Homesteading, homeschooling, animal loving, adoption loving, country living family
We had a beautiful day in the midst of some really bad weather days, so we decided to spend it at the park.
We had such a good time playing together and taking a short walk. I love these girls and love every minute I get to spend time with them and enjoy their company.
It has just been a wild week at our house. Our little dog, Ruby, woke up throwing up in her crate and sounded like she was suffocating. We have no idea how old she is since we found her along the side of the road on a vacation. But we know that she has a heart murmur, is missing one eye, blind in the other eye, and can’t hear well. I loaded her up to take her to the vet thinking she probably wasn’t going to pull through.
When I went out to do chores that morning our little senior kittie, Scooter, had labored breathing on top of the fact he has been losing weight all summer. I had been feeding him a special diet three times a day and just couldn’t get weight on him. I decided to load him up too and get him checked out.
The vet was optimistic about Ruby. The thinking was that since she was a smashed-faced dog that the vomiting caused the gurgling noise because her lungs were clear, her heart was good, and she didn’t have a temperature. So we opted to do a nausea shot and take her home to see how she responded.
For Scooter, on the other hand, she said the labored breathing, the weight loss, and the fact that he was 15 years old was not good and his prognosis was bleak. We decided it was time to end his suffering.
If you have never had to make this decision for an animal, let me tell you, it’s a tough one. With nearly all of our animals hitting the senior years at once we are terrified about what the next five years is going to look like at our house. It is going to be a hard couple of years.
We brought Scooter home and buried him under the mulberry tree where all our other cats have been buried. We are continuing to monitor Ruby because we’re not sure she has made a full recovery.
Next was Laila, a boxer mix from our local shelter, went to the vet a few days later for a minor procedure. She was perfect and all is well with her, but it was another trip to town and another office visit. Cha-ching!
Then on Friday morning one of our cats, Bandit, came out of the cat house carrying his front left foot. I was supposed to have an appointment an hour away that morning, I called our vet and she was leaving early, so I had to get him into town quickly, I hadn’t even showered, and then I would have to run him back home before heading to my appointment. I ended up cancelling my appointment and off to the vet we went with him before the weekend to see if it was broken. She didn’t think it was broken just by feeling it and since our vet bills completely exceeded their budget this month, we opted to just go with a shot and monitor before doing any xrays. Well, here we are on Monday morning and Bandit is still carrying his foot. I feel like I always make the wrong call on whether to xray or not and this time was no different.
We have to mail our last document to the U.S. Secretary of State and Chinese Embassy today for authentication, so we will take the big guy back into the vet this morning. It has just been nonstop animal stress lately. They bring us so much joy, but you really have to be on your toes and willing to drop everything if need be to get them the care they need.
You are missing out on free money!!!
I have started using Rakuten and wanted to share it here real quick. You shop online as you usually would and you receive a percentage of your purchases back. They just mail you a check! My largest check so far is hovering around $70. It’s the real deal!
Some of the stores I was already using that Rakuten gives cash back for:
Chewy (FYI it doesn’t work on autoship orders)
H & M (clothing)
Walmart/Sam’s Club
Dell
You just can’t lose putting this on your computer. It will automatically pop up to activate it when you visit a participating store. It’s that easy!
Thought I would share some of the cats on our farm. Aspen loves to take my camera and take pictures of them, so some of these are her handiwork as well.
The first one is of the girls and Willie Nelson. Randy saved him out of the engine compartment at work when he was about 3 months old. He has become one of the most loved little guys on the farm for obvious reasons.
And if Willie Nelson gets to be in a photo….so does Lenny. Fair is fair!
We just love each and every one of these cats. It is so much work to care for them properly, but we wouldn’t change it for anything. They are all spayed and neutered, we lock them up every night to ensure they are safe, and love on them as much as possible every day.
We love going to the State Fair. It is a big deal for our family. It kind of time stamps the beginning of the fall season, my favorite month September, and is just something our family really enjoys. We love the smell (yes the smell). It’s a little bit greasy fried food a little bit manure. We love the noise of the rides, the people working the games hollering at you as you walk by, and the hum of all the people walking and talking.
The night before going we did henna tattoos and had the best of intentions of crimping the girls hair and doing a fun hairstyle, but they ended up sleeping in WAY too late for that. Once our chores were done, our breakfast was eaten, and our bags and cooler of cold drinks and snacks were all packed, we were off! We had an hour drive, but the car was buzzing with excitement. Our schedule doesn’t allow a lot of time away from the farm for the most part, so on the rare occasions we are able to get away we try to make the most of it.
We don’t necessarily do all the rides, but we have a select few we always try to do. We love to see all the animals, but always have a sadness in the back of our minds as we worry about their future. We love the artwork inside the buildings. And of course, every year we make our way to the building where the butter sculpture is located. This year was amazing!
There aren’t a lot of food options for us, but the number of plant-based foods is growing. The offered Veggie Jaffles, Veggie Pitas, and of course the french fry. Our girls love to go to this spot where we can all sit at a table eat some fresh cut fries and have a mini can of tomato juice. The game was on, so it was super loud, but still fun.
We went back to the fair a second time to take the girls to their first concert. We figured an outdoor concert would be the best for their little ears and there just isn’t a bad seat at the grandstand even for them. We saw Zach Williams and Francesca Battistelli and had a great time. We love Zach Williams music and Francesca was so funny and cute, pregnant with baby number five. It was a much later night than we are used to, but everyone made it okay.
We adopted Canyon from China in May of 2015.
Canyon is the sweetest little girl you will ever meet. She has such a good heart and is always putting the needs of others before her own. Our lives would not be complete without this beautiful girl in our lives.
We adopted Aspen from China in September of 2013.
We love this little girl more than we ever could have imagined. She is smart and inquisitive and has been such a good help to me in the kitchen, with chores, and just always being by my side. I don’t know what our lives would be like without her.
A lot has changed since I’ve posted last. We are now a family of four with two little girls adopted from China and are in the process of bringing our next blessing home. We still have a truckload of animals, but they are not for eating, selling, or profiting from in any way. They are just living out their lives on our farm and receiving what we feel like is the best care around.
I am going to try to post regularly (whatever that means). I have the best intentions of posting once a week even if it is just some photos, a recipe, or an essential oil blend we are loving. I hope to use this blog to share what our family is experiencing day-to-day, specifically in the area of adoption, animal husbandry, and a life that is more “simple” than most. Anyone who has tried growing their own food, preserving their own food, making their own beauty and cleaning products, etc. knows hows “simple” this can be.
I will do my best to post recipes and ideas that have worked for us in hopes they inspire and are helpful to you.
Mostly we just feel super blessed by everything that God has given us in life. We don’t deserve this incredible life we get to experience everyday . Sharing our life is just one way we have chosen to show our gratitude. Hope you enjoy seeing the new life we have created and following us along the way.
Randy and I took a day away from the farm to hang out and hit some vintage stores and thrift stores. On our way to a VW shop we took a back street and saw this really cool fence.
And this skinny little building.
It was between the railroad tracks and a busy street. Not sure what it used to be or what it is being used for now, but thought it was interesting.
Sorry for the blurry picture, but it is the only one I have of a couple thrift store finds. I hope to have them refinished soon and will share pictures of their transformation.
There is nothing better than the feeling we get when we can provide food for ourselves.
We don’t have a huge garden this year, but we have a nice little selection of produce at our fingertips.
Enough that we are able to make an entire healthy, chemical-free meal all from stuff from our farm.
We added some eggs to the veggies above and had a delicious meal.
Remember these macrame plant hangers? I have had many a crack made about the fact that I drug this beauty (minus the pot) home from the Salvation Army for $1.75 the other day. I bucket of soapy water and the spray nozzle on our hose and it was good as new. Even the lady at the Salvation Army said, “I was wondering when we were going to sell this. It has been here FOREVER.” I was still undeterred and think it looks great in our bedroom. The pot was one I found laying around that mom had left behind. I little bit of spray paint and it was ready to go.
A Simple Prairie Life 