Sid is fostered for the weekend...

So now there are chicks in my bathroom. Whoever came up with Life on a farm is kinda laid back sure as hell wasn't living on my farm! The chicks are only staying until Sunday, because it was easier for me to pick them up for Andrea than for us to figure out a way for her to do it.

Today I am resting, to catch up from the exhaustion that is Sid the lamb (the equivalent of keeping up with a naked one year old human) during the week -- I'm trying to figure out where the resting comes in. In desperation to be able to sew many things (mending mostly) I've cleaned most of my sewing machine, some in places it may never have been cleaned before, and now, after Logan visits Andrea's chicks, Logan and I are going to go to town to buy new needles for it, and mail a box to Xia. Then we'll come home and I'll either start a sweater for Logan (and one for Apple Pie-Eater), or fall asleep trying, or I'll sew one of my sweaters that is currently a pull over and is destined to be a cardigan. Maybe today (Sunday) I'll get to that.

This was started Saturday. Then the rest of the day vanished. I am dealing with exhaustion detail that could be related to allergies and sleep apnea (gotta get in to the sleep study ass doctor again, in all my free time. In between that and all the usual stuff, and getting ready for Seattle, I am running out of spoons. I know, you're all saying "huh" Go read Spoon Theory Mom, this means you -- You're definitely counting spoons, though you've got more than you did this time last year. Wilma maybe you too, I don't know. John and I, yup, he's got more than me. We're running on the brink of collapse, some times gaining ground, sometimes loosing it. With luck that will get better over the summer, but we'll see. Keeping me completely out of the sun, keeping Logan's high energy occupied, and running the farm, the business and who knows what else takes its toll. I feel the way I think Dad must have being tired just standing still and not knowing why. Aside from that, despite the article's assumption of "unlimited spoons" for normal -- John and I are figuring 50 to 200 for "normal". I'm way below that. John varies day by day.

pictures

It's not much, but there are Sid pictures loaded on flicker -- follow the link that's somewhere in the sidebar I'm way to tired to dig it up and stick it in here now.

not a real update

Sorry no real update yet. I'll get to it. Instead of sleeping for four or six extra hours I'm doing everything else. Well, on the computer. The churchill house is in escrow (yay, think good thoughts!) closing May 1, woo hoo! I still intend to post lots about sid, who is being lamb sat (phew) for the weekend. And we're shearing the rest of the flock tomorrow, good for more photos and news, if I ever catch up with other stuff. Plus I have minor gruping about a teacher I occasionally interact with at school, and good things to say about many of the grades teachers office folks, business manager and probably folks whose titles I just don't know... , but I need to so with discretion, caution, and tact, if I do it at all here, in this public and family oriented forum. I'll aim for the positive stuff at least, again, if I ever catch up.

And, from the grape vine of suggestions of more things for us to add on to the list of a million and one things to do, no matter how minor they are, don't ask us to do it, come do it yourselves. There's a fine hotel four miles away. We'd even feed you and let you wash the dishes while you were here. If it was a good day we might speak to you politely too, but there are no promises on that one, at least from me.

My thanks to folks who have sent Logan things recently, she is overjoyed at any and all mail she receives, and or gets to open. I still have winter holiday cards with her school pictures to address, sign and send. Maybe I'll let Logan stamp her name in them and leave it at that, I don't know. Just the addressing, stamping and mailing is asking a lot currently. Did I mention we're a bit overwhelmed. We could use a nanny. And someone to keep Logan busy. The nanny would be for me and John!

More later in the weekend, I hope! This post was cuase I was messing with the template and didn't want you to get blog update notices without an actual update.

Sid Vicious

Yes we still have the lamb. He's going home with a family from Waldorf school for the weekend thank goodness, since our house isn't really set up for babies who need to be with someone and are smaller than the cat. I'll write about the name and the lamb both this weekend. When I'm not exhausted. The lamb sleeps through the night just fine. Logan and I have had long days beca8se of him, and doing Jacob Sheep PR in town. I would have given anything to sleep in today, and more than anything to let Logan sleep in, but she "Really really wants to" go to school. She's still asleep for the moment. Sid needed to get up. After probably 8 oz of goat colostrum last night, he had good reason to need to. Now, after a trip out side he's had another 8 oz again. I'm going to have to get John to weigh him before we leave this morning, he's going to be huge at this rate! Right now there's a cloth diaper pinned around his middle, and I'm trying to type with him ignoring the cat, who still might hunt him, unless he walks toward the cat... explore under my desk and chair, sniff or nibble on wires, and sniff the trash can. Maybe I need a hay bale or two!

For the moment, here's a pic from his first night.


Sid and Logan Rule

Neysa


In Memory of Neysa the Mini Mule
Born 197? - Died 3-13-06 (cancer)

Neysa, who was the first and main Mini Mule that I knew died yesterday of cancer, or actually euthanasia because of suffering caused by cancer. She was a small equine with a sweet and quirky personality. I just got the email from Kendall about it tonight. I'm sad. I keep my eyes out for Mules in need of good homes here. I haven't found one yet. Not having a stock trailer, or even a truck is a difficulty in getting one, but I've never let things like that slow me down much.

In other news we have a new bummer lamb, cute, hungry, ready to take on the world or at least the dog, cat and fridge. Suggested names included Spot, Ruzz and Sid Vicious. I'm liking the last one myself. He's got really good Jacob confirmation, aside from a mother with no mothering instinct, but it's possible that his mother is one of the ewes that should have been culled, which would be a bad thing. We'll wait and see. He'll be fostered out tomorrow. Pictures in a day or two. I'm not ready for lamb pictures tonight.

Part of the lawn crew, on a break

PS photos named "lamBsm" don't load when you type them as "lamPsm". Oops!

New button on sidebar

I've made up a new button for the bar to the right. The web site didn't have one that I could find. I didn't ask if I could link to them (I should have, it would have been polite, I know.) It's for The Compassionate Friends, a bereavement support group for folks who have had a child die. No, Logan is fine.

Someone I know had a child, Logan's age, die this past week of a non-malignant brain tumor. Someone else I know is close to a child, also Logan's age, who is dealing with brain cancer. So it's on my mind.

I've known of The Compassionate Friends a long time, they're reported to be good folks. I hope I never have to get to know them much closer than I do now, but I'd like the link and their information to be readily available too. And if you're looking to donate money, they're probably a good place. Their page has links to local support groups too, if you happen to be looking.

Last of the Snow Pics

Ok, final pictures from the snow, on flicker. I wonder if I need to change the link at all. I suppose I should stick them in a group with their own date, so those of us on dial up don't have to wait for everything to load.

Friday and Saturday's Pictures

Aunt Jane, yeah, I've heard New England is warm right now too. The weather is a bit odd, but, what else is new. We had freeze warnings out the wazoo last night -- looks like it got all the way down to 27. Compared to the week before's 22, 18, etc, I don't know what the fuss was about. Once again, Alan and Peg and John and I are speculating about meeting in Belleville around Thanksgiving time, with our three kids in tow, at Alan's folks house. My suggestion was for Alan to tell his mother to plan it, and then let all the rest of us know when to make reservations. Then I told Peg, who will actually make the suggestion to Jean, or will organize it her self. If it truly happens, I'll let you know. :-)

Erin, yeah, I'm hoping Logan has some really good memories. She and John are reading The Secret Garden right now, so she's been going outside to warm up her blood by running around. She's outrun the dog more than once - not by speed but endurance. I think the dog's life is getting a little sedentary. I'm torn between wishing I'd been out playing in it, and being happy to be inside in the relative quiet.

I spent a chunk of yesterday working on John's chocolate web stuff. His forum is tweaked in places. Next comes fixing typos in the main web page. And doing something to links both places so that there's more than a subtle color change to make them stand out. John can see the subtle color change, but I sure can't. I'm looking for references to back up my standpoint that his stuff needs to be readable for more folks than just those who haven't complained. My last one is from working for the newsletter when someone who was hard of seeing, or hard of reading pointed out that Times New Roman was one of the better fonts for folks to read, and that non full justified was easier. I definitely need more visual queues than a change from dark brown to darker brown text, until there's a mouse over the link. As usual, with most things, I don't expect to be listened to all that much until I have a baseball bat worth of references and data to go with my views. (Not that John's the only person who does this, some how it's become a habit, in more than one place, which I despise.)

And still, more snow pictures:

As usual, if I've figured it out right, here is the link to the farm's brand new Flicker account, and pictures I've just uploaded, or am uploading now. If this works well, I'll keep sticking pictures there, and try to put the links here when I've done it.

Today's pictures!

John and Logan are heading out for day two of playing in snow. I'm waiting for something to sink in and break up the sinus congestion that seems to be what's giving me a headache. If the decongestant doesn't help soon, steam comes next, and then vicodin, except that vicodin in Logan's cough syrup (gotta call and ask for my own prescription again, since mine was finished by John, and we all had the same variety) because while it's not a congested cough, my cough is fairly knocking me over, dozens of times an hour. And I had to take Logan's cough meds in order to sleep last night. This allergy stuff is getting old. Once I'm sensitized, everything sets me off!


PS - I think JOhn and Logan are now building an entire snow family outside, and there was a plan to make snow angels too. Wilma: yesterday John and Logan made "snow cream" -- I asked for photographic evidence, but I don't think they took any pictures.

More Snow Pictures

Later in the day yesterday


Snowing as we look toward the barn, for Xia to see.


Creation Two: Snow Sheep


Shephard and Sheep


Lawn Crew still hard at work

John just reminded me I could put the others on Flicker -- so check back in an hour for a link for more, with a link. :-)

John reports snow on the ground is 5 inches. Logan's teacher called to make sure we knew schools (not just Logan's school) in Eugene are closed for the day. John is home from work again today. We'll see if things melt enough that we dare leave the property!

More Snow Pictures

Later in the day yesterday


Snowing as we look toward the barn, for Xia to see.


Creation Two: Snow Sheep


Shephard and Sheep


Lawn Crew still hard at work

John just reminded me I could put the others on Flicker -- so check back in an hour for a link for more, with a link. :-)

John reports snow on the ground is 5 inches. Logan's teacher called to make sure we knew schools (not just Logan's school) in Eugene are closed for the day. John is home from work again today. We'll see if things melt enough that we dare leave the property!

Today's Snow

Ok, pictures for those of you in Florida, just pining away to see our snow day! And for Xia and Jasmine, who keep refusing my requests to go out and make a snow man when they have snow!


"Covering the woodpile, capping every post..."


Cosmo-dog, John, a friend, and Logan.

Weed & Feed

This one's for Wilma, who used to hurry out to weed & feed her lawn at the precipitous moment, or phase of the moon, or something else that I didn't understand. Our lawn service takes care of this for us these days.


Lawn Service, hard at work around the rose bushes and house yard.

We're actually having an unplanned home day today due to snow. John (I think) and Logan are about to go out to play in it again. Cosmo-dog loves it. Andy is a bit puzzled. John intends to spend part of the day taking pictures of chocolate for his upcoming conference in Seattle. I am organizing the pictures he already has on the computer, because I think he probably has what he needs if he could just find them. And Listening happily to my eclectic assortment of music which currently includes: Warren Zevon, Rily Kiley, Leigh Marble, The Magnetic Fields, Leonard Cohen, Holly Near, Pete Seeger, The Ramones, Matchbox 20, Woody Guthrie (and of course Arlo Guthrie), and on and on. Itunes on the computer is a wondrous thing some days.

What a Weekend!

Last week, Logan started coughing on the weekend, enough that none of us were getting any sleep, missed school Monday due to the cough, saw the pediatrician Tuesday before going to school, who said that considering she hadn't seen us (except for one fit in apt for the sinus infection we all had in January) since March, Logan may be slowly out growing her asthma, if not her response to the asthma meds. (We still won't use most asthma meds, because none of us can withstand Logan's response to them!)

So we went to school, did the usual things, with Logan extra bundled up to make sure she didn't have the cough turn in to something worse, and I concluded that she is probably allergic to the same pollen that I am, since I've got a whole lot of the same symptoms, and just have more options for medicating them at the moment. (Maple tress are one of the suspects, or Alder, depending on which tree it is I can see tassleing out from the freeway, if it's not both!)

This weekend Logan went to James' (neighbor almost) sixth birthday party at a roller skating rink. She worked very hard and got a lot of sore muscles and managed to skate a little, and walk unsupported on the carpeted areas on her skates. She fell a lot, I wouldn't be surprised if her butt was black and blue, but she kept right on wanting to keep the skates on and trying, so that was a success. I skated, one whole turn around the rink on my own --- twenty years since I last skated! But I neither fell nor broke anything. Time to go back to practicing though.

After the party, and a short nap, Logan loaded up two bags and headed out to spend her first night away from home with Nonny Susan Mopba Ty and three of their grandchildren, including Sir Logan, who we often mix up names with, and Gabby who is a couple years younger than Logan and who Logan loves to play with. All reports on that say it was a success. The girls played dress up in grass skirts. All the kids watched movies. Nonny watched half the first movie before going to bed with the beginnings of an abscess in a tooth (OW!), but Ty reported that the rest of them were up giggling and watching the movies (Homeward Bound, I think (The Dogs and the cat, and then a cartoon one) until after midnight. Then Logan was up again by 7 in the morning, but spent a lot of the morning napping on the couch, or watching the other kids play. We came to collect her before noon, and she and I both napped in the afternoon. Logan helped John work on chocolate molding first, before conking out herself.

John and I with our night home alone? Oh yeah, big excitement, we watched a video and went to sleep. Between coughing, and Logan coughing all week, we've both been exhausted. Even if John doesn't have the allergy (or perhaps isn't as sensitive as Logan and I since he's starting symptoms now), he still gets all the pleasures of the coughing and snoring from both of us.

Logan woke from her nap full of aches and pains, including both ears, and a fever. One ear infection, thanks to a week of sinus stuff. Coincidently I'd been looking up using the salt water spray they sell for helping clear noses, and ended up finding this kid oriented nose washing article. So, with no handy dandy squeeze bottle in the house, Logan tried first her salt spray, which burned, and then a needle-less syringe, and played happily at the sink trying to squirt water in to one nostril and make it come out the other one. By the time she'd had enough her ears didn't bother her so much, and she wasn't feeling as bad. We'll be doing that again through out today, in hopes of encouraging the (ahem) gunk causing the ear aches, to wash away.

Our plan for today includes staying home from school, commentary on the Snoopy Thanksgiving Video (playing now "stupid chair! "That's not nice." "He buttered the dog's ear!"), then moving on to Cats or Fiddler On The Roof, or some other older videos, some more nose washing, and maybe a warm shower or bath and a nap. Oh, and I got to cancel my chiropractor appointment again. I'm going to stop making Monday appointments! Eventually we'll make a run out for some Gatorade, and soup, since we're a bit low on sick foods, as well as whatever other fluids sound good to Logan at the moment. I'm not thrilled with how much soy milk she's drinking currently, but until the milkers kid, we're low on goat milk, unless I remember to buy from someone at school. Which would mean getting to school.