It's not Winter yet, but it is a wonderland!

I took my camera out after chores this morning and took some pictures to share with you all...

 

Andrew's calf, content with a full belly of milk!

 

 The calf's frosty mother, contentedly getting a full belly as well--with ground feed though.

 My dad's semi, rather covered in snow!

 The cows, waiting for their hay as the sun comes up...

 Our former bottle-calves, enjoying their breakfast...

(See the little icicles on the fence?  Yes, it's cold out there!)

 These 2 love spending afternoons in the warm shop with the guys.

 One of the nicest places to be is in that warm house!

 My car---what you could see of it this morning anyway!

 Anybody want to play volleyball or go for a swing???

 

May you all stay warm and safe this Autumn (and Winter too)!

 

God bless you in the new week.

Cold-weather yogurt is the best!

This morning, I turned another gallon of cow's milk into yogurt.  One very good part of the cold weather now is that Sally is eating alfalfa hay again and her milk is sweet, which results in tasty yogurt!!   I really can't seem to get over the taste of summer milk and don't make much yogurt during those months as it tastes pretty gross.

It's been very cold doing chores the past few mornings!  Right now, it's 12 below zero out there.  It makes me even more grateful to God for the blessing of a warm home!!!!

We cooked, and cleaned the house today, plus did a lot of odd jobs.... (Putting away garden seeds we'd dried to save for next year; washing wood with Murphy's soap, then polishing everything; stuffing "Black seed" capsules; charging rechargeable batteries; sorting through mail; many little things like that which just don't seem to get done during the busy week.)   Jacob and Mom did some bookwork this morning.  My dad went to town for supplies/banking.  He and Andrew worked in the shop all afternoon.  I think they're getting that green pickup running better (the one that was given to Andrew).  

My Miranda friend called to talk a while this evening, so that was a fun surprise!

I uploaded the few pictures I had on my camera.  These pictures of Johanna and Tracy Jo show how quickly they're growing up!  

Tracy had just woke up from her nap and was somewhat out of sorts and wasn't thrilled about getting bundled up to go outside, so Johanna, being the comforting big sister that she usually is, was trying to give her some juice...

Once we got outside, both of the girls loved the snow so much and could have stayed out there forever I think.  They didn't seem to realize that it was COLD!

 

When their (and my) cheeks were good and rosey pink, we went back in the house to color and make paper airplanes...

This picture is blurry, but the faces are so precious to me!  :)

I'm so glad to have these 2 little ones in my life (and their parents too, of course)!!!

May you all have a wonderful weekend, hopefully staying warm in some comfy place!

Pushing snow...

That's what the girls and I did this afternoon after bundling up like Eskimos and heading outside for a few minutes.  We pushed some of the snow off of the deck.  The girl's daddy was pushing snow too, with the payloader, and I think my dad pushed snow here at home.  'Tis the season!

I'm not sure what all went on around home today?  I heard that the guys moved some lights around in the shop as they plan to put ceiling fans in to push the hot air from the wood-stove back down on them.  I also heard that Jacob drove his snowmobile up and checked on Jack's place up the road.  

A little while ago, I bundled up yet once more and went out to bring the cow's-water-hose in for the night.  Apart from it being very cold, it was beautiful outside!  The stars are shining brightly and all is calm, all is bright.  It felt like the whole world was asleep...  

Werner the Second...

Years ago, we had a very late calf be born when there was snow on the ground and the temperature was very much freezing.  We named that calf "Werner", as we said to him, "You Wern-er 'sposed to be born yet!"  Well, as of this morning, Andrew now has a calf we can call "Werner the Second".   Thankfully, while my dad was feeding the cows this morning over by the trees, he noticed a cow walking over from the way of the south pole-barn.  After looking at the cow closer, it seemed that she had just calved, so he went in search of the baby.  There was nothing in the barn, so he looked in the old school-bus shelter when driving  by and, sure enough, there was a little freezing cold calf in there!  The guys got the little fella in the barn and put heat-lamps on him, then force-fed him some colostrum.  They later got the cow in too.  Tonight, Werner stood up and Dad and Andrew helped him find his mama, then he drank.  :)   Hopefully he'll do well now! 

(This isn't quite how the calf was rescued, but I like this picture!)

My dad spent a good part of the day cleaning out one of the pole-barns with the 9030.  Mom and Jacob worked on schoolwork.  She and I also folded all of the laundry we were able to wash/dry last night when we had the extra water pressure in the house.  Andrew and I worked in the basement again and all that's left now is vacuuming with the shop-vac, once they get a new filter for that.....    I don't know how that basement gets to be such a disaster by this time every year, but it does.  We like to play Foosball/air hockey down there in the winter, so it was time to get it tidied up somewhat again.  To celebrate being almost done, Andrew and I played a game of Foosball and we realized how out of practice we are again!

It was also bread-baking day.  The menfolk in the house said they prefer our usual bread recipe to the Bread-For-Life bread, but my mom and I appreciate that the BFL bread is healthier and fits with the diet changes we've made in the last year, SO I baked 2 kinds of bread today----6 loaves of regular and 4 of BFL.  That should last us a while! 

And yes, I made cookies.  :)

Snow "ice cream"...

"In November the snow starts to fly, piling up ankle high...."  ---from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

It SNOWED today!  When I went out to my little car after babysitting, it was partially buried under a few inches of fluff.  Thankfully, Zach had started the car for me so it was at least nice and warm inside! 

I gave the girls bowls of fresh snow for part of their snack today.  They LOVED it!   Tracy Jo said, "Mmmm, de-ish-us".  We had to refill their tiny bowls several times.  Then we played "Dress up" in the basement, and were in a train on the stairway, driving to visit their mama and their grandma....  Later, we were playing Jingle Bells on the piano and singing---in 3 different keys.  They have great imaginations and we have lots of fun times.  I'm so glad that God has allowed them to be a part of my life!

When I got home, my dad was feeding the cows, then brought the water-hose in as the cows are not drinking very much in this snowstorm and the tank was full already!  We're celebrating by washing everything in sight while we have water. 

Jacob is happy about the snow, as he was able to drive his snowmobile for the FIRST time ever today!!  It's the snowmobile that he bought last winter, worked on a lot and had all kinds of troubles with, so he worked on it more this summer, and now some more, and was finally able to go plow through the snow today! :)    (I'm glad you had fun, brother!) 

Tomorrow sounds like it could be quite a blizzard day, so I think we'll all stay home and bake some cookies or something.   Stay warm and safe, everybody! 

A TON of ice!

When Andrew and I went out to do the morning chores a little after 7:00, you could have literally skated on the driveway!  There was ice everywhere and it was still raining.  Later in the day, it snowed a little too.  It was a very good day to stay inside and work on cleaning the basement and cooking up a big kettle of soup.  :) 

My mom decided to stay home from Bismarck.  My dad, however, decided to go load sunflowers for a farmer and then just took it easy on the roads and took the load to Enderlin.  He said that his truck weighed 2,800lbs more than usual when he got there, due to all of the ice stuck on it!!! 

I wonder if I should take something larger than my little car when I go to work tomorrow?

Rain? (and bread!!)

My dad, brothers and I spent the morning working outside.  We sorted off some calves and a cow from the main herd as they need special attention.  Then, my dad cleaned out the goat-pen with the tractor.  Yay---machines can save people so much time and aching muscles!

While eating the noon meal, it began to RAIN!  Hmmmmm.  Thankfully, it didn't keep raining for very long.  My dad said there's talk of snow in the near future.

The guys worked outside the rest of the day, but I stayed inside then and made yogurt and my first batch of "Bread for life" (https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/13784//)    bread that I finally had enough starter to spare to make bread with!!!   It turned out really well and isn't nearly as tart as the other sourdough breads I've made.   I think this is the start of something wonderful!

My mom went to Eureka, SD to spend the whole day with her dad as it was his birthday.  She came home really sad, as Grandpa wasn't very gracious.  They could both use some prayer!  Mom played hymns for the nursing home residents in the afternoon, so that was the good part of the day, from what I hear.

Have a great December everybody!