A Day on The Winder Farm

Well, it has been a long time since I have used the blog, but maybe we will try to keep up with it again!  My grandma requested some pictures of the chickens as I described to her the daily chores I do to take care of the animals we have here on our little "farm."  So, here are some pictures and the chores we do each day, morning and evening, to keep the animals happy and fed. The job is much bigger in the winter, as we are keeping the horses and cows in pens and feeding them hay.

I start by letting the dogs out of their kennel to run and play while I feed. We have Spud and Lucy, they are brother and sister and we got them about two years apart. Lately, Coulton has liked to come with me and walk his dog Lucy. 

Then I check for eggs in the laying boxes and feed the chickens.  I have eight hens,  four from my first year keeping chickens and four from this last year. It took a while for them to get along together and all start laying, but I have kept a light in their coop and they are all laying well through the winter. I usually get 4-6 eggs per day. You will see i get green, light pink, and brown eggs from the different varieties of chickens I have.

Then I go to the hay and measure the right amount for the horses and cows. We have three horses, from left to right, Goldie, Jose, and Boots.  Boots is pregnant and due to have a foal in June. We can't wait! 

Then onto the cows, we have three cows and there heifers. The heifers are each almost a year old. They are all black angus crosses except Daisy, she is the dairy cow that was adopted after one of our cows lost her calf at birth and the one Camden showed at the fair last year.

After the cows and horses are fed, in the morning, it is time for water.  I fill the heated trough for the cows, break the ice in the trough for the horses, and if needed, fill the heated water bowls for the chickens and dogs, and the bowl in the barn for the cats. 

Lastly, I get some food for the dogs and put them away, feed the cats in the barn, clean out the litter boxes, and grab my egg basket and head back to the house! 

I truly love the time I spend taking care of the animals. We share the responsibilities as a family with the boys helping as often as possible and Calvin doing the same. I enjoy the wildlife sightings while I am outside, a fox, bald eagle, geese, herons, pheasants, and many others. I love the beautiful views of the snow-covered mountains, and the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. We are blessed to live where we do and to have the opportunity to raise and care for these animals. I am truly grateful for my life on the Winder farm.

Cowboy Coulton Turned 2!

On July 9th, we had a happy day celebrating Coulton's 2nd Birthday!  We had a yummy dinner of pasta, bread, and salad.  Camden picked out the Birthday hats for the party :)  

We decorated a chocolate cake with a cowboy hat and some boots.  We had it with some homemade rocky road and vanilla ice cream, yum!          

We invited our friends Doug and Denise over to celebrate with us (Denise is Judge Bybee's assistant).  It was fun to have them over and Denise brought the boys the cutest and softest blankets!

We had so much fun celebrating our cowboy's birthday.  Coulton got some toy cows and a nice cowboy shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Winder, his own rope, nice cards, presents from Grandma and Grandpa Eggett, and some fun toys from Camden.  We sure love our Coulton, he is growing up so quickly and developing his own personality.  Coulton is very helpful and a good listener.  He wears his boots and hat everywhere!  He is talking more and more.  He loves his big brother Camden.  Happy Birthday Coulton!

What we did in June...Part 2

In June, we played at lots of splash pads and parks...

We played with friends...

We held cute bunnies and went swimming at the Giles' house...

We drank milk from a coconut...

We picked vegetables from our garden...

We took swimming lessons...

We made some messes...

And cleaned up some messes...

We drove to Utah to look at houses for sale...

And bought 4 new tires in Beaver on our way home...we found out we had a flat tire and that the rest of our tires were almost completely worn out!  We were very grateful for this shop at the Chevron we stopped at!

June was a busy month!!

What we did in June...

At the beginning of June, we went to Fallon to attend Calvin's Uncle Ken's funeral.  Calvin had flown to Salt Lake the week before and was able to be at the hospital when he passed away.  We had really gotten to know Ken as a family in the last few years and we were all so sad to see him go.  We had been able to spend time with him and his wife Karen as we purchased our horses from them, visited them in Fallon, and even stayed with Ken as he received treatment in Salt Lake.  He had been in a lot of pain for a long time, and we know he is now in a better place where he no longer feels that pain and can see his loved ones again.    Two of his brothers died in their youth before he was born and I am sure it was a happy reunion.

While we were in Fallon, we visited some cows!  The picture above is the steer we named Russell.  Russell really likes watermelon.  We also took the boys to see a dairy.  We saw them milking the cows with their huge udders and then we visited the baby calves.

We also had to gather up our cows and calves to take them to a pasture that had some water.  We had put them out at the place we planned to keep them for the summer just a few weeks before, but the water in the ponds there had dried up and so they had no more water to drink.

Calvin and Boots...one cowboy, one horse, all ready to gather some cows.

Look closely, you can see the cows way out there on their way in.

Eventually, we got them all back to the panels we had set up (with two on foot and one on horseback-we needed more on horseback!) and separated the calves from the cows.  We had to load the calves separately so that they wouldn't get tromped on in the trailer.

After a few more hours, some truck breakdowns (yes, more than one truck broke down that day), we got the cows and calves to their new home that included some water to drink!  We were so happy to find a place for them to stay for the summer so that we didn't have to sell the cows.

Happy 5th Birthday Camden!

 

Camden was happy to be able to go to Fallon to celebrate his fifth birthday!  What a grown-up guy, I can't believe he is already 5!  He asked for a chocolate cake with a t-ball player and a baseball.  Here he is lighting his own candle!  For lunch, we had hot dogs, macaroni salad, watermelon, chips & dip, and homemade root beer.  The kids enjoyed playing with some water balloons!  We had cake and ice cream and opened presents.  Camden had lots of fun with a dinosaur excavation kit that we got for him!  He also got a white, snap-up, cowboy Sunday shirt that he asked for, his own pocket knife to learn to use, a new cowboy hat, some books, toy cows, a cowboy shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Winder, and some fun treats! 

 

 

He was also excited to open all kind of cards and packages when we got home!  Grandma Eggett sent water squirters, a shirt, and popsicle molds, Great-Aunt Gaydawn sent a book, Rich Great sent Rockwell stickers and a shirt, and Grammy and Grampy Eggett sent a card and some money for a treat!  Camden was happy!

 

 

Camden is a wonderful boy!  He has learned the names of all the letters in the alphabet and is working on sounds. He loves books and going to the library.  Some of his favorite books include The Berenstein Bears, Little Critter, Arthur, Clifford and Curious George.  He got an activity book for his birthday and was able to do the word searches!  He likes to draw and play games, including I Spy Go Fish, Cootie Game, and Spot It.  Camden loves to ride his bike and has learned to ride without training wheels this last year.  He enjoys going to the bike parks and riding on the ramps.  He also loves to go to any park to run, climb, play, and get wet at the splash pads.  Camden is a good boy in primary.  A month or so ago, he gave the talk and told the story of Joseph Smith all by himself!  Camden loves his brother Coulton.  He watches out for Coulton and enjoys playing with him.  He even helps Coulton say prayers at dinner time.  Camden has chores that he is responsible for every day, including feeding Spud and watering Boots.  He is a happy boy and we are so glad to have him as the oldest boy in our family.  We love you Camden!

Bike Park

Emily and I had a fun time yesterday taking the boys to the bike park near where Camden has been playing T-ball.  He has been wanting to go for a long time.  He absolutely loved it!  I can't believe how good he was!  Coulton had fun too!  Don't worry, next time I'll take his helmet too!

La Madre Springs-Red Rock Canyon

I know this is going to be out of order with all of the catching up I am working on, but I couldn't wait to try my blogger app on my new iPhone!  We had a fun family outing this past weekend (4/20) on a hike to La Madre Spring in Red Rock Canyon.  It was a beautiful day and we were happy to finally make it out to this fun part of the Las Vegas valley!
Camden enjoyed spotting the lizards sunning themselves on the rocks along the trail.  We tried (unsuccessfully) to catch some of them.

 

We all enjoyed getting out and giving our legs some exercise, including Spud!  Here was our cutie snack break.

Some of the views...

The last half-mile was a difficult one. We had to convince (pull) Camden to keep going to get to the rewarding end of the hike-the spring!

We were so happy to arrive and find that there really was a spring and some water way up in the desert canyon!  A small dam had been built by the previous owners of this property in the 1960's.  The Red Rock Canyon was designated as a National Conservation area in 2002 (from what I understand).  This spring is a water source for many animals, including big horn sheep.  We hope to go back to the canyon sometime to spot some!

Everyone enjoyed feeling the cool water!  The boys dipped their hats in to cool themselves off!

Spud had fun chasing rocks and sticks into the water, as long as he didn't have to swim to get them.

It was a great hike and so nice to get out and see the different scenery so close to our home!

There were wildflowers blooming all along the trail and even a few cacti.  The two flowers here are Indian Paintbrush and then you can see a few small pink flowers on the cactus. 

 

 

I hope you enjoy the first of many posts from my new phone!  This should make blogging a little easier!