Here’s a roundup of pictures from last weekend, taken by a few different family members.
On Saturday evening Dustin went down the road to help neighbors finish up their branding, and Daddy took Davy along to watch for a while.
He was quiet because of all the strangers, but very intrigued.
The pasture next to the Big House was rented to a lady for her bucking horses. They were delivered on Saturday and immediately took a gallop around the pasture. We love watching them graze.
For Mother’s Day, Josiah & Alexandra came up from Boise for the afternoon. It was a lovely day, so we visited on the back porch.
For supper, Mama had requested scones and tea, so we girls took charge of the meal. Janna and Elsie made the scones, while Caroline and I set the table.
We had 2 kinds of scones with toppings, sausage patties, and 3 kinds of tea.
I tried to get a good picture of Davy. He is very camera shy right now, so at first he tried drinking tea for a long time to hide his face…
…then when he put his tea down, he looked like this. So I told him I wouldn’t take any more pictures. 🙂
My other wee one is crawling everywhere now, constantly finding things to put in her mouth, and even climbing already. She loves music and always bobs her head when she hears it, even if it’s just background music on an ad or something.
It was a lovely weekend…the weather is perfect this time of year, and everything is so green. I hope everyone had an equally enjoyable Mother’s Day!
We have had a quiet spring so far, everybody keeping busy at home, but not too many things to document. But everything has turned green for real now, and the snow has receded to just caps on the mountains…I have to show off Idaho in April and May with some scenery.
Indian Valley as seen from the hill on the way home.
My favorite time of year in a lot of ways…the wildflowers are out, and everything is so vivid and beautiful that I have to snap pictures when we drive anywhere, even though we’ve seen it all before.
The blue wildflowers are my favorite. they lay in every wet hollow like living water. Close ups of them.
Just a sampling of what we see out the windows this time of year. But there’s no way to capture the bigness and scale…the camera always cuts it off!
Irrigation ditches are once again full, making ribbons of water through the landscape.
Coming around a curve to find cows on the road on the way home…one of the blessings (or sometimes frustrations) of country living.
Mama and Daddy’s new Big House is well under progress.
Everything feels enormous with just the stud walls up! Funny, because when the footers were poured, all the rooms felt too small.
Just one of the views from the living room windows…
…and here is what Janna will see from her bedroom in just one direction.
There is a nice view of the Plateau – a very different topography – from the other upstairs end of the house.
Here at home, Janna’s herbs are doing well; the strawberries, crab apple trees, and lilacs are starting to bloom.
We have had a surprisingly dry spring. Where last year people were trying to brand in 6 inches of mud, this year the weather has been lovely. Rain has been needed at times, but we’ve also had some nice showers now and then, so we will see how things go. Thankfully the snow load on the mountains was good last winter, so hopefully there will be enough water in the reservoirs even if we have less rain…it’s just that the dry land really needs rain in the spring or they won’t be much good for grazing at all.
Hopefully what we received will give the rangeland a boost, and perhaps we will get more rain in May…but for the most part I sure didn’t miss the muddy season this year.
Sometimes we plan, work hard, try again, and work harder. Then suddenly we realize that this just isn’t working the way we planned. In fact, it’s not working well at all. Not for any of us. And then we admit defeat, or mistakes, or just plain poor planning, and change directions.
Our family came to one of those places last summer. In 2017, we bought a ranch with plans for the family. Those plans did not happen. Last summer, we finally admitted we need to do something different. The ‘something different’ turned out to be a decision to sell the ranch and buy something much smaller. Since I’m the ‘rancher’ in the family, we chose something small enough that I can handle the work mostly myself. While none of us were/are happy about the idea of moving again, we are adapting to the need to start over. We went from 510 acres to 140 acres, a mixture of hay land and grazing, enough for me to have a few longhorns -a longtime dream- a few horses, and we can raise our own meat. Elsie has a couple heifers, and Janna has her chickens. Hopefully the current plans are more realistic with what we can accomplish.
Life’s adventures continue. Next chapter comin’ up!
A half mile of new fence between us and a neighbor. Well, the beginning of one. So far, it’s just the posts. Wire coming soon. Uphill and down, this is only a section of the whole length. Fencing happens to be something I thoroughly enjoy doing. Much to the puzzlement of most of my family! I need help to put in the wood posts, but the rest I can do myself. I love working in the quiet of God’s world with the wind waving the grasses and the meadowlarks singing on the fence posts. And I love to see the finished product- straight posts and taut wires, all ready to do the job it needs to do – contain the cows. Elsie is trying to convince Davy to dance with her on the new foundation for the house. Betsy views the world from Aunt Janna’s back. Setting up the fuel tank. Davy wants to help!
Two years ago I bought my first cow, a pretty little registered shorthorn. Then last year I bought another shorthorn heifer, but this time she was bred.
And on a beautiful sunny day she gave birth to the cutest little bull calf!
There he is with his mommy, Sugar. Sugar is a great mother, and was not very happy about me petting her baby through the fence. And here are all three of my cows. Cherry is on the right. She isn’t due for another month or so, but I’m excited anyway!
It’s been spring where we live for quite a while now. The grass is quite green by now, the meadowlarks sing like crazy, and often the weather is mild. Yet just 1 1/2 hours’ drive up into the mountains, our friends there still have 2 solid feet of snow on the ground! To escape from it, they like to drive farther north yet, up to Riggins, which is situated in a canyon that is a hot spot…boiling in summer, of course, but first every spring with early strawberries, warm weather, and no snow. It’s quite a unique place.
For our last outing a while before the Stay at Home order happened, it was a perfect one. Elsie came along for the ride; we drove back along the river to one of the sandy beaches where there are camp sites. The canyon is pretty narrow here, with immense rock walls on both sides. These walls trap the sun – you would fry in the summertime, but in the early spring it sure feels good!
These trees blocked the best view so I walked up a bit to get a better picture. That’s better!
The children got to run around without coats on, dig in the sand and dirt, and trot along with their daddies.
Betsy was content with her toys in the shade. This child is going to sunburn so easily!
Our friend Luke brought along his handcrafted bow and arrows. Much of the afternoon was spent shooting at a tossed pizza box. Eventually they made another makeshift bow of baler twine and bent sticks, so more than one person could practice their archery skills.
At first they just watched. That didn’t last very long. Ready…aim…Fire! There are two arrows in the air in this picture. Can you spot them both?Helping Daddy gather up arrows.
The rest of us visited around the fire, and after a while we all had a hot dog roast. I made an improvised seat and table for Davy, which worked quite well. Next time I will bring marshmallows!
As the sun went down, the shadows crept farther into the canyon, and we put on jackets. A bald eagle flew lazily past about halfway up the rock wall. Betsy napped all bundled up in her seat.
The ride home was a long one, since Davy was tired and out of sorts, Betsy had napped too recently to sleep again…and Elsie was wet from a water bottle feud she started. But it had been a perfect day, and we certainly look forward to more leisurely afternoons spent that way in the future. During the colder weather, Riggins is a good place to go – going home to the snow may be a shock for our friends, but at least they get a break from it while there. As it gets hotter, there are always pine-shaded, cool mountain lakes nearby. The main thing is to make it happen…but I’m going to put some effort into it once we can go out again, because it’s so worth it.
Normally March is our muddy month, with tractors occasionally sinking up to their hubs so neighbors have to take turns pulling each other out, and the back roads slippery and almost impassable in places. Last year we had all kinds of pretty major flooding and mudslides. This spring has been unusually dry, so when we finally got some rain we were actually happy about it! By the next day already, all the pastures were a deeper shade of green.
It has been so nice to have some days mild enough that Davy can play outside again. He is a little confused, however, and keeps asking if Dustin wants to go build a snowman with him. He can’t understand why there’s suddenly NO snow outside.
Watching for Daddy to get home from work.This is Davy’s favorite corner of the yard to play. Of course it’s the one corner I can’t see from any window of the house! 🙂 Soon those lilac bushes will have leaves and hopefully blooms!
I don’t exactly overflow with warm affection for our neighbor’s noisy sheep, but they are handy for giving Davy something to watch from the dining room window as he eats his lunch.
We do enjoy having sunshine at supper time now, though every year I hate time change more. It’s so much harder with children!
I particularly rejoice each year when the meadowlarks come back. They have the cheeriest song, and every time I hear one it makes me smile. There are few things more calming than sitting on a sunny summer hill so far from traffic you can hear the blood rushing in your ears, listening to the warble of ten different meadowlarks near and far. Those summer days are coming back!
This is an old picture of a meadowlark that Mama took during an Idaho vacation, before we moved.
I also love being able to start hanging laundry outside again.
This is my view while hanging up laundry right now.
Both children woke up sick without warning on Wednesday (the first time for Betsy to get a cold, which I’m thankful for), so things have been a bit rough here in the Little House. Beatrix Potter movies were my friends for a few days.
This weekend we got a chilly rain and the mountains got snow, but I know the warm weather and good health will come back, and there is still new spring green to enjoy when I glance out the window.
Occasionally, somebody makes mashed potatoes. And somebody else gets hungry for doughnuts. So we use up the leftover mashed potatoes to make doughnuts for lunch later in the week.
It’s a little more labor intensive, so usually we pick a day when everyone’s available to help (and of course, to eat!)
Betsy enjoys watching from her chair, in the thick of things!
Janna mixed them in the morning and the dough rose beside the wood stove. We cut them out with a drinking glass and tore the holes, instead of using a traditional doughnut cutter.
Sometimes we make filled doughnuts, which everyone loves. But when they are for a meal, we keep them less sugary – so these all had holes in.
Janna mixed them, I fried them, Caroline kept the frier supplied, and Elsie glazed them. She also had some leftover hot fudge topping in the fridge which was delicious on top of some of the glazed ones!
Having a double drain board sink makes this job so much less messy!Davy was a very interested observer.
We don’t have time to make them too fancy, since everyone is starving by the time we get a tray full, and wants to eat the doughnuts while warm. So we fill up on doughnuts and milk (or coffee) for lunch, and have the leftovers to snack on the rest of the day, or to save until tomorrow’s breakfast. They are definitely better the first day, though.
Cooling and dripping into the sink.
This recipe is the same one Mama and Grandma made many times when Mama was still at home, to sell at their weekend bake stand in Carlisle, PA. Many people think of doughnuts as dessert, but these are actually just more like fried bread, with only the glaze sweetening them a little on the outside, so we use that as an excuse to make them a whole meal once in a while. 🙂
Last weekend Dustin, Kristen and I visited some friends who live 3 hours north of us. They were having a Valentine’s themed dance on Saturday night.
The drive north is so stunning. Pictures just don’t capture it, especially when they’re taken from a car window.
Kristen and I both made new dresses for the dance. And Davy loved the giant bear that they had for a photo prop!
They had a variety of dances – from ballroom dancing to country line dancing to old-fashioned reels and English Country Dances. One of my favorites is Hunting the Fox.
The dance hosts did a great job of providing a mixture of dances, and getting everyone on the floor. They even did a waltz where the men were blindfolded and had no idea who they were dancing with. That one was fun!
We had to have two lines for the Virginia Reel because there were so many people!
It was so much fun, and we look forward to visiting again!
The onions in the kitchen were growing, and, since there are also some sprouting in the garden, I thought I should divide them up and plant them. Davy was here, and was very excited at the idea of “playing gardens”.
First we had to take down the old, dead bean vines from last year. He loved picking beans off and then dumping his own little bucket of trash to the chickens.
I sadly neglected to get a picture of him sticking the onions in the “ditch”. He loved it!
I got more than 2 rows planted just from the ones growing in the kitchen. There are some more in the garden that I have to divide up and plant yet. I don’t think I’ll need to buy any onion sets this year.
January is the bleakest of months. This year it was particular gray and gloomy – I believe I only awoke to sunshine 2 days during the entire month. So we were not saddened to bid January farewell and greet February. Here are a few highlights of my past week in the Little House.
Betsy girl reached the 6 month mark this past week. She continues to be a sweet, sunshiny dumpling of a baby most of the time. She is starting to change her nap schedule, which creates a few challenges as I figure out what she needs, and hates the tummy time we make her do – she only wants to sit up now that she is able to. She is at the grabbing stage, and you hold her at the dinner table at your own risk.
I took a few sisters and made a trip to the local thrift store this week, finding these vintage treasures as well as a pile of children’s clothes. At 2 for 25 cents, it’s a blessing to be able to stock up for so little cost on their next sizes as they outgrow the old.
I finished another quilt top, adding it to my pile of unfinished quilts awaiting the return of my sewing machine. I took the machine to be fixed and serviced in late November and it’s still not done. So the to-do stack grows.
We were supposed to get another 6-8 inches of snow last weekend, but most of it came down as rain. Not only did we avoid more snow, most of what we already had melted off, even at night.
The next morning I went outside to fetch something and could smell it – that indefinable taste in the air that means spring. I heard a robin, too. It may have only been the 6th of February, but it is definitely early spring here. We’ve turned the corner.
We may get more snow occasionally yet, and have cold and windy days, but the worst of winter is already behind us. How wonderful it is to live in a place where February is often more spring than winter, so we only actually have about 2 months of real winter! And the sunshine coming back is one of the greatest blessings.
Council Mountain is still pristine and white, but not much snow remains in the valley and on the south-facing slopes of the hills.
Next comes the most unlovely season…hills all brown and spotty with snow patches; rutted back roads and fields deep with mud, sometimes almost impassable. But already where the snow melted off there’s a tinge of green, so the mud can be all the more cheerfully dealt with when we can see the inexorable signs of spring approaching.
The pasture behind my house is a sloppy mess – a foretaste of the mud season to come.
There is quite a lot more snow an hour north, however!
Hoarfrost from a recently lifted fog dazzled trees in New Meadows as we passed through on our way to church this morning.
Lastly, Janna recently had a birthday up at the Big House. Instead of a birthday cake, she asked me to make Danishes for dessert. I mixed up the dough the day before, and made the braids in time to bake fresh for supper.
And few things are as tasty, served fresh out of the oven.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. – Ps 90:17
The Jolly Jumble 