Summer stuff

I was organizing pictures today and realized that I neglected to post these three videos for your enjoyment, so here they are in no particular order:
finding a copperhead in the field;
the little girls swinging on a double-decker swing that they designed themselves;
and our pet squirrel, Twinkie, making a nest on the bookshelf. We have since released Twinkie at Grandpa's house. He still hangs around to get easy snacks that Grandpa leaves out for him. (too many cats at our house)

Shearing, Nala

Well, here we go again. It's been like a month since I've blogged. I know I need to do better. We've had some deletions and additions to our farm this month. We have one squirrel left, Twinkie, who I'm having a hard time letting go. Yeah, he's probably ready, but I'm not.
After losing ANOTHER small flock of chickens, we found a new home for our dog, Flomar, and got a more farm-friendly breed. Her name is Nala, and so far she is wonderful.
Cami was out walking in the pasture when she came upon a little kitten. We have no idea where it came from, but of course I let her keep it. We call it Chloe.
We have acquired three dairy bull calves which we bottle feed twice a day. Also a young milk goat we got at an auction. She is a SPECIAL goat. She cannot be kept in any pen or enclosure, so we lock her in the garage at night and sweep the goat berries out every morning. During the day she hangs around the house and takes naps on the back porch like a dog. She plays with the little girls when they come outside and makes such a fuss if we tie her up. We plan to breed her in the fall and milk her in the spring.
We sheared our two llamas, which we were dreading to do, but it was not so bad this year. We discovered our 14 year-old son is a llama charmer. He single-handedly took care of our large breeding male.

May 2009

No way! I can't believe it's been so long since I last blogged! Well, we had a lot going on last month, so here are some highlights:
--We graduated our first child from our Homeschool! She is planning to attend Covenant College in the fall-- right after she fulfills her duties as bridesmaid to her best friend who is getting married at the end of August!
--I had my 40th birthday. When asked what I wanted for my birthday, I only had two answers-- a milk goat, and squirrel babies.
--I got new squirrel babies! No lie! I had given my name to the local vet clinic in case anyone found some orphans, and voila! I now have a pair of cute baby boys about 7-8 weeks old. They were just barely opening their eyes when they came to me, so they are not as tame as Chippy was. I will probably release them back to the wild at 12 weeks old.
--Our huge old barn was damaged recently in some wind storms, so with the insurance money we received, we are putting on a new roof and patching holes and loft boards. We have about 100 square bales of hay in the loft, so I hope it doesn't rain much. Speaking of rain, we have had record rainfall this spring. The farmers are way behind.
--Our oldest is having all her wisdom teeth taken out by an oral surgeon on Monday. Our son, 14, is scheduled to have braces put on this summer, and I'm wondering how all this and college is going to be paid for. But God is the most excellent provider, and I'm not worrying.
--We put up the pop-up pool today. Now it finally feels like summer :)

Squirrel Memorial

I was at Walmart looking for some play sand for the sandbox, when suddenly I saw it-- the perfect little birdbath for my garden. Perfect because of the little squirrel. I thought, what a great way to remember my special pet! This other pic is of C holding a snail she found. She loves all kinds of creatures and is not afraid of a little slime. Plus, here is another cute trampoline video...

Gone

Grandpa has still not seen hide nor hair of Chippy. Either an owl got him, or he ran off into the big wide world to fulfill his destiny as a roving male. Meanwhile several nest-building birds have been eying Chippy's box.
I miss my widdie skwirl...
At least I have this beautiful weather to comfort me, and the knowledge that I did the right thing by letting him go. Thanks for all the encouragement.
Here's a funny video of Dad on the trampoline...

Freedom!

Well, we did it. We let Chippy go free at Grandpa's house. We nailed Chippy's nest box in a tree, set out his food and water dishes on a convenient stump and walked away. He proceeded to scamper all around and up and down the tree, heady with the exciting smells and textures. We walked back to the house and watched from a window. Another squirrel came by! Chippy made a threatening movement toward it, and it fled. Oh well, not too bad for his first squirrel encounter. The little girls woke up this morning missing Chippy. They called Grandpa to see if Chippy was still OK, but I think Grandpa was still waking up. We'll call again later... Here is a pic and video from the blessed event.

Outside all day

Yesterday was a glorious day--partly sunny and 74 degrees! I was awakened at 7am by an eager 8 year-old's cries of "Can we go now, Mom?!" I had promised the first horseback ride of the year this day. What made it even more special was that Daddy wanted to come along. So we geared up all three animals and had a lovely ride along the river and through storm-damaged trails. But the downed trees made it more exciting, as the horses sometimes chose to jump, rather than step over the larger tree trunks. Then we spent the rest of the day cleaning tack, dismantling and feeding the horses and cows the very last round hay bale, and doing some outdoor clean-up around the barn. We had some wind damage from the latest wind storm which tore off several sheets of metal roofing, plus lots of downed tree debris from the ice storm which needed burning. It was a lot of work, but we had a great time being outside.
We did not bring Chippy out with us this time because his release date is only one week away. March 15 we plan to set him free at Grandpa's house. (Too many cats here.)

Birthday, turkeys, and squirrel

Little R turned 8 on Saturday. She got a trampoline for her birthday. (God blessed us with a used one.) She had a party with several friends and had a great time. Here they are playing the yarn game. Each person has to say one sentence of a story and then toss the ball of yarn to someone else, who then tells the next sentence of the story. However, each person must hold onto the yarn before they toss it. We also played a game with balloons in which each person has a balloon tied to their ankle. Then everyone tries to pop the balloons without having their own balloon popped. Fun! It was rainy and a bit snowy that day, so the kids did not get to jump on the new trampoline, but they didn't seem to mind.

Just a couple videos to share. One is of a flock of wild turkeys we ran into about a quarter mile from our house. The other is of Chippy hiding a nut. Chippy has a nest box now. He doesn't quite get the idea of it yet, but when he decides to make it his home, we will be able to move it outside and set him free. I'm also waiting for the weather to be more consistently warm. But I'm quite sure Chippy will be set free in the month of March.

Updates

Re. Ice Storm: We continue to enjoy the luxury of electricity while thousands still do not, my father being one who has now gone 12 days in a cold and dark house. He did spend a few nights at our house when the temps were in the teens, but it is in the 50's and 60's now during the day, so he has been back home... waiting. He thinks there should be a prize for the very last person to have their power restored, along with a personal note of apology for being last. These little fantasies help him to cope.

Re. Chippy: Our squirrel continues to thrive in his captive environment. He discovered my potted plants recently. Did I tell you squirrels love to dig? His release is scheduled for March, or late Feb. depending on the weather. I fear it will be hard on all of us (except Dad) when we let him go.

Re. Fun: We went ice skating at the sportsplex yesterday and had a great time. The little ones had never skated on ice. (We go roller skating about once a year.) By the end of an hour and a half, even the 5 year-old was venturing out on her own.

Re. Ella Mae: Here is my latest doll clothes creation...

A beautiful day

Today was a beautiful day. The temp was in the lower 50's and the sun was warm. We brought the horses up and I picked and trimmed their feet and treated them for thrush. We've had issues with thrush ever since the summer. We took Chippy out again today. He played in the trees and hid nuts. When it was time to go in, we had to get the ladder again and make him come down. This time he was very angry about it and growled at us and put his ears back. We did get him back safely in his cage, but I think it is time to let him go.

Bedtime Snack

We still have Chippy the squirrel. He is old enough to be released now, but he took a bad jump and injured his leg, so we will continue to look after him for now. Here is a video of him with C that I call "Bedtime Snack".

Indian Spring

You've heard the term 'Indian Summer'; now I propose 'Indian Spring'. It's what we had yesterday when it was 68 degrees and sunny. It felt like Spring, only in a creepy, dead sort of way. There were few birds or insects out, and the plant life was not awakening. Chippy (our squirrel) seemed really excited to smell the outdoors when we opened all the windows in the house. What a nice break from the dark, cold winter we've been having. Thank you, God.

An Evening of Family Fun

Ahh...nothing puts me in the Christmas spirit like clean windows... You don't need to comment that I'm a neat freak-- I know. Anyway, after cleaning windows yesterday we decided to all go bowling and eat pizza out. Ricky was the high scorer with a 171. He had five strikes in a row! I mentioned that proffessional bowlers can make a lot of money, but he didn't seem interested in that career. Then we stopped and bought a Christmas tree-- a REAL one of course, and this evening we are decorating. Here's a new video of Chippy eating a piece of popcorn.

Squirrels are Not Pets

I read the above statement as I was researching how to raise an orphaned squirrel, and I now believe it to be true. As Chippy grows quickly so do his wild instincts. He is still friendly, but now gets nervous easily and will be stressed if the kids play with him too much. He is not old enough to release into the wild yet, but he seems contented in his large cage with climbing logs. We still feed him milk three times a day, but he takes less, and eats more solid food. He has a beautiful bushy tail.

Big R is sick today with a cold. He's big enough to stay home by himself, but I elected to stay home from church to take care of him. Pretty soon he will be all grown up, so I need to take advantage of all the opportunities I have to mother him.

A walk by the lake

We visited Grandpa's house yesterday and had a lovely walk by the lake. On the lot adjacent to Grandpa's they are building a large log cabin. The interesting thing about it is that they are reusing huge old beams from another old house and then putting chink between them. It looks like a real old-fashioned, Abraham Lincoln log cabin. The children had fun playing on the wooded shore.

We finally finished Chippy's big cage. He loves it. He can climb up the logs and forage around in the sticks, rocks, nuts and other debris we placed in there for him. He still takes formula three times a day, but has trouble holding still now. His wounded toe has healed nicely, and I don't think will be much of a handicap. God makes His creatures incredibly adaptable.

Lizzie and Kate

Well, the sun still rose this morning. (And without Obama's help.) In fact, it was a perfectly beautiful day--high of 77 with pure sunshine and a gentle breeze. We spent most of the afternoon working on Chippy's cage. It is rather large--four feet high and 32 inches across. But we want him to have plenty of climbing room. He is beginning to play and bite on his monkey chow. Yes, I said monkey chow. It's what you're supposed to feed to squirrels so they don't get metabolic bone disease. Click the play button on the video below to see Chippy in action.

Last weekend Kate and I had a fun visit with Lizzie. She sure has changed. Here is Lizzie and Kate last year.

The pic below is Lizzie and Kate last weekend.
See what I mean? I think maybe she should cut back on theTwilight novels :)

Accident!

Poor Chippy has had an accident! Apparently he caught a toe somewhere on the cage and in the effort of freeing himself, he broke the toe right off! The bone is completely severed at the first joint near the tip and merely hanging by the skin. I think it will heal OK, and we placed him back in a cardboard box for now. We will have to be quite careful when making his large cage. I feel bad about it, but I just didn't realize...

Open eyes

I have a bad cold and am staying home from church today. :( Church is the highlight of my week. My mother-in-law arrived on Friday for a visit. It is sooo nice having her here. Especially since I'm not feeling well, she has taken over the kitchen and children and given me plenty of rest. God bless her!

Chippy has opened his eyes! And he is becoming a chubby Chippy. He doesn't eat any solid food yet, but his upper incisors are coming in, so it should be soon. He still sleeps all day, but that should change soon also, and hopefully he will start to play. We can't wait for him to do more than just snuggle in our hands.

Murder in Roaring Springs Pt.2

We in this small Roaring Springs community are relieved that the man responsible has been arrested, yet we are further horrified as each additional detail of the crime is brought to light. We are still uninformed as to the relationship that this man had to the family. We hope it was not a "random" act. But does that really matter? Would it make it any better to know that it was an estranged boyfriend or disgruntled employee? Not really. In my mind there is nothing that can make it better except to know that God is in control, and that His justice is perfect as is His love. Here is a news update: http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/31230924.html

Update on Chippy: We have had him now for 2 weeks and he continues to grow and develop. His eyes are still not open, but I can feel his upper incisors beginning to emerge. We have moved him to an extra birdcage we had in storage. He still has a little box and towel to nest in. He seems content there and is furry enough now that we have removed the heating pad. He begins to make small chattering sounds which entertains the children.

Riding a Camel

This weekend the kids had a blast camping at LBL with a group from church. They also had the pleasure of spending an entire day with their dad without their "safety-conscious" mom around. Mom made up for it though, by stopping at the Cadiz Hamfest with the little girls and letting Rose have a ride on the camel. When Cami saw how big the camel was and heard him making a "growling" sound she decided not to have a ride.

Chippy, the baby squirrel is doing very well. He is gaining weight and eating more and looking more like a squirrel than an alien now. Any day now his eyes should open. When I feed him, I can feel his two little incisor teeth coming in. We'd better start working on some kind of cage. I fear he will soon outgrow the shoebox. (see posts below for some background on Chippy)