The Farm Report

Category: Shep

  • We got a tree!

    We got a tree!

    112809_01

    112809_02

    112809_03

    112809_04

    112809_05

    112809_06

    112809_08

    112809_09

    112809_10

    112809_11

    December is our busiest time of year. The press is cranking non-stop, we’re shipping and printing and photographing and on and on. Needless to say, last year the days got away from us, and suddenly it was almost Christmas and we had no tree. We went one day after school on a cold and gloomy day. Hardly the holiday event I had hoped for.

    This year, we were determined to get it done early. It was beautiful weather. The kids were in (mostly) good moods. We all agreed on a tree almost immediately. (We even picked one out for my parents to save them a trip.) There was even photographically documented skipping from Neko.

  • Uncovered

    Uncovered

    111509_01

    111509_02

    Last week you wouldn’t have noticed this structure was here. It was buried behind overgrown honeysuckle and filled with decades of the previous owner’s junk.

    We think it’s an old corn crib. We’ve been spending the last two weekends, between biking and playing in the unseasonably amazing weather, unearthing it.

    We still have some work to do on it. Hauling away the remaining junk. Tearing down the partial fence that sits in front of it. Getting rid of the two ton concrete sink we found inside (that’s going to require the tractor).

    But come spring, once we get it all fixed up, we might just find some folks to live in there. Some little things that go “cluck cluck”.

  • Best laid plans

    Best laid plans

    111309_02

    I have this ten pounds I struggle with. (Well, really it’s 20, but there’s this ten that’s actually attainable without too much effort, and that other 10 is like training for the Olympics.) I’m at the point where I’ve gained back the ten, and it’s time to hunker down and lose them again. My pants are too tight, and I refuse to buy the next size up.

    We eat fairly well around here, but exercise tends to come in fits and spurts. When I can moving on a regular basis, that ten pounds comes back off. And it’s time. But mornings have been crazy and Shep doesn’t nap anymore.

    So I think, “He’s four. Surely he can be trusted enough to stay in his room for quiet time.” So today we talk, into his room he goes, and I go downstairs to attempt 30 minutes on the spinning bike.

    I heard an awful lot of footsteps during quiet time, but I figured we’d have a stern talk when I finished, because, oh, my pants don’t fit. At minute 23, Shep appears in front of the bike with noticeably wet hair.

    “I accidentally put lotion in my hair.”

    I see that, my friend. All over every strand of your hair.

    I sigh. Finish my last seven minutes, and off to the shower we go.

    And this is why I will never have six pack abs.

  • Buddies

    Buddies

    111009_01

    With work being so crazy, and technically only working one day a week, something had to give.

    That thing has been any free moment I have when I’m at home. And, unfortunately, this is coming out of my parenting hours. Specifically, that quiet time while Ellery sleeps and I could be hanging with Shep.

    Now that things have slowed down (a bit), I’m vowing to close the laptop in the early afternoon and book a bit of time with my middle child.

    Today? Board games! We started with the snowman game (which I’d link to if I could find it anywhere), and then on to The Orchard. Both are Haba games, which I can’t say enough amazing things about.

    I’m enjoying this brief respite before all the crazy of the holidays kicks in and any sense of schedule and free time gets thrown to the wolves.

    But in the meantime? Yay, snowmen!

  • Rainbow

    Rainbow

    110609_01

    110609_02

    Shep created this rainbow today. It’s the first time he’s discovered making whirls and swirls out of Model Magic. Could not be more proud, that one.

  • Mirror image

    Mirror image

    110109_02

    Oh, how I adore that Shep. I adore him so much that I’m posting this atrocious photo (I’m not even sure there is a focal point). But have you seen how fun this is? Lego mirror images constructed first in Duplo and then in traditional Lego.

  • To the Big City

    To the Big City

    103009_01

    103009_02

    103009_03

    103009_04

    It’s been a miserable week.

    While everyone is finally healthy, work has crashed down on me. I have been at war with a printer. Not the small, desktop kind, but the big professional corporate kind.

    I don’t even want to go into it, but it involves a whole of me screaming and yelling at people over the phone. And they’re people who don’t really deserve to be yelled at, but they are my representatives to The Organization. Young children, who were likely in diapers when I learned to use Photoshop. Yet, they’re attempting to school me in it.

    And somewhere in between there was me doing a really crappy job at everything else in my life, including motherhood, Halloween preparation, parades, and field trips.

    I came out of the week knowing that I ache for people whose lives are that stressful all the time, and I understand why they keel over prematurely from a massive heart attack. I can’t take that kind of stress on a daily basis.

    I also know that I need more of the good stuff. Much more.

    Friday was one of our last glorious days, and I was facing it solo. So I made plans to pick up Neko from school and head to the Big City. Mary Beth and her mom, Nancy, jumped in as an unexpected bonus. We traveled down to the purple bridge. Hiked across. Played. Laughed. Hiked back. We tried to get a table at the pizza place, but the wait was too long. So we took our order to go, and ate outside, listening to a live musician.

    Not much pizza was eaten. Neko and Mary Beth ran and swung around in a way I remember so clearly from my youth. The decibels were a little much for Shep, who planted himself firmly in my lap. But Ellery? She danced her can off, the whole night, without a break for pizza.

    In the future? Less yelling at 24-year-old printing reps. More of this kind of goodness.

  • Fall

    Fall

    102209_01

    102209_02

    102209_03

    102209_04

    102209_05

    102209_06

    102209_07

    102209_08

    102209_09

    102209_10

    I adore fall.

    And after our week-long stint with the flu and the accompanying quarantine, I was afraid we had missed it.

    A few days ago I tried to drag all the kids out for a fall walk and the hopes that I might snap a few photos. Apparently all of us, me included, weren’t quite out of our grouchy flu funk yet. Mission aborted.

    But today I managed to get out Shep and Ellery. And for a brief stint, they let me snap a few photos. And then demanded I put the camera away and take them to the library.

    I’ll take what I can get.

  • Yahtzee!

    Yahtzee!

    101809_01

    Yahtzee has been big around here lately. Neko has been playing at school, as it teaches counting, addition, and the beginnings of probability. She's got crazy good luck, and crushed me the other night with two Yahtzees and a complete lower section of her score card. Meanwhile, I was crossing out categories as I failed to perform.

    I know this is a terrible photo, but I thought that especially Anne
    would appreciate this moment. Having mastered the game, Neko has decided to teach Ellery and Shep how to play.