McKillipKlan

Spring Kids

  But I just don't know what to name them!  One boy, one girl born on April 15th.  One of the kids suggested "Easter" and "Bunny" since we are still in the Easter season, but I'm not real keen on that.  So as of today, they are nameless.  I was thinking names of flowers but no one else here likes that idea! 

 

Kids say the funniest things

I got home from work tonight and as usual the kids were wonderful and served me dinner while I reclined on the couch.  (so I'm old and my feet hurt!).  As the kids were getting ready to go to bed they all lined up to give me a kiss good night.  As they did Matthew said, "Hey Mom, you have a whole line of kids here!"  He's right.  And it is a cool thing.  :)

Day at Home

I so love days at home.  I could stay home all the time.  Oh wait, with gas approaching $4/gallon, living 30 miles from town, I guess we'll be home a whole lot more from now on.  Like maybe ALL week!  I already informed work that I will be unavailable unless I can work for six hours.  No sense in driving to town and back to break even on gas dollars.  We went to church early and putzed around all day.  No sense of direction, no chores that had to get done, just a lazy move through the day.  I had my phone outside, so the pictures are not great but I had to share. 

Yesterday a friend delivered three new horses.  Free horses.  Have I mentioned the price of gasoline?  It affects hay prices.  Good thing we bought a years worth ahead of time or I wouldn't have any horses or goats.  We usually cut our own field but due to lack of moisture last year, we got no hay.  It isn't looking good again this year.   Praying for rain here for sure!  Little Joe, a bay paint gelding, is patient and gorgeous.  He might get to stay here.  Anna likes him. :)  And the baby girl usually gets her way.

 

Anna and Little Joe.

Little Joe, first ride in over a year.  He is a good fella

And the goaties?  Doing fine.  Can you say big as a barn?  Jasmine is due any day now.  I'm predicting tomorrow due to the change in barametric pressure.  She is very thin and has most likely several kids in there, so we are feeding and supplementing her very carefully.  We want more milk!  We bought her from another farm and she has struggled with a high parasite load and low body weight since she came her.  But our vet is wonderul and supportive.  :)  She even gave me two (free) phone consultations this week. 

oh yeah...she is miserable.  I remember that feeling!

The milkers, keeping their eyes on the dogs, they do not welcome dogs into "their" field.

Got some garden area tilled.  Boy power is not to be underestimated.  I told him he is living with me forever.  His little tractor kicked my butt, he had this turned over in less than a half hour.  I'm gettin' old.  I'm ready to move the broccoli and cabbage outside.

This one not much into the horse thing.  He much prefers the motorized type.  Even after a week in hospital last year for a liver and pancreas laceration after a bike accident, he has a need for speed.  Can you hear my gray hairs popping out??  Cause let me tell you, my boys are the cause of either all my gray or all the alcohol I drink or all the desperate prayers I mutter on any given day with them. 

And here is one calm boy...for now.  He is only 8.  He had a great time riding his mini ATV. 

Last, but not least, the huge Percheron that came yesterday.  His feet are in terrible condition, but he is gorgeous.  And my husband has a new love.  I keep hoping we sell him!  Remember those hay prices?? 

 

 

Good-Bye Chisholm

After 7 years of loyal service as a 4H pleasure horse and lessons horse here, he has gone to another farm to be semi-retired as a part time lessons horse.  His barn will be totally indoor and heated.  While I am so glad he went to a good home, I can't help but remember that Christmas day that the kids had to follow the ribbons to the barn to find their new horse.  I'm a sap.  And I'll miss him.  But the girls say it's time to let the old man go and focus on the younger horses here. 

Spring is coming

     While I think this is most likely a false spring, with temps in the 70's it has been a much needed taste of spring for me.  I have been starting plants for our spring/summer bedding vegetable and herb sale like wild!  I really need to make a list of my varieties.  The greenhouse will be full in very short order.  From the top of my head I have these so far:

oregano, wonderful fragrant oregano started in Jan.  will overwinter well in pots in a basement or with lots of mulch outside.

thyme, ditto :)

basil just started. 

chives, although I struggle with chives for some reason.  I think the greenhouse is a bit too warm for chives

parsley, sage, mint, lemon balm and chamomile are all going strong.  2.5" pots will be $3 each. 

So far the vegetable line up looks like

tomatoes: Black Krim, Golden Cherry, Black Cherry, Mountain Fresh, New Girl, Brandywine, Green Zebra, Rose, Cherokee Purple...and whatever else suits my fancy and I plant. Should have 600-1000 tomatoes available this spring.  4" deep peat pot $3  I'll also have a few (50 maybe?) available in 1/2 gal pots or 5 gal patio planters, but they will be a bit more expensive.

peppers: anaheim, jalepeno, green bell  but probably not available until the end of May, they take a long time to get going well and I'm running a bit behind on them.  Same price as above :)

I'll have a few more varieties of summer vegetables:  head lettuce, squash, zucchini squash, cucumbers, bok choi, swiss chard and whatever else comes along.

In the meantime: I picked up two bred dairy goats.  Sadly, one is in rather poor condition physically, the vet thinks her load of coccidia parasites has been too high during pregnancy.  We have been feeding her three times a day and treating her for the coccidia parasite.  The vet is not too hopeful that she will survive kidding.  I've had the vet here twice since I purchased this doe and we are working hard to keep her as part of our dairy team.  The vet is of the opinion that a doe bred in a decreased state of health is hard to keep weight on in the later part of pregnancy and early lactation.  So we are doing our best.  We also have no idea when this doe is actually due to kid.  It is hard to plan my work schedule all the while wondering if we should be expecting kids any day.  Last week I was sure she would kid any day.  Nope, still big as a barn, yet skinny.  I'm giving minerals free choice, alfalfa free choice, Purina goat chow three times a day and an anti coccidiosis medicated feed daily.  If she makes it she will be my most expensive goat ever! By far.  

4H turkeys are here!

and I swear I can hear them growing.  The boys are all excited for fair this year, and hopefull these small things will survive the cat who believes they are the daily entertainment. 

I'll try to blog a bit more often as we head into the swamped time of year.  It is my hands down, most favorite  time of the year!  Plants growing, grass greening up, warm sunshine,  kids being born, chicks hatching....signs of life everywhere. :) 

 

 

 

Schooling (and not the kind you think)

  Today I was schooled.  The lesson from God was gratefulness.  And I am listening God, your messengers are small or super-sized, quiet or boisterous, old or young, handicapped or injured, native-born or foreigners, and perhaps getting ready to die and see your face.  And they all have had so very much to teach me of late.  I wish I could give my lessons to any who would read this page.  But I cannot, they are deeply personal.  They reside in words, conversations, hugs, tears, and promises of prayers; between feeding meals and changing soiled underpants.  Between unbearable pain and personal stories.  They live along the cries of small children as they watch their beloved, still young parent die.  They live with the old who have seen life.  The lessons are profound and they all cry out that we should be grateful. I'd like to share some of my lessons.  I'm not ashamed to say I cry.  I cry a lot.  I cry for the small and forgotten.  I cry for the young and dying.  I cry for the angry ones who cannot see God for whatever reason.  But those of you who know me well, you know I cry  because I seem to have a heart that carries the burden home, so I have to write or it will overwhelm me and affect my children's lives.  Mostly I write privately, but today I'm sharing some of what I think have been amazing lessons of late.  We have lost six residents in the past 30 days.  People who have shared my weekly life for a year of working weekends.  There have been many others but they stayed so briefly that I didn't learn their story.  These folks I have loved. Not all are gone who have taught me well, but I'd like to share some of their lessons with you.  I've changed their identies completely.  I so wish I could say so much more, but would never compromise their privacy, so suffice it to say, there is so much to learn in suffering.  So very, very much. 

  Today I was honored to feed a woman.  She suffered a major head injury years ago, she has seizures and a jerking motion that makes it hard to feed her, let alone talk to her.  It can take up to a minute (ok, I timed her today) for her to process what I said to her, very slowly, and reply.  But her replies are complete and honest.  Brutally. Honest.  She was married, spouse gone after accident, all alone.  Completely alone.  Her reply when I told her that I thought she was a very happy soul?  "It hasn't been so bad."  Seriously???  Decades of institutions, decades of illness, pain and suffering many years since her parents passed away?  "not so bad??"  We laugh over bad coffee and old men.  And when I hugged her tonight?  She told me she loved me.  No, dear lady, it is I who love you.  You taught me that every day of good health for me and my family is a blessing. 

   Recently a resident took a sharp turn for the worse, obviously he was close to his time.  He kept telling us all day that he had found, "the secret".  Joking around we asked, "what, the secret to life?!"  and very, very slowly he replied, "yeeeesssss", while smiling the biggest smile I've ever seen.  Later that day he was talking to the ceiling.  I asked him if there was someone there for him.  "yes", he replied, "she is here!"  I asked him if he was seeing people who had died before.  "Yeeeessssss!" again the grin.  His journey was swift.  He had a date with the lady, I sure hope his wife came to hold his hand.   My year with him was short, his nearly a century on this earth was marked by his passing alone.  With only the staff members to cry.  I cried today when I passed his room.  He always patted my hand and smiled, even though he could not communicate well anymore.  He reminded me so much of my dear father-in-law.  I wonder so much what it is like on the other side.  My dear "R", may there be many trees for you in paradise.  :)  You know what I mean.

    Our colonel took ill.  He passed on.  We all kissed his sweet head where once he swears he had a full head of red.  Happy trails and may the Cowboys always win!

    Dear Mrs. J.  You were so famous, so wealthy and so lonely, yet so utterly sweet.  You know and I know that English grammar and proper diction is the bomb!  Rock on sweetie, those rotten kids may spend the money but they missed the best part of you.  We got that.  A meal without fancy clothes and lipstick?  Horrors!!  You saw so much of the world, yet so much you couldn't tell us.  We loved you my dear and I just don't know what to do at meals without your cute dinnerware.  I cried at your room too....all those amazing orginal paintings gone, I will miss them.  I hope you know I loved your refinement.  Lesson: education and refinement are never wasted!  nor a good game of bridge. 

    And Z.  Seriously?  here today, gone tomorrow?  Well thanks for the good-bye :)  Point well taken.

    And to that lady in room X.  You know who you are.  I miss you.  And I'm working on patience.   Dying in that manner is in rare form.  You had it.  Abundantly.  Damn it.  I miss you too.  And your dog. Lesson: patience.  patience. and still a tiny bit more patience.  But in my defense, I had a lot of you folks to care for, I hope you see that now.   

    One of my favs, ill so fast.  Gone too soon.  Your reminded me of my father.  Your Intellectual form, pressed shirts and conservative politics.  I won't forget you any time soon.  Godspeed dear.  You know I'm praying!  Lesson: time is short!  Life like you were dying.  Well, because we are.  :) 

  One of my absolute, all time, hands down great gals?  Mrs. M.  You my dear are totally awesome.  Suffice it to say, coming here and learning the language in those wild years a few decades ago?  Brave, brave, brave.  I didn't have it when I was young, don't have it now.  You have it.  And I'm coming for kimchi, cabbage on me.  Your Korean priest is cute, you're right.  :)  Lesson?  Live with God, his providence is better than evil governments and prejudice. 

    To my neighbor who had to come die with us.  My goodness.  Your grace and charm have been unsurpassed.  May your Great Spirit be with you .  I hope that whatever heaven is like you are riding there now.  You were an amazing cowboy.  You taught me to love despite so many things.   I fought your going.  Too young man.  Too young. 

  Too our own Rain Man.  You're right!  Peter Pan does exist!  I laughed at that.  But you had the last laugh.  Lesson there is to always stay young.  Always.  God has his own Lost Boys.  :) 

  Last but not least.  God bless our priests who serve the ill and dying.  They come out at night and in terrible weather.  God bless the ministers who come and the Native Amercan shamans who pray.  Lord knows that as a Catholic woman I don't get it all.  I just know that God is schooling me in the classroom and the knocks are hard.

  My companions on this journey are some of the coolest people I know.  Hard-working, honest, and caring.  We have to work with less and less govt. funding.  Working with more patients with less time for them.  But I think God always provides.  And He has provided me with abundant reasons to get out of bed every morning and sing His praises. 

 

Just another day...

in paradise right? :)  I read this quote today and thought it was truly fitting for me and my life right now:

"The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for what He is sending us every day in His goodness."  ~St. Gianna Molla

 

And what He has sent me lately has been so much better than what has been dished out the past 5 years.  So much better.  Which gives me hope that some rotten stuff is behind for now. 

Good Stuff:

Two enormous goats ready to kid any day to give us fresh milk.

Two goats who have faithfully provided for the past two years and will be bred this fall again.

One yearly goat to be bred this fall.

More than enough work for my husband, which equals the obvious :)

Six healthy children, one adult child living and working all by her grown-up self.

Chickens for eggs.

Meat in the freezer.

Wood for my stove.

Enough to pay my bills.

Very few bills!

Faith enough (just barely) to get through some dark days.

My greenhouse full.  Full of seedlings ready to be sold this late spring.  Herbs and veggies: oregano, marjoram, thyme, basil, chives, parsley.  Tomatoes, peppers, cabbages, broccoli, lettuces, and more. Hundreds of thriving plants, signs of life as spring starts to show it's face.

My greenhouse itself.  A gift from my husband and boys.  And honestly worth more than diamonds or treasures to me.

My husband.  I'm not allowed to gush online.  He forbids it.  :)  But suffice it to say, I wouldn't trade.

Friends who love me, despite my rather obvious flaws.

Companionship on the journey of life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seed starting indoors on a budget

  This guy does exactly what I do for inexpensive seed starting before I heat the greenhouse, however with a couple great ideas!  He uses reflective insulation around the shelving plus a painters clear plastic tarp in front of the whole thing to regulate temps.  duh!!  Now why didn't I think of this?  Anyway, great ideas.

 

The Garden Hound blog....a very fun place indeed.

What a difference a year makes....

     Last year I posted this rather pathetic attempt at cheerfulness....  while it was my anniversary and all, we did have a small celebration.  This year I'm glad to report that we took a wonderful quick trip to the mountains for an overnight vacation at the hot springs in

fabulous Idaho Springs, CO.

 

   It was our first vacation alone in over 16 years.  It was too short!  And there are no pictures because we were busy reminding ourselves of why we actually got married 22 years ago.  :) 

Thankful

     Sometimes you have to just keep on keeping on.  No analyzing, no more tears, no more questions.  Just one foot in front of the other.  And find the elusive blessings, because they are everywhere.

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, and may the rain fall softly on your fields.  Until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.  Irish Blessing

 

  

The home place on the right side of the picture....lots of great memories, and a few sad ones too.

    And surprisingly, the sun still comes up every day.  And I still smile at this site out my front deck every day.  God has abundantly blessed us with family, friends and faith.  And this year?  Despite the most emotionally, physically and financially stressful times I have ever experienced in my life, I am more thankful than ever, and that is what it is all about.