Why Don’t He Write?

I’m sure you’re familiar with the movie. Excuse the language at the end.

We haven’t been killed off by the Indians. We are still around. We’ve been working hard on the two littlest people that live here, playing, learning, cleaning and eating. It pretty much sums up our day.

Right now, both girls are sleeping and I’m surrounded by an exploding dress up box, Clara’s random toys scattered around on the floor and a new princess castle tent (Thanks Aunt Donna!) standing guard over all of it.

Four loads of laundry haven’t been folded, there is a load in the dryer, a load in the washer and I still have two loads to go. There were a few “accidents” yesterday that put laundry day behind. I haven’t even made it to the dishwasher yet.

I also have some homemade yeast rolls rising on top the warm dryer, the rest of the week of planning for “homeschool” to finish, the rest of the month’s baby food to make and bathrooms to clean at some point.

And it’s still cold….in the negatives cold….and the “feels” like in the double negatives. It’s beginning of February and it will be this way until March. We’ve been told it will be a little warmer then. Until April. In April we’ll get a little more snow…until May…then a little more and things will start thawing out by Memorial Day. Most gardens can be planted around the last of May and the beginning of June. Then it will get hot in July and August….triple digits. September will bring a very short fall with a few days of snow mixed in. The middle of October we will get our first real snow and winter will have begun all over again.

We did have a few days of the temps being in the high thirties and low forties. It feels like spring when that happens. The snow melted off the deck/porch and we got to play outside for long periods of time…sometimes twice a day.

(at the local Archeological site playground. People stand in line on January 1^st to get camping spots for the upcoming summer. It’s only three miles away from our house.)

(inside snow play. When’s it was too cold to go outside to play in the snow during our winter unit, we made our own out of shaving cream and cornstarch.)

(Writing her name. She looks thrilled, but it was a big accomplishment for her.)

(static electricity is always fun to play with)

(sledding with friends, their papa and Goose the dog is always fun too.)

(Clara working on her pincher grasp and standing up in a walker)

(moving cows. Looking North. Bighorns to the east and Rockies to the west.)

(Helping move cows down the road. In late December. Ruby likes saying “Come on, girls!”)

(Working a few cows through the chutes. A few days ago.)

(Ruby the Horse looking out from her stall.)

(frozen pastures and pretty colors)

(more inside snow…much nicer and warmer to play with)

(Eating…we do a good bit of it.)

(Dissecting deer poop during our forest unit. She’s wearing a deer mask)

(the little mamas crossed the frozen creek and ended up in our yard for a little while. The snow melted for a few days but came back shortly after this picture.)

There isn’t a shortage of things to do around here. On the ranch, they are busy getting ready for calving. Two weeks ago, they rounded up the seasoned 600 mamas on 10,000 acres and moved them 10 or so miles back toward the ranch. They are hanging out on a few hundred acres until next week when they’ll move them the rest of the way back to the ranch. They’ll stay over here until calving is done.

The younger, first time mamas are now in the pasture in front of our house. They will begin calving the last few weeks of February. When they start, everyone will start checking on them every two hours. All the workers will go on different schedules to make sure the mamas and babies are not having any trouble.

Wooster has been busy doing maintenance on all the trucks, tractors and other equipment for the ranch. He and some others are also rearranging the shop, processing some new tools, putting out hay and checking on the bulls. The girls are busy mucking out the stable, checking on water levels, busting ice and fixing fences.

With all that going on, I’m sure you’ve thought “Why don’t she write?”