Down on the Farm

Aside from feeling like we need to squeeze in every moment of hose play that's left in the summer, we've been having fun in other ways as well. Martin now rides the bus to work with his bike every morning, which guarantees me the car EVERY SINGLE DAY. It's really, really nice. I always thought my life was relaxing without having the car, but it's actually even better to have the car! I never have to think about anything! Today and yesterday (and again in a couple of weeks) Greta had some sessions over at the Baby Labs. It's not the ones that pay but it was fun to see how well she participated with a stranger. It took her awhile to warm up, but luckily the girl had a cup of cheesy bunnies to offer, which just happens to be Greta's favorite snack in the world, so she complied with every request from there on out!

On Tuesday we invited my mom to a picnic at Prophetstown. It was THE PERFECT DAY to be out there. There were almost zero other visitors, plenty of sleepy animals to visit, and the temperature was amazing. Amazing!

We very generously offered the goats our dress hems for a nibble!

We saw the chickens

And the pigs

The peacock and his special lady friend (not pictured)

And we spent a lot of time with the big work horses. They kind of follow you around. It's really cute. And then they stand all lined up like this. I think they must be German.

And since there were almost no visitors, there was almost no traffic, which meant that we could spend an hour walking from one end of the gravel lane to the other to look at the colts and the cows. (We saw the colts.... we never actually made it all the way to the cows, but we did view them from a distance.)

Here come the horses, following after!

As she walked, Anja made up a little song. It said something about summer days and walking in the sunshine, but I couldn't make out all of it and if she catches me listening she stops singing. But it was very beautiful.

Greta looks so tiny beside these big horses!! Look--she's about as big as that horse's head! Greta LOVES pigs. She really dislikes cows. They kind of terrify her.... but really the whole reason we came out here was to see the pigs; she'd been asking to see the pigs for a few days. Very cute.

Last night the girls and I were completely beat from our day. We'd been to the Baby Labs in the afternoon, then I took them for ice cream because they'd been so incredibly awesome. When we got home it was meltdown time, from which none of us really recovered.... so after dinner we all headed out to Barnes & Noble for a nice relaxing evening. And it was awesome. Greta played at the train table the entire time, Anja looked at books, Martin and I sat (sat down! In chairs!) and drank mochas and browsed craft/home/survivalist books. It was the exact thing we all needed.

I know it was only a few posts ago that I said SouleMama was the only blog I regularly read whose author I don't know personally, but since then I've even stopped reading her. She annoyed me too much. I've started again reading her archives (I'd been reading them last winter and spring until our computer croaked) again and I'm only up to early 2007. She was a completely different person. She was HILARIOUS in her writing, and so down-to-earth. So REAL! And her kids were roughly the ages of mine at that time, so I can relate a lot better. Not that there is anything to relate to in her blog now...... she just posts about perfection, "bliss," and her ideal homestead. I don't need to read her fakey blog to know about homesteading and I get tired of hearing the word "bliss" in every post. Gag. Life is NOT all cracker jacks and skittles, no matter what she'd like her readers to believe. It actually makes me miss the old her, and debate reading her new book (which is co-written by her barfy husband who gives me the creeps and whose writing is what made me need to quit reading her blog for fear of strokes and ulcers.) Anyway. I know that all sounds uncharitable.... but I can't help thinking of her as a big sell-out.

But I'm REALLY enjoying her archives!!

Oh, but one of the big things that makes the difference between then and now (soulemama) is that she used to post crafts. She was always making stuff and posting the results with or without the patterns. Clothes for her kids or bags or ANYTHING... and I miss that! She never seems to be making anything anymore. I know over the winter she posted a lot of knitting, which I did enjoy a lot because I was also on a knitting kick, but since her baby's been born she's just been posting about the blissfulness of her house and property.

Although she did have that one post about her cool door in their kitchen that they painted with chalkboard paint. THAT was a good post.

Maybe I need to get back onto Ravelry for inspiration.

I'm rambling now............... can you tell?