What have I done...

We haven't even gotten rid of our last lamb...and we added a steer to the mix. My dad had a calf that got separated from his mother when they shipped the cattle from California back home. When they discovered him they began bottle feeding him. If anyone out there has ever bottle fed a baby calf it is fun for about 2 weeks...and then it becomes a chore, just like anything else. My dad quickly began negotiating with us to take on this calf. After a promise of feed and hay to be included we signed on for Buckwheat the Charolais-Angus cross. He thinks he is human. Taryn is hoping to be able to get him to gain enough weight to be able to show and sell him at the Union Livestock Show next June.

This is Taryn showing Donald at the Pendleton Livestock Show

She got Reserve Champion for the Juniors. Her best show yet.

There were HUGE tears when she walked him onto the sale truck.

She thinks it is going to be easier to sell a steer. Should I burst her bubble or let her live in a make-believe world for the next 9 months?

47 days...

Lent: 47 days of:

• no Facebook


• no Blogging...or blog surfing


• no Diet Coke


• no coffee
  
• (almost) no Chocolate*

*Does accidental ingestion count? I mean, I didn't accidentally eat the chocolate donut gems, but I just did it without thinking. As far as I can tell, it was my only slip.

While I was 'out' I kept myself plenty busy. I wasn't sure what would be the worst of my sacrifices. The computer withdrawal was pretty tough, but I think it helped me the most. The Diet Coke was only really bad one time...that was at the movie theater. Gatorade simply does not wash down movie theater popcorn adequately. The chocolate was bad! No coffee was the worst! I really missed my morning cup of java. I think it is just so routine in the way I start the day. It is also impossible to isolate yourself from the tempting 'fresh coffee smell' in the staff room. Tea just didn't quite cut it.

Here is a quick recap of events around here:

Baby bummer lambs - two - Flower & Rose - adopted from people who quickly realized that the 'cute' takes a lot of work. Luckily, by the time we got them they were only needing 2-3 bottles a day...and they are now completely weaned.

Puppies - two - You saw Griz as a little ball of fur...he now looks HUGE compared to our new addition 'Basil'. They are only 2 months apart in age, but right now Griz looks enormous next to her. We think Griz is 1/2 poodle & 1/2 terrier. Basil is 1/2 Shih Tzu & 1/2 Schnauzer. We love them LOTS.

4H Lambs -two - Buck (who jumps very high) & Storm (who escaped his pen one very windy afternoon) are growing and thriving.

Sewing - lots -

• 4H outfits:

Reagan: Olivia PJ bottoms & T-Shirt

Grace: Marco Polo Monkey swim pants & T-Shirt

Taryn: Flower tank top & demin capri's

• Anne: Bird quilt as a house warming gift for the Nelson's

Phew... there was more... but I'm getting sleepy. Did I mention that by stepping away from the computer that I got at least one or two extra hours of sleep each night?

Aquatic Center

My Grandma, (in San Diego), always buys our family an annual pass to the Pendleton Aquatic Center for Christmas. We have been using the pool regularly every summer for our kids' entire lives. It is part of what we do. This summer we have been out and about and haven't gotten to the pool as much as we would like. We did just spend a wonderful afternoon playing with some of our 4-H friends.

• The Coffman Family have three girls.
• The Coffman Family has their own 13 yr. old Taryn Lee...she is their oldest.
• Our oldest Taryn Leigh is now 11.
• Their middle girl is 11. Her name is Megan Nicolle.
• Our middle girl is 8. Her name - Grace Nicole.
• Their youngest girl is Amy. She is 8.
• Our youngest is Reagan...at 6 1/2.
• Kerrie teaches - I teach.
• Shawn hunts - Marc hunts.
  

We haven't spent a lot of time - all together. But I can easily imagine adventures that we may have in the future.

The Dearing kids also came to the pool. The cool connection there is that I graduated with their Aunt Julie from Henley in Klamath Falls. They are in the 4-H club also.





This pool day was special, as Grace passed the swim test for the diving pool. She didn't decide to go off the diving boards...but she did go down the big drop slide a lot!





At one point, Reagan couldn't find us. She saw all our stuff...but couldn't find us. I was taking the pics of Grace in the big pool. Reagan knows she isn't supposed to go to the deep pool without a grown up, so she found a life guard, and they paged me. She had pretty big crocodile tears welling in her eyes when I picked her up from the office. The lifeguards fell for those baby blues and gave her a big ice cream to make her feel better.





It was a wonderful day.

The Cute and the Ugly of the Fair

The Cute!

If you haven't been to the Milton Freewater Fair before, I recommend you put it on your calendar for Mother's Day next year. The weather isn't going to be 100 degrees like at the summer fairs. There is a wonderful little petting zoo, pee-wee showmanship, lots of small furry animals, some ugly big ones, and a reasonable concession stand...(eat at your own risk...more on that to follow.) This post includes the Nelson girls who came to cheer Taryn on for her showmanship class and to see the ribbons they all earned.

The Ugly!

At approximately 6 pm on Saturday night...in Walla Walla...on a dinner run...it hit. I won't bother going in to the gory details...but simply said...I made this llama look adorable in comparison. I believe the 'slider' hamburger from the snack shack didn't agree with me...I can't swear it wasn't a 24-hour flu...but what ever it was it did this:

Kept me from seeing Taryn dance with her first boy at the family dance.
Kept me (and Taryn) from barn duty on Sunday morning.
Kept me from a restful night of sleep.
Kept my mom from a restful night of sleep.
Kept me from spoiling my mom on Mother's Day.
Kept me from enjoying Raphael's pasta...my Mother's Day Dinner.
Kept me from baking my Dad birthday cookies.
Kept me from being able to control my tears on 'sale' day.

I am happily on the other side of what ever it was...I'm eating again. YEAH. Even with the bad-food episode-the fair was 100% spectacular.

Ribbons...

Taryn...

Lemon Tea Cookies-Reserve Champion

Apron-Reserve Champion

Market Lamb-Blue Ribbon

Showmanship-First in Class-Blue Ribbon

Record Book-Blue Ribbon

Grace

Oatmeal Crispies-Adventure's Ribbon

Apron-Reserve Champion

Pee-wee Showmanship-Adventure's Ribbon

Reagan

Sugar Spice Cookies-Blue Ribbon

Apron-Adventure's Ribbon

Pee-wee Showmanship-Adventure's Ribbon

Fair Preview...

7 blue ribbons

3 purple ribbons

5 rainbow ribbons

Almost 3 very early alarm clocks.

1 petting zoo

1 lamb sold

1 'premium' check from Grandma & Grandpa

fair food and ...

fair food-food poisoning

a boy and a dance

friends - new and old

pride - bursting!

Watch for all the postings later this week.

Cookies and Aprons...

After washing and shearing sheep...we headed indoors to bake the cookies for the fair. The girls are also modeling the aprons they made for the fair.

Taryn: Lemon Tea Cookies

Grace: Oatmeal Crispies

Reagan: Spice Sugar Cookies

I love how each of the aprons capture their unique personality.

Taryn...bright and cheery

Grace...Show me the money baby!

Reagan...Sweet and cuddly.

Words don't fail me now...

A penny thought: uh...I'm kinda stuck here. I know this could be an important lesson I could be teaching...I'm just not sure how yet.

This is the way...

This is the way we wash a lamb,

wash a lamb,

wash a lamb.

This is the way we wash a lamb,

On a dandy Friday!

Lamb-glam! Photo after the blow dryer.

That is a fashion blanket. Very cute.

We are in full-throttle toward the fair.

Max got his first bath today.

We will give him another bath on Sunday...and then he gets sheared.

Taryn wants to keep the wool.

Yuck. I don't want the wool.

Why not, though?

She wants to make a pillow.

A penny thought: Instead of asking why, ask why not! I remember thinking EXACTLY how Taryn thinks now. I don't remember how my mom handled it each time. I am sure she found a balance. If I 'let' Taryn keep every collectible...we'd live in a dump. I'm guessing in this case...that once she SMELLS her pillow, she might throw it out herself.

Spring! Amen!

What a wonderful - glorious- fabulous - spectacular spring weekend we had...

Friday Night
Athena & I participated in - witnessed - the First Annual Cattle Barron's Saloon Crawl. We didn't go from saloon to saloon. We walked ourselves two miles down to the Rainbow and watched as the hard core crawlers came and went. It isn't often that Athena & I have kid-less adventures. This was a night full of fun stories that will carry us through the rest of this school year!

Saturday
The girls went to the Art Center and made homemade paper from pulp and added their own creative elements. It was a fun morning. Each of my girls enjoy crafts and art as much as I do...so we try to participate in the classes at the Art Center as often as we can. A perk...they received a grant recently so they are doing a series of six-weeks of free classes. Check them out. Week one was a huge success!


That afternoon the girls ALL got to make cookies. All three will be entering cookies in the Milton-Freewater Fair on Mother's Day Weekend. Reagan choose to make Pumpkin drop cookies. Grace is making Oatmeal Coconut Crispies. Taryn made Lemon Tea Cookies. All the recipes passed my inspection. (OK, so I'm not that rigorous of a judge but I had to try 6 of each to make sure they were perfect!)

Marc was busy in the basement most of the day. He hired a crew to do the drywall for us. Marc had already hung the sheet rock, we just needed the mud & tape done. We thought it would save time and be worth the money, it was not! The guy worked incredibly slow...and his quality of work was not up to Marc's standard. We paid him half of the agreed upon amount and left with the job only half done. In-between layers Marc got the lawn mowers ready for the year and I mowed the lawn for the first time. I am happy to report, I only found one lost Easter Egg, and it wasn't even in the grass. I always worry when I pull out the mower for the first time.

Sunday
Sunday was another beautiful day. Grace, my alarm clock, did not get up until 7:30...I knew it was going to be a great day. We attended church, ate donuts, visited with our friends. Then, Marc and the two little girls tackled laundry, while Taryn and I tackled her 4-H record book. That took a lot of patience on both our parts. We nearly finished...and almost made it without tears.


We spent an hour at showmanship class in Athena. Taryn is doing a much better job handling the lambs. Max, her lamb of choice, now weighs 90 lbs. This is a good number. We need him to weigh at least 95 lbs. by show time. Minnie, the back-up lamb, weighs in at 86 lbs. Taryn is learning a lot and her enthusiasm is contagious.

The Johnson family joined us for dinner and Marc BBQ'ed. He is chef extraordinaire when in comes to the BBQ or prime rib, or salmon, or heck any meat-and-potato-type of meal. We dined on paper plates so cleanup couldn't be much easier.


Have I mentioned, what a wonderful - glorious - fabulous - spectacular spring weekend it was?

Even the squirrel's were soaking up the spring sunshine!

Round Two

Lamb on the lam

I woke up this morning...the bed was warm...the air was cool. The day before spring break. I just knew it was going to be wild and woolly. LITTLE DID I KNOW...

I bundled up...and headed outside.

I take Jake out first thing in the morning. I grab his food and get Max's food ready. I got Jake into his kennel and peeked over at the lamb pen. The EMPTY lamb pen. Panic hit. I scanned the field...I scanned the barn...and I went to notify Marc.

Marc isn't much of an animal guy, yet. He didn't grow up on a ranch like I did...he didn't even have many pets growing up...so animal behavior and unpredictability surprises him more than it does me.

We decided we needed to tell Taryn, but not Grace and Reagan. I was already in a state of panic, we didn't need the entire house to fall apart.

I called in sick. I know this is probably not what sick leave is designed for...but this was a crisis.

We got the kids off to school with a promise to Taryn: "I don't know how...but I will take care of this. Try not to worry." Who was I kidding...I was worried, I had no idea how this was going to turn out.

I drove around to all my neighbors, near and far, to put them on alert for a lost lamb. I called the police...(aka Tony)...I called the vet...I called Annie...(my most likely to be able to find a lost lamb because she raised them neighbor) and I prayed.

At about 8:45 the vet called...they had a sighting of little Max and we were off. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't easy. I didn't whip out my lasso and wrangle him up. Marc didn't show him who was boss. Annie didn't magically 'baa' to him in sheep language and convince him to set on up into the trailer. However, rest assured...we got the job done.

A penny thought: Lambs are social animals. I know this. I had big plans for this afternoon and this evening. They have changed. We will own another lamb by sundown.

A second penny thought: I love to have pictures with my posts...but when a lamb is on the lam...there isn't time to grab your camera.

Max!

I have been waiting for this day to come for a long time. Most of my summer memories as a kid were wrapped around the first weekend in August.

I grew up in the country. There were no play dates. There were no dance groups. There were no swimming clubs. Swimming lessons took place at 9 am in the morning, in a town 30 miles from my house. The water was usually balmy - I'd guess 60 degrees at best. There weren't even parks with play structures...just treacherous merry-go-rounds, teeter-totters and a swing or two...

But...that first weekend in August meant it was FAIR TIME.

I participated in 4-H for nine years...as did my sister and brother...and my dad and uncle when they were young. I raised 8 market lambs and one market steer. I did cooking, sewing, table setting and the style review.

Fair time for me was a time of independence. Mom and dad would drag us into the fair before the sun was up. We'd be wearing all sorts of layers of clothes. It would be chilly in the morning and 100 degrees in the afternoon. Tucked inside our pockets were a few wrinkled dollars...enough for lunch and a snack or two, but not enough for any of the carnival games.

My friends and I would walk miles around the grounds. We'd pet rabbits, wish we owned horses and wonder why anyone on earth would want to chase around one of those obnoxious pigs.

My favorite treat was a dripping sticky ice cream cone. We could also get Cherry Teem soda. It was pink and bubbly and I loved it.

When I had my girls, I knew I would want them to be able to have the same wonderful experience that I did through 4-H.

Taryn is now old enough to have a market lamb. She will also be doing cooking and sewing. We have hooked up with a wonderful group of 4-H'ers in Athena-Weston. I am re-learning all about lambs, feed, equipment and lamb disease.

The funny thing about 4-H and my memories...I DO NOT remember it being so much work. Probably because it wasn't SO MUCH WORK for me as a kid. My mom and dad were the ones doing all the WORK. Oh well. I loved it none-the-less.

You decide...Does it look like Taryn is at all interested in this 4-H nonsense....

Building Fence in the rain.

She's even wearing work gloves!

Isn't he cute?

Meet Max...or should I say Max Meat!

To be continued...for about the next 13 or so years...

A Penny Thought: "I'm always fascinated by the way memory diffuses fact. "~Diane Sawyer

Thank You Mom & Dad! I continue to discover all the effort it takes to raise these wild & wooley kids. How'd you make it look so easy?