Happy (post) Thanksgiving

Life is hectic; and in my past life, I haven't taken enough time to pause and think about how blessed I truly am.  This I want to change.  The most important center of my life has always been my family, my driving force and reason for getting out of bed every morning and working through each day.  Without them, I would have no purpose.  I am thankful for each and every day I have with them.   

With the completion of the rock wall, I can finally say, the house is done. It took a lot longer than expected with a few delays for weather and hunting season, so having it done is a giant relief.  Our DIY house finishing jobs this year were pouring concrete for the porch and driveway, gravel drive and the front wall.  In the spring, I may dress it up a little with some landscaping and paint the sides of the basement concrete.  Someday I may put a deck on the back, but those are all optional.

Connor's science fair project this year is "Sheep parasites."  Today, we completed the first phase of his experiment which was checking each sheep for worm load using a FAMACHA score - we check the color of their bottom eyelid for pinkness and signs of anemia - treating them if needed , and obtaining a fecal sample.  (Sorry I wasn't able to get pics of that step).  We observed the fecal samples under the microscope to count the number of parasite eggs.  The project will be comparing the effectiveness of chemical dewormers with copper bolus. In two weeks, we will repeat the same process to see which treatment method was most effective.