Henry actually posed for some pictures today!  Usually he hides his face or runs away.

Brad and the goats spent the day in the pasture today.  We’ve had them in there several times in the past month, but today they really seemed to be comfortable out there.  Sancho chased them a little, but he seems to be accepting them more too.

We just put up pictures for December through February.  They’re here.

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.

A trailer hitch for our old 4 wheelers was a special order item with a price tag of about $50, so I decided to make my own.  It cost me about $6 in parts and allowed me to practice welding. I’ve used it quite a bit, and so far it has held up perfectly, even hauling a whole bunch of dirty chicken bedding over rough terrain to our dumping area.

I’ve been setting two of the bus seats I got from my Grandpa’s bus garage in the cart and hauling the kids around.  They ask me to do it every time we go outside.

I was pushing the kids on the swings yesterday and it occurred to me once again how big and grown up Delia is.  I told her how I couldn’t believe she was so grown up and how she was my tiny little baby.  She said “Yeah, I was a tiny baby six years ago!”

Henry said “And me tiny baby two years ago!”

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.