Update:

Remember my "Stupid is as Stupid...OK, I'm just plain stupid!" post??

Well, here's an update for you!
A month or two after I trimmed the bushes around my gas meter, I had received a post card in the mail from the utility company. It stated that they were going to be putting in a new meter that they can read remotely so they don't need to send out a "meter reader" anymore.

Go figure, just as I decide to be accommodating, now they won't be physically reading it any longer! And oh joy, I'm glad that that ugly meter is so visible now! ---NOT!!---

Story of my life :)

Odds and ends to catch you up!

Let's see, where to start!

Of course this is my down time. It is the time after the county fair, after breeding season, but before lambing season kicks into full swing. It is my time of year to just sit back and be "normal". I haven't posted since before Christmas- So I will catch you up a bit!

Christmas:

Christmas this year was a blur. It came and went so fast I can't believe it came at all! This year, I put up our Christmas decorations right after Halloween. I know, you think that sounds a little crazy- Well, let me explain! You see, we had Halloween decorations up and once I took down the orange and purple lights, the "boy" was sad to not have any lights to turn on. So I dug out the FAKE tree and up everything went! Then everyday all you heard was "Mommy! Turn Christmas on!" Granted, I am the type of person that yanks down the decorations the day after Christmas. This year I was a little slow. It took me till 2 days after Christmas to take them down! lol.

But, all in all, aside from all the usual hustle and bustle, Christmas was great! Of course the boy is another year older and he really got into ripping open his presents this time around. You just have to watch him to make sure he doesn't get overly excited and start ripping open everyone else's presents too!

Let's see... What else is new? We finally finished out the last 3 of our hogs for the season. They went off to the butcher shop last Monday. It will be another week before we have to pick up the packaged meat. Thank Heavens they are finally gone! What a pain to raise hogs in the winter it is! Their waterer constantly froze up, and I felt bad for them during the sub zero nights thinking they are cold. Not to mention the drain on our pocket book! The 3 pigs ate almost a $100.00 a week in feed. But,...Um... Just the thought of fresh bacon makes my mouth water! In our family, the bacon is always the first to get used up! Then the hams, and so on, and so on.

Oh! I forgot to mention, the first of this year's lambs are here! Yep! Two nice sized ram lambs were born from our seasoned ewe "Brownie". Because she only has 1 workable teat I decided to bring them in the house (again.) and feed them. For the first couple of days, two times a day, I would go outside and hand milk the ewe. What a treat that was. (Yes, that's sarcasm.) She would see me coming and would desperately try to be any where I wasn't! Once I caught her, I would tie her up to the stall wall and milk away. This was a heck of a lot of work for 1 cup of raw milk. 1 cup wasn't enough to feed 2 lambs so I would still have to make an additional cup of formula and mix the 2 together. I think my hand milking experience lasted roughly 3 days. Then I basically said "to hell with this" (I think the ewe did too!) and that was that!

Now we are just waiting for the rest of the ewes to pop. Thank heaven's all of the other "ladies" can take care of their own young. My days of being thrilled to have lambs in the house are long gone! lol. It was interesting though to see the boy instantly know what newborn lambs were. If I think about it, he was a year and a half old last time around, and hasn't seen newborn lambs since. His favorite thing to do this year is to feed the baby lambs. He will have an absolute melt down if I feed them their bottles without him. Now if only I can get him to clean up after them! lol. Maybe next year... lol!

Hum.. what other major happenings have occurred around here?

Our back porch roof collapsed. Now that was excitement! The boy was napping, and I was sitting in the kitchen surfing the net. All of a sudden I heard a loud "Crack"! I looked out my glass patio doors just in time to see the entire roof of the porch come slamming down. Snow, boards, and roof material were every where! I couldn't open my patio door because it was blocked with over 2 feet of snow. I didn't have any shoes to put on (because they were all outside on the porch!) So I ran out the front door in my sock feet to inspect the damage.

I was really concerned because our outside cats are always on that porch. They sleep stacked like cord wood on this little tiny cat bed. It is not uncommon to find at least 7 cats piled together on this little bed. As I was looking for cat casualties I noticed that one of the main porch beams came crashing down right smack on that little bed, flattening it like paper. Luckily, over time the cats started to reappear. Every one of those cats heard the crack and took off like lightening before the cave in.

I'm just grateful that nothing was damaged or hurt. And I'm grateful that it didn't take out the glass patio doors or even the window on the house! The roof collapse was two fold, yes- I loved the porch for the shade it provided, a space to house the boy's toys in the summer and a place to get out of the rain. But man did I think that porch was UGLY! I'm GLAD it fell down! At least now I can build something with more "curb appeal" (funny! It isn't anywhere NEAR the street!) and of course more structurally sound!

A week after the porch roof collapse, our furnace decided to quit working. I noticed that it was blowing cool air instead of warm air. I called the Mr. at work, and he came home to deal with it. Long story short, as it turned out- It was the "upper limit switch" again. We just had a heating / cooling company out last winter to replace that switch. That little visit cost us $350.00! OUCH! Luckily, this year- my Mr. was smarter... and figured out that it was the same switch, called up his heating / cooling friend (not the company that came out the year before) and asked if he would be kind enough to order the switch for us. He ordered it, my Mr. picked it up, paid for it, and put it in. The cost of the switch?? THREE DOLLARS. And now, the furnace runs beautiful yet again! And to think, I didn't even get a kiss with the raping I received from that company the year before! I'm sure in the wrong business!

Speaking of wasting money! Here's another one for you!

In the fall, we decided to send my older daughter's horse out for a month of training. The cost for the month of board/feed/training at that facility cost $650.00. In order to get her (the horse) ready, she needed to have her teeth floated ($100.00), have a coggins drawn (a test to make sure she is negative for infectious equine anemia- $80.00). All things were in order, we were $830.00 invested, and off the horse went! After the 1st week, the horse came up "lame". She was gimping on her back leg. Interesting... She has never been lame a day in her life all the while she was here. So, she was on rest for the upcoming week. That week passed, and the trainer and I decided it was best to bring the horse home to "recover", and that we would bring her back for the rest of her training in a month. Took the mare home, and as soon as we let her out of the trailer she ran and frolicked in the field with the other horses. Barely a lameness to be noted. And from then after- no lameness at all. In the meantime, the trainer suggested we have a chiropractic exam and adjustment done on the horse. So, I call the vet., set up an appointment had him come out, did the adjustment - and paid him his $130.00. Horse still not lame.

So a month goes by, and the horse goes back to the trainers for another two weeks. After the first few days I get a call from the trainer- horse is lame again. Pick horse up, bring horse home. That was our first experience in taking a horse to a trainer. Am I doubting the trainer? Not really. I know she means well and doesn't want to see the horse injured perm. Its just the "luck" of it all. We had invested $960.00 into this "training" and never got an ounce of "training" out of the deal.

Now, there the horse sits... We aren't sure what to do now. We really like the horse, and didn't want to send it a packing, but why have another useless horse around here? We'll see what this summer brings for her.

The craptastic part of it all, we are (were?) considering bringing our Clyde to this trainer to be broke out this upcoming year. Now he was going to spend 2 months ($650.00/month) there! I'm worried that he will suddenly turn up "lame" and have to come back home- money wasted. So I'm on the fence about all of this... What an experience... *sigh*

Other than that, it has been the same old same old. The house has been its usual money pit. Competing with the animals to see which could possibly cost us more money. I'm still staying home raising the boy and holding down the fort. Just waiting for more lambs. I'm hoping we will have around 10 this year. I'm eager for lamb in our freezer! We STILL have a meat goat to butcher and put in the freezer, and I just bought a goose from a friend. I started the other day to pluck it (in my kitchen- big mistake! feathers all over!!) The boy was concerned that he was "hurt" and I kindly told him that he was "Dead" What a good mother I am huh?? lol.

Can we say future therapy for him?? lol.

I better get back to "life"- the boy has been waiting impatiently for me to finish this- and of course destroying everything in his path! Don't mind the spelling/grammer errors! I am trying to type and watch the boy all at the same time :)