A surprise spring lamb

One of the Merino ewes produced an adorable lamb, the morning we left for San Diego. She is adorable and we named her Elizabeth.

Today is Sunday lunch and we are eating lamb chops....Icelandic lamb chops. Great meat, without that "mutton" taste that puts most people off.

A quick Trip

Last week, I decided on a whim, to drive to Camp Pendleton, CA and spend a weekend of Liberty, and then graduation, with my son, David. He was graduating from MCT at Camp Pendleton, before moving onto his MOS at 29 Palms, CA. We packed up Xander, and Johanna and I drove 17 hours with a GPS unit. "Tim" guided us all the way there and back.

It was so wonderful to see David. He had lost more weight, with all the training, and was a bit more grown up. He and I share a birthday, and today, he is 21 years old. I looked at the Marines graduating on Tuesday and was again amazed. Our freedom, everything we hold dear, is in the hands of these boys. Ok, men... I talked to a few of them and resisted the urge to mother them all. Other mother's sons! I love them all.

David had to have a buddy to leave camp on liberty and so Ryan Young joined us. His mother, Heather, is also South African. Ryan was a sweetheart. We had lots of fun and the boys compared notes on being raised by South African mothers, lots of kicked rear ends...lol.

On Tuesday, after graduation, we put our sons on their buses, to the airport, 29 Palms etc. It was sad, heartbreaking to watch them leave again. But so proud of our young men and what they had accomplished. David graduated Squad Leader. Good job, my son. Semper Fidelis! OORAH!!!

Too many mothers!

I really love summer and having my children home from school but...they are a bunch of mothers. They are soooooo bossy! So I say "if you want to be Mother you get to do everything that I do. Cooking, cleaning, laundry included!"

Petting Zoo went well. Norman sat down on his rear end in front of the horse trailer, the first time it came to loading him but by the fourth loading he had it figured out, especially when he felt the rope tighten around his rump.

The lambs were so sweet but did not appreciate being taken from their mothers each day. But, the piglets were the hands down favorites. We had the piglets and lambs in the same pen and the piglets tease the lambs and then the minute the piglets crash, the lambs get them back. Just like kids!

Baseball and theatre and a donkey named Norman...

The three younger boys have had games every night, not all at the same time but at least two at a time. It is a hoot to watch and sometimes...painful to watch. Gabriel got hit in the cheek and the stitching imprinted on his cheekbone. He is such a tiny kid and so determined to do anything any of his bigger brothers do. He came for a hug with tears on his cheek and then took off to play more.

Then, all six of the younger bunch have been involved in Theatre camp and tonight were the performances. Mrs Stumme, you are a peach and such a jewel. Jacob, Joseph and Miriam were Directors for K - 6 and then Miriam performed and sang with the Jnr High bunch. Excellent performances, I am so proud of them all.

Tomorrow and Saturday, we will be hauling lambs, piglets, and our miniature donkey, Norman over to Valleywide for the petting zoo. We might take our cow, Klippie, too but we'll see what sort of mood she is in tomorrow. We will start bright and early because we will have to bathe the three piglets, Spare Ribs, Pork Chop and Bay Con. We have had bucketfuls of rain and the pigs do love the mud. "Awful" doesn't begin to describe how they smell.

Norman is such a cute donkey and this Christmas, in our live nativity, he is Mary's ride. He is about a foot shorter than a normal donkey and he is red. Norman loves to be brushed. I will take photos at the petting zoo, tomorrow, and post them.

Yesterday, I was chatting to the checker at Walmart, an old time farmer. We were talking about the weather and the animals and so I jokingly asked: "You don't think my sheep will start to mold, with all the rain, do you?" His look of shock was priceless. He was still shaking his head, as I pushed my cart away.

Hope it doesn't rain for two days....I'm starting to sprout mushrooms on my back!

Crazy Month!

This past month was absolutely crazy. All the lambs were born, foals were born, piglets and ducklings had to be housed, garden had to be planted. We went to San Diego to get David and sent him off again. And then Caleb, Joshua and Gsbriel are in baseball, which is almost every evening, between the three teams. Actually it is all great fun.

Plants are growing, lambs are doing very well, and the duckings and piglets are so cute. We had two foals born but one was a Dummy Foal and after milking out his mom, Rose, and feeding him for a day, he died when we tried to insert an IV to hydrate him. Heartbreaking. We named him Cola, because he was very interested in my Coke. Watching Rose recover from his death and a rough birth, was hard, she really mourned her colt.
The Malaika, or Malley for short, delivered and little filly. Lulu, Swahili for Pearl,is a palomino paint, and was up and tearing around in minutes, stomping her foot when the milk wasn't there fast enough. She loves to play in the rain.

We only lost one lamb. His mother, Rosebud, also prolaspsed, but is doing well now. So we have been very blessed.

Our visit with David was so wonderful. He was here for two weeks and it was so wonderful that it was
really tough to have him leave. He is Squad Leader now, at Pendleton and it sounds like his men love him. This Friday, they have a ten mile hike, in full gear and he says he is hydrating efficiently so that he will do well.

I love spring, we are surrounded by miracles, new life and green! Here on the river, we are blessed with alot of greenery but as the summer moves along, we are reminded that we do live in a desert.