Handsome Little Guy

This is a Banana Spider that I found hanging over the entrance to my chicken coop. I do not mind spiders that are harmless, so I let this guy live. To me it is pretty big, about the size of two or three female wolf spiders. The picture is not that great, but I risked my well-being just climbing to get this one, so it will have to do :)

Fishin' Like Girls

OK folks, This is me and Mama from way back in May, but I had to share!
Good Hope may be a small town, but we have our secret fishin' holes!! We had a good day, too!! The cows must have been standin' up!! (If ya ain't from the South ya wouldn't understand.) We actually ended up catchin' bigger bass than that! Betcha cain't guess what we had for supper that night!

And How About Some Peppers?

I started all my pepper and tomato plants inside this year, and they looked pretty puny after hardening off and transplanting. I was worried they wouldn't do too well, but I was wrong! These are just a few of the colorful Bell Peppers thet we harvested. We can't even give away all the maters we've had this year! God has been so good! I truly believe in the organic gardening method. It apparently works!!

My Jewel

I did not intend on posting this, but I might as well. I sold my black mare, Molly earlier in the summer. After having problems with money, boarding, and lack of time, I felt that the Lord was leading me to sell my two beautiful horses. I did not like this at all, but I felt that this was the Lord's will. All I can say is that I felt Like I was shootin' Old Yeller when I sold precious Molly. But I reckon sometimes in life ya just gotta grit yer teeth and do what ya gotta do. Even if it hurts--a lot. So now Jewels is still with me but is up for sale. Isn't she beautiful!! There is a whole lot more to this situation, but I'll just leave it at that.

Banjos and Brothers

I said I had banjos to talk about. :) Coley got himself a bona fide banjer!! He is so happy and is trying now to learn all of the roll patterns and a few chords. Of course, I can't let him have all the fun, so I am learning too! He also makes a mighty handsome Davy Crockett, wouldn't you say so?

My Sweet Sister

This is my sweet little sister, Makayla. She is in the garden sitting beside some of my marigolds.
She is precious and loves animals just like me. What a joy little siblings are!! And how cute!!

Eggplant, anyone?

It's the truth. Our family loves eggplants!! What a blessing when you can grow your own!! And of course, there's a few maters in the photo too. The three round, green things are "Sugar Baby" watermelons, they're small, but delicious!

Bounty

Now then, aint' nothin like fresh squash from the garden!! I went a little crazy with the squash this year--planting straightneck, zuchinni, speghetti, and patty pan. And not to mention cukes!!
That's me and my cousin Amelia after harvesting a few.

Some of the Girls

Here's some of my hens. I have many others that are different colors. It is wonderful to have chickens to provide fresh eggs. Although, they have slacked off the past few months.

My Mandie

Now there's a cute kid!!

Virginny gave birth this June and this her baby!!

I named her Mississippi Mandolin, but I call her Mandie.

She is very sweet!! I am bottle-feeding her and she follows me around everywhere! There is almost nothing as cute as a baby goat!!

My Garden

Here's some photos of my garden from earlier in the summer. It doesn't look as good now, but we're still getting eggplants, maters, watermelons, and okra from it. The Lord really blessed it and made it bountiful this year.

Who Stole My Big Toe?

This is what happens when you wear flip flops around horses!! Let me tell ya my story---
A couple months ago, I rode my bike down the dirt road to feed Jewels. I knew it wouldn't take long , so I slipped on my flip flops. After I fed her, I was loving on her and she plopped her big ol' hoof right on top of my foot. My reaction was to push on her shoulder to get her to move the hoof off my toe. Well, instead of lifting her foot, she slid it off, uprooting my big toenail. I knew it hurt, but it was getting dark and I did not realize the state it was in until my flip lop filled up with blood. Then I looked down at it and said "Shooo-weee, I better get home!" So I hopped to my bike and rode back home to show Mama. She did what all Mamas should do, and took me to the ER. Daddy and my brothers did what alot of males do, and turned their head at the sight of all that blood. Bless their hearts. So off we go to Athens for the ER. We waited for several hours to finally be seen, and they proceeded to numb me up (quite painful, I might add) and then to clean my toe. Now, do you know how dirty the feet of a farm girl are? Not to mention we had gone to a pickin' at the Weber's house, I had played baseball BAREFOOT, looked for crawdads in the creek BAREFOOT, and played Davy Crockett in the woods with the boys BAREFOOT! So those folks got to see a pretty nasty foot and toe. Well, they took off what was left of the nail, cleaned it some more, and wrapped it up in supposedly non-stick gauze. The day after, I attempted to take off all of the bandaging, but it was stuck to the place my nail had been--and it hurt! So back to the doctor we went, they numbed me up again, and took off the bandage. This picture was taken after the bandage was taken off. It looks pretty good in that picture. It kinda looks like nail polish on it, but it ain't, cuz I don't paint my nails--nope--I leave that to 1200 lb horses.

Sooooo....

I did not die. I just haven't posted in a very long time. Hopefully I'll start posting more. I have horses, goats, and banjos to talk about, so I better get started mighty soon. I just started 12th grade (actually 3 weeks ago I did) so that is, well, time consumin'. Beauty of bein' homeschooled I started early and, Lord willin', I'll be done by April. But I am sure I'll post before then. :)