Happy Birthday Brittany! Our beautiful Niece...

So lucky to have these beautiful ladies in our lives..
Happy Birthday Brittany! (with sister Jaymi - her birthday is in June)

2013-2014 Hunting Season Ends!

Robert (Ben's Brother) - closed hunting season with 2 more deer; total of 3 from the farm.  We have enjoyed the game camera capturing the pasture activities; including weather and season changes.  We also enjoy having Robert and Micha come to visit; giving us the opportunity to light the outside fireplace and slow down for a visit.

Happy Birthday Hunter Beaton !!!

Another Teenager amongst us!  Hunter turns 13 today.  He a "Superman" sweet, wonderful, smart, handsome, generous nephew and a GREAT helper on the farm.

We Love You Hunter!!!

A wonderful day - My Birthday!

I had a terrific day today celebrating my Birthday with My Mom!  Got up early to see Ben off to work, took care of morning  farm chores and headed to pick up mom for a day trip to Round Rock.

We headed out this morning with 17 degree temperature at 8:30 am.  Nice bright morning, sun in the eyes while heading eastward.  Did the nice drive thru Kendalia, Blanco, Marble Falls to 1431 thru Cedar Park to Round Rock.  Arrived at IKEA at 11:00 am! 

The fun begins with shopping spree.  Didn't buy too much; but got lots of ideas and will plan a return trip in the near future.

Had a great lunch at Razzoo's with Rat-Toes, raw Oysters, a combination seafood platter and topped off with a Margarita/Hurricane! 

Headed toward home around 2:30pm taking 2243 through Georgetown to Leander.  Home of our last homestead.  Couldn't believe how much has changed.  Headed north thru Liberty Hill and back west with the Sun in the eyes again thru Bertram and Burnet.  Back on 281 - stopping for coffee at Starbucks in Marble Falls.  Quick trip back to Boerne - home at moms by 5:30pm. 

I was greeted by Ben, the cats and Hoss at home with a cocktail, kiss and Steak & Scallop dinner.  Cheesecake for dessert!...

A Terrific Day!  I'm so blessed!

Happy 2014

I'm glad to welcome 2014.  I have 12 days off of work to start my new year and a list a mile long of this I would like to get accomplished.  But, one thing for sure, if these tasks get done or not - I'm not going to stress over it.  Just enjoy my time away from work.

Managed to wake up last  night 5 minutes to 11pm - just in time to see the ball drop at Times Square in New York and hear and see the neighbors fireworks from the bedroom window. Quickly fell back to sleep and missed Central Time Zone's festivities.

Hope you too have a HAPPY 2014!!!

Gate woes...

Two day working on the broken gate opener and it still is not working.  We can't have it not latch because of the great Hoss escape; so we have to get it fixed.  I was able to re-wire where he shredded the wire and get it to latch when off; but we still have to manually turn it on to unlock - and open it.

I'll be calling Mighty Mule support tomorrow and if the news is bad - I'll be off to Tractor Supply for a new gate.

Ben is still in bed 24x7; but did manage to go to work part-time on Thursday and Friday. Re-cooping over the weekend.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2014

December 17, 2013

 



Hi Family & Friends,

I hope this finds you all doing great this holiday season.  We are doing well.  This posting is my "at the moment" highlights - off the top of my head - for the year.  Other postings can be seen on this blog.

About Ben:  He started a new position with the company he works for, Galen College of Nursing in San Antonio.  Formerly he was the sole IT technician for both campuses, staff, students and faculty.  He now is the Simulation Center Lab technician and having a blast.  Learning the newest technology in training the nurses, setting up scenarios of the electronic mannequins with automation for every hospital scene -- from birthing a baby to diagnosing general conditions and care.  He comes home with a new funny story daily and is thankful of the new job.

About Darla:  Still in the IT Operations department for Peoplefluent.  It's a great job for MANY reasons; but mostly; I'm not traveling anymore, I work from home, and have been able to shake out some cobwebs to use my Unix and database technical skills.  Only drawback is once every 5 weeks, I have to pull the on-call shift - working evenings, nights and weekends.  But even then, I'm thankful for the job because it keeps me from playing in traffic, going to and from an office; PLUS, did I already say; No more Business Travel!!!

The Farm:
Goats - This spring, our does gave us 12 kids.  It is always fun to see the kids playing, but sad when you have to get rid of them.  We kept 2 of the girls; but got rid of all the boys and two of the moms.  We have learned the hard way is to only have one breed so that mating them is not dangerous for the girls.  This was the first year we milked the goats.  We made 6 pounds of cheddar cheese, 4 pounds of parmesan cheese, 3 pounds of agasio cheese, and I can't begin to guess how much yogurt, butter and feta cheese. Plus many more gallons of milk for hobbies, making soap or drinking.  It was a real adventure and so funny how the guys in my life didn't mind sitting up at the "teet"-ee bar!  I'll take help wherever I can get it.

Chickens - about 40 of them.  Summertime gives us over 2-3 dozen eggs daily; but since winter is here and the days are so short - I'm lucky if I get 5 --  Slackers.

Gardening -  Summer garden was and still is plentiful.  We had our first freeze last week, but I was able to pull up the tomatoes that still had fruit on them and put them into the greenhouse.  They are still ripening so we should have tomatoes into February.  The fall garden started off slow; but is starting to look good.  Plenty of lettuces, greens and herbs.  Still have a little time to wait for the rest of the crop.  Patience!  Ben also won the war against Bermuda in the garden; but not without the expense of the fiery death of a few scarecrows.  I laugh now; but it wasn't too funny watching my art and hard work go up in flames. 

Hoss - our 2-1/2 year old Pyrenees, is recovering this week from seizures induced by a bacterial infection.  The vets hope that once the infection clears up, he won't seizure anymore.  He's doing much better today and I'm confident I'll see him return to normal very soon. Other than that, he's been a very good farm dog and is so much a part of the family!  In the next year we plan to start looking for him a partner so he doesn't have to tend to the farm protection all by himself.  That should give him a playmate plus some relief from doing all the patrols alone. 

Five Cats!  Yikes -- that sounds like a lot!.  Callie, Princess, Veronica (Roni), Patty, Midnight Crosby.  They are all outside cats and are doing a great job keeping the mice and rats off the farm and out of the barn & house. They have brought me other presents, too -- but I'll spare you the gory details.   Midnight (Middy) Crosby was adopted from Ben's Dad.  She finally has made herself at home, not scratching, biting or hissing.  I can even pick her up and brush her.  She even it getting closer to the other cats. Major accomplishment.

Bees:  This  has been a labor of "LOVE".  Not as easy as it appears or we are making more out of it than it should be.  Either way; we should have honey in 2014.

Finally, our Ag Exemption was approved this year.  This is a tax saving of thousands of dollars.  Doesn't make us any richer, just allows us to put the extra funds back into the farm; instead of paying higher taxes.  This is good for our retirement planning.  Yeah!!!

Everyone on both our sides of the Family are doing well.  Dad comes to visit with Laura a couple times a year; and is quite the successful fisherman!  Mom and I get to do lunch at least monthly; and visit when work schedules allow.  My sisters and I have had a few opportunities (sometimes with Mom) to get together without spouses and kids.  My brother's family is growing and is continuing the Hilsmeier namesake.  We get to see Ben's brother, Robert and sister-in-law more often than the other siblings; only because they come here. We know the road runs both ways, but it is very hard for us to leave the livestock unless it is an emergency. We don't like to burden anyone with all these daily chores unless we have no choice.   That said - everyone needs to come here to visit.  We have plenty of room for overnight guests.  We'd love to see you and look forward to you coming for visit.

Come back and check this blog as you have time and I hope you enjoy our shenanigans and following our stories.

Off for now to finish decorating.  Yes, I'm late as usual...

May your Holidays be Festive and full of Blessings and Love.  May you remember the great times of 2013 and your New Year come in with a bang and good fortune.

Hugs and Love to you all...
Darla (and Ben)