Winter...and that's all I'll say about that...

Shep modeling his latest accessory...snow.

Beautiful snow boy.

Kohen and Isaiah trekking out to the "animal rescue center" aka play system. (This picture was taken three weeks ago, and we've received even more snow.) Notice Kohen using a broom to "clear" a path. Isaiah made it out there but I had to go and rescue him back.

Kohen standing in front of one of the giant snowbanks.

A few weeks without internet and extra paperwork at work makes me a poor blogger. I'm going to take a page from cousin Chelsi and try to catch up, and be better.

First off, Hi Don M from Texas! Gramma Butchy is nudging me to blog more for you, so I'll do my best.

All the living things on our bit-o-farm have survived the massive snowbanks and bitter cold. I was a bit worried about Turk for awhile. In the coldest days (highs staying below zero, lows ito 40 below, he didn't come out of the pine tree for two days.) I guess his old age of five has taught him how to conserve his energy and make it through. Right now our numbers stand at 19 sheep, 3 goats, 1 donkey, 17 chickens, 7 turkeys, three outside cats, one indoor cat, one dog, and one guinea pig. The plan is to make the trek for the hogs in two weeks. I am excited for their arrival, but need to get a spot prepped for them. The south pasture where their permanent home will be won't work until the snowbanks reduce enough in size to get gates opened and shelters moved. Looks like they will be the first inhabitants of the barn.

I'm getting excited for spring, and starting to thinking about starting some seeds, peppers first. I'm excited for February to be here, it always feels much closer to spring for me.

Since it's Friday night and the boys don't have to be in bed at 7:30, the plan is to pop some popcorn, snuggle on the couch and watch "Ramona and Beezus." Geez, Taryn should be here!

County Fair

The St. Louis County Fair. We went this year. With additional children in tow. We had a great time, and everyone was happy, stuffed, and tired. Gramma Jan even made the trek with us.

Kohen, Lily, and Kelly loved the stunt dog show. So much so that they plotted on the way home how they were going to train Shep so he could be in the show and they could do the tricks with him. Shep must have heard their plot. Picture this: pulling into the yard, three kids piling out of the car, letting the smart dog out of the mudroom. Suddenly he is surrounded by three children aged 4-6, armed with a leash and training treats. He didn't stick around to discover what behavior was necessary to earn the treats, but crawled to his safe place, well under the deck, where no skinny arms could reach him. Enter plan B: Catch the dog. Ropes, leash, coaxing voices, ring frisbee being used like a trap, to no avail. It did keep them out of our hair for fifteen minutes before we had to head out to bring the girls home. Shep the wonder dog. Smartest dog on the farm.

Activites enjoyed at the fair included petting a variety of animals, cheese curds, chocolate milk, corn dogs, cotton candy, rides, free balloons, and the Stunt dog show. We even met up with our friend Steph, and spent some ride time with Alex and Addison. All in all a busy, fun afternoon.

Sunny Days

Feeding Time.

Kohen, Dad and I were out doing chores today and I had a chance to pull out the camera. It is a beautiful sunny day, and the temperature is currently 15 degrees ABOVE zero! We had to take some time to enjoy it since it is supposed to be very cold this next week. My dad hauled alfalfa for the sheep, Kohen and I refilled shelters with straw, and I did a visual check on everyone's condition. The only issue I found was a small sore on the side of the Jacobs ewe's head. It looks like a sore from sticking her head through the feeder. With her horns it is easier for her to get rubbed the wrong way. I also checked the conditions of eyelids, and they all were quite pink, so I think we are doing ok with our worming protocol. The donkeys have gotten very fat and we need to figure out a way to avoid them getting the alfalfa. I've thought about moving Lucy and Daisy in with Hee-Haw, but we don't want any accidental breedings. Sugar is growing! She's still small, but about twice the size of when we got her this fall! Being so small, she gets right into the hay, as her fleece can attest to.
Hee-haw enjoys some oats, complements of his boy.

Along with the four leggeds I spent some time with the feathereds. The coop door was not wanting to shut because of ice so Dad and a pocket knife took care of that. I've also decided that the seven bantams living in the old goat shed can stay in the old goat shed. We tried catching them and only succeeded in scattering them in the pine and spruce trees and one hen even flew across the field! They are the bantams that were hatched out by our Japanese Fan-tails this summer, and we never tried to tame them. I love that they free range all over and eat bugs and ticks in the summer. Hopefully they will make it through this next cold snap alright. They are shacked up with the seven ducks that remain, so they have plenty of food and get watered at least once a day. They are low maintenance in the summer, and don't come near the coop, simply eating bugs and seeds they forage for. Currently, there are three roosters and four hens together, along with at least four more bantams who prefer the civilized atmosphere of the coop.

Scar has plenty of fleece to make it through this weather. I really should come up with a better name for her. She was in poor condition and not bred when we got her last spring. I'm more hopeful for this spring!

The chicken coop is much more peaceful now that the guineas are gone, and only chickens remain. We've been averaging five eggs per day. Usually four standard size and one bantam. Pretty good considering we have six laying hens and three bantam hens.

Kohen can't resist hugging his Anna, even as she searches for the best bite of hay.
Three moms: Good Mama, Pamela, and Kizzy. Last year Good Mama and Kizzy both twinned, and Pamela gave us a single. Can we hope for six babies from this trio?
Daisy and Lucy make sure Shep knows to stay away from their sheep.

Snow, Stacking, Spinning & Sock Monkeys

How's that for a title? This is a very random ramble tonight. Of course it is 11pm, and I should be snuggled up with my hubby, but my goal is to have 100 posts this year, I'm so close. Yeah, you're going to hear a lot from me the next couple of days.

First up, SNOW. We've got a lot of it out there right now, and finally the temperatures have been decent enough we can enjoy it. (If you are in Texas reading this, that means it is above zero degrees farenheit.) My challenge is spending time outside doing chores or playing when I have a 13 month old babe that probably shouldn't be exposed to the icy temps for too long. Enter a really warm snowsuit, boots, and an infant sled. Yes, poor Isaiah gets dragged around and watches me haul water and hay, collect eggs, stack firewood and attempt to snowshoe with Kohen. I only get concerned when I recall the amount of information he is taking in right now and learning from everything he sees. I can only imagine how it is all being catalogued in that little brain.

We spent a good bit of time outside on Friday. Kohen and I strapped on the snowshoes for the first time this year, but didn't make it too far. At least he now remembers how to walk in them. It took a few falls.

This picture was taken today as Isaiah was watching Nate, Kohen and I stack firewood. I turned around and witnessed how cute he and Shep looked and snapped a picture. Have I mentioned I always try to have my camera with when we are outside? You can imagine how thrilled Nate is when I drop the logs I'm carrying three feet away from the woodshed so that I can pull out the camera. But hey, how often do Isaiah and Shep stay still for a photo?

Second, STACKING. We've been doing a lot of stacking of wood lately. Of course Nate is doing 95% and Kohen and I are contributing about 5%. We were late getting firewood this year and our outside wood boiler eats it up quickly. I figure it's a good exercise program for me right now. For the next week that I'm home at least. Since I spent part of my birthday afternoon stacking wood, I had to share a photo of what was accomplished. Never mind that the row is complete to the roof, along with a second row today. I at least had a small, very small, part in it.

Next up, SPINNING. I've been avoiding the spinning wheel since I learned how to spin earlier this fall. I had such a great time that day learning, that I was scared to ruin the memory. Add in an old wheel that hadn't been spun on for at least forty years and was missing pieces, and you can feel some of my apprehension. My awesome hubby took the time to tighten and adjust things on the wheel, and make a couple of parts that were missing. I've really been getting the itch to spin, and with all the knitting that Grandma did for Christmas I would love to make some yarn for her to use. Yesterday I took the time to wash up a small batch of the shetland fleece that we had sheared this past spring. It is in pretty awful shape, as the sheep were when they lost it. Lots of vegetation and dirty, but I was determined. I soaked it good last night and dried it in the shower. After church and leftovers for lunch I put Isaiah down for his nap and pulled out my carders. I decided to card up a bit at a time to see how it would go. Needless to say I was frustrated to begin with. The wheel would not spin right, at least not what uneducated me felt was right. I was ready to quit before I started, but a break and phone call to Aunt Linda, and I finally started to make some headway, and yarn. The tensioner on this old wheel is very touchy, and I discovered that even 1/4 of a turn made the difference in spinning or not spinning. So as we watched the football game, I sat and carded, and spun. Oh yes, this is why I loved it! The soothing rhythm, the sense of accomplishment. Of course Isaiah awoke much too early from his nap and I had to return the spinning wheel to its place of honor on the air hockey table out of the reach of little fingers. I actually had 1/2 bobbin full of soft shetland wool, along with some bits of grass, but it's my first attempt, so I'm satisfied. I spent some time tonight finishing up the bobbin, which is the only reason my eyes are still open at 11:20 pm as I type this. Now comes the second rough patch, I do not have a second bobbin for this old wheel. Right now my plan is to either make it into a loose ball or put it on a lazy kate (which I don't have either!) in order to do the second ply. Anyone have a good idea for me? Nate is planning on making me more bobbins, but he doesn't have the time or lathe set up right now. For those of you who are nonspinners, I'm sorry, you don't know what you are missing! Sorry, that was not necessary. I was going to explain what I was talking about. When you spin you spin one ply. Most yarn is two ply or more, so I need to spin another one ply and then ply the two together. Usually you have a few bobbins so you can spin each of your singles on one and then spin them together on another. Confused yet? Anyway, here's my bobbin of moorit colored shetland. It looks like Good Mama's fleece. I am so excited about the idea of a pair of Good Mama mittens.

Lastly, SOCK MONKEYS. I wanted to post a picture of the adorable sock monkeys that grandma made the boys. Of course they didn't want to sit still for a picture, it's too much fun to play and roll around on the bed. So this is as good as it gets for now.

Good night. I'll blog at you more tomorrow.

Shep

No, I didn't mispell sheep, this is a post about Shep, an adorable 15 week old border collie mix that we obtained from the shelter today. We have been Dodgeless for a week, and were already missing a dog on the 'farm.' Well, today on our way home from the farmers' market and mill, we started talking dogs. Nate said that the next dog we got would be named Shep. I shared what I visualized when I heard the name Shep. He agreed that my vision of a slightly shaggy, herding type mutt, of medium size build was what he was thinking. I've been with my husband long enough to know that if there is something I want I need to capitalize on his moments of agreement. At lunch (of fresh sweet corn, grilled eggplant, and chicken, yum!) I browsed petfinder.com. Of course in the first five minutes I 'discovered' four dogs that fit our description of Shep. Luckily, they were all located at a no-kill shelter about 40 miles away. Three phone calls later (shelter, Nate, shelter) and the boys and I were on the road. Timing was perfect and my gentlemen slept the entire way to Makinen. Then came the hard part; the choosing of a puppy. Shep (formerly known as Harry) was in a kennel with two of his brothers. It was a tough choice, but I knew that there would be issues if I came home with multiple Sheps.
About all we know of his history is that he came from a home with 57, yes 57, border collies, american eskimos and other various dogs. Shep was one of sixteen puppies. The shelter named them by letters of the alphabet (Adam, Barry....) He's been vet checked three times, had all his shots and wormings, and been neutered.
He was an angel in the car, riding on the floor in front of Kohen's seat. He was an angel and attention getter in L&M where we stopped for puppy supplies. And he's been a wonderful puppy for the last five hours. He's currently sleeping in the mudroom.
I'm off to continue on our House marathon. (The tv show, not the abode of my family.) We LOVE this show and missed many episodes last year. The new series starts next Tuesday, so we are on a House Marathon, watching an episode or two each night.