It’s been a long time!!!!!

First I need to ask for forgivness for just dropping off the planet.

We really quickly became overwhelmed with life and I had to go into survivla mode.

Blogging was not on the priority list.

Elisabeth was prayed over at church and when we went in to see the Doctor, he found that all of he issues had suddenly and spontaniously resolved.

She has been  totally fine since and remains symptom free!!!!

Praise God!!!!

 

John’s work situation has resolved and he is employed fulltime at Clayton Homes and is on a new team.

He loves his job and the people that he works with and we consider ourselves wonderfully blessed with his fantastic job.

 

We have had to sell the farm due to my health.

I had an old injury act up that resulted in needing to have lateral releases in both knees, and having my ACL’s replaced in both knees.

In March of 2010 I tore both ACLs, and in April they did the first surgery, a lateral release and ACL replacement on my left knee.

Rehab went great till July when I fell because the unrepaired right knee colapsed.  My Service Dog Eddie caught me, but the new ligament still tore.

they put me in a wheel chair and scheduled a ACL replacement and lateral release on the right leg for August.

That surgery went great, and I was measured for custom knee braces.  They are a great help!!!!!

In October I had the final surgery on the left leg, just a ACL replacement…it was great!!!

In Novemember I fell again when the joints caught together on the knee braces…they put me on bed rest for 4 weeks and did more MRIs…..the results said there was no damage!!!

That brings us to now….they are working me out of the wheel chair and onto the walker!!

The kids have been fantastic really stepping up to theplate to help run the household.

The Dr says that I will be rehabbed in about a year.

We are in the final stages of finding homes for all the animals……we will be keeping two donkeys at a friend’s house, but all the other critters will go to new homes.

 

I have also been led to start a service dog training organization….we are working on getting a web page set up for that, but for now you can stay tuned here for more information about how that is going.

 

I will update more later..and try to keep this up todate once again.

Thanks so verry much for your praysers and support!!!

We really appreciate it!

Eddie pulling the wheelchair this summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John carried me over to the dune for this pix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Test of faith

God is moving in some interesting ways in our lives right now.

John came home on Friday, and had some good news and some bad news.  The good news was that he could go back to work on Monday…several guys in his section were told not to come back on Monday.  They however didn’t renew his contract.  His contract is up in December.

There is another section in the company that he is interested in, and they are looking at him for that position.

God brought us here, and we know He has something planned, but it is still hard to wait for the answers.

On Monday Bissy had a DR appt. with the urologist at children’s hospital.  For those of you who don’t know, her bladder refluxes backwards into her kidney.

There are 4 stages, we were told that she had stage 2 last year and that it would most likely correct on it’s own.  She has to be on antibiotics, and that was that.

This new Dr. says that he considers it to be stage 3, not stage two.  This is from looking at her films from last year.  He has ordered a new test on the 12th of November, not fun for Boo.

If it is not improved from last year it will mean that she needs “surgery”.  He didn’t say if that was to fix her ureter, or for a kidney transplant.

Test of faith indeed.

If the test doesn’t show significant improvement, and the DR. here wants to operate, I  will seek a second opinion.  I’m not happy with the conflicting Dr.’s opinions, one from Children’s in DC and one from Children’s here in TN.  The radiologist last year said stage 2, as well as the urologist there.  Just the urologist here has seen the new films, not a new radiologist.

We would appreciate prayers from those of you who pray.

Tomorrow’s post……The great pig escape round two..Sweetie’srevenge…and no, I’m not kidding.  Sweetie and her crew dug out of their pen and got out.  I guess they thought it looked like fun when the other pigs got out last week…….

Caleb’s birthday party

Wednesday was Caleb’s party, it was just a small family party.  Here are some pictures for your enjoyment..esp for those that would normally have come…but for the fact that we are in TN now.

Caleb had youth group and so we were going to celebrate his birthday on Thursday….or so he thought.  The girls and I planned a surprise party for him and they cleaned the house for him, and did his chores.

I made the cake, it was a transformers cake with the autobot symbol on it.  We used one of his transformer toys for the balloon weight.   It worked great!!

He loved his presents, especially the book from Grandpa Rosing and Nana, (he has been waiting for it for several months) and the cash from Grandpa and Grandma Tilton (he gets to pick out his own thing!)!!

He choose sushi for his birthday dinner…it was soo yummy!!

Here he is opening his first present in the morning..it was from Nana and Grandpa Rosing

Here is the table display the girls and I came up with.

The transformer holding the balloons

The cake..Gabriella designed it, and I decorated it. The bottom is red velvet, and the top round is chocolate.

Gabriella bringing him in to the surprise!!!

He looks surprised!

I think he likes it!

So exciting!!

Daddy making Sushi

Thank you Daddy!!!!

Happy birthday Caleb!!!!!!

The great pig escape part three…The goats steal the stage…..

I watch Liese until she turns out of site over the hill, by now Caleb and Gabriella have wrestled Murph back in the dog pen and are headed off to help look for the pig, I see Bumble and Caleb in the garden, and Liese running to join them, They must have found it.

Back to tying the chain link down.  Boo shoos Bessie out of the way so I can get to work, and finds more baling twine for the project.  Bessie heads off somewhere, I guess now that I am between the pigs and the  “calves” she thinks it’s OK to go get her after milking drink.

I see Caleb, Gabriella and Bumble bringing the pig, they get it in the field, goats are milling everywhere….the pig won’t herd into the pen..and we can’t hold the door open or the others will get out.  Great, now what?…We corral it in the milking area, I call for a bucket of milk and put it down in front of the pig, it dives in…I call Caleb and tell him that we are going to have to drag it by it’s back legs..he just looks at me and then gets ready to grab it.  I have a cut on my hand from the other day…I really don’t want to grab the muddy hind leg of this 65 lb pig…..OK GO!

We grab at the same time, and both get a leg!!  The pig goes nuts..I mean nuts..it starts screaming and kicking and thrashing..its all we can do to hold on to it.  I yell for the girls to get the door ready..one opens it the other stands ready to repel any pigs that make a break for it…..my leg is killing me and Caleb doesn’t look any better…we drag the pig into the pen, and none of the others get out…one of the girls slams the gate shut, whew!!!

Ohhh my hand though.  The cut is burning, I look down and there is mud and who knows what else ground into it.  Owww, I look around and see the bucket of raw unpasteurized milk sitting there…I wonder???  The people on the “Family Cow Forum” that I belong to insist the raw milk helps their cuts….I’ve got nothing to loose, in to the bucket goes my hand.  I scrub out all the crud, and pull my hand out…it stops hurting..no way.  It is like someone put numbing stuff on it, but it feels soothed…I tell anyone who has a cut to put their hands in the bucket and wash…especially Caleb.  They find the same result.

Squeal, crash..Great the new pig hasn’t been told by Bessie to stay put and be quiet.  it is trying to get out.

Sigh, back to tying off the chain link panel.

I bend over wanting to cry, my leg hurts, the stupid pigs are making things really hard trying to tie, they keep trying to eat the string..there..almost done…..SCHLOORP!!  Wha??  Something soft and warm pushes me foreword..

I turn and realize that Bessie is standing there behind me.  She has just given me a “love lick” Cows are really selective in who they lick (kiss), it is high praise and a sign of great affection.  The kids get licks…kisses all the time, but I don’t so much.  I just stop and stare…she stares back, blinking her huge brown eyes..Awww she is so sweet, I stop and hug her head and then she gives me a “neck hug” This is where you are standing next to her and she folds her neck back towards her tail around you and “hugs” you.  Another sign of affection.

The kids all stare and then everyone comes up and loves on the wonderful cow.  She is so soothing, such a peaceful soul full of love and peace.  Really nice creature to be around.  We just love her.  leaning on her warm side I relax, we did it, despite hurting and all craziness we did it.  My “little” kids were so great!  I look up and out over the farm…..ACKKKK noooo the goats……all 16 of them are flowing out the “almost closed” gate..the one we brought the pig through.  The buck (Billy goat) must have butted it all the way open.  They head up the driveway at a run, they must be heading toward the fire station’s tasty hedges.  The kids don’t even say a word, they take off at a run after them, Bumble close on their heels.

They aren’t going to be able to turn the herd.  The goats have too much of a head start, nuts, they are getting too far ahead.  Bumble surges ahead and turns the leader…he has to body slam her to get her to turn, but he does it.  Now they are milling about, I yell to the kids to grab collars of goats, listing the leaders that roam first.

One of the bucks mills by me, I grab his collar and drag his sorry butt back to the field, The kids are bringing goats back as fast as they can…but the ones they are bringing are the easy ones.. of course, that’s what I did.  I see one of the particularly wild ones heading toward the garden at a run…”Caleb!! get Creamy!!”

We have worked with her quite a bit, but until you get a hold of that collar its a no go.  The poor kid turns and hobbles toward her, but she takes off at a sprint… a yellow flash streaks after her and the race is on.  Bumble chases her all over the field, but she won’t herd, he tries his chest slam, but she turns back on herself and takes off in the other direction.  He is running flat out trying everything in the book, but she is being naughty…I  am done, I give him the “code word” at the same time Caleb does from up the drive….”GET HER BUMBLE!”  The Rumble dives right in and “GRIPS” her…no easy task as goats don’t have fleece, just hair, somehow he has figured out how to bite and hold their hide without injuring them.  It is a big no no in sheep dog trials, but goats are much “harder” than sheep, and this one in particular is really difficult.

Now the tricky part…he has to work her down from a run..if he just pulls back he will lose his grip, and if he bites down hard enough that he doesn’t lose his grip, he will literally rip a hole in her side.  His technique is to run beside her holding on far back enough that she can’t get him with her horns, and he then makes himself “heavy” by running slower and pulling back slightly.  Nuts, he lost her, she slipped him…but he puts on a burst of speed and dives right back in and grabs her again…it takes a while, but he drags her down to a stop…about 10 feet from me.  What a good boy.  She knows it’s over and just stands there while I get her collar.  I tell him how good he is, but he is already gone to help the kids get  the rest of the goats…

I put Creamy back in the field, and help Boo who is about to be drug off by one of the goats, bless her, she isn’t letting go, but the goat is doing its best to take off.  I get that one from her and put it away.

Liese is bringing up the baby goats with swift kicks to their rears if they try to turn….”Caleb!!! quick, get Rudolf!!!!”  Rudolf used to be nice, but he is getting nasty, not all the way there yet, but he is going to be one of those nasty billy goats you hear about.  Right now, he isn’t aggressive..he would be in the dog’s bellies if he were, but he will run into you and isn’t careful at all around Liese, and he is heading her way……

Caleb sees this and about jumps out of his skin he almost gets Rudolf, but he loses him at the last second.  Then Bumble is there, with all of his “Rumble” attitude, he tries once to herd the goat, but Rudolf gives him the slip…I guess Bumble is about done too, because he jumps up and lunges at the goat, who trips and goes flying into the ditch.  Bumble leaps in after it, but it whips around and head butts Bumble hard, and takes off at a run up the fence line.

Bumble is only 1 year old, and still really a puppy.  he tries really hard, and is an incredible dog, but he is really, really, young to be a “working” dog.

The bucks are really big, and he won’t challenge them, even young Rudolf.  Well, today its over….he leaps up and takes off after the buck with fire in his eyes..as fast as he can and with a purpose that I have not seen before..I look behind them and see Caleb running after his dog, with the same look in his eyes.  The goat has no give in his expression, so I run/hobble to intercept, and Caleb swings wide to keep Rudolf from going off into the field.  Bumble is bringing up the rear, and the other goats are scattering out of his way fast.  Rudolf looks at me, I guess I looked pretty serious too, I know I had decided that if I got a hold of him he was going straight to the butchering tripod….Anyway he looks at me and then back at Bumble, and then at Caleb, and chooses to dive at a run through the really “hot” multi-strand electric wire fence into the field.

We get the other goats rounded up with Bumble’s help, and put them away in the field.  The kids get Bessie and put her in the upper field away from the evil pony, and head to the house to put the tools away.  Gabriella comes with me to check on Sweetie one last time.  She seems OK, so I head up to the house, while Gabriella goes and opens the hay mow for the goats, so they don’t try to get out again.

We just hang out for the rest of the day and relax.

I am really proud of the way all the kids handled themselves, they were so brave and hard working, I don’t think there was one person who didn’t have a pulled muscle, but all was well at the end of the day.

I am blessed.

Happy birthday to Caleb!! Happy birthday to Caleb!!!!!

Part 3 of the great pig escape coming soon….But much more important…Today is Caleb’s birthday..just in case you couldn’t tell…..

It’s my boy’s birthday!!  he is 12 yrs old!!!!!!!  I just can’t believe it.  It was just yesterday that he was born, I know it was….it has to be.

Caleb we are so proud of how you are are turning out!!!  You are kind, thoughtful, and hard working, and most of all, you love your Lord.  Daddy and I are so enjoying watching you grow in your relationship with Jesus, and seeing your devotion to Him, and learning how to further serve Him and His church…it makes our hearts swell with happiness.

If learning to love and trust Jesus, and staying with Him as your savior is the only thing we teach you, it would be enough…All else will follow that…

We love you and the young man you are becoming!!!

keep it up my boy, and Thank you for all the hard work you do around here to keep this farm running smoothly.

Keep your eyes on the prize,

Love Mommy and Daddy

Caleb being baptized by John this summer

After working hard to fix the stanchion area

Milking Bessie

Cleaning up around the barn

After helping set up the chick brooder

Posing with one of the dogs we are trying to adopt out

Posing with another of the dogs we have for adoption...This is the famous murphy dog from the great pig escape

Modeling a costume for the Christmas play..while dancing a jig

outside the library talking to a living history volunteer about the civil war. Cool sword!

Golfing lesson with Grandpa Rosing early in the morning

Putting With Grandpa

Playing chess with Daddy on his cell phone. They are in Caleb's cubby, a sort of built in bunk bed room John made for the kids.

The great pig escape part two

After Gabriella takes off running, I send Caleb after the grain, as I’m having quite a bit of pain at this point. Good job, he takes off at a run…”Boo, stay with ‘Liese and Bessie, don’t leave Bessie!” (Bessie hadn’t been let out of her stanchion yet, and I didn’t want her out and wandering about either.)

A quick look at the garden.. I see the whip cracking madly and red hair flying, accompanied by furious yells and scattering pigs…..good, Gabriella has it under control.  What is that screaming..one of the pigs must have gotten hit hard, but..it sounds like??….

Oh, here comes Caleb with the grain, off we go to the garden.  Gabriella keep it up!……I yell “pig, pig, pig” and rattle the bucket…good, here they come with Bumble bringing up the stragglers… past the other pig tractor with Sweeie the Sow and the other pigs, the escapees are coming nicely, good, finally, its going right!…..Aarrrgg, that scream again, what??!!!

I turn around and see Sweetie the Sow with her head and leg/shoulder stuck through the sides of her pen, and then she screams again, and then the wheezing..her tongue is swollen, sticking out the side of her mouth.  I stop and drop the bucket, the other pigs forgotten.  I just stare…how am I going to fix this??!!   Sweetie must weigh at least 150 lbs if not more.  her eye is swollen, but she looks at me and screams again.  She is choking, and can’t hardly breathe.

I scream for Caleb, he is so strong…he will be able to help…We start to work on getting her out, but we can’t do anything, if we push her, she will choke all the way, we can’t pull her froward, we can’t move her at all. Aaarggh the screams…We stop and look at each other, I tell Caleb to go get Mr Paul at the glass shop, he takes off at a run, it’s at least 1/8 mile away through thick 7 ft tall Johnson grass… I turn and see Gabriella coming towards me carrying an………AXE????   Oh, wonderful child!!  But…..the pen is made of 2″ thick 100 yr old oak boards, I won’t be able to chop it through…it is like stone.  Maybe if I can get the axe between the board and upright…..I swing and connect,  Sweetie lets out another scream, the impact is hurting her.  One more swing, another scream.  Nuts, this won’t work.  I turn toward Gabriella..”Daddy put this together with bolts, go get the socket set.”  I turn toward the poor pig, and try to use the handle to pry the boards loose, I do shift them, but Sweetie is still stuck, her tongue is swelling up even more, and she is having serious trouble breathing…  I turn and run to the garage to help Gabriella find the socket set…She has called john at work, fortunately he is at lunch…he wants to know if I need him to come home..I grab the set and we run back to the pig, I say, “I think that if you can’t come, and this doesn’t work, I’ll have to shoot her.”  I round the corner to start on the bolts, and see……she is free of the boards!!!  She got free somehow!!

It could have been when I shifted the boards, or it could have been the prayer, or probably both..Caleb yells from the glass shop that Mr Paul isn’t there, and that he is going to the fire station..That is about 1/2 mile from where he is.  I yell back that she is free, but he doesn’t hear and off he goes, I yell again..this time he hears and limps toward me.

Great, I wonder what happened to him…Are you OK??!!!?!!  he nods, and says “twisted ankle”  Nice…….Poor kid…

Squeal…Grunt..chuff..Oh no, the other pigs are still out.!  I look at my crew of kids and say “come on guys we have to get these guys put away”..Groans erupt around me and everyone heads toward the escapees.  The pigs have mostly eaten the grain that was in the bucket, Caleb picks up the remainder and lures some to the field, he gets one in before the others scatter, they all aren’t here anyway, we are missing some..I head back to Sweetie’s pen to get the others, some follow me, but it takes a while. The others are  off trying to gather pigs, and I get another one up to the gate.  This is when I realize that Liese has been holding the gate shut to keep the 45 lb pig in the field.  Liese is only 5…and is really little for her age….like not too much bigger than the pig…but some how she has managed to keep it in there, but she is tiring.  She is also really really afraid of pigs..I am stunned..I can’t believe that she is standing there fighting to keep this pig contained…I say “great job Liese,” and open the gate to let the other pig in.

“BISSY!!! where are you?”  I shout.  “right here with Bessie”  she answers.  In typical Boo fashion, she has done exactly what I told her to, and despite wanting to help us, has not left her assigned post with Bessie.  Can I leave Bessie in that stanchion with all the chaos?  Will she freak and get scared?   Liese needs help, and I need to go help the others…….Bissy, leave Bessie and come here.  She comes right away….I say  “you need to help Liese, and listen for Bessie getting upset, if she freaks you are going to have to pull the rope for the headgate and let her out.”  Bless her, she looks at me and says “OK mama”……Off I go to get the other pigs.

Bumble and the kids have gathered some more, and we manage to get them almost up to the gate.  They scatter and another dog joins the fray.  Oh no, Murphy has jumped his out of his pen and is trying to help.  Murphy is the other dog we have that guards the goats, but he has no clue how to herd…he thinks he does, but he doesn’t.  Bumble is going nuts now, trying to chase Murph off, and the pigs….are…..gone!

Caleb manages to catch Murphy even though he already has hold of Bumble’s collar…now he has two dogs…”Don’t let them go…whatever you do don’t let them go!!!”

Murphy tries to drag Caleb, but Bumble pulls back and anchors Caleb…Gabriella sees Caleb being drug, and takes Bumble to help.  oh no, without Bumble to anchor Caleb, Murph takes off,  Caleb is now grass skiing on his belly…over stones and dirt.  As he goes by, Gabriella grabs his pocket, thus anchoring him again.

I grab the bucket of milk from this morning and call “pig, pig, pig”  Pigs just love milk.  They will drink it when they are already full.  That gets their attention, OK now they are all following me.  In the field we go…shut the gate.  Breathe….OK…..wait, the littlest are small enough to go under the fence noooooooo!  now what?

I look around, and see the goat pen.  I could let the goats out and put the pigs in there…it is board and chain link…OK…open the pen door, goats out…move it, move it…Boo, help herd the pigs in here…Gabriella and Caleb, don’t let the dogs go…

My leg is killing me, I have a bucket of milk and the pigs are trying to climb in it too,…OK the first batch is in, now for the others, Bissy and Liese are everywhere helping, Bessie is starting to get really restless, the pigs are screaming and freaking out, I shut the last of them in, and Boo says that Bessie is starting to freak out from the pigs screaming.  They are starting to charge the chain link, which isn’t securely attached over the opening of the pen…Liese is there kicking the pig’s heads as they charge the fence…go Liese!

Bessie starts to get really upset..I have Bissy let her out, and the first thing she does is charge right over to Liese and the pigs.  No way…she gets between the kids and the pigs, and lowers her head and shakes it at the pigs.  They stop in awe of the large creature in their view….they back up, and then move forward as a group chuffing and grunting quietly.  They stare at her she stares back…I don’t know what she “said”, but that was the end of the pig tantrum.  She stays right there blocking the pigs and turns her head and looks at me…..no way……she gets what is going on…she is going to help.

We do a quick head count..what?  NOOOO, only 6?  Where is the last one?   I shout “Gabriella, and Caleb.. let Bumble go, and get Murph back in the pen….then  go find the other pig as soon as you get that done….Boo, I need more string..”  Bessie is still between the pigs and her “calves”  the children…it looks like she isn’t going anywere as long as she thinks that those pigs might try to get out.   I turn to Liese and say   “Can you be really brave and go see if you and Bee can find the other pig?”……The missing pig is one of the bigger ones  about 60 lbs…not dangerous, but still……to 5 year old Liese, it is really big…she hates the pigs, they scare her……..She looks at me… and says…..”yes”.  I watch her and Bumble head off to find the pig..I know that he will stay with her, and protect her…but still for her it is such a courageous thing………

To be continued…………

The great pig escape

Well, Friday was quite a day, it seems unreal as I think about it…

I am really proud of the way the kids handled themselves, and so I wrote it up in story form for them to look back on in future years….. it is quite long, so I will post it in parts over the next days.

It started when we went out to milk and the evil pony wouldn’t get out of the field that joins the milking shed.  This is a problem because horses are usually not too nice to cows, and this pony in particular isn’t nice to people either.

Well, the evil pony decided that it wouldn’t be led through the gate to the other field, and I wasn’t about to argue after it took me out a few days ago.. so I tried driving it with a whip.  it ran every where but through the gate…I couldn’t ask the kids to help..so I was running around on my bad leg through knee high pig weed.  not fun..just so you know..pig weed has thorns.

I called Caleb in to help and told him to whip the pony if it got in range…he said “isn’t that mean?”   I said “too bad, if that pony is close enough to you that the whip can reach it, then it is too close.  That pony had his chance”

Off we go to get the pony out.  No go.  More running. More chasing.  Bumble went down twice in the mud, like a kid sliding in for home..he did it on purpose to dodge the pony’s hooves. Then the pony decides that because we are chasing it, it will chase Bessie…who has a full udder.  Now let me tell you that a high producing dairy cow  with a full udder can damage it by running.  Caleb and I got the pony away from Bessie, Good thing for it, if it had not left Bessie, I would have gone for a more permanent option…

At this point we have the pony in the stanchion area, and Caleb and I get between it and Bessie to protect her.  Gabriella, who is safely behind a 2 inch solid oak gate, starts whacking it on the rump to get it out of the milking area…it takes off, and Caleb and Bumble and I run after it.  It heads toward the gate, the other horses in the next field over come running to see what is going on.   It sees them and heads to the  gate but then slows down, no way can Caleb and I get there to herd it through..its not going to go…And then there is Rumble!!!  Out of nowhere he leaps in, snaps at it, dodges out of the way and then he is back again and herds it through!!!!!

Woot Bumble!!! Caleb runs up and shuts the gate, but oh no!!  Bumble has decided the pony needs to be run around to prove that Bumble is in charge…he is right, but this pony isn’t worth him getting kicked…”BUMBLE, HERE!”…. he finally listens.  Sigh.  Now to go milk.

We get the wonderful cow milked, and as the kids are finishing stripping out the cream, I hear the tied dogs going nuts.  I look out of the barn, and see…. pigs,……PIGS?!?!?!

Oh $@#%*&&$@#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The pigs are supposed to be in the pig tractor in the garden, not out here….Akkkkk the GARDEN!!!!  NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I yell that the pigs are out and tell the kids to hurry and finish, and run or try to with my bad leg…i grab my Aussie whip on the way, and run right through the pigs to the garden…(only 3 of the 7 were in sight)  Well bumble has already discovered that the pigs were out, and is trying his best to herd them to their tractor…back towards the garden…oh nuts.

Sure enough there are pigs every where.  Thanks to Bumble they aren’t stopping long enough to eat anything, he is keeping them at a full out run.  Small pigs are really, really fast.  There is nothing for human or dog to grab on them, except their leg.  Hard to do when they are running full out.   I stand there wheezing and thinking..the pig tractor is finished, they ripped the wire out and even if i could lift their sorry buts up and in, they would just run right back out.  Think, think, think…Where to put them???

maybe the paddock that joins the milking shed, it has electric wire…OK, off to the barn to get a bucket of grain..check bumble, yup he is still trying to herd them together, but he is keeping them moving…OK off I go.

Gabriella meets me 1/2 way to the barn, I hand her the whip and say don’t let them eat the garden..off she runs with the whip, red hair streaming behind her like a Valkyrie.

To be continued…………

Playing with the past

Check back on Monday, The pigs got out yesterday, and the goats, and one pig got stuck, and the evil pony caused trouble…I’m going to write it all up so you can have a good chuckle….

But for now, Here is a short one on the kids playing with the past….

Mom and Dad gave me a set of stone blocks a long time ago.  We didn’t know what they were, but they were really old.  I can’t remember if they said that they were my grandpas? or if they got them at an auction…I will check today or tomorrow.

I had never gotten them out because ..well they were old, and I didn’t want to ruin them.

I was doing math with liese the other day, and we needed some counting blocks.  I didn’t have any unpacked, but these blocks were in their box in the closet, so I went and got them out for her to use.  We finished the lesson with her wanting to play with the set the whole time.  She was so good!

well, the others came in when we were done and saw the set and were begging me to play with them.

We set up a blanket so they wouldn’t fall on the wood floor, and I let them go for it while I searched for the blocks online.  This is what I found:  They are called “Anchor stones” and are made in Germany.  They have all sorts of different sets, and people make some really amazing things with them.

Here is a quote from a web site that sells new ones. ( http://www.constructiontoys.com/store/anchor.php ) “Anchor Stones are made almost the same way now as they were over 100 years ago. Ground quartz, chalk, linseed oil and coloring are mixed, then pressed into precisely shaped molds. Even the instruction books and wooden boxes that hold the stones are reproduced from the original packaging.”

Here is a different site that has amazing pix of what you can make with them…check it out!  http://www.ankerstein.org/   any who, here are some pix of the kids playing and their creations.  I’m not sure how old our set is, but It may be well over 100 years old, and has been really well loved.  We think of the other children that have played with them and wonder about their lives and what they did while they were growing up.  The children just love it..thinking of all the “other” hands that had fun creating with the stones and what they or their children might be doing today.

there are dates on the box, but I don’t know if they are just dates from when the company was started, or if they are the manufacture dates of the blocks..!845 is one of the dates I think…

Fun in the garden

Well the morning started when I walked out into the living room and saw this.

Bumble and Caleb

Bumble bee can open doors, and so if John forgets to lock the door on the way out to work, bumble opens it himself and comes in…..

Click on the photo for a bigger pix

or he bats at the handle until Caleb gets up and lets him in to have a snuggle. (Caleb was on the couch because Bumble had gotten sick on his mattress and it is in the process of being cleaned.)  Liese saw how cute it all looked and joined in.

After we had breakfast and milked, we headed to the garden to check it out and for Caleb to water the pigs.

The radishes are ready!!  Liese planted them with me, so I had Bissy go get liese.  We were so excited to shoe Liese, that we told Boo to hurry, Well she came running with Liese and my Epi-Pen. lol  Good job Boo.  She was a bit annoyed when she found out it was just radishes..but not too much.

Radishes!

Gabriella had stayed with me, and Caleb joined us after finishing with the pigs water.  We Left lots of big ones for Liese to pull by her self.

Gabriella showing liese which ones are best to pick.

Gabriella was really sweet with liese, showing her how to best help in the garden, and having her help harvest the veggies.  Radishes are really prickery on the leaves and stems in case you didn’t know..

See my purse in the back ground?  I don’t normally take my purse to the garden, but it has the Epi-Pen in it that Boo so wisely brought out.

Boo and a Purple Raddish. There were only a few of these, and that made them really exciting!!

Here she is looking for more

On to the peas…Caleb decided that since his pumpkins are pretty much done for the year, he needed a new project.  he picked the peas.  We trained them back onto their supports, (they had decided to head west….no really they were.. )  and then he started to hoe the lane between them.  We only have one hoe, and it is pointed, no problem, we turned it sideways and voila!  a multitasking hoe.

Hard working boy!

Job well done Caleb and Boo!

While Caleb and Boo were working on the peas, Gabriella and Liese were working on gathering the radishes and transferring them to a blanket Liese had with her.

Check the pockets!!

We had forgotten our laundry hampers that we use to carry the stuff back to the house normally, cool idea girls!.  Gabriella was filling liese’s pockets up with the radishes and letting her help that way.

Check out the Hood!!

Then they headed to the pepper plants that are still producing!!  They still didn’t have a gather basket, but Liese had Gabriella’s coat on, so they got creative again!!  Check out the hood on the coat…..

And here it is, the morning’s haul!!

yummmm

Cabbage and Broccoli plants, and the pig tractor in the back ground

Swiss Chard gone crazy!!!

We headed up to the house to get lunch, and “The Game” started…What shall we have? Hmmm…Why don’t you see what you can find…OK!!

Rummage, Rummage,  Hey mom, how about if we…………

Garden fresh peppers and bacon

yummmmm

This time it was a can of progresso veggie noodle soup, 2 cans of cream of chicken/mushroom soup, 1/4 lb sliced bacon, a can of corn, and chopped bell peppers out of the garden!!  They had so much fun making it, everyone helped!  I have found that they eat it better if they think of the recipe and then make it themselves.

Owwww. Or The good news that wasn’t.

Well, the good news WAS that we found a pony for ‘liese and the others.  It was a mostly free pony.  I had tested it out quite thoroughly, and it seemed great.

We got it home, and it seemed great, but due to my paranoid nature we still treated it as a unknown and didn’t trust it.

Good thing.

It was pawing and Gabriella told it to knock it off, and she said it struck at her with it’s front hoof.  Well Gabriella was the only one allowed near it because she knows how to stand so it couldn’t do damage.  We weren’t sure if it had been just pawing and got her by accident, but John and I started to really pay close attention to the pony.

Gabriella tried to pick its feet with John holding the rope, and it kept snatching its feet away.

At this point we got the kids out of there, and I tried to do it’s feet.  well it kept snatching them away from me.  John took over and that is when things got interesting.  John is the one who all the really nasty horses go to for training, he has a lot of experience with “ugly” behaving horses…but we are done with that part of our horse lives…at least we wanted to be…

The pony tried to take it’s foot away and John wouldn’t let go.  The pony went straight up in the air, and John let go so not to injure the leg.  This isn’t that bad of behavior from a horse, not too unexpected, so since I had the rope, I started the pony moving around me on the end of the line.

Now remember we had tested this pony out really well, and it seemed fine.

Well it went around me fine for two turns, just enough that I was moving out at a fast walk, out of range of it’s feet….then it slowed suddenly,and swung it’s hind end in towards me and let go really hard.  Well I was still going forward fast, and so it set me up so I couldn’t stop and it could get me.

It was beautifully done really, you have to hand it to the critter…I have been working with horses most of my life, and I am pushing 40.  I have worked with some nasty animals, and I have never been kicked like this before….

Well it caught me in the hip, and shot me about 6 ft through the air backwards.  Thank God for muscle memory, I hit in a ball and rolled back up to my feet, John came running and I said I’m ok, and told him to let the pony have it.  The kids were already gone out of the field, so I got up and watched john and the pony….Well it tried to do the same thing to John 3 times, and when that didn’t work, it tried to come at him to get him.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde comes to mind.  I have never seen a pony or horse behave so differently from it’s previous behavior.  There wasn’t a hint of fear from this pony, or “meanness”, it just seems to have learned somewhere, that the best way to get what you want is to attack.  No warning, no ears laid back, no signs of fear, just a “calm methodical attack”

Creepy.

Well I am pretty sure that I haven’t broken anything…I am going to the dr today though.  It really hurts.  When I hit the ground, I had a sort of flash back to when I was a child in Germany with my dad…

Dad was in the army and we moved lots, so a horse was not an option.  They did try to let me ride as often as possible though , and on this particular time we were in the Black Forest I think… It was one of those rent-a-pony places, and so we did, and set off through the forest.  Dad was walking next to me while I rode.  The pony wouldn’t listen to any commands, and I was getting concerned, I have a fuzzy memory, but I remember the pony came to a stop in the corner of a field, near the fence??? anyway Dad came up to the pony to take it’s bridle I think, and……. whack !!!!  It nailed him in the thigh.  He grunted, and took me off the pony, left it there, tack on and all, and hobbled back down to the car.  There are more details, but I remember the huge purple bruise the most, and that it hurt him badly.

Well those scenes flashed through my mind as I hit the ground, and I thought “great, just great”

We got ice on it right away, and kept it on all night.

Yesterday was not fun, and today isn’t great either.

The seller is coming to get the pony soon, and was horrified that the pony had done this, it was a consignment pony for them.

It just goes to show, don’t let your guard down and never trust an unknown animal.  You never know what might be hiding in there….

I’m so glad that we were as careful as we were.

On an interesting note, Bumble didn’t want to let the kids, or Gabriella anywhere near this pony.  He was constantly under foot and trying to get between the pony and us…..Next time I will pay attention to what he has to say.

WEll, back to my ice, or is it time for the heat this turn….?