History

The best way for history to repeat itself, is for us to not teach our children what has occured in our pasts. -Me

I wont let go

This song, is how my husband makes me feel. Our souls are connected and he is with me even from afar. He cares for me no matter what our distance. An ocean, and a desert between us and still, he wont let go.

And I cant stop the rain, I cant catch my own fall.

Knitting and roast

Once again I post late. Last deployment I did better, and last deployment I had 1 million things to do and this one I have 3 million. The kids wanted me to show daddy that they ate enough roast for him AND them. They enjoyed a 2 lb roast over 2 dinners together. Okay fine I helped. Not a lot of kids can share a plate, but see his ketchup isnt touching her plate so it was okay. He has some of his cooling on his napkin, thats SO not the proper use of a napkin! Nathalie is wearing, on her left arm, a set of "handcuffs" that she crocheted. Its two circles crocheted with a bit of yarn in between. They are stretchy and they both wear them as handcuffs and go about with their hands together making it very difficult to achieve things like handwriting class in school. We have had a few days off of school for spring cleaning. I was ready to set off an incindiary bomb in the kitchen/living room hall area because I found that to be pretty central house-wise. We have gotten rid of a heap of things, and gone through closets and shelves. We have made goodwill piles, recycled things and thrown many things away. Here is a pile of junk/goodwill. Here is the completed shelf, this one end closest are some of the school things. We dont have bookshelves so many of our books still live in the garage stacked neatly in boxes, but some we have inside. These are now organized by type and stacked, oh and I dusted! That is a rare thing. The children and I have been attending a local knitting store free classes given on Sunday. I dont think they are classes really, just the ladies who knit get together and give free help to anyone who comes in. The ladies have taught us a lot and shared their time with us, and we thoroughly enjoy them. The lady who owns the store, Jeanie, has become an adopted extra nana especially for Nathalie. She is one of Nathalie's favorite people and I think Jeanie has grown quite fond of her in return. Nathalie tried to spend her allowance on this lamb Sunday but Jeanie said, no you can have him. He had been there sometime and was a bit dusty and old. And one of his floofs had come un-glued. Nathalie loves him dearly and says I am incorrect, he is a she. I think he is a he but whatever. These pictures are fuzzy because the camera wasnt set proper. Here she is snuggling her new lamb... I think she named him/her Flamme which is passion in French. I dont know why she named him this other than its pretty, its a brand of yarn I like and they are learning French. Once again fuzzy photo, Tad is knitting a scarf for Flamme. He is a fast knitter, for a 10 yr old boy who has knit for 3 months, he started this about an hr before this point. Its still very cold outside, much colder than it was earlier this month. I sure dont mind cold but I mind the gray. Its been gray for 8 days and we have another wk of gray to go. Oh, Tad is wearing the first hat I knit that is technically Nathalie's because its a bit small for me and a bit girly. He likes it anyway and with his new longer hairstyle (growing it out) it helps keep it all back and tame. This is his own hat, sorry for photo fuzziness... He gave me this dead-pan look and so I said, dont look like a serial killer please! So I got this look instead. C'est tres charmant! His hat is nearly to the decreasing rows and he is excited, he is making this on a hiya hiya metal circular needle size 10.5 and he is using thick and thin merino/alpaca. Nathalie's is the same in purple, and in MANY less rows. In other news, we are selling most of our goat herd. We were planning on downsizing our herd to just a few for milk and a few for the children's fair projects in 4h. Then an opportunity arose to possibly go to school with him sometime next year. We can either keep this herd, pay to feed them for another winter and breed them and care for them during pregnancy, or sell them now after kidding. We will get the same amount of money either way, and we will buy new goats when we come home. So we have decided to sell for now. We will have 2 milk goats and 4 baby doelings until middle of august. Another reason for selling the entire herd is that I got an offer on almost my whole herd from two ladies who are running a diary together. Its a good offer, a really good offer. I wont make much more selling them one at a time, but I will save a lot of time and technically stress. I love raising goats, I dont love seeing person after person at selling time. Its not my area, people. Goats, my area. So I will miss them, we will miss them but if we can have them time with Frank we will take it!

Oh the smell...

Its not snowing anymore, this was our last snow and if I were not so exhausted I could tell you when this last snow occured. Date wise. But, I dont actually know the date today. Or month. Okay fine its March. Right?

Today we burned 7 baby goats heads, this isnt a fun job. This was the first year that Tad has helped. He and I held the babies, and burned each of their horn buds to prevent them from growing horns. This wasnt fun.

We cleaned the garage, it had much items in it. Some of them are recycle, some goodwill, some trash. Much was used up straw (used by goats...eww), and a lot of kindling laying about. And more goodwill stuff. Also some stuff that I got rid of last night to passerbys. Okay, you know no one passes by my home. If you come down my drive you either live here, are visiting, are lost or have criminal intent. But these people came on purpose to pick up some items that I no longer wanted on our premises.

We took down all items on places that could be stacked or cluttered in the main part of the house and threw away, recycled, burned or put in goodwill pile. We are decluttering our home and yard because it is decluttering my mind. And my mind is slightly cluttered.

So thats all for now. We did a heap of other things. Baked bread. Cared for the goats and chickens. Gathered eggs. Did laundry. Other things. Thats it I am all done being here for now.

You know you are tired

When you spill fabric dye on the floor and mop it up with your clean sock rather than something you dont mind staining.

You accidently dye your new homemade long sleeve white t shirt and you dont care to rinse and try to save the sleeve.

You have worn the same jeans for a slap 2 wks and you dont really care how they smell.

As a side note, if you can use the word "slap" in the context that I just did, you have at least lived very NEAR the Appalachians.

You let your children eat peanut butter crackers for dinner, with a movie, on a school night.

You forget what packages you have mailed to your husband and frantically search for items that are half-way to New York through the US postal system.

You forget entire orders for your home business, even though you advertised the items as available the same day they were purchased.

You forget to eat. You forget lots of things like your name.

You cry over dead lettuce plants. Okay that ones normal right?

You tell your daughter not to worry about it when she tells you she is out of clean underwear.

You stop caring about the mess in the house and just make some nice paths through it by sloughing your feet as you walk back out to the barn to

-milk for the 5th time today because an udder is congested

-give peptobismal to the goat with diarhea

-bottle feed annoying baby goats

-feed and water and possibly remember to shut the chickens in because 3 have been eaten this week alone

-put medicine on the goat with staph because thats contagious right?

-sit down at the barn in the cold wind and watch someone else drop kid.

Anyway I am delirious and forgive me for my poor spelling and grammar and I have to go check the aforementioned congested udder and staph and diarhea and something else. Oh and, nevermind I forgot. I need a nap.

Hiya Hiya

These are knitting needles that I coveted for some weeks until I made enough in my business to buy them. Of course, my husband said just buy them with our paycheck. Well, I wanted to give myself some sort of... governer...on my knitting spending budget. I love yarn and needles after only a couple months of knitting. I wont have to buy hats anymore or scarves and am now making socks. These will be good presents at christmas time and we will be able to save money that way yet still, I feel like buying out the store.


I dont generally like to spend money... but look how pretty! The bags hold needles here, and in the back pocket holds little baggies with the cables. The red bag holds size 2-7 needles, and the purple holds 8-15. You can buy additional needles, there are a cpl of spaces left and you can buy additional cables.


Number 2 needles and a 16" cable. The cable ends are not interchangeable, and while you can buy extra cables online, I cannot find out which ones are large or small cable fittings. The sites dont say, they just sell Hiya Hiya cables for interchangeable needles. So the lady at my knitting store (where I bought these) is going to order them for me.


This is put together, you knit with a circular needle to knit in the round, or just to knit a blancket or a scarf. some people dont like long needles. I use double point needles for smaller round work IE end of sock or top of hat, but I dont care for any regular needles except for that. I dont even own any that are single point. Tad has 2 sets that he longer uses.


This is a clover bamboo needle, but same idea, the hat is on a circular needle. It will stay here until I get through several decrease rows, then it will be too tight to be on the circular. I will move my stitches to 3 double pointed needles, and knit off of those with a 4th double point until I get to the last 8 stitches, then it will be on 2 double points and I will use a huge embroidery needle to do a kitchener stitch.


Hat is for my mama, I made another one for her also. I wear it all the time. Its nice, being able to filch her stuff without even seeing her. or having to travel. Or anything. I have been stealing her items since, well forever, and now its even less work. I will take this even further and make some clothes for her and just keep them. Or buy a new pillow in her name, and keep it. This is a promising system!



The only thing I have to say about these needles that I dont like is the small/large cable issue, and having a hard time buying more. You should be able to find (and perhaps this is avail) "large set cables for hiya hiya interchangeable needles. That is what I want. We need more than 1 set, because 1 child could use the 10 and one the 9 if we had 2 cables, instead I had to buy an additional 7$ clover bamboo round bc I have the one on my hat, and each child is making a hat with chunky yarn.

Finally!

I know right I promised photos. And no one stole my camera so I should post. I have been INSANELY busy! Having these bottle babies, pasturizing milk, a lot of extra house cleaning some big orders for my business. I have big custom orders that are now late, and I also have had people who insist on buying from my store in stock. So I have to ship those items and its usually stuff like "5 yds of fabric A" and its hard to cut that amt on my table! Oh and this is Tad with Dreamer's doeling, as yet un-named. She isnt in the house anymore. She wasnt for long. She was loud. Oh so loud.

Nathalie feeding The Loud One or Tiny One Who Speaks With Big Voice.

Ari-who had a hideous ordeal kidding-with her little buck. He isn't as cute as some of the others. Tall-Boy, Nona's 3 bucks and the last one (dreamer) born are prettier. This little one is sweet though. And he hasnt a name, he is B something. Forgot his birth order, its in my book.

Poor guy...

Two of Nona's bucks. They have flashy color, I think her buck and doe who are predominately white are the prettiest though. She dropped these guys out without even letting us know she was due, and her little doeling was dropped down south barn yard and she walked off and had her bucks in the feed barn!

One of Nona's (corner), Ari's to his left and the lower portion of photo is Dreamer's. Oh and the broom I dont know why its there. It sure wasnt in the milk shed when I needed it I guess thats because its in this picture. Or I am tired. Or both. Its nearly midnight RIGHT NOW.

Sorta fuzzy photo but Tall-Boy is cute. He is pretty superior, he knows he is the oldest baby in the herd and he pushes the others around about it.

These are the other three girls, Nevada in the left, Willow in front and Petit behind her. Petit is Nona's girl and thus Punk's sister. Halfway. you know how goats are.

Same girls, Willow is shying from somthing so Nevada put her ears back also to follow suit, or because she was also startled I dont know which.

Oop! She ran into her butt. This and falling over happens sometimes and I shamelessly laugh at them.

Or when they look like this, when their middle comes up to let their ends go forward in a rather ungainly way for the first few wks.

Where did that come from? Well anyway thats a chicken.

Also in unrelated news, Nathalie has a blue tooth. It was manufactured by Nathalie out of a scrap of red construction paper. Much to Tad's distress, she contacted his imaginary friend on her bluetooth and talked with him.

Okay now its closer to midnight and I have to shower off the days dirt and fall into bed. Good-night and thanks for not stealing my camera.