What else is going on

So my Noble Assistant is also busy doing other things that require a lot of attention to detail. But I'll let her explain:





So, it's me, Little Princess. Grandma and I made a clay pot. I know you are wondering why the heck we made a pot for. The answer was that I had to do it for art.

First we gathered the ingredients, 1 cup water, 1 cup flour, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1/4 cup salt, and 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil, we had to get a meduim size pot (cooking pot), to put it in. We kept stirring it till it got too hard. We let ut set for 15 minutes the had to knead it.

then we went at it. we started sculpturing it so that when we got done we felt like we would never get up, it was that hard.

Uncle jon-jon, Uncle Ed when you come back up we will try to have a suvernier for you both.

It's Done, Finally

Here it is another weekend gone by with a lot to show for it.

What takes at least 4 weeks of on and off work, at least two gallons of Bourbon and Gin, and untold cokes and Dr. Peppers?

This


Boy am I glad we are finally done with it. Now to look at it for a couple days, take it apart and put it back in the box to do later...

If you look close enough, you'll see the table the OleTrucksterWantaBe delivered to the farm last year. That was a chore in itself. Had to sit and wait forever to see it come out of the Truckster.

That's another way we

Celebrate Life

What a wild week

Ok, so I have been overdoing it a bit and ended up on a treadmill to make sure my old ticker is still in good running order. After all, I can't let the Bus get ahead of me in ailments. Better yet, have a run for it Bus.

So while I was off doing other things this week, the Barngoddess was again trying to stir up the local economy by helping out our friendly bulldozer operator. Seems he was contracted to clear an area by the new highschool, and found a few hog feeders. Well he calls the Barngoddess, and sooner than later we have three new additions to our farm.



She gets off rather easy on paying 2/10 of the going price for these feeders.

Pride of the Farm, 12 hole hog feeders, in really good shape, only one is missing the cover. Two are 80 bushel and one is 60 bushel. Now I know that doesn't mean much to most of you, but it means you don't have to fill it as often.

So we have pig feeders, 3 to be exact... and wouldn't you know it, we sent our last hog to the butcher this past Monday. Sharks angel and a male friend, took the pig in his truck and trailer with our stock racks to Carthage.




Alas I got a phone call at work that his Explorer (exploder) lost the transmission on I44 at the 22.4 mile marker, returning from the delivery.
So the Barngoddess is off with my noble assistant in the Taurus to rescue the two of them. I take off early, head home and get the trailer and head for the 22.4 milemarker. Long story short, we got the Exploder on the trailer, Taurus hooked to the little trailer and we made our voyage to his place, unloading and reloading, and headed home.

So the last pig is at the butcher, and the Barngoddess now owns 3, count em, 3, 12 space hog feeders. Does this mean I will have to build a hog lot so we can become a hog feeder operation? Watch out DNR, the Barngoddess is not to be messed with, and only time will tell.

I was supposed to investigate the feeders and determine a price (seems we already have potential buyers wanting to know how much? and condition? Well rain this week kept me from my appointed duties.

Today was the day to grab my noble assistant (check out her shirt):


and investigate their usage. But the wind and rain made us hunker down in the "Bronco Garage" and work on My Bronc.
Oh did I mention, Her Bronc is at the local auto body shop getting laser'd? The doors just wouldn't cooperate in closing and latching, so to the Marionville Auto body shop she went. The previous owners welded body panels and door sills in the wrong place. So they are going to measure the door posts with their new laser machine and make new door posts so the doors will close "every time". Supporting the local economy every chance we get.

So my noble assistant and I got My Bronc put back together. Making it more weather tight that it was, hooking up lights to the dash so I can see at night, little things like that.

She even got off a couple photogs while I was working to show that I do, every once in awhile, work.



She even got a photog of the finished floor board that we somehow managed to seal up all the cracks and holes.


Oh yeah, forgot to mention, we had our Amish friends over for dinner Friday night, and in the process got all the horses feet trimmed up nicely, and had a good visit nontheless. Always relaxing to visit with Eli and Edna. Same age as Barngoddess and I, and although totally different lifestyles, we enjoy each others company.

So the snow is on the ground, the wind is howling, we got My Bronc ready for the road again, and Her Bronc will soon be zipping all over the county, found us a replacement vacation vehicle, read some good info over the internet, and basically

Celebrated Life today.

Love to Mary and Carol, my younger sisters, thanks for the support from them over the past year. and to the baby, Joan. Keeper of the Haven Lee Farm, NW Florida division.

Love to all.

Cold and wet weather here

Well it is Saturday and had tons of plans for outside work, but weather has decided to teach me a lesson. Snow and more snow and cold blowing wind.

Spent afternoon working on My Bronc getting it back together so I can drive in rain and not get wet. Fix dash lights, stuff like that.

Did find a couple camp vehicles I wouldn't mind having:


1935bowlusRoadChiefTrailer


Wothahellizat

3/26/08 flash to 3/26/09

3/26/08 enroute to work, the Bus called me to say that our Mom had gone "to dance with the fishes" or words similiar to that.

flash forward to

3/26/09: I just happened to look at my Horoscope for today (actually we call it Horrorscope)

ironically this was after I sent an email to my brothers reminding them of today.

My horoscope: Gemini (May 21-June 21). What would your mom do in this situation? It might not be the best answer , but it leads you to think about your problem

I spent an hour and a half in a meeting with David Rauch, District Director for Senator Claire McCaskill this afternoon. A couple times I bit my tongue to keep from firing off a sarcastic remark to an attendee or two at this meeting. In retrospect, Mom would have said, let them have their say and when they quit bitching, put the facts on the table.

So thanks Mom for thinking of me today. I have done the same of you over the past few days.

Tonight I wonder why I didn't go to Mom and Dad's gravesite, putting flowers there in memory. The answer although long and complex is really very simple.

Celebrate Life and live it to it's fullest. By doing this I am living to the standards that Mom and Dad set for me long ago.

And a classic from the Gentleman Farmer still rings in my ears:

"Illegitum non-carborendum"

Latin for "Don't let the bastards get you down" or words to that effect.

And this allows me to

Celebrate Life to it's fullest.

4 wheeling in Marionville MO

When you consider what is 4 wheeling, you have to go to my brother's blog from down in the Sunshine State.

4 wheeling Florida style

He talks about 4 wheeling and mud pits and water and breaking jeeps.

Now here at the Haven Lee Farm we have our own style of 4 wheeling in Her Bronc...

First is the Barngoddess's idea of 4 wheeling:




Second is the Little Princess's idea of 4 wheeling:



Third is Her Bronc after the Horsefarmer took it for a run around the pond, see the mud, mud is good, see me wash Her Bronc to get the mud off it.... NAH...



So Her Bronc is up and running, and quite well I might add.
Tommorrow is inspection day, and registration time. Yeah, more taxes to pay...

Now we have a few parts left over that are going on Craig's List, or ebay, depending on what the Oleragtop is doing later this week.



So that is what we do on a warm sunny afternoon at the Farm.
Oh yeah, Little Princess got a snap of what else I got to do today, first mowing of the season..... lot's more to come.



Stopped at the Bus's place the other night and had a good conversation with him. His son came over and we solved all the world's problems, so we can now


Celebrate Life.

The Bus has taught me well....

So the Bus in running for public office has taught me well. I took notes and watched as he progressed through those long campaigns.

I have taken his advice and have been putting forth my two cents worth to my Senators and Congressman, both the DC group and the State group.

So here I am, reading my Friday emails and find that I have been invited to meet with Crystal Quade of Senator McCaskill's team. And it's in Aurora no less.

Dear Mr. Lee:

My name is Crystal Quade and I am a Staff Assistant for Senator Claire McCaskill. I will be in your area on Thursday, March 26th from 1:00-2:30 at the Heritage Harmony House, 700 Hudson, Aurora on behalf of the Senator. Please stop by and express your thoughts and concerns. If you have any questions, please reply to this email or call my office at 417-868-8745.
Sincerely,
Crystal Quade
Staff Assistant
Office of Senator Claire McCaskill

You can bet your sweet booties that I will try to excuse myself from work that day and meet Ms Quade and discuss some of my concerns with the Country today.

So Bus you taught me well...........

Oh it is nice

to have an assistant who is small enough to get into those tight spots, and agile enough to slide under, around, and over parts to get those bolts undone.

Arriving at home around 5 this afternoon, I was delighted by a garden well into the planting stages (more about that later) and my handy assistant ready to get to work on Her Bronc.

Now we are almost finished with putting the floor mats in and only thing left is to put the heater back in, pull the back seat and seat belts and lay the back section of mating, then put the seat back in.

So while Sharks Angel and I put the heater back in, and then I went to change clothes so not to soil my work clothes [ kind of like the Gentleman Farmer mowing a hay field in shirt and tie one day at the original Haven Lee Farm = I'm going to have to find that picture one of these days ],
ps. My assistant just told me that all I ever do is look for pictures.

So anyway, I change into grub clothes for under Her Bronc work and return to the "Haven Lee's Repair Shop" to find my worthy assistant under Her Bronc doing what I was going to do. Bravo for her.



here's another view to show what she was really doing:



OleLongRoof, J wants you to notice she is in perfect "Uncle JOHN-JOHN" attire, SHORTS.

Temp was 72 when I got home, so the garden was planted in bare feet and shorts.

Here we are working with the door open, boy do I love working on old trucks when the temp is agreable to this old body.


if you look closely, you'll see my assistant still working under Her Bronc.

Now to set the record straight:
Her Bronc refers to the white 1966 Bronco Wagon (Long Roof, fully enclosed)[# 6,056 made by Ford in 1966) that the Barngoddess bought for me for Christmas, but that she decided she wanted after all.



My Bronc refers to the teal 1966 Bronco Roadster (open body)#21,814 made in 1966, that I bought for the Barngoddess for Christmas that she decided she didn't want and gave to me for New Years.



The sagas of the Broncos. One other item of note, we had to put one of our real Broncos up in a seperate field on Saturday afternoon, because he was chasing the cows. A naughty naughty thing to do on this farm.



So Haven Lee's Ice Storm got put up by himself until he meets the nice Vet with the knife, and our Bronco Storm becomes a Neutral Storm.

So my worthy assistant, the Little Princess, is to inherit My Bronc when I give it up and get an older Bronc. But that won't be for another 6 years, has to learn how to drive a 3 speed on the floor first. Explained to her it is a lot different that driving her IH Super C, but it will come in time.

So that's what we did today to

CELEBRATE LIFE.


This blog was approved by my worthy assistant. Any misspelled words, out of text punctuation, not making sense sentences, well, too bad, we had fun writing it.jll/tcl

WHATCHA DOING?

So looking forward to the weekend and time to spend working (playing) around the ole homestead.

Fields to disc and get ready for seeding.
Garden to till again, it's almost time for carrots and onions.
New full floor mat to install in Her Bronc.
Just have fun reading blogs.

Started discing the field where that dozer cleared the tornado debris.
One of the Barngoddess's horses started chasing the cows, so got side tracked.
Hooked the tiller up to the big deere and tilled the garden again.
and went to work getting Her Bronc ready to put the floor mats in.

Saturday after lunch, started on a three hour project. Quit last night around 8 pm taking longer than thought. Lots of holes to fill in or cover up so rain doesn't get under that new floor mat.
So to do the job right, we pulled all the seats, pulled the tranny shifter, pulled the heater, pulled the emergency brake bracket... get the point.

Went at it again today and at 5 finally had the mat in place. Now to re-install what we de-installed yesterday. Will soon have it complete and ......
will look for something else to do... NAH, it's garden time and evenings will be spent using my little tiller to get between the rows.

Few pics of work in progress...........




So now is time to sit on front porch and watch all the cars go by.. and of course

Celebrate Life

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS ????????

Insurance giant paying out $165 million in bonuses

WASHINGTON – American International Group is giving its executives tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses even though it received a taxpayer bailout of more than $170 billion

WHAT THE HECK is going on here?

Sell shitty loans and get a bonus at MY expense.

AIG should not get a penny more. Tell your Senators and Congressmans.... HELL NO

$170 billion and then give out $165 to "The large bulk of the payments at issue cover AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer"..

Screw the people AIG sure is doing. and they don't give a damn about anyone but themselves..........

Obama where is this going????? I'd write Kit Bond but he doesn't care, he's got a healthy retirement check.. Roy Blunt... he sure doesn't care, all he wants is Kit's job......

Golf balls and Beer

My brother sent this to me. Although I have seen it before, I feel the need to share. Thanks Jeep


When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'

The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.'


I thinks it is near time to head to the birthplace of speed and drink some of the Jeep's beer. I can get the longroof to loan me his longroof to sleep in, and make the Jeep buy the beer..........

Celebrate Life

Fine wine and relics

Just couldn't watch this without thinking of the Lee Boys.



check out the jeep at 24 sec mark




enjoy the show and then

Celebrate Life

A goose, A geese, A gander

Well for the record I've never seen a goose close up. But what I saw today was in no way anything like a goose I've seen in pictures. Grandma called Mom to say the goose was here and Mom yelled for me to come to her room and look out the window. There it was justa standin' there like the world was nothing. Uncle jon-jon, or Uncle Ed, do you see geese like this one?



Well after a while we realized the goose was probably hungry. We went out and put some corn out for it to eat. Glad the dogs were still up or them crazy dogs would have been chasing that poor little bird away. We tried to get it to go in the barn but it end up flying off.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh wellllllllllllll.

Love ya,
Little Princess

Tax Time...................

Ok so the good ole US of A makes us poor folks pay taxes every year.
Paid Mom's last year and will pay her's again this year. But good news is that the Barngoddess1 has been shopping again.
She got a dividend check from the company we have our Farm mortgage through, and a change in her life insurance resulted in another healthy check.

So after the bulldozer made a big improvement out back, there is still much to do to prepare the ground for seeding.

A garden rake and a strong back and it might be done by Christmas 2015.

So with the garden getting ready to be planted, and other assorted chores.. getting her Bronc on the road,

she went out and bought me a disc. Not a music disc, but a good ole farm disc.

All I have to do is go pick it up. Now the one I thought she bought was in Knoxville TN. Boy am I glad that wasn't the case.... she found one over in Pierce City MO, home of Tornado alley 2003. Well after that tornado, there wasn't anything to downtown Pierce City. But they rebuilt and there is a great farm implement dealer just east of town on 37 Highway.

So tomorrow after I leave the great hallowed halls of the Veteran's Medical Clinic in Mt Vernon, MO, I get to make a mad dash to Pierce City to bring home my new disc.

Anyone need a new yard this year, this disc will have it ready in two swipes. Of course 14 of your neighbors will need a new yard too... takes that much to turn it around.

Of course it wouldn't compare to BBB having a riding lawn mower to mow his yard and his neighbors and their neighbors (turn around space again).

Ah, nice to have dividends and insurance refunds this year.



Now just have to get another exhaust manifold for the big Deere. I leaned against the muffler the other day and broke the manifold off again.

At least I now know how to replace it in under 30 minutes compared to last time taking 4 hours.

So the weather is dropping from 70s to low 30s tonight, wind is blowing so much if I went outside I wouldn't have to take a bath for a week, the wind would blow the stink off youalls...

Never a bad day on the farm, knowing the garden will soon be planted and the fruits of our labor in the freezer ......
cantelope in December is always great, in January and February is even better.

Celebrate Life

Spring is in the air

SPRING that time of year a farmer looks on his garden spot with pride.

SPRING that time of year a farmer hooks up the tiller and has a good time

SPRING that time of year a farmer says things under his breath after a wrench slips and he hits his hand on the piece of equipment he is trying to take off the tractor.

AH YES SPRING..... gotta love this time of year.

Plowing gardens.........


Today was in 70s, light wind out of the west, southwest, south, south east, and now east. Blowing about 15 mph to keep a farmer cool while he works away.

Jeep, check out the brush pile in the background, ready for the long guns.



and that pile came from here. Remember last time you were here, lots of tornado damaged trees and brush behind this paddock, 8 hours of bulldozing and it is done.



Went out into that big back field today and tilled up two areas where we had burned brush before. Barngoddess found the grass seed and now we wait for a gentle rain to soak those seeds into the ground.

Had a good day, started putting in the new floor mat in My Bronc, hands got to hurting too much... something about me and Mr. Ritis, first name of Arth, in the old hands, so can't do as much as I used to. But, hey, it's more fun to do it slow and take my time enjoying and

CELEBRATE LIFE along the way.

Tonight blogging and hunting for a 10 foot pull type disc so I can finish smoothing off what the dozer did.

In my last blog I tried to stump the OleRagTop by posting cars that I knew he had seen on his adventures. Only took him 12 hours to get the location correct.
I think he puts his pictures and blogs in a data base so all he has to do is type a key word and up pops the location.

Good job on Russellville, but where is the other location. Hint, closer to you than to me.....

Bus totally forgot today was parade....... hope the couch potatoes took the green beer trophy home again. OK IS IT NEXT WEEKEND?

Just a little car tripping

My brother is great at blogging about cars..... no special kinds... just all kinds of cars. His posts almost always include a car of somekind.

See him over at http://oleragtop.blogspot.com and follow his adventures.

So I was cruising down the blogspot highway and came across a spot that has a Sunbeam for sale. You can find it at http://throwtheball.blogspot.com/. It looks pretty good except the motor problem, but he is throwing up a new motor so isn't too bad.

So I got to thinking about a trip the Barngoddess and I made not too long ago. Just a roaring down the highway in our Big Little Mule with not much to do except burn up some of that old diesel fuel that was in the tank so I could get new cheaper fuel. If that makes sense, I'm in trouble.
Anyway we came across a few cars that made us come to a screeching stop and pull out the ole camera and shoot away.

So Ole rag top, Bus and the Jeep, and anyone else reading this blog, here is a car tribute to you.

My favorite 5th car would be a 1958 Chevy 4 door. We had one, but I never got to drive it, BBB and the Bus were always 1st dibs on it. Ours was all white, don't remember the interior color, but I like these shades of gray better.



My favorite 4th car would have to be a 64 corvair convertible, red with white roof and interior, 4 speed on the floor. Of course I would have to hire a full time mechanic to keep those twin carbs in tune. I had a small mishap with ours one night, and never lived it down. But found this one that is really close to our old one.


and another shot of that pretty little rag top:



On to what I would like to tackle as a project, putting in power steering, nice little Cleveland 350, C-6 auto, and 4 wheel drive (dreaming counts) and have my own little long roof to visit the original Long Roof Fan in.... 59 ford if I'm correct?



Now I never was a fan of the TBird to the left of that long roof, 66 to 68 I think. Like the little birds better. Oh well I falter on my endeavor. So onward......

Saw this 58 Chevy long panel almost missing it for the fishing gear stacked around it. Would take a lot of work, but the Long Roof Fan could move to MO and help me with it. "You won't???" Oh well forget it, but enjoy the view.



So we soon came to Paul's place and found a ton of fun, I think this is a chevy, 32-33 maybe, hell it could be a 38 and I wouldn't know the difference. but it is a cool little truckster, and heck 33 chevy 1/2 ton sounds pretty good to me!!!!!!!!!!




Paul also had this coupe that was being rebuilt, had a pretty good paint job on it, pretty good is BS, had one heck of a great paint job. Don't ask me the year, but I think this is a Dodge, but could be wrong. The Sunbeam in the background is the one I thought about when I read the bog that started this little trip down memory lane.

The coupe is set up with dual exhausts down the running boards, interior is done and it is a rat rod soon to be. Got to look at the motor inside the shop, "BIGGEST Motor than I've seen except in dragsters. Didn't ask what size, cause they would have given me a sign and said "BIG"



Also got to see the trailer soon to be that the coupe will pull. Going to be set up as a sleeper so the guy says. Cool doner car was what I thought.



Paul's also had this. As a Ford man, I had to get in a ford, 40 something, turning out to be a nice ratrod also.


I found my favorite 3rd car. I have always liked this style pontiac, probably something to do with my childhood and matchbox cars and spoons and a big tree on St Charles Place where we had all kinds of roads made. Now that pontiac is no more, this car will soon become more valuable. Also in the background is a Volvo, same year as a fellow high schooler owned. I also like the 58 Ford f200 back there in the background. Any takers on the rest of the cars????






Now blogging about cars takes forever, downloading all these pictures takes at least three G&Ts and I'm getting tired. After all it is almost bed time up here on the farm, but one more little beauty to rest your eyes on......

don't know year, but know it is a Silver Cloud and is all original, and not within my budget.


So there you have it. A post by the Horse Farmer that doesn't mention:

Horses, Cows, Pigs, Dogs, Chickens, Ole Broncos, Barns, Bulldozers, piles of brush, Gravel, big rocks, a full pond........

So I mentioned them aready..........
So cows went to butcher yesterday, ten tons of manure in trailer afterwards.
Bulldozer on property clearing tornado damage and making a bigger pile as a backdrop for the Kid and the Jeep and Little Princess to shoot their long guns into.
Calves that are mixed in with horses, and as such think they are little horses too.
Her Bronco down at the "Compound" where Jeremy is going to fix the tranny..

Oh life on the farm, makes me just enjoy and

CELEBRATE LIFE.