A little Winter Wonderland action

Not that I am patriotic or anything, but I thought the flag picture was cool. "Our houses are protected by the good Lord and a gun, you might meet 'em both if you show up here not welcome son" the Vinton County theme song by Josh Thompson.

Dad and I racing, me on the wheeler and him on the tractor. We filled my 4 acre front yard with as many donuts as it could hold. YEEHAW!

Mom and dad posing on the tractor. Now even mom can say she has been on a tractor. Didn't know that thing had a back seat....

Heather and Elena prepare for a lightning ride down the back hill. I really do have all the fun stuff you can handle right out here, no need to drive anywhere if it were all up to me.

And finally, dad playing pony for PJ while the photographer sharp shooter gets in for the action shot.

Christmas Day

The girls posing in front of their massive pile of gifts, oh my gosh, did they make out this year. Please, everyone, nothing more until next year, HAHA Thanks y'all for making our rough year end with smiles.

That crazy holiday tie has a doggone music player in it. It plays Santa Claus is coming to town or Jingle Bells or something.

My youngest hunter tries out Ryann's new binoculars. I think she is scouring my nostrils for something. Careful, she just might find something.

PJ, loveable as always.

A beautiful picture of some icicles against the bright blue sky. Heather was responsible for this artistic find.

Logging

I spent the better part of this last weekend clearing about 100 trees from the back hillside to make room for a hoofed animal corral. Building the fence in the woods should help with the shade cover in the heat of summer.

Here is our main operating tool, the ol' 8N pulled every one down that hill, sometimes 4-5 at a time without a single glitch.

The Ford in action. Notice the weather difference between the previous pictures and now. We had a 65 F day with sun and it changed the way we do business from cold, hard ground to a mud pit. Oh, well, my lawn will recover someday.


Another tree comes down to make way for better things. The woods sure are looking better and better.

My Christmas Present

Well, here was my gift from Santa. We finally got some photos together compliments of my mom, the trigger happy photographer.

We had a nice, but exhausting weekend with all the gifts and dinner and snow and logging (more to come on that) and mistletoe that my folks brought from Oregon haha. She learned to get over her bashfulness real quick around my family. Like father like son I guess.

Yeah, she really is that short (notice the high heels). But, knowing her family she comes by it very honestly.

And finally, here we all are, the girls are all smiles and I find myself drowning in the estrogen ocean, like usual. Happy holidays everybody!

Doggone it got cold fast!

Well, it seems like not very long ago it was fall and the evenings were cool and the days sunny, and then BAM! Last night we have a -5 F windchill and today a balmy 22 F out there.

Anyway, winter has come to Ramey Ridge and the girls have taken to bundling up a bit more. In the off-time however, especially when the workers come to visit, they decide to create modern art with their hair. John and Scott at least appeared to be amused.

We had a nice evening and then I drug the fellas up the hill for some bone-chilling fire wood cutting on the clear cut. It might be a while before they come back, but I hope they can soon. By the way, I had better restock my extra-strength Tylenol if I plan to haul many more oak logs.

Other than that, the kids spend their time clowning whenever I am not working them like pack mules.

A day off school Monday and a late start Tuesday bought this guy a 10 hour work day on Sunday to make it up. Gotta love it.
Hope everyone is staying warm and at least attempting to have a holly-jolly.
Good tip: Never assume a brand new chain saw blade is installed on the new bar in the correct direction even if is straight out of a new package. It might just make you look like an idiot...

December has arrived

The first week after Thanksgiving is our "gun" season and I tried to make an honest effort to get out. I remain deerless, maybe it's just not meant to be this year.
This is Matt and Angel, my neighbors, cuddled up in a tree stand. It was her first time out, I think she enjoyed herself.....
This picture of the house was taken this morning as I pulled out. We got enough snow for school to be delayed two hours. Hopefully it stays through the winter. The kids will have the sleds out this afternoon I am sure.
PJ is getting into the spirit of the hunt; playing with some mini buck antlers from a "culled" deer last year. She tried to put them onto the dog and the cats, none were very appreciative.
I spent yesterday cleaning out my shop and getting the ping pongtable back out. It's my winter time cardio program and I have to get practiced up to beat dad again in a few weeks. The workers come Friday night, my folks the following weekend, Heather the following weekend, and Brice a few days later. Thats a lot of trips to Columbus, but it's all for a good cause.
Hope all is well with everyone and don't be afraid to climb that tree like Zacheous. Sometimes thats what it takes to see above the noise and tumult.

Thanksgiving

Well, November has come and gone and with it plenty of happenings around the farm. Early on I got a sweet picture of my two old Fords parked up at one of my gas wells. The grey one is a 1939 9N (converted to 12 volt) and the red one is the 1952 8N (still a 6 volt) I have shown you previously. I thought the pose was cool enough to share. Floyd and Peggy (my in-laws) came for a couple weeks for Thanksgiving and Elena's birthday (she turned 9). It was nice to have someone help me with the cooking since everyone knows I can't cook squat. We fried a 13# turkey and I slow roasted an 8# spiral-cut ham over charcoal for about 3 hours. Then I made my first ever sweet potato pie. it actually turned out pretty good. Peggy helped out with all the important stuff like mashed potatoes and gravy. By Sunday we had no leftovers and I have officially gained my "holiday weight" and they aren't even over yet.
I chose my christmas present with some difficulty, but finally opted on the new guitar. It is a Seagull Coastline GT in Sunburst color and I am pretty excited about it.
Also, there is a picture from the old days when we lived in NY of Heather, Ryann, and Elena when they were small. Thought that was kind of neat.
Brice gets here in about 3 weeks and he and I have decided to do the bachelor thing together. We had so much fun getting in trouble in the old days we might as well try it out again.
The cabin picture was taken from a view I have never seen until now since all the leaves have fallen. As you can see, snow is falling and although it doesn't look "cozy" yet, it gives you an idea of what it might look like with a light in the window and smoke trailing out of the chimney. Can't wait to take the girls up there and relax this next summer. Hope everybody is having a fantastic winter. Spend as much of it as you can with friends and fam.
A thought from Wednesday night meeting yesterday: God never takes something bad away from our lives without replacing it with something good.