Love thy neighbor

It's ironic that I just heard a sermon on this.....

Fred Phelps and his bunch are on the move, this time not too far from my home town(where I grew up). And people are sick of it. Phelps and his bunch claim to be Christian. They claim that the military deaths are because the US has accepted homosexuality. Um, no,,,,,,,, it's WAR you idiots. People die.

Truthfully, since accepting Christ, the topic of homosexuality and what the Bible says have been a bane in my life. I love Christ and al that He has done for me, but I love my gay friends too. And it creates a dilemma for me. Recently, it struck me how wrong Phelps is to be doing the things he is- from a Christian stand point. For one, the Bible says that we can judge BELIEVERS from a Biblical standpoint but we cannot, as believers, judge those who do not claim Christ. Beyond that, no one is going to hell based on their sins. There is only one reason people will go to hell-and that is if they do not accept Christ as their Savior. No less, no more.

So here's my question for the Phelps bunch and those that think like them:

How is it that you think any person not saved wants anything to do with your brand of religion? You are not acting the way Christ would have you act. Christ did not stone the woman at the well. He did not pick up a stone to condemn the woman the Pharisees were condemning. He did not stone the PHARISEES for their wrongness. The only time Christ acted harshly was when dealing with the money changers in the temple and that was because they were making something profane of His Father's temple. You think, just maybe, YOU are profaning Christ's words?

I used to teach my children the Golden Rule-Love they neighbor as thyself. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. A recent sermon pointed out how this is wrong-and now I see the Phelps bunch actually demonstrating how wrong the "Golden Rule" is.
How well  do you actually love yourself? Do you eat right? Brush your tetth as well as you ought to? Get enough sleep? If the weather is bad, do you do all you can to protect your body? How about .......bull riders? Allowing their bodies to be bashed about, bruised, battered, slammed? Is that loving yourself?(Yeah, it's a lot of fun and I love to watch it....but is it love to your self?) We cannot love others as we love ourselves. Our love might be flawed.

We cannot love someone as we love ourselves-in fact, Christ gave His disciples a new commandment:

John 13:34 says 
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  

Realistically, I see nothing of Christ's love in the Phelps bunch. If that's their definition of being a disciple of Christ, I too, would reject the message of salvation.

Arctic chills

Really? You think?

I opened the back door this morning to turn the animals out for a bathroom break and they all refused to go outside.

THEN I get on my computer and the Weather Bug says: Very cold wind chills this morning. An arctic air mass has moved over the area.

Well duh.

Ever so stunning

Today's astonishing list of things to do:
Keep the house warm-it's cold here today.
Spinning, spinning, spinning!
Craft night at my house. Getting ready to pick up my baby girl!

Are you stunned and excited yet?

Appo pie

I've only made 4 pies in my life. First one I made, my ex-husband laughed at the crumbly crust and the next 3 were made from that stuff you buy at the store in the freezer section-WELL after he became my ex.

And then, my kids were diagnosed with celiac disease. So, pies became a thing of non-existence in our world. The fear of pie crusts from NORMAL flour was embedded deep within my soul. There was no way I was going to try to make a pie crust from a crumbly flour.

So then there's Don Juan.....he of the silent movie screen presence(really, I should call him Valentino for all his silence) a year ago, at the age of 4, Don Juan was finally learning to speak, after years of "Eh! A-ee-oh!"- Don Juan-ese for "Hey! Apple pie!"

 Last year, he popped  up in the kitchen, watched me for a minute while I made a pumpkin roll, and then blurted out "What cha makin' Mama?", only to squeal with delight upon being told what I was making and then wandering away.To hear him speak is truly a marvel.

So this year, I had no choice(being a sucker for my brown eyed, curly headed Silent Movie Star Curly Joe Don Juan when he is actually able to express a genuine, attainable desire verbally) when Don Juan begged "Mama! Please make me a appo pie! Want appo pie!" I cringed, and was certain he'd never ask for apple pie again, when the dry gluten free crust crumbled faster than my first from-scratch pie had.

So I was amazed when the gluten free pie crust listed in Carol Fenster's newest cook book rolled out and didn't crumble, lifted easily, molded well and shaped to the pie pan. I called a friend to tell her-because she and her family are gluten free and love making pies.

ME: T! I found the perfect gluten free pie crust!

T: Really??!! Can I have the recipe?

Don Juan: Appo pie! Where my appo pie?

Me: 1 cup Carol's blend

Don Juan: Appo pie! Oh appo pie! Where are you appo pie??!!

Me: 3/4 cup tapioca starch

T: She really uses a lot of tapioca starch, doesn't she?

Don Juan: Appo pie! Appo pie! Is it appo pie yet??!!

Me: Yes, she sure does. 1 cup potato starch

Don Juan: Appo pie! Appo pie!

The entire conversation was punctuated in this manner. And it just amused me to hear him sing song through the house about his 'appo pie'.

The pie came out of the oven. He spied his apple pie. He squealed with delight.

"It's a appo pie! Me wanna eat me appo pie now! Gotta wait to tomorrow for the appo pie! Cover my appo pie Mama! Love appo pie! Slurp! Appo pie mine all gone!"

His grammar is atrocious. His joy is infectious. The tears streaming down my face as I hear my boy use full sentences all the time are thankful.

Even if the crust crumbles, it'll be the best appo pie in the world, and I am certain, a new tradition for the holidays in our home.

Be a part of history

The 2010 Capitol Christmas tree came through our town today. I had no clue until a friend texted me. So, we loaded up and headed into town.

The tree is from the Bridger-Teton National Forest. It is 7 stories high, and is approximately 85 years old. They give it 65 gallons of water a day. 

The kids got to climb up to see it. For some reason, it reminded me of when the Liberty trains came through in 1976. I was 6 years old that summer. I found myself wondering today if my children(especially the younger ones) will remember this day. 

It's already lit. Don Juan wanted to touch it, but wasn't allowed. I was shocked at the military presence for a CHRISTMAS TREE. Has humanity sunk that low? That we have to guard a tree that will sit in front of the Capitol building?

Waiting in line to sign the banner.

Pickle somehow managed to escape the house with just this light weight jacket. I think this is the last picture I have of her actually smiling instead of shivering.

Cactus Jack puts his John Hancock on the banner.

The entire town turned out for the event. Hot cocoa, crowds of kids sitting on the courthouse steps, hugging friends, smiling, laughing. It actually choked me up to be there. I don't know how many of them thought about it, but they were part of history today. How much of our lives do we have a hand in history and we don't realize it?

It was a good morning. My kids loved it. Even Princess Crankenestein. As usual, she was Royalty.

Fiber obsessions

It's no secret that ever since our house fire 4 years ago, I've become addicted to natural fiber for my crafting. It reached a point where my husband informed me that I could no longer hide my desire to take the next step-spinning my own yarns. So, considering how much he loves me, he took me to a fabulous place and bought me my very own spinning wheel-an Ashford Kiwi now named Shaun-after Shaun the Sheep. I'm already looking for Rumpelstiltskin. :)

He also indulged me more and bought me a sheep. Yes, I have my own sheep to sheer in the summer. Her name is Zinger Binger.
My friend Catherine came up a few months ago and showed us how to process our own fleece. She brought me 5 raw sheep fleeces and one alpaca/llama fleece.

This is a raw fleece shorn off a sheep. It's pretty nasty. Ticks, leaves, feces, twigs, mud. I put it in my washing machine in 160 degree water, with some Dawn dish washing liquid, after I shook out as much crud as I could, picking out the stuff I could see.

This is after 3 washings, and picking it clean after each wash, then two complete rinses.

Here I have carded the fleece I washed and picked clean yesterday. Carding is essentially like combing the wool, getting it lined up to draft and then spin.

After you card it, you roll it into a rolag, ready to draft.

Here I have drafted it-it's basically teasing the fibers apart, ready to spin. It makes it easier to spin smoothly this way.

And here is yesterday's nasty fleece spun on the bobbin, a nice smooth single ply. I am still learning, so my yarn goes from fairly consistent to really thin and back again. I'll get it right! :)

Young love

The weather is being it's usual bi-polar Wyoming weather. Snow on Saturday, and Sunday and today it's supposed to get up in the mid 40s. Then up into the upper 50s Thursday and Friday. Sigh.

Don Juan is on cloud 9. Tomorrow the woman(girl) he loves will be in his life permanently.

Back in June, our former pastor announced his intent to resign as our pastor. It was a shock to everyone, but we understood he was following God's call elsewhere. So as a church we got busy, looking for someone else to call to lead us. The deacons found someone, called him to come preach adn to see if Wyoming could be home to him. He brought with him his family-a lovely wife and 3 beautiful daughters, all in the age range of my kiddos. The girls were ecstatic: new friends to play with! The boys initially were not impressed. Girls? Bosh. We don't need no stinkin' girls! And then Don Juan met Miss Redhead. And promptly declared her to be his own.

Keep in mind both these kids are 5. Yet, my son has declared he is going to marry Miss Redhead. He followed her around with serious intent the entire week the family was here. The last Saturday she was here, she broke her arm. A cow stepped on it. Hey. It's Wyoming. What did you expect? That last Sunday, my son, ever the charming suitor, helped Miss Redhead everywhere, expressing profound concern for her injury and doing his mighty 5 best to protect it from further injury. He was devastated when Miss Redhead and her family left.

We had opportunity to visit the local Greek festival a few weeks after Miss Redhead and herfamily left to go back home. Don Juan had a line of little girls waiting to dance with him.

(not Miss Redhead-this is one of the dancing girls)

 I was mildly stunned at my son's charming magnetism. I stated "I thought you were going to marry Miss Redhead." to which my son replied "Well yeah, but I like a lotsa girls Mama." All righty then. My son is a playa. God help me.

And the cheers were mighty when he learned that she was coming here permanently-that her Daddy had accepted our church's call. He immediately began drawing pictures of their impending wedding.

Yeah. I'm blessed with forward thinking children.

When we announced that we needed to pray for them to find a place to live, he announced that they could come live with us. :/

And now, he is counting down the hours until he sees her again tomorrow night at AWANA. All I am hearing from him is "Miss Redhead. Miss Redhead. Miss redhead this, Miss Redhead that." It's rather precious. He's most intent and sincere in his pursuit of her.

I'm growing concerned that her father will need to be asking my 5 year old what his intentions toward his daughter are. And I'm very concerned over the fact that my son seems to have a propensity for liking girls. A LOT of girls. All at once.

Holiday traditions?

It's that time of year. We're approaching the holidays quickly. What do you do that you consider tradition?

Thanksgiving has become a mish-mash. We're starting some new things this year.
My Teenager requested deer roast instead of turkey, and a more 'traditional' meal, as in "pilgrim" traditional. That really surprised me, because she's always been the one to resist traditional family events or things. Perhaps being in the girls school has changed her perspective on things. So we'll be doing deer roast, potatoes, acorn squash and cranberry dishes-the salsa I posted already, and one that I just cannot live without at the holidays that my Mom makes-a cranberry jello, made with the pulp from fresh cranberries, cherry jello, celery and walnuts. Two pans for Mom and one for the rest of ya'll. :)

And I think that this year we will start the season off with a movie fest. What movies does your family prefer for the holidays?
We'll watch Christmas with the Kranks(based on John Grisham's Skipping Christmas)
White Christmas(can't leave out Danny Kay sing Sisters with Bing, now can we?)

Planes, Trains and Automobiles-I love Steve Martin!
Scrooged. I can't help it.
We've also got A Christmas Carol with both George C. Scott and Patrick Stewart. I prefer Stewart's version.

And we kick off the season reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It chokes me up every year.

So, what do you do to start the holiday season?

cranberry salsa

We're adding this to our food line up this year for the holidays!

Cranberry Salsa

1 orange, chopped finely
4 cups fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
1/2 cup liquid sweetener (honey works well)
1 t ground ginger
1.5 t red pepper flakes

Mix together all of the ingredients in a small bowl. For best results, make the day ahead and let mellow in the fridge. This can be frozen for later use.

Goat love Parts 1 and 2

My life is just warped.

I thought that James Taylor-the little man that we debated forever on keeping as a buck but finally banded the very day my Nubian doe named Stargarzer went into season-had managed to breed Star before he was banded. I wasn't TOO devastated by this. Jamey would have made pretty babies. And his temperament is one I would not mind passing on at all. He is PRECIOUS!

This morning, I went out, only to be informed that Cebu was "barking" at Star. (making love sick boy goat noises) And yes, there he was, hanging over the side of the fence, tongue hanging out in all his depraved glory. Don't ask what ELSE was hanging out. I just might tell you. What's worse, the hussy was trying to get over the fence to him. I called our friend with the only known dairy bucks in the county and asked if we could bring Star over. I don't mind late March babies. We debated..........Starbuck for my Stargazer-he throws spotty babies. He is SNG's Twinkling of an Eye's Daddy and she is just the PRETTIEST little thing-looks like a long eared baby deer, all soft fawn colored and spotty.
OR
Handy Manny-a Nigerian Dwarf. he's stunningly gorgeous. Dark chocolate brown, white blaze on his side, muscular, tiny, looks like a wild animal off the African savanna.

We decided on Manny. They'll make mini Nubians. And then perhaps we can get a mini category at the Fair going.

So,we loaded Star up in the back of the pick up(I so need to find a good used bumper pull stock trailer) and took her to spend an afternoon  with another boyfriend. They have so many don't you know?

We opened the gate to Manny, Star rushed in, and Manny jumped on her. Finished in 3.6 seconds(they really aren't known for their longevity) and THEN decided to say hi.

Hussy animals. Not even a "How ya doing sailor? How long you in town for?"

Just............

Sex.

I'm still recovering from the shock of it all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I had to post this one.

Last year, in the fall, we acquired 2 new goats, May Surprise and her foster daughter Amazing Grace. (That's TWO goats I've had on my property named Amazing Grace. The second one is much more graceful as well as amazing). Pure Nubian, gorgeous conformation. She has but two flaws.
1) The original owner hadn't the heart to de-horn her. So, unfortunately, despite her stellar breeding and blood lines, I cannot show her.
2) She's taken the True Love Waits pledge.

Yes. My goat is saving herself for marriage. Or something like it.

Last year, she showed signs of being in season. So we took her to the brdder. they put her with Handy Manny, as a very young buck, with hopes he'd breed her. No such luck. She backed her rump into a corned and kept it there the entire afternoon she was with Manny. When we brought her home, she cried piteously and made as if she were still in heat. Hussy. We put her with Cebu the Sad Goat. he still didn't get happy, because she just kept that tail tucked down low.

Yesterday morning, Cebu was making those love sick boy goat noises at her and she was responding. So we took her to the breeder again, and put her with Starbuck(who has already bred one of my does- last New year's eve, producing Twinkling of an Eye, Glory's Hallelujah and Glory's Mercy). And she promptly backed into the corner, despite the fact that she was OBVIOUSLY in full standing heat. She certainly like my husband's attention......tramp goats. I tell ya, I have tramps for farm animals. They adore my husband. I wonder...does that mean he is a beast? ;)

So we left her there overnight. This morning, the breeder texted, telling me that Starbuck was still flirting, but Grace was in HIS house, refusing to come out and refusing to let him in. Sigh. I really don't want to get rid of her. She is just precious in personality and looks. She is truly one of my favorite does n the property to this point. But, Darling put his foot down and said "No baby this year, she GOES. I'm not feeding lawn ornaments."

While dealing with the agony of a doe in obvious heat but not wanting the attention of any buck in  three counties, the snow started to fall. I texted the breeder(who also happens to be a good personal friend, so we have tons of good giggles over the hussy behavior of our animals) and told her I had to run to the post office and then I'd come get her. About 20 minutes into my errands, the breeder texted and let me know that she was FINALLY letting Starbuck woo her, and attempt to breed her. I say attempt because last year, Starbuck tried to jump his fence and got tangled up, tearing ligaments. They thought they were going to have to  put him down. So when it gets cold, his leg seizes up and he has trouble being, well, a buck. The other issue was that they were outdoors, and with the swiftly falling snow, had gotten VERY wet, so they were slippery and he was having trouble mounting her. I spewed coffee. Seriously.

Pretty soon, she texted back with a decision...........she and her husband went out to the buck pen, and gathered up Grace and Starbuck and taken them to the barn, and were in the process of.............drying them off so they could breed.

O-o.

Just when I think homesteading couldn't possibly get any stranger.........

Love surprises!

Went to my post office today to mail a package to my secret swappee in the fingerless gloves winter swap and fund the package from MY swap partner! What a marvelous surprise!

Lovely gloves! They are a delicious wool. original color was melon.and she overdyed it with Kool aid!

And all kinds of fun goodies...a bag of caramel Chex mix, a delicious chocolate bar, some fun Halloween gum balls, a project bag to hold my recent knitting. a bag of my favorite tea, a sweet smelling peach bath soap, a tape measure and yum! MORE yarn! It's called Noro Kureyon, I've always wanted to try it and I already know what I'll be making with it.

I love exchanges. It's always so much fun to trade talent and gifties. 

The Jesse Tree

I'm not sure when I stumbled upon the Jesse Tree, but it was definitely back when we lived in South Big City. I made ornaments from THIS web site.

I want my family to focus on the Christ Child, not Santa, or presents. I want them to learn to give more, and receive less. With Christ, you can learn that.

We will be making new ornaments this year. We lost the original set I made sometime during the two moves after the fire. This year, I think we will embroider the patterns from the site I shared.

We will be using this book for the devotions:

The Advent Jesse Tree

It's an Advent type of devotional, but I think maybe less Catholic oriented? And I think it makes it easier for the little ones to see the things we are reading about as we hang the ornaments. It's less commercial, and less pagan in nature.

Sick and tired

of being sick and tired. :)

We've been battling illnes here in one form or another for far too long this season. I put my foot down this morning and declared that there will be no trip to South Big City. Really, only one child is fussing-Tink, who is my social butterfly. We just need to step back and let healing happen. I've not been as observant as I needed to be and now we've relapsed to some form of the cold or another. Garlic and tumeric to the soup today.

The patio door was frozen shut this morning. It's a battle we fight every winter. The snow comes, moisture gets down in the tracks and the door freezes shut overnight. It's not a huge issue-the laundry room has a door also. It's just a matter of inconvenience.

I can't believe I lapsed on my standards. When we last went to the library, I didn't pay attention to the fact that Pickle had taken The Polar Express for her weekly movie check out. I usually put my foot down and say no Christmas movies until Thanksgiving. We've now watched that movie every day for the last week. And they wonder why I say no Christmas movies until the season.

I'm debating on a Jesse Tree over a Christmas tree this year. I am frustrated with the commercialism that creeps ever more into other seasons. Local stores here had Christmas trees in the aisles before Halloween. It angers me that the reason we celebrate Christmas is set aside-quite often, even by Christians.

Mellow day here-more garlic, ginger, elderberry and astragalus for the children.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Yes, it is snowing again. And it is snowing TONS of snow. I am thankful that it's not blowing as well as snowing! I'll be grateful when the barn is done however. Milking in the snow is a definite challenge.

We still have sick ones here. I am about ready to bite the bullet and break the cycle by taking Duck to see the doctor. It's been over 4 weeks of someone being sick and she seems to be the one that is getting slammed the hardest with everything.

I am struggling with routine. Namely, I can't seem to create one. 
The majority of this issue is my own personal laziness. I'd much rather sit and snuggle and knit and read than do anything else. So, I'm looking for ways to encourage myself to stick to a bit more of a schedule than I have been previously. That's a challenge. :)

No 4H RC cars tonight-I try to share but I am sure that the community doesn't want to share illness! And the boys have speech tomorrow, so I want to see if we can get them better before then. 

Holiday frustrations

Crafting can sometimes make me crazy. I have less than 8 weeks to the holidays. Less than 4 weeks to get things done that are to be mailed out. And I am losing or breaking the things I need to finish projects. I just broke a set of 9 inch circular needles that I was using to make fingerless gloves. Thankfully....I have DPNs in the exact same size. I wish I could use the magic loop but this particular project gets involved when using the loops.

AND, in the middle of all of it, two of the girls need me to stop and help them with their knitting. Tink and Pickle just learned how to knit, and they frequently need Mom to pick up stitches, figure out where they added a stitch, help them fix something.

Ah. The joys of the holidays. :)

Hmmmm

I just looked at  my Ravelry profile. I've been crocheting 6 times longer than I have been knitting. Yet, I can preetty safely say that I've accomplished 100 times more knitting than crocheting projects in the last 4 years. Pretty wild.......

Winter

The snow is flying today. I am aggravated that my barn isn't finished, but understanding that my husband's hands only move so quickly and his time is even more limited than my own. And there are days, I am certain, more precious. He works so hard to take care of us so I can stay home.
We've been spoiled. The Wyoming winter has held off until today. We've had sunny and warm, mild temperatures. My poor goats won't know what to do!
First fire of the season to really warm the house is in progress, the children are snuggled in jammies, after spending weeks fighting off colds-and losing horribly this week I might add. Hot cocoa is steaming, the cats are indoors for the winter season. Time to hunker down and brave it out. I do love Wyoming!