Services were held today for Hector Kosman. Hector was the beloved Mascot for Bad Attitude Farm. Hector was a hard working rooster and loved his hens. He fathered many peeps and was a good friend to his owner, Berni. He was laid to rest on the farm in his favorite place. He truly will be missed. RIP Hector.

New Babies at the Farm

Tina had her calf on Monday night.

She is up and running around this morning.

She stays pretty close to her momma!

She was running around the pasture in the warm sunshine!

She still needs a name!

Spring/Summer

Well Spring came and went and Summer has begun.

The temperatures were weird and too warm too fast for Spring.

Dave is ahead in all his planting and ground work.

He started making hay, earlier than most years.

We had a few activities happening here at the farm.

Dad turned 75 so we celebrated at the Winery!

The hens are laying eggs galore!

One hen is laying a HUGE egg every other day.

They weigh 4.5 oz. The largest was 5 oz.

They are double yolkers!

I worked real hard and made a new cover for the porch swing.

I also made some covers for the other patio furniture.

The garden is finally in and all the chicks have

been moved to their new coops. The new batch should start

laying in July!

A robin decided to make a nest on the mirror of the truck.

It laid 4 eggs in the nest but then abandoned the nest.

It was neat to see how resourceful the birds can be

when they want to build a nest!

Summer looks like it will be a hot one.

I have already turned the AC on in the house

and the fans are blowing in the coops to keep the air moving.

Good thing we saved so much on natural gas for heating,

because it is going to cost us a fortune for electric and the AC!

Winter Ice Fog

At 5:00 this morning I let the dogs out. There was a fog in the air. They call it Ice Fog.
By definition it is only seen in extremely cold Arctic air. Well it was only 6 degrees this morning. I think that is Arctic enough. Some how ice crystals hang in the air and they seem to deposit themselves on everything. It reminds me of little feathers sticking up off the branches.

The trees were covered by the time the sun came up, and they just glistened. I couldn't take enough pictures. I also realized, I really need a better camera to take some of these shots.

The crystals were on everything and they stuck out only on one side of the item they were attached to.

Except for on the barbed wire, the ice crystals seemed to go all the way around it.

I think this was the coolest picture I took today.

Every bit of the wind chime was covered.

Hopefully my pictures are worth a thousand words, because you really have to see this to really appreciate it.

Winter's Project

It seems like over the past 29 years we have lived in this house, we always have something going on. A remodel of a room, or garage, a barn being built, a water line installed or some thing that has to be replaced, like a furnace , roof, or hot water tank.
Being farmers, most of our good weather is used making hay. So when we do have down time to do house projects, it is usually in the winter. Many of our projects have been started
January 1st. There isn't a particular reason, but my best guess is the guys have cabin fever.

This year was no different. I was scheduled for hand surgery January 8th, and on January 4th, the reconstruction of the bathroom started. The timing wasn't that great, but we had the help, and I wanted it done.
Having a 1960's ranch, building codes where lax to say the least in those days. We have learned from previous projects, that you never know what you are getting into when you start.
We had some idea what this project may include, because we have semi remodeled it before.
It was a lick and a promise kind of job, paint, some new fixtures....
This time we were doing it from the bottom up, literally.
Some of the floor joists were cut in the original construction of the house, which caused the floor to sink 1 1/2 inches. I can't tell you how long it was that we had house floor jacks holding up the floor.
Several of the joists had to be replaced, which meant jacking up the house and putting in 12 ft boards. But it worked. Next came the demolition, to the studs!
New sub floor had to be laid, new dry wall had to be hung and a new tub surround put in.
Oh, by the way did I mention, we only have one bathroom. We do have a shower downstairs, but only one toilet. It had to be removed and replaced several times, depending on what phase of the construction we were in.

The new tile floor was put in by my BIL G2.

It was awesome. My brother put in the rest of the hall floor. The paper template on the floor is were the vanity will go. It is on special order and should be here in 2 weeks. We had such a problem getting one to fit the small area.

Dave wanted to go with the juniper ceiling. The wood is the same wood that is in the beach house in the OBX. It smells like cedar and the bath feels like a spa!

We chose a full size shower and surround. It only has a 4" ledge, and as we get older, we have to worry about accessibility and falls. All the walls were reinforced for grab bars to be installed at a later date.

Mick and his friend helped with the painting, because I have a splint on my right hand and cannot do anything.....AGGHHH! The paint is a blue glaze over white and it looks like clouds, very soft. I love it.

The lights are in and the only thing left to do right now is the exhaust fan and new door. Of couse the vanity will be set when it arrives. This was a major project for us, so I think I will rest for now.