Lamb cake

We're back from a fun 4 days in Louisiana (and about that many driving to and fro). We've got a bunch of fun photos to share here when I have a bit more time, but in the meantime, I thought I'd show off our lamb cake from Easter this year. Its collar is a bit crooked and its eyes look slightly, um, strange somehow, but I still think it's pretty cute. We weren't going to be getting back into town until late the night before Easter and I had already told the kids we probably wouldn't be having a lamb cake this year, much to their disappointment, especially Ellie.

However, thanks in no small part to our new friend, the portable DVD player, we made record time driving Saturday and I was able to bake it that night. We spent much of Easter morning decorating while hanging out with Uncle Dave (in town for a couple of days) before heading to Tommy & Deb's for a great Easter dinner. Still no Ukrainian Easter eggs this year (not even dyed eggs, though we're going to do that just for fun this weekend), but it was nice to still have our lamb cake tradition.

Notice the peep in the foreground next to the "baby lamb" -- a little chocolate lamb covered with buttercream frosting. There's another peep in the back to for a full 360-degree lamb cake diorama. Oh, and not to brag, but this cake was delicious! (And in case you're worried, no actual lambs were hurt in the making of this lamb cake!)

Aerial view of our place

Hey, check it out! We just got this cool photo of the homestead-lite. A fellow who pilots a small plane out of Lake Elmo Airport and does aerial photography came by with this picture he took last month. We've wanted to get one of these but the prices were always sky-high, so to speak, but not so with this guy. So now we finally have one to hang side-by-side with the aerial photo Ted and Michele had done in 1986. We'll have to figure out a way to get that one scanned into digital format as well, but in it, you can really see the huge differences in 22 years, especially in how grown the trees have become. The row of elms on the left-hand side of the new pic (between our place and Bud & Cora's) has really grown from practically nothing to the big windbreak you see here.

In the new photo, you can make out the paths we've made in the back 40, the prairie up front, and just the tippy top of Ted's chicken coop, poking up from behind the big barn. (You have to know what you're looking at to figure that one out.) Ellie and I thought that maybe we could make out Moose in the barnyard, but it may just be the slide from the goats' little playset. I think it's pretty cool that you can make out lots of deer tracks, especially in the front.

Below is the full picture the pilot took. (Click on either photo and you can see things much better.) You can see Bud & Cora's next door, Moon & Shifter (their horses) eating at their big hay bale, and a lot of the horses and cows from our neighbors on 22nd Street. You can also see part of our field to the north of the house, as well. When I zoom in, I can even see what I think is our little cat friend (a barn cat who's hung around almost every day for the last two years whom we now call Checkers) slinking across the Wamstads' field in back of ours. Too cool! We're hoping to have the pilot take another picture in the full of summer this year to compare.


What's next, satellite imagery?

The end of an era

We're sad to report that the eponymous fat beagle of Fat Beagle Farm has died. Dixie died about 3 weeks ago after a very swift illness. She was normal in the morning, then we when got home from XC ski club in the afternoon, she was a little "off". By a that evening, she was effectively paralyzed (although not completely). Our vet thought she had herniated or even ruptured a disk high up in her spine, given how quickly she was affected. We tried more than 24 hours of intensive IV therapy with steroids and other drugs to see if that would reduce swelling and hopefully reverse some of the symptoms. Unfortunately, she got worse instead of better (the disk was no doubt ruptured), so we decided to euthanize her. Ted and I were both there to give her lots of love -- and cat treats, of course. She died as she lived -- loving lots of affection and delicious treats.

We were all very sad, of course, but in some ways it was easier than when Jack died last March. His illness (a tumor on his lower spine) progressed somewhat slower, so we had several weeks before the inevitable for him. In some ways, it was such a shock with Dixie, but it was certainly not the worst way for her to go.

Truth be told, true to her breed, she was such a roamer and had run off, following nothing but her nose, so many times over the years that it was a miracle she was never hit by a car. Dixie's life was saved over a dozen times, no doubt, by the kindness of strangers who would find her rambling right down the middle of a busy road. Once, when we were visiting New Orleans around Christmas and she was staying with friends, she left their yard (gate left open by a child) and roamed for over 6 hours in below zero temperatures. A kindly trucker found her sleeping on a steaming manhole cover in the middle of a would-be-busy industrial intersection! She probably thought she'd died and gone to heaven, sine this trucker was a dog-lover and even had treats in his cab for her. Not a bad way to spend the next 6 or 8 hours, eating treats and lying in the cab with him before he finally got in touch with us!

It's interesting that we lost both Jack and Dixie within less than a year, just like some old married folks. Jack was 10 1/2 and Dixie was 12 1/2. They were both with us for over 10 years. Dixie had been a research dog before living with us, and she definitely seemed to make the most of the life of leisure she enjoyed after her service to veterinary science. The house is definitely different around here now, and it does feel like the end of an ear.

Here are a few more photos of Dixie at work and play: doing the "pre-wash", licking baby Ben's face, being extremely patient with the kids, reaching ever-so-hopefully for the Thanksgiving turkey, and the like.

In memory of "Subject D" 1995-2008

Homebrew Ted

So for those of you unfortunate enough not to have sampled some of Ted's yummy homebrew beers, you've missed out. He's become quite the homebrew hobbyist, having made his 21st batch last week. Some varieties include a Nut Brown Ale, Pumpkin Ale, Stockport Style Bitter, "Phat Tyre" Amber Ale, Laughing Heart IPA, Dusty Mud Irish Stout, Spruce Beer, Ted's Spit Stout (last week), and the 'house' beer, Palace Bitter. All are under the Fat Beagle Brewery 'label'. ;-) Almost every brew has been delicious, with just one or two not quite up to snuff (which I think is pretty awesome, considering). Ted could tell you much more about it, of course, since I'm just here to drink the beer and share the pictures.



Here's a pic from this summer -- note G.G.'s crocheted bedspread (which is usually on the guest bed!) helping something-or-other with a constant temperature. (I told you I'm ignorant of it all!) Ted has since streamlined his process, though I can't exactly explain how he's done that, except to say it involves something we got for him for Christmas called a "beer gun" as one system improvement.

The bottling and labeling parts can be a family affair.....




.... but not the drinking part -- REALLY!

Hello! Remember us??

Hi everyone, remember us?? So sorry it's been such a ridiculously long time since I've posted anything here on our blog. I've vowed to turn over a new leaf and post much more regularly, again. We've had a great fall and winter here in Afton, with WINTER being the operative word lately. It's cold, cold, cold (as in below zero, not counting windchills), but it's expected to get downright balmy, at least comparatively and for a short time, this weekend. Woohoo! No frozen nose hairs!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from December, and I promise more will be coming very soon.

Here's Max getting down and funky the day we put up our Christmas tree.

Ellie and Ben "helped" each other decorate the tree.

Ted and I had a great weekend in Scottsdale, Arizona, in early December. Michele stayed with the kids, and I went with Ted to a work conference. Well, actually, he worked some of the time and I played. Here we are halfway up Piestewa Peak, a lovely little mountain right there in town. Ted made it all the way to the peak, but I managed only about 4/5 the way up, thanks to forgetting my darned inhaler and developing some tendonitis partway up (having nothing to do with asthma and everything to do with my lack of coordination). I guess I'm not quite used to jaunting up and down craggy mountain trails, eh? ;-P

Spiderman...

...or woman, I suppose. Either way, here's a cool photo of a black and yellow spider (Argiope aurantia) I took in our front prairie a couple weeks ago. That morning, I looked out the bedroom window to see huge spider webs covered in dew all over the prairie. I'm not a good enough photographer to be able to capture those images well, but this one was pretty cool, I thought. This spider's body was probably a little bigger than a quarter -- a bit too big for my comfort, but they must have some important job in the prairie or they wouldn't be there, right?

The Great Minnesota Get-Together

We had another fun day at the State Fair a couple of weeks ago. It was a long one, from 10:30am to past 9pm. That's plenty of walking and eating and walking and seeing animals and walking and visiting the 4H building and walking and eating. Here are some photos:

Max at the all-you-can-drink milk bar -- the pipes overhead carry cold milk (regular or chocolate) straight down like a tap at a bar.

Mmmm -- chocolate milk!


Ben on the Sky Ride with Ted

Noelle on the Sky Ride in the rain

An action shot of Ellie, Max and Noelle on the River Ride

Back outside!

We received and installed the electrified poultry netting over the weekend, and now the birds are finally back outside. Yay! It's not exactly "free-range" anymore, but their new range is big enough to at least let them have some freedom to roam, scratch and do other chicken-y things.



One fun side effect of the chickens' relative captivity is that the goats can now share space with the birds. Birds hang out in the goat yard and goats can wander and browse through the chicken "paddock". It took a few zaps for the goats to learn to respect the fence (what the kids attest feels like a "playground shock"), but now Moose and Lily happily co-mingle with the poultry gang. Of course, Moose promptly scooted through the chicken door in the coop and started munching on chicken feed, so now we have to make sure that's closed before any mingling can occur. ;-)

Ben's a kindergartner now!

Ben started kindergarten this week! His teacher is Mrs. Moen, and the class is with both kindergartners and first graders. He seems to love things so far, with his usual favorites of the morning being recess and snack. ;-)

Ben "signing in" in his classroom on the first day

Here is Ben with Ellie and Max in front of the peace pole at their school.
This was day 2 for Max and Ellie. That little girl on the left doesn't look too happy about starting kindergarten, does she?

Chicken Joe's a-crowin'

At 6am this morning, we wondered what in the world was that strange, low, sort of gargling noise outside. Wild turkeys? A crow? The young cows down the street? No, it was our very own Chicken Joe, finally really going for a bonafide crow from inside the coop. I realized it was the same pattern I had heard coming from the coop last week (in the middle of the day), only today he was repeating himself several times. True, he sounded a bit strangled and like he didn't quite know what he was doing (he is a chicken teenager, after all, about 4 1/2 months old), but he's finally found his voice.

A few minutes later, we heard another rooster from a neighbor (don't know who has chickens by us!), and that one was the traditional high-pitched number. Chicken Joe's not the most macho of cockerels so far (for which we are grateful!), and I really hope his crow stays this nice, low, soft version. Unlikely, I know, but a girl can dream. Continuing to crow after 6am would be nice, too, but again, unlikely. ;-)

Sad week around here

Well, we have some sad news to report from Fat Beagle Farm. On Tuesday, we lost over half of our chickens. :-( When we went out near dusk to close in the chickens for the night, there were only 7 of the 15 chickens hanging out on their roosts. We beat the bushes and looked and looked, and all we found were 4 or 5 different piles of feathers at various places all over the back forty. We had just talked to our neighbor, who told us she saw a dog (that looked "like a wolf", whatever that means) hanging around our pens a bit earlier in the day. We figure this dog (or possibly more than one?) got as many chickens as it could catch or carry.

It's hard to believe over half the flock could be gone just like that (the survivors are in the picture at right), but after consulting other chicken folks online, it seems that neighboring and/or stray dogs are one of the biggest threats to a free-ranging flock, especially during the day. Many people also said finding just feathers (and no other parts) sounds right for dogs, especially a big, hungry dog. Who knows what dog did the crimes -- people around here let their dogs roam unfenced and unleashed as a matter of course. I doubt we'll ever find who did it.

As you might expect, we were all extremely sad. This remaining flock seemed rather stunned that first evening, but now they're just itching to get back outside. We let them out for a few hours one afternoon, but only because one of them escaped out the front door and we didn't want her by herself. Too bad for them, but since then, they've been in their coop. We've ordered some electrified poultry netting so we can at least set up a small area where they can at least be outside. Fully fencing a good area for them to roam is too big and expensive a project for us this season. It really bums us out since they really enjoyed free-ranging so much, but for now, the risk feels too high.

Plus, I don't think Ellie would stand for them out there without protection, at least for a while. We have spent time talking about how at least the hens led a great free life before the dog came, which is more than you can say for chickens at Tyson!

A few recent pictures...

So serious.....

....but now they're all having some fun.

Friends at the 'farm'

Recently we had a fun day and evening (and even a sleepover for some) with good friends at the homestead-lite. Four families were represented, with 13 children in attendance (not counting the soon-to-be-born baby boy in Megan's belly!) Here are a few cute photos from that day:

Max just loves babies! Here he is with 1-month-old Soleil.

Costumed fun was had by all!
From left to right, Jossy, Keian, Solveig, Peri, Ellie and Eva

Three families represented by some of their girls.

From left to right, Eva, Solveig holding Soleil, and Ellie

Bridge collapse in Minneapolis -- We're fine

Just a quick note to say we're all fine and were nowhere near the bridge collapse tonight in Minneapolis. I'm still trying to get in touch with friends, but the cell phone networks are overwhelmed right now, so I'm hoping all is well.

Take care!
Noelle

The Halands love Harry!

Can you tell what Max and Ted have been doing for the last couple of days??? Actually, the kids and I went swimming with friends yesterday and Ted worked in the ER, so both of them had to take their noses out of the books and neither could finish the final "Harry Potter" just yet, though through no lack of trying. (What fast readers and what a great book, apparently! I'll get my chance later, after I'm done re-reading #6.)


Ted took all three kids to a Harry Potter book release party at the Jackson Street Roundhouse (a great train spot in St. Paul) Friday night. The party started at 9 3/4, and they did fun stuff like ride the Hogwarts Express (not too "express" as it went about 3 miles per hour), get sorted into houses (Gryffindor for Ben and Ellie, and Ravenclaw for Max), and eat chocolate frogs & Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans, until midnight, when the load of books came steaming in on a freight car into the roundhouse. Fun was had by all, I hear. :-)

Jailbreak!

Someone forgot to fully latch the barnyard gate a couple nights ago, and Moose and Lily promptly raced straight to the house. I'm sure they wonder why that other very strange brown, black and white goat (Dixie) gets to go in the house and they don't. ;-) Here they are at the front door, demanding their evening bottle of water. (Too bad for them, since they are now weaned from those and they get to drink water from a bucket just like other barnyard animals.) I had to nudge the escapees out of the way with the screen door just to get outside.




Here is Ben trying to wrangle Lily to get her back towards their yard, but she was having none of it!

Fun on Lake Superior

Here are some pictures during our camping trip up north in mid-June. This day was absolutely perfect, and we enjoyed a picnic lunch where the Knife River meets Lake Superior, on the North Shore. We stopped for some delicious smoked fish, beef sticks, and beef jerky on the way, and then we spent a long time enjoying the sunny day and cool breezes. We did loads of agate-hunting, finding pocketfuls of mostly tiny jewel-like agates.



Don't let the towel in Max's hands fool you -- the water was ice cold, so we certainly didn't swim!




Ellie and Ben worked diligently to create their Beach People:




Ben and Ellie weren't quite as into the smoked fish we got from Russ Kendall's Smokehouse nearby, but Ted, Noelle and Max LOVED it, as evidenced below: