We laughed. We cried. We ate a lot of pork.

More drama on the farm. . .

It is now a completely proven fact that I have no idea how to tell when an animal is about to give birth. Part of the problem is that we let our boys run freely with our girls, and nature takes its course. That often leaves me guessing at when breeding occurred. Changing this system is under discussion, but right now we are not really set up to keep the boys separate from the girls and from each other.  So, it is a guessing game. 

So far this season, I've had two that I've put in the nursery pen way before they've needed to be, and counting this morning, I've had two that took me by surprise. I should get the last one right though. We have one goat left to kid, and I know when she was bred. One out of five ain't bad? Geesh!

I've been watching Mini Ewe (our yearling) for a couple of weeks now. In the last couple days her udder had gotten a little larger, but was still small. Her back side was slightly swollen, but no more so than it has been for a couple weeks. There was no discharge. 

This morning Tim and I went out to feed the animals. It was the normal craziness of trying to walk through slick as snot mud on sloping ground to separate the goats, sheep, and donkey to their respective feeders while they all crowd around you begging for their feed. After they all got settled I heard a "Maaaa" that I didn't recognize. A quick glance toward the sheep revealed that all expected animals were accounted for. "Maaaa." 

Where was that coming from? Following the sound to the goat shed, "Maaaa," and there underneath the building I could see four long black legs attached to the mouth making that racket. A single lamb, that part I did expect. It's a ram. He and Mini are doing great, and are now in the nursery.  

Also today the big ram came back home. He went to service a few girls at another farm late last fall. In exchange, he stayed there over the winter. It was a good deal for the farmer. He had been paying what I think is a ridiculous price for stud service. It was a good deal for us. We did not have to feed him all winter, but more importantly, I didn't have to deal with him for several months. 

This ram does not have a name, but I refer to him as Butthead. He is huge, and he likes to butt. He has sent many of us flying down the pasture. He hasn't exactly hurt us, unless you count our pride that is, but you always have to be on your guard with him. 

In addition, he fights with all the other male animals. He has gotten beaten up by our boar. He and our buck goat would fight to the death if we left them together, and we suspect that he had a run in with a buck deer last year also. No, I wasn't real thrilled about him coming home, but he does produce nice lambs. 

All this drama happened before nine-thirty this morning. 

Afterward Kellen and I rushed out of here to make a 10:00 fair goat meeting. While we were gone, Mamaw and Ashley flipped the four wheeler while looking in the pasture for a cow that recently miscarried. Ashley has a little bruising, and I think they are both a bit sore, but no major injuries. 

Since I also flipped the darn thing last summer, (did I neglect to post that? hmm....) the men folk here have decreed that the women folk here are no longer allowed to drive it. Honestly, I have no desire too unless I'm on flat ground, and there is precious little of that here. 

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Papaw and Tim worked on the pig barn. Mamaw took all the kids except Vivian to the movies. I worked on some things in the house. Oh, we did eat a lot of pork.

Though I recently stated elsewhere that we needed to cut back on the consumption of our homegrown pork, I realized afterwards that I have quite a bit of pork already defrosted in the refrigerator. Now, we have to use that up don't we? Wouldn't want it to go to waste now would we? Mmmmm. . . sausage gravy, biscuits and fried potatoes for lunch. Eggs, bacon and toast for dinner. 

Just another day on the farm. 

Flying Goat

Wordless Wednesday

For a Little Perspective

Once upon a time Tim and I were youth group leaders in our church. Those youth are now all grown up, and we have lost contact. Recently, Tim discovered the Facebook page and blog of one of the girls that we were fairly close to, Julianna. Even as a young teen, she was very confident, and level headed. What she is doing now has blown me away. See for yourself, Julianna in Uganda.  

Lately, I've been feeling very overwhelmed by the tasks and responsibilities on my plate. Will somebody define hardship? over at Hot Belly Mama's was a wonderful reminder to me to stop and enjoy what we have here. 

Hope you also enjoy these wonderful blogs. 

New Kids

These were not a surprise.  Poor Sally was huge. Her udder so big she could barely walk. When we went to feed yesterday afternoon, there they were, a boy and a girl. The doeling was very fresh. She is quite a bit smaller, so we will keep an eye on her, but both kids seem healthy and were nursing. Sally is a first time momma. She was busy cleaning up the kids, but we gave her a little help. 

The goats change so fast! In the picture below, the kid Kellen is holding is a month old. Lydia is holding the new doeling. 

In other farm new, most of the fat hogs have been sent to the butcher or the market. We got our fresh pork from the butcher on Tuesday (the smoked portions take a little longer.) I can't remember the last time I've had small farm raised pork. It is excellent!  

The new piglets are almost all sold as 4-H pigs. The two new gilts, including Kellen's Ashes, will be bred soon. Seedlings are started, and garden plans are being made. Chicks will soon be ordered. There will be calves, more kids and lambs this spring yet too. There is always something exciting going on! 

What you learn when the power is out.

Two weeks ago ice took the power out for more than two days. A few days later, the power was out again for the better part of the day when a car hit a pole. This week the power was out, yet again, for two days thanks to extremely high winds. While being without power that many days certainly has its inconveniences, we did learn a few things. 

1. Camping equipment is for more than camping. 

2. The dishwasher makes an excellent drying rack for hand washed dishes. 

3. Who ever invented head lamps is a genius. 

4. An ample supply of firewood, flashlights, and batteries is a household requirement. 

5. Putting the kids to bed with the sun is kind of nice. 

6. A good book is almost as distracting to me as the computer. 

7. Our kids have fantastic imaginations. 

8. Fasting electric is good for the mind, not to mention the electric bill. 

9. Hot showers are one of the most under rated pleasures on earth. 

10. Sometimes what you miss surprises you. One of the things I missed the most was my garbage disposal. 

Though we have learned some lessons, I hope that we don't have to put them into practice again anytime soon! 

Could it be?

Laundry on the clothes line.
Lunch on the back deck.
Birds singing.
Walks in the woods with out jackets.
Could it be spring?

Probably not to stay. Not yet, but we will enjoy it while we can!

None as Scary as This

There once was a time when I had quite the reputation. I was young, fiercely independent, over confident, and inexperienced. All dangerous qualities for someone behind the wheel of a car. 

In high school and college I had many car accidents. No one ever got hurt, but I did put many a ding and bend in several cars. The accidents, though not major, were frequent enough that I spent a good deal of time on high risk insurance. I also spent several months of college without a car when my parents wisely decided that I was not responsible enough to keep my car. Yes, I had a lot of accidents a long time ago, but none were as scary as the one that happened on Wednesday. 

We've had a crazy winter here. Lots of snow, and lots of ice. Those of you who are acquainted with our driveway, may think that it is a little crazy without snow or ice. Wednesday afternoon I had an appointment. I planned to take the kids with me, and drop them off at Tim's office during the appointment. We were all ready, and loaded in the vehicle, and headed out the driveway. 

We do have an alternate driveway that we can use during bad weather. It runs through the neighbors property, and involves opening and closing two gates in the pasture. There was still snow and ice on the ground, but I didn't even think about using the alternate driveway. I had taken our driveway up to the neighbors barn earlier that day in my "farm" van. No problems. 

I headed out the drive in the "family" van.  Apparently, the farm van has much better tires, and the family van could use a couple new ones. I got to the first hill. I got about three quarters up it. My tires were spinning. My first thought was that I hadn't taken a good enough run for the hill. 

It has happened before, and I could simply back down and give it another run. That was my plan. My plan didn't work out so well. 

I put on the brake to change gears. Before I even got the gear changed the van started sliding; backward. And it was sliding to the wrong side of the driveway. The side that drops off down the hollow. 

In hindsight, I realize that had I let off the brake I may have been able to stop the slide and regain control. It happened so fast, and the kids were in the car. All I wanted to do was stop. What do you do when you want to stop? You push the brake with all your might. It was instinctive. The brain didn't have a chance to over ride with logic. 

In the rear view mirror I saw the back of the van go over the edge, and then we stopped. The van was still in drive. My foot was still firmly placed on the brake. 

The three youngest kids really didn't understand what had just happened. Kellen was scared, but he stayed calm. He told Lydia and Nolan, who were in the back seat, to stay still and not to move. He asked me if they should move up to the front of the van. In the meantime, he leaned forward. 

I didn't know what to do. I could not tell exactly how we had stopped, or how much of the van was hanging over the edge. I could not see what was below us. In my mind, I pictured a car teetering on the edge, like in the movies,  about to fall over with the slightest weight change. I asked Kellen if there were any large trees behind us. You know, to stop us in case we went over. 

I reached for my phone, and called my dad. He was here. Tim was at work. Thankfully dad was working where he had cell service. I was half hysterical trying to tell him what had happened. He said he would fire up the Ditch Witch (which doubles as a tow truck around here) and be right out. I called Tim, still half hysterical, told him what had happened, and asked him to call and cancel my appointment. 

It seemed like an eternity until I saw Papaw coming. My leg was cramping. When I did finally see something coming, it was my farm van, not the ditch witch. The ditch witch wouldn't start, and dad had hooked it up to a battery charger. 

He came and gave the situation a good look. We weren't teetering on the edge, but were firmly hung up on the side of the drive way. I put the van in park, and we all got out. I had to climb out the passenger side. 

After I was out, I could see that the van wasn't going anywhere. Though there was a good drop off initially, below there was a fairly level area, and some nice big trees. I could also see that the hill I was trying to get up was a sheet of ice. 

I called Tim's office to let him know what was going on. His co-worker informed me that Tim was already on his way home. We were back home for only a few minutes before he walked in the house. 

By that time the ditch witch was ready to go. Papaw headed out with it down our driveway. Tim and I took the farm van down the neighbors drive way. (They are almost side by side the whole way, but the neighbors is almost completely flat.) Soon the van was out. There was no damage. The spot the dog is standing is where the van had been.  

I've been involved in a lot of accidents, but none were as scary as this. It is sobering to think of other ways this could have ended. I am so very thankful for the safety of my family on that day. 

In case you are wondering, I didn't use that driveway again until yesterday when things started melting. Even then my heart was racing the entire time. 

A trip to Holmes County, Ohio

Join me today at Scribbit for an online tour of my favorite places in Holmes County, Ohio. For those of you who are local, be sure to add your favorites spots in the comments. 

Snow, Ice and Piglets

What a week! It began snowing Tuesday morning. Then it was sleet and freezing rain. Then more snow. The power went off at 4:oo AM that night. It just came on again at 6:00 P.M. This evening. 

In the midst of all this, Papaw was trying hard to get the pig barn done before the sows were ready to farrow. You may notice that much of the building materials for this barn are from that barn we tore down in the fall. 

Thursday we moved the two sows, and all the fat pigs to the the unfinished building because the sows looked to be getting close. If you have never tried to herd pigs, I can only say that is chaos. We aren't set up yet with chutes to move the pigs, so we were leading them with feed and attempting to herd them. At the time it was quite frustrating, but I am sure that the whole thing would have appeared quite comical to anyone looking in from the outside. 

Then tonight, almost simultaneously with the power coming back on, Charcoal started having piglets. The building isn't complete, but she and the new little ones are snug and secure in a pen with a warming lamp. 

It has been an exhausting week. All I can say is thank God it is Friday, and thank God the electric is back on. Word is that another snow storm is headed our way early next week. I do believe this is why I moved away from Northeast Ohio wasn't it?

Her First Sewing Project

Lydia and I both got sewing machines for Christmas. Lydia wants to learn to sew, but she doesn't want me to teach her. She wants Mamaw to teach her. It is just as well. My sewing skills are limited to a middle school home ec class and a couple beginner 4-H projects. Mamaw is a bit more accomplished. 

My machine has been used to mend some items. Lydia, however, has been stealing away to Mamaw's every chance she gets to practice, and create her first project, a skirt. It is a simple, one seam, elastic waist skirt. Lydia did almost all of the sewing by herself. Mamaw added a decorative stitch at the bottom. 

Lydia is so proud. She finished the skirt last week, and has already worn it twice. She is asking to start the next project that is yet to be named. I better get busy, or she will soon be out sewing me! 

Double Take

If you've been reading for awhile, and you have a good memory, you may remember this picture from March of 2007. It was taken during a walk the kids and I took to the creek. I'm re-posting it now as an entry to Five Minutes for Mom's "Just Horsing Around" contest. Entries are being accepted until February 6th. So head over there for the details. 

Surprise!

Bernice, the goat I thought was just in heat about a month ago, the one who was last to kid last year, who I thought was no where near kidding again even though my dad thought she was ready (man, I hate it when he is right!) had twin doelings this afternoon. Meet Evening Star and Mae. 

Is Big Brother Watching?

Today while I was making lunch, Kellen was on the computer. He was supposed to be researching and writing about King Tut and the archaeologist who discovered his tomb. He says, "That is strange." I, thinking he is going to tell me something about ancient Egypt, walk into the office to see what he found. He had gotten distracted checking his blog stats. 

He loves to go into statcounter and see the map where visitors come from. The one he thought was strange was from Charleston WV. The strange part is the IP address is the West Virginia Department of Education. The visitor had been to his blog repeatedly. 

After Kellen got his report done, I checked my stats a little closer than normal. Yep, the WV Department of Education has been watching my blog too. Eighty-one visits and a visit length of four and a half hours today. Crazy. 

I'd like to think that perhaps this is someone who is curious about homeschooling. Who, with no agendas, wants to learn about how we spend our days. Maybe they are trying to understand the growing popularity of homeschooling. Perhaps it is a parent who is considering homeschooling their own child. Or maybe it is even a homeschool advocate in the department looking for some real life homeschooling stories. These were not my first reactions. 

It may reveal my own insecurities, but my first reaction was that I felt we were being graded, judged, and tested. Are they trying to figure out how many days we actually open our books? Do they want to prove that homeschooling just doesn't cut it? Why are they watching me? I haven't been able to get this song out of my mind all day. 

My reactions may be a bit silly. We have nothing to hide. Our kids are well rounded, educated and interact well with others. Kellen's test scores are excellent. Lydia will be testing for the first time this year, and I am sure will also do well. We meet the requirements of the law. Why the paranoid reaction?

Perhaps because I once was part of the public education system, and from that experience learned that most public educators are against homeschooling.  I expect with the growing popularity of homeschooling will come the increased desire by the state to exert more control over it. I take for granted the relative freedom homeschoolers have in this state, and do not want to see it changed. 

To my fellow WV homeschoolers, check your statcounter. I'll bet you will also find the WV Department of Education is checking out your blog. To the visitor from the department, I hope my paranoid reactions are incorrect. I hope you are just curious, or even better, an advocate of homeschooling. Either way, I think you will see that our ways are quite different than traditional school, but that they also are quite effective. Enjoy your visits to our blogs. 

 

And the party. . .

Lydia's party was yesterday. We kept the party smaller this year. She invited four friends. One couldn't come, and there were still 21 people here! How does that work? There is your trick question for the day.

The party was very laid back. We did have a craft activity planned, but the girls just wanted to play. I was fine with that. They ate snacks, played, made ice cream sundaes, played, and played some more. Somehow I only managed to take pictures when she opened gifts. Gift opening is always memorable, but when your siblings are Nolan and Vivian it is extra special. 

Lydia was taking her time to open presents. She carefully read every card and was enjoying reading what her friends had written to her. Vivian grew impatient, and said to Lydia, "No read cards! Me no like cards!"

A few minutes later Nolan pipes up out of the blue, "I farted a lot of times."

Ah, the joys of younger siblings.

One of Lydia's friends spent the night. They ate pizza, played twister and dolls, and fell asleep watching a movie. We made blueberry pancakes this morning. Now we are all lounging around like it is a Saturday. I think we will should all take naps. Think I can talk the kids into it?

To the Birthday Girl!

My little girl is growing up so fast. She is learning to sew and loves to help me in the kitchen. Sweet, sweet Lydia, how can you be seven already? Happy Birthday!

How odd...

I'm surrounded by a millions things I should be doing. A certain little girl will be having a sleepover party on Tuesday to selebrate her seventh birthday. Our guests might appreciate it if the table weren't covered with laundry, and my extremely droopy Christmas tree was put out of its misery. Yet I sit here. Now, that is not all that odd. I often am lured in to the blogs when I should be doing other things. 

My hips hurt. . . from playing a video game. We played Wii Fit last night over at a friend's house. What a blast. It didn't even seem like excercise, but it sure feels like it this morning! I rocked hula hoop, which is odd since I can barely get one going in the real world. 

The weather is crappy and wet. Not all that odd. This winter has been very wet, but what is odd is that there is thunder and lightning. Some of it very close and very loud. One rumble seemed to shake the whole house. Odd for January isn't it?

I need to get to work. Have a good Saturday. 

New Babies!

The newest addition to the farm; two ewe lambs born yesterday! Despite our warnings that both of these may be destined for the freezer, the kids have tentatively named them Spotty and Zelda. Enjoy the pictures of our new lambs, but please pardon our oh so stylish morning chore attire.

Don't you know that answer?

We started back into the normal routine this week. I feel kind of thrown back into it. My tree is still up, and places still need to be found for Christmas gifts. But the world isn't stopping for me to catch up. Lydia's seventh birthday is right around the corner, and she is planning a sleep over. Band started again yesterday, and today was the first day of co-op.

Co-op was a lot of fun. The kids are always excited to get back to that and see all their friends, and meet the new homeschoolers that join us. After all the classes we eat lunch and the kids play. Vivian (2) was being her normal social butterfly and going around the gym to visit. I have my suspicions that she actually is less concerned about the social interaction than she is the snagging of better food than the food I packed. Doesn't seem to matter what I pack, she goes on her wanderings, smiles pretty and ends up with Teddy Grahams or other such treat not found in our lunch box. But I digress....

Today on her rounds she stopped for a bit with one group that often sits together. They must bring really good food, because I've noticed she always spends quite a bit of time there. Later one of the mom's, who has a son close to Vivian's age, related the conversation she had with Vivian.

The mom: Vivian, how old are you?

Vivian: Two.

The mom: Oh I thought you were three already.

Vivian: No, I two.

The mom: When will you be three?

At this point Vivian looks at her a bit strange, and says, " On my birthday." Then she walks away. I guess she thought that the mom should have known that answer already.

What a week!

The last week has gone by so fast. It has been full of friends, family, travel, and lots of food. The holidays went so fast. It is hard to believe that we will be back to the normal schedule on Monday already.

Christmas Eve we went with my parents to a Christmas Eve service. This has been a family tradition for a long time, but had been pushed aside since we moved here. Our church does not do a Christmas Eve service, so we went to a church in a nearby town. We had never been there, but a friend said it was the church she grew up in.

It is a smaller church, and the sanctuary was sparsely filled. We arrived late. Hoping to slip in unnoticed, we quietly slid into the back pew. Do you believe that we could quietly slide in with our four kids? Not a chance. Not only do the children lack any stealth skills, the pew was the squeakiest pew on God's green earth. We all sat down, "Creeee-aaaa-eee-kkkkk," and heads turned to see what the ruckus was all about. Of course there is also no sitting still with young children. The service was punctuated with many a "creak" and "shhhh" from the back row. And let's not forget the several, "I need to pee," declarations. So much for going unnoticed.

The service was fine. It was a candlelight service with lots of Christmas carols. There were other children there too, and no one seemed annoyed by our noisy intrusion. I am glad we went.

Christmas day we stayed home. It is so nice to have a day with no where to run to and no pressing projects. We enjoyed the morning opening presents and playing with the new things. Then we fixed our Christmas dinner and relaxed some more. Later in the afternoon, Tim helped Papaw with some project (the fence?) and we started packing our things to go to Ohio.

Friday morning we headed to Tim's parents for the weekend. Tim's brother Mitch was there with his son most of the weekend. We got to meet the newest nephew, Parker, and see some other family. We played a lot of games, ate a lot of food and had a great time. There is never enough time to do all we want while we are there.

Monday we left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa and headed to Akron to do some things to the house we still own there. We worked all day and still didn't get everything done. I am beginning to hate that house, but that is a subject for another post.

A plan was hatched for us to take two of Jake's kids back to WV with us that night, and for Jake and Delilah to pick up our kids from Jeff and Gail on Wednesday on their way here. As Jake and I were working out the details, I get a call from Gail. Vivian was not happy. She had been asking for me the whole day, and saying she wanted to go home. We decided that she should go home with us that night instead of waiting until Wednesday.

By the time all the arrangements were made, and we had all the kids that were going with us, it made for a late start home. It was almost midnight when we finally got home.

Vivian woke up Tuesday morning, and the first thing she did was ask for Lydia. When I told her Lydia was at Grandma's she cried to go to Grandma's house! She and I had a lot of errands to run that day and every so often she would whine for Grandma or Lydia. UGH!

Jake and Delilah arrived with the remaining children Wednesday afternoon. Vivian was very happy to see her sister. We opened presents, ate seafood stew and cheesecake and had fun hanging out. We laid out sleeping bags for the kids that were staying up for the New Year. (Nolan and older.) Kellen, Miles and Ashley played Monopoly and Tim and I watched Cars and fell asleep with Lydia and Nolan in the living room. The older kids finished their game in time to watch the ball drop. Tim and I woke up for the event, then we all promptly crashed.

Yesterday we left Mamaw and Papaw with all the kids and went with Jake and Delilah to see Valkyrie. It was good, definitely worth a rental, but maybe not worth the outrageous prices that the movie theaters are charging now. We went to a matinee, so I didn't feel too bad about the money spent. When we got back we ate the traditional pork and sauerkraut dinner, and it wasn't long until we all crashed.

Tim is back to work today. Tonight we are having a ham dinner with everyone including my Great Aunt Hazel and Terry who came down yesterday afternoon. Tomorrow the guys are going to get hay and working on the pig barn that needs to be completed before the sows farrow at the end of the month. We are expecting lambs any day now. My thoughts have turned to chicks and seeds, and I need to do a little research and order chicks for the spring. I have plans to turn the bathtub in our room to a place to start my seeds. It is back to the normal schedule with band, and co-op next week. Always something to do around here.

Hope you had a great Christmas and happy New Year to everyone.

Merry Christmas

You have made known to me the path of life: you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. - Pslams 16:11 NIV

Image credit: Angel Guide