Farm-ville

• Farm-ville may be an online game for some people, but we've been enjoying the live version this spring. Jason has come to the conclusion that he can not have everything mowed all at once. He was diligent in attempting to do so until a few flooding rains knocked him into reality. So for now, we are becoming content to keep the house and circle drive mowed with a path mowed along the fences and between all the out buildings.
• Earlier this spring, we ordered berry bushes from the MO Dept. of Conservation. We built a "berry fence" to plant the blackberry and golden currant along. Ironically, we have more blackberry bushes in the woods than we care to count. However, they are so thick and overgrown with wild rose and Japanese honeysuckle that they are more of a mess than anything else. We also have a bundle of elderberry bushes left to plant. In quite a few places, we've discovered fruiting mulberry trees and have enjoyed picking them over the last few days.
• Our dilapidated orchard has come into it's own. We have a pear tree, a peach tree, and what we think is a smooth skinned peach tree (aka, not furry). Now that we know which ones are alive, we'll have to do some pruning work later this year to help them out.
• We are making some progress on our trails in the woods. On our west fence line, we have a trail that goes almost the entire length of our property. We have a few short paths in the middle and another trail we've started along the east fence line. Our goal is to get a large path cleared on the west, north, and east boundaries of our woods so that we can use a controlled burn later this year. The buck bush, wild rose, honeysuckle, and blackberry brambles are so think they have choked out many of the native plants and wildflowers as well as swallowed most of the young saplings.
• We recently finished building our garden plot. We probably planted more than we should have for the space we cleared. We planted tomatoes, peppers, corn, green beans, zucchini, acorn squash, and summer squash. So far so good. Jason also planted a soybean crop out in "pasture #2". We found some bags of soybean in the box car at Jason's parents' place. We're using the soybeans to create a food plot for the wildlife. 
• Speaking of wildlife...spring turkey season came and went with the turkeys on the Brant Ponderosa remaining safe and sound! The only luck Jason had was to see a couple toms one morning and to call another hunter in on a different morning. Miranda and Joanna are tired of hearing him practice! We're beginning to battle groundhogs around the drive, the barn, and house. So far, they are winning. They haven't torn up our garden yet, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.
• Miranda and Rebecca have been enjoying the trails we've built. Miranda pushes the stroller up, down, and all around while Rebecca sleeps the time away. It seems like the more bumpy or noisy something can be, the better she'll sleep. If things are too calm, she wakes up.

That's a fairly lengthy entry, though it's not everything that's been going on. We will write more again later. Don't hold your breath though...It may be a couple weeks or months from now. We're not the most diligent in keeping up with this.

Too Cute

A few pictures from newborn photo session.      

Yeah, we live in the sticks...so what?

We had a wonderful visit with some of Miranda's family over the weekend. Her folks from Oklahoma drove over as well as her Grandpa from Arkansas and aunt & co. from Iowa. Well, the Okies have been here a time or two and had no trouble finding our place in the pouring rain. Our other relatives didn't quite get here on their first attempt. They found our road, but not the piece we live on. Since we live at the Dead End, you can't get here from just any direction you please.

Nevertheless, the troupe made it here. In reality, no one came to see Miranda or me. They all came to see our little, sweet Rebecca. Hey, that's okay, she's pretty cute!!! The rain let off as our family continued to make comments about why we Missourians like to live so far out in the boonies. Yes, we are way out...about 6 miles from town. It's like stepping into another civilization, you know. As the disparaging comments were being made, we had a little power outage. Now, everyone is sitting out in the boonies in the dark. What a wonderful ambiance!! We lit some candles and everyone went on with the awwwhhhing over Rebecca.


Before I continue....we are both college educated people who have great jobs with our local school district. We buy our food at the local grocery store, we own a computer, cell phones and a TV (although we only get "antenna channels"), and we enjoy creature comforts like the next guy....HOWEVER, as the rain was letting up I had looked out the window and noticed our resident flock of turkeys was moving in closer to the house. At that point, someone decided we might as well go outside since it was dark in the house. Miranda's younger 3rd cousin was interested in checking out our out house....not a typo....out house. Yes, we have one on our property. The idea was to get a picture of her in or by the out house for posterity sake. The gobblers didn't like everyone coming on and crashing their party so they headed back to the woods. Miranda's cousin was not impressed with the out house or the turkeys for that fact.  All in all, despite the rain, the lack of electricity, and the wandering team of turkeys, I think we had a great weekend. Don't bother to ask anyone else though. They're story might not sound as exciting as mine.

Ahh nuts!!!

Ahh nuts!! Yeah, we've got lots of nuts around this joint...I'm not talking about any of us, either. Our little piece of creation is blessed with oak, hickory, and walnut trees. While this makes things a little tricky for running around with the dogs, it provides lots of food supply for the wildlife. Miranda got me a Game Camera for my birthday last fall and we've captured some amazing photos...A huge buck, lots of other deer, dozens of turkeys, and a big scary coyote... It's been exciting to "see" who else lives around here. Hope you enjoy the pictures as well.

There's a new queen in town!

Well, Rebecca is 4 weeks old now and is definitely ruling the roost. She says jump and mommy and daddy say "how high?" She is growing and eating and cute as can be. She has a lot of expressions that get us laughing. Oh yeah and there is that smell that she often emits which causes Jason to roll down the windows while driving...

Rebecca loves going for walks outside (due to the wonderful January weather we are having). We have been spending a lot of time exploring our wooded property while Jason is at work. Ok she sleeps and snores while I explore. One could get the impression that my daughter is bored by me by as much as she sleeps. During the day anyway. Well, that is all for now. This new journey keeps me on my toes so I must go love on my family now.

BABY BRANT IS HERE!!!!!

So much for keeping this updated! We don't have internet at our house, but this is kind of big news so I thought I'd better post something. This morning at 4:02am, the newest addition to the Brant family arrived. A baby girl!!!! Rebecca weighed 7 lbs and was 19.5 inches long. Miranda and Rebecca are both doing great! Rebecca has fuzzy dark hair and a real, good set of lungs!