New Life Old Farmers

My Loving Spouse aka PaPat has removed the ‘Do not disturb’ from his phone and designated special ring tones for My Other Girl and her husband Number 5 Son. After 5 miscarriages they have made it to 38 weeks. This little Granddaughter is set to make her entrance into the world this week. We’ve been praying for her and creating for her.

PaPat built an old-fashioned wooden pull toy.

The baby ducks waddle behind the mother delightfully. This meant that I could make the duck quilt, I’d had my eye. Duck parts began being produced months ago.

The first duck was over ‘zig-zagged’. It was turned into a bib and sent out previously.

Bath time rubber ducks dressed up for Easter were sent in spring. Unbeknownst to the parents, we had a ‘duck theme’ going on.

Bess and I are still in our quilting learning curve, but that machine is fun to use. I try my hand at imitating the duck pull toy on the top and bottom of the quilt. This type of quilting remains a work in progress.

The original source for this quilt came from here, so I want to make sure I give them credit. You can see I duplicated their quilt almost exactly. Well, except for mistakes, those are all mine.

The kids face-timed us to open everything, which was joy in action. We’re now waiting for that special ring tone and planning our trip to Salt Lake City. My Other Girl has expressed multiple times, that this Grammy gets all the snuggles she wants….

and we are blessed.

I was weary.

I prayed, “Lord, I am so empty. I don’t even remember what to do to help myself.”

Two hours later a text came out of the blue…

“Hello, sister! I just heard about a new airline that is going to service Pasco Washington. Is that near you?”

Hope that could hug me and fill my heart was on her way.

I collected her from the Pasco airport, which was super simple. We had to stop to take a picture at this store, because it says it all! Also, I love this store and I don’t get out much.

This is her mother and I back in my topless, bonnet days.

We were family. Our mothers were best friends in a time and place in So. California where one did not have family near by. Her family moved closer to our family when her daddy died leaving her mom with 4 kids and our families became closer. My dad was her surrogate father and her mother was there for us in special ways. She used to tell people that she changed my diapers, but I cautioned her to drop that tale as some folks may think it was recently.

Love, laughter, acceptance and truth showed up. It was just what I needed, life can be hard. We did our best to wear her out with the farm and adventures.

She fell in love with our alpacas.

She went along to pick up Carlos, Santana and Smooth….laughing often at their antics as she learned about alpacas. She helped protect Stuart the chicken, who was being picked on by RuPaul. (RuPaul met an unfortunate end as he violated one important rule, if you’re not necessary you’d better be nice.)

The irony of Stuart seeking her protection on top of the BBQ wasn’t lost on any of us.

The spring rodeo of Bareback and Bronc-riding gives us a night out, in celebration of being together and the ending of lock downs a night of ‘normal’ felt so good!

We fit in plenty of country fun. The Fire Captain shows up to give us a ride in his army jeep exactly as old as her.

We had the 2021 Croquet Open to get the season underway. She finds our friends delightful and even finds a goofy match in Sweet Sue wearing their straw hats in a unique way to battle the blowing winds.

We talked and talked and talked about…our parents, our past, our children, our joys, our sorrows and our faith.

We laughed, we cried and I was filled…

and together we were blessed.

Saturday our newest three joined the ‘herd’ at Glory Farm.

The little boys are 7 to 10 months old, adorable and completely quirky as only alpacas can be.

Smooth is the youngest and seems to have the potential for being a calm and quiet boy, but as his “jewels” have yet to drop…who knows, males with “jewels” can be a bit… unpredictable.

Carlos is the oldest at 10 months and wants to know what is going on beyond that fence, but from the safety of his side of the fence.

It is clear already, Santana is the character. Inquisitive, quick and first out the gate.

The ‘big’ boys, Benny and the Jett are determined to check out the little ones at every opportunity. Currently they are usually separated by a fence, so everyone can have some time getting to know each other.

We had a trial run of the whole herd together. Benny worked hard at letting the little ones know, that he is no longer at the bottom of the pecking order. ‘Togetherness’ only lasts in small increments.

Naming 3 was a challenge. My Girl and I both thought about Elton and John…but it wasn’t right. I decided to stick with the music theme and My Loving Spouse decided to humor me. In the end, I went with a great rhythm…seriously, you can’t beat a good rhythm. (Carlos Santana Smooth)

and we are blessed.

If we didn’t have to do things over, we’d almost have nothing to do. The raised beds we made out of plastic barrels last year was a failure. So, if you see this option on Pinterest, take my advice…’don’t do it’.

We gathered a bit of wood from ‘the wood room’ (of course, where else).

The wood came from the multitude of old fences we took down when we first arrived. We (My Loving Spouse) cut the lengths to match. Built the sides…

Made the ends…

while I mostly supervised encouragingly…

I was not the only one overseeing the build…

Benny and Jett are always nearby. (BTW-After our escapade with Benny’s broken leg, we’re keenly aware that if something happens to one alpaca, the other one will be left in a precarious position. So, we’re thinking of getting another alpaca or 3).

The new beds will stand up to the wind and just about anything else. Blue carries them over to the garden.

We/I filled the beds halfway with wood bark, before adding the dirt. It took My Loving Spouse about 1 1/2 hours to build the beds and it took me about 1 1/2 days to get the dirt all in.

The black plastic is to limit the weeds…of which we have many.

What is that yellow hue in the grass, that the cows will not eat?

Dandelions by the foot. I believe weed free farms only exist in someone’s imagination. My hope is to have the flowers out number the weeds.

So far, the weeds are winning.

Benny and Jett were getting very fluffy.

It was time for their annual shearing, but as we’ve only had them for 10 months, it was all new to us. Shearer Tony easily handles Benny.

Benny is quickly thrown to the ground and all four feet are stretched out by ropes. Shearer Terry quickly runs the clippers over thick fleece, pushing it to the side as he works.

It is fascinating to see how densely black Benny’s undercoat is. We gather up the large amounts of fleece surprised at how warm it is. Shearer Tony keeps Benny still by controlling his head and neck. (I’m pretty sure I could do his job…)

Until they start shearing his neck and face…then I’m not so sure.

The alpacas do not like getting sheared. They either prefer a higher caliber spa treatment or they just know how silly they are going to look. Actually, we’re thinking of changing their names to Goof and Goofier.

We have 4 bags of fleece and 2 of the silliest looking animals ever.

We’d forgotten how small these animals really are. No more shearing until next year. We’re already thinking we could do it ourselves….

How hard could it be?

Clearly we’re optimistic….

and blessed.

The smell of burning grass can only mean one thing….Spring. Every responsible person with irrigation ditches gets burning on those days when the wind it light.

The ditches getting burned makes all the moving water work more efficiently. I’ve heard people say things like, “Oh, my neighbors…they don’t burn their ditches”. Enough said, everyone knows ‘those’ neighbors….the slackers. We got our ditch burnt and the pond as well.

…and then the next day it snowed. Seriously!

The cows are home! We picked Agnes and John Boy up from the Prom. We’re told that the Bull was able to get a dance and we are expecting a new little calf for Thanksgiving. Hasn’t John Boy grown?

I took the day off of work today to rest my weary soul. I spent 6 hours weeding the flower garden…oh, be still my heart. No, I am not done yet, but I have really realistic expectations this year. I am not expecting the garden to be ‘weed free’, I’m just working toward more flowers than weeds.

The hens have branched out their laying strategy. They leave eggs in their nesting boxes and various places in the barn. High on hay bales and in between this wall and a few bales of straw.

Every day is an egg hunt.

Spring sings of new beginnings. We’re expecting a new baby grand daughter in another 10 weeks…I am having so much fun sewing for her.

The pond was filled earlier than usual dashing a few of our other pre-irrigation chores, but Gunner and Charlie couldn’t be happier.

Some signs of Spring will always be the same….baseball and my favorite little Dodger fan….

to say nothing of…

Summer….Fall….and Winter,

and we are blessed.

Gunner‘s humans finished up all their projects for Tally-Ho.

We loaded up and set off on a wet Sunday morning for Cape Disappointment. The weather that day for anywhere in the state of Washington was rain. Gray though it was we were delighted to be at the shore…

…very happy to see the waves and hear their roar, as our 4 1/2 hour trip took us 6 hours with Gunner panting at our shoulders the entire way. Luckily for us all Gunner quickly turned into the perfect camping dog.

The first night in our ‘new’ camper went exactly as one would expect. The battery died, which meant not all the stuff worked, so we went to bed. The battery issue gave us the opportunity to see the neighboring town so My Loving Spouse could buy a bit of lamp cord and some clips. His little contraption kept the battery to the camper charging off of the battery in the truck. He ran the truck every 8 hours or so, to make sure it didn’t die as well. The side trip to town also allowed us to ask the store clerk where we could get a burrito. Local knowledge is king and without it we probably wouldn’t have stopped here.

Which is where we got this…

Yes, it was delicious. (No panting dog as we eat or drive as Gunner is now riding in the camper). We got back to our campsite as the day’s rain was letting up, which was the perfect time for a walk on the beach.

Gunner was in heaven with plenty of sticks to fetch….

…a fresh spring to lap up from the base of the light house hill.

Friends who were camping nearby treated us to fresh clams, which Gunner and I enjoyed. My Loving Spouse got out his kites and taught one of their teens how to fly it.

She mastered the strong kite even as it pulled her off her feet a few times…always fun to share our toys with kids.

Reversing our roles, I had promised to do the cooking when we camped. My Loving Spouse’s first plate of my world famous Camping Eggs with a bit of bacon. (Weight Watchers?).

Our first trip was a resounding success enjoying down time together and a few less chores.

We arrived back at the farm to find that Benny has perfected the art of the Alpaca limbo, reaching so far out under the fence for grass, that when he stands back up he’s on the wrong side of the fence. Oh, yeah, we’re on it….

and we are blessed.

One of the best parts of this crazy 2020-21 winter was that it was mild. Even so, the advent of Spring is always a welcome event.

Beau my horse has had a rough time since Sundance died. We’ve been looking for a companion for Beau for sometime. My Loving Spouse found an organization that asked us to foster a rescue horse, just until they found it another home. It was easy to see how that would turn out, and I strongly declined.

Even when you are a horse, friends can be the silver lining in life. We now have a buddy for Beau. Ortega wasn’t here long before the two horses were sharing the same pasture, happily new friends.

Ortega is here ‘rent’ free…sort of. His board is covered by his owner’s willingness to take care of our critters, should we leave town.

Charlie, the Chocolate Runner semi-pet duck, sees the other fowl as his friends. He’d prefer a duck, but he hangs out with the chickens, at least until he’s got water in the pond.

My Loving Spouse had planned to build me a sewing table for Christmas, but then we bought Bess. I had searched “Ikea Hacks” for sewing tables with the machine inset for some time. Seriously, who needs an “Ikea Hack” when your married to someone ‘As Handy As Pockets’.

My new sewing set up is the bomb. Everything flush and just the right amount of room…

…I was feeling ‘spoiled’ until we opened up the hay barn and I was reminded of a few of My Loving Spouses ‘toys’.

It was time to load Tally Ho onto the truck. I’d watched 3 men do this together when we picked it up and I was a tad apprehensive, as it seemed neither easy or fast. My Loving Spouse and I actually had Tally Ho on top of the truck in 15 minutes without incident. Since I was the driver/listener, it could ‘prove’ that I am somewhat equal to two men. Right?

My Best Friend (Loving Spouse) and I are ready to roll. He is beside himself with the thought of leaving town.

…and are we blessed…

A 14 year old boy past student of mine brought us two pieces of chocolate cake to share from his birthday….

You can see it was delicious.

Spring is a wonder,

friends are a blessing.

Thanks for coming along.

When the glass is half full, there is almost always a silver lining. When I had 3 kids and 2 of them were fighting, well 1 of them wasn’t.

When it snows, there is joy in hearing the happy squeals of children as they play with small snow toys.

…and bigger toys as well.

When Covid came and affected our schools, my little school has made many silver linings for the children they love.

3/4ths of our students come to school in a hybrid model just two days a week.

Fact: 2 days is not enough. We have multiple 7,8,9 year olds who have stomach aches and anxiety because there are too many days between being at school.

Silver lining: Those kids who need extra support attend their regular class 2 days and go to Special Ed 2 days. No pulling out from their ‘regular’ day and blossoming social/emotional growth on the other 2 days.

Fact: The health of each student has to be attested to prior to them entering school.

Silver lining: My Principal turned what could have been a logistical and legalistic nightmare into a warm and daily welcome. Each and every child is greeted by name and with smiles and jokes. I watch each morning as the adults return to the office with grins on their faces.

Fact: Our school has been serving students in person since Oct. 4 2020. We have had zero breakouts of Covid at or from school.

Silver lining: Parents are not sending their children to school when they sick or even have the sniffles. We have shelves and shelves of Kleenex we’ve not needed.

Silver lining: With no way to socially distance in our library space, My Librarian removed all of the tables. With no tables we re-examined our plans and our hearts. What did our students really need? We went Old School. Selecting classic novels we began reading to each class. No screens, no bells and whistles, little activity, just the safe constant voice reading books we love to children we love….and it has been magical…for us all.

I get to read to the 3rd graders. It was time to pick new books. I remembered my Mom reading The Swiss Family Robinson to my brother John and I, from this actual book. My mother’s name is inscribed inside.

I set the stage for my 3rd graders, that this is a classic, that the book was written in 1812. I was not sure how it would go over, but they were captivated. Their eyes were round, their bodies were still and everyone in the room (My Librarian included) were eager to hear each word as we started the story.

My heart was full. I wanted to tell my Mom and John so much, but they are gone. I wrote to my older brother Fud. We reminisced…and I am blessed.

What are your silver linings?

PS: The other classics we’ve been reading this year to 3, 4,5 :

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

The Witch, The Lion and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

Gregor The Overlander by Suzanne Collins

My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

Judy Moody was in a Mood by Megan McDonald

Grab a kid and read to them.