- lets go fly a kite

- a family ride

One of the many beauties of educating our children at home:

For PE (physical education) we don’t send them out to an asphalt lot to play dodge-ball; instead our whole family heads to the local mountain bike park. In this case we went to Wapahani Trail which is only about 5 miles from our home. The park is maintained by the city of Bloomington and has a total of 9 miles of trail. Most of these trails are a little too much for a family ride, but there is a 0.6 mile loop around the lake/pond that is fairly mellow. The children thoroughly enjoyed their time of exercise although I am hoping we can get them to the point where they can ride more than 6 laps.

- home on the range

I have always said that it is a good thing any time I get paid to be around weapons or explosions.  A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of being the Range Safety Officer and Marksmanship Instructor for DET2, ELMACO while they were conducting their annual rifle qualifications at Camp Atterbury.  Good Stuff.

- hunting

I met a buddy and went turkey hunting for a couple hours this evening at another's buddy's farm.  We saw a couple hens, but no toms to shoot.  Oh well, a bad day hunting is better than a good day working.

- i gave in, big time

Well, as the title states; I gave in...  The Marine Corps motto is Semper Fidelis (Latin for Always Faithful) one of our "unofficial" mottos is Semper Gumby (always remain flexible and open to change).

Despite my consistent protests against them, I decided to go ahead and create a Twitter account and a Facebook page (you do need to have your own Titter/Facebook accounts).  Sometimes I tweet/post a few times each day about the simple things that I am doing around the farm and sometimes I won't post anything for several days.  Much like the blog, I hope that these additions will allow our family and friends to feel more connected and have a better idea of what we are doing.  Oh yeah, I also hope it will bring in a few customers and keep us connected with our existing customers.

What can I say?  I am a stubborn man, but I am not afraid to make changes when necessary.  I also have to admit that I am having a little fun with the new pages, I look forward to hearing from some of you via Twitter or FB.

- mowing the lawn

Last week, my son was tasked with mowing our lawn for the first time this season.  The grass growth pretty much shuts around October and starts up again around April.  He was glad for the break over the winter, but was also eager to get back to work.

When we moved to Indiana my son was given the responsibility of mowing and has thoroughly enjoyed it.  I also have to admit that I thoroughly enjoy watching him, the sense of pride he emanates is a reward in itself.

- grass or grass?

For those of you who happen to be lacking in street knowledge (not a bad thing), the first bag is full of Cannabis, Marijuana, Mary Jane, Mota, Grass etc… and it is not the tame low percentage THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) that Clinton smoked when he was younger; it is the modern version that is much more powerful, addictive, and destructive.

But I digress.  The only bags of grass I dealt with when I was “the man” were the ones I got off of the knucklehead parolees I stopped.  I never imagined I would be packing my own baggies of grass someday.  The only difference is that I packed my baggies full of the various grasses from my pastures.

I took numerous samples from our property and cut them into 2-3 inch pieces then mixed them up and stuffed them into a quart size bag.  After sitting in my freezer for a couple days, I mailed them off to Dairy One laboratory for a detailed analysis.  In the next few days, I should know the exact mineral, protein, etc… of our forage.

As previously stated, I never even thought I would own goats – let alone be testing my grass to ensure my goats stay healthy.  I love how my life has changed and am constantly excited about our new experiences.