I drove up to Ely this morning to pick up Bryan in order to move some stuff out of storage.  We got his sled to his house, and two boxes of potties to ours.  After we unloaded the potties, we loaded up the quads and headed for Babbitt.  We had a blast riding the often underwater Stony Spur Trail.  We didn’t make it to Mattila’s Shelter, where we planned on going, but instead took a detour toward Birch Lake.  That trail was absolutely gorgeous and extremely rough, winding through huge pine stands and giant rocky cliffs.  We never made it to Birch Lake though, because one stretch of wet trail was too deep to ride through.  I gave it a shot, but finally had to stop, reach down into the water with my hand to shift into reverse, and back up.  We rode home and had dinner with Brianna and their kids at our house.

The chickens are spending more time in their run (not their idea), which I outfitted with some deer netting over the top to keep Foghorn from escaping.  We’re keeping them in there more often so that we can let the dogs out during the day without more “conflict”.  They still get out quite a bit though, and every morning I find them waiting by the door, hoping to be sprung.  When they’re out they still roam quite a bit, but they spend more and more time in the barn, away from the cold wind.  They like to dig holes in there and roll around, and also climb on my snowmobiles.  Their egg laying has dropped off a bit, I guess due to the colder weather.  The two buff hens have grown feathers back on their shoulders, so they no longer have those ugly red spots.

We’ve been trying to save fruit and veggie scraps for them, and they’re always very excited when we give them some.  When I dump the bowl out, they peck a little at each different item until they find what they like best.  They eat all of those, and then move on to the rest.

Their new run is pretty much done, but I still need to extend the top of the gate and cover it with mesh.  We need to get going on their new indoor coop, but there’s so much other stuff to do we never seem to find the time.

In other bird news, I decided to start filling our bird feeder again, because the chickadees are still around.  They’re still feeding quite a bit, but there are fewer than there were a month ago.  I saw a pair of goldfinches on the feeder yesterday, but they’re pretty rare now.

Delia went to Black Birch Ranch today.  She started on Cowboy, then became the first person ever to ride another young pony named Deevers!  She did a great job.  After that, Emily got to ride a full-sized horse named Ernie, and when she was done, Delia got to ride him back to the tack shop, where Nora groomed him before putting him away.

Why does it take so many days to prepare to leave? And then we still often leave a day later than we originally plan. And still don’t get everything done before we go. This time we planned on leaving Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. We left about 6 pm on Friday. It worked out fine though. Driving at night is SO the way to go! We got to DeForest WI around 1 AM and checked in to a hotel.

We woke up early, got breakfast at the hotel, and I took Delia and Henry to the pool. After a while, Henry needed to nap so Ryan took Delia back to the pool while I put Henry down and took a shower. We all got dressed up went to Garrett and Megan’s wedding. The drive from the hotel to the church was on farm roads and we got to witness lots of cool farming – harvesting, corn picking, haybaling, great tractors and all.

The ceremony was nice – we sat in the way way back and Ryan took Henry out about two minutes into it. Delia and I whispered a lot of the time, figuring out everything that was going on. We stood up and sat down three times I think, and by the third time Delia was done – she said “this is silly, I’m not doing it.” She stayed sitting and dissected the wedding program to make her own card and drew pictures of birds, inspired by the stained glass dove, on a Pew Envelope. We think the word “pew” is very silly.

We drove around looking for a Wal-Mart or Target. People who don’t like Wal-Marts and Targets should move to Madison, Wisconsin because even though we drove around for well over an hour all over the place, we happened upon neither. We did stop at a flea market and spent $85 on various junk including lots of Avon aftershave in very interesting glass bottles. We ended up going to Walgreens for almost everything on our list, and will have to get some Packers outfits for the kids on our way back through Wisconsin next weekend.

Delia and Ryan danced up a storm at the reception. I was out in the hallway walking Henry, so I hope to see the video someday.

The dogs were troopers, hanging out in the car during all this. We drove to Crystal Lake without incident, and crashed at Nama’s and Papa’s around 11:30 pm.

Chris and Thea came up this past week to park their camper at their land. On the way up the camper’s skylight broke. After several aborted attempts at repairing it, we found a metal paint tray at L&M which Chris modified to fit over the hole. They parked the camper in our barn and slept there until the repairs were made and then spent the night at their land.

Chris and I did a whole bunch of fun things. We got a lot of rain, so when it would let up a bit, the obvious thing to do was to ride the quads through the muddy field. If you haven’t sloshed through a puddle on a 4 wheeler, you haven’t lived. We did a little bit of shooting too. Chris hooked up the mower to the tractor and cut some grass, which I think he thoroughly enjoyed, and he went above and beyond both helping me put up the new chicken run fence, and also getting our garage door fixed. We even took the new Phazer (snowmobile) out for a spin in the back yard since the grass was nice and wet.

One night after dark he was out near the pond and saw what he believed to be wolves – one running by and then two sets of glowing eyes looking at him. It’s both neat and not so neat.

One of the chores we did was to scoop the ash out of the wood boiler. I planned on putting it in my tractor’s bucket and then driving it out into the field and dumping it, which should have worked out well except for the rain and standing water. My tractor doesn’t like to run when it’s wet, and sure enough, I made it out into the muck and it quit. There was about 9″ of standing water between me and high ground, so Chris got on one of the 4 wheelers and drove out to rescue me. A few days later when it had stopped raining for a few hours, Chris went out to try to start the tractor while I walked Henry to sleep. Henry finally zonked out and I went outside just in time to see Chris triumphantly driving the purring tractor into the yard. The only problem was the quad was still out in the swampy field, I had a baby on me so I couldn’t drive him out there on the other quad to retrieve it. Or so I thought. Henry seemed pretty well asleep, so I figured if I was really careful, I might be able to pull it off. I got on and started it (luckily they run pretty quiet), Chris got on the back, and I drove through the bumpy swamp with a sleeping baby tied on to my chest. He never stirred at all. It was his first 4 wheeler ride, and he slept through the whole thing.

On Tuesday the 9th we went to an auction in Embarrass. I wanted to go because they had a welder for sale, but also lots of other good stuff. Unfortunately that day was cold, rainy, and windy, and Delia and Louisa only lasted a few minutes before they wanted to leave. Luckily (or unluckily?) the welder was one of the first items, and I made off with it for the bargain price of $45. It’s a 185 amp Lincoln, and I’m not sure of the exact year it was made, but I found a manual for it on ebay with a date on it of 1949. Judging by the looks of it, that’s probably about right. The thing weighs a TON. We took it apart and took stock on what needed to be replaced, cleaned, and fixed. We got several parts for it at L&M, including some classic red hammered finish spray paint to dress the old machine up a bit. I went right to work painting it, and let me tell you, even if it never welds anything, it sure looks pretty. I’m still working on getting it to actually work, but I’m optimistic.

The kittens are out of their boxes most of the time now, and running around the room playing and tormenting the mothers. The two mothers share nursing duty, which the Ely Vet Clinic told us is fine. One day I saw seven of them nursing on Blackie at one time. The cutest thing is when the moms finally get the babies to go to sleep and then they quietly jump out of the box and have some alone time. Delia is still planning on keeping “Chubby Cat” though the second one she wants changes. Usually it’s Blackie (the kitten blackie, not to be confused with the adult cat Blackie or the chicken Blackie), but occasionally it’ll be a different one. We’re still not sure we want to keep two, but we’ll see. Henry giggles when he sees the kittens, and once he even picked one up and tried to put it in his mouth! I wish I had it on video. Delia loves the kittens and she’s really good with them (most of the time).

In case I haven’t mentioned it, if anybody wants kittens, just holler.

More rain off and on all day today.  Henry woke at 7 am.  Delia slept until 10 am.  When I realized Delia wasn’t going to be up in time to go to ECFE, I called in to say we weren’t coming.  So we hung around the house until early afternoon when the Olsens got back from Ely.  Henry scooted ALL around the living room for hours and hours, going right for anything that caught his eye.  Got himself tangled up in cords and wires, choked on paper, all sorts of fun five month old stuff!

When the Olsens got back, Morganna was asleep so Thea stayed in the camper with her for a few hours while Delia and Louisa played in the house.  I cooked bean soup (both with and without sausage) and cabbage rolls (some with rice, beans and cheese, some with meat and rice, some with meat, rice and cheese!).

Ryan and Chris got all the ash out of the wood boiler, got the tractor stuck in muck and out of gas, worked on sealing up air/water leaks in their camper, and other assorted projects.  They went to Babbitt for some groceries and gas for the tractor, but it won’t start in the dampness so it’s stranded in muck at least overnight.

I lit a fire in the fireplace and roasted marshmallows for s’mores.  By 10 pm or so, I was completely worn out.  By about 7 pm I was “done” as far as dealing with Delia (and Louisa).  They’re awesomely similar, but when you have two cute girls repeating themselves endlessly when you’ve already answered the question, it gets to be a bit much!  Henry kept waking up to their noise, so I camped out with him a bit keeping him asleep and to escape the madness.  Delia finally came in past 11 pm and I got her to lie down with me and close her eyes for the two minutes required before she falls fast asleep.  I extracted myself from between her and Henry and came out to Ryan snoring on the couch!

Tomorrow there’s a good auction planned.  Abigail is scheduled to come over, and I’m hoping to get some stuff done around the house and store.

Chris emailed us Saturday night to tell us he was connected to our wireless network and that they were parked by the barn.  They brought their trailer camper with them, and when we woke up Sunday it was still there, but their van was gone.  We got in touch and met at Four Corners for brunch, then hit a garage sale (Ryan got a welding mask), and came back here.

Chris and Ryan worked on the chicken run – got all the fence put up!  Thea and I hung out with the kids inside.  Louisa and Delia played played played.  And played some more.

We went to The Hideaway for dinner, and tore Louisa and Delia apart for some much-needed sleep.

Today was rainy, but we went out in between showers to finish pounding in the posts for the new chicken run.  Our neighbor Marty (not the previous owner Marty) and Isaac rode by on their quad just in time.  Isaac and Delia played for hours while Ryan and Marty made lots of progress on the run.  When they were done with the post driver, I took Henry to Babbitt to return it and pick up a few things.  We invited them for dinner, but they declined and we hurriedly made the decision to head to Hibbing for a serious chicken run supply run at  Lowe’s.

We managed to spend over two hours at Lowe’s, but at least Henry was asleep most of the time, and Delia was happy.  We picked up some bug-eating plants and cat doors in addition to the fence paraphernalia.  Then we went to Wal-Mart real quick, I don’t even know why or what we ended up getting there.

Delia fell asleep on the way home, and I was trying to figure out if I should call our friends Chris and Thea since we hadn’t heard from them, yet it was really late.  I decided I’d txt message them when we got home but we pulled up and they were parked in front of the barn!  It was almost midnight so we headed inside and were excited to see them in the morning.

We had a busy day today. We were all up by 8 or so. I started labeling packages to be shipped out – my shipping software had been unavailable for over a day and I had lots of orders to go out and a pickup scheduled. We coached Delia through cleaning up her playroom. First we set the timer for five minutes, then she took a break and went out and watched Ryan work on the chicken run fencing, then she came inside and did more picking up. I looked and suggested specific tasks (all the stuffed animals into the cradle, then pick up 10 things and throw them in the pink bin) to get her through it. I got most of the orders ready before Joy (our mail carrier) arrived, and then finished the rest for us to take the post office ourselves.

We hurried over to Nora’s at noon for Delia to ride a pony. Duke was being lazy today so Delia got to kick a lot. She did fun stuff like rode around with her hands on her head, rode backwards and side saddle and scooted up out of the saddle onto Duke’s neck and rode there and touched his neck and ears and went back onto his back to touch his tail. All to get her really really comfortable on a horse. She dismounted all by herself, which is a pretty big drop so that was cool. After her ride, we helped Nora move some fence panels around to fix a weak spot in one of her pens. We talked about ponies – her Yarny is a possibility for us to buy someday. Yarny isn’t trained yet but Nora will be working with her this winter so we’ll be able to help with that process. Nora also suggested we look into Haflinger ponies becasue they are big and strong enough for adults to ride. It’d be cool to have two ponies so 2-3 of us could go on trail rides together. Ponies require a lot less food and Nora says in general stay more friendly, happier, etc. We’re thinking about it! The whole time we were there Henry slept on my back in the Ergo, then when he woke up we talked a bit about EC.

We ran to the post office, then back to the house to change into clean clothes and to drop Ryan off, then Delia Henry and I went to Babbitt for ECFE. It was OK – not as big a class as in Ely. I’m glad we’re doing both, and hopefully the Babbitt class will grow on me. After ECFE, I went to Lossing’s and picked up the fence post driver and some other fencing supplies. Henry was asleep in the car, so Delia stayed in the car with him and watched a movie.  A police officer was in Lossing’s so I wasn’t sure if I should feel good about knowing there was a police officer so close, or if I should be worried I’d get in trouble for leaving my kids in the car! I locked them in, and this is Babbitt, but still?!

Came home, Marty was here getting stuff from the barn and also some topsoil from one of the piles by the pond. The other Marty and his son Isaac came up on their four-wheeler so Delia played with Isaac (he’s about a year old than she is) and Marty helped Ryan drive some fence posts in.

I made dinner real quick (noodles and defrosted some spaghetti sauce I made a few weeks ago) one-handed, and typed up a flyer about getting DSL. I drove with Henry and Ryan and Delia went on the four wheeler down our road to Waasa Town Hall to a town meeting! It wasn’t like the town meetings on Gilmore Girls. But it was interesting anyway. After about a minute of Delia whispering loudly and me walking a loud-sighing Henry back and forth in the back, Ryan took both kids outside and I stayed in the meeting. After they finished talking about the big easement issue, they invited me to say what I had to say so I introduced myself and gave them the flyer about getting DSL brought out here if we can find 8 households who want it. Then they went onto the next issues of the crumbling foundation wall in the town hall and whether they would allow a memorial footstone in the cemetary with no actual remains.

Kids went to bed early and easily tonight (Henry was asleep when I came out of the meeting), and we’ve got a messy house to deal with and plenty of work too! The weather was FANTASTIC again today. But now it’s supposed to rain for several days…

I love my tractor. I had fun with it at our land, but when things went wrong out there it was a pain to fix them since I didn’t have easy access to my tools. Plus, there wasn’t a whole lot I could do other than pull out small trees and run it up and down our road. Down here there’s so much more legitimate work I can do with it. So far I’ve mowed the lawn and lifted and carried lots of things that I couldn’t have done without it. I’m going to try to move some dirt from our piles to low spots on our trails, and smooth it out with the blade. This winter I’m going to use it for snow removal.

The other day I pulled it into the garage and installed my new gauges. Now I know my oil pressure is good, my charging system is in need of some attention (though nothing major) and my engine RPMs and moving speed at various gears thanks to the proofmeter. I want to get my rear hydraulics worked out asap so I can use my back blade and lift my mower off the ground more easily. There’s a guy across the highway that has a few Ns so I’m hoping to befriend him and pick his brain a bit.

I’m shopping for some new tires right now. The ones I have on are single rib marker tires and they carve a very noticeable notch in the lawn. I need to get some 4 or 5 rib tires so the front end floats more and doesn’t mess up the yard.

Tractors are so great – especially old ones. All I know about mine is that the previous owner, Dennis, used it to work on his road, and he bought it from a guy on Wolf Lake Rd. It’s painted yellow, so it must have been used for public road work at some point. I wonder what else it did during its 57 years. I wonder who hacked up the Jubilee loader to fit on an 8N. I love the fact that it’s as useful today as it was when it was new 57 years ago, that it’s done hard work all its life and it’s still going strong, and that supposedly half of the N tractors built (between 1938 and 1952) are still in use. Parts are still readily available, and pretty inexpensive. It’s an incredibly simple machine, and was made so that farmers could do their own repairs, even if they weren’t mechanically skilled. I love that it was built to last. I love the famous Ferguson 3 point hitch – an invention by a man who did a lot to evolve the state of ag machinery which allowed farmers to more safely and efficiently do the work necessary to put food on tables. And I especially love driving it with Delia sitting on my lap.