It's the Least Wonderful Time of the Year

I've decided to post more honestly here. Not that my posts are ever dishonest, but you certainly get a one-sided view of farm life.
A mother once told me to be sure I don't post graphic or sad things because she shows the blog to her children.
But the un-fun times are real, and knowing about them is only fair.
So here's a pic to sum up the impending Arctic weather and our desperation for the sun and her warmth.
We've ("we" in this sense meaning my kids and my husband) been scrambling to get extra hay to the horses and cows and shoring up all of the animals' shelters for the predicted frigid weather.
(Be glad you get to look at unhappy Kate during chores. It was either this or a photo of the broiler chicken who died under the horse trailer.)

Maples and More Maples

Becky and I bought an "October Glory" red maple while we were at Lowe's.
I wanted it to replace the maple that had died.
I couldn't get the old tree out of the ground by myself, so Katie helped me use a chain and pull the stump out with the tractor.
I hope this poor little twig has better luck than its predecessor.

Fall Pics by Katie

Some pics from Katie's and my walk in glorious weather.

Old Fashioned Pig Art

Dan and I visited the Tractor Supply Company to buy some fencing materials, and we found this gem. It's a reproduction of an old tin sign.

Dan bought it for Katie, who was ecstatic when she saw it.

She's got a thoughtful Daddy.

Why I Didn't Build the Bee Hives at all Today: Part 2

Katie stepped on a dirty, rusty nail in the barnyard and it bled a lot and I freaked out and felt sick and wanted to faint and couldn't get the doctor's office on the phone for a long time.

But then they answered and said she'd be fine and to come on in for a tetanus shot.

I had calmed most of the way down by the time we left the doctor's, and by the time soccer was over, I was ok.

Katie? She was perfectly fine throughout the whole ordeal.

Soccer Friends

Here's a candid shot from a soccer Saturday of home games at Charlotte County.
My daughters have a blessed, good old-fashioned childhood.

Kitten Slings

"Somebody wrapped you up and ditched you." Becky said to Gooseberry, a small sleeping lump in a bathrobe on the couch.
"Hmm, three guesses about whom that somebody may have been." I grinned.

Katie wears kitten in slings, like attachment parents or African tribal ladies.
Then when she's distracted, she sets the whole "kitten caboodle" down wherever she happens to be.
Providence Farm is littered with encapsulated baby cats.

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.

Mommy Blogger. Suddenly.

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
― G.K. Chesterton

I'd been lamenting my monotonous life lately.
Mostly because it's February, I'm sure, but cleaning, cooking, schooling, and farming had me weary of the sameness of everything.
Then I read this quote by one of my favorite authors and have, for the moment at least, a new outlook on life.

Here is Katie at math today.
I decided to picture lessons through the warm, cheerful candles in rebellion to the bitter gray and dismal gloom seeping in from outside.

Yeah, I can "Do it again" tomorrow.

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.

Classy Kitten

When she was seated in her English class today, Katie told me, "This is Tom's first experience of starting a new chapter with me."
Tom promptly fell into a sleep so deep that it seemed more like a coma.
He's never going to have good grammar.

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.

Extreme Silliness

We learned on the way home from buying knock-off brand gummy worms from Kroger, that Laura has a unique talent for crossing one eye while making a bizarre giggling sound with a worm hanging from her teeth. Quite frightening to see in my rear view mirror. Katie, being the quick study that she is, learned the technique: except for the one crossed eye. We can't all share Laura's gift. I entitled this "Extreme Silliness" because since Devin's been living in town, nothing has been extreme here. When Devin is playing with us, the mundane becomes extreme. We play "extreme bike riding," "extreme kick-the-can," "extreme ninja goalie." I miss having a boy around!

Cozy

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

Katie's 11!

Katie turned 11 and her soccer friends came to celebrate with us by eating cupcakes and catching amphibians. It was a fun night for the kids and the parents. I thought it would be nice to post a happy family event after the last post about my Dad passing. That, and I haven't photographed anything to post about the farm.

Nuts and Fruits

Katie and Snowflake are two crazy nuts who were cozily watching Dan plant fruit trees. But on Providence Farm, if you put your arm around a dog, sure enough, another dog will come and demand equal treatment.
Lily is the third nut this morning.

Handsome Danny planted two pear trees, three peach trees, and a flowering crab apple in the orchard. He will be planting two sweet cherries up by the garden, plus two (much smaller than the last) red maples down the driveway.

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."

Terrifying Sled Ride

Here's footage of today's sledding adventures on the far hill.
This is an example of why I don't look when they're out playing.
They woke up at 6:30 and went out soon afterward.

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.

Flashback

As I was looking through Gretchen's cell phone pictures last night, I saw these adorable and green images.
I thought it would be a nice break to see verdant fields instead of brown grass.
This is Katie with Lambda, Q-Tip's little ewe lamb.