There are always new things to learn.

After nearly three months here in the boonies, I find that I am still learning new things everyday. The first new thing of this week is that female cows can have horns. Craziness. I saw a calf drinking milk from what I thought was a bull with horns. I am glad to report that it was indeed a female and that they can have horns also. I googled it when we got home.

A second new thing is that we have found an outlet for our sweet tiny daughter's pent up aggression and pushiness toward her brothers. We taught her tonight how to walk Ranger on his leash with his training collar. She was amazing-- pushing him over when need be and directing him with a tug of the leash and a low "slow down". She can take her 55 pounds and snap that leash and control the 70 pound puppy. He was such a good boy for her, and she was empowered.

A third new thing is that we are learning how to care for cats. For those of you who know my kids, you will remember that my kids have not only been frightened out of their minds by dogs but also cats. I do not know where the fear came from, but today all three of them held kittens and immediately became cat lovers. We were given a momma cat and four kittens to be our barn cats to help us with the mice. Their names are Momma Kitty, Stormy, Little Smokey, Blaze, and Kevin. We are letting them adjust to our barn from the comfort of a kennel. From what we have heard, after a few more days we can let them out and hopefully they will stick around.

I still can't believe that we live here. The beauty of the mountains still overwhelms me multiple times during the day. I don't even mind that my mornings now consist of feeding one puppy, five kitties, three children, one husband, and finally myself. I am even getting used to having dog slobber on my face. I am beginning to not notice the enormous amount of spiders and flies (thanks to the horse manure flower beds I planted) and moths around and in our home. The bathrooms have started to remind me a bit of summer camp. You go in expecting to see bugs. You kill them and clean it up and move on. Hey, at least there are no roaches.

We are excited to have more company coming tomorrow. Harland said I should write up a tongue-in-cheek "What to expect while you are visiting..." sort of disclaimer for our guests to agree to. Something like: showers must be short, flushes must be needed, toilet paper must be kept to a minimum, expect the bugs in the bathroom, there may be mice in the house, and so on.

I am not sure if that would ultimately keep people away or help them as they get used to it here. Every third or fourth thing on the list should be "look at the mountains", and the bad ones might seem less awful.

Psalm 90:1-2 "Lord, you have been out dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God."