Snow Vaccum Sealer and Kids

The snow picture is Thur morning, New babies taking it easy and my New vacuum sealer has arrived.

Good morning: Sorry its been awhile since I wrote. Lots has happened. Like yesterday I sat down and type this entry and then it wouldn't post and then I lost it. I was really sick and hard to concentrate so I just aborted the idea. Today I find the draft and there is nothing but the three pictures. So I'll try and recap the week. I am still not feeling so good. Coughing really takes it out of you... Since the 20th we have had 15 does kid = 28 kids. We are currently milking 24 does. We dropped the first milk into the bulk tank this morning so I hope to be making a batch of cheese on Tue or Wed. We'v had one baby born dead - I had to pull it and it was backwards and upside down... so it took alittle manuvering to get a hold of the legs so I could deliver it. It was also a dry birth and it was a big buck on top of it. But mom and one kid are doing fine. As I am typing I have a black Alpine in labor - but I have that funny feeling things are not right, we will wait a half an hour and if I don't see at least a baby's nose I'll have to go in and check to see what the hold up is. The girls and I have all been sick and so things are moving really slow around the farm. We'v not left the house and not done anything but sleep and drink hot tea and orange juice. David had a good weekend at Pikes Place and this weekend seems to be doing pretty good too. Then we have been selling our kids for $25 each and a friend of mine put them on Craigs List and they have been going out of here pretty fast. Which is great! On Wed. our Vacuum Sealer arrived and I was to sick to even go out and see it unpackaged. But David has already played with it and it works great. The next day our 2000 bags arrived for the sealer. We are sure looking professional now.

Jodi a friend I'v met through Grange - goes to Rwanda to take care of the gorilla's there - she is a veterinary. She is also helping the people obtain dairy goats and is teaching them to make cheese. She came on Tue and spent half the day feeding kids, milking goats and talking cheese. She would like me to go to Rwanda next year in October to teach the people to make cheese and to help get thier operation off the ground. And that sound like a real adventure. Kathleen is another friend who helps women in Kenya make cheese and learn to milk goats is teaming up with Jodi and that would mean I might get to visit both ladies parts of Africa. Its kind of scary to think of leaving the USA, but both women tell me that the African people like Americans.

Anyway oh yes I woke up Thur to snow on the ground. David went to market anyway and he said there were lots of crashes and wrecks everywhere. He made it safely to market and home that night.

Well since I am alittle slow I think I'll close with the thought of a warm bath and soft music and a hot cup of tea and then to bed sounds wonderful.

Babies are Here So Let the Milking Begin!

Good Morning:

The line of children waiting for thier turn on the rope swing - The tractor ride - Danyel and Ali feeding our first kids - The tour hanging out in the field with the goats and dogs.

The air is crisp out at 4:30am and I hear in the distance coyotes howling and in the close distance my Anatolian's warning them to stay away. My house is quiet at 6am. I wonder if I should break the silence and turn on the radio or just enjoy......ENJOY! We have had a busy few days to say the least. Tue was catch up day and prepare day for our big tour coming on Wed. Getting the parlor in order, all the dishes washed and put away in the Processing Plant, the grounds picked up of any of Maggie's garbage digging, buckets and the grain area in order and most important the hallway to the bathroom clean of anything and the bathroom clean up too. It is no small feet to get our property ready for about 40 children. We didn't have any babies born and that was alright. We don't have enough babies to let the children coming feed babies or for that matter milk a goat. We are in the very beginnings of our kidding season. We all were in bed early as Wed. it would be an early work call. Well David came in about 2 am and woke me up telling me that three goats were in labor at the same time in the barn. I sure didn't want to get up, but up I did. I grabbed towels and soap in case. I have to say those mom's did good. I only helped one doe and it was just a slight pull to finish the job. We had six new babies on the ground by 3:30am. I was back in bed pretty fast and back to sleep even faster.

We were up Wed. morning about 7:00 to finish anything up that might need done. We got the goats all settled - babies fed, goats fed and watered, and three goats milked. All is ready for the tour. People showed up at 9:15am. This mom was early so she could feed her baby before the tour and before everyone got here. Most of the others showed up at 10am. There were alot of children milling around. The estimate was 39 children and 15 adults. The first thing they checked out were the chickens that were wandering around the farm... then the cats. We decided to divide the group in half. David would give hayrides down into the goat field and then the children could pet the goats and run around. While I took the other group on the farm tour. This worked out great. We first took everyone up to the top where the babies are with their mom's and Danyel and Ali got into the pens and held up the babies for all to pet and hold. None of the mom goats seemed to mind all the attention. Then David got the tractor ready and loaded his group onto the flat bed trailer lined with hay bales. I would say he was gone for about 45 min. Then we traded groups. Both groups got to try samples of our cheeses we make (minus the two that we are completely sold out of). The next thing that happened was a long line behind the rope swing. The second big hit, I think, was that rope hung in the old fir tree. It was so nice to see children waiting their turn for that rope. This kept the children occupied while mom's got the lunches out. Then they slowly left the swing for some good food. They all started leaving about 1pm - except one or two families and they got the treat of the day..... a doe had twins while they were here. We were a little worried about the size of the group - if we could handle this big of a group. Well, it went off without a hitch and I think everyone got their fill of kids and farm.

We want to Thank the FHEA Academy for letting us entertain you and teach you about our dairy. We enjoyed all of you.

We had one more doe deliver on Wed. making the total of 5 does and 9 babies born. So then Thur. comes and we decided that since David had gone to market on Monday this week that he should not go on Thur. So David stayed home. Though he worked - getting the table for the new vacuum sealer machine - which took him all day to find. We did our catch up homeschool - Danyel felt better so she went to Biology and we still had three doe's have babies. Our baby count is now up to 26. Its just a little crazy feeding all these babies - but the routine will start kicking in and then it won't really be so taxing on our brains. We have seven mom's being milked right now. David went to prayer meeting at church at 6:30 and the girls and I went back to finishing our homeschool work. By 8:00pm we were done and David was home by 9pm. Since the girls are both sick they went to bed at 9pm.

I was up this morning at 4:30 packaging up cheese for David to take to market. Its going to be a great day today. One more side note, David's application for a railroad job has been accepted and so now we wait to see if he is one chosen to go through the interview process. This could be a real blessing for our family. We wouldn't do as many farmers markets this year, as there is only one me.

We are heading out to do chores and feed some hungry babies.

Have a great day.

We are all in Gods Hands -- what a blessing to know that as TRUTH.

Two Birthing Stories

Good Morning:

Here is another picture of the Tea Party - all the food. And one of the tables.

I am so excited today..... I have to tell you the news..... we are getting a vacuum sealer this week. This will mean that we won't have to go 12 miles one way to vacuum our cheese anymore. It will be another time free zone for me. My parents are buying it for our dairy. It will be here this week.

Thanks MOM and DAD

Well we have had 14 babies in 4 days. Three of them being triplets and two being twins and one single. I want to tell you the birth of the first triplets: The mom went into labor about 7:00 Friday night the 13th and had the first baby by 8:20 a little buck. I was busy in the creamery and didn't go and check her out - but the word from the girls was"they thought she was done". We had put her in a pen with her new son. So I went to bed at 9pm. Heather and Jamie and CJ got here about 10:30pm. At about midnight David came and woke me up and informed me that new mom was still pushing. I knew it was going to cold and I had to get dressed. I grabbed the dish soap and two towels and put on my boots and coat. Sure enough she was down and was pushing. I checked her and saw nothing being born. So I poured soap all over my hand and went in for a feel. Sure enough there was a butt and no legs. I had to work my hand in and around the butt to find the legs. I managed to get one leg pulled up but the other leg I found seemed to tight to pull it into position. I figured that the baby was probably dead so I gently pulled it out and layed it on the ground. David said, "it moved!". I was surprised to find it alive after three hours. I cleaned its face off and put it in front of mom. She cleaned it up right away. David looked at the goat and said you think three might be another one in there? So I lifted her stomach and felt yes there was another kids in there. I again thought this one would be dead too. This one was easy as I went in and just pulled it out. It was alive. So I cleaned its face off and layed it in front of the mom. Everyone was happy and I could go back to bed - It was about 1:15 and I needed to be up at 4:30 to package cheese for David and get him on the road to Market. Needless to say I was tired.

So Sat. came and I did make the 4:30 wake up and got the cheese packaged and labled for David. And made it to market in good time. I stayed up and got the house and kitchen picked up. The girls got up at 7:00 and went out and finished chores and found another doe had had babies. Sat. morning the girls went up to the barn to check and sure enough there was another set of triplets, 2 does and buck. We got her and her kids into a pen. So the last birth I want to tell you about is the yearling doe and her single birth. This was Sat. evening the 14th. She started labor about 4:30 - when we went up to do chores she was laying on the ground pushing and crying and pushing and crying. She was throwing her head back and then standing up and laying down. When we checked her, she was just starting to push the sack out. My daughter and grandson were out there comforting this doe. I made the girls start thier chores while Heather kept tabs on the progress. CJ wanted to come help me hay and drive the tractor - so we left Heather midwifing. I got done haying and still the water bag was about 1/2 way out. As my daugther and grandson watched the water bubble popped and wooshed water on the ground. Then you could see two feet. I told my daughter everything was going well. I left again to help water all the goats. About 20 min later this doe was at the same place.... not a good sign. The average birth should take about 45 min. total. Anyway that is my time line for when I need to go in and help or at least check. So I got my hand all soapy and went in to feel how the progress was going. Two feet and yes there was the nose.... things are they way they are suppose to be - so we put her in a pen and left her. Maybe she doesn't like company while giving birth. We all went into the house and set the timer for 1/2 hour to go check on her again. Half hour went by and I went up and checked. I called on my cell phone to the house to send the girls up we were going to have to deliver this one. I soaped up again and went in to feel.... things were in position, but the head was really big. So I stretched the opening and gently pulled on the legs which came out pretty easy. But the head was alittle tight. I worked at stretching her and pulling with each contraction. This baby took about another 30 min. to deliver. It was a huge head and good sized kid. The end it all turned out great.

Jamie and David went to Market on Sun. David did so well by himself on Sat. at market we thought sending both guys on Sunday that they would also do great. They did great, but David still made more on Sat. . Heather and CJ hung out with us girls. Heather and I went over to Black Sheep Creamery to vacuum up some more cheese Sunday night, cause David and Jamie had sold alot of our aged cheese and our marinated feta cheese. We left at about 9pm after David and Jamie got home and we had a good count of the cheese. I had to cut up another round of N.W. Comfort. This only gives us one more round of N.W. Comfort and two rounds of Black Jewels left. Heather and I got home about 10:30pm. Jamie and David were tired after such a busy day at market. We all sat up and watched the news and then to bed. We also have a baby goat in the house now too. One of the first triplets wasn't doing so good - so we brought him in the house and gave him some colostrum and a teaspoon of Nutra drench (vit. packed liquid). Put it in a clothes basket with he heating pad. As of this afternoon he is standing and eating good and its time to move him outside under a heat lamp.

On Monday when we went out to do chores we found another mom with triplets. Two bucks and a doe. So we have seven does and 14 kids. I'll wait for one more doe to kid then we'll start up the milking parlor. Monday was pretty uneventful after the weekend. Ali went to market with David and Danyel and I stayed home. We are working on getting everything ready for our first big tour on Wed. I just got the count of people coming - 39 children and 11 adults. Its a homeschool group from Federal Way WA. Anyway no more babies on Monday. And this morning there were no new babies either. I hope one goes today so we can start making cheese. Sun. David sold out of all my Pepper Rosa and I only have about 15 pieces of Fresh Feta and we are all sold out of Grande Rosa. I am going to mail a package of cheese off to my mom today, chevres and Marinated Feta. David and I will go over to Black Sheep Creamery and vacuum up some Chevres for my mom and then stop by the post office and get it going.

David went and got hay this morning and the Amanda (a friend of my older daughters) brought her three boar goats (mom and two kids) to stay here for awhile while she works in Rainier WA training horses. And Danyel and Ali are also going to a neighbors to wash thier truck for them. Danyel and Ali are also doing dog watch for another neighbor.

Well I think I'v wrote enough today. And David and I need to go to town and get the new baby pen set up with the heat lamp.

Have a Great Day.

Babies are Here!

Our Tea Party Guests 2-13-09 One of our first does to have babies and it was triplets 2 girls and one boy.

Hello:

Well lets see, first off why I haven't written is because we didn't pay our local phone bill and the phone was turned off. David had a good market day and I then got to pay the bill and here I am again.

On Tue. it snowed again. Just 3 inches and then got icy out. So I stayed home. David was home so he drove Danyel to Biology class and did some running around town. Danyel and Ali had their HAM Radio Class that evening. David was suppose to go to Longview to his Sisters Big 50 birthday party, but because of what it looked like here decided to stay close to home. Its hard to predict what its doing 50 miles away from our house... even going to Seattle is a risk when weather is bad here. Anyway he did call her. Our 4-H meeting was cancelled until Wed..

On Wed. we worked on the farm, bought grain and went over to Black Sheep Creamery to vacuum up our first aged cheese. Black Jewels and NW Comfort. We did one round of each. I tasted it and YUM! it turned out really good. David will take that to market on Thur. to sell. He has been promoting it for about 6 weeks, so he knows he'll have people coming down to taste it. We went to Church on Wed. and that was a great Bible Study. A gentleman bought $15 of cheese to be delivered on Sunday.

Thur. the girls and I went grocery shopping for our Valentines Tea. We also started baking for the tea. Our menu was: three sandwich combinations (spinach leaves, garlic & dill chevre, smoked salmon patte- spinach leaves, garlic and dill chevre and tuna fish - peanut butter, powdered sugar, plain chevre - these are rolled up in flour tortia's and cut into three pieces). Sugar heart cookies, mini chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and drizzled with white chocolate, lemon tarts, apple crisp with whip cream, cream puffs with chocolate pudding inside with powdered sugar on top, almond Rocha crunch, carrots, candy, pretzels and of course tea and cream. On Friday morning I was up at 4:30 to package cheese for David to go to market and then I started baking again to get the sugar cookies baked and make the sandwiches. The girls got up at 6am to help clean and organize the house we were expecting 15 people - though only 9 showed up. We had a great time eating all those goodies. I ran to town in the middle of all this to get 13 bags of grain and take Danyel to Biology and pick her up. And we were ready. Tea party was from noon to 2pm. Three of our guest showed up by 10am, so they got to help. We had no babies born during the tea. My girlfriend and her three children were here and so I got to visit with her for awhile. After she left I packaged up some marinated feta and headed over to Black sheep Creamery again to vacuum up some Black Jewel and NW Comfort and the Marinated feta. I got to watch two sheep have lambs while there. I got home about 7pm when our last guest's parents picked her up. David got home at 7:30 and had a good day at market. At about 8pm our first doe had a baby buck. I was so tired by the end of Friday night. I went to bed at 9pm and was sleeping soundly when I heard my daughter and son and grandson come in. They were going to spend the weekend here. David came in about 12 midnight and said that the goat was still pushing, that had had a kid about three hours earlier. So I got up put my sweats on and a coat, grabbed the dish soap and headed to the barn. Sure enough she wasn't done. I went in and found a breach baby - I got one leg pulled out but couldn't get the other one out - so I just held onto the one and pulled the baby out - I figured 3 hours after the birth of the last one this one was probably dead.....NOT! and David said you think she has another one in there? So I bounced her (this is just placing your hand under the stomach and kind of pushing up on the stomach and feeling if there is a heavy weight coming back down) and there was. So I went in thinking again its probably dead......NOT! She had three bucks. I came back inside and went to bed.....

Sat. morning David went up to hay and came back with the report there were four alive animals in that pen... YA! I had to package some cheese for market so was up at 4:30 again. David left for market at 5:45am. Got the girls up at 7 am to go up and see the babies and do chores. I made french toast for the house full of people. Took the girls to Civil Air Patrol. Came home and My daughter and son and grandson all got ready to run to town to do some banking (so I can have my phone back), pick up some grocery's and the kids wanted to go to the cell phone store, while the girls were at Civil Air Patrol......we'll pick them up at noon and come home eat lunch and then go see baby sheep. My son stayed home and studied - when he grows up he's going to be a councilor to youth. That sheep tour went well, got to see a lot of baby lambs, took pictures. Came home got the roast in the dinner - David called from market and said it was really crazy and he was selling lots of cheese. When we got back from see the baby lambs, another doe - Wendi had triplets. They are the ones in the picture. After I got the roast in the oven I headed out to the processing plant to stain my olive oil, and clean up the plant .. do a little organizing. Chores started at 4:30 and was done by 5:45. My grandson loves driving the tractor (he's 5). So we moved some hay bales to the barn and fed the goats their hay. His mom and dad went to the movies for Valentines day in Chehalis. The rest of the evening was pretty mellow. David got home about 8pm he had had a really really good day at market. He didn't have alot to unload since he sold most of the cheese. He said the market was wall to wall people. The beef jerky guy sold out of his product by 2pm and left. David was close.

Sunday morning I was up at 4:30 to package cheese up for market for David. Jamie our son is going with him today. Heather and CJ are going to church in Longview and spend the afternoon with one of her friends and then will come back and pick up Jamie when David and Jamie get home from Seattle. Heather is going to go and get me some containers and lids and some garlic (one less trip for me) while in Longview. The girls and I are going to church this morning. This afternoon I have to go cut up another round of NW comfort and vacuum it up and some more Marinated Feta. Then lable them for tomorrow's market.

Well that is the run down for this last week.

Have a Great Day and remember SPING is how you look at the day!

More Snow!

I am beginning to think Winter is going to last forever. And what a better time to have kids born than when its really cold....ICK!
Well Friday I took an order of Chevre to Olympia to the Dockside Bistro. While there the chef gave me a taste of some ice cream that he had made using our chevre and caraway seeds. It was so good. He said he serves this alongside apple crisp with a dab of chevre on top. Yum! that sounds so good. The girls and I got some home school done before we left. I also went over to Black Sheep creamery and vacuumed some Marinated Feta for market for David. David did sort of good on Friday in Seattle. The girls didn't have Civil Air Patrol this weekend. Their friends came over and spent the day. My grandson got here about 6:30pm and we hung out with him till bedtime. His mom and dad went back to Clatskanie to a big birthday bash for a cousin.
No babies born this weekend... that means next weekend could be big. We didn't go to church on Sunday - stayed home and waited for Heather and Jamie to get here to pick up CJ. Again no babies. Monday, we started our home school work, Danyel went to Biology and David and I got all our samples and stuff ready to go to the Farm Chef connection in Seattle. We left at 12:30 and got there in plenty of time. We actually went across the street to a restaurant outlet store and looked for a vacuum machine. Didn't find one. We were let into the building at 3:45. There was alot of people there, they had estimated 350. We were there for 1 1/2 hours, sampling and selling our farm and products. No sales just samples. We did get an order from the Seattle Arts Museum for a standing 10 pounds a week and in June 20 pounds of Marinated Feta. That will be nice. We also talked to a Co-op in Spokane that would like to carry our cheese. I'll fill the info on line today for that opportunity.
No babies today. Today we were going to have a 4-H meeting , but we have cancelled it due to snow. We have about 3 inches up here and we can't wait for the RAIN! We set the meeting up for tomorrow.

Cheese Class - March 21, 2009 - 10-2pm - Winlock, Wa.

Email me or check out my web page for more details......The cut off date for the class is March 9.... Hurry the class is filling up!

Danyel and Ali have their HAM Radio Class tonight.... if it rains! David has his Sisters Birthday at 6:30 tonight.

Even when the weather is white keep your eyes on the Sunny weather to come. At least you'll keep HOPE alive for the next few months of winter.

The Lull before the Storm

Good Morning:

This is Danyel's puppy sleeping next to the file cabinet - the only place we can tie her in the house that she can't destroy things. She spends most of her time outside now and only comes in to eat and take a nap. She still sleeps in Danyels room at night.

Yesterday the girls and I stayed home except for Biology class. We got homeschooling done. David went to Seattle to Market. I had Bible study in the evening and that went great. The girls were left at home to fend for themselves and clean the kitchen up. When I got home most of the kitchen was clean and David was home with the market report. Not so good. I hope we can hold out till our milk production is in and we start getting paid from the processing plant that buys our extra milk. Its getting tighter and tighter around here. But I am not going to get stressed out about this. I am going to Trust God that he has a bigger plan for our family and farm.

Today we will do our homeschool and Biology class and then run to Olympia to deliver chevre to Dockside Bistro. I got it all packaged up this morning and the invoice made up too. Then I am going to try and run over to Adna and vaccum up some marinated feta for market. David is getting low and its always good to have extra packaged up.

No babies born yesterday and I haven't been out in the barn yet this morning. I did get up at 4:30 this morning to package up chevre for market. Now don't feel sorry for me having to get up so early. I really enjoy the quiet time before the farm starts moving and I am enjoying it more and more since I know its going to change in a short time. At least during this two hour window I can read my devotional and Bible, which gives me a peace for the rest of the day. I can get the kitchen kind of straighted up and even look over my lesson plan for the day. The smell outside is so fresh and crisp too. I think alot of people miss the best part of the day - early morning. It puts a smile on my face when I think of the peace and unhurriedness that occurs at this hour in the morning. Granted I go to bed by 10pm and sometimes earlier.... but there is nothing good on TV and I don't miss the TV anyway. My eyes are to tired to read then and I have been busy all day.

Enough of that soap box. I hope everyone has an Awesome day!

Kidding Season Begins........

Good Morning:

This is my N.W. Comfort and Black Jewels Aged cheese. We are going to sample and sell it next weekend at Pikes Place Market. It is the first batch and we won't have anymore until the End of May this year.

Tue was one of those busy days. Jami and Seth and th grandkids left at 8am for Montana. That evening the girls went to thier HAM radio class, they liked it and look forward to going next week. I made it to grange and even hot a potluck dish to boot. I just took some of my stew I had made a few days before. David showed up for Grange at 7:1 5 just after the meeting started. The lady that we had speak did a great job on presenting her need for help in Africa. As a side note now I'v had two ladies ask me to come to Africa.... what and adventure that would be. Anyway David left the grange at 8:30 to go get the girls and I came right home. We were all in bed about 10pm.

Wed. I had all the good intentions to get up at 5am so we could get chores going alittle early.... I must of turned off the alarm or forgot to set it. I woke up at 7:20. I got the girls awake and sent them out to do start chores. David and I followed shortly. I was expecting the speaker at the grange to be at our house at 9am and I wanted things in order so I could visit and give her the info. she was wanting about goats. Well, we got the chores done and started our homeschool studies. It ended up not being such a rush thing anyway cause Jody showed up at 11:30. She stayed until 4:00. She took the tour and ate lunch with me. David ran Danyel to Biology and then went and picked her up afterwards. David also went and got some free hay that one of our grangers offered to us, he took the girls to help. When they got back from getting hay, our friend who works for the railroad showed up for dinner (which I had totally forgotten we had invited him for). He helped David unload the 60 bales of hay. We started chores at 4:30 and low and behold one of our does kidded. One of our Oberhaslies. She is early by about 5 days. The girls came in and got towels to dry off the kid. The baby was having a hard time breathing. So we suckered out its mouth and nose, but it just wouldn't clear up. So my next line of action is to swing the babies to force the flem into thier throat so I can sucker it out. But this didn't give me the results I wanted either. So we suckered it again. I had the girls put the baby in with its mom in a pen and finish thier chores. I told them to bring the baby in when they were finished and I'd give it some colostrum and some goat drench (it a liquid with lots of good stuff in it, vit. min. ect.). They brought the baby in the house we wraped it with a clean towel and put it on the heating pad in a basket. I put a tube down its throat and syringed some milk down it. It was so weak. It perked up a bit but not much and to make a long story short the baby died. The girls hate to start the kidding season like this, but such is farm life. Anyway now we have a mom to milk by hand. We will freeze the colostrum incase we need it for another baby.

Everyone Pray That our Kidding Season will be a Good Season!

Well, as I am writing I am swishing that oil around in my mouth. For some reason this morning it feels like I should gag.... I'll try and work through it. I only got 10 min. in instead of 20. Drank my 8oz of water and will have a cup of coffee.

I got up this morning at 4:30 to go make up some chevre for David to take to market. He left at 5:30am to head to Seattle. I sure hope he has some good sales today. I'll get the girls up at 7:30, this is thier last week of sleeping in and I'll let them enjoy it.

I am going to sign Ali up for BME which is rifle shooting through CAP (Civil Air Patrol) for next month. Its a weekend event. Danyel went in November I think to hers.

This evening I have the bible study at 6:30. I have been so busy this week I haven't had time to read my chapter and be ready for the class tonight. So I'll go blind tonight - or let the Holy Spirit lead me.

You have a Great Day today and enjoy the warmer weather and the glimps of the Sunshine.

Adventure on I-5

Hello to All:
Another entry from the goatlady. Thats what I am now referred to quite often as I enter the room. There is a nice ring about that name, I actually am growing fond of it. Maybe its and endearing title.
My Big Adventure: Monday morning David took the truck to Seattle to Market and left the car with me. It was running fine and started great when I went out to take Danyel to Biology class at 10:15am. I had on my farm jumper and I put on some flip flops, cause I was just running Danyel to school and then go get some gas. So I drop her off and headed tword the gas station outside of Napavine. The price was 5 cents more than the station where we turn off to go home so I passed the first gas station and headed out onto I-5 for our exit. Well about 500 yards before our exit the car starts sputtering and kind of jerked a little. Then I looked at the speedometer and it said I was going 0 and I knew that was not true. I kept giving it gas and it kept jerking and I am thinking this is not happening. I got to our exit and then off to the side of the road and the car stopped. I called David and told him he had better pray that someone I know or could trust would come and rescue me. Before I got off the phone to him, I heard a rap on my window and as I turned I saw a gentleman in an orange vest and in the rear view window I saw an WDOT emergency truck. He asked if I needed towed and I told him I thought I just needed a jump. So he jumped the car, it started he followed me almost all the way home. God is Good. The stupid car died again on our road home and a neighbor jumped me again. I got home in time to take the van and go pick up Danyel from Biology at 11:30.
Anyway yesterday my daughter from Montana and her husband and two darling children graced out home and spent the night. We had a good visit and had fun watching the youngest get around - she is just starting to walk. Justin the older grandchild kept his nose on the computer flying airplanes. Seth, my daughters husband, helped David put a new altinater in the car. What another blessing. Anyway we did enjoy the visit. They left this morning at about 8am. I fixed scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast with some homemade applesauce. Sent some yogurt and cheese home with them. After they left we all went out to do chores and check on everyones health. Some of those goats sure look close to having thier babies. But no one yet is gracing our farm with little feet...... yet! We worked on our homeschool and even finished on time today. David went and got grain, dog & cat food. We had to do chores early as the girls are now taking H.A.M. Radio classes from 7-9pm each Tue. for 4 weeks. Another class we are taking is a crochet class on Mondays from 3:30-5:00 for 8 weeks. We'll see what happens when we start milking goats the middle of this month. We also had grange tonight at 6pm. I went to grange with my stew in hand for the potluck dinner and David ran the girls into Chehalis to thier radio class, then came to the grange. Our speaker tonight is helping the people in Rowanda Africa - getting them goats and teaching them to make cheese. It was a very informative presentation. We got out of our meeting at 8:30 and I packed up my things and David left to pick up the girls. We all were home by 9:30pm. Its a long day.
Tomorrow the lady that spoke at our grange is coming to see the farm and talk to me. I have had two offers to go to Africa to help teach the people how to make cheese..... I wonder if I am being directed to go there? Anyway I look forward to our visit tomorrow. David is going to go get free hay that is being given to us to bed the barn down good with fresh bedding before the goats start kidding. We are expecting a couple to have thier babies this weekend... but the next weekend is going to be real intersting cause we have about 40 does due within that 10 day stretch.
Well you have a great nights sleep and rest peacefully. I am planning on doing that real soon.
One last note the sesame oil I am swishing each morning does seem to give me more energy. And I think I can tell a diffence in the whiteness of my teeth. David says he can't do it because the taste stays in his mouth all day cause of his dentures. We'll work on that.

Christmas in Feb.

Good Morning:


We had our Christmas Dinner yesterday. The food was great and the company wonderful. Jami & Seth, Justin and Ashlynn (Montana), Shawn (Rainier, Or), Heather & Jamie & CJ and our family were here. David and Jamie wanted to watch the Super Bowl so they moved our antenta to get the reception and there it was TV. We havent had TV for about 8 months and I have to say I loved it. So the boys were all excited to watch the game. We ate dinner and then the men sat around cheering on thier teams. Our house was empty by 6pm. But the TV was still on. It remained on until 11:30pm. We had birthday cake and ice cream to celebrate Nov. and Jan. and Feb. birthdays. We all had a good visit.

This picture was taken when they all were getting ready to blow out the candles. Jami (33) & Ashlyn (1), Christian James (5), Justin (9)


We did evening chores during half time - so it was a little later than normal.


On Friday we cleaned house half the day. Had the neighbor girls spend the night and they helped too. House was clean and food was prepared on Sat. morning. Heather and Jamie and CJ came Sat. afternoon to spend the night and hang out. I made lamb stew and homemade rolls (quad batch) for dinner. Sunday morning had the salad made and the roast coated in Dijon Mustard and rock salt coated ready for the oven by 11:30am.


We are getting excited about babies.... only a week left and then we'll be going to the barn alot.


Today we are going to get school done and Jami and Seth and kids will be here this afternoon. I got up at 4:30 am to make up chevre for David to take to market today. Then I started a new health thing my daughter told me to try. Swish my mouth with pressed seseme seed oil for 20 min. spit out in toilet. Then drink 2 - 8oz glasses of cold water then brush your teeth. (Swish on an empty stomach). Benefits: Whiter teeth, detoxe your body, and give you more energy. So we'll see.


I need to run to town this morning and get dog food and put some money in the bank. Chores in the morning are pretty easy and don't take any time at all. So we are getting done with breakfast and will head down stairs to do school work.

Hope you all have a Great Day and Smile at someone you don't know..... then at someone you do know.