a new adventure

Well, I didn't think I'd ever count myself among the blogging subset. Maybe I thought I was too cool, but since there are so many of you clamoring for pictures and stories and general glimpses into my life, well, how could I resist. Plus, who knows, maybe someday I won't remember these early days, (the chaos, the confusing animal stuff, before the kids) and cherish these snapshots floating around on the Internets. So without much ado, my first post!

As you can see from the picture, I've got 32 weeks of baby inside me now. Our little girl rocks and rolls all day and night, but mostly it doesn't hurt or keep me up. She's also just started getting the hiccups, which are possibly the strangest thing EVER. They're just like regular people hiccups, except they're not me! My whole belly shakes enough that it makes waves in the bathtub. Funny how hiccups never bothered me before, but sometimes now I want her to just cut it out.

As for farm things...on the eve of our first chicken choppin' of the year, we're flooded again. Unlike the flood of 2 weeks ago, we're not bringing the animals up. This time, we let them loose  on the highest ground we've got (see the picture with the goat) to fend for themselves. The National Weather Service predicts the water will rise another 1 1/2 feet, but there's plenty of clearance by the new milking shed. Of course, this was the plan Travis and I made before we went down to the field for chores and found the sheep on an island, previously known as a grassy knoll. Thus the second picture of Travis herding the last of the flock with his bicycle across the shallowest point. Some of the lambs had to swim a little, but everyone made it safely to the other side. 
Normally on the eve of chicken choppin' we'd just pull the feeders out of the pen, give the birds plenty of fresh water for the night, and not catch them until early the next morning. But with the rising waters, we won't be able to get the truck out to the chickens tomorrow so we caught them tonight and brought them back to 
the brooding pen at the house (see chicken picture). 

Luckily it was a beautiful, relatively warm afternoon for all that wading out in the field. So lovely in fact, that Travis decided to go fishing in the new "lake" engulfing our little farm. I opted to dry out at the house, so he took Tyler (a ranch volunteer) and a couple of pitchforks for a bike-powered fishing expedition. Travis tells me he actually caught a carp the size of his thigh, which he figures must be at least 10 lbs, by running it down through water over his handlebars and then spearing it with the pitchfork. It's hard for me to picture, but Tyler corroborates, so perhaps Travis has one more impressive skill on which our growing family can rely when all the oil runs out: master bicycle spear-fisherman! I had a hunch I married a winner, but I feel more confident in my decision every day.

There are, of course, 800 million more stories to tell but this will have to do for the day- 
it's time to bottle-feed the lamb.