getting things done

i spent the afternoon cutting down unwanted trees from our shaded pasture. i left all of the large trees, dogwoods and persimmon trees. i cut all of the huge grape vines plaguing the remaining trees and all of the dead wood i could manage. what remains are more than a dozen huge trees, two or three persimmon and a couple dozen dogwood trees. there is about a cord of wood sitting waiting to be stacked. i'll leave it stacked in the woods until next fall. it will be lighter once dried for a season.

this area is next in the queue to get fenced. this will be an alternate pasture for nimue. the barn is situated immediately between both pastures and will be easily accessible for milking and shelter.

tabitha started thirty six cabbage plants and a bunch of onions. everyone suggests that we'll have better luck buying onion sets when planting time happens but we have to learn some lessons for ourselves. we still plan to buy sets because a family like ours can never have enough onions. only one of bob's fluorescent lights worked. so i'll take it back and hope for better luck next time.

i am getting excited for spring and the garden. there is too much to do between now and spring. i need to cut enough wood for next winter. i want to finish the root cellar to act as a storm shelter before spring tornado season hits. i'd like to get the barn completely ready for the walls.

we have changed gears on the barn. since nimue is just-now getting bred back we have time to do the barn with straw-bale walls, earthen and lime plaster and skip using the steel siding. it will be a great test for our intended addition which we dream to do in straw-bale also. the barn will be a much better structure this way and we like the idea of straw-bale better.

sometimes i get down because of the amount of work that we hope to get done in the near future. i have to make a forced effort to look back and reflect upon all that we have accomplished. i get so caught up in trudging forward with the next project and several emergency fires that pop-up that i forget to notice that we are actually making real progress.

we were gifted some new mattresses. i seem to sleep better than i did on our futon. i have hardly wake in the middle of the night since their arrival. the house warming fire suffers a bit since it is barely embers after a long nights sleep. i imagine i need the "real-rest" that i am getting now. maybe i'll go back to my normal schedule once my body gets caught up.

tristan is trying so hard to read. the other morning he attempted to spell out everything that he would try to say to me. it was very impressive. of course he didn't spell much correctly but i knew what he was trying to convey. kassi is my wonderful princess. most times i forget that she is only two. she is her very own person and has a presence far beyond her years. toly is growing like a weed--a chubby weed. he weighs twenty pounds and is so tall that his special baby back carrier doesn't support his head any longer. he wants to play with the older kids so desperately that it tortures him. he adores both his siblings. he looks at them with such desire and connection that i fear we'll have another torturously early walker. kassi walking at seven months was too painful to watch and i don't know if i can bare to watch another of my children force their will so feverishly as to bruise their bottom from the repetitive stand and fall that occurred constantly for weeks before success was met. kassi and tristan love toly they continuously engage him and affirm their sibling bond.

stopping milking bothers tabitha a little now and then but this is the best time to get nimue bred back. besides, milking in the dark cold morning has to suck. she is suffering without dairy. milk, cheese, cream in the coffee, sour cream, the list goes on and on. it is surprising how little is made without milk. my sympathy really goes out for her sacrifice.