Elisabeth and Hannah

Here's a good way to start the blog. A beautiful picture of my 2 little girls.

Favorite Pictures of Hannah

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Hannah around her 1st birthday.

Pregnancy

I can't believe I will be 30 weeks along in a couple of days. In just 6 weeks I will have to have the bags packed and be in ready mode. I know the time will continue to go by quickly. Matthew is filleting tuna at the docks right now as he does for a few weeks each Summer. So, I take the girls out with me to the park, the store or stay home and enjoy them and do some baking and sewing. By the time Matthew is done, his father will be coming up in mid-September from San Diego. I haven't met him before but am looking forward to it. When he leaves I guess it will be time to get ready to have the baby.

Little Matthew is a sleeper. He sleeps a lot! I hope he has the wonderful sleeping habits of his sister Elisabeth. She can sleep through anything and sleep forever! Hannah on the other hand will wake at any little creak in the house. Anyways, I am looking forward to the experience of having a boy. I wonder what he will look like. I wonder if I will feel as much love towards him as my girls. I wonder if it will feel different looking at his little face while he's sleeping in my arms. I've already had a few different thoughts. A couple of months ago I had concern for this little one in my belly that he will have to bear the burdens in his own family one day. He will have to be the provider and decision maker on the big issues. I felt for him and he's not even born yet. Yes, we as women have different roles than men and that day I thought of how nice it is to be under a man and his protectiveness and as a provider, etc... I am blessed. I have much.

Preparations for the birth.... I'm already planning of course. Next month I will make some extra meals to freeze for Matthew and the girls while he is home alone. We have a close friend that may be able to watch the girls so Matthew can be in the delivery room with me. I'm so glad he LOVES to be there and be a part of it. He shared the birth story of Hannah many, many times. We ordered a cute crib/bedding set for little Matthew. I will take a picture when we get it. It's adorable and so boyish. Of course I have bought little boy clothes. It's funny how quick you see what you like and don't like for styles for a baby boy. We're not into the sports themes or popular characters but love the puppy dogs, trucks, cars... you know, all the boy stuff!

It's getting nice outside. Something that never happens here so I need to finish these last posts and head outside with the girls.

Hannah Movin Around

As you see, Hannah is starting to move around. Climbing, climbing, did I say climbing? I took this just yesterday. She will be 1 year old in 2 days. I can't believe it. I was so close to Elisabeth last year that I feared not loving the next child as much. My fears were just fears. I love her so very much. They are both so different but so loved. With her birthday coming up, I will have to update this blog sooner than my normal monthly post.

Sleepy Elisabeth

Here's Elisabeth sleepy and ready for bed. She looks so relaxed.

Hannah's Messy Face!

I don't recall what we were eating this night but just look at this face!!!

Elisabeth's Nightie

Here is a nightie I was in the process of making for Elisabeth. I had not hemmed the bottom or neckline or added the sleeves yet. But, she looked so very pretty in it being incomplete that I had to take a couple of pictures. She's wearing it right now. I took a simple, cotton dress that her grandmother from Texas sent us last year and disassembled it. I used it as the pattern and added a few inches to it. It was used so much from Elisabeth that I couldn't use it as a hand me down for Hannah so I thought I'd try and make a nightie out of it. It took an hour to take the dress apart with a seam ripper but I'm glad I did. Now I have the pattern in a ziplock bag for life to use as a dress or nightie. Now I'm in the process of making one for Hannah.
By the way... I got this comfy, knit fabric at Walmart for .99 a yard. Great deal!

We're into Eggs!

Here is a picture of our first egg. We got it on July 21st and we are already up to 28 a week! We gave some away already but now have a customer as well. Usually by 2:30 or so there are 3 eggs down there already. Add another 1 or 2 by 8:00 that evening.

The hens are not broody.... meaning, you won't find them laying on their eggs. We've seen them laying in their nest box many times but that is to lay an egg. So, it makes it easy on us to just go down, throw some bread out to them so they all come outside and go check for eggs. It's fun, I wish I had grown up like this. I can't wait for our children to gather eggs one day.

Now how do they look? How do they taste? The yolk is actually orange... how it's supposed to look. Yellow is aged. Being able to peel an egg easily after hard boiling it means it's a few weeks old because there is an air pocket in there from the membrane separating from the wall of the inner shell. So, it's really hard to peel our eggs. We will start storing some so we can have some hard boiled eggs though. We've had 2 eggs so far that were double yolkers. The eggs are HUGE when they have 2 yolks in them. They would make a great rich bread like a challah.

How do they taste? Wonderful! They actually have a flavor to them. They are delicious! The white is actually pretty firm so a fried egg sandwich isn't really flat as I am used to. They look so healthy too.

Some of Our Eggs

Here are some of our lovely eggs. I think they look pretty. We would like to buy some Maran chickens this spring. They produce a beautiful, dark chocolate brown egg.

Colorful Eggs

Here's some of the variety of colors of eggs we have. Matthew just picked these up out of the barn a week ago.

New Baby Chicks!

They aren't so new anymore as they are about a month old now. But, here they are! We're going to add them to our other bunch in about a month. We'll put them behind some chicken wire fencing for a few days to get used to one another. We just love getting the eggs and already have a customer. We have the land, barn and everything else so why not?

The following 3 posts were written by my husband Matthew.

The Finished Product

What we have here is one good tasty bird, cooked then carved. If you think you could never kill and clean and turkey don't worry this was my first time also. Everything will turn out just fine and you won't believe how good it tastes.

Killing, Bleeding, and Plucking

The first thing you want to do before you kill a turkey is to feed it only water for a day. The next is to go in to where you have the turkey, put a pair of thick leather gloves on and put some food in front of him. When he reaches for the food grab him by the legs from behind and pull him to the upside down position put him back to the ground put one knee on one of his wings (or it will smack the day lights out of you). Take the twine that you have at the ready and begin to wrap it around his legs tightly. Secure the turkey and hold him upside down as you carry him to the chopping block. He will be flapping his wings JUST HOLD ON!!! Get him to the chopping block and whack his head off with one good swing of the ax that you have leaned against the chopping block. Take notice I used a five pound double edged ax. By doing so you will eliminate the chances of a miss. I chop five cords of wood a year and can place an ax well into anything and when I chopped at the neck of the turkey he moved a bit, yet I still chopped the neck off ninety-five percent. If I was using a small ax, I may have missed or had to take one or two more swings.

The next thing that will happen is that the turkey will go nuts for about one minute. Just hold on to the legs and keep the neck about two inches away from the ground. This will help to keep the blood from getting all over you. When the turkey stops wiggling somewhat place it in the killing cone, go ahead and feel free to help him in there. He will bleed out for about three more minutes. Then dunk him in the bucket of water that you have prepared for him. (one-hundred and forty degrees works well) Turn on your your hot water and fill the tub two thirds the way up, put in about one two two gallons of boiling water to obtain the extra heat needed. Keep him in the tub for about one minute shushing him around so that the water gets to the skin in all the places it needs to get. Pull the turkey out of the bucket within one minute you don't want to cook it you just want to get the feathers lose. Begin plucking, it is so easy the feathers just came out in about thirty minutes I was done. I dumped out the hot water from the tub and placed cold water in it with some ice packs. I removed the guts and wind-pipe by enlarging the rear off the bird with a vertical cut about four inches long. I stuck my hand in and removed the whole mess with one swipe of the hand. You will feel the guts and lungs which are close to the rib cage just place your hand between them and the rib cage and use your hand as a knife. I then placed a cardboard box next to the turkey and threw the head, guts and feet in it with the feathers and just threw the whole thing in the burn barrel and was done with it.

How to dress a turkey

The first thing you need to dress a turkey is not a turkey. You need the proper tools; axe, dunking bucket, killing cone, twine, pliers, table and a source of running water. You may also want to use a torch to singe the back of the turkey to remove the quills or you may want to just go skinless.