Washington’s birthday party February 6, 2014

 

Unplanned by us two-legged folks.  But apparently something happened last spring when the flooded creek washed out fencing between the bull and the rest of the herd, including young Hallelujah, the Popper’s Jersey heifer.

So in the last week or two Tim and the kids noticed Hallelujah wasn’t just a barrel belly, she also showed signs of impending motherhood.  Oh dear.

Yesterday was the day.  With a high of 8F.  But at least the sun was shining.

You would have to zoom in to see Hallelujah laying on this side of the hay bales in the middle of the above photo.  Binoculars worked well for observing from the house…

The Popper stayed home from piano lessons to mind her new little man while he dried off inside the garage.  Good pictures of black cattle are not my forte.

Later Tim decided he would have to feed Washington via a bottle.  Perhaps brown cows really do give chocolate milk?  Look how dark this colostrum is!

Today they are getting along just fine without a bottle… If you enlarge this you can see the little guy in his blue calf blanket.

 

Welcome to the world, Washington!

It is…

 

C>O>L>D>

 

from Accuweather at 10:30am…

Now: Sunny -13°
RealFeel® -46°

Today

Jan 6

Brisk and very cold Hi -11°
RealFeel -40°

 

Tonight

Jan 6

Mainly clear and very cold Lo -14°
RealFeel -40°

 

Tomorrow

Jan 7

Mostly sunny and very cold Hi 10°
RealFeel 9°

 

………………………………..

It’s almost funny.  A week ago or so –before I heard the state meteorologist explaining about the unusual direction of the jet stream—we had some kiddos here for the day.  They went outside to visit the pets and go sledding.  When Tim was talking with Josefine at supper, he asked her about her walk out to the pasture.  “We went all the way to the North Pole!”

Well, Josefine, I’m thinking the North Pole has come to us here lately!  :o

And waiting until manana to make a needed trip to the post office seems like a really good idea.

Abby’s amaryllis ~ january

 

January 14

       

 

Jan 15

       

 

Jan 18

          

      

 

Jan 20

   

 

{thank you, Mrs. W!}

january via the camera

 

Continuing the wading game through the hundreds of pictures…

{for this post I downloaded Windows Live Writer again, Jodi!  Happy day!}

 

WEEK FOUR

• Along about New Year’s Day, the older girls finished their To Do Lists.  Monday morning they opened their Christmas gifts.

The Popper gave Miss Music Box (Kate) a pretty necklace.  And she got several more from G&G  : )

               

Kate gave Miss Artist a Sugar Shack mocha java candle and a music CD (Kaffeemusik) in this pretty package.  

          

 

Miss A is also enjoying a new digital camera…

 

• the Breakfast Feast

          

 

• Books ~ the Computer Geek read Tim’s new book

                                   

 

• More game time ~ Note: Do not set up the game like this again!

       

• Tuesday brought Back to School and work (and the old computer went to visit Mr. Fix-It… and has yet to come home)

 

WEEK FIVE

• Organizing in the garage ~ building shelves (begun Dec 30)

                      

Luci likes to supervise… sometimes with her eyes closed.

                    

 

• The boys helped to remove the lights and haul the tree outside (and mop the spilled water and sweep the dropped needles)

                         

 

WEEK SIX

• We picked up the order of laminate and Tim began to prepare the floor…

         

Sanding the high spots, cutting out the rotted wood (Remember the house had no roof for much of our first winter’s snow.)

    

• Friday afternoon  (Jan 20) Tim began to lay the laminate! It was a loooong weekend of late nights.

                     

                                

 

• Saturday they took a break to play in the snow.

   

   

Luci preferred to not ride the sled.

 

 

WEEK SEVEN

• Rearranging… and new rugs!

             

   

 

• Sewing projects ~ my first attempt at a tag blanket.

     

 

• When kiwi is on sale, Miss A makes pavlova – yum.

                

 

• Pressing on… (or trim and snap and lock)

                     

 

• Ciabatta & Panini

            

  

(Nice panini press, eh?  It also works well enough just to press it with the flat spatula or your hand ~ just be sure to wait to butter that side.)

The batch of ciabatta only made two little loaves, so I made some Italian herb bread too. 

It was all good ~ except for the sun-dried tomatoes. Next time I’ll use fresh tomatoes for this smoked turkey club panini. Yum. 

Y’all come!