Right Now

Right now, I am sitting in my house with all the windows opened and the attic fan on....

Not because it is such a beautiful and warm day (but it is really nice outside), but because of this little guy...

My beloved Jasper....well he's not so beloved right now, actually he is on my bad list.  

Why?

Well, last night about the time we were laying down to go to be he decided he needs to start barking...at coyotes and the moon. Annoying, but really not that big of a deal. But then we wake up some where around 1-2 A.M. to a smell...No it wasn't Caleb passing gas, sadly I would have preferred that to this smell it was...

SKUNK!

YUCK!!! Apparently Jasper, who was assisted by Hank and Kit, Scared the "stink" out of a skunk and it sprayed right on our heater/AC that is sitting out behind the house. 

We have had this happen twice before...yeah I said twice, it's very sad....but both those times it was in warmer weather, and we could open the windows without a problem. But it is still winter here, and it's cold and it was way too cold to open any windows last night, so we had to try and sleep through the night with that nasty smell lingering in the air all night. I woke up sleepy, with a headache and my eyes burning from the smell. 

I had a meeting this morning, so I opened all the windows before I left, and then I spent the afternoon hanging out at a friend's house to keep away from the smell. But now that I am home I have all the windows opened and candles burning, trying to get this nasty smell out of my house, so we can get some sleep tonight.  

But most likely when I am done with writing this I am gonna go put some gloves on and a pair of long underwear on, cause it's cold in here!!

On a positive note, the Skunk was dead!

JP             

Feedin' Cattle in the Snow

So like I said the other day we finally got some snow that stuck around for longer than 10 minutes...but not quit 24 hours.

Since there was snow Chester and I thought we would go with Caleb and help with a little feeding.

While Chester and I are getting ready, Caleb decides to go and feed the neighbors cattle (because he is gone. We don't make it a habit to go randomly feeding other peoples cattle). He wasn't gone but just a moment when I see the chore truck come flying back by in the wrong direction.  So I give him a call to see whats up and....
 

 

These rotten beast had broken into the hay pen...again...we found them in there on Sunday afternoon too.  

If you would ask them, they would probably say they are starving, but if you look at them you will see they are as fat as ticks. When they busted in on Sunday they got a taste of the "good" hay. The good hay is hay we baled last spring and we had been feeding them hay from the previous year.

So once we get them out of the hay pen, we grab a bale and head out to feed the poor rotten babies.

Most of them followed the truck...

But some looked back longing for that "good" yummy hay.

While this little one looked back wondering what those crazy things were running around with me were.

 I wonder about them too.

The bale un-rolls nicely and the Dodge looks pretty and everyone is happy...

But just for good measure we give them a cornstalk bale too.

The cattle flock to it start eating so all is good...

Chester counts the cows as we go by and we are done till the next day when we will be back to feed them more.

If only that was all...

Caleb had to chase those rotten critters out of that hay pen two more time that day. He had even "beefed" up the fence and they still busted it down. Needless to say he wasn't a very happy farmer. After the last time he chased them out he gave them what was left of a good bale that they had destroyed....and they were happy.

Now lets just hope they stay out from here on.

JP

Happy Valentine's Day - Farmer Top 10

First I will say I got this from Caleb's Farm Talk Paper...It's their Top10, by Mark Parker.

Top 10 ways a Farmer - Not you of course - expresses himself on Valentine's Day:

10. He tell her to sit tight - he'll get the gates today.
      ~What a thoughtful guy!

9. He asks his seed dealer for a hoodie in her size.
      ~Can I get a hat too!

8. He moves the equipment off the lawn and promises not to apply chicken litter while her mother is visiting.
    ~About that equipment, I'm still waiting!

7. No chocolates at the farm store, but there was a sale on jumper cables.
    ~No chocolate, what kind of store is this ;)

6. He points out that he told her he loved her when they got married and that, if anything had changed, he would have let her know.
     ~Well at least he would let me know if it changed

5. He suggests that, seeing how it's Valentines Day, after she picks up parts she ought to stop at Sonic so she won't have to cook tonight.
     ~Nothing says romance like a candle lite dinner...Sonic bags and a Cherry Limeaid in wine glasses....classy! 

4. He promises that, this year when the go to the county fair, they are going to borrow a nicer camper.
    ~No pop-up camper....we'll be stylin' this year.

3. He hands her the TV remote control but cautions her it's only for tonight.
    ~That must be Love

2. He knows how fiscally conservative his wife is so, respecting her wishes, he gets her nothing.
    ~Thanks for nothing???

1. He remembers she said she loved stuffed animals and can't wait for her to see what he picked up at the taxidermist's shop.
    ~I just love cuddling with a 12 point buck it's so soft.

This seriously sums up how all most farmers think...Mine included, but luckily for my Farmer, I have never been a big fan of Valentine's Day, however I do love getting flowers, so if I don't get anything, it's not that big of a deal.

This might be the only flower I get today....but that's ok.


HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

JP          

Blizzard 2013 - Umm, Well Maybe Not

 So yesterday afternoon we got some snow.  Nothing to all the folks out west, but it was the most we have had so far this winter and it's the only snow that stuck around for longer than 10 minutes. 

We probably got 3 inches or so, but half of it melted when it hit the ground. The only snow that stuck was what fell around nightfall. It it lasted till morning.

It was a wet snow, so it stuck to everything and made it kinda pretty.

Chester got his first experience with snow, and he thought it was pretty neat. 
 

As long as Hank would leaves his face alone.

He had some tumbles...

But he would just get back up and keep going.

Daddy had to help him with his glove one time, while Hank cleaned his neck...lol

FYI: The snow was all gone by noon....50 degrees doesn't really keep snow around for very long, but that's ok with us!

Later,

JP 

So God Made a Farmer

So in case you missed it last night during the Super Bowl...

And I actually did, I only watched a little bit of the Super  Bowl, and then the power went out, and then Downton Abbey came on so I switched and watched it instead. The game did get a little more interesting after I switched over cause that when it actually got close, but I still enjoyed Downton Abbey more....

Just so you know I love football, just not NFL...Give me college or high school and I am a happy person.

Ok back to what I cam here to say in case you missed the Dodge Truck commercial last night, like I did...Thankfully for me My friend Steph shared it on Facebook and I got to see.....Thanks Steph...here it is.

After watching this, it made me very proud to say I am an own of a Dodge Ram. Actually between all the farmers around here there are 4 Dodge Rams, and we love them all.

This Blue Beast belongs to Caleb's Dad and is the only one of the four trucks that doesn't have a flat bed.

This Silver Stallion belongs to Pop, Caleb's grandpa. He's the one who owns two Rams. I couldn't find a pic of his other truck, but it pretty much looks just like this one, only it's a 2011, it has a few less dents and is an automatic. 

The nice thing about him having both of them is when we are putting beans in the seed tender can stay hooked up, cause before it had to get un-hooked each day so Pop could do his chores with his truck. 

My little man liks to help drive any chance he gets!

This was from last spring, man has he gotten big!! 

Here is the newest member to the Phillips Farm....Big Red.

Caleb and I bought this beast this bast fall.  We bought it so as our family expands we will all be able to go and do the chores together...this is my truck just so you know ;) or at least I claim it!

Thanks Dodge for supporting all us farmers, cause we are proud to support you!



So God made a Farmer,

JP 

Oh in case you were wondering this speech was given by Paul Harvey at the 1978 National FFA Convention.

Goin' Fishin'

I love to fish. I grew up doing it all the time. My folks have a pond that is only about 50 feet from the back door...not really good when I'm the only one at home and should be cleaning and doing laundry inside, but instead I'm out fishing....

Until I hear the truck coming down the road then I throw the pole down and run in the house really fast ans act like I'm working...

Anyways, I married a man who really doesn't care to fish...ever...so last year on mothers day I made him go.

And here I am with the one and only fish I caught. Notice how I have to hold the thing up by my head and how the dogs are staring intently at the fish.... 

 Then back goes the fish and....

in go the dogs.

We learned a few things that day...

1. We have fish in the pond...we really weren't sure

2. The dogs hate fish and want to kill them all.

Well after all the  dry weather we have had this year all our ponds have taken a bad beating. Some have gone dry but this one here by our house has kept some water in it, but it has gotten really low and we noticed how the cattle had destroyed the the pond dam so we decided to have it cleaned out

So on this past Monday....when it was 70+ degrees the guys showed up with the equipment and started working on the pond.  The started by cleaning off all the trees off the dam.
  

Since it was so beautiful Chester and I walked out there and watched them work...He loved watching the equipment work.

Like normal the dogs followed us out there.

Before the could start the pond clean out and the dam repair they had to get all the water out. Lucky for us we have another pond just on the other side of the pond dam, so when we have to bust the dam to let the water out we didn't lose any of the precious water.

The digging as started....

I will show some before and after pics in another post, but here is some pics of the work being done.

 

As you can see there is still a good amount of water in the pond, but don't be fooled, it's probably no more than a couple of feet deep in the middle. 

Finally he made it through the dam

And out goes the water and hopefully some fish...

Jasper watched with crazy excitement.

And then he saw a fish back in the pond........or maybe it's the loch ness monster...either way...

Off the dogs go, back into the pond to see what they can catch and kill....

and how muddy they can get. 

And some fish they did catch.

and they weren't bad sized fish.

And to my astonishment there were catfish out there too, I was excited about this.

Every time the dogs would come out with a fish I would confiscate it from them and then take it a chuck it into the other pond.  

After which they would go back in and try to catch it again.

I think I threw one fish back in 4 times.....I don't think it made it. 

Since it was beautiful out I decided to do some "search and rescue" fishing. 

So I put Chester to bed and...

Put my hip boot on, grabbed a shovel and bucket and away I went.

My Helpers came along too.

Kit the boarder collie was the only smart one, she stayed on shore and stayed clean. 

Ya see all that nastiness, I was out in the middle of it saving fish. 

I got mostly small fish, but there were a few nice sized ones that I pulled out and saved too.    

Not all the fish made it....Jasper caught one really nice bass and then thought it was a good idea to bring it up to the house and drop it in the front yard.....yuck!!

There has been a lot of work done on the pond since I saved some fish...it looks like a different pond.

But I will share more on that later.

Hope ya'll have a great weekend

JP