Paint Makes Everything New

Started painting the barn today and it felt great to feel like we are moving forward on getting it renovated. Its been a long time of tearing things out of the barn and we have a long way to go but I always go by the adage that "you can eat an elephant, it just takes one bite at a time". I still have a hell of a lot of bites to take out of that old barn but for today I feel great about building a business in that beautiful old barn. The light streams through the windows in the morning and it looks wonderful. I can imagine it all decorated for fall, music playing and people stopping by for a drink. WOW!

Living without the MAN on my back

You know what burns my ass, other than a three foot flame, being dependent on companies and government that have too much control over my decisions. Nothing would make me happier than to sail away or move to the mountains and drop off their radar so I don't have to have any contact with them. Not being able to do that at this time of my life, I will have to settle for trying to eliminate them one by one. Last year we bought an old multi fuel wood boiler that can run on oil if needed to heat our home. We are able to heat our house and our hot water with wood from our property and each season I need to cut, split and stack about 8 cords of wood. It's a good workout and will help me stay fit into old age since I don't really exercise. I love the giant wood boiler in our basement. It's a 30 year old Tarm 50, now called BioHeatUSA and the house has never been warmer. Both Suzanne and I enjoy going down stairs into the basement opening up the boiler door, seeing that orange glow of embers and throwing a few more logs on. Its a great feeling when everyone else is saying "no, not temperatures in the thirties tonight" and we say "I can't what for it to get cold so we can fire up the old Tarm". Our water is from our well, our heat is from our own trees and hard work, I can't wait to get solar panels and drop off the electric grid and say Good Bye to our electric company PECO. Go ahead raise your rates, I will choose not to use you, because I will make sure I have a choice!!!!! Two down and one to go!! The photo is of Sydney and I getting ready to load some wood into the basement. Since it was good and dry we made a game of it and tried to stack the wood as high as we could in the back of the truck. We're getting pretty good at it as you can see. Our dog Shadow, in the left of the photo, likes to run off with pieces that fall off the truck. I find them all over the yard with the lawn mower. Damn dog!!!!!

It Used to be a smokehouse now it is a better view

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Suzanne and I have been talking for years about taking down the old smokehouse that sits just out our front door. It has really no purpose for us other than to hide our trash cans and most of all it blocks our view out the big bay window that looks out into the yard and the grape vines when we are in the kitchen. So the other day Suzanne said I really wish that smokehouse was gone and I told that it would be gone at the end of the weekend!!!! So with sledge hammer in hand and a variety of other implements of destruction I went at that smokehouse like a man possessed!!!! By Sunday all that was left was the stone hearth that we wanted to keep and have re pointed. It was a nice place to burn some of the scrap that couldn't be recycled. Now the view is great out our kitchen window and my whole body hurts like hell. Bring on the Advil and a glass of wine!!  Moral of the story is stop talking and start working. You could eat an entire elephant if you wanted to, you just have to start with the first bite.

Ben's Birthday Present from his wife Suzanne

Its not only women that love expensive, hand made, one a kind gifts, imported from Sweden for their birthday. Men love these things also. My wife, who loves me, bought me such a gift. It is a Gransfors Bruks imported from Sweden. Made by the master forger Ulrick Nilsson himself. This hand forged double-bit axe was made by Gransfors Bruks of Sweden and they have been making them since 1902. They have a waiting list to get their axes hence the arrival of mine just after my birthday. Why would one want such a wonderful tool/peace of art you might ask?? Well, I like things simple and when felling a tree for firewood to heat our house I like to get a workout. They say fire wood warms you twice, once when you cut it and once when you burn it. I say it warms you five times, when you cut it, when you split it, when you stack it, when you move it into the house and when you burn it. Not many things last a life time or two or three, but this axe will and I love it. Thank you for a wonderful birthday present Suzanne, Kass, Sydney, Erin and Jessica.

Everyone loves a bonfire

It was a Friday night and the girls were all happy and excited it was the weekend and what were we going to do???!!!!! Suzanne and I were really tired from the week and ready to just sit and relax. So I combined the two thoughts gathered up some old wood and we decided to have and bonfire and a glass of wine in the backyard. Everyone loves a fire. The kids were happy they got to roast marsh mellows and Suzanne and I were happy, we got to sit around the fire and relax. It was a great impromptu night!!

What your work gloves say about you

I was looking at my gloves the other day and thought "HHHHmmm" they say a lot. Like a persons clothing or their other belongings, things that we own say something about who we are. I think these gloves say I'm thrifty or cheap if you like, or maybe they say I hate to shop!!!

What's it mean??

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"Life is good when children sing their summer song of play and sleep deep from an exhausting day."

What's it mean?? Well it means that when children play so hard all day that they fall asleep in the craziest positions before they can even make it to their bedroom, hours before their bedtime. Two of them halfway on the couch and half off, one on the floor clutching a towel as a blanket and one on the spare bed. All of them still in their bathing suites.

Mom and I look around at the carnidge and smile knowing that we have some time to ourselves now. MMMMmmm Summer!

The 4-Fair and kids being kids without technology

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The important part of this entry is down a bit but I feel I need to set the stage.

Sydney and Erin just finished up their 4-H project of raising and showing their pigs. The project took three months and the pigs go from 65lbs to 250lbs and get judged at the local 4-H fair with all the other beef cattle, sheep and pigs. Getting the pigs on the truck to take them to the fair where they would be housed for the next two days was an ordeal. We really didn't have a great way of getting them on the truck. The plan was to back the pickup to a stone wall about the same height as our truck and walk the pigs from their pen onto the tailgate and into the truck. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong!! As soon as we let one of them out of their pen it took off running in circles, like a dog doing a little spaz run. After it calmed down we tried to lead it around the barn towards the truck feeding it Little Debbie snack cakes as a treat. Well we got it all the way around the barn and up to the truck when the pig looked into the back of the truck and wanted nothing to do with it, and did an about face taking off across the yard with me clamped to his back trying to stop him. It looked like one of those cartoons you watched as a kid. I learned an important lesson, you can't make a 250lbs pig do anything it doesn't want to do!!!! After a brief rest we used a few 2 x 4 foot pieces of plywood to herd the pig back to the truck. When he was just about to step or not step on the tailgate I rushed him from behind and hit him with my whole body like a linebacker hitting one of those blocking sleds on a football field and in the truck we landed!! One down one to go!! We decided to take the one we had over to the show and come back for the other one, so as to not push our luck trying to get another one in the truck and have the one in there get out when we opened the tailgate. Off to the show we go. At the show we just pushed him out of the truck and slid him down a ramp and into his pen he went. We took the other pig over the next morning.

The really great thing about the farm show is that once your there, your there all day. Picture a gym sized building with hundreds of animals, all in their pens and the kids are all taking care of them. Getting them food and water and bedding, cleaning out their pen, making sure they are cool and comfortable. They are not worrying about what they are wearing, or texting all their friends constantly, or talking on their phones, or playing computer games, of surfing Facebook. They are helping each other and playing tag and investigating all there is to see, using their imagination, just the way its been done for a long time.

Sydney in the show ring.

Water Beetles

Sometimes it can be hard to slow down and appreciate mother natures gifts to us, but this morning I was treated to a funny little water ballet by some water beetles in the creek behind our house. I was busy cutting the fields with the old Massey tractor that's about as old as me and trying to get it all done before I had to head to work, when I stopped by the creek to take a break. There I saw about ten little black water beetles flying across the surface and running in circles chasing each other. They seemed to float on the water. I watched them for a few minutes and was amazed at how they can live in the water like that. After a bit I was ready to get going again but the urgency of getting it all done before I left for work seemed to fade away and I really enjoyed the rest of my morning at home being out in the sun and cool breeze and the smell of fresh cut grass.

Everyone Loves Fireworks

Fireworks at the Morrison Funny Farm.

Don't need anything more, crying with joy!

"Life is good when children sing their summer song of play and sleep deep from an exhausting day."

Summer has Arrived at the Funny Farm

I can now say that summer has arrived at the Funny Farm. Tonight I was home cutting the grass after work and looking forward to jumping in the pool to cool off. The sounds of summer at our house were presenting themselves in force. The mower was going, little girls were running around making noises of joy that only they can make and Suzanne was cooking dinner to be brought out pool side. The best part was when it got dark out and we turned on the underwater pool light and the Christmas lights hanging on the fence around the pool. I sat there by the water listening to Sydney, Erin and Jessica romp around in the water like seals in the ocean. Diving and surfacing, looking for one another, pouncing on anyone that may have let their guard down and slipping away just as fast. Their little bodies sliding through the water effortlessly, moving like only children can move, like their bodies where as light as air, weightless in the water, and throwing shadows all around the pool bottom and the trees above. Then to add to the summer scene where the lighting bugs blinking through the air and the hundreds of spring peepers singing their love song. 

Life is good when children sing their summer song of play and sleep deep from an exhausting day. Now I must carry each one of them up to bed. A true labor of love, for each day they get heavier and trip harder but one no parent ever wants to not be able to perform.

Escape from Sowlcatraz

So I get a call from Kass on my way home from work asking how far away from home I am? I asked why and she said that mom needs me home right a way because the pigs broke out of their pen!  I still had half an hour to go so Suzanne was on her own. It takes a truly strong woman to take on four, hundred pounds or more pigs and three screaming kids in the rain and mud. Apparently the pigs were all over the place when she pulled in the driveway after work and they had no intention of going back into their pen or anywhere Suzanne and the girls wanted them to. In the end, Suzanne said the pigs got tired and decided to return to their pen all on their own. Moral of the story: over build everything and marry a strong woman! I have a strong one and yesterday was our twenty year anniversary.

Sometimes I feel like Noah

There is nothing as cute as a box of kittens. Friday night we were just settling down to relax by the pool when our daughter Kass had a text from one of her friends that they found a litter of kittens with no mommy around. I got that, come on Dad lets go save them look from her and off we went, with quick stop at McDonalds because, how can you save some helpless animals on an empty stomach. We drove to King of Prussia were her friends had the kittens in a box. One had already died and the four left were very cold and hungry. They still had their umbilical cords attached. A women there took one and we took the other three. We have been bottle feeding them for the last few days every four hours.
On another note I found a Jefferson's Salamander near the pig pen. I have never found one before and understand they can grow to about 6 inches or so. Very cool. 

Jefferson’s Salamander

Scientific Name: Ambystoma jeffersonianum

Size: 4.75-8.25 inches (12.1-21 cm) in length

PA Status: Species of special concern

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Another beautiful day

There's nothing like a beautiful morning to make you feel good. I shot a few photos during this mornings wonderful light and thought I would pass them along. I guess you could say I took time to stop and smell the roses, but in this case is was grape vines and little kids and animals that I took time to appreciate. Look around you and be thankful for what you have, whatever it may be.

Don't let sucky people ruin your day

When you reach a certain age you feel you no longer need to take any crap from sucky people. Some times you run into people during your daily activities that just make you crazy, like the receptionist at the doctors office that gives you the sit down and I'll get to you when I'm ready speech, or the rude person at the checkout. Well, this is my take on those folks that ruin your day. First of all don't let them, second have fun with it. When I have the chance to encounter with one of these wonderful folks my first response would have been anger, but now I turn that into calm and deliberateness. If I am treated poorly or rude, my verbal response is two words, excuse me? I say it in a manner that has no implied tone or attitude. I say it as if I have not heard what the person assaulting me has said. Their response is often very interesting. Often they question their own attitude and recognize that they have been rude and didn't mean it and all seems a bit better with their next response. Sometimes they come back with the same type of rude behavior that prompted my initial comment. If that is the case then I have been given the green light to seek satisfaction in any way I desire. I am often content to just enjoy that fact that I have pointed out the rude behavior and be on my way, but if I feel the need to take it a little farther I deffinately tell their boss. He'll want to know this stuff. After an encounter I forget about it. 

Back to Growing Girls

You know the kids had a good day of playing hard when they fall asleep on the couch in the evening while watching one of their favorite shows. The weekend was beautiful and they played outside all day. How often do you hear that, "played outside all day." That's what we did when we were kids! That's what I try to do for my kids. We only came home when the fire horn uptown went off at 6:00 p.m., like it did every night. If the horn went off you got home fast because dinner was on the table and there was trouble if you were late. Anyway, the girls played all kinds of games outside, road bikes, played make believe that they were spies, hide and seek..., and the topper is, all while wearing their bathing suits. They think I don't see all the things their doing, because I'm cutting the grass or working on a project, but the fact is I'm watching them, wishing I was nine years old, and loving them for teaching me how to be young at heart. Thanks girls!

Rain, rain and more rain. About 1:30 last night Suzanne and I decided to fix the roof on the pigs barn because it was raining so hard. There we were putting the metal roofing on the barn in the poring rain while the pigs slept soundly, like nothing was going on. I hope we didn't bother them with all our antics on their roof. 

Learning the Ropes

Well, the pigs are much happier now that their sunburn has started to subside. Did you ever have a dog or a cat that does one of those spaz runs around the house or yard? That is exactly what pigs do when they feel good and get excited. One of our pigs, Tomacina (named after one of my friends, Tom Knarr) can be a real maniac around the barnyard.  She won't leave you alone when you go in the pen, nibbling at your feet and clothing. Trying to get your attention... Suzanne bought them some dog toys to play with since they seemed a bit bored. 

No one told me I would need to give shots

One of the pigs seemed not be feeling well. His back legs were giving out from under him as he walked. He was eating fine and otherwise doing well. I called our 4-H leader and he recommended giving him some shots of penicillin. Off to the store I went and came home to give a very uncooperative swine his shot. You would never know how fast one of those animals could move until you jab one with a big fat needle. Sixty pounds of rocket pig went across the pen with the needle and syringe still sticking out of him. I had to run after him and depress the syringe before he had another chance to take off. The next day he needed his second shot and this time Suzanne and I went at him with a two person approach. After some wrangling and herding into a proper spot, I grabbed his back legs and pulled them straight back so his belly was on the ground, he of course hated this and squealed like crazy,  and Suzanne poked him with the needle. All in all a good method. The next day another pig had the symptoms and I made some more calls. The funny thing is we now think all they have is a bad case of SUNBURN. Holy Crap!!!

Video of the 4-H pigs being picked up.

Here's a little video clip of the girls picking out their pigs for their 4-H project.

Pigs are here for a few days

The pigs have settled in nicely and I think they like their new digs. They have never been out of the barn where we bought them, but they new just what to do when we put them in their pen. They started digging up all the grass so they could lay in the cool dirt. We added some water to the dirt so they could stay cool in the mud. Like all babies they like to eat, play and sleep all day. I still have some work to do on their pen but that will come in time. We have a video of when we picked them out at the farm and I'll try to get that finished in the next couple of days, so stay tuned. 

The Pigs Arrive Tomorrow

OK, here we go. Saturday morning we go and pick up the pigs for the girls 4-H project. I think it will go like this, there will be a bunch of pigs at the farm we're going to and the girls can pick the four they want. They will weigh between 20 and 40 pounds each, so I think I can get them into two dog crates I'll put in the back of the truck. Their pen is about 3/4 done. I just need to finish up the walls and hook up the water supply. I'll do the electric and paint down the road. I'll shoot some video of the pick tomorrow and try to post it later in the day.

Kass's section on her daddy's blog

Just got home and dads quietly sitting on the computer checking his blog. The girls and mom are finishing up the night with stories and tucking in for bed. I noticed I was not on the blog so I decided to embellish this Internet diary with words of wisdom from a 17 year old point of view. They key to living well is indeed being at peace with yourself however, it takes many trial and error efforts to make this happen. Some roads are more happily walked upon then others. Tonight, for example, was an easy night to be at peace with myself and I truly believe it is because I have been raised with the thought to do so. My Daddy and Momma are two very smart people that direct us, as daughters, in the right direction but with enough freedom that we are able to learn from the mistakes that we've gotten into. They aren't too strict and are not too lose and it makes just the right concoction that is able to turn out 4 amazing girlies. 

love you papa,

xo Kass

Hog feeder arrived today

The hog feeder I ordered arrived today, and of course it needed to be assembled. I spent all morning putting the thing together. Who would think you would need so many darn nuts and bolts for a hog feeder. Was like Christmas eve and I had to assemble the kids toys!!! Any way it came out nice and I didn't have too many extra parts.

Getting Ready for Pigs

We ordered our four pigs and they should be here by the end of April. They will weigh between 20 and 40 lbs when they arrive and be sold at the 4-H fair in August weighing about 250 lbs. I pent most of Saturday cleaning out an area next to our barn that used to hold animals and building a roof. I was thilled to find that for once something was done right on this farm. Under about half a foot of leaves and dirt was a concreate floor with a drain in it for waste water and general cleaning. We're off to a good start. I put up the roof and will finish it off next weekend. Two weeks until pigs arrive.

Raising Pigs and 4-H

Not like we don't have enough  to do in our daily lives, Suzanne and I have decided to raise four pigs and have Erin and Sydney participate in 4-H. We had thought about it last year while talking with some friends that do it in Montana and it sounded like a great idea. Then with all the projects already in motion in our life we had second thoughts. I had dismissed the idea until Suzanne came home from work one day and said she thought we should do it, even though it would be a huge amount of work. Why the second thoughts I said, and her response was interesting. She said she had had a conversation with a friend at work that was interested in finding a farm to live on and raise animals and gardens, but wasn't able to find anything they could afford or liked. Suzanne's rationing was that most people live in settings where they aren't allowed to have animals and that it would be a shame not to take advantage of our situation and it would be wonderful for the children. Hence the birth of this blog and our adventure into 4-H and raising four pigs. I hope you enjoy this story it should be interesting!

Living well

I think the key to living well is being at peace with yourself. My wife Suzanne, and I have never chosen the easy path it seems. I think mostly due to our lack, or mine, of thinking we should do what is expected of us. I rarely do what is expected of me and must have a conflict gene that goes into high gear when authority figures tell me what to do. That's another story. We got married in 1989 having no jobs, while we were still in college. Suzanne was 8 months pregnant when she graduated and was the only person I know to have her graduation gown almost fit as she excepted her diploma. Fast forward to 2009 and we are living on a farm we are rehabing and raising four girls.