A Day at the Farmstead; word addition

We left the homestead yesterday a little later than we wanted to, ok an hour later than we wanted to. The farmstead is an hour drive. Zombie did well on the way up, he didn't pee on a single person.

The farm house was locked up, but that didn't stop husband from getting inside. We got the fire going in the wood burning stove and started our rounds of finding all the things buried in the overgrown grass that could possibly hurt a lawn mower. There was less than I thought there would be.

Husband took us on a tour of the trees he had downed the last time her was out. e managed to clean up the cattle run nicely. I little more work and there will be enough sunlight to get the grass growing in there again. There were so many rat's nest in the run, makes you shiver.

I like rats. I had a pair of twin Blue, but these rats out there are HUGE! Like large chihuahuas . I told Large we had to do something about this, maybe a little rodent hunting. He wondered why. Well. . . you have seen Secret of NIMH and you know full well what those rats are capable of. (Ok mom)

We found a couple of Russian Olives trees and there thorns, as well as a formidable honeylocust, (see picture of thorn tree in previous post) And these long green vines with thousand of little stinging spikes that seem to grip onto you as you walk buy. Those had to go.

Back to work. Not sure how many rocks I pulled out of the pond and creek area. I am dead sore this morning from it. But we ad to make the driveway a little easier to navigate. Most of the rock I found were lime stone or flint rock, but I did find chunks of concrete in the dry creek bed.


That worked out wonderfully. After about 3 hours of hauling rock, I decided to go check in on my mother, ho had shown up 45 minutes after we did. She was working in the house. I Repacked some of our canning jars so I could put the dried storage food up on the shelves. Those thing are heavy. 30 lbs of red wheat feels a lot heavier than the 30lbs it claims to be.
Meanwhile, the boys had found many new places to create hideouts, eyed a tree for the tree house, and cut down bush weeds, because they enjoy swing blunt objects. Husband a Step father worked outside. Husband still playing with his new chainsaw, and stepfather prepping the garden area.

As I took a break I saw a pheasant flying over head. I pointed it out to the boys, and as soon as I did, hit hit a tree, and tumbled to a lower branch. How odd. A few minutes later I heard gunfire, and stupidly put two and two together as another pheasant flew over and hit the ground hard. Look Ma, the birds are falling from the sky. Looks like we eat well tonight.

Around 6 pm (after being there for 8 hours) we women folk were done. Husband however still insisted we had hours of daylight left and he wanted to continue to work. I had to remind him that we did promise the boys that if they did all their chores that they would get to shoot the .22 rifle. And my new rifle that I had been itching to shoot for the first time.

We walked out to a giant fallen cottonwood that was close to the back 40. The boys played on it as we set up the "range"
Large was up first. He has shot before. He actually learned how to in boy scouts. The boy is a good shot. Next up was Medium, this was his first time, and he was a little fearful of it. We didn't pressure him, but I think his brother's might have, just out of their excitement of being allowed to do it. It took Medium a moment to finally take the shot. He missed the target, but became more comfortable with it. Then it was Small's turn. Small amazes me, in the fact that he has no fear. Husband helped him line it up, showing him and telling him how to do this. Small, without blinking, pulled the trigger, and the shot was true. Dead center of the target. I swear you have never seen a daddy so proud. Beginner's luck, with help lining it up from dad, right? Maybe, but the next two shots he took, by himself, were also true. The boy has an eye on him.

Husband got to shoot my new rifle first. Made in 1956 it has never been fired. Still had the shipping wax on it when we pulled it out of the package. I have shot high caliber rifles before. Long ago. And Good neighbor was acting like I couldn't handle it. I kept thinking about the double barreled black powder shotgun I shot back in my youth. The one the left bruises from nipple to shoulder. I knew that it wasn't like that, I never want to feel anything like that again. But I figured if the gun would blow like an Elmer Fudd cartoon, husband should try first. Because I love him.

He is a good shot of course. What isn't this man good at?

My turn. I choked the first time. Not sure how bad the recoil would be on it. It was very little. I got comfortable with it, and then had a ball.

It was great to get in a full day of hard work, and then get to play with my family.

Small told me he needs his own gun, and even Medium agreed he would like his own as well. I told them it all depends on them, and how they treat the one we have, and how they treat each other.

Back to the farmhouse and I couldn't find Zombie! he coyotes were celebrating in the near distance. And I grew concerned. I called for him, and never heard an answer. They boys finally found him in our car. How on earth did he get in there. The doors were shut. Looking at the hood, you could see the marks in the dust. Zombie had jumped on the hood, sliding around, and climbed over the side mirror and through the window.

We headed home as dusk fell. Zombie peed on the boys.