Really Kinda Random--Mother's Day Edition

Welcome to Really Random Thursday! Shall we just get right down to it?

Well, alrighty then!

The other day on facebook, someone posted a link to this video, in which men are strapped up to a machine that simulates birthing contractions women feel. It's pretty funny. As you might suspect, the men are practically crying when it's over!

Speaking of giving birth.... Remember that bird's nest inside my brother and SIL's wreath on the front door? One birdie hatched....

And then there were more. They won't win any beauty contests, will they? But they are kinda cute.

Speaking of birds.....I love goldfinches. When I was at my BIL's house over Mother's Day, I saw these finches on his feeder. They were everywhere. I sure wished I had brought my telefoto lens with me!

Speaking of Mother's Day. Remember when I said my Mother's Day was "interesting?" Well, I wanted to stay home and go to Scrappy Bee with Caroll. But Papa Pea wanted to go to Wisconsin to cut wood with his brothers. We had already agreed that he would go that weekend when we realized it was Mother's Day. Oops. So, I went with him. His brother and girlfriend live on about 120 acres of farm and woodland. A few months ago, Papa Pea and his brothers had cut down some hardwood trees for making stuff....walnut, hickory, oak, and cherry.

It was time to cut it up into boards for building purposes. They hired a guy to come out there with a Wood Miser and slice up the logs. When I arrived to take some photos, they had accomplished this.

Although a different wood pile, it all started like this.

The Wood Miser was amazing. The guys would put a log on the arms of the thing. The arms would go up and roll the log onto the bed.

The guy would then saw off layers of the log until he got down to the hardwood.

Flip it over and repeat. Do this on all four sides.

Then, it would be a big square. And he would cut planks off it. It smelled good.

Here is a particularly large log.

Here is one of the first planks off that large piece. (This is one of my BILs.) This is some of the walnut.

Sometimes, they'd have to adjust the position of the log on the bed. The logs were very heavy, as you might buess. These are two of my BILs. The guys were really tired at the end of each day. The lifted a lot of wood and boards. Papa Pea estimates he lifted over 5,000 lbs. We have a lot of really nice wood now.

The boys were all in heaven playing with their power tools. Here, Papa Pea helps drag one of the logs down into position so they can roll it down this little hill and onto the cradle arms of the Wood Miser.

Sweet Pea sat and watched from the four wheeler a safe distance away. She had fun baby sitting Wolfie, my BIL's dog.

Sometimes she even got to go for a ride. Did I mention it was really cold last weekend? Really cold.

Speaking of going for rides, Sweet Pea begged her uncle to have a ride on one of the horses. He was kind enough to abide, even though I know he was bone tired. This is Gracie, one of his good horses.

All saddled up. This is one really happy little girl!

I thought this was a precious sight. BIL, leading Sweet Pea down the road, with Wolfie and Tori following behind. When Sweet Pea came back, she said, "Mom! I'm back from my magnificent horse ride!" It was a thrill for her. She loves visiting her uncle, because she loves his dogs, she loves his horses (and she loves him and his girlfriend)....It's kind of like a menagerie at his house.

He's got goats and long horned steers, too. They all need to be fed. Sweet Pea loves helping. She was up at 5:30 am when we were there, wondering when BIL would be up so she could help him with chores. :-)

As far as a Mother's Day gift, Sweet Pea and Papa Pea went very traditional and got me a new helmet for my scooter. And I love it! Makes my scooter riding much more pleasurable for me. (My other helmet catches the wind too much, and is always pulling my head everywhere. This is much more comfortable for me!)

That's a rundown of the weekend, to some extent. On Saturday, when the boys were cutting wood, Sweet Pea and I drove up to see SisLH. She gave me a crochet lesson, which I'll tell you about tomorrow. Then, we took MIL and FIL out for dinner, and drove back to BIL's house. On Sunday, the boys cut more wood, we observed, Sweet Pea went for a horse ride, and then we came home.

All in all, it was not a bad Mother's Day. Probably not a very typical one, but it was peaceful, enjoyable, and spent with family.

Linking up with Cindy, at Live a Colorful Life for Really Random Thursday. Hope you enjoyed. Check out her blog for more lovely randomness.

Until next time,

Comments

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You do "random" so well. That wood cutting was fascinating. What are you going to do with it now? Sweet Pea is so cute. Cool helmet. We need a pic of you on your scooter.

Posted by: Liveacolorfullife | May 16, 2013 at 10:01 AM

Love your post. Of course, I love the pics of the cattle, they look like Highlanders to me. Which is a Scottish breed. Looks like you had lots of fun.

Posted by: Patti J | May 16, 2013 at 10:27 AM

What beautiful countryside! Looks like a great weekend - even if it was a little cold. We already had temps in the 100's this week so I'm a 'little' jealous of the cool weather. Hope you're feeling better today!

Posted by: Deb | May 16, 2013 at 02:26 PM

So fascinating to see the logs done. I just had no idea they had portable equipment like that. We used to go out getting logs to split for firewood. My grandfather had 13 cords stacked up. He used it to heat his house.I love watching baby birds grow.

Posted by: Linda in Calif. | May 16, 2013 at 05:06 PM

What a wonderful post! I loved hearing about your trip and seeing the pictures. I've never seen that (the log thing) done before. Looks like Sweet Pea had a good time too. I'm sure you had a much better day than playing with us old ladies. Next month we'll look for you!

Posted by: caroll | May 16, 2013 at 05:26 PM