Fun For Memorial Weekend

This year for Memorial weekend we decided to leave the farm and head south. We only went a couple of hours south, but it was far enough. While we were gone it rained here at the farm. And it rained. And it rained. It was cold and did I mention that it rained? I think they got about 5 inches here.

Meanwhile, away from the farm, we enjoyed sun and warm temperatures. It was perfect camping weather. We had a campfire and made s'mores.

But camping wasn't our main focus on this trip. We left the farm to take our Ranger out on trails. Last summer we visited this camp/atv park with some friends of ours. This year we went back.

The campground was packed beyond its limit. The owners, Greg and Deb, said it was their busiest weekend ever. I'm glad we called ahead. We didn't want to drive that far and then not have a camp spot.

Anyway, Soggy Bottom, the park we went to, is a privately owned atv park. There are about 140 acres of timber and creek, with trails running all over. These trails are challenging. Some of them go, quite literally, vertical.

We only ran into two problems with our Ranger. The first was that it is very long and a few places we couldn't go. We couldn't make the turns because of a turn with a tree blocking us from making it. The other reason was that a few places would high center our Ranger. These were mainly at the top of very steep hills. Thankfully we could tell where those places were because previous riders had scraped it flat.

There was plenty of mud.

And a big creek to cool off  in.

There was a shower house.

And Saturday night a live band played. The kids loved it! Baby enjoyed dancing around.

And Buddy went everywhere we went. He was in heaven. If we even got near the Ranger he jumped on, ready to go.

The Boy Has Girls Figured Out

The other day, the Boy was standing next to me. He starts up a conversation with me with this sentence.

"Mom, girls are weird."

I laughed and asked,"Why do you think girls are weird?"

"They just are. And they don't like to do fun stuff."

"Your sisters are girls. They like to ride four wheelers. They like to go exploring in the woods. They like to build things, and fish, and play in the dirt, and swim."

"Yes."

"Well aren't those fun things? Aren't they things boys like to do?"

"Yes, but girls are still weird."

"Ok."

He knows they're weird. He can't pinpoint why they're weird. I think he's come to the same conclusion most men have come to. And that opinion never changes.

But....

What sets him apart from older men is this.

"Mom, I'm never going to kiss a girl."

His sisters laugh and Sissy tells him he has to kiss a girl when he gets married.

"No I don't."

"If you don't kiss your wife at your wedding, you're not married."

"Fine! I'll kiss her on my wedding day, but never again."

If only his sisters would think kissing was as gross as he does, Mr Farmer and I would rest easier!

A New Variety

Remember last summer when I grew this Dogplant?

This year I decided to try adding a new plant to my garden. It is a variety of Catnip known as Princess Puffy.

I found it as a volunteer last year.

I took a start and decided to transplant it into one of my pots. Look how it's grown!

Mr Farmer Gets Funny

I will start this post by telling you that Mr Farmer would never say anything to intentionally hurt me. He does, however, say things that he never thinks would hurt me. He doesn't always see how his words can be taken in a different way.

This personality quirk makes for great fun on my part as it gives me something to pretend to "hold over him". I say pretend because I know he couldn't hurt me so I can't really be mad at him.

One such example happened last night. I can't remember whether it was a song or something on tv, but the phrase "Her body has more curves than a country road" was used. That's probably a paraphrase.

Anyway, I turned to my loving husband and told him, "My body is like a country road." To which, he agreed. I went on to further explain it was like a country road because of all the hills and curves.

And he responded...

" Oh. I thought you meant full of potholes."

Ummmm. What?

I laughed so loud I thought I'd wake the kids. I was still giggling hours later when we went to bed.

Then I told him today that I was writing this post. He said he thought of last night's conversation as he was headed down a country road today in the semi. He said he thought of how it was like me. He told me it was a beautiful drive, but full of potholes. And if he didn't take it slow it would beat him to death.

Just like me.

Now, now ladies, there's no point in fighting. He's all mine.

Beautiful Surroundings

I took a couple of pictures of the few blooming plants here on the farm.

These are some of my tulips. They were here when we moved here 10 years ago. I transplanted them to a better location and they are thriving. I've planted others, but they have all but vanished over the years.

These are some of my peony plants. It is the earliest blooming variety here and has a fern-like foliage. The flowers smell like roses and even look like an old-fashioned rose. I have divided and transplanted these to five different places around my gardens and they have grown beautifully. Mr Farmer was even upset when I removed the original plant to divide and move. He didn't need to worry as the original plant has popped back up and grown into a nice-sized peony bush. I find it almost impossible to kill or completely remove a peony plant! Another thing I like about this variety is that the blooms are so light they don't flop over with the slightest amount of rain like others do.

My Mother's Day Surprise

Yesterday I received the funniest Mother's Day card I've ever gotten.

It was given to me by my Baby. She and Sissy worked hard on their cards. They drew. They colored. They tried several times to give them to me before Mother's Day because they were so proud of them.

Each time I stopped short of looking at them, telling the girls that they needed to keep them for Mother's Day.

The morning came. The girls rushed to get their cards and present them to me.

Sissy's card.

Then. Then Baby presented her card.

The front says, "Happy Mothers Day Mom."

The inside says, "I love you dad. Love Baby"

Did you see it?

"I love you DAD"

Happy Mother's Day to me. She offered to change it for me, but I thought this was so perfectly her. She loves her Daddy!

Part of my job as a mother is to make sure my kids love their dad and that they know how hard he works to provide for them and what an amazing father they have.

I think I've succeeded with Baby.

Quotes From Baby

This weekend Baby produced two of my favorite quotes from her this year.

The first. 

"I want to ingest popcorn so bad!"

This was in response to a conversation where I was telling her she could smell popcorn and could even lick it, but she just couldn't ingest it. For some reason, popcorn makes her really sick almost immediately. She's learning how to deal with not being able to have one of her favorite snacks.

And second.

 "Mom, did you know dogs fart?"

That one came out of nowhere as we were planting some flowers.

Neither one of these quotes was said in a humorous way. I, however, found them extremely funny!