Dad and the boys were playing on the Wii. They were playing Cabela’s Big Hunt. I asked if I could have a turn. I played the first game which was shooting as many cheetahs as you can while they’re running at you. I shattered their record in a mater of seconds. I played three more games and shattered those records too. They began getting irritated with me. Mom said I would make a lot of boys jealous. Then we started naming them; Caleb, Steven, Kristen, and Isaac. I began getting embarrassed so I stopped playing. They all took turns trying to beat my records. Dad asked me that night if I wanted to do some target practice the next day. I answered him with an “I don’t know”, because I had been sick a couple of days before. That’s when he had taken the “pretty gun” as known to us but to the rest of the world as a 17 HMR or a varmint gun.
The next day came and I decided I wanted to try shooting. We took the 17 HMR, which had only had 25 rounds shot through it, and the 20 gage shot gun.
He got out of the truck where we had a board to shoot at. Dad put up an unused target while I sat in the truck nervous. I got out. I told him I had no knowledge of any thing so he was going to have to explain almost everything. He told me to grab the 17 HMR. I was so nervous by this time I grabbed the shot gun. He sighed and said to begin with that’s the wrong gun. Feeling completely stupid, I got the other gun asking several questions. Is it going to kick? Is it loud? Is it going to kick? Shaking and completely oblivious to why I agreed to do this; I loaded the clip, put it in the gun, and tried sighting it in.
It had only been shot 25 times 25 yards away from the target. I had only ever shot bb guns and a 22 once. And that was ONLY five shots!
I shakily climbed on the back of the truck, sitting down 50 to 60 yards away. Leaning against the truck, not knowing what to expect I cocked the gun, holding my breath, and sighting it in I slowly pulled the trigger not knowing what to expect I pulled. It shot. I closed my eyes shaking. I couldn’t believe I had shot it. I was a little high and to the right. I shot it again trying a more comfortable position in the truck. I sighted it in, held my breath and kept my eyes open this time. I was really low. I flinched right before I pulled the trigger. After a while of adjusting the scope and where I was sitting, I hit the bull’seye. One time I went to shoot and was sighting it in the clip was empty so it didn’t shoot. Dad was standing there looking thru our telescope at the target waiting for me to hit it while he had his ears plugged because the gun was loud. He couldn’t tell that I was yelling at him that the clip was empty so I couldn’t shoot until I reloaded the clip. I finally got down off the truck and was almost to him when he finally noticed that I was reloading. Laughing, I got back on the truck and went back to what I was doing.
Out of 27 shots 26 were in the size of a rabbit. One was way off because I had flinched. After all the excitement, my adrenalin wore off. I got cold, hungry, and tired. So we went back to the house. And that was the end of an exciting two hours.
Two Sparrows in a Hurricane
written by Mark Alan Springer
sang by Tanya Tucker
She’s fifteen and he’s barely driving a car
She’s got his ring and he’s got the keys to her heart
It’s just matter of time
They’ll spread their wings and fly
Like two sparrows in a hurricane
Trying to find their way
With a head full of dreams
And faith that can move anything
They’ve heard it’s all uphill
But all they know is how they feel
The world says they’ll never make it, love says they will
There’s a baby crying and one more on the way
There’s a wolf at the door with a big stack of bills
They can’t pay
The clouds are dark and the wind is high
But they can see the other side
Like two sparrows in a hurricane
Trying to find their way
With a head full of dreams
And faith that can move anything
They’ve heard it’s all uphill
But all they know is how they feel
The world says they’ll never make it, love says they will
She’s eighty-three and he’s barely driving a car
She’s got his ring and he’s got the key to her heart
It’s just a matter of time
They’ll spread their wings and fly
Like two sparrows in a hurricane
Trying to find their way
With a head full of dreams
And faith that can move anything
They’ve heard it’s all uphill
But all they know is how they feel
The world says they’ll never make it, love says they will
Here’s what we see roaming out in the pasture. When I was in high school I never, ever, ever dreamed I’d be seeing this on my own property. Pink is definitely not my thing, but it is Kayla’s! 
So, I must say, it is all well and good! It blesses my heart to see my daughter dote on her horse. Thanks to grandma, she gets to wear this one when it’s cold. (It was a high of 22 the day of this pic.) A matching summer sheet will be donned when her summer coat requires protection for those events. Doree now sports a bright pink halter, too. That’s-a-my-girl! Kayla sports pink very well. “Not I,” said the fly. “Not me,” said the bee. “Not you,” said the shrew. “Not now,” said the cow. “Good night,” said the …
Wow! It’s 2010. Remember when we were little and there was all this talk about 2010. It seemed so far away. Here it is! What are we going to do with it? What are you going to do with it?
We have one really big plan. We’re having a baby this summer. There are many emotions being experienced in this house. Some very raw. As some of you know, as some of you experienced with us, in Feb., 2005, we had John. Forty-five days after he was born, he passed away. I will say some of the children are really nervous and afraid of complications during the pregnancy and with the baby. God is working on faith and hope in each of us. The end of November and most of December, I was really sick. Fortunately, Ray was home to pick up my slack. I feel like I woke up three days before Christmas. The morning (Ha!Ha! More like all day sickness) is easing. I’ve had lots of help from this gel-cap called Morning Ease by Solar Ray. Lots and lots of help from Ray and the kids, too have helped us all through.
Not only are we having a baby, we’ve got 9 ewes to lamb starting in March. Four goats to kid in May. Ray purchased two dairy heifer calves that we’re bottle feeding. Lord willing, Huber Heritage Homestead will be teeming with little ones!
Happy New Year!
Luke has given 
me the most challenges for birthday cake choices. He always picks watermelon. This year I got away with putting watermelon as decoration. I didn’t drain the natural green color long enough so it ran. Winnie the pooh is eating watermelon in a watermelon patch. The cake was yummy. It was yellow cake with apricot filling and chocolate frosting.
Posted in Occassionals
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Tagged cake
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The kids had to come up with their own costumes this year. Andrew sewed his own camo. This was his first venture with a sewing machine. He didn’t even have a pattern! Luke came up with his own scarecrow and made his own hay. I painted his face. We spent the evening at the skating rink. Fun was had by all!
Recently, our family took on many first ventures. We butchered 
our own hog. We butchered our own goat. Then we made one of my mostest favoritest, deliciouso, perfecto sausages on the planet, LINGUISA! It is really hard to come by good linguisa around here. You can get the run of the mill not super-flavorful at every grocery store linguisa. My goal was to create genuine flavor and texture using all natural ingredients while using goat meat with pork fat. The flavor bursting from every bite was superb. The texture was not spot on, though. Recipes called for a dice with the knife instead of a grind. I sacrificed. Less time for the grind. When we started the stuffing of the forcemeat, Kayla was completely gung-ho hands on deck. She wanted to see how she fared compared to Mike Rowe! She did quitewell. That’s 22 lbs of linguisa!
We ground out 12 lbs of pepperoni. Last we tackled 28 lbs of large breakfast links. Everything and everyone kept warning about blowing the casings. We made it through with only one blowout! How many 13 year old girls can put on their resume “linker”!?
Posted in Food, Kayla, Life in General, On the Farm, goat, livestock
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Tagged breakfast links, chores, Food, goat, homegrown, linguisa, sausage
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The boy received a nice sum of money for his birthday from various relatives (thank you, Grandma Norma, Grandma Karen, Auntie Katey, Grandpa Ray, Auntie Andrea & Uncle Kenny, and Auntie Hazel!). He is a boy who likes big toys. He knew what he wanted and right where to get them. The Bionicle took about six hours to build. It was over 800 pieces!
I am just going to start over. So much has happened the last months, there’s no way for me to catch up. I will take special note though; Kayla recovered nicely. She is out riding regularly and the steer is “beef”.
A thought I had this morning-
How can we as individuals require or demand those around us to “know us”, when we do not yet fully know ourselves? As we begin to know who we are, we start changing because we have seen what was there. Thus having to learn again about who we are. Only to go through the process again and again.
This thought this morning has made me realize that I, as an individual, must teach those around me about who I am as I learn about who I am and not suppose they will see whom I will have become.
