New Project!!!

This is the pie safe I bought at an auction today...

It's a little rougher than the photo shows, but I think it will be fabulous when it's restored.  It's painted right now, but I think it's maple underneath.  Right now it's in my Dad's workshop at my parents house because my hubs has our garage filled with his woodworking stuff, so there's not room for it, and he doesn't have time to work on it.  My dad will...after Mom's new bathroom vanity is done.  It needs some slight repair work, and the paint has to go.  It might have to be repainted if the wood can't be refinished, but it won't be a creamy orange color if it does.  Plus, the tin insets in the doors are awesome and need the paint cleaned off.  Plus it's a great practice piece for refinishing my dining room table! 

Wordless Wednesday: Scenes from Shaker Village

And a shot or two of the fireworks that were on rain delay from July 4th.

What Do Cows Do On Saturdays?

 They go hang out in the woods...

 They lie around....

 They say hello to their people friends...

 They pretend they are giraffes and eat leaves....

 They walk the wrong way....

 They show off their backsides....

 They play hide-and-seek...

 They think about eating paper....

 Then they try to eat paper....

 They strike a pose... (some of you might recognize Maya from our Christmas Card picture a couple years ago.  If not, I posted it below.  Maya's the one with the fake antlers on her head.  She likes to think she's famous)

And Laila stands around and requests back scratches...

It's not easy being a cow!

When It Rains

It seems like there's been quite a series of unexpected issues around our house lately.  It all started when our my oven quit working.  I can say my oven because Nick doesn't use it unless he's putting tater tots in to bake.  I didn't really realize how much I use my oven until it took 1 1/2 hours to heat to 350.  It wasn't really going to be cost effective to fix a 15 year old stove (parental hand-me-downs...gotta love 'em) so off to Best Buy we went to get a new one...and it sure is pretty.  I don't know how I cooked without it.

The day before the stove got delivered, my husband had his wisdom teeth removed (which wasn't really unexpected since I scheduled the appointment) and started the process of giving up his Grizzly addiction (that's where the issue comes in--he's pretty unfriendly sans nicotine).  So he was off work 3 days last week recovering.

Today I woke up to him not being able to get out of bed with a back injury.  So on the third day of school, I called in so I could take him to the doctor.  Luckily my principals are very nice and were understanding about it.  I'm not thrilled with the doctor's diagnosis of a strain with a prescription and an order to stay home from work for another 3 days...not because I don't think he knows what he's talking about, but because the examination didn't seem very thorough, and I haven't seen my hubs in this much pain since he traveled to Cincinnati with a broken back to buy my engagement ring.  If it's not better soon, as in tomorrow, we'll be seeking another opinion.

So, say a little prayer for the Elgin household.  The Mr. is hurting and the Mrs. isn't used to having to be so nurturing.

I May Be A Freak...

I'm sure my sisters would be the first to offer their opinions on that matter.  But if I'm a freak, at least I'm an organized one!  My last few days of freedom have been spent doing projects for school, and at school, like painting stacking boxes with chalkboard paint and taking EVERYTHING out of my school cabinets and organizing.

I don't have before pictures, but let me paint you a little picture.  All those boxes (except the small ones) have sets of novels for one of my classes.  The books were all piled up in stacks on the shelves.  It was difficult to see what we had, let alone get to it.  After 3 years I couldn't take it anymore.  Thanks to Ikea organization, my closet is ready for back to school.  Maybe I'll catch up!

Wordless Wednesday - Nephew's Cattle Show

(my brother-in-law and husband)

A Fair Week

When I married a cattle farmer, and learned how to help with the cows, I knew there would be a lot of things I'd do that I never imagined I'd do.  This week at the fair has been no exception.  There's been a lot of experiences I didn't see myself in 10 years ago.  I'll share a list of those things....

• I've had the side of my foot stomped by the steer...hard!  I've been stepped on before the this one HURT
• I was peed on
• I was pooped on
• I got drenched with the hose "accidentally" while my husband was washing calves.  Stay away from our wash pen...you will get wet.
• I fell off the tractor
• My new boots gave me blisters
• I sat in the cattle barn in the heat
• I shared the fans with the heifers, who were fine with that if it meant chin scratches for them
• The farmers tan returned!  ugh
• I got to teach my nephew how to play Tetris on my smartphone
• I was able to spend lots of time with my husband, nephew, and brother-in-laws
• I got to buy my nephew ice cream
• I experienced the fair in a whole new way
• I sat in the stands with my dad and my in-laws and was a nervous wreck.  I love going to livestock shows with my Dad.  He used to do livestock judging so I learn a lot
• I got the "#1" sign from my nephew when his heifer won Champion Angus Heifer and glares from the show ring because I was taking his picture...a lot

It's been a really fun week!  I've learned a lot, and so has my nephew.  I love this life, and even though I do things all the time I never dreamed I'd be doing, I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I can't wait for next year.

I'll post pictures from tonight's show for Wordless Wednesday tomorrow.

One Hot Show

I hate hot weather.  I always have.  If Indiana stayed in the 50-70 degree range all year long I would be one happy girl.  Unfortunately, July in Southern Indiana has had an insane number of 90 degree days, and as I'm typing this, my husband told me that the heat index could be 110 degrees tomorrow.  Normally, I would choose the coolest day of the week to mow the yard, prune my roses in the early morning before it gets too hot and stay in the air conditioning as much as possible.

It's a good plan in theory, but not this week.  It's fair week here, and our nephew is showing calves for the first time.  Getting the calves ready for all these months has been a true family affair.  Nick and I halter broke them (and several others) back in the fall when they were still relatively small.  We've spent countless hours walking them and making sure they were gentle enough for our nephew to handle them as he's not been too sure about this whole cattle show thing.  My brother-in-law has spent most mornings since school got out washing the calves and teaching our nephew how to set them up.

Unfortunately, my brother-in-law hurt his knee last Thursday and could hardly walk on Saturday when it came time to move the calves and get them ready for the 4H show.  That meant a 14 hour day for me and Nick that started a little before 6 am thanks to my Mom's dog who was staying with us.

It was a hot experience, although tomorrow promises to be worse.  Nick and I spent the morning (after we got everything unloaded and weighed in) washing all three calves while my brother-in-law dried them with the blower since that required the least amount of movement on his part.  We had to make another trip to the farm, I fell off the tractor and scraped up the palm of my hand, finished getting the calves ready, made a quick trip home to shower and change, and then went back to the fairgrounds to get things ready to my nephew to show.  He did a great job for his first year, and one of our heifers won Champion Angus Heifer, and the steer won Champion Angus Steer.  My nephew was thrilled he won some ribbons and a trophy or two, and is already making plans for what he's taking next year.  Now if we can just survive the County Born and Raised Show tomorrow night.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of my nephew and his calves.  Stay cool, and for those of you NOT working with livestock at the fair, enjoy your a/c!