Duck Hunting

Thursday morning I rolled out of bed, turned my alarm off and stared at my clock which read 5:45. Slowly, I put on my hunting gear. I grabbed my bag and my shotgun, a beautiful semi-auto 12 gauge that used to belong to my grandfather. Andrei, one of my little brothers, ran out to greet me and wish me luck. I went down stairs to wake my Dad up, then left to start the coffee.

After we got every thing together I started the truck and loaded Chewy, our black lab, up and grabbed two pieces of pizza my Mom had made the day before and went into the truck. We drove into Manhattan and pulled into our hunting spot.

After walking to the river my dad set up our decoys. We then hid in some trees and waited. A duck flew by us and I pulled out my shot gun and took the safety off. "Not yet!" my Dad said. I put the safety back on.

Dad tried to call the duck back. Suddenly it flew over, not 20 feet away from me. I stuck my shot gun out and tried to take my safety off, but it had frozen in place! We didn't see any more ducks the rest of the day.

As we left for the truck my hands started hurting they were so cold, Dad's gloves froze in place, both of our face masks froze and Dad's coffee, which was in the truck, froze. We went in the truck and I looked over at Dad. "That was fun!" I said. My Dad laughed.

The next morning we also went, only this time I had cake my Mom had made the day before. Once we got walking to the hunting site some of my gear fell out of my hunting bag, so I went to pick it up and by that time my Dad was gone.

So I picked my bag up and left in the general direction that he went. After a couple minutes of searching I found him setting up the duck decoys. For most of the morning we didn't see much [O.K, I didn't see much. My Dad saw plenty, but I couldn't.]

Later on though a group of golden eyes were flying by us. I was kneeling at the time, and I stuck my shot gun through some branches and fired. Since I wasn't standing, I wasn't prepared for the kick which knocked me down on the ground. "You got him!" My Dad shouted.

The duck fell on the far side of a river. Chewy ran off after it, stopped, looked back at my Dad and walked over to him. "I'm not going over there, that water's cold!" He was probably saying. My Dad tried to get it but the water was too deep and the current too strong. Oh well, at least I got my first duck.

Boat work

To prevent our hunting boat from filling up with rain, we put a tarp over it, but the wind blew the tarp away, the rain poured in, and then it froze. So on Sunday we took our chisels out and started chiseling away the ice. It was hard work, and after the two hours it took us to finish it, our hands were freezing. We then went into town to get a new tarp. We then tied that on and stood back to admire our work, sore, but proud.

Heat wave

O.k, I know that in my last post I talked about how cold it was, but almost right after I wrote that it got to 0 degrees! We all ran out there in our shorts and t-shirts, enjoying the warm. And guess what? It only got warmer! The average temperature is 45 degrees, but unfortunately it will only get colder and soon will be back in the below zeros. Oh well, we'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Winter

A couple of days ago we got quite the winter storm. Not necessarily lots of snow, but cold. This whole week and most of last week it didn't even once reach above 0 degrees. We quickly got the barn fixed up and put all the animals in it.

So far the warmest it has gotten is -4 and the coldest is -45. BURRR!

Pearl

A few days ago one of our parakeets, named Pearl, died. We're not sure how she died, but she did.

We were having breakfast and Molly saw her lying on the bottom of her cage. We were all sad to lose her.

Thanks Giving!

This morning at 5:30 I crawled out of bed, put my hunting gear on and walked downstairs to wake dad up. I carried our rifles up and soon Aaron, [a family friend] drives up. We all pile into our truck and are on the rode. We drive into the Bridger mountains. There were spots at least a foot of snow. Why did we do this, you ask?

Elk Hunting.

So far my first Elk has eluded me, but this time I was ready. After about an hour we stumble on some tracks, some several days old, others fresher. We followed the tracks to an opening where several animals have been living. Suddenly I saw something. I motioned for my dad to look where I saw it. He looked for awhile.

"All I see is that tree stump" He said. I looked again, and true, it is a tree stump.

We didn't end up seeing anything but a couple more tracks.

Well, who knows. Maybe next time I'll get my Elk.

So, it's today we remember the Pilgrims escaping England and persecution, who came here to practice their beliefs; those who had more than half die through the winter, who, with friendly natives like Squanto would have all died.

Who knows where the turkey got its name?

It was named by one of the first Europeans to set foot on American soil, Luis De Torres, who sailed with Columbus in 1492. He wrote, in Hebrew, a letter home describing all the exotic animals, including a 'peacock'. The Hebrew for peacock is Tukki, translated into English Turkey!

Happy Thanks Giving!

Bowling!

Tuesday we went bowling. This was mine and Molly's second time bowling, and mom and dad hadn't gone in a while. It was so much fun! At first I did really bad, than I did o.k, than really bad.

We played two games, and my dad came in first place, then mom, and I can't remember the rest. I got a total of 120 points.

Afterwards, we got pizza.

Kylie comes back!

Tuesday the 17th Kylie came back from collage from Omaha, Nebraska, after spending three months away. After we got back from the airport, we piled down stairs and watched the 'Muppet's'. It was good to see her again. She'll be here 12 days, then she has to leave.

Antelope hunting

Last Sunday my Dad, Molly and I went antelope hunting in eastern Montana. We only had two orange vests so I wore one of my dads orange shirts over my coat.

We had to wake up at 4:00 am and got to the hunting spot around 7:30. We hunted until 9:30. After not seeing a single antelope at all, we drove down to Forsyth, Montana and there had lunch.

Afterwards, we drove back down to our hunting spot and sat in the car, scanning the area for antelope with binoculars. Not only did we not find any antelope with binoculars, we didn't even see any regular ones.

At around three, we started heading back home when we spotted a herd of antelope, almost half a mile away from where we could hunt! We then drove home and got there around 6:30, sadly with out any antelope.

Flu

A couple of days ago we all came down with the flu. I was hit especially hard, spending three days just laying on the couch, too sick to move. But now I feel much better, as does most every one else.

A Pheasant hunt

A couple of weeks ago I returned from a five day Pheasant hunting trip in South Dakota with my dad, two of my cousins and my Uncle.

The twelve hour trip there was no fun, I must say, mostly as I couldn't reach my back-pack with my books in it. We finally reached Winner SD at nine and after checking in to a R.V park, set up our pop-up camper. Afterwards me, Dad, Zack and Josh [my cousins] played hearts while eating cookies. After awhile we went to bed, final score Dad:23, Me: 24, Zack:29, Josh 46 [I think I got the scores right].

In the morning after breakfast we drove over to our first hunting spot and waited for 12:00, when the season starts. Finally we set out, me using my dads 12 gauge since I didn't have the right shells with me. Chewy, our 10 year old lab got up 3 birds in the first couple of minutes. They flew away before I could get a shot at any one of them. Then he got one more up and, with my first shot of the hunt, I killed my first pheasant. I was the only one to get a bird that day.

Towards the end of the day we drove over to a spot to ditch hunt [hunt the ditches on either side of the rode]. Dad shot a bird a ways from the truck and Uncle Chal asked Zack to drive it up to let Chewy out to look for the bird. Zack drove the truck, however in to a mud hole where it got stuck. After awhile of trying, me and dad were elected to walk the mile and a half to the nearest house. After half a mile it got dark. Finally we got to a house who could help [or, rather the guy in the house could help.] He offered to drive us into Winner so we could grab our truck, as his was not big enough to do it. We borrowed a chain from the R.V park and drove out there. We finally got the truck out then drove back to the R.V park to drop the chain off and get some desperately needed sleep.

In the morning Dad got eggs and turkey bacon and bread and we had that for breakfast. Than we headed out to hunt. The first spot Chewy got up a bunch of birds [and I missed them] and even Dutch, my non-hunting English Setter, pointed a couple. Uncle Chal Got one. The day went by quickly and ended with only Uncle Chal getting a bird. While me, Zack and Josh played poker, my dad made steak, potatoes and sour-kraut for dinner. [YUM!]

The next day we had eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast. The day went by with several misses, a couple of hits and the birds running off [I kid you not!] and more misses. My dad shot another, but we couldn't find it. It ended up only Uncle Chal got any birds, again. We went back to Winner and had Tacos, Burritos and salad, all home made with home made guacamole. [YUM!]

In the morning after breakfast we unpopped the camper, and said good by as we had to leave that day. After another 12 hour car ride, we got back home.

Sukkot

Sunday night began Sukkot. We set lights up on our Camper and used that as our Sukkah this year. We had a Thanksgiving dinner theme on Sunday. We had our Church group come to celebrate. So far I've slept in our Sukkah every night.
Sukkot is to remember the Israelites in the desert.
Sukkot ends next Monday.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur {day of atonement} was yesterday. Yom Kippur is a day to pray to God to forgive your sins, and is a really solemn day. Many people chose to fast, as I did this year.


{I went 25 hours with no food or water} It's a day to afflict your soul. Our family always goes to Johnny Carinos restaurant before we began our fast.



The day after I was asked to blow the Shofar, which is no easy task after fasting over a day.



Yom Kippur is also the anniversary of the time Israel was attacked by her Arab neighbors who attempted to throw her into the sea. Which of course, they failed.

Yom Teruah

Monday was Yom Teruah, or day of trumpets.

Me and two other people from our church group blew the shofar's, after which we went out to a river and threw rocks in, symbolizing throwing our sins away.

We then sang songs until 10:00.

Tommi comes to visit

A couple weeks ago our cousin Tommi came to visit us on her way to Arizona. Ironically she came right after Molly left for Tennessee for her birthday.

It was fun to see her again {I last saw her at the reunion}

We got to hike up with her to Palisade fall's and spend some time there.


A couple of days later she had to go, though.

Days Nine, Ten, Eleven

Well, today's the day we leave for home. I'm sure no one really wanted to go. I lingered behind to say good bye to Aunt Wanda, Uncle Lee, and Teresa. After we said good bye and left, no one really said anything for awhile, all thinking of how much fun we had. We stopped at a gas station for breakfast and drove on some more. Then my dad surprised us by stopping at the Davy Crockett birth place.

We stayed there for about an hour before we had to leave. We drove on to Nashville to see our old house, but on our way got caught up in a traffic jam. Finally we got there. My mom wanted us to take pictures of it so we did. My dad then went out and reassured the owners we ain't a bunch o' freaks takin' pictures of 'em. We then visited our old pastor and stayed there awhile. A few hours later we drove through St. Louis and boy, it was HUGE! We finally found a rest stop and slept.

1 1/2 days and several hundred miles later {Felt more like 100,000 miles and at least a month later} we reached Mt. Rushmore. We stayed there awhile before we hit the road again.

Several hours later we got back home, both happy to be home, but sad the trip ended.

P.S I would like to personally thank every one who opened up their home to us during our trip [And after several days in the truck, we really needed it.] Long story short, we had a blast.

Day Nine

Today we dropped into North Carolina to dig semi-precious stones. It was a long drive there and being cramped in the back with my three brothers didn't help any.

We had some problems finding the place at first. First we didn't go far enough, then we went too far and then we went to the wrong place. Eventually we got there though. While there my dad found a huge geode.
We found close to a thousand stones of all different kinds. Afterwards we went to lunch and dropped Sarah off at the airport, happy for the time we spent with her, but sad she had to leave. Then we went back to Aunt Wanda's house.

Day Eight

We picked up Sarah from Aunt Wanda's house and after having a huge toast and jelly breakfast we drove down to see the Heaton, Birchfeild and Irick family graves. We saw my Grandmother and Grandfather's grave, George ''Washey" Irick, who when his wife was in labor went to get get the midwife and came back two years later! I learned that almost every one of my relatives fought in one of America's wars and all came back but one, who died 4 days before the war ended.
Then we went to the reunion. [after almost getting lost again] My dad bet me $10 I couldn't speak in a British accent for the whole four hours, but I did! It was funny because some one would walk up to me and I would start talking and they would be all confused. I had one person come up and say "you aren't from around here are you?''
It was cool to see so many of my relatives on my dad's side.
Afterwards we went back to Deanna's house for the night.

Day Seven

We ate breakfast and drove down to the airport to pick up Sarah who was flying in from New York. We waited around an hour for her flight to come in then we realized[after actually checking the flight plan] her plane actually came in at 3:30! So we drove down to a dinosaur museum they have there. It was a lot of fun. There was a box filled with bits of rubber and dinosaur bone casts. There was also computers with different things that you could do on it. At 3:00 we left to go meet Sarah. We only had to wait a couple of minutes because her flight came in early. It was really good to see her again. We drove down to Aunt Wanda's house for dinner and stayed there for awhile talking. Then we left back to uncle Ronni's house.

Day Six

We left Deanna's house at 1:00 and went to Dennis Cove, the spot where my dad went camping and fishing as a kid. The road up there had lots of twists and turns and I got really sick. We [after getting lost] then went to Fort Wataga, a fort built against the Cherokee. Then we went to my Uncle Ronni's house for a little bit. After wards we went to Aunt Wanda's house for dinner. It was really yummy and after wards I sat down on her couch, still trying to get over being sick and aunt Wanda gave me a novel about Meriwether Lewis to read on the trip back which was greatly appreciated. A while later we left again for Uncle Ronni's house and he gave me a hunting knife, also greatly appreciated. After that we went to bed.

Day Five

In the morning I was feeling so sick I couldn't talk much so I just listened to my Dad and my Aunt Wanda talk. She gave us Star Wars toys and coloring books. She made really yummy biscuits and gravy, fried bologna and strawberries. After that I felt better and we hung out with her for a while. After we rested a while we drove by the place where my dad grew up and saw one of his best friends when he was a kid. We then went to Aunt Deanna's house, my Dad's Mom took care of her when her father died. We played on her Wii and in her pool. Soon after dinner, which was also very yummy we went to bed.

Day Four

We just left the Cousin's house at 9:47 after a biscuits and gravy breakfast, all sad to leave.

10:02:36

We are driving down to Tennessee and will hopefully reach It tonight. My legs are so crowded I can't move them.

3:08:31

We just drove over the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Inside were lots of barges. The rivers were really big. We then drove through Kentucky. Several hours later we crossed into Tennessee, now around seven more hours to go!
A few hours later we drove through Nashville and wow, it was really big! Probably the biggest city I've seen besides Tel-Aviv. Once there we saw the Titans stadium.
12:30 [in case you were wondering I forget the exact time so 12:30 is only a estimate]
We finally got to Aunt Wanda's house! I was so tired I was barely able to say 'Hi!' We went straight to bed.

Day Three

We had pancakes for breakfast. After that we went to a fish hatchery and got to feed the fish there. Then we went to the Cousin's farm. It was really big. I got to drive the gator and we saw two toads. It started raining so we had to go. The rain stopped and we went to a park to play, but it started to rain again so we left. We went to an Amish store and bought Chocolate Gravy and more things for Mom back home. We went back to their house afterwards. We had a wonderful spaghetti dinner and then popcorn cooked by me and Aunt Lloyann. Soon after we went to bed.

Day Two

7:02:13
We stopped at rest stop last night but I woke up probably once every hour. We woke up at six and drove through Sioux Falls and bought muffins for breakfast and more gas. [The gas was not for breakfast, in case you were wondering{:] We then drove on more, nothing really to see but really flat land, cars and street signs. I dozed off for a while and woke up in Sioux City on the South Dakota/Iowa border and in no time we were in Iowa. I've been trying to navigate our way, but at the moment I'm lost but am sure I'll get back on track. [Like after we cross into Missouri:}] The little boys are getting restless and annoying, and all I want is some decent sleep!!! We stopped at a rest stop a couple of hours later to sleep.[right as I'm no longer tired too!] After that we drove on. And on. And on. It's funny on the interstate we are on, Nebraska is on the right side and Iowa is on the left side of the interstate!
10:13:29
We passed Omaha and the little boys got real exited about seeing the "Sky Scrapers". [Ha, forget lousy Buffalo there's a sky scraper!] After a couple more hours of driving we crossed into Missouri. I'm reeeeeally tired but can't get any sleep.
Dad's getting instructions to the cousin's house. I'm tired. 4:40:34
We're finally there! No more long, cramped, loud car trip for a few days![to be said with eye twitching uncontrollably]. It was so good to see them again. We had a wonderful chicken and salad dinner followed by a football game on their X-box. Zac and me/ Josh [my cousins] were the Tennessee Volunteers and Uncle Chal was Arkansas. Uncle Chal beat us 53to72. [Hey, it was my first time playing it, give me a break!:}] After that the little boys went to bed and me, Zac and Josh went to bed a little later.

Day One

In order to separate each day's fun on our trip I will split each day on a new post.
These are from my journal I kept for the trip.

9:29:38
We started our trip today at 7:00 but had to wake up at 6:00 to put every thing in the truck. After saying our good bye's we [we being the boys, the girls had to stay home] piled in to the truck ready to go. A little crowded but ready. O.k a whole lot crowded. We are driving past Livingston. We passed a heard of Buffalo and the younger boys sat glued to the window screaming "Buffalo! Buffalo! Look at the Buffalo!" O.k, they were not saying exactly that, but it's close enough. We are going to see the Battle Of The Little Big Horn museum and battle site and will be there in 1 1/2 hours.

12:29:38
We just finished visiting the museum. It is also a veteran's grave site, which is cool since it's the memorial day weekend. Thank you to all who fought for our freedom!
We saw the museum then walked the actual battle field. The 7th Calvary charged at the Indian camp [which was over 1 1/2 miles long!] and charged up to last stand hill. Custer and his two brothers were killed and his men fled to a small canyon where Crazy Horse and his men killed the rest of the 7th. There is a white grave marker for every 7th Calvary man killed in the spot he was killed and the path was strewn with markers. I could have giving some really cool pictures, but I left my memory card, [Of all the stupid things!!!!!]

We just left Montana and are in Wyoming and are looking for "Devils Tower." The Indians tell the story like this: Several children were playing in some woods when a bear attacked them. They ran up to a rock and the rock told them to jump on him and he would save them. They did so and he lifted them far out of the bear's reach. The bear scratched and scratched on the rock and after a while he left. The rock tried to go down again but he couldn't because of the scratches. The children were then whisked away into space and turned into stars. The scientific version? A volcano whose side fell off so it's only the core. I think the Indians version is MUCH more interesting.
A couple of hours later we drove into South Dakota and saw the black hills. Much later we saw the bad lands. For most of being in south Dakota I had a horrible head ache. We had to stop at McDonald's for dinner because our power converter didn't work. We then stopped to R.O.N. [Rest Over Night]

NOTICE:

I will be gone starting May 24 and will come back 2 weeks later, so don't freak out if I all of a sudden stop blogging. I will be back.
Thanks!

Duct Tape

"Duct Tape is like the force. It has a dark side and a light side and it holds the world together."

So true! I have yet to find something that cant be fixed by Duct tape. Leaky hoses, our compost tumbler, a toy light saber, my moms bible. All these have been fixed by duct tape.

I'm sure that in a few years the New York Times is going to come out with a new headline : 'Cancer and the common cold are cured by Duct Tape!'

Already we know duct tape kills warts.

Truly Duct tape is mans best friend.

Getting ready

Recently we have begun getting ready for our trip to Tennessee. We have begun to pack our foods, clean our cooler and clean the truck. The trip is five days there and back. We will be sleeping and eating in the truck, so it's about the whole five days in the car. (Oy Gevalt!) We will be seeing the little big horn museum and Mount Rushmore. We are going for a family reunion. After that were going to camp were my dad would camp as a kid, then drop in to North Carolina to dig up emeralds and rubies. We are going to have such a good time, even if the car trip will be torture:). We'll be gone about 14 days.

Tillie is Pregnant!

Today we got our cow Tillie tested to make sure she is pregnant. And She actually is! We tried to get her pregnant for the past several years, so this is especially exiting.
This will be her 3rd baby. So far all of them where males that we put (or in the process of putting them) in the freezer. We had a Holstein calf one time that we bought and after a while she finally adopted him.
So chances are Tillie's going to have another boy, but who knows! We will be able to see when she gives birth in August.

Personal Trainer

My Mom has recently "hired" me and Molly as her personal fitness trainer. We started out only taking daily walks with the dogs, then we started actually working out with our weight equipment. We have her on a tight schedule, but let her take it easy on her first day.

Malinki

Today my little brother Andrei's Friend and turtle, Malinki died. We don't know why, but he did. We buried him in my sister Molly's Prayer Spot, also the animal grave yard. We said a few words. When Andrei's turn came he said he did not know what to say. I told him to talk about what a great Friend he was, he was Andrei's first real pet, how much fun they had together. Andrei broke into tears and said "He was a great Friend."
We all miss poor Malinki.
(Malinki is Russian for small.)

Potatoes

Yesterday we started planting potatoes. Last year the grass hoppers ate all the greens and the chickens picked out one hole in each of the potatoes.(Oy Gevolt!) So we tried again. First we nail down two wooden sticks tied with string to make sure the area we are planting in is even. Then we hoe a ditch in the ground, put minerals on the side, put the potatoes in the ditch and hoe the dirt and minerals back in the ditch. We worked for four hours non stop in 80 degree heat! But we got 250 feet of red potatoes done in that time, followed by a long rest in the house, which, trust me was desperately needed.

Wild Snake Hunt

Most of you have probably heard of a wild goose chase. Well he had a wild snake chase, both figuratively and literally. My little Brother Andrei had found a bunch of baby snakes the day before, and promised to show my little sister Abby. Me and my older Sister Molly decided to come along. Now, before you jump to conclusions, I would like to say I don't scare easy. Being drowned, strangled, buried alive and any other form of asphyxiation does scare me. Oh, and snakes. Well, they don't exactly scare me, more like freak me out. Why then would I want to go and see a bunch then?!?!?!?! I still don't know. So we set out on that 70 something degree weather to go find baby snakes. Me and Molly rode our bikes, so we naturally went faster. While waiting for every one else to catch up we decided to check on the old elk that was killed sometime in the winter. All that was left was its head, back bone and some ribs. Finally my younger siblings caught up we went out. Andrei checked where they were last time and, to every once disappointment the snakes where gone. So now I had to worry about a bunch of snakes on the loose! Removing some bushes Andrei suddenly screams he found them, only instead of a Bunch of baby snakes, its a bunch of fully grown snakes! So for the next few minuets we spent searching for them and taking pictures. After that the long, hot bike ride back. But definitely worth it!

Israel Independence Day

May fourteenth was Israel's 61st year birthday, although its officially celebrated a few days before. The same day that David-Ben Gurion announced Israel's independence, she was attacked by the armies of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Syria. But still, Israel's armies prevailed, and for 61 years Israel has held off her Arab neighbors attacks.

Rope Swings

Lately, one of my brothers tied a bunch of hay bail twine to a tree branch, braided it together and Viola! A rope swing. So I convinced him to do the same over the creek, resulting in lots of out side fun. (Unless of course one lets go of the swing pre-maturely and then KERPLUNK! One gets all wet).

Uncle Larry

On Monday we had a surprise. Our uncle Larry visited us! It was the first time he had done so in over four years! I got to read to him the portion I read in Hebrew on my Bar-Mitzva. We had a wonderful lunch followed by us just spending time together. He's a under water photographer who is currently making a movie, so we showed him our home movies which he liked. We then gave him a farm tour while he told us so much funny jokes my face hurt from laughing! He was only able to stay that day, but I hope he can come back soon.

Spring?

Two days ago it was a hot day reaching up to 80 degrees!A day after that it was starting to rain. 'Oh-well, rain is nice' I was thinking. Then it started snowing.And snowing. And snowing. Today we woke up to one whole foot of snow! And now at 3:40 most of it has already melted, making lots and lots of mud.

Just another example of Montana's wacky weather.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is the Holocaust remembrance day, to remember one of the worse atrocities in human history. It began when Hitler took command of Germany and told the people the reason for the German's loosing the first World War was the Jews fault. One night his followers broke Jewish shops and beat the Jewish people. This night is known as the night of broken glass. This was just the beginning though. The Jews weren't allowed to have government jobs and many Jewish shops where closed. Many Jews citizenship were taken away. Hitler then ordered all Jews must where a yellow star of David on their clothes so they could be identified. Many were rounded up and sent to ghettos where many where starved. They were then sent to "labor" camps. Most were actually death camps, such as Auschwitz. Prisoners were given rations so small it barely made a difference to the prisoners. They were worked to death, beaten, shot or gassed. Some were used by Nazi doctors as experiments. They lived this way day after day, month after month year after year. Their troubles didn't end when the war did though. If their camp was liberated by the soviets they suffered almost as much as they did with the Nazis. Many prisoners preferred the Germans over the Russians. Still, many held out and moved from war torn Germany to Israel. They were the ones that helped form the modern state of Israel.

Please take a few minutes today and remember those who were killed and those whose family and friends where killed.

History Question

This question has plagued me for almost all my life. Why are German soldiers called 'Jerry'?

I know they're called Huns since the Huns originated from Germany and they're called krauts since most Germans love sauerkraut. But why Jerry?

Many believe that Jerry was an alteration of the word German. Or it could be because the Germans World War One helmet that was shaped liked a chamber pot or jeroboam. In a way then the Allies where calling the Germans toilet heads.

Gardening

Gardening in Montana is extremely hard. Last year our garden was killed by snow in June and the rest was killed in July in a cold frost. What the cold doesn't kill, the grasshoppers will. This year we tried a new strategy. We planted the seeds in small containers and kept them in the house under a grow light. During the nice days we had them in a cold frame. Soon the plants were to big to go in the cold frame. We now have them in our kitchen by a window so they can have both light and darkness. Today we're transferring them to bigger buckets to finish planting. We won't plant them out side until it gets much warmer.

A Bike Ride

This morning I went on a bike ride to our neighbors house about a mile away.On my way back a small dog started to follow me. I was expecting it to turn back but it didn't, instead it ran all the way to my house. After consulting my Mom I rode back the mile to to the neighbors house. The dog ran up to it and disappeared."finally" I thought. When I was about 20 feat from my house the dog shot by in full force. I rode to my house, slumped in side exhausted and told my family the story and that I give up. My Mom agreed and I started to eat. One of my younger siblings jumped up and shouted that the dog was running back to its house and sure enough it was running back and barely showing signs of tiring!

Pow-Wow

Today we went to a Indian Pow-Wow. Each dancer wore his or her own hand made outfit. Most all of them were real elaborate. At one point they had the Indians dancing one way and soldiers marching the other way, symbolising that the soldiers where protecting the people. It was a lot of fun.

Passover

Friday night was Passover. On Passover we have a family Seder dinner including parsley and salt water, horseradish, horoset(a apple nut and Honey mix) and the lamb shank bone,(We didn't have any lamb, we had a toy lamb instead) and of course matza( unleavened bread.) Each of these foods represents something to do with the Exodus story. The parsley and salt water represents the tears the Israelites shed during there time as slaves. The horseradish is to remind us of the bitterness of slavery. The horoset is to remind us even the worse circumstances can be sweetened by the Lord.The lamb is to remind us of the lamb of God, Yeshua. The matza reminds us of Yeshua.(Both were scared, broken, both rapped in linen, etc.)

For the actual dinner we had roasted chicken,cous-cous, tabuli(a middle eastern salad) beets, matza and horoset.

Shearing Day

Today we got our three year old sheep Sarai sheared. This was the first time in three years she was fully sheared. My older sister molly sheared some of her about a year ago.After a few minutes of doing fine the shearers tool broke so he left to go get a new one. In the mean time however Sarai ran around her pen, half sheared. It was certainly a funny sight.

.Soon he came back with a much more powerful sheerer and finished up the job. Sarai ran around naked looking and Basil [the goat that lives with Sarai]ran around looking for the real Sarai, the whole time being very cautious of this 'new comer'. It took her a while to realize it was Sarai with out her wool

Bummer Lambs

A few days ago we got got several Bummer Lambs{ Baby Lambs who for one reason or another couldn't be taken care of by their mothers.}

After we got them, we brought them out to their new home. Soon they were acquainted to their new neighbors, the chickens. Since we have no milk producing Mother Lamb, we got to bottle feed them. So every three {soon switched to four} hours a day we went out to feed them. We all loved to watch them suck on the bottles, their tails waging ferociously. But at 12 or 3{like I said we soon switched it to every 4 hours} in the morning the cuteness kinda disappears. Soon they grew old enough to be let out side.

They would follow any one walking around, run to them and when they caught up to try to nurse their clothing.

Celebrating Purim

On March 10th
We celebrated Purim. Purim is when we remember when Queen Esther stopped Haman's evil plot to kill the Jews. We had a pot-luck dinner, then put on a puppet show and read the book of Esther. Each one of my younger siblings played a character of Purim in the puppet show and I narrated it.{Andrei, 11, played the king; Viktor, 11, played Mordecai; Abby; 11; played Esther and Landon; 9; played Haman.}

My Bar Mitzva

After a year of studying, I had my Bar Mitzva last Sabbath [Saturday]. This is a moment in a boy's life where he says he is willing to follow God's commands. I read Exodus 21:1-15 in Hebrew and then gave a sermon on what it means to be a bondservant and how we are bondservants to Yeshua [Jesus] when we call him our Lord.

Bar Mitzva means 'son of commandments'.

Andrew