Sarah the Farmer

When I go out to the field to take John his lunch, I don't always know which tractor he's operating. From a distance, it's hard to tell who's driving. Most of the guys at Black Eagle are fairly close to the same height, so I'm used to looking through the window at a certain height, squinting my eyes to get a better view, trying to remember if John is wearing his baseball cap or his cowboy hat. But yesterday it was easy to tell who was in which tractor, because one driver was a much smaller person than the other. Sarah got to drive by herself for the first time! She's pretty pleased. She's been riding with John for a long time, and this year he let her take the wheel in the big tractor while he sat in the instructional seat (yes, Black Eagle has a fancy tractor) but yesterday he decided she was doing well enough he could turn her loose. So they squeezed in the little tractor together and he showed her how to run it. It's simpler than the big one, so she had no trouble at all with it. In no time she was "culti-packing" by herself.

Jennifer is proud of herself for being proud, and not jealous, of Sarah. Farming isn't really her thing anyway. She wants to play Lacrosse, ride bikes and walk Angel the border collie.

Jaeden and Dakota don't care what they do as long as it's fancy and dramatic.

Winnie The Poodle

We collect animals. Lots of them. Our latest aquisition came shortly after Christmas, tiny and fuzzy and wrapped in my coat. We didn't need another dog, but this one was especially for us. Nearly a year ago, we lost our beloved Molly in a horrific accident involving a goat. Poor Buddy was widowed! So a friend of ours decided to save the day. She had one of their puppies, and he was almost old enough to breed. So she found someone with a female poodle, and when Stanley was old enough, they were introduced. By the time the puppies were born, Buddy had become pretty attached to me, but I couldn't refuse having his and Molly's granddaughter. He didn't want anything to do with her at first, then he just tolerated her. Now they chase each other around the house.

Winnie is our alarm clock. She wakes us up at 6:30 every morning, whether we need it or not! After I take her out, she goes scrambling down the hall, ears flapping, claws clicking and feet sliding on the hardwood floor, and pounces on Buddy and Dakota in their bed. As you can see, Dakota doesn't mind.

Buddy doesn't seem to mind too much, either.

The First Post

Breeze, the hat hanger Jaeden and Charlie

A few months ago, I was inspired to start my own blog. Today, finally, I am writing it. For most of our family and friends, it's been awhile. We've been in Piney River, Virginia for almost two years now. And what an adventure! John is now managing sheep, goats, cattle, and hogs, and helps the poultry manager considerably. We have aquired seven horses. One is a Fresian cross who is trained to pull a cart, so John and I are going to learn to drive. The girls have a pony named Charlie. He's teaching them to sit still and be quiet! We've lived in a lot of different places, and I think by far Virginia is the prettiest. We're at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They really are blue at times. West and south of us is the Shenendoah Valley, where there are caves full of huge stalactites and stalagmites. And to the east, of course, is the ocean. The three youngest girls had never seen an ocean before, so that was the big excitement of the summer.

John has pictures of the farm stored in various places on various computers and storage devices. When I find them, I will post them. For now, I am quite satisfied that I have actually completed one post!