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Archive for the ‘country’ Category

Today was the perfect day to have Game Day! With a huge winter storm outside that dumped over 1 1/2 feet of snow and the wind howling, the girls and I played three games, had a fire in wood stove, and enjoyed some popcorn.

For Game Day, we each picked one game to play. Uno Stacker was my choice since we never played it and it was a game we could play together. Basically, you build a tower of blocks based on what number/color the dice shows when you roll it.

Sometimes you roll it and it tells you to remove a block. That’s when it starts getting interesting because your goal is to keep the tower of blocks standing. You don’t want to be the person who pulls out the block that makes the tower tumble.

Olivia picked Connect 4. We played three rounds of the game which she enjoyed. I remember playing this game growing up, so it’s fun to be able to play it again as an adult with my daughter.

 Olivia ready to play Connect 4.

 Sophia picked Life. She now can be the “banker” for this game which gives her opportunities to practice math in a fun way. She’s learning about place values in the hundred-thousand and ten-thousand range, so playing Life is a great way to get experience adding and subtracting at that level.

Sophia and I played Life on Game Day.

Throughout the day, we checked on the horses, shoveled the snow, and filled the bird feeders. The girls made forts in the big drifts of snow.

Sophia and Olivia in one of the snow drifts.  This one completely covered Sophia’s thighs.  Olivia got stuck and couldn’t move forward.

Montague waited patiently for me until I was ready to go.  Then he joined Gretel and the girls near the barn.

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Storm Clouds
Originally uploaded by
Pictures by Ann

One of the reasons I like living in the country is the open space. This is the view looking east one morning. There have been a series of storms recently.

On Monday, there was a severe storum, but most of it was south of here which was a relief. Watched the weather report until almost 11 p.m. due to the threat of a tornado and high winds. Ended up getting a lot of lightening and thunder, and some rain.

This storm was all rain – things are definitely green around here now. The corn across the street is well over six feet high. The trees are loaded with plums, pears, cherries, and apples now. Days filled with canning and preserving the summer fruit is right around the corner.

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Finally…a horse that is Olivia’s size. Adopted Hoss on Sunday, July 19th. He will be coming to the farm as soon as the girls and I get the barn ready.

Hoss was rescued and taken into the care of the Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation. Adopted him from MHARF.

He stands 31″ at the withers…so he’s very small. He’s calm, stood patiently while he was groomed, let Olivia lead him on a walk with no problems.

His body has been shaved because his coat was pretty heavy and the weather was hot. His normal color on his body looks more like his face.

Because he is young and healthy, Olivia can do obstacle courses, jumping, and other activities with Hoss. From a homeschooling perspective, this is great for phy ed as well as learning about responsibility and caring for an animal.

She’s eager to start doing chores, she said. Already on Monday morning, she asked twice about when she can start working in the barn to get it ready for Hoss.

Also would like to see if Hoss may be good for visiting nursing homes and seniors who have memory loss issues, like Alzheimer’s Disease. Have seen this done in other states, but nothing like this exists in Minnesota (to my knowledge). He certainly has the perfect temperment/personality for it.

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One thing I love about living in the country is the sunrises and sunsets. This one was just so blue. It was so different from the other vivid oranges, yellows, and reds that I commonly see.

This view is looking west…so actually the sun is rising behind me.

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