Where in the world is fall, yall? Seriously, I found myself asking that question repeatedly when I was trying to work outside in shorts and still sweating my tail off. Okay, well, I wish I was sweating my tail off. Sadly, my tail is still the same size regardless of what I do. But, I’m going to blame genetics, having 3 kids and what ever else will help me feel better about myself. Ha!
Anyway, I really was sweating through the unseasonably warm temperatures and working like crazy to finish the fencing before the cold weather got here. I couldn’t believe it was still summer weather here in October. However, it is much easier to fence in warm weather than cold weather so I will quit complaining now, even if I am a little confused about what season we are in. Some of my flowers got a little confused too and started blooming again. I really didn’t mind that so much though. They all looked lovely. Just lovely.
My flower beds looked amazing in October!
This Lantana plant has more than tripled in size this summer and is still blooming like crazy. I love, love, love these plants. My kids, animals and myself haven’t managed to kill them yet. Trust me, that’s saying a lot!
I’m not really sure if it’s the crazy weather, if the plant is tired from blooming all summer or if changing colors is normal, but this tiny little bloom is the only pink flower on this plant. Is that normal? I have no idea. None whatsoever. But it’s cool to look at so we’ll just go with it.
Maylin discovered this lovely flower one afternoon behind the chicken coop of all places. I have no idea how a seed from the plants on our front porch made it all the way down behind the chicken castle, but it did. And it was lovely there! It really was. It continued to bloom until the first frost in November. Gotta love a beautiful, volunteer plant that does it’s own thing, right? Please bloom and beautify our farm to your heart’s content little seeds!
The plants weren’t the only ones enjoying the warm weather. Camden loves running around in his undies. Thank goodness we live off the road some. Whew…
Did I mention that Camden likes to run around in his undies? Like all the time?? Okay, just so we are clear-I do make him wear clothes when people come over or when we go to town, but other than that….all bets are off! Ha! Sometimes Camden needs a break from his sisters and the all female household. So, he heads outside, in his undies of course, and proceeds to talk to the animals.
Well, that doesn’t always go so well either. Our horse and cow are both females and they only listen for so long before they start “talking” back to him. Then he has to listen to the them nicker and moo at him. Poor Camden! I think he is counting down the days until he can start going to work with Jim on a regular basis. He might need some more “guy time”!
Well, the crazy weather seemed to affect our animals too. Jessie, our Basset Hound puppy, decided to be an early bloomer. Yes, I know how crazy that sounds. But, she decided to come into heat for the first time around 5 months old. That’s crazy! It seemed even crazier because we couldn’t take her outside without searching the yard and woods for the gentlemen waiting to romance her. So, we quickly decided to have her spayed at 6 months old. Well, she couldn’t let it be that easy! Nope. She just had to develop an allergic reaction to her suture material. Why???? Just WHY??? Because she’s my dog, Murphy’s law, and all that jazz. So, yeah, we spent the whole week taking her back and forth to the vet, medicating her and catering to the every whim basically. She was so sick and so pitiful that I couldn’t really complain at the time. Now, though, I will never let her live it down.
I think this picture about sums up the level of pitiful that she reached that week. Yes, she is stepping on her ears in this picture and not caring at all. She was that sick and medicated.
I felt so bad for her! At one point I willingly gave up my steak dinner so she would eat something and take her meds. Thankfully she bounced back quickly! Look at those eyes!!!
So, I haven’t mentioned the Old Homestead much lately because I don’t want to cry on my computer and because it makes me sound a little off my rocker. However, this picture about sums up how broken down the house is now. All the walls are gone, inside and out. It’s just a shell with a roof basically. The guy is hoping to have it completely torn down by spring. All the rain has delayed his progress a lot this year so it’s taking about 4 times as long as he thought it would to tear the house down. So, he’s basically ripping my heart out slowly rather than all at once.
Some days I can’t even look over there when I drive past. It just breaks my heart.
Okay, I am going to move on to happier subjects now. Well, it was almost a happier subject. Around the beginning of October, I went to look at the most beautiful Spotted Draft gelding. He was huge. He was gorgeous. He was in my price range. And I LOVED him at first sight! Thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully, I had taken Jim and the kids with me to look at him. Well, Jim was not impressed and really didn’t like his manners or his size. Why did I take Jim in the first place??? Oh, yeah, he’s my husband. Ultimately, Jim felt like we should keep looking. And….I cried that night….and the next day. Then, I pulled it together and put up my round pen so that Jim would see it everyday and know that I mean it when I say, “I AM READY FOR ANOTHER HORSE!!”
My round pen is finally up. All it’s missing is a horse…or two… Oh, who am I kidding? Three or more is really what I’m looking for. Sorry, Jim, but honesty is the best policy!
I’m not 100% sure that Jim gets that message yet, so I may have to resort to desperate measures. Ya know, like parking his truck inside the round pen at night. Or supergluing horse shoes to his work boots. Maybe stuffing a bunch of carrots and apples into his underwear drawer would make him wake up. Or Maylin suggested filling his truck with hundreds or stuffed horses. I’m not sure, but I’m going to have to try something. Mama needs a horse to ride before I go off the deep end completely. Please no comments there. I know what you are thinking already and so does Jim. He lives with me.
Well, I might not have gotten a horse, but we did get another animal. A new puppy!! Jessie Wrinkles is really lonely and playful all the time. When the kids are doing schoolwork, Jessie gets bored and manages to get in lots of trouble. Well, she is a female who hates to be ignored. Rocko pretty much ignores her or hides from her. Isn’t that what most guys do when faced with an enamorous female? Well, Jim felt that Jessie needed a friend. I wanted to wait and get Jessie’s full brother from the next litter of puppies, but I was out voted. Over and over again, I was out voted. Why? No one else wanted to wait another 5 weeks for a puppy so we went and picked up the last remaining puppy from this litter. Can you say mistake? Oh, dear..
This little guy is named Jethro Flash. Camden is so happy to have another dude in the house. He insisted on calling him Flash. It makes me think of the Basset Hound from the Dukes of Hazard, but Cam assured me that he’s named after the superhero, Flash. Of course he is, son. Of course.
It was puppy love at first sight. Jessie never leaves his side.
Maylin loves little Flash and tries to snuggle him all the time too. You can’t see it in this picture but Jessie is laying just below the couch to be near Flash. Awww!
Did I mention that Camden loves having another dude around? Yeah, he’s pretty excited and keeps calling Flash his “little bro”. So cute!
Maylin doesn’t think he should walk anywhere. He might get dirty.
So, meet Jethro Flash, our newest family member with issues.
Yes, I said with “issues”. He is one of our animals, so of course it can’t be easy. Jethro came from a great breeder who does genetic testing and really goes out of her way to take great care of her dogs. However, we will always end up with any animal that has a problem. It’s just the way it is. Well, little Jethro Flash has a Grade 3 heart murmur on the right side of his heart. We were devastated. We were also already attached to him after only 2 days. The vet has recommended an echocardiogram to find exactly where the defect is in his heart. His breeder has been amazing. She offered us a full refund, another puppy, to pay for his medical bills, to pay for my therapy bills. Just kidding! She is such a sweet lady who really loves her dogs and has really gone the extra mile to support us and little Flash. In the end, we couldn’t return him. We are just stupid people who are led around by the pitiful eyes of animals. Yes, I’m talking about me in that last sentence. So, say a prayer that this little guy doesn’t need heart surgery. That would be just my luck, now wouldn’t it?
Okay, let me give you the full effect of his puppy dog eyes.
How can anyone resist that face? He’s precious! And he’s such a sweetheart. He’s a keeper for better or worse, I suppose.
Speaking of cuteness, let me move on along to my little cuties in their Halloween costumes! This year they couldn’t decide on a united theme, so they each did their own thing and it worked out really well.
The end of October brings Halloween, of course. Maleah was Tinkerbell this year.
Is she not the cutest little winged fairy ever???
Maylin was the ballerina Felicie from the movie Leap. So beautiful! And Camden was the Hulkbuster. So adorable!
Camden’s costume ripped open to reveal the Hulk inside the Iron Man costume. Most people thought he was a Ninja Turtle inside the suit so he finally took off the Iron Man costume and was just the Hulk. Sorry, buddy. Not everyone gets it.
October started with beautiful mornings like this…
and ended with evenings like this. Ahh.
I don’t care what the weather is like actually, when my days are full of beauty and love all around me.
