You Don't See That Every Day

It's been a few weeks since I updated this space. Harvest has begun. Actually, we're nearing the end in both the garden and the orchard.  We started harvesting our hazelnuts mid-September. One of my brothers-in-law came out from Montana to help us, and I am so grateful that he was here. With his help, the operations ran a lot more smoothly.  We started the season with some stress ... our sweeper (which is used for the first step, sweeping the nuts into a row) was at the mechanics, the sunny days were running out, and we didn't know when we would have it back. We got the sweeper back, with its repairs complete, and off we went.  Because it had been so dry, the dust was flying as the Mr. ran the sweeper across the orchard. And then it was time for the rest of us to get to work. I drove the tractor that pulled the picker; one of our offspring would follow behind making sure everything was running smoothly. My brother-in-law loaded boxes onto our trailer and took it to the pr...

I can hardly believe it, but we are nearly done with pruning the one variety of trees in the new orchard. So, we planted 6000 trees last winter, half of them Wepster variety, the other half MacDonald variety. We started pruning the MacDonalds 2 weeks ago and we are nearly finished. We have about 150 left to do, which will be about 2 hours of work. We are pruning them to shape them for the future. At this point we want all the energy to go into growing the tree, not extra branches. The Wepster variety... well we might not prune them this year. Some growers do not prune the first couple of years even. The trees we have of this variety are kind of small and spindly, so we don't want to make too many cuts to them at this point. If that's the case, all we have left to do is finish the suckering in the old orchard and clean up the trimmings. Then replant the 300+ trees that died from last year. Perhaps when that is done, I can talk the Mr. into taking the kids on a little play time t...

 We did it! We finished pruning the older orchard last week!! There may or may not have been a small dance party when the last tree was clipped. It was a great relief to us to get that done mid-January. But that doesn't mean we get to go on vacation quite yet.  On Saturday we started pruning the new orchard. 6000 trees. Since we planted them just a year ago, they are pretty small and pruning goes a lot quicker. There's more to the shaping of these baby trees. We planted two different varieties in the orchard and we're starting with one variety first. This variety is a bit stronger and healthier looking; which means it's easier to teach anyone how to prune the way the Boss wants. We had 2 of my brothers out helping us (3 kids, me, and the boss) on Saturday and we just flew through the pruning. There's something mentally helpful when you have others volunteer to help you do a tedious job.  It also helped that my brother and sister-in-law sent us a box of these hand/to...

Two months ago we moved into this new home of ours. Someone asked me yesterday if we are settled in. not really sure what she meant, I said yes and no. Most of the boxes are unpacked. But not all of them. We know where to find most items, but we're still asking "Where is ..." questions. We've fallen into somewhat of a routine, but we're still trying to figure certain ways of doing certain chores. With 2 kids gone, the chore list has changed. With only 1 in homeschool, the chore list doesn't always get done each day. Now that the Christmas break is almost over, we'll be reassessing which kids are in which rooms - since the college kids won't be back for a little while. So, there will still be more change, more figuring it out, more searching for that elusive item that I sure hope we didn't get rid of when we move-purged. But it is starting to feel like home. Even though I still marvel at the view every single morning, I am beginning to ...

This year (2019) has brought many changes to our family. It's funny how traditions are made and cherished and... protected. For many many many years we have gone to a certain tree farm to cut our Christmas tree. We would bundle up the kids, make sure the baby of that year was snuggly warm, make sure I had a camera! and head out. There were the farm dogs there which the kids loved to pet especially those years we didn't have our own pups. There was hot chocolate and cookies to look forward to in the warm barn after we found just the right tree. But then the kids got bigger and busier and we didn't always go as a complete family. I remember one year the Mr was sick and the Boy took on the cutting and carrying duties. This year was very different from all others. My older kids were still away at college; the two middle kids had a load of homework to tackle, my husband was fixing the plumbing (bc a working kitchen sink is pretty important) .... So the youngest child and I...

The beds were full. The dishwasher was very full The shower ran at odd hours The laundry basket is full. The dinner table was full. The house echoed with laughter. All my kids were home. My heart is full. A very happy day of Thanks.

Hello old friend,  I came across this post I forgot to publish way back in July. I decided to go ahead and publish it now and then come back and update ... How have you been? I've been gone awhile. Sorry about that. I think this spring and summer have been the busiest, most stressful time of my life. Ever. So many things have fallen off my To-Do lists and down into the cracks of the abyss, you being one of them. Not because of anything you have done. No, it's all me this time. My mind has been traveling too fast, for too long. over too many roads. Our daughter graduated from high school this past June. We've been through the process once before, so you would think I would be prepared for it. And I was! I had the announcements ordered in time, and her grad party planned out ahead of time. Of course, I put it on a weekend when a lot of people were not in town - Memorial Weekend. Not a smart move there, but we got it done. It still amazes me how much is involved in gradu...

Spring is coming! I know its only January but I can see the daylight growing earlier and longer each day, offering hope of time outside not shivering. Our holiday break is over and we are back to the routine. Which is a good thing! The first day back to school was a lot easier for us than the second. We were up and going on time, with the only fussiness when it came time to do math. One child has a little problem with wanting to DO math. She's very good at it, and when she is in the right attitude, she can fly through it. The second day ... well, at 9am and I was just starting to eat breakfast, instead of starting school. And now that we are in week 2, well, I'm dreaming again about break time But about our break .. We packed it in this time. It felt like it to me even if the kids might not agree. The week before Christmas we took off from homeschool, although the older kids still had class at away-school. Choir concerts, singing at the Capitol, dentist and ortho appo...

Sometimes something amazing happens once in a great while. Like Halley's Comet. I still remember my 7th grade teacher's excitement over this flying ball of gaseous rocks. The work in progress This past weekend I had amazing idea come to life. That is something that rarely happens. So, it wasn't quite as ethereal as Halley's Comet, or any comet really. But it was cool enough for the Mr and I to look at each other and go, Oh yeah. I'm glad we made this happen.  Back in November I began to anticipate the Christmas break. Two weeks to sleep in a little, and not run around so much. I know my kids like the break from school, but not necessarily the break from friends. As my mind was whirling with to-do lists, I came across a Facebook post from a relative who has a tradition of decorating graham cracker "gingerbread" houses each Thanksgiving break. A lightbulb began to glow in my mind. Why not get my kids and their friends together to do this?!...

Way back in the middle of summer, The Girl Who Swims, and Runs, mentioned she would not be running on the cross country team this year. Admittedly I was a little sad. I enjoy running, and I enjoy seeing my kids compete in sports. After a short talk together, basically "think about it some more, and "how are you going to stay in shape fro swim?" and "it is your last chance ever" she changed her mind and joined the team once again. This last week was the end of it. Her last high school cross country meet. And it was a fun one. She stayed in the top group most of the way and finished up in 9th place. Which meant she did not qualify for moving up to the State level. I wasn't sure how I would find her at the finish line. With some tears in our eyes, we hugged and she said "I don't have to run anymore!" So now on to her favorite sport: swimming. ((This girl has been a water baby since she was born. Never wanting to get out of the tub, always drawn ...

Change is the ones constant in our lives. This week has been full of change, like most people's across our area I would suppose. On Monday we sent our Boy off to another country -- with some wonderful friends, so that helps. And we got him a Return ticket. On Wednesday the two older girls returned to school, one as a sophomore and one as a senior. I'm still trying to figure out how she got to be so grown up. And for the last two days we've only had two girls at home. The older girls' school has an all high school retreat to start the year, so they've not been home at all. It has been quiet around here. On a happy note, I was able to go to bed early and get plenty of sleep one night. What is it with teenagers not wanting to go to bed at night?! A bit more change -- I've been wanting to update the younger girls' room for awhile, hoping it will help stop the cluttered look. So the three of us went shopping for new lamps, new bedding, and new p...

Summer is almost over. We've had lots of family time this summer, as I might have mentioned in previous posts. August slipped past us quickly. We started the month with another family picnic, this time on my Dad's side of the family. He is one of two of his family left. We ate, we visited, we played games. This year the games were not the traditional races or feats of strength (3-legged race is brutal). We did some "Minute to Win It" like games instead. Besides the wind blowing the red plastic cups off the tables, it was a fun time. And there were water balloons to throw at my brother in the end. Somehow he got a hold of a few and soaked our dad with them. I'll be surprised to see if he's still in the Will. Little K has her ballet camp again this year. She wasn't so sure she wanted to go back on the second day because her muscles hurt. But she made it through the week and really enjoyed it! We get to see the results when she puts on Shows at ...