She Shed

Last summer, Art got it in his head that he'd like to build me a little "she shed".  I'm not sure if y'all have heard of them, but it was a project that he wanted to tackle.  His purpose in converting this little shed for me was to give me a space of my own, where I can escape the hustle and bustle of homeschooling The Girls, working, and general life to get away - if even just for half an hour. 

We took an old shed that we had kicking around (the cutest one, I might add!).  I emptied it out....and let me tell you friends, it was FULL.  Of junk!  And not even good junk!  I think in it's former life it was used as some sort of workshop, so it smelled like oil, had pegboard hanging everywhere, and the floor was full of mouse dropping and dead bugs.  Yuck. 

There was an old desk, nasty dirty junk, and anything else you can imagine!

I kind of loved the pegboard, and thought about painting it white.... but alas, we took it out.

Here's the outside, before we did anything.  After we emptied it out, I put a fresh coat of pain (red, naturally!) on the outside, and we put new skids underneath, to be able to move it.

Here's the side, before we put in the windows.

Right after we painted the building, our dog went and rubbed up against the building.  When I saw him, I definitely did a double take, wondering where he was bleeding from....until I realized it was red paint!  The paint on him last for a good few weeks... poor guy.

We painted the inside of the shed white (of course!), to make it nice and bright.  Thankfully, Art was able to spray the paint, so it was a quick (and messy) job.

Art used old fence boards for the flooring and window trim, and he added a few old barn windows to let more natural light in.  The door was already a wonderful, chippy white, with glass on the top half, so that was great. 

After we moved the shed into place, Art built a deck on the outside, so we could sit and enjoy the view.  This shed is right close to my garden, so it's got a great view!

The most fun part of doing this shed, for me, was to decorate it.  I didn't buying anything for this shed, but rather, shopped my home and storage room for furnishing it.  The loveseat was given to us when we were first married.  It's not my taste, but I covered it with a drop cloth, and the loveseat looks great. 

I've furnished it with a cabinet, some old egg boxes, books, some antique quilts and lots of candles.

In the fall, Art also put an electric fireplace in here, so that I can enjoy the shed in some of the colder months as well.

All in all, this was a relatively quick project, and it really, really turned out well.  I'm thrilled with the results.

An Outhouse

Any of you who know us in real life know that my Man is a man who loves a project.  He loves being creative, and building things - especially something new made to look old. 

 

Over Christmas, he decided to get started on building an outhouse.  We have one here at the farm which is rotten and caving in, and it's close to the house.  We decided it would be nice to have an outhouse back in the farmyard, where it will most likely be more accessible and handy to use when we're outside. 

 

After a few hours here and there working on this beast, he finished it this past weekend.  Here's his masterpiece!

 

He built the outhouse in the shop, on skids, so over the years, it will be easy(ish) to move it if we need to.  I love the unique touches of an old shovel handle, bent and used as the handle, and old hinges and chain, used for the door.

 

He bought rough cut lumber, and did board and batten on the outside, which was help maintain privacy when the boards shrink due to cold weather and dry weather. 

 

We talked quite a bit about how to provide some light in the outhouse, so I picked up this battery operated lantern for the inside, as well as a solar powered light for the outside. 

I'm super happy with how this cute, little outhouse turned out!

A(nother) Dream Comes True!

 

 

 

 

Well, we had a(nother) first here on the farm this weekend, and let me tell you, it was awfully exciting for me.  Something we've dreamed about for years!  Let me set the stage....

 

On Saturday morning, we woke up to a crazy windstorm.  The weather network was saying there was wind up to 100 kms/hr. - it was really blowing!  Thankfully, it was also chinook-ing, so it was a warm wind.  However, still crazy.  So crazy, in fact, that it BLEW OVER our flagpole. 

 

 

 

I saw our flagpole laying on the ground, and after checking it out, realized that it had bent at the base.  That's how windy it was!  Wind like this is more common in Southern Alberta, but not up here, in bush country.

 

Anyhow, moving on... I woke up, and knew that we had one cow that's close to calving, and I thought I should go and close all the gates to make sure the cows couldn't get into the big pastures, but rather stay put in the smaller, more sheltered pens.  Of course they haven't gone into the pasture for months, but knowing them, and crazy weather, a person never knows.

 

Well, we got into our day, doing other things, and I promptly forgot to go and close the gates.  Naturally.  Mid-afternoon I remembered, and went to check the cows and realized that we had a cow missing.  Bah!  So off we trudged, in the wind and snow, to try and find the mama.  We looked until it was dark, with no such luck.  Of course.  I knew that she was old enough to know to find some shelter, so we tried to enjoy our evening with friends, knowing that come morning, we'd go and find her.

 

After a quick breakfast in the morning, and once it was fully light, all 6 of us headed out, starting at the far east corner of the farm, and moving slowly through the bush to try and find this stinking cow.

 

 

  After a few hours of walking, Art went back to the house to get the ranger and some snacks, and came to find us.  Abby happened to see some movement, deep in the slough, and sure enough, there's Mama!  The ranger scared her off, so we walked over to where she had been standing, and there, in the cover of trees, was a wee little calf.  We had been hearing the coyotes all morning, so I'm sure Mama was chasing them off, and thankfully, she managed to keep them at bay. 

 

 

With Mama gone, we bedded down to wait it out, knowing she'd come back to her baby, but Art ended up finding her (again!!), and let her into a smaller pasture with grain, and we loaded up baby in the calf sled and pulled her back to the pens. 

 

Through the deep snow.  Ugh.  It was a workout and a half! 

 

 

 

Once Mama saw baby, she got anxious, but we were able to get them to the cover of the calving shed, and they relaxed in the straw. 

Baby's doing really well, and after giving him his shots and tagging him, we've left them alone to recover from the exciting days.

 

 

 

We've been dreaming of the days when we start calving out our own cattle, and so it was really exciting that we have the first baby under our belt.  I felt like we got initiated this weekend, and let me tell ya, it felt really, really good!

 

 

 

What We've Been Up To

Of course, Christmas is over, it's the New Year, blah, blah, and I've run a little behind in this blogging business.  So, in no particular order, here's what we've been up to....

 

1.  Sledding.  Doing some serious redneck sledding!  The Girls have been begging us take pull them behind the Ranger.... with the weather being so mild, my Ranger even starts, so I have no excuse not to!!  Art said that it feels like driving a boat.  And The Girls have a blast.  So it's a good day!

 

 

2.  Cows.  We've finally started our own herd, and it's awfully exciting!  We're starting small, and have picked up a few here and a few there, but we're excited to start calving this spring!  Here's a few of our beauties.

 

 

3.  Chores.  With animals, comes chores.  Which we totally enjoy, and this beautiful winter gives us nothing to complain about.  We've been getting everything in order for when we start calving, which should be in the next few weeks. 

 

 

 

4.  Growth.  Both with The Girls and the dogs.  This beast is 7 months now, and weighs close to 70 lbs.  He's a big loveable lug.

 

5.  Family.  We've seen a bit of my folks over the last few months, and it's been nice!  With nice weather, we spent lots of time outside, even having dinner over the fire one night.  I like it! 

 

 

6.  Girls.  Always, always, Girls.  Our local UFA (how we love them!!) gave the girls some new toques.  Now we know we won't lose these girls in the bush, 'cuz there's not camouflaging them now!

 

5.  Outside.  With a new set of snowshoes, I've been enjoying getting out in the fields and enjoying the snow.  Something I've never tried before, snowshoeing has been a great way to get some exercise, outside in the sun!

 

 

I find, when I go to post on my blog, I often scroll through my Instagram feed to find pictures of what we've been doing.  You can follow me on instagram, my username is thegoerzengirls.  Then you'll know more of what we're up to around here! 

 

 

The Freezing-Ness of Fall

This time of year, I'm always freezing.  Free. zing!!  It's funny, because come spring, when the weather is like this, and we've survived another Alberta winter, we are outside in shorts and t-shirts.  But not in the fall.  No ma'am.  Right now, I wear 3 layers of clothes (in the house, let alone outside!), am cuddled up under a blanket, and still, my fingers are like ice cubes.  In this season, I have a couple of tricks to help combat the freezing-ness of fall. 

 

1.  Magic Bag.  The first, and most gratifying thing to keep the cold at bay, is, of course, my magic bag.  My hubs calls it my "woobie", because I'm like a baby with a special blanket.  I can be found curled up on the couch with it.  Once it cools down, I bribe one of my girls to warm it up for me again.  I'm not gonna lie, even the smell of my magic bag I love (except if it gets nuked for too long and the flax starts to burn....) 

 

2.  Slippers.  Always and forever.  My sister-in-law often crochets me slippers and gives them to me for Christmas, but by this time of year, those have long since worn out.  This year, I decided to treat myself to a new pair of moccasins.  I've always wanted some, and I decided that now was the time.  So I searched high and low until I found the perfect pair...

 

Truth be told, leaving the house is harder because it means that I have to take these bad boys off.  I do love them!

 

3.  Quilts.  Already mentioned above.... but they are worth the re-mention.  I have quilts scattered around the whole house, and I especially love my flannel quilts.  The other day, I found a hand made quilt and Goodwill for $20!  You better believe I snatched it up right quick.  You can never have too many...

 

4.  Heated blankets.  I have a heated blanket on our bed, and I am convinced that whoever invented such a thing was a woman who has survived a long winter on the prairies.  There's nothing like climbing into a nice, warm bed!

 

5.  Long underwear.  There's no reason to be ashamed....I've worn my long underwear many a times already this year.  My motto: Better safe than sorry!  I tell my Girls to put theirs on too, if we'll be outside for a long time.  It's better to be overdressed rather than underdressed!

 

5.  Mittens.  Forget the nice, "sophisticated" leather gloves.  Give me mitts any day of the week.  I  may or may not have 3 (or more!) pairs.... Lined, unlined... you name it.  I've got them.

 

6.  Girls.  Lots and lots of girls to cuddle with.  I've found 4 to be the best number for me, personally...  And I especially love these ones!

 

 

 

 

What's In a Name?

Meet George.  George the Giant. 

 

 

 

Think he'll grow into his name?  (Or his paws?)

Huh.

So the saying is true.... "Time marches on." 

 

And it does!  Kids get older.  I get older.  Life seems full - of good things, yes... but still full.

 

 

 

It's hard, sometimes, with girls at home all.  the.  time., to not wish it away...yearn for a quiet day (or two)....  to sit.  And just be.

 

 

 

 

 

Yet I know that it's full of good things, and I'll be sad and lonesome when that quiet day comes....

 

We've had a beautiful fall around here, and we've tried to enjoy every minute of it outside.  We've done lots of riding...

 

 

 

...and walking,

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and driving,

 

 

...and treasure hunting.

 

 

 

 

 

 And I'm thankful for this season.