Wordless Wednesday - Signs of Grass

 

 

 

More snow…

 

Regardless of the cold and snow, Bella loves to get outside and run in the morning when Eric goes out early to do the chores.  This mat outside our back porch door is her favorite resting spot during the day…she can see all the kids and everything that goes on in the house.  Spring will eventually come, Bella, and then they’ll come out to play!

Pics from our yard after the weekend blizzard and additional snow today.  Crazy weather.  Means I won’t have to water much in the Spring, right?

Just Suzie…

I am not sure when I will find time to blog consistently again!  I seem to lament about this a lot – not so much online, but in my own head.  I see I am not alone in this lament!  However, REAL life keeps me in the present and away from a keyboard.  Or, maybe it’s the fact that one more little soul in the house leaves less time for idle pursuits.  Yes, in many ways, for me this is an idle pursuit.  I didn’t set out to make waves or gain ‘friends’, or become followed by many.  While I am pleased, blessed and fortunate to have made friends because of this electronic pursuit (and make them ‘in-real-life’ friends), that just wasn’t my goal.  I DID, however, want to record my family life!  So, I suppose my priorities have changed, or in the very least, I’ve adjusted them.  And, that is good.  Besides, posts bulging with pictures are just my speed right now and they will do.
For now, blog posts are caught up to real life.    What better thing to do during a BLIZZARD.  The kids enjoyed playing their electronic gadgets; we ate leftovers when hungry; Eric was the only one to venture outside into the blowing snow after we came home from church this morning; Angelina gave Marcus a bath by himself – he enjoyed it immensely; Eric read to the kids and maybe we’ll be able to watch a movie…cuz we sure won’t be going anywhere tomorrow!  Thank goodness the electricity hasn’t even flickered.
The lower third of the state was covered in red closed roads?  Yes, we won’t be going very far out of the farmyard.
This Blizzard has been in the forecast and predicted and talked about for the last two to three days.  We were in the 8-10 or 10-12 inch range.  Most of us hoped that the weather people would be wrong or that it was a late April Fool’s Day joke.  It’s not joke and the weather forecasters weren’t wrong on this one!  I’m sure we’ve had at least 8 inches, but it isn’t done snowing.  The snow is heavy, wet and sticky.  Drifts are deep.  Clearing it will be a chore, but my husband just said, “However, it probably means we can get the snowmobiles out again.”  Yes, I see snowmobiling being in the plan for tomorrow.
Do we take a snow day from school??  I’m not as sure on that…the kids may drive me crazy if they don’t have something to do for at least part of the day.  I’d sure enjoy it though!
Good night, friends!

Chicks!

 

The coldest April I can remember in recent years, and this is the year I choose to have chicks shipped in April!  The first shipment arrived on Wednesday, April 10.  Fifteen chicks…7 Easter Eggers (green/blue eggs) and 8 Buff Laced Polish (lay small/med brown eggs).  They are as cute a the dickens!

In the above photo, the chick at the bottom is this huge fluff ball.  He/she is bigger than any of the other chicks…maybe it’s a day older or maybe it’s just the feathers.  Whatever the case, it’s darn cute.  The chick in the lower photo is a Polish chick.  They have this cute tuft of feathers on the top of their head…and they will as adults, too.

 

The second shipment of chicks arrived on Friday, April 12.  This shipment included 20 chicks total…10 California White Legorns, which will lay white eggs; 10 Welsummer (brown eggs) and 5 Speckled Sussex (brown eggs).  All the breeds are cold weather hardy and all except the Polish are Good to Excellent egg layers, meaning they’ll lay 250-300 eggs per year.

The chicks were a little scared and all crammed into the corner when I opened the shipping box.  Thankfully all arrived healthy and have remained healthy in these first few days.  I was worried about them this year because of the cool temps and because such a large number died during shipment last year.

We are keeping the chicks in the garage in a water tank.  We have to cover the tank when the garage doors are opened, but the house garage is warmer than any other building right now. 

Please let the May be warm.  We’d planned to move these chicks to move to the Wahoo in May because the broiler chicks will need the water tank when they first arrive!  The broilers ship the first week in May – that’s only three weeks.  Can all this snow be gone in three weeks??  I may be making a cardboard pen in the outside garage for the ‘laying’ chicks.  Argghhhh!  ND weather is crazy.

February 10-16, 2013

This is the FIRST day we’ve had the snowmobile’s out.  And believe me, this is cutting it close for snow.  They’ll have to be careful not to go out in the fields or the tracks could be ruined.  But, the guys are all excited to get some sledding done!

Marcus is 6 months old in these photos taken on February 12.  The time has gone incredibly fast.  However, he is such a fun, happy little guy.  He’s lighter than the other kids have been at this age…easier on Mom, for sure.

 

Dash is on the sled closest to us, and Mr. W, my nephew who is here for a visit, is on the other sled with Eric.  He was thrilled to get a ride, too.

Sorry for the window reflection…I really didn’t want to go outside!  Zeke is in the sled with Louis and Graham is standing with our dog, Bella, behind the sled.  It’s so nice to be able to get the boys outside to run off some of the energy.

 

And still, we do not have much snow.  You can still see the stubble in the field.

This is absolutely my favorite picture from this bunch!  Marcus is hilarious.

And, the elusive teen who is hard to catch on camera.

February 1-9, 2013

Ok, so the meal is uncooked in the top photo, but the end result was excellent.  Both these dishes are the result of a Wildtree Freezer Workshop that I took part in via Skype.  The end result was at least 10 freezer meals for everyone.  I ended up with a few more because I doubled some of the recipes.  The top is a Rosemary Herbed Pork Tenderloin Roast and the bottom is a Steak Fajita filler.  With a million and one things on the calendar, I was grateful that my friend allowed me to take part in this way.

And a couple pics of the yard from the early part of February.  Believe it or not, this is the most snow we’d had all winter, and it’s not as much as my family would’ve liked.

Frosted trees are so beautiful.  I really enjoy winter and the beauty of it…even when it’s snowing and blowing.  It doesn’t bother me when I’m at home looking out my kitchen window!

I also want to note that Angelina, Zeke and Dash all competed in 4-H and FFA Crop Judging at Little I in Fargo on the 8th.  They had fun and did well.

My mom came to stay with us on the 3rd.  I had surgery on the 4th, so she came to help with the kids for the week.  I needed to leave Marcus home, so I felt most confident leaving her with him.  I was unable to nurse him for 48 hrs and he refused to take a bottle – no big surprise there.  The other option was a medicine dropper, so that is how he ate.  He doesn’t eat much during the day anyway, so this actually worked out ok.  He still didn’t like it, but at least he was getting something.  The surgery went well.

January 2013

 

These two pics are noteworthy chiefly because I didn’t take many pics in January!  So, these meant something.

This first is a last minute 4-H demonstration that I used to replace my original glass etching idea because I’d forgotten ‘I’ volunteered to do it.  But these Rustic Apple Tarts turned out amazing and very tasty!  I’m actually thinking one of the kids could use it for a genuine 4-H exhibit if we amend the filling (cannot exhibit baked products that need refrigeration).

And this particularly cold day…why was I going anywhere?  Probably because I’d lined up multiple appointments and to reschedule would have been impossibly difficult.  Believe it or not, I actually saw it dip to –19.  Just a crazy winter.

Christmas 2012

 

Dash, middle, with his Lahlum cousins.  They get together at least once each year and always have a good time goofing off together.

Zeke, Angelina & Graham at G&G Green Acres’ home for Christmas.  Graham below, waiting for Grandpa Green Acres to read Wilbur’s Christmas Gift by Rodney R. Nelson.  It’s one of my favorite’s by a ND author.

Tante Lori with Marcus.  We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma & Grandpa Green Acres’ home.  Audrey always makes an amazing meal.  Afterwards we listened to Grandpa read and then opened gifts.

 

Christmas morning, we went to church and came home to open our own gifts.

This was Marcus’s favorite…Sophie giraffe.

Angelina (above) & Greg (below).

Zeke (above) and Marcus below.

Louis had a fun time opening his gifts.  He received an NDSU football outfit from Grandma & Grandpa Golden Acres.

All the youngest Miller grandsons received the NDSU football ‘pack’.  They were all thrilled!

Louis made gifts for everyone this year.  His sister is so good at doing crafts with him throughout the year.

Zeke is pretty impressed with his donut maker!

Dash helped Marcus open his ‘big’ gift.

The kids have ALL been playing with Playmobil the last couple months.  There are a lot of little pieces, so not sure I’ll leave it out once Marcus is mobile.  But, it’s been a great toy for our kids.

Merry Christmas!

Marcus’s First Christmas.

P.S.  I should note that I’m writing this up in APRIL during a BLIZZARD.  It doesn’t really seem odd to be talking about Christmas because it’s snowing to beat the band outside and this storm will most likely dump more snow than we’ve seen from any other storm this past winter.  We are in the 10”-12” snow-band.  What a crazy ‘Spring’!!