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Saturday, November 29, 2008

Chicken Woes - But There is Hope!

I took this picture a few weeks ago for a blog post. (I have had troubles getting motivated enough to do posts because of our slow internet.) This bowl holds 4 "real" eggs (farm fresh), and 4 "pretend" eggs (from the store). The contrast between them is preety clear, and the nutritional differences between them contrast just as clearly.

So why did I even bother with the store eggs? Well, do you remember the day our chicken coop blew away? Since then we are no longer getting eggs, and the day I took that picture was the day I used our last real egg.

I tried to encourage the ladies to return to laying in their nest boxes after their coop blew away. I set them up in a protected area beside their food and waterer. They looked at them a bit but that is it. They are adamant that we should not be eating their eggs. (You can read about our other difficulties with them here.)

But there is hope now. After weeks of not getting any eggs, Ethan came to the door today grinning. He was carrying a chicken egg. He had found it in a little nested out portion of grass beside the pig pen, which is where the chickens spend most of their days now. There was also another egg in that spot, but it was broken. We will take that as evidence, however, that they are still laying . . . and that they are still eating their eggs too.

So now we are going to be keeping an eye on this spot to see if we can snatch any more eggs. Shhhhh . . . don't tell the chickens!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Harvest Time

Yesterday Ethan spent the afternoon and evening at a church member's farm helping him with his harvest. Our friend has 20 acres of corn that he planted and harvests with equipment that some might consider antique. By helping pull and unload wagons, Ethan was able to cut the work time in half. And he was able to play with our tractor a bit!

After the kids were up from there naps, I decided to take them over to watch. As you can see, it was getting a bit dark when we arrived. (I should have known better than to trust YahooMaps to guide me through the sticks - it led me to a road that has been closed for quite some time adding an extra 30 minutes of driving.) Even so, the kids were able to watch the last wagon load be put into the corn crib.

It is nights like this that I am so thankful to be in the country. If we were still in town we probably would have been sitting inside, most likely with the TV on in the background. Instead, Ethan was able to help out a friend, the kids got to experience the harvest, and we were surrounded with the peacefulness of a quite counry evening.

Friday, November 21, 2008

It's a Boy!


He's here! Isaac Daniel was born Tuesday night. He weighed in at 6 lbs 15.6 oz and measured 20 inches long. We are all doing great and are enjoying getting to know our little guy.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Chopping Wood

Our wood supply is pretty small since getting a wood pile built up was low on our list this fall. (We knew we could buy some if needed this year.)

Today, however, Ethan had some time to chop wood. As I watched, I realized that watching Ethan chop wood is something I really like to do.

Not because I'm not the one chopping it though. In all honesty, I was itching to go start stacking it as he was chopping. Until our baby is born and I've had some time to recover, however, I'm on orders to take it easy.

So the reason I enjoy watching Ethan chop wood . . . It's manly. Not only does it show off strength, but it also is a picture of how he provides for our family.

Right now I am pretty helpless as far as work goes. I stay at home with the kids, which I feel is a very important job, but it doesn't provide much income for us. Also, right now I shouldn't even carry a load of wet laundry out by myself to hang up to dry. Ethan has been putting in a lot of extras to help keep things running around here during a very full time in our lives as it is.

So thank you, Ethan, for chopping our wood. :)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

All Toasty Inside

Over the weekend my parents came down for a couple of days to help us get the final winterizing done on our house. Ethan and my dad put in quite a bit of work and got the mudroom insulated, the stove and stove pipe hooked up, and the storm door on. I was hoping to have these things done before the baby arrived, and I was relieved to make it through the weekend so that Ethan could help out.

Yesterday Ethan went down to the woods and brought back a wagon full of wood so we were able to fire up the stove. I had planned on doing some organizing in the house, but I couldn't help myself and laid in front of the stove for well over an hour enjoying the heat. Even though we had our electric heat going, which kept the temperature at a comfortable level, it is a different type of heat. Wood heat just seems to sink in straight to your bones.

As far as when the baby is coming, I am a bit overdue now compared to when Caleb and Hannah came. Compared to my due date though, I am fine. So now I am just relaxing and enjoying our warm house.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Settling In

Right now our house is functional, although there are still quite a few boxes laying around in piles. Part of the reason is that I am more concerned about obeying my lifting restriction through the last part of the pregnancy than I am the piles of boxes. Also, in order to put more boxes away, we need to do more construction (shelves and storage areas). And in order to do more construction, we have to put boxes away. What will probably end up happening is that we will just shuffle piles of boxes for awhile while we work.

Yesterday, however, we were able to permanently unpack one mountain of boxes in the bathroom. We were needing a cabinet for our bathroom to hold closet things, and we found one on Craig's list. It is exactly what I had wanted, and the family was kind enough to hold it for us for a couple of weeks until we could fit it in our schedule to pick it up. Even though we still have a little work to do in the bathroom, it is nice to walk in and see it without stacks of boxes.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

I Am Not a Cow

Wow, I guess it's been awhile since my last post. I've been busy getting final things ready for the hospital, things ready for the sitter for the kids, and also busy just kicking my feet up a bit. Anyway, back to my post.

Since this February we have had 7 calves, and we have watched most of them come right before a storm hit - ice storms, snows storms, rain storms, etc. Yesterday we had our 7th calf come, and last night it rained all night long.

Right now I am at the exact spot in my pregnancy when Caleb and Hannah were born. So before I went to bed I asked Ethan if he thought I might follow the path of our cows and go into labor during the night with the storm. The verdict. I am not a cow.

That's okay though. I don't really mind going a little longer with this baby. Friday and Saturday my dad is going to help Ethan hook up the pipe and the wood burning stove for our house. They are also going to insulate the mudroom - a lot of cool air sneaks in to our house through that room!

So my hopes are to actually hold off through the weekend, although I did give Ethan permission to come out and work on the house if I am in the hospital, after the baby would be born of course!
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