Hannah Rakes

We were long overdue to put Hannah in the tractor with Daddy. It was time to rake our field this morning. They are still raking as I type this. As we get later in the season, they tend to rake a bit later in the day so Hannah was awake this time. Hannah got dressed and ate most of her breakfast before repeating obsessively, "I go in the tractor with Daddy." I threw both girls in the pickup and out to the field we went. I IMMEDIATELY took Hannah to Daddy in the tractor. Her mantra was getting a bit old! Helena and I stay at the wheel line mover and waited to move it out of they way of the tractor.


Hannah with Daddy in the rake.

Helena yawning and waiting patiently for me to move the wheel line.

We were originally only going to cut the alfalfa three times but last week the decision was made to cut it four times in hopes that the last two cuttings would be of a higher quality and more saleable. Right now the are raking third cutting. I should be irrigating it one more time and then fourth will be cut some time this fall.

The Kiddo Was Hungry

Helena had her first taste of food today. I only have Hannah to compare her to, but as far as I can tell she liked it. She ate it ALL! She opened her mouth when she saw the food coming and was excited to get it. I'm hoping this will help a problems she's been having with short naps and frequent waking at night. If she turned out to be a good eater that wouldn't break my heart either!


Hannah was feeling left out and decided she needed a bib too.

If you are wondering how Hannah's first food experience went click here.

My Little Hay Moving Crew

We were helping Daddy get some hay to the barn a few nights ago and I took these pictures of the girls.

So Far Behind!

I have been so busy that I haven't had time to take many pictures or make a post. I even started a few posts but they are completely irrelevant now that the cows haven't gotten out in the middle of the night for a good week, and my face is no longer swollen from getting smacked with a irrigation pipe. And the list goes on....

The girls and I were outside playing a few nights ago and I took some pictures, so here we go!

No, her hair is not this red in real life. It's just a little red.

I hope those long fingers belong to a future piano player. I love to listen but have never learned to play.

Who's that coming?

Daddy!!

Helena's Four Month Check-Up

Helena had her four month check-up today. She weighed in at 14 pounds 6 ounces and was 25.75 inches long. She's still hanging out in the 95th percentile for height and the 75th percentile for weight. She was overall very healthy. She even laughed at the doctor when he did her abdominal exam and "forgot" to cry when she got her first shot. This is a welcome change from all of the doctor visits I have endured with Hannah.

July Happenings...So Far

It has been my goal to get out and do more this summer. I think I'm succeeding at it and I've even been able to drag Ben along with us at times.

Here's Helena and I kayaking on Lake Ewauna.
My Mom, Hannah, Helena, Grandpa, Uncle, Aunt and cousins went for a day of kayaking on Orr Lake.

The view of Mt. Shasta from Orr Lake.

Daddy and Hannah fishing at Little Medicine Lake.

Helena sleeping at Medicine Lake.

Hannah scaring all the fish away at Medicine Lake.

Swimming with Uncle Jared and Cousin Waytt at Medicine Lake.

View from the south end of Surprise Valley (A.K.A God's Country)

Annie Lake where we spent an afternoon fishing.

Hannah sharing her Goldfish with her new friend Ty. These were the only fish to be had at the lake. The were jumping right in front of us but we couldn't catch them...frustrating!

After a Hard Day's Work

I guess we should try to teach her the proper way to care for her hat. A good start might be to wear it frontwards.

Who me? Work? It's my job to eat, sleep, make dirty diapers and give out as many smiles as I can.

Making "Horse"mallow Puffs with Mommy

I just figured out today that Hannah has been calling marshmallows, "horse"mallows. I guess it's all about what you know.

We made these marshmallow puffs today. Ours were definitely not photo worthy so there's no picture of the final product. A word of caution. Watch them very closely at the end. They apparently go perfectly white fluffy marshmallows to toasty little creatures in no time flat.

Here's Hannah smashing the biscuits flat. She started to treat it like play dough and squish them between her fingers. I had to do a bit of reshaping magic before we went on.


After dipping them in butter and rolling them in sugar and cinnamon she put a marshmallow in the center of each one.



I was planning to write about how I thought they were only OK and say that we may not make them again. However, it was a great little cooking project where Hannah could get involved, and I have eaten more than I care to tell you about. Hopefully Ben gets home soon to help eat them.

Feeling Introspective?

Here's a blog that I have been visiting lately for a number of reasons. If you are needing a change of pace you might check it out. We are super busy around here, so the best you are going to get out of me for a few days is this link. Enjoy!

This is Reverb

Alfalfa Field (Part 5)

Now that we are back to irrigating the field I thought I would share with you some of the pictures of what that involves.

This is where our water comes from. OK, that's kind of like saying milk comes from Safeway and not cows, but I think you know what I mean. Our water is delivered by a system that includes storage and delivery canals that was developed in the early 1900s. Virtually all of the farmed land in our area is irrigated either through the system in the link above or by wells.

In the bottom right hand corner of this picture is a head gate. The water flows through the head gate and then into a pipe to get under the road.

Next the water flows into the sump. That's the big shiny, round thing you see. It flows out of the sump and into the pumps. They are a dark blue-green color. We have two 50 hp pumps but only use one of them to irrigate the field right now. By the time the water has gotten to the pumps is has been screened or filtered four times. The water that comes down the ditch is nasty! It is filtered one more time before it is pushed out of the pump and into the reddish colored pipe in the background of the picture.

Here's the pipe up close. We call this the mainline. Right near the pump the mainline goes underground. The water is transported underground 1/4 mile down the field to a valve system that is 1/4 mile long.

I attach the wheel lines to the valves/risers and turn on the pumps. It takes me 5 1/2 days to run the wheel lines all the way across the field. I only had to run them across once before first cutting but I'm going to have to do it two times before we get to cut the hay again.

Hannah and Helena had their maiden voyage in the hay squeeze today...with MOMMY! Ben needed to go directly from raking hay to squeezing hay and had taken his pickup with him. We offered up our services and got his squeeze to him this morning. They weren't sure what to think of it but were very good riders.