Heading out, yet again, for Indiana. Prayers for safe travel appreciated. Big Thank you to our Farm sitters and a reminder not to drive over the temp. electric line in the yard! Hoping to break our streak of getting stuck while on vacation!
~Kate

the last post was unfinished and will continue as such for a bit. Haven’t been able to get to the library for a bit. Hope you’re all well. ~Kath

So, I actually have a little time while the girls are finishing up here at the library to give you a really fast rundown in picture form of the time when “silence fell” (dw reference whoot!) last spring.

So, first up we had our doeling,  Tegan:   isn’t she sweet? She was born around May. Then Life went crazy here with Elenas first seizure and a whopper windstorm that dropped a tree on my house. So, minimal damage, but we were like, ahhhh! Trees need to come down! So we hired a logger who did this:    okay, so in Sept. last year, Lizzy turned 16 and we had a Doctor Who birthday for her here is the cake that Aunt Margaret made her:  and her cousin Steven drew her with watercolor an awesome TARDIS with space detail and her name written in Galifreyan:

How cool is that?! She’s also wearing the Doctor Who t-shirt I got her. October was campout which was cold and rainy! I was nervous too about Lanie not getting enough sleep and so forth, so it was a bit harrowing at times for me. All went well though, we’re looking forward to this years campout.  December we took a trip to Florida for a wedding and then went to New Orleans to visit family. I got the flu on the way to Florida and spent a weekend feeling like the walking dead, it actually delayed our drive to NO. Then, when we got to LA we gave our family the flu and they gave us whatever it was they had just been having. We spent the next three weeks, over Christmas and so forth lying around Aprils house and miserable I mean, to be in NO and not able to do the zoo and such and hardly any of the food!! *sniff*. Though we did go to my sil’s mom’s house and learned how to make huge vats of gumbo from their friend . We got home by New Years day, but still had to get better. We had a post viral cough do-dad for ages.  Then we spent Lanies b-day home sick and played games:Rummy 500 with the mystery players:     we can’t leave things alone, this was chutes and ladders, but we improved it!

When we got better, I took the girls out to dinner around my birthday, and Lizzy and I got food poisoning! Oodles of fun  .  

Heading out again within the hour, hopefully. Prayers for our travelling safety are appreciated! The Bee will be traveling with Nan as her co-pilot, and hopefully a contingent of guardian angels as well. Yes, West Virginia, we will buy our way through your state again ($6.00 in tolls?! seriously?! Fix the pot holes with that dough guys!). Oh mountains, please be kind!

Good day Xanga, until we meat again.

~Kate

Don’t say it, I’m posting once a year, what’s with that?! Life my friends, life (nods head in a mysterious and knowing way). Okay, seriously. I’m not wrapping up last years vacation, you’ll just have to live with it .

Last year in farm news, we had one doeling born to our Barbara. God knew that’s all we were up for this year. June 9th, my Lanie had a grande mal seizure while taking care of our goats (which turned out to be a good thing, as she landed in soft straw on the floor of the milk house instead of on a hard surface). A trip to the ER and an appointment with the partner of Lizzy’s neurologist had us thinking it might be a one off. Some kids have one and never do again. But, in July, she had another seizure, again in the goat house (God is good). They bumped up her EEG and after she had it, she was officially diagnosed with Epilepsy. Krikey Moses! as Hoppy would say.  We are so thankful for really good neurologists and for ambulance drivers and firemen. I think this has solidified Elena’s wish to marry a cowboy-firefighter-electrician. .  She’s on a good medication and a vitamin supplement and hasn’t had another seizure! We thank God every morning and night for His care for her. Well, all of us really. The biggest struggle for her has been me .

I have been a nut. It’s so hard to let her be a kid when I’m worried she’s going to have one and be alone or something. We did make the rule that no one is to be alone, especially when working on the farm, but that’s a good rule all around anyway. Really I have to daily remind myself that freak accidents can happen to any one of us at any moment and just thank God every day for His provision and care. Sometimes she threatens to run away to an island just for her and our family friend Mrs. C, who also has epilepsy and whose husband is also a nut. Mr. C and I usually commiserate with each other.

I have to say, I have great neighbors and friends and especially my deacon, Tim and his family, they have all been there right when we needed it most. That’s God’s way though. Whenever He’s called us to walk through difficult providence, He’s sent friends to walk with us or strangers who hop in and out with crazy good blessings! 

Life has been good though. We did get to go to a wedding in Fl and on to my brothers for Christmas. The only downside was the flu, and another sickness and ear infections and…..well, vacation was extended a week due to illness! Imagine, being in New Orleans and too sick to eat?!!! We got home, just in time for post viral coughs and when we were done with that, Lizzy and I got food poisoning after our “yay we’re all better again” celebratory meal at Golden Corral. Beware the Beef, that’s all I’m sayin’! .

We’re better now, obviously, and on the road again in Indiana for a cousin’s wedding.  We’ll be off again mid-April to AL to visit family for a week, and then we do plan to settle in for a good bit at home, unless God has other ideas again.  

Between Dec. and now, we’ve been working around the farm house. I found an awesome handyman. I handed him 2 pages of fix-its and he was off and running. Next projects are outside. I’ve called a man about stump removal and grading our logged yard to get that cleaned up some ready for planting and an area for the horse. Busy busy, like the rest of you people!  

In Animal related news: We only managed to have Nyssa bred, it’s her first time, so we expect one or two goatlings in May. Barbara has managed to still be in milk though, so hopefully we can increase her production and begin milking her despite her not having a kid this year. Cool huh? We did manage to make goat milk soap last fall, vanilla -peppermint scented. We hope to do cheese this year, we didn’t get to it with the crazy we had going on last year. Hoppy also got 10 new laying hens, golden comet breed. They’re very pretty. Also, Baxter has gotten more poodle in his behavior, less lab. He’s now attacked every animal on the farm at least once, he’s turned on the cats he used to be fine with and he also began running off so he’s been relegated to an electric enclosure outside. Next dog will be a herding breed of some sort, something that works well on a farm at any rate.

Well, that’s all for now, and probably for a quite a while. I don’t have a decent enough internet connection at the farm to be able to do this much. But it’s been fun. Hope you’re well. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In Him we live and move and have our being!

Blessings,

Kate

We fiddled around so long getting to IN, we decided to stay at a hotel rather than crashing in on the family in the middle of the night. Hotel hunting was the name of the game. We were unaware that the Derby was on, so hotels were booked up for miles. We ended up staying at a hotel only 30 min.from our destination. No biggie though. First day at the cousins, Randy hooked up Charlie the Belgian horse to a cart and gave the girls a ride. That evening was a cook out and bonfire with extended family. The kids played in the creek, and just had a blast. Meanwhile…
I offered to help Randy mow part of the pasture his cows and mini-horse,Chloe, are on. He has one of those giant mowers professional lawn care companies use. So I had a crash course and was left to just have at it! Down right crazy, I was all over the place steering wise for a while, and the ground was not level. There was a rather intimidating hill and my mom said she was afraid I was going to flip and wreck. It was so crazy I was laughing at my poor performance and did a yell over that hill…while my mouth was open…a bug flew right in! That was so gross! I was hacking,sputtering, and of course, laughing at the whole predicament….my family said I was a mowing mad woman and quite entertaining while they were around the bonfire. A good lesson all in all…keep your mouth closed while mowing!
The rest of our stay involved 4 wheeler rides and playing in the creek almost every day. Parks, rivers, stables, were all visited, including an extended cousin who has exotic animals: zonkeys, a donkey, peacocks, something like a buffalo maybe? Another family party and then we were off to northern Chicago to visit friends for a few days. We were privileged to see Lake Michigan in all its blue/green- cold- fresh water glory. Wish I’d have had my bathing suit. The girls got in and assured me through chattering teeth that the water was great! Vacation rolling wonderfully along….wrapping up to come!
-Kate

We did Dollywood a bit, meaning we didn’t bother to do more than one actual grown up ride- the giant water wheel whatsit (we rode it twice) and the carousel. That was oodles of fun, Hoppy rode on a rooster, Lizzy on a cat with a fish in its mouth and Elena on a horse (big surprise there). We also did the steam train which was really cool. Loved the chugging noise and the whistle. The guy shoveling the coal was amazing, does it all day and was not a young man. That’s a guy for ya!

We listened to a show, the cousins on the back porch and checked out a few tchatchkie stores, bought a couple things. Nan got us a really nice wooden sign for our farm at a discount cause she used the back of a demo one. It’s really nice. After we wore ourselves out at Dollywood, we returned to the hotel to get out of our damp clothes and head over to Dixie Stampede. It’s always a fantastic show. Although, they serve you a ridiculous amount of food, Hoppy was like “Ahhh! They keep feeding me! How do I get them to stop!” she began to really dread the waitress, just for fear of more food. hah!  Mom took the girls to the hotel pool when we got back, heated indoor pool…nice!

The next day we went to Parrot Mountain….and they weren’t kidding. This man bought 20 acres or so on the side of a mountain, I was in low gear all the way up cringing at the thought of the way down. The parking lot was wicked steep and just getting Nan to the check in gate we thought we’d have to leave her there, until they called over a young man who took us around in a golf cart for an extra $15. It was worth it, Nan got to see most of the birds. They all have their own special perches or cages. We were told that they know which perch is theirs and if you try to put them on the wrong one, you are told in no uncertain terms just how wrong you are. Several of the birds can talk and one bird has the intelligence of a 3rd grader. Wow! Absolutely gorgeous birds and very well taken care of, the whole place was swarming with gardeners and the cages were pristine, no smell! and they had enough birds to generate a smell, believe you me! It’s basically a haven for exotic birds that people buy and can’t keep or have abandoned. It’s a bit pricey, but the $ goes to the birds care and it’s worth a look.

After Parrot Mountain we took a short drive over to the Bush Bean Welcome Center. No, the dog did not sell us the secret family recipe. We saw two films on the family business and they were really cool. There was a scale that you could stand on and it would calculate your weight in beans! . Of course we all did that….but I ain’t tellin’ . It was fun and we were sure glad TomTom took us by seldom trod roads to Dollywood or we’d have missed all the fun. After that we headed to IN to our cousins place. And if you think it’s all relaxin’ in the country, than you don’t know our cousins! More on that later!

Hope you’re all having a great week. We’ve just seen so much more of God’s beautiful earth and His remarkable creations…He is worthy to be praised.

Blessings,

Kate

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned that my GPS (a TomTom) is rather dramatic. If it loses signal while you’re following its directions it will demand you make an immediate left as soon as signal is restored, regardless of whether you’re supposed to or not. It often chooses routes based on it’s own personal tastes.

This trip has been no exception. We programmed it for Dollywood and it was set to fastest route which usually means it will take main roads and interstates…but not today. Tom tom took our white canoe over many waters….it put us on the craziest back road tour we’ve had yet. Past the Bush bean packing facility, on a roller coaster ride of ups downs and sharp turns. I’m glad none of us got car sick. We ended up on Parrot Mountain, which we are so checking into tomorrow. Nan was getting a little worried, having been to Dollywood before, she knew that we should be on main roads. After a bit, our curvy road got so hilly, one of the hill tops was so steep you couldn’t see the road, the drop on the other side was so sharp and sudden…that was a “yahoo” moment, when you have no choice but to take the plunge!

When the road we were on seemed unending, we started to get the giggles….what if the Dollywood we were going to was “Dolly Wood” home of the Cupie. I could totally see some entreprenurial hill billy rigging that up in their back yard. By the way, did you know there is a town in the mountains of Tennessee that is the “Entrprenurial Capitol”? That surprised us too. As I was saying, we got the giggles so bad, nan was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see to drive. I did though. We found civilization and a gas station where we looked up on a paper map where TomTom had taken us….and you know what? The road we were on looked just like intestines on that map. We were driving on Tennessees intestines…

Will the fun never end?!
That’s all for now, I’m beat.
-Kate