How do you Say Goodbye?

Fifteen years ago, Charlie, Bailey and I moved here to the current property.  Shortly thereafter, we realized that Callie Jo needed a friend. We were still mulling it over when Bailey saw her opening. She was getting ready to turn two, and she asked for a dog to come join the family for her birthday.

We went down to the local shelter, and wandered the isles while her Daddy was away on a duty assignment. I was worried she would want them all. I knew I did! But she carefully walked the line, looking from side to side, gazing at the animals. Then we got to the last of the row. As she looked to the left, a single white paw extended through the bars, and Bailey stepped closer. Their eyes met, and she sat down.

After meeting Callie Jo, and going through a few hoops, Vegas came home the next day. According to the shelter, he was 3 to 4 years old. How could we have known that he would be terrified of men, noises, fly swatters, the training clickers, newspapers and more?

These photos were taken about four years later. By this time, Callie Jo and Vegas were great buddies, and Hopper Spark had joined the family, as well as Wyatt Clay. That is Vegas Ace on the left in the top right photo. He loved his Bailey, and his girl dogs. A mellow guy, the girls always got what they wanted.  He never did learn how to play, but found his way into following the girls as they played.

As the years went by, Vegas was here when the goats came home. He tried to save Bailey's first goat Vital with Callie Jo when there was a dog attack by one we were watching for a friend. He was there as we nursed Vital back to health, and was there when we lost Callie Jo not long afterward.

Vegas helped raise Remington Pups when she came home, and taught her which humans belonged to which dogs, and how to have manners. He had a terrifying wandering habit in those years. On one occasion, two semis stopped and honked in the big road when he had figured out how to open the base of the West gate. The gate was quickly secured, but even now a honking semi on the big road leads to everyone counting dog noses.

As time went on, his muzzle turned grey, and he slowed down a bit. He had mostly let Remington take over his guard dog duty when she suddenly fell ill three Christmases ago. He calmly snuck out to realize what happened to her, and then followed me around for weeks, giving me love and attention as I mourned the animal who had actually been more mine than anyone else's. Through birthday parties and sleepovers, holidays and visits with family, his sweet yet quiet boy nudged his way into so many hearts.

Old Man Vegas began to wander more, but always had love for us, even if he didn't want to leave the property. His groomer came to him, even though he was old enough most groomers wouldn't have wanted to work with him, Denise came to him twice a year to make him comfortable, working around the growing tumors and quiet complaints of our sweet buddy who didn't look forward to haircuts, but still had a wag and a kiss for her.

Veglar, Vegie, Old Bear and more were his names, and Graybeard was there as Hopper grew sick with cancer, and later that year welcomed Shadow Paws into the family. As she grew into her role, he took longer naps and really enjoyed the mornings and evenings outside, with Shadow waiting for him on rounds and using her nose to help his stand when he stumbled.

The years slowed Bailey's buddy, but he sat with her and reminded her about unconditional love when the bullying made us reevaluate so many of the influences in the lives of the kids. Then he enjoyed the regular ear scratches and treats that came throughout the day from having home schooled kids. 

In the last month, Vegas Ace's health decline became more apparent. Shadow and the kids worked harder to help him, and keep him happy and comfortable, making sure he didn't wander too long during the heat of the day. At about eighteen years old, we know we were so lucky to have Vegas as part of our lives. But that didn't make it any easier for us when we lost him late last night. With one last kiss to his Bailey and a nuzzle to me, he laid down his head and went to sleep. We know he had a great life here, with his own dog bed, doting girls, elk legs to chew on, elk to eat, his own fire hydrant and all the love to make whatever used to scare him melt away.  We are sad for us because we loved him so much.  We are so thankful for all we had with him.

Goodbye, Vegas. We will always have you in our hearts. Run fast with your girls up there.

Love to all.

Welcome to the Family

Truth be told, this is another of my late posts.  These beautiful boys entered the farm family on Wednesday.  We were so thrilled that they came along in the daylight, in such an easy delivery, I thought there was sleep in my future! That was not to be, since the boys had trouble  latching on to mama Silver. An experienced dam who has raised some champion kids, Silver didn't know what to make of the issue. Bailey and I were scratching our heads and pulling out the tricks, and she was calling on the breeders who have so generously become mentors to us in this process.

This adorable little black one came out with hilariously turned back ears. We will be taping those to correct it. As cute as it is, it does change the shape of the head a bit, counts as a fault, and more importantly leaves the ears more open for foreign stuff to get in. By the second day, this little one was doing great with his mama, and we were feeling a full little baby goat belly and not needing to supplement him.

The larger lighter one, though, is still having trouble. Mama Silver is very anti milking, she wants to save all the milk for her boys, so Bailey and I have been teaming up and having to wrestle her for what milk we can, and supplementing more with formula when we have to.

She tells him to go back and drink, but he is still struggling with the sucking though he does swallow fine. He has also tried to get milk from her waddles, reminiscent of Nathan from a few years back.

Miss Versie, Bailey's showmanship goat, has been feeling  left out. She has been making friends with Shadow at the fence, laying at the gate to the kidding pen, socializing with Bailey's bantam Cochins through their fence, and trying to sneak in and kiss the new babies! Here she is taking advantage of the camera for attention and a photo op!

Neither of the babies are named at this point.  We keep coming back to something involving light for this little guy. This morning (Saturday, they both weighed in at 5.3 pounds.

This was thier first photo, as Silver was still working on cleaning them up.

While the breeders all remind us that some bottle babies are inevitable, I hope that little man settles in to the nursing thing, as I really believe it is a smoother life, even if the kids are home schooled and available to work with them much of the time. Plus life is crazy and I must admit that  miss sleeping and know the first round of baby geese here should keep us on our toes as well.

Anyhow, that's what we are up to. As I finish this, there are two Light Brahma babies trying hard to break out in the incubator, and little ones growing rapidly in the brooders. Life is always an adventure, and we lean from each new experience. Well, you all have a great night!

Love to all,

Erin

Another Wild Week for Us!

Wow, I think Wild Week might be an understatement.  This week was a very busy one in the bi academic projects of the year...

on Tuesday, the kids competed in Science Fair.  (had to sneak a pic of Wyatt in his interview)

While Bailey awaited her two interviews, we wandered the Air and Space Museum where the science fair took place. I couldn't believe Wyatt managed to fit in the cockpit of this tiny exhibit!

This exhibit from a bomber group was one of Wyatt's favorites. He loved looking up inside at the bomb bay and the turret guns, and was fascinated at how they also performed humanitarian missions.

He says he would love to restore one of these.

This is Bailey's project on goat stifles. 

This is Wyatt's cycle generator.

His poster

the baby chick that hatched on Monday...

As Monday was my sister's birthday, she got to name her, and chose Gilberta.

With lots of rosemary on hand, lemon rosemary chicken went into the crick pot.  Weeks like this require crock pot time!

Shadow was pretty bored with poster making, and wasn't at all happy with me that Wyatt wasn't cuddled up with her for his school work.

On Saturday, the kids both competed in National History Day. I knew Wyatt was fighting being sick, but he had put so much into his project. I dropped them off for their presentations and had to go teach at work as part of an ALS fundraiser/ awareness event.  Then I picked them up to take them for a treat before the awards ceremony.

They were so ready to go home!

By the time we got home, Wyatt's fever was in full, so Bailey and I went out and split up the feeding and chores, though we did take a little break for a quick driving lesson. =). We also found the first Polish egg from the new pair tht came to us in January. We will see if anything develops with it!

Today, with Wyatt sick and me staying up much of the night with him, we stayed home from church and began to get some new things done. I will get you an update on some exciting new other things happening here tomorrow!

Leather fun!

Working our way through lessons, we still had to do a project with the leather circles they were assigned on Monday for the Friday meeting,  Because the leather circles weren't quite right for leather work, it had been suggested that they try to make leather roses of them.

They found some instructions on line, and started making the little clover-like circles needed while they were watching a movie about Westward Expansion. (Hopefully the movie helps with the position paper they have due to me Friday!)

After cutting out and soaking the pieces, they punched holes to make stems. I don't know if you can see the pieces, but another of my needles bit the dust in the making of this project...

I don't know if Shadow was just resting after a mad game of fetch, or if she was giving Wyatt the cold shoulder for paying more attention to the project than her...

THere wasn't a design for leaves so we created some.  There are still ribbons tied around the roses as they dry, but I will take a photo of the finished projects later.

Well, got a lot to do in the morning, so I suppose I had best get to bed!  Have a great night, and tomorrow I promise to post the photo contest!

Christmas Day...

Once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS! Charlie and both children have been sick, so we ended up sticking with a quiet day at home.  I sure enjoyed being with them for the day, Charlie's only day off for Christmas.  Wyatt was the first up, and he and Shadow got us all going with their first round of fetch with her new toy.  Wyatt read through all the sections of the nativity calendar with me.

It is always fun hanging around with all the animals here. The livestock love extra attention, and Shadow loves quiet days with family. We got to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special, as well as some actual Christmas movies. Funny thing about the commercials today, there were a number of the ones where they talk about abused animals. Those commercials really upset Shadow, it seems like she knows what they are saying, and she wants reassurance and to cuddle with us. Sometimes I think she wants to bring them all home like we do.  I couldn't blame her if she did.

Old man Vegas had his fur grow in rather funny after his last grooming.  The fur over his ears is rather long, and the same on the tops of his feet, so the kids have taken to calling him elf dog. 

All in all, days like today remind me how blessed we are here.  We always have plenty, and we are a strong family that sticks together. Life does remind us that we are far from infallible, but we get back up and are so fortunate!

Over the next week, we will spend time reflecting on the year that was and setting goals for the year to come.  I am still thankful that we get to learn and grow every day.

Love to all,

me

Cure Memory Loss with Hot Chocolate? Sign me up!

OK, full disclosure, I have never expected the headlines in the magazines at the checkout stand to be founded on well documented science, and I am well aware that the headlines are largely about fun.

So, when Bailey pointed this one out at the check stand the other day, we both got a good laugh and immediately wanted to sign up!

I am no more picking on the magazine than I am taking an excuse to over indulge in hot chocolate, or believing that the exhaustion and hormone related fog brain will go away magically as a result of drinking hot chocolate. But it might be fun to try anyway!

So, share away, do you make your hot chocolate from scratch? Mint, milk or dark chocolate?Marshmallows or whipped cream?

An update on Tiny...

As many of you know, Tiny was hatched in the big pen to a mama who couldn't juggle eggs still in the nest alongside her responsibilities as a mama of a live baby chick. On evening walk around one night, we found the mama up on her eggs, and the baby chick hiding in the corner of the barn, crying and hollering.

We brought Tiny in the house, where she cuddled with Bailey and even slept in a box in her bed, then the kids left town for a hunt and I was left with a very upset baby. By now we had nicknamed the little one Tiny, and I ended up giving her a stuffed animal to cuddle with. She apparently preferred it to me. Talk about putting me in my place!

I hope to put some photos in here tonight, but I realize just how late I am in sharing the update!

Tiny grew, and began roosting on the side of the trough she was living in. She started getting out of the trough,, wandering the house, exploring and talking to the dogs. Sometimes to us people, too.  Shadow would find her, hollering away from various spots in the house, and Shadow would be sure she was lost. She would either coax Tiny back tot he living room or come get me to help her.  Shadow was very concerned about Tiny.  Goofy animals!

Tiny wanted to cuddle with Vegas and Shadow. Vegas often ran away from her, Shadow was initially pretty stressed out by the notion, since chickens are off limits to her, but they eventually formed a great friendship.

Tiny really needed to move out of the house. Every group we tried her with was either too big for her, or they were very unkind. We tried putting her with the bantam chicks on the back porch who were only a little bigger than her, but both times we tried, they went after her, and he would pull her back inside.

Meanwhile, our friend Toni had left several eggs with one of her hens. Only one of them hatched, and was living in the bathroom, growing up and getting its feathers. The baby at Toni's house was a couple weeks younger than Tiny, but short of purchasing a a friend for Tiny, I didn't really have any options for her, and wasn't interested in having a "house chicken"!

So, I messaged Toni on facebook, asking if she would like to have Tiny as a friend fro her little one, so they could grow up together.  A few weeks ago, I got to see my friend Toni, and we sent Tiny along with her, along with her little stuffed bear.  Toni later let me know that Tiny has taken the other little one under her wing.  They have bonded and are now friends. Yay!  Seems like the best possible outcome to me.

Then, about a week later, Wyatt came inside to tell me that the straw I saw knocked down wasn't his fault. I was pretty certain that it had happened when he and his sister got straw to take some of the chickens tot he show in the rain. Apparentlym there was also a her up there, hatching a couple baby chicks...

Hi Everyone, Sorry i have been missing a while...

I am sorry I disappeared for a bit there. I haven't had the words to share things lately.  Even though, I have had fun stories, new products, and we have things going on around the farm, I was absent with some important people in my life.

Then today, as I drove home from teaching, I was thinking about the friends and loved ones coming and going, and the many blessings in our lives, and began to think I might be ready to write today.  Then while I was doing chores before loading the car for the market, I heard this song, and I began to open up a bit. I don't know why, since this song really isn't much about what is going on in my life, but it has always touched me so perhaps that is all it was.

Here is the video for the song...

http://www.cmt.com/videos/dierks-bentley/701627/home.jhtml

To be completely honest, I don't know how much to tell. While I have often split several things off into other blogs, it seems to make more sense these days to be honest that life in balance is not something I have mastered, It is, instead, a work in progress, like many other aspects of our lives. And this morning, my students reminded me that somehow I should be remembering my role as an example for them and taking care of myself better (they caught me limping again).

I promised them that I understood, but that sometimes the balance goes off a bit, and it can be the act of bringing it back into balance which is more important in our long term wellness.  And, in fact, my husband has promised to take care of the farm and dinner tonight so that after the farmer's market I could teach my last class of the day and take time to practice yoga before the drive back to the farm, the home school grading would still be there!

My mom has been staying with us a bit.  She came to help my auntie, who was in a health crisis. In the end, the experts couldn't help with her inability to swallow or speak. I spent extra time with she and my mom. Last Wednesday, Bailey and I sat with Mom and laughed and told silly stories about auntie and sang songs.  Thursday morning, she went to be with God, her parents and her husband.  I hope she had a great dance with Uncle Mac on Friday, as we all watched cousin Ashley marry Michael, now a new cousin in the family.

Life is funny that way.  Ups and downs and twists and turns.  God has a plan for us all, even when we have a hard time letting him run the show.

Ashley's wedding was wonderful, and I was glad Daddy had flown in, too. Then on Saturday, we took eight chickens out to the poultry show. Since life was even crazier than expected, we ended up hanging out at the show to let the kids have fun with friends and participate in showmanship.  Bailey even earned reserve champion in her age division, and third place overall.  But more on that later, I will sit down and put in all the photos and plans for the chickens in a bit!

Have you ever sat in church and listened to the preacher launch into a sermon that seems tailor made for your life?  Well, that proceeded to happen on Sunday. The minister began to speak about life in conflict, and how to handle those you are conflicting with.  One of the tenets of coexisting was that you and the person you are in conflict with need to agree to live in peace.

I think that is the part that has been hardest.  For years, I have gone with the turn the other cheek theory, thinking if I tried to be kind and guard involvement with those folks who have worked in concert to harass my child, that they would eventually be kind. Or that we could somehow coexist.  Those people have consistently chosen to pretend to coexist, but have gone out of their way to be malicious and deceitful. I have had a lot of trouble with the ongoing anger that sits in my heart, something I don't like to hold on to. And when I see those who supposedly were to help my child, who were the only authority we could go to in order to prevent it from happening to someone else, when I see them holding those people who continue to try to hurt my child being held up with praise and helped to the top- I worry about what will happen to other youth, and what message that sends my children.

My daughter looked at me when she saw the rewards befalling these folks, and I told her that in the end, things will right themselves, and she will be better for being strong.  While it doesn't change the desire to protect other youth, my approach with her has been to encourage her to continue to volunteer her time, though not in the section of the organization that protects and commends abusive people, instead to volunteer in the section doing the work that she really believes in. I tell her regularly that we are the company we keep and we are seen in conjunction with those who we keep company with, and their missions, so hopefully that will help guide a path Hopefully. I wish I always felt convinced that I was balancing protection and the right thing.  Another of those aspects of life that doesn't come with an instruction manual.

Anyhow, I must admit that I am glad to be slowly getting things back on track this week.  We were basically treading water with home school for a bit there, just the basics and most of our energy going to family. But truthfully, that is what I had looked most forward to in home schooling- living by our own priorities, focusing on the academics and the extra time going to experiential learning and the things we really believe in.  So family was big, and we will be doing more academics as Christmas approaches that I had originally written in the plan, but that is okay.

But I do miss having my folks around. Wish they were closer- my sister and niece, too.  Our family keeps growing smaller.

Well, the minister called to check on us earlier, and I thanked him for the resources and recommendations he had given us. I told him they helped as we just hung in there together and put one foot in front of the other.  He seemed to understand just what I meant, and said that was what family was for.  Maybe that makes me normal for once, but I wouldn't expect it.

I know the sadness is for those of us behind, and there is always more to learn and do.  So I suppose that more than anything else, family is what I am thankful for as we move forward to the Thanksgiving holiday later this week.  We somehow manage to stick together and love each other through it.

Well, I am back, and working on balancing things back out, and over the next day or so, I will do my best to update you on all the animals and fun. Have a blessed holiday and enjoy your family, whether it has feathers, fur, or what have you.  Love to all.