Aaron & Janice

This week I have been working on making mixes of candy bar brownies. There are new cellophane bags at the local store....and I think they are beautiful! The above photo is of a few bags on the kitchen counter, and the sun steaming in.
I made a lot of mixes! I haven't decided if it is best to buy 'fun size' candy bars before Halloween on sale, or afterwards at half price. I decided I wanted a good selection without the shopping battles, so I bought them early. Taft came into the kitchen after I finished getting all the candy bars into the packages and said "You wasted all the candy???" The next morning I gave him a kit kat bar, since I did have a couple bars left, only to find the wrapper laying in the carport. I think I know why I wasted the candy bars! Anyhow I am making the mixes to sell and to have some in my pantry. Last night I wrapped them in ribbon (while watching Perry Mason) now I need to get labels made ( so I can watch more Perry Mason).

On Oct 7th Taft broke his nose. How you might be wondering how? With the metal bar of the trampoline coming down on the top bridge of his nose. It was later in the evening (dark) and the boys were out playing on the trampoline. Someone had the great idea of having the tramp on it's side then jumping on it. Well, Drey jumped (he is rather large) and Taft was holding the tramp on its side....which came down with great force on his face. I might have 4 boys but I really don't understand how they think.
Never the less it was a painful evening. When I got to Taft he was leaning over the brick sidewalk, with a puddle of blood down below him. I got him in the house, where it took a while for it to stop bleeding. Taft isn't one to be crying, and he deals with pain better than anyone I know, but he was having a difficult time. After a bit, I had him lay down on the sofa with some pillows propping him up, his nose just keep a slow trickle of blood draining. Then he started shaking, and we got more blankets on him. I couldn't believe how quickly and how much swelling his nose did those first few minutes!
Aaron wasn't home, but at a meeting. I knew I couldn't take him to the doctors, the office being closed left us with the emergency room for a choice. But I didn't think they could do anything that night. But I was having a hard time handling this one alone. I called Aaron and was able to get him out of his meeting and home. He was able to give Taft a priesthood blessing, which brought great comfort to me. We worked hours that night with ice, a bag of it was too heavy on his face, so two ice cubes in a wash cloth, that way we could position the ice on both sides of his nose. Even with Motrin (adult strength, "do I have to swallow these whole?") it took till midnight for him to fall sleep on the sofa.
Come morning I called the doctors office. I understand with a broken nose that it needs to be checked, in case there is a problem with the sinuses. The doctor (Trotter) looked at his nose, said it looked broken....but he wasn't going to bother with an x-ray. Why? Because he would treat it the same way rather it was broken or not. He said that Taft's nose was in alignment, which meant he wouldn't have any troubles with his sinuses. Also that there wasn't a blood clot, which is another concern. Taft was given a spray for his nose to use twice a day for two weeks to help reduce swelling and heal quicker.
By the way, before we went to the doctors office I borrowed a camera from the neighbor. I wish I had it the first night, since that was when things were really huge. But I took a few days worth of photos so you can see his progress, but it is hard to get the true effect of size and color in these photos. After the first night he said that it really didn't hurt, unless he bumped it. The color around his eyes came and left quite quickly. Actually the whole thing has healed very well.

Sorry, no photo for this post....Aaron didn't think it was a good idea to have a photo anyway.

Taft shot himself a Deer! He put in for a draw this year and was able to get a deer tag....and shot his first deer. His cousin Jared was with him helping him. They dreamed up the idea of having Taft get up on the pivot to get a better shot at them....but he might have been better off staying with his cousin at the stack of straw. Jared helped skinned the animal and cut his thumb, getting 5 stitches put in it. This all happened when we had our California relatives down to visit; June & Ken and Sally & Ted. (who should have stayed longer!)

A couple of days later Drey was out with his dad and a few brothers hunting for his Antelope and shot one. I am ever so grateful that the boys have decided to fork over some money and have their wild meat made into jerky. They saved some of it, which Drey and Aaron have been cooking over the grill the last couple of days, which is really good.

By the way, we have LOTS of deer and antelope this year on our property. Nice, well I think so....but it is a different story when you start thinking how your crops are feeding them!

This last weekend Pheasant Season opened. Our friend Dave from Utah came up and spent the weekend with us. Drey with his eagle eye was able to get two birds.

A Huntin' we will go.....

The heifers (last years calves) arrived last week. They are unloading and coming into corral next to our house. Aaron isn't wild about having them come home, since it means feeding them morning and night. The bulls are in a field across the road from our house. The cows are in other fields on the farm. That snow the other weekend brought them down from the hills.
Here is the truck that brought one of the groups (there are a couple hundred heifers) of heifers. Aaron is in front with the hooded sweatshirt. Did you know that these cattle trucks have two layers of cattle space? The guy is up on the truck trying to get the upper group of cattle to move down the ramp. By the way, pig trucks have 3 layers for the animals.

I love chickens! My father was raised on a chicken farm (they sold eggs). I have been begging Aaron for years to get some chickens. Thankfully Drey loves chickens too. So last winter/spring he worked on making a chicken coop, out of an old building, wiring it etc. He bought chicks (yes, his own money) in the spring, and we have all been enjoying them since.

I bought a few odd chicks at the local store (Drey studied and ordered his chicks, I went on how cute they were) so we have a variety. The above photo is a gathering of them, when I bought down the old stuff from the garden. Notice the roaster in the top right? Yes, he is crowing, and they do that all day long....I like it but a minute doesn't go by without them making noise.
This photo has a couple of our odd birds. Drey could tell you the varieties, but I can't. The black one in front really has feathers on its head and looks odd. At first it looked like a stylish hat, now, it has grown to just a 'bad hair day' look. Little Peeps is in the back, he is full grown and half the size of everyone else.
Here is a couple of roasters, the one on the left is beautiful and a favorite variety. That is either Scobby or Elvis, (I can't tell them apart, but Drey can). I love those polka dotted birds, which next spring we are planning on buying some hens of that variety. They are so friendly and make a great pet....but as roasters they are a pain in the neck! The one on the left is much smaller than the average bird, with feathers on his legs.
Here is photo 2 of the two of them fighting. It is something to see them raise their feathers up like this. I am thinking soon we will have a lot less roasters, and have peace at the chicken coop.

We have started selling eggs, so that we can raise money for feed, and next years plans for chicks.

O.K. Tearsa, here is a photo of the brothers you left at home....anyone changed since you last seen them? Probably not, they are still the same old goof cakes you remember.

Anyhow we had a weekend with snow. Not perfect timing since Aaron was trying to get some wheat planted and we still had some hay down....but the boys loved it.

Cold? Not too bad, the top photo was taken before we headed off to church...no one wore a coat. The weather had warmed up since then, so now we are finally having fall weather.
Tilmann in the Saturday snow storm.

Here is Tilmann with our new extra fuzzy pot-belly kitten. I knew one of the wild cats was pregnant, but we don't normally have kittens in the fall. Apparently she only had one big kitten, who is under our porch. He would dash under the porch when anyone came near it....unless there was tame cats around too, then it would stay out like one of the gang. Tilmann was able to catch it and hold it. Fun....but now that momma has taken it some place else, so we haven't seen him in a few days.
We had a weekend of snow on the ground.....and low and behold another cat showed up. It is about the size of our spring kittens, and coloring like a few others around, so I think it is a kitten from another one of our 'wild' cats. Very pretty with long hair. But now that it has warmed up, I haven't seen it again. Makes you wonder how many cats we actually have on the farm!

This is my mother-in-law, Elsie. Last week was her birthday. (I was going to post this earlier) She loves making dolls, and these are her latest. When she asked if I would take a photo (she was hoping she wouldn't be in the picture) of her dolls, since she didn't have a camera....well I borrowed one.

Rug Hooking has been her latest passion for over a year now. She cuts her own wool, often from clothes that she has bought from a thrift store. With these dolls, you can tell the color variety that was used to make up the face. (might need to click on the photo to enlarge) The clothes are also made out of wool, such as the pink dress made from an old Pendleton shirt...notice the collar?

This year I decided to do some concord grape juice like the old timers did- by putting the grapes in the jar. Normally I steam the juice from the grapes in the steam juicer that we have. My mother-in-law has done it this way for years, and honestly, it is more fun! My father-in-law grows plenty of grapes, so I thought we'd try a new method.
Tilmann and I worked on this together. Gathering a cup of grapes for each quart jar. The recipe (in the Ball book) says to add 1/2 -1 cup of sugar to 4 cups of water, boiling it so the sugar is melted, then fill the jars.
Here is the finished product, some grapes floated, some didn't. I think the jars are pretty. To drink the juice, you strain off the grapes. Big change in color from the first photo's grapes.

Last weekend was a longer weekend, school being out on Thursday & Friday. The older 2 boys spent Thursday with their father trying to get the hay done before the rain came.

Aaron had heard that they needed help at Camp Bradley, (a scout camp that is up past Sun Valley area) volunteers to work on a new building, a shower and bathroom. He decided it would be a fun weekend....and when he had called ahead finding out that we could stay in a cabin (they have them for the merit badge leaders) and be fed, well he was all for it! Besides his birthday was on Monday....so it was a good idea to have some fun.This is our cabin #5 which was the largest cabin. I found sleeping together in one room...interesting....the noises, snores & even a sleep-talker. But the hardest thing to get use to was the wood stove! The boys were so sure if they filled it with wood, I mean piled in the wood, that come morning the cabin would still be warm. Problem with that idea is come midnight I'd be awake sweating! (and opening the door) And then the idea that a cabin that has lots of holes and cracks can keep in the heat...nope it didn't work. So come early morning we'd be awaken by the fire builders.
Friday the day was beautiful, warm & sunny. Aaron, Drey & Taft worked on helping put up trusses for the new roof. The younger boys and I went hiking through the woods (actually Taft & Drey were with us some of the time) walking down to the lake and such. The Lodge (above) was where we ate....and ate well! By the way, these aren't photos that I took, I found them on the internet. I am getting so creative without a camera!
Saturday it rained off and on all day. But the pool was freshly cleaned and so very tempting! That is to 3 younger boys. No, we didn't have swimming suits....or even towels! They went swimming in their pants....and shook all the way home to the cabin! The water is warm, some type of hot spring filling it. p.s. the above photo looks like my boys- in action, but it isn't them.
Saturday the group worked long and hard finishing the roof of the shower building.
The mountain tops around us come Saturday morning had snow on them. But the most beautiful part was the fall colors of the trees! Traveling up past Sun Valley to the camp was just perfect timing on our part. We stayed over Saturday night, and had such a great weekend. It was so nice to get away and so some camping!

The acid smell of smoke fills the hazy air of a new morning. The glow on the hillside of late last night, still glows in the dark dusk of the morning......



Monday afternoon Aaron and a couple of the boys head up South, to help with the fire. The fire was in the South Hills, heading up the road a few miles past Nat Soo Pah. There were 6 BLM Fire Trucks there to work, but as usual the one Fire Truck from Hollister did more work than the others...combined. 'Volunteers' vs 'Paid Employees'. Aaron thought they would have the fire under control by that evening, but it wasn't until two days later, burning up "6800 acres in the area 3 miles east of Rogerson". Tuesday morning it didn't matter where you were, there was tons of smoke and the odor of it drifted everywhere. There was quite a haze of it on the horizon that made it hard to figure out where the fire really was at. At school that afternoon (I'm there working in the library) they had a fire drill.....all the kids are lined up outside, and who shows up but a fire truck! It was just a drill, but it sure sparked some intrest!

Now normally fires don't happen this late in the the year, even if everything is real dry. But I thought I would also point out that yesterday was Oct. 1st and it was 91 degrees!

I don't have a working camera, so I thought I could take a photo off of the newspaper....the above photo made the front cover of our daily paper.....somehow I thought it could have been a wee bit better, so I decided to throw in a more dramantic fire shot.