Waiting, waiting, waiting

Hey ho folks!

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. I haven't had too much to report so far - just waiting patiently (for the most part) for the thaw, for a few buds here and there (I'm jealous of the Portland crocuses!), to feel Thelonious wiggling around for the first time.

One very cool thing is that over the weekend while Chris' friend Pete was here, we skidded our very first tree with Gideon! He was very good, although a couple of times he spooked and took me skiing around the pasture. Other than that, he pulled that thing right along like a real trooper! I'll post some photos soon so you can see how smart my Belgian is.

Otherwise, besides the frustrations in relation to B & C's city jobs and the transportation hassle and that we miss them when they're in the cities (if you have any income-related ideas for us, we're all ears!), we're starting to settle in a bit, and I'm recovering from my winter remodeling burnout/morning sickness phase and am ready to get cracking again. One thing B and I recently did is to do some basement organization, and if you have seen our basement at any point in time in any phases of our move in, you know that this is a serious undertaking. It's not perfect yet, but at least it doesn't fall into the fire hazard category any more. We're working on getting a food pantry going with canned and dry goods organized and readily available, trying to forgo packaging as much as possible (a huge challenge) and working within a food budget. Next week we'll join the local food co-op - oh and I almost forgot - we're buying milk from Bill Beyrer now! Fresh from the morning's milking! I have to tell you, this milk is absolutely delicious, and makes the best yogurt in the WORLD. It's totally different from the beverage they call milk in the grocery store. Jay and I are pasturizing the milk at home, which is quite a process. We're looking into making cheese and butter along with other tasty dairy-related items. Very cool.

Ellis has become the BIGGEST HAM EVER. He giggles and gives me the googly eyes and grins and is pretty much hilarious in every way. He has gotten to be so much fun lately. In fact, B has had some trouble while feeding him lately because he is VERY BUSY flirting with whoever is in the room at the time. And the ceiling fan.

Alright, I think that's all the news from Lostview Farm that I can think of for now. The month of February is insane for Jay as he's playing in a musical. Tomorrow night for Valentine's Day, Mom and Dad are coming out and we're all going to one of Jay's gigs - a buffet/dance in Chippewa Falls. Our good friend Erick comes out tomorrow as well and I'm sure more progress will be made on the room in the garage. Then we go to a fundraiser spaghetti dinner at Colfax High on Thursday. One very exciting thing to report: Jay and I are going to Florida for spring break! We found insanely cheap tickets and hotel room online on the beach in the Tampa area, so we're going! I don't think we've had a real vacation since our trip to Europe in 2002. Hooray!

Love and woodland trillium carpets to all!

Charis