Sheep Shearing Day! by Emily & Dad

Yesterday was sheep shearing day! Since lambing time is fast approaching, it is important that the sheep be sheared before that. The Kingery family, some friends of ours, had their sheep sheared with ours. This helps to reduce the costs, as our shearer has a minimum charge. Plus it makes scheduling easier for everyone. So our shearer, Doug Rathke, had our eight sheep to shear plus the Kingery's nine, an easy day for him! Doug is a world class sheep shearer that does a great job.

Doug pulled up shortly after the Kingery family arrived. We all worked on getting our very stubborn eight sheep into a separate pen for the shearing. Normally the sheep don't go into this pen, so they were fearful of what might be in there I guess. Then Doug got his equipment setup, and we were ready to go.

It's really amazing how quick he can shear the sheep - about three minutes! He had a large audience, since Mom invited the Mathison family over, too. We're expecting that most of the mama sheep (Barbara, Bertha, Valerie, Jane, Molly, Nancy, & Sue, to be specific) will probably have triplets. Everybody marveled at now absolutely huge they are! (And we found out that it actually wasn't all wool!) I think Rammer (the boy, also known to me as David) gave him the most trouble, but it's really cool how he just flips 'em over and they become as "meek as a lamb", as some city-fied person would say! :)

The sheep are due starting April 8th, based on a 145 day gestation period. We bought our ram on November 14th... so depending on how quickly the ram got busy, the lambs will be arriving over the next two to four weeks.

WANTED

Housman Hooligans

also known as "Double Trouble"

Last seen at Housman Farms furtively floating around the big slough in a hijacked sheep water tank.

Description:

Strong, healthy, farm boys with lots of energy

Accomplices:

May be followed by a goat, dog, cats, sheep, or chickens

Warning:

Excellent marksmen, approach with extreme caution!

"The Adventure On Big Slough River", by Emily

Did you ever wonder what us country kids do in our spare time? Wonder no longer!

Let's see, it was a week ago Monday, I believe...the 23rd. While we were eating lunch, Ben, Jonny, and Brandon got the brilliant idea to go boating after lunch. "Boating? In what?" "Oh, don't worry," the eager boys assured Mom and Dad, "Brandon can ride in the big black plastic sled, and Ben and Jonny will ride in the big black plastic sheep tank!" You see, our whole slough is a humongous pond of icy-cold water. Mom was not too optimistic about the idea, so she and I tried to scare the boys, Ben and Jonny especially, with stories about people drowning and getting hypothermia. But, unfortunately for Mom, Dad didn't seem as worried. "As long as they don't go past the bridge, they'll be fine," he assured her. Since Dad seemed fine with it, I decided it would be lots of fun, too. After a bit of persuading, Mom finally gave in, but with one exception: "You have to wear life-jackets!", she told them. When I told her, "Ya, we will!" the boys said "we!", and soon made it clear that they didn't want me with. No fair.

We gave them walkie-talkies, and bade them farewell. It was hysterical watching them. Brandon, in the plastic sled, rocked dangerously, while me and Mom laughed and laughed up at the house, but he soon got the hang of it, and was drifting along pleasantly, with the aid of two sticks, Ben and Jonny on his tail.

Trust me, I was not very happy that they got to do such a fun, adventurous, dangerous thing, and I didn't. So I was determined to think of some way to go along. Mom and Dad couldn't think of anything, but I did. "Dad! How about one of those big plastic bins out in the garage!" He calmly assured me that it would sink. However, he agreed to let me try it. So on went the rubber boots, the life jacket, the rain coat, (it was raining) and the overalls, as I prepared to go gliding down Big Slough River. After searching for a bin, I was ready to go. Finding a stick, I carefully set the "boat" in the water, then stepped into it. Nope, that wouldn't work, it was stuck. So I moved it into deeper water, then tried again! YIKES! Talk about tipsy! I was rocking dangerously, and after about one minute of swaying from side to side, over she went! I was thoroughly disgusted by this time, as my right leg got soaked to the skin, and my right boot filled with water. Boy, was I glad Mom wasn't watching! "This is NOT gonna work." I told myself, and trudged dejectedly up to the house, very unhappy that the boys got to go boating, and I didn't. No fair! As soon as I stepped into the house, Mom said, "Are you giving up already?" That settled it! I marched back out! "I can't just give up!" I told myself firmly. Finding two sturdy sticks, I got into the bin and tried again. After a while, I got the hang of it, and confidently rowed out to the deeper parts. It seemed like as soon as I got deep, the boat started wobbling. Uh-oh! Then, it capsized. And I mean CAPSIZED!!!!!! Everything went under except my head. I was drenched, and only too glad to go up to the house, as falling into water on a cold March day in the rain is not extremely warm or pleasant.

The boys had a wonderful time, and claimed to boat in 5 feet of water. I'll just have to think of something else to use...any suggestions?

Just another day on the funny farm

It was a life threatening day for me today! For the first time, Brandon took me for a drive to run errands. He just got his instructional permit. In order to "qualify" for taking his test he had to memorize the entire book of James. He quoted the whole book for Mike, from beginning to end, with only a couple mistakes! (He worked on it for a number of months.) Before we left for our drive today, I said good-bye to the children, told them how much I loved them, and told them what wonderful children they have been. :) Then we pretended to cry. Brandon just rolled his eyes. :) He is actually a very good driver and I wasn't nervous at all......at first. I got more nervous as we drove, only because I thought he was nervous. I drive a big bus--an Excursion, so it takes a little getting used to. Especially when he has been driving in a little tin can with his instructor. We ran some errands and had coffee together (our weekly "date"), and then he brought me home, safe and sound. :)

Mike was working in Granite Falls today. We just hate when he has to be gone. Having him working from home has spoiled us all! While he was gone Brandon cooked down 40-50 gallons of sap. It snowed on and off, and was very windy, but he managed to keep the fire hot enough to boil the sap. Mike is finishing off the syrup on the stove as I type. We'll fill the jars and add them to the collection in the root cellar. We tried to collect sap today, but it was all frozen solid in the buckets. So we brought some of the really full ones in to thaw out. One of the buckets had a strange grey object frozen in the middle of it. Benjamin chopped away at the ice until he got it out--a mouse! Mmmm, mouse flavored syrup....doesn't that sound good? :)

Milking was much better tonight. Everything is always better when Mike is here. :) It only took us about ten minutes to milk her, and she was almost perfect. She is giving about a gallon a day, but it is not enough for us and two kids (baby goats). Thankfully, Carl will be sold tomorrow. We had a man stop out today to pick up two kittens, and when he saw the kids he started petting them and commenting about how cute they were. So Mike asked him if he wanted one, and he said "Yes!" We had planned to sell Carl to someone else who would raise him for meat, but the children were very excited to sell him to someone who wants him for a pet.

Goat stew?

Life has been a whirlwind the past week! Our friend Myrtle, who has been living in a nursing home the past two months, had all she could take of living in what she called a "2 by 4" (that's a small room that two people live in that is divided by a curtain). She says rooms like that should be illegal. She's one hundred years young and not ready to live in a place with total assistance. She did not like paying them to do the things she can do herself. So she got on the phone and called around until she found an assisted living apartment that was available. We moved her this week. (I didn't know people moved out of nursing homes!) Monday, Emily and I packed up her room. On Tuesday, Mike and the boys moved all her belonging to her new apartment, including some things she had in a storage locker. Today we went shopping for the things she needed for her apartment and tied up all the loose ends at the nursing home. It's been a busy last few days, but to see the excitement on Myrtle's face has made it all worth it. She dozed off in her chair while Emily and I were unpacking her things, so we worked very quietly in order to let her rest. When she awoke she said, "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven"; she just loves her new place!

In the nursing home they always made her use her walker....she hated that thing! When the nurses would ask her where her walker was (when she would be walking without it) she would tell them, "It's where it belongs!" On Tuesday, after we got her all packed up, we were walking to the car to take her to her new apartment, and as we walked out the door of the nursing home she started to fold her walker up. I said, "Oh, Myrtle the car is parked way over there, why don't you fold that up after we get to the car." She looked at me with a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face and said, "You're just as bad as the rest of them!" We all laughed as we folded up the walker (but I always make her take my arm, which she will do).

I had Ben and Jonny bring their arithmetic along to Myrtle's apartment today. I figured they could work on that while we hung her shower curtain and helped her organize a few things. Well, whenever they had a question Myrtle was there to help them. I am not kidding! She used to teach school and she remembers everything. She told them every answer they did not know and was giving them tips on how to memorize their multiplication tables! She's amazing!!

When we got home today we had a lot of work to do. Our sap buckets needed to get emptied and there were plenty of other chores to get done. Adding milking and syruping to life has made the past two weeks....well......interesting! ;) Since we were gone for the past two days, we needed to get the fire under our sap pan going again. All the firewood was wet because it has been raining (and snowing) all week. Ugh! Mike was in the cities all day on business, so Brandon worked and worked on it and finally got it going. During supper Mike called and said he was just leaving the cities, and on his way home. Bummer! Another hour and a half before he'd be home to rescue me. Well, we finished supper and it was time to go milk Millie. By this time I was starting to feel a little cross. It was freezing (literally) outside and super windy. I was tired, and the last thing I wanted to do was go milk a goat! Not to mention, Millie has been quite challenging lately. Just before Brandon and I walked out to the barn, Emily says, "Oh Mom, I should warn you, Millie was acting crazy today." I said, "Oh great!"

When we started milking her she was behaving wonderfully and everything was just fine. I was thinking, "This is great! It's just what I needed after a hectic day.......a cooperative goat!" Well, not for long! She started lifting her legs and moving back and forth. These are the new tricks she's learned. She tried to kick our hands off her teats. Well, wouldn't you know it, she lands one foot (a poopy, straw covered foot) in the milk pail, then the other foot. Nice! At this point I am dreaming of goat stew!! And remembering how nice it was to drive to the goat farm and pick up our goat milk! So we got a different bucket to milk into and tied her leg so she couldn't kick. She continued to be difficult. And I continued to grumbled at her and called her names like "You old bag!"

I really do love country life, but I have to be honest and tell you that there are days when I wonder how this city girl ever got roped into this! Tomorrow the sun will come out (hopefully), I will have gotten a good nights sleep (hopefully), and I will enjoy my country life again.............................hopefully!! :)

Mucking out the barn

With spring just around the corner (tomorrow to be exact), things are starting to thaw out around here. All winter long the sheep get new straw added to their pen to keep it clean and dry, but with the warm weather all the frozen deposits start to get soft, making it impossible to keep the pen in acceptable condition.

So, the menfolk here at the farm got out the pitchforks last week and pitched six or seven big skid loader buckets full of manure out of the barn. Ben and Jonny took turns with the second pitchfork, and even were allowed to dump the contents of the bobcat bucket into the pile, a thrill for them worth mucking around in the stinky pen.

This manure was piled up to compost, and will be spread on our gardens next year. Also, I every couple of years we spread some under our fruit trees. I'm considering selling some of the composted manure from last year, as I have a very large pile. Let me know if you need some!

Kidding Party!

Well, Millie Joy did not disappoint us...she kidded right on her due date! Around 5pm Sunday, Emily announced that Millie was pushing. So we all geared up and headed out to the barn. We called some friends (the Hendricksons and the Zeglens) who wanted to come over and see the birth. Unfortunately, Millie labored rather quickly (at least quicker than the sheep do), and none of our friends made it in time to see the birth. But they were there just minutes after the twins were born...yes TWINS! Millie delivered a boy first (Emily was so upset), but then to our surprise she quickly delivered a girl right after the boy. One of the families that we had over has one-year-old twins and their names are Carl and Claire, so that's what the children decided to name the baby goats. To be more specific, Carl Roland and Claire Belle, are their full names.


It was a sweet time out in the barn with everyone. We milked Millie and the children took turns bottle feeding the baby goats. Then some of us went out and collected sap. After all that excitement the ladies went in to get a meal put together for nineteen people! Everyone brought food along and after feeding the children, the adults enjoyed lamb chops on the grill (Mike's specialty)! The excitement ended sometime between 10-10:30pm. In a month we will do it again (with sheep). We have some other friends that are longing to see a lamb be born. :)

Millie and the twins are doing very well today. The babies are enjoying all that rich colostrum, and the children are enjoying feeding it to them! In a week or so we will have goat milk to drink..... and some to sell. :)