Meet Ali

As Jessie pointed out the other night, I have a LOT of pics of her and Oreo on here, and her and her pigs, but non of Ali.

I never thought a heifer could be a pain in the butt, until her.

Notice the good shorts?

This girl has a theme going on of getting dressed up to go to the barn.

Oh well - they will wash.

We brought her last fall as a calf, and she spent the winter in a large pen inside with 2 other heifers (didn't want them being bred to young by Mr. Bull now). About April Jessie decided she wanted to show her, so we started tying her up and walking her.

We turned her out for about a month here about 2 weeks ago, and she hated it. She is a real people cow, if that is possible. She would see us walk out of the house and come running and be waiting by the gate. Her other 2 friends (heifers all brought from the same place) have adjusted to being outside, but not our Ali.

She looks almost identical to Oreo. Which means you can tell who picked out Jessie's heifer and steer. I pick on color and markings, Todd picks on conformation and good beef qualities. Sometimes, like in the case of Ali, we get lucky and end up with a cow that we both like.

Of course, Tyler is ticked that we didn't bring in his calf, Mittens. But she and Moose are enjoying being outside with the gang.

And Tyler and Buck. Just because they are such good friends. Buck is supposed to be a bird dog, but.....he would much rather play with Tyler and go on walks than actually hunt birds.

Kris

Thank you

for your kind compliments on Jessie's sewing ability!

She did not qualify for State Fair - which is a HUGE sigh of relief in our house. That would have entailed 2 days to go down to columbus for the judging, and we are already going there on the 8th to watch the steer show and swine market show, and she will possibly show in the pig show. State Fair is EXPENSIVE but I'm planning on taking a cooler of drinks. If memory serves me correctly, it's something like $4 for a small drink. I don't think so.

But she did like sewing enough that she wants to do it again next year. So I'm thinking her very own sewing machine will be on her list of Christmas presents from Santa. I just got my machine back from being fixed from the last time she used it.

And yes, I am taking time for myself in this hectic life we are calling summer. My 3rd sweater for ME is coming along very very slowly. But I am enjoying the process as I sit out on the deck and listen to the kids argue, fight and play. I try to take the hour right when I get home from work and sit down and work on it or read a book.

And the kids have been using new chore charts for their chores every day. They don't have strenuous chores, just things like: water the pigs, water the steers, gather chicken eggs, vaccum, pick up their bedrooms, water the flowers and unload the dishwasher. If their chores are done by the time I get home (2:15) I pay them 25 cents a chore. If they aren't done, they pay me.

And I don't pay for the watering the animal chores - if Jessie wants to show these million animals, she needs to take the responsibility. But....she will also get the money that she receives from the sale to put into her college account, so it is a fair trade.

Have a great day!
Kris

Excellent

Is what Jessie received on her beginning sewing project - both the judging and the construction parts.

So I am thrilled that I did not help her much at all!!!

We were at the judging last night from 5:45 to 9:15 last night. Of course though, tonight is the "style show" and apparently to find out how she placed, we need to go to that as well. So I know what we will be doing tonight. And she has decided she needs orange flip flops (she asked for orange high heels, which I shot down in a hurry) for tonight even though the judging is long over.

Have a great day everyone!
Kris

All over the board

That is where this post is going:) hehe


I've been swamped. And so grateful that I have a good job where I don't work 40 hours a week, but after last week (I think I logged 66 hours between Monday a.m. and Saturday night at 9:00 p.m.) I am so thankful that I normally only work 30 hours a week.

Jessie's 4-H projects are chugging right along. Oreo is large. Her pig is large. Who incidentally she has not named, so I've taken to calling them porky. I know.....original. Her feeder calf has been weaned and has a halter on. 45 days to keep everyone on track with weight, get her feeder calf walking and convince her heifer that standing there without licking her to death or chewing on her is a good thing. Ally is a pain in the BUTT she is way to friendly.

We've been spending about 3 hours of quality time out in the barn most every day. Not all at once - we've taken to breaking it up - some in the afternoon when I get home from work, with the majority of the time in the evenings. And she is out there every morning like clockwork making sure everyone has water and hay and is comfortable. I have not been brave enough to let her feed them - some of the supplements we are feeding are rather expensive, and I don't want her feeding too much or not enough. But that is ok. She is only 9 and is pulling more than her weight in taking care of the animals.

Tyler starts school in 2 weeks. Yes, in 2 weeks I will drop my baby off at the elementary school for 3 mornings a week. So he can get acclimated to the school before all the big kids come back to school. And in 3 weeks he will get on that big yellow bus and be gone all day every day.

HURRAY!!!

Can you tell both him and I are so ready for school to start????? Seriously, I love my kids but it is time. And he is so excited to start school.

And I have 2 finished knits inbetween the craziness we have called summer:

Yes, I did finish up the second sleeve of the karate sweater at 5:00 a.m. before going to work on Saturday. Which I love this sweater and wore it saturday to work and received lots of compliments on it.

I've had lots of time to sit and knit while waiting for judgings to be completed. The third sweater for ME is about 1/3 of the way done. Can you tell I am selfish? But....I have not brought myself a brand new sweater in......um.......5 years.....lots of hand me downs from my mom or my SIL, lots of sweaters brought from yard sales. But these are brand new sweaters knit just for me (I have broughten lots of the yarn on clearance or off of ebay).

I have not touched my sewing machine, but I do have to crank out 2 quilts that I enterd in our county fair. So I guess I'd better start thinking about that soon. Although I cheated and entered a lap quilt, a table runner and a sweater. No bed quilts this year. Just not enough hours in the day.

I won't mention my garden til I drag myself out there tonight after Jessie's clothing judging. When I was out there last week - the only thing I had growing were tomatoes, peppers and corn. The green beans, peas and beets grew about an inch, and then died out. It's been a wierd summer here - cool with not much rain until this last week.

I still have about 200 blog posts to read and catch up on. And I'm really trying to visit you all - I will get there eventually! So hang in there with me, please.....

Until later,

Kris

Life

We've been doing this:

This is the Jessie version of walking her pig every night. We've got a looonnnngg way to go.

And this:

I'll be back after I wade through my 400 blog posts to read:)

Kris

County 4-H

Can I just say I LOVE our county 4-h. Not so much some of the people (read parents) of kids who show 4-H, but the advisors, the people "in charge." Monday night was a beef clinic. The girl who was going to be demonstrating showmanship won overall showman I think 10 years running. And the kids could bring their animals.

So Jessie's advisor, Jason, loaded up Oreo in his trailer (Todd was working late and I wasn't feeling brave enough to hook the trailer up behind my durango with a 1400 lb. animal in it) and we headed to the fairgrounds.

There were only 20 kids maybe. And Jessie was the only one who brought her steer. But the good part about bringing her own steer - when everyone else had to switch and share the animals that were brought in - she stayed out there with her steer. And she had the lady who runs the beef division at the county level working with her one on one for a good part of the hour long session on showmanship. And who also offered to hook up with us Friday night of the fair to work with her again before the steer show on Saturday.

Once Jessie had a good idea of what she should be doing, we let a few of the other kids walk and set Oreo up. The animals that were hauled in for the kids to use were good, but....they weren't very well behaved and there are some kids littler than Jessie who really didn't get a chance to practice. But I tell you what - Oreo was one tired boy when it was over. And in this heat with him being black (and all the hair we are growing on him), he was HOT. So he got to go home to his nice comfy stall with the fans on him for the rest of the evening.

She also had to do her pig skillathon last night. And she was stressed. But, she came out with a 95% so she was thrilled. Her piggys are GROWING. It's a good thing we only have 57 days until weigh in.

She does the beef skillathon on the 30th of July. I'm not sure I agree with the whole skillathon thing - here in Wayne County they don't have to pass it, they just have to take it. But....she is having fun.

Have a great day

Kris

Caught Up

I am certainly NOT all caught up, but I thought I was for a brief period in time!!!

Saturday morning found us hurrying up to get all of our errands done. THere was a party to go to with lots of this:

And this:

You get the idea.

Sunday I spent working around the house - the cleaning, cooking, washing that I specifically tell the babysitters not to mess with.

But I finished Flair. And I love it.

Not the best photo but hopefully I'll get some better ones tonight. I started another sweater right away. This is giving me LOTS of sitting in the sun time.

And THANK YOU for all of your good wishes concerning our trial. It was continued to August 28th due to a scheduling error with the Court. We are still hopeful, but I am SO READY for this garbage to be over.

Have a great day

Kris