Bullseye and Kaffi

We had the calves in a 'training pen' which is 3 strands of electric fence with little pieces of tin foil on it. They were fence trained in very little time :) Now they stay in, most of the time, with only one wire. Kaffi can tell if the fence is on or off so we keep it on and they stay in :) We put them in with the cows as sort of an experiment. IF they would behave themselves they would be helpful in the cow pen by eating the grass the milk cows won't. The 1st day was fine.. the second day Papa got only a gallon and a tiny bit from Maggie.. and I heard Kaffi sucking when I walked by. Didn't see him do it but the evidence was there!! Bullseye also got all the calves milk that night as Kaffi was not interested! Some one was a thief!! So they got their own calf pen in the back close to the lagoon. Bullseye is 2 months old already and Kaffi is 6 weeks older then him so they could both be weaned but Papa has taught them both to drink out of a bucket so all we do is pour the milk into the bucket and they both stick their noses in and GULP GONE!! LOL. Sometimes there is a little pushing involved :) Kaffi will be going home here as soon as his owner comes to get him. He's old enough to be weaned, his owner is home now, and he's kind of a trouble maker :) He steals milk and gets out when ever the fence is off.

Happy Pigs and a Walking feed bag :)

Papa had 4 days off this weekend and we used it to do 2 things. Catch up on some farm stuff and REST!! I'm happy to report we did both very well. In fact our 'to do' list was finished by day 3 and day 4 was spent doing pretty much whatever we wanted with an evening out at Grandpa and Grandma's to top off the weekend!! Very nice.

One of the 'to do's was to move all the animals. The chicks got moved out, the cow's got the neighbors pasture we rent, Billy the steer got a path to more water as his was out thanks to almost no rain in 6 weeks, the calves got a new piece of their own as Kaffi steals milk!, and the pigs got a new pen farther from the house. We had to keep them close by for selling purposes. The creep feeder and catching area was in the straw bale barn so as long as we had people coming to pick up pigs we needed to have them by the barn. I'm happy to report that we sold 8 little weaner pigs and have decided to keep the remaining 13 ourselves. We will be selling butcher hogs this fall!! We are also planning on keeping our sows to breed again next year :)

Papa, the "Walking Feed Bag" bringing the last of a bag of chop to the pigs. The bucket is a mix of grain and milk. The pigs are also getting several gallons of milk a day.

A happy sow in the new pen.

Some little piglets eating the dumped grain. Several people have commented on the size of these weaners. One man who got weaners from us and from some one else said that ours were much bigger then the others he'd gotten. Maybe even as much as half again as big! He said that they were all roughly the same age as well. Papa thinks these weigh as much as 75lbs.

Chicks are Out!!

These are our broiler chicks this year! They are a month old in the picture and outside at last. We normally put them out at 3 weeks but it's been too crazy, but a week late is not too bad. We found they moved out much easier and wanted to stay out much faster! Bonus!! They spent the 1st four weeks in the barn you see in the back there. The wheel barrow is full of a mixture of ground grains, supplement, and milk. The chicks are getting several gallons of milk a day mixed into their food. We are also doing the Willard's water in their water this year as we had GREAT results with this feeding solution last year. So far out of 208 birds we got from the hatchery we have lost 4. Two were VERY tiny and one was scarred on it's rear.

Can your Cornish Giant Cockerels do this? LOL. Happy healthy birds!! This morning when I went out to feed there was close to 10 of them in the wheel barrow!!

These birds will get moved farther away from the barn, they are already cut off from it, today. From now on they will be moved inside the electric netting every 2 days for the 1st little bit and then every day as they get big enough to use the whole space in one day. Their feeders get moved everyday even if the pen does not so that they graze the whole area. The feeders are old eves troughing which work great as they tip if they stand on them and are really light to move! They will go out on our newly scythed piece in the next few days. In this way they will mow a lot of our grass in the next 4 weeks. They eat bugs, grass, seeds and whatever else they can find and fertilize the ground as they go! In 4 or 5 weeks we'll butcher them and they'll be our chicken for the year. Yes we really do eat that much chicken :) We have a standing trade with one couple, hay for chicken and milk, for 50 of them but the rest will go into our freezer.

Family Campout!!

WELL!!! The annual Fehr Family Camp out was a couple of weekends ago.. Since it was only 30 minutes from our house, or maybe because we wanted to travel back and forth, we decided to travel back and forth to do chores and spend the night at home. Much easier all around. This also meant we could spend MORE time out there, a whole DAY!, and less time packing to go out!! It worked great and we had a great time. Only one of my 5 siblings wasn't able to come so there were 6 couples including my folks, 14 grand kids ages 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 and Baby J at 3 weeks :) We always have a lot of fun!! And this time it only rained once and only for a little bit!! MUCH better then most years where all it does is rain!!

Cousin Kacey holding Baby J. Love her curls!!

Cousin Ruger holding Baby J. They were both so TOTALLY in love with him and held him several times. Cousin Courtney was too but I didn't get a picture of her!

Auntie Ria helping set up the tents, or was J the one helping?? Oakley, Rugar, Kacey and R looking on!!

Auntie Ria had freezies!! Left to right, Kiresten, Oakley, R, Ruger, Kacey, Courtney, L, and E!! We had several nice afternoons at the beach. The water is so shallow that we don't have to worry about kids to much and it doesn't get deep fast which is super nice!

Such a girl!! CHOCOLATE!!!

Funny face boys!!

The coolest of the cool!! E with her 'loot' from the long awaited Treasure Hunt!!

COW ATTACK!!! The Garden that is..

Could have been worse.. I could have lost the onions too. LOL. Bindy, the high headed soon to be hamburger, cow walked over a electric netting fence and into my garden and proceeded to eat it. Blasted BEAST!! She ate the beets and radishes the 1st day and some lettuce, which was mostly done anyway. I chased her out that day thinking that the fence was just unplugged and made sure it was on the next day, besides I really didn't think she'd eat the beans and broccoli!! She did. That night she was in there AGAIN eating the lettuce and Papa told me the fence wasn't hooked up so the next morning I had the boys watching her and she wasn't in the garden at all until we were waiting for Papa for a minute and then J yells 'Bindy's in the GARDEN' and I RAN out there (the plan was to move the fence when I had the time.) and she had already eaten the beans and the broccoli!! It couldn't have been more then 20 minutes!! She TOTALLY cleaned out the whole bed! And I needed to pick the 1st batch of beans this week!! ARG!! I LOVE beans and the cow ate them ALL!! Meanie!! LOL.

The radishes and lettuce bed.. eaten.. I never did get 'nice raised bed pictures' but they were BEAUTIFUL!!

Beets and onions. The black thing is the soaker hose!

Beans and broccoli!! I might get some broccoli yet as she did leave a few leaves. The white stuff on the end is my garden fabric that I used to lengthen the season. Works great!!

Bindy would be hamburger already if we didn't need her this fall to keep us in milk while Maggie is dry before she calves. Bindy has stepped on BOTH her front teats and WRECKED them both. So we are now milking her back two teats only and feeding all her milk to the animals, pigs and chicks, until any risk of infection in her front two teats is over. She gives 4 gallons out her her back two teats. Maggie gives 4 gallons from 4 teats. Bindy's bag has also 'blown' and hangs SUPER low. If we were milking by hand, we are using a machine now, we'd have to have her up on a stanchion of some kind so we could get a bucket under her! She is also teaching Maggie some bad habits along with the 'cow' that she's been able to teach her. As Maggie was more machine then 'cow' when we got her. Bindy's calf from this spring, Bullseye, is high headed just like her and so is her calf from two years ago, Billy, and as soon as they are gone that will be the last of 'high headed animals' on the place. We simply do not have the space or fences or WANT TOO to deal with them.

Looking Good!!

The is the front piece were the pigs farrowed this spring!! Sure looks good. After the pigs left we let it grow for a few weeks and watered it like crazy as we've had very little rain this year. When the new grass was nice and high we let the cows graze it and they did a great job on it.. but they refused to eat the HUNDREDS of little poplar trees that grew up amazingly fast. So it looked like the trees were winning the war!! Papa's been taking the machete to the little trees. He did it for about half an hour at a time several times and the finished areas looked great but it was HARD work.. today he did the whole thing with a 'secret weapon.'

A Scythe!!

The scythe we got from my folks as part of a gift from some of the stuff that my grandparents had and were getting rid of. I don't think they ever used it as it was very dull and they just liked to collect old stuff. Papa cut little trees down for several hours and got a lot of our 3 cleared acres done!! Looks AWESOME!!!

It worked great on the trees but wouldn't really cut grass until Papa sharpened it!!

No worries he put it HIGH out of little hands reach!! We are going to use it too cut the long grass around the cow patties that the cows will NOT eat as well the little trees that we will be battling for several more years. Yes we.. Papa took me out and taught me how to use it. Still not sure how I feel about that :P

For Di!!!

He wore it!! It fit for a little bit!!In these pictures he is 10 days old~ Thanks so much!!

THE LONG TRIP!! Saying good bye to Bruce!

Here is a picture of Bruce last time we saw him. L is named after Bruce and this is the best picture we got of the two of them together.

Papa's Grandpa Bruce has been very sick for several months but it was still a bit of a shock to hear that he'd died recently. When I found out I called Papa at work and told him and asked him if we were going to the funeral. Papa told me yes.. and my mind started in on the list of things that would need to be done before we headed out. Bruce and his wife Vivian (Granny) lived about 13 hours driving from us.. in a different country and we had 5 days to get ready to go.

Granny and her boys had planned a potluck for that Saturday and Papa was determined to be there! We made it but it was quite the trip. Anyway Papa got home that night and I went out to chat with him while he milked the cows. I had already called a few people who I thought might do chores for us but hadn't gotten a farm sitter yet. So as I was telling him about this Papa turned and just stared at me! It turns out he had TOTALLY FORGOTTEN we'd need a farm sitter. His mind was so full of Bruce and Granny and the trip that he'd skipped over our biggest obstacle. Thankfully he instantly thought of one person who would and did farm sit for us and we got our sitter with much less hassle then I thought!! Thank You Pat!! Pat hadn't ever used a milk machine before but was very brave about the whole thing. Later she told me that she could always call her husband or father in law and that helped her feel like she wasn't doing it alone and that she felt she had help if she needed it.

We packed, and I have to admit, worried all week. We didn't have the proper papers to ALL cross the border. The kids and Papa could get across anytime but I needed a passport and didn't have one. Also Papa's paperwork is in the works and he only had a expired PR card to get him back into our country!! So the big question was would they let me in?? And if Papa went thru would they let him back?? Our good friend Mr. H who works at said border had told us what to bring and so we brought everything on the list and more but we really wanted to talk to him and make sure we'd be fine.. too bad he wasn't home and we never did get to talk with him about it. Thankfully both border crossings went really well, except Baby J screamed thru one, and we had no problems either way!! PTL!!

We left on a Friday morning and drove all day and well into the night. We hit the border after 10pm and didn't hit a bed till midnight. The kids slept in the truck while we drove which was great!! The hotel room was exciting for them but they were all disappointed that there was only a standing shower.. I'd told them there would be tubs. The next morning they forgave the lack of tub as they watched cartoons on the bed and ate breakfast until we were ready to go. Baby J did really well on the trip and other then screaming at the border he cried very little. Every time we stopped he would nurse and I think he gained a pound in just the 4 days we were gone. At night he slept in his car seat on a chair beside the bed and was rarely up more then 3 times a night. Baby J is the smallest of our babies ever to take such a long trip with us. He was 11 days old when we left and we could not even buy travelers insurance for him as they must be 15 days old!! He did have a scare or two. At one point we were driving along with the windows down and a motorcycle ROARED past us and poor Baby J jumped and SCREAMED!!! He was so scared it took me a full minute to calm him down.. then he went back to sleep like nothing had happened!!

Saturday morning we headed out again and finally reached our destination at 1pm. We checked into a hotel and the kids jumped right into the tub!! It was HOT and even with all the windows open the truck still was warm. We found out later it was 35 C outside!! No wonder we were melting! After everyone had a bath or shower and felt more human, Baby J, had his 1st bath in one country and his second in another!, we tried to call Granny and G &S but couldn't get anyone. We had no idea what to bring to the potluck or what to expect of the evening. So we got ready to go and drove out trying to find propane for the truck. Easier said then done.. 3 places later we finally got propane.. and COOKED in the sun while they filled the tank, and headed to Walmart to find something to bring to the potluck. We ran in and grabbed some stuff and headed over to G&S to see the family.

Almost every family member was able to come. Only one Granddaughter was missing! About 28 people in all. Most had not met me or our kids. There was tons of food and a pool for the kids to swim in, which they did for hours, lots of chatting and picture taking. Grandpa and Grandma G got to see Baby J for the 1st time and he got passed around a lot as everyone loved him. Our younger kids loved the older 2nd cousins and they all had a blast together in and out of the pool. Granny really enjoyed seeing us all together and I think everyone enjoyed the time together. Later that night we headed down the to River where Granny and the boys poured Bruce's ashes into the river.. no ceremony, no prayer, no words.. just the family standing on a dock thinking of the man he was and saying good bye. It was very simple and I think that must have been the way Bruce wanted it.

The Great Grandkids. Missing one who was asleep.

The grandchildren and their spouses.

Granny, the boys and their wives.

Granny and her Boys.

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and took the kids swimming in the pool. The hotel had a small kids pool 1.5 feet deep and we let the kids play in it for a while. At one point I had them all running around the edge of the round pool making a whirlpool and all of a sudden R slipped and went under and floated head down for a second.. then Papa was there picking her up! In his boots and jeans! She was fine! Wanted and went right back in. Papa and I shook our heads and then laughed. If it had been E she'd have sat on the edge for the rest of the time! When we got to Granny's later Papa put his boots on her front lawn to dry and when we left almost 3 hours later they were dry! Did I mention it was HOT!! Papa felt sorry for us and we ate more ice cream in those 4 days then we normally do in a month!! We went thru drive thru's and ate junk but we stayed cooler that way!! Grandpa and Grandma Griggs and Auntie R and M were at Granny's and the kids played together while we adults chatted the morning away. Then we all said our goodbyes and headed in different directions. It was strange to be so close to the home place and not go there. We traveled the rest of that day and all of the next, in the hot sun which slowly cooled off the farther north we got, with the boys playing in their seats in the back of the Travelall, the girls playing happily in the middle, and Papa and I up front watching the fields go by and thinking and dreaming and wishing and Baby J slept in his car seat between us. Waking only to eat every few hours. He really is a great baby! We had the book "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' on Papa's Ipod and listened to the whole thing while we drove along! We got home late on Monday and we were SUPER thankful that Pat had already done chores. I put the kids to bed while Papa did the farm check then we fell into bed happy to be home again.

Some interesting things..

It took us 18 hours to get there and 18 to get back. This is hours in the truck! Not including the hotel stays. So we were on the road 32 hours total

We spent 26 hours in the city we where the funeral was!

2 boys can play with a couple of water bottles and socks for several hours and not get bored.

2 water bottles can easily morph into swords!!

2 little girls can play with 2 forks and a spoon for hours.

1 little girl can play with a wooden based bead strings thing for several hours and those beads can do a LOT more then just move on their metal rods!!

Baby J can suck on a syringe full of gripe water for over an hour.. before happily falling asleep with said syringe in his mouth!!

The squishy end of a baby Tylenol bottle is great for sucking on if you have nothing else for your baby to suck on while your driving. (He had eaten just was unhappy!)

I NOW understand why mothers use baby plugs (soothers)!!

It's creepy how much Papa looks like some of his cousins!

Supposedly R looks JUST like Papa's sister R did at her age! I still would like to see pic's of R at this age :)

L loves parks.. I finally told him.. "we are going to see lots of cool places to play.. we are NOT stopping at all of them.. maybe one or two.. deal with it!!'

Kids have an INCREDIBLE memory. We have not made a trip down in 2 years and on the way home we stopped in at the place Papa and I got married.. and J remembered one of the toys in the play ground there. L didn't remember the toy but remembered we took pictures under the tree we got married under!

The kids had 2 baths and went swimming 2 times in 4 days and none of either on the 1st day.

Even when you think your truck is full you can always find room for fruit!!

Homecoming!!

Here is Baby J in his car seat in his bed at home. He was 25 hours old when we brought him home! His home coming outfit was ALMOST too small on him and now he can't wear it at all. We've been home now for 9 days and he is 9lbs 12 oz!! Big boy and growing really fast!! He gained over 2 oz a day for 5 days!!

Papa and Baby J on the way home! His first car ride was in a IHC!! :) It's tradition!! L is the only child who was not brought home in a IHC.. none were licenced at the time he was born! Baby J curled his hands up like they are in the picture and went to sleep and slept the whole way home!

Grandma and Grandpa

Met Baby J the other day. They were out of town at a funeral when he was born but stopped here on their way home to see the new Griggs :) He's so cute!!