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.

Living Room Help

We've lived here at Crabapple Farm for more than 3 years now, and finally! the living room is looking "finished". Over Thanksgiving my family helped, inspired and painted away to create a much better place.

Gravenstein and Pink Lady gave me this fantastic clock, which Gravenstein and Winesap hung high up on the wall.

Pink Lady cleaned my windows and sills (for a long, long time). and took off stickers that had been on the windows since we moved in.

Gravenstein carefully measured everything so it was all centered.

He also had the great idea that we could just paint the wood around the hearth until we decided what to do with it. He brought over tape, plastic, and paintbrushes.

And Pink Lady went shopping with me and helped me get pillows for the window seat.

Yeah! It's wonderful to have such a great family. Thank you everyone.

Starting to Get the Hang of It

I am happy to say that we are finally getting better at milking. I no longer feel panicked as 4 pm approaches every day and I wonder how, how I am going to get the milk out of the cow's udder and into our milking pail.

First, I called Taci, who we bought the cow from, and said, "I don't think this cow LIKES me. What shall I do??" And Taci gave me some pointers about making milking time a special treat time of the day for the cow. She also told me that the cow loved to be brushed and to spend some extra time brushing her.

The next thing we did was to assign just one person to help me with milking. Prairie Spy was willing and ready to help. So now it is peaceful and quiet back at the barn with just the two of us. Prairie Spy really does all the work. He gives her the grain with kelp and salt mixed into it. He ties her up when she's done with her grain. He brushes her down. He ties her tail on the off side of her with baling twine up to her halter so she doesn't swish us with her tail. He washes her udder. He milks. I take over when his hands get tired and then he finishes up. Then Prairie Spy lets her out to graze and I take the milk up to the house, strain it, put it in a sink full of cold water and ice cubes, and then transfer it to the fridge.

And the milk! The milk is wonderful!

Milking Update

I don't know what I think about having a milk cow. On the one hand I absolutely LOVE her milk. It is creamy, light and delicious. I also love it that I always have good milk whenever I want. I don't have to go to the grocery store for disgusting cooked plastic stuff. I have lovely cream for whipping and I made blueberry ice cream the other night that was divine.

But, everything has its price, right?

Cindy is not easy to milk. I had fairly high confidence in the milking department because we've milked goats for years and years, but this is a whole different animal. Her handles are very small (tiny) and it is taking us about 45 minutes to milk.

At first she was very patient with our incompetence but I think each day gets a bit worse. Instead of us getting better, she's just getting less patient and she's starting to kick and toss her head.

So here are a few pictures of my two non-enthusiastic milkers. I have read that milking time should be peaceful and quiet with no distractions, and this may be part of our problem. We have goats banging against the gate and butting heads. The dog, Jack, is tied up so he won't disturb Cindy and so he usually barks and wants to join the action. We have someone on Kitten alert to grab the various barn cats that want to come try the milk. And then as milk is dribbling down Braeburn's fingers instead of swishing into the pail poor Cindy has to listen to, "I hate this. I hate this so much. Why, Why did we have to get this stupid beast? Oh, I hate smelling like a cow. I'm going to have to take a shower before I go mow lawns... The sound of this milk in the pail is all wrong. It should be gush gush foam foam, and instead it's a little sssshhhhh dribble sound."

Then Golden Delicious takes over and we hear, "I've got so much homework, so much homework. I don't have time to milk the cow. I'll milk my goats but this cow is just too much..."

The days the Spy Twins milk there is less complaining about the cow and more bossing each other around and way too much "expert" advice given freely to the other twin. I will forbear on details, but you get the idea.

So then Mr. Bechtel takes over and I take a turn and then we're finally done and then I wonder why I wake up in the night worried about cows and what to do when Mr. Bechtel goes out of town. And I know now why they say it takes a special family to have a milk cow, and today I'm feeling very average.

Horse Riding

I think I can safely say that the Spy Twins favorite "class" for homeschool is horse riding lessons. Once a week we drive across town and the boys get to ride. Their instructor is excellent and the boys ride several different horses. The first horses they rode were named Spur and Faith, then they were sold so now they're riding Little and Tyrone.

Here's Nova Spy brushing down Little.

And Prairie Spy getting ready to saddle Tyrone.

We can hardly wait for Wednesday Afternoons around here. And to top it all off we usually stop by Reed's Dairy on the way coming home for an ice cream cone.