Q. What smells as good as freshly baked bread?

A.  Freshly mown lawn!

Praise God, we were able to get the lawn finished today.  Many other things got done as well...  (Dad sprayed the corn; Mom, Jacob and I worked up the front flower bed, planted the flowers, then mulched it with fresh lawn clippings; Andrew helped Dad for a while, then worked on Appleseed projects and got the lawn mowers working and helped Mom and I mow; the boys fixed the patio door which had decided to start falling apart; then there was the usual laundry and dishes to do, things like that.  We have one more very busy day ahead of us and then we can enjoy time with everyone who comes.  :) 

When my dad went up and checked cows tonight, he found a week old calf (who he's been keeping an eye on) not able to even get up.  He brought it home and we mixed up some milk for it.  The calf drank down 1 1/4 bottles while standing.   Hopefully it will get back on the healthy track soon.

We want to get our outhouse painted, but every time we have time to do it, there are blue clouds on the horizon or thunder within hearing range, and so we don't waste our paint.  Maybe tomorrow before people start showing up?

A picnic...

After naptime this afternoon, the girls and I went outside.  Somebody mentioned the word picnic, and Johanna grabbed some muffins (4 tiny ones) and a baby blanket when we were heading outside.  We picked a soft spot in the grass and had our picnic.  :)    It was so nice out today!  Jacob got the range mowed and then started mowing around the house when the belt on that mower broke.  Andrew and Mom went to Bismarck all day and came home with a belt for the other lawn mower, so hopefully we'll be able to finish the mowing tomorrow? 

My dad burned a ton of garbage today, garbage meaning mostly parts of the old barn we'd hauled over in pieces from our other farm.  The wood was all rotting and just needed to go.  After evening chores, he and Jacob and I also cleaned up 3 huge piles of branches and weeds/old vegetable stalks from the garden and he burned those as well. 

Mom and Andrew came home with fish, so after acclimating them to our water slowly (adding small amounts to the bag they're in every few minutes), I let them loose in my aquarium.  They also bought goldfish for our stock tanks (they really keep the water clean), so Mom came out with the flashlight and shone the light while I "stocked the tanks" with 15 goldfish.  :)

Please join us in praying for nice weather for Friday and Saturday...  We just heard from a young man who's registered at this shoot that he has 3 friends who are considering coming too.  There are 9 people preregistered and I'm pretty sure 4 more (plus the 3, plus some of our family) will come too.  Looks like a good turnout.  PTL!  OH, and if you're reading this and would like to come to our Project Appleseed Shoot, now is the time to register online.  (hint, hint)  http://appleseedinfo.org/search-states-display.php?qstate=ND&statename=North Dakota

We planted our flowers...

I did not have a chance to get a picture of them though before it started to rain again!  If you can believe this, we're actually asking God for the sun to shine now so we can finish up some outdoor projects.  The rain is a blessing, and it isn't, all at the same time.   :)

Even though it was misting on and off, we did get a lot of things accomplished outside today.  The guys cleaned up the woodpile by the side of the shop and burned all the boxes and bags that were piling up in the shop, so it looks much better over there.  I did a lot of weeding in the greenhouse and Mom watered in there.   The boys got the green lawnmower working, so Mom mowed the playground area around 4:30, just before the rain came.  We did some general cleanup around the place and the guys were going to go mow the range area off, but both lawnmowers then had problems and they only mowed 1 round down there. 

So goes life on the farm....

Rain, wind, plus sunshine...

We had a little of everything weather-wise today.  The guys got lots of things done in the shop (although I really don't know what they were, because I wasn't out there) and Mom and I (and Jacob helped me too when he wasn't outside) accomplished much in the house!  I baked bread, then Jacob and I took down all of the dangly glass and plastic things from the chandelier and washed them and disassembled and washed the kitchen light fixture too.  I also spent about an hour thoroughly cleaning my aquarium, as I hadn't done that in a while and it needed some attention.  After that, my mom and I cleaned out both refrigerators.  Awwwww....work has it's own rewards.

 

The guys called from the shop about this time and invited us out for a ping-pong tournament.  That was fun!  We hadn't played in about a month so were a little rusty when we started.  :)

 

Mom and I did the barn chores then while the guys moved all 10 of the bulls from across the road to the pasture by the farm here.  We are down to 1 haybale, so they needed some grass to eat until it's time for them to join the rest of the herd up north.  All 3 of our guys were on 4-wheelers and everything went really well. 

 

Here are a few pictures from yesterday's target practice:

 

My mom, resetting her scope...  (That sponge on the handle is a cheek rest.)

 

 My trusty rifle...

 The targets we were shooting at...

 AB and AR...

 "Just my rifle, (no pony) and me..."

"Turn it 8 clicks to the right."

We had a peaceful day here.  The loudest part of it was when Mom, Andrew and I took our rifles down to the range to resight them in.  Both my mom and I had to make several clicks on our scopes to get our '22s shooting straight again.  It was interesting shooting in the wind, but enjoyable.  :)  It's hard to believe that one week from now, another Appleseed shooting event will be over with....

Finished!

My dad (and the boys, as they picked rocks all afternoon) finished planting our fields today!  What a good feeling that is.  They still have a few food plots to plant for our hunting friends, but that won't take long to do.

My mom and I cleaned the house and cooked up a feast for supper.  We spent a lot of time cleaning in the living room especially---pulling out the couch to vacuum underneath it; washing the registers, pillows, slipcover; taking everything off the bookshelves and piano and washing everything; spot cleaning the carpet; washing the piano keys.....  My mom even went through all of our VHS tapes and cleaned out some we didn't want/watch anymore.  It's nice to have things clean, I mean, REALLY clean.  :)  We did not get our flowers planted today afterall, as the strong winds would not have been kind to new transplants.

Dandelion pickers...

This morning, I took Johanna and Tracy Jo outside for a couple of hours.  They had such fun on their new swingset/playground and then we started picking dandelions...  They thought that was so fun and I enjoyed it myself!  Johanna picked the "Delions" and filled my pockets with them.  Tracy Jo wanted to keep her bouquet for herself, so she picked one dandelion at a time then squashed it into her other hand which was very full by the time I convinced her to do something else.  :)  They're so fun.

When their mama got home around 4:00 to take over, I went home and got some work done in the greenhouse.  Some more flower plants had come in the mail a few days ago, so I got most of those planted.  My mom and Jacob went to Bismarck again today.  Jacob had to see the chiropractor again (after being kicked off his dirt bike by that cow) and my mom had 5 or 6 clients to see again.  They brought back 2 trays of flowers, so it will be another flower planting day tomorrow. 

My dad got back to seeding.  He finished the small field here at home (which was planted into alfalfa, but he decided to take that out of alfalfa now that it rained), and just has the new land to plant yet.  Andrew hauled 2 of those butcher cows to Linton.   He arrived home shortly after I did, then worked on the small tiller for me as I wasn't able to get it running. 

It seems like so many of our friends are having surgeries here recently.  Please pray for Roxi (hand surgery), Rob (leg/ankle), Lydia (had a brain tumor removed and she is much better!), Jeanne (leg), and Edna (something major)...  I am thankful for how healthy my family generally is and how few accidents we've had.

Pictures, as promised!

 

Hooray, hooray, my camera came today (and the sun did shine too)! 

 

I spent the hours between 8:00am and 6:00pm babysitting both M. families children, equaling 5.  We spent a couple hours outside and everyone loved it, as we've been indoors for the past 4+ days with all of the rain.  Our guys are estimating and think we got around 4 inches?

 

Andrew worked on the largest tiller today, the one we use behind his garden tractor.  Soon and very soon I hope we will be able to get our garden all planted.  I took a quick stroll through the greenhouse last night and saw that the peas, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes, and a few cucumbers are up now.  :)

 

While Mom and Jacob did evening chores tonight, I played with my new camera....

 

Here is the largest of my citrus fruits on my dwarf fruit trees:

 

 The mums we bought to plant in front of the deck....  I think they want to grow!

 The pretty pansies, also enjoying the sunshine by the patio door...

 I took a picture of our local paper.  :)  The reason?  Well, this is the dear family I work for regularly and I just wanted to share their super cute family photo/write up about Paula's new work as a Family Nurse Practitioner...  You probably can't read all that small print, but I'm just so happy for her to have made it to this milestone in her life!

 Ready and waiting for supper...

 I was experimenting with some of the settings on my camera.  Here is a picture I took with the "Fish eye" setting.  He's explaining to our mom what the fish-eye does...  ;)

 ..and here is Jacob, without any funny settings.  :)

 Andrew B...

 We're selling 3 or 4 young cows (ones that lost their calves) to some friends for butchering, and they asked for pictures, so I took some of those.  Here's one of the cows...

 This cow is NOT for sale or for butcher.  Meet Sally:

 This is one of Jacob's heifers he's selling.  I thought the picture turned out funny as she seems to be saying something, plus, it looks like she only has 3 legs when she really has all 4.  :)

 My mom milked Sally tonight, just to give Andrew a break.   We do that every now and then. 

 The goats eating valuable hay (valuable, as there isn't much left!)...

 My stubborn cow, W28 and her baby:   She'll let her calf nurse when they're in the barn, but then forgets she's alive when we let them out on grass.  Hmmm...

 Our chicks are growing and changing so much!   These 2 blackish ones are Barred Rocks and you're really able to tell it on their wing feathers now.

 Some of the other pullets, scratching around in the sun-soaked straw...

 Lord willing that they continue to live, all those little pullets will be filling nests with these in the not-so-distant future...

 Jacob and the turkeys who are ever so happy to see him (or is it the bucket they like?)...

 I wanted to get a picture of the cute, tiny calf I bought a few weeks back.  BUT, he's so rambunctious (and was hungry at this point) that he wouldn't hold still to have his picture taken nicely.  So, here he is:

 After several attempts, I finally let him suck on my finger...  :)  He is doing well.

 The last picture I took (before the batteries went dead) was of the tractor/corn planter my dad has spent so many hours in here recently:

And now, I'd best head for bed, as tomorrow is yet another busy day.  Please join us in praying for Paula's brother who has had to have another surgery for infection in his leg (it's very broken) and tomorrow will have yet another surgery.

The sun will come out tomorrow...

"When I'm stuck with a day
  that's grey
    and lonely,
I just stick out my chin
  and grin
    and say:

The sun will come out tomorrow...."

I was glad to have Andrew's pickup to drive to my babysitting job and back today as the roads are ever and ever so soft and muddy now.  I drove my car yesterday and wondered if I'd make it through 2 of the low areas (I prayed for angels to push me through if need be:)  ).  The rain is a good thing though for all of the seeds that are in the ground already and in preparation for all the rest of the seeds that will go in once the sun comes out for a day or two.  There had been several fires before the rain too, so hopefully that won't be a problem either anymore. 

 My dad braved the slippery trail up to the pasture again today and had a report of 2 more new calves, but 1 (one of my heifer's calves) was dead.  :( I think there are only about 15-20 cows left to calve.  We just couldn't keep them here any longer as we were down to 5 bales of hay and need some for the goats, Sally, and the bulls. 

  Oh, and my camera did not come today, so maybe tomorrow it will be here?  My mom was ever SO happy to get home from Bismarck and find that the Kangen water machine had come and that Dad and Andrew had got it hooked up and running already!    Do any of you drink Kangen water?

Snip, snip...

After getting home from babysitting most of the day, I made supper for the others and gave Andrew his haircut while the others did chores.  Then, after supper was over, my mom cut my dad's hair and I cut Jacob's.  SO, our floor needed a good sweeping after all of that. 

I'm excited that my new camera (Andrew helped me decide on one) should be coming in the mail tomorrow!  This is the camera I chose: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005I6DVC0/ref=pe_309540_26725410_item
It's not super fancy or anything, but it will work nicely for what I use it for and, if it should ever get lost like, say, on a cattle drive, then I wouldn't feel so bad about it (not like if Andrew lost his camera)! 

SO, be looking for pictures here in the not-to-distant future.  :)

Water pressure!

It is SO nice to have the cows moved up to pasture, for several reasons, but the biggest blessing of it is that we now have full water-pressure in the house all of the time.  Hooray!  I washed all of my laundry today (and it had been stacking up, as during these warmer days, we weren't able to do more than 2 loads of laundry a day with the cows drinking more water.  SO, today I'm thankful for the blessing of lots of water.  :)

My grandparents were not able to make it today as Grandpa was feeling poorly after dialysis yesterday.  My parents and Andrew went to a meeting in Hazelton and Jacob and I stayed home to do the chores.  It was a quiet day with it sprinkling on and off.  Everything is soft and smushy outside.  It's so nice!

The wandering one has been found.

My dad was up and out searching for the calf when I woke up at 7:00 this morning.  Not too much after that, just as I was getting my chore coat on to go help search, I heard Andrew and Dad up in the yard with the 4-wheelers.  YAY!  The lost calf was found.  The 3 of us herded him into the alleyway, then into the trailer and Dad and I took him up to his mother who was waiting for him in the pasture still, thankfully.  After that, everything was peaceful, except for when a skunk went running through the cows and ran right by a cow who was laying down.  She jumped up mighty quickly!  Sadly, neither of us had a gun along.  :(     There was a new calf, so Dad and I tagged it.   Later this evening when the two of us went up and checked again before the rain came, there was another new calf!  We don't have all that many left to calve, but the low pressure system, combined with all of that exercise yesterday must have made this a great birth-day.  And yes, this time I had my rifle along and no, we didn't see the skunk this time.  :(

It was a peaceful day at home.  We had thought we were getting company for a while this afternoon (farmer Dave was going to come and shoot his AR down at the range, but then he had something come up, so that was postponed).  So, we finished reading the blessing book; sang hymns; enjoyed the fresh air coming in the windows; some of us napped; watched movies; did chores; etc.... 

My B. grandparents are coming for a visit tomorrow, so Mom and I for sure will be up early to get the house cleaned (we didn't get to it yesterday, due to all of the cow moving challenges) and some chicken enchiladas made.  :)

And,

I lost my camera yesterday.  I mean, I REALLY lost it!  It was lost for a while, then I found it yesterday morning in my garden seed box (I'd taken it to get pictures of the greenhouse), so I packed it in my camera case and slung that around my neck and shoulder for the cattle moving.  Well, somewhere between the road north of us a mile and way up by a deer stand in the pasture, my camera bounced out of the case.  I have NO IDEA where, and have no hope of finding it in all those miles of grass and rocks and holes!  SO, I won't be posting the pictures I took of the cattle move yesterday, unless someone finds my camera before the next rainfall.  :)

Ouch, ouch, and more ouch!

OK, so this was the worst cattle-moving day that I ever remember.  It may have been because we have several new cows who are more skittish, I'm not sure?  But, anyway...  We did get them all tagged and moved up there (except we're missing 1 calf still), all except for the few cows we kept back here to give special TLC to or to sell to friends for butchering. 

The "Ouches" happened like this:

 

• We all received sunburns--everyone says I'm the most red and I do resemble an Indian.  Dad called us all rednecks...
• My dad was tightening a wire on a fence we were fixing when the wire snapped and scraped my mom's hand.  It's not too bad (could have been much worse), and isn't as bad as the scrape she got on her leg from a weed or something.
• My dad and Andrew had a collision---4-wheeler and dirt-bike.  They both swerved to miss each other while chasing cows, but dad's wheel hit the back of Andrew's dirt bike tire and sent him sailing off the side, hands first.  THANKFULLY, he had a long sleeved shirt on (to cover the sunburn) and some leather gloves!   I don't think he was really hurt, as he was laughing about it at supper tonight.
• Jacob had the biggest ouch.  He was chasing a cow from the ditch onto the road (one of the new cows) and she all of a sudden kicked him in the arm.  It all happened so quickly so that he's not sure what happened, but somehow his bike tipped over and he got a nasty scrape on his back-side.  Something on his bike scraped him and tore through his jeans even.  He's soaking now in Epsom salt...

I was way in front of the cows with a 4-wheeler, trying to hold them back a bit, as there are always a few cows  that just want to run the whole way and leave the others in the dust.  When we got up in the wilderness part of the trail, I needed some help getting the cows to turn the way they were supposed to and to not continue on that trail.   I managed to get them stopped and then they all spread out there and started eating grass.  I looked down the road but could only see my mom with the pickup/trailer a ways back and saw no guys.  My mom was sitting still.  I waited a bit, chasing the cows from one side of the road to the other, then realized I wasn't getting anywhere.   I tried calling Dad and Andrew, but couldn't get them, so I decided to go see what was holding them up.  

I guess what happened is that they were loading up a few smaller calves that had gotten tired (they went in the trailer Mom was pulling) when a group of other calves turned around and started running back in the direction of our farm.  They went and tried to stop then, but then more calves broke away from the cows and ran the wrong way too.  By the time I found the calves and the guys, they were about a mile or more away from where they'd broken away from the herd.  I tried helping them get the calves headed in the right direction, but they were SO dumb and wouldn't herd.  They kept breaking away from each other and running off in their own directions.  There were about 15 of them.  If any of you have herded small calves before, you'll know how hard this was!   I drove back to the main cow herd at this point to see if they were hightailing it for Canada, or if they were contentedly eating where I'd left them.   I found a few cows heading back for the farm, and got most of them turned back the right way and chased back to the rest of the cows (who were just eating grass).  I went back to help the guys again and met up with them about halfway back.  This time, they had all of the calves together and one cow had joined them.  The calves stuck by her and actually were moving in the right direction.  There were about 20 calves by this time.  Well, to make a long story shorter than it could be, we got them back with the main herd (put a few more calves in the trailer, as some were pretty tired) and after a long time, we got everyone up in the pasture cell that they were supposed to be in.  Ouffta.  After fixing some more fence, we were going to head home for a bit, then got a call from some neighbors saying that they found 2 calves by their place.  SO, Dad told me to stay up in the pasture and keep an eye on the cows who were obviously looking for calves, making sure they stayed in the fence.  The others went back to find the calves (of which they only found 1) and to do chores/make supper. 

While I was up there for another hour and a half, I was able to drive around and write down several more cow/calf pairs numbers.  As we tagged all of the calves (who weren't already  tagged) this morning, we needed to match up which calf went with which cow.  I found 48 pairs, so that was a good use of time, I guess.  My dad came up there then with the 1 calf.  I knew of 2 cows who for sure hadn't found their babies yet and yes, that calf was the baby of 1 of them.   We just sat and watched the other cow for a while, as she went to the gate where we brought them in and was mooing.  We're hoping she stays in overnight!  After she left the gate, we headed home.  By this time, it was nearly 10:00pm.  We left home at 1:00pm, so that means that I was on a 4-wheeler for most of 9 hours.  No wonder I'm tired of bouncing around and just sitting still feels oh so good!

SO, the day could have been worse (had people gotten  hurt worse, or had we lost more than 1 calf), but it still was pretty trying......

Please pray for us to find that calf tomorrow.  Our neighbor was going to look through his herd and call us if he found it, but he never called.

Rain!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and a Project Appleseed shoot in the not so distant future!)

It sprinkled/rained today.  It's been a long time since we've seen and smelled that.  There have been a couple fires in our area this last week, so the rain is a welcome sight for more than the reason that it will water the newly planted seeds.  We still have 1 day of seeding left, but my dad said the corn planter needed to be worked on anyway before he did that, so it all will work out well in the end. 

The chicks were all safe today---hooray!

I went and babysat for the first half of the day.  I made broccoli pickles for them.  Has anyone ever tasted those before?  I haven't, yet.

Tomorrow is cattle-moving day, so please keep us in your prayers for safety as we get all the cows/calves in first to tag the calves we've missed, then sort off some cows we need to keep here, and then finally while we take them about 5 miles up the road.  Sometimes that's too far for the smaller calves to walk all the way, so they get picked up and put in the stock-trailer as we go along.  I'm praying for sunshine now.  :)

Andrew and I had to get my cow/calf pair W28 back in the barn again, as we let them out yesterday and the mom just took off and forgot about her baby.  SO, she has to stay in for a while longer until she becomes a responsible mother.  That could take a while, as she had already been in for a week and wasn't fully bonded apparently.

I spent some time sending out Prairie Days ( http://prairiedays.weebly.com/ )&  Project Appleseed ( http://appleseedinfo.org/search-states-map.php )  invitations to some friends after I got home.  If I haven't mentioned it before, I wanted to invite those of you reading this to both events also!  The shoot is May 31st-June 1st, which is coming up very quickly!  It would be great to see some/all of you here/there.  :)

Some days it's harder...

...harder to count your blessings.  :(  Why is that, that it's easier to thank and praise God in the "good times" than it is when things don't go as we think they should? 

OK, so it wasn't THAT bad of a day.  I did have 2 sick calves that Jacob and I had to feed electrolytes to.  The one is weak in its back legs, so I'm not sure what that's about?  He doesn't look malnourished and his ears were up.  Hmmm

Then, this afternoon, when I went to check the chicks in the barn, I opened the door and saw one of our big orange tom cats sitting right in the middle of the chicks.  I yelled to Jacob, telling him to bring his rifle right away.  He came and shot the cat for me.  I counted the chicks then and found 21 or 22 are missing.  ;(   I tried to figure out how the cat got in the pen.  I spent about 2 hours redoing some of the fencing and adding to it.  It had better be cat-proof now, as I'm not sure what more I could do?  Shoot all of the cats? 

Then too, there are 3 chickens that love to go in the garden in the spot that I tilled and they dig around and dig out my flower bulbs.  Arggggg

Let's see, the good parts of the day were: 

• The kitchen is back in order again
• The kitchen windows/patio door are nice and sparkling clean and the screens are on the windows now
• Most of the flower bulbs are planted now
• My brothers got the windmill started up in the pasture
• All the rest of the 150+ calves are all doing well
• I went out to check on the chicks when I did so there weren't more missing
• We ate rhubarb pie!  :)

My dad just got home from seeding.  He's been having planter problems, so he still has a couple of days left before all of the corn is planted.  The boys have been working on getting the sprayer ready to go.  I think I've mentioned that our farm has gone through a major change this year---as it is no longer certified Organic?    It's sad/hard (we know organic is the best for people), but perhaps is necessary to make land payments.    We're still going to do some natural things too (putting down tons of sugar down to feed the microbes in the soil/applying Basic H to make water more accessible to the plants).   Our hay/cattle will still be all natural.  I'm glad I'm not my dad, being in charge of all these plans/decisions.....    I think most people these days really have no idea how much work and stress farmers really go through and what heroes (most of them anyway) they truly are! 

Busy birthday day!

Well, this was a whirlwind type of a day.  It was my dad's birthday, but he was gone seeding all day until he came home right at 6:30pm and we left shortly after that for our district's reorganization meeting---at which, nothing was reorganized and everything is as it's been for a long time.  Jacob stayed home to feed the cows, as he is still to young to vote at such things.  Andrew and I did the rest of the chores (milking and feeding smaller animals) early before we left, so none of us had supper before we went.  The meeting got out around 9:00pm, so we had a late birthday feast!  It was worth the wait though....homemade lasagna, jello, and angel food cake with ice cream and strawberries.  Yummy!  After our late supper, we gave my dad his gifts.  I think he liked them all.  ;)

The boys worked on several projects here at home.  Andrew helped my mom and I get the cat-proof poultry pen set up again, this time in the barn as the chicks are still too little to be outside at night.  After I went and got a straw bale, Jacob helped us bed down the pen (it's pretty large---about 12'x12').   I washed out some feeders and the large waterer, then Mom and I hauled all 102 chicks out to their new home.  They were stunned.  They just sat there and looked around for the longest time, then they did start eating and exploring.  Hopefully they'll do alright out there tonight, as we have the barn doors closed and they have lots of straw to hunker down in.   I wanted to get a picture of them, but my camera is currently lost, so that didn't happen.

Oh yes...  Kristi M. had given us some rhubarb, so I made a rhubarb pie today and the rest I made into strawberry/rhubarb jam.  I also made apricot jam with apricots from Paula M.  :)  I haven't tested them yet to see if they turned out right or not?

It was a beautiful day, outside of the strong wind.  I hope you all are enjoying the sunshine too!  Soon, once the seeds are in the ground, we'll be praying for some rain clouds to cover the sky...

We've been busy as bees...

...and if you've ever watched bees closely, you'll know they're seldom just sitting still doing nothing!  Yesterday, we took lunch out to the field and had our first picnic of the year.  A little honey bee stopped in to say "Buzz", and to smell our strawberries, then went on it's way. 

My dad has been seeding from dawn to dusk practically the past few days and is getting close to finished.  He probably has 2 days left.  AND, it's his birthday tomorrow!  We're hoping he'll stop a little early in time for the special supper we'll be making him.  :)

Yesterday morning, the guys set together a pen made of pallets.  They built it on the back of the black pickup so I could go get the little calf I'd said I'd buy when Mrs. J. called and asked if I wanted another bottle calf.  They just didn't have time to raise the little guy.  His mother has hardware they think, so they were surprised she even had a calf!  I'll have to get a picture of him, as he is really tiny and cute.  He's red---my favorite cow-color.  :)  I went and picked him up yesterday morning and he's adjusted well to his new home and friends (our other 3 bottle calves).  The boys helped me set up 2 pens in the barn so feeding time is easier...

We celebrated Mother's Day somewhat, although there was still lots of work that needed doing, and we did it.  Jacob dragged (drug?) the driveway, so it's much smoother now.  I filled in some holes where our volleyball playing area is and planted some more things that came in the mail.....    We bought Mom some soap making supplies, so that will be our newest adventure, someday, when we have time.

I babysat Johanna and Tracy today and, after they woke up from their naps, I buckled them in the pickup and took them to my house to see the chicks and calves.  Johanna put her hands up to her face when she saw the chicks and cooed, "Oh, they're so cute!"  :)  They also wanted to see the "Doats" and chickens (aka: turkeys). 

There are rumors of a very windy day tomorrow, so after evening chores, the boys and I spent an hour and a half in putting the 2x2s on top of the greenhouse.  (We couldn't do it before, as we didn't have enough boards, but Mom picked some up in Bismarck last time she was there.)  We also screwed some into the side of the greenhouse, so hopefully all will be well tomorrow evening.

Soon, our cows will need to go up to pasture.  Very soon.  We're nearly out of hay!

My dad and I feel better today (cold wise), so hopefully it will be a short lived bug.

Please pray for Johanna and Tracy's uncle Rob who'll have surgery tomorrow to fix his very broken leg (a result of an accident up in the oil fields) and will later have to have surgery for his broken ankle too...

Well, good night everybody.  God bless you all!

Bountiful baskets...

This evening, we enjoyed some of the produce that was from our first Bountiful Baskets "contribution".   Our neighbor, Kristi kindly picked up our order and delivered it to our door!  (Thanks again!)

Our day was otherwise pretty uneventful, outside of when one of Andrew's cows was out.  Oh, and when my cow (the one we're working with to get her to take her calf) figured out that if she stuck her head through the gate that was leaning against the wall, she could pull back and get the gate open far enough so she could escape!  The guys got her back in the barn after a while of chasing, then had to lock her in the pen, as she was already sticking her head through the gate to do her trick again.  I later went and wired a short cattle panel (the kind with small holes) onto the gate so she could not stick her head through it, then let her out of the little pen into the larger area.  Cows!

We had 4 new calves yesterday.  It must have been a low-pressure time or something, as we had none today.

Yesterday was such a busy day....   For me, it was one of those clutsy days where it seems everything you touch either breaks, drops, spills, gives you a sliver, or cuts you.   You know the kind....

But, anyway, amidst all of that, we did get much accomplished.  After I did the morning chores, my mom and I took my little calf out to the pasture to find its mother and to see if the cow still remembered her baby.  She did not.  At first, it seemed like she might accept it, but as soon as it headed back to the dinner pail, she promptly kicked the calf in the head and ran away.  We took the calf out by a group of other cows and calves, hoping she'd come find it.  Ha ha

Jacob and I spent about 3 hours pushing dirt around, each with a 9030 loader tractor....  My dad wanted the huge hole (that the railway men dug for us to put rocks in several years ago) covered this year so he could plant over it, so we pushed the dirt back in and then Jacob packed it down by driving over it and leveled a pile of dirt on top of it.  I hauled a bunch of loads of dirt back to the farmyard to fill in the holes in the driveway; build up an approach by the hay-yard; and to put by the milk-cow's water tank.

In the middle of our lunch, my dad called saying he needed more corn seed brought down where he was planting.  SO, Jacob and I left right away to load the corn bags on the pickup, then filled the drill while Dad finished putting the fertilizer in and then ate his lunch.  I had not planned to be out in the field, really, so was just wearing some slip on shoes and no socks....  Dad asked Jacob to go fill the fertilizer truck again in Kintyre, so he took off.  Dad asked me if I wanted to ride along 1 round to see how the auto-steer worked and everything, so I did.  That was probably the LONGEST round of the day.  We had to stop 4 or 5 different times because things kept going wrong (pins sheered off, a pulley broke; a chain came off)...   While we were fixing one of those problems, Jacob called and said he'd run out of gas in the truck (which really wasn't his fault, as the fuel gauge doesn't work with the tank that's on there).   Somewhere in there, I stepped into a weed/stalk and it scratched the top of my foot (bleeding wise).

SO, once we finally finished that round, and after Dad got some more pins/tools from the shop, I took some gas/funnels/jumper cables down to Kintyre.  He'd barely made it out on the paved road there by Kintyre, then ran out of gas.  The tank is in a very awkward place (it was homemade by the former owners and not of the best design I must say) and it would have been much easier to get at if we could have lifted the hoist, but the truck will not do that when it can't run, which it can't do when it's out of gas.  SO, we used the teeny tiny funnel that was connected to a small bendable hose which just barely reached from the side of the truck (where we had to have the gas can or we couldn't have the hose high enough to get the gas in the tank) and that took a long time---just to get 5 gallons in the truck.  Of course, we spilled some and it happened to splash on my foot, the one that had the scratch...   But, thankfully, the truck started after a little cranking and we were on our way again.

Once we got the truck delivered back to the field, we decided to check on my little calf again to see if there was any mother/baby bonding going on.  Nope. 

SO, we decided to attempt to get the cow in the calving pen where we could work with the pair.  I tried opening the back barn door, but it got about halfway open, then one of the rollers came off the track.  Jacob backed the pickup by the door and stood on it while I lifted the door and we managed to get it back on, after some time.

Next, we had a rodeo, running the cow around and finally getting her herded into the barn, Jacob on the 4-wheeler and me in the pickup.  Things could always have been worse, as we didn't run over any calves in the process or anything.  Once we got the cow in the smaller pen and then into the headgate, the calf would not suck on her.  SO, thankfully she is a mildly gentle heifer and I was able to milk her without getting kicked.  The calf still would not suck on the bottle, SO, I put the milk in the stomach-tube and fed her that way.

By that time, it was 3:30pm and we went in the house to finish our lunch (and I washed my feet), or to have our snack, whichever way you look at it.  My mom was just heading out the door to Wishek to get some parts for the tractor.  She'd been busy, but the house was still a mess and there was nothing prepared for our special Friday evening meal, so she said she'd stop at the Wishek grocery store to get something.

I went out to the garden then to finish planting all of the flower bulbs and cherry bushes that had come in the mail a few days back.  It was VERY windy by this time and made tilling a small patch kind of a yucky job.  And my feet got dirty again.  :)  I did get everything planted and watered by 6:30.  I'd changed my long, flowy skirt for a tighter, shorter skirt as a preventative to any other disasters (such as getting my skirt caught in the tiller and having my leg chopped off....).

OK, so this is getting very long and drawn out.  Let me just say that the good news is that, by the end of the day, my dad had all of the fields around the farm planted (and I have a greater appreciation for all that he goes through out there!); my mom had a good meal prepared for us and our house was moderately clean; Andrew came home around 9:00; Jacob helped with so many things and can do so much these days; the calf had a belly full of milk again (though tube-fed); and I nearly spilled half a gallon of milk while filling the chick's milk-feeder.  Arggg 

That's why we were all tired. 

Tonight I'm fighting a cold.  I wonder why? 

Please pray for all of the farmers and ranchers at this time of the year!  It's wild and can be dangerous....

I am so tired tonight that...

...I feel like I could sleep for 20 years.  So, if you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know I'm resting in peace.  :)

I'll tell some other time about the busyness of this day.

Lots of seeds went in the ground today!

Everywhere you look, there are tractors in the fields now!  My dad started planting today...  Hooray! 

We have a calf in our kitchen tonight.  One of my heifers had the calf at 6:00am, licked it off, then left it be.  When I checked later in the morning, the calf was all sprawled out on the ground, weak and listless.  She's a very small heifer calf, so I was able to easily pick her up and swing her into the pickup box, then hauled her to the kitchen.   I had to tube-feed her some colostrum and egg, then gave her some probiotic paste.  She's looking much better tonight (her ears are up and she's alert) and is lying like a calf should.  I'm going to get up around 3:00 to give her some more colostrum.    Hopefully by morning she'll be able to stand and can go back out to her mama.

Mom and I worked in the greenhouse today and have it nearly all planted now.  What a good feeling! 

Oh, and just as a reminder, I thought I'd post this gardening tip:

 

Young helpers...

I babysat for the other neighbor children today (Amelia, Michael and James).  We spent about 5 hours at my house, looking at animals and collecting eggs (they rode with me in the pickup to check cows); taking Jacob down to a different neighbor's place to get our truck back home; playing on the trampoline and with outdoor toys; and James helped me some with the greenhouse doors, meaning he held onto the cordless drill and pulled the trigger when I was ready while I stabilized it and pushed on the back of the drill.  When I first cut the hole in the plastic for the doorway, a major heatwave came out of the greenhouse!  The children said it was a giant oven.  After their dad got home from work, I got home just in time for supper, then Mom, Jacob and I did chores. 

My dad and Jacob got the final parts they needed for the corn planter today and Dad plans to "hit the dirt" in the morning!  He spent some time replacing the primer bulb on the small tiller for us this afternoon, but then the tiller wouldn't run, so he fiddled around with that for a while this evening.  He's not sure what's wrong with it, so he got the medium sized tiller started for me and I started working up the soil in the greenhouse.  Several more plants that I ordered came in the mail today, so tomorrow will be a big planting day, Lord willing, of course.

I finished up the east doors (covering them in plastic again and trimming it down to size, then putting the hinges, hooks, and handles back on) and Jacob helped me screw them on the greenhouse.

We ate some sourdough bread super delicious baked sandwiches that Mom made us for supper and so, since they were good (I wasn't too fond of the bread by itself---must be an acquired taste?), I fed the sourdough culture again tonight and started a new loaf rising.  I am not going to let it set for quite so long this time, as it had raised well by morning last time, but I wanted to let it go and see how much larger it would get and then I was gone for about 9 hours babysitting.  By the time I returned, it had fallen considerably, so this time I want to bake it in the morning and see how much softer the bread ends up being.    Do any of you have experience with making sourdough bread?  Have any of you tasted it before----and liked it?

Pickup troubles...

It's been a busy day, once again. 

Dad and Jacob worked on trucks/tractors/planters/unloading corn-seed and Basic-H that arrived/etc...   My mom went to Bismarck for many different errands today (a part for our garden tiller; lumber for the top of the greenhouse; Kangen water; she looked at a car for Andrew and decided it wasn't even worth $1,500; got groceries; did a session....).   I babysat until 5:30, at which time I came home and made supper and then helped with chores.  I screwed in a few more boards on the greenhouse to keep the plastic from flapping in the wind; checked cows; did dishes; ground up more chicken feed; baked my first loaf of sourdough bread (haven't tasted it yet); moved the water hose up to the tank by the house; swept and scrubbed parts of the floor; etc...   Andrew left right after morning chores and plans to be home Friday evening. 

At 9:00pm, Dad and Jacob left for Bismarck with one of Andrew's pickups and his car-trailer to go pick up Mom and Andrew's other pickup which wouldn't start or move or something when she was done at Sam's club.  :(  They probably won't be back until midnight.  So goes life sometimes.

Well, I think I'll go try a slice of sourdough bread now.  I wonder how it will be????

Sourdough bread...

I ordered a special sourdough culture to use with whole wheat flour and have been "Feeding" the starter for about a week now.  I finally have enough to make 1 loaf of bread with the extra, so I shaped the bread tonight and will let it rise for the recommended 4-24 hours.  Yes, somewhere in there.  :)   I hope it will taste yummy, as it is supposed to be much healthier for a person than regular bread. 

The chicks are all doing well now and are really growing already! 

The guys finished their last day of grain cleaning today and Andrew's heading out right away in the morning (after milking his cow) to spend a week helping Organic farmer Dave by Linton get his crops in the ground.  Farmer Dave is a medical doctor from Iowa, but he comes back to farm and put up hay, just because he loves doing it.  He was one of (I think) 15 children and is a really nice man.  Andrew will probably be home on Saturday for the day, but then will head back to the Linton area.

Meanwhile, my dad and Jacob will be getting our farming done (and maybe my mom?).  My mom and Jacob pulled up the fence posts around last years corn field and rolled up all of the electric wire, so that took a good portion of their afternoon. 

I was over babysitting "My" girls.  We had a fun time outside, blowing bubbles and drawing shapes on the cement.  I got home just in time to milk Sally and the goats (Andrew was still busy helping Dad and Jacob with the corn planter and things).  Then, everyone ate supper quickly and the guys headed south of Hazelton to pick up the extra tires for the sprayer that they bought.  Mom and I did a pile of dishes and took care of the chicks and got the bread going, and watched one episode of the Waltons----the one I've been waiting for:  Where Ike (the storekeeper) meets and marrys CoraBeth Walton.  :)

Greenhouse!

Hooray, hooray, hooray!  With all of my family's help, the greenhouse got re-plasticed today.  I wish it had been done a month ago already, but I didn't order the plastic soon enough and there really wouldn't have been time to get it put up anyway with the guys being so busy cleaning...  I ordered a special greenhouse plastic this year that is SUPPOSED to last 4 years, so I'm hoping that's true and we won't need to redo the plastic each year as it is a big job.    There are still a few things to do on it (for example, we can't get inside of the greenhouse right now, as we haven't cut the doors yet, and we need to get some more 2x2s from Menards for holding the top plastic down for those super windy days). 

My dad and brothers also spent a good portion of the day getting the corn planter and tractor all ready to go---and worked on something for the sprayer.  Oh, and my dad had to chase a huge portion of our cows back in this morning, as he left a gate open just for a little while, as he was planning to go back out to the pasture and they decided to go for a run.  They were outside of the north shelter-belt already by the time he caught up with them.  Then they turned around and ran all the way back in.  Silly cows!

We had 1 dead chick today.  I think she never got started eating and drinking properly?

We also have 1 new bottle calf as of today, making a grand total of 3.  No more yogurt for us for about a month!  The calves will be taking all of Sally's milk.....

My mom got bit by the weeding bug already and was weeding the raspberry patch when she wasn't helping me with the greenhouse. 

I got my first (mini) sunburn of the year.

It was a good day and we are so blessed! 

So far, so very good...

The chickies are all looking well today and are bustling around their box-house making soft cheeping noises which, when all added together (105 soft cheeps) can be heard throughout most of the house.  :) 

It was a peaceful day of rest.  I praise God for days like this.  There were for sure 3 calves born this afternoon when I went out and checked.  We've gotten behind on the tagging (with the guys being gone grain cleaning and my mom in Bismarck some days and me babysitting some days), so it's a little hard to tell which calves are new and which are a day old already.  Before they all go up to pasture, we'll put a random tag in each untagged calves ear and then spend some time watching the cows and calves as they pair up in pasture and write the numbers down (who belongs to who).  I saw 3 gophers while out checking cows, but had forgotten my gun.  Shoot...

So ends a quiet day. 

Now we're ready for a new, busy week.  Are you ready?

A post on cleaning; chicks; and childhood chums...

This is a picture from a few days back when a farmer brought his grain to our place to have it cleaned...  That's Andrew's "Rig" you see.

 

 My mom went to town this morning and picked up our chicks while I got a home ready for them in the laundry room.

 This is how huddled they were when we first put them in the boxes:

 My dear "Old" friend, Miranda stopped in this afternoon and visited for a few hours.  :)  It was fairly nice outside, so we went for a swing...

 :)  It's so good to have genuine friends!

 Back to our cheepers...  They spread out a lot after they'd warmed up a bit and haven't stopped eating and drinking ever since!

 They sure are cute when they're at this age.  It's hard to believe that puff of fluff with legs is really a living thing.  

You're all welcome to drop in and see them while they're still little and cute.  ;)

My dad thought he might finish cleaning today, then got one more call, so he started with that job and will finish it on Sunday or Monday.  Andrew still has Monday to go, then he heads to the Linton area to help farmer Dave again for about a week---getting his crops in the ground. 

My dad bought a drill-fill from a neighbor he was cleaning for today, so when Andrew got home from cleaning, he, Jacob and I went down there and lifted it into the pickup and brought it home.  It will fit perfectly on that new old red truck they bought this spring over by Ellendale. 

While my mom was in town, she went grocery shopping and wanted to get some special food for celebrating nearly being done with grain cleaning/calving/etc...  She came home with ice cream and asparagus.  :)  I made the asparagus into a yummy chicken/noodle/onion/mushroom dish and we ate the ice cream for dessert.

It was a good day! 

"Thank you, Lord, for friends, and fowl, and finishing projects."

Excited for tomorrow!

Why?  Well, for two good reasons. 

#1: The future laying hens of our farm are coming in the mail,

&

#2: Miranda is stopping in for a visit on her way back home from business in Linton.  :)

I'm excited about tonight too, as Andrew is taking the 3am cow-check (then I'll get up and milk his cow), which means that I get to sleep the whole night through... 

It was another fairly lovely day outside and I took Johanna and Tracy out to play for a while after nap time until their Grandma came to take care of them.  We went for a mini-walk until we got out of the windbreak of the trees and realized it was too cold for such things.  Tracy was sitting in the wagon and Johanna pulled her---when the ground was level.  :)

My dad got his old corn planter sold today, so he's happy.  He and Andrew are nearly done with grain cleaning now (although people still keep calling) and I believe they each have 2 farmers to clean for yet.  Then, it will be busy fieldwork time at our farm...

The Lord is so good!  He protects us, guides us and leads us each day.  We even had energy left to play the guess-how-much-the-food-in-the-grocery-flier-costs? game this evening for a few minutes before prayer. 

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood---

...a beautiful day for a neighbor.  I spent most of this lovely day over with Johanna and Tracy Jo.  We spent some time out of doors, drawing with sidewalk chalk and the girls had fun sweeping the paved part of the driveway off somewhat then playing in the dirt.  :)  I'm not sure if people living 11 or 12 miles away qualify officially as a neighbor (in country terms, of course) but I call them my neighbors...and it was a beautiful day when you could be out of the wind.

So many things are going on each day here now.  It's hard to keep up with everybody.  My brothers made a town run and brought home more mineral lick-tubs for the cattle and a huge 3,000 gallon water tank.  They also worked on getting the corn planter field worthy.  My mom kept things going at home and also said "Hi" to some other neighbors when they stopped by with May basket goodies.  My dad cleaned grain all day long. 

It was so nice to see several farmers in the fields today and to have to be passing tractors on the road.

Oh, and another sure sign of spring is that the Cackle Hatchery called my mom today and arranged a shipping date for the laying hen pullets we ordered.  100 balls of fluff are coming to my house on Friday!!!  :)