Linking up with
Monthly Archives: November 2012
Just a Saturday…
Saturdays are usually are catch-up days, or our attempt at trying to catch-up for the week. Instead of staying home we spent the day out and about which we don’t normally do. At first we felt a bit guilty but it was so fun to get out for a bit and get away from the hustle and bustle of a day spent at home. Our first stop was at Norm’s News, Soda Fountain and Candy Shop! Always a treat!! We ate lunch and only took up 3 tables and then picked up some yummy treats to go.
We were missing Sawyer that day because he spent the day in Missoula with Samantha and her family.
Then we couldn’t bring ourselves to go home quite yet, so we headed to Glacier Park…just for a couple of hours. ;0)
We were hoping the day might be sunny and clear but it was a bit breezy and add in lots of clouds, it makes for a cold day, especially for little ones. We did go prepared; mittens, gloves, hats, and warm jackets. It wasn’t long and we were ready for some hot chocolate and coffee which was near impossible to find in the off-season in Glacier Park. Eventually we were able to find some coffee but no hot cocoa. :0( So we decided maybe we needed to head to Whitefish and find some yummy pizza and warm up a bit.
After the day out had finished, it was close to 8:30 and we still had to do chores~in the dark! But we really did have a wonderful day.
Linking up with:
Shades of Blue…
Thanksgiving day was spent at my parents house, stuffing our faces, playing games, chit-chatting and stuffing our faces a bit more! While we are there, I always enjoy watching the bird feeders to see who all will come to visit. I was pleasantly surprised to see this pair of Steller’s Jays! They were bold enough to come within a couple of feet of me and steel whole peanuts off the feeder and quickly return to the safety of the bushes and trees.
Cyanocitta stelleri
The Steller’s jay is a bold and aggressive species frequently found scavenging in campgrounds, picnic areas, and feeding stations in the West. Read more about Steller’s Jays here.
Steller’s Jay
Shades of blue
Watching the jays brought me back to my childhood. I was always mesmerized with their stunning blue and black plumage. Still am.
Linking Up With…
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
~Beautiful Esja~
I always hate days like today. It is the worst part of being a shepherdess. My beautiful red-headed ewe, Esja had to be put down.
Esja
Esja was one of our foundation ewes. She was a heavy milker, consistently produced twins that were quick-growing.
An udder shot, shortly after Esja gave birth.
Beautiful moorit fleece…
Her moorit fleece was always one of my favorites, she always captured everyone’s attention. Instead of being just brown, it took on an almost red sheen.
Last year Esja was Artificially Inseminated with ram semen we imported from Iceland. She gave us a handsome, stout ram lamb, Ever.
Esja and Ever.
She had slowly been losing teeth and had a couple of long teeth that made it difficult for her to eat, despite the vet floating them several times and being on a special diet to help her try to maintain her weight. She will be missed as she was a wonderful mother and very friendly, good-tempered ewe. She would come up to look for treats, she even stole an Oreo from Hayden one time. 🙂 She left us with her handsome Bogi son, Ever, who carries moorit, hopeful the same beautiful shade she was.
Ever
Her funny sheep antics will be missed.
~Rest peacefully~
Linking up with Wordless or not so Wordless Wednesday:
Snowberry
Common Snowberry
Symphoricarpos albus
The little white fruits of the Snowberry bush is mildly toxic, especially to children and pets. Sorry no taste-testing these guys!
Perfectly white.
The day was nearly over when I was taking these pictures and made the berries almost seem luminescent.
Their hollow stems used to be used as whistles, but the stems are mildly toxic as well.
Little clumps of berries…
Decorations for bare branches…
These were growing under some Cottonwoods and the leaf litter was quite pretty too…
Frosty leaves on the ground.
The cold, crisp mountain air combined with the sweet smell of autumn leaves is one of my favorites. I think I could stand there for several hours and just inhale deeply…
and
Mosaic Monday
Sandhill Cranes…
Sandhill Crane…
We were able to spy on these beautiful Sandhill Cranes on our hunting excursion the other day…
The whole family…
Take off…
Up and over…
Going, going, gone…
Most sandhill cranes live in freshwater wetlands. They are opportunistic eaters that enjoy plants, grains, mice, snakes, insects, or worms. They often dig in the soil for tubers and can sometimes cause significant crop damage, which brings them into conflict with farmers.
The birds are naturally gray and their heads are topped with a crimson crown. Some cranes preen themselves by adding mud to their feathers and thus taking on a temporary brown hue. This may happen because the birds use their bills to probe for food in muddy wetland soil.
More information on Sandhill Cranes can be found here.
Linking up with…
Thankfulness
Linking Up with Wordless Wednesday
Eyes…
How did she get so lucky to get her daddy’s long, thick eyelashes?
And beautiful blue eyes?
Hayden’s Happy Birthday
Hayden’s Happy Birthday @ Papa’s and Grammy’s House
Hayden is our little miracle boy. He was born at 27 weeks after my water broke at 25 weeks. He was a 2 lbs 6.9 oz and 13 1/2 inches long! To read his birth story go here.
Mark’s hand over Hayden
This is a quick clip of one of Hayden’s first baths in the hospital. The nurse is the one doing the talking in the video.
Hayden turning 2!
This is a very cute clip of Hayden trying to blow out his candles!
Hayden’s life started off a bit scary but he has been a total blessing! He is such a hard worker and loves his family and friends so much. He loves school, his chickens and helping others out.
Happy 9th Birthday!
A Hunting We Will Go…
Don’t worry. The only thing “shot” in this post are the pictures. 😉
At age 19, Sawyer is all about hunting. Very serious about hunting! He has been hunting with my father 3-4 times per week since hunting season started. With the weather perfect weather the perfect weather coming up on Friday and all the sheep sorting and farm chores caught up (mostly), we decided to go hunting. This was my first outing for the year, so I was more than excited to head up to the ranch for a little peace and quite and just soaking in all the natural beauty around us.
My father-in-law’s ranch…
Normally, Sawyer, my husband and I are up here at least every weekend, cutting wood/hunting. This year though my father purchased a logging truck full of logs and had it delivered to our place, so going and getting wood has been knocked down a notch on the priority list and we haven’t been hunting this year, yet. That and my husbands new job has had him gone quite a bit too.
Tall grass along the creek…
Logs crossing the creek…
Oregon Grape in its fall color…
The tracks…
We did see lots of does and one little spike a gazillion yards away. So we were unsuccessful in our hunt but had a wonderful day together. Our first son/mother hunt. Lots of laughs and talking ~ maybe that’s why we didn’t see much! 😉
The sun setting on a perfect day!
Linking up with…
Dancing Aspens Farm Blog 