A boy and his sticks

It was a rare beautiful day recently so Levi and I spent some time walking around outside, exploring, while Mattie napped. I took pictures of birds and flowers as he collected sticks and Bella ran around being a country dog.

His goofy cheese pose.

And Bella stole a stick!

Getting it back.

NOT happy that Bella got it again.

Finally, has his sticks back.

More Broken Branches

Here are some more pictures I took of the icicles and broken branches. They are still constantly falling, making me want to duck, even inside the cabin. I keep thinking one is going to come through a window or the roof. Needless to say, I did not drive the 45 miles to take Levi to school today.

A game of chance going down the drive...

It's cold, y'all.

Might have to do some fence repairs...

Top came down

Pop! Crack! Boom!

Broken branches abound thanks to the freezing temperatures and heavy rain. It rained all night long and with it we heard what sounded like a shotgun constantly going off. The poor dog was not a fan. I took a few pictures just around the house while there was a break in the rain. But I had to be very careful, branches and limbs are still cracking and falling all around us. Justin is wearing his hard hat while he clears some of the limbs off the driveway.

My suburban was parked just in front of that broken branch.

Knock, knock.

Filling the Feeders

Justin made a trip to the feed store on Friday so we could fill up the bird and deer feeders. As part of our wildlife exemption, we have to provide supplemental food and water. There are several feeders located throughout the property. There are troughs that we fill with corn and protein pellets, protein block feeders, numerous bird seed feeders, and drum feeders for corn. Levi was helping Dad fill them up while I held a watchful Mattie and took pictures.

Loading up

There are 4 bird feeders like this in addition to the ones hanging from trees.

 

Helping Dad open the bag of corn.

Can't quite reach the seed tray!

Climbing fences

Levi got scared and stuck at the top. Dad had to come to the rescue.

Riding a Gator

There is nothing Levi loves more than riding on the Gator with Daddy. He just beams and can't wipe off his smile when they go for a ride around the property. Bella enjoys rides too but she'll run alongside the whole time if Levi is in her spot.

He holds on to the handle and is strapped in.

That was too much fun! Taking a brief respite to recover from the adrenaline high.

Preparing for Spring

I can't wait for the wildflowers to start blooming. There are a ton of baby bluebonnets around our fire pit area. I'm sure there are other flowers as well, but I don't know what they look like as "baby" plants.

These are the baby bluebonnets:

I also bought a bag of native wildflower seeds to plant, but we need to do it ASAP if we are going to get anything from them! Most wildflowers need to be planted in the fall, really around November.  But the planting season is through February so we are still within the time. The germination rate will be a lot lower than if we planted sooner but I still want to try and see what we can get. I also bought some zinnias and cosmos seeds to plant but I don't want to do those until after the last frost. And with this crazy weather we've had, I'm not chancing it yet. Although today it's almost 80 degrees...

When Mama is Away...

The little piggies came out to play. One is now roast pork and the other ones ran "Weeeee! Weeeee! Weeeeee!" all the way home.

While I was away on a girls' weekend in Fredericksburg, Justin stayed home and took care of the cabin and kids. The first night I was gone, he shot a hog from the front porch. Or, to quote his text "I popped one off the porch." And then, "I LOVE it here!" An acquaintance of Justin's came over to clean it and take it home. Justin would have done it himself and fattened our freezer but it was somebody that needed the meat, so we'll just have to get another one!