THE CHASE - by emily

It was just an ordinary afternoon on the farm.  Mom, Ben, Jonny, and I (Emily) were all in the garden digging, washing, and crating up carrots to store away for the winter.  I was standing by the sink as mom was washing some carrots and she thought she saw a ladybug on my neck (eeeeek!) and told me to look the other way.  I turned my head, and to my unsuspecting surprise found myself looking straight at a great big grayish/brown rabbit!  He was hopping along the fence, looking for a way to get out.  I started hollering to my accomplices, "EVERYONE!  QUICK!  A RABBIT!  I'M NOOOOOT KIDDING!  RUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!"  I excitedly raced to the end of a row, grabbed up some wooden stakes used for marking rows, and raced towards Peter Rabbit, the boys on my heels.  Peter then realized his most dangerous situation and began frantically attempting to go through the fence.  It didn't work.  The screaming, wooden-stake armed ruffians were dangerously close to him.  We chased him up and down the fence.  At times I was only about a foot away from him but never had time to strike...
finally we got him cornered, and Ben, who was the closest, gathered up all of his almost-12-year-old might and swung with a tremendous whack, hitting squarely on the ground next to the so-far-fortunate Peter.  Oooops!  Realizing the gravity of the situation all the more as the stick whacked beside him, the bunny dogged through us all and raced towards poor unsuspecting mom, who was watching discreetly from a distance, while cheering us on.  It really looked like he was trying to attack her as she jumped back, screaming. He then decided to try out his luck in the asparagus patch and raced into the thick plants.  We were surrounding the patch when I looked and saw he had already gone through it and was bounding across the garden in great leaps.  "RUNNN!  HE'S GOING TOWARDS THE PLAYHOUSE!"  We raced furiously after him.  But before we caught up with the garden robber, he had dodged UNDER the PLAYHOUSE!  By this time, Dad had come hurrying up with a gun, wondering why we were all screaming bloody murder.  He commented later, "I thought it was something at least more dangerous than a rabbit!"  So... back to the action... my bright homeschooled mind immediately came up with a solution.  The boys guarded our prisoner while I raced up to the house, grabbed Lady & Charlie, our trusty cats, by the scruff of the neck, and with one in each hand, raced back to the scene of action.  I set them down by the playhouse, hoping they would catch on.  Charlie, not understanding what this mad ruckus was all about, raced away like he was being chased by a bunch of country ruffians.  Lady, however, was the smarter (or maybe hungrier?) of the pair.  Her tail was switching back and forth and her ears were pricked up as she peered under the playhouse.  Then, she wiggled under and all was silent.  We waited, the air tense.  Then suddenly "SQUEEEAK!"  Then a little later there was some scratching, and again all was quiet. 
It was probably a good 20 minutes before my wonderful cat, Lady, crawled out from under the playhouse.  How did we know she really caught the rabbit?  Well, being the wonderfully smart detective that I am, I picked her up and looked at her paws.  Uh hu.  Yup, just as I thought.  Although I'm sure she washed her hands well after her meal, there was still some fresh blood in between the pads of her paws, and .... some very incriminating evidence... grayish/brown bunny fur!  Yeah!  Good job Lady!  I immediately took that fur and put it in an envelope and wrote the story and date on the envelope.  The reason for that?  Next time one of my unnamed male relatives accuses lady of being a good for nothing, lazy cat, I have my evidence to prove otherwise!  :)  
So in conclusion, it was a wonderful day!  I just LOOOVE living on a farm in the country!  I love the unexpected, exciting, crazy fun things that happen that put a twist into a "boring" (not that digging carrots is really that boring... it's just not  overly exciting) day!  Like bunnies showing up in the garden!  It was definitely a wonderful end to an otherwise ordinary day. 

THE END.

    :)


Oh... and I might want to mention... some of the Great Huntress Lady's kittens will be for sale in about a week!  $20.00 a piece and worth every cent!  =]  Will be great hunters,just like their mother!  Not to mention they are absolutely adorable and the sweetest things ever!!!  :) 

Just Eat Organic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCA6P9lsEfw 

My Boys!

My boys amaze me! They seem to have the most imaginative and creative minds. I suppose all boys are that way, I am just slightly biased. :) Being country boys, they seem to have an abundance of "tools" to work with. I would always cringe as I drove past those places in the country with big junk piles in the yard....what a mess! Now I am beginning to understand the need for junk, as even my BIG boy needs "tools" to work with.

As Mike was building our chicken plucker and scalder from scratch, he would often comment on how he wished we had bought an old farm site with a junk yard on it. Then he'd have scraps to work with. It suddenly dawned on me that those piles were useful. I just always thought they were an eye sore......city girl! :) Those resourceful old farmers were just hanging on to their junk because on a farm you need junk......as much as I hate to admit it. :)

Well, back to my boys being creative.... One day Emily and I were working in the house and we looked out the window and saw the three boys floating along in the slough on a car seat! "What in the world....!" Laughing hysterically, we went running outside to see what those crazy boys were up to!

Dad had given them the job of disking up the four wheeler trails, so they weren't so bumpy. Well, both Ben and Jonny wanted to ride with Brandon on his cool tractor, so Brandon, Mr. Creative himself, figured out how they could all ride.....comfortably! :)

Brandon strapped a bench seat from an old van to his tractor, and away they went...the three of them. Because the cattails were so tall, we could only see the van seat from the house. It looked as if they were happily flying along through the slough. (Brandon has been talking about making some sort of thing that can fly.)

I've learned to never underestimate the ability of young men to find a way to make things better, stronger, more efficient, or more comfortable! :)

The Absent-Minded Mechanic

Our family recently rented an old movie called "The Absent-Minded Professor". The movie has lots of good clean humor, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. Emily and I had to laugh at how the movie very accurately portrays a man involved in a project. The professor could think of nothing else (not even his own wedding) until he had solved the problem he was working on. "Just five more minutes...", he'd say.
When Brandon is working on one of his shop projects, he can think of nothing else. You may think he is listening to your conversation, but his brain will be working away solving a problem with one of his engines. So we have dubbed him, "The Absent-Minded Mechanic". :)

Brandon and I have something in common.....our love for junk! Neither of us can really see the potential in the other one's junk, and we would both argue that our junk (my antiques and his motors) is not junk! Yet we both enjoy browsing garage sales and flea markets for unwanted treasures.
Not only does Brandon enjoy fixing things, he's also very good at it (thanks to Mike's tutoring). He has a mind for creating things, and for problem solving. Sometimes he and Mike will go on and on, mulling a problem over, thinking of all the possibilities, until they finally figure out the solution. It's funny to listen to because it all sounds like gibberish to me.

When he was little he always amazed me with his inventions. Brandon was famous for saying, "Dad I should invent a ______ that does _____!" And then Mike would respond, "That was already invented." Someday he will invent something new........you just wait! :)

When Brandon was fifteen he bought a mini bike, and that was the beginning of his love for repairing motorized things. With help from Dad, and lots of browsing through repair manuals, he slowly began to acquire and fix lots of junk. Buying broken things, fixing them, and reselling them became the pattern. He now has his own junk yard. :( But we have put limits on how big it can get. :)

Eventually friends began to ask Brandon to repair things for them. When we built our new barn Mike graciously provided him with a concrete pad and space to do his repairs. So Brandon now has his own shop to run his small engine repair business. If you have equipment that needs fixin' or would like to purchase used small engine equipment give him a call.

"Ducklings!" by, Emily :)

Busy, busy, busy! Those three words can very well describe life lately! And, of course, what did we need but another thing to keep us busy! Around a week ago, we were eating a meal when the phone rang. Dad answered it, and was engaged in a conversation for a few minutes with someone. He kept making comments about ducks, and I remembering wondering what in the world it was all about, but somehow (maybe because I was busy?) I forgot to ask the "who was that and what did they want" questions when Dad hung up. :) That afternoon I heard Jackson barking, and looked out to see our neighbors here. I hurried out and found the Ben and Jonny and our neighbor crowding around a small cooler, and I heard little peeps. Looking inside the cooler, I saw seven of the cutest baby duckings! Mr. Brad, our neighbor, told us that they were driving down the road when they saw a mother duck dead on the road and her 7 babies flocking around her. So they caught them and brought them to us! They're so cute....and they're mallards....so the males will have those beautiful green heads. :) I've taken over taking care of them, so I have a full-time job of duck-sitting....duck-standing....and duck-running! :) They are all doing great, although one did die (how it died we don't know), so there are six now, and those six are fine, and are complete little pigs. :) This morning me and Mom moved them down to the pond, and boy did they like that! It was hilarious watching them swim around and splash and do all these funny duck antics! :)

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.

"Valentine" by Emily

One day last summer, Mom and Jonny were in the herb garden, when Mom spotted a large green caterpillar in the parsley. Jonny brought it to me, (Emily) and I put it into a large jar that had sticks, grass, and leaves in it, as well as several other caterpillars. To our joy, one day, the green caterpillar was gone, and there was a cocoon hanging on a twig. We were thrilled! None of the other caterpillars in the jar ever made cocoons. Time passed. Soon everybody forgot about the big jar with the cocoon in it. The leaves and grass rotted away, and whenever someone mentioned cleaning out the jar, one of us would pipe up, "no! the cocoon is in it!" while someone else would reply, "it'll never hatch." But the cocoon continued to hang, undisturbed. ...winter came, and the cocoon was forgotten.....forever...

Until February 13th, the day before Valentine's Day. I was in the school room with Ben and Jonny, teaching them school. (Mom was gone shopping in town with Dad, so I was the substitute teacher) While deep in Algebra, (just kidding!) Ben suddenly yelled, "LOOK!!! OUR BUTTERFLY!!!!!!!!" Shocked, we looked up at the long-forgotten jar, and to our joy, there calmly sitting on a twig, was a beautiful black swallowtail butterfly.








For at least the next twenty minutes, Arithmetic was forgotten as we "oood" and "ahhhd" over our butterfly, snapped lots of pictures, and called Mom and Dad to exclaim the exciting news. We argued over a name for her for quite a while, as we searched through the name book, but couldn't decide on anything. Eventually, we finally got back to school, and Mom and Dad returned. When Dad mentioned something about "alcohol" we were horrified. "What!?!? Our butterfly!? But she's our butterfly!!!" Undoubtedly, our butterfly would have had this untimely fate, if it were not for a wonderful person who rescued her. =) The next day was Valentine's Day. We had Aunt Janell, Uncle Jay, and Grandma and Grandpa Housman over for a Valentine's Dinner. Of course, we couldn't wait to show them our butterfly, and Dad and Grandpa both agreed that she was going to die...but not Grandma! It was Grandma to the rescue! A day or so later, we received an email with a lot of information about feeding butterflies! So, our butterfly, whom we finally decided to name "Valentine" was rescued....thanks, Grandma!!!

About Valentine:

Valentine Joy Housman (full name) is so much fun! An extremely beautiful butterfly, she is black, with yellow spots, orange spots, blue spots, and purple spots. Valentine lives a happy life in our bay window, surrounded by Mom's potted plants. In the spring, we will let her go. Tonight, Jonny, who was "playing" with her, started shrieking as she climbed up his face and perched contentedly on his nose! It was really hilarious, as you can see in the pictures below!

Feeding Valentine:

Grandma sent us plenty of very helpful information about feeding our butterfly. Just in case any of you may ever "hatch" a butterfly, here's three tried-and-true ways:

The first way is lots of fun. Finger feeding. Make up a solution of 1:20 sugar to water. Next, dip your finger in the sugar water. Leave a drop on your finger and move it close to the butterfly's mouth. Usually it will stick out it's tongue and have a drink!

The second way is to use a cotton ball. Take a cotton ball, dip it into the sugar water, and place it on/in a small plate or container. Place the butterfly on it, and viola!

The third way is actually one that Mom thought of herself. Take an orange, cut it in half, and place the butterfly on it. Just this morning, when I peeked at her, she was sitting on the orange with her long tongue stuck in the orange.

About the Swallowtail Butterfly:

Swallowtails lay their eggs on Queen Anne's Lace, parsley, celery, and carrots. The caterpillars are bright green with black bands and yellow or orange spots. Uniquely, it has "tails" on it's hind wings, and it ranges throughout North America from Southern Canada into Mexico. The male swallowtail may guard it's territory by sailing around its boundaries for long periods. The next fact I learned from Grandma Housman, and it is: butterflies have tiny feathers on their wings, thus we have to be careful when we touch Valentine, so as not to brush any off, making her unable to fly.

If you have any questions or would like to leave a note or anything, please leave a comment! We'd love to hear from you!

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

This post is in honor of Grandma Janice. She made our whole family some very nice aprons for Christmas. A few weeks later, as a joke, we sent her this picture of us in the kitchen sporting our aprons.....or something like that! :) Then for my birthday she wrote this poem to go with our family picture. Thanks, Grandma!

Twas the night before market, and all through the house...

Mindy was stirring, as well as her spouse.

The clock was a-ticking, and the time drawing near

but she was calm and collected with nothing to fear.

The children were scurrying with flour and honey,

doing their part to make lots of money.

On, Brandon, on Emily, on Ben and Jonathan

pick up the pace.....there's no time for fun!

When suddenly their well-oiled machine hit a snare...

the smiles vanished and the tempers did flare!

They turned on each other, there was so much to dread

in the midst of the cookies, biscuits, and bread!

With rolling pin, fry pan, gadget and knife...

it was the nightmare of any young wife!

But as quick as it started, it came to an end.

Unbeknownst to us, it was only pretend!

But let this writing be a warning to all,

of the dangers that lurk withing kitchen walls.

Myself I will refrain from tempting such fate...

we're going to Arby's where prices are great!

The Betrothal of Belle and Bailey

Boy, I thought yesterday was cold! When we went to bed last night it was 20 below. All the animals were fine this morning....amazing to me! Tonight will be cold again.

Unfortunately, we had to brave the weather today, but for good reason! It was Belle's wedding day! ;) We took her to see Mr. Bailey at the billy goat farm. She will be there until the ceremony is complete and then we'll go pick her up. As you can see from the last picture, Belle wasn't all that excited about Bailey. Guess it wasn't love at first sight, but I am sure they will work it out. :) If all goes well, Belle will have a cute little kid some time in June. Her half sister, Millie, is due March 15th.