Life on the Farm - It keeps happening!

It's been over a year since I've posted on this blog -journal.  Time surely flies and it flies whether you're having fun or not. 

 It was an eventful, if not always pleasant year for the four of us who live on our little homeplace.  I'll give a quick summary and then we'll get on to current events, shall we?  After bruised/broken ribs and Covid last year, you'd think things should have settled down, but a couple months later I managed to pinch a nerve in my back/shoulder area and it was one of the most painful things I've ever done to myself!   In September Dave was working in the hot sun on the roof and came down feeling unwell.  By the next day, he was in the ER diagnosed with a stroke.  Stressful and scary, but he has made a good recovery.  As he was leaving the hospital to come home, I was in the ER with an attack of diverticulitis! 

Needless to say, work on the house skidded to a halt for a couple months, though a lovely pastor friend and neighbor guys put the roofing on for us; drying the house/addition in for the Winter season.  About the time Dave was making a good recovery, we all came down with Covid once again - probably the Omicron variety as it was still nasty, but much shorter in duration and not quite as awful.  Added to the chronic health issues we already have, it made for a year of keeping quiet and close to home most of the time. 

In between some of these events, my two oldest (and dearest) milk goats died (a couple months apart).  So sad, these girls had been with us for 13 or 14 years and I still miss them.  Paxton and Maryanne - I'll always remember your quirky personalities and miss you.

Ok, now that we've got all THAT out of the way - do you forgive me for not feeling like posting?  I try to keep my blog happy and not post all the cares of life here, but I didn't feel much like posting during all the stressful times and I wanted to tell why I hadn't.  Don't get me wrong - God is good, all the time and brought us through and we've enjoyed many blessings, even during the not-so-great times.

Our house/addition project is now progressing nicely - the framing is complete and the electrical is almost done, as well.  I can hardly WAIT!  In anticipation (because I'm impatient like that) I picked out light fixtures and bought them.....and have no place to put them yet, so we stacked them in the pumphouse!   The pumphouse is now NOT filled with rats as it had previously been and is completely clean, dry and new inside.  AND Dave has lovely shelves built in there for my canning jars!!!   However, now I keep adding more 'temporarily stored' things in there!  Just for good measure, I've got a couple of rubber rats in there, just to keep us humble and thankful!

The only room yet un-electrified in the addition project is the bathroom.  No, let me say that again....OUR bathroom.  SUCH a happy thought!   Our own bathroom once again!  I CAN hardly wait.

AND he's put a bazillion plug-ins and special bright ceiling lights all over the new sewing room so I'll be able to craft away the hours in well-lit happiness!!  I can HARDLY wait!

In case I used to take our big house for granted, living in 700 sq ft and then 900 sq ft has made me appreciate every thought of each new room we'll have.  I CAN HARDLY WAIT.  

I would love to say I never complain, but I cannot tell a lie....I do complain.    Probably even in a whiney tone occasionally!  Sigh.  I can hardly wait.  Did I mention that?

I carefully wrote the due dates of our remaining two milk goats on my calendar.....apparently the WRONG due dates, as daughter came to the house to let me know that we had TWINS on the ground!  So much for my book-keeping abilities.  We named them Vincent and Mirabella and I started milking Magda twice a day.

 Just to keep it going, a week later, Shinar produced Shantilly.  I've got them both on a once-a-day milking schedule now and we are all doing well; me, the milkers and the goat kiddies!  Dave did get power and water to the barn, so I have a lovely milk room with hot, running water.  

When we were still despairing of the number of rats in the pumphouse, we managed to acquire a herd of barn kitties.  Milking time is a fiesta, with Oberan, Titania, Puck, Mab, and Cuckoo all milling about begging me to hurry up with their warm breakfast milk!   I love my farm and go out to milk as soon as it gets light in the mornings.  I like the quiet opportunity to thank the Lord for the good things we enjoy, including my sweet goats, and to pray for needs that pop into my head while I'm sitting there.

I've been working hard on my primitives and selling them in my Etsy store & starting to resell items on Ebay to help out with life expenses.  I'm still raising English Lop bunnies and have just recently been working on raising New Zealand meat rabbits again.  We like rabbit meat and I will can it, as well.  

Today, in the actual sunshine, Dave worked in the garden, starting to get ready for Spring while I worked over an old rabbit cage, putting a new floor and new doors on it.  No doubt tomorrow morning's milking chores will be just a bit tougher after all the wire-cutting and plier-pinching I did today!

I'm enjoying being Grammy Pammy to the little ones - there's nothing quite as heartwarming as a little boy who snuggles up to you and says quietly...."I love you Grammy Pammy!"   Life doesn't get any better than that!

Well, I've caught myself up to date a bit, so I'll sign off for now.   We had homemade Chicken Potpie for supper and Lemon-Iced Apple Pie for dessert, so I'm done cooking for today!  I've got faces to put on Cinnamon Bunns (primitives in my Etsy store - link in the side column if you're curious) as I've got EIGHT orders of them to fill!  For some reason, they have been amazingly popular!  You just never know what's going to be 'the thing'!  Last time I really had my store going, it was primitive Pigs that were my bestseller!

Until next time.....I'll finish up with a zillion pics in no particular order of life since I posted last.

Cherish every day the Lord grants you - and Philipians 4:8, for goodness sake!!!

Grammy Pammy