The Arena

The arena the other morning before I got the crazy idea to just finish a project around here.
The arena and hitching post after working all day and not quite getting another project finished around here.

Do I care that it's not quite yet finished? Well, sort of. But do I love the transformation and how close to finished it is? YES!!! Love it!!! Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted an arena to be able to ride in. Last year for mother's day Rob granted my one and only wish for a gift and started the arena for me. Now we all know how frugal I am so between gift cards and sweet talking I was able to come up with a plan to spend next to nothing on the arena, other than sweat equity. After a steal-of-a-deal on e-bay for electric tape fencing, and coupons at Home Depot where they nearly had to pay us for the posts, and knowing the right people who have access to telephone poles, the only other thing I had to do was wait for that sweat equity time. For this year's mothers day gift Rob went out and bought me a beautiful sign (to be revealed at another time in another blog post) to go above the entrance. Well, I got tired of waiting for Rob's time to get free so I figured I could figure it out on my own, with a few helpers of course.

Alexis stretched all of the electric tape for us.

These three amigos were happy to help, too.

Grace was the clip girl.

Micah was the measurer. He now knows the number 12 very well.

Cole was the driller with his very own drill (a gift from Uncle Jim) and my all around helper for everything the whole day through.

Once the clips were all put on it was time to stretch the fence.

There were still 2 big gate posts to dig and install and 3 regular posts to put in.

In between working on his many projects, Rob came and helped us tamp the gate posts in and tighten the fences.

Then it was time to work on the hitching post. Alexis helped me measure and dig the holes. Once we pulled the kids out it was time to set the posts.

And mount the top pole.

Rob put the strapping on and the bolts in for us.

Of course once you finally have the arena of your dreams nearly done you have to run and get a few horses to put in that arena.

And play a few rounds of Red Light, Green Light.

And try out the hitching post.

Dreams really do come true, at least a little bit closer to coming true. There's still the top rail of posts to purchase and put on some day, as well as gates and THE SIGN that is waiting for another coat of stain. This is close enough for me for today to be happy.

The Coop

These old biddies are enjoying their free ranging life until the Farmer's Wife has time to get back to finishing that chicken coop. But the Farmer's Wife is getting tired of the dog eating the eggs and the chickens hiding their eggs so I talked Cole into working on the coop again with me when we had a rare day with no running. We finished nailing up the batt on the outside, insulated the three standing walls and covered them all with plywood. Yes, yes, I know it needs a fourth wall and a roof, but you see~ that fourth wall was nailed in just a smidgen crooked and unlevel, plus in my master plan it includes a window and a door, so I am waiting on Rob to finish his projects so he can help me (do it for me???). No, I am not nagging. Really...... I'm not..... too much. Just encouraging him..... a little.

What do ya think? A couple of windows and a cathedral ceiling for those old hens to match the covered porch and the lattice trim?

Going on a Horse Ride

This Fall weather just begs for horse riding. Nobody around here is complaining about that! Not even Cole who has decided he wants to become a cowboy, too, and start riding horse with us.

Now that the bugs have thinned out a little we decided to take the yearlings with to get them some experience of being on the trails.

Alexis ponied Solomon for me with Chance.

Trent lead Root Beer, making many circles along the way until Root Beer decided it was much easier to just walk with Trent.
Being I was out of a mount I decided to walk with Nika. Once we got out back to the cabin sight we squeezed everybody into the corral.

No, the roof still is not on. It's on The List. Had I known we would one day have 7 horses I would have made the fence a little bit bigger.
We had the great idea of moving these rocks that Rob hauled out to make a campfire ring. After about 2 trips tho we decided they were way too heavy and would need the skidsteer to finish the job~ some day.
Trent and Micah decided to walk Root Beer back home on the short pond path.

The rest of us took the long wooded trail back home.
This was only the second time we have taken Nika or Root Beer out back since they came to the farm in May. Being that it is a good day if we can even catch Nika I was expecting quite a battle, but she really surprised me instead. The whole time she just walked calmly along and didn't get flustered or scared. She still insists on keeping her head held way too high tho.
Alexis did great ponying Solomon, even through the "woods of doom"!

The wooded trails definitely need some grooming.

I am so proud of Cole for keeping up his courage and riding the whole trail.

I know how scared he was and how many years it took him to build up that courage. At the end he was begging to ride again.

Back home safe.

Poor little Woodstockers had to stay all by himself, but he still gets his treats.

Looking forward to the next ride.

Little By Little

Little by little is how we are measuring farm progress around here. The cool fall weather adds an extra push to hurry up and finish all those projects that we started earlier this summer. It is so easy to get discouraged about how far we still have to go but once in a while there is a calm reassurance that comes over you and you are able to look again at things with the perspective of how far we've come rather than how far we have left to go. Considering that this summer alone we were able to tear down the falling down calf shed, tear down the hundred year old log barn connected to the front of the steel barn, totally gut out the inside of the steel barn and start reconstruction for the makes of a deluxe goat barn, transplant several flower gardens and umpteen trees and bushes, besides starting the chicken coop, nearly finishing the arena and hitching post, plus the inside work of installing the counter tops and sink, plus raising 5 kids I can remember why we are so tired. Once in a while you just have to sit down in the midst of the construction zone that is your farmyard and just appreciate where God has you.

Family Camp

The end of summer Hurrah~ our annual Labor day trip to Family Camp. A time to stuff all of our wordly belongings to survive for a long weekend plus 5 kids into the van, stop at every garage sale sign we can point out to Dad, and make a 3 hour drive into a 7 hour drive to arrive at one of our favorite destinations in this whole entire world.

There's chapel 2 times a day, walls to climb, horses to ride, lakes to swim in, too much good food to eat, cousins to play with, coffee to drink, and lot's of spare time.

Plus campfires and smores.

My Pioneer Woman pose, except in my case the bathrooms at my vacation spot are not quite up to par with hers.

And to add a funny (?) twist to this story~ the speaker casually mentioned in one of his sessions about the little struggles in this life that at least one of us would get a flat tire on the way home. Ever get that sinking feeling just knowing that someone would be you?

Luckily it happened half an hour away from home rather than 2 1/2 hours away. And it also happened to be right across from a gas station. And it also turned into a really cool God moment. For some reason mini vans have the spare tires located underneath the vehicle with a little contraption that is supposed to release the tire. The only 2 times that we have ever had a flat tire on a mini van that little contraption would not release the tire. So what do you do on a holiday weekend, when rain is threatening, and there is no hope of getting that tire off? Well, pray of course. So we all started praying and asking God to send help to His children. And wouldn't you know, here comes a red car to the rescue. After the nice gentleman couldn't get our tire off either his wife went to the back of their car and took out their spare tire and even though the vehicles were different makes the tire actually fit. They wouldn't accept anything in return other than to pass on the blessings. The other neat part about this story is that just a week ago she was in the same position of having a flat tire on the highway and praying for help when God sent another Godly gentleman to help her with only his blessing to pass it on. In the end we got to pray for them and praise our Heavenly Father as well. Glad to be home!

Football Mom

It's official. I am now a Football Mom. Is there such a thing? Or are there only Soccer Moms? I gave up the Soccer Mom title years ago after the umpteenth time that the soccer kids couldn't find their soccer shoes or soccer balls and really didn't care if we went to soccer practice. I vowed not to get involved in another sport that would take up 4 nights of our week. Well.... that was before some certain young man sweetly asked me if I would ever, ever, pretty please consider driving him to town for football practice 4 nights a week. Somewhere between the batting eyelashes and his sudden commitment to physical fitness and the doting on me and jumping to fulfill my every little request made me change my mind. And I honestly have to say that I have not regretted it yet. I am actually rather enjoying it. Especially the part about watching the transformation of a once little boy growing into a young man and knowing that I had a certain part of raising such a respectful, hard hitting, hard working, rooky 7th grader. And knowing that it will only last for eight weeks until I get my quiet little goat farming life back. There's not much that makes a momma prouder than hearing that 8th graders twice his size have underestimated your boy and found themselves on the ground for it. Or that the coach thinks your boy shows great aggression on the field and has high hopes for him. And who would have ever thought that I would one day know what a Liz77 is let alone what a full back does. Go get 'em Trent!

An Award?? Me??

An Award?? Me?? What a surprise it was to hear from Hickory Holler Farm that I had been gifted a blog award. Me?? And then when I clicked over there to receive the award and read all those sweet comments she left about me and the other gals it nearly made me cry. And most of you know it takes alot to make me cry. And then to read Becky's comments~ boo hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo! I had to wipe away more tears. You ladies are the greatest! I cannot express enough the joy that I find in writing about our humble little life up here in WI and the things that God has chosen to do in us, but then the fact that you all are such a huge part of it by actually reading my ramblings and commenting on them overwhelms me. I love, love, love being a part of your life via the world wide web as well. I want you all to know that you are like dear friends to me up here on our little farm. Now I get to pass along the blessings and acknowledge a few special ladies.

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Mrs. Canned Quilter you would certainly be at the top of my list to send an award to if you hadn't already received one. Your photography is amazing, your recipes are ones to save away as favorites, your posts are sprinkled with my kind of humor, and your comments are always greeted like as if from a dear friend.

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Then there's Becky (but she already has an award, too). Some people God just puts in your life at the very precise time He knows you're going to need them and Becky is one of those people. We are so much alike that it's nearly scary. I sure hope you know how much you mean to me sweet lady! You are a household name around here, usually followed by a laugh!

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Teresa is another deserving lady of a blog award. I always enjoy your encouraging comments Teresa and I just know that if you lived closer we would be great friends~ homeschooling, kids, husbands named Rob, goats and other critters~ we also have lots in common.

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Cathy is a great friend who does live close enough to visit and is certainly deserving of an award. I appreciate your Godly character, Cathy, and the example you are to me of a Godly woman, wife and mother. Your family has meant alot to us in the past year and I am so glad that God crossed our paths.

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RedGateFarm is another dear bloggy friend that I have been honored to get to know through blogging. Her commitment to raising Godly children always encourages me. I treasure visiting with you via blogs and email and always enjoy your farming ideas and your excitement to get your own farmstead up and running.

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And last but certainly not least is Holly over at Easy Living the Hard Way. For quite some time now I have enjoyed Holly's informative posts on farm critters (especially the goats), bees, gardens and cooking. Her dedication to her grandchildren has been such an inspiration as well in the past few months. And her photos are always superb!

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Two years ago when I sat down at this old computer and entered the world of blogging I had no idea of the wonderful people I would meet. Thanks for being such a big part of my life ladies!