Let's See....

Here's a quick rundown of how it went at the livestock show....

• I Worked Crazy Hours...

I ended up working 118 hours. In that 118 hours I served more cobblers, coffees, ice creams, cokes and milkshakes then I can count. Note I said work, that's not counting the hours I enjoyed the Livestock show with my family two Wednesdays, when I went to the Rodeo last Saturday, or when I spent six hours wondering around the place trying to figure out what to do while Christin watched her Alpaca show (I had already watched 20 minutes of it, that was ALL I could take!!).

• I Missed My Family...

I can't believe how much Seth grew up in the three weeks that I worked there, he is now making it known what he wants with words and not grunts or pointing. Noah and Judah missed me, they have started asking me less if I am going to the Rodeo and more if they can do things like watch TV or play a game with me.

• I Enjoyed Meeting Everyone...

It was lots of fun serving and meeting the people that I met. From fellow showers and farmers, to other vendors, workers, and Livestock visitors. As well as the volunteers. The repeat costumers were lots of fun and learning all about the different committees and work put into the Rodeo was a learning experience.

• I So Do NOT Want A Full Time Job...

I realize that in the three weeks that I was working I was off the farm every single day except for one, this past Friday. If I wasn't at the Livestock show I was at Market or church and even a couple times I was at the Livestock show after those events. I missed a number of Noah and Timothy's baseball practices, I missed watching the boys and Libby grow as much as they did in that three weeks. I missed helping the family with normal farm chores, getting ready for markets, kiddings, I missed Grace's birthday and 3/4 of Spring Training. I missed a lot and SOOOO don't want to do that again! And when if ever I look into a job again I will be keeping that in mind.

• I Fell In Love...

With the Espresso maker!! I would love making Lattes, Cappuccinos, Espresso shots, Americano, and even decaf coffee, all so I could play with the Espresso maker! I'm am now looking over the one we have and seeing what I need to get to make it function properly and/or just looking into buying an entire new one.

There you have it, now to get back into the routine of farm and market life, work on introducing the rest of my family to you, and work on my "To Read" list with the extra hours I now have in my days. (Yeah right!)

To-Do List

This is the list of things I need to get done before mom and dad get back from taking Grace, Sara, and Linnea to the Orthodontist. :D

• Take Christin to pick out her new Alpacas (with the youngest six children I might add)
  
• Flavor cheese (three flavors this week)
• Package & label cheese
• Clean the van
• Load the van for two markets
• Get the ice chests cleaned out
  
• Double check that the ice bottles are all frozen and/or freezing
• Keep the kids safe and happy
• Start dinner--I can't until they get home with the pizza
  

Who ever said living on the farm was "kind of laid back"? Y'all have a good weekend and hopefully I will be able to come on later this weekend to update life on the farm and work at the Livestock show. :D

Oh Boy! A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That...

And so last night the 2010 Winter Olympics ended, with from the little that I saw was one of the nicer, least weirdest closing ceremonies that I have watched. All ready I am missing the games, on my way home today I was thinking "I can't wait to get home, grab some food, coffee and the remote to watch some Olympics." Only to remember that they are no more (well, at least for the next two years). Then the next thought was to think about the sports that I missed such as Luge and the very little bobsledding that I go to watch. But then there was the skeleton that I was able to watch for the very first time, now that was something!!

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The rodeo starts tomorrow, and with the start of the rodeo is the start of me being in the house very little for the next three weeks between working there, enjoying the livestock show, markets and church. I shall be out of the house every day of the week for the next three weeks, and I am all ready sick of driving thanks to spending well over four hours in the car today.

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We had another goat kid today. Nothing out of the norm, if you just think of it as a kidding, except in this case it was slightly out of the norm for two reasons--1) Sweetheart (the does' name) had quads!! A first here! and 2) I get to keep one of the does, which means I will own my first LaMancha. Which my mom is happy about after four years of saying Nubians are better I finally and succumbing to the charms of the 'Manchas. lol

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Let's see, is that all? Well, that's all that I can think of except for if it keeps raining we will very soon have to build an ark as it's been raining (or snowing) almost every single day for the past week and a half and I can't walk from the trailer to the house without soaking the hem of my skirt six inches (all right so I am exaggerating, but I couldn't help it as that line from "Pride and Prejudice" popped into my head.)

Yup, that's all for now. Everyone have a great week!!

Swede Farm Happenings

Well, it's that wonderful day of the week where the oldest children and adults of the Carlson family run around doing their best to have everything ready for market by 6, so that no one has to stay up late. :D

The cars are loaded, the cheese is done, the chocolate milk is ready to go, yogurt is ready and waiting to be sold (its plain this week), and all that needs to be done is the milk and looks like we will all be in bed at a decent time this week. :D

Now besides the dairy....

Both our main washer and dryer are still not working. We have had the repair men out to look at both of them--Washer yesterday and the dryer today. It looks like they are going to have to replace our dryer (what fun! Not!) and the washer will still be out of commission for the next week or two. At least I have the backup washer, even if it is a top loader and can only do half the load my front loader can do. And as long as the weather holds out in the glories fashion I will be good for hanging laundry on the line (Which I LOVE doing!!).

All thou, in the past week I have learned that there is a plus to a dryer in the house or a dryer at the laundry mat--There's no mud on the ground in either building!! I have also learned that when the washer AND dryer are broken at the same time you learn about all the things you have hidden in the back of your closet. :D Seeing as most of what I have found in the back of mine is pink I'm surprised that it is even there, but I am glad that for some weird reason I saved them. lol


Today is simply a beautiful day, I wish the hammock hadn't broken last year or I would be out there reading instead of typing up this post. (Let me tell you, it hurt when it broke!)


Our family is super busy right now, even though it's that time of year that's our "break". I started school with the younger three minus Seth. All three of them have decided that over the "school break" they have become oh so smart, thinking that they all know what they need to know. *rolls eyes* Now if I only taught history of crafts they would be oh, so happy. lol


Mom and dad have been in town a lot with my Grandfather, and Drs. Appointments to make sure baby girl #8 is good and healthy!


I did something I didn't think I would ever really be doing...I offered to make some business calls for mom concerning selling some of our doelings. There are couple things kinds of funny about this...1) I HATE making phone calls, and 2) I'm making calls about selling goats. lol


And lastly, it's that time of year when we are quickly approaching "that wonderful month in which Houston is overrun with cows and cowboys and half our family looks forward to showing goats while the other half look forward to showing rabbits at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo". Again I am trying to figure out to be there even without showing any of our goats, because yet again we missed the deadline for entering. (I hate the livestock!! Their deadline timing boarders on ridiculous!!)

Well, that's all for today at Swede Farm, everyone out there have a wonderful weekend!! :D

Rodeo Pictures

Well, the Segers were kind enough to take some pictures for me while they were at the Livestock show a week ago. Now, I am not in any of these, they are just to give you an idea of what I did while there and what a goat show looks like.

To start with, here is a picture of a goat before it is trimmed, I don't know if you can tell a difference, here from the pictures. Now, I didn't get a picture of the LaManchas that I trimmed the first night. But the hair on those goats was the longest I think I had ever seen on a milker! That was a job. Back to the nubians I trimmed.

I trimmed six of these on Wednesday. It was a big job that I didn't think I would be able to do all myself. But I got them done and was very happy with the end results.

Before:

After: (Thank you Segers for taking her out and getting the picture!)

The next pictures are of showing. It is kind of like a dog show, only lacking in the dog treats and fancy clothing. lol

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Livestock Show Video...

While I wait to get to Wal-mart so that I can develop my film (I can't believe I just said that!!) and while I wait for some friends to send me the pictures they took of me, since a sibling ran off with my camera half way through the show. I thought I would show you this video.

Though, some of the facts may not be true concerning goats, (Such as the reason our goat numbers were down). It may be true about the rest of the animal numbers for the Livestock Show, I can not say. The reason I am putting this here is because I am in it. lol Not for long, but I still made it on the news. :D

What we are doing in this video is trimming our goats for the show. This way the judge can see the goat and nothing else, thus giving you a true view of the goat. And the judge can then tell weather the goat really has a good body and capacity.

It's a very messy job and time consuming. And most times you want it done a week or two before the show, depending on the color of the animal. Sometimes the show sneaks up on you and you don't get the animal completely done or as nicely as you would want it to be and sometimes you just don't get it done at all. :- S

I was not showing any of our animals, due to the fact that the deadline sneaked up on us, what with the dairy and all that has happened more then once in the past 6 months. But as you probably have already seen, I am trimming goats in this video. :D Who can pass up the chance of money? Even if you have to work hard for it and you do get dirty doing it? Well, I couldn't, I needed the money (rather wanted it). Plus, it was great to know that a goat breeder who has been in goats for years trusted me to do a good job trimming her animals for her. And I was glad to know I could help instead of just sitting there reading books. :)

Enjoy the thirty second video!