Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

It was built for Ellen's benefit, of course, and she was delighted with it, though a bit put out because it didn't have arms so that we could put the mittens on it. However I wasn't going to trek around searching for the perfect arms for it. This is good enough. You can see in the background that we didn't actually get much snow, just barely enough to cover the ground, and it has melted off of the roads already. But I really wanted to use the snowman kit, for her benefit, so I scraped snow off of the porch and whacked it together really quick. For Christmas I got her a snowman kit, and this is what it consisted of; felt hat, mittens and scarf (all of which could easily enough be made at home), wooden eyes, nose, mouth, buttons and pipe (yes, I realize it's upside down in the pic, but it wouldn't stay right side up)all on dowels that you shove into the snow. A cute concept; they all came in a decorated wooden box, which will probably take up space on a closet she...

I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I have blogged. To be fair, I did work on a post, but saved it because I didn't finish it. That ought to count for something. Anyway. Ellen had a wonderful Christmas...thank yous are certainly in order for many. She loved her gifts from afar. This is a pic of her in her Christmas dress, sent to her by her California Grandma. Here's one thing to be thankful for, sure enough; she did not get ONE gift that required batteries. Isn't that funny?! I am glad of it. Weather has been below freezing for the past few days. Actually today I think it DID get up into the mid 30s, but is supposed to plummet again. Is supposed to snow again tomorrow night, but not much accumulation. We had a bit of snow on Christmas Eve and day, but again, not much stuck around. The Big Christmas program is over at church. This means that I am back to teaching my teens on Wednesday nights. Frankly I am glad of it. I looked forward to sit...

This year it really has, anyway. Usually I have most of my gifts bought and wrapped by Turkey Day, but not this year. This past Saturday the weather warmed up into the 40s and had you gone down K you perhaps would have seen our truck parked down between the heifer/bull lot and the dry cow lot. That would have been me. Yes. My husband tends to forgo any non-productive types of work and one of those would be getting a Christmas tree. Therefore, it has become our Christmas tradition that I be the one to bring in the tree. So to make a long story short; the fence-row up the road is now minus one slightly lopsided cedar tree. In keeping with tradition I took the dull, rusted, nearly useless handsaw and hacked it to death, then drug it up the road back to the truck. Ellen and I decorated it that night. She was enchanted with the decorations; especially the banana, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the ice cream sundae. She also loves to jingle the snowman bells and play with...

What have I been up to on the dairy? This morning we had a bit of a calf rodeo. These cows seem to come into season in clusters, like grapes. So I had about 5 calves to wean at once, (keeping in mind these are all the heifer calves, the bulls went down the road a a few days after their birth)and a hubby who is nursing a bum shoulder so we had to be original in our changing pens technique. Usually we rope them, then push/pull/drag/shoo/gallop them from their bottle feeding pen to their tiny pasture out in the woods; hmmmm....a hundred yards or so. (I am terrible with distances) This time we decided to do this en masse. We opened the gate and carefully shooed them through. They went a few feet and stood nosing around a bit, sniffing unfamiliar things. Then...BAM...the rodeo was on. They all five took off like rockets...flying past the gate they were supposed to go through. Hubby himself went galloping over to the 4-wheeler and chased them back towards me. Four of them went charging the O...

As promised at the beginning of this NaBloPoMo shindig, I have faithfully kept track of all of the mail order catalogs I received in the mail this past month. We actually did order something from catalog number 2, "The Sportsman's Guide." That was a pair of insulated boots for me to use this winter while out doing chores. However, I calculated that if I'd made a $10 order from each catalog, even the duplicates (supposing I'd forgotten to order something from the first one and needed to order again from the next) and then had tacked on a very conservative estimate of shipping and handling, say $5...I'd have spent a grand total of $570 dollars. !Ay, carumba! Ha! I have them all saved up here on the computer table. Actually I got the last 4 of them today. I was going to take a pic, but it's too dark in here now. Here's the list: November 2009 Catalog list 1. Back in the Saddle 2. The Sportsman’s Guide * 3. Figi’s 4. L.L. Bean 5. The Literary ...

Ellen was so taken with her new doll house yesterday that she insisted on sleeping with the little "kitchen," as she calls it. It's the little stove/oven piece. She had to take it with her down to show her Grandma and Aunt this evening. **** Hubby and I were discussing, over our fresh bread from the bread machine tonight, how glad we were to be out of school. I am so glad I do not have to go through my adolescence and teen years and all yet again. Urgh! I watch what these kids go through now and I don't envy them at all. **** On that note I recall when I was in Jr high and highschool some of the fads that were out. Neon colored clothes, leg warmers, Cabbage Patch Dolls, Michael Jackson music...ummm...what all else? I forget. **** We were also discussing that spelunker who died a few days ago. He was only about 19or 20 I believe. He wedged himself into this teeny crack in a cave, upside down no less, and couldn't get out. They were unable to get him out, no mat...

Once, the first year here, we babysat our inlaws kitten. As most kittens do she loved to climb, so I tucked her into my plant stand, and she was happy to sit and pose for a few shots. She is part Siamese and is very vocal to prove it. ********** Ellen got a veritible treasure trove of toys and whatnot today. A friend from church was cleaning out toys she'd had at her house and was very kind enough to bring them over to us. Ellen's favorite is the new little doll house. It's a little platic job that folds in half and comes with all kinds of accessories; bed, tables, chairs, sofa, ottoman, fridge, stereo...etc, even a house plant. It's missing the mommy though. We will have to find a mommy to go along with the daddy and two kids and a dog. There is also a 3 foot tall Winnie the Pooh jigsaw puzzle, along with several other puzzles. And one of those Buckaroo games, too. The one where you hang objects on a mule until he bucks them off. Hubby, of course, had lots of...