Life at The North Forty Farm (Annex)

Visit with The Fedors.

2009-03-01T22:27:00.002-05:00

WOW!!! I can't believe that I haven't posted in a month! I am really bad about doing this. Our time down here is flying by!!! Here are some pictures of our visit with the Fedors. Again we had a great time with them, just what we needed!

Sheren, Taylor and Sam

Taylor and Syd at Caladesi Island

Taylor and Syd... Doesn't it look like they don't have anything on :).

The Queen....Sam

Syd ,Taylor and Sam

I have placed more pictures on my flickr badge. Top right of blog home page. Click on the north forty.

Matt's New Friends

2009-01-27T20:17:00.002-05:00

Matt and Sydney went out for a ride and came promptly back to the camper and told Sam and I to get in the truck now! I was in my PJ's and they said it doesn't matter, get the camera and get in the truck. We drove down the road by the dog park (about 1 mile). And....they were gone.....what was gone? The peacocks. Apparently there was a male and two females, very disappointed we continued on and then Sam Y-E-l-l-S, there it is. There sitting on the rock is this beautiful male peacock. The pose was like something out of a book. So here he is:

The pelicans are like ants...they are everywhere. We were at some docks watching fisherman cut up their fresh catch. This pelican was about on the fisherman's cutting board. The fisherman would throw him his scraps, the pelican just sits there and waits.

At the "sponge docks".

This is my favorite. From the time we started talking about going to Florida Matt's great love of Alligators has consumed his every thought. When I told him I found a campground for us to stay at and he say the pictures, he said "I'm not staying there. It's on a river, there are crocagators in there!" (he was completely serious.) I assured him there aren't any crocagators in the river. The day we arrived the campground greeting party(mostly retired old men) told us about all the alligators in the river. I thought we were headed home right then and there. So as the weeks have passed I have reassured Matt that we will not see any gators. On the way back from the beach the other day Matt just about rear ended the car in front of us because there sitting basking in the sun at the golf course was a ALLIGATOR. We had to turn around to get a picture of it. (It was just a baby I don't really see the big deal).
Stay tuned for My favorite of Matt's friends.

Bald Eagles

2009-01-23T10:31:00.002-05:00

There are two bald eagle nests about 1 mile from our park. We drive by one of them on the way to the dog park. One nest has babies, the other does not.

We can see them very clearly, my camera does not do them justice. They are truly beautiful, amazing birds. The female is usually in the nest or gone for food for a short time. The male is always keeping eye on the nest, usually perched right next to it.

This is the male, the nest is just to the right out of the frame.

If you look to the left of the nest, you can see the silhouettes of the male and female sitting side by side.

Mandy

2009-01-23T10:17:00.003-05:00

As most of you know our "puppy" Mandy has come with us on our adventure. We have been taking her to a dog park just about everyday. I have included some of her dog park friends.

This pic is of two dogs that make Mandy look like a minature. The white dog is 148 lbs and the black one is 100lbs.

Mandy "helping" the girls do their school work.

This is one of her favorite "perches". She can look out the window at the dog and C-A-T that live next door . The C-A-T sits outside our window meowing, Mandy would love to EAT her.

Mandy and Cherokee. Look at how small Mandy looks next to him.

Mandy and another friend.

Annex Continued

2009-01-23T10:04:00.004-05:00

This is standing in front of our camper looking right. Check out the bus on the left. It is a 350,000.00 dollar bus. We have not seent he inside of it but we are told it has Cherry cabinets, ceramic tile floors with heated floors. It is a couple from Quebec. The have a Jeep and motorcycle. Everything he owns is polished to a fine shine. He puts Matt to shame with the cleanliness of his vehicels.

The "main road" in front of the campground looking north, Anclote Road. On the right side of the pic is a fence, that is the horse farm.

Anclote Road looking south.

More campgound pics.

Some of the permenant trailers.

The Annex

2009-01-23T09:42:00.002-05:00

Here are pictures of The North Forty Farm Annex:

This is the Anclote river, view from the campground dock.

The tide is almost high in this picture. The birds are pelicans, there was about 12 flying around.

The docks that the campground owns. If we had a boat, for an extra reasonable fee we could dock here. As you can see no one really has a boat. The boat launch was just repaired, apparently that will increase the number of boats that will be docked.

Here is the "Annex" complete with screen house. Notice Matthew had to park the truck so you could see how nice and clean it is. (He washes it daily)

The other side of "Annex".

I can only upload 4 pics per post. See next post for more pics.

First pics of The North Forty "Annex"

2009-01-21T09:00:00.003-05:00

Finally some Florida pics.

This is the beach very close to our camper. It takes maybe 2 minutes to bike to. The palm tree below is what Matt claimed as "his" spot. We arrived on a Saturday and the pics below were taken on Monday. People thought the girls were crazy for swimming...not for these Adirondackers, the creek water never gets this warm.

Please look at my Flickr badge to see more pics.

Christmas with the Granger's

2008-12-27T02:38:00.002-05:00

Megan holding Quinn, Mom Samantha, Jeremy, Sydney and Andrew

Mom opening her picture of the my girls.

Grandpa Dale picking on Andrew and Quinn

Samantha Megan and Sydney

Sunday December 21st at Chris and Sue's House.

Great fun ..no Brian until the last minute.

Typical.

Oh well too bad for him!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T19:49:00.001-05:00

Take time today to remember all that you are thankful for. My mother-in-law also had us tell why we are thankful for living in the United States. What a great country we live in. God bless everyone today and always.

Jen

Hot Mama!

2008-11-22T13:30:00.003-05:00

This is me. One hot mama! I was in seventh grade, 12 years old and smokin' hot. My father or brother always had a boat on Lake George from the time I was 10 to present. How lucky I have been. Once I hit 16 I was able to tke the boat on my own. I have had many great days on Lake George. I love it up there. The lake is one of the most beautiful I have every seen. And judging by this picture, I am one of the most beautiful things the lake has ever seen. lol. Iwish you could see the detail more because then you could see the gigantic zits on my chin! My poor daughter looked at this and said "Aghhhhh...Am I going to look like that?"

Snow

2008-11-17T16:00:00.002-05:00

We had some snow last night..it looked pretty but I hate the thought of winter being here. I have also included some pictures of our "borders". The llamas have lived with us since early summer while their owners found a permanent home for them. The personalities are clearly defined in their daily actions and we have enjoyed hours of entertainment watching them. Their owners have found them a new home, so they will be leaving us soon. We will miss them.

Cooper

2008-11-17T15:55:00.003-05:00

This is a picture of Cooper in all his glory. Looks comfy!

Don't you wish you could be that comfortable.

Sleep/Sour Milk

2008-11-14T02:32:00.004-05:00

It is 2:30am and I am wide awake. Since July I have been working 3pm to 3am in a busy Emergency Department. I knew the shift was a tough one from previous experience but that was all that was available. It has really messed my sleep schedule up. I worked last night and didn't get to sleep until 6am, got up at 12:30pm, took an hour nap from 4:30 to 5:30pm and now can't sleep. It doesn't help that my back, hip and leg are still very sore from my little horse mishap. So blogging I go.

Speaking of mishaps, Samantha had one today. I was sleeping but her father and sister thought it was quite funny. So much so that Syd actually snapped a picture of Samantha post-mishap. Apparently Matt was taking the garbage out and couldn't carry it all at once. He left a milk jug on the table and Sam thought Syd had just gotten it out of the fridge. Samantha took a big swig and drank up the 3 day old last bit of ...."milk"....no rotten cottage cheese like milk. Samantha immediately proceeded to the bathroom to vomit. Those of you who know Sam can only imagine the dramatics that followed. "I'm poisoned, I'm going to die, I'll never drink milk again, Syd why did you do that to me?" all while floppy wildly on the couch. Rolling around on the ground was Syd and Matt trying really hard not to wet themselves. Below is the post vomiting picture.

On that note ......Have a great day! Don't call me before noon, I'll still be sleeping

WHAT A FACE!

Shadow's Visit

2008-11-09T16:48:00.002-05:00

Today we had a visit from our "nephew", Shadow. Michael and Renee have a black lab puppy who is about six months old. Shadow comes to play with our dog, Mandy. Mandy is a 18 months old but still acts like a six month old puppy. The dogs played hard for 2 hours...this means that both Shadow and Mandy will be "tired out" for a day! A break for both families is our main goal. The first picture is what most the play looked like, two black blobs rolling around and drooled soaked.

Shadow in front Mandy up in back

Mandy
( I couldn't get Shadow to sit long enough to take a good up close picture)

The "Fall"

2008-11-07T15:01:00.000-05:00

While we have had a great fall, I had a great fall on Wednesday. I was riding Sam's horse, Hurricane and he started to "take off" running. I attempted to "bail" off him (I was bare back) and lets to just say I don't "bounce" anymore. I landed with a THUD on my left hip. I proceeded to cry out in pain, the girls and Matt came running as I flopped around on the ground like a fish out of water. I laid crying (more like hollering) in pain in the ground while everyone was asking "what hurts, Can I help, Can you get up?" As luck would have it the mailman also happened to be going by and stopped to see me rolling on the ground acting like a two year old. I couldn't express what hurt, all I knew is that my left side was on fire. Eventually I rolled over onto my back and the mailman, Matt and the girls helped me up. I could not put weight on my left leg, so piled into the truck and off to the ER. I really tried to talk Matt into just bringing me in the house but he would have no part of it. I'm glad I went, nothing is broken but my left hip is swollen and very painful. I have been walking with a cane which has provided my family ample ammunition for constant teasing. The doctor prescribed me Vicodin ( a narcotic pain reliever) and I am glad. Boy do I hurt! I'm out of work until Monday. The ER doc said I will be sore for a few weeks. I feel like I broke something. I feel old, but lucky. I will heal. I will stay off the horses until spring.

A Great Fall Day

2008-11-04T16:18:00.001-05:00

Matt and I took the girls riding today in "Poppy's field". It is about 6 acres of open field. The footing is excellent for the horses and the trees make a "fence border" for safety. We trailered the horses to the field. Pop met us there to get a video. We ended up staying for about two hours. The girls had a great time. Even the horses seemed to enjoy it. Unbelievably the horses went in the creek! It is something we will definitely do again. I posted a few pictures below, but check out my Flickr badge for many more.

Sydney and Steal

Samantha and Hurricane

The Victim

2008-11-04T11:07:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of our dog, Mandy. She was the victim of Syd and Sam's boredom. The girls had finished school, Matt was not home and I was sleeping. They were instructed not to watch TV, so Mandy became the target. The evidence is a tad bit blurred but I'm sure you get the idea. By the way the assailants documented their handy work themselves!

Please turn to your left.

Now face front.

Poor Mandy! She apparently was dismissed of her charges because when I got up she was back to normal.

Sleepers

2008-11-02T00:36:00.000-04:00

THEY'RE NOT FAKING IT!

Sally the Salamander

2008-11-02T00:21:00.001-04:00

Matt found this salamander on the garage floor one morning in May. We had an aquarium so we tried. I thought for sure the poor thing would be dead in a few days, but it survived! We kept it for 3 months. The girls fed it worms and would be put grass and wood chips in the tank. She laid eggs several times and they did hatch but we weren't ever able to get hem to grow. Sally was really quite interesting. Apparently this type of salamander is common but rarely seen. She was about 8" long. The girls had a great time with her. We finally convinced them to let her go. They brought her out on our property to let her go and came back crying. They were very sad to see her go. Maybe we will see Sally next spring! Have a great life Sally!

Syd's Obsession

2008-10-30T21:17:00.000-04:00

This is Sydney's only thought day and night for the past three months. I'll cherish this before it moves onto.........boys!

The Cousins

2008-10-30T17:49:00.000-04:00

My Brothers kids came for a quick visit. The day was so beautiful I snapped a few pics.

Michael's Wedding

2008-10-30T17:37:00.000-04:00

Matt's brother got married in June. I 'm just now posting a few pictures from it. Matt was the Best Man and girls were Junior Bridesmaids.The girls were thrilled to be in the wedding. My step-mother, Pam, made Syd and Sam's dresses. We all had a great time. Micheal and Renee live close to us and we are have them close.

Matt and the girls looking awfully serious.

Hunter and Cooper

2008-10-30T13:57:00.000-04:00

Because of the trip we will be taking, we are will be giving "The Boys" to a friend of mine. I know he will take great care of them. "The Boys" love to hike/swim and their new owner does a lot of that. "The Boys are also perfectly content laying on a couch for hours on end. I think they will just fine! This is one of my favorite pictures of them because it clearly shows the different personalities. Cooper is sitting up, Hunter has his head down. Love you boys!

2008-10-30T13:50:00.000-04:00

ANVIL.... .. FOOT .......Ram....

2008-05-29T17:03:00.000-04:00

Anvil vs. Mantha's foot.....Can you guess which won?

The Foot

In defense of Mantha the pictures do not do the wound justice.

It really does look worse and painful. I do feel bad for her.

The next picture is of a Ram that was born three years ago on our farm. His mom is Scottish Blackface/Suffolk cross and his dad is a full blood Scottish Blackface. If you like sheep you will see how gorgeous of a Ram he is. His name is Gizmo and he lives just down the road from us. He is starting to get mean so we don't know how much longer......well you know. Take a look.

Aren't his horns beautiful? He is definately show quality. Anybody want him?

A Sunday Afternoon....

2008-05-26T00:04:00.000-04:00

Some pictures Matt took today....

Mantha and Hurricane

Mantha on Hurricane

Squidly holding Steal for Farrier

Ditto

Mantha showing off

As much as Matt would love to complain about any shoes on the farm, he can not complain about the shoes bought today. They NEVER will come in the house, they are heavy duty (Steel toed), will not wear easily, require no polishing, but will only last 6 to 8 weeks........ Give up? Scroll down.

HORSE SHOES!!!!!

This is Joe our Farrier. He comes to our house about every 6 to 8 weeks in the summer to 'Shod' Steal. Steal is Squidly's horse. He has flat feet so we put shoes on his front hoofs to give him more 'soul depth'. Joe wasn't scheduled to come today but Steal 'threw' a shoe(one came off) and we needed it out back on. Riding with one shoe on and one shoe off would be like wearing one three inch heel. Ouch!! Anyway we Matt snapped some pictures of the girls playing with the horses. Enjoy!

While Mom is Working

2008-05-22T09:32:00.000-04:00

So... Some of you have seen the following pictures but for those of you that haven't I 'll give you a brief run down. On one of the beautifully warm days we had in April while I was at work I received a phone call from my husband. "How do I email pictures to you?" "Why?" I replied. "Oh the girls just had a poop fight and the pictures a great!" Silence........."A what?".......Him matter of factly "A poop fight. I thought you love to show them off at work." Panic/anger/disbelief on my part came. I walked him through the process and this it what I get........

Several people threatened to call Child Protective Services...If I didn't beat them to it. It would be so bad but you have to understand that is NOT mud...that is horse fecal matter and urine mixed in with some dirt. Even I was appalled. Luckily everyone survived without contracting any major diseases. Till next time.

The Dogs

2008-05-14T21:13:00.001-04:00

Just some pictures of the Dogs.....

This is Mandy..She is 14 months old. She is Border Collie/Lab mix from the SPCA

This is Cooper and Squidly. Cooper and Hunter are yellow Labs . They will be three in July.

This is Hunter and Mantha

Mandy misses me when I'm not home???

Mandy and Hunter enjoying a nap.

INJURIES: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH

2008-05-14T20:49:00.000-04:00

It has been an interesting month around here. A few weeks ago Mantha(the youngest) slammed her finger in the car door. It immediately turned funny colors. An xray showed no break, but she almost passed out watching the P.A. burn a hole in her nail to let the blood drain. ( I don't think she'll be a nurse). Two days ago the nail finally feel off but it was pretty ugly.

Mr. North 40 had surgery on May8th. He broke his right wrist 20 years ago (foolish 20y/o accident involving a keg) and never sought proper medical treatment for it. Now 20 years later the arthritis in the wrist is so bad he had to have a wrist fusion. This surgery consisted of placing a metal plate from the middle of his hand to the middle of his forearm. The pain before surgery was keeping him from sleeping at night and the pain after surgery is keeping him from sleeping anytime. The doctor tells us he will not have pain after he is healed from the surgery. The sacrifice is not being able to bend his wrist, EVER! Of course it's his dominant hand but I think he will be happy not to have the pain anymore.

THE PICTURE IS NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH:

To top it all off Squidly started vomiting today! Yea!!

My First Blog

2008-05-12T14:39:00.000-04:00

Well.....My friend up the road started this 'Bloggin' thing so I figured I'd give it a try. I'm a 35 y/o mom of two girls, 9 and 11. I have been married for 10 years and live in the middle of no where. ( right down the road from miceonthemountain.blogspot.com.) We live on forty acres with two horse, a few sheep, some chickens , two rabbits and three crazy dogs. I work as a RN in a OR recovery room and my husband is a phlebotomist. All though his main job is to run our mini farm. So welcome to my blog. Hope you enjoy!