O My So Goodness!

"O my so goodness!" was what Jonathan exclaimed as he watched the big excavator take down the house next to us.

The house has been condemned since the flood of 2006 and it's been a lon-n-ng drawn out process for the buy out to take place and the orders to take it down carried out.

It's sort of a bittersweet time...we hated to lose our neighbor who

had become a dear friend, but seeing the empty house deteriorating more and more every day was very depressing. Gary has moved to a lovely little spot about 5 miles from here where there is no danger of a river flooding and causing the foundation to cave in and filling his house with over 2 feet of polluted waters. We're happy he's found such a nice place to call home, but we will miss him...and yes, even his Harley! (Especially Jonathan since he would run to the window whenever he heard the motorcycle.)

It's raining a nasty icy mix at the moment, but just a few days ago we had lots of wet snow which was perfect for snowman building. Katelyn and Jonathan built a 'snowfriend' in the back yard. Now all that remains is a stick on the ground near a puddle of slush.

Sunday a group of kids from the area churches got together and went sledding. Matt loaded all but the 2 youngest in the van and they went for an afternoon adventure with their friends. It was perfect sledding weather and they had a great time...after yesterday's temps in the 50's there isn't much snow left and now we're to have ice for a couple of days.

Spring is coming!

More pics...

Here are a few more pics from the latest collection...

Jonathan is pretending to be a moth and is flying around the family room.

I love seeing the big guys interact with the little guys. Today Matt took Jonathan with him to deliver some firewood to a friend. Jonathan was thrilled to go with his big brother. It's not unusual for him to go up to Matt on the spur of the moment and give him a hug.

Tonight Ian has been helping Nathanial do the dinner dishes by turning on the rinse water...Ian calls it "playing dishes". I call it future dish washer in training.

This afternoon it got warm enough to sit out on the enclosed side porch and enjoy the sun. I took my spinning wheel out on the porch with me but after awhile I decided to curl up on the lounger and just soak up the sun. It felt wonderful. I also spoke to our neighbor who goes to FL for the winter. She says she'll be back the first weekend in April...that's only a few weeks away! Spring isn't as far away as it seems.

Yesterday as I cleaned out the alpaca pen, Mystifier was a bit rambunctious...he ran and hopped across the pen. Indian Paintbrush decided to show some life, too, so he and Mystifier started wrestling and butting each other...I think they're experiencing some spring fever, too.

I wish I had had my camera when I went out to the barn yesterday. The boys had a new bale of hay in their manger. When I went through the gate all 4 of them came to the barn door and looked out at me. Mr. Wonderful (the tall black one) had hay hanging from his head in several places. He usually looks so dignified and stuffy, but this time he looked comical with hay hanging from each of his ears, his topknot, and his nose. When I went into the barn you could see where he had burrowed a hole right down to the bottom of the manger...and had spread hay all over the barn!

Tomorrow Katelyn and I head to Albany first thing in the a.m. to go to the pediatric dentist. I told her that by going so early (we leave here at 7 a.m.) she'll get her appointment over and we'll be on our way home before her day has barely begun. She's not too eager for the trip, but we try to redeem any dentist appointment trips with a trip to a favorite bookstore in Albany. Somehow it's not as bad after spending some time browsing through books. (Yes, she's certainly my daughter...book lover that she is!)

Pictures of the gang...

This time I'll include pictures of the kids...It's been awhile since I've gotten some shots of each of them so here are the very latest.

Yes, that is Matt and Marc doing dishes!!

Rachael and Katelyn are great with the little guys. Here's evidence that they do read and play with Ian. (Jonathan wasn't holding still long enough to get his picture with them. More pics in the next post...

February in NY

A typical Saturday involves cleaning out the alpaca barn. This particular Saturday was a typical February day...bright, sunny, and c-o-l-d. There's ice everywhere and it can be tricky walking out to the alpaca pen. Thankfully, the layout of the pen minimizes the ice where the alpacas walk but sometimes they like to follow behind their human visitors so we have to keep an eye on where we walk. A little bit of hay spread on the slickest spots help them avoid falls...that and their toenails.

The 'boys' were more than willing to pose for the camera yesterday. Rachael got a picture of Mom cleaning the barn...someday I hope they will remember that going outside to do their 'business' is a good thing.

The last picture is my new 'toy'...this is a drum carder which makes carding fiber so-o-o much easier (and faster) than using my hand cards. We decided to use some of our tax return $ to invest in the carder so there would be less time spent on my carding and more time for spinning. I'm eager to get more fleece washed so I can get busy carding and spinning.

Smiles and ice...

The past week has been filled with challenges...complete with 2 visits to the ER and doctor appointments. There have been some tough moments, but there have also been moments when we realize once again how blessed we are. Coming home to a houseful of kids who have done their best to keep things running smoothly while we've been dealing with medical issues has been such a precious gift. The notes and phone calls offering to help in whatever way possible remind us that we're not in this alone. And the other day I received a "smile" long distance from a dear friend in Maine...her gift of flowers turned a bleak January day into a day bright with good memories and reminders that good memories are being made even in the midst of trials. So I'm sharing my flowers a.k.a. "smile" with you. Thanks so much Sue!!!

The other news of the week...we've had an ice storm as evidenced by the pictures. Matt's truck is thoroughly coated (as is everything else), but the coating on his truck convinced him that it wasn't a good idea to go to classes today.

The road crews certainly had a tough day of it...one of them got a bit too close to our mailbox. We'll have to figure some way to set up at least a temporary box until the ground thaws enough for us to replace the post.

Well, it's a perfect night to pull the spinning wheel up in front of the woodstove and get some spinning done on this cold, wet night so I'll close and get spinning.

Keeping warm...

Often life seems to get into a rut of trying to keep one step ahead of the urgent. How quickly I can sink into mere existance--keep up the laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc, etc. Jonathan sees life as a party--to be enjoyed at the fullest extent. He helps all of us to step back from the routine and see life in a new light. As tired as we get keeping up with this little guy, I can't imagine a day without his enthusiasm and love. Wayne got this picture of him yesterday as Jonathan was enjoying the company of his big brothers and their friends (see picture #2). This is the essence of Jonathan and I'm so glad he captured it in a picture.

These are the "big guys" that Jonathan so enjoys being around. Will (2nd from left) taught Jonathan to dance--complete with sound effects. Andrew (holding Jonathan) helps Jonathan "fly" by lifting him up in the air to give Will very high "high 5's". It's great to have these guys around and we enjoy our "other sons" invading the house--and yes, the kitchen. They are definitely part of our "abundant blessings".

These cold days/evenings we spend a great deal of time in our mudroom around our woodstove. We moved the "good" chairs from the sitting room out into the mudroom last night. That's definitely a sign that it's cold. Marc makes lots of extra trips to the chicken house to give the "girls" warm mash and plenty of water. They reward him with their eggs--he's averaging 9-10/day which is pretty good for the depths of winter (he has 15 chickens).

I finally got a chance to spin some fleece this weekend...Indian Paintbrush's fleece is becoming yarn this time around. This week I'm hoping to finish up the grant application I've been working on so I can have more time to do the spinning.

I did make another batch of remelt goat milk soap--actually 2 batches...they came out much better than my first attempt. I've got to figure out how to keep the air bubbles from forming on the back of the soap--otherwise the formed soap looks pretty good. I'm waiting for a shipment of lye to arrive so Matt and I can attempt a "from scratch" batch of soap. Maybe we'll get some pics of that adventure to share.

It's time to go stoke the fire...so bye for now...keep warm!

Beginning 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas and a special gift of Mom Jackson coming for a week's visit. She was able to make a snowman with the 4 youngest...it's been awhile since she's done that. (Georgia weather isn't snowman friendly)

We've taken a couple weeks off from school and will be starting again tomorrow. We've filled the time off with cooking, reading, sewing, crafting, re-organizing, playing games, puzzles, and enjoying the snow.

There was one sad part to the holidays...we had to give Midnight up and have him placed with another owner. He became agressive with us--especially at night when we wanted him to move from one place to another. Instead of him improving with time, he was becoming worse. He had started growling at the younger kids for no reason so we knew he had to go. Our vet saw how much we cared about him and offered to neuter him and try to place him in a home without children. It was a relief that he was willing to do this instead of putting him down--Midnight was such a good dog...when he was good. So-o-o we're back to being a one dog family...much to Brittany's pleasure. The house is much quieter and calmer with our more "mature" dog.

I tried "rebatching" a batch of goats milk soap today (remelting a prepared base and adding scents/coloring). It didn't work as the bags I used to put the soap in melted in the hot water. I'll have to try again using an oven bag (I had used 2 heavy duty ziplock bags as they suggested, but I guess my 'heavy duty bags' weren't heavy enough! The oven bag was the other alternative suggestion.) I'd like to get another batch done this week since I have an interested buyer at a local store. She asked me to bring me a batch after the Christmas holidays.

Today Wayne and I discussed what poultry we plan on raising this year. We want to do pastured broilers/roasters and some turkey. We're going to ask if any of our friends would like to go in with us on the turkey order since there is a minimum order of 15--I don't think even our family would eat 15 turkeys in a year. We're also dreaming of our garden crops as the seed catalogs have arrived. When we start writing down the tasks to be done on the calendar, spring doesn't seem so far away. Marc is eagerly awaiting April and the arrival of his goats.

This is Matt's last week working in Binghamton. He is due to start classes in Oneonta next week. He'll miss his co-workers but not the long commute (45 minutes each way). I'll be glad that he doesn't have to make that trip in winter weather.

It's time to call it a night and try to get some sleep since school starts tomorrow. Until next time...good night from the farm.

Linda