First Cast :(

J3 fell off the play hill behind the play area on Monday night and cracked his elbow badly. The next morning we took him in to the ER as he would not use that arm. After x rays they sent us home in a sling, only to call the next day and tell us to bring him back in. I guess he MAY have a small fracture and they are treating it gently in hopes it will heal and not get worse. SO J3 got the 1st cast of the Family! I've never had one, Papa has never had one and J3 is the 1st of the kids to get one.. and I have a feeling it will not be his last! It's only a half cast over the bottom of the elbow but it has to stay on for 10 days and not get wet... yeah  RIGHT!! Actually as he hates water of almost any kind that shouldn't be too big of a deal. This summer he did play in the kiddie pool quite a bit but it's too cold for that now anyway!

 

Here he is in his sling and half cast. The sling had to stay on until bedtime and he'll only need the cast for the next ten days. I'll get a better picture tomorrow..

He's been wearing L's shirts since it happened to give him more room to get them over his arm without pain. He's super cute isn't he! He's pretty happy in this picture.. feeling better today! 

Hair 'Do' Grandma Style.

The girls and Jesse 'did' Grandma's hair!! 

What a beautiful job!! 

The big boys got to take them out! I believe there was 20 something of them! 

While Grandpa looks on :) 

Baby G... Growing Up SO Fast!!

Standing up in her playpen for the 1st time! 

Visiting with Little Miss Riata, who is 3 months younger then her :) 

First hair do :) 

Exploring the bottom of the exersauser. 

Standing up on the side of the toy box!! 

Hey J! I think I'm stuck!! 

Chilling on the trampoline! 

2 days ago she was standing hanging on to our bed and let go, got her balance, and took her 1st step!! She made it too the pillow she was going towards and acted like nothing happened!! Growing up way to fast little girl!! The very next day she turned 9 months old :) 

1st Official Ride in Peggy Sue!!

Ready to RIDE!!! 

Yes they are in their PJ`s. Papa got the 3rd seat in after work one day and we were ready for bed when he got home :) 

Isn`t she beautiful! 

Making goofy faces :) 

Piglet Update.

A commenter asked for an update on the piglets so here you go :)

Big momma's piglets are exploring the bush, all in fine health. They love to annoy their mother by going farther from her nest then she wants them to and we have seen her chase them all back into the nest several times.

Little girls piglets, numbering 13, are really hard to count but I'm pretty sure there is still 13. Turns out she does have a runt but he is doing well, for a runt, and runs through the bush with the rest of them. Not bad considering she only has 12 teats :)

Double Trouble's, named for being trouble and excaping to get in with the boar and for being only half Berkshire, (it's a play off a double double coffee)  piglets now sadly only number 9 as she lost one, the white one, the night before the storm. We think she may have lay on it, very common in first time pig mothers. Her other piglets look like they are doing great. She built a huge new nest and by that night had them all in it and snuggled up nice and warm.

Well I must get on with my day. The cows have seen me and chores are waiting. Have a great day!

A Summer Storm!

We had a heck of a storm pass through here today! Papa called from work right as it was starting to tell us about it. He had a hail stone over an inch long in one hand and the phone in the other!! We measured one and it was 3 cms!! Man did it ever rain!! It was loud too!! Hail on a tin roof! Papa said one of his bosses car got dented by the hail!! Craziness!! We have a small branch on the driveway and leaves flew everywhere, but as far as I know that is the only damage we suffered. 

A neat picture of water falling off the roof.

The hail was BOUNCING on the trampoline!! And for some odd reason it only stuck on one side.

The hail that came off the roof! 

A peice of hail I found on the back porch! Excuse the dirty feet.. I rarely wear socks ;) 

Norma Jean getting a little bit of shelter under the end of the roof. Both the cows were there but one of them touched the hot wire and then only Norma Jean was there!! Haha! 

Hail on the bare ground in front of the laying hens winter house. There was a pen there all winter. 

The water rushing off down the driveway! 

The farm actually did quite well with the storm. Chickens huddled under trees and shelters. Cows fought for the best spot behind the house. Poor Star, the calf, got left out in it as I`d moved her this morning into the middle of an area with no good rain shelter, but she was grazing just minutes after it quit. The only animals that did not do well were the new piglets. Both older momma`s did just fine with their litters but the little gilt was in the middle of moving hers when the storm hit and 4 of them ended up at the neighbors in the bush and I had to go rescue them and put them by the new nest. I got a couple of piglet snuggles in exchange :) Last I saw the gilt she still had piglets in 3 different places but close together and was still trying to make a nest instead of laying down, like the other two, to keep her babies warm. She did lose one last night that we saw yesterday was not looking good. We think she may have lay on it as new pig mothers sometimes do. 

Peggy Sue :)

Saying good bye to the Scout, Scotty.

J was brought home from the hospital at 5 days old in this Scout. 

A final picture. 

Saying HELLO to the Travalall!! 

What a fine Lady you are! 

Little Boys and Trucks. 

A 1st picture. 

R driving :) 

Polly and Peggy Sue. 

I know what your thinking :) Wow that yellow one is really old! Nope. Actually Polly, the yellow one, is just a year older then Peggy Sue. She's just got a lot more miles on her.. like 3 or 4 times as many. She was also a bush truck for years, and we have her daily log from the company who owned her, and shows it. Papa bought her after finding her stuck in the bush with years of moss on her and cleaned her up and fixed her up. Peggy Sue on the other hand has had a pretty good life. 

Little Girls 13 Piglets!!

This is Little Girl, named so because at 3 years old she is still smallish for a sow. She was the runt of the litter 3 years ago and we kept her because she wasn't quite ready to butcher and then when we got the boar we didn't have a place to put her away from him. Now we are glad of that. This is her second litter. Last year she surprised us by being a wonderful mom and raised 5 piglets. She out did herself this year by have 13!! The Berkshire breed normally has no more then 12 and an average of 8 so 13 was quite a surprise!! I found them yesterday morning and did a quick count before going to see Papa and counted 9 and thought.. Naw miss count. It was a miss count too, but not too many, too few! Papa and I were so shocked we counted several times each. 12, 12, 13, 13, 12.. YUP there is a LOT of them!! 

She made a nice big nest in the bush, had her babies in it and promptly moved out of it?? I'm not sure why but she took them a bit farther into the bush and we have not seen her in the nest since. 

Aren't they just the cutest things ever?? 

With the 7 from Big Momma we now have 20 piglets.. one less then last year from THREE sows :) 

Good Job Little Girl!! 

Now that Little Girl has had her piglets we are just waiting for one more to farrow. We had a gilt escape this spring and get in with the boar which we weren't too happy about but will farrow her out, raise them up and wean them and then butcher her. She is half Berkshire and half Hampton York and unless something happens to change our minds she will not breed again. She's a great pig but we'd like to keep our sows purebreds.