Funny thing is

Isn't it funny how one thing turns into something else then morphs into something quite different and then you end up somewhere you had no idea was even a pliable idea and then what happens is completely unexpected and never had it on your radar in the first or second place. 

It all started with a chicken party. Savannah, my great niece who is a fellow chicken lover was turning 8 years old this month, at the same time Brooks was turning 2 years old. The birthday bash for these two kiddos would be celebrated on the same day with Savannah requesting a chicken theme and Brooks a car theme.

As you can only imagine, I would be buying Savannah chickens (chicks who are almost teenagers actually) and gifting those to her to have on our farm. I had gotten her 5 silkie chicks whom I then allowed to age and grow up a bit before the big party, so they would be nice and hardy for plentiful handling by children. 

These 5 silkies have no idea of the 
birthday party to come 🎂

Three white (and two grey)

 

David would be in charge of the chicken cake.

Chocolate eggs, cotton candy for the nest,
and a chicken cake mold helped bring this
all together. It's one-of-kind.

David would also make a car cake for Brooks although we did not buy him a new car for his birthday, he did get three car toys instead.

Can you imagine that one day.......
he'll be getting a real car.

The big day of the party arrived and we celebrated Savannah turning 8 and Brooks turning 2!

The happiest birthday twins 💕

Celebrating multiple birthdays at once has
become a favorite activity.

Brooks was intrigued at all the gifts.
Savannah and Declan are the most
wonderful cousins who share and care.

It's hard trying to figure out what being 
"Number 2" means. 

We all had so much fun on the farm as Savannah played and played with her chickens, collected eggs in the barn (regular 30 minute chicken egg check) as she stayed outside as much as possible. 

This is what I live for.

She handles her chickens with love and grace.

And each time I looked up, I would also see Sheryl off in the pasture giving treats to the mini horses, Maggie the Pig and the sheep. I noticed all the farm animals surrounding her in a perfect circle waiting their turn for their treat. Then, Sheryl would be back in the house again rummaging quietly through the kitchen, looking for animal-grade treats. And then I would look up and see her back out in the pasture again, providing more tasty treats of cake, veggies and anything that looked extra-and-edible from non-suspecting party goers who appeared to be done with their plates. There's always leftovers at a party, but on this day, if you walked away from your plate too long it would become a farm animal treat. 

As we celebrated with hamburgers and hotdogs, cake and ice cream, and chickens. It was sometime during mid-party that things took a turn. Kristin, my niece started talking about taking Savannah's chickens home, getting a coop, setting up a chicken area in their back yard and then begin asking questions regarding the caretaking and keeping of chickens. Yump, I thought, that's certainly an option although we are happy to keep them here on the farm for her (original plan). I am also happy to see them available to Savannah for safekeeping at her house and them taking care of the 5 birthday chickens, loving them, holding them and having them right in their own backyard. I hadn't thought of that option, but as the party progressed, that option became the decision. 

How can you say No to this?
(chick via a hatching set of eggs in
our own silkie flock)

Since they would need to get their chicken coop and fencing set up, we would keep Savannah's chickens at the farm until the following weekend and then make the chicken-transfer at that time. 

The chicken and car birthday party eventually came to a close and as Savannah said Bye to her chickens, she knew that in about a week she would then have them in her own backyard. 

I thought, how cool is this!

Then the fun part starts......with Kristin, Sheryl and Gene trying to decide on a coop, where to put said coop, how to protect them from predators and other backyard chicken discussions. We texted back and forth with chicken questions and answers, coop options and logistics of the chicken pickup the following weekend.

Turns out, since Brooks is 2 years old he's having a 2nd birthday party at Lauren's house the following weekend with her friends and Ryan's family (and us). Side note: Ryan was at a previously planned camping trip the day we had Brooks birthday party at the farm. So it's fitting that if you are 2 then 2 birthday parties are in order.

While we are heading over to Fort Worth it would be perfect timing to pass off Savannah's chickens to Kristin, Sheryl and Gene. And that we did. We made a chicken transfer to them along the way to Brooks 2nd 2 year old birthday party in Fort Worth, this time.

They had been feverishly setting up chicken-shop for the new arrivals. They put together their coop, set up fencing, placed out lots of chicken toys such as ladders, a swing and a mirror. And wa-laa!

But then this happened! Now, how really cool is this.

First look and first hold in her new chicken world.

What started as a chicken party at the farm also ended up being a chicken party at their house too. Savannah is the best chicken mama and her backup team of her mom, Kristin, along with chicken-grandparents of Sheryl and Gene makes it all magical and wonderful. 

This story reminds me that we live a life of surprises. Bad surprises, good surprises and surprises that you could have never imagined. This was one of the best surprises I've seen in awhile. Chickens who were to be Savannah's here on the farm are now in her own backyard. It warms my heart and soul. The best surprise chicken surprise unknowingly that another chicken surprise would be on the horizon.

But you mentioned bad surprises.....

Yeah, I did. You can't have all the good and no bad. You can try - but in my life, I'm about 70-30 on good vs bad surprises. Maybe even 60-40 because living on a farm increases your chance for a bad surprise. Regardless, I did encounter a bad surprise recently.

Remember when I mentioned about David and I would be going to our MD Anderson appts? We were to leave early and I mean early on Monday morning the day after the chicken and car party. But after reading an email that we received early Friday prior (from MDA) reflected that David was now considered cash pay AND my insurance showing no deductibles had been met for the year. 

First, David and I had both met our deductibles and out of pocket maximums. The surprise was that when my company changed health insurance on all our employees on October 1 (this year! yes, late in this year!) that the "promised" information such as deductibles/out of pocket maximums and other important health insurance information did not actually get transferred over as all employees had been told it would.  

Let's just say (due to my jaw being tight and tense right now because I am still mad and sad about this whole event) that David and I both tried all day Friday, Monday and Tuesday to get this health insurance information issue all squared away to no avail until Tuesday when it was too late. And even now I'm not convinced things were ever squared away with the health insurance situation. Needless to say, we had to abandon our MDA appts and not go at the very last minute due to this change in my health insurance and their inability to provide the proper and valid information to MDA. David's amount due actually said you'll need to cash pay $26,000 when you arrive for your appts. He has a PET scan, MRI and all the appts with his multiple oncologist. I think I had fire shooting out the top of my head as my company could not get their $hit together and figure out how to correct and reflect all this health insurance data properly. It was truly a $hit $how that I had no way to be the supervisor of it. It was out of my hands and we were at the mercy of a company who could not get their own stuff together. I was furious.

Back at work, my company is still struggling to fix the health benefit insurance botch that is affecting everyone. Yes, this is not just a me thing. It's an every-employee thing. No one can use their existing deductibles and everyone is paying money all over again when they go for their own health care appts. The people are inconsolable. The company has f'd this one up real good. I'm not sure that they really care - but I think they may lose employees over this one. They did this one up real good. 

Thus far, David has rescheduled his MDA appts and I have not. My oncologist is not available for 2 weeks, and they've already got David all rescheduled so I'll likely stay home on the farm while he travels to Houston on Nov 7 and 8th. That seems like the easiest thing to do, as I also have my usual BESREMi injection that day at Texas Oncology (and he won't be back from Houston in time). But we'll get it all figured out. It's just unfortunate that this happens in this day and time of technology.  

What I've learned is that it's not a surprise that the people working at the insurance company and in the HR dept that administers this plan do not care. They do not care about the employee who needs her IVF treatment, or the cancer patients who need their care, or the employee who needs to take their child to the pediatrician. Every employee is left out to dry, hanging and pulling out their wallets to pay while we wait for the deductible information to be corrected and other misc issues to be resolved along with that. I'm told that it will be all resolved by 10/24. But no, that was a lie too. So for these last 25 days, anyone seeking healthcare had 2 choices.....wait - or pay again. We were given a 3rd option to call and ask HR to call our Provider/Facility and explain the insurance situation, but that in itself is a mess that I've found makes everything worse. 

Rant complete. Bad surprises are bad. 

Let's get back to a good surprise, shall we

I'm happy to say that at my last appt with Texas Oncology that "my numbers" (that's what I'll call them to spare you the nitty gritty details) are looking marvelous! It's actually been 2 Tuesdays that I've gone to Texas Oncology and had my labs drawn along with an injection that's now at a steady dose of 150 mcg of BESREMi. I've been feeling good after the injections. The nurse at Texas Oncology and I are on respectable and good terms - and she actually gives me my shot each time I go now. I'm so glad that she and I can put the past behind us and move forward together in a positive light.  

I've seen my oncologist at Texas Onc who is pleased with my results from the treatment of BESREMi. It's been a nice surprise. A wonderful surprise that I could not have predicted weeks ago. My numbers specific to PV are looking great with my liver and kidney indicators showing improvement. The overdose of BESREMi had taken a toll on my liver, esp. But considering everything, my body is stabilizing very well. 

You are likely asking how I can have all this at Texas Oncology with my insurance f up. Well, I had applied for financial aid (back in Sept when my insurance was about to change and I did not know if my cancer treatment would be covered) at Texas Oncology so that when your insurance does have a hiccup, the financial aid will step in to help cover cancer patients costs and allow them to continue their current care and treatment. Amazing, huh? That, too, was a nice surprise and has brought me much peace in this madness in which certain companies apparently do not properly handle their insurance things and deliver: 1) what was promised and 2) what you paid for.  When you think about changing jobs because it might be an easier fix for your health care insurance issues.....that's when you know things are bad. 

All the thanks to Texas Oncology for stepping up to the plate to assist their patients and meet their needs. I've encountered clinical issues and insurance challenges and not quite sure which is worse. All I know is both get in the way of progress. But you know me, I keep pressing on. 

Chick-A-Dee

It was in my last blog post that I had mentioned Rusty, the silkie rooster who is making time with my silkie girlz who are now sitting on their eggs. Well, those eggs have begun to hatch. Thus far, we have 5 little chicks. 2 yellow (likely will be white as an adult), 2 grey and 1 brownish. They are each a few days apart. 

Look at that little grey thing.
Careful putting your hand in here,
these mamas mean business.

These chicks love their mamas and typically
don't stray far.

Hardly 1 day old. Waiting for sisters and brothers.

Even with the cooler weather, the rain and the back and forth of the temps - these chicks are thriving because the silkie mamas take such great care of them. Silkies are intense and dedicated mamas. It's a joy to watch them raise their chicks all while still sitting on their remaining eggs. 

Even though we do not know how many eggs remaining are fertile and will produce a chick. We wait. We watch. We stay out of the way. That's how best to do it and it's taken David and I many mess-ups to understand this. Don't touch anything, move anything around or change their process. Just give them food and water and let nature do it's thing. So far, so wonderful. Did I mention that farm life brings more surprises? 

Mainly though

Despite all the surprises whether good or bad, what farm life brings me is love, therapy and peace. 

I love happy surprises for my animals, too. We surprised the livestock guard dogs and Winston with new warm dog beds for wintertime. 

Winston owns this bed. 

Although on Hospice, he lives his life well.

A warm bed for Blackie, litter box close by,
and pets each time we enter the Tack Room.

We surprised Blackie with a new warmer bed for winter and even hung one of the (chicken) heat lamps above his sleeping area in the tack room of the barn. I just want him to be comfortable. He's by far the sweetest cat we have here, well, except for June Bug. She's my heart. But these sweet sweet kitties are a reminder that love lives outside of me. And this type of love makes me whole. They do not care if I have cancer or a pimple on my face. Their only focus in life is to live and love in this space at this time. When I reach down to pet any one of them, I look into their eyes, I inspect their little face, I make a memory of what they look like in that moment. I never want to forget it. I never want them to leave. 

Yet as their bodies - and my own body changes and ages, it's inevitable. My surrender comes in the form that I will see them again when we do depart one another. I already know that it's Bridgette that I will be looking for when I step off the curb. 

Forever my girl 💟

Mr Retired is full of surprises

Bridgey-Bear, I'll be looking for her.....

This photo of Bridgette will be hung in the laundry room whereby David is re-tiling it at this time.

June Bug wants to know why everything
is everywhere 

The cats are demanding their Cat Room
be placed back in order please

We picked out a white wash tile and I love how it's going to brighten the laundry room, better known as the Cat Room. Despite it all, I'm excited to have new tile in there. Mr Retired is doing a fabulous job, thank you sir.

The best part is when I get to put the laundry room back together. I'll hang the photo of Bridge up, along with the one of Sugar.

This face 

Once the laundry room is complete and back in order, I'll set up the Cat Space again so that they are ready for the cooler weather and have a place to be safe and warm, should they so desire. The barn and outside cats do frequent the laundry room via a doggie door. But the laundry room is closed off to the rest of the house. 

Mr Retired is also working on several projects in the garage like sorting his fishing gear, he's also working on gates and fencing around the property and the list in his head just gets longer and longer everyday. He's laid out irrigation tubes up by the pond for burial and water diversion. He's painting things, cooking things and doing whatever fills his soul on any given day. For him, there's not enough hours in the day. For me, there's this wonderful benefit of a new tile floor, projects progressing that I've only thought about, all while coming home from work each day to listen to his detailed outline of what a day in the life looks like. He's enjoying his volunteer work at the Community Garden Kitchen in McKinney and as more of his time frees up, I'm guessing that more volunteer work will be on his agenda. It's just who he is.

Then another surprise toed up…..

Lauren and Ryan did find out his toe is not
broken, which is nice. But this is
Day 1 and we are on Day 5 and it's 
officially a hot mess now……

Sure enough, after a fun and exciting birthday weekend, Brooks dropped a (heavy) water bottle on his toe. That's enough to spoil the birthday high he was having, but in true form, he stayed strong and we'll see what happens next with it. I'm sure it will be a surprise. 

So as I watch a new chicken family develop.....

Savannah reading a book to her chickens

and wait and see what comes next, I realize that there's everything about all of my life I love. Yeah, things can be hard and heavy sometimes. Yet, when I walk around outside and there's no one around, this pleases me the most. I want to always and only live with animals. I know that would be seen as an oddity. So if I cannot have only the animals, my family is where my heart lies. There are first and foremost even though I say it's the animals. And as Lauren and Ryan move down their path of finding their peace and quiet in the country as well, I welcome them with open arms to the joy that is here in the country. David and I cannot imagine it any other way here. We will soak up all the minutes in this gift of serenity we call the Graves Farm or the Sunshine Senior Resort, as really, we are both. And I am most grateful.

Sometimes the things that make us whole are not us,

Cyndi

 

So where does time travel when it leaves us each day.

Carefriendtation

 

You've likely had many carefriendtations in your life - as have I. This concept came to me via a podcast, and although used more frequently with family or friends, using it in the community has benefited me greatly. My most recent use of this was at my follow up visit to my oncologist at Texas Oncology. Technically, he's not a 'friend' but he is someone who's been there in my life every month (sometimes every couple of weeks) helping me, guiding me and even being a cheerleader for what it is I enjoy doing in life (running, biking, etc). We have been a team for several years now as I live with a cancer who happens to be like bad friend that won't go away.  

My oncologist, the helper of all things blood cancer for me, and I had our "first" office visit after the overdosing situation at my last appt. I wasn't sure how it was all going to go down. Will one of us fire the other? Will it be awkward? As I awoke the morning of the to-be afternoon appt, I rehearsed all the different scenarios knowing that what is likely to happen at this upcoming appt would be something I did not guess, therefore did not rehearse. ooof. All day at work, I felt like I fought the bad mood lurking underneath it all and dreaded the drive to the appt. 

Me driving to my appt

Along the way there, I would need to change my mindset to allow this visit to be a carefriendtation. I've never been big on confrontations, I mean, who is. Carefriendtation (in a community relational way) on the other hand, is a more productive way for me to view and approach situations. I knew I needed to go into this particular doctor visit with a caring heart, assuming goodness, and with an objective minds eye. I set my intention as such.

How my insides felt about going

Once I arrived at Texas Oncology, it had been 2 weeks since the "almost-thought-I-might-die" (too-much) BESREMi injection, and the first thing I am to do is have some labs drawn. The ladies in the lab are always nice and always there to make the magic happen of the blood draws. After my blood is drawn, they send me down to 'sub-waiting' area so that my oncologist can see me. And sure enough, I am called into a patient exam room and await the doctor's arrival. This is when I practice "not spilling my coffee". Have you ever been bumped by someone and the coffee in your cup spills out just a bit? This also happens with my feelings. I do a great job of keeping my thousands of feelings in check, and then I get 'bumped' by someone's words or actions, and then some of my feelings and words escape from my mouth that are better served staying in the cup. Not all my feelings and words need to spill out, mainly because they are thoughts and not always real and right. But as humans, we get bumped sometimes, and it's easy to spill our coffee - and our feelings that are not meant to be spilt.  

As the doctor comes into the room, I see only his eyes as usual, as we are wearing a mask of course. Cancer centers still do the mask thing as everyone there is sick after all, and most are immunocompromised as cancer patients. As he enters the room, I feel his mood and I feel his energy as he sits down. It's a melancholy, almost-sad, apologetic type of mood. Eeyorish is the best way I can describe it. He begins, "I want to first apologize for what happened". And then everything after that was indeed appropriate conversation in relation to the situation. There were multiple apologies from him during our office visit that day, and he takes responsibility for the situation being the doctor, and let me know the nurse had been struggling with what had happened, and still was. We discussed my current lab results and how it would be best that we skip an injection that day (which we all knew would be the case). We talked about getting a prescription for BESREMi that I could self-inject - but that my insurance was giving a hard NO for it. We talked about my comfort level with coming there for future injections despite what had happened. We talked about my insurance covering this cancer treatment with only the facility giving the injection. We talked about it all. As a nurse, I have the ability to know that "things happen" in health care. We are human. Do we want bad things to happen, heavens no, but they do. As a nurse, I could feel what the other nurse was feeling. As a nurse, I could be objective to what had happened. And I could also trust what would happen for future injections. Wait, it's hard to type that, actually, but instead, I'll say I can try and trust what will happen in future injections. 

I left being completely surprised at this visit with my oncologist. And for the record, I did not spill my coffee. My oncologist was supportive, understanding, apologetic and everything you'd want in this type of situation. I know this was a difficult situation for him, and I also know he had to have put in much thought into this visit with me. It was a tough visit for us both, yet we were able to come together after a terrible situation. I felt heard. I said all the words I wanted to say. And I also tried hard to listen to him, and let him get all his words out. We both did. And now, we move forward. I return in 2 weeks for more lab draws and evaluation of what's next. Then, I see my oncologist at MD Anderson the following week after that. I am so grateful and fortunate for the health care I receive. That statement may sound perversely counterintuitive at this time yet I feel it to be true. I need these doctors, despite having a recent blunder, botch or whatever we wish to call it. How about mistake. Let's call is a big mistake. It's not been an easy task to find an oncologist in this area to treat a rare blood cancer. MDA gets it completely, but it's just far enough away to be inconvenient to go every couple of weeks. So I've decided to stay where I'm at and trust this process. Having a chronic disease is hard not only on your body, but also on your mind. Keeping your mind right is imperative. I really try to stay out of my mind on this and stay rooted in my being. Cancer is not the boss of me. I will not allow it to infiltrate and occupy all my mind's time, and will fight against that til the day it takes my body away. I just can't let it have my mind too, I refuse to let that happen. But that's what chronic cancers and diseases try to do, they are tricky like that. But don't fall for it. Stay strong through the struggle and stay brave when you are afraid. It's a mantra I repeat in most every life situation - esp this one. After all, fear is a liar. Never listen when fear tells you what to you. It's not your friend. 

No forest creatures around here

Despite what Disney shows us, there have never been forest creatures show up and clean a house or barn around here. Instead, Mr Retired did. Damned if he didn't spray wash out the entire barn (don't tell him he forgot the inside of the barn doors which happened to be slid open at the time of his cleaning). And wowsies, the inside of the barn is a different color now and no one even painted it. 

I feel a little embarrassed about this. 

I was a participant in some of this action, but only on the last day, which was a Saturday morning - the day we were supposed to start. David worked on this project all that week, and he and I finished it on a Saturday morning and had the rest of the day to spare. 

We moved a chicken coop away from this area
to open up the area a little more. 
It's so clean 😍

Beautiful, said all chickens

Thank you, David! It looks great! Now....how can I keep it this clean? I know I can't, but I do also know that every now and again, even a metal building needs to be cleaned. And now we know how it's done and that it's do-able. It was during this process that we decided to shift some things around in the barn. Kind of like when you move your living room furniture around. It's fun to mix it up a bit. So we did that, too.

Dora and Hope love the updated signs.

We added little picket fences to discourage any
dogs from eating any eggs laid in these areas.
You know our chickens - they lay their eggs wherever
they feel like 🙄

Excuse the mess (the walls are clean though!).
 These 2 coops now live side-by-side
and it opens the barn up a little more.

David even freshened this baby up 😃

Sheep Shenanigans

Stay with me now......it all started when I was looking through photos on my phone dating back to 2016 and 2017 (more on that later) and I saw a picture of when Belle was only days old. The year? 2017. I immediately thought 'she's not too old to have more lambs' and then that thought evaporated from my mind. 

Baby Belle

Belle was our first sheep ever whom we received at the feed store at 1 day old. The feed store had been trying to save her after her mama "kicked her off" after she was born (meaning the mama would not feed or accept her as her own). In walks Cyndi into the feed store and the rest is history. I arrived home with Belle, all while trying to figure out how to keep a newborn lamb alive. Fast forward after reminiscing about this photo, and it was merely the next day that David sent me a video while I was at work - of the neighbor's new lambs. They were frolicking near our property line/fence and it's hard to resist watching all that cuteness. They are a bundle of joy, as were all the times before that we have had lambs of our own. I could hear David in the background ohhhh and awwwing over these sweet lambs.

Fast forward only 1 more day. Only 1 day, I repeat, and I get a text from David (while at work again) telling me there's a Dorper ram in our back pasture with our Dorper (ewes) sheep. I laugh to myself thinking he's bought a ram, had it delivered, and wants lambs. After all, he is a wonderful Lamb Dad.

It's written on his face 💜

Proof

He then tells me that the ram has just appeared on its own. I'm thinking that it must be part of the neighbor's flock whose somehow gotten over/under the fence to our ewes. Maybe our ewes are in heat? I come home from work and sure enough, there's a ram in our back pasture. He's a beautiful one, too.

David names him Trey

I don't think he's young.
I think he's experienced though.

This was on a Friday, and by evening time, I'd seen him visiting with each of my ewes, wooing them one by one. 

When Saturday morning arrived, David was off to the Texas OU game while I went out for a run. Trey was there in our pasture when I left for my run, but once I returned, he was gone. Vanished.

My three ewes 💕

What is going on around here? Then he was back Saturday evening, and gone again Sunday morning. I found a small area he could have gotten under the fence, but wow, he'd have to really want to get under that fence. Apparently, he really wants to. Sunday afternoon rolls around, and he's back. But this time, he's got 5 little tiny lambs whose followed him around and accidentally away from their mamas. Trey has gotten under the fence while those 5 little lambs lay by the fence, patiently awaiting their dad to come back across the fence line. While Ram Dad was supposed to be babysitting, he was actually visiting multiple girlfriends. 

All while Willow (our youngest ewe but of age to birth a lamb) strolled around with Trey, the little lambs waited. And as David and I watched this conundrum play out, we were troubleshooting what to do about the lambs being away from their mamas too long. Just then, we could hear a mama sheep crying out for her baby lamb and one of the baby lambs heard her and jumped up calling back to the mama. After a few callings back and forth, all 5 lambs jumped up and started running toward the crying mama sheep. We could see off in the neighbors pasture that all were reunited with the main flock, while daddy ram stayed behind visiting the neighbors. Seems Belle, Lulu and Willow all like Trey. They seem to think he's cool. And they also seem to think he's nice. He'll make his way back home again, I feel sure. Hopefully next time, he won't bring the kids with him. Rude.

Does this mean we will have lambs? I won't be able to tell you for quite some time. A sheep's gestation period is 5 months, so mark your calendar for March 2023. Then we'll know for sure. Until then, looks like we need to do some fence patching. But we'll give that a few more days for Trey to visit. All of a sudden, baby lambs are sounding good to us. Who doesn't love little lambs jumping and playing around the yard? It's been awhile since we have done this sort of thing, and we are well aware that bottle babies are always a possibility. We'll give Trey a few more days before we patch that fence. Free99 for stud service seems like a nice price to pay. And all the sheep don't seem to mind. I mean, why not?

Our last lambing......so much joy!

So just before I am to post this blog.....there's an update to this saga:

Willow, left, Trey, right
Seems they think they are a couple.

Willow and Trey have eloped. Into the pasture next door. Ugh. What to do?? We tried corralling them back, but they are determined to venture out into a world that is dangerous and unprotected. Teenagers, geeez. 

As night fell, I confess to going out there, with the wire cutters, and calling Willow back over to me. She came, as she wanted to be back home. Willow is a sweet, sweet sheep and allows pets and love from me. I opened up a place in the fence with my wire cutters, just enough for her to come back through to her home, and she did as soon as I made the last cut. She was more-than-ready to get back to her own flock. But right behind her? Trey, who also zoomed through right behind her. Fine, I'm thinking. Willow is home and that's what matters. I then covered all the areas that they could escape back through and was able to sleep that night. As did they, protected and safe inside our property. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring for Trey, but my sheep are where they need to be. With us. Seems the owner of Trey might notice he's missing. But a number of his flock fall victim to coyotes and bobcats, so maybe he thought that was Trey's fate. We will need to let him know that his ram is with us. 

Halloweenie

Even though we do not get trick or treaters here at the farm, we do enjoy putting out a few Halloween and Fall decorations. Last year, we enjoyed the Fall Tree and I'm thinking we'll be putting it up again soon. But this year, I've noticed we've fallen into the Halloween decorations that are a bit odd.

Buddy and Halloween Friend

Sugar?

And while we are decorating around here, did I mention that Savannah's (my grand-niece) 8th birthday party along with Brooks' 2nd birthday party is on Sunday? Savannah's theme is chickens, while Brooks is cars. You guessed it, more decorating is to come. 

I can't wait to show you the cake that David will make for Savannah. She's requested a chicken cake and therefore she will get a chicken cake by gawd. But that will be for the next blog. David is not making it until this next Saturday before the Sunday party.

Until then, we prep for another farm party with the gathering of decorations, gifts and food. We enjoy this very much, and so do the animals on the farm. All the animals love the pets, love, attention and treats from our party-goers. As we prepare for the next party, then Halloween, then Fall Time, and then Christmas, we think about what's ahead, a little at a time, all while enjoying the here and now as well as the opportunities that are to come.

I never would have guessed

In all my days, I did not see this coming. Before I say it, I want to also say that this is in-progress and not everything planned actually happens. But, with that said, Lauren and Ryan have talked to us about moving to the what-we-call the 355 property. We call it 355 because it's 1.4 acres with the address of 355 Little Elm Creek Rd that we purchased separately back in 2016 when we bought 391 Little Elm Creek Rd. At the time, we did not desire neighbors and purchased that property to ensure that. 

So the plan is for Lauren and Ryan to build a house on 355 Little Elm Creek Rd. That's the property that has the Egg Fridge in front of it whereby I sell my eggs. 

Yep, people actually stop and buy eggs here.

The property has electricity and water already serviced there. When we purchased it, it had a mobile home on it, that we gifted to a nurse-friend years ago. His family still has that mobile home, and I think they have since built a house themselves and moved into it. We are very excited about this prospect of Lauren, Ryan and Brooks living just down the gravel road from us, in a home of their own choosing, on land that's ready and available. David and I never knew what we would do with that "extra" land, but we always kept it. And now we know. 

I love this whole idea. They get to build a house they desire, they have land for which to do as they desire, and they will live close by so that I get to be involved in Brooks life close up and personal. I'm bubbly inside when I think about it, even though I know things aren't in ink yet. We are all in the talking-about-it-all phase, the gifting of the land phase, the pre-approval phase - and then they will decide when things will actually take off and placed into motion. 

Front view of 355

Yes, there's a boat on 355 at this time. This boat is owned by a doctor-friend of ours who keeps his boat out here. I mean why not, there's nothing else going on on the land. But soon......there will be. While Dr Brown will find a new home for his boat, Lauren and Ryan will be placing all the wheels in motion for a house to be built. They did get their pre-approval for the mortgage, and are in process of having a survey completed and we will change the deed from our names to their names. This in itself takes time. 

But the excitement is there. It's like a dream for them to have a house and raise Brooks out here, and a dream for us to be so close by. I've met family after family who does this when one lives in the country, but to have this happen with my own family is a gift. I can't wait to see how this all transpires. There's many moving parts, logistics and obstacles in this day and time of building a house. But wow - I really am excited about it all! I never imagined they would want to live out here and I'm so happy that they want to. 

We are on the left, and they will be on the property on the right

And certainly one of my favorite parts of having my daughter and her family living close, is the time that Lauren and I will get to have spending time together again. Talking, running, biking, walking, hanging out and doing all the things that we want to do…..as my bestie will be back! 

What's shaking on 391?

Paul The Turkey is completing his molting, and regrowing his beautiful feathers just in time for fall.

You handsome thing

Smokie continues to have very little stress in his country/barn cat life.

He gets very little blog time, so here you go.
This is his usual laying position.

Buddy got a new hat!

Gotta keep the sun outta your eyes, Bud

We bought chicks for Savannah for her 8th birthday party this weekend, and they await her naming of them all while they are growing feathers.

We have 3 white and 2 grey for Savannah.
They do have a heat lamp on them still, as they feather-out.

Maggie has become the Life of the Party around here. She's a peach of a pig and friendly as they come. Visitors love her, and she in turn loves being petted, loves people and treats. (Her pig sis, Prissy, is raising her piglets and doing wonderful herself.) Maggie will remain an only-pig for the meantime.

Her morning face. Instead of Clearisel,
she has straw on her night face.

A few weeks ago we were gifted Rusty, a silkie rooster who is hoping to be a dad soon.

He's a sweet and quiet rooster, that Rusty

2 of the silkies and 1 frizzle are now sitting on eggs that could hatch as soon as by the end of the month. Get ready, Rusty, you might be a dad soon. Anyone need any silkie/frizzle chicks? 

Really? 3 in 1?

There are 2 other nesting boxes for which
to lay on your eggs, silly girls.

Hope's skin condition has improved greatly, and she's growing in her winter coat. She's so shiny and black and beautiful. She's happy, halters easily, loves lunging with me, and has shown so much improvement since starting her new supplements from the equine vet. 

Looking GOOOOOOD!

Dora has become a farm favorite as well, as she's decided with time that she really wants to be a dog. She loves to be loved, and will follow you around if you let her. She's a pocket horse for sure. A sweet pea of a mini horse. Old, blind in one eye, and a petite senior that wants to be involved with all who visit.

Just love this Sweet Pea

And saving the best for last, Brooks turns 2 years old next week. He's a smart, sweet, intelligent toddler who loves everything about the farm. Well, maybe not the loud Baaa's of the sheep, but other than that, everything.

He's the best! So curious 😮

As we head towards cooler weather, fall-time and an abundance of holidays ahead, I wish for you minimal confrontations and plentiful carefriendtations. I hope you don't spill your coffee or your nonproductive feelings. I wish for you love, family, friends, health and plenty of walks in the cool weather. 

Sending lots of love (which my father-in-law used to write as LOL before he knew what LOL was),

Cyndi 

This was not a halloween purchase....

I think it was a gift from the livestock guard dogs