A Six Year Old Birthday.

His Lion cake.

The Crew!!

Grandpa F and J. The have the same crazy hair!!

Opening the card from G&G G! Loved his face when 2 five dollar bills fell out!

Hard to believe we have now been in the same town for 6.5 years now. But yup J's birthday just proved it. When we moved here I was 3 months pregnant with J and he just had his 6th birthday. He's growing up so fast. He loves a good party and we sure had us one. Chocolate cake, ice cream, new balloons and toys. It was a great night. G&G F and the T family joined us to celebrate and we all had a great time. I made bread sticks and meatballs and sauce and we had them with oranges and chips and crackers with salsa and sour cream. What a feast! The kids really liked the cupcakes and J loved the lion on his cake. He really wanted a lion and so I washed a piece of glass and put a large lion wall sticker on the glass and placed it on the top of the cake. He picked out his 6 candles, 3 blue, 2 pink and 1 green and the candies for on top of the cupcakes, chocolate coins, little chocolate men and chocolate balls. He REALLY LOVES chocolate. He got his 1st Lego blocks and he and L are having a great time putting cars, castles and planes together. E really likes the horse J made out of Lego's and all and all they are a HIT!

Home Again Home Again. Jiggity jog.

Well Bindy is home again. After all our planning and fussing it went off lickity split. Bindy was corralled in the morning by our wonderful neighbor Jim and when we got there she seem to remember us and actually came right to Papa and he fed her some of our sweet mix and put her halter on her, with it's new cow chain. We planned to remind her how to behave on a lead properly right from the start! Then Papa walked out of the pen and Bindy followed and off we went!! The only time he had any troubles at all was when a car drove by on the road and all she did was walk into the ditch. Smart cow!! When we got home 20 minutes later (Papa walked her the whole way! I drove just in front of him and then behind him down the drive to cut her off if necessary!) she walked right into the milking area and into the stanchion. Papa brushed her for a bit just to firm up the bond and we called Maggie over so they could meet across the fence. Maggie REFUSED to come until Papa went out where she could see him and called her.. then she came running. It was interesting to watch them through the fence. The 2 year old dairy 'machine' who is learning to be a cow and the 9 year old short jersey Holstein who is a COW in the fullest sense of the word. Even for all their differences they both seemed shocked at the sight of the other. Bindy has really only ever been the ONLY cow here in the 2 years we've had her. And Maggie hasn't seen a cow since we brought her home in Sept. I was right about one thing. Bindy does NOT like Chip but after a few head bunts and some smelling her and Maggie are getting along well. Bindy went almost straight for the hay bale when Papa let her out and I have a feeling the cow pen will soon be a bit of a mess. Maggie only poops in 2 areas really and Bindy really just doesn't care! Both are fine with me as the reason the cows are there this winter is to get some fertilizer on that piece of ground. I told Papa that it really looks like Bindy caught the 1st month she was with the bull. Her belly is BIG and she's in all around good shape. But what do I know.. I waited almost a month for a calf that she never had!! Papa thinks she's bred too. And as the problem last time was the bull and not Bindy we are hoping she will have her calf this year! Oh and for all our worrying about her bag it too is in great shape. No funny lumps showing, just empty quarters hanging just as they should. So hopefully all is well there too. We won't know for sure until spring when she bags up to calve. I got a pretty good picture of them meeting and you can see how much shorter she is then Maggie!! Bindy looks like a chubby matron and Maggie a long legged teenager!! Papa and Chip watching Bindy (this side) and Maggie meet over the fence.

Maggie and Bindy side by side. Maggie is a LOT taller!!

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!!