We Bought The Farm,

Yes this 88 acre farm Don and I bought in June 1999 for a Y2K retreat if needed. I was fearfull. Just incase all our modern utilitys failed as was predicted by some and living in Little Rock just didn't seem quite safe if some predictions came true.

The Farm has 5 wells and a 21/2 acre pond with 1 mi. of Foursh LaFave River frontage. Fish to eat and water to drink, plenty of wood for heat. I am a pack rat anyway so I stored or hoarded caned food. The farm has 2 good garden spots. I bought chickens, ducks, guineas, and rabbits. I have/had carosein lamps for light, books and games to keep us intertained and I thought I had taken care of every thing. As you know nothing happened. I didn't even notice a blip with Y2K, for which I am ever greatfull. I still had enough wood and food and all the nessessities put aside to do a year under any circumstances I thought. It came in handy Dec,2000/Jan 2001 when we had an ice storm that did so much damage to trees,power lighns, and poles that it took 10 days to restore electric power to the Farm. It was a real disaster, but we had 2 wood stoves for heat and Propain gas for cooking, the food that thawed in the 2 deepfreezers mostly was thrown out as in a fiew days it was useless.We ate can goods for 2 years that I had stocked . We were far better prepared than most folks in the area were. It was a miserable life dureing some in the coldst weather we had in years. Yes, roughing it in ice is miserable.

These pictures are from the hwy looking west down hwy 216 A Year or so after the ice storm. I have pictures some where of the ice that blew off the big Oak tree near the deck that tore up the roof. The wind was 30 mi an hr and it struck the house like bullits. The breaking of limbs from trees as big as my body sounded like a war going on for a couple days. The area looked like a tarnado had hit it

Back to the begenning, I got off track. When we bought we only planned to come up here from Little Rock on the week ends. First thing happened was the tools and lawn chairs we brought up weren't here when we came back the next weekend. I elected to stay on the farm and agreed Don should continue in L.R. training his grandson Quinn to manage the buissness. Management of our 100 town house apartments is quite a job. I had brought a change of clothing and my truck loaded down with supplys for clean up the awfull mess. The fellow that had been renting the house before we bought had left a nice bed, dirty dishes, a refregerator, washer and dryer and a fiew other things that I could use. He also left the awfullest mess I ever saw and I have seen some pretty bad ones. We had fallen in love with the place as it had the Bluff "Council Bluff on the Nrth side of the Hwy and the house with half the basement underground in the lower side of the Bluff on the south side. Then a couple hundred ft slopeing to the pond. The rest is rich pasture/bottom land "Flood Land" running down river. There is so much potintial. Did I mean hard work? Yes it is hard WORK So we decided I would stay on the farm and Don would come from Little Rock on weekends untill the last day of 1999, then he would move up here also. We moved partially and that lasted for 3 years untill grandson Quinn neded help managing the buissness as it was too much for him and his wife. Don moved back to little Rock in Oct; of 02 to help manage dureing the week and is here only on weekends and sometimes most of the week. The grandson and wife had let the apartments get in a terrable financial condition before they said anything to us so Don will be back to helping manage working himself silly.

I went to work on cleaning the place up when we bought it as it was a total mess. Next thing happened right a way, it came a gully washer of a rain. The basement filled with water. Most of it ran back out but a dirty mess nether the less. This is a finished basement with 4 rooms and a bath. It took Don a while to get the foundation water proofed with new gutters and french drains around the house. Also sealing the outside walls and concrete floors. First animals I bought were 12 Pot Bellied pigs and put them in a dog pen. Well they didn't stay in the pen . The next thing I knew there were little pigletts all over the place rooting up every thing. Instead of 12 pigs I had 34. I sold a fiew and gave all the rest away. There will be no more pigs on the Farm here.

I also bought 3 goats to clean up as the farm was a grown up mess, clear up to the windows of the old 8 room house. We didn't even have any kind of fence except 3 strands of bob wire. 3 goats weren't a problem to keep in but I went Hog Wild and got about 15 more goats. After I chased goats off the Bluff and HWY a fiew times Don and Len built a good page wire fence on 3 sides of the pasture the other side is river. Goats dont like to get in water. I kept buying and Don did also.

The Donkey Jack and grandson Jason "The Cow Boy" A LLama was bought, Bad Boy a black and white Tuxcido LLama.Then lots of cows and horses. It took me 2 years to find a female Llama which didn't last a week. I am still upset about the loss. She appeared to be so healthy. The heard grew to 30 some odd goats and have done a great job clearing under brush. I sold off the spring babys this spring and sence Chiquita got killed the cyotes got 10 of them recently leaving me 8 goats. I have gone into raising horses. Goats and horses don't do well together as the goats try to eat up all the horse feed.You cant move about with feed in a buckett as the goats will actually ride you down for the feed.

Some of the animals. We traded a goat for a Great Pyranese Puppy the first wenter we were here.We named her Chiquita. The fellow we traded with told us they were great guard dogs for goats and sheep. Little did he know what a great dog she is. With 5 different packs of Cyoties in the area we decided we needed one. That was the best deal we ever got. Chiquita is the most remarkable dog I ever saw. When the female goats start labor she stays with them and if they are having trouble she licks the birthing area then cleanes up the baby kids. If the female is frightened Chiquita stays her distance untill the kid is being born then she moves in to help clean up the kid and the mother goat. As you can see she is great with kids also. Kayla my youngestgrandchild now 10 and only grandaughtor has been living with us the last 2 years. She dressed Chiquita in a wedding dress for dogs. It was a struggle for Kayla, but just look at how proud both are when finished.

We now have one of Chiquitas grandsons that is twice her size. Grandaughtor Cinnamon Kayla named him Dan.Dan as a puppy. There have been several times that I thought seriously about giving him away.He is not like Chiquita. He gets in the flwoer beds chews up everything he can find loose. He just turned 1 year old in may. As we have no neighbors within 1/2mi the size of Dan keeps buggers away. When Kayla went to visit her other grandmother in Florida for 6 weeks last summer, Dan left home and started staying up the hwy where there were children. When Kayla came home the dog came back home also and hasn't left again. Dan chases some vehicles down the hwy. I haven't figured out why he chases some and not others. It is like he is running them off, not trying to catch them.
There is a lot of work to living on a farm. In spring the Misquitoes are really bad so Kayla drives the 4 wheeler wile I sprayed the parimiter with Malithion.

A view of the 2 acre pond is in the back ground. We bought a momma LLama and baby that lived for 1 week. I don't khow if the red Border Colly I was given the same day tramatized the momma and caused her to die but I know the dog killed the baby the next day. Needless to say the Colly was disposed of emediatly.

We have georgious sunsets that are viewed from the deck and kitchen in summer and out the double windows in the family room in wenter. Kayla now 10 yrs. has started rideing in compitition at the local rodaos. She rides the barell races, pole bends and goat ties. She is just a begenner starded rideing last sping of 04,but we, her mother Leah, Don, Len and I thourally enjoy takeing the horses & trailor and heading out to the various activities with her. She has gotten ribbons and 3 tropheys. Sometimes I think we are getting too old for this as Kayla is a small child and has to have a lot of help saddeling her 16 hands 1,200 lb Quarter horse. HE IS 15 yrs old and as gentile as a kitten with her. Don will be 76 in Dec. and I turne 65 in July. Thankfully I think all this activity is keeping us young. Life is still very good and we have been blessed.