Rocks, yet again!

While out picking and digging rocks for most of the morning and afternoon again, we discovered CROCUSES blooming!! :)

 After 3 days of working on it, we have most of the rocks dug and picked off of the big hill. (This is only a small portion of it, to show what it looks like without rocks). There are many more smaller hills, full of rocks, so we have our work cut out for us for a good long time. It will be so nice to have a break the next few days though, as I'm going babysitting!

 A new baby today....  Is it a skunk or a calf? hmmmm

Michael's going to call in a little bit, so I'll post this and be off.... :)

Rocks, again.

That was a good days work!

 Jacob and I spent the morning picking rocks, then after lunch, my mom came out and helped too for a while for several hours. Of course, driving the tractor was the most desirable job!

 After Jacob and I fed the cows their supper, we went out for about half an hour to see if we could find some gophers, and we did. :)

 We got 7 again, between the 2 of us.

We'll probably be out there again all day tomorrow (picking rocks),

 so there still is time for any of you to join us. ;)

Rocks.

My dad was cleaning grain all day NW of Bismarck a ways! Then tomorrow, he's off to the South, down near Venturia, SD. Andrew was here all day, mainly to fix some things on his rig (pictured below) and then tomorrow he's off to clean for friends for 2 days near Ellendale. I think it's a good thing the guys were able to start the cleaning season earlier this year, as they're getting more and more new customers each year. PTL!

The original plan for this season was to get Jacob set up with a rig as well, but plans changed, and I'm very glad that Jacob is around here, as we have a big project to fill our days with at home too...

 That project requires my Bobcat:

 It does NOT require Andrew's Telehandler, although he did use it today to work on something on his cleaner. He and my mom also pruned the tops of the apple trees this afternoon, as it was pretty nice out.

 No, our big job requires a Rock Badger!

 Jacob refreshed my memory of how to use my Bobcat and gave some recommendations for how to dig rocks, then opened the gate to the pasture by the farm here and set me free. :) This was the first rock I managed to dig out. It took some time, but I did get pretty comfortable with the machine over the next 3 hours that I used it, at which time Jacob came out and took over for another hour or so before it was time to feed the cows.

 See? I made quite a mess! Tomorrow we get to work on picking up all of the rocks and putting them on a pile. Anyone want to come help? There are also tons and tons more rocks that need to be dug. Hopefully, we can get lots of it cleared before my dad is ready to plant something here!

 Ewww, it's all dirty!

 We now have 8 calves from the heifers, so we're waiting on just 4 more to calve... 

Busy days!

:)

(Thanks for sharing this with me, Emmy!)

Gophers!!

 My dad and Andrew were gone all day grain cleaning, and my mom went to Bismarck for the afternoon/evening, so Jacob and I had the farm to ourselves. After spending the morning in the kitchen baking (I did, not Jacob), we went outside to pull out the posts from the fence we're taking down. A few of the posts had broke off, so Jacob had to dig down a ways around the stubby post so I could get the chain wrapped around it and so Jacob could pull it out with the tractor. We saw a coyote out there, but by the time we had rifles, the coyote was gone.

 After all the posts were out and stacked away, we got our .22s out to shoot some gophers that we saw!!

 I got 3 and Jacob got 4.

 We only had 5 to show for it though, as 2 went back down their holes after jumping and kicking about....

The kitties are happy!

I love Spring!!!!!  It's my favorite season!

Not much new news...

Spent the day babysitting the 3 little ones again. Actually, they're not so little anymore! Johanna and Tracy had the greatest time helping me clean up their room. They were dusting almost everything, and then Johanna wanted to try her hand at sweeping the floor. That was interesting!

I got home in time to help make supper, and eat it.

Andrew was out cleaning in this not so nice weather. Dad stayed home to do a pile of paperwork.

There were 0 new calves today.

Snow again.

...and when there's snow, that's when the calves want to make their grand arrivals into the world. There were 2 calves born earlier today, and I just got in from checking on them with my dad and we had to chase another heifer in the barn, as she's in the process of having her baby (we saw feet). 

So far, the calves are all doing well.

I babysat most of the day and then went over to Lauretta's for the evening (supper, playing cards with her and some of her siblings, and visiting). 

I know Andrew left to go grain cleaning this morning, but don't know how long that lasted with this weather? He was already in bed when I got home, so I'll find out more in the morning I'm sure.

Now, it feels very much like bedtime.

Pictures to get ya'll caught up again...

Hmmmm, it's been a while since I posted I see. Guess I got distracted when a certain fella came from MN. :)

Michael arrived mid-afternoon on Thursday. My mom and brothers had left already for the Home School Convention in Fargo. My dad was working on rolling up old barbed-fence wire in the pasture by the farm, as that fence all has to come out before planting trees there this Spring. Michael & I walked out to help him...

 We got all of the wires rolled up and just have some posts to pull up later....

 On Friday, my dad, Michael, Paul and Mae F., and I went over to the Orr consignment (equipment) auction at Jamestown. My dad was interested in this tractor....

 ...and not just because it had a Kintyre sticker on it either! Dad bid on it, but it went for more than he wanted to spend. We didn't buy a single thing at the auction (Michael and Paul did though).

 No, Michael did not buy that interesting looking contraption. :)  

There are a lot of things to look at at an auction like that! 

 The next day, the three of us went over to church at Alfred, ND. Mrs. K had invited us to join them and some others for a meal after the service, so we enjoyed getting some time to visit with friends there, and when everyone else had left, we had a good talk with Pastor Steve. Oh, and it was neat to learn of one of my mom's (and mine too) friends there who reads this blog often and it gave us lots to talk about, as she said she felt like she knew me really well (Hi Donna).

That morning, a heifer had a bull calf. When we got home, another heifer was just calving (another bull calf). It was a very windy and cold afternoon, and the second baby wasn't getting going, so we ended up getting the two of them in the barn and feeding the calf some colostrum. Later still, after sunset, another heifer calved. When Mom and the boys returned, my brothers helped us get that heifer and her baby in a barn and fed it a little too to get it going. It was just too cold out for wet babies to feel motivated to get up and nurse.  We haven't had any more calves since then, but the 4 that are here are doing well. PTL!

On Sunday, Michael's car was put in the shop and up on the lift, as he'd noticed strange noises and was wondering what was wrong?

 My dad went to Bismarck for parts while Michael and my brothers disassembled a few things. 

Here Jacob and Michael are working on getting the brake pads to stay in where they're supposed to be...

 Dad and Michael, putting it all back together...

 Meanwhile, Andrew asked me to do a sewing project for his grain cleaning rig, so I sewed those 4 greyish things in this picture, using the heavy duty sewing machine that's still out in the shop. Andrew was out cleaning today and said they worked very well, so that was good news.

 It was pretty late when Michael left, due to the car problems (he suspects that I've been sabotaging his car so that he has to stay longer... ;) ), and he got home right at midnight, then had to get up early to milk cows this morning before heading to his fur-handling job down south. It sure was a special time having Michael here for that long and it was good to be able to work together more this time than we have in the past.

Last night, we had to pull a calf from an old cow, and sadly, the calf was dead. Hopefully the cow will pull through this now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I spent this day with Zach & Paula's Littles.  :)

Vonn is growing by leaps and bounds.  His smiles are so contagious!  

 It was fairly warm and still today, so we spent a couple hours out of doors...

 The little man, all bundled up and sleepy...

 Anyone remember doing this when you were little?? Anyone still do this, now that you're not so little?

 When I got home, Andrew asked for my help with feeding cows.  While he was loading silage onto the truck, I got a picture of a couple of our babies...

 The silage pile is getting smaller...

 Filling up the truck...

 Hungry cattle...

 They got a haybale too...

There, now you're all caught up again. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the fair weather and the stormy, we have a Father who cares for us 

and is wishing to hear our praise and thanks. 

God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good!! 

SNOW??

Hmmm? White stuff again? Thankfully, it was warm enough that most of it has melted again by this evening.

I spent the day babysitting the 3 Littles. They kept me hopping!

The others, well, I'm not sure what they all did today, except that Dad fixed the back tire on the Pacifica as it had a screw in it, and Andrew's gone grain cleaning again (he spent yesterday cleaning too). Oh, and yesterday, my mom went to Sterling to visit with her friend, Elizabeth, as she was out this way for a funeral.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day, as MICHAEL IS COMING for a visit!!!

AND

Mom, Andrew & Jacob will be leaving sometime in the afternoon for Fargo to attend the N.D. home school convention. Tomorrow evening, they're going to see the movie, "Beyond the Mask", and then for sure Jacob, and maybe both of my brothers will be staying overnight with some friends of ours, the T. family (Emmy's family). My mom has volunteered to sit at the "Mentoring Moms" booth again this year for part of the time and Andrew will be running the NDHSA booth again, taking the orders for the recordings of the convention sessions and doing whatever else needs doing. I'm sure they'll have a splendid time, and I'll miss seeing friends I usually see there and will miss helping the Geigers in the kitchen and everything, but I've been gone quite a bit and hope to be gone more in the future, so I'd better stay home once in a while. Plus, we didn't want to leave my dad home alone, in case there are heifer-calving troubles. Now that Michael's coming, I really don't mind staying home at all! :) 

We still just have the one calf, so one of these days the heifers will probably surprise us and all calve at the same time.  Wouldn't that be something?

I just read a really thought-provoking blog post that I'd like to recommend everyone who is single (or parents of singles) to read! It's written by a friend, Mrs. K. over at Green Pastures Farm:
http://greenpasturesfarm.blogspot.com/2015/03/wedding-thoughts.html

May God lead us all to our spouses in His time and make our marriages a wonderful testimony/encouragement/help to those around us.

North is a good place to be!

Andrew and Andrew arrived from their southern excursion around 5:00pm today! Hooray!  Andrew (my brother) has had much to tell this evening. I hope he'll write a post about it on his blog, someday.

While the Andrews were gone, the geese arrived, and today I noticed huge flocks of ducks as well. 

The Canadian geese on one side of the road on my way home from babysitting:

 ...and the ducks (Mallards and others) on the other side:

Isn't God an awesome Creator of beauty?

Hoping for larger apples!

It was absolutely gorgeous outside today!!!  Take your shoes off and go barefoot kind of gorgeous even.

My dad kept busy out of doors all day, and also had to run to Hazelton for some machinery parts.

Jacob went over and helped neighbors sort/give shots/tag/brand a bunch of cattle.

  After spending the morning in the house, doing odd jobs like cleaning my aquarium; tidying up the pantry; and cooking, Mom and I headed outside to work on pruning our 3 apple trees, and also cut some low-hanging branches off of the juniper and pine trees so we can mow easier in the future.

 We actually got sweaty hot (it was 68--or something like that--degrees out).

 Andrew and Andrew got as far as Nebraska tonight and are staying with the W. family who we've met at camp a few times. It sounds like they really had a wonderful time!

Here is the video that their group made:

Eventful day!

Before I tell of the really interesting things, I have a couple pictures to share...

Tracy Jo yesterday, cleaning their patio door. She and Johanna were in a Spring cleaning mood. :)

 One of my dwarf fruit trees is going wild with blossoms!

 Now for the news!

The first calf of the year arrived this morning!! :) It's a heifer. As you can see, everyone was curious about the wobbly little thing. The mama was none too pleased. The main calving season won't start here until May, but the 12 heifers we got on shares are due now. 

 And I have other big news---from Texas! 

The short film that Andrew helped make when he was in Fargo attending the Mid-West Christian Film Academy won in the category of "Promotional Films". 

SOOOO happy for all who were a part of that!!

I know 3 of the people pictured below:

  Second from left: Our friend, Hannah K; 4th from left is Andrew, and far right is Andrew Bartlett. (The two Andrews will be heading for home tomorrow and plan to arrive sometime here on Monday.)

Please join us in praying for safe travels for everyone as they return to their homes after the film festival!

Geese, flowers, and a corn chopper!

This was a somewhat eventful day...

I went out a tiny bit after 7:00am to milk Sally and heard the snow geese honking already then. At noon, I decided to go get a picture of them, as there are just so many!!  

It truly felt like Spring today, what with temps in the mid 60s and birds chirping away everywhere as if their supper depended on it. Oh, and Jacob even got the feed truck stuck, since there was so much "Muck", so he gave me a call to pull him out with the 9030, since Dad, Mom and Andrew were all gone. 

Later, we got out the screens for the kitchen windows and patio door and aired out the house a bit. Then, we headed outside again and I gave Jacob a haircut out of doors---first time I've ever done that in March!

 Isn't this a sunshiny bouquet? Paula gave it to me yesterday for my birthday. :)

My dad was up at 5:00am this morning and left to look at and possibly buy a 4-row corn chopper from a guy south of Dickinson. They came to an agreement on the price, and my dad started the 220 mile trip home, going about 40MPH. He made it in time for supper. :)

 It needs some work, so I hear, but we have some time yet before harvest. ;)

Well, those were the highlights of the day. 

I haven't heard a word from Andrew today, so I guess that means he's busy learning, visiting, and enjoying Texas.  Everyone needs a break from time to time, so I'm glad he had this opportunity to go South.