Life on the Farm

There is so many things going on in our lives these days. Some of them are very hard and break our hearts. Some of them are just life's normal happenings. The Lord allows things into our lives to refine us. He promises us that He won't give us more than we can bear. Through it all, life goes on and there are daily things that need to be taken care of. I want to thank those of you who have sent me notes, emails or called me with encouragement. I look at each instance of that as a warm hug from God through you.

If I had to describe this morning with one word, it would be soggy. We have had lots of rain. When I went out to do my chores, I was very thankful for my muck boots. The ground is squishy and wet, with the mud coming up through the grass. It makes walking a new adventure. Grass and mud can be very slippery. The rain quit and we actually had a couple of hours of sunshine. Now the skies are overcast again and we are expecting more rain. I am thankful for the time of sunshine though. We have a mouse that must have died inside our walls. I have the windows open and the fans on, as it was not smelling too nice in here.

The cows went to the butchers. We pick up our beef this Saturday. The pigs will be going in early December. The turkeys are being butchered next week for Thanksgiving. I know if we had raised 200 turkeys, they would all be sold. I get phone calls every day from people looking for healthy, pasture raised turkeys. All of ours have been spoken for since August. After the pigs go, things will slow down a bit around here. We picked up the buck goat last weekend. We already have one of our does bred and are watching the other for signs of heat. We still need to get a ram here for the sheep, but we don't have a truck right now. We are looking at one on ebay that we will bid on. We have been looking for awhile and hope to have one soon.

The pictures above are of our dog, Star. She is the best dog on the world (as far as we are concerned any way). She is a red=tri Australian Shepherd. She is very obedient and gentle. She loves all types of babies. She lets kittens try to nurse off of her. She trembles with excitement every time we get new chicks. She just stands there and watches them run all around. If you hold one up to her, she gives it kisses. She loves baby goats and lambs. She even loves baby calves. One of her favorite things is to try and get pigeons in our big barn. We don't like having pigeons in the barn since they poop all over our hay. The dogs run in there and climb up on the hay bales and dive for the pigeons that fly by. Star has caught her fair share. She gets so excited. Then she eats the ones she catches. She thinks this is great sport. She just turned 9 in December and is still very agile and spry.