One to Remember

 Is this the worst snowstorm in history for our area?  

Probably not.  Although it is one of the worst thus far in my lifetime.

Is this one something we'll remind our kids of, tell the grandbabies about someday?  

Probably so.  At least I will. 

I'll tell them about the water line that broke up by town and all the rural water was shut off in our area for one day.  The automatic water troughs froze, some of the water lines in the house froze.  We prayed for the men that dug up the line and had to fix the leak when I'm sure they couldn't even feel their fingers. 

I'll tell them about the tractor that caught fire and almost burned (because there was no water) but a pitcher of my mother in law's tea saved the day.  I'll tell them how that day seemed to last an eternity.  I'll tell them how many weeeeeeks we stayed below freezing consistently.  I'll tell them how mom's SUV was parked out in the yard and the tractors and feed pickups all were parked in the shop instead because we are real with our priorities. 

I'll tell them how tired everyone's eyes looked, even when they smiled.

But...

I'll also tell them about some of the good things.  Baking cookies, making hearty meals, playing games, snuggling and watching movies at night.  Lots of together time.  I'll remind them how fortunate we are for technology that allowed us to watch church on our computer instead of going to town.  

I'll tell them how heartwarming it was to see people share their ideas and tips with one another online for keeping calves warm or thawing pipes or chopping ice.  

I'll remind them that this was the time they learned about kidney stones.  Mostly because they heard me mutter to myself over and over 'this too shall pass.  It may pass like a kidney stone, but it will pass.' 

Many thanks to anyone, in any industry, who is required to be out in the elements during this time.  

And many thanks to those who have the common sense to stay home when their assistance is not required. 

Snow on an animal's back is actually a great thing and serves as a layer of insulation.

Animals do a great job of finding spots in brush or down in draws where wind and weather are not as severe.

Visibility was fairly compromised this morning. 
Sunshine will be oh so sweet when it finally comes one of these days. 

Corn silage that was preserved earlier this fall is a great feedstuff during winter days.

You don't have to ask twice for the calves to line up at the bunk today.

There's always that one a**hole that slips out of the pen and is on the wrong side.

An Almost Wordless Wednesday

The warmest it has been lately has been 19 degrees.  It's been snowing off and on during this time as well.  We're not forecasted to get above freezing for another 10+ days.  Yuuuuuuck. 

Suffice it to say this is most definitely not a heat wave.  I remember several years ago - BC (before children) when we had another chilly spell.  Although the calves haven't busted through the fence (yet) like they did so many years ago I'm not sure this 'heat wave' is any more enjoyable.  I'm not a fan of cold wind.  Or just wind in general.  I DEFINITELY don't live in the correct area then, obviously.  

The kids don't mind the cold quite as much because there is SNOW! and you can toughen up when there are fun things like SNOW! around.  

I stalked them with my camera as I walked to the barn to do chores yesterday and I'm so glad I did.  They spent so long outside and were absolute popsicles but grinning ear to ear when they finally came in. 

Or maybe their faces were just frozen that way.  Eh.  

 

Do you see the boys down in the pen at the bottom center of this picture?  They were checking the horse water trough to make sure it was open. I love the sense of responsibility they have for their animals. 

Luckiest Boy in the Whole World

We try fairly hard to keep our kiddos grounded, with varying degrees of success at times.  But lately I've been super impressed with kid #2, John.  

He had a special afternoon with his dad this week and was lucky enough to sit in the salebarn for hours on end with no toys, save for the pen and salebarn card that his dad gave him.  John came home that evening, proudly showed his wares to us all and proclaimed time and time again "I'm the luckiest boy in the world!". 

He found an old horseshoe at the barn yesterday.  He beamed from ear to ear as he carried it back to the house, all the while proclaiming "I'm the luckiest boy in the whole world!".

This morning I unpacked my lab supplies from two large cardboard boxes.  John's eyes sparkled when I agreed to let him have them.  He instantly turned to his sister, "Can you believe it, Kathryn?  I'm the luckiest boy in the world!".  They've now been playing together contently outside in 45 degree weather for the past hour and I have no idea how I'll ever tear them away from their box fort in the yard to make them eat lunch.  

We definitely have terrible, trying days in this family, but at this very moment I feel like the luckiest mom in the world.  

Good, Clean (?) Fun

The longer we participate in this 'parenting' gig, the more we realize that we are in the minority when it comes to raising children.  They don't have tablets, ipads, ipod, iwhatevers to keep them busy.  We do, however, have dirt, and sticks, and rocks, and mud!  And occasionally snow.  We've thoroughly enjoyed snow the few times we've seen it this year. 

Although we don't seem to accomplish much, we sure do seem to stay busy. 

Soooooo cold! 

Don't worry, the chute wasn't even turned on.

I suggested he wash his face.

He was thoroughly offended.

On nice days we like to sneak away to the barn and have little beauty brushing sessions.

It is becoming painfully obvious that 75% of my photos include the back of the kids' heads.  

They are busy! 

I built the swing set this spring and the kids have thoroughly enjoyed it the past nine months.

And yoga.  The kids are obsessed with yoga.

I wish I was better at braiding.  Apparently I need to take lessons from my younger sister, who did this work.  

I'd just be happy if I could get Kathryn to set still for 30 seconds for me to make a proper ponytail! 

The perfect chore for two year olds?  Picking up ear tags laying all around the chute.

I am thankful that my child loves school and has sweet friends. 

I don't get to spend as much time in the feed pickup these days, but I sure do enjoy it when I actually get to. 

He just enjoys being bounced to sleep when he rides in the feed pickup. 

If you don't know how to play pool before kindergarten then you really haven't lived, have you? 

This is us living large.  At bedtime the other night they read a book, said their prayers and then Dad showed them a photo on his phone of a combine that we'll never be able to afford.  Sigh....

Content

I attended a media training several weeks ago and during this training we were asked to set goals.  One of my goals (which I obviously did NOT follow through with) was to create at least one blog post per week.

"Is that possible? Do you have enough content for something like that?" the session leader asked.

"Buddy, we have content.  It's the time I don't have." I replied.

So, without further ado, here's a bit of the content that I should have been posting weekly for, ahem, sevvvvveral weeks now.

We've been checking baby calves in the evenings.

Delivering eggs to great grandma.

Pulling over while driving to snap a few pics here and there.

We've been building workbenches. 

Stealing sweet feed from our horse.

Acting so dejected when I wouldn't let her up on the swingset to help me screw in boards. 

We've been having our annual heart checkups (still all good!). 

Riding roping dummies at night.

Burning, burning, burning. 

On the rare evening when it was too windy to burn, we skipped rocks.

We've been miserable with allergies.

As I stained boards on the swingset, the kids wrestled.

We've had shop picnics, car picnics, pasture picnics... you name it and we've eaten there.

We've been cloud watching, bird watching, who-was-in-that-pickup-driving-by watching. The upper deck of the swingset is great for observing life. 

We've been to the zoo...

I nearly died laughing.  She kept telling the tiger "Hiiiiiiii kitty". 

Picnic time with girlfriends.

Going to grass with cattle.

Being insanely cute.  Wispy hair is cute when you're nearly 2.  When you're 32 it's not nearly as endearing.  Same with freckles.  I've given my kids so many 'cute on kids, not on adults' type traits.  

I've been forgetting to utilize the 'action' setting on my camera, clearly. 

And I've been bathing kids.  Quite often, actually. 

It's an exhausting little life, believe me. 

Like I said.  We are most certainly not lacking in content, just time.