MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

NEWS!!!

Well it's been awhile and I thought I'd better catch you all up!! We have been busy getting ready for winter and Christmas and just plain old busy!!! Part of the reason I've not been blogging is not that I don't have lots to say just that I couldn't say it without alluding to the big thing that is happening for us right now and I found it very hard to keep the 2 separate!! We are going to be parents again this spring and we are SUPER EXCITED about it. I am 13 weeks and it's time to share!! Ever since we found out that I was pregnant we've had to keep a bit of a lower profile as I've been REALLY tired and a bit sick. Fairly normal for me during the 1st three months. We told the kids at a surprise American Thanksgiving that we made for Papa and they are all excited too. E took great pride in telling several people (but amazingly only when we told her she could!! She can keep a secret!) including Grandma and Grandpa F that "Mommy has a BABY in her tummy!!" L and E are the most excited of the 4, with J coming in 3rd and R a confused 4th!! Though she likes the idea of 'baby'! Papa has decreed it to be a boy! Don't laugh or scoff he's been right the last 4 times. We'll see soon enough! For those of you who don't know Papa and I have found out the sex of the baby at each ultrasound and gone out for lunch or supper after and named the baby the same day! That's our tradition and we love it. SO we should know if he's right around January. I think. My due date will change after I see the Doc but I can tell you it will likely be the 1st week in July as the last 3 kids have been 10 days late!! The only reason J wasn't was because he was induced! My friend Mrs. T is also pregnant. We are due within 3 days of each other and NO we did not plan it that way but we are happy about it.


L is Thankful for the new baby in Mommas tummy. And for Space Chimps!! ( a movie we borrowed from the T's) The way he said it made it a close thing!!



The kids are growing like crazy and L is wearing pants that J wore the week before!! J is getting better and better about helping without being asked and takes great pride in helping us. 'surprising us." L has started to make up funny stories and enjoys telling them to anyone who will listen. E is growing a bit taller and gaining more grace daily! She has started missing people when they are gone for a while and it's amazing to see the 'girl' emerge. R is copying in sentences now and talking 2 words at a time. The other day she was saying something and so I asked e what she said. Little kids can often understand younger kids. E gave me a LOOK and said. "How am I supposed to know?" I laughed so hard. The other day while we were shopping we were all talking and E pips up. 'IS IT MY TURN YET!!!" She really HAD something to say!!


On other news we have our barn almost finished, the roof needs one more strip of plastic and we may end of putting plywood on the walls in the pig area as they are trying to crawl into them. Other then that we are ready for winter. We still need to bring Bindy home but it can get cold now without us having to worry about the pipes or animal waters. (Plastics on windows, heater under house, skirting sealed off, hay over sewer so it won't freeze like last year, ) And BOY has it gotten cold. This morning we woke up to a chilly -35C which is -3oF!!! Burrr. Both Maggie and I shivered while I was milking this morning. BUT we have water!! Nothing froze not even the cow water!! Finally Papa says "A winter I WON"T have to spend hours under the trailer thawing everything out." Trailers are SUPER horrible to keep warm in these temps.


We have 1 pig left to butcher and cut and wrap and then the total for the year will be 6 pigs, Bobby the beef and our 1/4 of Moose from B&B. It was a bit insane there for a while and very exhausting. Papa set up the meat saw on the house floor and I put up some tables and with the new hanging area right there where the wood used to be it made for a nice working area with access to the kitchen through the windows. This worked lovely as the people wrapping and labeling stayed indoors and the cutters were outside. The grinding and sausage was also out doors which we really liked as the cold weather (-3C 0r 30ishF) really helps with a nicer grind. We personally made 90 lbs of sausage. 8 different kinds. Anywhere between 3lbs and 20 lbs of different kinds. Pepperoni, McGriggers, Mennonite, Dakota hot dogs, 5 alarm hot dogs, a new cheese garlic one in which we used my homemade cheese, a Argentine Chorizo, and a Alsatian. The 1st 5 we did last year as well and really liked and the last 3 were Papa's experiments. And I'm not sure if we'll do them again. They are good but not great. We got our sausage smoked by a neighbor who did a great job and we are very happy with the final outcome of all that work!! Sorry that I took almost no pictures I was simply trying to make it through a long work day.

Thankfully we are all healthy, happy (we have our moments but we are mostly happy) and ready for winter.. good thing too because it's here. We have about 8 inches of snow, a Christmas tree and it's beginning to feel a LOT like Christmas time!!

Eagles!!

At least one of the Eagles we had last year is back!! They are after the pig butchering leftovers in the back and as beautiful as ever!! Today is the 1st I've seen it and it flew right down over me by the house. Gliding along on the breeze. I love to watch them as the glide and soar.

That White Stuff!!

R and E in their snowsuits. Neither last long outside but the boys love it.
L and what was left of his snowman after Chip jumped on it.

J and Chip and J's 1st snowman of the year.

Snow!! yup it's that time of year again when the snow starts to fall and STICK!! Ready or not here it comes. We are mostly ready. The trusses are up and that was our last big outside project of the year. We'll still peck away at tree cleanup and firewood for next year when we have time if the snow isn't too deep but mostly it's done now. Papa gets home around 7pm and it's well and dark by 6:30 so there isn't much he or we can do after that. We do have lights that go around our foreheads for things we HAVE to do out side after dark but it's too dim to cut with the power saw or hook to trailers or stuff like that. This is our 5rd snow of the year but the 1st that may stick. But I don't think it will and that may be wishful thinking but I hope not. On our 3rd snow of the year the snow was falling off the roof in great WHOOOFFF thunders while I was milking (Maggie was NOT impressed!!) and it was still snowing and by late afternoon everything was dripping. The area on the drive way where Polly our Travelall was parked all night is dirt already. (even though it snowed on it for several more hours after Papa left for work.) The kids were super excited and 1st thing after breakfast was a hunt for snow pants, boots, gloves, hats and jackets as they all got ready to go out and play in the new snow. J and L both made snow men and the girls went in and out from under the carport checking out the snow. After the kids were all outside I grabbed an empty tote and took all the spring, summer and fall stuff OUT of the entrance area and organized the winter stuff into hats, gloves and adult gloves and I know this will help with the daily mitten/hat/scarf search. For the little people and the big!! We've had 2 light snows since then and nothing is staying. Though they say we should get a couple of inches tomorrow. We'll see!!

Beauties and Beasts!!

The Beauties!!And the Beasts!!
Papa got these costumes 2nd hand a while ago and the kids love acting out their favorite movie!! Now that E has a 'Belle' dress they can really go all out!!

A 3 year old Birthday

E and her 'Belle' dress!! She loves Belle!!

E with her new hat!! What a little lady!!

E and her 'pretty dress' cake!!

E stirring the cake mix. She's good help!!



E turned 3 the other day and we had a great party. The T family, Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandpa were all able to make it and we feasted on chocolate cupcakes, cake and ice cream!! The kids had "lemon juice" to drink as well. E ate 3 cupcakes and a tiny piece of cake!! She was a bit overwhelmed with the singing but really got into the candle blowing out after the 1st one! It took her a while to get into the gift opening but she soon warmed up!! She is quite a little Miss now and today HAD to be counted as #3 (normally she's 2, R then E, L is 3 and J is 4! I have no idea why but they like to count each other!) and L had to be 2! The boys each got to pick part of our present to her and wrap it and have it 'from them' which they loved!! It was a tea set so it worked great. L gave her the pot and J the 4 knifes. They also made her pictures.

Maggie & I vs. the Chickens.

We had some interesting things going on with our laying hens ever since we let them loose for fall. We normally let them all run loose for the few months of fall so they can clean up any stray cow piles that may have gotten missed. They do a great job with this. When we got Maggie she didn't like them but she's been getting used to them. There are a few older hens who liked to lay their eggs right under the tray in the milking stanchion where Maggie eats while we milk. A few days of exuberant hens crowing LOUDLY about their new eggs cured me of my snoozing habit while milking (a good thing really as Maggie still lifts her feet up when we milk) and got Maggie used to the noise of an excited hen. The next thing both Maggie and I had to get used to was the hens trying to 'steal' milk out of the 2nd bucket while I'm milking into the other bucket. With her foot habit we milk into one bucket and pour it into another bucket and then take both buckets inside to strain. The 1st few days were fun as I'd use my hand or the cow towel to chase the chickens off while keeping one hand securely on the bucket of milk in case Maggie takes offence. She did several times. By the way Papa does not have these chicken problems as they are all roosting while he milks the most he has to do is move a sleeping chicken out of the feeding area so he can put feed in!! By day 3 I was bringing a towel to cover the 2nd bucket and bringing out the strainer as well. So the strainer goes on the second bucket and the clean towel covers the whole mess. This works!! Papa laughs at me BUT IT WORKS!! The next chicken problem was that the little hens ( I could use a worse word!!!) would run around looking for the milk (not that they ever really got any!) UNDER Maggie!! Maggie got used to this before I did and I got to the point were I'd chase all the hens out of the milking area before I let Maggie in. It's very startling to see a brown fuzzy thing just flying by in the corner of your eye while your trying to milk the cow and have a snooze! I think I jumped every time! Thankfully the little 'hens' soon decided that mad humans are too be avoided, I got a few rather well with the tip of my toes, and now they leave me alone. So I thought the chicken problems were finished until the other morning when Maggie just WOULD NOT hold still!! I hollered at her and she bawled back at me? So I looked over and here she is trying to PUSH a pullet out of her feed box with her head!! That pullet hung on with it's feet and would NOT let go. Maggie was asking for help but by the time I got the bucket moved and got over there she's squished it up against the wall several times and finally one of her head swipes had knocked the pullet off the feed box. When the pullet was gone poor Maggie gave me this LOOK that said. "You see what I have to put up with??" I got the impression that it was not the 1st time she's have to defend her feed from a chicken. That same pullet tried 2 more times to eat Maggie's sweet mix before I picked it up and threw it over the fence. It landed with a loud squawk and ran off. A few days later we found a dead pullet by the chicken barn. I was sorry to see it dead at first but now I'm wondering if she didn't somehow hit it too hard or flatten it when she had it between her head and the wall. Either way we are both happy as there hasn't been a pullet in the feed box since!! Soon the hens will go into the new barn with a small pen off one end. Until then I'm on the lookout for those "hens!!"

　 Update; This morning we had another HEN problem. One of the hens was climbing up onto a 6 foot box, for tools and things, we have in the milking area. She jumped and fluttered, scrambled and scrabbled, and generally made a pain of her self until I 'motivated' her off!! Oh of the joys of laying hens. They also like to roost up on the board that we put up to keep Maggie out of the house, thru the window and so every night we hear a 'chicken fight' over the 'best' spot!! It's funny to listen too!! But it sure startles visitors :) Here is an old picture of the hens in the milking area. That pretty white rooster got 'done in' this summer. He was getting much to cocky!! On the bottom left of the picture you can see the door of the box that hen was climbing on this morning.

Papa's One Year Apprentice Review!

Papa came home the other day with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face. The smiles normal but the twinkle gave me a minutes pause. What was he up too?? He only glanced at me before siting down and putting his head down. So I saw the twinkle for 2 seconds then saw a 'unhappish' pose?? He does like to tease me. Then he started telling me about his one year review that day. It was about a week before his actually one year anniversary so we weren't expecting it yet. He told me that 'the bosses' had sat him down and told him that he needed to slow down and take a bit more time with projects to save on warranty. Which I think is kind of weird because the 1st few months it was all about how many hours it takes to do this and this is how many you actually get paid for, book price, and hurry up and get it done before you run out of paid time!! Then he told me, head still down, that they'd also like him to make sure and sweep his area after every job, which is something he'd never even thought of, because it's nicer to work in a clean shop and it's looks better to the people who come in!! And a LOT of people are in and out of that shop!! It's amazing how many people Papa sees in a day!! Then he said in that same poor me tone how they liked his work very much and, finally he looked up at me with that twinkle, HE'D GOTTEN A RAISE!!! Thank You LORD!!! We've been living on $18 an hour, $4 less then he was getting with his last job for a year and things were being to stack up!! We've been hoping and praying for a raise! And he got one!! And that wasn't all. Now that he'd looked up and teased me he told me how both his bosses really appreciate him and how he's doing a great job for them and making the business money!! Very good for a 1st year apprentice!! The boss that is the certified mechanic told Papa that he was going to be bored to tears at the 6 weeks of school. "Probably for all 4 years!" WOW!! That is high praise!! The funniest thing of all is that Papa was so pleased with his review and raise that he didn't even find out how much of a raise he got!! LOL. So we are waiting for his check to see!!

Trusses and more winter work.

WELL The trusses are DONE!! So far in the last 2 years Papa and I have made a total of 41 trusses!! Crazy people I know!! LOL. The 1st 36 were for the house and are up and covered and done! The last 5 are for our new cow/pig/chicken barn and are leaning up against the side of the house waiting for another weekend off so we can put them up. The longest part of this second truss building was getting everything in one place!! It seemed every time we set out to do it we didn't have enough time to get all the 'stuff' together to do it. FINALLY we managed to get it all together and banged out (with a rented nail gun. Very LOUD.) 5 more 2x4 trusses. We used 2x6's for the top 4 pieces of the house trusses but decided to just use 2x4's for the barn trusses. It's seriously amazing how much lighter these new ones are. Papa and I felt like we could carry them anywhere. The first few anyway. After all that gluing and bending over to put plywood pieces on and nailing our backs protested a little with the last few! The boys helped a lot. They brought us plywood pieces (that go over the joints of wood) and glue from inside and were generally helpful. When the girls were awake and the boys cold we sent them inside to tell the girls they could get up and J helped R get out of her crib and got her her treat and put her in her high chair with a bib on to eat it. It was a lolly pop from Grandma and after seeing how much of a help they were I let them all have theirs (normally treats are only for after naps and only if a "good" nap was had. But that day the boys didn't nap and helped instead). Papa and I finished the last 2 trusses alone and the kids watched our headlamps through the living room window. It was full on dark when we were done but that doesn't mean much as it is darker earlier every day. I think it was 7pm when I got inside.

We also got the last of the spruce trees in the 'orchard area' cut down. Papa has a couple of hours of cutting up to do before we can take a walk through it and see how many of the poplar trees we want down. We are trying to get it ready to plant in the spring and so far have a list of 8 trees that we want. 2 honey crisp apple trees, 2 Cherry's (I'm not sure which one), 2 hardy Mac apple trees and 2 plum trees. We are also hoping to get blueberries, but we don't know where to put them just yet.

We also got 2 more loads of firewood to the firewood area and only have 2 more to go. One load is already on the trailer waiting to be moved so it can be stacked and the other load will be pine from 2 of the dead bug kill pine in the back piece.

I went out to the pond to check on the pig fence the other day and found 3 large goldfish frozen in the ice of the pond. They had obviously spawned as there was also 16 silver fish of 3 different sizes also frozen in the ice. I hemmed and hawed over what to do with them and have decided to leave them and see what happens. Yesterday Papa and I went for a walk down there and there were at least 2 more goldfish frozen in but only a few of the fish on the edge of the pond were in the same place!! The others in the middle had moved!! It had snowed that morning so the silver fish were very hard to see. When Papa stepped into the pond we realized that it was deeper then we thought and I'm still hoping some survive!

We also butchered our 1st steer last weekend and he's now hanging in the covered area beside the house, where the floor is. He looked great, and is bigger then we thought which is wonderful!! We will hang him for about 14 days and cut and wrap him up on Papa's next long weekend. We'll probably do the moose then too as we've not gotten to it yet.

We also want to bring the bobcat home that weekend and get the trusses up on the bales for the barn. We have been getting lots of ideas and one was to put a layer of plastic on the trusses (greenhouse cheap plastic this year.) then put strapping on top of that and put another layer of plastic on top of the strapping giving it a better insulated value. We have to price this out yet but we're thinking about doing it. It would help the animals stay warmer but would make it a real pain to move the roof! We are also putting plastic over the top of the bales to keep the inside moisture from soaking them when it runs down the inside of the plastic. Thanks Dad!!

Chip is settling in nicely. He has stopped nipping the kids which is great as even the girls are starting to enjoy him now. The boys play with him for hours outside and they have a lot of fun. He is limping a little after a accident with a piece of wood. I was throwing poplar chunks of firewood on to the pickup bed trailer and he was on the other side (I didn't even know he was there!) and a piece of wood bounced out of the trailer and got him on his toes. They are not broken but very sore and he limps when he 1st gets up. Today is day 3 after he got hit and he only limped 1st thing this morning. Poor guy!!

We had a bit of fun too in the last little bit. I went through all my crafty stuff and found some neat stuff for the kids. L got to paint a neat little sun catcher and J has been enjoying pencil crayons and 'staying in the lines better.' Now that winter is almost on us we are finding more to do inside and getting into some stuff that was put aside this spring and also getting into some new stuff. We also helped surprise Mr. B of B&B and had a great birthday party for him with lots of young couples most of them family. We really are enjoying getting to know some of the new marrieds in the family. We seemed to be out most of the weekend and managed to bring home 5 of the 12 bales we need for winter for the cows, Bindy and Maggie.

The children's colds are pretty much gone. E still has a little bit of a runny nose. She is almost always the 1st one sick and the last to get better. Both Papa and I seem to be having a longer recovery time then the kids. But thankfully we only got one sickness. My sister was telling me that her kids have had 3 in the last few weeks!! Hopefully we can avoid any more!!

Sheep steaks and Lamb chops.

We've been eating really well lately. Ha. Like we don't always. Friday night B&B brought us supper!! Sheep steaks from their mountain sheep they got on their hunt this year, salad, baked potatoes, garlic bread and Papa threw some scallops and shrimp together and BBQ'd them. When B&B left this summer they told us that they would bring us back a feast and boy did they. They've been gone for almost 3 months and addition to the food we enjoyed being with them and catching up on our lives from the last 3 months. We saw pictures of their hunts and cabins and mountain views and they saw pictures of our trip. It was a fun and relaxing night! None of us Griggs had ever had sheep before and it was a great experience but it kind of wrecked us for anything else. Sheep MELTS in your mouth!! Seriously!! You chew once or twice and it is GONE!! It does have a bit of a liver type texture which the youngest 3 didn't like but the rest of us sure loved it. They left us the leftovers and we snacked on them for lunch several days. Papa even took some to work! It was what they called the 'hind' and they said it wasn't as good as the tenderloin which was buried deep in their freezer in a pile of other stuff all frozen together. We didn't care it was wonderful!! The meat was wonderful and the fellowship of missed friendship was WONDERFUL!!! They are gone again until the end of November and we miss them more then ever.

The next night we helped throw Mr. B and surprise Birthday Party and did we surprise him!! He didn't think it was for him!! He kept looking around to see who the party was for. There was TONS of great food there as well and something neither the kids or I had eaten before. Lamb chops done on the BBQ!!! WOW!!! I'm not sure if Papa had eaten them like that before but boy did we love them!! Taste great. Nothing like the lamb I remember... though I liked that too. Next year maybe we'll try a sheep again.... YUM!!!