Sunday began with the idea of going to the early service at church. Starts at 8:30. We usually go to the later service at 11:00. My dh is still out of town, until this coming Saturday, so I am on my own with my 9 children. The 17yo, 15yo and 14yo have been an immense help. 12yo, 10yo and 8yo are somewhat helpful, but the 5yo and 4yo twins are a liability.
So my 14yo made chili in the crock pot Sat. night for lunch on Sunday, and we planned to hit the 5 & Dime on the way home from church to get school supplies for the homeschool co-op that was starting on Monday. Then come home, eat lunch and get the little girls (ages 5 and 4yo twins) down for naps before Grandma and Grandpa came over around 3.
We set our alarms to get up at 6:30. Everyone got up, did their chores, got the girls ready, and we ate breakfast. 15yo daughter came running in from feeding the goats, yelling, "I caught a rat or something out in the garage!" Of course we all went to see what it was. The boys had left the domed feed bin lid leaning beside the bin, and something had gotten itself caught underneath. Very carefully, she and 17yo brother pushed a board underneath so as to trap it, and drop it into the empty grain bin. It was NOT a rat! It was a .... chicken!!! Trapped all night under the lid! Not sure which came first, the chicken or the empty feed bin.
In spite of that adventure, we got in the van right on schedule. Even remembered the Bible bag and the little girls' activity bag. Turned the key in the ignition and..... nothing. 17yo suddenly remembered he had left the light on in the van. Oh dear. So he saved the day by jumpstarting the van with the car. We were only about 5 minutes late to church.
Monday was the first day of homeschool co-op. I'm teaching Art and taking Algebra I with my two oldest. Never did pass it in high school, even after all those times taking it. Long day. But fun. Very noisy.
Tuesday, Piano Lesson day. Piano teacher comes at 9:30am. Done by noon. One mom from the co-op brings her daughter for lessons, too. We're trading our 5-month-old goat wether (used to be a boy but isn't now) for one of their does. So got him sent off to his new home. Quilting Club at 12:30.
Wednesday, had to leave the house at noon to take 12yo and 14yo to get some teeth pulled in preparation for braces. Took the 15yo and 17yo, too, so we could go to their youth group that night. The youth group and the orthodontist are in the same small town an hour away. So we just stayed up there. I actually had to hire a babysitter to take care of the younger kids. Haven't had to do that in years!
So today we got up late and sat around in our jammies and watched Nanny McPhee and The Pink Panther that came in the mail from Netflix. There is Monopoly money scattered all over the living room. Haven't had time to fold laundry all week. The three middle boys cleaned their room and have a pile of non-room stuff in the hallway, and all their bedding is in the wash. Not sure what they are sleeping on. I'm afraid to look. 12yo just got up to use the bathroom and brought his pillow along. ??????? Best just not to even ask......
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Feeling Better June 18, 2007
I know, it’s been a long time since I’ve written….
I’ve had such low energy and been so tired, all of a sudden I thought to call some good friends in
I’ve been feeling so much better that I haven’t sat at the computer as much. I cleaned up the sewing room, where K had been carding wool and pygora goat fiber. Now we’ve got it covered with little flannel squares… Got my closet and old clothes gone through, and now I have my eye on the boys’ closet…
Papa had a job interview with the bank, it went really well, but then he heard nothing for three weeks. After much prompting, he finally called, and found out he had not gotten the job, but that they really liked him and strongly suggested he look out for a new position that they were opening. So far, no more news on that score. He has been working more hours at Ace Hardware, installing a video surveillance system and a sound system. He uses a lift, 20 feet up to the ceiling. Yikes!!
Grandpa is doing great. Going at full steam.
The kids are done with school for the year. Yay! We’ve planted some flowers and have done a lot of laundry.
The chicks are almost grown up! They have all their feathers and mama hen left them and has started laying again. Mrs. Bennett, one of our other hens, sat on 17 eggs, 12 of which hatched out about 3 days ago. I was assured that only 10 eggs were being set, so where the other 7 eggs came from is a mystery…. (I think someone was skimpy on the details of how many eggs she let the chicken sit on).
Kittens!! Anybody want one? We have a number to choose from. Susie Q, rescued by Papa from Grandma’s house last summer, and resided for a week in K’s apron pocket, has had her first modest litter of three kittens. They were born on D’s top bunk bed on his sleeping bag. Little 5yo S followed Susie Q up there and was petting her, and then saw a kitten starting to be born, and came running to me in tears, she was so excited. One toppled off the bunk bed and went to that big sandbox in the sky. The other two have to content themselves with life on earth and are killing everything they find until it’s dead (like scraps of paper and beads). They are scared silly of the chickens, though.
Taffy, my kitty, just had her first litter yesterday morning. Again, one didn’t make it, but she has 5 beautiful kittens. Oooooh, they are so sweet! I love new babies! Any kind!
Always Something April 11, 2007
Remember the cough and sniffles the kids had? I got it. Bad. Been out with it for 3 weeks now. Mostly I sit in the living room looking out the bay window, hacking my lungs out, and reading The Lord of the Rings again, I feel like Frodo climbing Mt. Doom. If only I had something to throw into the fire to make it all go away....
Dh has had a couple of job interviews, but nothing has come of them. He did find out about a new opening at a bank that he's been interested in. Keep praying.
Two weeks ago, my dad went to the ER for passing out when he'd stand up. He ended up having a pace-maker implanted. We tease him that he got a new distributor cap. He's doing much better. We took all the kids up there to see him before he went into surgery... uh, sorry, procedure. Little 3yo H took one look at him with tubes and wires all over the place and said, "Grandpa, what HAPPENED to you??"
Remember Betsy the sheep, and her baby lamb? 15yo K named him Pippin. Betsy contracted what we think was a condition called Milk Fever, and despite our efforts, died. We felt terrible. I'm convinced if we had been up on sheep health we could have prevented it. Just makes me feel worse. Pippin is doing fine, K's been bottle feeding him. He will walk right into the house searching for her if he gets the chance.
Callie, our other ewe, surprised us by being pregnant. We had thought she was too old. She certainly never gave the time of day to the ram, at least while we were watching. No sooner did we figure out she was expecting, than she gave birth to beautiful, perfect twins, a little ram and a ewe. But both lambs were dead. Don't know why. We were heartbroken.
My mom and dad came over on Saturday, and whisked me away with them to recover at their house in peace and quiet. I've gotten to take naps and read. I brought a little crochet project but haven't started it yet. I've been here 4 days now.
K has been calling me every morning to tell me the news of the household. She has been milking the goat and Callie (to bottle feed the lamb). She has to tie them up and have someone practically sit on their heads in order to do it. Sunday, a friend of ours stopped by with a milking stanchion! A stanchion immobilizes the goat/sheep's head so you can milk it. What a blessing!
She has also been eyeing the treehouse to use as a goat shed. The problem is, that it's in a tree. Goats are good climbers, but not that good. I couldn't see how we could knock it down without breaking it. Monday she called and said, "Mom!! You'll never guess what happened!! The wind blew the treehouse down, and it's all in one piece!!" Hallelujah!
Tuesday and Wednesday she called to tell me how many chicks had hatched. We have a hen that started to set on golf balls. So K let her set on a couple of eggs. She laid a few more, then mysteriously aquired some more. One of the boys watched her setting while another hen sat down and laid an egg right next to her. Once she was done, she clucked and then walked away. The setting hen reached over and stole the egg! She amassed 10 of them. Yesterday they started to hatch. So far the count is 7 hatched and doing great, one hatching, and two not doing anything yet. They all look different because they have different mamas. hee hee hee. The golf balls have not hatched.
Maybe tomorrow the cat will have kittens. :)
Dh has had a couple of job interviews, but nothing has come of them. He did find out about a new opening at a bank that he's been interested in. Keep praying.
Two weeks ago, my dad went to the ER for passing out when he'd stand up. He ended up having a pace-maker implanted. We tease him that he got a new distributor cap. He's doing much better. We took all the kids up there to see him before he went into surgery... uh, sorry, procedure. Little 3yo H took one look at him with tubes and wires all over the place and said, "Grandpa, what HAPPENED to you??"
Remember Betsy the sheep, and her baby lamb? 15yo K named him Pippin. Betsy contracted what we think was a condition called Milk Fever, and despite our efforts, died. We felt terrible. I'm convinced if we had been up on sheep health we could have prevented it. Just makes me feel worse. Pippin is doing fine, K's been bottle feeding him. He will walk right into the house searching for her if he gets the chance.
Callie, our other ewe, surprised us by being pregnant. We had thought she was too old. She certainly never gave the time of day to the ram, at least while we were watching. No sooner did we figure out she was expecting, than she gave birth to beautiful, perfect twins, a little ram and a ewe. But both lambs were dead. Don't know why. We were heartbroken.
My mom and dad came over on Saturday, and whisked me away with them to recover at their house in peace and quiet. I've gotten to take naps and read. I brought a little crochet project but haven't started it yet. I've been here 4 days now.
K has been calling me every morning to tell me the news of the household. She has been milking the goat and Callie (to bottle feed the lamb). She has to tie them up and have someone practically sit on their heads in order to do it. Sunday, a friend of ours stopped by with a milking stanchion! A stanchion immobilizes the goat/sheep's head so you can milk it. What a blessing!
She has also been eyeing the treehouse to use as a goat shed. The problem is, that it's in a tree. Goats are good climbers, but not that good. I couldn't see how we could knock it down without breaking it. Monday she called and said, "Mom!! You'll never guess what happened!! The wind blew the treehouse down, and it's all in one piece!!" Hallelujah!
Tuesday and Wednesday she called to tell me how many chicks had hatched. We have a hen that started to set on golf balls. So K let her set on a couple of eggs. She laid a few more, then mysteriously aquired some more. One of the boys watched her setting while another hen sat down and laid an egg right next to her. Once she was done, she clucked and then walked away. The setting hen reached over and stole the egg! She amassed 10 of them. Yesterday they started to hatch. So far the count is 7 hatched and doing great, one hatching, and two not doing anything yet. They all look different because they have different mamas. hee hee hee. The golf balls have not hatched.
Maybe tomorrow the cat will have kittens. :)
More Babies! March 2007
Betsy the Jacob sheep had her lamb on Wednesday (see pics last entry). Mama and baby are doing fine. She had a boy. We all got to stand in the rain and watch her deliver! What excitement! 15yo K and I were just deciding that the experiment with the ram didn't work, and we wouldn't have a lamb this year. Here's a pic of the lamb at two days old. I forgot to mention that 14yo N took all Betsy's birth pictures.
Thursday, Papa took us all to a science museum, about an hour away. K decided to stay home and do some homework for our Homeschool Co-op. She went out to check on the animals and found Mrs. Tiggywinkle, our new and very pregnant Pygora goat in labor!!
K's llama, Thistledown, took a very keen interest with the baby, and had to do an inspection.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle was expecting twins or triplets, and the next baby got stuck (one back foot was presenting) and K had a time calling some friends for help. When they got it out, it was already dead, as the cord had snapped. They didn't have much time to be sad, because hot on its heels was another one... and then ANOTHER one! Yes, she had quadruplets! All four were boys. We are praising God that K stayed home. It's likely that all the unborn babies would have died if she had been left for hours without help.
Here's 8yo n and 5yo S enjoying the new kids.
It's been a busy week! Not much book-learning got done, but lots of hands-on and real life learning!
Prayer Requests:
Thursday, Papa took us all to a science museum, about an hour away. K decided to stay home and do some homework for our Homeschool Co-op. She went out to check on the animals and found Mrs. Tiggywinkle, our new and very pregnant Pygora goat in labor!!
K's llama, Thistledown, took a very keen interest with the baby, and had to do an inspection.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle was expecting twins or triplets, and the next baby got stuck (one back foot was presenting) and K had a time calling some friends for help. When they got it out, it was already dead, as the cord had snapped. They didn't have much time to be sad, because hot on its heels was another one... and then ANOTHER one! Yes, she had quadruplets! All four were boys. We are praising God that K stayed home. It's likely that all the unborn babies would have died if she had been left for hours without help.
Here's 8yo n and 5yo S enjoying the new kids.
It's been a busy week! Not much book-learning got done, but lots of hands-on and real life learning!
Prayer Requests:
- God's guidance in career decisions for Papa.
- Continued improvement in health for me. I'm really battling fatigue daily.
- Several of the kids have colds, earaches, stuffy noses, etc. Quick healing (and restful nights!)
The Great Duck Caper March 2007
Spring is here! Finally! I was beginning to think I'd never get warm again. The cold is damp here, kind of like a wind chill factor, only it's a dampness factor. It creeps under your sweater and into your socks. It grabs you around the back of your neck and drips down your spine. The thermometer hovers between 40 or 50, which in Rocky Mountain-ese is getting warm, but here in the NW, it's C O L D. The kind of cold that takes more than a cup of hot chocolate to warm you up.
Today it was 61 degrees. We turned off the heater and opened up the windows! The birds sang their heads off and the daffodils opened. The sky shone blue, and such a welcome change from clouds and rain! Yesterday was in the mid-50's, and I hoed up the bedding in the chicken house and in the evening, we went to get the other goat.
Goats, now, is it?
I happened to mention to a friend of mine and K's, who has goats, that I'd like to get a Pygora goat. It's a cross between a Pygmy (those cute dinky fat ones you see at petting zoos) and an Angora (large goats raised for their silky fiber called "mohair". "Angora" fiber is from rabbits). K and I saw some at a Fiber Festival last summer and got a bad case of the wants. I recently aquired a spinning wheel, and so the thoughts of another animal with renewable fiber just set me drooling.
Anyway, the friend knew a friend who had some Pygora goats for sale. So Papa and I and K went to look at them. I only had enough money left to buy one goat, so I chose the one that is expecting twins or triplets in a couple of weeks. I also want to milk it, so that S can have fresh goat milk since she is very sensitive to cow's milk.
Here she is, we named her Mrs. Tiggywinkle. She's very sweet and likes to be petted. We got her on Wednesday, the 28th. We crammed her in a borrowed home-made crate, she barely fit through the door, and she is so fat (pregnant, not fat, I should know that) that she couldn't jump down out of the van, so we had to lift the whole crate down the the ground. The little girls are besotted and love to pet her.
Well. Come to find out, the lady we bought her from deals in Muscovy ducks. She was willing to work out a trade for the other goat. And we have 15 Muscovy ducks. 20, if you count the ones in the freezer. K decided to keep three for breeding.
You can't catch two ducks, even though you could hold two. You have to throw some feed on the ground, wade through the ducks and chickens, with your eye on your target, and grab it around the neck. Then you can scoop it under your other arm. K and I could handle three ducks at a time between the two of us. If you hurry, they won't poop on you.Papa lined the floor of the van with a sheet of plastic, and we crammed the ducks into a wire cage and a dog crate. A and n went with us.
Now, just if you ever have the opportunity to ride in the same van with 12 ducks for 30 miles or with a loose goat, choose the goat. We had the windows rolled down until it got too cold, but after that it was ... earthy.
The second goat, already named Angie (we haven't come up with a better name yet) has even nicer fleece than the first one. She had twins on Friday, but unfortunately they both died. But... that meant that she is coming into milk. So S will have milk without having to wait on kids to wean.
We had already returned the crate, so K just held her with a rope collar and a lead rope. She did pretty well, figured out that it was easier to lay down, until we'd slow down, then she'd want to look out the window. Papa stopped at A&W for a quick meal, we were all pretty hungry, it was nearing 8pm. Angie was very interested in the hamburgers. R and N had stayed home to make grilled cheese sandwiches for the younger troops.
When we got home, K and I made an attempt at milking her. We hit upon a method and got about 1/2 cup of milk. We tied her to a stud in the wall, and I stradled her with her head between my knees (in the chicken house, mind you, it was pitch dark but there's a light in there) while K kneeled (in the chicken house) and milked her. Angie must like men because when Papa came out to see what we were doing, and then left to get the camera, she bawled and became too unmanageable to continue, so we let her loose.
So two Pygora goats for $60 and 12 ducks. Where'd we get all those muscovy ducks?
Well, that's another story.
Pics! March 2007
Here is our birthday boy... he takes his own portraits:
And this is an example of the strange pictures he takes:
This is a picture of our house from the side and back, taken during the summer when the grass had all dried out.
Here is K with one of two turkeys that she raised, on its way to Hanukkah dinner:
It was over 20 pounds ready to go into the oven! We're definitely doing this next year!
Ok, now that I've got it figured out.. I'll go upload some more recent pictures.
And this is an example of the strange pictures he takes:
This is a picture of our house from the side and back, taken during the summer when the grass had all dried out.Here is K with one of two turkeys that she raised, on its way to Hanukkah dinner:
It was over 20 pounds ready to go into the oven! We're definitely doing this next year!
Ok, now that I've got it figured out.. I'll go upload some more recent pictures.
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