Streaks of Sunshine

Yesterday was a beautiful day, full of hard work and spring fever. By dusk, when my ears were ringing from all the laughter of our evening volleyball game, I knew that the sun had peeked out from behind the clouds of mourning over the deaths of our sweet, little animal friends. The chores and excitement of spring may have helped it to blow over quickly, but regardless, all is back to normal, and very, very good.

In Loving Memory...

This post is in loving memory of two long eared friends that went to bunny heaven yesterday. If I'm going to share about this lifestyle, I figure I need to be honest and share both the smiles and the tears. Yesterday, we had tears.

These pictures are from the day before they died, and they were both in perfect health.

Their passings were both sudden and quite unexpected. Our only thought is that they must have gotten into something when they were out. Like thorns in roses, sometimes I wonder if this lifestyle is just as much extra difficult as it is extra happy.

Their presence around the barnyard will be very much missed! :'-(

Kung Fu Sheep Proof

In response to Marys previous post, this is Stephen with evidence of our Kung Fu trained sheep!

Kung Fu Sheep

In the course of our sheep shearing this past week, I've come to a grievous realization... Somehow, our sheep have been secretly undertaking Kung Fu lessons...

This is serious, and this is bad--oh very bad indeed! I can only imagine what their instructor must be, sneaking into their pen after dark, his black belt dragging behind him. I can imagine he's a ruthless brute, judging by the moves the sheep have been learning from him. Whatever he's been teaching them, I'd say his wooly students are all doing quite well in their studies! Wish I could learn a couple things from him--purely for self defense, mind you!

A couple mornings ago, Michael and I were trying to catch a certain sheep in an attempt to strip her of her wooly jacket to use for our own evil devises. She, catching on to this dastardly ploy of ours, was doing quite well keeping us away from her prized coat. Finally, after many unsuccessful attempts, several spills in the manure and lots of minutes passed, Michael finally got her pinned down on the tarp, which had been situated in the center of their pen to aid us in carrying out our devious deed. I came up behind Michael and caught her around her wooly neck to draw her back up on her butt, as the instructions had said. Unfortunately, my instructions never mentioned anything about Kung Fu sheep... The move that this pinned-down sheep used was positively fantastic! I don't know how she did it, or even what she did, but I'm sure her instructor was quite proud! The next thing I knew, Mike and I were thrown down chest first, side by side and groping for air, into the manure. Micheal's once immobilizing hold suddenly changed into a one legged grip which was quickly relinquished after she placed a spin, flip and kick blow directly into his nose. Ah yes, I'm sure her instructor was beaming over that one as well...

Please, If anyone has any phone numbers for sheep shearers that double as Kung Fu artists, let me know...

 

Look Who Dropped By the Farm!

We had a visitor to our farm the other morning. Johnny was down the hallway preparing the chicken's breakfast, as is his normal morning chore, when he suddenly started sputtering off a bunch of excited gibberish. We deciphered that we were to look outside in the big tree across the road. There we glimpsed this majestic creature:

 

Minutes later, Stephen came running in with his morning pail of milk, still frothy from the speed with which he'd finished extracting it, and, without pause, he jumped out of his boots and ran for his camera. Thanks to his rush, we got some cool up-close pictures. Look at his eye!

 Just a minute after Stephen got back outside, our visitor must have recognized the impact his presence was having on the otherwise quiet homestead so he lifted his wings and leapt from his perch, impressing us all with a quick downward swoop before taking his leave.

 

His speckling is probably because he's not full grown, but still, look at that wing span!

 

Later, we looked him up confirming that he was a young eagle. With her nose buried in our very worn American Wildlife book, Annie muttered, "Hey Dad, did you know that a full grown eagle is taller than Donna in height? That's huge!" Before he could respond, Donna, coming down the stairs, piped up, "Na uh! Donna is nice!"

:)

A Pony Tale

Written and Photographed by Stephen Lund.

Once upon a time there was a young pony. He loved to run and play in the snow.

But none of the other horses wanted to play with him. This made him sad.

 He tried to play with the mares.

But they just kicked him.

Then he tried to play with the ponies.

But they flattened him with a judo kick.

So finally the pony goes to Mom and says "Mommy nobody wants to play with me!"

and Mom says, "Don't worry, I will play with you."

And she did!

The End.

Wow, I'm good! I should write baby stories for a living ;).

Some Recent Creations...

Just popping on to share some recent crafts. The recipients received them already, so it's safe to share now:

The girls and I made this baby quilt for my cowgirl friend and new husband as they await the arrival of their first blessing. 

It was so much fun to hang out and stitch something so little and cute with a beautiful purpose already in mind for it!

We enjoyed watching The Man from Snowy River on our laptop while stitching. At one point Dad stuck his head in the bedroom and commented that we looked like a regular old fashioned quilting bee.. except of course, for the movie playing, to which Annie piped up with a cute little whine and said, "yea, but Dad, back then they had real cowboys to look at!" HaHa!

(Yea, I don't know what the deal was with Theresa that evening...)

Speaking of Theresa, she's been honing up her sketching skills, trying to work up the courage to offer her talent for sale.

In her practice, she sketched the newlywed couple. It turned out so lovely, we decided to frame it and send it along with the quilt. Andrew made the frame and Theresa wood burned their names (whited out) and the roses in the corner.

Pretty huh? :) 

(BTW, I listed Stephen's rings for sale last night. Check em out!)

Winner! Winner! Winner!

We have a WINNER!!

Congratulations to:

Wendy Semyck!!


A great big thank you to everyone who participated and helped us gain some exposure! That was so much fun--we're going to have to do this again soon! (Extra special thanks to this stand in chicken for being excited for us!)

And now...
For Ze fantastic'a, ze amazing'a, ze.... Ugh, who can think with that blasted chicken dance music blaring?! Ah, well, this is an occasion to party! Kick up your elbows and join that chicken folks! We are introducing the long awaited, two-year-in-the-making, finally finished and available on youtube for all to enjoy, IT'S: 

 

YEEHAAA!!!

 Click here to watch!

Remember to please rate, comment, share and enjoy! :)

It's A Baby's Life...

I think I may have mentioned it before, but I love the way we live. And even more so, since witnessing the way the environment has treated my youngest sibling through her first two years of life.

Donna was kissed seconds after her appearance into this world and hasn't ever stopped being kissed since.

 

 Donna was born into a secure loving environment, where there were always arms eager to hold her, tend her needs and make her feel safe and loved. 

  As soon as Donna was big enough, she was looking for ways to display her own little acts of love and affection. Lots of friendly, furry creatures outside provided her opportunities to do so.

Learning to appreciate and enjoy the animal's company, as well as treat them kindly and respectfully did a good deal to form her person from a very young age.

 

Living on a farm has lots of other perks, she's learned, such as a bite of fresh sun-kissed sweetness every time a big sibling takes her for a stroll in the garden.

She quickly discovered that her baby giggles spread like wildfire in her big family and that discovery led to a very happy baby!

 Despite the hard work that comes with farm living, there's always a bigger hand available to hold her little one.

When discovering new things about her world, there is always someone over her shoulder to explain, guide and protect.

Mealtime couldn't be any fresher, milked out of an udder just that morning, and little other compares in delicious nourishment.

 Donna has a homemade hat for every month of the year, as well as hand stitched coordinated outfits and several pairs of little hand knit, homespun socks to warm her toes!

 Being able to pick out your own afternoon snack is a perk that only comes with farm living!

 Learning about new life and watching babies grow is a gift that our princess absolutely adores!

 Learning where her food comes from, watching her family work to grow it and her pitiful but adorable attempts to help and then harvesting her snack herself, are all priceless gifts that I wish were available to every baby.

 Homemade gifts crafted with great considerateness and laced with much love are joys that I've already seen the fruits of!

Crafty older siblings that she can lean against the knees of and watch creations being born in front of her eyes are everyday occurrences that she may take for granted... unless of course she gets a "yes" to the "ah for Donna?" question.

Learning new things with the help of an older sibling is something she's enjoyed multiple times a day since the day she was born.

Bedtime stories, where each character has their own voice and the little animal sounds are strikingly realistic, are a treat so often bestowed that they are hardly a treat anymore. 

 Visits to the animal pens are way better than any petting zoo!

 She gets a ride whenever she's cute enough... (often!)

My assessment: the baby and the farm livin' jive. Wouldn't you agree?

Since Donna was born and we all noticed the increase of love being passed around in our family, we deeply wished that every baby could have the security and love that our princess has. Since then, it has been our prayer that the amount of love poured on our baby would be multiplied and spread on to every baby that is suffering from any kind of neglect. I wish every baby could have the kind of family and environment that our princess has!

In the course of writing this post, Donna enjoyed a leisurely warm bath, she 'danced' with two of her siblings, snuggled with her sister, was taken outside by an older sibling, tripped down a few steps and had the whole family rush to her aid with Mom comforting away the boo boo with some nursing and snuggling, and as I finish up this post, I see that she is sitting on Annie's lap enjoying the company, conversation and laughter of her siblings.

We love our princess!

[Final call for the giveaway! This is your last chance to enter!]