|
There were many twist and turns to this day-I had moments of high energy and productivity, then even longer moments of extreme fatigue. It's a mostly good day. The morning was productive. I made yogurt, got a new batch of kefir going, made eggs for breakfast and I made Whole Wheat Cinnamon Graham Squares. I also hard-boiled a dozen eggs for egg salad for lunch. I pulled a venison roast out of the freezer to put in the crockpot and totally forgot about it until noon. By then it was too late, but that ended up being fine since my dh called to say he had to work later than planned. So, as I type, the kids are eating popcorn for dinner on the floor of the living room while watching a movie. Anyway, all this food prep made a huge mess in my kitchen and by the time I got all the food made, I was worn out and couldn't face the mess. So, I had to avoid the kitchen for most of the day. Which is hard since our house is mostly open. So, I just walked around with my glasses off-that helped a bit. LOL The 2 older kids and I did some reading out of The Trumpet of the Swan. I found free beautiful notebook pages for this book at The Notebooking Nook, so I had them do one of the pages writing about the chapter we read and illustrating it. Susanna played with playdoh while we did school stuff:
We did some things out of our Konos "Courage" unit. There's many people in the Bible to study who were courageous in the face of fear and doubt. Gideon was the main man for today. I haven't read about him in a long time and we were all surprised at how many times he asked God to prove himself before he obeyed. I didn't say anything about it while we were reading the story, but Hannah interrupted to ask, "Are you sure he's in the courage unit, Mom?" LOL-she had a point. But, then we talked about how God knew how Gideon was, met him where he was at, and then raised him above himself to obey in a mighty courageous way. But, it was a process-and we are the same way. How many times do we question God and ask him to prove himself to us time and time again? It's so easy to read about people from the Bible and know what they got wrong and think of what they should have done isntead. Yet, we can't see ourselves clearly to know what the right things to do are. I was very touched by the fact that before Gideon asked for proof before the taking of the enemy, God gave it to him in a special way to give him courage. So, I had the kids do a notebook page on Gideon, too-also free from the Notebooking Nook. We had a very good discussion on why God allows trials in our lives. I wish I could write it all-but it would take too much room here. Then Jonah mentioned that Jonah from the Bible was courageous. He said he had just read the whole book of Jonah and asked if he was in the Konos Courage unit. He's not and I asked Jonah why he thought he was courageous. I was kind of surprised and he surprised me even more with his answer. He said, "Mom, when Jonah was stuck in the belly of the big fish, he prayed." I can't convey how this affected me. "Jonah prayed." Yes, he did. You know, I know this story forwards and backwards, but for the first time ever, I had a picture in my mind of a man actually inside the belly of a whale/big fish and realized how scary that must have been-how impossible the situation must have seemed. Now, I know that God put him there for that very reason, but I don't know if Jonah knew that. He must have thought he was done for and he knew it was his fault and he deserved it. I can't imagine the panic & hopelessness of his situation. And he prayed. Yes, my Jonah. Jonah in the Bible was very courageous to pray. And, like Gideon, he also went through a process. We talked about how Jonah got himself into that predicament by disobeying God, but that God used him through all of his faults, just like he uses us. We're no better than Jonah in the Bible. We talked about how we can learn from Jonah's example-to pray when fear surrounds us and to have the courage to trust God. The kids went outside for awhile to swim in the pool. Susanna has become a water baby all of a sudden. She held onto Hannah's bathing suit straps and yelled "yaa! yaa! giddyap!" I love this picture of Hannah gliding under the water with Susanna on top:
The kids did some other schooly type things-nothing heavy. Jonah did copywork, Hannah did Grammar. Jonah practised his times tables on the trampoline. First, Hannah tried to help him. She is a visual learner primarily. Jonah is an audio/kinesthetic learner. Needless to say, Hannah got frustrated. Jonah came to tell me that Hannah wouldn't let him play with his cars while he did his times tables. She wanted him to sit still, but he said he couldn't think like that. And he can't. He has to be doing something with his hands in order to hear what you're saying. So, we had another discussion on learning styles, teaching styles and patience. She then did a pretty good job of helping him. It was a good lesson for both of them. I was totally exhausted by the time Susanna's nap came around. All those discussions wore me right out. So, I took a nap, too. It was wonderful. While I slept, Hannah cleaned her room and Jonah just played. Meanwhile, the dishes accumulated in the sink. LOL. I don't know that happens!! After Susanna & I woke up we went to the library to pick up a mountain of books that were on hold for me. The librarian (a really sweet older lady) asked me if we homeschool during the summer. I hesitated not sure of what to say-some people think it's cruel to do school during the summer. But, since I had a huge pile of incriminating evidence stacked between us, I said, "well, we did take some time off, but we're doing a fun unit right now." She said, "good for you-I think when kids have the whole summer off, they lose some of their reading and math skills and then they have to catch up every school year." Phew-that was an easy one. I hesitated for naught. We got home and Hannah gave Slugger his dinner. He's the only one that gets fed twice/day. The other two horses get fat just looking at grain. One of them gets no grain during the summer-and he's the fatest! Bonnie gets a little grain once/day because she needs medicine for arthritis. Susanna sat on Slugger while he ate-I didn't have my camera, which stinks, because it would've been such a cute picture. Oh, and I finally tackled the dishes. LOL Well, the kids are done with their |
|
Is worth two in the afternoon! I know I used that quote at the bottom of a previous post, but I so love it-it's so true! I woke up at 5:00am and couldn't get back to sleep. So, I got up and in about an hour (by myself with everyone else still sleeping) I got 2 loads of laundry folded, the living room picked up, all the floors dust-mopped. I also made a double batch of blueberry muffins, made coffee and pastuerized 2 gallons of milk. It feels so good to have gotten so much done!! And you know what, I just love praying while folding laundry. Usually I fold laundry later and often the kids talk to me while I'm doing that (and they usually help). It was nice to visit with my dh before he had to leave for work. He'll be home really late today, so this was my only chance to talk to him face to face. We do talk on the phone a lot during the day, though. I also like to send him emails. I sent some warm muffins with him to work to share. Here's a pic of what I got when I went "shopping outside" today:
It is the neatest thing to walk around our place and come back in with groceries. The reddish things to the left are garlic bulbs. I planted a whole bed of them in the fall, but in December we got a warm spell and then a full blast Winter, so most of the garlic didn't make it. We are really enjoying our new furniture. The end tables and area rug haven't come yet, but boy are the couches comfortable. The other night I reclined back and Hannah rubbed my feet for me. She's such a sweetheart. |
|
The last couple weeks have been blurry. We all took turns being sick-me the longest. So, I had very little energy or motivation to do more than what was absolutely necessary. We got quite a bit of rain the last few days-lots of thunderstorms & lightning, too. We got a lot of cleaning done because we got rid of all our junky old living room furniture. It's so much easier cleaning an empty room! The kids all helped and did a great job. Here's the 2 girls washing posts and kneebraces. That changing table to the left is now totally empty and soon to be given back to the person who lent it to me-yeah!! We listened to fun music while doing it. Here's Jonah cleaning by the kitchen above the dog food bowls.
We got a brand new living room furniture set and now it is SO nice to be in the living room! This is the first time we've ever gotten new furniture. My dh finally found a local place to buy a 5 cow headlock set. He's going to install it in the pasture and we'll feed the beefers after they get their heads in it to get them used to it. This is just so we can do little things like spray them with bug spray or treat pink eye, etc. Right now anytime we want to do anything at all to them, we have to shoot them with a tranquilizer gun. Thankfully, they rarely have anything illnesses or problems. They will come up to us and eat out of our hands, they'll let the kids touch them for a minute or so, but to DO anything to them, it's impossible. Last year when treating the mamma for mastitis, we had to tranquilize her 3 days in a row before doing her treatment. Ugh. So, hopefully this will work out well! My dh is in a fishing tournament this weekend. I'm expecting a lot of salmon. Last month when he went he brought home over 200 lbs of it. None of the other guys on his team wanted the fish because they didn't want to clean it. Can you believe it??? We shared a lot and we froze the rest. I recently found out from a friend how to can salmon, so I'm going to try that. I'm very excited about this and hope it turns out well! Today I have a lot of work to do in the garden. I've got peppers ready and zucchini, too! The strawberries are all done. Can anyone share what they do with their patch when it's done producing? I read to cut it down and mulch it. I'm thinking of transplanting the best looking plants to a new bed and getting rid of the old bed. It's overrun and moldy under the plants. I've got 3 books and I've done online research, but all the advice is different and confusing and I'm not sure what to do!! I also need to mow the lawn. Hannah needs to get sawdust in the horse shed today. Jonah needs to clean out the chicken waterers really good. Here's a pic of Susanna enjoying cleaning with her spray bottle of water. It is now in her hands frequently. If you stand still, you get cleaned:
LOL!! That dog is Freya and she is such a patient and loving girl. Piper is in the background and he already got washed and is drying in the sun. HeeHee. I guess that's a good update on what we're up to. Better get crackin on the day! I recently read on the back of a "One hour in the morning is worth two in the afternoon." |
|
Light Burdens Some wife, weary already, her hands over-full with the multiplied cares and duties of her household life, may plead that she has no strength to spend in sympathy and help for others. But it is truly wonderful how light these added burdens seem when they are taken up in love. Another of these legends of Elizabeth tells that once she was bearing her cloak full of loaves to the poor whom she daily fed. Her husband met her, and being amazed at the size of the load she bore, looked to see what it was, and found only flowers. The loaves were as light as they were fragrant to the noble woman who carried them for the love she bore her Lord. So always the duties we perform out of love for him and his suffering ones become easy and pleasant as we take them up. Heavenʼs benediction rests over on the home of her who lives to do good. J.R. Miller, Home-making, 1882
I got this in an email and wanted to remember it. Very inspiring to me. |
|
I've been kind of lazy the last week. Things need to be done and I haven't felt like doing it. Here is what I have gotten done, though. I am trying to spend at least 30 mins in the garden each evening weeding. It's been too hot to do it during the day. And I finally got my tomato plants tied to their stakes. I should have done it sooner, though. I am not pleased with my strawberries this year. I had a ton of flowers on them, but most of the berries were small and I've got some kind of moldy ground thing going on under them. Also, chipmunks have been eating them. We (meaning, the kids-LOL) ate most of them, so we're going to have to pick at a farm this week so I can freeze some. I'm thrilled with the rest of the garden, though. And I can stop buying lettuce now-yeah!!
Got all the grass mowed. Caught the hen that had poop stuck to her behind and got that off and washed her up. That was fun, as you can imagine. I gave my son the job of catching her in the henhouse when they went in there for the evening. You should have heard the racket going on in there during that. We put fresh sawdust in the house with the mother hen and her chicks. The remaining 8 chicks are doing very well. My dh has started getting round bales already. Last year we were scrambling trying to find hay for the animals because we waited until August. So, we had 2 farms lined up this year to get hay from. He went and picked up 11 round bales the other day-it took him 3 trips. Here's a pic of him and Jonah pushing round bales off the truck & trailer:
We're not getting anymore round bales from this particular farm because he raised his price to 28 dollars/bale. He didn't tell my dh that until after he went to get them. We found out that a friend of ours does round bales, but it's chopped hay in the bales and you have to have a round bale spear to move them because they fall apart when the wrap comes off. Now that we have a tractor with a spear, we can buy his hay. And guess what-they're 15 dollars/bale and it's nice hay!! I'm so thrilled and wish we had known this before we bought 11 from the other farm. Here's Pat moving the round bales to prepared spot with pallets. We will keep them covered with tarps:
Hannah has been doing a lot of trail riding with the neighbor girls this week. She went one evening with Ashley & Alli. Two of our horses went out for this ride. Ashley rode her horse. Ashley keeps a cell phone in her sock and she called me to let me know that one of the dairy cows were out up on the hill(from a friend's farm). So, we called the farm and they went to get the cow in and the girls got to help herd the cow back in with their horses. Hannah was so thrilled at being able to help do that. The horse she rode has helped with cow rounding up before when we had loose beef cows. We had some visitors the other morning and I was so excited to see them so close to the house. I hope they don't come close to my garden, though.
Can you see them? One was a buck, one a doe and we couldn't tell what the third was.
I've been working in the kitchen in the mornings. I've made granola bars, butter, cultured milk w/ kefir, put leftover cheesy onion bread thru the processor to make bread crumbs and today I hope to make graham crackers. I also hope to pick or buy strawberries today. I need to see where is the best price. I'll make some jam and I'll freeze the rest. |
|
I just want to share a few pictures. We went on a fun outing with my best friend and her boys on Thursday to a park with a waterfall. It's just a trickle right now:
We had a great time. The kids found salamanders, snakes, frogs and tons of fossils. Hannah even caught a snake. Jonah got excited at one point, came tearing out of the stream bed yelling that he'd found a rock with heiroglyphics on it. It was really sneaker tread marks, but we didn't tell him. It was so cute. He was beside himself. I asked him how he thought a rock from Egypt got here and he said, "must've been during the flood, mom." After got home and had lunch, I had the kids write about their adventures in our Nature Notebooks. Jonah taped in a snake skin and a fossil, too. The public school kids got home early, so Hannah went trailriding with her friend, Ashley. The other kids and I did some things outside. Here's Susanna going to get eggs.
This is one of her favorite things to do.
Here she is on our swing. We don't have normal swings. This one has been here since we bought our property and there was nothing here. It was the first thing we put here. I was pregnant with Hannah when we bought this place. She's now 11.
Here's Jonah on our other swing. Susanna was so proud of herself for being able to push her big brother. Pat plans to make some rope swing for the kids to stand on and swing from and hang them up in the trees in the woods, too.
After that, we picked some strawberries. As soon as the berries are all picked, the plants in the paths are coming out. I can't keep control of these little buggers. I can't figure out how strawberry growers keep them under control and in such neat long rows. Does anyone know? Someday I want to help out at a fruit & veggie farm just so I can learn their secrets.
As you can imagine, Susanna's container didn't get very full. And her face and fingers were stained red. LOL. It started to thunder, so we got to the house and I was concerned because the girls weren't back from their trail ride yet. I know they have good heads on their shoulders, so I just prayed for their safety and a few minutes later, they came cantering across a hay field hurrying to get home. I didn't get much else done around here. I got the kitchen cleaned up cheesy onion bread made and a load of laundry. But, what a great fun day we had! |
|
Monday we played a joke on a neighbor. Another neighbor, a dairy farmer actually started this prank, but he only has access to cow poop and needed horse turds. LOL He had sent us on a stealth mission to a mutual friend's house to spray paint Happy Birthday in his driveway (washable paint) along with 54 horse turds since he is 54. LOL It says "Happy Birthday Bernie, From Fred & Pat" The kids thought it was so funny to do this. They were giggling hysterically. I am now awaiting the retaliation which is sure to happen because the birthday boy is also a very big prankster. Most likely, it'll happen when Pat isn't home.  Fred is a very big prankster. When Pat first met him(as a teen) he was wearing a shirt that said, "instant swimmer-just add water." Well, he walked over to Pat (they hadn't even been introduced yet) and poured a glass of water on him, then said, "ok, let me see ya swim."
After that, we 4-wheeled to a place near us that has beavers there now. So, we were finally able to see an occupied beaver pond. We've been hunting for one and had been to 6 ponds, but they all were old beaver ponds. This one is just a couple miles away.
 Then Patdrove us out into a field to show me a pine tree lot at the top where I can get pine needles to use for mulch around my blueberry bushes.
After he showed me, he said to keep Susanna right next to me or Hannah because it's prime coyote territory. I said, I think we won't be going without you then(he agreed that was probably a good idea). Apparently there's a coyote den on the other side of that lot and also the farm compost pile-where they put dead animals.
I immediately got the heebie jeebies, of course.Here's a picture I took from the top of that field. It looked so beautiful and peaceful. This is near our place:
 On the way back to the house, I found these beautiful flowers next to the driveway. I didn't plant them. I think they are foxgloves, but I'm not sure.
 Here's a pic of the kids in the wagon:
 I love it that they have fun together. That hole in the background is the partially dug pond. Pat was checking on the drain pipe. He is itching to finish it. It's going to end up being big enough for the kids to kayak in and Pat is going to stock it with trout, since it'll be cold and deep enough.
|
|
That's a strange title, but I am very bad at titles! I fell in love with our property when we saw it and wanted a few things to never change-like the paths that were already here and I wanted the hill to stay a meadow-we don't do anything with it and it's pretty steep. The flowers on it are so pretty and it smells wonderful. I wanted to have as few buildings as possible. I'm kind of a romantic with the outdoors. I like a bit of wildness here. My dh (Pat) is a major project man. LOL. Do I need to say anything more? We have done a lot of hard work building our house, the polebarn, putting up fencing and walk-out sheds for the animals. And, boy is he good at building things! But, now that the major projects are done, my project-man needs projects! Yes, we're putting in a pond, but right now he can't work on that until he can get a trackhoe. We have a new tractor now with a backhoe mount and having it here has put every tree here on the endangered list. LOL. He made one of my paths wider-and now I don't like to walk on it. I'm also a person who doesn't like a lot of change. The path is totally different now-no longer cozy and woodsy with lots of leaf canopy. But, he needed it wider to plow thru there in the winter, because on the other end of the path is the winter pasture for the horses & cows and he needs to be able to drive thru there to get round bales to the animals. I thought it was wide enough, but I guess it was harder to maneuver with the larger tractor. Then, he had me walk with him to a little section of trees near where we have a table & chairs. Before he even said a thing, I said, "Pat, leave the poor trees alone!" He said, "but they're not doing anything here-they're junk trees." I said, "trees don't DO anything-they just live, grow, give off oxygen and look beautiful. Please allow these trees to live in peace." I was teasing him and told him he needed to take the borrowed the backhoe attachment back to its owner before our property is a clear cut. I told him he needed to fill out requisition slips before cutting anymore trees and he called me a tree-hugger. This was all in fun-if you knew my dh-he is such a smart-aleck. He is always teasing me and loves it when I tease him. So, then we got talking about the footsteps we leave here while we're alive on this earth and I told him I'd really like to make the smallest footsteps on our property as possible. He laughed and said, "well, I like to take one giant step for Pat-kind." But, he left the trees there and the backhoe is now gone, so the trees can all breathe a little easier now. LOL. |
|
First, read the post below. As I was hanging up laundry this morning, I was thinking about yesterday's storm that I got caught in that I posted about below. I was a little afraid of the lightening, but I didn't mind the rain or the hail. I wasn't irritated or bothered by it. And then I remembered something that happened last week: I was driving in the car, upset about something and listening to a CD that I'd never heard before. It was Casting Crowns and the song was "I Praise You in The Storm." I started to cry and at the exact moment that a tear rolled down my cheek, these words were sung: "Every tear I cry..." The tear rolled off my chin: "you hold in your hand..." It felt like shocks went thru me because of the words and the timing of the tear. I pictured that tear falling in God's hand! Then more of the words were (not in order of the song): "Once again, I say Amen, and it's still raining... As the thunder rolls, I barely hear you whisper thru the rain, I'm with you... You are who you are, no matter where I am... I praise you in the storm!" I remember feeling convicted during that moment in the car that I don't praise God in the storms I go thru. I just pray that the storm goes away. Well, yesterday, I didn't praise God in that real storm either-I just prayed each time I had to hold that metal gate that I didn't get electrocuted and thinking how stupid I was to be doing this-and why did they continue to get the hay during this weather?? As the words to this song went thru my mind, I had a picture of what I must have looked like yesterday-standing soaked from rain, pelted with hail, black rolling clouds, claps of thunder and flashes of lightening. And the words to that song played in the background of my mind... I just shook my head at myself and said, "God, is it ok if I praise you now... after the storm? And thank you that I didn't get hit by lightening." |
|
It was hot and sunny all day. The farm down the road sent a tractor up to one of our pastures to pick up the hay they cut yesterday. Our cows were in it (we moved the horses), so they needed someone to open and close the gate when the dump trucks came to get the loads. This whole process took about 45 mins. The tractor picking it up and putting it in it's wagon, then every so often emptying it's wagon load into a dumptruck. About 10 mins into this, all of a sudden, the sky gets black, the wind starts whipping, the heavens release torrents of rain, then hail and then thunder and lightening are resounding all around! Needless to say, I touched the gate only when I really had to and I got really really wet. LOL And wouldn't you know it, a few minutes after they got done and I couldn't get any wetter, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. LOL! We lost power for the rest of the day! It got really fun at night. We had candles on and walked around with flash lights and 2 of us had on lights that strap to your head. My dh got home late-after 9pm and brought us home Chinese food for dinner. He & Jonah got the generator going until the power came back on around 10:00. |
|
....to take a walk after dinner yesterday even though the sink was full of dishes. The weather was gorgeous all day yesterday, and I longed to go walking in the fields. The day's chores, schooling, taking care of my family, etc made me keep putting it off. After dinner I finally realized that the day was almost done and if I didn't go right then, it would be too late. So, I asked Hannah to watch the 2 yr old and Jonah was helping his Dad outside, so I left by myself. I didn't even bring any dogs. Oh, it was so peaceful, so quiet. I quickly felt calmer and my thoughts seem to come smoother and less jumbled. I love being with my family, but I am a person who thrives on time alone to think and reflect and pray. I love being by myself, although it doesn't happen much. I love talking to God while I walk. I became filled with such peace and joy and well-being as I went on. One of the fields I walked thru was a tall meadow. Oh, that has to be one of the most heavenly smells on earth. I hope to take the camera up there today. It was beautiful with tall grasses, wildflowers, butterflies flying over, birds dipping down from the bright blue sky and the hilltops in the background. On the way home and back up the driveway, I went into the pasture to just sit on a saltblock and hope the calf would get curious enough to investigate me. Instead I got mobbed by the horses. LOL Finally, they wandered off and I just sat there watching the sun go down and listened to the animals chewing grass. I like that sound. The field got chopped in the morning, so it smelled like fresh cut hay, which is another heavenly smell! I'm so glad I took that walk. I probably wouldn't have, but I've been having abdominal problems and I read that increased movement helps. I also have a cracked rib, so it's been hard to do weeding and the other physical things I normally do. Walking is perfect for me right now and what a blessing it was yesterday. When I got back to the house, Hannah had given Susanna a bath and dressed her, so I took her outside and pushed her on the swing for awhile. She found a caterpillar and as it crawled on her hand, she started laughing and said, "caderpiwwar, you tickle me. You a funny caderpiwwar." LOL!! She has been enthralled with them for days now. She keeps busy with caterpillars for hours at a time-putting rocks in front of them to crawl over, carrying them gently around, giving them rides on her rocking horse and yesterday even had one go "wimming." Hannah rescued it pretty quickly. I then went in the house and got the dishes done quickly while listening to a Selah CD a friend lent to me. My dd, Hannah (11) just started a blog yesterday. She's very excited about it. If you have a minute, would you mind welcoming her? She'd love it. http://www.homesteadblogger.com/mustang/
|
|
Yesterday morning was so beautiful and since Jonah & I were the only ones awake, we took a walk down the driveway. I thought I'd share some pics of our animals. First we checked on the chicks, but I recently posted a pic of them-see in a post below. Did you know chickens have many different tones of clucking, churring/purring & squawking? We have learned what many of these sounds mean. Sometimes they make an extremely alarming sound that makes me think they're in the process of being eaten by a coyote. I run out there to see what is the matter and all they're doing is announcing (to the entire world)the fact that they laid an egg. LOL Here is Bonnie & Slugger. Bonnie is the one with the white stripe-she acts like quite the lady and has a feminine quality about her(except when she's eating-then she looks like a pig at the trough). She likes to smell people's necks-LOL. You can't see Slugger that well, but he's an absolute sweetheart. He loves kids and stands perfectly still whenever really little ones are around. He gets a really funny look sometimes-a wide-eyed, "oh no, what's going to happen to me now" kind of look. It's hysterical. Seeing as he's accident prone, he has cause to look that way often.
Here's Retro. Boy, does he have a lot of character. He lets Susanna (2.5) grab his face by the nostrils and he likes to flap his lips on top of her head. But, he can be quite rebellious with an adult riding him when he doesn't want to walk thru a puddle.
Here's the elusive Mama cow with her daughter. I say elusive because everytime I try to get a picture of her calf, she packs up her daughter and rushes into the woods. But, her calf (the kids named her Lindsey) is getting very curious now and has a mind of her own. She is the most wandering-off calf I have ever seen. She'll walk half a pasture away from her mother and is only a week old. Her mother gets so upset and bellows something awful. Lindsey often doesn't listen and then her mother(named Taffy) runs to catch up with her, which looks painful with her big udder.
Sometimes Lindsey follows the horses around. Last year's calf listened much better. That calf(steer, now) is still with us and he is a very loving big brother, surprisingly. We may be down a rooster soon, I hope. We have 2 of them and one of them is extremely annoying. He's also not in charge of the flock, so is an outsider. Every morning he hops on the porch and crows over and over while we're eating breakfast of doing Bible reading. He also likes to get right up behind me while I'm hanging laundry and let out a loud crow which makes me jump every time. I really believe he does it on purpose. So, that's most of our animals, escept the dogs, the other chickens and the cat. Jonah & I had a very nice talk while we walked-we always do when it's just the two of us. |
|
We got lots done this weekend. Our started pond stopped draining, so my dh borrowed a friend's back hoe attachment and hooked it up to our tractor to dig out the pipe and fix it. The tractor is newly acquired-we just got it on Friday. The pond isn't done, so we are purposely letting it drain into a ditch which leads to the pond in our lower horse/cow pasture. So, he dug it up and found that the 2 pipes were apart-about a foot apart. So, he re-glued it and let it dry.
Here they are bringing the pipe and other assorted materials back from the barn. I don't know what they did to the pipe, but anyway, here's what they did next. They glued it:
After the glue dried and Pat filled in the dirt back in, they happened upon an uninvited guest while putting tools away:
We didn't know what it was, but after looking it up, found that it was an Eastern Milk Snake. Isn't it cool looking?? We released far away from the barn & house. The new tractor sure came in handy for many things. Pat was able to turn a huge pile of compost that has been sitting for 2 years and he brought me a bucketful of beautiful compost so I could put it in my flower garden alongside all the plants. He also put a small pile of comport next to the veggie garden. I was going to work in there today, but it's been raining all day-we surely needed it. The grass was getting brown already. Here's a couple pics of my flower garden. It goes around two sides of the house. Most of my perrenials haven't flowered yet, though:
Here's another angle:
I've been trying to get a good picture of the calf, but her mother won't let anyone near enough. Every time we come close, she packs her little daughter off to go hide in the woods. Guess I can't blame her, but I want a good pic of her calf0she is such a beautiful girl! The kids named her Lindsey. Here's a picture of the hen with her 8 chicks. It's not a great pic, but it'll do.
|
|
I've been working in my flower garden the last couple days-cleaning it up, weeding, putting in finished compost, transplanting things, thinning things. I wish I had never planted mint, Chinese lanterns or "obedient" plant. Obedient plant should be called disobedient plant. There's a formal name for it, but can't remember it. I'm constantly pulling them up out of other plants. I transplanted some mint to the edge of the woods because I don't care if they spread over there. I need to do the same thing with the other two. My raspberry transplants aren't doing so well. I'm hoping that all the watering I'm doing for them will help them to rebound and begin to thrive. The blueberry bushes and the fruit trees seem to be doing great, though. I've been doing a lot of weeding in my veggie garden, too. And over there, the strawberry plants are giving me problems. They won't stay in their assigned raised beds!! LOL And it feels so wrong to pull them up and toss them! The new calf is doing well, and we now have a total of 8 chicks that hatched. Only 1 egg didn't hatch out of 10. We took down some fencing today and pulled out the fence posts, moved some compost to places that needed it. I guess that's it. |
|
Well, moving the hen and her chicks and giving them food and water worked. Two more chicks hatched yesterday and one hatched today. There are 3 eggs left. The Mama sits on them while her babies use her to play peek-a-boo. It is the funniest thing to see them pop in and out all around and under her. She is constantly shifting. She is such a good mamma. Every so often, she gets up and the chicks follow her around scratching at the ground. They are adorable-there's 6 total now. This morning we had more excitement. Our mamma cow had her calf! The kids went down to feed the animals and found that the calf had been born-it's a girl. Here it is:
It's father is half angus, half hereford and the mom is hereford. Here, the calf gave me a bit of a scare. Her mom went to the pond, she followed behind, but got confused and followed her big brother to the pond after the mom had already turned around. She started to step down over the bank into the pond. Her mom quickly got over there b/w her and the pond and was calling to her. Then the calf walked away with her mother. Isn't that so neat? This cow is also a very good mother. This is her second baby. The steer in the pic is her first baby:
Other than that, we did our schooling, Hannah had piano lessons, I made a pan of lasangna and I planted a whole lot of raspberry bushes. We got them for free from my MIL's patch. I found a guitar teacher for Jonah-we have a meeting with him tomorrow to see if he thinks Jonah is ready. I hope so-he comes highly recommended and is a Christian Homeschool dad. I think Jonah is ready-he's been asking for lessons for 2 yrs and is 9 now. Hannah's piano teacher asked me if she can become her page turner at concerts since she does really well following along reading the music. She goes to a concert tomorrow to see what it's like, but someone else will turn pages this time. She's excited about it. I think that's it! |
|
Got a lot done yesterday. Skimmed the cream off the milk, made the butter, dealt with the kefir, dishes, laundry. I was quite pleased to hear and see all my "house servants" doing their work as I went outside-the washing machine, the dish washer and the butter churner. The electric butter churn was a present from my dh. Did some weeding in the garden. Cleaned up some areas of the property that have been bothering me with the kids' help. The kids stacked some fire wood. We got the mother hen and her 3 chicks and the rest of the eggs moved to the other smaller chicken house. The hen is still sitting on her eggs, but is also taking care of her chicks. I put a chick water and chick food right in front of the nest. The chicks are eating and drinking-and so is mom. She made the neatest sound when I put the food down. After she made it, her chicks came burrowing out from under her and then did what she did. It sounded like she was talking to them. She did it again when she got off the nest for a few mins, the chicks followed and scratched around the ground with her. It amazes me how God designed animals. I mowed the lawn and Jonah wanted to do it, too. I love mowing the law and so does he, so we have to take turns. He mows parts and I mow parts. I'd rather do it all myself since I enjoy it so much, but I make myself share. LOL Here he is (not a great pic)
For lunch, the kids packed a picnic and piled into the wagon of the 4-wheeler. We took a long ride on the seasonal dirt roads checking out the fields of hay and corn. We saw a hawk close up, a game bird of some sort with a long tail and we even saw an owl flying low thru the woods. We've never seen an owl flying before. What beautiful grace. We found a nice spot to have a picnic on a close friend's property and set up our blanket. I read The Matchlock Gun to them while they ate. It was so quite and all we heard were the sounds of red-winged blackbirds. My dh had been gone for 2 days in a king salmon fishing tournament. A friend of his is a charter boat captain. They caught 18 beautiful king salmon and got 6th place in the tournament. The prize covered their expenses with a little extra, which is nice. The best part is that noone else wanted the fish, so he brought it all home and cleaned it. We'll give some away and the rest we'll seal up in vacuum sealer bags and put in the freezer! Last year's catch lasted us all year and we ate it a couple times a month-more in the summer. Here he is cleaning fish.
Here he is as the "maniacal fisherman." This pose was our oldest dd's idea-LOL. I love it.
|
|
The day started out so exciting. The baby robin the kids found this morning ended up coming in the house to be cared for(I think it had some internal injuries from falling out of its nest) and new chicks that hatched this morning. 4 hatched and so far the other 7 are still not hatched. We went to the store, came back and the mother hen wasn't on her nest.
We didn't know what to do. We didn't know if she knew what she was doing. Why did she leave the nest when the eggs weren't done? Why wasn't she keeping her chicks warmed?
So, since we couldn't catch her, we carried her nest of eggs and the chicks to the other hen house since we knew they needed to be away from the other chickens anyway.
Somehow, Susanna ended up sitting on a chick and it got squished. It peeped very loudly and then the insides came out the behind and it fell over. Hannah & Jonah both saw this and became hysterical. Jonah ran into the woods crying. Hannah went into the house crying. She then came back out with the baby robin-it had died while we were gone. I told them it probably would die, but on top of the chick dying-it was just worse.
So, we put everybody back where they were, got the mother hen back in her nest and shut the hen house door. She's sitting on her other eggs & the 3 chicks, but I don't know if they will finish hatching now.
I also don't know if these chicks will be ok waiting for food while she sits in the nest trying to hatch the eggs.
I'm pretty upset, too. It is all from being ignorant-I don't know what I'm doing and it's my fault. I know I'm learning as I go, but when it costs a life, it just really stinks.
So, that is what happened here today. Here are picks of the baby robin alive:
  |
|
And have some questions. The hen was sitting on 11 eggs. This morning there were 2 chicks poking out from the front of their mom. The hen is still sitting on the other eggs. Will she continue to sit on them until they all hatch? How will she feed the 2 that are out? How will she get them out of the nesting box? I'll help get them down if needed. But, will the 2 chicks that are hatched first need to eat before the others are hatched? I thought they would all hatch the same time.
Aren't they just adorable??? Well, you can only see one actually-the other one is just showing it's behind. We are so excited. My oldest dd went to collect the eggs and came running back to the house yelling that the chicks hatched. This is our first time having this happen. What an amazing miracle! |
|
I just love this poem!
Home Song
Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest;
For those that wander they know not where
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.
Weary and homesick and distressed,
They wander east, they wander west,
And are baffled and beaten and blown about
By the winds of the wilderness of doubt;
To stay at home is best.
Then stay at home, my heart, and rest;
The bird is safest in its nest;
O'er all that flutter their wings and fly
A hawk is hovering in the sky;
To stay at home is best.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
|
Yesterday was just beautiful. It has been so nice to have picnics on most days for lunch and read books on the blanket together while the chickens poke around wanting scraps. Jonah has found a delightful place to read books and has decided that he wants to read a book out loud to me each day of the summer at the Umbrella table:
You know, just when I think I couldn't possibly love more, it feels like my heart could just burst with feeling more of it's precious goodness. Jonah is 9 now and I absolutely love being with him. Since he started walking, my patience has been so tried by his energy. I have prayed over this boy so much and the Lord is doing a mighty thing in him. He is amazing. Several times in the last couple weeks, he has done things that made me want to cry with joy and pride: He's talked to others about Jesus, he responded like a gentleman when a strange 5 yr old girl at the store walked up to him and hit and pushed him for no reason. He has been stacking wood for his father to bless him. He's feeding animals by himself to bless his older sister. He is so good-so very good to his baby sister. A girl couldn't ask for a better brother. I had 3 of them and they never treated me the way Jonah treats his sisters. Of course, his father is an excellent example. Here's Susanna enjoying the flower garden. The flowers she's smelling don't have flowers yet, but she enjoyed "melling" their leaves. LOL
We think "Slugger" is all recovered now from spasmodic colic. Hannah has been watching him like a hawk for 3 days-moving him from pasture to another so he doesn't eat too much good grass and just hanging out with him. Her constant companion has been a horse veterinary book. I had this book when I was in college and took Horse Anatomy & Physiology. She's decided she wants to know about problems before they happen so she knows what to do for the next one. So far, in the last 5 yrs, we've dealt with a broken jaw, choking (horse) and now spasmodic colic. Everyone's recovered, thankfully. The choking horse got into rabbit pellets, which swelled up in his throat. We used to let the horses wander around in the yard to "mow" the lawn under supervision. But, this particular horse, Retro, is precocious and is lead by his stomach. LOL Hannah (11)would like to join horse 4-H, but the group is girls ranging in ages from 10 to 18. My dh & I are concerned about some of the conversation that may take place when they're not talking horses. We're praying about it. |
Right after this, she ran across the driveway, fell and got some good scrapes on her knees and elbows. Oh, boy-it took awhile for her to stop crying over the stinging. I blew on it and put garlic oil on it, but over the next couple hours she'd start to cry again if she brushed her booboos on something. One of the dogs licked her booboos and that made her scream, poor thing.