Two Front Teeth

Merk got his two front teeth!!

They are SO cute!!!

 

Goat Shame

Partners in Crime

 

More Snow

We got more snow and then we got 40 degree weather so now it's all melting. Either way it's beautiful.

Brody doesn't seem to mind the snow. He is sopping wet from standing out in a blizzard and then laying in the snow sunning himself.

All the does are pregnant! This will be Paisley's and Bonnie's first babies and Lizzy's fourth. Chloe didn't want her picture taken. She is sterile because she was one of a quadruplets with three brothers. They say that the boys steal her hormones and make her sterile. Something like that.

Goat eyes are very odd. I love that ours all have blue eyes.

Bonnie is pretty low on the pecking order of the herd. So she is always watching to see if we are going to give her special treatment. She always gets extra hay, or cookies, or corn. She knows that she is our favorite. She is imprinted on people because she was the last one out of quads so we automatically bottle fed her and I think the other goats know that.

This is my special spot between the trees in the back that I now have to share with the pony. I'm bummed that I lost my space but I still go back there and just listen to the silence, watch the animals, freeze my toes off.....

Jasper army crawled in the snow to get closer as he was watching me feed the animals out back. You can see his trail.

Brody is a curious guy. I can always count on him sniffing my hair, lipping my zipper, biting my boot....

 

February Excitement

Victoria introduced Merk to 4H and Agility. He loved it....well actually he loved the treats.

It's not everyone who gets their van stuck right in the own front yard. What you can't see is the tire on the other side buried in the gravel/mud. Kirk and I had an appointment to get to so I had to just leave it there. Kirk pulled me out with the truck and a piece of rope of all things. It just needed the slightest pressure to keep from rolling back into the hole.

 

Snowshoeing Temple Fork

This was our first family outing since Victoria's head injury in Dec 2019!!

Why? WHy would it take that long for us to enjoy a family outing snowshoeing. Victoria has not been able to do much for physical activity due to the Dysautonomia and the Chiari Malformation that she has been diagnosed with. It really puts a damper on life when she can't function. It is sad and frustrating. The worse part is the barometric pressure changes and since the storm had come through and was gone, we ventured out with her heart monitor and electrolytes.

This was MerkTavitch's first time out snowshoeing. He loved, loved, loved it!

Funny thing. Jared is a no nonsense kind of guy. He carried his snowshoes and would rather post hole then wear them. He cracks me up. It was deep in quite a few areas. The snowshoes keep you from sliding all over the place. But he doesn't slide anywhere. He just plows through. The size 13 shoes is what the difference is. I'm sure of it.

She made it a total of 5 miles. She didn't want to sit down because she was afraid that if she sat, she would be dizzy and extreme fatigue when she got up. But we convinced her to drink lots, take her salt, and were there for when she stood up. It is very debilitating to have Dysautonomia.

Daphne found herself the perfect little spot nestled in the dried grass, soaking up the warmth from the sun.

Victoria and I started back before the others. She was glad that she came. I am sure it isn't going to go very well when we get home due to the fatigue that goes along with after any activity. I am determined to find a solution of what will help. There has to be something that will help even though it is said there is no cure. 

This is proof that I was there.

Jasper does this when he thinks that we aren't paying attention to him. 

Jasper loves being off leash.

Kirk was fighting a migraine headache. He was about to wipe snow across his forehead. I suggested for him to just stick his face in the snow. I turned around to witness him doing just that!

 

Height Comparison

Nana is now the shortest person in our family. Up against Jared who is 25 now, she only comes up to his shoulder.

Poppa and Jared are standing up as straight as they can to see who is taller. It looks pretty even to me.

Nana checking her height against Kaleb. 

Kaleb has to stretch super far to reach Poppa's height. Ever since Kaleb was a baby, we noticed that he has many Thomas traits. He is a mini Poppa all the way down to the OCD. 

Daphne had no idea what was going on but she wanted to get in on it as well. Victoria was already in the van ready to go. 

 

Escape

I can easily escape the happenings of life in our own backyard. It's pretty quiet out there, until the goats see me and then they all have to chatter at once. And I usually end up cleaning up pony poop into the wheel barrel only to have to have someone push it through the snow to be dumped into our compost pile. 

This was a rare moment and I am sure you have never seen horse poop frozen to the fence. How did it get there in the first place, you might ask. Brody is always investigating what I am up to and he caught sight  of this wad of manure stuck to the fence. He looked at it like, "what the heck is that?" I think after he sniffed it he recognized it and lost interest in it. It was kind of funny. He looked at me and kind of shrugged it off.

The boys love to escape into the Tortoise yard to play tug. Jasper does a pretty good job of keeping Merk preoccupied. He will fling the rope into Merk's face to get his attention. 

I thought this was cute, they caught sight of something in opposite directions.
 

School Dog

Victoria was on a zoom meeting in her Dog training internship. Our friend Rachael is the instructor and was once one of the 4H leaders. So Jasper knows her quite well. He heard her voice on the zoom meeting and felt that he needed to be in the meeting as well, 

At one point, Rachael caught a glimpse of Jasper's ear and started talking to him. He was super excited and was paying closer attention to the instruction she was giving Victoria. It was really cute.

Jasper was getting tired so he was trying to figure out a way to lay down on the chair. He made me think of Jared when he was little and didn't want to listen in school anymore. He would be sitting on the very edge of his chair and slip under the table. I thought maybe Jasper was going to do the same thing but he just hung his head over the edge and stayed there the entire lesson. I guess he didn't want to fully miss out.
 

Lunches

I happened to look at what the boys were packing for lunch. I know Kaleb, for being a skinny guy, eats quite a bit. He has a high metabolism so he is constantly eating. And don't make him miss lunch or you will never hear the end of it...literally. Jared, who is just as skinny as Kaleb, doesn't eat a whole lot during the day. He was planning on getting a couple tacos today so he didn't pack a sandwich. Kaleb's is the bottom box and full with carrots, cheese and crackers, pepperoni, a huge turkey sandwich, two granola bars, nuts, water, hand sanitizer, a first aid bag, an apple and a clementine. Jared's box had tortilla chip crumbs, an apple and a bag of nuts. Jared jokes around saying that Kaleb is feeding his tape worm. It is my goal every night to avoid a mutiny when they walk in the door. They help buy food so I always make sure there is a full meal for dinner. Sometimes, I just want to skimp and say, lets eat cereal but then I wouldn't want the drama of the consequence of that decision. 

 

MerkTavitch

This little guy is the cutest puppy EVER!!

He is super soft on his feet and super springy.

The cutest thing he does is when you set him in your lap he will stay put. And then whine about it even though you aren't holding him place. He whines like you are holding him in your lap but you aren't. It is the funniest thing. And then he loves to cuddle and will tuck his nose up on your shoulder.

Kaleb is teaching him to pray and already taught him to shake paws with him.

We all love him dearly.

 

Kitties

Lightning and Thunder wanted their own beds so I had to get two baskets and put their sleeping bags in them on the bench in the laundry room under the jackets. They love the little cove it makes and are much happier now that they don't have to share a bed. Spoiled little kitties.
 

Restoration Project

Just after Christmas, Kirk and the boys tore part of the top bedroom closet out that looked like an afterthought at the time the house was being built in 1906. It hung into the stairway and blocked lighting so that it was dark and dangerous at times. They also tore out the arches in the doorway into the living room with the plan to add a transom and finish it out with molding.

Our house is in constant demolition and repair. We discovered that there is an enormous space behind the closet. So we removed, We, meaning the men of the house, not me. I am the clean up and cook crew. So we removed the back wall which will end up being a walk in closet. It will be really nice,

Unfortunately, tearing out part of the entry way and the closet, opened up the can of worms that we were expecting. We had to rewire the dining room and the kitchen because the wiring was still the dangerous stuff that was wrapped in cloth. That wiring keeps me up at night if I start thinking about it. Now I don't have to worry. We spent almost 3 hours trying to figure out which breaker went where and which one we were going to attach to where.

It required Jared to shimmy up the hole in the kitchen. The good part is that he pulled insulation into the space as well and insulated our bedroom walls. I do have to say that our room is a little warmer now that two of the outside walls are better insulated.

This picture looks a little washed out but really it is the fact that Jared is that dirty of dust. We have spent weeks with dust everywhere. We clean constantly. I am so tired of the constant dirt and the constant cleaning. Sigh.....I know it will be worth it when it is all done.

In the middle of tools and parts of one room into the other, Jasper finds a little space to chill.

Jared and Kaleb built a ledge for them to stand on that extends out over the stairs. It freaks me out to see them trusting what they are standing on. Here they have a board in one end of the ladder and then on this piece of wood supporting the other end. Out of this project, we now have a light in our coat closet and a can light over our door. The new closet upstairs will have a light, a barn door for a closet door, and, I'm really excited about this one, we will have lighting in the stair way for the first time ever with a light switch at the top of the stairs and at the bottom. How cool is that!? 
 

Chip Heart

Kaleb found a heart in the chip bag.

I can always count on him to find me hearts in his day.