Comments and Thoughts

I've decided I need to make a few notes now and then to those who post comments. I do go in and read them, but I do not always reply. Blogging takes a lot of time, doesn't it!

Oh, Linda! How nice to have a Hawaiian macadamia nut as my friend! The book I use for soap making is The Complete Soapmaker by Coney, ISBN 0-8069-4869-8. It has good instructions for a beginner and lots of recipes--including the apricot and coffee soaps.

Kolbi, I had some friends who wanted to see a calf born. When we had a cow in labor we gave them a call, and all those little children lined up on the far side of the shed and watched in wonder. We use to have a mama cat who always wanted to give birth inside the house, so our children have seen that process a couple of times, too. Between the bulls following the cows around and teaching our children to do heat detection (we artificially inseminate several of our better cows, so we have to know when they go into heat), we don't have to teach a lot about that subject in health class...

And wasn't it nice my husband decided to leave us a comment? That is a first! Now if he is willing to learn how to leave a note, the rest of you shy visitors could do it, too! I'd love to know where you live! Just your state or country...please? (It won't be pretty if you make me grovel! – This can be viewed as an example of what The Fallacy Detective would refer to as either “Appeal to Pity” or “Appeal to Fear”--take your pick. :-)

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I am trying to get ahead enough in school so that I could get some cleaning and Christmas work done. It has not been going too well. It seems as though someone always needs me for something. Usually the reasons are valid. There just is not enough of me to go around for everyone AND for my tasks. Last night my daughter made Chili while I cleaned up a pile of papers. Now wasn't that nice? I did get the cat litter scooped, but the rags have not made it into the washing machine….

I think it is time to sit back and re-evaluate our schedules and commitments. Perhaps we have lost some of the simplicity of life and have exchanged it for the hussle-bussle of life. It is so much a part of our culture, but who in his right mind would choose to be harried on purpose? There are, no doubt, seasons in our lifetime that require us to run more, but is this one of them?

Today I am going to plant my crocuses. The book says it takes 3 weeks to have them ready, so I think I need to make it a priority! I’ll order some curtains for my son’s bedroom, too. Last night my daughter burned her batch of walnut caramels and flopped a batch of fudge. A rather distressing night in the kitchen! This is NOT her normal way of cooking!

Well, I'm off to meet the day! Blessings to you and yours!

A Special Christmas Card

Well, we received our Christmas card from our friends in the Washington yesterday. The return address said "The White House", but the postal stamp said Crawford, TX. On the front of the card is a picture of The Red Room decorated for Christmas. Inside is the president's seal, a quote from the Psalms and a short message. There was no computer generated Christmas letter included, but then what would they write?

“The biggest news in 2004 is that Geo. was re-elected to be President of the United States again. We are proud to announce that the children graduated from college. Laura’s cookies won a contest and were considered better than Teresa’s….”

Laura's handwriting can easily be read but the other signature is difficult to read: G-squiggle, B-something-l, is how it looks. It is nice to hear from them and it seems a nice way to start the Christmas card season, right? It kind of makes it feel "official".

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Shopping
We shopped until we dropped yesterday. I'm not sure how there can be an entire mall full of clothing and we cannot find a thing we want to take home! We did get my daughter the blazer she will need for the national meats judging contest in Denver this January--we found it at one of the stores that sells Lands' End returns. I've found a lot in that little store over the years, and sometimes the tags are still in the pockets--turtlenecks and pants for $4, winter coats, snuggly robes. Very nice.

The Baby
Our little calf is doing well. I think my husband turned her and her mommy out of the medical pen yesterday, but I don't know for sure. The little calf is adorable! My daughter was trying to hold it on one side of the pen while its mommy was being checked, and even though it was so young, she had to really work to control it. Amazing! I have not heard how the other calves are doing--I'll have to ask.

The Hen House
Now that the nights are longer and the days are shorter, the egg supply is dwindling. We will need to get the timer working for the light in the hen house or we will not have enough eggs each day. This summer I had so many eggs I started asking everyone who came over if they wanted a dozen! One of the biggest problems with giving our eggs away is that most of our neighbors are Amish, and they all have eggs they want to give away, too!

Weaning
I think we are going to have to do something with Toothberry. She walked all the way down the lane and was grazing in the orchard today. That is too close to the road, so now we have to figure out how to keep a calf, who knows how to walk through barbed wire, inside the fence. I'm not sure if she is old enough to wean, but if she is, she may join the other calves in the weaning pen. We've had a very noisy farm here lately. About this time of the year our cows are pregnant and we want them to wean so that their bodies do not have to care for the unborn, provide milk for the last calf, and deal with the cold of winter. The calves are big enough to eat hay and corn, so they no longer need their mother's milk. We put the calves into a pen and leave the moms nearby so that they can rub noses, and see each other. If we were to move them too far apart, the moms would go looking for their young--and there is no knowing how far a cow would go! When they are weaned we will turn them out together again. However, right now they are busy "calling" to each other. Once one cow begins to bellow, the others join in. Sometimes the moms and calves moo until they begin to get hoarse. Mom will walk to the far end of the pasture and then call for junior to join her. From our perspective, it seems as though she should figure the situation out! There are always a few who seem not to understand why junior isn't coming. Mom moooooos; junior mooooooos. Mom mooooooos; junior mooooooos. Sigh.

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All right. I'll admit to it. We don't normally get a Christmas card from our President. They must be sending them out to everyone who worked for his re-election. We were all excited, and we certainly did enjoy opening that Christmas card!

Blessed Advent!

A Calf and a Vet Call

On the farm the chores need to be done twice a day. If we leave home for too long, we need to find someone to do the chores for us. The cattle don't take kindly to being ignored.

This morning my husband went out to do chores and found that one of our show cows had given birth, but was struggling to give birth to the twin. It was not long after that he realized that the second calf had not survived, and if the cow was going to survive that calf was going to need to be pulled.

I was putting my make-up on and rushing around to get to choir practice when he came in to tell me the problems, so I suggested he keep JM at home to help. When we got home from church, we found that they could not do the job and had called the vet.

Sally came. She has the equipment to do the job that we could not do. The second calf had some deformities and would not have survived even if it could have been born in a timely fashion. We are thankful that they both were female and that one calf is on the ground, healthy, nursing and prancing around. (If twins are one male and one female, the female has a 90% chance of not being fertile.)

While the vet was here, we had her check some calves that have been sick. My daughter's calf, Kiss Me, Too, is running a temp of 105 degrees and a number of other calves have had runny noses and are obviously sick with something. Pneumonia is going around so we got some medicine for them--another $170 added to the bill.

And while she was here, I had her check my mama kitty to see if she was pregnant. I'm sure I felt little bodies inside her a while ago, but she either deceived me or she lost them. No kittens this winter, I'd guess. I'm glad because I really did not want to take care of newborn kittens as we head into the coldest part of winter. Usually cats do not give birth this time of the year around here. (Sorry Donna; no new kitties for your little girl!)

Another busy day on the farm.

Today I plan to stop at my mom's with a Christmas wreath and to wish her a happy birthday! Then my daughter and I will go shopping in the "big" city. I cannot face the crowds this time of the year on weekends, so she will scrunch school into the afternoon after we get home. The boys will stay home with dad and get as much school done as they can without me.

I think we will do school for two more weeks and then break for the holidays. What about you?

Blessings!

Soap Making

Yesterday I made soap. I took tallow, cocoa butter, and olive oil and heated it up to about 100 degrees. In another container I mixed water and lye together and let it cool to about 100 degrees. Then I stirred the lye water into the fats and stirred and stirred and stirred until I could see little lines left on the surface, poured it into a plastic box with a lid, and wrapped it in a big blanket. I set it in the room with the wood stove so that it would cool down slowly (soap that "catches cold" doesn't set up). Now I will wait a couple of days before I turn it out to dry on a needlepoint screen. As soon as it is firm enough, I will grate it and then hand mill it into specialty bars for Christmas. Fun!

In the past I have made lettuce soap, soap with apricots, cinnamon, coffee, strawberries, lavender and Balsam of Peru--oh, I'd have to check my list of what I've done to be able to remember them all. I really like the soap that has French clay added to it for a facial soap. Soap making is fun, but it always takes a larger part of the day than I think it should!

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I was disappointed. Kim was the only one who volunteered to describe herself as a nut. Thank you Kim! I have decided that perhaps you do not know what is involved in this. So here are some symptoms:

You slowly approach your children with a long, sad face and say in a small voice, "I need a hug!" They sigh and reach their arms around you, and you say, "Thank you; I needed that!"

You hide behind a door when you hear your children coming and then jump out and say, "Boo," in order to get back at them for all the times they've done it to you.

You add green food coloring to the milk on St. Patrick's Day.

When the children ask to make a s'more in the microwave, you say, "Yes, as long as you make one for me," and you say this to all three of them.

You sit in front of the computer laughing hilariously and your children ask why you are laughing. You read it to them, and your children ask, "So? What is funny about it?"

Does this get your creative mental juices flowing? Can you see that you, too, do these nutty things that make your children roll their eyes and wonder why moms are so fruity? (If you don't, you should. Adopt a name of a nut and begin doing so today. It is part of the joy of living!)

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Today is Sunday, the second Sunday in Advent. Perhaps today I will get the Advent wreath out since I did not do so last Sunday. I need to go shopping in the "big" city sometime this week for Christmas supplies and clothing for my daughter's up-coming trip. I should begin some baking, too, if I am going to have a Christmas open house. Would you like to come?

Today, however, will be a day of rest. I will just enjoy my Sunday, go to worship at my little country church, and relax. I think the skies are going to be clear and the air crisp. There is something special about these late fall days. In a couple of weeks the first days of winter will be upon us. I love winter!

Blessings!

I am a Nut

And of course, since I have allergies, I am a ca-shew.

I once told Donna B. that she is a chestnut--the kind of nut you want to invite to your hearth. And what is Kim? Or Dy? or Linda?...or anyone else who comes to my board. Are you nuts? What kind?

(My dh just told me after reading this that I should have gone to bed an hour ago...)
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I've had a great time watching my site meter on my blog and my Web site. They keep track of all sorts of fun data. I can tell how many people have been in to visit my blog each day; it lets me know how long they stayed, and if they came from someone else's website--so if you click on someone else's link, it can tell me where you were before coming here! The most interesting part is the little world map that tells me that people from all over the globe have been to visit! It tells me what time zone people are from. Now I am not a competent computer person, so I have no idea how they figure all of this. I do know that the time zone that passes somewhere around the Philippines comes up, and another near Bangladesh. One passes through the center of Africa/Europe and sometimes through Great Britain. Alaska is represented as well as a time zone that seems to go through nothing but the northern tip of western Siberia--perhaps New Zealand or some islands? It looks as though I've had visitors from the far eastern coast of Canada, and all parts of the United States.

Since I know a number of people in all of these parts of the globe, I cannot begin to guess who is logging on, but I am certainly glad that you come to visit. Any time you want to drop a line, just click on "comments" below the entry; click on "post a comment" and then "publish a comment" after writing in your message.

(I love mail :-).

I think I'll start thinking about Christmas presents. None of my children have given me a wish list this year. We are going to buy the family a DVD player. How is that for a start? I know my boys want an ax for camping in the woods. I found a pair of earrings my daughter liked. So I guess I have finally started my shopping!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sixteen cats

Snowflake and India Ink live inside. India likes to sleep next to me or at the foot of my daugher's bed. I always said cats did NOT belong on the bed. We change as we grow old.

Snowflake sleeps wherever he wants. Some nights I do draw the line. I simply cannot get a good night sleep when he is draped over my head purring his little heart out. One night I sleepily struggled to pull the covers up and could not figure out why the sheet couldn't be pulled up. Snowflake. He had crawled under the covers but was sleeping on top of the sheet. Snowie, snowie, snowie!

My husband was grilling on the deck yesterday. The 14 outside cats know they are allowed into the sunporch, so each time he opened the door they decided it was time to go to the other side of the door. Problem? Only about half of them were on the same side of the door, so each time he went out to check the meat he'd open the door and a rush of cats would meet in the doorway trying to get to the "other side". LOL! This normally only happens when they think someone is going to feed them. It is hard for their little brains to reason out that the smell of grilled food is not cat food.

Our mother cat is ducky again (meaning she is waddling when she walks). She gets this way just before she is ready to deliver. I do not want more kittens. I do not want to raise a litter in the cold. If I just let her handle it, they might not make it through the winter--now I know that is what I want, but it isn't what I want, either. Sigh. Any one want four baby kittens?

Did you know that I liked cats?

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Tired. I am going to sit down in that great big, green chair in the living room of my 100 year old farm house and watch Enterprise tonight. I will bundle up under one of the big blankets my mil brought us from Mexico, and I will allow the kitty who gets there first to curl up in my lap with me. Then I am going to curl up in bed with Eragon and read until I fall asleep. Since all of my children have read this book, I think it is time for me to read it, too. Have you read it?

Good night!

Writer's Block

What does one say when he has nothing to say?

Well... Hmmm. Ah, let's see....

Today I awoke with my inner ear sloshing around. Do you know how hard it is to stand up when the world seems to be moving in unexpected directions? How should one respond when the family smirks each time you grab the door jam to stabilize yourself even when you were just standing still? This is a time to be grateful for never having succumbed to the waterbed propaganda!

Propaganda. Did I use that word? We are heading into the final stretch of the Fallacy Detective by the Bluedorns. It has been a good study. My boys are not very impressed with the junior high humor (they’ve ignored it), and we were a full 26 chapters into the book before they actually laughed out loud at one of the corny jokes.

From the chapter on "Proof by Lack of Evidence":

EXAMPLE B

Bert: "There are mountain lions living in Illinois."

This assertion needs to be backed up with evidence.

Bert: "I think there are mountain lions living in Illinois."
Jenny: "Yah, right. Prove it."
Bert: "Just look behind you."
Jenny: "Heeeeelllllp!"


However, it has made a difference in the way my boys fight with each other.

JM: "FALLACY! YOU'VE COMMITTED A FALLACY! THAT STATEMENT IS CIRCULAR REASONING!
Cub: "WELL YOU JUST COMMITTED A FALLACY, TOO! YOU STARTED THIS WHOLE THING WITH A STRAW MAN! AND THEN YOU ADDED A LOADED QUESTION!

We certainly are wise to teach our logic-staged children how to argue, aren't we?

O.Kaaaaay...

This is now Advent. I think I should consider what I am going to do for Christmas. I did hang a mostly blank sheet of paper on the refrigerator so that I can write down some ideas on what to give as gifts. I said I was going to get the Advent wreath out, but didn't. I DO have the Advent calendar out! I keep seeing all these stressed out notes on the boards about people getting ready for Christmas. Am I missing something?

Not much news here on the farm. Toothberry is still taking her lunch in my back yard. I'm sure she is leaving cow plops all over it. Even the cats on the back deck have started ignoring her. How do you keep a calf inside the fence when it is small enough to walk right through the barbed wire? The moon was visible through the clouds this week. Our Hunter's Moon is beginning to wane. Saturn, I understand, is out there near Orion. I really must get out to look around again sometime, but I think I will wait until the world is not so apparently revolving around me. That and a few clear night skies would help.

Alas, I've bored you to tears! I offer you an Internet hankie and hope that it contains no virus... Adieu!

Computer Blues

I have been waiting. For several weeks I've tried to get into the program Donna B. uses to post pictures on her blog, but have not been able to get a membership. Yesterday (did you miss me?) I decided to try to download the program Blogspot suggests. After much effort, I did it...and now it completely refigured my computer's picture program. When I put my camera card into the computer, nothing happens! I have to use the new program just to get my pictures out of my camera! :-(

Sigh.

If anyone wants to walk me through the process of HOW to get Picassa to post a picture here, please help!

Double sigh.

I will post yesterday's message below WITHOUT the beautiful picture that goes with it.
There are times I'd like to close my computer and leave it closed. Technology does not really make life simpler, does it?

And on a lighter note: My son shot his first deer yesterday. It was just a small buck that looked more like a doe. Due to chronic waste problems in our area, the men will have a long hunting season here this year. Perhaps they will have a chance to get the 10-point buck that is wandering around out there.

Blessings!

Fairyland

On my kitchen counter I have a compost bucket. (Well, that is what we call it. If you were to look it at, you'd probably just see a white ice-cream bucket with a red handle.) Throughout the day we throw the scraps of food into it that need to be tossed, and then the children usually walk down the lane to the lilacs where the compost is tossed.

Today, however, I was the one to take the walk. Over night our lane had been turned into a fairy trail. It had been quite cold and the frost fairies had been out to decorate. All the trees were covered with a layer of spiky frost, like snowflakes covering each branch, each blade. The sun shone brilliantly over all, making each crystal shine: a sparkling fairyland. As the wind blew, those tiny flakes of ice began to fall, like snow, through the rays of sun.

Would you like to be the one who takes out the compost tomorrow?