course, at every corner he heard a deer lol...but he contained himself and his excitement :)

Dave did shoot a nice size partridge at the end of the day. We added it to the "stash". Once we have enough of them in the freezer, we will have a partridge dinner. They are delicious. They are plentiful this year. I've had one cross in front of me in the driveway twice this week, at the same time each day. They are fat this year and she's a beauty.

Wordless Wednesday ~

I've been Tagged ~

Candy has tagged me for a meme. My very first :) I think this will be fun so here goes:


The rules of this Meme are:


1. Link to the person who tagged you

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.

5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

So........6 random things about me:

1. I had a horse for 40 years.....2. My husband buys me power tools for christmas.....

3. My family is the most important thing in the world to me.....

4. I lived in Japan......

5. I am left handed.....

6. I would like to travel to Antarctica.......

I have tagged the following six people:

Pam @ Life on a Southern Farm; Linda @ Life on a Colorado Farm; Tammy @ Musings from Fairlight Farm; Michelle @ Boulderneigh; Far side of Fifty ; and Christy @ Farm Dreams.

Thanks Candy - it's been fun. Hope everyone enjoys being tagged :)

Restful sundays.....

~The ewes on a lazy sunday ~

Thank you for all your wonderful comments and words of encouragement......I made it through my oral surgery just fine on friday and now have a few less teeth. I honestly think having two weeks to fret about it was worse than the actual procedure.

I was a nervous wreck and worked myself into a full blown migraine before I ever got there. I've spent the weekend recuperating and my headache has finally let up. The gums aren't terribly sore and the swelling has been minimal. Hopefully all will be back to normal soon and I can eat real food again :)

It has rained all weekend long and today the wind has been blowing hard. It was 60 degrees when I got up this morning~ Our temps are expected to drop quickly and stay cold for the rest of the week with snow showers. Such flip flop weather we have been having.

It was a good weekend to be inside. The family was all home and we gathered in the livingroom this afternoon and watched a movie together. Not something we do often and I really appreciate our together time. I worked on a knitted christmas project, had a nice hot cup of tea and relaxed :)

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Weak in the knees.........

Buttercup, a barn kitty

A dreary, rainy morning here in the Northeast. It's been raining steadily overnight and everything is saturated with water. Yesterday Tom and I worked on the cows run-in shed, repairing and replacing sills and replacing gravel around the bottom to prevent further water damage from winter snow. We also cleaned out the goat barn and the goat yard. We were pleased to accomplish that much before the rains arrived.

Today, I have the day off. I have a date with the oral surgeon early this morning. Lucky me. About the only thing that makes me weak in the knees other than my husband is the dentist :) I have no reservations admitting that I am about as scared as you can get! I have no fear of the pain, it's just something about a person working on the inside of my mouth that sends me over the edge.
I'm lucky.....I have good teeth. This is my first cavity in 40 years. Of course, it's in a wisdom tooth, of which I have them all. After today, I will not. So..........no coffee for me this morning. That in itself is enough to ruin my day :( Think good thoughts for me. I'm going to need them.

Wishing you all a good day ~ I'll see you in a day or two.

~ Wordless Wednesday ~

~ A Heartfelt "Thank You" ~

TO THE MEN AND WOMEN who served our country before us and to the men and women who are serving our country now - Your courage and sacrifice made on your country's behalf is not in vain nor forgotten. Your valor and patriotism speak loudly in your home country. WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!~

I joined the military when I was 18 years old because I felt serving my country was the right thing to do. It taught me so many things. Self respect, Independence, team work, the power of knowledge and leadership. It also taught me that even though our current President may not be my leader of choice, he was our Commander in Chief and I gave him 100% of my support. I still live by that code today.

I am PROUD to be an AMERICAN......

I am PROUD to have served my country on foreign soil......

I am PROUD that we have the backbone to stand up and fight and defend ourselves as a nation...........

I am proud that we live in a free society where we can VOTE for our PRESIDENT.......where we ALL have a voice......

I am PROUD to be an AMERICAN.......

I am PROUD to be A UNITED STATES VETERAN......

A Quiet sunday..........

The sun did rise this morning but only for a moment.............it has been drizzly for days and we had pouring rain last night. It has made it impossible to do much outside for farm chores. I've almost had the tractor stuck twice even in four wheel drive. I did manage to turn the compost pile over yesterday and we filled another box stall in the barn with stone dust and built it up another six inches. Because the barn isn't built on a concrete slab, we have to add more surface to the stalls over the years to keep them even with the sills. The stone dust works great. It drains well and packs nicely.

We delivered the last four pigs to the butcher on sunday 11/2.

It appears that all is going well in the photo.......looks can be deceiving...

The biggest sow quickly turned around and decided she wasn't going. We had to go to plan "B" to get her loaded all the while keeping the other 3 in the trailer. I'm happy I don't have to go through that again for awhile.

4 large piggies all ready for the freezer.

The largest pig weighed approximately 375lbs. A good size for our family. Our butcher was very pleased with our pigs and that always pleases me as he has been in the business for 50 years and I value his opinion. Thursday night we enjoyed our first porchops. Yum! They were huge and tender and delicous. All but one of our customers have picked up their pork and everyone is happy. We are anxiously waiting for the hams and bacon. This week I'm planning to make a strata with the sausage. We will certainly eat well this winter. A great feeling of well being for me.

"Final resting place"

I love old cemetaries and this one is on our way home from the butcher shop in the middle of an old pasture. It was the only sunny day we had this past week and surprisingly I had my camera with me. It has been unusually mild. Temps in the 60's during the day and we rode home with the windows open. The air smelled wonderful.

This neat old windmill is on the same route - it is part of grand old farm that hasn't actually been farmed for years. It saddens me to see these beautiful old farms sitting idle, buildings in different stages of disrepair, land being sold for house lots. I understand why but it still breaks my heart.

I couldn't resist a photo of this bunch............they are always quacking, non-stop. I swear they have conversations with each other. When they chat, they bob their heads up and down and turn their heads side to side. They are so animated it's comical. I really think they are talking about me most of the time :)

My very first blog award :)

~Happy Friday ~

I am so excited to receive the Uber Amazing Award not only once, but twice.

Thank you, to Pam @ Life on a Southern Farm Do visit her wonderful blog and follow the daily lives of two real hard working folks and their critters on their gorgeous Georgia Farm.

Thank you to Linda from Life on a Colorado Farm. Linda is an awesome writer and posts the most wonderful stories that leave you wanting more :)

The Uber (synonym to Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who:

~inspire you

~make you smile and laugh

~maybe gives you amazing information

~is a great read

~has an amazing design

~and any other reasons you can think of that makes them Uber amazing!

The rules of this award are:

*put the logo on your blog or post.

*Nominate at least 5 blogs or more that for you are Uber Amazing!

*Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.

*Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

I now have the honor of sending this award on to some of the Uber Amazing Bloggers I know. Please be sure to pay them all a visit ~

Harvest Thyme Homestead ~

Throwback At Trapper Creek~

Northview Diary~

A Shepherds Voice~

Yarn Spinner~

When I first started this blog, I wasn't sure if it was something I was going to enjoy, something I was going to have time for or if it was going to be interesting enough for anyone to want to read.

Thank you to everyone in blogland who reads the blog. I absolutely love blogging and getting to know each and everyone of you has been my pleasure. I look forward to checking your blogs and keeping up with what everyone has going on in their lives.

Wordless Wednesday.............

A natural predator...........

I was making my daily visit to the blog of Northview Diary today and commented on the cleverness of their adorable cat. I also made the comment that we no longer have a house cat, as our last one, Sam, went out about 6 weeks ago and has not returned. I mentioned how it was likely that a Fisher cat had made a tasty meal out of our cat and a fellow commenter asked what a fisher was. Let me introduce you..........

"Sammy cat "

Losing housecats is not uncommon in our area. We have lost five house cats in 11 years as well as barn cats. Our neighbors have lost cats, chickens, ducks, etc. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why our cats weren't coming home and then I talked with a local trapper.

This nasty looking predator roams our woods and house cat is one of his favorite meals - meet the Fisher Cat. He actually is not a cat at all but a snarly member of the Martin family. They are dark brown to black and sometimes the hair tip has a frosted look. The male has a body about 30 inches long with an approximately 17 inch tail. They have big, lethal teeth. They have five toes, with a foot that measures about 4.5” across at maturity. They have thick fur on the soles of their feet in winter and they are great climbers. They can partially retract their nails which are lethal when tearing apart their prey. They are they only animal that can successfully attack and kill a porcupine.

They make a screaming sound that will send chills right down your spine. I've never seen one in the wild but we did see one at the Gray Animal Park which is a wildlife preserve where they rehabilitate injured animals. This creature was behind two barriers and it was still hissing and spitting at us. Nasty is the only way I could describe it!!




They are nocturnal but they are active both day and night. They have a definite territory and come back through the same place about every two weeks. Fishers have a varied menu and eat snowshoe hare, porcupines, squirrels and chipmunks as well as cats and poultry. Rarely do they eat fish unless it is dead and they happen to find it. They will eat berries and fruit when they can get it.


We have decided that we will not get another housecat. It's too painful to love them and then lose them. We have several barn cats. They serve a purpose, do a great job with rodent control and when one doesn't show up at the feed bowl it's considered normal.

It's that time of year............

You can always tell when winter is approaching when you live on a farm without a calendar or a thermometer. Just watch the behavior of the sheep. Many breeds of sheep have internal clocks that are regulated by length of daylight and temperature. Most of my ewes are normally freindly and good natured. These two especially. The gray ewe, Chammy, is a real love. She's mostly finn and has given us several sets of quads. She's a great mother and I wouldn't take all the tea in china for her. The white ewe, Daphne, is a shetland-finn cross. She gives us twins every year, usually a ram and a ewe and is a great mom as well. These two "hang out" often and life is usually pretty mellow in the barnyard.


Not so yesterday - I noticed what looked like the two of them sizing each other up. I watched from a distance and recognized that "look".

They obviously have something else on their minds other than being nice!

They weren't playing around -

I thought they were going to crack each other's skulls....you wouldn't believe the sound. They were backing up and getting a running start before they were finished. I didn't stick around to watch. I know this behavior is normal and the other ewes will probably join in before it's over. I love lambs but this isn't one of may favorite times of the year.

Chammy and my Mom - she really is a sweetheart :)