Its a Blog day!

So it is currently...very warm here! Something like 32 degrees and 75% humidity...ouch...so while Lorelei sleeps, I'm down in the basement....blogging...and avoiding the heat! Its nice and cool down here, if you ignore the slightly musty smell and the few spots of mold on the wall....ergh...that just reminds me of how much work we need to do down here! I think I need to invest in a dehumidifier too, but this is not a shopping list or a to do list...so lets get on to the fun stuff!

There is a little retro blogging warranted I think - lets start with...hmm...well we bought a new(er) van, but I don't have any pictures of it...so I guess I won't spend too much time on that! We've had a lot of rain this summer so far, but the last couple weeks have been hot and dry! We've done some fencing, some haying, some gardening, some travelling....ok lets start there -

Over the July long weekend we enjoyed a 3 day bible conference in Regina - it was a beautiful weekend with some wonderful ministry to be absorbed, great fellowship and of course some good food. We stayed with "Grandma Harriet" whom Lorelei has fondly asked about several times in the last month "Go see Gramma Harriet?" "where's Gramma Harriet?" "Gramma Harriet's house?" Its fun to see her starting to remember the people she meets and connecting them. She can point out many of the people in the photos on our fridge and correctly identify them. She often asks where her different friends are - "Where's Connor? (or insert one of many names here!). Then there is of course, my reply "At his house..." then the inevitable "Why?" But its quite nice to know that she's thinking and learning an connecting to other kids!

Here she is with one of her friends who sat near us during the meetings - they're about a year apart and they happened to randomly have the same dress on on Sunday - different colors but the same print, brand and style - so cute! H wasn't quite as happy to get a picture taken as Lolo was!

Sweet little man with a sweet bigger man!

Little Mr C keeping a close eye on his little cousin...."That looks dangerous (or maybe fun?!)" Everyone had to cuddle with "The Little One" and get their baby fix!

Daddy and Lolo get in some Tractor Time between meetings

"Rodeo" Day

Wow - last post was May 17? No wonder I have so many things to post about! I'll have to do some retro-blogging, maybe tomorrow? Who knows...for now I guess I'll just blog about today.

So...today was the day for Spring cattle work. This year most of the calves that came to the pasture were not castrated or tagged, so today was the day to remedy that. There were only about a dozen calves to do, but...if you know anything about the way things get done around this farm, it wasn't just that simple.
First off, as usual for us, we didn't get up as early as we had planned...8am came and went without a sound from Lorelei's room, and since we both seem to be in a perpetually exhausted state lately, we just kept dozing, in spite of the alarm going off more than once....Oops...
Then there was the mad rush to get things done here and head over to the in-laws where the bulk of the action would take place. Trevor saddled the horses and put my cow out for grass, I fed the pigs and Lorelei (who of course decided she didn't "WAn" to eat breakfast this morning) and gathered up the various and sundry things that either needed to be taken back to my in-laws or might be needed for the day...you know, extra clothes for the potty training kid, the mixer I borrowed from my MIL, the water bottle that needed to be filled.... By the time I made three trips out to the truck with stuff, Trevor was ready to head over, so he trotted out the driveway on Apache, with Riata alongside and Lorelei and I came along in the "Tuck"(as in "Daddy's Tuck, Daddy's Tuck!!). Once we got there and I hauled in all the stuff, I got Lorelei settled in with Grandma and headed for the barn.
Now, it wouldn't be possible to just head down there and get started...you see, nothing happens just that easy around here! First we had remodel a couple pig pens, move some pigs, bed the pig pens, catch 18 piglets, castrate a dozen and then remove the pig fencing from some areas of the barn so we could move cattle through the handling system.... I was just catching the second litter of pigs when E, K, J, H and V showed up. The cows actually belong to E & K, so they came along to help out with the process. The kids were alternately enthralled and alarmed while they watched me "do an operation" on the male baby piglets. The whole process of moving animals around and changed around fences always takes longer than the actual handling of the animals...such was definitely the case today! After sending the baby pigs back to their mommy for comfort, Trevor and I headed down the hill on the horses to bring the cattle up.
My mare, Riata, who was just started last year as a 4 year old, got to experience cows for the first time. This was only my third ride on her this year...I'm ashamed to admit that...but its true! My friend M, who started her last year, took her for a couple weeks this spring to give her a bit of a refresher...I should have ridden her about 6-8 times since she came back, but I've only been out on her twice....where does all my time go? Anyways, she had a lot of energy today...it was a nice day and she really did not want to be away from the other horse...she wanted to be right beside him and going fast.... Well, I had other plans, and she did lots of work today instead of just having a simple ride, because all she could think about was full speed ahead....I was almost dizzy by the end of the ride after all the pivots and circles we did to keep her brain working and her feet slowed down! We rode quickly down the hill and into the pasture where Trevor started to call the cows, they were all bedded down in the bush on top of the small hill in the "Little Field", but came out quite readily when Trevor started calling....he led them up the hill while I followed behind. Riata wasn't impressed at all, but we got through it. Eventually we had all the cows in the barnyard and we tied the horses up in the shade...their job was done for the day!
At this point I discovered I needed to get some scalpel blades from our place to do the job with, we had some blades but no handle to fit them...so I made a quick trip home while the guys moved panels and hogs and feeders, etc. To get the working system ready. When I got back, we sorted the calves from the cows and got the real job underway.
First of all we let E be the steer wrestler and throw the calves down and sit on them...that lasted for a whole 2 calves... We decided that the chute might be easier, so we proceeded to load the calves one at a time into the chute...

Tagging can be kinda hard on the hands...I think that's why I'm making such a face....or who knows....maybe the boys were saying crazy things!

Some were so small that their heads didn't stay caught in the headgate, so Trevor had a rope on those ones.

E was in behind them in the chute with a good grip on their tail to hold them still...

While I took care of the more delicate side of the operation....

No more bulls around!
We enjoyed lunch part way through the process with the whole crew plus my brother-in-law and his family.
We are very thankful for Grandma...who watched Lorelei all day and did the cooking to keep us going!
I think I managed to get through the day with only one bruise and a couple small nicks from the scalpel...not bad!


I love the motion in that pictures...Lolo running to Daddy and him stooped to pick her up...so cute! Then there's E holding V, J, Grandpa, H and K...all watching the calves run out to their mommies.
After the calves were done and we turned everybody back out to pasture, I took each of the kids for a bareback ride on Apache.
Chirpee....Apache thought the flies were pretty bad...

H looks positively delighted!

J was pretty excited too...but the sun was pretty bright!

Lorelei thought it was great to share her pony with her friends!

After this was done, we took advantage of the extra hands and went back to our place to castrate our pig and bull calf. After an unsuccessful attempt to get the bulls in, we said good-bye to the E family and headed back to the in-laws to finish off the day. We moved more animals around, and then brought in my FIL's few cows and sorted, tagged and castrate those calves (only 2 bull calves in this group). Then we hauled them to the smaller pasture on our place. After this, we had supper with my in-laws, loaded up Riata and Lorelei and came home. Apache is staying at Grandpa's for the summer (he IS grandpa's horse after all!). It was 8:30 before we got home, and 9pm before Lorelei was in bed...again! It seems very hard to get her in bed on time when the evenings are light so late and the days are so full of activity! I'm just glad that she's a pretty flexible kid and she still has good naps to help make up for the shorter nights lately! I feel pretty worn out, and have been sitting in bed for over an hour already! Imagine that, I'm in bed before 11pm....not asleep yet of course!

Here are some more pictures from the day - Thanks K for taking pictures!


Grandpa and the kids.

DeereAndy and Dimple...."there's just so much to see daddy!"

My lil girl...getting so big!

The curious spectators J & H.

Trevor: "Here ya go Heather, now you'll have some great pictures for Facebook"

V patiently watched from her stroller too!

Garage Sale fun!

The last two Thursdays I've hit up the garage sale deals in the closest "big" towns... What fun!! I thought I needed someone to go with me in order to enjoy it, but just me and Lolo have had a great time - she just thinks its "looking for bawooons" Since I have her on the lookout for balloons so I know where to turn for garage sales! The first day was glorious, sunny and warm, we wore short sleeves and I even wore my new Silver capris for the first time (thanks to big sis Becky for the awesome birthday present!!). Last week, however, was cold and windy and it even sprinkled a bit...oh well, the deals were still there to be had!

First off were some lovely additions to my kitchen...one isn't even in the picture because I already had it in the oven when I took this picture that night at supper time...On the bottom is a pampered chef stoneware baker that had never been used ($4) - there is a second one that is in the oven that is smaller and cranberry in color($2), a Springform pan to make some lovely cheese cakes with my lovely homemade cream cheese this summer($1), a nice set of stainless steel measuring spoons for 10 cents!(you can never have too many measuring spoons), and then two lovely glass pitchers($3) for storing Daisy milk in...I'm always on the lookout for glass pitchers that actually have lids - these don't exactly seal, but its better than nothing and their shape is ideal - tall and skinny to take up as little room in the fridge as possible!

This somewhat blurry picture is backed by an Alpha Omega Elite carseat ($20) that has 4 years left before expiry...perfect as an extra carseat for daddy's truck! A size 4 winter coat and snow pants (the pants look like they've never been worn!) ($2). A pair of size 4 black fleece lined splash pants (50 cents), a pair of 18 month snowpants (for a someday baby) - perfectly gender neutral in color and a great zipper, right down to the ankle on one leg($1), two pairs of winter boots - the purple ones are actually a size six which I misread for a nine, but oh well, someone will use them and they were only a dollar. The other boots are really well made and have liners in them - I think they're an 8, can't remember($3).
In the background of this picture you can see a somewhat worn foam Mickey Mouse chair which Lolo loves, two adorable dresses, three pairs of shoes (plus a pair of boots on her feet), a toy piano, a couple books, a bike helmet, a pair of jeans, half a dozen pairs of socks and a pair of ice skates that adjust from size 6 to size 9 - total price of the goods in this picture?? $28!

Even Lolo thinks that's grand! There were a couple things I didn't take pictures of, including 3 yards of 60" denim for $12!

A few days after that first garage sale blitz, I made some cheese...

Despite the gorgeous curd....the mozzarella turned out terrible...basically inedible :(
The ricotta was fine, though, and made quite nice gluten free berry cakes...which reminds me, I really need to do a post with some of my newly tried and gluten-free recipes!

The only thing I took a picture of from my garage saling last week was this plaque....the style of which doesn't match anything in my home (although, nothing really does match, so its ok...) but I loved the poem so much I just had to bring it home...even for an outrageous price of $2.50! I just love the poem and it spoke to me of the place in my life and some of what we've gone through...a good reminder of HIS Goodness! If you can't read it, click for a bigger version!


There were other bargains last week, like stickers for Lolo, farm toys (Christmas present for Lolo probably - I hid them!), more kitchen accessories, magnetic letters, a $3 B & D food processor, 2 dozen flat diapers for $5 and 2 dozen cotton nursing pads for $1.... it wasn't the most beautiful day, but it was enjoyed and I still scored some nice deals...although....they weren't quite as practical or necessary as the things I bought the week before...maybe I'll have to stay home this week!

Its much to late, so I'm off to bed....work tomorrow and things to do always! I almost finished digging up my perennial bed tonight, so I am in dire need of a shower - I'll tell my gardening tales another day!

April

This post is completely backwards...oh well...you have a perfectly good scrolling finger, scroll down to the bottom and read your way up :)

Last night we had visitors for supper - they helped us celebrate Trevor's birthday and we had a nice visit! Here is me and Lorelei with the youngest of the E family! Lorelei wasn't so sure that I should ever hold anyone but her...so we had to compromise by holding both on my knee at once!
Here is my rigged up hitch - this took me about half an hour rummaging in the shop and testing out ideas - first is a good sized bolt put through a small triangular hole in the frame near the back axle of my bike - I had to take the wheel off to get it in there, then I added an oversized nut that was large enough to slide over the smooth neck of the bolt as a spacer to clear the nut on the actual axle. Next I added a big loop thing (Trevor called it a lifting link...I dunno where it came from I just found something in the shop that looked like it would work!) that had a hole at one end for my bolt to go through and a loop that angled back from that. I added a washer and a nut to hold the whole assembly tight, then I started on the trailer part of the hitch - I eventually found an old hitch pin, which, once I sanded off the rust, fit perfectly inside the hollow arm of the hitch, currently there is a bent nail through the hole in the hitch and the pin, but I need to get a cotterpin to replace that. To connect the two pieces together I found a cable clamp that was the right size and connected the handle on top of the hitchpin (which conveniently pivots) to the link on my bike - Voila - now we have a bike trailer which Lolo loves! Thanks Tannys! Here is my "new" to me bike trailer, courtesy of a friend who heard I was looking for one and said she had one that the hitch had broken off of that I could have for free if I wanted to rig up some sort of a hitch.

Other than making cheese, we've celebrated several birthday this month, mostly culminated in one party at the cousin's house last weekend in conjunction with Easter. Lolo and her cousin worked off their supper by riding bikes!



Mmm, beautiful smooth, moist cheese!


2 of the three balls I ended up with, sitting in salt brine to get some salt flavor!
According to the book - I let the mozzarella curd sit in the fridge overnight and then the next day I tried to work it in hot water as directed....nothing worked! So - internet to the rescue, this is the first set of curds before I microwaved it - it worked very well! I now read on the internet the way to make it more stretchy is to add citric acid at the beginning, then you don't have to let it sit overnight...
Here is the finished product I came up with....I wish I had boiled it longer, it only got as thick as peanut butter and I would have liked to have it harder, oh well, it made good dip!


"when the mixture thickens, pour into a blender carefully and blend until it is a smooth consistency - be careful because the liquid is very hot" Really?? Lets make it easier - I love my immersion blender!Its starting to thicken, YAY - its almost bedtime!
Its slowly boiling away - see how much more opaque it is and how it is getting a nice bit of brown to it?
Time to bake more cookies while the whey boils!
Next step was the Mystost - you basically just boil the whey down until it is reduced to a VERY thick "sludge" Here is what it looked like at the beginning - a pot full of fairly transparent liquid whey...
We finished making cookies! Lorelei was very happy to clean the paddle for me!
After cutting the curd, I turned it into the cheesecloth and let it drip...meanwhile...
Here is the mixture resting at 90 F, the curd is just forming, you can see the whey coming to the surface.
The recipe I started with was the Mozzarella cheese recipe out of my older edition of the Cheesemaking book by Ricki Carroll - I ended up not following all the method described though, because I couldn't get it to work! I ended up coming online and finding several videos and recipes that said to microwave the curds and work them that way, and it worked quite well.

One Thursday I decided that it was time to make cheese...after much deliberation I decided to make Mozzarella and attempt to make Gjetost - actually Mystost (because it was made with cows milk not goats milk) with the whey. We started with 2 gallons of milk (three days worth of milk from Daisy), some plain balkan yogurt for starter and some rennet.
Lorelei is learning and changing and imagining so much more lately, one night while I was cutting something into a pot on the stove and she was playing with playdough, I looked behind me and saw that she had taken a big lump of playdough over to her pot on her play stove and was breaking it into little pieces. It was quite cute, and I had to snap a picture!
The weekend of the 16th brought a trip to Regina to attend my Uncle's auction sale - he was the last of the Aunts and Uncles that was still farming, so quite a few of us cousins made an effort to come. It turned into a bit of an impromptu family reunion with 11 of the 21 cousins there and 10 of the 21 grandchildren there at some point during the day! Above is Becky, sporting the winter gear needed to stand the day - it was cold and snowy, but we still had a good time. Becky and Amy and Luke had driven up from Idaho to be there and to help dad celebrate his 60th birthday which was actually yesterday. We got to visit with Harriet and her family too and spent a bit of time with Trevor's Grandma.
Here is CeeCee the adopted heifer calf from Uncle Jack.
Daisy had a calf on the 6th of April - BeeBee is his name...he's a really pretty chocolate color, but he is blind. So far he's doing ok, but we had gotten another calf from Trevor's uncle because we didn't know if he would make it, so now Daisy is feeding two calves plus giving us 2-3 litres a day of milk
The chickens continue to hang out inside their house....


April started with a snowstorm the first weekend - yucky wet, heavy snow!