Let’s Remember a Bit of Summertime

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Kristy

My mind is preparing for winter. There is nothing I can do to hold it back. Like it or not, it will happen, and according to weather experts, it sounds like it could be one with more snow than usual.

I was looking through my phone today and found these photos. This was a fun evening. Shinanigan had her first experience in the lake and she didn’t love it, but didn’t hate it either. Kaelyn had a great time trying to get her to go deep enough in the water so she would be forced to swim. Each time Shinanigan got deep enough to need to swim, she would turn toward shore, and bounce back onto the beach, with Kaelyn hanging onto her mane for dear life!

We all enjoyed watching the show and finally, watching the sunset.

Stuff

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Kristy

I have stuff and I need to get rid of it. It is everywhere and in the way. Our home is small and we need to have only what we need, love, and use regularly.

I came across a stack of old nature posters. I haven’t looked at these posters for over 20 years, yet I can’t just toss them into the trash. Why is that?

They were special at one time. They covered the walls of my childhood bedroom. I remember when I packed them away, I thought I would give them to my children. I thought they would be precious to them like they were precious to me.

Our kids don’t really care about OUR stuff. They have their OWN stuff. I did give the horse poster to my daughter some time ago. It’s not on her wall now. It must have torn and been thrown away. I guess there is some satisfaction in knowing that one of my children enjoyed one of my precious posters.

I’m going to toss them in the trash tonight. But first, I am going to look at them, enjoy the memories, and smile.

The Mighty Wolf

The Grand Tiger

The Cute Koala Bear

An Ugly Monkey. Not sure why I kept this one!!

There is one of penguins diving into the icy ocean and a sweet sea otter. There is a fox pup and his mother peering out of a hollow tree den and an African cheetah with two cubs. Somehow, these were significant to the child Kristy, and I have moved these items with me all these years. It’s really quite amazing if you really think about it.

But it’s time to part ways. I feel a little better that I snapped some photos. And don’t worry, there are many, many things that get tossed without a thought. I’m just trying to go through everything and slim down. I want peace and order to surround me, so a lot of things are going to have to go.

My Daughter’s Art Project

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Kristy

I thought this was pretty amazing!! The mane and tail are drawn, but the rest is made out of construction paper.

Then, she had to write a story to go with it. Her descriptive words are great!!

(We’re still working on her spelling and grammar/punctuation)

Garden Supper

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Kristy

It’s that time of year around here when the garden produce is finally ready to eat! We planted corn for the first time and it is delicious!! I hope to get some of it in the freezer, but for now, we’ll just walk out to the garden, pluck a few ears off the stalks, shuck it, steam it, grab the butter and salt, and yummmmm, the kernals expode in our mouths with all the juicy, sweet taste that comes with home grown foods! And not only does it taste so good, it looks purdy too!

I”m so proud that we grew this corn! I want to plant twice as much next year!

Our supper was mostly all garden produce. Not all of this came out of our garden. Some of it came out of my friend’s garden. This was our supper that we shared together.

Corn on the Cob
Green Beans
Tomato/Cucumber Salad
(Those were our garden items)

and yummy Rice that my friend made! It was the perfect light, summer supper!

Take another look at it!

Now look at it in HD. I’m not sure what the big deal is. The HD picture seems to be more faded looking?? Maybe someone can educate me. One of these days I’ll learn about photography. Maybe after my kids are all married! Maybe then, I’ll have time!

Oh, and the green beans have home grown garlic – I noticed it on the HD picture – maybe that’s what the big deal is. You can see stuff better! Oh, and the tomato/cucumber salad also had olives, tofu, and all sorts of yummy herbs. Don’t ask me for the recipe. I have no idea!!

Basic Horsemanship Honor

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Kristy

My kids are involved in Pathfinders. This is a co-ed club, similar to boy or girl scouts, with an emphasis on service, building friendships, and learning new skills. Each year the children work on various “honors”, giving them an introduction to a wide variety of skills and activities.

I am so proud of my daughter. She has stepped up and is TEACHING the Basic Horsemanship Honor. She completed the honor a while back, and also completed the Advanced Horsemanship Honor. She has owned her own horse/horses for several years, and is quite qualified to head up this group of younger children. As an older teen in the club, they are encouraged to take on more leadership positions, and it’s exciting to see my daughter stepping up to the challenge. It was her idea to teach the honor, and we all just said, “Go for it!!”

This has been a great experience for her, learning organization skills, keeping the kids’ attention, planning games, activities, and quizzes. I dare say she is a natural teacher like her mother and grandmother:) The girls are interested, engaged, and eager to learn.

Here she is quizzing the girls on what they’ve already covered in the past few weeks. When it was time to ask for a volunteer to help with Shinanigan, every single hand shot up and pleading faces looked in her direction!!

Most of the girls saw my daughter ride her horse, Shinanigan, in the fair a few weeks ago, and they all couldn’t wait to see her up close! On this night, the girls were able to brush, lead, saddle, mount and dismount the horse! They all did great and had a super time learning together!

Be Jealous

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Kristy

Uh huh…I saw Smokey the Bear and took my own picture with him.

He was in front of Costco.

It was my first time.

It made me smile!

My kids were jealous when I got home…(ok, not really).

(Sometimes there is unexpected excitement on the days that I deliver a puppy!)

Be Jealous!!

Peaches

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Kristy

It’s peach season!

Well, I better say it’s the bitter end of peach season and I squeaked into the local orchard, while picking up my kids from school, and bought their last 4 boxes of peaches!

Then they sat in the cold storage for a bunch of days because I was too busy to deal with them.

But then hubby came home and helped me make 2 boxes of them into Peach Pie Filling. We got 9 quarts of canned Peach Pie Filling, and 6 3/4 quarts that we put into freezer bags. Yumm!!! I know it’s going to be delicious! I keep imagining just eating it on vanilla ice cream!

The peaches were kinda small because I got the last ones, but they were still very sweet and delicious!

I still have 2 boxes of peaches left, so a couple days ago I made a batch of Peach Jam. I think it turned out pretty nice and the recipe was very simple! Just Peaches, Sugar, Orange Juice, and Lemon Juice. It didn’t even call for Pectin, which is why I wanted to try the recipe!

I got 7 tiny jars and 3 larger jars from the single batch. I’m definitely going to make more of this and double the recipe! Maybe I’ll have some time to do it tonight!

My Day

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Kristy

1. Wake up at 4am and realize I still have 1 ½ glorious hours to sleep.

2. Go back to sleep.

3. Alarm wakes me at 5:30 from a terrible nightmare…I was on Project Runway and the assignment was to make a pencil skirt out of two ugly 70’s cocktail dresses. Was never so glad to be woken by my alarm!

4. Skip doing the mamas and babies to take an overdue shower!

5. Wake kids up at 6am to get ready for school.

6. Make breakfast and lunches.

7. Get dressed.

8. Braid Kaelyn’s hair.

9. Drive kids to school, meeting Mr. K to check out timing for having him take the kids the rest of the way to school.

10. Follow Mr. K to see where he works and where he’ll drop kids off.

11. Watch kids walk the last ½ mile to school.

12. Drive to school, passing kids as they are walking. Sad looks coming my way!

13. Greet kids at school and tell them this is the first and last time they’ll have to walk because Mrs. LB offered to pick them up for the last leg to school.

14. Sing with kids during morning worship at school.

15. Drive 45 minutes back home.

16. Discover uneaten PB & Honey sandwich from yesterday’s lunch and eat it for breakfast. It was kinda dry, but good.

17. Move 11 puppies out to the lawn so they could play and I could clean their pens.

18. Deep clean 4 puppy/mama nursing pens.

19. In between cleaning the pens, get 2 loads of laundry through wash.

20. Also in between cleaning pens, answer 3 emails about puppies, and inquire about purchasing UGODOG in bulk.

21 Also in between cleaning pens, unload Costco toilet paper into top shelf of cold storage.

22. Take all 11 puppies back to nursery before leaving to pick up kids from school.

23. Grab water bottle, then drive 45 minutes back to school to pick up kids..

24. Talk with Mrs. LB about carpooling on Fridays.

25. Get kids into car and head to the bank.

26. Deposit dog checks from puppies that were sold almost 2 weeks ago.

27. Snack on string cheese and discover that the yogurt purchased from Costco had never been unloaded out of car yet.

28. Drive home past Mrs. LB’s house to see how many miles and how long it takes from her house to mine, in preparation for tomorrow’s carpooling.

29. Arrive home and give children instructions about backpacks, changing clothes, and getting ready to do chores.

30. Move one more load of laundry through wash (nothing has been folded yet).

31. Bury Calvin in fruit orchard.

32. Hook trailer to Explorer for dump run tomorrow.

33. Load dog poop trash, and other trash into trailer to take to dump.

34. Cover trailer with tarp and fish net thingy because it looks like rain.

35. Haul with red wagon, and Kaelyn’s help, 10 bags of dog food from Costco to upper kennel.

36. Feed and water dogs in upper kennel.

37. Oversee Kendrick cleaning trash out of Explorer.

38. Head into garden to see if any tomatoes are red and to dig some potatoes for supper.

39. Pull a head of garlic out of the ground to dry for later use.

40. Admire crop of bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, and misc. peppers (best one ever) and wish I had time to take impressive photos to put on my blog like The Pioneer Woman.

41. Pick bell peppers and have Kendrick take 2 over to the neighbors house.

42. Balance armload of veggies from garden AND open front door of house without spilling any (well, ok, one garlic fell).

43. Wash potatoes for supper.

44. Wash bell peppers for supper.

45. Discover kids ate a yogurt, so aren’t hungry for supper.

46. Abandon supper idea and come into office to write my list.

Yes, that was my day (4am-7pm).

Our Beloved Little Calvin

We Left Our Cats in California

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Kristy

When we moved to Washington, we did not bring the cats with us. They were nothing but trouble with the dogs, and we didn’t want any trouble!

But shortly after we arrived, and after one weekend of fun away from the house, we returned to find a mama and 2 wild kittens in our wood pile. My daughter, being just 10 years old at the time, caught the kittens and made them friendly.

Suddenly we had 3 cats, when we didn’t want any cats.

Those 3 cats have multiplied, several times, and I don’t know how many cats we own.

I do know that we own more dogs than cats.

This is Cali.

She is our #1 barn cat. We like her. She’s the mama from the wood pile. We got her spayed.

She is cuddly and loving and affectionate and spayed! Sometimes she comes up from the barn and visits us on the front porch.

We like that! She likes to be scratched behind the ears, and she purrs for us!

And she’s spayed. Did I say that already?

She is a typical cat, lazy, sleeps the day away, and today she decided to take over the puppy photo area. She was sleeping peacefully until I came with a basket of puppies. Then she had to get up, or be mauled by tongues, and bodies, and feet, and wagging tails.

She wasn’t all that pleased. She’s so thankless. “We do feed you, ya know. There are a lot of barn cats that only get mice. You get real food out of a bag. You should be grateful.”

“Why did you name her Cali?” Because she’s a Calico Cat.

We’re creative with our cat names. We also have Black Kitty, Gray Kitty, Orange Kitty Tom, Orange Kitty Mama, and a few un-named ones. They hardly ever come to see us, so I may, or may not ever be able to show them to you.