Lambs

Note the fan and the bucket that are keeping the lambs in the entryway. They are living outside in a large dog crate and only came in to eat.

I've taken it in my head that last few weeks to listen to the local morning Buy and Sell radio show. Well. I'm looking for bunk beds... and I found some sheep!! LOL. Well Baby sheep. And it wasn't easy. First I called them at got some more information. Age? (10 days) Sex? (one of each, turned out to be 2 males) Breed? (mostly hair breeds) Where they lived? (about 20 minutes from us) Cost? ($30 each and they ringed them and did tails and gave me enough replacer to last a day or so and a baby bottle to feed them with.) Then I gathered a bit more information. How much does an adult sheep eat per winter? ( 600lbs of hay for a 5 month winter) How long do you have to bottle feed them? (2 months or so) Can I switch them from sheep milk replacer to cows milk? (yes if I do it carefully and make sure there is lots of cream) Will they electric fence train? (yes better then goats) And yes the kids will love it and it'll be great for them. Then I took my wild card and shoved it up my sleeve, and Papa and I talked it through. Papa had a few good arguments but so did I and in the end we compromised on both sides and I was allowed to get sheep. Papa wasn't so keen on it but he's come around. I'm sure it helps that he gets to get another $100.00 International. Really a cheap price for a couple of years worth of sheep!! We drove out to pick the lambs up this morning. We had a great drive out there. We saw swans and Canadian Geese on the river ( I didn't bring my new camera and I'm still kicking myself.) and the sun was beautiful. On the way home we saw a grouse on a side road and got to watch it cross the road. R fell asleep so she napped the whole time. They had them ready for us when we got there and as soon as the kids got out of the Travelall the woman called them over to the carport. 'Oh they have got to come see this. They will love what we have here' she bubbled happily. So over we went. The two lambs following us at our heels. In the carport door we all stopped and stared!! PUPPIES!!! 8 registrable Border Collie puppies. They were about 4 weeks old and cute as can be!! Both Dad dog and Momma Dog were there and beautiful. And I was warned that these were working pups of working parents and not the kind of dog we want at all. All of which I could tell at 1st glance but was grateful for the reaffirmation! ( A dog is another thing I'm working at Papa for. I think we should get one this spring and he thinks we need to wait a year or two!!) Lambs forgotten the kids pet and cuddled and tumbled with the pups!! Which was probably a good thing as they ringed the lambs, tails as well, and gave them a shot of something and gave me a ton of directions :) They also promised to call me if they had another bummer lamb that was a ewe as I really wanted a ewe to keep and breed. Well I called the kids away from the dogs and we grabbed the lambs and put them in the dog crate in the back of my Travelall. Buckled everyone in, honked twice as directed to keep the dogs off the road, and we took our lambs for their 1st car ride. They did well. A bit of baaaa-ing but they settled right in. When we hit town we stopped in at Grandma and Grandpa F's house to show off our new critters. Then we headed up to Papa's work so he could see the new lambs. When we got to his work I got the boys out, handed them each a lamb and told them to go show Papa. SMILES so big!!! They proudly hauled those lambs into the shop and when I got there a bit later with the girls Papa had the lambs on his lap and J and L were telling him what they'd named their new lambs!! The black one J named Forrest the Black Lamb. The white with brown spots L named Snowball!! (and J tacks on 'the white lamb") The black one is half again as big as the white one and mostly Texel and Dorper. It was a Singleton and it's mother refused it. The white one is Katahdin and St. Crois and it was a triplet who's mom couldn't care for it. The black one is sassy and insistent and the white more laid back and shy. The whole time we were at Papa's shop E is asking me "Where is my lamb Momma?" (It took me several times to figure out what she was saying) Not broken heartily or anything. Just wondering and insistent. I think she just realized that there were only 2. Before with all the puppies I think she thought there was more. So I explained that there was only 2 and said to go pet L's. Ok. No problems. She's fine with that. Thankfully. I'm really hoping there will be another one as part of the deal Papa and I had was that I got to breed the ewe once and lamb her out!! I'm hoping by then we know if we really like having Lamb in the freezer and if it's worth the work etc to get it there. Also if we just plain old enjoy sheep. I'm pretty sure I will, unless something odd comes up, but Papa's not at all sure. I think the kids are 100% sure. They love them to bits. Now to work on that puppy.... :)

A Interesting Day.

It was a day of firsts for me. First of all it's interesting to note that this month is the 1st month in the last 6 years that I have not been pregnant or nursing!! :) I weaned R the day before her 1st birthday. She has had no problems with that at all and hasn't even asked to nurse since then. So today I had a appointment in 'the city' and instead of having it on Papa's day off and us all going which is what we normally do I dropped the kids off with Grandma and Grandpa F switched the Travelall for the Honda at Papa's work place and headed out alone. Grandma and Grandpa have been asking to have the kids for several weeks and so with breakup here it worked out great. Everyone who knows me a bit knows that I'm not a driver. I dislike driving. Papa once thought it'd be great to go over the road team trucking. There is NO WAY. I just don't like it. At all. I enjoy watching the scenery, talking to passengers, dozing and doing what ever else I can to keep from being bored while in the car. But driving isn't one. So because of this I don't drive much. Papa drives. Papa enjoys it. But today was a new day!! LOL. I still don't enjoy driving but I sure enjoyed today!! I've never really city driven before and so am always very nervous when I have too. But today I did. I drove through the city to my appointment and then afterwards I drove all around for a bit then up to Walmart and the craft store then to BP where I met a friend A for supper. It was great!! I found I can drive in a city!! I found I could even drive in the city with it raining!! It was awesome. Now don't go getting any idea's about me becoming a city slicker... It wont happen. But I sure did enjoy my 1st day out all alone for most of the day in about 6 years... Actually while I typed that I realized that I don't believe I have EVER done this before. Not in our almost 10 years of marriage.. or anytime before that. I've gone for a day of fun with a friend or two but never by my self!!

On the way home I was driving along minding my manners and I saw a strange thing. The first time it happened I wasn't sure what it was. But as it kept on happening I realized I was seeing the 1st thunder storm of the year!! BEAUTIFUL pink and purple lightning with several having a whole fan of strikes at the same time!! Lighting up the whole sky. I drove right though the storm on my way home thinking how strange it was to have a thunder storm with 2 feet of snow on the ground and almost no ground showing at all... even on the south sides of the roads.

When I was growing up a favorite game of my fathers was to watch out for wildlife and see who could spot things first. I've always been pretty good at it and now as an adult I find I do it automatically. Papa and I often compete a bit with this and I'm 80% of the time the winner!! Today on the way home I spotted a cow moose in up to her belly in snow eating some small bushes in a draw on the side of the road. She was safe enough there, and so was I, but it got me to thinking about how hard it must be out there in the bush for the moose and deer this year. The snow level has been amazing and how hard it must be for them walking through all that snow (she was in right to her belly. I could see no gap at all.) to get feed. The moose normally stay away from the roads as much as possible but this year there have been several sighted in the 'city' and our friends A&M had a cow and her calf on their front lawn awhile ago.. in the middle of a subdivision!! A said she could have reached out of her car and touched the cows rear end!! That's how close it was to them. A said it ate part of their bush!! And my sister, who also lives in the city, and her family have had SEVERAL moose in their backyard. A cow and a calf, a young bull. Moose eat young bushes and generally trim rather like a goat. And with the snows this year they are coming to the road sides to eat as it is easy food. The roadsides here are mowed every few years of everything. Looks nasty when they do it but the mowed areas are used to help the animals know where the roads are and help us people see them before they get too close. They are also using the roadways as fire breaks as a lot of the wood that surrounds our communities is dead wood. So far they have only made the roadways larger in case of a forrest fire and haven't actually used them.

New Pictures.

Taken with our new camera. J is 5 years old.L will be 4 in April.

E is 2.5 years old.

R is 1 year old.

Eagles...

I went out the other day when the Eagle couple was still here and took some pictures. Now that we have HIGH SPEED I'm loading them up!! LOL. The couple vanished about 2 days after these pictures were taken and have not been back. I wonder if someone close by has had an animal die and they have gone there instead. In the above picture you can see them both. One is on the top right and the other in the middle on the left. They are on either side of the lagoon. I watched them for a bit and they were keeping the crows and ravens away. They 'talk' to each other a lot and when either sees a raven or crow that eagle warns the other and they both watch to make sure it keeps on flying. Sorry the pictures are different sizes.. I'm playing a bit :)

Griggs Family Update.

We spent the last half of last week and a chunk of this week being very sick with a stomach flu that is going around!! Very nasty bug and we are thankful we are mostly done it. E was sick for a full 8 days but has her color back and is playing today!! It is the 1st time that we have ALL been sick at the same time. Good thing we have 2 bathrooms :) Papa was so sick on Saturday that he actually called in sick. That is only the 2nd time that either of us can remember him missing a day of work because he was sick!! In almost 10 years. Not a bad record!! We have a pull out bed in our couch which we've only ever used once in the last 5 years until this weekend when we were all sick. We pulled the bed out and took turns laying on it sleeping or watching movies. We pulled the whole thing in front of the computer 2 evenings in a row and watched All Creatures Great and Small for several hours each night. All of us piled on the bed sharing Papa and I's large quilt.



Monday and Tuesday were Papa's days off which was great because he still wasn't feeling well but for being sick we actually got a lot done!! Monday we had kids Doctor visits in the morning. Which, because we need to pick up a ton of flax seed, we took the Travelall and the trailer and we all headed to town. I took J and R in to the Dr. office and Papa kept still rather sick E and L in the Travelall. We found out that R has a heart murmur and because of that and her tiny-ness (she's less then 3% on their charts) they referred us to a Pedi in 'the city' which is fine with us as we love our Pedi!! His name is Dr. Earl and he's great. Also because of her heart we had to get a X-ray and a EKG done on her. So I grabbed the only 'toy like thing' in the Travelall and headed to the hospital (across the road) and Papa took the kids to go pick up the flax. The 'toy like thing' was a pair of kid sunglasses and R played with them through the EKG, when she was covered in 10 stickers with wires clipped to them until she was almost covered in wires. I really wished for my camera she was SO CUTE!! She had to lay still for 30 seconds or so to get a good reading and she did!! Twice!! What a great kid!! After the EKG we wandered around talking to people in the halls for several minutes, R making friends where ever we went. Then we headed over to X-ray where the tec was a old school mate and he spent a bit of time figuring out how to X-ray a child as small as our R. LOL. He had a chair for her to sit in and then put a black slate like plate in the back of the chair but he had to take out the bottom spacer so that he could get her whole chest. One X-ray later, momma in a heavy lead apron holding her little arms up and we were finished. The tec showed us her X-ray and explained it to me. Very cool. I was amazed at how digital everything is these days. R completely charmed everyone who worked with us and every one in the hallways. She played with those sunglasses the whole time!! Then we all headed home and NAPPED. After being sick all weekend we needed it. We'll find out about the results to the EKG and X-ray when we go see Dr. Earl.



Tuesday we got up early again and headed off the 'the city' for an appointment. The kids were all pretty much better by this point. E was the worst off and she was playing but tired out easily and rather pale. But we decided to forgo the 'swimming place' anyway. We bought 3 large bunches of banana's on Monday afternoon. By Tuesday afternoon there where 2 banana's left!! Both E and R ate 6 banana's in those 24 hours!!!



Papa's bosses often get bonuses from their suppliers and recently got one and gave it to Papa!! Papa has been drooling over a new Camera for some time. The Canon SX10. And it was his bosses wish that he get it!! So while we were in 'the city' we bought one!! The place we got it would match prices of other stores and it was the only place in 'the city' that had any in stock!! So we went in there and told them that another store had it on sale for $50.00 less then they did. They went online and verified it and we got $50.00 off!!! That was AWESOME because we could then get a case for it and a 8 G memory card!! So we did. The Canon SX10 has 20x zoom!! And the next time those Eagles come back I'm going to go get some REAL pictures of them. Haha!! So far I love the new camera. It's a bit more confusing then our old Canon but takes GREAT PICTURES!! I took this picture of Papa with it!! This picture IS Papa!!

We had also heard about a high speed Internet cell service that was fairly cheap so we went and signed up. We're having to buy another cord before we can use it but it will free up my phone and be faster. So WARNING... there WILL be more pictures then ever on my blog when we do get it up and working!!! :)

Papa and I have a horrible habit. We wear our shoes out and then keep wearing them!! LOL. No really. It's BAD. So we went shoe shopping. Papa got a pair of work shoes that should (better) keep his feet warm and dry this spring. Mud season is coming.. I hope. I got a pair of black and purple (where do they come up with these colors?) runners that should do me for everything. I've been walking as often as possible on the yard (I have a route and if I go around it 12 times it ='s almost 2 miles) and I plan on walking more and more as I can and as spring comes.. (if it ever does) and these shoes will be great for walking and for daily life. I asked for dark colored shoes as white turns to gray and then NASTY with everything I do in my shoes. And if the shoes are dark colors at least they still look nice even if they aren't perfect. I rarely wear a winter jacket as I'm too warm most of the time but I did on Tuesday and funnily enough my shoes match my jacket perfectly!!


Papa got to go to his 'beer' store and stayed in so long I peeked my head in for a quick look!! I guess the owner of the store was there and they got to talking and blah blah blah now Papa has two different malts to try and the owner mixed them for him so they should be great. The beer store, it's a brew your own type place, is actually very nice on the inside. I was shocked as the last one I was in was a horrid little smelly place with a beer master who like his product a little too much. But this store is great. Big and clean and smells of roasted grain more then the more evil smells of beer making. They had copper vats, clean and waiting, wide open areas that were for bottling, a nice 'set up' place for malting ect. Very nice. The brew master (owner) actually found and sold it too Papa a lid for his other keg!! He had it in the back storage area and so hopefully Papa can have 2 kinds of beer on the go now. He also gave him some rubber O rings for seals! Papa was totally impressed with him and wants to 'pick his brain' a lot more another time. I guess I haven't done a blog on beer making yet. I guess I'll have to!! Maybe next time Papa makes some I'll sit down and tap one out :)


We spent Tuesday evening with friends B&B who made us a great meal of steak, baked potatoes, veggies, salad and milkshakes!! YUMMM. B makes the BEST chocolate peanut butter banana milkshakes!! Then us girls let the guys absolutely trash us in Pinochle. Like 1500 to 20. Yeah I know we sucked!!!


Spring is escaping us. It's refusing to come. We have had snow every day for the last 5 or 6 days and snow is forecast for the next week or more!! The temps are not melting temps, they are barely dripping temps and we are all getting fed up about it. Little Mr. L thinks we need to set up the sprinkler outside (we have a huge one for the back.) and 'melt some snow Momma!!' My fence posts that where sticking out after our last 'nice warm day' are now back to there previous snow covered state. Very disappointing but at least the temps are nice enough that I can send the kids outside to play.

Birthday Girl.

R turned 1 recently and we had a great little party here at home with her. Here is her and cousin K who are 9 weeks apart in age. She loved the sparklers but didn't seem to know what to do with her hands. So she hugged them tight the whole time.

We have an odd tradition on 1st birthdays. Because the child having the birthday normally can't blow out the candle the next oldest child, in this case E, gets to blow out the candle. So E blew out R's candle, L blew out E's candle, J blew out L's candle and Auntie Ria (my younger sister who just happened to start this tradition) blew out J's candle. Her Lady Bug mini cake. She barely ate any of it. The legs were licorice and she ate 3 of them and the spots where her 'favorite snack' chocolate chips and she ate almost all of them!! The 1st thing she did was take the head off and eat the whole thing!! LOL. She pretty much ate icing and candy:) Oh and a bit of homemade Oreo ice cream!! YUMMM.

Red sparklers stick to EVERYTHING!!! And because they are pointy they hurt when we washed them off until we stuck her in the sink for a quick rinse!!

Pig Butchering Day.

We butchered two pigs recently and let them hang over night to cut and wrap the next day. I will not post butchering pictures again as my blog was tagged last time I put up butchering pictures. But we managed to kill, skin and gut 2 pigs in an hour and a half with 3 of us working (and the other adult watching the 6 kids inside) and as Papa works at 11am these days and he even had time to brew a coffee before running off to work. We cut and wrapped the next day with another couple, M & A, which made it a lot faster and funner. One of the pigs was M&A's and so we weighted each piece as it came inside and did theirs first so nothing got mixed up. The pieces all together weighed in at 238lbs!! Which means the live weight of the pig was about 310lbs. Not a bad size!! We didn't weigh the last two pigs we did but we think they were only a little bit smaller then this one. Our meat saw and grinder worked GREAT and we love being able to do all but the cured stuff. We had a few setbacks trying to figure out the stuffer but we got it going and it works great too. We made almost 100lbs of stuffed sausage, and cut and wrapped both pigs, including chops, tenderloin, and roasts. The bacon was the only thing sent out to be cured as neither of us wanted hams. The fat we froze in bags to be rendered another day. What a day though. M&A's kids were babysat out most of the day but our 4 were here and relegated to the living room, which they are used to and don't mind. They watched several movies and got to 'picnic' out on their kids table for both meals. The kitchen was a total mess. I was wearing thick socks ( I don't like shoes) but Papa and M&A all wore boots or shoes. By the end of the day they could not stand upright on the floor... it was that slimy with mess. Fat mostly. I still could as my socks stuck to the floor. We used a cheap plastic table cloth over the table for the messy stuff so when it came time to wrap up the meat we took the whole mess off and worked on a clean table for the wrapping. This way we could keep the wrapped packages clean and not have to scrub all the fat off the table every time we needed to wrap. We burned the table cloth when we were finished!! Even though we had several delays and setbacks we're happy that we got these two pigs done and got most of the kinks out of the meat saw and the process itself. 4 down 2 to go. Oh and on that note we recently ordered pigs for this spring. Last fall we found a family nearby that raises Berkshire pigs and we've ordered 6 wieners (about a 40 to 60 lb piglet) from them for April. We are planning on keeping one or two of the gilts (a female pig = to a heifer) to breed ourselves next winter and raise up our own piglets. These pigs are an old fashioned black breed which is said to have better meat taste and tenderness.

Here is Papa separating the chops from the bacon/ribs on the big pig with our new saw!! The saw itself makes a surprisingly little mess, almost all of the mess goes into a tray under the blade and NONE was on the cabinets or oven.

COLD!!

Yesterday morning was a healthy -17F but this morning out did itself!! We had -25F here this morning at 8am... but my sister just down the road had a whopping -37F!!!! They always have a bit colder temps then we do. We are a bit more sheltered with trees then they are. BURR pretty cold for March 10th!!! Last year on this day... if I remember right and I should :)... it was sunny and around 15F. What a switch. But they are saying, the weather men, that we should hit 45F by Sunday. BRING ON SPRING!!!!

Tub Time.

As some of you may remember we had a water leak in the back bathroom which flooded out into our 'closet of books'. Instead of spending the $80 to fix the whole mess Papa got a plug and just turned off all the water to that bathroom except the toilet. This bathroom is now pretty much storage with a toilet anyway so no real harm done. He'll fix it this summer when it's nice and warm out and he has time. Because there are so many of us in such a small space we've been using the tub for storage for quite some time. So whenever we needed the tub I would just empty it of foam chairs and beanbags and the odd box or toy and we'd rinse it and fill it up and have a bath. The tub has no shower and the shower has no tub. Now that the water is turned off the kids have been having showers instead, with the girls having quick baths in the kitchen sinks every once and awhile to have some fun. Well Papa recently came up with a great idea for them to all be able to have a bath. He took one of my new totes and put it in the shower. Then he filled it up half way with water and TA DA a mini tub!! They love it. And that 1st day they all 3 soaked for some time. L had the water warm enough it was a mini Hot Tub!! Lucky. Now if only I fit!! LOL.

Baby R's First Steps.

They smile and they grin, teeter and totter, move their legs up and down with out actually moving, beaming all the while. R is almost a year old and tonight she took her 1st steps. We are all very excited and J, L and E helped me cheer her on as she walked from leaning on the couch to my arms 4 or 5 times. Between 3 and 5 steps at a time. I lean her against the couch and then move away and call to her. She thinks this is great fun and claps her hands and yells. So we are all clapping and yelling. Then she stops and grins and moves her little tiny feet up and down. Teasing us.. ready to walk but having fun. Then slowly, ever so slowly she moves forward. Funny little unknown jerky movements that always remind Papa of a puppet on a string. Grinning the whole time, pleased that she can do this new thing. Excited that we are all watching and waiting for her. Then she reaches me and stands for 2 seconds completely still before I scoop her up and tickle her, and we are all laughing and yelling and telling her how great she is. Then L stands up and goes to the couch.. Look Momma I can do it too. I can come to Momma too. So he does and we cheer, then J, cheer, then E and we cheer again. Then it's R's turn again for a few more rounds. Cheering and yelling, the house is bedlam. Then L goes back to the couch and slowly, almost perfectly, imitates his sisters slow uncertain steps. But he's so excited when he gets to me instead of me catching him he jumps up and down. He is a mimic and he's very good!! I'm quite amazed every time one of the kids start to walk. It seems like such an expected yet totally unexpected thing. You expect them to walk sooner or later but you forget that they will be moving, tiny little people who stand less then 2 feet tall who actually look and walk like people. They seem to little somehow and too immature. But they aren't, they are just right where they are and loving it. I love watching them walk around but I also regularly forget that there is a new person learning a new skill walking around. I'm not a terrible graceful person and the 1st few days of a new walker are always a bit of a bump and grab time. Bump them as I, or they, walk into them and then quickly grab them before they hit the floor!! R is so tiny that I'm really going to have to watch out. She's so short that she's almost invisible.Hopefully she will be like J and E and go into it slowly so I have some time to readjust and not like L who just got up one day at 9 months and walked!!!

Baby R is still a tiny little mite, sweet and loving. She loves hugs and clings like a monkey. Before she was walking she was trying hard to walk. The older kids would take turns walking her around and encouraging her to step out on her own. We also have a push car that she can walk and push and when she gets going they all 3 go and turn her around when she gets stuck! Her birthday is soon and we are planning her party and cake. The kids are all excited about it and J wants to go to the $ store and buy her a birthday gift. ( I wonder if he thinks that is the only place he can buy things as he's very adamant about that store) She is almost 1 year old and I'm going to start to refer to her as R instead of Baby R. I'm seeing so much more little person in her these days that we don't even call her Baby R anymore but only R. So I'm having to add "baby" to all my posts, because I no longer think of her as a baby but as a toddler. So from now on she will be R and not Baby R.