Today, and with luck, we will have some early morning showers, with an isolated thunderstorm arriving in the afternoon. It will be cooler as THE FRONT moves through. By tonight we will see a 20 degree drop in temperatures. Our High today will only reach 73F while our Low tonight will hit 40F. The relative humidity is 94% and the dew point is 63/ The barometer is steady at 30.04. Our sunrise will come in another hour and a half at 6:55am. Our sunset will occur this evening at 5:28pm. Our winds will be out of the Northwest at 5 to 10 mph. Directly over the front, we are told we will see winds to 25mph.

This Great Blue Heron has been hanging out in the creek. This is a very young bird.


This is an Angle Trumpeter Sherry planted last spring. It is one beautiful flower!

The Beds are in and being filled as time permits. Sherry planted two of the bed today, with starts we started on November 15th. The third bed will be completed tomorrow, and we will plant this one in cole crops and potatoes. While Sherry worked on the beds, I completed the pen. Tomorrow we get our piglet and our chickens.

This beautiful rainbow appeared on our way to Sebring this morning.

And here is Sherry's very first papaya! She has been trying for three years now to get fruit. This is the first, as all of the others fall prey to the coons or the cold. It was really very tasty, a cross between a melon and a peach. We hope for more soon! Sherry collected the seeds, as she thinks this strain is cold hardy.

I am up at 4:45am this morning, thanks in large part to a massive 'Charlie horse' in my calf that had me dancing around the bedroom, whimpering like a baby. Oh the pain! Fortunately, I could 'pound it out', which gave me some relief.

Two nights ago, we went to look at the new addition to our farming operation. The Shoats had escaped from the pen, and were running loose around the place. Todd said they liked to get out and eat the "a-kerns" (we have a great crop from the Oaks this season, and the acorns are everywhere in great numbers) and 'wall-er' in the creek mud (there is no water to speak of, as we have had no rain in a month or more). The sow is confined to the pen (a 16' square structure of heavy gauge wire with a kick board along the bottom which is designed to allow a toe-hold to 'jump out' should the hog come after you). Todd was explaining the construction of his pen when Bill L. showed up to ask Todd along on a hog hunt that evening. Bill L is a very large man who works for the local electrical co-op and lives on the outside of town. He and Todd are the same age, and are great friends. So there we are, examining the sow and watching the children chase the sloats around the yard. Todd comments on the fact that the sow pig is "mean as a snake". Bill made the observation that "...you can piss on their face... and they won't be so mean, seeing they got the smell of a Man on them...". Ethan ( who just celebrated his 12th Birthday), pipes up and says "...it don't work. I pissed on that sow a dozen times and she's still mean...". Bill, taken aback at being contradicted by a youngster, shot back "...I said Man piss. You ain't nothin' but a boy...". The exchange was interesting, if not humorous.

Well, I must get started on my coop this morning. It should be done by tomorrow, as I go to pick up the fowl. We hope the piglet will come tonight. I have much to do to prepare for the operation. I have learned over the years that the biggest mistake anyone can make with chickens and livestock is to 'put the cart before the horse' and not have the pens and shelters in place and ready to receive the birds/livestock. Varmints are a huge problem here, and building pens to protect against these pests is fundamental to successful animal husbandry.

Well, enough of this. It is time to get started with my day.

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