Follow The Beginning Farmer's Wife on Facebook for additional personal peeks at building a family farm.

(Be sure to click both the Facebook "like" and "follow" buttons to not miss any posts.)

Thursday, February 26, 2009

More of the Same

My posts are kind of cycling through right now. The bull gets out, the washing machine is broken, Caleb is sick . . . but not in that order.

Tonight, while Ethan was at work, our neighbor knocked on our door to let me know our "calves" were by the road. Actually, it was the bull and two cows, but that's what you get for having tiny cattle. I called Ethan and spent a bit of time getting them away from the road. If you can picture a bull that is joyfully out of a pen with two ladies - running, kicking his feet up, and just enjoying the freedom - well, that was him. I got them towards the center of the property, and then Ethan came home and we got them back in the pen. They took a few fast breaks through the grasses of freedom, but it went much better than the last time. Lesson learned - our bull is determined and we need to do something different with the fence.

Our washing machine is still broken. Tomorrow is my dad's retirement party, and we were going to be by Ethan's mom's (2 1/2 hours away) tomorrow where there is an extra washing machine. Key words "we were". So no new washing machine yet.

The reason I use the words "we were" is that Caleb's cough ended up being a nasty virus. It started with just a cough, went into a low grade fever, and the fever climbed day after day. He has thrown up 6 times now (with no washer at home) and has a temp of 102 yet. I took him to the doctor (they have seen 40 cases of it in 3 days) and he tested negative for strep and the flu - whew! Unfortunately, he's going to miss my dad's retirement party at John Deere. He would be devastated if he knew, but thankfully we never tell the kids our plans until we pull up to where we are going. (Lots of "surprise rides" - makes life easier.) We have been washing clothes at the pastor's house and the throw up stuff at the laundry mat.

I don't really know how I can duplicate the fleece diaper post. Especially since our Walmart just got rid of their fabric department, a topic all of it's own!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh, poor boy. Poor Mama too! Hope Caleb is better, and soon. We'll pray that his brother and sister doesn't get it.

I remember the days of the laundra mats. Hope you soon have a new washer.

Jean said...

yeah, you are having "one of those days"!! I am still recovering from kidney stone experience. It is not easy being a happy mama with two little ones when sick. This shall too pass...

Humm, about fleece. I have yet checked other two Walmarts but one in west DesMoines also cut out fabric departments. At least we still have JoAnn, Hannock, and Hobby Lobby!! You can sign up at JoAnn and Hannock's website to receive their regular coupons. JoAnn send out about twice a month 40% coupon (one piece, as long as it is NOT on sale). JoAnn recently if not currently is having fleece 50% off sale.

Janice said...

THe joys of life. As a child I grew up on a farm. I have many memories of being out in the fields and on the road herding the cows back where they needed to be.
I got yelled and sworn at a lot.
This was the only time I would ever hear my Dad cussing and the only time he would yell at me.

The Beginning Farmer's Wife said...

Nance-
Caleb is doing better today, but Isaac and Hannah have it now. I don't think they have it as bad as Caleb - although Caleb's started out slow the first couple days.

Jean-
I hope you recover quickly from the kidney stones. I have never dealt with that and hope not to! Thanks for the heads up on the coupons. I will have to do all my fabric shopping in Des Moines now. I'll have to be more organized since there are sometimes months between the times I go shopping there - it's a lot of work to shop 45 minutes away with 3 little ones!

Janice-
Things do get tense with livestock! Although it's not an excuse to do it, I bet that the yelling was more at the situation than at you. :)

Janice said...

Just letting you know I passed on two awards for you on my blog. Check it out.

Nance said...

Sorry to hear that the other two came down with it. It has been a hard couple of weeks for your family. I hope things are looking up and that spring is just around the corner! (We just got another 4 inches of snow but hope you didn't!)

Bar M U said...

I found your blog via google and have had fun reading up on your adventures. It's nice to find someone to relate to! We have similar ambitions in Idaho and even built our own home too. I am so happy when I see others following their dreams! We are at www.barmu.blogspot.com

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...