Thursday, June 22, 2006

Thank you Lord...

Thank you Lord for rain and rainbows..
For a home, clothing and food...
For our mothers...
And our fathers....
And precious children.
Each day I look at Paul, my love grows deeper.
Each day I am more challanged by the thought-
"God so loved the world that He GAVE his
ONLY Son......"
"Lord, thank you for life and all you have given us.
Thank you for your Son.
You alone are worthy of praise."
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
James 1:17

First Food....






We started feeding Paul this week. He is not sure what he thinks about eating from a spoon, but I think if he takes after his parents he will catch on pretty soon! :) The first night Scott tried with some ground rice, (a little too thick). Last night I made some rice cereal for him, he did a little better. Rice may not be his thing yet, but who could resist such a cute little guy!!!

Monday, June 12, 2006

THE PLUCKER....



As you all know by now, we have been raising chickens, lots of chickens. And when you feed and water chickens, they grow. And when they get big enough, you have to do something with them, or they will overtake your farm. And since the chicken labor union (CLU) was established in 1947, it has become increasingly difficult for small scale poultry operators like us to be successful. Take for instance the standards set by CLU.
1) All poultry, regardless of age, nationality, gender or physical or mental handicap shall entiltied to paid holidays, paid sick leave, workers compensation, and vacation time on established poultry enterprises.
2) Payment of the foul breeds ,(By means of daily feeding schedules) shall include, but not remain limited to- corn, soybean meal, wheat, alfalfa pellets, ostyer shell, kelp, sea salt, oatmeal, rye, fresh grass, insects, romaine lettuce, organice California carrots and peaches, roma tomatoes, fish meal, whey, feta cheese and organic dog food.
3) Each bird is entitled to a daily ration of no less than 1/3 its body weight in above mentioned rations.
4) Each bird is entitled to no less than 4 gallons purified, steam distilled, cold water a day.
5) Each bird is entitled to no less than 4 cubic feet of fresh forage a day.
6) From the months of April through September, all poultry age 2 weeks and older and to be established in confinement that allows for ideal climate control, with electronic accessiblilty for fans, and if neccesary air conditioning units that maintian temperature no lower than 65* and no higher than 85* F.
7) From the months of October to March, all poultry age 2 weeks and older are to be established in confinement that allows for ideal climate control, with electronic accessiblity to provide heat and humidity at optimum percetiles. The conditions shall not fall below 65* and 30% humitity and shall not rise above 85* and 50% humitity.
8) Labor guidelines for poultry after 2 weeks of age. The foul shall not be positioned in a job that requires lifting an excess of 3 oz., flying over 21 inches high, walking over 100 yards, or pulling over 5 oz. The birds shall not be placed in positions that may endager life or wing, by toxic chemicals, hazardous machinery, rotating pulleys, hights exceeding 2 feet, or electronic shock.
And I could go on and on. As you can clearly see, it is hard to make money on chickens. And we never wanted them to do all that much work anyway. Just paint the house, (paintbrush too heavy, see #8) weed the garden, ( no climate control, see # 6) and chase away the stray cats, (again, see #8. )
We were beginning to become discouraged until we came up with an idea that we could not see outlawed in the above CLU-LESS, (umm, excuse me,) CLU guidelines.
Behold the PLUCKER. Scott is almost done with it. This mechanical wonder can pluck 20 lbs of chicken in 30 seconds. We are just waiting on a few parts a guy is machining for us. Then on to butchering. Just in case, please don't tell CLU, killing the chicken was probably never on their mind when they made up that list, but we don't want to get in trouble now!
Lydia :)

Guest room



This is the semi-finished guest room. I am so excited to have a nice place for our friends and family to stay. The bottom picture is the view right as you step in the door. The Lord really blessed at garage sales a few Saturdays ago and I was able to get the dresser for $10! All the drawers work and it is in good shape. The middle picture is inside the room, turning to look right.( The waterbed does not have sheets on it yet!)
The top picture is not really about the guest room, (although that is were our horse is stabled for now,) but I had to include it anyway. This was another wonderful buy at a garage sale. In perfect condition, I can't wait until Paul is big enough for it!
(Ahhh, I was trying to post these pictures in the other order, top to bottom, but I have not mastered the photo option yet. It seems they always put the pictures in the LAST place I was thinking they should go! :) I will figure it out one of these days! :)

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

PUPPIES!!!! :)

Two of the puppies have these cute black spots on their rumps!
Here is three of them


For several weeks now, we have had a pregnant dog in the house. Last Thursday that all changed. Elle had 4 puppies in the early hours of Thursday morning, 3 males and 1 female. Noah's dog Roscar is the proud father.
The puppies are really cute, but Elle is SUPER protective, and we could not even get her out of her kennel the first day. Now she comes out, but still growls at us if we get too close when she is in there with them.
We will probably end up selling most or all of the pups, but right now they sure are cute!

Long time no post... :)



How many guys does it take to change an air-conditioner anyway? (Thanks guys!)

What a fun day! We are so glad you all were able to make it.


Heads UP!!

Wedding plans for Emily.... :)
Well, as some of you may have noticed, we have not written in quiet a while. Life at the Anson farm is busy, hot and busy, oh and hot and..... :) Through it all I am reminded what a great God we serve and how well He provides and protects us. Each day is such a gift. Having a wonderful husband and a precious little boy show me what is really important in a day. Family- what a blessing!!
As most of you know, Memorial Day Weekend was a really busy and hard time for my family. My grandpa, (my Dad's stepdad) passed away on Saturday. We had a lot of family in town and we were hosting a get-together with some friends on Sunday. A couple we have known forever (from Pa.) was staying with Mom and Dad and we had Rebecca and Andrew here.
It was a time of laughter and tears, hugs and prayers. It would be impossible to capture the whole time, but I will include some highlight pictures from the get-together.