Our House is Covered in Snow...

And we have the coolest, most Christmas-like weather vane ever.

More Snow!

We got 6 inches of snow overnight. The roads had not been plowed, and our truck promptly slid in the ditch on a turn. A neighbor pulled it out for us, but what a morning!

The Continuing Soap Opera of the Dog Fence...

As if the new fence wasn't enough, we now have old people teasing our dogs from across the fence when we are not around. This morning, we saw a little old man and woman at the end of the driveway, yelling at the dogs and saying they needed to be run out of town. What??

We also heard an interesting story from a friend. This story concerns the disposition of plums we witnessed being picked from our yard by the very same person who started this whole dog debacle. It seems she is giving away our plums as Christmas Gifts to the locals.

We put up the wrong kind of fence, I am afraid. We need one to protect us from mean and vicious senior citizens who like to steal our fruit and tease our dogs.

By and large, most people in this town are very pleasant. There does, however, remain an element with which no-one can seem to please. No wonder it is so hard to get younger families to move to rural areas such as this. It is mind boggling that a certain element of the town's society would rather see it die than change for the better with new people and ideas.

Well, for what it is worth, the dogs are here to stay, and so is the new fence. I can't wait to see what else develops...

A Very Snowy end to November...

After we got back from our trip to Texas, it began snowing on November 30th. It really didn't stop until yesterday. We got about 8 inches a night, except for one crazy night when we got 2 feet! School has been called off for nearly a week now.

These kids REALLY need to go back to school.

I hear we are due for more starting Monday night. Oh Brother!

Fences Make Good Neighbors

The past few weeks here at Skunky Acre we have been busy installing a fence along the only open area on our property. When we moved in we had no fencing what so ever. As time has passed we have slowly been separating ourselves from the rest of the crazy people in our town. We never wanted it this way, when we moved in I loved the open yard connecting to everyone else. I envisioned everyone just sharing, and boy was I wrong. First our chickens bothered one neighbor, then our dog bothered another, people indiscriminatly stop in and pick our fruit with out even asking, neighbors dogs attack our livestock, etc. We are hoping the fence will help in other ways also. I am silly enough to believe that any fence that would keep in 2 dogs will keep out a pack of hungry coyotes, or that having the dogs fenced in the yard will help chase off some of the predators who are desimating our flock this year. We have lost 3 chickens in 2 weeks and wake every morning and immediately run to the chicken house to do a chicken check. The fence is almost complete, well actually the fence is complete, all that is left is to install a gate across our driveway. This is a major project that will involve hiring someone to dig through very rocky soil so we can install the gate posts. I think in the end it will be nice and we will love it. Fences make good neighbors after all.

R.I.P. Larry 2006-2009

That is right our sweet little Larry is dead. He was fiendishly attacked in the night by a rogue raccoon. We all miss him terribly, and the kids cry about it quite a bit. You see Larry was a bantam rooster so therefore useless as anything but a pet. We had all become very attached to our little rooster. He was the comic relief for the chicken house, and never failed to make us laugh. He truly left his foot prints on our hearts and we will never be the same.

Really, We don't need you...

The Turkey decided to help us stack firewood, if you could call it help. He needs to go in a pot, soon...

Crazy Mountain Folks

I think the title really wraps it up. We have truly become crazy mountain folks and you know what ... we love it.

We had the kids Halloween parties at school, complete with a lunch room turned into a haunted house, and a parade at the end of the day. It was the parade with the exciting story because you see it was 18 degrees outside and actively snowing. But we still had that parade all around town with all the elementary and middle school kids waving and screaming " Happy Halloween". The parade goers even had candy to throw at the parade ( a bit backwards but fun). What a wonderful day, and what a wonderful school.

Happy Halloween ?

Yes, that is right it is not even Halloween yet and we are already on our SECOND snow. Go figure !

My Friends Ass

If you want to see a good friend of mines ass, just rent Transformers 2 ( out today on DVD).

What ....

get your mind of of the gutter, she rents and sells donkeys. Hers is reportedly pulling a cart in this movie but I can't say for sure. It seems that I am not a very good friend ( or mom of boys for that matter) and did not go see the movie in the theaters. I do ,however ,have it on the way to my house as we speak from netflix.

Who Is That Man And Why Is He Screaming At Me

The nearest I can figure out his name is Charlie. That would be the total that I know.

Now for the story......

I came home from taking my youngest to the doctor, back when the horrible sickness had taken over the house, only to find my husband a bit upset. Apparently some strange man in a white truck had pulled into the driveway, gotten out, and began to scream at us. Being a sane man my husband avoided all contact with said man. This action only made the gentleman more upset. He eventually left, and my husband assumed I would know what what going on. When I arrived home with my sick little one I was asked if we knew anyone in a white truck with a funny mustache and if I knew why he would yell at us. Of course I knew nothing. I now got to spend the entire week or so asking everyone up and down the street if they knew him and if they knew what was wrong. I am sure my neighbors think I am crazy. I stop everyone walking up and down the road, and quiz anyone I can catch driving by. I have been told everything from my dog scared a little old lady ( the same lady who comes in my yard and picks my fruit when she thinks I am not looking, by the way) to I have a viscous dog that tries to eat people. Truth be told, no one knows what happened. Maybe eventually I will find Charlie and we can find out the truth.

The latest from Skunky Acre

I know it has been quite some time since I made a post. I really have no excuse other than being busy, and isn't everyone now days. I do, however, have quite a bit of fun and excitement to spread all across the internet. So here goes, the latest infomation coming out of Skunky Acre.

We had a rooster rebellion. Long story short, if you have male anythings and lock them up to keep them away from the females they will find a way out every single time. No matter how much fencing you patch, or how attractive you make the lovely private quarters.

We are also not having our calls returned by the majority of our friends. If I have learned anything living out here it is that if you are trying to find a home for a wonderful huge potential meat bird sperm donor people forget to call you back. And we have 3. I guess they will just end up in the freezer. It is a shame though, lovely genes they have.

A huge round of sickness has also passed through the house. I am crossing my fingers and hoping that it is all over. I think I was the worst. I went to the doctor because I could not figure out what was wrong with me. The doctor took one look at me, took my temp., and said sweet heart you are sick with the flu. Go home and get in bed. Leave it to a mom to not see the forest for the trees.

All our pumpkins died this year. We had beautiful lush plants, but all the fruit rotted right on the vine. Well, I take that back one made it this far but it has not turned orange yet so we will see. This leads us to finding pumpkins for Halloween. Lucky for us some friends up the street have a pick your own field. The boys are begging to go, but I told them we have to wait until we are all not contagious, and everyone is actually attending school again. They are a little unhappy about that.

I also agreed to let my oldest boy have a good chunk of the football team have a party and spend the night, and I added my youngest first sleep over to the evening. Some of the other moms responded with statements like " What ! are you on crack", and " There must be something wrong with you". I answered with " what is one more monkey in a barrel", and " No, I don't do drugs or drink for that matter". And for their part all of the kids were wonderfully well mannered, the big kids were nice and included the little kids, and the evening was a lot of fun.


I have finally found the limit of what exactly our Toyota Prius can hold. I fit 2 adults, 3 kids, 2 drum sets, my husbands bunker gear ( for fire fighting), 2 sets of football gear, 3 back packs full of home work, and one bag of soccer gear in my little car. Now I don't know if I given the opportunity I could fit more, but we were fairly loaded down. Who says little cars can tow the line !

That is all for now, I am sure I am forgetting a ton of exciting news but I will have to post it as I remember. Please check back for my up coming post. It will be titled " who is that man and why is he screaming at us".

Fall Means Football and Soccer...

There is a nip in the air, it can only mean one thing... Sports. The first game of the season was Saturday, for both boys. It was the youngest's first year to play.

Just Some Advice

Last Week At Skunky Acres

This past week at Skunky Acres has been a busy one. Our youngest resident started kindergarden and has had a roller coaster ride. Kindergarden is a pressure cooker now days( it is definitely not the sweet little class I went to). Now it is big school and the kids are put through the ringer. Our little one is adapting well, but has his ups and downs. I am also adjusting to having an empty, quiet house for the first time in 10 years. I miss both my boys when they are at school, but I will have to admit it is nice to have some time to myself.

The new dog is also settling in, although it has occurred to our original dog that she is sticking around longer than the others before her. Freckles spends her days looking at the new dog and sighing. They get along well, though. Penny is even accepting her name change well. She is wonderful and I can't imagine our life with out her any more.

Toyota Prius, the Ultimate Farm Vehicle

Do to the county fair I have really put my car to the test this week and I have discovered it is quite the little champ. We have hauled 80 pound healthy dogs, a 45 pound bleeding dog, 100 pounds of feed, kids, shopping bags, chickens, even buckets of livestock bedding. It may need a little cleaning out, but I think it has really proved its worth.

Ladies and Gentlemen We have a Winner

After seriously questioning the place in our home for a second dog, and giving up for the most part that we would ever have one a wonderful thing happened. A friend recommended a web site called petfinder.com. What a wonderful web site. It allows you to look at the pets in your area, enter your criteria, and then you can email the rescue groups to see if they think the dog will match your family. This is a much better system than randomly bringing home dogs from the animal shelter. After lots of looking and lots of emailing we now have a wonderful dog. She is a 2 year old Catahoula Leopard dog, and she is everything we had in mind when we decicded we had room for a new pet. So far she is good with the chickens, the cats, and Freckles. I guess that this must be the breed for us since Freckles (our original dog) is one also. I will post pictures as soon as I have some.

Score

Skunky Acre is proud to announce that it is now home to an award winning chicken. Sally the buff cochin and her owner took not only first place for the large breed chickens, but grand reserve champion for the entire poultry house at the local county fair.

Is my son cool or what !

Sad

Max had to go back this morning. It was a very difficult decision but I made it. He was just to hard to control ( he ran away 5 or 6 times a day), he ate my house, and he tried to eat a cat. The cat one is what broke the camels back. I can't endanger the welfare of one of the animals I already have. I miss him, and wish him nothing short of a wonderful home. I am also questioning the place in our home for a second dog. We have the room, love, and desire but it is just to hard to find one that fits. I guess we have a lot of thinking to do.

Dog Number 54

Our quest to get a second dog has become a crazy affair. The first dog we brought home attacked Freckles ( our original dog) and hurt her bad enough that she needs several medications and veterinary care. Then we brought home a puppy, you can imagine why that one went back the same day. Right now we have Max. He has been giving us quite the run around, but we think we might keep him. The vote is in the morning so we have until then to continue to evaluate. Max has proven to be a handful. The first night we had him he decided to leave and hike all the way down the mountain to a movie theater. Lucky for us the local animal control found him, and we decided to call them on a whim. He is a sweet heart though and I really hope he works out.

Why is this titled Dog Number 54 you ask. Well, when we were bringing home Max he had no name. I asked the boys what they wanted to name this latest dog. My oldest son replied " Oh, I don't know how about Dog Number 54". To be fair we have named quite a few animals this week alone. I feel his frustration.

Chaos Rules

Do you know how as you go through life you learn things about yourself, things you would never have guessed?

Well, I came to the realization today that I love chaos. How else could you explain my actions and my life for that matter.

First let me say my husband is having surgery in a week and a half, my kids are in the middle of getting ready for school to start, the garden is producing,
I am personally remodeling a basement ( and teaching myself new skills in order to do it), we are in the middle of a coyote invasion, not to mention the fact that I still have a house full of men to run on a daily basis, and a million animals I am personally responsible for. Now this house I am running is not done in the normal fashion for say someone living in 2009. No, I can't do that. I have taken us back a few years and I do things the old fashioned way. So when I say a house to run I mean laundry to hang dry on the line, dinner to cook from scratch ( now where did that hatchet go ?), etc. Any how, back to the enlightened moment. Today as I added a new dog to the batch and threw in a extra kid I began to question myself. Why would I purposefully go and get a dog ( my husband and I have been considering it) and then turn around and tell my 10 year old " sure your friend can spend the night what is another monkey in the barrel".

The answer is I must love the crazy topsy turvy life. Who knew ?

In A Pickle

I spent the day today making dill pickles from an old family recipe and ingredients from the near by farm of a friend. All in all it was a lovely day in the kitchen made even better when some friends stopped by and chatted with me as I cooked away. They only had moral support to offer though not having any know how in the canning department. I have not made pickles in many a moon, and don't really know if this recipe is even any good. My family is not known for its cooking heritage. But I am out there trying, learning, and sometimes failing.

If You Show Me Yours, I Will Show You Mine

Mowhawk Mike is now officially a contestant in the local county fairs poultry show. He is mean as fire, and looks like the devil. Isn't that the chicken you would want to carry around in a cage?

I wonder how that will go over?

Better yet, I wonder what his views will be over the situation?

Five !

It happened.

Yesterday my sweet little baby left behind his babyhood and entered his childhood. Yes, that is right he turned 5 and will enter kindergarden in a few weeks. How did it all happen so fast? Why can't I rewind time? If you have not noticed I am having a bit of a hard time with the fact that he turned five. He did, however, have a wonderful time at his army party. It was the first official party of his life, and all his little friends came.

Done

I can't believe I did it ! In only around 2 1/2 hours this room went from uncarpeted to carpeted. Of course moving the furniture and toys in and out took longer, but it is all worth it. Now my older son wants his room done also. I think we have turned an important corner here at Skunky Acre.

Now I wonder if I can dry wall ?

Full of Myself

With all the success in fighting the school board I am a bit giddy with power. So I have decided I can now do all sorts of things. Things which lead my husband to question not only my sanity, but his choice in a wife. This leads us to our story today.

I have come to the conclusion that I can install my own carpet. Yes, you read that right. It can't be that hard, can it? The guy at the home improvement store laughed when I said that, by the way. I just figure that if we can raise and butcher our own meat, take on social injustice, etc then we should be able to do something as simple as install carpet. OK, OK you can stop laughing now. But this really has the potential to save us some real hard cash. Tomorrow is the big day. I will keep you posted as always.

School Fight Update...

After several weeks of pure work and literally hundreds of emails and other attention grabbing antics, it appears we have prevailed in the fight to save our local school. The governor announced he will be reviewing the school budget and will provide funding to make up the difference and keep the school open.

Politics in action. Gotta' love it.

They Are Back

The coyotes are afoot once again here on the acre. Yesterday ( at 5:45 in the morning !) they got a particular favorite of ours. Junior the rooster is no more, and we are sad. He was the comic relief around here. My favorite story is the one where he steals the chicken head from the butcher block and runs around the yard with it for most of the day. What a character. As you can imagine we started the coyote reduction program upon juniors death. We have not had any success as of yet, but we will prevail. Until then the chickens are on lock down, and super pissed about it.

There Is A Snake In My Boots !

Well, he may be in there or any where else for that matter. You see my kiddos found a nice sized garden snake the other day. They did like all little boys and kept him in a clear shoe box with a lid. You know the kind that organized women keep their nice shoes in. They are plastic and make great animal containers. The kids wanted to sleep with their "best friend in the world" so off to bed everyone and his snake went the other night. Fast forward to the next morning when there is an empty snake container in the bed and a slightly irritated mother. Now I am not sure what happened, or where mr. snake went but I do know that his "food", a nice juicy grasshopper who was in the box with him at some point, emerged later in the afternoon. He hopped right into my open paint can, then hopped right out again leaving a trail of grass hopper prints all over the house. It was a very exciting day as you can imagine.

My Sense Of Humor Is Returning

The rains are letting up a bit, my house only slightly sinks of water damage, there is no longer a Christmas tree in my living room, we have word from the school board about a meeting to " voice our concerns", and now my sense of humor is returning. I am feeling a little over whelmed with all the activities at the moment, but a lot of good is also going down.

I may have to rip a ton of water damage out of the basement, but at least it is in the guest room and bathroom. Those areas can be out of service for quite some time and not be a big pain. I also get to finally decorate down there. We have chosen Fresh Grape Juice for the color in the bathroom. Sort of cool in a Harry Potter kind of way. Oh, we also got a ton of junk cleaned out of our storage area. A bunch of it was " stuff you hang on to but don't really have a need for". Gee, once that is water damaged it can go. Talk about feeling groovy.

The school board has agreed to give us another meeting so they can hear our concerns. Like they don't already know we are going to come in a throw a fit. It is, however, giving us some amount of hope. Maybe we are winning over a few people, and maybe we can win this battle. The lines are already drawn and the vote is in 6 days.

Washed Away

As many of you know our lovely little town clings to the side of a very tall mountain. Yesterday said mountain was hit hard with hard fast rain. So much so that most of the roads, and some of the houses are washing out. We are lucky and only have minor water damage in the basement, I guess that means I should reconsider putting carpet down there. Some of our neighbors have mud slides in their houses. Thank goodness for sandbags, and lets all hope it stops raining.

Now Where Did That Chicken Go ?

So I guess my sense of humor has taken an odd turn living out here, but this is what we have been doing now that our little fight to save the school has hit a lull. We are still waiting for a response from the school board and the superintendent. That means we have time to evaluate our flock and take some ( for lack of a better word) action. We have 10 chickens in the deep freeze , 2 meat birds that have to go this week or they will just fall over dead, and a bunch of accidental roosters that need some down sizing. The reduction program for the roosters is going to be by far the hardest. We are attached to some, and others we are still a little unsure if in fact they are roosters. I would hate to kill a good laying hen just about to drop her first egg.

SSHHHH, You Don't Know Me

Ok, so it now appears that I am a media sensation.

I guess that means I will have to start wearing dark glasses and a scarf when I leave the house, well that or I will have to take the young Hollywood direction and just wear no underwear and short skirts and use none of the lady like skills my mother taught me when I get out of a car.

I should tell you the story of my meteoric rise to stardom.

The big meeting was on Thursday and we gave them hell. I mean we really showed up in force and defended what is ours. Apparently the school superintendent had mentioned to a few people that he thought only a hand full of people would show up. He had quite the surprise when we not only filled the room to standing room only, but people where lined up in the hall way to speak their minds. To say he looked like a deer in headlights is an understatement. We even had several news outlets there, including the big ol tv station for the state. Can you guess who they interviewed and platstered all over the 10 o'clock news.

Lesson learned never do that again

Not that the interview was bad, but I don't like looking or hearing myself on tv.

Now all we have to do is wait, and see if they give us another meeting ( and tell us the time and place) or if they change their minds. Wish us luck.

Sticking It To The Man

Most of the activity around here for the past week has been centered around our campaign to keep the community school open. We even spent fathers day handing out fliers and passing around a petition. Letters have been written, meetings attended, friendships made, and our little hamlet is really coming together. Boy howdy is it all exhausting, and I am just a foot soldier in the fight. My friend is the head of the movement and I am a little unsure how she is maintaining her sanity. The whole event is, however, reenforcing the decision we have made to send our kids to the neighboring school district. It was a very hard decision, but they have a lovely school with small classes which they will never close. That would mean no constant fighting and worry for us. It will also mean keeping our children on the mountain where they belong for all of the school days ahead.

Schools out .... forever

We have received terrible news. The front page of the paper has announced that the school district wants to close our wonderful little 2 room school house. No matter that if they do they will have to bus all our sweet little kiddos all the way down a 9000 foot mountain to the big elementary school, or that our school is the oldest continuously operating school in the state of New Mexico. They say it will save them one million dollars to close it. Now if it takes them that much money to operate a school for 24 kids than I am a monkeys uncle. We plan on fighting ...... watch out big mean school board here we come.

Uninspired

It seems that lately I have been a bit uninspired. It is not like nothing interesting has been going on, you an I know better than that.

My mother in law came and showed me how to vacuum my ceiling ( brilliant ! so why had I not thought of that). The dog showed up one morning sprayed by a skunk, did I mention it just happened to be the day my mother in law called to say she was on her way. The basement flooded with sewer when the boys ( which one is in question) flushed something they should not have down the toilet. The geese found a new home which is lovely and they will be so happy there. A bear got into our chicken feed ( we know because we saw the foot prints) and tossed everything willy nilly. I also broke the lawn mower and I did a really good job. I am not sure exactly what happened but black smoke came out of a crack in some important looking metal. I am not a mechanical person but I am sure that is bad.

I am sure there are countless other little things that I can't remember but today I became inspired once again so here is my story.

I woke up this morning not quite moving very fast. The usual mommy get up, mommy get up, being my alarm call. Then when I walked in the kitchen and opened the door to let the cat out 4 beautiful deer stood looking a me. There were also deer stalking the chicken coop looking for left overs. I shut the door and went on about my morning only to notice the deer just watching me through the screen door. So whats a girl to do...... I just sat and watched them back. We sat there quite a while , looking at each other. That is when it happened I thought of how peaceful it was and how I just love living here and inspiration struck.

It had to happen...

We all knew it was coming. The Geese decided they wanted to be badder than we could tolerate, and got moved to a new home. After several months of them picking on the hens, they have been moved to a large pond and now have new people. We will visit them when we can, but they no longer live at our little abode.

A Bird In Hand .......

The chicks are growing like mad, and we now walk them every day in the garden. The boys are particularly attached to the little gray one my son is holding here, but I really love the little black one in the other picture. Good thing these are going to be our laying hens because we are a little to friendly with them to eat them. I think this batch is a little different because we hatched our own eggs this time.
We also have a big batch of eating birds we picked up the other day. They are just as cute as the laying hens, but we are trying hard not to get to attached. If they are anything like the last batch of broilers they will have awful personalities so that will not be to big a problem.

With the days being warmer we are starting to get out into the yard and " spring clean". It feels so good to be able to hang dry our laundry again, and I am super excited about the sprouts I now see in the garden.

Bad Goose, Very Bad Goose

It seems as if our geese have developed a new and VERY BAD habit. They now spend their days standing at the end of our drive waiting for joggers, trash pick up men, wandering teens, etc to pass by. They must then defend our house against such obvious intruders. Oh, and they also try to bite the tires of passing cars. While this is quite funny to us from the safety of our home, it is not to the intended targets. Full grown African geese are huge and a bit frighting. We are, however, a bit stumped on how to stop them. They are after all wild barnyard geese.

Picking Up Chicks

How cute are our new baby chicks !


It is that time of year again here on the acre. We are now over run with adorable baby chicks and new plants are springing up in the mini green houses in our window sills. This year, how ever, the chicks are extra special. A friend of mine called last month and wanted to know if I wanted in on her hatching plans. They have a commercial incubator and had some room for a few more eggs before they fired it up. So we made a sweet deal, I give her a bunch of eggs and she gives me back half as many chicks. Every one wins with an arrangement like that. Now lets hope I did not end up with all roosters !

Be The Change You Want To See In The World

Ok, so I stole that quote from Gandhi, but that is exactly what my family decided to do.

Any one who knows me at all knows that I have been ranting on and on about wanting an electric car. Our car was getting a few miles on it and we like to have at least one newer car to head out across the vast New Mexico landscape in. So on this trip to the dealership we decided to be that change, and boy are we glad. We are now the proud owners of a 2009 Toyota Prius. Ok, so it is not electric but it is the closest we can find at this time. We are also getting 44 miles to the gallon, and have fallen in love. I was worried at first that it would be a bit small, but in all honesty it fits 90% of what my family does with a car. What about the other 10%, well, I figure we will improvise. Besides it is all apart of my new years resolution, being honest with what I really need.

Today I Had To Shave The Butt of a Cat

I am not sure how else to put it, but I had to do just such a thing today. I am positive that you are wondering why anyone would have to do that. Well, as usual it is quite a interesting story.

You see the victim in this case is poor little Miss Kitty. She is a stray that has been hanging around here for quite some time. She has set up house on our deck and no one , and I mean no one, questions it. I guess you could say she is a little protective of that space. She weighs about 20 pounds ( good deal of which is hair) and she is missing most of her teeth. She is also the next cat to hit the vets office and officially become ours. A point she may be reconsidering right now.

Today as I was feeding her I noticed a small issue. Upon further inspection I found that , how can I put this, because of all the long hair she has some vital body functions had become blocked off. I hope you understand what I am trying to say. Now she is a half wild cat that tolerates us because we feed her. I can't comb all that hair or bathe her to keep her clean, so how was I now going to fix this?

My oldest son and I decided just to wrap her in a BIG beach towel and start shaving. As you can imagine it was a very interesting experience. One I don't hope to ever have to repeat. I am quite positive that Miss Kitty feels the same way. After the event she quickly exited the building and is not coming anywhere near us or our crazy house. It all makes me wonder if we will ever see her again. If not who could blame her.

Falling Off The Wagon

I hate to report that I have already fallen off the stuff wagon. It all started when JCPenny had their 75% off sale on their clearance merchandise. I was able to get over $350 worth of clothing for under $100. With 2 growing, active boys it seems like I am constantly replacing clothes. I just still can't help wondering how much of that we really needed, and how much was just such a great deal I did not want to pass it up. I guess I need to work a little on my new years resolution.

Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff

This January a few things have all come together to make me realize what a culture of stuff we all live in.

First off my boys and I have been reading some of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Yes, she wrote some that appeal to little boys. Did you know when they moved the entire families belongings fit in their wagon. Yes, they could move in one trip and they moved their stove !

Could you? Even if it was just your stuff ?

Or that she was completely amazed when she went to a friends house and they had a room just for eating. I guess better known as a dinning room.

Second it is after Christmas which is my traditional haul stuff to the dump and thrift store time. The other one being in late August when the boys go back to school and I can finally clean out with out their " help". This year I have been in shock at how much just stuff we have accumulated over the year. Did we really bother to buy, haul, and put away all this useless stuff ?

Any how, this year I have hit the clean out trail a little harder than usual and with a new pair of eyes. It just amazes me how much time and money we waste on our stuff, and we are not even the average consumer family. So this year I am making a late New Years Resolution to do a better job of sorting out what I WANT as compared to what we really NEED.

Finally .......

Yes, I know it has been quite some time since I made a post,but I am finally back. Things here at Skunky Acre have been busy, fun, and a little sad.

We can start off with the fact that we had a lovely Christmas. The boys got most of what they wanted, and several opportunities to meet with Santa. We did ,however, move Christmas ahead a few days. Being a fireman my husbands schedule is quite honestly odd. He had a few days off before Christmas, but he had to work Christmas day. We decided to move everything up, but did not tell our offspring. We just simply got up one morning and announced that it was in fact Christmas at our house, if not at any other. The kids were thrilled and had a great time. It all turned out for the better, to, when a family friend died Christmas. We were all a bit sad, and will miss him.

We have also had many, many days of loads of snow falling from the sky with several days of 60 degree weather in between. It has been quite fun since the old snow does not pile up and get yucky, but you still get all the fun of watching it snow. The boys have dragged up an old snow board and been teaching themselves how to use it on the hills in the yard. We are very lucky and there have been no trips to the hospital with that ( knock on wood).

Now ,I am afraid, it is back to the old grind. The boys Christmas breaks are over and the tree is down. We are now into the good old clean out the closets and try new and better habits season.