Pistol Pete

Nova Spy has a new puppy,

introducing Pistol Pete, or Pete for short.

A Nice Vignette

Sometimes the house is clean and sometimes it's not. So tonight when I looked in the mud room and saw the milk pail shining and ready for morning, and the eggs washed, I was happy.

Invitation to "Sweethearts"

Ah Yes, another girl's choice dance - where girls are delighted and boys become very wary.

It is traditional to ask your date in a creative way, so Braeburn came home from school last week quite confused. He asked if I had been part of any plot? I said no and what was going on? He said he found all these strange words in his lunch and could not figure them out. He and his buddies had spent the whole lunch hour piecing together word strips that said things like, "pan" "man" "sink" "car" "if" "when" etc. They couldn't figure it out.

Then I remembered that we had been playing a game with Granny Smith's spelling words and had cut them up into strips and put them in a brown lunch sack to draw from. When the game was over, I had just folded the sack up and put it away. Then that morning, I had packed Braeburn's lunch in it. He and his buddies were trying to decipher spelling words into a message. One of Braeburn's friends had suggested they input all the words into the computer and graph out any similarities to see if they could figure out something, anything!

So that was a dry run, and everyone relaxed. But the next day he came home with a Garfield puzzle. He and Golden Delicious put the puzzle together and then flipped it over. On the back of each piece was a scripture reference. For instance, "2 Nephi 18:2, letter 7". Here they are trying to figure out the message.

After a long time Braeburn's part said, "Iesteao..." But luckily Golden Delicious had "February fifth, go to the dance..."

The suspense was killing Braeburn so he skipped to the end where we figured the girl had signed her name. It was a 3 letter word. The first letter was "S". I said do you know a girl named Sue? Braeburn said, no, but he did know a girl who's name started with S and this could be ok. So we pressed on, and finally had the whole message:

"Instead of Puzzling over what you are doing February Fifth, go to the Dance with Sam."

Braeburn was happy because Sam is a very nice and cute and he answered her back with some Europe through the Back Door book. He also helped his friend, Spencer, answer his date too. That involved going and getting a large refrigerator box and putting it on her porch in the middle of the night.

So, no sleep around here, but lots of excitement.

Ready for Church

I took these before we left for church. Braeburn and Golden Delicious came later, so they missed the group picture. Very good future missionaries!

Decorating the Tree

The Milking Stool

Here's a picture of the milking stool that my endlessly creative brother, Winesap, made for us.

My Great Grandpa, Whit Pincock, used to milk cows with a little one legged stool like this. (He also named his cows after ladies in the Relief Society....!)

So, Winesap improved the design, added handles for easy carrying, and put a sturdy non-slip base on it. We decided that as soon as someone can milk Cindy completely by themselves, they can wood burn their name into the stool. So far, Prairie Spy is the only one worthy of the honor. Thanks, Winesap!

The Spy Twins Become Official Teenagers!

Happy Birthday to Prairie Spy and Nova Spy!

Here's Prairie Spy lighting the candles on his coconut cream pie.

And Nova Spy with his banana cream cake.

Happy Birthday boys! I hope your wishes come true!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had Thanksgiving Dinner here at Crabapple Farm this year.

Everything was delicious and it was lovely to see everyone. We also had our first ham from a milk fed crabapple farm pig - and it was fantastically wonderful. We were all happy that Prairie Spy's pig had not made weight for 4-H!

We had turkey too, just for traditionalists.... although I must say, orange rolls and ham are really the best possible food combination. Here's Miss Hannah, presiding over the kids table.

The weather was impossibly cold. We couldn't even go shooting or anything, but we managed to have fun anyway!

Christmas Update 2010

Mr. Bechtel's family asked for an update on our family and this is the write-up he gave:

Braeburn is 17. He's a senior in high school. He is very tall. We haven't measured him since last December, but he is more than 6'2". He started a lawn mowing business two summers ago and it has grown into quite a going concern. He says it's strange to have kids approach him at school and ask him for a job. He is very busy finishing senior projects, serving on Seminary Council, applying to college, practicing Krav Maga self-defense, taking and retaking the ACT, scoring a 5 on the AP History Exam, studying AP Economics and trying to figure out ways to earn money so he can visit England again (he has been to England twice now and believes that although it is nice that England is the homeland of his ancestors, it would be better if it were his own homeland) and travel the rest of the world. In the meantime, he blesses the sacrament every Sunday and often takes the sacrament to sick or older people in our ward.

Golden Delicious is 14 (she will be 15 in January). She is a sophomore in high school. She is also very tall - about 5"10". She and Braeburn ride to school together every morning in our little red jeep. She can't wait to get her own drivers license. She is a straight A student and regularly reminds me that I " owe her a dat" whenever she gats a perfect report card (every time). She loves exercising. She won grand champion at the county fair again this year with her Alpine Dairy Goat "Maggie". She made a video honoring soldiers and it so impressed her teacher and the principal that they showed it in their Veteran's Day assembly at the school. She and her friends go to the temple to do baptisms almost once a week.

Nova Spy will be 13 this month. He and Prairie spy and growing like crazy. They are both as tall as their mom. He and Prairie spy are home schooled this year. He has a small herd of Boer Goats that he bought with money he earned through 4-H. He builds boomerangs out of wood and other materials, and the actually "come back." He and Prairie spy have become very good horsemen this year. They also canoed the Green River in Utah for 4 or 5 days, hiked over 70 miles to earn their hiking merit badge (including a final 20 miler), built fences and pens to hold in our animals, camped in the back pasture for nights on end, and helped me wire the shop. They collect fast offerings and set up and put down chairs quite a bit. He and Prairie spy sing in the ward choir (as to Braeburn and Golden Delicious).

Prairie spy is the same age as Nova Spy, just 7 minutes younger. He and Nova spy do most things together, but Prairie spy has become chief milker of Cindy, our Jersey cow. He sings while he milks her and she thinks he's her best friend. At scout camp he hit a jug of water at 300 yards shooting a 25-06 rifle "off hand" (standing up). He hit it first shot. He and Marshall love their dog Jack. They also spend a lot of time fixing our old 4 wheeler and building various bobsleds and other devices for the 4-wheeler to pull. They have loaded many bales of hay, learned to irrigate our pasture, split and stacked cords of firewood and learned to fly fish. Prairie Spy has a lamb he wants to teach to pull a sled. He practices his guitar every day. He is secretary in the deacons quorum.

Granny Smith turned 8 this year, so he got baptized and started cub scouts. He loves to go flying with his grandpa Ricks. He is in charge of the chickens, so he collects the eggs and gives them feed and water. He is the best chicken catcher I have ever known. He is in 3rd grade and he loves to think about Science. He went on a couple of 10 mile hikes with the Spy twins this summer. He has grown like a weed this year. We can't wait to measure, but we're guessing he's grown about 3 inches. He loves to play family football in our back pasture and has lots of fun kicking a soccer ball with Braeburn. He has given several talks in Primary - off the cuff and doesn't need notes or memorization to deliver a spell binding speech. He is also a great singer. He performed a solo in a choral concert directed by his grandma Ricks last December.