A Spring Walk

It was such a nice day here yesterday.  It rained in the early morning.  Cooling everything off nicely.  We spent the morning making Cinnamon Rolls.  6 tins of gooey & melty goodness.  My blood sugar is still through the roof and the butter is starting to settle in my arteries.

We watched a few movies, then went outside when the rain subsided.  It smelled of fresh rain, honeysuckle and wet dirt.  I love the way rain makes everything smell.  Especially wet dirt.  I have always loved wet dirt smell.  Don't ask me why, I really don't know.  I'm just strange like that.  

The sun came out and warmed everything up pretty fast.  The kids got their slip and slide out because it was 80 degrees outside and they were already on the verge of heat stroke.  These poor kids.  They don't know what is coming.  If they think this is hot, I hate to see how they will act in August.  Maybe that should be poor me.  I can only imagine the whining, sighing, and constant requests for ice cream.  X 3.

 

I left the kids to figure out how to put the slip and slide up and went for a walk around the house.  The first thing I noticed was the berry bushes.  We have just hundreds of berry bushes all over.  What a blessing to have such an abundance of berries, grapes and fruit all over the property. Being in such a natural place makes me feel closer to God, at peace, and just happy.

I have been anticipating berry picking, preserving and baking.  All this time, I thought they were raspberry bushes.  Turns out, they are blackberry bushes.  Which is a wonderful thing because blackberries are just so much better.  Don't argue.  It is just a fact.  Just look at these beautiful berries.

These are just the few ripe ones I found here and there.  99% of the berries are still green.  I had about 4 cups worth.  There are literally hundreds of berries on each bush.  We are going to be inundated with blackberries.  It will be just..heaven.  Lexie made a blackberry cobbler.  She did a wonderful job.  She is going to be a master baker in no time.  

I also found tons and tons of honeysuckle.  

I have heard one can make honeysuckle sorbet, wine and jelly.  I  scoured the Internet and found some yummy sounding recipes I would love to try out.  So, today the kids and I are going honeysuckle picking.  While in Alaska, I made fireweed jelly that was just wonderful.  I hope the honeysuckle jelly turns out just as well.  If you'd like the recipes, let me know.  I'd be happy to forward them to you.

I saw some interesting flowers along the way I would like to identify.

This little nook is located on my very long driveway leading into the property.  There are so many vines and tons of foliage here, it looks like a jungle in some places.  Some people don't like the vines but I think they are beautiful.  

This little guy begged me to take his picture.  He stood still and posed.  He is more cooperative than my children.  Well, one of them anyway.  He shall remain nameless.  

This is the face of......

Sweetness?

Cuteness?

Innocence? 

No.  None of the above.  Not by far.  This is the face that makes my superior temporal artery pulsate and throb like crazy.  You see, this sweet little dwarf is supposed  to be pregnant.  She is supposed to be kidding by now. 

 She.  Has.  Not.  

She looks pregnant.  She has doubled her size.  She is showing many signs.  None the less, there is no kid.  This goat has had me guessing all winter long.  Anticipating goat milk.  Dreaming up recipes for soap and ice cream and lotion and cheese.  

Every day I check on her and still....nothing.  

I think she is just fat.  A fat little gorger of hay.  Who likes to torture me.  

Sigh... Off to find a buck.  

p.s.  Yes, I know gorger is not a word, but I'm okay with that.

Turtles and Toads and Kids.....Oh my!

We live on several acres out in the country.  I love living out here.  It is so quiet, peaceful and beautiful.  What I love the most is that the children are able to explore the natural settings around them.  

Our dog, Sam, is only 4 years old.  Up to our move 6 months ago, Sam spent his whole life in Alaska.  This means he had never seen a turtle or a frog among many other animals before we moved here.  Sam is insanely curious with every new animal he comes across.  

While on my way to the garden the other day, I notice something strange on the ground. Which, by the way, I am getting pretty use to living out here.  I won't even gross you out with what I have found.  Anyway, I see our dog drop this "thing" on the ground.  It looks gross.  It looks like a foot off a large, dead animal.  It looks dried and strange.  Our dog, Sam is excitedly running around it, salivating.  I am already trying to figure out how to dispose of it.  Then I look closer and realize it is an inverted turtle.  With a hole at the end of it's shell.  It looks like it has seen better days. 

 I call the kids to come look.  They immediately argue about what it's name will be and who's room it will sleep in.  I think to myself.....self, why didn't you just put it back in the woods and not say a word?  Um, no.  We are not keeping it.   We put the turtle in a box so we can observe it for a few days.  We got the laptop out so we could identify it and learn about the kinds of turtles that live here.  

While getting everything settled, I look up and see Sam drop something else in the grass.  I told Brandon to go see what the dog had now.  Brandon excitedly yells, "It's another turtle!"  No way.  I asked if he accidentally dropped the other one out of the box.  Surely there are not two turtles in our yard.  Yep.  It's another turtle.  The kids go nuts and try to plan out a rotation on how they will share two turtles.  I tell them 1,000 times we are not keeping the turtles.  Why don't they believe me?  

They spent the next hour reading about turtles and trying to identify the gender of each one. Turns out, we have a boy and a girl.  Brandon theorizes that Sam found them while they were mating.  Pleasant thought, eh? He is probably right though. Poor turtles.  Both turtles were hiding deep in their shell with the carapace/plastron completely closed up.  They speculated that maybe they were dead.  And that we should name one "Stiffy"  My kids are funny.  

Turns out, they were not dead.  They hid in their shell for a long time.  When they finally felt safe enough to poke their head out, the kids spent a while just watching and playing with them. The kids painted dots on their shells to see if the same ones would come back after we released them.  

That same night, Brandon found a warty toad.  Lexy helped him catch it and the toad squirted some kind of liquid all over her hand.  We were not sure if the fluid was the toad's toxic secretions or if it just urinated all over her hand.   It was quite amusing.  It was even more amusing to see her reaction when I told her she was now going to get warts all over her body just like the toad. I know, it is not true.  But it was funny.  I finally told her the truth.  Only because I knew she would go take a bath in Purell.  She is a complete germaphobe.  

The kids had a fun time observing and playing with the turtles and frog.  I love that they have such a hands on experience learning about animals out here.  We have also found lots of Green Anoles, a few shrews and mice.  Lexie made a comment while playing with the turtles that she loves home school.  That just touched my heart.  

I wonder what Sam will bring us next?  I just hope it is not dead and stinky.

Sprouted...

My Garden has sprouts everywhere.  I love watching new plants grow.  I can't wait to see what the garden will look like in a few months. Yard Long Beans Kentucky Blue Beans

Cantaloupe

Purple Beans Sweet Corn & Sugar Snap Peas
Pumpkin Purple Beans Sweet Corn & Sugar Snap Peas

Ants consuming a grub...yuck!

Boredom leads to creativity......

     Moving out to the country has been good for our whole family.  We really wanted a more simple life.  Centered on family.  Somewhere the kids could really grow and learn.  The best memories I have as a child are those that stemmed from boredom.  Being bored leads to using imagination, boosting creativity and enjoying life's simple pleasures.  

    To encourage this,  I make my children play outside every day after school until it is dark.  They hate it.  They get mad at me. They act like they are going to die.  (Well, mostly just Brandon) They beg to go in and play the Wii.  Then, they give up and figure out something to do.  

     Boredom had lead to hikes, scavenger hunts, cloud watching, bug collecting, dog training, imaginative play, plant identification, gardening, photography, water fights, learning about shrews, taking care of goats and chickens, building inventions and sibling bonding.  And that is just the last few weeks.  

     So, the other day I am gardening.  (Without hurting myself this time) And I look up to see each of the children running here and there collecting items.  Like tree branches, old stepping stones, toys and their backpacks full of stuff from the house.  They make many trips.  They are working together, planning something. I pray it is not dangerous.  I hope they are not plotting to run away from home and find a Mom who will let them play video games all day and eat Twinkies and Lucky Charms and corn syrup.  

Finally, they disappear under a tree for a long time.  I feel compelled to check on them.  This is what I found-

Each child has made their own fort.

This one is Cody's.
Brandon's.  Notice the pulley system he is building?

He is such a smart and inventive kid.

Lexie's Need more supplies

    I love living in the country.

The chicks

The chicks are now in their 3rd week in this world.  They already grew out of their old home and had to be placed in a bigger "brooder."  Our brooder is a kiddie swimming pool.  They like it in there.  The can run and play and pick on each other.  

After my incubating failure, I am proud to report that I have not killed even one 

baby chick.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed they all make it.  Lets also keep our fingers crossed that the temperature stays consistent enough for the chicks brooder to be placed outside.  

Baby chicks stink.

Even if you clean out the brooder.

Daily.

Yuck!

Careful

Careful Please save me from this child!

Where does the time go?

So, I am taking random pictures of the kids the other day.  I took this one of Lex and I was just struck. She is growing up so fast.  Becoming a young lady.  A smart, funny, beautiful young lady.
She should still look like this.  How is it possible for time to go by so quickly?  She has blossomed into such a neat kid.  

Sometimes I wish I could stop time.

Little Boys are made of......

Strange things.  That's what.  Cody was making me shake my head.  All. Day. Long....

He is such a funny kid.

First...

He decided make things out of clay dough that would make me laugh.

 

Later on that day he goes outside to play.  He is too quiet.  So, I check on him.  Silence is never good.  I find him tied up like this....
No, the dog did not run around him and wrap him up.  This was self-imposed imprisonment. He yells "Help!" Then laughs hysterically.Unwinds himself.And runs away.Strange child...Then runs back to the tree to wrap himself up again.  

The boy is strange.