We're all together again!

Andrew is back home with us now and it's so nice to have to set the table for 5 once again. :)

Prairie Days website now ready for viewing!

~STEP INTO THE PAST~

You can view the website HERE.

I'd love to know what you think of it,

and would love even more if you could join us at the Dagleys'

farm this year for Prairie Days fun, June 18th, 19th & 20th!

Andrew's future grain cleaner~

It got later tonight than I'd expected, so this will not be a lengthy post I'm afraid...

Yesterday, we went to look at this cleaner set-up to see what condition it was in and what modifying the guys would need to do to get it ready for cleaning farmers' grain this spring. After looking over the whole thing and discussing matters for a while, Andrew decided to buy the machine!!! This is what the outside of it looks like when the tarps are pulled down:

I have many more pictures I could share, but I'm sure Andrew will wish to do that when he returns.

So, as I'll not say anymore about that, my attention is drawn once again to my dog who is crunching away on her food. I wanted to tell about how the Lord was helping us prepare for this new addition to our family even before we knew it was going to happen........ Three days ago, I dug everything out of a corner of my room and put it in another place or threw it away. I didn't refill the empty spot with a single thing and it looked rather bare, but it now is the place where my doggie goes to rest. Also, on Wednesday, my mom and I bought some sticky lint-remover rollers--something we don't usually purchase, but an item that is coming in handy now with extra hair on clothing from you know who. :)

And now, about how I came to own my puppy... I have desired to own a Basset Hound for as long as I can remember, as they look so darling with their floppy ears and short legs. Well, on Thursday, I happened to look on BisMan Online at their listed giveaways. There, on the second page, was an advertisement for a one-year-old, female Basset Hound. The owner had moved to a different house and wasn't able to have pets there. This add got my attention, and I debated if I should bring it up to my family or not. It took me a while, but I finally got up the courage to ask my parents if I could have: #1. a dog in the house & #2. if that dog could be a Basset Hound. You can maybe imagine my surprise and joy when they said I could give the lady a call to see if this dog was still available.

I went to the computer and got the number. Pretty soon, I was talking to a nice lady who told me all about her dog. I could tell she really loved this dog and would miss her (she cried when she had to say goodbye, but we told her she can come visit any time...) Finally, I asked what the dogs' name was, and you can imagine how funny it was to me/us when she said it was MILLIE!!!!!! As it is extremely confusing to have two dogs who are named "Millie", I have decided to gradually get the new Millie used to the name "Lady"--and we're calling her "Lady Millie" currently. :) Lady Millie is currently sleeping contentedly on her little bed in the corner. I've let her go outside without the leash a couple times now and she was really good about coming in again, so that was encouraging. She did have an accident today, but there are so many things for her to get used to that it's understandable. I/we started working with her today to get her to stay out of the living room, as we don't want her to be on the couches and on the carpet. (So far, she'd been staying in my room.) She did really, really well and seems to learn quickly. Can you tell that I like my little Lady? :)

I'd best join her in dream land now~

An all too short visit with the Bartletts~

It's about time to get the noon meal on the table, but I wanted to post these pictures from our visit with the Bartletts first. (I'll write about the grain cleaner and my puppy tonight...) What I didn't mention last night is that Andrew stayed at the Bartletts' house and will be there until Dad goes up to the Turtle Mountain area again on Sunday to pick up the grain cleaner. Chores have been going pretty well without Andrew, as my dad has been feeding all the hay that he usually feeds (and grinds grain); Jacob gets the cows in; Mom comes out to the barn earlier; and I just need to carry more water and grain to a few more animals than usual and haul the garden hose around to the different cattle watering locations... Andrew e-mailed this morning and it sounds like he's having a great time already. :)

And now, finally, here are the pictures I took yesterday at our friends' house:

Andrew was showing some of the Bartletts pictures of the grain cleaner...

The fathers visiting...

I like how Jacob & David's shirts almost match!

Mr. Bartlett was telling us how their electric butter churn worked...

Mrs. Bartlett sent 2 plates full of delicious muffins and some oranges along with us for our return-home journey. Only 2 muffins made it back to our farm. :) (Thanks again, Mrs. Bartlett!!!)

I'm hoping Andrew is taking lots of pictures of his time there so he can share them with you when he's home again. (*hint, hint Andrew*)

Oh how sweet--my puppy fell asleep on the little bed I made for her. (She recently turned 1, but she still acts like a puppy!) She had so much fun exploring the farmyard this morning, although I kept her on her leash the whole time so she wouldn't run off and get lost. Our other dog, Millie is still trying to decide what to think of this new addition to our farm family. :)

Time to eat.... I'll write more later!

I now have a room-mate!!!

Sitting at my feet this night is my very own, beautiful, long-eared-endowed Basset Hound!!!!! :)

I am so tired from our long day and have so much to write about, so pictures will have to suffice for tonight...

Here is my dream come true:

Aren't her ears beautiful?

We had a long, 4 hours worth of time in a vehicle, but she was very good and never made a mess.

I think my dad likes her a little bit already too...

I'd best put my puppy to bed! She is excitedly finding where her boundaries are in my room...

The most exciting day of the year--so far!

What started out as a usual day on the farm--


involving cooking;

reading;

watching Millie play in the snow;

and such...

turned into a very, very exciting day!!!


I need to get to bed very soon, as we're getting up early in the morning to get our chores done so we can head North, but I just had to write something tonight... There are 2 especially special reasons why this day turned out so special, but I'll only tell you of Andrew's joy for today and leave mine to write about until tomorrow night--when I, hopefully, have pictures and have more time to write. :)


And now, about Andrew's excitement: He and my dad went into town today to talk to our banker about the possibility of Andrew getting financing to buy a grain cleaning unit that the guys have found up by Bottineau. By the time they were done discussing the matter, the banker gave his approval of the project, so tomorrow we're going to go look at it for the first time, to see what kind of shape the machine is in and what the guys would all have to do to get it ready to go. This business expansion venture has been in the works for a while now, so it was soooooo exciting to get the go-ahead finally!


To celebrate, Andrew bought some ice cream and root-beer and brought it home so we could all celebrate with root-beer floats. :) I just have to tell you about his buying the ice cream, as it was neat how it seemed like the Lord was celebrating with us...


The ice cream "Just happened" to be on sale, so Andrew picked up a pail of it. Then, he and Dad went around the corner and the root-beer "Just happened" to be on sale too! He also bought some chocolate syrup--which, yes, was on sale. Then, when he was checking out, the total price of the bill equaled about the same amount that the ice cream was said to be for, so Andrew asked the check-out lady if she was sure that was right, as the ice cream sign had said it was on sale for $7. She checked her screen again and then said that the ice cream was on sale for $4. Andrew told her that the sale sign had read $7, so she told him she'd check into it, but that it was his lucky day and she was only going to charge him $4. What a good deal! :)

If you would pray for wisdom as the fellas look over the grain cleaner tomorrow, that would be much appreciated!!!

Mother has a meeting to attend tomorrow afternoon, so won't be able to ride along this time. At first, I wasn't thinking of going along either, but now, the other extreme happiness on my part (a dream come true) will be something we hope to pick up on the way, so I'm definitely going along too!!! (This way, I can take pictures of them with the cleaner too...) That's a long story though, so it will have to wait until tomorrow night...

We also plan to visit our friends, the Bartletts, who live close by where the cleaner is, so I'm so excited now with all that's going on that I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep! I'd best try though, so I'll post this and be off.~

The mysterious mystery picture was......

Shall I tell you now? :)

Alright, I guess I will.

"It" was:

Butter--melting on our electric griddle! It was all melting in one spot, so I took a knife and swirled it around a little--thus the design. Once I'd done that, I looked at the griddle and thought about what a great mystery picture this would be. :) It worked so nicely that even my parents didn't know what it was! (My brothers might not have known either, except that they saw me taking the picture.)

It was so fun to see all of your guesses and then to look back at the picture and actually see what you saw there!!! Thank you so much for your participation. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!

(Proverbs 17:22)

The answer is coming soon!

I'm working on it this very minute. :)

A clue~

It's been fun to read the guesses on what the current mystery picture is (and I think I found a hard enough one this time, as nobody has guessed what it is yet...) Feel free to comment with as many guesses as you wish!

I thought I'd give you a clue to maybe make it a little easier. (If you are a die-hard, don't read any further than this. :) )

Ready? OK, here's your clue:

~I took this picture in our kitchen around 11:45 AM.~

A delightful poem...

...about women wearing dresses can be found here:
http://sweetefelicity.blogspot.com/2010/01/why-do-you-wear-dresses.html.

I thought it was too cute not to share!

*Please note*
We have many women friends who wear pants once in a while or all the time and I do not wish to make you feel like I'm judging you in any way because of it. My mom and I really enjoy the feminine feeling of dresses and I know a lot of my on-line friends do as well, so I thought some of you would really like this poem consequently...

It was....

...our Kombucha tea--in the making! Great guessing... It does look strange, I know! :)

This was an interesting day--the interesting kind that I like...

Q. What is a good thing to do while it looks snowy and cold like this outside?

A. Stay inside and dream! My dad got out a couple pieces of clean paper and started drawing up another house plan--to be revised and maybe built some time in the future, when we have enough extra funds and time to work on building a house. :) After he had a good outline drawn, we helped to fill in the empty areas with dream items... The boys thought a pool/ping-pong table would be fun to have in the family room, and we ladies thought a grand piano would look, well, grand in the spacious living room...

I found this really beautiful one on-line that costs a mere $51,000 (US dollars). What's a dream if you don't dream big, right? :)

I also found the perfect piano for Jacob's future home... For now, this is all a dream, but perhaps some of it will become reality some day!

While I was busy in a certain room of our house today, I chanced to look at this:

...and to think about what a great mystery picture this would make! It would be fun to hear from a lot of you on what you think this is--and I think I'll leave 2 days for guessing this one (meaning I'll post the answer Wednesday night.) Maybe it will turn out to be easier than I think, I don't know?

Well, here's wishing that your dreams tonight would be sweet.

May God bless you and keep you as you follow Him!

"Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of electricity!"

There is a blizzard outside again now... Snow is flying through the air and is piling up into tall snowbanks in places where yesterday there were none. It is so delightful to be inside where it's warm on such a night! We've heard from several friends (and my grandparents too,) that they've been out of electricity for the last day or 2 days--due to power lines being broke or poles being pulled down. Our lights have flickered a few times, but so far we haven't lost power for more than a few seconds at a time, so that's a blessing. Life is never dull in North Dakota!

We spent our day doing various odd jobs around the place. Probably the most adventurous part of the day was when my dad went outside to start the water running in the stock cows' tank and he found a calf stuck in the tank... Dad got our lariat and made a halter for the calf and, after some effort, pulled the calf out. Since there's been so much snow lately, the fluffy stuff has piled up around the tank and, consequently, the sides of the tank have sunk lower and lower into the snowbank--allowing the calves to be able to crawl in, obviously. My dad got the tractor out after rescuing the stuck baby and pushed a lot of snow away from the tank. He then moved the tank to higher ground, so now the calves will just be able to drink the water--without crawling in for a swim. :)

Before I go, I thought I'd post another mystery picture... Those of you who've been reading my blog for a while can probably guess what this is pretty easily, but maybe there are others who won't know what this is?

I'll post the guesses and the answer tomorrow night.

Until then,

~Good night!~

A peaceful day~

As the roads were slippery and there was a good chance of a blizzard this afternoon, we spent a lovely day at home together:

• singing hymns;
• reading in the book we're studying together;
• dining;
• and watching the newest version (which is now my favorite version!) of Emma...

Emma makes so much trouble for herself, but how delightful it is when everything comes out right in the end. :)

I am reminded now of the verse in the Bible where it says:

"...We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
~Romans 8:28

~One of my favorite Marty Goetz songs~

Great guessing!

It was, indeed, a pine cone. :) Would it have been any harder if I'd posted this picture instead?

Today, my parents had a "Date". They went to Bismarck first to get some farm supplies and then went on from there to my dad's uncles' funeral in Center. You may remember me talking about my dad's cousin, Jerome helping us with our cattle working... Well, this uncle was Jerome's dad. After the funeral, my folks visited with relatives a long time and then they took Jerome and his daughter, Betsy out to eat, as it happened to be Jerome's birthday today as well! Can you imagine burying your father on the same day that you were born? That must have been so hard for him...

We children had stayed home in order to do chores so that Dad & Mom could stay as long as they wished. They didn't get home until nearly midnight and said they were happy for the break.

While they were gone, we did household chores; Andrew & I helped Jacob with some of his schoolwork (and Andrew helped me with some of my paperwork...); I made a batch of cheese; we watched a couple movies; played games; and of course, did the barn chores too. I don't think I ever mentioned that we let my 3 calves (and their mothers) out of the barn and put them in with the milk cows when the weather turned warmer. The calves have very much been enjoying their freedom! It is so fun to watch them romp in the snow... Also, our little goat kid, Cosette is a joy to behold as she does her fancy jumping and twists around in the air! Babies are so sweet, aren't they?

Bread, buisness cards, and bookwork~

The rest of my family went to town today...

Mother had sessions to do at her office (she shares an office with 4 other ladies) all morning/afternoon.

The guys went to an all-day meeting on Soil Health Management. They came back with new ideas to talk and think about. They were also happy to have seen some unexpected friends, such as the Stiegelmeiers, Stegmans and a Stover--plus many others!

Meanwhile, here at home, I baked a fresh batch of bread (and crust for a pizza)...


After I had the bread rising, I went outside to start the water hose running into the stock cow tank, and to get the mail. There was a package in our mailbox that we've been looking for--the business cards (promoting Prairie Days) that the Dagleys had helped to design on VistaPrint while they were at our house a while back. Now they/we can start handing them out to people wherever we go... :)

I spent a good deal of time working on paperwork again--trying to figure out what my plans are (for my cattle) for this year. Thankfully, I have hopes that I'm nearing the end of all the empty boxes that need filling...
When my head was reeling from dealing with numbers, I took an enjoyable and lengthy break at the piano. It's so fun to be able to play without the soft-petal being pushed down!

I also went around the house looking for good mystery pictures to take! I have a few in my arsenal now, but will only post one at the present time...

Do you know what this is? I'm thinking this might be too easy, as my brother guessed it right away, but I'll give it a try anyway...

I'll wait until tomorrow night to post your guesses. :)

And now, I will bid you good night--or a good day, whichever time it happens to be in your part of the world when you read this. May God be with you~

Are you living the good life too? :)

~I just found this video

and thought it would be a nice one to share with you all.

(minus the part about the wine...)

The doings of the day--from my perspective~

Our day started early this morning, as I had an appointment in town and the others wished for some help with chores before I took off. :)

At 9:00, I met with Mr. Hansen in Napoleon to go over some paperwork for my Farm Business Management training. I've been working with him for 2 years now and have just one more meeting to go before I (hopefully) get my certificate of completion!

Then, at 10:00, I went to Helens' Daycare to help her with the children until a quarter after 4. I really enjoy working with her and the sweet children! During previous nap-times, Helen's asked if I brought any reading material along, and today I finally had, so I sat in the rocking chair and read from "Daughters of Eve, Daughters of God" while keeping an eye out for little ones who thought they could sneak over and play with toys instead of sleeping on their blankets... It feels strange to be getting paid for such enjoyment!

When I returned home, I dug out a zucchini (that was still well preserved from our garden) and made some zucchini fritters for supper while Mother cooked some chicken--for the same purpose....

Now I need to get to bed, as we're getting up quite early in the morning again, as the rest of my family need to be in Bismarck by 9:00 and I'd appreciate help with chores before they go!!!

~A special quote~

"Those who walk with God always get to their destination!"

A beautiful gift!

Our neighbor, Tamera and 3 of her children came over for a couple hours this afternoon to visit...

...AND Tamera had a WONDERFUL belated birthday present for my mom!

Tamera is a very talented quilt maker and she had made a lovely quilt for my mom... :)

Isn't it amazing??? I love the color combinations she chose for the blocks--and the flower and bird border fabric...

Thank you for your thoughtful gift, Tamera. Even though it was a gift for Mother, everyone here will enjoy looking at for many years to come!

She has a name~

Meet Cosette! Pronounced "ko ZET".

(We recently listened to an audio-book classic called "Les Misérables", in which the heroine was called Cosette--thus the name.)

It's very late...

...so this will be extremely short.

My family and I just finished watching "Pride and Prejudice" for the very first time! My mother had thought it was a movie quite different from how it turned out to be, so we had avoided it all this time until a neighbor said she thought we'd really like it...

We enjoyed it (what a happy ending--a double wedding!), although I felt so very sorry for that poor Mr. Bennet--to have to live with that wife of his (she reminded me so much of the woman described in Proverbs 27:15!)

With the Lords' help, may we ladies all have wisdom in the things we say and do each day, and may those who live with us not have to suffer because of our foolishness and lack of responsibility!

What would be a good thing to say...

...when you find a blog that's so interesting that it sucks you in and you stay there for half of an hour reading it?

How about:

My brother, Jacob, found this cartoon in a magazine recently and I just had to share it with you all! :)

It was so lovely, it seemed like spring!

It nearly reached 40 degrees (above zero!) today and when I went outside to check on our little kid this afternoon, it truly felt like spring. :)

This morning, I was up and about before the others and decided to head outside to take some letters to the mailbox and to get some snow pictures (along with the kid pictures I shared earlier)...

Anybody want to go on the merry-go-round? You'd best bring your tall snow-boots!
Cheerio was ready for her breakfast...

This is our cozy home--our little house on the prairie!

We are so blessed here on our peaceful (most of the time) farm! I especially cherish this time of year when we have more family time and time to rest--and time to work on projects and such...

I pray that you are enjoying and benefiting from this season in your life as well.

"Time is a very precious gift from God; so precious that it's only given to us moment by moment." ~Amelia Barr

Our kid~

Sadly, when we went out to the barn this morning, we found only 1 live kid. The other apparently got stepped on during the night. :(

I took some pictures of the live kid (she doesn't have a name yet) and her mother, Gail to share with you now...

I just love her long ears!

Our kids~

What a wonderful day this has been!

This evening, after just getting started with chores, Andrew called to me and said he heard little kids (baby goats) bawling in the goat barn! Jacob and I dropped what we were doing and hurried to the barn. Sure enough, 2 sweet newborns were there, hungry for some colostrum/milk. Goat babies often need help getting started with nursing, and such was the case with our two little doelings. Thankfully, it's a lot warmer outside these days and we're pretty sure they'll be fine in the barn tonight. I'll try to remember to get pictures of them tomorrow to share with you all. :)

My brothers are really tired and achy tonight, as they went to Bismarck with mother today and spent most of the afternoon ice skating at a rink with the Dagley young men and some of the Geiger boys. It sounds like they had a lot of fun... I'd thought about going with them, but I had some paperwork that needed attention and thought I'd better take advantage of a quite house and work on that instead. My dad was hauling grain again today, so I truly had the whole place to myself for most of the day. I baked a crumb cake (yes, that's really the name of it) when I got tired of looking at figures and paper, paper, and more paper!

Oh yes, I smelled up the kitchen very nicely for a while too.... An advertisement from a coffee-maker company had come in the mail for me today (I'm not sure why I got that?) and with the advertisement, there was a coffee sample. As nobody in our house drinks coffee, but we all like the smell of it, I just boiled some water and added the coffee grounds to it--resulting in a wonderful aroma! :)

One other thing that brightened my day came in the form of a comment I received--from a young woman named "Cora"! I don't know of many other people who share my name, so it was so exciting to meet her!!! I've already added her family's blog (http://ourchosenheritage.blogspot.com/) to my sidebar if you'd like to check it out. Isn't it just so wonderful to meet new sisters and brothers in the Lord?

I'll leave you now with the January 13th wish from my daily calendar~

"May you always find three welcomes in life,

In a garden during summer,

At a fireside during winter,

And whatever the day or season in the kind eyes of a friend."

A busy day~

We all did chores earlier than usual this morning, as there were many things to do today...

My dad hauled 3 loads of hay home from some of our hay land (15 miles away).

Mother sent out our newsletters and taught Jacob his lessons--amongst other things, I'm sure.

Andrew worked on a tractor tire problem for a while.

Jacob did his lessons and worked/played with his snap-circuits set.

My day involved driving to Dawson to pick up the Azure order; then going to Napoleon to put money in the bank; and after that, I went to Helen's to help with her daycare children (she had 11 there today). I helped the children assemble paper snowmen; cuddled the babies when it was nap time; read stories at story time; untangled Jaeda's hair when it got caught in a toy; and helped Helen with whatever she needed help with. When I got home at 4:00, there was still time enough to bake bread and make a pizza for supper. I just love the smell of bread baking, don't you?

It was a busy day, but one well lived!

"Today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness

and every tomorrow a vision of hope..."

Coming soon--Our annual newsletter!

I spent most of my afternoon helping Mother with our annual family-update letter. It's going to get out later than we'd like, but hopefully the old saying, "Better late than never" is true in this case!

We're doing two versions--one that we print out and send to friends that sent us letters, and another that we'll send in an e-mail to other friends and acquaintances we'd like to keep in touch with.

I was working on arranging a LOT of pictures in the computer version of the letter (which gets to be a lot longer than the paper version, as we don't have to pay for postage!) When I was finally finished, our newsletter filled 23 pages!!! Sadly, Andrew says we'll have to cut some things out so that it doesn't take forever for our friends to be able to receive it...

If you would like to be one of the receivers of this picture-full family letter, and if you don't mind that it will take a while to come into your inbox (!), you can let me know at: corabeth87@gmail.com and I'll add you to our list. :)

Looking through all those pictures today helped me to realize once again how we truly have a very wonderful and interesting life here in North Dakota! The Lord is so good to us!!!

Happy birthday, Hannah~

Today is my blogging friend, Hannah's birthday! If you have a moment, I'm sure she'd love to hear from you.

Happy birthday, Hannah!!! May God bless you richly today.

~THE BEST IS YET TO BE~

Sometimes I wonder what is best
in the way that I should go.
Sometimes I really struggle
because I really want to know.
I want God's will, but it is hard
to know what's right for me,
But 'midst these thoughts I firmly feel
--the best is yet to be.

"I know the plans I have for you,"
I hear my Savior say;
"Plans to prosper, not to harm you,
if you willingly obey.
Listen closely, I will tell you,
look around and you will see,
Things look dark for now, I know,
--but the best is yet to be."

This will, this plan, God has for me
may not be what I think.
I can struggle, I can fight it,
from my duty I may shrink.
But no peace will be my pillow,
and my dreams will not be free
'Til I yield my own desirings,
--'cause the best is yet to be.

There is beauty in this trusting,
my life with riches He can fill.
I know the best, God's best for me,
is being in His perfect will.
God's will is the best for now,
but there's a better best for me---
There's a heaven in my vision,
--and the best is yet to be!

~by Jane Eberly

"It" is--a Ficus elastica plant! :)

Or, more commonly known as, a rubber plant! The green in the picture was one of the giant leaves and the red was actually a new leaf, all curled up!

My brother, Andrew found the following information about rubber plants on Wikipedia and I thought you might like to read it as well:

"Ficus elastica, also called the rubber fig, rubber bush, rubber plant, or Indian rubber bush is a species of plant in the fig genus, native to northeast India (Assam), south to Indonesia (Sumatra and Java).

It is a fat bush in the banyan group of figs, growing to 30–40 metres (98–130 ft) (rarely up to 60 metres/200 feet) tall, with a stout trunk up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) diameter. The trunk develops aerial and buttressing roots to anchor it in the soil and help support heavy branches. It has broad shiny oval leaves 10–35 centimetres (3.9–14 in) long and 5–15 centimetres (2.0–5.9 in) broad; leaf size is largest on young plants (occasionally to 45 centimetres/18 inches long), much smaller on old trees (typically 10 centimetres/3.9 inches long). The leaves develop inside a sheath at the apical meristem, which grows larger as the new leaf develops. When it is mature, it unfurls and the sheath drops off the plant. Inside the new leaf, another immature leaf is waiting to develop.

As with other members of the genus Ficus, the flowers require a particular species of fig wasp to pollinate it in a co-evolved relationship. Because of this relationship, the rubber plant does not produce highly colourful or fragrant flowers to attract other pollinators. The fruit is a small yellow-green oval fig 1 centimetre (0.39 in) long, barely edible; it will only contain viable seed where the relevant fig wasp species is present.

In part of India, humans guide the roots of the tree over chasms to eventually form living bridges."

I'm pretty sure our little houseplant will never grow large enough to be considered a tree (or to have barely-edible fruit on it), but it's fun to find out that, given the right environment (more room and sunshine...), it might!

My family and I all enjoyed reading the great guesses on this mystery picture...! You have wonderful imaginations. :)

The matter is settled...

I am now the shortest member of our family! :) My dad dug out the piece of sheet-rock that we've used to measure on since Jacob was 3 or so and we discovered that our suspicions

were indeed a reality--that Jacob is now taller than I am. He's pretty happy!

I thought I'd share a picture here of the snow on our deck... (It was taken from the inside of our patio door--looking to the outside.) Anyone want to volunteer to push snow?

The above picture reminds me of the snow song in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers":

"In November the snow starts to fly--piling up, ankle high.

By December it's up to your knee--still a brides a bride to be.

January, higher still--to the parlor windowsill!

February finds a drift, and a storm that seems never to lift.

March comes in like a lion--what else? Still the snow never melts...

April showers will come so they say, but they don't, and it's May.

You're about to forget the whole thing--all at once, one day it's Spring!!!"

It looks like we have a ways to go before it's Spring here in North Dakota!

~~~~~~~

My dad thought of a good mystery picture to share today, so here it is:

What is the red "Thing" and what is the green "Thing" in this photo?

I'll post any comments that contain guesses in them tomorrow night. :)

I have something else I'd like to show you before I head for bed...

This morning, when the milking was nearly done, my dad brought me tidings of a present that he found for me while doing his chores. We quickly went and got "It" and hauled it into the heated milk room...

Want to guess what it was?

Well, I won't make you wait for tomorrow night to see the answer to this one and will show you now. :)

Yes--another one of my stock cows (Lydia by name) had a baby, right in a big, fluffy snow bank!!! I thanked the Lord over and over that my baby is alive and well, as it was 26 degrees below zero at the time of his birth! I'm so glad Dad found the little guy when he did!!! I spent a couple hours drying him off and getting him warmed up (with the help of 2 heaters), and then Dad carried him down to the barn where Lydia was and she's taking good care of him now.

I'm just so GLAD that my little bull is alright!

"Thank you, God, for this blessing!!!"