Slaters' Funny Farm

Hurricane Harvey is continuing to pound the coastal towns of Texas with a wrath that we have not truly seen since Katrina hit Louisiana. The rains are continuing to flood more and more areas and billions of gallons of water has fell with more predicted to be falling in the next few days. The governor has simply said that it is a disaster area and news reports are saying that it is biblical flooding. Thousands have had to be rescued and many more will need to be. Simply put, Mother Nature has simply shown that she is still in control! Many lessons can be learned from this storm though. First and foremost, all lives matter! For a few weeks, we have all heard of the chaos that erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia during protests over statues that commemorate the Confederate soldiers and flag. Monuments are being removed to prevent more chaos in cities all over the south and I have even heard people complaining of others using the word "Dixie" to describe the south. Whatever yo...

"A Day Late and A Dollar Short", I have heard that saying many times in my life and I remember my grandpa saying that if you run late to work or on your chores, you will always be a dollar short of what you need. I might agree with him, but I just can't seem to get myself on track this week. I try my best to write here on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but this week it just has not happened. It seems to have been a busier life week than I expected. On Tuesday, my grand doll seen the orthopedic surgeon and she will have surgery in early October to fix the Blount's Disease that has caused her to be so bowlegged. I am nervous about it but it does seem to be a simple surgery and an easy fix. No braces or casts, which makes me extremely happy and it is outpatient surgery so she does not have to spend a night at the hospital like we originally thought. Yesterday, I worked on life things with my father in law and mother in law. After recently changing many of their financ...

The Solar Eclipse of 2017 has crossed our farm and moved on its' way. It was a beautiful sight even though we were not in the path of totality. For about 1 hour and 20 minutes, we were able to view the moon gracefully and beautifully crossing over the sun slowly making the sun disappear. We were only about 90% covered, but you could feel the change in the air and there was a calm that I do not think I have ever experienced. The 2 minutes or so of darkness was not a complete dark, but was more light a late twilight. I attempted to watch what the animals had done while it was occurring and did not notice many changes other than it was still. Not a rooster made a sound ( and they are usually really noisy) and the rabbits were lying still in their cages. It was as though they were well aware that there was a change in the air. While it was partly cloudy, we were still able to enjoy a large amount of the historic and enlightening event. The air cooled and I noticed that the humidity...

Hello friends! Hello Readers! Welcome to the Friday edition of Slatersfunnyfarm. All is well on the farm and weather is good too. We could use some rain and the farm needs a good weed job, but overall all is fine. Yesterday evening brought a cool down with the humidity  dropping some and that always makes a better day. We are experiencing a drought and that makes me sad, but I know that we will get rain when God decides we will and not before, so I just say a prayer. I do not want rain this weekend though as we are going camping. Camping is such a relaxing time for me as I don't have to do all of the cooking and there is no cleaning, no laundry, and our phones don't work so that is great for me. My husband needs the rest as well as I do. My oldest daughter may camp as well with us and that will be fun. I do enjoy the time away from all the stress at home. I am thankful that my father in law and youngest daughter and family will care for the animals as we are gone. We have a...

Good Morning! I am late writing this post because I always write on Wednesday, but I just did not find the time to yesterday so I am catching up this morning before my daughter and I are heading to the state fair for a bit today. I spent most of the day Monday with my youngest and her sweet queen. Although the grand is to the stage that she does not want to sit in carts while you shop. It is very annoying, but we finally compromised some and we did get to do a little shopping. My attitude can quickly change about being in a store when all I am doing to struggling to get her to listen and then being distracted by her crying. I know she is to that age that she needs to state some of her independence, but I also feel that some of the time, she is just trying our patience. Anyway, I found some great items at a local thrift store and the Goodwill and just had to share with you all reading this. First, I set out to find some fall décor for the house as I plan to put that in place within ...

AH! The dreaded chore of cleaning windows- maybe, not for you, but it is a chore that I am not fond of. Today was the day to clean the inside of my windows and so I got busy early and got those windows sparkly clean. I have a few tips that I think makes the job a little easier and I thought that they might help you as well. Buy a good window cleaner. I prefer Windex, but I have used cheaper brands as well. Purchase an extra spray bottle too because that one bottle is going to become two bottles. Purchase a bottle of white vinegar too.  Once you are home, pour half of the window cleaner into the extra spray bottle. Pour white vinegar into both bottles of window cleaner. Shake well after replacing the lids on both bottles.  Grab some newspapers and use them to wipe the windows with after you have sprayed the cleaner on.  Always work from top to bottom and be sure to get into the corners of the windows. My windows always seem to have a layer of grime at the top near th...

All eyes and hearts have been on Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend following the tragic events that occurred during a protest over a statue of Robert E Lee.  My prayers have been for those that lost loved ones during this tragedy and for the parents of the young man that drove his car into the crowd of protestors. I am not planning to make this a political post and I pray that no one takes it in that context, but I am truly trying to understand why there was a protest at all. I understand that many places in the south still seem to hold faith in the confederate flag and what it stood for. I also understand that many people do not hold to those beliefs. This is a statue, nothing more, that honors a Confederate soldier that led many into battle. This statue is part of American history, whether it is history that we like or not.  It is a period of time that we can learn from and move on from, but I don't feel that moving on means that we must remove the statue because it h...

It's Friday and I am thankful that it is. I really do not know where all of the hours this week went. I have cleaned and I have managed to work my business some, but not as much as I was hoping to get done. I am meeting friends tonight and I am thankful for that. It has been a tough week financially for us, but we managed and we are making the best of things. We have helped my in laws with a new water heater, helped our son with attorney fees for a small matter that he needs to be taken care of, paid a hospital bill from my husband's back surgery, bought groceries, pajamas for the grand doll, had the horse's teeth floated, paid to have the camper floor replaced, and many other small bills. I am exhausted just thinking about it. The brakes went out on the flatbed truck my husband uses for work and so those had to be replaced, but of course, other things were wrong when he tore it down so we had to replace those parts as well. UGH! I despise car repairs! Nothing is ever a...

As I struggle weekly to keep up with all the chores that I need to accomplish, I have tried many things - a schedule, daily chore list, cleaning one room a day, etc. All of the ways online to keep your home in order and still manage to get other chores done, but I always seem to fail. Not that my home is not clean as I am cleaning part of it every day, but it just seems as though the clutter never leaves. Clutter at our home is usually papers and just things that get carried in from another room and never put up. I decided today that I was going to tackle an area that needed to be cleaned and decluttered. I have a wooden cabinet that I was using for a work space when I first began my Pink Zebra business and it had suddenly became a catch all. I decided that I was tired of seeing the clutter on top of it and not being able to see what was inside of it, plus I needed a space to place the board games that seem to never get played in the summer.  I felt that the job was going to be a...

"Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors" is a line in a book that I am currently reading and it reminded me so much of the many times that I have wondered why our world is in such a state of dishevel and why crime is so prevalent. Many times I have said to myself that I don't understand why God created men to be abusive to their wives, men that are sick and abuse children, women and men that harm their own children. Many times I have questioned why God has allowed so much evil into the world. Today, while reading a book, I realize that God is not the one allowing it to happen. Society is the force allowing it to happen. We have tried to control our lives in our way and not allow God to work in His way. Starting with the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve, God did not tempt Eve to take that apple. The serpent did and God did not make her eat it, instead of asking God what she should do or si...

Hello Friends! I intended to write this blog post yesterday, but I failed at that. I was going to write it at 11:30 yesterday evening so that I could write my Friday FunBits post, but I decided that I was sleepy and went to bed. However, I have not lost sight of my goals that I set for myself as I have written three posts this week. Anyway, this beautiful sunny morning is bringing some wonderfully cool weather to us and I am thrilled to see it. Our heat and humidity has been awful the past few weeks, but this morning is just beautiful. It is 57 degrees at the moment and the sun is out and shining through the trees in my sideyard that I can see from the window by the desk. The roosters are crowing to wake the neighborhood and I have already taken a walk with my cup of coffee to take a treat to Rambler, my horse. My husband and daughter went to Ohio for the weekend and so I am home alone basically. My mom is here but she spends most of her time in her room and so I have most of the h...

Mid week is here and I swear I have done enough work for the entire week. I have been actively working my Pink Zebra business this week and I have been doing much work around the house as well. The farm tends to be a little hectic mid to late summer and it seems that I have hit that time. Never enough hours in the day to finish the work that needs to take place. UGH! Mainly this week has been corn.  I have pictures of the corn for you but it seems that they are not loading at this time. I guess I will just write without photos. My husband and I love to freeze sweet corn for winter and this year we decided that I would do most of it this week. That means many hours in the kitchen with ears of corn needing shucked, blanched and cut off cob, placed into freezer bags, labeled and put in freezer. I don't mind the work really but it is hot work and the air conditioner just doesn't seem to circulate much air in our kitchen. Luckily, my daughter did help some this year. Since Monda...