Checking in

Life is seriously kicking my behind. But it's been a memorable summer so.....I'm not going to complain!

Jessie got an excellent for both her sewing and her scrapbooking projects. She is thrilled that she had good comments (and THANK YOU LORD she did not make it to state fair. I could not have done it....).

Jessie also took her 3 beef skillathons and got a 100, 98 and 96%. Tomorrow night she does her pig skillathon.



Jessie was at 4-h camp all last week. Tuesday to Friday on Kelly's Island. Then Tyler was at church camp from this past Sunday to tonight. And on Sunday Jessie was going to spend the night with some good friends and their 22 and 24 year old daughters? Well, the girls were going to Attica NY and wanted Jessie to go. So off she went from Sunday to Tuesday.



I never appreciated until they were gone just how much work they do every day with the animals. And I am so thankful they are home now:)



This weekend I have to work. All weekend long. Friday night through Sunday morning. Although I may skip out of the Sunday part of conference. I'm feeling the crunch to get things done in preparation for State Fair. My parents are keeping the kids this weekend - I'm sure they will have much more fun with Grandma and Grandpa than with me.



Feeder calves are weaned. And Jason has Jessie's calf pretty well broke. We are working on her heifer. We actually have 4 in the barn - whichever is the calmest will get to go to the fair.

This is Huey. So far, he is a big puppy dog. A puppy dog with lots of hair.

Wilbur (the pig) is wilbur. Tonight he weighed 260 lbs. We want him right around 265 so we have to do some adjusting until we load him up and head out next Tuesday. Right now, the plan is that Todd and Jason will haul him down during the middle of the night Tuesday (can't have him stressing in the heat and it's been hot here - 90+ degrees). They will turn right around and come home after getting him bedded down in his pen. Then, at the UNGODLY early hour of sometime between 6 and 7, the 5 of us will head out in the Durango to meet the delivery person with the camper we are renting for the week. And while Todd and the kids are taking care of Wilbur, I will be unpacking the back of the very full Durango and making a grocery run to Aldi's. There's no sense in me buying all of the food we will eat in 5 days by home to drag it all an hour and a half away when there is an Aldi's 1/2 mile from the fairgrounds (if Mapquest is correct).



And Jessie informed me late Sunday afternoon that her jeans, belt and boots no longer fit. So I had to order her a new belt and a couple pairs of jeans. The boots? We are heading out on Monday when I am off to find her a pair. And I still have to sew the buttons and button holes on her 2 show shirts. At least I have them made......although we cheated and went with short sleeved shirts. If it continues to be this hot, I won't let her do the whole long sleeved shirt deal. No sense in giving her a heat stroke, right?



Of course, we come back from State Fair and the kids have a week and 2 days until school starts. I'm seriously looking forward to school starting.


I hope everyone is having a terrific summer!!!! I am visiting all of you, I'm just stealing a minute here and there to catch up with each of you....

Have a great week!
Kris

I'm still here.....

.....barely!

Wasn't I the one gloating about we had Jessie's scrapbook project and her sewing project all done weeks ago?

I think I was....at least in my head.

This summer has shot that down in it's entirety. Between baling hay, doing chores, trying to keep up with the garden, flowerbeds and the lawn, and working with all these 4-h project critters, I am SO READY for December to hit. Wait, better make that January when it will definitely be too cold to do anything out in the barn!

We've gotten in from the barn every single night for the past week between 11 p.m. and midnight. And I am a girl that NEEDS a minimum of 8 hours of sleep a night. So 6:00 a.m. is kicking my behind big time. I think I'm living on gas station capucino. At least it's cheap:)

And I still have to sew a button on Jessie's top for the judging tonight. Or rather, I have to spend the time to TEACH her how to sew the button on the back - between getting home at 4:30 p.m., cooking dinner and being at judging by 5:30 p.m. I think McDonalds will win tonight for dinner.....

And I have to pick up some more stickers for her scrapbook, drop both the stickers and her actual scrapbook off at the house on my way from 1 job to the next so she can finish it.

Did I mention that both projects get judged tonight? At the same time?

Let's hope she remembers to take a shower and wash her hair before I get home from work at 4:00!

But this has happened every single night:

And walking 3 pigs one night and giving them baths, and walking the other 2 the next night and giving them baths. If I can find where I put my camera, I'll treat you all to the video of her walking the pig and washing it. She is getting quite good at it and we are no longer rolling around on the barn floor laughing.

1 week until Jessie goes to 4-H camp for 4 days (what am I going to do without her? She is REALLY picking up the slack around here).....2 weeks until Tyler goes to Church Camp for 3 days ......3 weeks until State Fair, 5 weeks until school starts again for us (August 17th)......

Where in the world did summer go?

Edited to add: I'm really not complaining, even though this post sounds awfully whiny. I do love this life that we have chosen and would not dream of telling Jessie (and Tyler) no they cannot do all that they do but....holey moley....i NEED about 30 waking hours in a day for the next month......

hmmm.....

When you spend your birthday doing this:

All 78 bales got baled up safely, no rain, no wind and no major accidents:)

You'd better get a little time to yourself to start this:

Curacao cowl by Thea Coleman - Baby Cocktails.

It's almost too hot here to knit anything larger:)

And FINALLY, after months of on-and-off knitting, finish this:

Rusted Root

Yarn: Elle Cotton Fields

Size: Medium

Perfect for summer!

It also helps if the day your birthday falls in ends up being in the low 90's and the air conditioned tractor that your husband is using to bale hay only seats 2 people, and both kids think it is great fun to go round and round the field with him at a snail's pace.

This meant lots of ME time last Sunday in between when I quit spreading mulch in the flowerbeds due to the heat and helping Todd by driving the skidloader while he drove the tractor to pick up all. 78. bales. of. hay. Although he wouldn't let me load them onto the wagon - I wonder why????? And helping Jessie wash her steer.

So we ate dinner at 9:30 that night. No big......

Later,

Kris

1 project done

Remember how I said we flew through Jessie's sewing project on Sunday, and had just the sleeves and the hem to do? Well, she buckled down again on Monday night and in under an hour did set-in sleeves and her hem:

Pretty cute, if I do say so myself. And she says she will actually wear it to school, church or wherever.

We still have to find brown leggings and brown flats to go with it. And some sort of jewelry. But that is minor compared to getting it done and actually having it look good.

Now as long as she doesn't sneak it out of the house before the judging on July 13th and wear it while doing this (and yes, she did try to after she had it on for the pictures):

All will be well in our little world:)

Kris

Summer

It's been hot, muggy, humid and rainy here the last two weeks. I'm so ready for some hot DRY days it's not funny. We haven't cut a blade of hay it's been so wet - and we are fast running out of hay for Jessie's steer. Fortunately he doesn't eat much.....Hopefully this weekend we can get the hay made.

But Friday I found this on clearance at our local home improvement store. And Todd was nice enough to put it together Saturday afternoon for me in the 90 degree weather. That felt like 105.

Just in time to use it for seating at an impromptu get together with friends on Saturday night. I do love summer.

Yesterday found Jessie and I working on her 4-H sewing project. All that is left to do is the sleeves and the hem. Which would have been done if she had been able to stay focused, but it's summer and that word is apparently not in her vocabulary right now.

But she did the majority of the work on it so far - and is saying that she will wear it - so that is a plus in my book:) She wants to find brown leggings and brown flats to wear with it. And the sash around her ribcage will have a button in the back rather than the bow that the pattern calls for.

Of course, when I sent her outside to play, I figured her brand spanking new sewing machine was already set up, so I might as well get busy working on her show shirts for the State Fair and County Fair. Seeing as how I am so not into paying $30 a shirt when she really needs 4 of them for the county fair. Since there is no time to do laundry that week.

I'm pretty happy with the way it came out so far. The collar seems a little stiff, but it fits her really well. I still need to do the sleeves, the buttons/button holes and the hem. Hopefully tonight I can finish this one up, and start on the lime green one next. Or the bright orange. Or maybe the hot pink.

She definitely wants to be noticed this year:)

And our last cow to calve finally had her calf last Thursday - a black and white bull calf.

Todd was really hoping for a heifer, but I was hoping for a bull calf to make a steer project for Jessie next year. I should have bet him on whether it would have been a boy or a girl.

So this year we were tied - 3 for 3. Now we just have to get everyone re-bred for next year's calves.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!
Kris

An update.....

I really don't have a whole lot to say (shocking, I know) but......

I think I'm finally getting caught up. Of course, I say that now and SOMETHING will happen. Oh yeah - that's right, we do have to bale hay at some point in time. But since my main job is to keep the cold drinks coming while Todd and others are baling, I'm going to put that one right out of my mind! And I have to spread 7 yards of mulch in the flowerbeds. Which I will use the skidloader for... But I think that is about it.

This is Jessie's feeder calf for this year at the fair:

Which we still have to bring home from a friends' house once he is weaned. We are trading a friend 1 of our heifers from this year for him and possibly another steer calf.

And these are the latest pig purchases from the live auction a few weeks ago:

The one where we got a little carried away (ahem) on the bidding.

Fortunately, they are growing like weeds. Still tiny (46, 57 & 73 pounds as of Monday) but I'm not stressing and obsessing about it just yet. I'm not stressing and obsessing about it just yet. I just keep repeating that to myself along with we have months until the county fair.

The kids' are 1 week into summer vacation. And bored senseless already.

Tonight Jessie and I are going to start working on her sewing project for 4-H. We went Monday and she picked out fabric and a pattern, I got it approved by the advisor yesterday, so tonight we will start. Hopefully I will have the patience to teach her how to sew clothing. We also picked up the stuff she needs to do a scrapbook project. The judging for both of these projects is July 13th, so we really need to get moving on them.

We planted the garden on Sunday - in under an hour. 32 Tomato plants (roma and eating), green beans, 4 pepper plants, 4 cucumber plants, 20 lbs. of potatoes, 4 zuccini squash plants, 1 butternut squash plant, 4 giant pumpkin hills and 3 jack o lantern hills. We comandeered the kids to dig all the holes, Todd dropped the plants in and I filled in around them with dirt. We'll see how this goes. And yes, I got a little carried away on the tomato plants.....

Have a great Thursday!
Kris

Memorial Day

Happy belated Memorial Day everyone! We had a busy weekend, but a very fun and relaxing one too (if that is possible). Although I did have to work on Saturday, but we aren't mentioning that right now......


I planted more flowers around the pond - I must have a weakness for flowers:) Either that or I am a glutton for punishment!

Everything is growing so big so fast! This week we are FINALLY going to get the bridge across the stream done. And Todd is putting an electric fence around the pond to keep Barlie out of it! I guess it shouldn't surprise me that she loves the water (being a bird dog and all) but my water lillies and the fish are probably traumatized.

Jessie was home sick from school last Wednesday. With the last day of school on Thursday what a bummer for her. So while she and Barlie slept the day away, I put up the gazebo and decorated my deck!

Remember my chair and barrel from the junk store? I still need to paint it, but it hasn't broken yet:)

I found the other 2 chairs at Lowe's for $17 each. I still want to find either a glider or a bench. Last year I had a table and chairs out here that we ate at, but Todd thought the chairs were too small for him, and there wasn't a whole lot of room up there. So I wanted to do something that we would use. I'm pleased that already we have spent hours out there in the afternoons and evenings.

Thursday was the last day of school. For Tyler's kindergarten teacher, I had the school's art teacher put the kids' handprints on this flower pot, and I filled it with flowers. You know it's a good gift when the teacher cries.

And this will be Jessie's feeder calf 4-H project. Once he is weaned from his momma, he will come to our house. We are trading our friend Jason one of our heifers for him.

Now it's back to work. I need a few more days at home, but.....I don't think I will be getting them anytime soon.....

Have a great week

Kris