Shopping

Haven't done a bit of it (shopping that is) for my family. When you all are standing in the return line, I'll be wrestling with the large, hairy woman over sale items. She is stocking up for next year, I'm purchasing post-Christmas gifts. Want to take bets on who will win?

Transmission

I peered out the window yesterday at my husband who was carefully scrutinizing one of the parts of my car. It turned out to the transmission dip stick. Favorite husband says the fluid looks "burnt" which is not good. Monday brings the changing of the fluid and will, hopefully, find no pieces of metal which is a very, very bad sign. I guess I'm getting a transmisison and front tires for Christmas. Now I am saying "bah humbug."

Too Warm?

It rained here last night and the snow is melting. Could it be too warm?

Merry Christmas

I'm skipping the politically correct "Happy Holidays." In fact, I'm almost becoming irritated by the generic greeting. At what point did society become so sensitive that people are unable to accept a greeting that differs from their own beliefs? I don't mind having someone tell me "Happy Hannukah," "Happy Easter," "Happy Sweetest Day" (a Hallmark holiday if ever there was one). I'm slipping closer to "Bah Humbug."

School Update

Well, I have been anxiously checking the progress (on-line) of the grading of my Comp I class. There are 50 points outstanding right now. I am down 10 points for the class for the semester. If I didn't completely blow it the final project (a power point presentation) I should have an A. I did get an "A" in Intro to Psych, so at the moment, I am a 4.0 student. Now I'm searching for scholarships for old people like me.

Hank

Our 80 lbs. puppy - yes, only 7 months old. Someone found the garbage in this photo and had neglected to rid himself of the evidence. Hank failed obedience school the first time and has a slot booked in the next session.

NO TRAVEL

We are cocooning today. School goes on when you are homeschooled, but not much else is happening. No travel is advised through our segment of North Dakota - the mall has even closed! Keeping warm....

Gas Prices

The sky is falling?! No, it's just the gas prices plummeting. Isn't it sad when I say that our prices are ONLY $2.07/gallon? My favorite husband said that we will have a celebratory dinner out when the prices drop to $2.00/gallon. The $ we will save in the tank (compared to the $3.00/gallon) will more than pay for a lovely evening.

Chickens

The chickens are being transferred to their winter quarters today (my parent's barn). Making this happen meant that Hank's dog cage and the cat carrier were hauled to the barn, all exits were blocked after nightfall and the fun began. The kids went out and captured the fowl, stuffing them into the cages. The cat carrier was reserved for a mother hen and her three chicks. Our youngest came in with a tale of catching the largest gray rooster by the tail. He still has his feathers, but didn't escape her clutches.

Maybe Dad will have better luck with eggs. Our girls have been hiding them everywhere but in the nest boxes. I have asked the kids to build a chicken tractor for next year (go ahead and google it).

Boycott

Am I the only one irritated by the Christmas music and merchandise that was in the stores before Halloween? I was doing a really fast grocery run last night in a national chain store and was quite irritated to pass aisles of Christmas items while ignoring the Christmas carols playing on the overhead speakers. I'm not planning to do anything with Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Bah humbug!

Happy Birthday

Today my youngest brother turns 34. He is celebrating an "adult birthday" today - he is at work. I wonder if he brought treats for the other staff? Best wishes.

What's up at our house?

I am still in school - 4 papers due in 4 weeks and not a complete thought to be found in my head (hence the updated blogging - procrastination at its finest). My "a" in intro to psychology is still holding, we'll see how comp I is looking after I meet with the teacher today.

The kids are great. They haven't been riding the horses quite as much because of deer hunting season. I know, most hunters are incredibly responsible and wouldn't shoot at a horse and rider, but it's the odd weirdo (with a gun and ammo) that worries me - you know the stereotypical guy - he's been drinking, dressed in brilliant orange, has a gun and a deer tag, and the season ends in just a few days.

My favorite husband has been attending classes this week for work. It's odd to see him heading out the door in "civilian" clothes vs. the lovely maroon scrubs.

I've been doing the odd bit of cleaning - my mother-in-law is coming for a visit next week. She is quite wonderful and doesn't expect any special treatment, but hey - doesn't everyone clean when their mother-in-law comes to stay??

Weather, weather, weather

TODAY is predicted to be the last day of beautiful (depends upon your definition) weather until April. Temperatures in the 60's are unheard of in ND in November, but yesterday was amazing and today is expected to be the same. All outside work or play that happens best without gloves should be completed today. Snow is predicted for this weekend. Brrr.

Flunked!

No, not me, Hank. Hank is attending obedience school on Monday evenings. This week the instructor took me aside and said that I may wish to enroll him in the next series starting in January - not the advanced series, but a repeat. She tried to soften the blow by saying he is a puppy, has a hard head and needs to realize he isn't in charge. So, starting in January, Matthew and Hank are continuing to attend obedience school - after they finish the current series in December!

Grades, Etc.

I am rejoicing, grabbing the good news and not thinking about tomorrow. The university that I attend allows students the ability to review grades on-line. Thus far I am getting a solid A in both intro to psychology and comp I. A bit of a disappointment though - my first paper came back 47/50. I made a couple of foolish mistakes and have, hopefully, learned lessons for the next one.

Special thanks to my cheering section here at home. They tiptoed about while I was agonizing over my first college paper.

This weekend I need to draft a contrast/comparison paper. Topics are still shuffling around in my mind - the instructor says it has to matter to you and you shouldn't know the outcome until you have done the "t" chart. Huh? Motherhood doesn't operate in a t-chart world (my previous careers didn't lend themselves to this process either). The majority of the decisions in my world happen either very quickly (stop hitting your sister/brother; yes, we need orange juice; the tank is 1/2 full, we are filling up) or the data is still being collected for the really big ones (I could have charted the college decision). Pending.

This afternoon the kids are enjoying the newly-repaired wood splitter. They are stocking a little shed with split wood to burn in the wood stove in the house. No t-chart needed here - heating costs are going up, wood is mostly free....you do the math.

The girls studied about South Africa this week at Wednesday school (the year's focus is Africa). Child #3 chattered for 50 miles on the way home about diamonds, apartheid, Nelson Mandela and more. I don't get to sit with them during the unit study time - I hang out with the five high school students who have younger siblings in attendance. The spread between a four year old and an 8th grader is broad enough for Mrs. Lund to teach without adding high schoolers to the mix. In addition, high school students need every moment to study (at least their parents think so). My "job" is to make sure that the high school students have a quiet place to study. I don't teach anyone except my child. This does give us time together to review tough concepts. I also have time to study without distractions like laundry, housecleaning, the telephone, etc.

I need to get the soup on (literally) for tonight. The french bread is rising and the soup needs to be bubbling.

Happy weekend to you!

How are you?

I am very, very tired. It has been a long week – and I’ve got a few more days before I start again. However, who says when the week begins again? Does it really start with the first day of the week or can you arbitrarily decide when you want a new week?

Child #3 has been sick with a cold since last Wednesday. She is improving, but managed to share. Her colds typically drop into a cough, mine goes to my sinuses. My Dad has had cardiac issues, not resolved yet, but will be. We finally found shoes for church for child #2. She is 11, but wears the same size of shoes that I do. Appropriate footwear for an 11 year old and a thirty-something (nearly 40) year-old differ dramatically. The list could go on and on, but I'm turning the corner and as soon as the fog lifts outside it will lift inside too.

Shopping

My favorite husband went shopping (at a farm auction) and look at what he brought home! Particulars? Ford, 1950something, dump truck-obviously, drove it home, ? .


He was excited so I'm happy too!

The view from my front porch

The photo was taken today, October 6, at 8:20 A.M.

Just for the record - it was 80+ degrees (farenheit) on Sunday (10/2).

This is ND weather at it's finest. Yesterday I-94 was closed from Mandan, ND to the Montana border.

The Forum reviews some of the events of yesterday related to the storm. http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=104980&section=news

My vow to keep the heat off until November changed last night!

Hey baby, where have you been?

I've dropped off the face of the blogging earth. What do I do when I'm not blogging? Well, fun stuff like putting together a rough draft of my first paper for Comp I, getting school up and going for my kids, farm work, housework, laundry, blah, blah, blah....I'm sure you can relate!

Congratulations to friends Don and Gina on the wonderful news that they are expecting baby #1!

Say it isn't so

Apparently Fargo is no longer a "small town" where you can leave your car running in the parking lot. What is this winter going to be like? Imagine the AAA calls.

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=103507&section=News

Hold Me Back and more

I went to Comp I class today. We are actually doing some interesting stuff - hey, my writing can always use improvement - anyway, the assignment was to read and mark-up an essay. It wasn't long, 5 pages or so. It was a great piece. The author was incredibly descriptive. It was not a hard read.

In class we were asked to form groups of 2-3. No one approaches the old lady in the class, so I asked two very nice young men if I could join them. Sure. They pulled out their books - not a mark in them - HEY guys, you are paying for this class!!! WRITE IN THE BOOK - you paid for it. It turned out that they hadn't even read the assignment. I want a good grade. SO...I admit it, I took over the group, told the note taker what to write and approved it before it was turned in. I guess I'll have to find another group next week - although I was kind and they were very sweet they may not want me back. It's really weird taking a class with young folks who are nearly the same age as my son.

I'm not going to school because I didn't have anything else going on this week....

Happy news - Our youngest turned EIGHT today. She was so excited for this day to come and then the mailbox....not a birthday card in there. Pain, agony, disappointment were written all over her face as she came dragging back from getting the mail. How do you fix that one? I guess I need to send more cards to others so that my kids get some in return. She was crushed. For days she has been counting how many cards might come, who might send them, etc. I think she had pictured the mailman staggering to the door under the weight. Well, little one, happy birthday anyway.

It seems so long ago that my favorite husband walked and I waddled into the hospital to be induced on Labor Day. Ten LONG hours later the product of my labor (literally) was a 8 lb. 16.5 oz. little girl. Dr. Wilson came into the room in shorts and sandals just having come back from a barbeque. Ahh, memories.

We measured today - Birthday girl grew .5", #1 daughter (simply for means of identification, not preference) grew .5" and our son grew .75" - all since 7/14. We measure the childrens' height on every birthday of theirs and on my favorite husband's bday (my bday is only 2 weeks from our son's so it doesn't make sense to use mine).

To conclude the evening, I attach a photo taken of one of the calves. He is standing in front of a wheat field that has been harvested. The content look on his face is due to the fact that the photograph was taken before he was castrated this past Sunday.

Can't wrap my mind around it

As stated in The Forum http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=101773&section=News , the devastation after the hurricane brings back memories of the flood of 97 in Grand Forks, ND. I recall watching two newscasters lose their polished appearance as they continued to broadcast far into the night. They weren't reporting on the disaster outside as much as they were reading offers of shelter from individuals up and down the Red River Valley. A typical announcement would be "John Smith on Rt 24 can take in a family of up to six and has corral space for animals. Call XXX-XXXX." Those men loosened their ties, were unshaven, rolled up their sleeves and just read announcements of incredible offers such as these to those fleeing the flood in Grand Forks and the surrounding area.

I appreciate Peggy Noonan's article today http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/ She uses the term "piggism" to refer to the looters. She is being kind.

Now on the home front. How do we deal with $3+ gasoline when we commute in excess of 45 miles one way?
-Horses? No, there aren't a lot of hitching posts in town - but maybe there should be.
-My favorite husband is reading a lot about biodiesel. Does anyone have an old diesel vehicle that he could test his theories on? He is looking for a small diesel pick-up.
-Stay home? We are supposed to begin our 100 mile one way/once a week trek to Detroit Lakes, MN next week. Is that going to happen? We were having difficulty imagining where the tuition $ would come from. Now I can't imagine where the gas $ will turn up.
-Make every trip to "town" count. No more running into Fargo for just one thing. EVERY trip will be jam-packed with errands and there will be a lot fewer of them. Today I am shifting appointments around to coincide with my husband's work days so that we can ride with him. It will be a monster-long day in Fargo as he usually works 12 hour shifts, but given the alternative...

Trying to wrap my mind around it.

This Week

It's been a mixed week.

-The kids started some school work. They are getting a jump on the "official" start date of Sept. 6.
-I attended my classes. Thus far it's actually fun. I know, all of you who have told me that it wouldn't be that hard - you can say I told you so.
-My favorite husband had quite a few days off of work, but the projects he had hoped to finish kept moving to the back burner while other things became urgent. He was disappointed, but I'm sure it will all work out. A farm has a never ending list of things to do and ours is no exception.
-One of our kittens died today. The kids found it this morning - barely alive. It looked like a predator of some sort had gotten it. The kids made it comfortable (as much as they could) and buried it this afternoon. No, the vet couldn't have fixed this either.
-I have heard from several friends, via e-mail and telephone. It is always nice to hear (or read) a friendly voice.

I hope you have a great weekend.

New Farm Employee

I threatened to get a social security # for Hank following his most recent vet visit. Actually the vet gave me the idea. I asked if we should have Hank's dew claws removed. The vet then asked me if Hank was going to be a working dog. Well, yes, of course. The response was that if he was going to be a working dog we should have the claws removed because they were more likely to catch and tear while "working."

I was telling my parents about this and wanting to get him a SS#. They told me that if we file "farm" on our income tax forms that we can claim Hank's food and vet bills since he can be considered an employee and is a working dog!! YES!

I'm, like, freaking out

I did it. I signed up for two classes (6 credits) - that makes me a part time student. I've gotten a student ID, laptop (the school supplies one to each student), class schedule and books (OVERPRICED). Now the next thing to master is the vocabulary. No, I'm not talking about the "academic" talk. I am referring to the language used by the much younger students. Overheard while waiting in line to pay $65 for two very small books:

"I like let Ashley take my car. I'm freaking out because she like isn't a very good driver and she like just took my car instead of taking hers. I like told her that she could $%# take her own car, but she just took mine. I'm freaking out."

I may not have it verbatim, but you get the idea. How will these kids function in the business world? Will e-mail replace the face to face meetings or the telephone conversations that call for intelligent discourse? I need to like not get too arrogant, but it's really difficult when I overhear what the kids are talking about -maybe it's just left over from summer!

Library Comparison

I've told you a little about the two libraries in Fargo/Moorhead that we frequent. It is difficult to pick a favorite but let me share a few of the differences.

-Fargo has a separate children's section. This is a thumbs up in my book as the non-fiction at Moorhead are mixed with the adult's (I think I mentioned this). I like knowing that my kids are contained in an area while I am off checking the adult side.
-Fargo seems to have more books. I haven't checked the actual volume count, but the feel overall is bigger.
-Moorhead has Fargo beat hands down with their customer service. It is a rare thing at Fargo to find a librarian out from behind the counter and when they are it is generally to shelve books, not interact with customers. Is that what we are, customers? Not sure about the appropriate terminology, but Moorhead could really teach Fargo how to work with the people that come to check out books. Is this due to management expectations/the type of personnel hired/too busy to assist others/???
-Moorhead has a grace period for overdue fines on books. YEAH - we routinely have stacks of books checked out and the fines add up so fast! Moorhead also notifies the card holders via e-mail to inform as to the overdue items. Bravo - way to use technology and save a stamp. Fargo still mails the overdue notices (with the fine that you have accumulated listed on the notice).

Do I have a favorite? Not yet. Do you use the library? Check it out today (oh that sounds like a public service announcement!)

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday 3rd birthday to Payton. We have never met - OR and ND aren't too close and we haven't ventured back to the west coast for quite some time. Happy birthday little girl!

This is taped to my kitchen windowsill

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Those of you who know me well probably know why.

A Sighting!!!!

What did I see? It's a rare thing - seeing what I saw today. Before I share the actual sight, let me tell you that this is an event that occurs so infrequently that there are few that can give an eyewitness report. I've seen it, in my own front yard. No, it's not that long-lost woodpecker, not an insect. It was a farmer in shorts (gasp). Oh, you city people are tuning out right now. I can hear thinking (I do have that gift) - Shorts - everyone wears them after coming home from a hard day's work. NOT here. No way. Farmers are fully dressed at all times and on all occasions.

My best examples come from my great-uncles with whom my father farmed when I was young girl. We lived in the center of ND and my great-uncles were mostly grain farmers - sunflowers were just being cultivated in our part of ND. The "uniform" for a well-dressed farmer was work boots (not tennis shoes), blue jeans (no designer names please), a t-shirt (usually white), and a cotton long-sleeved shirt over the t-shirt. OH, I nearly forgot the hat, always a hat. Generally the farmer advertised the seed company that gave him the hat or perhaps his favorite implement dealer. A farmer's legs were NEVER seen. I mean NEVER. I am sure their legs were/are neon white.

It wasn't until I was well into my 20's that I saw my father in shorts - and that was on a super hot day in Michigan. Of course, he did NOT wear them out of the house. Now I have heard that my Dad wore shorts in Hawaii when he and Mom went there for one of my brother's weddings (his only wedding - 3 brothers). There was supposed to be photographic evidence brought back. Wouldn't you know it - every photo that was taken of Dad in shorts had him behind a bush, standing behind the car door. It reminded me of Wilson on Tool Time.

OK, back to the shorts - funny story to go along with it. When I was a child the very small town where I lived decided to build a swimming pool. Funds were raised. Everyone thought it was a great idea for the kids. Well, the pool staff put together a schedule of lessons - and there was an adult lesson time set for the evening (had to do it after the farmers were out of the field). Wives literally dragged their farmer husbands to lessons as there must have been an advertisement that said couples attend together. My parents took the lessons (peer pressure). I would love to have been a mouse in the locker room when the farmers all put on their newly purchased swimming trunks. Picture the tan lines - including the hat line. We had to wait in the car during the lesson, I never did see anyone's glowing white legs, but the stories are still being told about how my Dad sank like a stone.

I guess I should have had the camera out - you'll just have to take my word for it. And no, I'm not going to tell you the farmer's name.

What's Up?

We are doing home/farm kinds of things today. I have three loads of laundry drying on the clothesline with a fourth in the machine. Favorite husband is working on the starter for the tractor. The kids have been riding horses and are now going to assist with my task of cleaning out stalls in the barn.

Tomorrow we are going to celebrate my Dad's birthday. It was yesterday, but work/errands kept us all apart. We are going to have strudels as the main course. No, it's not the pastry strudel. Strudel is also a German dish of thinly stretched dough rolled up and steamed on top of potatoes (of course), onions and meat. Quite tasty, but time consuming to prepare. Usually we have it once a year - rarely twice. If you want to get crazy you pour cream on top of the whole dish. Can you count the calories and the fat??

The tame kitten count remains at 12. I think that will be all that have a chance of surviving the winter. Fall kittens usually do not make it. I'm really not enjoying buying a large bag of food every week. It's time to give some away. Anyone interested? You can pick your color.

Hank was at the vet this week for his "big boy" shots - rabies, etc. He has gained 15 lbs. in the last month. It's getting a little harder to move him when he doesn't want to go. Hank has picked up some sheep herding skills. Good dog!

#1 Son learned yesterday that his braces are on for approx. another 5 months. He is quite disappointed as the previous target date was October.

The final, for the moment, news tidbit is that we have received 2.5 inches of rain the past two days. Yes, that rain gauge is working nicely and I am the one who put it up!

Happy weekend to you.

Couldn't do it!

We loaded up all of the young sheep and cut out those that we wanted to keep. We had finished when Son #1 called my attention to Daughter #1. She was standing over #48 crying. #48 is a male lamb who we bottle fed because he had "failure to thrive." We decided that if meant that much to her that we could take him off of the trailer too. 17 are being prepared for sale.

A pot of gold?

What do you find if it's a double rainbow? We just saw this during a break in the storm tonight.

Gas Prices Again

Are you as irritated by the high gas prices as I am? I was checking historical data on www.ndgasprices.com. Why are prices at least $1.00 higher than last year at the same time? What has changed in the world in ONE year that could cause prices to jump this much?

From Africa?

Last week our family went into Valley City to the Dairy Queen for an ice cream treat. Behind us in line we noticed a group of five young men (late teens/early 20's) with pretty good tans, farm clothes and talking in another language. Since everyone in ND talks to everyone else while waiting in line (a BIT of a generalization) the lady in front of us asked them where they were from. It turns out that they are working with a custom combining outfit and are from Africa! Everyone then got into the conversation (there are no secrets here) and were asking questions about where they had been combining, how they got the jobs here in the U.S., etc. They said they had an agent in Africa (I think South Africa) who assisted them in getting summer employment. Too cool!

Today is THE day

The kids are, even as I write, sorting the sheep. The list has been on the refrigerator for two days - ever since I got the call from my Dad that prices are up for lambs and that we should get them on a heavy diet of corn and push them out the door. A red underline under your number (if you are a sheep) means that you get to stay. A red circle around your number means that your days are numbered (literally). There are several undecided sheep that have no mark made near their #.

We plan to keep 25 ewes to lamb next spring. We had 13 that lambed this spring. Five were "open" (didn't have babies). SO - 18 of last year's flock will stay on. The remaining slots will be taken by ewe lambs from this year. What gets you a pass on going away in the trailer? Well, we are looking for lambs that are from a multiple birth and have a long body. The multiple birth is a trait that is likely to carry forward (desirable). The long body enables the sheep to carry the multiple babies easier.

Two sheep are being kept in the flock just because. One of our two first bottle lambs is still with us and is the matriarch of the flock. We don't breed her but keep her on because she is a calming influence on the flock. We also keep Peter. He was a bottle lamb a few years later. He is quite cute (even as a sheep, and that's saying something!) and seems to also be a good influence.

This will be a noisy job - the mothers and babies don't accept being separated very well.

Sunset

Sunset on Friday evening (about 9pm). Stop and be quiet for a moment.

Sunday Morning

The kids went out to feed the calves and found lamb #44 dead. No cause of death is known. The lamb was buried before breakfast.

My Dad brought over a load of hay. After unloading the hay the horses hooves were trimmed and they tried to castrate the calves. Let's say the calves need to grow a bit more before they become steers.

More new creatures

This is one of the three new calves that arrived here on Wednesday. The other two didn't feel like posing for photos.

The calves feeding schedule has been altered a bit. The place where they came from fed at 3 and 3 - that's 3AM and 3PM. We don't choose to go that route (as our son said - I'm not sure if that's getting up early or staying up late) so feeding time at the zoo is 7AM, 7PM. That's more like it!

At the moment all three are bull calves. On Sunday, I believe, their status will be altered to steer.

Mi Casa

Yes, this is where we live. I know, our summer project should be painting it. Well, we've tried - last summer the favorite husband diligently scraped and painted a section on the east side (not in these photos). This year it peels. It's old, old wood. I'm not freaking out about it. My sister-in-law says our house has a "beautiful patina."

This photo is from the north west side of the house.

This photo is looking from the southwest. The pictures from my front door are taken from the glass doors.


Look at the beautiful blue sky!! Today has been a perfect summer day. It was cool last night and is absolutely perfect today.

It Lives

It was a somewhat Igor moment (wasn't he Frankenstein's side kick?). The favorite husband and son have been working on an outboard motor given to them by, deep breath here....husband's brother's father-in-law.

This little gem is designed to ease the burden upon the 15-year-old's rowing arms and allow for greater fishing expeditions. There was a lot of father and son bonding as the carbuerator was rebuilt and hoses examined. After several days (and a lot of photographs) of this bonding time, they sprang the motor back to life. This is where the Igor moment kicks in - It lives master, it lives - or something like that.

Lonely

Did you think all of my posts had to be about the weather or animals?

We are nearing the beginning of our school year and I've been thinking about how lonely homeschooling and farm life can be - especially when the two are combined.

Farm life is, out of necessity, quite solitary - or at least confined to your immediate family. I believe that big farms are less family oriented than the smaller, hobby farm. The large(er) farm necessitates contact with vendors and the additional assistance required to make such a farm possible. Our little 30+ acre farm does not require much outside help. We did have someone in to shear the sheep, but that's about it!

Homeschooling is also a somewhat lonely pursuit - again, aside from contact with your immediate family. Our proximity does dictate who and when we see others (along with those pesky gas prices!). We have to be deliberate about interacting - it's not just the neighbor walking her dog in the evening stopping to chat. It's actually traveling to someone's home (this assumes an invitation) to hang out.

Why do I muse about this? Why now? Answers? Only questions.

Harvest Begins

Harvest has begun. The large wheat field to the south of our house was harvested yesterday by at least three combines. The field is very large so we could not see all of the equipment that was working. We speculated that the work began late in the day because it was very humid all morning - the drier the grain, the easier to remove it from the head. We further wondered if so much equipment was being used because we had the threat of severe thundershowers last night, which brings the possiblity of hail. Hail does the harvesting for farmers - pounding the grain into the ground making it all but impossible to pick-up with equipment.

My Dad has a line on three calves - about 3 days old - who may come to live with us for a while. They would be "bucket broke" vs. needing to be fed with a bottle. This should add some more excitement to our days. Let's see - horses, sheep, chickens, dog, cats, and now cows. Why not?

National Night Out

It's National Night Out Day (huh?). The only reason I know that is because the kids are having their Toastmaster's meeting in the park in West Fargo tonight. Our son is the toastmaster and has been looking up some information on neighborhoods and foolish criminals to add to his presentation.

Speaking of stupid criminals http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=98707&section=News I imagine that someone will think twice before tossing a cigarette out of their window!!

Wave Violation

If you have read my post about the wave (see archives - maybe April?) you will recognize the following as a definite violation of the wave protocol.

The kids and I were driving with my sister-in-law last Thursday. We were in her vehicle (out of state plates - whew) and were checking out some of the local attractions - yes, there are a few you skeptics! We were on a gravel road and passed someone going in the opposite direction - they waved. Sister-in-law, being a very outgoing person, waved back, but committed a major infraction - she also honked! I was mortified until I remembered that we were travelling in a vehicle with out of state plates and that the wave/honk recipient would realize that a stranger had committed the infraction.

Back to the one finger (the INDEX finger) wave for me.

News in ND

I LOVE the TV news in ND! When we moved here from Chicago (just before the flood of '97) I laughed at the local news. They reported EVERYTHING, it seemed, from lost dogs to milestone anniversaries and block parties. It felt so small town compared to the big city news.

After living here for 8 years I love the television news - I appreciate the fact that virtually every crime is reported by the newscasters, not just the most sensational crimes because that is all the larger cities have time to share. I really think it's great when the lead story is about the wheat harvest or the street fair in Fargo - that tells me that there is no bad news to use as the lead.

Has the news changed or is it me?

Let's Get Physical (Physically Fit)

OK - it's time again (still) to get out there and move. I have been inspired by my former employer. He turns 50 this week and has become, according to reports (I haven't actually seen this phenomenon) quite buff and physically fit. He has a training schedule that makes me cry (see http://www.lifeisatri.blogspot.com/). If he can move from a coffee guzzling, paper pushing, doughnut eating, couch potato, to a Lance Armstrong wanna be - why can't I? OK, I don't drink coffee, I prefer to burn the paper, haven't eaten a doughnut in months (do you know how much fat is in a Krispy Kreme? - you can feel veins and arteries closing up as you eat), and don't really do the couch potato thing. I guess it's just time to move in a purposeful manner.

Happy birthday Mr. D - enjoy the big FIVE OH.

We Are Family

This past week we were excited that one of my brothers and his family visited us in ND. Kent is an incredibly talented carpenter and has assisted with renovating portions of our parents home (along with another brother, Richard, and his family last summer). This year the focus was on completing the crown molding in the dining room and renovating the library. Exceptional job. Between wallpaper removal, sanding, trim and other work, we enjoyed spending time with them - their little girl was so excited to see all of the cousins. They are driving, even as I write, back to their home on the west coast.

My brother, Kris, and his wife made me an aunt again - their "little" (9 lbs. 6 oz.) girl was born on Friday. She is a beautiful little girl - love the internet - we were able to see photos so very quickly.

Resume

I've found my resume file. I thought I would update it - haven't done that in nearly 8 years. The big question is - How do I describe what I have been doing for the past eight years? I have worked per diem for several organizations - editing policies and procedures, fun stuff like that. However, the bulk of my time has been spent managing our house, CFO, sheep ranch manager, principal and primary educator (including curriculum development, instruction, discipline and so much more), church commitments, and so much more.

Seriously - how do I fill in that gap without frightening anyone?

Varmits

Well, it has happened again. Yes, skunk trouble. My favorite husband was coming home from work late one night last week. He opened the door to our cold porch and surprised a skunk who was eating dog food. Unlike the previous surprises, this skunk decided to let loose with it's favorite weapon - without any warning. The odor, or rather stench, was overpowering and throughout the house immediately - even though the actual back door was closed.

We woke Matthew up (how could the kids sleep with that overpowering smell?) and the two men cleared the porch of the winter coats, recycling bins and everything else in the way of the skunk's exit. He/she didn't choose to leave, so the choice was made for it - yes, a single shot took care of the offender, but the smell lingers on.

I burned candles, scrubbed the walls and cement on the porch, hung all of the winter wear on the clothesline - and yet it still continues.

The day after the "event" my favorite husband was at work and asked one of the other nurses to smell him. "I will not!" she said quite indignantly. After he explained that it was not for an inappropriate reason (and she is also from a farm) - she did give him a cursory sniff. Nothing. Ahh, home free. NOT QUITE - no more than five minutes later an aide came into the room and said, "I smell skunk!"

Today

Today is a "town day" as we have an orthodontist appt and then the kids have a Toastmaster's meeting this evening. It's just not worth it (gas) to go back and forth twice in a day so we have made plans to go to both libraries - Fargo and Moorhead. They are both great libraries with different features. Fargo has a great, separate, children's section. The books are current and are well-shelved for easy access for kids. Moorhead has the definite advantage of an incredibly friendly and helpful staff (Fargo has shown improvement in this area - but is not equal to Moorhead) however, at Moorhead the non-fiction books are shelved with the adult books. There are just some sections where I don't want my younger children to go - yet.

We do love libraries - the library card is one of our most precious possessions. We used to have to pay a fee for the card that we use in F/M. A "non-resident" fee. I was shocked when I had to pay for a LIBRARY CARD. Needless to say, we had one for our entire family. The fee was rolled back last year so that everyone in our family could get a card. That makes things challenging as each of us has a 50 (?) book limit. We impose a 10-15 book limit on ourselves because if we get 10-15 each from two libraries (you do the math) - well, gas mileage goes down on the way home from the library! We keep the books in clothesbaskets to separate the books by library.

I need to get the kids up and get things moving! Have a great day.

The view from my front porch

This is what the day looked like from my front porch today at 6:45AM. The wheat field is starting to turn - harvest isn't for another few weeks though. The sun looked like it was coming up in the north - soon it will begin to turn south again.

What about SOCIALIZATION?

Oh, the favorite question to ask a homeschooling family - what about socialization? Do your kids ever see anyone? How can they possibly know how to function in society if they don't spend time in a traditional classroom? OR there are more subtle forms of this question - Do your kids get to spend time with anyone outside of your family? Statements like - Oh, it's so nice that your kids got to get out and be with other children.

USUALLY, I just smile and nod - "it is nice that they get to spend time with other children. Yes, they do get to see other kids."

Here is my somewhat cranky question for those of you with the socialization question on your lips - DO YOU FUNCTION IN A SINGLE AGE GROUP IN THE REAL WORLD? In other words - do you only talk to people who are in your "class"? That is basically what you are asking me about my kids - why don't you put them into a classroom so they can learn to relate only to other 4th graders and generally exclude children who are younger and be intimidated by those kids who are older. Let's face it - homeschooling is a lot more like the real world (the one after school is out) when you need to, for example - work with the young computer programmer in the company and the older manager who has been with the company ever since it began. You have to know how to make intelligent conversation with people other than your immediate age-mates.

This is how I grew up when living on a farm for 6 years. All summer long I had to play with my brothers - our nearest neighbors were 4 miles away or more. Had I decided I could only play with kids my age, I would have been one lonely little girl. I went to small parochial schools where multiple grades were in a classroom - much like homeschooling. At recess we all played the games together or there weren't enough kids to have a game.

GET REAL with the socialization question - be happy that we are teaching our kids to have conversations with people that are older than they are and to be kind and inclusive for the kids who are younger.

P.S. I run my kids around to far more places than I care to sometimes - yes, we see many people.

Drama

Oh, the drama of losing a tooth. Some children are quiet about it - others, well, aren't. Child #3 isn't quiet about anything. The loss of this tooth happened Tuesday evening and was anything but silent. How many teeth do kids have to lose???? Can I just make an appointment with the dentist to get this over with?

Happy Mother's Day

No, I'm not confused. This is the day, 15 years ago, that I became a mother. Our son turned 15 years old today. Parenthood is the time when you learn about unconditional love. You think you know everything about loving another person when you get married - and then the world is turned upside down when you hold that little one.

How did our 5'11" son celebrate his day? The "boys" in our house went fishing. They claim they caught the same bullhead over and over. Lots of good male bonding time, sunburn, mosquito bites, and all the other stuff that made the girls and me stay at home!

Happy birthday!

7/6/05

This photo was taken on 7/6. You have to look carefully for content as we couldn't get closer to the subject. Hank is the small black spot sitting next to the driveway (you are looking straight south from our front porch). This was the first time he had realized that there were animals on the farm other than the barn cats. He sat there for about 5 minutes, jumping slightly each time the horses would snort or the sheep would move, and then seemed to have had enough and trotted back to the house.

Big Thoughts

Last night I was reading a book that one of the kids had checked out from the library (I sometimes do this to check content). Alyssa walked by and asked why I was reading one of Matthew's books. I told her the previous explanation and added that I sometimes enjoyed reading books that they (the kids) like because I spend much of my reading time in the summer reading books about homeschooling and my brain turns to mush after a while. She replied, "Well Mom, you ought to try thinking about forever for a few minutes. It really keeps my mind busy and I just can't wrap my mind around it."

Farm Update

I realized that I haven't kept you up to date on the happenings on the farm.

After the excitement of lambing, this might be a bit of a let-down. Anyway - the adult sheep had their hooves trimmed and were wormed two weeks ago. Mark and the kids did most of it. Mark is becoming a professional hoof trimmer. When you have 20+ sheep, it does become an art form. The working process consists of each sheep getting one or two pills in a pill shooter. It's a long tube that basically puts the medication at the back of the sheep's throat, hopefully eliminating the option of spitting it out.

On 7/3 the lambs were all wormed. This was a liquid application. The medication was concentrated so each lamb received 1.5 ml. Again, the nurse/husband administered the medication (fortunately he is much more gentle with his human patients). He fabricated a device to shoot the liquid into the lamb's mouth so that, again, the option to spit out the medication was lessened.

The six kittens in the barn have all opened their eyes. The kids need to keep petting them to keep them tame as we have an aversion to feeding wild cats. Their mother is a wild thing and disappears whenever we come near.

Hank has adopted two cats - Lewis (an orange cat) and York (a black cat). Both Lewis and Clark hang around the house and have developed an agreement with the dog.

My Dad picked up Candy, the palimino horse. She hasn't been trained and is a huge horse. If there is something she doesn't like, she just kicks at it. Well, Alyssa decided to pet Candy and Candy whirled and kicked at Alyssa. Fortunately Alyssa only got a bruise on her upper arm (no other damage), but we can't have a horse like that on our farm so off she went.

The kids and I have been discussing how many sheep we will keep over the winter. We think we have agreed on 25 ewes that will be bred. We also have our oldest ewe that is no longer bred (she is 8 years old) and Peter, a former bottle lamb - he is wither (look it up) so he is just with the flock for decoration. Katelyn thinks she wants to keep #48 (a male), but we haven't reached a consensus. Over the next two months we need to look at the records of how many lambs each sheep had and check body shape on the young females. We are looking for a long body and solid stance. We will also see how many lambs their mother had. Next year I would like to sell the wool, but I also need to make coats for the sheep to keep the wool nice.

That's all down on the farm today!

Air Conditioning?

We don't have it - air conditioning that is. Face it, people in ND need air conditioning about two weeks out of the entire year. We are in the midst of one of those two weeks. The heat was stifling today - due to the humidity or the dew point (whatever the weather guys are saying). Hank, the new puppy, was so hot that he forgot to chase the outside cats.

Matthew and Katelyn are camping with a church group tonight. Yuck (If I haven't mentioned it before, I really dislike camping). We went over the signs of heat exhaustion with them so that if any of the symptoms are recognized they can seek appropriate remedies.

Tomorrow (or nearly today) is supposed to be the same, or worse, but better next week.

OH, did I mention that I received a rain gauge for my birthday???!! Now to get someone, possibly me, to put it up.

Mossies

The mossies (to use a term from down under) are here in force. The kids all look like they have chicken pox because the bites from the little monsters are covering the exposed skin. Surprisingly enough, I don't feel the bites as much as I did at the beginning of the season. Can you become accustomed to being bitten?

Gas Prices

I mentioned that I might rant about gas prices. What is there to say that hasn't been said many times? Well, it was interesting when the small town gas stations had to fashion a "2" as the first digit on their signs. Now everyone has had one printed to match the other numbers, but for the first few weeks they didn't have a digit other than the usual "1" to put in the slot.

I weary of hearing that oil is a volatile commodity. I marvel at how quickly gas prices go up at any news of any sort - it might be a cold winter (up); hurricanes are coming (up); the summer might be hot (up); the wind was blowing (up); someone might blow up a pipeline (up); you get the picture (up). The prices at the station go up the same day the oil price increases, but certainly don't come down as fast when the prices fall. I'm thankful we don't live in California or Illinois - but then we might be able to take mass transit - OR NOT. It's time to get one of those gerbil or squirrel powered cars or go back to horse and buggy. Now there's a thought.

Hank Again

Check out those eyes. He really does smile (although not at this moment). His eyes are two different colors - one is brown and the other hazel. Look at those paws - they look like snowshoes now, but we know he will grow into his feet.

Hank Sleeping

Frustrated...again

Did I blog last fall about attempting to get into school and have the local university not recognize that I'm a mother first and wanted to be a student second? Frightening story about those in academia not listening.

Well, last week I dig in again and attempt to work with the same university (why not a community college you ask - because there isn't one within 100 miles OR MORE!). I review the financial aid report and find that we (my family) are expected to pay all tuition, books, fees, etc. I HEAR about all kinds of grant $ that doesn't get claimed, but according to those who know (whoever they are) there are not grants for people my age - I guess if you miss it the first time around it isn't coming back - I can't claim to have edited my high school yearbook last year, didn't run for student council, the community service that I do doesn't count, my blood pressure is going up... Anyway, my project today is to point out to the financial aid department that we are a single income family, gas prices are going up - now there is a rant for another post, and I'm not available to attend classes 24/7.

I am nearly ready to give up and remain among the "uneducated" because even taking a single class at a time is 1/4-1/3 of the full-time tuition and there are not even loans available for that. What is the deal? In addition to the $ issues (that must be solved first) - how about a few more on-line or evening classes?

Frankly this quite stinks as I have been quite cautious about even approaching this whole thing and prefer to remain in my personal comfort zone. I was good at the job I used to do (as an administrative assistant) and don't like not being good at things. However, my favorite husband keeps telling me that I would do great; it would be good for me to have my mind challenged by new and different ideas; I would enjoy seeing "big" people; someday I could work for a living - outside of our home and not attempt to work in the same capacity as I did previously; I read and absorb so quickly that it would easy (I think he's messing with me on that one); etc.

I"ll have to get a more positive attitude before calling this woman or I'll eat her alive right after she says hello. I have realized that anything less than a subservient attitude gets you absolutely nowhere with anyone working in a university/college setting (even if the individual is just the receptionist answering the telephone!). Last year I learned that regular business logic (or even just normal courtesy) doesn't seem to apply to universities in ND! TO WHOM WOULD I ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE ABOUT THE ENTIRE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM IN ND? WOULD THAT PERSON EVEN READ MY LETTER AS I DON'T HAVE A LIST OF LETTERS AFTER MY NAME?!!! Maybe I'll wait to make that call.

New Addition

We have added another member to our family. Hank is one of the puppies from Moco, my parent's dog. The kids (especially our son) fell in love with the little guy. I have tried to attach a photo, but apparently that feature isn't working this morning. Later.

Your thoughts?

Last night one of the kids presented a reading at the Toastmaster's meeting (for kids). In keeping with the July 4 theme she read the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. During the meeting wrap-up one of the moderators asked the kids to ponder several questions that I pose to you.

Consider the phrase:

"that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"

Do you believe this? Does it apply to all people that live in the United States of America? All men (and women)? Does your belief apply to other countries? If yes, what should be done?

No answers here - only questions.

Milestones

A quick look at Lewis (or is it Clark?) heading for the barn.

Another milestone - it's birthday time here. Not telling the year. I hope to hear from all three of my brothers today. One already called this morning. Adult birthdays.....you don't get the day off from school, you make your own cake (if you want one), you don't take cupcakes to school, blah, blah - however - it's much better than the alternative.

Key Words

I was at a site - http://www.wordtracker.com/ - that encouraged web masters or bloggers to include the following words to get more "hits".

Here is the list - and my comments
1. jessica simpson - blonde, enough said
2. jessica alba - who?
3. music lyrics - favorite husband's department. I like listening to music, he loves listening to music
4. daniela hantuchova - again, who?
5. paris hilton - I won't even go there
6. playstation 2 cheats - don't own one
7. xbox cheats - ditto
8. jokes - Katelyn told one at Toastmaster's last week
9. googletestad - no clue
10. google - my favorite search engine thus far

Key words from our house might include (in no particular order):

1. kids
2. sheep
3. horses
4. homeschool
5. chickens
6. weather
7. family
8. friends
9. library/books
10. cats

Say THANK YOU!!!

It's nearly the 4th of July - I didn't want to miss the opportunity to remind you to say THANK YOU to an American serviceman or woman. The freedoms we enjoy didn't come to us for free.

I know, I know, you fully realize this. BUT seriously - when was the last time you said thank you to one of the soldiers for being away from their family? You may not agree with the various conflicts that they are SENT to be part of....but please, please find someone and just say thanks.

It makes me so proud to be near communities that support their soldiers. When the 141st National Guard Division returned via the Fargo airport you couldn't have fit another person in that building. We watched the news coverage that even broke in on the "sacred" afternoon soap operas. All of their families were there - even the families of the soldiers who weren't coming back. Every soldier stopped and hugged the parents/sisters/brothers of their fallen friends. I love being part of this community.

My "thank you" goes to Greg H. in the Army and John F. in the Marines. Greg spent a year in Iraq and John is currently stationed there. Thanks to you and all like you who make freedom contain the word FREE.

Yes, It's All About the Weather!

The "lower pasture" after the most recent rain storm (4:30pm today) - it should be all green.

The skies to the west AFTER the storm.

Remember the view from my front porch? This is the same view during the rainstorm!

It is all about the weather. If you want to strike up a conversation with a stranger (and we often do) while standing in line at the grocery store, at Sam's Club, with your waitress - go ahead and comment on the recent weather. Remember when I told you about the rain gauge? Always an easy discussion point. I still haven't gotten a gauge. Right now we're using the dog's water dish. She is drinking out of a ice cream bucket in the house so her dishes outside are the informal rain gauge.

North Dakotans who are fortunate enough to have cable television sit and watch the weather channel. We just can't help ourselves!

From my front porch

This was taken at 6:30AM looking to the south east from our front porch. That is the neighbor's wheat field and one of the buildings on the home place of our nearest neighbor (1/4 mile away).

A little more reading

I thought I would share a few more summer reading favorites with you:

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas Friedman (I haven't read this one yet - but heard an interview with the author on NPR).
Rick and Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures: Recipes and Stories by Rick and Lanie Bayless. I have checked this out from the library several times - great salad dressing recipe. I want to buy this book.

Puppy

I had to share one more picture. This is one of the male puppies. Yes, his eyes will stay that color. His mother, Moco, is a Louisiana Catahoula. One desirable trait is two different colored eyes.

Photo capability and more

Isn't this too cool? Our computer can actually "talk" to the digital camera. This is a photo of #48 - one of the two bottle lambs. He doesn't have a name because he will be sold in the fall. We don't usually name the boy lambs.

Last night wave after wave of thunderstorms rolled through. AND Alyssa was sick with a high temp and upset stomach. I don't think I had 3 consecutive hours of sleep - old age is catching up with me as I don't have the stamina for that any more.

As a result of another two inches of rain the mosquitos are thick. It is like a curtain when you go outside - just be sure to breathe through your nose, not your mouth. I inhaled several of those evil insects last night when I went out to check on the sheep and puppies at 1AM.

Mark just called - he is at a farm auction. He was outbid on a manure spreader. I thought he would just be watching, but apparently he caught bidding fever. I wonder if he will bring anything home for me - NO, the manure spreader was not a gift for his wife!!

Off to take a nap.

Dogs

From the population post - we are considering adopting the deaf/somewhat blind puppy. We also want to get a "regular" dog, preferably a lab. We want the kind of dog that some kid is selling for $10-$25 because his yellow lab female ran around the neighborhood at the wrong time. Unfortunately those aren't usually in the newspaper. The paper carries the ads for the dogs that are "champion hunter parents - $250." Not my dog - I don't need another dog that wants to hunt. I just want one that smiles when he sees the kids and likes to follow them wherever they go. We have alerted the mailman to this wish so stay tuned.

What are you reading?

I've been consuming books from three different libraries. Two favorites: These is my Words and Sarah's Quilt by Nancy Turner. I picked up Sarah's Quilt off of the new shelf at the very small library near our home. The head librarian walked by as I was checking out the back cover and told me there was one book that preceeded it. She pulled it from the repair area and asked me to be careful but enjoy. Excellent books - but the equivalent of chick flicks for you guys.

I've also been reading homeschool materials. The Well-Trained Mind has been a constant companion as I format next year's homeschool plans. Our 7 year old (2nd grade) will use the Prairie Primer based on the Little House series, Latin, spelling, handwriting, ancient history with the big kids, Singapore Math 2 and a botany class (Apologia Botany)with her older sister.

I'm still sorting out plans for our 6th grader and the high school freshman.

Lost lost

Did I mention that I lost most of my links and e-mail addresses during the transition between computers? If you haven't heard from me, or if you have a great link, send an e-mail (you know who you are) or tell me what your favorite links are.

Where Were You?

Why did I drop off for so long AGAIN? Well, we had to update our antiquated computer (referred to by a wise man as the Model T) as my favorite, and only, husband downloaded a virus onto our old system. Not a big deal? Well, it is when there is no virus software that supports your operating system. It was time. I had stashed some $ for the purchase.

Favorite hubby researched the purchase. He read, he found techie friends and picked their brains. He ordered. We are the proud owners of a wow system from Dell - but still at dial-up speed. Ahh, well, the flat screen display is certainly great - even at the slow speed.

Special Thanks to Susan M. and Steve P. for offering their time and expertise.

Dell has been quite amazing to deal with. Customer service has been exceptional - even though the reps are in India. We had a few glitches, but after spending several hours on the telephone with our support guy all was well. Mark wouldn't ask, but I did - "where are located?" "Well, Mrs. M. have you ever heard of Bombay?" Outsourcing happening right under our very noses.

Nearly 15

Our oldest child turns 15 in a few weeks. It's freaky to have a child who is an age that I remember being. Does that make sense? We have had a few disagreements and I tell him "I KNOW how you are feeling." He thinks I'm weird, but I really do remember - that's why I have gray hair now.

Those of you who remember Matthew as being a skinny little kid would be surprised to see him - still skinny (starting to lift weights to fix that) but nearly six feet tall. Amazing.

Thank you!

Thanks to John for increasing my knowledge re: gas can color coding. WHO KNEW? Obviously not me. FYI, the mower continues to run OK. I do have to remove the air filter and spray engine starting fluid into the carbuerator (sp?) to get it started. A small price to pay for being able to continue to use the riding mower - we used to push mow the yard. Those of you who have been here know what I'm talking about.

Population Increase

The farm population has increased by six. The kids found that one of the "wild" cats has had six kittens. They are only a few days old so we'll see how many make it through the first couple of weeks.

We are dog sitting and horse sitting for my parents. They have gone to Portland, OR for my brother's college graduation (IT IS TODAY - CONGRATULATIONS!!!). Dad brought over three more horses and we picked up four puppies and their mother.

We are considering adopting one of the puppies - she has some special needs. We know for sure that she is deaf and has some visual impairment. She may be totally blind, but how do you test a dog? We need to find some material on training blind/deaf dogs. Anyone out there know anything about this? I've googled it, but have only found one real web site that had some info. The kids have named the pup Gracie, after the dog in the book Amazing Gracie.

So, if you are keeping track the cat population is up by six - can't tell the total # of cats. It's a mystery to us too - we count by the amount of food consumed, I think we are feeding the whole neighborhood.

The temporary horse total is six. Dogs, five.

LEAVING YOU

OK, I was back/am back, but we are going out of town until Father's Day so....no lap top to take with me to keep you up to date on our various escapades. I do have many more things to write about - the sheep have been shorn, we transported Sophie and #48 to my parent's house for bottle feeding while we are gone, the horses arrived at our house, so much more!

It's always good to hear from each of you (OK, BOTH of you that read this!). Feel free to write, call, e-mail, etc.

LAWN MOWING

A quick survey that relates to lawn mowing. How many of you used the higher gears on the riding mower to mow the grass?

We have several acres of lawn and I dislike mowing at low speeds. Our mower has speeds (for lack of a better term) 1-6/7. I ask you, are the higher gears road gears? Does the mower come with blinkers? NO - so the high gears must be there for mowing. Possibly the reason I love mowing is that I mow at top speed, while dodging the various obstacles in the yard.

That was CLOSE

My brother and I were trading "wow, I messed up" stories earlier this week. I think I won - in the interest of confidentiality, I won't share his story, that is his to tell. I can share the huge mess up that I did.

I did a great thing on Monday. As you can assess from my previous post re: the rain, we have had lots here this spring. The saying in ND could go "June showers bring July flowers." SO, we have to mow the lawn twice a week so we don't lose the swing set in the grass. On Monday it was finally dry enough to mow so I offered to jump on the mower. Mark was busy installed the aforementioned sump pump.

I did all the right stuff. I checked the oil and filled the gas. I found a fairly full blue can in the shed and filled the tank about 3/4 full.

I mowed and mowed - did I mention that I LOVE mowing? However, the way that I mow drives my former landscaper husband insane. He keeps talking about straight lines. I ask you, how can the lines be straight when there are ever so many obstacles in the way? I weave my way around the various shrubs, telephone poles, electric poles, fence posts, etc. that are in the way. The obstacle determines the pattern. (I can feel my landscaper brothers-in-law shaking their heads). The mower had a little miss, but that is normal at our house. Some of the equipment is just tempermental.

I finished up and parked the mower by the barn (didn't put away the can that I used to fill the gas). About 30 minutes later I hear Mark yelling from the barn "DID YOU USE THE BLUE CAN TO FILL THE MOWER?" "YES, AND I EVEN CHECKED THE OIL" (trying for good job points). "THE BLUE CAN HAS KEROSENE IN IT!" Did you know there is a special Gas Can Code? Yeah, me neither. I guess the red cans are the only ones that are supposed to be used for gasoline in the gas can code. Well, the mower seems to be fine - Mark dumped the tank and ran RED can gas in it. I don't think anything was permanently damaged. Whoops.

Rain, rain go away, come again some other day

I have found out that we aren't a "real farm." We don't have a rain gauge! This very small device allows you to discuss spring/summer farm life with any stranger on the street (especially this month and last). A conversation might go like this:

S (for stranger): Sure wish it would stop raining.
ME: Yes, we've had our share.
S: My crops have had enough.
ME: Did you get all your crops in before it started raining?
S: All but one field.
ME: That's too bad you didn't get the last one in.
S: Yes, but there is rust showing in the wheat.
ME: Have you sprayed?
S: Not yet. How much rain did you get with that last storm?

RIGHT THERE the crucial rain gauge would show it's worth! We don't have one. The measurements are in tenths so I can't just estimate by the puddles in the driveway. I have to show that I'm not a real farmer. Back to the conversation.

ME: Well, we don't have a rain gauge, but I'd guess at least an inch.
S: (he has now assessed that I'm an amateur) Well, we got 9/10. (and walks off).

Time to shop at Fleet Farm so I can appropriately participate in the weather talk that happens right now. We do, however, have a great thermometer so I'm ready for winter.

Hiatus OVER

My self-imposed hiatus has ended! Why was I gone? Well, it's a rather long story that I will attempt to shorten.

My favorite (and only) husband loves to search for the obscure, different and weird (NOT THAT KIND OF WEIRD!) things on the internet. He was surfing for some info about outboard motors, for a boat, and was hit by a "drive-by" or so I was told the internet lingo goes. Our virus software was woefully out of date, basically because no one supported Win 95 any longer so we were infected. Our computer was 8 years old and it was time, so my still-favorite husband shopped for a new system for us. We had put the income tax $ aside, but TIGHT-WAD me was holding it in the account as long as possible. Thanks to several of you who offered your expert opinions on software and hardware - we now have an amazing system - and still use the internet at dial-up speed. What is wrong with this picture?

Funny story to go along with this - I can laugh now. The infection occurred on a Saturday night. I spent several hours trying to fix the problem and got to bed really late. The next day in an attempt to control something in his world my husband emptied his dresser and proceeded to organize and label each drawer. I know, a mental health professional would have a field day here. The labels are on the top edge of the dresser - i.e. the top drawer, when pulled out, says "dress socks", "ties and handkerchiefs", "work socks", "belts". And it goes the same way through every drawer. I watched this happening with a small amount of amusement and a great deal of tiredness which made me have to keep from screaming aloud. I realized it was his attempt at order in his life, but it was hard to keep from it being personal.

Well, I'm back!

Where Have You Been?

OK, I'm starting to fall off the blog wagon. I miss having the feedback that I used to receive from sending e-mails to you all. Well, not really feedback, but a "hey, great to hear from you, we are fine!" or something like that. How to fix that?

What has happened here since 5/9? Well, the visiting dog killed a total of five chickens before going away. That leaves five chickens and one rooster. One of the chickens is setting on at least 12 eggs. So you don't have to check the internet, it takes approximately 21 days for eggs to hatch so we are waiting. We are only getting one egg a day from the other chickens. I need to leave the chickens locked in for a day to find out if there are more that are capable of laying.

Wednesday school's topic was Lewis and Clark - for the 2nd week. I can see why it took 2 weeks to review, that was a really long trip! We also had a surprise birthday party for the teacher. That evening, our two older kids had their church youth club meeting. The topic was edible wild plants. I tried fried cattails and boiled cattails. Lots of fiber there, not much taste so the fried were better with a little butter and salt and pepper (in case you were wondering). I sure am glad pizza was ordered for the final course.

Thursday I was gone most of the day and the rain came down all day. When it came time to bring the sheep in for the night the creek in their pasture had swollen and the sheep couldn't be convinced to use the little footbridge. Mark and I chased those evil beasts for 30 minutes. Finally Matthew came riding up on the pony, Ginger. He looked like the Lone Ranger - without the mask and the white horse. Yeah, and his legs were dangling, he was riding bareback and had just tied a piece of twine onto the pony's halter to use as reins. I guess the comparison just isn't there. Anyway - Matthew and his equine mount assisted in herding the evil beasts back across the creek and towards the barn. We hooked up two heat lamps for the cold, wet babies. By the time we got to the house I was soaked up to my knees from wading back and forth across the creek at locations other than where the bridge is located. I also had the lovely odor of wet, dirty sheep all over. Needless to say, the first stop was for a shower with lots of soap.

I missed the alumni weekend at my high school. Last year it was 20 years since graduation and I had a marvelous time. I think at 20 years after high school you are who you are - no pretending any more. Ten years was weird. I was nursing baby (who had been born 4 weeks prior) and trying to hide that fact from boys/men who were not allowed to acknowledge (in high school) that girls had breasts. I'm digressing badly - anyway, I missed the weekend. A big hello to all of you from the class of '84. I had a great time last year - my best friend from high school (CK) and I caught up just as if we had seen each other the day before. I found it to be a lot of fun to talk to people you knew (then) and be able to hold a conversation without all of the teenage angst/insecurity/pecking order that comes with high school. Well, nearly everyone in our class had overcome that - all except two individuals, one of which was our class president who told the class liason (when she called to encourage him to join us) "I'm past all of that" or something to that effect. Idiot - obviously he isn't out of the angst/insecurity/pecking order or else he is bald and fat. Anyway......

On Sunday Alyssa attended a birthday party for two children. It was held at the children's museum. There were so many children there (just for the party) - it was insane. I heard the number 27, but was hoping it wasn't true. We all went to the library after the party just to let our head clear from all of the noise pollution.

The kids have finished most of their schoolwork so we are coasting now. Oh, it feels good, but I've already started scanning the used lists for books for next year. Right now I'm scoping for a Saxon 76 math book.

We are off to Wednesday school tomorrow. The last class is next week - Matthew graduates from 8th grade that evening. I'm feeling quite old suddenly. I will attempt to recapture that youthful feeling on 5/31. The final event of the year is a field trip that includes mini golf and go-carts. Alyssa isn't old enough to run the cart alone so I have to drive for her! I love zipping around the track at top speed.

Happy week to you!

Update & Happy Mother's Day

#10 (the prolapse mom) had her baby on 5/4. She had a little girl all by herself, no assistance needed.

Happy Mother's Day one day late. I didn't know how much my Mother meant to me until I became a mother and learned what total unconditional love is like. That said, here is how we spend Mother's Day at our house:

We worked on cleaning my husband's part of the barn. We had to work around a hen who decided to set in one corner. A dog came running by the patio doors. A pretty black and white female border collie with a collar. Called the sheriff, no lost dogs. Called the local radio station and no return calls yet. The kids thought she was great (she can shake with both paws), until she killed a rooster. Now the dog has been chained to the dog house. I have called the postmaster (she knows everyone) to see who has a black and white border collie that might have run last night during the storm. She is going to put up a sign at the post office and we are going to show the mailman when he comes with the mail today. We also tagged, castrated and docked tails on the remainder of the lambs- that was before breakfast. 26 lambs this year - unless one more mother surprises me with a baby. I think we are done though.

It's a rainy Monday here, but no one is complaining as it was very dry. The farmers were seeding like crazy trying to beat the rain. We have let the sheep out into the big pasture and the electric fence seems to be holding.

Let's see other news - our youngest has a loose tooth. Just a few weeks left of school. I need to order ITBS (assessment) tests for the two oldest. That's all for today!

Enjoy your day!

Happy May Day!

I'm writing this in retrospect about yesterday because had I written yesterday my post would have been full of $%^?*@!$. Not the image of the kinder, gentler shepherdess/rancher/mother/homemaker/blah, blah that I want to portray to you, the lovely reader. SO, I delayed my comments by a day.

I had yesterday all planned. We had left the youngest child with my parents on Saturday night. The two older children had a function near Minneapolis and my husband's role was that of chauffer. Where did that leave me? Sitting at home ALONE waiting for lambs to be born, feeding Sophie her bottle, eating bonbons (don't have any), reading books, warming my feet by the fire, etc.

The morning started off beautifully. Mark and the kids got off at 4:30AM (they had to be at their commitment at 9:00). I heard them rumbling about, but chose to mumble a farewell from my warm bed. I leisurely got up at 7:30 and took a bottle out to Sophie and freed the sheep from their warm, (smelly) barn. [Before I go any further I need to describe the state of the farm for you. We have several pastures (grassy areas where animals stay for you non-farm folk) that are fenced separately, but can be joined together by opening gates (you do know what gates are, don't you?).] Continuing....it was a little chilly, however, the water in the water trough wasn't frozen so it couldn't be that cold, could it? Before I had finished the task of letting the pony out, freeing the chickens (and yelling at them for only producing one egg - whoops, kinder, gentler) the sheep had jumped the fence, had crossed the yard and were heading across the road!!! The babies had not accompanied their mothers in this delinquency, so there are 25 lambs running up and down the fence on the inside and 21 big sheep heading for greener pastures. OH, I was so angry. [Please note that I am losing the perspective I had hoped 24 hours would give.]

I started yelling for the bad animals to come back. No response, not even a glance in my direction. Now I had to strategize. I couldn't just open the gate - the babies would all run out and they are even harder to corral than their mothers. No, can't do that. I had hoped to maintain that warm fuzzy sleepy feeling and jump back into my still-warm bed. Not happening.

Here is the plan - tie the pony. If she gets away, I'm throwing in the towel and getting out the gun (to use the animals - don't write or call about suicidal thoughts and how to help them, I'm not that dumb). Done. Now move the babies into the upper pasture (the one with the better/good fence). They don't move easily. Their mothers can be motivated by grain, not so with the little ones - all 25. Finally done.

Now to get the 21 evil beasts [deep breath] back. I tried the grain trick. Oh yeah, here they come, but then the remember that they are mothers and stop at the fence to encourage their children to join them in their delinquency. Not happening.

Did I mention that herding sheep happens best with multiple individuals, strategically placed? Did I have any help other than the barn cats who were looking at me like I am crazy? NO?!!

After having to get out the whip (no, don't call the ASPCA - I didn't use it on them, I think it just made me feel better) and running back and forth many times I got them all in. Everyone except Vashti (aka spawn of Satan). She kept running past the open gate (with me hot on her heels) - Steve, you may be able to whup me in a marathon, but I'm sure I've got you on the sprint. I can turn on a dime (or a pile of XXXX) and move like the wind.

Long story made a bit shorter [I can feel more gray hair forming as relive yesterday]. I finally fashioned a run to get Vashti through the invisible gate. I'm sweating, irritated and nasty at this point.

The sheep were put on hay and water. I drag myself back into the house, burst through the door to the telephone ringing and my husband sweetly asking, "where have you been?" I look at the clock - TWO HOURS of my reading, napping, bonbon time have gone by.

Well, the diet for the evil animals remains the same - hay and water. My father purchased an electric fencer charger and accessories yesterday. I'm checking the internet to see how many volts we can run through the wire before the wool burns or the sheep drops dead. We're going to go just under that amount.

Did I mention that I was doing all of this in beautiful May weather - NOT. It was sleeting, hailing, snowing and doing all of the horrifying winter weather ND can throw our way.

Don't ask about my day - the bed was cold, I had not purchased bonbons...

Happy May to you, lovely reader.

TWO MORE

My favorite husband and I found two more lambs last night about 10:30. #13 had a boy and a girl. Brr, it was so cold. We put them in a pen that had a heat lamp over it. You could see the steam coming off of the still-wet lambs. I checked on them about 11:30 and they were up on their feet. This morning they look great!

Katelyn is going to a horse sale today. She has $70 in her purse, but has been warned not to buy a horse as she will have to ride it home.

BACK TO THE FARM

Now that I'm not longer going to receive good healthcare if I need to be hospitalized....Wait - let me expound for one more minute on the importance of nurses. Don't have nurses week - don't offer them a day of beauty and an "atta-boy" card (my own special term) - instead, pay them well. My husband is a float nurse and does not receive any additional compensation for his incredible ability to walk onto one of ten different units (sometimes two in a day) and give awesome patient care. Pay those nurses well and they won't be asking for the once-a-year recognition of nurses week/day. Will they?

OK - back to the farm.

Polka Dot had two boys this morning and Mary had two boys this morning as well. That brings the total lamb count to 23 with three sheep left to deliver (if they all "took").

Into the fray.

Nurses Day/Week/Year

OK, I've got to do it. Some kind soul commented re: secretaries day/week/year. He/She is a nurse and loves nurses week. Nurses week is highly over-rated. WAIT - keep reading. My husband is a nurse. I laugh when I think about how he might have fit into the whole nurses week scenario at the hospital where I used to work. Why laughing? Well, the highlight of the week was when nurses were chosen from each unit for "a day of beauty" when one of the education classrooms was transformed into a salon for the day. My six foot something, handsome husband probably wouldn't have been on of the honorees (although quite deserving to be recognized for his skill as a nurse). AND, the secretaries were called upon to serve the mostly delightful nurses (some not so nice) THREE meals. Yes, we ran our little high heels off while serving the nurses breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some ladies could have pulled away from the trough a little sooner - do they make scrubs that big?! (and it didn't hurt some secretaries to keep moving either).

I AM NOT SAYING THAT NURSES ARE NOT IMPORTANT! I live with a nurse - I know how hard he works. My brother is a nurse. I have a sister-in-law who is a nurse. All great care-givers and wonderful people. I also know that without the housekeepers, food service personnel, pharmacists, plant operations staff, telephone operators, yes - even adminstration, the whole place just wouldn't go right. I have to remind my nurse about that occasionally. Because he is the one who does the most patient care sometimes it is hard to remember that they are just a spoke in the big wheel of providing healthcare (a very important spoke - but just one of many).

Now, how many of you are still with me?

More Babies

Diary post:

4/27/05
#23 (one of Polka Dot's daughters) - 2 boys

Mark handled this one alone. Great job honey!

17 babies total thus far. Five more sheep to go.

Secretaries Day/Week

Day/week, whatever. I used to be a secretary (and to be immodest - a darn good one at that) and I never liked secretaries day/administrative assistant's week - or whatever the politically correct term is right now. It was obviously a "hallmark holiday." Whoa - does that sound ungrateful? I don't mean for it to sound that way.

But here's the scenario. Unless you wrote it on the calendar, there is one guy/girl in the office remembered to get his/her secretary something (and their spouse reminded them). The other employers look like schmucks if they don't get something so they jump on the phone to the local florist and have something (whatever you have, please) delivered. Boss - "Hey, did you schedule lunch for us?" Secretary - "No, why? Your first available lunch date is sometime next month." Boss - "Schedule a lunch out for us." Secretary - "Oh yeah, I'll get right on that one."

Lest I sound incredibly horrible as I recall the beautiful arrangements/cards/lunches that I received for many years - I want to assure you, my wonderful reader - that I appreciate the sentiment/guilt or whatever compelled the various individuals to acknowledge my daily efforts. However, I especially appreciated the comments that came in July/September or whenever I had done a great job on a complicated project or when I had handled a particularly difficult situation with a customer.

Off the soap box. Did you get the point?!

School Stuff

Have I told you about the cool math program that our 1st grader is doing this year? I'm trying a program recommended by my primary care physician (The only prescription I walked out of the Drs. office with last year was a couple of homeschooling recommendations - part of being a healthy 30-something female. He was raised in South Africa and his wife homeschooled their children.). Dr. H. recommended Singapore Math. It seemed too easy - two small paperback textbooks and two workbooks per year. Wow - great stuff. She is already doing multiplication and division, adding and subtracting two digit numbers. I have told the two oldest kids they better watch out - if their first grade sister is already working on multiplication and division, algebra can't be too far off.

We are studying early American history this year. Our main textbooks have been a series by Joy Hakim - The History of Us. Why weren't my history books like these? I am actually excited about the history program (so are the kids). For example, Ms. Hakim doesn't try to cover every battle of the Civil War, but explains motives, personalities and just makes the subject a whole lot more interesting. Next year we are stepping back into Ancient History. I sure wish I could find an author who has the same style that covers history through the reformation in the same manner.

Matthew's pediatrician is very supportive of homeschooling. Every year at physical time Dr. B. gives Matthew a prescription of books to read. He always asks Matthew about the time period he is interested in or what genre he has been reading lately and makes some excellent suggestions.

I'm a bit lost - mixing Drs. and homeschooling in the same post. Odd how that has come about. Well, we read about Mr. Bowditch today and learned how a self-educated person single-handedly reformed how oceans were navigated. Carry on.

I'm off to give the sheep a before-bed-check. Last night I was surprised with two little boy lambs. I can always tell, when entering the barn (before I can see the sheep) whether a new lamb has arrived. The mother sheep is always "talking" to her baby and the baby is usually replying in a higher pitched voice than the older lambs. OK, enough delay, out into the cold. Good night.

Sheep/lamb update

Yes, I'm tired. Yes, I realize it's been 10 days since I've written. I've probably lost all of you that were reading, but I just write to write anyway. I'll check through my sheep log book and give you the up to the minute scoop.

The night of 4/15/05 - Jezebel (#16) chose to stay outside - not sure where as I checked the pasture several times, although in the dark with a flashlight. The next morning I found her standing outside the barn with THREE babies. One looked so very cold, lambs hunch up trying to conserve heat. I tucked the littlest one inside my coat (she was no bigger than a large house cat) and took the other two, with Jezebel following close behind, to the barn. The little one was brought to the house and laid in a box on the oven door. Katelyn went outside and with her dad and brother holding the sheep, managed to milk some colostrum for #3 baby. What to do with the baby as we were heading to church? Well, she came too with a container of Mom's milk and some lamb milk replacer. Sophie was promptly named and was the big hit. She was photographed, held and bathed in the sunshine.

We invited 15 (or so) friends to come out to the farm to enjoy the lovely afternoon. Everyone came and we had a great time. Two little boys chased the chickens - and actually caught one. The chickens just started laying again (two days ago) after the trauma. Rides were given on the pony, lambs were caught, woodticks crawled - a good time was had by all.

Also born overnight on 4/15 - Annie (#11) had a very large boy lamb - promptly named Goliath.

4/17 - #22 had three lambs, 2 girls and a boy. Katelyn's friend Katherine was visiting so she got to name them. Sara, Hagar and Abraham.

#8 also had a baby girl that day. She needed her udder sheared so Mark, Matthew and I held her in quite an undignified position while shearing. Baby is doing well.

We tried to graft Sophie back on her mother, who had forgotten that she had 3 lambs. Lovely. We tried every trick in the sheep book, but no luck. Well, we got Jezebel to the point where she was no longer knocking Sophie over. At least she could sleep in the barn.

On 4/21 we tagged, docked tails and castrated the boy lambs. Roll call is/was:

#11 (Annie) - #24 boy (Goliath)
#22 - #25 girl (Hagar), #26 boy (Abraham), #27 girl (Sara)
#15 - #28 boy, #29 girl
#8 - #30 girl
#16 (Jezebel) - #31 girl (Samatha), #32 boy (Samson), Sophie - no tag because her ears are too small
#20 - #33 girl, #35 boy

4/24
#9 - 2 girls
#1 (Vashti) - 1 girl
#5 appeared to be in labor, but nothing resulted

4/25
#12 - 2 boys

Sophie is stealing milk from the other mothers in addition to getting a bottle 4x a day. She shares her bottle with Abraham (the smallest from the other set of triplets).

The sheep are outside on a new pasture with lots of grass, but it is so very cold here. In the morning the temps are not above the freezing point. We are keeping a very close eye on the sheep as a baby born outside on a day like today would not do well for very long.

Tomorrow is Wednesday school. The theme is James and Dolley Madison. A group photo is to be taken first thing in the morning (before clothes are dirty and hair is mussed).

On Sunday, Mark and Matthew did the brakes on my car. Mark is test driving it today.

The kids are doing school work. I need to jump back in and read some history to them.

Hapy day to each of you!

Due Date

No, I'm actually not referring to income taxes. I sent off our state return today- we owed a little bit of $ and I was going to keep it in the account until the last moment!! BUT, the due date I am writing about is the sheep due date. According to the calendar, today should be the first day of the birthing season. Obviously #20 didn't read the calendar. Neither did #15. She had two lambs, a boy and girl on Tuesday night. We found her and her babies when we went out to check on #10 and her prolapse.

It's a good thing Mark came out to assist as I hadn't tied #10 up quite tight enough so Mark, Matthew and I worked on the harness until about midnight. Mission accomplished. There haven't been any more problems.

Wednesday school was about spies. The kids had fun (and learned as well). They baked notes in cornbread, Matthew gave his report on Francis Marion (aka the Swamp Fox), did more learning (I'm not sure what as I was on kitchen clean-up and hanging out with other mothers), played outside and went to gymnastics.

This weekend is supposed to be beautiful. The weather guys are saying something about 80 degrees on Sunday - YES!

Well, happy weekend to each of you. I will write more as more babies appear.

Baby update

Well, no baby - but we just fixed (I hope it is fixed) a prolapsed uterus on #10. She was looking uncomfortable yesterday, but we were hoping she was in the 1st stage of labor. No go. The kids came running to tell me she was prolapsing. To make it even more exciting - it has been raining for two days (the farmers are so excited). Remember the wet wool? Try stinky wet woolly sheep. How did we fix it?? Well, you start with a really long piece of twine. Center it behind the neck, cross over underneath on the chest, into the "armpits" of the front legs, cross over the back again, into the "armpits" on the back legs, straight up either side of the behind and tie off to the cross on the back. Now you need some shorter pieces of twine to basically truss the sheep up like a turkey, without using a needle. That is an option too, but I'm just not willing to try that. I need to see it done first.

OK, now you know the technique. It's not quite that easy. FIRST you need to replace the organ that is protruding. Well, actually first you need to clean off her insides that are sticking out. Warm water poured over, clean rag to gently rub as needed. Elevate the hindquarters - on a straw bale or two. Replace the organ - truss the sheep up and viola! Oh, that sounds so easy - not so. It took all 3 kids and me to get this done (the nurse husband is at work - he did it last year). Time lapsed - about an hour. The sheep didn't understand that we wanted to help her (I don't blame her - it sure didn't seem like it) so she was not very helpful. Matthew and Katelyn held her and assisted with manipulation of the hindquarters. Alyssa was the assistant who held the flashlight, twine, scissors, warm water, rubber gloves. I worked on the business end. I won't share all gory details with you, but I think you get the picture.

We have all bathed/scrubbed/disinfected and Matthew just came in from checking her - all is still well. NOW we have to be HOME when she lambs to cut the twine. I hear a sheep can lamb between the twine, but I closed her up pretty good - Mark may need to adjust my work when he gets home.

More later.