TOUCHING BASE

Thought I would touch base and let you all know what has been going on. It is planting time at our house right now. So the guys are busy in the fields. Until that is done everything else is on the back burner. Tuesday I went and got 4 new calves from a local farmer to add to the herd. The moms and baby's are out on pasture it is so fun watching the babies play. I love this time of year seeing everything bring new life. Yesterday was a whirlwind of a day started out at 4:00 a.m. as usual. I will give you a little diary of what went on yesterday. Started out with doing chores then in to do three loads of laundry and get it hung on the line to dry. Then get the spot ready where we are going to put the chicks I will be picking up later. Off to town with hubby to take cows to the auction and go pick up a check. Home for about an hour then to the auction to watch our cows sell and pick up our check. Then we head to farm bureau to get sweet corn seed, lettuce and pumpkin seed. Yes it is time to start planting the garden also. My husband always plants our sweet corn with the corn planter which is so nice. On to the farm store to get lights feed and a water er for chicks. To the mans house where I'm picking up a hundred chicks. Get them all caught head home put them up. On to chores mind you the guys are in the field so it was up to me and the daughter to get all the chores done. She is so sweet she did all the milking and my side of the chores well I did the guys chores. Got all done with that in the house to have supper which Dad fixed for us sure glad I did not have that to do to. Little computer time then go pick up hubby from field on to the house for the night. Bed finally about 10:00. So hoping today will slow down a little. Well that is what has been going on around here. Hope you are all doing good. Leave me a comment and let me know what has been going on around your home. Have a great day. God bless Rebekah

NEW BABY CALVES

So sorry I have not been posting but I have just been so busy. Here is a few pictures of our two new heifer calves that were born yesterday. We have three heifers now. One bull came premature lost him. Then we had a heifer try and calve it was a bull he was humongous she could not have him so we lost that one. We still have seven left to calve. The kids are hoping at least for a couple bulls for their 4-H calves. We also have baby pigs but not been able to get pictures yet. We got a new stock trailer and hay mower which we really needed. I should rephrase that they are not new but new to us. Around the farm there has just been alot of cleaning up, hauling manure and now getting ready to put crops in. I don't know if I'm ready for summer but here it comes ready or not. Well I think for now you are up to date. Have a great night and God bless. Rebekah

FOXNews.com - Obama's Decision to Observe National Day of Prayer Privately Draws Public Criticism

FOXNews.com - Obama's Decision to Observe National Day of Prayer Privately Draws Public Criticism

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THANK YOU

Thank you Catherine your so sweet and such a blessing. Scroll down to the bottom to read my post. Computer messed up and I do not feel like redoing. Thanks

A big thank you to my blog friend. I was having a very stressful day today. When I arrived home there was a package on the table. I opened it there was this beautiful rooster towel and five bars of wonderful smelling soap. This just made my day so much better. So neat how the Lord uses people to lift others up when they are down. So this is a good example for us all when the Lord lays it on our heart to do something for someone better do it. We don't know how much it will bless them. Have a great night. Rebekah

NEW BABIES

A little up date on what has been going on around the farm. Yesterday we had another momma calve. She had it all by herself ya! The only problem now is she would not take the baby. So off to catch the mom so we could put her and the baby together. We tube fed the baby twice to get her going. Today they are together and the baby is sucking. Hopefully we can turn her and the other mom out in the pasture tomorrow. So ready to see cows out there grazing. The other mom and her calf are doing great. We also have six new baby pigs. They are doing great. I went and picked up a baby pig for payment from some friends for using our boar. Got some cows moved around yesterday. It was long overdue. They went through the fench twice before they realized da we have to stay in here. Today we went on our monthly visit to the nursing home. Then took the kids to a hands on museum. So much fun for them. Great place to learn, imagine and play. Well guess that keeps you up to date on the happenings of the farm. Have a good night. Rebekah The proud momma.

Here are the new baby goats. One boy and one girl. The girl stays mom is a real good milker.

Here is our momma who lost her baby. She how good she is with the baby we gave her. I love this cow she is so sweet.

Here is our sweet new baby. Believe me her mom is not sweet. She would kill us if she could. You would not know by her color but momma is all red with black tint.

LONG DAY ON THE FARM

Well to start off I went out to do chores this morning and found two new babies. I thought this mom goat was never going to kid. Then on to my husbands barn to get grain for night chores. I figured well I was over there I would walk back the lane and check on the brood cows. Most of them are getting ready to calf. So I seen one acting kinda funny and my husband went to check. Yep she tried to calf while we were in bed but could not. So we had to pull the calf he was already gone. Such a bummer especially because she showed no signs of being ready to calve. Unfortunately that is how farming goes it is not always this little fun fantasy world like some people want to make it look like. Farming is fun but also alot of hard work and disappointments. Anyways we had a little calf we just bought so we gave him to her and she took right to him. She loves him and has a baby after all her trauma. We had friends over for lunch and fellowship. Such a good time of relaxing and just enjoying friends. We did night chores and moved some cows around. Went back in the field to check cows tonight. Nobody looks like they are ready and I hope nobody goes while we are in bed. My husband and son have been working on the cleanup of the farm. Going good but a long ways to go. So there is my day in a nutshell. I'm tired and ready for bed. Have a good night. Rebekah

RE-MADE SOAP

Here is what me and my daughter did yesterday. We took some soap I made years ago and remade it. The balls we did are lavender scent rolled in lavender flowers smells so heavenly. The cupcake looking ones are pumpkin spice coffee. It was so fun and easy. I have even done this with the little pieces of soap you have leftover. Just save them till you have quite a few then grate them up. All you have to do for the molded ones is grate a pound of soap put in your pan add enough liquid to help it melt. Do this on high stir always or it will burn if not melting you need more liquid. It is o.k. if you have a few chunks. Once it is melted add scent if you want and put in molds. Put in the freezer for about an hour then pop out of mold. For liquid you can use herbal tea, coffee or just water.For the balls you grate a pond of soap , put in scent if you want then add enough liquid just so it sticks together. Shape into balls pack and roll as tight as you can. Do not add any other ingredient because it tends to make the balls crumble when dry. You can roll them in some pretty flowers crushed up if you like. Let both soaps which ever you do cure for 2 weeks. Go ahead and try so fun an fun to do with the kids. Have a great day. Rebekah

DON'T LET FREEDOM SLIP AWAY!

Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away

By: Kitty Werthmann
What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books.
I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote.. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.
In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.
Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn't want to work; there simply weren't any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily.
The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna , Linz , and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.
We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany , where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn't have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.
We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.
After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.
Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.
Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler's picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles," and had physical education.
Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.
My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun - no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.
Equal Rights Hits Home:
In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn't work, you didn't get a ration card, and if you didn't have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn't have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.
Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.
Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:
When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children.. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna . After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.
As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income . Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.
We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.
We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.
"Mercy Killing" Redefined:
In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.
As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.
The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
Next came gun registration.. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.
No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.
Totalitarianism didn't come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria . Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.
After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.
"It's true..those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.
America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away
"After America , There is No Place to Go"
Please forward this message to other voters who may not have it.

RAMBLINGS

Hello to all my blog friends and family. Kinda cold here in Michigan today. It is windy, dark and just yucky. Some sun by afternoon. Not much has been going on here. We got a metal dumpster the other day so we are going to start cleanup here on the farm. It is amazing how much junk can accumulate in 15 years. My husband has gone to dehorn 6 cows for a friend today. I will be visiting well he does the work. Then we he gets home the cleanup begins and alot of stuff to burn. I went with my son yesterday and did some stuff. It was nice being able to spend some time with him. My daughter has enjoyed this week. She was able to go play with friends and stay the night. She went to a hands on museum yesterday and had a great time. A nice surprise our friends where we went to dehorn for offered to bring their kids and come pick up metal to put in the dumpster. Praise the Lord it is just about full. How nice it is to have good friends. My husband still has one more week off work so they are headed off Saturday to an auction at a farmers house down the road. I also Watched a video on soap making today well at my friends. They made it look fun and easy so hoping to try my hand at it soon. Well guess that is all the rambling I have for today. Have a great day and God bless. Rebekah

GIVEAWAY AT GRANNY'S BEST

Hello everyone, Letting you know about a great giveaway. Brenda over at Granny's best is giving away a sampler box of her homemade cheese. She is looking for ideas for a logo to put on her cheese. Go on over to www.grannysbest.blogspot.com and give her some great ideas. Have a great day and God bless. Rebekah

GIVEAWAY AT DA BEAN SAYS

Go on over to www.dabeansays.blogspot.com they are giving away the cutest stuffed goat. Plus it is a good way to support a young person who writes a blog. So get going! Have a great day. Rebekah

HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY

Hello everyone yes tomorrow is Easter but it is really much more than that. Tomorrow is the day our Saviour resurrected from the dead so we could spend eternity with Him. I'm so glad Jesus died and rose again! My sins are forgiven and I will spend eternity with Him. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Matthew 28:6 My husband has two weeks off work so he is able to attend church with us tomorrow. We are not doing anything big tomorrow going to church and spending time together as a family. Hoping we can go out to eat therefore I won't have to cook. Took my daughter shopping for a new Easter dress today. This was always me and my moms tradition was to get a new dress. It is times like this I really miss my mom. Have a very Happy Easter and a good day. Rebekah