Friday, June 29, 2012

Screeeeeeeeeech



That my fair feathered friends is a Red-tailed Hawk!  I sadly only had my iphone on me at the time so these are the best pics I was able to capture.  In the picture below I was trying to creep on the birdie, but alas it flew away.


The hawk had some unfriendly company.  Some kind of mean little birds kept attacking his back as he flew through the air.  So I, being friend to all animals, furrowed my brow, shook my fist in their direction and yelled at the pesky little birds to cut it out.  Meanwhile the hawk, not one to stick around for a tough crowd, flew farther and farther away to escape the onslaught.

So now you're probably asking yourself what kind of weirdo could tell that little speck is a Red-tailed Hawk.  I am definitely no bird guru.  Here's a hint... the blog title gives it all away. 

When I got home I did some researching on the piercing screech I heard echoing over the pasture and quickly found who it belonged to.  Mr. Red-tailed Hawk!

Here is the link I used.  You can listen to the sound track and get all up to date on your Red-tailed Hawk knowledge!








Thursday, June 28, 2012

It's a Girl!

Moonie finally calved yesterday!  My dad put her in the front pasture by herself a couple of weeks ago thinking she could calve at anytime.  She picked the day after my birthday to deliver.

Last year Moonie had an enormously huge calf that didn't survive.  You can find that as well as calf size explained here.  So this year we were relieved when she had a small 70 pound beautiful roan heifer. 



I'm taking suggestions for names... anyone?

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Love and Marriage

In case you haven't heard the news, In about 13 month's I will have a new last name!

I thought I'd stray away from Nacke Farms and blog about the whole planning deal-io.  No worries for all you die hard Green Acres fans out there, this will be one of the few posts I actually do this for.

Right after Arren proposed last November everyone was all "so your getting married this summer right?".  And we were all "holy cow that's a short time to plan and come up with the cash money for this shindig".  So we defied the norm and decided to wait a whole nother summer to tie the knot.

The official date has been set for July 27, 2013.

After learning the date, everyone then asks what my colors and theme are going to be and to that I say ummm well I've been thinking blue.  Then sadly it trails off into not much more than that.  But I have to say after about 7 months of continuous Pinterest and The Knot searches I'm leaning towards navy.  And after seeing this pic of navy with some coral flowers mixed in I'm almost definitely sold.


I'm most certainly leaning toward gray suits no matter how dorky my mom may think they look.  Not being one to dis include the future groom, I asked Arren how he felt about gray instead of black.  I got an "ooo!" so I'll take that as a nod of approval.  Not only are gray suits making somewhat of a wedding sweep lately, I belive they will be much cooler than hot old black in the summer sun.  Plus it fits in nicely with the little less formal, countryish, garden party theme I'm trying to stick to.


I would post some wedding dress inspiration pics for myself, but I know Arren will read this and I don't want to clue him in on anything. ;)  My mom and I are actually going dress shopping next week and I hope these ladies are patient becuase (much like everything else in this wedding) I really have no clue what I want.

The ceremony is being held at the Arboretum on University of Illinois campus.  It's gorgeous and flower filled.  Yes that means it'll be outside.  I'm a glass is half full type of gal so I've convinced myself that it will not rain (shakes fists at sky).



The reception, or should I say par-tay, will be held at the Ihotel.  They have been really great to work with so far.  The U of I caters all of the hotel's events and also provides the table floral arrangements.  That means less stuff for me to have to plan, book, and just generally worry about! 


We just met with and booked our photographer, Kara Kamienski.  She seems like she'll be awesome to work with and we can't wait for our egagement session!  You can check out her website here

I've also spoken with the DJ who I'm pretty sure gave me crazy eyes over the phone for booking over a year ahead of time, but he comes highly recomended.

There are still a lot of things left to do and thousands of little things that I'm sure will be the death of me but it'll so be worth it!




Monday, June 25, 2012

Porch Lipo

Before my dad starts on the front porch project I thought I'd give you all a tour of the mess.


Here it is in all it's countryfied glory.  My parents resided the house several years ago, but the porch needed a face lift before it was sided.  Now over 8 years later it's finally getting major reconstructive surgery (rhinoplasty/tummy tuck/lipo/boob job... wait do porches have boobs?).




My dad redid the short side of it 2 summers ago when a super strong and scary thunderstorm came through and blew the glass out of the door that was originally there.  It required tearing the whole side of the porch off and putting in new studs and a fancy new window.

Now the same must be done to the rest of the porch.  But there is also so much more to do. 


First of all everything must come off.  Yes, that means you deep freezer with lots of Nacke grown beef in it.


Then it's a power wash to remove that old icky peeling paint.  And a new coat of lovely country white gets slapped up in it's place.



















Moving on, it's floor demo time.  Something tells me this part might take the longest.  The whole floor is slowly decaying from wear and tear and needs to be replaced.  The indubitable trickster will be shimming around the built in cabinet.


Once all of those are checked off the list, the front of porch can finally start to be replaced.  New studs, new windows and a new door.  Right now the game plan is to install 4 new windows, 3 to the right of the door and 1 to the left.  The new door will be a little wider, more center to the steps, and Elsie proof.  And just when you think we are about to wrap up this project, it's on to siding the sucker.


Well there ya go folks.  The run down of the no doubt never ending dreaded front porch project.  Stay tuned for more updates from you local blogger!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Goodbye, City Life

Due to a request from my mom, I've decided to tell the story of how Green Acres came to be. 

After my mom and dad were married, they moved Main Street, Petty Coat Junction and lived there until I was around the age of 1.  It was then that an old man who lived across from my grandparents passed away and his house and land went up for sale.  My dad, who never was for big city living, decided that this was the perfect time to buy up the old house and some land and move it on out to the country. 

All of my mom's friends and coworkers warned her against moving.  "The house is old and run down." "It's going to be a ton of work." "Just think of the smell."  But my mom, young and in love, told them all that she had spent her highschool years growing up in a farm house and this wouldn't be nearly as bad as they all claimed.

It was goodbye city life, hello fresh air! 

My mom quickly transitioned into our own Eva Gabor as she realized farm living wasn't quite her cup of tea.  But she hunkered down and stuck it out and now (as much as she may complain about the old house and the livestock and the flies)  I know she absolutely loves it!

Several days after moving in, a fellow teacher brought over a housewarming gift in the form of a sign that read Green Acres.  And as I mentioned in a previous post, that sign now hangs in our machine shed proudly welcoming all to Green Nacke Acres!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Push My Buttons!

In case ya'll haven't noticed there is a new button in town.


It's located up above in the menu.

Go ahead, click it, you know you want to!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Fathers Day

Happy late Father's Day to all you awesome Dads out there! 

I spent most of Father's Day doing what all good daughters should do, getting in some quality time with Dad.  We got him a gift card to Home Depot which is sure to come in handy as the front porch project/replacing Elsie's door are sure to start sometime soon. 

After an in depth discussion we quickly realized the front porch project is going to be quite an undertaking.  Two summers ago, after a crazy storm came through and blew the glass out of a door, my dad replaced the short side of the porch with new studs and a window.  His master plant is to do the same to the long side of the porch, putting in 4 new windows and obviously a door.  The porch is also going to require a new floor and the inside walls need repainted.  And then, once the whole porch is rebuilt, it gets sided.  So a quicker fixer upper is quickly turning into a large multi-week project.

But back to what we accomplished Sunday!  Our patio has been upgraded.  Well, on one side at least.  The main goal of the new fence is to block the horrible country wind and snow in the winter.

My uncle happened to have enough fence paneling which was lucky considering how ridiculously expensive the 2 plastic posts and some extra toppers were that my dad bought.  Each plastic post slid over a 4x4 which was placed into the ground and held in place by some sakrete mix and dirt.  The paneling was screwed together to each post with brackets.






 The fence looks pretty nice, goes well with the white(ish) siding, and adds some shade in the evenings.  It took a lot longer than my dad expected it to, but honestly what doesn't.  He actually started on it 2 weekends ago right after he finished the patio.  I helped him finish the fence on Father's Day.

The day ended the best way possible, with some good ole Nacke steaks on the grill and some great food my mom had been slaving away at in the hot house.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Elsie's Door

Elsie went rogue a few days ago...



That door is my parent's front porch door and yes it was already falling apart, but now thanks to Elsie the bottom third has a gaping hole. She just loves her self made doggie door because she can get on and off the front porch per her free will.  And of course in her little doggie head, this makes her even more special than she already was. 

I'm secretly hoping that middle window slides down while she's sticking her head out.  Not to hurt her, but to give her a little guillotine style slap on the noggin she needs for tearing apart my parent's front door.

Now my dad must get on that front porch project ASAP or I have a feeling this "special" pooch is going to play an unwanted game of hide and seek, mud boot edition.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Cabinet in the Ruff

So this post requires that you all know a little back ground story.
 
It all started about a year ago when Arren, Dad and myself were doing some yard work for an elderly lady my dad cares for. In her yard is a dilapidated shed with lots of tools and several rooms packed full of old, interesting goodies.
 
Among the interesting goodies, a cabinet caught my eye. I first noticed its odd bean shaped mirror and then as I got a closer look I saw it was not just an old cabinet, but a wonderful and lovely piece of furniture with some intricate wood work.
 
I immediately showed my dad and convinced him that this cabinet needed to be moved out of the shed (it looked as if it could fall over at in moment) and inside. He agreed but it was getting late and we needed to finish the yard work, so it would have to wait.
 
Fast forward a year later and I brought up the cabinet again when we were doing more yard work. This time around we were committed to getting the cabinet out which was more complicated than we thought it would be. Stacked in front of it were old tins, boxes and about anything you could imagine. An hour later we were successful, the cabinet had been moved into the Township shed.
 
To our dismay, the once undoubtedly beautiful cabinet was now in shambles. Termites had called the cabinet home for several years and the whole left side of it was destroyed. Not to mention the pull out drawer and secretary were falling apart from those pesky critters.

But my dad had faith in the cabinet and took it to a local Amish man who restores furniture. He told my dad it wouldn’t be cheap (nothing ever is) but he could fix up the cabinet good as new.

Fast forward another 6 months and oh boy did he fix us up a cabinet! I wish I had pictures before it went into the Amish body shop, but the end results were a big ole wow!  


The Amish man had to put a whole new left side on the cabinet, but you can’t tell the difference between the new and old wood. He redid the pull out door, the shelves in the secretary, and a few shelves in the right side glass cabinet. He stained the whole cabinet "bourbon" which he thought was very close to the original color. He also found a date on the back of the mirror which said the cabinet was made in 1897. That’s one old cabinet!  

I’m not only writing this story to show off our awesome cabinet, this weekend we moved the cabinet into Arren and my place. So now we officially own our first piece of antique furniture!





Friday, June 8, 2012

How Does Your Garden Grow

So the other evening I went on a photo spree, with my trusty iPhone in hand, snapping up pics of the various plants and vegetables around Nacke farms.

Naturally I started where all plant photo montages should start, in the garden...


Yes, those are all tomato plants.  My mom is the only person in our family that really enjoys tomatoes, but for some unknown reason every year my dad plants a bagillion of them. (He likes to brag about his tomato plants.) This year we have 12.  So in other words if you're feeling like a tomato sometime in August, stop by Nacke Farms... we'll have plenty!

By the way, all proceeds go to the "Buy Nat a New Pair of Shoes" fund... but more on that in a later post ;)

One lone tomato plant in all its splendor!


 And here are the only other vegetables in our garden... 4 mighty bell pepper plants.




Although my mom may claim she has a black thumb, these pretty petunias say otherwise!





Onto my newly mulched flower garden which, is still lacking in flowers, but I'm slowly getting there.





Here are pine trees my dad has been taking care of for a couple of years now.  They take so long and so much nurturing to grow big and strong!





And finally, after much anticipation from your end I'm sure, I offer the crem della crem of Nacke Farms.  My dad's pride and joy (drrrrrum role please)....


HOLLYHOCKS 


My dad planted hollyhock seeds in this very spot about 5 years ago and to his dismay no plant grew. That was until last year we noticed a new plant that was definitely not a weed... it was a hollyhock! It even flowered but not nearly as splendorous as it has this year. 

Last year when we did the crazy messy job that was repainting this picket fence, our hollyhock had tons of seeds. So my dad had the great idea of planting those seeds along the new  and shiny white fence.

His hard work paid off...


Lots of little hollyhocks! While they won't bloom this year, they should be out in full force next year.


And finally, you can not take tons of photos of plants with out Elsie wanting some camera time as well... I swear she poses for the camera!


So what do you think of Nacke Farm's wide array of plants?  Do you have an awesome vege garden or a flower bed that makes the neighbors envious?  Or even a dog who gets jealous when the plants hog all of your photographic attention?
 


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Mary Had A Baby

This weekend we had another baby calf join the Nacke herd.  It's another bull and he's up and going strong.  My younger cousin came down this weekend to visit and decided that he looked like a Frank.  So may I introduce Frank and his mother Mary...

 This was taken about an hour or so after Frank was born.

Here is Frank almost a week old.


And while I'm at it, here are some other cute baby pics to enjoy...

 Big Roan feelin' a little frisky and running around the lot!

  Wilma and Fred... The 2 calves we were having to bottle feed because their Momma doesn't have enough milk for the both of them. (sadface) But now they are big enough and old enough to fend for themselves!

Here is the oldest calf of the group. She's about 3 months old.

A happy heard under a the sunny sky!


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Mission Accomplished!

As mentioned in the previous post, last week my dad had diligently been working on a back patio that was desperately needed.  Sadly I didn't get any before shots.. but just imagine the 1st set of pics without the forms and that pretty much sums it up! 

It's rather large, and has a 1.5 inch slope away from the house.  My dad even got all professional and used my Uncle's surveyor station and tripod to make sure everything was perfectly leveled and sloped. 

Here's some pics of the during the process.

 Those white pipes are sewer clean outs and my dad cut them off with the saw so they would be level with the concrete and then put flush mount lids on them so they could still be accessed when a sticky stinky situation arose.



Dad didn't get any pictures of the concrete pouring, but I got home in time to snap up some quick photos of my uncle using the power trowel and my dad brooming.



After the concrete had set he leveled up the dirt and went around it with a tiller.  My parents will obviously need lot of grass seed!

 Now my parents (as well as Elsie and Bandit) have an awesome back patio to sit, grill out on, and enjoy all summer long!

The next step is to put up a privacy fence on the west side to keep out the wind and snow.  As well as to start on the front porch that badly needs new windows and siding as you can tell from the pics above.  Oh, and power wash the green ickyness growing on the siding... the projects never end!