I thought we could use this to tell what we have been up to during the month. Feel free to update everyone on your activities. I spent the day yesterday at the doctor's. My son fell off of his pony and broke his arm.. He is in a lot of pain but with the cast on he is feeling better. I kept him home from school today so he can get used to it, he says it is so heavy it must weigh 30 pounds! He is 8 and can be a little dramatic!!

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), October 02, 2001

Answers

This week my little girl has been sick with viral tonsilitis, her fever went up to 104.7 and that was after I'd bathed her off in the tub, our family doc was gone so the office told me to take her to the E.R., we did, no strep, so no antibiotics (thank goodness), but did get cream phenegren for the nausea her sinus drainage was causing. She had a recheck today with family doc and she looks real good. It was a tough go, fever for 5 days, but she got over it without a secondary infection, so no antibiotics! Dh has been trying to use up all this old privacy fencing wood he's collected, he's built porch swings, wishing wells, a bus stop shed, which is really cute! I've still got peas so I've been picking those, shopping the garage sales, goodwill etc. thinking up ideas for the holidays, getting ready for a craft show. Thats all

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), October 04, 2001.

The barn is coming along great now and the kids like riding their biks/trikes in it. Ben (4 1/2) likes nothing better than helpin' daddy bring in the wood or work on the barn. The free range turkeys have turned the tables on the dog and the kids..they are now the chassees rather than the chasers!! Payback from the gobblers! Its Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada this weekend. Blessings to you all.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 04, 2001.

We're on fall break this week-my kids are out of school, and my husband has a long weekend. I wish I had some of that lumber you were talking about Carol-my crew is wanting to build a tree house, but we really can't afford to buy any lumber...I'll put my mind to that and see what comes up. We had our last swim of the year-I thought that since it has been warm this week, the pond wound be warm-no way!!! It was freezing! We've been doing a lot of Getting ready for winter type things-I'm trying to find places for all the porch plants, mulching up the garden,trying to be outside as much as possable before it gets cold. Checking to see who needs boots this year, and seeing how my yarn supply is doing-getting ready to knit those mittens! I wish a speedy recovery to all who have broken bones and fevers!

-- Kelly in Ky (ksaderholm@yahoo.com), October 04, 2001.

Supposed to snow tonight so picked a bucket of tomatoes and summer squash. Playing hooky f/school tomorrow (I Teach) to sew together a quilt. I can already imagine how fun it will be sewing with the wood stove going. LOVE this country life...even after 24 years!!

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), October 04, 2001.

My sweetie has taken this week off, and it has been great!! Getting the barn started, making plans for the greenhouse, mulching and composting the garden. Sitting by the hen house watching hens and dreaming of 'stuff'. Butchered out the biggest turkeys and smoked a couple. Finished canning the applesauce, made dog food and canned it, did some quilting and thinking of new quilts to design. Visited the Lave River Cave with the youngest kids and had a marvelously fun time there! (did you know that if you chew, with your mouth open, wintergreen lifesavers in the pitch dark, that sparks come out of your mouth!!) Fall has arrived here, and the aspens are a flaming golden yellow backdrop to the dark pines and junipers. Cutting firewood, and watching the elk and antelope in the early morning hours from our front window. Life is good. God is Awesome and He loves you. In His Grace, Sissy

-- Sissy Sylvester-Barth (iblong2Him@ilovejesus.net), October 05, 2001.

This week I have been trying to get the garden finished. I still have tomatoes on the south side of the house; the main garden on the north side of the yard froze about three weeks ago. We have been moving the chicken tractor across the main garden to clean it up and I have been turning the soil under as we go. My husband learned to kill a chicken this week; we have 14 cockerels left to go. Tomorrow I need to sort out the homeschool stuff; we start on Tuesday. Saturday I will bake a dozen pies for our annual Canadian Thanksgiving get-together. There will be 30-35 people gathered at a really nice provincial park for an outdoor feast of turkey and all the traditional fixings. My daughter (age 9) was out in the garage today getting her fishing pole ready. We leave early Monday morning for the three hour drive to the park where we will meet 3 or 4 other families.

I have finished canning, all but the tomatoes. I didn't get as much pumpkin as I had hoped this year, so I am thinking of getting a few small Halloween leftovers cheap to fill in with. When digging the garden the other day, I turned my back somehow and have been taking it easy yesterday and today. I spent the time going over plans for next year's gardens and looking over plans for winterizing shelters for the two rabbits and 14 chickens we're keeping.

The work never stops, it just keeps changing. There are slippers to knit, quilts to finish, dresses to sew, mending to catch up on, cupboards to clean out, school to start, and the never-ending laundry to keep up with. I think what I'd really like to do is take a long walk in the woods to breathe and relax.

My two oldest boys walked back to the tracks today and saw something they'd never seen before: a long train load of army tanks, jeeps, and red cross vehicles. They were pretty sober when they came home.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 05, 2001.

Cathy, I'm tired just reading about ya! I lost alot of my drive in the last month or two. Partly I think due to being sick for so long. Now I just can't seem to get my butt in gear or get organised enough to jump back into the swing. I was asked to co-facilitate a Mother Goose group and said sure but when I stopped and thought about it I just had to cancel. Between the house, the kids, and the on going animal stuff etc I just feel like I am losing more ground than gaining and haven't the energy to pick myself up. Does anyone else feel up to their necks and starting to go under? Do you think its just a seasonal thing? sigh..Sorry to whine but I don't have a lot of country moms to confide in/ get advice from, and my townie family always blames it on the life I have chosen (animals etc). I have tons of material to work on quilts this winter and would like to do some once a month cooking to take some of the day to day pressure off. My hat goes off to you all.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 05, 2001.

I'm glad so many are posting! I feel like I could be best friends with all of you. Cathy I know what you mean about the work! It just keeps going and going... I'm looking forward to a day of being bored. I think summertime is a very busy one Alison and we all start to feel a little overwhelmed. Seems like life has a little slower pace in late fall and winter. Except carrying firewood of course. We are busy everyday, but we try to make Sunday a day of rest and fun. this seems to help re-charge our batteries so to speak. Also my kids help out tremendously. If you give them each, one or two little jobs to do, it seems like a lot gets done in a hurry. Even very small children can be taught to contribute to the good of the family.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), October 05, 2001.

Alison, for about the first 13 years of my marriage I had been almost constantly either pregnant or nursing. After my last pregnancy I felt like you described: feebly scratching and clawing in a vain attempt to keep from going under. I was sick a lot and still trying to garden and homeschool. It has only been in the last year that I have started getting some of my "pre-children" energy back. Even still, I struggle; I suffered an early miscarriage in July and then got sick right away after that. What helps me is my children do a lot. They take turns cooking and cleaning; my 9yo daughter can do supper almost all by herself if I just tell her what to fix. (Doubling recipes correctly has really helped her with fractions!) Every body has something to do, and all the chores are written on charts. They delight in seeing who can get their work done the fastest--usually. Sometimes they balk, but don't we all have times like that? I do try to stay busy, but I don't do it all.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 05, 2001.

Thanks Cathy,...good to know I am not alone. I have days where the energy is up and man I can get alot accomplished! Its great when that happenes. I talked to my sister and took and extra stress vitamin and the day is going much better now (floor swept, 2 rugs washed, vacuum unclogged and run over the carpet, 2 loads laundry done, and not going crazy from the kids racket :o) ). Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. A funny thing happened this week with black hen and her chicks. I threw them a handful of worms from the garden and one chick got away with one. It was so long the chick kept tripping on it and then another chick wanted some too and the chase was on!! I laughed so hard!! That little chick was trying to swallow the worm, run from the other chick and yet tripping on the darn worm too. Thank goodness we get some of these amazing things to brighten our lives up, eh? at the end of it the chick ate the whole worm and looked full to the busting point! ;o)

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 05, 2001.

his friends are going to love signing his cast.

-- melinda c.in (speciallady@countrylife.net), October 05, 2001.

Sorry!! I posted at the end of this but forgot to put my fake e-mail, if I use my real one it goes to the beginnig, so I will try to remember, so my answer to all of these posts is at the beginning. I will try to remember from now on.

-- Melissa (me@home.net), October 05, 2001.

Thanks Melissa for your encouragement. My day improved very much. Went and got some fence posts tonight. I am looking forward to curling up by the fire this winter. Wait a second! What am I saying? The boy's would never let me!! ROFL.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 05, 2001.

Alison: I am a fit forty mumble and I find that I have days with energy and days without. We call them sinking spells and we give in to them. Other days I am like Super woman--so they all balance out. I try to listen to my body. Take your vitamins, get a little exercise in that garden and things will work out fine.....

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 10, 2001.