4 Weeks Down

We have completed our first 4 weeks of school.  We still have another week of August before we head into September but I have scheduled the first week of September as a break.  I am inclined to wait to take a week off until the weather is cool so I can spend that time in the garden.  We may end up pushing back our September break to the mid or end of September instead.  

While we have settled into a routine, I am still a bit lost with how to homeschool 8-4 and still have time to do house chores, farm chores, and have time to myself.  It has been a very difficult adjustment for me.

Calorie counting, ie keeping my portion sizes "reasonable", has given me a 5 pound drop in the past 4 weeks.  Of course, I would love to shed extra weight more quickly but at least the scale is dropping and "they" say that slower weight loss is healthier than rapid.  I know I need to add in plantar fasciitis friendly exercise but I struggle to find time for a cup of coffee and my Bible study in the morning.  I need to get up an hour earlier.

Smoke haze has continued to be the norm so I was thrilled when the clouds and foggy haze turned to clear skies and sun today.  The smoke does make for beautiful sunrises (and sunsets) however.


Fog in our valley:


Fall is definitely in the air.

End of summer view from the porch.  

August 21st marked the one year anniversary of the Eclipse.  I have to say, this was one of the most spectacular things I have every seen.  It was so much fun to have friends and family here to watch and celebrate how awesome our God is!!!








 School has continued to be a challenge for me as I try and adjust to the busiest (as in most hours) school year that we have had.  

The children decided to coat their eggs with garlic powder.  Tutoring was unpleasant.

Sawyer snapped this picture.  I fell off my exercise ball and crashed into the wall and weights.  Don't let the smile fool you, it hurt.

Library Day!


Fort making on breaks.  The younger 3 have slept in the forts the past several days.

We have a creek walk with friends scheduled.  Sawyer has been so excited!  He made this fish/crawdad trap complete with bait.

Brighton has missed shopping at the Silverton Roths.  He especially loves this cashier and helping her.  I am thinking a future grocery bagger is in his future LOL!


Farm tragedy.  
As much as I love country living and the farm life, there is another side of things that tends to balance out that bliss.  We have lived this out with Alexander, the alpaca that passed away despite our desperate attempts to save his life.  Ghita (who could have prevented the following tragedy) who I was stressed to find time to train and wait out the teen years so we found her a new home.  Not knowing what to do about the sheep and advertising them on numerous sites and not being able to sell them.  (The ram, we ended up taking to auction).  The steers busting down fencelines and infuriating the neighbors.  It has been a process of trial and error...and it feels at times like mostly error.

One morning, the children let the animals out at 9:30 am.  Within 30-45 minutes, we heard Opal hollering for Amber.  I had Sawyer go and check the barn and since she wasn't there, we assumed she was up with the other animals at the top of the field behind the walnut trees.  We didn't think much of it until lunch time when we heard Opal continue to wail for Amber.  We never saw Amber again.  We scoured the field, the fence line beyond our property, and the creek and natural spring bottoms.  My parents came over to walk the fence line as did Phil when he got home.  She disappeared "into thin air" without a trace or sign of anything.  The girls cried all afternoon, as did Opal, calling for her companion.  We have no idea the predator which makes us uneasy.  Whatever it was, must have been in the field when the children were in the yard and it was stealthy and able to make a kill and get away without a trace not more than 50 yards from the house and while we were in eye and ear shot.  We are wondering about a cougar since there have been sightings within a few miles of here.  In the meantime, the children are not allowed down by the thicket anymore and the animals have been tightly locked up in the barn until we can re-fence, run high tension wire, and hotwire.  We have permission from the owners of the property next to ours to take out predators.  

I saw this coyote in the field one morning when I was driving to my parents.  We will take out any all and coyotes that we see.  We can't have them on our property killing our animals.

Opal cried all day long and we knew that we couldn't leave her isolated and in distress.  We picked up two new goats that evening.  The bigger one is Agatha, a pregnant doe.  The smaller one is Gertrude (Gertie) and she is a bit younger than Opal (on the right).  We have decided to move the goats into the field next to the house.  We will hot wire the entire field and build a special goat fence and shelter within that field.  A predator would have to cross open fields and multiple fence lines to access the goats.  We are also strongly considering a guard llama to protect against coyotes.  If the predator is a cougar, we will have a whole other "mess" on our hands.

Oh sweet Amber, I am so so sorry.  We miss you very much.

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