Busy, busy, busy
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
It has been a crazy week. We have finished moving everything out of the house in order for the asbestos to be removed. It has made the farmhouse a mess. I have decided that only a fraction of the stuff we have is going into the next house. Of course, books are exempt from the getting rid of process. We also had our next belt test for karate. We are all now high purple belts. The kids looked amazing during their test. They are both very focused. Very impressive for 8 and 10. At work, I finished my second year apprenticeship book. This is a big deal. One more and I am done. I still have my step test, but should do fine with that. There is also a pay raise associated with it. The house stuff is moving along. It looks like we will be burning it down in mid April. That should be fun. We will be setting up viewing areas for people to watch. Well, just thought I would give a quick update. Take care.
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Restart
Sunday, 21 March 2010
So, I have decided that I am going to blog again. For a while I was trying to use Facebook as the update site, but it just isn't the same. So, I promise that I will be better. Don't you fret, Australia updates will be here soon.
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First Day of School
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
The kids started school today.  
They were both really excited. Last night they got all their stuff together including the violin/guitar. 
Uniforms were laid out. It was so fun to see how excited they were. This morning they were both up and ready early. Uniforms were pressed (yes, I ironed them) and a quick shower was taken. Jeff and I took them to school. The nerves set in.   You could tell they weren't too sure about the whole thing. Being the new kids in a really small school might be difficult. Luckily they are both laid back. Hopefully it will be a great day.  
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Our summer
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Our summer has been crazy. There have been camps, trips, weddings, etc. The kids have been having a blast. They started the summer with Spanish camp. They have had 3 weeks of it. Their new school teaches Spanish, so we thought this would give them a good start. They have loved it. Of course, they have had friends in the camp, so that helps. They also attended climbing camp. Jeff and I were so impressed with their climbing ability. Audun overcame a fear of heights to not only finish a few roped climbs, but also topped out on a bouldering route. This means he went over the top of the rock. Pretty impressive.   Kajsa, being fearless, was able to top out and climb some pretty difficult routes.  
Some good friends of our also got married. Kajsa was the flower girl and I took the pictures. It was out on the beach at Ocean Shores. It was overcast and cool, but we had a wonderful, fun weekend with great friends.  
After the wedding we spent the following day at the beach. We spent the morning with friends, then the afternoon search for sand dollars.  
And, on the farm front, we have new ducklings. There are 14-15 of them. They are so cute. I wish they would stay this small. 
I have also been working hard to get Kakadu ready to trial next year. While we were in IL, she spent the week at Marti's (her breeder) herding. She had a blast and learned a lot. 
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Nationals 2009
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
The end of July was spent in Peoria, IL at the Inline Speed Skating National Championships. Kajsa and I both skated inline and Kajsa and Audun skated quads. Jeff had also qualified, but broke his wrist 6 weeks before and didn't race. Kajsa did really well in her individuals, qualifying for the semi's in a stacked heat. She looked really good. She also got her relay team way ahead, but her partner couldn't keep the lead. She was awesome.    I raced in the Novice Master division. Last year I didn't make it out of my heats. I didn't expect to this year either. Well, I did make it out of my heats, in first. Then I ended up in 3rd overall. Boy was that a surprise!   Lastly, the kids skated quads. They both did great. Kajsa ended up with 2nd place in both the individuals and her 2 girl relay. Audun skated great too, no medals, but had fun.     All in all, it was a great week. We came home with more hardware than we did last year. The only problem, with my medal, I now have to skate in the standard division. That means I will be skating with woman that have been skating their whole lives.
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Happy Anniversary!
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Fifteen years ago today Jeff and I got married. Happy Anniversary, Jeff. It seems like just yesterday that we were all gathered in Boulder to celebrate. What a wonderful day, and a wonderful 15 years. May there be many many more.
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Life
Friday, 17 July 2009
I planned on writing an update with pictures so you could see what we have been doing this summer. Of course, I have run out of time. We leave tomorrow morning at 4 am for our trip to Illinois for Nationals. Since I am a slacker, I haven't finished cleaning the house. At least we are all packed. I figure we can always buy something if we need it. The most important thing is our skates. We will be carrying on 4 pairs of skates, uniforms, books, computer, school work (mine), etc. We will be there for a week. Kajsa skates on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I skate on Friday and Audun skates on Saturday. Jeff won't be skating due to his broken wrist. He actually has the cast off, but it's too risky. So, I promise to have a good update when we get back. I will try to post results when they come in. On the work front, I had my last probation shift on Wednesday. It is such a relief to be done with it. The 21st is my actual anniversary, but I don't work again until the 27th. And to Cathy, I hope you had a wonderful birthday.
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On the work front
Thursday, 18 June 2009
My job requires us to go through an apprenticeship program. It is a 3 year program that builds requires a lot of book work and practical work. The 1st year is scheduled to take 12 months. When you finish your book, you take a written and practical exam. I was given my book in December and was told that due to our new contract, I wouldn't be off probation until I was done. This was due to other people in our organization that haven't finished their book for years. Well, I finished my book in 5 months and took my step test this week. I have passed my first year and can get off probation on time. I am so happy to be done. One more month and I am no longer an "at will" employee. Yippee!!!
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Wickersham School of Discovery
Thursday, 18 June 2009
The kids got out of school yesterday for summer break. It was also the last day for a wonderful school. I got home from work and took the kids to school. I ended up staying for the whole (1/2) day. I helped grout a table that the 5th graders made for the principal.  I helped take down and pack up teachers rooms, I cried with my friends, the teachers, and the students. It was really sad. I still can't believe they closed a school that was so amazing. Audun and Kajsa are doing ok with the whole thing. It will be interesting to see how it is in the fall when they are in a small school without any friends. Today we spent the day back at school. Our teachers were given a day to get moved out. We went at 10am, packed up (the vehicles) and moved Mrs Kamau's (Audun's teacher) room to a school across the highway. Then we went back to school, packed boxes, packed the vehicles, and moved Mrs Cablayan's (Kajsa's teacher) stuff to another school across town. It's really sad to see these amazing teachers being separated. They work so well together. Oh well, I guess life is about change. It's just that I wasn't looking for this change.
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and
Monday, 15 June 2009
to those of you that commented on your blog about people not writing on their blog, I wrote on my blog the day before I read your blog
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Excuses
Saturday, 13 June 2009
OK, so I have a lot of excuses why I haven't written a blog for a while. Really, it comes down to being lazy. Or maybe it's not lazy, it's busy. Life is always a whirlwind around here. Between work, school, karate, skating, and the farm, I don't seem to be able to find the time to blog. Actually, you can blame Facebook. I spend way too much time on it. Plus, it is extremely easy to load my pictures there. The problem is that I don't write long/fun comments. Since I haven't written for a while I will give you a brief synapsis of what we have been doing. Tanya- work, karate, skating, just kidding. Anyway, Kajsa has qualified for Nationals in all of her speed skating events. We will be going to Illinois in July. I am also racing in individuals, and qualified in my 2 women, but my partner got sick. Jeff also qualified in individuals and 2 man, then proceeded to crash at practice and break his wrist. Audun is going to skate quads. School ends this week. We are sad to see Wickersham close. The kids are excited about their new school. It should be interesting. We will see how much they like it when all their friends are out for the summer and they still have 5 weeks left. I think they are going to love the Spanish and Art classes though. Work is going well for me. I took my 1st year written test and passed it last week. I have my practical this Tuesday, keep your fingers crossed. Jeff is doing well, except life is difficult when you can only use one hand. Around the farm, we got a bigger pool. It is still above ground. The inground will be next. Our neighbor, and my coworker brought his excavator over and flattened out our ground. Now there is a hot tub and a pool off the back deck. Our animals are good. Actually, the ducks are having a rough time. One was picked off by an eagle, the pics are on facebook. Then I noticed that there weren't as many. Yesterday morning before work I witnessed a coyote taking one of our ducks. I think he has been eating well lately. I think we are down 6 or 7. We also lost 2 chickens, which were also to the coyote. So, if you want to survive at Sheephaven, don't be a bird!!!
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Farm House Demolition
Sunday, 26 April 2009
We started taking down wall board in the farm house yesterday to see what was behind the walls. We assumed that there wouldn't be any insulation, but we didn't know what we would find. A friend of ours is helping us with the electrical system, so we decided it would be good to have the walls down for him. The kids thought it was so fun helping. What better than knocking down walls. 
At this stage we noticed that the beams seemed pretty dark. It was hard to see too much behind, but there was definitely no insulation and there were spots where you could see below the eaves to the outside. After cleaning up, we finished for the day. Today we went back in to work again. This time we moved into the rec room. For those of you that don't know, this house was built in 1900. We don't know how much has been done to it. All the wiring is the old knob & tube. Many of the plugs look as if they have had flash fires. Because of this, we have decided that the wiring is the most important thing to fix in this house before anyone lives in it again. Jeff came upstairs to say there was a door from the electrical room downstairs, so he wanted to open up the wall there. well, this is what I found. 
Notice that side wall. It is actually the back/exterior wall of the house. Now look closer.  Yup, that's right. There has been a fire in this house. After opening up the rest of the wall, you can see the charred 2x4's all the way through the attic. Now I know why the boards looked black on the other side of the house. 
The crazy thing is that the roof was built right on top of the charred 2x4's. Also, the wallboard was put up right over the burned area of the house. It's crazy!! I'm actually really amazed that this house didn't burn down.
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Green Belts
Thursday, 16 April 2009
We had our belt test yesterday. Jeff, Audun, and Kajsa were testing for their green belts. I was testing for my orange with the possibility of green. Every once in a while adults are able to skip belts. Usually it's because of a missed test or previous experience. Jeff had skipped his yellow belt, but I didn't get to. This time I was allowed to. We all did a really good job. The kids looked great. Tonight at class we were given our green belts. This is the 4th belt in our system. We have purple, brown, and black left. Now, each of them have at least 2 test levels so they take longer. The kids will stay green until after Nationals in November, unless our Sensei wants them to go as purples, but I doubt it. I think they should go as greens because they will be very proficient at their stuff. We are loving karate. It is a lot of fun. I also really like the respect that is taught through karate. It's amazing to watch the kids "get it". What other things teach "respect" now days.  
 
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Bruny & Shasta
Thursday, 16 April 2009
My friend Sue and her daughter Eli have been helping me train Bruny and Shasta. We started with horses that would run away if you tried to grab their halters. OK, they will still do that. They would run away and not come back. We left halters on them so we would be able to catch them. Anyway, before Hawaii, we were seeing a lot of progress. Then we went away. I wasn't sure how they would act once we got home. Well, they did great yesterday. Bruny went right into the round ring. Shasta wasn't so sure. I don't know if I have talked much about Shasta, but she is a wild mustang, or was. She was caught on the range. She is very skittish, but a super nice horse. As she is beginning to trust me, she is becoming less skittish. Bruny is her son. He is a spoiled boy and does everything his mom does. Before Hawaii, we had gotten a saddle on Shasta. She was trained previously, but it seems like she may have been treated roughly. Yesterday, we were able to get a saddle, and bridle on Bruny. This is a huge step. It is so nice to see great progress. After saddling Bruny, Shasta decided to come in too. She was then saddled too. It was really cool. Maybe we will have ridable horses.  
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Easter
Thursday, 16 April 2009
On Easter Saturday, we started our day with me getting home from work at 8am. We then went to karate. We had an upcoming belt test, so needed to get as much time in as possible. Our Sensei owns a Christmas Tree Farm which is on a hillside. It is a really nice place. Well, she has an Easter egg hunt there every year for the kids.  We decided we would go there, usually we go to the Buckley Fire Dept hunt, but wanted to do something different. South King also had a hunt, but I didn't really want to head back up to Federal Way for the day. Anyway, it was a really neat hunt. Our friends, the Price's came. They had taken care of the farm while we were gone, so it was great to see them. The kids had a blast and came away with some great loot. 
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