Kate's at it again...

Katelyn has been taking some more pics of the critters on the farm.


This is "Little Creek"Here's Rachael with Peter...And this is a very frisky Captain...

2/3 Through the Season

No, not the summer season...'birthday season'. The Jackson family is unique in that all 9 of us have our birthdays within a 3 month stretch...3 of them in the same week, 2 on the same day! By the end of July (Rachael's birthday is the grand finale on 7/27) we are all pretty tired of birthday cake.

I have some pics to post, but I don't have the time to download them right now because Marc and I are about to go on a trip to the Cortland area to look at goats. Marc wanted to have Twilight bred so we could continue with milking. She's not a very cooperative milker so we suggested he buy a different doe which had just kidded. We put out an e-mail on the area's listserve and got quite a few responses. The woman we are going to see today used to work with 4-H kids and offers a discount to young people. We're looking at 2 Nubian does this morning to see if either of them is what Marc wants. We'll be posting the results of our visit later today...

Please be praying for...

When we were stationed at Andrews AFB, Bill, Barb, and their two girls lived in our courtyard. They helped me maintain my sanity when Wayne was in Iceland for a year. Matthew was 6 years, Nathanial 3 years, and Marc 6 weeks old when Wayne left for Iceland. As the years have passed, we've kept in touch and have been blessed by visits from Bill and Barb whenever they are in upstate NY to visit her sister. Bill and Barb stopped in for lunch this past Memorial Day.

This morning Bill called to tell me that their youngest daughter passed away last Thursday evening due to complications from pneumonia. I can not even begin to imagine the heartache they are feeling, and I'm asking all my faithful blog followers to lift up Bill, Barb, and their other daughter Jennifer (and her family) as they deal with this tremendous loss.

It's also a reminder of how quickly life can change...I think I'm going to go find my kids and give them a hug.

Just some pics...

Here's an overhead shot of the rhodies before the rain washed the petals off...

Katelyn has been busy using the digital camera. Here are a couple she took of the animals...

Lounging away a sunny day...Walking the high wire in the barn... (The net is supposed to keep the goats and the chickens out of the hay loft)

Ian Turns 4

Ian celebrated a birthday since my last blog entry. He's officially 4 but he insists he should be 5 by now. His goal is to become 11 as soon as possible so he'll be old enough to play a board game that says for ages "11 and up".

In his 'old age' Ian is tackling more phonics practice. He took letter cards and was making words when suddenly he came running into the study to share with us the word he had just spelled...
If you use a 4 year old's pronunciation of 'tooth', you'd be able to read the above word!

All the work of being a 4 year old is pretty exhausting...

The First of June

The 'rhodies' are in bloom again and once again, they are beautiful. We're hoping to have the front steps redone this summer so next year's picture will have a completed front view.

Today is Wayne's and my 24th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that 24 years have passed since two young 'kids' were standing in front of family and friends making our wedding vows in Portsmouth, NH. We keep saying to each other, "Who would have guessed we'd be where we are with a houseful of kids and a barnyard of animals?!" I wouldn't change any of it!

Alpaca Antics

Before our first alpacas arrived on the farm we were warned of an 'illness' that is common on new owner's farms. It's called 'dead alpaca syndrome' (or various twists of that title). When the sun is out, it's not uncommon to look out into the pasture and see alpaca bodies stretched out on the ground. Many 'newbies' go into a panic thinking their herd has been poisoned only to find out that they are just enjoying the warmth of the sun. I must admit that some days I'd like to go out and join them!

Now you would think that with this lovely grass for grazing that Peter Alpaca would be content in his new pen, but last night he jumped over the fence to join the goats and chickens. We thought that he might be lonely and just wanted some companionship since he is a herd animal. Since we have to quarantine for 2 weeks from the other alpacas, we thought putting him with the goats might help with his loneliness. This a.m. we put one of the goats into the nice grassy pen with him after he spent the night in the goat barn. A few minutes later Katelyn came running in to announce that, "Rudolph just cleared the fence again!" It seems that he's more content with the chickens in their bare ground pen munching on hay then in the green pasture. He does keep looking over at the alpaca pasture and hum. Hopefully, he won't try to join them on his own before his quarantine is over. We may have to cut it short after the vet gives him a once over on Friday's vet visit.