This Week at Moose Spitt...

The last several weeks have been very full.  A lot has happened, a lot has been accomplished...  To start off, let me apologize for not updating the blog in all that time!  I had good intentions of posting once a week but somehow became very distracted by Life!  Let's see if we can do a quick re-cap of the last few weeks and get caught up!
My daughter and I went to a JASNA event on the 27th.  It was "Picnic at Pemberley" and had three very interesting workshops to attend and a most delicious tea! Here is the link to JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America):  www.jasna.org  My daughter and I both dressed in Regency fashion!
We also  enjoyed the birth of five kittens to our cat Cookie!  But then something went wrong.  We lost all but one kitten during the first two days after their birth.  We made the decision that third morning to take the last kitten and attempt to bottle raise him.  He made it through his first week of life, mostly with a bottle and human "parents".  We named him Melvin, and he was much loved.  The evening of his seventh day of life, his breathing became labored with ominous clicking sounds in his lungs. He was gone by his 3 a.m. feeding time.  It was a sad time at Moose Spitt Farm.
To brighter things, however...  Our chicken coop is almost done!  Finally.  We have only to put hinges on the doors, build the nest boxes and attach that, and put the chickens inside!  Yes, they are still in my bathroom.  Yes, I am becoming concerned that I will be collecting eggs from the tub or sink.  Yes, I really, really, really want them out of my house!  And it looks like it should happen today!  Yay!!!  It will be painted barn red with white trim.  The inside will be painted with white exterior paint, as well.
Our other animals are all doing well.  The horses are overdue for a hoof-trimming.  We'll get that worked out in the next week or so.  The dogs are all enjoying the outside weather.  Mae Belle is loving being out, running around, acting like the goofy puppy she is!  And our cats are becoming quite the hunters!  Vermin, beware!
One more thing that happened just last night...  Pip, our other kitten, had a kitten!  Yes, that is singular.  One kitten.  It's a rather large one, too!  She is being a very good momma, however, unlike her own sister.  We have better hopes that this kitty will make it.

And that, dear readers, is a brief and somewhat messy recap of what we have been doing here!  There is more but I am tired and hot and still have much to accomplish today!  Finishing the coop and finally getting my plants in the garden!
Thanks for stopping by!

This Week at Moose Spitt...

So I've been talking about repainting the kitchen. The old color was nice, just a bit too dark for my tastes.

(The old color, in case you forgot.)

It was kind of a terracotta color.  Pretty but dark.

And this is the new color!  It's called "Limish"!  Lemme tell ya, it's definitely a lime-ish color!  And I love it!!!

The kitchen just looks brighter, lighter, and more open!  It also makes the light fixture appear for citrus-y, which is nice!  I'm really liking it!  All that is left is to prime and paint the trim white, fix the bizarre trim at chair level, a new screen door for the back porch, and refinish the wood floors!  Eventually, I'd like to reconfigure the kitchen by getting rid of the permanent island, relocating the stove (don't know where, yet!), and just making the kitchen more open!

We also finally moved the ducks outside.  Poor babies were very confused at first but seem to have adjusted just fine!  I will have to cover them Wednesday evening as the temps are supposed to drop again overnight.

In related garden news, there are finally some sprouts coming through!  It's so exciting!  But the rather large dog prints in the soil are showing the great need for a garden fence.  Crazy dogs.  They just have no sense of human-made borders!  

And that is where we are now!  Thanks for stopping by!

Spring is Here!!! Isn't it???

I can't believe it's been this long since I posted on here!  I'm so sorry about that!  I probably should just make it a weekly thing and hope that I can stick to it!

So, spring technically arrived March 20, nearly two weeks ago.  With the arrival of spring came snow.  Lots of snow.  The hubs had the opportunity to attend an Army law class for two weeks.  He traveled to the east coast for this course and thoroughly enjoyed it!  I was able to drive out with him but then had to fly back a few days later.  When we left, we had a little over a foot of snow on the ground.  It was beautiful!  We shoveled the drive and allowed the horses access to their hay bale.  What I came home to was an additional foot and a half of snow!  Oh dear!  Where is my driveway???  Seriously!  Normally, if the snow covers your yard, you can see the dips and valleys of your yard, see where the drive is...  Not so with this snowfall!

We were unable to shovel our drive this time.  So I began making phonecalls.  I called a couple ladies from church and asked them to start the prayer chain in an attempt to find someone near me with a tractor, snow removal attachment, and the time to come save us!  Within thirty minutes, I had a couple leads.  And then a phonecall saying a gentleman would be on his way at some point that afternoon!  Hallelujah!!!
And sure enough, shortly after lunchtime, there he was!  He came up the drive, introduced himself, and proceeded to do a fabulous job!
I have a driveway again!










Now that the snow has (finally!) melted, we are able to focus more on springtime activities!  My garden area is now plotted out.  Our good family friends will be over this weekend to help till and get that ready for planting!  We purchased eight chicks and two ducklings from our local Orchlen's a couple days ago.  They are currently residing in our downstairs bathtub.  Cute babies!

I also managed to get hold of three lengths of electric net fencing!  For free!  I just need to do some repairs and get a charger and I'm ready to bring home some sheep!  We're starting out with just a couple ewes and lambs, raised for meat and wool.  We're all pretty excited!

Our garden is now tilled, turned, and prepped for growth!  We planted a few things Sunday afternoon.  We're starting with a large plot but only planting some of it.  The ducks will have a special section just for them while the plants gain some maturity.  Then it's Ducks-on-Duty!!!  They'll be given run of the place in the hopes that they will help with pest control.  A small but accommodating pond will go in at the bottom of the garden.  Exciting!!!

Our family and friends hard at work!

Christmas At Moose Spitt... A Post Overdue!

Well, Christmastime has just passed here at Moose Spitt Farm!  We've had our annual Christmas Open House, which was a hit!  So many friends and family came to help us celebrate not only the best time of year but also our new farm!  Our home was decorated from top to bottom, inside and out.  The sounds of Christmas music and laughter filled our home the entire evening!  After we got cleaned up from the party and finished wrapping presents, we were ready to get to the big day! Here's a little walk-thru of Christmas at Moose Spitt Farm!
We had a nice, little snow, almost three inches of lovely, fluffy stuff!  The kiddos enjoyed it every chance they had!  I even went so far as to grab a couple sledding discs for them.
Here's one view out our windows:

 There were three Christmas trees throughout with an evergreen outside wrapped in white lights. The banister was wrapped with garland. Every flat surface held some sort of holiday item, be it candles, little snowmen, shiny garlands wrapped around picture frames....  It was a lovely sight, to be sure! And now, without further ado, some photos of our lovely, little farm decked out for Christmas!

And our Christmas dinner shared with friends....

 

Fall at the Farm

Just a few pictures of the farm this fall! I meant to get out and get some a couple weeks ago when the leaves were all shades of orange, red, yellow... Now they're mostly muted variances of brown. Ah well. It's still lovely seeing the trees dressing for winter. Or is that undressing? Oh my!

I hope you enjoy the view of a different season here at Moose Spitt Farm!

Here are our big boys, Sky and Sarge, just relaxing in the field! I'm glad I took these pictures when I did, as a mere five minutes later found Sarge fallen over on his side and nearly invisible! Silly boys!

A view of our neighbor's silo and our windmill. We're planning on cleaning up the windmill and seeing if any of the equipment attached to it can be made to work again! If not, just having a windmill turning will be lovely to see!

Poor little Liberty is so cold! It's too chilly for her short fur coat! So out come the doggy sweaters and sweatshirts!

And now the Twins! Here is lil Pip! She has become my little sidekick whenever I'm outside doing chores or, like today, taking pictures or just relaxing! Such a sweetie!

And her sister, Cookie. This is how she usually looks! Lol She is a very vocal little kitten! Just like her mama!

The view across the street. Rather large cornfield cut down for winter. And my swing. A wonderful place to sit with a glass of ice tea in the summer or a mug of warm cocoa in the cooler months!

Two of our eight chickens. Started out with twelve eggs, only ten of which hatched. Somehow something managed to get hold of two and they disappeared. Without a trace! No feathers, no bodies. Nothing. Maybe they eloped and ran away together? Who knows. It's butcherin' time though! Yum!

One of our roosters. They are huuuuuge!!! I kid you not when I say that this guy's legs (the orange part, mind you!) are almost 1 1/2 inches in diameter!!! But they're all very friendly. Not cuddly. Just... polite.

If you look very closely, you can see four of our chickens waaaaaay out in our neighbor's field. They have quite the grazing range here! Thankfully, our neighbor enjoys their wanderings and does not run any livestock in his fields and so is fine with them making their way out that far!

And that, friends, is our farm right now! We have recently begun the process of clearing a space next to the barn for a chicken house lean-to. We also have plans in the works for a run-in shelter for the horses. We hope to have that up before the first snowfall. And we finally have a definite "yes" on the hay we're going to need this winter! That is a huge relief!

Are you ready for the upcoming holidays? We are very anxious to spend our first Christmas in our new home! Next blog post will be about our holiday plans. What are you planning?

Our Pets

Just thought I'd dedicate a post to introducing some of our pets and livestock here on Moose Spitt Farm!  We have only a few animals now.  We hope to expand in the future but with the drought this year, we're really glad this is all we have to worry about this winter!  So, without further ado, here are the other inhabitants of MSF! (Warning!  Picture heavy!)
I suppose we can go in the order in which they've become part of our farm!

 Here is my Sky-boy.  He's a Tennessee Walking horse.  He's nine years old and full of personality!  He's a real jokester!

Sky-boy in the winter.

Here's Sky's new pasture buddy, Sarge!  He turned one year old this July.  He's a real sweetheart!  He'll begin riding training sometime next year.  Very exciting!

Sarge laying down, just chillin' on a hot day.

My daughter's early bday present, Octavius!  He's a Lionhead rabbit and just the sweetest little bunny ever!

Our new kittens we received from my sister's kitty's first litter!  This one is Pip.  She's very inquisitive and very bold!  I think she'll be a great mouser as she gets older!  She loves hunting the bugs and mock-hunting her sister and the chickens!

And this sleepy baby is Cookie!  She's a little more reserved but enjoys cuddling and falling asleep in one's lap.  Aw!

 And our chickens.  They were a hatching project through the local extension office.  Some kind of meat bird.  I think they are called "Rich's Meat Bird" or something like that.  Anyway, they are a strange looking set of chicks.  And they have grown very quickly!  Here they are at two weeks old.

                                          

Smile, chicky!

All of the animals seem to be getting along quite well!

I said at the first that I would list them in order of arrival but I couldn't resist holding this picture til last.  Here are our puppy dogs.  Zorro is a large mix breed.  Liberty is a Miniature Pinscher.  They are really great dogs!  We had an issue at first as our neighbor feeds his cats on his back porch and Zorro found their food!  But after some boundary training, he seems to be doing better at recognizing where he may and may not go.  Good boy!!!

And there you have it!  Our little farm, thus far.  We have plans to expand next year.  A milk cow, some laying hens, perhaps a pig...  We'll see what the next year brings!  Thanks for visiting!

A little horsey silliness in the rain!

New Look for the Dining Room!

Ever since first walking through this house, I've been thinking/planning/dreaming of what I would do with the dining room.  It's dark walls, dark ceiling, heavy light fixture, and unfinished trim were all quite depressing to look at!  With our large and somewhat (ok, insanely) heavy dining table, we really needed to lighten the room up aesthetically!
Here is a before photo:

So I went online to search for "dining room makeover" ideas.  I found many images of rooms I liked but was having trouble finding "just the right one".  There were many with great ideas in them but I didn't like the whole of the room or didn't think it would work in the room we had.  I finally settled on choosing a light blue wall color with white ceiling and trim.  Most of the woodwork in the house is natural wood or sealed with a clear varnish so the natural colors come through.  The kitchen, however, is all white trim with white doors.  The dining room trim is horrible.  I mean, like this is the bottom-of-the-barrel type trim.  Very rough, very unfinished.  And this girl had absolutely no plans on taking the trim back down, sanding it completely, and then staining/varnishing.  That was way too much work!  At least two of the pieces I don't think would have sanded well, anyway.  I would have sanded and sanded and had nothing left!  So white trim, it would be.  We also have a lovely teal buffet table that I received from my mother years ago that I planned to place in the dining room.  So there would definitely be teal accents.  And I love, adore, greatly admire the color orange, so there would be touches and splashes of that color, as well!
A picture of the room during painting:

The floor is an interesting case.  All of the floors in our house have either been rough-sanded (to remove loose paint and debris) or refinished or, in the case of one unsalvageable floor, replaced entirely.  Except for the dining room, for some reason.  It was painted brown at some point in its history, as well as perhaps pale blue or white.  I'm not entirely certain.  And there is a strange cut-out place in the middle.  And a weird rectangular spot that was never painted at all!  Very strange floor, to be sure!
So we sanded the repair patches on the ceiling and taped and plastered a huge space above one section of baseboard.  We removed (most of) the switch plates and socket covers.  We removed the boxes and all furniture except our table, which we covered with plastic.  And the painting commenced!
It took us nearly a week to get to where we are now, and that is not finished!  Between work, doctor visits, and life, we've only been able to work sporadically on the room.  But it is now usable and down to finishing touches!  Huzzah!!!
Here is where we are thus far:

The Husband suggested we dedicate the room to our Eow's memory.  And so, in one corner sits his favorite chair.  Once his favorite, fuzzy blanket is unpacked (I still have to find it!) that will be draped over the back of the chair.  And his collar and my favorite photo of him will be beautifully framed in a shadow box and hung on the wall next to it all.  It will be a sad reminder of what we have lost but also a beautiful tribute to the best little buddy I've ever known!
Eow's Corner, the shadow box is not complete yet:

So, that is where we are now with our dining room's mini-reno!  It's been real.  It's been fun.  And, at times, it's even been real fun!  The floor will eventually be painted brown, the ceiling will get a beautiful crystal chandelier, and the windows will be graced with lovely white sheers!  But for now, it is painted and very serviceable!  And that'll do for now.