There’s one thing for sure - life is NEVER boring around here! If it is not the business keeping us hopping then it is life in general.

It was the swim meet here in Chinook this past weekend & even though Michael is not involved in it this year he still went to meet old friends. He called up to say that 25 would be coming to dinner so we got prepared. In the end only 15 turned up so we ate the left overs for lunch today. The tradition is to eat & then go swim in the river.

In the early hours of Sunday morning a HUGE thunderstorm rolled through here (the poor folks in tents!). It was so loud it shook the house. So sleep was scarce & all were tired. Early that morning I kept hearing the phone ringing but was so tired I had no intention of getting up & answering it. When i got up at 9am I looked to see who had called & the neighbor had called us 3 times. I called her up to see what was going on & she was like, “Can’t you see the smoke? Didn’t you hear all the fire engines & sheriff driving down through your place?” We had heard NOTHING! What had happened was lightning had struck one of our big cotton wood trees & set it alight. It had set off the neighbors smoke alarms ‘cos nearer to them than us & so the fire brigade had been down there since 6:30am.

As you can see it was a big tree with 3 prongs & the fire had eaten the center of 2 of them. The fire brigade from the next town had to come help also as they had a bigger chain saw. Then they had to go to the county & get a big digger as the neighbor’s wasn’t man enough. They were here until 2 pm.

Now onto broody ducks. Two of our ducks are broody. One of them has made a nest under the trash cans. The first time I noticed her she made me jump as I went to throw something away & heard this hissing noise. Stupid duck has no eggs. However the other duck has made a very cosy nest under the lilac bush. She does have eggs & seems to be doing a good job. Will we get ducklings? Who knows.

Today has been the usual busy Monday & then tonight we got 60lbs of cherries. Yes, it’s cherry season. We didn’t pick these but Michelle & I spent quite a while depitting 40 lbs & putting them in the freezer to enjoy at a later date. By the time we had finished we looked like we had war paint on - what a mess!
Take care,

Liz

I wish I could send you some of the beauty & tranquility from this place we call home. As the little ones & I were out on the trampoline his evening I was looking around the panorama & yet again awed by the beauty. All was peaceful: Hazel was giving Sir Loin his evening bath, the chickens were pecking at the ground, the goats were grazing, Penny & Rosco were just wandering around, Rosie Lee was licking the water coming out of a leaky connection as the water was on for the fruit trees, the dogs were just lounging in the sun until the lambs came around the corner bleating (Daniel let them out yesterday), birds were singing & you could hear the train in the distance. Complete peace

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not always like that. In fact today has been a busy work day but I got all accomplished that I set out to do so I am satisfied. AND last Saturday was far from peaceful. We went to the Demolition Derby. It was a LONG night. Daniel & Hannah’s faces were a picture. They were eager for each round to start.

If you have never been to a Demo Derby before then you are missing out. There are several rounds & in each round the cars hit each other until there is just one or 2 left running. There are some safety rules in place, one being that you are not allowed to hit the drivers door but their bodies still get jolted. I wouldn’t want to be in there.

Then instead of our normal peaceful Sunday we had to go to the pig wrestling contest. We had planned on walking as it was a nice day but guess what? Bella followed us - broken leg & all. I took her home & then drove up the driveway to catch up with the others & she followed again. By this time we were REALLY late so took her home & shut her in & drove to the pig wrestling. The show barn was crammed solid so we had to go in a side door & sit on the arena floor amongst all the saw dust & you know what. (This is where all the 4H’ers had shown all their animals earlier.) Not to mention we were then right in target range of the mud flying everywhere so I looked quite a sight afterward.

So why did we go, you ask? WELL Michael, who is always game for something was on one of the teams. There were 4 people on each team & they had to pick up the pig, please remember they are in a slimy mud pit, and put it in a barrel butt up. Michael’s team didn’t win but they did well.

Monday arrived & with that came the last minute, MAD rush to get everything ready for CHA. Richard left on Wednesday. I stayed here to keep everything running. The show is going well - sorry I don’t have any pics for you. The company dinner was Thursday night & that went well. The show ends tomorrow & so Richard will be back on Monday.

Alot of new releases at the show. Let me see if I can remember them all & the official release dates!

General Motors (GM) - the first four cars in rubber stamps will be coming out July 22nd. More cars are planned along with scrapbook papers etc at a later date.

Thomas the Tank Engine & friends. The initial release is of 8 rubber stamps & pre-orders are now being taken. There is 10% off all pre-orders untill August 7th, the official release date. You can see these great images on the store.

Saturday Evening Post (SEP). This is a brand new license for us here at CHF & one we are very excited about. The first rubber stamp, Santa’s Lap, is coming out August 8th. We have some great ideas for this line (as we do all the others) & are looking forward to what the next few months bring.

All you fans of the Kim Hughes collection are going to LOVE her new papers. They are absolutely gorgeous. They were created to go with her stamp sets & Kim did a fabulous job picking all the colors, not to mention the names she has given them all! That release is set for August 15th.

Talking of papers, have you seen the new Thomas Kinkade papers? Talk about breath taking! There are actually two new paper packs - Christmas & Masculine. No release date for them yet but it will be early to mid August.

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Last but not least there is a new pack of Scrapblock ™ Layers coming. These were designed to coordinate not only with our Scrapblocks ™ but also with the Thomas Kinkade & Kim papers.

Have I forgotten anything? Probably! Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all that is going on around here

Hope you’re all having a fabulous weekend. I am looking forward to “collapsing” tomorrow with a good book.

Take care,

Liz

…..now has a new name.

Peg Leg! Yes Bella somehow managed to break a bone in her foot. It is not a bad break, we have no idea how she did it but she still has to be in a cast for 6 weeks. The vet said we needed to keep her as quiet as possible. We just laughed. That dog is still running around, maybe not as much but she she is still active.

BE WARNED! If you are afraid of snakes do not look down further to the next picture.
How’s your week been? I really don’t know where ours has gone. Michelle came home on Monday so that was good. She’s had a great time away but glad to be home. Of course we are busy getting ready for CHA which starts next week. I apologize for the lack of sneak peaks on here - we really do have some exciting stuff coming but if you look at all our designer’s blogs (see left) you’ll be well informed.

Tricia, one of our employees, had left here earlier this week to go home when I looked out the window to see her walking back down the driveway holding a snake by its head! It was a pretty big bull snake - at least 3 1/2 ft long. She didn’t realize that bull snakes are pretty harmless if left alone & good micers. Michael nor Richard were around so we put it in an empty trash can in the back of the truck. When Michael came home everyone assumed that he had taken it to the river. WRONG! He forgot about it until Tricia asked him today. That snake was still in the trash can, alive & had laid an egg!

Needless to say he took it down to the irrigation ditch that is full of water right now & released it. Bull snakes are actually very beautiful creatures.
The ducks have decided that they like dog food. They will crowd around Emma of a morning & quack at her. She gets so mad with them but they are not scared of her & should she move away they are in her bowl in an instant.

Cinco is NOT happy tonight. it’s irrigation time so “his” cows have been moved to the next pasture. He is out there bellowing. Our cows - Lilly, Hazel etc are all still with him. Hazel has not been giving much milk lately - SirLoin is feeding well And what she has been giving has smelled awful. She is out on grass & weeds all the time & so the flavor is coming through to her milk. Of course if we bothered to shut her in each night & feed her hay it wouldn’t be a problem. SO tonight, as we have no milk left, Hazel is going in the barn & SirLoin is staying out so that we can hopefully have a gallon of milk in the morning. She does not like me milking her. She will only let me milk her back teats & most times gives me this horrible watery milk that just looks nasty. Michael can milk the next day & he can get lovely white creamy milk so I’ve given up on her - ornery ol’ thing.
We had a houseful for teenagers here earlier. Well maybe not a houseful but there was our two & then four more boys. We had a very competitive game of Spoons (card game.)
This weekend is the Fair here in Chinook. The weather was pleasantly cool here today so we took the little ones to see all the animals. Tomorrow is the Demolition Derby & this year it is actually being filmed by a Hollywood team so should be pretty exciting.

Off to write the newsletter now.

Have a great weekend,

Liz

Morning Folks!

Now’s your chance!  Cornish Heritage Farms is once again opening up a position on their highly successful Design Team to someone new.  Unlike our ‘Fresh Face’ call last year that was restricted to designers that had not served on another design team, this call is open to everyone!

Cornish Heritage Farms is looking for a new Design Team Member to work specifically with our more detailed art lines - Thomas Kinkade, Sandra Kuck, etc.  The emphasis for this position is on coloring, but overall appeal of the project is still important.  The successful applicant will become part of a great team that is constantly being challenged and improving their artistic talent.

To apply please send a project sample that you have colored using either a Thomas Kinkade or a Sandra Kuck rubber stamp. Any choice of medium is fine (Copics, watercolors, chalks, colored pencils, etc). A photo or scan of the project needs to be sent to designer@cornishheritagefarms.com. The Image should be 72 DPI and at least 750 pixels wide in JPG format. Along with the card please also include your full name, address, phone number. email, blog, online gallery and publication resume, if applicable. All information will be kept confidential and destroyed once our search is over. We reserve the right to request the actual project if we are interested in pursuing your application further.

This Design Team call is open to all designers, but the following rules apply:

This is not a competition; instead it is simply a great way for us to find fantastic talent that we may not normally see. 

Please note that although we cannot personally reply to every application, you will receive an automatic reply from us which will let you know that we have received your application.  Also note that we will be calling finalists to talk with you further before making our final decision.

We wish you all the best & look forward to hearing from you soon.   If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Julia, our Design Team Coordinator, at julia@cornishheritagefarms.com.

Thanks so much,

Richard & Liz
www.cornishheritagefarms.com

I had every intention of wishing you a Happy 4th of July yesterday but a major storm came through here at about 8pm & that was the end of our power. We are running the computers off a generator this morning but last night the wind was too strong to get it up & running. (Don’t panic, our main server is elsewhere so the store was & is fully accessible at all times.) We are safe & spent the night watching the “free” show of nature listening to the conversation of the various fire personnel who were out fighting fires & downed power lines.
Now you already know that we live in a pretty rural area but did you know that the Chinook Fire & Ambulance covers an area of over 2000 square miles? Yes I know that blows my mind too They cover an area approximately 20 miles wide & 120 mile long & some of this is largely uninhabited. SO when lightning goes to work in this area they sometimes have to travel a long ways. This is the reason that some of the local ranchers out in the mountains have their own water trucks because if a building was ever to catch fire the local fire brigade would never be able to get there in time.

When they storm came in all the animals ran for cover but we did not have time to shut everything in. Once the storm had died down Richard headed outside. As he came around the corner of the house, look what he saw.

I had no idea salamanders lived around here - this is the first one we have seen.

Enjoy your day/weekend,

Liz

Yeah right! That word is NEVER in our vocabulary here BUT yesterday & today it was HOT (up in the 90’s) & this was the scene that I saw as I went out to water the animals this afternoon. Most of the animals were sitting in the shade or in their houses. Even the cows were nowhere to be seen. All was empty & very peaceful.
These last two nights were the first this summer that we have not been able to open our windows at night. Thankfully a cool breeze came through this evening so all the windows are now open:) I LOVE fresh air.

Pressing rubber in this heat is also no fun. Working with ovens at 300F is warm even in the coldest weather but in this heat it is REALLY hot in that room. Yes we do have AC in there but it cannot fight the outside heat & the heat of the ovens so by 3pm the work in there is done. It is best to start early in the day.

I have been sorting through photos tonight - taking them off the camera etc & I found a couple that I had never shared but are too good not to show you. A few weeks back when we went for a walk down the field Michael came behind us & scared some deer out of the trees. We love to see the wildlife & Richard had the camera ready. Imagine our surprise when he captured this one:

Neat, eh?

I’ve told you many tales of the sly old fox. Well here’s a picture of him escaping over the fence.

Thankfully he hasn’t been around for a while.

Then of course we went to the rodeo last Friday. This was the best one we have been to. The commentator/announcer & clown really kept things moving. Sorry I didn’t get many pics but here’s one of the calf roping.

The bull riding was really good - rather them than me though.

On Saturday & Sunday we went over to Malta for the Milk River Gospel Jamboree. Richard & I, after being involved in music & sound for many years before moving here to Montana, appreciate good music. Was the Jamboree good? Some of the groups were excellent, others left something to be desired! BUT we had a good time & now have a couple of new groups on our list to listen to.

One group that was excellent were The Hunters:

This is one talented family with a great sense of humor too. It’s Mum, Dad & five boys. Yes five boys! But they all have incredible voices & their harmonies were excellent. They were excellent performers - energetic & fun. Could have listened to them for a lot longer.
Hope your week is going well. It’s busy here - 3 great releases this week PLUS don’t forget we are celebrating Christmas in July so are giving away a different FREE gift every day with every order. Lots of fun stuff.

Take care,

Liz