Griggs Family Update Jan 29th/09

We are all well here on the farm. One bonus to not being able to go anywhere is that we don't get the sick germs that are flying around all over town. :)

Baby R is almost 11 months old and only nursing 2 times a day. I hope to have her weaned by about 11.5 months. The hardest part of weaning, for me, is remembering that I'm trying to wean her and remembering to bring her milk with us when we do get out. :) She is still crawling around everywhere and walking along the furniture where ever she can and is getting braver daily but still doesn't want to walk. Not even hanging on to your hands. She is feeding herself more and more these days and has a new 'smile' that I'll try and get a picture off. She shrunches her face up and shows her teeth. She has recently learned the sign for please, put your palm flat on your chest and rub in a circle, and will beat her chest with her hand until you notice her and give her what she wants. She has also started doing 'all done' (both hands out in the air fingers up) but only if we aren't looking!! (the kids tell us, once we look at her she stops).

Well E is finally totally out of diapers, including nights. Which is a real blessing in more then one way. She is so tiny that she needs help getting on and off and washing and opening doors but if it weren't for that she could do it all herself. Not bad for 2 years and 4 months of age. She is also talking up a storm, repeating everything!!, and recently started singing. Her singing is really cute!! She has also finally grown into the length of 18 month pants to match her 18 month shirts. The waists are huge on her and I've had to get her pants with buttons and elastic (like maternity pants for kids) so that the waists stay up. I guess Papa had this same problem as a child and she certainly takes after him. His mother put him in suspenders and Papa thinks that would be really cute on E but I don't!!

L at 3 years old is learning proper sentences and manners and we repeat him constantly. For example L will say. "I want that!!" And I will say either "Please can I have that?" Or say "what?" over and over until he says "Please can I have that." Saying "what?" over and over actually works better then telling him the correct way. It makes him think more. We are doing this with E as well. It's amazing that she's caught up with him in language. L is also learning verses with great ease these days and loves to show them off.

J is growing again and today I went though his pants a bit and several pairs are too short. He often eats as much as I do and yesterday I picked him up to put him in the cart and he's really getting heavy. He loves his new camera and I'll try and post some of his favorite pictures. It is nice enough these days that the boys are outside. Papa went out with them Sunday afternoon and built them a snow house in a huge pile of snow from plowing. I guess it's big enough for Papa and I to both be in there at the same time!! We were also told to light a candle inside it and that will harden the walls and make it stronger. They love it.

Bindy got out the other night and went for a walk in the snow. She came home with bruises on her bag, just one quarter, and we've been milking blood on that quarter for several days now. This morning I managed to get a lot out of her and her quarter was loose when she went out. We've been told that she should heal fine and our milk production shouldn't suffer too much. We think she walked through too deep of snow and possibly hit a few stumps with her bag. She also has 2 scratches on her back leg, high up, we are hoping these are from branches and not a wolf or coyote! She is healing nicely and it never did slow her down. But it's kind of a pain to milk her 3 quarters alone when we are so used to 4!

I've been busy reorganizing our house. I've gotten the kitchen, living room, front bathroom and most of our room clean and reorganized. I'm having a hard time doing the kids room because of naps, lack of washer and or dryer, and lack of totes to put things that need to go to the shed in. But one of these days all these things will align and it'll get done, until then I'm content to wait. The back bathroom had a water leak during our last water outage, or maybe the one before, which got into our closet where we keep/ kept our boxes and boxes of books. Very few were damaged and so far only 2 needed to be thrown away. Thank you Lord!! (during that day the mantra was 'It's only things. It's only things!!") We have since gone through each box, re boxed them and found other places to store them. Not an easy task in our small quarters but it turned out really well. The closet that the books were in is going to be turned into a pantry for my canning. Which is also a blessing as my canning needs more room. I'm storing some of it in boxes at the moment. Papa is going to build me some shelves for it soon. And some shelves in my kitchen, by the microwave, for my big pots and things that don't fit in my cupboards. Oh the kids bedroom is also getting bunk beds as soon as we can find or make some. That will also help with our space problem. I really want to get this all done before spring as we tend to get so busy spring, summer and fall, that nothing like this gets done around here. And it would be nice to have it all ready for the busy season.

Papa is still loving his job. He has an odd shift every second week, but we think we'll like it. He works 8am to 6pm this week (Monday thru Saturday). Next week he has Monday and Tuesday off but works 11am to 9pm. The week after that he has Thursday off (and works 8am to 6pm) and the week after that he works Monday thru Saturday (from 11am to 9pm.) Confused yet?? LOL. He should have 3 weeks off Aprilish which we are looking forward too. That is the start of the breakup in the bush (too wet and mucky to work) and the start of spring work for us here on farm. Papa might also challenge his 1st year test in April while he has the time off.

For the most part we are hanging in there with winter. The temps have been all over the place these last 2 weeks. From -20F to +50F. Today it is 50F and the water is running every which way. Feels like spring.. and it's nice to have a break from winter. Though we do realize that winter is not over. We got snow several times totalling about 7inches. The wind on our place isn't too bad but in town and other places it is horrible. We are fairly sheltered here which is a huge blessing. My chickens like the warm weather as well and this morning I brought in 13 eggs. A record for the winter!! I think I have 19 hens. And considering they are 3 years old that is not too shabby!! All and all we are in good spirits and doing well.

Misbehaving

Momma's Maids are Misbehaving
When she says dry one says "Why?"
"I've tumbled and I've turned
that warm spots being wasted,
Keep that fire well burned!"

When she says wash another says "Posh!"
"Those hands have had their rest..
Wash those dishes and do your best!"

Another maid has a leak
and when it goes it sprays,
dust and air and makes a mess,
where the littlest one plays!!

Then there is one who seats us six
Which should have been an easy fix
but has now been down days numbering almost two weeks
With, Thank you, one trip to town for some treats.
But now is having more to fix!!!

As you can see from this very poorly done poem (poetry never was my thing:) that mechanical things are revolting at our house. Several of my daily used maids are in need of repair or replacing. The dryer (friends gave us a newer one with the newer washer and it's on again off again working.), the dishwasher (which is so old they don't even make parts for it), the vacuum cleaner (which hasn't worked properly in years) and our travelall. The travelall is waiting for parts but worked great yesterday to take us on our first outing in almost 2 weeks. We had a great time at Bible study, then went out for lunch at the local bakery, went to the library for some much needed books, and did some other shopping. But this morning when I was going to take the travelall to town to get the mufflers fixed it was acting up again and our trip was canceled. Much to the sorrow of us all as we were going to 'hang out' at Grandma's house while it was being fixed and show her our new favorite movie "Animals are Beautiful People" But the sun is shining, the snow is melting, the boys are outside playing in their snow house Papa made with them on Sunday, the baby's asleep and the dryer is actually drying!!! LOL. E is playing nicely by herself and I feel the dishes calling me....And I think they can wait!!! LOL.

Playing "Church"!

Lately the kids have been 'playing' church. Right down to looking for the tape :) LOL. (In our home church we constantly have to go looking for the tape and or tape player because no one remembers where it was put last!! And since we move house to house week after week it's rarely in the same spot twice) One of the kids starts out with a prayer and they all close their eyes and fold their hands, then they all go get 'song' books. Which is any book they pull off the shelf. Then they sing. Often themed songs from their children's books. (Tonight one was CARS) Then they 'find' a tape and a player. Anything can be a tape or player. The other day the player was L's dump truck and the tape was a car! Then they sit for a minute and listen to fuzz. (one or all of them making the noise) Then they get another tape. LOL. (Believe it or not this very rarely happens in our church, but it must have made an impression because it happens every time in theirs) This one may or may not work and when they find one that works they sit for a bit. Then they are done. They never do pray or discuss the tape at the end as we do in house church nor do they 'pot luck' afterwards.

But that's their 'church' and they stick to it!!

Late Night Jam Session!!

You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.

The mountain and the hills will break forth before you.

There will be shouts of joy.

And all the trees of the fields will clap, will clap their hands.

And all the trees of the field will clap their hands (clap, clap)

The trees of the field will their hands.(clap, clap)

The trees of the field will clap their hands, (clap, clap)

as you go out with joy!

This is a favorite song in our household. You have to start out fairly slow then go faster and faster as you sing it over and over!! The kids never can get the clapping but J taps pretty nicely on his guitar. (A stunt learned from Papa) The kids request it every time Papa pulls out his guitar and tonight it was a duo!! Papa and J twanged it out with great power.. or J did anyway. Papa was playing normally. Papa showed him the chords needed and off they went. In all they played 5 or 6 songs together. And J practiced several new fingerings and we all enjoyed their music!!

More of J's Birthday Pic's

Here is J with his favorite birthday gift.

It is a kids digital camera. He loves it and takes tons of pictures.

Here is J making his birthday cake. I helped a bit but mostly he did it.

The little pink arm is E who was very excited about cake!!

And yes those are eggs from my hens :)

Here are the kids in J's spider man masks.

You can also see pretty much my whole kitchen!!

Our little Model!!

Princess R in her Christmas outfit from Grandma and Grandpa F!!

What a little Doll!!

A L funny for you.

Today L and I were talking at the lunch table and he pipes up with a question about God. He's been doing this daily, it's the same question he just wants to make sure it's the same answer. Anyway after I answered it he said something else about God. Something like "God for us... something something." Anyway a adult would have used the word 'to' instead of the word 'for' in L's sentence. So I asked him "to God or for God?" He thinks about this for a quick second and says "ONE GOD. Mommy there is only one God!!!"

The Eagle!!

This big fellow was sitting and watching me do chores this morning. Every once and a while he'd call out. When I was calling Bindy I'd yell "BINDY" and she'd start to come. Then he'd call out and she'd stop! Crazy cow. This is one of the birds that is cleaning up the entrails by the lagoon. So far the bird count is pretty small but I can defiantly see a difference in bird numbers since butchering day. Last time we counted 4 eagles and this time there has so far only been this one. I've also seen a raven and heard several smaller birds calling between the trees. I carried both boys out to see it after chores but when they went out to play later in the day he was gone. The trees have been covered in frost like this for about a week. Very pretty, but very gray as the sun has not come out at all!!

Bug Eyed and the attacking Pig!!!

This was taken the same day as "Snow Throw". Bindy with her 'OH CRAP' look. Papa was throwing snow at her and you can see he got her at least once!! She just couldn't believe it!! It was really funny. If you look in the pig pen you can see he threw snow at them as well. This was a very bad idea and came back to bite us. The weather was nice and warm and everything was melting. The pigs had mud 6 inches deep.... and we had to butcher 2 the next day. FOUL!!! They were gross!!! We had to wash (Read soak and brush, scrub and rinse and brush again) them before strip skinning. YUCK. We hauled a bunch of leftover hay to the rest of the pigs the same day we took the 2 out and they now have a nice pen again. But they were NASTY. 6 white pigs turned brown overnight!! On the other hand the snow had to go and it was either there or walk half way across the roof to throw it off the end. Note: the blue wheel barrow is placed just so where we normally milk... so Bindy can't make a mess where we have to sit!! She no longer has this area as she no longer needs it.

Another cow funny happened to me the other day. It was actually funny and I really couldn't blame her even though I really wanted too. After it happened I couldn't stop chuckling. But it was NOT funny while it happened. I milk on the right side. Papa milks on the left. This started because I was pregnant with Baby R when we got Bindy and I refused to be stuck between the cow and the fence to milk. Bindy has always been really good about it. Anyway. Because he milks on the fence side he never has any pig problems. I get them all. He's between the cow and the pigs. When I milk she often shifts right to the fence and so the pigs are right there. Well one morning she shifted over to the fence and I moved over and kept on milking. Half asleep as per normal. ALL OF A SUDDEN Bindy lifts off. I swear she picked up her whole body and levitated up and over a good foot. Now that's pretty funny all by it's self. Without remembering that I was milking on that side. She went up and practically landed on me!!! I couldn't get up off my stool fast enough (I had no warning and it's a pretty low stool) and slid off backwards about 2 feet into the shavings. Landed hard on my butt and eagle spread. She kicked a few times and moved around a bit. She managed to spill about 1/3 of the milk in the bucket, which is not bad considering her scare. Right then I almost lost it, I just about got mad. Then I realized WHY!!! Poor Bindy. Then I laughed. One pigs liked to walk along the fence and grunt at me while I was milking. Sometimes he'd squeal and in general make a pest of himself. Well on this day he just about gave both Bindy and I a heart attack. He jumped up on the short wood fence and his front feet LANDED on Bindy's back. The pig in the picture with it's head over the fence is in about the right spot. With Bindy standing right next to that fence they can nose at her but this is the 1st time one attacked. It took Bindy and I a few minutes to get her moved over towards me, were the pig couldn't reach her, the stool placed and the milking resumed... but our hearts were racing for several minutes after that!!! Needless to say we were both rather jumpy for the next couple of mornings. And I didn't get much milk that morning!! Poor old Bindy!!! Now can you really blame her for getting super excited on pig butchering day??? I'm sure I saw her give me a disappointed look when we stopped at 2!! But I did make sure that the 'squealer' was 1 of the 2. Squealer was also known as Wilbur!! Good riddance Pig!!

Oh and when Papa heard about it he laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes and fell over!!! Then he tried to convince me to switch sides. Pregnant or not I am not being stuck between a fence and a COW!!! LOL. I just make sure she doesn't try and lean on the fence while I'm milking...Oh and I'm finding it hard to doze and milk these days.

Tired Baby!!

The other day during pig butchering while the boys were having their science lesson E and Baby R were inside. While we were out there Baby R missed nap time. When we came back in, we checked on them about every 5 minutes and we could hear them as we were right outside, Baby R had fallen asleep on the floor right by inside door. E was still playing and hadn't even noticed!!

One more butchering picture!!

Pig Butchering day.... a bit graphic!!!

The Boys watching Papa give a science lesson. He showed them the intestines, and other organs and gave a little talk about what each one did and why. They loved it. The sled is how we moved the entrails to the lagoon. Yeah we have a lagoon. Papa pulled everything out there to decompose. We also get a lot of birds when we do this. Our compost pile is under a foot or more of snow and frozen so we feed the critters in the winter. Not a bad sized pig. They were July Pigs so they were about 5 months old. These are the biggest two. We had a bit of fun getting just these two into the milking area to shoot them. We had no pigs, then the smallest pigs, then a small one and a big one, then all six, then two middle ones, then finally just the two big ones. Now that these two are gone we feed an entire 5 gallon bucket less of feed!! We have no idea what they weighed as we had no way of weighing them. But you can tell they are a nice size by comparing their size to Papa's. This was our 1st time using the pully system to hang them and we loved it. It works awesome!! And it's really fast.

A Good Week.

We had a great week. Not everything got crossed off the list nor did we have a spectacular moment of excitement, but it was a good, strong, working week. Papa had Monday and Tuesday off and we got two of the pigs killed Monday morning; hanging ready to cut and wrap just 2 hours after death. Monday night was a girls night so I got to take off for a few hours and go out for supper with friends and then we chatted and played games til late. We try and do these girls nights about every 6 weeks, or whenever we can get away with it. They are great fun and we need them to of set the long working days. Papa took all 4 of the kids for the evening and they had fun as well.
Late Monday night Papa hurt his back, bringing in the meat saw, and so Tuesday he went in for a massage. While he was relaxing the kids and I went to town to go grocery shopping. We had a huge cart full and saw lots of people we knew. On the way back to pick up Papa I pulled over to the side of the road to turn around, Papa was walking down the road, and went too far over and got sucked into the snowbank. I didn't even see it coming. But we were very lucky that nothing was broken and it only took us 30 minutes to get out. Papa put chains on and we were about 1/2 out when a little pickup came by and yanked us out. The kids thought it was fun..Momma did not. Thankfully he did not hurt his back again and it's mostly better now. That afternoon when we finally got home, had lunch, put the kids to bed and unloaded the Travelall, we both took 20 minutes to relax before cutting and wrapping our two pigs. Papa cut them in half lenghtwise and then brought in the front shoulders while I got ready inside. I deboned the shoulders; separating out sausage meat ( we froze it to be ground later as our grinder isn't working) and pork stew meat. That is the longest part of the whole cut and wrap process!! After the shoulders were done Papa cut the next section off and brought it in. He took the saw to the ribs (we cut across) and then he took the bacon off the ribs while I took the fat off the chops and, because our meat saw isn't working, I deboned the chops off the backbone and then Papa cut them into chops. Which I packaged and labeled. Ribs as well. Yumm. Then Papa brought in the back legs (hams) and we cut them into roasts and packaged and labeled them as well. It only takes minutes to write about but it takes hours to do. Somewhere in there Papa grabbed the tenderloin from one pig and seasoned it then BBQ'd it. We had tenderloin, rice and corn for supper and then later the kids went to bed. By 11:15 Papa was out milking, the meat was in the freezer and I was washing up, including the floor. I hate waking up to a big mess.
Wednesday was Bible study and we went. LOL. I told the kids if we had a good Bible study we would head to town to see Papa on his lunch break afterwards. We had a great Bible study so we headed off to town and met Papa just running out the door to bring the bacon to the shop to be cured. So we grabbed the bacon and he drove us out there. When we got there we were in for a shock. They no longer DO farm bacon. The animal has to be butchered by them. SO we tried another place but he never did do bacon and then another place and they didn't do it anymore either. So when I got home that afternoon I looked up bacon curing and we are probably going to do it ourselves. It should be interesting and I'll let you know how it goes.
Thursday was a fun day. Unexpectedly I got a phone call from my aunt offering to babysit my kids (all 4) so that Becca and I could go to the city for the day. Becca and I had made plans to go in either Thursday or Friday to pick up a lens for J's glasses. We were going to take the kids and be gone all day. But then my aunt called and it was heaven sent. LOL. Becca and I headed off in her car and my aunt and the kids had a great time eating Mack and Cheese and watching "Animals are Beautiful People". We flew!! I had forgotten how much you could get done in the city without kids. I got J's lens. He lost one in the snow last week. Good luck finding it!! We looked but there is too much snow and it's GLASS!! LOL. He's wearing his spare pair of glasses until we can get the lens in and the screw locktight. We went out for a leisurely lunch, got some groceries ( I saved $12 on 4 things!!), dropped off her computer, replaced a Christmas gift (it didn't work) and went out for ice cream!! We got back in time to make supper. After supper the kids and I headed to my Mom's to wish her a Happy Birthday. Papa was working late that night and we missed him by minutes at Grandma's house. He got home in time to read to the kids and milk the cow before we all fell into bed exhausted.
Friday I started a week long, or more, project of organizing my house. For the last ten months or so we have been 'making do' way to often and now there is lots of work to be done before my house feels well organized again. I cleaned out my bedroom, part of the kitchen and the entrance all on Friday. With so many of us living here we are running out of room in every room. So I am going through and sorting and chucking and re-packing stuff. Stuff we haven't used in the last year is going OUT!!! We are also making some new shelves for my kitchen and hopefully for books as well. The plan is to buy a bunch of mouse and rat safe totes and put the kid's too small clothes out in the shed. But because of the critters almost all of the clothing we have that any one's ever worn is inside. That is a lot of stuff when you have 4 kids!!! If we were done having kids I would just get rid of all the too small stuff but we are not! So I am keeping it :) And no I'm not pregnant!! :)
Today, Saturday, Papa is working and I'm getting ready for house church. I believe it's my turn to host!! Not that I do much to prepare. Not much anyway that didn't need doing anyway. I cleaned off some surfaces, made butter, vacuumed (with the shop vac but that's another post!) did some laundry, made a big crock pot full of Boston Baked Beans ( or rather the crock pot version), showered all the little Grigglets, put away extra stuff and did some dishes. And it's only 4pm!! :) I still have a little list of stuff to do (fold laundry, finish dyeing my couch cover, finish supper) before Papa gets home but I expect he'll be home a bit late and well and ready to sit down and eat supper together!! Then maybe after supper we'll read or watch one of our new "All Creatures Great and Small" together. Hopefully we'll be in bed before 11pm as tomorrow is another day, and probably a good one!!!

Birthday Bash.

It's hard to believe but our oldest son J turned 5 recently. We don't do big birthdays but they do get cake and ice cream, normally with Grandma and Grandpa F and maybe one or 2 other couples. The birthday person gets to pick what they want for supper on their birthday. J wanted waffles. So I made him waffles with blackberry sauce and whipped cream. Yum. He sure can pick them. J wanted an owl cake and I had several hours of 'how on earth can a make an owl on a cake' worries before I just jumped in and did it. And it turned out rather well considering I had really no plans before starting. He was outside playing when I decorated it and when I was done I called him in to see. His eyes lit right up and he said. "It's beautiful." That was music to my ears!! I was so worried it wouldn't/ didn't look anything like an owl!! But he loved it and could hardly take his eyes off it. He had a great Birthday Bash with his owl cake and Oreo ice cream and balloons and spider man face masks. We let the kids pick their own paper cups, napkins and plates and one special thing for their birthdays (normally at the $$ store). J's was spider man masks. He didn't really have a lot to choose from but he really likes his masks. He pretty much made his own cake. I did the eggs and some fine measuring, but he did the rest. What a little man we have!!

Snow throw!!

The weather has been nice and warm, considering, for the last 2 weeks and the trailer roof was getting very iced up. When that happens Papa gets up on the roof and shovels off the edges of the roof just to give it more room to melt and get some of the snow out of the way. So he and the boys went outside and Papa monkeys his way onto the roof and starts shoveling. E and Baby R and I went to the door to see what all the fuss was about. We stood in the doorway and watched him shovel. Every load he would pick up and throw off E would giggle. It was really funny. Throwing it off the roof morphed into throwing partial loads at J who was beside the Travelall. Then before we knew it Papa was throwing snow at US in the doorway. His 1st, 2ND, and 3 shots I wasn't too worried as he had lousy aim, but the 4Th was getting closer and I told E to move out of the door way so I could shut the door but she was too slow and having too much fun. The 5 shot got us. Me, Baby R, L and E. Poor E was COVERED in snow. She was horrified. Truly. Her mouth opened and nothing came out for a long few seconds and then she SCREAMED (by this time she was well away from the door, she can really move if she wants too) . It was terribly funny. Mostly she got it on her head and shirt. But it must have been a direct hit because L, Baby R and I only got barely dusted. Baby R actually liked it. She giggled. It took E a minute to realize that she wasn't hurt, only surprised and then she calmed down right away and just looked like a mini snowman. He got 2 more hits in the door, surprising all of us while this was all happening. Snow everywhere!! I wiped it off E as best as I could, swept it to the door and L grabbed it in his mittens and threw it outside. Then E and I shut the door and left the troublemakers outside. :)
Later while he was shoveling the back half of the trailer the boys were standing at the end watching and all of a sudden the ground trembled and then 15 feet of roof snow (our trailer has 70 foot roofs on either side for the time being) from the wing roof went BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM off the roof. Wave after wave after wave of snow fell off the roof and crashed on the ground. Both boys were totally wide eyed with wonder!! So much snow fell off the roof (probably had about a foot over the whole thing) that Papa had to shovel a path through for Bindy so she could get to the milking area!! Is it any wonder I made sure they did NOT play on the snow piles under the roof line!!!

A visit with the calves.

We went out to my Aunt and Uncles place one Sunday for home church and to get some more hay. While the guys were loading up the hay I trekked out though the knee deep snow to visit with the boys. Both calves are looking well and have grown considerably. I was amazed to find that Billy's (the black one and half Holstein) back was chest high on me!! Bobby, being red welsh, is still the 11 inches shorter but just as heavily bodied as Billy. My cousin Glen was out with me and telling me that the calves were really friendly. After I left he managed to get Billy to come right too him!! But they both have forgotten me and neither would come close. Billy has no fear of the tractor at all and when it came past him he simply moved his head out of the way but did not move his body at all. The tractor was so close that it would have hit his head had he not moved it. I asked my uncle if he was a pain to work with but he just shrugged and said No. That's good anyway. I'm very glad to see they are behaving themselves, though my uncle did tell me Billy was 'stealing' from another cow until they took the calves out, and that they are quite tame and calm. We are not sure if we are going to bring them home in the spring or finish them out at my Aunt and Uncle's place. If they come home they will have to be teatherable again which is part of the reason I'm so happy to see them so calm.

Eating the house...

The Gingerbread house. J tried to hit it hard enough to get the chimney off but the house was too tough for him. Papa took the chance to show off his stuff (the picture explains it all) but it didn't break. The icing was TOUGH!! LOL. Papa finally did break it by hitting it with the palm of his hand on the side of the roof!! Poor Baby R was in the firing distance and got sprayed with tiny chunks of icing..as did the table, floor and the 3 other kids. He didn't think it would shatter like it did. I think Papa really surprised her because she cried!! But Papa gave her a little candy and she forgave him. :) All and all a good tradition!!

SNOW<><><><><>

In the last 2 weeks or so we have gotten about 18+ inches of snow. One morning it was 8 inches at a time. I had to walk out to a truck yesterday to get something I've been storing in it and the snow was to my knees, and that was on a path that had been used before. When I opened the truck door the door pushed snow as I opened it. This morning I went and fed my chickens with a 5 gallon bucket and the bucket dragged through the snow, PUSHING snow, the whole way. And the amazing thing about that is that Papa already plowed there once this year. The boys went out side yesterday to play in the deep snow and loved it. They both said deep snow was hard work. I believe it. On them the snow is past waist deep and they are light enough to walk on one layer and play on the other. I think if they were to fall through the bottom layers they'd be to their eyeballs. :) They had a great time though and no one sunk. E would be to her eyeballs in the top layer which is why she is staying inside.


I had a flash back this morning watching Papa try and get out of the driveway. :) Flashed back to living on Jackknife Mountain where we often got a foot of snow at a time, over night, and rarely got our driveway plowed out. I remember many mornings where I would stand at the window and watch Papa go back and forwards, back and forwards and gain some ground. Then our little Toyota would rock again until he'd gain some more ground. When he stopped moving I'd pull on some boots and a coat and gloves and go stand on the bumper and push in turns until we got the car all the way out the driveway and on to the plowed main road. We lived on a bus run so the road was always plowed before he went to work. Only twice do I remember it wasn't plowed, but then it was all downhill so Papa (before he was a Papa:) would just ride in someones tracks as best he could all the way down the mountain. I never envied him these trips. That road scared me in summer, winter was horrible!!! The only difference this morning was that our Betsy car was red and this Toyota, Annabell, is white. When he came home at night I could here him rev it up all the way up the last 1/4 mile and then pull the brake and HIT the driveway with as much speed as he could and in this way he could make it too the house without help. After a few days of this he had a nice set of tire tracks to follow and could make it out on his own until the next snow. We lived there 3 winters and we never got less then 6 feet of snow. We did enjoy living there and I often miss the stove in the living room on cold winter nights (and I'm planning on in our house). But I don't miss that road at all.

Yesterday after Papa had put a bunch of 50lb bags of feed in the backseat of the car and did his back and forth thing all the way out of the driveway I went out and took some pictures. The car is so low that he PUSHES snow with it all the way down the driveway (which thankfully is shorter then our driveway on the mountain.) In the snow you can see his wheel tracks, and drag marks where stuff under the car is making it's own marks as he pushes the car through the deep snow. Last night when he came home he had to back and forth it a bit to get in (hard to get up a run where we live now) and every time he backed he'd leave a pile of snow where the bumper stopped. Then he'd have to push through that pile and plow it and the rest of the snow forwards until he wasn't moving or was where he wanted to be. Why?, your probably thinking, doesn't he take the 4x4 Travelall to work?? That wonderfully high heavy 4x4?? That moves through snow like it's not even there??? Because it's an 37 year old rig and last Saturday on our way to the "CITY" we realized that the U-joints in the front are going, going, pretty much gone and Papa is waiting for parts so he can fix it. The parts should be here today and he'll hopefully take it to work tomorrow and then we will be a 2 car family again. He doesn't want to drive it, unless it's to work to get fixed, because the U joints could go gone and then we'd have a mess. :) I guess that's what we get for driving such a old rig... but I'd rather have the odd fix-it every once and a while then a car payment every month.

Reading to Baby R

J turned 5 on Monday (his party is on Saturday) and seems to have taken a bit more responsibility since then. He has always enjoyed helping me with everything but now is doing even more in small ways like this. He was showing her all the animals and their tracks and telling her what they said or did or whatever. They both had a great time. He got this book from Grandma and Grandpa F and loves it. He has all the animal names memorized and can tell you a lot about them as well as recognize their tracks. Baby R is trying hard to walk and just as I was typing this she was walking around an empty laundry tote and it fell over and she bumped (a tiny bump and mostly scared herself) into my trunk. Now she keeps looking at the tote like it's going to get her. LOL. She probably would walk already if we encouraged her, but we are not. We are not discouraging her either just letting her go at her own pace. She is finally in 12 months clothing and they fit her wonderfully.

Being Joshua...

I got these neat hair things awhile ago and this morning we found a new use for them. J took one look at himself in the mirror and proclaimed himself Joshua. As in Joshua who lead the battle on Jericho in the Bible. So I had 3 little 'Joshua's' running around here this morning!!!

Then again....

Really...

What else is new?? :)

Cold Weather fun.

We had really abnormal temp's for the month of December. Normally we are mildly cold with a little bit of snow and pretty nice weather all around. This year it has been -30F several times already but mostly -0F to -20F which keeps us on our toes. This weather is normal for us but in January/Febuary not December. The cold weather gives us challeneges we otherwise would not have. Like frozen pipes which means no water until Papa can get under there and fix it. (about 16 hours the 1st time and 10 the 2nd time). Two of our heat tapes that we plug in every fall have failed us this year which is why the pipes and cow water froze. Hopefully now we will not have to do anything but plug them in for a few years. The cow water float freezes shut every couple of days which can sometimes be cured with a swift kick to the bottom but if not we have a heat gun nearby just in case. The pigs have been borrowing deep in their bedding and fighting for the bottom spots. As they are beside the house we often hear these pig fights like they are happening in the living room. When ever this happens E stops stock still and says PIGS!!!! PIGS!!! PIGS!! with a very worried look on her face. I think she thinks they are loose and is worried. As soon as they stop though she goes back to playing without another word. I've tried to tell her every things fine and show her the pigs but she doesn't care to look which makes me wonder if she's really worried about it or just likes saying PIGS!! PIGS!! PIGS!!

Another fun cold weather thing is that the line to my washer in the entrance froze solid and I had to haul water from the kitchen sink. (6 three gallon pots for each cycle= 12 pots a load. One day I did 5 loads :) The line has a heat tape on it but that Rat and the cats took some of the insulation off it and it froze anyway. Papa did fix the insulation but it's not been warm enough since then to thaw the line and to take the insulation off the line and thaw it will take longer then he's had time for. One day it was the warmest we got in almost 2 weeks at -10F and the washer made some noises but the water never did come on. As it is I'm not doing much for laundry and the kids are living in PJ's. One unexpected downfall of not doing laundry is that I normally raise my buns and bread on the dryer when it's on. As J put it. "Why are the buns hard little round things??" I tried to raise them in the oven but it doesn't have a low enough setting or a pilot light. I can put them by the wood stove but can't get them close enough to raise properly. Papa did get the washer, line fixed and re-insulated with new insulation tape which the cats cannot get into, on one of his days off after Christmas which is a huge blessing!! My shoulders are still not the same after hauling 60++, one load was a really big load, 3 gallon pots of water on the 23.

One thing that is a challenge with the cold weather is the boys. Sounds funny really but it's true. It is much too cold for them to go out and play so they are inside with the rest of us all day. In such a small space as we have this feels really full. I've of set this with letting them play and be loud and goof off in their bedroom and watching more movies. We have also been doing more crafts and games and getting 'new' toys out. So far we are surviving and hopefully it will warm up for a bit soon and I can kick them outside again. The kids are also all in the same room now and so if Baby R is napping then their room is out of bounds. How, you wonder, did we fit 4 kids in 1 room?? Easy. Each bed has it's own wall. Soon Papa is going to build a 4 bed bunk bed and then we will have an extra bed as Baby R will go into E's crib. :) They all sleep 12 hours at night and rarely wake each other up in the middle of the night. Naps are a bit harder as Baby R sleeps from 1 to 4 and the other 3 sleep from 2 to 4 but we manage it right fine.