Farm Update

What's new on the farm? A bunch of nine cute little baby chicks hatched by our very wise white hen who is good at it.

We love our free range eggs, but have not been eating our own lately. We were running out of the regular brown hens, and what I really wanted was the local colorful hens who lay the goldenest eggs you ever saw. So when our hen stared sitting on her one egg, I quickly bought more to add to her pile and she faithfully sat and sat and sat till her time was up. It amazes me how a mother hen can sit like that with only an occasional quick meal a few times a week.

Nine out of 11 eggs hatched, one chick died, so now we have 8 beauties. I keep hoping that at least half of these will be hens for future egg layers.

 

 To watch a mother hen care for her chicks is amazing. A lovely example of a good mother.

Cattle Day

 Trying to see if this old girl still had it in her to saddle a horse. It worked. 

(you can safely blame little Victoria for the loose baggy pants. )

 Its good to see my that daughter has the same taste for photos as I do, as it was she took this photo.

 Ah it felt good to be back in the saddle again, something I haven't felt since oh about two years or so ago. Just like the good ole days when it was just the two of us.

 Little miss sherriff didn't feel too great. She has the chicken pox.

 Joseph might just turn into a cowboy yet.

 Besides roping little brother, he's also good at calf roping.

 Action in the pasture.

 Stubborn, stubborn head. But stuff like this always adds to the fun of the cowboys.

 Cousins watching.

 My handsome cowboy.

 Yeah that hurts but just for a little while.

This is how we decided to cook our chili beans for cattle day. I obtained this homemade cookstove recently and decided I wanted to use it to cook my chili.

 My dutch oven is a perfect fit for it. 

That was cattle day for the family. We all had loads of fun. Hope you enjoyed the shots!

A Day on Grandma's Farm

Last Sunday the relatives from my dad's side spent an afternoon on the old farm again, perhaps for the last time. I wanted to be sure not to miss the event, so I stayed home in the morning to ensure the baby, and myself, would not get overtired and could enjoy it. It was very precious, and I wanted to keep some memories so I made sure to take photos.It was a very typical sunday, one that has been played over and over many times before. Some things just don't change much.

 Women always sit in circles, catching up on the latest news, enjoying each other's babies and gossiping like only women can.

 

 Men sit around too, in small circles or stand and talk about their stuff...

 

 

Grandma herself, cheerfully greeting everyone who came. Since Grandpa passed away last year, these gatherings mean much to her.

 

 Mothers enjoying their newborns...these two are 4 days apart. Victoria and Jonathan, my uncle's youngest.

 

Children are 'feeding' the cow cut grass here.

 This small wheelbarrow has been left on the farm so far and was once again played with by the great-grandchildren here. Those wooden toys Grandpa built year ago have been so valuable to at least two generations, and they fetched a good price when sold at auction a while back.

 Cousins and uncles and aunts looking at things that were being given away. Most of Grandma's things were sold or given away before, but the last bits still were up for grabs. I myself grabbed a few more items, as you can see in the bottom.

 The aunts and granddaugthers had prepared a feast, like many times before. There was taco salad, lots of fruits and cakes, cookies, and pudding for dessert. There was also sweet iced tea, which was the best drink for the humid, hot day it turned out to be.

 Now for some memory photos... The old sidewalk has become tilted over the years. It leads to the outhouse...

Yep, I have used this outhouse many a time. I used to help Grandma with her washing on monday mornings before I got married, and back then they had no inside bathroom, so that's what we did. It was several degrees cleaner back then than it is now...I remember going in there once and seeing a snake it in it; Grandpa checked it out but by then it had disappeared.

 When I hung the laundry on these lines, Grandma often made me wear one of her many straw hats to keep the sun out of my face. I grabbed this one for keeps.

 Jessica in front of the barn, where back in the day many cows were milked by my uncles. I used to memorize the names of all cows, and would along in front of their heads as they were being milked. It was always a little scary.

   

 A scrap rug I picked.

 

 I found this sewing machine cover, and since i have an old treadle machine, it was just what I needed. It even matches the colors in my living room.

 An old container for flowers. I might transplant some of these into my old tire that sits almost empty now.

   

 This chair is one thing I purchased at he auction a while back. The dishes are all from Grandma's kitchen.

I just had to add two more photos...these glasses used to contain mustard. Buy mustard, and get some beautiful glasses. Life is just too simple nowadays, isn't it...

This might look like an old piece of trash, but no, not to me. When I was a little girl, Grandma had this crate-turned-shelf filled with toy dishes. When I went back several days ago, I spied it sitting outside by the door, and I salvaged it.

These items will keep bringing back the good old memories for many years to come yet...

Saved by God -- through his Dog

Baby sleeps. I am in the kitchen. High pitched screams come from the corral, where the children are helping their cousin with the cattle. I wonder why the screams. Again. I look up. This sounds wrong! I see Daniel's worker come hurrying to the house. I see Jessica come running, screaming something as she comes. I grab my cell phone and hurry toward the corral, as fast as a woman two weeks after a c section is allowed to go. Thoughts tumble through my head. Who is hurt now??? A few days after baby was born Jessica cut her finger, then Timothy developed an infection on his arm, and what now?

"The cow kicked Joseph!" she screams.

O dear God, no! Why now? How bad? Even before I reach the corral, I fumble with my phone, dialing the ER number. I just had the feeling it was that bad. I call Daniel too, who had just gone out for a moment. I get there, and there he lies on the concrete inside the corral, dirty and pale, and having a hard time breathing. I call to him through the fence. He looks at me. Good. I talk to him, he responds. Very good. I tell him to stay still, try to relax and keep breathing. "Keep your eyes open". In just a matter of minutes the first emergency responder arrives. Is it just coincidence that he was visiting the neighbor who lives next door from us? I like to think not. He is a family friend and knows Joseph very well, so this is wonderful. He checks his vitals and says they are good, and is able to keep him calm. But his painful breathing and hurting ribs tell us we need to have him taken to be x-rayed. I walk close to Joseph, take his hand and tell him I am very proud of him. He is a good and tough boy, and to remember that whatever happens to him, mommy loves him very much. Within what feels like too long of a time, the ambulance arrives. At this time I go to the house, getting this instinctive feeling that I need to check on baby, who screams at the top of her little lungs so I pick her up, trying to calm her down, or letting her calm me down as well. I hold her close as I look out the window, knowing there is nothing else I can do for my boy except pray. I see him being carried on the stretcher to the ambulance. It hurts. It makes you wonder why things like this need to happen. It makes me want to appreciate him so much more all of a sudden, and realizing what if it is too late?.... Perhaps this is why moments like this happen; to make us realize how precious the short time is that we have with our children. It could be the last anytime.

Daniel accompanies him to the hospital, which is about a 20 minute drive. 

I ask a dear friend to come over and spend the time with me, as I fear it will be a long evening. She comes and is a big comfort to me. It does not take too long for us to hear good news: no broken bones, and he is coming home! I thank the Lord. He has been so good to us once again.

Now for some more details. Joseph stands close to a door in the corral, and there is one cow in that area. He does not see the cow coming on, but all of a sudden feels the head in his stomach, pushing him against the boards of the corral. The cow does not let go, but continues for a while to 'knead' him, pushing all breath from him. He tells me at this point he had thought he was just going to die right there. Then, his dog barks fiercely at the cow. Little did we know when we got that little pup for him this year, that he would play such an important part in this event. This deterred the cow, and allowed our cousin to grab through the fence and pull Joseph to safety on the other side. He worked with him to get him to breathe, as it was a struggle at first. He has some bruises on his back that he received from being forced against the corral, and he still has some pain as he moves out of bed. We are watching his appetite, and need to keep an eye on him just to make sure there are no serious internal issues.

I asked him if he had been ready to die, and he said yes, he is ready all the time. ARE WE??? O to have the faith of a little child! For now, I appreciate him a little more, and am so happy I have the chance to tell him that--again. 

(See a photo of him with his dog by the corral)

The Harvest

Harvest time is here. It is one the most favorite times of the year for us, if we have any crops that need harvesting. This year we have two crops, and one is harvested already. We were quite pleased with the yield, especially since that field has never produced such a nice crop before. Here are some fun shots...

 

  Watermelon breaks are the most fun, aren't they now...

Oh, the carefree days of childhood.

 

 These two had fun collecting some spilled corn, as daddy will pay them for it.... this brings me back to the days when I was young, and after a bean harvest at my Grandparents' farm my brothers and I would trek way out to those fields in the hot humid sun and gather what we could find of the left-behind beans, which our parents would pay us for when we got older, and my mom would cook for us to eat. I find it almost scary that our parents would let us do that, out in the middle of nowhere. But nothing bad happened to us, and did we have fun!

My Western Wallhanging

Howdy!

For a long time I have dreamed of having a house with one bare wood wall that I was going to decorate with our western and cowboy memorabilia. Well, who knows how long I would have to keep dreaming so I decided this is what I'll do. Make a wallhanging which can be moved wherever we move... I had started collecting different items from here and there while cleaning house lately, and when FJI said her next theme would be western/farm, that was all the push I needed to finally start my project. I got busy last week, and here is the result.

 I started with raiding hubby's parents' farm for old wood. I found enough old stuff to make the perfect background. When I fell in love with Daniel, he was a cowboy on that farm. That is my first impression of him, so in my eyes, he is still my cowboy, even though he is more engineer now than cowboy. We used to do a lot of riding and cowboying way before any children came into the big picture. It felt good to put together all the cowboy items from years past, and Daniel was quite pleased and surprised when I revealed the finished project to him. I kept it somewhat secretive from him. When he saw it, he understood what all that old wood was for! And now he likes old wood too... :)

 When I started out, I did not have the whole picture in my mind, but I realized as I was arranging the pieces on the boards, I soon got an idea for what 'goes'. 

I wasn't sure which photo to put in the middle, so I tried with two different ones... We did not have a western wedding; only took western style photos before the wedding. I am always glad we did. Those are our wedding hats.

 I just had to throw in this little piece with the cute saying.

 Photos of our children.

The horseshoes used are ones that used to be on Rose, our special horse in the US. (Oh and I realized I made that horse story part 1 and have yet to post part 2!)

 These cutest little cowgirl boots where my daughter's when she was 2. So cute, I can't part with them!

 ...more wedding memories....

 cousins

 This piece of wood is a dried cactus that comes all the way from Arizona. I thought it fit in so well, especially since we both love the American West.

 

 A hilarious card Daniel's brother gave us when we were married a little while... ;) Timothy thought it was him...

 Photos of Daniel's bygone cowboy bachelor days...the pockets come from his used wranglers. He has worn through many a pair.

 His old belt buckle...

The gun is just an air rifle.

The wallhanging hangs in our bedroom. Here in Belize the houses usually have lots of window space, so it is hard to fit anything big into the bare wall space.

So long, cowgirls!

Linking to parties:
Funky Junk Interiors
The Shabby Nest