Hello friends and family. I'm sorry that I have not been updating the blog this year. 2021 has been the hardest year of my life, easily. I will not be sharing on here the specifics and if you aren't aware of them and find yourself worrying, be assured that I have support and love from those closer to me and the Lord, most of all, is so near. But as I was doing our Advent calendar with the kids we had a question we were answering: What is the best thing that happened to you this year? And as I thought about my answer and listened to theirs' I was amazed at the outpouring of blessings in my life during a year of such intense suffering! God has dealt with me bountifully. In fact, a few days later I made all of the kids make a list of all of the blessings they experienced in the whole year and we were shocked at how many the Lord could cram in such a short year. The blessings, in reflection, make it seem like longer than a year. So, here is a quick overview of the blessings of 2021: 1. The first two months we had a whole hassle of bloodhound puppies at the house! And we got to see the looks on their new owner's faces when they met them. 2. I took Hurricane to Kansas City for her 14 year old birthday trip. 3. Wild Man continued in Gymnastics, switching to private lessons. I so enjoy watching him work hard and get better. He got first in a meet and got to compete against another boy his age. 4. The Boy played baseball for the first time and one of his closest friends was on the team as well as a father we trust, coached him. Attending those games was such a highlight! 5. We got Honey, our new pony. 6. We got surprised by Honey being pregnant and getting to raise a part quarter horse part pony: Theodore Lawrence (Laurie or Teddy) 7. A dear friend and her little boys came to visit twice this year! 8. Hulk played soccer for the first time! 9. I purchased a pass for our local fun pool and scheduled times for us to use it throughout the summer. Hulk passed the swimming test there on the last day we went! 10. Some friends from Louisville, who are older friends, visited twice this year! 11. The Boy and Hurricane got horse riding lessons and joined a homeschool riding group. Wild Man and I got some riding lessons too. 12. Tender went to her first prom. 13. Both of the girls went to their first homeschool dance. 14. The Boy has hit a growth spurt and watching that pan out is great fun! 15. Taking Tender on College tours. 16. Tender has been working in patient access in the ER for months now and is currently training to be a Tech! 17. We got a ping pong table to lay on top of our homeschool table. 18. We got a new kitty named Mrs. Bennett. 19. Hurricane successfully weaned Laurie/Teddy and him and his mama are both very sweet ponies. 20. We got a new boxer puppy: Gilbert (as in, Blythe) 21. We saw some great movies! Quiet Place 2, Dune, Spiderman: No Way Home, and Ghostbusters. 22. The Boy had his first sleepover for his 13th birthday. 23. The Boy had his first bike rides through town with some other boys. I have to pack up his bike and drop him off in town but they love it! 24. I am still attending home births as a doula or assistant. 25. We have amazing neighbors! 26. Robert is having great success at work. 27. We decided to let Bryse try public school next semester. 28. We watched great TV shows together: LOST (just girls), Stranger Things (just older three kids), and Gilmore Girls (just Hurricane and I) 29. We had a girl's trip to Tulsa to see Mercy Me in concert with G.G. and her daughter. Photo dump below. Don't forget you can click on them to make them bigger and read a caption, if I wrote one for the picture. Below the pics is Hurricane's Farm Update. And then there were five.
Farm update the 5th. It's been a while. Not a ton has happened. Helen, our silkie, was finally put out of her completely footless misery. Probably by an owl. One of the chickens(Heather Chandler) got a bad case of bubble foot. We couldn't really figure out what to do about it, so I watched a few videos, wrapped her in a towel so she would fall asleep, and stuck her with a scalpel. It was horrible. The combination of the smell of poultry and dried pus was unimaginable. I spent probably an hour digging and cutting and soaking the scabs on both her feet. Eventually, I got bored with it and the pus wasn't coming out, so I put some thick, nasty-smelling salve on it and wrapped it up till it went away. Eventually, it did. And now several other chickens have bubble foot. So... I kind of hate everything. The cattle are doing well. Getting closer to their inevitable end with every pound they gain. I really wish we would get more, but mom and dad won't cave yet. Charlotte has escaped again! Twice! I thought she was getting way too big to get out, but she keeps proving me wrong. Pigs are so hard. I never want one again. I installed a metal grate in her escape corner and she literally bent the bars with her teeth. Let's see... The ponies. Laurie is almost nine months old now. He's completely weaned and halter broke(through several months, many mistakes, and even more tears). He got castrated on the 16th of October, just after he passed six months. It was seamless, and he's well recovered now. The vet told us that we either needed to keep him and Honey apart for over 6 months, or send him away for about a month. So, he stayed at a friends house for a month. I'm happy to say I have successfully retrained Honey. She was horrible, wouldn’t do anything for me but stop and go. Eventually we got some professional help, but before that I just did the best I could. At one point I saddled her up and got up on her and didn’t ask her to do anything. I just sat there, didn’t even put my feet in the stirrups. I did literally nothing, and she bucked five times. Eventually she realized she was too fat and little to dismount me, and after that things only got better. A few weeks of in person training and my instructor telling me to kick and pull harder and she was almost perfect. The only thing holding her back at this point is me. I cannot for the life of me canter properly. I ask her to and trot all I can but the second she transitions I almost fall off. She’s a bumpy ride to be sure. Laurie is doing great. I was so worried that he would just go straight back to nursing, but Honey can’t stand him. I taught him(after weeks of stalling) to pick up his feet. Only his front though, it’ll take a few more weeks of stalling to get the back done. In mid November, everyone went on a mid-morning walk with our neighbors and I joined with Honey. At the end of our road there’s these blonde twin geldings. They’re super sweet but… I hate them. We went all the way and at the end I decided to ride her. I didn’t have her reins but I figured she was docile enough to make it fine. She wasn’t. One the blondes took off and she wanted to join him. Granted, she didn’t actually disobey. It was just she had no halter on so she didn’t know I wanted her to stop and instinct says that when one friend starts running you should too. Long story short, I got a concussion and had to chase her through the woods for 20 minutes, barefoot and bleeding from the head. It was a fun experience altogether. I wouldn’t say I want to repeat it but everyone has to do at least one stupid thing that beats all other stupid things they’ve done, right? I couldn’t ride for a week, which was definitely a bummer but at least it makes for a good story. She’s only dismounted me one other time and then I didn’t even fall off. I just sort of stepped down when she was freaking out. Anyways, that’s all I have for now. Sorry if it’s not as impressive as it usually is, I wrote this in a hurry. Till next time. -Hurricane. P.S. we got rid of Hazel and got a hay ring. That’s been a relief.
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LindseyI'm the mama and wife. Updating you on our life! Archives
January 2022
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