Billy the Steer 'D' Day!

The kids were super excited to butcher the steer. Here they are all watching from the window. They have also been missing the beef we've have been doing without. Steer butchering = BEEF to them which I think is awesome! If you look thru the window you can see a hay bale and a black blob.. that's Billy the Steer moments before death. Papa walked behind the hay bale and stunned him between the eyes with a small cal rifle, that we borrowed :) Then he slit the jugular with my big kitchen knife. Quick and painless. 

This is the steers back. For a jersey holstein, angus he was VERY tall and consiterbly fatter then I thought he'd be. Grassfed beef.. very yellow, good for you fat! We skinned and gutted him before cutting him into about 6 pieces to take to a local meat shop. Normally we would hang and cut & wrap him ourselves but we have no place to hang him this late in the year without him freezing solid (which is not good for aging), and we've been super busy and not slowing down much, so we decided to have him done. We were going to cut him into quarters and lift them into the back the the T-all but he was BIG and we knew we could not lift them in. Even in 6 pieces we had a time getting some of the bigger ones in. He weighed in at 656lbs at the butcher shop! Just a warning. There is a kinda nasty picture of Papa coming up! I think it's funny because it has happened to him a few times and he has a way of getting FILTHY doing something that someone else doesn't even get dirty doing! He has a reputation at work for attracting dirt just by looking at it.

J REALLY wanted to help and he cut this foot off by himself with the meat saw. 

As Danno likes to say.. DON"T LICK YOUR LIPS!! 

Weekend Project. Day 12!

By the end of day 12 we had walls all around, doors and windows in, ceiling finished and were using the space!! Here is the top of the tall wall. It's bowing in a bit and we'll have to fix it before we plaster but for now it's fine! It got VERY cold here after this and neither of us want to freeze while we fix a crooked wall. 

The rest of the tall wall. That window and door go into the trailer. 

Papa lighting the very 1st fire! The stove will not be were it is forever. But with straw walls not being plastered just yet we wanted it in the middle of the room. There is about 5 feet all around the stove. We've been using it for a couple weeks now and have had no problems with it. The 1st night we checked it several times and let the new pipe stink up the outdoors until it was seasoned a bit. That white sink is the milk sink, the table is where the machine stuff is stored. The white hose is what we wash up with, it is always warm as Papa has connected it to the washer's hot and cold and mixed them together in the hose. Very nice! 

Here is the front of the room. Washer and dryer to the right. I use the wash hose to fill the washer and the drain is already working. It looks much more lived in now :) Those cupboards on the left side are no longer inside and there is the table from the living room there, which we set up to cut and wrap a pig. There is room for the electric meat saw and the table in the middle of the room! Very nice for butchering! There is also plastic on the outside which helps a lot with odd drafts. We did not get to stuff the holes completely as we were pressed for time. 

A Little Girl 4 Year Old Birthday!!

Just realized I'd forgotten to finish this one! E turned 4 in October! Here is her smiling self! She's getting so grown up! She loves to 'do' hair! She insisted she have 3 'ponies' for her party! 

Waiting for Papa to light the candles.E with her cake. J is in the blue shirt. R and L (yellow shirt) with the T trio behind the table. She picked Princesses, what ELSE! for her cups, plates, and napkins but wanted a rainbow cake! 

A very cool gift.. I'm not sure what it was but all the kids were INTO it! 

Beautiful Mrs. B holding little Baby J. 

It was a great party and we had a snack supper with the crew before cake. YUM!! The letters on the rainbow spell out her name! Then she wanted ducks for candles and a caterpillar, bird and flower. The whole thing is made with Smarties! :)