Thought For The Day

(Joe, Drew and I went out for supper the other night. The restaurant Joe choose sits out in the middle of nowhere – pretty much in a cornfield! The field was so pretty with it’s golden cornstalks and the fall sky in the background, I had to take a picture!)

Every morning at our local public elementary school, over the intercom, they have two sixth graders lead the Pledge of Alligience, announce the menu and birthdays and there’s always a Thought for the Day to start the day. The 5th grade Language Arts teacher has each 5th grader write down the thought in their journals and then during her class they discuss sentence structure, punctuation, what the thought means, etc. What a great idea! The kids have to really listen and concentrate and then they learn through discussion.  And my favorite thought from the past two weeks:

Don’t take the stars and trees for granted, they’re all God’s miracles.

 

Oh Hazel

Miss Hazel has done it again. She got her head stuck in a fence and tore up her ear. Not only once but twice. Dad called the vet and the vet had him run in and get some medicine for it but he didn’t think they needed to stitch it. They were afraid she would just do it again and tear the stitches out. So I got to help hold her while Dad gave her a couple of shots and then sprayed medicine on her ear. She didn’t like the shots and she doesn’t like the spray. The shots were a one time thing but the spray has to be done three times a day until the wound is healed. At least she chose a time when the flies are gone so we don’t have to worry about keeping them off of the open sore. And the spray must sting because she shakes and shakes her ear after we let her go. We give her some cheerios as a treat after every treatment so that makes her happy. She will now always have a funky looking ear but that’s okay. We love her just the same! Helping Dad like this brings back memories of growing up and helping around the acreage. There was always some animal to help out with be it hogs, sheep, rabbits, dogs, cats, a goat, horses. Sometimes I really  miss those days.  And I think Dad does too. He told me likes having livestock around again to mess with. Even it is only a couple of goats!

Ready To Slow Down

I am so ready for things to slow down around here. Working at the school for two weeks was both rewarding and draining. I enjoyed the young man I was with although he was also quite the challenge. The school has hired a young girl to be with him and I think that’s good – she might be better suited to keep up with him! I was scheduled to work on Tuesday and on Thursday this week. Tuesday was canceled and Thursday rescheduled which was fine with me. I can use a week at home!

I had volunteered to help out at the school during their annual Color Run fundraiser but ended up working instead. Which worked out great as I was there all day and even though I was working I got to also spend time with Drew.

The kids had a great time dancing. They bring in a local DJ and she plays all the songs the kids love. The weather was iffy all day but it cleared up just enough for everyone to have fun for a couple of hours!

Drew’s teacher saw these boys taking a selfie and she just had to photobomb them. She’s such an involved teacher. She’s very update and fun!

I did manage to tackle this daunting task over the last month. All my DMC was in baggies. Hard to find, numberous duplicates, just very frustrating to sort through. After soooo many years of stitching I have accumulated soooo many threads. So instead of stitching I organized. I still have threads in baggies but I also have every DMC color organized like this. It is so nice now to pull out the threads I need without having to spend time sorting through piles. I should have done this years ago!

Braxton has been playing preschool soccer and we got to go to one of his games. He was lots of fun to watch. I get a kick out of these little ones – they have so much fun just running around out on the field. Little Bayah cuddled with me throughout the whole game which was fun too!

We we out for lunch after the soccer game for Aaron’s birthday. He wanted to go to Applebee’s in Iowa City. Everyone made it except for Eric who had to work. Jeremy looks grumpy in this picture but he had actually just shown Braxton how to make spit balls and shoot them through a straw. Braxton had a blast shooting them at Uncle Aaron who was a good sport. Especially when Drew got into the action too! I’m sure Applebee’s was glad to see us leave!

The Chickens Are Happy

While chatting with Uncle Jerry about chickens he  mentioned he had been letting his girls out to free range now that the flowers were spent and they couldn’t do too much damage to them. So, we’ve started letting our girls run. I’m not sure who has been more excited – the chickens or Drew. He couldn’t wait to play with them and he even tried to bring Blackie in the house! We had four very happy chickens and two who were too scared to wander more than a few steps out of the pen the first time we let them out. Those two had never been out to free range before. I’m sure as we let them out more here this fall they’ll get brave and wander. Especially once they catch on to all the bugs they’re missing out on!

Unfortunately, we’ve been seeing lots and lots of rain these past couple of weeks and the chicken pen is full of mud so letting them run has been especially good for them. But, I’ve been subbing at the school the last five days and haven’t been able to let them run while I’m gone. After this week (only four more days – yeah!) hopefully the weather will improve and I’ll be home again and we’ll all be happy!

 

Oh Hazel

Hazel caused a little bit of trouble when she got home. Since we don’t actually have a place for Hazel at the moment, Dad volunteered to keep her over the winter until we can get a place fenced in for her. Dad is glad to have her to maybe get some weeds eaten down in his lot. Unfortunately, Hazel came home with us on a Monday and on Tuesday, she escaped. We spent Tuesday night looking for her to no avail. Dad felt awful. He called Uncle Jerry to see if he had sold the rest of his goats. Uncle Jerry proceeded to bring one of his old dairy goats along with another little goat to stay with Dad and Mom in hopes that they would help lure Hazel home.

She was spotted following the neighbor’s cows around. And she came out of hiding once when Mom went down and called like a goat but once she realized it was Mom and not a real goat, off she went. Then, thanks to a neighbor who had an “animal caller”, they took that down with them along with the old tame dairy goat, used the caller and lured Hazel back to the barn. She followed the dairy goat up no problem. I’m sure after spending three nights “in the wild” and all by herself she was ready for some company.

So we brought her home on Monday, she escaped on Tuesday, then she was home again on Friday evening. Saturday afternoon I took Drew over to spend time with her. She was a little skiddish, and why wouldn’t she be. The poor thing had had quite the week. Taken away from her herd, loose in the wild, back to a strange place. But Dad can catch her as she seems to have warmed up to him quickly, and we spent some time just talking to her and petting her and letting her get used to us. She’s a sweet little thing and has the most beautiful ears. It will take some time but I think she’s going to fit right in with us.

We went back over Sunday evening and took supper to Dad and Mom and spent some more time with Hazel. And Nanny and Rubio – as the other two goats have been named now also. Uncle Jerry will be taking them home at some point but how can you not name a goat? Nanny is a big pain in the behind. She is tame as can be and gets into everything and eats everything – including your clothes. Rubio on the other hand has never been handled and doesn’t want to be messed with. So for now Dad will have a good start on getting rid of those weeds with is new goat herd!

 

Perfect October Morning

Monday morning – Drew woke up early and wanted to cuddle. Who am I to say no when my baby asks to cuddle? He’s seven after all – it’s rare that he wants to cuddle with his mom! Then I dropped him off at school, stopped at the store for milk and potatoes for supper, took the groceries home and headed over to help Dad doctor a goat. On the way I stopped and snapped this picture.

As I was looking at this picture I realized how blessed I am. I’m blessed because these are the things that make me happy – cuddles with Drew, running simple errands, being able to help Dad when he needs it, a picture of the timber on a beautiful misty October morning. What more could I ask for? It’s times like these that remind me how good God is!

Buckeye Luck

While camping we made our yearly pilmrimage to pick up buckeyes! The last thing I need is another buckeye but we love to find and gather them. When we got there there was a man and a little girl and their two dogs there. They said they were from Central City and had never seen a buckeye tree before so they were really enjoying finding them. It’s especially fun to find them still in their cover and to open them up and see how many are inside. Drew had one with three inside and Mom had found one with four which Uncle Jerry said was rare. I love how pretty they are when you first find them – all different shades of brown and then they darken to a solid brown as they dry. I keep them in an old wooden bowl. They say if you find a buckeye it’s good luck – I’ve older men who keep one in their pocket all year long for that very reason!

 

Our Home Sweet Away From Home!

After much debate and weather watching (cold and rain was in the forecast) last week we decided on Thursday to haul the camper out to Belva Deer. I’m glad we did. It was chilly. And it did rain. But fall is still the best time to camp. We just threw on layers and toughed it out and had a great time!

We found time to go for walks in between raindrops! This was a Sunday morning walk before Dad and Mom pulled out. Uncle Jerry and Todd came too but they pulled out Saturday afternoon. Uncle Jerry got up Friday morning and discovered he had a window missing in his bedroom! He’s not sure when he lost it but assumes it flew out while he was pulling. They were able to track one down right outside of Sigourney and ran and got it Saturday morning. There are times when technology is worth having! In the meantime they duck taped a piece of cardboard up and he said it kept him nice and warm and toasty! We didn’t pull out until later Sunday – it was nice to just have the campground to oursevles for awile. Joe and Drew went for a bike/scooter ride and I sat and enjoyed the fire.

The best part of the weekend was enjoying the campfire. There’s nothing better than cool air, a warm fire and good company! This may have been our last outing of the season and it was a good one!

Meet Hazel

Remember Winston the goat? Well, Winston is to blame for Miss Hazel coming to live with us! Not really but he sure didn’t help! Drew has been begging for a goat, long before we camped with Winston, and Uncle Jerry just happens to have goats that he raises to sell. And he just happened to have this little brown one. And it just so happened that he was going to be selling the goats last Wednesday. And he really wanted Drew to have this goat. And then we camped with Winston and guess what? As of a week ago Monday we are now the proud owners of a goat!

Hazel is a Boer goat. There’s a good market for meat goats right now and that is why Uncle Jerry raises them. As you can see – if Drew wanted Hazel, he had to go out amongst the herd and catch her! He did a good job too but she did get away so Uncle Jerry helped out a little. It was good for Drew though to try.

My pictures aren’t the best as Hazel was in the back of the truck and she didn’t want to be be still. She was a little scared after being taken away from her herd and traveling in the back of the truck. Hazel is living at my dad and mom’s right now as we weren’t prepared for a goat. We will have to build her a pen. We know from experience that she likes to escape so we’ll have to be very diligent in our fence making endeavors. But that’s a whole other story to tell! Oh yeah- I’m in love with those ears!

Winston the Goat

This is Winston. We met Winston when we went camping at Lake Darling. Winston kept everyone entertained – especially the littles but he had the adults wrapped around his little finger too. Winston was so sweet – I decided he needed his own blog post!

Like I said – the littles loved him but as you can see the big kids loved him too! Winston acts like a dog. He follows his owners around just like a dog would but without a leash. He spent Saturday night with us while we sat around the fire. He would wander from person to person and want to be petted. But he never let his owner get too far away. He kept his eye on her!

He wore a bow tie on his collar and he wore diapers and a onesie to bed at night and slept in the tent with his owners. Now that is where I would draw the line! No goat diapers or goat sleepovers for me! Winston is used for goat yoga and I’m guessing he gets loved on a lot. He’s also hosting a family movie night this weekend in his barn where you can come watch a family movie and pet him and his goat friends.  He also was a big incentive in what is now a new member of our family. I think I’ll leave that for another post!