Country Folk...

So lambs tails got banded anyway, told you when girls got home we'd do it.

We band the tails to prevent problems later in life such as issues with lambing and disease. For hygiene reasons short tails are necessary. It pinches them for a few minutes but they get up and take off after their moms shortly after that. Tails will fall off in a 2 or 3 weeks.

I was the one banding as girls brought me lambs so no pictures, sorry.

But ...

this is a supermarket food display rack we were given few years ago. The kids love running up and down it and diving off the top. When we wean them we'll put them in another area that has 2 back to back and some large electric spools to climb on. The lambs don't bother with any of it when the lambs & kids are put together after weaning. The kids climb the hay elevator in the background too. So far noone has bailed out at the top. We did have 2 nannies climb it and it tipped down with their weight so they bailed off at the bottom before it bounced back up and never climbed it again.

This is a homemade feeder for the goats made of a cow trough and baby crib panels for the hay rack.

We had the parts (trough from previous roping steers, crib panels picked up free left at auction) so it was free to assemble and works ok. I wish the kids would stay out of it

but they only do this when they are young. Table in the background was my Dads' he left with me when he moved out of state. It's heavy steel with a thick plexiglass top.

Nannies love to sleep on the shelf and on top too.

Aces' halter breaking is still going but very slowly. LN pulls trying to keep his head up

while R gives a lil bit of assistance.

Uh -Oh ,the coat is off. LN means business now!

Put a round bale to cows to finish a full night of animal chores. I kinda scraped paint off SIL S2's truck cab

while I was trying to push hay bale off truck flat bed with the tractor bale spike. 

It was half dark. He didn't seem worried, said it was a farm truck so ...

Gotta love country folks don't cha ? 

Basking

Basking in the sun, ignoring the wind ,waiting on tails to be docked.

What a life!

Need to dehorn kids too!

Maybe tomorrow...

My whole body aches today so I'm checking out of all but normal chores.

Of course when R and LN come home that might change

and I need a round bale for cows in arena

and S2 is bringing one to me which means he'll be hungry too

so....

I bought new pressure foot for my Janome .

No excuse not to finish quilting it and sewing binding on.

so...

I want a knitted cowl neck scarf.

I can knit.

I have yarn.

so...

Happy Hallmark Day!

Happy Commercialized Hallmark Florist Making A Killing

Only Way To Know If You're Significant Other Cares

 Cause They Bought U Overpriced Stuff Day !

Litlle jaded I know but other 364 days a year is when you should know whether he  cares and loves you not today.

Course S being cheapskate only buys me auction stuff  anyhow

and these flowers were on "special" Sunday when he went to Sam's Club

but it's the thought that counts.

Course what that thought is

is another thing....

Ok enough mushy stuff lol

This is the Red Velvet Crepe Cake

LN made last night as a possiblity for her 4-H Favorite Foods Contest

coming up at beginning of March.  She usually does a dessert although main dishes , appetizers, etc are allowed and judged by catergory.

Member makes a recipie they serve to judge and answer questions about

how they made it and are judged by apperance, taste, techniques, difficulty, etc. 

It needs a few changes but overall she liked it , frying cake batter like crepes was fun to her.

LN has to have a single place setting and centerpiece to go with her entry

I'm stumped this year, maybe red/white/blue theme?

This goes with Valentine's Day pretty good though.

Also need garnish for cake top or around bottom on plate

Maybe ... Oh I Don't Know

Favorite Room

http://aprairiesunrise.blogspot.com/ has this link upgoing...

For the Love of... My Favorite Room is

Sewing Room of course

It's a room my husband and I built in the basement when we had all 5 kids still around. The girls shared the room upstairs. Our craftsman style 1915 house technically only has 2 bedrooms  so with 5 younguns we needed more space.

Now it's mine...and everyone elses" craft/excersise/den

But Still...

one side with sewing machine and bookcase overfilled with paint for crafts and kids sears mini old sewing machine and tins of buttons and serger, iron, cool tin lamp and gobs of quilt & cross stitch books

opposite wall has table I cut and pin on, TV for when I'm bored (left over from R when she had her bedroom here before she married) Dresser has patterns and stuff in drawers

open closet area has bins of fabric, spinning wheel I need a refresher course in, radio cause I love me some tunes and R's clothes she didn't want to deal with!

Right in the Middle in the way is the

Queens Chair

LN & I use it if we watch TV or I handsew or knit down there

it folds up when it annoys me

That's it, if you want to share go to A Pairie Sunrises' blog to link up!

Warning

This town kid is now a farm and country chick. She came home w LN after soccer practice yesterday

 and fell in love. LR is 10 yrs old and lives in town. She asked million questions and hit it off with

Mud

Coveralls

Boots

Goats

Cows

Sheep

Life

She wanted to sleep in the barn with her lil man Fleck but I was mean and made her come in

This morning 1st thing, "Can I go see animals?"

She led an older cow to her feeding area and smiled so big as she did it

It's cool to convert another kid...

Sounds like a cult huh? HeHeHe... wellllllllll

Warning

if you are squemish you may not want to look

It's squishy and gooey

and life...

Otherwise we had set of ewe lambs born last night from 3:30 to 5:00

1st tiny hoof and mouth appeared at 3:45

then 12# ewe lamb

cleaning off

I've never had a ewe take an hour in between lambs

but at 4:45

Another foot maybe hard to see

then

2nd little girl well 2nd 12 # girl

They are healthy so I'm not complaining I'm just tired

Looking for spickets

Finally

I finally had a few hours to straighten up dewing/craft/den so I could do this...

I finished the top of the "Quilts for Kids"

 I need to buy the batting, I only have pieces left but I'm picking up a new pressure foot that should make my little basic machine purr a little when I cram 3 layers through it. I'll get batting this week.

The backing which becomes the fold over binding is...

 The top picture seems lighter but best I could do in my basement room at night under flouresent light.

It does coordinate better than the 2 pics show.

The wrinkle in the top left hand bottom part is from this...

She likes to help check out the stiching in case there's an issue!

Waste of Snow

Looks pretty around blueberry bush...

Actually just a waste of snow turned to mud as fast as it fell!

Now that feed store is closed and LN has been to practice and back I can work on this

Latest Quilts for Kids

Blue and Yellow happen to be LN's school colors so she loves it

Need to sew, Need to sew, Need to sew!

Don't need to ...

Wash this dirty bird!

Dear Diary

Started this blog as a sort of diary so...

Dear Diary,
            Why would people pay BIG money for their children to play travel sports when

A: they tell kids its just for fun
or
B: their kid is more worried about looks, gossip or boys than game
or
C: kid is a rec player not travel and parent knows but can't tell jr cause of modern day pc crapola ?

It doesn't benefit your child and it hurts mine who

A: is very competitive, hence mom shells out big bucks for travel
and
B: she s serious enough to CARE whether she loses or wins
and
C: She a travel level player being held back so your kid can mess around on field
                                      
                                 Diary, If you know the answer please enlighten me.

                                                                       Sincerely, Frustrated Broke Mom

Ole Blue

Ole Blue is my recycled cabinet.

I found it in my husbands shop holding oil cans 20 years ago when I 1st moved in with him.

I drug it out to the front porch where it sat in pieces for a few years more.

I drug it to neighbors wood shop where he repaired it. Thanks Rueben!

It needed bottom rail and doors rehung (I did that) and new piece of wood on the side where damp ground had rotted wood.

Couple years ago I drug it inside (it's heavy with capital H) to the kitchen.

R & I used blue milkpaint to touch up where Mother Nature had faded and wore off original.

 I waxed the whole thing to show consistancy.

I filled it with stuff! Snacks, reusable water bottles, cookbooks and shoes on the bottom with baskets of gloves and hats. Can't have too many!

I love Ole Blue!

S S D D

Same Stuff Different Day.

This afternoon the haltering , walking lessons with Ace continued. After 10 minutes of trying to pen him to be caught R gave up and took his Mama in pen hoping he'd go to her. Wrong the 1st time but eventually he wised up. LN worked with him but dang he's stubborn but she stayed right there.

He made a few steps then dug in his heels and dropped his head.

So funny to watch, LN will get there but Ace is going to claw and scream the whole way.

Even R with some grain and a pet didn't trigger a nice response.

 

To keep the frustration down LN goes to her kids for some loving and wrestling.

They love her now but will they after de-horning this weekend?

Necessary evil for us. LN does not like her hand being spiked or twisted against horn in the show ring.

We find if we burn them early they forget quickly.