I took Henry on a 5 hour, 30 mile 4 wheeler ride today – his first long ride ever.  We had a great time and he was a great rider.  We stopped at the spot on the trail where Delia and I always stop and looked for blueberries, but for all the bushes we saw, there were almost no berries.  It seems to be a bad year for them.  We did sit by the little brook and had a nice lunch though.  After that we kept going, and had another stop at the Stony River.  We went down to the water on both sides of the bridge, and climbed on the rocks.  Henry had fun playing with the minnows.  We kept going and made it to the little Birch Lake cut off trail, and then turned back.  Not long after I noticed Henry’s helmet getting pretty wobbly.  Finally he completely conked out and I held onto him until I found some shade.  We stopped, and he had a nap right on the seat.  I let him sleep for a while but then I heard thunder in the distance, and since we were still a long way from home, I figured I’d better wake him and get moving.  The whole way back I had to stop every few miles and let him take a drink and walk around a bit because he’d start to doze off, and it’s hard to hold onto his head with one hand and control the machine with the other.  We got sprinkled on a bit for the last few miles, and then as soon as we got back to the car it started pouring.  One final stop at the gas station for a beef stick for Henry (or as he calls them, “meat bars”) and that was it.  Fun day.

I really need to work on this site more!

Delia and I spent Thurs – Sat on Basswood Lake with our neighbors.  The weather was pretty bad but we had a good time and Delia wanted to stay out another night.  Delia caught a walleye and ate it!

Henry and I went fishing today for the first time today.  I caught a 20″ largemouth on Johnson Lake – my biggest bass ever (at least in MN).  Emily and I worked hard to get rid of the leaks in the boat and it worked.  Not a single drop came through.  The motor performed well but did have one instance of surging / bogging.  I’ll keep an eye on it.

The big news is our house addition which is moving along, though it feels like it’s going slowly.  That’s just how this type of thing goes, and I think we’re finally getting very close to starting demolition and construction.  We can’t wait!

Joe and Bev were here and we did some work reclaiming our land from the onslaught of brush.  We bought a device called a brush grubber, which is basically a clamp with teeth that grabs onto small trees so you can yank them out by the roots.  It works great.  We cleared a lot and Emily mowed and now the land across the driveway is looking great.  We planted three apple trees and a cherry tree over there.  Some day maybe we’ll have a nice orchard there.

Henry is speaking more clearly but he still has a ways to go.  He’s so talkative and it’s adorable.

Delia and I made a trip to Nama’s house, and Delia did great – Nama made sure of that by spoiling the heck out of her.  :)  They had a day in Chicago and went to the American Girl store, where Delia adopted Felicity.

My garage is really taking shape.  We can almost fit a car in there now.  :)

We lost two cats in a short time.  Harvi developed liver disease and Coby had cancer (or something – we’re not sure).  It was sad and we miss them, but 3 is a more manageable number of cats in one house.

Emily and I went to the dump today, and literally took more than we dumped.  We came home with some good 2×6 boards that will be great for a restraining chute for Brad so we can cut his nails (he’s very nervous when we touch his feet) and also hay loft railings, an old ironing board for setting plants on (Emily pulled that out of the scrap pile), some good steel for welding practice and projects, two bikes for parts so I can fix some things that are wrong with Delia’s, concrete blocks for new steps for the chicken coop, some really cool old rock drill bits from a mine, and some other cool stuff.  We also got a really beautiful old wringer washer that’s now sitting in our back yard, hiding our ugly well head.  The cost of all this was getting yelled at by the dump staff for various rule infractions.  They really take stuff seriously over there, and while there are a lot of rules, none are actually posted, so the only way to learn the proper procedure is to get yelled at for doing it wrong.

So now Emily likes the dump almost as much as I do.  When we got home, Delia ran out and said “what did you bring home from the dump?!”  She knows the score.

The weather since we’ve been back has been amazingly warm.  It’s nice that we’re having an early spring, but it cut snowmobiling season short, and I only got one short ride in.  Emily rode with me for the first time ever!  We went to Giants Ridge for lunch, cruised around Wynne Lake a little, and then rode home.  That was it for me for the whole season, though it was a very nice ride.

As of today, the driveway is almost completely clear of snow, and large portions of the yard are too.  Everything is really muddy and wet, but in another week or so I bet it’ll be nice and dry.  Of course, as soon as that happens we’ll probably get two more feet of snow.

A couple weeks ago, Henry and I took my Dad’s truck to Virginia to have lunch and get a yard cart that was on sale.  I’ve been wanting one since we moved here, and now we finally have one.  Henry helped me put it together, and he really did help – he handled a socket wrench like a pro and together we got the axle bolted on to the cart body.  My 4 wheeler doesn’t have a trailer hitch of any kind, so after much thought and a great suggestion from instructables.com, I made one out of muffler clamps and a steel l-shaped bracket.  It was a bit of a tricky welding job, but I got it done and after some use it seems to be holding.  Welding is hard.  There are so many variables to figure out in order to get a good weld.  With this project I winged it, and while it does seem to be holding, the welds are far from good.  My problem was mostly getting sort of a hollow bead.  Instead of having a nice smooth fill, it’s like there’s a groove in the bead, so it almost looks like two small beads.  I think it may be due to using too much current, but it might have also been the angle at which I held the rod, and the motion I used.

My Mom stayed with us for a week and the kids had such a great time with her, as did we.  She got to meet Brad, the goats, and the horses for the first time, and she stayed at the great B&B near our house.  The weather was gorgeous so we even got to spend some time outside.  She also provided babysitting duties so Emily and I took a super romantic trip to the dump.  She even rode on the back of the four wheeler while Delia and Henry rode Sancho down the road.  Sancho did great – especially since he hasn’t been saddled since last fall.  We had some nice meals out, and she got to see Delia’s big ice skating show!  Delia did great, by the way.

We got 6 big round bales from Dale.  It was quite a chore to get them off the trailer.  The other round bales we got rolled right off, but these were SUPER heavy.  With his help, we finally got it done.  They’re all scattered about and I’ll have to get my tractor running to move them around.  Delia is having fun climbing and jumping on them.  She calls it Haytown.

We had a bit of sadness too.  Two of our chickens had apparently been sitting in some water late in the day, and ended up getting frozen to the ground.  Hypothermia claimed them during the night and I found them in the morning, stuck to the ground.  :(  We had thought about getting chicks this year and then decided against it, but now we’re going to since we only have 4 layers left.  I think we’re going to get six – two white leghorns, an easter egger or two, maybe a black australorp, and I’m not sure what else.

Delia had her first baseball practice tonight!  It was very spur of the moment.  Our neighbor came over and told us baseball was starting tonight (her husband is the coach, which is great since Delia knows him).  Delia said she wanted to try it, so we did.  It’s VERY informal, and I’m going to be helping out at practices.  The coach pitches and batters get 5 strikes.  The kids range in age from 3 to about 7.  Delia got a hit on her second pitch.  Games are Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:00, and there are 8 away games.  Who knows how long she’ll stick with it, but for now she’s excited.  She wanted to practice hitting when we came home today.

We went to Virginia to get cattle panels to make a movable goat grazing pen, and blades for the lawn mower.

Henry rolled his 4 wheeler today.  He’s fine, but he was scared!  He took it down the road himself and when Emily realized he was gone, she saw him walking back by himself, crying.  He went off into the ditch.  Hopefully now he’ll know his limitations!

The goats are doing fine, and we’re really getting a kick out of them.  They’re all doing well with the bottle now, and they really suck it down.  We’ve gone through four gallons already.  Cowboy still isn’t very fond of them, but the plan is to slowly get them to be friends, so the goats can move in with him.  They love to climb on their little spool in their stall, and on the gravel pile outside.  They get to the top and then head butt each other off.  Moon is still a little scared of me – some times more than others – but Cosmo is very friendly now, and Banjo is almost friendly to a fault.  They love to be out on the yard, and they stay right near us and follow us around.

I’ll make a better version of this after I shoot a little more video of him riding, but for now:

The sun is shining, the temperature is perfect, there’s no big wind.  Geese visit in the pond and honk when we get close.  Cowboy the pony is a pony!  In our yard!  Delia’s building – a stool out of wood, and various tools and weapons and toys out of sticks and string.  Caveman style.  Henry’s drawing with chalk on the driveway or zooming around on his four wheeler.

Ryan’s putting new handles on our Freecycle wheelbarrow, or putting a latch on Cowboy’s fence, or changing the oil in the lawnmower, or zooming around on a four wheeler.   I’m pulling grass out of the flower garden, feeding Cowboy carrots while I try to comb his mane, or zooming around on the lawnmower.

Sure, we’re kind of harried chasing the kids and animals around, and the house is a mess because we come in to eat and head right back outside again.  But overall, the past few days I’ve almost constantly been thinking how wonderful it is to live out here.

The kids and I spent the day outside yesterday, enjoying the beautiful weather.  We played in the sandbox, stumped in puddles, rode bikes, and rode the 4 wheeler.  Delia took pictures with her new (our old) digital camera.  We saw an eagle, and ducks in the neighbor’s pond.  I spent some time working on getting the swing set installed, and I even successfully welded one leg.

This morning I saw a pair of geese fly over the pond.  They chose to keep moving, but once more of it’s thawed I’m sure we’ll have visitors.

Chickens are all together in an mostly finished coop, completely with little chicken chute tunnel to get through the fence into the run!  We have a bulb on a timer so we’re getting 5-7 eggs a day (from 11 hens) and Ryan’s doing finishing touches like hanging the water/food, getting the deep layer of shavings in for winter, etc.  Today he put the heater in to keep them toasty.

Chubby stopped eating for a few days, so we took him to the vet.  They were pretty sure he had eaten something like thread or yarn and recommended a few days of lubrication therapy (smearing Vaseline behind his teeth), but it didn’t work to dislodge the blockage.  He went in for successful surgery Friday and stayed there over the weekend – we’ll pick him up tomorrow.  They found thread, ribbon and other assorted non-food bits in him.  He’s been chewing on weird stuff (Crocs and the spongey floor tiles I have by my workbench) for months – I don’t know if he’s been trying to fix the problem or his stupidity of chewing on everything finally caught up with him.

The vet asked about Lucy while we were there.  (Lucy had been really skinny in the spring, but is fine now.)  I happened to mention her leaking problem, which it turns out is a common (12%) issue in spayed females.  Lucy is now on estrogen pills (1 per day for 5 days, then weekly for maintenance) and so far it appears to be working!  Yay!

The washing machine is broken.  The spring that we thought would fix it, didn’t – well, not completely.  Now we are trying to figure out if we should buy another part and try to fix it, or have someone who may know what they’re doing come out and see what’s going on.  The dryer still works, so we have just been taking 2-3 loads to the Babbitt Laundromat when we’re going there anyway, then we dry them at home.

Delia’s started ice skating lessons again.  She’s in Basic 2 now, and it didn’t take long for her to get her skates under her.  She’s getting more confidence about reading, loves thinking about numbers and space.  In the past few days she’s made a few books “for Henry to learn,” decorated some bookmarks, and has been into Rainbow Fairy series books and the website.  She’s the “firemaster” when we have fires, which means she helps get them started, keeps them going, and sticks long wooden skewers in, chars them, writes her name on the logs in the fireplace, and holds them by Henry for him to blow out.

Henry’s dancing, jumping, and as Delia says “always into something.”   He loves Bob the Builder and Oswald.  He is saying lots of words but is even better at communicating by pointing, pushing and pulling.  He’s very patient and nods yes or no until we know what he wants.

The back windshield wiper on the car broke several months ago, and we had it in to a dealership but they haven’t ordered the part yet and now apparently it’s trying to to come back to life even when the car is off and it keeps draining the battery.  I’m heading to Ely tomorrow and I’m probably not going to turn the car off the entire time I’m there, just in case it won’t start again.  It’ll be just like the time on a roadtrip when my starter was broken and I drove from St Charles Louisiana to Tampa without turning the bus off.

We keep getting dustings of snow, but haven’t had enough to start riding the snow machines.  The pond is freezing up nicely, I think we’ll be able to skate on it soon.  Last year we did on Thanksgiving so maybe we’ll do that again this year.

Ryan and Delia are on Grassy Lake.  They drove to the lake and paddled to a campsite.  Here are two pictures they sent from the cell phone.