There are lots of reflections in the window from the spotlight I was using.
This is something that likes to eat my duck and chicken eggs.
It also eats up old mouse guts that the cats have left around.
It is black and white and stinky.
Have you guessed yet?
Maybe this will help.
Yup. It's a skunk. I watched him (or her) slink across the yard in the dark this morning. It's probably living in our culvert again. Ugg! Sometimes country life just isn't pretty. A couple years ago we had a family of skunks living there. We think the mother ran off and got killed because one evening we came out and found some baby skunks playing and looking disoriented in our ditch. They were probably starving. The kids wanted to keep them as pets. Uh! No Thanks! They were cute little stinkers.
Now the gory part-- don't read if you have a queasy stomach. Rich whacked them over the head with a shovel. Then we buried them. They sure stunk after getting whacked. They would have most likely died of starvation or gotten killed anyway, and I'm not in the business of animal rescue-- especially skunks!
I really wish I could grow strawberries. I love strawberries, but I just can't seem to get them to grow here. I can't get much to grow here. Most likely because I never have time to think about it, or do anything about it. Plus it is dry and windy and very hot in the summer and dry and windy and very cold in the winter. Not a really good place for berries. So I bought some and was chopping them up for the freezer. I realized something as I was taking this picture, though. I am doing it again.
I am trying to grow strawberries and not kids. None of the kids were helping me do this job. Some were gone with Dad and that is Ok, but some were reading books or playing. Just look at all this fun they were missing, and the time we could have spent together. Sometimes I really miss the mark. I would love to grow lovely luscious strawberries, but I think I'd better grow kids instead.
Everett is ready to read. He recognizes most of the letters, and knows some of their sounds, so it is time to teach him to read. I've taught 4 kids to read now, but each time it seems like I have to relearn how to do it. Especially with the 6 year gap between Everett and Cedric.
I bought a moveable alphabet this week (oops, I didn't quite get all the letters in right, and there are many more letters included). . I have wanted one for a while for teaching reading and writing. Everett and I played with it last night. He loved the little "i" with it's separate dot. He pulled all the "i's" out and put them in a row and said "i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i." He hasn't learned the "i" sound yet, but he has learned m,c,a,b,t and d. I keep trying to see if he can put them together (I have to tell the other kids NOT to read it for him), so I will line up C-A-T and have him sound out the letters. He doesn't quite get that they actually form a real word. That will come.
I never write on here because I think I need to post a picture, so that keeps me from doing anything . I wanted this blog to be a chronicle of my learning to be a "farmer". Not really a farmer, but to learn back to the land skills. I have not been doing much of that for the last few years with having 2 babies since we moved to this place. But I know I want to keep this blog going, and inform my extended family and friends about the doings of our family. So I'm writing again.
Another function I planned for this blog would be to share what we are learning about in our homeschool. This year with homeschool I have been trying to (somewhat unsuccessfully) apply my MASTER PLAN of EDUCATION. I have determined a way to incorporate my seven stewardships into a yearly schedule. I have put Faith as something we do or study on a daily basis, then put the rest of the subjects onto a twice yearly rotating schedule. For February we are in Liberty. In March we move to Earth, then Science in April, Brotherhood in May, and Beauty in June. We did Body in January. The kids are required to keep a daily journal-- or do freewriting exercises-- each day. And each month they must do a written report, a project and a presentation of what they have learned. I am considering having them post a presentation on this blog. We will see.
So for Liberty in February, I chose to study primitive houses. I am fascinated with cob building and adobe earth building. The crunchy side of me gets into all that earthy stuff. The kids and I watched this really cool video of an African Village building a house out of mud. It is about 18 minutes long, but shows the unity that that these people have when it comes to the needs of the people. I loved it.
Yesterday, since the weather has been soooo warm, I dug a small bucketful of earth- our soil has a rather high clay content- and added some cut up straw to it. Then I kneaded it with water until it became a thick pasty mud. The kids and I prepared a small bit of ground by removing the sod, and we put some dry earth into a cone shape. We then put the cob mixture on top of the cone of dirt, placing a rock on one side to leave an opening. We made a very small igloo shaped structure like a cob oven. I haven't been out to check on it yet, but when the cob dries we will pull the loose dirt out of the middle and it should leave a hollow inside. I will post a picture if it works, but I am having my doubts because now it is starting to snow!! Goodbye warm spring.
