Yes, I am still here! Blogging has definitely taken a backseat in the past several weeks. Life is busy as usual and finding even a half hour to sit down and document has proved challenging. I'm not giving it up however! I'm in the library at the kids' school as I type this, today is my volunteer day and this week is library - I don't start until 9:15, but since I bring the kids to school I thought I could use the extra time to get caught up here.
We bought ten steers March 21. They are an average weight of 450 lbs apiece, and we will pasture them until late Fall, then sell them as beef cattle at the stockyard auction.
Mooey the orphaned calf is growing bigger every day. He is still living in a kennel run, and although he is being introduced to grain, he doesn't prefer it and is still bottle fed twice a day. He will be 2 months old on May 8, and hopefully be fully weaned by then. Every time after he is fed, he is foamy around the mouth. He goes to the divider kennel fence where the puppies are, and the puppies will lick his nose/mouth through the fence. It's the funniest thing. He is also trained to the sound of the dogs barking = feeding time. Last night I was standing near the front door, which we open and let the light from the storm door come in, and I see this flash of black running. I'm like, what in the world -- ?! I look out and there's Mooey running around the front yard!!! John had already fed him for the evening, but he fills a bottle partway and rushes outside. Thankfully Mooey is so tame he came right to John and went right back into the kennel run. We didn't have a clip-lock on his kennel door like we do the dogs, and apparently he head butted around enough to knock it ajar and push his way out. Ironically I had gone to Tractor Supply Co earlier for dog food and remembered that we needed some more of those clips, and had picked a couple of them up. Too bad I didn't actually PUT the clip on the door - but it turned out OK.
Asher had an assignment at school to draw/write about taking care of/training a pet. This is what he came up with:
He has also made a "brochure" about Mooey that I keep forgetting to take a picture of. It has three scenes of taking care of him: feeding, loving, resting. I love his artwork/schoolwork and save all of these special pieces.
Speaking of schoolwork, we got Asher's 3rd Nine Weeks report card last week. He continues to improve and I am so incredibly proud of how hard he has worked and how far he has come! His teacher, Mrs Tumey, has had her baby boy, and has been on maternity leave since the week before Spring Break. She won't return to teaching until the Fall. So Asher has a long term sub, Mrs Walker, who is a retired school teacher, for the remainder of the school year. I was nervous about another transition, but he has done just fine with it. Mrs Walker is a wonderful teacher - I am thankful!
OK, and even MORE school news for Asher. Last Fall, there was an art & writing contest throughout the school system sponsored by the Mason County Conservation District. John went in to Asher's class and talked about soil conservation and the importance of different types of plants for the soil and for wildlife. We even brought in different stalks of milo. Asher's class all wrote letters about soil conservation. Mrs Tumey submitted only a few letters, including Asher's. We got a letter several weeks ago thanking Asher for his participation and inviting him to the annual dinner. He is also being recognized at the school board meeting this Thursday.
Here is his letter:
Here he is with the other students:
Asher started baseball practice last night. There are a few other kids on his team that he knows. We have been practicing at home for weeks. He has improved so much since last year!
Allie is still doing ballet once a week, through the end of this month. Her recital is next Thursday, and it should be really cute!
I've been sewing and scrapbooking in my down time, and am making progress getting the kids' albums organized and pictures ordered from 2009 & 2010. I've sewn new baby gift sets, which consist of a blanket, two burpies, and two washcloths, for two of John's co-workers at the hospital.
John was on vacation last week, and kept busy every day outside on the farm. He has more than doubled the fruit trees in the orchard, and has filled in the raspberries and blackberries. Our grasshopper mower is in the shop for repairs, and we are thankful for our old little riding mower even though it took John SIX hours to mow with it. Yikes! We hope to get the grasshopper back by the weekend before the farm needs mowing again. The grasshopper has a much wider deck, is zero turn, and is super fast so it can mow everything in about 2.5-3 hours.
