Sunday, September 30, 2012

VOLLEY BALL!

We did do a lot of work today (my dad finished combining the South cornfield; my mom and Jacob dug some potatoes and she and I made a huge fall display and also picked a lot of the tomatoes and all of the peppers; Andrew combined until about 7:00; I went out to the big dirt pile by the trench that was dug for rocks in the cornfield and brought a couple half-loads in to the yard to fill in some ruts and holes in the driveway; Jacob hauled a load of water to the cows.....) and then this evening, our friends----Lauretta, Sarena, Josephine, Thaddaeus, and Jonas came over and played volleyball for 4 hours!  Andrew, Sarena, and Jonas also did some shooting/sighting in a rifle.   It's fun having friends to play games with.  :)

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Peaceful day at home...

Outside of the wind being blusterous (which was nice in a way, as then we didn't have to haul more than 1 load of water to the cows), it was a quite day.  We slept in; read for a while in Pastor Princes' book on God's grace; my brothers and I played a 2 hour long game of "Automobile"; my folks took naps; we practiced volleyball some more; then watched a movie this evening.  It was nice to be all together again after being so spread out all week......

Friday, September 28, 2012

Pie for the main course and pizza for dessert! Hmmm...

'Twas a busy day, as usual.   Jacob helped my dad with figuring out what was wrong with the combine this morning (thankfully, it didn't take too long to get it in working order again), then the 4 of us loaded up all but 2 of our goats and, after an early lunch, my mom and Jacob headed over to our neighbors' place to pick up the goats they wanted to sell, and then went to Mandan, not to return home until chores time this evening.  They brought a surprise home for me (even though I'm paying for it ;)  ) 8 new fish for my aquarium.   They did other things up there as well, so I hear, and my mom was glad to have Jacob along to do a lot of the driving (she's not too fond of pulling trailers around, although she did do the driving in Bismarck).

Andrew was, like the new usual, gone all day.  He's now caught the cold Jacob had and was awfully miserable all day he said.  He has tomorrow off before going back to work on Sunday again. 

My dad (who also caught "The" cold---thankfully my mom and I have been able to avoid it, so far) and I kept the farm running.  Right after lunch, my dad emptied the white truck (which had corn on it), took the back wall off of the truck, then we both worked together (eventually we got the loader) to get the big 1,600 gallon water tank on the truck bed, strapping it into position.  My dad showed me how to use the water pump too.  He then went down to Kintyre and paid $5 to get a load of water to haul up to the cows.  The wind hasn't been blowing much lately and, consequently, the windmill hasn't been able to keep the tank full for the cows and they don't like drinking the stale water from the swamp/lakes anymore (I don't blame them!).  My dad hauled that load up, then filled another load in Kintyre.  I had said I was willing to take it up there, so he stopped in at the farm here and I took the next load up while he went to Napoleon to fill the gas cans, as we're out, once again, and will need gas for future water-hauling, possibly...   My trip was uneventful and the water-pump started for me on the 2nd pull, so I was glad about that!  It only took about 15 minutes to empty the water-tank, versus a much longer wait without the pump. 

When I got home, I rolled up my sleeves (literally, as it was quite warm and I found I did not need long sleeves) and set to work: dusting; organizing; watering house-plants; vacuuming; sweeping; scrubbing; laundering; taking the garbage out; and cooking: Chicken Pot PIE, apple/buttercup squash/brown sugar dish, and fruit PIZZA for dessert.  I wasn't able to finish the pizza until Mom got home with the cream cheese though.  :)  She did more laundry upon her arrival, plus she and Jacob did the chores.  Our poor 2 remaining goats seemed quite lost all day, wondering where all of their friends went to?

It was also a good day for the exciting event next weekend---our next Project Appleseed event!  Two more people signed up officially and several more said today that they're planning to come, so that is fun news!  So far, for teachers, we'll have our friend and Shoot Boss, Alex; our friend and brother, Andrew; and 2 people from MN that we've never met but that want to come see our range and help out.    We're praying a lot for nice weather and, so far, the days have been just lovely, so there's hope.  There's always hope.  With God, nothing is impossible!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Corn harvest...

My dad started combining our corn this afternoon, after he and Jacob got some grain moved around in bins so as to be able to put the corn "on air".  Things were going well until something on the "New" used JD combine started making a peculiar noise.  It was nearly dark by that time, so I gave Jacob a ride down to the field to bring the white truck back to the farmyard and my dad brought the combine in.  I had supper ready, but the guys didn't come in for a while and, when they did, they said they'd put out some smoldering dust that was on the combine in a place where they can't figure out how it even could get a spark?  I'm so glad they smelled it!

My mom was in Bismarck all day working and just got home a couple minutes after Andrew did.  Andrew was home "Early" though (around 9:00), as they got rained out over there!  It only sprinkled a smidgen here.

I babysat again today.  We spent a good deal of time outside this morning, as it was so warm and still.  The girls took extra long naps too and, as I found out "Facing the Giants"was playing on one of the movie channels, and seeing as I haven't seen that in a long long time, I watched the whole thing before Tracy Jo woke up (as I said, they took long naps!). 

We have decided to sell most of our goats and just keep 2 for milking.  Everyone's just so much more busy than we used to be and the goats aren't getting fenced like they should and we really don't need a dozen goats to provide milk for our family.  Somebody here will haul them up to Mandan tomorrow for the dairy sale the following day.   The guys thought we should sell all the goats, but the thought of buying milk is a hard one to swallow, so I think Mom and I'll take turns doing the milking...like we mainly have been anyways.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Picking apples...

My mom came over to where I work this afternoon and helped pick the apples that Paula said she didn't want/need.  Johanna helped for a while, and sat on the blanket with Tracy Jo and ate an apple for a while, then played ball.....  Tracy Jo just sat and watched and cooed and smiled, then we took turns entertaining her when she got tired of just sittin'.  When we had all of our apples, they seemed a burden, but now that they're all put up and gone, it's nice to have apples again.   My mom finally got to meet Paula too, when she came home from work.  :)

When we got home, we juiced some of the apples for supper, then enjoyed the swiss steak and baked potatoes my mom had made for our supper.  I started some bread sponging then, as Andrew had said this morning that he'd need bread before tomorrow morning to make his lunch with....  It's rising in the pans now, so maybe it will be done when Andrew gets home from combining?

My dad and Jacob have been working on the combine again and just about have it ready to go, they think. 

Last night, my dad was the last one to get to bed, and he was just heading for bed when he looked out the patio door and saw one of our neighbors' goat bucklings on the deck.   Our neighbors came and got him right away when my dad called, even though it was late.  Then, this morning, there was another buckling in with our goat herd.  SO, they came over again.  Those goats sure can have a mind of their own at times!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Little girls...

Author: Karen Barnes
Little girls are made of daisies and butterflies and soft kitty cat purrs
And all the precious memories of times that once were.

Little girls are made of angel's wings and giggles and a firefly's glow
And all the happy feelings, deep inside, that we all know.

Little girls are made of cinnamon and bubbles and fancy white pearls
And snowflakes and rainbows and ballerina twirls.

Little girls are made of sunshine and cupcakes and fresh morning dew,
And these are the reasons, little one, why everyone loves you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I enjoyed my day spent with Zach and Paula's precious little girls once again!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Practice, practice, practice...

That's what Jacob and I did this evening, with our volleyball.  :) 
 
  My parents are in Bismarck right now, as they both decided to see the chiropractor, and then had a special supper for two at the Ground Round. 

  Andrew is still combining for Stan.  He's putting in some very long days!

  My dad also took a load of our wheat up to Harvey this morning, then went to Napoleon to get parts for our combine.

  My mom and Jacob did some schoolwork.

   I dug one row of potatoes (and dug up the rest of the sweet potatoes), then it was so hot out that I washed my car to cool off.  I made a carrot cake this morning and hash browns (from scratch) for lunch.  I also pulled out the flowers that died in the big freeze. 

  And that, was how we spent our day.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Ups and downs...

It was a very beautiful day, weatherwise.  It wasn't so nice though, in that my dad turned funny while fixing the combine header and now can hardly walk upright, due to hip pain.  Please pray for him.  I hope he can get in to see a chiropractor tomorrow...

Andrew just got home from a very full day of combining for Stan.  Jacob worked on the combine header a good portion of the day.   My dad (sore hip and all) went and did some baling for a farmer by Napoleon who wanted his flax baled in big squares. 

My mom and I cleaned up the kitchen (and listened to one of Mrs. Victoria Botkins' messages that a friend is loaning to us) and did some work around the house/garden.  I oiled (to keep mold from growing) some zucchini, patty-pan, acorn, and buttercup squashes and hauled them downstairs.  We made some yummy fresh carrot/apple juice in my mom's juicer.  I dug up half of the sweet potatoes I planted this Spring and peeled/cooked them.  I watered the houseplants (and my fish), as I didn't have time to do that on Friday.....Just things like that.  

Oh yes, I also registered my mom, myself, and a friend for the "Impact" class being held in Bismarck in February.  One of the teachers of this self-defense-techniques class told my mom that the classes fill up very quickly (the December one is already full), so we should preregister if we were sure we wanted to attend, so we did.   We've been wanting to take a class like this for a while now, just because it's good knowledge/skills to have.  February seems like such a long time from now, but I'm sure that the time will fly by quickly as we keep busy with the work God has for us to do! 

Yesterday was a special day, spent with so many friends in the Alfred church, friends that we hadn't seen for quite some time.  One young woman, Makayla, (who moved to Colorado 3+ years ago) came back this year for Harvest of Thanks, so it was extra special to get caught up with her, and to be blessed by her sisterly-encouragement/advice as well.    The afternoon musical program lasted more than 3 hours, and there were so many neat songs to listen to.  I think my favorite was a trombone solo, although the youth choir song was very neat as well...    My mom, Andrew, and I sang a song together and Mom and I played a piano duet.  Later, a friend took us over to give a tour of the old school building and showed how they'd redone it to make it a home/hospitality place.  It was fun to listen to music on the old Juke-Box and to play Foosball (and some of us played Ping-Pong as well).  They even have their own stage, complete with the original curtains.  :)   We were glad to have our friend, Lauretta come with us too.     The food was all very yummy, the fellowship delightful, and the sun set far too quickly........and we came home.  Thankfully, we didn't see any deer, although there was a young coyote by the side of the road when we turned onto Hwy. 34.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Friday, September 21, 2012

I picked the last rose of Summer...


The guys said they heard it's supposed to freeze hard tonight and tomorrow night, so Mom and I picked several things from the garden and got our onions in from the deck (and I hauled in my dwarf fruit trees too), and covered some.  We're also running the sprinkler all night on the tomatoes and peppers, so hopefully that will keep the frost off.  It's worked in the past....

It was a busy day, as I thought it would be and yes, we did all wake up this morning (thank you Lord!) .  :)  My dad hauled 2 loads of wheat up to Harvey and got paid right away.  Yay!  My mom and Jacob dug a bunch of potatoes and got them boiling for potato salad that we're taking along tomorrow to Harvest of Thanks at Alfred.  My mom also washed the inside of the Pacifica and Jacob pressure-washed the outside, then Mom scrubbed it down some more.  When I got home around 5:30 from babysitting, I boiled some eggs to go in the potato salad and then helped Mom and Jacob get the sides on the white truck so it can be used to haul/hold grain.  We did it wrong the first time, so had to take the sides off again and switch them around.  Oops.  I also made a new recipe called "Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars" and, once you get them out of the pan, they are very good.  I made a large pan to take along tomorrow (don't worry....I'll take them out of the pan before taking them) and we nearly finished off the small pan for supper.   Andrew was busy from early this morning until late tonight, combining for that farmer.  He actually had planned to be home an hour earlier than he was, but the clock in the combine was set an hour slow, so he didn't realize how late it was actually getting!  We had a very late supper.....    That gave my mom and I a chance to practice the piano duet we plan to play tomorrow though.   

I'd better get some sleep. 

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Scattered...

That's what we were today.

My dad drove up to a place near Harvey and bought a corn-head for the combine he bought at the auction last Friday.   When he got it home, he and Jacob got it hooked up to the combine and turned it on to see what all needs to be done before it will be field-worthy.  Later still, those 2 loaded the semi with a load of our Organic wheat which my dad plans to deliver up to the mill in Harvey tomorrow.

My mom was in Bismarck all day, seeing a bunch of clients and getting some supplies at Sams.  She arrived home a little after 9:00 this evening.

Andrew went over to a farmer's place (Stan N.) to start on helping him with the harvest.  Last year, Andrew ran the grain-cart for this same farmer for several weeks, and this year, he gets to drive the brand new combine instead, so he's pleased.  They're harvesting corn currently, but he'll be busy with sunflower harvest there too.  He arrived home around 10:00 this evening.

Jacob, as I said, helped my dad quite a bit, but he also helped me with some dishes and things in the house, and did the evening chores.

I spent the morning over caring for "My" little girls, then came home around 2:00 and made 2 ice-cream pails full of Pickle Pail Pickles; baked 2 apple/blackberry pies; made spaghetti and meat/tomato sauce for supper; and put away the herbs we'd dried in the dehydrators.  After supper and dishes were done, and after talking to a couple people on the phone for a while, I played piano.  :)

Tomorrow (Lord willing that we all wake up and everything ;) ) promises to be just as full.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

PS.

Here's a video a friend shared that made me laugh.  I hope it brings at least a smile to your face as well.  ;)
 

Babysitting and a violin lesson...

My dad hauled another load of sunflowers over to Enderlin for a farmer today.  My mom worked at home.  The boys, well, I don't even know what they were up to, but I'm sure they were busy.

I enjoyed Johanna and Tracy Jo, seeing how much they'd changed again since I'd been there last.  Johanna is in the process of being potty-trained and is doing quite well.  Tracy Jo pulls herself up to standing by grabbing onto any thing and everyone.  They are so fun.   

Once I was done there, I went over to visit Lauretta for a while and to take her some things.  Also, she had offered to give me violin lessons whenever it worked out to do so, so she played piano and I screeched along with one of their violins.  She's taught several of her sisters to play well, so I have hopes that she can teach me too.  :)  I'd started playing violin about 10 years ago, when I had a friend who played, but then I got started on the piano and played that instead.  It's always good to learn something new though!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Garden harvest...

 
My dad hauled grain today for a farmer, then worked on his semi when he got home. 
Andrew worked in the shop on projects, and also fixed the hydrant down by the barn so it stops spraying water everywhere, plus, he cut off the extra rope on the swings and melted the ends with a torch...
 Jacob helped Mom and I a lot with garden harvest.  We filled one dehydrator with basil and one with parsley...
 I transplanted a couple of ivy plants and my banana plant I had out in the greenhouse (things that wouldn't over-Winter out there) and now my room should have more oxygen in it.  ;)
 We pulled/dug out all of our onions today and put them on blankets on the deck to cure for a few days...
 We have way more crookneck squashes than we know what to do with, and the patty pans did pretty well too...
 I raised Anasazi sweet corn this year.  This is what it looks like (these will be for seed)...
 The cucumbers in this picture will also be for saving seed, as well as the broccoli pods on the left side of the picture (they're still on the stems).  The acorn squash are for eating...
 We had more parsley than would fit in the dehydrator, so we dried 2 pans of it at a low temp. in the oven for a couple hours...
It was a good day!   I don't have a picture, but Jacob and I also put up some snow-fence by the fence that is behind our volleyball court so that the ball quits rolling through when people, um, miss it.  ;)
  Tomorrow, I get to go see how much "My" little girls have grown since I saw them last!!!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Ketchup OR sauce for chicken? That is the question!

I made the GAPS cookbook variation of ketchup on Friday and made the Heavenly Homemakers' ketchup recipe (first I picked a kettle-full of tomatoes, took the skins off, ground them up, then boiled the tomato sauce down and down and down until it was paste) today, and then Mom and I made a batch of fresh-from-the-garden-potato-french-fries to eat with all that ketchup.   :)  The guys said that both ketchup recipes tasted pretty much the same, and neither, sadly, tasted like "The real thing", but they did like it a lot on the chicken we also had for supper and said it almost tasted like barbecued chicken that way.  SO, I'm still on the lookout for a ketchup recipe that tastes like "KETCHUP" should.  Hmmmmm....  I wonder what they all put in that stuff?  I wonder if it's the corn syrup they put in there that makes it taste the way it does and, if that is the case, then my efforts are in vain, as I won't be putting corn syrup in ketchup I make at home.  It's just that bad for a person!

Other than that, I also baked bread today; made a pizza with white sauce/turkey/cheese on top; and we made some apple-cardamom stuffing to go inside our chicken at supper time.  I also picked a bunch of peppers and my mom saved some seeds from them and then cut up the peppers and froze them for later use. 

The guys were busy in the shop and Andrew's nearly done with his 4-wheeler project (he was driving it around today).  My dad went to town to put checks in the bank and to get some supplies/parts?  Mom and Jacob also unofficially started school today. 

It was cool outside and felt like, well, Fall.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Rain

I went out and turned off the sprinkler this afternoon as it began to rain!  It's been so long..... 

The guys spent a good portion of the day bringing the combine and auger home from the sale they attended last Friday. 

Mother and I had a relaxed, lazy day, and cleaned out our 2 refrigerators thoroughly.  :)  I also did some reorganizing in my room.  My mom did a session on the phone, and we did tons of dishes and washed jars for future canning.  We listened to North & South for part of the time as we worked.  As I said, it was a peaceful day, working as we watched it rain.  

Saturday, September 15, 2012

More target practice...

Mom, Andrew and I, as well as our friend, Joyce S. from Washington had fun in the sun, shooting at targets down at the range.  It had been years since Mrs. S. had shot a gun, so she (I think) really enjoyed the experience and did quite well.    Her mom (whom we rent several acres of farmland from) was also along and watched us.  They stayed for supper too and left just as it was getting dark out.  The rest of us then practiced some volleyball....  :)

Friday, September 14, 2012

Some went to Jamestown, others stayed home...

South of Jamestown, I guess it was...   All of our guys went to a huge consignment auction sale over there and came back with some "Small" stuff (meaning you could fit it in a pickup box or on Andrew's trailer).  They also bought a combine and an auger, which they'll have to get another day.   They were amazed by how many people they knew there who'd come from far and wide to attend the sale.

My mom and I spent the day cooking, cleaning, laundering, and getting caught up on paperwork/letter writing.  We also restrung several rows of sticky fly-tape in the goat barn (a very messy job!), which fills up so quickly it's unbelievable! 

AND, we spent some time haveing fun, practicing the one piano duet we may be playing over at the Alfred church next Saturday at the "Harvest of Thanks" celebration there.  Want to come hear us?  ;)  (http://www.churchofgodalfred.com/)  Everyone's welcome.~

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Try, try again...

We've tried several recipes for making homemade ketchup, all to nobody's complete satisfaction.  So, I'm trying yet another recipe right now, the recipe from my mom's "GAPS" cookbook.  I'll let you know later how we liked it.  :)

Mom and Andrew spent most of the day in Bismarck and are probably still there, as they attended the constitution class up there as well and then Andrew went to look at a computer that was for sale too.  My dad hauled hay home again.  Jacob took it easy and did some things around the house.  I went over and babysat Johanna and Tracy Jo until a little after 3, then came home and started on the ketchup and baked some ginger cookies.  I also boiled some potatoes and eggs and made potato salad for supper to go with the fry sausage and sauerkraut I fried.  Then, Jacob and I did some dishes to get the kitchen back in order after all of that. 

Random farm fact of the day:  The goats are giving more milk these days for some reason, so our kitties are happier, as we actually have some milk to spare now. 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Plum jelly it is...

I had just enough wild plums to make 6 pints of jelly.   It set up nicely with the apple pectin I used.

My dad and Jacob went to Big Iron in Fargo for most of the day.  Jacob's been wanting to go for years and years, so I was glad he felt up to going this morning!  Andrew decided to stay home and work on the 101 projects he has going....  He would have liked to have gone, but you just can't always do the things you'd like to do.   The 2 that went came home talking about a combine thats auger is so long that it has to bend over again to fold up.

Mom and I worked around the house and I picked more garden produce.  We finished the last of the apples today (we made our favorite cooked apple/walnut/coconut oil/honey mixture) and I hauled the rest of the apples that were under the tree (all mushy and yucky) to the goats and turkeys.  I picked the ripe tomatoes again, and also picked the small handful of Concord grapes that grew on one of the grapevines I planted this spring. 

My mom spent some time reading in her new "Metabolism book" (I don't remember the name of it right off hand), and we wrote out a few more invites to our Appleseed event, as we thought of more people we wanted to invite......     And, we washed/folded more laundry; got the sprinkler running in the garden and, later, the volleyball area again; cooked and ate healthy meals; and helped Andrew load the boys' snowmobile onto his pickup so he can sell it tomorrow to someone in Bismarck.

OH, and we looked at plans online for building an outhouse (for down by our shooting range).    ;)


 

A long day...

I did the morning chores before heading over to care for "My" little girls again.  Tracy Jo is changing so much in just a few days time!   She pulls herself up on everything and once this afternoon, she'd grabbed onto my skirt and pulled herself up to standing position, then let go for a brief second and was standing by herself for the shortest moment before grabbing on again.   Johanna is so fun too...  When she woke up from her nap, after greeting me, she says "Where's Tacy?"  I told her that her sister was sleeping.  She proceeds to say in a loud voice, "Tacy, where are you?"  It wasn't long before Tracy wasn't sleeping anymore....

After arriving home a little before 6:00, my mom headed out to do the chores and asked me to make an omelet, so I did that and set the table (and cut some more watermelon).  The guys all came in then (except Jacob was already in, as he's battling a nasty cold and has been resting a lot the last 3 days) and we ate quickly, then all (except Jacob) headed for Hazelton, to listen to Mr. Brown from MT give another constitution class/talk.  We visited for a few hours after that with those who came, and some friends gave us a tour of their body-armor-manufacturing shop, which was very interesting!  We could have hit a few deer on the way home, but didn't, and now we're heading for bed.  :) 

I don't work away from home tomorrow, so am hoping to make some jelly from a certain kind of fruit that I picked yesterday.  Anyone want to guess what kind?

Monday, September 10, 2012

Threshing Bee pictures from Saturday...

I've been working on uploading these throughout the evening, so there's quite a number of pictures!  Enjoy~
 
Andrew and I picked up our L. friends and their puppy and took them with to the Threshing Bee....
 
 Sarena and her adorable puppy...
 Left to right: Thaddaeus, Andrew, Lauretta, Sarena, and Andrew....
 Andrew, trying to start the tractor that he later drove through the parade for a neighbor...
 Alan getting his machine working...
 This neat old car had to be pushed down that same hill in order to get it started...
 Kory B. pulling his old tool display through the parade...
 Our Senator, Mr. Erbele...
Dave D....
 Andrew (my brother), going through the parade...
 Zach M....
 Lauretta really liked this old truck...
 This small (but working) model threshing machine was run by...
 ...this small, but operatable tractor!
The large smokestack off of the huge furnace...
 Andrew and Thaddaeus, running the corn husker...
 And a picture from another angle...
 
Rock crushing...
 A planer (I think?)...
 This machine made small wood chips...
 The big sawmill was one of the most interesting things to watch...
 They ended up with boards...
 ...after starting with large logs...
 This gentleman was covered in soot!
 AND, they had a couple threshing machines working...
 
 Sarena's puppy was popular with several people...
 If you look closely, you can see Andrew and Thaddaeus watching the threshing...
 Lauretta, Sarena, Andrew L. and I walked through all of the buildings and enjoyed seeing all of the old things, like this radio...

 The little church...
 They said I was the teacher in the schoolhouse, although I had it pretty easy, with only 4 students to teach!
 
And yes, the 10 commandments were posted in the schoolroom.  :)
 The sisters, escaping from the schoolroom by means of 2 different doors...
 The old farmhouse was neat too...
 This loom was in the living room...
 "Babys" room...
 A boys' room...
 And, of course, a girls' room...
 The cream separator that was at the foot of the steps...
 The old hand pump...
 The dining area...
 
This neat old clock was in the post office...
 We finally ended up in the printing press room...
 They printed these pages using the great big printing press, run by a man who ran that very machine as a youngster.
 More printing...
 One of the rows of tractors...
 Army jeeps...
 Up in the pole-buildings, there was music and food...
 ...and a "Flea market"...
We sat in the shade and played with the puppy (that's Thaddaeus) for a while before heading to the L's home... 
 We stayed there until well past dark, playing games and making music together, and talking, but before all of that, we visited the horses.... 
 The old grey mare (who I rode that one time) came right up to me and gave me a "Hug" (in other words, she wrapped her neck around me so I could give her a hug.)  I wonder if she remembered me or if she's just super friendly to everyone?  :)
 Andrew, playing with one of the little ones...
 Sarena said Andrew could hop on a horse, if he wanted to, so he gave it a try with one she suggested.  That didn't last long, as the horse was a bit on the bucky side.  He was up to trying it again though, so she held the horses' nose down and walked/ran along side of it, but it still was rambunctious, obviously sensing that a "Strange" person was on his back!
 So, Andrew hopped off again...
 Sarena jumped on, and the horse galloped a bit, then was fine....
 Meanwhile, I was "Babysitting"...   The puppy found my skirt most amusing!
 Lauretta...
 Andrew decided to give the puppy a ride as well....  Thankfully, his trip was less adventurous than Andrew's was.  ;)
 
The end.