Friday 28 February 2014

On the Last Week of February....

On the last week of February......

I wore a toque...inside the house.

I worked on income tax.

I saw a little mouse run across the road.

I bottle fed a calf....several times.

I made homemade sweet and salty kettle corn on the stove.  WHY did I not realize how easy it is to make this sooner?  It is out-of-this-world amazing.  I will never buy popcorn in a bag again.

I entered Sophie's bedroom without typing in the 'passcode'....and I got in trouble.  BIG trouble.


Jack and I tried to unthaw the hand pump with 4 jugs of hot water.  On a normal winter day it will unthaw with one or two jugs but because it's the last week of February it wouldn't unthaw....not even after 4 jugs.  So I lugged the water from the house for the sheep and hens....and I could hear Mother Nature laughing at me....because it's the last week of February.

 



I took Sophie and Lydia grocery shopping and I told them that they could get one treat.  They agreed on a box of Creamsicles.  When we came out of the store it was dark and cold and the snow was blowing and the wind was howling and they were both wanting a Creamsicle.  My fingers were froze and I was opening Creamsicles in the parking lot and handing them to them....and they were happily eating them because it's the last week of February and we are now so cold that we don't even know that we are cold anymore.

Brenda

Monday 24 February 2014

Sweet Sixteen

Johanna turned 16 today.

Sixteen.

I looked through some old photos this morning.

Bad idea.

Very very bad idea.

Old photos make me cry.


Where has the time gone?

Then I got the mail and there was a letter.

A letter from my doctor...our family doctor.

He is retiring. 

I was shocked.

He was the first guy that Johanna ever laid eyes on.

When she was born.

And today is her birthday.

She grew up.

And he retired.

All in the same day.


Brenda

Sunday 23 February 2014

Very Spook Eee.

Terry asked us if we had seen the new calf out in the barn.

I told him that no, I hadn't been out with the girls yesterday.

He said that he was sort of scary looking.....it has marks around its eyes.

Sophie suggested that we name him 'Spook'.

He told her that that was a great idea.

And then he said that actually a better idea would be if we used 'Spook' as his middle name.

I said, "Huuuhhh?"

And Sophie said, "Huuuhhh?"

And then he explained that we should call him....Very....Spook...Eee.

Very Spook Eee.

A calf with 3 names.

I went out to the barn to find him...




Sophie said, "He's Very Spook Eee."....when she looked at the pictures.

Brenda

Saturday 22 February 2014

A Memory

This random childhood memory popped into my head the other day and I thought I would record it here.

It was a dark, winter, school-night evening and head lights came in the laneway.

So so exciting!  Someone was here....we rarely had a visitor....and my older brother and sister and I were desperate to find out who was out there.

My Dad went outside and my Mom told us to stop looking out the kitchen window.  There was no way we would be able to see outside because the light in the house was too bright and it was too dark outside.....and who ever was out there could see us 'staring'.

She said to go into the bathroom and shut the door behind us....but don't turn on the light....just look out the window and you will be able to see who it is.

We raced.

My older brother and sister were tall enough to see out the window but I needed to step up onto the toilet to see out.  I was probably 6 years old.

We were in the black dark and I thought the toilet seat was down.

But it wasn't.

I stepped right into the cold water of the toilet bowl.

And then we laughed.

Howled.

Hysterically.

I think that's why I remember this so clearly.

I think it was the first time that I laughed so hard that I cried.

Of course my mother didn't know what was going on in the bathroom...but she could hear us.

She told us to settle down because the person outside would think we were crazy.

I found out after that it was just Milton Watson in the yard.  He had come over to show my Dad something that he had caught in his trap that day.

Brenda



Thursday 20 February 2014

They Don't Read It.

I was asked on the weekend if my kids read this blog.

Are they excited about the nomination and the possibility of it winning an award?

uuummmm. NO.

They don't know about the nomination.

They don't read it.

Oh wait a minute.  Jack needed to look something up last week....and he used the blog.

He wanted to know when we put the new horned dorset ram in with the ewes.

I couldn't remember. 

I remembered that it had snowed.  A lot.  And they sent me to pick him up.

And then I remembered that I blogged about it.....here.

So he looked it up.  All he wanted was the date.

He was trying to figure out when those ewes are going to lamb.

My blog is a resource for dates of when things happen here.

For keeping track of ewes that are in lamb.

That's what it's about.

Brenda

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Family Day Monday

After running the roads all weekend....and eating cake....and seeing family that I sometimes only see once a year....'Family Day Monday' arrived and I had to catch up on housework. 

Then Terry suggested that we have a little bonfire in the afternoon and have our own little 'Family Day'.

The sun was warm.


The fire was hot....too hot for Sophie's eyes....



The hotdogs were yummy.



The marshmallows were sticky....


and sometimes burnt...


but this one was perfect.


I love hangin' out with these guys.


Feeling so blessed.

Brenda

Monday 17 February 2014

Family Day Weekend

We have been celebrating the Family Day weekend.

With family.  and music.  and cake.

It all started on Friday evening with the 4-H Square Dance Achievement night.  Last year I was able to take lots of photos....that post is here.



But this year I was a dancer.  A boy dancer.


I swung until I was dizzy....very dizzy....and I made lots of mistakes.  I asked Terry to take some photos of the kids but I think he was too busy laughing....I could hear him laughing....as I danced.

Oh well.  It was fun.

Then I decorated cakes. 

 




And we went to parties.


Skating and ice fishing on Calabogie Lake with the Andrews'.

and cake eating.


Then to my Uncle L.J.'s 60th Birthday Party at the Douglas Hotel.


He already has 8 grandchildren!


The music was so good and I was too busy visiting to take photos.....but we ate more cake...

Brenda

Thursday 13 February 2014

It sucked.

New calves are coming everyday now.

It's all we talk about.

We use short sentences and it's like we are speaking a language only we can understand.

It's like this....

It sucked.

The feet are there.

Did it suck?

Did you put her in?

Do you think it sucked?

Did you put her out?

I don't think it sucked.

She needs to be put in.

She lickin' it off.

It's fine...it sucked.

Put her out.

Put her in.

The water broke.

There's another one.  It's fine.  It's good.

It sucked.

Brenda

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Ruby's Pillow

Ruby loves to sleep in the afternoon sun on the step.

Yesterday, when I looked out the window, I saw this....


wait a minute.....I think she found herself a pillow.


She doesn't always get along with this cat...but today she was loving this cat like this cat had never been loved before.

But the cat was not feeling the love....and it wiggled it's way out....and it had a brand new hairdo.


Ruby woke up and then put her head back down to rest again but it just wasn't the same without the pillow.


Brenda

An Award

Can you do me a favour?

Go to the Canadian Bloggers Award website....you can find it here....and vote for Dwyer's Farmhouse.  We are in the 'Best Family Blog' category.

I'm up against bloggers that blog for a living. 

They make money doing this.

I don't.

I just blog to tell our farm story....and if I manage to teach someone something about farming then that's a bonus.

I'm up against bloggers that give away stuff.

They have big prizes and contests.

I don't.

Sorry....but the only flashy things in this house are the belt buckles that my kids wear to 4-H.

I'm up against bloggers that have thousands of followers.

I don't.

And seriously....I don't really want people following me. 

I live on a dead end road.....that gets drifted with snow....things could get really complicated if I had  thousands of followers.

ha ha.  so funny.

Anyways....can you show me a little love and vote?

That would be sweet.

Brenda

Monday 10 February 2014

On the Front Cover

I sent this photo in to the Ontario Farmer newspaper a couple of weeks ago.


I figured that they would print it on the inside of the front page where all the readers photos are printed.....in the 'farm-seen' section.

But they didn't.

Instead they put it on the front cover of the newspaper.


Lydia instantly became a celebrity.

We attended out local 'Frosty Fun' winter carnival this past weekend and everyone was asking for her autograph.

She took it in stride....and just smiled.

My sweet girl.

Brenda

Friday 7 February 2014

Setting the Alarm Clock

I've been setting the alarm clock when I go to bed every night.....luckily we have an alarm clock with 2 alarms on it.  So I set it....

For 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.

Because I love sleepless nights and I miss getting up with babies.

Not really.

We have several first calf heifers ready to calve and they need to be watched.  It doesn't take long for a heifer to become in distress and need help calving....and it only takes seconds for that new born calf to 'not make it' because the mother didn't know enough to lick off it's face.

So I've been setting the two alarms....and Terry has been going out to the barn.

The BEEP BEEP BEEP at 1 a.m. is a very rude awakening.

It makes you bolt upright in bed. 

It makes you hit the alarm so hard that it may never work again.

But it does. 

Alarm clocks are hardy.

The other night when that 1 a.m. alarm went off, I not only shut off the 1 a.m. alarm but I shut off the 5 a.m. alarm.

I was still half asleep but I was in distress. 

HOW was I going to get the 5 a.m. alarm turned back on?  

It was black dark....and I'm blind without my glasses.

I begged him to not turn on the light....it would be blinding.
 
I would become doubly blind with no glasses and the bright light.

But I didn't know if alarm #1 or alarm #2 was for 1 a.m.

And I didn't know if alarm #1 or alarm #2 was for 5 a.m.

But I needed to get the 5 a.m. alarm set again.

I was ready to cry....I was just a hopeless, sleepy mess.

But then he said, "Just turn both of the alarms back on."

Genius.

He went to the barn....and I went back to sleep....for a few more hours.

This has gone on for the entire week.

And the heifers have started calving.

But...of course....they calve during the day.

Brenda

Thursday 6 February 2014

Stained Glass Hearts

I pulled out the felt hearts that we made last year and put them up on the weekend. 

But we needed to make a new 'heart' craft.....for St. Valentine's Day.

Because we're crafty....and that's what we do.

I bought 2 big sheets of Bristol board...one pink and one red.

Then I cut out hearts different sizes...and then I cut out the middles....so they were frames.

I cut up some tissue paper into small squares.


Then I gave Lydia a piece of parchment paper and some watered down glue.


She glued the tissue squares onto the paper.


We let it dry.

Then I glued the Bristol board hearts onto the paper and cut the excess off.

They became stained glass hearts.


We hung them in the window.

Brenda

Wednesday 5 February 2014

The Crush

Sophie was so excited when she got off the bus the other day.

She announced, "Jimmy has a crush on me!"

I acted dumb.

I said, "WHAT.  He's going to CRUSH you?  That's bad news."

She said, "Ummm.  No Mom."

She shook her head and walked away.

Jack wanted all the details....and she talked up a storm with him.

Then Terry arrived home from work.  She met him as soon as he walked in the door.

"Jimmy has a crush on me!"

Terry said, "Oh.  Really.  Is he going to sit on you?"

I couldn't believe it.....he had the same reaction as me.

She looked at him and then she looked at me.

She groaned.

I think she thought she had the stupidest parents in the world.

She rolled her eyes and then said, "I THINK it means that he's IN LOVE with ME."

I just smiled at her.

And then she said, "He told me that he wants to marry me."

And she has been talking about weddings and marriage and having babies ever since.

Ugggg.

Brenda

The name of the boy has been changed to protect his identity.....because it's a small town....and this is the internet....

Tuesday 4 February 2014

A February Day

February is here!

The sun is warm and the snow is deep.

The days are getting longer.

The new calves are doing well.


The hens love to peck at the snow on my boots.


The air is fresh....perfect for long walks.



And fun in the snow.


Jack changed the wheels to skis on the wagon.






Lydia blew some bubbles.

 
Brenda