' Never Picture Perfect

A Nebraska Evening

2010-05-26T23:29:00.003-06:00

Its midnight. I sit in my pajamas on the porch swing my dad and I worked together to build. The frogs and crickets sing a chorus as the remaining storm clouds swirl around the full moon. An occasional coyote cry joins in along with the answerings of neighborhood dogs and a random bird or two. Steve lies in the bedroom adding his snores to the cacophony. Something about the humidity and noises in the air reminds me of Nebraska, and the summer evenings as the thunderstorms rolled though. Oh how I miss Nebraska. I never realized before how much I miss the warm humid summer nights. Not at all like the cool, crisp, dry nights of Colorado.

A jet flies over and momentarily overpowers the sounds. I look out over the mountains at the shimmering city lights below. A whole world away, the city is abuzz with activity. The bright moon drowns out the stars, unusual for our normally starry sky.

As I sit and drink in the evening, the distant rumble of the fire engines takes my mind back to earlier. I hear one, then a second engine leave and yet, I still hear the pump of another. I wonder how my son is, I'm proud of him for daily chosing to sacrifice his life for others. I think the neighbor's house is a total loss.

As we headed down the mountain for church we came upon thick white smoke just over the ridge. I instantly thought house fire. Steve thought, more likely, grass fire. I thought it looked like it may be coming from the house we almost bought. As we crested the hill, my heart sank. It was a house. Not the one we put a bid in on, but nevertheless, the "neighbor's." I use the term loosely because although they are 3 or 4 miles down the road, out here in the sticks they are still neighbors. I hope maybe its just a garbage fire or burning brush, but then I notice a man on the roof with a garden hose. The roof is wet on the north end and he stands on the south as smoke pours out of the south half. I can tell immediately its futile and I hope and pray the fire department is on the way. Dressed up and in high heels I know I'm of no help. No cell phone service, I suggest steve drive faster so we can get to an area of cell coverage and call the fire department.

The man makes a frantic run for the north end of the hosue and jumps off the roof. My guess is the heat has gotten to be too much and fearing colapse, he jumped to safety. Although its a ranch, it was still a long way to jump.

Around the next bend we see the bright green command vehicle, lights flashing, taking the corners at breakneck speed. I look to see if Josh is behind the wheel. Not him; although I'm not suprised, he usually drive the big engine. As we hit the main road the big engine aproaches. A wave of parental pride rushes over me as I see him racing to the fire. I pray for their safety and for the family as well. Another engine passes then another and later on yet another. An ambulance is in the mix along with several sherrif vehicles and cars with Volunteer FD tags.

I wish I could describe the emotions I felt as I watched him try to save his house. In just a few fleeting seconds, I felt such grief and sadness. His possesions, pictures, his entire life going up in smoke. To top it off the family just moved in 4 months earlier. A son in Emilys class at school, I wonder if everyone is ok.

So I sit and swing and pray and wait for a return call from my son. The moon slowly crawls across the midnight sky, as the city lights twinkle on. Although its 4 miles away the engine continues its hum, an odd sound to add to the wildlife chorus. Guess I'll sleep with the phone by the bed tonight.

A Beautiful Day

2010-03-03T21:38:00.002-07:00

Today was one of those wonderful days, those days that make you long for spring and at the same time make you realize its just around the corner, those days that ease the pain of an otherwise long winter.

I took the opportunity to ride today, the first time in nearly 4 months. Did I have other opportunities during those months to get out? Yes, but this time I didn't let it pass me by. I dropped Em off at school and headed into the flat lands to do a little reading before hitting the trail. Sitting in the car at the park, I finished the chapter I started last night. Riding is my thinking, praying, and processing time. I missed it over the winter and was glad to be back out on the bike today.

Pretty certain I had lost a lot of ground over the winter I set the bar accordingly. If I go just one mile I'll be happy I told myself....yep, set I the bar darn low! As I hit the trail, I noticed the high level cirrus clouds. Thin and wispy, they fit my mood perfectly, it just makes me happy ride. The world is put on hold for a few hours, I like that. Two miles, no pain, soon eight miles had passed then before I knew it ten miles. I decided to shoot for thirty today...or should I go for fifty? Na, I'll feel it tomorrow, I'll stick to thirty.

As the trail snaked across the land so did my thoughts. My mind drifted from the chapter I just read to praying to random thoughts to asking the Lord questions. A's don't directly cause C's I repeated to myself, A's don't directly cause C's. It was a new thought, the book was insightful. Insight is one thing, but getting it ingrained in you and acting on it another thing entirely. Knowledge without corresponding action profits little. A's, activating events, don't directly cause C's, my feelings and behaviors.... B is my responsibility, the beliefs and values I filter the event through in the milliseconds after it occurs. Why is this so difficult for me to grasp, I ask myself. I don't like it when I can't grasp something right off, and this book proposed a lot of deep thoughts. So theoretically, I push my own buttons, I surmise....a light bulb moment, but not something I wanted to embrace. It meant more change, more growth...a lot more.

The squeaking of the prairie dogs along the trail shifts my thoughts. They bob up and down at the edge of their holes and let out a squeaky cry as I pass by. I've seen the same behavior time and again as a dog approaches them. It's a warning, but I prefer to think of them as cheerleaders, cheering me on toward my goal. One dodges across the path just in front of me. I recall the seven I hit last summer, a record I don't care to break. Further on, a man sits in a lawn chair, binoculars on a tripod and some sort of record book in his lap. I decide he is counting how many times the eagle in the distant tree poops or something equally absurd, and of course he is getting some sort of taxpayer grant to do his research.

Feeling good, I decide to take on the hills. I find that although my legs are cooperative, my lungs are much less so. The burning in my chest grows more painful as I near the top. My sides heave as my lungs grasp for every last molecule of oxygen. I know I'll feel that tomorrow. I crest the top and the view is just as I remember it. The entire front range is laid out before me. I see Pikes Peak shrouded in haze off to the south. After a few basic math calculations I determine that the mountains I see off to the north are in the middle of Wyoming. A thick blanket of snow drapes Longs Peak and Mount Meeker as they majestically tower above the others in the center of my live picture. I use the opportunity to catch my breath as I take in the amazing view right in front of me.

After several minutes I turn and coast back down the hill, passing with ease the historic farm site I peddled though on the way up. As I pass the old rustic barn, I think about last summer when we took Connor and Maddie there for a visit. We walked around the barn peering in the knot holes, the doors and windows locked. Connor suddenly tore around the corner excitedly exclaiming, "Hey guys, I just broke in!" We excitedly followed and respectfully perused at the artifacts without touching.....except for the fake life-sized cow that we all had to take turns milking.

Before I knew it two hours had passed, two loops and I've put in 31 miles. Not a bad day's ride all things considered. And yes, A's don't directly cause C's.....seems I'm pushing my own buttons.

A Calf Named River

2010-03-01T21:46:00.004-07:00

So the new bull calf finally has a name. A month and lots of thought, hadn't produced a name that seemed to fit him. After tossing around a few dozen I finally settled on River. Maybe a bit of an odd name for a calf, but I think it fits well. Tossing around the usual cow names, asking Facebook nation, and cracking open the thesaurus yielded no luck. Lots of great ideas, but not just the right name. His long white stockings tempted me to name him Pippi. The long white blaze on his forehead argued for a name like Blaze or Flash. But I wanted a name that would symbolize the year, a name of significance, one that would sum up how I felt about life.

Chance, in the end, was the perfect name for my now one-year-old Jersey Holstein cross heifer. Last year was a year of chances after all. A venture, a gamble, a year of risks, a year of possibilities, a year of the unintended and the unplanned. In early February when I brought her home I had no clue that's what was just around the corner; the year summed up in a word. I would go out on a limb, taking chances never dreamed of. Do or die, unsure of my options, hoping that it paid off, I trusted and jumped in with reckless abandon, both feet first. The chances and risks did pay off, and in ways I never dreamed of or expected.

So, again I find myself faced with the possibility of labeling my year. Ah, to sum it up in a word, River! The word I choose to encapsulate my dreams and aspirations for the year. A word to grab hold of and run with, with unrestrained fervor. A river recharges that which lies in close proximity, a channel through which life giving water flows from one place to another. It implies a full supply even in the midst of a dry spell.

I love what Isaiah 41:18-20 has to say about a river. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

Or how about Jeremiah 17:8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

And who can forget John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad Psalm 46:4.

I want to live my year not not a stream, a babbling brook, or a creek, but as a river! To purpose my life to be a river to those around me, faith to live a life of abundance in the midst of lack, to bring life to those in the desert, to let God do a new thing in and through me.

River, it turns out, is a pretty good name.

River, just 12 hours old, meeting Chance for the first time.

The Dawning of a New Season

2010-02-27T23:25:00.003-07:00

It's 12 a.m. Lying in bed, the warmth of the electric blanket keeps the coldness of the room at bay, the fire in the wood burner has long since died out, and the chill of the night tries to overtake. The only light comes from the laptop as I clack away at the keys. I type, erase and type again, wondering if any of this will make sense in the morning. The room is pitch black in contrast to the bright monitor, the laptop sitting on the woven tapestry comforter tucked tightly in the dark wooden sleigh bed. I feel warm, safe and settled in for the night. A myriad of thoughts run through my mind as I drift in and out of sleep. The chicks in the adjacent bathroom chirp, bringing me back to consciousness, the faint sounds from the TV upstairs occasionally interrupt as well.

Its been a long winter, but thankfully for many reasons, not as long as past years. I am however feeling ready for spring. Tomato plants in the living room await the warmth of a new season as well as the fifty-five chicks housed in the garage and ten in the bathroom. Hopefully I didn't jump the gun on that. 32 eggs in the incubator and several kindergarten classrooms already lined up to hatch chicks for me, the prospect of a productive flock this year is looking good.

The garden is nearly ready for planting, I wish old man winter would agree. Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow. He holds on with a tight grip, but at some point must let go and allow spring to roll on in. A new as yet unnamed calf in the barnyard, adds to the feeling that spring is not far off.

Steve is still job hunting, another season I am ready to see come to an end. However in spite of all the past 10 months have held, I cannot overlook the faithfulness of my God in it all. He continues to provide in ways that astound me. Ways that catch me off guard. Ways that remind me of His great love for us all. In the small and the big I see His hand, His provision, His grace. Just as winter prepares the way for spring, so this season of our lives is preparing the way for the next. I don't know the whens or hows, but I know that He has great things in store for those who love Him. As I drift off to sweet sleep, I await with great anticipation the next season.

Rocks, Rain and Reflection

2009-09-12T21:08:00.006-06:00

A chill hung in the air last night as I busied myself with the evening chores. I pulled the zipper up just a bit more on my chore coat and reflected on the day. After a morning of rock collecting for a friend's backyard pond, I felt a push to get the rest of the laundry done before the impending weather change. It was a windy morning, and I've come to understand that means a change is on the way. I feel a bit of tension and apprehension as I wonder how cold, how windy it will be and how soon the weather will be changing. I savored the sunny warmth of the day, a lingering warmth, a warmth that came from the inside as much as from the sun.

Friday was Mom's birthday, how quickly 72 years has slipped by. We Skyped her and were wishing her a wonderful day as our company arrived to collect rocks. My "Amish friend" Becca referred to him as she glanced out the door....it must have been the black suspenders of his lifting belt against the background of his white shirt. I chuckled at her random thought as I turned back to the stove and my conversation with mom. After a breakfast shared in the warmth and comfort of the kitchen, shared across states, shared amidst laughter and much bantering, I reluctantly bid mom goodbye and shortly thereafter we got to work.

As we hunted rocks, Josh was busy at the wood splitter. A total of five cords amassed, we have two more to go to meet the season's need. Well ahead of where we were last year, I am pleased with his hard work. The day was off to a good start.

Two hours later we had a truck and trailer loaded with stratified moss rock and decomposing pink granite, each piece picked with the project in mind. The practical, no-nonsense side of me hoped it was enough for the project, while the light-hearted, adventurous side enjoyed the morning's excursion and hoped that maybe we'd have to collect rocks just one more time.

Our friend bid farewell with iced coffee and a fresh lemon poppy seed muffin in hand. Sad to see our time come to an end, I turned my attention to the tasks of the day. It was still early, giving me sufficient time to get 6 loads washed and on the line. I love looking up the hill to the north of the house and watching the laundry wave on the line. The wind made quick work of drying it all and I had it folded and hung before the afternoon was over. Two years without, I have yet to miss my dryer.

I fumbled in the dark as I locked up the calves and walked back toward the light of the house. The clacking of the boots against my pant legs brought my mind back to the present. Was all taken care of before the rain set in? I could smell it in the air and knew by morning everything left out would be wet. After a quick assessment, I resigned myself to being ok with things and opened the sliding door. The warmth of the house enveloped me as I slipped off my coat and boots. A piece of rhubarb cake called my name. I soon found myself in bed drifting off to sleep, it had been a great day, a day of celebration, a day of friendship, a day full of accomplishment. I was ready for the rain and what the morning would hold.

Josh hard at work splitting firewood.

A new Post

2009-09-08T20:40:00.005-06:00

Could it be so? A new blog post...my mother will fall off her chair when she sees I've posted. Won't you mom? :)

So well, I've had a lot on my plate this year and just had to drop the blogging for a season. Not sure I'm back yet, but the chill in the fall air just put that old blogging feeling in me.

The calves have grown a bunch this summer. Ben is a good 700 lbs or so and Jerry is not far behind him, being a mere 4 inches shorter. Chance is so sweet and adorable, I can't wait till we have our own milk cow. I know it's a good 2 years off still, but I can see it coming to pass after 23 years of waiting. Ben will go in the freezer next summer or fall. I'm trying hard to not get attached, so far so good.

Thanks to Craigslist, I've added some Cuckoo Marans to the flock. They lay dark chocolate brown eggs. I've only got 3 roosters, but plan to breed them with my Araucanas till eventually I have hens that are predominately Marans as well. I've had my heart set on getting some Copper Marans. They are beautiful, but more rare, I'll settle for the Cuckoo's for now.

I've taken up cycling again this summer. When we lived in Tulsa I rode quite a bit along the Arkansas River trail, but have taken it to the next level here. I got my time for the 100 mile ride down to 5 hrs and 16 minutes...not too bad for an old lady. My favorite part of riding is smoking past the 20, 30 and 40 year old guys...I love it! I pretty much always want to shout out that they just got smoked by a girl...an old one at that! But I keep that to myself and just get a nice smile out of it. I swear it's like a shark after blood, I just can't help myself when I see a rider in the distance. It becomes my life mission to smoke em, which usually isn't too hard. Last Monday, even with my banged up leg, I had a guy chase after me once I blew past him but he finally gave up after about 5 miles of trying to catch up...the ultimate compliment! I did ride along side him for a time and chat before I left him in the dust....at least I was nice about it.

I've been putting in around 250 miles a week most of the summer and have dropped some weight as a result. I have taken a few spills now and then and am currently recovering from a doozy! No broken bones, just some really good road rash and a black eye. But, mostly my pride was dented...I stopped traffic it was so bad...way embarrassing!

Steve is still job hunting. I'm hoping he finds something soon. We are doing okay for now and have had a great time reconnecting after his hundred plus trips to China, Canada, and miscellaneous states over the past 4 or 5 years. Its been really nice to get to know him again....turns out he is a nice guy, who knew? lol. It's amazing how God works in the tough times. We've had the opportunity to work on and strengthen our marriage during his down time, I wouldn't trade that for anything...its been a very good summer.

God has changed some things in a major way in our lives this year. Bigger changes than we've experienced in a really long time. Stretching is not always fun, but its so good to know we are growing in the things God has for us and moving in a direction that puts us on track to do and be who he has designed us from before the foundation of the world to walk in and become. And, He has used some really amazing people to make that happen...one in particular I am extremely grateful for...if you ever read this Bill....thanks a million, we can never repay you for your kindness. I thank God for you and Pam and love you for showing me the love of God as you've laid your life down to help me go to the next level. You are a rare person in this journey called life and I am privileged to call you friend.

So, maybe It will be the start of blogging again for me...but don't hold your breath. I've got chickens to butcher, fences to mend, trails to conquer and myself to challenge. But I hope to do a bit of reconnecting with all of you once again as well. Thanks for reading. I hope to update you a bit more often now that fall is in the air.

Lions, Tigers and Bears...oh My!!

2009-05-23T21:34:00.008-06:00

Its been a busy few weeks getting ready for Josh's graduation. Lots of preparations including making a cake, smoking pork roasts for pulled pork sandwiches, making salads, cleaning house, chopping wood..... Today he graduated, its official, I have two out of school and one high schooler. Wow how time flies! They were just babies is seems.

Mom & Dad are in town as well as Steve's folks, such a nice time being able to visit and see everyone...and not to be the ones traveling for a change. Dad brought the swing he made, its a replica of the one he made with his dad back when he was a young boy. I even bought some model-T tire chains off eBay to make it just like the one I spent many an hour swinging on and talking out life's questions with mom & dad. I can't wait to get it up on the front porch and swing to my hearts content!

Thursday evening I went out late to put the animals away and heard a couple of twigs snapping in the ravine just north of the house. I swung my flashlight around but saw nothing. Chasing the calves down from the pasture behind the chicken house they seemed a bit skittish but were pretty easy to get in. I heard a squawk and some rustling practically under my feet. I jumped and turned the flashlight toward my feet. The dim beam of the flashlight revealed a chicken flopping around on the ground, blood pouring from its mouth. Further examination revealed no major visible injuries, I suspect one of the cows stepped on it in the dark, a fatal step. I gathered it up for Hershey, locked the animals up and headed back down to the comfort and security of the house. The animals seemed a bit spooked and I picked up on it too, I felt uneasy, anxious to get back inside. Mom stood at the top of the ravine with her flashlight, she heard the cracking of twigs too and was lending the help of her light to direct my path as well.

Friday, I got up around 5 and headed out to do chores. As I approached the ravine, I noticed a young buck, a yearling, partially devoured and lying just feet from where we had both passed just hours earlier. One leg completely torn off and several ribs strewn around along with tufts of coarse fawn colored hair. The realization hit me, the twigs cracking was due to the mountain lions. I probably scared them off when I went up to do chores. Had I only known, I wouldn't have lingered over the chicken, examining it thoroughly.

The hind quarters were still intact, mostly just the innards had been devoured and some of the ribs. I harvested the meat...it is a few steps above road kill. Some nice roasts and hamburger meat for the freezer. Josh took the quad and a rope and drug the carcass over the hill for the coyotes and lions to finish off. I didn't want them returning to finish the feast and didn't want the stench and fly problems either. We were later told by a neighbor that they were probably sitting up on a ridge somewhere watching over their kill, waiting for dusk to come back and partake. Hope they saw us drag it away from the house...far, far away from the house.

So, my Friday graduation preparations were interrupted by a a quick butcher job. Unexpected, but the meat was welcomed.

Hershey seemed very excited to see what the big kitties had brought her. She was so proud, as if she had caught it herself.

A little too close to the house for my comfort!

Skinning it out, getting ready to harvest the hind quarters as Josh and Steve look on.

There was a nice amount of meat left behind by the big cats.

picking hairs form the meat and trying to figure out how to cut up some roasts and such.

Could it be that spring has finally sprung?

2009-04-23T07:34:00.004-06:00

I'm not quite ready to wholeheartedly believe that spring is here, but it sure feels like it lately. As I went out this morning to do chores I noticed that Blue Mountain still has some snowy patches toward the top, but the weather down in the flat lands has been absolutely beautiful.

I met josh at the bike trail for a ride yesterday. I put in 45 min before he got there then road an additional while with him in tow. It was a windy day, making the ride easy in spots and quite difficult in others.

The river was high due to the recent snow melting and the grass in spots was almost a foot tall, so lush and green, a color I have missed seeing for the past 6 months. Some of the shrubs are 3/4 leaved out already and I noticed several plum thickets in bloom.

I'm starting to think I need to get the garden tilled and planted. I should have started seeds earlier, but I think I can catch up. Wonder what treasures will surface this year from the old mining shack that occupied my garden spot.

Josh on the trail. Such a nice backdrop!

Josh & me. I've gotten a bit fluffy over the past few years...time to work it off!

The Big Thaw

2009-04-19T16:43:00.007-06:00

Saturday brought a slow, steady, cold rain rather than snow, thankfully. The temperature hovered right above freezing and it stayed a dreary, sunless day. I have several buckets and water troughs around that ended up with around 4 inches of water when all was said and done. If that had been the powder we normally get here, we'd be looking at 4 feet of snow. At that, I count my blessings! This is the wettest snow we've seen in our two years here. Normally the snow falls as such a dry powder, that one could potentially "shovel" the driveway with a leaf blower. But this snow was a beautiful, large-flake snow, the kind I love to watch.

As darkness settled in, I finished up chores and headed toward the warmth of the house. I stood quietly in the darkness and listened to the run off; a new sound, the sound of babbling steams filled the air. Soothing, it immediately carried me off to my childhood and the creek I played in as a kid. Catching crawdads, finding buffalo bones and arrowheads, and sifting fine gravel sure I would find gold or something equally exciting. I'm brought back to reality by the gentle mooing of Chance as she settles into her rest in the barn. The voice of the water makes me wonder if all of Blue Mountain isn't running down across my land.

Today as we headed to church we noticed some of the weather's effects. Like a voracious lion on a wildebeest, the run off has eaten deep ruts into the roads, in some places as much as 6-8 inches deep as it gathered its momentum. With incredible timing the road association had already scheduled road blading for today and the grader was busy at work by the time we headed for home. Hopefully the run off has slowed enough that the work will not be undone, as the dues that are collected only equal enough to blade it twice a year.

The sun has decided to come out after being hidden for two days...unusual for us. The snow continues to melt and I am happy that the retention areas are full enough that I don't have to haul water to the calves for at least a few days. With temps scheduled to be in the 70's for most of next week I think things will really green up by next week end. At times I have to remind myself that the storms in life are what bring future growth and abundance. I guess I'm happy for the snow after all.

We've rarely have water in here unless we've had a heavey rain. Its about 3 ft deep at the deepest. As of this afternoon, about 80% of Friday's snow has melted.

Another retention area at the south east end of the pasture. We've never seen water in here in the 2 years we've been here. Its a good 5 ft deep at the center. We're still in process on the fence. We've got all strands strung, but only the bottom two tightened. It looks a bit sloppy because of it.

Ben, Jerry and Chance enjoying a bale of alfalfa. I alternate between hay and alfalfa on days the grass isn't visible.

Snow, snow and more snow!

2009-04-17T11:09:00.010-06:00

I'm beginning to wonder if this will be the year with out a spring. Are we going to just straight from winter to summer? Are we going to have winter year round? Will it ever stop snowing? Why again did I move to Colorado????? Someone please come out here and smack me up side the head for that decision. I don't like cold and snow and yet I find myself at almost 7000 ft, sitting in the shadow of the Rockies.

We've had some nice days this year so far, but every time I finally allow myself to accept the fact that spring has arrived we get a monumental snowfall. Today, as I sit and type, mind you its mid April, we are in a winter storm warning with 15-22 inches predicted. I can't see the end of the drive, the wind is whipping the snow around like a child with a rag doll and the district did not call off school. I wonder if the kids will be able to make it back up the mountain this afternoon. If not, I guess they will spend the next night or two at Becca's apartment in town.

We decided to turn the furnace off this winter and burn only wood. I thought we had made it through the season, but as of today its cold and I'm out of wood for the wood burner. Due to the snow Steve is working from home. It's 56 in here, he is chilly and pestering me. He has stooped to suggesting I start on the furniture, log steps or perhaps even try to burn chicken eggs. I may have to resort to turning the furnace on.

One one nice day I hiked up the hill to the rock I call "the Altar" to sit, pray and think. I took the camera along and got a couple of nice pictures.

A cactus on the hill

After I've been sitting for a while, the birds start to come around again.

A view to the west from The Altar. The snow caps look so beautiful.

Another view, this time to the south

A nice hot fire in the wood burner

I think the birds are ready for spring too!

we live on the mountain in the middle of the picture about 3/4 of the way up.

Chicks, Chance and Cheddar

2009-03-29T21:29:00.010-06:00

Sorry for the lag in posts, I've had a lot on my plate lately. Too much to think about and still feel like blogging. But alas, I feel like dumping my brain contents, for a change. Hope you enjoy.

The 200 chicks arrived, with only one casualty in shipping, not too bad. I loved carrying the two giant peeping boxes out of the post office. I ordered the bargain, meaning I get whatever is leftover. Unfortunately they gave me 100 sex-linked chick, meaning the males and females look different. So much for hoping to end up with a bunch of hens. Oh well, into the freezer they will go once they start crowing. The other 100 were Rhode Island Reds, they were all males too, but hopefully some hens slipped through.

I have 12 kindergarten classrooms hatching eggs for me this year as well, woo hoo! So I'm hoping they have a decent hatch rate and I can add some hens that way. If not, I'll probably just buy a bunch of pullets next year. It just kills me to pay $4 apiece for them. I'm collecting eggs right now for that project. They will keep them for a week after hatching and then return the chicks to me.

Chance is 6 weeks old already and growing like a weed. I'm starting to wean her off the bottle, much to her dismay. She is somewhat resistant to being halter broken as well. I need to work with her more. She is much more feisty than either of the boys. Probably TMI but, I had banded both the bull calves...but could only find one testicle on Jerry, turns out he had two as I figured...so now he may come in handy when I'm ready to breed Chance. I was going to AI her, but don't want to mess with Jerry now as he outweighs me by a considerable amount. Ben is a good foot taller than Jerry, already up to my chest, he weighs a good 350-400 lbs.

Cheddar continues to be a pain in the butt. She likes to climb the rock behind the house every day and even spent the night up there once after refusing to come down at dusk. I was certain she would be a mountain lion snack, but she made it through the night just fine....of course. Knowing her, she gave the rest of the wildlife what for.

I'm a bit tired of doing chores in the cold and am so ready for spring! The 16 inch snow we had last Thursday didn't help matters! I'm holding off on the garden for a couple more weeks since I started a bit too early last year. I can't wait to get out and dig in the dirt. I've got to clean out he barn and cow pen and till that all in.

Steve found out last Monday that he will no longer have a job as of April 30th. The merger found his project being cut entirely. Everyone else had a weeks notice and Friday was their last day. too bad, so many are hurting in that area right now. we serve a good and faithful God and I am not swayed by the circumstances around us. The old job, although I was thankful for it, was stressful on us as a family. I know God has a better plan and look forward to what He has in store for us. Isaiah 43:19 comes back to me time and again. "See, I am doing a new thing; now it is starting; will you not take note of it? I will even make a way in the waste land, and rivers in the dry country."

I took my camera and bible up on the hill to a big flat rock I call the altar. I like to hike up there and spend time talking with God. I seem to connect better when I can physically place myself on the "altar." The problem with being a living sacrifice is that I continually climb off.

A view of the snow caps in Rocky Mountain National Park from The Altar. Its a great place to go and clear my head.

An image I was surprised to find on my camera when I uploaded. Steve admitted to taking it when I went out to do chores. The morning of the 16 inch snow, we had about 4-5 inches at that time. chance and Hershey are following me back to the house. Chance is hoping for a bit more milk!

On my way up to Estes to get the van tagged. Josh is delivering Pizza's now so I registered the van and got things switched over to CO. It was a cold snowy day!

The creek near our place. God is amazing, such beauty everywhere I look.

Chicken.....House?

2009-02-06T21:41:00.008-07:00

Today was a gorgeous day, with a gentle breeze and temps almost touching 70. I woke up early and took "Gato" the dog out to do his thing. We are dog sitting for my sister Melissa while she is on a bug hunting expedition in Costa Rica with Rachael.

I've always been an early riser, I love the peace and quite the morning brings. As I walked Gato I heard the gravel crackle under the tires of the neighbor's car as it slowly snaked its way down the hill over a quarter mile away. Steve says its just not right to be able to hear a fly buzzing 20 feet away, but I love the silence. It makes me feel like I'm in another world, somehow separated and distant from the troubles that attempt to surround me daily. It's nice to feel that all is well with the world, even if just for a few minutes. Even the sun rose quietly, without the usual colorful fanfare from the clouds.

It was nice enough to open the doors and windows as I worked at the computer. One of the great things about a nice February day, no bugs. But, I do have to watch out for livestock because they will always take advantage of an open door.

As I sat at the computer getting some work done, I heard a rustle at the door. Hershey lifted her head from her bed and attentively peered between the log steps out the front door. I too looked up from my desk tucked under the steps to see who had come to visit. Two hens poked their heads in and casually walked across the living room floor. They curiously poked around and made their way up the stairs. After shooing them out the door a third time I shut the door behind them and returned to my tasks. I have a feeling they were sizing up my accommodations.

With all the woes and uncertainty these days, sometimes its nice to just stop and smell the roses....er...uh...watch the chickens.

A couple of hens checking things out.

One of the girls making her way upstairs.

A little shaky on her feet. Its her first time doing stairs after all.

Almost there... When I chased her out, she flew from the top step all the way down and out the front door.

Two Guys and a Pair of Pants

2009-02-04T19:15:00.006-07:00

I apologize up front for being a bit chauvinistic, but I had to tell on the two men I love most in my life. Mom and I laughed so hard I had to make a mad dash to the bathroom to avoid wetting my pants. I figured a good laugh ought to be shared.

Last time Mom & Dad came to visit Steve was getting ready to leave for China. The night before leaving he had everything pulled out of his closet ready to go into the suitcase except a pair of jeans that were in need of laundering. He was leaving for the airport around 4:30 a.m. the next morning, so I was quick to drop them into the washer and make sure they were taken care of. I don't have a dryer here; the dry Colorado air makes for no need of that appliance. Everything in this household is line dried, which usually presents no problems.

Well, in my book, having company in town is a recipe for memory impairment. We got busy visiting and other random stuff and I kinda forgot about the jeans still being in the washer. About 8 that evening Steve asked where his jeans were....ooops! I was in the middle of making dinner and somehow Steve & Dad got the job of hanging the jeans out on the back deck's clothes line.

I will say Steve was none too happy about the whole thing and I really couldn't blame him either. He came in mumbling something about them not being dry by morning. I assured him all would be fine, they would be plenty dry by 4 a.m. I didn't mention I would be happy to hold them out the window for the hour plus drive to the airport...somehow it just didn't seem an appropriate thing to say at the moment.

After dinner I went out back to see how the jeans were coming and much to my surprise when I opened the door I was greeted by a man's version of doing laundry. I let out with such a screaming laugh Mom came running and we both laughed till we cried and proceeded to rib the guys for their effort. Further, we explained the proper way to hang laundry. The guys insisted their way was the correct way and we were just plain crazy which unfortunately just incited more giggles on our part.

Dad wasn't too happy about the fun being poked at him and Steve. Figuring he had Em on his side, He later that evening quietly asked her how she would have hung them and she proceeded to explain the proper way to hang a pair of pants. We overheard the question which led to more teasing. I think by bed time the guys were plain fed up with us. But oh we sure had a great laugh.

Dad taking revenge unexpectedly. Somehow I think their manhood felt diminished by us gals laughing at them all evening.

A Beautiful week

2009-02-03T14:27:00.010-07:00

Looks like its going to be a nice week around here. Almost got up to 50 today and is forecast to be in the 60's by the end of the week. My heating bill so appreciates the cooperation Mother Nature has shown lately. We filled the propane tank June 22nd and are still at 51%. Since they will only fill to 80% to allow for expansion, we've used just 29% in seven and a half months. Even with two cold snaps in January one for a week straight hovering around 16 below dipping down to 23 below and the other one down to 14 below for a few days. We've been able to heat mostly with wood this winter, thanks to Josh's muscle power.

The chicks I ordered last month will be arriving in another 10 to 12 days. I'm looking forward to picking them up at the local post office. I got a great deal by ordering the leftovers of the day. 200 for just .25 each, .47 each with shipping. I'm hoping there will be plenty of hens in the bunch, but they make no guarantees. They just take whatever is left over at the end of the day, toss them in a box 200 at a time and put them on the airplane. And I bet you had visions of sharing an airplane with chickens as a third world thing.

Ben and Jerry are getting big. They have 40 acres to roam, but prefer to acrobatically cross 5 strands of barbed wire and electric fence onto either one of the neighbor's property. The grass really is better on the other side, they'll tell you its true.

I'm trying to hold off starting some garden seeds. I started too early last year, probably need to wait till mid to late march. I do have plenty of manure to till in this spring. I hope to get a nice crop of sweet corn this year; hopefully no goating accidents this time around.

Ben, down by the garage hoping for a handout.

Tigris and Cheddar. "Its cold out here, can we come in?" They like to hang out on the back deck, Steve hates it since they leave puddles and dingleberries everywhere.

Becca and Em after the superbowl game with their 3-D glasses on.

Because we are in a bit of a valley, we don't get the greatest sunsets, but I never tire of the incredible sunrises.

It was beautiful, even to the north west. Every cloud in the sky looked as if it were on fire. Just incredible.

Out of Hibernation....I hope

2009-01-18T20:11:00.012-07:00

I feel like I've been hibernating over the past few months. Winter tends to do that to me. I think I'm more sensitive than the average bear (pun intended) when it comes to daylight hours and that winter-blah funk. Thankfully the daylight hours are on the rise.

The hens are laying again, after slacking off for a month or better. Egg sales are going well. Steve had someone from his building pop into his office and ask "So Steve, what exactly is it that you sell out of the back of your Jeep? It looks like egg cartons, but it couldn't be eggs, so what is it really?" So he had to explain we have hens and the whole "Egg Fairy" thing; he puts eggs in the cooler and sometime during the day the egg fairy comes, takes the eggs and leaves money. He has only ever seen one of the egg clients. Another of the clients rides his bike to pick up eggs, three dozen at a time, rain or shine snow and cold....must be good eggs!

Ben & Jerry are growing, adding about 10-12 inches since they came. They roam the place and have on occasion hopped up on the porch deck to see what exactly I am doing inside. They know when I holler "hear, hear, come boss" it means dinner is on.

Speaking of dinner, I got the hook-up when it comes to feed. I found out, compliments of Craigslist, that the local brewery has a bunch of spent grains that they have to haul to the dump each week. But alas, no longer. Now Ben, Jerry, Cheddar, Tigris, Gretel and the hens eat high off the hog compliments of the brewery. Last load I got was about 700 lbs of grain. They win because they don't have to pay to dump and we win because free feed is a always good thing.

I placed an order for 200 chicks. Woo hoo! I found a place that sells the days left overs for $45/200. So I scooped up an order of 200. They should arrive around February the 9th. I'll have a few schools hatching for me as well, so I'll probably end up with 250-300 chicks this year. Yikes! I'm going to raise them up till I can tell hens from roos and them butcher and sell the roos, keeping the hens to add to the egg business.

The goats have a new past time, rock climbing. At the north end of the property is a pretty big rock, I'm guessing 70 or 80 feet high. They like to climb that thing up and down back and forth. Scared the bejeebers out of me the first time I saw them up there. They even bedded down for the night up there once and I had to go retrieve them with a flashlight in one hand and a can of feed in the other to lure them back down. I've sold Tigris and Gretel, they go to their new home the first week in February. I'm really, really sad to see Gretel go, she is a very good-natured, affectionate, obedient doe, but I need to get out of goats.....they have a mind of their own and are just too stubborn and mischievous for me. The kids wont drink the milk, which was the purpose of getting them in the first place. Besides, I'm getting kinda tired of climbing that rock with a can of grains every day.

An incredibly beautiful sunrise

I'm an early to bed, early to rise sort of person. Gives me the opportunity to see the handiwork of God that those night owls in the family tend to miss.

Goats on the rock

Gretel likes to walk along the front of this rock. scares me to watch.

One of the roos picking through the spent grains in the steer's feeder.

Got a bunch of handsome guys around the barnyard.

Oh, that boy is makin' me gray!

2008-11-28T23:55:00.002-07:00

It's 12:15 am, its a cold snowy night, with about 3 inches on the ground already. A heavy snow, it is accumulating quickly. A fire burns in the wood burner and we were all ready to settle in for the night. Josh, out with friends, wasn't deterred in the least by his fender bender last night. In fact he apparently didn't have enough action and just called to let us know that they just rolled his friend's pick-up truck and its in the ditch on its side. I keep telling him he needs to think about us too...he is making me gray. He just laughs. The "mommily" runs through my head....I hope you have 10 sons and they turn out just like you. He laughs off my foolish belief that someone could possibly have gotten hurt.

"Buddy, your girlfriend is going to drop you, she probably isn't too fond of the excitement" I quip over the phone, knowing that she was along both times and is pretty quiet, not one for much of the wild side of life. "Ya, I know, she already said that." he answers back slowly. Wow a teenager with a brain, he should hang on to her. Rather than have us drive out to get him, he has decided to call Becca and spend the night at her place. Seems he left his pick-up at his friend's house and now no way to get home...

We offered to come get him, but he would rather impose on his sister. She is glad to have him since her roommate is out of town for the holiday and she is not fond of being alone. Last time she was out of town, Becca bribed several friends with ice cream and card games to spend the night. She will be glad for his company.

So, we sit and wait for a phone call to let us know they made it back to the apartment safely. I hope Becca doesn't let Josh do the driving...and yes, I hope he really does have 10 sons just like him. But when is life ever fair?

The Redneck Santa

2008-11-17T22:36:00.004-07:00

The weather has been really nice this week. Ok well, its only Monday, but its been nice since the crazy wind decided to move on. Today it got up to 68 and tomorrow they expect to break the old record of 74...by several degrees. The low tomorrow night will be the average high for this time of year, kinda hard to be believe its mid November in the mountains. Thursday will be more seasonal with a high in the 30's and drizzle....yuck, I need to bring in another load of firewood before then.

We got a visit Saturday evening from the Redneck Santa. You know you're a redneck if you consider a freshly shot goose a cool gift. You know you're a redneck if giving gifts of packaged of deer meat excites you. So, Saturday night, our friend Ben shows up at the back door with a rifle over his shoulder, a 17 pound Canadian goose in one hand and a bag full of packaged deer hamburger and steaks in the other. "Hey, its the redneck Santa!" he exclaims proudly as he walks through the door. He smiles, and the excitement of the gifts and twinkle in his eye sets off his boyish charm. He tells the drama of the goose hunt, anxious for us all to experience the thrill. Lifting the invisible rifle he traces a path across the kitchen ceiling and "smacks" the equally invisible goose. "It was too big for Thatcher to retrieve!" he proclaims, eyes wide, his face rugged with stubble.

The deer was one he and his brother had hunted earlier on our place, a nice sized two by two buck. It was his brother Isaac's first deer, a proud moment for both. Isaac, a southern California cop, was in town to hunt and had missed a bigger five by five earlier in the week. He had a fancy scope and yet missed. Upset with himself, he ditched the scope and fell back on his police training. At that, he put the buck down with one shot. Straight through the lungs, it took the shot and immediately fell without a struggle. Em and I helped gut and hose it out, or maybe we just got in the way.

I was excited to get the goose and deer meat. Oh, you thought I meant Ben was the redneck? Ha, I guess we both qualify. The goose is plucked, the down bagged up and ready to put into a quilt or slippers or something. I soaked the bird overnight in saltwater, marinated it all day today and bagged it up. It's vacuum packed and in the freezer along with the deer meat. It'll probably end up on the Christmas Day dinner table. I can't imagine anyone living without a Redneck Santa in their life.

Ben with his deer from last year.

Josh with the Canadian goose. It dressed out almost as big as the turkey I bought for Thanksgiving.

The Blustery Day

2008-11-13T20:53:00.008-07:00

Oh bother, its been a rather blustery day. In fact it feels a bit like the 100 acre woods here. A bit of rain and lots of blustery wind all night and all day. It even started on "winds-day." But hopefully, my house wont blow down, and thankfully no Hefalumps and Woozels to steal my honey.

I noticed the deer were very restless yesterday, roaming back and forth unsure of where, or if, to bed down and not too interested in eating. They often would suddenly look up staring motionless for minutes on end, as if catching the sound of a stalking predator. The young bucks and does chased each other around all day. Last time that happened we had a huge wind storm with winds clocked at over 110 mph. So I battened down the hatches here and hoped it wouldn't be too bad. Sure enough about 9:30 last night the wind began to whoosh through the trees on the mountain top. Like the sound of mighty rushing waters, a deafening roar, it's an incredible racket. A sense of restlessness overtakes me. Like the deer, I feel unsettled, edgy, and nervous.

I lay in bed listening to the wind buffet the house, it creaks and groans under the pressure of the gusts. I hear the occasional thud of something blowing across the yard outside the bedroom window. At one point I hear the grill topple and glide across the deck. Then I hear another thud unsure of what object just hit the house, I feel uneasy, wondering what I'll find in the morning. I arose several times and grabbed the binoculars I keep by the window to look out at the animals. The brightness of the full moon illuminated the night, adding to the ominous feelings.

When I was doing chores earlier, my gut said the calf pen would blow over in the night, so before I retired to the warmth and comfort of the house, I shored it up with several heavy rocks, one weighing more than 60 lbs. I thought that ought to hold it...just in case. But I couldn't help but feel it was going to go over.

Finally fatigue won out over fear and I drifted off to sleep, awakened only occasionally by the flight of an object into the back of the house or across the deck.

I awakened in the morning to Em's voice. "Mom, the calves are out, the pen blew over." I jumped up, instantly awake, and pulled my worn leather barn coat on over my flannel PJ's and donned my black rubber boots. The calves were contentedly hovering over the feeder, as if nothing unusual had happened, enjoying the remains of the alfalfa I had placed there the evening before. Josh & I moved them into the chicken run till we could right the pen and repair the section of fence the wind had knocked down.

The calves eyes were watery from the wind, tears running down their faces and bits of alfalfa and dirt stuck to the tears. The wind continued to buffet us and kick up a considerable amount of dust as we worked on the pen and fence. Finally finished we went inside for breakfast. I noticed patches of rock had blown off the driveway leaving only bare, hard-packed dirt. A couple of tree limbs were down, chunks of firewood had blown off the wood pile and into the yard and down into the window well, thankfully the window was intact. It was a doozy of a windstorm.

As I type, the wind is still driving, threatening without words, creating that uneasy feeling inside of me. I hope it decides to settle down soon. They are forecasting snow tonight and highs of 30 tomorrow. Winter in Colorado is upon us.

Taken just two weeks ago. The colors this fall were incredible. Now all is dead, brown and no leaves remain. Amazing what can happen in two weeks. I love the placement of the house, nestled down in the valley. I still feel like I live in a postcard.

Even the grass was beautiful.

A storm approaching from the east. Usually that means snow.

We had a really spectacular fall. Too bad it couldn't last a bit longer.

The full moon last night shrouded by clouds, rising over the mountain top.

The Visitors

2008-11-09T20:38:00.017-07:00

My apologies for the long absence. I have not been sitting on my butt that's for sure. Some days I wish I could, but too much to do before Old Man Winter shows up for his long annual visit. I felt some things had to be back-burnered for a short time while I took care of necessary duties around here. As much as I love to blog, It was set aside for a while. Hopefully I will have more time to devote to writing now that canning is done, pastures are fenced, tomatoes are dried, wood is chopped, calves are corralled, roosters are butchered, and all those major fall chores are out of the way.

Josh is a senior this year and "Friday nights under the lights" football has been the highlight of each week. This was his first and only year to play. He did well and we are proud of his dedication and efforts to learn a new sport. The high school girls adore him in his uniform and he gets lots of screams and cheers each week from the stands. The team made it to the second round of the playoffs but were beaten by a team that was a conference above them and outweighed them by probably 40 pounds/player. They looked like a small college team. The joke in the stands was that they all must have repeated 5th grade at least 3 times. They were 10-0 compared to our 8-2 and they played like it. Our guys hung on till the 3rd quarter when they just wore down and then...well, lets just say the score was nearly the same as the weight difference.

They played with their whole hearts and coaches and parents alike let them know how proud they were. Their head coach played under Tom Osborne back at Nebraska in the day when they were a legend. He has a lot of the same philosophies and coaching techniques. So, growing up a Cornhusker myself, it is neat to see him get to play under a former Husker.

My niece Jess traveled out from Nebraska to take Josh's senior pics. I'll post some when I get the CD from her. I've got to sit down and figure out which ones I like. She took 279 pictures and about 275 are my favorites. Ya, they really are that good.

We had a wonderful time during her visit. She brought her two young daughters along and they captured my heart. Such sweet, obedient and loving girls, I wish they all could have stayed a month. Steve said he was pretty certain she had to be one of my sisters, not my niece, because she talked, acted and cooked just like one of them. I still have the ditty Morgan repeated all week in my head. In fact Em and I found ourselves chanting it in the car several times today.

"Oooooh mooooorgaaan."
"What?"
"Whaaaat are you dooooing?"
"Nusseeeeeeen"
"Nothing?"
"Nusseen, nusseen, nusseen at all, they just (insert double tongue click) can't play ball. Cookies, cookies, cookies an cream what's da matto with da udda team? Nusseen, nusseen, nusseen at all, they just (one more time with the double tongue click)can't play ball."

We could have used her down on the sidelines at the ball game this weekend. I see pom poms in her future. The song is forever stuck in our heads, indelibly inked into our gray matter, coming out of our mouths at the most random of times.

Hannah loved to gather eggs. She had to check ten times a day. I wish I could have tucked a hen into her suitcase, a gift from Aunt Denise. :o) She was intrigued by the many colors of brown, green and blue eggs and not really understanding the whole process, tried to figure out which ones had chicks in them. She figured since there was a daddy and a mom, there must be chicks inside. I was gifted many coloring book pictures to adorn my fridge. Oh I miss the days of simple understanding, funny questions, and artwork decorating the kitchen.

The pictures Jess took came out great in spite of the cruddy weather. The sun ran and hid at their coming and came out again on their way back to the airport. I told her that just means they have to come visit again. They left seventy degree weather to come and experience a cold, foggy, snowy weekend.

One evening, she treated us to a huge pan of the most incredible home-made lasagna I think I've ever tasted. I have to admit it was better than mine. We savored every bite and there was enough left over for a few more meals. Such a nice treat to not have to cook. And the garlic tomato bread was out of this world. I'll never be able to make plain old garlic cheese bread again, It no longer exists in our house or our vocabulary. It has to be the garlic, cheese, TOMATO bread. I so wished they lived closer, we had such a wonderful time together. I was sad to see them go, but I guess her husband deserves them close by more than I do.

We made a trip up to Rocky Mountain National Park one afternoon and the misty fog had frozen on the trees making for the most magical of experiences. It was surreal, like a magical fairy tale land. We went up to Bear Lake and the fog was rolling off the lake while the trees were flocked and powdery snow gently wafted through the air. A holy hush fell over all who wandered up to the lake...well until we arrived. It was as if we were given a gift, a rare opportunity to experience a piece of heaven here on earth. I'll never forget the feeling of being there, it was like time had stopped, no one wanted to leave we all just wanted to stand and stare at the incredible beauty. It's so like God to take seemingly disappointing circumstances and turn them in to a rare glimpse of His beauty. When we take time to really stop and seek it out in spite of the crud that often surrounds us.

I can't wait to choose pictures and get them in my hands and out again to family and friends. Em has already made it clear that she want Jess to come and do her senior pictures as well. How is that for planning ahead!

Hannah and Morgan at Bear Lake.

Wouldn't it make a great puzzle for a cold, snowy winter's day? A cup of hot cocoa in hand, seasoned with a peppermint stick and a cozy fire dancing in the fireplace. Be sure you click on it and open it up to full size. You'll notice people on the far shore line...they look like ants. It really puts things into perspective.

We happened upon a nice bull elk in the park. The elk were in rutt and he was bugling.

The fog rolling off Bear Lake. I'll never forget how incredible it was. So glad we took the time to go even though, with the cruddy weather, we though it was going to be a waste of time.

Morgan checking out the snowflakes.

Josh at Bear Lake. Posing for a senior picture. He was so cold. I think Jess had to photoshop the red out of his cheeks and nose.

My handsome boy, #5. On the sideline waiting for an opportunity to go in again.

Josh on special teams, blocking on the kick off. He played wide reciever on the offense as well.

Busy, busy, busy

2008-10-15T09:29:00.008-06:00

Old Man Winter has raised his head, we got a dusting of snow overnight Sunday. I've been working at getting things ready for the change of seasons here. All I can say is busy, busy, busy. So, I hate to admit, but this is about 10 blog entries rolled into one. I've had a few inquiries as to my whereabouts, I'm wondering if raising teenagers is considered a medical condition...I'm pretty certain it qualifies as a mental condition. So, I have lots to blame my absence on.

Ben and Jerry have grown a good 5 inches already. They are on alfalfa and grains as well as their bottles and are doing great. They both had scours at first, but after administering each a shot of antibiotic, they have done well. Jerry had a cough for a while and a bit of a rattle in his lungs, so I got another shot ready, but while waiting for Josh to have time to hold him down so I could give it, his symptoms seem to have cleared up.

Clover has moved on, she has a new chapter to write in her own life. The Craigslist ad finally worked and I bartered her to a goat dairy for a nice fence charger and $50 cash. I looked on line and the charger is new enough to still be available and sells for $90. The next day I exchanged the $50 for 2 bags of feed and 4 waterers from another Craigslister. I will sell 2 of the waterers this spring when somebody out there will be setting up their chicken operation and will need them. I think I did pretty good overall. I'm glad to see her gone. I traded Belle along with her, as her personality was just like her momma.

I've been working on canning and getting the garden out and processed before the frost. Everything did well, the potatoes put on a lot of nice sized tubers, the tomatoes ended up yielding over 60 quarts of red and about 100 lbs of green that are currently sitting on my living room floor ripening.

I had the opportunity to go to a u-pick-it place and for $10 got all the produce I could haul off. I spent a good 4 hours picking and bagging up stuff. Then another 2 days processing and canning it. I was able to add another 10 quarts of tomatoes as well as 50 lbs potatoes, 50 lbs of onions, green beans, watermelon, shallots, carrots, herbs, sweet corn, Indian corn, popcorn, squash, peppers and a few other things. With some of the tomatoes I got, I made and froze chili and spaghetti sauce, 7 meals of each.

Last year I looked everywhere for elderberries and this year I found some just down the road from us. I was able to pick two full boxes before the frost and made 7 quarts of jelly and 2 quarts of pancake syrup this week. The owner invited me to come earlier next year and pick grapes as well, hot dog! They also have hops, but since I don't make or drink beer I'll probably pass. Guess I could box them up and send 'em off to dad. Now that we've had a nice frost, I need to go back to the place I hit up for apples last year and get more. I canned some applesauce this fall already, but not enough to suit my need.

I had company visit as well, but they deserve a blog entry of their own, so look for that soon.

My U-pick-it haul. it was a blessing to be able to add to my store here, but oh the work! All this for $10, what a score. Thanks Lord! If you click on the picture, it should enlarge enough to see all the stuff.

Elderberries, off the stem and ready to be cooked down to juice. this is a 10 quart pot, and I have enough left to dry and use in muffins all winter.

The green tomatoes I saved from the frost. Some cherry/grape tomatoes as well as Roma and the usual big round kind.

A dusting of snow on the broody hen house.

Snow on a thistle, so pretty.

Snow dusting the trees on the mountain top.

Digging potatoes from the garden. Weird, but it reminds me of Mr. Potato Head.

These all came from one plant. A pretty nice harvest.

Coming out by the bucket full.

Potatoes from the U-pick-it in the laundry room, that's about half of what I got.

Some of my canned items. Tomatoes -I'm up to 70 quarts so far. Elderberry jelly, green & wax beans (I froze the ones from my garden), carrots and a small portion of 50 lbs of wheat jarred up ready to be ground in to bread and muffins, yum! I just love all the colors, absloutely beautiful.

The rest of the tomatoes -hopefully were ready for winter. Applesauce is in the bottom right corner of the picture.

2008-10-15T09:29:00.000-06:00

Ben & Jerry, our latest additions to the menagerie

2008-09-21T17:47:00.013-06:00

I was perusing The Fence Post's on-line adds and ran across some Holstein bull calves for sale just a half hour down the road from us. I've bought my first calf when I was 9 years old with money I earned hoeing beans for neighboring farmers and by the time I graduated high school had a small herd that I used to pay for college. I love cows and wanted some calves since the day I left home. So, we have two more mouths to feed here. They were 50 bucks apiece and were just 2 days old. They are big boys, both weighing in at about 100 lbs each. I've never seen such a huge milking operation, he must have had at least 2000 head of cattle. He had a gal coming from Nebraska to buy 20 bull calves the day after I got mine.

Ben is the bigger of the two with lots of color and Jerry, the smaller, has a triangle on his forehead and a number 3 on his side. I assume he must be the brainy math type. I plan to get Ben a girlfriend and Jerry, well, lets just say unless he does some serious growing and passes Ben up soon he will be fixed and in the...ummm...food service business when he's big enough. They are both still quite wobbly on their feet stumbling and bumbling around the barnyard. Jerry seems to have a slight cough and a bit of scours. I've got him on electrolytes with psyllium husk along with his milk, and he seems to be doing much better this afternoon. He was a bit lethargic the first couple of days. I may pop into the feed store for some antibiotic if his cough isn't better soon.

To say the goats are terrified is an understatement. The calves of course are oblivious to it all, but the goats are sure Ben & Jerry's sole purpose in life must be to eat them. They wouldn't come out of the barn the whole first day, eyes wide with terror they banged around in the barn scaring the chicken half out of their wits as well. They were constantly peering out the window or open door. I think things have finally calmed down a bit, but they still wont get within 10 feet of the calves. Every night I have a hard time getting the goats to go into the barn, they seem sure Ben or Jerry are lurking in the shadows, like a kid afraid of the boogy man under the bed.

When we lived in Tulsa, I purchased a carved wooden cow as a decoration to put atop the cabinets and told the kids when they got home from school that I had bought a cow. They immediately dropped their books and darted out into the back yard expecting to see a real live animal, exclaiming "Oh cool!!!!" as they ran through the open door. I still chuckle at that one, but they wouldn't put it past me, they do know their mother. Now finally I have the real thing.

Last week I sold 10 chicks for $40 and some eggs for $10, so that paid for the one calf. I have another order for 10 chicks and will be selling eggs this week, so there is the other $50. I'm trying hard to make my hobby pay for itself, so far so good.

I forgot how good milk replacer smells. Just think vanilla cake mix. I did my research and found out that mixing it half and half with raw goat milk is beneficial for them. And, it cuts the cost of replacer in half, so that's what I've been doing.

The garden is still producing wonderfully. I have lots of tomatoes, but not enough to satisfy my expected use till next harvest. I picked 31 lbs today. Some are ripe enough to can, but I'm going to wait a few more days so I have a decent batch. For all the work, I hate doing 4 or 5 quarts at a time. I'd rather do a whole bunch at once. My goal is to have 100 quarts total, figuring about 2 quarts a week, for stuff like spaghetti and chili. Not sure I have that many out in the garden, but its better than nothing and there's always next year. I plan to double up on a lot of stuff.

I just finished bottle feeding them both. They seem to have a high degree of certainty that there is more milk available...somewhere.

Jerry the math nerd, with a #3 on his side and a triangle on his forehead.

Jerry again. He is the smaller of the two.

Big Ben. He's so heavy Josh couldn't even lift him. Plan to get that boy a girlfriend. Probably a Jersey. They are smaller and have a mellow personality. They also have a very high butter fat content.

Cheddar checking the boys out from the safety of the coop, terror in her eyes. The other goats were afraid to look, let alone come out.

Belle my littlest baby goat, she is so cute....and ornery, she will come out to face the giants.

Today's harvest and in the background the tomatoes I've canned so far. Hope they keep producing, I've got a ways to go to reach my goal. The flowers on the left, Becca picked from around the yard. I've got about this many more tomatoes in the garden just a shade or two lighter than these. And, bunches of green tomatoes....please no frost yet.

Stop the world and let me off

2008-09-15T08:55:00.016-06:00

Well, its been a busy couple of weeks. I'm ready for the world to stop spinning, I just want off long enough to catch my breath. I have a feeling that things will continue to spin no matter how strongly I want a break. Ah, such is life.

Josh's hand is healing up nicely. He has ditched his splint and is anxious to get back to playing football. He has an appointment this week and will probably get the okay from the Dr to get back into his usual activities. The Doc we saw was an army medic with years of combat medical experience. He feels that unless its been completely blown or torn off, its really not that bad. He said he wouldn't cast it unless the bones were at a 90 degree angle, and anything less than 45 degrees will take care of itself. He was a bit scary, thinking the fiberglass splint the ER put on was pretty cool, and repeatedly commenting that he had never seen anything like that. I guess after raising Josh, we've seen all sorts of things related to broken bones and ERs. None of it is very cool to me, I simply see money flying out of my checking account, which is never a cool thing in my eyes.

Mom & Dad's visit was great. I so enjoyed myself. I hope they had as good a time as I did. We went up to Estes for lunch one day and putzed around a lot the rest of the week. Mom found a feather bed on Craigslist, so we went out and snatched that up. Its a true featherbed, and in perfect condition. What a find, thanks mom! I also found an air hockey table. It had a broken switch, but hey for free. I went out to the electronic store and for 6.00 we now have a fully functioning game. It came from a frat house at the nearby college. You'd think if I could figure out what was wrong with it, they certainly could. Oh well.

We also tried my home made goat cheese. Not sure that passed. The first attempt at cheese was a little lame, but the second and third rounds turned out pretty good in my eyes. More like a grating cheese. Next time I will try adding some cow milk or cream. Like I said cheese making is really an art. Guess my home made cheese comes off the Christmas list for them.

I've been canning applesauce and tomatoes. I found an elderberry bush down the road so hope to snag some of those and make some syrup and jelly too. Not sure that will happen, but maybe even just juice them out for now and complete the project another day.

Steve got back Friday afternoon from two weeks in China. Nice to have him back. I get a little tired of being a part-time single mom. He always stops in San Fran and picks me up a yummy treat at the airport. It just about makes up for two weeks away.

We took the kids up to Rocky Mountain National Park this weekend. Man was it crowded! Seemed like everyone was getting in the last trip of the season. This is the time of year I like to start going. The trees are just starting to turn and the air is so crisp. We hiked up to several lakes including Nymph, Dream and Emerald as well as Bear lake which is not really a hike, being just a few hundred feet from the parking lot.

We took a Colorado quarter along and spotted the site that is printed on the back. Its the back side of Long's Peak the perspective being from the North end of Bear Lake.

The air hockey table. Josh wanted it in his room. He & Em have been playing it for hours on end. I heard lots of puck banging and giggles all weekend. And to think he just cleaned his room.

So pretty. Snow on the higher parts and elk in the meadow.

Bear Lake, with Long's Peak in the background. Its on the back of the Colorado quarter.

The quarter

Another real-life view of the back of the quarter.

One more view. Okay, I'll stop. But its just so pretty. Longs peak is 14259 ft in elevation.

A bear we saw while hiking. He was enjoying a bit of honey and seemed oblivious to the bees swarming around. I was only able to get one picture then my battery went dead, go figure. Steve wants to buy me a really nice camera, the one I use is only 3 mega pixel and is almost 10 years old. I've put him off so far, but when I miss a good shot, i begin to think about taking him up on it.

Nymph lake. I noticed some beetle kill in the trees. Hopefully it can be contained before it devastates the forests up there.

Mom, Dad and me. We had a great time.

The KHM Crusade Team, hospital visits and a broken bone

2008-08-30T22:31:00.008-06:00

The bus at the end of the pavement. Getting ready to head back into town.

Well, its been a busy couple of weeks. Just when I get on a roll with the blogging along comes a period of business. Thankfully, the Crusade Team visit, hospital visits and broken bone are all unrelated events. But, all have kept me busy.

The Hagins and the crusade team were in town. Wow, what a great time!! It was such a blessing to make the meetings and visit with Pastor and Lynette and some old friends from Tulsa. We invited the team out to the house for a cook out and were so excited to have them take us up on the offer. I think including us we had about 20-25 total. They had to park the bus at the bottom of the mountain and take cars up. I parked the van down there in the morning, drove the truck and Steve had the jeep. Rich had his rental car and the pilots Dave and Scott drove themselves as well. Dave used to live in Omaha, just a stone's throw from Steve's folks. I worked with his wife many years back when we both worked at the ministry. Between all the vehicles we had plenty of room for everyone. Some of the younger ones had a blast riding in the back of the pick-up, snapping pictures and pointing every which way as we went up the mountain. We saw a bunch of deer on the way back down, including a nice 5 point buck who posed for the camera and a couple of fawns.

Everyone had a great time, snapping lots of pictures and hiking up the peaks on our property. When they saw the gun we keep just inside the door, a few of the younger guys wanted to do some target shooting, but with so many people outside hiking and stuff that wasn't happening. A couple of them hung out with the animals and passed around a newly hatched chick. I forgot to get pictures till the end when the bus was pulling out, so I only have one that I snapped with Em's cell phone. Hopefully they will update their blog with some pictures. http://www.rhemaontheroad.blogspot.com/ We grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken breasts, along with some potato salad, baked beans, watermelon, veggies, chips, muffins, and plenty of desserts! Yum! We already have a couple of the team that have "booked" vacation time with us next summer. I'm so looking forward to that!

The day of the cook out I got a call that Dad was in the hospital. Not good news for sure. I was pretty worried about him, but he is doing well now and is out and back to normal pretty much. In fact, he & Mom are flying in on Tuesday for a visit! I'm so pumped! Can't wait to show them all I've gotten done in the past year around here.

Thursday evening Josh broke a bone in his hand. I'd like to say it was something exciting, a football injury or something equally cool, but its a boxer's fracture. Hand vs board, board won. It required a trip to the ER. Let's just say Mama wasn't happy. All the urgent cares seemed to close around 7, so we got our first experience at the ER here. They marvelled that he was 18 and this was his first visit. We laughed and explained we had only lived here a year, this was his 7th visit to an ER, we thought. We've lost track now, but this is his 3rd broken bone. Boys, sheesh! Good thing it's not his dominant hand, he can still do his homework! However football is out for a while, bummer.

They splinted it with a fiberglass half-cast and sent us on our way. I was impressed with the whole process, we got into a room in less than 5 minutes and were in and out in less than 90. 24 private ER rooms, with a nice flat screen TV in each and x-ray just around the corner made for a nice visit. We were the only ones there for most of the time.

Hopefully the next couple of weeks will be less exciting. I'm ready for a full night's sleep.

Josh's x-ray. His 5th metacarpal bone is angulated about 40 degrees. I heard him mumbling under his breath a couple of times "that was stuuuupid." I can't remember if that was before or after he passed out from the pain.

Changing of Seasons

2008-08-18T21:11:00.013-06:00

Two weeks ago we were at almost 100 degrees. The airport was at 104 and had been over 90 degrees for 23 consecutive days breaking the old record of 18 days set back in the late 1800's. Saturday night it snowed in the high country. Just 10 miles or so from us they got 6-10 inches. Seems there is change in the air. Damp chilly mornings are becoming more common. we didn't even get out of the 40's for the past three days, till today when it warmed up nicely.

The kids started back to school today. It seemed so quiet here. I really enjoy having them home over the summer. I was a bit lost, my routine out of kilter. I think it will be a good year for Emily. She was dreading going back, insisting that this was going to be "the worst year ever." However she doesn't have a first hour class, has study hall second hour, has PE with her best friend, has her favorite teacher once again this year and has a bunch of new teacher all of which "are really nice." So, it seems we are off to a good start. She had a hard time adjusting last year, going from a class of 1600 to a class of 55, and has been pestering me to home school this year. When she finished telling me about the first day, I asked if she wanted to be home schooled and her response was a quick and solid "noooo!"

Josh is still out, so I don't know how the day went. He had a scrimmage, then BBQ and team captain voting, then off to Wal-mart to sell restaurant incentive cards to help pay for football equipment. Mom & Dad are coming to visit the first week in September, I'm looking forward to us all watching him play.

The garden is doing nicely, we've enjoyed our first bacon & tomato sandwiches. I bought 6 lbs of bacon a couple weeks back in anticipation. I remember enjoying them all summer long as a kid and could still live on them. Its just not summer with out a good bacon & tomato sandwich. I see I'll be making lots of zucchini bread too.

I got the hook up from Craigslist for apples this fall, all we can use. I'm looking forward to applesauce, apple pies, apple strudel.... I missed the harvest last year. I thought I had discovered an apple tree on the property here this spring, but after hiking down the other day to take a look, it turned out to be a full sized plum tree with just a few plums, oh well. I hope to plant some fruit trees in the next year or two as well as some sugar maples to tap. We had two maples when we lived in the city and we used to tap them and make maple syrup and hard maple candy. I miss that and had hoped to get some trees in this spring. For sure next year. I did get a few from Mom & Dad's place when we were back in Nebraska over the 4th. Three are doing very well, as are the two walnut trees we dug up. However they are a mere 3-4" tall. Guess any way I look at it, I'm a years away from reaping.

I candled the eggs tonight and made a movie, hopefully you can make out the little chick moving around in the egg. The chick has been 7 days in the incubator, 14 days to go.

Em holding one of 5 "zucchini on steroids" from the garden. Well, ya see it rained for 3 days straight and I didn't check the garden and when I finally did, well, you know.....

The peas were almost as big around as a quarter, and oh so sweet! Em & I snacked on them while watching the olympics.

Some of the smaller zucchini from the garden harvested several days back. Grilled, topped with goat cheese and dried herbs from the garden, looks delicious!

The homemade ravioli I mentioned a few posts back. It turned out great!

The Broody Hen House

2008-08-15T15:48:00.008-06:00

Several of my hens have decided to go broody lately. I had 4 in the coop that were pretty cranky when ever I approached. Kinda cuts into the egg business when all the hens start laying in the broodys' boxes, so I fashioned a separate hen house for them and moved them out. I probably lost a couple chicks in the process, but overall It was a good move. Over time I will have more success and lose less than I would with them in the coop. I have 2 hens that have hatched out their clutches since the move, and two more to go.

I picked up this doghouse from Craigslist at no cost, made a door for it from some lumber I had laying around and added a lock and trim. It's 4x4...must have been a pretty big dog! Its heavy as all get out, but Josh & I managed to carry it out of the yard and lift it onto the bed of the truck, dumping it off at home was the easy part. I didn't have any hinges laying around, so I used some pieces of strapping instead. The hens love it.

I put a couple of eye screws into the door and side, a bungee between the two holds the door open during the day.

My nesting boxes: an empty speaker box, problem is the eggs seem to roll out kind of easily. A cardboard box, the envy of all the hens, and a kitty litter box on its end. That one got rejected by all, seems on the floor in the corner was better, oh well. Need to put some more of those cool cardboard boxes in next time!

I've also got eggs in the incubator again. I had a request from the person that bought one of my roosters to hatch them out a batch of chicks. I just candled a few and they seem to be doing well. The embryo looks like a spider, with the chick body curled in the center and veins radiating out from there. I tried to photograph it, not sure how it will show up.

Hope it shows up when clicked on, the chick is in the top right. Its just been in the incubator 4 days now. Set to hatch out on 9/2.

At $4 each, I'll make $48 for a dozen eggs. I would like to expand my chick business at some point. It would be nice to make a little extra money each spring...or even year round. At the current $3/dozen I sell them for, I am barely covering the cost of my feed. Once I process this years roos I'll be a little bit ahead. I've got a few customers who pay me $12 each for a processed chicken. When I really look at it, its a lot of work for the money, but it makes our eggs and processed birds free and a little cash to spare. The best part is that they're so fun to have around.

Em & I made some root beer today, it takes a week to ferment and become carbonated. I'll let you know how it turned out. If its good I'll make some for when Mom & Dad come to visit in a couple weeks, that and some home made ice cream...can you say root beer floats? YUM!! I'm drooling already. The alcohol content is low, between .35 and .5%. Compared to 6% for a beer, it would take about 1.5 gallons to equal a 12 oz. beer, so in that respect its pretty negligible. If my next blog enrty resembles a drunken dyslexic you'll know something went wrong.

Cheese making....my version of it.

2008-08-14T22:03:00.013-06:00

I've learned that cheese making is really an art, hopefully I'll get better with time, but for now I am pleased with how its going. I think all three types turned out well. The cheddar is drying on a rack, the ricotta is in the fridge and the mysost is still on the stove.

I want to try Parmesan next time. I need to make a thermophilic mother culture first and just haven't gotten around to it. Hopefully this week or next.

I tired to take lots of photos of the process. I'll detail the pictures as I go.

I have a 12 quart canner that I like to use. I've put in 2 gallons of goat milk and very slowly heated it to 90 degrees. I froze my mother culture in an ice cube tray. 1 cube is equal to 1 T of culture. Cheddar takes a mesophilic culture. I add the culture and then let it ripen for an hour.

I keep tabs on the temp while its ripening, making sure it stays right at 90 degrees.

After it has ripened, I add in the rennet and stir it for a minute or two till I see it just starting to set up. Then it sets again till the curd is firm enough to make a clean break when a knife is inserted.

You can see how firm the curds are. I let them sit for 30 minutes then begin slowly heating them to 100 degrees while gently stirring to bring out the whey. The whole thing is really a time consuming process. I hold them at 100 for about a half hour and continue to turn the curds.

They are then ready to drain. I have a nice butter cloth I use to line a strainer and pour the whole thing out into another pan and let it all drain for about 15 minutes. Once the curds have drained, I dump them into a bowl and crumble them up, adding 1T of salt. It's important to use salt that doesn't have iodine in it, most table salt does. I have some nice large grained kosher salt that I like to use. I then transfer the curds to a cheese cloth lined mold and press it at 40 lbs for 12-15 hours. I then turn it and press at 50 lbs. for 24 hours. once its done it is salted and put on a rack to air dry. After 3 days I wax it. It could be wrapped in saran, but hey, the wax looks cool.

Here is the cheese just removed from the mold and the cheesecloth. I put a quarter on it to show the size.

Waxed and ready to go into the fridge to age a bit. This is one I made a couple weeks ago.

Ricotta

I add a pint of cream to the still warm whey that has drained from the curds and slowly heat the whole thing to 195 degrees. You can see by the picture that its already 1:25 in the afternoon. It will take a couple hours for the ricotta to be done. I started the whole process at about 7 am.

I drain the whey from the ricotta overnight. In the morning it looks good.

The finished product. I ended up with about 1.75 lbs of ricotta.

Mysost

With the whey that is left over from the ricotta I can make mysost. The whey has to cook down for hours and hours till most of the liquid has been removed.

The whey reduced down about half way.

Wish I could upload the smell, its incredibly good. I decided not to reduce it all the way. Its a little on the salty side, I decided to use half of it to make cheese and potato soup and maybe cheese and rice something with the other half, so its in a canning jar and into the fridge for now.

As you can see its pretty much an all day project. But the results are pretty tasty. I think Em & I are going to try our hand at home made rootbeer tomorrow. Yum!

The Homestead

2008-08-13T16:21:00.014-06:00

Well, I got up at 5:45 this morning. Went out onto the back deck to bring in the load I had hung out last night. I have a T-post line up by the garden with four long lines, but I also strung a line between two of the porch posts out back by the laundry room. That's for when I don't want to trek up the hill to hang laundry or if I'm doing a small load that doesn't need much line. After I had taken all the laundry off the line, I looked over and no more than 3 feet from me was a nice big rattlesnake all curled up next to the house watching me do laundry.

I thought it was a rattler, but wanted to make sure before I sealed its fate, so I grabbed a shovel from the garage and gave it a nudge, sure enough it began to rattle. With it being so close to the deck and able to slip under if I missed, I hollered up to Josh's bedroom window. He was down in a hurry and, being a good aim, made quick work of things. He then buried the head.

The snake had a nice big rattle, I'm going to tan the skin tomorrow, it's rolled up in the fridge, too much going on to mess with it now. If you are easily grossed out, skip to the next paragraph. I skinned him out and gutted and cut him up and we had it for lunch. I breaded it and pan fried it in some bacon grease. The kids thought it was pretty good. Even Emily ate it, stating it tasted like chicken. That's the first I had tried snake, it was actually more tender and tasted better than I expected.

After the laundry, I got the cheese started and headed up to do chores while the milk heated on the stove. I've got one young rooster that is meaner than all get out. He can't even crow yet, but he attacks all the other chickens. So I caught him and caged him up. I'll have to put him in the freezer today or tomorrow.

I added the culture and while the milk was ripening and went back out and trimmed the goat's hooves. Its a monthly chore, I like to keep them nice and trimmed. Tigris the alpine/saanen had bad hooves when I got her, very folded over, pointed and looooong. She was literally walking on the sides of her hooves. Its taken a couple months to get them nice and it only takes 20-30 minutes to get all 5 of the girls trimmed up. I figure if you're going to own an animal, it ought to be well cared for. She takes care of me through milk, babies and eventually meat, it's my duty to care for her now.

Back inside, I added the rennet and once again let the milk set to firm up while I went out to the garden to putz around a bit. Harvested a few grape tomatoes and some zucchini, nothing too exciting.

Well, the cheddar cheese is in the press as I type. I've made ricotta with the whey, its hanging in a buttercloth to drain. I'll post my cheesemaking photos tomorrow, with a little more detail as to the process. Will make Gjetost (or less well known, but more correctly termed mysost) with the whey from the ricotta tomorrow as well. Nothing wasted. With the fresh ricotta, Em will be helping me make some homemade ravioli tomorrow, yum!

Here's the bad boy. If I encounter them away from the house, I leave em. But this close, he had to go.

I heard they made good eating, had to try it.

The tomatoes have grown into one massive patch. They are loaded, hundreds of them. Hope they ripen soon.

The potatoes are run amuck as well. I keep mounding them with dirt, but they've got to be 3' tall now. No more room to mound. Next year maybe I'll plan ahead and put up some sort of fencing system to contain the dirt. Heirloom pole beans are climbing the fence.

Zucchini. Need to shred and freeze some. We'll have some grilled tomorrow as well with the home made ravioli.

These crazy peas have been eaten off twice by the goat, but they just don't give up. They seem to come back each time with just as many pods as before. The edible pod peas are my favorite.

Herbs and some onions line the fence. Everything did great but the basil which got frosted out twice and laid on by the dog. Thankfully I still have a bunch hanging over my pantry door from last year. Ought to last me till next year.

Got a small start on firewood for the winter. My goal is to have 7 full cords (21 face cords). I think we have about 2 face cords so far. Got a long, long way to go!

My harvest for the day.

Here's where I keep the goats and chickens. Not a real high tech system, but most everything was scavenged and gotten for free or super cheap.

Goat Milking 101

2008-08-12T12:26:00.016-06:00

Since I'm making cheese tomorrow, thought I'd share my milking chores here today. Cheddar is my main milking goat, she is a two year old nubian saanen cross. She last kidded over a year ago. When I bought her a couple months back, they told me she was dry and since she was not pregnant they were not keeping her, even though she was one of their top milkers last year. I began to milk her three times a day to build her supply back up. At first I got about a cup a day, she now is milked twice a day and is up to about 2.5 liters/day total. She is a wonderful doe, who lines up at the milking post when I arrive at the pen. I usually feed her while she is being milked, maybe that's why she lines up when she sees me coming.

I wash her udder well and squirt out the first milk from each teat to check it for anything unusual. Also, the milk in the canals can have bacteria, so its best to just let it go to waste, your milk will stay fresher longer if you do. After that I milk her out and "bump" her udder at the end when there sems to be nothing left (if you've ever seen a kid or calf nurse, you know what I mean) to get her to let down the last of her milk. Ususally I can get another cup or so from bumping her. If all the milk is not removed, next time she will make less. After time her production will go down. It takes me about 5 minutes or less to milk her out. I then turn her loose.

Milking a goat is a bit different than milking a cow, pulling on a goats udder can ruin it. It's more of a "close off the top and squeeze the milk out toward the end" process, by closing one finger down at a time till you get to the bottom. It takes a few milkings to get used to it, but then its pretty natural. Cheddar has a great udder for milking. I hope to get her bred this fall and will keep her kids to improve my herd.

Cheddar at the milking post. The chain on the fence, I just put it around her neck. Probably I don't even need that, she tends to stand pretty still for me. She's a good girl. I'd guess she weighs about 250 lbs, but she's very docile and obedient for a goat.

Her udder before milking

After milking

Here is the process. You can see, It doesn't take long to fill a glass. I then pour it into a container outside the pen to keep it free from dirt, dust and other stuf that might be in the pen. Then go back and fill the cup again...and again, and again.

Once I've finished, I pour it through a coffee filter into a 2-liter bottle. That strains out any stray hairs or alfalfa that may have blown into the cup. At first it took me so long to milk that I got a lot of floaty stuff, but now it's pretty clean when I'm done. just an occasional goat hair now and then.

Milk from just this week, and its only Tuesday morning.

Three of the girls. The smallest one is Gretel. Can you believe she is only 2.5 months old?? At 55 lbs already, she is going to be a monster when she is full grown. Weight-wise, she could be bred at 75 lbs which she will be this fall, but I'm going to hold off till next year. I have left her on mom (the shaggy goat on the right) and she gets continual access to alfalfa as well. At some point mom will wean her, then I'll be making cheese a couple times a week.

The hardest part is figuring out what to do with all the milk. I've had some minor success bartering it, but since I'm not state approved, FDA certified, etc. I can't legally sell raw milk. At the dairy they were legit, but in the 45 minute ride to their new home here they lost that. So, besides limited yogurt and cheese making, my freezer is getting full.

Happy Birthday Blog!

2008-08-09T21:01:00.008-06:00

Well, the blog turned one year old yesterday. Wow, hard to believe I’ve stuck with writing for a whole year, harder to believe anyone would want to read the daily happenings in our lives here on a regular basis.

I’m a contemplative, reflective kind of person, so thought I’d take a moment to reflect back on the year. First, the stats. Although I know they are not completely accurate, they give somewhat of a picture. I don’t have a huge audience, but do have some very loyal visitors. 52 posts, 2810 visits, 3785 page views, 39.50% new visits, 60.5% return visits. 23 countries in order of number of visits: US, Canada, Netherlands, UK, Australia, Kuwait, Germany, New Zealand, France, Chile, Spain, Poland, Indonesia, Georgia, Italy, Malaysia, Austria, Sweden, Ireland, Russia, Bahamas, India, Japan. In the US visits from 47 states and the District of Columbia (only MT, ND and VT have not visited) Top States in the US for visits: CA, NY, CO, GA, MI, NE, FL, IN. Top cities in top state of CA: West Hollywood with 131 visits and Monterey park with 108. Average hits per day 8. Most hits in a day 36 when someone on the Back Yard Chickens forum posted a link. For those with brains like mine, I blocked my IP address when I set up the counter, so my visits wouldn’t mess up the stats. I’m on a lot posting, replacing pictures and such and wanted a more accurate picture.

Now for the heart stuff. I’ve really enjoyed blogging. Hope you all have enjoyed reading our adventures. It’s nice to be able to look back and remember when a certain batch of chicks hatched, when I planted my peas, etc. Even more so, it’s been kind of cool to see how things have evolved here and changed for us over the past year since we moved in. There was nothing here but the house and bare land. The house had been vacant for a while, so the animals were used to coming up near by for shelter and such. We moved in, put in a garden, and slowly added our coop/barn, chickens and goats.

We’ve adjusted to it being so dark here that we could actually see the Milky Way galaxy rather than just 5 stars. We went from living backed up to major highways for 14 years to living off a single lane 4WD dirt road and grabbing the binoculars when a car drives by to see who the heck is lost out here. From major city to the middle of nowhere. From barely being able to see past the neighbors back yard to a visibility of 100 miles or more across the flatlands. From an elevation of 740 feet to an elevation of 6400 feet. From manicured 10,000 sq ft lawn and perfect landscaping to rocks, scrub brush and 40 acres for a “yard”. From high humidity to technically high desert. From next door neighbors, to next mile neighbors. From a city church of 8500 to a country church of 85. From ministering to 600 kids a week to a Sunday school class of 7. From leaving home daily and having contact with literally hundreds of people on a daily basis to sort of a hermit’s life, leaving home weekly for church and once or twice a month to go to town. From Becca living at home to her now moved out on her own. From running to the grocery just a mile away 4x a week, to running to the grocery 50 miles round trip once a month and learning to stock up and make do when the stockpile runs low. From eating out 5 times a week to eating out 5 times a year. From clothes dryer to clothes line. From processed foods to raising a lot of what we eat.

It’s been a good change and a good year. The only thing I really miss is the Children’s ministry and all the kids we saw each week; the impact we had on their lives. Seasons come and seasons go, that season has passed and I know good things are in store for the future. God is bigger than the challenges we face, bigger than the economy and bigger than our failings.

I look forward to what the next year holds for us, hopefully not quite so much change. Josh will graduate and plans to go off to college. So we’ll just have Em here. I’m already feeling the pain of that. He is my right hand man when it comes to helping around the place.

I know no matter what the future holds, I can always hang my hat on Jeremiah 29:11&12: For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Thanks to all for a great year!

Who needs a 4 lane highway??

Both pictures are of the road to our house, we drive on 4 miles of this to get home. Those of us who live on the road chip in to maintain it. Yep, its just been mainatined.

For sale: One garden eating goat. Feisty personality. Would make great sausage.

2008-07-29T07:49:00.001-06:00

Well, Clover pulled the last straw out from under herself. As Emily and I pulled up the driveway on the way home from church Sunday she happily greeted us from the garden. I think she said something like “Hey you should try this, its REALLY good!” She smiled as she happily munched away on what was apparently thee last ear of corn in the garden. Yep, the corn that she ate the top off weeks ago, the same corn that I nursed back with lots of manure and water. Yes, the same corn that was within a week of being ready to harvest. Yes, all 75 or so ears of it. Of course she ate the peas again too. They were just loaded. I’m surprised they came back after she ate them the first time. Em and I had a handful just the day before. She also ate off all the strawberry plants and she trampled over the tomatoes as she harvested the corn. I marched up the steps and she took off for the far corner, knowing good and well that she was trespassing on sacred ground. I caught her and tired to maneuver around the rest of the still standing veggies dragging her through the gate. She ran down the steps tooting all the way, seems LOTS of fresh vegetables can have that effect on a goat! Belle ran crying behind her. Mama is teaching her the tricks of the trade.

I promptly followed her down the steps and into the house for my camera. After a few pictures and several minutes at the computer, she is now a listing on Craigslist. Off and on over the past several weeks I had thought of selling her because we have plenty of milk and I don’t need to be putting out money for feed for her. But then my heart would melt and I’d change my mind. But no longer, she is free to go pursue someone else’s garden. To eat the labors of their hard work; their blood, sweat and tears. To trample their tomatoes in search of one more ear of corn. To toot down their steps.

I spent Monday making a pen out of hog panels and she is no longer a free-ranging scrub goat. Not so thrilled at the lack of freedom, she is enjoying the $6.25/bale alfalfa I have to feed her. Hopefully she will sell quickly. Sooooo, anyone need their garden destroyed? I have just the answer.

Goats 2.1

2008-07-20T17:25:00.009-06:00

Well, Clover is a mom. I see her as sort of a teenage mom, at least she acts like it. Belle made her debut July the 16th at about 6:30 in the evening. She weighed in at 8 lbs 11 ounces. Em and I watched her come into the world. For days after, she commented, "Wow, that was really cool, Mom." I'm glad she got to see a live birth. I grew up watching calves and piglets born each spring on our farm in Nebraska and I've never tired of the miracle of new life.

Moma has done a pretty good job, as long as you don't consider the fact that food and friends rank above baby. Or that she seems a bit absent minded, to the point of three or four times a day forgetting she even has a baby. She left baby in the barn for a couple hours and frantically searched the garage for her the day after her arrival. I was a bit panicked as she is small enough for a hawk to carry off, but a quick search around the house and barn revealed her safe and sound snuggled up in the pen. Mom wanders off eating her way up the mountain and across the fence onto the neighbor's property. All the sudden, brain cells begin to fire and thought occurs to her that she has a baby...somewhere. Head jerks up and she begins to call and frantically turn in circles looking for baby. I told Steve, at this rate, Belle needs to be in the foster care system as a ward of the state. Moma did sit on her once, but was oblivious to the fact that the cries were coming from baby. She tries, she really does, but I don't think motherhood is instinctive to her. Maybe next time around.

I thought it was cool that after Belle was born, as mom was licking her off, she ate lots of strong scented plants and continued to lick baby till she smelled like wet grass. I guessed she was trying to disguise her from predators. Pretty cool. But then again, she could have just been hungry...baby can wait after all. All in all she is doing a pretty good job as a mom. Belle is old enough to follow Clover now, so getting left behind hasn't been an issue since the first couple of days.

Gretel weighs 47 lbs now. She is just 6 weeks old. I must say I have really enjoyed all the new life around here. I have two more hens that have gone broody. One set to hatch her clutch of 10 eggs next Sunday. The other has been hanging around Clover too much, playing mom when it is convenient and fun. But I think she has finally decided to set for good. She has just 5 eggs, they won't hatch for at least 2 weeks. Somehow I'm sure 5 chicks will be more than enough for her to handle. Funny, she didn't go broody till I reintroduced the first broody hen and her chicks back into the coop. Guess she thought it looked fun to sit uninterrupted for 21 days with little food or water. I shouldn't criticize, I apparently thought it looked fun to spend 9 months feeling sick, fat and ugly and at the end, as a reward, to pass something the size of a watermelon. 21 days, no labor...doesn't seem so bad after all.

Belle just 5 mintues old.

Save the chicken, save the world.

2008-07-11T11:42:00.004-06:00

Yep, I’m a hero, a chicken hero. Never saw myself as a chicken hero, but I find myself there today. Yesterday I went up to milk goats and to my dismay found a chick floating in the goats’ water tank. It has happened a couple times before. They hop up to roost on the side or they decide the goat water is better and in they go. Hershey is always happy to take care of disposal. I try to only fill it to the point where the chicks can hop back out in the event of an unintentional falling in. But this chick was inexperienced and little, Broody Hen’s chick. Obviously mom wasn’t doing her job and let little chicky swim in the deep end without her water wings.

I scooped the lifeless white body from the water and looked around for the dog. Then something inside me said “try CPR” Um ok, I’ve had opportunity to perform CPR on a few occasions...do I have to admit only on animals? Ok well, back to the story. ....but never on a chicken. Ooooookay, where to start?

I grabbed her by the feet and swung her around side to side to in attempt to clear water from her lungs. Lift up her wing, hmmmm no movement, no heart beats or breathing. Ok, I look around suddenly feeling like I’m on candid camera or something, but begin to compress her chest. After a minute or so it dawns on me, I should probably be giving a few puffs into her lungs. I stop and assess the situation, no movement still. I give a small puff into the nose holes on the top of her beak, then back to compressing. After 5 minutes of breathing and compressing, I assess again. Still nothing, the sun is getting hot on my back, in sharp contrast to the cold, wet, lifeless body I hold in my hands. I think about stopping, but continue on. Another 10 minutes passes, I assess things once again. I see a slight twitching of the muscles in her chest, but no breathing. I continue for another 10 minutes, all the while thinking if any of my friends saw me they’d send the guys with the white jacket. Then I feel some movement in her neck, she slowly pulls her head up, I figure its just nerves, but then it happened.

A short sneeze. Then nothing. My efforts are continues with renewed enthusiasm. By this time her feathers have begun to fluff up and dry out. After a few minutes, another sneeze and a shake of her little head. Her head begins to move slowly back and forth against her back in a rhythmic fashion. Eyes closed, back and forth, back and forth her head stiffly moves and her legs begin to shake. Great, she’s brain damaged, I think to myself. I lift her wing and check for movement. I see her chest rise and fall as she takes a breath, followed by water bubbling out her nose. I wait for another, after what seems forever she breathes again. Then another sneeze. Its been a half hour now, but its obvious she is fighting for her life. I continue to hold her and warm her still cold body. Her legs begin to show signs of strength, After 5 minutes I set her down in the sun and proceed to milk the goats. When I finish I notice she is still in the same spot I left her in, but eyes closed she is holding her head up. Looks like she will pull through. I approach her and she tries weakly to walk away. I leave her to recover her strength.

An hour later I go to check on her and she is gone. I find her down in the creek happily scouting bugs. So you see, I’m a hero, chicken hero. Not many can make that claim. I may have to start wearing my apron around my neck, after all every hero needs a cape. Gotta run, I think I hear a chicken calling.

The little white chick nearly died. She's not at all appreciative of my efforts either. Thought the hero at least got a hug or kiss.

Where did June go?

2008-07-09T22:44:00.004-06:00

Well, June was an extremely busy month. We took the kids on a trip to Florida for a week. In Orlando, visiting Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We had a great time. Ha, we stayed at a Super8 in Orlando that was pretty much an adventure in itself. The bathroom door wouldn’t close tight so no one could lock it which proved to be a major fear factor to Em. A previous person had set the drapes on fire and they still hung in the room, burned up at the bottom. I should have brought a chicken or two along to clean up all the crumbs and nasty stuff from the floor. To top it off, since it was a tad depressing to be there, we stayed away every night till 11 or so and one night when we got back the maid had left the door propped open…apparently all day long. Oh ya, then there was the intentional overcharge I had to call customer service to get reversed. Lets just say Super8 wont see our $ again. Did I mention the light fixtures didn’t have covers, just bulbs hanging from the ceiling? Yep that was an interesting 3 nights.

The rest of the week was spent at the Hilton in Melbourne, much nicer! We went to the beaches along the space coast every day and swam in the ocean and picked up shells. It was so relaxing. The kids enjoyed the beach more than the theme parks.

We were home for less than a week, just enough time to do laundry and pack up again and Steve & I headed to North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia to celebrate our 22nd anniversary. We visited my brother John and his family. We hadn’t seen them for almost 2 years, so the kids had really changed. We spent a day and a half visiting the Biltmore house, boy was that cool! On the way home we stopped for some dinner and Grant showed us his cool trick of swallowing a piece of spaghetti and then hacking it back up in one piece. Pretty cool trick to a 4 year old! We laughed so hard we were crying.

After hanging out with them for a couple days we drove up into Virginia to Monticello and the Walton’s museum. We had fun just flying by the seat of our pants; deciding each day where to stay the next night and what to do the next day. No preset plans, just doing stuff on a whim.

After flying home and doing laundry and such we packed up again and headed to Omaha to visit family over the 4th. The fire works were great, too bad we didn’t stay long enough to even see all the immediate family.

I’m ready to stay home for a couple years now. All that going is a bit much to someone who doesn’t even leave home for weeks at a time! The animal caretaker I had hired left the garden gate open and the goat had a heyday! I think some stuff will survive, but she sure enjoyed her time in there. Thankfully I dried a bunch of spinach before she trashed things.

I’m so behind on housework and work in general that I feel like I’m barely treading water! Not to mention my wallet shrunk as well as my pants. Let’s just say we were very patriotic and did our part to stimulate the economy. Now to buckle down and get back on track around here. So much stress I think I need a vacation, wow, what a vicious cycle. :o)

May 29th Tigris had her baby, a darling little doeling we named Gretel. The dairy we bought her from seemed certain she had twins, so we had Hansel and Gretel picked out, turns out she only had a Gretel. She weighed in at a whopping 12 lbs 9 oz. now 5 weeks later is over 40 lbs! I think she’s a keeper! She has a great personality as well. Cheddar is giving over 4 lbs of milk a day now. I’ve got folks lined up to barter milk with. I may sell goat shares.

Clover is ready to drop her kid(s) any day now as well. I’ll post pictures when she does. She has been showing signs for 2 weeks now, I’m growing impatient!

Family at Cocoa Beach. I'm behind the camera.

My handsome son. Isn't he a cutie?

At the Enchanted Forest in Florida. Making sure his sisters stay cool. What a thoughtful guy.

Gretel, just hours old. Oh my gosh, isn't she adorable?

John and his family. We had a wonderful time together. The empty spot is for thier daughter. She is in China with her school band getting ready to play in the olympic's opening ceremony.

Slidig Rock, in DuPont State Forest in NC. Kids were hiking up and riding it down, using it like a slip n slide! Mama woulnd't be happy.

Monticello. We spent the whole day there. Very interesting, and oh yeah, it's on the nickel.

A stop along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The buildings were almost 200 yrs old!

Garden Pre-goat. Spinach is in the foreground. Peas are in the back right.

A close up of the spinach patch.

Spinach. The leaves were huge. Wow, what a great crop this year!

Drying some of the harvest. Getting ready to make Spinach egg noodles.

Spinach patch post-goat. I was pretty much ready to make goat sausage on the spot. Her only redeeming quality is that she is ready to kid at any moment. Saved by the kid!

Peas post-goat. They were loaded too, literally hundreds of pods. Now not a pea on them. Oh well, next year!

Corn. Not sure how that will turn out. May get a few ears? Hoping so anyway. Guess I'll have to hit the farmer's market to fill the freezer this year.

Making spinach noodles. Not all was lost! Getting healthy...using our fresh goat milk and fresh eggs. Even ground my own wheat.

Some of the finished product hanging to dry. Can't wait to eat it with a bit of goats cheese and goat butter. Hmmm..... a little goat sausage could add some nice flavor!

Goats 2.0

2008-05-28T09:02:00.005-06:00

I awoke at 5:45 this morning, ready to get my morning chores done and onto the tasks of the day. Em had snuggled in bed beside me as she often does when her dad is out of town. She is just a week away from her thirteenth birthday, how time flies. I lay for a minute and listened to her gentle breath, a sharp contrast from Steve’s heavy snores. I stepped outside into 45 degree weather to fed and water the animals then headed up to the garden to get some hoeing done.

A thick cloud hung over the mountain and dropped down into the valley below. It has rained for the past two days now. The air was heavy with moisture. Drops of dew lined up from one end of the clothesline to the other and covered every blade of grass. This was a good morning to hoe the garden. As I set to work, I could hear the lonely cry of a train in the distance; amazing since the nearest tracks are two towns away. I could hear it steadily chug along, working its way across town toward its destination, the moan of the whistle slicing through the thick cloud. I steadily worked my way through the garden as well, leaving small piles of grass, dirt and weeds behind me.

As I hoed around a tomato plant, I unearthed a fork. Yet another piece of history from the old mining shack that once stood where my garden is. God must have known how much I dislike weeding my garden; He gave me the pleasure of unearthing artifacts along the way. It sure makes the job more fun. I picked up the fork and turned it over in my hand. I stood for a minute contemplating its past. If only I had the ability to give voice to inanimate objects. I wonder who it had the privilege of nourishing. I picture it setting beside a tin plate and cup on a primitive table, next to a fire that heats the meal about to be eaten. Could it have belonged to a family or perhaps a miner and those who worked along side him? Undoubtedly it silently took in conversation about the weather, the joys of a successful hunt and the sorrows of a loved one lost to illness or accident. I’ll never know the secrets it guards, but it will take a place in my growing collection, another piece of the unknown history and the unknown people that walked the very spot I do.

As I work, the new goats gently m-a-a-a-a-a in the background, hoping I’ll come spend some time with them. I feel like such a sissy farmer at times, I don’t have a tractor yet and I cry when my animals die. Last Thursday I lost Piglet to bloat. It was a warm, sunny afternoon, she was fine when I went to check on them at 3:30 and by 5 she was dead. I saw her on her side and ran down the hill to the pen. Her tongue was out and her face was cold to the touch. I covered her nose with my hand, hoping for the slightest of breath. But it was too late, she was gone. I yelled to Em to grab a knife. Too late to tube her or insert a trocar and cannula, I at least hoped that I could save her baby. Unfortunately, that also was not to be. The doeling was all black with a white blaze down her face and long white ears. She looked like a Nubian cross. I sat and cried, waves of failure washing over me as I held her lifeless body in my arms. It all happened so quickly. I felt the hot tears roll down my face and tasted their saltiness. Unable to bear the thought of her being eaten by coyotes, I grabbed a shovel and buried her, covering her grave with stones to keep the animals out. Although I should have, I couldn’t bring myself to dress Piglet out and put the meat in the freezer, so we took the 4-wheeler and hauled her carcass up over the ridge. Steve said he wouldn’t eat it, not 100% certain of what killed her, but nature will gladly take care of that.

Not one to give in to setbacks, yesterday the kids and I went to the goat dairy and got two replacements. Tigeris is Alpine Saanen cross and ready to drop her kids at any moment. Cheddar is Nubian Saanen cross and was one of the dairy’s top milkers last year. However she didn’t catch this year and they only breed once a year so wont spend the money to feed her for a whole year while out of production. I hope to get her bred this fall. Being the computer guy he is, Steve refers to the new ones as “Goats 2.0”. He commented that every time he leaves town, I get more animals. I think he is glad to be coming home tomorrow.

Piglet

Tigris, my alpine saanen cross. Every time I see her, I think Sound Of Music, "...High on a hill was a lonely goat yodel ay, yodel ay, yodel ay, he hooo."

Cheddar, my nubian saanen cross

The fork I found in my garden

The clothesline wet with dew

The broody hen hatched out 6 chicks last week. I love how they pop out of her feathers and can hide equally fast.

Old Man Winter

2008-05-14T11:09:00.008-06:00

Old man winter is attempting to hold on as long as he can. We awoke to a couple inches of snow this morning. As I lay in my warm bed contemplating getting up, I could see a sliver of white peeking into the room through the small crack between the window and the blinds. I arose and peered out to see a steadily-falling wet snow had covered every rock, tree and blade of grass on the mountain. As beautiful as it was, I wish old man winter would relinquish his grip and let spring dress the mountain in all her fine splendor. It is mid May after all.

Thanks to a hefty gust, the Quonset hut I had setting behind the chicken coop was resting upside down in the creek. I tried to drag it back up and out, but kept sliding back down the slippery bank; mud mixed with snow caked onto my jeans as I slid down time and time again. The cold wet snow was still falling, making my hair wet and chilling me to the bone. I gave up, figuring I need a little mechanical help. I’ll hook it up to the truck and pull it out in a couple days once things have dried up a bit. What was I thinking? The banks are a good 15 feet high there. Easy in, not so easy out.

Steve took the day off and we headed into town to run some errands. I had a contract job to do and a Craigslist item to pick up. Steve had an interview to conduct, so I hit a couple of thrifts while he was busy with that. I’m happy with my recent Craigslist find, a Ralph Lauren, King-sized feather bed. Did I mention Free? I have one, but the kids usually fight over it come November; so now we have solved that problem. “It belonged to my ex.” she explained, the pain evident in her eyes as they peeked out between her long wispy bangs. “He moved out and didn’t take it along, I want it gone.” Happy to help unload a bad memory while simultaneously gaining a feather bed, I loaded it in the back of the jeep and we drove off to the next errand.

After several more stops it was mid-afternoon and we headed home. The snow had mostly melted, making the road up the mountain a soupy mess. The mud was a good 6 inches deep in spots, had we not had 4WD we would never have made it up. It was a little unnerving as we slipped and slid around, knowing that in several places, just four or five feet away, was the edge of the road and a 200 foot drop. We made it safely home safely.

I tossed the feather bed in the cow tank with some homemade laundry soap and a small amount of bleach. I’m sure bleach is not the greatest thing for feathers, but I would just feel gross sleeping on or under it if I didn’t. I got out my antique laundry plunger and began plunging away. Steve came out with the camera and snapped a picture. He laughed when I asked “What’s with the camera? You act like you’ve never seen me do laundry before.” I thought it was heavy before I put it in the water…it was virtually impossible to get out of the tank once it was washed. Em and I wrestled it out inch by inch, wringing the water out as we went. It’s still sitting in the laundry basket draining. I’ll hang it on the line as soon as I can lift it!

Cleaning the feather bed. I don't look too happy about it. Intense concentration!

Some of my homemade laundry soap. Finely ground soap from the bars I made several months back mixed with a little borax

We had a brilliant, full double rainbow over the house, but I couldn't seem to capture it all in a picture. It stretched from one horizon to the other.

Work, Work, Work

2008-05-05T15:12:00.004-06:00

The weekend was spent working around the place. We walked the driveway hoeing and digging out Russian, Milk and Canadian Thistles, and Wooly Mullein along the edges. Its a half mile down and back. Originally, mullein was brought over from Europe by early settlers. It was used as a medicinal herb in the treatment of cough and diarrhea. As thick as they are around here, I think I’ll pass on the medicinal benefits. Unfortunately, the tiny seeds can germinate after lying dormant for many decades, so I guess we’re in for an annual chore. I will choose to look on the bright side; at least I have the comfort of knowing I’ll be well stocked if I ever run into a problem that way. Ok well, once I figure out what to do with it.

The does are fattening up on all the grass and weeds. Clover was quite scrawny, but now has a belly almost equal to Piglet’s. They have nearly cleared the front yard. Later this week they will be moved to the area around the septic field; lots of nice lush growth there as well. The goats seem to be keeping the eagles away. I had read they would in an on-line article, but was skeptical. Hmm, guess they may be right. Since they’ve moved in, I’ve only seen an eagle once and it was just passing by at a high altitude.

The chicks have adjusted well to the move to the big house. The hens seem to be leaving them well enough alone at this point. I’ve been introducing them to the hens for the past couple of weeks, so I think they will do well together. I did provide them a hiding place in the coop so they can feel secure when they need to. They spent half the day yesterday hiding out there peeking around the corner on occasion to size up the scary big guys running around them. But finally they came out and wandered around enjoying the grass and a few early bugs. Today they have really become curious about life outside the coop and have expanded their range. My broody hen seems to be doing well. The other hens continue to lay eggs in her next box, causing her difficulties in setting on them all at once. I’ve pulled a few more eggs out from under her that were unnumbered, being laid after she started setting. She has been good to let me reach under her and check a few of them. She mostly squawks a low growl and acts like she may peck if I linger. Hopefully she will have a successful hatch. I figure they should hatch around the 17th. Tonight I’ll be getting the new chicks back from the one of the kindergarten classes. They hatched out 26. I still don’t know how many hatched from the other class.

I decided to take my chances and plant my sweet corn, carrots and Zucchini today. Even though our official frost date is May 30th, the 15 day forecast puts us above freezing every night, so I figure I’ll take my chances. The carrots can take a light frost, and I can always water and cover the others if the weather looks sketchy. It’s supposed to rain later today, so I figured it would be good to get it in the ground and get a nice rain on it. Oh how I love the taste of home grown sweet corn. I’m planting four and a half 35’ rows of Kandy King Hybrid. At two ears per plant that’s 300 ears or 75 meals. I may need to get another freezer! I decided April 1st to quit grocery shopping and prepare meals from our stash for a while to make room for fall’s harvest and processed broilers. I’ve only made a small dent in my pantry so far, but my budget appreciates it.

Josh and his friend Cory moved the trailer up from along the driveway to behind the coop. It was a building trailer left by the previous owner and will make a nice place for a horse. It has a “tack shed” side with a window and enough room for equipment as well as many bales of hay. The other side will easily accommodate a horse. Now to jack it up, unbolt it from the trailer, and position it on a foundation and slab. That is a future project.

Peas popping up in the garden.

Getting ready to plant a row of corn. Potatoes are off to the right. Still waiting for those to show.

Two of the babies that moved out to the coop over the weekend. Both are half Araucana.

The broody hen. A bit unhpappy after I stole a few mislaid eggs from under her. She kinda looked like she was counting them.

My roo, a beautiful Rhode Island Red.

The Lawnmowers

2008-05-02T09:30:00.002-06:00

Josh had prom last Friday night. He looked so handsome in his tux. He forgot to bring the camera along to the pre-prom photo session at one of the guy’s homes, so I had to check out this friends’ MySpace pages to see pictures of him and his date. But, he had a great time and won a blockbuster gift pack at the after-party. He was sick again this year. Last year he had a 103 temp, but went anyway. This year it was just some cold symptoms.

I picked up two pregnant does Sunday. Milking goats, woohoo! Clover is a 2 year old tan-colored Alpine Spanish cross. Although I doubt she is a true Spanish cross as I understand Spanish are pretty hard to come by. People often refer to mixes as Spanish, so she is probably more like a Heinz 57. Piglet is a 1.5 year old white Alpine Saanen cross. Piglet is due maybe early July, Clover probably a month later. Either way, I see goat milk, cheese and soap in our future! I told Rachael they are my new lawnmowers. I had to revise that to mulching mowers when I brought one into the house to show her via Skype and it "mulched" on the floor. She thought it was hysterical, I did not. I have an 8x8 pen I move around the place and allow them to graze down the grass & weeds during the day. So far they are doing a great job!

I fixed up a pen in the coop for them to use at night. I think the hens have finally adjusted. Its definitely confined quarters, but the gal I bought them from insisted they like that. She had dog igloos in her sheep run and she said they sleep 3 or more to an igloo, so I guess they must. I need to cut a hole in the side wall and put a door in there so they can access the pen without waking though the hens’ area. Everyone will be happier the day that happens. They have a spot about 4x7 inside and a fenced run about 16x27 on the outside with a 4x4 doghouse so they have a choice of homes. They get locked up safe from the lions at night.

I’ve been selling eggs and processed broilers. It’ll be a nice little bit of income for my efforts. Once I’ve covered feed costs over the past year and the coop and the fencing, and….sigh. The eggs I donated to the kindergarten classes are hatching. From what I understand they have had a good hatch rate. Guess its time to move the latest babies out of the garage and into the coop to make room for more. I also had a hen go broody and she is setting on a clutch of 13 eggs. She is one I hatched out last summer. The nest box has 15 holes, but the hens all seem to prefer the box she is setting in, so her clutch has been growing. I finally got wise and numbered the eggs when she was off the nest. Now I know if there are extras and can pull them before they begin to develop. As it is, I will have to pull the incubator out and finish off those that were laid later in the house. Hopefully I can slip them under her at night after they hatch and she will take them as her own. Hopefully!

Well, the peas are up as is the spinach. Good thing they can survive a frost, as it has decided to snow. And it came down fast and furious. Wednesday it was 76 at our place Thursday they were forecasting 7-15” here. I hope its winter’s last hurrah. I never thought it would stick, but it did, we got about 5 inches on the ground total. Hopfully it will melt today.

Josh ready for prom

Piglet. My Alpine Sanaan cross.

Clover. My Alpine Spanish cross.

Nice picture of the snowfall. Ironically, this is the wagon I use in my garden.

Spring work

2008-04-21T12:22:00.002-06:00

Well, more work has been done on the garden, in fact enough to do some planting. Peas, potatoes, asparagus and spinach are in. Now to get a fence up before the deer figure it out. I borrowed a tiller from one of the neighbors and man did that make quick work of things. I had been turning the ground by hand with a shovel and pitchfork, but in about 2 hours I had made more progress than I had in the past 3 weeks combined. Oh it’s so good to have the right tool for the job! The tiller was a Craftsman 6.5 hp 17” rear tine heavy duty tiller. Boy was that baby sweet! I wrestled all 206 lbs of it up, down and across the slope for a few hours till I thought my arms just might fall off. Happily I report, they didn’t.

After making such quick work of things, I decided to expand my garden another 25-30% and create a berry patch. So thanks to Gurney’s great web coupons and B1G1 sales I am the proud owner of 100 strawberry plants, 9 blueberry bushes and 4 raspberry bushes. Now to get them in the ground and keep the bears away from my harvest.

Josh had a meet Saturday and did really well. His team has qualified for State in the 4x800 a few meets ago and they were attempting to qualify for the 4x400 this time. They just missed it. Maybe next meet. So far no schools in their division have qualified; they were hoping to be the first. They did take 6th out of over 30 schools in the 4x400. Josh had the final leg and he shot out like a rocket and held the lead in his heat till the end. After a few years of struggling, he finally has his run back. We’re looking forward to seeing him run in the state meet in Pueblo. In high school, I missed making state in the 1600 by 2 places, placing 6th in my district. I try not to think it could be a bit of vicarious living though him, but…

Steve & I hiked up our hill last weekend and spent he afternoon together just enjoying the views. Things are starting to green up a bit, finally. The hens are laying…a lot. And things are starting to come together around here. I helped Emily put a hammock up in a couple of trees in the creek, so when summer hits she can lay in the hammock in the coolness of the creek bottom and hide out from housework and the summer heat. Ok, I’ll admit, I did try it out for a while; it’s a nice, relaxing hide away. Sometimes it’s hard to keep focused on my work and the children’s ministry we lead with so much else vying for my attention.

Em has taken over Becca’s room and Steve has plans for a real office in Em’s old room. I’m still trying to organize and de-clutter around here. EBay has helped kick that process into high gear. There is always something to do around here.

Checking out the garden to see if I'm open for business yet. I bought a roll of 8' high fence. Hope it keeps em out! suppose they can read? No shoes, no shirt, no service!

After 5 loads of maure, the garden is ready to be tilled again.

After a few days of taking the long way up to the garden, I got a shovel and started to craft some steps. It decided to snow a bit one night and made for a nice picture.

A relaxing afternoon up on the hill. What a great view! If you could zoom in, you'd see the downtown Denver skyscrapers off toward the right.

The deer were brave and came up to the house to get the nice green tender new grass sprouting near the sidewalk. There were 18 plump does in the yard; we ought to see some new fawns here pretty soon.

Spring has sprung

2008-04-06T08:53:00.003-06:00

Spring is finally knocking on the door here. As I scan the mountains, the meadows are showing the slightest tinge of green as the grass peaks out from its winter sleep. Groundcover with small purple flowers cover the front yard, reminding me of the wonderful abundance of wildflowers to come. We sat on the porch Saturday morning taking in the beauty and basking in the warmth. Between sips of coffee, Steve makes reference to the flower of the month, as it seems a new type of flower comes into bloom every few weeks. My favorite is the daisy-like bush that flowers all summer long and grows to about 2-3 feet in diameter, covered with hundreds of quarter-sized bright yellow daisies.

The garden is still in process. Seems when the kids are old enough to really work, they go off and work for someone else. For some reason, money in the hand has a lot more draw than “I provide food and a roof over your head” does. The kids were on spring break this past week, but due to frequent snows, working for money and hanging out with friends, not much outside work was accomplished. Rachael was here for the week too. We had a great time, but she kept me pretty busy wanting to see the hens and chicks. I tried to get her to play with Emily for a while, but after a few minutes she was back. “Well, Aunt Neice, she is just a little boring, I don’t appreciate her style of playing” rolled out of her four-year-old mouth. What’s an aunt to do? Also in the past two weeks, I’ve put some things up on EBay. That took some effort since I haven’t sold on there in ages. So far so good, my plan is to spend the year selling off things as I de-clutter.

Style is everything when it comes to teens. Josh loves to wear holey pants, you know, the kind that look like they could disintegrate at any moment for any reason. He came home from youth last Sunday night and I noticed oddly enough that his pants were missing the back side of one leg. Seems they were playing tag and someone grabbed his pant leg from behind and the pictures tell the rest of the story. I laughed till I cried. Good thing he wears short underneath.

Both sad and beautiful emotions ran through me as I watched an eagle swoop down not more than 50 feet from me and grab one of my newest little hens….while I was outside, the nerve of some eagles. Its massive dark-brown wings stretched a good 6-10 feet across as it gracefully yet swiftly neared the ground and grabbed my chick in its clutches. It was there and gone in just a split second. Instinctively I hollered and ran after it. She was a beautiful Auracona mix that I was looking forward to raising. Steve shrugs it off, “Someone has to feed the eagles around here” he says. I figure I lose about half to the wildlife. I’ll hopefully have more since I’m providing 6 dozen eggs to 2 schools for their “little peeps” project…thanks Craigslist. They will go in the incubator this Wednesday. Fingers crossed that they will have a good hatch rate and I’ll have more little ones running around. The hens are now laying a dozen eggs a day, so I’ve started selling eggs as well. Hopefully I’ll make enough to cover the cost of feed.

The Garden

2008-03-13T12:54:00.007-06:00

We’ve been busy lately, getting things ready for spring and getting Becca into her own apartment. Boo hoo! Its not like we saw a lot of her anyways, and I hear from other moms, that they see more of their kids after they first move out, we’ll see. I hope so. Gas was just too expensive since she is working 2 counties away from ours, she opted to pay rent and move close to work. Its not real official, she isn’t changing her address or anything, giving it a few months and is keeping the door open to move back in if it doesn’t work out. She’ll be sharing an apartment with a friend from church. It’s a pretty new complex in a good part of town and since she works with the police department, she had the inside scoop on where the safest complexes are. I see a sense of satisfaction and independence in her that is pretty cool. Time to try her wings.

Here on the homestead I’ve been working on the garden. I have changed proposed garden spots several times, but finally settled on a spot up the hill behind the house that gets a reasonable amount of sunlight. I had seen part of a foundation and a set of steps up there and assumed a barn had previously resided there. However as I began to dig I suspected it was a house and sure enough after inquiring of one of the longtime neighbors I learned there was an old mining shack there. It housed some miners in the area. I suspected there is a mineshaft nearby as we have lots of bats every summer around the house. The UPS guy mentioned an old copper mine just down the hill a ways. I have to ask the neighbors about that and see what they know. I know there is an abandon shaft near the firehouse at the bottom of the mountain. Josh has been in it, says it was a hang out, evidenced by the chairs, card table, and numerous beer bottles.

Anyhow, I dug up some interesting but worthless artifacts where the shack was. Tons of nails and glass, part of a spoon, a couple broken medicine bottles, the sole of a shoe, furniture parts, buttons, scissors, belt buckles, an arrow head and tons of empty rife shells. I dreamed of doing an archeological dig when I was a kid and loved the school field trips to Fort Atkinson to see the museum and dig there, so this was pretty cool even though it wasn’t of much value. I got enough items to fill a gallon pail from just a 2x3’ square. I figure at this rate it will take me years to dig it all, so I decided to go ahead with the garden as planned and just dig a bit more of it each year.

A tree was growing up right in the middle of the spot, so that was removed. It was pretty close to the house and I think when they dug out the hill to build the house they cut into its drip line. Last fall it breathed its last breath. Josh & his friend cut it down for me one day last week. They assured me they knew what they were doing. I tried to remember that as it fell directly toward the house. I had the camera out and ready, documenting the work, but ya know when it fell toward the house, taking a picture of the fall was pretty much the last thing on my mind. Way behind things like “OOOOH CRAP!!!” “Steve’s gonna kill me,” “and the insurance company isn’t going to be too fond of me either” “Oh look there goes Josh hanging onto the rope sliding down the hill” and a host of other random thoughts all flashing through my brain at lightening speed in the second or two that it took to hit the ground. I am happy to report that it managed somehow to miss the house by just a matter of feet. The UPS guy just happened to be delivering a package, so he stopped and watched the whole thing unfold and got a good chuckle out of it, equally impressed that it missed the house.

I spent the rest of the day clearing the visible stones from the 18x33 garden space, creating 2 piles, one on each end of the garden, both piles about 5’ across, along with lots of sticks and tons of grass that I’ll compost and turn back into the soil in a year or two. I’ve got some chain link I’ll put up with some hog panels welded over the top to keep the deer out. Still lots to do for sure.

The 6 chicks that hatched late January were moved to the coop today. I put up a fence to get them used to the big guys but yet keep them safe. At night I’ll move them back into the garage and in a few weeks they should be safe enough to release in with the rest.

On a sad note, the roos killed Hopper the one-legged chicken. I thought she was finally safe. She just started coming out when I fed the rest of the gang and didn’t seem to get picked on or chased away any more, but one afternoon when I went up to gather eggs I found her dead in the chicken yard. It was sad as she used to follow me around and hide from the roosters behind me. Survived a bobcat attack, but succumbed to the roosters. My newest roos are more aggressive...well, were…they are in the freezer now.

Josh with the chainsaw....here goes. Behind the lens, I'm kinda hoping he knew what he was doing.

Knocking out the chock with a maul.

For some reason, this picture makes me laugh. Surveying the damage so far and figuring out how to proceed from there. I think the concensus was "hmm, we got a long way to go."

There goes the tree, just missing the house, draging Josh behind it. I laughed, "Did you think you'd hold it back?" He laughed, "I just was hoping to sway it to the side a bit." It actually fell slightly to the side and in doing so missed the house. Maybe next time he'll take my advice and tie it off somewhere behind. But then again, I guess his way worked.

Cutting up the spoils. We'll appreciate the wood next winter.

The new garden spot, now to get it tilled and get a fence up.

My new clothes line I had him put in too. I used to use a rope tied across the back porch.

The Town Clinic

2008-02-27T13:51:00.004-07:00

As my sister is fond of saying, I live in "the middle of nowheresville.” The closest town is 10 miles away and consists of oh, I don’t know, maybe about 200 inhabitants. Although at any given time only about 5 can be seen wandering aimlessly around town. And in reality those are probably either tourists or local cyclists. So “town” may be too big a word. Maybe it’s more like a village or perhaps a large extended household. Guess that should have been the first indicator.

Believe it or not, there does happen to be a clinic in town, right next to the local tavern…ummm, ok, second indicator. Well, I figured I’d check it out on something of a minor nature. You know, see how they do, compared to the big town further away. The Dr, after all, had privileges at the main hospital in the next town and it would be handy to not have to travel 50 miles for medical attention. So I called and made an appointment to have a mole removed. I have this crazy mole on my lower eye lid that I had when I was a kid. I was so self conscious about it growing up, assuming everyone was staring at it as they talked to me. It’s size is less than half a grain of rice, but it may as well have been neon and blinked. I had it removed when I was about 19 or so and for some random reason 20 some years later it decided to grow back.

So I call and set up an appointment to have it removed. Mind you it’s the size of a pin head, but still, I haven’t outgrown the self-conscious nature of it, so ya, its going bye bye. The receptionist asks in great detail its location, size, how far in on my eye, which eye, etc. I felt we had covered more than enough aspects in regards to this thing. Oh, by the way, I tell her, I have another one on the top of my head, may as well take both off at once.

Well, I arrive at my appointment to find out the Dr. is on vacation. A nurse practitioner will do the dirty work. I guess the Dr. didn’t tell the staff he would be out? Indicator three. So I’m in the procedure room waiting and looking around. Ok, this room is quite disorganized and is doing triple duty; it’s a linen room, equipment storage room, procedure room, maybe even the lunch room….indicator four.

The nurse walks in to take my blood pressure, “So you have a wart were removing?” Uh, no not exactly, it a mole…guess that would be indicator five. “Oh where?” I show her my eye. She continues to take my vitals. “Ok, the nurse practitioner will be right in.” So after several more minutes of thumb twiddling and fighting off the temptation to play around with the equipment in the room, in comes the nurse, peanut butter sandwich in hand…na, not really. She was nice, but articulated the same question, “So you have a wart we’re removing?” Ok, so I figure I have two options, run or run fast. I answer again “Um no, actually it a mole and there are two of them” “Oh, where?” “Here on my eye-” at which she quickly responds, “Oh, we don’t do eyes here,” Gee I guess someone didn’t notify the receptionist of that before she scheduled me. I’ve lost count of indicators here. “But I can take care of the one on your head.” She proudly continues.

I’m feeling the guinea pig type today, so I agree. She takes a few squirts with the freezing thing and is done in about oh, two seconds. “Now, if I didn’t get it all, I have the name of a great plastic surgeon in the city that can make sure it’s gone.” Ok maybe you can give me my 20 dollars back then? I fantasize asking. Because you didn’t use enough freezing stuff to make an ice cube for a flea.

Well, I learned a lesson that is worth the $20 I threw away. Don’t go to the clinic in town with anything worse than a mild hangnail. Good thing they are located so close to the tavern, I needed a stiff drink after that. Ok, well, I don’t drink. I gave it fleeting consideration, but had to leave the clinic straight for the dentist’s office. He was equally skilled.

The trip to RMNP

2008-02-22T09:59:00.002-07:00

It seems the weather has decided to give in to time’s forward march; days are becoming slightly warmer and the sun comes out much more often, warming the farmstead with its rays. The chicks have graduated out to the garage. They were in a box in the master bath till they realized life exists outside the box. I could no longer keep them contained to their known world, so they are in a 12’ swimming pool in the garage. Freedom has expanded their feistiness; I managed to capture a nice picture of a couple of the roos sparring. The Chicks I hatched last summer from my sister Julie’s hens’ eggs have started laying, the tiny pullet eggs are so cute. I think I ended up with only 2 roosters from that batch, what great odds!

In a nearby town there is a renowned goat dairy, their cheese used around the world, a secret blend of seven different breeds’ milk. Through a relative of a friend I may be privileged to purchase a couple of their does for the farm here. I have wanted to find a couple of nice milking goats so fingers crossed, it may happen soon. If so, I will put a door in the chicken coop and wall off a portion for them, with a pen on the outside and plans to tie them out during the day to graze. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to make butter, cheese and soap.

Steve had Monday off, but the kids had to work, it was turning out to be a pretty nice day, so we took Em up to Rocky Mountain National Park with plans to do a bit of hiking. Turns out temps were in the low 20s with winds near 40 mph there, so we didn’t get much of a chance to hike. We jumped out here and there to snap some pictures and try not to get blown away in the gusts. Although it was too chilly to hike, it was still a fun time. At one point a gust came up just as I was taking a step, I was literally blown off my feet. The Christmas classic echoes through my head, “Good thing bumbles bounce.” My neck was sore for a few days from the snap as I landed, but otherwise I walked away unhurt.

I met Melissa & Rae for Breakfast today, returning Gato the dog to them. I still laugh at Rae’s sense of humor in her choice of names. My faith taught me you don’t call the cat if you want the dog; however I guess this is an exception to that rule. Our pastors Mickey & Scott happened to drop in for a cup of coffee while we were there, so we got opportunity to chat for a few moments before heading out the door and back to the day’s tasks.

Taxes are almost done; we’ll be getting a refund, hot dog. Last year we owed quite a bit, but this year we have the mortgage, so that softens the tax blow a bit. However, I’ll dance a jig the day we have the place paid off, I can’t see paying the bank a dollar to get .25 back from the government. A nice barn is on my short list of improvements as soon as that happens, but unfortunately that’s a ways down the road.

Em posing on a rock between gusts

The effects of the wind on the snow caps, a beautiful sight.

I'll never tire of the beauty, its just incredible.

The newest rooster chicks setting up pecking order.

The Elk

2008-02-14T22:19:00.006-07:00

Well, its been a while since I've posted, but that's mainly because nothing is happening around here these days. I guess I could have posted.....cold and snowy, cold and snowy, cold and snowy. I keep reminding myself that spring is not too far off. In my mind, it seems every year the current winter is the longest winter ever. No different this year. Why does summer seem to fly by yet winter drags on?

We had some great weather Tuesday and Wednesday. I shouldn't complain, it actually got up to 68 on Wednesday, that was before we got totally slammed with 5" of snow and 25 degree temps just 6 hours later. Like I said, cold and snowy....

Wednesday was just too nice a day not to get out, so I took the girls and we headed up to Estes for a bit. The elk were out on the golf course, I got some great pics of them. They are so used to people, that we were able to get within about 15 feet.

I got another of those great unexpected gifts in the mail this week. Mom sent me a very cool book, "MaryJane's Ideabook Cookbook Lifebook for the Farmgirl in all of us. I highly recommend it. Along with some beautiful pictures its got lots of great ideas and how-to's for the homesteader. Its full of recipes, sewing tips, gardening ideas and many lost-art how-to's, like darning socks and making aprons.

The best part of all was the inscription inside the front cover."To my very own sweet little farm girl. They can take the girl out of the country, but they can't take the country out of the girl." Those are words I've heard my mom echo at every turn; when she saw my first extensive garden complete with 9 different fruit trees to my pantry full of 12 cases of peaches I had canned one summer, to the time she found out I had 28 chickens in my suburban back yard. And, she is right, all those years of city living were pure torture to the farm girl in me. I finally feel at home for the first time in a really long time. I awaken still in awe of the beauty that surrounds me and thanking God for the blessing of living in such a serene place and for the opportunity to take it all in.

Another incredible sunrise from the front porch.

Elk cow, pausing for a second to gaze up at us

Elk on the golf course. The ground was covered in.....well, you know. I bet the golfers hate that.

The Weekend

2008-02-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

Friday I met Melissa & Rachael for lunch. We had a nice time. I then took Rachael to the thrift store for a quick shopping trip. She wanted to go with me to the airport to pick Uncle Steve up from his China trip, but I talked her into the thrift next door to the cafe instead. She was excited to find a dish set still in the original box and shrink wrap. It was a deal at .99 so I gave her some money and she paid the man and proudly brought it home.

Saturday I picked up some heirloom garden seeds from a guy off Craigslist. I'm excited to get my garden started. I got 19 different varieties of seeds from watermelon to squash to green beans, carrots, leeks, tomatoes and a few things in between. I've got a lot of work ahead of me between now and harvest. One of the first items on the list is to get the garden area marked off and put a fence up around it to keep the deer and rabbits out. I've got another connection from Craigslist for a pretty unlimited supply of composted manure to get a good base going. The ground has a dozen or more boulders sticking up a foot in the air, and I'm sure it's just the tip of the boulder so to speak. I will have to do raised beds if I plan to grow anything. It's still a little early at this point. I'd like to start a few things indoors, but I need a heat mat or similar to keep the seeds from rotting. I've thought about just using the heating pad, but I think its best to wait till the time is right.

Steve has been slow to recover from jet lag, he slept a bit today. Hopefully tomorrow he will feel like himself again. We hung out at church this afternoon and watched the first half of the Super Bowl. Em wasn't feeling well today, so we came home at half time. Tomorrow its back to school and work for everyone.

The Gift

2008-01-23T22:43:00.000-07:00

Well, much to my surprise, over the weekend the chicks hatched. I had some trouble with the incubator and was unsure of their outcome. I think I just keep it too cold in the house for the incubator to keep a constant temp. During the day, the sun heats the house up nicely and then in the evening it gets downright cold. Anyhow, one day in particular I had trouble keeping the temp up even with the incubator wrapped with towels, so I turned it up several times over the course of the day and then by morning I awoke and it was 104.2. I was pretty certain I had done them all in, but much to my delight, 6 of them hatched. I do feel quite bad about the rest though. They were just 2 days from hatching when they got overheated. Some were duds, but most were developed. I feel like such a bad chicken mommy. Once it warms up a bit more, I plan to get both incubators running and hatch out a bunch.

We picked Josh up from his Tulsa trip yesterday and used some of Steve’s hotel points for a hotel stay just for fun. We had such an enjoyable time together. Steve has an élite status from staying so often that they furnished our room with complimentary candy bars, snacks and drinks. Also we enjoyed the manager’s hour and had a light dinner on the house, as well as a free appetizer at the restaurant. We sent the kids off to swim while we enjoyed our time over some delicious Bruschetta. A nice hot breakfast awaited us this morning, and then it was back to school and back to the real world. It was fun while it lasted though.

I got a surprise package in the mail today. You know that special person in your life, the cheerleader who always remembers birthdays and gets just as excited about your life as you are? That person is my Aunt Sis. She is technically Steve’s aunt, but I claim her as mine. The kids can always count on a birthday card from Aunt Sis. I can hardly remember my own birthday; how she remembers and gets cards in the mail on time is truly remarkable.

Well, today I got a box from Aunt Sis with a really wonderful gift inside. What is it about an unexpected gift that makes it all the more special? Of course I tore the paper off the box like I was 3 years old, tossing shreds of it around the car. Did you think I would wait till I got home to open it? I opened the box to reveal the most beautiful afghan, and an equally wonderful letter from Aunt Sis. She said it was a prayer blanket that she had started long ago. And that she prays while she crochets, first that it would actually resemble a blanket when she is finished. I must say she did an absolutely wonderful job; resembled a very fine blanket to me. She also prays that the person she gives it to will be happy and healthy. She said she started it simply because she loved the colors but knew from reading my blog that she was to finish it for me. What an honor to receive such a blanket, one fashioned from love just as much as from the yarn that went through her fingers. She wanted me to be reminded of the coming of spring and of her love for me and my family. She didn’t know when she started it that spring is my favorite season, and pastels, my favorite colors. Also, I doubt she remembered that the orchid and purple were our wedding colors, orchid being my favorite color. It was as if God himself chose the yarn. When I opened it the colors spoke to me, the purples of God’s love and commitment to me like a marriage, the pastel greens of his promise to lead me to green pastures and the pastel yellows of happiness and warmth. I cherish the gift of that blanket, and I cherish the gift of Aunt Sis in my life.

I love it when God sprinkles people into our lives. There is the cake, and the icing on the cake, and then there are the sprinkles. The sprinkles are those that God flings into our lives for the shear purpose of making it more meaningful, more significant, and more beautiful. I thank God for those He has chosen to sprinkle into my life.

A chick hatching

What a bunch of fine looking chicks.

A close up of the beautiful afghan Aunt Sis crocheted. The picture doesn't do the rich, vibrant colors justice.

A pattern here

2008-01-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I've noticed a pattern here. Every time Rachael comes to visit I can't blog for days, sometimes weeks. I was on a roll and then, wham no posts for a while. Rae is visiting Granny and Papa for two weeks, ha, not sure why I find that funny, but I do. Of course she Skypes me every day and was utterly thrilled to find out that I have a camera now and can see her. I had to watch her dance, jump, hop, skip, stick her tongue out and make faces. In fact at her request and much to her amusement I joined her. "Okay hop now aunt neice, okay freeze, okay hop, now freeze. Let me see you stick your tongue out" It went on for 30 minutes at least, it felt like longer. "Do you see me twirling? Now what am I doing?" Oh the joys of technology. Of course I had to go to the garage and bring Hopper the one-legged-chicken in for a camera appearance. She was beside herself when Hopper talked to her. Oh to be four again.

The only other thing she wanted from me besides doing crazy stunts before the camera was to explain to her over and over and over how to take care of chickens. She is pretty sure she will be taking some chicks home to live in her bedroom. "Should I just make a glass house or a metal house for them? I think I can just teach them to talk and also to go potty on the toilet, wouldn’t that be a great idea aunt neice?" She didn't like my recommendation for little chicken diapers; I thought they would fit nicely in the "little chicken suitcases" I convinced her were necessary and talked her into making, maybe it will give Granny and Papa a break for 20 minutes. Her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning when I told her that the eggs in the "inking bator" as she calls it, wiggle when they are turned over. She thought maybe we could just crack one and look at it. She returns home Saturday, the same day the chicks are supposed to start hatching, oh boy. I see a visit from her in my near future. If my posts slack off, you'll know she was here.

On another note, Josh leaves for Tulsa tomorrow. He is going to Winter Retreat at the church we used to attend there. He was told by several of the youth that it was announced at Wednesday youth service that he was coming back and the room erupted in applause and cheers. What a great feeling that must have been he had so many friends there and was greatly missed when we moved. I'm happy we could send him back; it means so much to him.

It’s been cold lately, dipping down below zero last night. It’s so beautiful here, but I am ready for spring. I admit, I'm a wimp, enough of the cold and snow already. Think I'll start my tomato seed soon, maybe tomorrow. I plan to grow them in pots on the upper balcony this year. The deer and rabbits find them too tempting. Some day I'll have a nice fenced in garden, but for now I have to keep them out of reach, kinda like the eggs in the inking bator.

A Beautiful Day

2008-01-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

Today was an incredibly beautiful day. Starting with an amazing sunrise and ending with Em and I watching a nearly 400 head herd of elk in the meadow behind the house as the sun slipped behind the mountain. The sunrises lately have been so colorful, just amazingly beautiful.

I candled a few more eggs, all seem to be developing. Rachel came today, I showed her the developing chicks. She really wanted to pet one of them, um, kind of impossible at this point and also a bit messy I’d suppose.

Washing a few pans at the kitchen sink late this morning, I noticed some elk up in the meadow behind our house. There were about 35-40 that I could see. I got the binoculars and went upstairs for a better view. I kept an eye on them off and on all day as they made their way down the draw and toward the house. At about 4:00 I noticed they were just 100 yards or so behind us and talked Em into hiking up onto the boulder behind the house to take a look. We brought the camera and the binoculars.

As we got up near the top of the ridge, our view was expanded and we realized the extent of the herd. At one point I counted 364, a good mix of cows and bulls. One in particular had an enormous rack. He must have weighed 1000-1200 lbs. Yum, he would have made some good elk burgers.

They were aware of our presence, but just kept a cautious eye on us, looking up from their grazing every now and then as they made their way further down the draw past our granite perch. Early tomorrow I plan to drag Steve up to see them; hopefully they have bedded down for the night not too far away.

As the sun slipped behind our peak and dusk began to creep upon us we headed back down to the house. The sunset was just as breathtaking as the sunrise; a beautiful end to a truly wonderful day.

Sunrise

Em on the rock

Our view of the elk

Another view of the elk. All the little dots in the background are elk too. This picture represents about 1/5 of the herd.

Our view to the south

Beautiful sunset

Another picture of the sunset from the front porch. We've just got a little bit of snow. Although a big storm is supposed to hit tomorrow night or Sunday.

The Chicken Eggs

2008-01-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

We bought Josh an airline ticket to OK for winter retreat. It was only $5 with all the miles that we've accumulated. Not bad for a weekend with is friends in a good Christian setting. He and the youth pastor were so close; it is great that they can spend some time together again. When we moved to CO, he stayed behind for almost a month with the youth pastor and his wife and their family; in fact he would still be there if we didn’t force him to finally move to CO with us.

I got a 20.00 coupon from a seed catalog company, so I've been perusing the catalog, it covers shipping as well, so I can get a couple of things for free or nearly free. I'm looking at getting a Stevia plant or two. It would be great if I could get them to grow and not have to buy sugar as much. I love using Stevia in tea and such. It can be used in baking as well, although I’ve never tried it.

My sister Melissa is coming over tomorrow; she said she’d help do a few more chickens if I wanted. By the way, the eggs in the incubator are developing. I candled 10 and I can see chicks in 9. The 10th had too thick/dark of a shell to be able to see if it is developing, but I have no reason to think it wouldn't be. They kind of look like a spider, with the chick as the small spider body, and the veins as legs. I can see the eye as a small dark pinpoint of blackness. I’m so excited they actually are developing. For one I wasn’t sure what fertility rate I had and second, some of the eggs had gotten pretty chilled in the nest boxes before I brought them in so I wasn’t sure how viable they were. This will be the 3rd batch I’ve hatched out, and the first batch from my own hens. I’ve got 20 eggs total, which I expect to hatch on the 20th, give or take a day. Probably a day or two later since I’ve had trouble keeping the temperature up, it tends to want to hang at a degree or two lower than it should be; probably because we keep the house so chilly.

Rachel is coming tomorrow with Melissa; she will be spending the night. I’m excited for that. She is so much fun to have around. Pretty Boy will be accompanying her. Melissa says she tells everyone “this is my niece’s dog.” Too funny, as I now too get to say this is my niece’s dog. She also decided to change his name to “Gato,” a tribute to her dry sense of humor. She has a truly curious sense of humor for a four year old.

Here are the eggs, I added 2 more (a green & a large brown) for a total of 20. They are written on so I know which way is up, they have to be rotated several times a day or the chick will die.

In the incubator. They are not up to temp as I had just opened it and placed all the eggs inside. It took several hours to get to the correct temperature.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T17:12:00.000-07:00

It was a cold morning; 11 on my thermometer when I awoke. Melissa came over around 8 or 9 a.m. and helped butcher some chickens. We got 10 done before I decided to call it quits. I awoke with a headache this morning that I just couldn't shake and by chicken number 10 I was done. She was a big help, even bringing her own knives and sharpening stone. Even Steve got in the act, plucking 2 of them. I was bummed that 2 ended up being hens. They were the bantams, and I didn't want to keep them, but I was still bummed. I had two new hens that had just started laying a couple days ago, but had no idea it was the bantams. Oh well, in the end I had to remind myself that I didn't want bantams in the flock. I have several more chickens to do, hopefully later on this week. They are starting to get crowded and there are just too many roos out there.

By the way, my headache was not due to my New Year's Eve partying, but rather that of the entire youth group who invaded our home last night and stayed till around 1 a.m. or a little later. lots of energy and noise. They had fun and it was nice to be able to host them. I hate to say, but I'm already looking forward to going to bed tonight. I'm so sleep deprived that I didn't realize it was actually 2008 till about 2:00 this afternoon. Does that mean we have the youth group over a little too often??

I have a feeling I'm fighting something too. Headache, muscles ache, brain fog and I just can't get warm today. we turned the heat up, but it hasn't helped much, neither did the 4 Tylenol that I popped earlier this afternoon. Its been years since I've taken a pain reliever, but even so 2 did nothing for me and the 2 more I popped shortly thereafter didn't seem to help much either; I still have a bit of aching running down the back of my head and neck.I'm sure a little extra sleep will help a bunch.

Hope everyone had a great 2007 and and I hope that 2008 is great!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a really great Christmas that was all you wanted it to be. We had a nice day here. For the first time in 22 Christmases we stayed home and celebrated by ourselves. I must say I did miss the relatives, the hubbub, staying at parents’ homes, all the food and festivities. But with the kids’ schedules becoming harder to coordinate, I think it was time to make the leap to a new set of traditions. Hopefully the kids will come home for Christmas for a long while.

My sister Melissa and my niece Rachael joined us for the day. It was snowing where they were at; they had gotten about 4 inches when she left home. But by the time they got to town here, the roads were dry. I met her at the base of the mountain and we took the 4WD up. It started to snow here shortly thereafter and it snowed off and on all day; it was nice to have a white Christmas. We enjoyed some sticky rolls for breakfast with a fire in the fireplace and Christmas tunes on XM. Steve’s dad makes sticky rolls every Christmas morning; it just wouldn’t quite be the same without carrying on that tradition. It was so much fun to see a little one who still believed in all the magic of Christmas opening gifts. I had picked her up 10 or so little trinket gifts and Melissa brought a few along from home as well. Every gift was opened with squeals and words of delight. She chattered on incessantly about each one.

The ham from the neighbor was really good, we enjoyed it for dinner. I have a pot of bean soup on the stove this morning from the bone and some scraps. I also bagged up portion sizes, enough for 4 meals and put a large baggie in the fridge for sandwiches for the week. We had a fresh veggie tray, potato casserole (a family tradition), homemade rolls, and salad. Not a fancy meal, but healthy and filling.

Rae was hysterically funny as usual, filling the day with her antics. We laughed till we cried. At one point in the meal, Melissa corrected her for displaying a mouth full of food to everyone while singing and dancing a jig on her chair. She got embarrassed and went to hide. A couple minutes later she was spying on us from behind the living room couch. Steve spotted her and she went to turn. She slipped, landing face first on the floor, cutting her lip slightly. I will say, her moments of anguish are just as dramatic as her happy ones. Although it bled a bit, it was just a tiny cut to the inside of her upper lip. She insisted relentlessly that we put a band-aid on it. We tried to explain it wouldn’t stick and had actually stopped bleeding already, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. At four years old, a Band-aid fixes a lot. So, I broke out the Band-aids and Melissa went to work. We laughed till we cried once again.

They took our greyhound home with them. He is just too much of a city dog for us. If I had an actual fenced-in yard, it would be a different story, but I have to take him out on a leash anytime he is out. Melissa goes for trail runs or some other outing daily, so he seems to be a better fit for them, as he enjoys being able to run and get out a bit. Rae of course loves him; she played with him constantly whenever she visited. Melissa says they both are quite sleep deprived at this point, but I’m sure all her loving will level out. She told me Rae napped on a blanket beside him on the living room floor. I’m glad he is going to a loving home. And of course I get to dog sit when Melissa travels.

I hate to think of taking the tree down and putting the decorations away for another year. We’ve had such a wonderful holiday season. I am looking forward to 2008 I think it too will be a wonderful year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

The kids opening gifts

Rae showing off a candy bracelet

Rae with the band-aid on her lip

A Blustery Day

2007-12-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

I’ve begun collecting eggs to put into the incubator once again. I plan to collect them for a week to 10 days and then put what I have in and see how they do. I figure the chicks will be big enough to put out in the coop by the end of March. The roosters are crowing like old pros now. I intended to process a bunch them during the 2 warm days we had last week, but one day was extremely windy and the other was filled with work and necessary errands. I’m hoping to have a few warm days in January to take care of that business. My sister Melissa wants to watch and help, so I hope we can work it out. As of now, with the price of feed, they are eating me out of house and home.

The neighbor closest to us, about ¾ mile away, brought up a Christmas gift basket last night. I was so blown away by their generosity. I had taken eggs over to them this fall and occasional loaves of home made focaccia bread, but really hardly know much about them. I did Google his name a month or two after we moved in and found out he invented something to better process fossil fuel and then sold his business to the tune of 80 million, so I guess he can afford to be generous, I just didn’t expect it. I feel a bit awkward, I was going to take over some home baked cookies, but after the lovely gift basket they showered us with, cookies seem a little trite. The gift basket included a nice 9 lb spiral cut honey ham, some nuts, cheese ball, crackers, fancy imported chocolates and a box of assorted tea. I hadn’t picked up a ham yet, but I can tell you, it wasn’t going to be anything like that. What a blessing! Our hunter friend Ben told me Sunday he has a goose for us as well. Anymore, it seems every time I turn around God is pouring out an unexpected blessing; and like just God it is bigger and better than I would have thought of for myself.

While here, they asked if we have seen the lions much. Of course Steve & I have yet to see them. Turns out just last week he was checking on his horses and came upon a fresh lion kill at the spring just to the north east of our place. There were 2 adults and 2 of this years cubs feeding on a deer just 200 feet from our house. He said one charged him and he backed off. They normally are loners and they normally don’t charge adults so not sure what was up with that. Just 2 weeks ago the neighbor on the other side of us had them attack and kill two of their pets. I guess it’s good that we haven’t seen them.

It turned a bit colder today, starting out at 42 this morning and ending up at about 22 as I sit here typing. The winds were howling further up the mountain, although we did get a bit of a blast here at the house as well, with winds gusting to about 40 mph. It started snowing at about 11 a.m., just small flurries swirling around in the wind. As the day wore on, the flakes began to grow in size and intensity till it finally decided to stop around 4 this afternoon. For all the snow, not much really stuck; we probably have about an inch on the ground. I think it was thanks to the earlier warm temperatures.

As I looked out around the time it started to snow and noticed a small herd of elk cows moving across the meadow. I counted about 30. The grazed all day and by dark had begun to work their way up the mountain to find a safe spot to bed down for the night. I hope to see them work their way back down in to the meadow in the morning. It would be nice if they would hang out here for the winter. Several weeks ago I saw 11 bull elk cross our land in about the same place.

About 18 of the elk, the rest were further down in the draw, hidden in the trees.

Savoring the Season

2007-12-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Christmas is just around the corner. This year I am relishing every minute of the preparations; cookie baking, tree trimming, carols, gift wrapping, the old Christmas cartoons, and all the rest. I’m not even minding the antsy-ness of the kids too much. Em has been bugging to open a gift early for the last two weeks; so far I’ve just laughed it off, telling her she has to wait. I did tell her that it’s an old German tradition, and one my family used to observe, to open one gift a day early. I think it must have originated with the very smart idea to relieve parents of the incessant bouncing off the walls that goes on in the days leading up to the Christmas celebration. We may keep with tradition and open just one a day early.

I’ve been working on some cards, mostly for the folks at church; sorry to the rest of you, I am pretty bad about getting cards & letters out anymore. At least I can have a little feeling of accomplishment knowing that a few people will actually be getting a card from me before the actual day passes. And, we have a lot of news this year to share, oh well, maybe next year. I put it on my list of goals to accomplish next year. Ya, well don’t hold your breath on that. Anyhow, cards and getting gifts wrapped and delivered to neighbors, teachers and the like, has taken up my time the last couple of days, and I’ve really enjoyed the creative outlet it has provided.

I’ve been contemplating my goals for next year. I have a long list, for sure. The move side-tracked me in some ways and I look forward to a new season and a new opportunity to get back on track in those areas. I can tell you the urgent is not always the important and the important is not always urgent, and yet I tend to get caught up in the urgent. Laundry has to be done now, bills have to be paid now, unpacking this, that or the other, etc. It is easy to set aside the important, the time with the kids, time with God, etc. because it is seldom urgent. That’s something I plan to work on this year.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the last two weeks thinking about what direction I want to be going in 2008. It is sort of humbling to me when I take time to assess where I am, where I have come from, and where I want to be. I’m thankful to have what I have and to be where I am in life, and yet there is so much more that know I can be doing and accomplishing or maybe should have done and accomplished by now. But I think to press on and continue to reach toward the mark even when we have fallen short of our ideals is crucial to future success. So I have a list and a plan for this coming year that I hope to knock out. I’ll keep you posted on how that is coming along.

Here are a few of the cards I've made over the last couple of days.

Em's teacher gift. Her teacher has been so great, I was excited to make her gift extra special.

Soap

2007-12-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I made soap this past week and although I wasn’t sure how it would turnout going into it, it seems like I ended up with a nice final product. I “helped” mom make some eons ago when dad butchered a hog, but that was the extent of my experience. I have to honest I was probably 12 or 13 and not sure mom would agree that I was any help, but mom was always good that way about ‘helping” her in the kitchen.

I have wanted to make some for awhile and figured after Thanksgiving I’d be able to get my hands on a large quantity of oil. People are often looking to get rid of the peanut oil they fry their turkey in and sure enough I ended up with 10 gallons of it from someone in town. So all I had to buy was some lye. Next time, I make my own lye from ashes & rainwater, but being this was the first time I’ve attempted it, I decided to buy.

It was pretty simple, 17 lbs of oil, 3 cans of lye and about 80 oz water; I just googled a recipe and lye calculator. Although I have to say the calculator was inaccurate, only calling for 2 cans of lye which initially didn’t set up. But with the addition of a third can, it turned out just right. Depending on the type of oil used, the lye and water can vary. I also added in about ¾ tsp of oil of peppermint to give it a slight scent. I stirred till it began to trace and then poured into a couple of paper box lids that I had lined with a plastic trash bag.

Once it set up I turned it out and cut it into bar sized pieces. It’s now setting in the basement to dry out and cure for about 6 weeks. Half will be ground into laundry soap, with the addition of some borax to the mix, and the other will remain bar soap. I only used half the peanut oil, so I can make another batch here soon. With all the ashes from the fire place right now and all the snow, I just may attempt to make my own potash for this next batch.

It has continued snowing, with an additional 4 inches overnight. I took the kids to school this morning because I need the 4WD to get around. I’ve been swamped with work -Christmas orders, and need to get those filled and run into town today. Steve gets home from China tomorrow; I hope his flight isn’t delayed. The church gals are having a cookie exchange that I hope to make, however if his flight is delayed much, I’ll miss the fun.

Just turned out onto the counter and cut

Here is a bar!

Hershey guarding the tree. It just looked like a kodak moment.

A Snowy Day

2007-12-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

I awoke this morning to a 4 inch thick snow blanket standing stately on every branch and frosting every boulder. The still quietness and beauty of it all took my breath away. The snow clouds were thick. Just 100 feet up, the mountain was shrouded in their thickness. Small flakes silently drifted through the air. I donned my coat and boots and set out to feed the chickens. Hershey was excited to take a run in it, dragging her nose as she ran along gobbling up snow now and then and tossing her head in the air as she looked back at me, begging me to play along. I charged at her a few times and she ran in circles around me occasionally changing her direction to run directly at me, becoming more excited as I screamed in apprehension. At the last possible second she swerved off to just avoid a collision and gain speed for another round.

As she circled around to make another run at me we were both abruptly halted by a howling cry. It sounded as if it were coming from the draw further up the meadow, like a coyote or perhaps an injured dog. The sound had been swallowed by the quietness too quickly to determine exactly what it was. Then a second time it pierced out, then a third. Hershey silently pointed, ears perked as she waited again to hear the howl. Fully focused, she stood like a statue; tail straight out. Snowflakes silently wafted, landing on her head and back as we waited to hear it cry out again.

With the last cry I determined it was coming from the chicken coop. My heart sunk as I questioned the safety of my flock. I ran, snow flying off my boots and grains airborne as I quickly carved a trail to their house; thoughts of horror filled my mind. As I got closer I laughed as I recognized the cry. It was that of a young rooster attempting to crow for the first time. It was pathetic. If I was a rooster, I’d practice in private till I had it down; no hen could be too impressed by that ruckus. He seemed pretty proud to be the first to call out his roo-hood, even if it was just something like “ar-aaaaaa.” I wondered when they were going to start crowing, seems they were plenty old. Steve will be glad to hear it; he has been asking me when they are going to start.

I fed them and headed back to the house, Hershey was no longer interested in playing. She was more interested in the eggs I was holding, hoping maybe I had one for her; no such luck. When the hens were sick last fall, I had them on antibiotic and fed Hershey the eggs every day, she still holds out hope after all this time.

I brought in an armful of firewood and started up the wood burner. It was a chilly 58 in the house when I awoke. I had gone to bed early last night with instructions to Josh to load up the fire box before he retired. The chill in the air revealed that detail had been neglected. I raked the coals to expose the glowing embers and tossed on some kindling which quickly ignited. Within in an hour or two the temperature will be much more comfortable.

Looks like a great day to stay inside with a fire. As I pause from my typing and glance outside, the C-9s on the Christmas tree reflect off the front window and the fire is dancing in the wood burner. A rabbit is foraging for a morsel under the snow and birds flit back and forth in front of my window, gracefully lighting on snow covered twigs. I have to ask myself, does it get much better than this? I think I’ll go pop some cookies in the oven and turn on some Christmas music.

Miss you brother

2007-12-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

10 years ago today, my brother passed away and I just had some things running deep through me that I wanted to put out there:

Bruce, it’s so hard to believe it was 10 years ago today that you passed from this life to the next. If I could, I’d tell you one more time that I love you and how much I appreciated what a great big brother you were to me. Of all my siblings I was definitely closest to you. I remember going home and crying after your funeral when your co-worker from the dairy told me, “Oh you’re the one from Chicago, oh he really loved you, he liked you best. He talked about you all the time.”

Like me, you were very sensitive and tender hearted; you wore your heart on your sleeve. We were both left-handed, struggled at geometry, loved being frugal, had a penchant for drawing, loved Rich Mullin’s music; it seemed we had so much in common. I loved coming over to baby-sit for you & Diane. I enjoyed spending time talking to you about anything and everything. I miss your guitar playing, our monthly phone conversations and the guidance and direction you imparted into my newly married relationship. I always admired how much you loved your kids and Diane. I remember thinking I want my family to be just like your's.

I remember how you would give everyone Christmas gifts even when money was extremely tight, usually something you had made; a part of your heart. When we were kids, you gave me a set of plastic horses that I LOVED, you used your own money to buy them for me. You were quick to give of yourself, whether it was volunteering on the fire department or at your church, or helping re-roof my house or put in our new fence.

You always had a jillion Robert’s Dairy misprinted containers you were quick to hand out for gardening or other projects. I remember too all the random stuff you collected for future projects. Too bad Craigslist didn’t exist then; you would have loved it! Your house remodel was pretty impressive, loved the kitchen you redid, it was gorgeous. You had a lot of talent that way; you were the original Tim-the-tool-man, with all the grunts and sound effects included.

I’m thankful that you taught me how to draw. Although I never got as good as you, it is a part of you that I will always carry with me. I am also thankful that I got to come visit you and spend time with you just weeks before you passed away. I remember the last walk we took together, talking about God, the Bible and just stuff. I found it neat that when you passed away, your bible was found open on the kitchen counter to the very passage we had been talking about on our walk. I remember talking about experiencing God and how impressed we were with how wide, how deep, how great is God’s love for us.

You’d be proud of your kids; they have grown up into fine young adults. Christopher sounds just like you, he looks a lot like you too, so does Ben. Your girls are sweet young women, you’d be proud.

So much has transpired in the last 10 years, it seems hard to believe it hasn’t been longer. It seems, at times, like that was an entirely different life. I still have a hard time visiting your grave site when I visit back home. I remember you so full of life, it is hard for me to go there and just see a stone. But you do live on in the lives and hearts of so many people. I have great joy that I got to spend time with you and be a part of your life and have you a part of mine. I guess I’m most joyful that you had a strong relationship with God and because of that, this is not the end.

I miss you and love you brother.

Ephesians 3:17&18
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ya, I know I’m a day late, this won't suprise those who really know me. But, hope everyone had a happy one with plenty to be thankful for. We had a nice day even though this is the first time we have celebrated alone for probably 15 years. The last 7 years we have gotten together with my sister Deb. She, from Wichita us from Tulsa, would switch houses each year and usually some of the other family would travel down from Nebraska and join in the festivities. But this year was a much quieter time, just the five of us.

I tried to make it simple, just cooking from what I had in the pantry, with the exception of the turkey. I was hoping to cook a chicken instead, since the kids and I aren’t big turkey fans and I just happen to have a spare chicken running around, but Steve wouldn’t hear of it, so I did pick up a small turkey for the occasion. Otherwise it was a pretty simple dinner. We have some leftovers, but I’m sure they won’t last too long. We took turns going around the table telling each other what we were thankful for. It was nice to hear the kids say such nice things about each other, what mother wouldn’t cherish that? We spent the afternoon just sitting around visiting together and later watched Home Alone on TV.

It has been cold lately; got down to 9 degrees last night and 13 the night before. Tonight it’s forecast to get down into the 20s. To top it off we got 5 inches of snow two days before Thanksgiving and with the cold most of it is still on the ground. It was so nice to stay inside and enjoy the warmth –of family, the holiday and the memories we made.

Emily wanted to drag Steve out to some Black Friday deals this morning, but not being a morning person, he convinced her there was nothing any of us really needed that bad. So, for yet another year we have managed to escape the madness. I’m 99% done shopping anyhow, with just a small item or two left to pick up before Christmas.

I am surprised the wood burner has been able to keep up with the temp being so low. The house is 4100 square feet with almost 30’ ceilings in the main living area and tons of windows throughout. But, so far so good! I try to get up and feed the fire when I awaken in the night, but on those nights that I sleep straight through, we awaken to about 58 degrees in the morning…brrr. It usually takes just an hour or two to get it back up to a comfortable level once the fire is going again. I am going through a bunch of wood though. I figure we ended up collecting about 2.5 full cords of wood and I have burned thought about ½ cord to far this season.

Steve found out Wednesday that the company is giving him a sizeable retaining bonus. That was good news! We had a knowing in our hearts before we moved that he may not have his job for long after we moved, and indeed the company is up for sale. They want him to stay on till the sale; enough to make him a very good offer. We don’t know when that will happen or what will happen after that, but I have confidence that all will workout for our good. I’ve believed for increase out of this all, even though my mind wants to think in the direction of fear, lack and uncertainty. We had no idea that a bonus was coming, but I had a specific figure in mind I had been praying for that I wrote down on a paper a couple of months ago, when he called and told me what the bonus was, it was the exact amount that I had prayed and had been thanking God for. I have peace even though there is uncertainty and am excited to see what 08 holds. My mantra lately has been: 2008, it’s gonna be great!

Becca snapped a picure just before we chowed down! We had:
Turkey
Potatoes/gravy
Stuffing
Sweet potatoe casserole
Olives/red cinnamon pickles
Jello salad
Home made rolls

A Day Off

2007-11-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

Steve took the day off; maxed out on his vacation time he thankfully would rather donate the day to me than back to the company. We took a drive up to Estes and ate at the Wapati. He had a 10.00 gift certificate they sent in the mail for his Birthday, so we were able to get lunch together on the cheap. He got an Elk burger and I got a chicken wrap. Our waitress, a young girl, spoke broken English. I couldn’t quite place her thick accent it almost sounded Russian, but her dark hair and eyes contradicted. We visited for several minutes; she was a foreign exchange student from Moldova only in the sates a couple of months. She mentioned how much she enjoyed the area and the holiday festivities, but teared up when she mentioned how home sick she was. We saw a lot of elk in town, crossing the streets and grazing along the sides of the roads.

After lunch we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park for the day. They had already closed the high roads for the season. Bummer since it was snowing up at the peaks but we could only look from afar. There was some snow on the lower roadsides though, so not all was lost. We kept to the lower part just inside the eastern edge of the park, parked near the Bear Lake trail head and took a hike up to Beirstadt Lake. We took the long way…extra long having to retrace our steps a couple of times when we lost the trail. After 1.5 miles, we finally got onto a well-beaten trail and hiked it the rest of the way up to the crest. Dusk was beginning to descend and the temps were getting noticeably cooler as the sun dropped behind the Continental Divide. I knew the lake had to be just beyond the ridge, but we had already hiked for 90 minutes just to get that far and didn’t want to risk being caught in the dark on the way back, hiking the not so well marked path. So, against my deep desire to press on and accomplish the goal, we decided it was prudent to head back. Bierstadt Lake would be there next time we came and we turned around vowing to head up earlier next time.

After we returned home we found out that it was just another 50 yards or so ahead of where we had stopped. It reminded me that there are times in life when we are so close to the answer but don’t realize it, maybe not even till we have backed down. Sometimes we feel like giving up but need to remember that success is just over the ridge. And when we do retreat in defeat or face a setback, plan a better approach for the next attempt and victory will be achieved.

The minister I do some work for was in town and invited us out to dinner, so we drove into town and met him and his wife at their hotel and went out to Texas Roadhouse. We had a great time visiting. We didn’t have time to stop home between the park and dinner, I felt a bit awkward showing up in my hiking gear and had major hat-hair, but they didn’t seem to mind. I brought a few rolls home for Josh; they’re his all time favorite.

On another note, I put the freezer on a timer last month and got the electric bill today, it dropped by eight dollars, to the lowest since we moved in. I’m going to take it down another notch and see how it goes. I haven’t noticed a change in the hardness of the frozen food, so it was a good move. And, I’ve been running the blower on the wood burner sometimes day and night non stop or it would have been lower yet. I have yet to turn the furnace on this year, even though it got down to 18 a couple of nights ago with a light dusting of snow. I’m trying to holdout till Dec 1st to run it. My original goal was Nov 1st, but it’s been a mild winter so far, so I challenged myself to Dec 1st instead. The wood burner has made it more than comfortable so far. Steve has been asking, a little fearfully I think, if I make it to December 1st will I have a new goal of January first? I had to laugh, that’s not my plan. But, then again, maybe warm weather is just over the horizon.

A view from near Lake Bierstadt

A beaver dam. Notice the ice....brrr the water was cold!

Near Bear Lake trail head where we parked

The Buck

2007-11-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it finally happened; Ben, our deer-hunting friend got his buck today. His tag was good though tomorrow, so I was really hoping to see him get a buck soon. He had been working hard for several days with no results, but I just knew that today was his day.

I awoke to a herd of deer just out the front. I watched them for about 90 minutes as they made their way across the front of the house and up the hill where they bedded down for the rest of the morning. Thinking he was in the middle of teaching class, I texted to let him know what was up: “Deer r out xing the hill 10 does n a 4x buck.” 20 seconds later I got a call asking for info. “Man I wish I was there. I’ll get there as soon as school is out.”

When he arrived, there were deer at the front of the property and 3 bucks fighting over a bunch of does up in the draw above us. “There are does everywhere. Man it’s a doefest!” he excitedly exclaimed as he took is cap off and ran his hands through his short sandy brown hair, his handsome boyish face rough with stubble. “There is a buck and several does the other way too, I’m headed up to the chicken coop, think I’ll hide out there, the chickens will help cover my scent.” I watched and saw he was torn as to which bunch to follow, the one lower down with the big buck, or the one above with the 3 bucks looking to be coming down the draw. I occasionally peeked out to see how things were going; darkness was beginning to encroach upon him. I hoped time wouldn’t run out again as it had a couple of evenings ago when he had a nice 4 point buck in his sight that he had to let go.

I looked out again and saw him slowly, steadily moving up the hill. In stealth mode he crouched and I saw the quick burst of fire as the shot went off. He got up and quickly moved forward, steadied himself and got another shot off. We were all out the door and up the hill to see the trophy. It was a medium 2-point buck, but it was heavy enough to take 3 of us to drag it across some rocks and onto a sled which we dragged down the hill in the now total darkness. Guided by a flashlight we finally got it down to the house where I helped him field dress it.

I’m glad he was able to get one, he seemed pleased with it. Steve missed all the fun as he was out to dinner with his Canada group. Next year I plan to get my own tag and take the rifle out and bag my own. But, I appreciated the experience of watching and helping for now.

Ben with his 2 point buck

The Hunt

2007-11-03T21:31:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I picked up a drill press & arc welder from Carl. He sold me both for $250. I thought it was a pretty good deal. Josh wanted to run out and buy a mask and probably won’t stop pestering me till I do. He also spent a considerable time on YouTube browsing welding videos the rest of the day and invited his friends over to see “his” new tools. Wow, what rednecks we are.

I also got a 55 gallon drum, my new burning barrel. I’ve wanted one since we moved in, now I can put my tiny little burning…uh…barrel?...away. It actually is an aluminum pipe coupling I found in the garage, about 18 inches in diameter and 16” high, but it had worked as a burning barrel for the time being. I knew if I waited long enough, I’d get one for free. He gave me hundreds of feet of ½ inch watering tubing for my future garden too, with the small drip tubes already run from it, I couldn’t even fit it all in the truck; I need to make a trip back sometime. I’m psyched about getting that, since its way to dry to ever grow a garden here without extensive watering.

I told him when he gets back in the spring I want to buy some of his cattle gates and cattle guard off him. I hope to have some sort of barnyard put in by then, and that will come in handy.

Today a couple of friends came out to go deer hunting. They saw plenty of deer, but didn’t even get a shot off. They had a buck tag and mostly does came around today. However we got a good chuckle watching from in the house as a huge 7 point buck came up over the berm just 40 feet behind them. His rack was really nice, but they didn’t even see him, they were looking with binoculars the other direction. We kept hoping they’d turn around and look, but he walked right on by them unnoticed. If we had just gotten a picture, it was priceless! I’ve seen that big buck on our land several times over the past few weeks. There have actually been two of them; I’ve seen them fighting lately, they are in rut. Both are nice sized bucks with large racks. Too bad they couldn’t have taken one home. They hope to make it back tomorrow before church to bag one.

I found a generator today on Craigslist and we went to take a look. But, the poster had slightly embellished his description of it, it was older and more used than he had alluded to; too bad since we drove almost 2 hours one way to see it. Well Steve loves a road trip so not all was lost. It was nice couple time too. I’m sure it was a good generator with a lot of life left in it, but I had a hesitation when I saw it, and being a good idea to listen when you have a check about something, we passed on it. I’m sure something better will come along in the right time. I would like to have one since we are on a well and if we lose power, we lose water. Or at the least, someone has to hike up to the cistern and start hauling buckets back to the house in the snow and 80 mph winds. I’d rather opt for the generator! Hopefully we won’t lose power, but it would be nice to have when we go to build the barn, so we can run a power nailer and such off it. But, for now, the barn is in the future as well.

An Unusual Date

2007-10-30T22:26:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Steve took the afternoon off and we hung out. We drove around town and found the local cemetery. For some reason I have a strange fascination with cemeteries; I know, probably makes me weird.

I wish I could interview those who have gone before me and see what their life was like. Why, in one case one couple lost 8 infants. Those must have been such hard times. I’m sure it was probably something minor, something that we have meds for today, but it was a devastating thing for them back then. Or how it must have felt for one family to lose their 5 year old daughter and then a month later to lose their newborn son.

It is odd to think that many of them wouldn’t know what an automobile is, let alone a microwave, TV or internet. They wouldn’t understand how to turn on a computer, what electricity is and so forth. It is odd to think that, in many cases, they are wearing clothing from the early 1800s, buried in a wooden box just 6 feet below where I stand. It made me sad to see all the infants, small children and the graves that just have a plain stone as a marker. The small nameless stones I figured are most likely babies, forever to be forgotten by those who visit today. Babies, whose parents who were so excited by their expected arrival and so saddened by their early departure are now just noted by an oversized, scarcely legible, flat rock barely poking its way out of the ground. It would be pretty interesting to know the stories behind the hundreds families who are brought together in death.

Many stones were just a flat piece of sand stone hand carved with a simple name, no dates. Johannas. I thought of those who painstakingly carved the names. I imagine many tears were shed as the tool slowly and repeatedly ran across the stone etching each letter. So simple, so plain, but yet I it represented a life of potential and joy that was snuffed out so prematurely. I was reminded of my own brother’s premature passing almost 10 years ago, and tears came to my eyes as thought about the grief that each stone represents. How many went to their own grave still mourning their loss? And then I thought about God and the hope that we have that death is not a final goodbye. We don’t grieve as the world grieves, but our hope is in Him, the one who himself came out of the grave.

After walking up and down each row, holding hands and commenting about what was on our heart as we observed, we stopped in town and quietly shared a calzone and went home. An unusual but fulfilling date; I felt somehow more connected to the town we now call home.

Carl

2007-10-24T23:32:00.000-06:00

I love Craigslist, ask anyone who really knows me. It’s helping me make our place what I want it to be; and in the process has brought some pretty remarkable people across my path. Today I answered an ad for some workbenches and met an interesting and wise person.

Carl lives near the county line. He built this home, horse barn, party house, shop etc. with his own hands. A well worn cowboy hat sits perched atop his peppered hair, his dark boyish eyes sparkle as he speaks. His weathered skin, dark eyes and high cheekbones give away his Native American decent; that and the 14’ totem pole in the front yard. My guess is he carved that with his own hands as well. The epitome of a mountain man, I guess him to be in his late 50’s although his life experiences lead me to believe him older.

A free spirit, he has his home up for sale, has purchased a yacht and plans to spend the rest of his days sailing the globe. A former horse trainer, Ferrier and auctioneer, he tells me he is ready for a change. He has spent the last 20 some years taking a blank 10 acre slate and making it into an efficient, well-designed homestead for his family. As he speaks, I find his wisdom innate. It’s natural, instinctive and I can’t seem to get enough of it. I ask questions, trying to unlock the deep-seated expertise he seems to spew so effortlessly at the prompting of a simple question.

He explains in detail how he welded the horse feeders adorning the barn he built and how he put the trusses together to look like an old bridge, as if I were going home to do the same. “Check out my corral and viewing station, when you build one, build it like this…” he quipped as he went on to explain the virtues of his design.. “Come back with a camera and take some pictures; if you need help with your barn design, let me know, I’ve built 24 structures, I can give you some good ideas.” I didn’t plan to build a barn when I awoke this morning, but now I was ready to go home and put my hand to it.

I was there and gone in less than 30 minutes, but I felt I had somehow obtained enough wisdom to go home and actually design and build my entire farm, yet at the same time I felt I had just scratched the surface of what he had to share.

“Keep in touch and come back soon, I’ll clean out my barn and you can have what you want…do you need some corral gates?” You bet I do, I’ll take whatever you have as long as I can pick your brain and get some wisdom along with it. Carl thought he was just getting rid of a couple of well used workbenches worth only a few bucks; I don’t think he realized that what he really gave me was incalculable. I look forward to going back this weekend with Josh to load up on some of Carl’s cast-offs and to pick his brain. I’ll take his advice and bring a camera when I do.

The Wind

2007-10-19T07:49:00.000-06:00

For Two days straight the wind has howled and whipped leaves & weeds through the air. On top of that temperatures have hovered around freezing. I dreaded having to take the dog out before I retired to bed, but finally decided I had put that chore off long enough. Stepping out into the brisk night air, I heard the wind surging through the pines on the mountain. The roar was deafening, sounding like a mighty rushing river. I had a feeling it would be a long night, full of creaks, bumps and thumps.

Being on a mountainside along a winding canyon brings sustained winds through the likes of which most don’t see. I now understand the pines I saw as a kid that only had branches on one side or were so gnarled that they reminded me of a decrepit old man with a walking stick. Many here have closable shutters to keep the windows from blowing out. We’ve been told by the neighbors that our position, sheltered by a berm and large boulders (several times the size of the house), shields us somewhat from the brunt of things, although for the last two days I’ve not been so sure. We had 106 mph wind the first week we were here, but summer had moderated the winds for the most part. However once again we are in the windy season, said to last till May. Yesterday I awoke to find the grill had blown from the back of the house to the side. It’s a large stainless steel grill requiring two people to move. This morning I found the 210 gallon water tank in the front yard. I had been held in place by a 2’ high deck, but had lifted over and went around the side of the house, planting itself in the front. It has become somewhat of a game lying in bed trying to figure out what just thumped along the deck and blew past the windows. Today things are supposed to calm; I have to walk the property around the house and collect everything.

Steve returns tonight from a two week China trip. I am glad to have him back, as I hate having to be the Mom and Dad at times. I miss the companionship he provides and the stability around the house with the kids. There is usually an underlying power struggle between me & Josh while he is away. At 17 he doesn’t want his mama telling him what to do or disciplining him. It can make for challenging times.

I found out yesterday I got accepted into a cardiovascular study at the University. I’m excited to be a part of that. Its physician supervised and provides me with a lot of free tests, blood work and sessions with a dietitian. The object of the study is to determine the effects of diet & exercise on the cardiovascular system over time. I have my first session on Monday.

The hens have been laying quite well, brown and light green eggs. Lucy has finally matured and is laying mostly large double yolkers. I’d like to add a Black Copper Marans rooster to the flock this spring. They originated in Marans, France and lay dark Chocolate colored eggs…the hens, not the roos. The roosters are just beautiful, strutting around with a stately, old world look.

I finally feel a bit caught up on work this week. I've shipped out all current orders and just need to do some duplicating & assembling of product. I've got a couple of upcoming meetings I need to prep & ship, but otherwise I don't have that just-treading-water feeling. It is nice to have my office just a flight of stairs away.

The Hens' eggs. They really are green, the picture doesn't do them justice.

The house, basking in the fall colors, nestled among the rock outcropping & berm. A seasonal creek runs from the back of the house, along the side and down the front.

A Black Copper Marans roo

An Update

2007-10-15T11:05:00.000-06:00

First, no I haven’t fallen off a cliff, been eaten by a mountain lion or come down with bird flu. And, second, I didn’t know so many people were actually interested in what goes on around the old homestead. So, I’ll try to be more on the ball in the future. Actually, I’ve just been extremely busy lately.

My sister Deb & her husband Paul stopped by on their way through to California. It was a short stay, but it was really nice to see them. They managed to get a small moving van up the mountain with little problem. Their daughter is moving out to the coast and they are the delivery service for her life’s accumulation of goodies.

We had Rachel again for three days. She was a hoot as usual. We had so much fun with her. She was dancing a jig and, not being the shy type, decided to let us put the camera on her; I will try to upload that soon. We laughed till we cried. She insisted I let her take a chicken home. But I told her she could have two and keep them at Aunt Denise’s farm and come to take care of them; she liked that idea. So I guess one could say I’m a chicken boarder.

I acquired 6 new young laying hens, bartering plucking services for them. Plucked 8 and got 6, not bad. They are Arauconas so the eggs are green, pretty cool. And, I may have a hook up with the local feed store guy to barter plucking for feed, hope that works out. He has some turkeys he will be wanting to do soon and I can always use some free feed since I’ve had to keep them penned up lately.

We made a trip into Sam’s to stock up on basics for winter, its 60 miles from us, so we made it a day. We replaced the tires on the truck; the old ones are too worn to make the climb this winter. We also picked up some kitchen staples. Among other things, 50 lbs of popcorn for those cold winter nights in front of the fire. I’ve been burning the woodstove lately trying to take the chill out of the night air. We were supposed to have snow last night, but it must have been a little too warm. Thank goodness as we have had about 2-3 inches of rain. That would make for a lot of snow. The high country was in a winter snow advisory, I’m sure they have a foot or two by now. It’s a damp 35 degrees here as I sit and type, but a cozy 71 inside, thanks to the wood burner. As I look out the window this morning, I see a dusting on the top of our mountain, down to about 8,000 feet.

My parents came to visit for a week, they left this morning. Words can’t express how much I enjoyed their visit. We met them in town and Josh drove the truck home while I rode with them, guiding the way up to the house. They laughed in disbelief at the roads, deciding their own country roads were actually in great shape comparatively. It took a good 30 min to get up to the house from town, but we made it with all luggage and auto parts intact. They fell in love with the house and our great views.

We stayed up and laughed and talked till late at night, reminiscing about old times. We also went up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, went out to eat, did some sight seeing, visited my sister Melissa who lives just 40 min from me, puttered around and hit a good “free stuff” garage sale. Mom was amazed at how people just give stuff away here. I got some great stuff for free, including a nice drop leaf table, a rotisserie, 3 sheet sets, 3 boxes of candles, a large popcorn can full of screws, nails and random shop items, and some other random stuff. Dad fixed the kids shower. Finally, after 4 months, they have their shower working. Dad is one of those rare people who can fix anything…and I mean anything. Turns out there were a couple pieces missing from someone trying to repair it previously. It works like a charm and I am so thankful.

We had yet to see a skunk till my parents' visit. Of course, Hershey our lab had to chase it into the garage and corner it there. I was pretty much the largest skunk I’ve ever seen with extremely active spray glands. Why is it that I was nominated to remove it from the premises? First I had to figure out where the heck it was, pretty hard to determine between the watering eyes, burning throat and runny nose. Of course it was dark out as well and rather hard to see. I finally figured out it was between several leftover wardrobe boxes that had been filled with packing paper and stuck in the garage. I grabbed a push broom and tried to poke the boxes near it, expecting it to run out and be on its merry way, but it wasn’t that easy. It decided the garage was a safer place than trying to out run the dog. Several minutes of pushing, with a box between me and it, and I finally managed to push it out of the garage. Almost a week later and the garage still reeks. I burned all 7 wardrobe boxes and various other items in an attempt to get rid of the smell, but with the dampness, it is still pretty strong. A friend who works for a cleaning chemical distributor is giving us some concrete wash specifically for skunk spray and such. Sure hope that does the trick.

The rest of the time has been spent on work, trying to play catch up from the days of having company. I’m behind, but expect to catch up this week. That’s a nice thing about working out of the house, I can work when I want and the office is just a flight of steps away.

I want to say thanks to all who have e-mailed and called wondering if things are okay with us. I’ve just put out so much during the past weeks that by the time I start to wind down I can’t think straight anymore. Mom asked if I ever stop or idle my engines. I think I will consider it when the kids are grown and gone, but till then, I plan to go full bore!

Mom & Dad's visit. Josh, Em & Hershey saying goodbye.

Aunt Neice's Farm

2007-09-25T22:29:00.000-06:00

Once again Rachael is visiting “Aunt Neice’s Farm.” She is a riot to have around; however, when she leaves tomorrow, it will take me a few days to recuperate. She was still interested in seeing the chickens a zillion times a day, with the added benefit of having the one legged chicken “Hopper” conveniently located in the garage. She had to feed Hopper about 10 times a day along with the dogs, Pretty Boy and Hershey. She really loves the chickens, just ask her, she'll tell you. She loves them 670 pounds, I told her I loved them all the way to the moon and back, she thought that was pretty funny.

Pretty boy is an indoor dog. A lanky, old greyhound, he stands as tall as she. He is gentle and took a lot of “love” from her, but by the end of the day, would run when he saw her coming his direction. I just hope he ran that fast during his racing career.

“Aunt Neice, you know why pretty boy is so happy now?”

No but I’m quite sure you’re willing to share that information, ran through my head. But I answered with a simple, interested “Why?”

“Because he just got a new baby.” She said as she wrapped up the stuffed Hershey dog replica.

“Um, ok, well, here’s the problem Boys don’t get babies!!”

“Well” She muttered and gave some serious contemplation. “The mom had the baby in her tummy and then Pretty Boy got the baby. That’s why he’s happy.”

“But you know what?” she continued

Um, apparently not, “What?”

“Pretty boy just has to go to work. He says au revoir, I’m goin’ to work, and then we have to take care of the baby. Isn’t that silly aunt Neice? We just have to take care of pretty boy’s baby all day.”

Oh ya, I’m laughing. That’s your job for the day.

We walked up to the coop and fed the hens. On the way back she exclaimed “Surprise!! I’m not taking a nap today; I’m just going to bed early.”

Ha! Surprise, you’re taking a nap today and going to bed early. At least one of us is, but I get to pick.

After lunch she wanted a “dessert”, so I went to the kitchen to whip something up.

“Put your armpits up or I’ll shoot” she excitedly exclaimed as she ran toward me. I was mixing up a batch of brownies, but paused, stuck my finger out and said the same.

“Noooooooooo” she whined as her eyes began to water. “You’re not playing it right.”

“Why?”

“You can just let me tickle you.” She answered

“I can’t tickle you?”

“Noooooooo” she whined again. She then ran into the bedroom and shut the door behind her, obviously tired and ready for a nap.

I continued with the brownies. She quietly poked her head out the door twice hoping I wouldn’t catch a glimpse of her. I pretended not to notice. On the second time, she piped up, head sticking out into the foyer, “Hey! I want some brownies!

“You do?”

“Yes, I want some brownies.” She said with a touch of indignation in her voice.

“Ok, are you going to stay in there or are you coming out?” I asked

“Well, I want brownies, but I’m just not happy with how you were acting” she scolded.

“Not happy with how I was acting?” I asked holding back a chuckle.

“Yes, that’s right, I’m just not happy with how you were acting. You were not behaving good!”

“Ok, well, I’m gonna have a brownie, you gonna have one?”

“Yes” she muttered as she shut the door and pouted on the way out. “But I just call them browns”

Tomorrow she goes home. I’ll miss her, but I understand God’s wisdom in giving kids to young people. After she leaves tomorrow I’m planning on taking a bubble bath with a good book and a plate of browns. Right now I’ll settle for a couple of Advil and a dark room.

Pretty Boy, his "baby" and Rae

Happy Birthday Dude!

2007-09-21T22:23:00.000-06:00

Hey Josh, you turned 17 today. Wow, those 17 years have been filled with excitement and mischief!

This is a long post, but I couldn’t begin to summarize what you mean to me in just a few paragraphs. To start off you were almost a month overdue….that should have been a huge red flag. Over the 9 months, I ended up having 4 ultrasounds because they thought there was something wrong with you….can you say red flag? I won’t ask your sisters for their opinion on that.

I was so worried about you. Each ultrasound pegged the due date right around August 28th give or take a few days, but no, you decided to hang out till September 21st, in fact you’d still be in there if we hadn’t taken measures to kick you out. The midwife kept assuring me, baby comes when baby is ready, but I think she finally became wise to your plan to hang out in there forever. Just think, we could have made the Guinness Book of world records, woman pregnant for 17 years, 9 months finally gives birth to active teenage boy. Wow, I’d never fit into my clothing again…come to think of it, I wouldn’t fit in anybody’s clothes after that.

After 3 days of intense labor and no sleep, you finally had to be pulled out kicking & screaming. Of course you entered the world in style; you’d have it no other way, nothing plain for you. You just wouldn’t cooperate for the midwife so the Dr. had to be called in from some function to unstuck you and you were delivered into his tuxedo-clad arms.

Speaking of hospitals, we’ve made 7 visits to the E.R. ….so far. But to really be fair, only 5 were actually you, the other two were merely “Josh induced” visits, once when you tossed Em on the bed, and she bounced into the dresser needing 5 stitches; it’s all fun and games till someone gets hurt! The other was when you lowered her down into the window well on a rope and she slipped and fell in scraping her back all the way down, I think she was three at the time. She wouldn’t stop screaming, but thankfully everything turned out okay. Your visits were for broken bones, your first one when you were five and fell off the monkey bars. Just weeks later we had to take you in again for swinging from 2 chairs and landing on your chin, we were pretty sure it must be broken with all that screaming and crying going on. When the Dr. asked what happened you looked at the Dr., then Dad and then at the floor, paused and said “I fell?” We are very lucky that Dad is still with us.

I’ll never forget the mischief you and your pal Tim got into, probably my favorite was when you were about 5 yrs old and you both ran through the church buck naked during a band practice, singing “We are girls, we are girls”. I didn't think it was too funny at the time but most of the crowd got a chuckle out of it. At that point I would have preferred to still be pregnant with you.

Speaking of church, I’ll also never forget when we were called out of service by the children’s minister. We had a guest speaker at the church that night and turns out you got into an argument with his son and slugged him in the face giving him a black eye. “But he started it!” was your defense. We later became good friends with his family and they often stayed with us when they were in the states.

I’m fond of saying you make my life interesting. I am both sad and excited for you to grow up and move into the next phase of your life. I try not to think about it too much, I wish I could keep you by my side forever, but I know God created you to spread your wings and become the man he created you to be. And I must say He has done an exceptional job with you so far.

I’m so proud of the man that you are becoming. You have great people and leadership skills, you’re a hard worker and try so hard to please me and your dad in all you do. Everyone that meets you instantly likes you, you just have that way about you, I know that God has great plans for your life.

I hope you know how proud of you I am. You stand on your own feet and don’t follow the crowd when they go contrary to what you believe to be right. You have a strong moral compass and although I’m sure you must struggle at times with doing what is right, you generally pick the right way. You have a great head on your shoulders and you’re your cool in stressful situations, I’m guessing it’s due to all those E.R. visits.

You are a wonderful son, who has turned out better than I could have hoped for, and I know that God will continue to perfect the great work that He has started in you. Hope you enjoyed your special day!

Love, Mom

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Having a little fun filling Becca's car with leaves

Becca wan't so happy. At first she cried, she thought she left her sun roof open and nature did its thing. When she found out you did it, she quit crying and after a few minutes thought it was pretty funny too.

All dressed up for prom...love the shoes!

One of your many passions, along with soccer, drums and girls. You are a great runner, with enough metals to melt down and build a small ship.

My all time favorite pictures. I went to upload pictures one day and to my suprise you had left me a couple of special ones. I laughed for days.

The Thief

2007-09-16T22:15:00.000-06:00

My chickens suffered another hit. This time I think it was coyotes, fox, lynx or mountain lion(s)…got that narrowed down now don’t I? Whatever it was, they dug under the coop and began to pull the chickens out by their legs, killing 10 in all. For some reason, even though I put roosts in, the chickens prefer to sit in the corner on the ground. Apparently whatever had gotten them knew that they were on the ground in the corner and that’s where he dug. 4 were completely gone and the other 6 were laying in the fenced in yard, several missing a leg. To say I was really bummed out about it is an understatement.

One of my little black chicks died to, but there ware no visible marks, not sure, but I guess he died of fright or stress. Another two survived their injuries, so far, and are in the ICU which I made in the garage. One is missing a leg and I was going to put him down, but he really has a will to live, drinking and eating and hopping around, so I’ve been making sure he has what he needs to survive, including putting him on antibiotics that I had leftover from the time they got sick. Not sure about the other, which seems to have a pretty minor injury, relatively speaking, but does not want to drink much at all. It’s an awful feeling to put so much time and effort into something and then have it stolen from you.

We fortified the walls inside and out with some very large heavy boulders and although the thief came back the next night, he dug, but couldn’t get to them.

On a lighter note, the plum jelly came out great, really nice flavor and color. The kids seem to be enjoying it.

The plums before I cooked them. They looked so pretty.

Also, have to share my grocery trip. I got 160.43 worth of groceries for 39.92 after coupons and sales. Here is a picture of my bounty. I love a good deal.
I ended up with:
4 boxes of cereal
6 5lb. bags potatoes
9 cans tuna
2 pouches tuna
2 cans soup
2 boxes waffles
4 brownie mixes
4 boxes taco shells
6 boxes hamburger helper
2 boxes toaster strudles
6 cans frosting
20 cake mixes
2 muffin mixes
6 boxes granola bars
2 boxes pop tarts
1 box cheese-its
3 boxes fruit snacks
2 boxes instant oatmeal pouches

I think that was all. It was a great haul for sure! Now to keep the kids from inhaling it all within a week.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2007-09-11T08:39:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Mom!

You are 70 today. 70 is so much younger today than it was when I was a kid. I thank God that you are still active and able to enjoy life.

I love this picture of you. I think first because it reminds me of my kids at that age. They used to laugh with the same expression. And second, it reminds me that you went through a very difficult upbringing, but you managed to turn life around and become a wonderful, loving mother to nine children and raised them to be productive, contributing, loving citizens. Not to mention the over 300 foster children that passed through our doors and your heart. You allowed God to work a work in and through you to set aside some things that would otherwise have held you and us back.

I love this one too. You look like a movie star…and just days after giving birth. Too bad I didn’t inherit that from you. :o) I remember you could still wear a bikini after the ninth baby, and guys would hit on you then too. I would have settled for a bikini after my first, but it didn’t happen for me. And about the guys hitting on me…ya, well, one can dream.

With a family of my own, I really can’t comprehend how you raised nine. Especially when I think of you having to cook from scratch, work the garden, make your own butter and soap, can food, help on the farm, do all that laundry, make all those sack lunches every day, sew & mend clothing, grocery shop and menu plan, taxi children around, counsel regarding heartbreaks and bullies, and still you remained sane. I have many days where I want to resign and I only have three. And to think that you had 5 teenagers at one time, yikes!

One of my favorite family pictures, taken before John or Melissa was born. I remember how you used to fix your hair with that Dippity Do gel and hair tape to hold it till it was set. You were strong, but yet still a girly-girl, always taking great pride in your appearance; you always took the time to look like a million dollars….another gene that I didn’t inherit.

I cherish the deep love you and dad had for each other when we were growing up. You both provided a secure environment for us kids. I remember the times you guys would dance around the living room and how you both would nap together on the floor. Guess that’s how you got your rest in with nine kids.

There we all are. Not sure how you did it. Many days I wish I could go back in time and relive just a day or two. Our kitchen was the heart of the home, we would all sit around the table on those benches and eat, do homework, spend time together. I remember visitors calling us the Walton’s.

This picture sits on my mantel; 50 years together. Hope I make it that far. :o) And, to think that you still have your natural hair color. Nine kids and you still haven’t gone grey??? What’s that about? Once again I missed another great gene.

Mom, thanks for taking the time and effort to instill Godly values and morals into me, for giving me a heritage to hold fast to, for instilling in me the knowledge to make a pair of pants from a piece of fabric, how to can pretty much any fruit or vegetable and how to stretch a chicken onto five nourishing meals. Thanks for teaching me how to be a good mom and for being my cheerleader; it’s nice to know you are always just a phone call away.

My blog name originated from the Rich Mullins song First Family, that I think so accurately describes our family. It's as if he had written it for us, I've just made a few minor adaptations:

My folks they were always the first family to arrive
With eleven people jammed into a car that seated five
There was one bathroom to bathe and shave in
Six of us stood in line
And hot water for only three
But we all did just fine

Talk about your miracles
Talk about your faith
My dad he could make things grow
Out of hard Nebraska clay
Mom could make a gourmet meal
Out of just cornbread and beans
And they worked to give faith hands and feet
And somehow gave it wings

I can still hear my dad cussin'
He's working late out in the barn
The spring planting is coming
And the tractors just won't run
Mom she's done the laundry
I can see it waving on the line
Now they've stayed together
Through the pain and the strain of those times

Talk about your miracles
Talk about your faith
My dad he could make things grow
Out of hard Nebraska clay
Mom could make a gourmet meal
Out of just cornbread and beans
And they worked to give faith hands and feet
And somehow gave it wings

And now they've raised nine children
One winter they lost a son
But the pain didn't leave them crippled
And the scars have made them strong
Never picture perfect
Just a plain man and his wife
Who somehow knew the value
Of hard work, good love, and real life

We may not have been a First Family in the eyes of the world, but you managed to make me feel as if we were.

I love you and hope you have a birthday that is as truly wonderful as you are. Wish I could be there to help celebrate your milestone day. Happy 70th birthday.

Philippians 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.

A Chilly Day

2007-09-09T22:37:00.000-06:00

It turned dramatically cooler today. A cold mist enveloped me when I took the dog out at 5:40 this morning. I was still too asleep to notice that the temperature was hovering just above 40. I crawled back in bed and tried to grab a little more sleep, normally I can’t make that happen, but it was so dark that I easily fell back to sleep. When I awoke, there was only 20 minutes till we had to leave for Sunday school. It was nice to be able to sleep in a bit.

A cloud hovered over the top of the mountain all day, occasionally dropping enough that our view down the mountain was obscured as well. The sun eventually broke through in the late afternoon and it warmed up a bit, but then the cool cloudiness returned and it misted the rest of the day.

They are talking snow in the higher elevations later this week. I’m looking forward to seeing the snow-capped peaks again. Josh broke in the new chainsaw and cut a bunch more firewood. I think about 2/3 of what I had collected has been cut so far. With it looking so dreary and cold today, I really wanted to crank up the wood burner, but donned a heavy sweatshirt instead.

Becca was asked by the youth pastor to start up and lead a college and career group. She is excited to have the opportunity to be involved in something that she is passionate about; social and spiritual sharing. They hammered out the specifics tonight. I’m confident she will do a great job at it. She is the party-type social personality; I tell her she should be a social coordinator or something along those lines. She can make anything into an event, complete with balloons, food, games, movies….the whole works.

The Weekend

2007-09-08T21:46:00.000-06:00

Steve took Friday off and we ran some errands in town and worked around the house. It was a sunny day and the weather was just perfect. We took full advantage of the great weather and in the afternoon went for a hike around the “neighborhood.” We took the Garmin to see how far we would go, the altitude we’d climb, the time we’d spend etc. Its 6.33 miles around the loop and from the highest point to the lowest is just about a 1600 foot climb. It took us just over 2 hours, but we did stop and visit with a neighbor for a bit. Steve said he felt cheated, because the satellite doesn’t distinguish ups & downs, but views it all as flat when it comes to distance, so a 100 foot climb straight up would register as a distance traveled of 0 feet. We decided to take a bike on it in the near future to find out just exactly how much longer it is.

Today we ran a bunch of errands. I had some great target coupons; however the checker missed 6.50 worth of them. I might try to go back and see what they will do about it…I have a feeling I already know…nothing. We took Becca her phone. Seems her texts’s in and out boxes were so full that her messaging quit working. Steve had to call and have them talk him though purging it. I asked her how she managed to get her phone constipated.

We ran to the sporting good store to get Josh new cleats. He has outgrown the pair he has…sheesh! How much bigger can his feet get? He is 16 and wears an 11. Of course the ones he wanted were 79.00 and then there were the $10 socks he had to have. Then we ran to get another load of firewood, I think I have a good 2 full cords out back. We ran to Kmart, I had coupons and all, so got cereal for .33 a box after sale and coupons. Not bad. I ended up getting 30 boxes this week, some for Steve and some for the kids. After that we ran to the farm store for chicken feed and a bag of dog food. They have free popcorn, yum. I love that, it made me want to go see a movie, lol. We were looking for a chainsaw, but they only carried one brand and although it was a great brand, it’s also a really expensive one; the one I really wanted was 459.00. So we ended up going to home depot and spending 200.00 on a decent lower model. Yikes!! It’s still a lot. All in all it was an expensive day.

We did end up cutting a good ½ full cord of wood this afternoon though. I figure we can get a full cord cut by tomorrow evening and there looks to be another full cord left to be cut and split. Once I’ve got all that is out back cut, split and stacked, I should have about 2 full cords of wood. Good thing, since they put snow in the forecast for the higher elevations this coming week. We could see a freeze here.

Labor Day

2007-09-04T21:53:00.000-06:00

Labor Day we took some time to go up to drive around and explore the national forest. It started to rain…as usual, so we mostly explored via truck, but it was really pretty. We stopped at a grocery in Estes and picked up some ice cream sandwiches for the ride back. The leaves are just starting to turn a rich yellow. So much earlier than in Oklahoma; I thought for a minute that a branch on our tree was dying, but then realized that several trees in our creek and around the canyon are beginning to turn. It has also become cooler, especially at night, lows in the 50s mostly, with lows of 40s expected by the weekend. It still reaches into the 70s & 80s during the day; I really like this weather.

I’m looking forward to firing up the wood burner this fall. At this point, I figure I’ve only collected enough seasoned wood to last for a month, but hopefully I’ll get enough to burn all winter before things get too cold. I’ve been monitoring the propane tank and we’ve used 10% (since our June 22 fill) on the water heater. I’m hoping to hold off a tank refill till next summer, putting a little from each paycheck into the savings in anticipation. It’s a 500 gallon tank, so it’s pricy when they do fill it up. Also, still need to get a chainsaw to cut up the green wood that I’ve collected from the tree guy.

The electric company came out today and installed a time of use meter, to see if it would be beneficial to us to switch to that rate plan. Not certain we would benefit, since on peak is 6-9 a.m. and 4-9 p.m., both times when we use the most electricity, but we’ll see. They will come out Friday and remove it and give us the results. Now we pay a straight .07/kwh, but the new plan has off-peak at .04 and on-peak at .13/kwh. Funny, the guy commented on the eagles up on our peak, he said they were the biggest eagles he'd ever seen, guess those chicken snacks are doing them good.

Steve is planning to take this Friday off, he has taken so little of his vacation time, that he is starting to lose the days he does have. Hopefully he will be able to get away from work, even if it’s just for the afternoon. He is constantly reading e-mail via his Blackberry; there are times when I am awakened in the night to the chimes of a new message. Sometimes I just really detest technology.

The Homecoming

2007-08-31T21:31:00.000-06:00

Steve arrived home tonight from his week long China trip. Normally he goes for longer, but this time a couple of the guys split their time, so he just stayed a week. I’m glad to have him home. No major excitement while he was away, that’s good. He took the shuttle from the airport to our little town, where I picked him up just in time for dinner, which he wasn’t hungry for, since he’s on China time and he would just be waking up. His plane left China 10:20 p.m. yesterday (our time) and he arrived in town at 6:00 p.m. today. It made for a long day and he pretty much looked like a Zombie standing there with his carry on and his computer bag as I pulled up. Now he is snoring away in the chair in front of the television “watching” some old cop flick on the Hallmark channel. He brought back a few trinkets and gifts he was given, which, in light of all the publicity surrounding the great quality of items that come out of China, I am afraid to drink, touch or even look at. :o) He was given a gift box of green tea and a couple bottles of wine. Neither of us drink alcohol; so it’ll probably sit around for a while. I do have a couple of good bread recipes that call for wine, but still. I asked him what the odds were that it contained formaldehyde or lead, lol.

The kids are gone to the first high school football game of the season. I’m not even sure who we are playing, but I do remember the fun of attending my old HS games, hanging out with friends, cheering on the team and stuff. Ah, good memories. Every Friday after the game our church holds Fifth Quarter where the kids can come hang out have pizza, pop, snacks, etc and I think they do a short, 5 minute or so message. All concessions cost a quarter each. The kids usually hang out till 12:30 or so. It’s a huge draw; 300 kids or so show up, not bad for a town of 1500. I should note, the actual town has about 400, the rest of the people live in the surrounding rural area, like us.

Becca is still without her car, they gave an estimated completion date of Sept 6th. Considering we dropped it off on Aug 8th, I think they have taken forever to get the work done. All I can say is it better be good, lol. Perhaps they’ve embellished it or pimped it out…ya that. And I thought I was tired of driving her around before…sigh.

Think I’ll tuck Steve in bed and wait up for the kids to get home, just can’t go to sleep when they are not home yet, besides I want to hear that we won our first game.

The Varsity Team

2007-08-29T21:21:00.000-06:00

We’re on our second week of school and have begun to settle into a routine. Josh went out for soccer and made the varsity team. He is pretty pumped about it. He is a talented soccer player and is looking forward to the season. His cross country coach is bummed that he chose soccer over XC, but he will run track in the spring. His school doesn’t actually have a soccer team; so he is playing for another larger school in the district. It took him a week and a couple of visits to various schools to decide which one he wanted to play for. I think he made a wise choice. He was steered toward a particular school by a couple of people. I took him over there, but I didn’t have a good feeling about it, thankfully he ended up choosing a different school. I’m glad he made the choice he did. If I would have forced it or told him he couldn’t play for a particular school, he would have been upset with me, but since he made the choice himself, all is good :o)

Yesterday I moved the last batch of chicks from the garage to the big pen. I checked on them several times and they seemed to be doing well so I left them together overnight. This morning I noticed they were pretty mean and had pecked the tar out of one chick’s head in particular, so I spent the morning constructing a pen within the pen for the chicks. I put the chicken wire just high enough that the chicks have full reign, but can run into the smaller pen for safety if needed. I put a waterer and feeder in there and also made them a small chicken house, so they have cover at night or in the event of rain. The big guys were chasing them out of the hen house, so now they have their own place. Hopefully they will get to know each other through the fence.

I also covered the top of the big pen with some deer netting that I picked up on clearance at the farm store. There was a pair of hawks in the trees next to the pen, so I needed to get that done today before I lost any chicks. I saw the eagles soaring around today as well; I’m beginning to think they have a nest on the peak near the west end of the property. I’ll have to hike up there soon and see. We found a previous years’ nest in the trees near the coop. The kids thought it was pretty cool. It’s really huge and had big sticks, amazing how strong they must be to build something like that.

Becca had an interesting day at work, 5 of her coworkers were arrested for theft. Made for an exciting day. I'm sure she will pick up more hours now that they are so short staffed.

I bought a DVD off eBay on the great depression. I love studying that era in history. It amazes me how people made do and weren't afraid to share what little they had with those in need. They pulled together and their faith was strong. Such incredible poverty on the heels of great wealth. I would like to think I would do okay if faced with similar challenges. It sure was a unique period in this country’s history. I’m looking forward to watching it when it arrives.

The Miracle

2007-08-25T17:22:00.000-06:00

Steve left for Shanghai early this morning. We Skype each other every day…for those of you in the dark, it is an internet program that allows you to talk for free via the computer. He is more than half a day ahead of us, so when he gets to his apartment at 9:00 p.m., we’ll be up and getting ready for Sunday morning service. I love being able to talk to him twice a day while he is gone. I never know what his schedule is, so I just let him call me at his convenience. Also, I know I can call him if the family miracle happens and he is available most of the time.

The family miracle happens mostly when he is gone or I’m under some amount of stress. What’s the family miracle, you ask? That’s when one of the kids suddenly becomes like God and knows all things, while I at the same time have my intelligence diminished to one level above a coma.

We had that very miracle happen this week. I was informed in the truck by one of my dear children that I really don’t know how to drive, nor do I know how to spend money and have a fun time, nor do I know how to raise children. This couldn’t be the same child who put the very truck in the ditch while traveling 5 miles an hour, doesn’t have a dime to their name, or needless to say, a child to raise. I must be mistaken.

Apparently I have lost quite a bit of my intelligence over the summer, perhaps it didn’t get packed or got lost in the move.…good thing school is starting. :o) I had to pull of the road and have a 45 minute talk and try to set some things straight…key word there try. By the end of the 45 minutes, I had visions of sounding like Charlie brown’s teacher, ”mwah, mwah, mahw, mwah, mwah, mahw, son, mwah, mwah, mwah oaky?” His eyes had glassed over by then and I knew he was day dreaming about motorcycles, girls or soccer. It appears I generally have lucid periods of 20 minutes, or maybe slightly longer if I’m lucky, then I’m back to hovering near comatose on the intelligence meter.

And they say these are the best years of my life, someday I’ll look back and know with certainty that they were. I think that day will come when the family miracle begins to occur in my children’s homes. Thank goodness I was never like that with my parents…cough.

On another note, I’ve had to put the chickens back in their pen. Seems a pair of eagles has decided they are a tasty snack. These eagles are massive and just beautiful, but I’m not into feeding them my fledgling flock. At the same time the chicks have picked up some respiratory bug, so I lost 2 that I know of to that. I put them on an antibiotic, when I found the second one hiding in the weeds, dazed and staring off into the distance, waiting to go to the great feed bucket in the sky. When they began to disappear, I assumed they were sick and went off to die, but an hour of searching the weeds and grass around the house revealed nothing. I decided to let them out and keep a close eye and sure enough several hours later an eagle began moving in. At the final count, I have lost 3 Cochin, 1 barred, 3 Sussex, 1 Rhode Island, 1 buff, 3 leghorns and 1 bantam. I’m guessing 11 to the eagles and 2 to illness all in just 3 days. Sheesh! I have just the place for a pair of stuffed eagles above the mantel! Good thing most of my hen chicks are still in the garage, having hatched just 3 weeks ago. Also the antibiotic has kicked in and they are all back to their normal, lucid selves. Perhaps I could use a little antibiotic myself, just ask my kids, they say it wouldn’t hurt.

Mom's Taxi

2007-08-22T22:54:00.000-06:00

I can’t wait till Becca gets her car back from the shop. I found out yesterday that the insurance company was thinking of totaling it, but it has such low mileage that they decided to go ahead and fix it. I’m so glad, because we have taken meticulous care of it and even though it is 10 years old, I know it will run another 5-10 years easily. It only had 57,000 miles on it when she started to drive it a couple years ago. I’m getting tired of chauffeuring her to work and back every day. Its 100 miles a day there and back twice! I try to do things in town while I’m there to make it more worth spending the gas on. I really hate being a taxi.

I told the kids to ride the bus home today. Josh really doesn’t want to ride it….and wouldn’t you know, they missed the bus. Maybe I should start charing a per mile fare :) He blamed it on the gal at the office who talked too much when he went to find out his student ID number after school. Um…ya…It’s always good to blame things on people who aren’t around to defend themselves. Yesterday he missed the bus from shop class….aaargh! Aparently the school district we live in drives kids 25 miles to a centralized class but then leaves them to fend for themselves with no way back to the main campus. At least that's Josh's view of it. I’m thinking a pair of running shoes are in his near future.

While in town, I stopped at the local grocery and picked up the produce they were tossing. There were a ton of raspberries, so I made a quart of raspberry jam tonight. There was also a half dozen lemons and some pears, plums, carrots, strawberries, kale, celery, broccoli, cucumbers and the usual tons of lettuce. I gave the chickens their share and washed up the rest and put it in the fridge.

I plan to pick apples tomorrow; there is a nice tree full of them just down the road from us near the river. I’m planning to make a bunch of applesauce and some pies as well. I also spied a wild plum thicket along the road, the plums are almost ripe. I haven’t had wild plum jam since I was a kid. Hopefully I’ll have time to make that this year. And lastly, I saw some elderberries along a phone pole in town. I still have quite a bit of jam and syrup from a couple years ago when I made a huge batch, but I’m tempted to go and ask the homeowner if I could cut those as well and make some more syrup. I’m thinking a personal chef is in my near future, lol.

I’m getting tired just thinking of it, I feel like I'm nesting or something. Then there are the peaches my sister and I will be canning this weekend. We are buying 50 lbs and spending the day together canning them. It should be a fun time. Rachael will be along, so it should make for some interesting conversation. Maybe I’ll hit her up to help with the pies and applesauce. I'm glad to have some things put up for the winter. I love having an abundance of fruits and veggies in the winter, it seems to bring a touch of summer to the table.

The Shanghai Team

2007-08-18T21:54:00.000-06:00

Three of the Shanghai team are in the states on business so we had them over for lunch today and took them to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. We had a really great time; lots of laughter, questions and explanations. One spoke fairly good English, but the others spoke very broken English. It made for a fun time and lots of questions and attempts and re-attempts at explanations.

I had been fretting all week about what to make for lunch. I don't keep octopus or tripe on hand, so I resorted to chicken. I figured that was pretty safe. When Steve travels there, he eats some pretty...uh...shall I say interesting stuff? I wasn't sure I could cook something they would like, but I knew they eat chicken and cabbage and I happened to have both. Although after I had the chicken smoked, Steve told me they don't typically like the western style of smoked food. Aargh! I frustratedly asked what he recommended and if he would like to go out to the grocery, he decided they could try smoked and might actually like it. :o)

They arrived around 11:30. They found the place on their own...well, with the help of a GPS unit...but still amazing. They are the first visitors who have been able to find the place without an escort from three miles out. Hershey had them pinned in their car, but she quickly warmed up to them after being introduced. In fact they loved her and kept commenting on just how much. "Hearshy," as they called her, "really a nice dog"

Earlier in the morning I had grilled the chicken for just a couple minutes over an open fire to give it some good smoked flavor, then put a light sweet sauce on it and put it in a slow oven to cook for a few hours. They laughed when I answered that I had indeed cooked the chicken over the smolderig fire outside...still not sure why they found that funny. Anyhow, it was just perfect when they arrived...and they actually liked it. They ate rather noisily, I was suprised that they ate with their mouths open, but Steve told me later that smacking your lips while eating is a compliment to the cook on the food. And here I just thought they had poor manners, lol.

After lunch we piled into their rental car and headed up to Estes and Rocky Mountain National Park. They were in awe of the mountains and took a zillion pictures. there were lots of ohs and ahs and laughter when we tried to explain things. They hadn't seen a coyote or elk before. They seemed pretty satisfied with the explanation of a coyote as a wild dog with really long legs, they practiced saying coyote over and over for at leas 1/2 mile, asking us to repeat it every now and then.

The snow lingering in the summer was mystifying...."but it ez not cold enough ou, how can it be dere is steel dis snow?" Every time they took a picture of each other on a rock or in front of a mountain view they had to take one of us as well. They laughed as they showed each other the pictures they had just taken. I think they currently have more pictures of our family at RMNP than we do. Then at one stop the sky opened up and poured freezing rain on us. It actually hailed very small hail. They had never seen hail before either. They were amazed and kept saying "Ice, Ice" as they pointed it out to each other and to us and took pictures of it from inside the car. Their eyes got big and they laughed when we explained that in some places some storms drop hail as big as a baseball.

We picked up some pizza on the way home. I don't think they liked it, they each had one piece and insisted they were full. They stood around outside taking in the view and said they liked the farm. They found it funny that the chickens just walk around in the yard, that they are not in a "box." They laughed when Steve told them that the sky is just full of stars at night. About 8:30 they headed back to their hotel and I started to clean up from lunch, dinner and cookies.

It was a day well spent. I really enjoy sharing an other's culture and sharing mine with them. I find the differences so interesting. They invited us several times to come along with Steve next time he travels there and maybe some day I'll take them up on it.

The DMV

2007-08-17T11:26:00.000-06:00

I meant to post this yesterday, so for a few minutes pretend its till Thursday...unless that's just too painful :)

School starts Monday for Josh & Em. Since I've been putting off the inevitable trip to the DMV with Josh I decided to go today and get it over with. I'm not usually one to postpone important things, but I completely procrastinated on this. He needed to get his license switched over from Oklahoma. No tests or anything, just the dreaded eternal wait in an overcrowded room filled with angry people who would rather be pretty much anywhere else, including the dentist, or even an IRS audit.

We decide to combine trips and go with Becca on her way to work. We dropped her off and headed to the DMV. "DMV, that even sound boring." Josh quips. Not sure what he was expecting. I asked what he thought it should be called. "MPG" he answered. Which would stand for.....? "Military propelled grenades." I've got to admit that would make the place pretty exciting, not sure what it has to do with driving, but okay.

We walk in the door, scan the crowd and grab a number. It's standing room only. Our number, 19. The number on the screen, 72. Quick math brain that I possess puts us at 47th in line. At 5 min per person, we're looking at just under 4 hours. Oh brother. We stand around for about 10 minutes to gauge the employees' efficiency....okay, redo the math, 10 min per person...put us at just under 8 hours....uh....they'll be closed by then. What to do? We take our number with us and decide to run some errands. We ran and got another load of the free firewood, ran to the feed store to window shop and pick up an axe and hit the grocery for some pop and bread. 2 hours had passed, so we decided to check back in at the DMV. Up to # 94, wow 22 people in 2 hours, these ladies were moving right along. at 5.5 minutes per person I figure we have another 2 hours or so, so its out the door and on to Best Buy. I used a reward certificate to buy a Christmas gift, and then we ran to Dick's sporting good and checked out he rifles and shotguns, among pretty much everything else in the store. Finally on the way back, we ran to the pawn shop and looked at some dirt bikes and four wheelers that had caught Josh's eye.

We walk in the door at the DMV and they are on #1. Okay what happened? 7 people in about 90 minutes, boy did they hit a snag somewhere! A nap, lunch out, a scrapbooking party? My mind contrives the possible scenarios. We decide to stay put. A couple of seats have opened up, so we seat ourselves and people watch.

Everyone there has better things to do than spend 4 hours waiting, it shows on their faces. A couple of women with small fussy children give up and hope they will have better luck a different day. As they leave, one kindly hands her number to an elderly gentleman on oxygen. For a fleeting second I see myself tackling him and wresting the number from his clutch, but then I come to my senses and smile at her, acknowledging her kindness. A small child sits on the floor in her bright red shirt and white pants, her dark eyes glow with happiness. She tugs at her dark pigtail with one hand while chewing a fingernail on the other. She is taking in the sights, smiling at another girl her age and chattering in Spanish to her baby brother in mother's lap.

Finally our number is called. The woman scarcely makes eye contact as she inputs Josh's info. Josh also makes no eye contact, he continues to text on his phone just out of her sight. She looks up, scowl on her face and quips, "I can waive all restrictions with one condition." Josh looks up and meets her eye to eye. "Yes?" "That you sing the Oklahoma song." He stands stunned for a moment, trying to decide if she is serious. "uh, well, the schools weren't very good there, they never taught us that," he answers with a puzzled look. She chuckles and continues entering info, he returns to texting. Finally after 4.5 hours and $21 we are done and out of there, and all we have to show for it is a piece of paper.

Becca had a short day, so we picked her up and headed home. That was the day in a nutshell. No wonder I procrastinated. It wasn't what I would exactly call a productive day, we left home at 9 and got home at almost 4 . But it is done and hopefully we wont have to repeat that experience for a long while. Just in case, maybe I should refresh my memory to the words of Oklahoma.

Errand Day

2007-08-15T22:35:00.001-06:00

Today was a pretty mundane day again. I ran to the bank to deposit a survey check, to the post office to pick up Josh's new snowboard, a Christmas present, then into town to pick up the free produce from the local organic grocery and some free firewood from a Craigslist posting. There was a lot of lettuce again and celery, also a couple heads of nice cabbage and a few other miscelaneous veggies. I made runzas with the cabbage and some buffalo meat. They were great. Em made the dough and it turned out really nice. I used the leftover dough to make some garlic knots, and a pan of rolls for the freezer. We had some nice salads with the lettuce and some sauteed yellow zucchini as well. I made 3 more gallons of vegetable broth and put them in the freezer. The chickens enjoyed the rest of the produce.

I'm trying to accumulate enough firewood to heat the house predominately from the wood burner this winter. I got the hook up with a local arborist who cuts trees but doesn't want the wood. I plan on getting quite a bit of wood from him. I picked up a big load today, some of it is pretty green, some is dry. But either way, it is a blessing. I plan on loading up each time I run into town. I'll have to see how it pans out, but I've thought about cutting, splitting and selling the extra. Hopefully there is enough of the seasoned wood to last this winter. I'm curious to see how mcuh wood we go through in a season.

Becca started at her new job today. She seems happy with it. She said they aren't that busy so she gets paid to hang out in the back a lot. Her last job was pretty hectic. They were really busy so she usually had to stay an extra hour after closing to clean up and get things in order for the next day. I guess its a nice change.

We got rain today and the weather turned much cooler. Its a chilly 62 degrees as I sit here and type. The rain has really greened things up. The deer are coming around more frequently, although I don't think a day has passed that we haven't seen at least one. The most we saw at one time was 18. There have been lots of reports of bears, although we have yet to see one of those. They come down when the berries ripen to fatten up for winter, so I expect we should see one any day. I'm looking forward to the change of seasons here. There was a dusting of snow in the highter elevations yesterday, winter is not too far off. I've slipped into winter prep mode, it just seems natural to begin stocking up and preparing for winter.

Tomorrow I plan to finalize on the 2008 budget and get that ironed out for next year. I've been crunching numbers for the last week. Also, I need to get things ready for the Chinese group that is coming to visit Saturday. They are the group of engineers that Steve oversees. He flew them over to get some additional trainging, so we will be hosting them for the day at the house. Should be a fun and educational time.

The Visitor

2007-08-12T22:13:00.000-06:00

Today my 3-year-old niece Rachael came to visit for the day. Rachael really likes to come to Aunt Niese's farm. But I wasn't born yesterday, I know that it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the chickens. Like an addict, she just uses me to get to the chicks. Rachael plays with them like they are barbies, in fact Ken & Barbie would be jealous. She rocks them, talks to them and if you ask her they even talk back. In her words, "They said 'we want to go for a hike up the mountain' ", "they want to play dress up, this one wants to be a princess, is it a boy or a girl?" "Oh look its smiling at me" And she adamantly tries to convinces me that they really did talk to her. Despite her pleas, I've never known a chicken to request make-up and being dressed in baby clothes.

I let her gather the eggs. She wanted to put them in the "nursery." She was shocked to find out I was not going to put them in the nursery, but rather was going to eat them. Ha! Now she was speechless, but only for a few seconds. "Aunt Niese," she scolded me "you can't eat it, the egg said 'you can only put me in the nursery.' ". Uh, no, I'm pretty sure I heard the egg say eat me, before you heard it say put me in the nursery.

Also like an addict, she would go from family member to family member begging to go out and see them "just for this many minutes." 30 seconds after returning, she was onto the next person. Rachael is a reasoner, I'm convinced she's a lawyer in the making. You can't tell her something without her reasoning through your logic and giving you an off the wall solution...usually involving animals talking. It is pointless to try to outsmart her with logic, and yet I continue to try my luck. After chasing the smaller chicks and holding them upside down, rocking them in her arms for hours, I told her the chicks said "We don't want Rachael to hold us anymore, we're getting sick."

After which I got a lesson from her on giving a chick an enema.....yep an enema. Okay, that was more information than I wanted to know, especially form a three year old. But according to Rachael, "if you do that they will never, never ever get diarrhea ever again, so its okay if they get sick, you can just fix it." Well, that one set me back a bit. I didn't have a plan "b," I'd just been out-reasoned and made speechless by a 3-year-old. Time for a nap, I knew I needed a break.

Rachael is full of questions, interesting answers, and off-the-wall comments. She keeps us in stitches with her antics and we learn a lot of interesting things from her. I'm a better person because of the vast wealth of unsolicited information she divulges. Example, if your chickens ever get sick, give me a call, I can talk you through giving them an enema.

Rachel in her "dress-up clothes" with a chick. Don't worry, she heard it, it said it likes to be squeezed.

Rachael in awe of the chicken riding on Hershey's back.

The Find

2007-08-10T23:37:00.000-06:00

Well, today was pretty much an errand day. Less exciting than previous days, thank goodness! I did some work out of the office this morning and then ran to the post office and into town to pick up a few things.

I stumbled upon a great find last week. I've been trying to incorporate more healthy, organic food in the family's diet, but it is so darned expensive. I spent 104.00 on some food last month that the kids ate in about 3 days. At that rate I'd spend over 1000 a month, I have been praying for ideas and thinking of some alternatives because I normally keep the budget at about 1/5 of that.

When I processed chickens for a neighbor several weeks ago she mentioned that the local grocery tosses a ton of produce and she picks it up for her chickens to help cut the cost of feeding them. She also metioned that a lot of it is still perfectly good. So, I decided to check with my local organic grocery and sure enough they said they pitch a bunch of stuff twice a week when the new produce arrives. The grocer told me I'd be amazed at what they toss and he would save it all out in a separate bag if I called ahead. So today I went to pick it up and I couldn't believe all the good fruits and veggies in there. I sorted it and gave the hens all the scrap stuff which was about 70% of it and washed the rest of the nicer things for us. A lot of it I couldn't see why they had tossed it except that it was in a package with one or two items that were not sellable. I also made a gallon of vegetable stock to put in the freezer for soup this winter. There were whole bunches of really nice lettuce, I guess they were too small to sell so they got tossed? In any event, I think it was a great find. I washed and sorted the lettuce, wish there was a way to preserve it as there was enough to fill a 5 gallon bucket. Guess we'll be eating salad for lunch & dinner. He told me to plan to come 2x a week and get stuff. He said it seems such a waste to just toss it, they are glad to give it away to someone. So, looks like the organic produce desire has been met. Hmmmmm.....maybe I need to stop at the local bank and see if they will save me a bag of some of their green stuff :)

I ran to Target to pick up a couple of things as well. They have printable coupons for buy one get one at the Starbucks inside. That's a hard one to pass up, especially since friend had given me a Target gift card. So, the girls and I treated ourselves. We had fun perusing the aisles. Usually I'm a get in and get out kind of person, the last time I just shopped there for nothing in particular was probably a year ago. But, I didn't find much in the way of bargains, so ya. Oh well, we still had a fun time.

The UPS guy stopped by the house to drop off a return shipment and the dog had him pinned in the truck. He stood inside the door and wouldn't come out. I let him know she is a pushover for a good doggie biscuit. Stan, the regular UPS guy brings her a treat, so I think that was all she was hoping for. Large brown truck = treat! But I admit, she can be intimidating to some one who doesn't know her.

On a sad note, the chicks are big enough that I started to let them out to roam around the place and I lost one to a hawk or fox or something while I was in town today. There was a small amount of feather on the ground so we did a head count and sure enough, one was awol! Darn it! Guess some critter was hoping to incorporate more healthy, organic food in his diet too.

The Tow Truck

2007-08-08T23:03:00.000-06:00

Who says life on the farm is dull? On the bright side we met another of the upstanding businessmen in the community. Larry drives the local tow truck. We like Larry. Larry has the ability to rescue vehicles from 3' deep crevasses. Did I mention we like Larry? The whole event came to pass because Josh had to play Dance Dance Revolution with his new friends. They don't drive so he had to pick them up. There is a good reason teenage boys have higher insurance rates...ah, but I digress. I tell him I'm not fond of all the driving back and forth every day. I just filled the truck and the first time I go to drive it its at 1/2 tank. With an arm around my shoulder he looks into my eyes and says "Well mom, we have friends now, how can you put a price on that" Believe me son, I can put a price on it, Larry certainly had no problem.

So a neighbor brings him home. Seems he was run off the road by a barely english speaking maniacal dump truck driver delivering a load of firewood flying down the center of the road with no regard for man nor beast. "Oh sorry, can't stop now," he yells out the window as he slows. Ya, like that really helped. At least that was Josh's take on the whole thing. He also claims he was only going 5 miles an hour. A teenage boy driving 5 miles and hour, ya well, you be the judge. A Good Samaritan was a few minutes behind and gave him a lift. He was about 2 miles from home and had no cell service, thank goodness for caring, decent neighbors.

Larry's take, "Oh, this one is a toughie, she's resting on the drive shaft and the muffler, and the axle is partly buried. Not sure I can get 'er out with out damage, but I'll sure try" Not exactly comforting, but what are my alternatives. Besides, Larry looked like he knew what he was doing.....I hoped. Well, 2 hrs and 1 fat check later, the truck was back on the road. Larry did a great job, truck survived damage free, Josh snapped a pretty cool souvenir picture with his cell phone and me...I just wrote the check...hmmm, I'm feeling a little jipped.

Well, after yet another trip back into town, the gang has arrived and the Dance Dance Revolution party is in full swing. They seem to be having a good time. The light fixtures sure are shaking. Hmmm....I wonder if Larry knows a good electrician.

On another note we caught two more snakes. Not rattlers, but still. One was 6'5", he was hiding out in the garage sizing up the new chicks. The other was 5'2" I figure if ya got 'em in hand, ya may as well measure 'em....after all. I "relocated" them both to the end of the driveway, which is 1/4 mile long. I hope that was enough. We thought we had chased the same big one off already, so we spray painted a spot on his back to see if he comes back. That's an "Old Indian Trick" I learned form my dad. He has a lot of old indian tricks, but that's fodder for another blog. What are the odds the newly decorated snake will shed and return? I'll keep you posted on that.

Well, today definitely was an interesting day, I often tell Josh he keeps my life interesting. Just when I was beginning to think there would be nothing to blog about today. Here's to hoping tomorrow is dull; my checkbook just can't handle the excitement.

Here are Josh's pictures. Only the front Drivers tire was making contact with the ground. The rear driver's was in the air and both passenger tires were off the ground down it the ditch. The truck was resting on the undercarriage, but thankfully its out with no damage!