Family photo flop...

Ok, it was not a complete flop, but it was not what I was thinking either. :) I have been wanting to get a family picture since the 4th of July and it has not worked. Finally, Saturday night we were dressed and pressed and all ready. Except for Paul. As you can see, he did not feel in the mood to smile, or even look at the camera. This was the best shot out of many.
Oh well, we will try again soon! (Doesn't Scott look sooo handsome! :)

Aunt Dorie, Victoria and Heather....

Thursday night brought my Aunt Dorie, and cousins Victoria and Heather all the way from NY to Kansas! Mom picked them up at the airport in the evening, (you don't want to ask how their flight was...) and brought them home. Friday night Scott, Paul and I headed to Mom and Dad's for supper and a long over-due visit. Dorie is Mom's only sister and she has flown out at least once a year for the past 7-8 years while Grandma, (and at first Grandpa) live near here in a nursing home. We always looked forward to her visits, and her trademark treat- fresh from the bakery NY bagels! Yummy! You could always SMELL her suitcase, it was scented with garlic bagels!
We have not been able to see her children or husband as much, but this time she brought her two oldest, Victoria who is 19 and Heather who is 17. We had a great time talking, laughing and hugging. Saturday they came over for a while to see where we live, but moved along as Scott and I were butchering. :)
Saturday night found us back at Mom and Dad's for a campfire and smores. They left today with Esther as tour-guide and headed down to Rebecca and Andrews for the night before flying home tomorrow. We loved our visit and miss you already!

Victoria with Paul at Mom and Dad's.

Heather and Paul

Aunt Dorie
Thanks for coming!

Our joy boy....

Paul in his little "Lord Fauntleroy" outfit made by Great Aunt Beth

Peek-a-boo!

Where did Paul go? :)

Trully children are a blessing! Paul is such a joy! He is moving very well now- not "offical" type crawling but very close. He loves being the center of attention, :) and much prefers you to sit and play with him, than play by himself. He sat up by himself for the first time last Wednesday, and continues to work on making it a smooth skill. He does well sitting, but sometimes forgets that there is nothing behind him and crashed backwards on his head. Ouch! I think it always frustrates him more than it hurts!

A few months ago we began training him to go to bed without being rocked or snuggled with. When it is bed/nap time, he gets kisses and prayers and lays down. He has been doing really well and after the first few rough nights, he now hardly ever cries and goes to sleep quite quickly. This has been really nice when we are out and at other's homes. We can just put him in the portable crib and he knows what is up.

Other things our little man loves...
Tickles with Daddy
Playing with the puppies
EATING :)
Riding in the "back-pack" carrier
Visitors
"Talking" on the phone
Smiling
Visits from Grandma Sue!

Busy, hot summer....

Did I hear someone say supper?

The Joys, Schreiners, Gurnseys and Ansons
(And a few Ulmers too!)

Just chewing on toys with Aunt Esther :)
Dear Friends, I have really fallen behind in blogging. Yikes! Hopefully I will do better in the coming weeks. June finished out very warm and busy. Scott turned 30 this year, but we kept it small and I did not make a huge deal about it. We were actully on the road some of his birthday as we went down to Salina to test for the KHP. This marks the second summer Scott has been trying to get on the Kansas Highway Patrol. It is a long process with trips to Salina for tests, Topeka for a polygraph test, back-ground investigations and waiting to hear results. Last year he made it to the last cut. THis year we are praying he will get on. If he does, he will train Monday through Friday at the academy in Salina. He gets to come home on the weekends, but we would sure miss him during the week! We would have some time to prepare though, the academy does not start until January.
Near the end of June we also enjoyed attending Esther's graduation party at my folks house. It was a lot of fun. Andrew and Rebecca were up and we had a great time as family.
July started hot and has been getting hotter. We traveled up to good friends the Schreiner's near Lincoln Ne. for our annual July 4th visit. Scott always takes joy in purchasing a bunch of fireworks and he and all the guys put on a great show! We had a terrific time up there- the Schreiner's had opened their house to many and we had a great crowd of friends.
July also brought my birthday, and that ment surprise dinner out and out to the movies- my husband is so sweet! We brought Esther and Elizabeth and had a great time.
As you saw by Scott's post, we finally finished our chicken plucker. What a blessing! We are hoping to finish all our chickens this week. Please pray things go well! :)

Paul is such a blessing. His little smiles and noises keep me grinning all day. He is eating veggies now, carrots and squash have been the start. Saturday he had a bad day. Overtired, strange schedule and teething ment a fussy boy ALL DAY LONG. But thankfully, Sunday he was much happier and we are hoping his teeth will cut through quickly or not cause him so much discomfort.
I will try to post again soon!
God bless! Lydia for the Ansons

The plucker liveth!!!!

The parts I was getting machined finally came, and we fired up the plucker on Monday night. After a few final adjustments, I gave it the green light for Tuesday's butchering. It is amazing!! It will take 99.5% of the feathers off of two 4 lb birds in about 30 seconds. And the best part is that it is 'hands off'. Just drop them in, keep them wet, and the plucker does the rest. It has easily doubled our efficiency. What a blessing!
Here also are some fun pics :)
Keith came to visit last weekend. Here is a picture of Paul and Uncle Keith. And there also a picture of Justice and Uncle Noah. And here also is a picture of the pups.

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!!!

Paul and Grandma :) and a few chickens!!

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! :)

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.

Thank you Tabitha!!

Well yesterday was a long, hot day. But thanks to Tabitha's hard work, we got a lot done and I am really, really excited! We have a lot of company coming this weekend and Scott and I decided we needed an "official" guest room. We have the pull out couch/bed in the office downstairs, but with 2 available bedrooms upstairs, we wanted to have a whole room set aside for our friends. I say available, but neither one was really all that accessable. The east room was full of boxes. Some full of stuff, and a lot of empty ones that needed to go to the basement. So Tabitha came for the day and was a huge help on this project. We cleaned and organized and the room is looking so nice! I feel really good about have people stay over now! (I only wish we had a bathroom upstairs- that would be soooo nice!:) Anyway, the only thing left to do is finish setting up the water bed in that room. We got started, but then became confused, and decided to let Scott finish that job! As soon as we get that done, I will have to post some pictures.
Help with that project would have been enough, but Tabitha cheerfully helped out all over yesterday; holding Paul, doing dishes, etc. What a blessing!
Anyway- this weekend is looking really full for us, a lot of company and fun times planned. We are looking forward to it! We will keep in touch!
God bless-

Happy Boy...

Here are a few pictures of Paul playing. He is just about too big for his swing, so I have started putting him in the "jonny jump-up" sometimes. He really enjoys it, especially when he has company! :)

Teething.... :)

Not too fussy to share a smile!

"This rag is nice and cold!"

Well, its about that time. Paul is 4 1/2 months old and after chewing on EVERYTHING for about 2 weeks now, he is putting the process in high gear. Slight fever, runny nose, swollen gums, restless nights, fussy days, - yep, eventually we will have some teeth! I must remember two things in this trying time. One, it will pass! (Night time is not very fun- up a lot.) And two, just because he is unhappy now does not mean he will get teeth right away. I am told by those older and wiser than me that the teeth can move up and down in the gums, so it could be a while yet.
He seems to really like chewing on a washrag that has a little water frozen at the ends- or just eating a lot! When I was at the store last night I looked at some infant pain/fever relief drops, (extreamly over priced in my opinion:), but the only brand our small store had was cherry, with red dye. ( For those who did not hear, after a bubble bath that contained red dye, and strawberry fragrance Paul broke out into terrible hives. We are not sure if it was the dye, (aunt Esther is allergic to that), or the strawberry, (Scott is alllergic to strawberries we think), but either way, I did not think a teething fussy baby was a good time to try to experiment and figure it out! So anyway, I will try to check at a Wal-Mart soon I guess.
Otherwise we are doing well. We butcher our first batch of chickens Saturday, 50 in this group. Scott starts softball this Sunday night, so we have been playing some catch to get all warmed up for the season.
I guess that is all for now!

Mama's little helper

Married life gets better and better!
"All work and no play makes Paul a tired boy!"
Well I finally have something in our garden! Thanks to Noah I have several tomato plants out there that I planted the other day. We are not planning as much variety in our garden this year, due to the amount of time we are spending on chickens, but we still hope to get a few things in.
Here is my little helper. Paul is big enough now to ride in the back-pack carrier. He really enjoys in and "helps" me do laundry, dishes and chicken chores.
God bless!