Blessings on Hickory Ridge

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Frankenbucket

Posted in DIYing

It is with a heavy heart and deep sadness that I must inform you that Frankenbucket has gone to be with all the other loaders in the sky.

It died a most horrific death. Heroic efforts were taken by individuals who tried desperately to save it. However, poor overworked Frankenbucket did not survive.

It started out as a normal, beautiful day. The guys had decided to use Frankenbucket to pull out a few more stumps in the ground at our neighbor on the hill's house. Frankenbucket always loved hanging out with the guys. Pulling stumps was its favorite task. The guys finished up for supper and parked Frankenbucket in the shop/garage/barn (we haven't narrowed down a proper title for this building yet) and shut it down for the night.

About 15 minutes later the guys were getting ready to come in to eat when they noticed an unusual smell. It appeared as though someone was burning something but none of us could narrow down who that someone/neighbor could be. The guys then decided the smoky smell was a very unusual smoldering smell. A smell that could only be narrowed down to an oil burning smell or a smoking wire smell. Their curiosty turned into a 'let's go investigate' attitude and the first place they decided to start was the garage/shop.

Next thing ya know....CHAOS erupts.......through the woods I can see 2 adult figures making mad dashes between the shop/barn, the pick-up truck and our neighbor's house. I jump on the 4 wheeler while barking orders for the children to stay put and take dinner out of the oven. I race to the shop/barn just as the guys were hooking tow straps to the front bucket of Frankenbucket which just happened to be running and engulfed in flames. My husband was using the fire extinguisher to put out the flames as our neighbor was jumping into the pick-up truck which is now hooked to the loader to pull/tow the loader out of the shop/barn before it caught the entire shop/barn on fire. The mens heroic efforts worked and the shop/barn was saved from ruin! I, in the meantime, had acquired another fire extinguisher for the guys to use. It was hard to tell with all the smoke whether the loader's fire was truly extinguished or still burning so the guys doused it again.

Now the delimna has become how to shut off a piece of equipment whose key AND ignition have been obliterated. No key, no ignition, and a running loader. So they decide to shut off the fuel valve...ONLY problem....everything is smoldering hot! So dh grabbed some rags/towels and proceeded to carefully try to twist the melted lever to the off position. Since the loader was STILL running, they decided to try to stall it out. Surely that should work since it does that on a routine basis. The guys pop her into gear and...SURPRISE! SURPRISE!...Frankenbucket wants to go.......quickly realizing that idea was a failure, the neighbor tried to jump on the moving loader and pop it back out of gear. It was a heoric feat as the loader was heading straight for the pick-up truck. The neighbor also narrowly missed being run over by the loader and was burned during this process. But as most men are, the neighbor chalks it up as just a small flesh wound.

Knowing the loader has a full tank of diesel in it and that it's still runnning and its still smoldering, the guys continue to rack their brain on how to stall it and/or shut it down. Dh tries once again to shut off the fuel valve. They thought about unhooking the battery until they saw that it was nothing but a melted blob of plastic. Then..finally....the loader started to sputter and choke...dh's heroic efforts of shutting the fuel valve off while not burning himself must have worked because Frankenbucket FINALLY took its last breath EVER........

It will always be a mystery to us on how it was able to restart itself and EXACTLY WHAT started the fire that caused its demise. It was a total loss with no financially possible chance of repair.....Frankenbucket will be sorely missed and every time we have dirt to move or a tree stump to remove our thoughts will be about our foundest days and memories spent with it.....

Sniff sniff....Goodbye Frankenbucket....you will be sorely missed.........

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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Berry Season has arrived!

Posted in DIYing

Since berry picking season is just around the corner. (next week for us, for those to the south it may be too late) We will be heading out to a local pick your own berry farm next week. For those who have no clue where to start with locating a pick your own farm near you, here is a website that may help:

http://www.pickyourown.org/

When we moved 2 1/2 years ago this website didn't help us at all. None of our local pick your own farms are listed. So be sure to ask around and talk with your local farmers, people who have lived in your area all their lives, and church members, to see if they know where to locally pick berries, fruits and purchase and/or pick farm fresh produce. You may want to call your local Chamber of Commerce to see if your city has a Farmers Market. Most every city does!

Purchasing your produce locally is the best thing you can do for your family and your local economy. You can usually speak to the farmer directly and will know exactly how he has grown his produce. Most small local farmers do not use expensive chemicals to grow there beautiful and wonderfully tasting produce. Some may even give you a discount for purchasing in bulk or for picking your own. The savings are usually nominal, but when your still eating deliciously canned produce in the winter while your neighbors are spending a small fortune on veggies and produce that had to be trucked across the country and treated with preservative chemicals, you will feel like you got the better deal. Your family's still eating healthy canned produce and the nominal savings are now showing. Nominal savings and healthy eating seems like the best bet to me!

The best part about purchasing from your local farmer is that you are keeping your small communities economy running. The farmer is then able to purchase the things he needs to grow his delicious produce locally and so on and so on.

So grab your coveralls, your sunscreen, your buckets, and a phone and go pick your own! Your getting exercise, healthy food, and saving a few pennies to boot!

Have a bountifully blessed week!

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

another project to post

Posted in DIYing

My baby sister, whose enrolled full time in college and on an extremely tight budget, called me Monday. She said her cake decorator bailed out on her and that she needed a cake for her best friend's baby shower on Saturday. (Sheesh! Talk about 'the' pressure!)

So I pulled this together for her!

Not too bad for someone whose in a time crunch!

What d'ya think?

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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Watch out for that first step! It's a doozie!

Posted in DIYing

Now that we finally have our Satellite Internet working again (Don't get me started. I might not stop. It just...it just.... gets me all worked up. *sigh*), I can finally post our weekend accomplishments. As you will see it was a very busy weekend.

Since I forgot to take actual 'before' pictures you will have to work with me here as I TRY my best to describe the ~~death trap~~, er... the uh....well...uh...there's just no other way to put it nicely....the death trap deck stairs!

OK. Now imagine these steps:

attached to the deck on the right of this picture:

But imagine it before my wonderful husband placed all this new pretty wood stuff there...... OK...now that you have the stairs envisioned in your brain....imagine what it was like every time we had to walk out the back door and into the garage....... YEP! That's right we would have to make the 'leap of faith' from the first step off the deck ONTO the deck that leads to the garage. Now imagaine that 'leap of faith' every time it rained or snowed or iced.

As the overprotective mother that I am, I would be sure to order each child to "BE CAREFUL!" just a mere 28 times each and every time they took the 'leap of faith'! More times than that whenever it snowed, rained, or (GULP) iced out!! By the way that Murphy's Law and Chaos rule around here it was truly an act of God that no one has fallen and broken their necks in the 2 1/2 years we have lived here! Only a few bruised shin bones!

It may have taken us 2 1/2 years to finally save up for this project but it sure was worth it! Don't ya think?

and fancy these here re-used but improved steps:

My neck doesn't hurt anymore when I look at them!

And as an added bonus! Look what my wonderful husband threw in:

An extra set of stairs on the other side! Now we don't have to fear twisting our ankles on the cement block steps that used to call this spot home!

As for my weekend project....Well, mine wasn't as grand as the deck but I bet our stomach's would disagree with that!

I just LOVE birthdays! Cake and ice cream all the way!!! Who cares about the presents! Chocolate cake ALL the WAY!!!! YUMMIE!!!!

Hope you have a project blessed week!!!

"According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." -I Corinthians 3:8-11

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About Me

Confessions of a SAHHM (Stay At Home Homeschooling Mom). SAHHM to six children, 3 cats, 1 German Shepherd, Chaos, Murphy's Law, Notme, Idunno, and one incredibly loving and patient husband! :o) If I haven't blogged recently, it's probably because chaos has gotten loose. It does that from time to time. Rest assured I will be back as soon as it is under control again.