I've always been terrible at keeping up on writing. I was a terrible penpal. And now I'm a terrible blogger. I do have a good reason though - I'm BUSY! Hard to believe it's been nearly a year since I updated this blog. Ouch. My bad. It's been a very, very busy year.
Family News:
The babies are getting huge. Everyone is walking, semi-talking and getting into everything. My big baby is nearly fully potty trained, which is a huge accomplishment. She's very proud of herself and I think we're all relieved that she is no longer in diapers (she was getting a bit big for diapies...). Hubby is staying really, really ridiculously busy with the business and he's been great at keeping up with everything. It's looking like next year will be busier than this year as far as bookings go, so I don't know how that's going to go. This year was already extraordinarily busy, so I'll just have to become wonder woman on steroids to keep up with it all.
Oh, and the big news -
I'm pregnant again. And...IT'S A BOY!
Yup. Prego. With child. The first 4 months sucked big time. I was sicker than a dog. Not so much throwing up, but nausea. I think never-ending nausea is exponentially worse than throwing up all day. It finally subsided and since then I've felt pretty good, although I'm the size of a small planet already and losing stamina fast. I'm only 22 weeks. Yikes.
Let's see...
Farm News:
Not a whole lot is going on now, being colder than hell outside does that. We have about 8 inches of blanketed snow on the ground, icicles in abundance and temps dipping down into the negatives (or near negatives) at night routinely. It's supposed to get warmer this week, only to dip down into the single digits again at night. So, that means ICE. And a lot of it. I'd rather have snow. At least it stays warmer. I haven't been able to get a whole lot done this year because of babies and prengnacy, so things are a little helter skelter out there. We did manage to get a few garden things done, but it was not very productive. I planted some tomato plants, squash, herbs, etc. but most of them died in the heat because our secondary water was very hard to access (and was very limited) this year. Sprinkler system died. All 0.84 acres of our property had to be hand watered with a sprinkler or hose and had time limits. It was miserable. Next year, we're trying something different and starting earlier!
Cow News:
We sold the cow. I still miss her, but it was for the best. Selling her was a chore, but she finally went to a family who planned to use her as a dairy cow and picked her up quickly. She's probably very pregnant right now and hopefully living high on alfalfa.
Out of everyone in the house, we have at least 3 kids who are a little dairy intolerant. They drink milk, but get upset tummies from it or constipated if they drink/eat too much of it. So far we've had success with sheep's milk and goat milk, but cow milk and products (specifically cheese and butter) not so much.
Chicken News:
Over the summer we lost 1 chicken. Not quite sure how, as we found her literally belly up without a mark on her. The theory is she was scared to death. She was otherwise a big, healthy Brahma chicken who was one of my better layers. Bummer. I had a close encounter with a skunk in the coop. One night I went out to close them up and there was a skunk hovering over the uncollected eggs. Scared the hell outta me. And the skunk! Since then we've been much, much better about collecting eggs and closing everyone in early. We had a skunk kill one of our birds the summer before, but didn't think we still had so many around. Guess we were wrong.
We were down to 9 chickens this year, including the rooster and I had plans to buy more chicks in the spring to bring our numbers back up to around 15 or so. However, our neighbor across the street came over the other day asking if we'd like to take her chickens. Her and her husband were moving to Rock Springs, WY and SLC, UT, respectively (I think they're divorcing, but I didn't ask) and they needed them gone in a hurry. I came over to look at them and decided to take them. They were so happy we took them that they even paid for a bag of feed and gave us some nest boxes. Score! They're younger birds, probably around a year or so, 6 hens and 3 roosters. One of the hens is terribly skinny, but bright eyed and otherwise healthy. She seems to be eating well and everything, so I think she was just not getting enough food. The flock of birds included: 2 RIR hens, 2 beautiful big Buff Orpington hens, 1 skinny partridge colored hen and 1 black/white speckled hen (a common breed, but I can't remember it right now). Of the roosters, we have a huge Buff Orpington boy I named Henry; a black and white speckled roo (handsome boy!), completely chill rooster I've named Wickham; and a cute, tiny little bantam Amerucana I've named Napoleon. Two of the roosters have frostbitten combs, which is pretty common in the area when we get a cold snap fast. The neighbors didn't put the heat lamp in the coop in time to prevent it, so we're treating one rooster for it. It got very, very cold here really fast so it took everyone by surprise. I'm hoping his comb will survive the winter, but we'll see. The frostbite wasn't terribly bad, so there's a chance it'll be ok. So, now we're up to 14 hens and 4 roosters. The Buff hens tend to be broody, so maybe we'll get some chicks in the spring!
Sheep News:
We still have the sheep. I was planning on sending them to freezer camp, but decided to keep them around solely as grass eaters, at least until we can get the fences fixed. The plan right now is to get milk goats, but we can't do that until our fencing situation is fixed. The cow did a serious number on our already flimsy fences. The sheep are very, very easy to keep penned (they don't challenge fences AT ALL), so it's not a problem. They eat the grass and I don't have to mow it. They don't eat a ton of food or require much in the way of maintenance. Hard to justify butchering them when they are providing me a service. :)
Other News:
Also there's a slight problem of a big, gigantic freeway that the state is planning to build way too close for comfort. So, depending on what is decided on that, we may be moving sooner than we had planned. Though it won't be going through our house, like they had initially planned, it will be going in 5 houses down and we may possibly have an on/off ramp literally right next to our house. The traffic on this little country road is already too heavy/fast for comfort, and adding another big road onto it will only increase the traffic. If that happens, we're definitely gone. The environmental studies are being held up right now by the Dept of Interior because of environmentalist concerns over migratory birds (THANK YOU ENVIRONMENTALISTS!), so it may delay the road going in indefinitely. Though, there was a similar thing that happened on the Legacy Highway here and it just delayed the road by about 10 years. Bummer. I do like my little home and land. Having something like this happen puts a serious damper on any long term plans I may have for this place. I guess only time will tell.
Ok, that's all the highlights! Merry Christmas!
-Nat
No comments:
Post a Comment