Counting calves instead of sheep tonight~

For some reason, I'm really tired tonight, so this will be a short post.

My dad hauled grain today for a farmer over by Hazelton and got back just as the sun went down (he's just now eating his supper).

My mom and brothers went to Mandan to buy 10 calves... Andrew bid on the first batch of calves that came into the corralling and got the best deal of the day, he informed me, as the rest sold for higher. The first batch consisted of 14 calves though, and as he had the option of taking them all for the price of $20 a piece, he did! So, tonight we were very busy taking care of our new babies and trying to get a nice place ready for them in the barn. I was very glad when Dad showed up just in time to help with the feeding. :) We filled 7 bottles and fed 2 batches that way, so it went fairly quickly. Now comes the fun part of getting them all past the usual first weeks' problems that come from the stress of moving them; the change in their diet; location; etc... "God, please give us wisdom and strength as we try to keep our babies healthy!"

I wanted to stay home from town, as I don't enjoy running all over the city, so my day was peaceful here on the farm. I went up to the pasture first thing to check that the cows were in, then spent some time shelling peas. After lunch, I cleaned up the kitchen, (which was rather a mess, as Mom had left in a hurry right after chores and didn't have time to put things away and clean up.) When that was done, I ground up some applesauce in our Vita-Mix and got the canner going. I did a load of laundry and hung it up on the line to dry and then cut up 3 more gallons worth of apples for the next batch of applesauce and juice. For supper, I dug some potatoes from the garden and fried them up with one of our fry-sausages, then I cooked the peas I had shelled and made another batch of bread-sticks--this time using honey in place of sugar and using half whole wheat flour and half white flour. They turned out really good again, so next time I'm going to try 100% whole wheat flour. :)

That's all for now... I'm ready to start counting, ah, calves as I drift off to dreamland~ (I'd best get as much sleep as I can, as I have a feeling that tomorrow night could get to be a long one--with Miranda here to visit with and all!!!)

Oh yes, just one more thing... (Perhaps this post won't be so short after all.) My friend, Mrs. Keyes posted on her blog about how to leave comments and I thought that was a great idea--just in case there's someone out there who would like to leave a comment but doesn't know how. She explained it well, so I thought I'd just share her explanation. She said: "If you want to leave a comment you can click on the word 'comments' at the bottom of my post. If you don't have a blog account you must leave your comment anonymously. If you do so, please sign your name so I know who you are." Thank you to all of you who do leave comments, as I so enjoy hearing your thoughts and it gives me incentive to keep writing when I know people are reading my on-line journal. :)

Blessings~

Cora