Summer 2012

Ok, a number of months ago I spent hours trying to get into my blog. Nothing worked. This weekend I directed a new friend on Facebook (but actually a friend I've had for many years) to my old blog (this blog). Then since it was still "here", I decided to work on trying to get in again..............as from what I read from google blogs that this blog would disappear like in May. I have no clue what I did.............or how I did it....but I think maybe this post will appear!!!! AND my blog just might be back in business. We will see what happens. IF this works now all I need to do is figure out how to post pictures as I have a new computer & am totally lost with the picture issue. So let's see................

This blog

I am at a loss of exactly what to do. I am going to discontinue my amigo.net email address. That happens to be the name this blog is under.

I have gone in & tried to change it, but I'm told that I cannot change it as that is its "name". I think I changed my contact information.............will double check that. Anyway I don't know if I can continue to get into here once I cancel amigo or not...............

If anyone knows anything about this, please feel free to contact me at:

wcouzenssmith@gmail.com

I will keep trying to figure it out & see what I can do. Maybe I can get in here forever & the corgimom is my "login"...............??? BUT if I disappear at some point that's what happened & I will have to start all over (perish the thought).

November

November is the best and worst month. It is good because it is my birthday month. It is good because my sister and my daughter were born this month.

But there are many sad things about November.

Although my daughter didn't die until December 2nd, November still holds memories of her. She was born just before Thanksgiving & died just after.

My father died two days after Thanksgiving in 2005.

My husband died today, 11/18 in 2008.

My mother died 11/3, 3 days before my birthday in 2009.

But I do praise God that He is in all of this & He brings healing & love.

November might be sad............but it is good..........a month of Thanksgiving for what I do have, for where I have been and where He is leading me.

Cabin pictures

My bedroom.......................lots more pictures, but no need to post all of them.

Cabin pictures

Headed upstairs.........................

cabin pictures

Picture of the south side of the living room.

Cabin Pictures

Here is a picture of the Pellet Stove.

Fixing things around the Farm

August has been an interesting month. I had a friend ask if I needed a "hired man" around some. We had a email discussion about the possibility. My friend, Greg, has a full time job but wants to get back on the farm a little. I grew up with two of his Aunts & know the family pretty well. Greg sold Dennis most all of his farm equipment.

It has been working out well so far. I'm getting caught up. Willie is helping Greg and Greg can give Willie guidance, direction & work well. Greg has helped re-stack some hay & then load hay that I sold on the trailer. He has helped work on removing much of the metal fencing and putting portions back up. He has helped with Dennis' raised beds in his garden. When Dennis put the raised beds in, he put down the wrong kind of barrier in the rows where you walk. Grass has been awful & continually we have had to dig out the grass to use the garden. This year it was too much for me to even start to deal with. The raised beds were full of grass, thistle, & white top. The raised beds are now gone. I'm working on killing the Canadian Thistle & getting rid of the grass. We will see where things go from here as far as a garden next year.

Greg has been a tremendous help with the physical things. He is also pretty good working with Willie (when Willie works). It actually makes me feel like I have accomplished some major items this August. I'm still working on spraying for thistle. We did not do this in the past due to the sensitivity of the alpacas to various poisons. But now I really need to work on getting rid of the stuff. It is awful.

I've about sold all the first cutting from my hay. My cabin is almost done up at Hermit Lakes. So far so good!! I can smell fall in the air.

Fixing things around the house

Willie has been using my Grandfather & Grandmother's bedroom set. It was probably made in say the 30's or 40's. It is a nice set & he has been using it since we moved here. Well two days ago he broke a slat that goes below the box springs. Finally last night I did some measuring, how long a piece, how thick, how wide...........then out to my barn I go to see if I have a piece anywhere close to what is needed.

I could find no piece of wood 5/8 inches thick. This morning I ask Burlin (who does the watering & all the farming for me) a little about it. He said they probably don't even make wood that thickness any more & to go with 3/4 inches. Sure enough I had quite a few pieces that thick.

So we tore apart his bed. I made him measure what was needed. Then out to the shop we went. He had to measure how long & we used the saw to cut the wood. It was a bit wider than the old pieces, but with his weight gain, wide is good for support.

Now he has 4 nice big slats below his box springs & hopefully the bed will hold up a while longer. Now for other projects that need to be done!!

Cabin

The cabin is coming along very well. Here is a picture of the living room/dining room ceiling. Oh yes, I know that looking at a ceiling should be boring...........but I think it is beautiful.

Llama & Rabbits

On Saturday a friend came over to pick up Wilson, the llama. He wasn't real sure what he thought about everything, but did get in the trailer a whole lot easier than any of the alpacas did. I know he will be very happy where he is going as he will have a lot of new alpaca friends & a llama friend or two.

Yesterday I worked on the rabbits & their cages. They are cleaned up & ready to move out also. I decided that if I want to do rabbits again I know where I can get some. When Dennis wanted rabbits back in 2005 I said, fine, but they are yours..........I've done rabbits & do not want to do them again. Well, then I ended up with them. I've actually switched one out since he died. But they will go to a great home also. Hopefully that will happen on Friday.

That will leave the 3 corgis & my barn cat. I think I am enjoying downsizing..............it is in many ways a relief to have less to worry about.

Alpacas

Last Wednesday we took the alpacas to a place north of Flagstaff. The donor program is run by Christians. They will work with the alpacas & place them with the appropriate person or family. I am encouraged and impressed by what I saw there. It took 3 trailers to get them there and it was for sure a long trip. But it was accomplished. Very long & tiring 2 days.

I am missing them some & look for them still when I go out. I also find myself grieving again for Dennis. The alpacas were his in the sense of he is who wanted them, picked many of them & helped deliver some of the cria. He is the one that took the classes. I learned all I could on line, but he was more of the hands on.

In many ways I am sorry to see them gone, but in many other ways it is a relief to not have them any more. Very mixed feelings....................

A Cabin

One of the things that Dennis had on his "to do" list was to build a cabin at Hermit lakes. So I decided last fall that this would be the thing to do. The cabin will be finished in a month. I have found a friend at church who builds cabins & he is doing a wonderful job. I'm excited about being able to go away from home for more than 8 hours without finding someone to feed animals or whatever!!! This is the outside................................so so looking forward to it.

The Farm

As I stated in my previous post, the last 8 months have been something else. Due to all that has been going on and the economy I knew I needed to downsize with the alpacas. Then during shearing time I also had a broken ankle. Luckily not a serious break, but still broken & in a boot. I got hit in the jaw by one of the alpaca boys & decided that I seriously needed to make some changes. I have managed to find a place to donate the alpacas to & they will end up with people in the Navajo nation.

I have a special spot in my heart for the Navajo people due to my Aunt & Uncle being missionaries to them for many many years. So I feel good about this. They are still with me at this point, but hopefully we will be moving them in about 2 or 3 weeks. In many ways it will be a relief to have one less grouping to worry about & that ties me down. I will miss them though.

Time

Seems like time flies............it has been a truly crazy 8 months. I'll work on a couple of posts to catch things up.

Family life. Willie & I have been having quite a few issues. But we have discovered that Willie is now diagnosed as bipolar and that has truly been much of the issue. He still does not feel that he is. But his symptoms are much like bipolar 1. A psych nurse counselor that I went to see a while back indicated that due to his epilepsy and all the seizures he has had in the past.........some of the problem could be damage from those. So no matter the diagnosis, if the medication helps that is what we go with.

I am working toward getting Willie counseling & hopefully vocational rehab, then perhaps a job & a group home & onward to his own apartment. It is slow going, but some progress is being made. He is better than he was a year ago. So I would ask for your continued prayers in the upcoming months.

Busy Fall

What a busy month November has been. It isn't an easy month to begin with. I turned 60 this month. My mother died a year ago this month. Dennis died 2 years ago this month. My father died 5 years ago this month. Besides all the emotional stuff to deal with.............well I did get a fair amount accomplished.

The entire block that my parent's owned in Center is finally on the market. I managed to get everything cleaned up & ready to go. Mom & Dad's house has been on the market for about 3 months. I feel like I'm finally getting some progress done & a big weight off my shoulders. I still have much to do with Dennis estate............well, not the estate as such, but moreover items of his that I want to give to his children.

In the meantime, here on the farm, the second loafing shed is done. My barn has new electrical wiring. The fencing around the new sheds is done. My wood room has been cleaned up & rearranged and I have two more cords of wood ready to burn. Oh, I had a professional chimney sweep come & discovered problems with the chimney. They are now fixed. I have gotten a lot accomplished that needed to be done. I'm looking forward to December & a new year beyond that.

Felting Class

On Friday the 26th of Nov. we will start at 10 am (that gives Lois time enough to come over from Ignacio that morning) and do scarves. I only have two people signed up at this time due to scheduling conflicts, so I can add one or two more if we find more interested.

On Saturday the 27th of Nov. we will start at 9:30 am to do the vases. I have 3 people signed up to do vases. We could potentially add one more to this class if someone else shows interest.

Anyone else interested? Please email me. Felting is so much fun.

Fall

As I said in my previous post fall has been busy.

I've had the workers that made the loafing shed tear down another old one & put up another new one. I'm very happy with their work. So I ask them to do a lot of handyman jobs that have needed done, some for years. They are going to start on that next.

I'm having the barn rewired. There are pictures in a book about Monte Vista, of the barn supposedly taken in 1887, so it is old. The old wiring frightens me as I know the barn could burn very quickly. So another project.

The two big ones I need to work on are Dennis' items from his parents farm in Spokane. I need a list for Dennis' children and working on Mom & Dad's paperwork items. Those are both priorities. Helping Mom & then her death messed up me finishing up Dennis stuff. So I need to restart this.

The hay is put up & I 'm almost ready for winter!!

Rusty

September came & September went..................busy busy.

Rusty is adjusting well. He still sleeps in his crate at night & sleeps quietly. He KNOWS that this is what is expected of him. So far he has done well in the house. He & Jamie are crated during part of the day depending on what I'm doing, etc. He is getting along very well with both girls, which is great. He knows the "plan" of the day & what we do that he is involved with.

When I go out to feed the alpacas & rabbits all the corgis usually come along. He joins in well with eating some alpaca food and eating rabbit poop. He feels the rabbit item is a special treat. So far he doesn't seem interested in the cat, where as Jamie is chasing Princess every time she sets eyes on her.

Malen is slowing down, I can see it more and more. She is still my sweetheart and I love her dearly.

My Feral Cat

We had a cat adopt up last winter. After a period of time of seeing it around I finally started feeding it once a day along in the late Winter or early Spring. I figured if I fed it enough to keep it around then the mouse population would be kept down. But I knew that sooner or later I needed to have it fixed so there would not be a large cat population....................................Usually I only see her in the evening but this morning I found her in the morning. She has always been somewhat friendly letting me pet her a little & purring .........so I had wondered if she was dumped. Who knows.

Anyway today I caught her & put her in a crate & took her to the vet so there would be no little kittens around. They had a lot of problems at the vet office today, so I got a call at 8:30 wondering if there was any chance that the cat had already been spayed.................. apparently I am going to pay for a spayed cat to be respayed...........!!! They could not find any suture line anywhere, but then again, as the vet said ............ if you do a good job there will not be a noticeable scar.!!! Poor kitty. (Poor $$$ me) : )