Caption Needed

Mag got some cute shots of our barred rock girls this morning on their nests. 

This picture reminds me of that caption “you been farming long”, only these are chickens laying their daily eggs.

So we were needin help giving these girls their own caption.  What do you guys think?  We need some help naming this photo.  Feel free to give as many suggestions as you’d like, I know we have some very quick and witty readers out there!! 🙂

Thursday Evening

It was another beautiful day here on the Eastern plains.  However when the sun goes down, the temperature sure drops.  Blake and Paisley helped me get the heifers in tonight since Duane wasn’t back.  It was so beautiful with the huge moon just coming up and all the heifers trailing in to HQ.  Of course I didn’t have my camera handy.  Maybe next time.  I think the full moon is tomorrow night.

Life of a Workin Puppy

Pinch takes it upon himself to make sure that the guineas stay in as tight of a group as possible.  One of the guineas is usually off by himself and this drives Pinch crazy.

Work it Pinch, work it.

“Hey guys look at me!  Look what I can do!” 

And this is one of our roosters, Pretty Boy Floyd, he and Pinch have this cat and mouse thing going.  This is usually a daily occurrence.

“Come on Pretty Boy, bring it on!”

kitchen trash

And then we have moments like this.  Thanks Pinch!

Snow Days

We made it through the storm and it is officially warming up outside!!  For this we are thankful.  This storm brought the extreme cold with it once again.  We found we had no water at about 5 a.m. Monday morning.  It was a fight to keep calves alive in this type of bitter cold weather.  Even the healthy pairs were in danger, the snow was drifting so deep that it completely covered 2 calves.  They actually turned out to be OK.  The good Lord helped us out countless times throughout the storm.    Today we are supposed to have a high of 30*.  It looks like the next week is going to be beautiful.  I think by Tuesday it will be in the 60’s.  This will be so much nicer for the heifers and their babies!!  I always feel bad for them when they are having babies out in the  extreme cold.  There is just no reason to be calving this time of year, period!

We did get several inches of snow out of this last storm, and in certain areas of the barnyard the drifts were pretty deep.  The kids found a good spot to dig out some tunnels and made forts.  On days like this we do recess first.  And as you can see good o’l Pinch loves the snow fort too!!  Happy snow days to you!!

Random Photos

 

Good Sabbath!

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day….

Ephesians 6:12&13

 

It’s not difficult to see the evil in our world today.  Ephesians chapter 6 states that we are to be prepared with and therefore protected by the armour of God.  Let’s use this armour to guard our marriages and families against the onslaught of this world.  And let’s encourage each other by standing strong against evil.

Laundry Soap 101

Miss P working very hard on grating this bar of soap.  For this recipe you will need a 1/2 bar of grated soap.  You can use homemade soap, Fels Naptha, Ivory or Zote.

Good work sis!

You will need 1/2c Borax and a 1/2 cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda.

Put the grated soap into a stainless steel pot, add 3 pints of water, and heat until dissolved.  Stir in 1/2c washing soda and 1/2c Borax.  Mix and heat until all ingredients are dissolved.  Cook for 15 minutes(boil).  It will look similar to honey.  Remove from heat.*

In a large bucket (3 or 5 gallon), put 1 quart of hot water, then add the soap.  Mix.  Add 5 1/2 quarts cold water (or enough to make 2 gallons total mixture).  Mix until well blended.  Set aside for 24 hours.  It will gel up.  Use 1/2 cup for each load.

Homemade laundry soap

1/2 bar soap

1/2 c Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda

1/2c Borax

Makes 2 gallons.  (Approx. $.40 per gallon)

Grate soap.  Put in a stainless steel or other non-aluminum, non-cast iron pan with 3 pints of water, and heat until dissolved.  Stir in 1/2 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup Borax.  Mix and heat until all ingredients are dissolved.  Cook for 15 minutes.  It will look similar to honey.  Remove from heat.

In a large bucket, put 1 quart of hot water, then add the soap.  Mix.  Add 5 1/2 quarts cold water.  Mix until well blended.  Set aside for 24 hours.  It will gel up.*  Use 1/2 cup for each load.

*Sometimes the detergent doesn’t really gel up or even reach honey consistency when you cook it.  Don’t worry about it, it will still work.  Also, the get tends to separate in a couple of days.  Just give it a stir each time you use it.  You can keep it in a detergent bottle like liquid detergent comes in and shake it up each time you use it.

This detergent will not suds up in the washer, but it is still getting your clothes clean.

Wednesday

It was a bit warmer today.  I think our high might have been 12*F.  The best thing was the wind actually died down!  Even if the temps didn’t get that warm it helps when the wind isn’t crankin.

  The heifers all the sudden really turned it up a notch in the calving department.  Duane tried to leave the home ranch this afternoon to go get some much needed supplies (colostrum, ear tags, chicken feed, straw…) but a heifer needed some help delivering so he had to stay.  It was a good thing he did stay too, since several babies weren’t real sure who was there mama.  It’s easy to get confused when they don’t have much room to themselves, we still have them all up around the barns because of the cold.  Hopefully tomorrow will prove to be even nicer and we will kick out a bunch of the healthier pairs back onto grass, this will be good since we are getting another semi load of heavy heifers brought over as well. 

Blake and Duane are tired tonight, they had a big day of feeding, checking, pulling calves, strawing barns, breaking ice, pairing up, tube feeding, warming calves…and the list goes on.  It’s 7:15pm Duane should be in soon, I think.

Last week…

we were running through sprinklers and watering the trees in about 70* weather. 

February greets us…

Currently it is -3F here at the house, wind chill is -31F.  OUCH.

Everything has been coated in ice, lovely for picture taking but oh so cold.  Duane and Blake gathered in all the cows and calves to the corrals for some much needed protection.  We had the barns strawed down and fed them up good, it’s as much comfort as we could give them.  It was a blessing that nobody calved during the night.  Duane had to pull a calf this morning though.  He was able to get to it before it froze, the calf was still in the sack and had icicles hanging off of it.  It was a big calf, and seems to be doing alright.

Thanks to Mag for all the photos you took for me. 🙂