Mike Fixing All Things, Milking a Cow, and So Forth

The other night, after Goldie and I simultaneously began explaining to Mike how Goldie had locked herself out of her Facebook account, how she'd tried multiple things for weeks to get back on it with no luck, and how she was likely unintentionally ignoring all sorts of messages from those she'd met on her mission, Mike looked a bit confused and said, "So, now, what is it you're wanting me to do?" 

Goldie and I just looked at him blankly. What an odd thing to ask. 

"What do you mean what do we want you to do?" I questioned. "We don't know what we want you to do. We just assume you will know how to solve the problem."

Poor man. It isn't fair. But it is the way it is. He is just so darned competent that whatever the problem--from broken down cars, to flooded basements, to misbilled insurance claims, to missing cats, to ... locked-out social media accounts (keep in mind that Mike does not even have any social media accounts himself) we all just trust Mike will know what's to be done! 

And he does. 

Mike made a suggestion for what Goldie should try and within about five minutes she was able to access her account. 

As I've often said, I will be OK if we have a total apocalypse, ... so long as we have Mike there!

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Anders, Summer and Mette picked out their fair goats over the weekend. (I guess we are doing the fair again. Eek.) Here Summer was walking hers Sunday morning before church. She looked so darling out there with her church dress and muck boots that I had to run grab the camera.

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These kids are becoming farm kids all right. The other day we were outside when the daughter-in-law of our bishop (our bishop lives down the street from us and runs a dairy) came walking by with her two little kids. Her little boy was on a bike, and since Starling lives to ride her big girl "pedal bike" (as she calls it), she begged to accompany him the rest of the way down the street to his grandpa's. I acquiesced--telling Mette, Hans and the neighbor kids they were playing with to follow behind and bring her back before too long. 

Awhile later Starling came into the house. 

"Hi there!" I said, "What have you been doing?"

"Oh," she responded nonchalantly. "I was just digging in some dirt, and then I milked a cow."

Of course. What five-year-old doesn't milk a cow as part of her typical day's adventures?

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And now a small pile of extra pictures:

Mette is often the one baking around here of late. Here were some cupcakes she was decorating. (I believe she was taking this particular plate to the neighbors to thank them for lending us eggs. [See my recent chickens and eggs post.])

I often find lovely Summer selfies on my phone.

Just a girl doing her hair with a phone camera (propped against some flowers) for a mirror. We make do with two bathrooms and, on occasion, all 12 of us here trying to get ready! (Jesse enjoying one of Mette's cupcakes in the background.)

We haven't had quite so many heavy fogs this year (though enough to be regular occurrences). I still think they are magical. Isn't this a great photo? I know I took it and all, but it was just with my cell phone on a whim as we walked to the bus! And I think it's lovely.

Look at all the bags Anders is carrying. It was a trip to the Pepperidge Farm Outlet.

This was a baking adventure that went rather awry. With her own money Mette purchased a cake mix and frosting with little colorful chips in them because it just looked so fun to her. But when we tried to get the cake out of the pan, it just crumbled into pieces. We sort of stuck the pieces together using her frosting like glue. She was a good sport about it.

Kids messing with my phone.

It's snowing as I type this. (I would have been happy to have snow in Dec. and Jan., but I'm a little sad it all waited until March to come--when we are trying to finally get the house going. But! We have had a smattering of spring-feeling days! Here the kids were jumping on the trampoline with neighbor Nash.

I forgot to post the kids' Valentine's Boxes. Hans and Starling made theirs at school. But Summer and Mette did theirs all on their own! Mette had a hot-air balloon. And Summer, who loves tigers, made herself a tiger box.

More kids messing around with my phone.

Penny's guitar class at school did a little performance. Penny had a solo guitar part and then played the keyboard along with another song. They were mostly rock-n-roll songs, and they had kids singing leads as well. It was a lot of fun.

It was Goldie's first time in Penny's high school! (And I can't recall exactly why only Summer got to come along while the other kids stayed home, but she came with me to get groceries after and is pleasant little pal.)

And one last extra special bonus. These two pictures that my sister Shannon texted me the other day.

PROGRESS! (A Little Bit of a Driveway.)

I know (or, well, at least I assume) that a driveway going in is usually not a landmark moment for home builders. Probably a side note lost in the more exciting business of the actual house. But for us, the driveway going in is a very big deal! It means there will actually be a way for construction vehicles to get over all of the muck and mud leading to where our home will be built! 

After YEARS of work, and money, and stress, we have a building permit! And the house is even staked out! 

And when I drove over yesterday to feed our steers and saw the drive being put down, it felt very VERY exciting! It's just a gravel drive. Not something that would make most hearts beat faster, but I can hardly keep from driving over several times a day to see the progress on that driveway! I guess because it's progress in general! After so much time of pauses and roadblocks, progress is so great!

This wasn't any real driveway anything being put down. But several weeks ago, the guy doing it just came and sort of carved out roughly where it would go. This is looking from where the house will be out towards the road.

But then yesterday there were actual piles of dirt being moved out of the way as the path was created in earnest, and some type of thick material was being rolled out to stop the mud from eating all the gravel, and loads of gravel/base stuff were being dumped and spread out.

A view looking out towards the road.

This is looking from the road in towards where the house will be. You can see the black tarp roll they have begun spreading as well as the first load of gravel.

Hans and Starling came back in the evening with me and Mike and were thrilled to have two dump trucks arrive to empty their loads while we were there.

From the road turning into the driveway and heading down towards the house. (You can see piles of moved earth off to the right. They look much larger in person, and I wonder ... what we do with them?)

The black material stuff and gravel/dirt being spread over it.

I was there again today. It's been windy and pouring rain all day, so nobody appeared to be doing anything, but the drive was carved the rest of the way back to where the house will start!

Looking out towards the road.

You can see they have about half spread in gravel. You can even spot an orange stake marking the house just to the right of the drive.

The way, for all of time, that we have entered the property is further south by the barn. So, while we've stood on the spot where the house will be many times, it's been hard to really imagine turning into the property at that spot and driving back there. And I'm so excited. I think it is the best spot on the entire farm for the house to be! It doesn't interrupt any of the area where family come to ride 4-wheelers, picnic, or play on the dock; but it isn't so far north that it feels separate from that area. Rather it connects the "fun" area more perfectly to the further pastures where cows, etc. will continue to be kept. (I honestly had never even walked on that section of the farm until recent years, so it will be nice to have the house making it feel more closely connected and a part of things. Plus, many of the trees Mike's dad put in are near this spot. I'm so grateful to him for the trees he put in! 

There was a moment in all of the craziness of the last years when, due to the high water table in the area, it looked like we might have to choose a different location to place the house. I knew anywhere on the farm would be fine, but I felt so sad at the prospect of not having it built right there! And I'm so happy Mike discovered a high, dry spot just a little way further back!

Of Chickens and Eggs

It's a shame that right after having a billion chickens killed, egg prices skyrocketed. We only have one remaining hen. She does faithfully give us one egg a day, alas, our baking habits require more than that, and someone is forever in the midst of mixing up cookie dough or a batch of brownies only to discover we are an egg or two short (because I keep forgetting we only have one hen and need to buy eggs to supplement her offerings), and, while it hasn't actually stopped us calling on our neighbors, I do feel a bit sheepish borrowing eggs now that a single egg cost's a day's salary (haha, ok, not quite that bad).  

Luckily, we will have more eggs again soon! (Well, soon...ish.) We now have six new chicks (as well as living quarters finally arranged to keep all our chickens fully safe). 

(I don't know if they've officially been named, but a few good names have been tossed around. Lazar Wolf or Lazar Chicken were suggested. Also, my personal favorite [Watership Down]: The Black Chicken of Inle.)

Look how cozy the little coop looks with the heat lamp set up to keep them warm.

Phoenix

Mike had to head out of town early on the Monday morning after Goldie's homecoming. At the last minute (as in Sunday-night last minute), he bought me a ticket to join him. I wasn't sure how I felt about not only abandoning Goldie but also sticking her in full tending mode when she hadn't even been home a week. But Mike pointed out that by the time it might seem reasonable to leave her ... she'd have a full-time job and be unavailable. And the girl seemed willing! So ... off Mike went. And off I went on a separate flight several hours later!

It really wasn't a long enough trip to bear a lengthy post. By the time I got there Monday night, we mostly just had time to find a little Italian restaurant before heading back to our hotel. And on Wednesday we had to head for the airport by 9 a.m. So it really was mostly just Tuesday. 

Still, Tuesday was quite wonderful and relaxing! (At least for me!) Mike had to leave for work early, but I slept until nearly 10! (I got up just in time to grab some sausage and a waffle from the free hotel breakfast before it closed down.) Then I came back and read some scriptures and a conference talk, texted a friend and relaxed. Around 1:00 I went to the empty hotel gym and then out to the pool (which, conveniently, also didn't have a single soul beyond myself visiting--unless you count the two ducks that came to give me company at one point.) I took care of some stuff for church that I needed to and talked to my sister (without interruption) for an hour, and I even swam. It was the loveliest weather. Not too hot. Not chilly. Just perfect.

Mike returned about 5:00. We went to this cool little "hole in the rock" spot:

Lots of people were there to watch the sunset. I can't imagine Phoenix in the summer, but it's lovely in the early spring!

A bunch of helicopters flying by in the distance.

Us trying to capture the water and trees behind us. And struggling to manage it. Haha.

We went to eat and then I told Mike I really wanted frozen yogurt (which he told me wasn't a thing anymore--haha), but we drove and drove and drove (trying to find a hidden place that ended up being on a street that you couldn't actually drive to) and ended up finding it (and they did have "plain tart" as I was hoping they would), and that was about the end of the trip! But I'm always so happy to be with Mike, and it's wonderful to have a rare day that demands almost nothing! (I mean I didn't even have a house to clean if I wanted to!)