It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like... My Daughter is Crafty

Laura wanted a nice big wreath to decorate the door this year. I was seeing them for fifty dollars, and not well-made even at that outlandish price.
Becky got up early, went collecting in the woods with five kitties, and made... this!

Spring Gobbler Bouquet

I like it when a hunter goes out to kill a spring gobbler and comes home bearing a beautiful bouquet for me!

Reduce. Recycle. Reuse.

I saw Becky setting up some targets, including this morning's K-cup, and warned her that ammo is expensive so don't waste it.
This is her one and only shot from over 25 yards.
No wasting.

Rest in Peace, Tom Kitten

Tragedy has struck Providence Farm.
Yesterday Tom the Kitten wanted to go outside. I let him.
When we came back from Katie's doctor's appointment and soccer practice, Tom didn't greet us. He didn't come home last night or this morning.
Laura found his body this morning down in the woods.
Dog or dogs had killed him, quickly, at least, with no marks, just a quick shake.
I'm almost certain it was my own dogs.
Debbie, the kitten hating cat, was out when we let Tom out, so we think that he ran away from her, triggering his own friend dogs to chase him.
If it had been the neighbor's dog, he would have climbed a tree in time.
I'm very angry at the two guilty seeming dogs.

These pictures of Tom are from yesterday. He loved looking up at birds above his head. Recently he'd hunted an army helicopter in the hope of bringing it down. Tom had big dreams.
He'd been enjoying practicing hunting on the weird bee/flies that frequent the cow patties in the yard.

He was Becky's special friend. He slept with her every night. I've never seen her so enamored with a pet.
That it was he who died makes me angrier and sadder than I would have imagined.

Lately the words of C.S. Lewis from The Silver Chair have been occurring to me often: "Which just goes to show how little anyone knows what is going to happen to them next."
Once again, that is true.

Milking at Midnight

Second Day Blues

This morning two sleepyheads are sore and cozy in their beds.
Three, counting Tom.

One more game in the Richmond tournament and we can rest.

God Made Farmers

I snapped this Sunday night.
Becky and I were watching Superbowl commercials at the computer.
She'd just come up from milking and feeding.
My little agriculture major in her pink Carhartts is the reason I felt teary about Dodge Truck's Farmer ad.

Bottle Calf

Becky successfully pulled the calf away from Penny and got him on the bottle.
Penny's acting ok with the whole thing. I know she still misses him for now.
He seems to wander back toward his birthplace when we let him on the yard for a potty break, but I don't believe that he has any particular longing for his real mom.
Penny gave about three gallons this evening. Becky brought a gallon and a half up here, and Penny had spilled about the same amount.
Momma would get a little anxious about her son during milking, but Becky would tell her soothingly, "It's ok, Penny." and she would settle right down.
We're not storing any colostrum because we don't have any upcoming babies on the farm. What he doesn't drink, we'll feed to the pigs.
He's taking the bottle like a champ now.
He's been sold to our friends for a beef steer and will leave next week (or the week after.) Becky will have an abundance of milk after he leaves!

Penny's Birth Blog (Finally)

Penny was due in January.
I've spent many hours over the last two weeks down at the barn overnight, in case the calf showed up. The reasons behind my expectations were the show of mucous that she started having in late January and her unbearably tight udder (unbearable for me, but apparently fine for her.)
Becky, who owns the cow and calf, wanted to whisk him away from Penny immediately, before she could lick him, but she was too fast for us! Dan and I didn't have the heart to take him from her after the licking, but Becky did, so he never nursed from Mom, just from the bottle.
We'd been keeping Penny in her stall at night for warmth and easy finding, and letting her graze in the west field all day.
When we got home from church today and she wasn't out in the field, I grabbed the towels from her barn and ran to the woods.
Here is what we found...
I like the second picture of Becky's midwifery because of the trust and friendship that you can see exists between them.
I'd estimate 15 minutes between the first and last pictures.
When I had found her, the tips of his hooves were visible, so a total of about a half hour from my first glimpse of hooves.

He weighed 60 pounds. If she'd had a littler heifer, I think the time would have been much shorter.

In the last photo, Becky isn't pulling, just waiting to receive him.

Katie's Notepad

This, I love.
Becky bought a little white board to hang Katie's schoolroom so she and Laura can write messages to their little sister.
Every morning, there is a loving good morning from early bird Laura to Kate.
Then the not so loving response from Katie back at Laura...

Here is a translation:

Did you really have to erase my poem, "Stinkbug Invasion" just to write, "good morning tootsie roll?"

Katie

You may be able to imagine what's happening with the stinkbug population of Central Virginia by the title of Katie's poem.

Cake!

Becky made this mesmerizing design on the cake.
I don't know how it tastes because I started my diet today.
This is going to be a hard decision to stick with.

Evolution of a Shiner

At Saturday's game against Nottoway, Becky and rival player Tiffany collided and bumped heads.
Tiffany went down and Becky just wobbled, but a few days later it looks as though Tiffany was the winner after all.
Becky did stay in the game for 10 more minutes before being subbed out to get an ice pack.
Then she proceeded to go out for an evening on the town, then a sleep-over, then church, before finally coming home.
The first picture is Sunday evening.
Then Monday evening.
By next Saturday, she may be able to intimidate the Buckingham players into submission even before the game starts...

Buttermilk Pancakes

I couldn't decide what to blog. I wanted the post to be boastful, yet yummy.
Here is just a small portion of breakfast by Becky this morning.
She made applesauce from a few of the apples that Danny bought at auction yesterday,
bacon,
and these buttermilk pancakes.
They were delicious!

Becky, Sweet Sixteen

Here's beautiful Becky with the cake she made and frosted herself. We had a quiet celebration with Gretchen and Sarah, Katie's friend who's visiting for the week. I've promised Becky a "real" party when things settle down and when Daddy's in town. Thanks Fat Suburbanite Dad (or Mrs. Fat Suburbanite Dad, as the case may be) for the tribute on your blog to our treasure of a daughter.

Cozy

Waking up to a sister and a book under a down comforter last winter.

Ozzy!

Since last Tuesday, Katie, who is stoic about any discomfort, has had unceasing pain around her knee.
Some friends were over during our long power outage yesterday evening and the kids ran around for hours outside in the darkness.
Afterward, Katie's pain was so bad that she had Advil, ice packs, and a Tiger Balm massage by Becky before bed. After tucking Katie in with an elevated and immobilized leg, big sister took to Dr. Google to try to find a diagnosis for her kid sister.
To her credit, she hit upon Osgood-Schlatter disease in her search, and today our doctor confirmed her guess.
So Katie gets three days of limited activity and a cool nickname, "Ozzy."

Saturday Morning

Becky and Katie, who share a room, redecorated yesterday. They painted the whole room purple, and Dan and I brought home new comforter sets.
Here they are on the couch, sound asleep and as snuggly as can be under their new blankets.

Lame Winter

A beloved facebook friend called our winter lame. She chose her adjective well.
We've had lots of sunny and warm weather, and few frigid days.
When you combine good weather with a trip out west to visit a horse loving aunt and uncle, you get horse crazy kids.
All three girls are working with their own horse, plus helping their sisters out.
Laura has Mr. B all beefed up and feeling young again, so he's enjoying light riding.
Becky's perfecting her skills on Libby.
And Katie gets stuck breaking the baby pony, since she's the only one small enough to do so.
Here's a scene from today.
Unfortunately, the camera ran low on batteries before I could catch them all riding together.

Chicken Day

Here are two girls with the fruits of their labors.
Becky did all of the eviscerating.
Dan chopped off heads, thank God.
Katie and I helped to pluck.
Laura was an excellent scalder, but she and I ran off to soccer practice before the photo shoot.

Becky's Championship

Here's some of Becky's season. Her team went all the way to the top of the James River District and won the championship trophy!
She plays all over the field, both in defense and as a forward.
Here she's behind the boy wearing orange. She's #14.