Yep! Can you believe it. It has snowed here again & the temps dipped right back down last night. OK not as low as they have been this year but…. We had no idea that we it was going to snow all night so the poor cows were shut out. They were pretty miserable this morning. The sun came out this afternoon but then it started snowing again. It is light snow so we’re no being totally dumped on but it’s a good 3 inches maybe more as the wind has been blowing pretty hard.
Thank goodness the hay came last week. We still have “glaciers” here so Duane wasn’t able to put it in the coral we built especially for it. He had to unload it outside so Saturday Richard had to put up some temporary fencing to stop the cows etc destroying it.

Saturday the weather was nice - about 30 & sunny. We worked all morning & then we all took a long walk in the afternoon. It doesn’t happen very often that all 6 of us go out together. We walked the river & then cut up across the pastures. Hannah walked most of the way. She loved the icy patches but everytime she walked on some she fell flat on her butt. Daniel thought this was hilarious so started copying her but went one step further & rolled all over it. Daniel walked all the way & on Sunday he kept saying that his bones were hurting. At first we couldn’t figure out what he was meaning & then it dawned on us - His MUSCLES were hurting from doing all that exercise Here are some pics.

Michael, Richard & Michelle:

Here’s Hannah with Andrex:

Here am I making a snow angel but the snow on the river wasn’t that deep.

And last but not least, here are Daniel & Hannah with 5 of the dogs. As you can see all the dogs are in action mode. Duchess & Andrex were lagging behind.

I panicked for a few minutes this morning because when I went out to feed the piglets they were not around. We weaned them last week & thought at the time that they might go searching for mum but guess what? They have not looked for her once. Penny was missing them for a while but seems OK now - she is back with Rosco. Anyway back to this morning, I called them but nothing. I went looking in the barn - nothing! I’m like, OH NO what’s happened to them. I kept calling & as I came out of the barn I saw one of them walking calmly out of the duck house & soon the rest followed.

I haven’t updated you on Hannah’s potty training recently. I am SO glad I bought 22 pairs of underwear! She is now pooping on the potty so that is VERY good - it was pretty bad there for a while. She still has lots of “dribbles” through the day but is using her potty alot so things are improving. I would not venture out the house yet with her in underwear though. As for the bed & sleeping that is SO much better That first week was AWFUL but she is now sleeping till a reasonable time some of which I think has to do us putting a dimmer switch on her light. As soon as she moved into a bed she wanted the light kept on but it was really bright. By putting the dimmer on, we turn it down low when we check her before going to bed ourselves. She is also not as loud in the mornings now which is good for our ears & head.

All in all, things are good here. Hazel seems to have recovered. Lilly has yet to calf but now would not be a good time. She can hold on for a while until we warm up.

Hope you’re all having a good week,

Liz

Hah! For those of you living in the south, sunbathing is not unusual for this time of year but in Montana it is a little on the chilly side to be exposing oneself to the elements Nevertheless I took a walk this afternoon. We have had a hoar frost for three mornings in a row. As you can see the frost is falling off in sheets from the side of the aviary.

The sun came out this afternoon & we warmed up to a balmy 28. Out I went, down across the field & onto the river. Have you ever walked on an empty highway? I have once. When I was a child in 1978 we were hit with a very large snow storm in England. One of the big roads was completely snowed under & I can remember walking level with the lorries (semis). It was quite an awesome feeling. Anyway the river gives me that same feeling - wide open & no traffic of course unless you count Duchess & Andrex!

When we were looking for a place in Montana, water was at the top of my list. Being raised by the ocean & a river, I just love water. I got to thinking this afternoon that when we were in Maryland we had a stream running down at the bottom of the property. The only time it flooded was when Richard “nicked” the side of the brand new, above ground pool, with the tractor & the rest as they say is history! Then we moved to West Virginia where there was a creek, or “crik” as the locals pronounce it, running through the bottom & a mountain stream running through the middle of it into the creek. It was SO beautiful & of course the grass was always green. The creek could & would flood when we had a lot of rain but most times you could just walk through it - nice & clear. I laughed to myself this afternoon as I realized that we have now graduated to a full blown river. The Milk River is a dirty river but is still water & is pretty deep in places - certainly can’t walk across it without getting rather wet. I never tire of its beauty either frozen with snow like now or flowing freely. Here’s Bella in a full sprint:

it had never really dawned on me until my walk last week how much river frontage we actually have. I was in the mood for a brisk walk so walked the entire length of the river on our property & back. I’m a fast walker so my guestimate should be close - we have a mile of river fontage at least, maybe a little more. WOW what a blessing! Today I was in a slower mood so as I rounded one of the corners I decided to lie down on the bank & sun bathe! The snow had melted there so wasn’t cold or wet. I shut my eyes for a few blissful seconds before Bella started yelping at me. That dog never stops when she is out on a walk so it was as if she was telling me, “Get up! I need to keep moving.” Those few seconds were very refreshing though so off I went again. We have a flock of wild turkeys down by the river - I have never seen them up close BUT have seen them from the house. I though these tracks were so clear & beautiful:

Of course the animals also enjoy soaking up the sun. Here are Hazel & Sir Loin sitting on top of the “mound.” The cows have made a hideous pile of hay & manure this winter. We need to get a front loader so we can move it somewhere else. New hay is being delivered tomorrow as we have one more feeding & then we are out. Hazel looked so relaxed, chewing the cud with her eyes closed.

Lilly is due any time. She is the only one that we don’t know when her & Cinco got together. They have always been best buddies. Dexters don’t bag up weeks in advance like a Jersey does so I keep checking her udder everyday to see signs of change. Hazel is doing fine - thankfully Richard & Michael have been looking after her. She is still having the infected quarter milked out & cream “stuffed” up it but I think there are only 2 treatments left.

After my walk I then fed all the animals. Thought you would like some updated pics of the piglets who are now 7 weeks old. Here is one piglet coming to investigate what mama is eating. They should really be weaned as they are all eating independently but it has been so cold that we have been hesitant to do it.

Here are the other 4 tucking into dinner.

Hope you’re all having a great week,

Liz

I realized after writing the post last night about the kids not waking us up until 8 am that some of you may well be thinking, “What a pair of lazy bones, not getting up until that time of day!” Let me explain.

Richard & I are blessed to be our own bosses. The only deadline we have on a day is the Post Office shutting at 4:30pm. We are very much people of routine but our days are obviously interrupted many times by kids, animals & answering the phone. Now don’t get me wrong, we love to hear from you so don’t worry about that. BUT when the little ones are in bed that is the time we can really get stuff done on the business side of things. The TO DO list never gets shorter no matter how hard we try We work late into the night so cannot burn the candles at both ends. Anything earlier than 8 am & you’ll have a grumpy couple on your hands. We have trained the kids & animals to fit our schedule just like I’m sure you have to fit into your lifestyle.

Off to walk the dogs. Cool here today - only 17. Hannah was up again at 4am so she has been like a bear all day. She is now taking a nap to give us all a break. At least we have the experience to know that she will learn & “this too shall pass!”

Take care,

Liz

Ok I do realize that it is now Wednesday but I have to take you back to Monday for this week to make any sense! LOL! Sunday night was Hannah’s first night in a bed. Yes that girl has had a lot of changes this past week. Richard is not a morning person so when Hannah comes bursting into the bedroom at 7:30 yelling, “Hi Mummy! Hi Daddy!” he had quite the wake up call. Not sure how your household runs but there is a rule in our house that you do not wake Mum & Dad up until 8 am. Before that you have to be dying to do so. I also need to say that until Hannah moved into her bed I always got up first & milked the cow then got her & Richard up. Life has changed! Tuesday morning she burst in at 4:15 am - I was not amused & she was put back to bed faster than lightning. Hannah hasn’t learned the art of what being quiet means yet. She was in bed for a minute before she got up again & went yelling into Daniel’s room. Of course he was fast asleep so she got quickly put back in bed again where she did stay but didn’t sleep so by lunchtime yesterday she was falling asleep eating her lunch & ended up taking a nap. This morning was more respectable & I could hear Daniel telling her not to come into our room. He has been trained well.

BUT back to Monday, well actually Sunday. On Sunday when I went down to the cows I noticed that Hazel was limping - we think she slipped on the ice. The ice is really bad. It didn’t look serious so we didn’t do anything. By Monday morning though her back leg was very swollen so after milking I headed down to the vets for a support bandage. He wanted to look at her but couldn’t come out as he had a busy day so I said we would bring her down. Hah! Our trailer has not been used since all the snow came & so that was quite a job to get it out. Had to pump a tire etc. Finally got Hazel to the vets & dropped her off.

Later that day the vet called to say her knee was not that bad & in fact he wasn’t at all worried about it BUT he was very concerned about the mastitis in one quarter. I was like “What?!” We have not milked Hazel since September - Sir Loin was drinking from her but for some reason she has managed to get mastitis in one quarter. I had noticed she was a little lopsided but didn’t think much of it as she is due to calve in a couple months & mastitis certainly never entered my head.

SO Hazel has spent the last two days at the vets & came home today with more medication than a human from hospital! We have to milk that quarter out (the other three are dry) twice a day & then stick two tubes of cream up her teat along with 50 mls of meds subcutaneously. STUPID COW is all I can say! This has to go on for at least the next 9 days. No guarantee that we will save the quarter but I guess it won’t be from the lack of trying.

On another note one of the sheep or cows has learnt how to put the outside tap on - it is a lever. I really can’t believe a sheep would be smart enough but who knows! Anyway a couple weeks ago I went down there & water was pouring everywhere. Michael had been the last one down there so I blamed him for leaving the tap running. He denied it but I didn’t believe him. Last week Michael comes in saying, “Mum, you left the tap running down by the cow barn!” I then had to apologize as I knew I had not so we knew something was up. There is a lock on the tap so now we have to remember to lock it after each watering. Richard forgot on Saturday so more water was running down through the new river we had created!
That was the start to our week. Hope yours was a little less eventful.

Keep smiling,

Liz

Oh my - thank goodness that didn’t take too long We started Tuesday morning & in the first half hour Hannah had gone through 4 pairs of underwear & trousers. I was like, “What in the world am I doing?!” BUT once I determine to do something I don’t give up. However by the time it was naptime I was more than ready for her to go to bed. We spent a LOT of time sitting by the bathroom waiting for her to perform on that first day.

When I got up Wednesday morning I was exhausted & absolutely dreading what the day would hold. I knew I had a certain amount of work that I HAD to get done but wasn’t sure how I was going to accomplish it. Thankfully she was better so the day went far better than I had anticipated.

Fast forward to today & she is doing really well. She is still only going around the house in a top & underwear. ( I discarded trousers on the first day!) BUT she is now going herself & is a pro at pulling her “drawers” (underwear) down. Has got them back on a couple times but of course that is a much harder skill to attain. SO all in all Hannah has done really well. Alas with all this it has become apparent that she no longer wants her afternoon nap so this is her first all day up.

Today we are celebrating Daniel’s 6th birthday. it was actually on Thursday but one of his presents hadn’t arrived so we waited until today. He is having a good day. Lots of goodies from the CARS movie & a violin. Yes our little guy loves blue grass & country music so all he has wanted for a long time is a violin. Great excitement.

Maddie decided she was going to go visit the turkeys & geese the other day. We watched her for quite a while as she just sniffed around & then sat.  She never once chased them - I think they were quite curious about her.Not the best of photos but thought I would share it anyway.

We had a light covering of snow last night but today is nice & sunny. I’m trying to catch up on all my desk chores so I can take the evening off. Got to go make Daniel a cake in a few minutes.

Enjoy your weekend,

Liz

It’s been a LONG day here but we’re all home & smiling again Richard headed up to the jail this morning but was not able to see Michael as it was not visiting day. He talked with the Detention officer for a few minutes & came on home. Had no idea what time the judge would show up. Finally at 5:30 this evening Richard called again & they told him that Michael would be released in about 30 mins so off we went.

We finally got the full story. Apparently what happened was that Michael, not knowing some of the streets too well in Havre, went down a One Way street the wrong way which as we all know is easily done. I can well remember when we landed in this country for the first time I drove down a two way the wrong way - wasn’t I glad there were no cops or traffic around! Anyway the police stopped him & yes he had been drinking so should not have been driving. He was just on the legal limit for a minor. Here are the details of his sentencing:

MIP - $135 fine with 6 mths suspended driver’s license. If he attends some special ACT class he may be able to get a probationary license which will allow him to drive at certain hours & to work etc but for now he has no license.

Traffic offense. Due to him being just on the limit & 18 the judge has NOT given him a DUI. This is a huge blessing as DUI’s do go on your record whereas a traffic offense does not. He got fined $185 for this one.

Concealed weapon. For this he got a 6mth suspended jail sentence & a $135 fine. If at any time in the next 6 mths he gets a ticket for anything at all he will go to jail for 6mths. BUT if he stays out of trouble for 6mths the judge will wipe this off his record also.

When we got home I just looked at him & said lovingly, “Michael you are a total idiot & so much like your mother it isn’t even funny!” I don’t know if your kids are like this but our two oldest ones couldn’t be more opposite in looks, personality, everything. Some folks have kids that look like peas in a pod but not ours! Personality wise Michelle is very much like Richard except she is a girl of course & Michael is so much like me but he has the testosterone! It is scary at times because I know him so well & he knows it. BUT like I said to him I did my rebellious years when I was 13 to 15. My poor parents never guessed a lot of what I got up to although they prayed REALLY hard as they knew some of it. I can remember drinking cider (alcohol in England not the bland stuff you get over here) one day coming home on the school bus. (Drinking laws are a lot “friendlier” over there) How my mum never smelled it on my breath I will never know. Once I was Michael’s age though all that was over and Richard & I were just a few months from getting married.

As we told Michael tonight we are SO glad he got caught. He has been mixing with the wrong crowd & now that will stop. I just hope he can make a new start & move on.

On another note, Hannah has been pulling her nappy (diaper) off frequently the last few days so I figure it is time to start potty training. Whilst in Havre tonight I picked up 22 pairs of underwear. Do you think that is enough?! LOL! I have been dreading this as that girl is so hard headed but I need to get it done before the next baby arrives. No news on that front yet but one of these days we will get a call. So think of me tomorrow as the next “trial” starts in my life Spending my life running a little girl to the potty.

Take care & thank you all so much for your kind emails & notes. You are such a blessing.

Liz

When you read this blog you know that you are not reading a made up story but real life. I have said many times that what you see is what you get when you know us! LOL! I have to admit though that I never dreamed that I would be writing the words below but they are true. Richard & I have never been parents to bail our kids out of trouble. We believe that doing so just reinforces the bad behavior. We have always taught them that there are consequences to their actions & obviously depending on the action the consequences can be good or bad.

Michael (18) always checks in at midnight when he is out to tell us where he is. He did this on Saturday evening, said he had just come out of the cinema & was headed to a friend’s house. When we got up yesterday (Sunday) Michael was not here. Richard tried calling his cell phone but no reply. Around 10:30 we received a voice mail (Michelle had been on the phone) from Michael in the county jail trying to put a call through to us collect but obviously no message. We immediately called the jail & discovered that he had been arrested for MIP (Minor in possession), DUI (Drinking under the influence) & concealed weapon! We have not been able to talk with Michael, we know no full details of how it all happened, how much alcohol etc. All we know is that sometime today he will go before the judge. Richard will head up there this morning once we can find out some more. The person he spoke to yesterday told us Michael did not need a lawyer as he was going plead guilty.

So what are my thoughts on all this? Hmm….. one at a time - MIP. Personally I believe the drinking laws are way too strict. Now don’t get me wrong - i do not condone drinking but do feel that it is just asking for trouble not allowing kids to legally drink until they are 21. Just think about it, you can vote at 18. You can even get married & start raising a family but if you marry at 18 you cannot legally drink a glass of champagne at your wedding!

DUI is a totally different matter. That not only puts your own life at risk but everyone else on the road too. Michael deserves whatever punishment the judge sees fit to give him. Richard & I have suspected for a little while that he was drinking but had no proof. I don’t know how many times we have sat talking as a family about how stupid it is to drink & drive. Richard sees a lot of drunks being on the ambulance. Michael knows better & has no excuse.
Concealed weapon - If this wasn’t so serious it would be funny. (Can’t believe Michael was so stupid.) A couple weeks ago some friends of Michael’s brought him home some knuckle dusters. I won’t tell you where from or what circumstances as I do not want to incriminate them. Anyway, needless to say, Michael was very proud of these when he showed them to us. He just thought they were cool - yet again not really thinking things through. Richard & I were horrified. Knuckle Dusters are illegal here in Montana & we told him in no uncertain terms NEVER to take them out of the house. Sadly it looks like he didn’t listen.

How are Richard & I feeling? Richard was absolutely drained yesterday. Although we both wish that none of this had occurred we are glad that Michael was caught before he did any more damage to himself or others. We are just praying that this will be Michael’s wake-up call & that he will turn his life around to where God wants it to be. Obviously we still love him & are here for him but in the end it is his life & he has to learn to make the right choices.

No idea what today will hold. I am not normally up at this time of morning & nor is Richard but neither of us could sleep.

Take care & thanks for listening,

Liz