One down, one to go.  Girls in bed that is.  Bethany, or Thing 2 as we affectionately call her, came with a built in luxery feature we had no idea kids came with until she entered our lives, it's very simply referred to as sleep.  Apparently with Grace, aka Thing 1, and our 2007 model, this technology had not yet been descovered and so she, and consequently, we, missed out.  So in "5 more minutes" as I just warned her I will start the dawnting task of reading, singing, praying, massaging and as a last stitch effort, ignoring her to sleep. She has improved greatly in the last year, she will now actually stay in her bed in opposed to comming out of her room with every word, floor creak, owl hoot, or clock tick she heard, and then when she knew I meant business she would stand with just her nose sticking out of the darkness in her room, and watch me.  Her eyes boring into me until she'd see me twich, and then it would receed into the blackness of her cave er umm room.  It's not that she is particularly bad persay, just that she simply doesn't require sleep, she is the Energizer Bunny, she just won't stop, therefore she must be lured and snared into dreamland.

GRACE'S FASHION STATEMENT OF THE DAY

So, Grace is now in bed, she went quietly enough, that is once I infiltrated my bedroom where she was watching cartoons, and apparently had spent the evening Boobi-trapping.  It was quite clever in hindsight, crafty and foolproof, at least when you are a fool.  It was camoflaged by way of her innocent rocking horse "Mollasses" being parked at my door with her cute little pink Cowgirl Lasso around his neck.  As I quietly mused to myself about how much fun she has had with the thing, I failed to recognize that the end of the lasso was passed under the bedroom door, and because I hadn't noticed this, it also failed to occur to me that it was likely attached somewhere within.  As I opened  the door it caused the lasso to tighten around Mollasses' neck which in turn made the lasso taught and alerted Grace to the invasion, which prompted her to slam my closet door to which the other end of the lasso was attached thus causing the loop which had somehow wrapped itself around my foot to tighten.  All brilliantly executed except for one mistake, she forgot who she was dealing with, and while, yes, she did trip me up for a second, I actually did notice the loop and narrowly sidestepped it.  It was only after she begged me and then convinced me by promising she'd go to bed, if "I just slipped my foot in to see if it would work" that her little plan was completed.  So as I, Grace, and our puppy Max sat in her little toddlers bed (one that SHE almost doesn't fit in anymore and we need to replace) and read Morris The Moose her day and thus my Mommy Duty came to a stand still.  Well at least until someone needs a drink or to go pee.

I would never want to wish time away, there is precious little of it as there is, but today started with the foggy realization that there had been no definate boundary between last night and this morning.  Everyone in our little house is sick....except for me and I will maintain this story as long as it takes for my body to believe it.  Not sick in the down and out, lay around and do nothing all day sense of the word (Thank-You Lord:-) but more in the needy, whiny, wiping noses on sleeves sort of way.  So between Grace getting up a couple of times and Bethany, who has been a bit fevered with it all, getting up a couple of times, the night was well interupted.  Then Jamie who has been quite tough about it all, (I am sure that it is a miserable dose, no doubt) and has managed to stick to the Kleenex instead of his shirt sleeves, has been distracted by nursing sick calves off and on all night in the barn.  We raise beef cattle here on our little Misty Marsh Farms, our herd consists of roughly 60 stock cows and their calves, we've also been finishing our own calves since the BSE crisis, which increases our numbers that much more.  This time of year is always tough for our calves, we have what seems to be constant issues with Calf Scours and it is exaserbated this year by the up and down nature of our wheather.  We have tried some of the known "sure fire home remedies" suggested to us, with less then desirable results for us and the calves.  After consulting with our local vet and recieving advice, meds and electrolytes, Jamie has been following his direction and nursing one calf in particular for the past 4 nights.  Apparently it is not the illness in itself that will get them but the dehydration as result of the scours. So he has been working round the clock to keep this calf well hydrated.  Somewhere in the wee hours of the morning, he and what smelled like a few of our cows, crawled under the covers and let me know that the calf he'd been running in and out to didn't make it.  We are always bumbed out when something like this happens, but it is part of the profession and as Jamie always says, "as long as it stays in the barn we're fine".

JAMIE FIXING OUR GRAIN MILL



THE NEXT BIG PROJECT



 We are trying a new-to-us method of feeding the cattle this winter, it's known as Bale Grazing and instead of putting out a couple of bales in feeders at a time, Jamie puts out a half dozen or so spread out across the field.  This allows our cattle to move around and enjoy being outdoors in opposed to locked up inside for alot of the winter, and it also produces great compost for the pastures this Spring.  Below is a pic of Grace and Jamie out doing the feeding today, it is Jamie's job to drive our Case tractor and strip the bales for the cattle, and it is Grace's job to sit on the heater in the cab and keep him company, her most prized responsibility as she calls it though is keeping the steering wheel nice and straight for him while he is cutting the wrap off the bales.

GRACE AND JAMIE FEEDING THE GIRLS

SUPPER TIME

Our day was fairly average today, the typical runnings of a house with two young girls and a small puppy.  Bethany and Max are convinced they are Litter Mates so much of the day is spent removing her toys from his mouth, his toys from her mouth, and often him from her mouth and her from his.  On the upside, we've saved a bundle during this Cold Season as Max has been serving as Bethany's personal Kleenex.

GRACE AND I GOT TO GO SEE OUR HORSES TODAY:-)

SHARING GUMMY CANDY WITH HICCUP

GRACE TAKING HICCUP TO THE PASTURE

KICKING UP THEIR HEELS

LITTERMATES



POOPED OUT BY THE WOODSTOVE

We kept supper simple tonight with 60% W/W Tuna and Pickle Open faced sandwiches and Homemade Kettle Chips, added a side of raw veggies and called it yummy!

RECIPE:

For those of you who know me you can appreciate how difficult it is for me to break down a meal into a recipe, I seldom use one and if I try to, I always stray from it and wind up creating some sort of science experiment.

TUNA MELTS

4 whole wheat buns (I use 60% because I have to force the whole wheat thing on myself:-)

2 cans light chunked Tuna

3-4 TBSP Miracle Whip or Light Mayo

Sweet Pickles to top them off

Shredded Cheddar

HOMEMADE CEASAR DRESSING

1 cup Mayo ( I substitute with plain yogurt or sometimes 1/2 and 1/2)

2 tsp white sugar

2-3 cloves garlic

1/3 cup fresh grated parmasean cheese

Lots of Black Pepper (or to taste)

Pinch Salt

dash of white vinegar

A bit of Olive Oil to thin it out

This is awsome in a salad or as a Veggie Dip