My Photography :)

I was practicing some photography with my new camera and thought y'all would want to see some!

Here I am working on getting the background blurry

My grand-dad's tractor

Pal

My friend's horses - Lightning, Sugar and Pal

Pal

We went to a friend's garage sale and he tried to sell Mom a tricycle that was a little too small :)

It took her along time to decide it was too small...

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear 

Have a great day all! :)

Hiking up Hieronymus trail

Last week me, Hannah, Caleb and the Grandparents went hiking up Hieronymus trail.  We ate dinner at their house and then decided to take a walk.  It was a lot of fun!  We went to a place where they have seen a fox before but it wasn't out when we were there.  I just got a new digital camera - so I took a bunch of photos - hope you enjoy them! :)

Caleb skippin' rocks

The waterfall on the Bitterroot Mountains - this is where the grandparents get their irrigation water in the summer

A fox hole

This is the inn that the trail is by - we actually lived in this inn for a couple weeks when we first moved here about 3 years ago, it was fun!  There is a swimming pool in it! :)

One of these is my grandpa - (for those of you who know me, you can figure it out)

One of these is Kin on the other side of my family (great - grandpa)

Getting hay in for the winter

Wednesday night we got in about 2 ton of hay for the horses for this winter and the night before that (Tuesday night) we got a little over 3 ton.  It had to be picked up off the pasture before the forecasted thunderstorm hit - otherwise the hay might have been ruined from the wet.  So, Grandma drove the truck and trailer around the pasture while the rest of us bucked bales onto the trailer as it went by.  The bales were about 80lbs. and wouldn't have been so hard to lift if I hadn't had paper-thin gloves, and the string was digging in to my fingers.  I have sore muscles and blisters today :)  But that is a good feeling.  We would have gotten all of it the first night but our friend's baler broke and he couldn't bale up the rest of the hay so we had to wait till last night.  Then Tuesday night we had to drive it home to the barn and unload it there working double time because it had started to rain and Wed. night we just parked the trailer in the barn.  We have to get a few more tons for the sheep and goats though.  It was so great of the grandparent to come and help out!  Thank you guys!

Our load

Caleb was tired and having an allergy attack from the grass hay - it was dark out before we finished

Last year we only got 4 ton for the horses and ran short near the end - so we decided to get 1/2 ton more each, to have extra in case of a longer, harder winter - which isn't unlikely.

The trailer parked in the barn

Caleb

Grandma and Grandpa talking after we finished unloading the hay

Chicken Butchering Day

Last Thursday we butchered our 97 freedom ranger broilers.  A bunch of our friends came to help and it was a lot of fun!  I am so glad to have those birds gone because when they get big they really stink bad.  Me, Sabrina and Grandma had the job of wrapping again.  It is a pretty fun job especially with the shrink bags we use!  It is so fast and easy!  Then we all got to have Grandma's sloppy joes for lunch!  Those are YUMMY! :)  It defiantly makes butchering funner with friends and family there to help!  It's a good feeling knowing these birds lived a good life, ate organic food and will provide our families with REAL food.

The boys catching the birds

Nick

Suzie and Hannah playing under the trampoline

Mom and Angela talking theology over their birds

Take note of Grandma's cute homemade aprons made out of tarp :)

Plucked and gutted birds dripping off, waiting to be wrapped

Wrapped and ready to be shrunk in the boiling water

Emily and Isabella

The kill station - this is a very humane way for the birds to go.  They don't flap around or get their adrenaline system kicked off, which is kinder for them and makes better meat for us.

Caleb was the kill-man most of the time - (I still don't think I could do that)

Sam

Caleb

Sabrina working at the fine-tuning and wrapping station and Angela working at the gutting station

Grandma Sitko and me wrapping

These are all wrapped and shrunk and now I am putting labels on with the date and weight of the bird

My friend Rebecca working at cutting up gizzards

Caleb relaxing in his cool shades afterwards - Nick gave them to Caleb after they got a little bent up by a basketball :)

Anyways - hope y'all have a great day! :)