Twins!

We were all invited to my B. grandparent's home today for a special meal, but as we're calving now, we knew some people would need to stay home.   It ended up being just my parents who went and they had a nice time spending the afternoon in Mandan with Grandpa and Grandma and one of my dad's brothers and his wife.  My parents pulled back in the muddy yard at supper time.

But, before they left this morning, we all worked together to sort off the big bulls and chase them across the road to their new home (the pen over there).   They were mighty frisky and stubborn at first when we tried to sort them off and had multiple bull-fights going on at all times it seemed until we finally got them all headed toward the gate and out (after running back and forth 4 times).  Then they went to their pen without too much more trouble. 

After that, we had to sort of a younger bull who'd gone back into the main herd of cows (we have 2 separate herds---the old and the new) and we put him with the 4 yearling bulls in a pen, then loaded them all up together on the stock-trailer and hauled them across the road.  (It was easier than chasing them, I'm sure!)   My mom headed inside to get ready to go at this point while my dad helped us tag the calves that were ear-tag-less.  After that was safely accomplished, my parents headed for Mandan and the boys headed across the road (after our noon meal) to spend the next couple hours thawing out the bull's water fountain which has been frozen shut all Winter.  I still wasn't feeling well (headache and weak/tired), so I did the dishes from the weekend and worked on some paperwork business.  Later, I baked a couple of apple pies.  Maybe part of why I was tired is I took one of the night cow-checks last night and then it took me a couple hours to get back to sleep once I was in the house again, as I kept thinking about things......

This afternoon, my brothers were still thawing out the fountain, so they asked if I'd check the cows.  I hopped in my dad's black pickup (with 4-wheel drive) and went for a sight-seeing journey.   The most exciting thing that I saw was a new mama licking her wet baby off while lying down.  I could see 2 feet coming out her backend, so knew that our first set of twins for the year was well on it's way.  I left them alone while finishing the rounds of the calf-checking, then by the time I got back to the cow, she had the 2nd baby lying by the first and was busy licking them both off.   The 2nd calf had the sack over it's head though, so I grabbed a stick (in case she was a mean mama); climbed through the fence; and went over to the calf.  Thankfully, the cow (one of Andrew's) was one that used to be a bottle-calf so she was OK with me being there and I was able to pull the sack off the baby's head and nose without any problems.   He seemed to be glad to be rid of it. 

 Later still, my dad and Andrew hauled the calves in the barn, as we just want to be sure they get some good bonding time and this way we can keep a close eye on if the babies are doing well or not.  Sometimes, a cow will only claim one calf and will leave the other to die, or other times, she may not have enough milk for both of them and neither will do well.  In that case, we would be very glad that we have fresh cow's milk to feed and would have a bottle-calf in our barn again.   For tonight though, Andrew and I helped the babies find the "Dinner pail" while their mother ate the alfalfa hay I'd fed her.  She was very patient which was a good thing as the twins were kind of, well, dumb.  :)

The cows took the day off...

After 3:00am, there were no calves born on our farm today.  We actually are not supposed to officially start calving until April 1st, but 10 mamas obviously didn't know that.  :)  Tonight at chores, my dad and I let 2 of the pairs out of the barn (after catching the little tykes and giving them shiny green ear-tags).  I wish you all could have seen the 2 of them jumping around in the mud, enjoying life and their new-found freedom to the fullest.   

It was a peaceful, quiet day here.  Just perfect for doing not much of anything and catching up on some needed rest.  It's been great seeing lots of geese again and yesterday morning I even heard a Meadowlark.  Spring is indeed here!

11:16 and all is finally well....

Ouffffta.  That wasn't quite how we were thinking to spend the evening!   I arrived home from babysitting right at supper time.  While we were eating, my dad pointed out to us that there was a cow calving in the South pen and he said she may be having trouble, as she'd been pushing for a while already.  As we ate, a heavy fog poured into the farmyard.  Andrew was still over cleaning grain, so I milked his cow and my mom did the turkey/goat chores, then we both carried hay and water to the two cow/calf pairs we have in the barns currently.  My dad fed the hay and by this time, it was getting dark outside with it seeming even more dark with the fog surrounding everything.   My dad checked the cow then and it happened to be the 2nd calver cow that my grandparents bought for me at Christmas time.  She'd been pushing for at least 3 hours and there were no feet to be seen.  After trying to chase her into the pen by the barn for 3 times (and after my dad slid into her in the mud and she took part of the bumper of the pickup off), we finally got her headed in the right direction.  By this time, two of the bulls (who we'll be sorting off and getting in their own pen very soon, now that we're started with calving) had started to fight----right by the gate where the cow needed to go in.  My dad and Jacob got the cow in the smaller pen, but that squirted the bulls my direction.  They broke up their fight all of a sudden and the one swirled around and started running, but that's where I happened to be.  I screamed and thought I was going to die for a second, but God protected me and gave me strength in my legs to hop for the panel.   Jacob says the bull hopped in the other direction, for which I'm very grateful, but it looked to me like he was just an inch away. 

SO, after that, we got the cow in the barn. (Andrew arrived about at this point).  We have another cow locked in the calving pen part of the North barn, so we decided to rope the cow and pull the calf in the barn where the cow was.  That took a little doing, but we at last had her lying down and I held her tail back while my dad and Jacob pulled the calf.  They can't figure out why she couldn't have the calf either, as the feet and head were where they were supposed to be and they didn't even need to use a calf-puller, just pulled it by hand with the chains.  It was a relief and  JOY to find out the calf was still ALIVE after all of that!  

Our difficulties were not over yet though.  Shortly after letting the cow back up, she pushed out not only the afterbirth, but her whole uterus.  :(  OH NO!   The guys went and got the stock-trailer hooked up and backed up to the barn, but when my mom called the vet, he said they really prefer not to have farmers haul the cows to the clinic in that condition, as it all could rip out on the way if she's anxious in the trailer and then the cow would die.  Soooooooooooooooooooo, the guys moved the pickup and trailer out of the way and we tried to figure out how we were going to contain the cow again, not really wanting to rope her again.  The veterinarian was still 45 miles away, coming from a different farm, so that gave us some time to prepare.  We ended up setting up some panels in the milking parlor and getting her in one of the headgates there.  She was really a good cow and held very still for her operation.  While the vet sewed her back up, I tagged my bull calf and rubbed him off somewhat with an old blanket.  My dad and I later went out and fed him half a bottle of colostrum, just to get him going as his mama's been through a lot today and may be lying around a bit more than a cow usually does, so we wanted to be sure he got some milk in his tummy tonight.

We're praying for the rest of the calving season to go better than it has been!  So far, there's been plenty of trouble and we have a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong ways to go yet.  One of Andrew's cows calved today too and all was well there, so that is a good sign.  ;)

Up, up, up and away...

Well, I returned home last night from my week-long adventure (minus the +day that their grandma stayed with them) of being "Mom for a week".   It was fun and the time really flew by!

Today, I spent part of the day unpacking, as I had never really unpacked from the home school convention, as I needed many of the same things while being gone babysitting.  I also baked bread for the guys and made another gallon of yogurt.  

My dad asked for my help in getting a cow/calf pair in the barn (one that calved today), as there was another young cow who was claiming the baby and not letting the real pair bond.  When we went out there, however, the 2 cows had other things in mind and the calf was not in a walking mood yet, so we had to leave them be for a while.  Later after evening chores, my dad, Andrew and I played the part of Solomon and decided which of the 2 "Mothers" got to keep the baby.  The true mama and baby are in the barn now.   That makes a grand total of 3 live calves now.   Let the calving season begin!!!  The guys are taking turns getting up at night now to check that all is well.    Two nights ago, I brought my young charges over to the farm again for chores and playground time and then my dad and Andrew had to bring one of the calves into the house to warm it up.  The children thought that was pretty neat----to have a calf in a kitchen.  :)    Thankfully, the calf was able to go out to the barn the next day and is doing well now.

My mom had a young pilot client here today who, after his session, offered to take my brothers up in his airplane this afternoon.  They were more than thrilled and Andrew took his camera along to take pictures.  I hope he'll post some soon or let me share them here....   They flew over our place and got several neat pictures of the cows; our shooting range; and the whole farm.   The plane was a 2-person plane, so the pilot friend took Jacob up first, then landed and picked up Andrew.  That was an unexpected treat for my brothers...

Tomorrow marks the start of grain cleaning.  Busy, busy times!  May God keep us all safe and strong---and all of you too.~

Convention/meeting/babysitting/convention pictures!

While I was at home, I uploaded a bunch of pictures to my blog so I could work on my post later while over babysitting again (right now). 

My computer had them mixed up a bit and I didn't realize that until after I was halfway through loading pictures, so there are pictures from the ND home school convention/conference at the beginning and end of this post! 

That Thursday, my mom, Andrew and I drove to Grand Forks and got checked into our hotel before heading over to the Alerus Convention Center to help set up for the convention.   We'd paid for 1 table to promote the Project Appleseed program and were pleased to have so much interest!  We gave out lots of info. and even sold that bright pink T-shirt you can see on the table (even though we weren't really trying to sell anything).    We were storing some things under the table, which is why I'm searching down there....

Andrew and I had put together several pages of pictures from our past Appleseeds and laminated them.  You can see a few of the pages on the the right side of this picture:

Thursday evening, Miranda G. came to our hotel room and visited for a couple of hours.  :) 

Friday was full of great workshops!  That evening, there was a family fun hour.  This is one of the games they played-----pulling the Kleenex out of the box as quickly as possible while using just 1 hand.

The next group of people had to stuff the Kleenex back into the boxes as well as they could in 1 minute...

Andrew and the red-headed girl were judges for that game...

They had lots of other games too.  This one had team members try to stack up 4 hangers without the hangers slipping to the corners of the hanger, all of this while the hanger was dangling from your teammate's finger...

These next 2 pictures are from the meeting my mom and Elizabeth H. had in Napoleon a couple weeks back...

My mom was pointing on the chart while Elizabeth explained things...

And now for the babysitting pictures!

Here are the twins and Johanna looking out the windows at the bunnies in the snow...

Coloring, or trying to....  :)

Meal times are fun!

Amelia had discovered a cookie-decorating kit one day, so we opened that after Johanna and Tracy got here and they all had fun coloring with their edible-ink markers!

Snowman in the making...

James, working on his snowman...

Tracy Jo...

Johanna....

That cookie was just too tempting....

Tracy and Amelia...

Of course, Tracy ended up with a little green dot above her lip....  ;)

James and Michael with their creations...

Yummy!  (Isn't her face just adorable?)

Johanna found a red marker...

Amelia had a very cute little snowman who even had a flower on it's hat....

They wanted me to take a picture of my snowman too, so here it is...

See the flower on the hat?

Oh, and now we're back to the home school conference pictures.

Andrew sat in the NDHSA (North Dakota Home School Association) booth all day both Friday and Saturday, taking orders for CDs or MP3 recordings of all or some of the workshops.  He also had general information there and helped people get where they were wanting to go in the vendor hall....

He was SO busy on Saturday that there was almost always someone there ordering.  My mom and I were busy too and we each introduced a couple of the workshop speakers (and got them water if they needed it; closed the door to keep outside noise to a minimum; counted the number of people who attended the workshop; things like that....)

And now we jump back to the used book sale on Thursday evening...

 

 

The Project Appleseed tables....

Need some free targets?

There were a LOT of people who came to the book sale!  It wasn't just books/movies that were being sold either.  Different families with home businesses brought their products to sell (soap, lotion, wall hangings, paintings, cleaning supplies, games, etc...).

The sale lasted for a couple of hours and the back of this room was always full!

Andrew again...

Our friends, the L. family's table....

There was a silent auction at the convention too.  I thought this chicken bag was really cute, as it was made from a bag that used to contain chicken feed.  Someone cut the bag off, sewed the bottom closed, then sewed some handles on and had a sturdy little sack....

There were 3 quilts that people made and donated to the silent auction (you can see one of them on the table there).

This is part of the vendor hall, during set-up time...

Saturday afternoon, there was a fencing demonstration (and not the barbed wire and pliers type)....

The convention center was very nice and very large!  This is part of the main hallway....

 
 
 
Friday evening, my mom went and visited some ladies that she grew up with in Eureka (who now live in Grand Forks).  Andrew and I went to the family fun night, then we invited members of 2 families over to our room for playing games

This couple has been friends of ours for years and years.  :)  They're Mennonites from the Harvey area...

Mr. & Mrs. Biby talking with, um, someone...

Andrew, keeping busy...

One of my mom's childhood friends stopped in for a visit...  It had been 5 years since my mom saw Anna, so they had lots of catching up to do.

 
 
After the convention was over Saturday evening, we drove to our friends, the U's house.  It was the first time we'd ever been there and we enjoyed our time so much! 

We ladies, looking at a photo album....

Mr. U., sittin' in his chair.  He stayed up with all of us younger people until 2 in the morning, playing Dutch Blitz!  :)  We had a blast!!!

After breakfast Sunday morning, we had some Bible reading/sharing time and sang several hymns a cappela.  We had to leave shortly after the noon meal, as there was snow and wind in the forecast and we had almost a 4 hour drive home yet...   The picture below is similar to the one above, except Andrew cropped it some.  Oh, and yes, Andrew was there too, but he was the one taking the picture, so is not in it....

 

We arrived home safely (after several prayers said for safety) right at supper time. 

 

There.  I do believe that catches you all up, somewhat.  :)

 

May God bless your week.~

 

 

Home again, home again...

This morning around 11:00, the neighbor children's grandma Ann came up (all the way from Kintyre) to take over in the babysitting department for a while.  SO, tonight I'm sleeping in my own bed.  :)  I actually feel blessed to have been sleeping so well these past 4 nights on the M.'s couch, but it still is nice to be home.   The children (Amelia, James and Michael) and I cleaned the main-floor of their house yesterday and were done by lunch-time, as they all wanted to help with the vacuuming and dishes, so things went quickly.  We spent the rest of the day playing "Restaurant" and tag and some games that I'd taken along and baking cookies, oh yes, and they all took a nap.  It was the first day that Johanna and Tracy Jo weren't there as well, so we were able to play more "Big kid" type games.  It's been really nice that Amelia has been helping a lot with caring for Johanna and Tracy when they're there.  She told me that, someday, when she grows up, she wants to be a babysitter just like me. 

I'll be resuming the position of "Mom-for-a-week" tomorrow (late) afternoon and will stay with them until Tuesday night when their parents will return from Florida.

Meanwhile, at home, I'm not even sure what's all be going on?  :)  The house looked nice and clean when I got home this morning and there was good food to eat, and the animals are all alive and well, so I know they've been busy!   My dad did hurt his back by twisting funny, so he had to see a chiropractor yesterday.  There have been no more calves born since Jacob's on Monday, for which we're glad, as it's been cold and snowy.

I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow, but am not promising anything, as I want to get lots of things done before leaving again.

Good night, all you dear peoples.  ~

The natives are silly...

This is the 2nd night that I'm spending with the neighbor children.  They are so silly tonight!  I'd hoped to have them sleeping soundly by now, but they're still talking amongst themselves in the bedroom.  Awww well, they don't have to get up early in the morning, so it doesn't make a big difference.  We had popcorn and movie night tonight.  We watched Winnie the Pooh.  ;)    After Paula came and picked up Johanna and Tracy Jo at supper time, I took these 3 to my house and we did the evening goat/turkey chores together and I pushed them on our huge swing set.  They enjoyed their time a lot and keep talking about it now.....

Happy first day of Spring everyone! 

We're home, just busy...

My mom, Andrew and I had a great time at the convention and at our friend's home!  We drove home yesterday afternoon and arrived just in time to make supper.  I'll try to give a full account of our adventures sometime in the near future.  Right now, I have to play catch-up in the sleep department!

I babysat "My" girls today.  When I got home, I heard about one of Jacob's heifers who'd needed help calving today and then the calf was dead, so he's sad about that.  I guess the calving season is about to begin?   

Tomorrow, some neighbors are leaving their 3 children in my care while they go on vacation to sunny Florida, so I'll be gone from home for several days.  I may find some time to log-in to my blog over there and write, but I may not too?  Zach and/or Paula will be bringing Johanna and Tracy Jo over for me to babysit too for several of the days, so it will be fun and busy with 5 children---ages 5, 4, 4, 2, and 1.  :)

No posts forseen in the immediate future...

Tomorrow, in the morning, after we (Mom, Andrew and I) have all of our packing, hair-cut (Andrew's), and showers done, we are heading for Grand Forks to attend the annual ND home school conference.  Hooray!!!  :)   Although Andrew and I are no longer officially in school, we LOVE going to the convention and listening to all of the inspiring sessions and also seeing so many friends (some that we only get to see once a year).  Tomorrow evening there will be a large used-book sale which is always interesting.  Andrew will have a table there to promote Project Appleseed.  He had several pictures from past shoots printed in town yesterday and I helped him organize them on pages tonight, then we laminated them to make a nice display that should last for years to come.  During the convention, Andrew will be sitting at the convention booth almost all of the time, taking orders from people who want to get the recordings of  all of the workshops (as there are about 5 or 6 going on all at the same time throughout the day).  My mom and I volunteered to introduce 5 of the workshop speakers too, so we'll be helping out some too.  Then too, we're all singing in the state-wide home school choir.  :)   It will all be so fun!!!

After the convention ends on Saturday, we plan to travel to some friends of ours' house in MN and spend the night at their place, visiting a while the next day, then heading home.    We're so grateful to my dad and Jacob to be willing to stay home and do the chores and everything so we can go!!!! 


******I do have a prayer request tonight for a young lady named Lydia----and her whole family.  She is the convention coordinator's daughter. 

Here is what her sister, Hannah (http://www.gloryandgrace-hannah.blogspot.com/) sent me this afternoon (her mother wrote the following):

"Lydia had an MRI done today due to some weakness on her left side, and inability to use her left hand and leg. We found out today that she does have a brain tumor in her right hemisphere and it is inoperable. We know it's about 4 cm (1-1/4") and that has probably been growing for awhile. The pediatric oncologist we met with today has referred us to neurosurgery and we will meet with them on Thursday. They have a biopsy scheduled for Friday at the hospital, in which Lydia will need to stay overnight.

We do not know yet if it's benign or cancer, and we are asking you praying friends and family to pray with us that it is not cancer! If it is benign, she will still need radiation to shrink it - so pray the Lord will shrink it even before the radiation! Please also pray against Satan that he is defeated! We have a BIG GOD and he is WORTHY to be thanked and praised no matter what the circumstances. Lots of tears have been shed today - and a deeper realization of how we cherish our family and unfortunately take them for granted all too often."

Busy 2 days...

Much happened since I wrote last, which wasn't all that long ago really....

Outside of the usuals (baking bread too), my mom and I went with Elizabeth to Napoleon for the meeting last night and spent an hour setting up for it, then it lasted about 3 hours and took another hour to repack everything.  Driving home was scary, as the wind had really come up and it was a blizzard.  After a good while, we did make it home.  The 3 of us talked then until well after 1:00am and then decided we really must get some sleep. 

I woke up when Andrew did this morning and went out to do the chores with him.  He and Mom went to Bismarck all day and just got home.  Dad and Jacob worked on the shelves in the shop.  I went over and babysat most of the day. 

The girls were so funny today!  Between rolling tape rolls around on the floor; the girls rolling on empty water jugs all over the living room; drawing on the patio door with "Window markers"; spinning pennies; drawing pictures and then Johanna showing them to their dog, Stash; doing dishes until the floor was nearly flooded; playing with playdough; and Johanna getting interested in doing her hair and trying on all kinds of hair things, it was a fun day! 

I'd best go help put the Sam's goodies away now....  :)

Broccoli, broccoli, broccoli...

When we placed our last Azure Standard order, my mom ordered a case of organic broccoli.  SO, we've been eating lots of broccoli the last few days, and today Jacob helped me cut the rest up; blanch and bag it; then put it in the freezer.  We got 10 quarts out of what was left, minus the 4 heads I left out for eating.    I also made another gallon of yogurt; 2 quarts of kefir; and some peanut butter cookies. 

I washed my bedding, amongst other laundry, and redusted and vacuumed my room, as we're having sleepover company tomorrow night and my room gets used as the guest room at times like this.  :)




Andrew worked on memorizing the history lessons for the Appleseed Program and spent a lot of time on the phone with a gentleman who's helping him.    He also fixed our Turbo Oven that broke AGAIN.

My dad and Jacob worked on building more shelving in the shop with the lumber my dad bought last week for that purpose. 

My mom was gone all day for a class with Elizabeth H. and is still not home.  My mom and Elizabeth will be hosting a meeting tomorrow (Monday) evening in Napoleon to talk about the health modality called "BodyTalk".  If anyone is interested in attending, you can contact my mom (A Ray of Hope) or me for details. 

Those are the highlights of this lovely day.  Oh, yes, several cows pushed the panels apart up by the water tank and made their escape to enjoy the springish weather!

Making breakfast/lunch/supper at this time of night?

Yep, I just did all three.  It was easy though, as I was just packing for my mom's meals as she'll be in class all day tomorrow in Bismarck.  

It was a peaceful, quiet day here.  We played ping-pong for a few hours (yes, the games are getting harder!), and read in "The blessing book"; sang hymns; etc....  Mom and I just finished a ton of dishes now as she didn't want to leave me with a disastrous kitchen tomorrow.  :)

 

Here is a picture of me on my birthday, holding my delicious ice-cream cake!

Wasn't it cute?