It became a family joke...

If you were to go into the girls room (the four of us share a room), and if you were moderately observant you might notice something that has produced smiles for others who have seen it...

On Megan's bed you would see a small, but thick book like this...

On Emily's bed you would see this ....

And on my bed you would see this!!

I'm seeing a pattern here... ;) And I'm afraid I'm at the bottom of this. On Monday, one of my alpacas went into labor, and I thought for sure that we were going to have a baby alpaca that day (alas, not yet). I get really jittery while waiting for my animals to give birth, so I wandered the house looking for a fictional book.

I rarely read fictional books, mostly because I'm always too busy reading non-fiction, but at this moment I needed something that would distract me. And a 'Lord of the Rings' book just happened to be laying about. It all went downhill from there.

I finished 'The Two Towers' in one day (waiting for that alpaca baby!), but the book cruelly leaves you hanging, so I was "forced" [wink] to get the last one and find out how it all ends.

It's hilarious when a family member walk into our room, and notices that all three of us are reading the same series. I think our favorite memory so far is of big brother Chris. He walks into our room and first notices Emily reading a book that should have been on his bookshelf. He said nothing and turned to go out, as he turned, he looked at Meg's bed and noticed 'The Hobbit', yet another one of his books. It wasn't until he saw that I TOO had one of his books on my bed that he started to laugh as he continued to go out. ;)

Have you ever tried those funny quizzes that tell you "what character you are most like"? I always get a kick out of those. The downside to doing these is that my sisters and I are SO alike that we all always come up as the same character. Hmm.. We tried the LOTR quiz... And couldn't stop laughing!!

Meg and I came out as Frodo (Emily laughed good and hard at that), but Em came out as Boromir!! Meg and I totally lost it. Fuming, Emily asked what was wrong with that. "Nothing at all!" We replied in between gasps, "But the contrast is so funny!" Oh well, she laughed too in the end. :)

None of us have seen the movie, and after reading the books, we decided that we don't want to see it. We'll just be old fashioned and stick with the books.

Okay, I'll cease my endless chatter here and go make some bread.

Toodle~pip and cheerio my readers! :D

~Caitlyn (aka, Frodo ;D)

Gone nuts... Not sure when I'll be back

Two years ago I told myself that I was done. I never wanted to go back. I tried to remember the bad memories, I tried to talk myself out of it, but time heals the wounds and I am nutty enough to try again.

Try what again?

Goats.

Yep. Goats.

Dairy goats.

Goats that will give me milk twice a day to sell to friends.

This whole crazy scheme (I admit it, I am the queen of crazy schemes and plots) started when we found out that baby Connor was not doing well at all on cow's milk, and it was getting very tiresome and expensive to keep on buying goat milk (at $6 per half gallon!). So we prayed about getting dairy goats again and began the search.

The Lord was good and provided two milking does that were in our price range. One was a 3/4 Nubian, 1/4 Oberhasli, 4 yo. doe named 'Capri', and the second was a purebred, registered Nubian named 'Ivy'. Both are giving 1/2 to 3/4 a gallon each, putting us at roughly a gallon a day, which is better than last time we had goats.

Dare I say that I am enjoying being a goatherd again? ;)

Below is a pic of Capri. I am tempted to hang a sign on our barn that says :"Beware of Goat." If you're not careful, this girlie will lick you to death! She's like a dog and is veeery nosey. You can almost hear her say, as you try and do chores,: "Watcha doin'? Is it fun? Can I do it? Would I think it's fun? Are you gonna' do it tomorrow? Can I do it tomorrow? Do the alpacas like it? Etc...

My Ivy girl. She's not much to look at, but she is an excellent milker. Giving 1/2 a gallon a day on her second freshening!! (Translate: Her second time to give birth) She too is very sweet tempered.

My alpacas have decided that goats are ghastly creatures that should glared at from afar. It's pretty funny watching them run away if a goat comes near them. ;)

Gone nuts.... But at least I'm enjoying myself... :)

Now to try and get an Emu, right? ;D

~Caitlyn

It takes talent....

It takes talent to perform a feat like this...

It also takes talent to make such a goofy face...

It takes more than talent to keep on trying to get those pesky voles....

It takes talent to earn yourself a cup of peppermint tea. (he won't drink it if there is sugar though! Only honey, and it has to be on a small plate.)

It takes talent to look like you're starving to death...

Or like you haven't a friend in the world....

And it definitely takes talent to be able to do ALL of that and still be a fantastic dog.

~Caity

Love my 'Pacas

If you think that you don't like alpacas, then you need to come meet my Mia. :)

~Caitlyn

Er, ahem... Surprise!

Uh-oh...

This doesn't sound good...

Okay, totally unexpected here...

I got a blog.

There! I said it!
I know, it's kinda out of the blue. By the way, this is Meg speaking, er, writing. To make a long story short,Cait happened by chance to go to our blog and was greeted not by the sight of her last post, but by a six page long article I'd copied about some humanitarian relief work in Afghanistan... Cait didn't bother to read it, but instead marched me down to the computer and said, "If you want to put weird, six page long speeches on a blog, do it on yours."
So, ah, here it is.http://wwwpatriotspen.blogspot.com/
So if you care to read my eccentric ramblings, articles about humanitarian efforts, and anything in between, welcome! It won't all be strictly patriotic themed, but that was the name that stuck and I liked it. :P Cait and I had actually been debating the idea of my branching out into my own blog-- especially after attempts on my part to post some "weird videos and boring articles". I guess I just passed up the idea because of doubts as to how often I would post, but I guess the decision was made for me. ;P

P.S.
Yes, I will put up the article again-on my own blog- if you care to try and read all of it.

~Megan

I knew it had to happen someday...

While out buying a desk today (gotta love Craigslist!) We were asked how many people were in our family. Mom replied nonchalantly: "Oh, there's only 10 of us."

The person's eyes got huge and said: "Ten of you! You have 8 children!! You're kind of like the Duggar family aren't you?"

Mom and I couldn't help but laugh. Methinks the Duggars are a weeeee bit bigger than us though.

And we all thought we were a small family.... ;D

~Caitlyn

I like this picture....

(picture courtesy of my dad)

~Caitlyn

WOOHOOO!! I'm a fan!

HURRAY!! My Baker Creek Heirloom tomato seeds sprouted!! (yes, I really am quite strange). And it only took four days! Yep, you read that right! Four days! 28 adorable little sprouts in my windowsill.... Nevermore will I flounder about with any other seed company, I'm quite happy with Baker Creek's quality. I've heard that Ed Hume's is really good, but believe it or not, I've never been able to get good results from mine. I guess Ed Humes' doesn't like me. :-/

And despite the rain and high winds we've been having, I managed to get our seed potatoes planted! :D

OH! AND, I got my herb seeds today! Can't wait to start planting those! :)

~Caitlyn

An attempt to finish the rest of our trip...

Did you really think I was finished with our trip? ;) If you don't want to hear anymore about it, you could always skip this post. ;D

Camano Island. I believe that's where I left off...

Here are some views that we had right outside our beach house:





On Sunday, our second day away from home, we mostly just hung out on Camano and explored the state parks and visited some shops. Being true-blue tourists ya' might say.

We saw the oddest looking shop while exploring. Even more odd was its name :Uff Da. :)


It appeared to be some sort of Swedish/dutch kind of place. Why it was in little Camano I have no idea. We parked in front of the store and sat, staring at it. "Who's gonna' go in first?" "I'll go in if you go in." "Well, if you go in I'll go in." "'Kay, we'll all go in together."

And with that, all 10 of us braved the little store. "Little" really is the best word to describe that place. Think "walk-in-closet" size, with oddities everywhere! We saved our laughs for when we were safely in the car and almost home.


Day 3: Seattle, WA.

My whole family loved Seattle. But I'm afraid that's where it stops. I have a phobia of cities, and Seattle was definitely a big city. :-/ We went to the Pacific Science center, saw the space needle, toured Pike's Place, battled traffic, and saw lots of new things.

I feel so boxed in, when in big cities. Everyone's hurrying, everything's loud. All I can think about is my quiet country home begging me to come back.

I used to think I liked to travel. I learned that I'm a home-body through and through. 100% country mouse. But my siblings absolutely loved the sights there and ask when we will visit again.

When we got home. All I wanted was some quiet. So Meg and I went to the shore at dusk and sat on a log. And listened to the silence..... It was beautiful. And it only got better. About five or ten minutes after being there, we were serenaded by one of my favorite noises: A small band of wolves howling from across the Sound. It sent shivers down my spine, but I loved it. The wolves finished their mournful ballad soon, leaving Meg and I once again listening to the lapping waves.

I was busy thinking about the wolves when suddenly, a big, black, moving object began coming towards Meg and I from the water! We heard a loud "Whuff!" and then a "Crack! Crack! Crack! It was a Sea Otter!! Soon there were more "Whuffs!" and more cracking. 'Twas a family of sea otters all surfacing from the depths and busily cracking their midnight snacks open. :) One of the Sea Otters actually came onto the shore to check Meg and I out! He was a huge, bewhiskered fellow, and after a few curious glances at us, he returned to his aquatic home.

All too soon, they left, so I pulled my trusty Ocarina (just about the only instrument I can play) and played a few tunes; but the silence of the evening drew my playing to a close....

Day 4: My favorite! Our visit to San Juan Island!

The ferry trip there took 45 minutes. Alas, 'twas the shortest 45 minutes in my life. Everything was so beautiful!

A view from our ferry seat.

Meg and I stayed outside pretty much the whole time. I didn't want to miss a single thing! A friendly Harbor seal even popped up from the water to say hello! :D

Forty-five minutes later, we pulled into San Juan Island. It was a pretty small place, and unfortunately we got there at three; all the shops closed at five! And our ferry didn't take us back until 7:30 p.m. :-/ But I dearly loved all the little shops, and the people there were so friendly!

When waiting for the ferry to come back, we went to a little cafe for some hot chocolate. It was an adorable place.

Inside there were people playing Chess matches, visiting, and there was a sign hanging up saying: "Come one come all! Saturday is music night! bring your instrument and play your favorite songs!"

I loved it. :)

Day 5: Time to leave. We left around 10 in the morn', and began our quest home. we stopped at a restaurant for lunch and to meet a friend of mom's who we hadn't seen in a few years. Then we just had to make a couple more stops. We went by 'Shipwrecked Beads', which is supposedly the largest bead store in America. It was HUGE! I was literally stunned by how many beads there were! Of course, I had to get some beads for some future skeins of yarn. ;)

The yellow is for a skein called 'Sunflower', pink for a valentines type theme, and the blue is for a silk skein that I've dreamed up. Any ideas what I'm going to call that one? Puget Sound. :)

Our last stop was to 'Cabela's', which if you don't know is a great, big, hunting place. The boys all had a blast. Meg, Em and I all went to see their bows, but they only had compounds, I prefer recurves.

We got home around 8 p.m., thoroughly exhausted. Our dog, Copper, went ballistic with joy when he saw us, and even my normally shy alpacas were rubbing against me! I guess they must like me at least a little. ;D

As much as I loved Puget Sound and San Juan, I am so glad to be home....

Thus ends my tale.

~Caitlyn