Sunday 1 February 2009

25 Farm/Life Updates

Meme style. I seem to be ok brain function wise to complete memes and facebook "twitter" so lets see if I can squeeze out a farm update that way.......

1) We are all stricken with death flu 2009. 
2) It is the first time Blueberry has EVER been sick. Before Wednesday she had never had any medication other than ora-gel. Now she has had infant Tylenol, but she didn't think it helped.
3) Blueberry decided her binky is evil. (Lil'Bug was 3 when she gave hers up and she cried and cried...it was bitten through and she threw it away herself).
4) The sunrise here never gets old. It is beautiful every day. 
5) It is neat having our Amish neighbors visit us. It's like a rift in time. I get so filled with happiness at the sight of the horse and buggies on our road. 
6) We've been invited to a local Lutheran church by some "Englisher" neighbors (that's the Amish word for what we are) and we have as of yet all been too sick to go.
7) I mentioned to Dearest that the bathtub was still draining slow and he took it apart at bedtime last week only to have the hard to find/replace pieces dissolve and crumble in his hands. Metal pipes can do that!? Luckily American Plumbing Supply in Des Moines had what we needed. I always recommend them for really hard to find things, but they really came through for us this time!
8) It finally snowed enough to get out the tractor and plow the drive!
9) The tractor died 3/4's of the way. Dead. That was the bad news Abby mentioned on FB.
10) Now we are not sure what we'll do next snowfall. Ok, actually we do. We'll be out there HAND SHOVELING.......soooooooo not looking forward to that.
11) The sunrise really never gets old! While I was writing this, it went from deep purple to brilliant pink, to that weird rainbow blue, green, yellow, now blazing ball of fire halo'ed by an ocean of lavender. I really never thought sunrises to be very poetic before living here. 
12) I have yet to capture sunrises or any other of the moments I have really wanted to share because I have been pausing to actually enjoy and savor the moments. I'm sure I'll get over that soon, but I hope not!
13) We have a pregnant opossum living in our outbuilding. They are rabies resistant and eat rodents, play dead (rather than attack) when approached, so we are going to let her stay there....until we get chickens. Opossums are actually not so good around livestock and there feces carries bad news for horses....
14) According to Lil'Bug we have a GIANT troll living in the back field. It lives in (or is?) a gigantic uprooted tree. It does look like a good home for something, maybe an ogre, but she informed me that it is a troll even though trolls usually live in water.
15) I miss baking bread. However, I think I have the kitchen design finally figured out. 
16) I think I can finish unpacking this week.
17) I bought a Calyx. I love it. Seriously. I wanted to buy from a local mom, but when I went to Tattooed Mama's house and tried on various soft structured carriers, none of them fit me secure enough because I am so petite (and in short torso'ed) and yet squishy in the middle plus Blueberry's size. She did not have a Calyx, but suggested that I look into that brand. I am so glad I did. 
18) I am wafting on the idea of retro fitting the grain bin to a chicken coop. It would be easiest, but would it be best long term? Could we change it back? Would  prefer a coup close to the orchard and garden for ease of manure distribution, chicken powered garden pest control, closer to a well pump? Just thoughts......I think we'll still use the grain bin idea though.
19) When the bathtub was out of commission, Dearest got the downstairs shower working! Yay! The drain had consisted of aluminum cans? For a day, I also had no kitchen sink drain. I had to do dishes using my four-year-old's toy storage bins. Nice. Let me tell  you, I was super nice about it. We all do our part.
20) A run down of sinks/drains that currently don't work: just the downstairs toilet and sink.....and the laundry room sink hook up is naked. The washer and dry need to switch positions, but that is not really the same thing, just annoying. Anyway, Dearest redid all the pipes/drains in the basement so that they did not pour out on the floor. That's a good thing.
21) I love this house. I love everything about it. Even the odd things like how high up on the wall the light switches are and how high the door knobs are, as if the first owners/builders were really tall people! I love the wood work, the floors, the built in storage, the fireplace, and the potential and opportunity that this place offers us.
22) Considering 21, I have had a hard time getting back to the Des Moines house to finish packing and cleaning. Now we have an open house on the 15th, so I will have to as soon as the girls are feeling better. Remember, if you know anyone who wants a HUGE Victorian in an urban neighborhood with lots of gardening space, send them that way. ;) 
23) I filled the house with smoke at dinner last night, in true Mama Podkayne culinary style. I did not, however, ruin dinner. Good, considering we had guests. ;) 
24) We bought firewood as a truckload. 
25) Blueberry is also full out crawling. She learned high 5's. I think she's almost got her first sign, more, figured out, though she only uses it when she's excited. 

As soon as I don't look like death warmed over, I plan to blog more about the Calyx with pictures. 

2 comments:

  1. Glad that you are getting over the sickness, and did not get lost out in all that there country--oh wait, that's me. Miss you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Mamap! Just wanted to let you know I think you and your blog are awesome. I love reading about your new life on the farm and the babes. Hope you feel love.

    Here's the link to the post about the award. You can pass it on, but that is not needed.

    http://heathersmovingcastle.blogspot.com/2009/01/one-lovely-blog-award-nominees.html

    ReplyDelete

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