Writing a love letter to my Husband

Latrecia  over at Our peaceful cottage had her weekly to do list posted and one of the things on it was to write her husband a love letter. I thought that was such a neat idea.

I try very hard to be a proverbs 31 wife ( which isn’t as easy as it sounds sometimes). Well I put the letter on my list to do but I have been a little ( ok a lot) aggravated at my husband the last couple days. I was at the store today and walked by the cards and it reminded me I needed to write the letter ( I use to send him cards all the time when we were dating and first married).
My first thought when I remembered I needed to write the letter was no I’m not to happy with him right now, then it kind of hit me that this is the perfect time to write the love letter. To make it a good letter I will have to think of the reasons I feel in love with him in the first place and put away the thoughts and reasons why I was so upset with him. So I am off to write a love letter to my Husband even though he aggravates me occasional lol. He is still the love of my life and I guess I need to remind him of that once in a while.

I think we all need to remember to remind the ones we love that we still love them no matter what.

Week 25 Food Storage Challenge

6 Lbs Salt / Batteries, Flashlights

As I have said before try to get your salt in bulk it will be a lot cheaper that way.

Batteries and Flashlight It is a good idea to have a few extra flashlights on hand and be sure to have batteries for them. You will also want to have all sizes of batteries on hand. Look around and see how many things you have that run on batteries and what size they take, that will give you an idea of what size and how many you should have on hand.

Keep putting back water.

Add some more to your money stash.

Also try to stock up on school supplies while they are on sale. If you get enough for the whole year you will not have to pay full price when you need them through out the year. Don't forget to get your office supplies now also a lot of them are on sale now also.

Great way to start the day

Not really, Got a phone call this morning from one of the places we are pasturing some of our cows, that happens to be next to the highway.The cows had gotten out. We took two trucks and went over there. They had made it across the highway with out getting hit (thank goodness). they were in the school yard eating the grass.
they had one four wheeler so I ran to the hay barn and grabbed our four wheeler. So we headed them to our corrals. instead of trying to get back across the highway at this time of morning Got them to the corrals and captured. Went home and hooked up to a trailer to haul them back. Got them loaded and back to where they are suppose to be.
The girls  were watching kids for me, they had been getting ready to go help my sister in law ride some horses so they had to wait on me till I got back.  
All is good now though the cows are back where they belong,the girls are riding horses, Andy is cutting hay, and I am back home trying to get lined out for the day.
Hope you all have a great day.

Make your own Baby Formula

A friend and I were talking the other day about the high cost of baby formula. I told her when I was a baby they used pet milk and corn syrup. OK how many of you have heard of this If you have you may be telling you age lol. That was what they used back then, and then gave infant vitamins.

Anyways I got to thinking what would happen if you have no access to baby formula. Breast feeding is the best thing to do but what if you don’t make enough milk. I had to supplement my two oldest with formula because I didn’t have enough milk. Baby formula has an expiration date and does not last very long so it is not an option for long term storage.

I decided to see if I could find the recipe for the canned milk formula I found a lot more then I was looking for. Formulas have some very bad things in them here is a couple  of  things that I found.

90 Percent of U.S. Infant Formula May Be  Contaminated with Melamine; FDA Abruptly Declares Chemical Safe for Babies NaturalNews) Up to 90 percent of the infant formula sold in the United States may be contaminated with trace amounts of melamine, the toxic chemical linked to kidney damage, according to recent tests. The FDA's test results, which the agency hid from the  public and only released after the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act  request, showed that Nestle, Mead Johnson andEnfamil  infant formula products were all contaminated with melamine. The AP is also reporting that Abbott Laboratories conducted its own in-house tests that detected trace levels of melamine in its formula products. Together, these infant formula manufacturers make about 90 percent of the infant formula sold in the United States. Prior to these test results being made public, the FDA had published a document on its website that explained there was no safe level of melamine contamination in infant formula.  Specifically, the FDA stated, "FDA is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns." Once tests found melamine in U.S.-made formula products, however, the FDA changed its story. As of today, the FDA has now officially declared melamine to be safe in infant formula as long as the contamination level is less than one part per million (1 ppm). Astonishingly: The FDA has no new science to justify its abrupt decision declaring melamine to be safe!   Protecting Big Business instead of American babies Rather than being based on science, the FDA's decision appears to be based entirely on creating  cover for U.S. infant formula manufacturers whose products were found to be contaminated with melamine. The "acceptable" level of contamination (1 ppm) is conveniently just above the  levels found in U.S. infant formula products, thus placing U.S. infant formula in the "safe" contamination level category. And yet the FDA has conducted no safety testing whatsoever to determine whether 1ppm of  melamine is safe for infants to consume. There is no science involved in this decision whatsoever.  Rather than this decision being based on science, the FDA is once again resorting to politically-motivated decisions that seek to protect the profits of Big Business rather than the  safety of infants and children. Recall that the FDA also recently declared Bisphenol-A to be safe for infants to consume, even while countries like Canada banned the chemical from baby bottles. The FDA, it seems has never met a  corporate-sponsored chemical it didn't like. You can read the rest of the article here.     As scientists attempt to replicate human breast milk as closely as possible, the concoctions they prepare become more and more questionable and complex. Lactose, fructose, glucose, maltodextrose, carbohydrate (corn maltodextrin, modified corn starch ,corn syrup solids), protein (whey, casein, soy protein isolate), fat (soy oil, coconut oil,  corn oil, sunflower oil, palm or olein oil*) – Usually sourced from GMO’s – vitamins, folic acid, pantothentic acid, calcium, minerals, phosphorus, iodine, sodium chloride,  potassium chloride, and other nutrients, such as rice starch, dietary fibre and amino acids, as well as nucleotides, which is something scientists have been disagreeing about their efficacy on immune system development for 15 years. “Following the research that showed positive cognitive effects of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) docosahexaeonic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) found in breast milk, nutrition-scientists came up with the latest novel ingrediets: LC-PUFAs  manufactured fromplant sources. These LC-PUFAs contain triglycerides not found in human milk and are thus structurally different to the LC-PUFAs in human milk. T he DHA in infant formula is extracted from fermented microalgae, Cryptecoiunium cohnii, and ARA is extracted from soil fungus, Mortierelle alpina.” These are new to the  food chain,therfore the long term effects of these ingredients are not known. In addition, the extracting method is concerning. Hexane, a petroleum-refining by-product  solvent is used to extract the oil. It is also a known neurotoxin and air pollutant. There have already been studies done on the plant based LC-PUFAs and concerns are  continually raised, both on its efficacy and side effects. In addition, there is the ethics. For instance, why, if there are known concerns, does its addition to certain formulas raise the price of that formula? There is more. Marsha Walker, an executive member of NABA (National Association of  Breastfeeding Advocacy) has produced a fully referenced assembly of scientific studies  that show a cocktail of chemicals in infant formula, such as: Aluminum, silicone, cadmium, MSG, phytoestrogens, GMO soybeans, phosphate , phthalates and Bisphenol-A. you can read more of this here. And if you are thinking well I'll just use organic formula then, according to reports  from researchers at Dartmouth, organic baby formulas contain levels of arsenic six times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers safe for the water supply. You can read more here. OK so back to the original post of trying to find an alternative to store bought formula I found some very simple ones and a couple more complex ones. This first one would use what you have in your food storage and is what was used before the invention of store bought baby formula Plus it is what I was given and I turned out OK at least I think I did although some may not think so lol. The first one is Baby's First Formula 6 oz. Evaporated Milk 10 oz. Water, Boiled 1 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar OR Corn Syrup Baby's Second Formula 10 oz. Evaporated Milk 15 oz. Water, Boiled 2 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar OR Corn Syrup Baby's Third Formula 13 oz. Evaporated Milk 19 oz. Water, Boiled 3 Tbsp. Sugar OR Corn Syrup Gradually shift from the first formula to the third formula over the first 4 months, increasing the amount as your baby grows. After this, if the baby is gaining weight and eating solids, you would give undiluted whole milk or evaporated milk diluted with equal parts of water, and omit the sugar. If you use this you will want to add some vitamins such as  Poly vi sol vitamin liquid. You can go here for a goat milk formula the only thing being is she is using things that you most likely  wouldn't have in your storage but if you are wanting an alternative to the store bought this would be good. . Here are a couple from Sally Fallons book nourishing traditions ( A book that I highly recommend) Raw Milk Baby Formula (Adapted from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon) Makes +- 1 liter. The addition of gelatine to cow’s milk formula will make it more digestible for the infant. Use only truly expeller-expressed oils in the formula recipes, otherwise they may lack vitamin E. The ideal milk for baby, if he cannot be breastfed, is clean, whole raw milk from old-fashioned cows, certified free of disease and feed on green pasture. Ingredients 2 cups whole raw cow’s milk, preferably from pasture-fed cows 1/4 cup homemade liquid whey (See recipe for whey, below) Note: Do NOT use powdered whey or whey from making cheese (which will cause the formula to curdle). Use only homemade whey made from kefir. 2 tablespoons of Maple syrup 2 or more tablespoons good quality cream (preferably not ultrapasteurized), more if you are using milk from Holstein cows 1/2 teaspoon Garden of life Cod liver oil 2 teaspoons of Udo’s Oil 2 teaspoons coconut oil 2 teaspoons Biostrath 2 teaspoons gelatin 1-7/8 cups filtered water 1/4 teaspoon of Camu berry powder Instructions Put 2 cups filtered water into a pyrex measuring pitcher and remove 2 tablespoons  (that will give you 1-7/8 cups water). Pour about half of the water into a pan and place on a medium flame. Add the gelatin and Maple syrup into the pan and let it dissolve, stirring occasionally. When the gelatine is dissolved, remove from heat and add the remaining water to cool the mixture. Stir in the coconut oil and stir until melted. Meanwhile, place remaining ingredients into a blender. Add the water mixture and blend about three seconds. Place in glass bottles or a glass jar and refrigerate. Before giving to baby, warm bottles by placing in hot water or a bottle warmer. NEVER  warm bottles in a microwave oven. Variation: Goat Milk Formula (Adapted from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon) Although goat milk is rich in fat, it must be used with caution in infant feeding as it lacks folic acid and is low in vitamin B12, both of which are essential to the growth and development of the infant. Inclusion of nutritional yeast to provide folic acid is essential. To compensate for low levels of vitamin B12, if preparing the Milk-Based Formula (above) with goat’s milk, add 2 teaspoons  organic raw chicken liver, frozen for 14 days, finely grated to the batch of formula. Be sure to begin egg-yolk feeding at four months. There are a couple more recipes of hers here. I think that even if you used the canned milk formula with the vitamins you would be better off then using store bought at least you are not having to worry about all the chemicals and the added  happy crap they put in the store bought stuff. Just my thoughts anyway especially after reading this  80-percent-of-us-packaged-foods-may-contain-dangerous-chemicals_062013  and  are banned from other countries. It is a  shame what the FDA and our government will allow and do for the sake of money.

Ugh I am so far behind

I am so far behind seems that no mater how hard I try, I just get further behind. This time if year kicks my butt.

 We are cutting hay and in addition to ours we do a lot of custom work. (more on that latter.)

I had a wedding cake to make last weekend ( more on that latter).

We are almost done AI ing about one week left, will be so glad when that is done one less thing to worry about. Although our neighbors bull got in with our cows, and bred my milk cow I wasn’t to happy about that. It wasn’t a bad looking bull so any other of the cows would have been alright, but not my milk cow oh well at least the calf will be half Guernsey.

I had to take Joleen to Durango (60 miles away) for her driving test to get her license. I had called the DMV they had a two month back log for driving test. I had been told earlier it was a two week wait so not sure who was more aggravated, me or Joleen when they told me two months I called all over and the soonest I could get was a town four hours a way and that would be a month from now. There is a company in Durango that gives driving test but it cost fifty dollars, she needs to have here license for the fire dept, and I was counting on her having it so she could get her and Katie to cheer practice so we went ahead and went to Durango. So she now has her license. It will be nice but now I get to worry about her when she is gone lol.

My poor house and yard are a mess since I haven’t had any extra time to do any work on them, I am still needing to get water going on my herbs and grapes and a few other things before I lose them.

The four wheeler broke done the other day and this time of year we have to have it, we use it to change water check and gather cows so when we don’t have the girls have to drive to the back and then walk all the fields which is very time consuming. Andy has to stop and check and gather cows on the dirt bike so that takes him away from what he needs to be doing.Thank goodness Andy was able to get it fixed with in a few days.

With Andy so busy I am having to take care of both gardens right now, they haven’t been to bad yet thank goodness.

This weekend we have another wedding to go to and a music festival that Andy wants to go to.

Then the next weekend forth of July we want to go camping and jeeping with my family in Silverton which I am no where near ready for. Haven’t even opened the camper since last winter when we put it up so that will require some cleaning. Andy also wants to take a little time to got o the river to play more music.

Andy and Joleen have already been on a couple fires hopefully we won’t have many more.

I have several things to post so hopefully I can get them ready soon.

Hopefully we will be done with 1^st cutting soon and I can get to other things. And start to catch up a little. 

I will try to catch up on the Food Storage Challenges in the next couple days.

Week 24 Food Storage Challenge

Sorry this is late getting out, I will make it a short list today.

10 cans soup / Oats

10 cans of soup of your choice as I have said before no point in getting something your family will not eat.

Oats 50 lbs oats you should be able to find these in 50 lb bags our feed store has  a food storage section and they carry the 50 lbs of oats, I think Wal-mart also carries them.

Put up more water.

Add some more to your money stash.

Have a great week

Week 23 Food Storage Challenge

Sorry it has taken so long to get this posted it has been pretty hectic around here.

There is an article here at shtfplan It is a little intersecting about what our government is telling us now. Below in the comment section is this comment from someone from the USSR that is very informative.

been there (in xUSSR) says:
Comment ID: 1832716
Back in mid- to late 1980-s they were promising us the same in the USSR – just suffer a little bit more, and it will definitely get better. The trick was it was slowly, but surely getting worse and worse until ending with real collapse sometime in spring-summer of 1992..

So, with this CNN warning (and yes, it is a _warning_ – the very 1st sign of collapse for me is when mass-media whores are starting telling everything will be fine…”next year”) I’m eventually starting looking for the following signs:

1) big war somewhere in the other hemisphere(you are Americans, yes you can); then all the problems locally can be explained with:”We are at War!!!”, with next question of:”Why are you complaining? Are you unpatriotic?”

2) if #1 does not work, then look for shortages of certain things and food items appearing slowly at the beginning. It may be European food items, coffee/cocoa or anything else which does not naturally grow in the US abundantly. Most of us can do without those items most of the time, but I’d be very scared to see it happening “again”.

3) more or less exotic food shortages turning into necessities shortages (toilet paper, whisky, toothpaste, socks,condoms, gasoline).

4) with gasoline and especially Diesel becoming scarce or prohibitively expensive, expect all hell eventually breaking loose (civil war, secession, crimes against humanity, what can you think of…)

Captain Obvious? Not so fast.. Normalcy bias is a she-dog, keep your eyes open (unlike me and my parents back then there, but anyway, we could not do much except for stocking up with conserves (retail and home made), medicines and clothes and shoes, which turned out being enormously useful in just few short years in early 1990-s).

I do believe we need to start stepping up our preps, on the same site is two other another post that you can read here and here about what is coming.


So Anyway the Food Storage Challenge for week 23 is

50 LBS wheat or flour / Vinegar

50 lbs Wheat of Flour if you store wheat be sure you have a grinder.

Vinegar   Apple Cider and White Apple cider for canning and cooking and white for cleaning.
I make my own out of my kombuchia as soon as things slow down I will show you how I do this ( was hoping to already have it up). I use apple juice to make it so it is like apple cider vinegar, then the plain I just use like white vinegar.

Keep putting water up.

Add some more to your money stash.

To funny just had to share

I just read this on stapling.com in one of the comments just had to share.

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied, ‘I cannot accept money from you, I’m doing community service this week.’

The pleased florist left the shop.

When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a ‘thank you’ card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill , the barber again replied, ‘I cannot accept money from you, I’m doing community service this week.’ The cop was happy and left the shop.

The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a ‘thank you’ card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.

Then a Congressman came in for a haircut, and when he went to pay his bill, the barber again replied, ‘I cannot accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week.’

The Congressman was very happy and left the shop.

The next morning, when the barber went to open up, there were a dozen Congressmen lined up waiting for a free haircut.

And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of our country and the politicians who run it.

BOTH POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON!

Rodeo Weekend

This past week-end was Rodeo week-end. We really hadn't planned on going to the rodeo. Andy came home for lunch Friday and asked if I wanted to go. At first I didn't I just had so much I needed to get done that weekend, but I said yes, so he went and got some tickets for all of us.

The girls got back from state convention about 2:00 and I told them we were going so they went and took a little nap. State convention wore them out to bed late and up early all week.  

We went and I was so glad we did it was very good and I  even got to see my cousins husband ride, he rides saddle bronc.


This was part of the opening ceremony the video isn't great but you kind of get the idea. I love rodeos they are so patriotic they even have a prayer.
As you will see during the opening ceremony they had a horse with a flag to represent a fallen soldier. 




Video by Terra Sapp 

This is a picture of the little boy saluting the flag it was kind of hard to see in the video. Many teary eyed people in the stands when he did that.

 

 

This was right after when they brought out the flag. They also brought out the flag at the end of the rodeo to.

 

 

This was the clown/bull fighter his name is Brian Potter and he was really good. towards the end one of the bull fighters got hurt so he had to step in to help. If you look closely you can See a horse in that car.

 

 

Here he is bringing out the horse.He put on a really good show.

 

 

Here are the royalty they do so much through out the year to promote the rodeo.

 

 

 



Kind of hard to see but this is bareback rider.

 

Team roping

 

One of the stick horse races for the little ones they are so cute to watch.

 

The mutton bustin it is so funny to watch the little ones do this the girls did it when they were little and they loved it.

 

This is one of the tie downs kind of hard to see.

One of the bull riders. Sorry the pictures are not real good. I told Andy that  maybe someday I could  get a little better camera hint hint don't know if he got the hint though lol.

 

After the rodeo Joleen and her boyfriend had wanted to go to the dance. Then I decided I wanted to go to, so we all went to the dance vanishing Breed was playing a very good local band. Andy has played with them a few times. I really like them all they play is country or as my Aunt would call it honky tonk music.

 

 

 We got home about 12:30. I have decided I am not as young as I once was lol. Saturday I had to be in town at 8:00 to pick up and help with bountiful Baskets, so there was no sleeping in. I brought my stuff home got the girls and went back to town. I ended up being there most of the day, by the time we got everything done.Andy and his Mom went and played music that evening, at a music festival about an hour away. I stayed home and tried to get a little yard  and house work done.The girls went to the rodeo again, they were going to go to the carnival but they ended up not going  which was fine with me. They got home about 11:00 And Andy and his Mom  didn't get home until about 1:00 so by the time I got her settled in Joleens room and Andy and I sat and unwound a little it was about 2:30, so another late night. I did get to sleep in a little the next morning . Andy took his mom home and I worked in the yard till he got back then we went and checked cows and changed water.by the time we were done Sunday night I was wore out.

Homemade Feminine Pads

Well since I did a post on the family cloth I thought I should go ahead a do one on  homemade feminine pads. Once again some of you may think yuck and that there would be no way, but just think about it, and the money you would save. Not only the money you would save but you wouldn't have to worry about having to store big bulky packages of pads every where or worry about not having them when you need them, or running out. You also don't have to worry about the harsh chemicals that are in store bought pads.

They are very simple to make you can go here to get a pattern.

 

I  copied the pattern onto some cardboard. 

 

cut them out.

 

Place on your fabric then I use a sharpie to trace around the patten.

 

Cut them out.

 

This is what you should have one top and two bottom pieces.

 

This is an optional step. I had some fabric (not real sure what it is) that was covering the boat but ripped so we had to take it off I took the cover and washed it. It is water resistant so I used some on the bottom of the pads. So if you use a water resistant fabric cut two bottom halves.

 

 

Place the resistant fabric on the underside of the two bottom pieces and iron over a small fold on the edge.

 

stitch these down I used a zig zag stitch.

 

Then set the two bottoms on the top

 

pin in place.

 

Sew around the edges.

 

Then turn inside out.

 

Iron down and sew around the edges of the turned out pad.

 

For the inside take two squares of fabric sew together and turn inside out and run a few seams on the inside kind of like quilting it. (Sorry it is kind of hard to see in the picture)

 

Fold this in to thirds

And insert into the pad.

 

You can use Velcro or snaps on the wings.  This one I just stitched a piece of Velcro on the wings.

 

On this one I used snaps.

 

 

After it is all done it can fold up like this. They are very simple to make.

 

You can use them for pantie liners , just don't put in the insert.

 

There are a couple things you can do with them after you use them. Some people have a bucket of water that they put them in after they are used, or you can put them straight  into a bucket and cover with a cloth. To wash if you put them in the water just drain the water and throw in the washer, with the dry bucket when you get ready to wash add some water and rinse then throw in the washer. I haven't used the water method, I would think the water would get smelly so I have a small bucket that I cover with a small towel to put them in I pull out the insert this way it all gets air I haven't had a problem with the smell but I do keep them washed up at least every other day.

 

So do you think this is something you would do? I was  a little sceptical at first but I have to say I like them a lot better and they are more comfortable then the store bought pads.

 

 

Meet Gomer

This is Gomer. Yesterday I talked a little about our marker bull  well this is him.We bought him at the sale barn just for this job, we will keep him until fall then he will go into the freezer. The thing on his head is a chin ball marker it has green paint in it. and the thing around his front is a skirt. When a cow comes into heat Gomer will try to ride her, and in the process will get green paint all over her so this way we know she is ready to be bred. The skirt keeps him from breding her. ( I know take all the fun away lol). He is quite the ladies man, yesterday he was in with the neighbors cows trying to court them.

 

We will keep him in with the cows for a month, time for all the cows to cycle and be bred. Afterwards we will turn a clean up bull out with the cows to breed what was missed. We can take the dates that we AIed and calculate when the calves will be born in the spring. In The fall when we wean the calves off the mama cows we will preg. check to make sure we have no open cows ( not pregnant) and if they are open we will sell them. No since in feeding a cow that isn't going to throw a calve in the spring. A lot of people will just turn a few bulls out with the cows to breed but the way we do it we have a little more control over when we calve and we know who the sire is for each calf. We can also bred milk stock to my milk cow, and hopfully one of these days she will give me a heifer instead of all the little bulls she has thrown the last few years. So any way this is how we breed our cows.

Week 22 Food Storage Challenge

10 Lbs Powder Milk / Feminine Products

10 lbs Powder Milk try to buy this in bulk it is cheaper that way. You may want to put it in air tight containers when you get it home.

Feminine Products When you store these you need to have them in something to keep critters out of them. Get enough for all the women of the home and if you have preteen girls get some for them. You can also make your own pads, learn how here. Even if you just store the stuff to make them then you will not need to worry about running out. If you are going to make your own you need to store some Flannel, thread and snaps or Velcro.

Keep putting back water.

Add some more to your money stash.

The action Item for this month is to learn where all your shut offs. You need to know how to turn the water electric and gas or propane off in an emergency.

　

The item for this month is fuel.

You should have a little extra on hand especially if you have a generator. Gas prices are going down a little, so now would be the time to get some extra. Be very careful when you store extra gas. If at all possible you should keep it in an outbuilding, because there will be fumes from it. When you store gas for an extended period of time you need to add a fuel stabilizer to it and if you can try to rotate it pretty often. You should never let you fuel levels in our vehicles get below ½ a tank ( This is something I so need to work on I hate putting in fuel so I wait until the last minute) I am thinking of putting a piece of tape on the half way mark so I can not see under it so I will be more likely to get fuel when it is on the half way mark.

Don’t forget every little bit of extra storage helps and is better then none.

Store what you use and use what you store.

Have a great week.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Breeding Rodeo Stock

 

I took the day off, well sort of. Andy had to go bred some rodeo stock about 60 miles south of here. The girls are still gone on their FFa trip and he needed someone to go with him to help, so I took the day off and went with him.

 

The cows were given a set of shots to synchronize them to all come in to heat at the same time. This way you can AI all of them together. I don't know a whole lot about doing it this way.We just run a marker bull with our cows to let us know when they are ready to bred. It does take a month to get all the cows that way though, instead of breding all in one day. You still have to run a clean up bull with both ( to bred the ones that didn't take). The way we do it we get about 85 % doing the shots you only get between 40% and 65% .

 

 

Here are a few of the cows that we bred. Being rodeo stock I figured they would would be pretty wild but they weren't to bad. Just lots of horns and I hate horns.

 

They put them in  a chute so Andy can get to them from behind,

Here he is getting ready. Looking for the cervix.

 

As soon as he finds the cervix then he inserts the semen.

 

Here is one of the bulls. How would you like to ride that?

 

 

Here is a picture to the south of where we were. Just a lot of sand and dirt.

 

This is to the east more of the same. Would hate to be here when the wind blows.

 

 And as we were leaving. Not much out there. They take the cows to the mountains in the summer to graze them.

 

 On the way back we stopped so I could take a picture of Shiprock. Apparently many many years ago this was a volcano.

AS you can see there isn't much around it. just kind of sticks up all by its self.

It is so funny how you can go 60 miles in one direction and this is where you are.

 

And you can go about 60 miles in the other direction and this is where you are. Guess that's why I love it here, so much variety.

 

Garden In and Daycare Schedule done

Well it was another busy week-end. I think this time of year just wears me out seems like we can never get caught up. We did get our garden planted. We don’t dare plant before June or it will freeze we are even a little early this year. We had to move to a different spot at the hay barn,

and we went ahead and put in one at the house which we will haul water to water. We planted a little over 100 various pepper plants , a little over 100 tomato plants, 8 zucchinis, radishes 3 different types of lettuce, potatoes, pumpkins, Indian corn. Dill, picking cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, Sunflowers, We don’t plant wheat, corn, beans, or a lot of potatoes because we can buy them straight from the farmer for pretty cheap. We cover all the plants with pieces of irrigation pipes that have broken, this protects from the wind and if it looks like it is going to freeze we can put something on the top of them to protect the plants.

We got an electric fence put up at a friends so we could pasture a few of our horses.

We started AI ing ( Artificial Insemination) last week so this weekend we had to move a few cows that had been done and a bull to another pasture.

We have an old stock trailer that was full of stuff from when I moved here 8 years ago we got that cleaned out. Andy is wanting to take it down to the frame and redo it so we can put the camper on it.

Got ground cover laid in the front and a little of the mulch put on it.

The girls had to get ready to go to the FFA state convention. They left Monday morning and will be gone all week.

Pulled a ton of weeds from the yard. And worked on some of the drip system in the front need to get the back done now. Mowed the back yard was starting to look like a jungle out there.

 
Worked on my household notebook I am trying to get a little more organized and use my notebook a little more. I think it will help me save time in the long run ( or at least I am hoping lol).

Worked on a schedule for the daycare for the summer I usually don’t do a lot in the summer as far as preschool stuff but I have a few more older kids this summer. I had to completely redo my yearly schedule and add a few new things. Think I finally have it all figured out though.

Worked on a monthly menu. Here is this weeks. Subject to change.

Mon.              Tue.              Wed.            Thur.             Fri.

B. Oatmeal French tst.       Cereal        yogurt/ fruit scr.   Eggs tst

L. Grilled     Chicken         Pancakes        P B & J        Mac &
   Cheese        Noodle            Fruit             fruit             Cheese
    Fruit            Crackers                                              Veg / Ranch

S Animal         apples/          Homemade    Cheese/        Homemade
Crackers             PB              granola Bars   crackers          Flavored
                                                                                          Applesauce

D Chili            Stroganoff            CFS   Navajo              Green Chili
                                                                 Tacos                Casserole

I do what ever veg. and side dish I can come up with to go with these.

 Andys Snacks for work. He takes a snack to work for break time.

Orange Cake

Strawberry Shortcake

Andy comes home for lunch so I fix him leftovers from the night before.

And of course there were several things on the to do list that didn't get done. Oh well there is always next week.