Nesting Boxes

There is a whole lot of crowing going on around here these days! All but two of the roosters have found their voices. Right this minute as I am typing I can hear somebody cock-a-doodle-ing! The boys have all filled out nicely too. They look beautiful with full tail feathers, mature combs and wattles. All of these outward signs point to an inward truth...the boys have become MEN! They now have MANLY interests in the girls that they grew up with. This is all part of God's amazing design. The "girls", as we will continue to call them, are starting to think about EGGS! At least we are fairly sure that they are. Most chickens start laying at 20 to 24 weeks old. Our happy hens are only two weeks away from the fateful day. The pressure is on...time to build laying boxes!

From the left...

From the right...

From the left again!!

We are ready! The chickens have been into the stable to check things out. Their first response was, ...well...scepticism, but I think they will be very content by nightfall! We also filled the manger with hay and covered the floor as well. There are plenty of new things to look at and stuff to scratch through! Yay! Happy hens!!

A huge Thank You goes to my Love for building these lovely boxes out of antique wood from the scrap heap! The results are wonderful!

The Motts

Our dear friends, Ryan and Deanne Mott and their two children, Kayden and Karson came to visit us from Mt. Pulaski, Il. We have known the Motts forever I think. Glen photographed their wedding on Lane's first birthday. (Or was it his second birthday? I can't remember now!) We spent time together at our first farm, and eventually at our little blue house on Cooke St. in Mt. Pulaski. They were part of our going-away-party when we packed up and moved to Bemidji. And they followed us up there and helped us get settled into our new home. Dear and precious friends!
Over the years we have each visited the other at different occasions, however, I think they have been the ones doing most of the visiting as of late! Three years in a row now they have made an end-of-summer weekend trek to the northland here in Wisconsin to ride four wheelers and get away from it all before school starts. We have been blessed to see them each time. This year Glen missed out on their visit because he was in Bemidji when they came up.

This is Karson (who just celebrated her 5th birthday) blowing out a PINK candle at our house. She is a dolly!

Ryan loves to visit Leinenkugels brewery in Chippewa Falls each year. We all took the tour there five years ago. Karson was a tiny baby back then! Ryan brought Glen a gift from the gift shop, so when he came back from Minnesota he got to open it. Look closely at the item in Glen's right hand (That is the left side in the photo!)


It is actually a beer-shaped beef stick to go with the real beer in his other hand! How funny is that!? We all enjoyed it with him! Thanks Ryan!

It was so good to get caught up again! The Motts are currently in the process of adopting two sisters from Ethiopia. We can't wait to meet them! May God continue to bless you guys as you serve him! Love you!

Oh For Cute!

My friend, Debbie, gave me this GREAT idea! Purchase your cream and half-n-half in these darling bottles! It just about makes me squeal with delight every time I use one of these cuties to make the perfect cup of coffee in the morning! Aren't they wonderful!? See, it is the little moments that make life so enjoyable! I bet you are all gonna run out and buy them right now!! He! He!! Have fun!!

A birthday celebration

Back some time ago I posted about our friends Marc and Marcia. I actually have a picture of all of us together now. This was taken the night the four of us went out to dinner at Mona Lisa's here in Eau Claire to celebrate Marc's birthday.


Finally!! Proof that our friends do exist!
Dinner was fantastic that night! We all ordered different entrees and sampled each other's. The menu at Mona Lisa's is the kind of menu that you can read just for the sheer enjoyment of it! A wonderful place for a bunch of self-proclaimed "food-E's"! Then we went back to Lunquist's for homemade blueberry pie! Yumm-o!!

Weed Removal

I think these pictures speak for themselves!

Before...


and After!
So much better!

Glen's trip

My darling man has been up in Bemidji since Friday. We still have rental properties there. Two of them are empty, so he drove up to show them to prospective renters and get them rented. We really need them to be filled! God has been faithful and we want to thank him for providing for us! He has provided safety for Glen on the drive up. His tires on the truck are showing their steel belts! He has also provided a couple to rent the 10th Street house. We are so thankful! Glen will be able to cash the check they gave him today and pay some bills up there! Yay!! Then he is heading back home. Yay!! Please pray for those tires to be held together for his trip! He is pulling a trailer also. It will be wonderful to have him home again! We miss him! Please also pray for jobs to become available for him. He has nothing lined up for this week and needs the work! Thank you so much for joining with us. We know that God hears us and will answer in his timing. All praise and glory be to Him!

Harvesting

Have you ever dried an onion? No, not diced, dried. I don't think I ever have before. However, following the instructions in the book that I currently loath, but will come to love, called The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, by Edward C. Smith, onions must be dried. Interesting. Here is what it says. " When it's time to harvest onions, try to anticipate a warm, dry, sunny spell so the bulbs can sun-cure for at least a week. If it rains (this part is important to remember in the post that follows this one), move the bulbs to an open shed, porch, or other covered but airy spot." It continues, "When the tops and papery skin on the bulbs are dry and crinkly, clip the tops about an inch from the bulbs and store in onion bags in a cool, dry place."
Alright, I think I can handle that. It was time to harvest the onions. So I pulled them and got out some old window screens and laid them all in a single layer on the screens. We had a great harvest. Lots of onions to last us through the winter if stored correctly. Under a beautiful picture in the same book, it also says, "If you braid your onion tops before they dry out, they'll store well and be a pleasure to look at as well." Now, I can braid hair. Regular braids, french braids, inverted french braids, and even a fish bone braid, but I have never tried to braid onion tops. Intrigued, I thought I would give it a try. I'm not to sure about the results. You be the judge. I took these photos and felt proud for a while. Then noticed that the sky was getting dark and ominous looking. Seriously??? Yes, rain was on the way. I have now moved all the onions to the porch and will try harder to plan accordingly when harvesting in the future.


Part of the harvest waiting to be spread out to dry.


My attempt at an onion braid. Doesn't look much like the picture in the book.


Two screens filled.


Happy harvest! I have one more screen that I filled last week. It is almost done drying. Not too bad!

Flash Flood!

Thursday night we had the second torrential rainstorm of the week. The first one was last Thursday. We received 6inches of rain in the night. The bottom section of our downspouts, the part that sits on the ground and directs the water away from the house, popped right off. I think from the force of the water coming down them! So all that water raced down along the foundation and into our basement. Well, not ALL of it, but enough to require the shop-vac and some muscle to get rid of it. So that was last week. This week I was worried about it as I was listening to the downpour raging outside. I got up, turned on the lights and made my way downstairs. On the way down the basement steps I heard the sound of water splashing on the floor. Did you catch that...SPLASHING!! Not a good or a happy sound! My sleep-blurred eyes focused on a river of water coming from the window area and coursing across the floor to the drain. Praise God for floor drains!! You know in cartoons how a stream of water will squirt out of a wall and someone sticks their finger in it to stop the flow?? That is exactly what happened, I am not exaggerating!! The window well was filling with water on the outside, it was up the glass about 5 inches. The water was looking for a way out and found a crack/hole in the mortar where four concrete blocks came together. An actual spout of water was shooting out of the wall behind the dryer. I stuck my thumb in the hole to stop the flow, but then what?? I hollered for Glen. No response. I hollered again. He simply couldn't hear me above the sound of the rain, and from all the way in the basement. Drawing a deep breath I removed my thumb from the wall and raced up the stairs. When Glen came down we took turns filling and emptying a container with the water shooting out. However, the window well was very full and all of that water had to go somewhere. So I headed outside in the storm to bail out the window well while Glen tried to keep up with the steady stream inside. It all seemed so surreal to me. Like something that you hear about, but doesn't really happen. It was definitely happening though! In the middle of all the excitement I actually did grab the camera to try to get some pictures. However, the camera didn't have a flash, and I was seriously too tired to try to figure anything else out. In the end we did the best we could and stopped the flow of water into the basement. I walked around the house in the downpour to check the downspouts. Everything was as it should be, so we headed back to bed worn out.
In the morning there was water all over the floor again. The crazy downspouts!! They just couldn't keep up with so much water. I guess we got about 6inches again. July was so dry, no rain at all. Now we have had 12 inches in just two rains in August. Crazy!
I did go outside to look at the damage. This video is of the creek just below our orchard. The terrific force of water flowing through the culvert under the road washed out part of the bank and several small trees. What a storm!

Early, early morning!

Glen and the boys have been working on a roofing project at a friend's house this week. The weather has been wonderful for them, as in NO RAIN! However, the sun beating down on you when you are on a black roof with no shade in sight can get very very warm. So they have been starting early in the morning...very, very early!

Right now it would be good to remind you that we are a homeschooling family. As such, our days are run by our own clock, not that of the public school system. What I am trying to say is that we like to sleep, we like to sleep, and sleep and sleep. So it has been a rude awakening (no pun intended) for all of us to be getting up so early every morning! Those of you who regularly get up before 6:00am will probably not appreciate these new discoveries, and for that I am sorry.

These are some of the things that I have learned by getting up at 5:30am.

1. The chickens are awake and crowing, but still on their roosts.
2. I have left my roost, but am neither awake nor crowing!
3. Sunrise over the ridge to the east of our house is so beautiful I can hardly stand it!
4. It is amazing how much I can get done in a day with a couple extra hours! (I didn't say how many!)
5. When the two-hour-timer on the coffee pot goes off before 8:00am I am stunned!
6. Though I always like to spend time with God in the morning, actually watching with Him as the world wakes up is an amazing gift!
7. The house gets quiet by 9:30 or 10:00pm instead of the usual 11:30pm or 12:00am.

So far it has been a very enjoyable week for me, I cannot speak for the men in my family who have been working so incredibly hard. Though waking up seems difficult at first, once I am moving it seems to get easier. Some planning ahead to have the coffee maker all ready to go in the morning so all I have to do is push GO is essential! Most likely life will return to the usual stay-up-late-get-up-late routine when the project is done, but it has been a fun ride!

Early morning on the farm