Confessions Don't Always Come Easy

This past week Flower Girl was "Star Student." Over the weekend she had the privilege of bringing home a "special" bag filled with goodies. One of the items was a stuffed frog. Upon awakening one morning we discovered that Mr. Frog was missing an eye most likely by one of our naughty dogs. The eye was no where's to be found. FG was devastated, big tears and all! I told her that I would buy a new one to replace it, she declined. I offered to make a fancy little eye patch, she was all set with that. Last minute Monday night Maine Man opted to do some repairs of his own.

(donor)

FG was to scared to tell her teacher what happened so this morning I wrote a letter to her teacher to ease the pain of FG's confession.

Dear Mrs .........,

This weekend when FG had the "star student" bag the frog sustained and injury loosing on of his eyes. (? the dogs) FG's dad found a donor and performed a transplant. The color doesn't quite match but he has nearly perfect vision. If the transplant fails we will be more than willing to replace the frog.

Respectfully, The ........

P.S. Sorry for the mishap

Now I am just hoping she has the courage enough to give it to her. She was scared she'd "get in trouble". Then I told her about a story when I was in first grade. I was at the chalkboard and I peed my pants. Sr. Rita asked who had done it and I didn't dare admit. She went around and felt every one's bum until she discovered I was the guilty one. I was humiliated in front of the entire class! Had I only admitted my fault initially. The kids were quite entertained by that story.

Face your fears baby! Can't wait to see how she did.

When I Least Expect It...

When I least expect it ....My daughter comes running into my house after rescuing a chipmunk from the jaws of our cat.

I assure you he was not calm and friendly as seen here in these pictures. Good thing she had a bandaid on or she would have needed one after this little bugger came to life. Despite our efforts to convince her that the chipmunk would not survive she said, "he's a living creature, we have to save him!" So into the kids catch & release tank he went with some fresh bedding, water, and food. About an hour later I glanced out the window to see Maine Man in the pouring rain over by the wood line aka our "pet cemetery". A few minutes later he walked back with carrying my baby girl weeping in his arms. When I l in least expect it..........I am greeted at my car after work by 2 excited kiddos leading me to the barn to show me what they (Chantal, our friends daughter) caught in our front yard.

This snapper was nothing you wanted to mess with weighing in at 35lbs or so. She managed to get herself out the kids 50 gallon tank which is like a 5ft drop onto cement and down by the pond 200 yards away. I could not beleive it when the kids told me she was missing. Thankfully our dog Callie spotted her. I had heard her barking but never thought much of it until I put it all together.

She looks small in comparison to him. I can't imagine why! ;)

Maine Man got her safely back to her desired location, across the street to the river. She got out of the net faster then expected and was playing chicken, nearly road kill. What they say about turtles being slow is a crock. Thanks to MM this story had a happy ending.

When I Least Expect It...while I am mowing the lawn the kids run over with this baby groundhog in a net . I nod my head thinking it's dead and carry on mowing. Later that evening to my surprise it is still alive in the catch/release tank. This cutie made it a couple days. No matter what they try to "save" death seems too be inevitable.

You just never know what you'll find in the tanks. So far this summer the kids have had snakes, mice crayfish, salamanders, frogs, toads, and frog eggs in addition to the above critters.

What next?

Gone Fishing!

Nothing like seeing Dad with his girl.




We are fortunate enough to live across the street from the river. However to get there from here you must go down a REAL steep embankment and through a jungle of poison ivy. We cleared an area out across the street 2 years ago and ummmm... that was the year I said "I don't get poison ivy, never had it." Can you guess what happened from there? We've yet to return. With that in mind, we go down the road about 1/2 a mile to yet another steep area but to a trail that is free and clear of the itchy stuff.


Obviously unimpressed with the depth of the hook........"John". This year after some begging from the kids I purchased a license. I usually just play photographer and bring along a good read but now I've decided to play along as long as the fish are biting. This is was the first time out for me this season. The kids & John have been out well over a dozen times. Fishing is on the top of Luke's favorite list. He doesn't let a day or two go by before asking Dad when they can go out again.

She is always ready with a pose.

I think that one might weigh nearly as much as her.

She is better then Mom. I can bait my hooks with worms and crayfish but I admit I am a little spleeny when it comes to taking the fish off if they are the least bit in there.

Fishing is a great family activity that can be done with little to no costs. I'm glad we have MM to take us out! Luke traps crayfish from the ponds with bait traps and MM & the kids jack worms on rainy nights. John and I have to purchase licenses but the kids do not and will never have to as they both have lifetime fishing, hunting, and archery licenses....how lucky are they?

P.S. All the above fish were caught and released.

Here is a link for a yummy chowder I made last weekend with some perch we had stored in the freezer from this past winter's ice fishing season.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunny Sunday

It was a beautiful weekend here on the farm and everyone agreed as evidence by the following photos.All the animals had the oppurtunity to get out of the barn on both days. The goats came out on leashes and they were groomed and hooves were trimmed.The chickens free ranged. It will not be long before they are in their chicken tractors. When the gardens goes in there will be no more free ranging until fall. Otherwise they will DEVASTATE the gardens.Only in Maine could you where the outfit above and below in the SAME day!This is not a normal occurrence. At least when I am around. MM is a little more laid back. I have PTSD from working in the Emergency Room too many years. When I came home from running a quick errand this is what I found. I was ok with Luke driving..........but when I saw Leah I was frightened. The kid has NO FEAR. She is a WILD child. Everyone has one, well she is mine! Yesterday we went to a sliding party at some friends just down the road. They have an AWESOME hill just outback of there house. I had barely said hello to my friend and there goes Leah flying down the VERY steep hill on a saucer hooting and hollering. People were looking around like, who's kid is that? She is SO me when I was 16 but she is ONLY 6! Yikes...I think we are going to be in for it!
Another thing about her is she will only learn when SHE is ready. Just today she learned to ride a 2 wheel bike by the assistance of her big brother and his buddy. They made treats for her and bribed her than they.....

Scored her abilities. Hey....What are you boys doing on my Momobile?

Later this afternoon. We tapped our 2 maple trees for a first time.

Maine Man drilled the holes.


Luke hammered the spickets in.And sap started running immediately. The kids were ecstatic!Leah hung the jugs. We planned to hang buckets but I saw over at Sugar Creek that they used gallon jugs. I thought that was mighty clever so we borrowed their idea.
Thanks SC!Within minutes we had this. We have 4 gallon jugs out.
Just before bed the kids conned me into going and checking how much we had one last time.

Then we finished the night making sugar cookies. They were they some yummy!

Thanksgiving Funnies

Can you even imagine being so obsessed that you would put this on the back of your pickup?
We were driving behind this vehicle on Thanksgiving night and I couldn't help but take a picture.

On Thanksgiving morning this is what I found in the cracked corn.
The kids decided to capture him and place them in there catch and release tank.
As we were preparing the tank Leah was "suppose" to be standing guard.

Suddenly we heard a loud screech come from the barn so Luke and I went running expecting to find that the mouse had bitten her. She hysterically described how it climbed up her arm into her pj's went across her back and then back down her other sleeve. We laughed so hard we had tears running down.

That night the kids went to check on "cheese" and said he was sleeping. A little while later I went out with flashlight and discovered cheese was not sleeping but dead. I'd stay the stress of it all?? It was either that or the cat would have taken him out.

Are You My Momma?

Tasty..

As Leah layed on the couch Cookie latched on to her toe and suckled for quite some time.

What can I say? We are easily entertained!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING