Wordless Wednesday: Springtime

What could be stranger than several inches of snow a few days from Easter? Me not getting back onto the first page of Top Mommy Blogs! Crazy, right? Help stop the madness by clicking on this button.
Every day.
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And now to continue on to the "Wordless" portion of our Wednesday programming.....













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Like it?
Follow it.
Please?
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Rudeness disclaimer:

I love all your comments,
I read every one!
But I can't hit 'reply',
I've no time for fun.
Please don't judge me,
Please don't hate.
If you have a question that just can't wait,
Send me an email at farmbeachgal@yahoo.com,
And I'll answer right back because I'm, you know, the Mom.

Chicken-Scratch-Saturday: Long Beach Island and Sandy

We all watched in fear and waited with baited breath when Sandy came in.

She was fierce.

She was powerful.

I was addicted to the coverage as we sat in our pajamas, all cozy in our home, for two days solid.

We were fine.

My sister and her family were fine (though they lost power).
My Mom was fine (though she lost power).
My husband's family, though (you guessed it) they all lost power - were fine.

But my old home did not fare so well.

I'm not talking about a brick and mortar building.
I'm talking about the place I called home from the time I was nine years old till the time I left for college: Long Beach Island.

LBI has been decimated by Sandy.

Everyone was evacuated, with refugees taken to my old high school on the mainland.

No one has been allowed back since the storm struck nearly a week ago.


Many parts are still under water deep enough to drive a boat in.

Where the water has receded, sand remains. Inches - even feet - deep of sand that was once on the bottom of the ocean, or guarding the houses along the shore.

Gas and oil are mixed with the water in the streets, in people's homes and businesses.

Boats, ripped from their moorings, lie together in piles in the streets, in front yards, on highways.

I am addicted still.  No longer to the news coverage, but to Facebook, where old high school - even elementary school - friends that still live in the area keep me updated on what's going on.  I feel like a parent whose child is in the hospital, but she can't get there to hold her hand.  I know there's not much I could do even if I were there, but it hurts to watch from so far away.

I know everything is being done that can be done to clean up, and get people back home, and open my beloved LBI back up for people to enjoy once again,
but it's going to take a lonnnng time. 

If you would like to help, you can donate to the Red Cross, which is helping with the refugees at Southern Regional High School. They are in need of any donated supplies such as diapers, formula, gift cards to WalMart for food and basic supplies. Also, this link will take you to the NJ volunteer organization which is coordinating a lot of the volunteer efforts.

Please keep Long Beach Island, and all its residents, in your hearts and in your prayers.








Images courtesy: msnbc.com, thestate.com, star-telegram.com, lbirecovery.tumblr.com, cnn.com


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Thanks!


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In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop, Natural Living Mamma's Natural Living Mondays, The Chicken Chick's Clever Chicks, A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras, Ponder Wonder's Soul Food Monday and @ Home Take 2's Mom's Monday Mingle
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday, Crafty Garden Mama's Tuesday Greens, and The Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny, Tilly's Nest's Down Home, and Crafty Spices Wordless Wednesday
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop, and Two In Diapers' Mommy Brain Mixer
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, Fresh Eggs Daily's FarmGirl Friday, Little Becky Homecky's Fantabulous Friday, @Home Take 2's Weekend Blog Walk, and Oh So Amelia's Friday Chaos
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop, and Tutus and Tea Parties' Pinteresting Party.


Since today is Saturday, that means I'm linking up my post "Farm Friday: Sandy" with Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop, and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up; and "Egg-Separating Magic Trick" with Tutus and Tea Parties' Pinteresting Party.


Come join the fun!


****************

Rudeness disclaimer:

I love all your comments,
I read every one!
But I can't hit 'reply',
I've no time for fun.
Please don't judge me,
Please don't hate.
If you have a question that just can't wait,
Send me an email at farmbeachgal@yahoo.com,
And I'll answer right back because I'm, you know, the Mom.

Farm Friday: Sandy

So Hurricane Sandy came through last Monday and Tuesday.

Although we were smack-dab in her direct path, we were far enough inland that we didn't have any real problems.

We never lost power, although if we had, we would have been OK with our hard-wired generator.

We had several inches of rain, but with our house's elevation, never got any household flooding.

Lots of mature trees around us, but all the wind knocked down was smaller branches and leaves.

The only real problem was the barn. Our barn always gets flooded whenever we get a heavy rain, and Sandy was a bit more than a heavy rain.

While SOME of our dogs were hard at work keeping our barn free of rats (ha),
others were riding out the storm all cozied up on the couch.

Tuesday morning, we found a lot of water still in the barn, though a good bit of it had receded.



We found a Romeo and Juliet rat pair that had lost their lives in the water.

Why does this make me so sad?





And sadly, we found one of our meat chicks had drowned, as well. Not in the water rushing through the barn, but in a bucket I had placed to catch a bad drip.

I couldn't bring myself to take that picture.

Rest in peace little chickie, rest in peace. Your brethren will be following you into the afterlife shortly.

got drama?



Anyway, I hope you all fared well in the storm.  Please chime in and let me know how you did!







************

Read it. Like it? Follow it. Please? Thanks.
(Follow my blog by adding yourself as a follower with Google Friends Connect in my sidebar!)


***************************


Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop, Natural Living Mamma's Natural Living Mondays, The Chicken Chick's Clever Chicks, A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras, Ponder Wonder's Soul Food Monday and @ Home Take 2's Mom's Monday Mingle
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday, Crafty Garden Mama's Tuesday Greens, and The Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny, Tilly's Nest's Down Home, and Crafty Spices Wordless Wednesday
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop, and Two In Diapers' Mommy Brain Mixer
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, Fresh Eggs Daily's FarmGirl Friday, Little Becky Homecky's Fantabulous Friday, @Home Take 2's Weekend Blog Walk, and Oh So Amelia's Friday Chaos
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop, and Tutus and Tea Parties' Pinteresting Party.

Since today is Friday, that means I'm linking up today's post with Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, and Fresh Eggs Daily's FarmGirl Friday;  "Edible Bowls" with Little Becky Homecky's Fantabulous Friday; and "Thursday Afternoon Play-by-Play" with @Home Take 2's Weekend Blog Walk, and Oh So Amelia's Friday Chaos.

Come join the fun!




****************

Rudeness disclaimer:

I love all your comments,
I read every one!
But I can't hit 'reply',
I've no time for fun.
Please don't judge me,
Please don't hate.
If you have a question that just can't wait,
Send me an email at farmbeachgal@yahoo.com,
And I'll answer right back because I'm, you know, the Mom.

Farm Friday - Spring is in the Air

We haven't had much of a winter this year.
Less than 4" of snowfall all season.
Pond never froze enough for skating. Not even once.

I kept hoping for that one good snowfall, but it never came.

Now it's almost March, and I give up.

I've gotta admit, all this warm sunshine does feel nice. The critters agree. The goats have been sunbathing on the rocks and the horses are shedding their winter coats like nobody's business.

And Annabelle, like always, is happy, happy.

My billy goat gruff, Tibbitt.








Annabelle. My belly button.

Storm Sunday

Earthquake on Tuesday, hurricane on Sunday.

This is not my thing, all these natural disasters.

I've always said I live in one of the best areas of the whole flippin' country. No earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides, only the occasional diminutive tornado. Blizzards here and there but nothing compared to what they get out west or further north.

And yet here I sit, finally reconciled to our earlier 5.9 and fully prepared for Irene.

My Friday to-do list included:

feed store for chicken feed, cat litter, dog food and rabbit feed,
gas station,
Dunkin Donuts for 2# of coffee (this Mama runs on Dunkin),
grocery store to stock up on TP, enough groceries to make casseroles to last into early 2012, and several varieties of chocolate,
liquor store because, well, liquor store.

Once the pantry was full, I got the kids busy with securing things outdoors. Bella and I consolidated the bikes and skateboards and scooters and junk in the kids' garage while most of the other kids started hauling all the pool patio furniture over to pile up inside.

While we were working at ground level, two of the big boys were climbing all over the barn roof nailing down loose tin panels so the wind wouldn't catch them and turn them into rusty red kites.

We filled all the feeders and locked everything up tight.

Then Saturday we made chocolate chip cookies. We worked on finishing up all the remaining summer assignments and we checked in with the storm coverage roughly every three and a half minutes.

We got all excited when we saw our first casualty of Irene: a split tree. Said tree was dead already, but still, it was exciting to see such a big limb on the ground. Sadly, it used to be our tire swing tree branch.














But by bedtime things started to get a little dicier. We heard from Fred's brother who lives near the Jersey shore that a tree crashed through his kitchen window. With that, Fred and I declared three rooms unsafe to sleep in b/c of their proximity to a few rather large trees. Our two big boys slept downstairs and the other four kids slept in the room with us. As we snuggled into bed we watched more of the storm coverage, which at this point included several confirmed tornados in nearby areas. I wondered if I should move the whole family downstairs to sleep in the basement, but decided against it. I lay under my covers and listened to the wind howling, the rain pelting against the house, and I felt both cozy and terrified at the same time.

Of course, as a parent, it is your job to infuse your voice with an almost condescending calm as you soothe the fears of your youngsters, and I think it was this forced calm in my voice that finally let me drift off to sleep.

I awoke a few times during the night, listened, and fell back asleep.

Come morning, I still heard the wind tearing through the trees, but saw on the news that the storm had moved on and was breaking up. Out my windows, I saw no evidence of severe damage. Our roof looks intact, no broken windows, and believe it or not we even still have power. I'll still need to do a more thorough inspection of things outside, and check on the barn critters (though I saw the three horses nonchalantly grazing this morning even while getting pelted with rain), but it looks like we made it through pretty much unscathed.

So goodnight, Irene, and move along with you now, girl.

Wordless Wednesday Becomes - For Today - Weird Wednesday

Yesterday morning James told me in a frightened-but-trying-to-sound-brave voice that he came downstairs late at night to find that the Wii was on. Also the TV. And that he woke in the middle of the night to a banging sound on the wall of the house. And the puppy was barking.

I explained to him in a very everything's-alright-nothing-to-see-here voice that I was sure one of the kids (namely Daniel) probably came downstairs that night and played a few games/watched a little TV.
(but I was thinking to myself no way in tarnation he would have turned lights off when he was done)

He seemed satisfied, but asked what about the puppy barking?

Oh, she barks all the time over her own shadow.

And the banging on the wall?

Oh that's nothing to worry about, I sez. I hear that banging noise outside my bedroom wall nearly every night. Sounds like someone's throwing a baseball against the house.

Oh OK, sez he. But what is it?

Ummmmmm. I don't really know. But I hear it like all the time, so.....

And I shrug like it ain't nothin but a thang. But to myself I'm wondering
Uhh, yeah. What is that banging noise? It's not pipes. It's not boards creaking. What the ????

Then I get on the computer for a bit and when it boots up to my home page or screen saver or wallpaper or whatever the heck it's called, I pause for a moment to look at the picture of me with a couple of my kids that I just put up recently. Awww, sweet.



















But what's that mark by Julie's head? I wipe at the screen, but it's not a smudge on my laptop. Is that, is that one of those orbs?

Hmmmmm.....


My morning moves along and then around 2:00 I get in the car with two of the girls to run to the store. A few seconds down the road, I get a call from Patrick. Says the whole house was just shaking violently for about 10 or 15 seconds and stuff was rattling and a couple pictures fell over.

That's it. I am turning around in the next driveway and heading home. We will pack up some underwear and some clothes. Toothbrushes. That magazine I just started. Plus that Wawa gift card I recently found. And I'd better grab the kids' school schedules. And some snacks, too.

There's a driveway. Lemme just....

Mom, Mom! All my friends are saying on FB we just had an earthquake! How cool!

OK, cancel, the turnaround.
Cancel the packing.
Not an evil house.

Just an earthquake.

In Pennsyl-freakin'-vania.....

66 degrees. Time for a snowball fight.

It's a beautiful spring day. Might reach 70 tomorrow. Most of the snow has melted, but where the kids had piled up snow to make forts there was still some left. Kids got dressed in shorts and flip-flops and headed outside to have a snowball fight. After all, isn't that the first thing you think to do on a spring day?