Good Things

No, I'm not going all Martha Stewart on you (sorry Amber.) I just wanted to highlight a few of the good things that God has given me on this morning:

• Two beautiful, busy, boys. Right now Kohen is going through all his board games one by one. Can you visualize the mess of assorted tokens outside our entertainment center. I think I have now listened to the 'Wheels on the Bus' song twenty-four times, consecutively. Isaiah is right with him, taste testing tokens, climbing in the cabinet, and giving Kohen some quite vicious teeth mark tattoos when he tries to return tokens to their rightful games. I'm appreciating their chaos more today since I did my Autism consultation job yesterday. No matter how crazy they get they don't believe they are Santa Claus. (sidenote: My name was on the good girls and boys list, so I hope that means a good Christmas :) )
• A yummy cranberry scone recipe from here. It was perfect with a big mug of coffee with plenty of milk. Interestingly, I used to be a straight black coffee girl, but after Kohen was born I justified that cup of caffeine by adding plenty of milk. The trend has continued, and I don't know if I'll go back to black (don't read anything sick into that statement...)
• A warm house. It's 27 degrees outside right now, but I'm wandering barefoot and in short-sleeves. Gotta love that outside wood boiler! Gotta love the man that fills it morning and night so I don't have to worry or get those sticky wood chips on my school clothes!
• An egg! Yes, finally the chickens have gifted us with a fresh, brown egg this morning. I took the time to move the ducks out to the goat shed/pen. So hopefully production will continue to increase in the coop. Have to justify that feed and electricity.
• A half clean house: Does the 320 sq feet of great room/play room really count as part of the house? It was an addition in the '80s, plus, I've given up on keeping ahead of the toy tornado. Kohen's current attention span limit for cleaning up toys is about 90 seconds, or long enough to pick up three things and decide he MUST play with two of them.
• Rich guys from the cities: (You ask yourself: What is this crazy woman talking about?) I'm talking about the good clients that my husband has who have the money to sustain through these tough times and keep him employed building things for them. The work might be tough right now; lake water, ice, mud, digging, damming, excavating. But it's work. Keep it coming, please. Plus Wild tickets and Vikings tickets from the best seats we'll ever sit in is a very nice bonus, more on this later.
• Wonderful, awesome, friends with common interests: We had a nice evening with Eric, Stephanie, Alex and Addison last night. Nate and I always have to talk about what fun people they are, and we have a lot of common interests that help strengthen our ties. We spent some time last night projecting into the future and what our four children will be doing in another 10-15 years. It all was a bit cloudy, but I know the topics of dates, raves, and parents relaxing with wine were envisioned.
• Blogging: It is an exercise in relaxation and reflection for me. I've also met some great people, visited cyberly people I would love to meet in person, and gained some wonderful sheep through the blog world. Let's keep it up.

Fowl Weather

This is the view on this gray, blustery fall day. I was out to do chores and had to take some pictures of the geese. There have been a lot of Canada Geese flying over the river and resting here at night. Today we have a very miserable north wind with periodic rain/sleet/snow. The perfect day to stay inside and make a big pot of bubbly soup, fresh bread, and apple crisp. In addition to the wild geese overhead, there is the ever present flock of ducks underfoot. We've decided that we will butcher them soon, they make an awful mess in the chicken coop, and I don't look forward to that for the winter.

I also had to post a followup to my previous two left feet post. I have further discovered that one of the boots is a size 7, and the other a size 8. This works well if I manage to get the 8 on my right foot, if not there is some discomfort and a hitch to my walk. Such was the case this morning when I was out in the pasture, Nate had a laugh and head shake at me.

Hee-haw is not a fan of the snow. But of course he won't leave the gate when there's still a chance that I'm bringing a treat!

Finally, here's a picture of Chase (4months) and Isaiah (two weeks shy of 1 year) yesterday. The boys and I spent the night at Taryn's in Duluth. 4 boys under four keeps one (or three adults) busy!

Duck Weather

Of course it rains on the opening day of fishing. It isn't bad enough that there is so much ice/slush in front of G&G Butchy's that Kohen can't even go fishing. He's been promised some river fishing if it quits raining tonight. He's already scoped out some areas with worms (that hole...in the field...under the sheep water) and is ready. Last year all we caught were suckers, but maybe we'll have better luck this year. The consensus is that the cold weather and high water will make fishing characteristics different fo rthis early season.

So the ducks are about the only ones really enjoying this weather. They are all over the lawn right now. Everyone is in hiding. Woody in his doghouse, Anna in the mudroom, most of the sheep in their sheds, and Urho in the garage. Whatever works right? I'll go and shag him down to the field later when it lets up.