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 of straw that we have for him in his house. He is always hungry enough… Continue reading Black & White

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 hoping that this isn’t a case of strep. It appears that there will be a… Continue reading Life in Lyman | Sick Day

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 I am not a good hunter when I am only in my underclothing. The lights… Continue reading Mice Can Fly

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 and the Holy Grail, but now I know that it was a documentary.

“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 fireworks from down the street. She hates fireworks. We looked and called and looked and… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Lost & Found

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. Isn’t it funny? Can I be on a stamp now?

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 gave the teacher permission to take the book and then sing (to the tune of,… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Not Math

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 would take some credit, but all credit belongs to a kind neighbor who planted it… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Scattered Sunshine

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 right around them is all they could ever want. I guess there is a good… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Kids

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 would loom up before us. The white flag at the top is not a victory… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Mt Everest

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 chicken and after a moment you can let go and the chicken will just lay… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Chicken Hypnotism

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 did end up looking a bit more like a piñata than a parrot, but the… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Parrot Piñata

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 just isn’t the case.

“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 boy, I have vivid memories of pushing my yellow Tonka Truck around the block. Ku… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Pretty in Pink

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 morning. But the tooth fairy didn’t come. Shame on the tooth fairy! The tooth fairy’s… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Toothless Fairy

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 a satisfying scream from her little sister. There is a little bit of evil in… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Eden

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. I have known about our new farming venture for a few weeks now, but I… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Fish Farming

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 the grand finale for the dance season. All of the children did a wonderful job.… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Click-ity-Click-ity-Click-ity

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 the bump grew but her entire face silently said out loud, “That was pretty stupid,… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Time Flies

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 leash that just let him put his head under some play equipment. I went out… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Whiteout

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. But, The next morning they are back and ready for a new day. The first… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Flax

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 we love them.

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 in an even dozen. During the last few months, we lost one to sickness and… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Rooster Prayer

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.  Day two: 1/2 cup milk, stepped in again – Whiteout has more milk.  Day three:… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Ginger’s Udder End

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 quite as friendly and her poops are bigger than Sweetpea’s. The only thing good about… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Ginger

“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 has a tree cut down.” said my daughter. After a short pause. “Do you mean… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Not at My House

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 hidden under her bed, behind the couch, behind our old wood stove. Little locks of… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Snip

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 really don’t care that much about Television, but something serious must have happened to cause… Continue reading Life in Lyman: The Incident

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 that he was generous in choosing to be an organ donor. I look forward to… Continue reading Life in Lyman: ReBirthday

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 cemetery in Ririe. I didn’t know any of the people whose graves we were visiting… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Lilacs

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 space without access to the newly planted garden. But she likes to use the tether… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Not Houdini

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 a gift of a red balloon from her older sister, but the yellow one is… Continue reading Life in Lyman: Up up & away