Where do I start??

I got home last night from another little mini-vaca to my hometown.  It was a nice and relaxing time.  I got to hang out with my mom and my baby sister for a while and then Erik joined us Thursday night for a truck pull and a relaxing weekend.  Erik was a "sweetie pie" and used my Papa's tractor to pull out six crazy-big and ugly shrubs from my mom's landscape.  He also knocked down three pine trees and two tall arbor vitae that were hogging up the landscape.  I had a moment of panic when Erik started pulling out shrubs because we had discussed the process very late the night before and apparently had cross-communicated and he started ripping out the wrong ones.  Which, was a blessing in disguise because my mom wanted them out anyway.  Poor Maisey, the family border collie, no longer has her hide-away, but the landscape is clearer and much prettier.However, now that I am home, I look around and see a host of things that need to be done within a limited time frame.  It is Farm Show week here in Butler, and you faithful follwers (all three of you) of my post, remember what Farm Show Week means 'round these here parts.  So, I've had a few hours here at the house to clean up stuff, get organized and next I'm onto making lists for all the things I need to get done this week.  I may need to borrow Walker's new notebook I've got so many lists to make!

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of the mundane household stuff I need to do, so in accordance with family tradition, I procrastinated and I started looking through some pictures that I took over the weekend, justifying my procrastination by saying I HAVE to get these

 photos uploaded in case for some reason the card would become compromised and I would lose the photos of Baby Brett's 1 year pictures.  Thank you, Scott Kelby for even putting into mymind that a compact flash could become compromised.  I'm sure it is true, it is just not something I ever thought of by myself.   I've been studying Scott Kelby's photography books lately in order to improve my craft.  (not so much evidenced by the following photos, but I will explain in captions under the photos).

Anyway, I keep procrastinating and right now I'm going to stop.  I will tend to the tasks at hand, but not before I share some photos from the weekend. 

Around sunset Wednesday night, we were headed out to get some ice cream.  As we walked toward the car, down in the field below my mom's house were these deer.  A beautiful doe and her two fawns.  The fawns are pretty evident in this picture, but the doe is in there too - she's got her head down to the right of the fawn on the left.  You can barely see the brown of her back as she is moving through the brush.  They were closer, but as my hoodlum children lumbered out to the minivan they scared mama deer and the fawns quickly followed her for safetys sake.

When we got home from getting ice cream, these magnificent beauties were in the field as well.  Luckily, I still had my zoom lens on my camera and I propped my elbows up in the window of my van and tried to take these shots.  You don't realize how fast the sun is setting until you try to take pictures with a zoom lens at dusk!  These three bucks were not startled at all by our presence - they were in the mood for some good grazing.
The sun was setting fast and I tried to get as many shots as I could of these three bucks, but the lighting was just not working.  Plus, it was pretty far away and my lens worked as hard as it could to get the shots, but they all ended up pretty blurry.  But at least I had proof that three - at least six point bucks were in my moms field.  
I love it when they look up at  you like this.  They weren't scared at all.  Just slightly annoyed that I was making noises at them to try to get them to all look up at me.  They never did though - it was as if they had a pact that they would take turns checking out the area for danger.  

Finally, my most breathtaking capture of the night.  This happened just as the sun was setting. The older one folded the baby into her arms and they looked out into the distance of the field.  The golden glow of the sun lit up the sky around them and kissed the tops of their heads.  How very precious.

My baby sister and my baby boy.  There is nothing more satisfying in the world than seeing someone you love with all your heart loving your child with all their heart.  

I am blessed!

Housework, schmousework!

It's matin' season 'round these here parts

This here goat is Thunder.  He's new to Goodness Grows Farm.  He's got one job to do and that's to make dirty backs.

Seems he's been doin' his job. 

You might think I'm being facetious, but I'm not.   Beginning in July, we separated the does and some went with Ranger and some went with Thunder to begin the mating season.  This summer has been ideal for the goats as the temperatures have been so mild.  In hotter summers, the billy goats really have no desire (literally) to service the ladies in their care.  They get hot, tired and listless and the last thing on their minds is servicing a herd.  That is why last year instead of having 25 babies born in January, we had 25 babies born in April - it was just too darn hot for our billy.  Thunder here is taking to his job with GUSTO.  Ranger hasn't been persuaded to perform so much, but he's a late bloomer, so we'll depend on him to catch any of the ladies that may have missed their time with Thunder.  

A few Sunday's ago, Thunder and his does happened to escape their pasture and were grazing in the yard.  I started taking pictures of them from the deck because part of Thunder's herd are does that still have kids.  We don't wean our kids from the does at a certain date.  We believe that these babies need and deserve their mama's milk for as long as possible.  It has been our experience that having that milk helps grow stronger and healthier goats.  So, we send Mama & baby together to the "billy pens."  Then we watch for dirty backs.  

This poor doe was just not going to escape from Thunder's attention.  She was one of the few without a dirty back that day.  She kept running from him and he just kept a followin' her.  Round and round they went.

Up on top of Erik's trailer where most of the babies chose to doze as the sun set behind the trees.  I'm betting the wood on the trailer was nice and warm and made them feel real sleepy because they didn't stir an inch.  Which is funny because that doe and billy kept tearing up one side and down the other of that trailer.  It had to have been quite disruptive to the little kids on there.  But bellies full of milk and a sunny day kept them quiet.

Down off the trailer and through the grass . . .

Nothing thrills a farmer more than to see a herd sire performing his mating ritual and Erik couldn't have been happier over these photos.  And Thunder was performing with gusto.  A male goat, like most males, has a set of "moves" he uses to persuade the ladies to choose him.  The most obnoxious is peeing on himself - his beard to be precise.  I won't go into lengthy detail about how that happens, but it does.  And it causes a billy goat to stink to high heaven.  

I took most of these photos using my zoom lens.  For those of you familiar w/ our place, I was literally just steps from our back deck and I could smell Thunder even though he was at our garden.  I'd guess that's a good 100 feet or so.  And he smelled STRONG!  The rest of the mating rituals performed by the billy goat have to do with making these faces, sticking out his tongue and making a spitting/snorting noise as he chases down his lady.  

He was so excited to chase his ladies and prove his manhood!  This poor lady wasn't as excited about his romantic gestures.  But she could have just been leading him on.  The does aren't as easy to read until, well, the actual moment.  Not so different from the human race, I guess.  

All in all, if we go by dirty backs, we're going to have quite a successful kidding season this year. 

Thanks, Thunder.  We appreciate your help.

Idlewild Trip 2

This past week, Erik surprised us and took us on a trip to Idlewild.  We got there just as the park opened, and we headed straight for the kiddie rides.  First stop - a trolley type car that all three could ride.  We were off to a good start.

Next, Walker asked to ride the bumper cars.  Do you see all of the other kids riding too? His precise reason for wanting to ride them at this point, despite protests from me and Erik?  

He didn't want to BUMP INTO ANYONE!

I'm not sure of the philosophy of that one, but if that's what made him happy we let him do it!
Poor Willie was not old enough to ride many rides by himself or even with Walker as a companion.  The Bumper cars was one of those rides.  Doesn't he look so pathetic and adorable as he stands on his tip-toes to watch "brubby."  Don't you just want to scoop him up and make the ride attendants let him ride too?  This boy keeps me on my toes.
Walker & Will get to ride on the airplanes,
the vintage cars and
the flying dragons.
Here is what Maggie did while the boys went on all of these rides.  She heard us say something about swimming and she is waiting to go swimming.  Fun will not commence until we are swimming.  She will not eat, she will not drink, but more importantly, she will not have any kid of fun, thank you very much, unless we go swimming.  We practically dragged her onto the Mr. Roger's trolley into the land of make-believe, and the train.  She only went with us because Momma & Daddy were riding those rides too and she didn't want to be left behind.
Walker and Will drove the grand prix.
Willie gets a kiss on the train ride around the park.
To end the adventure, Maggie & Walker did ride the carousel.  

Maggie finally conceded and did one final ride - but only because we went to the "soak zone" and played in the pool.  Did I mention that the pool was freezing cold - the kind of cold that takes your breath away and you wade through the water gasping and yelling at the same time, "ugh, ah, ugh, ah, ugh, ah!" because the water is so cold it is slowly freezing your blood and you lose all ability to function until A) you submerge your entire body and start swi

mming or B) get out of the water, wrap yourself in a huge beach towel, and sit shivering until the ice crystals break and blood circulation returns to normal.  

How my itty-bitty children that have like less than 10% body fat managed to play in that frigid water all afternoon is beyond me.  I do know we had to force them from the water park because their lips and fingers were turning blue and they were starting to look like extra's from the "Night of the Living Dead" movie.  A final ride, some cotton candy and the day was complete.  We were so busy we never even made it to Storybook Forrest.  Maybe next year.

This and that

I spent a few days in my hometown last week and had a photo session with  my three and my niece and nephew.  Nana was in need of new photos of the kids and that Sunday was an overcast w/ some sun day - perfect for outdoor photos.

One of the highlights of being at Nana's is riding in the golf cart.  We won't go into the fact that the big boys are no longer allowed to drive the golf cart with assistance from adults.  A mishap between Nana & Chris changed that rule forever.  Well, until the boys are 7 at least.  Nana is driving and Aunt Lara is the passenger.  She pulled up her hood in an attempt to give me a "white backdrop."  Aunt 'Ara is goofy.  She had gone to a wedding the night before.  I'm not entirely sure she was thinking clearly.  I believe at some point in the review of these photos, one of my smart mouth sisters commented that the kids look like the Von Trapp children in their uniforms on their way to sing for the Nazi's.  Har - har har - very funny.  It was probably one of my sisters who doesn't have kids.  Wait until they have offspring and I start making fun of them.  

Here the kids are at Papa's gazebo.  My Papa does a beautiful job of keeping the farm picturesque.  If I lived closer, I'd be doing photo shoots there all the time.  The kids had a hard time with what to do with their hands.  Will and Olivia kept doing whatever Aunt Ara did with her hands, so if she stuck bunny ears behind my head, they put their hands in the air.  So we told them to put their hands in their pockets.  Will looks good, but Olivia couldn't fit her hands in her pockets.  Pool Liv.  She has a tough time with her extremities.  
Here are the kids at the barn on the hay.  Walker and Chris look posed - I did not ask them to do this, nor did my art directors, Nana & Aunt Ara.  I think Walker & Chris look like that movie ad for "Stepbrothers."  Will could not resist and had to mimic Aunt Ara again.  Watch out, Aunt Ara - when your kids are getting their portraits done, I'm going to put my finger up my nose and get them to mimic me!  

This was a fun shot of them all running down towards the pond - except they ran the wrong way and the pond is not in the shot.  Just the houses below and the ugly power lines.
I liked this one of the kids at the pond with their reflections on the water.

All in all, it was a fun and fast couple hours and the kids did great.  Our only melt downs came from Walker, so the day was very successful!

Opposites attract

So I have a firm belief in the "opposites attract" theory.  I have no empirical evidence of this, just a gut feeling based on my own experience.  Erik & I are opposites in just about everything non-important.  He's a lefty, I'm a righty.  He's got blue-green eyes, I've got brown eyes.  He's lucky . . .I am not.

Erik gets mad at me when I tell him he is "lucky."  I'm not really sure why, because he is the luckiest person I know.  You remember that Seinfeld episode where George's luck gets better, Elaine is the unlucky one, and Jerry always evens out - well, Erik always evens out - in fact, most times, he does better than even out.  It really never fails.  Tonight was no exception.

I am leaving Thursday night after VBS to go to my hometown to visit family.  Since tomorrow will probably be rushed, I thought tonight would be a nice night to grill some steaks, cook up some potatoes, and eat a nice meal with my husband after we put the kids to bed.  On the way to VBS, I stopped at a local grocery store, Friedman's, and picked up two big, juicy steaks.  A nice NY Strip for me and a Delmonico for Erik.  Yes, we have steaks in our freezer, but our steaks weigh in at about 3 ounces - if we are lucky - not exactly what you think of when you are in the mood for a good steak. 

The steaks were beautiful - or so I thought.  I brought them into the church with me during VBS and put them in the fridge there.  Remembered to get them back out and bring them home with me.  Get home, get the kids settled, and as Erik is putting them to bed, I break them out of the cellophane packaging.  I open Erik's and it is thick, firm and has a beautiful of pink marbling.  I open mine, a little giddy with anticipation of how good these steaks will taste and as I remove the cellophane, I notice two odd colored greenish gray spots that I didn't notice in the store because there was a large "USDA CERTIFIED ANGUS" covering them.  As soon as I saw the spots, I knew my dreams of a thick, juicy steak were over.  I put my nose to the steak and sure enough, it was SPOILED!  I could have cried - I was craving a steak all day.  What makes matters worse is that this is the third item I have purchased from that particular store that has spoiled!

I sucked it up, went down to the basement and defrosted a package of our Jersey cow Delmonico's for myself.

Here is the finished meal for Erik.  Erik selected tonight's fine china, by the way.  Doesn't it look so yummy?  Mmmm - and garlic roasted potatoes - it just hit the spot!

Here is my plate.  Yes, those are TWO Delmonico steaks.  They are about 1/4" thick and about the size of a deck of cards.  Usually we joke and say that our Jersey beef could be advertised as "perfectly portioned."  And it really is.  Most nights, this size portion is perfect for our family.  
But tonight I just wanted to cut into a THICK, Juicy, NY Strip.
See how one of my steaks fits on top of Erik's Delmonico?  Ridiculous!
How perfect is this meal?
Erik cuts into his steak . . .
Mmm. . . thick and juicy - and the perfect pink center (sorry for the blur).
Yum!
After discovering my rotten steak, I caved to the defeat and depression and cooked up something else I have been craving.  White cake with whipped white icing and fresh berries.  
Dessert:  It makes everything better.

A perfect summer day at the beach . . .

We spent the most glorious day at the beach Sunday.  That's right - even here in Western Pennsylvania, we are able to enjoy the beach!  Well, the beaches of Lake Erie that is.  

Erik informed me Saturday that he was thinkin' he'd take us all up to Erie for the day on Sunday.  It was supposed to be warm, beautiful and NO humidity.  The perfect summer day.  And it was!

The kids couldn't get over the vastness of the Lake (I admit that sometimes it awes me as well).  To look out across the water and see it meet the horizon - it is just like the "real" beach at the ocean.  So cool.  

You know how we all have an idea of how Heaven will be?  Well, in my imagination, I believe that part of one's experience in Ultimate Knowledge in Heaven will be being able to look back through time and see how things were hundreds and thousands of years ago.  I know, it is silly, but I bring this up because watching the boats on the Lake, explaining to Walker that huge, big ships can navigate this lake to ship supplies and goods across the country made me wonder what early settlers thought when they encountered these Great Lakes where they could not see the other shore.  Were they like, "Man!  There are oceans everywhere?"  or did they realize right away that it was a Lake?  Other things I wondered:

• Who figured out that they could float big ships on the Lakes? Did they start off with small canoes and then upgrade until one got stuck?  How did they know how deep it really was?  
• Did people hang out and enjoy days at the beach then the way we do now?
• How hot must it have been to wear a wool swim suit?  

So, like usual, I digress, but those were interesting questions that I will try to explore with the kids this week.  That's the beauty of having a computer - we can google some of these questions and get some answers!

Here are the photos from our day.  

Walker & Will work on digging a hole.  We tried to fill it up with water but the sand just filtered the water through.  
Erik, who hates hanging out in the sun, was such a good sport.  

Can you tell this guy wears pants year round?  Oh - see that little white patch between his tan arm and his sleeve?  He didn't realize that his shirt had pulled up and that little patch got sunburned.  Poor guy.  That & the tops of his feet.  
Maggie is showing off her her "castle."  I don't know where she learned about sand castles, but she wanted to make one.  Unfortunately, all we had to build it were the 5 gallon buckets Pop got them.  5 gallons of sand is too heavy to turn over in one piece - so we compromised and just piled up sand and she smoothed it all out.  She was happy which is all that mattered.
Maggie & Walker working on their sand projects.
Walker showing off his hole.
Kids playing with Erik in the water.  The water was pretty cold - or maybe I should say the sun wasn't too hot, so the cold water wasn't as refreshing as it could have been.  The kids were shivering every time they went in the water, but those little fishes kept on swimming!
Will got pulled back a little bit in the waves and was taken by surprise.  Can't keep him down though - he popped right back up and kept going.  He really enjoyed crawling around on his belly in the shallow waves.  
All the kids enjoyed belly crawling on the beach.
Maggie & Erik sort through the sand to find sea shells, glass or other beach treasures.  
Swimming like fish!  Walker wanted to know if there were any sharks in the water. 
Walker is digging for treasures too.
Will didn't mind putting his face in the water at all.
Will steals a drink of Daddy's cherry Coke.  
Even on his day off, Erik finds time to get his hands dirty and run the heavy equipment.
Beach toes:  Will
Beach toes: Walker
Beach toes:  Maggie
Will is trying to figure out how to lie back on his elbows like his brother.  He couldn't figure it out for the life of him.  It was hilarious to watch!
After our day in Erie, we headed home to Vacation Bible School.  As we left the church, the sun was setting and it was just too beautiful not to take a picture!  The perfect end to the perfect day.  I taught Walker that old saying about the sky - his version, "Pink sky tonight, sailor's de-night."  Tranlation: "Pink sky at night, sailor's delight."  I couldn't have said it better myself.