Cast Off

Today was the big day.

We took the cast off our little goat today. Note to self: next time buy something special to cut the cast off! We tried scissors, a knife, tin snips, a screw driver...  Finally, between all of those & a small hacksaw we managed to get it off.

And it looks good. Her leg is pretty stiff but that is to be expected after 3 weeks in a cast. The break seems to be healed nicely. We moved our bossy goat, Claire,  into a different pen so that she won't hurt Velma. She slams the other goats around when they are eating & I didn't want to take any chances.

Maybe in a day or 2 I'll be more relaxed about it. Velma doesn't seemed bothered by it at all!

In other news around the farm; I am adjusting to being cowless. I have to admit, chores are WAY easier. And faster. I miss my cow but I am glad she is gone. Does that make sense?

We are still searching for the perfect pony/horse for our family. It's hard to find a good one.

In the garden we are getting loads of squash--spaghetti & zuchinni. The tomatoes are running out of time to ripen   I've been given more spinach & green beans by friends & neighbors so I have been freezing those. The nights are getting cool but I really hope the frost holds off for another month or more. Wishful thinking? Probably

Blessings.

Ramblings...

Woke up this morning to a cropduster flying overhead. Bright yellow plane, flying right over the house. I love to watch them.

Last night we took a crockpot full (some 18 dozen, 7 lbs. of beef) of meatballs to a wedding. It was a lovely, outdoor ceremony just before sunset. The bride was lovely & the bridesmaids wore pink--always a good choice .  The brides brother is a sweet young man who often wears t-shirts & doesn't brush his hair before church ( he reminds me of my son). Last night he was  amazingly handsome in his tuxedo with his hair freshly cut & a constant smile on his face. I just love seeing boys  transform into men.

After the ceremony they had dancing & I actually got to dance with my husband! I can't remember the last time we danced. The last few weddings we have been to, we left before the dancing started. It is kind of hard to dance with multiple little children. But we snuck in 1 slow dance & 2 swing dances last night ! My husband was teasing me that he needs to re-teach me how to swing. It has been a LONG time since we have done it & I was a little rusty   But it was still fun.

The Little Man was about fried at this point & he just cried so we had to give up dancing .  We gathered up our boys, our girl, our now EMPTY crockpot & our cooler full of goats milk (doesn't everyone travel with a cooler full of goats milk?) & loaded everyone into the car. After everyone who wanted some got goat milk, my husband snuck me off to dance one more slow dance .

I just love my husband. And weddings.

Blessings.

Bad Chinese

We travelled several hours today to look at a horse for our kids. He was nice but unfortunately, not for us. On the way home we stopped for Chinese food. We had been debating back & forth between Chinese or Italian & Chinese won out. We were really looking forward to it.

Well. Lets just say it was not  the greatest. In fact, it was like Chinese "Taco Bell" . But the best part was when my daughter found what she referred to as 'a dog hair' on her plate. We all just started laughing. And the bad jokes came pouring out.

"It wasn't broccolli beef it was broccolli dog"

"It's a good thing we left our dog at home or she might have been stolen out of the car for tomorrows cooking"

And somehow "Poodle fritters" got brought up.

Everybody was happy. Hungry but happy. I told my husband we might have been better fed elsewhere but we wouldn't have had nearly as much fun.

Blessings.

Bye Mod

We sold my cow.

In some ways I am sad but I think it's a good thing. My husband is gone so much that most of the care of our place falls to me & the kids. Irrigating, moving fences, pasture management, mucking out, milking & the list goes on. It just got to be too much. I loved my cow but she was a lot of work. And with a new baby, a toddler, & 2 older kids at home, homeschooling, traveling every week for Bible study, & just the normal everyday running of the household; it got to be too much. I wasn't enjoying her anymore. We also had a real need for the money she brought. We've had some big bills we needed to cover & she  helped with that.

So we are cowless. But we still have our goats so we still 'Got milk.' And I have to say it is SOOOO much easier to milk a goat. They don't poop on you or potty on you or smack in the face with their tails. What's not to love?

 

Blessings.

Life...

2 puking children. 1 cow in the garden. 3 nights with no sleep. 0 husbands. You do the math

Blessings.

Weddings

Saturday we were blessed to attend a wonderfully sweet wedding. The couple were just so in love & so happy it was so special just to be a part of their day. It is so diferent to attend a wedding of Bible believing christians than non-believers. Non-believers tend to look at their wedding day as a time to show off. A time to have the most expensive dress, the biggest bouquet, the tallest cake, the most exotic honeymoon & to make the day all about 'them'. Believers, I've noticed, tend to make the day more about God & their families. What God has done for them how he has blessed them & how thankful they are for what their family has done for them.

This wedding was like that. The parents & grandparents were honored. The Lord was given thanks & acknowledgment for all the blessings. The ceremony was more prayer than pomp. The reception was beautiful. Simple, fun, good food, help from friends, just so enjoyable. I cried .

The dress was absolutely lovely. The brides mom made it & I had the privelege of seeing it in it's various stages. It had loads of embroidery & long full train. It was truly beautiful & just such a special thing for a mother & daughter to share.

We have another wedding coming up in 2 weeks & it promises to be just as much fun as this one. In fact, we even get to make meatballs for this one .

Blessings.

Bats & hackers

I had an interesting night last night. We had a bat in Bible study & somebody hacked the snot out of my Facebook account .

First for the bat; we had just finished praying when this thing comes swooping down the stairs & starts flying around the room. BAT! Eeeeeeeek! I was sitting on the couch holding the sleeping Biscuit & everyone else was just standing around. And they continued to stand around while the bat is circling the room! I took it for about 3 seconds then ran into the kitchen ( with the Biscuit of course ). They turned off all the lights in the living room to try & get it to fly upstairs & all it did was come into the kitchen . I ran into the laundry room & slammed the door! And there I stayed until it was gone. Ug! I hate bats. Shiver.

Then...first thing this morning a friend called to tell me my Facebook account had been hacked. "I" was currently online, chatting with friends, telling them that I was in LONDON, had just been robbed at gunpoint & needed $780 to get home!!! And when my friends threatened to report them the hacker blocked them all from my account! So I spent 2 hours this morning trying to fix everything. They had changed my e-mail, changed my password, locked everyone off my 'wall' & blocked certain friends from any access.  Oh my! I have no idea how they got in. I try to be really careful. It is just freaky & scary to think that they can get in! And because they blocked access my FB friends couldn't even let me know what was happening! Thankfully, I have awesome friends who are ingenious! They sent me messages at another website, one commented here, & 2 of them tracked down my number & called me. I am so grateful for my friends. As for the hacker, I hope they find something better to do than to prey upon strangers.

Blessings.

The Way-back Machine

I don't know what made me think of this today, but for some reason I recalled an adventure from my childhood.

In the county I grew up in, every town had their little "Days" celebration. They would have a parade & games & town get-togethers, etc. They had 'Colony Days'  &  'Pioneer Days' & "Days of the Dawns" among others; and we rode our ponies in every one.

"Days of the Dawns' was by far the most red-necky one of them all. One of the main stays of their parade was a group  of mountain men which consisted of a half dozen, over weight, half drunk men on horseback wearing poorly tanned hides (which stunk) & carrying rifles loaded with blanks (I hope). They would traverse the parade route whooping & hollering & firing their guns in the air. It was always a real joy to be placed close to them in the parade line-up. Not.

For these & other various reasons I really did not enjoy this parade. By the time I was 11 or 12, I said "No way. I don't want to be in that one anymore." Well, they all worked on me ('they' being my family) & convinced me to go "Just one more year." Famous last words.

We made it thru the parade alright. I was riding our pony Pudgy, who was in his early 20's by then. My sister had a relatively new horse "Bucko". Bucko was gorgeous, a big, flashy, buckskin appy-- but not so bright.

The parade was over, we were loading up to go home when Bucko freaked over something unknown (or just not remembered) & broke away to gallop up & down the main street & back & forth over the railroad tracks with multitudes of people in his pursuit. After several minutes of this, just to add to the excitement (lest anyone was bored) here comes a train. Now the fool horse is running in front of a train.

While all of this is going on, my mother is back at the truck with Pudgy, who is loaded in the trailer which just so happens to be parked right next to the train tracks. Being a country pony, Pudgy has no idea what is coming up the tracks to eat him but he's not waiting around to find out. He's decided to exit that trailer by means of the tiny round window in the manger. And he means business too. As everyone else is off chasing Bucko the wonder horse, my mom is trying to deal with the pony by herself. Thankfully, the sheriff came along & was able to get Pudgy out of the trailer (not thru the window) & calmed down until the train had passed. Somebody (I can't remember who, I mean it's been 30 yrs) finally caught Bucko & now we are REALLY ready to go home. But wait!

After their recent adventures NEITHER animal is willing to get in that trailer no matter what we do to entice them. So, after many, many, many futile trys & my father wishing for a gun with REAL bullets, we decide to ride home. 15 miles. After a full day of getting ready for the parade, being in the parade, chasing Bucko blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah, that's just what we want to do. Right.

So we head home. After an hour or so my dad brings the trailer to check on us & see if the horses are willing to load. Pudgy, not being stupid, loaded readily at this point. He knew a good thing when he saw it. Bucko, not so much. My sister had to ride him the whole way home. Needless to say, that was the LAST 'Days of the Dawns' parade we were in. And Bucko? If memory serves, my sister sold him not long after. Go figure.

I hope you enjoyed this trip in the Way-Back Machine & this short glimpse into my girlhood. For those of you who know me--it explains so much doesn't it?

Blessings.

MacGyver

Yesterday our electric ice cream freezer quit. Right in the middle of a batch of vanilla. Since we don't have a crank model we were left with the dilemma of how to finish our ice cream.

Just call him MacGyver.

Blessings.

Farm Life

Remember the "Green Acres" song?  "Farm living is the life for me?" Let me tell you, farm life is NOT for the faint of heart.

Last night one of our baby goats broke her leg. Now, I am all for home remedies & will attempt many 'veterinary procedures' if I think I will be successful. But the sight of that useless little leg just dangling there was too much for me. I threw all the kids in the car & took her to the vet.

He sedated her & set the leg & cast it. It was not a straight break but an angled one so that makes it harder to heal. She wears the cast for 4 weeks & Lord willing she will be healed. She seems to be doing pretty good at walking with it & her appetite is fine. Those are good signs. We are raising her to be a replacement milker & it will be a hard blow if we lose her.

We have a new bull calf we are trying to foster onto my cow. The cow is willing enough but the calf is STUPID. We have to force him to suck. Last night he head-butted me! Ouch! This morning he seemed to get the idea and he did much better. Tonight my husband will be home & it will be his job. He does much better than I at teaching them what to do.

The Biscuit is growing by leaps & bounds & is needing some supplemental bottles so we are getting a new milk goat. We went to see 2 of them the other night & milked them out to see which one we liked better. They are both super nice does & it is hard to choose between them. But the children both liked the younger one better so I think we will pick her. She's milking about a gallon a day now. We have to rearrange the barn a bit & then we will pick her up on Saturday. My daughter is quite excited to have a new goat to milk.

Sometimes after weeks like this, I think how nice it would be NOT to have all these animals & all this work & all the opportunitys for things to go wrong. But then I think: what else would I do with my time?

Blessings.

p.s. In my last post w/ all the garden pics I forgot to give my 9 yr old daughter credit as photographer.

Mary, Mary quite contrary...

How does your garden grow?                                                                                 

With blue bells & cockle shells & pretty maids all in a row.

 

Blessings.

Tomatoes are a-coming!

Our first harvest. And more is coming everyday now!

Blessings.

yet more on duct tape...

The love of duct tape starts early

Hmmm...what is this stuff?

If I can just get a hold of this...

Hey! This stuff is alllllright!

Blessings.