I have lost 4 of the silver laced wyandotte chicks to raccoons. We have caught 2 of the murderous thieves and exiled them to lands far far away. The problem is, there are always more raccoons. I just don’t understand why something so cute has to be so vicious. The first night they stole two chickens through a hole so small I couldn’t believe the chickens were gone. I spent the entire day stapling 1/2 by 1, 1 by 1 and even 1/2 by 1/2 inch wire over every opening that I could find. So what did the racoons do? They ripped the chicken wire off the sides of the enclosure. I mean, if they are going to rip the wire off completely, I don’t have any other option than to trap and transport. Now my remaining three wyandotte chicks are in with the banty chickens,which of course, the raccoons ignored in favor of the tender wyandottes, even though at this point, all of them are the same size! Now the banties are terrorizing the wyandottes, but at least they have a fighting chance. They were helpless against the racoons.

I haven’t been up to a lot of knitting lately, although I continue to work on the sock I have been taking with me to Chad’s art class. I’ve just turned the heel, so I’m happy about that. What I have been working on is fiber prep and spinning.

When I first got my carder, I wanted it mainly for the blending capabilities, and it did that well. However, when I used it to card clean raw fiber, I was disapointed in the amount of noils in my fiber. At first I thought it was because of the fiber I was using. THe only fleece I had to card was the fiber that we had sheared off of Ivy and Tootles, and everytime I tried to card it it just ended up horrible.

So I haven’t used the carder in a while, it has sat in my room and I have even thought of selling it once in a while and just buying another pair of hand cards. With all this angora fur sitting around though, I began to think that maybe I needed to give it another try. Angora fiber used by itself here in OK wouldn’t be very wearable except for the coldest of days. So last week I got it out and took it apart and cleaned it really well. I oiled it, and put it back together, and then started carding. This is what I have learned.

In order to blend the two fibers (Ivy’s wool and angora fiber) it worked best if I first carded a half the total wool I was using for each batt. Then I would card on the entire amount of angora for the batt, then the other half of the wool. This sandwiched the fly away angora between the much easier to handle wool. Then I would split each batt in half, and then half again, and feed each 1/4th onto the drum slowly. After peeling that off again, I would repeat the process. Each batt was carded three times.

Then, as I was reading during a coffee break (with all that cranking, I needed a coffee break!) I saw a comment that in order to blend the color of the wool and get uniform color throughout, you should blend a part of each batt into one batt. So I took the four batts I had made, split each into fourths again, and then carded 1/4th of each batt into one uniform batt. Then I repeated the process 3 more times before I was done with the carding and ready to start spinning.

I have been trying to break myself of the habit of spinning super fine. If my fingers are left to their own devices, that is exactly what they do. They spin a single that is so fine that even plied it is going to take forever to knit something with it. I wanted this yarn to be a sport weight, but I still think it is too fine. I’m hoping it will really bloom when I wash it, and be much thicker than it looks like it is going to be.

I will probably dye this once I have it all spun and plied. I did not like the results I had when I dyed angora before it was spun, it really snarled things up. I don’t really have a project in mind for this yarn either, but I am getting quite a collection of natural colored yarns that I have spun, and I am thinking it might be nice to have something made out of them. Maybe a shawl made on the tri-loom? Still thinking about it.

There is nothing cuter than a baby, and that is completely true of French Angora Babies. This is my first litter of FA kits, babies of the demon rabbit Mercy. As mean as she is, (I mean, she hates me!) she is an excellent mother. Her kits were so full of milk while they were still confined to the nest box that they resemembled Weebles or the humans from Wall-E that could barely wave their limbs they were so fat. Now that the little ones have learned how to escape the nest box, they are slimming down a little. They are wiggly, sweet little things, meeting me at the cage door to snuggle and be petted. It’s a wonderful way to start your day, that’s for sure!

This kit is what I believe is a blue tort (short for tortoiseshell). I also believe it is a girl, and if it is, I will probably be keeping her. Her coloring is so beautiful, I can just imagine how beautiful the yarn spun from her wool would be.

Next post will more than likely be on drum carding. I think I have finally figured out how sucessfully use the drum carder!

The last two weeks have been insanely busy for me. I have driven more in the last two weeks than I had in probably the whole rest of the year so far. Chad was in a play with the Homeschool co-op, and he has started an art class, so that was three days last week. Then this week was the end of the year celebration for Homeschool Co-op, and I took the boys to Boy Scouts because Sean was busy at the hospital. So 4 days this week in the car. Considering how much I hate to drive, I’m glad I survived, LOL. Once the driving part is over, though, I really enjoy getting out and actually seeing other grown ups, it’s a real treat. I probably talk way too much though, I get started and I can’t stop.

I can’t believe Homeschool co-op is over for the summer. We had so much fun this year, and I am feeling less shy and making so many friends. So many wonderful ladies contribute their time and talents to make co-op a great place to be, both for the kids and me.

Well, I was going to put some pictures on here, but it won’t let me. Soon, though.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here in OK. Reagan continues to get better, her face is no longer bruised (need to update the phanfare album for the family so they can see she is back to being her beautiful self) and the staples are out of her leg. She has had her first apptointment with the ENT, and things inside her head seem to be healing well too.

Chad has started an art class, and I am really excited for him. He loves to draw, and I was so glad this opportunity came up so that he could learn from someone who actually had some artistic ability. I can’t wait to see how he does.

Ryan broke out in a mysterious rash the beginning of the week. It was allover his face, but since he had no fever or any sign of anything infectious, we believe it is just a contact allergy. It is almost completely gone now, which is a good thing, because I have to take pictures for the homeschool co-op yearbook, and turn that in next week. I was waiting for Reagan’s bruising to go away, and now I have to wait for this rash to go away.

I have to confess, other than school, rabbits and housework, I haven’t been doing much of anything. I could not think of one thing I wanted to knit, although I did start a sock while waiting for Chad to finish his class last Wednesday. There are two shawls in the new Knitty I would like to knit, and I have the yarn for them, but how many shawls can you use? I guess I could gift it. I need to spin yarn for the new pattern my cousin Jill sent me, but I need more angora fur for that. I’ll think of something soon.

Yesterday I started the candy for Easter. I made coconut Easter eggs. Today I will do peanut butter. I don’t know if I will do any others or not. It’s a lot of fun though.

Well, that’s about all for today!

The newest additions to our “barnyard”

These baby chicks are Silver Laced Wyandottes. I have always wanted chickens like these, I am so thrilled to have them. They are living in a cardboard brooder box in my bathtub though, and they can really smell! We have to keep a close eye on Stache as well, as he thinks we have moved them into the house for his entertainment. The one with purple on his face is the rooster, and the rest are going to be hens. Wyandottes lay brown eggs! We can’t wait!

Reagan is doing really well. She hasn’t had any pain medication at all since Sunday night, her bruises are going away and she is fighting with her brothers, so she must be better! She has to see an ear nose and throat doctor in April. There doesn’t seem to be any lasting problems with the bones broken in the accident, but in looking at the scans they discovered a small cyst in her nasal cavity. Hopefully antibiotics and regular allergy medicine will take care of that! Other than that, she’s fine!

We serve a great and mighty God. If I didn’t truly understand that before this week, I do now.

I know there might be people who think that I talk about God too much on this blog. Sometimes I think I talk about Him too much. I can see His powerful hand at work in my life though, see His touch on things beyond my control so clearly, that I can’t stop myself from telling you about it, even though I might want to. Certainly there are things that I would rather not write about. I’ve struggled for two days about whether to write this or not. There are times when I fail as a mother or a wife, and I don’t want to say, gee, you know, I screwed up. Sometimes I just don’t want to share the unpleasant parts of life. Then God steps in, and how can I not come here, to basically an account of the events of my life, and not tell you how God has worked so amazingly? I can’t.

Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. –Jeremiah 20:9

Wednesday was another beautiful day here in Oklahoma. Reagan and I were up early, and she was outside with me even before she had breakfast I think, picking flowers and playing with the dogs. I did my outside chores and then baked chocolate chip cookies for Big and Little Chad in payment for fixing my broken water pipe on Monday. Big Chad came and got my Chad to take him out on the river to get their fishing pontoon unstuck. He was out of the house, and Ryan and Reagan wanted to go play video games with their cousin Chris who was in from Nashville. To tell you the truth, I was almost glad to send them, so that I could have a little time to work in quiet, such a rare commodity in this house. I finished up inside stuff and moved outside to clean the front porch and build a rabbit cage. Usually, I like to keep the kids in eyesight, but they would be with Sean’s brother and his wife, and I was feeling like I was being too overprotective. They’d be fine, I just needed to let go a little bit. They don’t get to see Chris that often, and they love him to pieces, and so I let them go.

So I’m outside working and Sean’s brother pulls up outside. He said Reagan had had an accident and was a little scraped up and needed me. So I got in the car and we drove the the two houses (It is my SIL’s house, our house, Mother and father in laws house, and then My BIL’s. All family, right in a row) to his house where she was sitting on the porch. Well, she’s sitting on the porch, how bad can it be, right?

We still don’t entirely understand what happened. It seems that Chris, who is younger than Reagan, had taken the four wheeler. Reagan (who isn’t allowed on the four wheeler at all) had jumped on the back and when he took off, she tumbled off the back.

I walked up on the porch and got my first look at Reagan.My baby was sitting there, unfocused, bleeding, and so dirty. After a little bit, I asked them to call an ambulance, she just couldn’t focus and she had a huge chunk out of her knee. I was afraid that she had some head trauma, because of how loopy she was. The ambulance came and took her and I to the hospital where my husband works. He was working in radiology that day, and so he walked her through the cat scan, where they discovered she had broken the bone in her right sinus cavity. She also had to have her knee scrubbed out and three staples in it to hold it down loosely while it heals so that it can drain properly.

I’m not writing a lot of detail because the details of this aren’t important. What is important is this. God was there, and prayer works. If you had seen her, as I walked up on the porch, you would never have believed that she didn’t have something broken, somewhere. There was not one limb not scratched, not one inch of skin not covered in dirt. She of course didn’t have on a helmet, she wasn’t even allowed on that thing. She hit her head hard enough to break the bones inside of her face, but she didn’t have a concussion (although she doesn’t remember getting on the four wheeler, or anything from the time she took some cookies over there until she woke up in the ambulance, although she was awake the entire time) She doesn’t have any broken bones in her arms or legs, no internal injuries, just a chunk out of her knee, and a broken bone in her face. It is just such a miracle. God definitely had His hands on my child as she fell off that four wheeler, definitely watched over her when I wasn’t, and definitely answered prayer.

I know you’re thinking to yourself, so Jan, did you panic now and pray later? And you know, I didn’t. I am not a person who is good at praying out loud. I pray a lot, all day, usually in little one sentence converations with God. He tells us to be constant in prayer, and I am, but not in long formal prayers that are well thought out. I guess you could say I pray by the seat of my pants. But Wednesday, Boy I tell you, I prayed. I took one look at her, grabbed my BIL’s hand, and I prayed. Loud and Long. I knew she needed my prayers, and a mother’s instinct took over. Later I prayed in the seat of the ambulance as we went down the road. Complete strangers came up to my friend Tina and I in the hospital and prayed with us. And later that night, when Reagan was home (we weren’t even in the hospital overnight, Praise the Lord) and I got up to give her another dose of pain relievers, I prayed while tears of joy and thankfulness rolled down my face and I thanked God for His watch care over my daughter. Prayer works. More importantly, God works. I know that things could have been so different, and it is through His great and mighty works, that they aren’t.

You know there are going to be days like this, but still you never seem prepared for them. Yesterday was a beautiful day in Oklahoma. The sky was pure blue, it was warm, there was just enough wind for the kids to “kind of” fly the cheap kites I bought for them at the dollar store. I spent most of the day outside cleaning up debris that had accumulated during the winter. There was cardboard from makeshift rabbit shelters that needed to be thrown away, feed sacks that needed to be cleaned out, cages to be hung, seeds to be planted.

I was done with the majority of my work when I decided I needed to move the blueberry plant I bought last year. I thought the little thing had died, but surprise surprise, it had leaves on it this weekend. I decided to move it to a location in the back yard with more sun, where it could be by itself and I could amend the soil conditions to be more acidic, the way blueberries like. (Well, I could if I knew how. I need to research that) So I dug it up, moved it to the back yard in the wheelbarrow (I love my wheelbarrow!) dug a hole in a nice spot, put the plant in, shoveled the dirt back in, and went to get water to water it in.

I pulled up on the handle of the water spigot, and heard the snap of the pipe breaking off under ground. Water started gushing absolutely everywhere! I immediately entered what I call my “Panic now, pray later” mode. I yelled for Chad, ran up the back stairs, yelled for Chad again, grabbed the phone to call Sean, yelled at Ryan to get on his bike and ride and get his Grandpa. Ryan calmly started to roll up the string to his kite, and which point I yelled “RIDE” He rode. The phone clicked over to Sean’s voice mail, I say, in my sternest possible voice, “I have an emergency with the water lines. Call me NOW” No I love you, no I’ll talk to you later. “Call me NOW” I admit it wasn’t my best wifey moment.

At which point, I turn around, and Chad has gotten the channel locks, gone to the road, and turned off the water.

Hmm. I didn’t know you could do that. Good boy! Disaster averted! Yeah! So the drama ratcheted down quickly after that. Chad and I just started digging out from around the pipe, and a little while later Sean’s dad showed up, knew exactly what we needed, and went to town to get the stuff. After we got the pipe cleared, I went back to hanging rabbit cages and when Sean’s dad came back, I watched very closely how he fixed the pipe so I could do it myself if I had to the next time. Chad actually helped him, so he can probably do it too.

In Matthew 6:8, Jesus tells us that the Father knows what we have need of, before we even ask Him. In Phillipians 4:19, Paul tells us that God will supply all our needs, according to His riches in glory. That was certainly what happened here. I didn’t have time to pray when all that was going on, yet God still made sure Chad knew how to turn off the water, that Sean’s dad was at home instead of at work or out fishing. He reminded me that He is there, even when I forget or don’t have time to call on Him, even when I’m not at my best, spiritually speaking. I would like to be one of those Godly women who knows His word inside and out, who never forgets to be constant in prayer, who never raises her voice or speaks rashly. The truth of the matter is though, that most of the time, when something stressful is going on, it takes me a while to remember that I am supposed to bring it to Him, to lay it at the feet of Jesus. I admit that the words and tone coming out of my mouth aren’t always kind and lovin. But God is so good! He reminded me today that He is always there, always working to bring about the plans that He has for me, that He knows what I need before I do, and that He is able to supply it. And He reminded me that He does all that, even though I never have and never will deserve it, because none of us on this earth ever will.

All you can do is thank Him for another blessing and be humbled in His presence.

We had almost two weeks of absolutely beautiful weather, during which someone in this house was sick almost everyday. So finally, after a round of just feeling icky and having some congestion and sinus issues, I start feeling better. I get my lettuce, radishes, spinach, beans and onions planted in the lasagna beds I made last year. (Those worked great by the way! I was able to pull back the mulch I put on there last fall and just plant directly into nice loose soil. It was great) Then I learned that it was to go from 80 to 33 degrees in a matter of hours last evening. And it did.

I’ve got winter in my spring! Not quite as nice as chocolate in your peanut butter.

I finished the leg warmers. I didn’t take another picture of them, the second one looked just like the first one. I’ve been sick since Friday though, so I haven’t picked up any knitting at all.

I’ve been trying to make biscotti. I am having some problems with it. Mine is no where near as light and crispy as the biscotti that I have bought in various places over the years. It is heavy and either hard as a rock or too soft. I’ll keep trying though, it is something I would like to be able to make myself. It has to be the recipe, and I just need to find a good basic recipe I can adjust.

That’s about all for now. Lots to do today despite the cold.

We are having dinner at the in-laws tonight, Sean’s aunt and uncle are in from Indiana and it will be nice to have dinner over there and see them. I am making my home made dinner rolls and I have been really watching my points today.

I got both of the legwarmers knit and the duplicate stitch done on one. I started the duplicate stitch on the other one before realizing I had made a huge mistake on the increases. So I had to undo one of the hearts and rip it back all the way to the calf. I knit on. It should be done by Wednesday, anyway, so they can be delivered on Thursday.

I have been trying to think of what I wanted to knit next after these were done. I really couldn’t think of anything that really grabbed me. My delimma was solved this morning though when I got the mail and there was this l in with the dreary bills and netflix movies!!

My cousin Jill sent it to me, it was a complete surprise and really made my day. She was so sweet to think of me when she saw it. It is a Fiber Trends pattern called Bunny Fun. I can’t wait to knit one of these up in angora yarn from my bunnies! I have to be good and finish the leg warmers first though, and this will spur me on to finish them sooner!