Bee Hives

Here are a few images of the bee hives we have. They are a Jasckson/Tanzanian style that use top bars or langstroth frames. All home built.

We got some new Chicks!

Spring has come, though with the snow over the weekend you would not know it. Spring always means one thing around this house - Baby Chicks! Here is our newest batch, fresh out of the eggs last Monday. An assortment of Americaunas and Barred Rocks.

Spring is Finally Here!

The snow has finally decided to melt, and the Spring rains have come. Things are getting greener everyday, and the fruit trees have bloomed. We decided to get out of the house and take a trip to the Malpais Lava Flow. This place was formed by a giant volcano that belched forth lava creating a 50 mile long flow of black lava across the high desert plain. The boys love this place.

Way behind here at Skunky Acres...

We have gotten so far behind, it is almost impossible to keep up. Let's see...

In the past month we have had a young 'un get his tonsils removed and ears plugged, A dad with fractured ribs (now healed), and a dead turkey which caused all kinds of sadness. She was a pet after all and died from a chronic illness. The big Tom Turkey is now very lonely and even more annoying as he follows us around the yard.

Basketball season has started for the boys. The oldest is pretty good, but our youngest REALLY needs to learn how to dribble. He is so bad he hurt himself doing it. Pretty sad...

We are still recieving a large amount of snow, but the days are getting warmer at least. In fact, we are due more snow this weekend.

That about sums it up. More snow than actual family activities going on.

News from the Acre...

Hot off the press...

Tomorrow is ski day at school. Part of the benefits of living in a ski resort town, is that the local school takes them to the slope every Friday for ski instruction. Our oldest is quite excited.

In other news...

It is still snowing. We are about two feet deep and holding for now, in our yard. Cloudcroft has been hammered and is sitting under about 3 feet of the stuff. All of it piled on the 3 feet from two days ago. It is awful for travel, but great for skiing. All the trails are currently open.

More news...

In a totally unexpected development, the patriarch of our little family has broken another bone. This time it is a rib. Ouch!

Snow, Snow, and More Snow...

It just seems to keep on snowing here on our mountain. We have lived here for several years, and this is by far the snowiest we have seen it. We have literally gotten pounded by snow every 3 to 5 days since the end of September. The snow in our yard almost melted totally off just once, and it promptly snowed again later that night.

A little further up the mountain, they are measuring their daily snow in feet, and not inches like we have become accustomed to over the last few years.

All this snow should make for a really green spring when it finally stops, say around late May, if the past winters are any example. That is a whole 8 months with snow in them.

And they say New Mexico is a desert.

The Raccoons must be Starving...

The night before last, our local Raccoon posse decided to invade our rooster pen. It did not go as planned. Even though carnage and death was involved, it was funny to see those three roosters open a can of destruction on the raccoons.

We stopped it and scared off those furry little marauders.

Unfortunately, they came back later on and snatched one of our meanest roosters. It is actually a mixed blessing. We are sort of glad he is gone, but sad he went the way he did.

Taking the Rakes Skating...

We took our two boys, aged 10 and 6 ice skating today. Wouldn't you know, the first thing that my oldest boy did was use his man skills and pick up a girl. They skated around hand in hand for a while, then dissappeared to go build snow forts together. Suffice to say, we left shortly afterwards.

When your ten year old dissappears in the woods with a girl, it is time to go.

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".