Today’s Forecast: Fowl Weather

Jake titled that one ;)

Jacob is turning into quite the duck hunter. Hunting couldn’t be better as the ducks are coming to us to hideout in our ditches. Jake needs an adult to go with him until he is 16 and I got a wild idea to take him today. This is what I learned today….

1. A male Mallard duck is called a greenhead..if you wanna sound cool. You are allowed 5 greenheads and 2 hens a day.

2. Ducks flock to ditches for protection(ha) and running water when everything else is frozen and snowy. And ditches are plentiful around us.

3. Jacob taught me to identify a flock of ducks in the air as opposed to geese or crows. Interesting.

4. Crawling under a hot wire fencing, in the snow, wearing insulated coveralls, ain’t as easy for me as it was 10 years ago.

5. When you clap your hands and scream “Yay!! you GOT one!” Chances are(and they are high) that you will scare all the ducks in the surrounding ditches, thus breaking Eph 6:4a. :(

6. Wow, our countryside is beautiful. We are so blessed by the breathtaking mountains and fields surrounding us. We could not help but worship the Lord!

 

Walking the ditches behind our house.

 

Ducks!

And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens."   Gen 1:20

 

I love this photo.

 

 "But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. 
Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:7-10

 

This is the photo where I learned NOT to clap and scream after he makes a kill. The little dot in the middle is a greenhead he just took down. What you CAN’T see are the 5 ducks that just jumped behind me.

 

 

 

Men. Too cool to smile.

 

And another greenhead.

“You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! “ Psa 8:6-9

He was excited to find that one of his ducks was banded. After filing it online, he gets a certificate and found his duck is over two years old and was in Hay Lake, Alberta, Canada just four and half months ago. They say your chances of bagging a tagged duck are less than 1 in 250.

 

The day has ended with only one away from limiting out!It was sooOOoo much fun hunting with ma’boy.

Pink Ukuleles

O.k., so we really want our children to be individuals, right? We want them to chase their own quirky little interests and facilitate them, within reason, the best we are able. 

 

However, I was soooo caught off guard when Emma(9) told us she was serious about buying a ukulele. And not  just a ukulele, but a PINK uke. She has been talking about it for weeks, but thought it was joke.

It wasn’t. <sigh>

 

After a good talk with Daddy, they decided it would be a wise purchase with her money and we would take her to the music store in town. Emma and I walked in and asked Mr. Henry if they had a ukulele, a pink one to be exact. They did. A perfect little pink uke hanging neatly from the rafters, along with a blue, green and yellow one.  Who would thunk?

 

It was love at first sight. Henry gave her a crash course in ukuleleism, we bought a book and off we trotted home, happily plucking out tunes.

She already taught herself four chords and can pretty much play any song under the sun with them. It AMAZES me how quickly children can pick up music!  So tonight we sit, being serenaded with old hymns by my Emma and her pink ukulele.

Magnum’s First Day At School

Mag’s first day of school was last night. It was no surprise that he was the tallest student….and heaviest student…and the class bully(as he sorta flipped his lid at a younger student when he walked by). Oops.

Magnum is not mannered with visitors and chickens…oh, and that one rabbit(rip), hence the enrollment into school. His teacher assures us he will be transformed with a little hard work and effort. He went as far as to say, on command, Magnum will stand, like an angel, and let strangers pet him and love on him…..hmmm….I wonder who that first *stranger* will be? After a three hour class, Mag has three three minute lessons a day as homework for the next week. I am already seeing great progress this morning!

This afternoon the children will start taking turns working him and we even hope to have Gracie controlling this 110lb dog by next Tuesday. If you know Gracie personally, you know there is a pretty good chance she can accomplish this! (We think she is a leader personality) 

Mag will be taking the 8 wk Basic Obedience Course from Cedarwood Canine School and hopefully we will take the Off –Leash Course in the next year. Magnum has the potential of being a great family dog, but controlling this beast is now our number one priority.

I am still haunted by our close encounter with the luring this summer.

He is intensively tuned into our children, playing a sheepdog roll, watching their every move from a distance and there in a heartbeat if they call. He has even pulled one of the children down, gently, from climbing up an unstable woodpile. Then there are the times the children will hold Mag, then have another child run and hide under a blanket or in a cabinet somewhere far off. When he is released and told to “Find ___” he will quickly and efficiently find that child and pull the blanket off, it is so fun to watch him with the kids. 

A J’s Christmas 2011

Christmas in 14 pictures.

 

Emma and her beading set. I have already acquired three handmade earring sets! I do have selfish reasons for buying her beads ;)

 

Gracie and her Imaginets. She has wanted these for months!

 

Elijah shooting Daddy’s feet.  Elijah(who still can not talk) would look at Daddy, put his gun down, throw his hands in the air then quickly pick up his gun again to communicate he wanted Daddy to put his hands up. Once Daddy surrendered to him, he’d shoot him.

 

Gotta love boys in the woodshop. Danny made this pistol for Micah complete with .22 casings put in the holes he drilled.

   

My hunter ;)

 

Meet Rexford. Rexford joined our family this Christmas and let me tell you, he was another great purchase. We have had to set the timer more than once for turn taking. Even I could sit upon him, if I cared to, and no, I have not, fyi. But it is sure nice to know that if my 115lb son wants to take him for a spin, I can rest easy. He is cute, bouncy and a real healthy boy energy burner.

 

Lillie, the one eyed dog, blissfully slept through all the hoo-ha.

  

 

 

 

Gracie finally got matching PJ’s for her and Bitty Baby thank you to Grandma and her good ole sewing machine.

  

 

Danny and his heli

 

Elijah plum tuckered out.

    

And Gracie with her brand new doll crib that big brother built for her.

It was another blessed Christmas with family celebrating Christ’s birth. Glad the tree is down, the sugar’s gone, the pressure’s off and it’s time to settle into the new year. Looking forward to this weekend’s traditional event celebrating with our dear church friends at Hope Family Fellowship(in Lynden) for the New Year’s hymn sing!

The best part of waking up…

…Is Mozart in your cup. <sigh>

Thanks to the whoever it was that tried to sweeten my coffee this morning…it worked.

Lyddibugs On The Move

Lyddibugs On The Move from Jarski on Vimeo.

 

My baby is mobile!

 

Emma found everyone’s shoes and Micah shined them for church. I love the line up,

so sweet to have all those feet ;)

Ollie Bollen

Doris Jean’s Donuts!

Every year we try to go into town and celebrate a little Dutch heritage by enjoying some ollie bollen. And no, Dee, they do not even come close to yours!  

  

Elijah Wilhem is named after his five of his forefathers that date back to 1560 something. All of them named Wilhem(Vil-um).

Jessica was at a party, so a part of us was missing, but we(they) still downed 1.5 dozen ollie bollen nonetheless.

 

Grace looOOooved her oly-bawlin, but Micah was disappointed we didn’t end up at the bowling alley as he had thought.