I've been very busy. I'm not really a big planner, but I can plan, and do try, sometimes. Well I did try and life got in the way of my plan, as it often does. It's nothing earth shattering or life altering, my plans, or what happens, but it is maddening at times too. The other day I planned on home school, and it was a success, and in the afternoon I was going to dust. No big deal you say?? Well.... let me tell you what happened to my plan. Just hang on for the ride and see if you can keep up. We needed a dryer, ours was not working again, and not worth putting more money into, so we got a new one. I had some towels in the wash that needed to be dried too. In comes this huge monster of a dryer, that is a blessing because it works and we got a good deal on it. Well it needed the cords changed on it to plug it in, 3 prongs verses 4 prongs. So it sat in my, shall we say small living room by the phone shelf, for a day or so, and Matthew was able to change the cord, after speaking with an electrician. So with this huge dryer is in my living room I now had a new obstacle to dust around. I picked a corner and started the dusting, had to skip things around the dryer because I couldn't move the beast, and I got to a window. I looked at it and it needed some serious cleaning. I went into the kitchen to get a drink and wanted some more iced coffee, but decided that some warm tea would be good to warm me up. I put the water in the microwave and got the tea started. I put the tea bags in it and left it to steep, and started cleaning my window, which led me to the other windows in the house, all needing to be washed. Not an easy task either. I forgot about finishing my dusting at that time, in case you hadn't guessed. I went back in the kitchen to check on my tea and it was luke warm. Yuck. So iced tea it was, I put some ice in it and milk and a touch of sugar. I glanced at the clock, plenty of time, or so I thought. I knew what I had planned on for supper, stuffed shells, something that takes time to do, well I put the water on to boil, and cut up the onion for the hamburg, took care of the children's needs, answered the phone, and then I glanced at the clock, again, almost time to bring the cow in to eat and the horses in before it was too dark. No problem, or so I thought. I've abandoned my window washing now too. I dumped the shells in the water and went outside to get Maggie in to eat. She decided to come running to the gate and stop. She stood there looking at me as I called her, then she mooed and started to munch on grass. So 10 minutes later she comes in the barn and puts her head to the side of the head lock and eats. No point in fighting with her to move her head. After she eats her grain I bribe her with an apple to get her head in the head lock. I run back in the house hoping the shells are not over cooked, and thankfully they were not too bad. I looked at my tea, a lost cause at this point. Watered down, luke warm again, tea. Yuck. I drank some and dumped the rest opting for cold water instead. I ran back outside to get the horses in before I started cooking the hamburg, and of course Abby, who always comes to me took off running to the other side of the pasture Time Out right behind her! Sigh. I need the exercise anyways and proceeded to chase them around the huge paddock. (It seemed huge in the almost dark, cold, and tall grass I was running in, praying I wouldn't fall)! After awhile Abby came back to me and we went in the barn, and got them put to bed. Yup I put the animals to bed. Returning to the house, and if your wondering about the kids I had put in a movie for them and told them to stay in the house. They were happy to watch a movie and stay in where it is warm. I got supper made and put in the oven, and went back outside to milk Maggie because Matthew was going to be late getting home. His week at the mill has been, challenging at best. Everything seemed to go wrong over there, and that was one last thing he needed to come home to do, and I was glad to help. I like to milk. The milking chores done, and all the critters "in bed" for the night we finally sat down together and ate.
So I had a plan, but as you can see it didn't turn out the way I planned, but I got the dusting done today, the monster dryer is where it belongs, and I can play catch up on the laundry. I still haven't finished the windows, but there is always tomorrow, and with all this going on, I again thought to myself, "man some chocolate chip cookies would be real good right now!"
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
sunny days
I'm thankful for my sister, who stopped by late this afternoon with some Garelick Farms Egg Nog, and a wonderful fall tablecloth for me. Had a very nice visit, and good conversation. We don't get to see each other often, due to, well, life and her job, but I don love the visits.
It's been real nice here the past few days. The sun has been out and been real warm and is wonderfully refreshing after the rain. Everything is drying out nicely. Even me!! haha!! I've been too busy running around town, and going to the bank, forgetting it was closed due to Veteran's Day, so I had to go back today, along with the other stores, again, trying to get things done to really enjoy the nice weather. Two mornings, and a good portion of the afternoon have been gone in a flash. I went to a baby shower, yesterday too. Oh the cute little boy things, all soft and cuddly!
My mornings usually start at 7am, and don't end, eerrr, stop until 8-9pm, then I can sit down and relax, until I decide to do something else, like make bread at 8pm, like tonight. It's cooking in the oven right now. Smells wonderful!
I hope tomorrow we can get some stuff done on the farm, like moving pastures, mowing the lawn, cleaning the barns, laundry, maybe one last time on the line if it's 60 degrees they should dry, I like to push it to see how late in the year I can hang clothes on the line... the list goes on! Guess it won't be a slow day:-)
Enjoy the warmth of the sun all!!
It's been real nice here the past few days. The sun has been out and been real warm and is wonderfully refreshing after the rain. Everything is drying out nicely. Even me!! haha!! I've been too busy running around town, and going to the bank, forgetting it was closed due to Veteran's Day, so I had to go back today, along with the other stores, again, trying to get things done to really enjoy the nice weather. Two mornings, and a good portion of the afternoon have been gone in a flash. I went to a baby shower, yesterday too. Oh the cute little boy things, all soft and cuddly!
My mornings usually start at 7am, and don't end, eerrr, stop until 8-9pm, then I can sit down and relax, until I decide to do something else, like make bread at 8pm, like tonight. It's cooking in the oven right now. Smells wonderful!
I hope tomorrow we can get some stuff done on the farm, like moving pastures, mowing the lawn, cleaning the barns, laundry, maybe one last time on the line if it's 60 degrees they should dry, I like to push it to see how late in the year I can hang clothes on the line... the list goes on! Guess it won't be a slow day:-)
Enjoy the warmth of the sun all!!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
it stopped raining!
I'm thankful for four children who keep me on my toes and one step ahead of them!
With all this rain everything is water logged, even myself. I found myself running out to the barn this morning in my sneakers, my first mistake, to feed the horses. Abby, has a bad habit of opening her door and eating all the hay. The only reason Time Out didn't get out was because we have a bungee cord to lock her in. I think Abby will soon find out how to get her out of her stall too. She's Houdini when it comes to doors! She had managed to get one bale of hay in her stall and then get it outside in her pasture, which with all the rain is like a muddy, water lagoon. I let Time Out out, and shut the door, again.I don't know why I bothered to shut the door! I figured they had enough hay to last them a good while in the barn and the water lagoon. WRONG. They managed to destroy the barn, knocking down just about everything in their path and a second bale of hay was, well you guessed it, gone. Oh well, two bales of hay gone, in a morning, and a barn to clean up. Just another day on the farm!
I milked the cow tonight. She insisted on continually slapping me in the face with her tail, thankfully it was not wet, so it wasn't too bad. She would look back at me and blink and I just stared back at her and told her to cool it with the tail. She didn't. Still no real good signs of her being in heat, and the window to breed her is gone. I spoke to the AI Tech, and she said the last thing you want to do is put your hand in there and knock the baby off. She would be what is called short bred. We agreed that we would let it go, and continue that she settled. We don't want to take a chance, and at 6 months you can "bump" her to see if you can feel the calf's head. I did that the last time and that was so neat to feel the calf bump you back! So we are going to continue that she settled! I think we'll still watch her next month, just to be sure though! Very exciting!
With all this rain everything is water logged, even myself. I found myself running out to the barn this morning in my sneakers, my first mistake, to feed the horses. Abby, has a bad habit of opening her door and eating all the hay. The only reason Time Out didn't get out was because we have a bungee cord to lock her in. I think Abby will soon find out how to get her out of her stall too. She's Houdini when it comes to doors! She had managed to get one bale of hay in her stall and then get it outside in her pasture, which with all the rain is like a muddy, water lagoon. I let Time Out out, and shut the door, again.I don't know why I bothered to shut the door! I figured they had enough hay to last them a good while in the barn and the water lagoon. WRONG. They managed to destroy the barn, knocking down just about everything in their path and a second bale of hay was, well you guessed it, gone. Oh well, two bales of hay gone, in a morning, and a barn to clean up. Just another day on the farm!
I milked the cow tonight. She insisted on continually slapping me in the face with her tail, thankfully it was not wet, so it wasn't too bad. She would look back at me and blink and I just stared back at her and told her to cool it with the tail. She didn't. Still no real good signs of her being in heat, and the window to breed her is gone. I spoke to the AI Tech, and she said the last thing you want to do is put your hand in there and knock the baby off. She would be what is called short bred. We agreed that we would let it go, and continue that she settled. We don't want to take a chance, and at 6 months you can "bump" her to see if you can feel the calf's head. I did that the last time and that was so neat to feel the calf bump you back! So we are going to continue that she settled! I think we'll still watch her next month, just to be sure though! Very exciting!
Monday, November 8, 2010
maggie
I'm thankful that it is raining and NOT snowing!! That is what I'm thankful for!
Well Maggie should be in heat today, and so far she has not been "flirting" with us. Ever been flirted with by a cow? Well it's funny. With those big brown doe like eyes, and a tail that while you milk her, just wraps around your neck, and she just looks at you and blinks those eyes. She hasn't been mooing like crazy at the other cattle across the road either. We no longer have the broilers for her to charge at and sleep with, so, hopefully she settled. We are keeping a close eye on her. If she did settle then her estimated due date is July 27, 2011!! But if she goes like last time she will be 9 days late. We would really like a heifer calf this time too. You know not to be picky or anything! Haha.
Well Maggie should be in heat today, and so far she has not been "flirting" with us. Ever been flirted with by a cow? Well it's funny. With those big brown doe like eyes, and a tail that while you milk her, just wraps around your neck, and she just looks at you and blinks those eyes. She hasn't been mooing like crazy at the other cattle across the road either. We no longer have the broilers for her to charge at and sleep with, so, hopefully she settled. We are keeping a close eye on her. If she did settle then her estimated due date is July 27, 2011!! But if she goes like last time she will be 9 days late. We would really like a heifer calf this time too. You know not to be picky or anything! Haha.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
time out!
No, we do not "do" time out for the kids. I don't think that is effective. The name of my quarter horse that is 1 year old is named Time Out. Being a stay at home wife and mom, she is MY time out. Get it?! People that know what it's like to loose themselves in the barn for hours at a time and love horses understand that best I guess. As Time Out gets older and I can saddle her up and go for a gallop in the fields I'll love my "time out" more! That was rambling I know, but hang on I'm getting there. We bought a fore cart this fall, we saved our money and bought one! A fore cart is like a sulky, you know for race horses, only more sturdy. So today a friend of ours who trains and races standard bred horses came over and helped us start training Time Out. Both Matthew and I were wondering how she would do, at times Time Out has a mind and will of her own and doesn't want to cooperate! Typical baby! Well today she did very well indeed. We took her away from Abby (her mother and buddy, Abby didn't care that she was taken away either), tied her in the barn, put a bit in her mouth for the first time, and put part of the driving harness on her! I laughed as she seemed to gag and roll her eyes and tongue around the bit. She was too busy chewing and trying to get the bit out of her mouth and didn't even flinch when we put the crouper, the piece that goes around her tail, or cinch up the girth! We took our time doing all this too, just slow and easy, and let her smell and eye all the equipment before we put it on her. We stood around in the barn for a while to see if she would do something stupid, because some horses do, but she continued to chew and gag on her bit, and just looked at us wondering what was coming next. Then we decided it was time to take her out and see what she would do, she was wonderful! She trotted abound Matthew still chewing on the bit, and then pranced around as he led her around the fields to get her used to the harness. She didn't once try to do anything wild and crazy either. Our friend was impressed and said that she was taking all of the new stuff we were doing very well. She also went on to tell us some horror stories about horses not taking it well, so I was thankful Time Out was being so good! We ended on a good note, petted and praised her well! All and all it was about half an hour, then we took the harness and bridle off and put her back out in the pasture with Abby. She shook her pretty head and cantered off to go see "mama." They greeted one another by smelling noses, then happily went on to eat grass. I know we still have a long way to go, but hopefully things will continue to go well! We are very pleased and excited about this process and pray it continues. We have many trails out here and hope to enjoy them in the fore cart together!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
hello!
Hello!
I've been very busy the past few days, seems like the days are flying by! The weekend we spent a great deal of time with our church family, and had a blast! Met some new folks from New York and Oregon. It was very nice to meet new people and talk with them about our very different lives, and some similarities as well. The kids got to meet and play with new kids and had a blast as well! Had lots of food, candy, sugar, laughs, music (mostly blues type) some guys got together and "jammed!" Awesome! Or as some of us ladies like to say "sswweeet!!"
Anyways,
Farm chores are slowing down, almost done winterizing. Today was beautiful so we worked on winterizing the cow barn. We had snow on Reformation Day (most know it as halloween), and that little bit of snow was well, a touch of reality! Did some laundry and hung it on the line, but had to put it in the dryer to get the rest of the dampness out, I fear I won't be able to hang them out anymore. The "boys" went down to a neighboring farm and combined some corn with him. Little Matt sat inside it, and thought that was really fun, while Matthew sat on the outside deck. He said he could see Little Matt asking lots of questions too. Apparently there are lots of buttons on the inside of this combine, and he wanted to know about them. The combine was a John Deere, his favorite!
Supper was cooking in the oven so I milked Maggie while Matthew and Little Matt worked more on the barn this evening. The girls decided they had enough outdoors and asked if they could watch a movie, and I thought that was fine. I'm still working on the applesauce. Hopefully will finish it tomorrow, along with making butter and if I plan, haha, maybe some yogurt! Tomorrow might bring a new set of challenges as well. We shall see.
So over at From The Country Farm, she's doing a gratitude challenge. So today I'm thankful for a husband who works hard for his family, and a church family that can get together and have loads of fun!
I've been very busy the past few days, seems like the days are flying by! The weekend we spent a great deal of time with our church family, and had a blast! Met some new folks from New York and Oregon. It was very nice to meet new people and talk with them about our very different lives, and some similarities as well. The kids got to meet and play with new kids and had a blast as well! Had lots of food, candy, sugar, laughs, music (mostly blues type) some guys got together and "jammed!" Awesome! Or as some of us ladies like to say "sswweeet!!"
Anyways,
Farm chores are slowing down, almost done winterizing. Today was beautiful so we worked on winterizing the cow barn. We had snow on Reformation Day (most know it as halloween), and that little bit of snow was well, a touch of reality! Did some laundry and hung it on the line, but had to put it in the dryer to get the rest of the dampness out, I fear I won't be able to hang them out anymore. The "boys" went down to a neighboring farm and combined some corn with him. Little Matt sat inside it, and thought that was really fun, while Matthew sat on the outside deck. He said he could see Little Matt asking lots of questions too. Apparently there are lots of buttons on the inside of this combine, and he wanted to know about them. The combine was a John Deere, his favorite!
Supper was cooking in the oven so I milked Maggie while Matthew and Little Matt worked more on the barn this evening. The girls decided they had enough outdoors and asked if they could watch a movie, and I thought that was fine. I'm still working on the applesauce. Hopefully will finish it tomorrow, along with making butter and if I plan, haha, maybe some yogurt! Tomorrow might bring a new set of challenges as well. We shall see.
So over at From The Country Farm, she's doing a gratitude challenge. So today I'm thankful for a husband who works hard for his family, and a church family that can get together and have loads of fun!
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