Category Life in Lyman

Charcoal is our potbelly pig. He stands out now that we have snow covering the ground. I don’t think he is actually much of a fan of the cold as he spends most of his time buried beneath the heaps…

The rosy cheeks started last night with feelings of illness following shortly. After a long night, our second daughter missed a day of school and slept on the couch all day long. Now a cough has started and we are…

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch . . . I tried to ignore it but discovered that ignoring it wouldn’t make the reality of a mouse in the bedroom go away. The lights went on. I quietly stalked the scratching creature, but…

He is all white with soft pink eyes but there is nothing “soft” about Benjamin Bunny. Inch long claws have carved scars into the flesh of several family members. I use to laugh at the killer rabbit in Monty Python…

“I’m an orphan!” my youngest said to her friend proudly. “No your not!” “Yes I am! My mom and dad said so!”

We just stopped at my parents for a minute to pick up 2 children. Surely Pria would be OK in the front yard. As we planned to leave we called for her and she didn’t come. Then we heard the…

After 10 years the rope finally breaks and our swing, is now a sit. I am so glad it didn’t involve a visit to the emergency room. This is how it went down. Dad! Dad! We get a new swing.…

Bad grades in Algebra. How can that be? It can be because she reads all day. We had to ground her from books. It still didn’t work she kept reading in class. So Brenda set the plan into action. She…

As we left for our doctor’s appointment/wedding/family reunion last week I locked the front door and walked past our front flower bed on the way to the car. We have been getting compliments since the flowers started to bloom. I…

Goats can climb trees. I’ve heard about it, but now I’ve seen it. It makes sense, they climb mountains. Well, goats also like more than anything else, the one thing that is just out of reach. They climb and strain and struggle when…

When everyone comes home from camping trips they bring a mountain of work with them. I never knew we had so many clothes. I helped fold and fold and fold. Just when I thought we were making progress another mountain…

It’s not dead, just hypnotized. I can’t believe it myself. All it takes is a chicken, the ground, and a stick. Gently lay the chicken down on the ground. Draw an arch in the dirt around the head of the…

Two days before Halloween and the costumes are done. The kids wanted to be parrots and Brenda sewed long strips of material onto a sweatshirt to simulate feathers. The kids loved them and wore them all around the house. They…

My 12-year-old likes to draw dragons. Here is her favorite, Flower. Flower, is a nature dragon that breathes flowers.  After seeing the drawing, Brenda said she wishes that when she opens her mouth that flowers would come out, but that…

“What if everything in the world were pink?” said my five-year-old, Charlotte. “The Flowers, and grass, and trees, and clouds. Would you like that mom?” “No.” said Brenda.“Oh yeah,” she said, “Then boys wouldn’t like it.” I agree. As a…

Tooth number three came out yesterday morning. She is so excited about losing teeth that she really worked on this one and it still had a pretty good root attached. Now, you know the drill. Under the pillow, money in the…

I think we live in the children’s Garden of Eden. Every day there is something new to discover and scare your little sister with. My oldest daughter caught a snake today. It spent half an hour in a jar and produced…

Brenda was talking to the neighbor and he mentioned that he was stocking his pond (aka gravel pit) with fish and wondered if she wanted to buy some fish and fish food. And just like that, we are fish farmers.…

We have a great new neighbor. They moved in almost a year ago and remodeled an old shop into a dance studio and started teaching clogging lessons. It has been wonderful for all of the children. A big concert was…

Time flies, but should it? I guess that it depends on if it is made of gold, is connected to a chain, and is flying around your head. SMACK! right in the middle of her forehead. She didn’t cry as…

It rained, it poured and I found out that goats can scream. I thought that they usually made a fair amount of noise but they can make more. I was in the house and heard them. Whiteout was on a…

In “Life in Lyman” I choose flax as our national flower. Every day, fresh in the morning, the flax is in bloom dripping with dew. During the day the wind removes the petals and the sun bleaches the few that remain white.…

School is over and summer vacation started with a bang. No one really got hurt just a lot of mean words, even from me which won’t even remotely surprise some of you. We have a funny way of telling people…

The prayer of a five-year-old I’m thankful for that we need to be nice to each other and help one another. Please bless the roosters so that when we eat them we won’t get sick. Charlotte Anne The chickens came…

My wife Brenda has a farm e-i-e-i-o On her farm she has 10 chickens e-i-e-i-o One dog here and one goat there here a goat there a goat everywhere a drop of goat My wife Brenda has a farm e-i-e-i-o

After owning the pogo stick with his sisters for one day, the Boings totaled One thousand twenty non-stop, in a row, without stopping, Boings! I wonder what the record will be at the end of the summer.

There were attempts to milk Ginger. While I would have nothing to do with it, it was an interesting adventure for the three days that it happened. Day one: 1/2 cup milk, stepped in – we fed it to Whiteout. …

Ginger is our second goat. She is a Nigerian Dwarf and she likes to climb trees which can be dangerous if you are on a leash and fall out of the tree. Don’t worry, she is OK.  She is not…

“I don’t want “meat” rabbits at my house! Who would kill them? Would you kill them?” I asked my five-year-old daughter. “No.” she said. “I would take them to a slaughter house.” said my wife. “Oh, that is someone that…

My youngest daughter likes to cut hair. She use to scalp her sister’s stuffed animals, but that ended in weeping, whaling, and gnashing of teeth. It really was very traumatic. Her first “real” self-inflicted haircut resulted in her long golden curls…

I had a meeting in town, some lab work at the hospital, and a quick lunch on the way home. Upon arriving home I found the TV & Hammer on the front porch with a note saying, “ReBirthday Gift.” I…

It is my first-year rebirthday and it is a good and happy day for my family and a sad day for another family. One year ago a family lost a good man. I don’t know much about him, but I know…

Lilacs always remind me of Memorial Day. I have little recollection of visiting any graves on a regular basis until after I was married. My wife’s family would meet at her Grandma Lovell’s home, pick lilacs, and go to the…

Sweetpea is not Houdini. Houdini may have been good at getting out of knots and chains, but Sweetpea is better at getting into them. We have her on a long tether so that she has a good amount of feeding…

I heard the tears while I was still in bed. They were so sad. One of the other children came running to tell me that my five-year-old daughter had let her balloon go outside. The tears were soon remedied with…