Sad

My camera is broken. As in it doesnt work. It is a Nikon D40 and if anyone knows what to do about an "error press shutter release" problem, please let me know. It has happened before and my user guide says "find an authorized dealer." Which I am capable of, but last time it just magically started working again.

I am using a camera that Frank didnt need anymore in Iraq and he brought it home for the children. It is a good camera and will do the job. However, my computers have a new OS and they dont work anymore (for me) to upload photos. We are working out these glitches, we as in Frank is working on it from Iraq. Thus, he has to work on it as my frustration level can allow, I tap out quickly with computers. I have to follow directions on this and that isnt easy.

So no photos, and no way to publish them easily. Its possible, just a long job that leaves me angry.

Then we have the computer I am typing on. The mouse/cursor keeps skipping back into the document that I am typing. Everyone (family members, friends and google) that its because my mouse pad is sensitive and I am touching it accidentally. People, I typed with 2 fingers randomly until it did it to prove I am not touching the mouse pad. Also, it didnt do this until very recently so why didnt this happen during the last 3 yrs if its all my fault? The driver is updated and functioning so that isnt the answer. If anyone knows how to fix this, please tell me before I run over my beloved pink laptop, on purpose, with a huge truck.

Okay, so working on the photo thing. I know my poor husband misses my blog. Last deployment, I was much better at this part. He is suffering and the problem must be fixed!

Goat show

I like pictures of Drew and Tad. They are always so cute together, Tad likes to hang out with him. He and D are sharing a bag of cracker jacks while they wait on something to start. T isnt in show whites yet, because he is T and they would get ruined. Which, his pants are covered in grass stains...

Rachel was cleaning her baby goats neck and had climbed back out. Her babies were adorable and well behaved! She did very well showing, she was so confident and honestly her babies were better behaved than some much older goats.

Rachel, Tad and Nathalie waiting to go into showmanship class. This is a class that judged showmanship, not the goat itself. My children didnt know a lot about show, this was their first one and I dont think I really coached them well. it was a good learning experience.

Waiting in the holding pen to go in. Their baby goats were tattooed while we were there so they had green ink on them.

Walking around the show ring.

The judge stopped and spoke with each child, asked them some questions. Nathalie is trying to get her goat to stand the "right way" which the goat isnt very good at yet...

Tad and Nathalie are both very confident and have no trouble getting out there but did wish they knew a little more about what to do. Nathalie walked the wrong one at one point which she later explained was because she was going the RIGHT way and thought the lady wanted her to go differently. Which I did know she was confused, she started out clockwise then turned around and looked very confused, and it wasnt something the lady said at all. Nathalie just became confused and then was even more confused, because she found out that she made a mistake and she felt the lady told her to. Then Nathalie was upset because the judge said it was Rachel who made the mistake at the end, Nathalie would have been less upset to hear the judge say nathalie messed up on loudspeaker than her friend!

Poor lighting... my mama bought adobe photoshop for me, and I am still learning it. It is a lot of work though to edit all of my pictures that way and my edit program is no longer on my computer. My simple quick one that is, and I used it for lighting and red eye issues so now you get both.

The baby goats did better than I expected but were kind of a pain several times... they were tired and ready for sleep themselves by the time they did their final show. They are just walking around the ring here.

Once again, red eye... Tad won Reserve Grand Champion with his doeling. He would have you know that there were only 2 goats in their class and so he and Nathalie won Grand champ and reserve. Then they went against ONE senior doe and Tad then won reserve. I cant say it was "fair" per se, not cheating but I know their babies would have likely placed lower in a larger group. Not saying this baby isnt nice, she really is. Her mother is very nicely built and meets many of the standards that would make her babies good show goats. Nathalie's goat didnt have quite as nice of a mama and that did show. They both had a nice sire, and his height is such that the mother of this one (Nevada) may have given taller babies. That is her one true drawback.

So all in all a good evening was had, we enjoyed being with our friends and as usual being with Amanda gives me an opportunity to learn more about show. She has been to more than I have and knows a lot more about the qualities in a good show goat. I was very proud of the children for how hard they worked.

Computer issues

I have some new computer issues and its now very difficult for me to blog. My computer system has changed, and I now have trouble loading pictures and posting them. It is a much longer process and I can no longer edit. This is largely because I dont know how to work the new system yet, not actually glitches in the system.

So here are a couple of pictures showing you that we are alive... Tad finishing his knitting project and Nathalie doing the dishes. They both are finishing up their fair projects, Nathalie has quite a long ways to go on her knitting and both have to finish sewing projects.

I just thought these pictures were sweet. The kids make their beds every morning, pick up their rooms, brush teeth, get dressed, a few other scheduled things before we get started on the day. I went in to check behind them and found all of Nathalie's babies lined up neatly and next to them, her daddy picture.

This is a very old picture of Frank in a uniform he doesnt even wear anymore. She loves it and for 3 years now has kept it next to her pillow. When we have a tornado warning, this picture goes downstairs with us. We dont know why this picture as opposed to one in regular clothes but it makes her happy.

I have pictures of the kids doing a goat show last friday night, but I havent had time to figure out this computer thing. They did well, though they showed so late I think we would show different breeds next time. They go by alphabetical order so the last category was around 11 pm. Too late for small people...

10 year old logic

"Mama, can I put my money in the bank? In a savings account?"
"Yes baby we can do that early next wk."
"Will the bank pay me to keep my money there? I am saving for a pickup truck. I want to buy an old one and fix it up." This is a good idea when you are 10 and in Ks. He knows that he can get a farm license at 14.
"They will only pay you a little."
"Pennies make dollars mama." Hmm. Too bad more adults dont think about it that way, me included. A dollar here and there, mean less than they should. I dont want to be stingy, we spend money on memories sometimes, like a pool pass or a night out. I wont change that, but I would like to think more like he does. Pennies make dollars...

We do give allowance in the amount of 3$ a week. My children work an average of 3.5 hrs a day, though many days it is more. For Tad his personal desire is to do physical labor and Nathalie likes to be with us. We allow them to spend their money but we encourage good choices and so far they always save up with a purpose. They often choose not to buy what they saved for but save longer for something different. The bulk of their money has been spent on books and learning games.

Tailgate

We are still on photos of the 2 wks. I am nowhere near done posting! I have taken very few pictures since he left, I will let mama take pictures when we go to Tn next wk. Somehow, the tailgate to our truck left. I dont know if it got tired of being yellow and went to a home where it would be appreciated and painted, or if the kids left it down when I was driving off (this is likely) and it fell off. No, this wont happen to most people because most truck tailgates stay on when you drive off. Frank is putting a net across the back, which works until our tailgate comes home.


The kids and I watched or helped with all that he did while home. Nathalie clung to the side of the truck for however long this took.

Tad stood at the back running back and forth for tools. Tad helped us organize the shop, which took 3 days including the time it took to cut/put up pegboard. Frank taught him more about our tools, which makes Tad more useful to all of us!

The lighting in the pictures is horrible, we were not using my Nikon. The camera does well in daylight but not so great after dark. Mama bought photoshop for me for christmas but I am not adept at it yet so I didnt edit these.

The net works great though I dont leave it on full time. My children probably learned their lesson, I lost it once and after that remembered to keep it up. Thankfully the time I lost it, we found it! We drove the route and it was just laying there on the side of the road. My children are grateful that we are the kind of parents who say, no big deal it was an accident.


beer break.

Or, is it that he drinks beer and has WORK breaks??? That is a good question. If he read this he could answer, but he only comes to this blog for the pictures.

This project didnt take long but I think there were about 200 pictures from just this event. There were several thousand photos from his 2 wks home, I edited and deleted and kept about 700 I think. I am sure there are more to come!

Perspective

My children have a new very good friend, he may be their best friend together right now. They have had a few friends, and a lot of associates. Z may be their best, because he belongs equally to both of them. The three of them play so well together, surely they will have bad days but for now, its going nicely.

Many people say "two is company and three is a crowd." Obviously, my kids havent found this out! Today when Z's mom said, arent you getting tired of having Z around? (They wanted him to spend the night and he wanted to stay...) Nathalie said, "Oh no. Its so great to have three sometimes! We are only two and we love having three, its perfect because then we both have someone extra."

So there you have it, its all about perspective! Z and my children, together, chose to get into the public pool today. It has been cold (55-chilly for late spring) here for weeks and thus the water was frigid!!! Z stood by the side for a minute, but my two (first T then N) were the FIRST children into the water of the Enterprise, Ks Public Pool this year. They want a medal and a certificate. And they want to adopt Z. His mama said no. Twice.

Gardening

This is our garden, we havent had great soil here. It is black and rich, but too thick. Years of putting the goat manure/straw on there, and a load of sand helped immensely. To further help it, Frank bought a book on lasagna gardening from the bookstore his first wkend home and we made some beds. We also bought some plants, not all of my seeds were successful. These are the lettuce plants, we have had 3 hot days here so far, but mostly very cool and the lettuce is doing well.

We also had quite a bit of old alfalfa, straw and brome hay that was no good and we used it to break up and line our rows. This gives us mud free walking paths as well as keeps the weeds down. All of these things are good for the soil and will make it looser and nicer as it breaks down.


See our bales lined up?I love the way the peat moss looks. Frank used the tractor bucket to get bucket loads of old manure. The new manure is fine for the garden because goat manure is green, means it can be used immediately. However, the older stuff is nicely composted into loose black earth and we have a large pile of it, that wasnt situated near the garden. Why? Because we didnt originally know where our garden would be our first fall/winter here. So we laid out newspapers thick and overlapping, wet them, laid manure/loose sandy soil/peat moss/composte and created garden beds.

It looks a little haphazard in some areas, but there is almost no weeding! It looks neat and organized for the most part and is growing better than our other years.

The old hay bales (this is part of the reason they didnt get used) had some horrible burrs in them, they stick in your hands and have barbs so when you pull them out, they leave something behind that hurts and irritates for days, so we were smart and wore garden gloves.

Frank hauled all of these bales from the barn, he is better lifter than I am... He is strong! I have to drag/roll the bales and he just picks them up, and loads them. It is very nice to watch!

Since he left we have made more beds, and the in between areas made hills and moved around the flakes of hay to accommodate. I have many vegetables planted and a lot of things have come up. We had a lot of volunteer squash and zucchini as well, we tried to transplant a few which are doing okay but the ones I left alone are 3x as large. I just fenced them in with squares of hay so we wont trod on them. The sprinkler actually reaches the whole garden, I repositioned it several times after walking the perimeter until I found perfect placement. I dont have to move it at all, I just turn on the spigot and set a cell phone timer.

We pick up newspaper in our plastic recycle bins, we recycle everything possible and have a nice center right in town. We take our recycle in and fill up a couple of bins with newspapers. In the summer they are for gardening, in the winter its fire starter. oh, and the kids get them for the comics and they read them, then we use them. Its a way to get free homeschool reading materials. Check our your local recycle center they may support your reading habit also!

Nathalie doesnt enjoy heat like me, but got her daddy's green thumb. I get her out early/late and she is a huge help. Tad will help me with anything, but we all know the plants will do better if she plants them-either the seeds or plants/transplants, and she takes very good care of them. She enjoys working in soil and is able to garden without us successfully now.

I just think this picture is pretty nice looking on the right half, it really doesnt need much more comment than that.

We have continued laying down hay flakes around the perimeter because its unerving to move the perimeter. If I mow around hay flakes, I feel less like I may kill a plant. The mower shoots out green matter which is helpful in composte, but not great when shot at tender bean plants!

Random fuzzy picture of mama. Oh and my mama bought the shirt I am wearing I DIDNT filch it off of her I promise!

Just another photo by Tad. He and Nathalie took turns with the camera. I dont care if there are photos of me, but at the end of the day I want both of them in the photos for posting. We try to have them take turns, Nathalie would rather take photos but she also wants to be in them... Plus if she has the camera much, we have A LOT of close ups of things like, a bug, a blade of grass, a ducks beak, a chicken foot. Etc...

This is a very poor shot of me after gardening, why it is in this set of photos I have no idea but I am not editing the html now so there you have it.


Our green thumb girl. She has enjoyed the garden more this year than ever before, it is much more user friendly. She likes to run, hop, skip and jump down our hay paths.

She has her own row of sunflowers and has many carrots and beans up already. She is even pleased by "her" onions though they are not her favorite foods. I have more updated photos of the garden now, will post those later.