Doughnuts

Time to share a recipe.  I use this as my "comfort" food.  When ever an event has occurred and I want to take a "comfort" food to a friend, this is what I take.  I can get them made fast in the morning and deliver them while they are hot and fresh, when they are best.
  Doughnuts

1 cup warm water            3 tablespoons sugar             1 package dry yeast           1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon salt                 3 tablespoons melted shortening                                    3 cups flour        

vegetable oil for frying

Combine water, sugar, and yeast in bowl.  Let stand until foamy.  Add egg, salt, shortening, and flour, mix well.  Roll out dough on floured board.  Cut into doughnuts.  Let rise on slightly greased waxed paper for 30 minutes.  Fry in deep hot oil until golden brown; drain.  Roll in sugar  or frosting.

 

Yum, Yum!

It's All About Making Choices..........

My Farmer has started plowing our fields and as he does every year, he asks me, "Are you going to plow for me?".  And as always my answer is "No".  (Well, actually in my head it's "Hell NO!")  It's not that I couldn't do it (after all I am a women, therefore I can) (tehe), it's just that I choose not to.   This is one piece of farm machinery that I have refused to learn how to use.  I have learned to combine the oats, swath and bale hay, disk, cultivate, or rip the fields, but I do not plow.  My Farmer informs me that it is one of the simpler implements to operate, but I do not care.  I have watched (and rode) with him as he plows and it is pretty simple.  The plow goes in the ground on one end of the field and when you get to the other end, you lift it up out of the ground, turn around and repeat.

But it's the turning around on the ends that I have an issue with.  When My Farmer turns around on the ends of the field with the plow, he makes a figure 8 using the tractors speed to get the momentum to flip the plow over.  When I turn around on the end of a field, I prefer to slow down and gently turn around.  It's just to darn scary to me to go fast and I choose not to be scared.  I have learned that life is all about choices.  I choose not to be scared and I choose not to plow.  The other reason that I do not plow, is also the reason I do not plant.  I can not drive a straight row.  I know, those people reading this that have plowed say that it's easy to go straight plowing, cuz one tire is in the furrow or something like that.  But, believe me, I would make it crooked.  There would be parts gone over twice, which is a waste of fuel, and other parts not touched at all.  Not good I'm sure.  And I have heard My Farmer complain about unplowed parts (when someone else plowed, not me).  I find it ironic that no matter what he is doing in the field, he knows where the spot is that did not get plowed.  It's like he is actually a part of the field.  It's weird.  And finally, maybe the biggest reason that I have refused to plow, is that the tractor we hook the plow on to is an open cab tractor.  Meaning no windows or doors (or radio).  And it is usually a little chilly this time of year, to say the least.  SO once again I am choosing.  Choosing to stay warm, inside, by the fire. 

One more reason I like my life.  Choices.  And I choose livin' the life, the farm life that is......

Burning of the Mortgage

This year marks the end of a long journey for my in-laws.  They paid off their mortgage on the farm!  This is something they really never thought would happen in their life time.  Hoped, but reality said it probably wouldn't happen.  They went through the era when so many farms were going broke and farmers were losing their land.  The FHA did write off a lot of farmers debt, but my in-laws debt was not one.  But they had the will power (or stubbornness not sure which....hehe) to fight and work hard to not lose their land.  So for the note to actually get paid off, is a wonderful feeling for them (for me and My Farmer too, since we are also involved and helped make the payment!).  And they always said "If we ever get this paid off, we are going to burn the mortgage and have a party!"  So that's what we did.  We had a mortgage burning party!  We held the "burning party" on one night of our family reunion.   A lot of sweat, blood, and tears (along with a lot of swear words, yelling, feet stomping, and ass chewings) went into this farm.  And not just my in-laws.  Over the years family and friends were always around (still are for that matter) to help out when needed.  Their unselfish (and sometimes free) labor is one reason this farm is still operating.   So it was very fitting to "burn the mortgage" and be surrounded by so many of these people.  Their long time best friends and old business partner, nephews and grand-kids that spent their summers here working, the family members who spent their weekends helping with harvests and brandings, to the kids and grand-kids raised here that had to work, all gathered around to watch.  Here is my mother-in-law ready to "toss" the "mortgage" into the fire....

We didn't burn the actual mortgage paper, we just made a pretend mortgage (a piece of paper that said MORTGAGE, PAID IN FULL).  (My mother-in-law decided that she wanted to keep the original one that is stamped "PAID".  She probably won't frame it though.)  Then the best part of the evening started: Everyone shared their stories of their adventures on the farm.  So AWESOME!!  I believe that is the best part of being involved on the farm, the adventures and memories that are made.  I would love it if you would leave a comment and share a memory of your farm life, whether it's from growing up on a farm or ranch, or working and helping out, I would love to hear about it.  Cuz nothings better than Livin' the life, the Farm life that is..................

Helping out the local hunters......

My job today was swathing hay.  I really enjoy this job, mostly because the unit has a cab, (unlike my tractor when I turn hay), it has air conditioning (that actually works), AND it has a radio (that actually picks up a station),  totally a plus.  So I just sat there all afternoon, going back and forth, rockin' out to the radio, enjoying the beautiful scenery in my comfy cab, cutting hay.   Besides making hay,  I decided today that I was also the animal food bank.  Explanation:  There are mice that live in the field.  With the hay so tall, the mice can easily run around,  hiding from their predators making the hunting a little more challenging.   Once the hay is cut into windrows, the mice have less area to hide.  This makes it a little more "easy pickings" for the "hunting".  There is always a hawk or two flying around ready to dive after that mouse that is scurrying around trying to find a new hiding spot after I swathed over him.  Then there's the fox that is sneaking around looking for his next meal.  And today I had a coyote following me.   I never seen him actually catching anything,  but he was definitely checking things out.  And he was totally not afraid of me.  Usually the foxes will hang around until you come close and then they will leave.  But this coyote was there the whole time I was cutting.  I would get close to him, then he would put a little more distance between us, (actually enough so I couldn't get a good picture) (which really is difficult to do when you are trying to drive straight) and then he would move back to where I just swathed.  It really was kind of odd but very entertaining to watch him.  If you look real hard, you can see him in the picture. 

And he didn't distract me too much.  My swathes weren't too crooked..........

Celebrating our Anniversary in farmers style..............

My Farmer and I are celebrating our 32 wedding anniversary today.  That seems like a long time.  My Farmers favorite new saying comes to mind, something to do with "it's not a life time, but it feels like holding your breath for 10 minutes under water."  (Nice huh?!  He did steal the saying from our wonderful friend, the inventor of Burgie.)   This is a busy time of year for us so we really never do a whole lot for our anniversary.  I think a couple of times we have gone camping.  If we do go camping, it's usually some place close so my Farmer can come back to the farm and irrigate in the mornings.  Which I am usually just grateful that we are getting away no matter how long.  Last week our friends were camping, we were suppose to join them, however things came up so we were only able to spend one night.  We left here at 5 o'clock in the evening and were back home by 6:30 the next morning to change pipe.  Just barely over 12 hours.  But oh well, we got away.  One year on our anniversary, actually it was our 10th anniversary,  we were putting in a buried pipeline, and I spent the day helping put pipe in the ditch.  He did take me out to a nice dinner at the end of the day, so that kind of made up for it.  But it was memorable, and I still remind him of it, quite often.  And since that year, he does try to make sure not to have a big project going on the exact day.  This year, today, we are running away, taking a trip to the big city.  We might even spend the night, as long as we are back tomorrow morning by 7:00.  Yep, you guessed it, we have supplies to pick up.  But that's ok.  After 32 years, I know the way it works when you are married to a farmer (read this).  Well, I better get going,  we've got a big day planned........breakfast out, stopping at the scrap metal place, lunch, picking up baler twine, buying some oil, Walmart shopping, parts chasing, dinner........should be fun!!

And On the Farm they had a Dog..................

I've decided to go through my blogs and pick a few favorites and re post them.  Here goes....

Have you ever had one of those moments when you do something stupid and then you look around to see if anyone was watching?  Well, this is one of my stupid moments. 

When my boys were little, we got a dog for them.  Being the wonderful mother that I am, I wanted to name him something the little guys could easily say.  My boys favorite book at the time was of animals and the sounds they make.  The sound for the dog was arf.  So that became the name of the dog, Arf.   I thought it was very clever, and a good name, if I do say so myself.  We have had many dogs here on the ranch, and with dogs, comes issue.  One issue this dog had was that he would chase cars, and bark at anyone walking by (come to think of it, we have that issue with our current dogs).  Anyways, our farm is located 4 miles from town, and our road has a lot of traffic, in the form of cars, walkers, and bikers.  On this one particular summer day, the boys and I were outside soaking up the sun, when Arf starting barking.  I yelled at him to quit, and looked up to see what he was barking at.  It was a lady on her bicycle, out for a nice ride in the countryside.   Before I knew it, Arf was headed down the driveway after her.  Now, I was getting pretty tired of his chasing habit, and barking at everybody going by, so I was going to teach him a lesson!  I headed down the driveway after the dog.  So here is the scene;  One bicycler peddling along, one dog running towards the biker, barking,  and one lady (me, myself, and I) also running down the driveway yelling Arf, Arf, Arf, all the way.  I'm not sure who was scared the most, the dog, who took off in a different direction, or the fast peddling bicycler being chased by a dog and a barking lady.   But I felt pretty good, because the dog stopped chasing the bicycler, I did not know this person, so life was good.  My first mistake was telling the family what I did (yep, I do seem to have a big mouth).  It then became the favorite story of my brother-in-law.  He, in turn, would repeat this story when ever he had a chance. (I'm sure most of the town had heard about.)  So this brings me to the "Rest of the Story".  As I said in my "about me", we grew potatoes in the past.  Every spring, we hired people to help us with the sorting and shipping, plus every available family member helped when they could.  So one day, my wonderful brother-in-law was helping out, and decided to share the "Arf Story" with the crew.  As he finished, and everyone was hysterically laughing, one of the crew, looked up and said, "that was me!"  I just about died..........

So the moral of the story is........think before you name your dog, and if you do something stupid, don't tell others about it!!  (yep, like I am doing now)

No, you don't look fat...but could you stand on this and hold it down....

With my mom living with us now,  I am not out helping my Farmer as much as usual, so I find that I have less to blog about.  But, all it takes is just helping my Farmer for one day, and boom, I have something to blog about.  I find it pretty funny, cuz if I get my camera out or I smile at something he did, he just looks at me and says "you're gonna blog about that aren't you".   Yep!  
So here goes......If you were following me last fall, we put in a new pivot and we have a lot of stuff (like one hundred years of accumulated items that someone might have needed some day)  that needs moved in order for the pivot to make the complete circle around.  Now that the snow is gone and things are thawed out, it is time to start that process.  (And to our advantage, the price of scrap metal is up!)  So as we are loading things up onto the trailer to ship it off to the scrap yard, one item is a little heavy, making the forklift a little light on the back end so the steering wheels are not always touching the ground, which makes it a little difficult for my Farmer to maneuver where he wants to go.  So, he hollers at me to stand on the back of the forklift to hold it down.  Now my first reaction is Sure, I can do that.  But than as I start to stand on it, I think  I sure hope this doesn't work!  But it did.  And that really boosts a girls ego, let me tell ya.  You know I find it kind of funny, that when I ask my Farmer if an outfit I am wearing looks OK, he absolutely will not answer me, afraid of getting accused of calling me fat.  BUT, he doesn't even think twice about asking me to sit or stand on something to hold it down.   Now it might be just me, but that right there is saying something about my weight.  But I can live with it.  I know that I am losing weight being on the 90 day health challenge and one of these days my Farmer will need my weight and I will not weigh enough so I will have to put rocks in my pockets.  HA!  But I love helping my Farmer anyway I can (usually), and if it's being the dead weight  anchor or the steadying factor, that's what I'll do.  After all, that's Livin' the life, the Farm life that is................

Don't worry, we're here for ya.............

Cows amaze me.  They are such funny, sometimes stupid, yet fascinating creatures.  And calving season seems to bring all of these different characteristics out in them.  Yesterday, we had a heifer that we were watching, because we knew she was very close to calving.  (if you are wondering how we knew, read how to tell when a cow is ready to calve in Ready, set, calve)  We were giving her 1 hour.  If she did not have it by then, we would bring her in to the corral to help.  So we went about doing other things, like assisting another cow and calf already in the corral and feeding the yearling heifers, but still keeping an eye on the heifer.  Well, I kept my eye on the heifer.  I carry with me a small set of binoculars so I can spy on the cows from far away.  (I tend to worry a little more then my Farmer does)  So, my Farmer is doing the chores, and I am trying not to constantly watch her, when all of a sudden, there rose such a clatter, I raised up my glasses to see what was the matter.  (sorry, kind of had fun with that)  And what do I see, but all of the cows running towards the heifer.    I started freaking out, yelling, somethings wrong, she's in trouble, we need to go check!!  My Farmer is saying, it's fine, don't panic.  Well, I convinced him to go check on her.  And, of course, he was right.  Nothing was wrong.  The heifer had had her calf.  But evidently when she seen the object move that had just came out of her, she let out one heck of a beller and it alerted all of the other cows to come check things out.  And they did.  All 90 some head of them!  And I'm sure when the older cows seen what was going on, they were like, "What is your problem!"  "I've delivered ton's of times."  "It's no big deal."  But what amazes me, is that they heard the heifer beller, knew that it had a sound of urgency and went to assist.  What also amazes me is us humans.  We left the heifer and calf alone so they could bond, (she was still very unsure of the calf).  An hour later we drove by with my in-laws and stopped to see how the animals were doing.  We sat there and watched as the new little calf slowly got up on all four hooves, a little wobbly, but he was standing.  Now, we have all seen this a thousand times.  But we all got so excited and cheered when he finally stood, it was really funny.  Crazy huh?  Four adults, clapping and cheering, yelling "yea, he's up!"  But I thought to myself, it doesn't matter how often you see God's wonders at work, it's important to always be amazed. 

Guest blogging, ya right.......

The other night my Farmer and I were at a meeting, and I so wish I had had a tape recorder.  There were a couple of other ranchers there and they started sharing stories.  I tried to remember them so I could come home and blog about them, figuring I'd have fresh blogs for a while.  But when I sat down to write them, it just wasn't the same coming from my mind.  That's when I figured that I needed to have a guest blog tab.  I could have the other ranchers write their stories and then I can share it thru my blog.  Great idea huh!?  And I guess here I am assuming that they would want me to blog about them.   But I'm pretty sure they would.  Cuz, everyone wants to be famous, right??  And by me blogging their story, we would be doing just that.  Cuz, as you know, I have made my Farmer famous, right??  Ya, I know, I'm thinking a little to highly of my blog.  But if I don't talk it up, who will, right??  So, I'm going to start working on my rancher friends to give me stories.  We'll see if they get as excited about being blogged about as my Farmer does.  And if that's the case, you won't see a guest blog tab........
And just for your information, if you are wondering why I called these guys ranchers and not farmers, it's because their ropes are coiled.......(read the difference between a farmer and a rancher) 
So, if any of you neighbors out there are reading this, write down your story, submit it to me and be my first guest blog.  This could be fun!  We'll even pick out an awesome name for ya..............

Calving season is upon us, once again........

It is officially calving season.  A little later than planned, guess it took the bulls a little longer to start working last summer once we let them out in the pasture with the cows.  (This is why I believe that food is actually number one on a males priority list)  (haha)  But it actually is working out nicely.  Two weeks ago it was colder than heck, this week it has warmed up, the snow is pretty much gone off the pasture, so we have dry ground for the cows to calve.  And that is sooo nice.  But it also means they have a lot more area to roam.  So instead of just taking a nice stroll out through the cows to check them, (usually there's still snow that keeps them confined)  we pretty much have to ride the atv around the whole pasture when we do our checks.  (Which we try to do about every 4 hours or so.)  And it was so nice yesterday, that we got the old Willey's Jeep out and drove it around checking the cows.  I totally LOVE using the Jeep.  The cows love it too!  They will follow it around and if we honk the horn, they come running thinking something's in trouble.  Gotta love it!!  And speaking of checking cows, it is now midnight, so time for my shift.  I am once again doing the midnight check.  I take this shift mostly because there is very seldom anything going on.  And I really love the nights.  As I was out checking things under the full moon the other night, I got to thinking.....do I like the nights under a full moon better or the nights with no moon and lots of stars better.  You can see so much more under a full moon, but I do believe I like it best during a dark night with the sky lit up with billions of stars.  What kind of night do you like best?
Well, until next time.....I'm still livin' the life........the farm life that is......

Things that make me Smile...

As I was driving my tractor the other day helping my Farmer feed the cows, the idea for this post popped in my head. (It might be silly, but what the heck) Let me try and paint you a picture of the moment.  It had been snowing all day and now it was raining, the wind was blowing, and we were feeding cows.  As I was watching my Farmer throw the hay off the wagon, being plastered with rain and blowing hay, I found myself smiling because I was dry in my nice comfy tractor cab.  I know, not very nice, but what can I say, it did make me smile.  I even waved at him when he looked up at me.  However, he did not wave back.  He just gave me a look, like what the hell is going through your head?!  I just smiled and started thinking about other things that make me smile.....(besides watching my farmer work).  Here are just a few things......


Seeing my boys
Christmas morning
New baby calves
Happy babies
Sunshiny warm days after a long winter
AND........
sitting in my heated tractor cab, as it is snowing and blowing, watching my Farmer throw hay off the wagon.
Yep, ya just gotta love the farm life............
What makes you smile?

You get WHAT from a COW??????

This past week my Farmer and I participated in a program called Ranchers feeding Youth.  This was the second one we've helped with.  I totally love this!  It is put on by our counties Idaho Farm Bureau Federation and the ranchers in the area , and is headed up by a very lovely lady at the University of Idaho Extension office.  Our population these days are so removed from the farm/ranch that it is really important for us involved in agriculture to bring the farm/ranch to the people.  And this program is doing that.  Our lovely UofI Lady has put a lot of work into this and we are hopeful to eventually have it in all of our area schools. After we have the kids rotate through 3 different stations, we then bar-b-que them hamburgers for lunch.  The three stations include food safety, animal by-products, and animal production.  My Farmer has been helping with the animal production station.  In it they show a short video of a heifer calving, and then it's just an open discussion period.  I'm sure they get some interesting questions from the kids after the video.  I help with the animal by-product station.  This subject is dear to me because it was one of the things I touched on when I was doing Ag in the classroom some years ago.  I did post a short story awhile back Is a day without Agriculture possible?, that touched on this subject.  It is really mind blowing when you learn what different things in our lives are actually made with an animal by-product.   One thing that I like to point out is glue.  Stop and look around.....what do you see that is made with glue?  This is a by-product of animals.  What about gelatin?  Also a by-product.  And what about medicine and medical supplies.  Collogen, pancreatin, heparin, coritsol, and medical sutures are all made with by-products from a cow.  And the list goes on and on.  So even if you do not eat beef, you most likely are using it in one way or another, in your everyday life.  Candles, cosmetics, insulation, plastics, leather, antifreeze, yogurt, pasta, and cake mixes are all made with beef by-products.  Without beef as a renewable resource, not only would the butcher's job be affected, but also the businesses that produce pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and textiles.  Yes, it even affects the baker and the candlestick maker.
So next time you see a cow out grazing in the pasture, remember...if she did not exist, not only would that beef steak or hamburger not be on the dinner menu, a lot of other things that we have come to rely on to make our lives easier, would also not exist.

A Valentine Rose Remembered...........

I'm a little slow, but I want to post about Valentine's Day.  I'm curious as to how many people actually do something special on "sweethearts" day.  We did something special this year.  My Farmer took me to look at bulls.  Yep, bulls, as in male bovine.  How romantic is that!   I bet not to many of you gals got to do that with your sweetheart!  I am sooooo lucky. (HA)  My Farmer so knows how to treat a girl, right?  But remember, this is why I know I'm married to a farmer (read - You Know......) My Farmer has never really been big on flowers, or for that matter, Valentine's Day.  When I had a real job (you know, had to get up, get dress, leave the house),  I was always jealous of the other girls that would get flowers on Valentines day.  My sister always did, but not me.  Then one day, boom, my Farmer brought me flowers to my office!  Wow! Shock! I was so excited, and I still remember that day.  The best Valentine's gift though, so far, (always have hope) was 2 years ago.  I had told him how much it really meant to me that day (yep, it only happened once) he brought me flowers to my office.  The week before Valentines day, he happened to go over and spend a couple days with our son,  (so I don't know if it was my son's doing or he was just bored), but my Farmer went shopping for me a valentines present.  No, I did not have any fresh cut flowers sitting on my table, or a heart shaped box of chocolates, but he did give me a card that morning, which I was totally thrilled with.  BUT, when I went to get in my tractor that evening to feed, there was a vase with an artificial rose in it.  Awwww.  It was the most awesome moment, I almost cried.  He said he remember me telling him how much it meant the year he brought flowers to my office, and since the tractor is now my work place in the winter, he put it in there.  I KNOW!  So cool!!  That's why going to check out bulls on Valentine's Day this year was ok with me.  The way I look at it is, what he did a few years back is still counting.  After all, if he did something wonderful every year, I wouldn't remember them as well, now would I.  After all these years, I'm starting to think my Farmer is like a bottle of wine, getting better with age.  (ha ha, don't tell him I said that)  (I'm not totally sold on this concept, but, like I said, ya gotta have hope.)  : )
So that rose hanging in my tractor, is not just there to make my tractor look nice, it's there to remind me that my Farmer thought of me.  And really, isn't that all we really want when it comes to gift giving, just to know that we were thought about and that we are loved?
Well, that was our Valentine's Day here on the farm, where we are livin' the life.  What did you do for Valentines' Day?

No Snow, No Bull......

Well, we finally got some snow around here.  Just in the last two weeks, we got around 2 feet or so (depending on where you're standing) of snow.   All the businesses and the ski hills around are very glad; me and my Farmer, not so much.   I believe the cows were also enjoying the no snow months.  They were able to wonder the whole pasture and graze a little, which normally does not happen around here in the winter.  And how you ask, do I know the cows were enjoying it?  Well, because day 2 of the snow storms, (we received about 10-15 inches in those 2 days) the cows decided to misbehave.  Yep, that's right.  They decided they wanted in a different pasture.  The one where the heifers were.  (Refresher course: Heifers are females that have not had calves yet. Cows are females that have had calves)   It would be OK for the cows to be in the same pasture as the heifers, except for our bulls were also in the pasture with the cows.  This is the problem.  Our heifers are still open (not been with a bull yet), and we do not want the bulls with the heifers just yet.  Reasons: #1 They are too young to get bred yet.  # 2 These bulls are not the bulls we want to breed them with.   So yes, they were able to push the fence down and co-mingle.  So now we had to get them separated.  again.  and the faster the better, before the bulls introduced themselves to the heifers.  (I'm assuming they had not met before I got there, but you know what they say about assuming....) Step #. 1 Get them in the corral.  As I was rushing around opening and closing gates, I was reminded how much nicer it was (just 2 days earlier) to not deal with snow.  Some gates were only pushing a couple of inches of snow to close, others had to be shoveled out to open, and then others were frozen to the ground and forget using them!  Step #2. Get them separated.  Our cows are very use to our corral.  In fact, they think they know how it works.  Once they are inside, they know which gate takes them back out to the pasture.  Next problem.  The gate they are use to exiting from is frozen to the ground with 2 feet of snow behind it so that escape route is out! My Farmer thinks this is no big deal, cuz they can just go out the other gate.  NOT!  So around and around the corral my Farmer and I (so did you start to sing a song from grade school too, or was that just me?) ran trying to get the cows to go out the other gate.  You talk about a work out!  Especially when you are wearing your "not a fashion statement" boots, in 2 feet fresh snow, with frozen cow shit under the snow.   But eventually we did win, cows finally went out the other gate, heifers got put back in their pen and the bulls stayed in the corral locked away from everything.  (Yep, they totally got the short end of the deal.)  As I said, the no snow was nice while it lasted.  But just like that, we are back to reality, we live in snow country, we get snow, so we'll deal with it.  Come this summer, when it is time to irrigate, we will be thankful that it snowed.  As for now, we're still livin' the life, the farm life that is...........and counting down the days till spring.

New Adjustments

First off, I once again have to apologize to my followers for not keeping up with my postings.  Winters are suppose to be a slow time around the farm and I thought I would have time to do a lot of blogging, but of course, once again, I was wrong.  After the holidays, my mom had a bad fall and so we took the step and moved her in with us.  We made my office into a room for her and put my office in the basement.  So this last couple of weeks, I am adjusting to a new schedule.  I am spending more time in the house and less time helping my Farmer.  The up side is my house is staying cleaner (because I'm there more but mostly cuz mom tells me it needs cleaned), and I'm spending more time with her.  She is teaching me how to crochet her famous afghans that she has been making for years, which is pretty cool.  The down side is I haven't been helping my Farmer as much.  (just between you and me, this is still out to jury whether it is a down side or not) (ha).   Once mom is a little more settled in, I will start my ritual of walking over every evening again, and drive the tractor for him when he feeds the cattle.   So far the winter has been very mild, and he's been able to feed the cattle by himself.  Without much snow, he just lets the tractor go by itself thru the field.  This probably isn't the safest thing, but he gets it done.  And with the lack of snow fall, we haven't had to plow our snowplow route.  With taking care of mom and everything, it's been nice not having to plow, but I know next month when it comes to paying some bills, I will be missing that income.  Also because of the lack of snow this year, my Farmer has been getting a lot done around the place.  A normal winter, we figure that it usually takes 3 times as long to do anything, and you really don't get anything done.  But this winter, he is finding out what it's like when you don't have tons of snow to deal with and I think he's liking it.  He even did a little work on my house, which was awesome, and maybe I'll post some pictures of it some day.  But for now, I'm still adjusting and rearranging things around the house, and my Farmer is happy about all the things he's getting done around the farm.  And I think we will keep plugging along with smiles on our faces.........here on the farm.........where we're livin' life......the farm life that is.