Calving Update & a Hamburger Recipe

We have been really busy!! We are in full swing calving right now and of course the majority come in the middle of the night. We've been having upwards of 5 and 6 calves in the night. And even though we lose sleep and are tied to the farm for weeks...calving really is one of our favorite times of the year. I am feeling a little left out this year! Having a newborn and temperatures of -20 and -30 make it pretty much impossible to get out to the barn with the kids. I have got out to the barn two times with Whitley.

We've also been shipping grain. Our sunflowers are all gone, our canola is gone and most of our oats. Still one more load to go. Unfortunately it's that time of year that the big bills are due....

Other than that we have not been up to much. Just enjoying my kids and hibernating. And drinking lots of coffee of course!

Here is a recipe that we had for supper last night. I definitely went on the make again list!! Everyone loved it. The best part is it's a hamburger recipe and there's certainly no shortage of hamburger around here!

Barbecued Hamburgers

Hamburgers:
1.5 lb ground beef
2 eggs
1 cup oatmeal
salt/pepper
3 squirts Worcestershire sauce
Fry hamburgers.

Sauce:
1.5 cups ketchup
1.5 cups water
2 tbsp cornstarch
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp soya sauce
1.25 cups onions, diced

Combine cornstarch and water. Mix other ingredients and bring to a boil. Add cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil and pour over hamburgers in a casserole dish. Bake for ~ 45 minutes at 350. Serve with mashed potatoes. (or tater tots if your lazy like me)

These were SUPER yummy!! I don't really care for fried hamburgers...prefer them on the BBQ. But these were just delicious, you have to try them. I omitted the onions and I actually used 2 lb of burger. I also halved the recipe and put one half in the freezer for another day!

 My lifeline these days. Can hardly wait to get out on the verandah to drink it.

 Sunflowers leaving.

 7 weeks old here.

 Tummy time.

 All snuggled in <3

 Our basement is now 100% kid zone......it's so awesome for them to have this space now.

My farm kiddos!

Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!

Ashley

Our thank-you supper

 Last Saturday night we held a thank-you supper at our home to show our appreciation for everyone who helped us build our home.

 I need to write everyone's name down that was there yet but we fed about 60 people, including ourselves. We had some not come that we're planning on coming.

 My cake is three 14x14 cakes put together. There is two 9x13 cakes in each cake.

 We set it all up in our basement.

I know a lot of people thought I was crazy to cook for that many people but we just wanted to show how much we appreciate everyone's help. We cooked 30 pounds of roast beef, 14 pounds of meatballs, baked potatoes, mixed veggies, tossed and macaroni salad, buns and chocolate cake and ice cream. Along with numerous drinks, coffee, tea and punch! Now our home is even more special because of it!

Ashley

One year ago today...

A year ago today...

...we were putting the pine board up on the ceiling of our living room/kitchen...
...we were still staining pine board for the ceiling and trim....
...we had no kitchen in our house...
...we very little interior doors installed, stained or varnished...
...we had no flooring in the kitchen or living room or bathroom...
...our little girl was JUST learning to crawl...
http://canelson927.blogspot.ca/2013/03/look-who-is-9-months.html
...we did have our beautiful log railing installed in the entrance way already...

http://canelson927.blogspot.ca/2013/03/railing-pine-and-laminate.html

Crazy how much changes in a year!!!

Have a great evening!
Ashley

Slowly but surely...

Slowly but surely spring making an appearance. Although -21 overnight sure didn't feel like it. Our yard number was completely covered for quite awhile there, it's poking out again. I know there were some road signs that were pretty much buried in our municipality.

We are working on getting our basement ready for a big thank- you supper we are putting on for everyone who helped build our home. I'm cooking the whole thing myself! Really looking forward to it, it's in a couple weeks time.

Ashley

Drip, drip, drip...

A couple days ago we discovered that one of the south Windows in our living room was leaking. So my hubby squeezed through the little hole we left in the ceiling of my broom closet to see what the issue was. (the day before this happened, all the snow slid off our roof so we knew it couldn't be that) Low and behold, we have snow drifts in the attic..........yep! The ridgecap was never finished properly so I guess the snow is able to blow in there! And everytime we have an above zero day the snow melts. It quit after a day of dripping but it started again today. It's like plus six outside and oh so beautiful! It's the in between stage where the boys winter boots and clothes are soaking wet when they come in but still too cool for spring clothes and rubber boots. Blegh.

If I didn't have a house full of hooligans I'd be having coffee on my verandah.......................maybe this wknd? In between curling that is!

Ashley

Bit by bit!

Having my hubby home over the holidays has been great! We have our cold room insulated, gyprocked and the door on. And shelves for my canning done!! I was so glad to get all my jars off the floor. We plugged the heat duct and it's been staying at about plus 12-13 in there. Just perfect! We also have most of the outside walls of the bathroom in the basement gyprocked as well, hoping to get at least a toilet and a sink in it. Eventually it will have a shower and tub as well. We Will finish putting gyprock on all the basement walls and clean up all the misc garbage for now. Then at least the boys can go play downstairs and we can set up the extra couches.

Other than that and Christmas we are processing our big cow herd today.  It's -18 right now but with the wind it's been -30+ for days now. Supposed to be nice tomorrow but also a storm rolling in......surprise surprise!

Stay warm!
Ashley

Getting ready for winter

This past week I have had no internet due to my hubby trenching our water and sewer lines in. He had to disconnect it bc the line was in the way. So I been using my mediocre MTS signal. The day Corey started digging for the water trench he found the power line that comes from our pole to the house......needless to say we were out power for a couple hours. :( Had to call an electrician and we did not get water done that night. It had already froze on us once the night before. Anyways, our water and sewer are complete now. The trailer and porch are gone. I have a beautiful view!

Yesterday we brought more cows home. Fall cows w baby calves. Still have mares to come home from that pasture too, they were not keen on coming in yesterday morning in that raw wind.

Plus I got my lawn mower put away! And it's snowing here right now. Oh yes and it's Halloween this week!

Anyways, that's all for now. - O yes, I got new glasses, what do you think??
Ashley

Busy day ahead! - Updated

Cows coming home today, selling calves and there are supposed to be guys coming to move the house trailer at 9 am this morning. The kids are hanging with grandma so I can go help sort. I am already looking forward to my bed tonight...will post pictures tonight.

I started off the morning at 6 am by drinking coffee and digging out my winter woolies to keep my feet warm. I then proceeded to go outside while the kids were still sleeping to help my hubby finish getting the trailer ready to move. The movers showed up here shortly after nine and it was gone two hours later! The porch still remains, they are coming to get it in a week or two. 

After lunch I left the kids with Grandma and I headed out to help sort calves to sell. We ended the day with Chinese food and drinks. I'm absolutely beat and ready for bed. But so so so very happy to have the trailer gone! Hope you are all having a fantastic wknd.

Ashley

Less dirt! (hopefully)

We finally got a pad poured at our front door. We have been bringing ridiculous amounts of dirt in the house! I hope this cuts it down. It's actually called exposed aggregate because the rocks are all showing. And it's colored, kind of an Orange/ red color. It looks great, something my Hunny had never done before and he did a great job. (it's different than just pouring a plain old slab of cement) Anyways, this is the first house post in months lol. We still have lots to do. More insulation in ceiling, still battling plumbing leaks in basement, drywall in basement, landscaping, burying water and sewer lines(the trailer has to go in order to do this, it's sold, just waiting for it to be moved), furnace is not 100% hooked up right yet and no floor heat. The list is never ending! Anyways, have a great evening, it's beautiful out here on the veranda ;)

Ashley

August so far.

 My flowers. I have very few this year. Just one bed that has perennials.

 Loving his bike.

 Crop scouting is a family affair.

 Happy 1st Birthday to our nephew!

 His Mom and Dad made him a 'Moose' birthday cake bc his nickname is Moose.

 Playing around.

 Did a little photo shoot which was pretty much ridiculous bc 1. I forgot to put my SD card in my camera and 2. My camera died about 15 min later!!?? Grrrrrrrr.

 I did manage to get some cute ones though.

 Our cement patio is gone!

 Deck pulled away. We will be putting this on the North side of the house in the near future.

Grandpa is bombarded as per usual!