Easter Weekend

It seems spring is really here. Along with spring comes a new assortment of tasks to complete after a long winter. But we always try to mix fun in with the work to keep everyone smiling.

Saturday was a day I had been looking forward to saddling up and meeting my mom at a local farm to ride over their outdoor trail course. I was set, Doug was watching the girls and I headed down to load up Elvis and hit the road. As fate would have it, Cruiser had injured himself while being turned out in the pasture. He had stepped on himself and had a nasty looking cut about an inch above the coronet band. So instead of hauling Elvis in for a fun afternoon of riding I hauled Cruiser in to the on call vet and had it sutured up. He is on 2 weeks of stall rest. Disappointed and frustrated would be emotions that come to mind. I have my first show, Walla Walla, in 2 weeks and it is out. You just never know what life is going to deal you when it comes to horses.

Shaking off after a refreshing swim.

Okie at work.

Jake and Brody. Jake has been living in our guest house since January and we have thoroughly enjoyed his company and help. The girls love him, the farm critters love him (he feeds in the mornings) and we appreciate all of his help. It is also great to have another guy for Doug to do guy things with like ride motorbikes and shot guns.

Working on the quad.

After I got home and set up Cruiser his his stall I went down to see what Dean, Jake and Doug were doing. Amazingly, they had drug the fallen bridge out of the creek and moved it west a little and we are back in working order! Boys and heavy equipment can accomplish impressive things.

I love Easter. It is probably my favorite holiday of the year. We had a reasonably nice weekend weather wise and were happy to enjoy it outside. The Webb's and the Dunham's are always looking for a good reason to celebrate with a fire.

Christa looking especially beautiful in her darling Easter dress, smart high heeled shoes and sassy pose in the horse manure/ fire pit domain.




Just a couple of good ol' dogs having some fun in the creek.

Pinks Moons and Easter Chicks

Ok, Ok....I know it's been a long time. I will catch you up to date on the past week. As luck would have it, I haven't been able to get a picture of the full moon this month due to cloud cover. Sad but let me tell you, it's called the Pink Moon. This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for this month's celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn. Have I mentioned I love full moon's?



This week my mom, the girls and I took a drive up the mountain to make sure their cabin was still standing. We took a very short side trip to look at the elk ranch on the way to the cabin. I can't tell you how many elk they had grazing in their beautiful mountain pastures but it was impressive along with the velvet antlers that were starting to blossom from their impressive bodies. WOW! Can't wait to make a regular stop of this place when we visit the mountain. They sell elk meat so we will have to get our hands on some of those tasty treats for summer bbqing.






With that said, not more than 5 miles up the mountain it was like going back in time to January with all the snow. It was easily covering the t-posts. We had to hike into their place and we stepped over their fence line with the kids. The girls got a giant kick out of opening the back door to see what the backyard looked like. What should to their wondering eyes should appear but a solid wall of snow??

But back in the valley it is trying it's hardest to be spring. We had a nice bbq at Dean's of pork and potatoes and sweet treats the women brought. The kids were tickled to play on the rock pile and when the sun went down we took turns spooking each other by pretending the barn was haunted.

Dean has a gorgeous little pond that is stocked with bass and the kids took turns throwing casts unsuccessfully. Looking forward to more chances this summer.

It couldn't be spring without adding to the pecking flock out here. It's hard to say who gets more of a kick out of the chicks and chickens, me or the girls. We have added 4 black sex link chicks, 2 silver laced wyandottes, a sussex, and 4 aracauna's that lay the colored eggs. And the names? Let's see, we have Belle, Jasmine, PECKER, Orea, Stacey, Susie (is it a compliment to have a chicken named after you?? I guess I shouldn't have to ask considering we have one named Jesus.) We also have Easter, Bunny and Lily. I know there are 2 more that I am forgetting.

Hadley is the ultimate mother hen taking care of her chicks. Easing their worries with calming talk. Afternoons in the sun playing. Making sure Kate doesn't strangle them.

Chicks with Chicks

Before all of this spring like weather this week we had a lot of rain. Mother nature had her way with the banks to the creek and our old reliable bridge fell to it's demise in the rushing creek below. You know what the name of this creek is that runs through the middle of our property? Dry Creek. I kid you not. And I promise you it is never dry. So this little project will fall on the shoulders of Doug and Jake to pull out and repair. The white pipe crossing the creek is what allows us to irrigate on this side of the creek so it is imperative we repair it sooner rather than later. We have talked about replacing it with something much bigger and wider that we could ride the horses across and drive a truck or 4 wheeler.

I will leave you with the sad news of the farm. We laid our best buddy of 13 years. Max has been buried in the back yard beneath the Cottonwood and Locust trees. We will plant a tree to mark his place and will never forget the impact he had on our lives.

Worm Moon

As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter.

Making Me Laugh

Ya know, I have to give you a little glimpse into what kind of humor cracks me up. I have a former student from Inglemoor High School in Bothell where I used to work that I have remained in contact with all these years. He cracked me up then and he is still making me laugh today. His humor always reminded me of Seinfeld. And what especially impresses me is his humor is never (around me) vulgar and rarely at someone else's expense. Very rarely do you find someone who can make people laugh while avoiding those two pitfalls in my opinion.

He has a blog that he doesn't write on nearly enough but it chronicles some of his life.

http://www.spap.blogspot.com

Thanks for all the laughs Matto.

Cold Northern Winds and Tasty Eastern Nights

Northern hills and the shop and combine shed

The cistern reflecting the setting sun

The dry creek valley facing east

This is what I would refer to as a very unproductive weekend. Doug is fighting a cold, Kate has a cold and has been coughing and sputtering all night, and I am caught somewhere in the middle. Doug is also on call and has been busy with work. The wind has been howling, cold and hard. There have been threats of snow storms blowing in but at this point we haven't seen any and I hope it remains that way. As the sun set last night, the wind calmed and the sun shone through the valley on it's way out of site for the day. It gave me a glimpse that spring really is trying to break way but we just need to give it a little more time.

The talented cooks
Saturday night Dean and his girlfriend Sara created a real treat for us. Sara planned an entire dinner of East Indian cuisine. YUM!! We always enjoy trying new dishes so when Dean offered to come out here and cook we jumped at the chance! Dean and Sara are both very at home in the kitchen so I eagerly turned over the reins to them and stood by to see what they whipped up. We dined on cauliflower curry, curried spinach and chickpeas, chicken Marsala and my contribution of jasmine rice.

The bounty

I have really enjoyed getting to know Sara. She is smart, funny and so upbeat. Dean is happier than I have ever seen him.

This morning, as I type this, Kate is sitting right next to me eating frozen raspberries from last summers harvest. I had forgotten just how wonderful they smell, even frozen they smell like a bouquet of roses almost. I have so many summer plans for gardens and activities! I don't want to wish away the time we have right now but it gives me something to fill my mind with when the cold wind blows and we are stuck inside.

Adios amigos! Gotta fry up some pancakes for the baby coyotes.

Blissful Wednesday

In spite of intimidating weather reports of a snow storm moving into our area, today was actually quite beautiful.

I was awakened early EARLY by Kate who joined us in bed and spent quite some time discussing Grass and Orange (the cats) and how much she loved them and how cute they were and so on and so on. They both took up residence right on her chest and I asked her several times if she could breath. She was as pleased as could be with their attention and wouldn't consider asking them to move. I finally convinced her to go back to sleep around 5:00 am so I could get a little more sleep before I had to start the day.

Wednesdays are the days I spent 2 hours at Bible Study Fellowship. It is absolutely a shot in the arm in a hectic and crazy world. There are 7 different studies and this year we are studying Moses from the Old Testament. Don't be surprised to hear that Moses is really a fascinating read even though it is what many feel is the "dull" half of the bible. My experience has been quite the opposite. As we are well into our last half of the study year we are so close to the Israelites making it into the promised land we can almost taste it. With the help of a great teaching leader and discussion leaders every week has something fantastic in store.

After BSF, it was just Hadley and I to run errands because Kate had stayed home with Betty. We made a fun stop at Joann's fabric store where Hadley picked up a couple of craft projects that we will do later in the week for fun. Then it was time to head home so Hadley could spend the afternoon with her grandma and I could make a bee line for the horses! It has been so long since I had a good opportunity to RIDE and RIDE I did!! Ahhhh......horses, dogs and the wide open space... nothing quite like it. I rode Elvis and ponied Cruiser along for the sights and the dogs ran to their hearts content. I believe living on a farm has got to be almost every dogs slice of heaven. It was so wonderful to get out and make such a good use of a sunny afternoon.

And with that report, I better go stack wood and prepare for the storm that is supposed to roll in. Until later, Adios!

Post Weekend Report

It has been raining. Raining and blowing. But I won't complain, nope...you're not going to hear any complaints out of me. Because that's not my nature. But I will say if my horses could talk they would probably have a few complaints to offer up. They are tired of the mud. Tired of the blankets. Tired of slop. But they can't talk so we don't need to worry about it.

The weekend was a fun one, if you were Hadley. Saturday morning was beautiful, sunny and chilly. We dressed up and headed into town for the retired teachers teddy bear tea party. We met up with a few friends and other little girls and enjoyed a 4 course tea party. We started with the fruit tray, followed by the tea sandwiches and then came the cookies and tarts plate and lastly the chocolates. The first two were great but I had to pass on the last two because I gave up for lent. I know, I know...why give up something so hard? Well, does it really mean very much if I give up something that is relatively easy?

Yesterday we went to church and Doug was immediately called to provide some medical attention to an elderly church member who had fainted. So I went solo into the sanctuary and enjoyed a sermon by my very favorite Rev Robin Peterson. He is amazing. Keeps me coming back for more. Doug made it for the second half and we both get a lot out of the time we spend listening to Robin.

The church had organized a family evening at the ice chalet and Hadley and I signed up. She loves to skate. We took her little friend from church and we had a great time. Hadley used the assistance of a skating helper, a metal walker of sorts, and by the end she was skating so fast I could hardly keep up with her. I think next year we will sign her up for some skating lessons.

My nephew, David, had a little birthday get together after ice skating to celebrate turning 13. He is a great kid, I can't believe he is a teenager now. Wow. And his brother Michael is already 16. In the blink of an eye it will be Hadley and Kate turning into teenagers. But for the time being, I will enjoy snuggling with them and seeing all the "firsts" that come their way.