Count Your Blessings Monday!! (on Tuesday)

Here is an opportunity for all of us to give thanks unto the Lord for a blessing in our lives. If you would like to take part great. If not that is OK too. If you would like to share your blessing, just leave it in the comments. If you want to use the picture above and list a blessing on your own site, then leave a URL to your site in the comments. There is no pressure here. I just know that I am incredibly blessed and I would like to share that and give thanks to Him who all blessing come from. This is a way that we can encourage one another. I know that I am often encouraged when someone shares a blessing with me. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!!

Yes, I am a day late again this week. There has been a lot going on here and I don't seem to get on here to write. I am grateful though. I am truly blessed. I am blessed with a husband that loves me and is always there for me. I am blessed with a great son and precious daughter-in-love who live close by. I am blessed with other extended family near and friends that care.

Another blessing this past week was Michael and Joshua spent a long time on Saturday putting up a fence around the garden!!! That was a BIG WISH of mine. The chickens were destroying the herb bed and other things we tried to plant. One of the raised beds is in four sections. They totally wiped out one of those sections that had been planted with spearmint and turned it into the dust bath spa. I would walk back there and see up to five chickens all wallowing in what used to be a bed full of spearmint. Starting on Sunday, I would watch a long line of chickens walk up and down the fence looking for a way in. They would stand just outside their dusting spa and just look. I am sure they were all commiserating with each other that their spa was closed down. :)

What are YOU thankful for?

Count Your Blessings Monday!! (on Tuesday)

Here is an opportunity for all of us to give thanks unto the Lord for a blessing in our lives. If you would like to take part great. If not that is OK too. If you would like to share your blessing, just leave it in the comments. If you want to use the picture above and list a blessing on your own site, then leave a URL to your site in the comments. There is no pressure here. I just know that I am incredibly blessed and I would like to share that and give thanks to Him who all blessing come from. This is a way that we can encourage one another. I know that I am often encouraged when someone shares a blessing with me. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!!

Yes, I am a day late again. There is a lot going on here. Today, I am thankful for a God who can be approached, a God who loves me and a God who answers prayer. A young family in our fellowship had 2 children in ICU for pneumonia and RSV. One was 5 years old and the other was 5 weeks old. They are already home and doing well. I have so many things on my prayer list right now, that it would be easy to become bogged down. Instead I choose to remember that He IS a God who hears and answers. My Dad has been having some problems and his wife is going to have a heart cath tomorrow to see what has been happening in her heart. I have a friend who is battling cancer and she if fighting for all she is worth to be able to raise her boys and be there for her husband. I have friends with chronic illness, and other friends with sick children. I will continue to lift them up in prayer, believing that God hears me and answers.

What are YOU thankful for?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

My camera is really doing some weird things. I took some pictures yesterday of our friends enjoying the sunshine with us. Then later when I went out to take pictures of some dogwood blossoms and other things. When I came in, the only pictures that downloaded were the ones of our friends, all except the last 2 pictures I had taken of the other Moms who were there. When I went to download pictures today, 2 pictures I took after everyone left yesterday showed up. They were the only 2 that came out from my second round of taking pictures yesterday. The weird part is this... The 2 pictures I took later on, are on the camera FOLLOWED by the 2 pictures of the other Mom's I took earlier. So, those pictures finally showed up, but their number sequence is AFTER the pictures I took later in the day. This is weird. I love taking pictures and I hate to see my camera not working. Anyway, here are some pictures I got off of it.

The lilacs are from our yard. The sunflowers and the orange flowers were brought to me by my wonderful husband on Friday. They were for Mother's Day!!

Here is a close up of the orange flowers. They almost looked like a thistle.

This is the basket on my old bike I have parked in my flower bed. :)

I read a great idea (I forgot where) that I wanted to try. You plant your seeds in a half of an egg shell. Then when it is time to put them in the garden, you just put the whole egg shell down in the dirt. The article said that you won't get the trauma to the plant that is often caused by replanting. I have some already coming up. If you remember in this post I said that I was planting a lot of broccoli and cauliflower because we are eating a lot. The ones coming up are broccoli and cauliflower. :)

We are so grateful for this week and for the sunshine we have enjoyed. Michael took time today to get the garden tilled. We need to put up a fence before we plant though as the chickens are trying to claim the garden as their own.

What is happening in your neck of the woods with gardening? Are you harvesting anything yet?

The Asparagus is Here!!

My camera is really acting up lately. I took a bunch of pictures and when I went to download them, only 2 were there. So, there are no pictures for this post.

The asparagus is coming in really well. We have been eating it quite often and we have shared quite a bit with others. Today, I put up 5 quarts in our freezer for this winter. This is an old established asparagus bed. It was already here when we moved into this house. We have lived her for about 9 years.

Asparagus is an easy plant to deal with or at least for us. You have to go out and pick them at least every 2 days or there are some too big to pick. You just go out and cut them off right above ground level. Bring them in and rinse them to get any dirt off. A good way to keep them a couple of days is to stand the spears upright in a jar of water in your fridge.

There are many good ways to cook them. You can steam them and put butter on them. We recently grilled some and brushed some garlic dipping oil on them. These were tender, juice and delicious. You can also broil them. We have broiled them with some balsamic vinegar. YUM!! :) We are having some for supper tonight. We will put them on the grill.

You can can asparagus, but we choose to freeze it. That is also easy. I get a big pan of water boiling. While it is heating, I cut the spears into pieces that will fit in my freezer bags. I run a sink full of really cold water. I put a colander in the other sink. I have different books that tell you to sort the spears into sizes and that each size has to blanch for a certain time. I just do them all from 2.5 to 3 mins. I put a big bunch into the boiling water and set the timer. I have a stainless steel basket from a french fryer. I use that to put them in and take them out of the boiling water. After the 3 mins. I fish them out with my basket and put them in the sink of cold water. I load another basket full into the boiling water and set the timer. Right before the timer goes off, I fish the pieces out of the sink and put them in the colander. I dump the next bunch into the sink and load a basket full into the hot water. Then I quick load the drained pieces into my bags (which I mark with what it is and the date) and then fish the spears from the cold water into the colander, etc. It is like an on going dance. :) It would not hurt to let some stay in the cold water longer, or in the strainer longer. Just don't let them blanch too long. Then you pop the bags into the freezer.

I would encourage you to keep track of what foods you put up and how much of each that gets put up. This will help you plan for future years. If you run out too quickly, do more, and if you have a bunch left over you can either skip a year or do a lot less.

I did a quick search on line to see what all asparagus is good for. Here are some of the things I found.

It is high in vitamin K and Folate

Eat asparagus when you are pregnant or thinking about conceiving – because of it being high in folic acid it helps prevent birth defects such as spina bifida

Great for your heart

Helps with fertility problems

Great for your gastrointestinal tract and your colon

Helps menstrual cramps

Is considered a diuretic which means it is a good anti-inflammatory – best for arthritis, asthma rheumatism, and even water retention…PMS

Helps detoxify your body

Great for nursing mothers stimulating milk production

Has antioxidant agents

Has antifungal and antiviral qualities

Great for your kidneys – cleansing your body by stimulating urination and preventing kidney stones

Helps prevent bladder and urinary tract infections

Asparagus has anti-cancer agents – especially lung cancer

Helps fight chronic fatigue syndrome

Helps fight off high blood pressure

If you bruise easily – eat more asparagus

Great for your capillaries – eat more asparagus to avoid varicose veins

Great for your eyes preventing cataracts

If you are experiencing hair loss- eat more asparagus

Real Food For Rookies Online Class

Have you ever wanted to learn more about feeding your family real food, but feel unqualified or don't even know where to start? Kelly over at Kelly the Kitchen Kop has made a video class that will help you. You can pay for the series all at once, make payments or pay for one class at a time.

It is amazing how many things that bother us on a daily basis will disappear when we feed our body what it needs. Hop on over there and check it out. :)

Budgeting and Cows :)

We have been following Dave Ramsey's Financial plan. We are working hard at getting out of debt. We have been throwing extra money toward our debt. We are making great headway.

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you know my desire for another honey colored Jersey cow. Yes, I will tie this together with the first paragraph. :) Buttercup is at least 15 years old. We don't know exactly how old she is, but she was due with at least her second calf when we bought her. So, she had to be at least 3 at that point. She has been the best cow and gives the best milk and cream we have ever tasted. Jersey cows come in all colors, yet when I think Jersey cow, I think that honey color like Buttercup is.

We had Buttercup bred to a bull from an old line of Jerseys that did well on grass. When she had her calf it was a little honey colored heifer (girl). I named her Honey. By 4 months, she turned dark brown and so I renamed her Molasses.

I prayed one year when Buttercup was pregnant that we would get a little honey colored heifer. I got a heifer, but this is what she looked like.

Then she turned dark like this. She looks just like a Holstein. :( We named her Clover.

The next year I prayed for a honey colored heifer and I got this calf... a honey colored bull. :) He stayed honey colored too.

We have good friends who raise Jersey cows. I was telling her my tale of wanting a honey colored heifer. She told me that if this year she had an extra honey colored heifer that I could have her at a good price. We talked earlier this year, and they did indeed have one that they would be selling. They are waiting until June to make sure it is going to stay honey colored. We may take it anyway, because of some future plans we have. Anyway, back to the Dave Ramsey thing.... a cow is not really in the "budget". So, I am trying to raise money outside the budget. I have been selling books and I have someone coming to look at a set of dishes I have tomorrow. I save my blow money (which is not much though) and anything extra I can scrounge. If the dishes sell tomorrow I am over half way to my goal.

Why We Live On A Farm

Our eating plan is really working for both of us. We both feel good. I have not felt this good in over 10 years. We are both steadily losing weight and we have energy. Some people struggle to take off 10 or 20 pounds, but we both have a huge amount of weight to lose.

Many years ago I was reading my Bible one morning and came across a verse about living a simple life at home. I sat and pondered on that verse and began to daydream about what that meant. I pictures a small pastoral farm with goats and chickens. :) Neither one of us were born or raised on a farm. We were city slickers through and through. I believe that day above was the beginning of our journey to this life we now live. I shared my thoughts with Michael and we sort of laughed at that ever happening. God brought people and circumstances into our lives that helped to direct us.

We started to grind our own grains and make all of our bread and baked goods. I made our pasta. We noticed a difference in how we felt. Then I started reading about herbs. I could never see us going the herbal route. Who could remember all that stuff. Think of all the herbs you would have to buy. As we ran out of stuff, I would buy an herbal replacement if we knew of one. Within a couple of years, it was not unusual to hear our son come in and ask for an herb because of something that was bothering him. It became the norm in our house. By the way, I am not saying any of this in a bragging way or thinking we have arrived. I am simply explaining how it is a journey and how you just have to start someplace.

Then we began to research all the stuff they do to our foods. We began to add animals. You can read our whole story of our journey to farm life at "Tails From The Farm". I have not added to it in awhile, but it is an ongoing story. :)

Our farm is a true gift from God. I am grateful to be allowed the privilege of living on a farm. I have done things that I never dreamed I would do. I have been a goat, cow and sheep midwife. I have fallen into a big pile of manure because my boot got stuck. I have gotten to hold and bottle feed baby animals. I have butchered chickens, turkeys and even helped to butcher a cow. I have the enjoyment of seeing lamb races each Spring. I have milked goats and cows. I have made cheese and butter and sour cream and yogurt. I get to garden and the process that produce that God brings forth from the ground. I love to see the eyes of little ones light up to see the baby animals. The wee Wonderful Neighbor loves to see the cows and the sheep.

I don't live on the pastoral looking farm of my dreams though. I crop most of that out of my pictures. :) Our barns need painted, we need piles of junk to go to the scrap yard and to straighten up other areas. We need to put a fence around the garden. I dream of a pretty picket fence, but I think I will be settling for any kind of fence we can get up and quickly. I am still grateful though.

We are able to eat like kings and queens. We raise grass fed beef and lamb. We raise pork and try each time to incorporate more pasture. We are hoping to greatly expand that this year. We pasture raise chickens and turkeys. We have free range laying hens that are ALL OVER my yard and my porch. I have even had some knock on my door. You can read about the humor behind that in this post. We have bees again, which provide us with honey. We have planted many fruit trees and berry bushes and some grapes. There were already grapes here and an established asparagus bed. We planted strawberries last year, although the chickens have been scratching some up. We planted rhubarb and we have horseradish to go into the ground.

Yes, all of this takes a lot of work. Michael does the bulk of it and we get lots of help from the Wonderful Neighbor children. I hope to be able to do a lot more this year as I am feeling so good. I love to sit down to a meal that totally came from our farm. It is so satisfying. I know what went into my food and what did not. We have been blessed with good health despite our size. For us, it has been a choice and we feel a leading from God to march in this direction. I don't think that the way I eat means I will always be healthy. Our health is in God's hands ultimately. However, we are to be good stewards of what He has entrusted to us. I read a book that had 3 main principles that I loved. Here they are in my own words. First of all eat only what God intended for food. I always insert blue jello here.... It is not natural to eat blue jello. :) Secondly, eat it as close to the way that God created it as possible. DON'T over process. Thirdly, don't make how you eat your God. Your health is in God's hand, not yours.

There are so many diseases and an increase in so many others in just the last 10 to 20 years. Convenience food is processed food. It is packed full of junk that is not good for us. It actually can cost less to cook from scratch. It just takes more time and planning. We need to be responsible for what we eat and what we feed our families. There is a great book out that I am currently reading. I suggest you try to find it at your library or even purchase a copy. It is called The Unhealthy Truth. It explains in great detail what they have done to our food and what it is doing to us.

We would love to be able to help people change their eating. My dream is to have an on farm building that would be used for classes. Classes in cooking, bread making, cheese making, farm skills, spinning, etc.

If you have continued reading this far, I hope you hear my heart and know I am not preaching, but simply sharing.

This and That on the Farm

Skye will be one year old in June. She still acts like a baby in the evening. :) Normally, she is doing this on me, but occasionally on Michael like in this picture. We have a recliner in our office. When Michael is working on the computer or checking news, etc. I sit back there and will read. The pup started coming in there in the evening and climbing gently into my lap. She gets all sleepy eyed and often falls asleep on our lap. Then when you tell her it's bed time, she gets down and goes to her sleeping place. :) For anyone who knows me, they know this is really weird. I love dogs, but I love them to be outside and not on me. This one has stolen my heart.

Michael grilled for the first time on his, "new to him", Holland grill. He did steak and asparagus from our garden. It was SO GOOD!!!

Here is our first batch of broilers at 3.5 weeks old. They are growing really fast. They would have gone out on pasture this past weekend if it had been nice. They will go out one evening this week.

The sheep are loving it that we have Spring grass. I love to watch them. It is very peaceful.

Count Your Blessings Monday!!

Here is an opportunity for all of us to give thanks unto the Lord for a blessing in our lives. If you would like to take part great. If not that is OK too. If you would like to share your blessing, just leave it in the comments. If you want to use the picture above and list a blessing on your own site, then leave a URL to your site in the comments. There is no pressure here. I just know that I am incredibly blessed and I would like to share that and give thanks to Him who all blessing come from. This is a way that we can encourage one another. I know that I am often encouraged when someone shares a blessing with me. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!!

I am so blessed with the signs of Spring. We have had colder than normal temperatures, but it is not holding God's creation back.







What are YOU thankful for?

Are You Prepared for High Prices and Hard Times?

Many people believe that really hard times are coming. Some think it is for a short while, others think it will last awhile and still others think it is the end. The cost of fuel is rising and food prices are starting to soar. What are you doing to tighten your belt and be prepared for hard times?

Do you have a garden? Maybe this would be a good year to try your hand at gardening. If you already have a garden, then maybe you could expand yours. You can grow a lot of food in a pretty small space if you have to. You can even have pots on a patio if you are in an apartment or condo. Gardening does not have to be hard or even expensive. It all depends on what you do. Don't think of a garden full of every kind of veggie out there. I am often tempted when I see a seed display to look and see what I don't have. I then have to ask myself, do I really ever eat this, or do I eat a lot of it? With our new eating plan, we are consuming a lot of broccoli and cauliflower. We eat it both raw and cooked. I am going to put some of both in my garden plan this year. We eat a lot of green beans. They are so easy to grow and all beans are open pollinated, so you can save some as seeds for the next year. If your space for a garden is small, think vertical. We have been putting our cucumbers and beans on a trellis. I saw where someone grew cantaloupe on a trellis. It kept the worms from getting into the fruit before it was ripe. Go to the library and check out some books and get some ideas on the different types of garden styles. The square food gardens put a whole lot in a small space. There is a book written by Ruth Stout telling how to have minimal weeding in your garden by mulching heavily. One year we put down thick newspaper all around our squash plants and then put a thick layer of straw over that. It worked great and kept the weeds away. One of the wonderful benefits of that was the next year when the rest of the garden was having weeds come up (before time to plant), that patch was weed free. Get your family involved. Children can enjoy helping with planting and growing things. Make it a family affair.

Canning is not hard. It can take some time and effort, but you can eat your own wholesomely, organically grown fruits and veggies all winter. I can tomatoes whole. Then as I need sauce or paste, I cook some down. One woman I know puts a 5 gallon bucket in her freezer. She puts whole clean tomatoes down in it and deals with them in the winter when she has more time. Keep good notes on your canning and it will help you in future years. I keep an excel file that tells me how much of a fruit or veggie I started with and how much I ended up putting up. Also, think about how often you eat something. Lets say you eat your first fresh beans at the end of June. You can keep eating them from your garden all summer if you have a pole type that keeps producing or you have several different planning times with bush beans. Then along comes the Autumn, then Winter, then Spring. Lets say you eat green beans once a week and you cook a quart for your family (you will have to figure out your own family's needs). So, we have from October through June. That is 9 months and at an average of 4 weeks a month, that is 36 quarts of green beans you would need. Some people think that canning is really expensive. It doesn't have to be. Put the word out that you want canning equipment and jars. Put an ad in the paper, watch garage sales, tell your friends. You will be surprised how much you can get for cheap or even nothing.

Another thing to think about is planting trees and berries and grapes. The sooner you get them in the ground, the sooner you have a crop. We planted apple trees one year. The next year we planted plums, then pears, then peaches, then cherries. We have several kinds of grapes planted. We have strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. The birds planted the blackberries. :) We did a little something each year. This gives us fresh fruit to eat and also some to put up for the winter.

Shop in bulk on items that store well. People make comments (not always nice ones) about how much coffee we have stored. When it goes on sale and we have coupons, we might buy up to 10 cans depending on how many we have. We don't have to buy coffee that is not on sale very often. If you buy your rice or flour or beans in bulk, they are cheaper per pound.

Another thing to think about is water. If the power is out do you have a way to get water? We do not. We would love to install a pump, but that is not happening any time soon. We do have a non-electric water filter that we could even put our pond water through if it came to that. :)

What are some things you are doing to be prepared for hard times? Even if the times are just a small blip, it is nice to be prepared.

Yes... Lamb Racing. :)

The first part of this really shows the lambs racing. Then you hear the wind get really loud. The mommas all see me and come running to see if I have peanuts. That ends the racing. Don't forget to turn off the music in the side bar.

I Love a Clean Smile

This is a compensated post written by me on behalf of Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love the feeling of freshly brushed teeth.  Do you?  I like how they are all smooth feeling and your breath is fresh.  I learned a long time ago the importance of cleaning your tongue as well.  This also adds to the clean feeling. 

I was recently sent one of Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products to try.  They sent me a toothbrush.  I am very picky about my toothbrush, but I gave it a try. 

One feature I really like about it was there is a tongue scraper on the back side of the head of the toothbrush.  This means you get your tongue really clean without having to purchase another product. 

I also liked the fact that it had an angled handle.  This allowed me to brush my back teeth just as well as I can brush my front teeth. 

The price was on the toothbrush.  It is much lower than the name brand toothbrushes that I have looked at.  This is one way that Walgreens is trying to help people keep their health costs down.  There is an entire line of Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products.  They are all pharmacist recommended and have a 100% satisfaction guarantee.  You can go to their website and see what they have available.  On the medicinal products, most contain the same active ingredients as other national brands.

I would highly recommend you trying some of these products.  I was pleased with the toothbrush that I received.

Walgreens Way to Well Fund™

Count Your Blessings Monday!!

Here is an opportunity for all of us to give thanks unto the Lord for a blessing in our lives. If you would like to take part great. If not that is OK too. If you would like to share your blessing, just leave it in the comments. If you want to use the picture above and list a blessing on your own site, then leave a URL to your site in the comments. There is no pressure here. I just know that I am incredibly blessed and I would like to share that and give thanks to Him who all blessing come from. This is a way that we can encourage one another. I know that I am often encouraged when someone shares a blessing with me. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!!

Today, I am thankful that I serve a RISEN SAVIOR!!!! I have a very real and alive relationship with God. It is personal and He is there whenever or wherever I need Him. WOW!!!!! I am His child and He loves me no matter what!!

What are YOU thankful for?

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Lolloping Lambs

One more video. :) I know I get obnoxious about my lambs this time of year. The sound on this is not good. Don't forget to turn off the music in the side bar. The camera growls when it focuses and then the wind was blowing so hard, it made it hard to hear. :)

The Joys of Spring

Spring is a season of new beginnings. All of creation comes to life after a long cold winter sleep. It still surprises me a bit to look out and see green grass. I was so used to everything covered in white or brown when the snow would melt. You start to see a blush in the woods as the trees starting putting forth their buds. Even when you think it is still way too cold, you see the daffodils push through and the crocus coming up. How someone could view the world around us and not believe in a Creator is beyond me. The daffodils come up every year and they are the same. There is a rhythm and timing and someone is orchestrating this beautiful unfolding. I can go out and walk around the yard just looking for all the beautiful signs of Spring. It fills me with joy and sometimes even wonder at the beauty of it. I know I have said this before, but God could have just given us black and white, but He didn't. He chose to bless us with colors and textures and great beauty in detail. I have no proof of this, but I truly believe that when we get to heaven and see what He has there for us, all of this will be just like black and white.

Here are some scenes from around the farm. The Bradford Pear is blooming.

The lilacs are full of buds this year. It is supposed to go down to the mid 30's tonight. I hope they don't freeze and die.

The Forsythia is just full of blossoms this year. I have really enjoyed it. The Wonderful Neighbor woman came over one day last week with her youngest. I took pictures of the little Neighbor in front of the bush. They really came out cute.

You can see the branches are loaded with blooms.

I have some pretty wretched chickens though. They are getting into my herb beds and using them as a place to take dust baths and to scratch up. We are going to have to get a fence up around the garden and soon. Michael planted a rhubarb plant this past weekend. It had the cutest little red rhubarb stalks coming up. The chickens dug it up and separated the stalks from the roots. Here you can see them enjoying one of my raised beds.

Knit had her twins on Monday evening. She had 2 little ewes and they are both black. We have not chose names for them yet.

This little guy always poses for me. I have a bunch of pictures of him. His name is Vanilla, but maybe I should have named him Hambone.

I love the markings on Rambler (the white and brown one). He is kneeling down to say his prayers before he eats. :) Not really, they do this a lot when they are little.

This is Chocolate and Vanilla having a deep discussion.

This is Purl the Second and Lamb Chop. Lamb Chop is probably my favorite lamb this year. I love her markings. We may keep her and breed her to see what she throws. She has some brown on her face that is not showing up here.

Then yesterday, Rachael (the final one to lamb) had her twin lambs. She had a white ewe and a black ram. I think we are going to name them Ebony and Ivory. Here she is with the white one. We thought she only had one lamb. We went out and she was in the stall with this little girl. Earlier in the day, I had gone out to take a video (see below) and you can hear a little tiny lamb crying. Many times the moms get busy eating and they don't respond right away. He sounded so tiny and I kept watching to see who would come and help him. None did so I though maybe his mom knew he was OK, but I thought I would watch. When Michael came home he heard a little one crying and said it sounded tiny. I told him that I was pretty sure that Rachael had her babies, but had not been out to check yet. So we went out and found her with the white lamb. The white lamb was totally dry and doing really well. We were sort of surprised though that she only had one. I went out into the pasture to try and figure out what was wrong with the little one that was crying. I was not sure I could catch him, but he had laid down. I went over and scooped him up and started walking figuring the mom would come running to see where I was taking her baby. No one came. So, then I started looking around and sorting out moms and their babies. I kept coming up with an extra. Michael went into the shed to see how many were in there and we did have an extra so this little guy had to be Rachael's. I took him in and held him out to her. She started nickering in a motherly way. I sat him down and he immediately went around to nurse and she let him. We locked them in last night to let them bond. Poor little guy was so hungry. He nursed a long time.

I saw that there was some great lamb racing going on out back. I went and got my camera and turned it on to see if it was working... it was. I switched it to video to see if that was working... it was. I went out the back door and all the lambs quit running. :( I took this video though to show you some of the joy I get to watch. You can see the pup wanting to get in with the sheep. :) There is also a short gross part near the end of this little clip. As soon as I realized what was going on, I panned away. Sorry. Also, I sound like a real goober on here. :)

I had these beautiful tulip buds out behind the house. I was looking forward to seeing them bloom and bringing them in the house.

Then I went out last night to take the above video and found this...
Death of a tulip...

The pup was a little too anxious to see what the color was going to be. Sigh...