" Frosty Mor'n "

Today being the last day of February, I'm really dreaming about Spring. Warm sunny days to dig in the dirt...........I ventured out this morning to find the farm covered in frost.......






I can't complain as some of you have been knee deep in snow for weeks now.........

However I am proud to say so long to February and the fury she has shown..........

This flower bed struggling to grow is frosted over..........

A thin sheet of ice covers the bird bath...........

This morning I let the chickens out for the first time!!

Let's hope Max will be able to get them back in by dusk.............

We had to buy more hay this week as winter has lasted longer than normal.....

It's frosty hay this morning......

The cattle are wondering why I'm out so early.............

Big Momma had a baby calf yesterday.............

I think the cattle are wishing for Spring and some tender grass to chew on...........

I've been suffering for the past few weeks with back problems that have now started to affect my shoulder and left arm. I lost the feeling in my left pinkie and my left hand tingles like it's asleep most of the time. I'm left handed so it's a real problem. I went to the doctor this week and I'm scheduled for a myelogram. In the meantime he wants me to stay off the keyboard as much as possible because that seems to make it really flare up. So I'm going to be scarce around the blog world for awhile. Just this little bit already has my back feeling like it has fingers crawling all over it. If any of you suffer with this also I'd appreciate advice. I'm too chicken to have surgery but it may be in my near future.

Have a great week everyone!

" Need A Break Now "

Yes I do! With all the rain we've had, Swiftwater Farm has become a damp, muggy, muddy place.
Trying to deal with 5 dogs, three being rambunctious puppies who can't get outside much and when they do, end up being wet mud bags, is getting to me fast! I have been mopping both the screen porch and dogroom twice a day! Today, I'm escaping to have lunch with authors Rick Bragg and Sonny Brewer @ Main Street Books! Yeah! I hope I can get a better picture of me and Rick than this one made @ 2009 Tennessee Williams Fest!

We had a brief period yesterday where the Sun came out and so did I !!

Caught this Yellow Fellow chomping on my Canna............

A Bee on a leaf? No Nectar there little fellow!

My screen porch Lizard came out of hiding...........

The Greenhouse is almost done! We won't cover this door until Cold weather arrives........

Or this Southeast facing window which swings outward when open............

Three sides are covered now.............

This was taken when only two sides were covered..........

The Chick Prisoners are enjoying their daily greens..........

They enjoyed the brief sunshine too!

Baby Calf is having breakfast yesterday...........

We even had a real Sunset yesterday !!! :)

I can never get enough of beautiful Sunsets.........

Shining through the Pines..........

This Sun is having a tuff time trying to rise this morning AGAIN !! 60% chance of rain today!

I'll be back tonight with the Luncheon pictures! Have A great day everyone!! :)

" OOPS " Wrong Dog!

I sure hope today goes better than yesterday did! It was an OOPS day for sure! :)




" Ms. Murdock? Yes, Your baby is ready to be picked up! Great! Be right there!"
I'm so excited to pick up sweet Roxie and bring her home! Can't wait for the Peek gang to meet her!

Meet Marla, Roxie's sister who was spayed, vaccinated and micro chipped by mistake!

Before you start saying; "ahwwww...I would have just took her instead, it's ment to be,"

let me tell you about Monday. When I went in to drop the linens off I was told; you might want to browse pen 20, it has two Border Collies in it! So I walk fast! As I approach the pen, Roxie starts barking, jumping and gets so excited! Marla goes to the back of the pen and huddles down.

I bent down in front of the pen and put my hand against the wire. Roxie starts licking it like a starved dog with a T-Bone! We fell in love ! So it was that scene in my mind that kept me from keeping Marla. I also played with Roxie again and she was so happy to see me! So now Roxie is getting the treatment and hopefully, she'll be coming here tomorrow!

This morning when I went to feed the "flock" they were more interested in my greeting than their breakfast!

And Bocephus was looking at me as if to say; WHY do you never bring me a treat?

These two calves were staring as if they were thinking the same thing! I tell you this is truly

" Ole Man Murdock's Farm" !! :)

Did you know that they now have Iris that bloom twice a year? I didn't, until I read about it on a blog! There are called REBLOOMERS ! I found them online at Springhill Nursery! I ordered 4 different varieties and they came yesterday..............This is ROCKSTAR !

This one is ENGLISH CHARM..........

This beauty is AMERICAN CLASSIC..........

This is MAGICAL ENCOUNTER............

This is a PAGODA PLANT! I saw this on Dirt Princess's blog, Trials and Tribulations of a Southern Gardner! I have 2 of these arriving today!

Also arriving soon are 3 of these LADY BALTIMORE RED HARDY HIBISCUS.....

Getting ready to get my courtyard plants laid out..........

Hubby is about to begin work on my greenhouse and I'm real excited about that!

HOPE YOU ALL ARE HAVING A GREAT WEEK !!!

" The A,B,C's & P's of My Life "

A, stands for our appreciation for ALL the WONDERFUL comments wishing Hubby a Happy Birthday yesterday! He read them all and grinned all day! We spent the day cruising Wally World, Lowes and Gander Mountain. Hey, that was his choice of the way to spend his day!
A, also stands for my favorite shopping place! Two boxes of goodies for me!


B, stands for BOOKS! All recommended to me by some of you, except for Greg Iles whom I love to read!

More recommends!

B, also stands for Birthday presents! This is Hubby's from me. A Black-N -Decker Hedge Trimmer! NO cord to cuss on this one, it has a rechargeable battery!

C, stands for cozy courtyards like this. I hope mine someday has the feel of this one!

P, stands for Plants to make the courtyard become cozy! I already had two running roses I ordered a few weeks ago. A Lavender Lassie and A Josephs Coat. I got a e-mail from the nursery last week that the roses were half price. Sooooo I ordered 4 more! 3 Joseph Coats and 1 white one called Madame Alfred Carriere. They came yesterday. All three JC roses were broken midway.

I called the nursery and told them that the UPS man made a note that the box was bent in half.

They told me to plant them and they were sending 3 more JC's at no charge!! I now have 7 Joseph Coat Roses to go on the fence! Plus the Lavender one and the White one ! It should fill in fast!

P, also stands for Petunia's and Potato Vine....
I bought these two plants yesterday marked down at Lowes and stuck them in this basket...

These Mexican Petunia's looked so pretty this morning!

Back to C................

Clouds, The Master Artist seems to be fascinated by my fascination with Clouds!

I get a new one everyday now to "shoot"!

Talk about an eye catcher...............

C, stands for Cattle too! We got 2 new calves this week! This is a little bull who came Sunday!

A little Heifer came on Tuesday!

Of course no post on Cattle would be complete without Masquerade getting in on the photo shoot!

Due to all the interest in mine and Eric's love story yesterday, I'll be doing a post this weekend on how HARD it was for me to move to this farm! So stay tuned! I'll also be catching up on all your blogs!!! Have A Great Weekend Everyone!!!