Housing Update

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Jennifer

After four months of glorious camper living, (smile)  we are getting very close to living in a house again.  If all goes well, it looks like maybe we could be in the house this week!  I am so excited!!!


We have electricity to the house, the phone line and the all important air conditioner. The only things remaining are the propane tank and the plumbing/septic system.  The contractor that is doing the plumbing and the septic is planning to be here tomorrow morning to get started. Did I mention that I am so excited to be so close?!
.The kids are making FREQUENT trips to the new house just to check it out.  The boys have been trying to decide how to arrange their room.  The girls, “can’t remember what all they have” so they have decided to wait to determine how to set up their room until we get stuff out of storage.  (I thought this was just too funny!)

Of course, I am excited to have our bed back but I am most excited about having a full sized kitchen, my own washer and dryer, a full sized bathroom…Who am I kidding I just want to be in a house! 🙂

This whole experience has really reminded me to count my blessings when it comes to housing!  Many of the things I have missed about a house are probably the things I took most for granted.  I am reminded to “count my (your) blessings, name them one by one. Count my (your) blessings see what God has done. Count my (your) blessings, name them one by one. Count my (your) many blessings see what God has done. ”

Blessings!

Jennifer

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Good Cows…Bad Cows

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Jennifer

Earlier this week some of the cows must have decided that the grass was “greener on the other side” as they went venturing into the wrong pasture.  The kids and I jumped at the opportunity to take the gator and help get them back in.

After the cows were back in their pasture, we used the gator to take their mineral to the mineral feeders.

When Brock spotted a horned lizard we, of course, had to stop and pick it up.

I love that the we are able to enjoy God’s beautiful creation while working together as a family.

In this particular pasture there is an old farmstead.  I captured this photo while we were driving back out.  I think it would be so neat to know the history behind all the little farmsteads that dot the pastures.

The clouds sure were pretty I just wish we would have gotten a little rain from them.

Blessings!

Jennifer

Linked to :     Weekly Top Shot

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Post Rock Fence After Dark

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Jennifer

One of the things we all enjoy doing is just spending time out on the ranch.  This is a picture that I took the other night when we were outside past sunset.  Since we are in post rock country there are a lot of these old post rock fences still around. I love the glimpse of the past these posts give us. 

I hope you enjoy a sample of the view we enjoyed while exploring our part of the world.

Linking up with Weekly Top SHOT

Tots and Me

Blessings!

Jennifer

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Having FUN While Working

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Jennifer

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Our daily lives are filled with many obligations and expectations.  So many so, that it could be easy to forget to enjoy life.  Scott and I are making a conscious effort to work hard, but make both the work and the play times fun for our whole family.

For example,  last week we baled and hauled in square bales of hay on Tuesday and Wednesday (July 4)  Here are some pictures that various members of the family took while we were working.

Rebekah enjoyed her “free” ride to the truck.

 

Eli resting until we got to his bales

The race was on!  The four big kids raised all the way to the barn on one of the loads.

“Driving” the gator while we are unloading hay at the barn.

On July 4, while Scott baled hay, I picked it up.  Brock, Adisyn and Eli had a wonderful time “exploring.”  Rebekah stayed with Quinton and I in the truck and was in charge of picture taking and playing preschool apps on my phone.

Some pictures were a little better than others. 🙂  We finished the night of the 4th off with supper in town.  We were unable to watch fireworks as they had been banned due to the hot, dry weather.  As much as we would have liked to have seen them, I would rather not have any wildfires.

We have been waiting on Shadow to have her kids for what seems like forever.

Still waiting

On July 7 the wait for Shadow to have her kids was FINALLY over. She had one boy, Po (the black and white one) and Dottie (black with moon spots.)

Po, Shadow and Dottie

Po and Dottie running and playing.

The wait was TOTALLY worth it.  Aren’t they cute?!

How do you try to keep the fun in work?

Linked to , ,Big Homeschool Family
Tots and Me
Blessings!

Jennifer

 

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What a CRAZY Month

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Jennifer

Let me just say that although I haven’t had time to blog about it, this place has been hopping!  Although it has been crazy busy, we are absolutely LOVING it!  Here are some of the projects we have been working on during the month of June:

  • We have been picking currants.  So far we have been eating them fresh, freezing     them in gallon size freezer bags and even canning currant pie filling.

  • Harvested the yukon gold potatoes.

Quinton “helping” Eli dig

  • Built high tensile fence on three sides of the west 40 acres and laid 1500′ of water pipe on that same property. (We are setting it up for Management Intensive Grazing (MiG))
  • We’ve taken out .5 mile of old fence and replaced it with a new 5 strand barbwire fence (minus the hedge posts that are coming next week.)

  • Creatively repaired the windmill enough so that it was functional (okay I have to tell you more about this.) Thanks to my husband’s ingenuity we used a ratchet strap and a rock to get the windmill working until the water well people could get here.  🙂

It’s hard to see but it is pumping water with the ratchet strap/rock setup

  • Harvested the first of the zucchini and yellow squash, and then some more squash…

  • Canned cherry pie filling and cherry-rhubarb pie filling

  • Replaced the plywood on the back portion of our camper roof that leaked during the rain.  We knew it had some water damage previously but the people we bought it from thought they had the leak stopped.  After taking off the rubber roofing, we could see that it had leaked for a while.

Taking off the roof and exposing the VERY deteriorated plywood

The four big kids got to spend a little over a week spoiling the grandparents at the beginning of June. During that time, Scott and I were able to take off for a weekend and go to the Teaching Parents Association Homeschool Conference in Wichita and see friends that live near there (and even got to help process pasture raised chickens!) We really enjoyed our “mini”vacation.
Take care during all this heat!

Blessings,
Jennifer

Linked to: Big Family Friday, Farm Girl Friday

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