Fashionable Feet

One of the benefits of going to so many doctor appointments is the time to sit and knit without feeling guilty for not doing stuff around the house. Last week's 2nd appointment in Albany resulted in a finished pair of socks...
I had to share this picture of our Yankee soldier with his fashionable lion slippers...(Yes, the hall walls are a project we hope to have done this year!)

Snoozing and...Spots!

Wayne caught the 2 boys in a quiet moment...We had to get a picture of the 2 dogs keeping each other company on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It's great to see that Brittany ( a family member for 10+ years) has welcomed the newest member so well that they hang out together during their naps.

Now, most of you probably know that Jonathan loves anything to do with firemen, fire stations, fire trucks, and yes, even fire dogs. He has been calling our two dogs "fire dogs" for quite awhile, but today he tried to make Captain more 'official'. If you look closely you can see black spots drawn on Captain's newly clipped back! Thankfully, they were made with a water-based marker..."Fireman Jonathan's" marker has been confiscated!

Creativity on Sunday

Matt had a few of his friends over Sunday and they worked on making puppets for a movie that they want to film. 'Thought I'd share some of the pics. We told Chris that this picture would get on the blog so here it is!

Another busy day...

Last week the weather was almost balmy compared to the 9 degrees of this a.m. Twilight was showing signs of feeling the cold so we needed to help her get warm...an old sweatshirt was just the trick. Here Marc and Rachael are putting on her new duds while Little Creek tries to figure out what they are doing to his mother.
Farmer Marc and his goats.

Because it's been so cold the boys haven't been able to get outside and burn off energy. Dad came to the rescue by hooking up a rope for them to swing on in the mudroom.

Rachael has wanted her hair cut so today she got a new hairstyle...
Tomorrow if all goes as planned I'll be tackling Captain for another trim. Arthur needs some grooming as well. I should get quite a supply of angora for spinning since his winter coat is nice and full.

Activity...or in some cases no activity

With February comes the yearly pruning of the fruit trees. We have 2 very old apple trees which we've enjoyed fruit from, but they were not pruned before we bought the house. We've been slowly working on them each year. Matthew decided the other day that it was time to "do the deed" so he climbed up with the chainsaw and took out a few of the branches. The goats and rabbits have enjoyed nibbling on pieces of the branches. Katelyn used the bigger branches to work on a fort she's building on the remains of "Mt. Jackson", which is getting smaller with each sunny day.

Jonathan has been busy being a fireman and reminding us to 'stop, drop, and roll' and 'do not play with matches!' The other day he decided to take a break on the kitchen floor before he went off to remind his siblings of other important fire safety rules.

Ian is slowly recovering from his bout with the cold and we got this picture of him and Captain the other day. This is to prove that Captain does not play favorites and likes to catch a nap with each family member. He loves to race around in the morning and have us "wrestle" with him...of course this always ends with a good ear scratch which puts his stubby little tail into hyper wag. Occasionally he and Brittany have a contest to see who can get the tennis ball first when someone rolls it across the floor. He is gracious and lets her win a few times.

Feeling like February

Every year about this time Wayne will remind me to look at the calendar. I'll smile and say, "Okay, I know, I know...spring is coming." It seems that I tend to get the 'I'm tired of winter' struggles come late January or February. This year it held off until we all came down with a cold. It has now officially been experienced by all of the Jackson 9...Wayne was the last hold-out.

Yesterday I decided to take a dose of a special treatment...go out and 'talk' with the animals as I puttered in the barns.

The alpacas were first. Their barn got cleaned out again while they 'inconspicuously' watched. I would be shoveling and carrying the 'paca beans' out to spread in the field and feel eyes watching me. I'd look over at them and they'd quickly divert their eyes as though they were not the slightest bit interested in what I was doing. When I stayed in the barn for a moment or two longer than normal, at least one of them would come and peak around the door frame to check on what was keeping me inside. I get such a kick out of their pretending not to be interested. I finished the cleaning job by bringing them a fresh supply of hay. Now, all of sudden they couldn't get close enough! They were pulling the hay out of my arms as I tried to make my way through the gate without dropping hay into the giant mudpuddle.

The goat/rabbit barn came next. Little Creek has definitely grown up. He's almost the same size as his mother, but that doesn't seem to slow him down. He loves to jump up on the stall wall and then into the hay loft. His other favorite hang out is on top of the rabbit cages. Evidently he'd been hanging out on Esau rabbit's cage because it was tipped over. Esau was reassured that all was well and given an extra ration of bunny food. Arthur the Angora decided he should get some attention, too, which brought Diego hopping over to the front of his cage for some tlc.

The chickens have decided that the goat barn is a better location for egg laying than the nest boxes in the hen house so we have to go on a search for eggs every day. They really like going to the topmost bale of hay in the hay loft and use that as their nest. Katelyn figured out a way to get the eggs without having to face fearsome baby goats and protective hens...she goes into the woodshed (which is on the other side of the hay loft's wall), climbs onto the woodpile, and reaches through the opening near the rafters, quickly gathering the eggs and putting them in the egg basket or her hat--whichever is handy.

Mama goat was quite personable yesterday and wanted me to pet her. She's very fickle with milking--they never know how she's going to act--but she certainly does like to have someone to talk with. (Yes, she does answer!) She climbed up on the milking stand with no problem as I cleaned around the barn, but then she knew she wasn't getting milked--she was just looking for some left over grain in the milk stand trough.

Little Creek took the opportunity of my leaving the outer door open to jump over the stall wall and escape into the backyard. Thankfully, Katelyn had warned me that he was on his way out so he didn't get far before I got him pinned and back into the barn. He forgave me when I loaded up the hayrack with new hay.

I finished putting away the shovels and hayfork, picked up a few eggs found in the otherwise empty brooder, and returned to the house. Wayne was playing the piano. He looked up and smiled as I told him I was going to go 'hit the shower' since I smelled like a barn. Somehow spring doesn't seem so far away and I think I'll make it through the rest of the winter. I guess I just needed a dose of barn tonic.

School in Session

The other day when I came home from the office I found planets and rockets flying across the kitchen. What started out as a drawing session with the 2 youngest developed into a study of the solar system complete with rockets flying from one planet to the next. The planets were hung on strings crisscrossing the kitchen and the rockets had straws taped onto the back so they could 'fly'(slide) along the strings to each planet. The boys had so much fun that the lesson went well into the evening. Ah-h the joys of homeschooling!