More Wildlife in the Area

Last week, I took Isabella to her 4-H meeting and two of the adults were discussing sightings of "snow eagles". They thought it was a little early for them to be arriving but they were definitely here. I kept this in my head and wondered what could this majestic white bird would look like. Yesterday, I got my chance. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon when I saw a rather large looking bird sitting atop of an old fence post from the bathroom window. I went into the bedroom to grab the binoculars to see if it was an owl, but this bird had a lot of white on it's underside. By the time I got the binoculars out, this bird was joined with another on top of a very tall old tree.

This morning I decided to figure out what this mysterious "snow eagle" was and if I had just spotted my first pair. I discovered it is really an Osprey or also called Fisher Hawk. They are part of the Eagle Family but smaller than the Bald or Golden Eagles which apparently steal their dinner from them. A good example of nature bullying.

I did not take these pictures, I lifted them from online searches so I could show everyone what I did see. I am not this fast and I do not have this nice of a camera. Now, Karl and I have a problem, what if this pair have decided to chose this tree as a nest site? We intend to cut this old tree down as it is so miss shaped and covered over with vines. It is also in a spot where our future boundary fence will go. All I can do now is watch and see if they return. According to the internet, eggs should appear in late March or April. Oh, it is illegal to kill these too! They are recovering from small numbers.

The Kid Just got Smarter!

"Daddy can I watch Battle of the Bulge with you?"

Anton says this as I give Karl a worried look. Karl had actually told me after watching the first half, this is the old version, it is not gory just gun shot sounds and people falling. Seeing the hesitation in his parents' faces he remarks,

"It would be a great history lesson for me!"

What can you say to that?

Still No Accumulation!

We have had several days of very frigid weather, but still no snow accumulation. I refer to it as my mother's favorite kind of snow, the kind that does not stick when it falls to the ground. For the past few days, however, the temperature as been in the 20's for the high and around 5 for the low. This meant the future pond area, where the water table is higher, has iced over.

So the children have enjoyed ice walking. They have been playing on these spots for a couple of days, dreaming of when we have the bigger pond and they could really ice skate.

We let the dogs out to run off some energy and immediately they ran to the children. Blossom hit the ice and slid into Isabella knocking her flat. She said she was alright and they all continued to have fun sliding around, even the dogs. I foresee the buying of ice skates by next winter!

Isabella's Birthday - Part 3 - Food and Cake!

Since some of the children were nervous around the puppies, we did put them in the basement for the party. This was a good call since it allowed us to be more relaxed about the food and provided more space for everyone in the kitchen.

Since this was a smaller party, we stayed small on the food. We had trays of fruit, veggies, and piggies in blankets cut small for appetizer size. Of course we could not forget the chips either!

The children took their few minutes to have their snack and then it was back to more fun. They created their own games of hiding and built creations for found objects. This is sort of like Tinker Bell in the movie as she assembles things from found objects. Then it was time for cake and ice cream. Again we went a little smaller on the cake, by starting with one chocolate cake base and then a smaller strawberry "hill" on which we placed a Tinker Bell toy as the topper.

This was a compromise as Isabella had described her cake to me a few weeks ago. She basically wanted a wedding cake and brought me the column spacers when we were at the store to show me her thoughts. I had to explain to her that this was for a wedding cake or at minimum a large party and we did not have this many to feed. As it stands we have 1/2 the cake left in the frig to pick on over the next week. Oh, she has such big dreams! Isabella opened her gifts and everyone went home. Isabella really is a good girl and thanked Karl and I over and over for "the best day ever!"

Isabella's Birthday - Part 2 - Pin the Wings and Pinata

Well, most of my new friends in our new location have accused me of being too creative. I am not sure what they mean?! (Ha! Ha!) The day before the party, I took a couple hours to draw up a picture of Tinker Bell so we could play "Pin the Wings on the Fairy". I needed something else to do that did not require me spending a huge amount of money on some pre-fabricated game. I mean the children would only be using it for a couple of minutes.

Isabella had fun spinning around and walking towards the paper goal. She is such a sneaky one, I had to keep a close eye on her to see if she was peeking. I decided to remove each person's attempt so as to not give the next one an advantage to find the correct placement. Emily got the wings to closest and the boys decided to not play at all. Just too much fun with Rokenboks I guess.

However, they did stop playing in the playroom for the pinata. Since this was a "girly" party, we opted for a pull string pinata instead of one you hit. Isabella thought hitting Tinker Bell would not be appropriate. Yes, I did cave here on the store bought pinata because she requested it four months ago! Maybe next time I can make it into a family craft!

Karl felt pretty safe holding the pinata up for the children since no bats would be swung and we did not have a good place to hang it up.

Everyone got a few tugs before the golden string to release the goodies was pulled. Enzo, one of the younger siblings was just in awe as he watched the candy fall to the ground. It was so cute as he stood there with his mouth open in disbelief as he was putting it all together.

Isabella's Birthday - Part 1 - Party and Crafts

With Isabella's birthday being so close to Christmas, we tend to fall into some issues. One is the timing of the party. Since we are no longer in Hawaii, her birthday falls in the cold of winter. This means all activities must be indoors. We also run into the problems of sickness. Since most of us are caught up in the festivities of the Christmas season, we get a little run down and become susceptible to virus of sorts. These two conditions, beyond our control, tend to make her parties more cozy. One of her dearest friends was swept off to Disney World for a family vacation to escape the cold and a few others has come down with the latest infection circling around town. But these did not stop a few from coming to join in the fun!


We decided to go with a Tinker Bell theme and let the boys use Peter Pan's Lost Boys as their cue. It is impossible to have fairies without wings, so the first order of business was to decorate wings!

They were all giggly and having a lot of fun!

The girls were very intent on getting the wings just so. If they did not over hear talk of other things to do, they would have worked on their wings for hours! This is much different than the boys who abandoned their animal mask creation station for the playroom.

This was fine with me, as I really wanted a relaxed time for everyone. The parents who came enjoyed sitting in the living room just chatting about everything. Everyone was so busy with their chosen first activity, I ended up dropping the T-Shirt decorating activity all together.

Calming the Beasts

Karl and I have stumbled on something amazing. At first I found it to be coincidental, but it has worked several times now. Playing a Gregorian Chant CD makes the crazy puppies drowsy and sleepy.

I actually had wanted to play some background noise while the kiddos and I were busy in the kitchen; by song three, they were out!

Rising Dough

In an effort to reduce our food budget, Karl and I are trying our hands at making bread. Actually, Karl started the trend during one of his off days from work. We had talked about the idea but never put words into actions. I found some easy recipes from Mother Earth's website for a no knead dough. Karl made four small sour dough loaves all by himself. The bread is similar to what you would find in an Italian restaurant to munch on till your salads arrive. I made an olive oil dip for us and Anton nearly finished off half a loaf.



Not wanting to be outdone by my husband, I wanted to try to make my own bread. While the sourdough bread is good, I wanted to find a different textured bread. I also find the act of kneading the dough to be relaxing and calming, so I didn't try to avoid these types of recipes. I came across an egg bread with options of making cinnamon bread. I made one loaf exactly like the recipe and another I added applesauce to the cinnamon swirl mix.

They both turned out great! I was surprised Anton liked the applesauce one better because it is a little messy. Next time I will not bring the filling so close to the edge. Once the first loaf, the cinnamon one, was cooled enough to cut, the children ate six slices. When Karl came home, I gave him a slice to try. You know it is good when your husband's eyes get really big and he exclaims, "You made this!" (I actually have great joy in trying to impress him with the things I do!)

I wonder if I can get a picture of them not acting goofy anymore?

Anyway, I had recently read an article about sharing our talents and hobbies with our children. The author posed the question, "How can the children of gourmet cooks leave the home not knowing how to boil water?" The article went on to explain how we tend to use our hobbies as our own special time but this can be a disservice to our children. If we do not take the time to show them our hobbies, how can they empathize with our joy in the activity. The reason we tend to not is because it takes lots of time and patience as we see them messing up while they learn. It would be quicker and faster if we did it on our own, but not necessarily the best choice to make. The day after I made the bread, Anton asked me if he could make bread with me next time. I will find a way to fit it in the day because it is one of those memory making moments. (When I made the bread before, it was in those 1-2 hours I have after Karl leaves for work and the children get up to start their day. Karl and I get up at 4:45am during the work week.)

Humbly Human and trees

Sorry I have not updated the blog in a few weeks. We have, do I dare say, come down with a few viruses lately. During Karl's break from work, he commented to me how he knew he was getting sick because he was just feeling exhausted. I had to stop for a moment and ponder this idea. How do I really know when I am getting sick? I seem to be exhausted a lot lately. Well, my over drive to make everything as perfect as I can seems to catch up with me at some point. So, as a Christmas present to my body and mind, I took a few days to sleep, fend off some bugs, and pump in as much vitamin C as I could. After a couple days laying low, we all seemed to be getting better.


Once we felt a little better, it was back to the grind. Karl still had a few days left, so we tackled the vines one day and worked on some pet projects on another. Christmas decorations were placed back into their tubs to hibernate until next year and a good clean up helped us start the New Year on a good note. Soon school started back and the familiar rhythm was returning.


One afternoon before the weather became frigid, I took the children over to a friend's house to collect more leaves for my trees. On New Years' Eve, we had 55 m/hr gusts that took nearly all my straw and leaf mulch into the fields. Luckily, the trees made it with only a couple small ones leaning slightly to one side instead of standing straight up. My experiment of no-till method is practically gone, only 3 of 5 beds has anything left on them. Basically, I need some wind barriers and fast. I came up with an idea to use some of the branches of the trees to construct a cheap and rustic picket style fence, but I need Karl to trim a few branches with his chain saw. This might at least slow the wind down. Our trees need about 5 years and then wind in the front section will not be an issue. Then, I was told about the reforestation/ Agricultural department's tree program. As long as I am planting trees for ecological or environmental reasons and not just for landscape, I could purchase 1-3 year old seedlings of various trees for $.50-.75 a piece. So, this spring along with the fruit trees, Karl and I will be planting a wind barrier on the North and West sides of the land. I guess this year will be the year of trees for us!