President of the United States: Barack Obama!

Last night we, as a family, voted for President of the United States. We always take the boys when we vote - and let them push the buttons. We want them to understand how important it is - and what a privilege it is for each American to be able to participate in the democratic process. With the outcome of yesterday's vote, we are so happy, relieved, and hopeful for our country's future.

Poor Sport

I had taken this picture the morning before yesterday to capture our first frost in the valley. Note the Obama sign standing proudly on the side of the road.

I came home today, after volunteering at school, to find that someone had driven right over our sign. The day we put up our signs - I had discussed with Sandra, my sister-in-law - who is a volunteer for the Obama campaign and got us these signs - how long she thought it would take before someone would deface or demolish them. I thought it would only take a couple of days. But it's been out there for maybe a week and a half. We have two other signs up, but they are much closer to the house. This one was an easy target being on the other side of our road just off the pasture. Weiners.

Yankee Doodle's Dandy!

This is our new goat - Yankee - the Nubian wether. He is actually the son of our very own Juniper! I was really excited to be offered him by Juniper's step-mom, Rosemary. He was born on July 1 along with one other buckling (who has been claimed by a 4-H kid); so he is almost 3 months old. I can see the family resemblance.

He came home today, and so far seems very frightened of people, of his surroundings, and of the other resident goats, Apple and Acorn. It doesn't help that Apple is trying to assert her position with Yankee. And not gently either. She is very intent on giving him a painful and lasting lesson on who's boss around here. Yankee is so much smaller in stature than Apple - and much thinner and he's still a baby. I won't be able to let him alone with them for quite a long while it seems.

On this first day for Yankee, it's hard to imagine him as a happy and comfortable resident of the Seven Valleys goat herd. But I felt that way during the first days of Acorn and Apple's arrival. Boy, have they come a long, long way. I am pretty satisfied with how things turned out with them. They are no longer scared of me at all. They come to me every time I go out to see them. I can put their leads on them with no resistance at all. Things are good with them. Now that all was well, we will begin the long, rocky road of working another kid into the family. But now I know it can be done - and I have all the confidence in the world.

Minnesota: Evergreen Lodge on Woman Lake

Welcome to Minnesota. Land of folk legend - Paul Bunion. Among other things.

For as long as I can remember this fish-shaped piece of plywood, with the words Evergreen Lodge hand-painted on it, has had the ability to elicit ear-shattering squeals from every child in our seven-car caravan as it came into view. This sign was the official signal that we had arrived at our beloved Evergreen Lodge.

Being here meant that all my 24 cousins and I would be able to enjoy two weeks of sweet emancipation! We would have fourteen days of swimming, minnow hunting, leech killing, and fishing off the dock; of water skiing, row boating, playing cards, burying each other in the sand, and Turtle Races in town on Wednesdays. When daylight faded all the kids would meet up at the Lodge to listen to the juke box, play some pool - some pinball, eat gobs of candy and drink Nehis until our money ran out. That vacation to Minnesota was our last hurrah before beginning a new school year just a week after returning home. It was pure bliss.

Even now as an adult – I have most of the same feelings attached to that place. I feel the same giddy anticipation all throughout the year of summer arriving so we can go back again. It’s not quite the same for me now as it was when I was a kid of the ‘70s, but when I’m there, everywhere I walk, everything I see, being in Cabin 13 - I can see so clearly all the ghosts of my past and feel I am in some way with my family again. These days only a handful of my extended family makes the trek each year, unfortunately not at the same time. Like me, they too, want their kids to experience in some way the magic we felt back then.

The gang: Asa, Natasha, Karissa, Allysa. Not pictured: Jake

Asa with his "Big One"

Alyssa and Jake using teamwork carrying a pale of water to the dock.

One of the thousands of itty-bitty fish that Asa caught. Mom and Dad were the lucky ones to take the hook out of the thousands of mouths... for the most part.

This is the likeness of Paul Bunion's sweetheart, Lucette. She lives in Hackensack.

This is the Fishing Derby in Hackensack - about a 30-minute drive from Longville. All of our gang participated. They got bags of candy for being good sports. Asa was 2nd place for largest fish caught. He got a nice bullhead, aka: catfish.

Riding the pontoon boat into town for the Turtle Races

Natasha shows her skills as pontoon boat captain and driver.

The Goats

Acorn, Turnip, and Apple

End of April

Cousins Nick and Asa

The boys had a lemonade stand over the weekend - and made a decent amount of money. They advertised that half of the proceeds would go to "Race for Life".

Asa caught this sunny in the Codorus Creek. He's warming up for Minnesota in June.

New Mower

The Smith family has a new tractor! We decided it was a good idea to just bite the bullet and get a new tractor. We were having so many troubles with the old one; like the belts constantly falling off, one of the three blades not even working, extremely high noise level of the mower, and just one headache after another with the dang thing - it was nickel-and-diming us to death; and it was just frustrating. Our field grass had grown so tall and dense that it took a few mowings to get it to look good. Now it looks great and we can actually hang out over there, which we hadn't done yet this year. We even took the goats over to browse (with great difficulty because of their skittish nature), and Asa has been able to go fishing. The grass was literally taller than him. Once the grass began to grow, it was out of control in no time. John is very happy with his new tractor and is finding all kinds of things and places to mow.

Envirothon Victory!

Jake's Envirothon Team, the Environmentalists, ranked as gold medalists - earning them a blue ribbon in this year's York County Envirothon this past Tuesday. Jake and his team have been studying most of the school year to compete against other 3rd and 4th graders in York County.

The Envirothon is a nationwide program that encourages our kids to learn more about our natural environment through competitive events. Senior High Envirothons are held throughout North America and Canada. York County is one of the few places to offer the Envirothon competitions beginning in the third grade.

John took this photo of just a portion of the crowd of teams and some parents during the awards ceremony at the end the all day event.

Jake and one of his teammates both crossing fingers and arms in hopes of victory.

DC Trip with sister Janice and her family

The Washington Monument from the other side of the mall. Growing up, I always thought this was the Pentagon. As a child, my dad took occasional business trips to "the Pentagon", and this is the image I saw in my head. John laughed at (with?) me when I first called it that, and he still gets a laugh out of it and can't resist poking fun at me every time he sees it.

The very famous and powerful spot where MLK gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Asa and Natasha at the foot of Thomas Jefferson.

It was a very rainy and chilly weekend in DC. That didn't stop us from visiting all of the must-see spots. After a two day DC visit, we drove back to Pennsylvania - a 2-hour drive. Janice, Steve, and Natasha stayed for almost a week. I can't believe it, but I didn't get any pictures of them at our home!

Back in PA, we visited an Amish home - which is now a museum site where we learned a thing or two about the Amish. I was able to show them Wehrly's auction, Brown's Orchards, Perrydell Farm, our goats, and the simple beauty of our valley.

Asa Lost a Tooth

Asa lost his fourth tooth today.


He plans to leave the tooth fairy this note.

Not sure how that will work out...

24/7 badness

Three Nigerian Dwarfs

Last Saturday three new arrivals joined our farm family. Apple, Acorn, and Turnip; two month-old Nigerian Pygmy goats. Unfortunately, they are not friendly right now. They are very scared of us and won't come near unless there is food involved. I am hoping that with time, patience, and food treats they will learn to accept us as part of their family.

These goats will just be pets - at this point. They are a miniature breed, so will always be small. This is part of the reason I wanted them. They should be much easier to handle. However they do have horns; we'll see how that goes. People that have goats with horns swear that they'd have it no other way; people who have goats without horns say they'd have it no other way. Supposedly the horns make great handles if needed.

The bucklings (Acorn and Turnip) will be castrated later this month. Castrated males are referred to as wethers. They are more gentle and don't have that strong smell like unaltered males do.
They are very healthy and happy so far. The thing I will concentrate on the most is spending plenty of time in their yard and letting them get used to me. They love Fritos, so I'm hoping that the best way to a goat's heart is through it's stomach. We'll keep you posted.

A Warm Day in February

The boys have the day off for Presidents Day. It is a really nice day (for February) being partly sunny and in the upper 50's. We spent some time outside to enjoy this short-lived weather. We had a picinic lunch in the backyard, the boys rode their bikes and we took a walk on the trail. We found some of our favorite signs that winter is on it's way out the door: Snowdrops - our first flowering bulb of the year.

The winter-ravaged gourd from our summer garden.

Even this way, it is beautiful.

Boys' Art

Asa's masterpiece. He really enjoyed this project.

Jake's valentine

Jake's first experimental collage

Jake's second work

Jake's magazine collage

Ice Storm

Ew! The weather here in the valley is awful. Today is the second day that school has been cancelled. Yesterday because of snow; today because of ice. Our power went out for a short moment this morning, but went right back on. I am worried that it will go out again for a longer period of time. John is staying home from work for the second day in a row too. The boys are playing games and doing artwork and watching movies with popcorn. They are glad to be missing school, although at first Jake was upset because he was going to miss a Valentines Day party in his classroom, but he got over that pretty quickly. I think it's a baking day. Cookies? Lasagna? Hmmmm.

Some recent family pictures

brothers

The first snowman of 2008 made with the neighbor kids and Dad.

Asa in his classroom on the 100th day of school. The kids in his class dressed up like 100-year olds.

A nice day outside.