Zachary's Stitches

On Monday, Zachary was racing Michael over the barn fence. Michael went over the fence at the proper place, Zachary did not. He ended up catching his right calf on the fence and ripping it open. After a trip to the emergency room and 18 stitches later, here is a picture of his wound.

Here is a shot of his legs, so you can see the size of his wound. It measures 10 inches total.

Zachary is doing great and loves showing off his stitches.

Trip to Tulsa

The kids and I spent Thursday and Friday in Tulsa visiting with friends. It was so great to see Kelly, Cory, and Livvie and to finally meet Chase! We enjoyed visiting the Oklahoma Aquarium and eating at Gina & Guiseppe's on the Riverwalk. Thank you, Shawna, for the recommendation!

This is a picture of my kids with our friends in front of the aquarium.

The internet ate the rest of my pictures. I will post them later.

The After Pictures

The after picture of Andrew's hairless face.

The after picture of Lexie's streaked hair.

Notice that they both have a scar on their chin.

Beard no more!

This is the last picture of Andrew with his retirement beard. He shaved it off last night. Actually, he shaved off one half and then came to find me. He was holding his hand over the side he had shaved. Then, he moved he hand the side that wasn't shaved. Wow! What a shock! He looks so different! I missed his gorgeous smile!

And Tammy, I posted more than once today, so keep reading!

A bat and a dead chicken

On Saturday, Andrew and the boys went to his aunt's big holiday party down near Fort Smith. We decided that Lexie and I would stay home to man the farm and enjoy the peace and quiet. Lexie and I took the opportunity to have some girl time. We went out to dinner at a German restaurant. It made us homesick for Germany. Our friend, Kariann, went with us to dinner. When we came home to lock up the animals and watch a movie, we discovered a bat in the house. The bat hit the wall and fell into the dishpan. Kariann used salad tongs to remove it from the dishpan and put it outside.

Due to wet wings, the bat crawled across the porch and down the stairs.

Thank you, Kariann!

On Sunday morning, as Lexie and I were leaving for church, I ran over one of our chickens. The chickens always move out of the way of moving vehicles, just sometimes they run the wrong way! This black chicken just stood there. I asked out loud,"why isn't it moving?" So, it adjusted the vehicle to straddle the chicken. As the vehicle past over the hen, she decided to move and run right under my back tire. Lexie said, "Mom, you ran over the chicken!" She continued, "we need to go back and see if it's dead." I backed up the vehicle. "If it's not dead, you need to run it over again!" I looked at her and stated, "I don't want to! You get out and check if it's dead." I was pretty upset. I felt bad. Lexie got out of the vehicle and poked the chicken with a stick. It was both flat and dead. I called Andrew on the cell phone and told him. They made it home before we did and Michael disposed on the chicken for me. Thank you, Michael!

We have a floor!

Since the last update, Andrew finished filling with dirt and made it level. Then, he laid what I call 'fancy bubble wrap" over the dirt. It serves as a vapor lock and will also reflect the heat from the radiant floor heating system. As soon as he put down the 'fancy bubble wrap', he ran rebar over it.

After that was completed, he tied the rebar. He then ran the pex, which is the tubing that the hot water will run through for the radiant floor heating system. The pex was then tied to the rebar. We were ready to pour the floor!

We hired Wendell Terherst and his assistant, Jimmy Cox, to finish our floor. Wendell comes highly recommended. We also had to hire a concrete pump for the job. Andrew got everything arranged to do the pour on Wednesday. Early Wednesday morning, the concrete pump arrived first and started to set up. I covered the plumbing openings with bags and duct tape. Wendell and Jimmy arrived and prep the site. They divided the site into sections. Here is Jimmy pounding the dividers into the site. The little black dog is his "assistance", Belle. Three concrete trucks arrived at this time.

Time to start pouring!

Wendell pouring concrete and Zachary holding the end of the pex out of the way.

Wendell working while Andrew and Mike, my father in law, watch. The guy in the middle is the concrete pump operator. He works for Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping out of Springdale. We used Carroll County Ready-Mix for the concrete.

Wendell moving the concrete.

Jimmy flattening the concrete.

Wendell smoothing the concrete.

Jimmy finishing the concrete.

We used 28 1/4 yards on concrete for the floor. Here is the finished floor! It looks like clouds to me.

Lexie and her goat, Jo Jo, playing and Andrew riding a scooter on the new floor.

The next step is to put up the dome.

A Visit From Friends

Yesterday, we had a wonderful visit from Tammy, Becky and family. I lured them over with the promise of blueberries! They brought us some hand-picked blackberries. I got a bunch of Hunnicutt steak out of the freezer and had Andrew grill it. Then, I convinced them to stay for dinner. Lexie wanted me to mention that she seasoned the steak with her own special seasoning. Yummy! We had a wonderful visit with them! Oh wait, I already said that! We can't wait to see them again! We missed you, Stephen!

Snakes

Lexie found this snake as she headed to the barn. She thought it was a copperhead. She went back into the house and got a machete. She was going to kill it. I followed her back outside and convinced her to let her dad look at it. She yelled for her daddy. We've discovered that yelling the word "snake" makes Andrew come running very quickly. Come to found out, this snake is a water snake. It is now living at the creek.

The next day, I was hanging wash on the line, when the chickens started making a fuss in the barn. I walked over to the barn and found a black snake eating an egg. I yelled, "snake!" and Andrew came running. Andrew realized that the snake was caught in the chicken wire. I ran and got wire snips and we cut it free. Andrew and the kids posed for a picture with it and then Andrew relocated it to our pond on our other place.

The following day, Andrew and the boys found a pack rat in the barn. Let's just say, it was not relocated.