Barn Additions

  Today we finally started to put electricity and water in my barn. It was supposed to be my Christmas present, but we had some delays.  Last weekend, my dad put in the light fixtures. I have two long fluorescent lights over the stalls and feed room and a flood light on the outside corner of the barn. The whole process, to my surprise, is actually very simple. Early this morning while I was in the shower, my dad went to Home Depot and rented a trencher. We started right away when he arrived. It took about twenty five minutes to dig the whole one hundred twenty something feet from the pool house to my barn. We returned the trencher and bought all of our supplies. First we assembled the PVC pipes and fitting and put them in the trench. Next we took out big roll of wire and rolled it out in the trench. We were missing a part so my dad went back to home depot while I filled in the trench. That sucked, by the way. I left a few feet next to the barn, electricity box, and water pipes so we can wire everything tomorrow. I can't wait! We built this barn six years ago when I got my first horse and we never put electricity in it. It seems almost pointless now since I'll be out of the house and off to college in two years. I really hope my parents keep this house. At least until I can buy it from them. Out of all the places I've lived, this place feels like home and there's no place I would rather be. My mom and brother are the type of people who want a new house every two years. My dad and I are the complete opposite. When we first moved up here, we lived in a subdivision. That was a disaster.  I need animals and my dad needs his space. We lived in that house for almost a year when we found this place online. Right away, my dad and I knew this was the place for us. I got a horse for Christmas and we built my cute wooden barn. Next we acquired chickens and a large garden. Since then, I've become very involved in my school's FFA, I'm an avid gardener, and I've found my calling...veterinary medicine. I am so excited about the electricity! Now I can breed my pig without worrying about her giving birth in the dark, I can see when I go to feed the animals at five thirty in the morning, and I can sit down there at all hours...:D There are so many possibilities.

I'M GOIN' TO COLLEGE!!!!!!!!

  Wednesday, my mom and I had a meeting with my school guidance counselor about doing dual enrollment. Which is where you attend college while you are in high school and you get college and high school credits. She said I was right on track and gave us the necessary forms. I am hoping to attend Georgia Highlands but it all depends on the ACT, which is the test I have to take. The deadline is April 1st and I can take the ACT in March. The only problem is, it takes forever to be graded. So if it's too late, I will be going to the tech school. Since the tech school doesn't offer the course I would like to take, I'll be taking a math class throughout my junior and senior year in high school. That way, I'll have my math done and I only have science and English left to take before I can continue on to med. school. I'm super excited! I really hope I can go to Georgia Highlands! :)

MLK Day/stuffed pork chops

Happy MLK Day! Instead of enjoying the last day of my long weekend I spent it repairing and cleaning. My day started at 5 a.m. when my brother's alarm went off because he had set it wrong. I fell back to sleep and around 6:30 my guinea pig, Joaquin, begins his morning laps about his house. I fell back to sleep again and around 8 my dad comes in to wake me up. I jump in the shower, the quickest one I've ever taken, and get dressed. I was in a hurry because of the pancakes and coffee waiting for me at the kitchen table. I don't like syrup on my pancakes, by the way. Next is the feeding of the swine, Bailey and Ruby. It went pretty smoothly despite my falling over the fence. We are running low on food. The nozzle on the hose has a crack in it and water sprayed EVERYWHERE when I turned it on. After settling the mad jostle for the first bite of food, I am off to feed the cats. Maggie May, Lucy, and Brenna are impatiently awaiting the arrival of their breakfast. Dracula is nowhere to be found because guess what time it is...Kitty Mating Season! Around this time of the year, all of the testosterone fueled felines prowl the neighborhood looking for a feminine feline to 'court'. There were numerous scuffles today among the three males of the property: Dracula and the two strays I have dubbed Charleigh and Jenkins. All over the lovely, striped Maggie May. Next on the list...my chickens. Ruthy Sanchez, Flower, Caroline, and Abbie were causing a ruckus. When I further investigated I saw nothing. So I guess they were just feeling frisky this morning. One hen finally laid an egg! It's been months! Unfortunately it was broken. Next I fed the dogs, Molly and Dakota, and then Joaquin and Sammy the Sulcata. The tractor had been down for a couple of weeks and we finally fixed it today! First off, this tractor is 27 years old. It's a miracle it's still running. It took over 4 hours to repair it and a lot of colorful words from my dad and finally it was running again! I then scrubbed the muddy cat prints from the porch railings and washed a few windows. The rest of the day was uneventful until my madre and padre surprised me with a new pair of Raybans! They're black and white. For dinner, we had pork chops stuffed with feta and pine nuts. They were pretty good despite the fact that I'm not a huge fan of pork chops. Other news...I will be attending the National Goat Expo and my Aunt Julie's pig just gave birth to a bunch of little piggies!

Lazy Day

Friday-1/6/12
  Today started out as a regular morning. My alarm was blaring at 5:30 and I was jumping around to get everything done. Joaquin the guinea pig got a cage cleaning and fresh water. Sammy the Sulcata tortoise got a nice soak in warm water as well as some orchard grass. Bailey and Ruby (the pigs) have torn their water buckets off of the wall again. Naughty things. I fixed them as fast as possible and went on to feed them. Next came the chickens who, to their delight, received a nice helping of corn for breakfast. After the chickens came the two dogs and four cats who acted starved to death but are all rather fat. I helped Lucy, my black and white cat up onto the feeding platform. She has had some sort of neurological problem since she was a kitten. She twitches a lot and has tons of trouble jumping onto the platform. She can get down just fine, though. I came inside, glad to be out of the cold, to a nice banana and strong black coffee. After gathering my things, it was time to leave at 7:30. The classes went by as normal and 7th period was shortened by ten minutes so we could go to homeroom and get out report cards. I was delighted to see I had 3 A's, 2 B's that were almost A's, and a C that was almost a B. The bell rang and I started on my way home. I pulled up to a stoplight and all of the sudden I hear a hideous, painfully loud noise next to me. Startled, I turn to my left to see a car completely smashed. Some people stopped so I drove on only to see my friend Kaleigh in the rear view mirror. I quickly stopped and ran to her. She had been hit from behind, driving her into the truck in front of her. She wasn't bleeding but badly shaken up. No one was hurt, gladly. Except her car and the one that hit her. I stayed with her until the police and her boyfriend arrived. After leaving, I was badly shaken up. Kaleigh and I aren't best friends but we do know a lot about each other and our boyfriends are friends. Seeing something like that happen so close to me and to someone I care about made me realize how lucky I really am. I rewarded myself with fries and sweet tea from McDonald's for my good grades. It had been so long since I've had sweet tea due to my wanting to eat healthier. I went with my mom to get her haircut and then, finally, went home. I changed my clothes and did my makeup and then went with my mom all the way back to town. My mom, grandparents, and little brother went out to eat while I waited for my boyfriend to get home from wrestling and pick me up. We went to see The Devil Inside Me with two of our friends and then went to get some coffee. That movie was pretty scary, by the way. It was predictable but I still jumped and covered my eyes. While he was driving me home I yelled at him for driving too fast. After seeing Kaleigh wreck I was in no mood to take chances. When we arrived at my house he came upstairs to see Joaquin the guinea pig, which was my Christmas present from him. Joaquin gladly let him hold him. After Dusty left, I checked on all the animals and settled down to create this blog, as I was too scared to sleep.
Saturday-1/7/12
  Well today has been quite uneventful. So far all I have done is laundry and typing. My brother and I are staying at our grandparent's tonight so we will go down there around three. While I'm waiting for my clothes to dry so I can take a shower, I think I will share some of my garden plans for this year. First off, my garden is going to be bigger and better than it ever has been before, due to the fact that I'm starting a worm bin and my compost pile is looking really good this year. I am so excited about these little worms! I have a lengthy list of all the new plants I will be growing. In addition to the large garden, A raised bed will be added for my herb garden. Richters.com has some great plants. I'm off to care for the animals...bye!