Due to publishing issues, the last picture was not actually the last cow picture. This is another new calf, about 3x the size of primrose. Her name, for now, is Pete because Em always thinks she's a boy. Poor Pete was very stressed about being caught.

Are you tired of cow pictures yet? Well, this is the last one. This cow is curious and has a sweet face. She didn't think Emily was very salty, but she gave my hand a thorough licking. We were sure she was going to slobber on our faces too, but she backed off.  

Primrose reminds me of Jessie in this picture. Does anyone know why? 

Professional cattle wrestlers. 

Primrose! She's actually my daddy's, not my grandpa's. She's small and tame and kissable. 

Austin is the Bull. He is big. He's sweet, but strong and a spoiled. He will not eat an apple that has been partially eaten. He likes to be brushed but if you stop, he will push you. He's like a dog that wants to be petted, only a lot stronger.

The next Whitey? The next Bianca (that's my car's name)? 

Pink nose. All our calves are supposed to have red faces, not white ones. Yeah, that's working out.

Hiking at Mt. Spokane with Em and Chris. We couldn't get to the top of the mountain (though there's not any snow on the road anyway) so we went for a walk in sink-hole central. Beautiful, isn't it? 

Eva is my little pixie. She's rather attached to Carter, or anything else that moves and will pay attention to her. "Carter! Come with me!"

Ivan The Terrible or Ivan-Honey, formerly "Whitey", lives at The Nordhagen Animal Half-way House. He is wearing the sleeve of this sweater because he is shaved. He is ugly and smelly, but sweet. When he is done having his medicine, he can be a great barn cat if anyone will take him!

It is sad to be a writer with nothing to say to the world.
Hey World! It's me! I've nothing to tell you!

Jakob learning to be a techie. 

I love this picture of Jakob, but he can't stop moving! He's almost 4, what do I expect? 

Look! Do you know what you're looking at?? WILD horses! With a baby! Outside Virginia City, NV. 

He's so not touchy-feely.  

So I was just strolling down the street the other day... 

My roommate of two years, Andy, went and got herself hitched! (David, if you ever hurt her...) No, don't worry. We like David a lot. 

Auntie Katie is SOOOO funny. 

The newest man in my life, Caleb James Nordhagen. 

Mother and child 

My nephew Andrew. One photogenic child. 

Can I help you? 

Dey's buddies. 

My life is rosey... 

This is Fitzwilliam. I adopted him from the street. Isn't he handsome? 

Happy Birthday to my one and only dear Jessity-Jess-Jess! I love you!

Renoir and other people's blogs.

Is this the most boring blog ever?
Do you have headaches every day?
I do.

However, I will say this one (semi)-interesting thing. Today I went to the MAC (the northwest museum of arts and culture: the eastern Washington historical society) and saw some very interesting things. Like a picture of The Y in north Spokane when it was just that: a Y in the road. Also, I looked at an impressionist gallery and am now enchanted by Renoir.
That's all.

The other interesting things I could say really belong in other people's blogs. Like I have a new cousin. And a sheep died, along with her two unborn lambs because she should have had a c-section yesterday. And my sister keeps wearing my nice Eddie-Bauer white down vest over her goat blood and placenta-smeared clothes, even though I bought her a vest of her very own.
See? Other people's blogs. You should tell them to blog those things.

B.A. for B.S.

I would just like to say this: If you're going to get a degree in anything (for the sake of conversation, we'll say writing), you might first check to see if your siblings have a natural ability in the field that surpasses any height of accomplishment you may achieve after 4 years of instruction. I doubt it is worth $22,000 in debt (after interest) to remain at the bottom.

Updates

I know, I know. It has been over 2 months since I've written anything. I never said I was gonna be great at this. Did you know that I used to journal every night, sometimes for hours? I stopped doing that (for sanity's sake) and now look-- I don't write at all. Good for having a degree in writing.

Here are some updates on previous postings.

1) Jack has a new home in Arizona. He was way too much for my grandparents to deal with, but has made a perfect companion for my cousin Sean. Jack flew down commercially but it is expected that he will fly back and forth in private planes as that family comes "home" often. This is good because I didn't even get to say goodbye to my dear pup. The other great outcome is that my grandparents' dog Bernie is now able to roam the farm as she did in her early years.

1 a.) Bernie was named so for two reasons. Erik had a good friend in college named Bernice. Also, the dog looked more like a St. Bernard than anything else as a pup. So yes, Bernie is a girl. Bernie loved deer. I don't know that she'd ever hurt them, but she loved the chase. CHASE CHASE CHASE! Thus she ended up on a chain for many years. It has been miserable and sad and she's quite crippled from not moving. Well, when we got Jack, we let Bernie come on many walks with us. Now she is allowed to be off the chain almost all the time and is feeling a lot better. She is happier and my grandpa has someone to follow him around, which is what we were going for in the first place.

2.) Little Caleb is growing! I still haven't seen him.

A Frog for my Blog

I would just like to ask how one is supposed to write a story in 150 characters!! If anyone would like to see my story about the bald frog and the wig, Here is the Complete Off-the-Top-of-My-Head version, unabridged and not very well proofread.

Once upon a time there was a very bald frog. This was not a frog with some hair above his ears like your grandpa may have, no. This was a very bald frog. The frog, let's call him Throg, was sad about being bald, for he believed that no princess would ever come to kiss him. (He knew he would not turn into a prince if he were to be kissed by a princess, but he'd like to be kissed all the same.) So Throg the frog went to see his friend Wiggin' Chicken who made wigs from feathers. Wiggin' Chicken made Throg a lovely wig so that he looked rather like a polish top hat... or like a frog with a wig made from the feathers of a polish top hat. Throg went home feeling very sharp in his new wig. He sat by the pond every day admiring his reflection, and getting very dry indeed, for one cannot just jump into a pond with chicken feathers upon one's head. One day (it happened to be a Tuesday afternoon) he saw someone's reflection next to his own in the almost green pond water. It was a... (do I really have to tell you?) princess! The Princess looked at Throg with a curious smile and said, a frog with feathers? How adorable! But she did not kiss the frog. She simply wrote in a notebook under a title that said, "The oddest thing I saw today" and disappeared into the rather unromantic brush (mostly thistles) surrounding the pond. Frog was discouraged and so he took his wig off and dropped it into the pond. He watched as the feathers became soggy and ugly. Next to the feathers appeared another face it was face of his friend Laugra Frog. Laugra said, Oh Throg, you do look so much handsomer without that ridiculous thing. She stuck out her long sticky tongue and gave Throg a sticky frog kiss on the cheek. Throg was so happy that he jumped into the almost-green waters and came up much refreshed (though with a few soggy feathers stuck to his very bald head). Throg and Laugra had a good laugh, had many bald froggie babies and lived happily ever after.

1601 characters!