Posting today is not the Lovely Mama of the Beorningstead, but me, Breakable Bryn!


Your guide through our ice storm, ready to battle wind and snow in my face, to bring you the beauty of ICE.

I was standing in the kitchen this morning helping the beautiful Mama and the obnoxious, but helpful Boy fill jugs with water in case of power outages, when the Mama went outside to check on the Brave Beorn himself, who had been doing chores in the barn for a very long time.

Upon her return the Mama announced that the Daddy was about done but that it was beautiful and scary outside and someone should go take some pictures. and so I promptly finished my toaster strudel (courtesy of the Meemo), and bundled up to brave the wind and ice for a nature photo shoot.

If there is one thing I noticed in my adventure today it was this: if you look out your window in the winter and it looks bright, but not blinding, it is probably just the snow playing tricks on your eyes...

this is what it actually looks like.













Winds were high.
Temperatures were low.
And the ice and snow were so think and heavy that every 3 minutes I heard a crack and then the sound of falling branches. But BOY was it BEAUTIFUL.

When everything is covered in a layer if ice and snow THIS thick:



the world turns into Narnia.



In my adventure I went to great lengths to get some of my pictures, going as far as laying down in the snow just to get a shot of the old hay elevator, and actually walking under a few trees, just to get shots of sow covered branches.


My adventure was truly fruitful, and the ice storm is proving to be a fascinating experience for everyone. Maxx is getting very involved in helping prepare, and he gets all excited about the power going out... You see, the Mama is a worrier and so the last few days have been one big conversation about "When do you think the power will go out?" "We should do this while we still have power." "You're not having school today, come downstairs and help me get ready for the power outage."

Mom knows about Ice Storms. I was 3, almost 4 during the Ice Storm of '98 and we were living in my grandparents' trailer. When the power went out we used a generator that my grandparents had loaned us. But... now I'm not perfectly clear on this point I remember absolutely nothing about this particular event... it seems that the generator did something akin to blowing up...

All I remember about the ice storm is this: we stayed in Gramma + Grampa's house for most of it, and I wore my footie-Pajamas and we used candles for light, and the wood stove to keep warm. And then we didn't get to go back to the trailer for a long time while people cleaned the soot out of all of the walls, and the furniture, and the brown, med.shaggy carpeting, and my stuffed animals.

So far, this time is not half so bad... but it's getting there. There are pictures from the ice storm of '98 of my Uncle (Jonathan, who must have been about 15 during that ice storm) standing on top of rose bushes and briar patches, because they were so frozen solid.

Things aren't quite that frozen, but they're close.


NOW back to the present and my little adventure in the snow today. After rolling around in the snow trying to get that perfect shot of that old elevator, I then stood up and snapped the picture of the grey sky and the tree line
(look back at that second picture of the snow for me, the one where it's all gray, ok?)

And decided to tromp out into the pasture and take a look at everything. I got a couple of panorama shots and a video depicting the absolute intense, beautiful, scary-ness of the world around me.

That venture being successful, I decided to walk about a bit more and take some pictures a little closer to the barn, at which point Svenya and Ruby decided to join me on my expedition, after which I got absolutely no more pictures of anything but cows...


..... Well, we'll keep you posted on how our little ice storm goes, and maybe we'll post the video of me being chased by the girls sometime soon, and hey, if it gets bad enough, maybe we'll start selling "I lived through the Ice Storm Of 2012" Tee-shirts. ;) Happy Ice storm everybody!

How did we get here???

Life has been so busy (and I have been so incompetent) that I haven't posted much here.

Here's a short rundown of events:

Spitfire was adopted by one of Molly's friend's roommates.  I was happy to give him a good home but his mother is still depressed about his absence.  It makes me feel very guilty.  (But not as guilty as I would feel about having him get smucked in the road or freezing to death in the barn or getting an infection in  some cat-fight wound that I can't afford to treat - so it's all good.)

2nd grade is gong as well as can be hoped.  Issues with working memory are making themselves known and ADHD is looking like a potential problem.  Maxx's teachers and special needs coordinators are Awesome, though.  I could not ask for a better team.

 Molly had her pins and plate removed just after Thanksgiving.  Her ankle is doing MUCH better, much less swelling, greater range of motion, no more hobbling, no more sobbing.  Just in time for the musical.  She will be playing Ruth in Pirates of Penzance.  She was hoping for Mabel but her teachers felt that she was the best possible Ruth because she can do comedy and her strong voice has a great range so she can carry Ruth's music off beautifully.  She hopes to be able to sing with the Pirates in the "With Cat-like Tread " number.


Ruby Thursday is HUGE.

Just about as big as her mom - who is ready to be bred again but I keep procrastinating about that.  (Stop reminding me of my failings!)

Ruby is not a dairy cow.  We're not sure what she is.  She's big, red and fuzzy.  She has horns but they are still tiny at 3.5 months and we may have them poled.  She's pretty calm and friendly, loves to have her neck scratched and is almost as greedy as Svenya about grain.  She may end up being the first cow in Jonathan's future beef herd.

Time to run.  Molly has her post-op follow up appointment today to make sure those bones are filling in nicely.

All photos are of Ruby in her first experience with snow.  Taken over Thanksgiving break when we actually had snow for a minute or two.

 - Gets your heart rate up first thing in the morning

 - Burns off a few hundred calories before breakfast

 - Helps justify eating that last half of the Maple frosted doughnut your mother brought over last night

 - Prevents one from lazily sleeping the morning away

 - Encourages family unity because you have to wake up the whole neighborhood to help track her down

 - Gives you a chance to meet more of the neighbors because you must warn early morning commuters of the danger of sudden cow appearances

 - Gives you a brand new, fuller appreciation of the phrase "Stupid Cow"

 - Banishes vanity  because who really cares about parading around in your jammies when you've got a thousand dollar investment and a potential lawsuit scampering loose in the road

 - Provides concrete evidence that the gate IS too hard for the woman of the farm to open by herself in a pinch

 - Guarantees a guilt free afternoon nap

So Svenya is doing fine.  Except that she wants to go outside.  And likes to play with her water bucket.

Last night Bry hung her bucket on the low wall between her house and the pig pen.  Somehow she emptied the bucket (not surprising - I held the bucket while she guzzled three gallons down in about 2 minutes yesterday and then asked for more) and then flipped it over the wall.  I brought out more water this morning, fixed the bucket and filled it.  She sniffed at the water but would not drink it and then tried to lick water out of the empty water carrying bucket and when that wasn't satisfactory, she started attempting to lick my face. 

I think she was trying to show me that her nose wasn't as slobbery as it is supposed to be.

I thought - "Well, I wouldn't want to drink out a bucket that had been hanging in the pig pen all night, either."  So I took down the bucket, to bring it into the house and wash it.  While I was removing the bucket, Svenya was frantic for water and poked me in the back with her horn.  I used my AUTHORITATIVE voice and pushed her away to tell her that wasn't acceptable and she got all sad and frightened.  So I stayed in the barn for a while after taking down the bucket talking to her and scratching her back and ears to show her that I wasn't mad or mean and then took the bucket to the house.

I washed it, re-filled it and dragged it back out.  This is not easy for me because I've got something going on with my right shoulder that's causing lots of trouble.  It may be carpal tunnel, it may be bursitis (my Aunt Minnie had terrible bursitis in her old age) or it may be some old injury that I don't remember.  Either way, my whole Right side has been uncomfortable and knotted up for several weeks now and it is hard to carry a bucket with 5 gallons of water in it when your strong side is weak.  (yes - I will be going to the doctor - just as soon as MB is stable after surgery and school is out.)

The Rejected Bucket

So I haul that water into Svenya's barn and offer it to her.

Nothing doing.  "No, thank you." said Svenya "I know where that bucket has been."

Ya.  I left it there anyway.

She tipped it over.

I brought out a different bucket filled with water because I cannot handle the guilt of leaving a pregnant cow in the barn with no water on an 80+ degree day.  I suspect that I will be hauling lots more water in the next few days.  New fencing for the brook and a barnyard hose are at the top of Bry's to-do list.




....

This is Svenya.  

She does not have a pedigree and came to us as a "Black Jersey"  but I'm going to say she's a Canadienne.  She fits the description of the breed and often the term "Black Jersey" is used for Canadiennes or a cross breed between a Jersey and a Canadienne.

She is small, dark and friendly.  (and much more slobbery than a horse)   She is due to freshen in August.  She has tiny teats but hopefully they will get bigger so that I can milk her.

She arrived yesterday in a trailer pulled by a big truck.  (Maxx was impressed!)  One of Bry's fellow teachers in Heuvelton picked her up at a recent auction and knew that we were wanting a cow.

We were afraid that we would not be able to get a cow for a long time - finances have just been too tight and a heifer ready to freshen is an expensive prospect - usually in the $1,200 -1,800 range.  We thought we might buy a little heifer calf this year but then we would have been waiting over a year for milk because they have to grow up and have a calf before they start milking. 

But by some happy coincidence, Svenya still has her horns so she was a bargain!   (I like the horns - we'll just have to be careful of her moods and pay attention to what she is doing with her head.   That's a good idea even with hornless livestock!)   So far, Svenya feels like another one of those Gifts that we have been given as we try to put this big, crazy plan together.  Things will look bleak - impossible even - and then some unexpected opportunity will present itself and voila!  Another bit of the puzzle falls into place.

Maxx photographed the arrival

 Right now she is bunking in the same building as the pigs.  They seem to like each other.  She would like to be OUTSIDE, though.  When we leave her alone in there, she kicks the wall to say  "Hello?!?   Cow does not wish to be incarcerated!   Cow wants grass in meadow, water in brook, please!"

The horses make way for Svenya.  They seem to like her, too.

This weekend.  We don't want her wandering all through the woods and the meadow just yet as she is new.  We'll make a secure area for her close to the big barn in the next couple of afternoons and then she can go outside during the daytime.  We all know that sun and green grass makes good milk.

I think this makes us real farmers now - or at least real hobby farmers.  Molly has a horse, there are 2 pigs and a cow in a barn and there are 2 feral kittens in the big barn.

There's a lot of work to do.  There is a LOT of junk - dangerous junk - lying around from former owners that we need to clean out of the pig pen, big barn and general environs.  We need to build a milking pen for Svenya - there is an old row of broken stantions in the big barn but I'm sure those will be inappropriate - too open and lose - and we need to prepare a good place for her & her calf to winter in.  The pig barn is too open and drafty - great for pigs in summer but not so good for animals in 20 below weather!

And there's still a lot to do in the house this summer.  Maybe it's good that we are too broke to take a big month-long cross country adventure? 

Sigh.

We didn't make any progress on the Beorningstead last week but we sure had fun.



Monday night's canoe adventure was just the beginning.  We celebrated Bry's birthday at the new house on Tuesday evening.  I made the ugliest birthday cake ever.  (It tasted great, though.) 


The kids ran around a lot.
















Ken made a new friend (I think it's time for Burlington to get Kim's dad stable so she can come home, eh?) 








Gifts were bestowed  (yes, Derek, Linc & Molly - those are climbing holds.  There are plans.)











Babies were bounced. 
















A nest of robins was discovered.
















Wednesday Molly had a concert and Friday was a day of rock climbing and general running wild in the woods. 
















Blogger doesn't like to let me put up ALL of my photos so I'll put some up on Facebook later on this week.  We're loving that new camera!





















........

I just love these cows. 




We're not sure how much longer they will be around as there are rumors that their owners are moving away sometime soon but their presence has me convinced that I will enjoy having livestock.  This livestock is raised in a traditional manner - let out to roam the pasture every day - browsing on whatever tasty thing is growing in season, getting some good sunlight, interacting with each other and with whatever other creatures - human, dog, bird - happen to come along.  They are a  curious (or greedy) lot and always herd themselves over to the fence when one of us steps outside.

This guy is particularly assertive.  He regularly bestows kisses (and slobber) and wanted to taste my camera Saturday. 




















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