Austin Wayne Kennedy - my 2nd in line of 9 grannies. Playing football on the 7th and 8th grade team this year, Austin plays with his head and his heart. You can say that Austin gives it is all.

Austin #23 was one of the team captains at this last game.

 

Coming off the field after winning the first game.

 

 

 

Austin caught a blocked punt.

 

 

He returned if for several yards.

 

His return set the ball on the one yard line and made it possible for his team to make their first touchdown of the evening.

 

 

Needless to say we are very proud of grandson #2 or is that #23!!

Welcome new little one.

Introducing Brody Austin to the family. Born just last Friday, Brody is #9 of my nine grannies. What a wonderful experience to be there to see you take your first breath. What a blessing!

 

 

 

Sweet dreams!

 

It has been so long since I have blogged and I thought 'where do I start' then decided, how about now. When I last left you we were putting together the greenhouse. Look what came from that adventure.

Then I fell in love with my sunflowers -  so started taking photos of them.

 

 

and other flowers....

 

 

 

 

The grannies started back to school. Taylor Michael is a junior; Austin and Spencer - 8th grade; Brandt - 5th; Adrianne - 3rd; Jaxon 2nd; Emma 1st; Cash Preschool.

So those are some recents, I was going to add more but really struggling with downloading photos so even though I am back at blogging I didn't get much done.

The END!

Feeding bunnies, pitching hay - the good life.

When the grannies come to stay it's not all work and mostly play.

 

 

One of our February chores is putting up the greenhouse. This year it was a brand new one that Jeff bought me on sale last year. It was to late in the season to put it up so I have been excitedly  waiting for that warm day in Feb. when we could put it together. Gramps and uncle Greg have used a lot of patience putting it up with the help of Cash, Emma and Jaxon.

 

The frame seemed very flimsy but once everything was together it seemed rather sturdy.

 

Emma and Jax help by putting in the hundreds of screws. We did get the whole thing put together and now it is sitting snuggly in the garden waiting for that planting time.

 

Jaxon and Cash help with the horse chores. It takes a lot of trips with the little amount they get on their fork but they got them fed. Then Lucas helps grandpa look for places that the rabbits hide and fed them some grain and hay.

 

Did anyone watch that ad during the Super Bowl? The one about a farmer? Well I couldn't help but think of Jeff during that ad especially when it says a farmer will stop his work in the hay field to splint the leg of a bird. Well that's my Jeff, he would do that and may have even done that. I know he packed a bunny home that got his ears cut in the sickle and nursed it to health. He continued his work that day after hitting it, carrying  the bunny around in his shirt. Well now he goes out to the country and puts alfalfa out for the rabbits this winter and feeds the deer out of his hay stash because he knows they are hungry.  We really need to live in the country!!

 

 

January Blues or Blue Skies?

The climate is changing, that is the forecast and I am beginning to believe it. Instead of winter snows we are having winter warming. This week's forecast is to be in the 50's plus, which I find amazing, as January has always been our cold month here in ole Nebraska, but not this year. Ok we have had some cooler weather but it doesn't last long and I am OK with that.

This weekend, when it is suppose to be almost 60, **smiling**,  I hope to talk Jeff into setting up the little greenhouse he bought for me last fall. I have been aching to see it put up in the garden and now it is about to come true. That means it is also time to get my seeds ordered so I can start the planting process. So excited about this summer as last summer was so very hot and I was unable to work in the garden,  it is with great hope that I will get my fingers in the soil this year.

Glad to be back at work after having almost one month off in December. You would think that with winter there isn't much to do around the Fort but oh no, we are busier than ever. The guys are gutting the kitchen and replacing almost everything along with working on new plans for the Sutler Store. There is also animals to feed, the buffalo, longhorn and horses are fed daily and soon some new little longhorns will come along.

I am getting contracts ready, going through 2012 files and setting up 2013. Advertising for jobs and getting set for interviews. Ordering merchandise and working on schedules. So busy it is and soon Feb., one of my favorite months, will be here. Need to get some Valentine ideas a going...............!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Lu

Nothing to say - NOT!

A friend asked me the other day why I haven't been blogging. My reply "I just didn't have anything to say". Now when did that ever happen to me I wonder. Thought maybe I should at least put up some kind of a post, and all of sudden I realized I had a LOT to say. There, that's the old me.

So here I go.

Got my computer fixed. YIPPEE!! Sad news, when it crashed I lost all my photos, probably should have taken it in the first time I started having trouble and they probably could have saved some of them - DANG. Good news is  that it has lots more memory and an upgrade so now I can play with my photos again. And I bought this little 99 cent app and look what I can do with it.

Isn't that just fun. It takes just a matter of minutes and I could make Cash's eyes blue and highlight that Nebraska hat. Here is another photo.

I  just got a tickle out of doing that. Impressed? Just 99 cents........I am. There are several very inexpensive apps for the Mac that can do great things.

While picking up my Mac I ended up bringing home a new couch. We really, really needed one - last time I bought a couch we sat on lawn chairs for almost a year as I gave my old set to my son and his family and then couldn't make up my mind on what I wanted. This time I just took what I saw when I saw something I liked. It's leather, has recliners because that is what Jeff wants and is oatmeal in color, soooooo it matches everything and anything.

Work was very busy with the deer season opening up. On Friday, the day before I worked from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., not a big deal I put in lots of hours all summer but this time I was on my feet from the time I got to the Fort in the morning until 6 p.m. when we had to sign deer hunters up in the draw units. Tucker me out, well my feet anyway.

Also have been working hard on the Historical Dinner. My exciting news - Midwest Living Magazine will be there to do a feature story on it. Sad part - won't come out until 2012. So I really want to do a good job. Have a pointsetta/burlap theme going on.

Here is a photo of Austin's first buck. He almost made grand champion at deer camp 2011 but his dad ended up with a really nice deer, bigger and older than Austin's. But for an 11 year old this is a pretty nice 'starter' buck.

This is probably the neatest thing - a hand stitched quilt well let's see about 8 of them. The friend's place that all my guys going hunting at - we call it "Deer Camp" made each one of the fellows a quilt. I think that has to be the coolest 'warm' gift EVER! Babe, the lady who made these,  started working on them last year - not sure how she got them all done but she did. Here they are. 

Can you imagine, quilting eight quilts in less than a year and again I add they are hand quilted!! I am a wee bit envious, of the quilts and the ability to quilt like that.

Now with Thanksgiving in the air I am excited to say that all of my children and grandchildren will be home for the holiday. I can't wait to spend time with them and all of their families. Blessed - YES I am!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Check out my little Fiddle Player! I am so proud of Emma for taking up the violin and I hope she keeps it up. Emma went to a small concert out here at the Fort this summer. The band is new but I think will make it big some day. "Dyer Highway" a group of three siblings played for us on the parade ground. I understand why Emma became enthralled. The young fiddle playing lady (age 14) stood on the stage, a soft silky shirt that floated gently in the wind as she dipped and swayed to her music. It was like a feather gently teasing your senses. I guess it teased Emma so much that she went home and asked her mom if she could get lessons and sure enough her mama encouraged her to start.
This violin is just a little larger than her papa's hand and is not the smalled violin that is used for lessons. But it is about the cutest little instrument I have ever seen.
P.S. Please forgive the wild hairdo, she had been playing at full speed outside for hours with her cousins and I caught her just long enough to show me what she has learned.

Reasons to love fall!

WHY...why...why

Why do I have so many problems with blogger? Can anybody out there give me a hint? See my last post? Why do I have all that white area after I finished posting? Why after I download a photo I can not enlarge it unless I click and drag? Why when downloading a photo it always puts it at the top of the page even if my cursor is at the bottom of what I am writing and WHY can't I comment on many of the blogs.........it says to comment I need to check my profile and I check google and then I get this:
Your current account (debkennedy74@yahoo.com) does not have access to view this page. Click here to log out and change accounts.
I am so ready to quit blogging because of all of these frustrations. Anyone else have any of these problems?