Activities at Home

Miss Joy—October 2020

November 3, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are pictures of our favorite toddler in her 14th month!

We had crepes with whipped cream, sweetened yogurt, bananas and chocolate sauce for breakfast one morning. She loved that breakfast!

She loves to climb into things. We use this crate to take our Bibles to church. As soon as it was unloaded, she sat in it.

She found my teacup on the couch one morning when I forgot to take it to the kitchen. She loves that cup!

Gayle brought firewood home from the mill one day, and she helped unload it. She was handing pieces to him. Little Miss helped, too.

Gotta put the earmuffs on! The big people do!

She found her favorite big brother on the couch and had to climb on him.

One afternoon she was playing with her brothers in the empty section next to our house. As you can see, she found some mud!

Babies!

October 19, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

We have a lot of baby animals around here right now. As I mentioned last week, our heifer had her calf the beginning of September. About three weeks ago, near the end of September, we bought a beef calf to raise for the freezer, and were given two goat kids and several lambs. Sadly, all but one of the lambs died; the tiniest one survived! Now, two days ago, our cow had her calf. Lots of cute babies to enjoy!

It took about a week for this little lamb to really get on his feet, but he is thriving now. Sometimes we let him loose while we’re outside, and he follows us very closely—he even wants to get in the house!

He loves his bottle! We’re still feeding him small amounts every 4-5 hours, and about two hours before the next feed he starts crying for it, even though he’s very fat.The evening that the boys took the three big cows down to the other paddock, the babies excitedly ran to the fence to see them go past.

This is Poppy, our older cow, a week before having her calf, and Pepperoni, the yearling steer. Pansy, the heifer I’ve been milking, was not cooperating, so I didn‘t get her in the picture.

Twice a day all four babies get a bottle! Everyone prefers to feed the goats.

This stump in the middle of the paddock provides the perfect playground for two young goats!

The long-awaited baby! Both calves born to our cows this year were heifers, which is exciting. Isn’t she gorgeous?

September 2020 Photos

October 11, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

September was a fairly busy month. At least, we took a lot of pictures!

Mr. Imagination found this hedgehog walking around in broad daylight one day. He wanted it for a pet, so tried to fix it a house and feed it. Unfortunately, it died the next day. They are normally nocturnal, so I’m guessing something was wrong with it.

Our heifer had a heifer calf of her own the second of September. This cute little calf has a mind of her own! She’s a challenge to handle. There will be a post coming soon with lots of photos of cute baby animals…don’t miss it! We’re waiting for one more calf to arrive and then I’ll publish that post.

These plover eggs hatched a few days after the calf was born. We never got a photo of the chicks, though. They are good at hiding! After the first day, we couldn’t even see them, and then the parents moved them out of our paddock to a park where they would be safer.

One evening the river was roaring very loudly. The children piled into Esther’s car and went down to take a look at the flooding. We normally walk through this space to get to “our” picnic spot.

This is the area we have our picnics!

We went to Canterbury for a weekend. The mountains were spectacular!

Miss Joy loves to sit in things!

We saw this tui on the neighbor’s tree one day. The photo doesn’t do it justice; in the sun, its feathers were glowing iridescently. So beautiful!

We bought a high chair for Miss Joy at an op shop. She loves feeling like a big person! She has to have a pillow behind her so she can sit right up to the tray. (We now have it in a plastic bag!)

What is Princess doing?

We had a cookout down by the river for Mr. Sweetie’s birthday. Some friends were with us, and it was a lovely afternoon, even though it was cloudy and threatening to rain.

Simon roasted an apple over the fire after having his fill of sausages!

This giant spider was found in the garden when Esther was replanting rhubarb. It was at least 1 1/2 inches long!

Greenhouse

October 5, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Today’s helpful tip: If you buy plastic for a greenhouse, make sure it is high quality. We bought greenhouse plastic twice, a few years apart. The first cover was used in Cheviot for a couple of years, and then we bought another cover for another greenhouse. It was never used over there, but we brought it here, and when we set up the greenhouse last year, we used both pieces to cover it. The newer piece shredded after just a year, and when we had a couple of storms in the last few weeks, with high winds, it blew off—in pieces! The older one is still in good shape. So, we bought a new piece of plastic to cover the entire house, so it won’t have to be pieced together. When I got on the website of a greenhouse supply company in the North Island, I found the end of a roll of plastic that was bigger than we needed, for less money than ordering the exact amount cut to size! That gives us enough to recover the miniature greenhouse I use for starting plants. On Saturday, the boys got the old cover off, and they and their dad put the new one on. At one point in the afternoon, I was urgently called outside—all hands were needed. They had unfolded the new cover and put it over the greenhouse—the wrong direction! I got out there to see this:

After I took that picture, Simon said, “Wait! Let me pose!” So, he struck this pose of wondering what to do about the mess they were in.

A few hours later I went out to see how the project was progressing, and they were finishing fastening the plastic to the roll-ups on the sides. They had the plastic securely fastened down to the side of the house, but the bottom foot and a half or so on each side rolls up on pipes.

This is what I have growing inside. Lots of salad stuff! I was out there today, and the lettuce to the left has about doubled in size in the last two days!

More of Miss Joy

September 16, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

Most of the photos I find on my memory card are of Miss Joy! She’s quite photogenic, in our opinion, right now.

I don’t know who took this photo—I suspect possibly Mr. Imagination.

She loves apples—and she loves boxes and climbing!

One warm, sunny afternoon, she took off on an exploratory trip. She absolutely loves going outside, and can’t understand when we won’t let her go out (because it’s cold and wet!).

When she turned around, I got this video clip:

I was quite amused one day to see her sitting in these tubs that were laying on their side!

This is a very common sight. If she’s at all tired or hungry, she finds her blankie and brings it to me, saying, “Eye-guy-guy.”While I was reading aloud yesterday, Mr. Intellectual was laying on the couch. Miss Joy climbed on top of him and sat herself down to read a book.

When her daddy came home from work and squatted down to clean his work shoes, she grabbed one of my crocs that was handy, got herself a towel, and cleaned my shoe! She quite diligently worked at it for several minutes, as long as Gayle was cleaning his shoes.

One afternoon when she and I were the only ones at home, I was enjoying watching her play. I decided to get a quick video, just because times like that are so fleeting.

August 2020 Photos

September 5, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are the last of the photos from August!

Little Miss helped me harvest some purple broccoli one day with the basket a neighbor gave her, and then she took it to her bedroom to show Esther.

We did an art project one evening as part of our study of New Zealand for geography. The three children each cut out shapes and made them into a picture of sheep, then glued on cotton balls and eyes after painting part of the picture. They love projects like this!

When I cut open the first of the three giant cheeses I made in June, Mr. Imagination thought the moment needed to be documented. The cheeses are delicious! We’re nearly through the second one.

Simon has been fixing a car for Esther. It needed a new heater core, which he had to order from the States. When it came, he had to change the hoses to make it work. We took a couple of pictures to document this for his apprenticeship.This picture is for the apprenticeship, as well. He had to take the head off the engine and replace all the valves; they got bent when the timing belt broke. That meant he was able to buy the car for very little, and hopefully Esther will have reliable transportation again! (Her car broke down in June and wasn’t worth fixing, so she’s been borrowing since then.) He just finished fixing up the car today; hopefully, it will get the new Warrant of Fitness sticker Monday, and Esther can start using it!

The power went out one evening just as I finished cooking tea. We ate by candlelight—something that delighted the children! It turned out that our neighbor had been driving a tractor back here, which he does practically every day, since they are agricultural contractors, and a car that was passing him hit the rear wheel. The tractor turned over a couple of times and landed against an electric pole. The tractor ended up supporting the pole. The power was turned back on after about 45 minutes, but it took several hours to get the pole replaced. Thankfully, our neighbor wasn’t hurt too badly. He had a large bandage on his head, was limping, and had a lot of bruises, but he wasn’t thrown out of the cab, which we’re thankful for. The car turned over, too, but apparently the driver wasn’t hurt. The tractor had all its lights on, which means it would have been extremely visible—obviously the driver of the car made a big mistake.

July 2020 Photos

August 30, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are the last of the photos from July!

We bought a set of books from Creation Ministries, five books whose titles all begin with Untold Mysteries. They have been very popular—especially the Monumental Monsters one, about giant animals from the past. That book has been thoroughly studied!

Mr. Imagination loves to make cardboard and paper creatures.

We get a lot of cream when the cow is in milk! She’s dry at the moment, but I was finding myself with up to three gallons of cream a week to make into butter. Through the winter, it was taking long enough to make butter in the food processor that I started brainstorming with the boys about how to build a butter churn that would do it all at once. Simon got started building a mechanical one, but in the meantime we tried this system. We strapped the bucket full of cream into the barrel section and rocked it back and forth. Unfortunately, we wore out long before butter was made. After 2-3 hours of rocking it, all we had was whipped cream. Oh, well. Not all our inventions work!

One of the many pieces of heavy machinery that go past our house.

Mr. Diligence is raising chicks again this year. He hasn’t had as good success as last year, when he only lost 1 out of the 100; this year, he has lost 9. They’re growing well, though! This picture was taken when they were a week or two old; now they’re about six weeks old.I heard a call of distress one evening and found this. She had gotten onto the couch, then climbed onto a wooden crate behind my chair and lost her balance as she knocked the lamp over. She was desperately holding on to the swivel chair and the sliding pile of books, wanting rescue.

Doesn’t that look delicious? It’s a leg of lamb that a friend here gave us.

We have a beautiful crop of purple broccoli and green cauliflower. I’m not sure which this is, but it almost looks like a cross between the two! I loved the colors on this head.

Miss Joy Turns One

August 26, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Miss Joy had her birthday last week. We have a one-year-old again! We finally celebrated tonight; first, Esther was away, and then everyone came down with a tummy bug. Tonight, finally, enough people were feeling better that I made a pumpkin custard and we whipped some cream—two of her favorite foods. We gave her a bowlful of it and she was delighted!

She continues to be a very busy little girl. We sure enjoy having her in our family! She loves books.

She loves water and was thrilled to figure out that she could reach things at the sink one morning.

Little Miss gave her some food—and she gave it to the cat!

Escaping outside is so much fun—especially when there’s mud!She has fallen in love with dolls, especially this one, although she also lugs around the ones that are nearly her own size, too.

She loves to play the piano, too.

She got hold of a small New Testament today. I was in another room sewing, and was showed this picture by a happy big brother.

Miss Joy in July

August 17, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

I just looked over my photos from July, and most of them were of Miss Joy! Do you think we’re enjoying her?

This was just before she started walking; she figured out that she could push the crate around.

We roasted a turkey one evening, and she was delighted to be given some of the bones.

I made a carob cake with a fudgy frosting, and when she climbed up to the table she was delighted to find something yummy!

One of her brothers got these pictures before he left for work one morning.

She loves to climb into the window and look out.

She has been eating—and loving—ice cream for months already, but this was the first time she was handed a cone of her own. She loved it!

All worn out!

Simon with his little sisters.

Mr. Intellectual with his little sisters.

Checking out the cat’s tail! Princess has trained her by now to leave her alone

Yes, we took her down from here as soon as the photo was snapped! She’s rather daring.

Toes are so fun!

She loves my cup.

She discovered the piano recently.

She likes lettuce—especially the dressing on it!

June 2020 Photos, Part 2

August 8, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I forgot to post this last weekend! Sorry, if anyone noticed. I’m still trying to catch up from being away from home six days in a row, including two days on the other side of the island visiting Esther for her birthday. I’m feeling a bit more caught up now. Esther came home for three days this week, and it was great to have her home for a little while. We’re hoping she’ll be home for a longer time soon; she’s helping a family from the homeschool group we used to be part of.

This is a very busy little girl. She must have found the paints that day!

We enjoyed watching these ponies graze in front of our house for two years. Now, this section has sold, so the ponies graze somewhere else. Nothing has been done here yet, so we’re enjoying having open space in front of us still.

Mr. Imagination, my artistic son, made this creation.

Little Miss Busy worked and worked to get into this box of jars. Her feet are several inches off the floor here. Once she had figured out what was inside the box, she gave me the grin in the next photo.

We were given a lot of milk the last couple of weeks of June. One Saturday, I made three cheeses. See the three presses? The two on the table hold the cheese from 2 gallons (8 liters) and 5 gallons (20 liters). The one on the floor, with the buckets stacked on top for weight, holds the cheese from 60 liters (15 gallons). I made that cheese in 6 pots. I heated two pots, added the starter and moved them off the stove, heated the next two…. I did the same for the stirring and cooking step. It took a lot of concentration, but was fun. We’re eating that cheese now, and it turned out deliciously creamy. These are all Colby cheeses, and the smallest one, which we haven’t cut into yet, has chili peppers in it.

Here are the three cheeses after we took them out of the press the next day. That’s 15 kilos (maybe 35 pounds?) of cheese right there.

She was delighted, one day, to be able to chew on her toes!

Gayle turned 50 the end of June. Esther was coming home from helping a family for six weeks, that day, so Gayle went to the top of one of the mountain passes to meet her and bring her home. That got him away from home for three hours, and the boys got busy cutting down trees as soon as he left. There were several trees around our yard that we didn’t want anymore, including this ornamental plum, the tall one behind the sleepout in the second picture, and the camelia in the third picture. I took off for town and bought two apple trees and a cherry tree, and the boys got them planted before Gayle got home, as a birthday surprise.

There were several loads of brush to take to the dump down the hill, as well as some firewood. Mr. Intellectual is using the plum wood for smoking hams.

These wood pigeons were apparently living in the plum tree. They were quite upset by the loss of their home. We saw five at once! They soon adjusted to the new look, though.