Where Have I been.....

Oh my friends, life is great isnt it! The farm, garden, children, yard, house and cats have taken over - send help...... *insert cricket sounds*

In complete honesty, my life is just always a race. People tend to think that living in the country is 'all that' - truth be told it really is BUT I think its also the buisiest place to live. Now I know some will argue that its serene - it is... and I love it. So here is what I have been doing - on Wednesday Lispy turned 4. I made his cake and tried my hand at decorating it 'nicely' - what? you think your going to see pictures of it? BWWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH - ya right... We bought him a heavy duty trike and he loves it beyond belief! He rode is so much that he came in the house and ASKED to take a nap *insert heavenly choir sounds here* can you believe that!! He also woke up in the middle of the night with leg cramps from riding it all day. I spent the night either rubbing his legs or having my titty exposed for Milk Dud - or doing both at the same time - seriously I did..... Yesterday, I made pear butter, tomato juice and today I am going to tackle apple butter/apple juice. It's also my birthday today - I am celebrating the 7th anniversary of my 29th birthday.... for those of you who are math challenged like myself, I am 36. This is where I faint - let me get to the couch..... ****thud***

ANYWAY!! I had a couple of people ask me what we do with Hopes kittens. On the farm we need to have a few around. We usually keep about 10 because they dont all live to be old, thats reality. However, we do have an old female that is 13 and in good health. We have allowed Hope to be bred because we needed some 'new blood' in the barn. We have 3 farms, 3 barns and other sheds to keep mouse free so that takes cats - more than just a couple. When the females come into heat and we dont want anymore kittens at that time, we lock them in our feed room and feed them, water them and love on em during their confinement. The kittens that Hope just had, will be weaned and she will be feeling better soon. These kittens are going to be take to the farm with our beef cattle on it. I must explain why some dont live to be old. Vehicles, stray toms and cattle will be the cause's of death. We had a 'ma cat' that was hunting in the hayfield, we did not know she was there. When your sitting on a tractor, running a noisy haybine - you cant see an animal crouched in the long hay. She ended up having her back legs severed at the 'knee'. Even though she had been hurt by the haybind - my father in law was driving - we didnt know it until she came to the barn, drug herself, and was trying to feed her kittens. They were only a few days old. Needless to say, the vet came out and took a look at her. He said that she could not be saved, she had no chance and neither did her babies. I know that sounds cruel and in human, but she was put down lovingly - she was cared for. I could not feed her babies for her, so the were also put down. Its my hope that you guys dont feel that we are cruel or uncaring, because that is not the truth. We care very much for our animals because they have a purpose and a function - because they are Gods creatures and he has left it up to us to care for them. We have had a couple of the females fixed as they have gotten older, but when a cat is fixed - its seems - they loose the desire to hunt. We 'fix' our toms ourselves by putting a castrating ring on his 'marbles'. Its a type of rubber band that slowly diminishs the blood suply to his 'marbles' and they dry up and fall off.....I think I just heard the one guy who reads my blog pass out.... ANYWAY ... I hope that kind of clears up the cat thingy. It makes me happy to know that people like Miss Nancy, will take EXCELLENT care and give TONS of love to her animals. Those kitties are lucky and spoiled!!

SO - now I have been tagged by my 'Sista from Anotha Motha' - Mrs. Mom....

1. What were you doing 10 years ago...
I had a 2 month old baby - Milk Dud and Big Son are only 10 days aprt from being 10 years to the day apart. So I was working full time, had a baby and was milking morning and night. We had just moved into our home from my inlaws upstairs.....

2. 5 things on my to do list for the day...
1. Enjoy my birthday...
2. Clean up the mudroom..
3. Try not to beat the children into submision.....
4. Make sure that I give my boys enough love, after I beat them into submision...
5. Finish my pear butter, tomato juice, help Milk Man with feeding some new calves, take the boys to the library and tie them up there...... wait, they told me I couldnt do that anymore...

3.What is your favorite snack...

Baby toes...

4. If I were a millionaire..

The first thing I would do is give my church enough to put into a savings/cd and to be able to operate on just the interest every month. Then the donations could go toward our missionarys. Then I would take a few thousand - say 50-100,000 and give it to a family that drills wells in Africa for villiges that have no running water. It costs' $1000 per well so that would take care of a few. I cant imagine haveing a baby in a dirt shack and no clean water to wash my child or myself in after giving birth..... Then I would build homes for my family and put $$ away for retirement.

5. Places I have lived...

I have lived in 2 places in my life - they are within 30 miles of each other... any questions!

6. Tag 5 people to do this...

Train Wreck
The farmers wife
Goat girl
Fresh Fixins
The Coffee Man

I am going to post later today, hopefully about Lispy's birthday - I have video and yes he is dressed!!!