Family Time...

It's been a relatively busy couple of weeks here..

The five cows that were due to freshen within a few days of Christmas all had their calves a week or three early!  We had three heifer calves, a single bull and a set of bull twins.  It was nice to have the cows freshen early and get any potential freshening "problems" out of the way before the Christmas festivities began!

Since I've been out of commission, the kids have really stepped up to the plate.  Eric's been getting up early and feeding most mornings before school and helping every day over break, and Jenna's been feeding calves before school and helping more in the barn over break as well.  We also have a neighbor who helps, but we're trying to give him some time off before the kids head back to school.  We couldn't do it without them!

Here are a few pictures of our family Christmas at my parent's house.  It might be family photo overload, but we had fun with a photo booth that my sister set up in my parents' basement.

This is a picture of me, my sisters and my Mom. I don't think she looks like she's 81, does she?  (bottom right)

A silly one...

...and then the girl cousins took a turn...

...and the boys, minus one...

Here they all are, outside after lunch.  The weather was so nice...we actually had sunshine!

And just for fun, we had them line up from tallest to shortest.  The second oldest nephew is "only" 6' 5.5", and the youngest is only 11 years old, so it will be interesting to see how this line might change in the next few years.  I doubt anyone else will become the tallest, but the order of the others might change a bit...

On Saturday night we all went to my oldest nephew's new house to have a hot dog roast and watch football.  The impromptu back rub line could have gone on for a lot longer, in my opinion...

It's been good having family around.  Some have already left, but the others will be here for a few days yet.  I'm feeling a little blue since surgery...feeling really good physically, but a bit out of sorts otherwise.  I think it's probably somewhat related to the fact that I'm not allowed to do some of my regular work, and I feel a little useless.  I'm worried that since I'm feeling good, I'll get careless and re injure my back, which would be bad news.  I guess I need to work on making the house inviting and comforting for those who have to do my work!  I see the surgeon tomorrow for my two week post op visit, and I'm curious to see what he has to say.

I hope you all had a nice time with your families and friends over the holidays!

Catching Up...

Well hello!

It's been a while, but I thought today might be as good a day as any to catch up on what's been happening here.

First of all, I promised that when the new barn cleaner elevator was put in, that I'd post about it. It finally got finished on Thursday morning. However, all I have is pictures of the finished product, not the process.  I wasn't able to be out when they were working on it. It took longer than expected to put it in place because of some glitches, but it's finally complete...

It doesn't wobble or shake...there are no rusted holes for manure to leak through...and it's the cleanest now that it will ever be again!  In case you forget what the old one looked like, you can see it here...

Late this afternoon, I was piddling around the house, doing random clean-uppy things, when I happened to look out the window to see a beautiful sunset. This must be the most photographed view I have...the silhouette of our Amish neighbor's farm to the west...

Soon after, I heard the dogs barking and looked out the window again.  Our neighbor Ruth Ann came on her scooter to deliver a Christmas gift for our family.  She's always so creative.  This looks like something you would see on Pinterest, but of course that's not where she got her idea!  I like it, and I think I might have to copy it sometime.  The bottom jar contains hot cocoa mix...the middle jar contains candy canes...and the top jar contains marshmallows...

And now I'm in the warm house while the rest of the family is out doing the milking and feeding.  I ended up having surgery on my back this week to "clean up" my herniated disc.  By looking at the MRI's, the doctors seemed pretty certain that although the pain had subsided, it would return at some point and so we opted to do the surgery now, when it's not quite as busy for us, as opposed to waiting until it became an emergency in the middle of one our busier times.  It went well. Other than the expected aches and stiffness, I'm feeling pretty good, but have some restrictions on lifting, bending and twisting for awhile.

So for now, I'll work on having supper ready when they come in from the barn, and I'll listen to the Eagles game on the radio.  Right now they're trailing the Redskins by three.  Hopefully that changes!

I'm Still Here...

It's been a long time since I've posted.  I don't think I've ever taken more than a week between posts since I started blogging in 2010!

I just wanted to let you know that I'm still here...the farm is still here...and things are going pretty much like they do this time of year around here! Milking, chores, laundry...those things never end for anyone.

I finally got some greens cut yesterday, just in time for the dusting of snow overnight...

I've been in a blogging slump lately, so I think I'm going to take a little break. I'll still be around, checking out the blogs I follow, and I'll be back.  I promise!

When the new barn cleaner elevator goes up, I'll let you know.  (We had an unexpected glitch that held things up)

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas season!  I"m going to be slowing down a bit and hoping to enjoy time with family over the next few weeks!