This has been a pretty exciting week. This week was rodeo week here. It was nice to spend a couple evenings with the kids taking in all the rodeo sights. Madison had waited a year to see “bubble gum Bob” the clown again, but for some reason they had a new clown this time around. Mattie was kind of upset at first, but it didn’t take “pork chop” the new clown long to win her over. Seeing the kids with that great big smile on their face means the world to me. I enjoy all the events, but most of all I enjoy seeing the kids have fun.

There’s not been any slowing down this week. Madison and I met up with some nice folks from Ohio and finally took a horseback ride in the Big South Fork. Madison handled the trail and her horse like an old pro. She was having a great time until we saw the bears. As we were riding we heard a bunch of noise over off the trail and 2 bear cubs appeared. I can’t believe I didn’t have my camera. Not knowing where their mother was we didn’t get too close. Madison was a little scared because Kim and I wanted to go on up the trail past the bears. Madison firmly objected so we turned back. I’m no bear expert since we’ve not had many encounters with bears here over the years, but it looks like if we are going to spend much time in the Big South Fork we better learn about black bears.

I can’t believe I have lived in the heart of such a magestic national park and not made time to get out and enjoy it. There is so much to do. There is literally something for everyone. Most of all it seems the park caters to horse people. They have 2 very nice campgrounds. One on the Tennessee side and one here in Ky. There are trails ranging in length from 30 minutes to all day or even overnight. Here in Ky there is a nice little resort just before entering the park. Bear Creek Resort has cabins that are for sale or rent with all the comforts you can imagine along with stalls for your horses. So if you’re in the market for a getaway for a week, a night, or for good you owe it to yourself to check them out. The one pictured below is awesome and it’s for sale. If you might be interested leave me a commet and I’ll put you in touch with the folks selling it.

Folks must be doing some late summer landscaping because the topsoil is finally moving. I’m glad to see it go. Especially since there will be another big pile to sell from the second building pad. I have to make time to get to the Mahindra dealer soon and try to make a deal on a smaller HST 4×4 tractor loader backhoe combination. Our current flock of chickens will be leaving Nov 24th. That’s when the fun begins. We will be scrambling to get everything cleaned up for the next flock. I think a small tractor will fit good for cleaning out the 9 1/2 ft sidewall houses. Plus I can think of a million uses for it when we aren’t using it to clean out.

Well as always tons to do and not enough time to do it all so I best get at it. Thanks for reading, check back soon, and feel free to browse all the pics I’ve added!

Geuss time has gotten away from me a bit. I didn’t realize it had been so long since I had posted. Things are gradually slowing a bit with the chickens, but as it does it seems problems with help rear their ugly head. I had hoped to get away a bit, but I can’t do that if my help doesn’t show up. We only have a couple employees and one of those has managed to miss 6 of the last 12 days. Pair that with Cobb wanting the place picked up a bit because they have customer inspectors coming and it has me really busy. I’ve sold a bunch of topsoil in the last couple weeks too. The 7010 has been getting the honors of loading all of it and unloading the 30 rolls of hay I bought while the 6000 has been the mowing tractor. We’ve been trying to get all the rough stuff and weeds mowed before the photographer for Farm and Ranch Living Magazine comes. We’re set to keep a diary next month that would be published in the August/September 09 issue. That means lots of picking up to do. I just hope folks realize this is not a hobby farm. This is how we earn our living now. A working farm seems to always have something out of place.  All I know to do is keep plugging away and hopefully it will show how hard we work.

The pad should be done this week for the second set of houses. Boy do I have cold feet. I see a major hurdle in all of this and it’s labor. By my calculations we will need a total of 6 people to take care of both sets. Atleast we are half way there. Madison has been telling me she’d rather have a big nice horse barn over there. She’s already named it. M&D Horse Company. Maybe we can do both. Madison has a nack for horses and I’d love to see her living her dream. Who knows with the Big South Fork River and Recreation Area so close maybe we could stable a few horses.

I have taken time for the kids too since school will be starting very soon. Last week we took a drive and had a picnic. I took them to Natural Arch. Natural Arch is a rock arch that my grandparents used to take us to frequently. It’s got some good picnic tables with grills and a shelter. They’ve added an outdoor pavillion since I was there last. After sandwiches we hiked out to the arch. I like to try to teach the kids about history and I find myself boring them sometimes. This trips topic was CCC. The Civilian Conservation Corp. There were a couple camps here in the county and the built roads and trails all over. In particular they built parks like Natural Arch. Just another reason I feel as though that generation was our greatest generation.

After our picnic we drove down to Lake Cumberland to take in the sights. Makes me want a boat. Not much else to write about at the moment, but we have managed to borrow a trailer so hopefully we’ll get to take some time for horseback riding before school starts back. Be sure to check back soon and check out the pics I’ve added. Thanks for reading!