Good night!

I'm heading for bed with my friend, the Mustard Plaster! Will I be totally well by morning? I hope so. :)

Surprises!!!

There were two highlights to this day, well, maybe more, but for sure two!

Mom and Andrew went to Bismarck, Mom to do sessions for clients and Andrew to run around and get some supplies (seed, the Quonset door spring that the guys had special made, ammunition for the Appleseed shoot at Dagleys, computer parts at State Surplus and a thrift store, etc...).

Meanwhile, Dad and Jacob spent the day working on making sure the farm machinery is ready to roll. They had to go to Kintyre and Napoleon for parts/supplies also...

I kept the home fires burning, so to speak, (made "Indian Fried Bread" to go with our vegetable soup at lunch and then tried a new recipe which produced a very dense chocolate cake...) and also took a nap (thank you for your prayers for my quick recovery from this nasty bug!) Then I went out to the greenhouse and weeded and watered for an hour before supper.

While out there, I found one of the two surprises----an Indian arrow head! This is a pretty small one, so I'm guessing it was used for small game, perhaps gophers? :) This is the first time I've ever found one, so I was excited and had to go show the guys. (For those of you who may not know, this rock was probably fashioned by a native American many years ago for the purpose of inserting in the end of an arrow--a stick--binding it there, and using it to hunt with.)

At chores tonight, we caught ourselves another bottle calf! That sounds funny, I know, but that's what we did. To explain, there's been a little calf (we're not sure who the mother is) who keeps crawling in with the milk cows and it drinks from Andrew's young milk cow, Suzie. We caught it the other day and put it back out with the main cattle herd, only to have it be back in with Suzie the next morning, stealing milk. So, we've decided to put it in the barn with our other bottle calf and raise it that way.

I checked on the kittens tonight. Their eyes are open now and they are so roly-poly! So cute!

While Jacob was out feeding Lydia some grain and Dad was still feeding the cows their hay, I played with my kids. The girls fell asleep in my lap while one of the boys drank from its mother and the other one chewed on my finger and jacket. :)

When Mom and Andrew returned, we learned that Andrew had a surprise for Jacob and I. Of course, he hauled in everything else from the vehicle before the "Surprise", which only served to make us more curious! Finally, he said he was bringing it/them in....


He told Jacob and I that he wanted to give us something in appreciation for all the times we do chores for him while he's out grain cleaning (and also for when we'll be doing them all the time when he's gone for a week helping our organic farming friend get his crops in soon....)

He walked in with:

2 gun cases! He said, smirkingly, that he thought we'd like to have something to store our guns in. As he handed us the cases... (thank you, Mom, for taking pictures!)

we were suspicious, as they were quite heavy for just being cases! Upon further investigation...

...we each found a brand new, 10/22 semi-automatic Ruger rifle, with a scope and everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Andrew's 22' is pretty similar to these and he really likes it, so he knew we would too! Jacob was hoping to buy a semi-automatic before the Appleseed event, but his brother did it for him. Pretty nice, eh? :)

As Mom noted when she saw the smile on Andrew's face, "It truly is better to give than receive"...
I must say that receiving is pretty nice too though! ;)

"I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. "
Acts 20:35

Thank you again Andrew, ever and ever so much!!!

Heading for bed!

I drove home in the fog tonight. I'm trying to get over a cold right now and am very tired, so I think I'll go get some sleep...

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope that all mothers who are reading this had a truly wonderful day! Here is my mama, enjoying the new game we children gave to her. :) (Has anyone else played Apples to Apples--Bible edition? It's quite fun!)

(Love you Mother!)
Since I last wrote, there are a few more mothers that are enjoying their KIDS. :) My goat, Tulip had twin bucklings today:

Playing with my adorable new kid:

Also, yesterday, my goat Fay had triplets! This time, I got some girls, 2 girls and 1 boy. :) I'm hoping Fay will be able to provide enough milk for all those hungry little mouths, although they'll have to take turns drinking!

Yesterday my order of dwarf fruit trees came, so I planted them in the greenhouse today...

As I headed for the greenhouse, I snapped this picture of the guys, discussing something in their very busy shop!

Thankfully, they came over to the greenhouse then, as there was a robin who obviously got locked in over night and it wasn't finding the open door to get out. Andrew had to climb up on the barrels to catch it and then he released it outside. The following two pictures are of the animals we're "Doctoring". This calf must have got stepped on, as its shoulder seems to be out of place. It was scouring and dehydrated when we first noticed it, but now it seems to be doing well health-wise. We're not sure yet what to do about its shoulder?

This is Lydia, the cow that got stabbed with the loader bucket tooth... She's lost a lot of weight, but she is up and moving around more now, so we're hoping and praying that she'll pull through yet!

And to end: Here's a picture of Mother, enjoying somebodyelses' kids. :) (These 2 doelings were the first ones born this year.)

I wonder if there will be any more new babies in the morning???

A 1 day vacation!

As our guys are nearly done with the grain cleaning season, they decided to take the day off so we could go as a family to an auction sale of a guy my parents knew in SD... There was something big on the sale that we were interested in, but as we didn't end up buying it, I won't go into detail on that. We did find a few "Treasures" though: a heavy duty jack for the shop; several tires; some pick-axes and shovels; a fix-me-up toy for the boys; and Moms' and my favorite: a bright red hat-box full of old hats (and a wig)! We plan to take the hats to Prairie Days. I'll try and get a picture of them soon. :)

We all piled into Andrew's pickup and were down the road a couple miles when, thankfully, Dad remembered something we'd forgotten and we turned around and headed back to the farm. A cow was in labor while he'd been feeding hay and he'd left the gate open out to the pasture so we could check on her before we left, but in our haste and excitement, we'd left the farmyard without closing the gate! As we turned into our yard, I saw a SKUNK in the ditch amongst our lilac bushes, so Jacob went for his gun, while Dad saw that the cow had her calf and then closed the gate, and Andrew drove people hither and thither (Mom and I being the audience). By the time Jacob had his rifle ready, the skunk ducked under the cement slab where a garage used to be across the road, so Andrew drove us back to the house to deposit the rifle in a safe place, and we finally got going...

Later this evening, Dad was across the road feeding the bulls their oats when he saw the skunk again! He used his cell phone to call Jacob and his gun over. We're hopeful that Jacob "Got" the skunk, but don't know for sure, as there was a trail of blood, but the black and white critter did drag itself back under the cement slab before Jacob could shoot again...... Now the dogs are barking like mad. I hope it isn't the skunk they're after! Phew!

I found a surprise waiting for us in the goat barn during evening chores! YES, ONE OF OUR GOATS KIDDED!!!!!! :) She had 2 doelings, both of which are very adorable. I carried one into Mom to show her, as Mom had stayed inside to clean the house quickly before our weekly feast. She was sure surprised! I will get a picture of them tomorrow and share it here next time...

It was just such a nice day, being all together, enjoying life in the bright sunshine.

5 less gophers...

It was nice and sunny out this morning so, when Jacob and I had finished the chores, we hopped in the Ram with our 22's and went out for some gopher hunting time. We take turns shooting and then keep "Score". It went something like this:

Cora: Shot 1 bullet, got 1 gopher
Jacob: Shot 1 bullet, got 1 gopher
Cora: Shot 1 bullet, got 1 gopher
Jacob: Shot 1 bullet, got 1 gopher
Cora: Shot 1 bullet, missed 1 gopher (a long shot--no scope on rifle)
Jacob: Shot 1 bullet, got 1 gopher (a long shot--with a scope on the rifle)
Cora: Didn't see any more gophers
Jacob: Didn't either!


After we exhausted our gopher supply for the day, we returned and Jacob watered the greenhouse plants while I mixed up a batch of bread. Later, I headed for work in town, and Jacob kept the place going here, as Mom was in Bismarck and the other guys were, yes, cleaning grain.

When I got home, I had a note from Mom laying on my laptop. It said, "Cora, guess what" on the front, and the back side of the paper read: " Uncle Wallace told me that Grandpa's house sold!" What good news!

Well, that's all the news I have from today, other than that the evening nurse tonight (a new friend of ours) sent home some strawberries for my mom for a Mother's Day gift. :)

Sweet dreams!

Just a few more geese to go...

Andrew knocked on my bedroom door this morning, wondering if I'd come help catch geese. The man he was cleaning for (he and his family are friends of ours, actually) wanted to buy 4 geese, 2 pairs if possible. Sooooooo, Dad, Andrew and I ran around the farm for a while, cornering then catching the noisy white birds. Andrew hauled them in 2 kennels that we tucked in on his grain cleaning trailer wherever there was room. He said they made the journey just fine. :) Now we only have about a dozen geese left. The 5 that are setting haven't hatched anything out yet and we're beginning to wonder if they're going to?

After the grain cleaners in our family left, the remaining members of our 5-some did the morning chores. Suzie, (Andrew's milk cow heifer) is getting into the routine of things and, by the time I've got Sally in, milked her and opened the barn door to let her out, Suzie is coming in the door, headed for the stall. She doesn't give a lot of milk, due to a certain Sweet Pea (her calf), but she gives enough to feed the cats!

I was over at our neighbors' house today from 9 to 6, babysitting Amelia, James and Michael while their mom went to Bismarck and their dad was working. We ate tacos for lunch (my favorite) and had a lot of fun outside after naps were over. We blew countless bubbles and then I took them on a little-green-wagon ride. Their dog, Maggie, kept bringing sticks over to us, so I'd throw them for her and she'd usually bight the stick in half before she'd bring it back. I ended up finding some thicker sticks to throw! :)

Dad and Andrew cleaned in very different parts of ND, but they both arrived home at the exact same moment, just in time to share a cocoa milk shake before heading for bed.

Speaking of bed, perhaps I should head there myself!

Sorry, almost no post tonight!

I just got home from work in town and am tired and am getting up early in the morning to get my chores done before going babysitting, so I'll say good night!

The greenhouse effect:

This afternoon, when I finished working in the greenhouse, I kept the door open like this to keep the dogs out. Hopefully the guys will have time to build the screen doors soon too, so we can keep the white cabbage moths out as well when they show up! The reason I propped the door open, even though it was only about 50 degrees outside is that...


...at this time of day...

...it was this warm inside...

...and my camera lens even got foggy when I first went inside!

Would you like to see some of the things that we're growing?

Alright...

We're growing some cute frogs:

(not that they're growing, but they are cute, don't you think? :) )

...and there are many little weeds coming up...

...there's lettuce...

...beets...

...broccoli...

...the peas are poking out...

...so are the green beans...

...and the strawberries seem to be doing well too!

When I went out to check the cows this afternoon (Dad and Andrew were out cleaning grain again and Mom and Jacob went east of Linton to pick up a piece of farm equipment that Dad bought from a guy he cleaned for there, so the checking was up to me), I also took a picture of our curious goats: Any day now we should find some babies when we go out to the barn!

While going all over the pasture with the 4 wheeler, I took a picture of "Crocus Hill": :)

I came upon this old girl, in the process of giving birth. As I could see 2 feet and a nose, I decided to leave her alone for a few minutes...

After hauling some water out to the cow that had the surgery (she's not moving around a whole lot, so we're taking her grain, hay and water, ) I went back to check on the expectant mother and found that her expectations had turned into a reality!

And now here is a picture of the first batch of bread I've made using my Kitchen Aid. It turned out quite well. :)

This evening, I went over to our neighbors (not the ones I usually babysit for, but the ones I occasionally do :) ) for a couple hours to watch their children so the mother could go to a prayer meeting. Mr. S. and their oldest boy, Tucker were out taking care of their many head of cattle, so I just had their 4 year old, 3 year old and 6 month old to entertain, or should I say, to entertain me. The baby was very good and the other two talked and talked and talked and talked. :) It was fun. It would have been nice to be able to fly tonight though, as the road from our place to the S's farm is under water right now, so I had to drive about 7 or 8 miles to get to their place, where as, if I could have flown, I would have only had about a mile and a half to go. It was an adventure this way though, as I'd only been on that windy road one time a long time ago, so now I know my way around a little better.

That was our day, in a nutshell, so to speak. Until tomorrow then,

~Cora

~God Leads His Dear Children Along~

I like the many pictures on this version:



But I prefer the singing on this video: Either way, this hymn is such a blessing to me and I hope it will be to you also!