Kids!!!

Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 12:46

Our goat, Millie, just gave birth today! She had TRIPLETS, too! They all are alive and well, unlike last year when we walked down to the barn to find Penny, another goat, with 2 live kids and 1 dead. ):

^This one is Isaac, the boy. Believe it or not, his father's name was Abraham, just like in the bible!

^ Here are Rose (left) and Nellie the 2 girls. 

^And here she is, Millie, the 3-year prizewinner for best mom award.

^ Here they all are, Millie and Family.

Congragulations, Millie!!!!!!!!!

Kyle's Back in Buiseness!

Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 04:32

Hello! I just wanted to let you know that my brother Kyle hasen't been on in a long time and he just started up again. Gotta go!

-Kenny

Aquarium has Fish!!!!

Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 12:58

well, our aquarium finally has fish in it! We have 3 kinds of fish. There are 3 Red Serpae Tetras, 3 White Cloud Mountain Minnows, and 1 Suckermouth catfish (Plecostomus) named Plicasso (because of the name in parenthesies.:) We also have 4 Ghost Shrimp, but I couldn't get a good picture. They're very light brown and almost transparent. Here are some pics of the other ones:

 These are the Tetras^

Plicasso^

 These are the White Cloud Mountain Minnows.^

Here are the thermometer and a plant bulb. (I trust you can tell them apart)

Well, there it is-our aquarium. 

Happy Birthday to Me...

Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 09:36

I'm 13 today! My mom made sweet cornbread for breakfast, and I don't have to clean up after meals, I don't have to do my chores, there's no shool, and when I usually take care of the babies, I get a day off!

I also get to choose the dinner. I picked burgers, nachos and my mom suggested french fries from the store. we're having them with dinner.

For dessert I chose a chocolate cake called "crazy cake." It's called that because during the great depression people went crazy to make it because it doesn't have milk or eggs in it. And believe it or not, it has VINEGAR!

Also, instead of just ice cream, I chose root beer floats. After dinner I'll open presents. (Kyle and Kaitlyn and I said our gift to each other was the aquarium.)

I'll probably get e-cards from my aunts and uncles. I can tell it's going to be a good birthday! 

Aquarium

Posted on Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 05:59

You might have heard of freecycle. It's a website where people give stuff away on. We got a ten-gallon fish tank on it. not only was it a tank, but it came with tons of supplies. We somehow wrestled it all together-the tank, hood, light, air pump, heater, and  plants. It also had a filter, but we couldn't figure it out, so we bought one from the store.

                                                                   BEFORE-AND-AFTER'S

 tank-Before

After

artificial plants-Before

After

filter-Before

After

If you look close, you can see a brown thing in the middle of this picture. it's a bulb for a live plant that will grow 6"-8" in 15 days. 

This is the heater.

 This blue thing you see is called an airstone. It's attatched to a plastic tube that leads to an air pump outside the tank that gives the fish oxygen. This is called an aeration system.

Here's all our supplies. Now maybe you can see why I said we "wrestled it together.":)

Here's the air pump...

   ...and here are the air bubbles it makes.

You probably noticed 2 things-1,we have a red backround. We taped up a piece of poster board. And 2, we don't have any fish! This is because you are supposed to wait a week or so before you put fish in, because you want the tank to mature a little, give the heater some time to heat up the water, the air pump to oxygenate the water, the filter to filter the water, etc. However, our filter came with a bio-bag,which is something in the filter that helps correct the water conditions. Also, we put a tablet in that dissolves and helps get the water ready for the fish. 

Kyle and I once tried to keep an aquarium. We already had a tank. We bought rocks, a filter, food and 2 Guppies, a small aquarium fish. They died after a while, probably because we didn't do the research we're doing now. When we do get our fish, we'll get Guppies, Tetras, and probably lots more. we might get an Angelfish, a beautiful tropical fish.

It's going to be a freshwater tank. Our dad used to have a saltwater one, and he said it's a lot of work to maintain the correct water conditions, and that the salt could get expensive. He also used to have a freshwater tank and knows a lot about them.

I'll be sure to add more pictures when we get the fish in it. If you think it looks good now, wait till you see it with the fish!

Boonebego

Posted on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 02:21

We live right on the border of two counties: Boone and Winnebego. When Kyle walked down to do the chores, he called me over to look at a snowdrift that started at the top of a small hill running through our property, and ended at the bottom, going through a wire fence into a vacant goat pen. Later that day, Kyle, Kaitlyn, Kevin and I all went down to the hill and all got started on a tunnel through the huge drift. we supposed it was somewhere around the line of the 2 counties, and so we called it "Boonebego" (BOON-uh-BAY-go).

We all went down to the drift and started building the tunnel.  Kyle and Kaitlyn dug into the bottom, and I took the top. A little way down I came to a forgotten plastic sled, which was a big job to get out. During the process of freeing it, however, we broke through. After we'd freed the sled, it was just a matter of clearing snow out of the opening. We finished that, and Kyle Became the first person ever to crawl completely through Boonebego. Kaitlyn went next, then I went. It was a job well done. We showed our mom, went through the tunnel a little longer, then went in the house for a well- deserved cup of cocoa. Here are some pictures of the tunnel Boonebego:

Super Bowl 42

Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 05:58

On February 3rd was the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is when the best football teams compete against each other at the end of the year until it gets down to 2 teams who haven't lost yet, and those 2 teams play against each other in the Super Bowl.

This year the New York Giants (which is my favorite team) Played the New England Patriots. the Patriots went through the whole year without losing a single game. The Giants, on the other hand, lost a few. However, they made it to the playoffs. First they played the Buccaneers, and everyone thought they would lose, but they won. It was the same with the Cowboys AND the Packers (my second favorite team). Then in the Super Bowl, they Played the Patriots, and guess what? They won!  

That same day we went to church for the first time. We sang a few songs, then Kyle, Kaitlyn and Kevin went downstairs and listened to the story of Adam and Eve.  Kyle will now probably stay upstairs for normal service, though.

I'm gonna be 13 in 17 days! It'll be the first 13th Birthday of my life!                                                           

P.S.- I ran through the snow barefoot today.

Minnow Trap

Posted on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 at 06:26

I haven't been on for a long time! You must all be wondering about me. 

Kyle got me a minnow trap for Christmas. It is designed so that minnows can swim in but not get out. It looks just like a wire trash can with two closed ends. On each end there is an indent with a hole in it. it's held together with a pin-like thing. You bait the trap with bread, dough, or meat. I used balls of bread mixed with butter so it would be waterproof.

Me, my brother and my sister went down to a creek near our house. (when down there, we saw an animal that we didn't know the name of. I found that the name of it was the marsh rice rat). Anyway, It was a particulary warm day (63 degrees!) for the dead of January, and we saw some minnows. We thought it would be a good day to set the trap. So we baited it with the bait I mentioned, and checked it from time to time. No minnows.

There was a tornado warning that day, so we had to come in. Today I checked it. I saw flashes in it. Now, apparently minnows swim into the hole in either side, but are not smart enough to know to swim out. I lifted up the trap and was rewarded with 40 MINNOWS! We put them in a black plastic sled with water, stones, mud grass and food. We had set the trap again and caught another 10 or 15.

There is one problem, though. what to do with them all. I know you can use them for bait for large fish, but we really don't have a fishing trip planned, and it's supposed to be 0 degrees next week. I tried feeding them to the cat, but she didn't want them. Any ideas, please leave them in a comment. Thanks!  

Christmas Tree

Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007 at 10:52

We put up our Christmas tree on Friday the 7th. It looks nice in front of our picture window.

this is with the flash

this is without the flash

Suprisingly, this is a fake tree from my grandpa's (my grandma died just over a year ago). It looks so real! We put it up in the daytime and put the lights on. Then in the evening we put all the ornaments on it and took a couple pics.

We also went sledding the next day. It was great! There is a hill 5 minutes from where we live. Some kids built a ramp out of snow on the hill, and we had fun snowboarding and sledding off it.

Wild Rabbit Chase!

Posted on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 09:43

My brother Kyle was in a pen where we keep two male goats, and he scared up a rabbit. The rabbit ran into our chicken yard. Our cat Ginger was in the chicken yard, and she started chasing it. Rabbit ran to the end of the fence, where our dog Angel was standing at the ready. She started rearing up and barking. This rabbit has a secret refuge in our pigpen and ran into there, and then out the other end, where I happened to be standing. I chased it along our barn untill it came upon bloodthirsty Ranger, our other dog, who was stuck behind an electric underground wire. If it hadn't been for that wire, he would have snagged that rabbit. Rabbit ran behind our grain bin. I ran aroud the other side and the rabbit ran into this pile of wooden beams by our grain bin. I tried to scare It up, but had no luck. How's that for a wild goose chase-no, a wild rabbit chase!    

Ice Harvest

Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 11:15

My brother kyle and I have been having fun with what we call the "ice harvest".

I've told you before that we have a pool, and that each winter we have to close it. Well, the hard work pays off. That is, for Kyle and I.

When rainwater accumulates in the pool cover, Kyle and I take long, sturdy sticks and perforate the ice, making an outline of a block. We then pry the ice up, making a sheet. Then we pull the ice up onto our deck (not an easy job) and, in my case, take pictures. You will see that in one pic, the sheets are smaller. Well, that is because when we perforate the ice, some of it breaks into small pieces. 

I suppose you want to see pictures of our unusual trophies. Here they are.   

these are some of our biggest ones

here is our prize

and here's what the cover looked like after our handywork

WARNING!   My brother and I have been harvesting ice for 3 years, giving us 3 years of practice. DO NOT try to harvest ice yourself without proper  safety and, if needed, permission, which could result in hypothermia or drowning.

Thanksgiving

Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 03:11

I've been doing a lot this week because my grandfather came over. We had a great thanksgiving! Some of my aunts and uncles came over. We played football and had a HUGE thanksgiving dinner! Before dinner we had chips and artichoke dip. After dinner everybody had pie and cookies and ice cream and  played a board game. I drew, cut out, and painted a leafless tree out of paper, and me, Kyle and Kaitlyn made paper leaves that you write what you're thankful for on and hang them up on the tree. after everybody left  it looked like a real tree!

I was tagged by Gaelin.   When you are tagged, you're supposed to link to the tagger, post the rules, post 7 random things about yourself, and let someone else know you tagged them by a comment or message.

                                                                      7 Random Things About Me

1. My birthday (feb.22) is the same day as George Washigton's.

2.My favorite sport is baseball, but football is a close second.

3.I don't celebrate halloween.

4. I've ran 19 races.

5. My favorite food is a dish my mom invented called ground beef parmesean.

6.My favorite song is John Henry.

7.I am not allergic to anything.

I will tag Abigail and HillmanAcres.

Last Track Meet, Sure!

Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 03:52

I said in my last track meet entry that it would be the "last one". There was another one, though.

Gaelin asked me what a track meet really was. Well Gaelin, and anybody else, a track meet is a race that running teams compete in as a group. A lot of times they are high school teams. They all wear uniforms, too.

This one was bigger than most meets, because almost all the teams in the state come to this one race. This is because you can qualify to go to the nationals in Virginia (in which all the teams in the country compete in) in this meet. I can't go to nationals because it's too far away.

I got a great time of 13:29. That is a PR (personal record) by almost 20 seconds.

 P.S.- sorry I didn't post for a long time.

It's Getting Colder...

Posted on Friday, November 2, 2007 at 03:16

If you live as up north as I do, you'll have noticed by now that God is showing his signs of cold weather. I don't know what to think about that. The past winters have started out fun and exiting, with playing in the snow and christmas and everything, but then there's having to do chores in ten degrees below zero, waking up cold in the morning, and closing up your pool.

I know what you'r thinking. He has a pool?!  Yes, I've been on homestead blogger for 5 months now, and I never told you-we have an above-ground pool that is a big pain to close every winter. All the hubub with the winter pool cover is finally over, and I couldn't be more glad!

We also mowed the grass for the last time. We have a riding mower that we drive around in a circle every time we mow our lawn, and after a while, driving in a circle all summer gets pretty boring. It's one of those jobs that you don't like to do, but in the end are always satisfying.

Today I went to the dentist. I had to get some of my teeth filled and sealed. I really can't say exactly every detail. All I know is that it was a big series of squirting water and fillings into my mouth, sticking swabs in, and putting this stuff on my gums that was for sealing up a small puncture and that if I got on my tongue, tasted nasty. At least now I'm able to say that I have no cavities!     

ONE Last Track Meet

Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 at 04:13

I told you you'd get sick of hearing about my track meets. This one is the last one.

It was, again, 3,000 meters. and my time, again, was 13:48. I probably should've done it faster, but the week before I was sick with the fever (that was the reason I didn't write for a long time). Sorry I couldn't put the results up. They didn't show up very good.

More Track Meets

Posted on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at 03:16

I did 3 track meets this month so far. I thought I would tell you about them.

The first one was on the 6th. It was In Belvidere, a town right close to us. It was 3,000 meters, just like the last one, the practice meet. I did not do as well, though. my time was 14:33. It was hot that day, and nobody did as good as they wanted to.

The next one was in Rockford, another town near us, on the 10th at a high school. It was 1.5 miles long. It was very cold that day (can't we get a nice day around here?!).  My time was in the 11 30's.

Today I did one called the handicap meet. It, too, was in Rockford. What the coach did was take all the team's times and started the slowest person first, the 2nd slowest 2nd, and so on, and try to make them finish at all the same time.

 I am going goose hunting today. If (or, rather, when) I get a goose, I'll let you know.

To Gaelin and His Sisters

Posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at 02:59

I recieved a couple of comments and messages, one telling me that I rightfully won Gaelin's contest, one from his sister saying she shouldn't have left the comment that she did on Gaelin's contest, etc. I just wanted to say that I REALLY don't care about this contest all the much. I don't want everybody getting all worked up about it. Perhaps I did win it, but even if I didn't, I REALLY don't care. If Gaelin throws the prize in a lake I wouldn't be any worse off than before. (Not that I want you to, Gaelin!:)  But I want to let you know that-yes, you guessed-I REALLY don't care.

Gaelin's Contest is Over!

Posted on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 at 04:32

Well, Gaelin's comment contest is over. I was the 25th person to leave a comment. I saw that there were 23 comments, the 23rd comment being left by his sister, Rose, and asked my sister to leave a comment, which would make it 24. She did, and I then left #25. However, Kember left a comment claiming that if Gaelin didn't count his sister Rose's comment as a comment (if that makes any sense), she would be #25. Gaelin then put an entry up saying that she won the main prize of 2 walkie talkies and an Isreali coin and I am to recieve a German coin, because I left the 24th comment, making me sort of in 2nd place.

 Gaelin, Thanks for giving me a German coin. I'm sure I'll enjoy it.  

Finally, An Entry!

Posted on Monday, October 15, 2007 at 11:56

It's been very long since I posted an entry. Sorry! Guess i've just been busy.

I'm sorry to say that both our lambs died. They were very young, and I have to say I'm not all that suprised. we did some asking around and figured out that the reason was because they needed their mother's colostrum, which our goats didn't have anymore in their milk. It only is in there when the babies are born. It helps them not to get too weak, and our lambs were too weak.

MY FIRST GOOSE!

Yesterday I shot my first goose. It was in youth goose season, so my dad couldn't hunt, but he came with us (Kyle and I) and so did Kaitlyn and Kevin.  The geese were in a field by our garden. Our neighbor owns the field. My dad and Kevin scared the geese toward us. I had to run to get a good shot. Here's a picture of me and my trophy.

Also, Gaelin is having a contest. The 25th person to leave a comment gets an Isreali coin and 2 walkie talkies.

So long,

Kenny 

Contest is over!

Posted on Monday, October 8, 2007 at 04:01

Well, my contest is over. The 35th person to leave a comment was....EmilyD! So she will get Kid's Art Works.       

Note to EmilyD-I will need your adress before I send you the book, so I'll know where to send it. Let me know what it is in a comment or message.

 -Kenny

The Lambs 

Someone we know down the road has a sheep that just gave birth to twins, and she didn't have any milk. He asked us if we wanted them, because we have goat's milk. We said yes, so he brought them over. Here they are.

I was awarded by countrygalu.