Homestead Happenings

Why we no longer vaccinate our children

People are often shocked when I tell them that my hubby and I no longer vaccinate (vax) our children.  "Why in the world would you do that to your children?!"  They ask.  Well I will tell you why. 

My first 2 children were vaxed right on schedule.  I was very diligent about making and keeping their doctors appointments.  When child #3 was born she started on her vax schedule.  My children had their "regular" bout of ear infections and I dutifully gave them the antibiotics the doctor prescribed to clear them up.  Then something happened.

When blessing #3 was 8 months old she was given her MMR vax.  Within  a few days she was covered from head to toe in small, clear blisters.  They were everywhere!  It was a bit scary.  So I did what good moms do.  I called the doctor and got her right in.  The doctor spent 30 minutes questioning me.  Had I started using a new laundry soap?  New body soap?  Had I introduced a new solid food? Had I let her have chips or soda?  Every question she asked me pointed in only one direction.... what had this mother (me) done?  I asked the doctor if it was possible that the vax could have caused it.  She looked at me like I was stupid and told how "completely safe" each vax was.  An uneasy feeling filled me as I left the office.  Something was not right.

Here is where I must say that I can not blame the doctor.  As a mother I am responsible for the choice I made to vax my children.  I do not believe that using the services of a professional such as a doctor relieves me of the God-given responsibly to train and protect my children.  I also must say that when blessing #1 was a baby she received her first 2 polio vax as an oral vax.  I read later that this oral vax was a LIVE polio virus and the only cause of every polio case since the 50's.  When I brought it to the attention of this doctor she very casually said that I was welcome to choose the injection that contains the dead virus.  I should have found a new doctor right then.  Alas I didn't. 

So here was my infant daughter covered in blisters and all the doctor did was ask me what I had done to cause it and gave us a cream.  That rash lasted for over 2 weeks.  When it finally cleared up I was relieved.  Shortly after that one of my older blessings caught a cold.  Then (no surprise) the other 2 caught it too.  Well the other 2 children got over it but blessing #3 developed this deep chest cough that just would not go away.  She coughed so hard she could not lay down to sleep.  She could barely sleep when I held her upright because she just would not stop coughing.  The doctor had no answers for me.  However, regardless of what the doctor said, I knew that vax caused the problem.  None of our children received another vax after that. 

Every time one of the children caught a cold she would get it and get that deep nasty cough.  Each time it lasted for at least 2 weeks.  About a year later I went back in when she was yet again sick.  This time I was seen by a different doctor since our regular doctor was out.   This doctor prescribed an inhaler!  It did help a bit but never completely.  So the cycle of cold and cough went on for 2 more years.   I can't believe it took me so long to educate myself so I could help my child.   As I slowly educated myself I learned about the many children injured by vax.  I never knew before that our government actually keeps a database of vax caused injuries and even a fund to compensate them!

When blessing #3 was three my hubby was deployed to Iraq so we had to get our care from the base hospital.  So when all of our children (we had 4 blessings now) caught a nasty stomach virus I took them in.  So while there I told him about the cough that plagued blessing #3.  He listened as I told the whole story and then asked, "Where did you read about R.A.D.?"  The he explained all about Reactive Airway Disease.  It made sense but when I asked if it could be cause by the MMR vax he too brushed it off.   By this time I knew better.  I had stared looking into herbal medicine.  This last doctor visit convinced me to put my studies into high gear.

R.A.D. is what it is called when ones lungs are extremely sensitive to irritation.  It can act a lot like asthma but it is different.  Being around a certain dog seems to set it off.  I don't know why it is this one dog.  It makes her sad because this dog belongs to her grandparent and she adores him but has to keep back.  Our dog (lives outside) seems to be no problem.  It helped a lot when we pulled up the carpet in out last house so we are doing the same thing in this new one.  There is no cure for R.A.D. and my research tells me that she may grow out of it but then again she may not.  To say the least it make me extremely MAD that I unknowingly let this happen.

Think I am way off base here?  Each couple must decide for themselves if their children should be vaxed.  Despite what you may have been told having your children vaxed is NOT required to attend school.  Any parent can sign a vax waiver.  We did.  By the way my blessings that have never been vaxed have never had an ear infection, never needed antibiotics, and get over colds and flu quickly.  We use doctors when truly needed.  The only time that has happened in the last several year was when we were in a major car accident. 

The government, after years of telling us how safe vaxing is have finally admitted that some children have been injured.  Read about it here:

http://newsmax.com/health/vaccines_cause_autism/2008/03/03/77315.html

Please do some research before letting your children get one more vax. Please look at these.  http://www.dptshot.com/   http://www.909shot.com/  http://poisonevercure.150m.com/abortion_industry_contributes.htm

Also look at the CDC website.  You would think you would find mass outbreaks among the non-vaxed.  You won't!  It just does not happen.  By the way, a vax only lasts about 10 years so most adults are complete vax-free!  Make the vax decision with much prayer and research!  ~ MotherOfBlessings

Our Trip to New Orleans

As you can see I have been really bad at keeping this thing up-to-date (sorry Dad) but the summer tends to be busy and living out here adds a lot of stuff to my "to do" list.  I digress...

Hubby won a professional award so we were treated to a trip to New Orleans with the plane fare and hotel paid for. I was really dreading being away from the children for 5 days but I REALLY had fun having my hubby all to myself.  It was alomost like we didn't have any children expcet for the fact that I thought about them a LOT..........  we talked about them a lot............ called them every night........ you get the idea.

We were able to spend most of the time sight seeing.  This included (for me) a list of things that I really want to do and food that I wanted to try.  Thanks to my dear hubby I did and tasted everything on my list.  How sweet is that?

We ate at Cafe Du Mond (twice).  Those beignets are wonderful!  If I lived there I would weight 1000 pounds!  Yum!  The crawfish was good but being a New England girl #1 for me will always be Maine Lobster.  We had Alligator sausage, gumbo, read beans and rice, bread pudding (most places we went), and et tu fet (spelling?).  They were all good.

As far as places we went the list is long.  I will try to be brief.

1. The French Quarter.  Burbon Street is not very nice in places and is mostly were people go to "party".  If we go back I would not want to go there again.  However other part of the quarter and very nice.
2. Jackson Square is very neat and we went in the Catherdral.  It was impressive.
3. The garden district has such beautiful houses.  It is hard to believe they are single family homes.  I would never want such a big house unless it came with a staff to clean it. 
4. A cruise on the Mississippi.  We took a 2 hour cruise on a riverboat that included lunch.  That was very nice.
5. A cemetary tour.  The above ground burial custom has alway interested me.  Now that we have learned how it works I think it is a very efficient use of land space.  Much better than only 2 coffins to a space like we do here.  I also like how they are deeded as real property and generations of the same family can be interned there.  If you want to know how it work you have to look it up.   
6. The National WWII museum was awesome.  We spent four hours there and could have stayed for 4 more.  There is a lot to see and hear.  i am thankful to all the servicemembers and thier families who donated items to the museum.  There was group of servicemembers who served in New Orleans during WWII there for their final reunion.  Hubby was weraing a USMC shirt so one gentleman shook his hand and told him what he did on Pear Harbor day and the months following.  How wonderful.  There were several times I saw these men with their families telling them where they were and what they did during the war.  I was honored to see these living pieces of our history that are quickly dissapearing.  Please make sure that whenever you see a service member you thank them for their service.  With the sacrifice of them and their families our nation would not have the freedom we all enjoy!

I will post a few pics here.  Family members and close frinds can email me and I will send you my kodak link so you can see all of them if you are that brave.  There are over 400 of them!

I know..I know...

It has been a long time since I have last blogged.  There has been a lot happening.

First, blessing #7 is due in January.  So right now I am in the middle of "morning" sickness.  Why do they call it that?  I would be glad if it was just in the morning.  We are very excited that the Lord has blessed us with another child.  Now I am in a slight panic wanting to get the girls room done so we can finish what we hope to be the "boy's room".  Yes, we are praying for a boy.  After all, MiniMan would like a brother to help stem the flood of girls around here. 

In May Hubby and I went on a trio to New Orleans for 5 days without the children.  The best part was that due to Hubby receieving an award for his work, the airfair and hotel were paid for!    What a blessing!  We took over 400 pics and I will post a few in a seperate entry about our trip.

Soom after that we took NancyDrew to Disneyland for her 10th birthday.  Again I will put that in a seperate post.

That's all for now.  I am on the phone with the IRS.  Seems that since they only have room for 4 children on the 1040 form they decided the amount of our refund (and stimulus check) needed to be "fixed".  Grrrrrrrrr

Mother of 6 blessings from the LordHelpmeet to my Hubby who is my best blessing of all

Tag...I'm it

OK my dear friend Momma tag me for this meme.  Here it goes:

I like this meme...so I'm going to do it and tag a few other folks to do it, too!

What I was doing 10 yrs ago: May of 1998...Kit was almost 2 and I was 3 month preggo with Nancy Drew and sick, sick, sick.  Money was very tight and God took good care of us.

Five things on my to do list for today: laundry, laundry,  laundry, dinner, and laundry!

Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Start a "Helping Hotel" to give people a place to stay while teaching them about God and helping them raise godly families and become self-sufficent.  I would also hire a house keeper so I could spend more time playing with my blessings.

Three of my bad habits: being a perfectionist (and letting it keep me from getting things done), my brain going faster then my body and mouth, starting projects and not finishing them, 

Five places I have lived: A little town on the East Coast that is rather large now; many little towns far too near to big cites than I care to mention, and now on an acre of God's creation.  OK, that's not five but we moved A LOT when I was little so I don't know them all.

Five jobs I have had: (from most current back...) homeschooling mother, Retail Banking (went from teller to the youngest Assistant Manager in the Company at the age of 21, McDonalds cashiers, birthday party hostess, and character (I was the Hamburgler and Grimmace), before that I was just a kid. :-)

Now, who shall I tag?  Just consider yourself tagged if you are reading this!

Happy Birthday Mini-Man!!!

My Mini-Man is one year old today!  His Daddy got him a nifty John Deer push car.  He was glad to shop amongst the boy toys but lamented the fact that Mini-Man is still too little for the fun stuff that Daddy could play with.  Too funny.

Happy Birthday Son!  Children are truly a blessing from the Lord.  I am thankful for each of my blessings.

~Mother of 6 blessings from the Lord & Helpmeet to my Hubby who is my best blessing of all

Goats 1, Milkmaid 0

The time has come to start milking my goats, Sammy and Cocoa.  Their kids are over a month old and have started eating hay and grass plus they are drinking bits of water from the pail.  I figure I can leave them on their dams until I get good at milking so the does will not dry up.

So I set up my milking place.  Buying a milk stand is not an option.  I know I can build one but if I start one more project around here my hubby will not be happy.  Guess I need to finish the girl's room that I am working on first.

So I get a table that was in the goat pen (for them to climb on) and I put a little feed pan there by attaching it to the fence.  I add and chair and poof! my milking place.

Having read about milking step-by-step I feel that I am armed with enough knowledge to get the job done. My goats had other ideas.......

This is Cocoa

She was unhappy from the second I washed her udder.  She kicked and wiggled and called to her kids.  So I put them in the pen next to where we were so she could see them and that calmed her down....until I tried to milk her.  See my yellow rope.  Well that did not work.

This is me trying to get Cocoa to be still.  The grain I gave her was gone in a flash so here I am trying to bribe her with hay.  No luck.  I moved my bowl (that held a tiny bit of milk) because she had already seen fit to step in it.  I will be getting a goat hobble......very soon.

I knew I was losing to a goat but I was determined to get some milk from both sides.  If nothing else this was a training time for both of us.  There are no more pictures after this because I sent my eldest daughter, Kit, to the house.  The giggling was getting on my nerves.

I released Cocoa and got Sammy who was no better than Cocoa.  So I got a bit from both sides of her.  Then I put everyone back in the pasture and when back to the house taking with me the sign of my defeat.

Yep, this is what I ended up with.  Want some?  Me either.  I will not give up.  So far I have figured out that I need to cover my table (aka stand) with rubber so they will not slip.  I also need a different restraining device since the rope was not working.  Some places say to seperate the kids during the night so that the does are full in the morning and them will want to be milked.  We are considering this.

What about those giggles?  As the Mother I could not let that stand.  So I let Kit try it for herself.  The giggles have been silenced.  When I do come in with that first good milking my blessings will know that it was not easy.  Then they can learn to do it.  Who will be giggling then?  Me!

Have a blessed day!

Mother of 6 blessings from the Lord

Helpmeet to my Hubby who is my best blessing of all

Special Day with Mother!

About 2 weeks ago we had our annual "Special Day with Mother".  We used to call it "Special Girl's Day" but since the birth of Mini-Man that has changed.

This day is planned for the day that Hubby goes skiing with some people from church.  He got a care free day to ski those black diamond runs that he likes and we take the day to set all chores aside and have some fun.

This year the day started EARLY!  We were up at 6:00 am.  This year our day fell during our homeschool group T-ball session.  So we dressed in our T-ball shirts and grubby jeans and went to Ihop for breakfast.  We all had Who-cakes since seeing Horton Hears A Who was on our schedule. We actually made it to Ihop, ate our breakfast (without having to rush), and made it to the park for T-ball with time to spare!

T-ball went well.  Turns out Supergirl is quite a good fielder.  Everyone's skill seems to improve with each practice.  Our group is for parents and children to play together.  I am the permanent catcher, since I can do that and keep an eye on Mini-Man while he is in his stroller.  Munchkin is our bat-girl.  She does a good job retrieving bats and balls.  It keeps her busy and out of trouble.  Sometimes she plays in the practice, but since Daddy was not there I kept her with me.  She had a special bat-girl place behind the backstop.  She thought that was neat!

After T-ball we changed into our clothes.  Each of the girls picked out a special outfit for the day.  Silly me forgot the camera!   All the their outfits had some sort of sparkly jean and a glittery top.  It's a girl thing!!!  I forgot to wear my sparkly jeans.  Maybe next year.

After that we just HAD to go the Hello Kitty Store in the mall.  We used to spend the whole Special Day in the mall but that got boring.  Going to the Hello Kitty store is something we MUST do EACH year or it just wouldn't be our special day!  So we spent about and hour there.  Yes an hour!  I gave each of the girls $10 for the day.  This is a really big deal because hubby and I don't give out money any other time.  They get an allowance that they earn by working at home.  Actually that is not accurate.  They share in the work at home because they are members of the family.  They also share in the income from Daddy's paycheck because they are members of the family.  Anyway, I digress, back to our day.  They all picked out what they wanted (mostly stationary, stickers, and notepads) and some got those grab bags that I liked when I was a girl.  It tickles my blessings to think of me as a girl shopping at a Hello Kitty store just like they do.  So after they agonized over what to buy, paid for it, and had their bonus cards stamped, we were off.

Then we were off to the movie.  We had planned to stop at the store to get some candy before going to the movie but we did not have enough time.  So we got 1 box of candy plus a drink and popcorn before sitting down.  Horton Hears A Who was OK, but it is not a movie we will be buying.  The villain in this movie is a self-righteous kangaroo.  In the beginning of the movie she is lamenting how Horton, a fun-loving Elephant, is corrupting the children with play and fun.  Then she sticks here nose up in the air and proclaims, "That's why we do pouch-schooling".  Can you believe that!  I took that as a direct slap in the face to homeschooling.  That little kangaroo never left the pouch until the end of the movie when he turns against his mother.  Obviously the people who made this movie don't really know any homeschoolers since they choose to portray us this way.  Sad.

After the movie we went shopping at a different store then we went to Chuck E. Cheese.  We had pizza and watched the show.  We waved to Chuck the mouse and played games.  My poor ears.  That place is so LOUD, but it is fun and we all (even me) earned tickets playing games and got prizes with them. I gave my prizes to the younger girls since they did not earn much.  They have this machine there that does pictures so we has those done since I forgot my camera.  We stayed until everyone was ready to leave.  Guess we were there about 2-3 hours.  It was fun and I did not get a headache so it was good.

After that we hit one more store.  Kit was looking for something specific but they were out of what she wanted.  Poor Kit.  Munchkin got a new baby instead of the money.  

Then we went home.

This was not the end of our special day.  The girls had planned a spa party.  They got this idea from an American Girl book titled "Snooza-Palooza".  They set it all up.  I was pretty beat at this point, but didn't want to squash the fun they had planned.  We painted our nails. 

This is a big thing for us since we don't wear nail polish.  We even did our toe nails.    Then they had a plate of mashed banana that they put on their faces, but I passed on that. 

They took it off after a few minutes because they did not like how it felt.  I did put sliced cucumbers on my eyes and laid back for a bit. 

That felt good.  I had to be careful not to go to sleep.  We made candy pizza.

We had chips and dip. 

We made shirley temples.

So we laughed and ate and did our nails.  It was a blast.  I felt like I was 12 years old and at a slumber party.  Having 5 daughters means that we can have lot of slumber parties.  Mini Man was a good little guy and slept through all of our silliness. 

Rag-curling our hair was on the schedule but we ran out of time.  We did not start the movie until 10 and it turns out that "The Happiest Millionaire" is a 3 hour movie!    Daddy came home about 30 minutes after we started the movie and admired our nails and listened to the girls tell him how about our day.  He sampled the treat and fell asleep 10 minutes after he laid down to watch the movie. 

So there you have it.  It was fun and I am already looking forward to doing it again next year.

motherofblessings

New Additions

Our chicks came in the mail yesterday.    We had to go to the post office to get them.  It would not be very good for them to drive around in the mail truck all day.   Although we have raised chicks for about 5 years now this was our first mail order experience so I thought I would share it.

You are probably wondering what a package containing live chicks looks like.

We could here the chirping as soon as we walked into the post office.  I'll bet the workers were glad we showed up early.

As we took each one out of the box they were checked for injuries and over all health.  They were all very "chicky" and full of energy.  Once each is looked over I show it where the water dish is by dipping their beak in so they drink.  They are shipped with no water and are thirsty! 

See how nice and clean the paper and water are?  Not for long!

We had one injury.  My camera is not good for super close ups.  I should have taken a farther off shot and zoomed in with Photoshop.  Sorry.  Anyway, this little guy probably started out with a little cut.  By the time I got him the others had picked his toe down to the bone.  So he has to be put in solitary or the others will kill him.  Birds can be very cruel.  We cleaned his wound and applied some liquid band-aid to keep out infection.  He did not seem to appreciate our efforts and made his displeasure LOUDLY known.

See, he does not have it too bad.  We are going to pick up some strawberries today so we can put him in a basket with another one on top so he can stay warmer.  He does not like being by himself and lets me know....loudly....all the time.  I am glad they are on the porch. 

Aren't they cute?  Well don't think about that.  These are broilers.....as in meat birds.....as in they will be in my freezer in about 8 weeks.  These are Cornish Rocks and are bred to grow quickly.  They do not get names.  I don't spend time petting them like I will my laying chicks.  In just a couple of months I will be posting how we butchered these birds.  That is just the way it is.

Here you have the yucky side of bird keeping.  They did this fairly quickly.  I will be cleaning their box out about twice a day.  Notice the darker colored chicks?  My darling hubby picked those up at the feed store.  They are Arucanas.  These will be part of our laying flock.  We will name them, pet them and keep them nice and tame.  I have wanted this breed for a long time.  They are also known as Americanas or Easter Egg chickens.  They lay colored eggs, mostly blues and greens but sometimes pinks.  One chicken will not lay all colors but tones of one color.  I will be posting pics when they do.  He got 10 of these!  I would also like to get some Buff Orpingtons as they are supposed to lay through the winter.  Hope I can find some.  I don't want to mail-order them because I don't need 25 and that is the minimum order so they can keep warm in the box.

Gotta go.  My children, chicks and kids need attention.  This IS the life....and I am blessed to be living it!

Free Stuff!!

Easter

I like Easter.  In years past we did Resurrection Cookies the night before.  I really like them.  The first time I did them Kit was only 3 or 4.  When I shut the oven door and explained how Jesus was shut into the tomb she cried.  I was not prepared for that then but now it is a cute memory.  We did not do them this year.  We were all tired from getting ready for company.  next year I plan to have all the ingredients out and measured ahead of time.  Check back in 12 months to see how I do with that.

We did do our Resurrection Egg hunt in the morning.  After the children found them all we took the eggs with us in the van and did the devotional part on the way to worship.  I like the conversation it brings and how it focuses our minds on what Easter really is about.

Our worship service was made even better because Pappaw gave the lesson.  We don't get to hear him often.  He did a good job. 

We hosted Easter dinner at our place this year.  Everything went very smoothly.  This (everything going smoothly) is quite unusual for me.  It seems like something always goes wrong if I host something.   For example: Last Christmas my dinner was over 2 hours late as we waited for the rib roast to cook.  When I pulled it out of the refrigerator that morning it was FROZEN.  My in-laws were very patient and even ate the roast which was not as done as it could have been.  I am not really a bad cook as I am a side-tracked cook.   

My hubby deep fried a turkey which turned out soooo yummy.  I do not think we will cook a turkey any other way.  He did his first deep-fried turkey for Christmas and he did just as well this time.  Yea for hubby!  I made a ham in my crockpot.   It was bigger than my 7 quart crock so I covered the top with foil.  Came out yummy.  I made and froze my unbaked rolls then took them out in the morning.  When we got back from worship they were risen and I just popped them in the oven.  Extended family supplied desserts, drinks, and mashed potatoes.  It was a good day.

With the exception of last year (see my 3/19 post) I usually make Easter dresses for our girls.  Well I took the easy route this year. 

I took store bought shirts, fabric and lace and made 5 dresses in 4 hours.  How easy is that?  Thanks to my friend N for giving me the directions to do this.  OK, so I didn't make anything for Mini-Man.  My hubby once showed me a picture from Easter past were he was wearing a powder blue suit that matched his sister's dress.  This suit traumatized him in some way.   He has told me I can only sew for our son if I never make him wear "something sissy like that".  Sorry Grandma L, those are his words, I thought it was cute.  So I have to learn to make "real boy" clothes.  Maybe next year.

OK here are the close up pics of our blessings in their Easter "finery".

One year ago

One year ago (exactly) will be a day I will likely never forget.  I would like to forget it, but I won't.

The weather was beautiful as spring is here and my 5 girls and I went on a field trip.  I was 35 weeks pregnant with our son and we were all looking forward to the day.  So we went to an organic dairy to see the cows....

and learn about producing raw, organic dairy products.....

It was a good field trip and we learned a lot about the company that produced the milk we drink.  So we said good-bye and headed towards home.  We were thinking of the good time we had and that we needed to get some lunch.

As I was driving my girls were busy taking more pictures.  So one minute we were doing this.....

The next minute our van looked like this...

I came to a stop sign and hit the brake but the van did not stop.  The remember thinking, "We are not stopping.  Why are we not stopping?".  Then I saw the stop sign pass me then I looked forward just in time to see the truck.  It was a milk tanker with a full load.  Then I felt the hit, then I heard the crunching of glass and metal.  I heard the screaming....it was awful...the screaming of my precious girls as we spun around I don't know how many times.  Then the van stopped but they were still screaming.  I tried to move to look at them but I couldn't.  That was the worst part of the whole thing.  My body locked up and all I could hear was screaming.  As I tried to relax and get my body to move I was trying to listen for each daughter's screams so at least I would know they were alive.  It seemed to take forever but I was able to turn around and search for each face.  Then I said "Stooooooop".  Then they all fell silent and looked at me.

I as I looked each one over (as I could see) I explained that people were coming to help.  There was a feed store nearby and people came running to help.. May God bless them.  I told the girls that though they did not know these people to let them help.  One of the ladies called 911 and then my hubby.  God also protected him as he raced, and beat the ambulances, to the hospital.

God also provided wonderful people who cared for us that evening and during our recovery.  They prayed for us, provided food, did our shopping, and did our laundry.  I can't say enough to thank them all.

Praise to God that none of us had life-threatening injuries.  As you can see from the last picture the Lord has his arm around us as the van crumbled.  Every seat that did not have someone sitting in it was crushed.  Kit (eldest) suffered a broken leg, the other girls had various cuts, scrapes, and bruises.  I was beat up by the airbag and seat belt.  I slept in a recliner for the next 5 weeks until our Mini-man was born.

He was born at home and not a mark on him.  I will never forget that terrible accident but more importantly I will never forget how the Lord protected each one of us right down to this little guy.  I was reminded that day not to ever take my children or hubby for granted because you never know when death can part you.

Thanks for reading.

Scary creature!!!

OK I just had my first scary creature encounter. Try not to laugh to hard at this city girl who is trying to put down country roots, OK?

I was wetting down my compost pile when I noticed a hole.  There was a pile of freshly dug dirt so I turned my hose that way and started to wash the dirt down the hole.  The muddy water ran in for several minutes as I vainly tried to fill it when out came this wet, angry, creature.  Gopher?  Mole?  I don't know but it was wet and mad and it started walking toward me.  The only weapon I had was the water hose so I kept the stream of water in it's face.  It just kept coming then started going faster (did I mention towards me?).  Then when it got 3 feet from me I heard a shriek and it veered away from me, ran up the compost pile, turned back to look at me (really) and then it jumped over the pile and out of sight.  Would it be wrong to leave out the detail that the shriek came from me?    How sissy is that??? 

How can I kill these things without poison?  They must die!! 

Our first set of kids (and I don't mean children)

Coco had her kids this morning!  When I went out to feed and water the animals I heard a tiny bleet that made my heart skip.  I hurried to the pen and sure enough there were two tiny kids.  They were still wet and Coco was busy doing her motherly duty of licking them dry.  I am SO glad I am not a goat!

So I ran to the house, opened the door and shouted, "We have babies!"  Then all I heard were shrieks of joy as they poured out to see.  Coco is fine and so are her little buckling and doeling.  No names yet. 

Here are a few pics.  I have more and was going to wait until I get home tonight but I promised Momma I would get them up for her Lambies to see.

Here is a close up of the doeling.

So far they have been eating and are doing well.  We will keep you posted.  Our other doe, Sammy, should be having her kids any day.....stay tuned.

7 things about me

My IRL friend Momma tagged me for this meme.  Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog
2. Share 7 random and/or weird things about yourself
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here are 7 things about me:

1. My parents divorced when I was 3.  In my experience divorce causes far more problems than it solves. 
2. I met my hubby when I was in the 10th grade.  I still remember seeing him for the first time. 
3. Most days seeing my hubby leave for work in the mornings still makes me sad that I will not see him until the end of the day.
4. My hubby baptized me.  It made the best day of my life even better.
5. I often feel unworthy to be my hubby's wife and my children's mother.
6. I think it would be great if I could live at Adrian Monk's house.  I want my house to look like his but I simply do not have the time or energy.
7. It would be even better if Adrian Monk could live at my house.  Sadly, it would probably kill him.  He just couldn't keep up with the mess.

Poor little Sammy

Our pygmy goat, Sammy, is due very soon.  We do not know exactly when but I do not think she can get much bigger.

Books (and websites) have been read.  Supplies have been gathered and put in a box ready to be wisked out on a moments notice.  I have never been a "goat midwife" before and am a little nervous due to my lack of experience.

So stayed tuned.  I will post pics when the kid (or kids) arrives.  Please pray for my little does and her keeper! :-)

Something NOT to do

My IRL freind, Mommaofmany, posted on her recipe blog a good substitute for eggs.  She wrote; "Just replace 1 egg in a recipe with 3 Tbsp ground flax seed and 3 Tbsp water.  I do this in almost every multi-egg recipe I have!"  So I tried it and it worked.  Wow!  What a handy thing to know.  It is an easy way to boost the nutritional value of what you are cooking.  Plus it is a handy way to save eggs if you find yourself running short. 

So last week, I was making oatmeal for breakfast and thought, "How can I add more nutrition?  Oh I know, flax seed!"  I ground up some flax seed and put it in.......

Remember the egg substitute thing?  Well it turns out that some how the flax seed combines with water and gels just like and egg.  So my whole pot of oatmeal had the texture of.....you guessed it....eggs....runny eggs.  Tasted fine but felt slimy.  My blessings ate it up but I didn't eat much.

Now I am not blaming Momma.  Just wanted to share so other could learn from my "experience".

An interesting Website

It seems many health minded people are concerned about what goes in their bodies (food & drink) but don't think much about what goes on their bodies via body care products.

Want to know what is in the products you use?  Want to know how safe it is/isn't?  Then check this out.

New Chickens

We were recently blessed with 7 chickens.  They were given to us by a family that no longer wanted them. 

We were given 6 hens (4 Rhode Island Reds, 1 Barred Rock, and 1 White Producer) plus a little Banty Rooster that came with the name Fireball.  We have had hens for about 6 years but never a Rooster,  He had better behave himself or out he goes!  I would say he would go into my freezer but he is so small he would not be worth butchering.  So far he has been fine.  He little crow is funny. 

Meet the new additions~

This is Fireball.  That is a full grown hen next to him.  Can you tell how tiny he is?  We have not had a Banty before so this cracks me up.

Happy Homesteading!

Good day

Today was a good productive day.  I made a double batch of bread which yielded 5 loaves of bread and 3 dozen dinner rolls.  

After that those fruit trees finally were planted.  Yipee!  We planted a Myer Lemon in November and today I planted 1 each of plum, peach, and an apple tree that grows 5 different kinds of apples.  I picked a combo tree since buying (or planting) 5 different apple trees is not something I want to do right now.  We might later.  I thought a grafted tree sounded neat and wanted to try it.

I also learned that my children really like my bread.  How can you tell if your children really like your bread?  When you find this......

My 2 year old, Munchkin, decided to help herself to some "yummy bread".

Now... where will we put the grapes and berries??? 

Stay tuned.

Fruit Trees

The Lord said it himself: "The mind is willing but the flesh is weak."  How true this is.  There are so many thing I want to do but my body can only do some much.  Time and energy are not unlimited.

We were at Costco last week and they had bare root fruit trees.  We picked up one peach and one plum.  Guess where they are?  On the porch still in the packaging of course!

Now the question is........ where do I plant them?  I am not sure if they need to be kept away from other fruit trees.  I need to do some research.  Time to (yet again) get out my copy of The Encyclopedia of Country Living.   

Guess my "city" is showing.  By saying this I am not bad mouthing those who l ive in the city.  After all, we did until just a few month ago.  What I mean is that I don't know how to do this and that most who live "out here" do.

Live and learn