My Wonderful Second Family

 Here is a picture of my wonderful second family from the farm =)

Back row, from left to right:
     Mrs. Phillips, me, Ben Phillips (youngest son), Callie (oldest daughter, now married), Addie (Callie's daughter).
Front row, from left to right:
    Aaron Phillips (oldest son), Mr. Phillips

Haying

This past Friday and Saturday, I went down to the farm to help with haying. It was spur of the moment; in fact, they asked me on Wednesday to come down. But that's the way haying is, because it all depends on the weather. So, we started Friday afternoon around 3 and finished around 7. We did two large fields.
This is what haying involves: someone had pre-baled the hay, so the bales were waiting for us in the fields. So, one person drives the tractor and wagon. Half the people are on the ground grabbing the bales and tossing them on the wagon as it drives by. The other half are on the wagon, stacking the bales that are tossed to them. Then the wagon must be unload into the barn.
It doesn't seem too hard, right? Well, it wouldn't be, except for the fact that the bales are anywhere between 40-60 pounds. It is hard, hard work. I started on the ground, then switched and stacked the bales on the wagon. Once I was too tired to do either of those jobs, I got a crash course in driving. Yup, I drove the tractor! It was fun, and not very hard at all. Although, I almost knocked their son Ben off the wagon a couple of times with my unintentionally sudden stops. My arm were trembling on Saturday morning. Also, my arms look like they have be attacked by a ferocious animal; hay is very harsh on skin.
Yesterday was Ben's graduation party, so we spent all morning and afternoon preparing food. It was quite enjoyable. Once guests started arriving, we played volleyball. Throughout the entire evening, we played 7 games of volleyball. Now my arms and hands REALLY hurt!! We had a huge bonfire when it got dark, and played hide-and-seek and sardines, and then made smores.

This is the bonfire:


Overall, it was a very fun and educational two days!

No Good Name

I know....it has been way too long since my last post. But this time I have some exciting stuff.
First, I finished mom's quilt! YAY!!!!!! She named it "When I Grow Too Old To Dream". I didn't bother to take another picture of it, because it looks pretty much the same as before. I am now working on a quilt named "Fireworks", and one that has no name.
Next, two days ago Cati and I spent the whole day together. Here are some of the highlights.







I officially LOVE meerkats; they are just so adorable!!!!
And we learned that elephants can be trained just like dogs.
Finally, goat show stuff. Two Sundays ago a helped out with a goat show at the Monroe County Fair. It was rather small compared to the last one, but still fun. And this time, two of the goats I showed got first place!





Also, for anyone curious, this is what happens at a goat show. You walk the goats around, the judge studies them, then he places them in their final order, and then talks about why the goats placed the way the did.



I have a couple of busy days coming up. Tonight is girl's Bible study; tomorrow is library and soccer game. Saturday is a cousin's graduation party; Sunday is church, babysitting, and English Country dancing. It should be exciting!!

17 Kids!

Well, I'm back from the farm. I got home on Thursday. It is very nice to be home again, with my family and friends, but to say that I simply miss the Phillips and the goats is a gross understatement. I had so much fun, and I learned tons! I even miss the barn chores! Here are pictures of the goats. This one is of Sarah and her baby girl and boys.
This is of one of the baby dairy goats.

This Dottie and her little girl. Dottie is not very nice.

These are two of the adult dairy goats.

This is Crystal's baby girl.

This is Clara's baby girl.
These are three of the baby dairy goats.

I had some interesting experiences. Eight goats had their babies while I was there. We ended up with 17 kids. Barn was filling up quickly. Right when we got to their house on Friday, one of the goats (Clara) was in labor. She was having problems, very serious problems, so we put the goat in the back of their car, drove really fast 20 minutes away to the vet. So in the store-room/office of the vet clinic, two vets struggled for about 30 or 40 minutes trying to get the babies out. Finally, after much struggle, one little girl was born. Then a little boy was born, but sadly, he had already died. That was worst-case, right off the bat for me. I will certaintly never forget it! One of my new favorite sounds is newborn baby goats bleating, because it means they are alive! Well, thats all!