New Life Old Farmers

My Loving Spouse loves to go out of town.

What if…

What if the states, the cities, the world doesn’t open up again as fast as we’d all like? At our age, we are not willing to ‘just be patient’. Late one Friday evening I said, “Let’s buy a small, cheap RV, so we can be self contained and get out of town.”

He said something like…”what?”

I was greeted early the next morning (Saturday, and did I say early) with the pictures he’d found on Craigslist. They went something like this…

“Ah, no.”

‘Why not?’

“I’m cannot drive something like that. Remember small? Cheap?”

‘You’d be able to drive it.’

“No. Definitely not what I had in mind.”

The research continued, we had very clear criteria.

Cheap, not creepy or stinky, a bed and a toilet….and NOT a project.

We looked at one under a tarp, whose pictures did not include same said tarp.

We looked at smallish big…

Then we threw out anything with a motor. After all, we already had a truck and we were looking for a not creepy, not stinky, bed and toilet. My Loving Spouse said that we’d get a better deal in the winter, than in the Spring and so the hunt continued.

We looked at lots and lots of pictures and the budget went up and down. Most of the listings did not meet all the criteria….but then, there was this one.

There is always good and bad on Craigslist and sometimes the ‘good’ is bad with better pictures. There was something different with this camper and it was this.

“Look at that Camper portable stand. Not only does the stand have wheels, but the owner built it especially for the camper, and he painted it. I think this Seller is a Dear John,” I said.

‘Oh, I think you’re right.’ He said, ‘ I’ve zoomed into every picture and the camper, though older is immaculate.’

“When you’re buying something used, you want to buy it from someone like Dear John”. (John is methodical about taking care of his Scamp trailer and is continually improving it after every trip.)

We went to look at the camper. It took us about 5 minutes to know that it was not creepy or stinky, had a bed and a toilet, a great little layout and at a great price. We didn’t even dicker on the price.

Come Spring weekends, we’ll feed the animals, throw the dog in the truck and get out of town.

Hope in this New Year and we are blessed.

I wanted to wish each and everyone of you who reads this blog a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for coming alongside me in our farm, family journey of life.

Isn’t it interesting how we usually remember the things that didn’t go ‘right’ from years past or is it just my family? 20 years ago with 3 school age kids, I was very tired and could not bring myself to go to the grocery store again and so when making the Christmas breakfast casserole that called for milk, which we were out of, I experimented with using flavored creamer. It did not go well. At least two of Team Offspring are making the breakfast casserole for their mornings and believe me, they will not forget to buy the milk and will probably say, “Remember the year Mom used creamer?”

We did about 90% of our shopping locally this year and managed to Bad British Word the other 10%.

• November 28 a Christmas sweatshirt was purchased as a surprise for My Girl…it still hasn’t shown up
• November 30 a one of a kind mechanical item was purchased for Number Three Son…it still hasn’t shown up
• December 14 I ordered the perfect little something for My Loving Spouse’s wanderlust….yep, no sign of it.
• I missed the size when ordering our Christmas cards. They needed to be 4×6, but are 3×5 and will require magnifying glasses to read them.
• I created a special set of note cards for My BGF and the “Thinking of You” was printed on the wrong page
• We were excited to get AAA for My Other Girl and Number Five for Christmas. The gift option did not include a date of delivery, so AAA sent it already…a bit early.

Especially, this year we are more aware of how little control we have. Our family gathered the digital way to rejoice in a gender reveal Zoom style.

My Other Girl and Number Five Son are expecting June 17, 2021. This has not been an easy road. We rejoice with hope for each day of health this little one achieves, so excited to have someone new to love.

My Loving Spouse and I got to go to church last Sunday. The Pastor’s message was one of “Hope” and so that is where I will do my best to ‘sit’.

Living in Hope in the Light of the World, our mistakes included…and we are blessed.

Merry Christmas to you all,

(credit Gnome Mug Rug)

Our alpaca update or “how I became a Veterinarian assistant”.

Over the weekend, we were able to get some aspirin into Benny. Sunday evening was the first time we saw him moving around a bit more like his old self since he broke his leg 5 days earlier.

Monday afternoon a farm call is scheduled with our Vet to replace Benny’s cast. I scoot home from work early, in order to ‘upgrade’ to Vet Assistant, because of I have those special body parts (bendable knees).

We get the old cast off with great relief. There is no abrasion and no compound to the fracture. I hold the leg out steadily as our Vet wraps a new cast up Benny’s leg. This time the cast goes over his ‘elbow’ and at an angle, to help keep it in place and make sure gravity does not help it slide off.

Our Vet is much more hopeful of Benny doing well from this point. He leaves the patient in the ever capable hands of his new Assistant.

Benny takes a long time to wake up from going ‘under’. We wait with him in the cold barn, which gives us time to sign his cast.

We’re feeling grateful and relieved that Benny’s broken leg is not worse. Had the fracture become compound, we’d have had to put him down. Benny is a sweet comical animal, that relies on us to keep him safe.

When he finally wakes up, it gets ‘even better’. Benny is quickly more stable and instead of dragging his bad leg as he had over the weekend, he now ‘limps’ on it as he moves through the barn. Way to go Benny Boy, way to go.

…and we are blessed, Benny too.

Benny and Jett have continued to provide us great amusement and joy. Part camel, part cow, part ‘poodle’, completely quirky, curious and socially awkward. We tried to make them the star of our Christmas card, yep, that didn’t go well.

Every day I go to work and come home. As for most people who actually get to go to work during Covid, that is the norm. Except for last Tuesday….I was getting a haircut, which was greatly needed. During said haircut, I connected with My Loving Spouse. He needed me home! Now! As in immediately.

He was sure Benny had broken his leg. It was dark. Alpacas don’t like to be touched and they don’t like to be separated. Oh, and I was ‘mid haircut’…the perfect storm. Can you come? Could I come? Ahhhh, no… Mid-hair cut means my bad hair was currently worse and if I left…worse was going to be ‘worser.’

The second phone call informed me that our neighbor was able to help and I was to meet up with all alpacas and husband at the Vet. I encourage hair cutter to cut quicker, but ah…. nicely please.

More times than I would have ever liked, I have been at the mercy of Pediatricians and Vets who stay after hours until all their sick patients have been seen. The love for their patients is a gift to any of us who need them.

Alpacas are very quiet animals. They make a small humming noise very rarely, so to hear our Benny Boy crying out in pain, broke our hearts.

X-rays, leg clipping and a fiberglass cast. Gorilla tape on the bottom to keep the dirt out. Vet tape on the top to keep the cast on this animal who doesn’t understand at all.

We wait for Benny to come around and make a plan to return home and keep him (and Jett) safe and dry. The Vet tells us that animals and casts do not always do well.

We get Benny back into the trailer where Jett is relieved to see him, making humming noises to his ‘herd’. The boys spend the night in the extra horse stall in the barn where they are safe and dry.

Benny and Jett roam the barn during the day. They have plenty to eat and drink. This helps us keep Benny’s cast clean and dry, and yet…as the Vet said, ‘Animals and casts don’t always do well.’

Tonight Benny’s heavy cast is coming off and he is in pain. We tape the cast up to his leg some more and listen to him cry. We don’t know if he will make it. We hate to have him hurting. Tomorrow we will call the Vet and tackle step two, whatever that is…

We want our Benny boy to make it, but not in pain…

and so we wait….and hope.

Where would we be without ‘hope’?

‘Hope’ in all times…keeps us blessed.

You might well know, that I love to read. I didn’t make my goal of 52 books this year, but…well, 2020 took a toll. I have read 39 to date, did I say that I love books? I get excited when I read a great book and enjoy sharing them with others. Here are some of my favorites this year.

Fiction

My second Lucy Foley read. If you love suspense, with well written believable characters you’ll not want to put it down. My first Lucy Foley, The Hunting Party, I would also recommend. Excellent!

Yes, there is a mystery. Obviously, by the title, there is family ‘drama’. Who’s the ‘bad’ guy here…family function/dysfunction. The ‘good’ guys learn and grow…and the mother-in-law????

One of the best written books I have ever read. The characters are true to life before and after a tragic plane wreck. I highly recommend it for you and buy one for a friend.

So far, I’ve bought 3 copies of this book, one each for THE Grand daughter, Mr. T and donated a copy to my library at school. Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code) surprised me to no end. Do yourself a delightful favor and click on the link above or darn it just click here. The free App that was developed with the book, the music and the animals…this is just one wonderful treat!

Non-Fiction

I learned so much about Pakistan history. Amazing family as they stood up to the Taliban in favor of education for girls. I listened to the book on Audible and I highly recommend ‘reading’ it this way.

In my effort this summer to read many different voices, I found ‘Don’t Burn This Book’. I also listened to it on Audible. Dave Rubin, a gay white man, professed ‘libertarian’ and part time comic. To understand different voices, we must be willing to hear their stories.

Children’s Classic

Not my first go around with this book. It is over 70 years old. My 3rd grade teacher read it to me and I have just finished reading it to four 3rd grade books much to their delight and my own. A classic is forever!! A wonderful read-a-loud and I treasured reading it to THE Grands as their first chapter book.

So, go or call your local bookstore and buy and give some of my favorite page turners….

and you will be blessed!

Yes, this is one of those stories, and no, I do not manage to burn anything down. The same cannot be said for everyone else.

It was early this year when spending time with my sisters, that my eye was drawn to a classic black cashmere scarf. They told me I ‘should’ buy it and I agreed. Scarves are good in Ellensburg and cashmere is not often found at the hardware store (where I buy my jeans). As shopping is a rarity, I was excited to score on a nice black vest to go with the scarf.

Weeks ago, I was one of the few invited to a fall, farm wedding. The setting was a beautiful old family barn. The weather was cold, but I knew exactly what would complete my outfit for the big day, my beautiful scarf.

Except….I couldn’t find it. I emptied drawers. I emptied the closet. I checked the mud room and the autos and then I did it again. My scarf was NO WHERE. I do not really loose things, so I was distressed. I mentioned it to My Loving Spouse and he mumbled some type of reply. (The wedding was wonderful.)

Yesterday as I left for work…..

What!! I texted My Loving Spouse. “You found it! Yippee!”

…..and then Someone confessed. Apparently last spring, this Someone went to fly his Powered Parachute and his neck was cold, so he ‘borrowed’ my scarf. Upon landing, the scarf came loose from his neck with the end meeting the exhaust, promptly burning or as Someone says scorching the bottom 12 inches of my lovely scarf. Apparently, Someone quickly got rid of the evidence.

The scarf was forgotten over the summer and it wasn’t until the wedding, that Someone remembered the ‘incident’ and quickly began scouring the internet for the replacement item.

Someone has been told, he is not to borrow any more of my clothes.

Happy Thanksgiving…

Not all of our turkeys will be cooked for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

and still, we are blessed.

Grace is getting married. Grace is one of the first people we met when we arrived in Ellensburg. I asked Grace’s Mom if anyone was making her a wedding quilt. We quilters are sort of careful about stepping on other quilter’s toes. Grace’s Mom was delightfully enthusiastic, which was music to my ears. Warm earth tones were my guidelines.

Grace has been a true friend to My Girl and to us. I sent this photo to My Girl from the back of the quilt store and received a thumbs up, so I trotted to the cashier and paid for the lot.

I wanted to make a quilt like this. Pat Sloan the quilter is great at making patterns and horrible at assigning photos to them, so I can’t easily share a photo with you.

I cut blocks. I sewed them together. I didn’t like them. I spent a night ‘unsewing’.

I sewed more blocks. I didn’t like them. I spent another night ‘unsewing’.

Now I had lots of small blocks and the quilt store was an hour away. I needed to make what I had work, so I turned most of my small blocks into 3.25 inch squares like this.

Number Two Son came for dinner and was drug into my sewing room to help me at my design wall. Together we formed a bit of a plan…and then we ate ribs.

To tell you the truth, this was a hard quilt to design and it did take a lot of time. I don’t really set out to make ‘easy’ ones, because the work is part of the gift.

Getting the squares from the design wall to the sewing machine is the easiest place to screw the whole thing up. I move and sew only 16 squares at a time and watch it come alive.

From bigger squares to rows..

Bad British word!

If you ever are given a quilt that is ‘perfect’, you probably got a machine made one or at least not one made by me. The Amish always put in an error because they say only God is perfect. (I don’t actually ‘have’ to put one in, they just show up.)

I get it laid out on THE Table that My Loving Spouse made to begin pinning the quilt. I actually do not enjoy this stage. I guess because I am afraid of messing it all up. If one uses a long arm quilter, they get to skip this part.

This is the largest quilt I have ever quilted on my Janome. The quilt was so big, I’ll be honest, it was hard. Of course, I do eventually get it done or I wouldn’t be writing this post.

Besides the opportunity to be creative and give a gift of love, the sincere encouragement I get from My Loving Spouse over my projects reminds me, that I am very, very blessed.

One of the best part of having a farm is sharing it with friends. Sharing it with little friends is (as they say in Ellensburg) ‘even better‘.

This 2-year old whirling dervish came decked out in her rubber boots, so we found some puddles to splash in, which may not have been her Mama’s favorite part of the visit. She got out of her car with a tennis ball in her hand, ready to play with with our ball loving hound. Laughing and talking half English, half gibberish…it was a perfect match.

They had come to see all the animals again on this beautiful fall day and get a pumpkin from my meager, but happy to share pumpkin patch and they brightened our day.

Kitty, kitty….no animal was left ‘unturned’…

As is often the case on the farm, we needed a job done this weekend. One of those jobs that take two people, but three would be better. Our little friend’s Dad agrees to give us a hand, even though he things we are ‘branding’, when actually we are ‘banding’.

“Oh”, is really all he can utter, as we work at catching JohnBoy our little bull. We get John Boy down away from Mama Agnes and get his jewels in a tight place as it were. There are obviously no pictures because…well… some of us had our hands full. After counting that both bull balls were in the vise, we let the little boy up and celebrate our cow management skills.

Friends, farms and little pumpkins…

…and we are blessed.

Agnes is the greatest mother cow ever. (Fact, not opinion) Agnes’ due date was October 10, 2020. By the late afternoon of said date, our girl was ‘showing signs’ and giving me looks as if to say, “Seriously! Again?”.

Almost as if, I knew what I was doing, I moved Agnes into our corral. Opening one gate and getting Beau (my horse) through in one direction, getting Agnes to move through in the other direction and keeping the teenager steer Ike from moving in any direction. If I do say so myself it was complete farm poetry in motion, even if I was the only one who was impressed. With Agnes in the corral, we could check on her through the night without the worry of Ike rough housing with the newborn as big brothers are want to do. At 3:30am I was up and checking on my herd, where I found a small black calf being licked by Mama. I went back to bed, informed My Loving Spouse that we had a calf and slept the rest of the night without worry.

The little one was up and noisily nursing upon my recheck by morning light.

After breakfast we set out to give the calf shots, an ear tag and to check if we had a bull or a heifer. We weren’t the only ones interested in the new life. A stray chicken, and the alpacas, but especially Jett are keen to hang around our new little bull, yes indeed another boy.

My horse Beau comes to check him out and try to steal a bit of Agnes’ hay.

Clearly the cutest calf of 2020. What would we Walton’s name such a one as this.

Why, John Boy of course.

Any day there is new life on a small farm is a special day indeed…

and we are blessed.