Big Game Hunter

I am thrilled that our second son, Peter, shot a large doe tonight. North Dakota has a youth season in September for 14-15 year olds. This was Peter's first hunt.

This was quite different from our older son Jonathan's first hunt. My husband Jim is not a hunter, and was not able to to coach Jonathan on how to take care of the deer after it was shot.


Our younger son Andrew reminded me tonight that Jonathan took much longer to dress his first deer since he had to read each step from a book. This time Jonathan was able to coach his younger brother on how to do things. What a blessing he was to Peter.


The deer had to be quartered and stored in our freezer, as tonight will be in the 50's and tomorrow the lower 80's.

I love watching the interactions of our four boys. They are definitely best friends, and our desire is for them to settle down and have families close by to each other, so they could continue to foster their close relationships.

Andrew's Jeep

Today is Andrew's 12th birthday! He was visiting with both Grandfathers on the phone today, and told them about his jeep that he made from two garden tractors. This is his creation:

Andrew also used parts from a very old snowmobile (lights and switches). I am constantly amazed at the boys' creativity when given time and junk to make something useful.

We haven't downloaded any photos of the big day yet, and hopefully I can post something about Andrew tomorrow.

Our Newest Addition

There's been a lot happening on our farmstead, but I first wanted to introduce you to our newest addition:

We haven't come up with a name yet, but she is a purebred Jersey cow. She is 11 months old, so it will be a while before we enjoy milk from her.

On Friday we received a call from her owner (friends of ours) to let us know they had just gotten a bull and wanted us to pick up our cow as soon as possible, since she is too young to be bred. Another family that had a stock trailer we could use didn't get home until early Sat. morning, so by the time details were worked out it was close to 3:00 p.m. Jim, Jonathan and David drove the hour and a half down to get her, arriving back home close to midnight. While they were gone, Peter and Andrew diligently worked to install a makeshift fence for her until our fencing materials arrive this week. Needless to say, the fence didn't hold, and we were all afraid she would disappear into the state land adjacent to our property. One of the guys took the truck and stock trailer into the field where she was headed, and thankfully she made a beeline for the trailer. The first thing we need to do tomorrow is purchase a halter!

We are all working on making our cow feel comfortable around us, and hopefully she will soon adjust to her new home. She already likes our German Shepherd; the friends we purchased her from have one of our puppies, and she must be used to dogs.