Recently in Rural Life Category

  I actually wrote this last year, but decided to put it on my blog today.
Is life in the country complete without horse ownership?  Is one truly a country girl if one doesn’t know how to ride a horse?  How could I hold my head up in the feed store if I didn’t know a canter from a trot.  No, horse ownership and the ability to actually ride a horse is the ultimate symbol that I had become a Country girl.  
  Before becoming a horse owner I read lots of books about selecting a good horse for a beginning rider.  I knew all the rules to follow to make certain I bought a gentle horse suitable for an inexperienced person like myself. (My horseback riding experience was limited to one ride in which I could not even get my mount 100 yards from the stable in the entire hour.)  The first rule for beginners I broke was don’t buy a horse younger than 15 years old.  The second rule I broke was watch the owner ride the horse before you buy it.  The third rule I broke was ride the horse before you buy it.  The fourth rule I broke was take an experienced horse person with you to inspect the horse before you buy it.  

I gave my new horse over night to accustom himself to his new corral.  I couldn’t wait to spend some quality time with him taking him out for a walk.  I knew he would be delighted to have the opportunity to graze on the tall green grass.  And I also thought he is really going to love me for giving him such a nice treat.  Hah!
 He is friendly coming up to us.  I really like that about him. He did let me halter him as inept as I was at it. I tied him up expecting to have a great time of bonding as I groomed my beautiful new horse.  But every time I went to brush him he pivoted away from me.  So I followed with the brush. I assumed he was ticklish or I was doing something wrong.  I tried a firmer stroke with the brush.  I tried a lighted stroke.  He just didn’t seem thrilled to being groomed. In retrospect I realize he wasn’t happy being controlled by being tied. Being a very smart horse, he then decided to test the knot I had used to tie him to the rail. He quickly determined I had done a good job with the knot and I had tied him to a really stout rail.  After a few attempts to pull back to break the rope, halter, and rail he seemed to give up. I was congratulating myself on my superior knot tying skills and good post judgment. Unbeknown to me, he was working on plan three. I happily went back to grooming. My horse put plan three into action. It went something like this. “If you keep annoying me by following me with that brush no matter how I try to side step away. I will step into you and onto you and make you get out of my space.” Instead of pivoting away from me he pivoted right into me. He kept making me step back to avoid being stepped on or pushed over. Still clueless at this point, I decided to give up on the grooming and lead him down to the meadow.  Surely that would be more fun and my horse would look so picturesque standing in the lush green grass.  Meanwhile my horse was thinking, “Hah, I made the human stop annoying me with the brush.  And I made the human untie me. This human is very easy to train.” While I am still anticipating a nice time with my horse in the meadow and my horse is thinking, “I rule!”

When I led him out to the pasture.  He walked nicely on the road because I’m taking him right where he plans to go anyway. But once we got near some greenery he put his head down to graze.  (This was an area I did not want him to graze because of the noxious weeds). repeatedly pulled up his head a led him forward. Though I’m annoyed that I have to keep pulling his head up I think I’m mostly winning. Hah! He is just using the time to problem solve. Then he decided he would try to lead me instead so he was trying to push past me and walk ahead of me by crowding me out of the way. Well all my reading wasn’t for nothing.  I did remember reading you could slow a horse down by turning their head. I had to turn him in circles multiple times to slow him down. This worked until he realized that space between us gave me leverage to turn his head. He thinks back and remembers that crowding into the human’s space is a good was to show her who is boss.  Then he decided he would crowd into me so he could be the leader. So now I’m having to walk very fast to keep from being knocked down because he is walking into me.  His shoulder is against my back. And his head is over my shoulder pushing me forward. Now I can’t turn him at all because he is not letting me step back or sideways to turn him. Smart horse!. Once in the pasture he pulled me around a bit to make sure I understood he was in charge, then settled to graze.
  I’m actually rather scared of horses which is exactly why I have challenged myself to learn how to handle them!  It is a huge confidence booster to over coming a fear or at least facing a fear.  And I hope facing a fear in one area will help me face fears in other areas. The rides on my horse were pretty exciting since he loved to trot (which I hardly know how to do!) and he loved to gallop! (something I'm getting the hang of!)  We even jumped over a pile of logs!  I was rehearsing in my mind the cues for backing up, (since Haldor doesn't back up at all well) , and Haldor decided I must be waiting for him to jump, so he did!

The day when I really decided Haldor was way too much horse for me and needed a much more experienced owner than myself went like this. I was riding Haldor.  At first he was doing very well. So the I took him to the far south end of the property near the river. He did not like it there but he did go with my urging him.  But right when he got to the place he didn't like, eight kayackers came down the river.  Haldor's heart started pounding.  I kept him standing there talking to him calmly.  But right after they were out of sight he totally blew up rearing. I kept him turning in circles.   I stayed in the saddle Praise God! But he was in a panic.  Finally I got him under some control and we headed away.  I kept our retreat under control although it was evident he totally wanted to run away.  After letting him calm down out in the meadow for a short while I made him go back to the same place. Thanks to the Lord that I was able to keep myself in the saddle.

Even when we are on our way to an appointment we stop and smell the pixels.   Well, I couldn't say we stop and smell the roses now could I!

Reading my earlier posts you have realized I have four cats and I am not adverse to getting more.  I made sure my cats were country bred cats and good mousers.  Before we got the cats we had severe rodent problems.  Pack-rats chewed up all the wiring in my car so that it was inoperable.  A pack-rat also stole the keys to my car.  I found the keys when we eventually found the pack-rat's nest.  Ground squirrels were riddling our meadow with holes.  Because my horse was only green broke, this was especially dangerous.  Once when I was cueing my horse forward he instead backed up.  His back foot went right down a hole and he went down.  But, praise God neither of us were injured. The rodents also invaded our house. One night I was woken up by something tugging on my hair.  It was a mouse sitting in my hair chewing off my hair for its nest!  The cats have worked out well. They are good hunters. Damage caused by rodents has diminished, and there are no more mice in my hair at night!

Here is the view from my painting table.

Life here lately has been a sheep rodeo.  We divided the ewe flock between our rams Svar and Bjarn.  The first of the ewes came into season the day before yesterday and Svar and Bjarn started ramming heads together even though there was a fence between them.  We caught Svar and took him to distant pasture.  But his ewes would not come with us and leave the fence line where the rest of the flock was on the other side of the fence. We thought after a day without feed we would be able to lure the ewes to Svar.  But, the next morning Svar was right back ramming Bjarn at the fence line. Svar had rammed through the pasture gate.  Totally bent it!
   Today we have got all the sheep flocks back where we want them. Far apart from each other! Svar and Bjarn are getting extremely fragrant because the rut is on.  They are romancing the ewes by using their forelegs to herd the ewes around while flapping their tongues at the ewes making "bleh bleh bleh bleh" sounds. Svar even tried his romantic tongue flapping "bleh bleh bleh bleh" talk on me, and our llama, but we are not having any of that!
   Icelandic sheep have a lot of personality! The other sheep breeds I have had never had enough intelligence to have any personality.

My flock of sheep came to me in an unexpected way. To make a long story short, a brother in Christ was badly injured in a fall.  We took him load of firewood.  While we were stacking the wood, his wife brought him out in a wheelchair to chat with us, and we got to talking. I told him how much I wanted to get sheep. He said his therapist mentioned that she heard of a women who had sheep she needed to rehome. He called me the next day with the women's phone number. I called her.  She gave me a flock of Icelandic sheep! Wow! Wasn't I blessed!?

Before lambing season started I vowed to tithe my first ram lamb to a local missionary family.  Then God did an amazing thing.  The first lamb born was a ram lamb, and the seven lambs that followed were ALL ewe lambs! Our generous God amazes me!

I guess I wrote about our DSL being back on prematurely. It only stayed on about an hour.  But... my son fixed a dial up connection for me this morning, so here I am on the internet again.

After I put up this post, I'll be going out to do chores. We are still mucking out the corral and barn and hauling the manure to the garden.  My two oldest sons and I are each hauling one load every morning.  There is no need to kill ourselves to do it all in one day since the animals won't be back in the barn or corral until November.

Meanwhile my DH is putting up a cross fence, now that he has finished the perimeter fence.  My horse and llamas' favorite hang--out place is as close to the house as possible. The sheep would rather graze farther afield, but they are bonded to the llamas and  tend to stay fairly close to them.  Consequently, the pasture around the house is quickly becoming over grazed. When my DH finishes the cross fence the horse, sheep, and llamas won't be able to hang out on the porch anymore!

In honor of my Father on Father's Day, here are some things I'm glad my Father taught me:

To be content in all situations.  But if life just gets too stressful go to the library and check out some great stories.
Be content with what you have. Looks and fashion aren't important. Nearly everything that breaks can be fixed.
Take time to really talk to your children.  Pass on to them the the family stories and family wisdom.
Spending time with your children is more important than the thing you want to get done.
Walk everyday.  Or ride your bike everyday.
Eat until you no longer feel hungry, then stop eating.
You are never too old to try something new, or to make a change for the better.

I have a real weakness for critters.  My sister does too, but she lives in a city.  She and I have labeled our weakness C.A.S. Critter Acquisition Syndrome.  I always tell her when I'm thinking about getting new critters and she always quizzes me to help me think through my "wanting".  
She asks me:
Do you have the time to take care of another animal?  
Are you willing to give up that time that you might have spent on other things taking care of this new animal?
Why do you want another animal?  
Why aren't you happy with the animals you already have?  
If you get sick, or want to travel, who will take care of the new animal.?

Thinking through this questions really helps.  Most of the time I realize  my "wanting" is because I am stressed or frustrated by something else in my life. Thinking about getting a new pet becomes a way to avoid dealing with the stress.  I realize now that adding another critter will just add to my stress not lessen it.

Well, I fed the sheep the last flake of hay this morning.  They'll be out on pasture the rest of the summer. For a few minutes I might think, "Ah less work for me. No more moving 65 pounds of hay every morning!"  But, the feeling of relief quickly dissipates as I realize the next task is to muck out the barn and corral.  Uhgggg!

We wormed all the sheep and the llamas yesterday. We trimmed hooves.  And we tagged the lambs!
After I lured the sheep into a holding pen, the "fun" began. My husband and our oldest son caught each sheep. I measured it with a weight tape. Our youngest child wrote down the weight. Then we backed the sheep up into the "sheep chair". Our oldest son held the sheep's horns to make sure it stayed in the chair.  My husband got to work trimming hooves. I inspected the sheep's teeth, and teats.  Our youngest child wrote down my comments. I measured out the worming medicine and squirted it in the sheep's mouth. By about that time my husband had the hooves trimmed. We tipped the chair forward and the the sheep rejoined the flock. If the sheep was a lamb, our middle child mounted an ear tag in the applicator, painted in with antiseptic, and handed it to his father. He inserted the tag in the lamb's ear. Our youngest child recorded the tag number. With our family working together the process went more quickly and each animal was restrained for a shorter period of time. I'm thankful for my helpful family!

We had a busy day today.  We tensioned the last stretch of perimeter fencing in the morning.  We were able to to let the sheep, llamas, and horse out to graze!  Hooray!  The animals enjoyed their new found freedom.  They were kicking up their heels and romping about.  But, since they are not accustom to the lush Spring grass, they had to go back in their corral long before they wanted too.  (If we let them eat as much as they wanted they would likely suffer from bloat.)  Tomorrow they will get to be out a bit longer.
 
We finally introduced our two rams today.  Naturally they wanted to but heads together to prove who was the stronger more dominant ram. We did not want them severely injuring each other.  So, we put them in a very small pen.  They still butted heads. But since they could not back up very far, they were not able to pick up any speed before colliding. Still we kept a close eye on them.

We plan to be trimming hooves and treating the sheep for worms very soon. We are going to try something different this year.  We made a "sheep chair". It looks a lot like a cot frame.  But in place of canvas, we put a very saggy nylon netting. You back the sheep up to the chair. Her rump falls in, you tip her back so that she is sitting up and she can't get out of the chair.  Then supposedly you can easily trim hooves and give wormer without a struggle. You can see a sheep chair here: http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=86&cat_id=0&




 
 

Now that the weather is so lovely, our friends and neighbors are going out and about again.  This means that drop-in visitors are a very real possibility!  Also summer guests will be arriving.  This means I better get myself on a schedule so that the house is presentable at any given time.
   To that end, I found a very helpful site on the internet

http://www.flylady.net

The mission statement for FlyLady.net is:
Are you living in CHAOS? (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)
Do you feel overwhelmed, overextended, and overdrawn?
Hopeless and you don't know where to start?
Don't worry friend, we've been there, too.

The daily email reminders from FlyLady.net are especially helpful this time of year when I can so easily get sidetracked in the garden or the barn, staying out there for hours!
 

Wow, a whole week has flown by since my last blog entry.
   Sorry about that!  My project this summer is my Norwegian Fjord Horse.  Since I am interested in all things Scandinavian, I could not resist him when I saw him on Craig's list last Fall.  I should have resisted him!  I am a complete novice horse person. And he is way too smart!
   Since getting him, I had only ridden him five times. But, some wonderful new friends came over last weekend and fitted him out with a saddle (hooray! no more riding bareback!), and a better bit, and a better halter.  In fact they fully tacked him up!  And it all fit!  They spent a lot of time showing me how to work on ground manners, and gave me riding lessons!  They are WONDERFUL!  I am so thankful to the Lord for them!
  Since our new friends were here, I have done ground work and ridden Haldor almost every day.  The rides have been pretty exciting since he loves to trot (which I hardly know how to do!) and he loves to gallop! (something I'm getting the hang of!)  We even jumped over a pile of logs!  I was rehearsing in my mind the cues for backing up, (since Haldor doesn't back up at all well) , and Haldor decided I must be waiting for him to jump, so he did!

We added one more ram to our flock yesterday.  He is a rare and lovely chocolate color.  His chocolate coloring goes all the way down to the skin, which is not a common trait in Icelandics.  Most colored Icelandics have their coloring only in their outer wool. Their under wool is cream or grey.  When you spin the wool of those animals, the yarn will end up much much lighter than the outer color of the animal.  The yarn will end up a pale oatmeal color, or grey color. But, our new ram has a rich deep chocolate underwool.  Yarn spun from his wool will produce a lovely yarn saturated in color.  He is especially valuable to me genetically for his ability to produce babies like himself with dense color. 

The exceptionally warm weather last week melted so much snow up in the mountains that we now have lake front property!  Ha ha!  Our lower pastures are under two feet of water! Happily for us, the original owners located the house on the highest part of the property, so our house is in no danger of flooding.  The kids are having great fun paddling all around the pastures.  Wild geese and ducks are swimming in the pastures too!

This time of year, one of my favorite things to do is go for a wander in the woods.  The wildflowers are just starting to bloom here in the far northwest corner of Montana.  There are many lovely wildflowers, but the jewel of the woods is the rare calypso orchid.  Yesterday during my meander, I was blessed to see two calypso orchids growing within in a few feet of each other.

The calypso's range is circumpolar and includes the forests of the western US states and most of the northern US states. It is also found in Canada, Scandinavia , and the northern part of Russia. Although the calypso orchid is widely distributed, it does not grow in disturbed areas.  Therefore it has become threatened or endangered in some US states, and some European nations.

The calypso is dependent on specific as of yet unidentified soil fungi for its survival. Therefore it does not live long when taken from its wild habitat. It does not transplant, nor can it be cultivated in a domestic setting. 

It is a precious jewel to be discovered and enjoyed in the wild woods.




Flower: Single flower on a stem; 3 sepals, pink to lavender; 3 petals, upper 2 lateral petals resemble sepals, lower petal lip-like; purplish on outside, mottled with yellow, orange, or white on lower inside

Leaves: A single basal leaf, elliptic to ovate; 2 to 4 small scale-like leaves along a single stem

Height: 2 to 8 inches

Found: Moist, rich humus in shaded undisturbed coniferous forests

Dear Friends,
  Thank you for stopping by my blog.
I looked at the weather forecast for today.  The temperature is expected to be 89 degrees!  Wow!  I guess we are just skipping spring this year a heading straight into summer! 
  It was just this week that my daffodils started blooming and the hummingbirds returned. In the woods, the trillium and violets are blooming.
  We are busy fencing the upper part of our property.  The lower, already fenced, pasture is flooded from the Spring snow melt. So, we haven't been able to let the sheep out to pasture yet. My husband thinks we ought to have the fencing done in about two weeks. I hope so! 
 

One of my twin lambs has an eye infection.  I'm treating her with antibiotics and keeping her, her sibling and her mother isolated.  Needless to say, I'm keeping an eagle eye on the rest of the lambs.  Sheep can be very tricky because they show no weakness or illness until they are nearly ready to drop dead.  A good shepherd must know her sheep very well to notice any slight changes that might indicate the onset of an illness or injury, because the sheep will use every effort to conceal it.  By the time a sheep is noticeably ill, it is often too late to save her. Some people think sheep have no "will to live" because from their view the sheep is suddenly sick and usually dead within 24 hours.  They say, "I started medicating the sheep, but she died anyway."  In reality, the sheep had been ill for some time but hiding her illness from the world.
  I think we are a lot like sheep trying to hide our weaknesses and sins from the world, and from our Good Shepherd.  We must confess our weakness to our Good Shepherd so that He can heal us while there is still time.

My last ewe, the one I thought looked huge...had twins at 9 pm last night.  Both twins are ewe lambs!  God blessed me this lambing season with SIX females out of seven lambs! 

The twin lambs were bawling this morning.  This isn't a good thing.  It means the lambs are hungry and not getting milk.  I asked my eldest son to hold the ewe while I milked her.  I put the milk into a bottle.  Each lamb drank almost a pint from the bottle! The ewe seemed relieved to have her udder emptied too. By the afternoon one of the twins figured how to nurse from the ewe,  I could tell because her belly was nice and full.  But the other twin was hollow and complaining.  So I milked the ewe again and fed the lamb with a bottle, again.  I'm hoping she'll figure it out how to nurse soon!

Dear friends,
  My ewe Hvit had a little ewe lamb today!

I went out to check on the pregnant ewes Monday afternoon.  There was a brand new white lamb.  She was looking for her mother.  All the other ewes were sniffing and licking her.  So she was quite confused.  But, I was quickly able to pick out her mother.  I put them in a pen of their own so they could bond.
 
Meanwhile another ewe was in labor. But it was apparent that things were not going well.  So I had to do my James Herriot impression. First I determined that the lamb was turned around backwards. This is one of the easier bad presentations to deal with. I provided gentle traction with her contractions until the lamb was delivered. But, because the lamb was born head last it inhaled a lung full of amniotic fluid and was in effect drowning upon delivery.  This necessitated clearing the lungs as quickly as possible.  I'm happy to say my impression of James Herriot was successful and the lambs are all doing wonderfully.

The proper way for a lamb, colt, calf, etc to be born is head first.  This is part of God's marvelous design. In a normal delivery, as the baby travels head first down the birth canal, the lungs are compressed emptying them of fluids. The mother pushes and the head is delivered. The mother rests briefly and gravity drains the excess fluid from the nose and mouth. A few minutes later the mother pushes again, the baby is born, the baby's chest expands and draws in the first breath of air. A miracle of new life!

I am very thankful to God that he worked the timing out perfectly so that I was able to do everything needed for the little backwards lamb. I just marvel at God's amazing design that is so perfectly arranged to create new life.  I find it quite amazing what a profound difference the lamb being turned around makes on the birth process.  It really spells life or death for the lamb.  It shows me that the creation cannot be random accumulations of changes, but is in fact the purposeful design of my Heavenly Father.

Oh happy day Sweet Readers!
Our first lamb was born!  Ull gave birth early this morning to a badger faced ram lamb. 
Praise God! 

The shearing went very smoothly. The shearer was kind, patient, and gentle as he could be with the sheep. None of the sheep escaped. No one was injured. It was a complete success.  In fact the shearing went so well I have no story to tell you. I'm very happy. The ewes however, when asked about the shearing said, "Bleh!"

Hooray!  We have a shearer coming out to shear our sheep!  Shearing is a dying art here in Montana, so finding a shearer was not an easy task. Finding one required a lot of networking!

One thing the shearer needs to do his work is a solid clean floor next to the sheep pen.  So my husband and our oldest son helped me get this ready.  Unfortunately I do not have a barn.  But, I am thankful to have a large three sided equipment shed. We were able to clean out one of the bays and put down plywood for a floor.

My oldest son and I will have the job of catching the sheep and dragging them to the shearer. To make our job easier and to prevent any sheep from escaping, we penned in the shearing area. The pen is mostly pallets and baling twine. It is not very pretty, but it is secure. And it is temporary. (My husband normally parks our car in that space!)

Our other children will have the jobs of removing the shorn fleece from the shearing area and keeping the shearing floor swept of sheep droppings.

I penned up the sheep last night and took away their water and food (as requested by the shearer).  The shearer should be arriving in just 40 minutes. 

To be continued...
 

When I went outside to feed my critters this morning, I was saddened to discover one of my laying hens was dead and partly eaten. Uhgg! We live on the edge of the National Forest and our poultry is a tempting target for all the predators that live in the woods. It could have been the bobcat that killed the hen. But, it also could have been a raccoon, or weasel, or skunk. Some people I know would set up traps to catch and kill the predators. But, I think that isn't a reasonable solution because our poultry will just continue to lure in more predators. It just doesn't seem right to me to kill predators for following their instincts. Also one of the very reasons I love living on the edge of the national forest is seeing glimpses of wildlife. We are always feel very blessed when we are privileged to see God's creatures in their natural habitats. (If I was living back in time homesteading in the wilderness 1870's and I depended on those hens laying eggs to feed my children, it would be a different story!)
  So our solution will be either not raise chickens at all, or to build a solid walled predator proof chicken coop.

Our youngest child took this picture of our new pets enjoying the winter sunshine.  The children named them Eowen and Arwen.  We are having such fun with them.  They are very playful and affectionate.

The Bible says every good gift comes from God.  I know this to be true. Let me illustrate. I wanted to get sheep. And, I was finally in the position of being able to get some. If you asked me which breed I really wanted, I would have told you, "Icelandic Sheep".  I have been interested in Icelandics for at least five years. Icelandics have many outstanding qualities. They are a primitive breed, which actually means they are an intelligent breed. Their fleeces are double coated which means from each fleece you can spin baby soft yarns for garment as well as coarse long wearing rug yarns. Furthermore Icelandics come in all colors. They can be milked to makes cheese. They are excellent mothers. They have no problem raising twins, or even triplets. And their meat is considered gourmet in comparison to other breeds.  But, Icelandics can be VERY expensive and even a trio of two ewes and a ram wasn't in our budget.

We took a trailer load of wood to a brother-in-Christ, who because of an accident was not able to get his wood in. During the visit he mentioned that his therapist knew of a person that needed to find good homes for quite a bit of livestock that they had "rescued" because hay prices had sky-rocketed. Since I expressed an interest, the next time his therapist came, he got the contact information and then called me.

When I called the "rescue" I asked, NOT expecting an affirmative answer, " Do you have any Icelandic Sheep?"  "Yes." As the conversation progressed and evolved, to my amazement, I became the owner of the Icelandics. Even though I believe it was the "rescues" original intention to keep the Icelandic flock themselves. God worked the timing out perfectly.  If I had called a day later ALL the animals would have been gone.  And until I asked, the Icelandics weren't available at all.

How good God is not only to give me a flock of sheep, but to even give me the very breed I wanted most!

Monday we brought home a new ram.  He is a beautiful black yearling Icelandic. 

This winter the snow at our farm is four feet deep. The sheep mostly stay in the barn, but if they wish, they can go out in the corral. They have made trails through the snow to their salt lick and to their favorite trees.  Their well-used trails are narrow corridors through the deep snow.

The snow has nearly covered the top of the fences surrounding the corral.  But, this has not been a problem because the ewes never venture off the trails they have made. When the ewes were first brought up to the corral in the Fall, they quickly determined the fence was stout and secure. So as the snow had gotten deeper and deeper it had never occurred to the ewes that the fences were becoming less secure as the rising snow made the fences shorter and shorter.

 The evidence I uncovered this morning, pointed to the alarming realization that our new yearling ram took the flock on a walk-about in the pre-dawn hours! He stepped right over the fence and the ewes followed! Thankfully they were home again in the barn for breakfast no worse for their adventure. But the hoof prints in the snow and little piles of “sheep berries” gave away their adventurous wanderings.
 
I am thankful for my husband and oldest son who immediately got right to work remodeling so that the sheep cannot go walk-about again!

Right about dusk everyday, I go out to the barn to feed all my critters .  As soon as I stepped out of the house into the garage today, I observed several things... The main garage door was open and our new cat, Cymric was not sleeping on his heated bed.  The most awful ruckus was coming from the guinea fowl pen.  I thought to myself, "I bet our new cat has gone to the barn to visit the guinea fowl."  Upon entering the barn, the guinea fowl shrieks were deafening.  I looked around for Cymric. I thought I spied him hiding under a bench behind the backside of the guinea fowl pen.  As I started to walk closer, I realized the cat was not Cymric.  My second thought was, "That is a big kitty." My third thought, as I realized it was growling at me was, "That kitty is a bobcat!"  I made a hasty retreat back to the house.  Not because I was frightened, mind you.  No, I wanted to get my camera!   Cymric thankfully had never left the garage.  He was napping on the sleeping bags stored up on the high shelf.

A few days ago, as usual, my husband cleaned the ashes out of our woodstove and then built a fresh fire.  He commented that the stove wasn’t drawing too well, but he thought that once he got the stovepipe hot enough, it would draw better. So he built a massive fire in the stove. It was then that we discovered that the spark arrester must be clogged because smoke started filling the house. I threw open all the windows and turned on the ceiling fans to blow the smoke out. Of course the indoor temperature dropped down to the mid 3o’s. Finally, I decided to pull the burning logs out of the woodstove and throw them out the window into a snow bank. That went well, except for the additional soot from the burning logs that coated all the surfaces of our living room.

Fortunately we have electric baseboard heaters. So after airing out, I turned on the electric heat. I started vacuuming and washing soot off of everything. Well wouldn’t you know it, about two hours into the intensive cleaning process, the power went out! Since we don’t have a backup generator yet, we had no heat and no water pressure. So I couldn’t finish the cleaning. I made a early cold dinner of tuna salad sandwiches and canned peaches. Of course the house got progressively colder and darker as the afternoon wore on. We spent the evening bundled up playing board games in the candle light until about 8pm, when even the kids decided they would just as well go to bed!

  I was so happy to be woken up in the middle of the night when power came back on! Kudos to the power company’s repair crew!

Yes, I realize how woefully unprepared we are for a long term power failure!  This time of year I don't have to worry about my frozen food spoiling, but I do have to worry about my pipes freezing!  The other thing I worry about is water for my livestock. But, in an extended outage, I could haul water from the river.

I think my desire to leave city life and move to the country was caused by the tale of my two sets of grandparents. I had one set of grandparents who lived in town and one set of grandparents that lived in the country.

  Town Grandpa lost his job during the depression. Town Grandpa and Grandma were reduced to eating potatoes, just potatoes through the depression.  Their son, my father left home at 16 because he perceived that his parents couldn’t afford to feed him too.

  Country Grandpa lost his job at the mill, and the bank foreclosed on his farm.  But country Grandpa found an abandoned farm to rent and country Grandpa kept right on farming through the depression.  Through the depression my country grandparents ate home grown pork, beef, and chicken.  They had home raised milk, cheese, and butter.  Country Grandpa also brought home pheasants and rabbits he hunted in the woods.  Country Grandma had a huge garden.  My country grandparents and their children ate well. Their rented farm was on a major east west road.  Many homeless families stopped by on their way west.  Country Grandma was able to feed them too. I think subconsciously I equate country life with abundance and town life with scarcity.

My country grandparents were still alive when I was growing up but my town grandparents weren’t.  Country grandparents moved to the edge of suburbia to be near us grandkids.  But even in his eighties, country Grandpa had a two acre garden  and orchard.  Every Sunday afternoon we’d spend with my Country grandparents. Country Grandma would cook us all sorts of wonderful things: apple brown betty, Peach cobbler, buckwheat pancakes, fried chicken, mashed potatoes saturated in butter, biscuits and gravy, fresh corn on the cob, strawberries and shortcake, fried catfish or trout, and fresh squeezed orange juice. Oh, and when I think back on the summer days when Grandpa’s apricots reached the peak of ripeness.  The air would be fragrant and warm. And we would pick and eat as many apricots as we wanted.  They would drop into our hands as we reached to pick them, soft and golden.  They were like honey and rich and sweet as they melted in my mouth. Little wonder I wanted to live like my country grandparents who I perceived lived in the land flowing with milk and honey!

Today was a gorgeous sunny day. The kids and I spent the morning putting up the Christmas decorations.  Then after lunch we went ice skating down in our pasture where the creek overflowed into the meadow. It made a great place to ice skate. We have to make the most of our ice skating opportunities when they arise. In a few days it will snow again and cover up the ice. If we are lucky, we’ll be able to shovel it clear for a while.

The storm dumped about 2 feet of snow here in two days. Then the temperature climbed, and all that snow melted!  When I went out to feed my Fjord Horse I discovered his stall floor is imperceptibly lower than the ground outside the stall.  It was low enough that his stall was partially flooded.  I decided I needed to dig a trench to drain the water.  Digging the trench in the stall was easy enough.  But, continuing the trench outside was nearly impossible, because although the snow was melting, the ground was frozen.  But, after two hours of work I completed the trench, drained the stall, and filled in the floor with additional dirt to raise the level. I finished by putting fresh bedding down. So, once again Haldor has a dry stall to shelter in. 

The snow, melting all at once, also turned my guinea fowls' pen into a swamp.  The weight of the snow caused the tarp roof to sag.  The melting snow was soaking through the tarp and soaking the pen.  I certainly could not leave my twenty-five two month old guinea fowl in there. I decided to put them in with my five hens who have a 4’x8x6’ pen in the barn. The chickens immediately hated the alien invaders and started pecking them! I caught the chickens and put them out of the pen. They strutted around the outside of the pen using fowl language (hee hee!) to express their anger. I quickly built a brush pile in one end of the pen for the young guinea fowl to hide in. Then I put the chickens back in. All is quiet now. Phew! 

Not much time for art today!

Welcome! Thank you for stopping by my blog!

We have about six inches of fresh snow. Until last night, my Fjord horse had disdained his shelter. But, it finally got cold enough that he was actually sleeping in his shed when I got outside this morning.

  Luna, my mama llama, wants nothing to do with snow. Inca, her baby, bounded out of the shed into the snow before she noticed it. Then suddenly Inca froze mid stride when she realized her whole world had changed overnight. She wanted to rush back to her mama’s side, but she was afraid to take another step. She took a tentative step forward only to stop and make pitiful cries. She did not like the sensation of the snow between her toes. She reminded me of a cat trying to avoid wet paws. Finally, as if she had mustered her courage, she bounded back the shed. She hurried to her mama’s side and sought the comfort of suckling her mama’s warm milk. I hurried to finish my barn chores and sought the comfort of hot coffee in the kitchen!




Greeting our newborn llama "Inca" in the pasture.