The Little Things.

The Griggs household has been having a bit of trouble the last 6 weeks. Nothing huge. Nothing devastating. Nothing heartbreaking. Just little things. The new dryer still doesn't work because Papa hasn't had time to get into it, a bit of cow trouble and car trouble. Nothing that costs too much but little things that catch you by surprise and still need dealing with. Our milk fridge smelled all of a sudden ( the freezer quit working and the meat inside made a mess and leaked into the fridge. It's cleaned up now.), the stray cats started fighting with our cats under the house, the laying hens keep unplugging their light and water so that they are cold and thirsty. The appliances went crazy and almost half of them stopped working. The moose is eating the cow hay outside the pen almost as fast as the cow is on the inside (some electric fence should stop him but we only figured it out yesterday when Papa caught him at it.), a shelving project that should take about 3 MAX hours has taken a full month and is still no where near being finished, never mind the bunk beds Papa was going to build weeks ago. We ran out of pine firewood and Papa went out to cut a tree down and brought in a small load but the rest of it is buried under a foot or more of snow because the Travelall stopped working. Several people consistently forgetting milk jars and we had a serious problem. One night when Papa got home from work he put his supper in the microwave and lights or appliances on 5 different breakers went out for no apparent reason and not everything on each breaker went out. He flipped the breakers a few times and they came back on all alone 15 minutes later!! I told Papa "What are we supposed to be learning??" Normally when something like this happens we agree that God is trying to teach us something. Something we need to be learning. It started New Years Eve and hasn't really given us much of a break since. It's just the little stuff. Some of which I can't even remember because it was so minor but every thing plays a part in it. The kids tried to stop sleeping and napping one week, the animals are uncooperative, the phones conk out at odd times, the brand new meat saw we bought this summer is in parts because the saw doesn't line up!! It's never even been plugged in!! Pig butchering has been put off at least 4 times because the saw isn't working and no one seems to be able to figure out what the problem is. Not even the company we bought it from!! Stupid things, irritating things. I got stuck 2 times in 4 trips!! Since when?? I don't think I've ever been stuck before!! I told my mom about some of it one day and she laughed at me!! LOL. She thinks it's because we've been married 10 years this Fall. She told me she thinks a couple should have a wedding shower every 10 years because things start breaking down at 10 years and you have to buy everything again anyway!! I pointed out that we haven't had any of the stuff that's breaking down for 10 years, living in 2 countries the way we have we've very little of the same appliances, and she said it didn't seem to matter. 10 years and everything breaks down. I'm not too sure that's it but it's a good a theory as any I guess. What I find interesting is that 2 praying woman (you know who you are and Thank You) have told me in the last month right out of the blue that they are praying for us. That tells me it's probably something big. Now if we could only figure it out. :) I'm hoping we figure it out soon as my poor hands are chapping in several places from all the washing up. My one thumb is split constantly and burns every time water hits it. Nothing seems to help it heal. Our family dishes wouldn't be so bad but because we sell milk I wash up to 25 gallon jars a week!! Never mind milk dishes 2 times a day. I love our cow but I really miss my dishwasher!!! It surely is a time of testing and trials in it's own small way. I'm just very thankful it's only the small stuff. No one is sick or injured, lost or dying, as with the books (which was another thing, and the lack of water)... it's only things. I'd rather it be things then beings. Human beings that is!! Thank you LORD!! God Bless and have a great day, and if you think of it would you pray for the Griggs family that they would understand what they are to learn!!

Oh and if anybody has any ideas or thoughts I'd love to hear them. On either the little things or my horrible hands. :)

Imaginations...

Children have amazing imaginations. Our children surprise me almost daily with what they dream up. Some days they are Donavan, the Sheriff and Dusty out of "The Apple Dumpling Gang" movie. Other times they are Bagheera, Baloo and Shere Khan or Wilber, Charlotte and Fern or Templeton. Chip and Dale and Montary Jack are regulars as are Aslan, Peter, Lucy, Susan, Prince Caspin and Edmond. They often give names to everyone in the room for a game. For example our friend Blair is always Shere Khan the tiger who 'gets them' and his wife Becca is Baloo who is suppose to come 'save' them. I like to be Kaa the snake as he often has a very small roll or 'naps'. Papa is Bagheera or King Louie in turns. They often are animals. Tigers, wolves, bears, porcupines, black panthers, snakes, cows, horses and a wide assortment of other animals. They hunt in the bedrooms and drag their 'prey' back to the living room to be BBQ'd, of which we all have to 'have some steak', they save Mowgli from the monkeys or tigers or whatever else they dream up. E's baby doll is now permanently named Mowgli and E carries her by the bow on the front of her sleeper with her teeth while crawling on all 4's. They fight dragons, giants, and monsters and win or lose as needed. They roll play being 'momma' or 'papa' or 'baby'. Often all 3 or more in an hour. A laundry basket makes a fine boat and carpet or lino makes wonderful water or lava or rock. The couch is a port in a storm, the chair a rock over looking the 'water'. They 'fish' for toys or each other. They drive cars and have races and play 'town'. They love to be 'the green knight' (Franklin) and one is the dragon or goblin or squire and the other the knight. E flits in and out of these games getting more involved now that she is getting older. A string of beads is a tail one minute and a snake the next. The same beads can be bullets for a pistol or soup to be stirred. J is mostly the ring leader but L makes his wishes known. E is big on copying but is still totally involved. Some days they all play together all day and the next they hardly speak to each other. Each does their own thing and everyone is happy.

Critter Update

Well we think we finally figured out Bindy's problem. She misbehaved for several days, got her bruise on her bag one day, then a few days later took off on me again while I was trying to get her in to milk and cut her bag (front teat same side as the bruise) on the fence between us and the neighbor. She didn't cut it too bad but enough so that it's hard to milk out. Then the next day Papa went out to check her hay and found the problem. At least we think so. Moose tracks. Over the neighbors fence to the bale of hay (they love free food) and then back to the neighbors!! Bindy had reacted BADLY to chickens, she chased them out of her pen for days after we got her, pigs, and cats, so we are not too surprised to find that she reacts badly to moose as well. AND it was eating HER food.

The eagle that was hanging about brought his wife/buddy over and the two of them, I'm assuming a mating pair, have been hanging out!! He sits up in that tree and watches us and they fight the crows and ravens who try and take over the mess in the lagoon. I can't imagine there is much left but they seem to thinks it's worth while. The other day while feeding the pigs the bigger eagle (the male?) was flying over and when he saw me he hovered over my head about 50 feet in the air and 'talked' to me. I just stopped walking and stood there and watched him. They are amazing birds. He 'talked' for about a minute or a bit more and hardly moved in the sky!! His wings gently moving to keep him in place. The talking is high squealing sounds with sharp squeaks. Sort of sounds like a piece of barbed wire being pulled, back and forth, through a fencing staple, but much more prettier.

Travelall Fun and an E funny.

Yesterday we got to go to town in the morning to get our new car, a 1990 Honda Accord. Papa has been looking at it for awhile and he went out and bought it Monday but we couldn't go get it home until Papa got the Travelall running. The car is 19 years old and 19 years newer then the Travelall!! It is the newest car we've ever owned and the 1st to have a trunk!! He got the Travelall running late Tuesday night after spending almost all of Monday and Tuesday on it. I figured it out this is the 1st time the Travelall has really broke down in the 2 years we've been driving it. After we picked up the car and dropped Papa off at work we did some stuff in town then drove to Grandma house for a long awaited visit. When it was time to go I managed to get the back in the Travelall stuck on the down hill side of a very icy shallow hill. Not a big deal I thought and got out to put her in 4x4. Well it wouldn't work. It just made this horrible grinding sound. So I took it out of 4x4 and we managed to get out with out it. As we drove away my Travelall started to make a horrible grinding noise again. I pulled over and in the driveway across from me was a man standing by his truck. So I hopped out and asked if I could borrow his phone then called Papa at work and begged for help. I was so upset. He finally got the Travelall working and his wife goes and wrecks it the 1st time out. Well Papa came down and drove it and we looked at each other and groaned!! OH NO!!! So I limped it back to Grandma's and he went back to work to get some fluid just in case it was just a case of low transmission fluid. He came back 5 minutes later and checked one thing and SMILED!! He had gone back to work and told his two bosses what was going on and one of them had this same thing happen to him!! We are blessed with Bosses as neither of them even turn a hair when Papa has to come rescue his wife and one told him to stop apologizing as had I needed him and that was fine!!! LOL. It turns out the horrible grinding noise was a tiny part that connects the front wheels to the back!! He took that whole drive shaft right out, it took him 15 minutes, and off we went!! We will not have 4x4 until he replaces that part and puts it back in but that's OK I've gotten stuck 2 times this winter already I think I'll just STOP NOW!! LOL.

While Papa was taking out the drive shaft I had taken the kids back inside Grandma's house. E was asleep when I brought her in and when she woke up she asked "Why Grandma's?" So I told her that Momma had broken the truck and Papa needed to fix it. And she tells me "Need to be more careful Momma!!" That is what we tell them when a toy breaks or someone gets hurt. Need to more careful is right.. Maybe it's a good thing I've been stuck at home these last 3 weeks, of the 4 times I have been out I've gotten stuck.

One of Papa's bosses played a joke on Papa a while ago now. If you look really close you might spot it!!

Yes that is a FORD sticker on our 1971 International Travelall!! His boss found one on a pickup somewhere and siliconed it on the front of poor Polly!! Papa sent me out in the middle of the night claiming I HAD to go see what his boss had done!! It was worth it!! I laughed so hard!! Papa gets teased more about his Internationals at work then anything else.

Griggs Family Update Jan 29th/09

We are all well here on the farm. One bonus to not being able to go anywhere is that we don't get the sick germs that are flying around all over town. :)

Baby R is almost 11 months old and only nursing 2 times a day. I hope to have her weaned by about 11.5 months. The hardest part of weaning, for me, is remembering that I'm trying to wean her and remembering to bring her milk with us when we do get out. :) She is still crawling around everywhere and walking along the furniture where ever she can and is getting braver daily but still doesn't want to walk. Not even hanging on to your hands. She is feeding herself more and more these days and has a new 'smile' that I'll try and get a picture off. She shrunches her face up and shows her teeth. She has recently learned the sign for please, put your palm flat on your chest and rub in a circle, and will beat her chest with her hand until you notice her and give her what she wants. She has also started doing 'all done' (both hands out in the air fingers up) but only if we aren't looking!! (the kids tell us, once we look at her she stops).

Well E is finally totally out of diapers, including nights. Which is a real blessing in more then one way. She is so tiny that she needs help getting on and off and washing and opening doors but if it weren't for that she could do it all herself. Not bad for 2 years and 4 months of age. She is also talking up a storm, repeating everything!!, and recently started singing. Her singing is really cute!! She has also finally grown into the length of 18 month pants to match her 18 month shirts. The waists are huge on her and I've had to get her pants with buttons and elastic (like maternity pants for kids) so that the waists stay up. I guess Papa had this same problem as a child and she certainly takes after him. His mother put him in suspenders and Papa thinks that would be really cute on E but I don't!!

L at 3 years old is learning proper sentences and manners and we repeat him constantly. For example L will say. "I want that!!" And I will say either "Please can I have that?" Or say "what?" over and over until he says "Please can I have that." Saying "what?" over and over actually works better then telling him the correct way. It makes him think more. We are doing this with E as well. It's amazing that she's caught up with him in language. L is also learning verses with great ease these days and loves to show them off.

J is growing again and today I went though his pants a bit and several pairs are too short. He often eats as much as I do and yesterday I picked him up to put him in the cart and he's really getting heavy. He loves his new camera and I'll try and post some of his favorite pictures. It is nice enough these days that the boys are outside. Papa went out with them Sunday afternoon and built them a snow house in a huge pile of snow from plowing. I guess it's big enough for Papa and I to both be in there at the same time!! We were also told to light a candle inside it and that will harden the walls and make it stronger. They love it.

Bindy got out the other night and went for a walk in the snow. She came home with bruises on her bag, just one quarter, and we've been milking blood on that quarter for several days now. This morning I managed to get a lot out of her and her quarter was loose when she went out. We've been told that she should heal fine and our milk production shouldn't suffer too much. We think she walked through too deep of snow and possibly hit a few stumps with her bag. She also has 2 scratches on her back leg, high up, we are hoping these are from branches and not a wolf or coyote! She is healing nicely and it never did slow her down. But it's kind of a pain to milk her 3 quarters alone when we are so used to 4!

I've been busy reorganizing our house. I've gotten the kitchen, living room, front bathroom and most of our room clean and reorganized. I'm having a hard time doing the kids room because of naps, lack of washer and or dryer, and lack of totes to put things that need to go to the shed in. But one of these days all these things will align and it'll get done, until then I'm content to wait. The back bathroom had a water leak during our last water outage, or maybe the one before, which got into our closet where we keep/ kept our boxes and boxes of books. Very few were damaged and so far only 2 needed to be thrown away. Thank you Lord!! (during that day the mantra was 'It's only things. It's only things!!") We have since gone through each box, re boxed them and found other places to store them. Not an easy task in our small quarters but it turned out really well. The closet that the books were in is going to be turned into a pantry for my canning. Which is also a blessing as my canning needs more room. I'm storing some of it in boxes at the moment. Papa is going to build me some shelves for it soon. And some shelves in my kitchen, by the microwave, for my big pots and things that don't fit in my cupboards. Oh the kids bedroom is also getting bunk beds as soon as we can find or make some. That will also help with our space problem. I really want to get this all done before spring as we tend to get so busy spring, summer and fall, that nothing like this gets done around here. And it would be nice to have it all ready for the busy season.

Papa is still loving his job. He has an odd shift every second week, but we think we'll like it. He works 8am to 6pm this week (Monday thru Saturday). Next week he has Monday and Tuesday off but works 11am to 9pm. The week after that he has Thursday off (and works 8am to 6pm) and the week after that he works Monday thru Saturday (from 11am to 9pm.) Confused yet?? LOL. He should have 3 weeks off Aprilish which we are looking forward too. That is the start of the breakup in the bush (too wet and mucky to work) and the start of spring work for us here on farm. Papa might also challenge his 1st year test in April while he has the time off.

For the most part we are hanging in there with winter. The temps have been all over the place these last 2 weeks. From -20F to +50F. Today it is 50F and the water is running every which way. Feels like spring.. and it's nice to have a break from winter. Though we do realize that winter is not over. We got snow several times totalling about 7inches. The wind on our place isn't too bad but in town and other places it is horrible. We are fairly sheltered here which is a huge blessing. My chickens like the warm weather as well and this morning I brought in 13 eggs. A record for the winter!! I think I have 19 hens. And considering they are 3 years old that is not too shabby!! All and all we are in good spirits and doing well.

Misbehaving

Momma's Maids are Misbehaving
When she says dry one says "Why?"
"I've tumbled and I've turned
that warm spots being wasted,
Keep that fire well burned!"

When she says wash another says "Posh!"
"Those hands have had their rest..
Wash those dishes and do your best!"

Another maid has a leak
and when it goes it sprays,
dust and air and makes a mess,
where the littlest one plays!!

Then there is one who seats us six
Which should have been an easy fix
but has now been down days numbering almost two weeks
With, Thank you, one trip to town for some treats.
But now is having more to fix!!!

As you can see from this very poorly done poem (poetry never was my thing:) that mechanical things are revolting at our house. Several of my daily used maids are in need of repair or replacing. The dryer (friends gave us a newer one with the newer washer and it's on again off again working.), the dishwasher (which is so old they don't even make parts for it), the vacuum cleaner (which hasn't worked properly in years) and our travelall. The travelall is waiting for parts but worked great yesterday to take us on our first outing in almost 2 weeks. We had a great time at Bible study, then went out for lunch at the local bakery, went to the library for some much needed books, and did some other shopping. But this morning when I was going to take the travelall to town to get the mufflers fixed it was acting up again and our trip was canceled. Much to the sorrow of us all as we were going to 'hang out' at Grandma's house while it was being fixed and show her our new favorite movie "Animals are Beautiful People" But the sun is shining, the snow is melting, the boys are outside playing in their snow house Papa made with them on Sunday, the baby's asleep and the dryer is actually drying!!! LOL. E is playing nicely by herself and I feel the dishes calling me....And I think they can wait!!! LOL.

Playing "Church"!

Lately the kids have been 'playing' church. Right down to looking for the tape :) LOL. (In our home church we constantly have to go looking for the tape and or tape player because no one remembers where it was put last!! And since we move house to house week after week it's rarely in the same spot twice) One of the kids starts out with a prayer and they all close their eyes and fold their hands, then they all go get 'song' books. Which is any book they pull off the shelf. Then they sing. Often themed songs from their children's books. (Tonight one was CARS) Then they 'find' a tape and a player. Anything can be a tape or player. The other day the player was L's dump truck and the tape was a car! Then they sit for a minute and listen to fuzz. (one or all of them making the noise) Then they get another tape. LOL. (Believe it or not this very rarely happens in our church, but it must have made an impression because it happens every time in theirs) This one may or may not work and when they find one that works they sit for a bit. Then they are done. They never do pray or discuss the tape at the end as we do in house church nor do they 'pot luck' afterwards.

But that's their 'church' and they stick to it!!

Late Night Jam Session!!

You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.

The mountain and the hills will break forth before you.

There will be shouts of joy.

And all the trees of the fields will clap, will clap their hands.

And all the trees of the field will clap their hands (clap, clap)

The trees of the field will their hands.(clap, clap)

The trees of the field will clap their hands, (clap, clap)

as you go out with joy!

This is a favorite song in our household. You have to start out fairly slow then go faster and faster as you sing it over and over!! The kids never can get the clapping but J taps pretty nicely on his guitar. (A stunt learned from Papa) The kids request it every time Papa pulls out his guitar and tonight it was a duo!! Papa and J twanged it out with great power.. or J did anyway. Papa was playing normally. Papa showed him the chords needed and off they went. In all they played 5 or 6 songs together. And J practiced several new fingerings and we all enjoyed their music!!

More of J's Birthday Pic's

Here is J with his favorite birthday gift.

It is a kids digital camera. He loves it and takes tons of pictures.

Here is J making his birthday cake. I helped a bit but mostly he did it.

The little pink arm is E who was very excited about cake!!

And yes those are eggs from my hens :)

Here are the kids in J's spider man masks.

You can also see pretty much my whole kitchen!!