YES!!!

CAN WE GO BACK IN THE AIR CONDITIONING YET?

                                             MR. JINGLES WANTS TO KNOW

FALL AGAIN

   Having survived the night, I creaked my aching bones outside on the front porch with my best medicine in hand. A steaming cup of Eight O' Clock coffee. It'll get you started in the morning. As I eased out I noticed a chill in the morning air. A slight breeze sent me reeling back to memories of fall.

   My favorite time of the year for many reasons. All the holidays, great food, ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE FOOTBALL!!!, beautiful foilage, and HUNTING SEASON!!! Around my neck of the woods we celebrate all of these. My family spends as much time as possible together relaxing and having fun during this time of year. Everyday is special when your with the ones you love. It doesn't have to be a holiday to make life special, it's the little everyday things that count. During the fall it just gets multiplied!

   With this chill in the air, I wish I was back 25 foot up a pine tree again. Impatiently waiting, hoping the good Lord will bless me and my family by sending a big buck or a fat doe by me so I can help feed my family with the best and most healthy meat on earth. Whether I see a deer or not, I am still blessed by having the opportunity to live and see what most people miss by sleeping in. A beautiful sunrise and the chance to watch the world come alive.

   Even if no deer come by, I usually see alot of birds, chipmunks, squirrels, and every now and then I might see a fox or possum or a coyote. Just being in the woods is like medicine, it heals my soul. No matter how bad the outside world is, you can escape by just slipping away into the deep woods. I try to relive my ancestors lifestyles, and sneak into the woods as the Indians did. Stalking in, quitely. No sound but the pounding of my heart. Even though I'm not far from 300lbs I tip-toe in trying to make no more sound than a 60 pound doe. 100 yards takes 20 minutes to travel, but the birds never stop singing so I know I am not spooking them. I'm blending in, I'm one of them. No cause for alarm. I BELONG HERE, THIS IS MY HOME!!!

See ya this fall!

Jim Cobb Coleman.

  

GROWTH POTENTIAL

                                                CUCUMBERS

                                                      BLACK-EYED PEAS

                                                       SQUASH



                             It won't be long now till I hope to see some blooms!!
                             Lord, help my garden grow!

    Jim Cobb Coleman.

  

I OWE, I OWE, SO OFF TO WORK I GO!

   It's amazing how fast you can burn up a day while you are at work. I mean I know it's still only 8 hours, or sometimes 9, 10 , or 11, but when it's over BOY AM I TIRED!!!  My feet and back feel like their going to fall off. First thing you know your in the recliner, the shoes are off,  and your outta there. Snoreville, U.S.A

   I meant to write. Honestly I did , but there just wasn't any time. So here I am running late, as usual. Anyway, I hope I'm starting to get the hang of my new job. It feels a little bit easier, but there is still alot to learn.

   "Big Momma" and I walked down to the garden this evening after I fed & watered the animals. Boy do I have alot of weeding to do!!! The plants look good, but they need to be watered. Hopefully I'll have ( or just make) some time to work in the garden this weekend. My heirloom white acorn squash is up in their cups and ready for transplanting. I also have a bunch of peppers and tomatoes to put in the ground as well.

   Everyone always talks about how pretty a farm looks, especially at sunset, but have you ever noticed how good a farm can smell? While I was checking my tomatoes growing in the field, my wife called me over to check out her rose bushes in full bloom. As I kicked around the rows trying to knock up some weeds I couldn't help but smell the musty odor of the soil I was trodding through. Near the new chicken pen area, the honeysuckle has taken over everything and boy don't it smell tasty. Right before we headed into the house, we sat down near the watering trough just long enough for me to catch both of the baby goats. We held them long enough to give them a hug and a friendly pat on the head and send them back to momma. Nothing smells like babies, even furry ones.

   Now I smell my pillows calling me!
   Good night everyone.

Jim Cobb.

SATURDAY NIGHT

   It's another exciting Saturday night here on the farm. I can barely keep my eyes open as I write this! I have had some long hours at work the last few days. One night you stay late, and the next morning you have to be there early. It's a little tiring, but I enjoy the work !

   I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I GET TO SLEEP LATE!!!! I plan on doing nothing more strenuous than lifting a coffee cup multiple times. Well, at least for in the morning. We've had some wierd weather this week also. The weatherman can't make up his mind whether it's going to rain or be nice out. But, regardless what he says, the opposite happens. No matter what you try to plan the weather seems to mess it up.

   My loving wife, "BIG MOMMA", went antiqueing today. She called me this afternoon to tell me she had bought me some old coffee cups I like. Then she made me jealous by telling me she was eating lunch out. Not really. I did harass her about eating all that good food without me. But I kind of left out the part about me getting some BAR-B-QUE sandwiches on the way home. HA HA! They sure were good!

   Now as my pillow screams for me to come and attack it I feverishly attempt to finish this love letter. I know, this may not sound like any kind of a love letter anyone has ever heard of, but it is. I write this out of a serious love affair I have with my life. For the things I have, and the things I dream of having and doing in the future.I know probably no one will understand this or even read this. I write because I love the way I live and hope to share this with others who maybe don't farm or hunt & fish. I always wanted to be one of those writers in FIELD & STREAM I used to read back in the early 70's. The one's who could tell a story with such vivid clarity you could smell the dirt they walked on, or color your dreams that night with the descriptions of the leaves as they fell.

   I was truly gratefull a few days back when a nice lady actually read one of my posts and made a comment!! It made my day!! After over a year of writing posts finally someone noticed.

   I am not a trained writer. I'm not a professional outdoorsman. The things I write about are only the true, day-to-day happenings here on the farm. They may seem boring to everyone else, but to me it harkens me back to happy childhood memories when a kid from town got to go play in the freshly plowed fields and wade in the shallow creeks on our new farm. Over the years every season takes me back to those memories. The family traditions of each season that I still continue today. Somedays I can provide stories and photos. Others just a note. But with all I hope someone can decipher the meanings of my ramblings.

   Hopefully I will entertain, but mainly I hope to make you think about a simplier time when everyone wasn't too busy to be nice to each other. When folks grew their own veggies and raised their own animals to feed their families. When Dads took their children hunting and fishing and camping. When neighbors used to go visiting each other just to catch-up with each other over coffee and donuts. When people sat in the shade on a hot evening to listen to their favorite sport's team on the RADIO because the pictures were better than on TV!!

   Please bare with me, it is a learning experience. Remember we are never too old to learn something new. I am learning right now it's time to go to bed. With Patsy Cline's SWEET DREAMS playing in my ears I will now bid you GOOD NIGHT.

   Till next time.

Jim Cobb Coleman..

WHISKERS

    I'm a big girl, I can take it. Tell the truth! Do you see any signs of facial hair?????

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

   Have you ever wondered exactly how the weatherman knows it's going to rain? And what time of the day it's going to rain? When I stepped outside this morning, with my cup of Eight O' Clock coffee, there was a slight fog hanging in the morning air. All day I expected the clouds to roll in and the bottom to fall out, but except for a few breezes nothing happened.

   I wanted to plant some more in the garden but if it rained they would be washed away before they could have time to take root. So I didn't. The plants I have growing in the garden needed watering, but with the approaching rain I didn't want to waste the water. So I didn't. It was that kind of day.

   Because of the weather and a severe lazy streak, I wound up spending the day just piddlin around the farm. Doing a whole lot of nothing. I hoed a few weeds in the pea patch. Discussed the over population of wiggle worms with the chickens as they scratched out supper in the backyard. I made sure Daisy Mae was getting enough to eat and a little extra for good measure. I played freeze tag with Patch and Slash (the baby goats) as they ran up & down the stairs leading into the backyard. I tried to explain to Blue , my billy goat , why he wasn't getting the extra food Daisy Mae was, but he just stood on the stairs and snorted.

   Guess what? Before I knew it my day was gone.It was time for supper and as I looked up in the sky, the clouds began to blow in. The rain was finally here. I guess that old weatherman must know his stuff after all. Regardless of the weather, I hope you had a good day and will fair well.

Jim Cobb.

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

   My wife told me we had a problem. She said she was afraid something had happened to Trinity, the smallest of the triplet goats. We had seen her the night before outside with the rest of her family, right before bedtime. She was doing fine we thought. While I was at work she went looking for her and couldn't find her. She looked for over an hour.

   When I got home I went out and combed the property. To start of with , I couldn't find her either. I began to worry. Had she been getting enough to eat? We tried a bottle, but we couldn't get her to take hardly any. I started holding her sisters, one at a time when they started nursing, to make sure Trinity was getting her fair share.

   After 30 minutes of searching, I couldn't find her. Then I began looking for a body, or blood, or signs of a struggle. We have a good population of coyotes around the farm. But there was no signs. As the the sun started to go down, I had to stop and begin taking care of the rest of the animals for the night.

   I opened the barn up and was hauling feed out to the chickens when I saw her. She had laid down behind a sheet of plywood I had leaned up againist the barn. She was dead. I don't know how long she had been there, but I believe she must have passed sometime in the night. She was the runt of the litter, and I'm afraid she just couldn't stay strong enough to make it.

   You hate it when things like this happen, but it is the ugly side of life on a farm. I guess that's why the Lord lets animals have multiple babies. To ensure only the strongest survive. Little Trinity was sweet little girl while she was here. I took her down to the backside of the property and buried her near the giant white oak tree that I hope to be buried under one day.

   She will be missed!

Jim Cobb Coleman.

TIME FLYS WHEN YOUR HAVING FUN

   It's amazing how fast the time goes by. It seems like only yesterday, it was really yesterday! I took an off farm job to try and help out with the things I can't raise on the farm. It's great! I really think I have finally found a place that will allow me to challenge myself in a thriving marketplace and help people at the same time by providing a service.

   On the other hand I can already see that now I will have to really buckle down or I will easily get behind on my farm chores and family responsibilities. I know I can handle it though, it will just take a little more attention to details. The exciting thing is in the last three days I've already put in almost 30 hours on the job, and the time has just flown by! It's nice to have somewhere to go again and be a part of something.

   This evening, after a 10 hour day at work, I turned the chickens out and watched them scratch for bugs and worms while being pestered by the baby goats. The kids think the chickens are just fluffy playmates. A couple of well placed pecks on the nose suddenly changed all that! After feeding everybody and watering them, I eased down to the garden to see if the weeds had took over everything yet. To my pleasure it didn't look to bad yet. I know I'll need to hoe it again in a day or two to keep it clean. I watered the squash, eggplants, tomatoes, & peppers that are still in the cups. I plan on putting them in the ground this coming week. Last week is known as "DEAD WEEK" by all the old time farmers I grew up with. You don't plant on the week after Easter. It's an old superstition, but I need all the luck I can stand, so why chance it.

   I have been a little worried about our smallest of the triplet goats. "Trinity" is getting around fine, but she is so much smaller than her sisters. We have been bottle feeding her extra milk supplements, but she doesn't seem to be drinking a  whole lot of it. A few times when they start to nurse I have held one of the other sisters in my arms to allow "Trinity" a little extra time at the teat. She is loud enough though. You can hear her good when she is looking for momma. Hopefully in a couple of days she will start catching up with her sisters.

   Tonight is Prom night for my youngest son "Pumpkin Head". His  Mom took pictures of him and his date in their formal wear before they left for the party. Man! They sure grow up fast. Seems like we only taught the boy to walk a couple of years ago and now his out boogie-ing the night away.

   Well it's time for me to boogie myself a little closer to a room with a pillow in it. If the good Lord's willing & the creek don't rise I'll holler back at ya tomorrow!

Jim Cobb Coleman.

JOB OPENING

   TRUCK DRIVER WANTED : Apply here. My Dad once told me if I ever went into the military to never volunteer if they asked for truck drivers. Now I understand why.

   I've been moving material all day from front yard to back, or to the garden, or down into the woods behind the garden. I've pretty much covered all 4 acres many times today. now if I could only hire someone to drive my big rear end in this truck back to the barn.

   Whew!! I need a rest.

Jim Cobb.

NATURE OF THE BEAST

   A farm is a wonderful thing. To let my life's work be the day to day running of one has been my dream since I was a 7 year old boy. When my Dad and Uncle announced they had bought a couple of acres and we were going to have a garden, I fell in love with it.

   Think about it. A place where you are allowed to get dirty and it's okay! You can run, and jump, and climb trees! For a small boy it's heaven. Then when I found out we would have chickens, and pigs, and a tractor, I went into sensory-overload.

   I loved every bit of it. My Uncle let me drive the tractor and plow the fields. We dug wells by hand and had the coolest water you ever tasted . My Dad let me pick out my own oak tree. It was mine! I learned to build a barn, plant crops, and take care of chickens & hogs.

   I grew to appreciate the changing seasons. Just like it says in the Bible there is a time and season for every thing, and I saw that in the day-to-day workings of our little farm. Now I have my own place. No, it's not a giant farm, but it is bigger than what I grew up working on. I have more room and more animals. I'm trying to make it, and us as self sustaining as possible.

   My dream is to one day raise every thing I need to feed my family for the entire year, every year. All the veggies, all the meat, eggs, everything except what I fish and hunt for. Eventually I would like to buy or rent some more land and have a few heads of cattle. Right now I'm working on my goats and chickens primarily.

   I recently had triplet baby goats on the farm. All girls. Last Spring we had twin boy goats. Yesterday I noticed one of the older billys try and ram one of the newborn kids. That couldn't go one. Plus, on down the road we don't want any in-breeding going on so it was time for the billys to go.

   I sold the young billys to a neighbor down the road from me who wanted some brush cutters for his place. When I delivered them his Grandchildren ran out and started playing with them. I know they went to a good place. We also discussed him buying my breeding male in a little while, to prevent the same problems.

   In the future I hope to have a new billy to go with several breeding does. I want to have butter, milk, and meat goats for sale. In order to achieve this the young billys had to go. It's the nature of the beast. You can't keep everyone.

   That's farming!

Jim Cobb Coleman.

CAMERA SHY

REARVIEW WINDOW

   I HATE MY FARM!!!

I HAVE TO LOOK AT THIS EVERY DAY!!!


                                              AIN'T   I    LUCKY!!!!!!!


JIM COBB.

POST NATAL CARE

   Ain't it amazing! 3 days after having 3 babies, Daisy Mae, my momma goat, is grazing all over the property. Early this morning I came out side with a cup of coffee to check on the babies, only to find them playing around the water troff. Daisy Mae was reared up on her hind legs, trying to reach over the fence to eat some of my neighbor's honeysuckle.

   I rode over to the feed store and picked up some baby feed supplement and a baby goat nipple. Like I stated earlier momma has 3 babies and 2 teats. Somebody's gonna come up short! I figured we would supplement their nursing for a little while. Momma is getting some extra commercial feed as well.

   It's almost dinner time now, but after lunch I'm gonna go down to the garden and do some hoeing. The grass is trying to take over. I've got to trim some more brush and burn some limbs. My knees and back are feeling better from crawling under the house alot last week so I may take the chainsaw and hunker over and cut down a bunch of small trees that need to be removed before they get much bigger.

   COME ON OVER , & I'LL PUT YOU TO WORK!!!


JIM COBB COLEMAN.

HAPPY EASTER

                                           REMEMBER WHY?

1ST DAY BABY PICTURES

   JUST ANOTHER FUN DAY DOWN ON THE FARM, WITH BABY PICTURES!!!

SIZE DOES MATTER
..... WHEN YOUR THE BABY SISTER!!


THE PROUD BIG BROTHERS--BUCKSHOT & TATER SALAD

NAP TIME---WE'RE POOPED!!!

AIN'T IT GREAT!!!


JIM COBB COLEMAN.

BABY UPDATE

   I'm glad to report all 3 babies made it through their first night. Despite being a little wet from being born and temperatures down to the low 40's, they all seem to be doing fine. Before laying down last night I hooked up a heat lamp to help and keep their body temperatures regulated.

   Daisy Mae the momma is looking a little poor, so I put her on some extra feed to help and supplement her. She has her work cut out for her what with 3 babies and only 2 teats.

   We think they are all little girls. They don't seem to mind me handling them, but they don't like it when I turn them over to check them out. They bleat to beat the band and this makes momma nervous, so we'll wait a little while before we double check. So far so good.

   Jim Cobb.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

   By the light of the full moon Miss Daisy Mae had her babies. TRIPLETS!!! Please welcome the latest editions to Bullfrog Bottom Farm. PATCH, SLASH, & TRINITY. So far they all look good. They've already had breakfast. They're walking around, calling to their big brothers and Dad, and keeping real close to Mom.

   I'll have some better pictures of the whole family tomorrow. Enjoy these for tonight.

   Jim Cobb Coleman.

MURPHY'S LAW

   You ever have one of those days? Here I go again. Like normal, things don't go as planned. You try and take on a simple project and it turns into a nightmare. When you don't know what your doing even a simple job can become complicated.

   You try and help fix a problem and then when it doesn't work it's your fault. You caused it. Your the reason everything is wrong in the world. Your wrong before you start, and now your wrong because you couldn't finish the job.

   It really makes you want to try again. (sarcasm) Oh well what can you do? I will keep on plugging away. All I can do is keep on trying. Maybe I can get lucky and fix the problem. Either way I know it's all my fault. But I'll learn how, I'm learning more & more lately. I'm remembering alot too, about the way things were and the way they have to be. Danged if I do, danged if I don't.

Jim Cobb Coleman.

SHADE TREE MECHANIC

   Recovering from the first real chore of the day. An oil change. It's still a very simple job, but I'd love to have a conversation with the "college boy's" who are designing cars & trucks these days.

   They are honestly designing them to make it where you soon won't be able to work on them. Not because you don't know how to, but because they are craming so much un-necessary garbage under the hood and installing braces in the way so you can't squeeze your hand in there to get to anything.

   In the next 6 months I hope to start a build project of my own. I will be looking for a old jeep to gut and build without any computers, fuel injection, or anything else that is not 100% necessary. I also want to explore a deisel engine and try my hand at making and running it on bio-deisel fuel.

   Oh well, lunch breaks over!

Jim Cobb.

21ST CENTURY TORTURE DEVICE

   It's tough getting older. DUHHH!!!! I've got to start trying to get back into shape. I know how to do it, I've been an athlete most of my life. I played school ball for 8 years, Church league ball, industrial league, and just out in the yard for fun. I know how to train myself, I've got the necessary gym equipment, but man I hate to have to do it!

   There should be a time in your life that you get to quit working out and stop sweating for hours a day. I guess I'm just being lazy. I know it won't be as bad as I'm making it out to be. After all the competion is over. Now I'll just be doing it for my own well being. No more coaches screaming, pushing you to limits you thought you couldn't reach.

   I need to lose a little weight, and get my wind back. I'm not a teenager anymore, I'm 47 working on 48. I've seen how time can take it's toll on your body. Before you even realize it your in bad shape. I hope to stay active for at least another 40-50 years!

   So I'll start riding this torture device daily. I'll pull out those rusty, dusty weights out in the barn. In a few weeks, if I'm feeling brave, I may even climb on my Roman Chair and crank out a few situps. After all, I'm only a few situps away from having my 6-pack abs back (HAHAHAHA!!!!!). If you bought that one I need to talk to you about a used car I got for sale!

   Oh well the fun begins!

Jim Cobb Coleman.

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!!!

   Sometimes it's the little things that make you smile. Like the morning sun shining through the stained glass window of your own front door!

ROUGH NIGHT

   We had a rough time last night. I got a call last night around 2:30 am, that my Dad was having trouble breathing. We went over and picked up my Mom & Dad and took him to the emergency room. They were able to help him out, and we all got back home around 8:00 am.

   He has congestive heart failure. He had a massive heart attack 20 years ago. They told us he probably wouldn't live, if he did live a year it would be a miracle, and if he lived, the highlight of his day would be going to bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, if he was able to do that.

   Once he got able to he started walking. As he built his strength, he increased how much he walked. For most of those 20 years he walked around 7 miles cross country, up hills and down, every day rain or shine. Not bad for a man with 75 % of his heart dead as a stone, and only 10 % of the pump working.

   Now he is 77and having to slow down. It's still hard to convince him he is not 18 years old and still in perfect health. My Dad has always been a fisherman. He started me fishing before I could walk and talk. Both of my sons have enjoyed going fishing with there PaPa and learning from him.

   Here's a shot of some of Dad's trophies. They range from 7 to 11 pounds each. I don't know how many I've watched him turn back over 5 lbs. I know it's probably more than most fishermen lie about catching.

Jim Cobb Coleman