I BET YOU THOUGHT I STOPPED BLOGGING.....NOT!!! (5TH ATTEMPT TO LOAD POST)

Hi, blogger friends!  Yes, it’s been a while…..  I hope everyone had an amazing New Year!!

Let me tell you what we’ve been up too, since my last post.

We’ve been dealing with some mighty strange weather, like y’all have.  The temperatures have varied over the weeks to negative numbers all the way up to the high 50’s.  At one point we were actually colder than Alaska.  

Here’s what’s been happening on the homestead……..

Bulldog Man and I had found, over the summer, an amazing 40-year old handmade baby cradle; we couldn’t pass it up…..we purchased it at an amazing price, and took it home with intentions of stripping it, and making it look new.  I was asked by a dear friend if Bulldog Man and I were expecting a baby!  At our ages….it can’t happen :-)…however, were expecting a new grand baby (in January of this year).  Our son, Steven was expecting his first child, and our family couldn’t wait for it to happen.

We sanded down the cradle, cleaned it thoroughly, stained the cradle an amazing color, and let it dry completely.  Then we polyurethaned the cradle and ran into a problem.  The polyurethane started to leave white blotches all over the cradle.  We waited days for it to dry to see if the white blotches would disappear.  Some blotches disappeared, while new ones popped up.  This just didn’t make any sense to us and we didn’t have time to waste.  We were delayed refinishing the cradle due to the water issue and construction at our house. So onward we went, sanding down the cradle again thoroughly.  

This time instead of staining the cradle, we decided to paint it the same color scheme as the baby crib our son had purchased.  The cradle came out gorgeous; we’re still wondering what caused the blotches with the polyurethane.  

We delivered the cradle to our son and his wife on the 23^rd of December; they loved it and couldn’t believe how well it matched the paint on the crib!!!

After visiting with our son and daughter in-law, we stayed at my sister’s house in Texas, until we returned home on Christmas Eve.

On January 8^, 2018 our 6^th grand baby was born.  

Let me introduce you to Cora Faye, 7 pounds 7 ounces

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Due to the cold weather, squirrels in our neck of the woods were hunkering down in warm places. Unbeknownst to us, a squirrel decided to build a nest under the hood of our truck.  He/She ripped insulation off of the fire wall under the hood of the truck, and took the material off of the air filter to build a nest; on top of the intake manifold of the truck.  When we went to change the oil, a nest (well structured I might say) was found and pulled off of the intake manifold of the truck. 

After researching the internet, I’ve learned that by placing moth balls under the hood of your vehicle, it will deter squirrels from building nests.  So I attempted my version of storing moth balls under the hood of our truck, and other vehicles.

I pulled out some old material, cuts squares, placed moth balls in the center of the squares and pulled the ends together with sown heavy duty string.  Then I cut two slits in the material on the sides and placed a zip tie through.  This way I could mount the pocket on a heavy wire under the hood of each vehicle (I made sure the wires wouldn’t start fire or have issues). This has worked well, and has deterred the squirrels (the smell isn’t real nice). 

Now we’re dealing with the squirrel playing games with us inside our detached garage.  Eventually the little bastards will be caught!!!!

*****(The Type Print On This Post Keeps Acting Up, Excuse The All Caps*****

For the past 4 weeks, I’ve been recuperating from walking pneumonia and dealing with a broken foot. 

You heard right! 

I caught an upper respiratory infection after visiting my sister which turned into pneumonia.  And weeks before, I was locking our driveway gate when the inevitable happened.  The driveway is gravel, and it’s not level so, when I ran to catch one side of the gate, my foot went down onto an unlevel section of the gravel on the driveway and rolled.

I ended up breaking a metatarsal bone, and pulling tendons.  Talk about painful, and a burning feeling….OMG!!!!  I immediately went to my primary physician who looked at it, and sent me to the hospital for x-rays because she thought it was broken.  The radiologist diagnosed me as having no issues!!!!  I demanded a referral to my foot doctor.  Y’all know how that works…..it takes time to get a referral. So in the mean time, I’m walking on this foot, and in pain.

Finally, I have an appointment with the foot doctor (a specialist).  She looked at the x-rays, advised she believes I have a fractured foot, and pulled ligaments, and ordered an MRI to determine a plan of action.  While waiting on the MRI appointment (several weeks), I’ve been put in a $300 boot to immobilize the foot. 

Geez……I paid (the insurance company did) $300 for one boot…..they could have at least given me a pair of boots J at that price!!!  Right??  Now I’m in a waiting mode and need to just take it slow with my foot, to make sure I don’t do further damage.  The MRI facility called last night and scheduled me for an appointment on January 29^th. 

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A recipe worth keeping--BAKED DONUTS!!!  We love donuts however, fried donuts don’t agree well with the body.  So I found this recipe on the King Arthur Flour site.  They’re baked donuts three ways, and Bulldog Man gives them 4 paws up as a rating!!!  Here’s the site and recipe:  https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/baked-doughnuts-three-ways-recipe

 

 

 

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Y’all know we have a massive amount of wildlife on our property.  I thought I would share with you a video of my husband cutting Tank’s hair….check out the doe watching it all happen and eating with no fear.