Just call me farmer Anne

This is what happens when you live in an unfinished house for too long.

Shopping at home!  Delicious!

 Hello, hello everyone.  I wanted to share what is going on, because it has been a hoot and a half.  I have to share this with you and give you something to chuckle about.  So, this is how far I have embraced this rural/country living.  We have been enjoying our produce from the garden.  We had a melon the other day.  Delicious!  Deeeelicious!  I don't know if it was quite ripe, but that didn't matter.  We have one more that made it.  Note to self for next year: plant something that is going to grow in time to be producing by the time the temperatures hit 40 at night in September!  Our potatoes are also really good.  Some were kind of tinny weeny but there are some pretty good sized ones.  The best were the beans.  Yummy, yummy.  We had quite a lot of beans and they went really well with potatoes or rice.  Then there are our tomatoes.  They were pretty good too.  We still have a lot of rutabaga and white beets.  I think we will have some of them this week.  Also Tasha's herbs have kind of developed a mind of their own.

 Our grapes survived the attack of many Japanese Beetles.  Here is the tip, when you are inundated with them and grasshoppers.  You need a son, about 10-12 years old is best because when they get older they don't get into this as much.  Take this son and give him the directive to kill the beetles.  He will then take this upon himself and do so with abandon.  He will develop two methods, both of which are very effective.  He will either choose to pick off

the beetle's head, thus killing it quickly, or he will pick the less quick method of removing one leg at a time ending with the head.  In both cases the beetles will be effectively destroyed.  Now to the grasshoppers.  They are a little more difficult, since they can get away from said son by two methods.  One would be to hop (hence the name grasshopper) and the second would be to fly (yes they can fly, unfortunately).  However, once this son does manage to catch a pesky grasshopper, perhaps by using a long forgotten tennis racquet, he then proceeds to use the same methods on pesky hoppers, sometimes adding the "let the thing swim for a while in a bucket of water, which the dog will proceed to drink out of and thus devour with his water".  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call us.  Logan will be happy to help you out with this problem.  I may even be able to rent him out for this.  Hmmm, good idea.

And then there were my peaches.  My beautiful, juicy, yummy peaches.  Ahh, I remember them well.  They have now become part of two peach pies (one is in my stomach already digested :)) and 5 jars of peaches.  I was told they are very good.  We are waiting for opening our first can of peaches when Sean can eat again.  He had his wisdom teeth removed last Friday.  We stayed at my friend Sharon's house for him to recoup.  It was nice and close to the dentist's office.  He did recoup but can't eat anything hard as of yesterday.

Now for my most farmer like experience.  Many of you know about Betsy.  Yes, Betsy.  She is my friend's cow and she has become a good friend of mine.  Last week I had agreed to cow/dog sit for my friend Sandy.  I figured, yeah, sure I am country.  I mean, I do horses, for sure, you see.  And dogs and I go way, way back.  So nooooo problem.  A cow is just a horse which produces milk.  Ahhh the milk!!  Sorry, I was daydreaming there about milk.  I digress.  Where was I?  Yes a cow is just another form of horse.  And really milking is a piece of cake, especially when you are using a machine.  I mean, any child could do it then.  So for weeks I have been in training.  The milking itself goes without a hitch.  The machine does that.  But........  the machine also has to be cleaned for the milk to be safe for consumption.  When my friend Sandy left for vacation I felt confident that I had that part down no problem.  The milking and hooking it up to the cow was another story.  I will walk you through my experience as a dairy farmer (for a week!  That's it.  They have to get up way too early!)

Day 1:  Rise at 5 (that is AM for those of you who like to sleep in like myself) after dreaming that I was going to oversleep and waking up several times during the night.  Stumble around in the pitch dark for my clothes and try not to fall into the abyss of the basement.  Get into car and turn key and step on gas as the car screeches and drive out of the drive (the belt needs to be changed).  Ask the neighbors to please forgive me as we screech down the road.  By the time I reach Sandy's house the car is warm and is no longer screeching (yeahhh).  Get out and walk to house and stumble around in dark house.  Wake up dogs as I try to make as little noise looking for light switches.  Sandy's daughter stayed the nights with the dogs.  I was glad not to wake her up (it was a Saturday, after all).  During the week this worked out great because she would leave when I came.  Get the milking machine put together, and breathe a sigh of relief.  I remembered all the parts.  Good, step one accomplished.  Next, get the bucket of hot water and betadine.  That was easy and quickly accomplished.  Next, proceed to the barn.  That was also easy.  It was pitch black outside still (weather!).  Fumble around to find lights (also quickly accomplished).  Greet the cows in a happy voice as I am praying, praying and praying some more.  Next step is to lock Betsy's head into the headstall.  Easier said than done.  I thought this was accomplished when I went into her stall to clean it.  She is a very happy cow and greeted me with her head.  Ouch!  How did she get out of the head lock?  All right, can't milk her without her being in the head lock.  Get out of stall and hit the switch again.  All right, the switch is lowered and Betsy is in her head lock.  Go back to open stall again.  No, here came Betsy and her head.  This went on for about 5 minutes.  I had to stop and think (sweat dripping down my brow at this time aka James Herriot, one of my favorites).  I had to stop and pray and think about what I knew.  Suddenly it dawned on me that I was not getting the switch in the right position.  Once that was fixed, voila, Betsy was stuck and I proceeded to step 2.  Mucking.  I was in my comfort zone there.  That was accomplished quickly.  Next, the cardboard was placed under Betsy's body to protect from sawdust while milking (it don't taste too good).  Feeding cows came next (also way in my comfort zone).  Then hooking up the milking machine.  I will tell you that it took me at least 10 minutes to figure out how to keep the machine from falling off.  More sweat and praying.  I finally breathed and stood up and inspected the whole set up.  Again, stick to what you know, I thought.  And again, after more praying, I got to fix the suction (VERY IMPORTANT).  From then on the milk flowed beautifully (with the sawdust).  After I was done, the unhooking produced more sweat and praying.  You really need 4 hands for that!  I finally got everything in order and I was done!  Lastly, poor out the milk because it has too much saw dust and cry as I bid it good bye.

Good girl, Betsy.

Day 2:  Get up at a more relaxed pace and grab a flash light to shine my way (yups I was prepared).  Start the screeching car and again apologize to the neighbors as I drive down the street.  Car warmed up enough to stop screeching at Sandy's driveway.  This time I figured out the lights (yeahhh) and didn't have to stumble in the darkness.  Got all the stuff in the house done and proceed to barn (not as dark as the day before).  Greet the cows cheerfully and proceed professionally to lock Betsy in her head lock.  Hehe, I do have a master's degree, so I can learn.  It may take me a while but eventually the little gray cells start working.  Mucking accomplished and onto the milking.  Take a deep breath and pray (a lot).  Betsy is ready and waiting patiently.  I had it all set and only dropped the sucker thingies say not at all!!! Oh yeahhh, I was doing the milk dance.  Ask me sometimes and I will show you (NOT).  Milking done and sucker thingies removed without dropping, again.  Two for two, I was doing great.  The rest was easy.

Voila, milk, and not out of the carton!

So you get the idea.  By Friday, I was a true professional.  The only thing was that every day, I was getting less and less milk.  I was convinced I was getting something wrong.  I
found out today, that the calf was getting more and more milk during the day!  Silly calf.  Doesn't she know that milk is ours?  Really, I ask you.  The nerve.  I have decided after that week, that no, I will not get a cow, unless I really have to.  The getting up at 5 was all right, but I was always sleeping by 9 at night.  I tell you, who does that?  By 9 the day is just beginning.  So out of regard to my beauty sleep I just can't get myself to do that to myself.  The family is very happy.  They really didn't want cows.  But the milk is a real treat.  However, if given the opportunity, I would so do it again without a blink of an eye.  There is something satisfying hearing the milk getting sucked into the milking can.

Parent and child

Young eagle

So, enough of farming, milking and other such silly shenanigans (Logan and I just read that word and I thought I would use it here, since we all know that I like to use what I have learned at school).  I don't think I have shared with you the wonderful time we spent with Doug, Tom's youngest brother, and his family.  Of course we were very silly, which is always expected.  But we also had the opportunity to see some of God's most impressive birds of prey up close and personal.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we saw the eagles and their offsprings.  And I don't mean the singing group Eagles.  It was pretty amazing because they were sitting in the tree right above us and talking with the young one in the nest back and forth.  That alone was just a dream come true for me.  I love those big birds and I have always wanted to see them in the wild.  What was even better was that the "kids" got to hang out and be silly.  They had a good time and so did the adults, I think. 

Dining area

Wood shed

So that brings me to the house.  There are a lot of exciting things happening.  Tom passed his CDL (commercial drivers license) permit.  We are at this point waiting for the bus company to get back to him.  So prayers will be appreciated.  We moved our dining room into the dining room.  That was really great because we now have the kitchen stuff in the kitchen and the dining stuff where it belongs.  Tom has been diligently chopping and stacking wood.  We have a good amount of wood done but there is more to be done in that department.  We are ahead of the ball, though.  Last year we didn't know how much wood we needed and so we just kind of "wong it".  This year we want to have 8 cords (that's a lot).  We are well on our way. 

And now I have something really cool to share.  Sean and I were in CT (again) this weekend.  He had his wisdom teeth removed and the thought of coming back to a house without running water really didn't appeal to him at all.  I don't know why.  So I was his driver, and glad for it too.  We stayed with my friend Sharon and her family.  They live right near the dentist.  So Sharon and I were watching a DVD.  And I learned something that blew my mind.  Now, mind you my dear friends, I love biology.  It is a nice science, a science which makes sense.  I studied it as undergrad and enjoyed it.  So I learned something new.  I want to share it with you (of course).  I have often wondered why, as humans, we are so drawn to the divine.  I mean, really.  We search for God in nature, in things, in work, in other people.  What has us searching?  Very simple.  There is a protein in our body, which is basically responsible for holding the body together.  It is the glue of our cells, a protein network foundation for most cells and organs.  Yes, yes so?  Stay with me here.  What blows me away is the shape of it.  You see, God, in His wisdom knew you from before you were born.  It states that.  It also states in Colossians 1:17 that He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.  Yeah, you say, that is in some old book.  Who can believe everything the bible states.  The stories are nice but, they don't really have anything to do with me.  Wait a moment.  I haven't come to the kicker yet.  Here is a picture of laminin.

I don't know if you are as excited as I am about this.  The protein that holds our body together is in the shape of a cross!!!  Let that thought sink in a little bit.  You are welcome to google it yourself.  Check it out your self.  Please.  This is not some hokus pokus.  This is biology.  God has wired Himself into our body because He wanted us to know that only He has redeemed us in the form of the cross, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the blood of the savior. How absolutely amazing is this?  I get goose bumps just thinking about this.  So when you go about your day, know that God is with you.  Literally!  He is watching and He is knitting your broken heart together, if you will let Him.  He is healing your pain, your past, your future, if you let Him.

God had a plan from the beginning

I'm sorry, that is Natasha watching you.  No, it is not like that.  She has not had a face transplant, don't worry.   This is God watching you from out of space.  It is called the Whirlpool Galaxy.  How about that?

 I hope I have given you food for thought.  It has certainly been amazing for me to follow this science.  If you are interested I have added part of the video.  Please take some time to check it out.  The guy is pretty funny.  

Have a Godly day, because He has ordered our days from the beginning of time, Amen.