Down on the Farm

It's been a while since I've posted anything here (nearly a month) and even longer since I've posted something that didn't have to do with grief. Yesterday I was tromping back in from the cow lot (which actually houses a cow again) and thought, 'I wonder when I last did a critter count?' And, 'When did I last post farm pictures?' So here it is. A new post. Not about grief. Complete with pictures (and incomplete sentences.....I'm a cook, not an English teacher).

This is Daisy. She's our new holstein bottle calf. She's about 3 weeks old and sweet as sugar. She likes to follow Husband around the pen and does not like to be cooped up in her stall when she knows we're outside. Eventually she will be bread and once she's calved Husband plans on milking her for household use. I'm left with the quandary of how to change the 4 FarmHands over from the 6 gallons of pasteurized 2% milk they now drink to 6 gallons of whole raw milk they will be drinking in 2 more years.

Two weeks ago or so Husband and I made a quick grocery store run after I got off work. We had plenty of time to make it back to the house before the FarmHands were to get off the bus....until we picked up a cotter pin in our tire. Yup. That was so far into our rear, driver side tire that all you could see was a bit of curved metal going into the tire in 2 places. We assumed it was a fencing staple. Husband was shocked when the tire guy brought this out to show him. Amazingly enough they patched the tire and it's doing fine (thank God because we'd just bought new tires a few months back). Welcome to country roads. They're not nearly as romantic as John Denver makes them out to be.

Miss Sadie has a crazy strong stick drive (that's what I'm calling it, anyway). If she sees a stick she will have it. She will knock you down trying to get it. She will suffer no fools to stand between her and the stick. I make her sit before I'll throw any sticks for her to chase down (I don't say fetch because they rarely come back to me willingly). She doesn't like sitting but will do it if she knows she'll get the stick in a moment.

This day her stick was, in fact, a small tree. The FarmHands had knocked it down after it died and Sadie packed it around all day expecting me to throw it across the field.

I love my job. I get to make giant amounts of food all day, every day. Sometimes the food comes already giant. Like our carrots. Yup, they were the size of my forearm. You could club someone to death with one of those things. I live for orders that have baby carrots instead.

This summer we lost our last old farm cat. Husband said no more cats because the dogs always play too rough with the kittens and we have to deal with the aftermath. Well, the dogs have to be penned up for the time being because of Daisy and our goats so he changed his mind. One of the teachers at school had farm cats that needed to live elsewhere. Our house is often elsewhere.

The principal also had cats that needed to live elsewhere. This is Camo II. Camo I came home under the hood of my car a few years ago but once he became a Big Boy Cat, he went in search of a wife and never returned. We're hoping Camo II doesn't follow in his footsteps, but we're not holding our breath. Camo II was actually supposed to be a girl but the principals son grabbed the wrong cat. Oh well. He's still pretty and can still help out with rodent control.

How can you look at those eyelashes and not melt?

When we first moved to the country, Husband and I spent summers collecting large rocks to make a fire ring for the yard. After 10 years down by the pond, they got moved up to the back yard (a much more convenient location). I guess some serious settling had occured in the last 10 years because when I saw this yesterday I couldn't figure out where all the rocks came from. Husband assured me there were all there to begin with.

This was my birthday present from QM and Daddy last spring. It took a while for Husband and I to decide where to hang it. I think the shed was the perfect place.

And now for the official current critter count:

• 5 dogs (2 huskies, 1 mastiff, 1 morkie, and 1 wire haired fox terrier)
• 3 parakeets
• 6 cats
• 5 rabbits (I think- the number is rather fluid what with the freezer filling up and breeding and all)
• 6 chickens
• 2 boer goats
• 2 rams
• 1 bottle calf

We're creeping back up there. Husband would like to add a horse and a hog to the mix. We'll see.

Pleasantly Surprised

When you bring a new puppy into a home you never know how things will go.  A young puppy can be coddled and easily influenced.  An older pup or a grown dog can be a bit more difficult. Make it a half grown pup who's been in at least 2 previous homes and weighs nearly as much as I do and it could be a rather difficult road to travel.

I knew that when we brought Sadie home.  But I also knew I needed a protector and she needed a real home.

Much to my delight, Sadie is a darling. She loves to lounge on my feet (which can be a bit painful at times), have her belly scratched, and tuck her head under my legs while I sit on the swing. She follows Husband around the yard while he does his chores. She lets Bitsy lay on her and give her hugs. She loves having the FarmHands around to entertain her. She barks at every passing vehicle. She takes her task of guarding us very seriously. She's not at all aggressive but her bark is enough to scare off anyone who wanders up that doesn't belong here.

Husband and I were sitting in the swing today discussing her while she lounged underneath our feet. We are both so happy with how good she is and how gentle she is (I had just spent 20 minutes sitting in the grass with her head in my lap) and why anyone would want to get rid of her. Maybe she didn't house break easily. Maybe living in town and her need to alert you to all traffic was hard to deal with. Maybe having a large dog with a penchant for eating sticks didn't work well indoors. Maybe they weren't prepared for the massive amount of food a large dog can eat. I really don't know.

All I do know is that I'm glad she's come to us.

Snowmageddon 2012

 It has hit.  In a Big, Bad way.  Luckily there was very little ice before the massive snow storm hit around 1:40 this morning.  Here we are, 14 hours and 9 inches of snow or so later & it's still coming down.  Husband keeps shoveling a patch in the back for the dogs to use when they need out but snow keeps sliding off the roof & filling in his hard worked open spot.

Unfortunately that means I have snowy dogs coming back in every 2 hours & my carpet isn't happy.

We did let the FarmHands go out to play this morning. 30 minutes of dressing and fussing and crying because no one had boots that fit for 15 minutes of playing outside followed by 3 hours of laundry to recover from the excursion wasn't entirely worth it in my book, but if the hadn't been out I'd have never heard the end of it.  Mama went outside with them only to be the last out the door and the first back in (after getting everyone else dressed and out I had to come back in with the first FarmHand that got too cold...Bitsy).  Now I'm paying the price for a free fall into a snow angel.  It was much easier when I was 9.  At 36 my neck didn't handle the landing quite like I expected and now it's a little on the stiff side.  But the snow angel is wonderful so maybe it's all worth it.

Misha Gale is loving all the snow. I'm happy for her.  She's been depressed since we lost Bonpas last month.  9 inches of snow has brought the puppy out in her again.  I can't wait to see what she does in February when she gets her baby sister.  Husband's cousin who owns Misha's mom, just posted that Skye was having litter #3 last week.  Much to our surprise, the puppies came along Saturday night/Sunday morning.  There's one red baby girl in the litter and Husband already has his name on her.   Her name will be Sasha Skye.

The rest of the day will find us all hunkered down with a stack of movies, bowl of Christmas candy, blankets, pillows, and a long few days of being snow bound.

Merry Christmas to you all from all of us down on the farm!

You just keep me hangin' on...

Just forget the rest of the lyrics to that song. They're not really apropos to this situation. But I want to thank you all for sticking by when I'm moody & irrational & not up to spilling my guts all over the interwebs. Although my latest mini-sabbatical was due more to actual guts than the metaphorical kind.

I had an attack of some kind. It's pretty much going to be undetermined because it's over & the tests were inconclusive. Initially it was thought to be my appendix, then possibly gallbladder, and finally UTI. In truth, I don't care as long as the pain stays gone & I stay out of the hospital. Bactrim seems to be safely securing that end for me.

In the meantime, we've had a busy week on the farm (seriously, what week isn't busy around here?) with new bunnies, tunnels in the dirt, a Thanksgiving dinner, our first pair of horribly scratched glasses, the first head cold of the season, wind that could possibly pick Bitsy up & carry her across the road, new boots, shoe tying lessons & a birthday party.

The kids have decided to show rabbits at the fair for their 4-H projects this year so Husband tracked down a lady who raises Flemish Giants (if you've seen the viral email of the 20 pound rabbit the size of a medium sized dog, he's a F.B.) for show. We went to meet her & get 2 or 3 rabbits. We came home with 5.

One Flemish is nearly grown & will be ready to breed as soon as our buck is mature. The other 2 (a buck & a doe) are litter mates & recently weaned. As Husband was loading them up, the lady pulled out a blue & white Dutch named Blaze. The moment I laid eyes on him I knew BabyGirl would be head over heels. She was. When the rabbit lady saw our reaction to Blaze, she brought Sarah out. Sarah is a Netherland Dwarf. They are very small rabbits with flat faces, large eyes, and tiny ears making them look infantile even when fully mature. So, yeah, I squealed & when she offered Sarah for $10 I jumped on it. Turns out, Miss Sarah (who Bitsy immediately latched on to like a vice) is preggers.

We already had 10 rabbits from a pair Husband bought the FarmHands last Spring plus a yet to be determined number of bunnies that haven't emerged from under their pile of mom fur (Husband estimates at least 5). That puts our current bunny total around 20. That whole "Breeding like Rabbits" thing isn't a joke!

If we keep this up we'll be on Animal Hoarders in no time! Watch out Cable. Here we come!

Today

Be thankful you cannot smell my blog. Bunnies may be super cute, but they also stink really bad. I cannot imagine having one in the house unless it was absolutely litter box trained. We currently have 10 rabbits. The FarmHands are going to show some at the fair next year for their 4-H projects.





About a week ago, I started working on this:

It's my sassafras walking stick. Husband found it by the creek. It was dead & dry so he broke it down & brought it to me. I was working on a walking stick made from some kind of elm (?) at the time. The sassafras was really beautiful so the elm was set aside for a much later date. I stripped off the bark, smoothed off the knot holes, and sanded it all down just the way I wanted it. Saturday I coated it with polyurethane. I put on the last coat this morning & now I just have to wait for it to dry. I'm rather proud of it, if I do say so myself.

Today has already been a day jam packed with adventure....and it's only 12:30. We got up early & headed out with Beffie to her boyfriend's house to get some feeder pigs. Loaded 2 rather large pigs into a not quite large enough dog kennel in the back of the old van (Mammy) and drove 30 miles home with the smell of hog poop wafting through the vehicle.

Big Red is the Duroc on the left and the black & white (looks like a hampshire but is really a cross of a few different breeds) has been named Thor. Initially we were discussing them being a 4-H project, but instead we're going to stick with bunnies until we get the hang of it. These boys will be for dinner in a few months.

Sunlight reflecting off the pond at the end of the dock.

Husband wrestled them into their pen & I dug out BabyGirl's camera. I know they're not the best pictures, but it's been so long since I've posted any, I really needed to share.

On Friday Husband had an order form for the USDA's fall tree sale in our area. They had 6 or 7 kinds of trees to choose from for $1-2 a piece. We ordered 25 pecan trees to put up on the hill east of our house & I'm getting 5 red buds for the front of the house since my dog woods have all died. And if anyone is looking for a tree with a great shape & beautiful fall colors for their yard, may I suggest the sassafras? We have quite a few by the creek & they're beautiful!

My boots & Husband's coveralls & flannel shirt waiting for a run through the Sanitize setting on my washing machine. Nothing like the smell of pig poop in the morning.

My White Board. It's stuck to my back door with super magnets. This are today's words of encouragement. Normally it's on the inside of the door, but that didn't work so well with BabyGirl's cheap-o camera.

Now I just need to get motivated & get my house in order....but since the FarmHands aren't in school today that may be a pointless endeavor. Maybe tomorrow. Today I'll just play.

First you see him, then you don't- or how to get a new kitten just by going to school.

We accidentally have a new kitten. How does one accidentally acquire a kitten? I shall tell you.

Monday morning I took the FarmHands to school as usual. When we walked in the building I heard a small meow come from some landscaping near the front doors. There's been a stray mother cat hanging around the school for the past few weeks so I assumed it was one of her kittens & didn't think much of it.

After dropping the kids off, I went to Bucka & Busha's for a visit. When I was going in the house, I heard another meow. I assumed it was Bucka's tom cat, Jake, coming to check out my van as he normally does. Busha came out of the house & told me Jake hadn't been let out of the garage yet.

We started hunting for the source of the pitiful crying when Busha said, "Pop your hood." Sure enough, there was a gray striped fur ball trying to hide behind my engine. He attempted to climb down into the components just as I snatched hold of his tail. With some tugging & coaxing, eventually Busha & I managed to get him out of my van.

Much to my surprise, he seemed rather tame & very willing to be held. We boxed him up in a spare kennel & I took him home with me to be wormed & fed.

Bitsy instantly fell in love. His name changed a few times in the first few minutes she had him in custody, but eventually she settled on Camo since he matched the new camouflage shirt she was wearing. Since then, Camo Cat has been packed around the farm, held in odd manners, not allowed to set a paw on the ground, force fed anything resembling cat food, & loved on until he can no longer stand it. Oddly enough, he seems to enjoy all the smothering attention & has (thus far) decided to live here for good.

I only hope Bitsy doesn't kill him with kindness. He is really cute.

I love the out doors....

So long as it stays out doors. When things that thrive in nature move into my home, I don't deal with it well.

Case & point: The tree frog that decided to vacation in my shower last week.

Husband was getting in the shower one morning after chores when he hollered, "Hey, FarmWife, come see what's in here!" Initially I was a bit hesitant because...well....because my husband can be a little...well...how to put this discreetly?......(Daddy you might want to skip this part-fair warning)....a bit strange when it comes to mating calls (I warned you, Daddy). But my second & nearly as immediate thought was, "Oh no. There's a snake in the bath tub. Please Lord, do not let there be a snake in my bath tub!"

The certainty of a snake in the house stemmed from our earlier adventures last weekend.

As many of you know, our house is surrounded by woods. Husband had to clear out a decent chunk of one of the woods when we put our house in. There were 2 tree stumps left on the west side of our driveway & Uncle E brought over a bunch of flowers & planted them between the stumps. A few years ago, one stump rotted out entirely. The second stump has been moving that way for quite a while now. Last spring, the FarmHands and I found a nest of hatched snake eggs in the base of the still standing stump. There were no snakes in sight & after investigating the empty shells for a few hours, they were promptly forgotten.

Last weekend, I walked past the stump and a flutter in the wind caught my eye. When I got closer I realized it was a snake skin stuck in the rotten wood. I called the FarmHands over to check it out & BabyGirl asked if she could take it to school for their science lab. I got a Ziploc bag & gently freed the skin from the stump. As I was pulling it out I discovered 3 or 4 more full shed skins. We gathered them up, found a few remaining egg shells, and packaged them all to send to school.

That's when I got stupid brave. With a twig, I poked away some of the rotten wood to see how far gone the stump was. As a large chunk fell away, a small head shot out of the stump at me. I screamed & jumped & laughed all at once (you know the reaction, we've all seen it before). Husband came to the rescue with his shovel (he was on his way to dig out what he could of the stump), scooped the small tree snake up, and tossed it out in the woods. As he continued to demolish the stump, snakes continued to slither out of the bottom of the stump. In all, we "relocated" 4 small snakes and made an entire colony of ants homeless. My theory is that the snakes had been living in the stump off of ants sharing their space.

A few days later Uncle Gick came over & the FarmHands were telling him about the family of snakes when one more slithered out mid skin shed. It shot into a clump of day lilies and Bitsy decided to help it shed it's skin. As she grabbed the tail of the skin, the snake made a break out the front of the clump of greenery & what was left of it's shed.

So after our Week of the Five Snakes, when Husband called to me from the bathroom, I was sure what I was about to find.

I was wrong.

Under the soap holder in my shower, sat a walnut sized, rather terrified tree frog. How he got into the house, much less my shower, we may never know. But what I do know is when I tried to catch him with a paper towel, he jumped out from under the soap dish, landed briefly on my arm (causing another scream, jump, laugh), on to the floor & under the edge of our vanity where Husband cornered & caught him. I tossed him out the side door with a stern warning not to come back in my house no matter how posh he finds my bathroom.

Yes, I love the out of doors. I just don't want to share my living space with it.

I wanna' be famous.

I fear we are on the road to stardom....and not the good kind. The creepy reality television kind. Some day we're going to appear on an episode of Animal Hoarders. But then, can they really come to a farm? I mean, it's not like we're keeping 27 cats, 14 dogs, 8 rats, and a chinchilla in an apartment in L.A. We have 7 sheep, one goat, 13 chickens, half a dozen dogs, and a scattering of random cats on 10 acres in the country.

Husband and Bitsy got a new puppy Friday. Her name is Misha and she's a husky. We bought her from Husband's cousin. She owns the mama & this was their first litter. Getting Misha was my desperate attempt to distract my husband from wolves. Yup, you read that right. The man wants a wolf.

There's a family about 20 miles from us who breeds wolf pups & sells them. We went to see them about a year before we got pregnant with BabyGirl. At the time, you could have your name put on a list. Then you waited until they called to tell you it was your turn to come pick out a pup. Naturally, Husband put his name on the list. And naturally, his name came up in the middle of my first pregnancy. Not surprisingly, I vetoed the idea rather vehemently.

Now, 10 years later, the fever had struck again. It's come and gone over the past 10 years, but this time I could tell he was in the late stages of WPF better known as Wolf Pup Syndrome. If I didn't step in, I'd come home from the grocery to find a wolf in a kennel in my living room.

So as he began searching the Internet for wolf and wolf dog breeders, I began searching for pet wolf information. Much to his chagrin, I stumbled on a forum run by wolf & wolf dog owners. It said, in no uncertain terms, that wolves do not make good pets. Good companions, maybe if you have a vast amount of time to invest in them and can with out fail be the alpha in their pack. They are not good with other animals, small children, fences, or property you'd like to keep in tact. Eventually I began to steer Husband in a less wild, more domesticated direction.

He channeled his energy into finding a breed of dog that resembled a wolf, but was family friendly. Luckily, that's when his cousin posted pictures of her new litter of pups on Facebook. I emailed her a few times to ask about her pups, then I started researching huskies as family pets. They appear to be a match made in heaven.

Husband lost both his beagles this winter, so we were down to a paltry 5 dogs on the farm. That was simply unacceptable. With the addition of Misha, our dog population once again matches our human population. Things are once again, right in our world....so long as reality TV producers don't show up.

A sure sign

Spring is coming. The proof of it was in my laundry room Saturday morning trying to get warm.

I had just logged on to Facebook to find out what I had missed in the night when Husband came in the back door with a small white limp bundle in his hands. He hollered for me to change into old clothes, grab some towels, and come to the laundry room. When I got there I could see the poor lamb he was holding was half frozen and still covered with after birth. I wrapped the lamb in one towel and tossed the rest in the dryer to warm up.

When Husband went out to do chores he found the ewe and her twin lambs in the woods. It had snowed the night before and the lamb he brought me was laying with his legs splayed out behind him in the snow. He wasn't getting up and obviously hadn't been able to nurse.

Bitsy and I spent the morning rubbing him with warm towels, rocking him, talking to him, and praying he'd stand up. She named him 'Woody.' After about 30 minutes I got out a book we have about sheep and found out giving him some milk (from his mother) could help him gain enough strength to stand. Husband milked the ewe and we offered the little guy his bottle. He guzzled it down and started baaa-ing for more.

Husband held him up so he could try standing. Once Woody was steady, Husband let him put some weight on his feet. That's when Woody tried to make a mad dash for my lap. Well, as mad a dash as a noodle legged new born lamb can make. He flopped into my lap & head butted my stomach and chest looking for more to eat.

After more than an hour of worry and work, Woody got to go back out to live with his mom & twin brother. It broke my heart a bit when he left me for his real mom, but it would have broken it much more if he'd have given up in my laundry room. I'm sure it would have crushed Bitsy to pieces as one look at his fuzzy little face and she was a goner.

We now have twin girl lambs born last Monday named Jessie and Bo Peep and twin boy lambs named Buzz and Woody. Thus far we haven't had a lamb live through the summer, but I'm still holding out hope that the cast of Toy Story will make it.

It may still be a few weeks away, but Spring is definitely on it's way.

If Cute Could Kill

I think it's highly feasible for a person to die of cuteness overdose. Just looking at Ordinary Sarah's Sunshine is proof enough of that.

I'm a tad bit worried that we might need to update our homeowners insurance policy to be sure it covers The Spontaneous Death of Unsuspecting Visitors Due to an Over Abundance of Cuteness.

You see, we have 8 kittens. 7 of them live on my back stoop....in a wiggly pile of cute. Occasionally I step out the back door to find an old baking pan (that Husband uses as a feed dish) over flowing with fur, whiskers, and giant blue eyes. It's enough to make you gag.

On top of that, we have 7 beagle puppies. Although I am not a fan of full grown beagles, I firmly believe beagle pups are one of God's most adorable creations. They're right up there with baby seals and fuzzy yellow ducklings. Beagle pups have eyes that will make you physically ache from the cuteness.

If you add spring lambs, baby chickens, and the horde of fluffy little squirrels running around our yard, just pulling up in our driveway can be fatal.

And I haven't even mentioned the uber-cuteness of Bitsy. A three year old in a bikini*, sunglasses, and pig tails should really be kept under lock & key lest she cause a cute little riot.

Maybe we shouldn't tell our insurance agent about Bitsy.

* Note: Bitsy owns a bikini only because it's the bathing suit that came with her back-zip floaty vest. I could not spend another summer tugging wet Lycra stuffed with foam boards up & down a Popsicle sticky toddler.

Meet Buddy Joe

He's BabyGirl's new Morkie (that's a Maltese/Yorkie mix....what was once a "mutt" is now a "designer breed"). He's as cute as a button & as busy as a bee. He's BabyGirl's reward/reminder/bribe for improved behavior.

She's been having a tough time lately. Her temper & mouth have gotten her in a great deal of trouble since Christmas. Her daddy talked to her Sunday night about the possibility of getting her own puppy. I talked to her about the responsibility it would entail & the needed attitude adjustment I would require.

She's worked hard all week on her behavior. We've only had one real physical altercation between her & #1 Son this week(a HUGE improvement from the 2-3 a day we were dealing with). Her homework has been finished quickly all week. Her attitude has been better & the few problems we've had have been stopped mostly by bringing them to her attention.

Tuesday, Husband & I went to see the lady we got Andrew from 12 years ago this week. She told me about a pup she was certain BabyGirl would like, but I wasn't quite as certain. Yorkies & Maltese have a lot of hair. They're little, delicate dogs. Could one hold it's own in our mad house of a home?

Then we met Buddy & I knew right away this little guy had the energy to keep up with our brood. The breeder sent him to the vet to get fixed & have his final shots, then we picked him up today.

BabyGirl is over the moon. I'm thrilled to see her so happy.

But I have to wonder, why do we keep getting puppies that need housebreaking during the winter? What is wrong with us? Oh well. He should keep us well entertained while we're snowed in this weekend.

And Lilly May is having a fabulous time trying to convince her new little brother that he needs to tear through the house & wrestle with her.

Bits of Farm Life captured just for you.

As promised, some pictures of life on our little spread. I would post pictures of our garden, but it's in a sad state this year. The massive amount of rain we've had has stunted everything but the grass & it has flourished where it shouldn't. It doesn't help that I have had absolutely no drive to get out & work in my garden this year so the weeds are thriving while my beans are struggling. Whoops.

Instead, I offer you a picture of Bitsy rocking in the yard:

I should explain that her hair is not always that fabulous. She had in pigtails & was looking as cute as a button, but decided she'd had enough of them. When she pulled the bands out, she refused to let me try & comb her hair back into submission....hence the wings.

She was trying to rock Moon to sleep (Moon is the little black fuzz ball on the ground fleeing from Bitsy's loving intentions). Moon was uncooperative, so Bitsy decided to rock by herself & shout at Moon to go nigh-night instead. Oddly, her plan did not induce Moon to nap. I wonder why.

We spent some time naming cats this weekend. Some of last years kittens had never really been named & three of them that looked very similar were named Rose. Baby is our oldest cat & mother/grandmother to many of the others. Jasmine is probably next to her in age. Now we also have Baby's Rose & Rosebud (to differentiate two of the three named Rose), Sweetface (who used to be the third Rose, named after Did's dearly departed cat), Sydney, and Sammy. The kittens are Moon, Follow Cat (named by B.B. because "he follows me"), Amelia, Grey Ghost, Fiddler, and Teveya (both named for Fiddler on the Roof characters because of their penchant for hanging out on the roof of Fort FarmHands). There are two others that need to be named, but as they're hard to tell apart, that will have to wait until they're a bit bigger. That's a lot of cats!

While we were exploring the creek last week, we lugged a bucket with us to gather up our treasures so I wouldn't end up with pockets full of rocks in my washing machine. The FarmHands decided to gather up pretty rocks & bits of shale to put on Andrew's grave and a few crab apples. I found the piece of glass.

I never have figured out what the glass was from, but it was covered in writing & was fairly thick. The dogs found it & drug it out into the drive-way where I found it smashed up yesterday. But here's a closer shot of what it said:

I could make out dates & a few words, but would love to know what it was from. One of my favorite things about living in the country is all the old "junk" that can be found when you take the time to explore. Not all of it is fun....we've found lots of rusty barbed wire buried on our land. Chunks of broken jars & bottles are not uncommon in ditches. But then I have a decent little collection of bottles brought up from old country dump sites. The FarmHands like to find old bones. A cow leg bone is often mistaken as a "real life T-rex bone!"

Such adventures! There are times when I miss living a half a mile from the grocery. There are times when I long for sidewalks & paved roads. There are days when I wish we could still walk to the library. There are moments when I miss having the neighbor kids knock on the door to come play with BabyGirl. But then I see something like this & I don't miss it so much anymore.

If we lived in town, the FarmHands wouldn't be the FarmHands. They wouldn't spend hours fishing tadpoles out of the pond. They wouldn't have 8,000 kittens to pack around. They wouldn't have a creek to get plastered in mud in. They wouldn't have "Huckleberry woods" to tromp through. They would be different kids all together.

Tweet-tweet, not Twitter

My Internet connection has mysteriously righted it's self. I am wary & untrusting of it's intentions. I believe it to luring me into a false sense of security only to snatch the rug out from under my feet when I least expect it. Oh the evils of the digital age.

Until that time when I am again sent spiraling into the black hole of internet-less despair, I will continue to keep you all informed of the goings on around here....hmmmm....let's see....Oh, first of all, Ordinary Sarah begged for more farm pictures a few days/weeks back. In response to her lovely request, I dug out my camera & took loads of pictures of my wild children, the new kittens, our freshly sheared sheep, and other farm-like things. I came in the house, bathed the FarmHands, and uploaded the pictures only to have my connection fizzle out on me. I will try to return to that train of thought at a later (but hopefully very soon) date.

Then I had a few Hot Mama epiphanies after sorting through my giant box o' clothes from Princess. I've been dying to share my newly acquired wisdom, but that will also have to wait for a slightly later date.

Since I've been on my mini-hiatus, the FarmHands & I have had many adventures. We've explored the creek that runs through our property well past our boundary lines (much to their delight & mine). We've learned about shale, had lessons in skipping stones (I'm not really good at it, but I try), ridden Lexi's miniature horses (that Bitsy was convinced were dog-dogs), four-wheeled all over the country side, gone out for ice cream & taken Busha & Bucka some, ate far too many nearly ripe black berries, had an impromptu campfire, been swimming in our little pool, and Uncle E's big one, and generally kept very busy. My bath tubs have permanent rings around them, the dishes piled high for a few days, & every towel in the house was dirty, but it was all worth it. Every minute.

Saturday, we loaded the crew up & headed south to check out CMOE (Children's Museum of Evansville), where we tried to take them for BabyGirl's birthday before #1 Son got sick on us. 10 minutes from our destination, BabyGirl started complaining that she was sick. When we parked, she told me she wanted to go home. I was not very happy & was pretty sure she'd feel fine in a few minutes (she couldn't tell us what was bothering her...it was a very vague complaint). After being in the museum for about 45 seconds, she was miraculously better. Go figure.

A few words on CMOE: if you live in our general area and are looking for a fun way to wile away a few hours with your young children, go for it. $6 admission for anyone over the age of 18 months. Most everything is hands on. It's not a huge place. It can all be done in a few hours, or you can spend all day depending on what you decide. Husband wasn't impressed, but the FarmHands loved it. I wouldn't suggest it for anyone over the age of 10 unless there were younger kids along for the trip.

After CMOE, we stopped by at the "new" Gander, Mt. store so Husband could drool over bass boats & the FarmHands could marvel at the massive assortment of fishing lures. BabyGirl & I picked out a pink hand gun, but couldn't talk Husband into the $400 price tag. He's just no fun at all.

Next came a quick trip to McDonald's where we even "WENT INSIDE TO EAT!!!!" We are pretty strict drive-thru people, especially with all 4 kids in tow. And we finished up our outing with a "quick" stop at PetSmart. I say "quick" because this has been the scene in our house for the past 2 days following that "quick" trip:

The FarmHands have been begging for a new inside dog since Andrew passed away. I'm happy with just Lilly May and have firmly stated so on many occasions. Instead we opted for a different species to fill the void.....Budgies.That is, parakeets. They are the newest members of our menagerie. I've been coveting them since our trip to Kentucky Down Under last summer. Husband had suggested them before, but I wasn't ready & didn't want to skimp. This time we found a really nice cage (complete with bowed Plexiglas front to better watch the birdies), and they had the color birds I wanted, so we came home with a small box & my two new babies. That's Emmett on the swing & Quill on the perch looking in the mirror. We're pretty sure Emmett is a boy....Quill, we're not quite sure about yet.

All the way home from E'ville, B.B. kept asking if he could "hold the chickens," and Bitsy kept shouting "bock-bock-bock" and pointing to the box on my lap. Eventually we convinced them both that they weren't chickens & that birds say "tweet-tweet" not "bock-bock."

QM glared at me when the FarmHands told her about their new birds (we were at church Sunday morning & she & HT were there). She told me to take them back to the pet store because she already picked up two of them for me & they would take much less maintenance....they're plastic.

I decided to keep both. Sorry, Mama.

Introducing:

Rex Dino (in back) & Lambert (in front), our newest babies on the farm. They were born late afternoon/early evening on Sunday. It was a VERY rainy day & that made the entire experience a bit interesting. Husband went out to check on Janet (the proud Mama) & discovered she had very recently delivered two ram lambs (sing it, Zann!). One was happy, healthy, and stumbling around on scrawny little legs. The other was a bit chilled & not standing up on his own. Lamb #1 (Rex) nursed happily (if a bit stupidly, lambs often need to be shown where to nurse). Lamb #2 (Lambert) laid on the straw & did nothing.

Eventually Husband decided we needed to intervene. Lambs have a brief window when their intestinal tracks can absorb the larger particles that make up colostrum (the first milk a mother produces). After about 16 hours, it's useless to try to get them to take it because they can't digest it. They desperately need the colostrum because of the antibodies it contains. We had a bag of colostrum frozen from the first lamb we had (she didn't survive). I thawed it & warmed it & put it in the bottle. Husband fed it to Lambert & after that he perked up a bit. The next two times Husband tried to bottle feed him, he refused so we left him to nurse.

We weren't sure if he'd make it for the first few days. He didn't nurse for long periods of time & seemed weaker than his brother. But now he's up & playing & nursing like a pro. I think he's good to go...and I think he's as cute as a button.

Rex Dino (above), the older, stronger brother is now the property of B.B. B.B. is a very proud father & is much happier now that he has his very own boy sheep just like his big brother. Bitsy gets to lay claim to Lambert. She likes to watch him just as long as his Mama keeps quiet. As soon as Janet starts to bleat at her lambs, Bitsy gets very upset & we have to go look at something else in the yard.

Often times that something else is our new pig, Oreo. I'm having issues with Oreo. She wants to be loved on. We've never had a pig that wanted to be loved on before. I'm not sure I'll be able to eat something I've spent afternoons petting & chatting with....but then the smell of frying bacon may just overcome that.

I am not alone

It's nice to know that I'm not the only 30 something, happily married, mother of many who's obsessed with teenage vampires & werewolves. Don't believe me? Check this out. And even better, check this out. Now if only I could get my hands on the last two books, I'd be a happy camper. Maybe I'll order myself an early Mother's Day/Birthday present.

In the meantime, anyone out there sharing my obsession might want to check this out. Stephanie Meyers has started a retelling of Twilight called Midnight Sun. It's the story told from Edward's point-of-view. The rough draft of the first 12 chapters was leaked on line, so she decided to post it on her web site (she was not happy about the leak...not at all). Mrs.Meyers said she's not sure when it will be finished, but you can down load the PDF & read it on your computer. That's how I spent yesterday....and guess what? I loved it. Big shocker, huh? I cannot wait to see the final version as Edward's version of the events is much more exciting than Bella's.

OK, enough of my latest obsession. Someday I'll move on, I promise...well, I hope, anyway.

Good news. There's been some upheaval where Daddy works lately & there was a chance he'd be forced to retire early...like 5+ years early. That would mean taking a cut in his retirement benefits (not something he was happy about at all). Last night the final announcements were made & Daddy was not among the people cut. I am so relived & thankful...but at the same time, I'm heart broken for the men & women who lost their jobs yesterday & I know my Daddy is too.

Tomorrow I get to go to the zoo! I'm chaperoning #1 Son's Kindergarten field trip. I love the zoo, but I don't always look forward to going. I don't think I know the other mom/grandmother I'm paired with to corral our group of three boys & three girls. When I went with BabyGirl, I knew the other mom, but this year I don't know many of the parents. And yes, believe it or not, I am a tad shy. Oh well, I'll survive.

I have a theory about zoos. I think they are all built so that no matter what route you take in & out, you must climb up hill an extraordinary length of time to get out of the place. Why is this? At least tomorrow I won't be pushing a stroller up the hills. That is my least favorite part of the zoo. At least I have a new pair of sneakers/running shoes I love so my feet won't need to be cut off at the ankle after trekking around to see lions & tigers & bears, oh my. Arch support is my friend.

While we're at the zoo, BabyGirl's class will be across town at a museum. I've never been & would have loved to have gone, but was already committed to going with #1 Son...and they never sent home a sign up for chaperons for BabyGirl's trip.

Busha is going to come sit with B.B. & Bitsy when Husband leaves for work tomorrow since I won't get home for about an hour & 20 minutes after he's gone & I don't trust my 4 year old to baby sit his sister that long. ;) They're thrilled that Busha is coming over. I hope they behave themselves.

Oh, and the biggest news of all...we have new babies on the farm! As soon as they are out & running I'll take a picture of them to post. BabyGirl's sheep, Janet, gave birth to twin ram lambs Sunday afternoon. Zann, I tried to get him to name one 'Ding-dong' for you, but no go. Sorry. They are adorable...but they look oddly like that sheep from Pixar's short film Boundin' after he's been shorn & "dumped out here in the buff." It's on the Cars special features DVD. I love it. If you're wondering, the voice is Bud Lucky....you may remember him from the early days of Sesame Street. He animated & voiced this video. Classic!


Now that I've posted enough links to keep you busy all day long, I'll say good bye for now.

Grandpa Catt & Katie the Mule

In honor of the holiest of days back in the land of Daddy & the Queen Mother, I give you a mule story.

This morning I took Bucka to the doctor. Busha had to go to Indy to have her eye checked since it's been 2 weeks since her glaucoma surgery. She was concerned about Bucka making the trip to the doctor on his own. When he gets stressed out, he can be easily confused. I volunteered to make the trip with him when she mentioned it to me.

During the almost 30 mile trip home, Bucka & I started talking about his parents, Busha's parents, grandparents, and great aunts & uncles. It was very interesting to hear some of the stories. Many of them were ones I'd heard before but had forgotten. One story I love to hear & it came up again today.

My Great-great grandfather could have walked on water...well, at least if you ask Bucka. Grandpa Catt was a very kind, very patient, very good man. He was Bucka's mother's father. He farmed all his life but flat refused to use a tractor or drive a car. Bucka said he thinks they got him on a tractor once & it scared him half to death. Grandpa Catt would much rather stick with his mules. Bucka said he never, ever saw his grandfather strike an animal.

One mule in particular, Katie, was a rather stubborn young Jenny. Grandpa had been working with her quite a while, but she had a mind of her own. Bucka thinks she was about 2 years old or so when this incident occurred.

The pasture was across the road from Grandpa Catt's place. Every morning, he'd let the cattle & the mules out, drive them across the country road to the pasture, and close up the gates. Every evening, he'd bring them back across the road into the corral & the barn. Katie usually had other plans. When it came time to head back to the barn, she would bolt & instead of heading East into the gate, she'd head West around the barn & down to the bluffs behind the house. Grandpa Catt would have to spend 30 minutes chasing her down & herding her back to the corral where she belonged.

One day Katie pushed Grandpa too far. He opened the gates & she took off for the bluffs again. Grandpa went in the house, got his shot gun, came back out & headed behind the house. When he got close enough, he shot Katie in the rump with a load of buck shot. Katie turned tail & ran into the corral as fast as she could. Grandpa put the gun away, went into the barn & doctored Katie up. He spoiled her rotten until her back end healed up and after that she never again bolted when he opened the gate. She very willingly went back into her corral every evening like she'd been doing it all along. Katie & Grandpa got along famously after that.

My lack of patriotic duty

I have this cousin, see? And he's in the Army, right? Well, at least I think that's it. He's either in the Army & works for the Illinois National Guard, or he's in the Guard & works for the Army. Either way, he's a military man & it all confuses the bejebers out of me. He's also of a decent rank & has a job of decent importance (again, please don't ask me what it is because I'm never quite sure, but I think he's the only one who does it around here making the whole anonymity thing kind of shaky to keep up). At any rate, yesterday he sent me an email.

"Hey FarmWife,

Want to bring the kids up to our house March 29th????

Also can you bring some of your rabbits, ducks, and chicks???

Then can you volunteer with me at the Governors mansion to let military kids pet those animals for a couple of hours????"

Apparently he's in charge of the Easter Egg Hunt at the Governor's Mansion this year. Yeah, can you see that? Me, the four FarmHands, and a van full of critters, for four hours? Not to mention my wild bunch at anything resembling a formal, political/military function?! We'd all end up court marshaled, enlisted or not. Oy.

He ended with: "Give it a thought. I know it is a crazy request but I figured it was worth a try."

I emailed him back & told him I'm fresh out of cute, fuzzy, Easter Themed critters.

He called me last night before he got the email & said he was laughing as he was typing the email picturing the scene I just described. Instead he's going to call the local FFA/4-H to see if they'd like to pitch in....which, incidentally, was my suggestion in the email he'd not yet read. He did try the, "It's your patriotic duty!" thing, but I didn't buy it.

At least we both got a good laugh.

B.B. is currently sporting four new "Iron Man Teeth." He & I headed South today to have that taken care of & he's doing very well with them. One more trip to the dentist is scheduled for May 7th (Please pray that they will be able to get by with a filling at that appointment & he won't need caps on his two front teeth) & then we should be done except for cleanings every 6 months.

Bitsy is busy beeping her own nose.

#1 Son is feeling better & will be heading back to school tomorrow. Oh, and because of his tubes, I can't use the painkiller drops in his ears. They're too thick & would plug the tubes.

I got a note from his teacher asking for chaperones for the big zoo trip on April 22nd. I went with BabyGirl to her first zoo trip & want to go on this one with him. I would also like to go with BabyGirl's class on their trip that hasn't been announced yet, but has been scheduled. The problem? They're scheduled for the same day. Crud. I fear this will break BabyGirl's poor little heart...but there's only one mom & there are two trips. I still feel a bit nervous sending #1 Son off an hour & a half from home with near strangers to wander around a rather large open space with many, many other small children wandering around the same space. Call me paranoid. It won't hurt my feelings.

Decisions, decisions.

Big plans. Small happenings.

OK, so I know I had big plans for today. I went to Busha's & borrowed her scrub brush to clean my floors with (hers has a long handle like a broom keeping me off my knees all day). I came home to find Husband antsy to go searching for something, so I dressed the kids & went with. Got home, bathed the kids & posted a picture on facebook of our new "something." Then I washed dishes & made lunch.



After lunch I cleaned out the utility closet, threw out a bunch of too small/worn out shoes the kids had stashed in there, swept the piles of dirt & cobwebs living under the work boots, and reorganized the coat hooks by the back door. After that I sorted through some of B.B.'s clothes to send south for HT. Now I can't quit sniffling & sneezing, so work has ceased for the time being. Dust allergies are not fun. Tomorrow I will resupply my Zyrtec stock. Hopefully that will give me the resistance I need to get my chores done!

In the meantime, I decided to post a picture of my coat hooks. Yes, that's my new green coat on the left.

We never come in our front door. When we moved in I was thrilled with the extra closet by the back thinking we'd keep our coats & shoes there. It didn't really work out that way. Husband's tool chest lived in there for a while. My vacuum & the old washing machine live there now. No basement & no garage mean it's a catch all for things like mud boots, brooms, mops, carpet shampooers, coveralls, the Christmas tree, oil filters, out of season sandals & flip flops, kites, wiener roast sticks, and other odd junk. There is a hanging bar in there & jackets & coats do live there, but the ones we use daily need to be closer at hand.


When BabyGirl started pre-k I convinced Husband I needed hooks for jackets & back packs. I picked up the hooks & he bought the lumber. It's nothing fancy, but it keeps all our daily needs close at hand. I never lose the diaper bag or my purse. The kids can always find their coats & umbrellas. Shoes are supposed to be lined up neatly against the wall (that happens occasionally). Everyone had their own hook (as Husband reminds me when my jackets & bags spill over onto his) & each one stays full. This may be the best idea I ever had. That's kind of sad.

And in case you're wondering what the "something" we went after was, here's a picture:


Actually, the kids & I picked up the little girl (right) yesterday. They named her Polly. The boy (left) is Shoe Shine (Anyone remember Underdog?). Got him today. They're beagles. Husband's been dying for some for months.

She don't need no stinkin' fur.

I would just like to remind you what my Lilly May looked like before today. Actually, this is an older picture. She wasn't quite this fluffy this morning, but close. We've been battling fleas lately. Actually, I should say we've been battling a flea. I have searched & combed & bathed her & checked & hunted & never found a single flea. But she's been biting & scratching & carrying on like a mad woman for the past few weeks.

Today Husband decided to take drastic action. He took a pair of scissors & Lilly out into her dog run & she came in looking like this:

Poor thing. BUT, he did find a single flea. Hopefully the super short cut will help us get a grip on this. I can't say I've ever seen a wirehaired fox terrier with no fur to speak of. Good thing it's not getting real cold outside right now. Maybe I'll pick up a sweater for her at the store this week.

Two more puppies gone. Two left. I'm hoping we don't have to drop the price on them (both girls) because that's my Christmas money (or that's my plan anyway).

Something that makes me laugh. When 2 people are arguing & one says to the other, "You're dead to me!" That just sounds so truly ridiculous to me. It must be strange walking around in a world full of people who are dead to you. But then, maybe it's just me. (In case you're wondering, Husband's watching Real World/Road Rules Challenge. That's where this came up.)