So he or she was back on our porch this afternoon, eating cat food. Kevin banged at the door and it started moving off the porch, but it was walking and acting strangely. It looked sick and really shouldn't have been out at that hour as skunks are largely nocturnal. Rabies was a possibility so Kevin decided it should be killed.
But it took a while to get our gun and Kevin missed his 2 shots. Mr. (or Ms.) Skunk waddled into the neighbor's yard. So we called the neighbor. The neighbor likes animals, wild and domestic, but was also concerned about its behavior. But by the time he got HIS gun out, the skunk had moved on to the next neighbor's yard!
Another phone call to that neighbor and he came out and shot the skunk. Whew! I am thankful as I don't like the idea of an ill skunk near our kids, cats, or chickens. Of course, I don't have anything in particular against skunks...I just want them out away from our house. So this is a warning to other skunks...stay away from our house!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Excitement with an Animal
Yesterday, Kevin and our electrician friend Mr. Pete spent most of the day working on wiring our barn for electricity. They have now worked 3 full days already on this project and both are ready to be done.
But of course, there was a problem. And there still is a problem. I don't know much about electrical work, but the gist of it is that there is a box buried somewhere between the house and the barn, and in the box are some wires, and one of the wires has a problem. But we don't know where the box is. To explain further, the barn is built on the foundation of an apartment that burned down years ago. It of course had electricity and we knew where the endpoint was, so thought wiring the barn wouldn't be a big problem.
So late in the afternoon, Kevin started pulling up boards from our deck in search of the elusive box. He didn't find it and maybe it had nothing to do with the next excitement, but I suspect it did.
Isaac went out front as the weather was warming rapidly, it was sunny, and the kids are aching to run around outside like calves released from their stalls. I heard a call from him:
"Mom, there is a small animal on the front porch!"
Ok, small animal. Squirrel? Mouse? Chipmunk? Someone's run away gerbil?
"Is it alive or dead?" I asked. I wondered if this was some present from the cats.
"It's alive!"
Ok, maybe I'd better check this out.
"Mom, I think it's a skunk!"
Um, Ok, I had better CHECK THIS OUT!
I raced to the front door and looked out. Sure enough, there was by this time a skunk waddling up our driveway, headed towards the barn. And there was quite the smell of skunk in the air.
Kevin and Mr. Pete were in the basement and I informed them of the latest turn of events. Our house smelled like skunk. Isaac really didn't, fortunately, but we had him change his clothes and take a shower. For a very short time, he and the skunk were on the porch at the same time, which is an unnerving state of affairs.
That was mostly the end of the story, or at least we hope it was the end. I talked to the neighbor on the phone, and from his house he could see the skunk heading into our back 3 acres. We hope it stays there and doesn't come back.
We've had skunks before, of course. Kevin shot one, and 2 others have drowned in our pool. I have no objection to skunks in an objective sense, but I don't want a skunk spraying us, our kids, or our catst, and I don't want a skunk going after our chickens -- which apparently they WILL do.
Tune in for further updates...
But of course, there was a problem. And there still is a problem. I don't know much about electrical work, but the gist of it is that there is a box buried somewhere between the house and the barn, and in the box are some wires, and one of the wires has a problem. But we don't know where the box is. To explain further, the barn is built on the foundation of an apartment that burned down years ago. It of course had electricity and we knew where the endpoint was, so thought wiring the barn wouldn't be a big problem.
So late in the afternoon, Kevin started pulling up boards from our deck in search of the elusive box. He didn't find it and maybe it had nothing to do with the next excitement, but I suspect it did.
Isaac went out front as the weather was warming rapidly, it was sunny, and the kids are aching to run around outside like calves released from their stalls. I heard a call from him:
"Mom, there is a small animal on the front porch!"
Ok, small animal. Squirrel? Mouse? Chipmunk? Someone's run away gerbil?
"Is it alive or dead?" I asked. I wondered if this was some present from the cats.
"It's alive!"
Ok, maybe I'd better check this out.
"Mom, I think it's a skunk!"
Um, Ok, I had better CHECK THIS OUT!
I raced to the front door and looked out. Sure enough, there was by this time a skunk waddling up our driveway, headed towards the barn. And there was quite the smell of skunk in the air.
Kevin and Mr. Pete were in the basement and I informed them of the latest turn of events. Our house smelled like skunk. Isaac really didn't, fortunately, but we had him change his clothes and take a shower. For a very short time, he and the skunk were on the porch at the same time, which is an unnerving state of affairs.
That was mostly the end of the story, or at least we hope it was the end. I talked to the neighbor on the phone, and from his house he could see the skunk heading into our back 3 acres. We hope it stays there and doesn't come back.
We've had skunks before, of course. Kevin shot one, and 2 others have drowned in our pool. I have no objection to skunks in an objective sense, but I don't want a skunk spraying us, our kids, or our catst, and I don't want a skunk going after our chickens -- which apparently they WILL do.
Tune in for further updates...
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Yearly Assessment for Homeschooling
I've decided to go ahead and do our yearly assessment in the next few weeks. This assessment is legally required by Ohio; well, I should say, it is one way to fulfill a legal requirement. The other popular way to fulfill the legal requirement is to have the children take a standardized test. I have no moral objection to that option, but have always gone the assessment route.
I've never done my assessment in March before, but then I've never had a baby who will be born in May before. Does this mean the school year is "done"? Well, one of the great JOYS of homeschooling is figuring out our own schedule. We started school on August 1st and took only 1 break at Christmas. So yes, we are done.
But that doesn't mean we won't start up 'til fall. My plan is as follows:
Next week: normal school
Following week: finishing up a few things and doing some "outside the box" activities while I pull together the children's portfolios.
Last week of March: no school but I will have the assessment.
First week of April we will start the next school year. I hope to teach through the end of April, by which time I'll be very pregnant and ready to take a break. I am guessing we'll be off until July when we will start up again.
I've never done my assessment in March before, but then I've never had a baby who will be born in May before. Does this mean the school year is "done"? Well, one of the great JOYS of homeschooling is figuring out our own schedule. We started school on August 1st and took only 1 break at Christmas. So yes, we are done.
But that doesn't mean we won't start up 'til fall. My plan is as follows:
Next week: normal school
Following week: finishing up a few things and doing some "outside the box" activities while I pull together the children's portfolios.
Last week of March: no school but I will have the assessment.
First week of April we will start the next school year. I hope to teach through the end of April, by which time I'll be very pregnant and ready to take a break. I am guessing we'll be off until July when we will start up again.
Into the Garage
We've learned a lot during our first foray into raising chicks.
Data point #1: Chicks are smelly.
The books said so. They were right. Our go to book, "Living With Chickens", said that after 2 weeks we would want them out of the house. OH yeah. We wanted them out of the house several days ago but figuring out their new place to live took some time.
Last night, Kevin toiled away for a couple of hours to fashion this new chick habitat in our garage. It has a warmer. It has food and water. It has a chick thermometer in a plastic bag on the floor so we can monitor the temperature in there. So far, the thermometer has measured between 82 and 86 degrees in that one spot. The chicks seem happy enough and are not crowded together...indeed, many seem to be enjoying some more space to move around.
Tonight the temperature is supposed to drop outside significantly compared to last night. We will probably rig up a second heat lamp to make sure the chicks don't get too cold. So long as there is a place in their cage to move if they get too warm, they should be fine.
We've decided that in the future, we will wait until spring to start chicks so they don't have to be inside at all. They are cute and fuzzy... but smelly.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
New Digs for the Chicks
The entry room where the chicks live now was getting very stinky, and I suggested that we needed to change their litter -- again! When Kevin started that process, he discovered their cardboard box was, well, disgusting. So out it went, and Kevin constructed this new habitat for them made out of chicken wire and tarp. It is somewhat bigger and we also purchased new food and water dishes for them. They are growing SO fast.
The process of moving them out of the old box and getting them into the new box took some time -- and the time was lengthened after Kevin cut his finger quite badly. The smallest chick apparently had a very hard time with the process because he started failing on Sunday afternoon and was dead by evening. Poor chickie. Our chicken book says that most groups of chicks have at least one runt, and runts usually die because something is wrong with them. So it was sad but not unexpected.
Kevin and I have spent a fair amount of time pondering the next step for the chicks. We want them out of the house soon as they are smelly. We thought about our sun room, but after putting a thermometer out there yesterday we realized the temperature swings are too dramatic in there. Sometimes it is cold, sometimes it gets positively hot when the sun is shining in. That will be hard on the chicks. So the current plan is to move them into the garage, which is cold but consistently cold. We'll purchase another heat lamp and we think we can keep their new home warm enough. By the end of the week they should be happy in 85 degree temperatures.
They are growing fast and their feathers are developing. In 2 or 3 weeks we hope to move them outside into a coop that Kevin will build. We'll have the heat lamp out there for chilly nights, and they should be large and feathery enough to do well. We hope.
This whole experiment has been slightly less well planned than is ideal. In retrospect, we probably should have waited until mid March to buy chicks as the temperatures outside are still cold at night at the end of March, when this batch will be ready to move outside. We got them early (in February) because we didn't want Butchering Time to Coincide with Baby Time. Our little boy is due in May so we want to butcher the chickens before that.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
This Week in Pictures
It was a busy week. I was sick last Sunday with the infamous stomach virus that has been making the rounds in our family. Ugh, I have not felt that badly in a LONG time. Ugh. Sunday was a blur as I slept most of the day. So thankful that Kevin was home and able to run things.
Monday and Tuesday I was still somewhat ill, but certainly much better. Our older 3 kids were able to do their schoolwork though a couple of things had to be left for the coming week as I didn't have the energy to help.
Here is a picture of our chicks, taken Thursday. You can tell they are growing like hungry weeds. Wow! They are supposed to grow fast, so we are happy. Kevin is thinking about the next stage of their lives as we want to move them out of the house soon. They've done well, but are starting to get quite smelly. We lost one chick on Sunday, but the other 15 are thriving.
Here is Sarah, looking cute. She has finally figured out how to walk everywhere. She is also amazingly busy and leaves a trail of mess behind her unless we corral her somewhere.
Friday morning, we visited some local friends. Here is Naomi, playing on a trampoline and enjoying it thoroughly. I got to visit with a dear friend and the children had a wonderful couple of hours. There were 13 children in the house under the age of 13 and it was incredible how well they all did. We didn't have many altercations and a delightful time was had by all.
On the way home, I stopped by the house of some local relatives who had purchased Christmas gifts for our children but had not had the opportunity to get out to our house. So the morning ended with our children opening late Christmas gifts. Needless to say, they were ecstatic. So it was an exciting, and fun, morning for our family.
Unfortunately, the afternoon brought my first round of semi regular contractions in this pregnancy. I am 28 weeks and this is the time I usually start having problems. I spent the afternoon resting as much as possible, and by evening felt better. I will probably have to curtail trips out and about with all the kids from here to the end of the pregnancy. I was in the hospital with preterm labor with our 2nd child and we don't want a repeat of that.
Last, but not least, let me mention our much maligned adult laying hens. There are 13 of them now, as Kevin dispatched the 3 roosters that were crowing a lot and not (obviously) producing any eggs. The hens have picked up the pace and we have been getting an average of 6 to 7 eggs a day. That's not magnificent, but it could be worse too...
Monday and Tuesday I was still somewhat ill, but certainly much better. Our older 3 kids were able to do their schoolwork though a couple of things had to be left for the coming week as I didn't have the energy to help.
Wednesday was my work day and I was able to go. When we got home, the children were happily playing outside. It was an amazing day -- in the upper 60's. Ah, spring! Well, a brief hint of spring. Of course it cooled back down the next day.
Here is Sarah, looking cute. She has finally figured out how to walk everywhere. She is also amazingly busy and leaves a trail of mess behind her unless we corral her somewhere.
Friday morning, we visited some local friends. Here is Naomi, playing on a trampoline and enjoying it thoroughly. I got to visit with a dear friend and the children had a wonderful couple of hours. There were 13 children in the house under the age of 13 and it was incredible how well they all did. We didn't have many altercations and a delightful time was had by all.
On the way home, I stopped by the house of some local relatives who had purchased Christmas gifts for our children but had not had the opportunity to get out to our house. So the morning ended with our children opening late Christmas gifts. Needless to say, they were ecstatic. So it was an exciting, and fun, morning for our family.
Unfortunately, the afternoon brought my first round of semi regular contractions in this pregnancy. I am 28 weeks and this is the time I usually start having problems. I spent the afternoon resting as much as possible, and by evening felt better. I will probably have to curtail trips out and about with all the kids from here to the end of the pregnancy. I was in the hospital with preterm labor with our 2nd child and we don't want a repeat of that.
Last, but not least, let me mention our much maligned adult laying hens. There are 13 of them now, as Kevin dispatched the 3 roosters that were crowing a lot and not (obviously) producing any eggs. The hens have picked up the pace and we have been getting an average of 6 to 7 eggs a day. That's not magnificent, but it could be worse too...
Friday, March 2, 2012
God's Direction and Promise
One of my favorite passages of Scripture is:
Philippians 4:6-7
Today's New International Version (TNIV)
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I memorized it long ago, and repeat these words to myself often. Why? Well, I guess a big reason is that I AM prone to worry.
I know I said this a few months ago, but high school is weighing on me. We will homeschool for high school unless something truly bizarre happens. I definitely feel God's call to homeschool the children during that time. I know God will make a way. But I find myself doubting ... not God, but myself. I know I'm not perfect, I know I'm weak. I fear my own limitations.
But really, that describes every living person on earth, doesn't it? No one is perfect. God works through the weaknesses of everyone.
I know part of the problem is that my personality lends itself to planning ahead. I was one of those students who usually got work done EARLY. If a term paper was due on March 31st, I had it done at least a week ahead of time. I was NEVER up late the night before finishing it. Whenever I feel pressed for time, I am prone to panic.
So I have been planning ahead in terms of reading books and thinking about high school. Naomi is 12 and will be "7th grade" next year. So we have a couple of years before high school begins, though of course her academic load will get heavier in the next 2 years as well.
Naturally, the people writing about high school from a homeschool perspective don't agree with one another 100%. One of the beauties of homeschooling is that there are many ways to homeschool effectively. But in a way, that is challenging for someone like me, who loves to plan ahead. I want to know EXACTLY how we are going to do this. And I don't. That of course leads me closer to the Lord as I have to keep trusting Him with the unknowns.
Part of the excitement of next year will be guiding our older children while caring for 2 little people. Sometimes I can hardly BELIEVE that our son will be born in less than 3 months. We are going to have a little baby when school starts back up here in July or August. It really seems more than I can do in my own strength. And it is. I think God has me right where He wants me as I learn to trust Him more.
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